Resource NUPL X - Team / Set Dump

quziel

I am the Scientist now
is a Site Content Manageris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Top CAP Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a member of the Battle Simulator Staff
[SWSH]

:magneton:
Magneton @ Eviolite
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 HP / 172 SpA / 40 SpD / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Toxic

I just think he's neat. Lets you force like 30% on Staka/Copper repeatedly if you predict well, beats up Talon, and yeah, just a neat mon.

[ORAS]

:vileplume:
Vileplume @ Poison Barb
Ability: Effect Spore
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 100 SpA / 56 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Moonlight
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis

100+ SpA Poison Barb Vileplume Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Vileplume: 166-196 (46.8 - 55.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery

Poison Barb Modest means you always win the mirror if Rocks are up, which is a ton of value. Means you can go way greedier on the defensive elements of the set, and the increase in pressure really helps vs a few mons. Poison Barb also means you deal near 40 vs Skunk, which is sorta nutty, and speeds up breaking it a ton. That said, you are far, far worse into Chan, so only run this if you also have like a fog Pelipper or Mesprit.

:hariyama:
Hariyama @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
EVs: 212 Atk / 164 Def / 100 SpD / 32 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Ice Punch
- Bullet Punch

God this EV spread sucks, please don't use it. Idea is more that Guts + Ice Punch means that if you face an opposing plume and get Poison'd or Para'd you fairly easily bypass it, which is great, cause a lot of teams rely really heavily on Plume to beat AV yama. This obviously doesn't work into Weezing, Pelipper, or Garb, but if you have a good read on their scout, and you think you're facing something like Ted Balance, its a solid bring. EVs iirc live +2 Barb without Rocks and Specs Mesp, also without rocks. This didn't work great in practice cause I faced a Mortar and just got destroyed. However I am the luckiest man alive, so I won almost purely because of hax.

:shiftry:
Shiftry @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pickpocket
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Leaf Storm
- Defog
- Explosion

Scarf Shiftry is a great mon in general atm, and gets a ton of value into a lot of builds thanks to convenient typing (preventing mesp from freely locking into Psychic is great). Special Scarf is a tech to swap a tad easier into Scalds from Lanturn, and lets you threaten an OHKO on Tauros, which allows you to be a tad weaker to it elsewhere. That said, if you can afford a Gastro, Lant, etc. elsewhere, go with physical scarf. Knock Off is great utility on a Scarfer, and maximizing Explosion damage really helps with revenge killing stuff you can't hit SE with your stabs.

:torterra:
Torterra @ Custap Berry
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance

Didn't end up bringing this, but Custap SD tort is a very fun breaker that, if positioned well, can fairly reliably 2 for 1. That said, this is very dependent upon swapping into weaker U-turns, and using Wood Hammer at the right time. Still, being able to just click a +2 Overgrow Wood Hammer and OHKO almost anything that comes in is great.

:archeops:
Archeops
Ability: Defeatist
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Acrobatics
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Roost

I've really been liking Knock SR Cheops recently; it enables you to run alternative grounds like Gastrodon super well, can obviously revenge kill a ton thanks to reasonable bulk, can sorta break for itself by forcing a Knock on Lix. Just great role compression, and again, Gastrodon is great if you can build a team without feeling too awkward about it. Also its almost mandatory that you pair with either AV Chan or Skunk, but w/e, noone's running Aurorus nowadays. I should also note that the old standard of Acro Epower Edge Archeops is still a fantastic breaker, and pairing it with Knock Turn Mesprit can end a game very, very, very quickly.

:mesprit:
Mesprit @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- U-turn
- Knock Off

Speaking of, I've really liked this set as of late. It can't really force up rocks vs Xatu, it can't rkill Malamar, but what it does amazingly is removing Steelix's and Clefairy's items, which really enables a ton of breakers. I spoke about Epower Cheops above, which absolutely loves this set being around, and can nearly single-handedly break a lot of teams. Pyroar's another great partner, as it loves this Mesp being able to semi-reliably knock Lanturn (people let you do that vs defensive mesp), as is just Skuntank. Great team support mon, and slotting Knock where you'd normally put Signal or Twave on defensive Mesp can give a ton of value.

:rotom:
Rotom @ Light Clay / Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Reflect
- Light Screen / Hex

Dual Screens rotom is a great enabler of more offensive builds, as like, you actually keep a ton of what makes Rotom threatening with just Wisp and Volt, and being able to stack both Burn and Reflect means that you are a ton less vulnerable to being suit trapped. Pairing with stuff like Omastar / Barb / Pawn / etc is fairly obvious, but this set even works great on balance builds, cause like, it really does function a ton like bulky Hex Rotom.

[BW]

:drifblim:
Drifblim @ Ghost Gem
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Baton Pass
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp

This set is stupid flexible, but also not amazing. If you manage to play it correctly, burn the Skunk, pass the CM, then its godly, but its very much so a jack-of-all-trades set, that mixes sweeping potential, team support, and can enable some of your own breakers. I feel like a better BW builder than I could probably get a lot of value out of it, but most times when I try its just slightly off.

:serperior:
Serperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ice]

If you pass this a CM then you win the game.

:gardevoir:
Gardevoir @ Electric Gem
Ability: Trace
EVs: 60 Def / 252 SpA / 196 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic
- Will-O-Wisp
- Encore

I heavily doubt I invented this set, but every single time I use it it feels like it completely takes over a game (when you hit wisps). You get the ability to nail both Skunk and Mandi for insane damage with Egem Tbolt, you spread burns with the best of them, and the only mon that wants to come in on the combo of Tbolt and Psychic, Duosion, is bait if you can catch it on a CM or Recover with Encore. I really like this set and think its one of the most flexible that Garde has due to the options you have.

:eelektross:
Eelektross @ Flying Gem
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 128 SpD / 128 Spe
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Acrobatics

I wish this set was better, but BW sleep mechanics are so hard to work around. That said, if your opponent screws around for too long, and doesn't force a Burn or a Taunt early, it does feel great as basically a worse Brav with less exploitable typing.
 
Last edited:

GW

I may be warrior
is a Tiering Contributor
Salazzle @ Choice Specs
Ability: Corrosion
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Bomb
- Dragon Pulse

Specslazzle is a cool tech that can allow you to get surprise ko's on mons like Silvally-Ground and Golurk(as seen in my nupl game with it) and it can nearly 2hko vaporeon and heavily pressure immediately with a nice sludge bomb poison.

Indeedee-F (F) @ Twisted Spoon
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Expanding Force
- Calm Mind
- Mystical Fire
- Hyper Voice

CM indeedee is also sick, s/o to quziel for the initial idea. This set can really take advantage of Vaporeon or Escavalier trying to protect to figure out what move you may be locked into and completely annihilate those types of teams. Dazzling Gleam over Hyper Voice is another option if you are super worried over Guzzlord.
 
Introduction

Team dump and also thinking process behind the teams!!! Post inspired by a doubles OU version

Click on the sprites for the team :afrostar:

Would also like to thank Meri Berry and Ren-chon for drafting me and for the incredible help you guys provided to everyone. Even if I did not play the most optimally the experience was still amazing, and I could not have wished for a better manager duo! Thanks as well to all my supportive teammates :heart:

Teambuilding Process

Week 1 vs. Young Lilo (W)

Final Team:



Team Ideas

:machamp::dragalge::silvally-ground::escavalier::mantine::rotom-mow:
:indeedee-f::talonflame::dragalge::mantine::escavalier::silvally-ground:
:indeedee-f::garbodor::stakataka::passimian::vaporeon::dhelmise:
:rotom-mow::silvally-ground::indeedee-f::stakataka::vileplume::mantine:
:golurk::weezing::rotom-mow::stakataka::mantine::talonflame:

This was my first ever week in a team tour setting like this, so I wanted to play it safer going into the week. Looking at some past replays I had with Lilo, a common theme I saw was bulky offense/super bulky balances. Their teams generally lacked solid Golurk (ghost in general) answers, which is where the idea of Golurk came from. As seen by my repetitive teams, my brainstorming wasn't the best, and so when Meri Berry Berry sent this Golurk paste it looked great. It was pretty comfortable to use and still composed of a similar team style to what I was building. I was originally thinking of using Substitute Golurk, though in the battle itself Banded proved to be better in scoring the final KO of the game.

