Other Team Attrition: A PU RMT

[Nayr1230]

Hello everyone. My name is Nayr1230, I've been playing PU for about a month and a half and just recently joined the forums to get involved with the great community here. This is my first RMT ever here on Smogon, and I am both nervous and excited about sharing a team that I have come to love and I have had great success with. Let's jump in, shall we?

Team Overview

You may notice at a glance that overall the team is very bulky. Zebstrika is probably the squishiest member of the the team, and along with Machoke are the premier sweepers of the team. Porygon and Gourgeist-Small make up the team's defensive core, covering each other's weaknesses and spreading status. Aurorus is my main lead, setting up Hail and Rocks, and Pelipper is my defensive Defogger.

Up Close and Personal

Machoke @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 160 HP / 252 Atk / 16 Def / 20 SpD / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Ice Punch

Machoke is a great bulky 'mon with an Eviolite slapped on it, with a nice variety of coverage moves at it's disposal to punch holes in opposing teams. Close Combat is his main STAB, hitting things like Probopass and Piloswine that otherwise would be a huge problem for this team extremely hard. Bullet Punch is a nice Steel-move that hits Clefairy and Togetic hard assuming they aren't physically invested, and also helps kill opposing Pokemon after their Sash breaks. Knock Off is a nice Dark-type move that can catch Psychic Pokemon on the switch, as well as knocking off their item. Ice Punch in the final slot provides good coverage, OHKOing Roselia, Ninjask, and getting decent damage on Dodrio on the switch. The EVs allow Machoke to speed creep standard 84 Speed Probopass, outspeed Lickilicky and 8 Speed Piloswine, maximize Attack, and optimize defense with the remaining EVs. If only Machoke got Drain Punch :(

Porygon @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 172 SpD
Calm Nature
- Recover
- Discharge
- Ice Beam
- Toxic

Porygon forms one half of my team's defensive core of my team with Gourgeist. Porygon takes the Ghost and Special moves headed for Gourgeist and just soaks 'em up. With Trace, Porygon can also come in against Ninetails and Poliwrath, Trace Flash Fire and Water Absorb respectively and make their main STAB moves useless. Toxic is nice status to wear down problematic opponents, Recover is always nice, Discharge has a nice chance of paralysis and Ice Beam is for the always wonderful BoltBeam coverage. You lose out on STAB with this set, but Porygon's STAB doesn't really bring much to the table, nor is it going to OHKO things. Ice Beam hits SpD Roselia for about 25%, and Discharge OHKOs Swanna and has a chance to OHKO non-SPD variants of Pelipper.

Aurorus @ Focus Sash
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Blizzard
- Freeze-Dry
- Earth Power

My main lead, Aurorus does everything a lead could want to do and also everything an anti-lead could want to do. With Snow Warning, Aurorus sets up Hail that deals chip damage to non-Ice types for five turns, which even in cases where it dies turn 2 it still breaks Sashes and Sturdies of any Pokemon that might be drawn in. Freeze-Dry is a nice move if Pelipper or Swanna want to come in to try to threaten with Scald, Aurorus can just OHKO and then the opposing team has Rocks on their side of the field permanently because they just lost their Defogger. In a lead matchup of Golem and Aurorus, Aurorus is guaranteed to win because Golem has to choose between setting up Rocks or trying to kill Aurorus which just breaks Sashes, and then the opposing team just lost their Rocks setter before getting up Rocks. All in all, Aurorus is my favorite lead that I've tried with the team, though I do hate the copious amounts of weaknesses that come with it's typing.

Gourgeist-Small @ Leftovers
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 152 HP / 80 Def / 24 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Rock Slide
- Will-O-Wisp

Gourgeist, the second half of my defensive core. Gourgeist comes in on the Fighting-type moves aimed for Porygon and lets them pass right through it. If they are Choice-locked, it's even better because Gourgeist can just set up on whatever comes in next. With max Speed, Gourgeist can SubSeed as the fastest user in the tier, and Will-O-Wisp physical 'mons that try to come in to break it's subs. Rock Slide hits Fire and Flying types coming in on the switch, and allows it in tandem with Will-O-Wisp to possibly beat Jumpuff one on one.

Pelipper @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- Air Slash
- Scald

SpD invested Pelipper may seem weird, and it kind of is. It does allow it to survive neutral Special hits a bit better, like Roselia's Sludge Bomb and Giga Drain and Poliwrath's Ice Beam. It does of course sacrifice physical bulk, but Pelipper does to physical Rock-moves anyway so it's not like I'm missing it too much. Standard Defogger set, with Defog and Roost, Air Slash for a way to deal with Poliwrath, and Scald to inflict burns so it can take physical hits a bit better. Pretty self explanatory.

Zebstrika @ Life Orb
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Zebstrika is a nice offensive pivot with good STAB moves in Volt Switch and Thunderbolt, and nice coverage in Overheat and Hidden Power Grass. Zebstrika is also a good late game sweeper once the opposing team has been whittled down by hazards damage. Zebstrika is a bit frail, and hazards and Life Orb recoil do not let it survive for very long, so it's important to remember as you are bringing it in and Volt Switching it out that it only survive for so long.

