Note: Im terrible with titles. Anyway, I started playing again recently, and built an RU team thats doing... decently. It's not incredible, it's definitely not my best team, and there are some glaring flaws that I have tried to fix... thus this is where you guys come in. So, here we go.
AT A GLANCE
THE ORIGINAL FOCUS
Kecleon - Once I saw aDrive use this thing in the GBA, I got incredibly interested in it. I was playing through Omega Ruby, and I managed to get an adamant Protean one, and it's been incredible thus far in the game. I fell in love with this beast. As a result, I decided I wanted to use this thing competitively. I looked around for a few ideas, and came up with a decent move list, being Sucker Punch, Knock Off, Power-Up Punch, and Drain Punch. When it came to EVs, originally, looking at it's awful base 40 speed, I was going to give it 252 attack and hp, but finding an article on it on Smogon, I went with the recommended 172 hp, 252 attack, and 84 speed. Now while this is pretty decent, it's got two glaring problems: it's not too versatile with this moveset, and I want to change something to give it better coverage without sacrificing anything it knows. In my view, Kecleon suffers big time from 4-move syndrome. The second glaring flaw is it's terrible speed, even with a bit of investment, it hits 137 on Showdown, at level 100.
Kecleon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Protean
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Power-Up Punch
- Sucker Punch
Filling in the holes
This is the point where I take you through the entire team building process, including what got dropped through testing. So at this point I realized there are two ways to deal with speed... the former of which I thought of just now and not while making this team: Sticky Web and Paralysis. There are two kinds of mons I can't deal with when it comes to thunder waving, which is the only reliable paralysis method I see in RU: Pokemon that are immune to it. When i was first team building, my only thought was "Ground types". So looking at the list of ground types in RU, I found there are 3 different categories: weak to Water, Grass, or Ice. So my first plan was to get something thats bulky and can t-wave, and get something to deal with the ground types. My answers?
Lets start with Registeel:
Immediate first thoughts: It's fat, give it leftovers. I need paralysis, give it Thunder Wave. I need recovery on a wall, give it Rest. Then I looked at it's movepool, and said "Oh it gets Stealth Rocks!" and gave it rocks. Finally, I grabbed Iron head for it. With TWave, Iron head makes a great stab and a fun troll paraflinch procedure. You will see this again in a few minutes. overall, Registeel wasn't hard to create a movelist for.
Clawitzer was a bit more... difficult:
Clawitzer has a few big things that I'm looking for, but, like Kecleon and Registeel, is slow. Twave support is essential, which makes this mons purpose kind of... backwards. This is why you don't see either of these mons in the at a glance section. I wanted something with power that could KO all 3 types of ground issues I would have, thus I gave it a few moves and a Life Orb. To deal with regular ground types, I toyed between Scald and Water Pulse, and eventually opted Water Pulse. I then gave it Ice beam to deal with Flygon, and HP Grass to deal with Gastrodon. All of my threats dealt with. For its final move, I looked it up on Smogon's database, and saw reasoning for both Dark Pulse and Aura Sphere. I eventually opted Aura Sphere, as I felt it was more beneficial. Also, from reading said database, i changed Water Pulse to Scald.
Registeel @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Rest
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock
Clawitzer @ Life Orb
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Aura Sphere
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Hidden Power [Grass]
NEEDING SOME OFFENSE
At this point I felt like I was already building a decently strong team, but I needed some slightly faster and/or harder hitting offense.
Lets start with Ambipom, because it's the easiest:
I know that theres a rule that all Mons must have 4 moves to post a team here... this is where I purposely break that rule, not because I can't think of 4 moves, but because the moveset I chose requires it to only have 2. This is an incredibly powerful and hard hitting moveset thats only walled by Ghosts, Rocks, and Steels. Ambipom is fast and hits like a truck, and thus was an easy addition for this team.
