SM RU Webs with the Queen

[imaginashawn]

Hi all, I've been a showdown player for almost 2 years now but just now decided to join the forums. This is my first RMT and I hope the team can have some constructive criticism! (even though RU is not very popular) On my alt, I've gone 12-2 with this team, and would like to see if there are any other fixes that can be made before I start playing in the "higher ladder".

Onto the team!

Araquanid @ Mental Herb
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Sticky Web
- Liquidation
- Leech Life
- Magic Coat

I love webs as a playstyle, so I knew I had to use araquanid. Obviously used as a lead, I have mental herb for pesky taunters that try to finesse me turn 1. Max hp and max atk are to tank the most while also wrecking face with water bubble boosted liquidation. Leech life is for residual healing and magic coat is to finesse other opponents if they don't see it coming.
--
Comfey @ Leftovers
Ability: Triage
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Draining Kiss
- U-turn
- Toxic
- Synthesis

Comfey is my main check/revenge killer to set up sweepers like kommo-o, flygon and feraligatr. Even though draining kiss is only 50 base power off of no spatk investment, prior damage can usually let comfey net the kill. (Ex. I do ~38% with liquidation to kommo-o, and I revenge kill it with draining kiss.)

0 SpA Triage Comfey Draining Kiss vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Kommo-o: 180-216 (61.8 - 74.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

It also functions as a toxic staller (am an avid randbats player) with the hp and def investment to tank hits and heal up with a +3 priority heal. I have u-turn just to pivot around for when I don't want to predict and double. (But I am thinking of running taunt with some speed investment)
--
Joey's Chin-Mega (Steelix-Mega) @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake

Gotta keep the meme alive.
With a skyhigh defense stat, I found that running spdef is more useful in the long term. Liquidation from araquanid and feraligatr will (almost)always 2HKO even with max def investment so its not really worth it for me. This guy is my rocker and last ditch effort toxic user. I also wanted a defensive backbone that wouldn't die in one or two hits to a specs boomburst from swellow.
--
Tsareena Gomez (Tsareena) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Queenly Majesty
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Atk / 84 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Rapid Spin
- Power Whip

AV Tsareena? Heck yea boii.
I love Tsareena because it has great bulk, has knock, u-turn, and rapid spin. This is my hazard removing pokemon that will almost always get the spin off. Queenly Majesty is also useful for pivoting into Bibarel, because after webs, they can't touch you. Power whip is for dealing with threats like bibarel or just racking up chip damage assuming it doesn't miss.
--
Zygarde-10% @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Thousand Arrows
- Extreme Speed
- Outrage

This is my main physical late game sweeper. You might be thinking, why earthquake AND Thousand arrows? Well, honestly I got salty after a defeat when Thousand arrows failed to pick up the KO by just a hair, and I don't see a need to use stone edge. There are not many great answers to a choice banded earthquake/thousand arrows. Extreme speed is for revenge killing set-up sweepers and outrage is when your opponent has 1 nonresist pokemon left and you need to kill it, like shaymin after 2 turns of rocks.
--
m' lady (Nidoqueen) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Sludge Wave

Ahh, the queen of the show.
Nothing is more satisfying using this monster with webs.
Nidoqueen's coverage is INSANE. Sheer force + life orb on all those attacks make her mediocre spatk stat seem like a top tier's. Earth power shatters doublade, can pick up the easy ko on mega-steelix after some prior damage; ice beam obliterates gligar and will make the opponent think if defogging those webs is a good idea or not. Sludge wave is the stab that wrecks grass types and fire blast is for pesky ice types. Under webs, nidoqueen will outspeed almost everything grounded, and can very well make a very easy sweep if the opponent is not prepared.

Replay of Nidoqueen destroying:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ru-674759086
--
Threats:
Flygon: I haven't ran into one yet, but when I do, I'll have a very hard time dealing with it. Since it isn't affected by webs, nidoqueen can't kill it without dying first. It will most likely sweep me end game once I don't have enough sacks.

Screens: Since I'm running spin and not defog, those pesky screens can end up staying for quite a while, and it is not fun.

