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Texas Cloverleaf

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Not necessarily. While it is true that Sceptile would love to run Leaf Storm/ Giga Drain/ Focus blast / Substitute / Leech Seed / Hideen Power Fire/Ice / Sowrds Dance / Leaf blade / Earthquake / rock slide / Acrobatics with grass gem / life orb/ lefties / and flight gem, each of its individual sets generall make do perfectly fine with the moves they have to choose from. The only set that could really be considered to have 4mss is the Sub Seed set, with which attacking options arent a huge concern.
 
That's understandable, I just asked the viability of Aerial Ace for Sceptile because I run Aerial Ace on Sceptile (I prefer accuracy over attack). However, thanks fo the answers DittoCrow and Texas Cloverleaf! :D

EDIT: Cloverleaf, not Cloverfield! Lol!
EDIT2: Is Rock Slide a TM in B/W? (I hope this question is in the correct forum)
 

Oglemi

Borf
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Eviolite pushes Dusclops's defenses far above Dusknoir's, which is about it. The extra Attack that Dusknoir offers isn't enough to outweigh Dusclop's insane defenses, and Dusclops is perfectly OK with using only Night Shade, Will-O-Wisp, and Pain Split to deal damage.
 

Oglemi

Borf
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Drought is banned in UU, RU, and NU. Vulpix has been banned by proxy due to the technical issues behind incorporating it on PO.
 
How viable would Choice Scarf Tauros be?
I am thinking about using him with retaliate as a revenge killer.
 

Oglemi

Borf
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Scarf Tauros wouldn't be a bad choice for a team slot; however, never use Retaliate. It is wholly unreliable, and while having a one-off 140 Base Power attack is cool, one of your teammates needs to die in order for the boost to work, and once you attack once your suddenly left with a weak 70 Base Power attack. Not only that, but there are a ton of Pokemon that can take the 140 Retaliate just as easily as any of Tauros's other attacks, Aggron, Rhydon, Tangrowth, and the Ghost-types to name a few.

This isn't to say that it won't work sometimes, in fact it could be a nasty surprise for opponents. However, in most cases Rock Climb will prove more useful.

Though now that I think about it, you should still try it out, and if it works you should post in the Creative Movesets thread.
 
Hello, Smogon. I've had an account here for awhile and have been intrested in RU for a long time now. My friend DittoCrow has refrenced me to this community, since I have been away for the RU tier for about 2-3 months now. I'm looking forward to helping/learning alot from you guys. I have a simple question/debate kinda thing.

Q ; Why doesn't Mandibuzz get more usage?

My look: Mandibuzz has a great defensive stat and can't take a few hits. Dark/Flying isn't a bad combonation either. It has a nice support movepool as well as the ability to stall out an opponent for a long while. So I'm just looking for some good answers and if your willing to help me.

Thank you guys in advance.

- R-C
 
Mandibuzz is an amazing Pokemon and even I don't understand why people don't use it more. Good typing (hey Regen core and Cofag), great bulk, and reliable recovery make it the best mixed wall imo.

Don't be discouraged by the stats. If you think it's good, use it. Just to give an example, Slowking was NU when I started playing RU and it was a monster.
 
Mandibuzz really is great. Usually played sp. Def, but phys. Def works too.

Usage in RU (especially beyond top 10) seems to fluctuate a decent amount so consider Mandibuzz in a bit of a market slump. Arguably the 2 most reliable OTR cofag checks are Drapion and Mandi and Drapion usage is through the roof (neutering cof's dominance somewhat,but that's a different topic) so Mandibuzz is facing tough competition from Drapion (who makes a poor check to itself) but Mandibuzz interestingly counters offensive Drapion, so its usage might soon be on the rise...

Just some thoughts.

While RU might be a very balanced tier (to some, the explanation for its low player base) it is still not very stable, at least in my eyes, with several different offensive/ defensive threats vying for use.
 
I'm tempted to try running a Whimsicott built for being a physical wall.
Obviously, Cotton Guard will be needed for the set, as well as either Giga Drain or Leech Seed (probably Leech Seed) for recovery. For Nature and EVs, I'm thinking of Bold with 252 Def (not sure about the other 258 EVs).

What other moves/Nature and EVs would be good for a build like this?
 
Whimsicott's best physically defensive set would probably be 252 HP / 252 Defense with an Impish nature. It is best to take advantage of its Prankster ability by using moves such as Substitute, Leech Seed, and Encore rather than attacking moves such as Giga Drain (due to its below average Special Attack stat). Personally, I don't like using Whimsicott as a physical wall in RU because it is outclassed by defensive mammoths such as Tangrowth. Plus, Whimsicott is easily played around by Pokemon who are immune to Leech Seed, such as Sceptile. If you still want to use Whimsicott, I suggest checking out its analysis. Maybe you'll find a cool set you like or come up with your own. Good luck teambuilding :p
 
Whimsicott's best physically defensive set would probably be 252 HP / 252 Defense with an Impish nature. It is best to take advantage of its Prankster ability by using moves such as Substitute, Leech Seed, and Encore rather than attacking moves such as Giga Drain (due to its below average Special Attack stat). Personally, I don't like using Whimsicott as a physical wall in RU because it is outclassed by defensive mammoths such as Tangrowth. Plus, Whimsicott is easily played around by Pokemon who are immune to Leech Seed, such as Sceptile. If you still want to use Whimsicott, I suggest checking out its analysis. Maybe you'll find a cool set you like or come up with your own. Good luck teambuilding :p
Not really a fan of the "only Status moves" setup Whimsicott tends to run. While it's good for support or crippling the opponent, it won't do s*** against Grass types unless you can somehow stall them long enough to make them Struggle (which is something I want to avoid in case Whimsi ends up being my last Pokemon standing), and it lacks the ability to do much of anything besides force switches.

