OrangeManiac

tfw I did over 50% of the Pokemon in one free weekend

I've tried Dragon Dance Lapras and was mildly dissapointed by it in NU tier. Also there are no walls you need to Perish Trap, maybe other than Grumpig. I think a special offensive tank is the best set for Lapras. It's nothing special, just taking damage nicely and giving it back. Just doing that thing really nicely with great base stats. I'd rank it A personally.

Well, I mean.. I don't want to make this look completely arbitrary so I wish to see some discussion before just setting up these. When "enough" discussion of a certain Pokemon has been made I suppose I can put some ranks here.

In my opinion Signal Beam is a mandatory in the spec attacker set making the Grass coverage not needed. However, for my utility set I definitely agree without Signal Beam HP Ice is really viable.

inb4 both councilmen will vote the same way and whatever community thinks is irrelevant and major keks occur Edit: Not like I don't care what community thinks but I feel like the best option is to make the UU and NU councilmen to have a vote and whichever side wins from that will be used as the "third councilmen". I can say every NU and UU council player we have also plays OU. In case a councilmen from UU/NU council isn't sure then I'd recommend to vote empty.

Thanks, I was surprised how fast I got most of these done though. It used to take so long for my UU guide as I had to check all the pages of bulbapedia but now we have just in game pokedex.

Pokemon that are no longer NU either due to being BL2 or UU by usage. Absol BST: 465 (65/130/60/75/60/75) - The epitome of physical offense in NU Tier. Excellent at breaking defensive teams: Pursuit trapping Grumpig and Megahorn against Tangela are reasons why Absol is a sure choice to pretty much any offensive team. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Adamant/Jolly EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Pursuit Megahorn Superpower / Rock Slide Quick Attack / Rock Slide - Pursuit trapping Grumpig and Chimecho is what makes Absol so particularly scary. While Absol needs to be afraid of incoming Signal Beam, however it can still live it at full HP and usually guarantee one of these two Pokemon are going down. Pursuit isn't always the #1 move to go against these Pokemon: At full HP Grumpig could actually stay in when Pursuit will not get the power it would get for switching out and then Signal Beam could hurt Absol really much. So Megahorn is the move to go if you expect opposing Grumpig to stay in. (15% miss chance sucks though, so might be always better to Pursuit though). Absol can also Pursuit "revenge kill" Mr. Mime/Kadabra but those it will lose in speed and more often than not take some massive damage from them. Megahorn also is really good for breaking Tangela and Bellossom. Superpower is a nice move but particularly needed against a bulky spiker Glalie, Lapras and Walrein. Rock Slide, however is really good for incoming Scythers and it hits Ice types. Quick Attack is just a priority move and you can have never have too much priority, especially due to DrumWrath. Swords Dance Nature: Adamant/Jolly EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Salac Berry/Lum Berry Swords Dance Megahorn Superpower Bite / Quick Attack / Rock Slide / Substitute - Swords Dance variant of Absol. I particularly like the Salac Berry: Due to Absol's low bulk majority of standard Stab attacks will hit Absol to Salac Range and then sweeping can be really possible. Swords Dance in order to work, Hitmontop needs to be down as well as Pokemon that may have faster priority. Checks and Counters: Hitmontop is pretty much the bane of existence of Absol. Intimidate makes Absol's damage quite small to begin with but the Mach Punch it has will often scare Absol away. Nidoking resists Megahorn + Superpower combo which is really nice. Otherwise quite hard if not impossible to counter. Team Synergy: Absol is an excellent team mate of Ninetales, which would get walled hard by Grumpig with Thick Fat ability. [/spoiler] Armaldo BST: 496 (75/125/100/70/80/45) - Armaldo in NU is scary. 125 Base Attack and STAB Rock Slide are no joke. Especially good at switching to a lot of stuff to protect your whatever Pokemon that just got countered. Really good supporter with Toxic + Rapid Spin or just offensively monster with Swords Dance/Choice Band set. Offensive movepool unfortunately is quite narrow. [spoiler] Swords Dance Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Attack Item: Leftovers Swords Dance Rock Slide / Rock Blast Earthquake Iron Tail / Superpower / Low Kick - Standard Swords Dance set which bases on causing some massive damage with that 125 Base Attack. Rock Slide due to stab is the main move to be used, Rock Blast is an option to troll a Sub + Pinch Berry Pokemon. Earthquake is quite self-explanatory as well but last move is a selection of three moves that usually just are better off using Rock Slide/EQ but I guess they can be like "safe attacks" expecting someone to expect only Rock Slide and Earthquake. Choice Band Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Attack or 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Rock Slide / Rock Blast Earthquake Iron Tail Superpower / Low Kick - Another option if you just wanna straight attack, no setting up. Supporter Nature: Impish EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Rapid Spin Rock Slide Toxic Earthquake / Knock Off - Armaldo is an excellent spinner and a defensive switch in to a lot of stuff. Toxic is always a nice move and especially good to avoid spinblocking. Curse Nature: Careful EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Special Defense Item: Leftovers Curse Rock Slide Rest Earthquake - Yes, Armaldo can Curse as well. Definitely an option to consider as well but even with maximum Special Defense it's kinda prone to that side from Gorebyss, Lapras, Golduck etc. Checks and Counters: Pure water types, like Politoed, Gorebyss and Golduck are good against Armaldo but they will have to take a lot of damage while switching in. Also unless you're running Hydro Pump then OHKOing might be problematic. Cradily is pretty good due to only being weak to Armaldo's "filler" move and the fact it has a STAB Rock Slide to hit super effectively back. Solrock also works really well for the same reason. Bulk Up Hitmontop with physical defense is nice due to Intimidate. Metang needs to be a bit afraid of Earthquake but STAB Meteor Mash is enough to call it a reliable check. Team Synergy: Having Top and Armaldo in the same team can be a nice combo due to opponent not knowing which one is the spinner and which one is the attacker. Also protects your team from Choice Band Normal spam. [/spoiler] Ampharos BST: 500 (90/75/75/115/90/55) - There are so many reasons to use Ampharos. Not only does it pack amazing 115 Special Attack and nice bulk but it only punishes the massive amount of water-types in the tier. Ampharos is really good at supporting its team with Heal Bell, screens, status etc. [spoiler] Standard Special Attacker Nature: Modest EVs: 252 HP, 252 Sp. Atk (speed is an option) Item: Leftovers Thunderbolt Hidden Power Water / Hidden Power Grass Signal Beam Thunder Wave/Toxic/Heal Bell/Light Screen/Reflect - Probably Ampharos' main NU set. Thunderbolt is pretty self-explanatory, however the selection of the Hidden Power is much more problematic. Hidden Power Grass is mainly for Whiscash which at worst can DD set up on it but Hidden Power Water is better for beating Nidoking and Queen as well as Camerupt. Signal Beam is to deal with Bellossom, Tangela and Shiftry. This is where Ampharos kinda loses already it's special offensive moves so the last move is a selection of an utility move. Supporter Nature: Bold EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Thunderbolt Heal Bell Light Screen Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Water / Reflect / Thunder Wave - The set that emphasizes of supporting the team for maximum longevity. A lot of physical defense can also surprise a Zangoose which may think it can sweep when it in fact cannot. Light Screen supports the special defensive side for both Amphy and whole team. Hidden Power Grass / Water / Ice is just too good not to use in my opinion, because getting countered by Ground-types sucks hard. Rain Dance Support Nature: Modest EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Special Attack Item: Leftovers/Magnet Rain Dance Thunder Hidden Power Water / Hidden Power Grass Signal Beam - There are a lot of Swift Swimmers in NU you can support with Rain Dance while giving a 100% Thunder accuracy. However, I feel this being a bit too situational because at worst you can support your opponent. The Pokemon that can be your teammates here are Gorebyss, Huntail and Kabutops. SubPunch Ampharos credits to Felix [spoiler] SubPunch Nature: Quiet Item: Leftovers Evs: 252HP / 180 Atk / 76 SpA Moveset: - Substitute - Thunderwave - Thunderbolt - Focus Punch * Pretty easy to use, thunderwave allows you to speed control fast things that may switch in and try to setup over Ampharos, like CM Ninetales, behind a sub you can choose to twave your opponents or just fire a focus punch [/spoiler] Checks and Counters: Despite only 3 good special attacking moves, switching in to Ampharos is harder than it seems. Nidos and Sandslash however are the best because even with the worst possible prediction of Hidden Power succeeds, it's not a OHKO. For Golem and Whiscash it's much more risky. Team synergy: I think you can slap Ampharos to any team, really. [/spoiler] Blastoise BST: 530 (79/83/100/85/105/78) - The starter that everyone should had been using in the original game but they didn't because they're dumb. In NU tier Blastoise is a really dominant force with a movepool that scares anybody. The base stat total for NU is something really remarkable, as well. Needless to say one of the top threats of NU tier. [spoiler]DIY Tank Nature: Calm/Bold/Relaxed/Sassy EVs: 252 HP, rest split on defense Item: Leftovers Surf Toxic Earthquake / Ice Beam / Rest / Mirror Coat / Counter / Hidden Power Electric Earthquake / Ice Beam / Rest / Mirror Coat / Counter / Hidden Power Electric - It is really impossible to write just a single set to Blastoise because you can really mix it around however you want. Surf and Toxic are the main moves of Blastoise due to them being just so good but all of the last moves have all massive upsides and downsides. Earthquake is mostly good for incoming Ampharos, Electabuzz which seem like good counters to Blastoise. Ice Beam hits Grass-types, especially makes Tangela not even be a reliable check to it. Counter and Mirror Coat are just overall nice trolly moves which work insanely well on a Pokemon like Blastoise which is hard if not impossible to OHKO. HP Electric hits Water-types, especially Mantine hard. Checks and Counters: Ampharos counters quite reliably even a Earthquake Blastoise. Giga Drain Bellossom is also really good counter to Blastoise. Tangela and Electabuzz need scouting for Ice Beam and Earthquake respectively. Team Synergy: Clerics. Since Toxic ruins Blastoise and Rest is its main recovery move, having Heal Bell/Aroma user or two will give maximum longevity for Blastoise. [/spoiler] Cradily BST: 495 (86/81/97/91/107/43) - Second of the Hoenn fossiles one could be surprised how did it go NU. Amazing Curse user due to Suction Cups: You better bring your Toxic or this thing will set up itself to +6 and sweep you to oblivion. [spoiler] Curse Nature: Careful EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Curse Rock Slide Recover Bullet Seed / Mirror Coat - By far the best set for Cradily in my opinion. Due to amazing bulk Cradily can easily become to an unstoppable setting up machine that only Toxic will stop anymore. Since nothing is immune to Rock Slide running Cradily as a mono-attacker is an option and troll opponents with Mirror Coat. However, having access to two good physical STABs now Bullet Seed seems like a too good move to not use. Choice Band Nature: Adamant EVs: 252 HP 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Rock Slide Earthquake Facade Bullet Seed - I haven't ever seen one but I suppose it can do something. Nice Attack of Cradily can surprise for not being a wall and hit hard right off the bat. Checks and Counters: Toxic. Oh boy you're gonna need that one. Super Effective Ice Beam and Signal Beam can do something nice to a Curse user but switching in those is really hard due to being weak to Rock Slide. Team synergy: A cleric can save the day of a Curse user. [/spoiler] Crobat BST: 535 (85/90/80/70/80/130) - The highest BST of all NUs. Still, quite underwhelming Pokemon. Crobat's speed is something you will probably pay attention at first as it is a great Pokemon to keep those speedy sweepers from sweeping your team. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Jolly EVs: 252 Atk 252 Speed or 252 Attack, enough speed to outspeed +252 speed Sneasel and rest on HP (Sneasel is 183) Item: Choice Band Wing Attack Return / Double-Edge Steel Wing Pursuit - Despite Crobat lost some massive movepool from physical side last update Crobat can still be a good Choice Bander. Wing Attack is the go to STAB while Return/Double-Edge is for the extra punch as well as against Electric-types. Steel Wing covers Rocks that would wall Crobat and Pursuit is nice to trap Banette's, Misdreavus etc. Special Sweeper Nature: Timid EVs: 252 Sp. Atk 252 Speed or 252 Special Attack, enough speed to outspeed +252 speed Sneasel and rest on HP (Sneasel is 183) Item: Lum Berry Sludge Bomb Air Cutter Shadow Ball Giga Drain / Hidden Power Ground - Special oriented version of Crobat as its main STAB Sludge Bomb is there. Causes some nice damage. Giga Drain deals with three really good counters (Golem, Relicanth and Whiscash) while Hidden Power Ground is the most ideal against Crobat's hard waller Aggron. Bulky Bat Nature: Timid EVs: 252 HP, enough speed to outspeed Sneasel, rest on defenses Item: Leftovers Sludge Bomb Confuse Ray Super Fang Protect / Air Cutter - The purpose of this set is to do the maximum damage with Super Fang, utilize Sludge Bomb's high Poison rate and Confuse Ray to ultra troll opponent. Works especially well with Spikers. Checks and Counters: Bulky Waters with Ice Beam pretty much always counter Crobat. Lapras, Walrein and Ampharos however are the most reliable counters to the bat. [/spoiler] Glalie BST: 480 (80/80/80/80/80/80) - The base stats being all 80 already indicate that this Pokemon can be build many different ways. However, due to lack of Spikers in NU tier and Glalie arguably being by far the best one of those then Glalie is most often seen as a bulky Spiker. [spoiler]Spiker Nature: Relaxed/Sassy/Bold/Calm EV Spread: 252 HP - Defenses split in a way you want Item: Leftovers Spikes Ice Beam Taunt / Earthquake / Super Fang / Light Screen Taunt / Earthquake / Super Fang / Light Screen - The purpose of this set is to take as many hits as possible while getting as many Spikes on the field as possible. Ice Beam is the mandatory STAB attack. From the remaining moves Glalie has plenty to choose from: Taunt is good to prevent other Glalies for Spiking or some Pokemon trying to set up on Glalie while Spiking. Earthquake has some nice coverage, Super Fang causing 50% damage always so as a Spiker lead a nice attack etc. Mixed Sweeper Nature: Hasty/Naive EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Sp. Atk Item: Leftovers Ice Beam Earthquake Hidden Power Electric/Grass Crunch - Ice Beam again the mandatory STAB and you need a Ground-move for coverage and incoming Aggron and Fire-types. Hidden Power Electric/Grass prevents getting walled by Water-types and Crunch is nice against Grumpig. Checks and Counters: Torkoal is the premiere counter of Glalie due to fire typing and access to Rapid Spin. Also Glalie's Earthquake won't probably even tickle Torkoal while it can hit back really hard. Ninetales and Rapidash need more prediction to get in but won't get OHKOd from Earthquake either so they're really good counters as well. Metang also eats Earthquakes for breakfast and the STAB Meteor Mash is something Glalie won't like. Team synergy: Roar/Whirlwind users will help a lot running down opponent team with Spikes. Also a Ghost-type being a spinblocker is really helpful. [/spoiler] Haunter BST: 405 (45/50/45/115/55/95) - Not only is Haunter amazing special sweeper with base 115 Sp. Atk and nice base 95 speed but the 3 immunities of Haunter make it keep your opponent really cautious all the time because when correctly switched into this Pokemon can totally steal the momentum of the match. [spoiler]Special Sweeper Nature: Timid EVs: 252 Speed 252 Sp. Atk Item: Leftovers Shadow Ball Sludge Bomb Thunderbolt Hidden Power Ground / Giga Drain - The main sweeper set of Haunter. Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb are the destructive STAB attacks while others give some coverage. Thunderbolt is the 2gud2notuse move but Hidden Power Ground will troll Aggron extra hard while Giga Drain is excellent against Whiscash while as well making sure opposing Relicanth and Golem will get one shot and get some HP back. SubDisable Nature: Timid EVs: 252 Speed 252 Sp. Attack Item: Leftovers Substitute Disable Shadow Ball Sludge Bomb - Since so many Pokemon don't have a lot of coverage moves against Haunter it can completely wall some of its opponents with Substitute + Disable combo. This includes Choice Band users that are slower than Haunter. After that Haunter gets a free turn to hit one of its powerful STABs. Checks and Counters: Faster offense than Haunter will keep it in checks. Counters Haunter is really hard if not impossible. [/spoiler] Muk BST: 500 (105/105/75/65/100/50) - Muk is a case of a great base stat but movepool and typing-wise quite poor of a Pokemon. Definitely usable in a low tier like NU. [spoiler] SubPunch Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 HP, 252 Atk Item: Leftovers Substitute Focus Punch Shadow Punch Ice Punch - Find a Pokemon that has low damage output and put up a Substitute against it. Shadow Punch is for incoming Ghost and Psychic types for coverage, Ice Punch covers especially Ground-types. Curse Nature: Careful EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Curse Ice Punch Shadow Punch / Thunderpunch / Fire Punch Shadow Punch / Thunderpunch / Fire Punch - Muk's base stats are good for Curse set. Ice Puch is for Ground-types, especially Gligar. Shadow Punch covers Ghosts and Psychics, Thunderpunch is nice on Pelipper and Mantine while Fire Punch hurts Steel-types. Other options: Carrying Toxic with Muk isn't dumb. Checks and Counters: Ground types, like Sandslash and Golem are the hardest avaliable counters. Aggron and Metang with Earthquake are pretty good counters to Muk unless it Focus Punches. Psychic-types are also nice but generally physically defensively not strong so switching in those is harder. [/spoiler] Pikachu BST: 300 (35/55/30/50/40/90) - Way to overpower a Pokemon which already has enough of attention being the game's mascot and all. The item Light Ball makes Pikachu arguably better than its evolution due to the massive damage output it gives. Pikachu is the hardest hitting NU by far but at the same time it is defensively so weak it's a miracle if it can live ANY attack. [spoiler]Mixed Sweeper Nature: Naive/Hasty EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Special Attack Item: Light Ball Thunderbolt Surf Extremespeed Hidden Power Ice / Signal Beam - This set just destroys. Massive coverage and Extremespeed means it gets a lot of damage even to faster Pokemon than it is. Checks and Counters: Fake Out and other priority. Priority makes Pikachu rely on its weakest attack. Ampharos also works really well as a counter. To really even check a Pikachu other than that you need a lot of gutsy predictions. [/spoiler] Zangoose BST: 458 (73/115/60/60/60/90) - The last in this guide but definitely not the least is one of the scariest Pokemon of NU tier - Zangoose. Zangoose's base 115 attack combined with a really nice 90 speed and a STAB Return means that unless you have something take those Returns then this thing more often than not can sweep you to oblivion. Even if you teambuild against this you aren't completely safe. [spoiler] Swords Dance Nature: Jolly/Adamant EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Salac Berry/Lum Berry Swords Dance Return Iron Tail Low Kick / Brick Break / Quick Attack - The currently standard NU Zangoose set in my opinion. Zangoose needs to wait for the perfect moment to Swords Dance up, if it's lucky get hit to Salac range and just start to wreck shit up. Iron Tail is a really risky move due to 25% miss chance but it's really needed against Armaldo, as well it covers Steel-types which Normal + Fight combo cannot touch. Low Kick hits the majority of the NU really hard but only 40 power on Relicanth so if you hate that thing, better run Brick Break instead. Running a Fight-type move isn't completely a necessity as Iron Tail hits them so you could also bring Quick Attack to deal with the faster than Zangoose Pokemon. Choice Band Nature: Jolly/Adamant EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Return Quick Attack Low Kick / Brick Break Iron Tail - The hit and run Zangoose. This has much lower risk than SD set and doesn't sweep teams becuase when you have made your hit you can be countered quite easily by the massive amount of Rock-types in the tier. Make sure you have something on them, like Poliwrath or Politoed. Flail Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Salac Berry Substitute Swords Dance Flail Iron Tail - If you wanna maximize Zangoose' damage output you could go Flail set but this set is really prone to priority and just +2 Flail might be a bit overkill. Checks and Counters: Fully countering Zangoose due to its movepool is just impossible. But since Fire Punch doesn't belong in NU Zangoose set, Metang and Mawile are nice counters to it. Also Rock-types in general work nicely as Return SPAM check and teambuilds faster than Zangoose usually tend to Zangoose not shine that much. [/spoiler]

