(Gen 1) RBY NU

[Agent Gibbs]

PO's RBY NU List

There aren't many people who play RBY OU, so as you can imagine, RBY NU is even less played. The tier may be pretty small, but honestly OU teams tend to contain the same small pool of Pokemon as well. This metagame is actually pretty fun, with several Pokemon like Machamp, Omastar, Magneton, and Fearow standing out as legitimate threats. Is there anyone else out there who has played RBY NU before? What kind of Pokemon have you found to be good or bad?



I guess I'll start off the discussion with Machamp. While Machamp is pretty lackluster in RBY OU and UU, it really shines in RBY NU. The first thing you notice about him is obviously that base 130 Atk stat. When backed up by STAB Submission and additional moves like Earthquake, Body Slam, Rock Slide, and the classic Hyper Beam, this gives Machamp enough power to severely dent or KO a lot of the metagame on its own. Not only that, but it's pretty bulky, too. 90 / 80 / 65 overall bulk is kinda nice, giving it a small chance to survive a 2HKO from Fearow's Drill Peck and letting him tank even an Abra's Psychic with 19% left at worst. With that combination of offense and bulk, you'd be hard pressed to find something that can switch easily into Machamp and threaten it back. The lack of good Psychic-type Pokemon in RBY NU really helps Machamp out a lot, giving it a lot less to fear from that department.

[magic9mushroom]

That list is from 2k10 and thus assumes Wrap is banned, which it isn't here. AgiliWrap Dragonair is way, way too powerful for NU, and I'd be taking a harsh look at AgiliSpin Rapidash as well.

[Dre89]

Staryu eggy and either seadra or omastar are basically mandatory. You usually want a ground to wall electrics too. Marowak is better than rhyhorn because blizzard does like 40-50% to the standard grass switch-ins and isn't OHKOd by surfs, but you want a rock type to wall fearow and wrap. Onix is a gimmickier option, but has bind for free switches and a decently fast (but weak) explosion.

You basically have to choose where you want your rock typing. Seadra is better than omastar if you use rhyhorn, and marowak is better than rhyhorn if you use omastar.

You want a physical sweeper too. Fearow is probably the best physical sweeper but for the fact that it gets walled by rock types. Machamp is the alternate option, whose selling points are its extra bulk and that it can get past rock types. I've seen wigglytuff used too, it has status and can attack on the special side as well. Lickitung is a gimmick option, but end-game swords dance plus STAB wrap can become threatening if it's legal.

Dragonair with agility wrap thunderbolt blizzard is honestly way too broken for NU, and possibly UU as well. It's worse than dragonite in OU because boltbeam is super effective on a lot of the meta, and unlike dragonite is still a good pokemon even after its wrap has been PP stalled thanks to boltbeam. Agility firespin rapidash isn't in the same league though, especially when you consider the unreliable accuracy and the fact that at least 3 of your pokemon probably resist it too.

[magic9mushroom]

Originally Posted by Fat Dre89

Agility firespin rapidash isn't in the same league though, especially when you consider the unreliable accuracy and the fact that at least 3 of your pokemon probably resist it too.

I said I'd take a harsh look at it purely from the knowledge that its best set wasn't considered when tiering. If it's not broken, then that's fine too, but as with anything else imported from 2k10, one must check for applicability given their eccentricities.

But yeah, it's nowhere near Dragonair's league. Dragonair's the best of the NU BoltBeamers and has AgiliWrap on top of that.

[Dre89]

I'd say staryu is the best boltbeamer if you don't factor in wrap. Staryu is faster and has access to recover or water STAB, and electric type attacks are on a lot less pokemon than ice attacks. Staryu is basically the reason why you need physical sweepers like machamp.

I used rapidash for awhile in NU, and I concluded it isn't worth going for the agility sweep. The accuracy and damage output just aren't worth it. I don't even think agility+firespin is its best set, and I think I actually dropped firespin before I dropped rapidash altogether, not that I'm some master of NU or anything.

[magic9mushroom]

Forgot about Staryu, actually.

There are STAB Electric attacks in NU, though. There are no STAB Ice attacks, because Seel/Shellder don't have the Ice typing.

