Other Metagames [SS NFE] 16 Psyche

[hayedenn]

1 6 P S Y C H E

(click for the importable)​

Hey all, how's it going. It's tox, back again with another SS NFE RMT because I am bored as f*ck and needed something to do in my spare time. This time I have a very fun HO team utilizing a Gabite/Spikes Carkoal hazard setting core + NP Togetic. It's a pretty fun team and Meteor Beam Carkol is able to catch a lot of Pokemon off guard with it's powerful moves + spinning ability + spikes. Granted, now that I'm making it people are probably going to be expecting it more....but it doesn't it make it less fun of a set to use!

Hyper Offense in NFE is a bit of a niche style of teambuilding, with much of the metagame being centered around Balance/BO/standard Offense but we have enough strong wallbreakers and powerful set-up mons to where the playstyle is still very much viable. My thought process behind this team was that defensive Gabite + Spikes Carkol are able to spread hazards while Raboot/Thwackey form a U-Turn core, being able to pivot a bunch and cause more hazard damage with your opponent switching a bunch. Togetic functions as the team's Gurdurr check and set-up wallbreaker while Wartortle/Thwackey clean at the end of the game.

THE TEAM

Gabite @ Eviolite
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Roar / Stone Edge​

What makes Gabite one of the best offensive hazard setters in the NFE metagame is that it has a decent attack stat, good typing, and solid enough defenses with an Eviolite. Ground/Dragon is a very good defensive typing for the most part, with it being able to hard check Pokemon such as Pikachu, Electabuzz, Raboot, and Magmar along with being able to soft-check Thwackey and other physical attackers. It also means that Gabite has very few poor lead matchups, with Clefairy, Piloswine, and Hattrem being some of the few Pokemon that Gabite doesn't want to go for Stealth Rocks in front of. Even without investment, Earthquake does a good amount of damage to most offensive Pokemon. Stealth Rocks are one of the best hazard in the tier due to the small amount of mons that actually resist them. Toxic lets Gabite passively damage common switch-ins such as Piloswine, Thwackey, Tangela, and Corsola-Galar while Roar lets Gabite phaze set-up Sweepers and other switch-ins. Roar is also beneficial in getting more chip damage, especially if you have multiple layers of hazards up. Earthquake is the attacking move of choice, and while it does get weakened by Thwackey's Grassy Terrain, it still does a decent amount of damage to the things you usually attack, like Electabuzz and Pikachu. Stone Edge can be run in the last slot over Roar in order to attack flying-types, but I've found that I'm more likely to click Roar in a match than I am SEdge.

Carkol @ Power Herb
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Meteor Beam
- Spikes
- Flamethrower
- Rapid Spin​

While Carkol as a mon is genuinely pretty meme-y, I have to say that I've been fairly impressed by its offensive Spikes set (s/o to xavgb). Meteor Beam is the focus point of this set, giving you that sweet sweet +1 SpA, making Carkol really powerful. There's basically no game where you aren't able to fire off at least 1 Meteor Beam, whether it's a last resort before you die to something or if you're trying to pressure common switch-ins such as Clefairy or Hattrem. Even after you use up your power herb, due to the slower nature of the NFE metagame there have been times where I use the 2 turn power-up in order to boost my special attack even more and attack, usually against passive Pokemon such as Clefairy. Most importantly, Carkol can pressure Golbat, preventing it from coming in and Defogging away my hazards. Spikes are this team's secondary hazard, and in conjunction with Stealth Rocks, form my hazard stack core. Flamethrower and Rapid Spin fill out Carkol's moveset, with Flamethrower acting as your secondary STAB, pressuring Tangela and Ferroseed and hitting everything after a boost for solid damage. Rapid Spin acts as my hazard removal and the +1 Speed it gives Carkol is helpful in outspeeding common attackers such as Pikachu, Raboot, Thwackey, and others. With max Speed and SpA you're able to (usually) apply some good offensive pressure throughout a match. Flame Body is run over its other abilities due to the prevalence of Knock Off and other contact moves in the tier, letting you occasionally get a lucky burn on something. Modest is the nature of choice, making Carkol hit more powerfully because, let's admit it, 60 SpA is pretty pathetic LMAO.

