SM NU NU team check

[Creeperman129]

So I’m like super new to competitive but decided “hey this Showdown thing looks fun! Might as well try it!”

Now I don’t know if this was a great idea but after a little team mimicking Paul’s (from the anime) I started at NU. Not bad enough to give no options but a bit more simple than OU. I’ve also dabbled a bit in Steel Mono but that’s another tale.

Anyways, after a bit of experimentation I’ve come up with what I think is a bit unorthodox to the meta. It’s probably because I’m doing things inadequately, but might as well get confirmation :p

Hitmontop @ Assault Vest
Ability: Technician
EVs: 180 Atk/188 Def/140 SpD
Impish Nature
-Bullet Punch
-Fake Out
-Mach Punch
-Rapid Spin​

First is a Technician, somewhat tanky Assault Vest Hitmontop. Fake Out is there because there’s no harm in having a flinch attack. Rapid Spin’s the main counter my team has to hazards at the moment and is usually likely to come out considering the bulk I gave the Hitmon. Then there are the two priority moves, mainly given in order to outspeed opponents and deal a good amount of damage. I also use him as a partial stalled for my Miltanks Toxic and is my primary method for taking out fairies (I know the latter’s really risky). He has a pretty huge weakness against Ghost types and basically guarantees the other team a switch in if it came to that. He’s also not good against bulky Pokémon such as Steelix (a threat to the team as it turns out).

Ambipom @ Muscle Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk/136 Def/120 SpD
Adamant Nature
-Fake Out
-Taunt
-Power-Up Punch
-Knock Off​

Next is Muscle Band Ambipom. Yeah, weird. It too has Fake Out since I usually send it out first in battles (I originally started with Miltank but now I usually save it for just early game in general). If the opponent starts with Ghost it’s usually no problem since I have Knock Off, which is good to weaken other team members as well. I have Power Up Punch to give an extra oomph to the hits and as a sort of bait for those expecting Fake Out and finally Taunt to stop set ups and the like. Probably the most useful member besides Mismagius.

Miltank @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 4HP/252 Def/252 SpD
Careful Nature
-Milk Drink
-Toxic
-Stealth Rock
-Seismic Toss​

Then theres Miltank which is standard NU affair. Stealth Rock, Milk Drink, Toxic, the works. Funnily enough I didn’t check the Smogon Page on it until after this tweeking :p.

Braviary @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Adamant Nature
-Brave Bird
-Superpower
-U-Turn
-Whirlwind​

Braviary is meant to be a stronger hitter and it certainly is but has had...mixed results. He cripples under Stealth Rock and of outsped, falls just as easy. However, when his Superpower or Brave Bird hits hard, it usually OHKOs. U Turn is coverage against Psychic and an easier switch in to Braviary threats. I recently added Whirlwind to further stop set up but I haven’t really gotten to use it. Originally I had Zen Headbutt to counter fighting without recoil.

Mismagius @ Ghostnium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 140 HP/ 116 Def/ 252 Spe
Modest Nature
-Hex
-Pain Split
-Heal Bell
-Will O Wisp​

Then there’s Mismagius, what I consider to be my best member. Heal Bell to stop any status shenanigans. Will O Wisp to burn those unaffected by Toxic. Pain Split for healing (which usually works since I put a lot in speed). Finally Hex, backing off of Milktanks Toxic and her own burns (and the occasional Paralysis from Rhydon) and able to become stronger with Ghostnium. Knock Off is a big threat to her, however and it’s difficult sometimes to safely switch in since she isn’t very good defensively

Rhydon @ Eviolite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 116 HP/248 Def/144 SpD
Careful Nature
-Avalanche
-Body Slam
-Earthquake
-Hammer Arm​

At last is Rhydon who...is basically a placeholder lol. I shifted out the last slot from Aerodactyl to him. He’s probably the least useful member. I have Body Slam in hopes of Paralysis, which doesn’t always work since I need Evolite to have Rhydon surviving things. Avalanche is good against flying types and rare instances of Grass types not OHKOing, but not the best. Then there’s Hammer Arm since Rhydon is already slow and needs the power, though Earthquake can do the job as well. Yeah he’s...meh. Can sometimes hit hard but not really the best. Wouldn’t mind replacing him with like...idk a protect Pokémon or something lol

The teams done moderately well with about a 50% win loss ratio. That’s counting my experimentation stage so idk how accurate that actually is but either way it’s easy to tell I’m kinda average rn lol. Major threats are Steelix, Cinncino and bulky set up users (though Steelix could be included in that field)

Thank you for the help!

