Forbidden Entry

[Parundead]

Forbidden Entry
Hello Smogon. You might not have seen me before as I am from PO. I decided to join Smogon and try out a team which I recently built. It has gone through minor changes and it has peaked me 1834 on ParundeadTEST and 1.7 on two other accounts (Parundead and Parundead2) on the NU ladder with a total record of 33W-5L, which for me is pretty impressive as I am pretty new to NU. I hope you guys can guide me and make me much better in the NU Metagame. Here's my team, Forbidden Entry.

Bastiodon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Magic Coat
- Roar
- Stealth Rock

Overall my favourite Pokémon to lay hazards in NU. With an enormous base 138 SpDef and base 168 Def, it's a difficult guy to deal with. The reason I use Magic Coat is to have hazards/status inducing moves bounced back to my opponent which can really help. It can also prevent any hazards to be layed on the field, which enhances Sawk and Braviary's performance by a mile. I use Iron Head so it'll not be a taunt bait. Bastiodon is also my main switch in to Altaria/Whimsicott, which gives my teams a little bit of trouble if I misplay.

Sawk (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
Choice Banded Sawk, one of the deadliest Pokémon to face as his Close Combat 2HKOs nearly the entire tier which isn't immune/resists against it. Standard EdgeQuake is standard, providing amazing if not perfect coverage. Ice Punch is for Altaria. I might/will change it to Fire punch if something like Escavalier ever comes back though. Sturdy on Sawk is a must.

Ludicolo (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam
- Rain Dance
The horrifying Ludicolo. He can look like a joyful and cheerful guy, but trust me he's a monster once he sets up Rain Dance. Hydro Pump/Giga Drain/Ice Beam has perfect coverage. Life Orb is essential as the extra 30% damage usually matters/helps. The only trouble I have when using Ludicolo is a powerful Pokémon with priority (Absol) or Probopass with Sturdy intact as it can just kill me or T-Wave me for the latter.

Misdreavus (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Def / 176 Spd
Bold Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Heal Bell
The graceful Misdreavus. It's my switch in to Sawk/Gurdurr and it has good synergy with Bastiodon, Bastiodon taking Dark/Ghost and Misdreavus being immune to Fighting/Normal/Ground due to levitate. Will-O-Wisp is to cripple Physical Attackers. 250 speed is important to outspeed things like Adamant Absol and cripple it with Will-O-Wisp.

Braviary (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Brave Bird
- Superpower
- U-turn
One of the best Pokémon in NU, and for a reason. I chose Defiant as an ability just for the rare Pokémon in NU with intimidate. Return and Brave Bird are its two best stab moves available for him. Superpower is great for Steel/Rock switch in thinking they could completely wall Braviary. U-Turn is for the momentum which can help me alot.

Cinccino (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Skill Link
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Tail Slap
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Blast
- U-turn

This was originally Absol but I was pretty bad at using him so I decided to go with something simpler, like Cinccino! This Pokémon is commonly used in NU for a reason, it has the ability Skill Link and 3 decent moves to abuse it with. U-Turn is mainly for the momentum my team would appreciate. My Absol also had difficulties dealing with either dark types or psychic types, depending on the set I ran. But Cinccino does not have as big of a problem dealing with them.

So this is my team guys. This is my first NU RMT I have ever done. I hope you guys can give me your feedback as it would help me and my team alot. Thanks!
Importable

Hide

Bastiodon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Magic Coat
- Roar
- Stealth Rock

Sawk (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch

Ludicolo (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam
- Rain Dance

Misdreavus (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Def / 176 Spd
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Heal Bell

Braviary (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Brave Bird
- Superpower
- U-turn

Cinccino (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Skill Link
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Tail Slap
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Blast
- U-turn

 

[WhiteDMist]

Welcome to Smogon! I don't play on the PO server, so I'm assuming Smogon tiers and metagame (plus you're posting on Smogon after all).

Now, I'm going to say that your team fits the "Normal Spam" offensive playstyle very well. Thus I will use that point of view for my rate.

I like Bastiodon, but it doesn't fit well with such an offensive team. Air Balloon Probopass would fit best for your team, with its decent offensive momentum and even Magnet Pull to trap the Steel types that wall Braviary and Cinccino.

