np: RU Stage 7 - Don't Look Back

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SDrapion is an utter monster in this metagame, simply because of the surprise factor. Drapion just looks like a slow Pokemon, but with Jolly and max investment it reaches 317 Speed IIRC. Crunch and Earthquake also form a monstrous combination together.

However, the Pokemon I want to brag about here is MAGMORTAR. Unlike its overrated cousin Noobvire, MAGMORTAR is one of the most anti-metagame Pokemon in RU right now. Not the wimpy Scarf set that's outclassed as fuck by Typhlosion, but the destructive Expert Belt set that annihilates the Slowking+Tangrowth combination by itself (as long as it doesn't switch in on Slowking). It can take a Leaf Storm and OHKO Tangrowth with Fire Blast, but if Slowking switches into a Fire Blast thinking "lol wall time", it gets eviscerated by Thunderbolt as Magmortar reduces the smug fish to charred remains, eats it, and picks his teeth with Slowking's retarded crown. Also Fire Blast OHKOs Drapion while Drapion doesn't OHKO with Quake. Also shits on Lilligant and dgaf about Sleep with Vital Spirit.

(use modest on MAGMORTAR) too
 
Everyone's been raving about the SD Drapion set, but I really enjoy the CB set as well. The allure of using this set is the ability to use Pursuit, as most SD sets won't be running Pursuit. Trapping Ghost-types such as Rotom and other frail Pokemon is a huge plus. Like Magmortar, Drapion, or as SilentVerse and I refer to it, Rapion, is quite the anti-metagame Pokemon, being able to deal with a plethora of common threats in RU. It also gets Aqua Tail to deal with things like Rhydon and Sandslash. Everyone expects a slow, more defensive variant of Drapion when they see it, but they forget that Drapion actually has a decent Attack and great Speed stat. An all-around great Pokemon in the current RU meta.
 
DetroitLolcat said:
However, the Pokemon I want to brag about here is MAGMORTAR. Unlike its overrated cousin Noobvire, MAGMORTAR is one of the most anti-metagame Pokemon in RU right now. Not the wimpy Scarf set that's outclassed as fuck by Typhlosion, but the destructive Expert Belt set that annihilates the Slowking+Tangrowth combination by itself (as long as it doesn't switch in on Slowking). It can take a Leaf Storm and OHKO Tangrowth with Fire Blast, but if Slowking switches into a Fire Blast thinking "lol wall time", it gets eviscerated by Thunderbolt as Magmortar reduces the smug fish to charred remains, eats it, and picks his teeth with Slowking's retarded crown. Also Fire Blast OHKOs Drapion while Drapion doesn't OHKO with Quake. Also shits on Lilligant and dgaf about Sleep with Vital Spirit.

(use modest on MAGMORTAR) too
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Hm.

While standard Slowking only does an average of 57% to Magmortar with Scald, Expert Belt Magmortar CAN NOT KO Calm 116SpDef Slowking even if rocks are up and Magmortar rolls max damage with both Fire Blast and Thunderbolt (King survives with like 15%, factoring in leftovers). Then again it's not hard at all to predict Slowking switch-ins and just use TB right away, because very few things in this tier can take hard-hitting special Fire Attacks.

Anyway, I agree that Magmortar is great, I'm just not sure about Expert Belt. Life Orb and Specs are the items to use IMO. Morty ain't too fast, so just let it hit whatever comes in like a truck. Life Orb Fire Blast OHKOs many Pokes even if it's just a neutral hit. I'm aware that SR weak Pokes + Life Orb isn't popular, but people use LO on Moltres, too.
 
Boingo said:
Anyway, I agree that Magmortar is great, I'm just not sure about Expert Belt. Life Orb and Specs are the items to use IMO. Morty ain't too fast, so just let it hit whatever comes in like a truck. Life Orb Fire Blast OHKOs many Pokes even if it's just a neutral hit. I'm aware that SR weak Pokes + Life Orb isn't popular, but people use LO on Moltres, too.
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dunno why people use LO Moltres when Specs is so much better. really fucks over Slowking and Lanturn with SR + HP Grass. U turn is the shit as well.

