ORAS NU np: Violet Nights

[Shadestep]

Violet Nights

hey guys, its Shadestep here with my first ever NU RMT. I've been getting into NU over the last couple of months and must say that I've enjoyed it more than any other tier I ever played. I started of with teams that others gave me, which worked with great success. However, I didn't really feel that proud of peaking 1500 on the ladder because I used someone else's team (in this case, Sir Kay 's team, thanks for that)
I find teambuilding very hard and complicated, especially in a 'new' tier for me. I've gotten a lot of help from all the kind people in the NU room so I want to thank each and every one of you for that. you are all amazing people :]

the name Violet Nights doesn't really have to do anything with the team itself. I just like the song a lot and the name is really cool.

teambuilding

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I started off with an offensive core of Life Orb Pyroar and Specs Aurorus. they work very well together, covering each others offensive checks.

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Then added Ferroseed as it covers Aurorus + Pyroar's offensive checks nicely. Iron Barbs is really nice, as well as the plethera of utility moves that it can use.

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seeing as I was very weak to fighting, I added Garbodor as a Spikes + Toxic Spiker. Spikes especially help me break down bulky teams a lot easier, as it allows me to 2HKO things like Mega Audino with a choice Specs Hyper Voice from Aurorus etc.

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even though I had my own hazard stacking core going on with Garbodor and Ferroseed, I was really weak to opposing spikestack. Hitmonchan also gave me really useful priority in Mach Punch. I was lacking any priority moves so Hitmonchan was a nice fit.

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added Mega Audino at last because it's pretty much obligatory on balance builds. CM + Rest Talk gave me a good win-con against less offensive teams, and it's overall just a really good mon.

The Team

Pyroar (M) @

Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Fire Blast

- Hyper Voice

- Hidden Power [Grass]

- Flame Charge

I started off the team with LO Mixed Pyroar. first I had Will-o-Wisp over Flame Charge, but because my team focuses on Toxic Spikes to wear opponents down, Will-o-Wisp wasn't really useful most of the time. Flame Charge is nice because when someone sacs a weakened pokemon to get a free switch into say a Choice Scarf Rotom, I can Flame Charge the supposed sac and outspeed the Rotom next turn.

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Aurorus @ Choice Specs

Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice

- Earth Power

- Frost Breath

- Freeze-Dry

I added Aurorus to help Pyroar wallbreak and add a huuuge threat to unprepared teams. Refrigerate makes Hyper Voice so easily spammable, because almost no pokes switch in to it easily. the ones that do get annihilated by Earth Power most of the time. this is why i chose for Never-Melt Ice over Choice Specs. having used Choice Specs for a long time, it really lost me a lot of momentum when I Hyper Voiced a Lanturn or say a Klinklang. the power decrease is noticeable but Spikes and Toxic Spikes help a lot with that problem.

Ferroseed @

Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Atk / 104 Def / 112 SpD
Impish Nature
- Thunder Wave

- Knock Off

- Stealth Rock

- Leech Seed

man, how I love Ferroseed. it's design, defensive capabilities, and good ability makes for a great choice on the team. Thunder Wave is nice as it shuts down mons like Tauros, Archeops, or Sawk that think they can come in for 'free'. Stealth Rock and Leech Seed are pretty much obligatory, and Knock Off is for Klinklang. with 44 Atk, 2 Knock Offs will break Klinklang's sub and this means that you will always be able to win the 1v1 with Klinklang. It supports Pyroar and Aurorus well as they are both weak to Rhydon, and Ferroseed is pretty much a hard-stop to non-SD variants of Rhydon.

Audino-Mega @ Audinite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dazzling Gleam

- Rest

- Calm Mind

- Sleep Talk

Audino was put on the team as a glue. it walls pretty much anything except boosted Poison-types or Klinklang. it's a pretty good combo with Ferroseed as it's immune to poison and resists steel. I went with a CM variant as I needed a good win-condition vs. bulkier, less offensive teams. CM Mega Audino was a very nice fit.

