XY NU The Black Sheep (Peak ~425-450)

[Blumenwitz]

So this was my first crack at putting together an NU team. I feel like I have a lot of threats covered, but I'd like to know if there's any way I can make it stronger.

So here's what I got (changes are in bold):

Loki (Liepard) (M) @ Black Glasses
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Encore
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- U-turn

It's almost depressing how laughably predictable you are.

Liepard is typically the mon I lead with (depending on who I expect my opponent to lead with, of course), and I've found that he's pretty damn good at covering a lot of threats. Taunt is primarily for stopping hazard leads, and Encore lets him shut down the tier's most dangerous setup sweepers, including Slurpuff. Especially Slurpuff. I can't tell you how many times I've saved my team just by encoring a Belly Drum or a Calm Mind.

With a Jolly nature, he can outspeed almost (*almost*) anything that isn't scarfed, so he's an invaluable tool against glass cannons like Mismagius and Cryogonal. Seriously, that Knock Off can be nasty.

Bessie (Miltank) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sap Sipper
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Double-Edge
- Milk Drink
- Thunder Wave

Moooooove, bitch!

I know Miltank has received a lot of flak for being overhyped and outclassed on here, but the big girl has served me well since I started using her. She's basically my bulky hazard setter, which is a pretty conventional role for her, but hey, if it works, it works. Setting up rocks is rarely a problem for me, considering her bulk and decent speed.

I opted for Double-Edge in lieu of Return or Body Slam to give her a little bit more bite, so she's not total setup bait. Plus, she doesn't really mind the recoil, given her easy access to recovery.

But her most valuable asset is arguably Sap Sipper, especially since nobody ever seems to expect it. After getting a boost from an unsuspecting Sleep Powder user (namely Vivillon or Lilligant), I can pretty much go HAM and nail the opposing side with boosted Double Edges until I'm forced to switch out. It's pretty sweet.

Tex (Granbull) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Play Rough
- Heal Bell
- Earthquake
- Thunder Wave

Call me a fairy one more time. I DARE you.

Granbull's my go-to switch in for the plethora of fighting types running amok in NU (Gurdurr, Sawk, Pangoro, Hariyama, etc.). A lot of them carry Poison Jab, so I have to watch out for that, but with Intimidate and max physical bulk, it's not a huge concern. Sometimes I like to switch her in on physical sweepers like Archeops, to help slow down their momentum.

If I can force a switch, I can usually capitalize on it by healing my team, or by paralyzing the switch in.

Rosacea (Dragalge) (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Poison Point
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 68 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Dragon Tail
- Sludge Wave
- Toxic Spikes

Your anguish is my pleasure.

You may have noticed that my team so far is pretty vulnerable to special attacks. That's where Dragalge comes in. Dragalge's purpose is to tank hits from the likes of Vileplume, Weezing, Typhlosion, etc. That, and setting up Toxic Spikes once she switches in. Dragon Tail's just there as an emergency measure, in case I need to phase out a setup sweeper or something. Granted, I have Liepard for that, but Liepard's not exactly built to last.

Tony (Cryogonal) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Freeze-Dry
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
- Recover

There's a time and a place for mucking around!

Cryogonal's my spinner, who serves the dual purpose of helping me deal with Seismitoad. And other water types, I guess, but mostly Seismitoad. God, that thing is annoying. As I've found, it's also great at dealing with Sandslash, one of the most common spinners in the tier.

Plus, it's pretty good at taking special hits, so I have something to fall back on in case Dragalge goes down.

Blitzkrieg (Sawk) @ Life Orb
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab

"Discipline"? What is that, some kind of cheese?

Here I've got a pretty typical wallbreaker set for Sawk. He's there to break down the physical walls that the rest of my team struggles with, particularly Steelix, Regirock, Rhydon, and to a lesser extent, Cradily. He also works exceptionally well as a late game cleaner, as there really aren't too many things that can totally wall him.

And that's my team in a nutshell. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[g]

Hi Blumenwitz this looks like a solid balanced team but i can see some weaknesses i can try with you to fix.