Anyway Moltres has Roost to compensate for the recoil and residual damage somewhat. in tandem with much better bulk and more resistances, specifically that sexy fighting one, it has multiple opportunities to Roost up. Magmortar doesnt have that so its kinda outclassed but eh, its a trade off between better coverage or better everything else.
 
The ladder is shittier than ever. It takes 10 minutes to find a battle, which means it is almost impossible to test new stuff. In the other hand, in the PO server it is very crowded. Just sayin'.

Anyway, SD bulky Gallade with Drain Punch is a monster! Almost nothing can revenge kill him from full health, he heals back to full life after he ohkoes your scarfer, and simply plows through defensive teams with Leaf Blade and Zen Headbutt for coverage moves. +2 Leaf Blade ohkoes Slowking, does 80% min to physically defensive Quagsire and Rhydon at +2, does 68% min to standard Spiritomb, ohkoes any Golurk, and finally does 80% min to physically defensive Sandslash, while Zen Headbutt 2hkoes defensive Tangrowth and Cofagrigus after SR, and with a Lum Berry they can do shit back (or you can even bang on the ~39% chance you have to either flinch them with Zen Headbutt or their status moves missing, including Zen Headbutts accuracy) and ohkoes Qwilfish after Intimidate.

A terror for both offensive and defensive teams to deal with!
 
What's the general opinion on all the spikers?

I'm making a Stall team and it seems like every spiker (Qwilfish, Roselia, Ferro, Garbador, and even more options) brings 2-3 really good qualities to the table (Qwilfish has Intimidate and Haze, Pinceco can spin, Rose has reliable recovery, etc.), but they all open additional weaknesses, such as Ferro not being able to clear Toxic Spikes in any way, or Pineco and Qwilfish having no recovery.
 
Qwilfish and Roselia are by far the best spikers in the tier. Ferroseed is literally set up on by half the metagame, while Garbodor is NU for a reason, and Pineco is just lol and Stealth Rock weak. Qwilfish is more of a physical wall, and can provide team support with Taunt, Thunder Wave, etc, while Roselia is a special wall, and can provide team support such as Aromatherapy and Sleep Powder (although Sleep Powder is illegal with Spikes).
 
Roselia is probably the best around, defensively. You've got a couple other weird options like Qwilfish, although Qwil seems to have gone down in usefulness lately. Drapion can also stack up Toxic Spikes, although I don't see it -too- frequently. Both Drapion + Roselia can check Lilligant which is super important since it can 6-0 a lot of stallish teams given the right opportunity. Ferroseed is kinda ok too, although imo it's inferior to Roselia in most situations.


In general, I'm a heavily offensive player, and this stall-heavy metagame is really not into my tastes, haha. So I was kind of wondering: how does everyone go about breaking stall? With all of the fantastic defensive Pokemon that are in RU and the influx of bulky teams, how does one actually set up a sweep or break through the walls? Is there like key Pokemon that can get it done (Feraligatr? Lilligant?) or is it the way you play them? Can you keep hazards up against a team with Cryogonal without resorting to something like physical Spiritomb?
 
I haven't played RU in a while (other than a few days yesterday) but I'm looking to get back into it.

Qwilfish is really a utility Pokemon. It's quite fast, it has a brilliant typing, it has Intimidate, it has useful moves such as Thunder Wave, Taunt, Haze, and Aqua Jet - it's just really lacking in the stats department.

Scolipede and Crustle are pretty good offensive Spike users, although they'll go down quite fast, and it's not very smart to set them up when the opposing team has a Cryogonal. Cryogonal is just a really frustrating Rapid Spin user; it's fast, beats most of the spinblockers, and is immune to Spikes and Toxic Spikes which is why it's so annoying to spike-stacking team. The best way to prevent Cryogonal from spinning other than something like CB Spiritomb is to just punish it for spinning. It has an awful Defense stat. Abuse it.

