Project NU Archetype Cores: Discuss Your Experiences! (HIATUS)

[poh]

Shadestep

 

[kay]

Dr Ciel

 

[Winter's Howl]

And your winner for this week is Dr Ciel. Congratulations! Thank you to everyone else who contributed as well.

spam is going to be the flavor of this week, so I look forward to seeing what you guys can cook up. The submission period will be open until Friday, the 18th. Good luck to you all.

 

[Plaessy]

Charizard @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Air Slash
- Focus Blast
- Will-O-Wisp

Scyther @ Eviolite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Aerial Ace
- Swords Dance
- Roost

Mantine @ Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Air Slash
- Ice Beam
- Signal Beam

Slamming triple choice items on burds is a bad idea. So instead, I wanted to try out something fo'realzies. As birds are incredibly weak to rock, with no rock resisting birds in the NU tier itself, I decided to take this problem on with as much offensive presence as possible. Life orb Zard hits like a truck. Bulky rock-types, Mesprit, Lanturn, whatever, they all get frightened when Zard pops out the five pointed blast straight from the devil's toilet. Focus blast will usually be able to finish them off, but depending on the situation, Will-o-wisp is a good supporting move for the birds. Especially scyther appreciates the burns to help it set up and stuff. As goes for Scyther, it's the standard eviolite set. It can eat up some hits and hit back hard with a +2 U-turn or a technician boosted Aerial Ace. Lanturn definitely doesnt appreciate either of these hits. And lastly, my latest love, specs Mantine. Specs Mantine catches a lot of things off guard, gives a strong counter to Malamar, takes out Stealth Rockers before they get rocks up (most notably Spd Rhydon, as it lives a regular scald from a regular Mantine), and offers a relatively safe switch in on water types excluding Lanturn. As goes for synergy, I hope mentally sane people know that you can have some actual hazard removal for the remaining one of the slots out of the three.

Edit: lol i forgot i only had to have 2 flying types, but oh well.

 

[Rapture]

Hide

Scyther @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wing Attack
- U-turn
- Bug Bite
- Knock Off

Shiftry @ Black Glasses
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Leaf Storm
- Defog

Archeops
Ability: Defeatist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Acrobatics
- Earth Power
- Stone Edge
- Roost

Pretty simple core, scyther and archeops force a ton of switches which shiftry can take advantage of to either defog hazards or spam knock off. Mixed Archeops in particular is pretty nice to pair with other flying types since earth power can nail things like steelix and rhydon which scarf scyther certainly appreciates since it's pretty weak due to it running scarf.

 

[Em]

Sets

Swellow (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
Happiness: 8
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Boomburst
- Heat Wave/Brave Bird/Sleep Talk
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- U-turn

Altaria (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 8
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 40 SpA / 176 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Perish Song/Roar
- Roost

Probopass (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 8
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- Magnet Rise
- Volt Switch

Set Details

Standard Specs Swellow. Nice revenge killer, that can also function as a late game sweeper. Normally Heat Wave is a must have, but with Probopass around, it opens up either Sleep Talk, or Brave Bird as a possibility as well. Sleep Talk helps deal with the likes of Vivillon, and Lilligant.

4 Atk Swellow Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Hariyama: 338-402 (78.7 - 93.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

On the analysis, there is only Specs Altaria listed. I wanted a bulky, non-AV set, so I came up with my own spread. Note that I am badly and the calcs that I did when I came up with the set were without Leftovers (whoops), so just assume they were Knock'd Off or something.

252 SpA Choice Specs Pyroar Hyper Voice vs. 248 HP / 176+ SpD Altaria: 144-171 (40.7 - 48.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Haunter Sludge Bomb vs. 248 HP / 176+ SpD Altaria: 130-153 (36.8 - 43.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after poison damage
252+ SpA Magmortar Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 176+ SpD Altaria: 78-92 (22 - 26%) -- 6% chance to 4HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Swellow Boomburst vs. 248 HP / 176+ SpD Altaria: 141-166 (39.9 - 47%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
136+ Atk Steelix Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 248 HP / 44 Def Altaria: 151-178 (42.7 - 50.4%) -- 1.2% chance to 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Sceptile Rock Slide vs. 248 HP / 44 Def Altaria: 280-330 (79.3 - 93.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Sceptile Hidden Power Ice vs. 248 HP / 176+ SpD Altaria: 218-260 (61.7 - 73.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

40 SpA Altaria Dragon Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Haunter: 117-138 (50.6 - 59.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
40 SpA Altaria Flamethrower vs. 244 HP / 128 SpD Steelix: 124-146 (35.2 - 41.4%) -- 72.1% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
40 SpA Altaria Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Ferroseed: 156-184 (53.4 - 63%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Note that Altaria allows Sceptile to get cleaned off by Swellow, which doesn't OHKO Sceptile I mean, Brave Bird probably does, but it lives a Boomburst. And yes, I am aware that Sceptile may very well be banned in like 2 weeks. Spreads not perfect, but it looks decent enough to me.

