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Project PU Next Best Thing [Thanks, Everyone!]

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Darkinium

the mighty nuaguunibi
Approved by forum moderators
OP stolen from dingbat and his
UU Version and some from Magnemite and his old XY PU one. Some formatting taken from the Battle Spot Singles Victim of the Week thread
Taken over from Inferno Monferno who took it over from Twix, with some changes made by myself


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ART BY HotFuzzBall
Hello, and welcome to PU Next Best Thing! This project aims to discover sets for Pokemon in the PU metagame that may not be standard now, but actually work well enough to possibly become the new standard, or at least be quite effective. There are plenty of examples of new sets that have become just as standard as old sets or even overtaken them, even in the relatively young USUM PU metagame. As a community it is our goal in this thread to find new sets for established PU threats that may in time even be considered standard or at least close to it.

Each week I will choose a PU Pokemon. You will have 4 days to come up with and post an original set for that Pokemon, along with an explanation how the set works. In the 3 days after that, the community will vote on which set is the most creative as well as viable. By "original sets", I mean sets that are not already being given main sets on analyses (for Pokemon that do not have in progress analyses yet you will have to use your judgment on what is considered creative and uncommon enough to be worthy of a set here).

When choosing a set to nominate, you should keep in mind how viable and how unique it is. Despite this project being about uniqueness, please refrain from posting gimmicky sets like Swords Dance Exeggutor-Alola or Choice Specs Absol. However, your set should not simply be a standard set with a slight deviation either, such as Leftovers over Life Orb on Nasty Plot Mr. Mime. That said, single move changes are generally okay as long as the new move does something specific that the normal set cannot do, such as breaking past a certain check or counter.

IMPORTANT RULES:
  • Feel free to be as creative as you want, just make sure that you can prove that your set stands apart from the standard sets, especially if yours does not appear much different from the standard ones. Make sure you set is viable as well. The Smogon Strategy Dex is your best friend here.
  • Add an explanation to your post about what your innovation accomplishes, how it differentiates itself from standard creations, etc. It helps people, including the host and even yourself, to understand where your nomination is coming from. Not making one inconveniences others and is, quite frankly lazy.
  • Adding formatting to your post in the correct areas also helps readers to understand how your set is special from the standard. Keep it under check, though; adding too much formatting doesn't help and just makes your post obnoxious to read.
  • Feel free to post replays of your set in action; this will only help everyone (including yourself) understand whether/how your set can be game changing in some particular situations.
  • Do not edit you nomination post after voting phase has started.
  • You may reserve sets, but must have the nomination up in 24 hours of that reservation. Afterwards, others may take your set if you do not get up your own set before them.
  • During voting stage, please don't vote for your own set; if you think your own set is the best, just abstain from the vote.
  • Bandwagon votes are illegal and will not be counted
  • Changes in votes are allowed, but must be done within the three day deadline and as follows;
Voting for Jmash324 Darkinium

Current Subject: None​
 
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Next Best Thing Archive

Week 1
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Magmortar
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TONE's Belly Drum Magmortar

Week 2
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Skuntank
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galbia's Choice Scarf Skuntank

Week 3
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Exeggutor-Alola
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TONE's Block + Curse Exeggutor-Alola

Week 4
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Qwilfish
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TONE's SD Endure + Salad Qwilfish

Week 5
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Miltank
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Taskr's Chople Berry + Counter Miltank

Week 6
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Raichu-Alola
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Taskr's Z-Encore/Sing NP Raichu-Alola

Week 7
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Floatzel
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Many's Pursuit Floatzel

Week 8
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Lanturn
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LordST's Agility Lanturn

Week 9
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Mudsdale
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Robert Alfons' ToxTect Mudsdale

Week 10
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Shiftry
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allstarapology's NP Z-Hurricane Shiftry

Week 11
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Mesprit
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pinktidal's Physical Apicot + Natural Gift Mesprit

Week 12
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Eelektross
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Specs Jigglypuff's Fast Substitute Eelektross

Week 13
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Spiritomb
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Megazard's Mago Berry Spiritomb

Week 14
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Liepard
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Graceclaw's Charm + Chople Berry Liepard

Darkinium's SubLiechi Unburden Liepard

Week 15
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Archeops
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Taskr's Tailwind Archeops

Week 16
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Carracosta
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TONE's Choice Band Carracosta

Week 17
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Hitmonchan
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Darkinium's Agility Hitmonchan

Week 18
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Swanna
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TONE's Z-Rain Dance Swanna

Week 19
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Aurorus
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Tack :]'s CB Aurorus

Week 20
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Regirock
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TONE's CB Regirock

Week 21
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Clefairy
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uhuhuhu7's Wish Clefairy

Week 22
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Gastrodon
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Taskr's Curse Gastrodon

Week 23
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Kangaskhan
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Darkinium's PuP + Fightinium Z Kangaskhan

Week 24
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Lilligant
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Conor3197's Encore Lilligant

Week 25
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Primeape
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Amphareixon's SubEndeavor Primeape

Week 26
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Weezing
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Jmash324's Choice Specs Weezing

Week 27
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Aggron
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Taskr's Z-Solar Beam Aggron

Week 28
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Haunter
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Musharnanigans's Reflect Type Pain Split Haunter

Week 29
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Abomasnow
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TONE's CB Abomasnow

