Deep inside our hearts
Hey Smogon, my name’s NuclearMedT and I’ve been playing NU since around April or something. It’s most definitely my strongest tier right now and I figured it would make sense to make my first RMT of any kind an NU team. So yeah, about the team. It has had different versions that goes way back but after it started to get outdated I decided to make a complete revamp with new sweepers and things that fits the metagame better. Right now I would consider it my best team to date. Not gonna bother with any teambuilding process because it's so long it would just get boring. But yeah, this version is based around DD Fraxure. An amazing pokemon that can sweep, break walls and with a nice amount of resistances work as a tank at times. Although it is a team based around Fraxure, this team is fairly defensive. I don’t consider any of these pokes a “glass cannon” even though they might be offensively orientated. The name of the team is a line in the lyrics from “Through the fire and the flames” by DRAGONFORCE in case you're wondering.
This team got me to #16 under the alt “NukeIsStrong” before I started tilting and grew tired of laddering with it. Probably could go a little bit higher but yeah:
Not very impressive at all in my opinion but some better ladderer might make top 3 or something idk. This team has been really fun to play with though so I hope you enjoy your read:
Team Preview:
So let’s take a look:
The assassin(ette):
Gothitelle (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd
Bold Nature
- Psychic
- Signal Beam
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
I’m pretty sure you all have raged at this thing before. Apart from Fraxure this thing is the most valuable player on the team. Takes down the Regenerator core without even trying, keeps sturdy walls off the field and if your Emboar is locked into Superpower, you are in for some pain. Unless you’re familiar with Gothi you might want to know how it works. Well, basically you come in on something weakened or already weak and trap it. Then you proceed to boost as much as you can and sub to avoid status. When you’re at an acceptable amount of boosts you sub up and kill your trap. From there you just sweep as much as you can really. It’s like a Musharna that forces people to let you set up Calm Minds. If you remove any Dark type before sweeping it could result in a clean 6-0 and even if you don’t, Substitute will help you to get past them.
The EV’s are to give this thing as much physical bulk as possible while speed creeping other Gothitelle’s which makes them much easier to deal with. Psychic is a hard hitting STAB move of course and Signal Beam allows me to get past those goddamn Dark types. I’ve had such a great experience with Gothi and I hope she will stay around on this team for a while. It is likely that she pops up to higher tiers soon though. :(
The tank:
Carracosta (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Solid Rock
EVs: 252HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Aqua Jet
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
Carracosta! Costa is usually my lead as he can almost ensure SR on the field, not to forget he also beats the best spinner in the tier (Armaldo obv) so Stealth Rock is here to stay. I have plowed through my opponent’s with Carracosta alone. Thanks to a great defense stat he can function as a bird check or a physical wall, even uninvested. This allows you to invest in attack instead. And with Solid Rock, Carracosta can still take powerful attacks such as Golem’s Earthquake, Sawk’s Close Combat, Absol’s and Braviary’s Superpower and it even has a chance of surviving Cinccino’s Bullet Seed! I usually feel comfortable leaving Carracosta in to take any physical attack and surprise the opponent with a powerful attack of my own.
STAB Aqua Jet is super strong against powerful attackers such as Zangoose, Emboar and Cinccy. Earthquake might seem a little out of place but it is necessary against Skuntank, who otherwise would have a field day on this team. It also hits Steel types for SE damage and gives me EdgeQuake coverage. Rocky Helmet over Leftovers is primarily to make Cinccino wish it never used Tail Slap, but has actually been really helpful against other things for an easier KO with Aqua Jet.
The little terror:
Fraxure @ Eviolite
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Taunt
- Low Kick
Ok, so this thing incredible. I can't think of anything that walls this thing to 100% and with some HP investement, Eviolite and an incredibly good typing it is really easy to set up one or two Dragon Dances. The team relies pretty heavily on mister Dragon and I can’t really say it has dissapointed me, if I play like a moron the sweep might fail and I’m at a disadvantage but Gothitelle and Ditto can usually save the situation, if I succeed though I pretty much got the game in the bag. Fraxure is probably the reason this team can win most of it’s matches really.
The Speed EVs allows it to outspeed positive natured 115s (Cinccino) after one boost. Mold Breaker Low Kick makes quick work of Bastiopass and perhaps some slow Ice Types. Taunt can easily shut down walls like Amoonguss to make them set up fodder and keep Fraxure clean of any status. +2 Outrage is super fun after any Steel types are gone and at + 2 speed it is hard to revenge too. If you play it right you can almost count on two or three kills. Since Fraxure is in the current Research Group you really should test this thing out, it’s really good.
