[Yeezy D] Slaking with No Truant

[Yeezy D]

.: At A Glance :.

Hello fellow Smogonites, I am Yeezy and today I'm showing you something that laddered me in NU before the reset on Showdown, and is great fun to use. It is, of course, as given away in the title, using Slaking without its hindering ability, Truant. As you are probably all aware, Truant Pokemon can only move every other turn, which can be quite a large setback, and of course knocks Slaking into NU, where without Truant, it would be up and away out of there. I am relatively new to NU, so can't really give a Threat List regarding the team, but I know that it is very hard to counter once this team gets going.

Changes are in Orange.

.: Regice :.
Regice @ Chesto Berry
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SAtk / 8 SDef
Modest Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Rest

Regice is my Gorebyss counter, and my usual lead. With amazing coverage from BoltBeam, and Thunder Wave to slow down or stop sweepers, then aided by ChestoRest to act effectively as a Full Restore, Regice has a pretty solid moveset. I have to say that in my opinion, second to Blissey, Regice is the best Special Wall/Tank. Its more of a tank due to the fact that it can dish out considerable chunks of damage as well as shrug off some. There's not that much I can say about Regice other than, it does its job and it does it well, with little to no letup.

.: Floatzel :.
Floatzel (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Ice Punch
- Crunch
- Aqua Jet

Floatzel is a threat. With amazing base speed making it tied first for the fastest Water-type in the entire game, it makes an extremely quick sweeper, that can respond to predicted priority moves also. Floatzel also boasts quite a large Attack, that when further boosted by Choice Band makes it a formidable force. It is also armed with Waterfall, (120 BP with STAB), Ice Punch, Crunch, and its own STAB priority move, giving it great all round coverage. I love using Floatzel because it can bounce in on any situation and take something down. It is underestimated and not used that much in NU, but that makes it even better for me because I like using something different that can still pose a threat.

.: Sawk :.
Sawk (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Stone Edge

Sawk is one evil fucker, with ridiculously great base Attack, quite good Speed and aided with a Scarf, he never lets up. Armed with Sturdy truly finish whatever he had started, Sawk is one of my favourite sweepers in NU. Simply because he should not be in NU. All I have to do with Sawk is go on a Close Combat rampage, knowing that anything that doesn't resist it will most likely be OHKO'd so won't be able to get to that ever-decreasing defense, but the satisfaction of knowing anything that does hits his Sturdy and will have to endure yet another hit. Sawk is best used as a suicide-run one-life sort of thing, meaning that when he switches in, he usually stays in effectively. He's also my Cinccino counter, because that thing annoys the hell out of me.

.: The Golden Probopass :.
Probopass (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Def
Modest Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Volt Switch

I'm not going to lie, I've always been a sucker for Pokemon that look like pure gold. And with Shiny Probopass, that is definetely the case. Its amazing enough that he has that pubic hair moustache and what appears to me as a sombrero, but no he's GOLDEN. I swear, I think Shiny Magikarp is viable because its gold. I used to have it in an OU team, and sometimes it would survive enough to get a Splash or two off. It was amazing.
But anyway, Probopass is my amazing all-round wall, that fires off Special Attacks. He doesn't need invested defenses as that would be overkill, it does its job well with these EVs. Thunder Wave slows stuff down, Stealth Rocks go up, you can Earth Power them round or Volt Switch out. I've found that Volt Switch actually does quite a reasonable chunk to anything Water-wise, even if its defensive at all.

.: Slaking :.
Slaking (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Truant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Return
- Pursuit

inb4 "slakyng haz trooant u lied 2 meeee"
Of course it has the ability Truant, it is its only ability. The fact of the matter is it is incredibly easy to remove.

Now we're getting into the core of the team. The team doesn't completely rely on Slaking, but it brings a great strategy, allowing Slaking to occasionally 6-0 sweep. How I do this I will explain in the next Pokemon's description. But basically, I'm going to only talk about Slaking here.

Slaking has always proved worthy to me. Base 160 Attack and very high speed for NU, included with Max 404 HP, and outspeeds most things in OU would have made Slaking a very viable Pokemon. But GameFreak have to stab all of their greatest creations in the back, and give them horrible abilities, like Defeatist, Truant or Slow Start. But my friend Pel on PS found a way around this. Experimenting with all these abilities in OU with a Cofagrigus as the core, he found massive inconsistencies and irregularities. He couldn't get the team to function like he had hoped and ultimately gave up. That's where I come in. I utilise the strategy he had made and built it around my own ideas to make this team. One of the problems that he encountered was that it was semi-functional and never really worked when Cofagrigus had died. So I thought that this strategy would be more at home in NU. And thus, this was born.

