After my brief return to Standard with my Team Boringly Standard I decided to retire that team as it was getting rather boring. And what better way to alleviate boredom than to work into another tier? :D However, at that stage I was beginning to despise UU and how boring it had become, more so than Standard if possible so I decided to venture into NU. A tier Ive never had any experience of, except that time I used Luvdisc on my UU team. <_< However, I've always prefered the variety of Pokemon in the lower tiers, seeing Pokemon that you wouldn't normally see in other tiers. Thats what attracted me to NU. I went though several stages with this team, experimenting with new members and it's gotten to the point where it's near retirement because everyone knows my team by now. xD The aim of this team was to be as balanced as possible as I believe those are the best types of teams and to wear and tear the opponents before I could finally reveal my late game sweeper in Victreebell and sweep the opponent. However before I retire it for good, I'd like you to rate/hate/whatev :)
CherryDrops; Retiring his NU team... :'(
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Aggron (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 HP/240 Atk/18 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
Aggron, Aggron, Aggron. Without this, my team would probably fall apart ^_^. It's sturdiness combined with it's Steel typing makes it an amazing lead imo. It's able to take on things such a non-Stabbed CCs and EQs whilst still being able to dish back the damage. I knew straight away I needed a Stealth Rock user in a tier full of Bugs/Flying types and all my teams NEED a steel type. Steel is an absolutly amazing type to be defensively. Aggron fit the bill amazingly.
As a lead, I'd want to split it's movest into 2 different categories. Support and Offensive. SR was a given and I was given a choice between Thunder Wave, Roar or Toxic. Roar was a horrible choice imo because of Aggron's MANY MANY weaknesses so plazing would be a problem due to it getting smacked around with SE attacks before being phazed. Toxic was a natural choice; it was able to wear down things and in the natural progression of things, draw me closer to being able to sweep with Victreebell.
Iron Head was a given. Give then choice of Aggron's 2 STAB attacks, I realized myself not using Stone Edge at all. I've found Iron Head much more safer as I still believe that Strone Edge is the worse move ever created! Iron Head allows me to take on things like Shuckle without fear of missing and reducing it's precious PP (SE). The 2nd attack was EQ which is a reliable attack in just ablout any tier with a 100 base power and nailing fire types who resist Iron Head. It also allows me to take care of Poion types; espeically Skuntank who is the bane of this team.
The nature is used to boost Aggron's already impressive offense as boosting it's defense any further would be rather pointless. The Spd EVs let it out run the standard Probopass who get smart thinking they can trap me ^_^;
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Munchlax (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP/56 Def/202 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
- Return
- Fire Punch
Chansey lite! Except this thing can actually put a hurting on things without the use of Seismic Toss with its decent 85 base Atk. I decided I wanted a Munchlax as it's my to-go to special wall when threats such as Manetric enter the fray. To be perfectly honest, when I first heard Ninetales was entering the NU tier, I immediatly thought of this Munchlax. It is, imo, the most threatening special sweeper the NU tier has to offer and Munchlas absoloutly laughs at it, resisting it's STAB Fire Blast/Flamethrower whilst being able to retalite with Return and not caring much about Hypnosis as it risks being hit with a free return due to the piss-poor accuracy. Haha sweeper! Thats what I absoloutly love about this things, with Thick Fat it gains 2 useful resistances to this team. Ice and Fire. I absolutly needed a status absorber as I reliaased things like Dusklops kept ruining this team and I thought Munchlax more than walls it whilst absorbing sleep which fucks over every single member of this team as they all serve important roles to this team. Munchlax is the most disposable of the team, thats not to say it isn't important because it is but of the team it poses the least offensive threat.
Paired with Poliwrath, the 2 are more than capable of stalling out a rain team if I can predict properly. I go to Poliwrath to absorb the obvious Surf/Hydro Pump then switch to Munchlax for the non-boosted HP/Ice Beam and from there I just usually Return because they'll expect me to switch back to Poliwrath. Guessing games can be either ood or bad, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Eh.
I cam to the conclusion that I needed Fire Punch more than I needed Earthquake as things like Wormadon (Steel/Bug) and Parasect kept walling the crap outta me. Granted things like Aggron/Probopass kept walling me too but the difference is that Fire Punch benefits it more IMO because it can takes attack from the first 2 where as it's killed due to it's poor defense Aggron. I also have other things that can handle Aggron/Probopass; I also have things to handle the first 2 but due to me using HP Ground on Victreebell, Fire Punch seemed more suitable!
