[PU] A long awaited RMT

[Sheep]

Firstly a huge shoutout to Ody for helping me with the formatting. I don't make things look this great, he does.

So this is a RMT of my vastly successful main PU team. I've been asked a few times to make this and I'm finally getting around to it. Here's a screenshot of where I peaked out on Showdown's PU ladder while using it:

At a Glance:

Teambuilding Process:

You'll have to bear with me on this one because I made the team quite a while ago now. The reason I made the team in the first place was to celebrate the fact that Mawile had dropped to PU by trying it out in it's new home and seeing just how good it would be. In particular I was interested in Sheer Force Life Orb Mawile so that was the first 'mon I put on the team.

From there I added a physically defensive Gourgeist-S because it's a staple wall in PU that can be tacked onto almost any team and do well. Almost any team because there are certainly pokemon that will beat it and if the rest of your core is also weak to those same pokemon you're gonna have a bad time. It's a good place to start building a defensive core though because you know it will work well, and you can then support it with pokemon that check its counters.

It was for that reason that I added Camerupt next. As the only ground type in the tier that isn't weak to ice a specially defensive Camerupt makes a remarkably good check to Rotom-F, which at the time was the primary pokemon that would be threatening Gourgeist (and is still one of its main worries). Camerupt also gave my team hazards, blocks volt switch from the myriad of other electric types in the tier, and has its only two weaknesses covered by Gourgeist.

At this point I decided I needed more wallbreaking power (because my preferred play style is plenty of walls and wall breakers) so I added a banded Stoutland. Banded Stoutland is one of the best, if not the single best wallbreaker in PU, it's bulky, it's reasonably fast, it's incredibly powerful, and it has excellent coverage. I've used it plenty of times in the past and I didn't need any additional reason to use it again, though if you want one I guess the ghost immunity helps Gourgeist.

My lack of a specially defensive pokemon with access to reliable recovery sent me on the search for a proper special wall, but I couldn't find one that fit into the team particularly well. As this was the case I wound up settling for an Assault Vest Ampharos with a weird EV spread, and while it was originally just an experiment it has well and truly outperformed my expectations. A solid defensive typing (weak only to ground, a very uncommon special type in PU, and resists electric, a very common special type in PU), along with very high special bulk lets it switch in on the water types that also carry ice beam at least twice in the match. I've found that in combination with Camerupt while there is no reliable recovery there is enough bulk to last you throughout the match.

With five pokemon on the team it came time to assess which roles I still needed filling, and whether there are any threats that are still left unchecked at present. I found that I didn't have a dedicated revenge killer (as the fastest pokemon on the team was Stoutland), Monferno would tear the entire team apart, I didn't have any hazard removal, and my only priority was sucker punch on Mawile. I then tried to fix as many of these holes as possible by adding a Swanna. At 98 base speed it functions as a reliable revenge killer of almost anything that isn't scarfed, it provides me with a good offensive defog user, and it has the typing, and the speed to not just check, but soft counter Monferno. Swanna is like the ribbon that ties the present together, just making sure all loose ends are tied up.

Team Analysis:

@
Mawile (F) @ Life Orb | Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe | Jolly Nature
- Play Rough - Iron Head - Swords Dance - Sucker Punch

This is a pretty typical offensive Mawile, or at least what a pretty typical offensive Mawile should look like. In a tier almost devoid of steel types it doesn't need anything like fire blast to help it with coverage, and is then able to simply run dual STAB, and sucker punch along with SD. Play rough and iron head are good neutral coverage in PU, with fire being the common resist. However with rocks up many of PU's fire types are too fragile to switch into Mawile's attacks well, leaving them vulnerable to a sucker punch the turn after. Jolly makes a large difference over adamant, as when Jolly it hits a speed tier that is guaranteed to outspeed Golem, Marowak, Crustle, Armaldo, and Dusknoir, along with defensive variants of Articuno, Gabite, Misdreavus, and Rotom, all of which would outspeed you if you were adamant. Mawile is quite a fragile pokemon when used offensively, so you want to avoid switching it in, but it can punish powerful threats such as Stoutland or Cacturne after they get a kill and force a kill one way or the other in return. Its good defensive typing also gives it many opportunities to set up a SD against walls and defensive pokemon, and in some cases this can lead to a sweep, though because of its below average speed it's more likely to end up with a couple of kills and another pokemon dented.

