Rate my First NU Team?

Hi! I kind of gave up on my sandstorm team, and with the help of the lovely fellow Pokemon Online-ers I created a rough draft of my NU Team! I checked all the Pokemon with the 5th Gen Tier List on Pokemon Online so to the best of my knowledge they are all NU. If you guys have any suggestions, improvements, criticisms or whatnot please feel free to tell me! I am just trying to improve my team! Also I am having trouble deciding which should be the lead Pokemon, so any advice on that would be greatly appreciated. Okay thanks!



Articuno- Timid - Pressure- 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe @Leftovers
~Sub
~ Roost
~ Ice beam
~ Toxic

Articuno is basically a staller. She has a huge weakness to Stealth Rock, which is why I was thinking to put her first, so there is no threat of Stealth Rock. I chose her to set up a Sub, and with her great SpD she can take a hit or two in Sub. Unless it is Stone Edge, but the Sub will save her from that and she'll get a chance to inflict Toxic, and the PP for Stone Edge will decrease rapidly. Roost is to keep stalling and make her annoying to take down. I chose her over all the others because she is a really good staller, Ice is a useful type, and she can wear down the opposing team with Toxic.



Torterra- Impish- Overgrow- 252 HP / 56 Atk / 200 Def @Leftovers
~ Wood Hammer
~ Stealth Rock
~ Earthquake
~ Synthesis

I was thinking of putting Torterra in to help put in Stealth Rock. He was my other option to be the lead. He has some strong attacks that get STAB so he could be defensive, while being a bit offensive as well. He seemed like a solid Pokemon, but Ifeel he might be missing something. So any suggestions?



Armaldo- Adamant- Leftovers- Battle Armor- 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
~ Rapid Spin
~ Stone Edge
~ X-Scissor
~ Earthquake

I chose Armaldo as a Rapid Spinner. Since Articuno is so weak to Stealth Rock, I needed a Rapid Spinner, and he seemed like a good option. I chose a mostly offensive moveset, besides the Rapid Spin. I think it does a decent job of covering his weaknesses. But he may draw out a water attack due to his weakness and no cover, which brings me to the next Pokemon!



Poliwrath-Leftovers- Water Absorb- Adamant - 60 HP / 252 Atk / 96 Spe
~ Substitute
~ Focus Punch
~ Waterfall
~ Encore

So when Armaldo draws out the water attacks I can switch in Poliwrath and take advantage of the Water Absorb ability. He can also be on the offensive, I have the SupPunch combo here to use his STAB and Waterfall as a second STAB move. Encore is to catch a Pokemon in a water move that they'll have to repeat. I'm not sure about this one, so if there are any suggestions for a new move I'd happily hear them. But Poliwhirl will bring out Grass or Electric moves which brings us either back to Articuno or more likely down to the next Pokemon!



Electivire-Expert Belt- Motor Drive- Naïve- 144 Atk / 140 SpA / 224 Spe
~Thunderbolt
~ Flamethrower
~ Cross Chop / Earthquake
~ Ice Punch / Hidden Power Grass

With the Electric move Motor Drive will absorb it and give Electivire a Speed boost. That will greatly help him. I have him as a mixed attacker. Both stats are pretty good, and I thought people would assume he is one or the other-not both. I can't decide between Cross Chop and Earthquake. Both do a bit of damage, but I am not 100 percent sure which one I want. And Ice Punch and Hidden Power Grass both target his weakness-Ground, but I was airing on the side of HP Grass because Ice also gets Grass and Flying but both are already covered. While Grass gets Quagsire and Poliwrath etc.



Musharna- Leftovers- Synchronize- Bold- 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 SpD
~ Calm Mind
~ Psychic / Stored Power
~ Moonlight
~ Baton Pass

Finally! We have Musharna! She is a great Calm Mind user and I was thinking of using a lot, then using stored power, when she's low on HP use Moonlight to restore it. When she's on her last leg Baton Pass the really high SpD onto someone who needs it... probably Armaldo. I can't decide between Stored Power or Psychic though. They both seem like good choices so I could use some help on choosing which one.

That's it! I thank you for reading through it and for any suggestions made! I really hope this isn't a terrible team. Thanks again!

Neither Electrivire nor Poliwrath are in the current Never Used tier. Perhaps you should try a subpunching Cacturne in place for Poliwrath if you want to keep a water absorber and subpuncher. His typing may mess with the synergy of your time, but he fulfills the same role. In addition, Electivire can be replaced by mixed Zebstrike to absorb electric hits aimed at Articuno and fulfill the same offensive role as your Electivire.

