XY RU BUG AND BERD (xy ru balanced team peaked RANK 1)

[CutForBiebarel]

Yo what up guys. It's CutForBiebarel back again. I got sick of playing stall, so I decided to mix it up and start laddering with some balance. My homie xastify had a solid core, and after playing around with a 6th poke a bit, I came up with what I believe to be a vastly underused threat. I threw him on and the result was:
BUG AND BERD
A really standard balance team that is good nonetheless.

This team took me to rank 1 and 1650 elo, but I can't figure out how to upload the screenshot so you will have to take my word for it.


Anyways, on to the team.

Blind Berd (Moltres) @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 Def/ 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Roost
- Fire Blast
- Hurricane
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Part 1 of the epic wallbreaker duo of Bug and Berd. Blind Berd is the king of RU, hitting like a truck into most bulky pokes. It can outspeed most everything, and is walled really only by slowking, jellicent, regirock, and cresselia. He is the center of the team, and most of the time the play focuses on getting him in unhampered by rocks and attacks to do some serious damage to the other team.

SlayerOfLawns (Rotom-Mow) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Trick
- Thunderbolt
- Leaf Storm
The odd one out on the team. He doesn't really fit into either predefined core, but still does a lot for the team. He is great for revenge killing fast threats, a solid send in against annoying water types like jellicent and clawitzer. Furthermore, trick is very useful in breaking stall. Oftentimes he can clean up late game with tbolt spam. He has uses against every team, and every playstyle. Plus volt switching can often allow one of the heavy hitters to get in and go to work. Extremely versatile.

TeamPlayer (Cobalion) @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 160 HP / 96 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch
- Stealth Rock
Man I love this thing. It is the first member of the cobalion/gligar/slowking core that I love to run on stall, and is very useful. IMO cobal is the best lead in RU atm, as he can taunt annoying HO leads, get up rocks, and prevent the opponent from getting up rocks, making it easier for moltres to get to work. Furthermore, his high speeds make him an excellent revenge killer, and his typing and ability make him great knock off fodder, to preserve the eviolite on gligar. Volt switch builds on to the volt turn core, and can again help one of the nukes get in to wreak havoc.

WallerOfAll (Gligar) @ Eviolite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Roost
- Defog

If I had to choose the best pokemon in the RU tier, I would probably say gligar. It walls so many physical threats, can defog again and again, and u turn is fantastic for gaining momentum on the team. It is the second member of the cobal-glig-king core, and is the primary physical wall, typing fantastically well with slowking. As the most reliable hazard remover in RU, gligar is extremely well suited to get rid of those pesky stealth rocks to help moltres, and, in conjunction with taunt cobal, the vast majority of games I am able to prevent my opponent from getting up any long-lasting hazards at all.

WallerOfFires (Slowking) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 240 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Blast

Such a crucial poke. Slowking is a great pivot switch, coming in again and again to sponge up hits from all types of special threats. It is ideal for scouting against all kinds of threats, and is the best wall against moltres/delphox, hence the name. It completes the aforementioned bulky core, and pairs quite well with gligar to be able to fend off threats of any nature. Speed allows it to countercreep escav and hit it hard with fireblast.

WRECKINGBALL (Escavalier) @ Choice Band
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 164 HP / 252 Atk / 92 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Megahorn
- Iron Head
- Knock Off

This thing is amazing. It is the second wallbreaker in the Bug and Berd core, and shreks anything not named cobalion/gligar. It hits like a truck with megahorn. Oftentimes in a game it will nab a kill every time it is switched in. The truly amazing thing is that is bops basically all of moltres checks. The speed investment allows it to outrun and pursuit trap slowking. It crushes regirock and cress, and knock off ohkos jelli as long as it doesn't get burnt. It pokes holes in the opposing team, allowing moltres/rotom to come in and clean up. It also is the primary check to bulky set uppsychics, ohkoing every single one that tries any of its nasty set up antics. It can OHKO cresselia people. That is absurd.


Anyways, I actually have no replays with this team at all. So.....
To the threats list!

Jellicent-> This thing is pretty annoying. It walls moltres and carries will-o-wisp quite commonly, burning escav. Rotom-c is the best check, as trick cripples it and tbolt does a hefty chunk. Slowking also does around 45 percent with psyshock, so it can hit jelli pretty hard in the belly.

Sigilyph-> The cm and cp threats are both pretty big threats, as they are able to deal with escav (heatwave/psychoshift). However, I have not seen one of these on the ladder yet, but rotom can hit it hard with tbolt and always trick it a scarf as a last resort. If it is cp cobal can taunt it and then volt switch into escav who can bop it hard. But yeah this thing is a massive threat.

