ORAS NU Gatr Hyper Offence : TOP 50 on the Ladder - ONLY 2 LOSSES

[Sam I Yam]

I'm not good with computers so unfortunately this won't have any fancy pictures, gifs, etc.

Intro: I'm a brand new player to the NU tier. In fact, it was only 5 days before I reached #50 on the ladder with this team that I played my first game of NU ever. I am making this RMT because I feel that this is a team with a lot of potential, and also makes as a good learning team for new players (such as myself). Lets go over the team.

Rotom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Shadow Ball
- Trick

There's not much to explain about Rotom's set because it is undoubtedly the most standard, boring set you see on almost ever Rotom. Electric+Ghost coverage is pretty spammable in NU and with hyper offence, that's exactly what you want. Trick is good utility and can help cripple walls, giving me a free switch into Gurdurr or Gatr to boost up and deal damage.

Feraligatr @ Lum Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 180 HP / 252 Atk / 76 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Return
- Swords Dance

Gatr, in my opinion is probably the best pokemon in NU currently. Again a pretty standard EV Spread for Gatr. I chose to run lum berry over life orb or another item because I'd rather play it safe. Gatr has good enough bulk to take hits, so many opponents will waste a turn trying to twave or burn you. I also like being able to hit vileplume on the switch in without having to worry about getting statused by effect spore. 76 speed allows you to safely outspeed uninvested mesprit as well as MAX speed base 55s like cacturne (who will try to switch in on you because they have water absorb, trust me). Half the games I win are because I can wear the opposing threats down with hazards/chip damage and set up to +2 with gatr and kill everything with aqua jet.

+2 252+ Atk Feraligatr Return vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Cacturne: 317-374 (112.4 - 132.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Cacturne Sucker Punch vs. 180 HP / 0 Def Feraligatr: 172-203 (48.3 - 57%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Feraligatr Return vs. 252 HP / 224+ Def Vileplume: 172-203 (48.5 - 57.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock, 1 layer of Spikes, and Black Sludge recovery
+2 252+ Atk Feraligatr Waterfall vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Rotom: 306-360 (126.9 - 149.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Feraligatr Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Lickilicky: 256-303 (60.3 - 71.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

sd skarmory
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Seed Bomb
- Acrobatics
- Sleep Powder
- Swords Dance

The underrated THREAT. I know it's a "cool thing" to use low rank pokes and do well with them, but jumpluff just fits so well with this team that I'm using it purely for winning not style points ;) I chose to run the offensive set because, it fits better with the playstyle of this team than the support sets do (obviously). Most people do not expect jumpluff to hit as hard as it does, especially after a +2. Having a fast sleep powder really helps slow down your opponents momentum if you are on the defensive for whatever reason. With the exception of steel, flying/grass coverage hits everything pretty decently. +2 acrobatics has a chance to OHKO standard Gurdurr. Jumpluff pairs well with Gatr to allow it to hit grass types and eat up grass attacks aimed at gatr. An unboosted seed bomb hits bulky Gatr for around half and has a good chance to ohko at +2. Anything that comes in and tries to wall jumpluff can usually be put to sleep for a few turns and dealt with by another poke.

Typhlosion @ Choice Specs
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Eruption
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Extrasensory

Damage. This thing just deals off tons and tons of damage. Doesn't matter if you resist it or not, you are going to take a chunk from Specs Eruption. I chose Typhlosion because I needed something that could come in and deal immediate damage without having to worry about type match up much or needing to set up. Typhlosion has access to a 100% accurate 150BP move at full health. With choice specs equipped this helps you punch holes in opponents walls. This is especially great with stealth rock support because, opposing fire types who attempt to switch in to "take" an equation will have to take significant damage from rocks too. One more thing about Typhlosion, if your opponent has stealth rocks up, use them to your advantage to put yourself into blaze range. Obviously it may not be practical in every single battle, but keep in mind that your fire attacks will do 1.5 more damage when you are at 1/3 health or below. Let me put this in perspective for you: Eruption has 150 Base power at %100HP, Fire Blast has 165 BP at 1/3HP. This is significant enough to keep in mind.

