Teambuilding Process
Start with Raichu. I had been wanting to use a number of high ranked mons that had just stopped seeing usage in 99% of games because they just fell out of favor for one reason or another. Things like Jumpluff, Bouffalant, and Raichu had been kind of neglected, and still are to be honest but I figured Raichu still has that nice NP set and maybe it can go somewhere. Unfortunately there was the whole fiasco with Surf being illegal with Lightning Rod and Nasty Plot, but it's still pretty effective right now (just like every mid speed NP user).
Since I was starting out with Surf, I wanted a Flying-type to complement Raichu but mostly just abuse hitting those Grounds like Stunfisk. Drifblim hates Stunfisk more than most, so I just threw that on and it's pretty hard to be disappointed by Drifblim. Easily one of the most fun Pokemon to slap on a team.
This core is going in a balanced offensive direction and started out kinda Floatzel weak, so Lumineon fits here just like it fits on every other team nowadays, providing some Defog and pivoting and all the basic stuff. It's weird that such a stupid throwaway Pokemon just now shot up so much, even if we had Pelipper I'd still imagine Lumineon isn't going anywhere just by not dropping to the first random HP Electric. This thing should not be so good.
At this point in the process, I wanted something fast with a decent amount of strong offensive presence and ideally able to provide a second pivot around Floatzel. Scarf Simisage seemed like a good idea at the time and it's still an incredibly solid Pokemon, carrying some really solid coverage to set it apart from other scarfers.
Pawniard, Stoutland, Monferno, other Drifblim, etc. all really suck, Gabite checks pretty much every physical attacker without an Ice-type move really easily and sets Stealth Rock, not to mention it's another easy pivot into Stunfisk for Drifblim.
And the last member of the "oh I'm weak to things" core is Grumpig. My last rmt also had a Gabite+Grumpig core, but really Gabite+Grumpig+Lumineon is just so solid right now, you won't outright wall everything like some cores but the tradeoff is being able to check a ton of the common things that shit all over the balanced cores that used to be everywhere like Lapras or Simisear. Check Ice, check Fire, check pretty much any special attacker. Just lovely. And the last rmt was 500 messages ago anyway.
I played with this for a while and it had some decent success, but after I played Dundies for battle of the week I realized it was missing something. The Simisage version is alright and still could've picked up the series without being unlucky, but while playing I realized it was missing a bit because Simisage just drops too much offensive power in the fast slot, it revenges very specific things with very specific moves and isn't outright threatening. I played around with all kinds of stuff for a while but I eventually found Ninjask to be a really satisfactory replacement. I already have a fast Electric, I already have Defog, and the drop in Speed isn't as important right now as that lovely fast CB power. At this point the team had the two most fun to use Flying-types in the tier and I was pretty sure it was gonna end up as an RMT one way or another.
e: anty also told me to add stunfisk now
In Depth
Raichu @ Life Orb | Lightning Rod ** forgotten but not gone
Timid nature | 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Nasty Plot | Thunderbolt | Focus Blast | Hidden Power [Ice]
The fact that I can't have my beautiful Surf Raichu really irks me, but this is still a strong mon to throw at opposing teams. In a metagame where Nasty Plot is being thrown on Mr. Mime, Chatot, Simipour, and Simisage, Raichu actually manages to stand out with that just slightly better Speed and the coverage that guarantees nothing is coming in safe- provided you can land a Focus Blast. It's also really solid before a Nasty Plot with that coverage and decent base 90 Special Attack letting it get by on mid power Thunderbolts. I admit the team hasn't done much to cover the stall matchup, but that's because I have Raichu here, which can generally get me through when paired with other Pokemon which can chip away at the rare SpD Metang, the incredibly less rare Machoke, etc. If you didn't need that balance breaker aspect then any other Electric really is better. Even with it, give Rotom-F heavy consideration. But don't count out Raichu, there isn't a game where this mon will be useless and that's more than you can say for Zebstrika.
As far as the moves itself go, Nasty Plot is just for those dumb slow teams ripe for the taking and then you've got triple coverage to start smacking around potential switchins with. There aren't really any other options for this, Nasty Plot being a necessity means that you're not fitting Surf and there is no other coverage that you're gonna be using.
