RU is a pretty cool metagame. The walls are a bit stronger than the wallbreakers, in that nearly every offensive threat can be covered defensively pretty well. Those of you who hate permanent weather might just fit right in with RU, if only you'd give it a chance. I don't really care about the politics behind usage tiers. I just know that RU exists and it's a good metagame.
This team has gone virtually unchanged since its inception. Originally, the point was to try out Choice Band Medicham in order to test out the extremes of RU's firepower. The team also had Honchkrow, who was originally put in as a haphazard Pursuit and priority user but ended up as its own fearsome offensive force. The team went undefeated for quite a while, and even now it hasn't seen defeat very often. Nonetheless, changes to the team were all but fated, as Honchkrow got banned and I saw teams of fast, powerful Pokémon more and more often.
This is the team as it stands now. Defensively, it covers pretty much everything with a sturdy combination of walls, while offensively, it uses the awesome power of Druddigon and Medicham to revenge kill and clean house. I also personally find it neat that every opposing attacking type is resisted, 11 of them twice (though I guess some of them aren't that meaningful). This creates a sort of redundancy both offensively and defensively, giving multiple different answers to some threats for the purposes of backup or doing something specific (hence the thread name). I was #1 on PS!'s RU ladder for a while, and I still stay in the top 5 fairly consistently unless I'm using a different team or I don't battle in RU for a while. (I do have an alt from a certain fiasco on PS!, which I probably should use more often.) I suppose that's not what matters, though. What matters is the team.
I wanted to have an RMT up for some metagame before B2W2's release, mainly because my teams could be rendered obsolete upon said release, and I picked this one. I was planning on putting this up for a rate earlier, but it got delayed for various reasons. One big one was that I was having trouble building another RU team with a similar success rate and intuitive feel. Another reason was that I was considering showing it to the IRC channel #rarelyused first, but I think that this is just better for me. I also tried variations on the team, but none of them have clicked as well as this team. Then a certain "last straw" happened recently, though coming out of it I decided I wanted to post this RMT anyway. It partly cost me some art I had commissioned, though, since I wanted this done before B2W2 and there just wasn't enough time anymore.
I figure it would be more exciting to do the most "intuitive" ones first and work down.
Tellah (Slowking) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
Yeah, do I really need to explain this? The first of three specially inclined walls, Slowking is pretty much THE reason a lot of potential offensive threats are used less than they could be, and also a reason a bunch of other offensive threats are used more. Slowking stops Fire- and Fighting-types who would otherwise give this team a very hard time. A majority of Fighting-types pretty much can't do anything to Slowking (paralyzing Hitmonlee never gets old), while I've seen some Fire-types break through with persistence/luck but not enough to be much of a threat for the rest of the game. It also checks Omastar, though some Regenerator shenanigans may need to be had to beat it. It's definitely worth noting that Gallade is a very particular exception to the RU Fighting-types that Slowking counters, thanks to Night Slash / Shadow Sneak coverage and high special bulk.
The importance of Regenerator cannot be overstated here. The purpose of this Pokémon slot was to pick the (with various practical conditions) bulkiest Pokémon in RU. Back when I was building this team, Cresselia was being voted on, and I put Cresselia on in anticipation that it wouldn't be banned... and it did get banned. Next up was... Scyther... so I went ahead and made the assumption that Pokémon with Regenerator are 4/3 as bulky as they "really" are, which brought me to Slowking. So really, Slowking wouldn't even be on here (or, I suspect, a large majority of other RU teams with Slowking) if not for Regenerator. Regenerator is just too awesome, especially when I can just switch in, only to switch back out again for HP++. This is handy in tight situations.
Midgardsormr (Steelix) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Gyro Ball
- Roar
Again, I feel there's little need to explain why Steelix is here. I already mentioned the existence of two other specially defensive walls, and Steelix complements this setup very well. I'm definitely thankful for having a check to Druddigon and Aggron in particular, as well as a host of other physical attackers. SubPunch Aggron is a very real threat, though, and it is the reason I get wary of immediately switching Steelix into it. Roar is probably my most commonly used move after using Stealth Rock, just because Steelix's offense is really lacking, but the attacks are there for hitting fast opponents and Earthquake-weak opponents on the switch.
