ORAS NU Faded




Introduction

Hey everyone I'm shaneghoul, some of you may know me from the nu community or from the nu room on PS! Lately I've had incredible success with a team I made which, with drops, is less effective then it used to be so for my 300th post I decided to rmt it. I've been using this team for pretty much every tour since sceptile dropped to nu and it's been very successful for me, going undefeated in the playoffs of a tour called the nu league, a circuit tournament that has been going on since August. The team utilises a lot of mons that I like to use such as av hariyama and defensive mesprit and I think it is a great representation of the type of builder I am and the builds I like to use. I haven't gotten any ladder peaks with it since generally I don't enjoy laddering but I've passed it to a few friends who have had good success with it on ladder, and with that onto the team!​

Teambuilding
So the idea for this team came about when I was talking about building teams for nul with my friend Luck O' The Irish since we both happened to make playoffs and he suggested LO sceptile + sub smash barbaracle. The idea with this core is you let sceptile die to a poison type like weezing. From there you go to barbaracle and sub as they try to wisp you, then smash and win. Sub isn't really a move that anyone runs on barb (or at least wasn't, I've started to see more people running since I made this team) so you generally had a very free sub vs most defensive mons that rely on status. At +2 +2 most teams in the current meta can't deal with barb, especially with a sub up, so you generally win from there.



After adding these two I instantly knew I wanted to use memento skuntank. It synergises well with the team serving as a semi answer to grass types but the main reason was because of how well it supports barb as a) you absorb t spikes which is crucial for a sweep and b) memento support makes it ridiculously easy to safely get smashes off in a lot of matchups, especially with sub.



Looking at the team now I was looking pretty weak to fighting types like yama and sawk and I had a bit of an issue with ground types like piloswine. For this reason I added defensive mesprit which I honestly think is one of the best rockers on the tier, especially on these bulky offense type teams and it's why you'll see me use it so much. A bulky pivot that sits in a nice speed tier, adds rocks, healing wish support and a switch in to the scary fighting types in the tier is so hard to pass up and fits really nicely here.



From here sd samurott was looking to be an issue if sceptile got weakened as well as steelix if it got in for free on mesprit. For this reason I added offensive spell tag rotom as it patched up a lot of defensive holes in it's ability to revenge kill a lot with it's great typing, nice speed tier, decent bulk and incredibly potent wisp hex volt switch combination. I feel like most good teams need a ghost type in this meta and rotom is just so good it's often very hard to pass up as it does what it does so well.



At this stage I was looking incredibly weak to magmortar and ice types like aurorus as barbaracle was my only resist for both those types which really doesn't want to be switching into very much at all if it wants to have a chance to sweep. On top of that I was looking pretty weak to ludicolo while swellow got a kill every time it came in and finally special combusken just walked through me. For this reason my last mon wasn't a very hard decision at all, hariyama. With av hariyama is an incredibly consistent special sponge that very rarely fails to make it onto my teams as it just does so much. It gives me an answer to everything I was having trouble with while being able to keep jynx in check with fake out + bp and knock everything off. Yama really holds this team together and fits the last slot very well as it keeps so much in check.



And with that I have the team! I haven't really looked back at all from this original squad and I can't really see anything that I would consider changing, nothing on the team has been lacking in any way and the 6 mons work together better then I could've imagined :D


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In-Depth

Barbaracle @ White Herb
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 16 SpD / 240 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Razor Shell
- Return
- Shell Smash

Disregarding the sub this set is very standard, in the current nu meta return + razor shell is incredible coverage as teams are relying on stuff like mantine and pelipper to act as their water resists on balance and on offense a lot teams are relying on stuff like sceptile and rotom to revenge kill them. Of course you still see the rare ferroseed but a lot of them drop gyro in favour of knock off + twave now so you actually beat them 1v1. Stall is pretty non existent so quagsire is a very rare sight and almost never seen in tournament play. All these factors have led to barb being a menace which a lot of teams just can't deal with no matter how well they play around it.

