ORAS PU Jungle Fever

[new man]

Introduction

it's getting about that time in the generation where continuing to play the same old tier i've been playing (i.e. OU) has gotten kinda stale, so i decided to give PU a shot. despite having a muck around on the ladder for a few days and scoping out some replays/recordings, i still feel as if i'm only just grasping the current metagame; so please bear with any misinformation i might spew out.

i had an offensive build in mind when attempting to construct this team and i think i've stuck to that fairly well. in doing a bit of research on the tier, i'd discovered a fun-looking (albeit potentially outdated) core designed by 2xTheTap in the good cores thread that i wanted to have a crack at playing with.
by the way, the RMT's called 'medusa' because hydreigon has 3 heads 'jungle fever' because it has a bunch of jungle-y animals and i'm uncreative, not the racially fetishistic term or the crippling disease :]

The Squad

broccoli dude (Simisage) @ Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- Gunk Shot
​

as the first half of the offensive core, simisage's purpose is to remove problematic walls such as stunfisk or golem and weaken things like audino and grumpig for zebstrika to clean up with more ease afterwards. the standard all-out-attacker set listed on the dex seems to be working adequately so far in terms of its synergy with the rest of the team, but i was also recommended a nasty plot set to serve as a late-game win condition (which i'm unsure about, so i'd appreciate any pointers). as the primary wallbreaker of the team, i usually attempt to get it in early-game to punch holes in the opposition for the rest of the team to pick up from.

monotone dude (Zebstrika) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Overheat​

zebstrika - the other half of the core - tackles pokemon like floatzel, jumpluff, and vullaby which would otherwise cause big problems for simisage. hidden power ice was chosen over grass due to redundancy in coverage as well as gaining the ability to take huge chunks out of gabite & defensive altaria in particular. in many games, this functioned effectively as a pivotal lead and/or revenge killer. life orb is the preferred item over choice specs here, as i feel the ability to switch up moves is the key to successfully wallbreaking without having to rely on dicey predictions all the time.

heavy dude (Metang) @ Eviolite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Stealth Rock​

as both an offensive tank and the resident hazard-setter of the team, metang checks or forces out some of the problematic mons (namely grumpig, chatot, and choice-locked stoutland) that plague the rest of the team. i ultimately chose pursuit over bullet punch to pick off weakened psychic types and more fragile pokemon to remove them as threats entirely, but the lack of priority sometimes makes me second guess that decision. although it's far from optimal, metang can also help deal with (or weaken) dangerous pokemon like machoke and dragon dance altaria in a pinch.

insect dude (Vibrava) @ Eviolite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-Turn
- Roost
- Defog​

vibrava checks the fire and electric types that are able to spam STABs or pivot around (respectively) my team while providing a sturdy defogger to fall back on. i deviated from the standard specially defensive spread here to have a buffer for stronger physical pokemon such as golem, machoke, monferno, and stoutland. it's been working out so far, but i'd like some advice on whether or not to revert to a specially bulky vibrava depending on what i need to be able to check.

pork dude (Grumpig) @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 84 HP / 252 SpA / 172 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Taunt​

machoke (and to a lesser extent, monferno and status ailments/hazard setters) were looking like an increasingly large annoyance so i added grumpig as a soft check to all of these things. originally, i'd opted for a substantially bulkier modest variant but was steered in the direction of speed creeping monferno and anything slower than neutral max speed base 81. although it may sometimes suffer in its job of tanking stronger hits and lacks any form of recovery, i like this set a bit more than a plain old cleric due to the nature of the team and personal preference of playstyle.

amphetamine dude (Ninjask) @ Insect Plate
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-Turn
- X-Scissor
- Aerial Ace
- Swords Dance
​

in the last slot, i wanted a setup sweeper to break bulkier teams as well as something that could grab momentum as well as zebstrika does. ninjask came to mind on account of its ability to 2HKO (or in some cases OHKO while unboosted) big threats with its STAB moves alone, alongside the capacity to bluff a choice band to gain the upper hand in some situations.

however, monferno was also suggested by multiple others. while it works similarly to ninjask in the way that it can set up and fire off high-powered STAB moves, its access to priority and arguably superior offensive typing can be an asset to the team (not to mention the dark resistance). i've played a few games with both ninjask and monferno in this spot but i'm torn on the decision; likely because the team isn't optimized for monferno in its place. while i really like ninjask in this slot, i'm definitely open to recommendations on how i could modify the team to work better with monferno.

Conclusion

in closing, i'd really just love some advice on whether i'm on the right track here and also how to deal with things like dragon dance altaria, which i've had trouble with a few more times than i'd like to admit.

Importable

Sets

broccoli dude (Simisage) @ Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- Gunk Shot

monotone dude (Zebstrika) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Overheat

heavy dude (Metang) @ Eviolite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Stealth Rock

insect dude (Vibrava) @ Eviolite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn

pork dude (Grumpig) @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 84 HP / 252 SpA / 172 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
- Shadow Ball

amphetamine dude (Ninjask) @ Insect Plate
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Aerial Ace
- X-Scissor
- Swords Dance

 

[ShuckleDeath]

Hello new man, This is defiantly a team that shows you are going in the right direction.

