My first RU RMT :3

[Kushalos]

Hello Smogon. This is my second RMT and I decided to do one for the Rarely-used tier. It’s a really fun tier that not many people play and i wanted to experiment with some team cores in the tier. I made a pretty decent core but I can’t manage to cover some weaknesses. Nidoqeen, Slowking and Gallade are the biggest problem so I would really like some advice on how to cover these huge RU threats.

Here’s a quick rundown on the team;

Bruce (Lanturn) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Volt Absorb
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Def / 216 SDef / 40 HP
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Volt Switch
- Ice Beam
- Heal Bell

Bruce the Lanturn isn’t as fearsome as the shark from Finding Nemo, but together with Alomomola wish-passing and Bouffalant’s ability to be immune to grass moves its hard to take down if you cant predict very well. It’s main purpose for the team is to scout with volt switch, take electric attacks which alomomola can’t take and act as a cleric for my team.

YYYYYMCA (Alomomola) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Spd
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic

It’s fun to stay at the YYYYYYMCA, well, in this case with Alomomola it isn’t. It’s not fun to stay with a physical attacker and just get toxic stalled. Yes, he is just going to be the gay fish and toxic stall you while you can’t do shit with your physical attacker. This thing is one of the most amazing physical walls in the NU and RU metagame. It supports my team in a great way with wishpassing and stop unboosted physical attackers.

Bling-Bling Bull (Bouffalant) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sap Sipper
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 156 HP / 100 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Head Charge
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

I really like Bouffalant, come on, you have got to admit it’s awesome. It’s a frickin’ bull with afro-hair. I also really think it’s ability is awesome because he can take grass hits aimed at my walls and get that nifty attack boost. I dont know if I should use another Sap Sipper pokemon because in my opinion bouffalant is one of the best RU pokemon that gets it.

Shade of soul (Uxie) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 96 HP / 188 SAtk / 224 Spd
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt

Too bad Deeper Shade of Soul didn’t fit, because that was supposed to be the original name, but still Shade can be a great Calm Mind sweeper, even though his initial special attack isnt that high. Shade is my best bet when the opponent has a Nidoqueen on his team, but one does not simply counter Nidoqueen (or check because of its good bulk). Uxie also greatly appreciates the wishes from Alomomola and the status healing from Lanturn, as those two appreciates Uxie’s ability to switch into Nidoqueen’s Earth Powers.

Simply the best! (Moltres) @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Air Slash
- Roost
- Substitute

Moltres is probably Simply the best! counter/check to Gallade. It can switch in on a lot of his attacks (bar Stone Edge ) and hit it with a super effective Air Slash. I also send it out immediately when i see a Smeargle on the opponents team (obvious spore) and then it can wreak a bit of havoc while behind its substitute. I also used Life Orb for a while, but if there is Stealth Rock in play, while i have no spinner, it dies way too soon. It also helps to PP stall attacks suck as Stone Edge.

Meooooooow (Rotom-Mow) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Leaf Storm
- Thunderbolt
- Trick

Rotom-C is one of the the best scarfers in the RU tier to revenge kill some SS sweepers. It can outspeed the mighty Omastar and KO it with a Leaf Storm. The only problem is that you have to run a timid nature in order to do this, and because of this Rotom lacks sometimes power to revenge kill pokemon such as Gallade. It also simply doesnt pack the power to break through Slowking, which bugs me a lot. These are the reasons why i'm not sure about this scarfer. If im going to change this guy i might then maybe use a physical scarfer because bouffalant is now the only physical attacker on this team.


I have listed most threats that i can think of ,but I’m sure there are more pokemon ready to take a shit on my team. Because of this I really need feedback on how to deal with these. And by the way, I was trying not to use all those big threats like Nidoqueen and Entei, because i use them too much on my other teams, but if it is inevitable to use them i will probably still use them.

 

[PTJon7]

Nice team not too much I can really say. You do lack a Stealth Rock user, which is a huge oversight however. Making Uxie a more support based set would be the easiest way to fix this big problem, unless you want to start replacing members of your team. A minor change I would make as well is replacing Stone Edge or Earthquake on Bouf to Megahorn, so it can easily deal with the grass types it'll be switching in to.

 

[Kushalos]

Nice team not too much I can really say. You do lack a Stealth Rock user, which is a huge oversight however. Making Uxie a more support based set would be the easiest way to fix this big problem, unless you want to start replacing members of your team. A minor change I would make as well is replacing Stone Edge or Earthquake on Bouf to Megahorn, so it can easily deal with the grass types it'll be switching in to.

Well, i dont see any grass types switching to Bouffalant anytime soon xd. Most of them switch out. But I might take it into consideration because I HATE Slowking. Still though, i dont know i f i want to give up Edgequake coverage.

 

[ss234]

Hi there. This looks like a pretty cool team, however there are some weaknesses.

So as others have pointed out, you have no SR. This makes dealing with Scyther and swellow much more difficult for your team, as without as much residual damage they can will be able to break through your defences.