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Gourgeist-Super (F) @ Leftovers | Ability: Frisk
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe | Impish Nature
- Seed Bomb - Will-O-Wisp - Synthesis - Foul Play

There's not that much to say about Gourgeist honestly, switch it into anything physical and watch your opponent cry. Will-o's good for spreading residual damage around the team with the number of switches Gourgeist forces, and foul play stops you being set up fodder for things like sub SD Bouffalant, and SD Quick Feet Ursaring. Seed bomb is a solid option for pokemon that resist foul play and works off of Gourgeist's surprisingly solid base 100 attack stat, it also makes Gourgeist a fantastic answer for the plentiful lead Golems, and it is for the latter reason that I run it over leech seed. With leech seed it can reliably check Stoutland, but my team was much too weak to sturdy custap lead Golem so in this case seed bomb is preferable.

@
Camerupt (M) @ Leftovers | Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe | Calm Nature | IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume - Earth Power - Stealth Rock - Toxic

SpDef Camerupt is a surprisingly good stealth rocks setter in this tier, but when you wall every volt switcher (they all run HP Ice for Gabite over HP Water for Camerupt) and beat many common spinners (Avalugg, Cryogonal, and Torkoal) it probably shouldn't be so surprising. As stated above it makes an excellent core with Gourgeist and while it's natural bulk isn't fantastic (70/70/75) full investment and leftovers goes a long way to changing that. It doesn't hurt that it also has a natural base 105 SpAtk stat, and you can run fire blast over lava plume to better utilize it, though I prefer the accuracy and burn chance of lava plume. Earth power gives you a last ditch attempt at stopping Monferno and also stops sub nasty plot Ninetales from sweeping. While it matches up well against spinners it's also not too bad against defoggers like Vullaby and Pelipper, at the least inflicting them with a toxic as they defog, making it harder for them to remove the rocks the next time around. Swanna is a bit too powerful for it though, and can confidently scald, and then defog the next turn.

@
Stoutland (M) @ Choice Band | Ability: Scrappy | Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe | Adamant Nature
- Frustration - Facade - Crunch - Superpower

Adamant banded Stoutland is raw power in pokemon form. It has the strength to 2HKO almost anything in the meta that doesn't resist the hit (Avalugg and Tangela are the only things I can think of that reliably wall it on neutral). Crunch is there for Metang, you don't need it for ghosts thanks to scrappy, and Superpower is for other steel types, along with the plentiful rock types. With those three moves it has almost perfect coverage, with the sole pokemon that beats this combination being defensive Mawile (offensive Mawile is 2HKO'd by Frustration). Watch out for Arbok, Grumpig, and other Stoutlands, as by going adamant they no longer speed tie with you, though most Stoutlands are adamant these days and some Arboks and Grumpigs run bulky spreads. All things considered you really don't lose much by going adamant and you gain a lot. Facade stops you getting walled by Gourgeist (just click frustration until it runs out of synthesis PP or burns you, at which point you are free to switch out and come back in even stronger at a later point) and allows you to benefit from predicting toxic.