Week 30
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Altaria
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Jmash324's Offensive Defog Altaria
 
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Magmortar is a really cool Pokemon in the metagame with tons of options. Your job for the week is to find a new, non-standard set, which is still good in the current metagame
(NO SHITTY MEMES)
 
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Magmortar @ Life Orb / Expert Belt
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Taunt

Hey guys! So this is a neat set I used back in ORAS NU as a pseudo-stall breaker, due to its decent coverage and access to an important stall-breaking move in Taunt, allowing it to mess up most teams that rely on bulkier pivots. Loss of Earthquake means that it does struggle versus Lanturn but now it's able to break things like Clefairy and Specially Defensive Audino, and even things like Type-Null as it prevents them from being able to recover on it. Really hope you try this set out. Personally I like to use Expert Belt over Life Orb because you get worn down less, but both are decent at what they do n_n
 
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Magmortar @ Firium Z
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sunny Day
- Solar Beam
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
Do you need a new Sunny Day user now that Charizard is banned? Well . . . here it is Firium Z Sunny Day Magmortar. So the gist of this set is to either use Fire Blast as a nuke or set up a Z Sunny Day (which gives you a +1 boost in your speed stat as well as making Solar Beam a turn one move and powering up Fire Blast) to sweep teams in the late-game or break in the mid-game. This isn't really an "original" set, but since Charizard is gone I suppose this is .. The Next Best Thing. haha kill me
 
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Magmortar @ Firium Z
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sunny Day
- Solar Beam
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt
Do you need a new Sunny Day user now that Charizard is banned? Well . . . here it is Firium Z Sunny Day Magmortar. So the gist of this set is to either use Fire Blast as a nuke or set up a Z Sunny Day (which gives you a +1 boost in your speed stat as well as making Solar Beam a turn one move and powering up Fire Blast) to sweep teams in the late-game or break in the mid-game. This isn't reall an "original" set, but since Charizard is gone I suppose this is .. The Next Best Thing. haha kill me
was gonna post this but nvm i guess. u should probably run focus blast over tbolt tho so u can get weakened guzzlord out of the way + u hit other stuff like pyroar and drampa hard, tbolt doesnt have a lot of relevant targets for this set anyway seeing how solar beam takes care of the bulky waters
 
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Magmortar @ Normalium Z
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Flame Charge
- Fire Punch / Cross Chop
- Thunder Punch

I know some people ran like Belly Drum Magmar in ORAS PU, so why not Magmortar. It is slower than its pre-evolution, but it can still try to pull off a physical set. Flame Charge for the Speed, then bust out Z-Belly Drum to get essentially to 50% if you're below that. Fire Punch for a stronger Fire STAB, but Cross Chop if you hate Guzzlord. T-Punch hits Water-types not named Gastrodon. Simple and to the point, plus it sets up on Lilligant so why not.
 
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Magmortar @ Sitrus / Iapapa Berry
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fire Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Mach Punch
- Belly Drum

I originally wasn't gonna post this because TONE beat me to the "punch" (no pun intended) with Belly Drum Magmortar. BD Mortar was a set I was toying around with GeneralAnnoyance during PU Beta around the time Samurott and Hariyama were quickbanned. For the most part TONE's set and my set are similar. However there are 2 things about BD Mortar I wanted to address. First, is the lack of a Z-Crystal. This gives Magmortar more of a likelihood of getting a Belly Drum off successfully and allows another teammate to hold a Z-Crystal of their own. Second, is priority Mach Punch. Fire/Electric coverage is nice, but Magmortar has somewhat of a difficult time getting past certain Rock-types, and it's prone to getting revenge killed by the likes of Archeops, Persian-Alola, Pyroar and others, especially after lowering its own health with Belly Drum. Mach Punch can break through those Rock-types and can defend itself against some of the Pokemon trying to revenge kill it. Overall, Belly Drum Magmortar packs a real "punch" (the pun actually was intended) being able to bypass some of its would be checks.
 
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Skuntank @ Black Sludge
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 HP / 32 SpD / 224 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Torment
- Toxic
- Dark Pulse
- Protect

This fire set walls out some shit and toxic stalls offensive pokemon. Probably bad but idk, walling sandslash is coolio.
 
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Skuntank @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Memento
- Fire Blast
- Acid Spray

This set serves as a stallbreaker and has the ability to support to a teammate's sweep all in one! Acid Spray in combination with Z-Dark Pulse can be deadly for a lot of defensive Pokemon including things like Lanturn or even Audino after some chip. Darkinium-Z can also be used in conjunction with Memento which lowers your opponents offensive stats and gives a free healing wish to the incoming teammate, this is especially good when used with set-up sweepers.

252+ SpA Skuntank Black Hole Eclipse (160 BP) vs. -2 248 HP / 252+ SpD Audino: 306-361 (74.8 - 88.2%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ SpA Skuntank Black Hole Eclipse (160 BP) vs. -2 128 HP / 252+ SpD Lanturn: 331-390 (78.2 - 92.1%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ SpA Skuntank Black Hole Eclipse (160 BP) vs. -2 252 HP / 0 SpD Gastrodon: 456-537 (107 - 126%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ SpA Skuntank Black Hole Eclipse (160 BP) vs. -2 252 HP / 252+ SpD Komala: 288-340 (86.2 - 101.7%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
 
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