Kanga-Chaos!

[Explorer]

Hello everyone! This is my 6th RMT on the Smogon Forums, and my 3rd RU one (preceded by "Curse of the Overused" back in the Cofagrigus Era and "Roboto-Sun" designed for a Laddering Challenge). The original base of the team comes from a post in the nP Stage 16 thread where atomicllamas posted a Kangaskhan set that I was intrigued to try. I have kept the set EXACTLY how he did it, and then built a team around it.

Kangaskhan screams Bulky Offense, so I ran Kangaskhan with a defensive backbone, a second bulky attacker, another revenge-killer, two hazard setters, and another cleaner (some of these roles overlap between Pokemon). The synergy in this team has proven to be very good, but sometimes I run into a threat that gives me trouble, namely Mixed Druddigon, as it can quickly remove every Pokemon on my team with brute force and good prediction (why does it have Flamethrower?). Luckily I have plenty of good priority, two hazards, and a source of burns, so things usually turn out okay.

Here is my team!

Kangaskhan (F) @ Silk Scarf
Trait: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Return
- Sucker Punch
- Earthquake

This is atomicllamas's set, and it works very well. Silk Scarf-boosted STAB moves and maximum attack investment put a huge dent in many frail Pokemon and let Kangaskhan serve as a revenge-killer. Lilligant, Cinccino, Manectric, Hitmonlee, and so forth take a huge number from these moves. Sucker Punch lets me pick off potential revenge-killers (namely Scarf Rotom) while serving as a priority move after Kangaskhan is on the battlefield for one turn. But honestly, I don't use it that much because Fake Out is already so potent, so there are possible replacements, namely Hammer Arm and Rock Slide. Earthquake hits Rock and Steel-types and is a good reliable move in general.

With two priority moves, speed isn't as much of an issue that is usually is, so an Adamant nature is logical. Scrappy is a neat toy for Kangaskhan to hit spin blockers very hard with STAB moves, namely Rotom-N, Golurk, and Misdreavus. Attack and Speed are maximized since Kangaskhan is built as a sweeper and revenge-killer, but its 105/80/80 defense spread is excellent for a sweeper anyway.

Possible changes: Adamant --> Jolly

Spiritomb (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP/240 Atk/20 Def
Nature: Relaxed
-Pursuit
-Foul Play
-Will-o-Wisp
-Icy Wind

Spiritomb replaced Tangrowth for its ability to trap Psychic-types for a Hitmonlee sweep, and also to lessen my weakness to Bug-types, particularly Galvantula. Pursuit-trapping gives good reason to use Spiritomb on its own with a base 92 Attack and STAB. Foul Play lets Spiritomb go toe-to-toe with powerful physical sweepers and make them take a lot of damage; it also gets a STAB boost. Will-o-Wisp is a toy that Tangrowth lacked to give an additional source of burns, particularly against Druddigon and Fighting-types not named Hariyama. With Shadow Sneak not really being necessary with 4 priority moves on the team already, I run Icy Wind in the last slot to slow-down switch ins and make them easier to handle, especially as half my team is very slow. In particular Spritomb is a solid check to both of the most popular Pokemon in RU, Slowking and Druddigon, thanks to its typing and moveset.

Mesprit @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Psyshock (used to be Psychic)
- Ice Beam
- Healing Wish

Mesprit serves as an alternative revenge-killer and glue. Other than Pursuit users, it can take a hit or two from Pokemon it can't outspeed, and many that it does outspeed take major damage from one or more of its moves. U-turn lets me gain momentum if I don't have it already, and hitting Slowking fairly hard. Psychic is chosen as the STAB since most Fighting-types have a lower Special Defense than Defense and thus they will be hit harder. Ice Beam is mainly for Druddigon, but many other Pokemon are nailed by it, namely Tangrowth, Braviary, Sandslash, and so forth. Healing Wish works excellently with the offensive pressure provided by this team, letting me bring back a sweeper without its damage or status conditions (Hitmonlee baits burns and paralysis) without losing momentum as easily as Heal Bell users tend to do.

Mesprit is another Pokemon with decent bulk uninvested, letting it freely maximize its offensive capabilities. Max speed is important to speed-tie with other +1 Base 80s and anything below, and then SpA is maxed out to hit as hard as possible.

Possible changes: Hasty --> Timid
Healing Wish --> Thunderbolt

Cacturne (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SAtk
Lonely Nature
- Spikes
- Seed Bomb
- Sucker Punch
- Giga Drain

In my opinion bulky offense teams should run Stealth Rock and Spikes for maximum hazard damage and easier sweeps. Thus Cacturne swaggers onto the battlefield. Even though it's down in NU, it has done a lot for my team. Spikes are the main reason to run Cacturne at all, letting me increase my offensive pressure, particularly while forcing switches. Seed Bomb hits many things very hard off a base 115 Attack while being very reliable (Cacturne laughs at Stone Edge spammers). Sucker Punch is the main reason I use Cacturne over Omastar/Accelgor, as the very strong priority is extremely helpful and lets Cacturne easily OHKO many of the tier's most common threats, such as the Choiced Electrics and Cinccino. Since I didn't really need Superpower's coverage, Giga Drain increased Cacturne's longevity, minimized the harm of LO recoil, and let me go mixed in the face of a weakened Tangrowth or Alomamola.

