Otters, Skunks, Fishes, and Disasters: A road to a Swift Swim Success! (Peaked #1 on

LOL DECAY, it's been like this for a few days now, so, here's the latest rankings I've got last night.
Edit: My title kind of spazzed out, it was supposed to title: Otters, Skunks, Fishes, and Disasters: A Road to a Swift Swim Success! (Peaked #1 on PS)

Hello everyone, greetings to meeting that kid from "that one popular computer company!" Well, yes indeed. Today, welcome to one of my awesome new well-structured teams. This team's success has been one of my top priority goals of competitive NU, and has quite conceded with its consistent positive results. With the transition of BW2 and the gifted tools that it has brought upon the metagames of all of the tiers to date, teams will very well structure for the centralization of new threats. So, fellow top players, outside inputs for the better of the team will be very well accepted to maintain the consistent growth of the team. Showcase, and commense! Btw. I have been testing Zangoose for quite a bit on another team, so I had a short break on this team.

Well, lets talk about the team for a bit. This team is mainly focused on Floatzel, despite being heavily offensive for a large portion to say. I've chose Floatzel specifically because I very much love it myself, being one of my very favorite Pokemon, and easily my favorite Water type, surpassing Vaporeon. I feel that its offensive onslaught is quite underated, seeing as it is able to run many offensive specific based sets, going Physical and mixed, most importantly. While it does have a little bit of trouble standing out, it has traits that can quite comfortably set itself apart from other commonly compared sweepers.


Otherwise, everything else that you see on the team is designed to counter/check a considerable portion of the metagame and develop much needed synergy for each other. This team has the tools and offensive pressure to handle pretty much anything, which is why I considered it to be THAT amazing within the right mentality of it.


The Team:



Floatzel (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 240 Atk / 252 SAtk / 16 Spd
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Waterfall
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Rain Dance/Hydro Pump/Surf

Say hello to the main open to the team, Floatzel. It delivers virtually the same approach as its famous Mixed Set. It has the ability to dent a lot of common threats, showcasing its power and coverage to effectively beat the Regenerator core (Amoonguss and Alomomola). Waterfall is insanely powerful in the rain, reaching 180 Base Power in the rain, factoring STAB also, and reaching 234 Base power factoring in Life Orb, allowing it to become very difficult to outright switch into, as even Lickilicky, Weezing, and Misdreavus risk being 2HKO'd. With that being said, it gives it power in comparison to Swellow's Facade, one of the most powerful unslaughts in the tier to those who don't resist it. Ice Beam pairs with it amazingly here, as it allows it to OHKO Rotom-S after Stealth Rock as it fails to outspeed in the rain (Waterfall usually OHKO's as well), as well as breaking through Tangela, Amoonguss, Dragons, and the like. HP Electric is used over HP Grass because it virtually has the same coverage, except that it can take care of rare Water/Flying Pokes that commonly troubles most other Swift Swim-based teams, not to mention 2HKOing Alomomola, which is quite nice.. I generally choose Rain Dance as the 4th move, but I've only been finding myself utilitizing Rain Dance from Amoonguss, which questions if I actually should keep it in the moveslot or not, as Hydro Pump/Surf has advantage of OHKOing the afforementioned threats that are only 2HKO'd by Waterfall, making those nice alternatives as well. I generally find myself taking out about 2-3 Pokemon with Floatzel, or just cleaning everything late game, which easily makes it the MVP of the team.




Amoonguss (F) @ Damp Rock
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Spore
- Rain Dance
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb

Amoonguss was easily my most reliable pick of setting up Rain Dance for a portion of the team, while also providing great synergy to boot for the team. It helps dealing with Sawk, Absol, Samurott, Golurk, and other powerful Physical Attackers in the tier. It's ability to hard counter Seismitoad is also very well appreciated. The main move, Spore, allows it to incapacitate a Pokemon for essentially the rest of the match, thanks to the sheer power of the team. Usually, my playstyle involves it to immediately setup Rain Dance, allowing essentially everything else to perform a passive onslaught towards the opposing team. This, along with its amazing ability and bulk so it would find multiply opportunities to setup Rain Dance, easily makes it a phenomenal candidate for a MVP of the team.




