High Quality Pens! [NU]

[Tag]

Introduction
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As of a few months ago, becoming bored with OU and UU in general, I decided to give up competitive battling for the time being and focus on the new remakes of my favorite games - Pokemon Gold and Silver. Well, after playing SoulSilver almost every day, I finally loaded up Shoddy Battle (I'll admit - I'm becoming lazy with EV Training and breeding). Unwilling to actually make a UU or OU team, I saw NU as my hope for not giving up competitive battle all together. Well, it worked. Coming into a new type of metagame was great! I had to learn what pokemon were good, average, and bad. Well, after changing things, I decided to do revamp, and my result was, well, much better then before. I'm happy with it, but it could use some work. And who better to ask then you guys?

Changes are in red.

Team Building

Hide

Sorry, no Team Building! Unless you'd enjoy reading about changes between 15 teams, then happily PM me and I'll provide links. ;O

At A Glance

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Under The Microscope

Glalie @ Focus Sash
Inner Focus
Jolly Nature
4 HP/ 252 Attack / 252 Speed
- Explosion
- Spikes
- Super Fang
- Taunt

Comments

Yeah, you guessed it. A Suicide Lead. Originally having a Cacturne Lead, I felt it was too unreliable in setting up Spikes and virtually was dead weight after it had done it's job. I really can't explain me wanting Spikes... entry hazards are entry hazards. Explosion is there after I don't need Glalie anymore and can usually take out one pokemon. Ice Fang is for a STAB move and so I can hit Ghosts after my Spikes set up is done. Super Fang is nice little move that I decided to use. Seeing as it always deals half, it helps deal a nice amount of damage to any pokemon. Jolly Nature is for maximum Speed.

EV's

The EV's are pretty obvious. 252 Attack for maximum damage with Explosion and Ice Fang, 252 Speed for, well, speed, and 4 HP for extra bulk.

Nitpicks

So far I don't have any complaints with Glalie. It does its job well and that's all I really need.

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Haunter @ Life Orb
Levitate
Timid Nature
4 HP/ 252 Speed/ 252 Sp. Attack
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Substitute

Comments

Haunter replaced Dusclops to make my team more fast paced and bring further offense. Franky suggested Life Orb and it works out great, better then SubPetaya. Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb are both two good STAB moves, and Substitute is to protect myself. HP Ground is for Skuntank.

EV's

Pretty simple.

Nitpicks

None really.

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Slowking @ Leftovers
Own Tempo
Calm Nature
252 HP/ 100 Defense/ 152 Sp. Defense
- Psychic
- Slack Off
- Surf
- Thunder Wave

Comments

Overall Espeon didn't do much for the team and is replaced by none other then Slowking. Slowknig has bcome an important pokemon in my team and brings nice Paralysis status to my opponent, screwing over their Skuntank or ScarfApe. Psychic and Surf are both for STAB, while Thunder Wave makes most pokemon slower then me and Slack Off gives me healing abilities.

EV's

Suggested.

Nitpicks

Nothing.

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Sandslash @ Leftovers
Sand Veil
Impish Nature
252 HP/ 12 Attack/ 240 Defense
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge

Comments

Meet the only survivor of my other team! Sandslash has done impressively well over the days that I've been using it. Sandslash is here to Stealth Rock, Rapid Spin if needed, and then cause some havoc with STAB Earthquake and Stone Edge, which he does quite nicely. With Reflect or Light Screen up, Sandslash can normally handle both Skuntank and Magmortar, two common threats to my team. Impish is for maximum Defense.

EV's

Maximum Defense with some Attack and maximum bulk.

Nitpicks

Sandslash has been preforming very well and I plan to to keep using him most likely.

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Skuntank @ Choice Scarf
Aftermath
Adamant Nature
4 HP/ 252 Attack/ 252 Speed
- Crunch
- Explosion
- Poison Jab
- Pursuit

Comments

After witnessing Plus use ScarfTank after he easily beat me, I knew that I wanted to use it as well. Skuntank reaches 400 Speed after Choice Scarf, outrunning pokemon like Manetric, Ninetales, Jumpluff, and Persian. Skuntank makes for a great revenge killer and normally is the star of my team alongside Sandslash and Entei. Crunch and Poison Jab are two 80 Base Power STAB moves, while Pursuit is for well predicted switches. Explosion is used if I need to take out a pokemon right away or Skuntank has served its use. Adamant Nature is for maximum offense.

