A Walk in the Dark

Good evening Smogon Community, I am here today to post a Rarely Used team that I like to call A Walk in the Dark. It is built around SD Feraligatr and has been quite effective during the time I have been laddering. So, without prolonging the introduction, here is the team!

Feraligatr @ Life Orb
Trait:Torrent
EVs: 252 Atk / 164 Spd / 92 HP
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Return

So the main threat/sweeper on the team is SD Feraligatr. It's incredible attack stat after an SD coupled with priority from the likes of Aqua Jet and an Adamant nature really does make this guy a forced to be reckoned with! Waterfall is used as another STAB and Return is used over Crunch or Ice Punch for better neutral coverage. 164 speed is used to outspeed other SD Feraligatr that follow the standard 152 EVs and anything else that attains that milestone and the rest of the EVs get dumped into HP to improve overall bulk.


Emboar @ Choice Band
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 44 Spd / 212 HP
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Superpower
- Wild Charge
- Earthquake

My next choice was new to the RU tier. CB Emboar makes an appearance on this team do to it's ability to get rid of grass types that trouble Feraligatr and for it's impeccable coverage. It is also able to OHKO Tangrowth, Gatr's biggest counter, after Stealth Rocks. The EV's are standard to grant bulk, power and a bit of speed and an Adamant nature allows for maximum obliteration. I was wondering whether to use Magmortar instead but decided on Emboar because it isn't weak to Stealth Rocks and doubles up on the physical side, causing constant pressure.


Rotom-Mow @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Modest Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave

Now this is a strange set. I was on the forums reading and found a set for a Rotom-C, this set here. I can't remember who posted it but the addition of Thunder Wave catches incoming grass or fire types switching in, making them a lot less threatening. It is probably not a useful as Trick but stills provides support for Feraligatr. Rotom-C decimates Quagsire, Poliwrath and even the stray Seismitoad, all of who can wall Gatr. A modest nature is used to add a bit of power behind Rotom-C's moves while still retaining the speed from the Choice Scarf. Max SAtk and Spd give greater power and speed, standard for special Scarfers. To also note, Rotom-C completes the F / W / G core!


Crustle @ Lum Berry
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Rock Blast
- X-Scissor
- Spikes

This Crustle set may be familiar to you, or it may not be. Basically, it stops Smeargle from doing anything to this team. The idea is to Shell Smash on the Spore, having Lum wake you, and the proceed to Rock blast to KO through the Sash. Afterwards you can Spike to support the team and discourage switching. Though Smeargle is uncommon, those few times it is seen can cause havoc. X-Scissor also OHKOes Sceptile.


Nidoqueen (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Thunderbolt
- Flamethrower

So I was in need of a Stealth Rock user that could do some serious damage. Nidoqueen seemed to be the perfect fit. Thanks to the many switches this girl forces, Stealth Rocks can be set up countless times in a match. In addition, the coverage allows Nidoqueen to tear holes in unprepared teams! Life Orb and Sheer Force work great in tangent with Earth Power, Thunderbolt and Flamethrower whereas the EVs maximize speed and damage output.


Spiritomb @ Choice Band
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 248 HP / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Trick
- Sucker Punch
- Shadow Sneak
- Pursuit

Lastly, I decided to add CB Trick Spiritomb on this team. Priority Sucker Punch is always a great thing to have on a team, dealing near 70% to standard Nidoqueen (putting it in a range for Feraligatr to KO with Aqua Jet). Trick cripples walls and Pursuit catches any feeling ghost or psychic types. Shadow Sneak is another STAB priority move that works if you know a status move is coming.

Well there's the team! I hope you liked it and am looking forward to reading your feedback! Thank you in advance for your time and your effort!

Hiya silent:

I really like Feraligatr and its a really strong Pokemon once it sets up. Your team is pretty well made with defined roles for each Pokemon, so your team is pretty efficient already. There are a few kinks that I'll try to help with.

On Nidoqueen, I do realize that the accuracy of Flamethrower is its biggest boon, but the power loss isn't worth it. Your team hits fast and hard and Fire Blast is a good alternative. The biggest drawback is obviously the accuracy, it might come to bite you in the back with it misses.