Water Absorb is Cacturne's only viable (and legal) ability, letting it pair excellently with the next Pokemon. Offensive EVs are maxed out to ensure Cacturne's low speed is compensated, also letting me outspeed Aggron, Druddigon, and so forth. Another nice thing about Cacturne is that it is almost a hard counter to Slowking. It is immune to both of its STABs, and so if it can switch in safely, Slowking is forced out at the threat of STAB Seed Bomb. If TR is up, Sucker Punch lets Cacturne bypass Slowking's speed advantage and destroy it before it uses Fire Blast/Ice Beam.

Possible changes: Giga Drain --> Hidden Power Ice

Camerupt (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Calm Nature (used to be Sassy nature)
0 Atk IVs
- Stealth Rock
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roar (used to be Lava Plume)
- Earth Power (used to be Earthquake)

Camerupt is a hard counter to pretty much every Steel and Electric-type in RU except for offensive Aggron, Steelix, and HP Ground Galvantula. That coupled with Stealth Rock gave me good reason to run it over another Fire-type such as Emboar. At that, Stealth Rock was needed to better handle things such as Moltres. Will-o-Wisp lets me patch up Camerupt's poor physical defense and let it take blows from both sides. Roar lets me phaze out that annoying Sigilyph (plus Camerupt is immune to burns) and other set-up sweepers, while Earth Power is my STAB. Due to Camerupt's typing, it combats Fire and Electric-types exceptionally well. Rotom-N gets walled and stalled out, and Camerupt can switch in on Rotom-C if it is healthy and force it out. Even if it's not I can sack Camerupt to Leaf Storm and let another Pokemon set up since most Rotom-C are choiced. Camerupt is also nearly a hard counter to special Sceptile.

Camerupt is my go-to for absorbing non-Water type special moves such as Giga Drain, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and so forth. It also destroys Escavalier with ease, and is the most defensive Pokemon on the team.

Possible changes: Lava Plume --> Toxic
Lava Plume --> Fire Blast

Hitmonlee (M) @ Fighting Gem
Trait: Unburden
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Mach Punch
- Close Combat
- Blaze Kick
- Stone Edge

Hitmonlee, the wrecking ball of the team and its hardest hitter. Where Kangaskhan cannot sweep Hitmonlee is here, and vice-versa. Kangaskhan can remove Ghost-types for Hitmonlee so it can spam its Fighting moves. Mach Punch gives me a FOURTH priority move on the team that lets me pick off weakened Pokemon and those weak to Fighting-type moves. Close Combat is used as the STAB because it is much more reliable than Hi Jump Kick. IMO Blaze Kick and Stone Edge cover the most important things it can in two moves (Sucker Punch is illegal), such as Moltres, Galvantula, Escavalier, and so forth. The Fighting Gem lets me start snowballing KOs as it is very hard to KO a +2 Hitmonlee unless you can live an attack and retaliate.

As with the other sweepers, attack and speed are maximized. Since Hitmonlee is already SO fast with Unburden, an Adamant nature pumps up its power. Unburden is why a Fighting Gem is used.

Threatlist

This thing hits so hard that for the most part my team gets ruined by it. I can try to sac something to either KO it with Mesprit's Ice Beam or burn it with Spiritomb's Will-o-Wisp.

As mentioned by Thetwiggy13, Galvantula is a threat to this team, as Tangrowth, Cacturne, and Mesprit all get nuked by it. It outspeeds Kangaskhan as well, hitting it very hard with Thunder. Luckily Camerupt pretty much hard-counters it, but this is the only Pokemon that can safely switch in on it.

Conclusion

Kangaskhan has proven it's got what it takes to be RU, and its helping hands have done an excellent job. If you think I should run Electivire somewhere, say so. If you think Omastar > Cacturne then say so, and so forth. Overall I have loved working with this team and I hope to score more wins with it!

