ORAS NU Kinda Bulky Offense? New to ORAS NU (RMT)

[The tank is here]

Hi everyone! I want to get more into NU, as some of my favorite Pokemon (in general, not in a competitive sense) are in this tier. I've always been an OU, UU, or Ubers player, so I wanted to try something in the lower tiers. I've dabbled in NU before during XY, but I haven't been exposed to the ORAS changes in the tier as much. This is a team I've thrown together that has been giving me mixed results on the ladder, so I'd appreciate some feedback on it.
Changes are in bold.

Steelix-Mega (M) @ Steelixite
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 88 SpD / 168 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Thunder Fang
- Earthquake
I really wanted to use this new, cool-looking Mega, but it's outclassed by all the other Steel types in the higher tiers. However, trying out NU was the perfect chance to put it on a team and test it out. I know the usual tank set is Sassy with 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD, but this offensive set it purposed for Steelix to wreck, as it's already very bulky on the physical side. The EVs allow me to outspeed uninvested base 50 Pokemon. Thunder Fang is used in the final slot to catch Mantine on the switch, which would otherwise wall the majority of my team, in particular Steelix and Typhlosion.

Feraligatr (M) @ Splash Plate
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Return
- Aqua Jet
I always had an affinity for Water type starters, and out of all current starters, Feraligatr is probably one of my favorites (too bad it doesn't get its hidden ability). I added Feraligatr because it can take out the Fire and Ground types that Mega Steelix dislikes, while Steelix can eat up Electric and Grass type attacks that threaten Feraligatr. I opted for the SD set over the DD set because of its wallbreaking potential. The EVs are to outspeed neutral-natured max speed base 70 Pokemon, and the rest are thrown into bulk and attack. I attached a Splash Plate over a Lum Berry as a pseudo-Life Orb for Waterfall and Aqua Jet, since I have other methods of dealing with status on the team.

Typhlosion (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA
- Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Extrasensory
I needed a strong special attacker to break through physical walls and deal with bulkier Grass types, so another one of my favorite starters came to mind. This was supposed to be Pyroar, but I chose Typhlosion due to the sheer power of Eruption at 75%+ HP and Blaze-boosted Fire Blast. I had trouble choosing between Focus Blast and Extrasensory, but I opted for the latter so I had a way to catch bulkier Poison types like Weezing and threaten Fighting types, especially Thick Fat Hariyama.

Garbodor (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 HP / 160 SpD / 96 Spe
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Gunk Shot
- Drain Punch
- Toxic Spikes
Originally Vileplume, I needed a Pokemon to absorb Toxic Spikes, which would otherwise be an issue for my team since I didn't have a Spinner or Defogger. Alongside that, Garbodor can set up Spikes and Toxic Spikes of its own to put pressure on the opposing team. Having a Poison type on the team gives me an answer to the Fighting types that pose a threat to Steelix, who resists Psychic type attacks that Garbodor dislikes. The Speed EVs allow it to outspeed neutral-natured max speed base 50 Pokemon, and the rest are invested in special bulk to better take on Grass type special attackers like Lilligant and Ludicolo. Though Black Sludge could've been used, I decided on Rocky Helmet to punish physical attackers, especially if they carry Life Orb and/or knock out Garbodor and activate Aftermath.

Gurdurr (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
Initially AV Hariyama, Gurdurr is a strong setup attacker with great bulk from its Eviolite and reasonable survivability through Drain Punch. A Fighting type with good physical bulk takes care of the stronger Normal and Rock types in the tier, such as Kangaskhan and Rhydon. To make up for the lack of a Lum Berry on Feraligatr, Guts lets Gurdurr act as somewhat of a status absorber, and can really rack up damage when paired with Bulk Up. This gives Gurdurr a means to check Ghost types like Mismagius and Gourgeist as well, using their Will-o-Wisps against them by hitting them hard with Guts-boosted Knock Offs.

Mesprit @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- U-turn
- Healing Wish
Scarfed Mesprit gives me more speed and some offensive momentum, which the team lacked overall. Thunderbolt is the coverage move of choice, because Modest nature Mesprit 2HKOs defensive Mantine, which stops Steelix, Feraligatr, and Typhlosion from dishing out damage efficiently and denting teams. A Psychic type adds another Fighting resistance to the team, and having Levitate gives me an immunity to Ground type attacks, which is otherwise unresisted by the rest of the team and hits three of the Pokemon for super-effective damage. Mesprit also synergizes well with Gurdurr by eating up Psychic type attacks whilst Gurdurr deals with Dark and Ghost types. Healing Wish can help turn the tide of the battle, allowing me to restore whichever Pokemon I need back to full health at a given time.

I'm still learning ORAS NU, so feedback to allow this team to adjust accordingly to the tier would be great. I'm still not extremely familiar with the major threats in the tier outside of what Viability Rankings say. Anything helps, and I'm very open to whatever modifications can improve the team. Thank you to those who have suggested changes to the team already, your feedback has helped, even if your suggestions were not implemented in the team.

