SM NU My first NU team.

[GustavoR]

(My first language is not English. My apologies in advance for any grammar mistake since my english is not the best).
Greetings everyone!
NU has always been a tier that I have always considered the most interesting one, although the last time I frequently played it was back when Emboar and Virizion were running rampant.
However, I decided to get back in it after the Decidueye drop since I really like this Pokémon. Thus, I made an NU team to test it out. So far I like how the team has been working, but I am fully aware that it's not the best and I would love to read second opinions on it.

This is the team:

Druddigon @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Def / 28 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Glare
- Dragon Tail
- Taunt

Honestly, I have always liked this Pokémon since it was released in Gen 5 (if it had better stats + Dragon Dance it would be pretty amazing). I wanted to use it as a lead because it's able to get rocks, get paralysis and Taunt no matter if Xatu comes in (that's why I decided Mold Breaker over Rough Skin. I want to get hazards in front of Xatu). Other than that, I think this set is pretty self-explanatory. After doing it's job, Drudd is always the most expendable member of the team.
When it comes to the EV spread, I wanted it to be PhysDef since I already have AV Incineroar in my team. This EV's weren't calculated to tank a specific attack, so please feel free to give me any other PhysDef Druddigon Lead EV spread suggestions. I went for the first EV spread that came to my mind, so I will probably get comments of how bad it might be. Feel free to tell me any suggestions since I have mostly used Druddigon out of competitive.

Braviary @ Leftovers
Ability: Defiant
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Defog
- Bulk Up

My favorite Flying type of all time. SpDef Braviary is a set that I have always loved and almost always put on my teams. I mostly use Sub + Bulk Up, but then I realised I have zero way of removing hazards (which my team struggles a lot) so I slapped Defog ASAP. This set is basically the same Sub Bulk Up one that appears at the Showdown calc, but with a slightly different EV spread (I wanted slow Defogs) and Defog instead of Roost. I'm not the biggest fan of this set, so feel free to tell me any ideas you guys have:]

Incineroar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
- U-turn

MAN the cat is so damn busted in NU! I absolutely loved the bunch of new toys Incineroar got in USUM (mainly Knock Off) and GOODNESS GRACIOUS I LOVE THIS. AV Incineroar is a monster and, so far, is one of the MVP's of my team. Flare Blitz for offensive pressure, Knock Off because it's Knock Off, U-Turn for momentum and Fake Out to (at least) hit Pokémon like (for example) a really weakened Aerodactyl (there are more, but Aero is an example). So far I don't really know what to change of this Incineroar, but I might be not seeing something that anyone else might point out (like the EV spread, since that's my weakest point while teambuilding).

Decidueye @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Atk / 8 SpD / 248 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Spirit Shackle
- Swords Dance
- Low Sweep

The main reason of why I wanted to play NU again (this is my favorite 7th gen starter). The main reason for this Decidueye being a setup sweeper instead of a scarfer with U-Turn is purely because this team struggles A LOT vs Steelix (imo) after Heliolisk goes down. Honestly this set is not mine. I saw it in the "Welcome to NU Decidueye" video that PokeaimMD posted a couple of days ago (full credits for the person who gave him that set).

Decidueye needs to be x2 to actually damage Steelix with Z-Low Sweep (+2 252+ Atk Decidueye All-Out Pummeling (120 BP) vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Steelix: 272-322 (77.2 - 91.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery ). Also, another reason that I thought this was not that bad of a set is because I can hurt Incineroar if I come in after Intimidate was already activated (252+ Atk Decidueye All-Out Pummeling (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Incineroar: 274-324 (69.5 - 82.2%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock)
I don't think this set is bad, but I'm not the biggest fan of it.

