So I’m a long time player of PU and a longer time player of NU. I’m personally not a huge fan of gen 7 NU, but PU is easily my favourite tier of this gen. Looking back in the past, it’s pretty funny to see some of the crazy threats that were hanging around in NU doing the exact same thing now in PU. I guess it’s like they say “war never changes” ecks dee. Anyways though, I was just playing around in the teambuilder when I came up with this super fun idea that I haven’t seen used on the ladder before. For those of you who don’t know, teambuilding is hands down my favorite part of playing pokemon and I’m always looking for new things to try. And so it was that I came up with this team that I like to title: “Protect The President”. I brought the team into the top 10 on the PU ladder. I didn't take a picture of it or anything so feel free to not believe me I guess, but you can see at the end of many of the replays 1600ish so that should at least give some context. Which is pretty cool considering this was on a meme alt with what I was originally planning to be a meme team. So without further adieu, I introduce you to double parting shot, double healing, Gurdurr Volt-Turn.
Paste: https://pokepast.es/36bca7d4870482b1
Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-767795317 (fast grass)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-767834216 (trick room)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-767831310
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-767786741 (stall)
The Team
Mr. President (Gurdurr) @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Atk / 48 Def / 16 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Bulk Up
So the premise of the team is to give Gurdurr as many lives and as many opportunities/support a game as possible. Gurdurr has this impressive bulk that can live a hit from basically every single mon that threatens it offensively like focus sash Kadabra and choice scarf modest mesprit and can then retaliate back with a devastating attack. The problem here obviously is that Gurdurr will only have the chance to get 1 major attack off before being rendered to a useless amount of hp. And that's the problem that I went about trying to solve with this team.
252 SpA Kadabra Psychic vs. 252 HP / 16 SpD Eviolite Gurdurr: 314-372 (83.9 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Mesprit Psychic vs. 252 HP / 16 SpD Eviolite Gurdurr: 314-372 (83.9 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Clefairy Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 16 SpD Eviolite Gurdurr: 152-182 (40.6 - 48.6%) -- 9.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Pyroar Inferno Overdrive (185 BP) vs. 252 HP / 16 SpD Eviolite Gurdurr: 300-354 (80.2 - 94.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Silk Scarf Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 48 Def Eviolite Gurdurr: 151-178 (40.3 - 47.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Mesprit @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Healing Wish
- U-turn
So the problem I set out to fix on the team, as I mentioned, was the problem with Gurdurr’s longevity. Gurdurr has the potential to stand toe to toe with the majority of the tier, but doesn’t have the longevity afterwards to take on an entire team after. So Mesprit is here to combat that issue. Honestly, the team began on paper with just “Gurdurr plus healing wish” as the core barebones. Anyways, dazzling gleam is the coverage move of choice mainly because it deals the most amount of damage to skuntank while hitting dark types like Persian for SE damage. Honestly I’m pretty torn on this move, I was originally thinking signal beam would likely be better because it would also hit opposing mesprit for SE, as well as Lilligent, but I feel like I’d never click signal beam instead of u-turn so I don’t know if it’s really worth it. Other than healing wish, mesprit gives me a ground immunity early on into building which is super nice, and while it isn’t the fastest scarfer by any means (Lilligent seems terrifying) it offers some pretty decent speed control.
Persian-Alola @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Parting Shot
- Foul Play
- Taunt
- Toxic
If you didn’t realise how much I was committing to this longevity idea, you’re about to find out right now. Here is my second healing wisher (obviously parting shot and healing wish are different moves, you know what I mean fam), Z-parting shot Persian. Adding a dark type to the team helps out a little bit against psychic types, and taunt gives some leeway against stall. While not technically the most powerful potential addition, toxic can help wear down potential Gurdurr checks in the long run.
