Bulky Offense peaked #11

[ghh]

EDIT: Pokemon images wont work for some reason

Welcome everyone. I'm a big fan of the NU tier and with the advent of Pokemon X and Y, I decided to come back after a long break, and play in my favourite tier. I've made a couple RMT's in the past with positive feedback, but I never really achieved a high ranking. Until now.

I decided to make a serious push with a brand new team to see if I could do it, and I was thrilled with the results. For those of you who are interested, my username is krookodilehunter, so you can check him on the ladders any time you like, I reached 1875 rating. Of course, this is an RMT, and I'm sure you can offer me some suggestions to see if I can push even higher. But I feel like I've hit the peak of my skill at this point. On to the team!


First of all, I decided to focus on a team composition that I really enjoy, Bulky Offense. I just love having Pokemon who can put out the hurt and have the toughness to survive relentless onslaughts, it's so cool. So I decided to pick out my offensive core first, as they are the most important part of teambuilding in my opinion.

Eelektross/Samurott/Braviary/Kanghaskan/Musharna/Golurk


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Modest 252 HP 252 SpA 4 SpD
Leftovers
Levitate
-Giga Drain
-Thunderbolt
-Flamethrower
-Volt Switch

The epitome of bukly offense. It's hard for me to make a team without this amazing pokemon. I remember when it used to be a pokemon well into the 30's in usage and I knew it would be top 5 someday. Eelektross's role is simple, to threaten walls and slow/weak pokes with the wide offensive coverage it has, and provide momentum with Volt Switch. I found a lot of opportunities to switch this guy in to start turning the battle in my favour, such as ground-type attacks, stuff like rotom fan and various walls. He also makes for a good lead for people predicting my Golurk.

Your opponent is always guessing around this pokemon which prompts mistakes on their part. Annoying pokemon like Seismitoad and Exeggutor are swiftly dealt with via Giga Drain and Flamethrower respectively, but you want to be careful if it's a max HP variant with sleep powder, it's annoying if Eel gets slept. I found it to be a good status lure in a way, which works out for some of my other pokemon I have later down.

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Rash 252 HP 252 SpA 4 AtK
Life Orb
Torrent
- Hydro Pump
-Grass Knot
-Ice Beam
-Aqua Jet

Here is our next heavy-hitter, Samurott. Here is another one of my anti-leads, who I use first turn relatively often if I expect the various stealth rockers of NU to lead. It's very effective against the common leads such as Golurk, Piloswine and Golem. You can force them on the defensive immediately, unless they want to be destroyed. Other than anti-leading, Samurott is here to fire off Hydro Pumps and smash some pokes. I chose max HP for a couple reasons, one of them being that water is a good defensive type, and with some strong attacks in the tier like Scarf Sawk Close Combat, I can proceed to take a hit, live, and fire back a torrent boosted Hydro Pump, see ya later. It also lets me check water types and fire types, and fire back with the appropriate attack, or predict with Ice Beam.

I added Aqua Jet due to the fact I have no scarfer, since I don't really like the scarfers in this tier, and the high HP stat lets me abuse torrent Aqua Jet very often, and is really handy for extra damage or revenge killing. The way you need to play this guy is find the best opportunity to send him in safely and do as much damage as you can before you die.

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Adamant 252 Atk 252 Spe 4 SpD
Choice Band
Sheer Force
-Brave Bird (everything)
-Return
-U-turn
-Rock Slide

Who wants to eat a Banded Brave Bird, hands up please? Oh I don't see many of you. Because the destructive force is too MUCH. As you may have gathered, this is bulky offense, and Braviary fits the bill. Aside from Brave Bird spam to remove would be counters or checks to the other pokemon in this team, it's also part of the small Volt-Turn core that I sometimes employ. I have foregone the common Superpower on this set in favour of U-turn, because often I find I force so many switches to pokemon like Alomomola or Regirock, that I can simply U-turn to Samurott or Eelektross for some fun. You won't be doing this much due to stealth rocks, but if you get a good switch, you will cause so much trouble it probably won't matter.

This is important, I chose Rock Slide with Sheer Force so I could devastate Mandibuzz, who would typically wall this set if it wasn't for the boosted Rock slide. Mandibuzz is a serious threat to this team, due to Taunt shenanigans, Foul Play, and Toxic Roost stall, which is really annoying and made me lose some early games. Like Samurott, find a good time to send him in and either destroy or scout with U-turn.

That is our offensive core, now we have our supporters to supplement the attackers.

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Adamant 252 Atk 252 Spe 4 HP
Silk Scarf
Scrappy
-Double Edge
-Fake Out
-Earthquake
-Sucker Punch

Our first supporter, here to clean up the mess our power pokes made. As I have mentioned, I have no scarfer because I dont like scarfers, so to alleviate this, I brought in the priority user Kanghaskan, to revenge kill and provide shenanigans. He is VERY important in this team, he helps you deal with stuff like scarf Sawk, Zangoose, Swellow, Shell Smashers, you name it. He is especially useful late game, as he can finish off a lot of offensive pokemon that your opponent will keep for late in the game, and double priority is an excellent way to finish them off. It's important to note that people will expect Sucker Punch so use that to your advantage, not your disadvantage. The good thing is, there aren't many offensive pokemon who want to switch in to Double Edge, so you can expect a wall to come in and predict accordingly.

How to use him effectively? NEVER switch him into an attack unless you know a ghost attack is coming. His health is precious, due to recoil and hazards. You want him to come in as often as possible after a pokemon dies, or if you predict a switch so that you can bring him in safely for some extra poke damage. This guy is a hit and run. He also demolishes Misdreavus, a common counter to Sawk seen around. If there is an Alomomola on their team, expect it to come in on Kanga. This guy should ideally be one of the last 2 pokes to die.


