Hello, friends. It's been awhile since my last RMT, so it seems like an appropriate time to make a new one. As many are aware, there were recent shifts to the RU tier that shook things up quite a bit. In light of this, I've decided to post a team I made from the previous meta that I found fun. This team was constructed amidst the barbaracle craze, which for sure swept the RU meta by storm mere months ago. Other people had recently discovered the mon to actually be quite good, so I wanted to try my hand at building a team around the barnacle. Anyway here we go:
тeaм developмenт
Barbaracle is the focus of the team, as mentioned in the introduction. It exploded onto the scene as a great sweeper that people could splash on most teams and usually find success. Most times I saw it just casually existing on teams as any other member, or as a setup sweeper on screens offense, but never really as the direct focal point of an entire team. And so, I began to try my hand at making such a supporting cast.
Bronzong immediately jumped out at me as the next member of the team, as it provided a semi-useful ground resist, a very useful grass resist, and rocks. Outside of these obvious bonuses, this pair effectively combated the very common issue bronzong currently faced within the metagame. After bronzong emerged as a premier rocker, the usage of pursuit trappers such as sneasel, escavalier and especially drapion increased, most notably in tournament play. This created a large issue for teams sporting bronzong, as zong normally was a crucial member of a teams defensive backbone. With it pursuit-trapped, teams often found themselves much weaker to offensive grass types, among other things. However, having barbaracle around alleviated this, as if bronzong was suited and died, it acted as an insurance and allowed free setup for barbaracle.
Gardevoir at the time was definitely a crutch for me as a builder, though it fit here pretty nicely I felt. I wanted speed control that could double as a support mon, and garde uniquely worked for that role. There's not a ton to say about this pick beyond that, it just exists as a very solid multi-tool offensive mon.
Chesnaught made sense to me as the next pick, as it offered more defensive utility and extra hazards. Having the ground resist was also nice, as stuff like zydoge looked slightly troublesome. Spoiler for below, this is a faster taunt variant to keep hazards up vs. the most common defoggers, most notably gligar. In a meta where gligar are usually slower u-turn variants, speedy chesnaught was the ideal nuisance to keep hazards up.
I wanted salazzle next as a fire type that didn't trouble barbaracle with sun, such as ninetales would. seemed ideal Also, having the grounded poison is nice since t-spikes are relatively relevant in RU, and they're something barbaracle absolutely despises. With this, the fire/water/grass core was complete, and I had a breaker that could immediately threaten walls gardevoir/barbaracle could not.
Mega-stoise seemed like the clear last choice, as it's existed as a top mon in the meta for quite awhile now. It also has the distinguished role of being the best hazard-remover in the meta, and an offensive one at that. Not wanting to bog the team down too much momentum wise, I opted for stoise to keep the pressure constantly on for most of the tiers typical rockers. Doubling up on water types has proved fruitful in RU for awhile now, and stoise much more immediately threatened mons barbaracle might only after a setup.
ѕeт analyѕιѕ
Barbaracle @ Rockium Z
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
Barbaracle's set is pretty simple, revolving around setup and good coverage. Z-stone edge is pretty much a given on barbaracle unless you're using z-liquidation for stuff like doublade. It almost always guarantees a kill, unless it gets used on the bulkier steel/ground types. Liquidation is the other obvious stab, covering most of what stone edge does not. Lastly, aerial ace was my coverage of choice here, as it nicely handled mons such as chesnaught and virizion. Low kick, protect, and other various coverage moves didn't fit this team as well in my opinion as aerial ace did. If I had any other move over aerial ace, i'd probably use substitute, as taking advantage of would-be status users is always a plus. If you were looking to use it in the current meta, grass knot for seismitoad is also an option.
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
While I normally use more daring and unruly bronzong sets, the absolute vanilla set fit the bill here. As mentioned above, annoying the non-dog grounds and grass types was the chief objective here, and I feel it does it well. Having barbaracle around usually ensures that killing bronzong with pursuit is a more dangerous route to travel. Psywave is probably the best move for single-attacking zongs, as attacking any non-dark for usually respectable damage is appreciated. This is doubly true if that mon lacks recovery. Protect is there to scout choiced mons, especially those that could choose between knock off vs pursuit. It also helps in stalling out toxic damage should the situation require it.
