Hello everyone! As most of you knows, NU was released a few days ago on smogon's PO server and just like in 4th gen, it's a lot of fun. I quickly made a team consisting of what I thought was the best of the forgotten and never used pokémon. After some minor changes, this team won every battle (except one :P (hello Doodle)) and quickly got the #1 spot on the ladder. So, without any furder ado, here's the team!
Sawk (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Toxic
Sawk is usually my lead because most people try to put stealth rock first turn and I don't want any entry hazards to break sturdy. He also hit hard most stealth rock users. Anyways, Sawk is an offensive powerhouse who can create some holes on the opponent's team early on in the match and give me some advantages. Choice Band give him max power and is prefered over life orb because it would break sturdy. The moveset is fairly straightfoward except for Toxic which is there for things like Sableye who think they can switch in freely.
Mesprit @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
Mesprit, the forgotten Pixie, is my defensive wall and stealth rock user. It's main job is to check dangerous physical sweepers and spread paralysis with thunder wave. I had ice beam before instead of thunderbolt but this gave me a big Klingklang weakness so that's why I am now using Thunderbolt. Overwall, definately a key member to my team.
Rotom-S @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave
- Confuse Ray
- Substitute
- Air Slash
Rotom-S's goal is to be the team's special wall as well as being an annoying paraconfusion flincher. The combination of twave, confuse ray and air slash gives to Rotom a lot of free turns to set up sub and simply haxes its opponents to death. This set worked great in RU and it's even better in NU. This set can also help setting up others members of my team by giving them some free turns.
Klinklang @ Leftovers
Trait: Plus
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Shift Gear
- Gear Grind
- Return
The most important member. Substitute let it deal with Sableye and other status inducers as they switch in to cripple you. Shift Gear let you outspeed max speed Swellow (who can't really touch you anyways) after one turn of setup with no speed investment. Finally, Gear Grind and return offers pretty good coverage down there in NU. The only pokémon resisting this combination are the few steel types in NU like Magneton, opposing Klingklang, Metang, Mawile and Wormadam-S.
Swellow (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Quick Attack
- Facade
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
Swellow, one of the fastest threat in this new NU metagame can destroy just about any pokémon that are not steel or rock types. Unfortunately Stealth rock and toxic also put a counter on him. That's why I need to use him at the right time. Thankfully, u-turn can be used to gain the better matchup early on in the match when stealth rock are not up.
Gorebyss (F) @ White Herb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 48 HP / 252 SAtk / 208 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Shell Smash
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power (Grass)
This explosive fish (I wonder how she uses shell smash) is often my last way out when the rest of my team falls apart. I only need one turn of setup and then she can easily sweep a weakened team outspeeding Swellow and everything slower. I originally had baton pass over hp grass but I don't really have any baton pass recipient so I decided to put hp grass to deal with Poliwrath and opposing Gorebyss better. I am considering changing white herb for a lum berry.
The main counters to this team are phazers, steel types and electric types. Magneton is one the biggest treat since only Sawk can easily deal with it and I have no electric resist. Gorebyss can also cause me some trouble after a boost. Thankfully, Rotom-S can take a +2 ice beam and paralyzes with thunder wave.
If you have any suggestion to improve this team, please reply. I am looking forward to see whre the NU tier is going. Thanks for reading :D
The forgotten ones
Sawk (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Toxic
Sawk is usually my lead because most people try to put stealth rock first turn and I don't want any entry hazards to break sturdy. He also hit hard most stealth rock users. Anyways, Sawk is an offensive powerhouse who can create some holes on the opponent's team early on in the match and give me some advantages. Choice Band give him max power and is prefered over life orb because it would break sturdy. The moveset is fairly straightfoward except for Toxic which is there for things like Sableye who think they can switch in freely.
Mesprit @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
Mesprit, the forgotten Pixie, is my defensive wall and stealth rock user. It's main job is to check dangerous physical sweepers and spread paralysis with thunder wave. I had ice beam before instead of thunderbolt but this gave me a big Klingklang weakness so that's why I am now using Thunderbolt. Overwall, definately a key member to my team.
Rotom-S @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave
- Confuse Ray
- Substitute
- Air Slash
Rotom-S's goal is to be the team's special wall as well as being an annoying paraconfusion flincher. The combination of twave, confuse ray and air slash gives to Rotom a lot of free turns to set up sub and simply haxes its opponents to death. This set worked great in RU and it's even better in NU. This set can also help setting up others members of my team by giving them some free turns.
Klinklang @ Leftovers
Trait: Plus
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Shift Gear
- Gear Grind
- Return
The most important member. Substitute let it deal with Sableye and other status inducers as they switch in to cripple you. Shift Gear let you outspeed max speed Swellow (who can't really touch you anyways) after one turn of setup with no speed investment. Finally, Gear Grind and return offers pretty good coverage down there in NU. The only pokémon resisting this combination are the few steel types in NU like Magneton, opposing Klingklang, Metang, Mawile and Wormadam-S.
Swellow (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Quick Attack
- Facade
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
Swellow, one of the fastest threat in this new NU metagame can destroy just about any pokémon that are not steel or rock types. Unfortunately Stealth rock and toxic also put a counter on him. That's why I need to use him at the right time. Thankfully, u-turn can be used to gain the better matchup early on in the match when stealth rock are not up.
Gorebyss (F) @ White Herb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 48 HP / 252 SAtk / 208 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Shell Smash
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power (Grass)
This explosive fish (I wonder how she uses shell smash) is often my last way out when the rest of my team falls apart. I only need one turn of setup and then she can easily sweep a weakened team outspeeding Swellow and everything slower. I originally had baton pass over hp grass but I don't really have any baton pass recipient so I decided to put hp grass to deal with Poliwrath and opposing Gorebyss better. I am considering changing white herb for a lum berry.
Counters to this team
The main counters to this team are phazers, steel types and electric types. Magneton is one the biggest treat since only Sawk can easily deal with it and I have no electric resist. Gorebyss can also cause me some trouble after a boost. Thankfully, Rotom-S can take a +2 ice beam and paralyzes with thunder wave.
If you have any suggestion to improve this team, please reply. I am looking forward to see whre the NU tier is going. Thanks for reading :D