Grand Slam Pivots (First RU RMT)

saxtonhale · May 25, 2013

Hey y'all, I'm relatively new to RU, but I have been playing competitive OU since the beginning of ADV, so I do know my way around a battle. However, I know the RU metagame not nearly as well as OU, so I moved down to give myself a challenge. Strangely enough, this team sees more success in the upper tiers where people are unprepared. Any help would be appreciated!

Here goes:

"The Slab"

Clefable is a fantastic team supporter, with solid bulk and a truly vast movepool. I chose to go with a straight supporting set, since my team truly appreciated solid Wish and Heal Bell support. Protect is the obvious choice next to Wish, and also provides a valuable scouting opportunity to see if the opponent has something I need to watch out for. Finally, Stealth Rock rounds out the set, providing vital entry hazards while freeing up a move choice for Golurk. Clefable is very bulky on the special side with the given set, but does have trouble taking even neutral physical attacks. He's also total Taunt bait, but this can always be alleviated with a switch.

Clefable does have the glaring Fighting-type weakness, yes, but oftentimes this can be used to my advantage. Oftentimes, after setting up Rocks, Clefable can either protect to scout for the Fighting move, or switch out to Golurk for a free switch, which conveniently forces out Choice users, forcing a teammate to take a heavy blow from CB Golurk.

"Colossus"

Golurk was my choice for a much-needed Ghost type on the team, providing a solid answer to many pokes with its solid bulk and excellent Attack. The given stats give Golurk the ability to tank a hit or two, gaining it back through Drain Punch; sadly, this comes at the expense of Speed investment, something Golurk would love.

Drain Punch has solid power, perfect accuracy, and hits surprisingly hard off of the Iron Fist boost and a Band. it also provides Golurk with semi-reliable healing. Shadow Punch, while normally a terrible option, reaches usability thanks to STAB, Iron Fist and the Band, giving Golurk perfect coverage with Drain Punch. Earthquake is a very powerful STAB move that goes well with Shadow Punch. Stone Edge rounds out the set, destroying Flying-types that expect to switch in on EQ.

"Teslakoil"

Electivire, honestly, was chosen due to being a personal favorite; he was very useful for absorbing any Electric-type attacks that were aimed at Alomomola (my old Wish passer,) and once Alomomola was replaced, E-vire stuck around. With solid stats across the board and an excellent Attack to work with, along with fantastic type coverage, the Expert Belt was the obvious choice for the item. E-vire's real job is to switch in on weakened teams and clean up all of the damaged pokes that may remain; as a full-on sweeper he suffers, as his Attack is often not enough for an OHKO. However, his good Speed and high Attack are perfect for late-game play.

Wild Charge is the best STAB option Electivire has, hitting hard off of STAB alone and even harder if it's super-effective. Ice Punch is Electivire's only hope against powerful Ground-types, and hits pretty hard despite low Base Power. Cross Chop is mainly for Ferroseed, as E-vire can switch in happily on Thunder Wave and promptly KO it. Earthquake is simply a very solid attacking option, hitting rival Electrics and Fire types for solid damage. As E-vire cannot touch Steelix, Magmortar was chosen to pair well with Electivire and provide a powerful wallbreaking duo.

"Infernoid"

Magmortar was my first choice for a powerful special attacker, thanks to an excellent movepool, solid stats all around, and a good offensive typing. Fire Blast, after the Specs and STAB boost, often OHKOs any poke that doesn't resist it, and heavily dents anything that does. Thunderbolt provides a solid answer to Water and Flying types, with good accuracy and good BP. Focus Blast is mostly for anything that resists Fire Blast, putting major holes in anything it touches (to aid in understanding, Focus Blast from this build OHKOs Kyurem-B.) Hidden Power Grass is really mostly filler, but it's a good choice to surprise Ground types who try to switch in on an expected Tbolt ir Fire Blast.

Magmortar outspeeds a surprising amount of pokes, and thankfully is a perfect counter to every user of sleep-inducing moves. Tangrowth is destroyed by any special attacks, especially from Magmortar. He is also a perfect switch in to Smeargle, absorbing Spore and KOing back.

