Project Neverused: Revival

[Punchshroom]

I thought that Shiftry was supposed to combat stall, what with hitting things like Misdreavus, Weezing, Lickilciky etc. while shrugging off status amd weak damage lobbed at it. A Shiftry without Sucker Punch is pretty deadweight against offensive teams imo, because faster offensive mons can take advantage of Shiftry's Fire, Ice, Flying, Bug, Poison (lol), and Fighting weaknesses. In case you haven't noticed :P, that's a lot of weaknesses.

 

[WhiteDMist]

This set might get a little flak, as people seem to regard Persian as a very mediocre Pokemon that doesn't deserve discussion but I thought I might as well throw this set out there for anyone who still loves the cat as much as I do.

Persian @ Normal Gem
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
Covet
U-Turn
Switcheroo
Taunt

Great set that really messes with the opposing teams items. Covet has an astonishing 202 BP with Technician, STAB and Normal Gem, but since the Gem activates before the move, Persian steals the opponents item anyway! If you don't like the item, you can switch it off to another Pokemon later in the game and quite possibly cripple them as well if the item is bad enough. This set also serves as a great way to stop hazards being set up with Taunt, although it may backfire if your opponent sees through your plan and attacks Persian outright.

Why isn't Covet in Persians Viable Moves category? Seriously? It really should be.

While it isn't terrible, item control isn't very effective in the overall metagame. Why mess around with items when you can simply use a powerful Pokemon with a boosting item to bash your opponent's team in? If you have Trick/Switcheroo along with your usual sets, that gives you an option to get around certain counters (like for Rotom-A and Floatzel). But that is also generally not the main focus of such sets; it is simply a back-up plan most of the time. As for the Persian set itself, I guess that it makes use of Persian's traits. I just don't see how it would benefit most teams in general though (offensive teams don't generally care, defensive teams would want to have another wall or supporter, balanced teams would have to give up either an offensive or defensive Pokemon, etc.). Perhaps you can expand on that and explain why teams would want it?

 

[Eol]

@Eviolite
-Dedicated Booster-
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpDef
Ability: Guts | Careful nature
- Drain Punch
- Bulk Up
- Mach Punch
- Stone Edge, Payback, Elemental Punch of choice, etc

I don't know if this was posted already, but I've had MAJOR success with that set. It easily survives unboosted Jynx Psychic (deals around 53% last time I checked) and easily KOes back with +1 Drain Punch, recovering almost everything it lost. If not, Mach Punch deals over 50%. Sets up all over Scolipede, Primeape locked in everything but Close Combat (even then, if you can get in a boost before it hits you, you have a dead Primeape and a Gurdurr at almost full health), and is surprisingly sturdy after a boost or two. Even STAB supereffective attacks cant bring it down in one hit, and boosted Drain Punch is not something you want to take to the face. It can abuse status with Guts, just like its older sibling in OU.

Definitely worth a spot in the analysis me thinks.

 

[Dzi]

Calmomola (Alomomola) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Refresh / Ice Beam
- Calm Mind
- Scald

With base 165 HP stat, there is no wonder why Alomomola is very very bulky. This set is still your bulky Alomomola that can tank a lot of physical hits but the twist in this set is Calm Mind. Calm Mind gives Alomomola enough bulk to tank and hit back special attackers like Misdreavus, Articuno, Kadabra and Gardevoir at +2. And being the very bulky pokemon that it really is, Alomomola can achieve +6 most of the time and take on any super effective Electric and Grass type attacks.

Leftovers+Wish is really amazing as it helps Alomomola to heal any damage it gets from the opponent. The evs spread is still Max HP and Max Def to let it tank physical attackers like what it usually does. Second slot is a choice between Refresh and Ice Beam. Refresh removes poison, burn and para for Alomomola to tank/sweep easily. Ice Beam hits Grass types like Exeggutor and Tangela. Scald as the main Water type STAB.

Best partners for this set are things the can remove Grass and Electric types. Grass types like Roselia and Vileplume in particular can tank both Grass and Electric type attacks and hit back with Giga Drain/Sludge Bomb. Lickilicky, Regice and Audino can wall most of the grass types in the tier bar Cacturne with Drain Punch and Offensive Cradily.

