Unorthodox Sets in SS NU
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Art by skrimps.
Introduction
With every generation of Pokémon, we're given a ton of new toys to experiment with: Pokémon, items, moves, and much more. What makes this generation unique, though, is it introduced a DLC system that gated certain Pokémon from being used until much later. These factors resulted in many Pokémon being able to viably run sets that would likely have never been considered all too worthwhile in the past. This article aims to cover some of those sets and talk about why they were so good.
Sets
Harvest Pivot + Swords Dance Alolan Exeggutor
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In its debut generation, Alolan Exeggutor often boasted Choice Specs or Dragonium Z to accentuate its nuclear Draco Meteor and complement its great coverage. In this more defensive generation, Alolan Exeggutor still makes great use of its powerful Draco Meteor but often uses a Sitrus Berry with Harvest to stick around longer in games. Sitrus Berries aren't the only thing it can harvest, though. With Swords Dance, Alolan Exeggutor's only downfall as an offensive Pokémon is its poor Speed stat, which is completely negated with a Custap Berry. With a 50% chance to pick up a new Berry and Endure to both reliably enter the 25% HP threshold and bide more time for Harvest to activate, Alolan Exeggutor can consistently sweep teams. However, Custap Berry doesn't prevent it from being slower than opposing priority moves. Also, the reliance on Custap Berry means it is prone to residual damage like burn or Rocky Helmet taking it out, and Knock Off or the ability Unnerve just completely ruins the strategy.
Choice Band Tanks
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Although it may seem quite obvious to slap a Choice Band on a Pokémon with a decent Attack stat and solid coverage, it's fairly uncommon to see these Pokémon deviate from their standard roles simply because they're so good at what they do. The surprise factor from supportive tanks like Mudsdale or setup sweepers like Scrafty and Snorlax that are typically slow to get going can be enough to completely bypass typical checks.
A standard Mudsdale set is pretty helpless into common checks like Xatu and Rotom-C, but with a Choice Band, Mudsdale can nearly OHKO both of them. This Mudsdale also threatens surprise OHKOs on otherwise annoying Pokémon like Sylveon with Heavy Slam or Guzzlord with Close Combat. In DLC1 NU, this set was actually considered standard even because the switch-ins to Mudsdale's stupidly strong attacks were even more limited. Weezing was essentially the only guaranteed check; anything else had to dance around Mudsdale's coverage attacks.
Even once you figure out that Scrafty isn't going to set up but rather lock into Choice Band-boosted attacks, it can be quite difficult to pivot around just because Knock Off hinders the longevity of common checks like Sylveon and Mantine so much. Add onto this the potential for hazards-boosted Assurance and Scrafty's still-great defensive use thanks to Intimidate and natural bulk, and this set can put in a ton of work.
Snorlax being an RBY Normal-type means it, of course, gets every coverage move it could want, being capable of nuking almost anything in the tier. It has Earthquake for Copperajah and Stakataka, Seed Bomb for Quagsire, Heat Crash for Vileplume, etc.. Beyond Snorlax's amazing coverage, its Double-Edge hits like a truck, and anyone foolish enough to try to delay a setup attempt with a status move will get blown back by Choice Band Facade. The raw bulk and power of Snorlax with a Choice Band let it bypass its traditional checks while, like Scrafty, still retaining defensive utility.
Swords Dance RestTalk Silvally-Steel
- Silvally-Steel @ Steel Memory
- Ability: RKS System
- EVs: 252 HP / 72 SpD / 184 Spe
- Jolly Nature
- - Swords Dance
- - Multi-Attack
- - Rest
- - Sleep Talk
Traditionally, Silvally-Steel has been nothing more than a utility Pokémon; it's a low-tier Steel-type with Defog and pivoting moves, a combination of traits that has kept it viable in lower tiers since its introduction. With Multi-Attack's Base Power buff, though, we've seen more and more people tap into setup sets to make the most of its offensive potential. In specific, this RestTalk + Swords Dance set had two goals: take advantage of passive Water-types like Vaporeon and Mantine and consistently switch into some of the strongest wallbreakers NU has ever known like Dragalge and Indeedee-F. Silvally-Steel's really solid Speed has made this set all the more potent because it has a surprisingly low amount of offensive counterplay compared to slower bulky sweepers such as Snorlax and Scrafty.
