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How’s it going Smogon, It’s your friendly neighborhood horse Kiyo here with a new RMT. I've really come to love the Neverused Tier over the last couple of months. I think something that really appeals to me is being able to use every playstyle to relative success, and being able to use pretty much any pokemon that isn't named Sunkern. I've recently become a huge advocate of trying things before you call them garbage, and I can honestly say this philosophy has helped my teambuilding skills a ton. Last time I brought you a balanced team featuring one of my favorite Pokemon Scyther. This time I ended up using a Pokemon that gets even less love in the NU community, Shedinja. So couple of things before we get into the team building process: I started playing with this team around 1400 on ladder so I’m not sure how well it does below that, but I would assume just as well, and I was able to peak number one during the NULT when a ton of quality users were laddering.

This team just goes to show you don't need to use the best pokemon in order to win, synergy in teambuilding and shifting away from metagame trends makes it more difficult for your opponent to deal with your team. Anyways lets see how the squad came to be.

So something to note is that when I’m building I typically won’t add the EVs and move sets in until I’m done with at least a basic skeleton, this free’s up team building in the later stages and allows me to be more creative when dealing with threats.

So this team actually started out as a fighting spam team, after seeing the success my friend @TheGoomy had using a team with Sawk, Primeape, and Hariyama. I wasn’t too into the commitment of adding all three because I felt it left me restricted in teambuiling and I didn’t want to run standard hyper offense. I figured I’d roll with Hariyama and Sawk, seeing as they’re probably the most reliable and powerful fighting types in the tier.

Now that I’m armed with all this power I wanted a good way to utilize it. Something that lures in rock and steel type pokemon would fit really well as I could get a free Close Combat off with one of my fighting types. Scyther came to mind. Not only does Scyther lure in those rock and steel type Pokemon, but it also has the ability to U-turn out which saves me a potentially risky double switch. Now I know many users will shy away from using a Pokemon like Scyther simply due to the fact that it’s 4x weak to Stealth Rock. I just don’t get that argument. The thing is, hazard removal is so easy in NU and it rarely allows a setup opportunity.

So clearly I’m going to be adding a Defog or Rapid Spin user to this team, I often choose Defog as overall it’s just more reliable. Seeing as my team doesn’t really have a way to deal with flying types and fire types two hazard removers came to mind, Kabutops and Prinplup. Now I’m going with Prinplup because it doesn’t lose to the rare Gourgeist and because it basically eats any hit thrown at it.

Now I originally had a Kadabra and Ferroseed in the next two spots, the idea was to be able to check set up sweepers like Feraligatr and Klinklang. The thing is though those two don’t reliably beat those pokemon and they actually leave me open to a few other threats. I ended up swapping them both for our new Bug-Ghost Overlord, the almighty Shedinja.

Now something that is so cool about Shedinja is that it can counter so many of the top threats in the tier. Belly Drum Slurpuff (without flamethrower), Kangashkan, Klinklang, Feraligatr, and some Mesprit variants cannot touch Shedinja. This gives me a ton of opportunities to baton pass out, and proceed to go into the corresponding threat whether it be Scyther, Sawk, or Hariyama.

Now while Prinplup is incredibly reliable as a hazard remover, using both Shedinja and Scyther puts a lot of pressure on the poor little penguin. So in order to be able to deal with Stealth Rock setters such as Mesprit, Uxie, and Seismitoad I figured Xatu was a pretty good option. Xatu provides me with a somewhat reliable switch in to fighting types, but more importantly an answer to some bulkier teams that can’t be broken with Sawk and Hariyama alone.

Xatu is pretty straight forward, make opponents think twice before clicking Stealth Rock. Xatu can also take a lot hits surprisingly well, including Knock Offs from things like Seismitoad and Hariyama. The EV spread could probably be optimized, but I like what it’s been doing for me. The 60 Speed EVs allow me to hit 241 and outpace positive natured base 60’s and neutral natured base 70s. The rest of the EVs are thrown into defense to give Xatu the most possible bulk gaining it some set-up opportunities late game. The move set allows me to get neutral coverage on pretty much the whole tier, while staying alive and boosting when necessary.

The new overlord himself. Shedinja is absolutely amazing, it somehow flourishes in a tier where most pokemon are known to carry Hidden Power Fire or Knock Off to boost their coverage. The EV spread is pretty straight forward allowing Sheddy to hit as hard as possible and outpace things like defensive Vileplume and other slow bulky Pokemon in important situations. Now the move set is where it gets a little weird. Protect is awesome for scouting choice locked Pokemon and also for getting a little extra residual damage on things that have been poisoned or burned. It’s really nice to see that Choice Specs Pyroar go for Hyper Voice and then switch out the next turn. X-Scissor is reliable STAB and hits really freakin’ hard off of Sheddy’s base 90 attack stat. Shadow Sneak is again, reliable STAB and also really nice priority with a great typing. Baton Pass is what makes Sheddy so good on this team in my honest opinion, you get a free switch in on Feraligatr, Kilnklang, Kangashkan, etc. and then proceed to Baton Pass out into the appropriate answer to their switch in.