Well, that's the team. I hope you enjoy it, and if you decide to use it or have any suggestions, please let me know. I am still fairly new to PS!, and I can honestly use all the help I can get, but this is a team that I really love and I hope whoever does decide to use it enjoys it as much as I do :)

 

[MZ]

Hey, I don't have much time to rate this but here are a few thoughts. First off, your team is weak as shit to most wall/stallbreakers like Stout and Simipour and Vigoroth. But to start, why is Pelipper sassy? I don't see any reason for it to be -speed. Calm seems to just be better. Seeing as your team is incredibly weak to Stoutland you might want to try to fit a Carracosta on somewhere, as most balance builds without it straight die to Stout and most strong wall breakers in general, which is why they have to be really well prepared or just die ez. Also try Rock Slide over Phantom Force on Gourgeist, still makes you less weak to Stout and also hits Fire and Flying type switchins harder. It just cant be taken advantage of as easily. If you do fit on a Costa, Scarf Aurorus becomes a good fit over Sash because you're also weak to Jumpluff and Simipour, and the speed should come in handy, even if you don't switch to costa. Overall seems interesting tho, I'd just try to make yourself a little less weak to the common team archetypes right now.

 

[Nayr1230]

What would you recommend putting Carracosta over? I thought Pelipper was Calm, but I guess not lol I have made that change now, thanks for pointing it out! I will also try Rock Slide on Gourgeist, as that and Will-O-Wisp can give Gourgeist a chance to fight Jumpluff one-on-one. I've never used Carracosta so I'm not sure what the best set/best fit for my team would be, or what I would even put it over?

 

[MZ]

The issue is I couldn't find one main solution because of how weak teh team is to like everything with one mon at best needing to check things and Machoke ensuring that you don't just lose to lack of offensive presence. When I have more time I'll try to figure out a better solution, but the team in general doesn't feel right to me.

 

[Nayr1230]

Okay I will wait for your suggestions. Thank you for taking a look at it, and taking the time to offer suggestions!

 

[rubsomebacononit]

Hi there, nice team! I would like to suggest a few things. Firsty, 248 > 252 HP EVs on Pelipper to take less damage from Stealth Rock. Also Thunderbolt > Discharge as you're going to cripple opposing walls with Toxic anyway and it has more POWER. You could run Tri Attack over Discharge or Ice Beam but it's up to you. And yeah, take in Megazard Z's suggestions as you are weak to wallbreakers.

for carracosta maybe

Carracosta @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Low Kick
- Rock Slide

also u should have an importable team

 

[MZ]

Hi there, nice team! I would like to suggest a few things. Firsty, 248 > 252 HP EVs on Pelipper to take less damage from Stealth Rock. Also Thunderbolt > Discharge as you're going to cripple opposing walls with Toxic anyway and it has more POWER. You could run Tri Attack over Discharge or Ice Beam but it's up to you. And yeah, take in Megazard Z's suggestions as you are weak to wallbreakers.

for carracosta maybe

Carracosta @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Low Kick
- Rock Slide

also u should have an importable team

Knock off>low kick and toxic is almost always proffered over rock slide. Low kick is weak and even smashcosta doesn't benefit, rock slide is also fairly weak and toxic cripples basically everything switching in other than like Roselia and Clefairy, which you can knock anyway

 

[Nayr1230]

Okay, I made those changes to Porygon and Pelipper to test them if I like them better, and I'm going to try the above Carracosta set over Aurorus. I wish Carracosta had better recovery other than leftovers, but oh well. Thanks guys, I will try it!

 

[Dundies]

Hi Nayr! Cool team you got here, I figured I'd give a few suggestions.

First off as more of a nitpick, make sure Pelipper has 248 HP instead of 252 which allows it to switch into Stealth Rocks 4 times.

I also noticed that nothing on your team can actually "set up", which means you're relying on immediate damage, which could be a problem. Since you have Aurorus, your offensive Pokemon are easily worn down by hail and none of them have recovery. That's why I'm going to recommend you change Machoke --> DD Fraxure. The other Pokemon on your team already put a lot of pressure on Fraxure's checks, which makes it a lot easier for Fraxure to sweep late game. With this change, you do become much weaker to Pawniard, which is why I recommend if you do decide to make this change, you should also change SpD Pelipper --> Def Pelipper, patching up that new weakness. Physically defensive Pelipper still checks Poliwrath, which you said was a main reason you were using it in your description, and if you decide to use Fraxure, it becomes a pretty good check to Roselia.

I hope I helped and didn't change up the main idea of the team too much!

Sets

Fraxure @ Eviolite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Iron Tail
- Low Kick / Taunt

Pelipper @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Air Slash / U-turn
- Roost
- Defog

 

[Nayr1230]

Okay, I will try those changes to see if that works. I had tried Carracosta but I don't think I'm using it right lol, so I'm gonna go back to Aurorus and try Fraxure and the Pelipper change as you said. Thanks!