Hey all! So I've been playing around here in the NU Beta, and I've come up with a team of bulky attackers plus Wish/status spread support that aims to wear down the opposing team in order to set up a late game Pyroar clean-up. After a bit of time on the ladder with it, I'd like to hear what you guys think of it and how it can improve.
Hariyama @ Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Bullet Punch
This was the first Poke I made for the team, designed primarily to counter the Fire special attackers in the tier, in particular the Specs Typholsion which had been giving my original team nightmares. With Thick Fat and AV, this thing takes fully powered Eruptions, Fire Blasts and the like decently and responds in kind with a high chance to OHKO with EQ, with the Bullet Punch there to clean up the job if needed. Knock Off provides coverage to Ghosts and helps immensely with threats like Eviolite Doublade. I've considered dropping Bullet Punch in favor of Stone Edge in order to catch birds like Archeops and Swellow on the switch, but Archeops gets hit hard by Superpower anyway and it currently stands as the only priority on a fairly slow team, so it seems too useful to lose.
Granbull @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 Atk
Impish Nature
- Play Rough
- Stone Edge
- Thunder Wave
- Roar
Granbull takes physical hits like nobody's business with the Intimidate and its new typing, and even without full Attack investment it can still inflict some serious damage to those weak to its Fairy STAB. Even Banded Sawk can barely touch it, allowing it to T-Wave incoming fast Special Attacking threats that'll switch in on it or phase them away with Roar so they'll take more hazards damage later on. SE is here to hit Bugs like Vivilion and Venomoth on the switch as well as other Flying types, but does occasionally bite him with misses and doesn't provide as much coverage as I'd sometimes like to have.
Lickilicky @ Leftovers
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 HP/252 SpD/4 Def
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic
- Dragon Tail
Considering my two big, bulky attackers have no way to actively heal and Hariyama can't even carry the Lefties because of AV, Wish support seemed vital to keep them upright. I decided to go with Lickilicky over Audino for his ability to phase with Dragon Tail, giving me a second option to phase out set-up sweepers that may want to wreak havoc. Otherwise, it's a pretty basic Wish-Protect-Toxic stalling set, with Special bulk to avoid the OHKO from Focus Blasts, which are a bigger concern than Physical hits considering Granbull can switch in on those pretty handily. Oblivious prevents it from being Taunted by things like the odd Prankster user, but those seem to be uncommon thus far on the ladder and it may be worth switching it up to Own Tempo to prevent confusion from Chatot's Chatter. It also used to carry the Heal Bell over Toxic to be a more traditional Cleric, but without Toxic on any other part of the team, the team as a whole often struggled to get enough residual damage on bulkier threats to facilitate Pyroar clean-ups, and so was deemed more important.
Pyroar (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 SpA/252 Spe/4 Def
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Hyper Voice
- Hidden Power Grass
- Dark Pulse
Pyroar acts as a revenge killer and late game sweeper, and it's often this team's win condition after the bulky threats soften up things that aren't OHKOed by a Hyper Voice or Fire Blast. The Scarf is used over the pure power of Specs because of the team's general lack of speed or any other Scarf user, which often means that Pyroar can miss OHKOing threats to it if they haven't been sufficiently weakened first. This has made me go back and forth on either a Timid or Modest nature, but I've currently settled on Timid to ensure I beat out other Scarfers, which has also made me pick Fire Blast over Flamethrower for the added base power. HP Grass is here to blast Rock type switch-ins, namely Carracostas looking to get a free switch on a predicted Fire move to get a Shell Smash in.
Mismagius @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP/176 Def/96 Spe
Bold Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Pain Split
- Will-O-Wisp
- Heal Bell
This is currently the Pokemon I feel the most conflicted about keeping on the team. Mismagius, in theory at least, provides a second physically defensive option in case Granbull goes down, gives WoW to a team that otherwise lacks it, and access to Heal Bell to free up the moveslot on Lickilicky for Toxic, all of which I feel are good things for this team to have. It also has solid Special Attack without investment, which along with some Speed investment lets it outspeed and 2HKO most other Ghosts and break potential WoW-avoiding Subs via Shadow Ball. However, the lack of another coverage move leaves it wide open against threats like Pyroar, and despite the investment in bulk, it often can't take more than 2 hits unless they're WoWed first, especially with the prevalence of Knock Off users.
Sandslash @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 HP/216 Atk/40 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
After last gen, where some of NU's best spinners were things like Wartortle and Armaldo, it's nice to have some really good Spinners in the tier. I chose Slash as my spinner for its ability to Knock Off incoming spinblockers, hit fairly hard with EQs, and also set up its own Rocks, which this team otherwise lacked and absolutely required. The Lum is the hold item so it can switch in for free on Toxic Spikes from Dragalge, and it also acts as a get-out-of-jail-free card on attempts to cripple it with burn. The little bit of speed investment is just there for a little speed creep on things that would normally speed tie or outspeed, as, again, this team often lacked the speed it needed.