Importable

Importable

Steelix-Mega (M) @ Steelixite
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 88 SpD / 168 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Thunder Fang
- Earthquake

Feraligatr (M) @ Splash Plate
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Return
- Aqua Jet

Garbodor (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 HP / 160 SpD / 96 Spe
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Gunk Shot
- Drain Punch
- Toxic Spikes

Typhlosion (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA
- Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Extrasensory

Gurdurr (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off

Mesprit @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- U-turn
- Healing Wish

 

[Ares]

Hey The tank is here first off welcome to smogon!

Nice team you got here with some top tier threats (2 S ranks and 2 A+ mons), there is literally no reason no to use Mega Steelix on a team as well as Typhlosion on an offensive team. As you noted your team has a couple of minor problems, the main one being that its rather slow, luckily you have Typhlosion and Mismagius along with two priority Pokemon to help mitigate that as well as good all around bulk. Another thing is that while there is the concept of a FWG core that floats around, it is mainly a defensive core that is designed to take hits. You have an offensive FWG core that is just a FWG core and doesn't really do to much for you on the offensive side, and the fact that you're using offensive mons means you can't do to much on the defensive side.

That being said your team synergizes really well and I didn't see to much to change right off the bat (a lot of them are small move / ability changes). On a more in depth look, the main change I'm going to offer up is trying out Scarfed Physical Mesprit > Mismagius as this will help your team speed up a bit. Not only that, but it gives your team some needed momentum with U-turn which will allow you to bring in Typhlosion unharmed to fire off powerful Fire-type attacks. On top of this Mesprit also brings a major change to the team, which is it adds in survivability with Healing Wish, right now your team is prone to being worn down quickly, as you have no spinner and no recovery on any mon bar Vileplume. Healing Wish will let you revive one of your terrifying threats such as Typhlosion or Feraligatr (meaning you don't have to use Lum Berry) for a chance to sweep again.

Minor Changes:

Mega Steelix: Heavy Slam > Gyro Ball which means either Adamant or Careful (depending on preference) over Brave; Heavy Slam gets the same max base power (120) vs all the same targets as well as having more PP and not having to reduce your speed, its just all around a better option.

Vileplume:If you find yourself getting worn down to much by Fighting-type attacks, you can opt for a more defensive spread as this will let you take on Fighting-spam a little bit easier or you can opt for running Black Sludge > Life Orb. As well as if you are having trouble with Malamar you can run Moonblast, I'm just offering this up cause I've noticed multiple ppl complain about it.

Hariyama: Thick Fat > Guts this is probably one of the most important changes out of the minor changes, Thick Fat is the way for Hariyama to take on Fire-type Pokemon as well as Ice-type Pokemon. You have a pretty big Fire-type weakness otherwise and Feraligatr is quickly worn down by Typhlosion and Pyroar from repeated switchins and can't OHKO with Aqua Jet. I would also say you should probably run Bullet Punch > Fake Out as Bullet Punch is generally the better priority move, if you wanted to run Fake Out you should switch out Ice Punch for it.

Mesprit @ Choice Scarf | Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe | Adamant Nature
Zen Headbutt | Knock Off | U-turn | Healing Wish

Edit:
OR:
Mesprit @ Choice Scarf | Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe | Modest Nature
Psychic | Thunderbolt | U-turn | Healing Wish

As Soulgazer pointed out to me your team has trouble with Mantine, which is on the rise right now as it can wall both Typhlosion and Mega Steelix. To give you a good check to it you can also run Psychic / Tbolt over Zen Heabutt / Knock Off. The main thing that your team needed was some momentum, speed, and a way to increase survivability. For that reason U-turn and Healing Wish are on both sets, but picking what you want to hit is an important decision on Mesprit which is why Thunderbolt is there. Please note that U-turn on the special set isn't supposed to be there for damage, it is there for momentum which is why I chose a modest nature, if you want the extra damage you can go with a -def, but I wouldn't recommend it.

If you really find yourself having problems with Mantine, you can make Steelix a cool lure and use either Rock Slide / Stone Edge or ThunderFang to lure in and destroy Mantine, Stone Edge and Rock Slide hit more targets while ThunderFang is a more accurate move that can OHKO Mantine. You can also try out a more offensive spread on Mega Steelix, with enough speed for uninvested base 50s, because while specially defensive lix gives you a better check to more things offensive also destroys teams.

Hope this helped ^.^

 

[soulgazer]

a fast mega steelix with enough speed to outrun base 50s (you need to hit like ~140? speed) or even max speed would be nice to let mega lix deal with multiple threats; you will lose a bit of bulk by doing so, but mega lix is so bulky anyway + if you do try out montsegur's scarf mesprit suggestion, you will have a way to heal it! run Heavy Slam / EQ / SR / Explosion | Thunder Fang | Dragon Tail imo.

speaking of mesprit, if you do decide to try it you should go with a special attacking scarf set as it is, imo, better in the current metagame and will also help out your teammate. U-Turn / Psychic / Thunderbolt / Healing Wish with a Modest Nature and Max Speed / SpA. Thunderbot will give you a way to beat mantine/pelipper/xatu which can cause problems for your team (mainly the first two).

go with a faster spread on gatr: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spe with an Adamant nature will let gatr outrun neutral base 70s such as Modest Samurott and Ludicolo, which can come in handy in certain situations (especially since you are using return for coverage).

