What's up folks,
with the recent voting on Sand turning out how it did, this is my farewell to the beloved (or despised depending on how you look at it) cactus. I was really hoping that Cacturne would be preserved instead of Sand Stream but at least we won't have to deal with cheeky Sand Veil bullshit anymore. I delved into what exactly its niche is in this post if you're interested. Anyhow, I've shared this team with a bunch of people already and have only received positive feedback so far. I too am quite pleased with how it turned out and therefore figured a RMT would be the best send-off I could give Cacturne. And if you enjoy plain old Spikes offense with an emphasis on spreading paralysis, you might like this too.
(basically me talking up cacturne, i swear its good)
Teambuilding Process:
I singled out Rhyperior as the first partner in crime for Cacturne. Other than providing SR support, Rhyperior takes advantage of the big roadblock that is Registeel for Cacturne. On the other hand, Cacturne handily beats Donphan and Blastoise which might switch in and try to spin on Rhyperior. The two also have decent type synergy, taking on Water and Fire types for the other, respectively.
Slowking takes pressure off of Rhyperior because it takes on Fire types more reliably and can handle Fighting types. Unlike Cacturne, it's also an actual Water resist that can stomach Ice coverage and with access to Thunder Wave it makes for the first paralysis spreader.
Neither Cacturne nor Slowking are ideal Milotic checks because of Toxic and Venusaur was starting to worry me as well. Toxicroak covers Milotic and can take advantage of a Venusaur. It also provides the team with a dedicated win-condition that doesn't have to rely on T-Wave support to function.
Choice Scarf Rotom for speed control was my go-to pick for the next slot since up until now the team was looking awfully slow and I definitely wanted a spinblocker. Its Ground immunity and disruptive potential with Trick and status support make it fit right in here like they do on so many teams. Choice Scarf Rotom can definitely drop WoW or Hidden Power for T-Wave too. Retaining speed control even after tricking away the scarf is quite valuable from my experience.
The team was lacking a dedicated lead and while Cacturne deals with the Ghosts just fine, Toxicroak still appreciates them removed. Ambipom does just that and acts as another fast Spikes abuser. I'm usually partial to Kangaskhan as the Fake Out spammer because Scrappy is an amazing ability but the superior speed made me opt for Ambipom here. At this point, the team is almost identical to the finished product but I wasn't content with it yet.
Reason being: I'm not big on lead Ambipom. It can't really fit all the moves it wants, specifically U-turn and Taunt, and feels overall mediocre. Midgame monke, however, doesn't need these moves to be effective and is a genuine threat on its own with just 4 attacks - especially when Spikes are up. Thus, I shifted Ambipom to the rear of the team and instead resorted to the best anti-lead we have at the moment: Mismagius. Losing the Choice Scarf user isn't too big of a deal with double paralysis support and priority on Toxicroak and Ambipom. While double Ghost is neat with Spikes, I didn't think it was necessary here so I replaced Rotom.
The Team:
DID JET JUST DIE (Mismagius) (M) @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 212 Def / 40 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Taunt
- Thunder Wave
- Destiny Bond
The team lacks hazard control and doesn't deal with Spikes well so being able to shut down suicide leads with Taunt is plenty helpful. I choose T-Wave > WoW here since im not planningto stickaround forever anyway and enabling Rhyperior and the other slow members of the team is preferred. Crippling the likes of Houndoom is also much appreciated by the rest of the team.The defense investment ensures Mismagius survives a CB Aerial Ace from Scyther so that it can be neutered with T-Wave. Granted, this does cut into the power of Shadow Ball a fair amount but I do think its a reasonable adjustment on this team. Power Gem > Destiny Bond is a cool option that is helpful against Scyther and Moltres which are commonly encountered in the lead scenario. You also get coverage for Houndoom this way. I do recommend opting for more SpAtk investment in that case, however, because you don't get the OHKO on Moltres otherwise.
