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UU MONOTYPE CHALLENGE WEEK 2 - Bug
~~
Hello again everyone :)
Before we start, I just want to thank all of you for your support and feedback on Week 1 of this challenge. It was awesome to have people posting, commenting, voting, and generally getting involved and excited, and it was exactly what I want.
Unfortunately, as some of you know, my thread was locked by Jirachi. Since then, I have made multiple attempts to contact him but he seems to be busy,so the thread will remain locked. That said, I wasn't about to give up this challenge, so I've made the following change. (please read)
- The problem with the first RMT that led to it being locked was the voting system. I can understand why, it was leading to my team always being at the top of the list due to how awesome you guys were all in voting and being active. Therefore, I have decided to change the voting system to a poll system. Please choose the next type for this challenge on the poll at the top of this thread, not in a comment or a rate.
- I have asked Jirachi twice through PM whether he would be satisfied with this solution, as it retains the basic integrity of the thread and challenge without having the vote. This challenge is primarily about the teams, and not the voting, so I doubt it'll be a problem. That said, he has not yet responded, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I read all of the RMT rules on all of the places I could find, and having a poll for the purposes of voting seems to be a perfectly acceptable compromise. If it does end up being a problem and a mod reads this, I would like to politely ask you to PM me about the problem rather than just locking it, as I would rather remove the poll and the entire voting system than have to cancel this challenge.
- Please, please, please do not vote in the comments section outside of the poll. I really want to make this challenge happen, and I don't want my thread to be locked again.
Now that I've gotten all of that out of the way, I'll go on to the actual thread. As the series is still new, I'm going to start with an introduction to the basic idea of the series, so if you haven't seen Week 1 I encourage you to click the button below :P
Current Available Types:
Now, for the fun part. As any of you who read my first week RMT on this will know, I got a 2.7 W/L ratio for steel, which I thought was an awesome start to the series and a ratio that I probably won't see for a long while. (The eventual endgoal for this series to have an average W/L of 2). Moreover, I thought that bug would be one of the hardest types to make an effective team with.
I'm not going to say anything else, just ... look at these fucking stats ^.^
Enough with all the math wizardry. If you're still confused about how this RMT works or what the basic layout of this challenge is, it's explained better in my first RMT, which I will link two words from now. (word word) http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3483413
Remember that the thread is locked, so you can't comment or anything, but it still has all the necessary info.
As usual, I'll be starting this team with a teambuilding process and explanation. Unlike my first week, this team actually didn't go through many iterations, but the progression is still rather interesting.
From the very beginning, I knew that I had to figure out an actual strength that bugs could utilize rather than just putting a bunch of mediocre pokemon on the same team. I decided quickly that the best course of action would be to have a mostly specially oriented, very fast, hyper offensive team with a Baton Passing Venomoth as the main win condition.
Next, I needed some things to pass the quiver dances to. The first thing I chose was the awesome, unfortunately-4x-weak-to-stealth rocks, still awesome Yanmega.
Yanmega was an amazing recipient of Quiver Dance. Even after just one quiver dance, it could wreck absolutely everything with its monstrous special attack and outspeed Extremespeeds with Speed Boost. (Notice, slight exaggaration). The next thing I chose was a Pokemon that was not seen as often in UU, but one that I absolutely grew to love and would not replace with anything else even if I wasn't bound to the Monotype Challenge.
Galvantula became one of the most useful pokemon on this team. After being passed a quiver dance, Specs Galvantula could tear through entire teams with 91% accurate Thunder, outspeeding even scarfed Mienshaos and dealing over 65% to a tank Snorlax in one hit. Caught up in the epicness of baton-passing to beast special threats, I decided to go with a Specially Attacking Zapdos as my wild card. This ended up being pretty high up on the list of stupid wild cards, but more on that later.
Next, I needed a dedicated lead. Once again pulling from below the restrictive reins of the UU tier, I found another hidden gem, Custap Berry Crustle. Awesome offensive stats as well as enormous bulk and the guaranteed hazards made it a really fun pokemon to use as well as one that got me out of a lot of otherwise sticky situations.
Finally, I decided to balance my team out a little bit. Even though it was based on QuiverPassing, I still needed some more physical prowess than Crustle, as awesome as it was. For that reason, I decided to use a "special" Heracross (intrigued you enough to read the whole RMT now didn't I :3).
The team was working fairly well. Quiver dancing was pretty successful, and when I got a pass off to Yanmega or Galvantula successfully it was pretty easy to sweep. Crustle and Heracross were providing the hazard and physical support that they needed to, and I had plenty of win conditions. Oddly enough, the weakest link was my wild card. It wasn't helping with my SR weakness at all, and it was far less effective than Yanmega or Galvantula at sweeping. The first thing I decided to change it with was an offensive Xatu, given that it performed the same task in a similar fashion (but generally worse) but had the advantage of bouncing back hazards and statuses.
Xatu was sort of helpful. It sometimes bounced back hazards, but it was far too frail to be an effective switch-in to anyone who predicted it, and far too weak to act as an effective sweeper, even when passed a Quiver Dance. I decided to instead replace Crustle for a lead Froslass to prevent hazards with taunt and set up my own spikes while taking something out with Destiny Bond. I replaced Xatu with SpD Escavalier to maintain the 5 bug types as well as to add some more physically offensive presence to the team.