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Ampharos (M) @ Assault Vest | Ability: Static
EVs: 252 SpA / 248 SpD / 8 Spe | Modest Nature | IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt - Focus Blast - Signal Beam - Volt Switch

This Ampharos is interesting. I've invested in SpDef over HP purposefully because I need it to be a special pivot rather than a bulky attacker. Assault Vest also means I get more out of my investment if I invest in SpDef. The SpDef investment combined with the Assault Vest means it can switch in very well on many special attackers (often water types that scare Camerupt), and volt switch then lets you grab momentum. This often leads to a free switch to either Mawile or Stoutland, and a kill shortly after. I rarely use T-bolt but it's nice to have for times at which I do want Ampharos to take on the role of a bulky attacker instead, while the coverage moves are very deliberately chosen. I've seen plenty of weird things like dragon pulse and power gem come out of offensive Ampharos before but I don't see much point in these. HP Ice is very common but when focus blast hits everything for as much damage as a super effective hidden power I'll take that instead. This leaves me with good coverage and still one move slot to go, which signal beam is a good fit for as it hits common grass types such as Tangela for more damage than focus blast and is 100% accurate. Notably it provides a 100% chance of OHKO on offensive Leafeon. Finally don't be afraid to sacrifice Ampharos to a physical attacker in the face of a loss, hoping to activate static. It's unlikely but when the alternative is losing I'd take it.

@
Swanna (F) @ Life Orb | Ability: Hydration
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe | Timid Nature | IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald - Hurricane - Roost - Defog

Finally Swanna. Swanna provides me with defog support, and a reliable switch in to Monferno. Even with rocks on the field it can switch in to a flare blitz/close combat and threaten it out while roosting to heal back up again and be ready for Monferno the next time. It outspeeds the vast majority of the metagame, while luring in electric types that allow Camerupt to set up your rocks after a successful defog. On the offensive side of the spectrum it packs a real punch with a Life Orb and STAB hurricane. It's a bit unreliable but to be in PU you have to have some drawback so we'll forgive it for that. Scald's there as a 100% accurate option anyway.

Significant Threats:

Monferno. If you let Swanna get weakened then you're going to start losing 'mons to Monferno left, right, and center. This isn't a terrible thing however, as show me the PU team that isn't at least a little scared of Monferno.

Gorebyss/Huntail. One shell smash and these two are ready to tear through your whole team. A healthy Ampharos can stop Gorbyss in its tracks, but unless you've put a toxic on Huntail a set up mixed variant will sweep you with virtually no way around it. Fortunately they will often try to set up on Camerupt so when you see it, toxic it immediately. Then you need to play dodge the ice beam with Gourgeist, Camerupt, and Ampharos until it dies.

Ninetales. Sub nasty plot variants of Ninetales have both the speed and the power to sweep your team once Camerupt is weakened. Most of the stuff on the team can take a hit from an unboosted one and thus prevent it the opportunity of a sub though, so the main way it sweeps you is by subbing on a Mawile sucker punch. Don't let it do that, even if it costs you Mawile.

Jumpluff. SD, acrobatics, sleep powder Jumpluff can be this team's worst nightmare if played right. Every time I see it I go straight to Gourgeist because at worst it can still take a +2 acro and burn it afterwards (assuming they SD rather than sleep powder on the switch). They're never fun to fight though.

I think the reason so many of the main threats for this team are sweepers is due to the lack of reliable priority/scarfers on the team. However, short of giving Gourgeist shadow sneak (which you shouldn't do) there's no good way to remedy this without upsetting the balance of the team. Overall it performs very well, and if you get swept by teams that are super sweep focused along the way then that's not the worst thing in the world.

Exportable:

Mawile (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Play Rough
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch

Gourgeist-Super (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Seed Bomb
- Will-O-Wisp
- Synthesis
- Foul Play

Camerupt (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic

Stoutland (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Scrappy
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Frustration
- Facade
- Crunch
- Superpower

Ampharos (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 SpA / 248 SpD / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Signal Beam
- Volt Switch

Swanna (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Hurricane
- Roost
- Defog

I hope you enjoyed the read, it was an interesting experience writing this.