"Dr Octagon"

Cryogonal was my Spinner choice, as my team was consistently steamrolled by entry hazard users, especially poor Magmortar. Courtesy of Levitate, Cryogonal not only avoids Spikes, but also maintains a key immunity to Ground-type moves, often dealing heavy damage back with Ice Beam despite no investment. Rapid Spin serves an obvious purpose, clearing the field of entry hazards. Ice Beam allows Cryogonal to hit some important pokes for super-effective damage, especially the rare Dragons and the ubiquitous Ground types. Recover allows Cryogonal to shrug off repeated special attacks and also to heal after SR damage. Toxic was chosen over Haze in order to wear down pokes that the team couldn't handle at full health.

Cryogonal is a fantastic special wall, but even resisted physical hits tend to wreck it. Tangrowth was chosen, as one of RU's premier physical walls, to take any of these attacks aimed at Cryogonal.

"Spaghetti"

Tangrowth is an omnipresence in RU and for good reason. He's one of the best physical walls in the entire game, and has solid stats across the board to back that up. Seeing as his Sp. Def consistently lets Tangrowth down, I chose two special walls to back him up. Tangrowth can eat Earthquakes for breakfast, giving a solid switch in to the Ground attacks aimed at my sweepers.

Power Whip is a high-BP STAB move coming off of Tangrowth's good Attack stat, allowing for neutral damage on many pokes. Hidden Power Fire allows Tangrowth to fry rival Grass-types, especially Ferroseed. It is also useful for hitting any Magneton on the switch. Sleep Powder is Tangrowth's bread and butter, instantly taking a poke out of the match. Leech Seed is simply for solid recovery, and can also be used to wear down opposing pokes while healing your team after Tangrowth switches out.

I've been looking to improve upon the team's offensive presence while maintaining its formidable bulk, so any suggestions or improvements would be much appreciated!

Thanks folks,
-saxton

PTJon7 · May 25, 2013

I think Golurk should have Ice Punch over Stone Edge. Ice Punch gets a power boost from Iron Fist which makes it almost as powerful as SE, but with 100% accuracy. It also enables you to hit Grass types super effectively.

I think the team needs a fast revenge killer, as the fastest thing your team has is Electrivire. Evire isn't considered to be very good in RU, I think you'd be better off with something else. Choice Scarf Rotom-C (the Mow) could work, you retain the Electric STAB but also gain the benefit of high speed and power thanks to Leaf Storm. My knowledge of RU isn't that great so there may be a better option out there however.

saxtonhale · May 25, 2013

That's a good idea, thanks!

ScraftyIsTheBest · May 25, 2013

Hi there, I'll try and improve this team.

I feel as though Clefable is not needed, Wish support is largely unnecessary for this team. Clefable is also complete Taunt bait. I'd suggest Uxie in place of Clefable, it also sets up SR, and has Heal Bell too if you need it, but it also has Thunder Wave and either Psychic or U-turn allows Uxie to actually deal some damage (albeit not a lot). However, Druddigon is also a perfect addition too, setting up SR while smashing stuff with Outrage, which helps to dent the team.

I'd suggest Ice Punch over Stone Edge, as PTJon said, since Ice and Ground have great coverage together. Ice Punch gives Golurk the edge over Flying and Grass-types alike while also hitting Druddigon pretty hard.

Electivire isn't a great Pokemon in general, so I agree with PTJon that Rotom-C should replace Evire, or even Manectric for that matter. Rotom-C and Manectric are excellent revenge killers in RU, and they can scout with Volt Switch while also hitting hard with Leaf Storm (in Rotom-C's case) / Thunderbolt. They are great replacements in that spot.

I think the rest is good, and I hope I helped.

Uxie @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 152 Def / 104 Spe
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic / Heal Bell
- U-turn

Druddigon @ Leftovers
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- Sucker Punch

saxtonhale · May 26, 2013

Uxie worked incredibly well, thanks!

Grand Slam Pivots (First RU RMT)

saxtonhale

PTJon7

saxtonhale

ScraftyIsTheBest

On to new Horizons!

saxtonhale