XY RU Five-Minute Sticky Web Team

[MikeDawg]

~*~ Five Minute Sticky Web Team ~*~

~ Introduction ~
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Rarelyused, if you haven't played it, is an incredibly fun tier. Innovation and creativity are rewarded, and every play-style from stall to hyper offense is viable. That is, until hyper offense took over thanks to Froslass. Its ability to stack spikes so effortlessly, while frequently bringing an opposing Pokemon down in the process, put an incredible amount of pressure on bulkier archetypes. Just when the RU community began to settle down given the imminent ban of Lass, another monster, far more terrifying and far more deadly, reared it's adorable head: Shuckle. It was the threat that nobody was expecting, but it was an incredible threat indeed.

Shuckle has the ability to set up guaranteed Sticky Web, and also usually Stealth Rocks, and after that it usually has most of its HP left so it can just leave and come back later if it wants to. The options are endless. It can encore some stuff, setup hazards again, use Infestation... actually, that's about it. Shuckle is the most predictable Mon ever, and yet it is still such an absurd threat because it can only be stopped by Xatu, obscure Magic Coat Mons, and Mold Breaker Ramparados' Head Smash. Given the huge number of wallbreakers and grounded Mons in RU, Sticky Web offense because a lethal force that completely defined the metagame in the short stint from its discover to its impending ban.

Perhaps the worst part about Shuckle offense is how ridiculously easy it is to build a team around it. Slapping on five random wallbreakers is enough to get at least some decent traction on the ladder. It takes a bit more effort to create a more successful team. However, "a bit more effort" than no effort still equates to little effort, hence the theme of this Shuckle-showcasing RMT. This team took a good five minutes to make. Its initial 1-minute creation, two very quick battles worth of testing, and then a couple of quick minor alterations is all that it took to create a team that could scale the ladder at ease and tear apart any team lacking a very particular combination of Mons including Rotom-C, Moltres, Jolteon, and Xatu.

~ Team Building Process ~

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I started, of course, with Shuckle. I followed up with the infamous Braviary-Doublade-Hitmonlee core. Braviary, with Defiant, can discourage Defog by threatening +2 attack. It initially started as a Life Orb variant but was changed to Choice Band as the recoil was too much of a hit to its needed longevity. Doublade is undoubtedly the best spinblocker in the tier. Not a single spinner realistically beats it, making it a staple on such a hazard-centric team. Hitmonlee is both a spinner and one of the best wallbreakers in the entire tier. Spin support is vital against tspikes stall teams, spike-stacking teams, and opposing web teams. Exploud followed because it literally eats the entire tier bar Registeel. Web offense is typically weak to stronger special attackers, namely Jolteon, and so I added sub-cm Meloetta as a check to both that and stall.

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After a couple battles, I decided that my weakness to electric-types and flying mons like Fletchinder was unacceptable, especially given how centralized the meta was against standard web teams. Thus, Meloetta was exchanged for specs Magneton, who could take electric and flying attacks like a pro while still offering protection against Doublade and other mons that Meloetta checked. To compensate for the loss of Meloetta, Braviary was changed to a Sub Bulk Up set so that it could replace Meloetta as an absolute bitch to stall. It also turned Registeel, the only thing between Exploud and the win, into a liability that Braviary could completely set up on. The team was now finished.

~ In-Depth Look ~

Fuckle (Shuckle) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Spd / 252 Def
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Encore
- Stealth Rock
- Sticky Web
- Infestation
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This is standard Shuckle. Some of them run 252 speed now. I don't remember why, so I don't. I'd rather tank waterfalls and iron heads and the like so that I can setup more things. It really is simple. Most of the time, click Sticky Web. Sometimes click Stealth Rock. Sometimes click Encore. Usually don't click Infestation. But you could sometimes. Then bop, you win. In all seriousness, Shuckle is practically guaranteed Webs. In addition, Shuckle normally dies in the lead position, but there is no need to sack it right off the bat if unnecesary. It can come in multiple times throughout the match to replenish hazards that were Defogged away if need be. Mental Herb means that taunt doesn't work. Encore doesn't work. Fucking Magic Coat > Disable doesn't work. It is practically a perfect web-setter. EVs aren't very optimal for switching into hazards, but who gives a fuckle? #Shuckle4Ubers

Bop (Exploud) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Modest Nature
- Boomburst
- Fire Blast
- Surf
- Sleep Talk
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I lied in the Team Building section. Exploud was actually the first addition. I knew the standard core was coming next though so whatever. However, let its early draft indicate its capabilities. It is one of the, if not the, single most threatening Sticky Web mon in RU. The power behind its Boomburst is incredible, and it is only augmented by the fact that nothing is immune to it. So, Exploud has a 100% spammable 140 bp STAB move that 1hkos alomomola. Registeel is the only mon that can hope to consistently take on Exploud, but taking 25% on each switch in while dealing with the offensive pressure of the other 4 team members means that Registeel almost never stays standing for long. The other two moves are essentially filler, though catching a Rhyperior on the switch is very helpful to Braviary. Sleep Talk can be handy if you want Exploud to absorb a spore from Amoongus or a Sing from Cincinno, but I frequently let another mon fall asleep because Exploud is just too damn valuable. Bop.