Hitmonchan @

Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 160 HP / 252 Atk / 96 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch

- Ice Punch

- Rapid Spin

- Mach Punch

seeing as I had no way to remove hazards, no priority, and no Sp. Def mon that had offensive presence without boosting, Hitmonchan seemed like a solid choice. it is one of the few hazard removers that has actual offensive presence from the get-go. Mons like Prinplup, Xatu, Sandslash or Claydol are all quite weak without a boosting item. I went with 96 Speed to outpace mons that hit arond 210 Speed, because they are quite common. I wanted a lot of attack, so I went 252 + Adamant nature. the rest of the EVs are dumped into HP to take hits from say Rhydon a bit better.
Hitmonchan also gave me powerful, Iron Fist boosted priority that actually hits pretty hard.

Garbodor @

Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Impish Nature
- Gunk Shot

- Drain Punch

- Toxic Spikes

- Spikes

Garbodor was added last as a fighting/scyther check. It offers the team crucial support with Toxic Spikes and Spikes, which most of my team-members really need to effectively wallbreak. Gunk Shot is threatening to most mons that don't resist it, and the 30% chance to Poison is really nice. EVs are standard, 96 speed to outspeed relevant shit, the rest of the EVs are to make Garbodor as bulky as possible.


Other Stuff

Threats

-> Firespam is very hard to deal with for this team, as my only resist is Pyroar. M-Audino can handle it relatively well, but is forced to Rest quite often and can't hit back hard with unboosted Dazzling Gleam.

-> Rain-teams are as always very hard to deal with. The only way to get around is to stall out as many turns as you can, by Thunder Waving, setting up on rain setters like Mesprit, etc. Ferroseed is the only actual resist we have. Ferroseed is not running Protect which makes it even harder to deal with.

Replays

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nu-298494040 vs. Based Loser

will update with new replays soon, haven't been saving many games

Shoutouts

GyRro thanks for being nice to me from the moment I started playing NU. always fun fighting you on ladder :]
Teddeh i really enjoy your YouTube content and enjoy watching you ladder. keep up the good work!
Disjunction the tier is in good hands with you. I like that you respond and talk to people even though you don't know them, which a lot of Auth don't do. you take the time to explain things about the tier to people unfamiliar with the tier, which is something that me and a lot of other people really appreciate!
Shaneghoul shane :D you are a really nice dude, thank you for everything you've done! I hope you win NU Open, and make it far in the playoffs. im rooting for you!
Dentricos ugh i can never seem to beat you on the ladder haha. youre a really solid player, keep up the good work!
lolbro youre a cool dude :] i enjoy your youtube content as well as your battling skills.
NV I based my RMT format off of yours, thanks for that! I wanted to say that I respect your contribution to PS and especially Smogon. You are a really friendly dude and offer up a lot of your time for this, I respect that a lot!
HJAD :D youre a very solid battler and funny guy. I like your attitude, keep it up :]
Kiyo I really enjoy your YouTube content and your contribution to Smogon. your narrations are very good and your voice is really fukn good for Videos.
Holiano really active forum-poster and good battler in both UU and NU. I enjoy our ladder battles and I like reading your posts in NU threads a lot!
Plaessynplaeae my first real NU Tournament opponent. I enjoyed our fight and I respect your kindness and all-around positive attitude in the NU chat
DaSpoofy good friend :] your team creativity and your positive attitude on Skype and PS/Smogon is really appreciated, thanks for the help with everything!
Rattled Snakes you haven't been around for long but damn you have made a powerful start! keep up the good work, I hope you will make it far :]
teal6 you are such a nice dude :] always positive, (almost) never salty, I like your sportsmanship. keep it up, good luck in the Grand Slam Playoffs!
MARCU5theBAW5 youre a real funny dude :] I enjoy finding you on the ladder #marcu5forvoice
Euphonos I really like your creativity in teambuilding. Your sets always catch people off-guard, I like that a lot.
Pinkin Lark honestly one of the nicest people I've met on PS. your chat presence is really nice and the UU room couldn't have asked for a better Voice user than you.
LeoLancaster for being one of the most active and smart users on PS. your knowledge and insight is really helpful for a lot of people.
Sir Kay thanks for helping me getting started in NU! I peaked around #30 on the NU ladder with a team you passed me, and that gave the motivation to dig deeper into the NU tier.
Thisbemyalt we still need to hit the blunt together once :o
obii being a good fren from Central :] youre a smart and chill dude, im looking forward to laddering together more
IronBullet we really don't know eachother but I think people like you get way less recognition for what they do than they should. you spend a lot of time moderating and reading everything, while staying nice to everybody. thank you for the things you do for Smogon!
Mahmudkipz watfor fren :] we dont talk often anymore D:
Kasumi♥ Marie Rose, youre honestly one of the nicest persons on PS. you helped me out with a lot of things, and I really appreciated that.