Silvally-Ghost @ Ghost Memory
Ability: RKS System
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- Defog
- Parting Shot
The team is very shaky on paper right now, with the only redeeming factor being it’s very momentum heavy and can very easily seize initiative. So I decided to fully commit to that route, and added my second parting shot user. Silvally ghost is an interesting addition. I’m on the fence between this and Silvally poison, since poison can check fighting types much better (which is what silvally ghost currently does) while also giving me an actual grass resist. The other nice thing about ghostally is that it beats seismic toss clefairy, and it's a spinblocker. Given how much the team relies on switching, defog was a must to make sure I don’t lose to spikes, with flamethrower there to deny ferroseed.
Lanturn @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 40 HP / 220 Def / 248 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Scald
- Toxic
- Protect
As I mentioned before, I wanted to really commit to this idea, so the next addition was Lanturn. Lanturn keeps up the pressure as an excellent pivot with volt switch, and it gives the team a much needed fire resist for the likes of Pyroar, as well as a nice bird check for Swanna and OriBROKEio.The last moveslot was between protect and heal bell, but I've got enough status absorbers that I didn't see the need for heal bell, and through testing I found out that I never got the opportunity to heal bell anyways. Protect adds a little more longevity as Lanturn blanket checks so much for the team, and it's nice for scouting on things like specs Pyroar. Toxic is there to ware down bulkier problems like Gastrodon, and is a huge help in general against stall/semistall.
Aggron @ Chople Berry
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Head Smash
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Fire Punch
I chose Aggron as my last mon for a few reasons. First off, it was important that I didn't put "too much" reliance on Gurdurr in terms of the teams offensive presence. Aggron gives me a secondary source of raw power and another completely viable healing wish recipient, as well as obviously a solid stealth rocker. Aggron can 2hko Pyukumuku after rocks, which was one of the most important benchmarks for me to hit, as Puke-muk is the most prevalent unaware mon in the tier that stall relies on, and can easily stall Gurdurr out, guts or no guts. Chople berry is my own unique spin on the standard offensive rocks set, giving me a secondary check to opposing Gurdurr and Hitmonchan, which is awesome because oftentimes I can just stay in on Hitmonchan and click Heavy Slam, but more importantly it helps against Primeape. Scarf Ape outspeed my entire team and has no trouble dealing massive amounts of damage to anything. Primepe is one of the main reasons I'm considering Silvally Poison. Fire punch is for Ferroseed, a pretty big annoyance to the team. Even though it's Gurdurr setup fodder, a leech seed goes a long way in wearing it down. Aggron is particularly nice against common Clefairy+Ferroseed defensive cores, and between Aggron+Silvally ghost, Clefairy cannot deal any types of damage to the team.
252+ Atk Aggron Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Pyukumuku: 147-174 (46.8 - 55.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Aggron Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 144 HP / 0 Def Hitmonchan: 232-274 (83.7 - 98.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Threatlist:
Fast Grass: Scarf Mesprit can only do so much, but one thing it cannot do is outspeed Lilligent after a quiver dance
Broken Fighters: Primeape outspeeds the entire team, and can hit everybody for at least decent neutral damage, as well as keeps up pressure with u-turn (something that my fighting resists do not like to switch into). Ive also had a few issues against this random Throat Chop Hitmonchan. Not super common, but I thought I'd mention it because it was annoying to deal with.
Stall: The stall matchup isn't impossible but... it's tough, and it's boring. Certain things like Pyukumuku "can" be broken, but it's difficult to do. Sableye or Spiritomb similarily can potentially be muscled past by Gurdurr, but it's honestly prett bleak. The best you can do in this matchup is get rocks up, keep rocks up, and play really smart with your Head Smashes.
A Well Played Mesprit: Mesprit is a meta defining mon, and it's difficult to call Mesprit a useless mon against your team unless you're packing a Skuntank. I haven't ran into this yet, but a specs Mesprit that gets every single play right could be super annoying. Granted, they'd have to win a ton of 50-50s, but its' an honorable mention.