The first thing I see looking at your team is some suboptimal sets like Bulk Up on Granbull which sadly isn't a very good move because of its lack of reliable recovery and could be easily replaced by something like Heal Bell that then leaves you free to put Thunder Wave on Miltank letting you have an effective Paralysis spreading core. Other nitpicky thing I think should be changed are Taunt on Liepard which is very redundant with Encore and should be replaced with Sucker Punch, Pursuit, or even Thunder Wave and the spread on Dragalge which should be changed to 252 hp / 192 Def / 68 SpD Sassy as running maximum investment is just overkill.

Considering that your team is also a bit weak to stall I'd change your Sawk set to a Life Orb one as it helps you break stall a lot more easily and it can also sweep with the massive paralysis support you have.

 

[Blumenwitz]

Thanks for your feedback! The changes I made are in the OP.

Question: if I'm running a Life Orb on Sawk instead of a Choice Band, should I change his nature to Adamant? I don't want to sacrifice too much power, after all.

 

[Ares]

Hi Blumenwitz nice team, like galbia said it looks pretty good for a balanced team.

The one thing that I noticed is that you don't have a special wall, which places a lot of pressure on Cryogonal. I would recommend changing the EV spread on Dragalge to a Specially Defensive spread, as this would help alleviate some of the pressure placed on Cryogonal. The thing to watch out for would be mixed Magmortar, which isn't really common, as it would have a chance to 2HKO you with EQ. I completely agree with the above changes suggested by galbia and was going to suggest them myself but I was holding off posting to try to find a way to better your team. After some consideration I realized that the Pokemon I would suggest would just fill a similar role and it would just be a personal preference on what you wished to use. I see your team struggling with Stall Teams that have a Poison-type, but other than that you have a pretty solid looking team. I think that Sawk should be able to break through those types of teams late game and it really just requires you to play well against them. Sorry for the smaller rate, but like I said your team is solid and its just a preference on what mons you wanna have in your designated slots. gl with the team!

 

[ThGlossyGolem]

This team was obviously well made! I have spotted only 1 weakness......
252+ Atk Iron Fist Gurdurr Mach Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Liepard: 258-306 (95.9 - 113.7%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
This is only 75% chance, but it is more likely than not to happen. If you change the 4 SpDef EV's to Def EV's then this might be less of an issue. This is also an issue on Cryogonal so I would invest some Def Ev's on that too.
This team is really good and I hope that you continue to make this team the best it can be!

 

[Ares]

This team was obviously well made! I have spotted only 1 weakness......
252+ Atk Iron Fist Gurdurr Mach Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Liepard: 258-306 (95.9 - 113.7%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
This is only 75% chance, but it is more likely than not to happen. If you change the 4 SpDef EV's to Def EV's then this might be less of an issue. This is also an issue on Cryogonal so I would invest some Def Ev's on that too.
This team is really good and I hope that you continue to make this team the best it can be!

Just pointing this out but he has the best switch in to Gurdurr in NU on his team called Granbull lol, on top of this he also has Dragalge to handle Gurdurr. I know BT said Gurdurr is all that, but this team easily handles it.

 

[ThGlossyGolem]

Just pointing this out but he has the best switch in to Gurdurr in NU on his team called Granbull.....

Granbull may be able to take a mach punch, but Hariyama is another issue.....
-1 252+ Atk Guts Hariyama Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 232+ Def Granbull: 238-282 (61.9 - 73.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Thats WITHOUT fake out.
Montsegur im not trying to contradict you, im just listing all the possible threats

 

[ThGlossyGolem]

Ok now that showdown is back up, i found something. I would replace thunder wave on granbull with toxic because I ran into an Electivire and I did not want to take the chance of it having motor drive. Plus it had barrier and ice punch so dragalge did not help. So electivire is a problem for your team.

 

[Ares]

Yeah the switch into evire can be seen from a mile away, not to mention you must of been playing really low ladder to run into someone using barrier evire. Twave is probably the best move on the set and I definitely wouldn't recommend switching it.

To your point above about Hariyama, if it has heavy slam that means it doesn't have earthquake so therefore Dragalge is a switch in lol.