Any suggestions for this NU team?

Question

Team is 11 for 13, which is really good.

Swellow (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Brave Bird
- Facade
- U-turn

Makes for a good lead, as I can use Protect to scout out the opponent's move, get Poisoned to activate Guts, then act accordingly. U-Turn if I am up against a Rock type that decided to switch in. Brave Bird and Frustration are STAB. I've never had Swelloe stay in long enough to have bad Poison do more damage to me than Burn would do, which is why I'm using it. It also helps in the unlikely but still dangerous case of Yamask, which would deactivate Guts and let Burn completely screw over Swellow.

Golem (M) @ Iron Ball
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Blast
- Fling
- Earthquake

My anti-Rotom-S Golem. Fling completely stops Trick from screwing me over, meanwhile giving them a harmful Iron Ball. I can also FLing it to do some major damage to Psychic and Ghost types. Stealth Rock gives me hazards, Earthquake STAB, Rock Blast STAB that breaks through Subs and Sashes.

Sawk (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

With Golem protecting me from Rotom, Sawk is free to completely sweep the opposing team. So I'm using a Scarf Sawk. Close Combat STAB, Stone Edge for Flying and Bug types, Earthquake foe Poisons, Ice Punch for Grass types.

Exeggutor (F) @ Sitrus Berry+White Herb
Trait: Harvest
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SAtk / 8 SDef
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Sleep Powder
- Giga Drain
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Rock]

"Okay, so Mew and I were battling on PO. His Mr. Mime uses Icy Wind on my Exeggutor. Then a White Herb gets rid of the stat loss. And I'm like, what the hell, the last dozen battles I had a Sitrus Berry for my item, and I never changed it. So then Harvest activates and gives me a Sitrus Berry. Two items on one Pokemon!" So there we have the story of Sitrus Berry+White Herb. This guy is the only Special guy on my team, so I decided to go with one of the most powerful. Sleep Powder puts the foe to Sleep and can either force switches or give me free turns to hit. Either one puts me in the lead. Giga Drain and Psychic are STAB, HP Rock is coverage. My actual item is Sitrus Berry, which is why Leaf Storm is not in use.

Mawile (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Substitute
- Focus Punch

This guy actually makes for a solid physical wall. I can usually force a switch. This gives me the chance to set up a Substitute. From there I can safely set up a Swords Dance or launch a Focus Punch (Steel+Fighting is actually pretty good neutral coverage in NU). Iron Head is STAB. Rocky Helmet adds on to the physical walling. 1/6 of the foe's HP is no laughing matter, and the breaking of Sashes or Sturdy can really hep Focus Punch get those KOs.

Absol (F) @ Fight Gem
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Sucker Punch
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Superpower

Set up a Substitute. Now you have protection if the foe switch to something else or if you're being assaulted by status. While you are behind a Sub, you can set up Swords Dance fairly safely. A Sub also means your opponent is forced to go on the offensive against you, meaning a Sucker Punch is going to end up being assured. They can try stalling out their status moves, but the high PP of Swords Dance combined with Pressure means that is unlikely to last long enough. Superpower provides almost perfect neutral coverage along with Sucker Punch. In fact, only the never seen Croagunk resists it in NU. The item is the point I took a long time in deciding upon. I first used Life Orb but found the recoil to end up KOing it too soon combined with Substitute. And Expert Belt, the usual replacement for Life Orb, just didn't feel right with only two types. So I went with Fight Gem for Superpower, for a hit against Fighting types stronger than a Psycho Cut.

Comments

Exeggutor....

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Flame Orb on Swellow. I can't believe you have Mawile, nobody uses him (That's good!). I see you're still using your Iron Ball Golem. Do you think that the white Herb glitch on Exeguttor will still work? Or else, epic team!

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I can't even edit xD Up for a NU battle later?

Answer 1

Well, I'm going to try to answer your RMT. Wish me luck.

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Firstly, Swellow looks almost perfect. Just swap Frustration for Facade, as it gets the obvious power boost and great synergy with Guts.

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Next, Golem. This looks like a nice set, and although I haven't seen it in action, I'm sure it works very well. You could always go with the more conventional Sucker Punch + Leftovers set, but then again, you don't want to be vulnerable to Trick. Beware of Rotom-S carrying HP Grass or Ice though.

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Sawk looks pretty standard. Nothing really to change with that.

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Now, Exeggutor. I used to use HP Rock on mine, but I found that, especially with an offensive set, it was too risky staying in on Bug and Fire types that threatened me. I now use Rest with a Lum Berry, which helps in a lot of ways - it acts as a status absorber, and can get fully healed easily.

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Hmm. As much as I admire you using Mawile, it doesn't really have a place on your team. It compounds your Fighting weakness (unfortunately, on both of your physical walls) and you already have too many physical attackers. Your Absol and Sawk cover the same threats, but better. In its place, I'm going to suggest:

Misdreavus (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt/Heal Bell
- Shadow Ball
- Pain Split

It's very likely you will have come across one of these before in NU so you'll know how they work. Will-O-Wisp cripples physical attackers, Pain Split is semi-reliable recovery, Shadow Ball so you're not completely useless when Taunted. I would normally suggest Heal Bell over Taunt, but you already have a few status absorbers on your team and Taunt stops people who like to set up on her.

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Finally, Absol. The only problem I see with this set is that your only STAB attack, and therefore your only way to hit ghosts and other fighting resists, is Sucker Punch. This is easily exploited by pokemon such as Haunter who can come in and set up a sub while you Sucker Punch away. Because of this, you could consider dropping either Substitute or Swords Dance - it's up to you.

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This was a great team - as I expected from you Trachy.

Comments

I usually just switch on Haunter for Absol. THe set is a risk but I found it to be worth it. In previous battles against Haunter I was able to get it out before I brought out Absol, then take it down with the rest of my team. Actually, Sawk should have Mold Breaker. I had given it Mold Breaker, now it has Sturdy? What is with this team? First Exeggutor in battle and now the wrong ability exported on Sawk? Hate the new PO.

As for Swellow, can't believe I forgot about Facade. That was a stupid mistake on my part.

For Exeggutor, I used to use a Rest Lum Berry set with past Exeggutor's I've used. The problem was the activation rate of 50% for Harvest screwed me over a lot. I was considering changing HP Rock for Signal Beam though, as Exeggutor makes a great switch in for Psychic types, so I'll probably just go with that.

As for Misdreavus, I'll try it out see how it works.

A good answer and thanks, especially for that Swellow. I must have looked like a noob using Frustration in battle. But of course, my beating the people who saw it fixes that (except for the two I lost against, but the first was the first time this team was used and my testing grounds, where I ended up fixing the main problems, the second was a 6-5 loss, which is fine by me.)

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In fact, Trachy, i think Mold Breaker is unreleased.

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I thought it was, I heard some people talking about it. Also, how it doesn't show up as unreleased on the smogon NU page for Sawk, where they'll usually show up.

But I don't really care anyways, mine are a strange version of DW. Another reason to do unrated.