Escavalier was a major meh. He just absorbed all momentum that I had, and wasn't really that useful as a utility poke. I completely ditched this train of thought, went back to Crustle, and decided to fuck logic and choose a wild card that was weak to both Fire and Flying, didn't resist Stealth Rocks, and couldn't prevent hazards. This sounds like possibly the stupidest idea ever thought up, but it actually ended up working.
Oddly enough, Shaymin was an amazing poke on this team. When passed a quiver dance, it could wreck literally everything, and decent bulk and reliable recovery made it a lasting player. It was possibly the most random and stupid wild card imaginable on paper, but it really ended up working out. (I'll explain why in my Team Analysis section at the end.)
So there we have it ! - This was the final iteration of the team, and the iteration that ended up garnering me an awesome 81/19 W/L. Here's their butts.
(P.S. - If you're wondering about the weird nicknames in this section, read the rules on Part 1 of this Challenge. Unfortunately, given that I'm not allowed to host a vote anymore, this part of the challenge has been suspended and the nicknames are now up to me. Sorry :( )
(P.P.S. - I don't think you're supposed to have a P.S. before the actual message. WHATEVER.)
PTJon7 - Crustle @ Custap Berry
Sturdy
252 HP/252+Atk/4 Spe - Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
Yeah, PTJon7, you got named after a Crustle. Sorry <3. Actually, sorry I'm not sorry, because this thing is amazing. Bulky Offensive Crustle should honestly be the new Froslass for HO teams. In an average game, it can either obtain multiple layers of the ever-important hazards, and can also easily dispatch against ridiculously threatening early-game threats like Lead Darmanitan, Lead Victini, Lead Chandelure, and other things that can be potentially devastating for my team. In my experience on the ladder, a lot of people actually don't know/don't suspect how Custap berries Crustles work, so I'll give a brief explanation. Say the match is just starting, and Crustle is up against a lead Victini. On the first turn, Victini hits Crustle with a V-Create, knocking it down to low HP and possibly to its Sturdy, if the Victini is banded. Crustle moves second (obviously), and gets up the ever-important SR or just goes straight for the kill. (For the purposes of this explanation, I'll say that I go for the SR). Now, Crustle's Custap berry activates, allowing me to go first and EQ or SE for the guaranteed OHKO. In two turns, I have gotten hazards up and killed something that could be a potential 6-0 against my team with bad luck. Moreover, my opponent now has to go into something to revenge, allowing me scouting opportunities. Crustle doesn't allow himself to be set up on either, as his impressive attack lends itself to hitting almost anything hard. It's also awesome when I predict a first-turn Xatu switch-in and go straight for the OHKO stone edge. In terms of moves, Crustle is pretty standard. I chose SR and Spikes because Crustle's main purpose is a hazard set-upper, and I chose SE for a somewhat reliable, very powerful stab. I originally had X-Scissor over EQ for the last slot, but I decided that the 100% accurate move on weakened fire types was generally more important, allowing me to kill things like -1 Victini without having to worry about missing SE. The EVs are to maintain overall bulk while supporting Crustle's massive attack, and the 4 Speed EVs are to outspeed other Crustles if it ever came down to it.
KnoLawjick - Venomoth @ Focus Sash
Wonder Skin
252 HP/252+ Spe/4 SpA - Timid Nature - 0 Atk IVs
- Bug Buzz
- Sleep Powder
- Baton Pass
- Quiver Dance
This Venomoth is a bit of an unconventional Venomoth, but it really needed to be this set in order to fit on my team. Focus Sash allows it to set up on things that would otherwise just OHKO it, and as long as I don't have rocks on my side I'm almost guaranteed to be able to set up at least once. Given that QuiverPassing is my main win condition, it is absolutely imperative that I have the guaranteed pass of Focus Sash rather than the 6% healing of Black Sludge. I chose Wonder Skin over Tinted Lens (or Shield Dust lolnot) purely because I have enough special attackers on this team already, and Venomoth serves purely as support for them rather than as a special attacker to be reckoned with in its own right. For the same reason, I invested EVs into HP for general bulk rather than in SpA. Wonder Skin, on the other hand, is incredibly useful, allowing me to avoid a lot of statuses, and more importantly, allowing me to avoid half of all the taunts that come Venomoth's way, meaning I can prevent Sableye/Froslass from being a complete stop. Other than that, Venomoth is pretty standard, with Bug Buzz for nominal damage, Sleep Powder for ease of set-up and switch forcing, and the essential QuiverPass combo for, well, Quiverpassing. Overall, Venomoth does its job extremely well and is able to successfully provide the support and boosts that this team needs.
Harbinger of Peace - Shaymin @ Life Orb
Natural Cure
252+SpA/252Spe/4 SpD - Modest Nature - 0 Atk IVs
- Seed Flare
- Psychic
- Earth Power
- Synthesis
This thing is seriously a force to be reckoned with. Its capabilities after being passed just one quiver dance is absolutely breathtaking, and when it's passed two...just run and hide. Here is a list of the things that can absolutely survive an attack from +2 Shaymin after one layer of Stealth Rocks and Spikes.
