ab initio [RU]

[Abnegation]

My first RMT, and entry to any metagame. This is my Rarely-Used team which I'm looking to get some feedback on. I primarily brought in Pokémon I'd seen used before with a little study on the metagame as a whole. It's only had the one battle so far in which it fared well and remained with 3 Pokémon still intact. In saying that, I'm pretty wary of the fact there's probably a lot of openings I'm missing, especially given that I'm not experienced in the RU metagame. So, let's take a look.

→ do the twist
"image removed" @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Gyro Ball
- Roar

The idea with Steelix here is to get him out early in the game and throw down some hazards. I'm anticipating the chance of being hit by a bulky water scald right off the bat so I added Sturdy. I hope to get in and get out fast with Steelix, adding roar to shove anything I don't like out later in the game. I'm considering swapping him out for something a bit better, with more coverage. Aggron comes to mind, but suggestions here would be cool.


→ sometimes he's angry
*pokemonelite2000 image removed* @ Choice Band
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- ExtremeSpeed
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Typical Entei set here really, an all out physical attacker intended to take most steel types and Lilligant down. Stone Edge against threats such as Sigilyph and so on. Choice band on Hidden Power might seem a bit odd but it allows Entei to 2OHKO certain threats like Kabutops, Omastar, Rhydon, and so on, who would normally force it out.

→ I'm a nightmare :]
*pokemonelite2000 image removed* @ Flame Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
- Cosmic Power
- Psycho Shift
- Roost
- Stored Power

My pride and joy sweep. If I can find any opening to unleash this baby I will. My strategy is to take down any threats to Sigilyph before throwing it on the table. With this set I'm able to pack up its defence and speed massively due to CP, and keep it with high health with roost. Threats are large in the beginning if it faces 4x effectiveness mons, but once CP is used a couple times it becomes extremely hard to take down. This is even before Stored Power comes into play, which pretty much destroys any team when CP has been racked up. Of course Psycho Shift also comes in handy for burning foes due to the flame orb attached.

→ I don't know what these things on my back do
*pokemonelite2000 image removed* @ Life Orb
Trait: Motor Drive
EVs: 248 Atk / 36 SAtk / 224 Spe
Naive Nature
- Wild Charge
- Flamethrower
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch

Electivire is purely physical coverage. The speed it has is also nothing to sniff it due to being above average. It sets itself up with coverage against bulky waters like Slowking, and stops walls like Tangrowth and Amoongus dead with flamethrower. Overall it's good for wearing down the opposition and coverage.

→ Just keep spin-in, just keep spin-in
*pokemonelite2000 image removed* @ BlackGlasses
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Will-O-Wisp

Spiritomb poses no direct threat, but it does have some coverage that I lacked beforehand. It stands against fighting Medicham allowing for recoil damage on Hi-Jump kick on switch out. It stands to check some of the more powerful threats in the metagame such as Sigilyph, Gallade, and Slowking. Pursuit is very useful on predicted switch outs which come in for Medicham/Smeargle/Bouffalant/Cinccino/Hitmonchan/Hitmonlee etc.

→ Do you like my collar?
"image removed" @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 144 Def / 116 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Fire Blast
- Thunder Wave

My bulky water of the team. Picking off threats like Entei, who could potentially pry apart my team with extremespeed and physical attacks. I wanted an instant recovery method so stuck with Slack Off, which no other bulky water in the RU meta game has. Fire Blast allowing it to pick off Escavalier and a counter to any grass types trying to tear it down. Thunder Wave sticking in there to slow down some of the more speedy Pokémon within the game such as Entei. Regenerator always being an extremely useful trait comes in very handy for this team also, as an extra recovery option.

I'm sure there are some massive openings, and better options. So any help there is appreciated.

 

[PlatinumDude]

Is Slowbro supposed to have EVs in its Special Defense or Speed? Because you're using Serebii's Speed abbreviation as opposed to Smogon's (Spd as opposed to Spe; Serebii's Speed abbreviation often gets confused with Smogon's Special Defense abbreviation (SpD)). The same applies to Spiritomb, Sigilyph, Steelix, Entei and Electivire.

Other than those abbreviation nitpicks, nice team you got there; I don't see any weaknesses.

 

[Abnegation]

Is Slowbro supposed to have EVs in its Special Defense or Speed? Because you're using Serebii's Speed abbreviation as opposed to Smogon's (Spd as opposed to Spe; Serebii's Speed abbreviation often gets confused with Smogon's Special Defense abbreviation (SpD)). The same applies to Spiritomb, Sigilyph, Steelix, Entei and Electivire.

Other than those abbreviation nitpicks, nice team you got there; I don't see any weaknesses.

Oh speed, it's taken directly from Smogon's Teambuilder. Must not have been updated in the text file, so I'll fix that up. I've actually since swapped out Steelix for Omastar. He's a much better lead.

Also gives me more coverage against some of the mons that scare me such as Druddigon and Aggron.

 

[srinator]

i agree pretty good team, destroyed me

Although i guess you could try out golurk or accelgor as leads, Crustle is pretty good too and it comes with sturdy and both rock's and spikes.

 

[Sirfetch’d]

Team looks nice and I don't see any huge holes, however you might want to consider using Stealth Rock on Omastar instead of spikes because with that EV spread it will be too frail to set up 3 layers of spikes and I personally think Stealth Rock would be more useful overall. Also I'd use lefties as White Herb is only useful on Shell Smash sets.

 

[Fire Flyy]

Oh speed, it's taken directly from Smogon's Teambuilder. Must not have been updated in the text file, so I'll fix that up. I've actually since swapped out Steelix for Omastar. He's a much better lead.

Also gives me more coverage against some of the mons that scare me such as Druddigon and Aggron.

Run a sash over white herb on Omastar if you're using it as a lead, white herb is only useful for a shell smash sweeper [it resets the stats you lose] while sash lets you survive an extra hit to get Spikes up, I also think you should put SR>Earth power on Omastar, as SR is pretty essential to have for any team as it lets you beat down stuff easier and punish switches, and HPump/Ice Beam hits most of what you need to. SR is also kind of essential since Cryo takes 25% from it and Haze Cryo is one of the things you need to remove if you want to sweep a stall team with Sigilyph although tbh i think steelix is a lot better for this team since it can go up against +2/+2 Crustle and CB Aggron which are pretty problematic for this team if the former ever sets up or the latter comes in. Anyways good team, CP Sigi isnt that great but you should be able to handle stall with Pursuit Spiritomb and SR anyways.