Clown Car (Cryogonal) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 232 HP / 220 SpD / 56 Spe
Calm Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Recover
Cryogonal is awesome and I was using it before it became cool <.< Back when I was making the team and choosing a spinner, I specifically prioritized beating Ghost-types over coming in and spinning easily (like, say, Sandslash). This was so that it could double as a lure to get the Ghost-types out of Medicham's way. This has also ended up turning Cryogonal into my main burn absorber. It's not a perfect solution, but alternatives present their own problems for this team.
Cryogonal also functions as a great special wall, and the second one listed on this team. Having only two resistances is kind of lame (though Levitate is <3) so I wouldn't recommend using it alone, but it's good for backup when the other appropriate wall goes down, or for front-line walling when I have to preserve the other appropriate wall. Lilligant is a good example of when this becomes important; Cryogonal and Mandibuzz cover both HP possibilities, and due to Sleep Clause, only one can be put to sleep while the other deals with the imminent threat. Random Special Defense drops (from e.g. Shadow Ball) are also lame, and having this special walling system helps to mitigate the effects of such developments. Stalling out Lanturn is always fun.
The Speed EVs are there to outrun max+ 80s, particularly Gallade. I'm not suggesting that Cryogonal would normally beat Gallade (because... lol), but if Cryogonal is in a position to finish him off, I'll gladly take it. The remaining EVs and nature optimize special bulk, ignoring physical bulk entirely. See, the issue with a stat spread as one-sided as Cryogonal's is that even with a 4:1 bias toward special bulk, the optimal bulk suggested would maximize Defense with a Bold nature. Yeah, I'm not bothering with taking physical attacks with Cryogonal.
I suppose Reflect and Haze are theoretically better than Toxic. I guess I never really thought about it, which is weird since you'd think I'd especially want Reflect to help against Choice Band Spiritomb. Maybe I just didn't run into enough of those...
Krillin (Druddigon) @ Choice Band
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Superpower
- Sucker Punch
- Dragon Claw
Dragon-type moves are not something that many RU teams can really justify accounting for, and that's where Druddigon comes in. Druddigon is quite possibly my favourite attacker in RU. It has Dragon STAB, it has Rough Skin, hell it even has Sucker Punch for some reason. I can live with not having a Spikes user when the opponent is taking damage just from attacking this guy, and THEN it has to worry about that ridiculous Outrage. Sometimes I kill half a team just spamming Outrage. Dragon Claw is also here for more flexibility against the squishier offensive teams. All of this makes Druddigon very well-equipped to check an attacker that has gone a little bit too out of control, without getting the walls involved. It's also bulky enough to tank stuff like Sceptile's Hidden Power Ice. I actually think that every HP counts with Druddigon (both for it and the opponent), which is why I have Choice Band rather than Life Orb. I think the biggest downside is that things can easily go horribly wrong if I make the wrong move.
Yang (Medicham) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Pure Power
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hi Jump Kick
- Psycho Cut
- ThunderPunch
- Trick
Medicham was not the non-negotiable kill inducer that I'd hoped it would be, but it's close enough. 438 Atk x 130 Base Power Hi Jump Kick = scary, man. It can't switch into very many attacks, but revenge switch-ins are often enough. Just hope that HJK doesn't miss...
Some may be aware that I used Choice Band Medicham for a long time. A very long time. There were two reasons that even someone like me, with a stubborn lust for extreme overkill firepower, would switch to a Choice Scarf. The first is that Choice Band Medicham was next to useless against teams of fast Pokémon. Now technically that isn't necessarily a dealbreaker, since being 5+fodder - 6 doesn't matter much if you win anyway. That's where the second reason comes in: every move other than Hi Jump Kick is a LOT weaker. All that power goes to waste if I'm compelled not to use it (by, say, Cofagrigus waiting for an excuse to switch in), making it more situational. Choice Scarf allows Medicham to go after faster threats, which is great for cleaning up. It also makes a much better lead.