[Noir]

At a glance it's obvious that your team is extremely weak to one thing: Rapidash. Of course, do take my mentioning of this Pokemon with a grain of salt, as I understand that Monferno is used that much more commonly as a Fire-type that you might not even see Rapidash at all, but if you're going to bring up weaker sweepers as threats I will bring this up. It has Wild Charge to get rid of Swanna, it can take down weakened Camerupt with Drill Run, and well, as you've said, you have no real revenge killers bar Mawile's Sucker Punch, and the only way you're gonna get past it is to have the offensive pressure to deter it from coming in (or the rather unreliable way of trying to Static it especially given how you have no physical defense investment on your Ampharos) whereas it's notable that the standard attacking set with Morning Sun can also exploit you.

With respect that you want damage consistency, if you want to deal with Golem leads turn one, wouldn't Bullet Seed be a better alternative to Seed Bomb? Sometimes it also saves you from Sub Pokemon, I guess.

You're attempting to put a check to both Water-type attackers and Electric type attackers in one Pokemon (Ampharos), which I personally find to be iffy especially if it's an offensively orientated set without reliable recovery, as well as a common liability against Pokemon like Stunfisk, who can pretty much get into Ampharos for free and get a possible free Scald burn on something. I think your team needs a more objective and reliable defensive core against these sorts of attackers in general, as while Camerupt covers Electric types (bar Stunfisk, mind you), your Water-type cushion isn't very reliable. I really don't get the gist of you attempting an AV Ampharos. I've seen enough people attempt it, and I can say right now that it's literally just....well, bad. Set wise and objectively speaking, you want a reliable special tank that tanks good Water-type hits for you, which a lot of Pokemon such as Audino, Grumpig, Politoed, Lumineon, and other stuff do decently well. Ampharos is also still worn down by Scald burns, something which it is initially designed to avoid (as an offensive cleric). Even objectively speaking set wise, if you want it to tank hits more and attack less (especially with your moveset) why not just do calcs which are enough for its attacks to OHKO/2HKO certain things (and mind you, Signal Beam with Modest is also 18.8% chance OHKO on uninvested Leafeon, unless your statement expected SR) while investing the rest in HP?

252+ SpA Ampharos Signal Beam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Leafeon: 236-278 (87 - 102.5%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO

"This isn't a terrible thing however, as show me the PU team that isn't at least a little scared of Monferno." To be honest at a glance I'd want to recommend Altaria as a Pokemon on your team as a reliable means of consistently defending against Ninetales (HP Ice is non-existent on them) and Monferno, as well as (to a lesser extent) Jumpluff. This would also serve as a pretty fullproof check to Rapidash in general. I'm not exactly sure how I'd fit all this in your team, though, but the team is pretty good nonetheless. You could swap Swanna/Amphy for either Lumineon or Prinplup as your new Defogger and run Altaria maybe. I'd also like to justify (although debatable) the meta bar Rotom-F for Electric type attackers is also more centered on HP Grass rather than Ice (from personal experience anyway) to allude to Altaria's usefulness.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Noir

[Sheep]

At a glance it's obvious that your team is extremely weak to one thing: Rapidash.

252 Atk Rapidash Drill Run vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Solid Rock Camerupt: 147-174 (42.8 - 50.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 Atk Charcoal Rapidash Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Stoutland: 214-253 (68.8 - 81.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Charcoal Rapidash Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Ampharos: 225-265 (70 - 82.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Charcoal Rapidash Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gourgeist-Super: 246-290 (65.7 - 77.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Firstly, you're right, Rapidash isn't seen commonly enough to worry about countering in PU. Secondly I don't think it's as big a threat as you make it out to be. I've come across it occasionally when laddering in PU and I've never had a great deal of difficulty getting past it. The only way it beats the team is if things are weakened (and Camerupt is very weakened), unlike Ninetales which only requires Camerupt to be weakened. Otherwise Rapidash isn't getting past a lot of stuff in one go, plus most of them run leftovers rather than Charcoal, so those calcs are giving it the benefit of the doubt.

With respect that you want damage consistency, if you want to deal with Golem leads turn one, wouldn't Bullet Seed be a better alternative to Seed Bomb? Sometimes it also saves you from Sub Pokemon, I guess.

