XY NU No shame team

[Qonrad]

A bit of background: I'm pretty new to this; I started making teams and battling on Showdown just last week. I've played through gens 1-4 as a kid, but have very little knowledge of pokemon after that. Pretty standard I assume, but thought I should make that clear. I know that my explanations are pretty sparse, but some of the sets are not my own idea at all (from Smogon, friends, etc) and I don't understand them completely myself.

I've made this team because I heard that Vivillon, Feraligatr, and Gurdurr were OP in NU, hence "No shame." The rest of them are walls that I've added hoping to have the best synergy with them. Believe it or not, I've had decent success with it. I win maybe a bit more than half my matches, even though I have no overarching strategy or plan.

Vivillon @ Life Orb
Ability: Shield Dust
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Quiver Dance
- Hurricane
- Bug Buzz

Vivillon is my only special sweeper. It does an excellent work when it gets going, but I have lots of problems with it since I have no way to get rid of rocks. Sleep powder, when it doesn't miss, usually allows me to set up a quiver dance and do some decent damage with Hurricane and Bug Buzz.

Feraligatr @ Life Orb
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Crunch

Feraligatr is my main physical sweeper. I try to set up with dragon dance and sweep with his good move coverage. Like I said, I only chose it because I heard its OP. I'm pretty sure that with dragon dance up it has like the highest attack in the tier and almost nothing can withstand its power, so that's useful.

Gurdurr @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off

Gurdurr does a lot more work than I expected him to. I rarely get to set up with Bulk Up, but his bulk and power usually just makes it a nuisance to deal with. I understand why a lot of people say that it should be moved to RU. It doesn't have that good coverage, at least with the set that I have here, but I've found that people don't usually expect knock off.

Dusknoir @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch

I think Dusknoir is a good physical wall. I use it to deal with opposing Gurdurrs, Sawk, Feraligatr, Haryiyama, etc. It even deals with knock off pretty well. It has excellent coverage, but I can never really do any damage with it, expecially against fighting types, even though I have absolutely no problem walling them.

Lanturn @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 52 HP / 252 Def / 204 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Heal Bell

Lanturn is an excellent mixed wall. It has pretty good typing and excellent coverage IMHO. Heal bell is wonderful when my opponent spams status stuff. It stops most water, flying, fire, and rock/ground/steel types dead in their tracks.

Torterra @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 212 HP / 44 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Seed Bomb
- Earthquake
- Synthesis

Torterra is a physical wall. I almost always lead with it to set up rocks. However, I haven't really found it all that useful; I only chose it because of the types it addresses. Surprise Signal Beam catches me off guard every time, though.

OK, there are a few problems that I know I have. First, I have no way of getting rid of hazards. Second, I don't have the best type distribution. I have problems dealing with flying, ghost, and psychic types in particular.

I'm not really asking you to rate my team, since I'm not that confident in it really. I'm mainly doing this for advice.
Thanks!

 

[Fluze3]

Well, your pokemon are great, but the things that the pokemon do is what the problem. Some of your sets could be improved.

First of all, change Shield Dust > Compound Eyes on Vivillon. A 91% Hurricane and Sleep Powder is no laughing manner, and should be the only ability that it uses. Shield Dust is rather useless because Vivillon can't really take a hit what-so-ever. Also, Focus Sash > Life Orb to ensure that you at least get the sleep powder in, and one quiver before you die to priority. Or, if you're faster, it allows you to take a hit making your Vivillon last longer throughout the match.
Another thing is that you need to change your Gurdurr set a little. You stated that you rarely use Bulk Up, so why not change it to a coverage move?

Gurdurr @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Ice Punch / Poison Jab
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off

This set is rather staple on most gurdurr. Seeing as though Bulk Up could be used on it, I don't see it necessary. You already have Feraligatr as your Setup Sweeper (physical) so why create another one. The 4 SDef just boosts its poor special defense stat, because its def is rather high with Eviolite regardless. Now, the choice between Ice Punch and Poison Jab is up to you. If flying types are giving you trouble, I'd recommend Ice Punch. This is because it hits flying super effectively but has a lot of coverage as well. However, if Pokemon such as Slurpuff giving your trouble, I suggest Poison Jab. Also, these two moves also allow you to hit grass types super effectively, with Ice Punch hitting Vileplume super effectively; who would otherwise wall your whole team.

In terms of replacements, there are other things that you could change.

1. Golurk > Dusknoir and
2. Armaldo > Torterra

1. I would suggest replacing Dusknoir for Golurk for a few reasons. First of all, Although it doesn't learn WoW, It provides a more offensive presence while still being a counter to most fighting types. However, with WoW, Hariyama could completely plow through your team. Golurk's weaknesses are also alleviated by Lanturn's resistances, making it a nice type synergy on your team, which will contribute to the replacement of Torterra. It also adds a nice stab EQ, which it neat. Also, it still acts as a spinblocker on your side and can destroy dark types; which is a wonderful niche on your part.