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Gardevoir (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
EVs: 60 HP/196 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Trick
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Ground]
Originally this spot was help by one of my favorite UU special tanks, Grumpig. However, when you look closely one instantly outclasses the other especially when comparing how they both carry out their job. Grmpig had the advantage of extra resistances to both Ice and Fire however Gardevoir had more SpD and more importantly MORE SPA!
My team at this point was sorely lacking in any SpA power which was worrying as I could have been walled by random Physical Walls however Gardevoir alleviated all these problems. Gardevoir with it's 125 SpA + Choice Scarf was an ideal Pokemon in revenge killing the majority of NU. Her Psychic is something to be feared of however due to the sudden surge of Skuntanks, I replaced HP Fighting with Ground. Any previously dasmaged Skuntanks with 25%ish will be killled by a HP Ground. Call me paranoid but Skuntank really fucks up this Vuctreebell sweep so it's vital I reid of it as soon as possible. HP Ground also still has the benefits of 2HKOing many Fire Types whilsts till being able to OHKO the liked of Probopass/Magneton/Aggron like Fighting did.
Shadow Ball is rather specifc but it's mainly used for opposing psychic types (Slowking, Grumpig and other Gardevoirs). Come to think of it, I barely use this move, maybe it would be better off replaced with Thunderbolt or even Will-O-Wisp? Psychic is here for the obvious. STAB hurts like a bitch. ANything that doesn't resist it can expect to take a crap load of damage from it.
TRICK. If you can't beat them, Trick them. ^_^ I can't tell you how many walls I've fucked over expecting a NVE on them. Trick is also insanely useful from preventing stat uppers from sweeping my squad, Trick is a move to be used wisely because if I don't it can fuck me back. I rarely use it until I think Gardevoir's at the end of it's life or if Trick will giv eme the intant advantage that will quicken up the sweep nas ScarfGard is used to revenge a whole lot of things in NU.
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Poliwrath (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP/174 Atk/88 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Waterfall
- Ice Punch
Ooooh, I love this thing so so much! Respectable attack, good defense and special defense, amazing ability and STAB FALCON PUNCH! This is my initial switch in to many threats such as Wailord and it's gay Water Spout, any generic physical rain sweeper, special water/ice attacks and random rock attacks. I love it's 2nd half Fighting dual type as it gives me more opportunities to switch in and allows for me to come in on random NVE choiced attacks and create a free Sub if I'm not sure of just Focus punch right off the bat and save my health.
It's pretty straight forward what this thing does. I will use the moves depending on the situation, if I suspect a grass switch in, I'll use a well times Focus Punch as it does more than a SE Ice Punch and if I can outspeed, I'll follow it up with an Ice Punch if a OHKO is possible. To me Ice Punch is a necessity on this set, over Rock SLide/Stone Edge simply for the fact that Poison/Grass types would wall it without this fantastic move. If they think they can take the Focus Punch and expect me to switch out because I don't have anything that'll hit them hard enough, they'll be swiftly met with an Ice Punch. Waterfall is your generic, hard hitting STAB move. Whilst 85 base Atk doesn't sound amazingly strong, with STAB it can usually hit everything for some sort of damage and it's mostly used on things it would be SE on such as water, ground and rock types. I could have used Hypnosis in slot 4 however, due to Platinum, it's now back down to a horribly risky 60% and I have something that's sturdier and able to use Sleep Powder which has much better accuracy anyways. And the offensive options of Focus Punch and Ice Punch leave me sometimes not being able to hit things which I should be able to hard such as Ninetales, Flareon etc.
Item is obvious, Poliwrath has natural bulk so leftovers will help it's survivabilty and with Substitute, Leftovers is a necessity. Nature is standard. It's defenses are stable enough for me not to invest in them and 85 isn't anything to write home to so I decided to beef his OKish Atk so he would be able to dent things harder. Jolly isn't needed, actually it shouldn't be when it's main purpose to to survive nuetral/NVE attacks due to it's bulk and fire back with an attack. Adamant helps raise it's mediocre Atk. The HP Evs are used to improve Poliwrath's great HP whilst still improving its survivability on both sides of the spectrum. I didn't run max because I can make 4 subs with 1 HP leftover for whatever reason I might need to. Originally I had run max Atk to ht hard however, I was pretty paranoid about this underrated sweeper, Flareon. Whilst I can play around it, I'd prefer not to rack up the SR damage and plain out kill the ones that think they'll be outspeeding me and hitting me with a HP Grass.