Those are just my thoughts now. RU is a lot different than when I played it a few months ago, although a lot of things look very similar.
 
Okay, you want to talk Spikers?

Let's talk Spikers. Qwilfish? Better in UU. Roselia? Garbage? Scolipede? Just use more attacks. You know who rules the roost in RU when it comes to spiking?

EHxQC.jpg

Yeah. You want the dual hazards of Crustle, the Speed of well...Garbodor? Oh it also gets to put shit to SLEEP and can TAUNT, PHAZE, MAGIC COAT OR EVEN USE BLUE FLARE IF IT DAMN WELL PLEASES???

This boss Smeargle should paint a picture of DEATH in your SOUL because he's throwing out hazards like confetti. He doesn't have to deal with spinblockers because he dies in like 3 turns anyway and gets a free turn from Focus Sash. Guaranteed SR+Sleep sound good to you? And if the opponent tries some fancy switching then you just load up hazards and spinblock with your Cofagrigus or some shit. Watch out RU, because this guy will make you cry.

What if...flare blitz smeargle to beat cryo?
 
DetroitLolcat said:
Okay, you want to talk Spikers?

Let's talk Spikers. Qwilfish? Better in UU. Roselia? Garbage? Scolipede? Just use more attacks. You know who rules the roost in RU when it comes to spiking?

EHxQC.jpg

Yeah. You want the dual hazards of Crustle, the Speed of well...Garbodor? Oh it also gets to put shit to SLEEP and can TAUNT, PHAZE, MAGIC COAT OR EVEN USE BLUE FLARE IF IT DAMN WELL PLEASES???

This boss Smeargle should paint a picture of DEATH in your SOUL because he's throwing out hazards like confetti. He doesn't have to deal with spinblockers because he dies in like 3 turns anyway and gets a free turn from Focus Sash. Guaranteed SR+Sleep sound good to you? And if the opponent tries some fancy switching then you just load up hazards and spinblock with your Cofagrigus or some shit. Watch out RU, because this guy will make you cry.
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Haha, yeah. Smeargle is fantastic, but it's really difficult to use effectively in RU atm, imo. Very little can actually prevent Cryogonal from spinning outside of something like CB Tomb or stupid shit like Dusknoir, which means that in all actuality Smeargle's hazards will probably only last a few turns. It beats Cofagrigius one-on-one with Haze, it beats Rotom because of insane special bulk (although Trick would probably do a number on it) and it roflstomps Golurk with Ice Beam. Trust me, I've used Smeargle on every possible offensive team I can and right now it's probably the worst it's ever been, especially since most of these bulky teams have reliable recovery.
 
Hooker Punch said:
Smeargle is pure set up bait with so much taunt in the tier.
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nothing commonly uses taunt outside of aerodactyl and drapion, and the former of which is becoming increasingly less popular. if you're using smeargle, use it with something that can take advantage of drap and actually switch up leads, maybe. cofagrigus can also handle aero + spinners outside of cryogonal, making it a really cool partner as well if you can eliminate drapion.
 
In addition to Aero and Drapion, who run Taunt as practically core, and Whimsicott(who I agree is bad, but is in like 50% of all ladder teams), there are a ton of threats right now that can legitimately run taunt right now & outspeed, like Archeops, Qwilfish, Gallade, and Mandibuzz(special shout-out to my main man Arceops, which works far better than it should).

The main problem with Smeargle is that his stats are so weak. I don't need to go into his defenses, but his Speed stat also lets down, because nearly every relevant pokemon(besides Cofagrigus, Slowking & Tangrowth) is in the base 80 tier or higher. Due to this, you can't switch him in to anything because it'll break the sash and he'll die before Spore. So, you need to run him either as a dedicated lead or switch in after a kill. Most people run him as a lead, which is ridiculously predictable and countered by any of the taunters. So, you're left switching him in after a kill, which, is alright--but I'd still rather switch in a qwilfish or roselia or something over it.
 
