Please RMT: RU!

[cagedWINGS]

Greetings people. I have started trying out my other team, my RU team, on Pokemon Online. I'd like to give you all the opportunity to RMT.

This time around I'm going to explain my building process of the team because lots of people in the RMT section of the forum do it and it looks really fun to do. So here goes.

Apologies in advance for the absolute novel of a post!

Building:

One of my favourite Pokemon of Gen 3 is the mighty Aggron. He's been a familiar face in my teams since his debut in Pokemon Ruby.

To my surprise, while checking out the RU tier list, I spotted the chap! Dem defense and attack stats. His ability! He is a beast. He was now my poster boy for a new RU team and would serve as it's physical sweeper.

It was time for me to give Aggron some support. His weaknesses are 4x Fighting, 4x Ground and 2x Water. The Ground weakness could be taken care of by teaching Aggron Aqua Tail; giving him at least a fighting chance against probably one of his biggest threats. That left Fighting and Water.

In my Black 2 play through I used a strange Pokemon in my team by the name of Sigilyph. His initial appearance is extremely off-putting. I mean just look at it. A Hoothoot that's had the whole of it's body tattooed and had an Unown grafted onto it's head. However, during Black 2 it filled a gap in my team just perfectly, and I actually grew really fond of it. It was one of the stars of the team and is now oddly one of my favourite Gen 5 Pokemon.

My memories of Sigilyph got me thinking about how valid he would be as Aggron's partner in crime. Well, it's typing makes the perfect counter for Fighting types and it can also learn Energy Ball. That checks all of Aggron's weaknesses. A nice bonus is that Sigilyph can learn Roost and it's secondary typing means its immune to one of Aggron's biggest weaknesses, Ground moves. Once again Sigilyph just fit the bill.

I now had the core for my team. I knew there were a few weakness gaps in regards to Sigilyph, but they could be plugged later with the rest of my team.

The next Pokemon to add to my team was a spinner. Having a team without one and having that risk of getting raped by entry hazards just wasn't acceptable.

Cryogonal was another Pokemon that I have used before in one of my play throughs, Pokemon Black. He seemed to be the ideal spinner (admittedly the options in the RU tier for a spinner are limited at best). Not only that but I pity the fool that comes up against a Cryogonal's Ice Beam. It's ability was also key, Levitate, which enabled me to freely switch into Ground moves and entry hazards.

Now that I was halfway through the team build, I began to start to second guess myself in regards to which Pokemon would be good to go alongside Aggron. For a while I considered using a Gallade with Leaf Blade instead of Sigilyph with Energy Ball.

I then changed my mind and stuck with Sigilyph as my team was heading down the road of being an overly physical team with Gallade. Sigilyph made more sense to me. I think it's special based stats, movepool and it's immunity to Ground Attacks are what won me over.

For my fourth Pokemon I went on the search for a big, fat tank of a Water type. Lanturn seemed perfect. His weaknesses were nothing to fear as his movepool enables him to take on both Grass and Ground types. It also puts a giant blanket of type coverage across my beloved Aggron. Lanturn officially made the cut.

That left me with two slots to fill. There was still the issue of Sigilyph's weaknesses to address. My biggest concerns were specifically the Ice, Dark and Ghost types. Both Ice and Dark are weak to Fighting. I decided my team needed a mono-Fighting type for the team, but more specifically, a Fighting type that could learn either a Dark or a Ghost type move to combat Sigilyph's Ghost weakness.

Hariyama, a Pokemon that accompanied Aggron throughout my adventures in the Hoenn Region, caught my eye. He is able to learn Faint Attack to combat Ghosts (as well as being able to check one of his own weaknesses of Psychic). What drew my eye to him as supposed to other Fighting types in the tier was his Dream World Ability, Sheer Force. Any moves I taught him that had secondary effects would hit like a nuclear bomb.

After reading up a little bit, Sheer Force didn't effect Superpower, much to my dismay. I had to look to see if any Fighting types in RU were an option. However none really powed me as none could cover Sigilyph. I decided to keep Hariyama and switch up his ability for something else.

I wish I had some specific reasoning as to why I chose my initial last Pokemon the way I did, but I don't. I just wanted a Fire type for shits and giggles. I chose Magmortar.

Then I realised I was being a douche and actually started to think about my options. I really had no need for a Fire type. All of the types Fire is effective against, namely Grass and Steel, had been covered. Not only that but I didn't want to throw even more weaknesses into my team. I needed something simple and a Pokemon whose 'play style' was something that my team didn't already have.

I started looking again, and came up with Clefable, the team's cleric. Immune to Ghost types, weakness covered by Sigilyph, able to inject a bit of staying power into my team. Perfect.

So that is my team as it stands right now. It's time to go through the finer details.

Movesets, EVs, etc:

Aggron @ Choice Band
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 116HP, 252Atk, 140Spe
Nature: Adamant
-Head Smash
-Heavy Slam
-Earthquake
-Aqua Tail

Aggron, like I previously mentioned, is the main physical sweeper of the team. His set is a bog standard set that you would come to expect for Aggron. It's not exactly flashy or creative but it works.