Bronzong (UU Tank) Seed Flare 60.05 - 71%
Bronzong (UU Calm Mind) Seed Flare 60.65 - 71.59%
Xatu (UU Support) Seed Flare 63.77 - 74.85%
Registeel (UU Utility) Earth Power 69.23 - 82.14%
And here is how much damage they can do in return, assuming that they don't switch in on the first one and it is instead a 1v1. (Shaymin outspeeds them all, so they'll only be hitting once at worst.)
0 Atk Bronzong Gyro Ball (150 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Shaymin: 147-174 (43.1 - 51.02%) -- 3.13% chance to 2HKO - Thanks to Gennosuke Fujiki <3
0 SpA Bronzong Psyshock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Shaymin: 72-85 (21.11 - 24.92%) -- guaranteed 5HKO
0- Atk Xatu U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Shaymin: 72-86 (21.11 - 25.21%) -- possible 4HKO
0 Atk Registeel Seismic Toss: 100-100 (29.32 - 29.32%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
Shaymin can obviously 2HKO these things, so it's back to sweeping everything after that. Even if the opponent literally had every single one of these "counters" on their team, Shaymin could beat them by Synthesising and Attacking.
(Edit: Togekiss is also unfortunately not OHKOd after SR, but it's close. Air Slash does around 30% in response.)
Of course, you're not going to get 2 Quiver Dances to pass to Shaymin every single match, but even with 1 the results are pretty epic. Shaymin has some decent special and physical bulk in and of itself, which is only augmented by the +SpD boost from quiver dance. Even with just a +1 boost, Shaymin can easily sweep teams with its amazing coverage. The EVs are pretty self-explanatory, and Modest was chosen over Timid because I usually get a speed boost anyway, and the power difference is very noticeable. In terms of coverage, Seed Flare was the obvious choice for a main stab and earth power for the coverage. Psychic was chosen over a HP for Air Slash for its ability to hit things like Crobat and Roserade. Overall, though, Shaymin's incredible attacking prowess, decent bulk and speed, and access to reliable recovery make it easily the MVP of this team.
Cue bad SumoPaint skills.
So the MVP of the week award goes to Shaymin (applause). Basically, every monotype challenge I do from now on I'll have an MVP with an awful handmade crown. (Tbh I might just photoedit for all of my pictures it's sort of fun ;) effort though :3)
Closet - Galvantula @ Choice Specs
Compoundeyes
252 SpA/252+ Spe/4 SpD - 0 Atk IVs
-Thunder
-Bug Buzz
-Volt Switch
-Giga Drain
Yet another ridiculously shiny diamond hidden in the rough. I'm so glad I'm doing this monotype challenge, because it lets me find some awesome pokes that are amazingly viable in the UU tier. Galvantula's Thunder is insanely powerful, even without any boosts from Quiver Dance it can easily dole out some massive damage to the most bulky special wall in the tier. Just to compare...
252 SpA Choice Specs Galvantula Thunder vs. 80 HP / 156 SpD Snorlax: 193-228 (40.12 - 47.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Raikou Thunderbolt vs. 80 HP / 156 SpD Snorlax: 148-175 (30.76 - 36.38%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Raikou Thunderbolt vs. 80 HP / 156 SpD Snorlax: 171-202 (35.55 - 41.99%) -- 88.89% chance to 3HKO
Specs Galvantula easily outdamages LO or even Choice Specs Raikou, compensating only for a slight decrease in accuracy with a 91% accurate Thunder after the Compoundeyes Boost. However, its coverage is amazing over things like Raikou. Bug/Electric Dual Typing allows it to hit things like Mew or Umbreon ridiculously hard with Bug Buzz, and access to Giga Drain lets it smack Swampert, Rhyperior, or any other ground type that wants to switch into a thunder right where it hurts, healing Galvantula almost all the way back to full in the process. Galvantula also boasts an awesome Base 108 Speed, which is the speed benchmark for OU sweepers. Yeah, OU sweepers. In terms of UU, it easily outspeeds most non-scarfed threats, most notably LO Mienshao and LO Victini/Shaymin. It also has tremendous momentum-gaining capabilities with Volt Switch, although you can't be as careless about throwing out Volt Switches for the pure sake of momentum when Stealth Rocks are on the field, as Galvantula does have the unfortunate weakness to them. That said, Galvantula won't be doing a whole lot of switching out once it's in with a Quiver Dance, if there aren't any surviving Grounds, nothing is safe from a Thunder, and you can easily sweep weakened teams with Bug Buzz or Giga Drain providing that a ground is still alive and kicking. Galvantula is generally an awesome wallbreaker too, dealing around 70% to a +1 CM Cune, a poke that otherwise threatens this team massively. In other words, Galvantula would be the second MVP of this team if I had time to give it a crown.