However substitute is what makes this set unique and it's the reason why I wanted to build around it. Sub lets you set up on a lot of mons that rely on toxic or will-o-wisp to stop barb from tearing through their team such as weezing and mawile. However it's the combination of sub + memento support that really makes this so good, this essentially lets you set up on every bulky mon that isn't a grass type and a large amount of offensive mons as well. White herb is an obvious choice since it lets me set up my sub again after setting up vs mons that need two attacks to break the sub (which is a lot of mons at -2). The 16 SpDef evs are there since it makes it easier to set up subs on a -2 lanturn's volt switch since you don't actually need any more speed then that as it lets you outpace scarf rotom at +2 anyway and that's the fastest scarfer you're gonna be outspeeding anyway unless you run jolly.​



Sceptile @ Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Giga Drain
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast

The king of nu. I'm actually convinced sceptile is broken in nu and have thought this for a while, against offensive teams this mon is incredibly good as it's speed tier means that it can revenge kill so much and offense doesn't really carry switch ins, relying on either outspeeding it with stuff like swellow or using something like garb that can take a hit and kill it. But it's not just offense that if fucks over as it's difficult for balance to deal with it too, I usually lead with either this or rotom just because it puts on so much pressure right off the bat. The only reliable switch ins that I can think of are sliggoo and clefairy, both mediocre mons, as every other 'answer' lacks recovery and gets worn pretty easily throughout the game i.e yama dislikes switching in multiple times, rotom-fan hates coming in on rocks and weezing hates taking repeated giga drains due to sub-par special bulk.

I decided not to run leaf storm on this set as I feel like on this team there isn't really any move that I'd feel comfortable dropping, you could try it over eq but I really like eq so that you have to worry about poison types like skunk or fire types like mag, mainly skunk tho since I don't actually have any switch ins to that. For this team particularly the purpose scept serves is as a way to revenge kill some of the offensive threats that can get out of hand like samurott and kabutops while luring in weezing for barbaracle and just generally pressuring walls. Really there isn't much reason not to run sceptile rn​



Skuntank @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 204 Atk / 100 Def / 192 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Fire Blast
- Poison Jab
- Memento

Skuntank is a really nice mon since it can fill a lot of roles, the set I've gone with is quite an interesting one and I've been told a few times it's bad but its worked very well for me so far and that's good enough for me :D Skunk acts as my psychic answer being able to stop mush from being annoying while serving as a great switch in to all forms of mesprit. While I can still deal with these mons without skunk it just makes them much easier to handle as I don't have to worry about them sweeping me. Skunk also serves as my answer to audino, sceptile, lilligant. Most importantly though, other then checking various threats skuntank provides memento support for barb which is crucial and it's probably the reason why this team has been so successful. A lot of people just don't see memento coming and it makes for such easy set up for barb that I sometimes question how balanced it is lol

While the evs on this aren't exactly standard they're nothing special. With a shuca berry you can relatively easily take a leaf storm + eq from lo sceptile after rocks, on top of that you can healthily live a +2 eq from swords dance sceptile which otherwise is really scary for this team like it is for all offensive teams. Other then that the bulk is just generally helpful for helping check things like audino and mushy, the attack is pretty self explanatory, more attack = more damage. 12 speed is just so I don't tie with uninvested skunks.

Now with regard to the moves, obviously I need memento since that's the main reason I decided to use skunk. Sucker punch is pretty necessary since it's a strong priority that helps me deal with fast stuff that might get out of hand. P jab is a pretty important stab that beats down on audino and musharna. The one I've gotten questions about is the adamant fire blast skuntank, I actually find this set to be really effective since being walled by steelix is incredibly annoying but more importantly I need to get steelix to a range where it won't get back to full with lefties after switching in on rocks because otherwise barb can't sweep. Fire blast does a really good job of this as even with a -SpA nature it does 33% min to a SpDef steelix meaning that it will struggle to get up to full opening the way up for a barb sweep.

