Underused Mono Poison

[Very]

Hello everyone this is a Poison-type team I've been playing with for 5th Gen UU Standard play. I have no good reason for making a monotype team for a non-monotype environment. Some players will ask me why and I tell them it's a lot of fun despite a few glaring weaknesses. Once in a while, I barely stand a chance against the opponent. It's for this reason I made a UU team, OU is way more difficult and the trade-off for Poison puts me at a great disadvantage. (edit- I do have an OU Poison team but that's another story)

Preview:

To me, the epitome of Poison-type is Toxic. Ever since Day 1 on Blue, being poisoned means your guys will take damage even outside of battle. It was never a nice status and I wanted to take full advantage of it. To lessen Toxic's damage, the user would have to switch. Make them pay both for staying in and switching. This is where Stealth Rock comes in, also hitting Flying and Levitate users who avoid Toxic Spikes. Enduring after setting up hazards isn't terribly easy, so I had to balance offense with stall. It would be nice to say all of my Pokemon are Gen 1 but I don't think I can do it without Drape.

Team:

Nidoqueen (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Poison Point
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Def / 204 SDef
Impish Nature
- Toxic Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail

Being that Showdown reveals the teams prior to the start of the match, I often decide to keep NidoQ, my default lead. The goal here is to get a layer of TSpikes and Rocks up before losing her. She is my main way of spreading poison so I'll save her if things aren't looking good. If the opposing team is mostly Flying/Levitate, Steel, or Poison, I will skip the Spikes and either attack or switch out. Often out-sped by opposing leads, she can take a hit or two and do what has to be done. Also brought back out late game to DTail in desperation or simply take a hit to rack up Toxic damage.
I like Poison Point because enemy leads tend to do their job until they are wiped out, which means they may never switch back in to take TSpikes and Rocks. Inflicting poison with this ability will do that extra bit to leads and also affect Pokemon who aren't grounded.

Muk @ Black Sludge
Ability: Poison Touch
EVs: 252 HP / 6 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Stockpile
- Poison Jab
- Ice Punch
- Pain Split

Another survivor, Muk can take plenty of hits once I'm set up. I don't think Muk gets enough credit for his bulk and attack stat. I might have to start by scaring someone off with Ice Punch, and then Stockpile until it's time to heal. A forced switch ruins things for Muk and I don't usually get another three or four turns to set up again. There are better coverage moves than Poison Jab but with Poison Touch as an ability, the odds are just in my favor that the attack will poison.
If NidoQ gets the job done, I'll switch to Muk just to scout. Muk tends to cause a few switches as I slowly pick them apart with Pain Split.

Drapion @ Black Sludge
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 SDef
Bold Nature
- Whirlwind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Crunch

Drapion is the lone survivor. Sometimes I don't even do anything with him- I choose Crunch when he is asleep just to let time pass as Toxic digs in. Insta-switch if the lead may use Psychic as he's the only one who is immune. I start by Whirlwind-ing, to spread Toxic and let Rocks do some damage. If I'm lucky, someone like Moltres becomes useless as they can't even switch back in. After rotating enemy teams, their Spinner can do whatever they want. I stay defensive and Rest often to keep him in good health. I initially had Venoshock as his only attack. Between STAB and the poisoned-target boost, it seemed like a good idea but then I have no chance if he's 1-on-1 with a Steel-type. Plus Drapion is a physical attacker anyway.
Would love an offensive variant but I don't want to get carried away and lose him. Plus Whirlwind guarantees he takes a hit or two when not sleeping.

Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower

I never gave Nidoking much credit back in the day but things have gotten much better for him. Late game sweeper, I try to save NidoK until the faster opponents have been dealt with. He's also not so frail that switching in on some random attack doesn't worry me too much. I stick with Earth Power for STAB in hopes of surprising opponents that he's not Choiced (as Life Orb doesn't give itself away). Incredible coverage and boosts on everything keeps him racking up points. He doesn't always survive as a surprise Scarf may take him out.

Haunter @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute
- Disable
- Giga Drain

As entry hazards are so important to me, a blocker is a necessity. There was no question over whether Haunter should be added to the team. Levitate gives Haunter the team's only immunity to EQ also. I don't treat him any differently than I would Gengar in OU. Typical STAB in Shadow Ball which is still pretty strong despite being NFE. Substitute helps to scout, but more importantly- stall. Then I can Giga Drain (I like this move a lot anyway) to recover some HP. He doesn't learn Focus Blast, which would be nice against Dark- and Steel-types. Disable wastes a turn for Toxic and also lets me escape Pursuit users.

