Natural Disasters

[Turtwig]

Hey everyone, I noticed that there are very few RU RMTs here, so I thought I'd post one that I have on Smogon at the moment. I'm new to the tier but love the Pokemon so far! There may be little nitpicks you find, but there should not be any Pokemon to be replaced anymore as I've found a great team that would love to be better. I'd be willing to replace if there was a very good reason, however, so I'm not completely shutting the idea down.

Now, let's get back to the team.

Druddigon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Stealth Rock
- Sucker Punch

Druddigon provides the team with rocks. This is crucial when I'm facing a Moltres, Entei, Aerodactyl, Typhlosion, Galvantula, and (though rare) Charizard. Earthquake hits steel-types that resist Outrage hard. Outrage, by the way, can usually OHKO a few sweepers unable to beat Druddigon. This is probably because it resists the FWG core. Plus, an electric resistance is nice in this generation. Being able to completely wall Scarfed Rotom-C, this is my go-to Dragon-type (though I dislike the type) for the win. Sucker Punch hits foes faster for quick damage before Druddigon goes down valiantly. At first, I hated Druddigon and shunned it from my team as it lost the first two battles. I learned, though, that it wasn't Druddigon's fault--it was mine. Ever since, I've been able to muscle through with this Pokemon and its ability to wall, hit hard, and set up rocks is wonderful!

Sigilyph @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Air Slash
- Heat Wave
- Roost

I used Sigilyph in White thinking that it was some "magical bird of wisdom." I wasn't far off. Sigilyph may seem to be plagued by its typing--but it's not. With a 4x resistance against the omnipresent fighting-types, walling them is wonderful. As it absorbs the hits, Roost recovers HP as well as temporarily cancelling out its Electric-, Ice-, and Rock-type weaknesses. With Magic Guard, Sigilyph gets a free Life Orb boost. Psychic is for a strong STAB of course. Air Slash lets me hit Dark-types like Absol. Heat Wave hits Steelix, Ferroseed, Escavalier, and other potent Steel-type walls. I'm thinking of switching out Air Slash for Energy Ball so I can hit Rhydon, Crawdaunt, Kabutops, Omastar, and Quagsire much easier. With the Magic Guard abilility into play again, Sigilyph takes no damage from Stealth Rock and Toxic/Burn. This makes it a status absorber often. Meh, Sigilyph is amazing no matter what.

Entei @ Choice Band
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- ExtremeSpeed
- Flare Blitz
- Stone Edge
- Sleep Talk

Entei, the Victini of RU. What separates Entei from Victory is a little something called priority. ExtremeSpeed is amazing because I can send in my Banded Entei and wreck with it, no matter what the speed of the opponent is. Flare Blitz is for amazing STAB that hits hard and defeats walls, even leaving a chunk in Tangrowth. Stone Edge hits Fire-types and Aerodactyl for nice damage as well. Originally, I had HP Grass in the last slot. I never used it. Therefore, I instead went with Sleep Talk so that way I'm not worried about Smeargle, Roselia, or Amoonguss. Entei, no matter what the circumstances, hits hard.

Kabutops @ Lum Berry
Trait: Weak Armor
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Stone Edge
- Rapid Spin

Kabutops, the newest addition to my team. This Pokemon is a fast-spinner to save Rotom-C and Entei, who will be switching often. This also keeps Spikes/TS off the field. Lum Berry is to keep status from Kabutops, restricting its sweep or wearing it down. Now, before I go on to the other moves, I should address Kabutop's ability. Weak Armor lowers defense but gives a free speed boost after every physical attack. In other words, Kabutops just switches into Entei's Flare Blitz and boosts its speed. Why is this cool? I have two options from there: I can use Swords Dance on the switch for amazing power, or I can use Stone Edge to kill the out-sped Entei. Aqua Jet rounds the set off by hitting Pokemon first before Kabutops leaves the match.

Rotom-Mow @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunderbolt

Rotom-C is my favorite RU Pokemon at the moment. With a Scarf, it outspeeds nearly everything. Volt Switch is to keep momentum for the team. This is probably the highlight of Rotom-C's moveset. Leaf Storm hits really hard, ruining setup sweepers from the start. HP Fire is for Tangrowth specifically, but Durant and Escavalier hate it. Durant hates the scarf as well. Thunderbolt is for a nice STAB to stay in and do damage with. Rotom-C also has a wonderful 4x resistance to electric, meaning that it can wall opposing Pokemon. With Levitate, The lawnmower also has many switch-in opportunities. The all-around defenses also lets it take a hit while dishing one out just as (if not more) hard. Out of all the Rotom forms, this is by far my favorite.

Absol @ Life Orb
Trait: Super Luck
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Naughty Nature
- Night Slash
- Fire Blast
- Sucker Punch
- Superpower

Absol, the hax Pokemon. Absol is here as my janitor, cleaning up what's left over. I don't need a scarf on this thing since it has Sucker Punch. Plus, Super Luck makes a crit even with that move not unheard of. Super Luck? Ah! This raises Absol's critical hit rate. With the high ratio Night Slash brings, I can beat Slowking easily. The other move is Fire Blast. You may be thinking "why is this guy using a special attack on an Absol?" Well, it's simple really. I'll tell you a story. Once upon a time, Steelix became a common switch-in to Absol, always tanking hits and laughing in Absol's face. Well, the Pokemon got fed up with it and set the thing on fire. The Steelix lost and Absol jumped for joy. The End.


