NU Beta: Giving Love to Some Losers

[zaser9]

This team might not be the "best" by anyone's standards, but I still had a lot of fun making it and using it. I am accepting any form of criticism and will consider changes. So please take a look and tell me what you think of the team.

Dragalge @ Choice Specs
Ability: Poison Point
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Thunderbolt
- Sludge Wave

Dragalge is one of those pokemon where the only people that don't like it, are the one's taking a choice specs draco meteor from one. In NU, the lack of many viable fairy types makes choice specs even more viable.And if I don't feel like draco meteor-ing or pulsing, sludge wave hits like a truck too. The only things holding this beast back are its horrible speed stat and the fact that adaptability is not released yet. That's why I ran max special attack, and special defense investment so that it can take a hit and then retaliate with one of its own.

Carracosta @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Protect

I think I may be the only person to not run shell smash on a Carracosta. All sarcasm aside though, that's what everyone expects it to be running. So by the time they realize that their choice band earthquake from whatever is only 2HKOing, they are already burned and I have my rocks up. Knock off works really well for things trying to out-wall me, and protect is good for that extra lefties recovery. I really like this carracosta, and there hasn't been a battle yet where it ceases to do work.

Dusknoir @ Assault Vest
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Power-Up Punch
- Shadow Sneak
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
The only reason that this thing exists is because of my crippling addiction to assault vest. This thing works surprisingly well despite its few major flaws. One of which being that it has no means of recovery because, for some odd reason, game freak wanted to give this thing pretty much every punch except for drain punch. Also, Dusknoir's HP stat could be a lot better. The last big problem with it is that it's strongest physical ghost type attack is shadow punch with 60 power. OP, I know. This set can work around those flaws fairly well as if I can get a couple of power-up punches off, I can proceed to shadow sneak nearly everything for a decent amount of damage. If I survive to get off an ice punch or earthquake, it can do a lot.

Meowstic-F (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Psyshock
- Dark Pulse
- Energy Ball
- Trick

You know what can be annoying? Sticky web and defog. But Meowstic-F has a plan for you. Sure it's special attack is mediocre but with competitive, things start getting powerful. Choice scarf helps negate the drop from sticky web or lets me trip up some walls. Psyshock screws over assault vest users and Dark Pulse and Energy Ball take care of pretty much anything else. Infiltrator can be better in a lot of cases, but this is one set I think will stick around.

Purugly @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- U-turn
- Sucker Punch
- Return


Purugly is pretty much a discount Ambipom. But instead of Technician, we get defiant. Which means beside screwing over Defog and Sticky Web, any of the multiple Intimidaters get wrecked by this thing's power. Honesty on paper, Purugly looks sub-par but in battle it's done really well. Sucker punch and Fake out are the priority moves that this team needed, and U-turn gives a lot of accepted momentum. Purugly is one that I didn't have high hopes for, but it more than made up for it in the end.

Archeops @ Power Herb
Ability: Defeatist
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Sky Attack
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Acrobatics


I might as well enjoy this thing while it lasts because it will probably be shipped off to RU in a matter of weeks.I made this set wanting to use a special attacking Archeops but then I thought that I should have some fun and run it mixed. Heat wave is great for the abundant Durants and less abundant Avaluggs. Earth Power is a surprisingly decent alternative to Earthquake on this set. The prototype for this was Acrobatics with Sitrus Berry but most of the time it didn't live long enough for the berry to proc. So I thought I'd give it power herb Sky Attack for a really powerful one-time STAB. And then it can normally proceed to clean up with the boosted Acrobatics.

And that's it, although a lot of these sets are different and some a little unorthodox, they do work really well and I would love to hear what you guys think about it and maybe even give some suggestions. Thanks in advance.

 

[Brawlfest]

Hey there, this is an ok team, but it needs a lot of help in succeeding. This rather offensive team is absurdly weak to Knock Off spam, one of the most common strategies, and that alone almost assuradly 6-0's you. On another note, anything with strong EdgeQuake coverage easily 6-0's you, and again a lack of a way to hit dark types hard is again very worrisome. Overall the team has some key flaws, which makes it difficult to succeed with it. I would also like to point out that Purugly and Dusknoir are terrible pokemon in the metagame with many flaws, and make your team weaker overall rather than more solid. A lack of a way to reliably clean up opponents also worries me.

The first thing I would do is to replace Purugly with Swords Dance Virizion. Simply put, this just makes the team more solid as a whole, as you not only have a Knock Off Absorber (Free +1 Attack), but also a reliable win condition who is extremely fast and bulky by NU's standards, and a resist to EdgeQuake coverage, which is always a plus, becoming a great balance glue both offensively and defensively for the team. This also rounds off your check to dark types.

Next, I notice that again your team has difficulty with powerful Psychic types, and Dusknoir honestly is a pretty bad bulky attacker, and so I reccomend Offensive Spiritomb. Your team even with Scarf Meowstic is relatively weak to setup sweepers, and so Spiritomb helps you check those with powerful priority that even bypasses substitutes, but more importantly it pursuit traps Psychic types, and its ability to more consistently abuse immunities makes it a more key pokemon to use.

Minor Changes:
Dragalge: Assault Vest > Choice Specs, as Dragalge really doesn't want to be potentially locked into its moves, giving free setup and switches, especially when it wasn't very powerful in the first place. Assault Vest makes you a much better tank, and a more reliable pivot while still abusing your solid offenses.
Carracosta: Stone Edge + Waterfall or Aqua Jet > Protect + Scald | 252 Atk, 156 HP, 100 Spd Adamant is the best possible Carracosta for stealth rocks. The reason is, it really is easily setup on with your current set, but with this it acts as a great tank, dishing out tons of damage, while being still able to reliably set up rocks.
Archeops: I would just run the normal Life Orb Attacker Set, as it really doesn't need to abuse its flying STAB at all, and hits hard enough between EdgeQuake + Filler. The set would be Stone Edge, Earthquake or Earth Power, Knock Off or U-Turn, Roost with obvious EVs to help it tackle the metagame's top threats and avoid Defeatist much better than what you use.

Hope this helped.
________________

Virizion @ Lum Berry / Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Leaf Blade
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance

Spiritomb @ Dread Plate / Choice Band
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 248 HP / 4 SDef / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Shadow Sneak
- Will-O-Wisp / Trick

 

[ium]

i don't really feel like giving a proper rate, but i want to mention that i really like the mix archeops because it helps handle some major threats right now and catches things off guard with a clean 2HKO it otherwise wouldn't be able to achieve with a physical set. however, i would suggest changing the set around a little

archeops @ no item, naive nature, 252 atk / 4 spa / 252 spe

it doesn't need max spa because unfortunately it doesn't turn that many 2HKOs into OHKOs and takes away damage from your main stab attacks. for example, doublade, steelix, and avalugg are still 2HKO'd by heat wave regardless of your spread, and whether you run earthquake or earth power still leads to a 2HKO on carracosta and omastar. without sky attack, which is completely redundant with acrobatics and unnecessary as a one-time move, you can dedicate that filler slot to a rock-type move, knock off, u-turn, or roost depending on what you want. they provide far greater utility than sky attack does

i also want to point out that it may be worth trying out choice scarf mr. mime over meowstic. it has more immediate power without relying on a defog or sticky web user, and it can mess with baton pass venomoth because of soundproof blocking its only attacking move (although the speed tie at +1 is unfortunate). however, the most important thing is that steel-types aren't that common and the existing ones are lured and damaged by archeops, so dazzling gleam is a great offensive move and gives dark-types a hard time unlike meowstic