Here's a set I recommend using:
Golurk @ Colbur Berry
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Punch
- Earthquake
- Fire punch
- Drain Punch

2. Torkoal is an amazing replacement for Torterra because it provides SR and Rapid Spin for your team. Its 140 Base Defense and 70 Special Defense helps it to sponge attacks from both sides of the spectrum. Also, with access to Lava Plume (50% burn) it helps with providing an offensive presence while spreading status for your team. Also, Lanturn provides key resistances to Water, and Golurk adds a resistance to Rock [but ground can be a pain; but Feraligatr takes care of that].

Here's a set I recommend using:
Torkoal @ Leftovers
Ability: Shell Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Yawn
- Rapid Spin

-----------------------------

Other than that, your team is alright, and has a neat type synergy. It just needs a bit of work offensively and creating momentum.

 

[Blast]

Hi there, and welcome to Smogon! So regarding your team, it definitely has its issues (some of which you've already identified yourself) but you really seem to gloss over the fact that you have no real focus. A lot of your teamslots really just seem to be picked out of random (Dusknoir, for instance) and don't do a good job at solidifying a win condition. Your team should focus more on supporting your offensive core by weakening counters to the Pokémon in question--in this case Vivilion, Feraligatr, and Gurdurr--and Vivi in particular would also like a way to remove hazards, since it's 4x weak to SR and using Life Orb. I think Togetic and Steelix would fit better over Dusknoir and Torterra. The former provides you with Defog support to remove SR and maximize Vivi's switch-in opportunities (while still providing a useful Fighting resist), and the latter synergizes better with your team in general--most notably dealing with Slurpuff and most other Fairies, which can find ample setup opportunities against Gurdurr.

Also, I think Feraligatr would benefit more from running a bulky Swords Dance variant over Dragon Dance. DD Gatr is rather unnecessary on this team since Vivilion can already sweep late-game, and your team much appreciates the extra power mid-game as well as extra priority in Aqua Jet (which your team lacks much of currently). Vivilion also doesn't need Bug Buzz as its coverage is redundant and it doesn't hit anything significantly harder than Hurricane. A better option is to run Substitute (and switch Life Orb for either Sky Plate or Leftovers) or perhaps Energy Ball to lure in and deal a lot of damage to Lanturn since Feraligatr can struggle with it. And lastly Lanturn is better off with a set of Scald / Volt Switch / Heal Bell / (Toxic / Thunder Wave) since it can grab momentum with Volt Switch and spread status, while Ice Beam doesn't hit hard enough (even against super effective targets) to be worth using. It should also run an EV spread of 40 HP and 216 SpD to hit a Leftovers number.

edit: oh yeah and change Shield Dust to Compoundeyes, the extra accuracy on Sleep Powder and Hurricane is waaaay too good to pass up lol

Sets

Togetic @ Eviolite
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature
- Defog
- Dazzling Gleam
- Roost
- Thunder Wave

Steelix @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Roar

Feraligatr @ Lum Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 184 HP / 252 Atk / 72 Spd (outspeeds max Speed base 55s)
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Return
- Aqua Jet

Vivilion: change Bug Buzz to either Substitute (using Sky Plate / Leftovers over Life Orb) or Bug Buzz to Energy Ball (and keeping Life Orb).

Lanturn: change Thunderbolt and Ice Beam to Volt Switch and Toxic / Thunder Wave, with an EV spread of 40 HP / 252 Def / 216 SDef

 

[Qonrad]

Hi there, and welcome to Smogon! So regarding your team, it definitely has its issues (some of which you've already identified yourself) but you really seem to gloss over the fact that you have no real focus. A lot of your teamslots really just seem to be picked out of random (Dusknoir, for instance) and don't do a good job at solidifying a win condition. Your team should focus more on supporting your offensive core by weakening counters to the Pokémon in question--in this case Vivilion, Feraligatr, and Gurdurr--and Vivi in particular would also like a way to remove hazards, since it's 4x weak to SR and using Life Orb. I think Togetic and Steelix would fit better over Dusknoir and Torterra. The former provides you with Defog support to remove SR and maximize Vivi's switch-in opportunities (while still providing a useful Fighting resist), and the latter synergizes better with your team in general--most notably dealing with Slurpuff and most other Fairies, which can find ample setup opportunities against Gurdurr.

Also, I think Feraligatr would benefit more from running a bulky Swords Dance variant over Dragon Dance. DD Gatr is rather unnecessary on this team since Vivilion can already sweep late-game, and your team much appreciates the extra power mid-game as well as extra priority in Aqua Jet (which your team lacks much of currently). Vivilion also doesn't need Bug Buzz as its coverage is redundant and it doesn't hit anything significantly harder than Hurricane. A better option is to run Substitute (and switch Life Orb for either Sky Plate or Leftovers) or perhaps Energy Ball to lure in and deal a lot of damage to Lanturn since Feraligatr can struggle with it. And lastly Lanturn is better off with a set of Scald / Volt Switch / Heal Bell / (Toxic / Thunder Wave) since it can grab momentum with Volt Switch and spread status, while Ice Beam doesn't hit hard enough (even against super effective targets) to be worth using. It should also run an EV spread of 40 HP and 216 SpD to hit a Leftovers number.

edit: oh yeah and change Shield Dust to Compoundeyes, the extra accuracy on Sleep Powder and Hurricane is waaaay too good to pass up lol

Sets

Togetic @ Eviolite
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature
- Defog
- Dazzling Gleam
- Roost
- Thunder Wave

Steelix @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Roar

Feraligatr @ Lum Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 184 HP / 252 Atk / 72 Spd (outspeeds max Speed base 55s)
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Return
- Aqua Jet

Vivilion: change Bug Buzz to either Substitute (using Sky Plate / Leftovers over Life Orb) or Bug Buzz to Energy Ball (and keeping Life Orb).

