ORAS PU Sheddy's Gon' Rob Him

[bigstickydaddy]

Hey guys, I'm posting my first RMT on a team I've been experimenting with for a while now. Here's the squad:

As you can see, this team is based on the Shedinja + Natu core which I tried to make viable to the best of my ability. I also added Vibrava for defog support, Rotom for volt switch, Stout for sweeping, and Relicanth for rocks. I haven't had any real success with this team so far; I won a room tour with it and managed to get in the top 100s on the ladder. I feel like a large part of being successful with this team is being able to predict very accurately which is something I feel I'm not the best at currently. I'd appreciate constructive criticism and feedback on it. Without further ado, here we go:

Sheddy Wap (Shedinja) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Wonder Guard
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- X-Scissor
- Shadow Sneak
- Protect / Baton Pass

The man himself, Shedinja. This is the star of the team and is used to switch into powerful threats like Floatzel and Rotom-Frost (both of whom form the whole S rank on the viability chart). Will-O-Wisp is used to cripple physical attackers and do chip damage over time. X-Scissor is necessary to take out a Pawniard (a huge threat to the team) on low health. Shadow Sneak is a good priority move and can be used to finish off Kadabra, Mr. Mime, and Grumpig if enough damage has been done to them. The last slot is usually Protect so for Burn / Toxic stall, but Baton Pass is also sometimes helpful.

Buzz Khalifa (Vibrava) @ Eviolite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Defog
- U-turn
- Roost
- Toxic

Vibrava is the hazard controller of choice due to it being one of the only effective defoggers/spinners that resists rocks in the tier. Its rock and fire resists are also appreciated for supporting Shedinja. Defog is there to clear hazards for Shedinja. U-turn is there for momentum, especially if you know that the opponent is using something that won't affect Shedinja. Roost is there to heal off damage. Toxic is there for Toxic stalling.

Birdman (Natu) @ Eviolite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- U-turn
- Toxic
- Reflect
- Roost

Natu is the only thing in the tier with Magic Bounce, an ability that is extremely useful for supporting Shedinja. The only way to get through Wonder Guard is through super effective moves or moves that do indirect damage. Magic Bounce bounces back most of the latter, including hazards and status moves. U-turn is there for momentum. Toxic / Reflect / Roost allows Natu to Toxic stall many hazard setters such as Gabite and slow Golems. Reflect + U-turn can also be used for support.

Ice Cube (Rotom-Frost) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Blizzard
- Thunderbolt
- Trick

Rotom-Frost is extremely useful for Volt Switching into Shedinja / Relicanth and tricking a scarf onto something that can potentially kill Shedinja. The set is pretty standard, Volt Switch for momentum. Blizzard and Thunderbolt for strong STAB attacks. Trick is to cripple any status user that could deal with Shedinja, giving Natu a free switch in if they decide to use their status move.

Stout Dogg (Stoutland) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Scrappy
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Frustration
- Facade
- Superpower
- Crunch

Stoutland is an amazing late game cleaner that can easily tank a hit before going down as well. I'm using a Scarfed Stout because I found that people generally do not expect a second Scarfer, so they leave in faster threats and end up getting KO'd by STAB Frustration. And often times these faster threats are what they needed to deal with Shedinja. The rest of the set is standard Scrappy Stout. Frustration is for STAB. Facade is for status. Superpower is for Steels/Rocks, especially Pawniard. Crunch is for Psychics.

Rel.i.canth (Relicanth) @ Leftovers
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Head Smash
- Toxic
- Protect

Relicanth is the rocks setter on the team and does an amazing job of reliably getting rocks up. It also acts as a Knock Off absorber for Shedinja / Natu due to its high physical defense. Head Smash is there for a strong STAB attack. Toxic + Protect is there for Toxic stalling. Often times I'll find myself using a combo such as Toxic -> Protect -> Switch to Shedinja / Head Smash and tank -> Protect -> Shadow Sneak (if in Shedinja) which is able to kill or force out many threats.

Threat List:

Pawniard - Not affected by Toxic, resists Head Smash, and can spam Knock Off. Must be killed with Stout / Volt Switches and possibly break Shedinja's sash to burn it.

Other Steels - As mentioned above, very difficult to deal with.

Status Healers - Make it impossible to Toxic stall which is as big part of the team.

Fast Golems - Can KO Natu before it gets up reflect, often times is able to get up rocks reliably

Offensive Rockers - SR Monferno / Pawniard / etc. get up rocks reliably

Knock Off Spam - Only way to deal with this is Relicanth

Importable

Sheddy Wap (Shedinja) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Wonder Guard
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- X-Scissor
- Shadow Sneak
- Protect

Buzz Khalifa (Vibrava) @ Eviolite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Defog
- U-turn
- Roost
- Toxic

Birdman (Natu) @ Eviolite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- U-turn
- Toxic
- Reflect
- Roost

Ice Cube (Rotom-Frost) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Blizzard
- Thunderbolt
- Trick

Stout Dogg (Stoutland) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Scrappy
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Frustration
- Facade
- Superpower
- Crunch

Rel.i.canth (Relicanth) @ Leftovers
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Head Smash
- Toxic
- Protect

Thats all, thanks for reading!