Hooker Punch said:
In addition to Aero and Drapion, who run Taunt as practically core, and Whimsicott(who I agree is bad, but is in like 50% of all ladder teams), there are a ton of threats right now that can legitimately run taunt right now & outspeed, like Archeops, Qwilfish, Gallade, and Mandibuzz(special shout-out to my main man Arceops, which works far better than it should).

The main problem with Smeargle is that his stats are so weak. I don't need to go into his defenses, but his Speed stat also lets down, because nearly every relevant pokemon(besides Cofagrigus, Slowking & Tangrowth) is in the base 80 tier or higher. Due to this, you can't switch him in to anything because it'll break the sash and he'll die before Spore. So, you need to run him either as a dedicated lead or switch in after a kill. Most people run him as a lead, which is ridiculously predictable and countered by any of the taunters. So, you're left switching him in after a kill, which, is alright--but I'd still rather switch in a qwilfish or roselia or something over it.
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I have yet to see a Whimsicott, thankfully, so maybe you're just playing all the bad players? Archeops doesn't commonly use Taunt at all (3.5% usage on a Pokemon that sees 6.2% usage doesn't seem very common to me whatsoever. To put it in perspective, Drapion runs Taunt 58% of the time, and Aerodactyl uses it 58.3% of the time). It takes a huge Speed investment for Qwilfish to actually outrun Smeargle (176 EVs + Jolly; it can't catch Smeargle without Jolly, which is only seen on 8.6% of all Qwilfish). It's a huge investment for a defensive Pokemon that already has brittle defenses. I'd also imagine that most cases of Jolly would be for a Rain Dance set, which doesn't use Taunt at all. Gallade rarely uses Taunt and even when it does, it only runs Jolly 16% of the time. Less than 2.9% of Mandibuzz's sets even run Speed. It's not even listed on the moveset statistics.

Point is, Smeargle is better than you make it out to be. Tired of getting Taunted by Whimsicott or something? Use Magic Coat and you get a free layer up + Sporing the switch-in + getting another free layer while they switch out of their sleeping Pokemon. Don't wanna be set-up bait for Substitute users? Whirlwind away, my friend. Smeargle is far different from those defensive spikers that you mentioned you would rather use, and honestly you can't compare between them. If you're smart about it, you can actually keep Smeargle around if they outplay you in the first few turns, too. There have been many times that I would end up forced out when using Smeargle as a lead. Even with a Focus Sash broken, I'd send in Hitmonchan later, then double switch back to Smeargle while they send in Spiritomb, which is a clearly advantageous matchup for Smeargle.

I peaked at 1472 on the RU ladder with Smeargle. I know what I'm talking about. >:(
 
Smeargle is very good and I'm surprised not more people have prepared for it. Running that speed investment on qwilfish is not actually a bad idea. I did it myself and it works nicely having that speed especially if you combo it with destiny bond. But smeargle will very often get its job done, even with taunt around.

The main problem with smeargle is that it will often leave you substantially weaker to certain threats as it gives literally no synergy. But if you can afford to have a slot purely for fast hazards, I would do it by all means.

P.S: Whimisicott is good if you know its limits and don't run dedicated sub-seed, go for encore u-turn.
 
It won't leave you substantially weaker because of no synergy, because it's not really meant to have synergy with the team lol... Smeargle does one of two things: set up hazards or set up with Baton Pass, and then it usually dies, unless you play smartly like Zebraiken said. Also the Level 1 TR FEAR set is can be trollishly effective xD

Edit: There are five other Pokemon on a team that can constitute good synergy without including Smeargle...
 
Exactly. With other hazard setters like roselia or qwilfish, you can use them to deal with threats as well as set up hazards. Granted, neither of them can get up hazards as quickly and consistently as smeargle, but by using smeargle, you effectively only have five slots that can actually. Even if it's not meant to work for a team's synergy, you are still hampering the team's synergy by using smeargle.
 
