Note: This is a retimrement team as Gastrodon and Golurk have moved on to bigger and better things. Gastro I could handle (Mantine) but Golurk...
Yes, its true, the bugs are beatable. To be honest, I didn't even consider tham when creating this team, they just happened to be stopped quite well on their own. This team started out based around Eviolite Scyther, who I thought could do quite well with the number of Cresselia running around. I had heard a great amount of praise for Scarfed Medicham and so decided to add him to the team. Being a primarily balanced player I then created my defensive core, with Gastrodon and Ferroseed serving to wall most threats perfectly while also incapacitating the dangerous rain teams. Cryogonal was then added to Spin away the haxards that could plague this team, as I would end up having severl pokemon being weak to one form of hazard or another, this was critical. Cryogonal also helped Gastro out with her ridiculous Special Defense. Finally I decided to nullify the threat that was Venomoth, and did so by adding Insomnia Honchkrow. After a while I realized that Venomoth wasn't much of a threat and switched to a more standard Moxie set. I played with this team for a a while but found that it...sucked. When re-examining the team I came to the conclusion that Scyther was terrible. So he got replaced with Golurk and the rest is history.
On to the team!
Honchkrow (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Sucker Punch
- Brave Bird
- Substitute
- Pursuit
My favourite pokemon in the RU tier shows up to destroy everyone once again! I initially ran a set with Heat Wave on it to get the jump on Steelix but after being swept by a SubRoost Krow changed for Substitute and began destroying things in great amount. Sucker Punch and Brave Bird are standard for any Krow, providing the ridiculous power that got Krow banned for Gen 4 UU in the first place. With the addition of Honchkrow's Dream World ability this becomes even more noticeable as Sucker Punch becomes more and more deadly with each attack boost. Playing into this strategy is Pursuit, often granting Honchkrow a free and easy kill to start the carnage. Substitute goes in the last slot making Honchkrow extremely difficult to stop, status attacks being notable shut down, and playing into Sucker Punches plan. Honchkrow is the pokemon I lead with most often as it frequently puts pressure on the opponent from the beginning giving me solid momentum. It also gives me crucial priority stopping the number of fast pokemon that could trobule my generally slow team. While Honchkrow rarely finds itself sweeping teams full, it does find itself in a solid wallbreaking position usually getting 2 or 3 kills a game and weakening the opposition.
Gastrodon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sticky Hold
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Toxic
- Recover
Ah, the lovable sea slug returns from dominating OU to do the same to its Rarely Used brethren. Gastrodon serves as my primary special wall, stopping dangerous special attackers such as Yanmega, Gorebyss and Rotom-F, as well as filling the bulky water role, allowing it to check Entei, a pokemon which can otherwise cause significant havoc. Ice Beam and Earth Power are chosen over a Water STAB to provide the coverage on the key threats I rely on Gastro to wall. While Scald would be apprciated in many cases, there are relatively few Ground types in RU, and the other targets are hit just as well by Earth Power. Gastro then follows in Swampert's footsteps by having Ice Beam giving it a solid weapon against the numerous Flying types present in the tier. Toxic is in my opinion a must-have on any Gastrodon, allowing me to cripple many pokemon that attempt to stop Gastrodon and wear them down for the eventual sweep. Recover is Recover, 'nuff said.
Ferroseed (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
Ferroseed was selected to the team for 3 reasons. I needed Stealth Rock on the team. With all the bugs and birds running around this was crucial. I need a physical wall, however temporary it might be. With its excellent defensive typing and Iron Barbs Ferroseed fit perfectly in this role. I needed a grass and Electric check. The rest of my team had high susceptibilty to these moves, particularly in the form of Rotom-C.
Stealth Rock is the hazard of choice for Ferroseed over Spikes because Ferroseed doesn't get nearly as many oppurtunities to set up as its older brother, so along with that number of rock weak threats in the meta SR is the obvious choice. With Leech Seed being Ferroseed's only form of recovery it gains automatic entry to the list. I run doulbe status as opposed to Protect or an attack because i find the other options superfluous. Running both statuses allows me greater flexibilty, letting me cripple the wall or sweeper of my choice. Ferroseed fills the role of all purpose physical wall on this tea and rain check, countering or checking many of rains prominent threats alongside Gastrodon. As Ferroseed only has so many roles, I tend to play loosely with him, once he's gotten rocks up or crippled a few pokemon I can let him die as at that point I can start to pressure the opponent for the win.