Drifblim (M) @ Flying Gem
Trait: Unburden
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Acrobatics
- Substitute
- Will-O-Wisp
- Disable

Much respect and shoutouts to user NoLuckInvolved for popularizing Driftblim before BW2, Driftblim is still a quite disruptively powerful and effective threat. It acts as quite the handy spinblocker, hard counters quite a number of Grass types while also beating quite a number of many other threats that are useful to deal with, and a lure of sorts, likewise for SubDisable Haunter/Gengar in their respective tiers. With Unburden, Acrobatics is basically a 110 Base Power Flying type agility, and with the Flying Gem boost, it heavily dents most of the metagame that doesn't resist it. Its presence for the team is its exceptional synergy with my Rain sweepers, threatening most of their troubles for a OHKO or 2HKO with its STAB move. Will-o-Wisp allows it to cripple lots of Physical sweepers, making it a lot easier for effectively set up on and beat. With unique typing, it allows it to utilize Disable well, as that and Substitute forces tons of switches, which is quite handle for the presence of Stealth Rock. Bulky Electric types with BoltBeam coverage are generally the ones that counter the set, however.

EDIT: Driftblim's placement is currently being tested with Skuntank for the time being.

Jolly allows it to crucially outrun Ludicolo, Jolly Absol and Samurott, and speed tying with Gardevoir, Braviary, and Sawk before Unburden, allowing it to setup on those threats.




Probopass (M) @ Air Balloon/Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Power Gem
- Volt Switch
- Earth Power

Formerly used in the placement of Golem, Probopass seemed to provide the team's needs better by a notch. It's pretty much similar to user NoLuckInvolved's popular set, except that it isn't focused on countering Rock and Steels, as many are beating by the majority of the team itself. It focuses more on its bulk to pose a more conservative act for the battle. Not only is it quite notch at its job, but it also function as a hard counter to hard-hitting sweepers such as Swellow and Cincinno. Its fantastic typing leaves many Pokemon helpless against it with the addition of Air Balloon. It offers great support to Amoonguss by eliminating many of the Poison types that can often beat or setup on it 1v1, such as Garbodor, Skuntank, Haunter, and many others, while also taking on Klang quite well.

I use Power Gem over Flash Cannon because I feel that it's a lot more important to wear down Eelektross (formerly a huge threat to the team that still functions very well against this team) than it is with the coverage that Flash Cannon provides, which is mainly only for Rock types. As for Volt Switch, all Offensive teams love momentum, and this is important here. Earth Power is to form a nice Special EdgeQuake combo, making it pretty useful. Probopass has been quite the difficult, if not, irreplaceable candidate to the team, making it an excellent addition to the team as well.




Gorebyss (F) @ White Herb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Shell Smash
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Lets face it. Everyone and their mother is so scared of this Pokemon that they structure their teams to centralize around dealing with Gorebyss in the past. Nothing has changed, however, as they are still relevant in Standard NU teams. While everyone knows its destructing power, Gorebyss is still supreme at what she does, and is quite exceptional at this team, with the support of Floatzel and Absol crippling its usual counters, and with Rain to boot from Amoonguss, Gorebyss can often rise terror much more successfully than usual on this team. Most of the time it easily sweeps teams with minimal support once the usual checks are gone. Typically, if I don't see a good check on team preview and suspect if the user's Stealth Rock user is Armaldo, Camerupt, Torkoal, or the like, I would generally lead out with it, usually setting up right off the bat and rip through the team or playing it smart and Surf for the OHKO. Gorebyss presence easily resembles the fear factor of the team, often making or breaking a game in a heartbeat, giving it quite a phenomenal candidate for the team.

I'm heavily tempted to try the SubSmash set, as I think it's more beneficial for the time for some reason, as people often rely on Toxic just to deal with its unslaught (though they often fail because it's usually late-game), which is why I at times wish I had it over the Standard set. Needless to say, not a whole lot else to say. It's job is quite superb and welocome for the team.




Absol (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Super Luck
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Night Slash
- Sucker Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Absol is actually being paired with Skuntank for the time being. While both have similar qualities, Skuntank is the superior trapper, effectively beating the Pokemon that carry Focus Blast/Hidden Power Fighting as their general coverage move, allowing me to deal with non-Choiced Psychics a LOT better. As for Choiced, both trappers are to prevent Scarf Gardevoir from dunking over the team if it manages to get a SS boost from one of my Water type sweepers. What separates Absol from Skuntank is something that this team LOVES. A powerful Fighting-type move to break through Normal-types such as Lickilicky, Miltank, and Audino, while also smashing through Regice. It has the general power to break through a lot of things in a much more devastating manner than Skuntank itself. The ability to luck it's way out of Physical walls never sucks as well. While it can't absorb Toxic Spikes, I have several Pokemon that do, and even then, its low usage shouldn't give it any kind of problems.