Probopass is Magnet Rise to better check things like Steelix. Magnet Pull helps it handle some things Swellow might not appreciate late game, and it has a great type synergy with Altaria as well. It also sets up Stealth Rocks, and a slow Volt Switch may come in handy for allowing Swellow to get a kill here and there. I just used a 252/252 spread, since I couldn't think of anything it specifically wants to check that it may need investment in SpDef for. I suppose you could try to add Pain Split onto Probopass for longevity, but that requires getting rid of some other move, and 4 move slot syndrome is never fun.

Shoutouts

MARCU5theBAW5 for teaching me how to use the hide thing properly.
MajinBubbles for making me like Probopass.
Xrn_n because I pointed out to him that Probopass is #476 one time, and he just stole all my credit for innovating Probopass in OU.

 

[erisia]

sets

Vivillon @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Quiver Dance
- Hurricane
- Energy Ball

Drifblim @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 80 Def / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Acrobatics
- Will-O-Wisp
- Destiny Bond / Knock Off / Phantom Force

Hitmonchan @ Black Belt
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- High Jump Kick / Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Mach Punch
- Rapid Spin

Everyone knows how dangerous Vivillon can be, and lead Vivillon does an excellent job at providing early game pressure, as well as luring in traditional Flying-type resists such as Rhydon and Lanturn with Energy Ball. Once Vivillon has broken through some walls and provided some early game advantage, Drifblim can clean up with its immense speed after Unburden is triggered, with Destiny Bond being an almost guaranteed KO and Knock Off / Phantom Force being able to deal with threats such as Rotom without KOing itself. Usually the Hex set is better but on a Flying-spam team having the extra power behind Acrobatics for late-game cleaning is useful. Finally, Hitmonchan provides reliable spin support and can use High Jump Kick or Drain Punch to clean up if required, having excellent offensive synergy with Flying-type offense.

 

[Winter's Howl]

You guys can go ahead and vote now. 1 vote per person due to the low number of submissions. Voting will end Monday, the 21st.

Plaessynplaeae

Shadowtags

Based Sexy Pants

erisia

 

[cryalot]

Erisia

 

[poh]

Shadowtags

 

[Shadestep]

Shadowtags

 

[etern]

Tough one since I like all of them, but imma go with Shadowtags.

 

[Em]

Rapture　Shadowtags。

 

[Winter's Howl]

Despite the small vote pool, I am going to go ahead with ending this round. Shadowtags is your winner. Congratulations! Thank you to everyone else who contributed as well. Since I promised it a couple of weeks back, we're doing

spam this time. This will be the last spam core assignment. If you need a refresher on the rules for the spam core theme, check out this post: http://www.smogon.com/forums/thread...imited-spam-works.3561437/page-7#post-6700379. The submission period will end on Friday, the 25th. Good luck!

 

[PrinceLucian]

Sets:

Hide

Victreebel @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Sucker Punch
- Encore

Shiftry @ Black Glasses
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Seed Bomb
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch

Cacturne @ Life Orb
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive/Rash Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Giga Drain
- Sucker Punch
- Destiny Bond

-Finally,grass spam is something i pretty much find so fun to use,I posted this Victreebel set on forums when I was new to showdown,very fun times,I ran nothing but teams for fun and just chilling around.Basically, Victreebel set isnt standard, and I also never ran this core in sun, which makes me remember i never ran sun in general,fun fact. Its a swords dance/encore set, something that looks very gimmicky,allows you to outplay sucker punches/recovery moves/setup on rocks and things like that in general.It revenges every fast threat after rocks even without dark stab on sucker punch,also bops hard common Vic switchins like hariyama,skuntank,muk,cradily. Shiftry is another pokemon,having that sucker punch/knock off stab,its also a psychic check, later game sweeper which becomes so hard to deal with after 1 Sd, black glasses gives its dark stabs boost so it wont die to life orb damage.And Cacturne is here over sceptile just because triple priority is really nice to have, I personally never enjoyed using sceptile and only used it because its so threatening,but having threat like that is always useful. Cacturne,on the other side,is pretty slow,but access to strong special stab in dark pulse/giga/priority really weakens common switchins for my core, click destiny bond if you want something to die and if cacturne isnt gonna be that useful, Naive/Rash is the nature of choice,depending if you want to outspeed something and Dbond it or if you prefer a bit more power.

*Tips*

Hide

Counter to pokemon like scyther is a must for this core, I used stunfisk a lot because it threatens all momentum users with paralyze/sets up rocks and pairs well with core, pokemon like xatu to pressure things like garbodor is also a cool partner, checks stuff for core and just having presence of xatu on your team makes your opponent think twice whats he gona click. Hitmonchan is another great partner imo, pairs well with core, spins and its another priority user, while Claydol is amazing spinner to resist garbodor and poisons, can weaken skuntank but scyther weakness hurts them, so definitely make sure you keep your flying check alive, its more simple than it sounds since triple priority can damage them a lot, anyways I wrote so ill stop here since I said enough and im writing from my android, so have fun!