ShuckleKing87 - Yanmega @ Life Orb
Speed Boost
252+ SpA/252 Spe/4 HP - Modest Nature - 0 Atk IVs
- Bug Buzz
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power Ground
- Protect
Yanmega represents the final third of my three options to QuiverPass to during a match. Although it doesn't have the longevity of Shaymin or the pure brute force of Galvantula, Yanmega can be one of the best sweepers on the entire team. Amazing dual coverage in Bug Buzz and Air Slash allows him to OHKO most of the tier after some Hazard Support and +1, and Hidden Power Ground is just for the extra coverage on things like Aggron, Raikou, Magneton, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, and some other random things. The main thing that makes Yanmega so damn potent, however, is speed boost. Speed Boost allows it to outspeed everything in the tier after a protect and a Quiver (except for maybe scarfed timid accelgor if you want to go there), and it can easily kill off anything fast and threatening for the team. It also has decent inherited bulk from Quiver Dances and its own respectable 86/86/56 base defences, so it can take a hit if it can't manage to 2HKO something. I considered running tinted lens Specs Yanmega, but I didn't want too much of my team to be locked into a Choiced move, especially after passing them boosts.
Iron ClosetBat - Heracross @ Salac Berry (name explained at end ;))
Moxie
252 Atk/252+ Spe/4 HP - Jolly Nature
- Reversal
- Endure
- Stone Edge
- Megahorn
In my opinion, this monster should replace standard scarf moxie hera as the standard set. It is honestly one of the best lategame or even midgame sweepers in the entire tier, and I'm kind of addicted to it. Unlike other EndureReversal abusers (Hitmonlee and Hitmonlee and also oh what is it again oh yeah Hitmonlee), Heracross has incredible use outside of being at 1HP, and no one will expect the set until they see the endure. Bluffing people into thinking that you're choiced can often lead to 2 kills before you even reveal endure, at which point you can start the sweep for real - for example, if they see that you're not choiced and assume that you're belted or something, they'll go into scarf Chandy, fire blast as you endure, and then die as you Stone Edge them. Congratulations, you now have an at least +1 Heracross with access to a Stab 200 BP move, and the speed of a Jolly Scarf Hera. (Funny story, when I changed my team from Safari to Chrome after the beta update, it must have changed it to Adamant nature. That or I've been using adamant all along and have been lucky enough to only run into Modest Scarf Chandy. I still think Jolly is generally preferable though.) I don't really have to explain the rest of the moves, Megahorn and Stone Edge are just the ever-present coverage and Reversal could be replaced with Close Combat for a less gimmicky set if needed. (I still think Reversal is just more fun and generally easier to pull off a sweep with, as it is 120 BP higher after Stab).
Final Notes/Team Analysis
I'm going to start by saying this.
On paper, if you just saw the members of this team, you'd think it were absolute trash. Literally everything is weak or at least demolished by Fire and Flying attacks, and 5/6 of the pokemon have an SR weakness. The only reason that it works is that I have pseudo-counters to the things that otherwise terrorise my team. Between Focus Sash Venomoth, Endure Heracross, and Sturdy Crustle, I can almost always surprise and dispatch of fast threats that would otherwise easily sweep my entire team.
Another problem with my team on paper is that it looks completely unbalanced. I have only 1.5 physical attackers, whereas I have 3.5 special attackers. I have no dedicated physical or special wall, and only Venomoth and Crustle have any form of bulk in terms of EVs. The team kind of plays to my recent theory of a different way of teambuilding - rather than creating a balanced team that can react favorably to every circumstance, a team that relies on multiple pokes that do similar things can easily wear down the counters to that particular playstyle and proceed to sweep through the rest of the team. By having essentially three separate win conditions that all resemble special-attack-based sweeps, I can choose which one is most apt to deal with the rest of my opponent's team and completely destroy any counters that they might have had, allowing me to clean up with my remaining two special sweepers and Heracross.
Finally, I suppose I should explain Heracross' nickname. @Closet, +Iron Manatee, and %CoolStoryBrobat (as well as some other amazing people, but they were the main ones) were purely awesome in helping me deal with the conflict with the first week. They all gave me awesome advice, which I was able to combine by creating a thread and compromise that *hopefully* won't be locked. I am crazily passionate about this challenge, and so far it's been an absolutely amazing experience that has connected me with a lot of people, so I just wanted to thank you all once again, and remind you to please choose which team I should do for the next monotype challenge in the poll, not in the comments
<3 ~ Kitten Milk/+Pleasure Kitten
UU MONOTYPE CHALLENGE WEEK 2 - Bug
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Hello again everyone :)
Before we start, I just want to thank all of you for your support and feedback on Week 1 of this challenge. It was awesome to have people posting, commenting, voting, and generally getting involved and excited, and it was exactly what I want.
Unfortunately, as some of you know, my thread was locked by Jirachi. Since then, I have made multiple attempts to contact him but he seems to be busy,so the thread will remain locked. That said, I wasn't about to give up this challenge, so I've made the following change. (please read)
- The problem with the first RMT that led to it being locked was the voting system. I can understand why, it was leading to my team always being at the top of the list due to how awesome you guys were all in voting and being active. Therefore, I have decided to change the voting system to a poll system. Please choose the next type for this challenge on the poll at the top of this thread, not in a comment or a rate.