Week 2 vs. Davon (W)

Final Team:



Team Ideas

:tauros::stunfisk-galar::xatu::diancie::araquanid::rotom-mow:
:tauros::ferroseed::diancie::indeedee-f::starmie::silvally-ground:

This week started off with the first scout I've ever really done, so that's something I guess. From the scout I wasn't really sure where to start, but there were some ideas from Ren-chon and OranBerryBlissey10 about potential Pokemon, such as Decidueye, Tyrantrum, and Tauros to abuse the low Mudsdale usage. The Tauros idea caught my eye, which I also (still do) think is a super underrated mon. Meri mentioned that the Meteor Beam Diancie team seemed a bit fisher, but good into the scout. I was a bit worried the "fish" wouldn't work out, so I decided to go with the final team as a more reliable option. Before completing the team, I changed Togedemaru's U-turn to Toxic, and also added Encore to Salazzle for a better Vaporeon matchup. It ended up not working so well, as my Togedemaru got trapped early on, but still got the win which is all that counts I guess.

Week 3 vs. Floss (W)

Final Team:

1655088354702.png1655088238146.png

Team Ideas

:exeggutor-alola::mudsdale::xatu::araquanid::escavalier::rotom-mow:
:exeggutor-alola::sylveon::escavalier::salazzle::starmie::mudsdale:
:escavalier::dragalge::diancie::eldegoss::rotom-mow::silvally-ground:

Rotom-Mow was a pretty prevalent Pokemon in the scout, so the first ideas was Eject Button + dumb breaker. Then I had a realization that there isn't much Dark-type usage across the opposing team's scout, which meant that something like Indeedee-F could put in a lot of work. Dragalge's dominance was also crazy this week and so a strong defensive backbone was something I knew I needed to fulfill. It ended up working, as Indeedee claimed like 4 mons.

Week 4 vs. Stresh (W)

Final Team:

1656878746680.png

Team Ideas



:rotom-mow::copperajah::quagsire::diancie::togedemaru::talonflame:

From the replays and battles (and scout) I've seen, it looked like Stresh seemed to use a lot of Sylveon balance. Meri suggested CB Stakataka at first but the idea then turned to Copperajah, a familiar yet so unfamiliar face to my teambuilder. I ended up coming to the final team pretty quickly, as I wasn't so sure on how to build with Copperajah since I never really use it. Ice Beam Vaporeon was a really neat tech this week and came in handy when Stresh brought a Dragalge.

Week 5 vs. Jonfilch (W)

Final Team:



Team Ideas
:froslass::mudsdale::tsareena::escavalier::starmie::passimian:
:froslass::sandaconda::tsareena::stakataka::starmie::passimian:
:froslass::quagsire::tsareena::stakataka::starmie::passimian:
:tsareena::stunfisk-galar::starmie::vaporeon::froslass::passimian:

:weezing::quagsire::tsareena::stakataka::starmie::passimian:

I got inspired to use this Froslass set after Meri posted it in the teamchat, which is why all of the teams follow a common theme. I got to a pretty solid build pretty quickly, and was mostly just playing around with different combination of mons. I was super worried about Dragalge so Staka became chople berry and things like Sandaconda/Stunfisk-Galar were also considered. Meri help reassure there wouldn't be any Dragalge (which she was right) and the team ended up working great. Spdef Garb is here to somewhat pretend to check Dragalge while also pretending to check Fighting types, though admiditely its spikes were also pretty valuable.

Week 6 vs. PDT (L)

Final Team:
1656270476252.png

Team Ideas

:exeggutor-alola::togedemaru::sandaconda::heliolisk::xatu::aerodactyl:

First loss of the tour :blobsad: There wasn't many team ideas since I felt pretty strong with the team at hand. I really loved and wanted to use an Exeggutor + Togedemaru +Sandaconda core, and felt they meshed together well. The only real switch-ups were the change of the team order, since the team has many options for the scarfer. Sadly, I ended up choking the game away, a game I'll never truly get over, but was fun nonetheless.

Week 7 vs. Elias PSY (W)

Final Team:
1655089503818.png

Team Ideas

:decidueye::sandaconda::togedemaru::starmie::aerodactyl::inteleon:
:indeedee-f::rotom-mow::mudsdale::togedemaru::trevenant::talonflame:
:indeedee-f::starmie::mudsdale::togedemaru::trevenant::talonflame::
:salazzle::escavalier::xatu::mudsdale::araquanid::rotom-mow:
:drapion::rotom::escavalier::diancie::tsareena::passimian:
:vileplume::grimmsnarl::xatu::vaporeon::mudsdale::rotom-mow:

Against Elias, I was honestly kind of stumped on how to build vs them. I started off the week wanting to try choice specs regular Rotom, which actually looked kinda good into the scout, but became more out of flavor as more teams were built. I also wanted to try out some Expanding Force duo shenanigans, but also felt that I'd only use it if my team already won for the week, which they hadn't. So many Pokemon looked good into the scout, yet it felt hard to build with them. Meri Berry ended up building the team used, which performed super smoothly in the end, scoring a super good matchup.

Week 8 vs. Confide (W)

Final Team:


Team Ideas
:indeedee-f::dragalge::silvally-ground::mantine::escavalier::rotom-mow:
:salazzle::escavalier::xatu::jellicent::rotom-mow::silvally-ground:

This week I had less time to really prepare, but thankfully OranBerryBlissey10 suggested the idea to use CM Indeedee-F, which looked good into the heavy Sylveon+Escavalier scout. With this, and with the nature of Confide's teams, I felt a more offensiveish route was better, which is somewhat reflected in the teams above. I also felt like a strong physical wall (mudsdale) would be useful since I haven't really used a Mudsdale in the last 7 weeks at all. I ended up building three different teams incase of feedback and just as a general selection, to which Meri chose team 1, which ended up working excellent.

Thanks for reading!
 

Kushalos

ÜN ÜN ÜN
is a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
OUPL Champion
Vs Confide
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-633561

https://pokepast.es/14355264a8080b96



Thought the lax would be p funny and it somehow ended up working too lolol. Pixie Plate Sylveon sounded cool because it destroys balances on paper and you can pick off certain sash pokemon with QA, but you def miss the specs vs things like talonflame who can keep roosting on you. Water Veil Mantine is good for switching in on Talon and Weezing since you shrug off most water moves anyway, this needs to catch on already...

vs OnArceus
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-634166

https://pokepast.es/57b41ec597b44360



Another fun set in the form of Imprison Golurk, with how much Muds was spammed throughout these weeks he seemed p good now. Rocks are fairly optional in this gen so i just slapped them on Scarf Duraludon. EQ on Croak seemed cool for poisons especially Dragalge. I went with this particular Starmie last because i need a water, a psychic resist and a pivot. Felt like i didnt need a spinner and i didnt want to let in Eggy for free so opted for Ice Beam over Spin here.

Thats about the only interesting things ive built this tour, obviously therell be more exciting things from me in scl. see you there boys.
 