So there's the team! I hope you at least like the ideas behind it, and I'm very interested to hear how you think it can be improved.
Hariyama @ Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Bullet Punch
This was the first Poke I made for the team, designed primarily to counter the Fire special attackers in the tier, in particular the Specs Typholsion which had been giving my original team nightmares. With Thick Fat and AV, this thing takes fully powered Eruptions, Fire Blasts and the like decently and responds in kind with a high chance to OHKO with EQ, with the Bullet Punch there to clean up the job if needed. Knock Off provides coverage to Ghosts and helps immensely with threats like Eviolite Doublade. I've considered dropping Bullet Punch in favor of Stone Edge in order to catch birds like Archeops and Swellow on the switch, but Archeops gets hit hard by Superpower anyway and it currently stands as the only priority on a fairly slow team, so it seems too useful to lose.
Granbull @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 Atk
Impish Nature
- Play Rough
- Stone Edge
- Thunder Wave
- Roar
Granbull takes physical hits like nobody's business with the Intimidate and its new typing, and even without full Attack investment it can still inflict some serious damage to those weak to its Fairy STAB. Even Banded Sawk can barely touch it, allowing it to T-Wave incoming fast Special Attacking threats that'll switch in on it or phase them away with Roar so they'll take more hazards damage later on. SE is here to hit Bugs like Vivilion and Venomoth on the switch as well as other Flying types, but does occasionally bite him with misses and doesn't provide as much coverage as I'd sometimes like to have.
Lickilicky @ Leftovers
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 HP/252 SpD/4 Def
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic
- Dragon Tail
Considering my two big, bulky attackers have no way to actively heal and Hariyama can't even carry the Lefties because of AV, Wish support seemed vital to keep them upright. I decided to go with Lickilicky over Audino for his ability to phase with Dragon Tail, giving me a second option to phase out set-up sweepers that may want to wreak havoc. Otherwise, it's a pretty basic Wish-Protect-Toxic stalling set, with Special bulk to avoid the OHKO from Focus Blasts, which are a bigger concern than Physical hits considering Granbull can switch in on those pretty handily. Oblivious prevents it from being Taunted by things like the odd Prankster user, but those seem to be uncommon thus far on the ladder and it may be worth switching it up to Own Tempo to prevent confusion from Chatot's Chatter. It also used to carry the Heal Bell over Toxic to be a more traditional Cleric, but without Toxic on any other part of the team, the team as a whole often struggled to get enough residual damage on bulkier threats to facilitate Pyroar clean-ups, and so was deemed more important.
Pyroar (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 SpA/252 Spe/4 Def
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Hyper Voice
- Hidden Power Grass
- Dark Pulse
Pyroar acts as a revenge killer and late game sweeper, and it's often this team's win condition after the bulky threats soften up things that aren't OHKOed by a Hyper Voice or Fire Blast. The Scarf is used over the pure power of Specs because of the team's general lack of speed or any other Scarf user, which often means that Pyroar can miss OHKOing threats to it if they haven't been sufficiently weakened first. This has made me go back and forth on either a Timid or Modest nature, but I've currently settled on Timid to ensure I beat out other Scarfers, which has also made me pick Fire Blast over Flamethrower for the added base power. HP Grass is here to blast Rock type switch-ins, namely Carracostas looking to get a free switch on a predicted Fire move to get a Shell Smash in.
Mismagius @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP/176 Def/96 Spe
Bold Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Pain Split
- Will-O-Wisp
- Heal Bell
This is currently the Pokemon I feel the most conflicted about keeping on the team. Mismagius, in theory at least, provides a second physically defensive option in case Granbull goes down, gives WoW to a team that otherwise lacks it, and access to Heal Bell to free up the moveslot on Lickilicky for Toxic, all of which I feel are good things for this team to have. It also has solid Special Attack without investment, which along with some Speed investment lets it outspeed and 2HKO most other Ghosts and break potential WoW-avoiding Subs via Shadow Ball. However, the lack of another coverage move leaves it wide open against threats like Pyroar, and despite the investment in bulk, it often can't take more than 2 hits unless they're WoWed first, especially with the prevalence of Knock Off users.
Sandslash @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 HP/216 Atk/40 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
After last gen, where some of NU's best spinners were things like Wartortle and Armaldo, it's nice to have some really good Spinners in the tier. I chose Slash as my spinner for its ability to Knock Off incoming spinblockers, hit fairly hard with EQs, and also set up its own Rocks, which this team otherwise lacked and absolutely required. The Lum is the hold item so it can switch in for free on Toxic Spikes from Dragalge, and it also acts as a get-out-of-jail-free card on attempts to cripple it with burn. The little bit of speed investment is just there for a little speed creep on things that would normally speed tie or outspeed, as, again, this team often lacked the speed it needed.
So there's the team! I hope you at least like the ideas behind it, and I'm very interested to hear how you think it can be improved.
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