252 SpA Life Orb Sceptile Leaf Storm vs. 0 HP / 192 SpD Skuntank: 136-160 (39.1 - 46.1%) -- 25% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
4 Atk Life Orb Sceptile Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 100 Def Shuca Berry Skuntank: 100-118 (28.8 - 34%) -- 99.7% chance to 3HKO after Stealth Rock

+2 252+ Atk Sceptile Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 100 Def Shuca Berry Skuntank: 217-256 (62.5 - 73.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock


0- SpA Skuntank Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 128+ SpD Steelix: 118-140 (33.3 - 39.5%) -- 46.1% chance to 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery



Mesprit @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Healing Wish
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- U-turn

Defensive mesprit is an amazing pivot on bulky offense teams, it gives me nearly everything I want in a rocker as it acts as a slow bulky pivot which can switch in on fighting types, has the ability to grab momentum with it's semi slow u-turns and finally provides amazing healing wish support which is a great addition to any team and it allows me to play a bit more recklessly with some pokes as I know I can just bring them back up later on in the match. Not being able to rock on xatu is a shame and mesprit can sometimes get worn down pretty easily due to lack of recovery and me opting to run colbur berry over leftovers. Like I said this is my answer to fighting type so colbur is pretty necessary and it also acts as my switch in to ground types like piloswine and poison types like weezing and vileplume. The moveset is pretty self explanatory with healing wish over twave as I don't feel like I need the speed control that much and healing wish is just so hard to pass up.

Rotom @ Spell Tag
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball/Signal Beam
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Volt Switch

Spell tag wisp hex rotom is one of my favourite mons in nu right now, it's amazing how it rips through balance teams with it's dual stab + burn combination. At the moment I feel like most teams need a ghost type just to deter ccs and rotom is easily the best of them. With it's great defensive typing and usable bulk it can switch into a lot of threats and put on tons of pressure and paired with healing wish it on it's own is often too much for some teams to deal with. While there are defensive answers to it like audino and semi answers like pyroar that fit on balance rotom can easily just volt switch around on them, weakening them for later. Signal beam can be run over shadow ball to help alleviate the malamar weakness but in general I prefer shadow ball as it's much more useful in most matchups an it lets me put pressure on camerupts and pick off weakened defensive mons like piloswine and garbodor as the difference between volt switch and spell tag boosted shadow ball is very significant.

While it's main purpose is to put on offensive pressure rotom's great typing give it some defensive use acting as a reliable switch in to steelix, primeape, garbodor and weezing while serving as a semi answer to tauros, archeops, scyther and hitmonchan. It also serves as a revenge killer for sd samurott or kabu and an answer to mesprit or musharna in case sceptile or skuntank get weakened. Finally it can be used to get off a last ditch wisp for stuff I don't really have an answer to like SD pinsir and SD mawile, even if they are both relatively uncommon.

Hariyama @ Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
- Bullet Punch

And finally we have the best mon in the tier, hariyama (I don't actually think it is but it's a really really solid sponge and an offensive answer to a lot of stuff that's hard to deal with, hence the reason why it makes it on to the majority of my teams). Hariyama is the glue that holds this team together. With it an av equipped yama gains insane special bulk due to the fact that it hits 429 hp without any investment and with thick fat it gains key resists to ice and fire, allowing it to serve as a switch in to aurorus, magmortar and pyroar which is very important as my only other ice and fire resist is barbaracle which really doesn't want to have to switch in on attacks if it's going to sweep. However yama doesn't just deal with the ice and fires as it can serve as a very general special sponge serving as an answer to swellow, which is usually a huge threat to offense and ludicolo which improves my rain matchup which is another playstyle that offensive teams generally struggle with heavily.

Not much to be said about this spread as it is incredibly standard, but incredibly consistent. Close combat and knock off are obligatory on pretty much every fighting type since it's very solid neutral coverage. I usually find fake out + bullet punch to be the best option as my second two as the priority is really nice but more importantly it lets me keep jynx in check which otherwise is a massive threat to this team.
While a fair people disagree with my opinions on yama and find it a bit passive and not really useful in a lot of matchups I strongly disagree as being able to fire off knock offs all day is really nice and having a nice pivot to a lot of the special threats is invaluable imo and it's why I really believe that yama is deserving of A+ in nu (or at least was, zard might mess that up).