Depending on whether or not I decide to throw him into a Rain/Sun team, I might give him Hurricane or SolarBeam for an attack move.
 
Hey everyone, just started playing today. Made a RU-Team, and here is my question:

In this tier, how do I deal with Entry Hazards effectively? I personally dont think that they are very fun to use, but about 80% of my opponents today used them and screwed me over.

I dont really know how to counter effectively, or just how to stand my ground against this in general. Any help would be appreciated.
 
Rapid Spinners are good: Cryogonal and Kabutops are the two best. Furthermore, you can use something with Taunt, such as Drapion or Aerodactyl, to prevent the opponent from setting up. Other ways, though not as effective, are to use Natu, who bounces back entry hazards with its Magic Bounce ability. Otherwise just try to have counters to common hazard setters and keep pressure on them to prevent them from setting up. You're probably having trouble dealing with Smeargle, so Drapion can Taunt that. You could also use a Pokemon with Vital Spirit, such as Magmortar or Primeape, to prevent Smeargle from putting you to sleep.
 
Thanks. Decided to put Kabutops in my team. Also got taunt for my Drapion, which was part of my team to begin with. Having a bit more success since then. ;]
 
Well, I was going to post this in the teambuilding thread, but I think I'll play it safe and keep it here.

Right now I'm playing OU for the time being, but I really want to get into RU because after watching some battles it is very reminiscent of Gen4 UU - a metagame in which I adore! So I was think about giving RU a shot. I saw Zangoose in the teambuilding thread, and I figured I should start with it since this is my first shot at RU. I then thought about getting rid of ghosts, so I turned to Spirtomb, but I was unable to decide on a set. What kind of set works best for him? Special? Physical? Mixed? Defensive? It is these questions I find I cannot answer alone. Also, I would like your opinions on the biggest threats at the moment ( I heard things like Nidoqueen and Esca, but I can't seem to find RU stuff on them.)

And, How bad/good is Altaria at the moment? I was thinking the lines of a defensive Dragon Dance set akin to Togekiss' Nasty Plot set, because both have access to Heal Bell and Roost. On paper it seems good, as it can take on Magmortar, Slowking (I think most carry Fire Blast instead of Ice Beam? Coorect me if I'm wrong on this), Tangrowth (Do they carry HP Rock? I hear that is a popular Hidden Power type in RU) and maybe Moltres also, since Grass tends to make it over Ice in terms of Hidden Powers.

Is there any weather in the tiers? I know Drizzle/Snow Warning etc. are banned but with Uxie in RU do you occasionally get those Rain Dance teams? How popular are they and how much of a threat are they?
 
Zangoose does indeed need teammates to take out Ghost-types. Even if you opt for Night Slash over Quick Attack / Swords Dance, bulky Ghosts such as Cofagrigus can still take a hit or two and strike back. Spiritomb, Drapion, and Absol are probably some of the best Ghost-killers in the tier, Spiritomb for its decent bulk and STAB Ghost / Dark-type moves, Drapion for its access to Swords Dance and Taunt, and Absol, for its sheer power. Spiritomb's best set is the physical set in my opinion, as it has powerful STAB priority in the form of Sucker Punch and Shadow Sneak. Mixed forces you to spread your EVs across Attack and Special Attack, making it much less powerful and less effective. Special gets set up on.

Nidoqueen and Escavalier are huge threats in the tier, as they have the potential to power through almost anything. As for why there isn't an analysis page on them, it's because the analyses have not yet been written, as they have just been inducted into the tier. You can check out their analyses in progress in the RU C&C Forum, though I think there's only a Nidoqueen analysis in progress atm. Moltres is also a huge threat, as it gained STAB Hurricane from BW2, meaning it now has the ability to 2HKO Slowking, a massive feat for any special attacker that doesn't possess super effective STAB moves against it.

Altaria is very uncommon in the RU metagame simply because it is very underwhelming. Its offenses are decidedly mediocre, while its defenses aren't that amazing either. Although it is one of the few Dragon-types in RU, it really doesn't fit in well with the fast-paced, hard-hitting RU metagame.

As for weather, it is pretty much non-existent. Despite the numerous amount of weather sweepers such as Kabutops, Omastar, Ludicolo, Victreebel, Charizard, Sawsbuck, and more, it's simply too difficult to maintain weather for so long. In addition, the multitude of priority users in RU makes it difficult to sweep even if you manage to keep weather up. Weather is always an interesting style to use, but it's difficult to pull off successfully in the current RU metagame.
 

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