Fidel Gastro (Credit to Photoshop for the banner) Hey guys, Afro Smash here bringing you an LU team that (somehow) peaked 1534. (No I don't have a screenshot, but your friendly neighbourhood Afro Smash would never lie to you.) It features the almighty Gastrodon alongside the sap sipping power of Bouffalant to form a core i've wanted to abuse ever since Gastro dropped. Anyways enough chit chat let's get onto the team. Version 1.0 Spoiler At a Glance: In Depth: Spoiler Brains (Uxie) @ Leftovers Trait: Levitate EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SDef Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd) - Stealth Rock - Heal Bell/Thunder Wave - U-turn - Psychic Uxie is an essential member of this team, having access to obscenely high defensive stats, a fantastic support movepool and being able to take on a plethora of fighting types, especially the ever-threatening Endure Reversal Hitmonlee. Stealth rocks need no explanation, Heal Bell helps to avoid status from crippling the team, however i've considered replacing this with Thunder Wave due to the relatively slow nature of the team. Psychic for STAB and U-Turn for momentum. I prefer to run a relaxed nature so U-Turn's power isn't reduced and more importantly so Uxie is hit before it U-Turns, allowing me to bring in another teammate safely. President Chan (Hitmonchan) (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Iron Fist EVs: 208 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Mach Punch - Ice Punch/Rapid Spin - ThunderPunch - Drain Punch All out attacking Hitmonchan has always been my favourite set, packing nice power and coverage, and also is the only poke on the team with a priority move. Drain Punch for recovery and strong STAB, Mach Punch for Priority, Ice Punch for hitting Tangrowth and Druddigon Hard, and Thunderpunch for Water and Flying types, especially Slowking. I run 50 speed EV's to outpace max speed base 50's like Aggron and throw the rest into HP to make Chan decently bulky, especially against special attackers. Since this team is fairly weak to hazards, especially Toxic Spikes, I've considered putting Rapid Spin somewhere on this set, however i'd most likely have to completely change the set to Foresight set for it to be worthwhile. Something to consider. Fidel Gastro (Gastrodon) (M) @ Choice Specs Trait: Storm Drain EVs: 44 HP / 112 Def / 252 SAtk / 100 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Hidden Power [Fire] - Ice Beam - Earth Power - Surf Fallen from the grace of OU, as soon as Gastro landed in LU I knew he had to be paired up with my boy Bouffalant, a core boasting 4 immunities, 2 of which boost their offensive prowess. Gastrodon is exceedingly slow but has Great Bulk, Decent Sp Atk and a great movepool. HP Fire is solely on this set so I can OHKO Escavalier as it poses a massive threat to this team and is relatively unexpected. Ice Beam can usually catch the opponent by surprise and OHKO's every common grass type in LU. Surf + Earth Power are 2 powerful STAB attacks that offer nice coverage. The speed EV's allow me to creep on base 50's like Tangrowth, and the rest of the EV's even Defenses and maximize HP. Goldbreaker (Bouffalant) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Sap Sipper EVs: 156 HP / 252 Atk / 100 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Substitute - Earthquake - Stone Edge/Megahorn - Return Bouffalant is my staple pokemon, but was mainly put on this team to help Gastrodon thrive. It's ability to absorb the numerous grass attacks aimed at Gastrodon is invaluable. The speed EV's allow me to creep on Lanturn, the rest of the EV's give Bouffalant great bulk, and allow it's substitutes to stay intact against weaker attacks. Return for STAB, Earthquake for Rock and Steel types, Stone Edge for Flying + Bug types, and the occasional Drifblim, though this can be swapped for Megahorn to hit the grass types you wall harder, and 2hko Uxie and Slowking. Mowtom (Rotom-C) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Levitate EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Trick - Volt Switch - Thunderbolt - Leaf Storm Rotom-C is probably my go to pokemon in LU, featuring on nearly all of my teams. I was in need of a scarfer, and Rotom-C fit the bill very nicely, having access to Volt Switch to maintain momentum and Leaf Storm to destroy any Ground types that want to try and stop that momentum. It also has access to Trick which is incredibly useful for crippling annoying walls. I prefer to run Thunderbolt over HP Fire as its a lot stronger than volt switch and doesn't force me to switch. (Possibly swap this for Magneton) Trap Card (Krookodile) (M) @ Expert Belt Trait: Moxie EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Pursuit - Crunch - Earthquake - Superpower/Stone Edge Initially this was a scarfed Krookodile, however with Rotom-C already being scarfed I decided to swap Krook's item to E-Belt and boy has it payed off. Nearly everyone expects Krook to be scarfed, so i am able to pick up innumerable surprise KO's, which means many people lose their win conditions unexpectedly or allow me to get up enough Moxie boosts to sweep throught the rest of their team. The coverage Krookodile has is pretty immense, only being hard walled by the like of Tangrowth and Alomomola, so he's very difficult to switch into, and thanks to pursuit, out of too.