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Threat List

I've got a pretty good idea of everything that threatens this team but there isn't really a simple fix for most of these and from what I've tried changing the team to try and cater for these threats just makes me weaker to more stuff and makes the team worse in general. On top of that a lot of the threats that I struggle with are either strong wallbreakers that most teams struggle to find an answer to or they're very uncommon stuff that you won't run into very often. Just bear in mind that it's impossible to have an answer to everything especially with a more offensive team so please take that into consideration when looking over the team.
Going in order of biggest threats to the team taking into consideration both commonness and threat level.
Malamar: Malamar is definitely the biggest threat to this team as I really don't have any answer to it so when the opponent has it I know i'm gonna be in for a rough ride and need to get lucky with sleep talk rolls if I'm going to beat it. Thankfully the only thing it can properly set up on is yama and it needs to come in after a down so usually my course of action is going straight to rotom before it gets any boosts. From there I wisp and just continually click hex pretty much sacking rotom as, unless they get the first sleep turn knock off they will be well under 50%, from there I can revenge kill it pretty easily. Don't think I explained that too well so here are some replays showcasing it
If the malamar knocks off rotom when u burn it - http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nu-328290789
If the malamar rests after you burn it - http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nu-328292195
If they do roll knock off on the first sleep turn mesprit can revenge it with u-turn assuming it has no boosts and you don't get some really shitty rolls.

However that scenario there is assuming that you're able to keep rotom pretty healthy and that they don't predict you on the switch (no one ever does that tho). Really malamar is just something that i've accepted being very weak to as I couldn't see a way around it that didn't make my team much worse. If you're really worried about it two options are 1) putting signal beam over shadow ball on rotom but I'm really reluctant to do that as it's really nice being able to pressure camerupts with spell tag shadow ball and being able to pick off weakened garbs, piloswines and stuff like that as the power difference between spell tag shadow ball and volt switch is very significant. Option number 2) is to replace u-turn with signal beam on mesprit but I'm even more reluctant to do this as dropping u-turn makes the team flow so much worse and stops mesprit from grabbing momentum. Healing wish is something that i'm definitely not dropping as it makes this team so much easier to use knowing that I can bring back my mons at a later date, not having to worry about lo hits or toxic damage racking up. Overall malamar is a huge threat but if it's played right it can be dealt with.

Rotom: Rotom is annoying, like it is to most teams. My team doesn't really have anything to take burns as I run shuca skunk over lum which means rotom can pretty freely fire off wisps on the majority of the team. Usually I have to let sceptile take the burn against it as while it doesn't like being burnt, it can deal with the damage and I can healing wish it back up later. Pretty annoying mon but it can definitely be dealt with, I'd say the most annoying set to face is the sub lefties discharge one but thankfully that's not too common.

Rhydon: Defensive rhydon isn't too much of an issue but sd rock polish rhydon can be annoying. Fortunately it can only set up on mesprit which is fine as I can freely u-turn out on it and in to yama. Unfortunately if yama is at less then 67% then I have to use up my healing wish on it, once mesprit goes down it can't set up on anything although it does force skuntank to use it's memento. If you do let it set up both boosts you pretty much click the x but generally the only way that should happen is if you miss or misplay horribly.

Jynx: Jynx is pretty scary as it's faster then 5/6 and nothing stops it from putting something to sleep. Thankfully because it's jynx it also can't switch in on anything which means that it's only going to be putting on pressure after a down in which case I normally go skuntank then pivot right out to yama which can threatens it with fake out + bp. Pretty scary mon to deal with but the rocks weakness and the fact that it can't threaten me with lead sash due to yama makes it manageable.

Pinsir: Sd pinsir is pretty threatening to me, especially if it's lum, thankfully it's pretty scarce and the lum variant is even more scarce. Like a lot the threats it doesn't really set up on too much making it easier to handle but if it does manage to get +2 you have to sack rotom to get a suicide burn off. If it's lum skuntank can take a +2 eq after rocks up (+2 lo kills) and take it out with a fire blast + sucker but it will have left a massive dent in your team. An alternate way of beating it when it's +2 lum is memento-ing it with skunk and then smashing with barb if their team is sufficiently weakened.

