Project NU Teambuilding Competition - Season 3, Week 3: Amoonguss

Electric terrain is back and with a new coat of paint since my last adaptation

:iron thorns:-:pincurchin:-:pawmot:-:sceptile:-:flygon:-:slowbro-galar:

Whats scarier than an iron thorns setting up a couple DDs in your face, one that doesn't need to hold booster energy, so I took the electric terrain team from my team bazaar post a while back and I gave it a couple touchups.

:iron thorns: Loaded dice is a personal favorite item of mine on thorns as it makes rock blast more reliable rock stab than stone edge and pin missile with tera bug is strong enough against ground type, speaking of tera bug iron thorns is one of the few causes where bug is a pretty nice defensive typing to compensate its base one, bug resists all of the fighting ground and grass moves that could be thrown at iron thorns and only a crazy person would hit iron thorns with a flying or fire type move before its terastalized. And supercell slam getting powered up further by terrain makes it a powerful neutral option. Only downside to this set is all of your moves are 90-95% accurate but I'm sure that won't be an issue (in one of these replays it will in fact be an issue)

:pincurchin: little guy is here to set terrain, maybe status something with discharge + scald or get up a spike, recover or memento last depending on preference

:pawmot: taking the place of :raichu-alola: from the OG build scarf pawmot while not as insane of speed control or free with changing moves, actually does damage and threatens thing especially with tera electric double shocks in terrain, CC is a given and volt switch for a bit of momentum and revival blessing in case we really need to bring someone back

:sceptile: while drifblim still has its matchups the team needed something faster after replacing raichu so sceptile it is, SD leaf blade and acro were simple enough, I tossed on tera blast fire as to not get burned by talonflame and hit steel types since bronzong and orthworm blocked EQ from preforming that task.

:flygon: Rocker with the special set rocking eject pack draco meteor for momentum

:slowbro-galar: Eject button regen pivot who can manage to occasionally set up late game with calm mind and clutch out a win
Replays - Pokémon Showdown! (pokemonshowdown.com) Thorns would've swept without the miss but still clutched up
Replays - Pokémon Showdown! (pokemonshowdown.com) Unfortunate crit but tera blast sceptile showing its power
Yes I used the Next Best Thing alt for getting NUTC replays, yell at me idc
 
Lead Thorns HO
:iron thorns::flygon::chandelure::kilowattrel::breloom::minior-violet:

Hazard removal isn't in a good place right now so why not take advantage? Lead iron thorns is one of the few leads that can set both rocks and spikes and with speed booster energy it has the fastest turn 1 taunt of any hazard lead. No item chandy is out spin blocker and memento support for out set up sweepers, and kilo is our defog punish and can also get a wall low with sub and endeavor if need be (stole that set from Shengineer!) I tried to make several DD Iron Thorns builds but never found one I was happy with unfortunately.

Replays: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Breloom's tera type was changed after replay #3 to avoid burns. Ladder incin do be ladder incin.
:iron thorns::booster energy: Iron Thorns
Standard lead thorns. This sets rocks and spikes and has a fast taunt. The 23 attack IVs and - attack nature let booster energy boost its speed stat instead of attack stat. Make sure you check the IVs frequently PS likes to bring them back to 32 which breaks your speed booster.

:flygon::loaded dice: Flygon
DD flygon with tera fairy to abuse opposing flygon (who like to earthquake and/or dd on our lead thorns). Throat chop last helps with bronzong and shuts down hyper voice sylveon. Sub is also a good last move here but we have chandy and kilo (strength sap gives it the competitive boost) to abuse plume so I went for the coverage. Pressuring bronzong is very nice for minior late game.

:chandelure:(no item) Chandelure
I love memento chandelure. It is a strong special attacker and effective spin blocker here with no item (poltergeist immune from brambleghast and takes a knock from tsareena.) Memento gives our other mons opportunities to set up, especially minior. Minior loves being able to shell smash in front of a -2 incineroar (spdef sets cant burn it in the base form) or muk-alola. Can also be used to support flygon or breloom as well though.

