ORAS NU SAVAGE- Sticky Web Offense

[Luck O' the Irish]

Hey guys, Luck O' the Irish here with a team I imagine many of you will at least recognize, in part perhaps because of my usage of it against Can-Eh-Dian in an NU tourney battle, but also because of various players who are much more well known than me spamming it on the ladder. The team even made YT, as shown above.

I built this team because I really wanted to use sticky web, an offensive playstyle that is often maligned because of the fact that magic bounce xatu is ubiquitous in this tier, meaning that most sticky web teams will struggle to get going in this meta. However, having played around with several contrary and defiant users, I realized that not only could I ignore xatu's magic bounce, but I could actually use it to my advantage! As a result, this team was built upon several threats that could sweep teams with their good bulk, ability to snowball through teams, and outspeed most of the meta with sticky web up.

Teambuilding Process

A sticky web user was obviously the first thing i needed, and I chose Leavanny because it's not completely helpless against faster taunt users; the only thing that can prevent sticky web in the first place.

Malamar was the first thing I wanted to use as I haven't ran it in quite a while. If sticky web gets magic bounced, the squid gets a juicy +1, which means it can more reliably outspeed things such as levitators and flying types. This, in tandem with its already good bulk and ability to boost with contrary superpower, made malamar an easy choice for the team.

Pawniard was another mon I hadn't run in a while, and thanks to defiant it was another obvious choice for me. Pawniard is useful for this team, thanks to knock off, decent physical bulk with eviolite, and priority in sucker punch. The knock off core with these two dark types is nice in softening things for sweeps, and it is a very potent abuser of sticky web; it gets a free +2 in attack if sticky web gets bounced back, and it can outspeed mons such as sawk and gallade if it doesn't.

Servine is another contrary abuser that has good offensive synergy with the other two, as it has a much easier time against various physical walls, and it can blow through quaggy, which walls my other sweepers. These traits combined with its surpringingly good bulk and extensive support movepool made it a very welcome addition to the team.

I took a step back to look at what I had made, and it was apparent that it was weak as fuck to scyther and powerful fire types such as magmortar. Regirock was literally the perfect fit here, as its typing and titanic bulk gives me checks to these problems and sets up rocks reliably, which my team was lacking as well. Regirock is here over rhydon due to its ability to take on fire types better because of no quad weakness to hp grass, its ability to run something other than eviolite, and its access to explosion (and clear body to fit with the theme of the squad lol). With an offensive spread, it becomes a very nice pivot for this team.

Finally, I wanted something that can spinblock, prevent defog, and harass defensive cores. Rotom and haunter were two other options here, but rotom was ruled out quickly due to its lower speed, power, and lack of taunt, while haunter's frailty on both sides means it had a harder time blocking spin. Missy's role is to help keep sticky web up, provide set-up opportunities for the sweepers, and eliminate walls that are problematic for the team. Levitate also ignores sticky web, which is important.

Leavanny @ Focus Sash
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 40 Atk / 216 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Sticky Web
- Magic Coat
- Leaf Storm
- Knock Off
​

Even though it's probably dead by turn 3, Leavanny is truly the lifeblood of this team thanks to sticky web. Magic coat is a really important move because it bounces back faster taunts from the likes of liepard (don't stay in on archeops) and other things, i guess. Leaf storm with this EV spread guarantees the OHKO on any form of rhydon you'll see, and is useful for getting off respectable damage to some targets if leavanny isn't needed to set up webs at a later time. Max speed cause gottagofast to set up the webs, while the rest is dumped into attack for a stronger knock off, which is nice for getting rid of stuff like rocky helmet from garb (if you can get that many gunk shot misses) and colbur berry on xatu.

Malamar @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 240 HP / 80 SpD / 188 Spe
Careful Nature
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- Rest
- Psycho Cut
​

The first contrary abuser on the team, malamar is a huge threat in NU. This set differs from the standard set in two ways. Chestorest is used over resttalk because I can use psycho cut, which dispatches of defensive poison types that can bother my team, such as garbodor and vileplume. I am also running a shitton of speed compared to other bulky malamar-- this allows me to outspeed max speed base 106's at +1, meaning I can avoid getting fried by fire blast from pyroar or revenged by scyther so i can continue to sweep. Avoiding knock off from liepard, barring parahax, is also convenient. With sticky web up and a couple of boosts (not that hard to get) malamar becomes very difficult to take down.

Pawniard @ Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 16 Def / 240 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
​

Pawniard is very underrated in this meta. Its typing gives it a good amount of switchins and set-up opportunities, and being an offensive check to sneasel is very useful. Steel stab is cool for breaking things such as togetic, mega audino (gonna have to get to +2 or flinch to actually 2HKO lol, megadino is so fat) and granbull. If sticky web gets set up on my side of the field, then thanks to defiant pawniard becomes a wrecking ball, that, with sucker punch, becomes very tricky to revenge kill.

