hoax
(click for importable)
(click for importable)
Hey all, it's tox back back BACK again for another NFE RMT. This time I've brought a team that utilizes a more uncommon mon in the metagame, Choice Band Lairon. Choice Band Lairon is really nifty due to its strong wall-breaking ability. In conjunction with Toxic Spikes and its great coverage moves, Lairon is able to 2HKO almost anything. I tried to build the rest of the team around Lairon, pairing it with three great Knock Off users in Tangela, Gurdurr, and Pikachu. Then, I tried to take advantage of paralysis, letting Lairon outspeed all of the unboosted tier after a paralysis. This was mainly used in order to improve the team's matchup against offense/fast teams. Lastly, I gave Mareanie Toxic Spikes in order to give the team another status user and improve the team's matchup against BO/Semi-stall.
the team
last minute (Mareanie) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Def / 160 SpD
Calm Nature
Recover
Scald
Haze
Toxic Spikes
Mareanie fulfills two functions on my team, both being a specially-defensive glue mon and also providing Toxic Spikes. Toxic Spikes really buff Lairon's ability to wall-break, turning many 2HKOs against physical walls such as Tangela (depending on the spread) and also making it more difficult to switch into Lairon in general. Mareanie's function as a special wall on this team is to mainly check things such as Shell Smash Wartortle, Tangela, Lampent, Magmar (some sets), and others. The EVs in Defense aren't for anything in particular, rather to just make it a bit easier for Mareanie to check Raboot. Haze is run over Knock Off mainly as a way to stop Duosion but it can also check CM Lampent. Scald is the attacking move of choice because I already have three other Knock Off users and I find Water STAB to have more utility on this team than Knock Off.
285 (Tangela) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 SpD
Bold Nature
Leaf Storm
Knock Off
Sludge Bomb
Stun Spore
Tangela functions as the physical glue mon, checking a variety of Pokemon from Thwackey to Gurdurr, electric-types, and more. This spread is to make sure Tangela is able to switch into special attackers regularly while not giving up too much defense. The three attacks on Tangela are fairly standard. Leaf Storm gives Tangela a powerful STAB move, Sludge Bomb helps check Thwackey and gives Tangela a way to hit fire-types for decent damage, while Knock Off is there to remove items and give Lairon more wall-breaking ability later on. Stun Spore is run here over Toxic or Sleep Powder in order to catch common switch-ins off guard such as Magmar, Raboot, and Golbat so Lairon can outspeed them later.
miss u (Gurdurr) @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
Drain Punch
Knock Off
Mach Punch
Defog
Gurdurr is a great Defog user in the NFE metagame. This is a fairly standard set, with Drain Punch giving Gurdurr a (mostly) consistent form of recovery and Mach Punch letting Gurdurr threaten opposing teams with priority. Knock Off is a pretty easy move to click, with it making it easier for this team to break Golbat and Tangela later on while still hitting Ghost-types immune to its STAB moves. Defog is my form of hazard removal on this team (not counting Hattrem), helping get rid of often troublesome hazards that may be able to get set up through Magic Bounce (Koffing) or that are able to get set up due to a weakened Hattrem.
second life (Lairon) @ Choice Band
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
Head Smash
Heavy Slam
Superpower
Stealth Rock
Lairon is the central Pokemon of this team. It functions as an amazing wall-breaker in the NFE metagame, breaking past common walls such with Head Smash such as Tangela, Mareanie, or Hattrem, hitting Ferroseed and Klang with Superpower, or hitting Clefairy with Heavy Slam. Very few things are able to switch into Lairon consistently due to its brute power, meaning that pairing it with Toxic Spikes makes it an even more potent wall-breaker. With Stun Spore support, Lairon can outspeed the entire unboosted tier. Stealth Rock is the last move on Lairon I chose, and it works well due to Lairon's ability to force switches repeatedly through a match. Let's say you have your Lairon in against something like Carkol where you can OHKO it, you can predict their switch into something else and set up rocks. That's what makes it such a good hazard setter.
hoaxxx (Hattrem) @ Eviolite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 32 SpD / 144 Spe
Calm Nature
Rest
Sleep Talk
Mystical Fire
Nuzzle
Hattrem functions as this team's (light) Psychic check. The spread here is a mixed defensive spread that I stole from Jett who got it from stresh, which allows Hattrem to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame after a Nuzzle while also giving it some defensive utility. The goal of this spread is to switch into special attackers, Nuzzle them, and then proceed to wear them down with Mystical Fire. RestTalk is just here for longevity and so Hattrem can fulfill this role over an entire game. You could probably run a more standard 4 attacks or Healing Wish Set, however, I just think relying on a move like Giga Drain for longevity makes the set more inconsistent, and less reliable in checking Special Attackers.
kitty (Pikachu) @ Light Ball
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 52 SpA / 204 Spe
Lonely Nature
Fake Out
Extreme Speed
Knock Off
Volt Switch
Pikachu functions as both an early/mid-game wall-breaker and late-game cleaner for this team. With Fake Out + Extreme Speed, Pikachu is able to pressure more frail wall-breakers that would threaten this team such as Kadabra, Mr. Mime-Galar, Raboot, etc. Knock Off, in general, is a great move in NFE and it helps open up more wall-breaking opportunities for Lairon by removing items on typical Pikachu switch-ins such as Tangela, Ferroseed, and Marshtomp. Volt Switch is the only STAB move on this set, and gives this team more pivoting ability, whether it be into the Regenerator core with Tangela/Mareanie, into Lairon, or any other Pokemon on the team. Pikachu is also able to clean late-game after Lairon has worn down the opposing team with its FakeSpeed combo.