Another lord right here. Prinplup has received a lot of mixed reviews from people, but to be honest. If you are against Prinplup, you obviously have not used one. This thing is incredibly difficult to kill, I feel safe in saying that no physical attacker in the tier can OHKO it. Physically defensive Prinplup is the set you should be running, it lacks the steel typing of Empoleon that really makes it a great specially defensive pokemon. Moveset is pretty straight forward, Stealth Rock for hazards. Defog to remove the opponents hazards reliably. Toxic to hit common switch ins such as Seismitoad, and other bulky pokemon. Scald is reliable STAB with an approximately 90% burn chance, and is also incredibly strong when you get knocked into Torrent. :]

Yep, Sturdy Choice Band Sawk. It seems a little weird because Mold Breaker lets you beat things like Sturdy Steelix and Weezing, but I open myself up to so many more threats if i forgo Sturdy. Sawk basically holds this team together. If the opponent leads Typhlosion or Swellow against my Sawk I’ll more than likely allow Sawk to be brought down to 1 HP in order to dispose of a gigantic threat to my team. Sturdy is also helpful late game if you can preserve it for that long, if you somehow lose Shedinja you can take a Waterfall from Feraligatr, not get flinched, and retaliate with Close Combat. EVs are standard, with Adamant for power because most things you’d want to outpace you have Shedinja to deal with (Adamant Klinklang, Adamant Kangaskhan, etc.). Ice Punch is solely for getting past Vileplume reliably, but it has utility outside of that I suppose. Knock Off is to bop Ghost types that could otherwise switch in, and get rid of Eviolites and Choice Scarves in clutch situations. Poison Jab allows me to get past Granbull and Togetic. More people need to use sawk, I’ve noticed a drop in usage and I’m not sure why. :[

Oh Hariyama, why are you so effin’ good. I honestly feel that this thing should be number one in usage, it’s so versatile and just so good. So something that my team struggles with are physically defensive poison types, i.e. Weezing, Garbodor, and Dragalge. So i wanted something that would at least help in my endeavors to beat them one on one. Guts Hariyama allows me to do that, Will-O-Wisp is no longer a problem and the rare Toxic Spike actually boosts my attack. In order to beat Garbodor and Dragalge I opt to run Earthquake over Heavy Slam and I leave the fairy slaying to Sawk. The rest of the moves are pretty standard. The EV Spread might look a little funky but it’s not any specific number for speed, it’s just to beat other Hariyama and things in that tier (or those that creep them).

Dun sleep on Scyther… Scyther’s purpose on this team is to check basically everything that my team is currently weak to, and to clean up late game. Scyther also lures in rock and steel types for Sawk and Hariyama to feast on, which eases wall breaking for me and aids Scyther in cleaning up late game. I opt to run Brick Break over Bug Bite or Knock Off because I find that it comes in handy more often, and because whenever I would normally Bug Bite or Knock Off I’d prefer to U-turn. Quick Attack might seem weird on a Choice Scarf Pokemon but it comes in handy way more often than you’d think. It allows me to dodge Sucker Punches late in the game, clean up sweepers that are too fast for me, and also to pick off things in situations where I’ve lost my scarf.

This team can cover most of it’s threats pretty well, but it does struggle against a few things if you don’t play well.


Random Rockey Helmets are very annoying and I’ve been seeing them more oftent than ever, if you need to really on Sawk’s Sturdy to check something, be wary of this little annoyance.
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Weezing can be a problem that usually I have to sack Hariyama to deal with. Even with a Guts boost Hariyama still can’t really touch it due to the coverage I’m running. I suppose Xatu beats it but no one should be leaving in their Weezing on Xatu.
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Rotom-S is an annoying piece of shit to be quite honest. Hariyama can take a Will-O-Wisp and deal out a chunk of damage with Knock Off, but it gets worn down pretty quickly taking burn damage and ~27% from Air Slash Each Turn.
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Hippopotas can get annoying if you aren't able to dispatch it pretty early, only due to the fact that its sand kills Shedinja. The typical sand team partners are usually taken care of fairly easily.
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Granbull can be annoying but typically you can play around it by double switching or baton passing effectively, and Xatu can beat it if you can sweep through the rest of the opposition.


Also Coba Berry Hidden Power Rock Lilligant gets a special mention because Queen of Luvdiscs is a prick

If you want a direct counterteam then look no further, the horse noted above made one and it's the only way he's beaten the team to date. http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nu-172321900