:kilowattrel::heavy duty boots: Kilowattrel
Kilo gives the team some more speed and is our talonflame / defog punish. Sub + endeavor is some cool tech I stole that lets it get itself low and then endeavor a pesky wall down to open up for the rest of the team. Sub is also nice for forces switches as people like to try and bring a ground in on the thunderbolt turns.

:Breloom::loaded dice: Breloom
SD breloom is a powerful threat! Bullet seed hurts even a lot of resisted mons. Loom gives us a punish vs bulky water types and provides essential priority for the team. If kilo is subbing down / endeavoring something like dd iron thorns, then you need priority to pick it off after, and it's just good for revenge killing. Tera fire is to dodge wisps from talonflame and spdef incins (still not really sure why they stay in but ladder incin doesn't switch I guess.)

:minior-violet::white herb: Minior
It's always nice to pack something truly scary on a HO team, and minior is becoming my favorite shell smash sweeper as of late. It pairs really well with chandelure, doesn't have the speed problems of torterra (which is also a great mon but wants webs), and I've had more success with minior than drednaw post cloyster ban. Substitute gives us some control over the form change, acro and eq are the best 2 move coverage imo. Notably minior is walled by bronzong (and orthworm) so make sure to get those low / remove them before minior tries to sweep. Tera steel gives us more opportunity to sub vs vileplume, and makes helps us dodge the poison jab from amuk. Resisting stabs from diancie and Flygon can also be very nice as getting 1 turn to shell smash can flip those matchups! 30 HP IVs give us an even hp number to get to the 50% needed to change form after 2 substitutes or 1 substitute + stealth rock damage.
 
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:araquanid::gallade::iron thorns::torterra::chandelure::kilowattrel:

Iron Thorns is best put on Sticky Web teams in my experience, and with Mienshao's drop in usage lately, I've found it several times more potent. The main hold-up for it had been wanting Tera Fairy to resist Close Combat and just ease overall game lines, but Tera Grass has also always been good and is especially good now with Swampert's high usage. The latter is a lot easier to run now, so Iron Thorns even better than before (probably a solid A- sweeper). Swords Dance Gallade is cheating on Sticky Web, Competitive Kilowattrel deters Defog, and Chandelure blocks Rapid Spin. Tera Dark Crunch Torterra is a cool pick here, as both it and Iron Thorns work together to get rid of Bronzong so the other can sweep more easily (usually Torterra being tasked with luring in and chunking Bronzong).

 
:galvantula: :brambleghast: :kilowattrel: :iron thorns: :porygon-z: :tauros-paldea-aqua:

I also decided to go for a Webs build for Iron Thorns to help it outspeed faster Pokemon. The goal of the team is to get webs up and offensively pressure the opponent so webs can stay up.