 

[Dundies]

Hey bigstickydaddy, cool team you've got there. Shedinja is defintely an interesting mon and it definitely isn't easy to build around in PU, but I think you've done a good job with it here. Anyways let's get into the rate.

Right from the start I notice the biggest threat to your team is Swords Dance Monferno, which sets up on Shedinja and Vibrava (since you don't have EQ) and run through your team. Along with this, Pawniard is a major threat to your team as it also threatens Shedinja a lot and is immune to Toxic from Natu and Vibrava, plus you mention Knock Off spam is a major problem, so I'm going to recommend you change Relicanth --> Stunfisk. Stunfisk is a pretty easy add-on for a lot of teams since it checks a ton of major threats in the tier, but I feel like it's almost vital for this team considering the Pokemon you sort of have to use to support Shedinja. Stunfisk also checks Dodrio, another huge threat to your team, while also providing a better Electric check than Vibrava, something I also feel is much needed.

With this change you're left extremely weak to Water-types such as Floatzel as well as Rotom-F (especially the SubWisp variant since it beats Sheddy), and you're forced to rely on Shedinja to check the former, so I'm going to recommend you change Stoutland --> Seaking, which sadly takes away a bit of your best wallbreaking, but adds a much needed check to the Pokemon I mentioned above. Stoutland at this point was probably the most expendable member on your team since the rest of the Pokemon are almost required, so you're basically forced to drop Stoutland.

I think those are the most you can really do in terms of changing Pokemon without changing the whole layout of your team, so I'm going to move onto sets and what changes I think need to be made, since a few of these are subpar at this point. You're definitely going to need to change Toxic --> Earthquake on Vibrava and Toxic --> Psyshock on Natu. Without these STAB moves you can't actually check things like Pawniard and Roselia respectively, which is pretty terrible considering what these Pokemon's roles are in the first place.

Like I said before there's really not much you can change on a Shedinja team since you already have about half of your team set in stone, but I think these changes will be most beneficial to you in the long run.

tl;dr

Stunfisk @ Leftovers | Static
248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe | Bold
Stealth Rock / Earth Power / Discharge / Toxic

Seaking @ Leftovers | Lightning Rod
112 HP / 200 Atk / 124 SpD / 72 Spe | Adamant
Waterfall / Knock Off / Megahorn / Facade

Toxic --> Earthquake

Toxic --> Psyshock


Hope I helped!

 

[Raiza]

Hi bigstickydaddy, I can see the team idea being decent, as Shedinja can have potential with the right team support, so I'm confident I can guide you to fixing your build with my suggestions. I already saw that you mentioned you threats in the OP, so my changes will be focusing on what you wrote is threatening for you. Something else I found quite threatening that you didn't notice are Water-types, since outside of Shedinja you don't carry any switch-ins at all, and SubWisp Rotom-Frost which can break through Shedinja's ability and shread your other team members with its kit.

Gabite > Relicanth: Running Gabite over Relicanth will deal with some of your problems. While still being a reliable Stealth Rock setter, with some investments in bulk and Eviolite, Gabite is also able to check stuff such as Monferno, Pawniard, and other Steel-types in general that threaten your build. Gabite will also still be able to run Toxic so you don't lose anything on that side either, and is also a great answer to opposing Golem leads, as Gabite wins the 1v1 lead matchup against it. Reason I didn't went for Stunfisk here is because I didn't want to turn the team to be too passive, and Gabite can still keep some offensivity on the table differently from Stunfisk. Getting another Electric-type immunity is also appreciated, as it can free up Vibrava's slot for another Defog user that will help you against other threats such as Water-types.

Lumineon > Vibrava: Now that you have another Electric-type immunity in Gabite, we can replace Vibrava with something less passive that would also help you with other issues the team has. Lumineon in my opinion(nice rhyme) can be beneficial to your build, since it gives you another efficient check to Monferno, and an all around solid counter for Water-types that run around these days and can threaten your team, such as Floatzel. Lumineon, similiarly to Vibrava, also has access to both Toxic and U-Turn, so you're not losing much at all. The loss of recovery usually is big but not in this case in my opinion, as Lumineon doesn't have to switch that often and being durable, as Natu still is a decent backup plan to prevent entry hazards going up.