Drifblim @ Sitrus Berry | Unburden ** on your marks
Adamant nature | 12 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Def / 52 SpD / 144 Spe
Substitute | Acrobatics | Knock Off | Sucker Punch
0-60 in one turn and excellent power following with some useful utilities and a clutch boost to outspeed your foes. Substitute, activate, win. Drifblim is such a nice mon to keep as your win condition, even if there's some matchup versus this ridiculous team where it's doing absolutely nothing, it still has the bulk to come in and annoy foes with Knock Off. The only innovative or different thing here is carrying Sucker Punch over the more traditional Will-O-Wisp or Destiny Bond. By all means feel free to run those if you plan on stealing the team, but clutch priority is clutch in so many cases, mostly when you can't get that activation before they kill you. If you replace it then use Destiny Bond at least, that way a matchup where it's less useful offensively will leave it useful in a more utility role which is part of what makes this so nice to use. If Vullaby ticks up again or maybe Pelipper drops then this'll start finding harder times (or maybe mixed Tbolt sounds cool as shit ngl) but for now it's such a nice mon that happens to share checks with another fast, threatening Flying-type.
Substitute goes in to activate your berry, then Acrobatics hits all the non-Flying resists for damage you just wouldn't expect from base 80 Attack. Then Knock Off hits everything else and Sucker Punch hits what you're not faster than, either because they have their own priority or you fail at activating berries or it's a scarf Dodrio/Simisomething/Floatzel. It's replaceable, run Destiny Bond if you don't feel like it's needed, but I like it. The spread could also be tailored to go faster or slower, right now it's slightly slower than the standard because Scarf Sawsbuck is out and Scarf Chatot is all you gotta beat, but you could creep more for other Drifblim, drop speed for more bulk, do whatever really. Just keep those 12 HP for the 25% activation number.
Lumineon @ Leftovers | Storm Drain ** needed a brake
Bold nature | 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Defog | Scald | Toxic | U-turn
This isn't a very interesting mon, is it. You can just look at a Lumineon and not really care at all. Aurorus has better sails and it's weak to water. But putting that aside, Lumineon is so classically PU. Shitmon that just happened to fill in those very specific niches, giving you a Water switchin and slow pivot combined, slowly gaining usage until you feel like it's just been there forever. I could fit this on every team all day every day, design or no. Anyway, this does the slow pivot on literally everything that it's always done, and nothing is different here. It is the primary Water switch but that doesn't even matter because as long as you've stayed around until mid-game, Ninjask and Grumpig can check Floatzel and other waters from there.
Keep the hazards away from Ninjask, but it's worth noting that it's not Lumineon's primary job here and there are plenty of games that I don't even Defog, and I don't think I've ever done it more than once. You just have sufficient pressure on SR users and Ninjask is often doing just fine and only needs to come in twice anyway. I've learned the hard way that Lumineon can often be the more important mon and should not be dropped for removing hazards. Then there's some annoying crippling options in Scald and Toxic and the slow pivoting which makes it so useful, other options are basically whatever you want over Toxic if you're so inclined to use Tailwind or whatever. That isn't too important for Lumineon's overall function but everything else generally sucks to use anyway. Finally, if you check the importable below, I have 30 Speed IVs because I'm one of those guys. Yeah.
Ninjask @ Choice Band | Infiltrator ** damn punks
Jolly nature | 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
U-turn | X-Scissor | Aerial Ace | Dig
The fact that U-turn isn't capitalized but X-Scissor is annoys the shit out of me. Fortunately, nothing else about this mon does. Ninjask is the epitome of taking whatever's slower than you and just slapping the shit out of it, but Bug-style because, you know, bugs are terrifying. Normally all these bugs are big, armor plated Forretress or slow at first and need to Quiver Dance under a porch light to get going, but Ninjask is that puny thing you crushed transformed into a fast cleaner that'll rip your face off. And if you want to escape, it doesn't even matter because it's still grabbing the momentum with U-turn. Hell, you can't even escape by hiding under a rock or even by being one, because this beauty can just tunnel underneath. Basically, while I've been waxing poetic it's already swept three teams because it's fucking fast and kills everything and holy shit do you wanna have the offense matchup try playing offense vs offense but one has a Ninjask that's faster than at least five of their pokes just easymodo U-turn simulator 2k16.
You've got momentum, power, and hitting Machoke, which is really just the guaranteed stuff. Dig is just an excellent meme™ although it really can be useful for killing some stuff. Run Giga Drain, Night Slash, even Toxic if you like, it doesn't particularly matter although I prefer at least Giga Drain because so many Golem right now. People also tell me to run Swords Dance, I'd advise immediate power here, particularly since you already have Raichu, but that's probably something to note.
Stunfisk @ Rindo Berry
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Discharge
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
Anty's change helps the team out a lot versus Mawile and checking some other random stuff. See his post for the full reasoning.
