Lucky's Break (My very first RMT!)

Lucky's Break (My first RMT!)

Hello, dearest Smogon friends! Today I made a wonderful discovery: Pokémon Showdown! I logged on, threw an NU team together, lost, lost again, revamped my team, and (thanks to the help of my good friend, Don Honchkrorleone) started to collect some wins! I would love some constructive feedback on my team (and some tips on the metagame in general,) so please leave me some love! And don't forget that I'm brand-spanking new to this, so go easy on me!

The team-building process was pretty sporadic, and a spur-of-the-moment type ordeal. I started with Ninjask and Volbeat for their Baton Pass capabilities, and rounded the team out with Armaldo, Marowak, Cincinno, and Kadabra as the recipients of their wonderful boost passes. I quickly learned that this team had many fatal flaws, most notably speed issues and frailty, and not to mention that Baton Passing is much more difficult than I expected it to be! So, I jumbled things up, patched up weaknesses, and, with Don's input, ended up with the team I am currently running. I've been steadily climbing my way up the ladder, and would love some help getting further and further up! So, here it is: Lucky's Break!





The Team


Armaldo @ Leftovers
Trait: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor

This Armaldo is amazing. He has wonderful coverage with EdgeQuake and X-Scissor, and is my team's answer to Stealth Rock. Despite having a weakness to the nasty hazard, this Armaldo is surprisingly bulky and doesn't find it hard to recover lost health with Leftovers. He works great as a defensive pivot, as well, and at full health is a somewhat reliable answer to the birds that run rampant through NU. I chose Battle Armor over Swift Swim to prevent nasty surprise critical hits, and a Careful nature helps balance out his defenses (and ease up the hurt from Alomomola's Scald.)




Bastiodon @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
IVs: 0 Spd
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Metal Burst
- Stone Edge

I had no intention of using a Bastiodon, until I faced one with Metal Burst that absolutely ruined me. He is a brilliant Pokémon in this tier. He has great resistances and immunities, wonderful defenses, and can actually hit back hard thanks to Metal Burst and Sturdy. Stealth Rock and Toxic provide great team support, and help my Choiced pokes get clean KO's. Stone Edge is there because I hate being Taunted into Metal Burst, and it does decent damage to those nasty birds (Braviary and Swellow, I'm looking at you.) I had Roar instead of Stone Edge, but so far I've gotten better use out of Stone Edge. The nature and IVs help make sure that I go last for Metal Burst, and keep Bastiodon's defenses balanced.





Charizard @ Choice Specs
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Air Slash
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power (Grass)
- Dragon Pulse

Charizard with Choice Specs attached has proven to be very deadly for me. He's fast (compared to most of the tier) and powerful, and Fire Blast destroys practically anything that doesn't resist it. Air Slash is there for secondary STAB and works well against the Fighting-types in the tier, and the chance of flinch hax is never a bad thing. HP Grass lets Charizard check Alomomola and other Water-types pretty easily. Dragon Pulse is there for easy prediction; it hits everything that Fire Blast doesn't neutrally, and works great for Altaria or other Dragon-types. A Modest nature gives Charizard more power, which is greatly appreciated.




Sawk @ Choice Band
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Ice Punch

Sawk is the poo. He's powerful, not sluggish, and....powerful. With a Choice Band, I can go in and click "Close Combat," and almost always be satisfied with the results. He has precise coverage moves for the things that Close Combat can't hit, too. Earthquake is great for Poison-types and for Haunter (thanks to Mold Breaker.) Stone Edge catches Flying- and Bug-types for a ton of damage and pairs well with his first two moves. Ice Punch is mostly filler, but the super effective hit on Amoonguss (that peckerhead) is really appreciated. I really value Sawk being able to hit as hard as possible, so I use an Adamant nature.