- I have asked Jirachi twice through PM whether he would be satisfied with this solution, as it retains the basic integrity of the thread and challenge without having the vote. This challenge is primarily about the teams, and not the voting, so I doubt it'll be a problem. That said, he has not yet responded, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I read all of the RMT rules on all of the places I could find, and having a poll for the purposes of voting seems to be a perfectly acceptable compromise. If it does end up being a problem and a mod reads this, I would like to politely ask you to PM me about the problem rather than just locking it, as I would rather remove the poll and the entire voting system than have to cancel this challenge.
- Please, please, please do not vote in the comments section outside of the poll. I really want to make this challenge happen, and I don't want my thread to be locked again.
Now that I've gotten all of that out of the way, I'll go on to the actual thread. As the series is still new, I'm going to start with an introduction to the basic idea of the series, so if you haven't seen Week 1 I encourage you to click the button below :P
Basically, I will be posting a RMT of a different UU team every 2-3 weeks.
General Rules:
- Each team must be a different Monotype.
- For each Monotype Challenge, I am allowed 1 (count 'em, one) Wild Card. A Wild Card is basically any pokemon in the UU- tiers that does not necessarily have to be the type of my Monotype.
- Every type will be eventually done, no matter how many viable pokemon there are.
General Rules:
- Each team must be a different Monotype.
- For each Monotype Challenge, I am allowed 1 (count 'em, one) Wild Card. A Wild Card is basically any pokemon in the UU- tiers that does not necessarily have to be the type of my Monotype.
- Every type will be eventually done, no matter how many viable pokemon there are.
Current Available Types:
Dark
Dragon
Electric
Fighting
Fire
Flying
Ghost
Grass
Ground
Ice
Normal
Poison
Psychic
Rock
Water
Dragon
Electric
Fighting
Fire
Flying
Ghost
Grass
Ground
Ice
Normal
Poison
Psychic
Rock
Water
Now, for the fun part. As any of you who read my first week RMT on this will know, I got a 2.7 W/L ratio for steel, which I thought was an awesome start to the series and a ratio that I probably won't see for a long while. (The eventual endgoal for this series to have an average W/L of 2). Moreover, I thought that bug would be one of the hardest types to make an effective team with.
I'm not going to say anything else, just ... look at these fucking stats ^.^
Alt: Kitten Bug 4 (Only 4 alts for this team :) I'm cutting back ;))
Overall W/L Stats: 81/19
W/L ratio: 4.26 = Fucking Fabulous
ACRE: 1814
GXE: 81
Glicko2: 1880 ± 47
Average W/L ratio: 3.52
Average ACRE: 1774
Average GXE: 78.5
Average Glicko2: 1839 ± 46
Current "best" Monotype: Bug :D
Total W/L: 154.5/45.5
Challenge Percent Complete: 12.5%
Overall W/L Stats: 81/19
W/L ratio: 4.26 = Fucking Fabulous
ACRE: 1814
GXE: 81
Glicko2: 1880 ± 47
Average W/L ratio: 3.52
Average ACRE: 1774
Average GXE: 78.5
Average Glicko2: 1839 ± 46
Current "best" Monotype: Bug :D
Total W/L: 154.5/45.5
Challenge Percent Complete: 12.5%
Enough with all the math wizardry. If you're still confused about how this RMT works or what the basic layout of this challenge is, it's explained better in my first RMT, which I will link two words from now. (word word) http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3483413
Remember that the thread is locked, so you can't comment or anything, but it still has all the necessary info.
~On to the RMT!~ (About time)
Teambuilding Process
As usual, I'll be starting this team with a teambuilding process and explanation. Unlike my first week, this team actually didn't go through many iterations, but the progression is still rather interesting.
From the very beginning, I knew that I had to figure out an actual strength that bugs could utilize rather than just putting a bunch of mediocre pokemon on the same team. I decided quickly that the best course of action would be to have a mostly specially oriented, very fast, hyper offensive team with a Baton Passing Venomoth as the main win condition.
Next, I needed some things to pass the quiver dances to. The first thing I chose was the awesome, unfortunately-4x-weak-to-stealth rocks, still awesome Yanmega.
Yanmega was an amazing recipient of Quiver Dance. Even after just one quiver dance, it could wreck absolutely everything with its monstrous special attack and outspeed Extremespeeds with Speed Boost. (Notice, slight exaggaration). The next thing I chose was a Pokemon that was not seen as often in UU, but one that I absolutely grew to love and would not replace with anything else even if I wasn't bound to the Monotype Challenge.
Galvantula became one of the most useful pokemon on this team. After being passed a quiver dance, Specs Galvantula could tear through entire teams with 91% accurate Thunder, outspeeding even scarfed Mienshaos and dealing over 65% to a tank Snorlax in one hit. Caught up in the epicness of baton-passing to beast special threats, I decided to go with a Specially Attacking Zapdos as my wild card. This ended up being pretty high up on the list of stupid wild cards, but more on that later.
Next, I needed a dedicated lead. Once again pulling from below the restrictive reins of the UU tier, I found another hidden gem, Custap Berry Crustle. Awesome offensive stats as well as enormous bulk and the guaranteed hazards made it a really fun pokemon to use as well as one that got me out of a lot of otherwise sticky situations.