New Breed (Doublade) @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 52 Spd / 204 HP
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Sneak
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Doublade is core member #1. Its primary purpose is as a spinblocker, though it can also hold its own very well offensively. It can check speed boost Yanmega, typically a huge threat, quite well with its incredible typing. Air Slash flinches such though. It can set up on a huge host of mons and fire off suprisingly strong shadow sneaks against faster opponents. EVs allow it to outspeed Rhyperior and co. even before Webs go up, allowing Braviary even more sweeping potential. Doublade as a whole is fairly self explanatory: spinblock, backup priority, sometimes late game sweep. Regardless of how predictable it is, it is vital. Watch out for Foresight.

Fuk. I meant Knock Off (Hitmonlee) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch
- Rapid Spin
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Hitmonlee is a monster, obviously. Then came Sticky Web, and its capabilities grew even larger. Rapid spin support yay. Mach punch yay sharpedo dies ambipom dies. Moving on, that power is insane. Reckless HJK is one of the strongest attacks in all of RU. Boomburst is only better because HJK Crashes and lots of strong fighting resists like gligar and bitch fishes like alomomola. It can be somewhat of a pain to predict around ghosts like Banette as well. HJK vs Knock Off can be real clutch sometimes. But it's okay, because if you predict wrong and HJK into a ghost, you can just go "fuck misclick" and pride restored. Lee has great synergy with Doublade in that lee can't take any hits and doublade can take lots of hits, mostly from flying types. As mentioned, it provides an incredibly valuable check to sharpedo and ambipom who are assholes to hyper offense. I ran Sucker Punch when I was using meloetta because yanmega was scary, but magneton provides a secondary yanmega check and sharpedo is even scarier.

Not c_l Enuf (Braviary) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 44 Spd / 252 HP / 212 SDef
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
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Braviary is seriously so good. Scarf, band, and LO are overrated, but sub bulk up is such a gem on web offense. It can sometimes 6-0 a stall team as soon as webs are down. It's absurd. It has so many set up opportunities that synergise very well with the rest of the team. Registeel (exploud counter). Gligar (hitmonlee counter). Alomomola (doublade counter). Etc. Once it begins setting up, it becomes harder and harder to kill, then it can ko registeel with brave bird and sweep! Sub also gives it a bit of an opportunity to take on electric types which this team hates. Jolteon needs to break the sub in order to do any damage, so braviary can re-sub on a volt switch or brave bird on a tbolt, putting jolteon into ko range from one of the priority users. All in all, great mon, severely underrated set. Great to switch into defog. Except nasty plot golbat (which braviary kinda beats anyway). Watch out for infiltrator Spiritomb. Protip: play braviary relatively safely, especially against less-offensive teams. If it gets statused, you lose potentially your most valuable member.

Llama-Killer (Magneton) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]
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Magneton kind of ties this team together. It is yet another incredibly terrifying wallbreaker. Nothing wants to switch into a specs analytic attack. Jolteon is still kind of a bitch because of volt absorb, but repeated flash cannons wear it down very quickly. It serves mainly as a check to jolteon and yanmega, but it also accomplishes so much more. The merit of such a strong volt switch cannot be overstated. If the opponent has no electric-immune mons, then it is almost an instant win, assuming everything else goes decently well. Volt switch is seriously so strong, and the opponent doesn't want to switch because analytic, but regardless of what they do they will incurr crazy damage and then be faced with an awful matchup. Turns out that Magneton is actually pretty frail. It takes ove 30% from life orb tbolt from jolteon. Hp grass is for gastrodon and lanturn.

~ Threatlist ~

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Xatu is an obvious threat as it prevents the setup of any hazards until it dies. The best option against it is to keep up offensive pressure until it goes down, or to predict the obvious u-turn on shuckle and then set up webs. If you are super worried about it, something like zoroark can be run to make xatu gtfo. A pursuit mon is also helpful. Xatu is a huge threat, but it is certainly manageable.

