NU Discussion Thread (Mark II)

[Lemmiwinks MkII]

Most Fire types carry HP Grass, so the combo fails in that regard too. And HP Ground is better than Power Gem on Vespiquen. I also fail to see how Gastrodon is a less predictable Swampert. Swampert has a good movepool, Gastrodon doesn't.

What 'bugs' me though is the fact that Vespiquen doesn't get Bug Buzz. I mean, if bees don't buzz, then what does?

 

[Erodent]

^ Dragonflies.

Speaking of dragonflies, I've been using Yanma and I like it so far.

Yanma @ Life Orb
Modest - Speed Boost
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 6 Def

~ Protect
~ Bug Buzz
~ Air Slash
~ Hidden Power Ground

It's effective at points in the game where there are no special walls left (I haven't seen a Munchlax at all!). It's also basically a mini-Yanmega with the same Speed stat but less SpA, but this is remedied to some degree by Life Orb. Protect is for scouting and gives you a free Speed Boost. Bug Buzz OHKOs Pokemon like Leafeon, Exeggutor, and Cacturne, while scoring 2HKOs on a number of opponents like Slowking, Hypno, and Sandslash. Air Slash can OHKO non-bulky Poliwrath, Hitmonchan, and Primeape, while 2HKOing Gligar. Hidden Power Ground 2HKOes Probopass (they seem to like setting up Stealth Rock on the first turn) and OHKOs Magneton. Unfortunately, Pokemon like Golbat, Flareon, and Dusclops can wall this set to no end.

NU is a very interesting metagame where it is possible to use NFE gimmicks and actually win! Everyone should start playing and jump on the ladder ;)

 

[ZandgaiaX]

I use an anti-lead Primeape, it works pretty well.......

@Scarf
Vital Spirit
Adamant Nature
252 att/252 speed/6 hp
-Fire Punch
-Ice Punch
-Close Combat
-U-turn
Primeape is a great anti-lead, it works against some of the best leads used in NU. Fire Punch is there for Pinser mainly but since Pinser got a drop lately, it can be changed to Punishment or so. Ice Punch hits the annoyance of NU; Jumpluff. Close Combat is for STAB and hits the high numbers of Normal and Rocks hard. It also hits yours truly steel types good too. U-turn is mainly for scouting, and hits Psychics pretty well. Scarf is just to outspeed Jumpluff and other scarfers because of his high base speed. Only Dusclops is a problem at the moment (For me that is)

 

[gvmgvm40]

The lack of Remoraids in this tier makes me sad :( Thanks to Hustle, Adamant max atk Remoraid effectively has an attack stat of 377, which is 5 points higher than Adamant Weavile's. 65 base speed is shaggy at best, but you can pass speed to it, (Agility/Encore/BP Ledian, anyone?) run a Scarf set or even use it as a check to TR teams. It's physical movepool is extremely shallow, but it gets Return/Double Edge, Waterfall and Seed Bomb which should be enough. The 4th moveslot will be mainly filler though. Thief, Thunder Wave, Swagger, Rock Blast, Gunk Shot: have your pick. You can run Band or LO sets, but Wide Lens also helps to cope with Hustle's %20 miss side-effect; Wide Lens improves the accuracy by %10.

 

[Random Pizzaman]

I'd say Octillery is better as a speed receiver.

So, I havent played NU in a while, whats the metagame like right now.

 

[Raikaria]

Hustle may double attack, but it also lowers Accuracy. Last thing you want is Remoraid missing with Double-Edge, and then being OHKO'ed. Anyway, in NU, Remoraid is outclassed by Octillery, who not only has Base 105 in both attacking stats, meaning that it can run a mixed set, but Suction Cups, meaning it can't be phazed out, if you intend to pass speed onto it. Sure, it's inital attack is lower, but it averages out in Octillery's favor, when you add the 20% miss chance.

Octillery is a viable pokemon both on BP teams, giving Medicham and Marowak a run for it's money as a BP ender, and, on Trick Room Teams... giving Medicham and Marowak a run for their money, especially seeing as it can be a Mixed Sweeper, not just physical, and it's movepool is rather vast.

EDIT: Ninja'ed, but I have explainations! ^_^

EDIT 2: Ledian won't be living long enough to pass speed anyway, with all the Rock types. Gligar, however, would be able to

 

[Staraptor Call]

The lack of Remoraids in this tier makes me sad :( Thanks to Hustle, Adamant max atk Remoraid effectively has an attack stat of 377, which is 5 points higher than Adamant Weavile's. 65 base speed is shaggy at best, but you can pass speed to it, (Agility/Encore/BP Ledian, anyone?) run a Scarf set or even use it as a check to TR teams. It's physical movepool is extremely shallow, but it gets Return/Double Edge, Waterfall and Seed Bomb which should be enough. The 4th moveslot will be mainly filler though. Thief, Thunder Wave, Swagger, Rock Blast, Gunk Shot: have your pick. You can run Band or LO sets, but Wide Lens also helps to cope with Hustle's %20 miss side-effect; Wide Lens improves the accuracy by %10.

