NU CCAT Step 4: Playtesting

I apologize for ending the voting process earlier than promised, and hope no one will have to change their votes at this point, as votes are being tallied right now, will edit soon with results.

The votes have been counted, and the community has spoken. The top 5 are:

5. RP Torterra with 12 votes
4. Bulk Up Throh with 13 votes
3. Belly Drum + ESpeed Linoone with 15 votes
2. SD Pinsir with 16 votes

And finally...


1. You guys guessed it, OTR Slowking wins with 20 votes!
Slowking @ Leftovers/ Life Orb (my personal preference is Lefties)
Regenerator
Quiet (+SpA, -Spe)
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Sp. Atk/ 4 Sp. Def
IVs: 0 Speed
-Trick Room
-Nasty Plot
-Surf
-Psychic/Psyshock

It's now time to pick our playstyle. See posts below for my opinion on playstyle.

Voting period for playstyle will begin on Wednesday, November 30th at 10:00 PM EST
 

jake

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It's a bit too late but I'm of the same opinion as tennisace: Slowking has generally been underwhelming as far as I've played with it. It's had its moments but otherwise it was very mediocre at best. OTR Slowking's sweeping potential always felt very limited because I never really got the chance to get both an NP and TR up at the same time which is apparently what it needs to run through stuff. Playing about thirty matches with it, I think I got both up maaaybe once or twice. If you got TR up then you didn't hit hard enough to break bulkier mons and if you only got an NP up then you were too slow for it to even matter. If anything, the team we create either needs to provide set-up opportunities for Slowking to get his business done or it needs to provide enough support (namely hazards) to weaken everything enough for him to get a lategame sweep.
 
I personally think we should move towards a bulky offense type of team. I've been using many mons that incorporate themselves into a bulky offensive, and it works almost all the time.

Also, while I can't change it, slowking might not be the best IMO. It just seems so underwhelming. Everytime I see one, it gets KO'ed.
 

tennisace

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I don't think bulky offense is the way to go here. What I've found that having bulky Pokemon with decent (70-85) speed is detrimental. The majority of the time, you dont need to outspeed the faster mons because they beat you anyway, and you beat slower ones anyway. So the team needs to be "faster" than average, but with at least one really powerful slow mon (I'm thinking armaldo to beat other slowking) to take advantage of TR to take the load off Slowking. Ideally, the majority of the offense should consist of u-turn/volt switch with quick hazards (sr + 1/2 spikes) to whittle down the opponent's defenses through quick damage and resistances. So yeah: what we need is an up-tempo offense based around getting hazards up and putting constant offensive pressure on the opponent.
 
I think full TR is the way to go and will best enable Slowking to shine.

Potential teammates:

Gigalith/Aggron/Rhydon (SR setters with good offense that can simultaneously abuse TR)
Marowak/Rampardos/Aggron/Druddigon (Physical offensive TR sweepers)
Exeggutor/Magneton/Glaceon (Special offensive TR sweepers)
Dual Screen Serperior (team support, screens can enable setup and can phaze with Dragon Tail to avoid being complete setup bait)
TR+Healing Wish Audino/Mesprit (defensive supporters and backup TR setters)
Scarf Braviary/Swellow/Specs Electrode (backup sweepers that can simultaneously scout)
Volbeat (tail glow pass into Slowking?)
 
I don't think bulky offense is the way to go here. What I've found that having bulky Pokemon with decent (70-85) speed is detrimental. The majority of the time, you dont need to outspeed the faster mons because they beat you anyway, and you beat slower ones anyway. So the team needs to be "faster" than average, but with at least one really powerful slow mon (I'm thinking armaldo to beat other slowking) to take advantage of TR to take the load off Slowking. Ideally, the majority of the offense should consist of u-turn/volt switch with quick hazards (sr + 1/2 spikes) to whittle down the opponent's defenses through quick damage and resistances. So yeah: what we need is an up-tempo offense based around getting hazards up and putting constant offensive pressure on the opponent.
You do have a point there. Wartortle and Cryogonal aren't very common, and in a place where you have quite a few options for entry hazards, it would be hard to switch in. However, I'm thinking that we at least have a mon devoted to taking down swellow. I've noticed that without a good rock or steel type mon, it's hard to beat the bird mon. Magneton maybe?

So then, the team would look like this:

Hazard lead (scolipede, roselia)
Slowking
physical sweeper
Special sweeper
magneton? (or a wall)
Slow powerful mon
 
Me, y u no define your own playstyle correctly?