Is it me or has SpecsKing completely fallen off the map? Every Slowking I see now is defensive, and I feel like the only person using Choice Specs on everyone's favorite shellfish.

Also, Spinning in RU is utter hell with all the monster attackers/Cofagrigus/Spiritomb everywhere.
 
SpecsKing is dying down a bit for sure, but it's still one of the best special attackers in the tier. It's on my favorite team, although I haven't laddered with that team for a while.

I haven't really bothered with spinning recently. Unless Cryo or SD Kabutops is naturally a good fit on your team, you're probably better off just avoiding SR-weak mons and keeping up enough offensive pressure to prevent them getting multiple layers.
 
I thought i would just leave a few comments here:


After playing a bunch of matches on the ladder, im going to have to agree that specsking+LO tangrowth is a very effective offensive combo, ive been pairing it with offensive pokemon that resist their only common weakness (bug) such as Magmortar, entei, and OTR cofagrigus. With a third member of that combo to sponge the attacks that tangrowth and slowking HATE, the core can really shine. I have found that the core of OTR cofa, slowking, and tangrowth can get past nearly every defensive threat in the tier with smart play, while still having the defensive backbone to stand up to top offensive threats such as feraligatr, entei, and moltres. I will say that while very powerful, the core is not broken imo. Mandibuzz can take on all three fairly easily as long as it avoids tangrowth's sleep powder, while they have trouble switching in powerful attackers with a combination of dark, bug, and fire moves can easily break through the core. Life Orb galvantula has given me major trouble when using this core, along with a strange, yet viable set TropiOUs and i use called Fire Blast absol ;). rising star amoonguss will also give the core trouble because it hard walls tangrowth, can haze cofagrigus, and can survive a specs psyshock from slowking iirc, it also has spore to make matters worse for the core. Magmortar will make an excellent partner to the three for this reason.


Out of all the current UU mons, the ones most likely to drop are Nidoqueen, escavalier, and bisharp. im excited to see all of them in action!

Nidoqueen has excellent coverage, access to stealth rock and toxic spikes, good bulk, and most importantly sheer force, which boosts the power of all those attacks to intimidating levels. Nidoqueen will definatly be an excellent wallbreaker in RU, due to a bug resist, access to toxic spikes. and excellent coverage it will also make the TanKing combo even more dangerous.

CB MEGAHORN IN TRICK ROOM DESTROY ALL, that is all i have to say about escavalier

Bisharp sounds interesting, Stealth Rock+Sucker Punch is now legal, and its swords dance set will be very potent, it has the typing to pull off a swords dance easily (unlike absol, which is why you should use FIRE BLAST, not SD). it will have quite a few checks and counters that may hinder its effectiveness, though. Including but not limited to Poliwrath, Quagsire, defensive hidden power fire tangrowth, hitmonchan, gurdurr and steelix,dont think im saying bisharp will be bad if it drops, it will certainly be a threat to watch out for!
 
Escavalier is absurdly good in UU and, IMO, better than durant. Everyone would be running steelix pretty much or possibly aggron and then don't even get me started with pairing it with magneton. If it did drop down, I don't think it would stay for long, but that's just my opinion.

Nidoqueen and bisharp would be interesting, bisharp in particular could be very dangerous in the hands of a good predictor, just as it is in UU.

TangKing+Cofag is a solid combo and is pretty much the definition of bulky offense in RU IMO. It would be interesting to see how other cores will arise now with amoongus among others getting a substantial boost from BW2. TangKing, while good, is feeling a little over-used IMO.
 
Having trouble getting past TanKing and OTR Cofagrigus?

WELL THEN STOP CRYING AND LOOKIE HERE!

