Up your arsenal!

[TrueLuck]

Well hello there, you may know me as a little cup obesessant, getting #1 on the CAP leaderboard and PO leaderboard for little cup.

I never really knew anyone who could help me in little cup so i had to make my own way after viewing a few RMTs, i had a rough idea of what i wanted.

Here how the team building went:

I loved using ambipom in UU, so i tried Aipom in LC.

Next someone told me about the old munchie, misdreavus and gligar, this interested me i tried replacing missy with a duskull.

After reading up more little cup i heard priority is incredible in LC, i decided to add croagunk, the biggest abuser of it.

Next i wanted a special attacker, preferably scarfed i heard scarfyu is incredible, so i tried it for a spin (No pun intended).

Aipom was shockingly bad, so i added houndour

Staryu wasn't really working the way i liked scarfers to, so i added machop instead.

Well, thats the team that has done all achievable in LC.

Now for the in-depth bit

Houndour (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Early Bird
EVs: 196 Atk/76 Spd/196 SAtk/36 SDef
Lonely nature (+Atk, -Def)
- Sucker Punch
- Protect
- Reversal
- Overheat

Role: This can beat almost every lead i've ever come across, with priority, a scout move, a hard hitting move, its going to be hard to beat as a lead, it was takes something down or atleast close to.

Moveset: OH SNAP ITS HEYSUPS HOUNDOUR. Yep, kudos to you HeYsUp, this set is amazing munchies come in thinking to get some hits of and i get a full powered reversal off living them with their jaw drop down 6-4 or whatever, overheat is hard hitting move, and sucker punch is for faster pokes. Protect helps wear down rain and avoid fake out.

Gligar (M) @ Oran Berry
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 236 Atk/236 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Aqua Tail
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Roost

Good god gligar, why are you so amazing?

Role: Set up SR and mess stuff up with its incredible tanking abilities.

Moveset: SR for support, EQ and AT hit everything and roost is a nice instant recovery move.

Munchlax (M) @ Oran Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 236 Atk/36 Def/236 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
- Return
- Fire Punch

Role: Another thing that makes people cry, it can take so many hits its unreal and can also hit so hard.

Moveset: Perfect coverage, fire punch for bronzor, snover and grass', return for STAB, pursuit for gastly and EQ for various pokemon.

Duskull @ Oran berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 196 HP, 116 Atk, 36 Def, 36 SpA and 116 Sp.D.
Bold nature (+Def, -Spe)
- Will-o-wisp
- Shadow sneak
- Pain split
- Ice beam

Role: This is my mixed wall that can help beat Mankey and machop and sometimes gligar.

Moveset, WoW cripples psyhical attackers, shadow sneak is always good for priority, pain split helps me last that bit longer and ice beam is for gligar.

Croagunk (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 188 Atk/116 Spd/188 SAtk
Lonely nature (+Atk, -Def)
- Ice Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Vacuum Wave
- Fake Out

Role: Ultimate revenge killer and late game clean up-er thing. It also helps me beat leads that houndour has done damage to.

Moveset: Ice punch disposes of gligar if i can predict them to SR or SD. Suckerpunch is for gligar also that i dont want to take an EQ and im low, its also my best shot against munchie, vaccum wave is mainly my first choice for priority hitting A lot of things for a KO, fake out is there for easy damage.

Machop (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 36 HP/196 Atk/36 Def/236 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Ice Punch
- Dynamicpunch
- Payback
- Bullet Punch

Role: My hard hitter and can revenge kill too, with bulk, power and hax on his side he becomes almost unbeatable destroying anything that cant beat it.

Moveset: Ice punch hits gligar and other grass types, D-punch is for STAB and is an amazing move, payback hits ghosts and bullet punch is for those pesky faster pokes.

Well thats the team, ill have the threat list up sometime later.

Threat list:
Abra

- Go to Munchie and trap with pursuit or use SP With Croagunk.

Aipom - Houndour beats it as a lead.

