I'll probably end up retiring this team, since I haven't used the thing in ages now and I like to experiment with a bunch of random stuff, but it got me to #5 on the RU ladder and won me a UU tour. Yes, you read that right, I won a UU tour with this RU team. I call it "Dirty Play" because Crustle is almost certainly the star of the show here, and because in general this team loves to both use underrated stuff and annoy the hell out of whoever's facing it. So, without further ado...
Team at a glance:
[pimg]647[/pimg][pimg]588[/pimg][pimg]160[/pimg][pimg]500[/pimg][pimg]653[/pimg][pimg]208[/pimg]
Accelgor @ Leftovers
Sticky Hold
Timid
208 HP / 48 SpA / 252 Spe
-Encore
-Substitute
-Baton Pass
-Bug Buzz
I'm the one who wrote the Sub + Encore set in the Accelgor analysis, and there is a damn good reason I made this the standard. If it's not Crustle who's the MVP of this team, then without a doubt it's Accelgor. All I have to do is bring this thing in on anything that I think is going to try to set up, Encore it, Sub to scout, and Baton Pass a free Substitute. It helps that I can pretty much be as daring as I want with this thing, what with everything trying to set up Subs on my switch, and the fact that I can laugh in the face of Trick. All I really need to fear is stray status as I bring it in. Just to demonstrate how useful this thing is, my first answer to Honchkrow is this, and my second answer is Steelix. Enough said, really.
Crustle @ Lum Berry
Sturdy
Adamant
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
-Shell Smash
-X-Scissor
-Rock Blast
-Earthquake
Standard Shell Smash Crustle. And it's used as a lead, in roughly 95% of my matches. So why is this thing the MVP? Three layers of deception. First, Accelgor is the lead in Team Preview, so most players expect to deal with that. Second, Crustle is usually seen laying hazards, and lead mons in general are usually seen laying hazards. Third, this thing is stupidly underrated. (How the HELL did this thing hit NU range in January stats?) After a Shell Smash, Crustle outspeeds freaking Scolipede, OHKOes straight through Focus Sash and laughs at Subs (I'm sure someone will tell me that Stone Edge > Rock Blast, but that person is wrong), and generally starts cleaning the floor with the opponent's team. This thing usually gets 2 kills a game, especially with Lum Berry putting a stop to the most common earlygame method of handling Smash sweepers, severely weakening the opponent's team for everything else to clean up. Even if it gets just one kill, the momentum is still squarely in my favor. And if they lead with Aerodactyl, the incoming Taunt is so ridiculously predictable that I just click Rock Blast on turn 1 and bye-bye Aero. The only thing that I really need to fear is Trick, but I have Accelgor for that.
Feraligatr @ Life Orb
Torrent
Adamant
56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spe
-Swords Dance
-Aqua Jet
-Waterfall
-Crunch
My main late-game cleaner. I love this thing, it's so underrated. After an SD, Aqua Jet can OHKO a surprising amount of things that don't expect to be OHKOed, such as Rotom, and Crunch one-shots any Slowking stupid enough to try to wall this. And there's nothing stopping Feraligatr from coming in midgame on anything that it feels like picking off with priority. On top of that, it's surprisingly bulky for an offensive Pokemon. This thing is like RU's version of SD Scizor.
(Sorry for the size, but that pic was too good to pass up.)
Rotom-C @ Choice Scarf
Levitate
Modest
252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Volt Switch
-Leaf Storm
-Trick
-Hidden Power [Fire]
Almost every team I make has a TrickScarf set on it somewhere, and there's a good reason: they're just that valuable. Putting an opponent's mon out of commission for the remainder of the match is almost too good, as the existence of the Sleep Clause demonstrates. I originally had Manectric here (hint: use Manectric, it's amazing) but the problem is that I need a Water resist, otherwise my team gets trolled by opposing Feraligatr. The biggest issue with this is that it becomes something of a liability once it Tricks off its Scarf, and in general my opponents tend to predict around it. To be honest, I'm pretty open to replacing Rotom-C with something new, but it'd have to address my team's weaknesses without creating glaring new ones.