Import

Kangaskhan (F) @ Silk Scarf
Trait: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Return
- Sucker Punch
- Earthquake

Spiritomb (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 240 Atk / 248 HP / 20 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Foul Play
- Pursuit
- Will-O-Wisp
- Icy Wind

Mesprit @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam
- Healing Wish

Cacturne (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SAtk
Lonely Nature
- Spikes
- Seed Bomb
- Sucker Punch
- Giga Drain

Camerupt (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roar
- Earth Power

Hitmonlee (M) @ Fighting Gem
Trait: Unburden
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Mach Punch
- Close Combat
- Blaze Kick
- Stone Edge

Former Members

Here are the former members of the team:

(is now Spiritomb)
Tangrowth (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Power Whip
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide

Tangrowth serves as a physical tank (and wall) with a very unusual set. Its naturally high defense lets it double as a physical wall and a physical attacker, even with no physical defense investment. Its high HP and Attack go a long way. Sleep Powder is the standard move, putting many common threats such as Druddigon out of commission. From there it's all power moves. Power Whip is chosen over Giga Drain for power since this is an offensive set, with an Adamant nature backing that up further. Special walls such as Slowking take huge dents from Tangrowth. EdgeQuake was chosen as the best physical coverage moves, letting Tangrowth serve as a lure for Fire-type sweepers, removing them quickly with correct prediction and a bit of help from hazards.

With Regenerator, Leftovers is not really necessary, so Expert Belt lets Tangrowth hide its item (unlike Life Orb) while capitalizing on its great three-move coverage. Tangrowth is a slow Pokemon, so the bulky offense spread was used here, focusing primarily on pumping up Tangrowth's attacking power well beyond the capabilities of the standard defensive sets.

Possible changes: Rock Slide --> Hidden Power Fire (nature would be changed to Naughty)

 

[Thetwiggy13]

Actually, most RU Fighting-types have higher Special Defense (Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, Gallade). Poliwrath is an exception (I think the rest have it tied). Psyshock might help get past these Pokemon more than Psychic. This also lets Mesprit get past Cryogonal and other special walls.

Also, because your Camerupt is running both Will-o-Wisp and Lava Plume (both are good for burning), you could find another move. If you replace Lava Plume, Fire Blast is a neat alternative. You could also move the nature to Calm and change Earthquake to Earth Power. Steelix and Aggron are especially hit harder with a special move.

Cacturne and Tangrowth share common weaknesses (and, with Mesprit, you are VERY prone to Galvantula, Escavalier, etc. no matter what) so maybe another alternative to absorbing water-type attacks would work.

Hope I helped!

 

[atomicllamas]

Hey Explorer, I actually really like your team, and am kinda honored you chose do a RMT based around the kanga set :). But I do have some suggestions for you that I think may be helpful.

As stated above, Tangrowth and Cacturne have some synergistic problems, but Cacturne and Camerupt form a pretty cool core, you also lack a normal-type resist and a spin blocker for all of those spikes you are stacking. To remedy this I suggest the following set:

Spiritomb @ BlackGlasses
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Sneak/Foul Play
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Will-O-Wisp

First off, this gives you a pursuit trapper, which really important in facilitating a Hitmonlee sweep late game. It also gives you a normal type immunity, which is extremely important for most teams, the fact that it doesn't have extremely high defense like Growth is made up for w/ will-o-wisp giving you a dual burning core. Spin blocking is a must with spikes imo.

I agree with Psyshock over psychic as the post above mentioned, mostly for Gallade, which could threaten your team otherwise.

 

[Explorer]

Psychic is changed to Psyshock on Mesprit, you are both absolutely right!

As for the Galvantula weakness, obviously Tangrowth or Cacturne needs to go. I could try keeping Cacturne as is and replacing Tangrowth with Spiritomb, or replace Cacturne with physically defensive Omastar and Tangrowth with offensive Amoonguss (Spore/Giga Drain/Sludge Bomb/HP Fire). Any other suggestions on this? Personally I think Cacturne has been more valuable to this team than Tangrowth since it sets Spikes and has priority, so Tangrowth is probably the one worth replacing.

Lastly for Camerupt, Fire Blast might be worthwhile as a replacement for Lava Plume. Earth Power should definitely replace Earthquake. I'll think over Fire Blast > Lava Plume.

@atomicllamas I'd rather not use Lanturn because it kills momentum for this team. Rotom-C could work, or even something like Ludicolo. But Lanturn does have the advantage of being resistant to Flying moves.

 

[lucarioman5]

I think I should insist on Atomicllamas Spiritomb set, but I think you should have Foul play and not Shadow sneak, as your team already has a lot of priority and sucker punch covers more types. The reason I insist on Spiritomb is also because it is immune to figting types, as you have 3 pokemon weak to it and only Mesprit to counter them. Although the set is walled by figting types damage wise, it can burn them, which will then alleviate pressure from Mesprit, which in my opinion is expected to take a lot more damage than it can with druddigon, fighting types and other psychic types. Spiritomb is also a good spinblocker and pursuit trapper ehich was already mentioned.

Although you are sacrificing sleep, I think you should replace Tangrowth, as its attacking moves are covered by one or another of your pokemon (earthquake being covered by 2 pokemon).

