RU: Welcome to the League of Drapion

[Kit Kasai]

Hello everyone! My name is Kit Kasai. I usually play non standard metas like Hackmons and Balanced Hackmons, but I decided to get into standard competitive play recently. I've been pretty successful at other metas (I peaked #1 for about 7 hours in BH XD), so I thought I try my luck at laddering in RU. This is the first relatively successful team I've made in a standard meta

A note about this RMT: I suck at EVs (really, in BH you just put 252 in everything), so I took most of these off Smogon. Feel free to suggest better spreads.

Overview:

Import:

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Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 244 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 168 SDef / 88 Def
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Spore
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Alomomola @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Scald
- Protect
- Toxic

Hitmontop (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Foresight
- Rapid Spin
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch

Escavalier @ Assault Vest
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Atk / 40 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Knock Off
- Drill Run
- Iron Head

Drapion @ Assault Vest
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 92 Atk / 168 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Poison Jab
- Earthquake

Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 244 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail -> Roar

For a stall team, I knew I was definitely going to need some hazards. I chose Rhyperior as my SR setter because it's insanely bulky and still maintains an offensive presence. Earthquake is an excellent STAB move that can deal tons of damage. With Rhyperior's great base attack, this can end up 2KOing a lot of offensive pokemon hit neutrally. Rock Blast is your second STAB move, and is good for pokemon that will try to disrupt your stealth rock setting, like Xatu and other flying type pokemon. Dragon Tail is good for phazing the opponent, but I find myself rarely using it so I can swap it for something if I want to. -> Screw setup sweepers.

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Spore
- Hidden Power [Fire]/Synthesis

First member of my Regenerator core. This set is really pretty standard. Giga Drain and Sludge Bomb are both good STAB moves, with Giga Drain healing Amoonguss a bit, and Sludge Bomb hitting decently hard on Pokemon that Amoonguss is trying to wall, like Shaymin. Spore is an amazing move for setting opponents to sleep. I pretty much use it whenever I can, and I usually don't worry about grass types because Amoonguss walls them anyways. HP fire... OHKOs Durant. It's good for steel types that resist Amoonguss's other moves, and I rarely find myself needing to use Synthesis. I modified Smogon's suggested EV spread for Amoonguss a bit. It suggested some 52 or something SpA EVs to 2KO Escavalier, but in Gen 6 Escavaliers are pretty much all running Assault Vest, making that pretty much pointless. So I put the rest of it into SDef. It still OHKOs Durant with no investment anyways.

Alomomola @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk -> 104 HP / 252 Def / 152 SDef
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Scald/Waterfall
- Protect
- Toxic

This is my second Regenerator, forming the immortal Alomomoongus core. Really. This thing never dies. This set is also pretty standard. Wish and Protect provide recovery for Alomomola, allowing it to toxic stall enemies to death. Wish support is also amazing for the rest of my team members. Alomamola by itself can tank almost all physical attackers, even some super effective hits. I took Brawlfest's suggestion for EVs to give Alomomola a lot more special bulk by sacrificing a bit of its physical bulk.

Hitmontop (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Foresight
- Rapid Spin
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch

Hitmontop is the spinner of my team. Keeping hazards off my side of the field is very important because this team does a lot of switching to stall out opponents. It also helps Alomomola pass wishes to teammates easier. Hitmontop is one of the few spinners that can actually spin against ghost types, thanks to Foresight. I chose to use a spinner because I need to keep rocks on the enemies side as a way to wear them down. Close Combat does a lot of damage even uninvested, and Sucker Punch can be used in a last ditch attempt to kill Azelf, or at least force a switch.