THE QUENCHIEST (Cacturne) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 216 HP / 28 SpA / 252 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Synthesis
- Spikes
- Grass Knot
- Dark Pulse
In comparison to other Spikers such as Qwilfish and Omastar, Cacturne isn't Dugtrio food which stands out and since Ghosts are very common, the cactus gets a lot of opportunities to throw them up. Grass Knot does the most damage to Milotic and actually gets the OHKO on Donphan which has come in handy. For some reason, many players expect Seed Bomb as the Grass STAB. You can go with Energy Ball > Grass Knot and Sucker Punch > Dark Pulse but I didn't like having to play games against Ghosts with Substitute. You do catch burns pretty reguarly and with Dark Pulse you'll still be able to threaten Ghosts with an OHKO in that case. Still, Sucker Punch is certainly appealing: it allows you to switch into Alakazam with more confidence and pick off Swellow from near full for example. I did want to fit Encore somewhere but I deemed it inferior to a second STAB because it didn't came up enough. I considered a speedier spread with Destiny Bond > Synthesis to act as a pseudo-exploder but you'll be surprised how much Cacturne can tank even with its less than ideal 70/60/60 stats. Missing out on an ability sucks but it is what it is.
WHAT A NIGHTMARE (Rhyperior) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 120 HP / 16 Atk / 200 SpD / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Megahorn
- Stone Edge
Rhyperior has already been amazing lately and paralysis support just makes it so much better. I wish I could run the Substitute set on this team but the role distribution isn't all that flexible on this team and you do need rocks somewhere after all. I want to point out here that since the team does rely on Stealth Rock a lot do keep some threats in check, you don't want to just throw Rhyperior away early or risk dying to random Grass coverage. Other than that I've had mighty fun with blind Megahorn into an unrevealed Grass such as Sceptile which puts you ahead a lot. I admit that the speed investment might be a bit excessive but I do like being able to pressure Clefable and getting the jump on other Rhyperior.
COMPLETELY CALM (Slowking) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Slack Off
- Thunder Wave
- Surf
- Psychic
Slowking is interesting. Being slower than Rhyperior and Donphan is an annoyance for a bulky Water for sure but Milotic is too big of a momentum drain for this team. Access to Thunder Wave is what let's it stand out in comparison to Milotic. My favourite thing to do with Slowking is spam T-Wave after just having caught something with it and nabbing another "kill" so to speak. And Slowking does have other advantages: it takes on Blaziken and SubPunch Azumarill better, and makes Venusaur think twice before it pivots in. Also, the Fighting resistance is helpful to have something to pivot into without risking Mismagius, which you would rather keep for spinblocking purposes. The weakness to Pursuit can lead to it getting overwhelmed more easily in some match-ups but it can also backfire on the Pursuit user - Slowking isn't a physically weak Ghost after all and I've found that the threat of Thunder Wave often dissuades from use of Pursuit. A pity that it too has a useless ability (unless you run into Machoke) but the invention of Regenerator was a mistake anyway, so perhaps we're better off in DPP.
400 FT PLATYPUS (Toxicroak) (F) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Low Kick
- Sucker Punch
- Ice Punch
- Swords Dance
I don't use Toxicroak much anymore nowadays which is a bit of shame so I'm happy it's found a place on this team. The Water/Toxic immunity is immensely helpful when pivoting around Milotic. I've going back and forth between a bulkier spread with Black Sludge and this. More bulk allows you to handle Venusaur and other special attacking Grasses better but I do value Lum Berry a lot and dropping its speed does hurt. Playing to its advantages and creating set-up opportunities instead of throwing it into moves it technically resists has been working out well for me, so I recommend doing that. Substitute/Sucker Punch mindgames with Dugtrio are a pain and honestly the biggest deterrent for using Toxicroak for me. The emergence of Earth Plate Dug hasn't exactly been helping when trying to figure out the set either. Oh yeah, Cross Chop is terrible, don't use it.
YOUR MOMONESS (Ambipom) (M) @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Technician
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Pursuit
- Frustration
- Low Kick
I've always been unconvinced of Ambipom's viability as a lead due to a severe 4MSS. Outside of the lead slot, Swellow definitely outclasses it in terms of power and Kangaskhan can spam Normal type moves much more easily thanks to Scrappy. However, its speed and coverage does give it a discernable niche over the other two on some teams. After many games with this team, I can report that - in the words of Donphantastic - monke do be a threat and that I was pleasantly surprised by it. Don't be afraid to predict switches with this thing, Fake Out is far too telegraphed often times and it's easy to take advantge of that. Life Orb can be used if you don't mind the recoil but I prefer Silk Scarf. Without hazard control on the team, damage can rack up rather quickly, and I don't want to lose 10% as I Fake Out for no damage into Registeel. A healthy mid- to lategame Ambipom is a menace. I've considered dropping Pursuit for U-turn because Ghosts are fairly well-covered on this team already but Pursuit also has other applications and U-turn is really more a luxury than a necessity.