:galvantula: :focus sash: Webs setter. Get webs up if you can/when it's optimal, then wear down opposing Pokemon with your attacks. Pounce is used for the speed drop to not lose to DD Scale Shot Flygon immediately. Tera Ghost is for an emergency spinblocker.
:brambleghast: :focus sash: Alternative lead as well as providing a spinblocker and spinner to keep webs up and hazards off of your side. Spikes is used to put grounded Pokemon in range of your teammates' attacks.
:kilowattrel: :life orb: Defog deterrent for the team. Depending on Talonflame's speed investment, you'll either get rid of Talon to keep webs up or get a +2 Special Attack boost if they Defog, letting you break through teams. Tera Blast Ground is used to nail Electric-types such as Iron Thorns, Toxtricity, and Bellibolt.
:iron thorns: :booster energy: Iron Thorns is a powerful sweeper with booster energy and a couple dragon dance boosts. I originally had Earthquake for a bit, but I changed it to Ice Punch to not let Brambleghast and Tsareena freely spin away the Sticky Web. Tera Blast Grass is for Swampert (and Quagsire if you run into one on ladder).
:porygon-z: :mirror herb: Mirror Herb Dual Dance PZ is something I've been liking on HO recently. Being able to copy Shell Smash boosts is nice, especially if your opponent leads Torterra turn 1 against your Galvantula, as you can switch in on the predicted Shell Smash to gain the stat boosts. Mirror Herb is also nice to boost pass Cresselia and Sylveon by having Mirror Herb give PZ a free Calm Mind boost. Also, if you don't Tera Ghost and let your opponent spin away Sticky Web, you get a free speed boost. You also still have Nasty Plot and Agility to make PZ scarier. Nothing resists both Tri Attack and Shadow Ball aside from Hisuian Zorua, which is why I have those for the attacking moves. Tera Ghost lets PZ become immune to Fighting and Normal moves, taking advantage of Choice locked mons as well as being immune to Mach Punch as well as Extreme Speed and Fake Out shenanigans on ladder.
:tauros-paldea-aqua: (Note, I originally had Air Balloon Toxicroak in this slot, but I decided on Aqua Pauros on the finalized version of the team) I decided on Aqua Pauros for an offensive Flygon check. I decided on a Sub Bulk Up set to make Umbreon cry, take advantage of ladder Incineroar using the defensive pivot set, and potentially setup against Vileplume with Tera Steel. I've been using Raging Bull for the Water STAB, but Wave Crash works for more power.

Replays: 1, 2, 3, 4
 
:pmd/iron thorns: :pmd/araquanid: :pmd/brambleghast: :pmd/chandelure: :pmd/toxicroak: :pmd/flygon:
Double Ghost Webs HO

:iron thorns:: Dragon Dance + Sticky Web means Iron Thorns can outspeed grounded Choice Scarf users like Mienshao, Munkidori, and Inteleon. Ice Punch hits Grass-types while Earthquake targets non-Ground-immune Steel-types. Tera Flying provides both a Ground immunity and Fighting resistance, helping circumvent its two most glaring weaknesses.

:araquanid:: Pounce is used here to ease revenge killing for the next Pokemon coming out, and Endeavor lets Araquanid drop foes like Vaporeon's HP for teammates. I chose to run Focus Sash to ensure Araquanid isn't taken advantage of by Choice Specs anti-leads like Toxtricity and Porygon-Z. Tera Ghost blocks Rapid Spin.

:brambleghast:: Brambleghast clears opposing entry hazards with Rapid Spin and checks a spinner in Tentacruel. Spikes + Curse provide good chip, and it acts as a counterlead to Galvantula. Tera Fairy gives it a resistance to Knock Off and Sucker Punch.

:chandelure:: Chandelure handles other spinners like Avalugg, Tsareena, Brambleghast (kind of), and Alolan Sandslash. Calm Mind + Air Balloon along with its typing lets it make use of Choice-locked Flygon and Mienshao. Tera Water gives it a Water resistance and lets it hit Incineroar super effectively with Tera Blast.

:toxicroak:: Since Iron Thorns has issues with Swampert and Ground-types in general, I chose Toxicroak, as it excels in weakening these shared checks. The EV spread allows Toxicroak to outspeed Pokemon speedcreeping base 80s like Chandelure and Gallade. Tera Dark simultaneously boosts Sucker Punch and gifts it a Psychic immunity.

:flygon:: Flygon was chosen as a last to add on to weakening Ground-types, and it can take advantage of Vileplume and certain Quagsire, which can be issues for Iron Thorns. The Defense EVs allow Tera Steel Flygon's Substitute to no break from a Talonflame's Brave Bird.
 
SD Iron Thorns Team
:iron thorns: :bronzong: :tsareena: :scream tail: :flygon: :mienshao:
Came back after taking a little break from NU, and I had a lot of fun with this team. This is a bulky offense team that aims to do massive damage with the strong breakers on the team while having a good defensive backbone.