Wartortle @ Eviolite
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 176 HP / 252 SpA / 80 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shell Smash
- Surf / Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Substitute / Aura Sphere​

While Wartortle usually functions as a wallbreaker on a lot of HO teams (often paired with Rapid Spin), on my team I've utilized it more as a late-game sweeper, either with Substitute (which helps check Thwackey/Kadabra and avoid status) or Aura Sphere, which lets Wartortle 1v1 Ferroseed and do more damage to Klang. Wartortle is also nice because you don't need many EVs in speed in order to outspeed basically the entire tier at +2, meaning that with its bulk you can check things like Magmar and Raboot and also not take much damage from neutral attacks, even at -1. I use Surf over Hydro Pump because I hate missing, but the extra power can be important for nailing some important OHKOs on Pokemon that I don't know off the top of my head. Ice Beam is mandatory coverage, letting Wartortle break through Tangela and Fraxure.

Thwackey @ Eviolite / Choice Band
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 136 HP / 232 Atk / 140 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Grassy Glide
- Knock Off
- U-turn​

Thwackey is an AMAZING Pokemon on HO. It's ridiculous how much offensive presence Thwackey is able to apply throughout a game. The reason I went with a pivot set instead of a Grassy Seed Acrobatics set is that I really like the bulk and pivoting ability that Eviolite Thwackey is able to provide throughout a match. The EVs on this set let Thwackey avoid being OHKO'd by non-Banded Raboot's Flare Blitz and gives it more general bulk in order to better switch-in on Pokemon such as Electabuzz. The rest of the set is a standard Swords Dance set, with Grassy Glide being the STAB of choice and Knock Off/U-Turn filling out the rest of the moveset, with Knock Off being a spammable move early in the game and U-turn helping give the team more offensive momentum. I do think CB is an option you can use on Thwackey here for extra wallbreaking potential, but you would probably have to swap some mons out or something in order to get better MUs against Electric-types and such.

Raboot @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Choice Band / Choice Scarf
Ability: Libero
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Sucker Punch / Assurance (if choiced)
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn​

Raboot is I think one of the most stupid Pokemon on HO. It's fast, it's strong, and it has a GREAT movepool. I've slashed a few other items on this set because honestly any of them can work. With Heavy-Duty Boots, it's pivoting ability is greatly increased, letting you spam U-Turn over and over. With a Choice Band, Raboot is able to become a ridiculously strong wallbreaker, being able to 2HKO almost anything that doesn't resist it's STABs. Scarf Raboot becomes a speedy revenge-killer, outspeeding the entire unboosted (and much of the boosted) metagame. The moveset I use is pretty standard, with HJK/Flare Blitz being the two wallbreaking moves, Sucker Punch being Raboot's priority move and U-Turn being used to gain momentum. Assurance is an optional move if you want to go choiced, preventing you from getting locked into Sucker Punch and also being a reliable way to hit Lampent and other Ghost-types. A BU Grassy Seed set could be used as well but you don't get to use U-Turn and that's stupid.

Togetic @ Eviolite
Ability: Super Luck
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Draining Kiss
- Fire Blast
- Psychic​

