Derp Squad

Steelkite

Hi, I'm Steelkite, and I just got into the Black 2/White 2 NU metagame. This is probably my most successful team to date. I'm open to all constructive criticism so leave a rate/give me tips if you want.

The Team

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Sawk (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Stone Edge

If CB Sawk gets a free hit on anything as long as it isn't a Close Combat on a ghost type, it will do quite a bit of damage. Sawk is one of the most dangerous threats in the NU metagame at the moment. Mold Breaker lets it hit anything with levitate which I find more useful than Sturdy. Even against some of the best walls, Sawk can take down a lot of their HP. EVs are standard, allowing it be a pure offensive powerhouse. His movepool lets him hit almost everything in NU for at least neutral damage. Sawk is just amazing.

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Absol @ Life Orb
Trait: Super Luck
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Night Slash

Ah yes, Absol. A base 130 attack stat is just awesome. This is my other offensive powerhouse next to Sawk. Using Life Orb to further boost its damage output. EVs are standard for wrecking things. Adamant nature for wrecking more things. Sucker Punch are for those who outspeed Absol's measly 75 base speed. Pursuit to catch Psychics and Ghosts off guard when they try to switch out, and for those low health targets. Superpower for coverage, hitting mostly everything except Ghosts, but those are covered by Night Slash and the previous 2 moves. Night Slash + STAB + Life Orb with 130 base attack is going to hurt.

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Lickilicky @ Leftovers
Trait: Own Tempo
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 SDef
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Dragon Tail

Lickilicky is a great special wall, wish passer, and cleric all in one. It can wall those pesky special attackers my team has trouble with like Duosion and Haunter. Lickilicky can pass its massive wishes to teammates in need, and uses Heal Bell to remove all status problems. Dragon Tail is for phazing and to wrack up SR damage. EVs are standard once again (I'm not good at stat calculations).Not much else to say about Lickilicky, it's just great.

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Cradily @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
- Giga Drain
- Toxic
- Recover
- Hidden Power [Rock]

Cradily is great at what it does. Which is wall physical attackers, and even some special attackers. Storm Drain to absorb Water type attacks and get +1 special attack. Toxic to try to whither down other walls. Recover for....well recovery. Giga Drain for even more recovery and HP Rock for coverage. Cradily is a really great wall. It can take Sawk's Super effective Close Combat, Emboar's Superpower, Throh's Circle Throw....it's just great at walling.

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Kadabra @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Calm Mind

Kadabra and it's evolutionary line has gotten a wonderful gift from GAMEFREAK this generation: Magic Guard. Arguably one of the best abilities in the game. It can come in on Toxic, WoW, SR, Spikes, T Spikes....and negate ALL that damage. I try to get Kadabra out and absorb a Toxic/WoW and use it as a "status fodder" to absorb anything that the enemy might throw at my team. Focus Sash is used because let's face it, Kadabra is basically a glass cannon. Most things would easily OHKO it. But with Focus Sash, it will live and fire off another attack, which could win you the game. Since Kadabra outspeeds most things anyways barring Choice Scarf, I can bring it in when I have a free switch and use an appropriate move to do some massive damage. I'm debating on switching CM to Substitute though.

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Golurk @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Fist
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 176 HP / 164 Spd / 168 Atk
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Stealth Rock
- Shadow Punch

Golurk is amazing at its job. Wall more things. I lead with this in 75% of my games. Most other leads can't do anything to it without getting hit in the face with a coverage move. It can switch into the predicted Electric/Fighting/Normal attack and basically gets a free switch in. SR is the best move in the game. Period. Iron Fist for 20% extra damage is amazing. EQ/Ice Punch/Shadow Punch for coverage. Debating on switching Shadow Punch for Drain Punch for better coverage and a recovery-ish move.




Conclusion
Well thank you for reading my first RMT. I'm still relatively new to all this, so if you have any tips/advice you can give me, I'd love to hear it. This team was and still is incredibly fun to use and create. If you have anything to make it better, that would be great. Thanks for reading =)
 
Absol is a huge threat to your team since Superpower 2HKOes every one of your Pokemon at least with the exception of Golurk, which is manhandled by Night Slash. Physical Samurott is also very dangerous since it can break through you main physical wall with Megahorn. To fix these problems, you can run Gurdurr over Sawk. Its huge physical bulk allows you to take even boosted hits from Absol or Samurott and beat them by setting up on them.

Lickilicky and Golurk's EVs are both sub-optimal; Lickilicky needs max Special Defense while Golurk should run a spread of 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe to outpace Standard Garbodor and maximize its damage output.


Summary of changes:

Sawk —> Gurdurr
Max Special Defense on Lickilicky
Max Attack, more Speed on Golurk.

