So i herd u liek momentum?

Volt-switch, U-turn & Baton Pass. These are the 3 moves that can give you direct momentum. These moves, when used correctly, especially when used last, give you such an advantage over the opponent. There are the Volt-Turn teams but this goes beyond that which makes it an entirely different play style. Such a team might not be for everybody out there, being much more based on decisions made to win the battle as per usual.

WHY A PIVOT TEAM?
Well you see every pokemon on the team will have a momentum building move. Every pokemon has pokemon it does not like to be against and pokemon it does like to be against. Using pivot moves always gives you the advantage over the opponent. Having your pokemon in when it obviously has the advantage, opponent brings in a counter, then immediately having the advantage once again. Get it? Sorry for possibly being repetitive.

This is not only an RMT but an explanation very in depth of the team and how it came to be. Please enjoy this and try to keep an open mind. Also please look through all the way instead of jumping to the final team, any comments, suggestions etc are welcome :toast:



Well, one day stumbling along the 'ol NU viability rankings 2.0 thread there were conversations about
moving up to A. Baffled by the thought, being close minded and objecting such thing as you can see for yourself. Interested in the only rocker with volt-switch and having a good amount of resistances, there were many teams then made with probopass on them. Probopass turned out to be very good, he shined and couldn't be replaced after using him for a while. Being one of the few pokemon able to consistently slow volt-turn which is huge, probopass found himself onto literally every team when trying to make a pivot team. But he cannot perform well without having some assistance...​



The original



Being completely raw, the team was not very good. It was mostly to test what worked and what didn't. There were many important things learned from this though. More bulk is a necessity & there was way too much speed, being fast and using one of the 3 momentum moves was defeating the purpose. Also a couple pokemon were just not working in general; both scarfed and banded ape didn't seem to do the job, when he hit it was pretty hard but when he is going to u-turn it just seemed way too obvious and many times it lead to other pokemon in the party having to take a hit. This was how it seemed not only for primeape but most pokemon on the team. Electabuzz is interesting, eiolite was his item for most of the time, he just wasn't doing the job though and eelektross immediately came to mind being slower, bulkier & having more coverage just seemed like a better choice for the purpose on a pivot team. Drifblim was using the moves: Shadow Ball, Substitute, Disable, Baton pass. It ended up being much more of a sub passer to swellow and just more supportive than expected. Only having one attack to fit the set not helping much offensively. Though he did have decent synergy with probopass & 3 immunities, he added rocks weakness and wasn't consistent, it was clear he had to go.



The long shot
Twas the day thoughts came up about the strongest U-turn user available in NU, Ninjask. While most people see banded ninjask not viable, it was destined to be attempted.


This team helped to notice how well musharna + probopass work together and also help get very good momentum for the team. Spinda had much higher expectations and after play testing for a while it was definitely more of a gimmicky set. Spinda, being the only rapid spinner that had a momentum building move, was sadly not going to work. Though it had some of the coolest moves making for some interesting sets, one set was: seismic toss, rapid spin, wish, baton pass. Also that set had max hp/speciald, the wish passing was working very well when it did work! This team did have to be fixed because spinda not working meant ninjask wasnt going to either, it didn't seem as if it was all too good being frail and such. Swellow was used much more and it also seemed to be better with less support. They are completely different pokemon with completely different roles though. As for eelektross, he was proving to be very effective. he paired well with probopass being able to take on golurk, golem, piloswine etc. these pokemon usually being hard to handle. Also he was a hard hitter and can surprise people with expert belt bluffing a choiced item, he had the electric, fire and grass moves that the team lacked. Also this team strongly needed a fighting type attacker because eelektross did not carry super power, so there was no fighting offense at all. Many bulky normal types were very annoying & the rocks and steels eelektross didn't get a chance to KO got in the way of many things on this team. Also psychic and ghost types were a huge annoyance so a dark type was almost a necessity.



The solution

So after play testing for a good amount of time 4 pokemon were confirmed for the team, here they are.