Bughouse

Like ships in the night, you're passing me by
is a Site Content Manageris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Sharing one reasonably serious team and 2 memes. I can't in good conscience share the week 7 team against Annoyer because that ancient team isn't mine, and it's not just weird but frankly bad. I don't know how I pulled a win out of thin air there... I built serious and innovative things for week 1 and week 2 and reused something kinda neat that I made in the past year for week 3, but sadly I'm not feeling like sharing those right now, so you only get Clefairy fat and 2 memes.

SloMo/Justice for Chanel (Week 4 - W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5nu-629333

https://pokepast.es/2000fe0ed1bca031
:golurk: :garbodor: :clefairy: :alomomola: :gurdurr: :skuntank:
Clefairy is kinda janky but it's a mon that fits on fat/stally teams like this that doesn't totally suck into Mandibuzz, this set in particular. Originally I was going to have a Block Curse Rest Lickilicky in that slot but ultimately it felt really inconsistent and the team badly needed to be less spikes weak given how passive the team is in general. Magic Guard fit the bill. I probably could have used Duosion instead and made a handful of other team alterations to account for the large decrease in special bulk, and particularly the NP Misdreavus weakness, etc., but I was really just over this super passive team in general and didn't want to make that substantial of an edit, so Clefairy it was. It turns out Clefairy was instrumental to the win though, so I guess it was justified.

Babbies/Klang Literally Always Wins (Week 5 - W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen5nu-1595027784

https://pokepast.es/1c65f2c49a0d91c0
:dwebble: :pikachu: :zweilous: :klang: :golbat: :combusken:
I had an ancient NFE team that I used to love messing around with but it had a wynaut (yes it was wynaut, not goth... baby mons is a meme, no broken mons allowed) on it, so I revamped the team entirely given the lack of Shadow Tag. Only Dwebble and Pikachu survived. Frillish became a Golbat, Scraggy and Fraxure became Klang and Zweilous, and Wynaut became the chicken. Could I have incorporated better NFEs into the team build? Of course. Duosion, Misdreavus, Piloswine, and Gurdurr are right there, for example. But the Talonflames were already essentially out and this was obviously never meant to be serious. And it still won because Klang never loses. Go forth and meme.

DPP NU Legal Memey Team (Week 6 - L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5nu-633160

https://pokepast.es/b232888399d8f785
:electrode: :kadabra: :piloswine: :cacturne: :drifblim: :muk:
I built this a while back as a joke to use only DPP NU mons and make something kinda viable for BW (these 6 would not be remotely viable for DPP lol). This is a bit of a challenge considering how many of the top BW NU mons are either 1) new to BW (for example the entirety of S rank... Garb, Mola, Mandi, Serp... and lots more), or 2) were UU+ in DPP (for example Sawk and Primeape). And again, the Talonflames were already doing badly at this point so I had started using less serious teams, though I still wanted to win, and I should have won this game bar the crit, but mons is mons. Again, go forth and meme.
 

Danny

is a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributor
ZU Circuit Champion
Hello! I am gonna go week by week and explain my building/team selection process throughout NUPL.

Week 1 vs stresh(W)

:palossand: :Weezing: :vaporeon: :Rotom-Mow: :escavalier: :Drapion:

So this week I had very little to go off as most of stresh’s scout was either outdated or just super old. I actually built the team around my rocker this week funnily enough, as I wanted to use Rindo Palo for Rotom mow. Palo was a cool pick as he spammed rock types and it checked most of them. The rest of the team was pretty linear and filled itself in rapidly. Weezingwas next as it gave me a way to deal with fighters more and a stop to bulky physical set up. Vapo felt like necessary fit on this team as I was going for a slower balance here. Mow for speed with emergency removal, and an offensive core of Escav+Drapion to give my team some damage. I was super scared of dragalge with this team which is why I have Escav this week where originally it was copper. I ended up reusing the team recently in NULT vs xboss with some changes for his…team. Glad it worked well this week.

Week 2 vs Confide(L)

:kabutops: :blastoise: :Salazzle: :tyrantrum: :stakataka: :virizion:

So this week was a bit annoying as my prep completely flopped the second I got into the game. I prepped for some type of Bulky Offense with mantine/scarf lisk as his water resists. I also saw very little mudsdale in the scout so I went with a rock spam HO with full physical stoise to take advantage of that. Then I loaded into Vapo fat and tried my best to no avail. I learned from this week not to rely entirely on the scout. It is a great tool especially in these types of tours but can tunnel vision you into using dogshit sometimes.

Week 3 vs Sinnoh(L)

:tsareena: :vaporeon: :Talonflame: :stakataka: :Silvally-ground: :garbodor:

So this week i wasn’t super motivated to build, and that showed in me bringing a recreate of a team that Luck O' the Irish passed in one of my instagram posts
C962B227-19E1-44E9-B328-4480AB6C1746.jpeg
.
I just had an impossible mu vs Glast, as my Vapo was slower and my talon was SD>wisp. Def still a solid squad so long as you can account for the H O R S E.

Week 4 vs OnArceus(W)

:passimian: :Rotom-mow: :snorlax: :Stunfisk-galar: :vaporeon: :Talonflame:

This week I was also super busy, so when Togkey told me he 30-0d ladder w this squad I knew I had to try it out. I liked it into the scout as OnArceus was almost always fight resist Xatu + a fat ground which left him susceptible to the bandopass. Made the OG staka a Stunfisk and the talon blitz to account for Rotom-mow and Escav respectively.

Week 5 vs Kushalos(W)

:Sandslash: :lycanroc: :gigalith: :Xatu: :Exeggutor-alola: :heliolisk:

So this week I was in vc with Togkey one night and we were trying to build some gas. We looked at the scout and one of us there said sand looks good into this and Togkey built a sand team really quick. The first four on sand are pretty mandatory, what varies are the items. Tog picked Wide Lens bc “I have shit luck” so we went with that bc Lycan fucks anw. Originally the squad had Defog decid+specs Exploud as the last two, but I wasn’t rlly feeling those. Since we had Xatu and weren’t extremely hazard weak, I went with Exeggutor because it is an amazing pivot and a strong Mon in general. Last I wanted a water check that didn’t die to a Blastoise ice beam in one, so I changed the Exploud to a specs Heliolisk. The team worked perfectly, I got a bit lucky with a Hyper Voice crit on Quag but other than that I think I played it well.

Week 6 vs zS(W)

:sandaconda: :Duraludon: :Xatu: :snorlax: :Vileplume: :archeops:

Unfortunately this week I couldn’t rely on Tog’s help, and I’m glad I didn’t bc this team is some amazing crack. I spent most of my work shift before this match building this and it couldn’t have gotten to the state it was in with a normal sleep schedule. Impossible. When I looked at zS’s scout I saw bad ground resists. Quag, Xatu, and Rotom were the checks to EQ, and Rotom was the only grass type he had used so far. I’ve had this set in my mind for awhile, so my goal was to just build a squad around it. Obviously since it was a lure set I’d need an actual rocker so I used dural for that. Went with metal sound last as it seemed like a cool way to wear down Vapo/Escav. Xatu was next bc I thought it fit well ashazard deterrent. I had only shown one Xatu at the time on a sand team sk I assumed he’d bring a rocker that loses to it. Lax patched the weakness to Dragalge and other special attackers that a team with steel type dural tends to have. It also gave me a bulky wincon that appreciates the wall breaking Sanda can pull. Plume gives me a second fight resist and an emergency stoise/Silvally check with custap. Last but not least, I added the archeops to give me a scarfer faster than vally and Rotom formes, and a way to remove items w knock. I really like this team, it was a blast to build and glad it led me to a great win.