EV's

252 Speed EV's just in case anything that could be faster comes out. 252 Attack EV's for max Attack power.

Nitpicks

None here.

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Primeape @ Choice Scarf
Vital Spirit
Jolly Nature
4 HP/ 252 Speed/ 252 Attack
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- Stone Edge
- U-turn

Comments

ScarfApe replaced Typhlosion after a great suggestion and has been working great ever since. This thing is a great scout, deals plenty of damage, and takes care of many common threats. Close Combat is obvious and Ice Punch is for more coverage and Jumpluff. Stone Edge is used for Venomoth that can get quite annoying and U-turn is for scouting.

EV's

EV's are obvious.

Nitpicks

Nothing much, really.

Last Glance

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[Yuelia]

Overall, pretty good team. There are a few fixes that could be made, though.

First, I would recommend using Espeon over Stantler. It lacks Hypnosis, yes, but more than makes up for it by having more offense, more speed, and the ability to pass Wish. It even has a greater surprise factor; Stantler is often viewed as a supporter and Espeon as an attacker.

I would generally not recommend using Sableye. As you have noticed, its poor stats mean that it dies very easily despite having no weaknesses and three immunities. To put it into perspective, Rampardos is overall more defensive than Sableye.

If you want a bulky spinblocker, your best bet is probably Dusclops. If Knock Off is too valuable to lose, go with Banette - while it's about as frail, it has much better abilities and can actually hurt things with base 115 Attack.

 

[Ice-eyes]

Your Skuntank only needs 152 Spe - this is enough to outrun all non-Scarfers in NU. Those pokes that are Scarfed are usually faster than Skuntank anyway - things like ScarfCham and ScarfMortar have declined majorly. However, I don't really see how a Scarf benefits Skuntank - it really needs the Life Orb boost, and it can't be compared to Scarf Tyranitar because it gets Sucker Punch.

My main problem with your team is that I don't see any central theme. Your pokes don't really fit together that well and you don't have anything that can really finish a game. Entei is too slow to sweep effectively, while Skuntank isn't powerful enough - you don't have any real gameplan. You need to figure out what you're actually trying to do.

 

[PK Gaming]

I must agree with Ice-eyes on Skuntank. There really isn't any point of running Choice Scarf when it's got sucker punch for pokemon that outspeed it.

Your team is also very defensive and your only offensive pokemon is Entei. I reckon you should try again?

(fantastic layout by the way)

 

[Bluewind]

Why are you running Modest on Entei with so much investment in physical attack?

 

[Delko]

Why are you running Modest on Entei with so much investment in physical attack?

Agree, a Rash nature would benefit you more.
Also you could go with Flame Plate to fake the Specs while still have the ability to switch attacks.

If you can't use Body Slam on Stantler then you could use Return over Earthquake.

 

[Tag]

Why are you running Modest on Entei with so much investment in physical attack?

Always gets me; natural instinct, lol.

I'll respond to all of you later. I've got some things to do first.

 

[Tag]

Overall, pretty good team. There are a few fixes that could be made, though.

First, I would recommend using Espeon over Stantler. It lacks Hypnosis, yes, but more than makes up for it by having more offense, more speed, and the ability to pass Wish. It even has a greater surprise factor; Stantler is often viewed as a supporter and Espeon as an attacker.

I would generally not recommend using Sableye. As you have noticed, its poor stats mean that it dies very easily despite having no weaknesses and three immunities. To put it into perspective, Rampardos is overall more defensive than Sableye.

If you want a bulky spinblocker, your best bet is probably Dusclops. If Knock Off is too valuable to lose, go with Banette - while it's about as frail, it has much better abilities and can actually hurt things with base 115 Attack.

Changes made. Thanks for the help! ;]

Your Skuntank only needs 152 Spe - this is enough to outrun all non-Scarfers in NU. Those pokes that are Scarfed are usually faster than Skuntank anyway - things like ScarfCham and ScarfMortar have declined majorly. However, I don't really see how a Scarf benefits Skuntank - it really needs the Life Orb boost, and it can't be compared to Scarf Tyranitar because it gets Sucker Punch.

My main problem with your team is that I don't see any central theme. Your pokes don't really fit together that well and you don't have anything that can really finish a game. Entei is too slow to sweep effectively, while Skuntank isn't powerful enough - you don't have any real gameplan. You need to figure out what you're actually trying to do.

