Time Is Running Out
This is the team I used for the A Whole NU World Tournament, although with some changes along the way and it managed to get to the Semi Finals. At the start of the tournament I decided to go with a Trick Room team as I was very new to the tier and with so many slow but strong Pokemon, it seemed like it could do well. There are certainly some weaknesses, mainly late-game where if my team is weakened, Pokemon like Sharpedo and Venomoth can be very annoying to face, as well as Taunt being annoying to the whole set up, but overall it seems to do well most of the time.
Quick Glance:
Closer Look:
Note: All have a 0 Speed IV other than Banette who has a 31 Speed IV and Exeggutor who has a 3 Speed IV for a 70 Base Power Hidden Power Ground.
Banette @ Choice Scarf ~Coronis
Jolly
Insomnia
252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
- Trick
- Trick Room
- Shadow Claw
- Will-o-wisp
I used to have TrickScarf Gardevoir as a lead here, but Banette has proved more useful. So many of Banette's switch ins are ruined by a Scarf and it also means that if they try and Taunt me first turn expecting Trick Room, I get an advantage at the start and can switch to either Slowking or Porygon2 to likely get Trick Room off. Shadow Claw is it's strongest STAB attack so was an obvious move really, I don't use it much, generally all Banette does is Trick off its Scarf and then set up Trick Room before I let one of my sweepers loose. Will-O-Wisp doesn't generally get much use, Banette doesn't really have many other options, but it's still useful for halving the attack of strong physical sweepers.
As for the EVs, Jolly with 252 Speed EVs is just so it's as fast as possible not only before it Tricks its Scarf, but also afterwards. Obviously Trick Room has negative priority but the Speed is still useful. I went for 252 HP as Banette doesn't generally do much more than Trick then set up Trick Room so I felt bulk would be more useful than power. The last EVs are put in Attack for a bit more power to Shadow Claw. Insomnia was chosen over Frisk because it gives me an edge over Venomoth and other sleep move leads. This is generally more useful than revealing an opponent's item.
Porygon2 @ Life Orb ~Lord Liam
Quiet
Download
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
- Trick Room
- Tri Attack
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
Porygon2 was an obvious addition. When I was first thinking of an NU Trick Room Team, it and Slowking were the first two who I thought I had to have on for setting up Trick Room. The moveset is pretty simple, Tri Attack is it's strongest attack and with LO, and also the possibility of a Download boost, not much really takes this. Sometimes I'll use it rather than Thunderbolting or Ice Beaming a Water / Grass-type respectively just incase they try and switch to a resist to waste Trick Room turns. Ice Beam and Thunderbolt are both used for coverage and the BoltBeam combo. I considered Hidden Power Ground for Skuntank/Magneton but Tri Attack seems to do enough to Skuntank and as for Magneton, the rest of my team are generally able to deal with it well enough. Also, if I get a Download SpA boost then Tri Attack is going to do a ton anyway.
Quiet nature with 0 Speed IV is obvious as I want it to be as slow as possible to fully abuse Trick Room. 252 SpA so I can hit as hard as possible and also 252 HP so it can take hits better to set Trick Room up. 4 Defense EVs are just filler. Download was obviously chosen over Trace as there aren't many good abilities to Trace in NU and the extra power if I get a SpA boost is useful.
Slowking @ Life Orb ~Buddha
Quiet
Own Tempo
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
- Trick Room
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Slack Off
Like Porygon2, Slowking was an obvious choice for Trick Room. It seems to find many opportunities to set it up so is certainly helpful to the team, as is it's Fire-type resist. Surf is an obvious STAB move as Slowking has a respectable base 100 SpA stat and so this can do a lot of damage to Pokemon who don't resist it. I wasn't really completely sure as to the other move, I considered Psychic first for a strong secondary STAB, but in the end decided on Ice Beam so that Jumpluff can't come in and Encore me into an attack allowing it to set up Espeon or whoever on Psychic. It also gets a nice hit on Grass-types which is beneficial, although Psychic hits the many Grass / Poison-types too. Slack off was because I wanted it to stay around longer considering other than Rhydon, it is my only Fire-type resist and it's my only reliable Water-type resist. This is especially important considering none of my other Trick Room set-uppers have recovery.
Quiet nature with 0 Speed IV is again used so it has a lot of power making Pokemon not be able to easily use it for set up bait and is as slow as possible so it will almost always go first in Trick Room. 252 SpA EVs was obvious as I needed some power while 252 HP EVs lets it take hits better which is important as I often need it to switch into Typhlosion and others if Trick Room isn't up. Rest is put in Defense just to take physical hits a little bit better.