Weezing: Weezing isn't really all that scary, more of an annoyance. Stuff like Lanturn can pivot on it, toxic spikes/wisp suck to deal with but don't affect the entire team (and even benefit Gurdurr, especially if you get it burned instead of poisoned), and head smash damage can't just be shrugged off. But the thing about Weezing teams from my experience, is they often don't have anything to beat Gurdurr. Other than the Weezing, obviously. The point being once you weaken the Weezing, maybe knock it off, then Gurdurr gets ready to go in deep.
Paste: https://pokepast.es/36bca7d4870482b1
Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-767795317 (fast grass)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-767834216 (trick room)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-767831310
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-767786741 (stall)
The Team
Mr. President (Gurdurr) @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Atk / 48 Def / 16 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Bulk Up
So the premise of the team is to give Gurdurr as many lives and as many opportunities/support a game as possible. Gurdurr has this impressive bulk that can live a hit from basically every single mon that threatens it offensively like focus sash Kadabra and choice scarf modest mesprit and can then retaliate back with a devastating attack. The problem here obviously is that Gurdurr will only have the chance to get 1 major attack off before being rendered to a useless amount of hp. And that's the problem that I went about trying to solve with this team.
252 SpA Kadabra Psychic vs. 252 HP / 16 SpD Eviolite Gurdurr: 314-372 (83.9 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Mesprit Psychic vs. 252 HP / 16 SpD Eviolite Gurdurr: 314-372 (83.9 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Clefairy Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 16 SpD Eviolite Gurdurr: 152-182 (40.6 - 48.6%) -- 9.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Pyroar Inferno Overdrive (185 BP) vs. 252 HP / 16 SpD Eviolite Gurdurr: 300-354 (80.2 - 94.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Silk Scarf Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 48 Def Eviolite Gurdurr: 151-178 (40.3 - 47.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Mesprit @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Healing Wish
- U-turn
So the problem I set out to fix on the team, as I mentioned, was the problem with Gurdurr’s longevity. Gurdurr has the potential to stand toe to toe with the majority of the tier, but doesn’t have the longevity afterwards to take on an entire team after. So Mesprit is here to combat that issue. Honestly, the team began on paper with just “Gurdurr plus healing wish” as the core barebones. Anyways, dazzling gleam is the coverage move of choice mainly because it deals the most amount of damage to skuntank while hitting dark types like Persian for SE damage. Honestly I’m pretty torn on this move, I was originally thinking signal beam would likely be better because it would also hit opposing mesprit for SE, as well as Lilligent, but I feel like I’d never click signal beam instead of u-turn so I don’t know if it’s really worth it. Other than healing wish, mesprit gives me a ground immunity early on into building which is super nice, and while it isn’t the fastest scarfer by any means (Lilligent seems terrifying) it offers some pretty decent speed control.
Persian-Alola @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Fur Coat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Parting Shot
- Foul Play
- Taunt
- Toxic
If you didn’t realise how much I was committing to this longevity idea, you’re about to find out right now. Here is my second healing wisher (obviously parting shot and healing wish are different moves, you know what I mean fam), Z-parting shot Persian. Adding a dark type to the team helps out a little bit against psychic types, and taunt gives some leeway against stall. While not technically the most powerful potential addition, toxic can help wear down potential Gurdurr checks in the long run.
Silvally-Ghost @ Ghost Memory
Ability: RKS System
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- Defog
- Parting Shot
The team is very shaky on paper right now, with the only redeeming factor being it’s very momentum heavy and can very easily seize initiative. So I decided to fully commit to that route, and added my second parting shot user. Silvally ghost is an interesting addition. I’m on the fence between this and Silvally poison, since poison can check fighting types much better (which is what silvally ghost currently does) while also giving me an actual grass resist. The other nice thing about ghostally is that it beats seismic toss clefairy, and it's a spinblocker. Given how much the team relies on switching, defog was a must to make sure I don’t lose to spikes, with flamethrower there to deny ferroseed.
