Lifeline
Introduction:
Hello and welcome to my RMT. So this has pretty much been my favorite team to use lately. It doesn't have any massive gigantic accomplishments to its name or anything: it won me an NUPL match and an NU room tour as well as doing solidly on the ladder (peaked around #25 or something I think? Not that ladder peaks mean much anyway but eh), but nothing much out of the ordinary. I just wanted to RMT a good, fun team that's been both successful and enjoyable to use, so here we are now. n_n
The strategy of the team is something kind of unique: it focuses primarily around Dark spam, attempting to weaken potential checks to Dark-types through constant pressure and pave the way for a potential sweep. Dark-types from what I've learned happen to be quite potent at this due to their ability to function against both offense and defense; because Sucker Punch threatens offense while Knock Off cripples defense, they can revert and adapt their matchup against a multitude of playstyles. Their unique synergy with hazard-stacking cores only adds to this, allowing them to apply even more pressure to opposing teams. I've tried out a couple of different builds with this, most notably switching between hyper offense and balance multiple times, but this is the one I like the most. The team definitely isn't perfect, and there's a few bugs I've been meaning to work out, so hopefully you guys can help me with that too :) Anyway, onto the team.
In-Depth:
Pawniard @ Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 204 Spd / 52 HP
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
Pawniard is a Pokemon that’s recently been getting a lot of attention from higher-level players, and for good reason. I’ll admit I didn’t think much of this little guy before I tried it out for myself; it’s Attack is rather meager without a boost and it’s reliant on Sucker Punch to kill faster stuff. But given adequate support, it’s actually quite remarkable (albeit it still requires a certain degree of skill to use efficiently). It nabs boosts surprisingly easy with its excellent typing and Defiant, and most Sucker Punch resists are worn down rather quickly (particularly with hazards combined with constant pressure from the rest of my team). It usually puts in the most work mid- to late-game where it can set up and sweep, or at least punch enough holes so that something else can. Anyway if you haven't try this guy out you should, it's actually really cool if you can get the hang of it!
The set is basically the standard for Pawniard, I run enough Speed to beat out minimum base 85s (and creeps random base 50s under Sticky Web if those are a thing). Max Speed is probably better but I like the extra bulk to help me set up.
Shiftry @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SAtk
Naughty Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Leaf Storm
- Explosion
This Pokemon is a fucking beast. Shiftry is one of the most renowned offensive threats in the entire tier, and one of the most important and powerful components of my core. It serves as a fantastic wallbreaker and lure, particularly with its mixed set; as the rest of my team often struggles with physically defensive Pokemon such as Steelix and Granbull, Shiftry's Leaf Storm is an excellent way to whittle away at them and pave the way for something to sweep. Explosion is also a cute gimmick I've been hyping a lot lately (see here); to give the short story, it's just to punch general holes into stuff that the standard set can't normally break, such as Vileplume, Togetic, Hariyama, etc. Basically anything that can take the combination of both Knock Off AND Leaf Storm.
Other than that, the set is pretty self-explanatory. I'd contemplated a Nasty Plot set with Giga Drain | Extrasensory | Sucker Punch in the past, but I honestly much prefer this set in the long run just because it hits so much harder right off the bat and contributes better to the Dark-spammy nature of the team with Knock Off.
Spiritomb @ Leftovers
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Shadow Sneak
- Pursuit
- Will-O-Wisp
Spiritomb is the final member of my Dark spam core, but is unique in the fact that it’s also a Ghost-type, which allows it to turn the tables against most Fighting-types and provide a much-needed resistance against them (and it spinblocks too so bonus!) Also, with a team so reliant on Sucker Punch to revenge kill, Infiltrator is absolutely incredible—the ability to bypass Substitutes and smack them around or burn them is not something to be overlooked. Overall an incredibly solid Pokemon and provides vital utility that my team couldn't live without.
The set is pretty straightforward, just with Lefties > Black Glasses because I like the longevity it gives me (although it's still certainly an option). I run enough Speed to beat out Armaldo and burn it, which is mostly only useful for ladder matches since no one competent ever uses Armaldo, but useful nonetheless. Also, even with three Dark-types, I still find Pursuit necessary—primarily for Cryogonal, which could otherwise come in on Seismitoad and capitalize on my lack of resists other than the frail Pawniard.
Slurpuff @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Play Rough
- Endeavor
- Substitute
Slurpuff is generally the cleaner and occasional mid-game lure. Slurpuff was chosen primarily because of how easily it punishes Gurdurr just by being there—with Gurdurr happening to be rather annoying to my three Dark-types due to its STAB recovery, Mach Punch, and ability to beat Tomb 1v1, something that can put Gurdurr in its place was a much needed addition. If you're wondering why I have Endeavor listed in that third slot, it's because I really needed another lure for physically defensive Pokemon if Shiftry died too early, and Slurpuff pulls that off quite well. Sub + BD's massive recoil actually helps in this regard, since it allows me to pull off an Endeavor quicker before my opponent detects something fishy, which sets it apart from other SubEndeavor users. Obviously Endeavor isn’t useful every single match, but it's actually come in handy more times than you'd think. Most of the time, though, I try and stay away from using Endeavor and focus more on cleaning late-game with Slurpuff, which it's usually capable of doing after its checks have been sufficiently weakened (Knock Off helps with this a ton too).