I'll admit, I generally suck at predicting. My latest scenario was this, and please note that I knew he had Encore on his Quagsire. These were the only two pokemon left:

??? sent out Quagsire!
Pen Ink sent out Golduck!
Golduck used Calm Mind!
Quagsire used Encore!

And he killed me off with Earthquake within a few turns. Although it may seem that the Sucker Punch and Crunch/Pursuit moveset helps and allows you to play mind games, I normally end up being the one that is being toyed with. Scarf allows me to not worry about that because I'll outrun either way.

For the second paragraph, I'm working on it. I understand what you're saying, and that first post will have many edits throughout today and tomorrow.

I must agree with Ice-eyes on Skuntank. There really isn't any point of running Choice Scarf when it's got sucker punch for pokemon that outspeed it.

Your team is also very defensive and your only offensive pokemon is Entei. I reckon you should try again?

(fantastic layout by the way)

Read above.

Working on that too. xD

Made it up on the spot and thought it was pretty good. Thanks! =D

Agree, a Rash nature would benefit you more.
Also you could go with Flame Plate to fake the Specs while still have the ability to switch attacks.

If you can't use Body Slam on Stantler then you could use Return over Earthquake.

Flame Plate wouldn't have generally helped because most people don't know exactly what set on an Entei you're running until a while.

Thanks for the suggestion but Stantler is gone as of now~

 

[Ice-eyes]

If you're adamant about keeping Skuntank as a Choice Scarfer, use 152 Speed EVs as I suggested. As you are, Jolly Floatzel and Persian outspeed you.

Much as I like the look of that Espeon set, I think Gardevoir could run it better. It hits similarly hard but, while it is slower, you get access to Will-o-Wisp and considerably more bulk on the special side.

You definitely need more Special Attack on that Haunter - a simple 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe spread allows you to hit harder while still reaching a Sub number. It's not like the extra bulk is going to avail Haunter anything - a light breeze is still capable of OHKOing it.

 

[Tag]

Changes on Haunter and Skuntank are made. I'll test Gardevoir out and see how she does. I'm not sure what moveset to run, though. Any ideas?

 

[franky]

Hello Pen,

Seems like a pretty standard NU team, my only concern is the lack of Fire-type checks. Charizard, Magmortar, and even Typhlosion can give this team difficulties since no one can switch in safely. My only suggestion is to replace Espeon with Slowking. Espeon is just a standing duck to this team in my opinion and doesn't really provide much; however, Slowking can easily patch up your Fire weakness. The Slowking set is Slack Off / Thunder Wave / Psychic / Surf with the EVs 252 HP / 100 Def / 152 SpD with a Calm nature. A simple bulky water set: switch into Fire attacks, spread paralysis, hit stuff with dual STABs.

Is there any reason to run Scarf on Skuntank? I personally believe you can opt for a simple Life Orb set with a simple 252/252 spread. Skuntank already has Sucker Punch to compensate for the loss of speed. You just need to play the mind games accordingly with Sucker Punch + Pursuit. Just to clarify, opt for Sucker Punch > Crunch and revert to a simple 252/252 spread with a Jolly nature. This will give you flexibility into your moves, maybe get a second kill with Explosion if you're lucky.

As for other options, you can always try the dreaded SubLO set on Haunter. It is ultimately the same as the Petaya set but it gives you an immediate power to hurt Skuntank with Hidden Power Ground (the likely switch-in). The instant power is something to look for. Lastly, you can always try out Taunt on Glalie. I find it to be the superior option since it allows you to shut down set-ups from enemy leads. overall gl.

 

[Plus]

Well first off let me justify Scarf Skuntank in this team.

Scarf Skuntank actually works as a phazer, something that stops set up sweepers in two ways. First, you can stop it via haze, should something crazy like Belly Drum Politoed come your way and attempt to sweep your team you can actually do something about it with Haze. With an extremely volatile ladder and metagame with a fuckton of pokemon and such a small userbase ladder on CAP, dismissing any type of threat in NU is retarded. No matter if you have seen it around on the ladder or not, there is generally not enough knowledge to say that it is nonexistent in the metagame, unless you check doug's stats and the number is literally either 1 or 0 for said pokemon. Scarf Skuntank helps ease prediction in the sense that Ninetales and Venomoth can't touch it with sleep powder if it gets the kill first, whereas the slower skuntank would be outsped otherwise and slept. Scarf Skuntank eases the Pursuit or sucker punch game prediction, and considering that you said you were bad at prediction, Scarf Skuntank is an option for you.

