ORAS NU Short-Circuit Evaluation

[Explorer]

Hi all, welcome to my newest RMT, called Short-Circuit Evaluation. erisia gave me the idea for this team at http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/np-nu-stage-12-nevergreen.3567055/page-3. It is based around using Manectric and Electivire as the crux of an offensive core to cover a wide spectrum of threats. Then a solid defensive core that does not share any weaknesses with these provides status and entry hazard support, and finally there is a revenge killer and an alternative win condition.


The Team

AND (Manectric) (M) @ Life Orb (originally Expert Belt)
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass] (originally Hidden Power [Water])

Manectric is one of two halves of the electric-spam core. It is also part of my Volt-Turn core. Overheat melts Grass, Bug, and Steel-types, and is preferred over Flamethrower since Manectric pivots in and out a lot. Volt Switch is for momentum and decent power. Thunderbolt is the STAB when I have no better option. HP Water is primarily to hit Ground-types on the switch, especially Rhydon, who also resists Overheat and would wall Manectric otherwise. EVs capitalize on Manectric's speed cap and maximize its power from there. On occasion it can get a SpA boost from Lightningrod (its other abilities are useless). Expert Belt over Life Orb is used to bluff a choice item.

Considered switches:
-Expert Belt-->Zap Plate

OR (Electivire) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Motor Drive
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wild Charge
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Low Kick

Electivire needs to use its raw physical power to distinguish itself from Manectric, and off a Base 123 attack backed with Life Orb, it will hit very hard. Its four moves provide excellent neutral and super-effective coverage. Wild Charge is its best physical STAB, albeit at the cost of wearing Electivire down faster. Of course, it does so much damage that this is irrelevant if you predict correctly. Ice Punch hits Golurk, Torterra, and other Ground-types as they expect a free switch into Wild Charge. Earthquake hits Fire and Steel-types, as well as Muk and Garbodor. The last slot is flexible, but it is primarily for Hariyama and Piloswine. It also hits Normal-types super-effectively, but some of them are hit harder by Wild Charge. Finally, Motor Drive is occasionally useful, but if it does activate Electivire can become a deadly sweeper and not just a wall breaker.

Possible switches-
Low Kick-->Cross Chop (it was originally Cross Chop actually)
Low Kick-->Toxic

NOT (Mesprit) @ Colbur Berry (originally Leftovers)
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD (originally 252 HP/32 Def/224 SpD)
Impish Nature (originally Careful nature)
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Healing Wish
- Zen Headbutt

Mesprit is my utility Pokemon, providing item removal, momentum, and Stealth Rock. It is also my physical tank. EVs are to give a bit of a buffer against Knock Off users. Mesprit is designed to do a lot of things, and surprisingly it doesn't feel like it is getting overwhelmed despite the lack of recovery. Zen Headbutt is for a STAB and can get paraflinch if the opponent is paralyzed by a teammate.

Possible switches: Leftovers-->Colbur Berry

XOR (Miltank) @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD (originally 252 HP/4 Atk/252 Def)
Careful Nature (originally Impish nature)
- Milk Drink
- Thunder Wave
- Heal Bell
- Body Slam

Miltank is my special wall and quite frankly a really good one. Milk Drink and Thunder Wave let it stall out and frustrate opponents, where it is difficult to OHKO Miltank many common special attacks are buffered due to Thick Fat. Getting full paralysis has let me sweep with other team members later on. Also, 2 of the 4 offensive Pokemon are kind of slow, so having the speed control is very helpful. Moreover, all of my sweepers hate status, so Heal Bell removes it from them, and also Toxic from herself, which Miltank tends to attract. Body Slam is for extra paralysis chances and a decently powerful move with a STAB boost.

Possible replacements: Body Slam-->Return
Switch to a Mega-Audino set with Wish instead of Milk Drink and a Fairy STAB over Body Slam.

TypeError (Torterra) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish
- Wood Hammer
- Earthquake

Torterra is an alternative win condition that synergizes well with my Electric spam (read: EdgeQuake resistance). If Torterra can get two turns, and sometimes even only one, it can become one of the most fearsome sweepers in the tier. Having 2 boosting moves gives it flexibility based on the team I am facing. Finally, I pick its two most powerful physical STAB moves to muster as much power as I can get. Moreover, Torterra's weaknesses are covered fairly well by my teammates. In particular, Flying-types get readily removed by my Electric-types. Note that I go Leftovers over Life Orb so Torterra doesn't get worn down too quickly, and honestly, at +2 Attack the Life Orb boost is overkill anyway. Some games Torterra does nothing and sometimes it gets me 4 kills and wins the game, it really just depends on the team comp (I've had multiple rage quits due to Miltank though).