 

[boltsandbombers]

Hide

Shiftry @ Black Glasses
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Seed Bomb

Sceptile @ Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Rhydon @ Eviolite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Atk / 232 SpD / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
- Megahorn

Given that Sceptile is the best Pokemon in the tier, Grass spam is naturally a very effective team archetype when built and played well. On its own, both of Swords Dance Shiftry and Mixed Sceptile are very threatening, and pairing them together to wear down their similar checks and counters works well. Swords Dance Shiftry kinda lures in Hariyama if they expect the mixed set, which is something that Shiftry helps out Sceptile with, but most of the support here is from Sceptile luring in Shiftry's checks. Earthquake heavily dents Skuntank and Rock Slide chunks Scyther, both of which are very good checks to Shiftry. Adamant Black Glasses is the best way to go with Shiftry since you really don't want the recoil after setting up mid to late game. Shiftry's strong Sucker Punch helps out with Swellow and other scarfers which can revenge kill Sceptile like Mesprit, Rotom, Haunter, etc. Lastly, Rhydon patches up the Fire and Flying weakness while still having good offensive presence as well as providing rocks.

 

[dfmetal]

Sets

Liepard @ Heat Rock
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sunny Day
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Encore

Tangela @ Eviolite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 108 HP / 252 SpA / 148 Spe
Modest Nature
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Ancient Power

Victreebel @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Growth
- Sludge Bomb
- Solar Beam / Giga Drain
- Weather Ball

LETS GROWTH !!! This core is just amazing, Liepard provides a 8-turns Sun that doubles both Pokémon's speed. Encore can cockblock M Audino, Musharna and other shitty CM users. Tangela is just a monster. Amazing bulk, high Speed in Sun, Growth, and a nice STAB. HP Fire can KO Steel types like Steelix and Klang after a Growth, Anciant Power is here for Scyther, Charizard and others Fire types. 148 Speed allows Tang to outspeed Swellow in Sun, and max SpA for evident reasons. Victreebel is the last mon, basic and easy to use. Growth again, Solar Beam for more power (Giga Drain can also be run), Weather Ball for Steel types, and Sludge Bomb for the second STAB

 

[Plaessy]

Abomasnow @ Life Orb
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Giga Drain
- Blizzard
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Sandstorm
- Seed Bomb
- Stone Edge

Mesprit @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Psychic
- Signal Beam
- Healing Wish

Aboma is a monster
Cradily is bad dont use it
Mesprit can be bulky Mesprit too idk.
Cradily can also have recover and you can probably take out sandstorm for it. It needs to heal up eventually.

 

[erisia]

sets

Lilligant @ Miracle Seed
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Quiver Dance
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Shiftry @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Knock Off
- Leaf Storm
- Sucker Punch
- Explosion

Regirock @ Custap Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Explosion

I've been running Sceptile + Shiftry spam for a while but with Sceptile (hopefully) soon to be disappearing, I realized that Lilligant is actually a better fit for this core, acting as an excellent end-game sweeper once walls have been taken out by its teammates. Life Orb Shiftry with Explosion deals with the vast majority of Grass-type checks while still posing a threat with its Life Storm, while the Lilligant set I've suggested is fairly standard, not really needing Life Orb due to the wallbreaker support. The Regirock set is probably the most "out there" of the sets but it's been consistently useful both as a lead and as a mid-game threat if I can get it into Custap range, which is fairly easy due to Regirock's good bulk and lack of 4x weaknesses. Stone Edge is very powerful with full investment and Earthquake often catches a lot of people off guard. The Speed investment might be a bit too much but honestly I don't miss the extra bulk from HP investment and luring stuff like Mantine and Lanturn and hitting them hard, while not hugely beneficial to Lilligant, is still very nice in general. Explosion is also very powerful and pretty difficult to counterplay with Custap Berry's priority. Also this core is basically a nightmare for Sun teams due to having two fast Chlorophyll users, and you can even run a Liepard of your own to give Lilligant and Shiftry the speed-boost if you really want. Overall I can't wait to make more use of Lilligant with this core. :)

 

[poh]

sets

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Recover
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
- Giga Drain

Ferroseed @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Knock Off
- Protect

Hariyama @ Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 238 SpD / 18 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Fake Out
- Bullet Punch
- Earthquake

A defensive core to change things up. Cradily and Ferro set up hazards and also stall out the opponent with a combo of Leech Seed, Toxic and Protect. Hariyama deals with the Fire and Ice types that threaten Ferro and Cradily. Having the double priority + hazards widdles down your opponents health slowly to ensure the win. Ferroseed covers Yamas weaknesses which is convenient.

 

[Winter's Howl]

Wow, you guys really came through for the end of the spam theme. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed, we'll now be moving on to voting. Vote for your two favorites. The voting stage ends on Monday, the 28th. Good luck everyone!
PrinceLucian

boltsandbombers

dfmetal

Plaessynplaeae

erisia

PursuitOfHappiny

 

[etern]

Erisia
Bolts

 

[PrinceLucian]

Boltsandbombers

 

[Take Azelfie]

Bolts

 

[Plaessy]

erisia and PursuitOfHappiny

tfw nobody voted for two