bouffalant needed help w/ grand slam and later on i didn't realize the tiering split for megas was being implemented so i quickly threw a list to use for testing purposes and practice to keep rust off since i'm not actively playing regularly. imo sceptile is an enabler of more offensive builds cos the departure of certain pokemon like uxie and sneasel removes a degree of consistency which is a huge issue w/ offense although it is arguable that real consistency is often lacking in most builds due to the nature of nu. w/ a team like this it comes down to heavy resource management and thus has a high skill cap and is a good tool for testing and improving thinking during games which is why i like using it regardless of whether it's perfect or not
Sceptile @ Choice Specs / Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast
this punches holes and spits on skuntank, garbodor, hariyama, and whatever else that likes to switch in which gives a lot of breathing room for a portion of the team since typical leaf storm switch-ins have trouble coming in on anything a second time on almost anything. to this team, sceptile carries utility in its speed which makes almost every offensive thing manageable. also carries a lot of benefits being a fast grass because suddenly the team has a much better time against rotom and puts a lot of pressure on waters
Rhydon @ Eviolite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Polish
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
holds this team together by being able to take various hits. some pokemon are a little problematic if they carry occasional water or grass coverage but otherwise this does its job. jolly hits important speed numbers both at +0 and +2 which lets rhydon pop a hit against waters with weakness from their secondary typing unless they run a lot of speed and swords dance helps break down mega audino and other bulky pokemon that could be problematic. needs to be near full for klinklang which is a problem cos it does get setup opportunities and sometimes has magnet rise
Scyther @ Eviolite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Aerial Ace
a tack-on for fighting-types and vileplume. everything else on the team can pressure and beat vileplume on paper but effect spore and secondary recovery prove to be extremely problematic unless there's enough hazards and the situations play out favorably. it has extra utility w/ being able to pressure grass pokemon which is important when there's a couple of fast ones like shiftry, lilligant, sceptile. i have issues w/ scyther forcing my hand at awkward situations since there's a lot of pokemon that always set up on it which makes the rest of the team important in being able to pick up some pressure
Xatu @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Heat Wave
- Grass Knot
- Thunder Wave
the set gets a lot of flack cos people think it fails vs rock blast pokemon but they are usually useless when brought under 40% so the trade-off is worth it in most situations depending on matchup evaluation. the item is actually used more against faster or bulky strong pokemon that can pose a threat but become absolutely useless once paralyzed or are just taken out. mismagius, archeops, magmortar, vivillon, sometimes kangaskhan, and most of the speed setup pokemon are instantly handled if focus sash is maintained. sometimes there's a balance between whether the item is needed or if keeping pressure on the stealth rock pokemon is more important which varies between different matchups and play scenarios
Crustle @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Rock Blast
- Knock Off
i often don't lead with this unless i deem scyther to not be extremely useful and if it's really important to get quick hazards like vs teams that have vileplume and fire-types. reason is that matchup vs other stealth rock users is awful. usually my lead scenario is xatu first to drop a thunder wave or some damage on something w/ weakness or another pokemon that gives me a good double switch opportunity into this. lum berry is extremely useful against energy ball vivillon and sometimes lilligant if rock blast is being nice which is why i can't use something like omanyte unless i improve the matchup vs them. x-scissor might be worth but a number of mantine and pelipper are slower at times so a trade-off to weaken them works out better for the team overall
Samurott @ Rindo Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Megahorn
- Aqua Jet
good lure and cleaner. it keeps a lot of fire-types from messing up the team because rhydon's awful at doing that and it's also another way to break down bulky things like mega audino and vileplume after heavy hazards. it has damage output issues cos of no boosting item in some scenarios but it's decently strong and opens up a lot of play possibilities throughout the game w/ priority, typing, item, setup, somewhat usable bulk, or some combination of them
team's problem pokemon are mantine and sometimes pelipper but they can be played around in various ways depending on whether they're fast or not. vileplume is an issue at times but only because of effect spore and recovery since it usually needs to be practically healthy. gourgeist also makes plays a bit awkward. they're all not that bad from a standalone point but it's just their combination with other pokemon like magmortar for instance, so the play really comes down to resource management and evaluating what needs to be kept and done to let something on the team come out clean on top depending on the build the team is facing. since half the team sets up and the others weaken them in some form there's a lot of ways the match can go down. aqua tail kangaskhan is an offensive threat that forces the team to be played a bit awkward since its bulk and priority forces something to go down and the revenge pokemon to get weakened. facing klinklang sucks so life orb is slashed on sceptile but it's not really warranted unless the metagame is being played differently
considerations for the team: rock polish steelix w/ most likely thunder fang > rhydon; haunter w/ eviolite > scyther. both bring their own different problems even though they buffer the team a little vs some of the stuff mentioned
this is from sid <3