So one big threat I can see to your team is offensive water types such as Choice Band Floatzel. With your best check being Metang I feel pokemon such as this will not have to much trouble in warring you team down, leaving you with Ninjask to hopefully revenge kill. i have a few suggestions that could help patch this up. Firstly I would say replacing Vibrava with Lumineon. While this leaves you more prone to electric types this still adds in helping with fire types as well as giving you better switch-in to water types, while still keeping a slow pivot and defog support for Ninjask. So after replacing Vibrava I do feel electric types become a much bigger threat so for that I would suggest changing Metang with Golem. This allows you to still have Stealth Rock, is still a nice Normal, Flying, and Rock resist, but with Tank Golem you now have a way to stop electric types from just clicking there STABs. I feel between your own Grumpig, Ninjask and Simisage you should have enough presence to deal with psychic types like Mr.Mime and Grumpig.

So its..

--->

--->

Sets

Lumineon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Scald
- Toxic
- Defog
- U-turn

Golem @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 220 SpD / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Protect

Good luck with the team and I hope this helps.

 

[Anty]

Hi new man, nice team

The team looks solid, but there is a notable weakness to water-types like Floatzel and certain set up sweepers like Crustle. To help with the latter, I think you should try Choice Scarf Rotom-f over Zebstrika. Ninjask isn't the most reliable revenge killer, especially without choice band as its fairly weak and hazards being up really annoys it, whereas Rotom-f is faster than plenty of set up sweepers and is strong + has great offensive coverage.

Currently, I don't like Ninjask on the team as I feel like the team cannot support it well enough by luring in its checks, and I think that slot could be used more effectively by running Politoed over Ninjask. This crucially gives you a reliable switch into Floatzel and Scarf Simipour, among other Water-types, and gives you a nicer answer to Misdreavus, which annoys most of of your team. I don't think its a problem that the team would lack a set up sweeper, as you have Simisage to apply pressure on bulkier teams, and Rotom-f which can act as a cleaner. However, I do think Nasty Plot Simisage would be more effective as a wallbreaker, as Gourgeist is very common on bulky teams and can counter your current set, whereas Nasty Plot doesn't have any issues with common walls.

sets

Rotom-Frost @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Blizzard
- Thunderbolt
- Trick

Politoed @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 200 HP / 252 SpA / 56 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power Electric
- Toxic

Simisage @ Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power Ice

Hope I helped!

 

[new man]

Hello new man, This is defiantly a team that shows you are going in the right direction.

So one big threat I can see to your team is offensive water types such as Choice Band Floatzel. With your best check being Metang I feel pokemon such as this will not have to much trouble in warring you team down, leaving you with Ninjask to hopefully revenge kill. i have a few suggestions that could help patch this up. Firstly I would say replacing Vibrava with Lumineon. While this leaves you more prone to electric types this still adds in helping with fire types as well as giving you better switch-in to water types, while still keeping a slow pivot and defog support for Ninjask. So after replacing Vibrava I do feel electric types become a much bigger threat so for that I would suggest changing Metang with Golem. This allows you to still have Stealth Rock, is still a nice Normal, Flying, and Rock resist, but with Tank Golem you now have a way to stop electric types from just clicking there STABs. I feel between your own Grumpig, Ninjask and Simisage you should have enough presence to deal with psychic types like Mr.Mime and Grumpig.

So its..

--->

--->

Sets

Lumineon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Scald
- Toxic
- Defog
- U-turn

Golem @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 220 SpD / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Protect

Good luck with the team and I hope this helps.

hey! cheers for the heads up about floatzel. i was feeling kinda iffy about it but went against proper judgment and ignored the threat. after playing around with the (edited) team, i feel a little safer when attempting to switch into annoying things rather than hoping metang or vibrava could take a hit lol. thanks so much for your help :]

 

[new man]

Hi new man, nice team

The team looks solid, but there is a notable weakness to water-types like Floatzel and certain set up sweepers like Crustle. To help with the latter, I think you should try Choice Scarf Rotom-f over Zebstrika. Ninjask isn't the most reliable revenge killer, especially without choice band as its fairly weak and hazards being up really annoys it, whereas Rotom-f is faster than plenty of set up sweepers and is strong + has great offensive coverage.

Currently, I don't like Ninjask on the team as I feel like the team cannot support it well enough by luring in its checks, and I think that slot could be used more effectively by running Politoed over Ninjask. This crucially gives you a reliable switch into Floatzel and Scarf Simipour, among other Water-types, and gives you a nicer answer to Misdreavus, which annoys most of of your team. I don't think its a problem that the team would lack a set up sweeper, as you have Simisage to apply pressure on bulkier teams, and Rotom-f which can act as a cleaner. However, I do think Nasty Plot Simisage would be more effective as a wallbreaker, as Gourgeist is very common on bulky teams and can counter your current set, whereas Nasty Plot doesn't have any issues with common walls.

sets

Rotom-Frost @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Blizzard
- Thunderbolt
- Trick

Politoed @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 200 HP / 252 SpA / 56 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power Electric
- Toxic

Simisage @ Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power Ice

Hope I helped!

in retrospect, i think i was relying on simisage too often as a win-con instead of ninjask, which is against what i'd originally intended. NP seems to be a little easier to play with considering the disparity in power.

i was a little less enthusiastic about rotom>zebstrika at first, but the ability to pick off boosted threats is definitely appreciated - and the much stronger ice coverage is always helpful.

looks like i've been able to play with the team without resorting to too many reckless over-predictions or unnecessary finger-crossing, so thank you a ton for your advice :]