:pmd/iron thorns: Ofc, I had to do something different with iron thorns, as I usually do with teambuilding comps. While dd is fine, the main issue as you can see from other entries is that it's quite slow. So why not utilise what thorns is best at? It's power. SD thorns can do some truly disgusting damage numbers after a single boost, and doesn't care as much about intimidate drops. Lum berry means it can easily set up on wisp Incineroar or any other mon that tries to status it, like vileplume with stun spore (also means it doesn't care if effect spore activates lol). Rest of the set is standard, tera grass is a good defensive typing, ice punch hits grasses and flygon super effectively, supercell slam for good stab damage and e-quake to hit fire types for big damage.

:pmd/bronzong: I needed 'flygon insurance' and what mon does it better than bronzong. Normal ev spread, though I did swap out e-quake and psychic for bp and ice spinner in order to always deal with flygon whether it tera steels or tera fires which I believe to be the scariest versions, or if stays untera'd. Rocks and heavy slam are standard options for obvious reasons.

:pmd/tsareena: I needed hazard control to help with my grounded mons health, and at first I had tentacruel, but it didn't really fit the team. So, to help with the physical defensive side, I went with tsareena. Standard set, nothing too much different.

:pmd/scream tail: I wanted something that could act as a general defensive wall and help a bit with bronzong's longevity, so scream tail was next up. This is probably the go to switch in for most things, as it has reliable recovery and can take most attacks. This is mostly the standard set, though I did swap out encore for t-wave to help iron thorns outspeed things, and still accomplishes the job of stopping setup sweepers.

:pmd/flygon: I needed a ground type for the team, so I picked the number one mon in the tier, flygon. Standard choice band set, helps revenge kill the faster threats of the tier.

:pmd/mienshao: Finally, I wanted some speed control. Mienshao was the pick due to its regenerator ability and knock off. Standard set, works well against sticky web teams who commonly can't outspeed it.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2181205422 Iron thorns goes absolutely haywire here, though not without some luck.
:brute bonnet: :scream tail: :mienshao: :gligar: :registeel: :milotic:
I wasn't able to finish this team for the brute bonnet week due to real life stuff, but it centered around letting CB brute bonnet in to deal some devestating damage, with a hazard stack core to help out. Included some cool techs, such as perish song scream tail, sd u-turn mienshao, specially defesive gligar and offensive milotic with competitive to punish defog.
 
Someone had to do it.

But ngl it's actually ok

1724128856219.png


Grassy Terrain HO with Thorns
:iron thorns: :cresselia: :hitmonlee: :Oricorio-Pom-Pom: :Torterra: :Thwackey:

:sv/iron thorns: Dragon Dance was the chosen build and its great! (when it hits.)

:sv/cresselia: Terrain recovery + Def of seed makes here incredibly hard to KO and makes much easier to her setup.

:sv/Hitmonlee: Lee is the unburden mon of choice, speed is aways fundamental in HO. Lee coverage of Fighting Dark and Poison backed by SD fill a lot of checks the team needs.

:SV/Oricorio-Pom-Pom: Its the same as Cress. But instead of calming its mind it dances.

:SV/Torterra: NGL the true start of the team. Once you grab a smash, +2 Bullet Seed on terrain does insane dmg.

:sv/Thwackey: Terrain setter , but it can pull its weight specially with SD and Glide.
 
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Season 1, Week 6: Iron Thorns: Voting!

:pmd/iron thorns: :pmd/pincurchin: :pmd/pawmot: :pmd/sceptile: :pmd/flygon: :pmd/slowbro-galar:
Electric Terrain
by Diamonds_realm

:pmd/iron thorns: :pmd/flygon: :pmd/kilowattrel: :pmd/chandelure: :pmd/breloom: :pmd/minior:
Lead Iron Thorns HO
by LessThanThreeMan

:pmd/araquanid: :pmd/gallade: :pmd/iron thorns: :pmd/torterra: :pmd/chandelure: :pmd/kilowattrel:
Iron Thorns + Gallade Webs
by Rabia

:pmd/galvantula: :pmd/brambleghast: :pmd/kilowattrel: :pmd/iron thorns: :pmd/porygon-z: :pmd/tauros::splash plate:
Iron Thorns + Waterbull Webs
by Zangoose5000