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Bold 252 HP 252 Def 4 SpA
Choice Specs
Synchronize
-Thunder Wave
-Psychic
-Trick
-Baton Pass

So, I know what you're all thinking. Where is the leftovers? Why does it not have SpA investment? Allow me to explain this special Musharna. I searched a for a long time for a counter to Fighting types, namely Sawk and Primeape, because they are so damn dangerous. I tried Misdreavus but aside from tanking these two dudes, it doesn't really do much for the team offensively, and Will'o'wisp is pretty predictable now. I needed something unpredictable that would steal momentum from the enemy team, tank some physical hits, hit hard and offer minor support. I would like to say this is my own creation, and this Musharna has been exceptionally successful.

First of all I have Trick. People never expect me to use Trick and give their walls or physical attackers an item that cripples them. I tricked Lickilicky's, Miltanks, Alomomolas, Skuntanks on the switch, it has done SO much work. After I get something like leftovers, I Baton Pass to whatever poke because the switch will always follow a successful Trick. But here's the thing. Even if I don't Trick, it's still an amazing pivot with Baton Pass, can hit hard with Psychic if it needs to, and can paralyse some annoying threats, but this must be used with caution understandably. It's a great lure for dark types and set up sweepers, and this specially tailored Mushy is very useful.


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Adamant 80 HP 252 Atk 176 Spe
Leftovers
Iron Fist
-Earthquake
-Stealth Rock
-Ice Punch
-Shadow Punch

Ripped straight from the Smogon website, standard Golurk. Aside from looking cool, he fits the bill of bulky offense, and I needed a SR user that wasn't useless outside of that. I don't often lead with Golurk, since a lot of people see it coming, but it's not hard to get rocks out early game with his many resistances and immunities. Remember, this team relies on momentum with safe switches, so stopping Volt Switch definitely helps. I tried out Piloswine with his Ice Shard, but it really wasn't doing much with the priority I already had, and it was hard to find a use for Piloswine later on in the game otherwise. I feel like it's harder to switch into Golurk than Piloswine.



So there we have it, the team that got me rank 11. Let me know what you all think and how it can be improved on. I feel like this team takes some prediction skill but it's not too hard to use, and you don't face many live or die situations. Thanks everyone.

Importable

Golurk @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 176 Spd / 252 Atk / 80 HP
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Punch
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

Eelektross @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch

Kangaskhan (F) @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Sucker Punch

Samurott @ Life Orb
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Rash Nature
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Aqua Jet

Braviary (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Return
- Rock Slide
- U-turn

Musharna @ Choice Specs
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
- Trick
- Baton Pass

 

[Pen Ink]

The images don't work because you need an image url?

 

[Brawlfest]

Hey Krookodile, I've played you two or three times up on the ladder, so I'm decently farmiliar with your team.

I suggest running 124 Speed EVs on Eelektross, rather than having 252 HP. This gives you the ability to outspeed base 65 speed pokemon, most prominantly Roselia and Alomomola, whom you can hit hard with Flamethrower and Volt Switch/Thunderbolt.

On samurott, I highly suggest Hidden Power Grass over Grass Knot, as the pokemon of NU are often not heavy enough to hit desired base powers, but its your call. I also find Aqua Jet to be unnecessary, which I would replace with Taunt or Encore, allowing your Samurott to have free turns to fire off blisteringly powerful attacks.

Defiant > Sheer Force, this is due to your lack of a need for Rock Slide. Instead, run Superpower. Whats amazing about this, is that with correct prediction, you officially 2HKO every pokemon in NU. That's insane power, which also means you can confidently hit Probopass and Golem, who laugh at your other attacks. This is a must change.

Standard Kangaskhan is standard, but I suggest Jolly Nature, as this gives you the speed confidence to outspeed things like Gardevoir and Rotom, both of which you lose to by a bit in terms of speed if not jolly.

I don't like this musharna set. With lack of recovery, it doesn't stay along for a while. Instead, just go with the flow, and carry Moonlight over Trick, as well as Leftovers over specs. Make sure you have 248 HP EVs instead of 252, to minimize the amount of Toxic Damage and Hazards Damage you take, as they will all be targeted at you.

Golurk is fine.

Hope I helped!
-Brawlfest

 

[soulgazer]

I don't have much time, but I just want to say that Eelektross can effectively run close to max HP (240 evs) without much problems as it help you checks Flying-types, which your team needs.

Also run Modest + max Speed on Samurott. The speed is necessary to outspeed as much Pokemon as possible to 2HKO everything, and even with a negative nature, Megahorn still OHKO Jynx and 2HKO Musharna after Stealth Rock.

 

[ghh]

Thanks for the replies, I'll try the Modest 252 Spe on Samurott and see how it goes. This should go well with the Taunt change suggested by Brawl so I can Taunt some stall teams or walls. As Soul has mentioned, stuff Banded Braviary is quite a threat to my team with their Brave Birds, so I'll need close to max HP EV's on Eel.

I won't be running Defiant on Braviary, because I absolutely need the power of Sheer Forced Rock Slide for Mandibuzz, who is a serious threat to this team, and I already have Golurk and Kanghaskan with EQ coverage for Steel and Rock types, and Eelektross deals with Golem pretty easy anywho.

I've thought about adding Speed EV's for Eel because I get outsped by Tangela and get Sleep Powdered, which is pretty annoying, but it's not something I run into often.

Lastly, Musharna is not here to survive long game, because this is an offensive team that doesnt want to slow down, so Musharna's purpose is purely to cripple walls, speedsters, hit hard on its last legs, and Baton Pass to his teammates. He also functions as a temporary wall to Fighting Types, giving me enough time to take care of them with Kanghaskan late-game. I will however change the EV's as you suggested.