ORAS NU Little Mac tho

[Ggo1000]

The team I've had the most success with in any ladder is this NU team (peaking around 1400 elo over like 30 games maybe?), revolves around strong physical attackers with a scarfed magmortar to deal with physical tanks if necessary (still not so sure about this one). I don't know how to put the little pictures of the pokemon that everyone seems to have so this will just be a ton of text, sorry.

OiBall (Quagsire) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Recover
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Toxic

This guy tanks physical hits really well and can take down tanks w/ toxic plus get burns with scald if he needs to, I think this a straight smogon set so not a whole lot of explanation needed.

Birb (Archeops)
Ability: Defeatist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Acrobatics
- Roost

I like this poke a lot. Great for late game sweeping due to it outspeeding almost the entirety of the tier minus Swellow and pretty much anyone scarfed. No item to boost acrobatics power, earthquake for electric switch ins (and skuntank. I hate skuntank.) And then stone edge I've recently started running since Charizard dropped as I don't believe acrobatics OHKOs. I actually rarely find myself able to use roost, as most of the switch ins that are bulky enough to survive one hit seem to be able to do a whole lot of dmg to me, and I just rely on not falling below 50% health, meaning I almsot never switch this guy into an attack.

ShockFish (Lanturn) @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunder Wave
- Heal Bell
- Scald

Used to deal with special attackers and heal bell incase little mac or archeops get burned, as well as thunder wave to deal with those faster attackers. Slow volt switch is also useful for bringing in archeops safely.

MAGMAN (Magmortar) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic
- Focus Blast

This is an interesting set imho, and perhaps it's better to be running an assault vest or something, but this guy has actually proven to be extremely useful in the right situation. Nobody really expects this poke to be scarfed, and so it's extremely useful for dealing with pokes who plan on outspeeding, mainly leavanny and scyther who will normally u-turn out because they outspeed but instead get bodied by fire blast. Fire blast also just does absurd damage to anything unresisted when he has 349 spA stab 110 power, OHKOing most non-walls. I'm open to any suggestions about this though.

Little Mac (Hitmonchan) @ Fist Plate
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Ice Punch
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Rapid Spin

I love this poke so much. I think it's just a straight smogon set but man. It never lets me down. exceptionally good at dealing with miltank, aurorus, torterra - i just love it so much. I run fist plate over life orb because the health loss hurts a lot when not using drain punch, but it does make me miss out on OHKOing torterra, but that rarely makes a difference. Gets walled pretty hard by gourgeist and quagsire. hate quagsire.

Squidward (Malamar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Straight smogon set again I think (man, i used smogon a lot for this team. How unoriginal can I be). Knock Off is really useful and this thing is hard to take down in general w/ its rest, and the contrary superpower's only real weakness is Quagsire and PP.

Basically what I do is get rid of threats to my Archeops using Malamar and hitmonchan and then send out Archeops to finish everything off. Works pretty well in general, but I have a very hard time with Gourgeist, Audino-Mega, Quagsire, Xatu, and occasionally lanturn, if they play it correctly. I want to make this team the best it can be, so help me out. Thanks!

 

[lolbro]

Hitmonchan / Archeops / Lanturn / Malamar / Magmortar / Quagsire

Very cool team you have here!

One thing I notice is that you have a very slow team with nothing viable surpassing the base 120 benchmark which is so important in NU at the moment. Also your ev spreads are very very weird, and could benefit some tweaking, lastly, the synergy on the team is off in some places.