Fletchinder-> I swear this thing is a threat to most every team. Keeping rocks up with pressure is a must. It is important to not give it a free switch in. Escav, even burnt, can hit it really hard, since it has no bulk. I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep rocks up and to never give it a free switch in, or else it bops this team.

Virizion-> Again tricking it with rotom-c is probably the best bet, to lock it into a single attack and make it revenge killable. Gligar can switch in and u turn to cobal who can win speed tie if real (real).

Importable

Blind Berd (Moltres) @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Roost
- Fire Blast
- Hurricane
- Hidden Power [Grass]
SlayerOfLawns (Rotom-Mow) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Trick
- Thunderbolt
- Leaf Storm
TeamPlayer (Cobalion) @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 160 HP / 96 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch
- Stealth Rock
WallerOfAll (Gligar) @ Eviolite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Roost
- Defog
WallerOfFires (Slowking) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Mild Nature
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Blast
WRECKINGBALL (Escavalier) @ Choice Band
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 164 HP / 252 Atk / 92 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Megahorn
- Iron Head
- Knock Off

Anyways leave your thoughts on the team. It is a bit standard, and can be a tad weak to some set up pokes, but I have had great success with it. If you have any ideas for improvements, please post them below. All help is welcome :].

 

[lighthouses]

Hi fren :]
Cool team, you could run acrobatics on gligar to patch up your virizion weakness and thats the only thing i could come up with tbh lmao
good job either way

 

[Molk]

Hey cutforbiebarel, pretty solid team here (i've used teams very similar to this myself, quite a bit actually). But i have a few suggestions

By far the easiest way to fix up your problem with Virizion is to switch Moltres to a Choice Scarf Varient. Choice Scarf Moltres is really good in general, outruns pretty much the entire metagame (including Virizion!), still hits p. damn hard, and adds another Pokemon to your VoltTurn core. U-turn also gives you a great way to get Escavalier directly in on Molt's checks and counters, and should make Pursuit trapping Slowking quite easy for you :). Scarf Moltres should singlehandedly fix your Virizion problem overall, especially cause Gligar can take a +2 Leaf Blade and get it in for free w/ U-turn without risking any Stone Edge bs or taking uneeded damage, and you can always choose to U-turn while forcing Virizion out from there.

Of course running Scarf Rotom and Scarf Moltres is a bit redundant (at least imo) so i'd suggest changing around that slot a bit. The three things i can see you doing with that slot are.

Choice Specs Rotom>Choice Scarf: (Specs Rotom's a fking beast man, especially when your Voltturn core lets it get in so easily, it lets you hit Jellicent all the harder too).

Virizion>Rotom: (Both SD and Calm Mind are solid win conditions, you take special hits much better than Rotom, set up all over Jellicent, and have enough Speed to outrun LO Moltres and hit it with a Stone Edge/HP Rock unlike Specs Rotom. The same goes for Delphox, you lose a Volt Switch user and expose yourself more to Fletchinder though).

Jolteon>Rotom: (you get a Pokemon that can switch moves and hit hard while being faster than Choice Scarfed base 70s by one point, as well as a Pokemon that can take a +2 Acrobatics from Fletchinder after Stealth Rock if not only just barely, it's a bit squishy in general though).

AV Eelektross>Rotom: (Great pivot that still checks Electric-types quite well despite not resisting their coverage moves, as well as a solid Fletchinder check that can easily take a boosted Acrobatics and Volt Switch out, it's the slowest of the group tho).

As you can see, each of them have their own pros and cons, so play around with them as you see fit.

Lastly, if you decide to use Eelektross i could see you giving Calm Mind Slowking a try, simply because Eel gives you a Hurricane switch in to fall back on against Moltres, so you might be able to get away with not running Assault Vest in theory. Physdef CM Slowking gives you another mon that can take on +2 Fletchinder too.

As for Sigilyph, whether you keep the team as is or not i think you should be able to play around it considering AV Slowking can dtail it out and Cobalion can taunt+volt switch to Escavalier on CP varients if need be.

EDIT: oh completely missed the nature on Slowking, that should definitely be either Modest or quiet, Dragon Tail isn't hurting much anyway.

hope i helped!

 

[MZ]

Just a small nitpick, but the 4 attack EVs on Slowbro are probably better off in speed to outspeed other Slowbro's dragon tails and phase them first, and the nature could be modest. Maybe I don't play enough RU, but if Slowking wants to get damage on things, there are better moves to use than dragon tail that don't compromise Slowking's decent defense.