StackOverflow (Haunter) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Trick
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Dazzling Gleam

Finally we have a fast, powerful revenge killer to outspeed the majority of the tier. Trick lets Haunter cripple walls and to some extent setup sweepers also (i.e. lock them into a boosting move). Also in the case of walls it removes their Leftovers. Shadow Ball hits other Psychic and Ghost-types. Sludge Bomb lets me readily handle Fairy-types among other things. Dazzling Gleam is chosen over say Giga Drain or Thunderbolt because the coverage against Fighting-types is needed more badly. EVs are standard. Haunter rarely cleans as it doesn't have as much raw power as Torterra, but it does its job.

Threats

The #1 threat to the team is Assault Vest Hariyama. Nothing can safely switch in on it, and its standard set destroys the majority of my team members. I can use a kamikaze approach to bring it down but usually at the cost of 2 of my team members, often leaving my defensive core dismantled for a teammate to clean up. Also, I don't have a Rapid Spinner, but my team is not very susceptible to Stealth Rock.

Conclusion

I hope you all enjoyed the computer science-oriented nicknames and my team. Any feedback or thoughts are certainly welcome. Thanks for reading! The import is below if you want to try.

return None

Import

AND (Manectric) (M) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Water]

OR (Electivire) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Motor Drive
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wild Charge
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Low Kick

NOT (Mesprit) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Def / 224 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Zen Headbutt

XOR (Miltank) @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Milk Drink
- Thunder Wave
- Heal Bell
- Body Slam

TypeError (Torterra) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish
- Wood Hammer
- Earthquake

StackOverflow (Haunter) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Trick
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Dazzling Gleam

Replays

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nu-360942006 (1165)

 

[erisia]

Hi Explorer, I'm really glad you had fun with this idea and turning it into a team. I used it for a tournament and few ladder games and it was pretty good, but I have a few suggestions to make.

Manectric should probably just run Life Orb too as it has the bulk of a soggy pringle and the consistent damage output on neutral Electric hits is crucial for a type-spam core in general. Furthermore, Hidden Power Water is okay, but aside from Torterra your team has very little in store for Quagsire, and having it wall both of your Electric-types isn't good, so I would recommend Hidden Power Grass for now. Either that or swap Dazzling Gleam on Haunter for Energy Ball (very underrated pick that lets Scarf Haunter reliably deal with +2 Barbaracle).

My other main suggestion would be to make Mesprit physically defensive and Miltank specially defensive; Mesprit doesn't have any notable resists to common special-attacking types, while Miltank can tank Ghost-, Ice-, and Fire-type attacks with ease, and Mesprit can check Fighting-types more reliably with full defensive investment. I would also recommend using a Colbur Berry so that Mesprit can deal with Knock Offs when necessary, and potentially swap Knock Off for Healing Wish, which gives Manectric / Electivire another chance to break holes and Torterra another chance to sweep. I found that Mesprit didn't really do much with Knock Off other than remove Steelix's Leftovers/Sturdy and let it get Stealth Rock up.

This is a really cool team and I thoroughly enjoyed playing with it. :) To summarise...

• Life Orb + Hidden Power Grass on Manectric.
  
• Physically defensive Mesprit and specially defensive Miltank.
• Colbur Berry + Healing Wish on Mesprit.

Let me know how it goes on ladder with this team.

 

[Explorer]

I'll try the suggestions you made. I'd agree they're all good, but I might try something else over Knock Off or Healing Wish…gonna have to play with that a bit. Thanks for the tips! :)

Also, I peaked at around 1300 and am sitting at 1250 ladder-wise.

 

[PrinceLucian]

This is a prety cool team, id even call it miltank offense lol.
While id build a bit different for electric spam, i dont want to much much so im just gonna drop some things to try out.

>

This gives you normal check, water immunity and checks so many pokemon its funny, I dont like it just because its passive but whenever I try it it always works well lol, also gives you pseudo edgequake check as it checks/counters things like DD rhydon, and other setup sweepers like mixed costa,barbaracle,omastar,,.

You said fighting types are problematic for your team, but SD samurott destroys is even more threatening, so I recommend

>

this gives you defogger,fighting counter and overall a long lasting pokemon with reliable recovery that pairs well with cradily.

And with pelipper/cradily, your team loses a wincondition and (ok-ish) malamar check in mesprit so im recommending

>

Swords dance scyther is pretty cool win cond for balanced teams,Yes you lose speed control but you get malamar counter, setup sweeper that beats audino 1v1, volturn core, reliable grass check and you check faster pokemon with rest of the team anyway,and manectric/evire breaks through scyther counters like rhydon/Steelix together pretty well.