threatlist
Sub BU Acro in general is an aggravting combo, and while Lairon/Pika can help take it out, it's still incredibly aggravating
LO Kadabra specifically doesn't have many switch-ins in general, you just have to find a way to get Pika in to threaten it out
Specifically Shadow Ball Gime is scary to face, but NP can be threatening as well. Usually Hattrem can take care of it though
Haze Mareanie can prevent it from setting up but this Pokemon is just threatening in general
replays
shoutouts
last minute (Mareanie) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Def / 160 SpD
Calm Nature
Mareanie fulfills two functions on my team, both being a specially-defensive glue mon and also providing Toxic Spikes. Toxic Spikes really buff Lairon's ability to wall-break, turning many 2HKOs against physical walls such as Tangela (depending on the spread) and also making it more difficult to switch into Lairon in general. Mareanie's function as a special wall on this team is to mainly check things such as Shell Smash Wartortle, Tangela, Lampent, Magmar (some sets), and others. The EVs in Defense aren't for anything in particular, rather to just make it a bit easier for Mareanie to check Raboot. Haze is run over Knock Off mainly as a way to stop Duosion but it can also check CM Lampent. Scald is the attacking move of choice because I already have three other Knock Off users and I find Water STAB to have more utility on this team than Knock Off.
285 (Tangela) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 SpD
Bold Nature
Tangela functions as the physical glue mon, checking a variety of Pokemon from Thwackey to Gurdurr, electric-types, and more. This spread is to make sure Tangela is able to switch into special attackers regularly while not giving up too much defense. The three attacks on Tangela are fairly standard. Leaf Storm gives Tangela a powerful STAB move, Sludge Bomb helps check Thwackey and gives Tangela a way to hit fire-types for decent damage, while Knock Off is there to remove items and give Lairon more wall-breaking ability later on. Stun Spore is run here over Toxic or Sleep Powder in order to catch common switch-ins off guard such as Magmar, Raboot, and Golbat so Lairon can outspeed them later.
miss u (Gurdurr) @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
Gurdurr is a great Defog user in the NFE metagame. This is a fairly standard set, with Drain Punch giving Gurdurr a (mostly) consistent form of recovery and Mach Punch letting Gurdurr threaten opposing teams with priority. Knock Off is a pretty easy move to click, with it making it easier for this team to break Golbat and Tangela later on while still hitting Ghost-types immune to its STAB moves. Defog is my form of hazard removal on this team (not counting Hattrem), helping get rid of often troublesome hazards that may be able to get set up through Magic Bounce (Koffing) or that are able to get set up due to a weakened Hattrem.
second life (Lairon) @ Choice Band
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
Lairon is the central Pokemon of this team. It functions as an amazing wall-breaker in the NFE metagame, breaking past common walls such with Head Smash such as Tangela, Mareanie, or Hattrem, hitting Ferroseed and Klang with Superpower, or hitting Clefairy with Heavy Slam. Very few things are able to switch into Lairon consistently due to its brute power, meaning that pairing it with Toxic Spikes makes it an even more potent wall-breaker. With Stun Spore support, Lairon can outspeed the entire unboosted tier. Stealth Rock is the last move on Lairon I chose, and it works well due to Lairon's ability to force switches repeatedly through a match. Let's say you have your Lairon in against something like Carkol where you can OHKO it, you can predict their switch into something else and set up rocks. That's what makes it such a good hazard setter.
hoaxxx (Hattrem) @ Eviolite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 32 SpD / 144 Spe
Calm Nature
Hattrem functions as this team's (light) Psychic check. The spread here is a mixed defensive spread that I stole from Jett who got it from stresh, which allows Hattrem to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame after a Nuzzle while also giving it some defensive utility. The goal of this spread is to switch into special attackers, Nuzzle them, and then proceed to wear them down with Mystical Fire. RestTalk is just here for longevity and so Hattrem can fulfill this role over an entire game. You could probably run a more standard 4 attacks or Healing Wish Set, however, I just think relying on a move like Giga Drain for longevity makes the set more inconsistent, and less reliable in checking Special Attackers.
kitty (Pikachu) @ Light Ball
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 52 SpA / 204 Spe
Lonely Nature
Pikachu functions as both an early/mid-game wall-breaker and late-game cleaner for this team. With Fake Out + Extreme Speed, Pikachu is able to pressure more frail wall-breakers that would threaten this team such as Kadabra, Mr. Mime-Galar, Raboot, etc. Knock Off, in general, is a great move in NFE and it helps open up more wall-breaking opportunities for Lairon by removing items on typical Pikachu switch-ins such as Tangela, Ferroseed, and Marshtomp. Volt Switch is the only STAB move on this set, and gives this team more pivoting ability, whether it be into the Regenerator core with Tangela/Mareanie, into Lairon, or any other Pokemon on the team. Pikachu is also able to clean late-game after Lairon has worn down the opposing team with its FakeSpeed combo.
threatlist
Sub BU Acro in general is an aggravting combo, and while Lairon/Pika can help take it out, it's still incredibly aggravating LO Kadabra specifically doesn't have many switch-ins in general, you just have to find a way to get Pika in to threaten it out Specifically Shadow Ball Gime is scary to face, but NP can be threatening as well. Usually Hattrem can take care of it though Haze Mareanie can prevent it from setting up but this Pokemon is just threatening in generalreplays
shoutouts
lmao you thought you would be in here didn't you
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