As for checks and counters, Roar/Whirlwind/Dragon Tail, Taunt, Perish Song, Destiny Bond are useful options. If Alomomola didn't manage to complete +6 Calm Mind boost, powerful revenge killers with Electric type STAB like Rotom-S, -F, Electabuzz and Eelektross are good choices.

 

[Punchshroom]

The problem with that set is how inefficient it is. You have to attain a high number of boosts before your Scald starts hitting even remotely hard, so it'll take forever to even start wearing down threats, especially without Toxic. Speaking of Toxic, Alomo now has no way of deterring opposing setup, meaning most things with Swords Dance, Calm Mind, or even Bulk Up can easily outdamage you, with your own boosts doing little to help. Without Protect, Alomo's method of healing becomes more unreliable, and Wishing too late (you have to predict thanks to low speed) means you have to switch to Regenerate health at the cost of throwing your boosts away. This Alomo still loses to arguably the most dangerous special attacker of NU in Jynx, even those without Sub.

 

[Dzi]

Yes, I admit that this set has a lot of flaws but I'm just pointing out that Alomomola can run something new because I find the original set too common-ish although very effective.

 

[Punchshroom]

I believe the point of this thread is to post undiscovered sets that a poke can pull off to success or even finding a poke's possible new niche, uncovering their hidden potential, per say. Good attempt though. :]

 

[Anty]

Here is a fun and unusual alomomola

Alomomola@choice band
Regenerator
Adamant nature
252atk/8spd/246hp
Waterfall
Aqua jet
Bounce
Return/wish/toxic

Quiet selfexplanitory, 8 spd to out speed 56 spd golurk. Basculin out classes it but it is unuasal and catches people of guard. I was once going to late game sweep some one but he rage quited.

 

[WhiteDMist]

A set like that only works once though, and then the surprise factor disappears. Also, even with a boost, Alomomola's damage output is average at best. Why would you lock Alomomola into Aqua Jet, Bounce, or Return as well? Outside of rare situations, they are hardly good moves to be forced to keep using. I don't really see the selling point(s) of this set, so at the very least elaborate on that.

 

[Punchshroom]

If you want to catch people off guard, you'd really want to take adavantage of that as best as you can and sadly, base 75 attack with an 80 base power STAB move as your strongest attack isn't the way to go about it. Wasting those delicious Wishes also wastes Alomo's potential.

 

[LivingRhino]

I can't see this set work very well, you can use it for a few times, but Alomomola is awesome as a defensive wall and regenerating pokémon. It should stay that way, because there are so much better pokémon to use as an offensive set, because Alomomola won't be doing as much damage as you like tbh. Locking it in CB surely isn't the best idea either in my opinion. you could try it, but honestly, I would stay far away from it :)

 

[Anty]

Yeah I do agree but ithas it's niche

Here is another bulky attacker: mono-attacking vespequen
Vespequen@lifeorb/lefties
252hp 252atk (or even 120def 136spdef)
Pressure
Defend order
Attack order
Roost/heal order
Hone claws

It can sweep and I've swept with it before. It's like cotton guard calm mind banette. The worst thing is its typing but it has decent defences.

Edit:I'm sorry I haven't been written much but I haven't had enough time but now I do.
Home claws is for boosting your average attack to decent attack. Attack order is your only attack, before setting up you probably want to spin away rocks and get rid off bug resists (shame no tinted lens). You can use flying gem acrobatics instead but you loose an item slot. Defend order is to tank up the super effective hits but for the types that hit it neutrally it can take them well. Recovery is very useful but you can use something for more coverage.

Problems for it are phasing moves, toxic, stealth rocks and SE moves before its boosted enough.

 

[Dzi]

Mr.Muscle (Basculin) @ Leftovers
Trait: Adaptability
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Toxic / Hidden Power [Grass] / Taunt

Basculin can run a special set using its average base 80 special attack stat. What makes this set very popular is that most Basculin sets are physical so things like Tangela, Vileplume are usual switch ins and they get surprised when they see Ice Beam knocking them out and they're like 'wtf'.

