SS LC A Little Cup team I am currently testing

[BashingtonBot]

Arrokuda @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 5
EVs: 252 Atk / 228 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 17 HP
- Liquidation
- Close Combat
- Psychic Fangs
- Aqua Jet

Arrokuda acts as the primary breaker for the team, utilizing it's strong coverage to remove a good chuck of LC's walls (capable of KOing Ferroseed with CC after a Liquidation or a Psychic Fangs). Liquidation is stab, CC and Psychic Fangs are coverage options for Steels and Poisons prospectively... While Aqua Jet is used to deal with weakened sweepers (like a Weak Armor Vullaby)

Onix @ Eviolite
Ability: Rock Head
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Head Smash
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

Our rocker and a DD sweeper for the team, Onix takes the role as one of the main leads for the team. EQ and Head Smash are the attacking moves of choice to utilize both stabs. Onix is also the main check to most physical attackers (thanks to it's abnormally high defense stat for a LC mon along side Eviolite).

Rufflet (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Hustle
Level: 5
EVs: 252 Atk / 36 Def / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Facade

Speed control and a secondary breaker, Hustle Rufflet uses scarf and Brave Bird to smack bulkier mons that could give Arrokuda trouble. CC allows Rufflet to hit Steel and Rock types (to potentially avoid needing to switch out) and U-turn allows for momentum and aggressive piveting for this more offensive style build.

Drifloon @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Unburden
Level: 5
EVs: 84 Def / 196 SpA / 4 SpD / 196 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Rest

This is a experimental set for Drifloon that uses RestoChesto alongside Unburden to act as a potential late game cleaner (if I'm lucky enough to not get Suckered lol). Defog is just for hazard control... But an additional coverage option like Flamethrower or Dark Pulse works as well.

Morelull @ Eviolite
Ability: Effect Spore
Level: 5
EVs: 196 HP / 76 Def / 236 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Strength Sap
- Dazzling Gleam
- Energy Ball
- Sludge Bomb

Defensive pivot and the primary check to electric types. Strength Sap allows for some sustain to complement it's decent coverage and deceptively good Special Attack.

Impidimp (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Prankster
Level: 5
EVs: 236 HP / 116 Def / 116 SpD / 36 Spe
Impish Nature
- Fake Out
- Thunder Wave
- Taunt
- Foul Play

The secondary go to lead and overall team support mon: Impidimp. This set mostly utilizes Prankster to spread taunt and paralyze to mess with any threats the enemy team might have. Impish nature is there so that the two defense stats can be equal (at 18 each with Eviolite). Fake out helps with messing up mons... While Foul Play allows it to hit physical sweepers really hard.


Notable weaknesses from my own testing:

Weak Armor Vullaby: Due to the limited answers to special attackers for this team defensively, Vullaby becomes a big problem if it gets it's Weak Armor off and Arrokuda isn't there to Jet it down.

Electric types: Even with the addition of Morelull (previously Litwick), this team struggles with Electric types, such as Scarf Electrik.

Sucker punch: Remember when I mentioned that Sucker Punch ruins my Drifloon build? It also chunks if not OHKO's most of the mons. Onix can still tank, Impidimp doesn't care and Arrokuda can outplay with Jet... The other mons don't fair so well and Morelull doesn't like staying in on most Sucker users (namely Pawniard).

Physical Walls: Since this is a primarily physical team, they are semi prone to getting walled by physically bulky mons. However, Aside from Iron Head Mudbray, the teams can break almost every one of them with the right pivots and moves.

 

[sam-testings]

There are a lot of flaws here with the team, so its going to be hard to do this without changing a lot but I'll try my best.

Arrokuda --> Corphish

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Corphish @ Eviolite
Ability: Adaptability
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Atk / 76 Def / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance

Arrokuda without rain support surrounding it is incredibly underwhelming as its frailty and lack of power without Life Orb lends it to being KOed rather easily without doing a whole lot. Although it does stand in a nice speed tier, overall it leaves a lot to be desired. Corphish in the current meta is an incredibly threatening wallbreaker that can easily but massive dents on anything that comes in, or at least severely cripple most walls with a knock off. Additionally, even though it is slower than Arrokuda it still can pick off weakened Pokemon with its very powerful Aqua Jet.

