Pre-Bank Bulky Offense (First RMT)

[Nine Volt Jones]

This generation marks my first foray into competitive pokemon, and I have very little experience beforehand except for a small amount of play in the B2W2 UU metagame for maybe a month before the format shift. I wanted to use a bulky offense team to get used to the OU metagame because it is much more forgiving than a HO team and (in my opinion) much less boring than a dedicated weather team. I've had moderate success with this team, getting me to the mid 1600 bracket on pokemonshowdown and figured that I'd get some input from others before I make the team on cartridge. Now, let's begin.
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<-The Team ->

Spike

Kangaskhan @Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy/Parental Bond
EV: 252 HP, 252 ATK, 4 SPE
Jolly
-Fake Out
-Return
-Crunch
-Earthquake

Mega Kangaskhan usually is my lead because starting the game off with a double hit Fake Out and then using another move typically results in an early 6v5. If they have an obvious ghost switch in I'll stay in the base form for a turn so that the Fake Out will still go through, or just hit Return if the ghost isn't bulky enough to live through it. Crunch hits the predicted switch ins hard, and EQ is basically for Aegislash.

Jet

Tentacruel Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EV: 252 HP, 240 DEF, 16 SPE
Bold
-Scald
-Knock Off
-Rapid Spin
-Toxic

Tentacruel is my "physical" wall and utility mon. While his stats themselves are a little lackluster his resists and utility are top notch, and if left unchecked and underestimated he is still more than capable of doing some damage and spreading burns and toxic poison across the entire enemy team, while denying their items. He also wins almost any 1v1 against Ferrothorn as he can cause them to damage themselves, deny their recovery, and potentially burn them and stall them out.

Faye

Aegislash Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EV: 252 HP, 88 ATK, 168 SPA
Brave
-King's Shield
-Sacred Sword
-Shadow Sneak
-Shadow Ball

Aegislash is the first half of my offensive core. The mixed attacking set is brutal, and if it can manage to get a boost without getting crippled in the process he can usually take out 1 or 2 pokemon by himself. In addition, whenever anyone sees an Aegislash they put a huge priority on burning him, which allows me to use him to absorb status and still hit absurdly hard with STAB Shadow Ball.

Vicious

Hydreigon Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EV: 4 HP, 252 SPA, 252 SPE
Timid
-Dark Pulse
-Dragon Pulse
-Flash Cannon
-Flamethrower

Hydreigon makes the second half of my core, and is my main wall breaker. With a little bit of prediction he can take down just about any non specially defensive wall. I am debating between Specs or a Scarf, it depends on what role I want him to take on the team. I also have been considering making him a mixed attacker with Head Smash or U Turn or something, but I need to try it out a little more before I decide.

Ein

Mamoswine Leftovers
Ability: Oblivious
EV: 252HP, 252ATK, 4SPE
Jolly
-Earthquake
-Stealth Rock
-Stone Edge
-Ice Shard

Mamoswine is a god. He is my revenge killer, Stealth Rock setter, and all around does work. Stone Edge is to hit Talonflame on the switch, but it also is pretty good for taking out random fliers and it gives good coverage with Earthquake. He's surprisingly bulky, which is also an upside. I may switch him back to having Avalanche if I find myself having trouble with Dragons, but so far Hydreigon and Kangaskhan have been able to handle it.

Ed

Togekiss Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EV: 252 HP, 252 SPD, 4SPE
-Air Slash
-Roost
-Thunder Wave
-Aura Sphere

Togekiss is the newest trial member of the team, replacing Florges. I noticed that I had no good check for Fighting types, trouble with some Grass types, and wanted to be able to spread Paralysis, and Togekiss can do it all. I really wanted her to be able to provide Heal Bell support too, but considering how difficult it is to get a hold of one, it doesn't seem to be in the cards for me. Parahax is OP as always, Roost for healing, and Aura Sphere for coverage.

Well, thanks for reading, and hopefully you guys can help me out so I can make the most of the team.



________________________________________________________________________
Changelog
Swords Dance Aegislash -> Mixed Weakness Policy Set,
Changed Tentacruel Set,
Florges -> Togekiss
Nicknames added.

 

[Nine Volt Jones]

bumping

 

[Seiterman]

This looks pretty solid. I'll give you a few opinions for each team member.