 

[TPP]

Welcome to Smogon! I'm locking your RMT for the time being as the forum rules require that you provide at least 3 lines of descriptions for each Pokemon to explain their roles. Please read the rules carefully and take a look at Team Showcase to see the level of detail we require. PM me with updated descriptions and I'll be happy to unlock this. If you need help with the explanations, you can use the smogon dex for help.

 

[Creeperman129]

So I’m like super new to competitive but decided “hey this Showdown thing looks fun! Might as well try it!”

Now I don’t know if this was a great idea but after a little team mimicking Paul’s (from the anime) I started at NU. Not bad enough to give no options but a bit more simple than OU. I’ve also dabbled a bit in Steel Mono but that’s another tale.

Anyways, after a bit of experimentation I’ve come up with what I think is a bit unorthodox to the meta. It’s probably because I’m doing things inadequately, but might as well get confirmation :p

Hitmontop @ Assault Vest
Ability: Technician
EVs: 180 Atk/188 Def/140 SpD
Impish Nature
-Bullet Punch
-Fake Out
-Mach Punch
-Rapid Spin​

First is a Technician, somewhat tanky Assault Vest Hitmontop. Fake Out is there because there’s no harm in having a flinch attack. Rapid Spin’s the main counter my team has to hazards at the moment and is usually likely to come out considering the bulk I gave the Hitmon. Then there are the two priority moves, mainly given in order to outspeed opponents and deal a good amount of damage. I also use him as a partial stalled for my Miltanks Toxic and is my primary method for taking out fairies (I know the latter’s really risky). He has a pretty huge weakness against Ghost types and basically guarantees the other team a switch in if it came to that. He’s also not good against bulky Pokémon such as Steelix (a threat to the team as it turns out).

Ambipom @ Muscle Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk/136 Def/120 SpD
Adamant Nature
-Fake Out
-Taunt
-Power-Up Punch
-Knock Off​

Next is Muscle Band Ambipom. Yeah, weird. It too has Fake Out since I usually send it out first in battles (I originally started with Miltank but now I usually save it for just early game in general). If the opponent starts with Ghost it’s usually no problem since I have Knock Off, which is good to weaken other team members as well. I have Power Up Punch to give an extra oomph to the hits and as a sort of bait for those expecting Fake Out and finally Taunt to stop set ups and the like. Probably the most useful member besides Mismagius.

Miltank @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 4HP/252 Def/252 SpD
Careful Nature
-Milk Drink
-Toxic
-Stealth Rock
-Seismic Toss​

Then theres Miltank which is standard NU affair. Stealth Rock, Milk Drink, Toxic, the works. Funnily enough I didn’t check the Smogon Page on it until after this tweeking :p.

Braviary @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Adamant Nature
-Brave Bird
-Superpower
-U-Turn
-Whirlwind​

Braviary is meant to be a stronger hitter and it certainly is but has had...mixed results. He cripples under Stealth Rock and of outsped, falls just as easy. However, when his Superpower or Brave Bird hits hard, it usually OHKOs. U Turn is coverage against Psychic and an easier switch in to Braviary threats. I recently added Whirlwind to further stop set up but I haven’t really gotten to use it. Originally I had Zen Headbutt to counter fighting without recoil.