LAST BUT NOT LEAST:



Skuntank (F) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Aftermath
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Sucker Punch
- Poison Jab
- Taunt
- Pursuit

Note: keep in mind as I've said before, Skuntank is currently used over Driftblim for the time being.

This is the EV's for it to outrun Absol, Ludicolo, and Adamant Samurott. I generally prefer Black Sludge over Life Orb because it allows it to last a bit longer throughout the match so it can effectively take care of Amoonguss, Cacturne, Ghosts, and Psychics with quite ease.

Skuntank utilizes the team's full potential a bit better than Driftblim does. It pretty much deals with just about all of the threats that Driftblim can deal with, minus the sweeping potential. It has worked quite well with its job, considering that Skuntank and Absol have different counters to say. This is another think that's great, as the team overall loves luring in Rock/Ground/Steel types for the rest of the team to effectively take care of and setup much more relably, thanks to its horrible coverable that often and easily leaves it walled by them. Taunt is vastly useful on a large amount of threats, to preventing a good portion of Pokemon for setting up entry hazards, or allowing it to beat defensive behemoths such as Amoonguss, Tangela, Lickilicky, Alomomola, and much more 1v1. Along with Absol and Swift Swimmers, Skuntank becomes a safe net against the majority of fast sweepers in the metagame with a powerful priority attack. Also, Aftermath is incredibly useful here, allowing it to effectively strip a quarter of health if the attacker finishes off Skuntank first with a contact move before going down itself.

Skuntank's useful bulk also speaks for itself here, allowing it to tank multiple hits from weaker attackers throughout the match, and dealing with the handle amount of resists that much better. With all of being said, Skuntank is by so very much a possible glue for the team, as it's amazing for the replacement of Driftblim, which I considered because the Electric weakness was really adding up.

Threats:

Entry Hazards - While Driftblim's short stint of the team makes life better because now I don't have to deal with the Stealth Rock weakness anymore, entry hazards still heavily limit the survivability of the team. While nobody on the team has a Stealth Rock weakness to worry about, it's the Spikes stacking that makes life hell at times. If you have 3 layers of Spikes up already, and the optional Stealth Rock, and I haven't took out at least 2 Pokemon at the time, then the game shifts heavily to your favor, to the point that you probably have won already, basically. Any decent Spike stacking team that can get around my methods of preventing me from letting you setup, while at the same time being able to handle the offensive onslaught that the team carries, can effectively pull this off, as I have no reliable form of recovery for the team. The best I can do is keep up the offensive pressure and utilize Taunt/Spore when the time is needed.

Conclusion:

I generally only use this team against high/top level players, or to ladder if you're lucky enough to face me. I don't want to retire quite yet, despite the annoying decays because I generally have a BLAST with this team when it's successful. There's so much Offensive pressure for the team that can easily become a threat against..... anyone basically. This is what I definitely define Offensive, as it's also my favorite playstyle, other than straight up Hyper Offensive. Below is Importable for those who want to try it out themselves. Thanks for reading, and for those who lurk but don't play NU, I highly recommend that you give it a shot! Out.

Shoutouts:

NoLuckInvoled - For helping me substantially build my game up competitively. Your help has made me a better teambuilder, which is cool, considering that you have described me as the most prolific team building you know. Practicing with you have also paid off quite well. I do quite literally consider you as the best NU player that I've ever faced (other tiers as well). COME BACK FOOL.

#Neverused - Cool place to hang out at with top players there. Even though they are trollish most of the time, they show their number of importance to the Neverused Forums.

FLCL and WhiteDMist - Sorry I didn't go into your profile pages and congratulate you both for your success of badges for both of your hard work. You two definitely deserve your honor, and both of you are great battlers.

Agent Dell - Meh, you are okay, I guess. You peaked #1, big deal, son.

Everyone else - Thanks so much for crediting me for my NU threat list. Helps a lot and has really shown that you've all appreciate my development of support for the Neverused thread.

Maybe more notable names to come, but that's all I can think of for now.

Import -
For Driftblim in the team


For Skuntank in the team

Hey Agent Dell, I got your request to rate this team.

