ORAS UU Help Wanted! Slurpin with Pert

[Muddyyeti]

|

|

|

|

|

Introduction

Hello RMTers, I'm a long time lurker and infrequent poster. I've always enjoyed reading other RMTs but have never posted one myself so I've finally decided to dive in. The skeleton of the following team was taken from my latest Dark Horse effort attempting to feature Kabutops as a Swords Dance sweeper. Once the Dark Horse month was up, I realized that with a couple of of tweaks (aka removing Kabutops) I might have a shot at a decent team. I reached an Elo high of 1600 yesterday but the team has some serious issues and I'm hopeful that a few suggestions from the community might help it out a bit. Without further ado, here is the team!

The Team

Nidoqueen @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 124 HP / 252 SpA / 132 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam

Nidoqueen is the first part of my three poke core. Queen is my SR setter and a general threat to the metagame with its absurdly powerful attacks. Its useful typing and bulk help it check fighting and fairy pokes and give it the ability to slow or potentially stop volt/turn cycles. I run an EV spread commonly posted on the forums to provide solid bulk with excellent power and just a little bit of speed creep.

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Taunt
- Roost

Hydreigon is the second part of my core and is an great offensive partner for Queen. I chose the standard stallbreaker set and EVS because its amazing and I hate being choice locked into moves that allow dangerous things to set up. Taunt allows Hydreigon to stop Suicune from gaining too much momentum and can also prevent SR from common switch ins like Empoleon. Finally, Taunt lets me fire off powerful Dracos without fear of Slurpuff or Gatr getting a free turn to set up.

Doublade @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword
- Gyro Ball

Doublade completes my offensive core and shares wonderful synergy with Hydreigon. Its ridiculous physical bulk is hugely important as it lets me check/counter the various fighting types in the tier and other fast and dangerous things like scarf Mence, MegaBee and MAero. Its also my only answer to Snorlax, who can set up on a large portion of my team. Finally, its priority is super valuable as pre set up, my team is not particularly fast and can have difficulty picking off weakened sweepers.

Galvantula @ Life Orb
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Thunder
- Bug Buzz
- Energy Ball

Galvantula is an underrated poke in my opinion and a big reason for this team's relative success. I think Galvantula gets a bad rap because most people assume its predictable and weak Focus Sash lead set is the only thing it can run. After reading the viability thread and seeing Life Orb Galvantula suggested, I decided to give it a try and the results have been positive. Sticky Web doesn't need to go up first thing to be effective and sometimes its better just to hammer things with Thunder. A LO Thunder OHKO's mixed offensive Mence after steaLth rock 100% of the time and seriously threatens just about every common hazard remover. Galvantula also tends to lure in Florges, which gives Queen a chance to come in and pound things.

Swampert @ Swampertite
Ability: Damp
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rain Dance
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch

MegaPert replaced Kabutops on the original team and is a great pivot and win condition for my team. Max attack and speed EVs are a given for the Rain Dance set, and I chose Ice Punch over the trendy Power-up Punch for its ability to hit Grass and Dragon types. With Slurpuff potentially waiting in the wings, I don't necessarily have to keep Pert in perfect health till the end game, allowing me to use his typing and natural bulk to take random hits when I can't predict what the opponent will do.

Slurpuff @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 212 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Play Rough
- Return
- Drain Punch

Slurpuff is simply dominant on the lower ladder (Doublades are popping up like weeds as I rise). It has a ton of opportunities to set up with choiced fighting and dragon types running amok and I've been amazed at how often it pulls victory from the jaws of defeat. I run the standard moveset with a tweak to the EV
spread, choosing to run enough speed to outpace Scarf Mienshao after a Belly Drum and putting the leftovers into HP to allow for slightly easier setup. The downside to this spread is that I no longer outspeed scarf Infernape, though I've only run into this problem once.





Conclusion

While this team is fun to use since there a couple of paths to victory, there are some serious holes in it. Fast and powerful pokes that are unpredictable give me nightmares. I'm thinking specifically of Azelf and Infernape, as with a Nasty Plot/Swords Dance they can both 6-0 my team. Fully special Mence is also very dangerous as I have to bait it into a Draco Meteor before I can deal with it (not a winning strategy). Finally, I'm pretty sure stall teams would take me apart. Only Hydreigon is equipped to battle them effectively and that puts way too much pressure on its shoulders.

