SM RU King Rowan's Court (RU)

[Blumenwitz]

I just started getting back into RU, and I found that the meta's changed a lot since the last time I played that tier regularly. It took some time, but after a couple weeks of teambuilding and playtesting I managed to put together something decent. Still, I can't help but think that there's something missing, which is why I'm posting the team here.

Anyway, let's get started!

Rowan (Goodra) (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Sludge Wave
- Thunderbolt

"Ho, ho, ho! Today will be a glorious day for the king!"

First, we have Goodra, the one I decided to build my team around. Originally, I was using a Choice Band set, but I've experienced more success with Specs, in part because it makes my team less vulnerable to defensive Arcanine. I gave it Draco Meteor for STAB, Fire Blast and Sludge Wave to nail Steel and Fairy-types, respectively, and Thunderbolt for bulky Waters. For EVs, I decided to go with bulk over speed, allowing it to take advantage of its massive SpD stat and soak up blows from special attackers.

Hilda (Blastoise) (F) @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Water Pulse
- Dark Pulse
- Aura Sphere

"Check out these guns!"

Aside from being a hazard remover, Mega Blastoise was chosen on the merit of her good defensive synergy with Goodra. Her typing lets her lure in Electric and Grass types, which generally pose little threat to Goodra. Her set's pretty standard, with Water Pulse for STAB, Dark Pulse for nailing would-be spinblockers like Alolan Marowak and Doublade, and Aura Sphere for additional coverage against the likes of Registeel and Umbreon.

Lola (Bewear) (M) @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Fluffy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Return
- Drain Punch
- Shadow Claw

"No need to be embarrassed. I like to be looked at. And you like to look."

Bewear is the physical muscle of my team, soaking up blows from threats like Golisopod, Araquanid and Drapion and providing resistance against physical setup sweepers like Feraligatr and Linoone. Like Goodra and Blastoise, his set emphasizes both power and survivability, maximizing its HP and providing him with a means of pseudo-recovery in Drain Punch. Shadow Claw is used to nail Ghost-types on the switchin; he has trouble breaking through Doublade, but I have Blastoise for that. As for the item, I don't know how standard Silk Scarf on Bewear is, but I chose it to compensate for the power I sacrificed by choosing Return over Double-Edge.

Daisy (Shaymin) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seed Flare
- Healing Wish
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Ice]

"Hi, I'm Daisy!"

Shaymin's purpose is to provide my team with additional leverage against bulky Waters (which my team has a bit of trouble breaking through) and Zygarde-10%. Its effectiveness against the former is obvious; for the latter, it can reliably switch into a Thousand Arrows and force it to either switch out or get wrecked by HP Ice. The Choice Scarf, aside from letting it beat faster attackers like Zygarde and Salazzle, allows it to reliably use Healing Wish without getting KO'd. This is particularly beneficial for the three team members above, all of whom are bulky offensive mons without reliable means of recovery.

Chip (Bronzong) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake

"HELLO FRIENDS I AM CHIP I LIKE THROWING ROCKS"

Bronzong here is my hazard setter and special damage sponge. It's particularly good at helping me deal with Florges and Gardevoir, the latter of whom can put some serious dents in the rest of my team. Earthquake may seem like a bit of an unorthodox choice (I didn't see it mentioned in Smogon's analysis), but I've found that it helps give it more of an offensive presence, particularly against the Fire-types in the tier. Granted, it can't take a hit from most of them, but it can still nail them on the switch.

Jet (Lycanroc-Dusk) (M) @ Lycanium Z
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fire Fang
- Stone Edge
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance

"All I need is one clear shot."

Lycanroc is my late-game cleaner. As soon as I've sufficiently weakened the foundation of the opposing team, I bring this guy in and let him go to town. Getting him in safely is a bit of a challenge, but between Bewear and Mega Blastoise, my team can make short work of most of Lycanroc's checks and counters (Doublade, Steelix, Rhyperior, etc.).

Stone Edge is, of course, his main STAB, while Fire Fang lets him take a bite out of Steel-types and Sucker Punch lets him nail Choice Scarfers and faster attackers like Zygarde-10% and Noivern. I chose Lycanium Z over Life Orb, since I like having a reliable one-time nuke in case a particularly tenacious defensive mon is still left on the other side (plus, it helps compensate for Stone Edge's subpar accuracy).

So there you have it! All feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

[Blumenwitz]

Bump...

 

[MrAldo]

Looks pretty decent but the only that is really worrying me atm is the fact that you have no fighting resist whatsoever atm. On a new metagame where fighting types will be really prevalent, having a way to at the very least prevent them from just clicking fighting type moves mindlessly would be appreciated

I could recommend having Toxicroak over Bewear in order to help with the fighting weakness a bit and will also remain a hole puncher for Lycanroc to clean on the lategame. 252 Atk 4 Def 252 Speed Jolly with Swords Dance / Drain Punch / Gunk Shot / Sucker Punch having a Life Orb as the item can help you out quite a bit given your fighting weakness while still having a really solid wallbreaker.

Mega Blastoise can you be max speed over max hp. Given Mega Blastoise general tankiness the speed gives your more favor since it is less fodder you give to Honchkrow and by outspeeding Bewear, Pangoro and Modest Nidoqueen you will have more getaways instead of trying to keep Mega Blastoise healthy all the time. Besides, it is already very bulky to the point it can trade with most fast attackers in the tier atm. Also Ice Beam over Water Pulse. Mega Blastoise can run stabless given Mega Launcher gives Aura Sphere and Dark Pulse pseudo stab while punishing grass types and Noivern switch-ins are invaluable for this team.

Same deal with Goodra. I think having the max speed on Goodra does you more favors against the fighting types it can outspeed. Every little breathing room you can have is worth it. This is optional since I understand the team is around Goodra but Noivern over Goodra could work for Virizion.

Think thats it, having Drill Run on Lycanroc could be neat for Stakataka since it can get really ugly without Bronzong and dealing more damage to Meta is cool and all but Virizion looks like a menace so Fire Fang is perfectly justifiable here. Also, Toxicroak can make use of Darkinium Z and Lycanroc can use Life Orb for more immediate power since without Gligar around that is much more workable now.

Hope this helps you out a bit. If you have any other questions feel free to shoot me a PM.

 

[Blumenwitz]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm going to try using your suggested changes to Blastoise and Goodra and see how that works out for me. (One question: should I go with a Modest or Timid nature on them?)

However, I'm a bit hesitant to replace Bewear, for one reason: Linoone. Bewear's my main line of defense against Linoone sweeps, as he's one of the only mons in the tier who can tank a +4 ESpeed and OHKO it back. Granted, Bronzong can too, but Bronzong still gets OHKO'd by +6 Throat Chop.

My team could use a Fighting resist, though, and a little extra resistance against Toxic stall teams, so I'll consider it.

UPDATE:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ru-848435512

Someone called me stupid for using max speed on Mega Blastoise ;(

I still won tho :D