Golurk @ Leftovers
Iron Fist
Adamant
208 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Spe
-Substitute
-Focus Punch
-Earthquake
-Shadow Punch
Standard SubPunch Golurk. This thing's typing is so amazing. Immune to Electric and Fighting which are two of the best types in RU, resists Stone Edge and SR, resists Bug, has a third immunity to cap it all. If I'm not passing Accelgor's Subs out to Feraligatr, I'm passing them to this thing. Even though it can Sub on its own, it'll often laugh at whatever was targeting Accelgor, and thus get a free turn to Focus Punch. That being said, I've been considering a different set; I just don't know what would be a worthwhile set for Golurk that isn't this one. I'd be very surprised if I wound up taking Golurk itself out because of the amazing typing, but the set isn't always stellar. Suggestions for this would be appreciated.
Steelix @ Leftovers
Sturdy
Relaxed
252 HP / 96 Def / 160 SpD (0 Spe IV)
-Roar
-Gyro Ball
-Earthquake
-Stealth Rock
Steelix' typing is a pretty solid candidate for best typing in RU. Being able to hard-counter some of the most solid threats in the tier is very, very useful. The problem is that after setting up SR, it can barely do anything back to most of them outside of Roaring them into rocks. And it dies to a lot of SE or even neutral attacks, in particular Sceptile's Leaf Storm. Phazing, SR, and resistances come in handy, but they only go so far. TL;DR I need ideas for something new in this team slot.
Major threats to this team:
-SCEPTILE. The mere presence of Sceptile in Team Preview causes me to play Accelgor very, very cautiously. If Accelgor is dead and Sceptile is alive...gg.
-Sharpedo, in a sense. Usually I can outsmart the opponent well enough, but if they manage to outpredict me, there's not too much I can do to really answer.
-Tangrowth. Sure, Accelgor answers it beautifully, but if Accelgor is dead, Tangrowth becomes nightmarishly hard to break outside of a fortunate Trick.
-In general, strong physically defensive Pokemon can be annoying, since my only special attackers are more utility than sweeper. Qwilfish especially.
Team at a glance:
[pimg]647[/pimg][pimg]588[/pimg][pimg]160[/pimg][pimg]500[/pimg][pimg]653[/pimg][pimg]208[/pimg]
Accelgor @ Leftovers
Sticky Hold
Timid
208 HP / 48 SpA / 252 Spe
-Encore
-Substitute
-Baton Pass
-Bug Buzz
I'm the one who wrote the Sub + Encore set in the Accelgor analysis, and there is a damn good reason I made this the standard. If it's not Crustle who's the MVP of this team, then without a doubt it's Accelgor. All I have to do is bring this thing in on anything that I think is going to try to set up, Encore it, Sub to scout, and Baton Pass a free Substitute. It helps that I can pretty much be as daring as I want with this thing, what with everything trying to set up Subs on my switch, and the fact that I can laugh in the face of Trick. All I really need to fear is stray status as I bring it in. Just to demonstrate how useful this thing is, my first answer to Honchkrow is this, and my second answer is Steelix. Enough said, really.
Crustle @ Lum Berry
Sturdy
Adamant
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
-Shell Smash
-X-Scissor
-Rock Blast
-Earthquake
Standard Shell Smash Crustle. And it's used as a lead, in roughly 95% of my matches. So why is this thing the MVP? Three layers of deception. First, Accelgor is the lead in Team Preview, so most players expect to deal with that. Second, Crustle is usually seen laying hazards, and lead mons in general are usually seen laying hazards. Third, this thing is stupidly underrated. (How the HELL did this thing hit NU range in January stats?) After a Shell Smash, Crustle outspeeds freaking Scolipede, OHKOes straight through Focus Sash and laughs at Subs (I'm sure someone will tell me that Stone Edge > Rock Blast, but that person is wrong), and generally starts cleaning the floor with the opponent's team. This thing usually gets 2 kills a game, especially with Lum Berry putting a stop to the most common earlygame method of handling Smash sweepers, severely weakening the opponent's team for everything else to clean up. Even if it gets just one kill, the momentum is still squarely in my favor. And if they lead with Aerodactyl, the incoming Taunt is so ridiculously predictable that I just click Rock Blast on turn 1 and bye-bye Aero. The only thing that I really need to fear is Trick, but I have Accelgor for that.
