Project Neverused

[alexwolf]

I recently saw the Articuno analysis in the NU subforum of C&C, and SubToxic Articuno immediately caught my attention! It seemed like an awesome staller with very good speed, bulk and an amazing STAB to hit things most things that can't be poisoned.

So then i started looking for partners, particularly for pokes that could trap grounded Poison types (i decided to use Articuno with T-Spikes support) and the sturdy steels of the tier such as Propobass and Bastiodon. And this was the first time that i laid eyes on Trapinch!

Here is the set i am using:

Trapinch @ Eviolite

EVs: 252 HP / 152 Atk / 104 Def
Adamant nature
Ability: Arena Trap
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Quick Attack
- Toxic

Enough Atk evs were given to ensure that Trapinch always unconditionally OHKOes Skuntank, while Skuntank can never ohko back. Garbodor also fails to 3hko while it gets 2hkoed in return. Propobass and Bastiodon obviously die, while the first cannot escape with VS, and the second cannot kill you with Metal Burst, because you are slower. With those evs, Trapinch can also easily revenge kill Scarf Emboar, taking 86% max from Adamant ones and ohkoing back. Ampharos, Zebraiken, Flareon, Regirock, Electabuzz, and Rampardos can all be revenge killed easily, or even trapped immediately if you are able to lure a Rock/Electric attack to safely come-in.

EQ is a standard move, Rock Slide for coverage, QA for priority, and Toxic because some things like to set-up on him (Torterra for example) and Toxic is a nice surprise to them. Crunch is an option as well in the last slot, but there isn't anything notable that gets trapped and killed with Crunch.

All in all, i have found Trapinch to be able to hold it's own in NU, as it's bulk and power are not bad down here...

 

[col49]

Well, I initially made a team to test the effectiveness of Croagunk (theoretically, it looked cool, possibly checking Rain, Absol, Gurdurr, etc., but it turns out it's weak as sin without like 3 Bulk Up's under it's belt, and Gorebyss still 2HKO's w/Ice Beam most of the time ;-;), but in doing so I dug up some pretty cool sets I'd like to toss out there:

Exeggutor @ Chesto Berry
Trait: Harvest
EVs: 172 HP / 252 SAtk / 84 Spd
Modest Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Sleep Powder
- Rest

I suppose this would be best classified as a standard moveset with a twist, if you consider the Specs set minus Choice Specs a twist :P Anyway, the value of this set lies in it's ability to hit hard, while taking advantage of renewable Chesto-Rest to allow him to continue to check Fighting-types, Golem, and so on indefinitely. In addition, this set acts fairly effectively as a lure, enticing Pokemon such as Absol to come in on a -2 Eggy to try to set up, only to get put to sleep.

Lapras @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 80 Def / 252 SAtk / 128 HP / 44 Spd / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Heal Bell / Roar

This is also probably more trending along standard sets with a twist, but the way I see it, this could easily go along the lines of Underrated Pokemon, because Lapras is nowhere atm. Enormous bulk, access to Bolt-Beam and a handful of other useful moves, and even moderate offensive stats make Lapras an excellent tank. This set alone serves as a check to almost every Water-type in the tier (bar Ludicolo), an answer to Tangela-Quagsire-Flareon cores, and a cleric / phazer, all in one.

 

[November Blue]

Use Lum Berry on your Eggy, not Chesto. Lum will instantly cure Toxic and paralysis, meaning that Eggy isn't hindered for a turn, and you don't need to Rest constantly to fix it.

 

[col49]

The problem with Lum over Chesto is that if you get statused before or after trying to Rest, the Lum Berry won't heal your status ailment the next turn, essentially ruining the entire point of the set, and leaving Eggy statused for the rest of the battle.

 

[Tomahawk]

Yeah but Harvest.

 

[Steamroll]

The only real problem I have is with Leaf Storm on the set, but that's because I hate it when you have a -2 Psyshock and you really need to kill the mon you are facing (aka Sawk / Throh / etc.).

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[col49]

Yeah but Harvest.