:pmd/iron thorns: :pmd/araquanid: :pmd/brambleghast: :pmd/chandelure: :pmd/toxicroak: :pmd/flygon:
Iron Thorns Double Ghost Webs
by PowerOfMemes

:pmd/iron thorns: :pmd/bronzong: :pmd/tsareena: :pmd/scream tail: :pmd/flygon: :pmd/mienshao:
SD Iron Thorns + Scream Tail Balance
by Heatranator

:pmd/iron thorns: :pmd/cresselia: :pmd/hitmonlee: :pmd/oricorio-pom-pom: :pmd/torterra: :pmd/thwackey:
Iron Thorns + Torterra G Terrain (ft. SD Monkey)
by Be13costa

Vote for your top 3 favorites before Thursday, August 22nd!
1. sd iron thorns
2. gallade iron thorns webs
3. sd monkey g terrain
 
Season 1 Week 7: Cresselia
For our final week before the tournament, we will build with what I've seen being called a fish on Discord. I wish I was joking.

:sv/cresselia:

Now, we all know what Cresselia does it clicks Calm Mind, heals up, and then beats you down. However, I feel as if it could be explored some more. Incineroar, one of its best offensive checks, hates to be hit by a Power Gem, and Bronzong, the best defensive check, dislikes taking Shadow Ball repeatedly. This, along with how Cresselia can play around with Grassy Seed, Substitute + Leftovers, Lunar Blessing, and Lunar Dance, I feel can make for some interesting submissions. Submissions are open now and close on Tuesday, August 27th at around 10pm EST (GMT -6). Happy building!
 
:pmd/magneton: :pmd/cresselia: :pmd/toxicroak: :pmd/vileplume: :pmd/inteleon: :pmd/diancie:
Scarf Cress + Specs Zone Copium

:magneton:: This was originally designed around Magneton as a stupid wallbreaker just like Magnezone was back in the day. And, it enjoys destroying Water- and Flying-types for Inteleon, Diancie, Toxicroak, and Vileplume. Naturally, as it just auto-loses against Flgon, I required a hard switch-in, and I settled on Cresselia.

:cresselia:: Cresselia can counter Flygon with Tera Fairy, provides Speed control, gives the team a Ground immunity and a Fight resistance, and can help revitalize a teammate with Lunar Dance. After realizing this core struggled a bit with Alolan Muk, I added on Toxicroak.

:toxicroak:: Toxicroak works well with Magneton, as they can overwhelm Ground-types together. And, since Magneton's longevity isn't exactly amazing, this acts as another way to take advantage of bulky Water-types.

:vileplume:: From here, I added Vileplume, as I liked how it provided a reliable physical wall that stonewalls Paldean Tauros-W. Alternatively, I could see Talonflame being run here, but I dislike the idea of using a frail support Pokemon alongside Choice Scarf Cresselia as physical walls. The team was growing weak to Fire-types, so I tacked on an Inteleon.

:inteleon:: Inteleon helps beat Fire-types offensively, and it can bother teams with its combination of Taunt + Scald + U-turn. However, I still struggled with Fire-type switch-ins and lacked hazards, making me add Diancie.

:diancie:: Diancie provides hazards, a special wall, and an Incineroar / Chandelure switch-in. It also acts as a more solid Flying-type switch-in, as Magneton ain't taking anything too well.
 
:swampert::sylveon::incineroar::pawmot::tsareena::cresselia:

Bit of an unserious team, but I had been wanting to try out Pawmot some and decided Choice Scarf would be a reasonable set. Choice Scarf + Revival Blessing ends up providing a good amount of support, with healing up Incineroar and Sylveon being quite nice. Choice Specs Sylveon also ends up being quite a solid wallbreaker for Cresselia.
 
