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[TehBlueFoxx]

So with X/Y testing starting, I decided to get back into battling for a bit. Unfortunately there's no 6th Gen NU yet, so I couldnt really get into it, and was forced to rely on some old favourites. The team has been going really well so far (i think im on a 20+ streak atm), so I thought I'd share 6 of my favourite NU pokemon who work together pretty well :3

Alomomola @ Leftovers

Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Toxic
- Wish
- Protect

Starting off, the one and only Alomomola. With a name almost as frustrating as its walling abilities. It's a standard wall in NU so you guys should know what it does by now. It takes physical hits with ease and passes on wish to the rest of my team. Alomomola is perfect on the team, as most of my pokemon struggle with recovery moves, and its massive HP means that it can get everything to full health almost always. I choose scald over waterfall for those few enemies who need to be burned more than poisoned, i.e. poison types and heavy hitters that will switch in and out a lot. Alomomola should be kept alive as long as possible to ensure the team's longevity, so make sure you watch out for special attacks in the early/mid game.

Roselia @ Eviolite

Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Spikes
- Rest
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb

Roselia is another obvious choice for the team. It fills the role of the special wall for the team and helps back up alomomola against super-effective grass and electric attacks. Spikes is key for making sure damage stacks up for the opponent while they switch to try counter your walls. Rest combined with Natural Cure means that as long as you have 2 pokemon, it takes 2 turns for Roselia to become healthy and at full health again. But not only is Roselia wonderful with its defences, its special attack is great too. Giga Drain and Sludge Bomb give decent coverage, and mean that Roselia can strongly counter most special attackers in NU. Giga drain is also vital in getting recovery, as it should be noted that rest can be a bit of a risk sometimes.

Torkoal @ Leftovers

Ability: Shell Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Lava Plume
- Yawn

Finally, finishing off the fire-water-grass core is Torkoal, completing my favourite trifecta in NU. With this investment, Torkoal can take a lot of non STAB special moves well enough to retaliate with a yawn or a lava plume. As well as this, its natural bulk means that it can take physical hits as well. Lava plume hits pretty hard against NU's large collection of frail attackers, and the 30% chance for burn has saved this team on more than one occasion. Steal Rocks are a vital move for the team as well, as they rack up damage on the opponent while they switch in an attempt to combat the walls of the team. Rapid spin is there mainly for teams who set up both spikes AND stealth rocks. Normally, i forego spinning if only rocks are up, as the team isnt very weak to them, however it depends on the battle. Yawn helps to gain momentum and put pressure on the opponent. It can force out spinners and spin blockers who aim to mess with hazards, and (occasionally at the sacrifice of Torkoal) can cripple an opponent with Sleep.

Armaldo @ Leftovers

Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish
- Rock Blast
- X-Scissor
In any team, it's hard to pick out a favourite pokemon, because they all play such unique roles. But this Armaldo is hands down my favourite on this team. It may not be the most used, or get the most kill, but the surprise factor alone makes it a lot of fun to use. Armaldo boasts a powerful 125 base attack stat, which means that even without swords dance it will pack a punch. Its speed is naturally pretty lackluster, but after setting up one swords dance, Armaldo can outspeed Atricuno, Braviary, Butterfree, and knock them out with a rock blast. The combination of both Swords Dance and Rock Polish means that if your opponent slips up, and wastes a turn against Armaldo, it can open up their team to a serious attack. Armaldo is commonly a defensive pokemon used for Stealth Rocks and Rapid Spin, so people tend to send out their own spinners against it. This usually gives you a turn to set up one of your boosts (whichever is more suited to their team) and wreak havoc, often taking out 2 or more pokemon at least. While there are some games where Armaldo's use is minimal, its certainly a great pokemon to surprise your opponent and get some momentum that way. Rock Slide and Stone edge can be substituted for Rock Blast, however rock blast helps a lot with pokemon who like to set up subs, like Braviary and Ninjask. It is possible to forego a boosting move to make a spot for Aqua Tail if necessary, but the added coverage is rarely enough to warrant the switch

Misdreavus (M) @ Eviolite

Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Taunt
Misdreavus is also a great pokemon on this team. Its ghost typing means that it can serve as a spin blocker, especially helpful when both Spikes and Stealth Rocks are up. Nasty Plot is a great move which makes Misdreavus hit a lot harder. There can be a chance to use Nasty Plot against spinners who are switching out after they have been blocked, thus opening up a chance to get some quick KOs with shadow ball/thunderbolt. Shadowball is good for STAB of course, and thunderbolt helps to cover the mass of flying types in NU, as well as walls like Alomomola and Wartortle. Taunt is helpful, especially in the opening turns of the battle, to shut down Stealth Rock/Spikes leads and force switches. Misdreavus' levitate also helps to compensate for the ground weakness of Torkoal, and its spin-blockerness means that the two of them can work well together. Arguably, taunt could be switched out for Pain Split, Heal Bell or Will O Wisp, to help it survive or cripple the opponent's team, however, taunt helps stop potential sweeps from pokemon like gurdurr as well as keeping entry hazards and status to a minimum.

