So, if you've been living under a rock for the past several months, let me get you up to speed: for the December tier shift, NU was given ~60 new Pokemon, and since we've banned some of the more abhorrent offenders, I think now is probably a reasonable time to share a team that's been relatively stable. I say relatively stable because realistically it's still somewhat difficult to build for consistency, but we're not at as awful a stage as we were a week ago.
Because it's so early in the metagame still, I'm very much up for "innovating" new sets to use. I put innovating in quotes because realistically this team wasn't built around anything unique; however, the Pokemon and set the team was based around isn't anything common in current NU, so I'm willing to say this is moderately original for this tier. The idea? Choice Specs Starmie. Starmie is strong and fast as fuck and has really solid coverage, and outside of sort of Gastrodon and a couple blanket special walls, nothing really wants to take a Choice Specs + Analytic hit.
Salazzle was chosen as the first partner mostly because Starmie is good at forcing damage onto special walls, which makes cleaning with Nasty Plot late-game much easier, while Salazzle can support Starmie by spreading Toxic poison. Rhyperior + Rotom + Porygon2 is just a boring utility core, and Choice Scarf Tsareena is a cool pick quziel has used a bit to deal with Linoone back when it was allowed. It's not great, but it's plenty effective at getting Starmie in against Pokemon it beats.
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Starmie @ Choice Specs
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
Analytic Choice Specs Starmie is very hard to reliably switch into. The coverage provided by its STAB moves and Thunderbolt is resisted by very little, and even special walls struggle to consistently switch into Starmie because of Analytic, meaning any chip damage accrued on them can go a long way to turning 3HKOs into 2HKOs. Trick is also a really nice tool; because NU has been relatively offense heavy so far, much of the time you really don't need the extra damage output and instead can just cripple a setup sweeper to make it less threatening, and of course Trick is also helpful into bulkier teams too. Another big benefit to Starmie is its Speed tier; NU isn't a slow tier by any means, but Starmie is just faster than several threats---Heliolisk, Virizion, and Zoroark to name a few---that can sometimes be obnoxious to deal with. Additionally, this Speed advantage complicates how one can deal with Starmie because you're much more limited in terms of valid offensive responses. In terms of unboosted Pokemon, there really aren't many that outspeed Starmie, which leaves teams much of the time to play reactively into it or use Choice Scarf and priority Pokemon like Mienshao, Flygon, and Golisopod to revenge kill it.
Salazzle (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Corrosion
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Wave
- Toxic
Salazzle isn't as common as it was before December, and I think much of that has to do with all the new toys NU got. Regardless, it's still pretty damn potent. The Speed tier is even better than Starmie's, and Nasty Plot-boosted attacks are really only dealt with reliably by bulky Water-types. Additionally, the synergy it has with Starmie is pretty good; being able to spread poisons onto Pokemon like Umbreon and Gastrodon is an effective way to let Starmie eventually overwhelm them, assuming the opponent doesn't have some form of status removal.
Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 172 SpD / 84 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
- Heat Crash
Rhyperior is pretty easily the best Stealth Rock setter in NU. The combination of Solid Rock-backed bulk and natural firepower lets it check problematic wallbreakers like Toxtricity and Tyrantrum while still pressuring common switch-ins with good damage. Additionally, I'd be hard pressed to not call having an Electric-immune on every team mandatory; it's really shit when your opponent can freely gain momentum whenever they want, and Rhyperior is probably the best Volt Switch blocker in the tier, at worst second to Gastrodon.
Rotom @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hex
- Volt Switch
- Defog
- Will-O-Wisp
Ground-immune Pokemon are also cool! Earthquake is not a fun move to have endlessly clicked against you, especially when many users of it get STAB on it or are holding a Choice item. Rotom prevents that from being a problem and also offers pivot support of its own. I'm not super sold on Rotom being a great Pokemon---at least, not with this set---but since my Fighting-resistant Pokemon were sort of shoddy at this point, I wanted another answer to Pokemon like Mienshao. It's also nice to spread burns throughout a game; extra chip damage is never bad.
Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 228 SpD / 28 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Discharge
- Recover
- Teleport
Sigilyph is in the NU tier; Sigilyph is a threat. Rabia wanted a check to that threat. Porygon2 is one of the best special walls in the tier; its Eviolite-boosted bulk lets it shrug off even strong STAB attacks from the likes of Kingdra, Toxtricity, and Heliolisk. I went for Discharge + Ice Beam mostly because Calm Mind Sigilyph could be somewhat threatening if it got too many boosts off, so I valued the paralysis chance from Discharge as opposed to status from, say, Toxic. Teleport is also a very broken move and guarantees slow pivoting into the team's offensive Pokemon. Also, Trace has some really funny interactions, like letting me switch into Flygon's Earthquakes and Toxtricity's sound-based moves.
Tsareena (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Queenly Majesty
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Power Whip
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Triple Axel
Choice Scarf Tsareena is most definitely not the next big-time set. However, it's not too bad. Tsareena's natural strength is pretty good, and the Speed tier is enough to where Choice Scarf enables Tsareena to outspeed all the common unboosted Pokemon in the tier, such as Noivern, Starmie, Inteleon, and Zoroark. U-turn is particularly nice here because Tsareena commonly draws in Grass- and Steel-types, which Salazzle and Starmie can generally deal with. The set lost a fair bit of its luster with the ban of Linoone---blocking Extreme Speed with Queenly Majesty was very nice---but it's still a fine pick with enough shock factor to catch players off guard.
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Tiering this generation has been a wild ride, but getting to explore a large quantity of metagames is at least sort of fun. Hopefully NU continues to trend in a good direction because something good needs to result from this generation.
https://pokepast.es/b9e03d6bff10f823