On the defensive side, Cacturne covers the water resist and if I am not mistaken, a lot of RU water types are special based, so a resisted Scald will still do decent damage, so Cacturne is an overall better water counter. Plus, it takes away a flying weakness, which will make you less pressed to have a flying resist. The only good flying moves that you will run into are pretty much Hurricane and Brave bird, but most pokemon that learn those moves are flying types so you can see it coming and switch for Camerupt.

The only problem I can see you run into and have no really good counters are flying types in the rain, as Cacturne gets destroyed by accurate Hurricanes and Canerupt gets destroyed by water, so you could eventually think of replacing U-turn or Healing wish for T-bolt on Mesprit, so it deals with both of those priblematic types in the rain, but luckily rain isn't very common, so it isn't really needed.

One last thing is definitely change sucker punch for rock slide on Kangheskhan if you get rid of Tangrowth so you can take out those flying types that could annoy you, like Moltres and Aerodactyl. Also, congrats if you read through my wall of text :P

 

[atomicllamas]

One last thing is definitely change sucker punch for rock slide on Kangheskhan if you get rid of Tangrowth

I'm gonna defend the set I made, rock slide has 75 power meaning that a super effective hit on a flying type is doing 2*75=150 base power, return against a neutral opponent (all flying types except Aero and Archeops) is doing 1.5*102=153 base power (STAB), and that is without taking into account the silk scarf boost. The only mons (I believe) that rock slide hits the hardest on this set are Scyther (all bug flying), Moltres, Archeops, and Aerodactyl, all are faster and since they are stealth rock weak, sucker punch (especially for Archeops) is a superior choice to rock slide. Hammer Arm has redundant coverage with earthquake and makes Kanga a much worse revenge killer, which if you want Kanga to be, you should use FO + SP.

Edit: And rock slide is only 90% accurate meaning that its actual damage output is even lower than it seems.

 

[lucarioman5]

That makes sense, thank you for the calcs, it is good to have the maker of the set explain it and I agree that Hammer arm isn't necessary. (Also, why does it say "fat" before my username in the quote?)

 

[Explorer]

That makes sense, thank you for the calcs, it is good to have the maker of the set explain it and I agree that Hammer arm isn't necessary. (Also, why does it say "fat" before my username in the quote?)

That's just how the program Smogon uses is formatted.

I'm really thinking Tangrowth should go. Until presented with a better idea I will be using Spiritomb with Foul Play/Pursuit/Will-o-Wisp/other move. I might do the HP Grass thing for Kabutops so my spikes don't go to waste--it is hard for Cacturne to switch in and out repeatedly due to its frality and large number of weaknesses.

 

[EonX]

A couple of things I'm going to suggest, but I would like to say that this is a really cool team before I suggest stuff.

There's a couple of things I'm going to recommend on Mesprit considering I feel I'm one of the most experienced with using it. First of all, Spiritomb is now around to handle Fighting-types and special walls aren't a major issue for this team. For that reason, I think Psychic is a better option over Psyshock overall. (if you feel Gallade is too much of a threat to your team, you're welcome to keep Psyshock) Remember, Choice Scarf Mesprit doesn't aim to break walls; it simply wants to get revenge kills or possibly sweep late-game if the opportunity presents itself. The other would be the use of Thunderbolt to handle Moltres. While Camerupt can discourage the use of Fire Blast, absolutely everything on your team is 2HKOed by Hurricane after SR support (and since you have no spinner, the chances of SR being around is p. high especially considering Druddigon is a common user of the move) Thunderbolt also beats down Archeops, Aerodactyl, and discourages Durant from trying to setup. I feel it should go over Healing Wish as U-turn gels really well with the Spikes support your team has. Also, switch to Naive or Timid for the nature. (I personally run Timid as the power of U-turn isn't too important imo) Mesprit is a great offensive check to Fighting-types and can actually avoid the 2HKO from Scarf Medicham's HJK, meaning you won't have to rely on a Speed tie in case you're left with that game-ending matchup.

Next would be on Cacturne. While Giga Drain is nice for HP recovery, Escavalier is not a fun foe for this team to face. Camerupt doesn't have reliable recovery, so it can't be relied upon to switch-in more than once while Tomb can't reliably burn it due to the power of Megahorn. It's also a major obstacle for Mesprit if you're wanting to clean up with it in the late-game as it's perhaps the most reliable trapper of Scarf Mesprit (rivaled by Spiritomb) For this reason, I would suggest running HP Fire over Giga Drain so Cacturne can seriously dent or outright KO Escavalier to lessen the pressure on your defensive core to handle it.

Proposed Changes

Mesprit:
Psychic --> Psyshock
Thunderbolt --> Healing Wish
Naive or Timid nature --> Hasty nature

Cacturne:
Hidden Power [Fire] --> Giga Drain