Substitute is to avoid Status moves from Alomomola most commonly. STAB Surf w/ Adaptability, surprising wrecks a lot of things. Ice Beam apart from the grass types hits also hits Altaria, a good check for Basculin if it forgets to bring Ice Beam. Last slot is a choice between three moves. Toxic is very unpredictable which makes it very vital. Hidden Power Grass is another coverage move to hit opposing water types and Taunt shuts down walls like Audino and Lickilicky. As for Checks and Counters, Lickilicky, Audino, Regice, Lapras and Seismitoad (fears hidden power grass) can take on this Basculin set all day long.

Actually I'm thinking of using full Choice Specs like this:

Ms.Muscle (Basculin) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Adaptability
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Final Gambit

 

[WhiteDMist]

@anty208: if you ar going to keep posting sets, at least explain the reasoning behind all the moves and what the actual point is. Some calcs would be nice as well. I don't think this thread is the place to post gimmicks, so you have to prove that your set isn't gimmicky (which it looks like to me at least).

@Dzi: Your idea sounds interesting, but what does it do that the mixed attacker cannot do with Life Orb, Waterfall, Superpower, Crunch, and Ice Beam?

 

[Dzi]

@WhiteDMist: Toxic can cripple a lot of switch common switch ins like Alomomola, Seismitoad and Tangela which makes it Basculin's job of killing easier and that is what it can do compared to a mixed attacker set. :3

 

[JCM.]

Credit to FLCL for set, credit to EBeast for EV Spread.

Acid Spray Skuntank

Skuntank (F) @ Dread Plate
Trait: Aftermath
EVs: 120 Atk / 252 SpA / 136 Spe
Mild Nature (+SpA, -Def)
- Acid Spray
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Sucker Punch

OK, guys. So at first look, this set looks totally awkward, and you must be asking yourself: ''Why should I use this over the standard set, or even the mixed set?''. The answer to this is pretty easy: Acid Spray. This set allows Skuntank do defeat some of its counters, namely Carracosta, Metang, Alomomola, Torterra, Golem, Weezing and Misdreavus.

Acid Spray has a huge surprise effect, while retaining a lot of effectiveness. What this move does is that it harshly lowers your SpD (-2), leaving your opponent completely open to Dark Pulse and Fire Blast. Dark Pulse takes immediate advantage of this little opening, allowing you to break through even the bulkiest of physical walls. Pursuit also takes advantage of Acid Spray, as it causes a lot of switches. Sucker Punch is the last move on this set, and it's crucial as it retains what is very appealing about Skuntank, powerful priority. Even without much investment, Dread Plate still allows Skuntank to pick off Gardevoir, Drifblim, and some weakened Pokemon with Sucker Punch.

The EV spread allows you to outspeed Miltank and everything slower, have maximum Special Attack investment and the rest being dumped into Attack. Mild is chosen over Rash as Skuntank's main task is to switch into Special attackers such as Musharna and Haunter, and it allows it to tank their attacks with more ease.

Now just to show this set's effectiveness, I'll show some calcs on some of Skuntank's usual counters, which were previously mentioned in this post.

• 252+ SpA Dread Plate Skuntank Dark Pulse vs. -2 248 HP / 0 SpD Carracosta: 330-388 (94.01 - 110.54%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
• 252+ SpA Dread Plate Skuntank Dark Pulse vs. -2 252 HP / 4 SpD Alomomola: 433-511 (81.08 - 95.69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
• 252SpAtk Dread Plate Skuntank (+SAtk) Fire Blast vs 252HP/0SpDef Leftovers -2 Torterra (Neutral): 112% - 132% (442 - 522 HP). Guaranteed OHKO
• 252+ SpA Dread Plate Skuntank Dark Pulse vs. -2 212 HP / 0 SpD Golem: 330-388 (93.22 - 109.6%) -- 93.75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
• 252+ SpA Dread Plate Skuntank Dark Pulse vs. -2 252 HP / 0 SpD Weezing: 310-366 (92.81 - 109.58%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
• 252+ SpA Dread Plate Skuntank Dark Pulse vs. -2 252 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Misdreavus: 356-420 (109.87 - 129.62%) -- guaranteed OHKO
• 252+ SpA Dread Plate Skuntank Dark Pulse vs. -2 252 HP / 252+ SpD Miltank: 210-247 (53.29 - 62.69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

As you can see, all of these are OHKO's, and 2HKO's at best. Also notice that Acid Spray is a damaging move, so most of these 2HKO's turn into OHKO's after Acid Spray.