Lanturn: change Thunderbolt and Ice Beam to Volt Switch and Toxic / Thunder Wave, with an EV spread of 40 HP / 252 Def / 216 SDef

I really appreciate the help and have made the changes you have specified (should I edit the original post?). I have a few questions. You say that Dusknoir is a random choice. This is completely true; I just browsed through the available pokemon in Showdown's teambuilder under NU and found that Dusknoir had high defense and good typing. You don't think I should change it at all, though? You didn't seem like you thought it really belonged there, and I am certainly not opposed to making more changes. Also, why did you choose that EV spread for Lanturn? What do you mean "to hit a leftovers number"?

Thank you for the excellent advice!

 

[Blast]

I really appreciate the help and have made the changes you have specified (should I edit the original post?). I have a few questions. You say that Dusknoir is a random choice. This is completely true; I just browsed through the available pokemon in Showdown's teambuilder under NU and found that Dusknoir had high defense and good typing. You don't think I should change it at all, though? You didn't seem like you thought it really belonged there, and I am certainly not opposed to making more changes. Also, why did you choose that EV spread for Lanturn? What do you mean "to hit a leftovers number"?

Thank you for the excellent advice!

I did suggest switching Dusknoir though o.o I suggested Togetic over it since it provides Defog support for Vivilion and synergizes well with Steelix

A Leftovers number is a number of HP that's divisible by 16 with one more added (i.e. 16x + 1). Since the amount of HP recovered by Leftovers each turn is rounded off to the next whole number, Leftovers numbers allow you to achieve the maximum amount of recovery for the minimum amount of HP investment. This is particularly relevant on Pokémon such as Lanturn, since its high HP stat when compared to its actual defenses makes it much more beneficial to invest in the latter, making it bulkier overall.

And yes I do encourage you to edit the OP since it makes it much easier for future raters to read, it's not ~mandatory~ per se but highly recommended :)

 

[Qonrad]

I did suggest switching Dusknoir though o.o I suggested Togetic over it since it provides Defog support for Vivilion and synergizes well with Steelix

A Leftovers number is a number of HP that's divisible by 16 with one more added (i.e. 16x + 1). Since the amount of HP recovered by Leftovers each turn is rounded off to the next whole number, Leftovers numbers allow you to achieve the maximum amount of recovery for the minimum amount of HP investment. This is particularly relevant on Pokémon such as Lanturn, since its high HP stat when compared to its actual defenses makes it much more beneficial to invest in the latter, making it bulkier overall.

And yes I do encourage you to edit the OP since it makes it much easier for future raters to read, it's not ~mandatory~ per se but highly recommended :)

Not sure what was going on in my head with the Dusknoir thing; sorry about that.

I've tried the team with your revisions and it definitely seems better. However, I'm not sure when I should be switching into Togetic. Is it just when I would have been using Dusknoir?

Also, what do you think of the advice the other guy gave me? He recommended replacing Dusknoir and Torterra with Golurk and Torkoal (or Armaldo, I'm not sure), as well as making Gurdurr more defensive instead of Feraligatr, like you suggested.

I'm sorry if I'm asking too many questions and thank you for all of the help you have given me.

 

[Blast]

Regarding your Togetic question, the answer to that really stems more from experience than anything else--you need to know what it can switch in on and the general risk / reward factor during any given scenario. You also need to know what it ~can't~ switch in on--for example, just because Togetic is physically defensive doesn't mean it's a good switch-in to SD Feraligatr. I know this answer is kind of vague, but the best way to get a better feel for all of this is to simply play around with your team more. If you have any questions, though, feel free to send me a PM here or check out the Mentorship Program and Battling 101, since they can help new users adjust to the metagame and the site in general!

As for the other rate, I think his suggestions were presented at least decently, but it lacks depth. He doesn't include all too much reasoning for including Golurk and Torkoal other than the obvious and he doesn't really take much time to step back and look for any holes his suggestions might have created. I don't really agree with most of his rate, though one change I do like is to make Gurdurr a 4 attacks set with Poison Jab > Bulk Up. Main reason being that Slurpuff gets too many opportunities to set up on Gurdurr with its current set, which puts a lot of pressure on Steelix to check it throughout the match as it's currently your only real check. By running Poison Jab, you deny it the ability to set up for free which eases pressure off of Steelix and your team in general as Gurdurr's the only Pokemon Slurpuff can really set up on. If you take this route you should also be using Iron Fist as your ability, since Gurdurr can't boost anymore it appreciates the extra oomph to Drain Punch and Mach Punch, and since Lanturn serves as your cleric the loss of Guts shouldn't matter too much.