Escavalier @ Assault Vest
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Atk / 40 SDef -> 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit -> Megahorn
- Knock Off
- Drill Run
- Iron Head

This thing is insanely tanky. Escavalier serves as a counter to many special threats in RU, including Kyurem and Raikou. Pursuit is good for catching things that Escavalier forces out, like Azelf without Flamethrower/Fire Blast. -> Redundant with Drapion, so swapped with Megahorn for powerful STAB. Knock Off is, in my opinion, the most over powered move in the game right now. 65 power and removing the enemy's item is nice enough, and the bonus damage on the first hit just makes it more insane. Drill Run is used to hit ground types super effectively (shame it doesn't have earthquake) and Iron Head is a great STAB move to hit things like Kyurem with. The old EVs were pointless with Drapion on my team, so I just maxed out the attack. They were for a few certain special attackers (I'm looking at you, Azelf)

Drapion @ Assault Vest
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 92 Atk / 168 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Poison Jab
- Earthquake

Drapion is really the glue that holds this team together. Without it, this team would get wrecked by strong special attackers like Azelf (really, I hate that thing, BL2 plz) and Delphox. Knock Off does insane damage even without investment because of STAB. Pursuit pretty kills pokemon like Azelf and Delphox on the switch out. Poison Jab is another good STAB move, and can be used to hit other special attackers like Shaymin. Earthquake gives Drapion the ability to hit pokemon like Raikou for super effective damage. The EVs make it so that it can guarantee a KO on Azelf with Pursuit on the switch out after Stealth Rock damage, while maximizing Drapion's special bulk. Also guarantees a KO on Delphox after rocks. I chose Adamant over Careful because that's how the math works out :P
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calcs:

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With Crunch simulating pursuit:

With a 248/82+/168 spread:
92+ Atk Drapion Crunch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Azelf: 258-306 (88.3 - 104.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Azelf Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 168 SpD Assault Vest Drapion: 209-247 (60.9 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

With a 248/184/72+ spread:
184 Atk Drapion Crunch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Azelf: 258-306 (88.3 - 104.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Azelf Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 72+ SpD Assault Vest Drapion: 213-251 (62 - 73.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

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Anyways, thanks for reading guys. This was my first RMT, and I hope you guys can give me some feedback to make my team better. It's a bit weak to strong special attackers. Also, although this team is pretty resistant to status, it would appreciate a cleric for burns on pokemon like Drapion and Escavalier.

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[Zkillerthriller]

Alright here are my personal evaluations of each individual pokemon!

Rhyperior: Looks all fine and dandy in my eyes.

Amoonguss: I see that you're going mixed defensive on this one, although i really don't think you should, considering it kinda need the investment into one specific defense (i would personally suggest sp.def). Since that will help against speciall attackers that you said you were pretty weak to.
As for its moves i really don't see how Hidden power fire helps it, i mean sure it helps against steels, but an uninvested as well as unstabbed base 60 power move from an Amoonguss won't be dealing alot of damage even if it's super effective.
And as for Synthesis i think that that's a bit uneccesary considering how much HP it gains from both "Regenerator" and Giga drain.
Now as for what i'd suggest in the 4th slot, i personally think you should have either Stun spore or Clear smog.

Alomomola:It's perfect as it is, really improves the teams liveability by Wish/passing as well as burning physical threats with Scald.

Hitmontop: So the first impression i get from this guy is how good he would utilize "Assault vest", but that would of course limit him from using Foresight. But in all honesty there really aren't alot of Ghost types in RU other than Jellicent and Banette, which in all honesty are quite common, so if you wanna keep it the way it is i can totally understand that. I just wanted to throw the idea out there.

Escavalier:Ok, firstly you definitely want to get rid off Pursuit and give it Megahorn instead! As for its Sp.def EVs i'm pretty confused, i'm sure you have your reasons but you should atleast write "why" in the "RMT", but personally i think that you should just max out its Atk.

Drapion: So the first thing i notice is its Sp.def investment, in my opinion it's very uneccesary and you once again probably just wanna max out its attack.

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Now the stuff you said you were weak to/needed!

Cleric: I would personally suggest Aromatisse

Kabutops "Weakness": I really don't see how you're weak to Kabutops, i mean Alomomola basically walls it and you of course have Hitmontop with "Intimidate.