Grumpig @ Colbur Berry | Thick Fat ** at your service
Timid Nature | 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
Psychic | Shadow Ball | Focus Blast | Taunt / Thunder Wave
I started playing mons in sixth gen really, before that it was nothing much really. So I don't really understand that much about old gens and the whole zeitgeist that still lingers in those nostalgic posts and "oh all tours suck now", but when people describe those old gen staples that they'd just see every time on every team and it's just that solid mon you remember, I get that. Because this one pig is on like every team I make and holy shit I'm already gonna get counterteamed for PUPL2. But what's not to love about having a bulky Psychic that also just happens to check all the Fire- and Ice-types that you could ever want to? How can you hate having just the right offensive and support movepool to succeed, and then still blowing it on the same exact five moves 99% of the time because what else are you gonna do? This doesn't have one role on the team exactly, it's a force of nature that kind of just happens. Let it. Sack it early to trade for Floatzel, keep it around so you don't lose to SD Monferno, whatever really. It's there to pivot into Lapras early and clean BO late. I think I've hit enough cliches now.
The triple coverage is just required, you need to hit everything and if you don't you'll run into that one asshole with his shitass Beheeyem like lol you don't have Shadow Ball how you gonna tell him to sit down and use a real Psychic-type now. Colbur is also just the thing for Machoke that you need to have. I still prefer Taunt to Thunder Wave here because preventing Vullaby from recovering can really help out Drifblim, but you're also going to have a worse Articuno matchup so it could really be up to you. The other one is simply running a bulkier spread, Stoutland might suck more afterwards but people don't really think about bulky Grumpig anymore until the new standard just dies a little too fast.
Threatlist
I'm not gonna lie, this was kind of hard for me to find serious threats to. A lot of the problems are ones you can take care of with careful play and not sacking your counter turn 2, and most threats are simply "things I need Ninjask and keeping up momentum for". These are definitely the most troublesome of foes. The team was actually built pre-Crustle meta, and Spikes lead can force early Lumineon chip. Meanwhile, both Shell Smashers are annoying, but Huntail is the scarier one because of how Sucker Punch just invalidates Ninjask as a revenge killer, which is how you'll normally deal with things like SS Crustle / RP Regice / DD Fraxure / etc. If it has Return for Lumineon then check with Gabite, if it has Ice Beam for Gabite then check with Lumineon. Meanwhile, the criminally underrated physically boosting Floatzel sets do something similar in not worrying about Ninkask, the difference here being that Lumineon stops most because it's hard to justify both Bulk Up / Power-Up Punch and Return on the same set. Finally, the Articuno spike fucking sucks, having Thunder Wave on Grumpig just became a lot more important and maybe you can catch them subbing pretty low with an Infiltrator Ninjask switch.
e: Teddeh wants me to add stoutland, and it's interesting to address that normals in general are annoying and can trade kills but won't signal the end of the world despite lack of resists as long as you can hit focus blasts. Which really sucks to have to do. But if you do, offensive pressure, turning, and having gabite chip really goes a long way to making them fairly manageable. I did, however, forget to add scarf dodrio which outspeeds blimp and ninjask and is in general just nasty.
e2: and now mawile just dicks drifblim and ninjask so yeah
Raichu @ Life Orb
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Focus Blast
- Nasty Plot
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Drifblim @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 12 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Def / 52 SpD / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- Sucker Punch
- Substitute
- Knock Off
Lumineon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Scald
- U-turn
- Defog
- Toxic
Ninjask @ Choice Band
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- X-Scissor
- Aerial Ace
- Dig
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Focus Blast
- Nasty Plot
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Drifblim @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 12 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Def / 52 SpD / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- Sucker Punch
- Substitute
- Knock Off
Lumineon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Scald
- U-turn
- Defog
- Toxic
Ninjask @ Choice Band
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- X-Scissor
- Aerial Ace
- Dig
Stunfisk @ Rindo Berry
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Discharge
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
Grumpig @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 76 HP / 252 SpA / 180 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Taunt
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Discharge
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
Grumpig @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 76 HP / 252 SpA / 180 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Taunt
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
Shoutouts
I have too many people who I consider friends here. Certainly more than irl because I'm a nerd with no life. Sorry for not doing anything individual, sorry for forgetting you, but let's be honest you probably don't care and the most this will effect is the like count at the bottom of the post. These always feel awkward but necessary. And if you don't get alerted because of the spoiler, it's probably for the best.
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