Hilda Garde I (Mandibuzz) @ Leftovers
Ability: Big Pecks
EVs: 244 HP / 216 SpD / 48 Spe
Careful Nature
- Taunt
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird
- Roost
Mandibuzz gets a lot of flak for being weak against Stealth Rock. Said flak is largely deserved. It's still a damn good special wall, though, and with Cryogonal on Rapid Spin duty it becomes a walling horror. It checks a huge number of threats that I used to have trouble with when I had Honchkrow instead of Mandibuzz, and back then I would win by getting to the sweep first. It actually doesn't provide any "new" resistances, but it does bolster existing ones and it doesn't have weaknesses that the rest of the team has trouble handling (except maybe Electric). That and it's good to have something that can use Taunt and Whirlwind, which sometimes allow it to make short work of weakened teams. It completes the defensive core very nicely.
You may have noticed the speed creep again. 48 Spe outpaces minimum Speed Qwilfish by two points, so it will be Taunted before it can set up Spikes. Yeah, I do have Cryogonal, but it can't really switch into Qwilfish and Spikes would still become bothersome until I could sneak Cryogonal in. By extension, it also outruns the standard Bulk Up Gallade. A faster Brave Bird to the face can really make a difference. The rest naturally goes into optimizing bulk with a 2:1 bias toward special bulk, which just so happens to nearly maximize HP.
Notable threats
You may be able to tell that this team depends considerably on weakening a few of the more dangerous attackers before finishing them off. Examples are Bouffalant, Drapion, Emboar, Kabutops, Manectric and Omastar. Medicham and Druddigon (through Sucker Punch) work great here as "insurance" in the event that things go badly and something gets KOed. Aerodactyl and Archeops go down to Steelix pretty quickly, so they're usually not a problem, but one can imagine a scenario where they could do some real damage to the team.
Still, there are a couple of threats that give this team a few nightmares:
SubPunch Aggron -.- There is some prediction involved on Aggron's end if Steelix switches into Substitute, since Magnet Rise loses to Roar, but Focus Punch obviously deals a ton of damage.
Gallade - I've always found him a greater problem than just about anything else in RU, primarily because of his special bulk and Bulk Up, though Swords Dance can also cause problems. He got mentioned a lot above, and it really does help when I can outrun it sometimes.
This team has gone virtually unchanged since its inception. Originally, the point was to try out Choice Band Medicham in order to test out the extremes of RU's firepower. The team also had Honchkrow, who was originally put in as a haphazard Pursuit and priority user but ended up as its own fearsome offensive force. The team went undefeated for quite a while, and even now it hasn't seen defeat very often. Nonetheless, changes to the team were all but fated, as Honchkrow got banned and I saw teams of fast, powerful Pokémon more and more often.
This is the team as it stands now. Defensively, it covers pretty much everything with a sturdy combination of walls, while offensively, it uses the awesome power of Druddigon and Medicham to revenge kill and clean house. I also personally find it neat that every opposing attacking type is resisted, 11 of them twice (though I guess some of them aren't that meaningful). This creates a sort of redundancy both offensively and defensively, giving multiple different answers to some threats for the purposes of backup or doing something specific (hence the thread name). I was #1 on PS!'s RU ladder for a while, and I still stay in the top 5 fairly consistently unless I'm using a different team or I don't battle in RU for a while. (I do have an alt from a certain fiasco on PS!, which I probably should use more often.) I suppose that's not what matters, though. What matters is the team.
I wanted to have an RMT up for some metagame before B2W2's release, mainly because my teams could be rendered obsolete upon said release, and I picked this one. I was planning on putting this up for a rate earlier, but it got delayed for various reasons. One big one was that I was having trouble building another RU team with a similar success rate and intuitive feel. Another reason was that I was considering showing it to the IRC channel #rarelyused first, but I think that this is just better for me. I also tried variations on the team, but none of them have clicked as well as this team. Then a certain "last straw" happened recently, though coming out of it I decided I wanted to post this RMT anyway. It partly cost me some art I had commissioned, though, since I wanted this done before B2W2 and there just wasn't enough time anymore.
I figure it would be more exciting to do the most "intuitive" ones first and work down.