I never actually considered bullet seed. Taking a look at it though, I'm not convinced it would be better.

0 Atk Gourgeist-Super Bullet Seed (2 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Golem: 176-216 (58.4 - 71.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

0 Atk Gourgeist-Super Bullet Seed (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Golem: 264-324 (87.7 - 107.6%) -- approx. 6.3% chance to OHKO

0 Atk Gourgeist-Super Bullet Seed (4 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Golem: 352-432 (116.9 - 143.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

A three hit does around about the same damage as seed bomb (a little less) but when there's not much point to OHKOing Golem anyway I'd take the ability to consistently deal extremely heavy damage to things like Floatzel, Rampardos, and Relicanth. It's a guaranteed OHKO on Floatzel after rocks. The reason I say there's not much point to OHKOing Golem is that neither the weakness policy set or the custap set can do a damn thing to Gourgeist on the second turn, and if they switch out I'm just going to kill them with rocks later. It does apply a bit more pressure to set up hazards, but honestly the pressure to do that should be there from the start of the game anyway. Bullet seed is definitely worth investigating though so thanks for that. I'd probably be a lot more enthusiastic about it if I could keep the guaranteed ability to OHKO Floatzel after rocks.

You're attempting to put a check to both Water-type attackers and Electric type attackers in one Pokemon (Ampharos), which I personally find to be iffy especially if it's an offensively orientated set without reliable recovery, as well as a common liability against Pokemon like Stunfisk, who can pretty much get into Ampharos for free and get a possible free Scald burn on something. I think your team needs a more objective and reliable defensive core against these sorts of attackers in general, as while Camerupt covers Electric types (bar Stunfisk, mind you), your Water-type cushion isn't very reliable. I really don't get the gist of you attempting an AV Ampharos. I've seen enough people attempt it, and I can say right now that it's literally just....well, bad. Set wise and objectively speaking, you want a reliable special tank that tanks good Water-type hits for you, which a lot of Pokemon such as Audino, Grumpig, Politoed, Lumineon, and other stuff do decently well. Ampharos is also still worn down by Scald burns, something which it is initially designed to avoid (as an offensive cleric). Even objectively speaking set wise, if you want it to tank hits more and attack less (especially with your moveset) why not just do calcs which are enough for its attacks to OHKO/2HKO certain things (and mind you, Signal Beam with Modest is also 18.8% chance OHKO on uninvested Leafeon, unless your statement expected SR) while investing the rest in HP?

252+ SpA Ampharos Signal Beam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Leafeon: 236-278 (87 - 102.5%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO

I'll address the calc first. I reckon eons ago when I did that calc I took rocks into consideration, as in a usual state of play they will be there.

As for what you're saying, that's not really what I'm trying to do. The fact that it resists electric, and puts offensive pressure on water doesn't mean those types are what I was trying to counter when putting it on the team. Hell Camerupt does a better job than Ampharos at dealing with electric types any day of the week so I'm definitely not trying to use Ampharos as my main counter to those. The reason I put it on the team is that I needed more special bulk, that could also provide a strong special attacker and a pivot into my wall breakers. When you take all of this into consideration none of the other options you have given match up. Grumpig and Politoed lack volt switch/u-turn while Lumineon isn't a powerful special attacker and Audino is a complete momentum killer, the complete opposite of what Ampharos is trying to achieve. If I were to look at this team after someone else presented it to me I would probably say something very similar to what you have written, that being it needs a proper special wall, but having actually used this team very successfully for the past six months or so I can tell you it (surprisingly) actually doesn't. While neither Camerupt nor Ampharos is a dedicated special wall, working together they achieve enough special bulk to make sure you can take the hits you need to take throughout the match.

For example, by far the most common hits that Ampharos has had to take throughout its lifetime are hydro pumps and ice beams from a Life Orb Floatzel.