These pokemon alone were a fairly good core, offensively and defensively. Musharna could handle some of the tier's biggest threats for example sawk, kangaskhan & many more. Being famous with the standard pivot set, this team makes it that much more useful. Being able to cure the team of status is a good attribute, swellow doesn't even mind that much! Many of the times he is switched in after one of the slower pokes has taken a hit an gone for a momentum building move which activates the toxic orb. Actually this can be seen as better in a way, instead of taking that little toxic damage, the orb is activated and he is not hurt be toxic on that turn. probpass gets up rocks for things like charizard, simisear & rotom which have the potential to hurt this team severely otherwise. sometimes if it is not completely needed for the opponents team, rocks will not even be set up & probo will just volt-switch out instead. He has power gem and earth power as coverage moves which can be very helpful at times. Many people are surprised at hard probo can hit. Probopass walls things like sub BU braviary, swellow & very importantly skuntank. All of those pokemon are threats to the core otherwise. Swellow is an amazing pokemon, paired with probopass alone it makes a swell (lol) partner. But now with all this momentum swellow is extremely happy though he might not show it. The 2 main STABS being brave bird and facade hit everything but rock and steel hard. With things to knock out its resistances and bulky ghost types swellow is a huge threat. Rocks and toxic damage do rack up though, so swellow cannot switch in freely as much as it would like. Roost is on the set though so when there is a good opportunity swellow can recover health to keep its pressure on the opponent up. Swellow can lure in things like alomomola or metang, u-turn out into eelektross and volt-switch to get some nice damage not allowing with passing or recovery keeping the momentum and the intimidation up. Eelektross the almighty electric type with the access to levitate, also he has great stat distribution. 85/80/80 defenses are not too bad at all, especially with 115/105 attack/spA. Many people would think his base 50 speed is his downfall, but for his role on the pivot team his speed is just right. Eelektross can switch in and take on many ground types that are exceedingly popular in this meta; Golurk, piloswine, golem etc. He is ev'ed enough to outspeed all of their standard sets. He can OHKO or 2HKO all of them before they have the chance to take him out. Also he has the strongest momentum move on the team, which is very useful for alomomola. Most of the time Alo will either protect then switch out, or just plain switch out. If they don't have something to take the volt-switch it will probably do a decent chunk or I will just be able to go into something to take on said pokemon. If they do have something to take it on chances are eelektross will be able to hit it hard with a different move.



After those 4 pokes were together there were 2 things the team needed for sure; A dark type & some sort of fighting offense. There were only 2 options for the dark slot; Liepard & Mandibuzz. There was some trial and error, but the team was really weak to set up sweepers and swellow didn't like scarfers. Liepard was put on the team because it has priority encore & thunderwave, so nothing will be setting up very easily. It can thunderwave scarfers such as primeape or tauros which can get in the way of swellow and just be an overall annoyance to the team. Foul play was there initially because it could OHKO golurk xD also its a STAB move that uses the attack of the opponent instead of yourself, allowing full investment to HP and Speed rather than to attack or something. U-turn for the momentum of course.


The team




Musharna @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 240 HP / 16 SAtk / 252 Def
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spd
- Psychic
- Baton Pass
- Moonlight
- Heal Bell

Oh pivot musharna, the one completely standard set on the team. What else is there though? Banded sawk, any gurdurr, & kangaskhan would all be huge threats to the team but musharna walls them all. 16 evs to spA instead of spD just because psychic can hit that much harder. It's more uncommon to use psychic but when it is used it does do respectable damage. Musharna can also heal my entire team of status which is also a great attribute and lets me use synchronise to my advantage vs liepard, alomomola, wartortle etc. Musharna lures in skuntank and other dark types then can baton pass out into probopass or whatever is necessary. Ran on many teams for how good of a pivot it is in general, it really does great on this team. It can be set up bait for almost anything to then switch into liepard to end that sweep immediately. Great pokemon, slowest momentum on the team almost sure to go last & give me the advantage.