[/HIDE] Importable: Spoiler Brains (Uxie) @ Leftovers Trait: Levitate EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 SDef Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd) - Stealth Rock - Heal Bell - U-turn - Psychic President Chan (Hitmonchan) (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Iron Fist EVs: 208 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Mach Punch - Ice Punch - ThunderPunch - Drain Punch Fidel Gastro (Gastrodon) (M) @ Choice Specs Trait: Storm Drain EVs: 44 HP / 112 Def / 252 SAtk / 100 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Hidden Power [Fire] - Ice Beam - Earth Power - Surf Goldbreaker (Bouffalant) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Sap Sipper EVs: 156 HP / 252 Atk / 100 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Substitute - Stone Edge - Return - Earthquake Mowtom (Rotom-C) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Levitate EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Trick - Volt Switch - Thunderbolt - Leaf Storm Trap Card (Krookodile) (M) @ Expert Belt Trait: Moxie EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Pursuit - Crunch - Earthquake - Superpower Version 2.0 Spoiler At a Glance: In Depth: Spoiler Brains (Uxie) @ Leftovers Trait: Levitate EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Stealth Rock - Thunder Wave - U-turn - Psychic Uxie is the glue of this team, boasting obscenely high defensive stats, a fantastic support move-pool and being able to take on the plethora of powerful Fighting types in the tier. Stealth rocks need no explanation + Thunder Wave helps slow down opposing teams. Psychic is a decently powerful STAB that helps to take down Fighting types, and U-Turn is solely used to gain momentum. Standard Max HP Max Defense spread to help absorb powerful Physical attacks, with 16 Speed EV's thrown in to creep on Omastar and Crawdaunt. President Chan (Hitmonchan) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Iron Fist EVs: 208 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Spe Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Rapid Spin - Mach Punch - ThunderPunch/Foresight - Drain Punch Hitmonchan acts as the teams spinner and Check to a lot of Special Attackers in the tier. Drain Punch is a strong STAB move w/ Iron Fist that offers Hitmonchan a good form of recovery. Thunderpunch is a nice coverage move for Nailing the likes of Slowking + Sigilyph on the switch. Thunderpunch could possibly be swapped out for Foresight, however Spinning is not a necessity on this team since 4/6 pokes resist Stealth Rocks, though it is useful Vs. Spike Stack teams for a more reliable Spin. Mach Punch is the teams only Priority move, and is very useful for revenge killing Shell Smash Omastar, Scarf Krookodile, Endure Reversal Hitmonlee etc. and for generally finishing off weakened pokes. I run Leftovers over Fist Plate as the extra recovery really helps take on things like Sub Sceptile, and generally helps it avoid a lot of would be 2HKO's. Max Attack EV's for damage, lots of HP EV's to help Check Special Attackers and 48 Speed EV's to outspeed Aggron. Fidel Gastro (Gastrodon) (M) @ Choice Specs Trait: Storm Drain EVs: 132 HP / 112 Def / 252 SAtk / 12 Spe Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Toxic - Ice Beam - Earth Power - Surf Fallen from the grace of OU, as soon as Gastrodon landed in LU I knew he had to be paired up with my signature poke Bouffalant, to form a core boasting 4 immunities (Ghost/Grass + Water/Electric) 2 of which boost their offensive prowess (Sap Sipper + Storm Drain). Gastrodon is exceedingly slow and is rarely going to be moving first, however it has a lot of chances to switch in and fire off powerful hits due to it's typing and good bulk. Ice Beam is a nice coverage move to knock out mostly any Grass type that tries to switch in on a predicted Scald or Earth Power, and is useful for dealing big damage to Druddigon. Surf + Earth Power are 2 powerful STAB attacks that offer perfect coverage w/ Ice Beam and can 2HKO the majority of the tier. Toxic is to cripple the few things things that Gastro fails to 2HKO such as Slowking + Sp Def Cryogonal. The HP and Defense EV's allow me to avoid 2HKO's from Krookodile's Earthquake and CB Entei's Flare Blitz, and generally make it a pain to take down from either side of the spectrum. The Speed EV's are for the odd Rhydon and opposing Gastro's. Goldbreaker (Bouffalant) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Sap Sipper EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Substitute - Earthquake - Megahorn - Head Charge Bouffalant is my signature mon, but his main role on this team to support Gastrodon. Its ability to absorb the numerous Grass attacks Gastrodon draws in helps keep Gastrodon alive and can get Bouffalant some easy Sap Sipper boosts. Head Charge is a powerful STAB move that hits the whole tier for good damage, Earthquake offers essential coverage being able to take down Rock and Steel types and Megahorn is in the final slot to Destroy the Grass types you switch into, and to hit bulky Psychic types like Uxie + Slowking a lot harder. The Speed EV's allow me to creep on Clefable, I feel that outspeeding Lanturn and Sandslash isn't necessary when Gastrodon deals with them so easily, and Bouffalant appreciates having more HP Investment to lower Head Charge recoil