 

[CutForBiebarel]

So after looking through some of my potential weaknesses (primarily virizion and fletchinder), I tried out scarfed moltres and eelektross. To be honest, however, I was disappointed in its performance as Moltres lost a lot of its wallbreaking potential that had made it so good in the first place. Furthermore, I enjoyed rotom-mow as a scarfer as it has uses against stall through trick passing, which could be very useful in crippling major threats. Without wallbreaking moltres or trick rotom, the team felt really weak to stall, and especially to that annoying piece of crap jellicent. Then based lord Heydude came up with a suggestion that would seem to alleviate the major problems on my team. The set is as follows:

Rotom-Savior

Rotom-Fan @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Air Slash
- Trick

The point here is that this set can deal with sd viriz, as u turn from glig into this is a checkmate. Furthermore, it takes only a bit over 60 percent from +2 acro from fletch, so it can be considered a pseudo-check to fletchinder if played carefully (which I will definitely do if I see a fletchinder). Thunder is necessary to allow Rotom to deal a clean 60 percent to that son of a gun max spdef jellicent that plagues my team. Trick is still an option in forcing out certain threats (like jellicents) and crippling others, and while thunder may not be the most reliable of methods, it has the same accuracy as hurricane, so I might as well go all in. (Or just trick jellicent). Anyways, I don't want to finalize a change like this automatically, so I'm going to test it out and see how it fares.

 

[Molk]

So after looking through some of my potential weaknesses (primarily virizion and fletchinder), I tried out scarfed moltres and eelektross. To be honest, however, I was disappointed in its performance as Moltres lost a lot of its wallbreaking potential that had made it so good in the first place. Furthermore, I enjoyed rotom-mow as a scarfer as it has uses against stall through trick passing, which could be very useful in crippling major threats. Without wallbreaking moltres or trick rotom, the team felt really weak to stall, and especially to that annoying piece of crap jellicent. Then based lord Heydude came up with a suggestion that would seem to alleviate the major problems on my team. The set is as follows:

Rotom-Savior

Rotom-Fan @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Air Slash
- Trick

The point here is that this set can deal with sd viriz, as u turn from glig into this is a checkmate. Furthermore, it takes only a bit over 60 percent from +2 acro from fletch, so it can be considered a pseudo-check to fletchinder if played carefully (which I will definitely do if I see a fletchinder). Thunder is necessary to allow Rotom to deal a clean 60 percent to that son of a gun max spdef jellicent that plagues my team. Trick is still an option in forcing out certain threats (like jellicents) and crippling others, and while thunder may not be the most reliable of methods, it has the same accuracy as hurricane, so I might as well go all in. (Or just trick jellicent). Anyways, I don't want to finalize a change like this automatically, so I'm going to test it out and see how it fares.

ooh Rotom-Fan's something i forgot about here, it definitely works well with checking Virizion while still dealing with Jellicent/Fletchinder. However, it actually opens you up to something else, and that's other Electric-types. Gligar's the only Pokemon that wants to take Electric moves on your team, and most if not all of the common ones run coverage moves for it such as Hidden Power Ice, Hidden Power Water, Surf, Leaf Storm, etc. One wrong move and you're gonna have a really really hard time Without the 4x resistance to Electric-type moves Rotom-C provides i feel like you're a bit too open to them in general =/.

On another note, did you try out Choice Specs Rotom-C+Choice Scarf Moltres yet? It gives you the Trick that you wanted as well as some nice power to help break through defensive teams (Amoonguss is a problem for Rotom here but CB Escavalier and Moltres really help out with that, especially given the former is immune to Spore and isn't too shabby at breaking down walls itself, especially with Knock Off to remove Leftovers and the like), while still letting you keep the Virizion check that you need. It doesn't fix your Fletchinder problem of course, but if you're really desperate with that you could always try running some Defense EVs on Slowking to take a +2 Acrobatics after Stealth Rock damage. It takes exactly 92 EVs to ensure that, and you still still reach exactly 300 Special Attack after the investment drop with your current investment and creep, which isn't too weak imo. Outside of just taking Fletchinder's Acrobatics it also means that you have around a 95% chance to take BlackGlasses Spiritomb's Pursuit on the switch after Stealth Rock , which is a big plus too.

JRP IMPORTANT EDIT: No matter what you do but especially if you switch to scarf Moltres, move the 4 HP evs into one of the defenses so you can switch into rocks more than once w/o dying x.x.

 

[aoemica]

Agree with molk fix ur Moltes hp. Also please don't speed creep Slowking in an RMT. I'd just do that 248hp/252spa/8spd set.

 

[CutForBiebarel]

I'll fix the slowking and moltres evs. The thing is, I really really really don't like scarf moltres, since LO moltres is the soul of the team and the main wallbreaker. Tbh rotom just doesnt have the same wallbreakability, even with trick, and so I feel that scarf moltres won't really help that much. I'd rather just give slowking defense evs to deal with fletch and give gligar acro to deal with viriz, rather than change something that I feel severely weakens my team.