RMT - RU Team

[Kwabby]

Hello, Smogon. For a while now, I have battled competitively on Showdown. This is my first post on the Smogon forums however, so I hope that this community can help me hone my battling skills and reach the next step in my battling abilities. I have explored all the tiers quite a lot, and created many teams for each. Below is an RU team I created a while back and have tested and improved extensively. It is a unique team at first glance, but still the pokemon seem to cover each other nicely and provide a certain adaptability and flexibility. Perhaps the team's greatest strength is its ability to put intense amounts of pressure on the opponent, as few pokemon in RU can stand up to the sheer power of Mega Abomasnow and Druddigon. Jolteon provides revenge killing capabilities, Gallade and Steelix can soak up special and physical hits respectively, and Omastar provides a powerful set-up sweeper. The different roles the pokemon play compliment each other nicely, and allow the team to react to different situations properly.


Jolteon @ Choice Specs

Ability: Volt Absorb

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Thunderbolt

- Volt Switch

- Signal Beam

- Hidden Power [Water]


One of the top revenge killers in the game, Jolteon has served me as one of the strongest pokemon I have used competitively. It is easy to see how Jolteon fits into this team, as his speed and ability to revenge kill are only seen elsewhere in Druddigon’s and Abomasnow’s priority moves. Volt Switch and Thunderbolt provide switch initiative and powerful stab, and Signal Beam and Hidden Power Water provide decent coverage. I’m still not entirely certain if these are the best choices for coverage, so any suggestions on what people have found successful as coverage moves for Jolteon are certainly welcome. Shadow Ball/HP Ice has always been my top choice in OU, but don’t seem to be near as effective in RU.



Steelix @ Life Orb

Ability: Sheer Force

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD

Adamant Nature

- Earthquake

- Iron Head

- Crunch

- Stealth Rock


Stealth Rock provides priceless support for a late-game Jolteon sweep, and aids many of the powerful attackers this team showcases. The Sheer Force—Life Orb combination and generally offensive nature of this set is unorthodox, however it packs a big punch that players do not expect and allows Steelix to be a powerful 1-on-1 pokemon. Rock Slide could certainly be considered over either Earthquake or Crunch.



Omastar @ Life Orb

Ability: Shell Armor

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Modest Nature

- Shell Smash

- Hydro Pump

- Earth Power

- Ice Beam


Shell Smash. Good coverage, special attack, and defense make this pokemon a great Shell Smasher in RU, and it still shows usefulness even if I’m not given the chance to Shell Smash. I am aware that the White Herb is the typical item of choice for a Shell Smasher, however I have a preference for Life Orb. The purpose of using Shell Smash is to attempt an all-out sweep with only a single turn of set-up, and thus “raising” (by counteracting the effects of lowering) defenses is not of huge importance. Offence is the best defense when it comes to Shell Smash. Omastar is an extremely powerful set-up sweeper, and has practically single-handedly won many games for me.


Gallade (M) @ Assault Vest

Ability: Justified

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD

Adamant Nature

- Drain Punch

- Psycho Cut

- Knock Off

- Ice Punch


Given Abomasnow, Omastar and Steelix’s weakness to fighting, Gallade’s typing fills an extremely useful role in the team’s overall coverage and versatility. His special bulk, especially with the Assault Vest, compliments Steelix’s more physically defense stats. Because the vast majority of fire moves are special and he resists fighting, Gallade is a useful switch when Abomasnow is threatened. This diverse moveset offers large amounts of type advantages, countering threats to the team such as Delphox, and Drain Punch and Knock Off both have extremely useful effects to go along with them.



Abomasnow @ Abomasite

Ability: Snow Warning

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA

Quiet Nature

- Blizzard

- Focus Blast

- Ice Shard

- Giga Drain


Boasting a special attack stat of 132 and the ability to fire off a 110 base power move with 100% accuracy, Mega Abomasnow is truly a force to be reckoned with. Blizzard, quite obviously, is the primary damaging move of this set, with Giga Drain as secondary stab and recovery, Ice Shard for priority and finishing pokemon weakened by Blizzard (which works very nicely with Hail damage), and finally Focus Blast for additional coverage, particularly against Steel-types. Abomasnow can switch into water moves threatening Steelix or ground moves threatening Omastar or Steelix nicely, however his ability to switch is often slightly limited by Stealth Rocks. It should be noted, however, that outside of this, Stealth Rocks have little impact on my team as Abomasnow is my only weakness to them, and I have three resistances, one of which is 4x.