With Remoraid's low speed, accuracy and defenses one would be better off using Pikachu. Pikachu has much better type coverage than Remoraid and has a better movepool, without Remoraid's poor speed or 80% accuracy for Physical moves. Static is a nice bonus, too, if a Scarfer or priority user KOs Pikachu with a Physical move. Pikachu is NU's mini-Electivire.

 

[SHUCKLE MAN]

On the NU server, the usage statistics for the first 4 weeks of NU battling on the ladder have been posted, so I thought I'd post them in this thread too. The following are the hundred most used Pokemon.

1900 Medicham
1572 Skuntank
1525 Sandslash
1463 Gligar
1413 Gardevoir
1369 Primeape
1336 Dusclops
1228 Haunter
1142 Relicanth
1121 Magneton
1102 Poliwrath
1049 Manectric
1016 Drifblim
971 Leafeon
942 Jumpluff
879 Slowking
871 Lickilicky
836 Pinsir
828 Exeggutor
779 Cloyster
778 Tauros
776 Entei
714 Persian
714 Hitmonchan
692 Floatzel
689 Venomoth
625 Flareon
588 Camerupt
581 Bibarel
568 Cacturne
558 Linoone
542 Regice
541 Ninetales
516 Armaldo
509 Gorebyss
507 Hippopotas
500 Hypno
498 Vileplume
486 Kangaskhan
480 Lapras
469 Rapidash
462 Meganium
449 Marowak
447 Bastiodon
441 Shuckle
428 Ampharos
418 Gastrodon
374 Qwilfish
372 Gabite
370 Ursaring
369 Cradily
365 Probopass
363 Rhydon
354 Sharpedo
354 Purugly
351 Muk
350 Golduck
338 Dodrio
328 Aggron
320 Victreebel
317 Glaceon
303 Sableye
292 Jynx
281 Quagsire
280 Rampardos
268 Articuno
267 Snover
267 Butterfree
264 Shedinja
263 Golbat
254 Mantine
241 Piloswine
237 Luxray
224 Mr. Mime
220 Slaking
219 Regigigas
214 Machoke
207 Lopunny
206 Sneasel
198 Walrein
195 Zangoose
192 Wailord
188 Politoed
185 Torkoal
183 Kadabra
178 Xatu
178 Banette
176 Solrock
175 Parasect
172 Noctowl
171 Munchlax
168 Raichu
167 Metang
164 Yanma
163 Pelipper
156 Shelgon
153 Kingler
128 Octillery
123 Dunsparce
118 Shiftry

Also, in the previous week the 10 most used Pokemon were:

1. Leafeon
2. Poliwrath
3. Gligar
4. Skuntank
5. Regice
6. Camerupt
7. Sandslash
8. Haunter
9. Hitmonchan
10. Qwilfish

And the 10 most used leads:

1. Gligar
2. Golbat
3. Relicanth
4. Sandslash
5. Metang
6. Persian
7. Bibarel
8. Kadabra
9. Cradily
10. Hippopotas

 

[Mazaki Anzu]

Awesome how Pinsir has been less and less used without a clear reason.

 

[SHUCKLE MAN]

Awesome how Pinsir has been less and less used without a clear reason.

Yeah, the statistics seem to fluctuate a LOT, when they're published every week. I think it's for 2 reasons. Firstly, it's a new metagame. Secondly, not that many people have contributed to these statistics. If one person decides not to use Medicham, for some reason, that can skew the statistics a lot.

 

[Boingo]

Awesome how Pinsir has been less and less used without a clear reason.

People are scared to death of SR-weak pokes. Which is stupid, because Pinsir wrecks stuff.

 

[ZandgaiaX]

Proof that scarfape is an awesome anti-lead in this meta-game!

1. Gligar<icepunch
2. Golbat<Icepunch
3. Relicanth<CC
4. Sandslash<Icepunch
5. Metang<U-turn/CC
6. Persian<CC no fear of hypnosis. Fake out can hurt though
7. Bibarel<CC
8. Kadabra<U-turn
9. Cradily<CC
10. Hippopotas<Icepunch.....
Easy!

 

[blasphemy1]

Unfortunately, Primeape doesn't OHKO Golbat, Relicanth, Sandslash, Metang, and iiirc, Cradily. Sure, it does relatively well, but it is too frail to survive any STAB attack at -1.