 

[Harbinger of Peace]

With these new changes to the meta, NU has become a very offensive tier, and with that, a lot of sets just don't work as well. Lots of pokemon fall victim to the fast, powerful threats that exist on virtually every team. It's a shame that some of these sets can't be used as effectively. Creativity is what separates NU apart from the rest of the tiers, and it's sad not to see as much of it. I'm gonna try to come up with some more sets that are creative, but effective in this metagame.



Anti-Lead/Utility

Liepard @Focus Sash / Leftovers / Weather Rocks
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Sdef / 4 Spd
Careful Nature
- Taunt
- Encore
- U-Turn
- Thunder Wave / Sunny Day / Rain Dance / Knock-Off

This set aims to abuse Liepard's infamous Prankster ability and shut down leads such as Entry Hazard Leads and sweeper leads such as gorebyss and ninjask, and also cripples other utility leads. You can taunt the first turn on a boosting/utility move and then encore to make it useless. You can then force a switch and stop a potential sweep or stop your opponent from getting the rocks up. U-turn is for keeping momentum, and switching to a teammate to abuse the taunted and/or encored poke. Thunder wave can cripple those first turn sweepers. You can run rain dance or sunny day for weather team support. Knock-off is for ridding pokemon of their valuable item (eviolite, choice item, etc. This move is generally inferior.)

This set is similar to the Smogon weather lead set, but this can serve as a counter to popular leads without giving up utility options. What item you choose depends on what set you need to accomplish. This set can be very annoying and can easily give you control of momentum very early in the game.

 

[vyomov]

@JirachiCelebiMew: Metang is a Steel-type and is immune to Acid Spray
@HarbingerofPeace: Just an issue, Liepard has NO way of offense save non-STAB U-turn so I'd suggest you remove U-turn for Foul Play(can also Punish Ninjask for SD). The set is good, but nowhere near as annoying as SwagPlay :)

 

[WhiteDMist]

@JirachiCelebiMew: Metang is a Steel-type and is immune to Acid Spray
@HarbingerofPeace: Just an issue, Liepard has NO way of offense save non-STAB U-turn so I'd suggest you remove U-turn for Foul Play(can also Punish Ninjask for SD). The set is good, but nowhere near as annoying as SwagPlay :)

Why does Skuntank need to hit Metang with Acid Spray? Fire Blast is what you should be using.

 

[vyomov]

I'm not denying it, I'm just stating that the idea to lower the SpD by 2 and OHKOing doesn't work with Metang.
Of course Fire Blast is the better option!

 

[Manectrifier]

Ninjask (M) @ Liechi Berry
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 224 Def / 36 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Baton Pass
- Protect
- Substitute
- X-Scissor/Flash/Swords dance

This Ninjask has the same goal as all other Ninjask, but has an easier time getting an extra attack boost instead of an extra speed boost that leftovers usually give. I love the set because it is easy to sub until you are in Liechi berry range, which can either be done with or without SR on your side of the field. Then you'll end up with something like +1 attack and +4/5/6 speed, which can then be baton passed to something like Golurk.

I like this set better than the usual set, because that set needs free turns to be able to set up SD, while this set gets an attack boost without needing a free turn, it just needs to alternate between protect and sub and then pass the boosts. I like X-scissor in the last slot because it OHKO's Exeggutor and also screws up Musharna and Gardevoir, making it a decent Psychic killer for your team. Flash is another option to create more free turns, but it's a bit redundant because you don't run SD then. Swords dance is another option to get to +3 attack making your BP receiver unstoppable.

anyways, I hope you like it, this is my first creative set posted on Smogon, but I think it works rather well.

Oh, and by the way I really like that Acid spray Skuntank set, I'll try it once!

 

[dwib]

Stantler @ Life Orb
Trait: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Return
- Sucker Punch
- Megahorn
- Thunderbolt

Here's a set for an underrated mon that TalkTakesTime and I collaborated on. This set has utility in killing a very wide variety of mons. Return is there for obvious STAB and hits hard after a Sap Sipper boost while Sucker Punch helps hit mons that might outspeed it. Here's a few calcs for an example.