Sigilyph @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4HP, 252SpA, 252Spe
Nature: Timid
-Roost
-Energy Ball
-Psychic
-Calm Mind

Sigilyph defends Aggron so I guess you could say it plays a support role? But not really, as it is the team's special sweeper. Calm mind to boost it's power and Roost to heal itself. Energy Ball to take down Water threats. Pretty self explanatory.

Cryogonal @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248HP, 168Def, 92SpD
Nature: Calm
-Recover
-Ice Beam
-Toxic
-Rapid Spin

Cryogonal Rapid Spins, but outside of battle he is the team's resident twerker. In battle he spins, poisons, heals itself with Recover and blasts stuff with Ice Beam.

Lanturn @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 40HP, 252 Def, 216 SpD
Nature: Calm
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Heal Bell

Lanturn is the bulky as hell Water tank. It has STAB moves, and moves to cover against Grass. Heal Bell is to cure status conditions.

Hariyama @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 12HP, 244Def, 252SpD
Nature: Careful
-Low Sweep
-Bulk Up
-Faint Attack
-Fake Out

Hariyama might have a set that some of you veterans might be shaking your heads at. His EVs make him bulky. But has Bulk Up to make up for the lack of Attack EVs. I chose Low Sweep because it does a decent amount of damage but it lowers the target's speed. Hariyama isn't the speediest of Pokemon, hence Low Sweep.

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252HP, 4Def, 252SpD
Nature: Calm
-Wish
-Softboiled
-Seismic Toss
-Heal Bell

Clefable is the cleric with Wish and Heal Bell. It's a pretty basic cleric set. It just has Seismic Toss so that it isn't defenceless.

So there you go. My RU team. It seems to fair pretty well on Pokemon Online, but if anyone can give me a few pointers for improvement.

Cheers,

James.

 

[atomicllamas]

Hi, this is a pretty interesting team you have here, and I am really glad you are using sets like offensive Sigi and CB Aggron, but there are quite a few flaws on this team that could probably be improved on.

1) Change Aggron's EV spread to 252 Atk/4 SpD/252 Spe (Adamant), as the listed spread is to speed creep min speed Lanturn, but everything creeps on min speed Lanturn, so this will give you a jump on a lot of the defensive and slower offensive mons in the tier. Plus you speed tie or outspeed every neutral nature Aggron, which is common enough to go for.

2) On Sigilyph you may want to use either Heat Wave or Air Slash over Energy Ball, as Ferroseed walls your team, and energy ball is generally inferior to the other two moves (Air slash is more powerful + STAB + flinch chance, Heat wave is stronger + better coverage + burn chance).

3) You really don't need Cryogonal, nothing on your team is weak to rocks (you have two magic guard mons oO), and you have like four special walls on the team already. This seems like a balanced team that is really missing some offensive presence. So, I will recommend you replace Cryogonal with something that can take advantage of the holes you have punched with Aggron and still has good offensive synergy with Sigi. I recommend the following set:

Durant @ Life Orb/Lum Berry
Trait: Hustle
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Hone Claws
- Iron Head
- Superpower
- X-Scissor

This gives your team something to deal with your (large) Slowking weakness while also drawing in stuff like Qwilfish that Sigilyph can scare out and set up on (watch out for t-wave). It also gives your team some more speed which is sorely needed at this point, as everything on your team is relatively slow.

4) Your Lanturn set is p sub-optimal tbh, definitely drop surf for scald (the burn chance is invaluable and gives your other mons stuff to set up on). Ice beam is also a really poor choice on Lanturn, as right now it isn't going to do enough to grass types (no investment or STAB makes it meh) so switch ice beam out for volt switch. A slow volt switch from Lanturn basically gives Aggron a free chance to get in and break something, or you can scout there switch and send in Durant or Sigilyph to set up. Of course if you want to keep ice beam, then drop t-bolt, as volt switch is much better.

5) You are right, you have my head shaking, because it is p bad. Hitmonchan is better at bulking up, but that isn't even what your team needs, you really need a scarfer, as your team is v slow but it isn't stall or even semi-stall. I recommend Rotom-C, as the standard scarf set gives you a volt-switching core, and also gives you a revenge killer, that your team sorely needs.

6) You already have heal bell, clefable doesn't do much for you, switch to standard SR Drud, as it gives you some key resistances while also providing stealth rocks. Everyone reading this rate who is inexperienced YOU NEED STEALTH ROCKS ON EVERY TEAM (barring full baton pass).

I know this is a lot, but your team had a lot of redundancies, and a lack of both offensive prowess and stalliness to be a really successful team. GL with the team :)

 

[cagedWINGS]

Thanks for the advice. It has some really helpful bits of information that I'll have to try out :D.

I have a couple of questions though.

If you recommend dropping Cryogonal, what should I do for a Rapid Spin Pokemon on the team?