Therefore, I recommend that you run Druddigon over Bouffolant. Druddigon has Stealth Rock, allowing you to wear down attackers much more easily. Druddigon IMO actually does a better job of countering grass types such as Sceptile, because Focus Blast is capable of 2HKO ing bouff if it hits, and sceptile can destroy you after that. Drudd still handles grass types very well thanks to its dragon typing and great bulk. Druddigon is also a nice answer to slowking, as it can take the majority of its attacks and hit it back with a powerful Outrage, which even without a boosting item still hits pretty hard off of 372 attack.

Here is the Druddigon set:

Hide

Druddigod (Druddigon) @ Leftovers
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

(I personally run enough speed to outrun Crustle and Tangrowth and opposing druddigon, which does come in very handy sometimes)

GL with the team and I hope I helped.

 

[Kushalos]

Hi there. This looks like a pretty cool team, however there are some weaknesses.

So as others have pointed out, you have no SR. This makes dealing with Scyther and swellow much more difficult for your team, as without as much residual damage they can will be able to break through your defences.

Therefore, I recommend that you run Druddigon over Bouffolant. Druddigon has Stealth Rock, allowing you to wear down attackers much more easily. Druddigon IMO actually does a better job of countering grass types such as Sceptile, because Focus Blast is capable of 2HKO ing bouff if it hits, and sceptile can destroy you after that. Drudd still handles grass types very well thanks to its dragon typing and great bulk. Druddigon is also a nice answer to slowking, as it can take the majority of its attacks and hit it back with a powerful Outrage, which even without a boosting item still hits pretty hard off of 372 attack.

Here is the Druddigon set:

Hide

Druddigod (Druddigon) @ Leftovers
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

(I personally run enough speed to outrun Crustle and Tangrowth and opposing druddigon, which does come in very handy sometimes)

GL with the team and I hope I helped.

I haven't seen any of those pokemon yet, but i think i can handle those pretty well with alomomola and rotom, the lack of SR indeed hurts a bit but i cant find a spot for it on my team. I'm not going to change anything on my Lanturn/Alomomola/bouffalant core though. maybe i should use a nidoqueen with SR > moltres, but then ill be weak to gallade. and every team has one weakness, but if you are a good player you can work around that.

 

[col49]

Hi Kushalos, I like the team, and its always nice to see people repping RU :]

Anywho, as mentioned there are a coupling glaring flaws. As other users have pointed, the lack of Stealth Rock is quite worrisome, as the ability to passively wear down threats such as Accelgor and opposing Moltres is incredibly important, especially considering once Lanturn is worn down somewhat the two of them are practically guaranteed a KO once they switch in. Moreover, Sceptile, especially Substitute variants, can prove problematic, as they can find free turns in Lanturn, Alomomola, and Rotom-C to set up and proceed to threaten both your primary and secondary responses to Grass-types (Bouffalant and Moltres) with Focus Blast and HP Rock, respectively. Lastly, as you mention, Gallade and Slowking look to be somewhat problematic as well, with offensive variants of both finding quite a few opportunities to switch in and start doing work to your team. That being said, I'll see what I can offer !_!

First and fore-mostly, I would like to reinstate Druddigon's SilverShadow's recommendation of Stealth Rock Druddigon, though I would replace Alomomola for it. As is, nothing on your team is particularly starved for Wish support, and your team doesn't retain a sturdy enough defensive backbone to support Toxic-stalling entire teams :x On the other hand, Druddigon offers your team some rather similar resistances, a better switch-in to Sceptile and offensively based Slowking, and of course Stealth Rock. I would post the set, but its already been done so I guess there's no need X)

Moreover, I feel as though Moltres simply isn't the best fit for this team (sorry, the joke was right there, I couldn't not go for it :[). By not having room for Rapid Spin support is to submit to running a suboptimal Moltres throughout a game, as 99.9% of teams are carrying Stealth Rock, and I feel as though you can make more of that teamslot. Were I to suggest a change, might I recommend All-Out Attacker Spiritomb over it? Spiritomb offers a similarly effectual response to Gallade, being immune to its STAB attacks and hit neutrally at best by all its coverage moves, and being able to either pick it off with two consecutive Shadow Sneaks or getting off some good damage as it switches out with a Pursuit. Additionally, the ability to effectively use Pursuit allows it to eliminate Ghost- and Psychic-types (including Slowking!), easing either Uxie or Bouffalant's sweep. Here would be my proposed set:

All Out Attacker Spiritomb

Spiritomb @ Blackglasses
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Shadow Sneak
- Return
(Return allows it to hit Dark-types neutrally, in order to prevent the rare DD Crawdaunt or SD Absol from setting up on it for free)

Lastly, with this change I feel as though Bouffalant can afford to splurge for Swords Dance over Stone Edge. Stone Edge's usage is fairly limited, only really hitting Aerodactyl, Archeops, Rotom, and Misdreavus, and with Spiritomb being capable of eliminating the latter two and the former two struggling to take hits from Bouffalant regardless with Stealth Rock on the field, Swords Dance becomes very viable. This change offers your team a secondary win condition, allowing Bouffalant to set up on Pokemon such as Tangrowth and other moderately weak defensive checks and allowing it to plow through defensively oriented teams.

tl;dr

--->

• Stone Edge ---> Swords Dance

--->

That being said, I hope my comments were of use to you, good luck in the future ^_^