Tellah (Slowking) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
Yeah, do I really need to explain this? The first of three specially inclined walls, Slowking is pretty much THE reason a lot of potential offensive threats are used less than they could be, and also a reason a bunch of other offensive threats are used more. Slowking stops Fire- and Fighting-types who would otherwise give this team a very hard time. A majority of Fighting-types pretty much can't do anything to Slowking (paralyzing Hitmonlee never gets old), while I've seen some Fire-types break through with persistence/luck but not enough to be much of a threat for the rest of the game. It also checks Omastar, though some Regenerator shenanigans may need to be had to beat it. It's definitely worth noting that Gallade is a very particular exception to the RU Fighting-types that Slowking counters, thanks to Night Slash / Shadow Sneak coverage and high special bulk.
The importance of Regenerator cannot be overstated here. The purpose of this Pokémon slot was to pick the (with various practical conditions) bulkiest Pokémon in RU. Back when I was building this team, Cresselia was being voted on, and I put Cresselia on in anticipation that it wouldn't be banned... and it did get banned. Next up was... Scyther... so I went ahead and made the assumption that Pokémon with Regenerator are 4/3 as bulky as they "really" are, which brought me to Slowking. So really, Slowking wouldn't even be on here (or, I suspect, a large majority of other RU teams with Slowking) if not for Regenerator. Regenerator is just too awesome, especially when I can just switch in, only to switch back out again for HP++. This is handy in tight situations.
Midgardsormr (Steelix) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Gyro Ball
- Roar
Again, I feel there's little need to explain why Steelix is here. I already mentioned the existence of two other specially defensive walls, and Steelix complements this setup very well. I'm definitely thankful for having a check to Druddigon and Aggron in particular, as well as a host of other physical attackers. SubPunch Aggron is a very real threat, though, and it is the reason I get wary of immediately switching Steelix into it. Roar is probably my most commonly used move after using Stealth Rock, just because Steelix's offense is really lacking, but the attacks are there for hitting fast opponents and Earthquake-weak opponents on the switch.
Clown Car (Cryogonal) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 232 HP / 220 SpD / 56 Spe
Calm Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Recover
Cryogonal is awesome and I was using it before it became cool <.< Back when I was making the team and choosing a spinner, I specifically prioritized beating Ghost-types over coming in and spinning easily (like, say, Sandslash). This was so that it could double as a lure to get the Ghost-types out of Medicham's way. This has also ended up turning Cryogonal into my main burn absorber. It's not a perfect solution, but alternatives present their own problems for this team.
Cryogonal also functions as a great special wall, and the second one listed on this team. Having only two resistances is kind of lame (though Levitate is <3) so I wouldn't recommend using it alone, but it's good for backup when the other appropriate wall goes down, or for front-line walling when I have to preserve the other appropriate wall. Lilligant is a good example of when this becomes important; Cryogonal and Mandibuzz cover both HP possibilities, and due to Sleep Clause, only one can be put to sleep while the other deals with the imminent threat. Random Special Defense drops (from e.g. Shadow Ball) are also lame, and having this special walling system helps to mitigate the effects of such developments. Stalling out Lanturn is always fun.
The Speed EVs are there to outrun max+ 80s, particularly Gallade. I'm not suggesting that Cryogonal would normally beat Gallade (because... lol), but if Cryogonal is in a position to finish him off, I'll gladly take it. The remaining EVs and nature optimize special bulk, ignoring physical bulk entirely. See, the issue with a stat spread as one-sided as Cryogonal's is that even with a 4:1 bias toward special bulk, the optimal bulk suggested would maximize Defense with a Bold nature. Yeah, I'm not bothering with taking physical attacks with Cryogonal.
I suppose Reflect and Haze are theoretically better than Toxic. I guess I never really thought about it, which is weird since you'd think I'd especially want Reflect to help against Choice Band Spiritomb. Maybe I just didn't run into enough of those...
