The Best Pokemon in NU

[Sweet Jesus]

tough one between brav and gardy for me. I'll say gardevoir since sub bu braviary hasn't been succesful for me. I usualy always stop ludi, but maybe that's because I always have him in mind when team building.

I made the gardevoir nomination, all my explanations are there.

 

[Shuckleking87]

Alright, when I think of this thread of the BEST NU Pokemon, I think of the most annoying yet effective pokes. There has been one pokemon that has always been a thorn in my side, and while I do respect the power of cinccino (#3) and Braviary (#2), I am going to say Musharna is the best NU poke. With it usually running max d nature, a couple calm minds and a good defensive typing, there are not many super effective moves that hit it (signal beam, crunch, u-turn usually off non stab). At +1 SD, only emboar really has any chance to ohko (before boosts). If you attempt to status it, you will get it right back, and it could potentially heal bell off the status. With a usually reliable recovery room, I would say Musharna is the best NU poke.

 

[EonADS]

Amoonguss. It checks several of the other nominations quite handily (Cinccino, Zangoose, Skuntank, SD Samurott), and a large part of the teir in general. I've seen CB Earthquakes from Golurk fail to break through it, and it just heals off the damage thanks to its amazing ability in Regenerator and its wonderful STAB in Giga Drain. The ability to consistently provide physical tanking and walling, brilliant status support in the form of both paralysis and sleep, and the decent power and coverage of its Dual STABs give it unsurpassed usability and it even manages to be a presence of offensive teams both as a bulky pivot point and as a useful and hardy Specs abuser. Often times, both in my opponent's team and my own, Amoonguss is the proverbial Last Man Standing. That means something: that it's clearly the baddest ass in the teir. Despite several of the other nominations being among the strongest in a particular catagory, Amoonguss both useful and lethal on any team you might choose to employ. There is no other Pokemon I'd rather have use of in NU, and even in RU and UU it manages to be a forceful presence.

 

[WhiteDMist]

I'm having a hard time deciding between Braviary and Ludicolo (both were taken before I could write about them). I feel that Braviary is the one that should be considered the best NU Pokemon. Its versatility is amazing for such a type combination; its movepool equally as good. The Choice Band set is infamous for being nearly impossible to counter without excellent prediction. The Scarf set is good at keeping momentum and is a decent surprise in a metagame where people expect more powerful, but slower, sets. The Life Orb Roost set is a set that I have only a little experience with, but the damage it can deal up front, along with its decent bulk, speaks for itself.

Now, the new SubBU set is an amazing find by AlexWolf. It takes advantage of Braviary's decent bulk and mono-type coverage to sweep entire teams. It also can defeat its normal counters, the Rock types, by stalling them out of Stone Edges. Its unpredictability is one of the main advantages of using Braviary, as well as its ability to beat Rocks (and Steels). Being able to set up easily on defensive cores, namely Alomomola-Amoonguss core, is just another notch on its figurative belt.

 

[Django]

Yep there we go. But, Zangoose will always have Toxic Orb and Swords Dance and Facade and Close Combat. Braviary can be holding at least 3 different items and the only move that is constant among all its sets is Brave Bird.

edit: #neverused is telling me that sometimes Zangoose doesn't have SD but a) I don't buy it and b) see my previous post for more BRAVIARY

yep #neverused would be right, Zangoose almost never carries Swords Dance, Facade / CC / Night Slash / Quick Attack is by far and away the most popular (and effective) set. Swords Dance is fun to OHKO both Alomomola and Amoonguss, but outside that it doesn't really need to set up. The thing about Braviary having no counters is that it only really applys to the Choice Band set (and to a lesser extent Life Orb, but that lacks some of the brute power of Choice Band, cannot break throgh Regirock with the same regularity). What this means is that Braviary has to predict like a mofo to work properly, provided the opposing team is decent and you can't just spam Brave Bird. While this is also true for Zangoose, Braviary has a much worse Speed tier than Zangoose, so a mispredict can be more costly.

Basically Zangoose > Braviary because:

• Doesn't need to be choiced to destroy everything
• Better Speed
• The fact it only needs one set to be as effective as it is says it all really, it doesn't need to change sets to get past its checks and or counters

Don't get me wrong Braviary is absolutely incredible, I just think Zangoose is that little bit above it.

 

[CrashinBoomBang]

Can we only nominate one Pokemon? If so, Zangoose is probably my pick.

Even if you know what's coming, there is basically nothing except prediction standing in its way, and if you mispredict you'll probably lose something. It has an amazing speed-tier for NU, its Facade is incredibly powerful, it has good coverage moves and even priority. The one thing that makes Zangoose even better than stuff like Braviary and Samurott for me is the fact that, even if you know that it's probably carrying the Facade/Close Combat/Night Slash/Quick Attack set 90% of all Zangoose carry, it doesn't lose in power at all. Braviary and Samurott become quite a bit less threatening once the uncertainity about their set is gone (at least that's how it is for me; both are obviously still amazing Pokemon) while Zangoose is a menace to every team at every time.

Again, are we allowed to vote for more than one Pokemon? My second pick is very, VERY closely behind Zangoose, maybe on the same level even, so I really want to express my thoughts on both. I'll hold up on writing up a second vote until that's answered, though.