Strong Special Attackers: I don't see how anyone with two "Assault vesters" is weak to Special attacks :P

Oh and one quick note! I would definitely consider a Spiker and Taunter since it after all is a stall team, and a spinblocker wouldn't hurt.


Anyways that's it for my evaluation, i hope i was of any help! =D

 

[Brawlfest]

Hey there! This is a really cool team! However, like many RU Teams, it is plagued with the inability to deal with strong Ground types, such as Rock Polish or Banded Rhyperior, Golurk variants, and others making it near impossible for you to switch into. I also see your team struggling to beating anything good at spreading burns, as it 5 of your mons offensively, while putting massive pressure on your team as a whole. Setup sweepers also 6-0 your team, as you lack any way of reliably revenge killing them, and you have absolutely no method of dealing enough damage to them to deter set up. I can see Kabutops and Omastar being issues, but Omastar is too an extent dealt with by the AV users.

In order to check ground types first off, I would like you to consider Tank Tangrowth over Amoonguss. Not only does it still have regenerator, but it is faster, has more offensive presence, and can switch into the ground type moves much better with a pure grass typing. I don't see you being too weak to specially offensive pokemon due to the usage of two Assault vest users, so I do feel that you do not lose anything offensively or defensively using Tangrowth. By the way this fucks Kabutops up the ass. It is also very versatile in terms of the moveset you can run, so I've left tons of slashes for you to play around with! :]

To be honest, your team is not that hazard weak due to regenerator + drapion absorbing T-Spikes. For this reason, I suggest replacing Hitmontop with Choice Scarf Emboar. It is still a bulky Fighting type, but its ability to reliably revenge kill (as well as absorb sleep), gives it a key position on many bulky offensive teams like your own. It also helps you absorb the burns I previously mentioned, and overall just vies your team a glue against the average setup sweeper!

Smaller Changes:
Escavalier: Megahorn > Pursuit, strongest available STAB, pursuit has redundancies with Drapion's and will see little usage due to it.
Alomomola: Waterfall > Scald, Alomomola's strongest STAB to prevent setup and break weaker substitutes, also doesn't interfere with toxic, EV Spread of 104 HP / 252 Def / 152 SpD, as you lose ~6% bulk (near nothing) in exchange for a massive boost in SDef so you don't get annihilated by things like Delphox's Fire Blast



Great team! Hope this helped!
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Tangrowth @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold / Relaxed / Impish Nature
- Giga Drain / Power Whip
- Leech Seed / Synthesis
- Sleep Powder
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Earthquake / Hidden Power [Ice]

Emboar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Superpower
- Wild Charge
- Sleep Talk / Stone Edge

 

[DTC]

Brawlfest, most of your rate is pretty good, but he should not replace Knock Off on Escavalier. I would replace Pursuit with Megahorn as Drapion already has Pursuit to counter Pokemon such as Azelf. Pursuit Escavalier is sort of redundant with Drapion.

 

[Brawlfest]

Brawlfest, most of your rate is pretty good, but he should not replace Knock Off on Escavalier. I would replace Pursuit with Megahorn as Drapion already has Pursuit to counter Pokemon such as Azelf. Pursuit Escavalier is sort of redundant with Drapion.

Will do DTC, I see the point on pursuit. I'll change it in the rate :]

 

[Kit Kasai]

Thanks for the help guys. I added Megahorn to Escavalier over Pursuit and chaged Alomomola's EVs. I like scald to deal with physical attackers I can't toxic stall, like Cobalion. I'm keeping Drapion's EVs as is because I like the extra special bulk it adds. I'm going to try out Aromatisse or Togetic as a cleric on my team and see how it works.

 

[Arhops]

Just gonna point out that its always good to drop your Physical Attack IVs on Non-Physical Attackers to 0 to minimize Foul Play damage. This team is pretty solid tho imo, we should fight again some time and save more replays. :]