Presenting… my magnificent NU team! *scattered applause*

Question

This is my awesome team!!! If it sucks, then tell me. It won't hurt my feelings or "ruin my dreams of becoming a pokemon master" or whatever. I started to make this team based on bugs, but when you tell someone your team is bug-based and then send out a Miltank, then… fail. By the way, my team is below.

Firefly (Volbeat) (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Baton Pass
- Tail Glow
- Bug Buzz
- Tailwind

OOPS! Jello messed it up again and forgot that Tail Glow raises Sp.atk, not attack. It was originally Linoone, not Combusken, so the following comparison will make no sense whatsoever.
You know about honey badgers and honey birds? The bird leads the badger to a bee nest, and the badger breaks the nest open. Then they both get the honey. Well, Volbeat is the bird and Combusken is the badger, and instead of honey, they get victory! Still not getting it?… Okay, so volbeat uses Tail glow and raises special attack drastically. Then it will hang on because of the focus sash, so it can prankster baton pass the stat boost to Combusken, which will speed up with speed boost, and do what Combuskens do best! What about the 1hp Volbeat? I send it out at the right time and use Tailwind to speed up my pokemon. Then it gets hit and dies. The end!

Butterfly (Alomomola) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Toxic
- Dive
- Protect
- Aqua Ring

It was originally supposed to have healing wish to let volbeat heal to power up another pokemon, but when an absent-minded Jellohamster discovered that the focus sash had already been used, he turned the alomomola into a staller! Bueatimous! Toxic is to poison, and then alomomola can stall with protect and hiding underwater with dive. Use Aqua ring at some point, and BAM! Now Alomomola will sting like a butterfly and punch like a bee. I have regenerator in case i meet a steel or poison type.

Centipede (Combusken) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Protect
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power Fighting
- Work Up

Was originally a Linoone until I remembered what Tail glow does. So, when Combusken gets +3 special attack passed to it, it will attempt to sweep with flamethrower and hp fighting. I know that pokemon usually cannot sweep with only 2 attack moves, so suggest your suggestions for the last move.

Grasshopper (Swellow) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- U-turn
- Facade

This is an interesting moveset for a Swellow, but this isn't just any Swellow, its Grasshopper the Swellow! Everyone expects protect, so they switch to a steel or rock type to wall swellow. On the first turn while they might be switching, i use substitute. If they have a steel or rock type out, I baton pass the substitute away to shedinja or something. Facade is so amazing with STAB, status problem boost, and guts. U-turn is there for no real reason.

Dead Cicada Thingy (Shedinja) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
IVs: null HP
- Shadow Sneak
- Sucker Punch
- X-Scissor
- Swords Dance

Most people prepare for Shedinja in NU, but i know when to send in who, so i send in shedinja when i want to, and use swords dance while they switch out (hopefully). Then I use Swords dance again while they slash apart my focus sash. Then it's time for Sucker Punch or Shadow Sneak! If they run out of pokemon to kill Shedinja, i can quicken up the battle with X-scissors.

Horsefly (Miltank) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Scrappy
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 144 SDef / 12 Spd
Calm Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss
- Stealth Rock
- Milk Drink

The Pokemon that I send out first! Aka the "lead". I use Thunder Wave to slow them down, and who doesn't need a little help from paralysis hax?! I know I do. Then I can Stealth Rock the opponent, and use seismic toss. If the opponent accedentally left their brains at home and switch out, then i can paralize that pokemon too and keep on keepin' on. I can use milk drink to heal.

Comments

A spinner is almost mandatory for this team, as Shedinja will become dead weight and you have 2 weaknesses to Rocks.

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Jello said rate it or die so i'l give it a Jello out of Gelatin.

i didn't actually want to do this but i don't want to die xD

Answer 1

JarJar is right - you really do need a spinner. I suggest taking out Alomomola and putting in Tentacool. If you really want Alomomola, then take out Shedinja, but I think Alomomola is less useful on this team.

Tentacool @ Eviolite
Trait: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 80 HP/176 Def/252 Sp. Def
Nature: Bold
Moves:
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Toxic Spikes/Toxic
- Scald

Rapid Spin is to deal with entry hazards. Knock Off cripples Eviolite users, which are really common in NU. Toxic Spikes can really mess up the opponent, especially if they lack a Poison type or spinner of their own. Scald is the main damage attack, and works best for burn on any physical attackers if they aren't already poisoned. Tentacool is really bulky (especially with Special Defence) so can take a few hits, even if they are super effective.

As for the rest of your team:
Volbeat looks fine. I quite like using it in NU as well, but I prefer Thunder Wave instead of Tailwind, but that is just personal preference, and either work fine. However, it can only really Baton Pass a Tail Glow to Combusken, as nothing else (aside from my tentacool suggestion) can make use of Tail Glow, so it is a bit useless if Combusken has already fainted.

Combusken is alright, but Work Up is a very strange choice of move for him. Since he will probably be getting a Tail Glow boost from Volbeat anyway, he doesn't need to increase his Special Attack any more (and the Attack increase is wasted as well). I actually recommend Overheat to really hurt the opponent. With 1 Tail Glow Boost he will still have 1.5x Special Attack left after using Overheat once and whatever the opponent had on the field will probably be dead. ahem sorry - fainted we are keeping this PC i suppose.

Swellow - this is an unusual set for it, but it might work. However, I would go for Brave Bird over U-turn, as it can switch out by using Baton Pass anyway. Often they have Facade, Brave Bird, U-turn, and Quick Attack, but if you want to keep Baton Pass and Substitute, then Brave Bird is better than U-turn, in my opinion.

Shedinja is fine. I have no real changes to make to it.

Miltank works fine with that set, especially as it is your lead. Heal Bell is another option on it for some team support, but I am not sure what you would replace, so keeping what you have might be better.

Comments

Brave bird can't be used with Baton pass for some reason.  Otherwise, your answer is great! Thanks! (+uno)

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Maybe Aerial Ace instead of Brave Bird? Sub+Toxic+B-Bird damage really stacks up.

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Or maybe even Pluck? Evasion isn't allowed competitively anyway, and while Pluck's secondary effect usually isn't that useful it is a least a little better than Aerial Ace's competitively, and they have the same power. Just an idea.