Week 7 vs Star(W)

:gigalith: :Eldegoss: :blastoise: :Sandslash: :Toxicroak: :xatu:

Another guy bringing fake ground checks. Was in vc with Tog and Meri, Tog mentions how Star always uses Mantine/Rotom, but no real grass types in sight. I was like lemme sand again, and he shat out this beaut. Gravity giga+e button elde into a strong ass eq. The rest of the team was to just help slash win and give me a backbone. Facade stoise was to beat both Vapo and mantine as u don’t mind burns and u can muscle through them both. Shuca croak is there to weaken muds for slash to win. I gave the team to tc so he could use it in BLT, and we changed the croak to NP which I think is a lot better. Last trusty old Xatu to give fight resist and second pivot.

Summary:

Had a rlly fun NUPL, wish we got to poffs but it is what it is. I am proud of how I’ve grown as a player and builder thanks to this NUPL. 2-0 as a sublast nupl to 5-2 is a good jump. Thank you roxiee for drafting me and for giving me a chance to help us this season. To my teammates this tour we will meet again in other tours y’all are all goats. Specific s/o to rom1x38 ty for helping with the week 6 team. Biggest help this NUPL however was Togkey. This dude either built or created the concept for most of my wins. Absolute goat have loved solving this tier with you for this past year and hope to continue doing so. Thank you all for reading this and hope y’all enjoy the teams!


Disclaimer:

1. All of these are from Dragalge meta fyi.

2. If you do end up trying these teams, keep in mind that most of them were made for specific matchups against certain players. Most of them are pretty flexible but always feel free to mess with the sets or mons on the team to make them more universally good.
 
Last edited:

Rabia

is a Site Content Manageris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a CAP Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderator
GP & NU Leader

https://pokepast.es/bc718ee101406c00

Passed this to stresh one week as he hunted for his first win in the tour. I had been wanting to build some funny offense for awhile, and Custap Berry + Endure Alolan Exeggutor is the enabler of that archetype. From there, it's just heavy VoltTurn with lots of strong wallbreakers and sweepers. Pretty easy team to pilot, although I think I'd make Stakataka's item different now that Dragalge is gone.

don't feel like sharing other teams :D this one just felt fun so wanted to post it
 

vivalospride

been up all year my third eye aint even blinkin’
is a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
first and foremost s/o Donphantastic

big fan of this tier in general honestly over the years it's become my fav tier to play/build on the site. When I play a tour game in this tier I find myself immediately back on the grind, getting games and building like literally minutes after due to an excess of motivation... which is not something I experience playing any other tier rly lmao. Built a lot of stuff so I wanna share some of it with you and hope this post marks the beginning of my name being a mainstay in this tier at least for a bit. 4-4 isn't anything crazy, I coulda done better especially with my losses in the reg season, I felt those 2 Ls were rly on me and I didn't play to my ceiling. Both losses in the playoffs were a shame but they were against 2 good players, very competitive games that I felt I played well in, and DPP is where the little things in hindsight are easy to nitpick but in the moment are hard to know for sure... so I can't beat myself up too much abt all those things, at the end of the day it's mons and it's not worth losing my sanity over lmao.


This was probs my first dpp nu team that I built in like a year+, I hadn't played mons much for quite a while and was just coming back, I played this tier a lot throughout DPPPPPPL 1 and the prior NUPL, I captured the dub w this one and it def set the tone for my confidence throughout the rest of the tour. We noticed a lack of grass or ground types in heysup's history of this tier and felt mane was a good bring for sure, this conglomeration of mons didn't just stem from mane but it all just kinda worked out together. I remember feeling lead zard w tox looked good in general as a potential lead and honestly i don't wanna ramble abt this team too much bc just looking at it it's p much as bog standard as ur gonna get w regi/skunk/king/chan - lead zard and then i plopped a scarf mane lmao, it worked out tho.


I have a history of having an idea and rly fuckin tryharding to get that idea to work, which often-times ends w something that woulda been better if I just moved on from the idea and tried smth else. This week vs ara I noticed that like... he just had this strange trend of like >50% regirock usage and then like 0 leads that beat dodrio LMAO. So i tunneled super hard on dodrio + SD Rhydon bc it also matched up pretty well with the slower stuff he would use, I tried to make SD Sub Rhydon work but I just couldn't make it work on a build like this, the idea was to sub on the inevitable Dusclops using wisp... which woulda been rly nice but it is what it is. I ended up rolling Regirock lead which is hilarious and was on my heels most of the game and just coulda done better all around this week, altogether though I still like this team and don't think it's just straight ass, but a cool enough idea for me to want to present here at least. Here is a HO i made for this week as well which I lowkey think is way better/at least cooler but decided not to bring:


I skipped a few weeks bc one team I don't think is worth sharing and lost, and the other I never want to share. But I think this one is p fuckin tight. I think Machoke is pretty free, w sash u basically beat 99% of leads u can realistically consistently run into, Vileplume would be worst case scenario, Slowking is everywhere and is immune to the guaranteed confusion but w smth like Machoke that just clicks dpunch brainlessly t1 ur basically guaranteeing a free toxic on things like Dusclops/Slowking/Sableye, which is invaluable throughout the coarse of the game if u can stay on top of ur opponent. Basically the idea was get the toxic off on ghost/slowking, and u have cactus right there to abuse it infinitely, set spikes and worst case scenario u have a machoke to sack if u need the momentum. The spikes/toxic support the Tauros -> blimp end-game. Slowking is just there to do Slowking things and I felt I wanted a sturdy mu vs chan w/o losing too much momentum so I did queen > options like regirock, just takes pressure off of cactus inevitably letting chan/other fighters onto the field bc queen+king will together cover options and queen can just generally trade w things and I liked that a lot here, didn't feel like I was giving up on mu vs zard and stuff by not going rock.


I used Floatzel lead earlier in the tour and I think I just fumbled w using aoa physical life orb, it felt ass and way worse than special BP, way more utility as a lead while still threatening everything you expect to threaten. You can actually expect it to be alive past t3 as well, which again makes it a way better option, ig it all depends on the build tho in some ways. Either way I liked this build a fair bit, I steered away from Slowking and went with plume instead and kept Floatzel as the water, obviously doesn't defensively answer the offensive fires but it beats them at lead (which is where you'll see a lot of them) and can rkill/pressure them throughout the game, I can also get easy toxics on Slowking primarily and catch un-suspecting Vileplumes with ice beam which supports Hitmonchan a fair bit, zard also appreciates the toxic on king as well ofc. At this point I started feeling like lo spin made me wanna cry and went expert belt and ultimately felt good abt it. Rest of the team is p self explanatory.


Just used this vs Beral like literally an hour+ish ago, my gut wasn't feeling this team too much bc it didn't rly feel my style, but I think it did grow on me. I made last minute changes sloppily and quickly that ended up changing how the end-game woulda played out/how I woulda played the end game heavily, which I think is appropriate bc I wasn't as confident in the way I built this team as I should've been and that's where it led me. I highkey think Petaya Berry on sub blim is ass, at least in most scenarios in comparison to Sitrus. I think Sitrus almost makes taking rocks damage worth it for Drifblim and makes blim setup opportunities exponentially more realistic in p much every matchup, in this specific game it would've made the end game pretty easy for blim unless I tossed it out of a building. But on the other hand, the set was originally Endure > Substitute, which I have taken a liking to recently, I think Petaya is nice as fuck on this for pretty self explanatory reasons, makes it a potent rkiller and a threatening last-mon wincon in a ton of scenarios, it's here and there tho bc Sub can be game-changing to dodge status and Sucker Punch and all that shit... in this game specifically Endure would've been very nice in the end game too tho. I built around Camerupt due to high Magneton usage and low-ish Slowking usage from my opponent, I would say it actually performed very well even tho I was hesitant w my confidence in it, especially with Sub specifically, I was worried the mon wasn't threatening enough to warrant going Sub > just prioritizing role compression and doing rocks. This was my first time using regirock as my lead which made me uneasy w the team as well bc I tend to prefer things I can play more aggressive with early > just the safe option, but I ended up rolling a regirock mirror which I think if anything was pretty ideal. Basically the idea was for camerupt to break and (probably) explode on Slowking to end in a scarf medicham sweep, the game played out pretty much how I envisioned it to in a lot of ways with skunk exploding on plume or rupt before blim was revealed as well. I like this team a lot and played a very fun game with it and hope to get another one vs beral soon.

