Featured NU RMT

Tentacool (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Calm Nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Toxic
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Giga Drain

Man, this thing fits so perfectly on my team it's ridiculous. When I mention that I use one, people think I'm joking, but Tentacool is the real deal. I'll admit that the EVs were mindlessly thrown together, but they seem to work well, so I'm not complaining, if you have any better suggestions, then please do post! Anyways, on to why I used Tentacool. Well as I said, Natu wasn't cutting it and I figured I'd try out an actual spinner. The Stealth Rock weak Cryogonal and Torkoal didn't appeal to me, as the rest of the team walled what they did and again, I don't like my spinners having a weakness to hazards. I decided to try out Tentacool after I saw fatty using it to check Gorebyss. While my team was not completely Gorebyss weak, a true Gorebyss counter that can lay Toxic Spikes is a true luxury for a stall team to have. To expand on Toxic Spikes, they're probably the most valuable entry hazard in NU at the moment, even moreso than Spikes. Almost every potent sweeper is vulnerable to these things, Jynx, Magmortar, Gorebyss, you name it. They can pretty much burn out any team without a Poison-type or a Spinner, and this team is hell for spinners anyways, so it's restricted to the former for the most part. While I lack Scald and would love to have it, Giga Drain ensures that I beat Gorebyss, as sub variants will be able to allude Toxic, Giga Drain doesn't stand for that and assures that Gorebyss will fall. Tentacool also provides a much needed check to special Combusken, which otherwise is a bitch to take down. All of its attacks do a pittance to Tentacool, however and it's simply just setup bait for my Toxic Spikes. Tentacool is also useful for Status fodder or just taking a random hit and Toxicing something, if I decide that I really don't need it at a certain point in the match.

Hypno (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature (+SpD -Atk)
- Seismic Toss / Psychic
- Wish
- Taunt
- Protect

This was actually a Misdreavus 2/3 days ago, but I decided to test out this and boy, I'm glad I did. My team had a staggering weakness to Vileplume and Amoongus, since they just continued to annoy my team and I couldn't touch them, but Hypno provides an answer. It also provides an answer to Duosion, one of the most potent threats to stall, and is one of the few stall-oriented Pokémon that can boast the ability to do so. While I lose a spinblock, it's not really a big deal for me, because I'm not using Spikes and Toxic Spikes can be easily absorbed. Plus, Tentacool beats Wartortle while Probopass pretty much beats every other Rapid Spinner unless it's Armaldo with Earthquake, and those two are my hazard layers, so I'm essentially not losing much. Anyways, Hypno rounds out my core of specially defensive walls and unlike Lickilicky, is able to take down Magmortar sans any crits, since it can't be hit super effectively by any of its attacks, although Lickilicky is useful for stalling it out with Toxic, but that often requires prediction. Hypno also has access to Wish, meaning I essentially have 32 Wishes to give out, thus allowing me to provide for both the Wish user and its teammates without running out of PP, which is a common qualm of mine when I only have 16 PP, having two Wish users eliminates this minor problem. Finally, we have Taunt, which can be described as the crux of this set and also the primary reason as to why I'm using Hypno. Taunt shuts down Duosion completely, rendering it incapable to do anything but switch out or die, and also deals with Vileplume, making sure that it can't Recover. Amoognus is in the same boat, but I also have Insomnia to make sure Spore doesn't render me helpless.

Lickilicky (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature (+SpD, -SpA)
- Return
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell

You're looking at one of the best special walls and clerics in the game right now. This thing will shrug off literally any neutral hit with its absolutely insane special Bulk. There honestly isn't any one special attacking move in the tier than can take this thing out if Rocks aren't up, Specs Eggy Leaf Storm comes close, but it falls about 3%, which is pretty clutch on Lickilicky's part. I consider Lickilicky to be the Chansey/Blissey of NU. While its bulk pales in comparison to theirs, it still caries out the same duties and is similar in both type and appearance, but also has perks of its own that Blissey and Chansey lack. This thing is just so ridiculously durable and is my go-to user of Wish. Lickilicky is almost always able to come in and out and do whatever it needs to so that the team can win. It often finds ample opportunities during a match to either Heal Bell or Wish and while I do lose Toxic, it is useful to have Heal Bell on the set, since Lickilicky is often the receiver of many a status condition. The one thing I really love about Lickilicky is its ability to not only wall special threats, but hit them and whatever comes in, hard, thanks to STAB Return and Lickilicky's respectable Attack stat, which is something Blissey can't brag about. I do miss Toxic a lot, but it's necessary to have Heal Bell since Misdreavus is no longer on the team, and I need to keep my Pokémon free of status.