Tropius BST: 460 (99/68/83/72/87/51) - Jack of all trades, master of none. Tropius can perform multiple roles nicely but nothing extremely well. [spoiler] Tank Nature: Bold EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Toxic Synthesis Giga Drain Air Cutter - Basic two STAB defensive Tropius set. SunnyBeam Nature: Modest EV Spread: 252 Special Attack 252 HP Item: Lum Berry Sunny Day Solarbeam Hidden Power Fire Air Cutter - The ability Chlorophyll makes Tropius a nice Sunny Day sweeper. Dragon Dance Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Lum Berry Dragon Dance Leaf Blade Aerial Ace Earthquake - Probably the most unexpected set of Tropius but it honestly seems quite nice to me. Leaf Blade + AA + EQ Combo gives nice coverage and Leaf Blade overall is just amazing move to hit. Dragon Dance makes Tropius speed in quite sweeping numbers after DDs up. Checks and Counters: Anything that has Ice. Unfortunately, though most of the Ice-move users are Water-type so that gives a bit some problems. [/spoiler] Unown BST: 336 (48/72/48/72/48/48) - sigh. [spoiler][/spoiler] Venomoth BST: 450 (70/65/60/90/75/90) - Venomoth is a really nice special sweeper due its nice dual STABs and nice coverage. [spoiler] Special Sweeper Nature: Timid EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Special Attack Item: Lum Berry / Petaya Berry Signal Beam Sludge Bomb Giga Drain / Substitute Psychic / Hidden Power Ground - Signal Beam and Sludge Bomb will do the most of the work of this set and Psychic / Hidden Power Ground just covers all the Poison-types (in addition Hidden Power Ground covers Steel). Giga Drain is there for Golems and Relicanths and probably the last move to go but Substitute is a nice move to activate the Petaya Berry to make Signal Beam + Sludge Bomb spam more powerful. Checks and Counters: Rapidash and Ninetales are the most idiot proof counters to Venomoth because it has awful bulk and dies to any Fire-attack from them. Rock-types are good checks as long as they don't switch into a Giga Drain or are 4x weak to it. [/spoiler] Victreebel BST: 480 (80/105/65/100/60/70) - Weather Ball makes Victreebel arguably the most scariest SunnyBeam sweeper of NU tier by far. In sun it gets a power of 150 and Fire-type move meaning that unless you have your Fire-types left, oh boy this thing can sweep you late game. [spoiler] SunnyBeam Nature: Modest EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Special Attack Item: Lum Berry Sunny Day Solarbeam Weather Ball Sludge Bomb - Like said in description, in sun Weather Ball turns into 100 power fire-attack (so 150 power) and therefor nothing can reliably switch into this that isn't a Fire-type of Golduck. The way it covers Steel- and Grass-types is insane. Sludge Bomb is a nice move to damage opponents if you don't have time to put up sun and Poison will hit them nicely. Also Sludge Bomb is the move to go against those countering Fire-types. Checks and Counters: Fire-types are the premiere counters to Victreebel, Grumpig works nicely as a counter too with Thick Fat and nice overall bulk and STAB Psychic. Golduck will stop the sun of Victreebel making it being locked in Solarbeam or do ridiculously bad damage with Weather Ball (Sludge Bomb would hurt though). [/spoiler] Volbeat BST: 400 (65/73/55/47/75/85) - Yeah, just no.. like its counterpart Illumise. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Jolly EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Ice Punch Thunderpunch Return Brick Break - The way to "utilize" the "nice" attack. Tail Glow Nature: Timid Ability: Swarm EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Special Attack Item: Petaya berry Tail Glow Substitute Signal Beam Hidden Power Ground - If you wanna have fun with Tail Glow then this is the set to do it. Swarm will give the Signal Beam some nice power as well as Petaya when Substituted to low HP. [/spoiler] Wailord BST: 500 (170/90/45/90/45/60) - Wailord demonstrates both bulk with base 170 HP as well as high attacks with 90 attacks each. Those 45 defenses need some major boost from EVs but after that Wailord is a really reliable bulky water type in NU environment. The biggest downside of Wailord is its awful movepool. [spoiler] Curse Nature: Brave Ability: Water Veil EVs: 252 Defense 252 Special Defense Item: Leftovers Curse Waterfall Body Slam / Earthquake Ice Beam - Walrein is an excellent Curse user barring the fact its physical movepool is pretty much just Waterfall and Body Slam. Ice Beam itself, however is a really nice move as it prevents Tangela from walling you. You may be surprised I put EQ as a secondary move to Body Slam but EQ gives really no other coverage but Electric that Waterfall doesn't give and Paralyze is nice. Mixed Nature: Quiet/Mild/Rash Ability: Water Veil EVs: 252 Defense 252 Special Defense Item: Leftovers Surf Ice Beam Earthquake Toxic - The set to utilize Wailord's both nice attacks. Wailord doesn't get wide load of moves so this is pretty much the only way to go. You may be surprised of the 252s on Defenses each but putting EVs is the best way to make those in a satisfactory level so you don't get destroyed by everything. Checks and Counters: Bellossom and Ampharos are the best counters to Wailord, latter needs to be afraid of Earthquake. Lapras is also a really good counter to Wailord with Thunderbolt while it really has nothing to hit back. [/spoiler] Walrein BST: 530 (110/80/90/95/90/60) - Walrein is a beast. This thing is diverse, it has nice ability and it has one of highest BSTs of all NUs. I don't know why this thing hasn't been used that much so far but you can't go much wrong running this in whatever team. [spoiler] Standard Tank Nature: Bold EVs: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Surf Ice Beam Super Fang Toxic - Super Fang is amazing to every bulky Pokemon and Surf and Ice Beam STABs from base 95 attacker will do some work. Toxic everything that will wall you. Super Fang is also to break a Poliwrath's Substitute if this thing wants to set up Substitute and then Belly Drum on you. Yes, you are prone to Belly Drum with this set so just make sure you have some priority with you. Curse Nature: Careful EVs: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Curse Waterfall Body Slam / Earthquake / Iron Tail Rest - Basic Curse set for Walrein. Can really easily become unbreakable with this set, really. This set is even more prone to Bdrum Wrath so watch out. That's why Body Slam might be the 2nd usable move. Iron Tail however hits Cradily hard. Belly Drum Nature: Jolly EVs: 252 Speed 252 Attack (HP stat dividable by 4 to make exactly 25% after salac) Item: Salac Berry Belly Drum Substitute Waterfall Earthquake - Many people don't even know Belly Drum Walrein is a thing. But believe me it's scary. The biggest thing about this is that it's really not predicted at all, therefor really possible to cause sweeps. Checks and Counters: Due to Earthquake being rather usable move for Walrein, countering it is hard. Bellossom needs to be afraid of STAB Ice Beam, Rock-types are just no answer. Probably the safest Pokemon typing-wise are Fight-types to try to counter this thing, namely Primeape which is based on Low Kick. [/spoiler] Whiscash BST: 468 (110/78/73/76/71/60) - This thing is all about that one set, Dragon Dance. It could be one of the scariest forces of NU with STAB Waterfall and Earthquake without the high usage of Tangela, which counters Whiscash to oblivion. Unfortunately for Whiscash, though people are using Tangela for other reasons as well and they way it counters Whiscash is just unfortunate. [spoiler] Dragon Dance Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Lum Berry/Leftovers Dragon Dance Earthquake Waterfall Rock Slide / Bounce - The standard Whiscash set. Bounce could be a some kind of an answer to Tangela at lower HP but unfortunately it has ungodlike 85% accuracy and it hits in two turns. Other options: Think I saw one of in my NU tournies a staller one and it worked. It has nice bulk to run some Toxic + Protect if you want to but I think DD is just so much superior. Checks and Counters: Tangela and Bellossom check this nicely but the rest? Yeah good luck. Packing up HP Grass for this thing in general might be a good idea. [/spoiler] Wigglytuff BST: 425 (140/70/45/75/50/45) - There isn't probably a special attacking move Wigglytuff doesn't get. Unfortunately no set up moves and rather mediocre at best BST makes it mediocre at best at being a special attacker. However, there's a lack of clerics in NU tier so that role it can fill probably the best. [spoiler] Cleric Nature: Calm/Bold EV Spread: 252 Defense 252 Special Defense Item: Leftovers Wish Heal Bell Protect Hyper Voice - A standard Wish + Heal Bell Cleric. Especially by special defense Wigglytuff has the ability of taking pretty much every 2 hits from special attacks so Heal Belling against a special attacker is the safest bet for Wigglytuff. Special Offensive tank Nature: Modest EV Spread: 252 Special Attack, split defenses Item: Leftovers Hyper Voice Flamethrower Thunderbolt Psychic - Wigglytuff's basic special offensive set which has some nice coverage. Checks and Counters: Choice Banders and set up sweepers are the best way to break a cleric Wigglytuff. An offensive one is generally easy to beat but needs some prediction to switch in. [/spoiler] Wynaut BST: 240 (95/23/48/23/48/23) - The most uncompetitive thing on the planet due to Shadow Tag. The base stats it has are however just more often than not the reason why it cannot support like it's evolution that is in the Uber tier now. [spoiler] CounterCoat Nature: Bold/Calm EVs Spread: 252 HP, split defense Item: Leftovers Mirror Coat Counter Encore Destiny Bond - The purpose of this set is to either make the opponent attack you and it gets KOd by Mirror Coat or Counter. If the opponent goes for set up move, a predicted Encore will lock it to its move to make Wynaut's teammate to switch in to a whatever set up sweeper. Checks and Counters: lol [/spoiler] Xatu BST: 470 (65/75/70/95/70/95) - Xatu's speed, special movepool and relatively good base stats make Xatu one of the most scariest thing in the NU tier. [spoiler] Fast Calm Mind Sweeper Nature: Timid Ability: Synchronize EVs: 252 Speed 252 Sp. Atk Item: Lum Berry Calm Mind Psychic Heat Wave Signal Beam - Even though Xatu gets cool other special moves like Giga Drain and Air Cutter, this set gives the maximum coverage. Psychic is the mandatory STAB, Heat Wave covers especially Steel-types but as well Grass/Bug types while Signal Beam is against Psychic-types, especially Grumpig which otherwise would be hard to attack. QuickNap Nature: Bold Ability: Early Bird EVs: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Calm Mind Psychic Rest Signal Beam / Heat Wave - This set is mainly to punish the slower part of the metagame. After even 1 CM Xatu becomes very hard to break with these defensive investments. Due to Early Bird Xatu sleeps only 1 turn making it unstoppable CM machine if it can pull this off. Checks and Counters: Bulky Ampharos is the most reliable answer to Xatu. Electabuzz is also really good switch in to Xatu giving it the pressure with Thunderbolt but it will take some serious damage switching in as well as Electabuzz cannot OHKO a Calm Minded Xatu. Running fast offense, especially Fearow keeps Xatu in checks from sweeping teams.[/spoiler] Yanma BST: 390 (65/65/45/75/45/95) - Yanma is just meh. It has a nice ability Speed Boost which means it doesn't have to invest its speed and all those investments can be used at better places if needed. However, sub BST 400 Pokemon in NU just rarely see action anymore. [spoiler] Special Sweeper Nature: Modest Ability: Speed Boost EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Atk Item: Leftovers Protect Signal Beam Air Cutter Giga Drain - Yanma has two STABs on special side, 75 special attack so this is probably the main set of a current Yanma. Protect not only does give you a free +1 speed but also can scout opposing moves nicely. SubReversal Nature: Adamant Ability: Speed Boost EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed (make sure after 4 subs you're under 3% HP) Item: Liechi Berry Substitute Reversal Wing Attack Thief - What makes Yanma a nice SubReversal Pokemon is the fact it can be sure it'll be the fastest so it can use the item as Liechi Berry. However, prone to priority and just overall damage output isn't that nice. Checks and Counters: Any Rock-type not being 4x weak to Giga Drain is a counter, Armaldo and Cradily namely are the best. Glalie also counters Yanma nicely with sufficient bulk and in case it's a SubReversal its Taunt can absolutely shut it down. Any Pokemon not weak to STABs and a Rock Slide is a hard counter, really. [/spoiler]