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Hint: almost all of the threats are flying. Moltres is another serious issue. Magneton cannot handle it because of fire coverage. The best option against tres is usually to get rocks up asap and then go for a priority kill. Exploud can sometimes take a hit from Moltres, but be careful. Shuckle should try to be preserved if moltres is on the other team as it offers both sacking potential and possibly the ability to take a hit and get off some infestation chip damage.

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Jolteon came to RU at just the right time to be a great Sticky Web check. What's unique to jolteon is that even as a grounded mon it can still outspeed pretty much anything on a web team after the speed drop. Webs offense teams aren't meant to take hits. Saving shuckle is helpful against jolteon so that you have something to bring in to chip its health away with life orb/infestation damage. It's only super threatening early game. With some smart playing, it can be worn down enough to be easily picked off later on.

If any of these mons are paired together, it's probably gg right off the bat unless you get some solid hax or some real good outplaying. The team can be altered to better deal with some of these mons, but that opens up other holes as well.

Overall, this is a 5-minute team. Of course it isn't optimal. However, it showcases the terror that is/was Shuckle Offense and how easy it was to construct and utilize. In fact, the flexibility availible makes it even more hard to deal with, as there are honestly plenty of combinations to take on anything that you need.

This team in particular will have no trouble against all but specialized sticky-web counter teams. If this were a 7-minute team, then it could be further optimized. But in a vacuum, removing the centralization around Shuckle Offense that caused mons like Xatu to rise in popularity, this team is a perfect example of the force that dominated the RU meta for the entirety of the first two stages.

Importable:
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Steal Meh

Fuckle (Shuckle) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Spd / 252 Def
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Encore
- Stealth Rock
- Sticky Web
- Infestation

Bop (Exploud) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Modest Nature
- Boomburst
- Fire Blast
- Surf
- Sleep Talk

New Breed (Doublade) @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 52 Spd / 204 HP
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Sneak

Fuk. I meant Knock Off (Hitmonlee) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch
- Rapid Spin

Not c_l Enuf (Braviary) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 44 Spd / 252 HP / 212 SDef
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Substitute
- Bulk Up

Llama-Killer (Magneton) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]

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[Imanalt]

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this team is a perfect example of the force that dominated the RU meta for the entirety of the first two stages.

humble/10

Seriously though, this team has some pretty severe issues for me. Rhyperior carrying roar gives you absolute hell, as it can come in easily on braviary, magneton locked into electric moves, and exploud locked into anything other than surf, and you have nothing that is even close to a switchin. I would expect this team to lose to most any well built team with rhyperior, which is a real issue. The easiest fix for me is using scarf rotom-c > magneton. This gives you a way to at least check moltres and force it out, hopefully allowing sr to deal with it, and also gives you a decent switchin to rhyperior. This isn't an ideal solution, and you might be able to work something by replacing both magneton and exploud with jolteon and something, but im failing to see a significantly better answer.

 

[MikeDawg]

humble/10

Seriously though, this team has some pretty severe issues for me. Rhyperior carrying roar gives you absolute hell, as it can come in easily on braviary, magneton locked into electric moves, and exploud locked into anything other than surf, and you have nothing that is even close to a switchin. I would expect this team to lose to most any well built team with rhyperior, which is a real issue. The easiest fix for me is using scarf rotom-c > magneton. This gives you a way to at least check moltres and force it out, hopefully allowing sr to deal with it, and also gives you a decent switchin to rhyperior. This isn't an ideal solution, and you might be able to work something by replacing both magneton and exploud with jolteon and something, but im failing to see a significantly better answer.

Hi! Thanks for the rate.

Foreword: By "perfect example," I was referring to the ease at which a good-enough sticky web team is able to be created in, literally, 5 minutes.

Rhyperior is definitely somewhat of an issue, but me not being able to switch into it is somewhat remedied by the fact that the opportunity cost for me to sack something is much less than that of a defensive-oriented team. Rhyperior also struggles to come in on anything unless it is after a kill (magneton is using volt switch 90% of the time, and so rhyp risks being 1hkod by flash cannon). Doublade is its best bet, but it outspeeds rhyp (with or without webs) and can kill with iron head. Exploud is also a potential switchin but only for specially defensive rhyperior as otherwise it is 2hkod. Braviary can also wear it down a bit if neccesary, but if I get unlucky with predicts then it can dismantle the team for sure.

Rotom-c could work real well! I've always wanted mag to have more work to take on the likes of jolteon, and so adding it can help to alleviate that problem as well while still keeping volt switch and offering a better answer to rhyp.

Thanks! :)