XY NU Balanced NU Team (Peak Rank 43 / 1533)

[Call me 911]

Welcome to my second RMT, this time showing off my NU team I made:)
I've been on a 'teambuildersblock' for the past month, so this was my first attempt to get back :)
A second thing I want to note is that I create this threat to share the team, but also to get feedback from you guys ;)

I wanted to start in this tier with a regular or balanced team, so I started building around vileplume, which I liked to use in gen 5 NU.

Hax0r (Vileplume) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Effect Spore
EVs: 200 HP / 248 Def / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonlight
- Sleep Powder
- Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain

Its typing is great for being a defensive mon, it makes a good check for fighting spam and strong water types like gatr. Also BD Slurpuff is a huge threat in the tier, which vileplume nicely checks. Duo stab performs really well hitting all but poison and steel types. These poison and steel types, apart from ferro/vileplume/victreebell etc can all get put to sleep by sleep powder, alternatively I could run hp fire for these mons aswell as sub klinklang. Hp fire might work well since vileplume's ability is effect spore, so you can get a status when your opponent hits you with a contact move. By not 'wasting' a moveslot on, hp fire might prove better. Obviously special attackers or stuff that set up hazards on you won't be crippled anymore. 60 Speed EV's are to outspeed base 55's and 56's (torterra).

Pairing well with vileplume, something that takes the flying/fire spam is lanturn.

Avish (Lanturn) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 52 SpA / 180 SpD / 28 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rest
- Ice Beam
- Volt Switch
- Scald

For now a resto chesto set felt the best, alternatively I could use an assault vest. With the chesto set I can not only absorb status and heal off chip damage, but lanturn is a pretty good check to vivilion now.
Great checks to electric types like both rotoms, flying types like xatu and fire spam from pyroar, typhlosion and magmortar. Hp grass's don't hit too much btw:p
The 28 speed EV's are to outspeed base 70's and to not get speedcreeped by stuff like sandslash. The 52 sp att are to break a sub from .. (i'll edit in when if I remember lol)

Third mon is Swellow, powerful facade's and bb's can very well break teams. The slow volt switch also helps activate the toxic orb. Also makes for a nice voltturn core :)

Birdy (Swellow) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Facade
- Quick Attack
- U-turn
- Brave Bird

It's great speed helps me check stuff like sceptile, also a ground immunity helps, although switching in swellow is pretty risky.. Quick attack has won me many games, since swellow is frail, you don't wanna get revenged by opposing priority, which makes qa essential to me. Finally BB to for a second stab to hit like a truck if the orb hasn't activated yet. Or just to ensure KO's on fighting/grass types etc;p

Some checks to swellow are rock types, steel types and rotom mainly, so a good mon to pair with Swellow to me is Pangoro.

Pangolo (Pangoro) @ Choice Band
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
- Crunch
- Hammer Arm

This mon pairs not only well with Swellow, it also pairs with the def core, being able to eat up the psychic hits, threathening vileplume. Mold breaker eq's, double stab and poison jab for the fairies. Ev's are custom to outspeed defensive slurpuffs and garbodors. It's hp investment has been pretty useful in some games, for example taking a +2 waterfall from kabutops.
Pangoro has avoided flinches, para's etc very well for me, but has missed crucial hammer arms aswell, which have lost me 2 games sadly:(.

The last two mons have been changed a few times and I ask you to give feedback on these two mons specificly!!
Because I didn't want to be beaten to easily against hazard stacking teams (which is no doubt the best strategy in NU now), I needed a spinner or defogger. Also something I had in mind while choosing these two mons was seismitoad, the most common mon in NU. So I started with archeops, being able to set up hazards, endeavor some walls, taunt opponents leads etc.
After that I tried Cryogonal, an offensive spinner with freeze dry to hit seismitoads. On paper a fantastic canditate, but while playing it felt incredibly weak and with it's weakness to stealth rocks it didn't get much opportunities to actually spin.