A very solid team. I like how you have Torterra as the stealth rocker and relieving pressure from Armaldo, who normally has both stealth rock and rapid spin (but rarely has the opportunity to use both before fainting). The team has really good chemistry with each other, and it was hard to find any "true" threats to your team. I would like to make some suggestions however. You have Baton Pass on Musharna, but there are only 2 other Pokemon that could really use it, being Electrivire and Articuno. I can understand Articuno getting the calm minds, making it have even bulkier substitutes for stalling, but Electrivire is neither bulky nor fast enough to utilize the boosts of calm mind effectively. I'd suggest what "Stop That Dragonite" said, and switch Electrivire for a mixed Zebstrika. It has a decent moveset, and is much quicker, allowing him to sweep with the calm mind boosts due to his base 116 speed. Also, phazing can be a problem for your team if the opponent has stealth rock up and stops you from setting up subs (Poliwrath, Articuno), calm minds (Musharna), and rapid spin support (Armaldo). Since the majority of phazing in NU is Roar (I think), then maybe substituting Mr. Mime in for Musharna. Granted, it isn't as bulky as Musharna, but it has soundproof (no roar) is faster, and has pratically the same movesets besides Moonlight. But that's just a thought, since it's a relatively minor detail. Great team!

Well, agreeing with Stop That Dragonite that Poliwrath and Electivire are RU on Smogon (where you are posting this RMT btw), but seeing as you are playing on the PO server, maybe they are NU there. :/ Regardless, I'm not sure if your team has a theme, or a win condition other than Baton Passing a Calm Mind or 2 to E-Vire or Articuno (<3 Articuno btw). However, Articuno doesn't really need the boost, and Electivire is too slow to utilize it properly. In fact, your team is EXTREMELY slow, and many faster threats can shred it apart. Swellow is one threat that I know gets a guaranteed 6-0 against your team, since you have nothing that can really take its assaults. All that is needed is a little prior damage for it to sweep you. You have no defense against the heavyweights of the tier, nor do you have the speed or power to break the walls of the tier. Ironically enough, the 2 RU Pokes are the most replaceable since they don't provide much to your team. Magmortar is a better special attacker than Electivire, and Samurott is potentially more dangerous as a physical attacker with Swords Dance and priority. A Scarf on Magmortar can give your team some needed speed, while the standard Swords Dance Samurott can use Aqua Jet to take on anything that is faster than Magmortar. They also provide you with a nice Fire-Water-Grass core that is good for defense and offense alike. Musharna is better off being a bulky attacker rather than a Baton Passer, since you have no dedicated recipients. Baton Pass can be replaced with Hidden Power Fighting/Ground/Bug or Shadow Ball, though the HPs can help you handle Skuntank or Absol better. Finally, while I love Articuno, I'm not sure what she does for the team. She isn't really a special wall; rather she is a Toxic staller. Toxic stall doesn't really fit your bulky offense much at all; in fact, it slows your team down. I would replace it would something that has a more offensive moveset, but that one is up to you. I don't want to completely change your team, but I have pointed out the main flaws that jump out at me. Its up to you if you want to implement them, but I recommend that you try them out (maybe study the NU Pokes in the strategy dex and the forums a bit more as well)

Good luck and welcome to Smogon!!! :)

Thanks everyone! Everyone had a very good point, my team was very slow and according to Smogon the E-vire and Poliwrath are RU. So I mixed up the team a bit! I am replacing Poliwrath with Samurott and Electivire with Magmortar and finally Mushrana with Mr. Mime! The new sets are below. Hopefully this will balance out the team a bit! I'm really excited to try and use this team :)

Samurott-Torrent- Life Orb-Adamant- 12 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
~ Swords Dance
~ Waterfall
~ Megahorn
~ Aqua Jet

Samurott can use Swords Dance a time or two and then wreack havoc on teams. Life Orb, Swords Dance, and probably Torrent will give Samurott a really huge Attack boost and he can hopefully shred through teams. And use Aqua Jet to hit first with any weak pokemon.

Now I'm switching to Mr.Mime because it was pointed out that a phaser could wreck my team. So Mr. Mime seemed like a good option, and he can also Baton Pass as well!

Mr.Mime- Leftovers- Soundproof-Timid-252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
~ Baton Pass
~ Nasty Plot / Calm Mind
~ Encore
~ Psychic

I can't decide between which of the two attacks I want. Calm Mind would be useful but so would Nasty Plot since a bunch of my Pokemon are special attackers. But now phasers can't totally mess up my team.

Magmortar-Life Orb-Hasty- 48 Atk / 228 SpA / 232 Spe
~ Flame Charge
~ Fire Blast
~ Thunderbolt
~ Focus Blast

Magmortar would be more of a laterish game sweeper. He could Flame Charge and finish off weaker pokemon and get a speed boost while doing so. Eventually he'll be able to attack first and dominate any threats due to the large coverage he has.

OR I could use Zebstrika, he is way faster even before any moves, but his movepool is shallow. I'd give him this set.

Zebstrika- Choice Specs- Modest- Lightning Rod- 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
~ Thunderbolt
~ Hidden Power Grass
~ Overheat
~ Volt Switch

I can't decide between the two. Any other suggestions?

I would keep Musharna over Mr. Mime since it has a reliable recovery move and much much more bulk than Mr. Mime. With Mr. Mime, CB Sawk and other strong fighting types could run over this team. A slow Baton Pass can also help Magmortar or whatever you choose to pass to come in safely.

Magmortar is RU as well, isn't it?

This is an old RMT. Magmortar is RU now, but not anymore.