Shuckle BST: 505 (20/10/230/10/230/5) - As the base stats indicate, the absolute defensive god of all Pokemon. Such a reliable switch in to pretty much anything that is not a STAB super effective move. Unfortunately Shuckle itself can do barely nothing. It can literally just Toxic the opponent, remove its item and to go sleep. Even though it has Encore it can still work as a set up bait to many Pokemon if Encore doesn't last enough turns. [spoiler] Wall Nature: Impish/Careful EVs: 252 HP, split defenses Item: Leftovers Toxic Rest Knock Off Encore - The only set Shuckle gets. Gets as many Toxics and Knock Offs around you can get. Team synergy: You need to have a Whirlwind/Roar user with Shuckle or you can easily get swept to oblivion by a set up sweeper even when Shuckle has Encore. Checks and Counters: Pretty much every Pokemon that has a STAB super effective move will 3HKO Shuckle which is enough to prevent Rest stalling. [/spoiler] Smeargle BST: 250 (55/20/35/20/45/70) - Because of Smeargle's Sketch it can learn every possible move in the game, meaning it can have all the possible combinations a Pokemon could ever have. This sounds really cool until you see Smeargle's base stat total which is just a laughable 250. However, due to Spore's free turns Smeargle can still make things happen. [spoiler] Spiker Nature: Jolly EVs: 252 HP 252 Speed Item: Leftovers Spore Spikes Protect Explosion - The purpose of this set is to get as many Spikes as possible. Spore is excellent at giving you free turns, however this more often than not means it's only one because opponent switches. Protect is a nice move to scout any Choice Banders incoming move and switch into something that can take a hit. If the opponent isn't a Choice Bander then the best option is just to set 1-2 more Spikes and Explode away. Even though 20 base attack is ridiculously bad Smeargle hilariously gets STAB on Explosion meaning that it will do some massive damage and might even OHKO a lot of stuff that don't resist it. Belly Drum Nature: Jolly EVs: 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Lum Berry Spore Belly Drum Extremespeed Meteor Mash - Despite of the base 20 Attack, this set may sweep late game when HP is low. After Spore Smeargle gets a free Belly Drum and Extremespeed being +2 priority move and STAB makes it do not only nice damage but always go first. Meteor Mash is the most reliable move to take down any incoming Rock-type. Checks and Counters: Since Meteor Mash is arguably the go to coverage move in Belly Drum set, Steel-types are the best counters to it. Pikachu with its own Extremespeed makes sure Smeargle cannot sweep far. Bulky Pokemon like Lapras and Walrein make sure that even at +6 they will stop the sweep. [/spoiler] Sneasel BST: 430 (55/95/55/35/75/115) - Sneasel hits nice and hard and it is really fast. Due to nice STABs now it can make stuff happen, however its major downsides are the fact it gets hard walled by Blastoise and Hitmontop and it is really hard to switch in. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Jolly Ability: Inner Focus EVs: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Ice Punch Pursuit / Bite Low Kick Quick Attack - The main set of Sneasel. Ice Punch is Sneasel's main STAB, however big question comes regarding of running Bite or Pursuit. Pursuit is an excellent move to trap Psychic/Ghost types but afterwards may turn into a set up bait. At the same time Bite only hits 20 BP harder so it isn't better in the long run either I guess. Low Kick hits massive amount of stuff really hard in this tier and Quick Attack can deal with pesky priority users. Swords Dance Nature: Jolly Ability: Inner Focus EVs: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Lum Berry Ice Punch Bite Swords Dance Low Kick - If you're feeling predictive then this is the set for you and after Blastoise and Hitmontop are down can give you some sweeps. Checks and Counters: Hitmontop and Blastoise are the banes of Sneasel's existance. Other than that it's all about switching into the right move. [/spoiler] Solrock BST: 440 (70/95/85/55/65/70) - One of the most reliable physical tanks in the NU tier. Either a Choice Bander you're really scared to switch into or a Sturdy wall with Pain Split or Morning Sun. [spoiler] Wall Nature: Impish EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Toxic Rock Slide Explosion Morning Sun / Pain Split - Solrock makes an excellent option of being a reliable defensive switch in to physical attackers. Morning Sun / Pain Split is a nice source of recovery, Rock Slide is still the STAB that has 95 base attack and Explosion is just... well Explosion. Choice Band Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Attack or 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Choice Band Rock Slide Earthquake Explosion Double-Edge - The CB set that relies on QuakeSlide a bit too much but still not awful. Checks and Counters: Tangela is by far the best answer to Solrock with that Giga Drain and huge defensive bulk. Bellossom works to lesser extent. Pure water types like Politoed are really good counters too to Solrock. [/spoiler] Spinda BST: 360 (60/60/60/60/60/60) - Can't believe I'm almost done and wasting time writing about a Spinda. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Choice Band Return Superpower Low Kick Rock Slide - Spinda gets a semi-usable CB set but >Spinda Other options: It can be a special "sweeper" with Hyper Voice and stuff. [/spoiler] Stantler BST: 465 (73/95/62/85/65/85) - Stantler doesn't look intimidating but it is. And I'm not talking about that it has the nice ability Intimidate but that it can really be a frightening NU mon. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Adamant/Jolly EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Choice Band Return Iron Tail Megahorn Earthqake - Stantler's only CB moveset but it gets the job done. Other options: Stantler can also run special offense as it gets a lot of nice moves including Psychic, Thunderbolt and Calm Mind but a lack of STAB is the main reason you shouldn't. Checks and Counters: The Choice Band set is pretty impossible to counter but always know that Return is the main go to move. As in general, teams with plenty of over base 85 speed mons make Stantler to not really stand out too well due to its awful defenses. [/spoiler] Sunflora BST: 425 (75/75/55/105/85/30) - A bad Bellossom. [spoiler] SunnyBeam Nature: Modest EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Special Attack Item: Leftovers/Lum Berry Sunny Day Solarbeam Hidden Power Fire Synthesis - Standard Sunny Beamer. Unlike other Sunny Beamers Sunflora needs some major speed investment to actually even outspeed stuff. Tank Nature: Calm EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Toxic Synthesis Giga Drain Hidden Power Ground - Sunflora works decently as a tank too. Checks and Counters: Ninetales and Rapidash just thank Sunflora for the Sun and start destroying. Torkoal works nicely too. [/spoiler] Swalot BST: 467 (100/73/83/73/83/55) - What used to be a former NU god now finds itself being rather irrelevant. It's quite nicely diverse and all but just doesn't support any role particularly well. [spoiler] Tank Nature: Sassy/Relaxed EVs: 252 HP, defenses (a lot of Special Def on Counter) Item: Leftovers Sludge Bomb Earthquake Explosion / Toxic Counter / Toxic - In my opinion the standard Swalot set. Sludge Bomb and Earthquake nicely back up each other in coverage, Explosion is just unresisted a nice move to take down another Pokemon with it and Counter is just a move a Pokemon with high base HP Pokemon love. Curse Nature: Sassy EVs: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Curse Earthquake Thunderpunch Fire Punch - Swalot's stats make it a nice Curse user but the low damage output is a bit sad, mainly due to lack of STAB. Check and Counters: Ground-types. Pretty much all of them. Swalot does have access to Giga Drain so be a bit afraid with Golems and such but this Pokemon won't ever appreciate a STAB EQ. [/spoiler] Tangela BST: 435 (65/55/115/100/40/60) - Despite having mediocre at best base stats even for a NU, it stands out high in the most used Pokemon in the tier. It's an excellent check to so many Choice Banders and physical attackers overall, especially the massive amount of Rock-types in the tier. With moves like Synthesis pretty much every physical attacker has a tough time breaking this thing but the base 40 Special Defense means that against everything even remotely special offensive it has tough time living a hit. [spoiler] Tank Nature: Bold EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Giga Drain Synthesis Toxic Hidden Power Ground / Knock Off / Leech Seed - The premiere set of Tangela which purpose is to stand alive as long as possible, to constantly check in to whatever Solrock or Kabutops the opponent has. Toxic Synthesis is nice way to stall every physical attacker. SunnyBeam Nature: Modest EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Special Attack Item: Lum Berry Sunny Day Solarbeam Hidden Power Fire Synthesis - It gets often forgotten that Tangela's ability is Chlorophyll to make it by default amazing SunnyBeamer. However, Tangela really isn't the best of the tier in this role but it can at least surprise. Checks and Counters: Every specially offensive Pokemon that is not weak to Grass is a counter. [/spoiler] Togetic BST: 405 (55/40/85/80/105/40) - Togetic is mainly overshadowed by poor base stats but its movepool and ability Serene Grace is rather nice. [spoiler] RNG Abuse Nature: Calm Ability: Serene Grace EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Tri Attack Flamethrower Ancientpower Softboiled - Serene Grace makes Togetic an excellent Pokemon to fish for hax. The most haxy move in the game, Tri Attack now gives a random status at 40% chance while being a powerful STAB. Flamethrower is a nice coverage move and for burning any physical attacker while Ancientpower might give +1 to everything and suddenly turn Togetic unbreakable. Softboiled is a nice recovery move and used against special attackers. Cleric Nature: Calm Ability: Serene Grace EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Wish Protect Heal Bell Tri Attack - Togetic can be a nice cleric too. Checks and Counters: Physical rock-types have easiest time breaking Togetic but Electric-types work as well because they can 2HKO with STAB Thunderbolt. [/spoiler] Torkoal BST: 470 (70/85/140/85/70/20) - There a lot of uses for Torkoal. It is an excellent check to so many Choice Banders that don't base on QuakeSlide, it is one of the premiere Rapid Spinners of NU tier and just overall it has nice stats. [spoiler] Physically Defensive Nature: Relaxed EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Flamethrower / Fire Blast / Overheat Toxic Rapid Spin / Earthquake / Hidden Power Grass Rapid Spin / Earthquake / Hidden Power Grass - An excellent check to physical attackers. Also Rapid Spin makes it an excellent utility. Curse Nature: Impish/Relaxed EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Curse Earthquake Flame Wheel Rock Slide - Torkoal can be rather effective Curse user. Only 1-2 Curses up and this thing becomes unbreakable from physical side. Checks and Counters: Every specially offensive Water-type is a hard counter. Lunatone with Ancientpower also counters Torkoal hard. Choice Band Ground-types are also doing massive damage despite Torkoal's high bulk but stuff like Whiscash and Golem should be afraid of that Hidden Power Grass. [/spoiler]

Roselia BST: 400 (50/60/45/100/80/65) - Alongside of Cacturne, Roselia is one of the premier Spikers in the tier. [spoiler] Spikes Nature: Calm Ability: Natural Cure EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Spikes Giga Drain Toxic Protect / Hidden Power Rock - Find a specially offensive opponent which you may set up against and get as many layers of Spikes as possible. Toxic incoming spinners and Protect to drain more damage down. Hidden Power Rock is nice coverage move for incoming Flying, Fire and Bug types which Giga Drain hits only 1/2x effective. Checks and Counters: Every fire-type and even Psychic-type, really which can easily set up on Roselia. Glalie is also a nice counter spiker. First of all it forces Roselia out probably with STAB Ice Beam but Taunt also avoids making it to do anything. [/spoiler] Sableye BST: 380 (50/75/75/65/65/50) - Not even close being the kind of a wall it used to be with the increased firepower in NU but it has gained a really viable role in NU: It is the most reliable spinblocker in the tier. [spoiler] Wall Nature: Impish EV Spread: 252 HP split def Item: Leftovers Toxic Recover Faint Attack Night Shade - Sableye's standard walling set which doesn't concentrate on giving massive damage more than constantly switching in on Spinners. Fixed 50 power move for a wall is nice and Faint Attack is a nice STAB move to have something going for that mediocre 75 base attack. Team Synergy: Clerics help this thing so much. Checks and Counters: Toxic, mainly. Also Pokemon with high offensive power can break through Sableye too. [/spoiler] Sandslash BST: 450 (75/100/110/45/55/65) - Sandslash is legit. One could argue it's inferior to Golem in its role but Sandslash has a nice thing of being really reliable check to almost all Electric-types since it has no 4x weaknesses opponents could abuse that hard. [spoiler]Swords Dance Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed or 252 Attack 252 HP Item: Leftovers Swords Dance Substitute Earthquake Rock Slide - Nice little QuakeSlide set with Swords Dance. Probably the best offensive set for Sandslash. Choice Band Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed or 252 Attack 252 HP Item: Choice Band Earthquake Rock Slide Iron Tail Return - A bit meh Choice Band set which too much relies on the EQ spam. Physically Defensive / Utility Nature: Impish EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Super Fang Earthquake Knock Off / Toxic Rapid Spin / Toxic - Sandslash has some nice utility value with being first of all nice physical sweeper check but as well it can Rapid Spin and stuff. Checks and Counters: Tangela and Bellossom counter Sandslash so awfully hard. Glalie and Politoed are also really good things against Sandslash. Specially offensive Pokemon generally work good enough checks as long they won't take much damage from EQ. [/spoiler] Scyther BST: 500 (70/110/80/55/80/105) - Scyther is easily one of the top tier sweepers in NU tier. Its movepool isn't that amazing and the main STAB is only 60 power but the sheer base stats and high speed make Scyther nothing short of amazing in NU tier. [spoiler] Credits to KaynineXL for the sets (modified slightly myself) "Reversal Nature: Jolly/Adamant Item: Salac berry/Liechi Berry Evs: 252Attack / 252 speed - Reversal - Sub/Endure - Wing Attack - Swords Dance * Solid reversal user. There don't seem to be many flying/levitates in NU so it's a good choice to switch from EQs/spikes. Choice Band Nature: Jolly/Adamant Item: Choice band Evs: 252 Attack / 252 Speed - Wing Attack - Return / Double-Edge - Brick Break - Quick Attack/Pursuit * The overly used Hitmontop cannot switch into a CB Scyther(if adamant) which makes it deadly in a team, especially if the opponent has nothing to take a flying attack. " Checks and Counters: Armaldo, Solrock, Lunatone and Cradily are the main counters to Scyther. Armaldo, Solrock and Lunatone pretty much walls it completely while having a 4x rock move against it and Cradily has to be afraid of Brick Break but against SubVersal set it can just set up Curses. [/spoiler] Seaking BST: 450 (80/92/65/65/80/68) - Seaking isn't an awful Rain Dance sweeper by any means but I feel like it's just inferior to everyone else. [spoiler] Rain Dance Sweeper Nature: Adamant Ability: Swift Swim EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Lum Berry Rain Dance Waterfall Megahorn Return / Double-Edge - The only set it can get for Rain Dance sweeping but it gets the job done. Waterfall is the main STAB, Megahorn is especially nice to cover all the pesky incoming Grass-types. Return / Double-Edge is just the last move it gets. Checks and Counters: Despite Megahorn, Tangela is an excellent counter. Mantine and Poliwrath walls Seaking completely minus the Normal-type move so they work nicely too. [/spoiler] Seviper BST: 458 (73/100/60/100/60/65) - The more specially offensive snake in NU tier meaning it has a nice move to spam. Seviper's movepool is also pretty nice covering pretty much everything. Unfortunately, though Seviper is just way too paper defensively and its speed isn't really enough for sweeping anything. [spoiler] Mixed Sweeper Nature: Mild/Rash EV Spread: 252 Special Attack 252 Speed Item: Lum Berry Sludge Bomb Flamethrower Giga Drain Crunch / Earthquake - This set has an excellent coverage. Sludge Bomb is the no coverage but overall most powerful STAB move, Giga Drain and Flamethrower are just strong overall special moves. Crunch is a nice physical move to hit hard any Psychic-type trying to counter Seviper while Earthquake is mainly good for other Poison-types. Glare by OldKeith Quiet Nature 92 HP/ 164 Atk / 252 Satk Glare Giga Drain Earthquake Sludge Bomb "Glare helps it outspeed pretty much anything despite the -speed nature. The special attack is maximized to do as much damage as possible and have a very high chance to one shot 252HP Whiscash via Giga Drain. The HP investment takes it to 160 HP, for extra recovery. The rest is dumped into attack, and it has enough to guarantee a 2hko 252 HP impish Aggron. The final slot should be used for Sludge Bomb, due to STAB, high damage output and the possibility to status, if you choose not to Glare. The sad thing about Seviper is that despite having fantastic offensive pool and atk/satk bases, its frailty makes it hard for it to switch in, so it can be seen as a niche or a wallbreaker. It can come in on Tangela, Muk, Absol, Cacturne, Roselia, Bellossom, Jumpluff and punish them with status or some hard hits. But that is about all it can do." Checks and Counters: Nidoking and Queen are the best overall counters to Seviper. Armaldo and Cradily with Earthquake work well too. Psychic-types are all reliable checks but need to switch in for a special attack. [/spoiler] Sharpedo BST: 460 (70/120/40/95/40/95) - 120 Base attack with two powerful STABs hit just so insanely hard. However, base 40 defenses indicate this Pokemon has tough time switching in to literally everything and is really prone to priority. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Jolly EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Choice Band Waterfall Crunch Earthquake Ice Beam - The purpose of this set is to predict the correct play of opponent and just hit with devastating power with two STABs and Earthquake. Ice Beam is there for Tangela and physically defensive Cacturne which would counter Sharpedo hard otherwise. Other options: I guess you could run Sharpedo not CBd to not be locked to moves and "surprise" Cacturne and Tangela but I don't recommend. I think CB set is the only way to go. Checks and Counters: As long as you don't get Ice Beamed, Cacturne and Tangela are perfect to Sharpedo. However, they still need to scout whether Sharpedo really is a Choice Bander but this can be done by calculating the damage when switched in. Other than that, Lapras with Thunderbolt and Poliwrath overall are just excellent counters. [/spoiler] Shedinja BST: 236 (1/90/45/30/30/40) - Shedinja is probably one the weirdest Pokemon in Pokemon history. Its unique ability Wonder Guard makes it to be immune to every attack that is not super effective, so 5/18 of all types can attack it. However, due Shedinja's always 1 HP there are plenty of other ways to kill a Shedinja such as Spikes or a Status which means Shedinja is really unreliable Pokemon but at best can even walls teams. Shedinja especially is good when not shown until late game and at best your opponent might close their client when they realize they have nothing to touch this Shedinja. [spoiler] Wonder Guard annoyer Nature: Adamant/Jolly EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Lum Berry Protect Return Thief Toxic - Toxic on the switch, protect for chip poison damage. Return and Thief give somewhat okay coverage. Checks and Counters: Well, having moves that can touch Shedinja is nice to begin with but Toxic and Spikes are the nemesis of Shedinja. [/spoiler] Shiftry BST: 480 (90/100/60/90/60/80) - Shiftry is a really diverse Pokemon and just overall stat wise really nice. It can Choice Band teams to oblivion, it can SunnyBeam with Chrolophyll ability, it can SubSeed.. Probably no other Pokemon in this game despite Gengar has so many different roles. The main downfall of Shiftry is that Signal Beam is probably the most overused move in NU tier so therefor easy to take down. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Adamant/Jolly Ability: Early Bird EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Leaf Blade Faint Attack Quick Attack Low Kick - Leaf Blade is the main spammable move with amazing 90 power and the fact nothing is immune to Grass. Faint Attack is other STAB on mostly Grass-resisted Pokemon and Psychic types which are sure to get OHKOd pretty much however they are invested. Quick Attack is nice because priority is nice and Low Kick is there for Cacturne, other Shiftry and Aggron. SunnyBeam Nature: Modest Ability: Chrolophyll EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Special Attack Item: Leftovers/Lum Berry Sunny Day Solarbeam Hidden Power Fire Explosion - A standard SunnyBeam set for Shiftry where Solarbeam does the damage and HP Fire does the coverage. Explosion may seem a bit weird move but the fact Ninetales and Rapidash could easily turn this against you the best option is just to explode away and make sure at least opponent didn't benefit from the sun. SubSeed Nature: Timid EV Spread: 252 Speed, split defenses Item: Leftovers Substitute Leech Seed Giga Drain Synthesis - Ooh the classic annoyer SubSeed. Obviously not as good as Jumpluff at this but less expected. Team Synergy: For SunnyBeam set a Ninetales/Rapidash is a nice team member. In case you need to explode your teammate can just take it from there and if you took opposing Ninetales/Rapidash down then your own can do massive damage. Checks and Counters: Rapidash and Ninetales, mostly. They stop SunnyBeam as well they can take any spammable Leaf Blade if not easily then at least sufficiently. Seviper is also one of the premier counters to Shiftry as well. [/spoiler]