Mismagius @ Ghostnium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 140 HP/ 116 Def/ 252 Spe
Modest Nature
-Hex
-Pain Split
-Heal Bell
-Will O Wisp​

Then there’s Mismagius, what I consider to be my best member. Heal Bell to stop any status shenanigans. Will O Wisp to burn those unaffected by Toxic. Pain Split for healing (which usually works since I put a lot in speed). Finally Hex, backing off of Milktanks Toxic and her own burns (and the occasional Paralysis from Rhydon) and able to become stronger with Ghostnium. Knock Off is a big threat to her, however and it’s difficult sometimes to safely switch in since she isn’t very good defensively

Rhydon @ Eviolite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 116 HP/248 Def/144 SpD
Careful Nature
-Avalanche
-Body Slam
-Earthquake
-Hammer Arm​

At last is Rhydon who...is basically a placeholder lol. I shifted out the last slot from Aerodactyl to him. He’s probably the least useful member. I have Body Slam in hopes of Paralysis, which doesn’t always work since I need Evolite to have Rhydon surviving things. Avalanche is good against flying types and rare instances of Grass types not OHKOing, but not the best. Then there’s Hammer Arm since Rhydon is already slow and needs the power, though Earthquake can do the job as well. Yeah he’s...meh. Can sometimes hit hard but not really the best. Wouldn’t mind replacing him with like...idk a protect Pokémon or something lol

The teams done moderately well with about a 50% win loss ratio. That’s counting my experimentation stage so idk how accurate that actually is but either way it’s easy to tell I’m kinda average rn lol. Major threats are Steelix, Cinncino and bulky set up users (though Steelix could be included in that field)

Thank you for the help!

Bump de da bump bump

 

[Rabia]

so this team has several flaws that make it really hard to properly rate. I'll address them individually so you get an idea of where I'm coming from:

poor choices of Pokemon
you've got three Pokemon that hold practically no niche in the tier on your team: Hitmontop, Ambipom, and Miltank (which is NOT standard NU affair btw). these three Pokemon are subpar choices because they're outclassed by other Pokemon in the tier or just not worth using because they're well, bad.

questionable sets
you have not one EV spread that I can really figure out the purpose of. they seem like you just arbitrarily put EVs into certain stats hoping for something positive, which isn't going to net you any real success. you also have not one single set on this team that I would call standard or good even; Heal Bell Mismagius is not good. Body Slam Rhydon is not good. Whirlwind Braviary is really not good.

no central theme
it just looks like a team of 6 Pokemon you like and put together. I don't know what the goal of the team is to do. when teambuilding, you generally take a Pokemon or a team concept and build to achieve a goal. for example, if I were to build around Comfey, I would pick Pokemon that support its goal of sweeping late-game.

the best advice I can really give you is to view the viability rankings thread, which should give you a better idea of what Pokemon are worth using, sample teams thread, which can provide you with some teams to get started with so you can get a better feel of the tier, and strategy dex for nu, which can show you standard sets for Pokemon.

With regards to maybe taking this team itself somewhere: the only real outlet I see is something like Toxic Spikes bulky offense. Here's where we can go with this:

Drop Ambipom, Miltank, and Hitmontop from the team: they are unviable and frankly awful Pokemon that should never be used (Hitmontop has a very slight niche on stall builds, but that's it lol)

We next need to adjust the sets on your current team to make them functional. The first obvious step is to give you Stealth Rock, which we lost with getting rid of Miltank. Luckily, Rhydon is one of the best Stealth Rock setters in the tier. it will also give us an Incineroar check, a Flying-type check and a generally strong Pokemon:


Rhydon @ Eviolite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
- Swords Dance

Next, we need to set up our two Toxic Spikes abusers for success. Substitute + Bulk Up Braviary is really potent with Toxic Spikes support given its ability to stall out poison turns while behind Substitute, while Protect + Nasty Plot Mismagius can do the same. Protect is also nice on Mismagius because it scouts Choice item Pokemon like Passimian, Sneasel, and Aerodactyl. Protect is also really cool for the latter two because it can see if they want to Pursuit trap Mismagius or not.