Lucky (Ludicolo) @ Leftovers
Trait: Own Tempo
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Giga Drain
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Substitute

Ludicolo is probably my single-favorite Pokémon on this team. It has great synergy with the rest of the team, and when I play right he can net me 2-3 knock-outs per game. I love this set, even if it isn't generic. Substitute is great for scouting and makes Ludicolo very dangerous. Giga Drain (along with Leftovers) heals back health for more Substitutes and hits reasonably hard. Scald is a wonderful STAB for Ludicolo; that burn chance is well worth the lack of power that Surf or Hydro Pump offer. Ice Beam rounds the set out with a way to hit Flying- and Grass-types super effectively. Timid gives me more speed, which is wonderful. I think this set is so great because once people see Substitute, they expect Leech Seed to follow at some point, and thus don't expect the coverage of that unknown third attack. This Ludicolo really does win me games. (It's so wonderful that it's the only Pokémon on my team to have earned itself a nickname, partially because it's so wonderful, and partially because Scald and Ice Beam hax have been on my side lately.)





Rotom-F @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Blizzard
- Thunderbolt
- Trick

Ah, Rotom-F: my team's beloved revenge killer. This is what I owe Don Honchkrorleone so much credit for. Before this was Rotom-F, it was Ninjask, and I just couldn't decide on a solid replacement for that frail little bug. Don noticed that my team had a serious problem with priority and speed overall, and recommended Scarf Rotom-F. I added it to the team, and have been winning ever since. Rotom-F usually serves as my "lead;" his pseudo-BoltBeam coverage hits almost anything the opponent might start out with, giving me wonderful momentum (especially if I get to lead off with Volt Switch.) Having a Timid nature and Choice Scarf let me revenge kill reasonably well; it's an invaluable asset to my team. Volt Switch hits pretty darn hard off of Rotom-F's great Special Attack, and gains momentum for my team. Blizzard (albeit inaccurate) is a powerful option that obliterates opponents. Thunderbolt is more powerful than Volt Switch and a great option if I have no interest in switching out. And Trick...is Trick. Tricking my Scarf onto some poor wall is a great feeling, and Rotom-F is still powerful and fast enough to be useful afterwards.




Summary
So, that's the team! I'm very satisfied with them right now. I know they are overall on the slower side and that I still have a problem with priority, but for the most part, I feel like these guys work really well together and are a solid band of NU power. Like I said above, I am completely open to constructive criticism and comments, so have at it! And thanks so much for reading my very first RMT! I hope it was as enjoyable to read as it was to write!

And here is an example of how I play the team, just for kicks! (Remember how new I am to this!)
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/nu6853154

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Wow, that was great! Thanks for the advice, Zebraiken. To hit on each of your points:

1) I know Armaldo and Bastiodon seem redundant, but they have yet to let me down. If after a few more battles I seem to need the extra help against Sawk (who I honestly have yet to deal with) then I will definitely test out a Musharna on the team.

2) Thanks for the advice on Charizard. I have been dissatisfied with the Choice set; it's super-powerful, but being locked into a move has lost Charizard in the match for me. I will test the set you suggested. The reason I want Charizard is to have a fast, specially-based Fire-type who can still hold its own against Alomomola.

3) Hmm, Rotom-F has done really great on this team (especially against Hail.) I understand the positives of why I could use Rotom-S, but having STAB BoltBeam (ish) has been wonderful, especially with a Choice Scarf. Like I said about Musharna, if I start having serious problems with Fighting-types, I'll test it out.

4) I'll switch Stone Edge to Roar on Bastiodon. Substitute drives me nuts, and that'll be a great help against it.

5) I'll also switch the natures of Charizard and Sawk to be Speed positive. Losing a bit of power doesn't worry me too much, and gaining speed seems like a fair trade-off.

Again, thanks for all the advice! I can't wait to test out these changes.

armaldo / bastiodon / choice specs charizard / choice band sawk / ludicolo / choice scarf rotom-f

from the looks of things, this team is pretty neat, but it faces a few issues. although you can give opponents some difficulty with the offensive presence of things such as charizard, you are still a bit shaky with choice band sawk since you are forced to sacrifice something each time it's in on four out of six members of your team. whatever zebraiken suggested was basically what i was going to type out, but i also took some time to work out some minor things that your team can help itself against. for example, using roar on bastiodon to deal with calm mind musharna and duosion will help out a lot, but it can only get you so far throughout the match.

firstly, yeah musharna over armaldo helps out a bunch. it's a full stop to sawk, and it sets up on amoonguss. even though armaldo provides rapid spin and does considerable damage to those bulky psychic-types, it's really redundant otherwise.