Pinsir BST: 500 (65/125/100/55/70/85) - The bug that clearly lifts. Pinsir is the most physically powerful Pokemon in the NU tier and has relatively nice speed. The main downside of is the lack of STAB but it doesn't take away the fact Pinsir is one of the top tier NUs easily. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Choice Band Earthquake Superpower Rock Slide Quick Attack - When this thing gets in, it's almost guaranteed something is going down. Base 125 Attack especially in NU tier combined with Choice Band just makes overall damage always so you don't generally have to make even hero plays. Swords Dance Nature: Adamant/Jolly EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Salac Berry Swords Dance Superpower Earthquake Rock Slide / Quick Attack - If you trust your predictions skills and luck of getting in the Salac Range then Swords Dance set can easily give you sweeps. Flail Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed (if Sub makes sure you get under 3% HP when 4 Subs has been done) Item: Salac Berry Flail Substitute / Endure Superpower Rock Slide - Because there's a lot of reason to run priority in NU I feel like this is a bit too unreliable set to use but hey, it might work. Checks and Counters: Solrock and Lunatone are by far the best counters to Pinsir due to walling Pinsir completely not including Superpower. Bulky Armaldo is a really good check. [/spoiler] Plusle BST: 405 (60/50/40/85/75/95) - Like Minun, Plusle doesn't do anything either that Electabuzz doesn't do. [spoiler] Special Sweeper Nature: Timid EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Sp. Atk Item: Petaya Berry Thunderbolt Signal Beam Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Water Substitute / Encore [/spoiler] Politoed BST: 500 (90/75/75/90/100/75) - Excellent counter for the massive amount of Rock-types in the tier for being fast, bulky and not partially Ice-type. Overall just really good NU Mon, 500 Base Stat total ranks among the top of NU. The movepool is sufficient. There's a lot of reasons to use Politoed, however in the current usage table it sits at 0% which I find really weird. [spoiler] Bulky Water Nature: Modest/Calm Ability: Water Absorb EV Spread: 252 HP; last is pretty much up to preference Item: Leftovers Surf Ice Beam Hidden Power Electric / Toxic / Encore / Counter / Lovely Kiss / Psychic Hidden Power Electric / Toxic / Encore / Counter / Lovely Kiss / Psychic - Politoed is the best off being a bulky water-type countering Rock-types. Ice Beam is the good old move that every Water-type has but the last 2 moves are harder to choose. Hidden Power Electric prevents Water-types walling you: Especially having no coverage against Poliwrath can be fatal to your team. Toxic and Lovely Kiss are nice status moves while Counter seems really good with high special defense to lure opponents hit rather on your physical side - and KO them. Checks and Counters: Electric-types are the obvious hard counters but other than that getting a winning match ups switching against Politoed is pretty hard. Grumpig as well as other Calm Minders can be pretty nice but make sure you're not getting Encored. [/spoiler] Poliwrath BST: 500 (90/85/95/70/90/70) - Poliwrath is a monster. Due to wide amount of possible physical moveset this Pokemon will always keep you alarmed. Poliwrath's Belly Drum set is one of the main reasons why priority should be run in NU a lot. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Adamant/Jolly Ability: Water Absorb EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Choice Band Waterfall Brick Break Earthquake Ice Punch - The standard CB set of Poliwrath which packs a lot of power. Two powerful STABs and two nice coverage moves make this CB set simple, yet effective. Bulk Up Nature: Careful Ability: Water Absorb EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Bulk Up Waterfall Brick Break Ice Punch - Wrath has really nice bulk so it makes it a possible to make Poliwrath to be a really effective Bulk Up user which isn't easy to take down. DrumWrath Nature: Jolly Ability: Water Absorb EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Salac Berry Substitute Belly Drum Waterfall Brick Break - Oh god. This thing. This thing given the right circumstances just sweeps. Especially with Memento support getting this set up is pretty easy. Just hope opponent has no priority or Electrode! ​ GBush defensive Poliwrath set: [spoiler]Def Wall Wrath Impish / Relaxed 252 HP / 252 Def Surf Body Slam / Ice Beam / Brick Break Toxic / Encore / Haze Protect / Rest Basically pairs well with Armaldo + Shuckle + Magcargo. Can bring in against the dreaded Sharpedo or Kabutops or belly drum Wrath. The handy resist to rock and having very nice bulk makes this useful. Plus getting in a hit or toxic into a poke that thinks you are going to set up is a nice surprise as well.[/spoiler] Checks and Counters: One does not simply counter a Poliwrath in NU. Seriously. Especially the fact every "overprediction" might turn into a BellySweep makes you play really conservatively against Poliwrath. [/spoiler] Primeape BST: 455 (65/105/60/60/70/95) - Primeape is pretty legit physical sweeper. Wide coverage with the movepool with elemental punches and such. However, being one of the only fight-types to not get a move Superpower this is quite unfortunate that Primeape doesn't have that strong of a move to spam. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Jolly/Adamant EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Low Kick Thunderpunch Thief Earthquake / Fire Punch - Low Kick is the spammable move of Primeape: Luckily for it a lot of the stuff in NU is pretty heavy. Thunderpunch covers Mantine as well as Pelipper, Thief is needed for incoming Psychic-types to counter Primeape. Earthquake does nice damage on Poison making it arguable the last go to move but if you feel like you rather don't want to get walled by Grass-types, then Fire Punch is the move to go. Checks and Counters: Banette and Sableye are the best to come in to the Low Kick spam. Sableye won't even take a lot of damage from other moves too. As you can pretty much always tell Primeape is a Choice Bander, don't get predicted with Thief and Psychic types work well too. Scyther also need to get predicted with Thunderpunch/FirePunch, other than that a really reliable counter. [/spoiler] Qwilfish BST: 430 (65/95/75/55/55/85) - With all the water-types you can choose from to your team, this falls really behind in that race. The main problem is its annoyingly narrow offensive movepool. However, it's one of the best Destiny Bond users due to Toxic immunity and works nicely as a Spiker. [spoiler] Flail + Destiny Bond Nature: Adamant Ability: Poison Point EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Salac Berry Endure Flail Destiny Bond Waterfall - Cause damage to opponent until it's a good moment to predict the Endure and either hit hard with Flail or if the damage is not sufficient then Destiny Bond the opponent. Poison Point and Endure is also a nice combo to drain the maximum damage in poison before going for the Flail. Qwilfish is also a really good Destiny Bond user due to Toxic immunity. Destiny Spiker Nature: Jolly Ability: Poison Point EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Speed Item: Leftovers Spikes Waterfall Destiny Bond Return / Double-Edge - The purpose of this set is to be bulky, get as many spikes as possible and Destiny Bond when the HP is low. Return / Double-Edge may seem a bit redundant move but the amount of Water Absorb and especially DrumWrath set make it a necessity. Checks and Counters: Since a Qwilfish really shouldn't be a Choice Bander due to awful movepool, every Electric-type works. Watch out for EndSalacBond, though. Lapras with Thunderbolt and Walrein with Earthquake is a really hard counter too. [/spoiler] Raichu BST: 475 (60/90/55/90/80/100) - "Real mice have curves" OrangeManiac 2015 Self-quote fuck you However, I cannot argue that competitively Raichu is inferior to its pre-evolution, Pikachu. Despite Raichu being defensively not that much of a paper and has higher speed, the lower offensive power make Raichu arguably lose the battle in the race of viability. [spoiler] Mixed Sweeper Nature: Hasty/Naive EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Special Attack Item: Lum Berry / Petaya Berry Thunderbolt Surf Hidden Power Ice / Grass / Signal Beam Extremespeed / Substitute - Standard mixed sweeper set for Raichu. SubVersal Nature: Hasty/Naive EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Liechi Berry Substitute Reversal Hidden Power Grass Extremespeed - A moveset Pikachu cannot pull as effectively as Raichu. What might be really notable here is that the lack of any STAB might be really weird. The quick reasoning for this is that other moves are just needed for this set and the two main bulky water-types in the tier are also partically Ice-type so Reversal hits them hard. When over 100 speeders are down, this can sweep nicely. Checks and Counters: Like Pikachu, the wide movepool doesn't give much counters to Raichu at all. Special Defensive Hitmontop is probably the best check though if it has Earthquake. Curse Cradily can set up against Reversal set so it works too. However, by no means Raichu is amazing due to being hard counter - it's sweeping isn't effortless at all. [/spoiler] Rapidash BST: 500 (65/100/70/80/80/105) - The go-to Fire-type if Grumpig annoys the heck out of you. When Ninetales is more Special fire-type, Rapidash is more physical one yet they both commonly opt to go for the SunnyBeam set. But Rapidash is harder to counter. By base stats you could think Rapidash could be a nice physical sweeper but unfortunately the movepool is just meh at best. [spoiler] Horny SunnyBeam Nature: Hasty Ability: Flash Fire EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Special Attack Item: Lum Berry Sunny Day Solarbeam Flamethrower / Fire Blast Megahorn - Sunny Beam usually gives all the coverage you need but the Megahorn is amazing move to those cheeky Grumpigs who think they can take all the heat just because they're fat. Choice Band Nature: Adamant/Jolly Ability: Flash Fire EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Flame Wheel Iron Tail Megahorn Low Kick - This moveset doesn't have bad coverage but what really makes it kinda meh is that the STAB move of Rapidash in this is set is only base 60 power. 100 Attack makes this set hit hard nevertheless. Checks and Counters: Cradily is the main counter to Rapidash. It only has problems with CB Megahorn. It does massive damage even with uninvested Rock Slide to Rapidash. Every water-type basically is a check to Rapidash. They work - if Rapidash doesn't Sunny Day. Golduck is a counter to Rapidash when it has been scouted to not be a Choice Bander. [/spoiler] Raticate BST: 413 (55/81/60/50/70/97) - Coin wrote such a nice input on Raticate so I'll just copy paste it. [spoiler] "- Even with Raticates fairly bad Base Stats it's actually a force to be reckoned with. The move pool of Raticate is quite limited but the moves that it does get are very useful. Its speed is quite good for NU(163 at best) and it have good STAB moves like Return, Double Edge, Body Slam, Quick attack and Facade. Pair the last one with its Ability GUTS and you have a rat that really packs a punch. The STAB moves are easily walled by ghost type Pokemon but Crunch and even Pursuit make up for this. Also the fact that Raticate have access to Swords Dance makes it really scary. Whenever you encounter a rat, be afraid! Swords Dance Sweeper Nature: Jolly/Adamant Ability: Guts EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Salac Berry Swords Dance Crunch/Flame Wheel/Return Endure/Substitute Reversal - Even though this set is very gimmicky if you get to set up two or three Swords Dances its pretty much gg, that is if the other team doesn't have a Pokemon with a priority move of course. Swords Dance Quick Attacker Nature: Adamant/Jolly Ability: Guts EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Leftovers/Liechi Berry Quick Attack Swords Dance/Super Fang Return/Facade/Double Edge Crunch/Flame Wheel - It can be a bit hard to set up Swords Dance with Raticate since it can often only take one hit before the next one will kill it. So try to use Swords Dance on predicted switches, with that said Raticate can still be surprisingly bulky. Choice Band Nature: Adamant/Jolly Ability: Guts EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Return/Facade/Double Edge Crunch Flame Wheel Quick Attack - This set is best used as a revenge killer or in the late game against weakened Pokemon." [/spoiler] Relicanth BST: 485 (100/90/130/45/65/55) - There's just so much stuff to like about Relicanth. The base stats, the typing and its STABs, the ability Swift Swim. So much is going for Relicanth. Also it's one of the most reliable answers to one of the scariest sweepers in the tier: Zangoose. [spoiler] Rain Dance Sweeper Nature: Adamant Ability: Swift Swim EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Lum Berry Rain Dance Waterfall Rock Slide Earthquake - Relicanth's main set at the moment. Rain Dance boosts Relicanth's only bad stat to really high numbers and then just causes overall huge damage. Choice Band Nature: Adamant/Jolly Ability: Rock Head EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 HP or 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Choice Band Waterfall Rock Slide Earthquake Double-Edge - If you don't wanna waste time, just cause massive damage with Relicanth - right off the bat! Checks and Counters: Tangela is the hardest counter a man can get. Bellossom also works pretty amazingly but harder to live CB hits. Carrying Hidden Power Grass here and there is a nice way to keep Relicanth highly in checks. [/spoiler]

Ninjask BST: 456 (61/90/45/50/50/160) - The Pokemon known to be a reliable Baton Pass team supporter finds itself being practically worthless in a game where Baton Pass is banned. The high speed makes the great ability Speed Boost redundant and the fact Ninjask's offensive movepool is just one of the worst in the game because it's so easy to wall makes it useless to say the least. [spoiler] Swords Dance Nature: Jolly/Naive/Adamant/Naughty EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Attack Item: Leftovers Swords Dance Aerial Ace Return / Thief Giga Drain - Since Jolly gives so massive boost on speed it's generally a good option to go for it to guarantee a first hit against whatever Salac you might face but putting all the EVs on HP and Attack is just easily much more sensible. Using + Attack nature might also be wise if you find Electrode pointless. Ninjask's offensive movepool is just plain awful, Aerial Ace is its main physical STAB and Return and Thief are just meh but pick one. Giga Drain is there for Golem and Relicanth especially which would just straight laugh at Ninjask but 4x is never something a Pokemon appreciates. Checks and Counters: Literally every Rock and Steel type that isn't 4x weak to Giga Drain. Ampharos is really good too. [/spoiler] Noctowl BST: 442 (100/50/50/76/96/70) - Noctowl is just meh. To begin with it has awful movepool. The only way you can really utilize this Pokemon is to Whirlwind Pokemon away when you have Spikes up but that's pretty much it. [spoiler] Special tank Nature: Calm Ability: Keen Eye if you run Rest, Insomnia if you don't EV Spread: 252 HP, 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Toxic Night Shade Whirlwind / Hyper Voice Whirlwind / Rest - Toxic everything you can, then add some nice fixed 50 HP damage with Night Shade. Hyper Voice is a nice special offensive STAB with nice power but Night Shade might just be enough alone to prevent any Substitutes and set ups. Whirlwind is if you have a Spiker in your team to wear opponent down with those. Rest will give maximum longevity but make sure you have no Insomnia ability or it doesn't work. And for Rest set, make sure you have cleric. Checks and Counters: Pretty much every physical attacker ever. [/spoiler] Nosepass BST: 375 (30/45/135/45/90/30) - From all the bulky Rock-types you can get why should it be this one? [spoiler]Pain Split Nature: Impish EVs: 252 HP, 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Toxic Pain Split Substitute Rock Slide / Explosion - Well if Nosepass is good at something then it's utilizing Pain Split with sky high defenses and ridiculously low base HP. Basically Toxic your opponent, set up a Sub if you can and Pain Split the opponent's HP back. Rock Slide is the STAB that does I guess SOME damage but if something wants to set up on you the best bet is just to Explode the hell out of there. Checks and Counters: Try to not get Toxiced when switched and if you do make sure that something is a cleric. Due to Toxic immunity Aggron and Metang are pretty good counters but any Grass, Water type works really [/spoiler] Octillery BST: 480 (75/105/75/105/75/45) - Nice base stat total for a NU but two things make it rather mediocre at best. 1) The high physical attack is redundant to say the least. 2) The low speed most often make it get 2HKOd by a lot of stuff so it's usually faint before it gets any kind of a chance to shine. [spoiler] Special Attacker Nature: Modest EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Atk Item: Leftovers Surf Thunder Wave Ice Beam Flamethrower / Fire Blast / Psychic - Your best bet is to Thunder Wave your opponent to be slower than you and cause all the damage you can with the nice water/ice and fire or psychic combo. If your opponent has a Lum then tough luck pal. Checks and Counters: Other water-types, especially Lapras. Ampharos is also really nice being slow but still faster than Octillery. Bellossom has harder time switching in but the Giga Drain will get plenty of that HP back. [/spoiler] Parasect BST: 405 (60/95/80/60/80/30) - I should say something probably but... I don't want the whole Pokemon Aura trying to get after me for sacrilege. [spoiler] Tank Nature: Brave EVs: 252 HP 252 Attack Item: Leftovers Spore Return Giga Drain Light Screen / Knock Off - Parasect has kinda narrow movepool so Return + Giga Drain are probably the go to moves. Spore is nice with 100% accuracy giving you free sleep turns for sure. Light Screen / Knock Off gives some nice support for team: Checks and Counters: Literally every Pokemon with Flying or Fire attack. [/spoiler] Pelipper BST: 430 (60/50/100/85/70/65) - Pelipper is rather tanky but it doesn't have really moves that would complete a defensive Pokemon. [spoiler] ToxicProtect + STABs Nature: Modest/Bold EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Atk Item: Leftovers Toxic Protect Surf / Hydro Pump Air Cutter - A simple but a good way to utilize Pelipper's bulk for Toxicing as well as rather nice 85 special attack with two stabs which give sufficient coverage. Other options: Knock Off is a cool move but running mono-water attack is dangerous. Checks and Counters: Literally every Electric-type. Lapras with Thunderbolt and any Water-type with Hidden Power Electric is a counter too. [/spoiler] Persian BST: 440 (65/70/60/65/65/115) - Persian has tools to be usable. It has nice speed standing on the top of all used NUs. It has Fake Out which can annoy Pikachu nicely. However, things go south when you see this thing's offensive movepool which is just unfortunately narrow. Also base 70 attack for a Choice Bander just isn't quite a lot. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Jolly EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Return Fake Out Bite Iron Tail - Basically the only physical set you can build for Persian. Return is the main STAB, Iron Tail covers incoming rocks and Bite is just.. well covers Ghosts I guess? SubFlail Nature: Jolly EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack (make sure you have under 3% under 4 Subs) Item: Liechi Berry Substitute Flail Iron Tail Swagger - This set is really risky, especially due to Swagger. However it's a nice move to when behind a Substitute make Steel-types hit itself to make them faint when there isn't much you can do yourself. Also when you know Flail isn't gonna do enough for one Pokemon, Swagger is a nice move to risk it for the biscuit. Iron Tail is the needed coverage move on rocks. Checks and Counters: Steel-types absolutely shut Persian down. Relicanth is also as hard as a counter as it gets. Hitmontop with Intimidate can also come in for Persian which doesn't do that much damage with Choice Band Return to it and Mach Punch deals with it quite nicely. [/spoiler] Pidgeot BST: 469 (83/80/75/70/70/91) - Nice base stats but the way it can be walled a bit too easily makes it a bit unreliable. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Jolly/Adamant EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Return Wing Attack Steel Wing Hidden Power Grass - Return and Wing Attack are two pretty nice moves to spam, especially late game. However, being walled pretty hard by stuff sucks. This makes Hidden Power Grass being viable to hit Golem, Relicanth and Kabutops 4x. Steel Wing is the CB move for Armaldo and Cradily. Checks and Counters: Unless Pidgeot wants to run Heat Wave for whatever weird reason, Metang counters Pidgeot completely. Sableye and Duskull also completely shut Pudgeot down. Armaldo and Solrock counter Pidgeot but literally any Rock-types at least works as a check. [/spoiler] Piloswine BST: 450 (100/100/80/60/60/50) - Icicle Spear becoming base 25 power gave a nice niche to Piloswine over other Ground-types: Grass-types aren't safe counters to it anymore. Still outclassed by most parts by likes of Golem, Nidos, etc. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Adamant/Jolly EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Attack or 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Earthquake Superpower Rock Slide Icicle Spear - Pretty standard CB set. Checks and Counters: Piloswine's CB set is now pretty hard to counter as it hits hard and has notable coverage. Fast offense however makes sure Piloswine doesn't do much as due to its numerous weaknesses + not that insane bulk. [/spoiler]