The scout:
Eelektross (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 132 HP / 124 Spd
Modest Nature
- U-turn
- Giga Drain
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
Ok so this was the poke I started the team from. I wanted a strong special attacker covered as well as a slow Volt Switcher to scout, trap with Gothi or give Fraxure a free switch in. Eelektross does wonders on this team. Thanks to good bulk, no weakness and a low speed stat he makes the perfect slow U-turner. I use U-turn rather than Volt Switch because I don’t want to get trapped by Ground types (Golurk loves a free hit on something) and it makes my opponent think I’m physically orientated which might net a surprise kill.
The set is rather obvious aside from U-turn, Thunderbolt is good STAB and Flamethrower + Giga Drain provides exellent coverage. Giga Drain can also restore a good amount of health which is a huge plus on a choiced set. Flamethrower hits annoying things like Klang and Amoonguss that could otherwise be problematic I guess. The EV’s make sure that you outspeed Alomomola and speed tie Golurk which is nice. Other than being a great team player Eelektross is this teams “smasher” that just hits hard without setting up to get through sturdy walls. Eel does a ton of work every game really.
The support:
Audino (F) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic
- Heal Bell
I almost always carry a dedicated special wall because I usually pick team mebers that doesn’t have enough natural bulk on the special side to check scary things like Eggy or Charizard. This team relies a lot on Wish-Passing too and Audino is in my opinion the best one in the tier bar Alomomola. Thanks to Regenerator, Audino can actually pass its Wishes unlike Lickilicky who rather use them to heal up. Toxic can stall out a lot of powerful special attackers and not immune walls. Audino is a reliable cleric as well which is SO important on this teams. I use Heal Bell like two times every game at least.
Unfortunately this thing is 100% Taunt bait but that just means +33% health when i switch out so that has never really been a problem. When I feel that I don’t need it anymore it can give Ditto a great opportunity to sweep. Overall this thing is reliable and an amazing fallback for strong attackers. Not much more to say really.
The secret weapon:
Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Transform
The single not 5th Gen Pokemon on this team! Ditto is amazing. I can not only revenge powerful attackers such as Gorebyss, opposing Fraxure and other set-up sweepers, I can use them back against my opponent! I don't really know why it uses -Spe but I assume it's because I need to outslow my opponent to transform or something like that. 252 Def Relaxed could help if Ditto had to take an attack for some reason but that has never happened.
So how does it work? Imposter copies the pokemon in front of me giving Ditto the same stats (bar HP), the same moves and the same stat boosts, if they have any. With a Choice Scarf equipped Ditto is faster though and usually comes out on top 1 vs 1 and can turn in to my most dangerous sweeper. It takes care of so many threats for this team and it is HILARIOUS when my opponent has to deal with them instead of me. I have no idea why this thing isn’t seen more on the ladder.. maybe you have to experience the joy of a scarfed +2 Absol cleaning out it’s own team yourself before you realize how great it is. :D
Threats:
SubWisp Gardevoir - I don’t really have a direct answer to this because my entire team hates status. It will go down after some pain but it can be troublesome.
Sub SD Kingler - The devil himself. Behind a sub it’s unrevengable by Ditto and hits like a truck. Fraxure can usually take a hit and hurt it but this thing can still blast though my team. Eel can keep some pressure on it too, but still dies to a +2 Crabhammer.
Toxic Spikes - These are starting to get common because of the lack of Poison types. I lack a spinner and a poison type so I can get stalled pretty easily with these. Taunt+Ditto might clean them out for me once but if they stay around they are a huge problem.
Last thoughts:
I assume some members in this team will move up to higher tiers soon so if that happens you can run Musharna over Gothitelle and some other strong scarfer over Ditto. (Moxie Pinsir? :3)
Any ideas will be considered and tested. This team is near retirement but I will definitely listen to all suggestions. Let's see what you guys got.
Importable:
Eelektross (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- U-turn
- Thunderbolt
- Giga Drain
- Flamethrower
Carracosta (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Aqua Jet
Gothitelle (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Signal Beam
Audino (F) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Toxic
Fraxure (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Low Kick
- Taunt
Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Transform
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- U-turn
- Thunderbolt
- Giga Drain
- Flamethrower
Carracosta (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Aqua Jet
Gothitelle (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Signal Beam
Audino (F) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Toxic
Fraxure (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Low Kick
- Taunt
Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Transform