Sucker Punch does not totally dismiss Scarf Skuntank in any way, because no matter how fast threats are, there will always be threats that are both faster and run something like substitute that essentially fuck Skuntank up in terms of predicting. A quick explosion is extremely helpful late game; furthermore, considering he has spikes and sr support Skuntank will generally work really well for your team. Scarf Skuntank still hits pretty hard, it's really not the end of the world here. Also, Scarf Skuntank has the surprise factor -- something that's really not hard to do in a game of NU but still, people always suspect LO so honestly it's both effective and catches people off guard for easy kills. You can easily fuck up something annoying like jumpluff through this method. Anyways, kudos for using Scarftank boy 8)

Change Scarf Skuntank back to 400 Speed and use Haze over Pursuit. The last thing you want is Curse Miltank all over your team while you don't particularly have much to stop it bar Typhlosion, who can't OHKO Curse Miltank otherwise. You really should prepare for Scarf Magmortar as well, these things pop up here and there and with a metagame and ladder like NU you cannot dismiss anything unless it sucks balls.

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Use Taunt over ice fang on glalie. You dont want to be annoyed with Snover leads which can leech seed and annoy the shit out of you. Preventing Sandslash and hippopotas from getting rocks up first turn is valuable in itself. Additionally, you can reuse glalie late game to prevent stall teams from annoying you. Also, run Timid over Modest on Haunter so you aren't outsped by Skuntank or Magmortar, the former which would prove annoying because Pursuit goes first, so you're essentially trapped no matter how well you predict, whereas with jolly Skuntank would be forced to play the sucker punch / pursuit prediction game against you, risking getting hit by HP Ground.

Now something I mentioned earlier which I find quite threatening for this team is Curse Miltank. Typhlosion is your best shot against this, but it fails to KO and it's generally a bitch in general to deal with. Typhlosion also puts a bit of strain concerning SR even though you have Spin, you are pressured to use it or else Eruption's power is out the house. Against something like Venomoth, you have no sleep absorber which could prove detrimental to how this team works out. You probably want to try out Scarf Primeape over Typhlosion as you can Haze/boom with Skuntank and bring out Primeape to finish the job with CC. It acts as your response to sleeper pokemon, and also works as a scout with U-turn.

Primeape @ Choice Scarf
jolly 252 atk / 252 spe / 6 hp
Close Combat / Stone Edge / U-turn / Ice Punch

Stone Edge allows you to beat Venomoth who is an absolute pain in the ass to deal with, while Ice Punch helps you against Gligar.

Anyways, good luck with this team, hope you excel on the cap nu ladder ;)

 

[Tag]

Thanks for the rates guys, I'm really loving the improvements!

Hello Pen,

Seems like a pretty standard NU team, my only concern is the lack of Fire-type checks. Charizard, Magmortar, and even Typhlosion can give this team difficulties since no one can switch in safely. My only suggestion is to replace Espeon with Slowking. Espeon is just a standing duck to this team in my opinion and doesn't really provide much; however, Slowking can easily patch up your Fire weakness. The Slowking set is Slack Off / Thunder Wave / Psychic / Surf with the EVs 252 HP / 100 Def / 152 SpD with a Calm nature. A simple bulky water set: switch into Fire attacks, spread paralysis, hit stuff with dual STABs.

Is there any reason to run Scarf on Skuntank? I personally believe you can opt for a simple Life Orb set with a simple 252/252 spread. Skuntank already has Sucker Punch to compensate for the loss of speed. You just need to play the mind games accordingly with Sucker Punch + Pursuit. Just to clarify, opt for Sucker Punch > Crunch and revert to a simple 252/252 spread with a Jolly nature. This will give you flexibility into your moves, maybe get a second kill with Explosion if you're lucky.

As for other options, you can always try the dreaded SubLO set on Haunter. It is ultimately the same as the Petaya set but it gives you an immediate power to hurt Skuntank with Hidden Power Ground (the likely switch-in). The instant power is something to look for. Lastly, you can always try out Taunt on Glalie. I find it to be the superior option since it allows you to shut down set-ups from enemy leads. overall gl.

The Slowking is working out perfectly, and does so much better of a job then Espeon. Thanks a lot for providing a set as well.

I think Plus explained ScarfTank, lol.

The SubLO set is working out great too. Thanks!

Well first off let me justify Scarf Skuntank in this team.