 

[ZandgaiaX]

Unfortunately, Primeape doesn't OHKO Golbat, Relicanth, Sandslash, Metang, and iiirc, Cradily. Sure, it does relatively well, but it is too frail to survive any STAB attack at -1.

True. But most of them will use Stealth Rock anyway S_S and it's true; I didn't use any calculations.........yet......

 

[blasphemy1]

True. But most of them will use Stealth Rock anyway S_S and it's true; I didn't use any calculations.........yet......

Golbat will OHKO with Brave Bird, and the rest will switch to a resistance after setting up rocks. It is still a good lead, because it threatens with super effective moves and has U-Turn, but Choice Band is preferrable due to it already outspeeding the most common leads, with the exception of Persian and Kadabra(who threaten you too much anyways, as Kadabra sees quite a few Scarf usages of its own, and Persian has Fake Out).

 

[The_Coon]

Woop for first posts!

I use Choice Specs Phione in my OU (sometimes) and UU team so I'm obviously gonna use it in NU.

Modest Nature
252 SpA/252 Speed/6 Hp
Choice Specs (obv)
-Surf
-Grass Knot
-Ice Beam
-U-turn

I was gonna give it Hidden Power Dragon but it turned out to be a crap HP so i left it. I don't know why people don't use Phione. It's great, at least in the NU.

 

[Sceats]

Problem with phione is that its rather easily revenge killed/walled as water absorbers are common, though admitedly they are all (exept mantine) hit supereffective by grass knot.

Looks like a good set.

 

[Lemmiwinks MkII]

The bigger problem with Phione is that it is outclassed even in NU if you're not abusing Hydration, which that set isn't.

 

[gvmgvm40]

Golduck has 80/82/78/95/80/85 base stats.
Phione has 80/80/80/80/80/80 base stats.
Politoad has 90/75/75/90/100/70 base stats.

For a Specs set...

Golduck gets Surf/Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Psychic, Focus Blast, Mud Bomb, Swift, Hypnosis/Yawn, Confuse Ray/Swagger and Signal Beam.
Phione gets Ice Beam, Grass Knot, Surf, Ancientpower, Supersonic/Swagger, Swift and U-Turn/Signal Beam.
Politoad gets Ice Beam, Focus Blast, Surf, Psychic, Mud Shot/Mud Bomb, Swagger, Perish Song, Hyper Voice and Hypnosis.

I'd rather use Golduck or Politoed.

 

[Son_of_Shadoo]

Golduck also has Cross Chop, which is good for specially inclined switch-ins.

 

[Raikaria]

Cross Chop is good for Regice Switch-ins, seeing as they are hit Super Effectivly on their weaker (But not Blissey-grade) defence. I'm not sure about the damage calcs, but I'm 90% sure that it's a 2HKO, and almost certain it's a OHKO on a crit, with Rocks factored in.

Phione is still outclassed, hence, why it's not used as much, although, it could be a decent member of a rain team, with Golduck, Politoad and itself as the rain sweepers.

Odd, the leads seem to be OU/UU Lite to some degree. Metang, Golbat, Hippopotas, even Gligar, most used pokemon of the Little Cup (Who is 4th overall 0_0)

 

[Random Pizzaman]

Am I the only person noticing how far ahead in usage Medicham is compared to everyone else? And why has leafeon usage died down so much, it's a good Pokemon.

 

[koolio]

Ok... WHERE IS LUXRAY!?!?! 120 base attack and 95 spc A is nothing to laugh at, especially running a mixed set with t-bolt, superpower, crunch, and hidden power grass, he can really tear through a team by himself or with a choice scarf and he deserves some mention

 

[Bologo]

The bigger problem with Phione is that it is outclassed even in NU if you're not abusing Hydration, which that set isn't.

Actually, that's untrue. Out of all the Water-types in the game, only Manaphy, Lumineon, and Phione can use U-turn. Manaphy's obviously banned, and Lumineon is terrible. So, I suppose that if a NU team also needs a bulky Water that can double as a U-turning scout, Phione is the best choice for that job. (I admit, it's not much of a niche, but it's still something Phione can do that isn't done better by everything else!)

EDIT: I forgot about Pelipper. However, Pelipper is still worse than Phione IMO. First, he really doesn't have better physical defense. The awful base HP cancels out the better Defense stat. Also, it's going to have a hard time U-turning due to the Stealth Rock weak and 4x Electric weakness. Yes, it does have Roost, but unfortunately, it is very slow and will have a lot of trouble using it without taking a big hit. Finally, its U-turn isn't even going to hurt anything with 50 base Attack, while Phione's can actually hurt something which is quite helpful.

 

[beep beep beep]

Pelipper gets U-Turn as well and has decent support options and physical defense.