Durant: My only fire type move is on nidoqueen and if this boi sets up without nidoqueen in already, it can be a quick gg. Steelix can only tank so much while doing pitiful eq damage back. Maybe I should run roar over toxic now that I think about it?
--
Conclusion:
This RMT was fun to write! I enjoy this tier as long as people don't get salty over nonsensical things and hax. I hope there can be some helpful changes to my team that can make it a deadly combo of 6. I also recommend this team for very low ladder if you plan on hiking up the ladder. Webs are the best!

Importable:

Spoiler

hit the quan (Araquanid) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Sticky Web
- Liquidation
- Leech Life
- Magic Coat

flowery boi (Comfey) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Triage
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Draining Kiss
- U-turn
- Toxic
- Synthesis

Joey's Chin-Mega (Steelix-Mega) @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake

Selena Gomez (Tsareena) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Queenly Majesty
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Atk / 84 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Rapid Spin
- Power Whip

rare pupper (Zygarde-10%) @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Thousand Arrows
- Extreme Speed
- Outrage

m' lady (Nidoqueen) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Sludge Wave

 

[esche]

Hello Shawn, welcome to the forums!

Sticky Webs is indeed an interesting playstyle, one that actually has seen increased usage in RU ever since USM introduced more setters for it.
However, I found that there are a couple of issues with how this team operates in this regard. Let's get right to it...

• First off, your team struggles to keep Sticky Web up for the entire length of the game. Keeping your hazard up is essential for this playstyle, as it enables the rest of the team to truly make use of their strengths. Therefore, you should aim to prevent hazard removal from the opponent. This has admittedly become harder to take care of, mainly due to the heavy increase of viable hazard removal in RU. Pokémon like Sigilyph, Rotom-Mow and Gligar are unaffected by Sticky Web and can remove them with Defog. While your dedicated lead, Araquanid, does a decent job at laying them out, the rest of your team isn't particularly geared towards keeping Webs up. Quite the contrary, some of your choices like Mega Steelix and AV Tsareena are easy for common hazard removal (Gligar, Rotom-Mow, Moltres, ...) to switch in on and proceed to take Webs out of the equation for the remainder of the game. This will put you at a great disadvantage considering your team heavily depends on these hazards to be in effect. Sticky Web is an offensive playstyle, and can not, now more than ever, afford to let the momentum swing in favour of your opponent. Thus, the changes I'm going to recommend are going to reduce passiveness and simultaneously increase aggressiveness.
  
  
• 
  Mega Steelix -->
  
  Mega Glalie
  This evil-looking snowflake is hands down the best Spiker in the tier and excels at keeping those hazards on the field by virtue of its great offensive capabilities, including its typing. It beats nearly every hazard removal in the tier and prevents those that don't drop to a Refrigerate-boosted Double-Edge from clearing hazards with Taunt. You mentioned that Flygon could be troublesome to face and thankfully Mega Glalie alleviates this problem. Thus, the set I recommend is the following:
  
  Mega Glalie

  Glalie-Mega @ Glalitite Ability: Ice Body
  EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
  Jolly Nature
  - Double-Edge
  - Spikes
  - Taunt
  - Ice Shard
  Ultimately, Mega Steelix didn't do any good for your team, its awfully slow nature and lack of offensive abilities won't be missed.
  
  
• 
  Zygarde-10% -->
  
  Flynium-Z Aerodactyl
  Now, Zygarde-10% is certainly powerful and can be threatening under webs, limiting the number of options available to revange kill it. However, it does invite some popular hazard removal, most notably Gligar and Tsareena, which can take advantage of it being locked into a Ground move. I therefore recommend looking into exchanging it for Aerodactyl. Not only does this compensate for loss of Stealth Rock with the replacement of Mega Steelix, it also does a much better job at keeping them up, once again via the use of Taunt. Frankly, it isn't possible to simply shift this role to Nidoqueen as a Stealth Rocker on Sticky Webs anymore like you could during SM, since the number of faster hazard removal has increased. You mentioned that Durant was troublesome for your team to deal with, and while this team can't really afford to pack a safe switch-in, this change grants you a way to OHKO Durant from full HP. It also deals with Salazzle and Swellow, the latter of which in particular can be a pain for Sticky Web oriented teams. To be honest with you, the set I'll present you with is a little out of the ordinary, but it does the job of preventing hazard removal from pretty much any Defogger and Tsareena, the latter of which is by far the most common and effective Rapid Spinner.
  