NRRla.png

(yes it's another awesome picture)

Offensive SD Drapion, people. It is so amazing how many Pokemon this guy kills in a match. Furthermore, it dismantles the entire core of Slowking, offensive Tangrowth, and OTR Cofagrigus as long as you can switch it in well (like on a Cofagrigus Shadow Ball or HP Fighting). Now, what's Drapion's most common moves? Crunch, Earthquake, Aqua Tail, Taunt, Pursuit? Well, you might be thinking, "Lolcat, that thing can't beat Tangrowth, it'll just get walled!" Nope. This thing goes all Mr. Miyagi on Tangrowth and tears that stupid hunk of seaweed a new orifice or seven. I don't get why people use Taunt on SD Drapion. Taunting is unsportsmanlike conduct, a 15 yard penalty and can get you a fine. Why not just tear right through the opponent's Pokemon and say gg like a man? What's Drapion's type again? Oh yeah, Poison/Dark. So why do you think something with STAB Poison Jab can't beat Tangrowth?!?

Here's the set in all its glory:

Drapion @ Life Orb
Jolly, 252 Atk 252 Spd 4 Dgaf
-Swords Dance
-FALCON CRUNCH!
-Poison STAB
-Earthquake

Keep it healthy so it can sweep at the end. Maybe if you sacrifice the Smeargle that should be on every team you can get this thing in for free. Let's see how it does against RU:

Cofagrigus: walls it consummately and then crunches it's cold, dead body into oblivion

Slowking: don't switch it in on slowking but once you're in slowking is just one more dead body on the well-paved road to victory

Sandslash: Do people use this?

Entei: Extremespeed does like 47% but then you KILL it.

Drapion: Needs SD to OHKO but you lol at defensive Drapion at least.

Tangrowth: more like tanGGrowth. +2 Poison Jab ftw

(s)hitmonchan gets wrecked by +2 Jab

Rotom: Outsped and OHKO'd.

Uxie: Needs SD to KO but what's it going to do to you (unless thunder wave which is :()

Feraligatr: Get rocks down and you win. Or tie with LO recoil. You win because you're faster 1v1.

That's SDrapion against the top 10. Trust me he might not look great on paper but he gets so many set-up opportunities and 317 speed is just monumental in RU. Especially if the opponent tries to set up on you he's in a world of hurt. Try to keep him away from status if you can because he hates status except poison. Also he absorbs toxic spikes which is reason enough to use him right there.

P.S. since every team carries a sleep move try setting up against a sleeping mon.
 
Ooh nice set, lolcat. I never thought of using Poison Jab for Tangrowth :o Drapion is a monster =p

RU right now:
Tangrowth
Slowking
Drapion
Cofagrigus
Spiritomb
Magmortar

These Pokemon are literally everywhere. The Tangrowth + Slowking combo is causing new things like lolcat's Drapion to pop up. Even so, this combo is still amazing and really hard to take down. That's why Magmortar has become so common, which is surprising because no one really used it before. Spiritomb is seen a lot too, as it can trap Slowking and Cofagrigus or KO them with a CB Sucker Punch. Speaking of trapping, Ghost- and Psychic-type Pokemon are really common, as well as Pokemon with low Defense stats such as Roselia and Cryogonal, so this Pursuit trapping is even better. I've had to be really cautious with my teams now since Pursuit is so common. Magmortar is also an amazing stallbreaker; Slowking, who was known for being able to counter almost every RU Fire-type, can't handle Magmortar because it gets 2HKOed by Thunderbolt. This has forced me to use Lanturn on all of my teams, who I think will be really good in the BW2 metagame.

So yeah that list of Pokemon pretty much sums up the metagame this round. Pretty annoying if you ask me ;<
 
Flying Gem Archeops can actually rip through the core as well. With a little prior damage, Slowking is easily OHKOed, whereas Tangrowth is murdered by Acrobatics. Archeops seems to be a really cool option for offensive teams, as it's high Speed and Attack and now access to Roost really makes it quite the threat to deal with. I've also seen a lot of people using Earth Power over Earthquake in order to deal with the likes of Steelix, Qwilfish, and other more physically-inclined walls.
 
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