Mismagius @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Protect


Braviary @ Leftovers
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 HP / 160 SpD / 96 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
- Roost

Now, you have three empty teamslots, so what do we fill those with? Well, considering we're working with and have a team theme in mind, we need to work towards enabling Mismagius and Braviary. The first thing we need is something to set Toxic Spikes, and I have just the guy:


Weezing @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 152 Def / 88 SpD / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Toxic Spikes

Weezing enables your Toxic Spikes abusers and gives you a check to Comfey, Passimian, and Grass-types.

Next, we need some more Speed on this team. Right now, the team is super slow. I think Passimian goes here particularly well because it gives you a secondary Incineroar check and can revenge kill Pokemon like Heliolisk, Sneasel, and Calm Mind Delphox.


Passimian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Earthquake

The last member on your team needs to be dedicated to entry hazard removal; otherwise, your team will simply lose the battle of attrition against opposing teams. I think Blastoise is particularly good because you lack a Water-type check currently. It also gives you a status absorber thanks to Refresh.


Blastoise @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 196 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
- Refresh

So, the final team product is something like this: . I know your team looks significantly different than it used to, but it was honestly necessary if we were to make it more consistent. If you want to test the team out yourself, here's an import of it: https://pokepast.es/0d7e1659b86984ad The team definitely has some issues with Rotom and Heliolisk, although patching those up would probably require changing too many of the original Pokemon. At the very least, you'll never see the both of them on the same team, and you can pressure them both alright enough. A slight modification if you're alright with making a further change is using this over Mismagius:


Incineroar @ Figy Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- Protect

This keeps the theme of poison stalling but gives you a check to Rotom. Hopefully this rate helps you get some more wins and learn the metagame.

 

[Creeperman129]

T

so this team has several flaws that make it really hard to properly rate. I'll address them individually so you get an idea of where I'm coming from:

poor choices of Pokemon
you've got three Pokemon that hold practically no niche in the tier on your team: Hitmontop, Ambipom, and Miltank (which is NOT standard NU affair btw). these three Pokemon are subpar choices because they're outclassed by other Pokemon in the tier or just not worth using because they're well, bad.

questionable sets
you have not one EV spread that I can really figure out the purpose of. they seem like you just arbitrarily put EVs into certain stats hoping for something positive, which isn't going to net you any real success. you also have not one single set on this team that I would call standard or good even; Heal Bell Mismagius is not good. Body Slam Rhydon is not good. Whirlwind Braviary is really not good.

no central theme
it just looks like a team of 6 Pokemon you like and put together. I don't know what the goal of the team is to do. when teambuilding, you generally take a Pokemon or a team concept and build to achieve a goal. for example, if I were to build around Comfey, I would pick Pokemon that support its goal of sweeping late-game.

the best advice I can really give you is to view the viability rankings thread, which should give you a better idea of what Pokemon are worth using, sample teams thread, which can provide you with some teams to get started with so you can get a better feel of the tier, and strategy dex for nu, which can show you standard sets for Pokemon.

With regards to maybe taking this team itself somewhere: the only real outlet I see is something like Toxic Spikes bulky offense. Here's where we can go with this:

Drop Ambipom, Miltank, and Hitmontop from the team: they are unviable and frankly awful Pokemon that should never be used (Hitmontop has a very slight niche on stall builds, but that's it lol)

We next need to adjust the sets on your current team to make them functional. The first obvious step is to give you Stealth Rock, which we lost with getting rid of Miltank. Luckily, Rhydon is one of the best Stealth Rock setters in the tier. it will also give us an Incineroar check, a Flying-type check and a generally strong Pokemon:


Rhydon @ Eviolite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
- Swords Dance

Next, we need to set up our two Toxic Spikes abusers for success. Substitute + Bulk Up Braviary is really potent with Toxic Spikes support given its ability to stall out poison turns while behind Substitute, while Protect + Nasty Plot Mismagius can do the same. Protect is also nice on Mismagius because it scouts Choice item Pokemon like Passimian, Sneasel, and Aerodactyl. Protect is also really cool for the latter two because it can see if they want to Pursuit trap Mismagius or not.