  Aerodactyl

  Aerodactyl @ Flyinium Z
  Ability: Unnerve
  EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
  Jolly Nature
  - Stone Edge
  - Sky Attack
  - Taunt
  - Stealth Rock
  The 200 BP Supersonic Skystrike nukes the like of Durant, Bewear, Kommo-O, Zygarde-10% and, of course Tsareena, all of which will likely not expect Flying coverage from Aerodactyl. It also takes care of the less common Dhelmise.
  
  
• 
  Defensive CM --> Offensive CM with Taunt
  The Comfey set simply can not keep up with this teams pace and needs. Despite being a somewhat unusual choice for a sweeper on Sticky Web (Triage let's it go first anyway), I comprehend its placement on this team as an answer to several Dragon and Dark types. However, making use of an offensive variant with Pixie Plate will likely yield you better results. Once again, Taunt is of paramount importance, for reasons explicitly outlined in the previous points.
  
  Comfey

  Comfey @ Pixie Plate
  Ability: Triage
  EVs: 80 HP / 16 Def / 160 SpA / 252 Spe
  Modest Nature
  IVs: 0 Atk
  - Draining Kiss
  - Taunt
  - Calm Mind
  - Synthesis
  Outspeeds everything up to Timid Rotom-Mow, has a high chance of surviving CB Thousand Arrows after Stealth Rock and takes one Flash Cannon from Choice Specs Kommo-O, while also OHKOing the latter after Stealth Rock. You can easily edit this spread and add EVs in speed to let Comfey outspeed everything up to Sigilyph allowing you to Taunt it or to get a Calm Mind up.
  
  
• 
  AV Tsareena --> Offensive Tsareena with Life Orb
  I understand your desire to get rid of hazards on your field. However, with all the changes made, you will be able to prevent them for being set up in the first place: With the plethora of Taunt users and increase of offensive prowess the need for Rapid Spin on your team decreases. Thus, there are two options for this slot: Replace Tsareena with a more fitting pick or adjust the Tsareena set to be more beneficial to the team. In light of the multide of previous changes on this team already, I will go with the latter option (although I do recommend looking into options such as Swords Dance Bruxish or Swords Dance Virizion over Tsareena). Offensive Tsareena will still invite a number of hazard removal such as Gligar and Moltres though, so be aware to react accordingly during the game (to some extent the same is true for Nidoqueen).
  
  Tsareena

  Tsareena @ Life Orb
  Ability: Queenly Majesty
  EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
  Jolly Nature
  - Power Whip
  - Knock Off
  - High Jump Kick
  - Synthesis/Rapid Spin
  Maximum speed investment with a Jolly nature is necessary to outrun Choice Scarf Tyrantrum under Webs (also gets the jump on Jolly Honchkrow, which is neat considering it is immune to Sucker Punch).
  
  
• As for your choice of a Sticky Web setter, Araquanid has its fair share of good match-ups and can generally take the first hit. However, I encourage you to experiment with other Sticky Web setters in this slot.
  Examples would be
  
  Galvanatula and
  
  Ribombee, both of which convince with higher speed but lack Magic Coat.
  
  Sample setters

  Galvantula @ Focus Sash
  Ability: Compound Eyes
  EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
  Timid Nature
  IVs: 0 Atk
  - Bug Buzz
  - Thunder
  - Hidden Power [Ice]
  - Sticky Web
  
  Ribombee @ Focus Sash
  Ability: Shield Dust
  EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
  Timid Nature
  IVs: 0 Atk
  - Bug Buzz
  - Moonblast
  - Skill Swap
  - Sticky Web
  
  Feel free to try Life Orb on either of these.

Eventually, keep in mind that Sticky Web is quite difficult to execute properly at the moment, let me know how it worked out for you.

Cheers!