Druddigon @ Choice Band

Ability: Sheer Force

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD

Adamant Nature

- Outrage

- Sucker Punch

- Fire Punch

- Gunk Shot


Druddigon falls into a similar bulky, tank attacker role as Abomasnow. Druddigon is extremely powerful for the RU tier with his 120 attack stat close to matching even the top dragons such as Garchomp. Choice Banded Outrage OHKO’s most pokemon, and still manages to 2HKO most physically bulky pokemon that don’t resist it. Fire Punch offers Steel coverage and Gunk Shot offers Fairy coverage, and Sucker Punch provides strong priority which is very useful with Druddigon's low speed stat.


I am excited to hear what you guys think, and hope to hear some useful advice. Thank you!

 

[Lemonade]

Hey there, interesting team. It's cool to see Mega Abomasnow since everyone is hyping the new megas, so let's start there. I feel that outspeeding Rhyperior could be useful to OHKO it with Giga Drain and get all your HP back. A spread of 168 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 84 Spe with a Lonely nature doesn't give up that much bulk, since Abomasnow doesn't really want to be taking physical hits anyway (as there are a lot of physical moves that hit Aboma super effectively running around. Also, Mega / normal Sharpedo still 2HKO, regardless of neutral or negative defense nature). Also, make sure that base Abomasnow has Soundproof, as you want hail turns to start when you Mega evolve, and Soundproof lets you check Boomburst Exploud.

I feel like Druddigon can run Life Orb and not miss the power from Choice Band. It is particularly useful because it can come in against Bronzong and other Steels trying to wall Abomasnow and smack them with Fire Punch. However, Fire Punch isn't a great move to be locked into. The ability to switch makes Druddigon much more deadly.

Your team is also weak to Mega Lopunny, since it outspeeds everything and pretty much gets a kill every time it comes in. One route you can take is replace Jolteon in favor of a more bulky team, especially since the rest of your Pokemon take hits well. With Specs Jolteon does hit decently hard, but none of its moves are good to be locked into, and it still struggles against defensive teams. One Pokemon that could work is physically defensive Alomomola. It walls like everything and passes huge Wishes, which is very useful for Abomasnow and stuff. It still loses to Sub variants of Mega Lopunny, but I mean that mon is OP and people on the ladder generally don't run such sets.

huge annoyance to everything

Alomomola @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 120 HP / 252 Def / 136 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic

Basically you take every physical hit in existence, fish for Scald burns, or Toxic stall stuff.

Next, Gallade wants at least 44 Speed EVs to be faster than Gligar (and Cresselia), so that it can Knock Off and Ice Punch before falling to Earthquake. I personally don't like AV Gallade because it's a little weak and doesn't actually have that useful of resistances, despite high Special Defense. You could play around with SD and Bulk Up sets if you wanted, they generally act as good ways to win though they are pressured by some ORAS Megas and such.

Lastly, I don't really like Shell Smash Omastar since it's hard to set up and can be revenge killed by Choice Scarfers (somewhat common because of Mega Lopunny and Mega Sceptile), but I guess if you find an opportunity to set up it can be a huge threat. You do need Timid to outspeed Mega Sceptile though.

 

[pancake]

Hello. Pretty good team! :) just a few suggestions.

First, I'd highly suggest adding pictures of the pokes you are using. It makes it more visually appealing, and so more people will reply. Also add the showdown-compatible importable. The best way to tell someone about their team is after they've played a few games with it.

First thing. Replace Omastar's item with a Focus Sash. This guarantees a shell smash, which is great.

The last things are on Druddigon. Replaces the choice band with a Life Orb and use Knock Off over Outrage. Knock off is more powerful than outrage most of the time. Not to mention, it's the best move in the game :P.

Otherwise, great team. I hope I helped :)

 

[Lemonade]

@above, Druddigon doesn't get Knock Off, and a super effective Knock Off is barely stronger than a neutral Outrage.

 

[pancake]

Lemonade. I meant drapion :/ lol I always confuse them.