np: RU Stage 4 - Deck the Halls

[Molk]

i'd have to say, klinklang is an excellent pokemon, the fact that it can outrun scarfed base 100's after a shift gear with a little investment, and check cress (max hp subshift sets up on it)is enough of a selling point for me. its an incredible sweeper late game and i dunno why people are saying its so horrible, its best late game, when everything that can hard counter it is down. the fact that it can break sashes and level 1 strategies such as feargle with a simple gear grind is excellent too. Durant is also an excellent pokemon in this metagame, with the CB set steamrolling teams, but i always loved good old klinklang to counter moxiekrow and sweep at the same time.

btw trick room is still going strong, with so many abusers of it in the tier, and cress's lunar dance to keep everyone healed up :D. TR NP cofag is perhaps the most threatening pokemon on a trick room team, being able to set up easily with its bulk and sweep with perfect coverage

 

[A Fhaol Bhig]

Klinklang is still terrible in my opinion, as many things in RU can easily wall it, even after boosts. In addition, its Special Defense is so low it gets easily revenged by basically any decently powerful Special Attack. Like I said before, Sigilyph isn't really all that threatening. I personally deal with it by using Volt-Turn with Rotom and Moltres, or I can just 2HKO it with Rotom's Thunderbolt or Moltres's Fire Blast. The Psycho Shift set is incredibly overrated. I think the proper way to abuse Sigilyph is by using a Life Orb Variant that has good coverage in Psychic, Ice Beam, Air Slash, and whatever else you might need. Base 97 Speed is ahead of the pack by a decent margin, and its Special Attack isn't bad. So stop using fucking Flame Orb and use Sigilyph the right way.

As for Steel-types, while I understand that the majority of the tier is leaning towards offensive playstyles, Steelix is an incredibly underrated Pokemon. I don't usually use it, but when I do, it works wonders for me. Stealth Rock and Roar are great moves to phaze some otherwise troublesome set-up sweepers, and Gyro Ball does a decent chunk to anything faster, even without Attack investment. Although Durant is plagued by its low Special Defense and the amount of Choice Scarf abusers in the tier, Hone Claws is one of the most frightening sets to face without a Will-O-Wisp user such as Cofagrigus or a phazer.

However, what I've recently become very annoyed with is Choice Scarf Galvantula. Despite its low-ish Special Attack, STAB Thunders are nothing to laugh at, and Volt Switch fucks up a lot of teams. In addition, with its great base 108 Speed, it almost always outspeeds other Choice Scarfers, such as Moltres and Rotom. Bug Buzz is a great secondary STAB and hits Grass-types super effectively. Overall, I think Galvantula is another really underrated threat that can cause massive damage if you aren't prepared for it.

Stop using it? I've had quite a few successes with Psycho Shift Sigi', I don't think I will.

Main thing you is "I personally deal with it using" which is you prsonally, not every team is built the same way. He's not example a six and 0 sweeper but don't underestimate him.

Steelix is amazing, agreed. Durant is extremely scary also.

Also agreed on Galvantula, though I've personaly seen more Choice Specs then Scarf.

 

[Cheapoman]

Cress seems a little too good. Saved my rear end in a battle a little while ago as I spammed Moonlight to avoid sweep >.<.

A bold set w/ CM Moonlight and 2 attacks seems like a pretty solid Cress to use

 

[DittoCrow]

Cress does seem a little too good, but I'll have to play with it more. This is what I've been using:

Cresselia @ Leftovers
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpDef / 4 Def
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
- Moonlight
- Reflect

I'm using this as an RU Blissey. She takes hits from Moltres, Porygon-Z, Omastar, Lilligant, Sceptile, and other big special attackers, then paralyses them. Reflect obviously lets you beat most physical attackers. This thing is nearly impossible to OHKO.

 

[Cheapoman]

The Cress I am using is this:

Cresselia w/ Leftovers
Bold
252 HP / 252 Def
- Calm Mind
- Moonlight
- Psychic
- Ice Beam

Might have to try your set. An Aggron using Head Smash did over 40% to the above set iirc. T-wave and reflect support seems a lot better than hoping take huge hits and recovering off the damage afterwards.