So I switched it out for its current canditate, kabutops. My first set for kabutops had natural gift with a pinap berry to surprise seismitoads, a pretty good counter to kabutops in general. While I did get some kills with it on my road to the higher ladder, it didn't work that well in the top 100. Facing Deej's stall team three times made me realise that I didn't have much for ferroseed, as it can very easily protect on pangoro and switch out to it's teammates, wrecking up hazard damage on my mons.

Phelps (Kabutops) @ Watmel Berry
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Natural Gift
- Aqua Jet
- Stone Edge
- Rapid Spin

Kabutops now carries a watmel berry to hit steel types like ferroseed. Also rapid spin for hazard removal, aqua jet for priority(let me know if waterfall is a better choice, since I never had to rely on priority aqua jet yet, except archeops) and stone edge for a nice stab hit.

Its partner, the sixth member of my team has been changed alot aswell. I've settled for a pixie mon in the end, uxie. Levitate helps out team synergy well with the first 2 mons, and also resists the psychic that threathens plume. My Uxie has had knock off, u-turn and fire punch as it's coverage, but even an adamant hit resulted in very disappointing damage.

Ohm (Uxie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 232 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rain Dance
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Giga Drain

With the watmel berry kabutops I've chosen to use a special set for uxie now, with giga drain to hit seis's instead of fire punch to hit ferroseeds. Psychic stab hits garbodors and gurdurrs that are a big threat in the tier. Stealth rocks are essential for a team. Rain dance to get kabutops to be more threathening.

Watmel berry and rain dance don't go well together obviously, but that'd mean that the use of kabutops is different depending on the opponents team. For stall teams I don't need the rain active.



I hope some of you will leave a response or suggestion to the questions I have:)

I'll leave some my rating and a few replays here;) Alt name is Mega Mogbae.
http://gyazo.com/ab598e300cf3e3ed5011175053c27920
http://gyazo.com/2dcb04c65fed555bb557d15e1818af6a

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nu-168785630 vs Pokeeplayah
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nu-169003606 vs Deej Test
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nu-169302105 vs Blader96

Some huge threats to the team are archeops, with flying/ground/rock coverage it can dent wholes in my team, also endeavor sets can weaken a wall severely and it can taunt my mons to prevent them from setting up hazards for example.
Also Zangoose hits like a truck, and with rocks up, swellow can only switch in once and still be able to take the quick attack.
Defensive threats are still ferroseed and seismitoad cores.

Again, let me know about hp fire/sleep powder and the last 2 mons on my team. I'd really appreciate it;)

~Call me 911

 

[Brawlfest]

Hi there, cool team. Before I begin rating, I suggest you to test a team more in the future. "NU team I made just yesterday" not only doesn't do your team justice, but it offends raters as well, and I hope that in the future you take advantage of the RMT forum by posting a team you are well versed in and have thoroughly tested.

The team itself looks pretty cool. I think the single largest threat for your team is Archeops and Swellow, which pretty much 6-0 your team if you lose Kabutops, who looks for chances to spin constantly. You also have a hell of a time fighting Cryogonal, who does major damage to the majority of your team, and Pangoro in reality is the only thing that can switch in safely, although Swellow can offensively pressure it, it is worn down quickly. Outside of that, it looks like a pretty fun team, although multiple sets are suboptimal and can be improved.

I personally would just reccomend trying Swords Dance Pawniard over Pangoro. Pawniard can offensively pressure all three of the previously mentioned pokemon with a powerful sucker punch as well as being able to successfully switch into their STAB moves at least 2x due to its good resistances. Although people commonly see Pawn's only niche as protecting hazards, Pawniard plays a similar role that Pangoro does in beating Rock types and Rotom, but shares similar checks as Kabutops and Swellow and can wear them down, and still pressures Psychics for your team. However, its ability to give you a reliable check to Cryogonal as well as a way to pressure Swellow is key to your success. It also gives you a way to better pressure CM Xatu which can be somewhat of a threat.