Masquerain BST: 414 (70/60/62/80/82/60) - Why do GameFreak make almost all bug-types so bad? At least Masquerain is better than the lv 10 fully evolved ones. [spoiler] Special Sweeper Nature: Modest EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Sp. Atk or 252 HP 252 Sp. Atk Item: Leftovers Signal Beam Air Cutter Giga Drain Toxic / Protect / Whirlwind / Shadow Ball - Signal Beam + Air Cutter combo is pretty nice, Giga Drain is awesome against Relicanth and Golem that could wall it pretty hard. Last move is harder to pick: Toxic is always cool but Protect can be used for scout purposes of a Choice Bander, Whirlwind to phaze Spikes and Shadow Ball is strong on Banette or Duskull. Checks and Counters: You don't really need to look far. [/spoiler] Mawile BST: 380 (50/85/85/55/55/50) - Intimidate and Steel type make Mawile a somewhat usable defensive wall. Only major drawback is Mawile's poor base stats but those make nothing unusable alone, obviously. [spoiler] Pain Split Wall Nature: Impish Ability: Intimidate EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Pain Split Taunt Toxic Super Fang / Knock Off - Put up Toxic, Taunt if opponent might set up and Pain Split HP back. When HP is running lower switch to another Pokemon and try to Pain Split some HP back later. Choice Band Nature: Adamant Ability: Intimidate EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Return Crunch Thunderpunch Brick Break - Lack of stab hurts a lot but I guess it can cause some kind of a surprise that it's not a Wall-wile. Checks and Counters: Ground, Fire and Fight-types counter Mawile only by type advantage and they don't need really be afraid of anything Mawile might hit them. [/spoiler] Metang BST: 420 (60/75/100/55/80/50) - Metang doesn't seem so nice in paper but it actually fits in NU metagame due to the low amount of Steel-types in this tier and Aggron is just really unreliable. It can work as a check to those multiple Return spammers in this tier. Also the move Pursuit is amazing to trap Psychic-types in this tier which STAB is only 1/4x effective on Metang. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Meteor Mash Earthquake Pursuit Thunderpunch - Even though Metang is quite defensive bulky it has really no defensive moveset so CB is pretty much the way to go. Meteor Mash is amazing STAB, EQ covers a lot of ground and Pursuit traps Psychic-types nicely. Thunderpunch hits Water-types nicely, especially Mantine and Pelipper who would otherwise wall Metang. Checks and Counters: Sandslash is the most idiot proof counter with high defense and STAB EQ. Nidos and all the Fire-types are decent enough checks. Also pure water-types are pretty reliable to stop the Meteor Mash spam but they have to be a bit careful of that Thunderpunch. [/spoiler] Mightyena BST: 420 (70/90/70/60/60/70) - So massively out classed by Absol as a Dark-type physical attacker not only by attack stat but Mightyena's movepool is just plain awful. It's not enough to have even a complete Choice Band set. Therefor probably the best bet is to go tanky cleric as it gets Heal Bell from BP now. [spoiler]Tanky Cleric doge Nature: Impish EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Heal Bell Crunch Super Fang Roar / Toxic - Heal Bell is a nice support for teammates as well as Super Fang causing half damage is also a cool move. Crunch is the mandatory STAB. Toxic is always cool but so is Roar if your team has a Spiker. Checks and Counters: Fight-types, like Hitmontop, Hitmonchan, Primeape just flat out laugh at Mightyena. Bug-types which is offensively good against Mightyena as well, however are usually just unviable. But finding checks for this should be really easy.[/spoiler] Minun BST: 405 (60/40/50/75/85/95) - Minun does nothing that Electabuzz doesn't do. [spoiler] Special Sweeper Nature: Timid EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Sp. Atk Item: Petaya Berry Thunderbolt Signal Beam Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Water Substitute / Encore - Pretty much the only set for Minun. But like I said, no reason at all to run over Electrabuzz. [/spoiler] Misdreavus BST: 435 (60/60/60/85/85/85) - Misdreavus is an excellent NU Pokemon with a really good typing and ability giving 3 resistances. It's offensive power is sufficient enough to make it a viable addition to every team. [spoiler] Calm Mind Nature: Bold EVs: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Calm Mind Substitute Shadow Ball Thunderbolt - Pretty self-explanatory. At best switch into a Choice Band Fight/Ground/Normal attack, set up Sub and start setting up. PerishTrap Nature: Bold EVs: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Perish Song Mean Look Protect Substitute - Force a switch, Mean Look the opponent and more often than not one kill is guaranteed. Checks and Counters: A lot of stuff are checks to Misdreavus but it doesn't have many idiot proof counters. However, Sneasel is probably the best and most reliable one way to deal with Misdreavus. [/spoiler] Mr. Mime BST: 460 (40/45/65/100/120/90) - The specially defensively amazing NU Psychic type. While Grumpig is defensively nice with Thick Fat, Mr. Mime has its place on the metagame being offensively a bit better due to having Thunderbolt on its movepool. [spoiler]Fast Calm Mind Nature: Modest/Timid EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Sp. Atk Item: Lum Berry Psychic Calm Mind Signal Beam Thunderbolt / Hidden Power Ground - The main reason to go for fast Calm Mind is Absol being slower than Mr. Mime so you won't get Pursuit trapped without doing at least some damage to it. Psychic is the obvious STAB and Signal Beam is there obviously main for Dark-types. Thunderbolt is a nice coverage move but if you wanna surprise Steel-types, Hidden Power Ground is also nice. Bulky Calm Mind Nature: Calm EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Calm Mind Psychic Signal Beam Thunderbolt / Hidden Power Ground - The same set as above but overall probably better than the fast one. But this one is really prone to Absol. Checks and Counters: Dark-types Sharpedo and Absol has really tough time coming against Mime due to Signal Beam and Thunderbolt especially on Sharpedo. But predicted on a Psychic or a Calm Mind which are usually the go-to moves they can do work. Physical Pokemon with high special defense generally work as nice Mime checks.[/spoiler] Murkrow BST: 405 (60/85/42/85/42/91) - From all the glass cannons in the world, Murkrow is probably the worst. [spoiler]Choice Band Nature: Hasty/Naive EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Pursuit Drill Peck Hidden Power Ground / Hidden Power Grass Double-Edge - Quite awful coverage, you need Hidden Power Ground to protect from getting completely walled by the likes of Aggron, Golem and Relicanth. Pursuit trapping is nice, though. [/spoiler] Nidoking BST: 495 (81/92/77/85/75/85) - Probably widest offensive movepool in the whole game. Amazing base stats for a NU as well. Nidoking is a really reliable sweeper which you can work as a physical, special or mixed variant therefor really unpredictable. [spoiler]Choice Band Nature: Adamant/Jolly EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Earthquake Megahorn Superpower Thunderpunch - STAB Earthquake is usually the go to move and others just back it up. Especially Megahorn makes Nidoking amazing physical sweeper because it can cover Lunatone and Solrock nicely. Superpower has all that lovely Fighting-type coverage and Thunderpunch is there to avoid getting completely walled by Mantine. Mixed Sweeper Nature: Hasty/Naive EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Special Attack Item: Lum Berry/Leftovers Sludge Bomb Thunderbolt Earthquake Megahorn / Lovely Kiss / Surf - The moveset to utilize Nidoking's special STAB mainly. Thunderbolt is a great coverage move, Earthquake is just a too good move not to use. Megahorn gives that sweet Solrock/Lunatone coverage but Surf instead of is an option, especially considering how it hits Armaldo pretty hard. Lovely Kiss is to get some free turns to your team. Checks and Counters: Due to the amazing movepool, hard if not impossible to counter. Politoed however is the most reliable counter. Lapras and Walrein seem to work as well but Superpower hurts.[/spoiler] Nidoqueen BST: 495 (90/82/87/75/85/76) - The more defensive counterpart of Nidoking. Unfortunately, this bulk is rather bad compared to offensive power due to high amount weaknesses Nidos have and that takes away Nidoqueen being any kind of a defensive role filler. In addition, Nidoqueen gets really nothing that Nidoking gets but the biggest difference with these two are that Nidoking gets a Megahorn and Nidoqueen doesn't. Due to these reasons Nidoqueen is highly outclassed by Nidoking, in my opinion. [spoiler] Bulky Queen Nature: Impish EV Spread: 252 HP split defenses Item: Leftovers Toxic Morning Sun Protect / Super Fang / Surf Earthquake - Toxic + Morning Sun is a nice combo for stalling. Nidoqueen doesn't do it that amazingly but at least in some way. You can add Protect to both drain more Toxic damage as well as to scout the opponent nicely. Earthquake is the best overall damaging move for Nidoqueen and just too good to not use. If you would hate to be set up on with a Substitute by a Pokemon resisting Earthquake you can probably consider Super Fang or Surf to prevent that (since the main Pokemon that could do this are Lunatone and Solrock). Choice Band Nature: Adamant/Jolly EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Earthquake Superpower Thunderpunch IcePunch - Nidoqueen can be a Choice Bander despite being inferior to Nidoking at the role mainly to surprise. Earthquake and Superpower are the main moves, Thunderpunch mainly for Mantine and Ice Punch just might be the best overall move that is left for Nidoqueen. Mixed Sweeper Nature: Hasty/Naive EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Special Attack Item: Lum Berry/Leftovers Sludge Bomb Thunderbolt Earthquake Surf / Lovely Kiss - The Special Offensive Nidoqueen. Sludge Bomb is the go to special STAB, Thunderbolt is always a respectable coverage move. Earthquake gives the nice other STAB as Nidoqueen has no special Ground-type moves. Lovely Kiss can give some free turns but Surf is mainly good to hit Armaldo, Solrock and Lunatone super effectively. Fred's defensive Queen set: [spoiler] relaxed/impish 252 hp 252 def @leftovers -super fang -moonlight -earthquake - crunch or sludge bomb or ice beam you dont really need toxic to stop things from walling you, since 2x superfang put just about everything in range of a ko. between poison point and sbomb(if you run it) you will be getting lots of poison anyways. last 2 are for coverage. EQ is very good and crunch is nice to hit the ghost trying to soak up the fangs, but it's that good for most other things. sbomb is one of the best for general damage and poison is a plus. i beam hits golem and other ground/rock types hard, as well as the grass types trying to sponge up your eq's. [/spoiler] Checks and Counters: Lunatone and Solrock are relatively good counters since unlike Nidoking, Nidoqueen has no Megahorn. Other than that like on Nidoking, straight countering is hard due to wide movepool. Fast Poliwrath, however is a really good bet against Nidoqueen as well. [/spoiler] Ninetales BST: 505 (73/76/75/81/100/100) - One of the scariest sweepers in the NU tier. Doesn't get that wide movepool but nice little SunnyBeam set is usually enough to destroy a lot of Pokemon. Unfortunately though it can get quite easily fully countered not only by itself but Grumpig, Rapidash and Mantine quite annoyingly. [spoiler]Sunny Beam Nature: Timid EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Sp. Atk Item: Lum Berry/Leftovers Sunny Day Flamethrower Solarbeam Calm Mind / Hidden Power Ground / Hidden Power Electric - Just a basic SunnyBeam set which covers a lot of ground. Calm Mind is always a nice move to beat whatever Water-type you need to face giving some free set up but Hidden Power Ground helps being countered by other Ninetales and Rapidash while Hidden Power Electric avoids getting walled by Mantine. Pain Split Nature: Calm EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Pain Split Substitute Flamethrower Hidden Power Grass - It gets often forgotten Ninetales is rather bulky making it an excellent Pain Split tank. Because Ninetales is so much faster than its opponents it can purposely lose HP with Substitute to just gain it back from opponent, while it's a great move to get free turns. Flamethrower, however is the STAB to use and HP Grass helps from being covered from Golems, Whiscash and Water and Rock types in general. Checks and Counters. Rapidash, Grumpig and itself is the main counters to Ninetales. Golduck is a nice check being able to abuse the Sunny Day by ending it by switching in with Cloud Nine, having Ninetales locked to Solarbeam and being able to switch something to take that. Armaldo and Cradily serve as relatively good checks. Mantine is a really hard counter when the Hidden Power has been scouted away. [/spoiler]

