ORAS NU A new meta (currently #24 on the ladder)

[noobcubed]

Hi guys, it's noobcubed and I'm here with a team that has brought me a fair amount of success on the ladder. Now I know the ladder is the ladder, but i'm pretty proud of the team anyway, and I'm keen for any suggestions of improvements. So, without further ado:

Aurorus @ Focus Sash

- Blizzard
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- Encore

Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature

So this is a Pokemon I haven't seen anyone else using in the tier and I confess it is a pretty niche pick - but I do find it has a lot of things going for it. It beats a ton of other leads right now, and is particularly effective against lead Archeops which I see everywhere at the moment as Snow Warning allows me to get round those Focus Sash + Endeavour shenanigans. Earth Power is chosen over a second STAB to help me wear down Steel-types and Lanturn, which can be a pain to the team sometimes. Encore is strange-looking, but does provide great utility, doing everything from enabling Aurorus to surprise bulky Stealth Rock setters like Prinplup and Piloswine right after they set up their rocks, to providing an emergency check to CroDino. Finally, the 6% damage racking up on my opponent every turn is really nice team support, and can turn 2HKOs into OHKOs.

Magneton @ Choice Specs

- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power Grass

Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature

And lo, the mighty Magneton descended from above, and the NU players saw that it was good, and knelt down before it. Okay, we all know that this is probably getting a suspect test soon. But before it does, I might as well have fun with it, no? HP Grass because Lanturn and Quagsire exist, otherwise really standard stuff. To hit so hard whilst simultaneously being able to switch to a favourable match-up means this thing wrecks balance teams. And, of course, since the likes of Swellow find themselves giving free turns to Klinklang, a check to that is essential, as its role as a Fletchinder counter.

Pinsir @ Choice Scarf

- X-Scissor
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- Knock Off

Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

So here's the other recent RU drop, which has relatively flown under the radar. A solid cleaner and dependable Malamar check rolled into one. Best brought out late-game when it can finish off teams, unless I need it to revenge-kill something. I'm not quite sure of which four attacks are best to run on it, but in the end I dropped Earthquake as I feel it is pretty risky locking yourself onto a move which so many Pokemon are immune to, and it's not like I'm being stomped on by Poison-types anyway.

Swellow @ Toxic Orb

- Facade
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Quick Attack

Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Okay, there's really nothing else you can do with Swellow apart from this (I know Boomburst exists, but I still find that to be a really lacklustre set). Quick Attack over Protect because I can activate the Toxic Orb via Magneton's slow Volt Switch, and Toxic Orb over Flame Orb because... well to be honest there's very little in it. U-turn is great for chipping away at Swellow's counters and allowing a teammate to run them over.

Gurdurr @ Eviolite

- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch
- Bulk Up

Ability: Guts
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature

So I needed a bulky set-up sweeper that could take advantage of the free turns given away by defensive Pokemon, which could also act as a check to Steel-types - Gurdurr ticked both boxes. I generally don't outright sweep with this guy, but often blow holes in my opponent using him, and he's also like the only thing on the team that can switch into stuff.

Mismagius @ Life Orb

- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Nasty Plot
- Substitute

Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature

Finally, the spinblocker. It helps take out opposing Ghost-types, like non-scarfed Rotom and the newly-risen Haunter, that can cause headaches for other members of the team. It does have an annoying habit of giving a free switch in to CroDino but I've already covered that with the likes of Magneton.

Importable for those who would prefer not to exercise their own creativity when laddering ;)

Aurorus @ Focus Sash
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Blizzard
- Earth Power
- Encore
- Stealth Rock

Pinsir @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- X-Scissor
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off

Gurdurr @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch
- Bulk Up

Magneton @ Choice Specs
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Mismagius @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Nasty Plot
- Substitute

Swellow @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Facade
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Quick Attack​

 

[HJAD]