Sigilyth was a bit harder:
Up until this point I've only used Sigilyth in a Cosmic/Stored Power role, and I wanted to do something different. With Magic Guard, the first idea was Life Orb and Dual Stab. Psyshock is pretty standard, and Air Slash is both Stab, and works with the paralysis. I also opted to give Sigilyth Thunder Wave, as a second T-Waver. Finally, to deal with that pesky Gastrodon, I also gave it Energy Ball for coverage.
Looking at my team, I have an answer for Rock types for Ambipom, but not Ghost and Steel. Now I have Exploud:
Exploud hits like a truck with Choice Specs Boomburst. With Scrappy, Ghosts aren't immune to the pain, and with access to either Flamethrower or Fire Blast, I can deal with Steel types as well. Opting to not miss, since I can only think of Steelix and Registeel in this tier, the former of which has awful special defense, I opted with the more accurate Flamethrower. I also felt like I could give it Ice Beam for Flygon, which, as far as I know, Exploud can take a hit then KO with Ice Beam. Finally, surf rounds out the movepool.
Ambipom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Last Resort
Sigilyph @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 36 SpD / 220 Spe
Timid Nature
- Air Slash
- Energy Ball
- Psyshock
- Thunder Wave
Exploud @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Boomburst
- Flamethrower
- Surf
- Ice Beam
DEALING WITH PROBLEMS
At this point, I started testing. I realized a flaw pretty quickly when I saw a Jolteon: as of Gen 6, electric types are immune to Thunder Wave. Thus, I decided I needed to make changes. I also learned that I have a very very glaring weakness: 4 weaknesses to Fighting. This is something that the current version still has, but at least I dealt with it a little. Fighting types arent too common in RU, but the bane of my existence became Hitmontop (wasnt this thing OU like last gen??). I was either losing or barely scraping by in these situations. Changes needed to be made.
Looking at my options to deal with electric types, I found only one ground mon that felt decent to use: Rhyperior. I opted to dump Registeel, as despite being one of my T-wavers, it felt like dead weight. Rhyperior's primary function is to set up the rocks I lost with Registeel, and to deal with electric types with a strong EQ. I decided on Ice Punch to deal with Flygon, and Stone Edge as a second STAB.
I still have 4 fighting weaknesses and a 4x water weakness, with only 1 resistance to each. If Siggy goes down, I dont want to switch anything in on a CC. Jellicent helps to deal with both of these issues, with an immunity to both. Since the main focus of this team is speed control, I opted against Will-o-wisp. I now needed a way of having Jelly deal with the same threats that Clawitzer would, by giving it the same types of attacks: Ice, water, grass. The choices were obvious: Giga Drain, Ice Beam, and Scald. Finally, recover keeps it bulky and annoying.
Now the first question you may be asking is "Why is Siggy here again?". Well, with the lack of a defensive T-waver, I decided to put Siggy into a more defensive role. The issue with this was that switching Life Orb to Leftovers and switching some EVs wasnt enough for me, so I also had to add Roost. Now I wanted to keep T Wave for obvious reasons, and Energy Ball for Gastro, so my options were Psyshock and Air Slash. Air Slash works well with T-wave, so I had to ditch Psyshock.
Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
Jellicent @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Scald
Sigilyph @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Air Slash
- Roost
- Thunder Wave
- Energy Ball
THE FINAL PRODUCT
Ambipom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Last Resort
Kecleon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Protean
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Power-Up Punch
- Sucker Punch
Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
Jellicent @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Scald
Sigilyph @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Air Slash
- Roost
- Thunder Wave
- Energy Ball
Exploud @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Boomburst
- Flamethrower
- Surf
- Ice Beam
BIG THREATS
As of right now, I've only found and recognized two big threats:
Eelektross is just a royal pain. Immune to Twave, faster than Rhyperior, packing Giga Drain, and immune to EQ even if I can somehow get one off, this is just a royal pain. A Boomburst always KOs it, but its something I need to watch for.