and help keep its subs intact Vs. weaker pokemon like Lanturn and Uxie. Trifecta (Magneton) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Magnet Pull EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Hidden Power[Fire] - Volt Switch - Flash Cannon - Thunderbolt Magneton is the teams Choice Scarfer and acts as my only answer to Durant and Escavalier. Magneton's Magnet Pull ability allows me to always revenge kill Durant and Escavalier by trapping and OHKO'ing them with HP Fire, which is immensely useful since the rest of my team really struggles to take hits from these guys. The rest of the moves are standard, Volt Switch for momentum, and dual STAB in Flash Cannon + Thunderbolt. A Timid nature allows me to outspeed Swellow and everything slower. Trap Card (Krookodile) (M) @ Expert Belt/Earth Plate Trait: Moxie EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Pursuit - Crunch - Earthquake - Superpower Initially this was a scarfed Krookodile, however since I already had a Scarfer I decided to swap Krook's item to E-Belt and it has paid dividends. Nearly everyone expects Krook to be scarfed, so I'm able to pick up innumerable surprise KO's, which means many people lose their win conditions unexpectedly or allow me to get up enough Moxie boosts to sweep through the rest of their team. The coverage Krookodile has is pretty immense, only being walled by Defensive behemoths like Tangrowth and Alomomola, so he's very difficult to switch into, and thanks to Pursuit, out of too. Superpower is to hit opposing Krooks and Normal types Hard, Stone Edge has lost it's usefulness now that Moltres is banned from the tier. You can also opt to run Earth Plate over Expert Belt to help turn EQ in to 2HKO's on more pokes, however both items have their usefullness. Threats: Gallade - The Bulk Up set causes me real headaches. The only thing on the team that can take Drain Punches well is Uxie, however Uxie fails to break Gallade's sub with Psychic meaning it can easily set up to +6 and sweep through my team. My only real hope is hitting it hard with Gastro, Krook or Bouff before it's behind a sub. Thankfully this set is quite rare. Druddigon - Choice Band at least 2HKO's the whole team, you will have to sack something vs this, but try to get a big hit off on it in the process, then bring in Krook or Chan to Finish it off. Krookodile - Scarf or even the rare non-choiced sets are pretty huge threats to my team since the only Ground immunity I have is Uxie, which is weak to Krook's STAB Crunch, so you must predict very carefully around Krook lest you be swept, however Hitmonchan's Mach Punch helps to keep it in check. Sceptile - The Sub Life Orb set is very annoying, it has Giga Drain to OHKO Gastro + Krook and Focus Blast to OHKO Magnteon and possibly OHKO Bouff after rocks. The best thing to do is go into Uxie then U-Turn out to Hitmonchan since it's great Sp Def and recovery with Drain Punch means it should always win 1 on 1, however if Hitmonchan is too weakened then Scarf Magneton can revenge kill from around 60-70%[/HIDE] Importable: Spoiler Brains (Uxie) @ Leftovers Trait: Levitate EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Stealth Rock - Thunder Wave - U-turn - Psychic President Chan (Hitmonchan) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Iron Fist EVs: 208 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Rapid Spin - Mach Punch - ThunderPunch - Drain Punch Fidel Gastro (Gastrodon) (M) @ Choice Specs Trait: Storm Drain EVs: 132 HP / 112 Def / 252 SAtk / 12 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Toxic - Earth Power - Ice Beam - Surf Afro Smash (Bouffalant) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Sap Sipper EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Substitute - Earthquake - Megahorn - Head Charge Trifecta (Magneton) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Magnet Pull EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Hidden Power [Fire] - Volt Switch - Flash Cannon - Thunderbolt Trap Card (Krookodile) (M) @ Expert Belt Trait: Moxie EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Pursuit - Crunch - Stone Edge - Earthquake
Great team Afro, and grats on the peak! Full credit for using the unloved Gastro and Bouff so well. Only sad I never played this team :u
Honestly, I would put HP Fire on Rotom and give Gastro a better coverage move. It seems out of place and it doesn't offer much for it. This would also get rid of the Durant threat. I'm a little confused on the Gastro EVs. Putting the defense into HP would give more bulk overall, and you don't have lefties/sub/SToss number you have to worry about. Maybe I'm missing something. idk
This is a really cool team, and considering I'm trash at LU, this probably isn't going to be much of a rate. The only real thing I can think of is to give Rotom-C 248 Speed EVs. You'll still outspeed everything you need to outspeed, but when you lead with Rotom-C vs Rotom-C, the momentum would be yours. I honestly don't know how to solve the weakness you have. It seems like a Moltres could work instead of Krookodile. It's a great check to Gallade, Durant, Escavalier, and it also gives you another hard hitter against Druddigon. That'd mean giving up ThunderPunch on Hitmonchan, and it'd make hazard even more worrisome, so I don't really know if that's worth it. Hope I helped and good luck!