Anorith - Vaccum wave and machop beat it.

Bagon

- I kinda have to let something die to see what it wants to do.


Bellsprout

- Priority and machop ice punch also munchie and duskull can hit with fire punch and ice beam respectively.

Bronzor

- Machop can beat if confusion hax, munchie can fire punch, duskull can 'stall' out.


Buizel

- Can be extremely problematic, croagunk kinda deals with it but can have trouble.


Cacturne

- Never really faced one, croagunk deals with it.

carvanha

- Croagunk.


Clamperl

- Machop can D-punch and munchie walls.


Chinchou

- Munchie.

Cranidos

- Croagunk can v-wave and gligar walls it, kinda.


Croagunk

- Gligar can come in on anything but ice punch.

Cubone

- Priority and machop can beat it, duskull can ice beam.

Cyndaquil

- Munchlax.
Diglett

- Priority beats it.

Doduo

- Can be a problem, rely on priority.

Dratini

- Get it locked into outrage and its easier to beat, machop can take an e-speed.

Drifloon

- Need to play mindgames if im gonna sucker punch, munchie can pursuit.

Duskull

- This thing can be a pain, i usually send in my own duskull to wear theirs down and revenge with something else.

Eevee

- Duskull can WoW and croagunk can V wave and machop can d punch.
Elekid

- I don't really have a 'safe' switch but i can easily revenge with machop.

Gastly

- Munchie can pursuit choiced ones, can beat non choice too.

Gabite

- Probably go to gligar then revenge with priority after sacrificing something.

Gligar

- Machop can ice punch, duskull can ice beam and my own gligar can Aqua tail.

Goldeen

- I've never seen one, probably use priority.

Hippopotas

- Go to duskull to ice beam or WoW.

Houndour

- Usually has to sac something for mixed subs, munchie can wall the special sets.
Kabuto

- Croagunk has priority, machop can d-punch if rain isnt up.
Krabby

- The agility and SD can be a problem, but it really doesnt have room to set up, i can use priority to dispose of it.
Machop

- Duskull can go in on d-punch, it can be problematic, i have to play around it.

Magby

- Can be a problem, machop can d-punch non scarfed ones.

Magmemite

- Croagunk can v-wave and munchie can EQ.
Mankey

- I also have to play around it.

Mantyke

- Munchie can beat it, can be a problem.

Meowth

- Houndour laughs at it as a lead.

Munchlax

- Machop can d-punch, gligar beats it.

Omantye

- Croagunk can v-wave and machop can d-punch. Munchlax can EQ.

Paras

- Duskull can ice beam, munchie can fire punch, machop can ice punch, croagunk can ice punch, i usually go to weakened poke or duskull to take the sleep.

Poliwag

- Priority can beat belly drummers.

Porygon

- Munchie walls it, croagunk can v-wave and machop can d-punch.

Rattata

- Croagunk can v-wave and machop can d-punch.
Remoraid

- Machop can d-punch.
Shroomish

- Gligar can stall it with roost, i can hit with a super effective move to wear it down.

Slowpoke

- Munchlax beats special ones, duskull can WoW curse ones.
Snover

- Houndour beats lead ones, v-wave and d-punch dispose of it.

Squirtle

- Can be a problem, with confusion hax machop beats it.

Staryu

- Go to munchie and use return and use priority after.
Swinub

- Priority.
Swellow

- Croagunk can v-wave and machop can d- punch.

Tediursa

- Machop can d-punch and croagunk can v-wave.

Venonat

- Houndour takes sleep, this thing be can a great annoyance, i have to play around it.
Voltorb

- Gligar can EQ so can munchie, houndour loses to lead ones with sucker punch.

Wailmer

- Houndour can beat lead ones, croagunk can absorb water attacks.

Wynaut

- Wynaut can be a total dick, i have to play around it.
__________________

 

[Nails]

hey, you stole the team that i was about to make!

it's a solid team, munchskull + gligar is about as solid a core as you'll find. looking it over, subvanha looks like it could be an issue. it can set up a sub on duskull and then something will die.