I almost brought this which I think is cool too:

I built a lot more and generally enjoyed everything I made, I honestly enjoy this tier quite a bit and hopefully get to run it back soon, thanks Expulso for drafting me and everything else :), also shoutout roxiee for calling me a Jisoo bot in their predictions

fuck shiloh as per usual

posted then deleted bc of chance of going to tb, now it back
 

Jisoo

two slow dancers last ones out
is a Pre-Contributoris a defending SPL Champion
Hi, I play ADV NU in these tournaments and build a lot of my own stuff or do it with a partner, so I would like to use this post to highlight some good teams I used.

:hitmonchan: :haunter: :pupitar: :wailord: :metang: :glalie:
Team
This team features a sub 3 attacks wailord with turbo speed investment that was meant to surprise my opponent by breaking the mold of what Wailord's usually are. If I could get a Sub on a Grass-type as it was coming in, I would have two free Ice Beams and a Wailord still in good health. Check the speed tiers to see what you outspeed at 231 speed. It's a pretty significant number of threats! Haunter was added bc it's a staple for offense, with the Salac set to have a good blanket check to things that attempt to blow past my team with speed boosts. Glalie is a natural fit as a Spiker with good bulk and the ability to check just about everything slower with the threat of Explosion. These abilities are augmented with Light Screen support, which brings me to Metang! I have been loving this mon, it is effective in all facets of gameplay because it's typing is so damn good, it has good offensive presence with Mash + EQ + Explosion, and with a lot of investment in your defenses you can capitalize on many things just not having enough gas to break through before you wreak havoc. I opted for Light Screen here for more comfort against special spam builds because when you're playing offense it's real easy to just get wiped up in the final few turns by a set up sweeper. Pupitar functions as a two-in-one Normal and Electric answer, with Light Screen support it's hard to KO even on the special side and it's game ending potential makes it the perfect wincon for this team. I opted for Liechi Berry but in Hindsight I might have gone for Salac; try it and lemme know! Hitmonchan is a catch all lead with reasonable stats all around and fantastic coverage. Mach Punch is essential priority to hit weakened sweepers.

:hitmonchan: :chimecho: :roselia: :sableye: :wailord: :shuckle:
Team
God I am such a fucking sucker for stall LOL. This shit is fire I don't even wanna hear it. Shuckle blanket checks so much, a slower Encore with the bulk to live anything is just what stall needs. The point is to get at least 1 Spike up, and aggressively use your Sableye to Knock Off switch ins. This will open the game up for you to use phazing moves for more permanent chip and Calm Mind later in the game. This team doesn't have Wish so it does NOT have the staying potential as some other teams might, which is why it is really important that you execute your gameplan swiftly and without error. I've used this team twice now just check the replays I think I did a decent job at showing it off.
 

Kiyo

the cowboy kid
is a Forum Moderatoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
1658245210335.png

https://pokepast.es/c2a7aa7541e6a19e

nothin' too special this season, most of the cool ideas got left at home (unused teams/ideas). some notes on stuff i found interesting/thoughts on the season:
- Eject button + Pursuit is something I want to play around with more if Rotom ticks up in popularity.
- Thunder Punch Gurdurr with EVs to tank the Hurricane/Air Slash from Pelipper/Mantine
- Gunk Shot + Grass Knot Liepard is a cool tool that might help break stall, I almost brought that over sucker punch week 4 and It prob would have given me better chances vs Mega Audino in that game.
- Custap Berry has been seeing a lot of use on faster Balance teams and some Offense, I really like this on Stealth Rockers such as Torterra, Camerupt, Steelix, Regirock to make them more useful in the endgame.
- I think most Lilligants these days are Choice Scarf, Leaf storm hits hard and a fast Healing Wish can save otherwise lost positions. Quiver Dance is still very good and will win games, but I'd argue its less consistent than Choice sets. 've messed around with Specs Lilligant in the past to moderate success, it hits like a truck when you pick the right move, and I think that should see more use to punish some of the fatter Balance thats been popping up. Immediate power is highly sought after in ORAS NU and Lilligant has plenty of it.
- Swellow is still bad, Tauros is better. If you really want a special attacker I reckon Scarf Pyroar does the job.
- Skuntank is good when you run Pursuit, the other moves are just filler. If you run Special Attacking Defog, please make it Shuca Berry so you can actually Defog on Rhydon/Steelix when you need to. Black Sludge is an ok pick for Stall.
 

Beraldo

is a Site Content Manageris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributor
RUPL Champion
First, I would like to thank Ara for helping me a lot in testing the teams during both NUPL and DPP PL. I really couldn't do that great without your help.

After suddenly appearing in the DPP NU scene due to my win in the cup, I featured a 19-5 overall score in NUSD, NUPL, and DPP PL. I became a big fan of this tier as soon as I started playing it in my DPP NU Cup run, and I loved to see the tier developing up while most of the people stopped just reusing and started building for themselves, which is amazing! I am personally someone who loves building teams regardless of the tier I am playing, and could not be different with DPP NU. I built a lot of stuff since when I started playing this tier, so I wanted to share some of them that I made for this tournament, explaining my thought process while building them. I hope you enjoy the reading and I will surely be around for the next NUPL!

(click in the sprites for the paste)

Week 1 - vs. HSOWA (W)


Looking at the scout, I saw that HSOWA usually tends to use bulky offenses with regi + water + plume as the defensive backbone, so I realized that sub 3 attacks magneton would be a good pick against them. I was using a different magneton spread in the game, but after some weeks I came up with the one that is in the paste which I think is way better. The speed allows to outspeed modest magneton, so you can trap it and revenge kill with HP Ground, while the spd allows its substitute to eating an energy ball from defensive vileplume. The team was built around the subpass Floatzel + Magneton, where the idea is using Floatzel to lure vileplume in while you baton passes your substitute into Magneton, giving it a free chance to open holes in the opposing team. Cradily was used over Regirock for a better Drifblim and Sharpedo matchup, Scarf Hitmonchan for speed and Hazard control, Gligar for an electric and ground immunity which has u-turn to bring magneton into water and grass-types, and Slowking for another fighting resist and water resist. I used Counter mostly for Skuntank and Medicham, but you can make it Thunder Wave/Toxic/CM or whatever you want.

Week 2 - vs. Heysup (W)


Heysup often runs Fire-types as his lead, and he usually uses pretty offensive teams, so I decided that some team with a lead shark would be the way to go. I opted for Rhydon as my rocker because it is a good offensive answer to Regirock, and it appreciates the grasses weakened by shark's ice beam, while also being a good subtoxic zard answer with rock blast. Custap is a pretty interesting item for Rhydon since it is most likely going to take a lot of damage, and it gives Rhydon one more opportunity to take something down. Skuntank helps with the Slowking mu, and it has the broken move that I often abuse (explosion). Slowking provides fighting and water resist, and its spread allows it to 2hko offensive Skuntank with Surf, which is great for late-game Drifblim. Scarf Tauros helps with the Drifblim matchup since it outspeeds modest sets, and is a potential late game cleaner too (and I made it Double-Edge over Return after my game). Last but not least, Drifblim is a solid wincon for late games, and as well as Viv, I think Sitrus sets are way better than Petaya. Its speed is to outspeed Jolly Hitmonchan because oh well fuck this stupid mon, but I honestly think that Viv's spread is better.