 

[Ewil]

Musharna is my choice. Once you get rid of all opponent's dark type (if he has any), this thing is pratically unstoppable once she's setup a couple of CMs.
I'm referring to this particular set:

Musharna @ Leftovers
240 HP / 252 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
Trait: Synchronize

-Calm Mind
-Moonlight
-Heal Bell
-Psychic/Stored Power

Her huge 116 HPs allow her to takes many physical attack, and once you start CMing you're basically protected even on the special side. A good partner for Musharna is Ninjask that can pass Speed Boost and that's why i slashed psychic with stored power, so you can even smash a lot more pokes if she can receives those boosts.
Adding to the insane bulk, a recover move in Moonlight (only nerfed with the rare weather) and the cleric move Heal Bell and you are basically covered by everything except crits (that always happen to me -.-).

The reasons that make me choose Musharna over others good mons is that Zangoose for me is too predictable and, if my opponent isn't a master of the guess, can be stalled pretty easly thanks to the common protect/subs and good physical threats or pokes with immunity to his attacks, not counting that he has pretty shitty defenses and his weak to 2/3 of hazards (even Musharna, but she can heal herself).

Braviary is a really good mon, but once you set up SR, you can start guessing wich set he's running. I'm not good at using him, but i've faced many and, for me, the CB set is the most scary (not that much). Already, you have to guessing right with Braviary's choice set and the BU set can be countered more easly once you understand that he has leftovers (yes, if he's running LO, you can bluff and that can be more tricky to fight, but still manageble with a good special sweeper or good rock blaster).

 

[uxsee]

I vote for: Skuntank.
It has a great base 103 HP, decent bulk, and wonderful defensive typing to support it defensively and a move pool capable of stopping psychic and ghost types, defensive walls, volbeat/illumise (from baton passing a tail glow), frail sweepers, and can cause annoying mind games for the opponent. It has a pretty good (for nu) attack stat and speed stat that allows it to effectively take advantage over its vast and unpredictable movepool. Invluding, fire blast, splosion, sludge bomb, shadow ball, and hone claws. Its support movepool is actually kind of good with: roar, rain dance, sunny day, memento, and acid spray.

All in all, I find skuntank to be a very strong pokemon whose bulk and movepool earn it a spot on a lot of teams.

 

[NidoJosh]

It's a hard choice between Ludicolo and Cinccino for me
After having used both extensively, I know how great they both are.
I'd have to settle with Ludicolo though.
Under the rain, it's simply to powerful and fast, being able to sweep the majority of NU, and to also replenish its own health with a STAB Giga Drain.
Although he isn't as diverse as Braviary, it can still pull off other sets like a defensive variant or SubSeed

 

[KryptoKrunch]

Pretty tough choice, but I'm going with Zangoose on this one. With his already good attack stat and toxic boost he can rip through an entire team that's unprepared. Excellent coverage obviously, priority, a great offensive Pokemon. According to the August usage he's ranked at #20 which doesn't make much sense because he should be in the top 10. Of course(like every other Pokemon) he does come with checks and counters but Zangoose is, imo, the best Pokemon in the tier.

Honorable mentions go out to Amoonguss and Musharna.

 

[Incon]

After some thought, im going to have to pick Ludicololololo for the best Pokmeon in NU right now. His great base stats, good typing and coverage, and access to rain dance + swift swim make him one of the most threatening Pokemon in the tier. Ebeast and McMeghan have outlined most of the reasons why Ludicolo should be the top mon but im just gonna add that while Rain Dance is its best set, it can run other sets quite effectively as well, making him quite diverse. His great bulk allows him to run an effective Sub Seed that can stall out most of its Rain Dance counters such as Lickilicky and Regice or a Bulky Attacking set that can tank most attacks and hit back hard. His amazing typing lets him wall most Water types in the tier and his good 100 base SpDef allows him to tank a lot of special attacks. Hell, he can even be a potent Swords Dance sweeper. Of course, his best set is the Rain Dance set but this shows that he isnt just a one trick pony like Zangoose. Braviary is certainly centralizing in its own right, but Ludicolo's powerful special attacks and coverage are more threatening in my opinion.

 

[Molk]

The choice is tough, but i would have to say i think Ludicolo is the best pokemon in NU. Despite overall average best stats, Ludicolo has a typing a lot of of other pokemon would kill for. Water/Grass is incredible offensively and pretty good defensively as well, making Ludicolo a great tank. Ludicolo can also use its decent bulk to switch in on the many water and ground types in the tier, while also stopping opposing ludicolo. Ludicolo is also very dangerous due to rain dance, after a rain dance Ludicolo outspeeds the entire metagame including choice scarfed pokemon, can still take a hit or two, and is gifted with a double STAB water attack backed up by an ice beam to hit bulky grasses like amoonguss and tangela, and a STAB giga drain to hit opposing waters that would wall ludicolo otherwise, the extra hp doesnt hurt either! Ludicolo is also capable of using synthesis to be a good tank even outside of the rain. Overall, Ludicolo is a very potent offensive and defensive threat, and i think Ludicolo is very deserving of the title "best pokemon in NU."

 

[Raseri]

Victory to Ludicolo! It was a close race between Zangoose, Ludicolo, and Braviary. But in the end Rain Dance proves to be the strongest.

I leave you with this [youtube]kAHHFc-gIeI[/youtube] Thank you everyone for this! Ludicolo usage has started to increase already :)