Monferno and buds

[Mysligg]

Intro
Hiya smogon!
Im here to get some feedback on a team i have been using for a while and that i enjoy using. I made the team just after the recent tier shift and wanted to try out a few pokemons i never used before. The team is doing quite well and im often pleased with how it performes. However i feel it will need a few adjustments to be top notch but it can definetly handle itself.

The Team

Baws
Monferno@choice band
Trait: iron fist
EVs: 252 Atk /4 SpD /252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
-Flare Blitz
-Mach Punch
-Close combat
-U-turn

The first pokemon i put on the team. Monferno is a underrated versatile pokemon in NU. it serves a as a decent wallbreaker. A good revenge killer with mach punch and can scout with U-turn. I have tried both blaze and iron fist and iron fist have worked best for me for the extra damage on mach punch

Dork
Seismitoad@Leftovers
Trait: Water absorb
EVs: 252 Hp /252 Def /4SpD
Nature: Bold
-Scald
-Earth power
-Stealth rocks
-Knock off

Defensive Seismitoad is great! I often use Dork as my lead since he have a good matchup vs alot of other SR setters like Golem, Golurk, Torkoal etc. This often leads to Dork being able to put up SR himself. Scald and earth power is there for stab and burn. Knock off is great on switches and generally supporting the team. I can't count how many times ive knocked off the berry of choice from exeggutor. Defensive investment lets me handle lead sawk and other physical threaths better aswell.

Rosé
Roselia@eviolite
Trait: Natural cure
EVs: 252Hp /4 Def /252 SpD
Nature: Calm
-Giga drain
-Sludge bomb
-Spikes
-Synthesis

Roselia Tanks the special hits seismitoad and Bastiodon dont want to take. Giga drain and sludge bomb are great stab moves that handle threaths for the team well. Roselia is the only thing that can handle Ludicolo (somewhat) reliably and handle most special threaths. It can life a +1 gorebyss icebeam and leave it at a range where monferno and banette can revenge kill it. Spikes a great to have and synthesis is there for recovery.

Smugface
Bastiodon@Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EV's: 252Hp /4Def /252Spd
Nature: Impish
-Stone edge
-Roar
-Metal burst
-Toxic

Bastiodon handle flying and normal type attacks. It is a great counter to Articuno, Swellow, (some) Bravierys and generally every poke that does not carry fighting or ground moves. Stone edge is there to not be taunt bait and to hit charizard, articuno etc hard. Roar is there to prevent setup and generally phase stuff the fuck out. Metal burst take things by surprise and have saved me from sticky situations alot of times. Even tho it's a gimmicky move it's nice to have. Toxic is to hurt switches and damage things that stone edge wont.

Threat
Banette@choice band
Trait: Insomnia
EVs: 252Hp /252Atk /4SpD
Nature: Adamant
-Shadow claw
-Sucker punch
-Trick
-Pursuit

Banette is C00l. the EVs are there to deal as much damage as possible aswell as take as many hits as possible. Offensive ghost pokemon is rare in NU so i tried out Banette, and he workes! Shadow claw is there for a hard hitting stab. Sucker punch compensates for banettes low speed and workes great with pursuit. Trick cripples tanks. Namely lickylicky and milktank who think they have a free switch in on a ghost attack. Worth mentioning is insomnia. Switching into butterfree or execcutor and threatening them with shadow claw/pursuit is great.

Cap
Samurott@Life orb
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 4Def /252Spa /252Spe
Nature: Modest
-Hydro pump
-Ice Beam
-Hidden power grass
-Taunt

Rather straight forward Samurott set. Hudro pump for more power. Icebeam and HP grass for coverage and taunt to deal with walls that would cripple it. I often find Samurott holding this team together. Almost always taking a neutral hit and retaliating with a hard hitting move.

All tips and comments to improve my team are welcome and i hope you enjoyed your read!

 

[watashi]

if you want a physical ghost-type that uses choice band, golurk is a much better option, with dual stabs, better coverage moves, and greater stats. plus, you don't have to lock yourself into weak or risky moves like pursuit and sucker punch.

seismitoad doesn't really have a role on this team since samurott is already providing your team with water-type attacks and it's typing really isn't meant for physical walling. i would replace it for another pokemon, preferably something that can revenge kill fast threats, such as choice scarf rotom-s.

you can fit stealth rocks on bastiodon, probably over metal burst since it's a rather unreliable attack. it should also be using rock blast over stone edge for the ability to break the substitutes of weaker pokemon such as haunter or ninjask, and the slightly more reliable accuracy.

lastly, monferno should be using a jolly nature to outpace top tier threats such as gardevoir and braviary. i understand that it needs all the power it can get, but these two pokemon and others that sit around monferno's speed range can really hurt this team.


summary of changes:

golurk over banette
rotom-s over seismitoad
stealth rock and rock blast over metal burst and stone edge on bastiodon
jolly nature on monferno

set(s)

Golurk @ Choice Band
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Punch
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Drain Punch

Rotom-Fan @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Air Slash
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
- Volt Switch

 

[Mysligg]

Thanks for the reply.

Im definetly gonna change monfernos nature for the extra speed. Since like you stated, those mons are a threat and wont take alot of damage from mach punch.

I will try out the other changes aswell. Banette did leave me in sticky situation when being locked into sucker punch and pursuit. I do however really like defensive seismitoad and how good it workes as a lead most of the time.

 

[ium]

you're a bit open to normal-types that carry coverage moves to hurt bastiodon, such as zangoose, kangaskhan, and tauros. they're usually not choiced, and they outspeed a majority of your team (bar choice scarf rotom-s, which is a suggestion you should take). all you can do is try to pick them off with mach punch, but you're potentially locking yourself into a move for pokemon to take advantage of and none of your team members are switching in safely regardless.

i suggest using either metang or regirock over bastiodon depending on which one you think your team needs. at decent health, both of them can take close combat from zangoose much more reliably and retaliate accordingly unlike bastiodon. earthquake from tauros does still hurt a bit for metang, but with rotom-s, you can possibly play around it. now as for the differences between metang and regirock, the former is great because it still maintains a role as a psychic- and ice-type check that bastiodon provided for you. the latter is another choice because it has solid all-around bulk while still being able to maintain decent offensive presence and a way to recover hp against normal-types in drain punch.

also, you may want to consider a timid nature on samurott to speed tie with other samurott. this is potentially another pokemon that could give your team trouble, which is why rotom-s is important too.

sets

Metang @ Eviolite
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def or 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature or Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake

Regirock @ Leftovers
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch / Toxic