Golurk @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Shadow Punch
- Focus Punch
- Earthquake
The glue that stuck the team together :( This set is so amazing it isn't funny. With the given EV's, it is capable of setting up Subs on numerous weak attacks or on fleeing opponents and procees to wreak havoc from there. The speed EV's allow it to outspeed something, probably some wall that could cripple it. Substitute is the crux of this set, guaranteeing Golurk a very heavy hit on pokemon that could stop it or against faster opponents. Shadow Punch and Focus Punch provide perfect coverage between them as well as both being boosted by Golurk's ability. Whiile Stone Edge is the recommended fourth move, I run Earthquake as this team handles bugs and flying types well enough as it is, so I find Earthquake to be more useful for the occasional Poison- or Fire-type. The only place I miss Stone Edge is against Moltres but it can easily stall SE out of PP with SubRoost. Golurk generally fits the bill of mid game wallbreaker or late-game cleaner, rarely failing to leave its fist in an opponents face.
Cryogonal @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Toxic/Haze
- Recover
- Rapid Spin
Cryogonal's main purpose is to Rapid Spin, removing the Stealth Rocks that harm(ed) Honchkrow(Scizor), and the Toxic Spikes that treaten both Golurk and Gastrodon, while also serving as a backup special wall with its amazing special defense stat. Despite its pathetic defense, Cryogonal is very effective at its job, its stupidly high base speed greatly aiding it in whatever task I select for it. A fast Toxic in particular is crucial in dealing with problematic pokemon such as Cresselia, who sweeps this team if I can't get off a Toxic and dont have Haze. Everything else is self-explanatroy, the only notable thing being Cryogonal's ability to wall most Hail taems pretty much by himself.
Medicham (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Pure Power
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Hi Jump Kick
- Drain Punch
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch
Oh man, is this thing good. After hearing great praise for Medicham I tried it out and was blown away by te ease with which it cleaned teams. After a team is weakened all that is left is to sac something, bring in Medi and run through them. Hi Jump Kick is the mandatory STAB move, that sports ridiculous power off of Medicham. Drain Punch also finds its way on allowing Medicham to circumvent Ghost-types and Protect users that may want to strip 50% of Medicham's health, as well as to provide it with HP recovery, espescially useful when afflicted by Toxic Spikes. Zen Headbutt provides Medicham with a second Stab that hits Poisons effectively, while also hurting common Ghost switchins. Ice Punch shows up for the occasional Dragon, Flying or Ground type.
That ends this RMT for an RU team that consistently ranke in the top 10 of the ladder. I found great success with this team and it had yet to run its course so its a shame to see it downed before its time. All the same, on to bigger and better things, enjoy!
Yes, its true, the bugs are beatable. To be honest, I didn't even consider tham when creating this team, they just happened to be stopped quite well on their own. This team started out based around Eviolite Scyther, who I thought could do quite well with the number of Cresselia running around. I had heard a great amount of praise for Scarfed Medicham and so decided to add him to the team. Being a primarily balanced player I then created my defensive core, with Gastrodon and Ferroseed serving to wall most threats perfectly while also incapacitating the dangerous rain teams. Cryogonal was then added to Spin away the haxards that could plague this team, as I would end up having severl pokemon being weak to one form of hazard or another, this was critical. Cryogonal also helped Gastro out with her ridiculous Special Defense. Finally I decided to nullify the threat that was Venomoth, and did so by adding Insomnia Honchkrow. After a while I realized that Venomoth wasn't much of a threat and switched to a more standard Moxie set. I played with this team for a a while but found that it...sucked. When re-examining the team I came to the conclusion that Scyther was terrible. So he got replaced with Golurk and the rest is history.
On to the team!
Honchkrow (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Sucker Punch
- Brave Bird
- Substitute
- Pursuit
My favourite pokemon in the RU tier shows up to destroy everyone once again! I initially ran a set with Heat Wave on it to get the jump on Steelix but after being swept by a SubRoost Krow changed for Substitute and began destroying things in great amount. Sucker Punch and Brave Bird are standard for any Krow, providing the ridiculous power that got Krow banned for Gen 4 UU in the first place. With the addition of Honchkrow's Dream World ability this becomes even more noticeable as Sucker Punch becomes more and more deadly with each attack boost. Playing into this strategy is Pursuit, often granting Honchkrow a free and easy kill to start the carnage. Substitute goes in the last slot making Honchkrow extremely difficult to stop, status attacks being notable shut down, and playing into Sucker Punches plan. Honchkrow is the pokemon I lead with most often as it frequently puts pressure on the opponent from the beginning giving me solid momentum. It also gives me crucial priority stopping the number of fast pokemon that could trobule my generally slow team. While Honchkrow rarely finds itself sweeping teams full, it does find itself in a solid wallbreaking position usually getting 2 or 3 kills a game and weakening the opposition.