Finally, I decided to balance my team out a little bit. Even though it was based on QuiverPassing, I still needed some more physical prowess than Crustle, as awesome as it was. For that reason, I decided to use a "special" Heracross (intrigued you enough to read the whole RMT now didn't I :3).
The team was working fairly well. Quiver dancing was pretty successful, and when I got a pass off to Yanmega or Galvantula successfully it was pretty easy to sweep. Crustle and Heracross were providing the hazard and physical support that they needed to, and I had plenty of win conditions. Oddly enough, the weakest link was my wild card. It wasn't helping with my SR weakness at all, and it was far less effective than Yanmega or Galvantula at sweeping. The first thing I decided to change it with was an offensive Xatu, given that it performed the same task in a similar fashion (but generally worse) but had the advantage of bouncing back hazards and statuses.
Xatu was sort of helpful. It sometimes bounced back hazards, but it was far too frail to be an effective switch-in to anyone who predicted it, and far too weak to act as an effective sweeper, even when passed a Quiver Dance. I decided to instead replace Crustle for a lead Froslass to prevent hazards with taunt and set up my own spikes while taking something out with Destiny Bond. I replaced Xatu with SpD Escavalier to maintain the 5 bug types as well as to add some more physically offensive presence to the team.
Escavalier was a major meh. He just absorbed all momentum that I had, and wasn't really that useful as a utility poke. I completely ditched this train of thought, went back to Crustle, and decided to fuck logic and choose a wild card that was weak to both Fire and Flying, didn't resist Stealth Rocks, and couldn't prevent hazards. This sounds like possibly the stupidest idea ever thought up, but it actually ended up working.
Oddly enough, Shaymin was an amazing poke on this team. When passed a quiver dance, it could wreck literally everything, and decent bulk and reliable recovery made it a lasting player. It was possibly the most random and stupid wild card imaginable on paper, but it really ended up working out. (I'll explain why in my Team Analysis section at the end.)
So there we have it ! - This was the final iteration of the team, and the iteration that ended up garnering me an awesome 81/19 W/L. Here's their butts.
Individual Analysis
(P.S. - If you're wondering about the weird nicknames in this section, read the rules on Part 1 of this Challenge. Unfortunately, given that I'm not allowed to host a vote anymore, this part of the challenge has been suspended and the nicknames are now up to me. Sorry :( )
(P.P.S. - I don't think you're supposed to have a P.S. before the actual message. WHATEVER.)
PTJon7 - Crustle @ Custap Berry
Sturdy
252 HP/252+Atk/4 Spe - Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
Yeah, PTJon7, you got named after a Crustle. Sorry <3. Actually, sorry I'm not sorry, because this thing is amazing. Bulky Offensive Crustle should honestly be the new Froslass for HO teams. In an average game, it can either obtain multiple layers of the ever-important hazards, and can also easily dispatch against ridiculously threatening early-game threats like Lead Darmanitan, Lead Victini, Lead Chandelure, and other things that can be potentially devastating for my team. In my experience on the ladder, a lot of people actually don't know/don't suspect how Custap berries Crustles work, so I'll give a brief explanation. Say the match is just starting, and Crustle is up against a lead Victini. On the first turn, Victini hits Crustle with a V-Create, knocking it down to low HP and possibly to its Sturdy, if the Victini is banded. Crustle moves second (obviously), and gets up the ever-important SR or just goes straight for the kill. (For the purposes of this explanation, I'll say that I go for the SR). Now, Crustle's Custap berry activates, allowing me to go first and EQ or SE for the guaranteed OHKO. In two turns, I have gotten hazards up and killed something that could be a potential 6-0 against my team with bad luck. Moreover, my opponent now has to go into something to revenge, allowing me scouting opportunities. Crustle doesn't allow himself to be set up on either, as his impressive attack lends itself to hitting almost anything hard. It's also awesome when I predict a first-turn Xatu switch-in and go straight for the OHKO stone edge. In terms of moves, Crustle is pretty standard. I chose SR and Spikes because Crustle's main purpose is a hazard set-upper, and I chose SE for a somewhat reliable, very powerful stab. I originally had X-Scissor over EQ for the last slot, but I decided that the 100% accurate move on weakened fire types was generally more important, allowing me to kill things like -1 Victini without having to worry about missing SE. The EVs are to maintain overall bulk while supporting Crustle's massive attack, and the 4 Speed EVs are to outspeed other Crustles if it ever came down to it.
KnoLawjick - Venomoth @ Focus Sash
Wonder Skin
252 HP/252+ Spe/4 SpA - Timid Nature - 0 Atk IVs
- Bug Buzz
- Sleep Powder
- Baton Pass
- Quiver Dance
This Venomoth is a bit of an unconventional Venomoth, but it really needed to be this set in order to fit on my team. Focus Sash allows it to set up on things that would otherwise just OHKO it, and as long as I don't have rocks on my side I'm almost guaranteed to be able to set up at least once. Given that QuiverPassing is my main win condition, it is absolutely imperative that I have the guaranteed pass of Focus Sash rather than the 6% healing of Black Sludge. I chose Wonder Skin over Tinted Lens (or Shield Dust lolnot) purely because I have enough special attackers on this team already, and Venomoth serves purely as support for them rather than as a special attacker to be reckoned with in its own right. For the same reason, I invested EVs into HP for general bulk rather than in SpA. Wonder Skin, on the other hand, is incredibly useful, allowing me to avoid a lot of statuses, and more importantly, allowing me to avoid half of all the taunts that come Venomoth's way, meaning I can prevent Sableye/Froslass from being a complete stop. Other than that, Venomoth is pretty standard, with Bug Buzz for nominal damage, Sleep Powder for ease of set-up and switch forcing, and the essential QuiverPass combo for, well, Quiverpassing. Overall, Venomoth does its job extremely well and is able to successfully provide the support and boosts that this team needs.