Onto the rate:

Hitmonchan:

• The evs on hitmonchan should be 128 / 252 Atk / 136 Spe, this allows you to outspeed base 55 neutral natured pokemon, which is moderately important in nu
• At the moment, lanturn is overloaded trying to check water types, flying types, and fire types, so an Assault Vest Hitmonchan could help relieve this problem, also helping with checking sceptile

Archeops:

• Archeops doesn't really make a whole lot of sense on your current team, only augmenting the weakness to threats like sceptile and samurott, as well as not providing a very reliable stealth rock user or normal check, so I would suggest replacing Archeops with Steelix this gives you a very strong rocker in the current metagame, as well as the best normal resist in the tier at the moment
• Steelix should have a spread of 244 Hp / 180 Atk / 84 SpD / 8 Spe with an adamant nature and leftovers, allowing you to 2hko xatu when it tries to switch into you
• Steal Rock, Heavy Slam, Earthquake, Toxic

Lanturn:

• Your moveset is fine, but your spread is odd, change the lanturn spread to 40 Hp / 208 Def / 152 SpD / 108 Spe with a Bold nature and shuca berry, allows you to check opposing magmortars and eq charizards a lot better

Malamar:

• Malamar provide no real synergy to your team, as it's another pokemon that gets KO'd by Sawk, so I would replace it with Offensive Colbur Mesprit
• 4 Hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Modest Nature with a Colbur Berry
• Psychic, Calm Mind, Signal Beam, Ice Beam

Magmortar:

• Choice Scarf is very unviable, as it wastes magmortars amazing coverage, in exchange for a mediocre revenge killer, I would recommend replacing it with Assault Vest Magmortar, which gives you a powerful wallbreaker, and a pivot in to common sleepers in the tier
• 104 Hp / 252 SpA / 152 Modest Nature with an Assault Vest
• Earthquake, Fire Blast, Hidden Power Grass, Thunderbolt

Quagsire:

• Quagsire on this team is a huge momentum drain, which is :[. It's also extremely slow, which hurts your team, I would recommend replacing it for Choice Specs Swellow, which gives you a very good revenge killer and cleaner
• 4 Def / 252 / 252 Spe Timid Nature with Choice Specs
• boomburst, heat wave, u turn, tailwind / hidden power grass

Best of Luck!

 

[shiloh]

Quagsire / Archeops / Lanturn / Magmortar / Hitmonchan / Malamar

Hey this seems like an interesting take on NU balance, but there are a few issues I'm going to try to help you fix

• So this first thing that stands out for me is the Quagisre as it really does not fit the style of team that you are aiming for as a more Balanced core based around picking up momentum which Quagsire absolutely kills. This combines with another problem that I see which is a big weakness to Water Types, as Lanturn can't really deal with Physical Water Types like Samurott. That is why I would recommend Sceptile over Quagsire. Sceptile gives your team a bit more speed as well as something to pivot into with Lanturn and allows it to get off really powerful attacks.
• I also agree with what Lolbro posted in that you are very weak to Normal Type attackers and lack Stealth Rocks on the team, so Steelix over Archeops is probably the best way for you to go. It also gives you another pivot to go to, and with Roar you can phaze out scary set up sweepers.
• As lolbro pointed out there are quite a few sets that you need to change, so I'll go through them one at a time
  • Lanturn should either be switched to a more Mixed Defensive Pivot, as it has low base Defense and already high HP that it doesn't need to boost. Your team is also very weak to opposing Malamar, so Signal Beam over Thunder Wave is another change I would recommend. This is the EV spread 40 HP / 156 Def / 204 SpD / 108 Spe
    • EV Spread explanation from the Analysis "Proportionally low Special Defense compared to its HP means that Special Defense investment should be prioritized over HP. 208 Special Defense EVs would hit the highest jump point in Special Defense, while 40 HP EVs hit a Leftovers number for the most efficient HP recovery. 108 Speed EVs allow Lanturn to outrun Jolly Rock Polish Rhydon before the boost, allowing to KO Rhydon and avoid a fatal Earthquake. 16 Special Attack EVs can even be used to guarantee the OHKO on said Rhydon, if it is truly a bothersome threat to the team. The remaining EVs are poured into Defense, giving Lanturn effective mixed bulk and allowing it to better take hits from Scyther and Klinklang."
    • http://www.smogon.com/dex/xy/pokemon/lanturn/nu/
    • Another option would be using an Offensive Pivot set with 252 SpA / 144 SpD / 112 Spe but it removes basically the only Defensive Pivot on your team so I would not recommend it
  • Hitmonchan I would change to be 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe with an Adamant Nature, as it allows you to be more Offensive and have a much harder hitting spinner that can actually deal damage to common Fighting Type switch-ins and then outspeed common threats like Klinklang and Defensive Mesprit
  • The Final Set Change I would make would be 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD on Malamar, as it allows it to boost up much more easily, and after a few Superpower boosts it will not need to have Max Attack in any case, while 252 SpD allows it to take on common Special Attackers that it can then set up on like Magmortar and Pyroar