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Importable

Pyroar (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Fire Blast
- Hyper Voice
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Flame Charge

Aurorus @ Never-Melt Ice
Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Earth Power
- Frost Breath
- Freeze-Dry

Ferroseed @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Atk / 104 Def / 112 SpD
Impish Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed

Audino-Mega @ Audinite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dazzling Gleam
- Rest
- Calm Mind
- Sleep Talk

Hitmonchan @ Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 160 HP / 252 Atk / 96 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Rapid Spin
- Mach Punch

Garbodor @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Impish Nature
- Gunk Shot
- Drain Punch
- Toxic Spikes
- Spikes

well, there it is. If you're still reading to this point, thank you for your time! I am by far not the best NU builder out there, so if you have any advice, feel free to post them! :]​

 

[lolbro]

Solid team broski, nice to see yuutube fanz putting rmts up

 

[Gianni238]

Looks like a nice team, one thing I notice is that you have 3 pokes weak to ground type moves with no resistances.

 

[Shadestep]

Looks like a nice team, one thing I notice is that you have 3 pokes weak to ground type moves with no resistances.

that's true. I am quite weak to ground and fighting, although I haven't really had a problem with it. there arent many threatening ground-types in NU and M-Audino deals with most of them quite well.

 

[Rapture]

Hi shadestep I've seen you in the NU room playing a ton so I'm glad you've managed to learn to play the tier at a respectable level. The combination of Aurorus and Pyroar is a pretty deadly one that really doesnt give the opponent much room to play around them once some hazards are up. I do agree that you are pretty weak to ground types and offensive Rhydon particularly since it finds opportunities to set up on at least half of your squad even with hazards up. With that being said I have a few suggestions to help with that weakness.

• Replace Hitmonchan with Defog Pelipper. This change will still let you have hazard control while giving you a more solid fighting check alongside Garb, the Ground immunity is important as well.

Pelipper Set

Pelipper @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
- Defog
- Scald
- Roost
- Tailwind/U-turn

The speed investment creeps Adamant Rhydon while the rest of the set is pretty standard. I realize using Defog with spike stack may seem odd, but You'll want a more solid form of hazard removal with Pyroar and Aurorus so they arent too pressured by hazards. Only thing Defog forces you to do is play the hazard game a bit less recklessly. Tailwind is a neat option to catch opponents off guard while giving you a pretty good option of speed control alongside T wave on Ferroseed. U Turn is also an option to keep up momentum.

• Even with Pelipper, the team is also weak to fire types like AV Magmortar and opposing Pyroar since the teams only resist is your own Pyroar. Because of this I recommend that you change Audino's EV spread to 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD with a Calm Nature. Once you've mega evolved, Audino can comfortably take attacks from both of these Pokemon, even being able to set up Calm Minds on them.
• Also, I would Stick to Choice Specs on Aurorus, you aren't particularly weak to either of the Pokemon you mentioned so missing out on the power to switch moves doesnt make a whole lot of sense to me when you have three ice moves. Specs also has a better chance to 2hko CM Musharna with frost breath which the team can certainly struggle against if t spikes aren't up.

Tdlr: Pelipper > Hitmonchan, Change Audino spread, and Stick with Specs on Aurorus.

Also, add an importable of the team you goof.

Audino and Aurorus Sets

Audino @ Audinite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Calm Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Calm Mind

Aurorus @ Choice Specs
Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Frost Breath
- Freeze-Dry
- Hyper Beam
- Earth Power

 

[Dentricos]

Hey shadestep :D

Faced you on the ladder a few times and remember some fun matches n_n

The team looks very interesting. I see the spikes stack core with some real threats to back it up :} Looking at the threats to the team firstly being weather my first thought would be to do a bit of a role shift.