I run Jolly on Slurpuff because honestly I have never found a reason to use it over Adamant; the Speed is really useful for stuff like Scarf Typhlosion and I can always fall back on Endeavor to make up for the loss of power. I've tried CM + 3 attacks too, but I've never really liked that set because it's so reliant on multiple boosts to sweep. I'm open to trying it again, but yeah that's pretty much the reason I'm using Endeavor to lure over more "traditional" methods in case that wasn't clear.
Garbodor @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 160 Def / 252 HP / 96 Spd
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Clear Smog
- Pain Split
- Gunk Shot
With a team that coincidentally utilized both a spinblocker and a Defog deterrent, it was almost difficult to not include a Spiker, especially in a tier where the lack of reliable hazard removers make Spikes particularly effective. Garbodor is the chosen Spiker on this team for a couple of reasons. One, it provided me with another check to Gurdurr, which is useful as Slurpuff often doesn't want to switch directly in. It also boasts a useful resistance to Fairy, which my team lacked. And last but not least, it's an excellent way to punish Vileplume switch-ins—with Vileplume switching in so freely on Seismitoad, something that can punish it right back is really nice. It performs really well in this meta overall—faces a bit of competition from Qwilfish, but it's great if you need a better Grass-type check and something that doesn't die to every special attack. Another Pokemon I'd highly suggest you try if you haven't already :)
One cool thing about Garbodor is that its unique movepool makes it conveniently customizable, and this set is pretty much tailored to my team. Clear Smog is extremely useful for Combusken chains that have been rising in popularity lately (I would use Haze, but illegal with Pain Split ;_;). Pain Split is for recovery which is necessary as I use Garbo to pivot into a lot of stuff, and Rocky Helmet leaves me without even any Black Sludge recovery so that one was a no-brainer. I don't use Gunk Shot too often, but it's a strong STAB and a good way to scare Defog Togetic / Shiftry so I can reset my Spikes.
Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 96 Def / 252 HP / 160 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Toxic
Standard Toad is standard. If you've ever played NU you should know exactly what this guy does: checks a ton of shit, sets up SR, eats up hits, simple. Honestly it's kind of hard to write a decent description about Toader without sounding like a broken record lol. Anyway like I said I chose it because of the plethora of stuff it can check: in particular, it's an excellent answer to physical Water-types and most Ground-types, and a solid answer to most Archeops as well. It's just a really effective gluemon overall, and in general wraps up my team really well.
The EV spread hits a jump point in Defense and gives me enough bulk to live 2 Earthquakes from max Attack Rhydon, with the rest going in SpD to make pivoting into special attacks easier. Earthquake and Earth Power are pretty much exchangeable—I prefer EQ for Dragalge and such but EP is usable too for doing more to Pawniard. Other than that nothing really else to say, this set is standard af so there's really not much else to explain.
Threatlist:
Vivillon: This thing is actually really scary if played right. The fact that it can incapacitate a team member with Sleep Powder and smack the rest of them around with boosted Hurricanes makes it quite a tricky Pokemon to face. It does however suffer from frailty; a couple of Sucker Punches will usually put it in its place, and Seismitoad can take a hit if it needs to and status it. Not unmanageable by any means, but underestimate it at your own demise.
Spikes: Spikes are pretty annoying because I’m running a more balanced team and don’t have any hazard removers. Ferroseed in particular can pretty easily stack them against me and I can’t do much but try and pressure it as much as possible. Generally my gameplan against opposing Spikers is to just start spamming my own hazards and truck through as much as possible before they do to me. I guess Defog > Explosion on Shiftry would help but it's kind of counter-intuitive with my own hazard stackers and weakens its wallbreaking power a ton. I don't really like Shiftry much as a Defogger anyway, since it tends to be too frail and ends up dying half the time I try to Defog.
Burns: I really don't have much to switch in on burns, since it cripples all my offensive mons and chips away at my defensive ones. Generally I'll end up switching in Garbodor, since it at least has some recovery in Pain Split and (for the most part) rarely ever directly attacks, but it's still annoying. Offensive attackers with Will-O-Wisp are even worse since they can't just be used as Spikes fodder for Garbo; Pyroar and Rotom-F being the most notable due to their excellent coverage.
Shoutouts:
You know someday I might do real shoutouts lol but you guys should know who you are :) Ty to everyone n_n
So yeah, that's the team. I've had a lot of fun using it, and developing and working with this type of strategy as a whole has been pretty cool in itself. Feel free to make suggestions—I've personally been contemplating a couple changes which I'll keep secret for now, but I figured I'd share it and get some other people's opinions first n_n Thanks for reading
Pawniard @ Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 204 Spd / 52 HP
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
Shiftry @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SAtk
Naughty Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Leaf Storm
- Explosion
Spiritomb @ Leftovers
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Shadow Sneak
- Pursuit
- Will-O-Wisp
Slurpuff @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Play Rough
- Endeavor
- Substitute
Garbodor @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 160 Def / 252 HP / 96 Spd
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Clear Smog
- Pain Split
- Gunk Shot
Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 96 Def / 252 HP / 160 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Toxic
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 204 Spd / 52 HP
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
Shiftry @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SAtk
Naughty Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Leaf Storm
- Explosion
Spiritomb @ Leftovers
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Shadow Sneak
- Pursuit
- Will-O-Wisp
Slurpuff @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Play Rough
- Endeavor
- Substitute
Garbodor @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 160 Def / 252 HP / 96 Spd
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Clear Smog
- Pain Split
- Gunk Shot
Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 96 Def / 252 HP / 160 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Toxic