+2 252+ Atk Pawniard Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gallade: 306-360 (110.4 - 129.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO (AKA not an answer)
+2 252+ Atk Pawniard Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Archeops: 306-360 (105.1 - 123.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO (AKA not an answer)

Even if sticky web ends up on the other side of the field, pawniard can still clean with swords dance, as it gains the ability to outspeed up to frogadier (most importantly max speed base 95s). The ev spread outruns modest aurorus and gives it a 75% chance to survive jolly 252 archeops's eq from full. It might be better to run 252/252 on pawn but w/e

Servine @ Eviolite
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 208 HP / 24 Def / 68 SpA / 24 SpD / 184 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Glare
- Hidden Power [Rock]
​

Servine is very fun to use, and it even though it is very weak unboosted, contrary leafstorm allows it to snowball right through teams. Leaf storm is a given, while giga drain works as a secondary stab move that allows servine to stay healthy throughout sweeps. I chose glare in the 3rd slot mainly to paralyze scyther switchins in case you can't get sticky web on your side, as scyther flies right over webs. Taunt and sub are very nice options here as well, and i suppose even knock off could work. Hidden power rock offers the best type coverage for it, although hidden power fire will probably work as well if you hate ferroseed and lilligant.

The EV spread is one that boltsandbombers modified from an old spread i made for servine a while back. The speed outruns adamant sawk at +0 and neutral speed gorebyss/huntail if you are +1 and they are +2. The rest goes into general bulk, allowing servine to take a plethora of hits. Here, have some disgusting calcs:

252+ Atk Fletchinder Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 208 HP / 24 Def Eviolite Servine: 222-264 (70.9 - 84.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Sneasel Ice Shard vs. 208 HP / 24 Def Eviolite Servine: 132-156 (42.1 - 49.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

These are two of the most powerful priority moves in the tier, both of which are supereffective against servine, and servine takes them like a man and continues to roll through the other team. Even stuff like xatu and poison types without recovery are shaky checks to it, as xatu either can't roost off grass stab or gets pegged by hp rock, while poison types (other than plume) are at risk of getting 2HKOd if they switch into leaf storm. All in all, servine is a serious threat and a major contributor to the team.

Regirock @ Custap Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Explosion
​

Regirock acts as the glue of the team, as it is a very nice blanket check to fall back on. It sets up rock reliably thanks to its bulk and ability to smash xatu with stone edge, which is also nice for eliminating problems to the team such as scyther. Eq is my coverage move of choice, as it 2HKOs garbodor and gives me a more reliable means of dispatching of fire types, such as magmortar. Other choices such as drain punch probably work here as well. Explosion is one of the most useful weapons this team has, as it eliminates problematic walls, blocks defog from the likes of prinplup and togetic (if you're not good at hitting stone edges) and gives free switchins to my sweepers. The speed is just general creep for base 55s and such, attack investment allows regirock to hit as hard as possible, rest goes into bulk. Other items are possible but I really like custap; it's not that difficult to get regi into custap range and getting stuff like sr or an attack off that regirock would not have had otherwise can be huge. A very good defensive wall in this tier, and puts in a ton of work for this team.

Mismagius @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Destiny Bond/Memento
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
​

Last but not least is another support mon in mismagius, which helps in blocking spin and preventing defog with taunt, as well as bothering defensive builds. I initally ran nasty plot here, but it was very underwhelming in power and thus couldn't beat defensive teams as well as I hoped. Also, it didn't offer as much support to the team.

Thus I changed to Wisphex, which is a cool combination that allows missy to spread burns, creating set-up bait for my sweepers and doing huge damage to walls that can bother my team, such as vileplume. Destiny bond is useful as well for getting rid of a wall or threat that bothers me, although memento is a very useful alternative that I have seen other players run to create even more set-up opportunities. This set gives cryogonal a very difficult time, which is cool because cyro is often preferred for its ability to beat ghosts in order to spin. Also, it offers something to switch into fighting moves if that need
arrives (it probably will lol). Colbur berry is useful for taking non stab knock offs that pretty much everything runs (sneasel OHKO's though lol). A bulkier spread might be more useful in some scenarios, but I prefer the extra power. All in all a fun set to run that does well in supporting the team.

threatlist

Threats:

All out attacking set isn't too bad, but the suicide lead is a huge pain for this team, as it can easily give the opposing team control over hazards from the beginning. Risking the 50/50 with webs/magic coat can mean that sticky web doesn't get set up at all. If you see this in team review, best lead with regirock.

+

Essentially a defensive core that walls all my sweepers with ease (sap sipper miltank works over vileplume here as well lol). Although very troublesome, missy bothers both of these mons and regirock can kamikaze itself to severely weaken/kill one of these walls. Aggressive doubles are your friend here.