I don't think Skuntank is the best option for this team over Drifblim because it opens up your team to a lot of threats, most notably Ice Punch Gurdurr. Since your Amoonguss doesn't have Synthesis or Leftovers, it will lose to Gurdurr one-on-one if something has been slept already. Your only hope after Amoonguss is down is to hit it hard with Gorebyss, which isn't the most reliable option since it is hit hard by Mach Punch. In Skuntank's slot, I would suggest Healing Wish Gardevoir, which can OHKO Gurdurr with a Life Orb Psychic, beat Amoonguss, Alomomola, or Tangela, and hit Lickilicky hard. Additionally, it can give one of your sweepers a second chance to wreck havoc on the opponent's team.

Also, have you considered running Rain Dance over one of the coverage moves on Probopass and Damp Rock over Leftovers? As sturdy as Amoonguss is, if it dies early in a match, Floatzel will struggle to have an impact since it is so dependent on Rain. Probopass is one of the tier's best Rain setters since it can utilize a slow Volt Switch to get either Gorebyss or Floatzel in safely. If you wish to do that, a Specially Defensive spread should probably be used since you don't have many attacking options.

Summary of changes:

Skuntank / Drifblim —> Healing Wish Gardevoir
[Optional] Leftovers and Power Gem —> Damp Rock and Rain Dance on Probopass
[Optional] Specially Defensive spread on Probopass



Good luck with the team and thanks for the shout-out!

You sure know how to battle! Congrats on the #1 spot peak btw! (My own rank was decaying just because I didn't get a rated battle for 3 whole days due to the ladder not working). Your teams are as creative as they are effective, though in this team it is Floatzel that takes the prize in being unique (actually, for you this is pretty standard haha). You don't get any prize for saying Vaporeon is number 2 however... :'(

On to the serious rating stuff!

For Floatzel, it is definitely a tough decision between Rain Dance and Hydro Pump. I would prefer Rain Dance myself, but Amoonguss is pretty resilient. As long as the metagame leans towards physical attackers, you have plenty of opportunities in a battle to set up Rain Dance with it (especially with Regenerator). Knowing your battling skills, you can most likely keep Amoonguss alive for quite a while. Also, Floatzel is pretty frail, so it would be better off spending all its free turns attacking rather than setting up. Still, you DO have the ability to 2HKO the threats you mentioned, and you have the rest of your team to handle them as well. Does Lickilicky and Misdreavus bother you THAT much?

Damn, other than that, there really isn't much to say. Having both Absol and Skuntank is a bit redundant, yet there is nothing that can really replace it. Adding a Fighting-type makes you more vulnerable to Scarf Gardevoir who manages to hit a weakened Skuntank with Focus Blast. Of course, keeping Absol/Skuntank both also makes Banded Sawk a bit of a nuisance simply because it can hit everything on your team super-effectively with some decent prediction. Returning to Drifblim makes Scarf Zebstrika a huge problem though. But Drifblim is more useful in that it forces Sawk to try to hit you with Ice Punch, letting you switch in Gorebyss easily. You should be able to handle Electric-types with Absol's Sucker Punch regardless (Sub using Electric types are outsped by Floatzel in the Rain regardless).

...Looking at everything, I really didn't change much of anything since you already were thinking about this stuff. That in itself should tell everyone how great of a teambuilder you are. The thought of me recommending you changing something would require hours of research and it still would probably end up being a bad suggestion.

-slap for not linking your own threatlist (and calling me old of course...brat )! Hope it'll be put up soon! A definitely Luvdisc!



Edit: @FLCL: wouldn't Healing Wish Gardevoir be better if it had Rain Dance and Damp Rock over Shadow Ball/Focus Blast and Life Orb? It does what you already mentioned while still setting up Rain reliably.

Thanks for the rate guys! Gardevoir seems extremely interesting, despite that I was always able to come out on top against Gurdurr from experience. I generally save Sleep for things like that, so it would become much better to deal with later. Nevertheless, I will definitely give it a shot, even though I did fear rare HP Fighting Haunter, I usually don't have much trouble with Haunter as Probopass doesn't care about its assaults and the Swift Swimmers handle it no problem, unless Scarfed, but then Floatzel would outspeed that.

