From Early birds to gold ducks (peaked #15)

[Sweet Jesus]

After making several other unsuccessful teams since my first RMT (volbeat team), I finally managed to make something that really fitted my play style while still being original. I peaked number 15 with 1273 ranking before the recent ranking resets. I like it a lot because of some very uncommon pokémon that I use and the fact my 6 pokémon only suffer from a total of 9 weaknesses and boast 23 resistances and immunities. It's a pretty balanced team with no main strategy like my last RMT.

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Not so long ago I created a specially defensive kangaskhan who I thought could do pretty good in the NU metagame. Since I like making defensive cores with 2 Pokémon, I decided to match it up with physically bulky weezing and start my team from there.

Kanghaskan(F) @Leftovers
Ability: Early Bird
EVs: 200 Hp, 56 Att, 252 Sp.D
Nature: Careful (Sp.D +, Sp.A -)
-Body Slam
-Roar
-Rest
-Sleep Talk

Most people tend to use kangaskhan as a pretty strong poke with reasonable speed and bulk, but kangaskhan's bulk is sufficient to make it a physical or special wall with the right investments. This kangaskhan works pretty much the same way munchalx works in RU and is often the MVP of the team. Although Kanga doesn't have munchalx's awesome Special Bulk and lack's thick fat, his own particularities make him work just as well (if not better). Thick Fat isn't a big loss compared to the benefits earlybird can bring to a rest talk set. Sleeping only one turn means kanga can recover health and status every two turns. kangaskhan is also much faster than the incredibly slow munchlax. Even without any speed investment, kangaskhan can still out speed a couple of threats and pretty much anything after a body slam paralyze. The combination of rest talk and roar can often phaze pokemon giving stealth rock damage and resetting boosts without even taking a hit on a slower pokémon. Kangaskhan also has a free item slot since he can't take eviolite and takes advantage of leftovers recovery to increase his bulk. Finally, kangaskhan also fills the role of the status absorber. (note that circle throw is illegal with sleep talk so don't suggest that).

Weezing(M) @Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EV's: 252 Hp, 252 Def, 4 Spe
Ability: Bold (Def +, Att-)
-Will-O-Wisp
-Flamethrower
-Clear Smog
-Sludge Bomb

Weezing is my physical wall. Poison typing with levitate gives great bulk against fighting pokemon who threaten kangaskhan so badly. Will-O-Wisp makes his physical bulk so huge that black sludge can nearly be considered reliable recovery. Clear smog negates swords dance effect that could compensate for the burn. Sludge Bomb is the main attacking move and flamethrower adds coverage and hits the rare steels types that could abuse me otherwise. 4 speed helps out speed other slow pokémon, especially tangela which is annoying on the speed tie.

Looking at my defensive core I tried to identify its main weaknesses and patch them up with more offensive based Pokémon. Of those weaknesses I noticed psychock, psychic with focus blast coverage, Pokémon with reliable recovery (and lots of pp), very powerful choiced and guts pokes and moves such as trick, taunt, leech seed, knock off etc. However most specs, band and guts pokemon have no reliable switch in when proper prediction is applied. Which is why I decided to counter these flaws with revenge killers.

Rotom-S(N) @choice scarf
Ability : Levitate
EV’s : 4Hp, 252 Sp.A, 252 Spe.
Nature : Timid (Spe +, Att-)
-Volt Switch
-Thunderbolt
-Air Slash
-Trick

Pretty boring set, you probably already know how this works and have already seen it thousands of times but it fills many roles my team would otherwise lack and is one of the most important Pokémon of my team. Scarfed rotom-s is extremely fast and is an awesome revenge killer especially thanks to volt switch, which lets me bring in weezing who blocks a whole lot of opposing revenge killers. Trick and choice scarf also make a good switch in on opposing trickers, taunt is near useless and air slash can threaten most seeders. Flying typing also grants an immunity to mold breaker earthquake that kills weezing.

Absol(F) @Life Orb
Abiliy : Super Luck
EV’s : 4 Hp, 252 Att, 252 Spe
Nature : Jolly (Spe+, Sp.A -)
-Sucker Punch
-Night Slash
-Superpower
-Swords Dance

Another very common and boring set. Absol is the psychic killer and another awesome revenge killer that concentrates on power over speed. Absol is also my only Pokémon with a fighting move and a boosting move and my main physical attacker. Sucker Punch is my only form of priority in the team. Final,y Absol is the only very frail thing in my team and since he boasts so much unique traits I tend to use him pretty carefuly.

The team seemed pretty good right there but I still needed a stealth rocker, Ground, water, grass and ice attacks, and a powerful special attacker. I felt pretty confident about the first four of the team, so I had some fun choosing very unusual Pokémon to fill these roles.