Vileplume @ Black Sludge
Ability: Effect Spore
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 30 HP
- Aromatherapy
- Moonlight
- Giga Drain
- Toxic

I had some trouble figuring out what other Pokemon to use, which I will get into later on. Vileplume was the last addition to my team and helps continue to stall. Neutral to Ground, I can switch into Swampert in an attempt to save the day. Aromatherapy will wake Drapion if I need him to re-Rest all of a sudden and cure Muk of burns. Haunter doesn't usually get hit by status but just in case. If Nidoqueen is taken out early, I have Vileplume to Toxic. Since the move's power was increased, I picked Giga Drain which is maybe overkill with Moonlight to keep him kicking. As a last resort, I send Vileplume out for Effect Spore to possibly paralyze or sleep someone too strong.

Other options:

Scolipede- The kind of speed my team lacks and brings some new attacks to the table but I have a hard time getting set-up. Passing SD to Muk would be nice though.
Venomoth- Sets up ok with Sleep Powder, unless everyone is poisoned. I would try to Baton Pass some speed to NidoK but it doesn't work often. Being that I don't have a spinner, Rocks hurt this guy and limit Sub attempts before Quiver Dance. But when it does work, it's incredible.
Crobat- I feel like I can either use Crobat, or set up hazards. Having this Pokemon as a lead would probably ruin some plans but then I'm not sure what to do next. Haunter can Trick Room, however.

Items- I don't get into it much. Black Sludge for the recovery and in case they Trick. Red Card on Muk or Big Root for Vileplume?


Problems:

Most teams don't tend to use many Ground- or Psychic-type attacks. It's not an overwhelming amount like what was going on in 4th Gen where it seems like three or four guys had EQ or Earth Power. Point being that I'm not going to cover this as a team weakness.

Speed- Though my team often gets out-sped, they're not incredibly frail that they can't survive one or two hits. Haunter is both my fastest and most fragile and 95 base speed isn't some incredible deal. Drapion also has base 95 but I didn't invest any EVs into its speed. I can't paralyze everyone with Toxic Spikes out there. Flygon and Mew can really get to me with their STAB attacks. Rarely can I fool them more than once by switching.
Arcanine isn't so bad if I have hazards prepared and Crobat will need to Roost before getting with with Dragon Tail or Whirlwind. Both of them will take two of my guys at most.
Ambipom leads weren't so bad with Fake Out or Low Kick for Haunter, but sometimes I get hit with Beat Up.

Coverage- Obviously I'm not going to have a very diverse range of attacks with a monotype team but I never got into Hidden Power as I like to test teams out and them move them to the game. Never been able to get great Hidden Powers when breeding. I think Muk surprises when I can get a shot on Flygon or Gilgar with Ice Punch but that's all besides Nidoking.

Playback: (Pokemon Showdown Replays)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen5uu-74520714 Drapion causing a quit
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen5uu-73938982 Flygon and Tokekiss kick my butt
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen5uu-73931983 Stall in action
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen5uu-739109115 Typical battle, where NidoK comes in towards the end

Any comments or tips I'd like to hear them, thanks for looking!

 

[Lameflame]

I think this is a cool team and idea simply due to the lack of originality in this tier (though it's a small tier, so it's hard to blame anyone). However, as you acknowledged you do have some evident weaknesses, Ground and Psychic coming to mind rather easily.

Adamant Scarf Victini can sweep this team once Drapion dies with Zen Headbutt, and he can switch in and out only a few times to V-Create whoever would stop the Zen Headbutting. I personally run both Flygon and Victini on the same team, so if I played you, I'd essentially use the other 4 'mons on my team to kill Drapion and Nidoqueen, and then it's probably good game.