Harbinger of Peace - Shaymin @ Life Orb
Natural Cure
252+SpA/252Spe/4 SpD - Modest Nature - 0 Atk IVs
- Seed Flare
- Psychic
- Earth Power
- Synthesis
This thing is seriously a force to be reckoned with. Its capabilities after being passed just one quiver dance is absolutely breathtaking, and when it's passed two...just run and hide. Here is a list of the things that can absolutely survive an attack from +2 Shaymin after one layer of Stealth Rocks and Spikes.
Bronzong (UU Tank) Seed Flare 60.05 - 71%
Bronzong (UU Calm Mind) Seed Flare 60.65 - 71.59%
Xatu (UU Support) Seed Flare 63.77 - 74.85%
Registeel (UU Utility) Earth Power 69.23 - 82.14%
And here is how much damage they can do in return, assuming that they don't switch in on the first one and it is instead a 1v1. (Shaymin outspeeds them all, so they'll only be hitting once at worst.)
0 Atk Bronzong Gyro Ball (150 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Shaymin: 147-174 (43.1 - 51.02%) -- 3.13% chance to 2HKO - Thanks to Gennosuke Fujiki <3
0 SpA Bronzong Psyshock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Shaymin: 72-85 (21.11 - 24.92%) -- guaranteed 5HKO
0- Atk Xatu U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Shaymin: 72-86 (21.11 - 25.21%) -- possible 4HKO
0 Atk Registeel Seismic Toss: 100-100 (29.32 - 29.32%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
Shaymin can obviously 2HKO these things, so it's back to sweeping everything after that. Even if the opponent literally had every single one of these "counters" on their team, Shaymin could beat them by Synthesising and Attacking.
(Edit: Togekiss is also unfortunately not OHKOd after SR, but it's close. Air Slash does around 30% in response.)
Of course, you're not going to get 2 Quiver Dances to pass to Shaymin every single match, but even with 1 the results are pretty epic. Shaymin has some decent special and physical bulk in and of itself, which is only augmented by the +SpD boost from quiver dance. Even with just a +1 boost, Shaymin can easily sweep teams with its amazing coverage. The EVs are pretty self-explanatory, and Modest was chosen over Timid because I usually get a speed boost anyway, and the power difference is very noticeable. In terms of coverage, Seed Flare was the obvious choice for a main stab and earth power for the coverage. Psychic was chosen over a HP for Air Slash for its ability to hit things like Crobat and Roserade. Overall, though, Shaymin's incredible attacking prowess, decent bulk and speed, and access to reliable recovery make it easily the MVP of this team.
Cue bad SumoPaint skills.
So the MVP of the week award goes to Shaymin (applause). Basically, every monotype challenge I do from now on I'll have an MVP with an awful handmade crown. (Tbh I might just photoedit for all of my pictures it's sort of fun ;) effort though :3)
Closet - Galvantula @ Choice Specs
Compoundeyes
252 SpA/252+ Spe/4 SpD - 0 Atk IVs
-Thunder
-Bug Buzz
-Volt Switch
-Giga Drain
Yet another ridiculously shiny diamond hidden in the rough. I'm so glad I'm doing this monotype challenge, because it lets me find some awesome pokes that are amazingly viable in the UU tier. Galvantula's Thunder is insanely powerful, even without any boosts from Quiver Dance it can easily dole out some massive damage to the most bulky special wall in the tier. Just to compare...
252 SpA Choice Specs Galvantula Thunder vs. 80 HP / 156 SpD Snorlax: 193-228 (40.12 - 47.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Raikou Thunderbolt vs. 80 HP / 156 SpD Snorlax: 148-175 (30.76 - 36.38%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Raikou Thunderbolt vs. 80 HP / 156 SpD Snorlax: 171-202 (35.55 - 41.99%) -- 88.89% chance to 3HKO
Specs Galvantula easily outdamages LO or even Choice Specs Raikou, compensating only for a slight decrease in accuracy with a 91% accurate Thunder after the Compoundeyes Boost. However, its coverage is amazing over things like Raikou. Bug/Electric Dual Typing allows it to hit things like Mew or Umbreon ridiculously hard with Bug Buzz, and access to Giga Drain lets it smack Swampert, Rhyperior, or any other ground type that wants to switch into a thunder right where it hurts, healing Galvantula almost all the way back to full in the process. Galvantula also boasts an awesome Base 108 Speed, which is the speed benchmark for OU sweepers. Yeah, OU sweepers. In terms of UU, it easily outspeeds most non-scarfed threats, most notably LO Mienshao and LO Victini/Shaymin. It also has tremendous momentum-gaining capabilities with Volt Switch, although you can't be as careless about throwing out Volt Switches for the pure sake of momentum when Stealth Rocks are on the field, as Galvantula does have the unfortunate weakness to them. That said, Galvantula won't be doing a whole lot of switching out once it's in with a Quiver Dance, if there aren't any surviving Grounds, nothing is safe from a Thunder, and you can easily sweep weakened teams with Bug Buzz or Giga Drain providing that a ground is still alive and kicking. Galvantula is generally an awesome wallbreaker too, dealing around 70% to a +1 CM Cune, a poke that otherwise threatens this team massively. In other words, Galvantula would be the second MVP of this team if I had time to give it a crown.
