XY NU Hazard Control (peaked #2 on the ladder)

[wtset]

Introduction

This is my 3rd RMT here on Smogon and it's my first team that is being really succesful. I didn't really have great expectations in this team but it worked really well and I'm constantly in the Top 20 of the ladder since NU got out of beta. I still think that the team could need some improvements and I hope that I can get some good advice here.

Team History

History

Before I created this team, I was running a Sticky Web Team and I thought to myself: what if I just replace the stick web with "normal" hazards. And so I replaced my Leavanny with a Spikes-stacking Qwilfish and did some other minor changes and the team worked surprisingly well.
The first version of the team looked like this:

This version of the team had a huge ground-weakness, so I decided to switch Pyroar out for Haunter:

I realized that my ground-weakness was still too big and I didn't really like Pawniard as a Stealth Rock Setter, but I still needed Pawniard for the hazard control, so I replaced Lanturn with Uxie:

As much as I like hazards on the opponents side I hate them on my own side of the field. I felt like this team hasn't really got room for a spinner and so my decision was to replace Haunter with Xatu:

The Team

Mrs. Puff (Qwilfish) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- Toxic Spikes
- Waterfall
- Taunt

Qwilfish is my lead in most cases and it pretty much guarantees to put up at least one layer of Spikes. If the opponent hasn't got any poison types it can set up Toxic Spikes too, they're especially helpful against teams with dangerous set-up mons. Waterfall is there to deal some damage and it hurts Xatu, whose switchin is often very predictable. Taunt is obviously used to prevent the opposing lead from setting up hazards or boosting its stats. I run 252 Atk EVs because I feel like Qwilfish doesn't really need bulk as a suicide lead.

Powniard (Pawniard) @ Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Knock Off
- Pursuit

Pawniard is part of my hazard control core, as it can switch in on the opponents Defog and get a nice boost. Knock Off is the move I spam most of the time, as pretty much nothing in the tier really likes to switch in on it. Iron Head provides some nice STAB coverage and it also has a nice flinch chance. I run Pursuit because my team really hates Xatu and it catches many Xatus by surprise, but I'm not sure if Swords Dance wouldn't be the better choice here.

Tomb Raider (Spiritomb) @ Leftovers
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Foul Play
- Pain Split
- Sucker Punch

Spiritomb is my spinblocker and it can prevent almost every spinner in the tier from doing its work. Will-O-Wisp cripples Phyisical threats and the burn is also nice to rack up some residual damage if I didn't get up Toxic Spikes. Foul Play is a very effective method for dealing with the dangerous physical set-up sweepers of the tier, like Feraligatr and Klinklang. I have Pain Split because it's the best recovery move Spiritomb gets, and it makes Spiritomb really hard to take down.

Neuralyzer (Uxie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- U-turn
- Heal Bell
- Stealth Rock
- Yawn

Uxie provides very much utility to this team. It sets up Stealth Rock so Flying or Levitating Threats also get damaged by entry hazards, it can build up momentun with U-Turn, cures the team of status effects and forces switches with Yawn. Uxie and Spiritomb also form a nice defensive core, with Uxie eating up the Special moves and Spriritomb dealing with the physical attackers. I run 0 Speed IVs and a negative Speed nature on Uxie, because I need the slow U-Turn to savely bring in Zangoose.

Ribery (Zangoose) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Toxic Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Facade
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
- Quick Attack

The purpose of Zangoose on this team is to simply kill things. After the Toxic Orb has activated nothing switches in on this anymore except Spiritomb and really bulky Rock or Steel Types, because Facade just 2HKOs the rest of the tier and ghost types have to fear the Knock Off. Quick Attack is useful priority and can also help Zangoose to activate the Toxic Orb by killing off some weakened mon. I use Swords Dance if I expect a switch and there's nothing on the opponent's team that is faster than Zangoose and can take a +2 Quick Attack.

