Hi there,
Djqubi!
This is a pretty good bunch of Pokemon you have here for a RU team, but their spreads and movesets could use a bit of optimizing to better handle the RU metagame.
You also could use Rapid Spin support as well as Stealth Rock on this team, and luckily, you already have ideal users of both moves present here. I'll add these to your team and explain the changes. :)
Shakalaka (Exploud) (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 8 SpD / 248 Spe
Modest Nature
- Boomburst
- Fire Blast
-
Blizzard ->
Surf
-
Shadow Ball ->
Focus Blast
I'd like to recommend the following changes to Exploud's moveset. While Blizzard and Shadow Ball are indeed good special attacks to use for special offense in their own respective rights, they aren't as useful here when compared with more viable alternatives. Blizzard is powerful, but it doesn't hit anything that Boomburst and Fire Blast already hit, making the coverage rather redundant. Shadow Ball would make sense as coverage for Ghost-types alongside Boomburst if Exploud didn't already have Scrappy to allow Boomburst to hit them despite their immunity to Normal. While Fire Blast covers the Steel-types that resist Boomburst, both Boomburst and Fire Blast are resisted by Rock, with no super effective coverage to take care of this. As such,
I suggest removing Blizzard and Shadow Ball in favor of Surf and Focus Blast. Focus Blast hits Rock- and Steel-types both for super effective damage, which punishes an opponent switching out to either kind of resist. With this change, nothing is lost and perfect coverage is gained.
Neumond (Cresselia) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP /
252 SpA ->
136 Def /
4 SpD ->
120 Spe
Modest Nature ->
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
-
Psyshock ->
Moonblast
-
Shadow Ball ->
Substitute
- Moonlight
I'd like to recommend the following changes to Cresselia. 120 Speed EVs specifically let it outspeed Modest Exploud so that it can heal or boost its special stats before having to take a Boomburst; naturally, this allows Cresselia to outspeed other potentially problematic things as well, such as Toxic Gligar. Modest nature and Special Defense EVs aren't really needed here, as Cresselia can boost its special stats manually with Calm Mind, and Shadow Ball offers little in terms of coverage if Cresselia can simply set up Substitute and continuously stack boosts while healing as necessary. As such,
I suggest adding 120 Speed EVs and 136 Defense EVs instead of what you have here, changing Modest nature to Bold, and swapping out Shadow Ball for Substitute. Cresselia has the sheer bulk to safely set up on many, many things, especially slow support/stall Pokemon, and
Moonblast is usually preferred over Psyshock as the main attack simply because it has no immunities. Psyshock can be added back over Moonlight if you want to be able to win Calm Mind wars with other Psychic-types, but it means you won't be able to quickly heal when faced with an overwhelmingly offensive foe. That's up to you. :)
No tail :( (Sharpedo) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
-
Aqua Jet ->
Ice Fang
- Protect
- Crunch
- Waterfall
This actually looks pretty solid, but I do want to point out something very important here. Mega Sceptile (several variants) can be a problem for this team if you can't take it out in a hurry. Sharpedo with maximum Speed and a neutral nature has enough Speed to outspeed Mega Sceptile at +1, which it can easily attain via Protect, and
by swapping out Aqua Jet for Ice Fang, it becomes able to OHKO Mega Sceptile for the rest of the team as well. Speed Boost already assures that it can outspeed most things naturally, and Aqua Jet won't be OHKOing very many priority users before they can strike with priority of their own. It's really trivial, but you might consider moving those 4 EVs from Special Defense to Defense, as most priority moves are physical. There isn't much else to say here if you're running physical (non-Mega) Sharpedo.
Bruce (Hitmonlee) @ Life Orb
Ability:
Limber ->
Reckless
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature ->
Adamant Nature
-
Close Combat ->
High Jump Kick
- Mach Punch
-
Fake Out ->
Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
I would like to suggest the following changes to Hitmonlee. Reckless-boosted High Jump Kick is by far the most powerful attack in Hitmonlee's arsenal, OHKOing bulky juggernauts such as Escavalier and even 2HKOing resistant targets like Whimsicott. Hitmonlee also does not benefit much from having Fake Out as one of its four moves, especially when it also has Mach Punch. For these reasons,
I recommend using Reckless over Limber, Adamant nature over Jolly*, and High Jump Kick over Close Combat. This team will be doing a bit of switching around, as is typically expected, and so hazard removal support would be greatly appreciated.
Rapid Spin is a better move than Fake Out for this reason, and the whole team greatly benefits from this addition.
*It should be noted that Adamant nature obviously lets Hitmonlee hit harder at the cost of some Speed, but Jolly can still be used if you specifically want Hitmonlee to be able to outrun Braviary and Gallade, as well as other base 80 Speed Pokemon from lower tiers, such as Kabutops.
Why is this RU (Amoonguss) (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP /
4 SpA ->
160 Def /
252 SpD ->
96 SpD
Calm Nature ->
Bold Nature
- Spore
- Foul Play
-
Toxic ->
Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain
I'd like to recommend these changes to Amoonguss. Your current spread is 2HKOed by Reckless Hitmonlee's High Jump Kick, which makes Amoonguss a poor switch-in to this relevant threat.
With a Bold nature and 160 Defense EVs, Amoonguss is guaranteed to survive 2 of these High Jump Kicks even after Stealth Rock damage. The rest of the EVs can go into Special Defense to help out with taking special hits. Toxic isn't a very viable status move for Amoonguss, especially considering that the two types of Pokemon most likely to switch into it are immune to poison status. As such,
I recommend replacing Toxic with Sludge Bomb to give Amoonguss a means of using its secondary STAB to hurt things, especially Whimsicott.
Maxie (Camerupt) (M) @ Cameruptite
Ability: Anger Point
Shiny: Yes
EVs:
248 HP ->
164 HP / 252 SpA /
8 SpD ->
92 Spe
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
-
Flamethrower ->
Fire Blast
-
Flash Cannon ->
Ancient Power
-
Hidden Power [Electric] ->
Stealth Rock
Finally, Mega Camerupt.
I'd like to recommend these changes here. 92 Speed EVs are needed to outspeed base 30 Speed Pokemon, particularly Slowking but it's also very useful for roasting Amoonguss before it can Spore. The rest of the EVs can go into HP to best benefit Mega Camerupt's all-around bulk. Fire Blast is a bit less accurate than Flamethrower, but the difference in power is definitely worth it in most cases. Also, it should be noted that Flash Cannon is rather redundant coverage in that a super effective Flash Cannon does less damage than a neutral STAB Fire Blast does, and Camerupt needs a way to smack Moltres hard despite its STABs being walled by it. With these things in consideration,
I suggest replacing Flamethrower with Fire Blast and forgoing Flash Cannon for Ancient Power. Another thing that's important to note is that a super effective HP Electric is less powerful than a neutral STAB Earth Power against every Electric-weak Water-type usable in RU (exceptions include Swanna, Pelipper, and Mantyke, all of which are hardly ever seen in RU), so the coverage it offers is rather unneeded as well.
For this reason, and because the team could use hazard support, I recommend using Stealth Rock over HP Electric.
This concludes my rate! I hope you found my suggestions useful and I wish you luck with your team!