Week 3 - vs. Mr.Bossaru (W)


I was unironically more scared to face Bossaru than any other player in the tournament, only because I had no fucking idea of what he was going to use. I built this Whiscash team some days before playing Bossaru, and after playing with it in some test games, I decided that I needed to use it at some point in the tournament, and it looked like a good pick against Bossaru because I wanted to use something with a solid defensive approach and some wincon that his teammates couldn't predict. The team is pretty intuitive, it is Hazard spam with Whiscash to clean in the late game. Chesto Regi is better into Fire-types and Drifblim, and it is Sub 3 attacks Manectric over Magneton because the team needed some speed since only Scarf Tauros was faster than Charizard. This team is pretty fun to use (I ended up using it in DPP PL too) and it might be a good pick against newer players in the tier.

Week 4 - vs. Drud (W)


I did not want to think too much about choosing a team that week, so I just asked Togkey (who also helped me a lot, ty bro <3) for an idea and he said Poliwrath. I built this team and liked it, so I decided to bring it. Honestly, I am not a big fan of lead Poliwrath, but Drud still had not used Vileplume, so I thought it could be a good idea. I opted for Taunt on Skuntank over either Pursuit or Poison Jab because it would help a lot in the case Drud ended up bringing Vileplume since I could keep it in the range of Ice Punch. Taunt was used on Gligar for the same reason. The team is pretty standard so I don't think I have too much to explain but trust me, every time you have the chance to use Life Orb Hitmonchan, use it. This mon is stupidly good.

Week 5 - vs. Tlenit (W)


I and Togkey have decided that bringing Shark was the play against Tlenit (tbh we were just making excuses to bring it in every opportunity we had LMAO), but I thought that the physical one was better than the special because I could chip the grasses down and taunt them. I decided to pair it with sub Manec which appreciates a lot of the weakened grasses. I also decided that I wanted to bring Dusclops against Tlenit because he still had not faced it in the tournament, and I ended up building a team pretty similar to the one I used against Bossaru, so I won't explain too much about it. This team is kinda weird but it somehow works, and it worked against my opponent too.

Week 6 - vs. Ara (W)


This was the week where I was the surest of what my opponent was bringing. I knew that Ara would bring some boring shit with Dusclops, so Togkey suggested me to use Lapras. I ended up realizing that Walrein would be better for subtoxic, since it is faster, stronger, has thick fat for Charizard and Typhlosion, and still has more than 100 base HP. The original version of the team had lead Regi, but I noticed that subtoxic Walrein works way better as a lead than in the back. The team's idea is basically spreading toxic and using Shiftry to open holes in the opposing team, so either Tauros ends up cleaning or one between Walrein and Charizard wins in the longer game. I think this team is an interesting pick against people who are known fat team users, and it is solid overall.

Semifinals - vs. Tlenit (L)


My only loss playing DPP in this tournament went in a tragic way, but I won't be talking about the game. I am a fucking Sableye hater and my opinion has not changed, but Togkey insisted me to use this shit the whole tournament, and I thought that was the game where I should bring it due to the high amount of Hitmonchan + Skuntank usage from my opponent. I also realized that I used a lot of water-type leads, so I decided that I was not bringing Sharpedo, Floatzel, or whatever. I came up with the Magmortar idea because it was kinda counter-intuitive to what I was using during the tournament, and it is a pretty cool off-meta pick since it does pretty well into the common defensive structures of the tier. I thought that would be interesting to pair it with a grass and a water-type to make an FWG core, so I chose Cradily as my rocker, with Earthquake over Toxic, so I would not be too weak against Magneton (well, at least if it is not FUCKING magnet rise -.-). Hitmonchan pairs well with Magmortar since its Thunderbolt helps to weaken the opposing Slowking. Tauros is once again as the speed control, and I brought NP 3 atks Slowking since I thought I could drop Slack Off because I had Cradily for the subtoxic Charizard MU (well...) and Sableye for the Hitmonchan MU. I think this team is cool but not the easier one to pilot, and I really liked using Magmortar, so I will probably use it in some other opportunity.

Semifinals Tie-Break - vs. Tlenit (W)


After losing my semifinals game, I was extremely motivated to win this one. I decided that I was not going to prep again, so I would just pick something I am comfortable with and outplay (it was not really how the things happened tho...). The idea behind this team is basically the same as the week 1 team, with Regirock and Meganium over Cradily and Gligar. Meganium pairs well with the Floatzel + Magneton core, and it appreciates the Slowking's Thunder Wave a lot. There's not too much to explain, but this team is pretty good imo.

Finals - vs. vivalospride (W)


One more time, Togkey gave me a fire suggestion and I built something around it. We noticed that Viv spams fighting-types a lot and his teams were pretty offensive, so we agreed that fast SD Gligar would be an interesting choice. I had a lot of other ideas, but the Gligar one was my preferred one. I built a team with Passho SD Gligar to lure opposing Slowking (this one) but oh well Typhlosion sucks a lot so I decided not to bring this. After this, I built this one that I used in finals, with Baton Pass SD Gligar, and I found myself being pretty comfortable with this one. The idea behind the team is basically leading with Regi for early rocks, thunder wave, with a boom core alongside Skuntank, which helps to open holes in the opposing team since you're often booming in Gligar and Meganium's checks (Vileplume, Slowking, Skuntank, Camerupt, Poliwrath, etc.). Baton Pass Gligar + Skuntank + Meganium is a pretty cool core, since the opponent is most of the time sending their Slowking while you baton passes +2 atk for either Meganium or Skuntank, or even Tauros/Regirock. Skuntank helps a lot with the Slowking MU, and I am using Poison Jab in this team because it makes things easier against Hitmonchan. I think with this team you want to start the offensive snowball as early as possible, so exploding in Vileplume in the early game is usually a huge trade. Meganium appreciates the Regi's Thunder Wave and the double Explosion, while also appreciates the Baton Pass from Gligar, and gives the team a better MU against ground-types. Once again I have Scarf Tauros as the speed control, and I just realized that I used it a lot during this tournament, which is honestly fair since it is the best speed control in the tier imo. Finally we have NP Slowking, which helps to get rid of opposing Skuntank for our Meganium, since it can revenge kill Meganium with ease (especially if you're running shuca...). NP Signal Beam also helps to weaken down the opposing Slowking for our Gligar. Anyway, I think this team is pretty cool and fun to use, and offensive Gligar really can be a thing (once again, thanks Tog). My game against Viv was pretty close and an interesting one, thankfully I ended up winning but I think I am traumatized with Camerupt forever.

I am only posting it now because I was also playing in DPP PL and I played on finals tie-break, so it took longer for me to post my team dump. This tournament was pretty fun and I am really enjoying the current DPP NU, so don't you worry, I will be back in future tournaments! :)

Some other teams that I think are good but ended up not using:

https://pokepast.es/e09bc13b35333170 - LO Hitmonchan + LO Piloswine
https://pokepast.es/f92778cc30e5c7d8 - lead amphy + sub moth
https://pokepast.es/e10ff2cc7e0c2b58 - quagsire fat
https://pokepast.es/b431e3a9f95fb95e - lead poli
https://pokepast.es/af250e95a20c4860 - lead LO Tauros

My bad if there are some errors my English ain't that good
 
Making one bc Berald did but my keyboard is broken and my teambuilder got nuked halfway through NUPL so I'm just gonna forage through our discord and hope I posted all the teams I used.