Togetic is definitely a very un-standard pick for HO, but it ends up working very well on this team. The main reason I chose Togetic was that there are very few offensive checks to Gurdurr that are able to switch into it repeatedly throughout a match, especially after taking a Knock Off. Togetic is one of the few Pokemon that are able to fill this role, and with a NP set it can become a powerful wallbreaker as well. Granted, it does have some issues in that it's very weak before a boost and it can sap some momentum up, giving free switches into Piloswine, Electabuzz, and Pikachu but it's still able to dent teams pretty significantly. Togetic also has a pretty good matchup against more defensive teams, where its slow speed doesn't play a big role and it's able to hit much of NFE's defensive cores for super-effective damage. Draining Kiss lets Togetic forego Roost, Psychic lets Togetic hit Golbat, Mareanie, and Koffing for super-effective damage and also deal more damage to fighting-types than Draining Kiss, and Fire Blast hits Klang, Ferroseed, Tangela, and Thwackey super-effectively as well. Togetic also has very good natural bulk, meaning that a set that fully invests in Speed and Special Attack still makes it bulky enough to fill a defensive role on this team.

Matchups vs. Common Stuff
Keep Gabite and Thwackey alive to check it. Putting a Toxic on it is helpful and if it isn't Boots, hazards are useful
Can hard check with Carkol, Psychic Togetic is useful, and getting chip with Roar + Rocks and Gabite can get you some good chip
Togetic literally exists to check this lmao. If Toge dies, you have to Surf it with Wartortle and wear it down with Raboot/Thwackey
A combination of everything is needed to wear this down. If it's Eviolite, make sure rocks are up and if it's HDB, Thwackey can usually revenge-kill it if you get chip.
Check with a combination of Gabite + Thwackey
Carkol can beat it, Raboot/Thwackey can pivot a bunch on it and Wart can kill it at +2 (usually)
If it's SpDef, Raboot/Thwackey can beat it and if it's Physdef, Tort/Carkol can beat it. And Toge can 1v1 it.
can be beaten with Carkol/Raboot/Toge
A bit scary, but Thwackey can beat it and Carkol does big damage
Sash can be annoying but you just need chip before Thwackey can beat it. LO is scary cus big damage but Thwackey/Boot kill it
Tort is basically the only way you can beat this, but Thwackey can as well after chip
Very annoying, but Carkol can do big damage, Thwackey can Knock, and Toge can (should) be able to 1v1 it
Dies to Toge, Carkol, and Tort
Dies to Gabite (if spdef), Thwackey, and Toge (although haze is irritating)
Banded is a threat. Just hope Gabite can take a few hits and wear it down as much as possible
Phaze with Gabite if BU and if choiced, revenge-kill with Tort/Boot
Toxic it as early as possible and just chip it when you can with Boot/Thwackey. Toge can also beat it

Other Stuff You Can Run​

One of my favorite parts of this team is that you can basically pick and choose the aspects you like and fit in other stuff you want. and are a great hazard stacking core, but can be run as another Spike user that can spread status with Sleep Powder and also has a strong offensive presence with Sludge/Leaf Storm and has access to recovery in Synthesis. is an interesting defensive Stealth Rock user, but I've shied away from using it because of its weakness to U-Turn and that it can't switch into Electabuzz without fearing getting bopped by Focus Blast EBuzz. and are also incredibly strong Pokemon on HO, with Electabuzz forming a fantastic VoltTurn core with Raboot/Thwackey and Pikachu being an excellent revenge-killer. and are also Pokemon that can be used, with Mime-Galar having access to Nasty Plot and Rapid Spin and Lampent being able to effectively utilize choiced and CM sets. There are plenty of other things you can use, the NFE Resources thread has a role compendium that you can find here. Look through it for some inspiration :]

replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nfe-1272904010 vs obb
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nfe-1272899799 vs obb
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nfe-1266881125 vs miyami
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nfe-1263791978 vs miyami

shoutouts

OranBerryBlissey10 thanks for helping me test so many teams and listening to my DM ramblings
Miyami~~~ Queen of Hail and NFE
Marjane Queen of NFE pt. 2
Jett Greybaum Ho3nConfirm3d pileosand ur all cool :]
85percent ur always hanging in the nfe chat :]
Tack Queen of NFE pt. 3
Shing'n Streets ur fun to play against :]
xavgb your HO post gave me a ton of inspiration! thanks for that :]