@Scizor - Cheers :P and you should be glad you never faced it ;) @Tyki - Gastro doesn't really have a better coverage move, Ice Water and Ground cover basically everything. I suppose I could run HP Grass for opposing Gastro's but opposing Gastro's are alot less common than Escavalier, and are usually 2hko'd by earth power anyway, so i'd rather have a surefire way of OHKO'ing Escavalier. Rotom-C's Thunderbolt is a guaranteed OHKO on Durant after rocks anyway, so HP Fire isn't neccessary, and HP Fire is very unlikely to OHKO Escavalier even after rocks. Plus I wouldn't like to lose the speed IV. As for the Gastro EV's i was under the impression they would allow me to live 2 CB Flare Blitzes from Entei, however checking calcs this is not the case, maybe I dreamt that lol, i'll change it to max HP. Cheers for the rate. @Zoro - I'm considering swapping Rotom-C out for Magneton since it guarantees OHKO's on Escav and Durant. I'll test out your suggestion first though. As for Moltres i can actually see it fitting in very well, but i'd replace Bouffa with it since it 4x resists Grass and synergizes very well with Gastro, and it certainly would help with majority of the major threats to this team. Cheers for the great rate!
AFRO THRUST, AFRO KILL. AFRO SMASH! Great team! I'd use LO Gastrodon over Specs, with Recover over Hidden Power, but either works. Also, Slashing Thunder Punch and Ice Punch and making Rapid Spin a move that's always on Hitmonchan sounds ideal, once again it's personal prefference. Nice team. x_x
@Finch I took your advice of always putting Rapid Spin on Chan and it's worked out great so far, and i tested out your LO Gastro suggestion and whilst it did perform pretty well and actually gave me a useful move for my 4th slot, I didn't like the decreased power or the added recoil, definitely a good set though. Cheers for the rate! Updated the RMT: Scarf Magneton > Scarf Rotom-C because Escavalier + Durant were a massive problem. Rapin Spin > Ice Punch on Hitmonchan because Golurk has left the tier and Hazard stack/Toxic Spikes caused me real headaches. Leftovers > Life Orb on Hitmonchan to increase longevity. Thunder Wave > Heal Bell on Uxie because majority of the team is slow + helps to cripple sweepers. Placed all of Gastrodon's Speed EV's into HP + Defense to allow it to live 2 Flare Blitz' from Entei and because outspeeding Tangrowth is mostly irrelevant with Bouffalant on the team. Head Charge > Return on Bouffalant because power increase is very noticeable and recoil is minimal. Megahorn > Stone Edge on Bouffalant because hitting Bulky Psychic types like Uxie + Slowking, and Bulky Grass types like Tangrowth hard with Megahorn is a lot more useful than hitting Scyther or Moltres hard. Toxic > HP Fire on Gastrodon since Magneton now takes care of Durant + Escavalier.
Updated the Importable + the team: Added Sceptile to the threat list. Made Magneton Timid to outspeed Sceptile Stone Edge > Superpower on Krookodile because Moltres is a mighty strong. Gave Uxie 16 Speed EV's to outspeed Crawdaunt + Omastar and cripple them with T-Wave before they can set up. Reduced Bouffalant's Speed EV's so it no longer outspeeds Lanturn and Sandslash (both of these pokemon are easily handled by Gastro, and are very rare.) It now creeps on Clefable and has increased bulk. 48 Speed EV's in Hitmonchan to allow it to outspeed Max Speed Aggron and everything slower.
Just from my experience, I think Tri Attack gives better neutral coverage than Flash Cannon does. You have a cool team. ^__^
I prefer to have the STAB boost of Flash Cannon, but ty. Updates: Superpower > Stone Edge on Krookodile now that Moltres has left the tier. Updated descriptions. Added in first version of the team for comparison.