The Tears of Lys

[Donphantastic.]

After my previous RMT, which sucked ass, here's one, once again for NU, with a slightly more tested non-gimmick team, that actually works quite well.
It is, as most of my teams, Game of Thrones themed.

Viserys (Arbok) (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Coil
- Gunk Shot
- Aqua Tail
- Sucker Punch

Evene though he is described as "Less than the shadow of a snake", this underestimated monster can quite easily rape late-game. My basic strategy is to get his counters out of the way/crippled, and then try to set up at least one and preferably 2 coils. At that point most things die to Gunk Shot, and most Revenge killers die to Sucker Punch.

Nymeria (Absol) (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Super Luck
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Night Slash

Nym is, as should be expected of Absol, a great pokemon. Although very difficult to use well, due to Sucker Punch/Pursuit mindgames, she can punch wholes the size of Dorne into most psychic/ghost types, or anything physically frail that is foolish enough to stand up against her wrath.

Syrio (Samurott) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Megahorn

Syrio is my best early-game threat, excellig as a lead against people who lead with Torkoal. Although he tends to die quite easily between his abysmal special bulk and Life Orb recoil, he can generally take out at leats one pokemon, and two or three if i'm lucky.

Donal (Torkoal) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: White Smoke
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic

Donal is a much bigger asset to my team than i expected, just like his one-armed namesake. He easily takes most physical hits and poisons/ hits and hopefully burns back. He is also my spinner and hazard mon.

Illyrio (Lickilicky) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Dragon Tail

Illyrio is, also like his namesake, a more subtly important pokemon. His support is great, allowing me to be more careless around status. He can also easily shuffle teams for lots of damage if SR is up.

Old Teammate
Loras (Jumpluff) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Chlorophyll
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 8 HP / 200 Def / 84 SDef / 216 Spd
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder
- Encore

New Teammate
Davos (Rotom-S) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef /252 Spd
Timid Nature
-Thunderbolt
-Air Slash
-Volt Switch
-Trick

Remaining threats: Zangoose(/Swellow Cores). I have a lot of trouble with zangoose, as it ohkoes absol with quick attack, and i can't really wall it with torkoal. my only solytion is to sacrifice pokemon until i can protect stall with Illyrio, try to keep Viserys alive, dragon tail shuffle with illyrio after zangoose is gone, and then hope i can sweep their weakened team with arbok



Amarillo suggestions have been put in, and i'm generally quite happy with them, although the loss of aqua jet on Syrio na d the loss of physical bulk on Illyrio have been kind of hard to deal with at times. More tips are still welcome.

 

[marilli]

First, I'd say you should fully invest in your Lickilicky's special defense, making it a 252 HP / 252 SpD spread. This allows you to better take Hydro Pumps from notable threats, making it easier for you to play, and be better at phazing out CM Musharna if you think it's too risky for you to swap absol in directly because it might have Signal Beam.

Samurott also should have Megahorn over Aqua Jet. It's more of a personal preferance, but it OHKOes its biggest check. The bigger thing this does is that you can now run a Timid spread again, because Timid, 4 Atk Megahorn can still OHKO its target, Ludicolo 100% of the time. This preserves your special bulk, and allows you to take a spare Ice Beam or two without hurting too much.

In my opinion, Jumpluff is not exactly a good solution to setup users. As I see it, you have trouble against: not CM Musharna (absol + licki), not Bulk Up Gurdurr (Intimidate Arbok). This is a good thing, covering the two bulky setup users. Instead I may recommend a Choice Scarf Rotom-S, with 252 / 252 spread with Timid nature, and with Volt Switch / Air Slash / Thunderbolt / Trick. Trick is also a great option for you if you have a setup sweeper on you. Rotom also revenges fast threats in case absol can't.

TL;DR
Change spread on Lickilicky
Aqua Jet -> Megahorn on Samurott, Change its nature to Timid.
Jumpluff -> Rotom-S

Good luck!

 

[Donphantastic.]

Bump-because of changes made.

 

[citro]

In order to solve your Zangoose problem I recommend Colbur Berry Golurk > Torkoal. Torkoal is just not that good in this metagame, especially the set you're using. Your team doesn't actually benefit a whole lot from Rapid Spin support because only one member is weak to it (excluding Torkoal itself). Furthermore, your defensive set will find it difficult to spin against the most common Ghost types, and doesn't work well as a wall due to lack of reliable recovery, poor defensive typing, and a weakness to SR.

Golurk can still set up rocks for your team, but can also maintain excellent offensive pressure. While the removal of Torkoal means Emboar now poses a larger threat, he was a shaky check anyway. Using Golurk actually means Emboar can not safely switch in against any members of this team, so it will get a maximum of one kill before dying itself. Even more importantly, Golurk equipped with a Colbur Berry is a foolproof check to Zangoose, easily living a Night Slash and OHKOing in return. It can also lure and KO powerful priority users such as Skuntank and Absol.

Golurk

Golurk @ Colbur Berry
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Shadow Punch
- Ice Punch

Finally, the only other quick change I can see is to give Absol a Jolly nature. While this makes it a little weaker, he can now outspeed relevant threats such as Ludicolo and Samurott. Sucker Punch working against Jolly SD Samurott's Aqua Jet is even more notable as he can take down Rotom after a couple of SR switchins.

Hope I helped and good luck with the team!

 

[Alfalfa]

One can easily pack a Trick User to remove Golurk's Colbur Berry so Zangoose can 2HKO it with Night Slash. There is also Wartortle, who can use Scald on Golurk, and potentially burn it. Not to mention that Spikes are a huge pain to deal with...

 

[Donphantastic.]

hmmmm... i'll think about the change, but honsetly i really like my torkoal, it's very reliable, and i hate playing without a spinner on a team that's not extremely offensive. i'll try the Jolly absol though.
Thanks!

 

[Donphantastic.]

I have indeed kept the adamant nature on Nymeria, as she doesn't get outsped by much that i can't oneshot with sucker punch, and i need that extra punch.
I'll try the Golurk, although i'm a bit hesitant to drop my only true physical wall.
I'll try it though.

 

[WhiteDMist]

I have to agree that your team doesn't really need a Rapid Spinner too badly. Also, your current Torkoal set is very congested and inefficient, since Torkoal has trouble accomplishing all its tasks without reliable recovery (wall, spinner, SR setter).

Instead of Torkoal, I would recommend Regirock as your SR setter and physical tank. It reliably checks Normal and Flying types like Zangoose and Braviary, while also setting up Rocks almost all the time. If you also choose to, Rocky Helmet would be an excellent item to discourage physical attackers from making contact.

Jolly Absol is nice, but your team really wants the extra power since it is a balanced team. You do risk being KOed by +2 Aqua Jet from Jolly Samurott, but you do have Arbok to discourage Samurott as well. What really worries me would be a well played Musharna or Gardevoir, since they can KO Absol on the switch and then set up on the rest of your team except for Rotom-S.

Speaking of Rotom-S, I think Amarillo is spot on with his suggestions, since they maximize the effectiveness of your team. Citro's Golurk idea is alright, but Regirock is pretty similar in function as well, so it's a personal choice.

Changes:

Regirock>Torkoal

Hide

Regirock @ Leftovers/Rocky Helmet
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge/Rock Slide
- Drain Punch
- Thunder Wave/Toxic/Psych Up

Good luck and I hope I helped!