Krillin (Druddigon) @ Choice Band
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Superpower
- Sucker Punch
- Dragon Claw
Dragon-type moves are not something that many RU teams can really justify accounting for, and that's where Druddigon comes in. Druddigon is quite possibly my favourite attacker in RU. It has Dragon STAB, it has Rough Skin, hell it even has Sucker Punch for some reason. I can live with not having a Spikes user when the opponent is taking damage just from attacking this guy, and THEN it has to worry about that ridiculous Outrage. Sometimes I kill half a team just spamming Outrage. Dragon Claw is also here for more flexibility against the squishier offensive teams. All of this makes Druddigon very well-equipped to check an attacker that has gone a little bit too out of control, without getting the walls involved. It's also bulky enough to tank stuff like Sceptile's Hidden Power Ice. I actually think that every HP counts with Druddigon (both for it and the opponent), which is why I have Choice Band rather than Life Orb. I think the biggest downside is that things can easily go horribly wrong if I make the wrong move.
Yang (Medicham) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Pure Power
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hi Jump Kick
- Psycho Cut
- ThunderPunch
- Trick
Medicham was not the non-negotiable kill inducer that I'd hoped it would be, but it's close enough. 438 Atk x 130 Base Power Hi Jump Kick = scary, man. It can't switch into very many attacks, but revenge switch-ins are often enough. Just hope that HJK doesn't miss...
Some may be aware that I used Choice Band Medicham for a long time. A very long time. There were two reasons that even someone like me, with a stubborn lust for extreme overkill firepower, would switch to a Choice Scarf. The first is that Choice Band Medicham was next to useless against teams of fast Pokémon. Now technically that isn't necessarily a dealbreaker, since being 5+fodder - 6 doesn't matter much if you win anyway. That's where the second reason comes in: every move other than Hi Jump Kick is a LOT weaker. All that power goes to waste if I'm compelled not to use it (by, say, Cofagrigus waiting for an excuse to switch in), making it more situational. Choice Scarf allows Medicham to go after faster threats, which is great for cleaning up. It also makes a much better lead.
Hilda Garde I (Mandibuzz) @ Leftovers
Ability: Big Pecks
EVs: 244 HP / 216 SpD / 48 Spe
Careful Nature
- Taunt
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird
- Roost
Mandibuzz gets a lot of flak for being weak against Stealth Rock. Said flak is largely deserved. It's still a damn good special wall, though, and with Cryogonal on Rapid Spin duty it becomes a walling horror. It checks a huge number of threats that I used to have trouble with when I had Honchkrow instead of Mandibuzz, and back then I would win by getting to the sweep first. It actually doesn't provide any "new" resistances, but it does bolster existing ones and it doesn't have weaknesses that the rest of the team has trouble handling (except maybe Electric). That and it's good to have something that can use Taunt and Whirlwind, which sometimes allow it to make short work of weakened teams. It completes the defensive core very nicely.
You may have noticed the speed creep again. 48 Spe outpaces minimum Speed Qwilfish by two points, so it will be Taunted before it can set up Spikes. Yeah, I do have Cryogonal, but it can't really switch into Qwilfish and Spikes would still become bothersome until I could sneak Cryogonal in. By extension, it also outruns the standard Bulk Up Gallade. A faster Brave Bird to the face can really make a difference. The rest naturally goes into optimizing bulk with a 2:1 bias toward special bulk, which just so happens to nearly maximize HP.
Notable threats
You may be able to tell that this team depends considerably on weakening a few of the more dangerous attackers before finishing them off. Examples are Bouffalant, Drapion, Emboar, Kabutops, Manectric and Omastar. Medicham and Druddigon (through Sucker Punch) work great here as "insurance" in the event that things go badly and something gets KOed. Aerodactyl and Archeops go down to Steelix pretty quickly, so they're usually not a problem, but one can imagine a scenario where they could do some real damage to the team.
Still, there are a couple of threats that give this team a few nightmares:
SubPunch Aggron -.- There is some prediction involved on Aggron's end if Steelix switches into Substitute, since Magnet Rise loses to Roar, but Focus Punch obviously deals a ton of damage.
Gallade - I've always found him a greater problem than just about anything else in RU, primarily because of his special bulk and Bulk Up, though Swords Dance can also cause problems. He got mentioned a lot above, and it really does help when I can outrun it sometimes.