Kabutops BST: 495 (60/115/105/65/70/80) - Kabutops is a really strong NU mon. Its ability Swift Swim makes it a quite nice of a Rain Dance sweeper but it can be just scary enough alone Choice Banding teams to oblivion. [spoiler] Rain Dance sweeper Nature: Adamant Ability: Swift Swim EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Atk Item: Lum Berry Rain Dance Waterfall Rock Slide Low Kick - Pretty self-explanatory. Set up rain. Sweep. Kabutops already being so fast and outspeeding everything in NU except Ninjask and Electrode in rain makes it a good idea to put the EVs on HP considering how rarely you see either of these Pokemon. Choice Band Nature: Adamant/Jolly Ability: Swift Swim is nice if you opponent seems to set up rain to help you but I think Battle Armor is overall better EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Waterfall Rock Slide Low Kick Ice Beam - Waterfall, Rock Slide and Low Kick are pretty much the only viable physical moves it has so Ice Beam is when it comes to not letting Tangela annoy the hell out of you. Kabutops might be expected to be usually Rain Dance sweepers so hitting right off the bat might surprise people. Checks and Counters: Tangela counters Kabutops so hard it's funny and a bulky Bellossom works too unless Choice Band Rock Slide hits it. Cloud Nine will slow down Rain Dance sweeps nicely. Other than that, switching against Kabutops is really hard. [/spoiler] Kadabra BST: 400 (40/35/30/120/70/105) - Really scary sweeper without a doubt due to sky high speed and special attack. However, there are already reasons why multiple NU Pokemon run (or should run) priority moves and that isn't helping Kadabra's case. [spoiler]Special Sweeper Nature: Timid Ability: Synchronize EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Sp. Atk Item: Lum Berry / Petaya Berry Calm Mind Psychic Signal Beam Hidden Power Ground / Substitute - Pull a Calm Mind against a special attacker, live a hit and start sweeping. Psychic + Signal Beam covers nicely except Steel-types and this is where HP Ground will help. Substitute is also an option to activate Petaya. Checks and Counters: Kadabra is probably one of the hardest NUs to counter. The 120 Special Attack is just so powerful. However, any physical attacker not dying to Psychic will most likely OHKO Kadabra due to awful physical defense and priority moves are never bad to have.[/spoiler] Kecleon BST: 440 (60/90/70/60/120/40) - This chameleon is just doing it wrong prior to Generation 6. Instead of Gen6 Kecleon's Protean where the typing is based on Kecleon's moves, Kecleon's Color Change makes Kecleon turn to whatever move opponent used against it and this makes opponent being able to 95% of the time used that ability against Kecleon. 120 Special Defense, however is pretty respectable. [spoiler]Special wall Nature: Careful EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Toxic Recover Knock Off Return - Toxic Recover is a nice combo and Knocking Off item is nice in the process. Return is the overall best move to make sure opponent's doesn't put up Substitutes and set up against you. Checks and Counters: Any physical attacker which may have two moves that may lead Kecleon being weak to the second attack. Also Toxic is nice.[/spoiler] Lapras BST: 535 (130/85/80/85/95/60) - Jack of all trades, master of some. However, Lapras's amazing base stat total for a NU makes it a really reliable Pokemon with both defensive cushioning as well as some major offensive presence. Lapras' movepool also is really good. [spoiler] Tank Nature: Bold Ability: Water Absorb EVs: 252 Defense, split HP/SpecialAtk/SpecialDefense however you like Surf Ice Beam Thunderbolt Psychic / Toxic - Standard special offensive Lapras set. Great at protecting your teammates and bringing Lapras to absorb a hit when you need it. Surf and Ice Beam are mandatory STABs, Thunderbolt is needed on water-types. Psychic is nice on getting some damage on Poison and Fight-types but Toxic is also very nice to put it on stuff like Grumpig you couldn't touch otherwise with this set. Dragon Dance Nature: Adamant Ability: Water Absorb EVs: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Leftovers Dragon Dance Waterfall Body Slam Substitute - This set is attacking move wise horrible but Dragon Dance is a really nice move to surprise some Pokemon. Perish Trapper Nature: Bold Ability: Water Absorb EV Spread: 252 Defense, split Sp. Def and HP Item: Leftovers Block Perish Song Protect Ice Beam - Block your opponent hopefully on the switch, Perish Song while taking the attack. Then Protect once (or twice if you feel lucky) and switch away from the battle. This set without getting Wish support is a one time only so better make it use on a Pokemon that could wall you completely, most likely such Pokemon can be Grumpig or Hitmontop. Checks and Counters: Cradily is probably the best counter to Lapras unless it has Protect and can start setting up from it. Ampharos is also a premiere counter to Lapras due to Electric-stab. CB Hitmonchan and Primeape work really well too. Team synergy: Amazing team mate of any Pokemon being weak to water-attacks. The Water Absorb of Lapras will make those Pokemon constantly being scared to use their Surf. [/spoiler] Ledian BST: 390 (55/35/50/55/110/80) - Ledian is just something really awful. The nice special defense make it a bulky screen supporter but that's about it. [spoiler]Screen Support Nature: Calm EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Light Screen Reflect Toxic Silver Wind - Set up screens to support something like Zangoose or Poliwrath to set up while taking half damage.[/spoiler] Lickitung BST: 385 (90/55/75/60/75/30) - Lickitung is a somewhat nice Curse user and a Cleric but the awful base stats just make it unusable. [spoiler] Curse Nature: Careful Ability: Own Tempo EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Curse Rest Body Slam Earthquake - Set up Curses, Rest. Etc etc. Cleric Nature: Careful Ability: Own Tempo EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Wish Heal Bell Body Slam Protect - Lickitung can also work as a cleric. Checks and Counters: Toxic shuts this thing down. But even without it the low base stats make it relatively easy to break. After Curses up it may turn a little problematic, though. [/spoiler] Lunatone BST: 440 (70/55/65/95/85/70) - By base stats quite mediocre but cool typing, Levitate ability and nice movepool for Calm Mind set make it a really usable Pokemon in NU. [spoiler] Calm Mind Nature: Bold EVs: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Calm Mind Moonlight Psychic Signal Beam - For Calm Mind set you need to have the two moves that have along Psychic the most coverage and that is Signal Beam. Special Sweeper Nature: Modest EVs: 252 HP 252 Sp. Atk Item: Leftovers Psychic Ancientpower Signal Beam Ice Beam / Hidden Power Ground - Lunatone gets quite a nice variety of special moves so instead of Calm Minding having a wider movepool is an option. Psychic and Ancientpower are the special stabs, Signal Beam is a threat to Dark-types. Ice Beam is a powerful move against Grass-types like Bellossom or Tangela but having Hidden Power Ground to avoid Metang and Aggron countering you is also nice. Checks and Counters: Water and Grass types are the best ones since Lunatone generally has no strong attacks on those. Therefor Politoed, Lapras, Walrein, Bellossom and Gorebyss are nice counters to it. Dark-types with prediction are also obviously really good due to immunity. [/spoiler] Luvdisc BST: 330 (43/30/55/40/65/97) - The heart Pokemon. Ironically you wouldn't hate to be using any other fully evolved Pokemon as much as this probably. [spoiler]Rain Dance Nature: Modest EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Atk Item: Leftovers Rain Dance Surf Ice Beam HP Electric - The only decent thing going for Luvdisc is its ability Swift Swim.[/spoiler] Magcargo BST: 410 (50/50/120/80/80/30) - Magcargo is just meh. Now that it gets access to Recover it's a decent wall except being 4x weak to Surf and Earthquake make the Magcargo's walling really problematic. [spoiler] Wall Nature: Relaxed / Bold EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Toxic Recover Flamethrower Ancientpower / Rock Slide - Toxic Recover is always a nice stalling strategy. Add attacks to both STABs and you get a decent set. The thing with Ancientpower/Rock Slide is that Rock Slide has more PP for stalling purposes but Ancientpower is just overall better move. Checks and Counters: Anything with Surf or Earthquake, really. [/spoiler] Magmar BST: 495 (65/95/57/100/85/93) - Magmar is scary and one of the most unpredictable sweepers of the NU. Access to Belly Drum + Mach Punch make it a scary physical sweeper but it also has narrow yet very respectable special sweeping set too. [spoiler] SitrusDrum Nature: Jolly EVs: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Sitrus Berry Belly Drum Mach Punch Fire Punch Thunderpunch - The point of this set is to wait for the moment when Magmar can take 75% hit from opponent and set up Belly Drum. After Belly Drum lose of 50% Magmar will gain 25% from Sitrus Berry. After this it's all sweeping, however prone to faster priority. Salac Drum Nature: Jolly EVs: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Salac Berry Belly Drum Mach Punch Fire Punch Thunderpunch - This moveset needs Memento support. Jumpluff is arguably the best Memento user and after opponent is at -2 it is quite hard to deal 50% to Magmar anymore. At best Magmar will be hit to Salac Range meaning that even faster +1 priority won't stop it from sweeping. Special Sweeper Nature: Timid EVs: 252 Speed 252 SP. Atk Item: Petaya Berry Flamethrower / Fire Blast Psychic Hidden Power Grass Substitute - Magmar's special movepool isn't too wide but just sufficient to be a special sweeper with this nice Petaya set. Other options: Magmar can also be a Choice Bander with its physical movepool. Checks and Counters: Carrying priority, especially +2 priority Extremespeed Pikachu as well as some random Fake Out users can protect Magmar from sweeping. Also fast +1 priority is very useful which only gets beaten by SalacDrum set. [/spoiler] Mantine BST: 465 (65/40/70/80/140/70) - The first thing you notice about Mantine is its sky high 140 Special Defense stat. Therefor it's an excellent role filler for any kind of special defensive Pokemon, however a major downside to is being 4x weak to Electric. I would also reason that Hidden Power Electric is the best Water-coverage Hidden Power and that 4x is something Mantine won't appreciate a lot. However, this takes nothing away from Mantine being a real deal. It's notable that is has two abilities which both work on different movesets. [spoiler] Tank Nature: Calm Ability: Water Absorb EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Surf Ice Beam Toxic Rest / HP Electric - The defensive variant. Calm is to give the biggest boost of nature but having protection in defensive side is nice. Rest is the only recovery move for Mantine so having a cleric would be nice. Rain Dance Sweeper Nature: Modest Ability: Swift Swim EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Atk Item: Leftovers Rain Dance Surf Ice Beam Hidden Power Electric / Air Cutter - Swift Swim makes Mantine an excellent Rain Dance sweeper. Due to already nice speed it will outspeed a Electabuzz at rain so you're better off investing HP. Checks and Counters: Electric attacks. Ampharos and Lapras are probably the most reliable counters as switching faster Electric-types which are less bulky may get KOd easily by Surf on Rain. Team synergy: The Water Absorb is really good if your team is weak to water a lot. [/spoiler]

Gligar BST: 430 (65/75/105/35/65/85) - Gligar is a good defensive check to a lot of Pokemon with high defensive stat. Also set up moves like Swords Dance and Agility can make it a reliable offensive sweeper. [spoiler] Utility Tank Nature: Impish Ability: Hyper Cutter EVs: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Toxic Knock Off Earthquake / Aerial Ace Rest / Aerial Ace - The purpose of this set is to deal as much Toxics and Knock Off items from your opponents as it is possible while serving as a switch in to physical threats to an extent. Heal Bell user is needed with a Rest user. Swords Dance + Agility sweeper Nature: Adamant/Impish Ability: Hyper Cutter EVs: 252 HP 252 Attack Item: Lum Berry Earthquake Aerial Ace Swords Dance Agility - Putting up some HP investments to take a hit for setting up is helpful. Then whatever the situation needs either Agility to sweep faster than Gligar Pokemon or Swords Dance to give extra power against tanks - or both if you can. +2 252 Atk Gligar Earthquake will hurt stuff. Checks and Counters: Bulky Water-types. [/spoiler] Golduck BST: 500 (80/82/78/95/80/85) - The Pokemon you should start using if weather teams cause you any kind of problems. Golduck's Cloud Nine stopping weather can at best leave Ninetales, Victreebel, Bellossom and Rapidash locked into Solarbeam while punishing them hard with Surf/Ice Beam. High base stats and satisfactory movepool make Golduck a valuable Pokemon to any team. [spoiler]Special Sweeper Nature: Timid Ability: Cloud Nine EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Special Attack Item: Leftovers/Lum Berry/Petaya Berry Surf Ice Beam Hidden Power Electric Psychic / Substitute / Encore - Surf and Ice Beam give the standard coverage of everything but water-types. Hidden Power Electric is really needed to cover this side. The reason to use Electric over Grass for example is the 4x effectiveness on Mantine which would otherwise wall Golduck all day long, also nice for Pelipper. Substitute is nice to force the Petaya berry for extra damage and Encore is just a usable move for every fast Pokemon. Cloud Nine overall is a better ability than Damp but especially for this set. Bulky Calm Mind Nature: Bold Ability: Cloud Nine or Damp EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Calm Mind Surf Ice Beam Hidden Power Electric - Golduck gets Calm Mind so it's a nice move to utilize. Damp could be a usable ability for Calm Mind set to avoid Pokemon like Glalie which has no other coverage moves than Explosion on it making it look surprised while nothing happens and Golduck keeps setting up. Checks and Counters: Ampharos and Electabuzz are really good counters to Golduck while being able to take some damage due to their respectable special defense. Raichu has tougher time switching it but it can still live a Surf and hit back hard. Bellossom with Giga Drain also works as a counter, Ice Beam won't hurt it that much. Lapras also wins Golduck 1v1 because it has Thunderbolt while Golduck only 70 Power Hidden Power. [/spoiler] Golem BST: 485 (80/110/130/55/65/45) - The NU tier's premiere physical tank. A great answer to any physical attacker but at the same time really prone to any kind of Pokemon that has any special attacking. Also packs a massive punch due to Rock Slide and Earthquake STABs. [spoiler]Choice Band Nature: Adamant/Jolly EVs: 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Choice Band Ability: Rock Head Earthquake Rock Slide Superpower Double-Edge - This set causes insane damage in NU enviroment and nothing at all switches safely to this. I personally think Golem is better off going for high speed to outspeed as many tanky Pokemon as possible. Tank Nature: Impish EVs: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Earthquake Rock Slide Explosion / Superpower Rapid Spin / Superpower - The set for maximum longevity and making it dedicated to be your physical hit taker. Checks and Counters: Basically any special attacker if predicted in will check Golem. Revenge killing is easy if you get the prediction wrong, though. Switching in against Golem is just really, really hard. One of the Pokemon why you should have Earthquake's resistance/immunity. [/spoiler] Gorebyss BST: 485 (55/84/105/114/75/52) - Gorebyss, the special offensive evolution of Clamperl is really good special Rain Dance sweeper which I'm surprised has not been used in NU once yet. 114 Special Attack is no joke. The biggest downfall of Gorebyss that it is unreliable due to how easy it's to counter with Water Absorb users and Cloud Nine Golduck. Scouting of whole opposing team is really needed to make this to work. [spoiler]Rain Dance Sweeper Nature: Modest EV Spread: 252 Special Attack, Speed until you have 87 Speed Stat (w/ 31 IV it's 116 speed EVs), rest on HP Item: Lum Berry Rain Dance Surf / Hydro Pump Ice Beam Hidden Power Electric - This set just destroys. 87 Speed stat will outspeed a Timid Electabuzz and overall a good place to set your speed. Simply just find a situation where you can set up rain without taking too much damage and late game sweeping could be too real with this thing. Checks and Counters: Cloud Nine Golduck will end the day of a Rain Dance Gorebyss. Bellossom is really good as well, it can both Giga Drain it for hard damage or set up the weather on its own against Gorebyss. Lapras, Politoed and Poliwrath check counter also Gorebyss really well due to Water Absorb and make a Gorebyss user to be cautious all the time. Ampharos switches in nicely too as long the rain is not already up and it has enough HP. Team synergy: Something to set up rain for it, like Electrode can really help. [/spoiler] Grumpig BST: 470 (80/45/65/90/110/80) - One of the most dominant forces of NU tier. The ability to take hits as well as hit back hard after CMs is something that will make you have nightmares. [spoiler]Calm Mind Nature: Bold Ability: Thick Fat EV Spread: 252 Defense 252 HP Item: Leftovers Calm Mind Psychic Rest Signal Beam - Simple, yet effective Calm Mind set. Becomes quite unbreakable even after a couple of Calm Minds. Signal Beam is there for Dark-types and Psychic is the mandatory STAB. Sleep Talk + Whirlwind Nature: Timid Ability: Thick Fat EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Speed Item: Leftovers Rest Sleep Talk Whirlwind Psychic - The purpose of this set is to use Grumpig's really good speed and Sleep Talk negating Whirlwind's negative priority. Really good combined with a Spiker. CounterCoat Nature: Calm Ability: Thick Fat EVs: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Mirror Coat Counter Toxic Psychic - Pretty self-explanatory. Guess the correct side of attack and Mirror Coat / Counter against it. Toxic any Pokemon that does not want to attack. Checks and Counters: Sneasel is a nice counter to Grumpig that has lost some HP as it can have selection of Bite or Pursuit. Xatu works relatively well due to being immune to Psychic and neutral to Signal Beam while Xatu's Signal Beam is super effective. Specially Defensive bulky Flareon is also a good check to Grumpig. MissyD is also in a better situation in CM showdown because of Super Effective Shadow Ball. Carrying enough Toxic will certainly help. Team synergy: Thick Fat makes Grumpig and excellent Fire and Ice type - counter. Therefor if you team is prone to either of these then Grumpig will fill that role nicely. Whirlwind Pig is really nice combined with a Spiker. [/spoiler] Hitmonchan BST: 455 (50/105/79/35/110/76) - By far, the best Pokemon that is pretty much never used in NU. The reason to this is that it is just so majorly outclassed by its brother Hitmontop. [spoiler]Choice Band Nature: Adamant/Jolly EV Spread: 252 Attack 252 Speed Item: Leftovers Sky Uppercut / Brick Break Mach Punch Thief Thunderpunch / Rock Slide / Ice Punch - Sky Uppercut is the main move of Hitmonchan and Mach Punch is nice to have because priority is always good. Thief is there because of countering Psychic or Ghost types. Last move of selection is pretty much up to preference: Thunderpunch is nice on Mantine, Rock Slide as well but hurts Armaldo while Ice Punch is nice on Nidos and Jumpluff. Checks and Counters: Since Chan should be Choice Bander pretty much all the time, as long a Psychic or Ghost type won't be predicted they will do fine. Lunatone due to high bulk and Psychic attack works really well even if predicted.[/spoiler] Hitmontop BST: 455 (50/95/95/35/110/70) - Hitmontop is probably the biggest team player of all NU. Not alone does it have great base stats but the ability Intimidate is a great way to limit opposing physical power. Hitmontop can be both a top tier Bulk Up physical sweeper as well as a top tier (if not the best) wall out there. Also able to carry Rapid Spin, there is just so many reasons to use a Hitmontop. There is a reason why it's sitting as the most used NU spot at the moment. [spoiler]Wall Nature: Careful EV Spread: 252 HP, 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Toxic Rest Rapid Spin / Earthquake / Mach Punch / Low Kick / Rock Slide Earthquake / Mach Punch / Low Kick / Rock Slide - The Intimidate ability protects Hitmontop from physical side while the Careful nature and EVs from special side. Toxic and Rest is always a nice combo. If you need a Spinner, Hitmontop can work as a one perfectly. Then last move is pretty much a selection of what your team needs. If you need a priority user, then use Mach. If you don't Low Kick might be the best option. However, if you're not in a need of a Spinner then running two attacking moves is very handy. Bulk Up Nature: Careful EV Spread: 252 HP, 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Bulk Up Low Kick Rock Slide Mach Punch / Earthquake - Hitmontop can make some offensive stuff happen as well with Bulk Up. Checks and Counters: Psychic types, especially Grumpig counter Hitmontop really hard. Other than that, bring your Toxic to wear down a wall Top because by sheer attacking moves it's really hard to break.[/spoiler] Huntail BST: 485 (55/104/105/94/75/52) - A physically offensive evolution of Clamperl. Massively outclassed by its other evolution, Gorebyss. Getting a decent physical Rain Dance set is hard and the Stab Waterfall is just inferior to Surf. 55 Base HP is just not enough to build anything bulky. [spoiler]Rain Dance Sweeper Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 Attack, Speed until you have 87 Speed Stat (w/ 31 IV it's 116 speed EVs), rest on HP Item: Lum Berry Rain Dance Waterfall Return Ice Beam / Crunch - This set heavily relies on just Waterfall. Therefor to say it nicely, Huntail is useless when you consider how there is no that dominant special walls making Gorebyss so much better. Ice Beam is there for Tangela, btw. Checks and Counters: Everything that Gorebyss had + more. [/spoiler] Hypno BST: 483 (85/73/70/73/115/67) - A great support user of a pokemon. It has several tricks up its sleeves and enough bulk to tank hits. It's ability Insomnia helps against Sleep Powder users for you to get it in for a free switch. Other than that, the lack of Rest/Recover is a little disappointing. It's only recovery option is Wish. But the rest of its movepool makes up for it. [spoiler] Support (by GBush) Ability: Insomnia Nature: Bold or Calm EV Spread: Bold 252 Defense/ 252 HP Calm 52 Sp Def/ 200 Defense/ 252 HP If you want to build a hefty special defence wall you can have it calm if you'd prefer that. Item: Leftovers Seismic Toss / Psychic Thunder-Wave / Toxic Wish Protect /Reflect/ Light Screen/ Counter/ HP Ground - Seismic toss is a decent option instead of psychic to help damage those dark types. This is the fairly standard set and you can just help heal or set up a screen or inflict status on your opponent. Then bring in something that can benefit from it like a sweeper. Calm Mind Nature: Bold Item: Leftovers EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Calm Mind Psychic Signal Beam Wish - Hypno can also Calm Mind sweep nicely. Wish is there to give some recovery. Checks and Counters: Sneasel is a nice Pursuit trapper and Flareon switches into Psychic nicely and Bites it with high damage. [/spoiler] Illumise BST: 400 (65/47/55/73/75/85) - Ugh. Yeah just no. [spoiler]Special "sweeper" Nature: Timid EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Sp. Atk Item: Petaya Berry Silver Wind Substitute Giga Drain Thunderbolt - Due to low selection of moves for Illumise the best idea is to utilize Substitute's ability to activate Petaya and do as much sweeping as possible. [/spoiler] Jumpluff BST: 450 (75/55/70/55/85/110) - The very definition of annoying. The high speed make it an amazing SubSeed user. [spoiler]SubSeed Nature: Jolly EV Spread: 252 Speed, split defenses Item: Leftovers Substitute Leech Seed Stun Spore Synthesis - The purpose of this set is to Leech Seed and Substitute while getting all the HP back from Substitutes while opponent slowly runs down of HP. The main nemesis is running out of PP. Also the fact this set has no offensive moves makes Jumpluff really prone of being set up on but Stun Spore should slow everything down. The reason to invest defenses instead of HP is to get the maximum % of the HP back from the opponent. Other options: Memento is amazing move to support Poliwrath's Belly Drum set or Zangoose's Swords Dance set. Checks and Counters: A surprise HP Ice here and there can really troll Jumpluff when it puts the Leech Seed up for the first time. Playing against Jumpluff requires a lot of switching and a cleric user so at best Jumpluff has just wasted all PP and it has done nothing but made a couple of Pokemon lose some HP. [/spoiler]

