i play NU a lot and i wanted to start playing more competitively. i feel very comfortable in NU and i think i can predict rather well, so i wanted to make a volt-turn core. also i just feel like i play well with those cores in general. so yeah heres my team and how it all works:
Braviary (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Return
- Superpower
- U-turn
braviary is a very strong attacker with its 123 base attack and almost perfect coverage between the 3 main attacking moves. it is extremely difficult to deal with if you dont have anything to take a hit. there are only about 4 notable things in the tier that can just about fully check it which are: alomomola, regirock, metang, and defensive stunfisk. now, with the right predictions you can easily u-turn out to go into another poke to take them on. i run adamant over jolly just because with adamant it gets 388.5 speed which is enough to out speed all but 2 unboosted pokemon in the tier and keep its massive power.
Electrode @ Choice Specs
Trait: Aftermath
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Signal Beam
electrode was debated onto my team against a couple of other things. many people told me to run electabuzz scarfed over electrode. i didnt want to have 2 scarfers on my team and specs electrode is significantly more powerful. electrode also out speeds modest +2 gorebyss which a lot of people dont know. many people will think that it is a taunt lead if you do lead with it which is always nice. only checks i found to this guy were just about any ground type switch ins and electric types.
Now that we have the (volt-turn) core down we just have to give it the right support and molding to bring it all together.
Sawk (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Toxic
I have never been a big fan of sawk personally, but i feel like it is extremely powerful and if you bluff a choiced item it can come in huge handy late game. many people recommended sawk to me, and after looking into it and eventually trying it, i began to like its position on my team a lot. braviary and sawk are 2 of the hardest physical hitters in the tier, making it very hard to be prepared for and very confusing to guess their items if bluffed correctly. i run toxic for physical walls that can easily switch in. i run mold breaker over sturdy for many reasons; most of the times i bring sawk in after the game is close to ending and me or the opponent have lost most of our pokemon and therefor there may be hazards set up and my spinner may already be lost, there are a good amount of things with levitate that are weak to earthquake, and lastly the occasional shedinja that can really suck if i have no moves to hit it with (which has happened to me before) smogon says that there arent many counters to sawk but id have to disagree, id say that there are plenty of counters to him in NU, especially scarfed sawk. which is one of the main reasons i run toxic.
Musharna @ Leftovers
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Moonlight
- Heal Bell
where do i even start? musharna. just musharna. the bulky of the bulk the most annoying thing in NU, almost. this thing can tank hits for days, and that is one of the main reasons i picked it for this team. sawk and braviary are pretty hard to check, but musharna seemed to do the job pretty well. not only did it check those 2 pokes, but many other things in the tier. and with hel bell and moonlight it is able to survive for a long time and cure my team. i was debating on what move to put in the last slot, there were many things i tried; toxic, baton pass, HP ground. but i chose thunder wave in the end because it gave musharna some advantages. being able to out speed pokemon being as slow as musharna is can give me some time to heal up with moonlight or finish it off next turn with a psychic and getting that one extra turn of lefties (lol) if the opponent doesnt have a heal beller or that pokemon that does have it has fainted then that means that the pokemon will most likely be statused for the rest of the game. checks/counters to musharna are basically any dark types.
We have made it through most of the team, but the last 2 slots are things that i feel like could possibly be changed but i definitely was looking for a spinner and something that would put people in a difficult situation.
Skuntank @ Black Sludge
Trait: Aftermath
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Poison Jab
- Pursuit
- Taunt
its kinda funny how skuntank ended up on my team, i was using kangaskhan until a bunch of psychic types and things putting me to sleep started causing me trouble. so i tried skuntank and it made a great position on my team! i have had a couple of played where i would volt switch or u-turn out on a psychic type pokemon or just a weakened down pokemon in general and skuntank could easily trap them or sucker punch them. i have very much enjoyed using him and if i cant find anything better to put on my team ill be fin keeping him around. he can taunt walls and make them almost forced to switch, and if i can predict them going to switch i get a free switch into either braviary or electrode to gain more momentum. the only threats to skuntank were skuntanks themself, and steel, rock and ground types.
Wartortle @ Eviolite
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
this last slot is very important and i have been changing my mind on a lot. i pretty much need a spinner if i want to increase braviary survivability. the 2 guys i pretty much narrowed it down to were wartortle and torkoal. i tried them both out pretty evenly, but i liked wortortle just a little more because it could hit the things like regirock, armaldo and metang a bit harder. i liked this because a lot of the time i was having some trouble taking them down. also wartortle is specially bulky because i already have the physically bulky musharna and wortortle pretty much seals the deal. though it has limited survivability with no recovery, i found that i could just bring it in when i knew it was safe and rapid spin the hazards out. the only things that caused me trouble were ghost types, but even then they didnt cause me too much trouble because i could toxic or scald them. i ran ice beam just for the coverage and the extra move slot. i was thinking rest but that is rather gimmicky.