Here is the importable with all of my changes, good luck with the team and feel free to ask me about any of the changes that I suggested

import

Sceptile @ Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Giga Drain
- Leaf Storm
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Steelix @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Atk / 128 SpDef
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Heavy Slam
- Stealth Rock
- Roar

Lanturn @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 40 HP / 156 Def / 204 SpD / 108 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Volt Switch
- Heal Bell
- Signal Beam

MAGMAN (Magmortar) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic
- Focus Blast

Little Mac (Hitmonchan) @ Fist Plate
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ice Punch
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Rapid Spin

Squidward (Malamar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

 

[Ggo1000]

So, I've tried a lot of different substitutions. You were both correct, replacing Archeops with Steelix was definitely the way to go. Definitely offers a much more reliable option for a switch in and just in general a more useful poke. I'm running the EV spread that Lolbro suggested, with Stealth Rock/Heavy Slam/Earthquake/Roar. I've also replaced Malamar with the Mesprit you suggested, Althought I'm not entirely sure the purpose of Calm Mind due to it's low speed (although it does have decent bulk already) and have considered running either Toxic or some other status move on it in place of that move, as I rarely get a chance to use the move effectively. I've altered the ev spread on lanturn to what rozes suggested, but have maintained thunder wave because I now have signal beam on mesprit who outspeeds malamar as long as it's not scarfed. I changed hitmonchan to an assault vest with the EV spread from lolbro and while I miss having the extra mach punch damage from fist plate he is actually a great check to many special attackers as he can simply heal the damage taken back from drain punch. I also altered my magmortar to a different ev spread and am running fire blast/thunderbolt/hp grass/focus blast w/ an assault vest. The biggest dilemma I had was whether to replace quagsire with sceptile or specs swellow but at this point I'm pretty much settled on swellow. Sceptile is someone I can actually switch into attacks, unlike swellow, but swellow is a far better revenge killer with superior speed as nobody who doesnt resist the move can really tank 2 boombursts, and even some that do resist (mawile), so even if they try to switch, I can often pick up a kill anyways. Sceptile comes obviously with the extremely powerful stab leaf-storm for dealing with rock types efficiently, but I determined due to having heavy slam and eq on steelix as well as hp grass and focus blast on magmortar, it was not necessary for me to include sceptile on the team and Swellow ends up doing better in many situations (imho). The biggest problem for me, as rozes correctly pointed out, that without sceptile, i do still have trouble dealing with water types, so rain dance/swift swim teams absolutely demolish me. I can deal with shell smash carracosta/omastar because of Little Mac but the rare life orb ludicolo doesn't really have a good check on this team, as he can still giga drain my lanturn (then again, sceptile wouldn't really help with this due to its ice beam. That's pretty much the only problem I'm still having, this is by far the most balanced and effective team I've ever had in any tier and I'm very proud of it, but still open to any suggestions! Thanks for helping me out :)

 

[Kiyo]

Swellow / Steelix / Lanturn / Magmortar / Hitmonchan / Mesprit

Hey Ggo1000 looks like the previous raters have taken pretty good care of you, but I do still see some tweaks that can be made to improve this team in terms of consistency and overall effectiveness.

So the changes I'm going to make aren't necessarily to improve the teams defensive or offensive synergy, they're to give you more options as far as counterplay and long-term decisions go. I notice that your team heavily relies on the breaking power of Magmortar backed by the cleaning power of Specs Swellow, this is a solid strategy to go for and I think on a few levels it makes more sense than Sceptile in the last slot so props to you for going with that.