Quagsire (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spe)
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Recover
- Toxic

Quagsire, simply a Pokémon whose prowess transcends tiers thanks to its absolutely wonderful ability in Unaware. Unaware allows Quagsire to become so much more than its mediocre bulk; it allows it to take down set up sweeper after set up sweeper without breaking a sweat. With a full investment in both HP and Defense as well as a Relaxed nature, Quagsire is surprisingly bulky and can take hits from the likes of Absol and Samurott while whittling their health down via Toxic stalling. The best quality that Quagsire has though, in my opinion, is its fantastic synergy with Tangela. The TangelQuag core is beyond fantastic, and each Pokémon picks up the slack while its partner is at low health or up against a Pokémon that it can't beat. Obviously, this combination is restricted to physical threats only, but the amount of physical attackers it covers is insane. To this day, Pinsir with Mold Breaker and Swords Dance is the only Pokémon I have seen threaten the core, but even that can be handled if I get Toxic on it, which I usually do and Probopass's Sturdy is intact. Quagsire's moveset is almost perfect for a wall. While Toxic is usually the move I spam on switchins, it's always fantastic when Scald can get a crucial burn on one of the annoying Grass-types I mentioned in Hypno's description and is useful for taking down stuff that it hits supereffectively or generally does a lot of damage to, although its coverage is somewhat redundant with Earthquake. Earthquake is still useful in its own right and does a ton of damage to stuff like Absol and Garbodor that Scald doesn't do all that much to. Finally, Toxic and Recover is just a fantastic combo and has allowed me to wall numerous threats throughout my BW NU career. I hope to God that this thing never moves up.

Probopass (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SpD
Calm Nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Volt Switch
- Power Gem
- Toxic

At the beginning of Stage 1, the Birds, aka Swellow and Braviary, were being hyped ridiculously due to most of their checks and counters moving up when the tiers shifted. Due to the fact that the birds were feared like the plague, the mindset at the time was basically 'Regi, Golem, Probo or die', and so I adapted to this idea and slapped a good ol' Probopass on my team. While the birds, like Gorebyss, died down and descended from their man-given thrones, Probo continued to act as a boss for this team and took the hits that no one else wanted to. This thing is so extremely dependable, it's crazy. The best part is that it's optimized to take both physical and special hits, thereby increasing its ability to beat threats. One threat in particular that it beats is Jynx, which many of my fellow NU players want banned. I always say that you should carry "two counters to Jynx" or at least a counter and a shaky check, a la my special walls. This is mainly because of Lovely Kiss, which can effectively put one of them out of commission, so you'll need the other to beat it with. Probopass does just that when Lickilicky is down and can take multiple Ice Beams like a champion, while hitting hard with Power Gem, I just have to pray that it doesn't freeze me! On to the moves, Power Gem is my main means of attacking and can really eat away at spinners in conjunction with Toxic, since almost every common spinner is weak to rock. Volt Switch is also very useful, as it can allow me to get a good matchup against a Pokémon like Magmortar without having to switch in. Stealth Rock is pretty much a given, I wanted to utilize every hazard I could fit on the team and is useful for wearing down my opponent.

Tangela (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 64 SpD
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power Ice
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder

I honestly think any words in my vocabulary do a disservice to Tangela, given how fantastic it is, but I'll try and explain its unprecedented dominance of physical attackers the best I can. An Eviolite boosts Tangela's Defenses to amazing heights and it's actually physically bulkier than Skarmory, crazy, huh? Simply put, what Tangela does to physical attackers in NU is akin to what Blissey does to special threats in OU, although a specially oriented metagame is totally fine, in my opinion. Like Tentacool, I pretty much randomly slapped on the EVs, but they've been working fine and who knows, they might have saved my ass against a special move at one point. Anyways, I'll get down to explaining how great Tangela is. While it lacks any form of phazing/Hazing, Tangela is hardly setup bait, between its great coverage of Giga Drain/HP Ice coming off of a respectable base 100 SpA stat, Leech Seed, and Sleep Powder, Pokémon trying to set up on Tangela are easily brought down within a matter of turns. I have considered running Hidden Power Rock to make killing Magmortar or Birds easier, but after some testing, I've decided Ice is the best option, as Dragons are extremely powerful, even if they aren't fully evolved, and I need to kill them as quickly as I can. The best quality of Tangela is Regenerator, though. While Giga Drain and Leech Seed are great for gaining back health, not to mention I have Wish, Regenerator requires almost no effort to recover any damage I took, meaning Tangela can literally force one threat out, switch out and recover the damage it took and repeat this process until everything dies. As I already said in Quagsire's description, the two form an infamous combo, one that is the basis of my team and also one that any physical attacker should be wary of.