[Crystal_]

I haven't played NU for months, but I remember it was a simple, generic metagame. My team used to be Seadra | Omastar | Magneton | Marowak | Exeggcute / Weepinbell | Filler. The filler usually was Dragonair (not wrap since people that played NU were RBY2k10ers), Machamp or Wigglytuff.

Most people would've thought Machamp would be the best and would probably be broken in NU, but as in UU, it was better on paper than in practice (instead of broken it ended up being just good). What topped the metagame was Seadra, followed with Omastar. Seadra was a bit like the Taruos of OU since there are no special walls in NU and nothing is able to resist Surf while not taking SE damage from Blizzard (well, except another Seadra). I think Seadra is the fastest relevant Pokemon in NU after Fearow. Omastar may look like it doesn't come close to Seadra's domninance due to Rock typing and lackluster Speed, but it has awesome Special and Defese and can go toe-to-toe with Seadra thanks to Seismic Toss. I think between Hydro Pump and Blizzard, Omastar can 2HKO every non-water non-magneton Pokemon in NU.

Marowak was my physical sweeper of choice. It didn't have the attack stat of Machamp and was weak to Surf, but had a much more reliable STAB move and offered a much needed answer to Magneton. Machamp could be the better Pokemon though, I don't know. I also tried a Machamp | Rhyhorn combination over Marowak | filler, but didn't like Rhyhorn as much either. Rock typing offers more bad than good.

My sleeper was either Weepinbell or Exeggcute. Razor Leaf alone made Weep worth it, and it could also use Stun Spore, Body Slam and Swords Dance, although the latter rarely works in NU (oh and gets Wrap, but again, RBY2k10). Exeggcute may seem odd, but it was actually a decent Pokemon. It handled the other grass types well, it could explode, its STAB Psychic didn't hit very hard but it's unresisted, and was a pretty good answer to Machamp, since the standard set was Submission | Eathquake | Body Slam | Rock Slide / Hyper Beam. I wasn't as lucky with Marowak though, since people ran Blizzard because honestly there isn't much Marowak can learn.

I really didn't like Fearow that much, since Omastar was worth a moveslot on every team, and you still could face Rhyhorn. Plus, you will likely face Magneton. At least Fearow is faster than Seadra and hits damn hard. It's really good late game if given the scenario.

So everything looked well until I saw that some people started running Staryu, which is something I had considered myself, but not to the point of using it. Staryu can single-handedly neutralize both Seadra and Omastar with a Recover set, although Omastar can at least learn Body Slam. The problem with Staryu is that, while it can actually sponge Seadra's and Omastar's attacks, it's forced to use Recover on most turns after eating a Surf in the switch-in which could lead to bad positions against dangerous Pokemon such as Machamp, Wigglytuff and Magneton, since Staryu dies in two hits. At least Magneton can be handled with your ground-type though. In any case, being able to wall the two most common threats in NU is wonderful, and Staryu kind of balances NU a bit.

I think a standard go-to team now wold be Seadra | Omastar | Staryu | Magneton | Marowak | Weepinbell. As you can see there are a lot of similarities between this team and the standard UU team consisting of Kingler | Poliwrath | Golduck / Vaporeon | Electabuzz | Graveler / Sandslash | Venomoth / Tangela.

On the other hand though, Agi wrap dragonair probably would be broken in NU and I guess some people would be abusing it now if NU is still played these days.

[Joim]

If RBY NU is to be played (it's possible now in PS thanks to Custom Game), imo Wrap and Fire Spin should be banned. These games are too gamebreaking in the lowest tier.

[Crystal_]

I think Fire Spin is not a problem with water-types (especially Omastar) around. The only issue is Wrap, particularly Agi Wrap Dragonair.

[Dre89]

Crystal-Weepinbell is good but I wouldn't call it a standard. I also think that if you're running an electric you need eggy to absorb EQs because you'll be giving grounds free switch ins. Marowak does have blizzard though.

I'd say three waters is overkill too unless one of them is taking sleep. I think either pick seadra or omastar alongside staryu. Having a physical attacker is pretty important too, it kinda counts as a SE attack against frailer things like staryu and eggy.