Ninetales: Shuca ninetales is probably the single biggest threat to this team but thankfully, no one uses it! (Idk why it's really good). The problem with running hariyama as my fire resist is that a lot of my teams get run over by ninetales due to its nasty plot + psyshock combination. It can setup with relative ease on mesprit and rotom if necessary, with a shuca berry it can eat up sceptile's earthquake taking around 36% and kill that off meaning that my means of revenge killing dies. From there I have to go skuntank and sucker punch but by this stage I've already lost two key mons to it and am put in a very bad spot. Other variants of ninetales are annoying but sceptile can revenge them which is nice.


· · · · · · ·
Conclusion

I'll keep this short since I doubt you want to read any more. With the time I've spent using it this team has been incredibly fun to use and has shown itself to be very consistent throughout it's tour use. There's not much more that I want to say but I felt weird without giving this a formal ending, I don't expect too much in terms of rates since I feel like this team is as good as it can be but any advice is definitely appreciated! Thanks to everyone who's put up with me and spent the time to read this and thanks to Disjunction for putting up with me, I know it killed you to see me bring this every round ;]
Barbaracle @ White Herb
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 16 SpD / 240 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Razor Shell
- Return
- Shell Smash

Sceptile @ Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Giga Drain
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast

Skuntank @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 204 Atk / 100 Def / 192 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Fire Blast
- Poison Jab
- Memento

Mesprit @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Healing Wish
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- U-turn

Rotom @ Spell Tag
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Volt Switch