Ludicolo needs a Timid nature due to the rise of Jolly/Timid Samurott, who you really want to outspeed. In the Rain and with Life Orb, it still has decent power. Now, Misdreavus needs max HP and near max Defense in order to be a bulky Ghost. Sadly, it slows down the momentum of your team, which is why I feel that Colbur Berry Golurk would be a suitable replacement. It lures in Dark types and KOs them, while also forming a powerful offensive core with Cinccino.

Changes:
Probopass>Bastiodon
Ludicolo: Timid>Modest
Misdreavus: 252 HP/232 Def/24 Spe>current spread
-OR-
Golurk>Misdreavus

Sets

Probopass @ Air Balloon
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 168 HP / 252 SAtk / 88 Spe
Modest Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Power Gem/Flash Cannon
- Earth Power
- Volt Switch/Toxic

Golurk @ Colbur Berry
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Shadow Punch
- Ice Punch
- Drain Punch

Good luck with your team and I hope I helped! :)

 

[watashi]

I second WhiteDMist's suggestion of Air Balloon Probopass since Golem can be an issue to this team if Sturdy has not yet been broken.

Psychic-types are a real big threat to this team since Bastiodon or Probopass can't really damage them while everything else is hit rather hard. Running Skuntank over Cinccino solves this since Skuntank can counter nearly every Psychic-type in the tier. Outside of breaking through Rock-types, Cinccino is really redundant with Braviary and does not have much use on this team.

Misdreavus needs max Defense and HP in order to tank Pokemon such as Sawk and Pinsir better.

Lastly, Ludicolo should be running a Timid nature to speed-tie with Jolly Samurott and outpace Jolly Emboar and Adamant Absol.


Summary of changes:

Cinccino —> Skuntank
Ludicolo —> Timid nature
Misdreavus —> Max Defense

Set(s)

Skuntank @ Leftovers
Trait: Aftermath
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 236 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Poison Jab
- Pursuit
- Sucker Punch
- Taunt

Ludicolo @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Giga Drain
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Rain Dance

Misdreavus @ Eviolite
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spd
Bold Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Heal Bell

 

[jake]

hey there,

FLCL and WDM covered a lot of bases with this team, and i'd definitely agree with the stuff they suggested for ya. i'd especially like to emphasize exchanging cinccino for skuntank; without skuntank, you struggle mightily with musharna who can freely switch into sawk / braviary / cincy and cm, and then misdreavus can't handle it either. you could go into bastiodon and roar it away, but it can really just keep doing the same thing over and over and walling all of your offensive threats. absol can also cleanly sweep your team after only a little bit of prior damage (stealth rock, etc), and adding skuntank gives you a secondary check to that in case you misplay with sawk.

sd lum samurott also runs over this team with any kind of hazards up and there's nothing you can really do to slow it down at the moment except pray that brav can stay in high enough health to revenge kill it (and brav doesn't even KO it). if it can grab a single opportunity to boost, it can cleanly 6-0. i don't really agree with adding in golurk as WDM suggested, as that exemplifies this weakness even more and actually nets samurott another set-up opportunity. changing ludicolo's nature to timid like the others suggested is a step in the right direction, since it allows you to have a shot at revenging samurott with giga drain, although a 50% chance isn't the most reliable. i'd like you to test out choice scarf rotom-f > braviary, as it performs admirably against many of the same threats and hits harder than jolly braviary against stuff like samurott that would decimate your team otherwise. rotom-f also gives you another means to break apart alomomoonguss cores via trick, which you could otherwise struggle with if you don't play sawk absolutely perfectly.

summary

skuntank > cinccino

skuntank @ leftovers | aftermath
adamant nature (+atk, -spa) | 20 hp / 252 atk / 236 spe
poison jab / sucker punch / pursuit / taunt

timid > modest on ludicolo

choice scarf rotom-f > braviary

rotom-f @ choice scarf | levitate
timid nature (+spe, -atk) | 4 hp / 252 spa / 252 spe
volt switch / blizzard / trick / hidden power ice

hopefully i helped a little bit, and gl with your team in the future!