:tauros-paldea-aqua: :incineroar: :kilowattrel: :cresselia: :tsareena: :orthworm:
used this in ladder tour, nice little VoltTurn featuring Power Gem Cresselia to own Incineroar and Chandelure. Double Intimidate gives a lot of nice outs for physical sweepers. Orthworm is used over Bronzong here to avoid stacking weaknesses with Cresselia.
 
Lure Bramble Offense
:cresselia::brambleghast::tauros-paldea-aqua::flygon::sylveon::bombirdier:

If you have spent anytime playing NU in recent months you know how annoying cresselia can be to take down. Your team needs specific counterplay and to keep those stops around. Some of the best stops are our dark types incineroar and amuk. Enter clear amulet terablast ground brambleghast. The set is a little niche but functions like a normal brambleghast, but power whip into terablast ground removes incin and amuk (both common bramble switch ins) from the game to clear a way for cress! (It's a roll to take down incin if they have hp investment but it's still heavily in your favor. Clear amulet is to dodge the intimidate drops that otherwise throw off your calcs vs incin.) Specs sylveon does a good job getting chip on steels and amuk for cress as well. The rest of the team ties up some loose ends.

Replays: 1, 2, 3, 4
Replay 2 isn't serious Watfor brought some HEAT lol. That one is just for fun. Replays 3 & 4 were bottom ladder but you get the idea.
:cresselia::kee berry:Cresselia
Standard CM cress here. Very bulk wincon that refuses to die, gets a million boosts, then clicks stored power several times. The team is built around clearing the way for cress to win late game!

:brambleghast::clear amulet:Brambleghast
Standard bramble but with a twist! On top of hitting psychic types (especially bronzong) and water types with its stabs, and spinning, this set also lures amuk and incin to remove them for cress! Clear amulet lets you keep your attack vs intimidate users (basically for incineroar) but also lets you keep your speed vs webs too which is nice. Of course bramble is also our spinner and gets hazards off for the rest of the team.

252 Atk Brambleghast Power Whip vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Muk-Alola: 114-134 (27.5 - 32.3%) -- 65.6% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Tera Ground Brambleghast Tera Blast (80 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Muk-Alola: 306-360 (73.9 - 86.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Brambleghast Power Whip vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Incineroar: 98-116 (24.8 - 29.4%) -- 99.9% chance to 4HKO
252 Atk Tera Ground Brambleghast Tera Blast (80 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Incineroar: 264-312 (67 - 79.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

:tauros-paldea-aqua::choice band:Wet Bull
Standard band tauros here with zen headbutt for plume. Originally this was bulk up with lum berry but the team needed another way to hit plume harder (outside of just beating it with cress.) Tauros is our main dark type answer and takes on incin, amuk, and umbreon. Priority is always handy to have around as well.

:flygon::choice scarf:Flygon
Scarf flygon is a revenge killer on the team while also giving us a nice ground type/stab eq.

:sylveon::choice specs:Sylveon
Specs sylveon pairs nicely with cress as a breaker and pressures the steel types that want to take on cress and the poison types that want to try and status cress. This also gives us another fight resist.

:bombirdier::heavy duty boots:Bombirdier
Bombird has actually been surprisingly useful here. It is a decent pivot but importantly is a dark type and sets rocks. The set here is mostly spdef but I wanted a little more attack so I went with a 16 adamant spread. Not my go to mon of choice but it filled in some holes here!
 
Cress Manual Sun
:cresselia::tornadus::scovillain::venusaur::shiftry::cinccino:

:cresselia: Cress has some potential as a setter for weather teams, bulky enough to throw off a T Wave, set sun, and pivot/heal an ally with lunar dance.
:tornadus: Seondary setter, Flying + Fire has great coverage
:scovillain: Specs sweeper. Tera Fire and click the funny button.
:venusaur: Setup sweeper. EQ hits Muk-A harder than Earth Power if you want.
:shiftry: Gives priority, a very powerful Life Orb boosted Solar Blade, and can Defog to keep Rocks off.
:cinccino: Fast outside of sun, can chip down walls with Endeavor, and again keeps hazards off for the team.
 
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