Hariyama @ Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
- Bullet Punch
 
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Shoutouts

Luck O' the Irish This team doesn't happen without your idea, my oldest and probably best from on smogon even with your decreased activity. Thanks for sticking with me for so long and I'm glad you're enjoying college so much n_n still waiting for you to come to Ireland tho!
Silver Aurum weeb D: Really great friend who's always there to talk to, hope you get your irl stuff figured out n_n
rozes you're cool i guess :> thanks for the banner and for always being there to help me out, really great friend who I really respect as a person and a player. glad i got to know when we're both kind of coming into our own in nu and it's awesome seeing you do so well in spl n_n (thanks for all the help with the rmt btw)
Rapture. weeb D: another friend who i can rely on, helped me out a bunch in nul with the teams you passed me and you're always fun to talk to :]
HJAD always enjoy talking and joking around with you :D really cool guy and you've always been there for me, hope you get your start in spl i'm sure you'll kill n_n
astroboy really long time friend, we need to make another cancer squad and destroy the ladder again it's been too long, thank god your not astroboi anymore
Deej Dy glad you came back i missed you :( great guy who's fun to joke around with, there's been a severe lack of xatus in your recent teams tho :O
Raseri one of my favourite users, a really friendly guy and an excellent tier leader n_n loving all the youtube content and I hope your irl stuff works out as you're a great person who really doesn't deserve the situation you've been put in (also this banner is amazing <3)
ryan didn't really know you too well while you were active but I always respected you as a person and appreciate what you've done for the tier
Zebraiken don't know you too well but from what i've seen from you you're a great person and a cool guy, really tagging you tho to say thanks for giving me a cool rmt layout to steal ;] heist is a great album
Disjunction it's your favourite team :D you're a great guy and I really appreciate all the time and effort you put into nu, you've helped the community in so many ways and it's great to see someone so invested in making the tier better. nul was incredibly fun to be a part of and i'm glad that you took all the time to host it, even if I hurt your head with the amount of times I brought this team :D
Montsegur really glad to see you came back, love everything you do for nu and your a cool guy to talk with
iplaytennislol so glad you came back, nu just wasn't the same without you n_n great guy and i hope you're getting settled back in well and you're enjoying nu again :D
Realistic Waters really cool and friendly guy who i've known for a while, great to see you excelling in spl n_n
QueenOfLuvdiscs another really cool guy, shame you started going inactive as I started to get to know you tho, hope irl is treating you well!
Jarii didn't really know you too well before spl but i've gotten to know you recently and you're a really cool guy :D now let's go get that trophy!!!
Sir Kay kay n_n always laid back an easy to talk to, just a really great friend who makes nu that much more enjoyable <3
marilli really cool and funny guy (or girl, i really have no idea tbh) nice seeing you active once again :D
Blast one of my favourite users in nu, you're just so friendly and incredibly likeable, gl in your spl matches :D
Aurosis pretty new user but you're such a nice guy lol, incredibly laid back and easy to talk to, really glad that you decided to join the nu community and yes, you are cayute n_n
boltsandbombers really cool guy and you stream all my games :D nah for real though you've always been friendly to me since i've been in the community and I really appreciate all the work you put into nu :D
Can-Eh-Dian nice avi nerd, funny guy who's in the top percentage of memers, gl in your spl games and show everyone how good you really are!
-Davon really nice guy, haven't talked to you that much but you're a really cool guy from what i've seen!
Hootie i don't know you that well but you're a really cool guy who's really easy to talk to :3
Kiyo go win in spl, just don't win this week!! i have a lot of respect for you as a player, as a builder and as a person. if it wasn't for your youtube videos i probably wouldn't be playing nu and i'm really grateful of everything you've done for nu
Shuckleking87 Really great guy and a great manager, even if you did keep on the bench all season #WarriorWobbuffets4life
Finchinator just a really chilled, cool guy who i have a lot of respect for, keep killing in spl!
Bouff while I don't know you personally I have great respect for you as a player and hope you continue to show your skills in spl!
Brick Small. Come back :(
Ren-chon don't see you that much anymore but you're a really cool guy who's also a great battler!
Syncrasy n proper sync language: uyo're acolo gyu htat i etg onw lel wtih, nah really tho you're a great guy that's fun to talk to, would be cool to see
you on more :O
NV don't really talk to you that much anymore but you've always been a great friend, hope you're doing all right and that everything is going well irl <3
Pretty tired and I didn't realise how much work doing personalised messages is so to all the people, you're all really cool people that I get on really well and enjoy talking to: shadestep , GyRro , Blaziken. , TTFTW , NotNova230 ,Aladyyn , Draeden , Stoned M&M , Pokedots lolbro and all the nu staff room that I may have missed, love you all :D

Non nu friends
Peli upl peli is freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, really happy for you friend, awesome guy that i could spend hours chatting to, really glad you're starting to take up nu and grats on your ladybug!
Mr. Mendes my main man, really really great friend and a funny guy, amazing player as well, one of the best i've ever seen. i have a lot of fun chatting with you on ps and skype and I'm looking forward to you winning ost ;]
slurmz slurmzy <3 really friendly and funny dude, glad that i got to know through that team tour n_n
Tom Bus amazing guy, pokemon just isn't the same without you :(
Joshz battlefuktory is fun :3 very funny dude who is a far inferior battlefactory player to me
Kingler12345 friendly guy who's fun to chat with, hope you get another chance to win your grand slam trophy n_n
Lord Outrage haven't talked to you in a while but you're a really cool guy, team tour was really fun n_n
qsns qsns is cute :3 looking forward to you showing everyone how good you are in the second half of spl!

I know there's gonna be people that I missed and to anyone I do miss, i'm really sorry i'm not doing it because i don't like you or anything, i'm just doing this in one sitting and can't bring everyone to mind, be sure to lmk if i missed you and i'll add you in for sure :D
 
woah an NU team to RMT @_@ glad to see my old homie barb getting some rep as well

obviously this team wasnt built in the zard meta so it's super weak to it, especially e-belt variants. i'd also put scyther as a p big threat since you're running a more offensive rotom variant and it just pivots around on everything

unforunately i dont think there's a real good way to fix this w/o blowing up an obviously successful squad other than running like edge on yama over one of your priority moves. you can at least surprise both of them when they come in (scyther is more likely to than zard but eh) and i dont think it really opens you up to jynx that much more considering you can at least threaten it w/ skunk and you still have one of the priority moves.