On Spiritomb, I don't think Choice Band works the best for it. With Choice Band, you can get locked into an unfavorable attack like Sucker Punch or Pursuit, which then can be set up on by sweepers like Klingklang, Moltres, or even Sceptile. I don't recommend changing Spiritomb though, as its a great spinblocker and it works well with your team, and takes out Slowking which is a roadblock for Feraligatr. I recommend BlackGlasses to replace Choice Band, and changing Trick to Will-O-Wisp. BlackGlasses still gives you the umph you need to Pursuit and Sucker Punch without the implication of locking into one attack. Will-O-Wisp is great to catch physical attacks like Escavalier and Kabutops, which could otherwise be problematic for you.

Hope I helped n.n

Good Luck~

I had that originally, the Spiritomb set, so I'll try and retest that! As for Fire Blast, good call. Thank you for your help!

Hi there silentscreaming,

This is a pretty well built team. It's powerful as well seeing as you have Fraligator there. It a great way to tear apart unprepared teams.

Your team however is Nidoqueen weak, which is a serious threat considering how popular she is currently. All you team members can take serious damage from her. You do however have Rotom-M and Fraligator that can sort of check her. However Nidoqueen is immune to 3 out of the 4 of Rotom-M's moves. Rotom-M would be forced to switch out, and really none of your team members would fair so well against switching in to Nidoqueen bar maybe Spirtomb. Fraligator can stop Nidoqueen if its already set up, however I am positive that Nidoqueen can take an unboosted Aqua jet. So if Fraligator is switching in on Nidoqueen it really doesn't have a chance ;-;

However your Nidoqueen itself can act as a sort of check right now. But it is risky because it would come down to a speed tie. Which is I recommend Timid over Modest. True there is a difference in power but I don't find it that noticeable. You also are heavy on Stealth Rocks so Nidoqueen will still be able to OHKO certain Pokemon, but now even faster. Having a timid Nidoqueen is an awesome way to revenge kill any Nidoqueen you confront. An added bonus is you can now take some of the EVs from speed and add them to HP for extra bulk. Your choice if you want to move some of the speed EVs around. Overall this small change can really benefit you in outspending key Pokemon and other queens.

Also just wondering have you tested Entei instead of Emboar. Emboar is resistant to Stealth Rocks but the added power from Entei is worth it. Plus he gets extreme speed.

Timid over Modest is an excellent suggestion. I'll add that right away! As for Entei, I have not tried it but I will give it a shot :) thank you

Please don't go with Timid over Modest on queen. It loses a lot of big ko's, and means it can't wallbreak nearly as well. Max speed ev's on gatr would solve the queen issue, as then you out speed opposing nidoqueen and can kill it with waterfall.

That's a seriously good physical RU team, but that does mean another thing: where there's prey there's predators, thus where there are physical attackers there'll be physical defenders. This is the problem. Although many members of your team can hit, say steelix super effectively, this is still not good against 500 defence. Yes, you have nidoqueen and rotom c, but the latter is completely walled against steelix. Thus, you may be forced to rely on nidoqueen to stop him, but burn is another option. Then we have dusknoir. Your spiritomb can counter it, but it will be forced to shadow sneak as opposed to sucker punch (unless you have flawless prediction) due to dusknoir usually setting up, burning, etc. worse, it is specially defensive already, meaning that you could end up with a tough fight.

All in all, I think modest on your 'queen, unless you test it and actually have some outspeeding problems. And as I think someone else said, improve coverage on your rotom- I hate rotom c because of its speed and offensive capability.

Anyway I like this team, and that feraligatr set is good, seeing as I just can't find one to work for me. Although, dragon dance is also good because suddenly you outspeeding way more, and in your wake you will leave many more kos because you can use waterfall more- use aqua jet for anything that would outspeed you/for revenge killing. I never quite got the hang of an boosting sweeper, cause you can lose so much health doing the boosting.

Another point, should you have trouble with physical defenders, my friend made a nasty octillery set, which would have shellpass onto it, then a huge special attack, water spout and stuff like thunderbolt can kill almost everything. I believe crustle doesn't get baton pass, but there are others. Only try this if you really believe you can fit it in your team.

Hope you do well.