Probopass @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 160 HP / 252 SAtk / 96 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Power Gem
- Earth Power
- Volt Switch
- Stealth rock

Probopass is great, full of immunities and resistances. The rock setter of the team, also having the only rock and ground moves on the team. Probopass is very helpful in getting rid of rocks and steels which can be somewhat annoying to the team. He takes on skuntank which is very helpful to musharna, also he helps with the sight charizard problem. Rocks stop zard from being very scary, but he is still there for a switch in or 2. Also he helps me find out what set the zard is running which then makes it much easier to deal with. There are 2 quad weaknesses that are covered completely by the team; musharna eats fighting moves & there are 2 pokemon that are immune to ground. It kinda forms a defensive cor with musharna. A bulkier set might be more appropriate but from testing there never really was a time when a bulkier set would have been better. Also modest hits surprisingly hard, though discussion about this will be interesting to see opinions. Also sturdy>magnet pull because there is no real reason to trap steel types; if they switch out from probo that means there can be more damage dealt to other pokemon and probopass can be kept as a counter to said metal type. The very rare time when probopass is lead with he will enjoy the fact that unless they have mold breaker he is guaranteed to live.

Calcs in the hide box below.
252+ SpA Probopass Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Metang: 120-142 (37 - 43.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock

252+ SpA Probopass Earth Power vs. 240 HP / 40 SpD Eviolite Klang: 110-130 (34.2 - 40.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock

252+ SpA Probopass Earth Power vs. 240 HP / 0 SpD Regirock: 150-178 (41.5 - 49.3%) -- 22.3% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252+ SpA Probopass Power Gem vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Armaldo: 210-248 (59.3 - 70%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252+ SpA Probopass Power Gem vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Torkoal: 234-276 (68.2 - 80.4%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ SpA Probopass Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 176 SpD Skuntank: 176-208 (50.7 - 59.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery

252+ SpA Probopass Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Garbodor: 178-210 (48.9 - 57.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery





Swellow @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Facade
- U-turn
- Roost

This set hits very hard. Reaching 403 attack after toxic is activated, with his 120 & 140 base power STABS. Lol thats pretty strong written out like that. Pretty much anything that doesn't resist is gonna be hit very hard and more than likely a plain OHKO. For the few things that take swellow on, just U-turn out and go into something else that takes said pokemon on better. Rocks are a thing, there wasn't a place for a spinner that kept momentum (lol it was attempted) so roost is there for recovery. Roost can be used on turns when things like alomomola will protect or be more cheeky and predict the switch or sucker punch. Swellow stands as one of the biggest threats by itself on the team, suiting very well with probopass and eelektross specifically. Punches holes through many teams and forms an amazing Volt-Turn core with eelektross luring in the things eelektross destroys. Swellow has earned its way on the team time and time again.

Calcs in the hide box below.
252 Atk Guts Swellow Facade (140 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Kangaskhan: 309-364 (87.7 - 103.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

252 Atk Guts Swellow Facade (140 BP) vs. 172 HP / 0 Def Eelektross: 309-364 (87.2 - 102.8%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

252 Atk Guts Swellow Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 220+ Def Eviolite Misdreavus: 150-177 (46.4 - 54.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock





Eelektross @ Expert Belt
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SAtk / 224 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Giga Drain

Standard elbelt is standard. The evs might seem weird, they are speed creeping to the max. Puts him at 192 speed which allows him to outspeed adamant base 45 & standard golurk, seismitoad etc. That has become a very popular speed tier where people will run 191 to creep those running 190 but this is 192 to be sure to out speed them. Most of the things that play that speed tier are ground, which eelektross like to be against because he has giga grain which OHKOS/2HKOS them all. Eelektross helps with golurk & piloswine the most because they are huge threats to not only probopass but a huge portion of my team. Electric is a good type, especially with levitate & though he doesn't have much bulk investment he is still pretty bulky. Flamethrower hits things like vileplume & tangela that would commonly switch in to take the electric or grass move. Coming in on Alo or wartortle is one of my favorite things to do with this team because they cannot safely switch to many ground types and usually results on something taking a pretty hard hit.

