ORAS PU Too Long (1k RMT)

[TONE]

What's up everyone and welcome to my 2nd RMT and my 1000th post on Smogon. I won't go too much into detail on my personal life, but it has been fun meeting a bunch of cool people since I joined over 2 years ago and I'm grateful to everyone for being such good people and friends. And while it hasn't been too long since my last RMT, I've had some solid success with this team which intends to handle a good majority of threats in PU whle still have some offensive prowess with two solid win conditions.

Teambuilding Process

So the team starts with the new addition in Mawile. I decide to base the team around the Swords Dance variant which can be a great late-game cleaner while having priority in Sucker Punch to make up for its lack of Speed.

To complement Mawile, I decided to add mixed Simisear to break past Steel-types for Mawile while also handling Probopass which can trap Mawile with Magnet Pull.

As I was running offensive Mawile, I wanted a Machoke switch in as well as a Ground resist so Mawile could stay healthy for sweeping purposes, so Gourgeist-XL was added as a solid response to it and most physical attackers.

The team at this point was lacking a special wall as special variants of Floatzel and Simpour can dispatch of the team with ease if Gourgeist is weakened, so Audino was added as a nice way to handle said Pokemon.

Hazard removal was necessary at this point as hazards wore down my team pretty easily and I wanted a switchin to Monferno, so Lumineon was added to mitigate this issue.

At this point, my team had no Stealth Rock setter or an Electric immunity and I also wanted another Normal-resist to ease the pressure off of Gourgeist. Golem fit all those criteria, so it was added to the team.

After some testing, Simisear felt out of place on the team considering how bulky the team turned out to be. Monferno was slower than Simisear, but did have priority to make up for it and with SD, Monferno and Mawile can wear down each other's checks and counters.

While Monferno did work for a while, it also didn't quite fit the structure of the team, so it was replaced with Ninetales which can outspeed things like non-Scarf Rotom-F and OHKO with Fire Blast. It also provides a second win condition while also hitting Pokemon such as Stunfisk without the need of making contact.

Lumineon was my response to Water-types, but the lack of recovery really hindered its ability to act as reliable Defogger and it put a lot of pressure on Audino on keeping it healthy with Wish. Physically Defensive Swanna is an odd choice for a replacement, but it does provide the team with a Defogger with recovery and a Fighting switch in to ease the pressure off of Gourgeist.

The Team

Filia (Mawile) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch​

SD Mawile is such a good sweeper to build around and Life Orb + Sheer Force is nothing to joke about. It makes for such a good late-game sweeper while also being able to pick off weakened foes with Sucker Punch to make up for its low Speed. Iron Head for Rock- and Ice-types and Play Rough handles Machoke and Dark-types, nothing much to say here.

Kaden (Ninetales) (M) @ Passho Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Energy Ball
- Dark Pulse
​

Ninetales provides a backup win condition as well as a way to lure in Water-types with Passho Berry and retaliate with Energy Ball while also handling Steel-types for Mawile. It also gives me an offensive check to Rotom-F if it isn't scarfed. Fire Blast for STAB, while Dark Pulse hits Grumpig which otherwise gives Ninetales issues.

Camilla (Gourgeist-Super) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Frisk
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Synthesis
- Seed Bomb
- Foul Play
​

The ability to deal with Machoke can't be stressed enough for teams and Gourgeist can hold its own with most variants. Being able to deal with most physical attackers is a covinent thing to have for me while being able to keep itself healthy even if its Leftovers are knocked off. While some Gourgeists I've seen have run Leech Seed with just Foul Play as an attack, the last thing i want is to give Water-types a free switch in, so Seed Bomb mitigates. Everything else is pretty self-explanitory with Will-O-Wisp crippling physical attackers, Synthesis to keep it healthy, and Foul Play to punsh physical setup sweepers.

Sakura (Audino) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Encore
- Knock Off
​

Doesn't hurt to have the best Wish passer in the tier backing you up. While mostly seen as passive mon in some situations, Audino still takes special hits like no one's business. Wish and Protect are manditory to keep itself and its teammates healthy, Encore cripples setup sweepers, while Knock Off removes items from opposing foes while also being able to hit Ghost-types such as Misdreavus.

Swan Song (Swanna) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 248 HP / 232 Def / 28 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Hurricane
- Defog
- Roost
​

While normally seen as offensive, Swanna took on the role of a defensive defogger which can switch in on Machoke and Monferno while still having some offense presence. Scald and Hurricane are solid coverage and while not being invested can still do a solid amount of damage. Roost keeps Swanna healthy to Defog or check Fighting-types if needed, while Defog is crucial to keeping the team healthy overall. The speed on Swanna outspeeds Adamant max Speed Monferno.

Stoneborn (Golem) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Atk / 224 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Toxic
​

Golem makes the team complete providing Stealth Rock, a Normal resist and an Electric immunity all in one. Being able to take repeated hits if need be while still having solid offense presence with EdgeQuake coverage is an amazing team to have especially onsidering how the team turned out in the end. Toxic is here over Sucker Punch to wear down bulkier Pokemon such as Tangela and Gourgeist that normally switch in on Golem with relative ease. Albeit minor, I have messed around with the EVs to invest 48 EVs in Speed to outspeed 84 Speed Probopass and Earthquake before it can Flash Cannon Golem.