252 Atk Life Orb Stantler Sucker Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Gardevoir: 260-307 (93.52 - 110.43%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Life Orb Stantler Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Swellow: 138-162 (52.87 - 62.06%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Stantler can sweep at any time in a match given its diversity and outstanding ability to stop typical would-be bulky checks for a physical sweeper. Calcs:

+1 252 Atk Life Orb Stantler Megahorn vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Tangela: 179-213 (53.75 - 63.96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
4 SpA Life Orb Stantler Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Alomomola: 291-343 (54.49 - 64.23%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Life Orb Stantler Megahorn vs. 240 HP / 252+ Def Musharna: 221-260 (51.03 - 60.04%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
4 SpA Life Orb Stantler Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Solid Rock Carracosta: 166-197 (47.29 - 56.12%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

This set's major drawback is the inability to find a spot for Earthquake, which would help beat Golem and such although you won't be scoring a OHKO on it anyways. Return or Sucker Punch can be dropped in favor of Earthquake, but losing priority and STAB both really hurt it's overall usefulness (specifically, Sucker Punch gives it a purpose over Sawsbuck besides lacking the ice/poison weakness that haunts Sawsbuck in taking out opposing grass types).

In closing, give it a shot! You might be surprised how useful Stantler can be for cleaning up messes... TTT and I sure were! It loves having rocks up so keep that in mind as well!

 

[Leafshield]

Sucker Punch is illegal with Sap Sipper, just so ya know. This means that the set can't beat Sawsbuck or Swellow. Earthquake is suitable over Sucker Punch, then, so you can 2HKO Golem and Gigalith. Otherwise, Stantler is a cool mon! Nice to see other people using him a a bit :)

 

[Harbinger of Peace]

Ninjask (M) @ Liechi Berry
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 224 Def / 36 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Baton Pass
- Protect
- Substitute
- X-Scissor/Flash/Swords dance

This Ninjask has the same goal as all other Ninjask, but has an easier time getting an extra attack boost instead of an extra speed boost that leftovers usually give. I love the set because it is easy to sub until you are in Liechi berry range, which can either be done with or without SR on your side of the field. Then you'll end up with something like +1 attack and +4/5/6 speed, which can then be baton passed to something like Golurk.

I like this set better than the usual set, because that set needs free turns to be able to set up SD, while this set gets an attack boost without needing a free turn, it just needs to alternate between protect and sub and then pass the boosts. I like X-scissor in the last slot because it OHKO's Exeggutor and also screws up Musharna and Gardevoir, making it a decent Psychic killer for your team. Flash is another option to create more free turns, but it's a bit redundant because you don't run SD then. Swords dance is another option to get to +3 attack making your BP receiver unstoppable.

anyways, I hope you like it, this is my first creative set posted on Smogon, but I think it works rather well.

Oh, and by the way I really like that Acid spray Skuntank set, I'll try it once!

That set can be pretty good, but it is still inferior to the normal Ninjask SD set. The first reason why this set is outclassed is because the SD set has no survivability. Ninjask can have several chances to switch in, and this set is just ridding you of a lot of health for a small attack boost. And that leads me to the second reason. Your set only works once for a small attack boost, whereas the SD set, as I said, can come in and set up multiple boosts at different times in the match.

One thing that can make this set different is the adding of a petaya berry, making it a set-up pokemon for a special sweeper. However, Volbeat can pass bigger Satk boosts and can come in more than once. But, although Ninjask can only pass one Satk boost once, it also passes speed, turning pokemon like Samurott into unstoppable monsters.

To sum it all up, I say that speed boost + leichi berry is outclassed, and a better choice would be petaya + speed boost, if you don't mind a lower Satk boost compared to using Volbeat.

Also, flash is just... don't use flash...

 

[TalkTakesTime]

Sucker Punch is illegal with Sap Sipper, just so ya know. This means that the set can't beat Sawsbuck or Swellow. Earthquake is suitable over Sucker Punch, then, so you can 2HKO Golem and Gigalith. Otherwise, Stantler is a cool mon! Nice to see other people using him a a bit :)

If Sucker Punch is illegal with it, then I guess PS must be bugged since it allows us to use it.

Sucker Punch w/ Sap Sipper

Regardless, Stantler is a cool mon and our set would be perfectly usable with EQ or Jump Kick over Sucker Punch, allowing it to take on Golem and co. You should all try it!