The Elements

[Turtleye]

Hello Smogon and welcome to my 3rd RMT. I haven't made one in quite a while, because I was playing around in UU(beta). This tier, albeit still in Beta version, is starting to take shape. I really like UU because it's a very fun tier to play in and a lot of styles are possible.

The team at a glance

So, this team features a defensive FWG core consisting of Arcanine, Blastoise and Roserade. The three fit together nicely and force a lot of switches. I chose this core because each member has nice offensive presence, keeping set-up sweepers at bay. Next up are the two main sweepers/cleaners, Mienshao en Hydreigon. Both have access to U-turn, which is great, and each one is capable of softening up/taking out counters and/or checks the other can't get past. To finish off is my Stealth Rocks setter, and Spin Blocker to some extend, Golurk. This Pokemon is really nice, and I often find myself getting in a 6-5 advantage at the start simply because people do not know how to deal with it.

In depth

Rive (Arcanine) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Careful Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Extreme Speed
- Flare Blitz
- Morning Sun

Rive is the first part of my FWG core, and works really well. It's got a nice Special Defense, coupled with a decent HP stat. But it doesnt only wall things on the special side, Intimidate+WoW does wonders by softening up physical attacks. But this dog here isn't just defense, it also packs quite a punch in STAB Flare Blitz, and can finish weakened attackers with Extremespeed. I often find myself finishing any remaining Pokemons from my opponent with Rive.

Shells (Blastoise) @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Def
Bold Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Roar
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse

Shells, the second part of the FWG core. Blastoise is the best Rapid Spinner in the tier right now imo, being able to take out ghosts with Mega Launcher boosted Dark Pulses. It's bulk is really good. Rapid spin is here for obvious reasons. Roar for set-up sweepers like CroCune and ResTalk MAggron, as they can be a pain in the ass. Hydro Pump for STAB, however an untimely miss sucks. Dark Pulse for ghosts, thinking that they can spinblock on Shells. No recovery sucks, however.

Ivy (Roserade) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 120 SAtk / 252 HP / 136 SDef
Calm Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain

The last part of the FWG core. Ivy is a really solid Spikes setter and packs quite a punch as well. Sleep Powder is just for putting a Pokemon asleep, taking him out for quite some time, if not rendering it useless. Spikes works great in tandem with Sleep Powder, as a sleeping 'mon is often switched out, giving me a free turn to lay those hazards down. Sludge Bomb is for any grass-type thinking they can just switch in on Sleep Powder. Giga Drain is for recovery and STAB, and takes out 'mons like swampert with ease.

Swipes (Mienshao) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Poison Jab
- Knock Off
- U-turn

Swipes is one of the win conditions of this team. Spikes and Stealth Rocks rack up quite some damage and at a certain point in the game, the opposing team is just too weak to be able to sponge any more hits and will fall to STAB HJK. Mienshao is a favourite of mine, Regenerator is just so good and helps keeping Swipes healthy througout the match, negating Life Orb recoil and so on. HJK hits insanely hard, however the 90% accuracy sucks. Poison Jab is for Fairies, Knock Off for Ghosts and for being Knock Off. U-turn is great for scouting and recovering HP.

Shruiken (Hydreigon) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Naive Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- U-turn

Next up in the line is Shruiken. Shruiken is my main counter to Chandelure, as without him, Chandy would run rampant on this team (Swipes can OHKO him with Knock Off though, but can't switch in). I gave him a Scarf because I didn't have one at this point, and Hydreigon was just a perfect fit. Dark Pulse for sweeping late-game, Drace Meteor for if I really need something dead, Flamethrower for coverage(I rarely ever use this move) and U-turn because it gets momentum and works really well with a Scarf.

Iren (Golurk) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Shadow Punch
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch

And last but not least, Iren. Iren is my Stealth Rocks setter and spinblocker. I simply love this Pokemon because some opponents don't know how to play around with it (too often they just switch in Gligar or Zapdos, only to find themselves losing it to Ice Punch). Stealth Rocks is a great move and a neccesity on every team imo. Shadow Punch and Earthquake for STAB. I opted for Iron Fist > No Guard since Shadow Punch has laughable low BP(lolwat just 60), and Iron Fist remedies that and boosts it to 90 BP without STAb factored in. Ice Punch is to deal with Gligar, Zapdos and other Flying Types, and also benefits from Iron Fist.


So thats the team. Now on to the threatlist

Crawdaunt Crawdaunt is an extremely dangerous threat, getting a free switch on Iren and scaring out Rive and Ivy. It is also a bit unpredictable, since it can run either CB or DD. Also it has the strongest Knock Off in the tier.

Chandelure Once Shruiken goes down, this Chandelier of Death simple plows through my team if using Lefties/Life Orb, and if it's Scarfed, I usually have to guess to who I should switch. Also substitue is annoying. If I see this, I usually try to get SR up as quickly as possible, and keep Shruiken at full/high health.


Allright, this should do. Feel free to rate and giving me suggestions. This isn't meant to be a thread that shows how good this team is, but rather to help me improve my team.

 

[Turtleye]

Using the bump

 

[Arkian]

Hi there, I don't have the time to give a full rate, but I do have some minor suggestions. An EV spread of 96 HP / 252 SpA / 160 Spe with a Modest nature would be suitable for Roserade since it lets you outspeed 252 Diggersby while still OHKOing it with Giga Drain (Timid variants don't have that confirmed chance).