Having Durant and Aggron, two Steel types, and having Lanturn and Rotom-C, two Electric types, is a little bit dangerous isn't it?

 

[Turtleye]

Thanks for the advice. It has some really helpful bits of information that I'll have to try out :D.

I have a couple of questions though.

If you recommend dropping Cryogonal, what should I do for a Rapid Spin Pokemon on the team?

Having Durant and Aggron, two Steel types, and having Lanturn and Rotom-C, two Grass types, is a little bit dangerous isn't it?

You don't need a spinner on this team to be honest. Lanturn might be the only one being suspectble to hazards, as you have 2 magic guard users, Rotom-C Who only takes damage from rocks, and Aggron that doesnt give a shit about entry hazards.
Durant and Lanturn are a little bit hazard weak but not much, as you have no rock weakness(aside from Sigi but he doesn't count right now)

Also, I get where you are going, as you have 3 pokes weak to Fire, however Lanturn and Haryama make up for that, as they both resist fire and Ice.
You have Rotom-C and Sigi for ground-moves aimed at Lanturn

 

[cagedWINGS]

Okay. After taking both of you peep's advice, this is my team as its stands now:

And here's some details of the new team:

Durant @ Life Orb
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Nature: Jolly
- Hone Claws
- Iron Head
- Superpower
- X-Scissor

Rotom-C @Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4Def, 252SpA, 252Spe
Nature: Timid
-Volt Switch
-Leaf Storm
-Thunderbolt
-Hidden Power Fire

Druddigon @ Leftovers
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 236HP, 252Atk, 20Spe
Nature: Adamant
-Stealth Rock
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Sucker Punch

I've also made those slight changes to my pre-existing Pokemon such as change Surf to Scald on Lanturn etc.

 

[atomicllamas]

Thanks for the advice. It has some really helpful bits of information that I'll have to try out :D.

I have a couple of questions though.

If you recommend dropping Cryogonal, what should I do for a Rapid Spin Pokemon on the team?

Having Durant and Aggron, two Steel types, and having Lanturn and Rotom-C, two Electric types, is a little bit dangerous isn't it?

Hey, sorry I didn't get back to you, as for your concern about the sharing typings, it isn't that big of a deal, as you neither Durant and Aggron, nor Lanturn and Rotom-C share weaknesses (in fact Lanturn and Rotom-C have almost perfect typing synergy). As Turtleye pointed out, your team shouldn't have to much trouble with hazards, so rapid spin doesn't seem like a necessity at this point. Let me know how the changes are working, hopefully it is an improvement :).

 

[cagedWINGS]

I think that's something I need to get out of my head; that each Pokemon in a team need to be of differing types. It's just something I've done in all of my play throughs so it's learned behaviour. I'll try and not worry about that in future team builds :D.

Thanks for the help llamas, I'll give this a try on Pokemon Online.

On a side note, I was watching the Smogon channel and they seem to be using a different battle program. What is it? Do most people on Smogon use that programme as supposed to Polemon Online?

Cheers.

 

[Turtleye]

I think that's something I need to get out of my head; that each Pokemon in a team need to be of differing types. It's just something I've done in all of my play throughs so it's learned behaviour. I'll try and not worry about that in future team builds :D.

Thanks for the help llamas, I'll give this a try on Pokemon Online.

On a side note, I was watching the Smogon channel and they seem to be using a different battle program. What is it? Do most people on Smogon use that programme as supposed to Polemon Online?

Cheers.

That was probably Pokemon Showdown!
It's a battle simulator that doesnt require you to download a launcher/installer so there are people who play there because they can't/are too lazy to lazy to install PO.
Oh and btw, if you don't like being locked into Outrage, just switch it to Dragon Claw or even Dragon Tail.
;)

 

[cagedWINGS]

Thanks. Yeah, I've always been a bit picky about Outrage. I've had a few battles with the new team and things are going well. It just seems like its running a lot more efficiently now. I think the best addition to the team is Rotom-C. He's been pulling his weight! :D.

I'll check out Showdown. Thanks.

 

[EonX]

As a lot of things have already been recommended, I'm just going to comment on some minor tweaks to some of your Pokemon that I feel will help:

Definitely replace Earthquake with Low Kick on Aggron. Low Kick gives Aggron a legit chance of getting past Steelix. This is really good since it means you don't have to rely on Sigilyph or Rotom-C to get past it and Durant doesn't have to use Superpower on it (nullifying the HC Attack boost) I would also look into using Fire Punch over Aqua Tail. While it's nice to smash Rhydon, it isn't overly common and Fire Punch lets Aggron more definitively handle Escavalier, Ferroseed, and non-Superpower Durant (note most do run Superpower, but still)

I would switch the item on Durant to a Lum Berry. I find that Durant really doesn't need the power boost from Life Orb and the leniency Lum Berry provides against stuff like Uxie, Spiritomb, and friends when setting up is great.

Proposed Changes

Aggron:

Low Kick --> Earthquake
Fire Punch --> Aqua Tail

Durant:

Lum Berry --> Life Orb