This is definitely the sweeper the team struggles with the most. QD nullifies sticky web drop, and servine is really the only thing that can stand up to LO giga drain... which is unfortunate because it can't do much in return. If it gets set-up initiative glare is probably the only thing left stopping it from rolling through. Sleep powder also gives lilligant a reliable way to get around pawniard revenging it. If you see this threat applying strong offensive pressure is key: "sweep or be swept"


Annoyances:

Garbodor itself isn't that problematic; it's moreso the tspikes that it can lay down, which impedes the ability of several teammates from tanking hits or sweeping.

If this carries focus blast, i have zero switchins, making servine "kill bait" for the other team. With hazards up, however, pawniard can revenge kill and malamar can use it to start its superpower chain.

If sticky web does not get magic bounced, it revenge kills 2 of my sweepers with ease. I have enough counter measures against it for it to be manageable, but if i can't get contrary +1s this needs to be glared on the switch or killed before sweeps happen.

replays

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/nu-243116594
A battle that demonstrates all team members weakening the opponent to set up for a malamar sweep.

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/nususpecttest-244277536
Another battle involving setting up a malamar sweep; this shows the merits of the chestorest set.

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/nususpecttest-244588219
A kind of haxy game, picked because it was against rain. I don't think I ever lost to rain with this team (during the suspect ladder at least), mainly because this team matches up well against it. Ya know, if you're into that sort of thing.

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/nususpecttest-244864514
Shows how dangerous any of threats can be when given free turns (which really aren't hard to get with this team), and how easily it is just to brute force your way though lol. Getting pawniard into a choice locked sneasel allows me to clean up late game.

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/nu-243080188
The tourney battle I had against can-eh-dian. A bit of hax both ways that didn't end up mattering. It came down to my regirock, which was not running speed at the time, being slower than his mega audino.

Shout Outs

Shaneghoul - really glad I got to know you lol, NU has been a lot more fun since then :] We really should make another AIDS team again haha

aberdeen sloot

Brick Small. - cool dude, thanks for help in testing the team haha

Syncrasy - it's been cool getting to talk to you, thanks for making the reqs process slightly less arduous lol even though you haxed me in our ladder matches

boltsandbombers - thanks for the help in adjusting the sets, they really did make the team better.

NU community- don't know very many of you, but most of you seem like cool people xd

This team is not perfect obviously, and even though it has lost its surprise or "what the hell is he doing...OH SHIT" factor to some degree, it's still very fun to use. Quite honestly this team is the only thing that's let me enjoy NU as of late, the meta is absolute cancer now haha.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day :)

importable

Leavanny @ Focus Sash
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 40 Atk / 216 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Sticky Web
- Magic Coat
- Leaf Storm
- Knock Off

Malamar @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 240 HP / 80 SpD / 188 Spe
Careful Nature
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- Rest
- Psycho Cut

Pawniard @ Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 16 Def / 240 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch

Regirock @ Custap Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Explosion

Servine @ Eviolite
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 208 HP / 24 Def / 68 SpA / 24 SpD / 184 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Glare
- Hidden Power [Rock]

Mismagius @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Destiny Bond
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt

 

[MZ]

So I have no idea how much you use it but from my experience magic coat is pretty useless on Leavanny, people know it gets it and it just doesn't do much more that get predicted. Since the threat of it is still theoretically there and you're weak to lead archeops, why not try electroweb leavanny? What this does is prevent people from leading with something faster and 2hkoing you for free (like colbur maggy or something) since you slow them for your next mon then webs, and gives you a solid move to use against archeops. Now you can either slow it down and switch with your sash still intact after taunt or just webs turn 2 if they don't taunt you (which plenty won't since they still fear magic coat). Cool team though, pretty funny. Sorry if any major errors, typed this out on mobile.

edit: checked replays, magic coat was used once, where it didn't do anything because of an incorrect prediction, so yeah

 

[Luck O' the Irish]

So I have no idea how much you use it but from my experience magic coat is pretty useless on Leavanny, people know it gets it and it just doesn't do much more that get predicted. Since the threat of it is still theoretically there and you're weak to lead archeops, why not try electroweb leavanny? What this does is prevent people from leading with something faster and 2hkoing you for free (like colbur maggy or something) since you slow them for your next mon then webs, and gives you a solid move to use against archeops. Now you can either slow it down and switch with your sash still intact after taunt or just webs turn 2 if they don't taunt you (which plenty won't since they still fear magic coat). Cool team though, pretty funny. Sorry if any major errors, typed this out on mobile.

edit: checked replays, magic coat was used once, where it didn't do anything because of an incorrect prediction, so yeah

You'd probably be surprised at how many people forget about magic coat, and even though yes it does require prediction, it at least gives me a 50/50 with shit like liepard, not to mention I've also bounced other hazards with it. So im not entirely convinced I'm completely better off without it.

That said electroweb sounds like a really good option on leavanny but I'll put it over another attack I think. Being able to beat lead archeops is really useful. Thanks for the rate!