Threats:
As pointed out earlier, Scyther is a massive bitch for this team. Despite the adjusted Mismagius set, experienced players likely won't risk the tie in the lead scenario, so you gotta be smart about it. Don't carelessly switch in Rhyperior on U-turn if you don't have Rocks up already. Prioritize getting up SR safely even if it means sacrificing something and then punish with Ambipom, ideally with Pursuit as they switch.
The fire type that could. Rhyperior and Slowking don't exactly cover this well, so much like with Scyther, you gotta get Rocks early and then pressure with Ambipom. Mismagius has a Colbur Berry which helps because it's one of the prime targets for Houndoom and can double down with T-Wave or D-Bond. Thankfully, Houndoom is super frail on the physical side, so it won't stand in the way of Toxicroak cleaning up if you force it in on Rocks once before you go for the sweep.
Venu is always a threat and on paper this team gets demolished by just the standard Sleep Powder + Synth + 2 attacks set but in practice its quite limited between paralysis support and residual damage from hazards forcing it to heal. Having a Water that isn't a free switch-in for Venu helps a ton. Don't be too comfortable switching in Toxicroak on a Leaf Storm or Sleep Powder just because it's the only Grass/Poison resist, especially if you don't know the set.
I'm mentioning this only because every team I've ever built seems to be weak to this thing. SubDD and SD variants in particular can cause this team some pain. They likely won't win but the damage might be done after they pick up one-and-a-half or two kills even. What I wouldn't give for Water Absorb Cacturne.
Import:
https://pokepast.es/52b160aef3ff3dff
(the dpp uu community after having banned sand veil)
shoutouts barclay o7
with the recent voting on Sand turning out how it did, this is my farewell to the beloved (or despised depending on how you look at it) cactus. I was really hoping that Cacturne would be preserved instead of Sand Stream but at least we won't have to deal with cheeky Sand Veil bullshit anymore. I delved into what exactly its niche is in this post if you're interested. Anyhow, I've shared this team with a bunch of people already and have only received positive feedback so far. I too am quite pleased with how it turned out and therefore figured a RMT would be the best send-off I could give Cacturne. And if you enjoy plain old Spikes offense with an emphasis on spreading paralysis, you might like this too.
(basically me talking up cacturne, i swear its good)
Teambuilding Process:
I singled out Rhyperior as the first partner in crime for Cacturne. Other than providing SR support, Rhyperior takes advantage of the big roadblock that is Registeel for Cacturne. On the other hand, Cacturne handily beats Donphan and Blastoise which might switch in and try to spin on Rhyperior. The two also have decent type synergy, taking on Water and Fire types for the other, respectively.
Slowking takes pressure off of Rhyperior because it takes on Fire types more reliably and can handle Fighting types. Unlike Cacturne, it's also an actual Water resist that can stomach Ice coverage and with access to Thunder Wave it makes for the first paralysis spreader.
Neither Cacturne nor Slowking are ideal Milotic checks because of Toxic and Venusaur was starting to worry me as well. Toxicroak covers Milotic and can take advantage of a Venusaur. It also provides the team with a dedicated win-condition that doesn't have to rely on T-Wave support to function.
Choice Scarf Rotom for speed control was my go-to pick for the next slot since up until now the team was looking awfully slow and I definitely wanted a spinblocker. Its Ground immunity and disruptive potential with Trick and status support make it fit right in here like they do on so many teams. Choice Scarf Rotom can definitely drop WoW or Hidden Power for T-Wave too. Retaining speed control even after tricking away the scarf is quite valuable from my experience.