252 SpA Life Orb Floatzel Hydro Pump vs. 0 HP / 248 SpD Assault Vest Ampharos: 99-118 (30.8 - 36.7%) -- 69.8% chance to 3HKO

252 SpA Life Orb Floatzel Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 248 SpD Assault Vest Ampharos: 55-65 (17.1 - 20.2%) -- possible 5HKO

When it takes hits like that it can potentially hard switch into the face of a Floatzel twice across the course of a match and threaten it out both times (as long as you come in from Gourgeist and catch an ice beam one time). As long as they don't have a ground type then common things they will go to are Audino, Roselia, that sort of thing. All you need to do then is go to Stoutland/Mawile and something is dead. The next time Floatzel comes out you do it again. Once you no longer have the bulk to take two hits you're still free to sack something, and then bring in Ampharos to force it out, netting you a revenge kill. Sooner or later everyone breaks and they end up sacking their Floatzel to Ampharos, and by that point you probably don't need it anymore. These are the sorts of things that Ampharos does, and that none of the pokemon you offered me can do. It also happens to do them very well.

Bonus points for mentioning Stunfisk, Ampharos is absolutely hard stopped by Stunfisk and I groan every time I see it, but I already know it's hard stopped by Stunfisk so that's when I start doubling. You were wrong about one thing though, Camerupt beats Stunfisk, not the other way around, I've done it plenty of times and it always ends the same way. Just about every Stunfisk in the tier runs physically defensive leftovers and rocks with no scald. Even if it had scald it's still doing less to Camerupt than Camerupt's earth power does to Stunfisk, and Camerupt is also faster.

"This isn't a terrible thing however, as show me the PU team that isn't at least a little scared of Monferno." To be honest at a glance I'd want to recommend Altaria as a Pokemon on your team as a reliable means of consistently defending against Ninetales (HP Ice is non-existent on them) and Monferno, as well as (to a lesser extent) Jumpluff. This would also serve as a pretty fullproof check to Rapidash in general. I'm not exactly sure how I'd fit all this in your team, though, but the team is pretty good nonetheless. You could swap Swanna/Amphy for either Lumineon or Prinplup as your new Defogger and run Altaria maybe. I'd also like to justify (although debatable) the meta bar Rotom-F for Electric type attackers is also more centered on HP Grass rather than Ice (from personal experience anyway) to allude to Altaria's usefulness.

Altaria's a great, and massively underused wall in PU, I know that as well as the next man. However I run into problems fitting it onto the team because I have difficulty finding a pokemon that I can take off. You suggest Swanna or Ampharos but the instant I take Swanna off the team it becomes too slow to be viable, while when Ampharos leaves I lose a lot of offensive presence as I can no longer pivot into my wallbreakers without pulling doubles. The thing with this team is that it works very well because the pokemon work together and build off of each other's strengths. Ordinarily for instance you would be right, AV Ampharos isn't a good pokemon, but it is a good pokemon on this team because it gives the team what it needs. Swanna's a similar case. So when the team already has basically everything it needs (reliable special recovery would be nice at first glance, but it doesn't need it, and may even become a momentum sink) I find it really hard to swap pokemon out. If you could give me something that works better than Ampharos at everything that Ampharos does then that'd be one thing, but I don't think there are any other good slow volt switchers in the tier.

Or maybe I'm just stuck in the fact that I've found great success with the team and thus refuse to believe that it can be improved.

[Jelly]

after playing with the team a bit ive come to see amph as a little underwhelming. the only thing i could recommend in its place is a chinchou pivot. it doesn't really do anything terrible to your synergy and helps your weakness of huntail/gorebyss a bit.

[Sheep]

Yeah Chinchou's a good 'mon, I've played against it plenty and it's a real pain. You'd lose damage but you'd gain more synergy with the team by covering a few more weaknesses as you say, and still keep the pivot value. Because of the drop in power it probably isn't going to force as many switches but I think it's an improvement overall. Thanks for the suggestion.