Machoke @ Eviolite

Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- DynamicPunch
- Bulk Up
- Bullet Punch
- Ice Punch
Machoke is the final pokemon on this team, and is wonderful for its all roundedness. Its attack stat isnt amazing, but it can certainly pack a punch (hehe). Its defences are boosted by Eviolite to help it a lot, and its speed, while not great, is enough to outspeed slow walls like Lairon, Metang, Bastiodon and Probopass. Dynamic punch is helpful for spreading confusion, helping Machoke to take on pokemon that it doesnt match up against too well. Ice punch is for coverage against flying types mainly, but also hits hard against Golurk, and other ghost types. Bullet punch is my only priority on the team, and it fills that role well enough, finishing off fast, yet frail opponents. Bulk Up is mainly for when pokemon are confused or frozen by Machoke, or when he is forcing switch outs. It helps to strengthen his attacks making him even more menacing, and the increased defence, combined with eviolite, means that he will pull through quite a bit.

This team is filled with my favourite pokemon in NU and while the synergy isnt perfect, I really enjoy using these pokemon together. The main issues i've faced have been from people spreading status around my team, or losing walls early on because of crits. Taunt helps to stop status but you need a lot of forethought to prepare your team for that, and often you will need to sacrifice one pokemon's status because there's no way around it.

If you guys have any suggestions I'd really enjoy it, and if you use the team i hope you have just as much fun with it as i do :)

 

[WhiteDMist]

I'm not going to fully rate this, but I don't see the point of Armaldo on this team. As a sweeper, it is either too slow or too weak if it lacks both boosts, which is highly difficult to set up against a decent/good player. Your whole team is destroyed by Specs Charizard, as you have no defense against special Flying-type moves (Rotom-S is an annoyance as well, though Torkoal does somewhat better against it) and after Stealth Rock even Torkoal is 2HKOed by Specs Air Slash (and if in Blaze range, Specs Fire Blast breaks Torkoal without Rocks even). Your only defense is to try and status it with Torkoal/Alomomola or Rock Blast it with Armaldo, and all of these methods fail if Charizard flinches, with Armaldo actually getting OHKOed by Flamethrower when in Blaze range! Once on Blaze range, your only chance is actually Bullet Punch from machoke (hope that it is at 1% HP then). Gardevoir and Jynx can also rip chunks off your team, though at least Machoke can Bullet Punch Jynx. You also have trouble dealing with Choice Band Golurk's STAB moves after Rocks. Without making your team a defensive team, there is no simple way to patch these problems up defensively. However, by simply substituting Armaldo with Shell Smash Carrracosta, you can at least check most of these threats. With Aqua Jet, you also alleviate the pressure on Machoke being the only priority user on your team, makes up for your lack of a proper revenge killer, and keeps Charizard from singlehandedly running through your team. Due to the combined Attack and Speed boost, you can outspeed everything but Scarf Gardevoir (who hates boosted Aqua Jet) and Jynx (who you'll have to rely on Bullet Punch for regardless) and overpower them. For the item, while Life orb is the general choice, Luum Berry is possible to prevent Misdreavus and Alomomola from burning you (which would be a problem as it's your main sweeper).

 

[Brawlfest]

Not a bad team, I actually fought this team 2-3 days ago if you remember, and I thought overall this was an extremely solid stall team. However, I would like to bring up a few points. Seeing as your primary win condition is your ability to set up Hazards and Stall out your opponent, your two "Sweepers" in Machoke and Armaldo really don't cut it, and show as the weakest links in the team.

To start off easy, I would suggest switch Torkoal's EV's to 252 Defense, as Roselia is already your special defensive wall, therefore consolidating Torkoal's primary purpose into walling physical attackers.

Next, I would suggest carrying Bulk Up Gurdurr over Machoke. This is because Gurdurr has higher Attack, HP, Defense, and has a better ability. Why would you not use it. Gurdurr literally carries the exact same moveset your current Machoke carries, but with far more success due to it's ability to not only take status, but Benefit from it, as well as hit far harder and tank more hits. It also carries a better moveset in Drain Punch and Mach Punch, giving it reliable recovery as well as STAB Priority, making it far better than the current machoke set you are carrying right now.

The next point I would like to make is the removal of Armaldo for either Shell Smash Carracosta or Offensive Klang. WhiteDMist already covered how good Shell Smash Carracosta is, so I won't go into too much detail into it other than the fact that it outclasses Armaldo in almost every way, and essentially pulls off Rock Polish and Swords Dance at the same time, yet still gets a form of priority. However, the reason I chose Offensive Klang is the following. It covers things such as Regice and Jynx, as well as provides a solid counter to SwagPard and SubBulkUp Braviary. While these four don't seem like severe threats, the first two with proper support can run through your team with their Ice Stab + Coverage Move, and the second two Annoy your team behind their subs, leaving you with no way to deal with them. However, Klang will be able to set up in all four of their faces and proceed to spam Gear Grind to blast through their substitutes. This gives you a solid check to quite a few things your team faces with some trouble. The reason why I chose the offensive set is because with wish support form your alomomola, it really doesn't find resttalk useful. However, Klang does not check the previously mentioned threat of charizard, which does leave you between two choices.

I hope I helped!

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