Calcs in the hide box below.
252+ SpA Expert Belt Eelektross Giga Drain vs. 240 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Piloswine: 190-223 (47.3 - 55.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252+ SpA Expert Belt Eelektross Giga Drain vs. 80 HP / 0 SpD Golurk: 223-264 (65.7 - 77.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252+ SpA Expert Belt Eelektross Giga Drain vs. 200 HP / 56 SpD Seismitoad: 437-518 (108.9 - 129.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ SpA Expert Belt Eelektross Giga Drain vs. 200 HP / 0 SpD Marowak: 223-264 (71.7 - 84.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock




Liepard @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Foul Play
- U-turn
- Encore
- Thunder Wave

Liepard is a pokemon that is there for certain things and certain things only. He is the reason this team is considered completely safe from sweeps. Priority encore is absolutely fantastic. Twave stops scarfers and such in their tracks. Foul play hits some things pretty hard and for all else just u-turn out to keep the momentum up. Pursuit would be cool but there really isn't a great slot for it on this set. For the most part it is straightforward. Liepard is also there to stop misdreavus and musharna from being a threat at all. When there aren't any psychic or ghost types liepard can be far more lenient coming in and twaving things etc. Pivot pard does not actually fit on many team, this is one of the few where he is perfectly placed.




Tea pot (?) @ ?
Ability: Regenerator
Type: Fighting
HP 251, Atk 295, DF 204, spA 131, spD 204, spe 210 (STATS, not base stats like the actual stat)(with evs too)
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- U-turn

Well before this gets completely overlooked we may as well try a different approach aha. This pokemon is decently bulky as you can see, hits very hard with his STAB 130 base power HJK. This pokemon fit perfectly because the team lacked any priority outside of liepard's encore & twave. Fake out might not be much, but it's something. Knock off gets so many good items like leftovers or eviolite off of many switch ins. Misdreavus is seen as a common counter to this, which it is, but knocking off its eviolite and u-turning out is a fair trade for a burn that can be cured. U-turn keeps him in the game until the end usually and is pretty much reliable recovery. Enough evs to outspeed adamant golurk while being outsped by misdreavus and skuntank because he can take hits from them and u-turn out keeping the momentum and making a free switch in. He is the fighting offense this team desperately needed. This pokemon is overlooked far too much and it's not right because it's been on this team for a while now and won many of the matches because of him. Please be open minded, only open minded people can open the hide box below lol.



Tea pot (Mienfoo) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Atk / 80 HP / 176 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- U-turn

Calcs
252+ Atk Mienfoo Hi Jump Kick vs. 232 HP / 0 Def Seismitoad: 222-262 (54.2 - 64%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Mienfoo Hi Jump Kick vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Audino: 396-468 (96.5 - 114.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Mienfoo Hi Jump Kick vs. 200 HP / 0 Def Samurott: 201-237 (52.7 - 62.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Mienfoo Hi Jump Kick vs. 172 HP / 0 Def Eelektross: 211-249 (59.6 - 70.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Mienfoo Hi Jump Kick vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Primeape: 262-310 (96.6 - 114.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock



Threat list

Kangashkan, samurott depending on the set, specs zard, ground types that happen to set up on probopass somehow, seismitoad can be when played correctly also depending on the set.

 
I've fought this team once or twice if you remember. Surprisingly, Mienfoo is quite effective lol. Looking over the team, Carracosta can be a huge threat, as at +2 you really have no means of dealing with it, as even Mienfoo's fake out will be doing detrimentally little damage. You can encore it into a smash, but do note that JOLLY Carracosta does outspeed liepard, so Aqua Jet will fire off before your encore. Choice Banded Golurk and standard Kangaskhan are also huge issues, as one OHKO's your entire team bar a sturdy with correct predictions, and the other can revenge kill every one of your pokemon with a easy 2HKO. Alomomola + Audino can be annoying as well.


Firstly, I suggest you to carry Superpower on your ebeltross. By doing so, you can beat both Alomomola and Audino, and bait out offensively weaker walls such as Probopass and Bastiodon and smack them with a Superpower as well.

Consider running Thunder Wave over Heal Bell on Musharna. Not only is heal bell not that useful too your relatively non status-fearing team, it is detrimental to your Swellow, who now needs to activate her Toxic Orb multiple times thanks to it. This is quite hard for something as frail as Swellow, even with the aid of a slow baton pass and volt switch. I also suggest this because it can efficiently shut down Mush's checks (Mandibuzz, Skuntank, Liepard), and lets it safely baton pass without taking any damage whatsoever.

