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[RATE MY TEAM] Low Ladder Smogon NU team
#1
Today's team is based around balanced offense. What I wanted to achieve was a better understanding of the current NU Metagame. The highest ladder rating I have achieved with this team is approximately 1204 coming from 1000. Here is the team:

[Image: lanturn.png] [Image: vileplume.png] [Image: scyther.png] [Image: hitmonchan.png] [Image: skuntank.png] [Image: piloswine.png]

SETS:


Headlights (Lanturn) @ Leftovers  
Ability: Volt Absorb  
EVs: 40 HP / 220 Def / 208 SpD / 40 Spe  
Calm Nature  
- Scald  
- Volt Switch  
- Heal Bell  
- Toxic  

Vicky (Vileplume) @ Black Sludge  
Ability: Effect Spore  
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD  
Bold Nature  
- Giga Drain  
- Moonlight  
- Sludge Bomb  
- Sleep Powder  

Go Away Paul (Scyther) @ Choice Band  
Ability: Technician  
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe  
Jolly Nature  
- U-turn  
- Aerial Ace  
- Knock Off  
- Bug Bite  

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

Skuntank @ Life Orb  
Ability: Aftermath  
EVs: 44 Atk / 212 SpA / 252 Spe  
Mild Nature  
- Sludge Bomb  
- Fire Blast  
- Hidden Power [Grass]  
- Sucker Punch  

Pillow Case (Piloswine) @ Eviolite  
Ability: Thick Fat  
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD  
Adamant Nature  
- Earthquake  
- Icicle Crash  
- Ice Shard  
- Stealth Rock  


I need Lanturn here as a means to: stop mons with Volt Switch from easily pivoting, heal the status conditions from my team, cripple walls with Toxic and physical attackers with Scald burns and pivot with Volt Switch.

Vileplume served as an answer to strong Pokemon in the tier such as Sceptile, Steelix, Hariyama, Sawk (without Zen Headbutt), Lanturn, Quagsire etc. Giga Drain does a number on Rhydon, Quagsire and picks up a 2HKO on Lanturn, Sludge Bomb does a good chunk to Mega Audino amongst other Pokemon such as Sceptile and Exeggutor, all 2HKOs as well, Sleep Powder punishes switch ins into mons that beat Vileplume, minus Grass types as well as stop Pokemon from setting up and Moonlight for HP recovery. Sludge Bomb in conjunction with Moonlight provides a miniature means of stall.

Choice Banded Scyther is noticeably more powerful than the Eviolite or Choice Scarf set, unless the Eviolite Set is running Swords Dance. This high damage makes it more ideal for revenge killing and pivoting with U-Turn. All of moves on this set are obviously for STAB and coverage so no need to go into any calcs here

Hitmonchan serves mainly as my Rapid Spinner. The moveset is pretty basic as it fully capitalizes on the Iron Fist ability

Mixed Skuntank is more ideal for my team as the previous mons have a serious problem with dealing with Grass types (mainly Ferroseed), Poison types, Mega Audino and bulky Water types (especially Lanturn and Quagsire). I have Sucker Punch over Defog because my team really needs the priority. The 212 EVs in Special Attack guarantee a 50% chance to OHKO Max HP, Max Defense Quagsire with Hidden Power Grass. The rest of EVs were dumped into its Physical Attack stat for more powerful Sucker Punches.

Originally I had Rhydon on this team but obviously that made my matchups with Grass and Water particularly difficult. Piloswine provides Stealth Rock support, better bulk, less weaknesses, Ice STAB and priority, all which Rhydon doesn't have.



THREATS AND PROBLEMS
  • Anything that outspeeds Scyther and threatens a majority of this team: opposing Scyther, Pyroar, Archeops, Toxic Orb Guts Swellow, Sceptile
  • Ferroseed: If Hitmonchan is crippled in any way and Skuntank is removed, it's a guaranteed loss to Ferroseed
  • Quagsire/Lanturn: Without Grass coverage, these mons are a nuisance; extremely bulk and have access to a form of recovery and stall
  • Status Moves: Without Lanturn, this team has a problem switching in on Vileplume, Lanturn, Exeggutor, and pretty much any other Pokemon that can spread status, whether it be sleep, paralysis, burn or poison



Once again, thanks for reading my post! If you have any comments or suggestions, please don't be afraid to speak up. I'm rusty at this metagame so criticism or questions are appreciated. See you in the next one :D
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#2
Nice team, Marc. Won my first NU match in a long time with it :D
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