Mismagius @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Protect

Braviary @ Leftovers
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 HP / 160 SpD / 96 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
- Roost

Now, you have three empty teamslots, so what do we fill those with? Well, considering we're working with and have a team theme in mind, we need to work towards enabling Mismagius and Braviary. The first thing we need is something to set Toxic Spikes, and I have just the guy:


Weezing @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 152 Def / 88 SpD / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Toxic Spikes

Weezing enables your Toxic Spikes abusers and gives you a check to Comfey, Passimian, and Grass-types.

Next, we need some more Speed on this team. Right now, the team is super slow. I think Passimian goes here particularly well because it gives you a secondary Incineroar check and can revenge kill Pokemon like Heliolisk, Sneasel, and Calm Mind Delphox.


Passimian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Earthquake

The last member on your team needs to be dedicated to entry hazard removal; otherwise, your team will simply lose the battle of attrition against opposing teams. I think Blastoise is particularly good because you lack a Water-type check currently. It also gives you a status absorber thanks to Refresh.


Blastoise @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 196 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
- Refresh

So, the final team product is something like this: . I know your team looks significantly different than it used to, but it was honestly necessary if we were to make it more consistent. If you want to test the team out yourself, here's an import of it: https://pokepast.es/0d7e1659b86984ad The team definitely has some issues with Rotom and Heliolisk, although patching those up would probably require changing too many of the original Pokemon. At the very least, you'll never see the both of them on the same team, and you can pressure them both alright enough. A slight modification if you're alright with making a further change is using this over Mismagius:


Incineroar @ Figy Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- Protect

This keeps the theme of poison stalling but gives you a check to Rotom. Hopefully this rate helps you get some more wins and learn the metagame.

Yeah, again, I’m really new to competitive so idk what I’m doing lol. Thank you for the advice!

 

[Bold School]

If this team is now Toxic and Toxic Spikes stall, would it be worth putting Hex back on Mismagius? Maybe give it a different Z move that hits Steel and/or Poison types (which are immune to poison effect) better than a fairy type move? It just seems like a waste to me to not use Hex on a team so focused on inflicting status.

 

[Rabia]

If this team is now Toxic and Toxic Spikes stall, would it be worth putting Hex back on Mismagius? Maybe give it a different Z move that hits Steel and/or Poison types (which are immune to poison effect) better than a fairy type move? It just seems like a waste to me to not use Hex on a team so focused on inflicting status.

This implies that you're always going to have your target poisoned, which is unrealistic, and Hex has lower damage output versus targets like Aerodactyl and Steelix. Power Gem is definitely an option over Dazzling Gleam, but I went with the latter here because the team has plenty of ways to deal with typical Power Gem targets.

I'm also not sure what you mean by "a different Z-Move that hits Steel- and Poison-types"; Never-Ending Nightmare is quite literally Mismagius's best way to bypass such Pokemon.

 

[Bold School]

This implies that you're always going to have your target poisoned, which is unrealistic, and Hex has lower damage output versus targets like Aerodactyl and Steelix. Power Gem is definitely an option over Dazzling Gleam, but I went with the latter here because the team has plenty of ways to deal with typical Power Gem targets.

I'm also not sure what you mean by "a different Z-Move that hits Steel- and Poison-types"; Never-Ending Nightmare is quite literally Mismagius's best way to bypass such Pokemon.

Not always but often. Shadow Ball is safer. Outside of that, Hex is more damage on status targets.

I suggested using a different Z move to make up for what I thought would be the lower base power on Hex. Other moves that can be used include Dark Pulse, Energy Ball, Thunderbolt to hit flying types, Psychic to hit poison types, or even potentially Inferno/Mystical Fire to hit steel types. However, I was mostly wrong about the Z move thing. I looked it up. Apparently, Hex and Shadow Ball have the same 160 base power on the Never-Ending Nightmare Z move. So there was really almost no point in even switching that around.

With that knowledge, it's really just about whether or not you are confident you can inflict status or not. Hex is more damage if you can, which is why I brought it up. I don't know for sure if it is better here. I was just asking.