The team was lacking a dedicated lead and while Cacturne deals with the Ghosts just fine, Toxicroak still appreciates them removed. Ambipom does just that and acts as another fast Spikes abuser. I'm usually partial to Kangaskhan as the Fake Out spammer because Scrappy is an amazing ability but the superior speed made me opt for Ambipom here. At this point, the team is almost identical to the finished product but I wasn't content with it yet.
Reason being: I'm not big on lead Ambipom. It can't really fit all the moves it wants, specifically U-turn and Taunt, and feels overall mediocre. Midgame monke, however, doesn't need these moves to be effective and is a genuine threat on its own with just 4 attacks - especially when Spikes are up. Thus, I shifted Ambipom to the rear of the team and instead resorted to the best anti-lead we have at the moment: Mismagius. Losing the Choice Scarf user isn't too big of a deal with double paralysis support and priority on Toxicroak and Ambipom. While double Ghost is neat with Spikes, I didn't think it was necessary here so I replaced Rotom.
The Team:
DID JET JUST DIE (Mismagius) (M) @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 212 Def / 40 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Taunt
- Thunder Wave
- Destiny Bond
The team lacks hazard control and doesn't deal with Spikes well so being able to shut down suicide leads with Taunt is plenty helpful. I choose T-Wave > WoW here since im not planningto stickaround forever anyway and enabling Rhyperior and the other slow members of the team is preferred. Crippling the likes of Houndoom is also much appreciated by the rest of the team.The defense investment ensures Mismagius survives a CB Aerial Ace from Scyther so that it can be neutered with T-Wave. Granted, this does cut into the power of Shadow Ball a fair amount but I do think its a reasonable adjustment on this team. Power Gem > Destiny Bond is a cool option that is helpful against Scyther and Moltres which are commonly encountered in the lead scenario. You also get coverage for Houndoom this way. I do recommend opting for more SpAtk investment in that case, however, because you don't get the OHKO on Moltres otherwise.
THE QUENCHIEST (Cacturne) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 216 HP / 28 SpA / 252 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Synthesis
- Spikes
- Grass Knot
- Dark Pulse
In comparison to other Spikers such as Qwilfish and Omastar, Cacturne isn't Dugtrio food which stands out and since Ghosts are very common, the cactus gets a lot of opportunities to throw them up. Grass Knot does the most damage to Milotic and actually gets the OHKO on Donphan which has come in handy. For some reason, many players expect Seed Bomb as the Grass STAB. You can go with Energy Ball > Grass Knot and Sucker Punch > Dark Pulse but I didn't like having to play games against Ghosts with Substitute. You do catch burns pretty reguarly and with Dark Pulse you'll still be able to threaten Ghosts with an OHKO in that case. Still, Sucker Punch is certainly appealing: it allows you to switch into Alakazam with more confidence and pick off Swellow from near full for example. I did want to fit Encore somewhere but I deemed it inferior to a second STAB because it didn't came up enough. I considered a speedier spread with Destiny Bond > Synthesis to act as a pseudo-exploder but you'll be surprised how much Cacturne can tank even with its less than ideal 70/60/60 stats. Missing out on an ability sucks but it is what it is.
WHAT A NIGHTMARE (Rhyperior) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 120 HP / 16 Atk / 200 SpD / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Megahorn
- Stone Edge
Rhyperior has already been amazing lately and paralysis support just makes it so much better. I wish I could run the Substitute set on this team but the role distribution isn't all that flexible on this team and you do need rocks somewhere after all. I want to point out here that since the team does rely on Stealth Rock a lot do keep some threats in check, you don't want to just throw Rhyperior away early or risk dying to random Grass coverage. Other than that I've had mighty fun with blind Megahorn into an unrevealed Grass such as Sceptile which puts you ahead a lot. I admit that the speed investment might be a bit excessive but I do like being able to pressure Clefable and getting the jump on other Rhyperior.