Gardevoir @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
Gardevoir has been one of my go-tos for awhile now, and this team was no different. Scarf allowed it to act as my speed control, which was always useful for anything from the salazzles and ninetales to the noiverns and tyrantrums. Psyshock and psychic have different capabilities, though psyshock is generally the preference of the people. Moonblast is probably clicked more in my opinion, as the better base damage often proves useful versus foes that are hit the equally typing-wise by both stabs. Healing wish is a move I found myself using most on blastoise and salazzle, the two breakers that power through walls for barbaracle the most. There are times when healing either of these mons is a much better late-gameplan than simply mementoing for barbaracle. Speaking of which, memento is chiefly used for barbaracle, and there really isn't many other valuable instances to click it imo.
Chesnaught @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 Spe
Impish Nature
As much as I'd love to be a polar opposite at all times to col49 's often varying and intricate spreads, I can't always get away with using 4/252/252 for EVs. This spread largely focuses on outspeeding mons like gligar and milotic, wood hammering one and taunting the other. Taunt can work equally well vs mandibuzz, so long as it isn't the offhand brave bird set. It also acts as my actual ground resist, especially vs stuff like zydoge. Spikes is mandatory and the main reason to use chesnaught here, as stacking hazards and keeping them up for barbaracle later on is paramount. Synthesis is just for natural recovery over time, and wood hammer is easily the best attacking move it has.
Salazzle @ Life Orb
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
Salazzle is probably the mon that has the most 'out there' set on the team. The most common two sets in the tier at the moment are scarf salazzle (for things like barbaracle) and z-nasty plot salazzle. However, I found that life orb salazzle is extremely potent even without setup, ohkoing mons it wouldn't otherwise, such as drapion, shaymin (roll with fblast), special defense-invested mega-steelix, and quite a few others. Ultimately, the speed tier it provides also is a huge boost to speed control, being really only outsped by mons such as noivern or scarfers in general. The only real point of contention for me on this set is which hidden power to use. Throughout the history of this team I've used hp ice for mons such as flygon, zydoge, tyrantrum, dragalge, and even gligar. That being said, hp grass can be very useful to stop barbaracle from setting up, while also dealing with rhyperior and seismitoad.
Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
Lastly, we come to the best hazard-remover in the tier. Mega-Blastoise is probably the best bet for most teams to improve if they're lacking a mega slot, as it's just that good and versatile. Spin is the most obvious necessity here, as keeping hazards off for barbaracle and rocks off for salazzle especially is very helpful. Spin works out much better than defog, as removing my own hazard stack would be counter-productive to the usual wincon of this team. Dark Pulse is probably the most essential "attack" stoise can ever carry, since hitting psychics/ghosts/flinch potential is just too good to pass up. Ordinarily ice beam would be the easy second choice, though I opted for aura sphere to better break through mons such as registeel for barbaracle later on if needed. Generally, a water stab would not make it on to the team, as the set I made back in SPL9 (3atk + spin stabless stoise) has really caught on and flourished in the meta. However, salazzle is a very large threat offensively to this team, so I wanted to be sure to have something to ohko it if the need presented itself. Having bronzong + chesnaught as a defensive core is usually very potent through typing synergy, though fire types for sure cause issue.
conclυѕιon
This team for sure was fun to build and play with for awhile. I was happy it worked out for some people in slam, and I know the team has been around the block for a time now so I figured I may as well RMT it now before it's useless. It still can function in the new meta, though barbaracle faces an uphill battle vs seismitoad, should you choose not to opt for grass knot. I usually only try to RMT the more fun teams now-a-days, and this one most certainly lived up to that goal I feel. I didn't exactly use this in any big tournaments but I probably showed this to too many people to do that anyway lol. I don't have any real shoutouts to tag, though I for sure can offer thanks to the friends I've met throughout the past year here, as well as to some of my older friends who I appreciate dearly. It's been a fun, roller coaster of a year here for me in RU, but I wouldn't change a thing. Thanks for reading.
https://pokepast.es/53a9438b1ec87f4e
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