Scarf Skuntank actually works as a phazer, something that stops set up sweepers in two ways. First, you can stop it via haze, should something crazy like Belly Drum Politoed come your way and attempt to sweep your team you can actually do something about it with Haze. With an extremely volatile ladder and metagame with a fuckton of pokemon and such a small userbase ladder on CAP, dismissing any type of threat in NU is retarded. No matter if you have seen it around on the ladder or not, there is generally not enough knowledge to say that it is nonexistent in the metagame, unless you check doug's stats and the number is literally either 1 or 0 for said pokemon. Scarf Skuntank helps ease prediction in the sense that Ninetales and Venomoth can't touch it with sleep powder if it gets the kill first, whereas the slower skuntank would be outsped otherwise and slept. Scarf Skuntank eases the Pursuit or sucker punch game prediction, and considering that you said you were bad at prediction, Scarf Skuntank is an option for you.

Sucker Punch does not totally dismiss Scarf Skuntank in any way, because no matter how fast threats are, there will always be threats that are both faster and run something like substitute that essentially fuck Skuntank up in terms of predicting. A quick explosion is extremely helpful late game; furthermore, considering he has spikes and sr support Skuntank will generally work really well for your team. Scarf Skuntank still hits pretty hard, it's really not the end of the world here. Also, Scarf Skuntank has the surprise factor -- something that's really not hard to do in a game of NU but still, people always suspect LO so honestly it's both effective and catches people off guard for easy kills. You can easily fuck up something annoying like jumpluff through this method. Anyways, kudos for using Scarftank boy 8)

Change Scarf Skuntank back to 400 Speed and use Haze over Pursuit. The last thing you want is Curse Miltank all over your team while you don't particularly have much to stop it bar Typhlosion, who can't OHKO Curse Miltank otherwise. You really should prepare for Scarf Magmortar as well, these things pop up here and there and with a metagame and ladder like NU you cannot dismiss anything unless it sucks balls.

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Use Taunt over ice fang on glalie. You dont want to be annoyed with Snover leads which can leech seed and annoy the shit out of you. Preventing Sandslash and hippopotas from getting rocks up first turn is valuable in itself. Additionally, you can reuse glalie late game to prevent stall teams from annoying you. Also, run Timid over Modest on Haunter so you aren't outsped by Skuntank or Magmortar, the former which would prove annoying because Pursuit goes first, so you're essentially trapped no matter how well you predict, whereas with jolly Skuntank would be forced to play the sucker punch / pursuit prediction game against you, risking getting hit by HP Ground.

Now something I mentioned earlier which I find quite threatening for this team is Curse Miltank. Typhlosion is your best shot against this, but it fails to KO and it's generally a bitch in general to deal with. Typhlosion also puts a bit of strain concerning SR even though you have Spin, you are pressured to use it or else Eruption's power is out the house. Against something like Venomoth, you have no sleep absorber which could prove detrimental to how this team works out. You probably want to try out Scarf Primeape over Typhlosion as you can Haze/boom with Skuntank and bring out Primeape to finish the job with CC. It acts as your response to sleeper pokemon, and also works as a scout with U-turn.

Primeape @ Choice Scarf
jolly 252 atk / 252 spe / 6 hp
Close Combat / Stone Edge / U-turn / Ice Punch

Stone Edge allows you to beat Venomoth who is an absolute pain in the ass to deal with, while Ice Punch helps you against Gligar.

Anyways, good luck with this team, hope you excel on the cap nu ladder ;)

Thanks so much for fixing up the moveset for my Skuntank. I didn't know you had Haze, from the lack of any one of my guys needing to set up when we battled. How many kudos, also? 8]

Ah, I knew I was forgetting something. I acutally do run Taunt but forgot to update it, but I actually ran it over Super Fang. Generally you don't see stall much in NU because there are so little pokemon that can actually stall well, but I see your point and I'll definitely put Super Fang back on Glalie. I'll also be running Timid on Haunter.

I actually ran into Curse Miltank once. Strange part is, he wasn't carrying Scappy so I easily stalled him. But, I'll be honest, Typhlosion sometimes is so useless that I would rather have Haunter or Skuntank still alive instead of it. I love the addition of ScarfApe on my team and will be testing it out shortly.

Thanks for the rate!

 

[Flashrider57]

Great team! I feel that this will prove a challenge to other teams. I only have one nitpick though: Sandslash has 504 EVs, and I would suggest putting the unused 4 EVs for Defense.