Marshtomp(M) @Eviolite
Ability: Torrent
EV’s: 252 Att, 128 Def, 128 Sp.D
Nature: Adamant (Att+, Sp,A-)
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
-Waterfall
-Ice Punch

Sitting at the sky-high 211th position of the most used Pokémon in NU last April, marshtomp is a never used among the never used. He is usually considered completely outclassed by quagsire who learns recover and posses unaware. But unlike his ground water brother, marshtomp can set up the rocks. Not only can he set them, he also does it with a lot of ease in nearly every game. Marshtomp even makes a wonderful SR lead for he counters many common leads (last April, the seven most common leads were golem, regirock, armaldo, gigalith, probopass, electrode and bastiondon). He is nearly never confronted to a grass Pokémon as they are rarely used on first turn. The three attacking moves offer great coverage and people are often destabilized too see this unknown threat hits harder than they expected.

Golduck(M) @Choic Specs
Ability : Cloud Nine
EV’s : 4 Hp, 252 Sp.A, 252 Spe
Nature : Timid (Spe +, Att-)
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Hidden Power Grass
-Psychock

Golduck is another Pokémon often considerd outclassed, but I believe it’s mainly because people see only it’s swift swim sweeping capabilities, a role in which he really is outclassed by ludicolo. This golduck is not meant to set up he just hits hard with the renowned water grass ice coverage. Golduck also has two nice niches in psychock to wreck cryogonal and Cloud Nine to surprise and revenge kill all sorts of weather sweepers. Golduck is also pretty cool for he stands on the very common 85 speed stat and is usualy bulky enough to take 1 or 2 hits.

Threats:

This team has few big threats, mainly because my 3 bulky Pokémon all show only one weakness in terms of typing. Like any NU team, it fears banded Emboar and Braviary as well as guts ursaring, but they are all easy to revenge kill. The real flaw of this team is I feel I sometimes lack brute force. If absol and golduck are dead or inappropriate, bulky Pokémon with reliable recovery can only be countered by trick or end up in a stall war with kangaskhan. Cradily is the prefect example of this Pokémon: once absol is down, only golduck and marshtomp can hit it hard and they both fear the stab giga drain which will heal all the damage dealt. It can still be managed with burn or paralyze but it’s a long and painful process. Other than that chlorophyll sawsbuck has often been a pain since life orb double-edge 2HKO’s weezing and he out speeds rotom-S and golduck even with cloud nine. I have nothing to counter toxic spikes but half of my team doesn't care and I usualy deal pretty well with those.
Mold breaker earthquake is threatening but can also be revenge killed. Finally, the greatest weakness to this team would probably be Gravity. Under its effect, a powerful earthquake can wreck 5 out of 6 Pokémon in my team. Fortunately that strategy is as common as marshtomp and I have never encountered it, not even with another team.

 

[No Luck Involved]

Nice team Sweet Jesus, I can say from experience how hard it is to KO that Kangaskhan. I'm thinking maybe a Wish + Protect set may be better to further support the team with Scrappy as its ability to hit Ghosts with Body Slam. Lickilicky can also be used in this role, with Dragon Tail and Body Slam.

I would suggest you change Clear Smog to Haze on Weezing, this allows you to remove boosts from behind Subs. With Wish support you can even begin using Weezing as your status absorber and can be a bit less careful with it.

If Marshtomp is working for you then keep it, but I want to suggest Golem who has higher attack and fantastic STABs as well as having great synergy with Weezing. Good luck!

 

[erisia]

Firstly, is Sleep Talk that necessary on Kangaskhan when it's only going to be asleep for a single turn? You may be better off using Earthquake or Hammer Arm instead so that you can hit Steels and Rocks, or using Crunch or Sucker Punch to hit Ghost types as you lack Scrappy.

Secondly, your Marshtomp will have better overall bulk if you shift the EVs from Defense and Special Defense into HP. Doing this will increase Marshtomp's bulk by 2.4% without any drawbacks.

Thirdly, Weezing's Flamethrower doesn't deal with Steels, as the most popular choices are Probopass and Bastiodon, both of which are neutral to Fire and both of which are killed by the rest of your team. I'd give it Pain Split instead so that Weezing has more longevity over the match.

 

[Sweet Jesus]

@No Luck Involved

Your changes are interesting. Taken one on one, I'd prefer to leave my team like it is, but all together they transform it to give different advantages.

Haze hits through sub and steels but clear smog hits through taunt and deals damage. Kangaskhan already deals with sub users thanks to roar. However if I were to change kangaskhan for lickilicky (Dtail, wish, protect) haze would become the better option and I would find myself with a better bulk and a way to heal my team. However I don't consider weezing as a very good status absorber, which would force lickilicky to carry Heal Bell. I'd then gain another way to heal my team, but I'd also lose the possibility to paralyze, the sleep talk roar combo and 100% accuracy phasing move.
I wouldn't know what's best I'll probably try it out.

Golem is probably the best option. He does hit harder which would really help my team but people are generally more prepared to beat him as a lead than marshtomp. (I'll probably keep marshtomp just because he's more hipster :p)

@Erisia

Sleep talk is essential on Kangaskhan, it's what makes him more than a sitting duck on things that 2HKO or 3HKO it (depending on speed). Ghosts aren't really that annoying because they can't do much to kangaskhan anyway except Drifblim but roar gives massive SR damage and eliminates unburden. Plus Kangaskhan can often fake scrappy until he rests.