Outside that, the only other thing is... swellow isn't a little cup pokemon XD

good team, grats on #1.

EDIT: After a second look, just a few more things. Duskull's nature is bold and you say it gives +def -speed... that nature would be relaxed, bold reduces attack

I prefer Body Slam to Return on Munchy, 30% para rate is pretty big, but it's complete personal preference.

 

[Ice-eyes]

You have a horrible Carvahna weakness because it walls Duskull. It can keep coming in on your Duskull and taking stuff out, and you can't do anything to stop it because you rely on Duskull to check important threats like Gligar and Machop. That said, I recommend that you remove Ice Beam in favour of Return on Skull. Gligar can't really do anything to you, and hitting Munchlax is arguably more important unless you want to get trapped and swept by Machop.

Other than that, this is a solid team.

 

[TrueLuck]

Thank you both for kind words.

I had never noticed that carvanha weakness its never really occured to me, i can beat it but i'd probably have to sacrifice something for it.

 

[Kannon]

you might want to consider Dark Pulse on Croagunk over Ice Punch, since Dark Pulse does a lot to a Gastly switch-in trying to get in on your other moves, and Dark Pulse still does a lot to a Gligar switch (iirc, it should kill it if Gligar switches in on rocks and dark pulse and then you vaccuum wave it)

Consider using a dedicated Stealth Rock lead over Houndour, suck as Bronzor or Kabuto to get momentum going early. This also lets you free up your Gligar's moveset for something very devastating, suck as SD Gligar or a LO 4 attacks set, both of which do a lot of damage, if not outright kill several traditional Gligar counters and checks.

Also agreeing with Return > Ice Beam on Duskull, although I'd consider using a substitute Gastly, as it fills the same nice as far as immunities go and it tends to be more useful in LC since Duskull is a purely defensive Pokemon, but it looks fine at the moment.

Your threat list looks like it has a lot of incredibly uncommon Pokemon on it suck as Abra and Goldeen, but it's also missing some more common Pokemon, like Stunky, who tends to give Duskull and Munchlax some trouble.

 

[Nails]

Kannon, lead Houndour is fantastic for momentum, it's one of the best anti-leads in Little Cup (beats my personal favorite of BulkyChop). It kills pretty much every other lead out there, and getting a 6-5 advantage is frequently more important than getting rocks up.

However, I do agree that Gligar should have a different moveset, dropping roost for stone edge/rock slide would be useful (you're walled by mantyke).

Substitute gastly isn't even close to the same niche as WowSplit Duskull. Duskull can take a hit, which few pokemon can say in little cup, and it consistently beats Munchlax without having to rely on a substitute being up. Additionally, it packs priority and can beat Gligar cosistently (even without Ice Beam). Duskull and Gastly are two completely different pokemon.

As to your first point, Gastly takes a huge amount from lo gunk's Ice Punch (2hko through Oran) and can't take advantage of the ohko with shadow ball due to prediction battles with ice punch/sucker punch.

 

[franky]

Hmmm I agree with the notion of adding Return on Duskull for the purpose of limiting some sort of Carvanha setting up. I'd much rather replace Pain split to be completely honest since I have never found any good use of it early in the game myself, and return is just way more beneficial at the moment to fix up this concerns.

Dark pulse > Ice punch seems like a reasonable change for the reasons Kannon listed, but the real selling point to this addition is to hurt your foe's Duskull - a threat that can seriously wall/annoy your entire team when played correctly.

As for other options, lean towards Flash Fire > Early bird on Houndour there is no reason to run that and the +1 boost can come in handy when launching Overheat when your health is running a bit low. Idk, you can also give Choice Scarf Mankey a swing over machop if you feel like it - they play exactly different but Mankey has access to U-turn which is favourable to you because getting locked in on DynamicPunch is not exactly the best situation when you have SD GLigar in the wings waiting to hurt your entire team. overall gl.