Week 2 vs Bughouse (Played SS week 1)
:cacturne: :regirock: :haunter: :gardevoir: :skuntank: :miltank:

Based off his scout Bughouse seemed to prefer Mandibuzz over Skuntank for the mandatory Dark-type that you have to bring on balance teams. I wanted to use Scarf Cacturne with Switcheroo to lure it in and go crazy with what I call Magic spammers (Pursuit-weak mons like Duosion, Haunter, or Gardevoir. If Bughouse brought hard offense instead, I also had Scarf Haunter and Trace Gardevoir and CB Sucker Punch Skuntank to mess it up.

Week 4 vs GW

idk why GW was playing LOL but I think I just recycled an old team? I think it was this but with SubTox Toad.

Week 5 vs Ninjadog
:seismitoad: :sawsbuck: :eelektross: :gurdurr: :skuntank: :haunter:
Ninja is Ninjadog's BW supplier afaik and I'm Ninja's BW supplier and most of what he knows of the tier is from me so I just cteamed myself basically. Rindo Toad let me stay in on Fantom t1 for Rocks and I just had a basic balance destroying core w Sawsbuck, Eelektross, and Skuntank, with Scarf Haunter to round it out. Lead Toad with either Sash or Rindo is pretty much guaranteed SR and I think my prep and good lead just let me play from ahead the entire game here.

Week 6 vs Roxiee
:regirock: :samurott: :electabuzz: :serperior: :garbodor: :skuntank:

I brought Scarf Electabuzz and Skunk for as much anti bs as possible and still got BS'd but that's BW lol. Roxiee's scout showed a lot of random Grass-types so I thought having a Water that could break them (SD Megahorn Samurott) would be really fun w Spikes support. Team worked well, got an untimely Para on my Skuntank but Roxiee still played well and we both showed off some really cool mons (Roxiee's were probably cooler this time though)

Semifinals vs Ninjadog
:zweilous: :garbodor: :misdreavus: :gardevoir: :piloswine: :primeape:

More magic spam, this time with Zweilous Spikes mixed in because everyone started to realize Duosion was a little nutty in this meta.
1658650706512.png
Again just cteamed myself; I make stuff hella weak to Spikes and abuse Ghosts and Psychics so Zweilous was perfect. Brought Quziel's Gardevoir set to help against both Skunk and Mandi, as shown in the replay.

Finals vs Shuckleking
:swanna: :garbodor: :primeape: :haunter: :piloswine: :cacturne:

Man I REALLY wanted to bring Jumpluff into his scout but that mon is SO bad like its embarrassingly weak but the STAB combo on paper is broken into the tier. Decided I was gonna bring Encore Primeape bc I always see that set suggested in the damage calc but have literally never seen it before. Encore Ape + Rain Dance Rest Swanna + Haunter DESTROYS slower teams which Shuckleking tended to bring. I stole Roxiee's Cacturne set bc I needed an emegency Water resist that checked magic users and had Piloswine w Ice Shard for more offensie teams and ofc Garbodor (featuring the wrong ability)

Shoutouts to cb aaron judge for constantly testing w me and bringing all kinds of gimmicks to help me make sure my teams were as airtight as they could be

13-3 for my BW career not too bad
 

Pokeslice

Thanks for the Dance
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributor
I finally have time on my hands to dump some of the stuff I used this NUPL, so enjoy! want to give a huge shoutout to shiloh for taking a chance on me this tour, especially since I was a totally unproven player who went for like 5k too much (hopefully I lived up to some of the price tag :bloblul: ), and another shoutout to Rabia for vouching for me on draft day + being a great teammate. It was definitely a bit daunting getting subbed in to SS for the first time, but I'm happy with how I did and had a good time doing it.

Week 3 vs. OnArceus (W)
:silvally-ground: :talonflame: :rotom-mow: :stakataka: :dragalge: :vaporeon:

I won't lie, I was fucking terrified going into this week. This was 1) my first SS NU team tour game ever 2) my first NU game in a while because of school + a 2 week trip I was currently on at the time and 3) I was going against OnArc who's an amazing player. I wanted to bring something simple that I was comfortable with, so I went with pivoting + breaker Vap balance, something I've been using now since the Cress meta. I built this team week 1 for someone else to use around when Specs Drag was being hyped up a bit, so I was able to rfn because of my poor availability. There's not much else to say here, but I did like this team and these type of builds, even though this one is a bit G-Vally weak. Oh, I made Drag Timid after this game so that that turn 1 interaction didn't have to happen again.

Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-628049

Week 4 vs. OBB (W)
:salazzle: :stakataka: :mantine: :exeggutor-alola: :heliolisk: :mudsdale:

This week, I really really liked the look of Salazzle + Eggy-A into OBB's scout because of the semi slower builds on there that were reliant on the classic Water/Steel/Ground/Mow builds that both of these can eat through. I also wanted to move away from Vaporeon cores, expecting something like a Croak, NP Mow, or some other hard abuser this week because I've been known in the past to love Vap teams, so I decided to build something slightly more unconventional and against my usual playstyle with Mantine as the Water-type (fuck Mantine btw mon is ass as a defogger so pair it with different removal). This team also featured a cool pick in IronPress Mudsdale, something that Rabia recommended I throw on here for the Snorlax mu + for a surprise wincon. At preview, I was pretty happy with my mu, although Salazzle looked pretty bad, but then I realized that I was Specs Eggy-A because I had forgotten to make it LO before the game like I meant to. This wasn't my cleanest game, and the early game definitely wasn't my best, but I was pretty happy with how the endgame went, even though I only won on a Stone Edge miss. Overall, this team was pretty interesting to play around with and I learnt NEVER to use Speggy-A.

Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-629555

Week 5 vs. Confide (W)
:machamp: :Mudsdale: :Escavalier: :rotom-mow: :talonflame: :Vaporeon:

I really wanted to have a decisive win this week after only winning on a bit of hax in the end of the last win, especially against my former Snake teammate LOL. After looking at the scout, I thought that NP Mow + SD Escav looked "very enticing", and it really was. Rabia had the idea of using Machamp this week too, so I stole that Machamp team that had been used a few times this tour, but made a few changes to suit my needs based on the scout + to cover some flaws on the team. For example, I opted for AV Machamp here in order to be able to switch into Eggy-A a bit better, because that mon 6-0ed, and made Rotom-Mow NP for both the scout and the Vaporeon match up, which seemed pretty terrible with the classic Scarf Mow on this. I ended up making Rotom Sitrus over Leftovers to both bluff Scarf and pay homage to the goat Mari, but itemless would have worked too. The game went exactly how I wanted it to during my prep, with Mow taking out a Mudsdale that expected Scarf so that SD Escav could claim the other 5 mons. Definitely a fun team.

Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-631798

Week 6 vs. S1nnohC0firm3d (L)
:silvally-ground: :guzzlord: :weezing: :stakataka: :mantine: :rotom-mow:

This week, I really wanted to play GW, but he switched himself out of SS1 to dodge me, so I got the privilege of playing Ho3n. His builds had been super weird so far, and definitely designed to be fun and off meta, which made prepping for him a bit interesting. I did notice a very high amount of Mudsdale usage, which made me instantly consider a mixed Guzzlord set that I had seen on ladder paired with Silvally-G. After Knocking the Weezing, Muds, Quag, etc, you're able to throw off a strong Draco that will lay out huge damage on the answers to Groundvally. It caught me totally off guard when I faced it, and I wanted to see if I could do something similar with it. After a bit of playing around, I realized that I had to make it Specs Guzzlord on this team in order to add some more breaking power, which ended the mixed Guzz dreams. I ended up queuing into a pretty weird match up, and definitely a bad one for Guzzlord here because of the Sylveon + I also didn't expect non choiced Heliolisk, which is an absolute demon because of the very slow nature of that team. Guzz felt weird to build with in this meta. It's both really solid, but naturally makes teams slow and awkward to work around. I'm planning on experimenting with it more in the future, because I genuinely believe there's a lot of potentially in Guzzlord, but Specs probably isn't it.

Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-632218
 
Hi all! I wanted to come here and do smth a little bit different. At first I was considering posting all the teams I used during NUPL, but truthfully I feel like it would be a waste of time. I wouldn't use most of these teams myself after the dragalge ban, and if rotom-mow is banned almost every single one would be invalidated. I think i used rotom-mow in (7/8) weeks? and won all 7, so obviously i love the dude. Being said I'd love to see it banned just to see the metagame changes, and frankly i want to be able to build a stakataka team without feeling like I lose to plot sets. It's not inherently broken, there are just a lot of constrains on building right now and it is a small part of the problem (being said silvally-ground is worse, do with that what you will). I figured instead I'd post some cool sets I felt like were unexplored, not all of these are going to be meta-defining or something easily built around, just mons I thought were cool and occupied some niches in the metagame. I'll try to give ideas of sets I would use, but I'll also try to leave EV spreads open on a lot of these so people can play around what best works for their own teams. As a side note if anyone is interested in the teams I used during NUPL im always happy to pass any.


Clefairy @ Eviolite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Seismic Toss/Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect
- Teleport
I got some SLACK for this set when I posted it originally, and I get why. At first glance it looks silly to use it over Sylveon, and I'd agree on a lot of teams it is. Being said for a short time I began preferring clefairy over sylveon in the builder for a few reasons. The first and most important reason is teleport, which can likely hoist any decent mon into viability. Instead of chipping your machamp to 30% vs weezing and never being able to switch it into vaporeon again, suddenly your opponent has to play in a way where they prevent teleport, which is generally much more difficult to do. The side benefits are of course magic guard, an incredible ability, and its low speed which makes it a semi-reliable check into defensive stakataka.

0 Atk Stakataka Gyro Ball (63 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Clefairy: 128-152 (37.2 - 44.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO I love this roll.

I recently saw my manager Luck use it, and despite it not winning I do think with better play (SORRY LUCK), it likely should have and it played a cool roll by eating stakataka and managing to seismic toss it (30% a turn into stak), and repeatedly wish up.


Duosion @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock/Psychic
- Thunder Wave/Toxic
- Recover
- Calm Mind/Future Sight/Night Shade/Shadow Ball etc.

Truthfully I thought I made this set but someone told me Elias PSY was using this way before I did so shoutout to him. This set was incredibly cool in the dragalge metagame, but still manages to be a very good check into a large part of the special attacking metagame such as eggy-a, rotom mow, indeedee, and others. During this NUPL I looked long and hard at all of the regenners, and amongst known picks like eldegoss and tangela (who i will also talk about), duosion managed to stand out as a cool mon that I've built around a few times.


Tangela @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Knock Off/Leech Seed/Sleep Powder/Toxic
- Leech Seed/Sleep Powder/Toxic/Knock Off

Tangela is another mon I love with a ton of flexibility in its sets. I've evd it defensively or even close to max special defense (although defense is usually preferable). Its an incredibly check into rotom mow and silvally ground, and manages to force progress on its own with a mix of knock off, sludge bomb poisons, sleep, and other annoying tools. It has a pretty good base speed stat for a wall so you can EV speed however you like, and make it whatever you want it to be. Given its incredible bulk, it can even stay in vs mons with SE coverage like talon and cripple them for other mons on your team. Leech seed is a good tool to beat snorlax in conjunction with knock off, but truthfully this mon can run a lot of sets and still do what it needs to.

I've recently taken inspiration from Togkey and Danny for a few sets, which i can highlight here. Both are very creative in the builder, and I like to see some of the stuff they've come up with.


Sneasel @ Choice Band
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Triple Axel
- Knock Off
- Ice Shard
- Low Kick

I feel like of all the mons im posting sneasel is likely the one to see the highest increase of usage in NU after seeing some decent tours results, as well as just having a great natural speed, good power, and pairing incredibly well with xatu. Its incredible at revenge killing with its speed and incredibly important priority. Not much to say, just dont use icicle crash like togkey, be a don and hit your axels. (Pretend like mudsdale doesnt have stamina and rocky helmet doesnt exist).


Drampa @ Chople Berry
Ability: Berserk
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 Spe
Bold/Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Surf
- Calm Mind
- Roost

I believe I actually saw OnArceus use cm beserk drampa before anyone else, although ive also seen togkey use 3 attack and other cool relevant cm mons like diancie (not going to include diancie on its own but cm/moonblast/ep is insane coverage rn). I currently do not love hvoice/fblast sets, after experimenting with coverage this was generally my favorite combo. The other addition to the set I brought was chople, its a bit counterintuitive because leftovers are so good on this set, but i really liked the versatility it added into walls like diancie and stakataka (which surf can beat), as well as sponging a hit from the fighting types in the tier.


Jynx (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock/Psychic
- Nasty Plot
Oml Jynx is the hill im willing to die on. With escav's usage back to not being stupid, alongside croak, i could make an argument jynx is the single best vapo abuser in the tier (forget that sub mantine garbage pls). Its strong, its fast, its INCREDIBLY frail but i love using it anyways. If i played it better I probably could have won the week i brought it :(


Indeedee-F (F) @ Twisted Spoon
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature / Timid
IVs: 0 Atk
- Expanding Force
- Mystical Fire
- Dazzling Gleam
- Calm Mind
Not a new set, but one that definitely does not see nearly enough play. I like it better than specs generally, at +1 modest twisted spoon eforce is likely the strongest possible attack in nu, and this things shreds anything trying to scout it. S/O turtledoggo1 for bringing this dude one week, definitely the coolest ndd set rn imo.


Escavalier @ Assault Vest
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 Atk
Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Iron Head
- Knock Off
- Drill Run/Close Combat

I so often see escav in defensive roles that people forget how potent offensively it is. I don't particuarly love band due to the excess of scouting and necessary defensive role its plays, but aoa with AV or lefties have been two sets Ive seen relative success with. It pairs best with a strong defensive cast and good hazard removal, but I love the progress this dude can force.


Malamar @ Leftovers
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Superpower
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

One of the parts of the tier i like the least are the limited dark options, i really did enjoy using malamar when i did. Without a fairy or strong bug type move it's really hard to kill, but also can spread knock and eat some important hits from mons like ndd.

I wanna do some honorable mentions here too in the interest of time:
Sitrus Harvest Eggy-A with Sleep Powder/Sludge Bomb last slot- Eggy a has very useful defensive utility in the current meta so people have caught on to sitrus harvest, sludge bomb and sleep powder are both cool tools to hit sylv on this set

Spd arcanine- A bit more niche but I found spd sets have a cool role in walling both copperand salazzle, and scorching sand is good coverage on it right now for lazzle

Braviary- BU sets are cool, not going to do a full post on it bc people have caught on/are catching on to its place in the meta I feel

Endeavor Salzzle on HO- People have begun catching onto this set but its an incredibly potent set on the HO teams its run on

Band Scrafty with intimidate- cool defensive role, and a moveset like knock off, close combat, poison jab/iron head, and assurance puts in work

Side Notes-
Wise Glasses is a cool item on analytic starmie if youre a fellow LO hater
Ebelt Duraludon is strong
Sirfetchd is better than machamp and ill fight anyone on it
Kingler is so strong even with plume usage and water absorb it should see more use, ive even used sd body slam liquidation blizzard as a cool set before (not to mention its really solid speed tier for a breaker)

Ill add any more sets I think of as I remember them, sort of rushed this post out in like 30 minutes. Like I said most of these sets aren't meta-defining, and some aren't even new, just some cool mons to consider and a reminder that even in a tier where building can feel constrained there are still cool ideas to be had.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top