• If you pass the role of setting rocks from ferroseed to aurorus you can actually run a sash weather rocks aurorus. It really puts a damper on weathers day and opens you up so you can run spikes ferroseed.

Now that garbodor is there for the sole purpose of toxic spikes and being a fighting check my only mon shift recomendation:

Garbodor ---> Weezing

This will take some of the pressure off seed since its your primary rhydon check and also your primary check to a few other things.

• Weezing still gets up toxic spikes, adds a ground immunity, and checks fighting types! Problem is you become slightly weaker to magmortar which has already been pointed out to be a problem.

The way I see it you will be trying to put lots of pressure on things like magmortar. It wont have a fun time switching into your mons and taking all that hazard/hail residual damage + attacks on top of that.

• Last recomendation is just to switch from restalk dino to wishpass. Your team has some bulky mons that lack reliable recovery moves and could benifit from wishes. You'll be a tad weaker to status but hopefully your poison/steel/fire types will do a good job of absorbing things like that.

sets

Aurorus @ Focus Sash
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Blizzard
- Freeze-Dry
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock

Ferroseed @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Atk / 104 Def / 112 SpD
Impish Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Knock Off
- Spikes
- Leech Seed

Audino-Mega @ Audinite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Calm Mind
- Wish
- Protect

Weezing @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Taunt
- Toxic Spikes
- Will-O-Wisp

 

[Praeda]

I just got wrecked by a Magmortar. No real switch-ins aside from Pelipper but then it's taken down by 1 Thunderbolt so... eh.......

 

[KnightK]

Been using your team for a bit. Just beat the 3rd highest guy on the ladder with a slightly modified version of your team actually. http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nu-299241530

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Some stuff on the battle

• Turns 1-3 I was scouting for random T-waves because I really didn't want Aurorus to be crippled from the start.
• Turn 4 pulled double predicting either Xatu or Weezing.
• Turn 10 predicted Xatu went for U-Turn.
• Turn 11 since he didn't go for T-Wave on anything else yet I figured Xatu probably had it but I needed to kill it so I could set up hazards.
• Turn 14 totally didn't predict double toxic just wanted to stay in lol
• Turn 15 realized I could no longer break Quag unless I set up T spikes.
• Turn 18 I knew I couldn't outstall Quag but needed him to switch so I could set up T-Spikes.
• Turn 26 forgot I was burned. Oops. Honestly almost choked the whole game here.
• Turn 33 With Audino dead rest of the match was just stalling out Toxic damage on Quag.

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Team is identical except I replaced Ferroseed with Mesprit (Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave, Psychic, U-Turn).

I recommend watching it not just because I won with your team obviously but it was actually a really solid match. Seriously GG Jerry Cala'


As to my thoughts on the actual team, I like this team a lot. Aurorus is one of my favorite pokemon to use in NU due to the variety and power of the sets. The combination of Pyroar and Aurorus two extremely strong offensive mons overpower a lot of teams by themselves. I'd honestly use Aurorus it much more if it didn't require so much team support due to its shoddy defensive typing. That said your team deals with this well and support Aurorus incredibly well.

Changes I would make:

Aurorus: Aurorus set is fine don't change it but do not run Nevermeltice. Its true that 90% of the time you are not clicking earth power but the team desperately needs the extra fire power to break through some defensive pokemon like Audino and Musharna. If I didn't have specs in the replay above I would have never threatened the Audino as badly as I did.

Pyroar: I never really got an opportunity to use flame charge and didn't really see much use for it. Seems like Taunt, Substitute, or even endeavor would be more useful but is is possible the occasion just didn't arise for me. So Idk it worked fine for me.

Hitmonchan: Do not swap this out lol, especially for pelliper. You want a rapid spinner if you are running spike stacking offense. Also if you switch out Hitmonchan you literally have no priority on your team. Hitmonchan never disapointed me keep it as is.