Krambambuli (Xatu) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
- Heat Wave
- U-turn

I needed a Scarfer on my team and I decided to use Xatu because it also gets Magic Bounce. I don't switch it in aggressively because this set lacks the bulk to take hits, but the sheer presence of a Xatu on my team often discourages the opponent from setting up hazards. I run Psychic over Psyshock because I already have enough moves on my team to hit on the physical side. Giga Drain is there to hit Water Types and to give me at least some sort of recovery. Heat Wave deals with two hazard setters that I can't really prevent from setting up their hazard otherwise: Ferroseed and Leavanny.



Biggest Threats

Threat List

I have no switch-ins for this, because my special wall Uxie can't really take it's hits. I really need to get up Rocks as early as possible if I see a Vivillon on the opposing team.

Although the other variants are also difficult to deal with because of it's immunity to Facade, the main problem for my team is Crotomb as it can set up on almost every member of my team and I have no real method of killing it.

Pawniard doesn't really prevent this from defogging because it can just burn it with Scald or Roost off even +2 Knock Offs.

I can't think of much else at the moment, but I know there are probably some more things that my teams struggles to handle.

Ladder Ranking

Screenshot

This is the only screenshot I have, as I didn't make one when I was #2

Replays

Replays

I really like saving my games, so you can find many replays of this team if you search for my username "fsibapt" on PS, although some use an older version of the team.

Thank you for reading through this and I'm open for all the suggestion you have for me :)

 

[Brawlfest]

Really solid team you have here Myggy17! This said, I do see a mild weakness to strong dark types. Stuff like Knock Off Liepard or opposing Pawniard are incredibly difficult to switch into for your team, as they pressure two of your pokemon with STAB SE moves, and cripple another two by threatening to remove the items which outright make them at all useful. I also find strong electric types such as Life Orb Electivire or Rotom variants can do a lot to your team given the right support, and pressure your hazard setter as well.

I think the easiest thing for me to do without changing the archetype of your team is simply to suggest Tank Seismitoad over Uxie. Uxie is surprisingly bad for your team. Firstly, it is massive setup fodder for the likes of Substitute Slurpuff or SubSG Klinklang, which can sweep your team if they set up on Uxie, which can be pretty easy. Seismitoad I feel is far more effective in this slot as a Utility pokemon, as result of its typing. It removes the pressure you take from strong Electric types, and tanks dark types extremely well, receiving a max of 38% from a Liepard Knock Off, helping to wear down such threats so your other team members dont get crippled. Outside of that, Seismitoad is surprisingly strong, and can cripple opponents with its own Knock Off, losing a lot less offensive pressure for your team while still being an amazing defensive pivot for you. Oh, and it has water absorb, which is cute for some randomly set up Gatr or something.

Minor Changes:
Qwilfish: There is little reason not to run Explosion > Waterfall, as it does more damage to most pokemon, but more importantly gets you killed before a potential Rapid Spin or Defog, allowing you to come in and revenge kill to keep your hazards up!
Pawniard: Swords Dance > Pursuit, as it allows Pawniard to break tough teams so that Zangoose can sweep.
Spiritomb: I honestly feel Pursuit > Foul Play is the best choice, as you ultimately are trying to get Zangoose to sweep, and want to make sure you can permanently remove Ghost types for it.

Cool team, hope this helped!
__________________

Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Def / 56 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock

 

[SketchUp]

You've got a nice team and I think most teams are going to have a very hard time against it.
Some changes I'd make:
I'd run Explosion or Destiny Bond over Waterfall on Qwilfish. Qwilfish doesn't have much bulk so an Explosion or Destiny Bond at the end is very nice to take a threat down. With Destiny Bond you don't have to run those Atk EVs anymore so you can go for extra bulk with HP EVs
I see you move 3 Dark Moves on Pawniard. All 3 moves works in different situations but I think it's best to drop Pursuit and change it to Brick Break (for breaking screens, which are pretty common (especially Uxie, Xatu and Jynx) or Swords Dance do boost your damage a lot