Gastrodon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sticky Hold
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Toxic
- Recover
Ah, the lovable sea slug returns from dominating OU to do the same to its Rarely Used brethren. Gastrodon serves as my primary special wall, stopping dangerous special attackers such as Yanmega, Gorebyss and Rotom-F, as well as filling the bulky water role, allowing it to check Entei, a pokemon which can otherwise cause significant havoc. Ice Beam and Earth Power are chosen over a Water STAB to provide the coverage on the key threats I rely on Gastro to wall. While Scald would be apprciated in many cases, there are relatively few Ground types in RU, and the other targets are hit just as well by Earth Power. Gastro then follows in Swampert's footsteps by having Ice Beam giving it a solid weapon against the numerous Flying types present in the tier. Toxic is in my opinion a must-have on any Gastrodon, allowing me to cripple many pokemon that attempt to stop Gastrodon and wear them down for the eventual sweep. Recover is Recover, 'nuff said.
Ferroseed (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
Ferroseed was selected to the team for 3 reasons. I needed Stealth Rock on the team. With all the bugs and birds running around this was crucial. I need a physical wall, however temporary it might be. With its excellent defensive typing and Iron Barbs Ferroseed fit perfectly in this role. I needed a grass and Electric check. The rest of my team had high susceptibilty to these moves, particularly in the form of Rotom-C.
Stealth Rock is the hazard of choice for Ferroseed over Spikes because Ferroseed doesn't get nearly as many oppurtunities to set up as its older brother, so along with that number of rock weak threats in the meta SR is the obvious choice. With Leech Seed being Ferroseed's only form of recovery it gains automatic entry to the list. I run doulbe status as opposed to Protect or an attack because i find the other options superfluous. Running both statuses allows me greater flexibilty, letting me cripple the wall or sweeper of my choice. Ferroseed fills the role of all purpose physical wall on this tea and rain check, countering or checking many of rains prominent threats alongside Gastrodon. As Ferroseed only has so many roles, I tend to play loosely with him, once he's gotten rocks up or crippled a few pokemon I can let him die as at that point I can start to pressure the opponent for the win.
Golurk @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Shadow Punch
- Focus Punch
- Earthquake
The glue that stuck the team together :( This set is so amazing it isn't funny. With the given EV's, it is capable of setting up Subs on numerous weak attacks or on fleeing opponents and procees to wreak havoc from there. The speed EV's allow it to outspeed something, probably some wall that could cripple it. Substitute is the crux of this set, guaranteeing Golurk a very heavy hit on pokemon that could stop it or against faster opponents. Shadow Punch and Focus Punch provide perfect coverage between them as well as both being boosted by Golurk's ability. Whiile Stone Edge is the recommended fourth move, I run Earthquake as this team handles bugs and flying types well enough as it is, so I find Earthquake to be more useful for the occasional Poison- or Fire-type. The only place I miss Stone Edge is against Moltres but it can easily stall SE out of PP with SubRoost. Golurk generally fits the bill of mid game wallbreaker or late-game cleaner, rarely failing to leave its fist in an opponents face.
Cryogonal @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Toxic/Haze
- Recover
- Rapid Spin
Cryogonal's main purpose is to Rapid Spin, removing the Stealth Rocks that harm(ed) Honchkrow(Scizor), and the Toxic Spikes that treaten both Golurk and Gastrodon, while also serving as a backup special wall with its amazing special defense stat. Despite its pathetic defense, Cryogonal is very effective at its job, its stupidly high base speed greatly aiding it in whatever task I select for it. A fast Toxic in particular is crucial in dealing with problematic pokemon such as Cresselia, who sweeps this team if I can't get off a Toxic and dont have Haze. Everything else is self-explanatroy, the only notable thing being Cryogonal's ability to wall most Hail taems pretty much by himself.
Medicham (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Pure Power
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Hi Jump Kick
- Drain Punch
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch
Oh man, is this thing good. After hearing great praise for Medicham I tried it out and was blown away by te ease with which it cleaned teams. After a team is weakened all that is left is to sac something, bring in Medi and run through them. Hi Jump Kick is the mandatory STAB move, that sports ridiculous power off of Medicham. Drain Punch also finds its way on allowing Medicham to circumvent Ghost-types and Protect users that may want to strip 50% of Medicham's health, as well as to provide it with HP recovery, espescially useful when afflicted by Toxic Spikes. Zen Headbutt provides Medicham with a second Stab that hits Poisons effectively, while also hurting common Ghost switchins. Ice Punch shows up for the occasional Dragon, Flying or Ground type.
That ends this RMT for an RU team that consistently ranke in the top 10 of the ladder. I found great success with this team and it had yet to run its course so its a shame to see it downed before its time. All the same, on to bigger and better things, enjoy!