Depsite having a vague gameplan going into the game I can still see you having trouble to break more defensive teams that utilize Pokemon such as Mega Audino, Clefairy, Rhydon, and other specially defensive tanks to take the brunt of their special attacks. You're also currently running Mesprit as your lone Fighting-type resist, while even when packing a Colbur Berry it can often struggle against Sawk. Considering your team is actually 6-0'd by Sawk outside of Mesprit I'd like to suggest making a change to a more sturdy Fighting-resist and pivot, that being Calm Mind + Baton Pass Musharna.

Musharna synergizes really well with your team's current build, being able to boost Special Attack and Special Defense with Calm Mind and then pass that to your two threatening special attackers can be a huge momentum shift that will often decide games (in fact this strategy was used to success last week in Smogon Premier League: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-nu-118571). It also provides a more reliable pivot into physical attackers than Mesprit thanks to its superior bulk and access to reliable recovery in Moonlight.

If you decide to go with this change I'd consider Toxic > Roar on Steelix to help with opposing Musharna, and I'd also consider Signal Beam on Lanturn since you're losing your Malamar check in Mesprit.

Musharna Set

Musharna @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Moonlight
- Baton Pass

Summary of Changes:

-->

Toxic > Roar

Signal Beam > Heal Bell / Thunder Wave

Thanks for your time, hope I helped!

 

[Ggo1000]

Swellow / Steelix / Lanturn / Magmortar / Hitmonchan / Mesprit

Hey Ggo1000 looks like the previous raters have taken pretty good care of you, but I do still see some tweaks that can be made to improve this team in terms of consistency and overall effectiveness.

So the changes I'm going to make aren't necessarily to improve the teams defensive or offensive synergy, they're to give you more options as far as counterplay and long-term decisions go. I notice that your team heavily relies on the breaking power of Magmortar backed by the cleaning power of Specs Swellow, this is a solid strategy to go for and I think on a few levels it makes more sense than Sceptile in the last slot so props to you for going with that.

Depsite having a vague gameplan going into the game I can still see you having trouble to break more defensive teams that utilize Pokemon such as Mega Audino, Clefairy, Rhydon, and other specially defensive tanks to take the brunt of their special attacks. You're also currently running Mesprit as your lone Fighting-type resist, while even when packing a Colbur Berry it can often struggle against Sawk. Considering your team is actually 6-0'd by Sawk outside of Mesprit I'd like to suggest making a change to a more sturdy Fighting-resist and pivot, that being Calm Mind + Baton Pass Musharna.

Musharna synergizes really well with your team's current build, being able to boost Special Attack and Special Defense with Calm Mind and then pass that to your two threatening special attackers can be a huge momentum shift that will often decide games (in fact this strategy was used to success last week in Smogon Premier League: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-nu-118571). It also provides a more reliable pivot into physical attackers than Mesprit thanks to its superior bulk and access to reliable recovery in Moonlight.

If you decide to go with this change I'd consider Toxic > Roar on Steelix to help with opposing Musharna, and I'd also consider Signal Beam on Lanturn since you're losing your Malamar check in Mesprit.

Musharna Set

Musharna @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Moonlight
- Baton Pass

Summary of Changes:

-->

Toxic > Roar

Signal Beam > Heal Bell / Thunder Wave

Thanks for your time, hope I helped!

So I actually love this change a lot I think that using this Musharna over Mesprit actually synergizes a whole lot more with my team and I'll switch to signal beam over thunder wave on my lanturn but I still actually have the same problem, that being Omastar/Rain Dance Ludicolo. I don't really know how to deal with those w/ out roar on my steelix and therefore I'm not quite sure if it is actually better to have toxic on my steelix, although I can see it being useful vs Quagsire/musharna - I'll try it. if I could have some kind of example as to why its superior then that would be super nice, because without roar I don't have a great way to deal with setup sweepers.