Exeggutor @ Life Orb ~Toaster
Quiet
Chlorophyll
252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
- Leaf Storm
- Psychic
- Hidden Power Ground
- Trick Room
This is the last of my Pokemon who set up Trick Room, although it doesn't often even use it. Generally Exeggutor is my main sweeper, I did have Clamperl here at first just because of how strong it is with Deepseatooth, but considering if it gets hit, it will almost certainly faint, which happens a lot as there are so many Pokemon in NU it can't straight out OHKO so I went with Exeggutor after some testing as it seemed to cause a lot of problems for many NU teams. Exeggutor also provides me with a useful Grass-type resists (my only one). As for the set, Leaf Storm is the main attack to rip wholes into my opponent, while Psychic is the secondary STAB which I'll use if I expect Venomoth or another Grass-type resist to try and switch in. Hidden Power Ground is a given considering the threat Skuntank is. I have considered changing Trick Room as I almost never use it, but there aren't really many other options, other than a secondary Grass-type STAB.
Again, Quiet is used, but with a 3 Speed IV so I get a 70 Base Power Hidden Power Ground rather than the 64 Base Power with a 0 Speed IV. 252 SpA and HP again used for power/bulk respectively with the rest put in Special Defense.
Rhydon @ Life Orb ~TFC
Brave
Rock Head
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Megahorn
- Substitute
Obviously I needed a physical sweeper to abuse Trick Room and Rhydon seemed like a good fit as it has a useful Electric-type immunity, solid Defense, and a strong Attack stat. Earthquake and Stone Edge were obvious choices for dual STAB and provide great coverage. Megahorn is mainly for Slowking as Earthquake and Stone Edge will not OHKO whereas Megahorn often will and the last thing I want is to lose Rhydon to a Surf. Substitute may seem weird as it wastes a Trick Room turn; however, it is useful against teams who try and switch around you to waste Trick Room turns as it means I don't have to predict so much. It also can be useful should Banette Trick a Scarf onto a Miltank stuck into Body Slam or something similar which will hardly scratch Rhydon. It doesn't really have many other options anyway.
Brave with 0 Speed IVs is obvious as I want it to almost always go last, while 252 Attack EVs let it hit as hard as possible. 252 HP was again obvious as bulk is helpful while the leftover was put in Defense.
Hitmonchan @ Life Orb ~Mind
Brave
Iron Fist
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
- Close Combat
- ThunderPunch
- Ice Punch
- Substitute
Hitmonchan is the last of my Trick Room sweepers. I did have Relicanth here at first, but found Rhydon and Relicanth kind of overlapped and Rhydon was generally more useful so I got rid of Relicanth. I knew I wanted a Pokemon who could take care of Miltank and wasn't easy at all to switch into and after bringing it down to either Hitmonchan or Pinsir, I went with Hitonchan as it's not weak to Stealth Rock which is a big bonus. Close Combat is its strongest Fighting-type STAB so is an obvious choice. ThunderPunch is so it can 2HKO Slowking with Close Combat + ThunderPunch should it switch in or just finish off one weakened from my other mons. Ice Punch is very useful for Grass / Poison or Flying-types who resist the other two moves, as well as taking care of Gligar who might try and switch in on the other two moves. I did have Earthquake over Ice Punch before but have found Ice Punch generally more useful. Close Combat is almost as powerful as Earthquake against most Pokemon who I would use Earthquake on anyway. Substitute is used in the last slot for the same reasons as Rhydon as people often try and switch around its moves to waste precious Trick Room turns. I have considered Stone Edge over it though as it would be useful to take care of Venomoth and others. I also considered using a faster Pokemon to finish off weakened teamsinstead of Hitmonchan but haven't found many problems using Hitmonchan and often Trick Room is still up near the end of the game anyway.
Brave and a 0 Speed IV is so Hitmonchan is as slow as possible, while 252 Attack and HP EVs with the rest put into Defense is again for obvious power/bulk reasons.
Thanks for reading this RMT if you have, any help is appreciated, mainly to do with moveslot suggestions, but if you have a useful Pokemon change then I will listen to that too. Since this is my 1k post and to shut a few people up, I'd just like to thank vashta, supermarth64, august, jumpluff, Folgorio, Iluvtogekiss, Malfunction, minato, TheFourthChaser, Mind, Toaster, Alchemator, Coronis, Jimbo, Jibaku, Philip7086, whistle, Aldaron, Colonel_M, Theorymon, drcossack, DCJ, eric the espeon, twash, joshe, katya, kd24, Lord Liam, Buddha, and everyone else who I've talked to, etc for making my time at Smogon great and continuing to do so.