Hey Bro

Nice team you have here, puts to use some really cool niche sets and a couple of the new nu drops, and the team looks to function fairly well synergetically as well.
Its a cool team overall, each Mon has their use and its all really strong, put to together.
However, there is an issue I think we have to address.
With 3 Stealth Rock weak mons and no way to control hazards, you will feel like your team is constantly being worn down to the extent where you can match up balance / stallier teams, as they plan to force you to switch and take hazards damage constantly.
This can be solved however with the addition of Offensive Defog Archeops > Swellow.
Archeops is a hard hitting, fast, bird like swellow is but it has the key trait of being a reliable hazards remover, meaning that you have all the presence a swellow has on the opposing team, but the ability to get rid of hazards like toxic spikes (especially annoying), spikes (p annoying but not horrible) and stealth rock (really annoying.
Swellow mainly functions as a cleaner also, but, because you have a pinsir that's choice scarfed, a cleaner really isn't the type of Mon you should be using. At least archeops has a presence just like swellow but has defog to really mess with teams around the central hazard stacking archetype in NU.

set

Archeops
Ability: Defeatist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake / Stone Edge / Aqua Tail
- Roost
- Defog

Good luck in the future!
~HJAD

 

[Evan.]

hey there

this is a pretty interesting offensive team, and i really like the aurorus set, but there are some things that need to be fixed. no offense to hjad but defog archeops > swellow is not the answer, because it doesnt help out against any of the threats that this team is weak to right now. mainly the weaknesses that I see right now are to SD samurott, Lilligant and Offensive Archeops all of which can straight 6-0 you if they are even given a bit of breathing room. there are also some set optimizations that you should make since some of your sets are less than optimal.

I'll go over the set optimizations first. The first is that you should move the SpDef EVs on Gurdurr into HP. Without HP EVs, Gurdurr fails to efficiently check a lot of the stuff that it normally should like Sneasel, Tauros, Klinklang and Kangaskhan which all look like problems without Max HP gurdurr to check them. I'd also move the HP EVs on Magneton into Speed as it allows you to outspeed slower threats that run speed like Exeggutor and opposing Aurorus and VS or hit them with Specs Flash Cannon. Analytic is still very effective with max speed because it activates upon the switch as well which means not much is a safe switch in. You can also try HP ground if you want to hit opposing magnetons which look a bit problematic. The last set optimization is just to put Taunt > Substitute on Mismagius as Sub + LO isn't a great combination that leads you to being worn down extremely quickly. Taunt still protects you from status moves, but also prevents fat normal types from just healing and stalling you out of LO recoil.

Now on to the actual changes, I think the 2 weak points on your team are Pinsir and Swellow. They both dont really offer much outside of speed and just make you weaker to the threats I mentioned above. The first change I'm going to recommend that you make is to put CB Sneasel > Pinsir. CB sneasel is really good right now and provides you with a check to both Lilligant and Archeops, as well as being able to knock off and weaken ice switch-ins for Aurorus.

Even after the sneasel switch, the team still lacks a water resist and looks pretty weak to SD Samurott. The best change you can make in my mind in order to keep up the offensive presence of the team while still being able to beat archeops is to add an AOA Samurott > Swellow. AOA Rott allows you to check fast threats with Aqua Jet, while being able to check opposing Samurott with Grass Knot. It also provides you with another wallbreaker which can wear down defensive teams in order to let Mismagius or Gurdurr clean late game.

hope i helped!

: 252 HP > 252 SpDef

: 252 Spe > 252 HP, (try HP Ground > HP Grass if opposing magneton are problematic)

: Taunt > Substitute

Sneasel @ Choice Band | Inner Focus
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe | Jolly
Knock Off | Ice Shard | Icicle Crash | Low Kick / Pursuit

Samurott @ Life Orb | Torrent
4 Def / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe | Rash
Hydro Pump | Grass Knot | Ice Beam | Aqua Jet

 

[Brawlfest]

oml its noobcubed

 

[Blast]

Sash Aurorus / Specs Magneton / Scarf Pinsir / Guts Swellow / Gurdurr / SubNP Mismagius

I really like Can-Eh-Dian's suggestions and would definitely support testing them. The only thing I might add is that I think SD Samurott would be a bit of a better fit than special--since you already have a slower, stronger special attacker in Magneton and a faster one in Mismagius, special Otter might get redundant among them. SD on the other hand gives you another physical cleaner as well as a secondary way to break down phys def Mega Audino, which is pretty annoying once Magneton dies. It does make you a bit weaker to opposing SD Otter, but those shouldn't be too difficult to deal with since it can't set up on too much, and you can always run a faster variant with max Speed to better check them.

I'd also experiment a bit with the set in general, like trying Rindo Berry or Wacan since you still look a bit weak to Lilligant and Rotom forms, but hope I helped!