I personally don't think you need Hariyama there: you already got gatr+typh to come in on fire-types attacks. Hariyama is just rly good though so I guess it can stay, but i am going to suggest you to try out a Guts Bulk Up Gurdurr over it as it gives you what you wanted Hariyama for: a Fighting-type that can absorb status and will also give you another win condition.

TBH there's a lot of options if you were to change hariyama or vileplume, which in my opinion are the weaker links of your team. Garbodor over Vileplume can work, going back to Lilligant works too, you could even try something fun like Swords Dance Jumpluff over Hariyama with Garbodor over Vileplume to give you entry hazards (Garbodor) and a set up sweeper that pairs well with Gatr (Jumpluff).

hope this was helpful :O

 

[The tank is here]

Thanks Montsegur and Soulgazer. Been trying out some of the changes and I have to say that I quite like them. I quite like Scarf Mesprit and Garbodor on the team, and a more offensive EV spread of Mega Steelix seems to be working quite well also. Speaking of which, I'm having trouble fitting Thunder Fang/ Stone Edge onto the move set - I quite like having SR and both STABs. Soulgazer mentioned that Hariyama was an expendable member of the team, and although I like Bulk Up Gurdurr, what other Pokemon would be viable that could give me the needed Electric type coverage? I looked into Electivire, but it doesn't seem to have any setup potential.

 

[BelmontGabriel]

So I tested your team a bit and i suggest you to run a bulkier Vileplume set. Don't get me wrong I like the offensive one but w/o defensive Vileplume your team gets wrecked by Rain teams which are very common on the ladder.

I suggest to use either a very defensive set with Black sludge or this LO set to kill uninvested Ludicolo on the switchin. (I tried to change it not that much :])

Vileplume (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Effect Spore
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Synthesis

 

[Ares]

Thanks Montsegur and Soulgazer. Been trying out some of the changes and I have to say that I quite like them. I quite like Scarf Mesprit and Garbodor on the team, and a more offensive EV spread of Mega Steelix seems to be working quite well also. Speaking of which, I'm having trouble fitting Thunder Fang/ Stone Edge onto the move set - I quite like having SR and both STABs.

Eh, I know how you like the ability to phase, but tbh thats the moveslot that is used for customization. Heavy Slam + EQ gives mega lix really good coverage, so I would try out Thunder Fang > Dragon Tail and see how that works out for you. If you end up missing the phasing abilities you can switch back, but try it out first cause thats the best move to replace imo.

Toxic Spikes on Garbodor is probably something you want to look into as it is really helpful in wearing down opposing teams (which is why you wanted an absorber), Toxic is a viable choice for the reasons you stated but I've always preferred Toxic Spikes.

Also I wouldn't put a LO on a defensive Pokemon as it cuts down on survivability and isn't really needed, if you want more offensive capabilities just invest in the offensive stat.

Edit @below: the spread that The tank is here was using the first time was the best spread for offensive Vileplume, you shouldn't run no speed.

 

[GOthee]

So I tested your team a bit and i suggest you to run a bulkier Vileplume set. Don't get me wrong I like the offensive one but w/o defensive Vileplume your team gets wrecked by Rain teams which are very common on the ladder.

I suggest to use either a very defensive set with Black sludge or this LO set to kill uninvested Ludicolo on the switchin. (I tried to change it not that much :])

Vileplume (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Effect Spore
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Synthesis

USE this:

Vileplume (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Effect Spore
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Def
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Synthesis

 

[YveltalNL]

Team looks very solid overall.
I'd suggest trying Safety Goggles on Garbodor to prevent Lilligant from setting up after a Sleep Powder.
However, Rocky Helmet is just as good, if not better.

 

[ryan]

Hey The tank is here, your team looks really solid, even in its original form. Good work.

With recent metagame changes (the loss of Kabutops and Accelgor and the arrival of Heliolisk, Quagsire, Virizion, Mawile, and Claydol), the team could use some minor tweaks to work more efficiently. The main change I would recommend would be using Vileplume once again over Garbodor, as it acts as a superior check to Heliolisk and Virizion (because of its reliable recovery) and gives you an answer to Quagsire, which your team currently struggles to break. The EV spread is fairly flexible, though it should probably be catered more towards answering Heliolisk, which is a bigger threat to your team because you have Scarf Mesprit to revenge kill Virizion. I'd recommend testing a spread of 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 SpD with a Calm nature, which is never 2HKOed by Virizion's Zen Headbutt or Life Orb Heliolisk's Hyper Voice.

You might also want to consider trying Psyshock over Psychic on Mesprit, as it is a guaranteed OHKO against Virizion without any hazard damage vs. Psychic, which does ~70-80%. Test out the team with Vileplume over Garbodor first though; you might find that you prefer the extra power of Psychic instead.

Best of luck with your team in the new metagame!

Recommended set:

@ Black Sludge | Effect Spore
252 HP / 104 Def / 152 SpD | Calm
Giga Drain / Sludge Bomb / Synthesis / Sleep Powder | Aromatherapy