u alrdy kno (Golisopod) @ Choice Band
Ability: Emergency Exit
EVs: 160 HP / 252 Atk / 96 Spe
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Aqua Jet
- Liquidation
- Drill Run
i knew from the start of building this team that golisopod was going to be involved. i had already used it in two of my last four spl games that season, and it was special to me because of how many people cluelessly clamored about how useless or unviable golisopod was. this thing had become more or less my flagship mon, and for good reason. banded first impression hits harder than most stuff in the meta, with a blend of priority and raw power unique to the meta. the water coverage it provides compliments first impression generously, especially due to the state of the meta. what i mean by this is that the water coverage is generally better for the already slow walls, which you don't need speed for. on the alternative, the priority first impression (and aqua jet), outspeeds and handles many of the tiers dominant offensive forces, looking past the abysmally slow speed golisopod sports. drill run was new coverage i added on in comparison to my other two iterations of golisopod teams, as they both had leech life in the last slot. drill run is mostly to catch dragalge and toxicroak, some of the few mons that handle golisopods stab with relative security.
honeymoon (Gardevoir) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Trick / Thunderbolt
- Healing Wish
gardevoir is the only mon here that wasn't originally on the team, as i originally had scarf florges w/ sneaky coverage planned. however, after review, i found garde a lot more useful for the overall vibe of the team. healing wish is probably the most important move on this set, and i find myself clicking it surprisingly often while using it. scarf garde is also pretty much an emergency answer to any form of speed facing me, as this team can feel rather slow at times. garde has always been very potent at punishing more offensive builds i felt, and that's more or less one of the things this team needed at the time. there really isn't a ton to say about garde since it's just really good and boring, so on we go.
lmao who's he (Incineroar) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
incineroar was one of the """""jokemons"""" i decided to throw on this team but it actually turned out to be pretty cool. i went with an av set because its unique typing allowed it to at least reasonably counter stuff like ninetales, shaymin, salazzle, and so on as far as typing-based effective special attackers go. u-turn allows for great momentum into stuff like ampharos, as waters would often be the go to counter to this mon. knock off is incredibly useful in this meta given counter switchins include the likes of gligar, tyrantrum, and milotic. fake out is pretty optional, though it can really add up and there isn't too much better unless you were keen on using eq. intimidate with max hp and av makes this a pretty versatile wall in general, while packing not only decent offense capability but also momentum. it being unique as it is in ru leads some people to misplay vs something they maybe haven't seen before, so that's a neat perk too.
cotton swab (Ampharos-Mega) (M) @ Ampharosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Dragon Pulse
amphy wasn't actually a jokemon pick as imo it's one of the most devastating special attackers the meta has to offer. mold breaker is a huge ability in a meta where some of the general elec resists in walls are rhyperior/gigalith/steelix, who can usually rely on stuff like sturdy and solid rock to make it by. volt is nice momentum into stuff like golisopod and dragon pulse hits a lot harder than people give amphy credit for. mega-ing with this is pretty important early on since it's basically your water resist lol. the benefit of being able to come right in on stuff like milotic and mandibuzz is very satisfying, as well as just dismantling the most common of defensive backbones.
driftin (Mismagius) (F) @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Nasty Plot
- Will-O-Wisp
- Thunderbolt
mismag had a pretty minimal role in this team and could realistically be replaced. wisping vs stuff like escavalier and drapion has proved to be useful, and ghost-z is nice in a pinch vs offensive threats and stuff like zong/lix/cress as well. tbolt was just basic coverage for mandi, which this set handles pretty well especially after throwing off a will-o. i had considered hex over sball for obvious reasons but i just didnt like relying on status to do the heavy lifting for my damage. spinblocking is ok i guess, it isn't a factor often since most stoise's just spam dark pulse if they see this on the team, so i guess it's a nice spin insurance if you want it.
spl level threat (Donphan) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
being an undefeated mon in spl9 ru is a pretty cool feat for this little elephant, considering its status as the most hated mon by a chunk of ru denizens for a fair stretch now. donphan actually fills a pretty important role for this team, as it's tasked with not only getting hazards up but also removing them. on a team with no other hazard resists and 2 rock weakmons, keeping hazards off the field is pretty pertinent to the teams overall success in any given games. being threatening to most of the setters in the meta works in donphans benefit, with eq and knock being enough coverage to do that. knock w/ maximized attack has a pretty good chance to 2hko the standard zong spreads, a setter that most probably wouldn't expect to be beaten 1v1 by donphan. more often than not i'd advise against compressing the roles of remover and hazard setter in the same slot, though this team posed a special exemption since i didn't really care too much.
anyway that's about it regarding this team, it was a lot of fun to use for the month or two that i have now, and i'm happy with the level of success it's achieved despite being a pretty big joke of a team. this for sure isn't anywhere near the best ru team but for me it's been one of the most enjoyable. below are some replays vs some mostly good folks. first two replays are spl w9 and winners final of ru ssnl, respectively.
here's an import, bye
http://pokepast.es/0b0ef61ca6389746