Iron Defense Users
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Historically in competitive Pokémon, Iron Defense has only seen use in Baton Pass chains. However, Generation 8 gave many Pokémon a reason to use it as a boosting move: Body Press, and in the DLC1 metagame, Duraludon was a fantastic bulky sweeper with the move despite also being known as a fearsome Choice Specs wallbreaker. Ninjask's prevalence played a big role here, as Duraludon was essentially the only long-term check to it given Duraludon's great physical bulk and resistance to its STAB moves. Additionally, Duraludon easily set up Substitute against Weezing, an incredibly common wall at the time, and boosted to +6. From there, it was very tough to contend with Duraludon if you lacked a faster Pokémon like Choice Specs Ribombee that could outspeed and KO it.
In a metagame more recent, Blastoise also made use of the IronPress combination, and its reputation as a potent Shell Smash sweeper perhaps heightened this set's effectiveness even further. Here's how it worked: people would employ this trapping set on hyper offense teams with multiple setup sweepers—Salazzle and Omastar are good examples—that appreciated having Vaporeon removed. Since Blastoise was a fantastic lure for Vaporeon, it was very easy to trap it with Block, set up to +6, and either sweep with Blastoise itself or set a teammate up for success.
Lastly, we arrive at Magneton, one of the Pokémon most hurt by Hidden Power's removal. Magneton's actually used Choice Specs and Choice Scarf sets to solid success this generation in previous metagames that had lower power level. However, you're much more likely nowadays to see Magneton using Iron Defense and Rest to stall out bulky Steel-types such as Copperajah and Stakataka. After a couple boosts, it becomes nigh impossible for these tanks to break past Magneton, making it a great supporter for Pokémon like Indeedee-F and Galarian Articuno that appreciate having such threats removed.
Rain Dance Mantine
- Mantine @ Life Orb
- Ability: Swift Swim
- EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Modest Nature
- IVs: 0 Atk
- - Rain Dance
- - Hurricane
- - Surf
- - Roost
Back in the very early days of SS NU, the metagame was very chaotic, and there were an abundance of scary setup sweepers that could take over a game at moment's notice. One of those was Mantine, making great use of Swift Swim and its unresisted STAB combination to obliterate teams. Two big factors that went into this were NU's lack of viable bulky Water-types and revenge killers fast enough to take down Mantine under rain; teams had to wait out Mantine's rain and attempt to pivot around its rain-boosted attacks before they could deal with it. Mantine's reign was short, as it would rise to a higher tier once NU left alpha and entered beta, but its influence on the metagame will be hard to forget.
Klutz TrickyBarb Golurk
- Golurk @ Sticky Barb
- Ability: Klutz
- EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
- Adamant Nature
- - Stealth Rock
- - Earthquake
- - Poltergeist
- - Trick
Golurk typically sports a Choice Band to accompany its monstrous Attack stat and powerful STAB moves, making it a great physical wallbreaker. Naturally, it is hindered by physical walls like Mudsdale and Weezing, as well as itemless Pokémon such as Dhelmise and Vileplume. With Klutz, Golurk can safely hold its Sticky Barb until its ready to give it to an unsuspecting check, crippling physical walls and making itemless foes vulnerable to Poltergeist. Not only does this make Golurk more difficult to check in traditional ways, but it's a phenomenal way to support fellow physical attackers like Tauros and Talonflame that share similar checks with Golurk.
Final Thoughts
Pokémon's a fantastic game because it rewards creativity. You're given so many options to play around with and see how they can all come together, and I believe this generation pushed that to the limit with how many different stages each metagame got to go through. In many ways, the new DLC system is a negative. However, if we're going to take something positive from it, it's that more Pokémon than ever have been viable in competitive play these past few years, and we've gotten to see a ton more innovation within a much shorter period of time.
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