choiced charizard is probably why you believe you need a spinner; it gets worn down much more easily. i think that sunny day charizard would be more beneficial to your team. charizard (and your sawk) is gradually worn down by hail teams due to all the ice body pokemon utilizing substitute and protect, so sunny day can be really clutch after wearing down snover. it'll give a sweeping opportunity or will simply just ease things for the rest of your team (especially for musharna since its recovery move's effect is halved should you face hail).

optionally, i think shifting ludicolo over to a bulky set will help out more. it's a much more reliable answer to a dedicated rain team. a face-off of offensive ludicolo is kind of undesirable since you lack priority users for if yours is KO'd first. in addition, leech seed will be useful for deterring set-up users from boosting, especially when it heals hp for your own bastiodon (which otherwise gets worn down over the course of a match).

all the minor changes that were already suggested help your team out, but something that you can try is knock off over stone edge on sawk. stone edge is a bit redundant with sawk's other coverage moves because it only hits charizard and articuno in particular (both of which hate stealth rock and do not appreciate a close combat). because of the advent of hail teams, musharna has become less common while duosion and misdreavus have become the best sawk checks within those types of teams. knock off hampers both of their abilities to switch in often and keeps duosion from setting up if your bastiodon is gone. it's also cool for getting rid of musharna's leftovers to wear it down more easily since you have few opportunities to hit it hard.

summary:
calm mind musharna armaldo / roar stone edge bastiodon / timid sunny day choice specs charizard / jolly knock off stone edge choice band sawk / bulky* ludicolo / choice scarf rotom-f
* optional

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Musharna @ Leftovers
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 Spd
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonlight
- Psychic
- Signal Beam or Heal Bell

Charizard @ Leftovers
Trait: Solar Power
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Sunny Day
- Flamethrower
- Air Slash
- Roost

Ludicolo @ Leftovers
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Leech Seed
- Synthesis
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam or Scald

i support zeb's rotom-s, charizard, sawk, and bastiodon changes, but i don't think you need to replace armaldo for anything. instead, i suggest running swords dance lum berry armaldo since it beats common spin-blockers such as misdreavus and golurk, while your current set does not.

since you're now using rotom-s over rotom-f, opposing hail teams could be really annoying for you to face. to fix this, you can try using the standard rain dance sweeper set on ludicolo. after snover is killed—which isnt hard hard to achieve with armaldo, sawk, and charizard—ludicolo can cancel out hail with rain dance and proceed to devistate the opponent's team. you could keep leftovers on it like your current set, but life orb helps you grab important ohkoes on pokemon such as regirock.


summary of changes:

zebraiken's rotom-s, bastiodon, sawk, and charizard suggestions
armaldo —> swords dance spinner set
ludicolo —> standard rain sweeper set

Set(s) (open) Set(s) (close)

Armaldo @ Lum Berry
Trait: Battle Armor
EVs: 128 HP / 252 Atk / 128 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Tail

Ludicolo @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Giga Drain
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Rain Dance

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions! So much to test.

First, I changed Charizard from Specs to Leftovers with Air Slash / Fire Blast / HP Grass / Roost, and it's been wonderful. Much more reliable than Specs was, and I still get that powerful surprise hit on Alomomola (although I might test it with HP Rock to hit Altaria, Charizard, Mantine, and Torkoal harder.)

Second, I bumped up the speed of Charizard and Sawk, and it's done wonders. That missing power isn't missed when that extra speed is taken into consideration.

Third, the Rotom problem. I tried a Rotom-S, and it was awful. I missed the high power that Blizzard offered; it made prediction easier. And, on the note of the two, Rotom-F is much better against opposing Rotom-S than Rotom-S itself is, and since Rotom-S is more common (as far as I've seen) Rotom-F has been more useful.

Finally, as far as a Fighting-type counter goes, I think I'll test Musharna out tomorrow. Armaldo is wonderful, and pairs really well with Bastiodon and Sawk (especially with Sawk, since the two provide very similar coverage that most teams aren't prepared to deal with twice.) I'll figure all of that out tomorrow, but I'm definitely ready to test a solid Psychic-type on the team.

Thanks again for all the input! It's greatly appreciated. I'm sitting at 1601 on the ladder now; maybe some of these changes will help me climb higher!