Electabuzz > Rotom-F: As a last Pokemon change, I suggest you replacing Rotom-F with Electabuzz. This won't change much in your team, but I feel like running two Choice Scarf users and getting locked into unfavourable moves isn't that great especially if the rest of the team is kind of passive. Due to still high Speed when not running Choice Scarf, access to Eviolite, and moves such as Focus Blast other than Electric-type coverage, Electabuzz provides you a soft check to many threats to your team, such as Dodrio and Rotom-F, while still being able to provide momentum and create chains with Volt Switch. Overall I feel like you don't lose much, also because Electabuzz is more efficient in a critical situation where you don't manage to get Stealth Rocks off, and mono Electric-typing is more efficient defensively overall too.

Hope I helped.

sets

Gabite @ Eviolite
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Atk / 104 Def / 80 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Toxic

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

Electabuzz @ Eviolite
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]

 

[bigstickydaddy]

Toxic --> Psyshock

Hello, thanks for the amazing rate! I will definitely play with the changes you gave, but I have a question about this one. Currently I used Reflect + Toxic + Roost on Natu to Toxic stall and I feel like if I were to replace Toxic, then Reflect / Roost should also be replaced (probably not the latter, but possibly the former). What would you recommend changing, if anything at all?

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

Thank you for the amazing rate! I will play with your changes as well. One thing I was wondering about was if it is viable to switch the Lumineon build to be specially defensive rather than physically defensive as before I had Natu covering physical defenses while Vibrava covered special defenses. With your changes it looks like I will be heavily lacking special defense and over compensating for physical defense with Natu, Lumineon, Gabite, and possible burns. Will there be any issues or should something be changed? Thank you in advance.

 

[Dundies]

Hello, thanks for the amazing rate! I will definitely play with the changes you gave, but I have a question about this one. Currently I used Reflect + Toxic + Roost on Natu to Toxic stall and I feel like if I were to replace Toxic, then Reflect / Roost should also be replaced (probably not the latter, but possibly the former). What would you recommend changing, if anything at all?

I don't think Toxic stalling is as important as you make it out to be and even if it is, you have Stunfisk to use Toxic and Shedinja to use Will-O-Wisp, so I definitely think you should drop Toxic considering you can't even touch Roselia, which you should be able to beat.

 

[Raiza]

Hello, thanks for the amazing rate! I will definitely play with the changes you gave, but I have a question about this one. Currently I used Reflect + Toxic + Roost on Natu to Toxic stall and I feel like if I were to replace Toxic, then Reflect / Roost should also be replaced (probably not the latter, but possibly the former). What would you recommend changing, if anything at all?

Thank you for the amazing rate! I will play with your changes as well. One thing I was wondering about was if it is viable to switch the Lumineon build to be specially defensive rather than physically defensive as before I had Natu covering physical defenses while Vibrava covered special defenses. With your changes it looks like I will be heavily lacking special defense and over compensating for physical defense with Natu, Lumineon, Gabite, and possible burns. Will there be any issues or should something be changed? Thank you in advance.

I didn't suggest you to run a specially defensive spread because Lumineon is still able to deal with Water-types efficiently by running a ph def spread, which allows it to also better check physical floatzel, but yeah if you want you can run Investments in special defense.

 

[bigstickydaddy]

I don't think Toxic stalling is as important as you make it out to be and even if it is, you have Stunfisk to use Toxic and Shedinja to use Will-O-Wisp, so I definitely think you should drop Toxic considering you can't even touch Roselia, which you should be able to beat.

Hi I tried out Psyshock over Toxic and I haven't been very successful as due to Natu's ph def spread, it barely survives two sludge bombs from Roselia and its Psyshock doesn't KO back. Also Reflect + Roost become extremely inefficient without the presence of Toxic. Furthermore, Seaking doesn't provide the speed, damage, and ability to absorb status that Stoutland provides. Because of this, it's really difficult to win using it, even with its superior defensive support. I apologize if it is the fact that my play is sub-par that is causing this lack of success.

I didn't suggest you to run a specially defensive spread because Lumineon is still able to deal with Water-types efficiently by running a ph def spread, which allows it to also better check physical floatzel, but yeah if you want you can run Investments in special defense.

I like the changes overall but it's really difficult to deal with knock off especially from tanky mons like Armaldo as with your changes Gabite, Electebuzz, and Natu all have Eviolites and of course Shedinja cannot afford to take a Knock Off. Again, my sub-par play may be the reason I'm unable to play around Knock Off.



I've tried using the team more and I managed to win the second room tournament I used it in (2 for 2 now)
Also here are some replays:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/pu-322147305 - vs galbia
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/pu-322198948 - vs Lux G

I could have sworn I saved 2-3 more but maybe the server didn't save them correctly or I'm mistaken.

Edit: I don't want to sound like I'm unwilling to take any advice, I've just truthfully not had much success with the changes, but again, I could be not used to them / playing sub optimally.