Drifloon Set Change

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Drifloon @ Berry Juice
Ability: Unburden
Level: 5
EVs: 84 Def / 196 SpA / 4 SpD / 196 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute

Drifloon can run a lot of sets, which can make it hard to choose which one is best for your team. However, I can probably say that ChestoResto is not the set for Drifloon. It's a fairly unreliable way to recover health, and leaves you fairly vulnerable for the turn you Rest on. You mentioned in your weaknesses that you struggle against physical walls. Therefore I suggest changing Drifloon to a Calm Mind set that seeks to get an Unburden boost while also setting up, and then cleaning up weakened teams. Most sets tend to run Hex, but because your team has very few ways to spread status, I opted for Shadow Ball.

Morelull --> Defensive Oddish

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Oddish @ Eviolite
Ability: Chlorophyll
Level: 5
EVs: 236 HP / 236 Def / 36 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sleep Powder
- Strength Sap
- Giga Drain
- Moonblast

You stated that Morelull was to be the electric-type check for this team, but electric-types aren't incredibly prominent in general in this tier anymore. The only relevant one is Chinchou, and the rest Dexited or just aren't very good at all. You don't even take advantage of Morelull's best move, Spore in your set which is probably the only reason to use it. However, this team does want a fighting/water-type check, therefore I suggest changing Morelull to the superior Oddish. Although it may seem an odd set (haha), it works quite well fighting/water-types that threaten your team. Oddish is better than Morelull because it doesn't lose to Mareanie, which can potentially be annoying your team.

Impidimp --> Timburr

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Timburr @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Fist
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Atk / 156 Def / 156 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Defog

Impidimp just isn't very good. Pokemon that do nothing but spread status and be annoying to the enemy team in the end tend to not accomplish a whole lot, and therefore is basically a wasted slot on the team. One of the stated weaknesses is Sucker Punch, but closer inspection reveals that you have a weaknesses to offensive Dark-types in general on your team. Onix can deal with Vullaby, but you need a Fighting-type to deal with Pokemon such as Pawniard. Therefore, I suggest using the best Pawniard check around, Timburr. Timburr also allows you to threaten walls such as Mareanie, Ferroseed, and Munchlax, giving your teammates Corphish and Drifloon a far easier time in cleaning up. Additionally, this set gives your team some much needed hazard control with Defog, which prevents you from getting overwhelmed by hazard stacking from Stealth Rocks and Toxic Spikes.

I hope this team rate helped! Feel free to ask any questions about my process.

 

[BashingtonBot]

There are a lot of flaws here with the team, so its going to be hard to do this without changing a lot but I'll try my best.

Arrokuda --> Corphish

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Corphish @ Eviolite
Ability: Adaptability
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Atk / 76 Def / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance

Arrokuda without rain support surrounding it is incredibly underwhelming as its frailty and lack of power without Life Orb lends it to being KOed rather easily without doing a whole lot. Although it does stand in a nice speed tier, overall it leaves a lot to be desired. Corphish in the current meta is an incredibly threatening wallbreaker that can easily but massive dents on anything that comes in, or at least severely cripple most walls with a knock off. Additionally, even though it is slower than Arrokuda it still can pick off weakened Pokemon with its very powerful Aqua Jet.

Drifloon Set Change

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Drifloon @ Berry Juice
Ability: Unburden
Level: 5
EVs: 84 Def / 196 SpA / 4 SpD / 196 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute

Drifloon can run a lot of sets, which can make it hard to choose which one is best for your team. However, I can probably say that ChestoResto is not the set for Drifloon. It's a fairly unreliable way to recover health, and leaves you fairly vulnerable for the turn you Rest on. You mentioned in your weaknesses that you struggle against physical walls. Therefore I suggest changing Drifloon to a Calm Mind set that seeks to get an Unburden boost while also setting up, and then cleaning up weakened teams. Most sets tend to run Hex, but because your team has very few ways to spread status, I opted for Shadow Ball.

Morelull --> Defensive Oddish

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Oddish @ Eviolite
Ability: Chlorophyll
Level: 5
EVs: 236 HP / 236 Def / 36 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sleep Powder
- Strength Sap
- Giga Drain
- Moonblast

You stated that Morelull was to be the electric-type check for this team, but electric-types aren't incredibly prominent in general in this tier anymore. The only relevant one is Chinchou, and the rest Dexited or just aren't very good at all. You don't even take advantage of Morelull's best move, Spore in your set which is probably the only reason to use it. However, this team does want a fighting/water-type check, therefore I suggest changing Morelull to the superior Oddish. Although it may seem an odd set (haha), it works quite well fighting/water-types that threaten your team. Oddish is better than Morelull because it doesn't lose to Mareanie, which can potentially be annoying your team.