I might look stupid showing skepticism, but I'm not sure Marshtomp is really more bulky with Hp, maybe i sucked at calculating it, but is eviolite taken in cosideration on the 2,4% ? If yes I'll change that.

Good point on flamethrower I'll change that. However pain split is often a pain to use especialy on something that kills slowly like weezing. I’ll try it and if it doesn’t fit I’ll use another coverage move.

 

[WhiteDMist]

Kudos to you for using Marshtomp! I once used it as a Rain setter and it wasn't bad. Scald would be the better option truthfully, since it will hit all the common leads you mentioned for more damage and have a chance to burn as well. Ice Punch is rather useless since it won't really do much more than annoy the bulky Grass-types in the tier. Toxic would be much better at making a lasting impression against most of the non-Poison ones, as well as cripple opposing walls. Also, with Eviolite, it is more efficient to first maximize Marshtomp's HP, before empowering its defensive stats. Base 85 Atk isn't terrible, but you would really only attack enemies that you could hit super effectively, or burn; thus it would be more prudent to lower the amount of Atk EVs to better improve its defenses (probably Def). Or, if you are considering replacing Marshtomp, try Marowak. It can tank a non-super effective physical hit, set up Rocks, and hurt opposing Pokes (and the aforementioned leads) significantly.

I like using Golduck myself as a Weather counter/revenge killer, though I usually Scarf or Life Orb it. either way, it doesn't really help this team much in particular. It isn't bulky enough to take on opposing Water-types, especially Ludicolo, who troubles your team significantly if it is a Swift Swim attacker (since it easily handles Golduck with Giga Drain, and Rotom can be damaged by Ice Beam. For that reason, replacing Golduck with either a Cryogonal, or a Ludicolo of your own, can help mitigate your Water weakness. Hope I helped! :)

 

[Sweet Jesus]

Kudos to you for using Marshtomp! I once used it as a Rain setter and it wasn't bad. Scald would be the better option truthfully, since it will hit all the common leads you mentioned for more damage and have a chance to burn as well. Ice Punch is rather useless since it won't really do much more than annoy the bulky Grass-types in the tier. Toxic would be much better at making a lasting impression against most of the non-Poison ones, as well as cripple opposing walls. Also, with Eviolite, it is more efficient to first maximize Marshtomp's HP, before empowering its defensive stats. Base 85 Atk isn't terrible, but you would really only attack enemies that you could hit super effectively, or burn; thus it would be more prudent to lower the amount of Atk EVs to better improve its defenses (probably Def). Or, if you are considering replacing Marshtomp, try Marowak. It can tank a non-super effective physical hit, set up Rocks, and hurt opposing Pokes (and the aforementioned leads) significantly.

I like using Golduck myself as a Weather counter/revenge killer, though I usually Scarf or Life Orb it. either way, it doesn't really help this team much in particular. It isn't bulky enough to take on opposing Water-types, especially Ludicolo, who troubles your team significantly if it is a Swift Swim attacker (since it easily handles Golduck with Giga Drain, and Rotom can be damaged by Ice Beam. For that reason, replacing Golduck with either a Cryogonal, or a Ludicolo of your own, can help mitigate your Water weakness. Hope I helped! :)

Thanks for the rate WhiteDMist, Ice Punch is pretty useful actualy it makes great coverage with earthquake. I really liked this set because everyone would expect such a pokémon to be too weak and too carry set up instead of coverage. With it, I've countered all sorts of things most importantly sub disable Haunter who is otherwise a terror to my team that must be handled through volt switch or flamethrower. Golduck is awesome but I should have changed him to life orb because I needed versatility so often. However I don't really play this team anymore (I tend to make teams pretty regularly). I'm currently #4 with another team using the same Kanga (damn that thing is good !). I might make another RMT eventualy but I think I can still make it better by myself before asking advice. Still you're right ludicolo was pretty annoying to this team but once he was at around 60 % Hp golduck could deal with him.

 

[Incon]

Hey sweet jesus! Love the team and marshtomp looks awesome. Kudos to being original! I do suggest that you switch golduck with simipour. I use simi with the same moves except instead of psyshock i use focus blast. Simi has both higher spatk and speed base stats and seems to outclass golduck in the specs water pokemon. Just thought id put in my two cents. Love your originality and knowledge on the game. Keep being awesome!

 

[Sweet Jesus]

Thanks a lot Incon. It's been quite a while since I've played wth this team but simipour does seem the better choice. I'll try it out if I ever play the team again and will probbaly go life orb because choice specs have deceived me a bit. Only downside is ludicolo will become unstoppable even at 60 % hp.

I might make another RMT soon though pretty satisfied with my current team just hoping to acheive a higher ranking before posting something. Still using weird stuff like togetic :).