Garbodor: Was super reliable in my experience you could probably change this out for weezing but I think Garbodor is fine. I think its worth pointing out though that one of the best features of weezing as a defensive mon is will-o-wisp which doesn't work all that well for your team as you said. You are most of the time putting up toxic spikes and you already have T-wave so will-o-wisp is a bit of status overkill. Garbodor is fine. Also due to rocky helmet and aftermath even if a physical threat breaks through it most of the time it is weak enough where Hitmonchan picks it off.

Mega-Audino: I mean its standard crodino its pretty good as is. I recommend following Rapture's advice though and going for a bit more specially defensive set helps with fire spam and the like.

Ferroseed: I swapped this out for Mesprit which also does Stealth Rock + Thunder wave but also is a bit more unpredictable and adds some momentum to an otherwise momentumless team. I admit this is largely stems from my hatred of ferroseed but Mesprit worked fine for me. I was slightly weaker to electric types and Water types but the fact that mesprit is so fat helps alleviate the issue a bit. Also gave the team an actual ground immunity.

Idk if the weakness to weather can really be helped that much though without major team changes. Even then it would just be a pick your poison between being weak to rain and weather or some other thing.

Also thought it was funny how a lot of using this team is just yelling at the opponent's pokemon to death with Pyroar and Aurorus's hyper voice.

I didn't even see you talk in the chat during the battle Shadestep lol thats pretty funny. Happy you could see that.

 

[HJAD]

hey shadestep, tort > seed and musharna > audino

sweet team you have here, i really like what you are tryna achieve with the Pyroar + Aurorus wall breaking core, which is extremely potent given that the tier doesnt have very many things that enjoy takeing on both. Onto the rate, i havent read the above rates long enough to make up my opinion on those, but each seems ok, they dont address the teams issue though, which is lack of electric immunity. I think this is vital, especially on a team with so many bulky mons and mons weak to SR, you will need the ability to soak up volt switches or at least threaten the volt switcher. I also see fire types, mainly magmortar as an issue to switch into, and fighting types, like sawk, a bit threatening when they use their coverage to bypass Garbodor, or if garbodor is weakened sufficiently. Malamar seems like a pain in the ass to take on too.

as a result, im going to suggest a double switch, Torterra > Ferroseed and Musharna > Audino. The Torterra switch was mainly to provide some kind of electric immunity, whilst maintain a naturally strong, physically defensive mon that could take on the likes of Rotom-N successfully, and not let it volt switch freely and rather go for will-o-wisp, making the Pyroar switch a more viable proposition to heep pressure on the opponent. Also, Torterra allows you to beat Ferroseed 1v1 without having to risk your Pyroar, which could be TWave'd or take massive rocks damage. It also beats Klinklang easily and other pivots such as Lanturn too. Its a much better momentum drain. It also provides a much needed edgequake resist, and as a result, is a much more reliable DD Rhydon check than Ferroseed which is relying on bulk, not being weakened, and stalling out donner with leech seed and knock off, the likelyhood of that happening is quite slim. SD Samu check is now Garbodor, hence why i decided to take pressure of fighting resist to a different pokemon.

The reason i chose Musharna > Audino is due to its ability to switch into threatening special attackers such as Samurott and Magmortar and proceed to stall them out, and also its Fighting Resist and ability to take on other threats like Kangaskhan and Tauros 1v1 too courtesy of the mixed defenses set. Torterra also helps very much take on the later, which destroys your team otherwise. It also provides an essential Malamar check and a pivot into your pwrful special attackers, further aiding your defensive core. A Calm Mind set is also viable in order to add another win-condition, but i feel like Flame Charge Pyroar is all you are going to need considering specs aurorus does a number to pretty much all Pyroars counters. Musharna will be essentially your switchin for everything, and as a result main pivot for getting your offensive core in, and ready to destroy the opposition defenses.

sets

Torterra @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Atk / 128 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Wood Hammer
- Synthesis

Musharna @ Leftovers / Colbur Berry
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 240 HP / 172 Def / 96 SpD
Calm Nature
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Moonlight
- Baton Pass / Calm Mind
- Signal Beam

cool team for a cool user n_n best of luck in the future
~HJAD