Diglett BST: 265 (10/55/25/35/45/90) - The Pokemon that bases entirely on its ability Arena Trap which prevents any Pokemon from switching. It's basically used to two things: Revenge killing with Choice Band or Reversaling to take down whatever is weak to that move and making your winning difficult. Therefor, the really definition of a supporter Pokemon. Unfortunately for Diglett though by the looks of the current metagame there aren't a lot of much used Pokemon that could be taken down by Diglett. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Jolly Ability: Arena trap EV Spread: 252 Atk 252 Speed Item: Choice Band Earthquake Rock Slide Thief / Memento Aerial Ace / Memento - STAB EQ is pretty self-explanatory and all the 3 other attacking moves are just whatever Diglett gets. This set is particularly good taking down Ampharos, Aggron, Nidoking/Queen, Kabutops, Qwilfish, Muk, Swalot or Shedinja after losing a Pokemon to them or making a brave double switch to trap them. However in addition, due to being not locked to a non-damaging move because of fainting Memento seems also a really good support move lowering opponent's attacks by 2 stages. This means your whatever set up sweeper, such as Poliwrath could take it as advantage. SubLiechi Nature: Jolly Ability: Arena trap EV Spread: 252 Atk 252 Speed (make sure you're under 3% HP after last Sub for maximum Reversal power) Item: Liechi Berry Substitute Reversal Earthquake Rock Slide / Thief / Aerial Ace / Memento - The purpose of this set is simple. Substitute to set yourself to under 3%, activate Liechi and take down whatever poor thing you're facing. However, this set is really prone to any kinds of set up. Lapras which could seem like a nice target to trap may have Dragon Dance. Walrein may have Curse. Swalot and Muk can set up Curses on it at worst. Pokemon like Shiftry may run Quick Attack. This set at best can be really nice to bring your whatever Pokemon you hate down but it is only reliable on so little amount of Pokemon. Checks and Counters: If you don't wanna get trapped SubLiechi by Diglett, run set up and priority. CB Set really obviously has no counters as it traps. Team Support: Teams that may have trouble with Ampharos or Aggron could wall too hard i.e. Zangoose' Return spam then Diglett may be really good supporter for them. [/spoiler] Ditto BST: 288 (48/48/48/48/48/48) - lol kek [spoiler] StruggleBand Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 Atk 252 Speed Item: Choice Band Transform - Switch in to a predicted Taunt to be not able to Transform and then major keks occur if at best you take a Pokemon down with Ditto. Checks and Counters: Nothing. Be scared. [/spoiler] Dunsparce BST: 415 (100/70/70/65/65/45) - Quite underwhelming Pokemon but if you would like to have some major keks while battling and also you feel RNG is your friend then look no more - this is your Pokemon. [spoiler] Paraflinch Nature: Adamant Ability: Serene Grace EV Spread: 252 Atk 252 HP Item: Leftovers Body Slam Headbutt Rock Slide Earthquake / Ice Beam - Serene Grace doubles the chance for secondary effects, therefor this is Dunsparce main set easily. Start off by Body Slaming opponent to paralysis. After that you will outspeed your opponent and use Headbutt/Rock Slide to flinch your opponent to oblivion. Earthquake is a nice coverage move for Dunsparce but Freeze being so amazingly good status then running Ice Beam could be high reward move to freeze your opponent you may have trouble with. Checks and Counters: Lum Berry is the nemesis of Dunsparce. Overall there aren't really particularly need for any sorts of counters to Dunsparce but to name some Armaldo and Cradily are really good. [/spoiler] Duskull BST: 295 (20/40/90/30/90/25) - Despite having really low base stats like you would imagine from a first evolution due to lack of Ghost-types Duskull has a niche of being a viable defensive Pain Split wall. Also due to Ghost-type it works surprisingly nicely as a sturdy spinblocker. [spoiler] Credits to OldKeith "Highly underrated, this little beast has a very nice niche which is to completely shut down Hitmontop for what it does best, spin. Hitmontop can only hope to pull of a Toxic on it, but even so,it will need bulk up and thief to start threatening Duskull, two moves that aren't much helpful otherwise, especially on an utility Hitmontop. To avoid a burn, Top will be forced out, while the next entrant will take spikes damage. Due to levitate, it is arguably a better spin blocker than Sableye, and while the majority of NU does not appreciate getting burned, toxic will punish fire switch-ins. Running Confuse Ray can also help your phasing game as an alternative." Pain Split Item: Leftovers 252 HP 252+ Defense Pain Split Night Shade Will-o-Wisp Toxic/Confuse Ray Checks and Counters: Special offense. [/spoiler] Dustox BST: 385 (60/50/70/50/90/65) - Part 4/4 of "oh pls no these awful storyline bugs". But Dustox just may be the least awful one. [spoiler] Staller Nature: Bold EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Toxic Moonlight Light Screen Sludge Bomb - This set actually will absorb more damage you might think making a majority of the Pokemon to do less than 50% on Dustox without Super Effective move and that combined with Moonlight then Dustox may not be that awful. But don't use it. RestTalk Nature: Calm EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Speed Item: Leftovers Rest Sleep Talk Whirlwind Sludge Bomb - Purpose of this set is to negate the negative priority of Whirlwind with Sleep Talk. Dustox isn't that slow so it's kinda okay for it. Good with Spikers. Checks and Counters: Dem rocks. Dem flames. [/spoiler] Electabuzz BST: 490 (65/83/57/95/85/105) - Electabuzz is nothing short of being a top tier special sweeper in NU enviroment. [spoiler] Special Sweeper Nature: Timid EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Sp. Atk Item: Lum Berry / Petaya Berry Thunderbolt Psychic Signal Beam Hidden Power Grass / Water - Electabuzz's special movepool isn't diverse but this gets it all done. Psychic is primarily for Nidos as well as other Poison-types, Signal Beam is nice on Cacturne and Shiftry and HP Grass/Water prevents from getting walled by Golem and then the selection of Grass/Water is about being afraid of more Whiscash or Camerupt. But there just isn't any selection of moves so this is pretty much the way to go. Checks and Counters: Cradily, bulky Armaldo are the best counters to Electabuzz. Hitmontop works nicely as a check pretty much always as long it doesn't switch on Psychic. [/spoiler] Electrode BST: 480 (60/50/70/80/80/140) - Despite being arguably a bit outclassed by other NU electric-types the main thing putting Electrode aside of them is the sky high 140 base speed. Electrode's main niches are setting up Rain Dance for rain teams and being overall just so fast that it can make Salac strategies useless alone. But it isn't really an awful special sweeper either. [spoiler] Rain Dance set up Nature: Timid/Hasty EV Spread: 252 Sp. Atk, speed stat to 202, rest on HP Item: Lum Berry Rain Dance Thunder Hidden Power Water Explosion - Simple. Set up rain, Thunder or HP Water if you have an opportunity. But if in doubt, just Explode away and your Gorebyss/Kabutops/Huntail will be happy for your efforts. Even with nerf Explosion it might be a move worth using since getting your Rain Dance sweeper on field fast is necessary. Special Sweeper Nature: Timid/Hasty EV Spread: 252 Sp. Atk, speed stat to 202, rest on HP Item: Lum Berry Thunderbolt Signal Beam Hidden Power Grass / Water Explosion - Kinda self-explanatory special sweeping set. Basically all the moves Electrode even gets. The 202 speed stat is good to outspeed every Salac Poliwrath which may easily cause sweeps without priority and Memento support so when you're using Electrode then better really utilize its speed. Checks and Counters: Nidos, Hitmontop, Solrock are quite good counters but overall checking Electrode isn't that hard. [/spoiler] Exploud BST: 480 (104/91/63/91/63/68) - Good base stat total for a NU, however the mixed attacks and low speed make Exploud quite unreliable sweeper. [spoiler] Special sweeper Nature: Timid/Modest EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Sp. Atk Item: Leftovers/Lum/Petaya Hyper Voice Ice Beam Flamethrower Surf - This set packs a lot of power and even more coverage. Choice Band Nature: Jolly/Adamant EV Spread: 252 Atk 252 Speed Item: Choice Band Return Earthquake Low Kick Thunderpunch/FirePunch/IcePunch - Exploud has enough moves for a full Choice Band set too. EQ and Low Kick are pretty mandatory because of the metagame and overall power, the last move is just a selection of whatever punch you like the most. Thunderpunch might be the best for 4xing Mantine. Checks and Counters: All the Fighting-types work for special sweeping set, Primeape and Hitmonchan need to be more careful against Choice Band set. Checking Exploud isn't hard either, just make sure you don't get predicted.[/spoiler] Farfetch'd BST: 352 (52/65/55/58/62/60) - I think using this Pokemon would be quite... *joke intensifies* Far fetched! No? .... okay. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Adamant Ability: Inner Focus EV Spread: 252 speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Return Aerial Ace Leaf Blade Steel Wing - Yeah, pretty much something you can build with Farfetch'd movepool but.. yeah. [/spoiler] Flareon BST: 525 (65/130/60/95/110/65) - The cutest and the most awesome Eeveelution if you ask me. Unlike its fellow evolutions that are all OU, Flareon has dropped to NU due to lack of STAB on better offensive side, mixed base stats and overall lack of utility value. In NU tier, Flareon is legit though. It can be a lot of things but nothing insanely well. Speed limits its offensive capabilities but the low defenses limits Flareon's support capabilities. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Lonely/Adamant EVs: 252 Attack, 252 HP or 252 Speed Item: Choice Band Superpower Bite Quick Attack Return/Flamethrower - The main offensive set for Flareon. The base 130 attack just hits hard whatever so switching in is hard. Mixed Specially oriented Nature: Mild EVs: 252 Sp. Atk 252 Speed Item: Lum Berry Fire Blast / Flamethrower Shadow Ball Hidden Power Grass Return - A bit weird set but the purpose is to have the nice offensive special attack to troll incoming Normal-band checks. Fire trolls Steel and HP Grass trolls incoming Rock-types. Cleric Nature: Calm EVs: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Wish Heal Bell Protect Flamethrower - Flareon's nice Special Defense makes it a nice check to a lot of special sweepers. Instead of hitting them back it can support its teammates. Checks and Counters: Blastoise and other bulky waters are always nice checks to Flareon. Normal Return CB Spam is the thing Flareon does mostly so Normal type resisting helps. [/spoiler] Furret BST: 415 (85/76/64/45/55/90) - This cute little thing just isn't competitive usable. But if you wanna look boss possibly CB sweeping with this cute thing after a nice match with this thing then have fun. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Jolly EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Return Iron Tail Brick Break / Fire Punch / Ice Punch / Thunder Punch Brick Break / Fire Punch / Ice Punch / Thunder Punch - Just a standard CB set. SubVersal Nature: Jolly EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Liechi Berry Substitute Reversal Return Iron Tail / Fire Punch / Ice Punch / Thunder Punch - Furret can run a nice Reversal set as well. [/spoiler] Girafarig BST: 455 (70/80/65/90/65/85) - A bit forgotten psychic-type in NU. What especially sets it aside of Chimecho and Grumpig is that Absol is much more unreliable to trap Girafarig due to Girafarig having faster base speed. [spoiler] Wish Nature: Calm Ability: Early Bird EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def Item: Leftovers Wish Protect Psychic Signal Beam - Girafarig can support its team nicely with Wish and gain some HP from itself against some special attackers. Psychic is the superior special stab over Hyper Voice and Signa Beam just is a must to hit Dark-types. Quick Nap Nature: Bold Ability: Early Bird EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Calm Mind Psychic Rest Signal Beam - This set is to utilize the 1 turn sleep of Rest making it better for itself than Wish. After multiple Calm Minds might be hard to stop. Special Sweeper Nature: Timid Ability: Early Bird EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Special Attack Item: Leftovers Psychic Thunderbolt Signal Beam Hyper Voice - A full on special sweeping set which isn't bad at all, especially good because it's fast so Absol can't Pursuit trap. Checks and Counters: All the Dark-types check Girafarig but they always need to watch out for the Signal Beam. [/spoiler]

Butterfree BST: 385 (60/45/50/80/80/70) - Part 3/4 of "oh pls no these awful storyline bugs" [spoiler] Special Sweeper Nature: Modest EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Sp. Atk Item: Lum/Leftovers/Petaya Signal Beam Air Cutter Sleep Powder Substitute / Psychic - Special offensive is the only thing Butterfree seems to have nice, luckily it gets two stabs there. [/spoiler] Cacturne BST: 475 (70/115/60/115/60/55) - Despite being offensive by stats, it's generally seen as a Spiker due to the small amount of Spikers in the tier. Therefor, really unpredictable. [spoiler] Bulky Spiker Nature: Bold EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Spikes Protect / Hidden Power Ground Toxic / Hidden Power Ground Giga Drain - Cacturne is one of the premiere Spikers in NU tier, arguebly only outclassed by Glalie even though both have pros and cons. Along with putting Spikes, Protect giving HP Recovery combined with Leftovers is nice and this combined with Toxic and Giga Drain Cacturne can be a somewhat pseudo-staller while putting up Spikes. Mixed Sweeper Nature: Mild EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Sp. Atk Item: Leftovers Giga Drain Low Kick/Superpower Hidden Power Dark / Faint Attack Thunderpunch / Encore / Hidden Power Ground - Because Giga Drain is Cacturne's easily best attack, going for special based attacker is arguably the best. However, Cacturne's movepool is just asking for mixed. Low Kick/Superpower hits so many things hard it's worth having. HP Dark gives the nice coverage but boost over Faint Attack with 70 power and Mild nature. Last move is pretty hard to choose: Thunderpunch hits Mantine hard, Encore can at best lock something at set up move and HP Ground deals incoming Fire and Poison-types. Checks and Counters: Scyther is the most reliable counter since there are a lot of reasons to run Hidden Power Ground. Still Nidoking and Queen, Muk and Swalot from Poison-types are the most viable counters and Rapidash and Ninetales from fire-types. But they need to be afraid of HP Ground. Team Synergy: For the love of if you're going to Spike with Cacturne better have a Spinblocker. [/spoiler] Camerupt BST: 460 (70/100/70/105/75/40) - Nice base stats for a NU, however unfortunately low speed, mixed attacks and 4x weakness to water hurt it a lot in a tier which is filled with water-types. It can counter Electabuzz and Ampharos quite nicely unless they run Hidden Power Water and due to existence of Nidos there is a reason to run that. Also in addition, the main Electric-type Pikachu has Surf. [spoiler]Mixed Attacker Nature: Quiet EV Spread: 252 Sp. Atk 252 HP Item: Leftovers Flamethrower / Fire Blast Earthquake Hidden Power Grass Protect / Ancientpower - Best way to utilize two stabs of Camerupt. Hidden Power Grass is mandatory against water-types, namely Whiscash which can counter Camerupt so hard otherwise. Since Camerupt already loses of viable moves after HP Grass the last move is a selection between Protect to scout HP Waters or Ancientpower which is a cool finishing move to hope to get buffs. Checks and Counters: Basically, Water-types. Just don't predicted on w/ HP Grass. Solrock works pretty well too.[/spoiler] Castform BST: 420 (blaze it) (70/70/70/70/70/70) - Quite meh base stats but it has a small niche of being decent in weather teams. It can be a nice lead to a weather team while you don't know which one. [spoiler] Rain Dance Nature: Modest EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Atk Item: Leftovers Rain Dance Weather Ball Thunder Ice Beam - Rain Dance variant of Castform. Can support Rain Dance sweepers, such as Kabutops quite nicely while first itself doing some nice damage. Weather Ball turns 100 power (STAB) water-attack in Rain which causes some major damage. Thunder is to have that 100% accuracy in rain and Ice Beam covers Grass-types. Sunny Day Nature: Modest EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Sp. Atk Item: Leftovers Sunny Day Flamethrower Solarbeam Ice Beam/Thunderbolt - Sunny Day variant of Castform. Nice to set up sun for Tales/Rapidash/Victreebel. Checks and Counters: Cloud Nine Golduck stops any weather based strategy from the get go. As a Pokemon alone, it isn't hard at all to counter Castform due to low base stats. [/spoiler] Chimecho BST: 425 (65/50/70/90/80/65) - Chimecho movepool wise is quite nice. It can be a Wish supporter, overall nice utility or a CM Sweeper. However, a major downfall for Chimecho is the fact its base stats are mediocre at best even for NU and the fact it gets so annoyingly Pursuit trapped by Absol. [spoiler] Calm Mind Nature: Bold EVs: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Calm Mind Psychic Signal Beam Wish - Psychic and Signal Beam does all the coverage you need. Wish is nice to get some HP back - with a delay - but after some CMs Chimecho turns quite unbreakable. Also can be used alone to help teammates. Cleric Nature: Calm EV Spread: 252 HP, split defenses Item: Leftovers Heal Bell Wish Protect / Thunder Wave Psychic - A really good utility, however mono-attacker is always quite unfortunate and especially prone for Absol trapping. Checks and Counters: Absol just laughs at Chimecho while Sharpedo and Shiftry will take the momentum from Chimecho in a second unless Signal Beamed on the switch. Team synergy: If your team is weak to Earthquake, Chimecho's Levitate can help for that. [/spoiler] Corsola BST: 380 (55/55/85/65/85/35) - Another one of those NU Pokemon you just gotta love it for some reason to bring it in any battle. Luckily for it, though the nice defenses and Recover make it a semi-decent wall. [spoiler] Standard Wall Nature: Bold Ability: Natural Cure EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Recover Toxic Surf Ancientpower - Find a Pokemon which cannot break Corsola and spread Toxic as much as you can. [/spoiler] Delcatty BST: 380 (70/65/65/55/55/70) - Sorry Noad. Delcatty is just bad. :( [spoiler] Cleric Nature: Impish EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Wish Heal Bell Protect Return - This might in fact be a somewhat decent set for Delcatty as the tier doesn't have that many viable clerics. But the base stats are just.. meh. Choice Band Nature: Jolly EV Spread: 252 Atk 252 Speed Item: Choice Band Return Faint Attack Iron Tail Fake Out - Return spam is always fun and Iron Tail covering Rock-types is also fun. Fake Out is nice because priority is always nice. This is the only physical set Delcatty gets but it's not really lacking anything. [/spoiler] Delibird BST: 330 (45/55/45/65/45/75) - Archi pls [spoiler] DestinySpiker Nature: Jolly Ability: Vital Spirit EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Speed Item: Salac Spikes Endure Destiny Bond Toxic - Basically the purpose of this set is to get a layer of Spikes or two, then endure to salac and try to get the opponent with you or Toxic them. Choice Band Nature: Jolly Ability: Hustle EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Aerial Ace Ice Punch Quick Attack Brick Break - Ecks dee. [/spoiler] Dewgong BST: 475 (90/70/80/70/95/70) - Dewgong is by no means a bad Pokemon but it has amazingly tough time finding it's spot to any teams due to Lapras and Walrein just being so much better. [spoiler] Standard Tank Nature: Bold EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Surf Ice Beam Toxic Rest / Encore - Pretty much the best way to utilize high bulk and Surf + Ice Beam stabs. Checks and Counters: Ampharos, Electabuzz work pretty well from Electric-types but Lapras with Thunderbolt is quite a hard counter to Dewgong as well. Hitmontop with high special defense is nice and STAB Fighting attacks. Primeape needs more HP to switch in but shouldn't be that hard either. [/spoiler]