Yeah but Berry mechanics. If Lum was consumed and then Eggy was statused again in the same turn, the Harvested Lum Berry won't heal his status ailment again, as a berry cannot be consumed twice in one exchange. I've tested this set, I would've hoped people would have a little faith that I'm not just totally ignoring what on paper seems like the better option ;-;

Also, Steamroll, while I do agree the -2 sucks, usually that issue has only really applied to me when I managed to mess up and Sleep Powder something not worth putting to sleep. Plus, swapping out for Giga Drain means an enormous drop in power, which really takes away from the set's effectiveness :/

 

[No Luck Involved]

Exeggutor can consume two Lum Berries in one turn if Harvest activates. From my own experience anyway I have never had a situation where I have ended up with a statused Eggy. I can definitely vouch for Lum Berry as a practical status immunity.

 

[TLCJR4LIFE]

Chesto is better.

You don't want to waste berries switching into stuff like Toxic Spikes really. Especially when you can just Rest it off later....it doesn't care about status that much. Especially not that set, cept maybe random freeze.

Well, I initially made a team to test the effectiveness of Croagunk (theoretically, it looked cool, possibly checking Rain, Absol, Gurdurr, etc., but it turns out it's weak as sin without like 3 Bulk Up's under it's belt, and Gorebyss still 2HKO's w/Ice Beam most of the time ;-;), but in doing so I dug up some pretty cool sets I'd like to toss out there:

I've also tested Croagunk and can say it pretty much has absolutely zero viability. It's a shame because it's movepool is so good...but it's stats are just comically bad. The very little success I had with it was basically maxing out attack for some strong Sucker Punches.

 

[Full2Half]

Honestly, ive always preferred lum berry. That eggy set is EXACTLY like one ive been laddering with on multiple alts over the last month or so, and i must say it is a beast. Taking away leaf storm is a mistake, as that power is too much for alot of the metagame to handle. The only time lum berry has ever failed was when i foolishly switched it in on a knock off tangela thinking i would just harvest another berry, when that didnt happen. also, that being toxiced is extra damage from which a faster, but kind of weak, threats have to KO with their attacks. And as for other threats, sleep powder works when you are at -2 spA, so use it. (assuming sleep clause is inactive)

 

[TLCJR4LIFE]

What's with those EVs on that Lapras?

 

[jake]

Here is the set i am using:

Trapinch @ Eviolite

EVs: 252 HP / 152 Atk / 104 Def
Adamant nature
Ability: Arena Trap
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Quick Attack
- Toxic

Enough Atk evs were given to ensure that Trapinch always unconditionally OHKOes Skuntank, while Skuntank can never ohko back. Garbodor also fails to 3hko while it gets 2hkoed in return. Propobass and Bastiodon obviously die, while the first cannot escape with VS, and the second cannot kill you with Metal Burst, because you are slower. With those evs, Trapinch can also easily revenge kill Scarf Emboar, taking 86% max from Adamant ones and ohkoing back. Ampharos, Zebraiken, Flareon, Regirock, Electabuzz, and Rampardos can all be revenge killed easily, or even trapped immediately if you are able to lure a Rock/Electric attack to safely come-in.

i'm the best pokemon of all, i don't get KOed by no trapinch

 

[alexwolf]

@Zebraiken

Lol i forgot that the real poke's name was Zebstrika. Still even if you are not ohkoed, you are 2hkoed, while you can't 3hko back, so no problem at all... :D

 

[col49]

Well, I guess I need to update something or other, because Lum failed to work every time I ran into that scenario .-. Anywho, I was EV'ing Lapras to maximize SpA (obviously), with enough Speed to outpace uninvested Base 65's (hit Flareon / Alomomola before they can Toxic, ideally). The HP EV's hit a Lefties #, with the rest plugged into physical bulk, though in retrospect I don't see why it isn't in SpD to check Gorebyss better :/

 

[Molk]

This is mostly theorymon right now but ive used it in a few matches and it seems pretty effective at getting up sunny day, damaging a few things and possibly getting up a layer of spikes. one match it even used the spikes it set to sweep late game! but anyways, i wondered what the feedback on this set would be, here we go!