Final Look

​

And that's the team. It is slow considering the fastest Pokemon on the team is Ninetales, but the main focus of the team is to wear opposing Pokemon down with residual damage from either Gourgeist or Golem while also keeping their health high with Audino's wishes making the opposing team weak enough fro either Mawile or Ninetales to come in and clean up late game depending on the situation. Thanks for giving the team a look at and I hope you guys enjoy the team. TONE out.

Importable

Filia (Mawile) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch

Kaden (Ninetales) (M) @ Passho Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Energy Ball
- Dark Pulse

Camilia (Gourgeist-Super) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Frisk
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Synthesis
- Seed Bomb
- Foul Play

Sakura (Audino) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Encore
- Knock Off

Swan Song (Swanna) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 248 HP / 232 Def / 28 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Hurricane
- Defog
- Roost

Stoneborn (Golem) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Atk / 224 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Toxic

Shoutouts

trc Anty galbia Quote BulbaSword P Squared Mambo Megazard Raiza Dundies 2xTheTap Mael WhiteDMist scorpdestroyer Magnemite -Grim gasquakee Kingler12345 Sir Kay Robert Alfons Kushalos Exeggutor Twix Dell Tect f(x) dodmen unfixable boltsandbombers Montsegur AM BenjiKelly Be don't lose Zeonth Deej Dy Zodiax Blitzamirin Peli DaAwesomeDude1 MrAldo PenQuin Tunaface Bean rubsomebacononit Shadecession Sigilyph dodmen HJAD Teddeh GeneralAnnoyance MaroGod Tect Akir ShuckleDeath Mael RawMelon Jetpack starry blanket Rhythms BreloomMyHomie Winter's Howl ExplosiveChaos Gleeb Level 56 Ranbu No Melody Saucy Raichu ssunbae Syncrasy XenoTech N cityfolk The Bravest Bird Arifeen ManOfMany amber lamps Thisbemyalt Haund lockjaw Entei. rozes innovamania Conor3197 fran17 KJ Corp Nudisto OminousDraco Shadestep Terrakion. TTFTW Yosp

If I missed anyone, I'm sorry about that. I wouldn't do it on purpose.

 

[trc]

hey since you gave me the first tag i will rate your team. i really like the use of ninetales as well as being one of the few teams to be able to fit two machoke checks. however you have quite a significant weakness to sd pawniard, given the relatively slow nature of your team and the faster pokemon being weak to sucker punch. at +2 it could be a very big problem. to counteract this you could consider will o wisp over dark pulse on ninetales (as grumpig is not an obstacle to a mawile sweep, your primary win condition). you could also try a faster gourgeist (given your two machoke checks and even mawile), or perhaps protect golem with the hp evs to always obtain sturdy after stealth rock damage. best of luck

 

[Anty]

Hi, grats on the 1k and thanks for the s/o!

Initially, the thing that seems most odd to me on this team, is the 4 walls + two harsh wallbreakers, but with a closer look, the two wallbreakers do revenge kill to an extent, and the team does look like it has a good amount of synergy. Personally, I feel semi-stall (or very defensive balance) should have something to more reliably revenge kill, as I don't think what you have now is reliable enough when facing a strong wallbreaker such as NP Simisage. The defensive 4 that you use seem to work well together, as they can hold ground against pretty much every PU threat other than harsh wallbreakers, which you can still cover with your offensive Pokemon.

As for changes, I recomend you run Colbur Berry on Gourgeist, which is pretty important for most type of teams, as it makes Geist's matchup vs Leafeon significantly better, as then you aren't at risk of getting 2HKOd by LO varients w/ chip, and have a much nicer matchup vs lum sets (not just Leafeon but other stuff like Pursuit especcially). Its very important that Geist can take on Leafeon, as even though you have a solid back up check with Ninetales, losing Gourgeist is huge for bulkier teams like this, as it checks so much like physical Float (return sets get passed swanna), Stoutland (neither Golem nor Mawile happily take a return), and Relicanth. Leftovers is nice, but a lot of games Gourgeist will get knocked off so I really think Colbur is the best item for it.

The only other thing I have to recomend, is Floatzel over Ninetales. I mentioned stuff about this before, but having a revenge killer is so crucial for this team, importantly because there are plenty of wall breakers above base 100 like the Simi's, Raichu, and other Ninetales (it also cant really touch SD fraxure). Ninetales also struggles with revenge killing more specially bulky threats like Mr Mime, and I don't think Mawile's Sucker Punch is reliable enough, as though it can do ~50% to a lot of offensive Pokemon, it will often be KOd in the process. Floatzel has the speed to revenge kill the important threats, as stuff like Zebstrika/Electrode aren't as big threats to this team. Also though things like SD Monferno do not seem huge, but if say Swanna gets warn down (it can be forced to defog or roost quite often), or the opp is running Joll, then Monferno can be a huge threat to your team (same with stuff like Cryogonal if audino gets baited), so Floatzel is a nice reliable back up check. I do like Ninetales, as it is rarely used now, but I think you have enough wallbreaking support with Mawile, and the luring of Water-types isn't too huge.

sets

Gourgeist-XL
Leftovers ---> Colbur Berry

Floatzel @ Choice Band
Ability: Water Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Ice Punch
- Aqua Jet
- Return

If you don't like my change, then trc's is nice as it also helps you check Fire Blast Mawile better too.