Lanturn @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 40 HP / 220 Def / 248 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Scald
- Toxic
- Protect
As I mentioned before, I wanted to really commit to this idea, so the next addition was Lanturn. Lanturn keeps up the pressure as an excellent pivot with volt switch, and it gives the team a much needed fire resist for the likes of Pyroar, as well as a nice bird check for Swanna and OriBROKEio.The last moveslot was between protect and heal bell, but I've got enough status absorbers that I didn't see the need for heal bell, and through testing I found out that I never got the opportunity to heal bell anyways. Protect adds a little more longevity as Lanturn blanket checks so much for the team, and it's nice for scouting on things like specs Pyroar. Toxic is there to ware down bulkier problems like Gastrodon, and is a huge help in general against stall/semistall.
Aggron @ Chople Berry
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Head Smash
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Fire Punch
I chose Aggron as my last mon for a few reasons. First off, it was important that I didn't put "too much" reliance on Gurdurr in terms of the teams offensive presence. Aggron gives me a secondary source of raw power and another completely viable healing wish recipient, as well as obviously a solid stealth rocker. Aggron can 2hko Pyukumuku after rocks, which was one of the most important benchmarks for me to hit, as Puke-muk is the most prevalent unaware mon in the tier that stall relies on, and can easily stall Gurdurr out, guts or no guts. Chople berry is my own unique spin on the standard offensive rocks set, giving me a secondary check to opposing Gurdurr and Hitmonchan, which is awesome because oftentimes I can just stay in on Hitmonchan and click Heavy Slam, but more importantly it helps against Primeape. Scarf Ape outspeed my entire team and has no trouble dealing massive amounts of damage to anything. Primepe is one of the main reasons I'm considering Silvally Poison. Fire punch is for Ferroseed, a pretty big annoyance to the team. Even though it's Gurdurr setup fodder, a leech seed goes a long way in wearing it down. Aggron is particularly nice against common Clefairy+Ferroseed defensive cores, and between Aggron+Silvally ghost, Clefairy cannot deal any types of damage to the team.
252+ Atk Aggron Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Pyukumuku: 147-174 (46.8 - 55.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Aggron Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 144 HP / 0 Def Hitmonchan: 232-274 (83.7 - 98.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Threatlist:
Fast Grass: Scarf Mesprit can only do so much, but one thing it cannot do is outspeed Lilligent after a quiver dance
Broken Fighters: Primeape outspeeds the entire team, and can hit everybody for at least decent neutral damage, as well as keeps up pressure with u-turn (something that my fighting resists do not like to switch into). Ive also had a few issues against this random Throat Chop Hitmonchan. Not super common, but I thought I'd mention it because it was annoying to deal with.
Stall: The stall matchup isn't impossible but... it's tough, and it's boring. Certain things like Pyukumuku "can" be broken, but it's difficult to do. Sableye or Spiritomb similarily can potentially be muscled past by Gurdurr, but it's honestly prett bleak. The best you can do in this matchup is get rocks up, keep rocks up, and play really smart with your Head Smashes.
A Well Played Mesprit: Mesprit is a meta defining mon, and it's difficult to call Mesprit a useless mon against your team unless you're packing a Skuntank. I haven't ran into this yet, but a specs Mesprit that gets every single play right could be super annoying. Granted, they'd have to win a ton of 50-50s, but its' an honorable mention.
Weezing: Weezing isn't really all that scary, more of an annoyance. Stuff like Lanturn can pivot on it, toxic spikes/wisp suck to deal with but don't affect the entire team (and even benefit Gurdurr, especially if you get it burned instead of poisoned), and head smash damage can't just be shrugged off. But the thing about Weezing teams from my experience, is they often don't have anything to beat Gurdurr. Other than the Weezing, obviously. The point being once you weaken the Weezing, maybe knock it off, then Gurdurr gets ready to go in deep.