Pawniard @ Eviolite | Defiant
Adamant | 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Knock Off | Sucker Punch | Iron Head | Swords Dance

Minor Changes:
Vileplume: Sleep Powder honestly is not that good this generation as Grass types resist it, new sleep mechanics, and its inaccuracy, and is honestly a waste of a slot on Vileplume. I reccomend either Hidden Power [Fire] or Aromatherapy, one of which baits in and easily 2HKOs any Ferroseed, while the other helps you rid your team of Status which it is somewhat weak to, despite it contradicting Swellow's Guts. Also, none of the base 55 or 60 mons beat vileplume 1v1 anyways, so there is no need to creep. Instead just run 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 SDef since the speed is 100% unnecessary.
Lanturn: ChestoRest Lanturn seems cool, but I personally would suggest you to just run Sleep Talk > Ice Beam, as although it makes you incapable of touching grass types, you have 2 Hard Counters to them anyways in Swellow and Vileplume, and Sleep Talk allows you to rest multiple times safely.
Uxie: Rain Dance isn't something I feel that Uxie can viably run without a dedicated rain team, and simply put is a complete waste of a moveslot on Uxie. Honestly, moves such as Thunder Wave, Knock Off, U-Turn, Yawn, etc > Rain Dance. all come to mind as far superior moves on standard lead uxie as they have so much more utility than Rain Dance, which to an extent even cripples some of your pokemon.

Hope this helped.

 

[Call me 911]

Hi there, cool team. Before I begin rating, I suggest you to test a team more in the future. "NU team I made just yesterday" not only doesn't do your team justice, but it offends raters as well, and I hope that in the future you take advantage of the RMT forum by posting a team you are well versed in and have thoroughly tested.

The team itself looks pretty cool. I think the single largest threat for your team is Archeops and Swellow, which pretty much 6-0 your team if you lose Kabutops, who looks for chances to spin constantly. You also have a hell of a time fighting Cryogonal, who does major damage to the majority of your team, and Pangoro in reality is the only thing that can switch in safely, although Swellow can offensively pressure it, it is worn down quickly. Outside of that, it looks like a pretty fun team, although multiple sets are suboptimal and can be improved.

I personally would just reccomend trying Swords Dance Pawniard over Pangoro. Pawniard can offensively pressure all three of the previously mentioned pokemon with a powerful sucker punch as well as being able to successfully switch into their STAB moves at least 2x due to its good resistances. Although people commonly see Pawn's only niche as protecting hazards, Pawniard plays a similar role that Pangoro does in beating Rock types and Rotom, but shares similar checks as Kabutops and Swellow and can wear them down, and still pressures Psychics for your team. However, its ability to give you a reliable check to Cryogonal as well as a way to pressure Swellow is key to your success. It also gives you a way to better pressure CM Xatu which can be somewhat of a threat.

Pawniard @ Eviolite | Defiant
Adamant | 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Knock Off | Sucker Punch | Iron Head | Swords Dance

Minor Changes:
Vileplume: Sleep Powder honestly is not that good this generation as Grass types resist it, new sleep mechanics, and its inaccuracy, and is honestly a waste of a slot on Vileplume. I reccomend either Hidden Power [Fire] or Aromatherapy, one of which baits in and easily 2HKOs any Ferroseed, while the other helps you rid your team of Status which it is somewhat weak to, despite it contradicting Swellow's Guts. Also, none of the base 55 or 60 mons beat vileplume 1v1 anyways, so there is no need to creep. Instead just run 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 SDef since the speed is 100% unnecessary.
Lanturn: ChestoRest Lanturn seems cool, but I personally would suggest you to just run Sleep Talk > Ice Beam, as although it makes you incapable of touching grass types, you have 2 Hard Counters to them anyways in Swellow and Vileplume, and Sleep Talk allows you to rest multiple times safely.
Uxie: Rain Dance isn't something I feel that Uxie can viably run without a dedicated rain team, and simply put is a complete waste of a moveslot on Uxie. Honestly, moves such as Thunder Wave, Knock Off, U-Turn, Yawn, etc > Rain Dance. all come to mind as far superior moves on standard lead uxie as they have so much more utility than Rain Dance, which to an extent even cripples some of your pokemon.

Hope this helped.