You're right WhiteDMist, Lickilicky and Misdreavus should pose no kind of threat at all. At worst I did consider Hydro Pump in case the player would want to sac something, rather than directly switch it in, as I risk getting burned by Misdreavus, which would be no problem if I had the Special Water move. Despite that though, the Waterfall blow wears it down considerably to the point that anything should take it out.

I agree that it's extremely difficult to outright replace the team as it is, because it's structured to be able to deal with just about anything for now. BTW, I will consider putting in my threat list to the thread sometime, so no worries, lol.

I really like FLCL's set with Probopass, but I'm not particularly comfortable with giving up the moves that I have already, though I wouldn't mind the Special Defense EV's.

My Man, Dell! Your team looks fricken amazing. I love the originality with Floatzel as he is one of my favorite mons too. I would agree with all of the changes that WhiteD and Flcl said. Gardevoir would be a great addition for dealing with the threats that they mentioned as well as a great utility with healing wish. I also agree with the special defensive spread on Probo as you really have nothing to tank special attacks. If you were to choose between skuntank and drifblim, i would say the blimp because skuntank and absol seem redundant to me. Both absol and skuntank's primary job is to trap and kill psychics. While skunt might do a better job, absol fits that role just fine and both arent needed. I think Healing Wish Gardevoir is better than both though :D.

So because your team is already great and im not the best team rater, im not gonna be adding anything new. You got a Luvdisc from me and I hope you have much success with it!

Hey Dell! Congrats on your peak, buddy! :)

You are definitely right about Floatzel. He's very underrated and needs more usage! I'm glad to see some originality here.

I agree with everything WhiteDMist and FLCL suggested. Everyone has already said exactly what I would have, so there's really nothing I can say differently. You get a Luvdisc from me for sure, man. Once again, congrats on reaching #1 (and sorry for the short rate)! :)

Hey dell, I'm finaly rating your team (sorry it took so long).

I Fully support FLCL's suggestion of gardevoir and would like to add that using trace will help you deal with zebstrika which I consider one of your biggest threats (especially specs) since nothing takes volt switch too well (except amoonguss who isn't taking overheat) and when combined with powerful wall breakers or goth he can be terrifying (volt switch and goth if you send the shroom). The same gardevoir also trolls ludicolo who won't let you set up and abuse rain since amoonguss can only check but not counter him. Gardevoir could also help against the rare sun teams with trace because trolling pranksters can cut your rain and start abusing you in sun (eggy is destroying you in the sun if he puts absol to sleep).

I might consider something other than healing wish however because I personlay have never managed to use that move with sucess. Heal Bell could be very useful if you mispredict and end up with floatzel or gorebyss paralyzed. hp ground could also be an option to take skunk (gardevoir's best counter) and act as a reliable option to take down steels or weakened darks when you can't afford to miss. Memento seems another intersting option but oh well just check gardevoir's crazy movepool and have fun.

Also, I'd put that remaining 4 EV's (maybe a bit more) in speed on amoonguss because there's a couple of things at 30 and they can be nice to outspeed (especially other spore users).

Rotoms are I think your biggest threat with gardy and they can be dealt with pretty eaily. Offensive special attacking lapras is a watch out for too though it's really rare.

Can't really find much else to say awesome team grats on the peak, but when was that snapshot taken ? what happened when I was on vacation? I remember a couple of FLCL's alts being in the 1900's when I left.

@Jesus: I don't know, Zebstrika doesn't look that threatening to me. Probopass alone tanks every hit from it, and in the rain, Overheat is a bad more to use (and if you do use it, Floatzel and Gorebyss both say hi). Special Lapras is outsped and KOed by Absol, but is a bit threatening if it avoids it. Dell already told me that Healing Wish has been helping him out a lot, and I can see how since his entire team takes damage from entry hazards.

BTW, if it makes you feel better, Dell wasn't number 1 for very long before a bunch of people overtook him, including FLCL. ;P

Zebra surely isn't threatening in the rain, but before I think he is because of the crucial momentum he can bring. Sure probo walls him well but the opponent is switching to something that can destroy probo and without synthesis, amoonguss won't last long taking powerful EQ's and certanly won't be walling any poke with the classic water ice grass coverage (on the special side). I know zebra becomes shit after rain has been set but before he is a threat that can make rain hard to set. In any casse, gardevoir still rocks zebra. For healing wish, it was just on a personal note, if dell makes good use of it then keep it.

Also on probopass, wouldn't sturdy be better ? Rain teams just don't seem to have problems with steels in general