Impidimp --> Timburr

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Timburr @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Fist
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Atk / 156 Def / 156 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Defog

Impidimp just isn't very good. Pokemon that do nothing but spread status and be annoying to the enemy team in the end tend to not accomplish a whole lot, and therefore is basically a wasted slot on the team. One of the stated weaknesses is Sucker Punch, but closer inspection reveals that you have a weaknesses to offensive Dark-types in general on your team. Onix can deal with Vullaby, but you need a Fighting-type to deal with Pokemon such as Pawniard. Therefore, I suggest using the best Pawniard check around, Timburr. Timburr also allows you to threaten walls such as Mareanie, Ferroseed, and Munchlax, giving your teammates Corphish and Drifloon a far easier time in cleaning up. Additionally, this set gives your team some much needed hazard control with Defog, which prevents you from getting overwhelmed by hazard stacking from Stealth Rocks and Toxic Spikes.

I hope this team rate helped! Feel free to ask any questions about my process.

Thanks for the set changes... Though one thing I am curious about is why Sleep Powder on Oddish? Due to sleep clause and it's low accuracy... I often find myself never using it, so I'm curious what the decision behind having it on a bulky offense still team and if there is a potential replacement move for it.

 

[sam-testings]

Thanks for the set changes... Though one thing I am curious about is why Sleep Powder on Oddish? Due to sleep clause and it's low accuracy... I often find myself never using it, so I'm curious what the decision behind having it on a bulky offense still team and if there is a potential replacement move for it.

Despite it's low accuracy, it's still a fairly useful move since you'll probably be forcing switches a lot and can get a lot of free turns to try to land it. This can be especially useful if you nab it on something like Vullaby which, depending on the set, can be a fairly large threat to your team. Despite Sleep Clause existing, putting a single Pokemon to sleep is absurdly useful as Sleep is an incredibly powerful status, and there's a reason why Sleep Clause exists. Oddish is mostly defensive utility anyways, so another attacking move is largely useless in my opinion. However if you don't like using Sleep Powder, Sludge Bomb is probably the best move to give you an option to hit Fairie-types I suppose.

 

[BashingtonBot]

Despite it's low accuracy, it's still a fairly useful move since you'll probably be forcing switches a lot and can get a lot of free turns to try to land it. This can be especially useful if you nab it on something like Vullaby which, depending on the set, can be a fairly large threat to your team. Despite Sleep Clause existing, putting a single Pokemon to sleep is absurdly useful as Sleep is an incredibly powerful status, and there's a reason why Sleep Clause exists. Oddish is mostly defensive utility anyways, so another attacking move is largely useless in my opinion. However if you don't like using Sleep Powder, Sludge Bomb is probably the best move to give you an option to hit Fairie-types I suppose.

Cool... But I'm not sold on the idea that Timburr threatens Mareanie. So for since I made the change, Mareanie has no when from sometimes walling to consistently walling my team. Timburr's Thunderpunch as only done 50% to them in response... And I can't get Corphish into position to Knock Eviolite (attempt to do so just led to unnecessary sacks for them just to switch on the turn Corphish gets in... Sometimes just killing it instead).

 

[sam-testings]

196+ Atk Iron Fist Timburr Thunder Punch vs. 196 HP / 100 Def Eviolite Mareanie: 12-16 (50 - 66.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Not sure what Mareanie's you've been running into, as this is the standard calc. Maybe you have the ability set to Guts? And you shouldn't be switching Corphish in to get the knock, they should be switching in on your Corphish where you click Knock because Corphish can force switches on things such as Trapinch, Onix, or weakened Pokemon that can be picked off by Aqua Jet.

 

[BashingtonBot]

196+ Atk Iron Fist Timburr Thunder Punch vs. 196 HP / 100 Def Eviolite Mareanie: 12-16 (50 - 66.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Not sure what Mareanie's you've been running into, as this is the standard calc. Maybe you have the ability set to Guts? And you shouldn't be switching Corphish in to get the knock, they should be switching in on your Corphish where you click Knock because Corphish can force switches on things such as Trapinch, Onix, or weakened Pokemon that can be picked off by Aqua Jet.

Maybe I'm just getting a lot of low rolls :/ (it's set to Iron Fist, I double checked)

It doesn't deal with the severe weakness the team has to Special attacking Croagank (not sure how common that is, but I've been seeing it every game and have been swept by it every time since the change to Corphish over Arrokuda, who previously OHKO'd with Psychic Fangs). Other than that... The team does great/decent with Oddish and the removal of my weird AF Drifbloon team (forgot B Juice was still a thing lol) and Timburr, despite not doing too well against Mareanie, consistently murders Ferroseed (haven't encountered a Munchlax yet), especially if I get the Knock off during a switch in.