 

[Rakan]

Cresselia's true potential lies in its supporting capabilities in my opinion. Sure, SubCm is a devastating set if given the chance to set up - but herein lies the problem - it usually doesn't get a chance to set up thanks to the multitude of powerful physical attackers and plethora of phazers. Access to Lunar Dance, Dual Screens, and Thunder Wave makes it a premier team supporter (fuk Taunt). In fact, I think Sigilyph and Cresselia should switch their most popular roles - i.e. Cresselia should abuse its support capabilities, while Sigilyph should abuse an offensive set.

Also, I've recently switched out Choice Scarf Rotom for Choice Scarf Galvantula, and it's been working wonders. The higher Speed and more powerful STAB moves definitely work well.

Edit: Yea the Ground and Fighting immunity as well as the immunity to Spikes and Toxix Spikes and neutrality to Stealth Rock is sorely missed :/

 

[Molk]

cresselia is the crux of my trick room team, taking hits like a beast and setting up, and healing up my trick room sweepers, i totally agree with omicron,

about galvantula? i might try scarf (i used scarf sceptile in the past :D) it seems like rotom's resistance to spikes and toxic spikes might make it last longer though, especially cause of that stealthrock weakness

 

[Double01]

Ive started facing some dual screens cress and they are an absolutely bitch to kill. Having pratically screens pratically the whole time during the game. Gallade with reflect up is so powerful. Makes it extremely bulky and it causes alot of damage

 

[Molk]

i am just posting to say how stupidly good an obscure set/pokemon is again

trick room + nasty plot cofagrigus is freaking incredible in this metagame and has been the star of most of my teams

any team that lacks a mandibuzz, honchkrow, or specially defensive spiritomb loses something to this. it is incredibly easy to set up trick room and nasty plot against a weak pokemon and pretty much 6-0 hyper offense.(coughmostofthemetagamecough) this is probably one of the most underrated sets in the history of this round, and is a very good anti meta mon. anyone else use it?

Cofagrigus (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Mummy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Trick Room
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fighting]


2 speed ivs for max power hidden power
^^^^^^^^
heres the set

edit: it beasts cress by boosting twice as fast and having a super effective STAb as well while being able to take boosted psychics

 

[Cheapoman]

How are you guys doing on the ladder?

After starting playing on the servers, finally got a streak going. Crustle is doing a ton of work for me.

 

[Sabinfrost]

How are you guys doing on the ladder?

After starting playing on the servers, finally got a streak going. Crustle is doing a ton of work for me.

I was 8th but I haven't played in the last week, so there would be a bit of decay.

I was running dual screen Cress, it's complete BS, to think last round people were actually bitching about Uxie calling for it to be banned, this is easily 10 times worse.

 

[Cheapoman]

I was 8th but I haven't played in the last week, so there would be a bit of decay.

I was running dual screen Cress, it's complete BS, to think last round people were actually bitching about Uxie calling for it to be banned, this is easily 10 times worse.

Running this Crustle set and its seen some success:

Blockhead (Crustle)
Sturdy
Adamant
Mental Herb
252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Shell Smash
- X-Scissors
- EQ
- Rock Blast

Mental herb might seem noobish but against taunt users, its an awesome item. Most opponent's think I'm setting up spikes / stealth rock but I immediately go for shell smash and prepare to sweep. The battles I've lost have come from me being too greddy and going for a 2nd SS when I should go for rock blast or X-Scissor right after the first. -.-;

Have caused several ragequits when I get 2-3 pokes out with this lil' guy.

Cress does seem a bit too good. Felt bad about one guy though when I just told him mid-battle that Cress was in RU. He seemed really trolled afterward.

 

[Oglemi]

Porygon-Z was banned, Honchkrow wasn't even close, and Cresselia was highly contested, stay tuned for the next thread!