I've been using a team much like tennisace suggested, and Master Win clarified, with minor changes. I've never really liked the VoltTurn tactic, but it is of course viable depending on the player. EDIT: Oh, that's different. I thought you were talking about a more OU-like VoltTurn. My bad :/

The team ive been testing is:
Roselia for hazards and as a nice special wall (Scolipede is of course a viable option)
Slowking (duh)
Swellow (who pairs nicely with Slowking, as he takes care of some of the birds usual counters like Klinklang and Rhydon)
Haunter (spin blocker/ awesome special attacker)
Dugtrio (the team doesn't require a trapper, but it's never a bad thing to have. Plus he can get rocks up)
Armaldo (spinning/tank/ TR abuser)

And I don't know what I'm doing that you aren't tennisace and zebraiken, in 30 matched I'd say I get in TR and a NP once (you can pull it off twice with Regenerator) in about 25/30. Will expand soon.
 

tennisace

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I got to #36 by dicking around with a team of:

Scolipede
Slowking
Double Dance Torterra (terrible btw)
Klinklang
CB Druddigon
LO Dugtrio

The team works decently enough but Klinklang is pulling most of the weight to be honest. I have only ONCE gotten off both TR and NP (just like I've only gotten off SD/RP on Torterra...), so we shouldn't really have more than one set-up mon. That will force our team's end-goal to be setting up both TR and NP, through whatever means.

As for VoltTurning: I'm not talking about in OU where you have Rotom-W/Scizor/Landorus hitting extremely hard with their attacks and that's the main form of offense. I'm talking about using it like you would in 4th gen with MixApe: it's a move to get out and do ~10% to the opponent. The main form of offense will come from the standard hard-hitters that you u-turn into, not the u-turning itself. That's what I was going for.

PS: Kenshiro, Aggron is solidly RU, or else it would be tearing up this tier really badly.

Edit @ below: I don't feel like making a new post, but more setting up is NOT the answer to our problem. Devoting two teamslots to two Pokemon that need at least 3-4 turns of set-up is not what we need, especially since it is very easy to switch in anything on Volbeat and use Roar/Whirlwind, so that when it does BP, Slowking is immediately switched out. The same goes for Pokemon like Alomomola or Audino (Audino sucks btw use Lickilicky): we want a faster offense to quickly wear down the opponent's team in order for us to sweep with Slowking. Sitting around trying to keep everything healthy will just allow the other team to pick our team apart with fast, powerful mons.
 
If setting up NP is becoming a problem, what about using Volbeat to BP Tail Glow to Slowking? This allows Slowking to just need one turn of set-up.

I'd also consider leaning the team to be a bit of a defensive stall type and possibly using Slowking as a wallbreaker. One of Slowking's biggest assets is his ability to come in and out using Regenerator. Using a healer/cleric like Alomomola or Audino gives Slowking more chances to come in and set-up and prevents him from fearing random Toxics. Dual Screeners could also help.

Course, that's just me.
 
PS: Kenshiro, Aggron is solidly RU, or else it would be tearing up this tier really badly.
Yeah, I definitely zoned out there, lol.

Druddigon is another option to consider though, especially since it can use Sheer-Force-boosted Crunch to clean up stuff like Mesprit and opposing Slowking while covering most of Slowking's weaknesses.
 
Trick Room Exeggutor, anybody?

Exeggutor (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Harvest
Nature: Quiet
EVs: 252 HP/252 SpA/4 Def
-Giga Drain
-Hidden Power (Fire)
-Psyshock/Psychic/Sleep Powder.
-Trick Room

With a decently slow speed of 105 (because of HP Fire 70) and 383 SpA, Exeggutor just rips apart unprepared teams.
 
I'm sorry, I forgot. Uhh, well, a full-blown TR team would work well with these bulky and powerful sweepers that don't require a stat-up. Of course, we would have to have a Pokemon that can function outside of TR and is fast and pretty strong, like Swellow.
 
Personally, I think a full-on TR team would work best. One thing that would be necessary is a pokemon that would function extremely well outside of TR, to possibly be an early game sweeper to weaken the team before we set TR up.
 
Guess I didn't clarify what kind of playstyle I want. But basically, what tennisace said earlier. An offensive team dedicated to wearing down the opponent with hazards thrown in there. That would be a very nice team indeed.
 
Guys, simple and sweet, make one vote for which playstyle you would prefer to see the team use. Some suggested playstyles are:
Hazard-setting offense
Full-on TR
BP (no SmashPass)

But if you want something else, vote for that, and I'll probably add it to the list. Voting will end Friday at 5 PM EST (mwahahahahaha! I use seemingly random times on you!)

My vote goes to hazard-setting offense
 

tennisace

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Hazard-setting offense, no doubt. It's basically the best playstyle in NU right now period.
 

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