Any tips or advice for ways to tweak the team would be most welcome and totally appreciated. Thanks for taking a look!

 

[Kink]

Will give full rate when I get home from work tonight. Your main issue is using an offensive team with too many setup win conditions, which creates a lot of offensive redundancy in both strategy and implementation.

I'll get to this in like 10 hours. Stay tuned.

Update: looking this over during my break as well to get a head start. What I meant earlier by redundancy in strategy and implementation means you're simply relying on different mons to perform similar if not the same role. The wisest way to address your problems is to try to increase the overall effectiveness of your offensive team by adding to the move pool diversity and replacing repetitive and ultimately unnecessary choices. I'll also be addressing things such as set details and the replacing of certain Pokemom in order to turn this into a great offensive team. Chat soon.

 

[Kink]

Hello.

I will assist any team willing to partake in a beautifully executed Mega Swampert sweep. So here's your major problem. While the mons you've selected are all decent offensive options, you've paired them with other Pokemon that have similar if not identical roles (Galvantula, Hydreigon, and Nidoqueen being the most glaring options, since all are easily revenge killed). This forces you to place a ton of pressure on Mega Swampert, and can even force your Slurpuff to come out early.

As a result, I want to keep the focus around Mega Swampert, Doublade, Hydreigon, and Slurpuff, in order to keep the offensive focus while readjusting your support options that can take (a) care of stall and (b) give you the defensive capability of maneuvering around offensive Pokemon. We sadly take away the powerful Nidoqueen due to being slightly too slow on a team without speed or tailwind support, however, this also allows you to generate a specific pairing that supplements the wallbreaking core of your team: Cobalion and Cresselia.

• First thing, set maintainence: replace Gyro Ball with Iron head on Doublade, as the benefit of outspeeding Base 30 Mons is more important than you'd think, especially with Slowking and Reuniclus buzzing around - Relying on an Iron head flinch + Shadow sneak kill is not as crazy as you'd think, and is a game changing option against those slower threats (which also extend to non-Curse variants of Snorlax, and any slow wall including Chesnaught and Gligar). Anything Gyro can take out, Iron head can generally do just as well if not better. Besides, this Doublade serves more as a cleaner, killing anything Slurpuff can't, and it should generally be utilized as such, so relying on Iron Head flinches should always be a LAST resort, I'm simply illustrating the added effect it to Doublade's potential. Naturally, adjust your IVs to compensate. Everything else literally looks great. If nothing else, you've chosen reasonable and effective sets for these Pokemon, and I just wanted to let you know that :)
• The last two Pokemon will be the following, and I'll explain after I show you the sets:

1) Dual Screens Cresselia*other options include Dual Screen Espeon / Azelf, if you find that you don't need Cress' bulk + access to Lunar Dance

Cresselia @ Light Clay
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Lunar Dance
- Moonblast

• Serves as an alternative lead if you need a safe early set up
• Cress' bulk generally ensures you can get up to 2 rounds of 8-turn screens throughout the match
• It's overwhelming natural bulk and unique speed tier means it outspeed all non-Scarf variants of Chandelure, and anything else slower than base 85. This means it also outspeed unique threats like Modest Speed Boosting Yanmega turn 1, which is a game changer if your opponent assumes that have the sweep.
• More speed also means more opportunities to use Lunar Dance on Pokemon.
• This also solves your issue to non-setup variants of Infernape and Azelf, however even they can get worn down until in range for a Shadow Sneak revenge kill.
• This also provides some mild insurance against Ice-type attackers, which your team REALLY struggled with before. That damn Kyurem man.
• Cresselia takes on Mence reasonably well, forcing it to choose between Defogging and being beaten down with Draco Meteor, both of which are neutral options at best. For defensive variants (assuming the opponent has revealed that it is not an offensive set) it's best to match annoying with annoying, and use Support Cobalion to its fullest potential c:

2) Support Cobalion w/ Stealth Rock - you need to retain your Stealth Rock, that's a no brainer; a team like this is primed with hazard support. I've designed a set that I've been using on my offensive teams to assist them in adding as much annoying support as possible.