Maractus (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Sunny Day
- SolarBeam
- Hidden Power [Rock]/Hidden Power [Fire]
- Spikes

Its a suicide spiker/standalone sun sweeper for spikestacking offense teams, you may be thinking "why use this over cacturne/random sun sweeper?" the answer is the sheer power of its Life orb Solarbeam, speed in the sun, and the fact that it can set up spikes for it or another sweeper to abuse later. Sunny day is the first move you should use in the match (or set up spikes on forced switches) doubling maractus's speed, and giving it a base 120 power STAB move with no drawbacks to use against frailer opponents. Solarbeam is the main attack you will probably be using, OHKOing or 2HKOing any opponent that doesnt resist it. Hidden Power Rock does major damage to braviary and magmortar, both of which can be OHKOed after rocks by the move, Hidden Power Fire gets a psuedo STAB boost in the sun and deals with things such as sawsbuck and tangela, spikes are what you are using maractus over any other sunny day user for, to set up spikes to ease the sweep of a teammate/yourself. the main problem ive seen with maractus is that its rather slow before sunny day, and is frail, so it dies rather quickly after the sun wares off, but at least it was better than glalie.

 

[Full2Half]

Maractus (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Sunny Day
- SolarBeam
- Hidden Power [Rock]/Hidden Power [Fire]
- Spikes

Yea thats pretty much it's standard set. Ive toyed with it a little before, and I must say that I've found it rather unimpressive, as garbodor typically does the job better as a spiker, and maractus usually has to choose between setting up spikes or doing some damage, as it's frailty won't allow both on most occasions. Don't get me wrong, it has an interesting niche on sun teams, but all around, i havnt found it all that great.

 

[Molk]

I guess thats the best the cactus can do, i still found it to be pretty decent as a spiker with an offensive presence but i see your point about garbodor, who provides offensive teams with a reliable switch in to sawk. I guess its still worth a shot though, ill keep testing!

edit: trying it on a sun team

 

[Raseri]

Klang @ Eviolite
Trait: Plus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Gear Grind
- Shift Gear
- Frustration
- Substitute

Despite being on the no analysis at this time i have found Klang to be a solid pokemon in this metagame. Klang has excellent bulk (60/95/85 before eviolite) and access to a great boosting move allow Klang to easily demolish many teams today. He is able to set up on many pokemon like Tangela / Amoonguss / Garbodor / Alomomola etc... and boost until he is able to sweep. The huge speed boost makes it nearly impossible to revenge kill without an incredibly fast scarfer. So teams are forced to use something that can tank a boosted Gear Grind(a small list) in order to stop the sweep. Klang loves entry hazard support and prefers hazards off so he can sub more, but a spinner is not needed since Klang can work faitly independently. plus because minus is for pessimists!

 

[Molk]

after watching a few battles and seeing klang in action, ive been pretty damn impressed, several things that would normally wall it become set up bait and let klang get up to +4, also serving as a check to birds and setting up on them is interesting as well. Klang also completely screws up ninjask pass teams by setting up with jask and breaking the sub before ninjask can pass, with a toxic spikes immunity klang could be a soild threat to stall teams as well because a lot of common stall mons (bar Quagsire!) cant break its sub. Definiatley something i want to try and i will push for him to get an onsite analysis in any way possible!

also: http://pastebin.com/PN4mcRK9

klang is infinitely superior to metang

 

[TLCJR4LIFE]

That Klang seems nice. Perhaps I'm just overly optimistic because it's a steel and NU really needs them, but I'm definitely going to be trying it out.


As far as sets that I like.


I really like this Lampent compliments of the research week.

Lampent (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 48 HP / 208 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball

Really gives teams pause with Flash Fire causing some interesting mindgames and overpredictions...especially if you pair it with Sub users. I'm using this on a team with Serperior as the primary sweeper and needless to say, they have good synergy together....I really like it a lot. Good STAB for the tier and hits extremely hard.

Will be even better once Shadow Tag comes out and it effectively earns a grass, steel and ghost trapper set.


Here's a mon that I saw that pretty much exemplifies underrated.

Belly Drum Magmar..all credit goes to a battler on Smogon named iLose.


Magmar @ Eviolite

Belly Drum

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly/Adamant nature
Ability: Vital Spirit
- Flame Charge
- Thunderpunch
- Belly Drum
- Fire Punch/Cross Chop


Same Attack stat and more speed with access to Eviolite actually means that this particular Magmar set actually is BETTER than Magmortar at this particular niche.

The idea is to go into something Magmar can wall with it's 300+ special defense, or scare out and get to +6 where Flame Charge will start doing heavy damage with Thunder punch to hit waters. At 317 Magmar is already incredibly fast but once he gets to +1, he's pretty much faster than anything in the tier.