This isnt too powerful, but with a choice scarf, this doesn't destroy my team, but it makes my team very on edge, It's immune to the crippling effect of TWave, and tends to uturn out before I can hit it.
AT A GLANCE
THE ORIGINAL FOCUS
Kecleon - Once I saw aDrive use this thing in the GBA, I got incredibly interested in it. I was playing through Omega Ruby, and I managed to get an adamant Protean one, and it's been incredible thus far in the game. I fell in love with this beast. As a result, I decided I wanted to use this thing competitively. I looked around for a few ideas, and came up with a decent move list, being Sucker Punch, Knock Off, Power-Up Punch, and Drain Punch. When it came to EVs, originally, looking at it's awful base 40 speed, I was going to give it 252 attack and hp, but finding an article on it on Smogon, I went with the recommended 172 hp, 252 attack, and 84 speed. Now while this is pretty decent, it's got two glaring problems: it's not too versatile with this moveset, and I want to change something to give it better coverage without sacrificing anything it knows. In my view, Kecleon suffers big time from 4-move syndrome. The second glaring flaw is it's terrible speed, even with a bit of investment, it hits 137 on Showdown, at level 100.
Kecleon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Protean
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Power-Up Punch
- Sucker Punch
Filling in the holes
This is the point where I take you through the entire team building process, including what got dropped through testing. So at this point I realized there are two ways to deal with speed... the former of which I thought of just now and not while making this team: Sticky Web and Paralysis. There are two kinds of mons I can't deal with when it comes to thunder waving, which is the only reliable paralysis method I see in RU: Pokemon that are immune to it. When i was first team building, my only thought was "Ground types". So looking at the list of ground types in RU, I found there are 3 different categories: weak to Water, Grass, or Ice. So my first plan was to get something thats bulky and can t-wave, and get something to deal with the ground types. My answers?
Lets start with Registeel:
Immediate first thoughts: It's fat, give it leftovers. I need paralysis, give it Thunder Wave. I need recovery on a wall, give it Rest. Then I looked at it's movepool, and said "Oh it gets Stealth Rocks!" and gave it rocks. Finally, I grabbed Iron head for it. With TWave, Iron head makes a great stab and a fun troll paraflinch procedure. You will see this again in a few minutes. overall, Registeel wasn't hard to create a movelist for.
Clawitzer was a bit more... difficult:
Clawitzer has a few big things that I'm looking for, but, like Kecleon and Registeel, is slow. Twave support is essential, which makes this mons purpose kind of... backwards. This is why you don't see either of these mons in the at a glance section. I wanted something with power that could KO all 3 types of ground issues I would have, thus I gave it a few moves and a Life Orb. To deal with regular ground types, I toyed between Scald and Water Pulse, and eventually opted Water Pulse. I then gave it Ice beam to deal with Flygon, and HP Grass to deal with Gastrodon. All of my threats dealt with. For its final move, I looked it up on Smogon's database, and saw reasoning for both Dark Pulse and Aura Sphere. I eventually opted Aura Sphere, as I felt it was more beneficial. Also, from reading said database, i changed Water Pulse to Scald.
Registeel @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Rest
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock
Clawitzer @ Life Orb
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Aura Sphere
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Hidden Power [Grass]
NEEDING SOME OFFENSE
At this point I felt like I was already building a decently strong team, but I needed some slightly faster and/or harder hitting offense.
Lets start with Ambipom, because it's the easiest:
I know that theres a rule that all Mons must have 4 moves to post a team here... this is where I purposely break that rule, not because I can't think of 4 moves, but because the moveset I chose requires it to only have 2. This is an incredibly powerful and hard hitting moveset thats only walled by Ghosts, Rocks, and Steels. Ambipom is fast and hits like a truck, and thus was an easy addition for this team.