Also, I would use Fire Blast > Flamethrower on Hydreigon since it has an actual chance to OHKO AV Escavalier, which Flamethrower doesn't accomplish.

Aside from that, this looks like a solid team. If I have more time, I'll give it another look, but for now, I hope I helped and good luck with your team Turtleye ^.^

 

[Turtleye]

Hi there, I don't have the time to give a full rate, but I do have some minor suggestions. An EV spread of 96 HP / 252 SpA / 160 Spe with a Modest nature would be suitable for Roserade since it lets you outspeed 252 Diggersby while still OHKOing it with Giga Drain (Timid variants don't have that confirmed chance).

Also, I would use Fire Blast > Flamethrower on Hydreigon since it has an actual chance to OHKO AV Escavalier, which Flamethrower doesn't accomplish.

Aside from that, this looks like a solid team. If I have more time, I'll give it another look, but for now, I hope I helped and good luck with your team Turtleye ^.^

Okay, Thanks for the rate Rohail ^.^
I'll try your suggestions out. Fire blast won't hurt that much I guess (I am hardly ever using Flamethrower and I never see Escavalier. Maybe i'm a bit too low on the ladder lol)

I'm a little bit on the fence about Roserade, since I will kinda lose her bulk, which I really like.

 

[ApplepieFTW]

Okay, Thanks for the rate Rohail ^.^
I'll try your suggestions out. Fire blast won't hurt that much I guess (I am hardly ever using Flamethrower and I never see Escavalier. Maybe i'm a bit too low on the ladder lol)

I'm a little bit on the fence about Roserade, since I will kinda lose her bulk, which I really like.

But Diggersby is a huge problem

 

[Kingpoleon]

Try using Aura Sphere>Dark Pulse. To give you an idea of its power, Chansey takes ~35%-42% I believe. It also hits other threats like Hydreigon, Weavile, Crawdaunt, and the like.

 

[Turtleye]

Try using Aura Sphere>Dark Pulse. To give you an idea of its power, Chansey takes ~35%-42% I believe. It also hits other threats like Hydreigon, Weavile, Crawdaunt, and the like.

Jellicent and Latias will wall me if I do that. Bet yeah, I'm willing to try it out.

But Diggersby is a huge problem

Diggersby got the ban yesterday.

 

[Loudo]

Dropping Dark Pulse for Aura Sphere is not a good idea IMHO. It in no way helps M-Blastoise defeat Chansey:
4 SpA Mega Launcher Mega Blastoise Aura Sphere vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Chansey: 144-170 (20.4 - 24.1%) -- guaranteed 5HKO

Of the other mentioned mons, Weavile just got banned and is destroyed by M-Blastoise's Water attacks anyway and Crawdaunt is frail and can't do much to M-Blastoise (M-Blastoise resists Water and Ice and Knock Off doesn't get the boost against it because it's a Mega). Hydreigon is the only relevant threat.
Meanwhile, by choosing Aura Sphere instead of Dark Pulse you get completely walled by Jellicent, Latias, Slowbro, Grass/Poison Pokes, and so on. Besides, as a spinner hitting Ghosts is just more important to M-Blastoise's role in the team.

Since you have no SpA investment on Blastoise, consider dropping Hydro Pump for Scald. I don't know if you need that extra power for killing any relevant threat, but the burn chance should be better for a defensive Blastoise set.

For Arcanine, you should invest only 248 EV in HP. This way its HP isn't divisible by 4 and you can switch in Stealth Rock 5 times instead of 4.

For Golurk, consider dropping Earthquake for Drain Punch. This way you don't give free switches to Dark-types like Crawdaunt. Besides, Ghost + Fighting has perfect coverage, Drain Punch is boosted by Iron Fist, and it also helps to make Golurk sturdier.
(EDIT: Or, you could just run No Guard + Dynamic Punch. Your call.)

 

[Turtleye]

Dropping Dark Pulse for Aura Sphere is not a good idea IMHO. It in no way helps M-Blastoise defeat Chansey:
4 SpA Mega Launcher Mega Blastoise Aura Sphere vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Chansey: 144-170 (20.4 - 24.1%) -- guaranteed 5HKO

Of the other mentioned mons, Weavile just got banned and is destroyed by M-Blastoise's Water attacks anyway and Crawdaunt is frail and can't do much to M-Blastoise (M-Blastoise resists Water and Ice and Knock Off doesn't get the boost against it because it's a Mega). Hydreigon is the only relevant threat.
Meanwhile, by choosing Aura Sphere instead of Dark Pulse you get completely walled by Jellicent, Latias, Slowbro, Grass/Poison Pokes, and so on. Besides, as a spinner hitting Ghosts is just more important to M-Blastoise's role in the team.

Since you have no SpA investment on Blastoise, consider dropping Hydro Pump for Scald. I don't know if you need that extra power for killing any relevant threat, but the burn chance should be better for a defensive Blastoise set.

For Arcanine, you should invest only 248 EV in HP. This way its HP isn't divisible by 4 and you can switch in Stealth Rock 5 times instead of 4.

For Golurk, consider dropping Earthquake for Drain Punch. This way you don't give free switches to Dark-types like Crawdaunt. Besides, Ghost + Fighting has perfect coverage, Drain Punch is boosted by Iron Fist, and it also helps to make Golurk sturdier.
(EDIT: Or, you could just run No Guard + Dynamic Punch. Your call.)

Very interesting options. Earthquake does get the STAB bonus but I see that Drain Punch could increase his longetivity. Ima try it out, thanks :)