Oi.
I didn`t play this PUPL but I helped my boy
Shuckleking87 (s/o the goat) on the BW slot a bit so these were my contributions.
Shuckleking actually built the team`s skeleton around Simisear but after some few tweaks here and there we wanted a type of specially bulky offensive mon so we could at least take a few hits from threats like Scarf Swanna and Zebstrika which would otherwise be very annoying to deal with. Then I suggested Pain Split Swalot lol but obviously I could come up with something better so I suggested Curse 3 Atk Muk:
Muk @ Black Sludge
Ability: Poison Touch
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Curse
- Poison Jab
- Ice Punch
- Fire Punch
Nothing out of the ordinary here, Curse lets you be a threat to many builds while PJab, Ice Punch and Fire Punch are able to cover most of the meta, only rendering it walled by the now uncommon Frillish. It avoids getting 2HKOd by any Scarf Swanna move, easily avoids the 2HKO vs LO Zebstrika and the 3HKO vs Magnet Zebstrika, avoids the 2HKO vs Specs Dark Pulse from Shiftry and the 2HKO vs Scarf Golduck's Hydro Pump, all that while 3HKOing Scraggy letting it beat it (not consistently but the odds are heavily on your side) and just being overall annoying to switch into mainly when accounting the poison chance from PJab and Poison Touch.
Shuckle wanted something with Mime and I built this really quickly. I chose the Specs Mime way because
Scarf is weak as shit and just a HWish bot altho pretty predict reliant it can break stuff pretty well, being faster than Monferno is a big deal and given how rare Pursuit users are nowadays Mime has plenty of breathing room to do stuff. I figured Spikes with Specs Mime would be really neat as it oftentimes would allow Mime to avoid having to predict every turn mainly vs teams without Scraggy/Zweilous. The team overall ended up looking like a pretty standard Spikes BO and the funny part is that his opp on that week brought 5/6 same mons. I'm proud of this build tho.
The star of week 7, Scraggies was out by then so Shuckle just wanted to have some fun and if anyone knows what is fun in this tier this is me, PU Volcarona in. This is not the first time Dustox won a PU tour tho,
DugZa somehow did it on last year's Classic I believe? Team was also mine but that one was trash so props to Dugza for making it work. Anyways back to this, building with Dustox is fucking impossible, I tried to keep the team as anti-Monferno and psychics as I could and for such an awkward mon to build around this team actually ended up looking solid, the most notable fucked up part of this team tho is how uncapable of breaking opposing Klang it looks, mainly when +6 Dustox is unable to even get close to 3HKOing it with Bug Buzz. This team also features Scarf Stoutland, which is actually tasked to Pursuit-trap Swoobat while still being decently strong and open holes for Dustox later in the game. I chose Scarf Stoutland over something like Sneasel cuz of unpredictability since I at least have never seen anyone else using it and because Sneasel can't actually break anything easily. I chose Stunfisk over Torterra because I really wanted to have rocks up vs a potential Natu while possibilitating me to have a good switch-in to Monferno and possibly crippling it with Static since Dustox doesn't have a good time vs it. This team also has Natu for the important hazard-blocking potential (altho Stunfisk ups vs it still unfort) which is a pivotal piece to make Dustox function. Klang is the team's special glue, nothing else to say, while Swanna serves as another offensive tool capable of checking Scraggy and being a secondary Monferno check. This team ended up being also weak to Duosion due to the lack of a Scraggy on the team or overall offensive pressure but luckily it was not Magic Guard fsr. Dustox had to clutch a 1v2 against a Scarf Gabite locked on Outrage and it fucking chewed the move and started setting up to finish the game. Hope the game served as a message to not sleep on it.
Other ideas that were or were not used:
Beheeyem @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 164 HP / 252 SpA / 92 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 3 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 30 Spe
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Signal Beam
- Recover
It threatens basically everything ig? Simple concept prob already used by someone but if not, this set should be tested cuz it shows potential. Losing on bulk obviously sucks but I'd say this is a middle ground between Standard NP Beheeyem and Specs Beheeyem.
Stunfisk @ Leftovers
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Discharge
-
Earthquake
- Toxic/Protect
Running EQ on Stunfisk means you are sacrificing the potential to trade with opposing Stunfisk so you can solidly achieve a 3HKO on Klang and smash Tentacool. Klang can actually somewhat abuse Stunfisk ground mon as Earth Power can't stop Klang's Rest cycle, that is when EQ comes in, EQ is able to stop that cycle while being able to stop Tentacool trying to spin on your face and both ends having to gamble with Static/Discharge para vs Scald burn (note: even burned EQ does more to Tentacool than EP).
0 Atk Stunfisk Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Eviolite Tentacool: 224-266 (79.1 - 93.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Stunfisk Earth Power vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Tentacool: 80-96 (28.2 - 33.9%) -- 0.2% chance to 3HKO
0 Atk Stunfisk Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Eviolite Klang: 108-128 (33.4 - 39.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Stunfisk Earth Power vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Klang: 86-104 (26.6 - 32.1%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
The difference against offensive stuff with equal phys and special bulk is minimal:
0 SpA Stunfisk Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Monferno: 186-218 (69.1 - 81%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Stunfisk Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Eviolite Monferno: 170-204 (63.1 - 75.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Spikes teams or basically teams that really really need Rocks up appreciate this set.
Dragonair @ Eviolite
Ability: Marvel Scale
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Tail
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
I really think this set has serious potential alongside Spikes, I'm not certain if it is better on fatter teams or if I can just toss this shit on Dwebble teams I haven't test this set too much but being relatively tough to kill when awake and even tougher when asleep is kinda sick for a DD user, it appreciates a tier with basically nothing to phaze it out while DTail has normal priority when rolled on a Sleep Talk. Having to rely on Rest in BW is obviously a nuisance tho.
With the highly close playoff race wrapped up, it's time for the customary team and set dump thread. It's always great to see techs made throughout the tour even if they didn't see action. And of course, seeing how old generations get new trends. Feel free to share your favorites below!
