ORAS NU Discipline

[Blast]

Discipline

Introduction:

I'm Blast, and I use offense. It's easily my most common playstyle and I feel like I'm pretty well known among the NU playerbase for it, with this being one of my favorite teams to use. The team has gone through a lot of variations and I think it's a good general representation of offense in NU, so I'll just get straight into it.

In-Depth:

Vivillon-Sun @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Hurricane
- Sleep Powder
- Energy Ball

Vivillon is part one of the dual Sash core. While there are a few more checks to Vivillon nowaday than there used to be, it's still a highly potent offensive threat, and it's easy for things to spiral out of control against it. Paired with Jynx, the two make an incredibly powerful core that can pretty much threaten any playstyle out there, especially with Focus Sash to heighten their matchup against offense. Both of them learn sleep-inducing moves as well, allowing them to incapacitate the few Pokemon that can stomach their attacks.

I ran Endeavor over Quiver Dance for a while, but I missed the sweeping potential of QD. Endeavor certainly helps your matchup against stall, but otherwise I think QD is better. Oh, and one last thing: if you take this team, you are only allowed to use these forms: Sun, Marine, Savanna, and River.

Jynx @ Focus Sash
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Ice Beam
- Psyshock
- Lovely Kiss

Jynx is part two of the dual Sash core, and one of the strongest threats in NU. I know a lot of people who have actually been pushing for a Jynx suspect, and I honestly wouldn't mind one myself, but we'll see what happens. Jynx shares a lot of checks with Vivillon, so generally Jynx's job is to bust up those checks early-game so Vivillon can put in work later. Jynx also provides a Water immunity, allowing it to revenge kill things like Samurott and keep bulky Waters like Gastrodon and Mantine on their toes.

I've considered Counter in the past before, but the main reason I don't go for it is because it makes you lose Dry Skin, which I've needed on more than a few occasions to switch into Scald without breaking my Sash. Outside of that I don't think there's much you can change here.

Xatu @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Grass Knot
- Roost
- U-turn

As I'm sure most people who know me know, Xatu is my go-to whenever I need hazard control. It's not the best or most reliable, but it simply fits my playstyle and teambuilding preferences far better than any other hazard deterrent out there, with Magic Bounce preventing hazards from being set while not having to waste turns removing them. On top of this, it supplies the team with useful resistances to Fighting and Grass. On this team, it tends to be necessary to play Xatu recklessly; sometimes you need to sacrifice it relatively early just to keep hazards away. But as long as it's done its job, the heavily offensive nature of the team usually does the rest.

I run enough Speed to beat the occasional +Speed Samurott or Ludicolo, and Grass Knot to prevent Barbaracle and Rhydon from freely setting up on me. The item is generally up to preference; you could run Colbur or even Charti Berry in place of Rocky Helmet, though I find Helmet is the most consistent. Thunder Wave over U-turn is another option, but I prefer the momentum.

Tauros @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Rock Climb
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Fire Blast

Between Vivillon, Jynx, and Xatu, the biggest threat that came to mind was Rotom, particularly Scarf Rotom. So I dedicated the next two slots to baiting out Rotom and trapping it. Out of all the Pursuit users in NU, there are only three that I'd consider worth using: Skuntank, Liepard, and Tauros. I ultimately went with Tauros primarily due to its general threat level; it's by far the strongest attacker out of the three options as well as the fastest, so I don't have to rely completely on Focus Sash to deal with most faster Pokemon. I could probably be convinced to try Liepard since it's generally a better check to Rotom and other Ghost-types, but Tauros hasn't disappointed me yet.

Fire Blast is the only move on the set that isn't quite necessary, though I think it's just the best filler for the team due to how it weakens a lot of Samurott checks like Gourgeist and Ferroseed. Iron Tail and Zen Headbutt are both options though.

Steelix @ Custap Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Steelix is a tried-and-true Stealth Rock setter that does pretty much exactly what you expect it to. It provides a ton of necessary resistances for the team, particularly Normal and Flying, giving me a switchin to Kangaskhan, Scyther, and all that other good stuff. It also works in conjunction with Tauros to trap Scarf Rotom, forcing it to click Shadow Ball so Tauros can Pursuit it. The surprise factor of Custap Steelix can also be game-changing; I've played many games where Custap sealed me the game right then and there.

I used to use special LO Sheer Force Steelix, but I had to switch to Custap because otherwise you can't actually beat SD Scyther, which is highly important for the team with it having STAB U-turn to break Jynx and Vivillon's Sashes. The Speed beats minimum Speed Rhydon.

Samurott @ Wacan Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Megahorn
- Aqua Jet

For the last slot I needed a few things. I needed a solid check to Fire-types and Rock Polish Rhydon, and preferably something that set up and sweep late-game if needed. SD Samurott filled that role perfectly, and is just a monster in general. There's not really a whole lot to say about to say about Samurott; it's a pretty straightforward mon but really effective. As far as I can tell it seems to have fallen a bit under the radar, but it's still one of my favorite Pokemon to use in NU.

The only small tech I made to the set was running Wacan Berry, which allows me to bait Electric-types such as Rotom and Manectric, and allow me to switch into any Magmortar set at least once. Special Samurott is an option I've considered before, but similarly to Vivillon I just prefer the sweeping potential of SD.

Threatlist:

Fake Out: Fake Out's obviously threatening to a dual Sash core, Hariyama in particular can force a lot of mindgames between CC, Knock, and Fake Out. Not impossible to deal with but keep it in mind.

Electric-types: Rotom and Manectric are the main threats here, though they're more manageable in practice due to the team having multiple lures. Jynx can also outspeed non-Scarf Rotom which makes it a bit easier to pressure.

Sash Archeops: You have to sac Xatu to this, though luckily they pretty much always click SR first turn so you can at least get rocks up qB^)

Bronzor: Bronzor's broken pls send help If you're really scared of Bronzor stall your best bet is to go with Endeavor Viv. If you don't, try and secure a win with Samurott, otherwise rip

Shoutouts:

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I'm lazy and I want to get this up asap but if you think you think you'd be here you probably are!!!

Conclusion:

I've never been big on conclusions, the team has served me well and I hope the same for anyone who wants to take it. Like most offense teams, it requires some risky play and is less conservative than other playstyles, but if you can get used to it you should do well.

Importable:

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Vivillon-Sun @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Hurricane
- Sleep Powder
- Energy Ball

Jynx @ Focus Sash
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Ice Beam
- Psyshock
- Lovely Kiss

Xatu @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Grass Knot
- Roost
- U-turn

Tauros @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Rock Climb
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Fire Blast

Steelix @ Custap Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Samurott @ Wacan Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Megahorn
- Aqua Jet

 

[ryan]

This is one of the strongest offensive builds I've seen in the post-Sawk/Sceptile meta which is really not surprising since it utilizes some of the best offensive Pokemon the tier has to offer. Most teams really on one Pokemon to take on both Vivillon and Tauros, so I'm sure a lot of teams just crumble to the combination of both.

Heat Wave Xatu would help with Bronzor. If you go that route, I'd recommend running Psychic over Psyshock so that you can actually do some sort of damage to Rhydon. You could also run Psyshock/Heat Wave/Toxic to wear down stuff like Rhydon and Gastrodon that you'd generally want Grass Knot for. U-turn is really nice though when Steelix is basically the only other thing that can afford to come in on offensive Pokemon.