cool team dude and thanks for the s/o !_!
 
hey Shaneghoul :3

Really cool team, i love how when i pm'd you one day about this team i wanted to build around subsmash barbaracle, we had the same ideas xd. Congratulations with the success, this is a truely powerful team :]
Anyway, this rate is gonna be shorter than "usual" because i don't think this team needs a whole lot of tinkering, and with its success i dont think making it stronger vs one of your threats is gonna be very likely without chopping and changing 2~3/6 mons. My opinion on Stone Edge > Fake Out on Hariyama is extremely reserved, i can see where Can is coming from with Scyther being annoying, especially if hazards are up, but i dont think its neccesarily the right swap. The reasons behind this is that Scyther is direct settup fodder for Barbaracle, and if it kills anything with a move not called U-Turn, it puts immense pressure on the opposing team since Barbaracle is really that menacing at the moment. Luring this "fodder" with Stone Edge is kinda counterproductive, since you are luring something which you could have used as fodder. Second reason is that this team really lacks Revenge Killing power, its fastest mon is Sceptile and anything faster than that is gonna be a bitch to revenge kill, so imo its important to have the Dual Priority anyway, and taking it away would do more harm than good impo.

Onto my rate, and I want to contribute as much to helping Barbaracle sweep as possible. I feel like Rotom on this team doesn't really need the ability to Volt Switch, its not like you are carrying a potent wallbreaker, like Sawk, which would really appreciate the free momentum. Instead, focusing on getting Barbaracle even more oppurtuinities to settup could pay real dividence. I suggest going with a Sub Wisp Set with Lefties > Spell Tag Wisp Hex attacker. The sub set is much more likely to break walls down, the ability to discharge (and therefore paralyse) and spam will-o-wisp adds to the opportunities where Barbaracle can get a free Sub / Shell Smash.

I also wanted to edit a couple of other sets. On Sceptile, i feel like Substitute > Focus Blast is a viable swap mainly because the ability to take on Ghost Types with Wisp much better than previously. You mentioned how Rotom is a problem, but this set uses most Rotom sets for Substitute fodder, and helps Sceptile clean or even do simple stuff like weaken Hariyama for itself. On Mesprit, i feel like the EV Spread isnt as efficient as it could be, a swap to 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 Spe Bold Nature could really help out. It allows you to outspeed Defensive Varients of Garbodor, as well as the speed tier that 96 Spe Garb hits (Max Speed Neutral Natured 55s).

Rotom @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Discharge

Substitute > Focus Blast on Sceptile
252 HP / 196 Def / 60 Spe Bold Nature > Current Spread on Mesprit



Overall, really cool team, big congrats on winning NU League and i hope you have a bright and prosperous SPL Campaign :] (apart from against us :><3)
~HJAD
 

shiloh

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Tiering Lead
Barb / Sceptile / Skunk / Mesp / Rotom / Yama

Shane n_n This is a really solid team as shown by your success w/ it, and there really isn't much I would change
  • However one thing that stands out as a huge threat to your team and that is Charizard. I know this was made in a previous metagame so you didn't take it into account while teambuilding, and therefore both Specs and Offensive Acrobatics sets tear through this team. Therefore the change I am recommending is Scarf Rotom over Hex Rotom, I am actually suggested Trick / Hex / wisp / Volt as the moveset so you still have the ability to lure in common switch ins and hit them w/ hex like Lanturn, but keep the revenge killing that this team lacks.
  • Another change to consider in order to lessen this weakness to Zard is Rock Slide over Focus Blast on Sceptile, as you can RK all non Scarf Variants and just kill them w/ RS. I usually would run Rock Slide over EQ, but being able to damage Garb is huge for this team and removing EQ would just makes this team even weaker.
Overall there really isn't that much to change, and hopefully these changes do help out if you decide to use this team in Zard meta ^_^

Rotom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hex
- Volt Switch
- Trick
- Will-O-Wisp

or


Rock Slide > Focus Blast
 

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