I'd essentially remedy this problem with the suggestions that you already gave, namely Venomoth. Quiver Dance --> Baton Pass into Nidoking plus the easy access to Stealth Rocks and Toxic Spikes on your team is deadly, mono-poison or not. Nidoking has the appropriate coverage to essentially dominate almost (if not all) of BW2 UU, and more importantly, he can OHKO Flygon and Victini after very few Quiver Dances. Looking at your team, I might consider swapping out either Haunter (though you lose spinblocking) or Vileplume (you lose Aromatherapy), since the rest seem pretty synergized with one another. If it were me, I'd ditch Vileplume, since your team doesn't seem to mind Paralysis all that much (Both Nido's are immune to T-wave and Muk/Drapion aren't super fast), you don't have anyone that relies on Rest for recovery to heal sleep, and you could easily switch in any of your special attackers to take a WoW if you absolutely needed to. The WoW would probably be coming from a Cofagrigus or something, since there aren't too many WoW fire type users in UU off the top of my head, so Haunter could easily scare out Cofagrigus with his high Sp. Atk. Hence, Aromatherapy not essential, and also if your team is susceptible to being outright swept by fast and powerful sweepers, stalling won't really save you.

Venomoth @ Focus Sash or Black Sludge | Shield Dust
Timid Nature | 252 HP / 252 Spe / 4 Sp Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Substitute
- Bug Buzz
- Baton Pass

I'd run a set that looks something like that. Doesn't have to be that set, but again, similar.

Hopefully this helped a bit, and good luck with the creative team!

 

[Patrick1088]

Poison is a great typing in uu. It counters heracross and mienshao with little trouble. Obviously psychic pokes and ground pokes are the bane to your existence but you have some very interesting things going on. I have a few suggestions but youll like them : )

1. Vileplume is interesting but im surprised you didnt go for the faster and more powerful roserade who can blast the ground types to pieces with leaf storm. I recommend dropping vileplume for roserade, offenensive set would help more. Plus roserade has natural cure making it an ideal status absorber.
2. I agree with the above guy on switching haunter for venomoth. If you give nidoking a +2 it can decimate the entire tier. But instead of substitute run sleep powder and run wonderskin ovet shield dust. It makes all non attacking moves 50% less accurate which includes taunt and roar.
3. On nidoking i recommend dropping thunderbolt for focus blast. Flamethrower is mandatory to hit bronzong. Ice beam hits dragons zapdos and gligar. Earthpower destroys everything else. But focus blast nails umbreon and snorlax. I believe at +1 focus bkast plus earth power with sr can ko most variants which is important if they switch in.
4. The only other option id have you consider is intimidate qwilfish over muk. Max hp/def with intimidate makes qwilfish very bulky. Intimidate helps your whole team. It can spread paralysis and toxic and its a fast taunt user. Another good opton in place of muk is weezing whi has that important ground immunity which is great for a poison team!

 

[Very]

Lameflame- You're right about Victini. I haven't been destroyed by Victini just yet but Mew has done it and Victini would be no different. And chances are, I won't always be prepared with Rocks and Whirlwind. When I see certain guys on the other team, I try to focus on taking them out even if I lose a few.
I tried Venomoth in OU and usually get wiped out. Same with Toxicroak, I can't seem to get the prediction right but that comes with time. Here's one of the few times it worked for me: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen5ou-75072680 I like the Focus Sash idea and think it might pair better with Sleep Powder. I guess Aroma doesn't actually help too much on my team. Burn doesn't matter much to anyone, nor will para be a big deal for Muk. No one gets poisoned!

Patrick-
1. Who can resist Oddish? Actually I was comparing him with Roserade and liked Vileplume's overall defenses. Plus he's just seen less out there. And Gen 1. Would be easier to go after Pokemon who resist Poison like Rock, maybe HP Fire for Steel if I used Roserade.
2. By the time I can Baton Pass, maybe I won't be worrying about a spinner switching in. Plus, I'd be grateful if they only used a 20-power attack on Venomoth or NidoK. I wouldn't have thought those two moves were affected by Wonderskin. Good to know.
3. I use Ice Beam on NidoK the most, as Ground- and Electric-type attacks are most commonly prevented due to typing/abilities. If they switch in a faster Pokemon, like a genie when I use Earth Power, I'm in trouble if NidoK wasn't Passed. I'm thinking of Milotic, who I don't want Surfing me upon survival if I use something other than Thunderbolt. Focus Blast would get Snorlax who scares me with para Body Slam. I'll try it out.
4. I never considered Quilfish. But like Tentacruel in OU, it's weak to Ground. I had been thinking of Weezing initially due to Levitate and think it was because of Ice Punch that I took Muk. Hidden Power Ice would fit in nicely on Weezing though.

Thanks for taking a look guys!