Cobalion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Def / 64 SpD / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Sacred Sword / Iron Head
- Volt Switch / Taunt

• Stealth Rock w/ bulk gives you an almost guaranteed setup'n'voltswitch.
• Speaking of bulk, The HP EVs means you can utilize Cobalions incredible natural bulk surviving a Focus Sash Mamoswine's Earthquake, meaning you always win the 1 on 1 offensive battle against this set.
• Thunder Wave messes a ton of stuff up, assuming they can counter or defog Cress' screens, including Crobat and Salamence.
• Thunder Wave also gives you the best status options against shits like Calm Mind Reuniclus, giving you the hax edge in battle (gotta account for hax .-.), as the 25% to generate a free turn against this will let you win the battle against it.
• Thunder Wave also surprises Azelf, which confidently switch into Cobalion pre-swords dance.
• 192 Speed with Jolly nature hits 330 which outspeed all Salamences. Switch in on a Draco, and proceed to paralyze or rocks. The added EVs ensure that after a Draco, Salamence cannot KO with Fire Blast.
• Speaking of Fire Blast, you can survive some of them now, including Scarf Hydreigon which will never OHKO, LO mence, which will only OHKO 18.8% of the time; however, LO Azelf will still OHKO you 68.8 percent of the time so take your chances carefully.
• Sacred Sword doesn't diminish Cobalions Bulk while still hitting some things for moderate STAB damage. Sacred Sword also beats Curselax, hitting past the defense boosts. Iron Head gives you the flinch rate but has poorer overall coverage, although it helps in the Mamoswine battle.
• Volt Switch is a prime move on a Pokemon that forces so many switches into Pokemon such as Doublade, which will begin to rack up whittle damage for Mega Swampert to destroy later. Other Volt Switch lures that love switching in on defensive Cobalions (or just Cobalions in general) are Chandelure, Alomomola, Azelf, Cresselia, Feraligatr, Mega Blastoise, Espeon, Crobat, Empoleon, and Suicune.
• Taunt does the obvious and prevents the Defog, or opposing entry hazards. The choice here is difficult. My suggestion is play around with both. I personally see Volt Switch having more long term feasibility, however this is one instance where you need to generate your own answers.
• Gligar will try to capitalize on Cobalion's movepool and Defog. Have your Taunt Hydrei at the ready if you opt to run Volt Switch.

Good luck on your quest to conquer ladder.

PS I put 4 EVs in defense because it hits 295 which is Max Base 85 and I'm obsessed with magic numbers k thx

 

[Muddyyeti]

First off, big thanks King UU for looking at my RMT...that you spent enough to look over my team and come up with some pretty detailed analysis and suggestions for it is definitely appreciated!

On to the Pokemon stuff...I've never used dual screens before so to say it didn't cross my mind when making the team is an understatement! I definitely see the advantages to it when I'm relying heavily on set up sweepers to carry the team.

The custom Cobalion set looks sweet and I'm excited to try it out...I imagine thunder wave in particular will be extremely useful as well as the overall bulk/resistances Cobalion offers.

I do have one concern about the changes that I wouldn't mind getting some feedback on...with only hydreigon and cresselia attacking from the special side, could I be a bit vulnerable to physical walls? I'm thinking Chestnaught, Mola, and Amoongus in particular. Those sumbitches will be hard to break if I don't play hydreigon juuuust right.

I haven't had a chance to play at all this weekend so I'm eager to give these changes a shot tomorrow. I dunno what standard procedure is as far as reporting how the changes have done but I might circle back to the post after I've had a chance to give the new team some run.

Just to reiterate what I said in the beginning, I really appreciate you taking the time to post your thoughts and suggestions. Thanks King UU!!

 

[Dread Plate]

This isn't about the team, but about your new concern with the physical walls.

I think the suggestions that King UU gave you are really solid, and though I am not nearly as UU-worldly as he is I think that if you're worried about those mons in particular, then running taunt on your new Cobalion will do wonders. Like King said, they will more than likely want to switch in those mons, specifically, to "wall" Cobalion. You can then Taunt, T-wave, Rocks, all that good stuff. From there you just play accordingly. Plus with Lunar Dance Cress you have another chance with whatever offensive mon works best in the moment to try and break through some of those walls again. I wouldn't worry too much about the physical walls as long as you play smart, which I'm sure you do. :]

 

[Muddyyeti]

Thanks for the feedback Dread! I've been using voltswitch so far but the reasoning for taunt is solid. I'll give it a shot!