COMPLETELY CALM (Slowking) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Slack Off
- Thunder Wave
- Surf
- Psychic
Slowking is interesting. Being slower than Rhyperior and Donphan is an annoyance for a bulky Water for sure but Milotic is too big of a momentum drain for this team. Access to Thunder Wave is what let's it stand out in comparison to Milotic. My favourite thing to do with Slowking is spam T-Wave after just having caught something with it and nabbing another "kill" so to speak. And Slowking does have other advantages: it takes on Blaziken and SubPunch Azumarill better, and makes Venusaur think twice before it pivots in. Also, the Fighting resistance is helpful to have something to pivot into without risking Mismagius, which you would rather keep for spinblocking purposes. The weakness to Pursuit can lead to it getting overwhelmed more easily in some match-ups but it can also backfire on the Pursuit user - Slowking isn't a physically weak Ghost after all and I've found that the threat of Thunder Wave often dissuades from use of Pursuit. A pity that it too has a useless ability (unless you run into Machoke) but the invention of Regenerator was a mistake anyway, so perhaps we're better off in DPP.
400 FT PLATYPUS (Toxicroak) (F) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Low Kick
- Sucker Punch
- Ice Punch
- Swords Dance
I don't use Toxicroak much anymore nowadays which is a bit of shame so I'm happy it's found a place on this team. The Water/Toxic immunity is immensely helpful when pivoting around Milotic. I've going back and forth between a bulkier spread with Black Sludge and this. More bulk allows you to handle Venusaur and other special attacking Grasses better but I do value Lum Berry a lot and dropping its speed does hurt. Playing to its advantages and creating set-up opportunities instead of throwing it into moves it technically resists has been working out well for me, so I recommend doing that. Substitute/Sucker Punch mindgames with Dugtrio are a pain and honestly the biggest deterrent for using Toxicroak for me. The emergence of Earth Plate Dug hasn't exactly been helping when trying to figure out the set either. Oh yeah, Cross Chop is terrible, don't use it.
YOUR MOMONESS (Ambipom) (M) @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Technician
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Pursuit
- Frustration
- Low Kick
I've always been unconvinced of Ambipom's viability as a lead due to a severe 4MSS. Outside of the lead slot, Swellow definitely outclasses it in terms of power and Kangaskhan can spam Normal type moves much more easily thanks to Scrappy. However, its speed and coverage does give it a discernable niche over the other two on some teams. After many games with this team, I can report that - in the words of Donphantastic - monke do be a threat and that I was pleasantly surprised by it. Don't be afraid to predict switches with this thing, Fake Out is far too telegraphed often times and it's easy to take advantge of that. Life Orb can be used if you don't mind the recoil but I prefer Silk Scarf. Without hazard control on the team, damage can rack up rather quickly, and I don't want to lose 10% as I Fake Out for no damage into Registeel. A healthy mid- to lategame Ambipom is a menace. I've considered dropping Pursuit for U-turn because Ghosts are fairly well-covered on this team already but Pursuit also has other applications and U-turn is really more a luxury than a necessity.
Threats:
As pointed out earlier, Scyther is a massive bitch for this team. Despite the adjusted Mismagius set, experienced players likely won't risk the tie in the lead scenario, so you gotta be smart about it. Don't carelessly switch in Rhyperior on U-turn if you don't have Rocks up already. Prioritize getting up SR safely even if it means sacrificing something and then punish with Ambipom, ideally with Pursuit as they switch. The fire type that could. Rhyperior and Slowking don't exactly cover this well, so much like with Scyther, you gotta get Rocks early and then pressure with Ambipom. Mismagius has a Colbur Berry which helps because it's one of the prime targets for Houndoom and can double down with T-Wave or D-Bond. Thankfully, Houndoom is super frail on the physical side, so it won't stand in the way of Toxicroak cleaning up if you force it in on Rocks once before you go for the sweep. Venu is always a threat and on paper this team gets demolished by just the standard Sleep Powder + Synth + 2 attacks set but in practice its quite limited between paralysis support and residual damage from hazards forcing it to heal. Having a Water that isn't a free switch-in for Venu helps a ton. Don't be too comfortable switching in Toxicroak on a Leaf Storm or Sleep Powder just because it's the only Grass/Poison resist, especially if you don't know the set. I'm mentioning this only because every team I've ever built seems to be weak to this thing. SubDD and SD variants in particular can cause this team some pain. They likely won't win but the damage might be done after they pick up one-and-a-half or two kills even. What I wouldn't give for Water Absorb Cacturne.Import:
https://pokepast.es/52b160aef3ff3dff
(the dpp uu community after having banned sand veil)
shoutouts barclay o7