Heliolisk @ Choice Specs
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Volt Switch
- Dark Pulse
- Surf

Needed a fast pivot, so I really liked Heliolisk on my team. I decided not to run Tbolt because the dual coverage that Surf and Dark Pulse give are pretty darn decent (and it also gives me a way to hit Slowbro. Sure it's not STAB, but it still hits it). Surf if for both Steelix and (although it needs to be weakened) Incineroar and Hyper Voice for STAB. If someone gives me a good explanation of why I should run Tbolt I would really appreciate it:]

Klinklang @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Gear Grind
- Wild Charge
- Shift Gear
- Substitute

KLINKLANG IS THAT DUDE and Magearna got nothing on the OG Shift Gear GOAT.
Jokes aside, I love Klinklang both as a Pokémon and as an attacker.
This set is basically the one you see with Z-Wild Charge, but I decided not to run Electrium in this dude because I already had a Z move user (I never use Double Z move in a team because I always get confused lol). I have also tested Shift Gear + Magnet Rise to have a better matchup vs Heavy Slam Steelix (0 Atk Steelix Heavy Slam (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Klinklang: 42-50 (16 - 19.1%) -- possible 8HKO after Leftovers recovery ), but I found myself desperately needing Substitute plenty of times to stall out an enemy or being able to avoid a status problem (If Slowbro TWaves on the same turn I sub then it's free setup).
I'm honestly pretty happy in how Klinklang has worked so far for me, so I don't know if something has to be changed (feel free to prove me wrong)

Here are some replays of me using the team (I'm not the best battler, but I want to learn)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nu-782537576
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nu-782518163
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nu-781748918
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nu-781746620
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nu-781068168
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nu-780493927

And that's it for my RMT. I know these are lower ladder replays, but I have to start somewhere, right?

Have a nice day everyone:]

 

[Yoshi]

Hey, welcome back to playing NU! Personally, I've been playing SINCE the Emboar and Virizion meta, so I've been able to see NU grow for almost a year now. Right now, it's really fun, and I'm glad you're getting back into it because it's the perfect time to do so. Really cool team you have here, has some old favorites like Incineroar and Klinklang, as well as some of the newer and newly used mons like Decidueye and Braviary. Personally, I'm not the greatest at identifying weaknesses, so apologies if I miss anything, but I have some set changes as well, so here are those:

The first thing that really stood out to me that needed a change was Klinklang. You have quite a basic spread there, so I wanted to provide a different one. You don't really need to run max speed, in fact, you take 80 off speed and invest it into HP instead. This is because, like I said, you don't really need the speed, and you'll get much more out of it investing it into HP. Here's the spread I would recommend running (<- click here). This spread allows you to out speed base 80 Pokemon that don't run a speed boosting nature. It also happens to just out speed Modest Specs Vanilluxe as well, which is important, since it runs Hidden Power Fighting. Other than the spread though, I thought the set was fine, considering you had another
z-user in Decidueye.

Here's another spread I didn't like. The spread that you're using is generally for Bulk Up + Substitute sets. On the other hand, you have just Bulk Up, which is an incredible set right now, you just have the wrong spread! Here's the spread I would use. This just makes you as fast and powerful as possible, which is really the goal of this set anyway. You're not really trying to set up 6 Bulk Ups and win the game, you're just trying to get a quick boost of power to do as much damage as possible.

Small change here, but I'd recommend changing Dark Pulse -> Focus Blast, and Surf -> Thunderbolt. Honestly, you don't really need Surf, as Palossand is becoming less and less popular, meaning that you pretty much hit everything that Focus Blast does but for less power. Dark Pulse is not my favorite move in the world to run on Heliolisk, because while it does hit Dhelmise and Decidueye, you have Volt Switch and Incineroar, meaning you deal with them fairly easily anyway, and you'd be much better off with Focus Blast instead. If you really want to keep Dark Pulse though, you can just make Surf into Focus Blast instead. Also, I'd highly recommend changing the item to Choice Scarf. Scarf Heliolisk is really underrated, and you really really really need a scarfer, so this would be a welcome change.

This change may be a bit questionable, as people have figured out some merit for Assault Vest Incineroar that I have not. I think you're much better using off Aguav / Iapapa Incineroar, as it has a way to recover from Stealth Rock damage, which allows you to pivot in and out much more often. Here's the set and spread I would recommend using. This doesn't have Fake Out, but you don't really need it honestly, Earthquake is just so much better (Fire Blast too, since it hits Steelix harder). If you have any questions about this, please ask.