Gurdurr @ Eviolite
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Mach Punch

Golurk @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Shadow Punch
- Stealth Rock

Lickilicky @ Leftovers
Trait: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Careful Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Protect
 
Interesting team you have here. At first I thought it was an offensive team, but I see that you have some defensive Pokemon as well. In such an offensive metagame, this team appears to be losing momentum.

First off, your team has a major weakness to Ice-types. Articuno and Rotom-F are particularly troublesome since they also have an excellent secondary STAB that also threatens your team. Lickilicky is a good Pokemon at walling these threats, but it really can't do too much back except Dragon Tail then out (which also fails against Sub variants). I think that Body Slam would help your team out more. It has STAB, a nice paralysis chance, is accurate, and can break most average Subs. The paralysis chance and the offensive pressure both fulfill similar enough roles in forcing switches, meaning that you still can take advantage of your hazards. Also, I insist that you fully invest in Special Defense to avoid losing to Rain Dance Ludicolo after Rocks.

Cradily is a bit of an odd choice, since it isn't exactly a great physical wall. It also doesn't make a good defensive core with Lickilicky, because your Fighting weakness is already through the roof. Sawk can basically take out your entire team with the right move in one hit except Kadabra with an intact Sash, and Golurk at full HP. Also, many prominent physical attackers of the tier have a powerful Fighting type move to 1-2HKO Cradily with.
252 Atk Choice Band Sawk Close Combat vs 252 HP/252 Def Cradily (+Def) : 111.7% - 131.65% (Guaranteed OHKO)
252 Atk Choice Band Emboar Superpower vs 252 HP/252 Def Cradily (+Def) : 110.11% - 130.05% (Guaranteed OHKO)
252 Atk Toxic Boost Zangoose Close Combat vs 252 HP/252 Def Cradily (+Def) : 70.21% - 82.98% (2 hits to KO)
252 Atk Choice Band Braviary (+Atk) Superpower vs 252 HP/252 Def Cradily (+Def) : 80.85% - 95.21% (2 hits to KO)
What to replace it with is a tough question. However, if you are willing to consider going on a more offensive route, Choice Scarf Rotom-S is an excellent option for your team. It can switch into unboosted Fighting moves pretty easily, and is a good general purpose revenge killer. You no longer have to rely on Absol's Sucker Punch to handle faster threats, which is excellent. Volt Switch gives your team great momentum by controlling the field, which forces more switches on your opponent's part.

By now, FLCL has given his rate. I say that the choice of EV spread on Golurk is variable, though I agree on max Atk. Outpacing Garbodor would be very beneficial for your team though, since you really don't want too many layers of Spikes on your field without a Rapid Spinner. Limiting its Spike-stacking is your best chance at stopping it.

Kadabra can possibly run Signal Beam and HP Ground instead to hit both Absol and Skuntank harder, while doing the same to Steel-types. Also, if Calm Mind isn't that useful to you, might I suggest Encore? It is an excellent utility move, and can either slow a sweep, or help start one of your own.

Finally, if you want to keep Sawk, you might also want to consider a Jolly nature to guarantee that you'll outspeed Jolly Absol and avoid being 2HKO by Superpower. Gurdurr does give you priority and bulk, while Sawk gives you greater initial power. Finally, if you find yourself rarely leading off with Sawk, you can replace Mold Breaker with Sturdy. Your team is offensive, but it isn't quite offensive enough to pressure your opponent away from setting up hazards. Sturdy can be a good clutch in a similar vein to Focus Sash on Kadabra, though much less reliable.

Changes:

Lickilicky: Max SDef>Mixed bulk
Golurk: Max Attack>168 Atk
Sawk: Jolly Nature>Adamant Nature; Sturdy>Mold Breaker -OR- Gurdurr>Sawk
Rotom-S>Cradily

Rotom-S @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Air Slash
- Thunderbolt
- Trick

I hope that this helps focus your team a bit more. Good luck and welcome to Smogon NU! :pimp:
 
FLCL said:
Absol is a huge threat to your team since Superpower 2HKOes every one of your Pokemon at least with the exception of Golurk, which is manhandled by Night Slash. Physical Samurott is also very dangerous since it can break through you main physical wall with Megahorn. To fix these problems, you can run Gurdurr over Sawk. Its huge physical bulk allows you to take even boosted hits from Absol or Samurott and beat them by setting up on them.

Lickilicky and Golurk's EVs are both sub-optimal; Lickilicky needs max Special Defense while Golurk should run a spread of 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe to outpace Standard Garbodor and maximize its damage output.


Summary of changes:

Sawk —> Gurdurr
Max Special Defense on Lickilicky
Max Attack, more Speed on Golurk.

Gurdurr @ Eviolite
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Mach Punch

Golurk @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Shadow Punch
- Stealth Rock

Lickilicky @ Leftovers
Trait: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Careful Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Protect
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I totally agree with what's being said here. The team is countered amazingly by Absol and it is countered to a point by samurott. Eviolite Gurdurr is probobly your best bet
 
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