Fire Punch is for a stronger stab while Cross Chop deals with Golem.

 

[McMeghan]

Chinchou (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 108 Def / 148 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Rain Dance
- Volt Switch
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

gg GG
Has to be played alongside Physical Floatzel and SR/RD/Baton Pass Lunatone.

 

[Django]

^ I can vouch this set destroys entire teams

 

[DTC]

The Lampent set that TLCJR4LIFE posted is pretty good, but there is a different one that I enjoy more.

Lampent

Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 208 HP / 252 SpA / 48 Spe
Modest Nature (+SpA, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Pain Split
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball

SubSplit is a fantastic combination and Lampent does it really well. It has lots of resistances and immunities and it's quite powerful! I like the bulk more than the Speed as Lampent is actually quite bulky and 60 base Speed isn't outspeeding that much. You could use Energy Ball over Pain Split for hitting Pokemon such as Golem and Quagsire, but there isn't much point in doing that.

I was also using this alongside SubCM Serperior, who by the way is a fantastic Pokemon. It's incredibly fast and can easily sweep if it can set-up a few Calm Mind's and the opposing team is weakened. It's quite easy for it to set-up Calm Mind's with its decent bulk and fantastic Speed. Giga Drain is nice as well, especially when Serperior is down to Overgrow range. Definentely a great, underrated Pokemon. Here was the set that I was using:

Serperior

Trait: Overgrow
EVs: 24 HP / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power Ice

I'd probably run max Speed if opposing Serperior were more common, but for now I just run enough to outspeed base 110's.

Magmar @ Eviolite

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly/Adamant nature
Ability: Vital Spirit
- Flame Charge
- Thunderpunch
- Belly Drum
- Fire Punch/Cross Chop

This Magmar set seems really mediocre. Belly Drum on a Pokemon that doesn't have Sitrus Berry and is weak to Stealth Rock is already bad enough. It's even worse when you realize that it's easily beaten by so many Pokemon and isn't even that fast. It loses to: Quagsire, Regirock, Golem, Shelgon, Musharna, Seismitoad, Weezing, as well as a few other Pokemon. Yes, some of these are beaten by Cross Chop, but then your best STAB is Flame Charge. Why not use Belly Drum Linoone who also has ExtremeSpeed and isn't beaten by so many threats? Even if this Magmar set manages to suprise someone and sets-up, it will likely die to some offensive threat as it's not very fast. Flame Charge is cute and all, but you won't have many chances to use it. Most bulky Pokemon that aren't weak to one of its attacks can tank one attack and KO back. It's an interesting idea, but I can't see how it could be effective when considering all of its weaknesses. This isn't even considering actually setting up.


Anyways, I'm loving the sets that are being posted here! Many of them are quite effective! I'll be testing out some kind of offensive Seadra (Hydro Pump / Ice Beam / Substitute / Hidden Power Grass/Disable?) over the next few days; I wonder how effective it'll be.

 

[Sweet Jesus]

Nothing revolutionary here, I might not be the first to notice it but I’d like to suggest a small variation on the standard sawk set, which I believe slightly, increases the chances of pulling off a late game sweep.

Everyone knows about the classic choiced band and choice scarf sawk set. Rare are the times another set would be more viable. However sawk is renowned for it's very shallow movepool and it's always a disappointment to use toxic on a choiced pokémon (especialy when common switches don't even care: weezing, heal bell misdreavus). Since the last move seems so useless I suggest using fling instead. Although it nearly wastes a turn since choiced items aren't meant to be thrown, it liberates sawk from the choice items negative effect giving him the ability to adapt his playstyle. This can prove very useful late game, especially against slow teams. It gives sawk the ability to use his three moves without having to switch out for optimal coverage.

Sawk @Choice band or Choice scarf
Ability: Sturdy
EV's: 252 Att, 4 Def, 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
-Close Combat
-Stone-Edge
-Earthquake
-Fling

 

[TROP]

Sawk @Choice band or Choice scarf
Ability: Sturdy
EV's: 252 Att, 4 Def, 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
-Close Combat
-Stone-Edge
-Earthquake
-Fling

If you really want to use Fling, Fist plate is a superior item for that because with a Choice item it has a fucking awful 10 BP that won't really do anything, but with a Fist Plate it gets a pretty good 90 BP, and a boost to his Close Combat.