Sigilyth was a bit harder:
Up until this point I've only used Sigilyth in a Cosmic/Stored Power role, and I wanted to do something different. With Magic Guard, the first idea was Life Orb and Dual Stab. Psyshock is pretty standard, and Air Slash is both Stab, and works with the paralysis. I also opted to give Sigilyth Thunder Wave, as a second T-Waver. Finally, to deal with that pesky Gastrodon, I also gave it Energy Ball for coverage.
Looking at my team, I have an answer for Rock types for Ambipom, but not Ghost and Steel. Now I have Exploud:
Exploud hits like a truck with Choice Specs Boomburst. With Scrappy, Ghosts aren't immune to the pain, and with access to either Flamethrower or Fire Blast, I can deal with Steel types as well. Opting to not miss, since I can only think of Steelix and Registeel in this tier, the former of which has awful special defense, I opted with the more accurate Flamethrower. I also felt like I could give it Ice Beam for Flygon, which, as far as I know, Exploud can take a hit then KO with Ice Beam. Finally, surf rounds out the movepool.
Ambipom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Last Resort
Sigilyph @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 36 SpD / 220 Spe
Timid Nature
- Air Slash
- Energy Ball
- Psyshock
- Thunder Wave
Exploud @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Boomburst
- Flamethrower
- Surf
- Ice Beam
DEALING WITH PROBLEMS
At this point, I started testing. I realized a flaw pretty quickly when I saw a Jolteon: as of Gen 6, electric types are immune to Thunder Wave. Thus, I decided I needed to make changes. I also learned that I have a very very glaring weakness: 4 weaknesses to Fighting. This is something that the current version still has, but at least I dealt with it a little. Fighting types arent too common in RU, but the bane of my existence became Hitmontop (wasnt this thing OU like last gen??). I was either losing or barely scraping by in these situations. Changes needed to be made.
Looking at my options to deal with electric types, I found only one ground mon that felt decent to use: Rhyperior. I opted to dump Registeel, as despite being one of my T-wavers, it felt like dead weight. Rhyperior's primary function is to set up the rocks I lost with Registeel, and to deal with electric types with a strong EQ. I decided on Ice Punch to deal with Flygon, and Stone Edge as a second STAB.
I still have 4 fighting weaknesses and a 4x water weakness, with only 1 resistance to each. If Siggy goes down, I dont want to switch anything in on a CC. Jellicent helps to deal with both of these issues, with an immunity to both. Since the main focus of this team is speed control, I opted against Will-o-wisp. I now needed a way of having Jelly deal with the same threats that Clawitzer would, by giving it the same types of attacks: Ice, water, grass. The choices were obvious: Giga Drain, Ice Beam, and Scald. Finally, recover keeps it bulky and annoying.
Now the first question you may be asking is "Why is Siggy here again?". Well, with the lack of a defensive T-waver, I decided to put Siggy into a more defensive role. The issue with this was that switching Life Orb to Leftovers and switching some EVs wasnt enough for me, so I also had to add Roost. Now I wanted to keep T Wave for obvious reasons, and Energy Ball for Gastro, so my options were Psyshock and Air Slash. Air Slash works well with T-wave, so I had to ditch Psyshock.
Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
Jellicent @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Scald
Sigilyph @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Air Slash
- Roost
- Thunder Wave
- Energy Ball
THE FINAL PRODUCT
Ambipom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Last Resort
Kecleon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Protean
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Power-Up Punch
- Sucker Punch
Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
Jellicent @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Scald
Sigilyph @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Air Slash
- Roost
- Thunder Wave
- Energy Ball
Exploud @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Boomburst
- Flamethrower
- Surf
- Ice Beam
BIG THREATS
As of right now, I've only found and recognized two big threats:
Eelektross is just a royal pain. Immune to Twave, faster than Rhyperior, packing Giga Drain, and immune to EQ even if I can somehow get one off, this is just a royal pain. A Boomburst always KOs it, but its something I need to watch for.
This isnt too powerful, but with a choice scarf, this doesn't destroy my team, but it makes my team very on edge, It's immune to the crippling effect of TWave, and tends to uturn out before I can hit it.