Aggron BST: 530 (70/110/180/60/60/50) - Its defensive capabilities are majorly damaged being 4x weak to Ground and Fight- attacks which have arguably the best overall physical attacks in the game: Earthquake and Superpower. It means that physical attackers always will have a 4x move to this and special attackers destroy Aggron due to awful special defense. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Attack Item: Choice Band or Nature: Jolly/Adamant EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Item: Choice Band Rock Slide Iron Tail ThunderPunch Ice Punch/Earthquake/Superpower - Aggron can be both bulky Choice Bander for maximum "longevity" to take Normal-attacks or be a fast variant to outspeed bulky Pokemon. Rock Slide and Iron Tail are Aggron's obvious two stabs to cause maximum damage as well as to cover pretty much everything needed. Thunderpunch is mandatory for Poliwrath as well as 4x 100% move against Mantine is nice. Ice Punch is mainly there for the extra punch on Gligar. The selection between EQ and Superpower isn't that important as the main idea is to have something against other Aggrons. Paraflinch (credits to Yagami from UU guide but can easily work in NU as well) Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 HP (odd HP)/252 Attack/4 Speedy Item: Leftovers Rock Slide Thunder Wave Substitute Focus Punch / Thunderpunch "This can work if you like hax. The trick is to Thunder Wave something that responds, fish for a free Sub, then start hammering with Rock Slide. The prospect of Thunder Wave leading to a possibility of a free Substitute then hammering with Rock Slide flinches is fairly annoying in it's own right. Focus Punch works well alongside Substitute, whereas Ice Punch is also an option to deal some damage to Ground types that are immune to Thunder Wave. The HP should be odd so you can create desirably as much Substitutes as possible." Checks and Counters: Hitmontop with Intimidate counters Aggron hard. Even with Thunderpunch Poliwrath, Politoed and Gorebyss are also really hard counters. Other than that, any Pokemon really as long as the move is predicted correctly. I'd say 90% of the Pokemon has some move that will do insane amount of damage to Aggron but flat out countering is hard. However, Poliwrath works really well due to being resistant to both Steel and Rock stab. Team Synergy: If you team is prone of getting swept by oblivion with Normal-spam, Aggron can abuse that back. [/spoiler] Aipom BST: 360 (55/70/55/40/55/85) - Sorry but Aipom is awful and not to be used to win matches. But here's something for a fun set in case you really like this Pokemon. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Adamant EV Spread: 252 Atk 252 Speed Item: Choice Band Return Iron Tail Low Kick Thunderpunch - Pretty much a standard CB set if you wanna hurt (tickle) as many NU Pokemon as possible. Checks and Counters: kek [/spoiler] Arbok BST: 438 (60/85/69/65/79/80) - Arbok is just pretty meh. I suppose it would have something going if it had stab on its stronger attack, however this is not the case. Arbok just to put it frankly, is not usable if your goal is to win. [spoiler] Choice Band Nature: Adamant/Jolly Ability: Intimidate EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Atk Item: Choice Band Double-Edge Earthquake Crunch Iron Tail - The lack of stab makes this set underwhelming, to say the least. But 85 base attack isn't awful in NU enviroment. Mixed Attacker Nature: Hasty/Naive Ability: Intimidate EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Sp. Atk Item: Lum/Leftovers/Salac Sludge Bomb Giga Drain Earthquake Crunch - The way to utilize stab but 65 Special Attack is hard to build around any legitimate offense. [/spoiler] Ariados BST: 390 (70/90/70/60/60/40) - DAT SWARM MEGAHORN DOE. Use Ariados only if you are weird for liking spiders instead of being scared of them or you're Gunthug. But don't use it with a purpose to do anything in the battle. [spoiler] Swarming Nature: Jolly EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Attack Ability: Swarm Item: Salac Berry Endure/Substitute Megahorn Return Bounce - Swarm Megahorn does some massive damage. Using Salac and Jolly nature to outspeed stuff can cause some sweeps. Return and Bounce literally are the only decent physical other moves. Checks and Counters: Anything that resists Megahorn because you know that's coming. [/spoiler] Banette BST: 455 (64/115/65/83/63/65) - The best thing about Banette is its Ghost-type, typing which is rather rare in NU and perfect therefor awesome for spinblocking. Other than that Banette is quite an unfortunate case of Pokemon where the base stats ask for an offensive Pokemon but movepool there is just awful. [spoiler] Mixed Attacker Nature: Hasty/Naive EV Spread: 252 Speed, 252 Sp. Atk Item: Lum/Salac Berry Shadow Ball Return/Double-Edge Thunderbolt / Psychic / Destiny Bond / Will-O-Wisp Thunderbolt / Psychic / Destiny Bond / Will-O-Wisp - Due to Return being literally the only decent physical move for Banette then going for special attack in my opinion is the best, also due to stab. Thunderbolt is really nice coverage move but also Psychic works as is nice against the Pokemon Banette tends to switch in (i.e. Hitmontop). Destiny Bond and WOW are both really good moves so up to preference there. WOW Split Nature: Calm/Careful EV Spread: 252 Sp. Def, mix HP and physical defense Item: Leftovers Will-O-Wisp Pain Split Shadow Ball / Return Knock Off / Magic Coat / Destiny Bond - Banette's Will-O-Wisp is great to slow down some physical offense while gaining the HP back lost in the process with Pain Split. Low HP stat of Banette makes it extremely good at Pain Split. Checks and Counters: Highly special attacking Pokemon, such as Gorebyss, Golduck, Electabuzz and so on. Physical attackers always need to be sacred of WOW. Team Synergy: An excellent member of Spikes oriented team. [/spoiler] Beautifly BST: 385 (60/70/50/90/50/65) - Part 1/4 of "oh pls no these awful storyline bugs" [spoiler] Special Sweeper Nature: Modest EV Spread: 252 Sp. Atk 252 Speed Item: Lum Berry / Petaya Berry Air Cutter Signal Beam / Silver Wind Substitute Giga Drain - Nice way to utilize the high special attack now that Signal Beam and Air Cutter are special and Beautifly's stabs. Checks and Counters: kek [/spoiler] Beedrill BST: 385 (65/80/40/45/80/75) - Part 2/4 of "oh pls no these awful storyline bugs" [spoiler] SubEndeavor Nature: Jolly EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 HP Item: Salac Berry Substitute Endeavor Return Twineedle - Basically scare away anything that could be afraid of Stab Twineedle (pretty much only Cacturne and Shiftry), then Substitute until Salac - Endeavor and usually at least one kill is guaranteed. Choice Band Nature: Jolly EV Spread: 252 Speed 252 Atk Item: Choice Band Double-Edge Twineedle Brick Break Aerial Ace - lol [/spoiler] Bellossom BST: 480 (75/80/85/90/100/50) - This bulky flower can make stuff happen. It can be both a nice tank to check the massive amount of Water-types as well as cause sweeps with Chrolophyll and Sunny Day. [spoiler]SunnyBeam Nature: Modest EV Spread: 252 Sp. Atk 252 Speed Item: Leftovers Sunny Day Solarbeam Hidden Power Fire Sleep Powder / Synthesis - Pretty self-explanatory set. Sunny Day to make Chrolophyll double your speed as well as Solarbeam everything instantly. Hidden Power Fire is really good coverage move especially on Grass-types and the Sun boost making it 90 power is nice. Last selection of move is hard: Sleep Powder giving free turns is nice to your team but Sunny Day Synthesis just sounds too nice. Bulky Flower Nature: Calm EV Spread: 252 HP 252 Defense Item: Leftovers Giga Drain Hidden Power Rock / Ground / Water Toxic Moonlight - Especially good to be a defensive switch in to likes of Poliwrath and especially Kabutops. Toxic + Synthesis is overall really good staller. Hidden Power Ground/Rock are the overall best ways to deal incoming Rapidash/Ninetales. Ground is nice being 4x to Aggron and Super Effective on Nidoking while Rock deals with Flying-types that may counter Bello. Water is nice to troll Camerupt but which isn't that usable in my opinion. Checks and Counters: Rapidash and Ninetales at worst can turn the Sunny Day against you making them insanely good counters. Nidoking generally works really well. All Poison types are good, like Muk and Swalot. Choice Band Pidgeot also works as a counter but the viability of one is highly questionable. Team Synergy: A great member of a Sunny Day team. Also it can be a nice defensive addition to any team.[/spoiler]

After 112 Pokemon and some 250 movesets, this guide now is "complete" from my side. Yes, whenever I observe something I think should be added I will but mostly my part is here. I had really fun making this guide, I hope this will help some new NU players to have basic understandings of the roles and movesets of current NU Pokemon. Feel free to ask the reasoning or anything about any set and I'll be more than happy to explain it (as long as its my made set). Obviously just let me know of all obvious mistakes I did as well. Also all the Pokemon "descriptions" are 100% subjective and possibly do not reflect of how you feel about that Pokemon. Please let's not get overly long debates of those but if there's a Pokemon I might call a bit bad and someone really has found a legitimate spot for it in the metagame you are allowed to comment of that and I may consider of changing that description a little bit. But I did want to really call bad NUs bad and good NUs good so that everyone who has no experience of NU would have some kind of an idea what Pokemon truly are good and not just use 6x Bug/Flying Pokemon. But yeah, I hope this guide will attract at least some new NU players in the game. Now it's community's time to give inputs in this thread. Please do keep clear and coherent as possible and explain your every set as well as possible. All the community's movesets will be clearly put separate from mine (such as in spoilers) to make it be clear that I am not getting asked questions behind the logic of someone else's moveset. I hope all your community inputs make sense. They can be gimmicky but still have to serve some purpose and has a purpose to win for your team. So please no overly "fun" sets. I have right to veto every possible moveset that I just don't find even slightly usable in the NU tier but I will do this really rarely if not at all. Some notes: - Abilities are listed only when the Pokemon has two abilities and one is notably better than the other. - These Pokemon's movesets are only build to reflect their impact in the NU tier and this will remain that way. So it doesn't mean you can bring a set from here to a UU tier and wonder why the hell does it not work since the movesets here largely base on the NU metagame. I recommend to check Yagami's UU guide for everything that is going to be used in UU. - I'm going to only include fully evolved Pokemon in this guide as well as not fully evolved which may have some kind of a spot in the metagame (i.e. Diglett but not Charmeleon) - I'm too lazy to do exact calcs for some specific non 252/252 sets and if I don't think 252/252 is the best set I'll just write "split" so spread it however you want. If you have discovered a necessary calculation to have a certain EV Spread then please let me know (mainly only OHKOs and 2HKOs and only from Pokemon that are viable) - Do NOT have any kind of a tiering discussion in this thread, such as does a certain Pokemon belong in NU tier or not. - Yes I am aware there's always lacking the last 4 EV points but who honestly cares where you put it. - If you have OCD, I'm sorry. Some useful links to begin with: PokeMMO Tiers and usage statistics: https://forums.pokemmo.eu/index.php?/topic/53984-pokemmo-official-usage-statistics-and-tier-lists/ (Every Pokemon that is not Ubers, OU or UU is NU) NU Viability thread: https://forums.pokemmo.eu/index.php?/topic/54276-nu-viability-thread/ (might be a long way there's any ranks put but this is the place to see how "good" Pokemon actually are)

IGN OrangeManiac

Visual bug, just relog and it's fine. Ninjad all of you

Just some thoughts about the whole metagame we're having now vs. what we used to have. I know it's pretty early to say these things without much usage but this only bases on my experiences while playing OU. Also I'm just only speaking my own mind here. Sorry if I'm repeating some points I've said some pages ago. Let me start out by saying OU should always be the best tier. Period. This is for the simple reason that you have the most Pokemon available to use, therefor you have the most tools to work with. This does not mean I support banning 25 Pokemon from OU to get "the best possible" metagame. I mostly mean OU tier should be the tier which indicates who is the player who masters beating all kinds of teams and Pokemon from everything we have. Let me back off a little bit by saying that I am aware the definition of "the best tier" is obviously highly subjective but there's this Smauwhgon link somewhere ThinkNice kept linking every 10 minutes which I agree with it. The metagame needs to be diverse, yet with the mindset people want to win. Every playstyle, archetype etc should be as viable as possible and if they were in balance that would be even better. Also diversity with Pokemon for certain roles is also important. Pre Snorlax-Bliss ban OU in my opinion was everything but that. OU ironically had the least possible options for teambuild from all the possible three tiers. Pokemon in my eyes were unviable if they couldn't beat Blissey/Snorlax while being able to break any possible counters to them. Or another option was that you should wall. It seemingly seemed "balanced" with the split that you can be a defensive or offensive player. That is really mandatory for a good metagame, however the options were so limitless to both sides it was kinda sad. I said this before: The viability of offensive Pokemon based on how well they beat Snorlax/Blissey and the viability of defensive Pokemon based on how well could they counter the Pokemon that countered Snorlax and Blissey. It wasn't beating an overall good offensive team to beat overall stall team: you just knew what were the Pokemon you needed to break. As an offensive player I triumphed sometimes for only the reason I found offensive cores to break the Lax+Bliss+def wall cores making it somewhat fair that both team builds could win. But was it an enjoyable metagame? Hell naw. One of the Pokemon that was really viable, almost considered S rank was Slowbro. It was so highly used but as you can clearly see it was used because of being a physical wall with Psychic-type. The effect of Snorlax and Blissey was so insanely huge that they made Slowbro so amazing pretty much alone. I'm not saying Slowbro is a bad Pokemon but you can see huge drop in usage. Also a huge evidence of the centralizing effect of Blissey and Snorlax was Heracross being one of the most OUs and currently it's out of the top 10 most used OUs. The reason why it was viable: It broke both Lax+Bliss and Slowbro. Which against made Weezing viable. And so on. I really dislike a metagame which makes Pokemon viable only because of the some individual Pokemon in the metagame. Like I stated, a metagame should be looked at like everyone wants to win. You cannot say a metagame is bad if something completely awful doesn't work. What Lax+Bliss metagame did, however was making only certain Pokemon viable. The old tier was more of "mastering the tier" than "mastering the competitive" play, like I stated. Currently I feel like Pokemon we have now at NU, can be usable. Lapras, Cradily, Armaldo... all these Pokemon you might bring to a OU battle now and realize "damn these are pretty damn good as a Pokemon!" but they didn't work in old OU because they didn't support wall teams/destroy wall cores. I'm using these as an example, no need to tell me that these mentioned three would still be not usable in OU but I'm just saying Pokemon did go to lower tiers only because they didn't fit either the narrow selection of wallbreakers/walls that support other walls. What the metagame looks to me currently is that everything is viable. Alakazam/Starmie/Jolteon was found to be too good but there are Pokemon that highly limit them making bringing no Pokemon a completely safe bet like in the old "wall-core" metagame. A common concern is that defensive play currently is unviable, yet I think there's a long way to argue for that. I feel like so much stuff are viable in the current OU tier that it almost resembles the fun of playing some other generations. I am aware there are some Pokemon that outclass the others, which is always bound to happen but the difference to MMO OU was so huge. Currently, though so many Pokemon we deem BL, UU or NU just have turned out to be completely viable after the departure of just two Pokemon. OU tier to me is now mastering the competitive play when you have the most possible selection of Pokemon and then raising the best possible team with those. I personally think teambuilding wise Snorlax + Blissey ban was the greatest tiering wise made decision. I understand why it is a controversial one, it made "unnecessarily" defensive play less viable. However, I think the positive traits of this new OU just outshine the negative ones. But yeah, we can't have a tier which has the most Pokemon and having less variety of viable Pokemon than pretty much he preliminary NU tier. I really support this staying for good, just my two cents of all of this. The usage so far looks good but I suppose stuff can happen. Well, it always will.

What is this? I didn't give you a permission even to quit either. Now get your ass back online please. [spoiler]Sad to see you go, take care man. Honored to get your comps and I'll put them in good use in our team and eventually we'll win a TT with those.[spoiler]also[spoiler]ur a nub[spoiler]You and Ploegy and all old Optic[spoiler]Rip Optic o7[/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler]

Basically this. I have to say that bringing PSL to PokeMMO was by far the single most uniting thing to this community and was probably a major reason why this community was alive when people are/were unsatisfied with the content itself we have now. P.S. major cri for no shoutouts :-; [spoiler]lol jk we never barely really knew each other[spoiler]But yeah, take care man.[/spoiler][/spoiler]

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-246927104 Yay for Manaphy and Focus Miss not missing.