Other than that, I don't have too much else to say about this team. You're a bit weak to Passimian, so try to keep Druddigon as healthy as you can, but otherwise, really cool team! Thanks for posting, and I'm looking forward seeing you in the NU community!

 

[GustavoR]

Hey, welcome back to playing NU! Personally, I've been playing SINCE the Emboar and Virizion meta, so I've been able to see NU grow for almost a year now. Right now, it's really fun, and I'm glad you're getting back into it because it's the perfect time to do so. Really cool team you have here, has some old favorites like Incineroar and Klinklang, as well as some of the newer and newly used mons like Decidueye and Braviary. Personally, I'm not the greatest at identifying weaknesses, so apologies if I miss anything, but I have some set changes as well, so here are those:

The first thing that really stood out to me that needed a change was Klinklang. You have quite a basic spread there, so I wanted to provide a different one. You don't really need to run max speed, in fact, you take 80 off speed and invest it into HP instead. This is because, like I said, you don't really need the speed, and you'll get much more out of it investing it into HP. Here's the spread I would recommend running (<- click here). This spread allows you to out speed base 80 Pokemon that don't run a speed boosting nature. It also happens to just out speed Modest Specs Vanilluxe as well, which is important, since it runs Hidden Power Fighting. Other than the spread though, I thought the set was fine, considering you had another
z-user in Decidueye.

Here's another spread I didn't like. The spread that you're using is generally for Bulk Up + Substitute sets. On the other hand, you have just Bulk Up, which is an incredible set right now, you just have the wrong spread! Here's the spread I would use. This just makes you as fast and powerful as possible, which is really the goal of this set anyway. You're not really trying to set up 6 Bulk Ups and win the game, you're just trying to get a quick boost of power to do as much damage as possible.

Small change here, but I'd recommend changing Dark Pulse -> Focus Blast, and Surf -> Thunderbolt. Honestly, you don't really need Surf, as Palossand is becoming less and less popular, meaning that you pretty much hit everything that Focus Blast does but for less power. Dark Pulse is not my favorite move in the world to run on Heliolisk, because while it does hit Dhelmise and Decidueye, you have Volt Switch and Incineroar, meaning you deal with them fairly easily anyway, and you'd be much better off with Focus Blast instead. If you really want to keep Dark Pulse though, you can just make Surf into Focus Blast instead. Also, I'd highly recommend changing the item to Choice Scarf. Scarf Heliolisk is really underrated, and you really really really need a scarfer, so this would be a welcome change.

This change may be a bit questionable, as people have figured out some merit for Assault Vest Incineroar that I have not. I think you're much better using off Aguav / Iapapa Incineroar, as it has a way to recover from Stealth Rock damage, which allows you to pivot in and out much more often. Here's the set and spread I would recommend using. This doesn't have Fake Out, but you don't really need it honestly, Earthquake is just so much better (Fire Blast too, since it hits Steelix harder). If you have any questions about this, please ask.

Other than that, I don't have too much else to say about this team. You're a bit weak to Passimian, so try to keep Druddigon as healthy as you can, but otherwise, really cool team! Thanks for posting, and I'm looking forward seeing you in the NU community!

Aye first of all thanks for the reply fren! Glad you liked the team overall:]
However, I just have one little question:
Besides trying to keep Drudd healthy, is there any other way for my team to fight back vs. Passimian? (I did not realise that weakness tho).

 

[Yoshi]

Aye first of all thanks for the reply fren! Glad you liked the team overall:]
However, I just have one little question:
Besides trying to keep Drudd healthy, is there any other way for my team to fight back vs. Passimian? (I did not realise that weakness tho).

You have Decidueye, but that kind of hates coming in on Knock Offs, especially since you don't have Roost. You could put Slowbro over some Pokemon but I'm not sure what you could replace.

 

[GustavoR]

You have Decidueye, but that kind of hates coming in on Knock Offs, especially since you don't have Roost. You could put Slowbro over some Pokemon but I'm not sure what you could replace.

Indeed lol
Nonetheless I'll think of another way to fight back vs the monkey.
Thank you for reading my post nonetheless:] I'll do the changes you suggested:]