Kangaskhan: I think she might benefit from running adamant over jolly since you're aiming for bulky offense, which as a general rule shouldn't be too worried about being outsped. Her set is more suited to revenge killing, which is redundant with Mamoswine. It's not like her 100 base speed will go to waste with another nature, as you'll still outspeed a lot of bulkier Pokemon regardless, and you have priority for faster Pokemon.

As for her moveset, it leaves her helpless against levitating defensive ghosts. In particular SubDisable Gengar comes to mind, though there are others I'm sure. Since you want a bulky offensive team, why not try a set out like this?

Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite
Scrappy | Adamant | 252 Hp/ 252 Atk/ 4 SpD
- Return
- Power-Up Punch
- Earthquake
- Crunch/Sucker Punch

Crunch is better for dealing with threats like SubDisable Gengar and requires less prediction whereas Sucker Punch gives priority. I left out Fake Out because it isn't especially useful on a bulky attacker. Power-Up Punch gives you a boosting option that also hits a lot of threats pretty hard. You can still take out Galvantula leads with Return, as it should result in an OHKO against all but the bulkiest Galvantula (haha, bulky Galvantula.) If you predict a ghost switch in you can still mega-evolve and use Crunch.

Tentacruel: Even with maximum defense investment I'd be hesistant to call Tentacruel a physical wall, but the EV's do work regardless. It's a good support set, and absorbs toxic spikes to boot, which is pretty important when using an inherently slower playstyle like bulky offense. I do have to ask about Sludge Bomb though. Are you hitting enough important targets with that? It has pretty bad coverage aside from fairies, and two of the most important fairies, Klefki and Mega Mawile, are immune anyway. I'll run a few damage calculations on what I'd consider to be fairy-type threats.

0 SpA Tentacruel Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Azumarill: 194-230 (56.89 - 67.44%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Tentacruel Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Azumarill: 194-230 (48.01 - 56.93%) -- 90.63% chance to 2HKO
0 SpA Tentacruel Sludge Bomb vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Togekiss: 144-170 (38.6 - 45.57%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Tentacruel Sludge Bomb vs. 248 HP / 216+ SpD Togekiss: 110-132 (29.49 - 35.38%) -- possible 4HKO
0 SpA Tentacruel Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Sylveon: 132-156 (33.5 - 39.59%) -- 16.21% chance to 3HKO

Florges looks similar to Sylveon and I don't think any other fairies are worth mentioning. While being able to reliably 2HKO most Azumarill is great, they can still dent you back, even with resisted hits, and it's easy enough to predict a Sludge Bomb and switch in a steel-type. 3HKO's aren't enough to merit use, as they can stall you out with Wish+Protect, use Aromatherapy on the team or do any myriad of other things. Most fairies are best taken out by taking advantage of their secondary typings, and the two pure fairies worth mentioning don't really have the physical defense to take neutral hits anyway.

So, instead of Sludge Bomb, you'd probably be better off with another support move. Tentacruel's options include Protect, Substitute, Knock Off and Infestation. Protect is good as a scouting option as long as you're smart about it, and Substitute is similar (though Tentacruel doesn't really fear status that much.) Knock Off has great utility against any non-mega Pokemon. Infestation might be a weird choice, but a trapping option could come in handy. I'd go with either Protect or Knock Off personally.

Aegislash: This guy's movepool allows him to go physical, special or mixed, and you should be taking advantage of that. Part of why you can't get him to work as well as people say he is might have to do with how everyone's adapted to the physical sets. Special and mixed sets, on the other hand, aren't so easy to neuter.

I'm going to direct you towards the Aegislash thread in Uncharted Territory. I think a mixed set would be best for you, but you'll probably be better off looking at the sets in the OP and deciding for yourself. Aegislash has great options beyond what you're using, and the OP does a great job describing a lot of them.
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/aegislash.3489876/

Hydreigon: In response to your thoughts on Specs vs. Scarf, I think Specs is the way to go. It's kind of hard to justify a Choice Scarf when the user is weak to Mach Punch, Ice Shard and Vacuum Wave. In addition, you have a revenge killer in Mamoswine, so let him take care of that kind of thing. I'd also like to advocate for a Life Orb or Expert Belt, as Hydreigon generally appreciates making the most of his great coverage when wall breaking.

All-in-all, I think it depends most on what you want this guy to do and what you want Aegislash to do. One of the following two sets should do the trick, but I can't be sure of which without knowing what your plan for this pair is.

Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Levitate | Modest | 4 HP/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast
- U-Turn

or

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Levitate | Mild | 4 Hp/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Superpower
- Roost

Florges: Keep Florges as is, I think. Protect seems important for scouting for physical moves, and you have heavy-hitters like Kangaskhan, Aegislash and Hydreigon to do real fighting.

Mamoswine: Why are you running Oblivious? Thick Fat gives it an ice-resist and a fire-neutrality, whereas Oblivious only has the benefit of keeping you from being taunted. It's not like Mamoswine doesn't have options if he's taunted, either. Thick Fat is basically superior.

His set is fine, though you may want to consider switching those Hp EV's to Speed. If he's going to be a revenge killer he'll probably benefit from more speed than Hp.



So, I think that about covers what I think about your team. Again, it's solid, but could use a couple changes here and there. Nothing too major though, I don't think.

 

[Nine Volt Jones]

First, thank you very much for such a detailed response!

Kangaskhan -> I have been testing Power Up Punch over Fake Out and I really like it, so I think I was going to make this change already, but the Crunch swap is interesting. While it may cause me to have some trouble with Alakazam, I think being able to take out Gengar and Trevenant more easily is worth the risk and Mamoswine should be able to handle Alakazam anyway.

Tentacruel -> I agree that Sludge Bomb has not been useful enough. I first started using the set before everyone realized that the majority of Fairies really aren't taht great, and swapping to Knock Off sounds like a good idea. Infestation is interesting as well, I may have to try that out on a different team some time.

Aegislash -> I like the idea of the Weakness Policy set, I'm going to try that and come back. I think I've gotten used to how bulky Aegislash is now and have a better feel for what it can and can't tank, so I know when I can grab boosts which helps a lot.

Hydreigon -> I didn't even know that he got Roost, and that lifeorb set with Superpower looks like it should help me out with some areas I had been having issues with as well.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Pancham]

Nine Volt Jones Seeing how this is pre-bank, Hydreigon cannot learn Superpower, unfortunately. Furthermore, due to coverage issues, I'd like to propose using Flash Cannon over Focus Blast on Specs/Scarf Hydreigon. The current set has nothing to hit Azumarill, which is probably the biggest, current switch-in to Hydreigon. The same thing goes for Roost Hydreigon, as well. However, you can drop Roost for Fire Blast or Focus Blast.

 

[Seiterman]

Nine Volt Jones Seeing how this is pre-bank, Hydreigon cannot learn Superpower, unfortunately. Furthermore, due to coverage issues, I'd like to propose using Flash Cannon over Focus Blast on Specs/Scarf Hydreigon. The current set has nothing to hit Azumarill, which is probably the biggest, current switch-in to Hydreigon. The same thing goes for Roost Hydreigon, as well. However, you can drop Roost for Fire Blast or Focus Blast.

While you are right about Superpower, he gets Roost via TM19 pre-bank, so that's an option. I think Flash Cannon is usable over either fighting coverage move though.

 

[Nine Volt Jones]

It had slipped my mind that Hydreigon doesn't get Roost or Superpower pre bank, so I guess I'm going to keep his move set as Dragon Pulse/Dark Pulse/Flash Cannon/Flamethrower.

 

[Seiterman]

It had slipped my mind that Hydreigon doesn't get Roost or Superpower pre bank, so I guess I'm going to keep his move set as Dragon Pulse/Dark Pulse/Flash Cannon/Flamethrower.

http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-xy/635.shtml

I know I already mentioned that he gets Roost, but I think maybe you misunderstood my post or didn't see it. In any case, at the risk of being redundant I'm gonna point it out again. =P

So, yeah. He gets Roost and U-Turn by TM, both of which are valuable moves depending on the set. While I see the merit in running Flamethrower on a Specs set (it hits dark-resistant steels like Lucario, Cobalion, Bisharp, Mawile and Klefki harder than your STABS,) both U-Turn and Roost still warrant consideration. U-Turn is always valuable for utility and momentum even on a set where it won't be hitting hard like a Specs set, and Roost is incredible for bulky teams like yours (though not on a Specs set.) For the threats that are hit harder by Flamethrower, only Lucario, Mawile and Klefki are really relevant at the moment, and you really shouldn't stay in on the first two.

Anyway, just wanted to go into a bit more detail on Hydreigon's movepool situation. He can run pretty much all of those options effectively, but it depends on what you want him to do, which is entirely up to you.

 

[Nine Volt Jones]

bumping with a few edits, the most of important of which is subbing Togekiss in for Florges.