252 SpA Choice Specs Typhlosion Eruption (150 BP) vs. 56 HP / 0 SpD Feraligatr: 189-223 (58.1 - 68.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Typhlosion Eruption (150 BP) vs. 4 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Muk: 171-202 (48.5 - 57.3%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Typhlosion Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 40 SpD Uxie: 250-295 (70.6 - 83.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Typhlosion Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Lickilicky: 241-285 (56.8 - 67.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Typhlosion Eruption (150 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Mega Audino: 199-235 (48.6 - 57.4%) -- 94.9% chance to 2HKO (100% chance to ohko if it switches into eruption while not mega evolved)
252 SpA Choice Specs Typhlosion Eruption (150 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Audino: 256-303 (62.5 - 74%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Crustle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Blast
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Spikes

The dedicated suicide/offensive hazard lead. I think crustle is the best lead in NU due to the fact that it has access to both stealth rocks AND Spikes, and has a decent match up against many other common leads or "anti leads". You are almost always guaranteed Stealth rocks and 1 layer of spikes (which is more than enough support for this team). Jolly weak armor lets you outspeed base up to jolly base 90's after the boost. This comes in handy very often, because getting that extra spike, or ridding an opponent of their item with knock off before you go down can make a huge difference later on in the game. Very often you will face a taunt lead archeops. Anytime my opponent leads with archeops I almost always just go for rock blast. 3 Hits is a guaranteed OHKO. Try to think ahead and figure out how many hazards you will need when using crustle. Is it worth getting that second spike up or do you just need to get off some immediate damage with rock blast so that you can force your opponent out with Gatr, etc.

Gurdurr @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Def
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Bulk Up

Similar to Gatr, Gurdurr is an even more bulky mon who has great hole punching potential as well as late game cleaning with mach punch. I chose a bit more defensive investment for a few reasons: It allows for % recovery through drain punch, and it allows me to handle Gatr easier, while also being able to set up on many physical attackers who cant hit me with a stab super effective move. Knock off is wonderfull paired with drain punch. It greatly helps when you opponent wants to engage in a "set up war" because you can limit his recovery. Eviolite makes gurdurr incredibly bulky, even without the +1 boost from bulk up. Mach punch deals heavy damage at +1 and with the help of hazards, is often enough to clean late game.

252+ Atk Feraligatr Waterfall vs. 56 HP / 200 Def Eviolite Gurdurr: 76-91 (23.3 - 28%) -- 87.1% chance to 4HKO
252+ Atk Gurdurr Drain Punch vs. 56 HP / 0 Def Feraligatr: 117-138 (36 - 42.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Gurdurr Mach Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Pyroar: 162-192 (51.7 - 61.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ Atk Gurdurr Mach Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Pyroar: 242-288 (77.3 - 92%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Guts Hariyama Close Combat vs. +1 56 HP / 200 Def Eviolite Gurdurr: 126-148 (38.7 - 45.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 252+ Atk Gurdurr Drain Punch vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Hariyama: 262-310 (53.3 - 63.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and burn damage
252+ Atk Gurdurr Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mesprit: 192-228 (63.5 - 75.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Mold Breaker Sawk Close Combat vs. 56 HP / 200 Def Eviolite Gurdurr: 129-153 (39.6 - 47%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Gurdurr Drain Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Sawk: 147-174 (50.3 - 59.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Feel free to post your suggestions/comments/criticism.

I'd like to get a list of threats to this team eventually, so feel free to talk about the weaknesses it has.

-SD Skarmory

 

[Sam I Yam]

Reserved.

 

[Evan.]

hey Ryan Blank this seems like a pretty standard straightforward HO team, however you could do with some set optimization.

I like to run a spread of 104 HP / 252 Atk / 152 Spd on Feraligatr as it lets you outpace +Speed Natured Cacturne which is becoming more and more common. I also recommend running Ice Punch > Return because it allows you to actually beat Vileplume and other Grass-Types like Gourgeist 1 on 1 with the right plays.

Crustle should probably be running Sturdy > Weak Armor and Mental Herb > Focus Sash as it guarantees a layer of hazards and also allows you to beat Lead Archeops without being Taunted. I also recommend running X-Scissor > Knock Off as it allows you to beat Xatu 1v1 if it Roosts on a predicted Rock Blast.

I'd also like to recommend Raichu > Rotom with the rise of MegaLix and MegaRupt as the premier Bulky Grounds, Rotom is not as good as it once was. Raichu still outspeeds almost all of the relevant tier while being able to beat M-Lix and M-Rupt with Surf.

OPTIONAL: If Jumpluff works for you, by all means keep it. If you find yourself having trouble with Stall you might want to consider running Stallbreaker Archeops > Jumpluff. Again just an optional change but if you find that Stall is giving you trouble give it a try.

Raichu @ Life Orb
Ability: Static
4 Def / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Surf
- Grass Knot

Optional:

Archeops
Ability: Defeatist
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Roost
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake / Defog

 

[marilli]

You should try to format the thread so that at least the words are decent enough size to be read. Just click edit, select the whole post, and press the Tx button (remove formatting) and you should be good. It's the leftmost one.

Mainly just wanted to point out how to fix the formatting issue because it's kind of hard to read and want it to be at least readable. Also he shouldn't run defog with suicide spiker lol. To be honest, as a stall player I feel it is really annoying to deal with Jumpluff because of the sleep that cannot be absorbed by Grass-types, and the sleeping Pokemon can be exploited by something else, etc. I just feel that Stallbreaker Archeops is much more "well-prepped" for by most stall teams so take that as you will. Above post covers most issues, especially Ice Punch on Feraligatr lets you deal with Vileplume much better. Cool offense though!