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Exeggutor (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 HP/216 Def/42 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Energy Ball
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder
- Hidden Power [Fire]
You can never go wrong with a bulky grass type anywhere. Sporting resistances to fighting, water, and most importantly GROUND, Exeggutor was a no brainer. I like to think of it as a physically weaker Celebi who hits a shit load harder.
The EVs and Nature allow me to wall effectively even taking such assaults like Pursuit from Skuntank when switching out if need be whilst still being able to dish out some damage. The analysis suggested Adamant however from the get go, I detested this idea as I didn't really want to Esxplode something as useful as Exeggutor and it's SpA is so much higher, it would be a waste. Explosion would be the only way to handle fellow grasses and anything else that resisted grass however HP Fire was a good option in dealing respectable damage to anything that resisted grass. I had a brief dilemma when I decided to check the move Hidden Power on it though, and that was the option between HP Fire and HP Ground. HP ground did more to things such as Skuntank, Muk, Ninetales and Rapidash but HP Fire damaged Grass, Bug and Ice Pokemon more. It was a matter of preference and I opted for HP Fire, it had better coverage when paired with Energy Ball (Which was chosen over Grass Knot as most fo NU are anorexics). Things like Rapidash and Niinetales aren't going to like Leech Seed + SR + LO damage so they were easily dealt with, and for Posions like Skuntank and Muk, I Leech Seed and see how the opponent reacts or switch to Aggron who is immune to Poison
At first I went with Modest however I realized every time Exeggutor was being switched in, I was supporting more than I was attacking. I often opted to Leech Seed the opponent as soon as it came into play as this team lacks any sort of recovery and Leech Seed is useful in helping me restore some health whilst sapping the enemy's. The nature change to Bold was so significant and when paired with Leech Seed, I found myself having better survivability and HP Fire/Energy Ball weren't OHKOing any significant iirc.
I'm a strong believer in that a team without a sleep move is at an instant handicap. Having an opponent's Pokemon put instantly to sleep is immediately putting the team at 6-5 or w/e. However, I try to stray away from Sleeping an opponent until I've scouted out a few Pokemon as sleeping a ResTalker is a waste. And don't even get me started on Sleeping stuff like Banette and Primape in which I'd be better off Energy Balling or Leech Seeding for extra health.
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Victreebel (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk/112 Spd/144 SAtk
Naughty nature (+Atk, -SDef)
- Leaf Blade
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Hidden Power [Ground]
Ah my gaad, this thing is wanderful!! Seriously, if you haven't given it a try, do it. The amount of mind gimes you can play with the opponent with the simple combination of Sucker Punch and Sword Dance is absolute insanity! :) If they predict you'll attack; Sword Dance further increasing their chances of dying to Sucker Punch and the all powerful STAB Leaf Blade. If they predict a Sword Dance, you attack with either Leaf Blade, Sucker Punch or even a HP Ground.
Platinum revitalised Victreebell as before it had to run Modest and neglected it's high Atk base. The addition of Sucker Punch coupled with Sword Dance has given it a way of damaging Pokemon quicker than it therfore making it a reliable (I use that term loosely) revenge killer. Leaf Blade gives me a reliable STAB move that I try to spam as much as possible as STAB + 105 Atk + LO + SD = lol hurt.
The reason I chose HP Ground is because of Steel types in general who resist both my main attacks, Sucker Punch and Leaf Blade. Things like Probopass and Aggron who wont be getting OHKOed by my Leaf Blade will be getting OHKOed and 2HKOed respectively with the given EVs and nature. So any Magneton, Mawile, Probopass or Aggron that thinks they can switch in safely to resist my attacks can eat a super effective HP ground to their robot faces. Usually I don't have too much trouble with bulky grasses due to Poliwrath's Ice Punch, Munchlax's bulk+Fire Punch and Gardevoir's Psychic usually disposing of them pretty quickly.
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