I actually have had a fair amount of matches with the team (about 70 and 2 alts in top 100), but you are right about that and I'll change it :p
Cryo hasn't been a problem yet actually, but I will try Pawniard for sure, since it actually does look to be a greater threat to most things I worry about. I do fear bulk up gurdurr a bit more now, which my team struggles against.
I'll definately change sleep powder to hp fire and see how it does. However do you recommend to change the kabutops / uxie coverage moves alongside the hp fire change aswell?
Rain hasn't been all that useful so I have no hard feelings switching it out for yawn, to sorta replace sleep powder for now:)


I greatly appreciate the suggestions you left:)
~Call me 911

 

[Evan.]

Hey old fren cool to see that you're starting to get involved in the smogon forums! This is a pretty cool team but as Brawlfest stated a lot of the sets are sub-optimal.

First things first, I agree with all of Brawl's minor changes as they greatly improve the team. Hidden Power [Fire] > Sleep Powder on Vileplume gives you a way to beat ferroseed which you stated that your team has trouble with. The EV Spread is also more optimal as Torterra isn't really prevalent enough to try and speed creep. RestTalk Lanturn w/ Lefties is definitely more useful than RestoChest as it allows you to consistently check Fire Spam without fearing that your item gets Knocked Off. U-Turn/T-Wave/Yawn with Lefties is definitely more optimal than Rain Dance, considering that only Kabutops benefits from it and even it doesn't have Swords Dance. Uxie should also be running a spread of 252 HP / 152 Def / 104 Spd with an Impish Nature which allows it to act as a more efficient pivot for your team.

The only major change that I would suggest is to run Sub SG Klinklang > Pangoro. Sub Shift Gear Klinklang is a great sweeper that allows you to check Swellow, Cryogonal and Xatu lacking Heat Wave as well as providing a win condition against more defensive teams. It also beats Ferroseed by stalling it out of Gyro Balls and can easily set up to +6/+6 against it.

You also seem to be worried about Gurdurr when in reality you really shouldn't be. Vileplume beats it 1-on-1 due to it's over-reliance on it's STAB to recover health as well as Uxie, which 2HKO's with Psychic. Cool Team fren!

___________________________

Klinklang @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Shift Gear
- Return
- Gear Grind

 

[Call me 911]

Hey old fren cool to see that you're starting to get involved in the smogon forums! This is a pretty cool team but as Brawlfest stated a lot of the sets are sub-optimal.

First things first, I agree with all of Brawl's minor changes as they greatly improve the team. Hidden Power [Fire] > Sleep Powder on Vileplume gives you a way to beat ferroseed which you stated that your team has trouble with. The EV Spread is also more optimal as Torterra isn't really prevalent enough to try and speed creep. RestTalk Lanturn w/ Lefties is definitely more useful than RestoChest as it allows you to consistently check Fire Spam without fearing that your item gets Knocked Off. U-Turn/T-Wave/Yawn with Lefties is definitely more optimal than Rain Dance, considering that only Kabutops benefits from it and even it doesn't have Swords Dance. Uxie should also be running a spread of 252 HP / 152 Def / 104 Spd with an Impish Nature which allows it to act as a more efficient pivot for your team.

The only major change that I would suggest is to run Sub SG Klinklang > Pangoro. Sub Shift Gear Klinklang is a great sweeper that allows you to check Swellow, Cryogonal and Xatu lacking Heat Wave as well as providing a win condition against more defensive teams. It also beats Ferroseed by stalling it out of Gyro Balls and can easily set up to +6/+6 against it.

You also seem to be worried about Gurdurr when in reality you really shouldn't be. Vileplume beats it 1-on-1 due to it's over-reliance on it's STAB to recover health as well as Uxie, which 2HKO's with Psychic. Cool Team fren!

___________________________
View attachment 27584
Klinklang @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Shift Gear
- Return
- Gear Grind

Thanks man:)
I already replaced some of the moves stated by brawl and it has been working out pretty well. I was trying to mimic the offensive weather spinner like the OU people do, but it was pretty bad:p
HP fire has been working out pretty well against opposing klinklangs or ferroseeds aswell:)

The Uxie spread is pretty cool, but I feel like I lose alot of offense against said gurdurr and poison types like dragalge.
I will give klinklang a try aswell as it seems like a good mon to fill the role:)