Most annoying pokémon to your team will probably be:
Steelix - Zangoose has a 25% chance to OHKO it after a Swords Dance and with Close Combat. Since you have no Close Combat, Zangoose can't do much against this. Xatu can 2HKO it but when she's down, Steelix is very dangerous
Feraligatr - After one Dragon Dance you have nothing that can outspeed him and you don't have any pokemon that resists his Waterfall. Some calculations:
+1 252+ Atk Life Orb Feraligatr Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Spiritomb: 226-266 (74.3 - 87.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Spiritomb Sucker Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Feraligatr: 103-123 (33 - 39.4%) -- 99.9% chance to 3HKO
You can do 2x Sucker Punch and can hit 66-80% against it. When Feraligatr has Life Orb he is probably down at this point
Zangoose can OHKO it with Facade if hit doesn't have set up Dragon Dance / Swords Dance yet.

 

[Blast]

Hi myggy17 , I'd just like to support Brawlfest's suggestion of Seismitoad but with extra reasoning: Seismitoad has really good synergy in general with your Zangoose + Pawniard core. Because Toad can so capably take on the likes of Rhydon, Steelix, and other stuff that they struggle with, it's an excellent partner in general for the duo. Just note that I actually prefer Toxic over Knock Off on the suggested set, because you already have several Knock Off users on your team it somewhat overlaps and Toxic can put most of Toad's switch-ins on a timer.

I'm also not really seeing the point of suicide lead Qwilfish on this team--as you're running a more balanced build, you would benefit from a hazard-stacker that can last and compensate with your tendency to lose momentum. I'd try out Garbodor over Qwilfish for a few reasons: for one, it checks Gurdurr, which is kind of annoying as your only real check is Xatu atm, and can stack Spikes easily against Vileplume, which is rather important if you go down the Seismitoad route. For this team in particular I'd recommend a set of Spikes | Clear Smog | Seed Bomb | Drain Punch @ Rocky Helmet: Clear Smog + Helmet makes checking Gurdurr much easier, and Seed Bomb and Drain Punch can lure in Seismitoad and Pawniard, respectively, which your team can struggle with.

Also I don't think Zangoose benefits as much from SD as it does from Close Combat on this team. It really appreciates the coverage mid-game for stuff like Ferroseed and Rhydon which are rather useful for opening a Pawniard sweep late-game. Speaking of which, Pawniard also benefits from using Swords Dance over Pursuit so it doesn't always have to rely on Defiant to obtain boosts, and if you want a Pursuiter you could just use it on Spiritomb instead.

Suggested changes

Garbodor > Qwilfish
Zangoose: Close Combat > Swords Dance
Pawniard: Swords Dance > Pursuit
Spiritomb: Pursuit > most likely Sucker Punch but that's up to you

Sets

Garbodor @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spd
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Clear Smog
- Seed Bomb
- Drain Punch

 

[wtset]

Thanks for all the advice! The suggested changes of Brawlfest and Dat Blast work really well and I think they also kinda solve the problems SketchUp mentioned. Because I never had a Seismitoad in my team until now (maybe because it's so ugly, btw why do both suggested pokemon have to be so ugly), I was catched by surprise many times by all the grass coverage moves people run on their pokemon just for Seismitoad, but by now I've gotten used to it.

 

[New Breed]

Hey dude, interesting team you have here. I'm going to agree with the Seismitoad change that Brawlfest suggested as well as the Close Combat over Swords Dance on Zangoose that was suggested by Dat Blast as I feel they suit your team better. To me the Pokemon that most feels most out of place is Spiritomb, with Pawniard already filling the Psychic type check role and Seismitoad checking things like Klinklang and Feraligatr that you previously mentioned was what Spiritomb was checking. For these reasons I'm going to suggest you try out Nasty Plot Mismagius over Spiritomb, this would serve the same spin blocking role as Spiritomb but differentiating it from Pawniard by hitting from the Special side, Mismagius can also let you prevent Defog with Taunt and also matches up well against stall which is something your team otherwise struggles with.

Mismagius

Mismagius @ Leftovers / Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Taunt

I hope I was able to help.