A non-Trick Room Mega-Banette Balance Team?!
Hey Smogon!
So I found that M-Banette has great potential outside of wrecking people in trick room teams. Hence I tried to make a balanced team out of it in the RU meta. So far, it's been doing very well with the only reason for my losses being stupid misplays :( so without further ado, here is the team!
Jack the Ripper (Banette) (M) @ Banettite
Ability: Cursed Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 228 HP / 252 Atk / 28 Spe Adamant Nature
- Destiny Bond
- Gunk Shot
- Knock Off
- Will-O-Wisp
First and foremost is M-Banette. Typical set if I do say so myself. Destiny Bond is so you can get rid of annoying mon as necessary. Gunk Shot is a great move that deals with fairies and grass mons such as Aromatisse and Virizion, however I am thinking about whether or not to replace it with Shadow Claw for great STAB damage. Knock Off does huge damage on other ghost mons such as Jellicent and psychic type mons which are just annoying as hell. Will-o-Wisp breaks down walls that are annoying as well. The main problem that this mon will face is Spiritomb, but that can be taken care of by using Destiny Bond. Dark mons of course are threats, which is where our next member comes in...
Justice (Virizion) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Justified
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
Virizion is my bae in RU. Justified makes it so that Swords Dance becomes unnecessary if the switch is predicted well. This allows Virizion to not only take a hit for M-Banette but also power up significantly, allowing it to sweep many mons in the tier for a OHKO. Leaf Blade destroys Alomomola and other water type mons after one SD. SD is there of course to boost this mon to let it mop the floor with opposing mons. Close Combat will deal with steel, ice, and rock types no problem. Stone Edge will destroy flying and fire types. Lum Berry is over Life Orb due to the excessive prevalence of status mons which can cripple Virizion very effectively. The main problem this mon will face is flying types like Braviary and Golbat. Ice isn't as annoying but is dangerous to another mon in the team, thus the next mon comes in to take care of these difficulties...
Ifrit (Regirock) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Sturdy
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 196 HP / 148 Atk / 52 Def / 112 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
Regirock has been my favorite trap setter in RU, as it effectively sets up rocks while covering for the flying and fire type weaknesses of Virizion. It also resists ice which will be annoying to the next mon in this team. Furthermore, Virizion covers for Regirock's water and ground weaknesses very well. Stealth Rock is to set up rocks which is important in this team. Stone Edge is STAB can 2HKO Golbat and OHKO Braviary and most fire mons in the tier. EQ deals with fire mons and steel type mons. Ice Punch deals with grass types very well, especially doing huge damage on Virizion. Some may wonder why I am not going for Rhyperior instead. Three reasons: a.) 4x weakness to water and 4x weakness to grass ain't nice as it makes it more likely to get OHKO as it doesn't have sturdy as well. b.) more bulky due to a nice balance in defense and offense overall. c.) more coverage moves available. EV's are such to maximize bulkiness and offensive potential at the same time. Though of course, fighting and ground type mons will do a lot of damage (hence sturdy), so comes in our next mon...
Big Mouth (Golbat) (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Defog
- Roost
- Poison Fang
Golbat is the defogger of the team which resists fighting, grass, and fairies very very well due to eviolite while hitting them back hard. Furthermore, the poison typing allows this mon to switch in to a predicted toxic. The ever fearful EQ which does huge damage to Regirock is avoided by this mon's typing. This set is somewhat not standard as instead of toxic, I go for poison fang which is STAB so I deal damage to fairies while also having a high chance of badly poisoning the opponent. Brave Bird will OHKO offensively focused grass and fighting types such as Virizion and Emboar with rocks. Furthermore, Infiltrator lets this mon hit annoying substitute users such as Trevenant (that Substitute + Harvest set is no longer as terrifying now!) Defog will clear traps if necessary and Roost is for longevity. The ice type weakness is well covered by Regirock, but of course electric is the issue, hence our next mon...
Green Lantern (Jolteon) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Signal Beam
Jolteon is notorious for being a powerful mon in RU as a special sweeper. Volt Absorb is a fantastic ability that will allow this mon to absorb electric type moves that threaten Golbat and our next mon while boosting Jolteon's SpA. Thunderbolt is a hard hitting STAB move, Volt Turn for momentum, HP [Ice] for coverage that OHKO Flygon, and Signal Beam takes care of dark mons which are annoying for M-Bannette and covers for psychic mons as well. I have been considering switching life orb for assault vest to make this mon easier to switch into as it will then rarely get OHKO. The only type this mon fears is ground, which is taken care of by the last mon on this team...
Momola (Alomomola) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 120 HP / 136 Def / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Wish
- Knock Off
- Scald
- Protect
The best cleric and wall in RU is back as it will recover mons while dealing huge damage to annoying ones. By taking care of ground types, rock types, and fire types which hit Jolteon, Golbat, and Virizion hard respectively. The sky high HP makes wish on this mon a blessing to the whole team. Scald will kill off ground, fire, and rock mons. Protect is to help this mon recover if it needs to wish itself back to health. The most annoying mon this mon may encounter is Jellicent, which can be taken care of by Knock off or more effectively by M-Banette and Virizion
So let's talk about threats now.
- Spiritomb: Rather than saying this mon is very dangerous, the problem with Spiritomb is its ability to OHKO M-Banette. Of course, I can kill it back with other mon or sacrifice M-Banette with the use of Destiny Bond which is prioritized through Prankster.
- Gallade: This mon is a true threat as it can effectively OHKO two of my mons (Virizion and Regirock), and OHKO four of them if swords dance boosted and the whole team if it knows Leaf Blade. A SD boosted Gallade is one of my biggest fears for this team. Luckily, Gallade is not common.
- M-Glalie: Mega Glalie is a threat in general for a variety of teams due to its excellent coverage, nice speed (for RU), and high ATK. The best bet I got against this mon is to switch to Virizion to OHKO with close combat. However if this was predicted and M-Glalie uses Double Edge or Return...only saving grace is Destiny Bond it or Regirock while praying that Stone Edge doesn't miss. Or else, this mon will 2HKO Alomomola, Golbat, and OHKO Jolteon.
- Hoopa: Hoopa is able to OHKO M-Banette, Virizion, Jolteon, and Regirock while also 2HKO Golbat. The only chance I have against this mon is either Destiny Bond it or hope that it doesn't have choice scarf and also that Virizion is already SD so I can kill it using Leaf Blade. Overall, Hoopa is very scary. If it's a LO set, then...