ShuckleKing87 - Yanmega @ Life Orb
Speed Boost
252+ SpA/252 Spe/4 HP - Modest Nature - 0 Atk IVs
- Bug Buzz
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power Ground
- Protect
Yanmega represents the final third of my three options to QuiverPass to during a match. Although it doesn't have the longevity of Shaymin or the pure brute force of Galvantula, Yanmega can be one of the best sweepers on the entire team. Amazing dual coverage in Bug Buzz and Air Slash allows him to OHKO most of the tier after some Hazard Support and +1, and Hidden Power Ground is just for the extra coverage on things like Aggron, Raikou, Magneton, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, and some other random things. The main thing that makes Yanmega so damn potent, however, is speed boost. Speed Boost allows it to outspeed everything in the tier after a protect and a Quiver (except for maybe scarfed timid accelgor if you want to go there), and it can easily kill off anything fast and threatening for the team. It also has decent inherited bulk from Quiver Dances and its own respectable 86/86/56 base defences, so it can take a hit if it can't manage to 2HKO something. I considered running tinted lens Specs Yanmega, but I didn't want too much of my team to be locked into a Choiced move, especially after passing them boosts.
Iron ClosetBat - Heracross @ Salac Berry (name explained at end ;))
Moxie
252 Atk/252+ Spe/4 HP - Jolly Nature
- Reversal
- Endure
- Stone Edge
- Megahorn
In my opinion, this monster should replace standard scarf moxie hera as the standard set. It is honestly one of the best lategame or even midgame sweepers in the entire tier, and I'm kind of addicted to it. Unlike other EndureReversal abusers (Hitmonlee and Hitmonlee and also oh what is it again oh yeah Hitmonlee), Heracross has incredible use outside of being at 1HP, and no one will expect the set until they see the endure. Bluffing people into thinking that you're choiced can often lead to 2 kills before you even reveal endure, at which point you can start the sweep for real - for example, if they see that you're not choiced and assume that you're belted or something, they'll go into scarf Chandy, fire blast as you endure, and then die as you Stone Edge them. Congratulations, you now have an at least +1 Heracross with access to a Stab 200 BP move, and the speed of a Jolly Scarf Hera. (Funny story, when I changed my team from Safari to Chrome after the beta update, it must have changed it to Adamant nature. That or I've been using adamant all along and have been lucky enough to only run into Modest Scarf Chandy. I still think Jolly is generally preferable though.) I don't really have to explain the rest of the moves, Megahorn and Stone Edge are just the ever-present coverage and Reversal could be replaced with Close Combat for a less gimmicky set if needed. (I still think Reversal is just more fun and generally easier to pull off a sweep with, as it is 120 BP higher after Stab).
Final Notes/Team Analysis
I'm going to start by saying this.
On paper, if you just saw the members of this team, you'd think it were absolute trash. Literally everything is weak or at least demolished by Fire and Flying attacks, and 5/6 of the pokemon have an SR weakness. The only reason that it works is that I have pseudo-counters to the things that otherwise terrorise my team. Between Focus Sash Venomoth, Endure Heracross, and Sturdy Crustle, I can almost always surprise and dispatch of fast threats that would otherwise easily sweep my entire team.
Another problem with my team on paper is that it looks completely unbalanced. I have only 1.5 physical attackers, whereas I have 3.5 special attackers. I have no dedicated physical or special wall, and only Venomoth and Crustle have any form of bulk in terms of EVs. The team kind of plays to my recent theory of a different way of teambuilding - rather than creating a balanced team that can react favorably to every circumstance, a team that relies on multiple pokes that do similar things can easily wear down the counters to that particular playstyle and proceed to sweep through the rest of the team. By having essentially three separate win conditions that all resemble special-attack-based sweeps, I can choose which one is most apt to deal with the rest of my opponent's team and completely destroy any counters that they might have had, allowing me to clean up with my remaining two special sweepers and Heracross.
Finally, I suppose I should explain Heracross' nickname. @Closet, +Iron Manatee, and %CoolStoryBrobat (as well as some other amazing people, but they were the main ones) were purely awesome in helping me deal with the conflict with the first week. They all gave me awesome advice, which I was able to combine by creating a thread and compromise that *hopefully* won't be locked. I am crazily passionate about this challenge, and so far it's been an absolutely amazing experience that has connected me with a lot of people, so I just wanted to thank you all once again, and remind you to please choose which team I should do for the next monotype challenge in the poll, not in the comments
<3 ~ Kitten Milk/+Pleasure Kitten