Feraligatr @ Life Orb
Torrent
Adamant
56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spe
-Swords Dance
-Aqua Jet
-Waterfall
-Crunch
My main late-game cleaner. I love this thing, it's so underrated. After an SD, Aqua Jet can OHKO a surprising amount of things that don't expect to be OHKOed, such as Rotom, and Crunch one-shots any Slowking stupid enough to try to wall this. And there's nothing stopping Feraligatr from coming in midgame on anything that it feels like picking off with priority. On top of that, it's surprisingly bulky for an offensive Pokemon. This thing is like RU's version of SD Scizor.
(Sorry for the size, but that pic was too good to pass up.)
Rotom-C @ Choice Scarf
Levitate
Modest
252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Volt Switch
-Leaf Storm
-Trick
-Hidden Power [Fire]
Almost every team I make has a TrickScarf set on it somewhere, and there's a good reason: they're just that valuable. Putting an opponent's mon out of commission for the remainder of the match is almost too good, as the existence of the Sleep Clause demonstrates. I originally had Manectric here (hint: use Manectric, it's amazing) but the problem is that I need a Water resist, otherwise my team gets trolled by opposing Feraligatr. The biggest issue with this is that it becomes something of a liability once it Tricks off its Scarf, and in general my opponents tend to predict around it. To be honest, I'm pretty open to replacing Rotom-C with something new, but it'd have to address my team's weaknesses without creating glaring new ones.
Golurk @ Leftovers
Iron Fist
Adamant
208 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Spe
-Substitute
-Focus Punch
-Earthquake
-Shadow Punch
Standard SubPunch Golurk. This thing's typing is so amazing. Immune to Electric and Fighting which are two of the best types in RU, resists Stone Edge and SR, resists Bug, has a third immunity to cap it all. If I'm not passing Accelgor's Subs out to Feraligatr, I'm passing them to this thing. Even though it can Sub on its own, it'll often laugh at whatever was targeting Accelgor, and thus get a free turn to Focus Punch. That being said, I've been considering a different set; I just don't know what would be a worthwhile set for Golurk that isn't this one. I'd be very surprised if I wound up taking Golurk itself out because of the amazing typing, but the set isn't always stellar. Suggestions for this would be appreciated.
Steelix @ Leftovers
Sturdy
Relaxed
252 HP / 96 Def / 160 SpD (0 Spe IV)
-Roar
-Gyro Ball
-Earthquake
-Stealth Rock
Steelix' typing is a pretty solid candidate for best typing in RU. Being able to hard-counter some of the most solid threats in the tier is very, very useful. The problem is that after setting up SR, it can barely do anything back to most of them outside of Roaring them into rocks. And it dies to a lot of SE or even neutral attacks, in particular Sceptile's Leaf Storm. Phazing, SR, and resistances come in handy, but they only go so far. TL;DR I need ideas for something new in this team slot.
Major threats to this team:
-SCEPTILE. The mere presence of Sceptile in Team Preview causes me to play Accelgor very, very cautiously. If Accelgor is dead and Sceptile is alive...gg.
-Sharpedo, in a sense. Usually I can outsmart the opponent well enough, but if they manage to outpredict me, there's not too much I can do to really answer.
-Tangrowth. Sure, Accelgor answers it beautifully, but if Accelgor is dead, Tangrowth becomes nightmarishly hard to break outside of a fortunate Trick.
-In general, strong physically defensive Pokemon can be annoying, since my only special attackers are more utility than sweeper. Qwilfish especially.