Please leave me any thoughts, comments or suggestions :D thanks for stopping by.
Braviary (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Return
- Superpower
- U-turn
braviary is a very strong attacker with its 123 base attack and almost perfect coverage between the 3 main attacking moves. it is extremely difficult to deal with if you dont have anything to take a hit. there are only about 4 notable things in the tier that can just about fully check it which are: alomomola, regirock, metang, and defensive stunfisk. now, with the right predictions you can easily u-turn out to go into another poke to take them on. i run adamant over jolly just because with adamant it gets 388.5 speed which is enough to out speed all but 2 unboosted pokemon in the tier and keep its massive power.
Electrode @ Choice Specs
Trait: Aftermath
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Signal Beam
electrode was debated onto my team against a couple of other things. many people told me to run electabuzz scarfed over electrode. i didnt want to have 2 scarfers on my team and specs electrode is significantly more powerful. electrode also out speeds modest +2 gorebyss which a lot of people dont know. many people will think that it is a taunt lead if you do lead with it which is always nice. only checks i found to this guy were just about any ground type switch ins and electric types.
Now that we have the (volt-turn) core down we just have to give it the right support and molding to bring it all together.
Sawk (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Toxic
I have never been a big fan of sawk personally, but i feel like it is extremely powerful and if you bluff a choiced item it can come in huge handy late game. many people recommended sawk to me, and after looking into it and eventually trying it, i began to like its position on my team a lot. braviary and sawk are 2 of the hardest physical hitters in the tier, making it very hard to be prepared for and very confusing to guess their items if bluffed correctly. i run toxic for physical walls that can easily switch in. i run mold breaker over sturdy for many reasons; most of the times i bring sawk in after the game is close to ending and me or the opponent have lost most of our pokemon and therefor there may be hazards set up and my spinner may already be lost, there are a good amount of things with levitate that are weak to earthquake, and lastly the occasional shedinja that can really suck if i have no moves to hit it with (which has happened to me before) smogon says that there arent many counters to sawk but id have to disagree, id say that there are plenty of counters to him in NU, especially scarfed sawk. which is one of the main reasons i run toxic.
Musharna @ Leftovers
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Moonlight
- Heal Bell
where do i even start? musharna. just musharna. the bulky of the bulk the most annoying thing in NU, almost. this thing can tank hits for days, and that is one of the main reasons i picked it for this team. sawk and braviary are pretty hard to check, but musharna seemed to do the job pretty well. not only did it check those 2 pokes, but many other things in the tier. and with hel bell and moonlight it is able to survive for a long time and cure my team. i was debating on what move to put in the last slot, there were many things i tried; toxic, baton pass, HP ground. but i chose thunder wave in the end because it gave musharna some advantages. being able to out speed pokemon being as slow as musharna is can give me some time to heal up with moonlight or finish it off next turn with a psychic and getting that one extra turn of lefties (lol) if the opponent doesnt have a heal beller or that pokemon that does have it has fainted then that means that the pokemon will most likely be statused for the rest of the game. checks/counters to musharna are basically any dark types.
We have made it through most of the team, but the last 2 slots are things that i feel like could possibly be changed but i definitely was looking for a spinner and something that would put people in a difficult situation.
Skuntank @ Black Sludge
Trait: Aftermath
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Poison Jab
- Pursuit
- Taunt
its kinda funny how skuntank ended up on my team, i was using kangaskhan until a bunch of psychic types and things putting me to sleep started causing me trouble. so i tried skuntank and it made a great position on my team! i have had a couple of played where i would volt switch or u-turn out on a psychic type pokemon or just a weakened down pokemon in general and skuntank could easily trap them or sucker punch them. i have very much enjoyed using him and if i cant find anything better to put on my team ill be fin keeping him around. he can taunt walls and make them almost forced to switch, and if i can predict them going to switch i get a free switch into either braviary or electrode to gain more momentum. the only threats to skuntank were skuntanks themself, and steel, rock and ground types.
Wartortle @ Eviolite
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
this last slot is very important and i have been changing my mind on a lot. i pretty much need a spinner if i want to increase braviary survivability. the 2 guys i pretty much narrowed it down to were wartortle and torkoal. i tried them both out pretty evenly, but i liked wortortle just a little more because it could hit the things like regirock, armaldo and metang a bit harder. i liked this because a lot of the time i was having some trouble taking them down. also wartortle is specially bulky because i already have the physically bulky musharna and wortortle pretty much seals the deal. though it has limited survivability with no recovery, i found that i could just bring it in when i knew it was safe and rapid spin the hazards out. the only things that caused me trouble were ghost types, but even then they didnt cause me too much trouble because i could toxic or scald them. i ran ice beam just for the coverage and the extra move slot. i was thinking rest but that is rather gimmicky.
Please leave me any thoughts, comments or suggestions :D thanks for stopping by.