I actually haven't found any problems in this team. While status is bothersome, I have some good answers depending on the situation. I'm enjoying the RU tier and you should too! So get out there and start playing!

 

[iSharingan]

So I was planning on posting my own RU team when I found this .

Only a few things to point out, as your team looks pretty solid (most of this is just suggesting a similarly typed pokemon that fills the same role slightly better. Fist off, You might want to consider Scarf Typhlosion over Entei. You already have enough physical attackers, and whit Typhlosion, you'll be an even 3&3 for physical and special attackers (not that 4 physical is necessarily bad). You made an excellent choice in selecting a rock type for your team, but Kabutops isn't that Bulky and Swellow, the main reason to have rock on your team, will still rip right through you if you mispredict even slightly (I use Rest-Talk/Curse Cradily myself, which works great as a check to most flying types and physical attackers, but it probably won't work on this team here). Rapid Spin is nice, but I find it better to have a grounded poison type over RS and just keep my hazard weaknesses to a minimum (IE: few flying/fire/bug types and carry a taunt somewhere).

Your Sigilyph isn't bad, but it actually has a much more annoying set than the one you're using. While it might not have as great of coverage, very little can hurt it and it summons it's counters instantly (for easy disposal ) for fear of a sweep. Behold, the boosting wall of terror:

Sigilyph (F) @ Flame Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 12 SAtk / 4 SDef / 240 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Cosmic Power
- Air Slash
- Roost
- Psycho Shift

Air slash is the preferred choice as the sole offensive move mainly due to Scraggy being in the tier. Normally you can burn a dark type and just keep roosting off damage along side Cosmic Power boosts, but Scraggy has a 1 in 3 chance to heal status with Shed Skin in addition to being immune to the common choice of Stored Power (which this set was originally famous for wielding, despite being easily walled by dark types with a non-damaging status, like paralysis). With Air Slash, many steels are not a threat (Steelix lacks good SDef, Ferroseed takes neutral damage, and in general steels are slower than Sigilyph and are subject to flinching). You already hit on Sigilyph's niche as a fighting counter, and this set is even more so as it can more reliably wall Guts+orb sets too. I know the tiers are not entirely parallel, but this set can give OU teams trouble too if it gets off a boost or two. Just watch out for crit.

Lastly you're not very prepared for Galvantula, which can bypass your plans to counter threats to Kabutops (normally grass types), Absol (normally fighting or steel types), and Sigilyph (normally dark, ice, or rock types). You'd think Entei would counter it, but the opponent would usually carry something like Quagsire/Seismitoad or a solid rock type and just wall you there. with a scarf, Galvantula could seriously wound most of you team between its STABs Volt Switch and Bug Buzz as well as avoiding most of your efforts to fight back due to superior speed and it's ability to OHKO most of the team here (4 members with just the 2 STAB, 5 if it also caries HP Ice).

 

[Turtwig]

Hey, thanks for taking the time to ready my RMT! I know most people do OU, but I find it so broken and every team is obvious. The lower tiers are much more surprising.

Actually, in my fair share of games, Sigilyph really only stands out if it's using the Roost+3 attacks set. The stall set is much more manageable in the lower tiers since more people prepare for it. I even asked some of the professional Smogon team raters and they said that in RU, the LO+3 attack set is better. It would serve a purpose though!

I have considered Typhlosion twice. I'm really debating it, and it does look like this team is more physically-oriented. I'm not sure, though.

Kabutops does pretty well (and Swellow is in NU with less than a 1% usage rate in RU) with what it has. If I was to get rid of a spinner and get a grounded Poison-type, it would definitely be Qwilfish.

Let me point out that if I DID go without Rapid Spin support, then Scarf Typhlosion's Eruption would already be weakened. Specs Typhlosion, while still packing power and not necessarily slow, doesn't have a nice priority attack to use in any way. So in other words, Typhlosion+Kabutops is a must since they have nice synergy.

Galvantula can pose as a threat, but

Spoiler

252+ Atk Life Orb Absol Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Galvantula: 282-333 (100.35 - 118.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO (without rocks)

252+ Atk Choice Band Entei ExtremeSpeed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Galvantula: 199-235 (70.81 - 83.62%) -- 68.75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock.

Also, this is the usage for scarf on Galvantula for July: Choice Scarf 16.871%. Nearly double this value and that is the amount of users who use Life Orb. Over 35% use specs. Therefore, look at this:

252 SpA Rotom-C Hidden Power Fire vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Galvantula: 198-234 (70.46 - 83.27%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

I could keep ranting about how Druddigon can take Thunder or Giga Drain nicely and maybe avoid the 2HKO with Bug Buzz and Life Orb.

Plus, Rotom-C would just come in on the ground-types, they switch out into Galvantula, I hit hard with Leaf Storm anyway, and switch into Entei for the inevitable Bug Buzz.

I think that kind of covers Galvantula depending on its set, but it could be a problem. Plus, with all the Volt Switching, Stealth Rock will slowly keep it at low health to be revenge killed.

All in all, thanks for the rate and I'll think about Typhlosion! I'm still investigating Qwilfish, too. Absol is also somewhat mixed, so it's more of a 3.75-2.25 kind of thing rather than 4-2 physically inclined.