Finally, you need to be running Magnet Pull on probopass, as your team hates opposing Metang, Probopass, and Bastiodon, and you really don't want to offer them the chance to leave.

I still don't see what Mienfoo truly does though. I still want you to try Primeape , as while Mienfoo works sometimes, I feel it is highly situational, and having either a revenge killer or a wallbreaker would benefit this team greatly!

This is a solid team otherwise! Good luck! :]
 
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While it has great ideas, I do believe this team can be improved. Mienfoo looks like and is an interesting pokemon on your team, however, you should change it to Choice Scarf Primeape. Although it is worn down more often, Primeape has better power and speed, allowing you to outspeed threats that would normally hurt your team. You could also try Encore Primeape if you do not enjoy being stuck with a wrong prediction and instead want to disrupt pokemon that primarily set up. Another suggestion is to change Probopass's set to be a defensive pivot. This will form a defensive core with Musharna and better allow your sweepers to get in unharmed with a slow volt switch. Steel Types are quite rare in NU with only seven steel types in the tier and even less that are viable. Eelektross does not need to run superpower as the main goal of your team is to volt turn for momentum, Instead, you should run Leftovers for more overall bulk and to help provide more slow switch ins. Finally, Assuming you used Encore Primeape instead of mienfoo, you can try running Alomomola over Liepard as your team is easily worn down by hazards. Alomomola provides ginormous wishes and helps refresh your team. It also helps tank hits due to its ability regenerator. All in all, it is a excellent team with few flaws. Good luck teambuilding.
 

Blast

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This team is very reliant on Mienfoo's Fake Out for priority, which is bad because it's really weak and easy to take advantage of. The easiest way to fix this is to just use the standard pivot Liepard set of Sucker Punch / Encore / Pursuit / U-turn with Max Attack and a Dread Plate, which provides you a much stronger priority and utility with Pursuit (which is great because you're really weak to CM Mushy and offensive Ghost-types right now), and still gives you the utility of priority Encore and U-turn. I'd also consider using Quick Attack over Roost on Swellow, but that just comes down to personal preference.

Also like Brawlfest said, Carracosta (along with other offensive Water-types like Samurott) are massive threats to your team because you have no real way of checking them, and after setup they can pretty much plow through you. Some other pretty big threats are Charizard and Volt Switch spammers because again, you have no solid checks. I would suggest offensive Seismitoad over Eel because it allows you at least feasibly cover most of these weaknesses, and SubToxic variants still give you a way of reliably beating defensive Waters like Alomomola. It can also take at least one hit from most Ground-types and generally OHKO back with Hydro Pump. No it can't provide pivot support but unfortunately there's no way you can cover all these weaknesses without having to sacrifice something. I also agree with Jonater's suggestion of defensive Probopass, especially if you make the switch to Toad, because defensive Probo gives you some extra insurance against Charizard and stuff like SubBU Braviary after Eel leaves.

This team also has a lot of trouble breaking through most defensive cores because you lack any particularly hard hitters, stallbreakers, or setup sweepers. Using Calm Mind over Heal Bell on Mushy allows you to quickly remedy this problem while CM + Pass still allows you to serve as a pivot, with the added bonus of being able to pass potential boosts. Like Brawlfest said, Heal Bell is the most expendable move because of Swellow and the fact that you're not too weak to status to begin with.

Also I agree with the suggestion of Primeape > Mienfoo, while I'm sure Mienfoo isn't bad per se you really need Primeape's extra Speed. If you do keep it though I'd consider using Taunt + Toxic over Fake Out + Knock Off because it can get the jump on more defensive mons thanks to its decentish bulk and Regenerator. You should also run max Speed to outspeed standard Missy and Mandibuzz to Taunt them.

Liepard @ Dread Plate
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Encore
- Pursuit
- U-turn

Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Substitute
- Hydro Pump
- Earth Power
- Toxic

Probopass --> Defensive set

Musharna: Heal Bell --> Calm Mind
 

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