 

[Blast]

I think the moveset changes for Gatr and Crustle are good ones, and I would definitely look into them. Though I really don't think Raichu is worth it for a couple of reasons: you lose your spinblocker and a considerable amount of Speed (notably the ability to outspeed and kill Swellow or +2 Gorebyss, which can give you quite a bit of trouble otherwise). If you're worried about getting taken advantage of by Mega Camerupt, you could try running Taunt + Destiny Bond Mismagius and Swords Dance Kabutops over Rotom and Gatr, but I don't think it's totally necessary (and the loss of Speed is still evident).

I'm also not quite sold on Archeops either since your team is fairly weak to SD Feraligatr as is, and you really don't need another weakness stacked up. Jumpluff obviously isn't the greatest check in the world either, but it at least doesn't make you outright weaker to it.

In general I don't think excessive changes are needed since this is pretty standard offense, but I'll just note a few things that might be worth trying. Like I said, SD Gatr looks like a pretty big threat, so if you feel like you're too weak to it you could try another Grass-type like SD Serperior over Jumpluff (it has a lot more initial power and can even lure in Fire-types with Aqua Tail, though you do lose Flying STAB). Also I'm not really sure if you want to sacrifice so much special bulk on Gurdurr with your current spread since it really likes the ability to tank special hits better too when trying to sweep with Bulk Up. An option is to maximize HP and take some EVs out of Attack instead--252 HP / 196 Atk / 60 Def is almost exactly as bulky as your current spread while tanking special hits a lot better and doesn't lose too much power.

Serperior @ Life Orb | Overgrow
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe | Jolly
Swords Dance | Leaf Blade | Knock Off | Aqua Tail

 

[Ares]

Hi Ryan Blank first off welcome to smogon! I have a couple of suggestions on how to improve your RMT: first off formatting is everything, people like to look at pretty things and you draw more users in when they click on your thread if you have manageable sized text (usually the default is good) and if you have pictures. The first one is pretty easy to do, just go into your toolbar and select the size. The second one is a bit harder if you don't know where to go for sprites, i like this website http://pldh.net/ and its simple; you search the pokemon, click sprites, click the one you want, and then copy the BB codes to insert it into your thread. The last suggestion is to add in an importable in hide tags at the bottom of your thread. [ hide=name ] importable info [ /hide ] with no spaces inbetween the brackets gives you some hide tags.

Now onto the rate, I'm going to keep it fairly short because the above raters have pretty much covered everything and it looks like you have a fairly standard Hyper Offense team going on here. The three things that immediately jump out to me are your Crustle set, your EV spread on Feraligatr, and that your team is a bit weak to rocks and is prone to be worn down by hazards in general. I would make the changes to Feraligatr and Crustle as suggested by Can-Eh-Dian however, the preference of Ice Punch > Return is entirely up to you as you don't necessarily struggle to much with grass types as you have a Typhlosion on your team, they are something to watch out for though. I also don't agree with the suggested changes of Raichu and Archeops for the same reasons that Dat Blast said; makes you weaker to gatr and removes your spin blocker. The next change I'm going to suggest is just a small tweak which is Lilligant > Jumpluff while I do think Jumpluff is really cool and fits in the slot you provided really well, I think that Lilligant fits in there a little bit better. They play pretty similarly coming in and putting a Pokemon to sleep and then setting up and sweeping. The main reasons to run Lilligant over Jumpluff is that it provides a better Feraligatr check, gives you a special sweeper instead of 3 physical ones, and also removes the slight rock weakness you have. Other than these small changes the team looks pretty solid and standard.

Lilligant @ Life Orb | Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe | Timid Nature
Giga Drain | Hidden Power [Fire] | Quiver Dance | Sleep Powder

Hope this helped ^.^

 

[Sam I Yam]

Fixed the formatting. i typed the OP on my phone lol didnt realize it was that redic. I've tried subbing Lilligant/Serperior both for jumpluff. I liked Lilligant better, but i still really miss the speed+immunity to ground/spikes. I'd like to try it again with contrary serperior though now that its out. Really want to take a weekend and get to top 5 on the ladder. Montsegur thanks so much for that website, i had no idea it was that easy:)

 

[365pokemon]

This is a really fun and easy team to use. I've been testing it a bit and have tried replacing rotom with a life orb heliolisk. Heliolisk has much higher speed and special attack than rotom, giving it a stronger volt switch and thunderbolt, as well as good coverage moves in surf and hyper voice. The one advantage rotom has over heliolisk is being able to cripple walls, but this play can lose lots of momentum if your opponent switches. Also, rotom is walled by mega steelix, one of the most common pokemon in NU, while heliolisk can threaten steelix with surf.