So sad that I didn't soft reset for a HP Ice Nihilego. Caught her really early with a Timid nature and I thought that she wouldn't need any HP with her coverages, but atlas.So, as I said before, I tried my hardest to build a singles team around Nihilego and well... I managed to reach 70 wins in the Battle Tree Super Singles before losing to absurd hax (Thunder paralysis + full paralysis + Thunder crit... make of it what you want). This is the team:
Kartana @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Speed
Jolly nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Psycho Cut
This Pokemon is absolutely murderous. It must be seen in practice to be believed. If the opponent leads with something Kartana can OHKO, it's generally GG right there. The only problem is that (as I'll explain below) I really depend on Kartana's Focus Sash in order to survive certain threats.
As far as the moveset goes, Leaf Blade is its strongest STAB and its most spammable move. It does incredible damage, even to neutral targets. Smart Strike is its best Steel STAB attack. It has a mere 70 BP before the STAB bonus, but it never misses and it is useful to nail Fairy-types and a variety of Pokemon which resist Grass-type moves (such as Dragon/Flying Pokemon). Sacred Sword is Kartana's best coverage move: it has a solid 90 BP and hits a wide array of Pokemon for supereffective damage. The last slot was more of a toss-up between Psycho Cut and Night Slash (I've never been sold much on X-Scissor), but I eventually opted for the former because I liked being able to hit Poison and Fighting types supereffectively (and most of Night Slash targets tend to be quite frail to begin with).
Nihilego @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP/252 Sp. Atk/252 Speed
Timid nature
- Power Gem
- Sludge Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Grass Knot
Due to Kartana's tendency to draw Fire-type moves, Nihilego has plenty of opportunities to switch in. It may be very frail physically, but its special bulk is superb: even Megazard Y in the sun does 35% roughly with Heat Wave. Unfortunately, Kartana is not as easy to switch into Nihilego's weaknesses (as I generally want to preserve Kartana's sash when possible), but since Nihilego's not leading (and when I switch it, it almost always gets the Beast Boost kill) it's less of an issue.
Power Gem and Sludge Wave are its obligatory STAB. Hidden Power [Ice] nails Nidoking/Nidoqueen, Flygon/Garchomp, and Gliscor. Grass Knot is for Ground-types who would resist Nihilego's STABs. Unfortunately this moveset is fully walled by Steel-types, but no matter which HP Nihilego picks, something will wall it regardless (hopefully it'll get Earth Power in a future game).
Slowbro @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP/180 Defense/76 Sp. Defense
Bold nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Rest
- Calm Mind
Here I wanted something to switch into Fighting-type attacks (as they're commonly physical and neither UB takes them well), as well as random Earthquakes. I also wanted something which could sweep in its own right when needed, since UBs are hard to switch into attacks too often. Finally, since Nihilego is specially bulky, I would've preferred something with an impressive physical bulk.
Slowbro fit all the checks. It walls most Fighting-types and eats Earthquakes with ease. It can set up and sweep on its own, thanks to its immunity to critical strikes and superb defenses. And, of course, it's nearly invulnerable to physical blows.
The moveset is self explainatory. Rest and Calm Mind allow it to set up even in the face of Toxic users, while Scald and Psychic are its basic STABs (with Scald carrying a nifty Burn chance which saved my ass a few times).
So, this is the team. It can often sweep unhindered, and it's very fun to use. Unfortunately, though, it has some serious weaknesses (one of which has been my latest downfall):
1) Espeon: In particular, Espeon-4 (Timid @ Expert Belt - Psychic/Shadow Ball/Grass Knot/Dazzling Gleam). The fact it outspeeds Kartana is what makes it so dangerous. Psychic nearly OHKOes Nihilego (doing 78.9 - 94.5%), while Grass Knot hits Slowbro so hard it does not even have time to use Calm Mind (73.7 - 88.1%). Kartana can OHKO it with Leaf Blade, but to do so, it obviously needs its Focus Sash intact. I did lose to this thing once, and since then, I've learned to try and preserve KArtana's Sash against any trainer which could have Espeon (as well as trying to set up Slowbro as early as possible against such trainers).
2) Mega Salamence: Also known as Salamence-4 (Jolly @ Salamencite - Double-edge/Earthquake/Dragon Rush/Crunch). It hits ridiculously hard and is incredibly fast. Even Slowbro is 3HKOed by Double-edge. The only time I met it, I managed to finish it off through recoil dmg + Kartana's sash, but if a trainer has both this and Espeon, there's no way in hell I can win. Unfortunately, I can't think of anything not named Celesteela or Skarmory which can sponge hits from this monster (and both have awful sinergy with Kartana).
3) Fast Electric-types: Jolteon, Raikou, and Zapdos in particular. The former two can outspeed everything I have, and even Nihilego is hardly a safe switch in (my latest loss was caused by a Raikou's Thunder paralyzing and then critting Nihilego). Zapdos is slower, but the problem is that Kartana can hardly do any dmg to it (so, unless Nihilego is still around, I'm generally fucked).
Now, technically, most of these weaknesses can be played around, but Salamence in particular is extremely dangerous. I would love to try and cover it somehow, but I can't think of anything which can replace Slowbro and cover these things without leaving me exposed to all the mons (such as, say, Conkeldurr, Metagross, etc.) which Slowbro checks. At worst, I'd be willing to consider replacing Kartana for the sake of sinergy (as in, if you can suggest a good partner for a Celesteela + Nihilego setup), but I'd love to keep Nihilego if possible.
P.S.: As you might guess after having read all this... Togekiss is not a good choice for the 3rd slot.
Despite that, my Nihilego is still doing so much work in the Battle Tree with just a simple set of:
Nihilego @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk l 4 Sp. Def l 252 Speed
~ Power Gem
~ Sludge Wave
~ Grass Knot
~ Dazzling Gleam
Definitely my most favorite UB, followed closely by Buzzwole.