.: Yamask :.
Yamask (M) @ Eject Button
Trait: Mummy
Shiny: No
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Haze
- Pain Split
- Shadow Ball

Yamask. The pinnacle element of this team, in all of its lackluster base stat glory. Anything that dares make physical contact with it will be infected by a contagious ability that will bring your whole team to their deaths.
Mummy.
That's how it works. Mummy. The opposing Pokemon makes physical contact with Yamask, either by attacking it directly or through switching in Yamask, and then their ability is wiped and they are infected. Eject Button then forces Yamask out, letting you to bring out Slaking and hit whatever the infected Pokemon is, thereby infecting Slaking and removing it of its Truant ability. This allows you to fire at will, devastating Pokemon after Pokemon until there are none left. Slaking is also armed with Pursuit for a guaranteed hit on whatever it is, so they can't switch out. Pel experimented with using Ring Target on Yamask so even Fighting- moves would hit it upon switch in. Of course, that didn't have the magical Eject Button.

Thank you for taking your time to look at the team, if you could leave a comment or a rate that would make my hour of doing this worth something. I sound look a Youtuber begging for subscribers but really, I want to make this team perfect so I can continue to ladder. I haven't encountered many weaknesses yet so I want to hear some theoretical ones, as I have played just under ten games with this team. I am Yeezy D, and this was Slaking with No Truant.
​

 

[watashi]

This team has a huge weakness to all variants of Sawk, which can OHKO most of your team by simply spamming Close Combat. Yamask doesn't have Eviolite, so it won't be taking more than a few Earthquakes or Ice Punches. Although it's not the best counter to Sawk, running Choice Scarf Gardevoir over your own Sawk will help deal with that problem. It can also revenge kill weather sweepers, which are very annoying for your team to face since it lacks a dedicated wall.

Probopass needs to run Power Gem over Thunder Wave to beat Substitute Bulk Up Braviary, which is currently a huge threat in NU. It also makes better use of your offensive EV spread.

You should consider Slack Off over Fire Punch on Slaking since it greatly increases Slaking's durability. Fire Punch doesn't really hit anything significant since a STAB Return already does more against Grass-types.


Summary of changes:

Sawk —> Choice Scarf Gardevoir
Thunder Wave —> Power Gem on Probopass
Fire Punch —> Slack Off on Slaking

Set(s)

Gardevoir @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Trace
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Trick
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball

Probopass @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 4 Def / 252 HP / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
- Power Gem
- Earth Power
- Volt Switch
- Stealth Rock

Slaking @ Leftovers
Trait: Truant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Pursuit
- Return
- Earthquake
- Slack Off

 

[JCM.]

That's funny, I use the exact same core on my NU team too! I asked for some help for a team around this on #NeverUsed, but people were mostly saying that it was a waste of teamslot. Despite that, I think that it works exceptionally well. For Slaking, I suggest this set:

Slaking (M) @ Leftovers / Life Orb
Trait: Truant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Pursuit
- Return
- Earthquake
- Shadow Claw

I find this set better than your one. I also suggest Lefties over LO, or else he would die too easily.

On Yamask, try Eviolite. It allows you to tank more hits. Take Haze out for Curse. While it may seem gimmicky, it allows to die faster, while damaging the Pokemon. If the guy attacks you, you're very likely to die if you have used Curse previously. Protect is also an option over Shadow Ball, allowing you to Curse stall. Yes, it makes you a Taunt bait, but hey, you won't be staying in with this guy much. FLCL pretty much covered everything else.

 

[Alfalfa]

The whole purpose of the Eject Button was to force Yamask out so it could start the Slaking sweep. Why remove it?

 

[Yeezy D]

Thanks for the rates, looks like this finally got some comments.

@FLCL, man you sound like you know what you're doing. As aforementioned, I have spent little time in NU so am just adjusting to the playstyle and threats as of now, but I am not removing Eject Button or Sawk from the team. Sawk has saved me from way too many situations than I can count and is effectively one of the best Pokemon in NU. As a main sweeper of the team, I feel no need to remove it. When I come across a problem in the team that matches such as you have displayed, I shall address it and will be the first to tell you that adjustments have been made. Thunder Wave is pretty much a staple for my Probopass as spreading status and preventing opposing Rest is almost crucial. I have considered Power Gem > Earth Power however, as Power Gem is more powerful due to STAB, but hits less and does not deal with walls as well. Slack Off is a great idea due to Slaking's immense HP bulk so I will be putting that into effect through testing. Will get back to you when I have done so.

@JirachiCelebiMew, that's so odd to find someone else with a core like this, as it is exceptionally unusual. :')
Nonetheless, Life Orb on Slaking is very risky, as it deals enough damage with its gargantuan Attack stat anyway, let alone Eject-switching into a move that is going to damage it. Lefties is recovery for Slaking which is pretty much needed. Also, I am not entirely bothered on the wellbeing of Yamask. It does not serve a dual-purpose other than Ejecting to Slaking or being a death fodder. I am not removing Eject Button as that allows me a CERTAIN hit on the Pokemon that is infected, rather than giving the opponent the chance to switch out. Maybe in a different team Eviolite would work, but not for this.

@A dude, good to see someone who realises this. "-.-

Please do not think I am just dismissing anything that you will say, I am increasingly open-minded to constructive criticism, but am relatively close-minded to changing cores of the team semi-copious amounts.

 

[Yeezy D]

Bump her rump with my trunk.