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Congrats to the winners of the 2023 Smog Awards!
Project Next Best Thing
- Thread starter Shengineer
- Start date
The vote was pretty close this week and a lot of cool sets were showcased! The winner is Lucario with his Imprison trapper set! I particularly like the ability to block knock off vs things like Muk-Alola after you've trapped them. Thanks to everyone for your participation, the next week will be posted sometime tomorrow! In the event of a tie going forward, I will plan to vote as the tiebreaker, but that was unnecessary this week.
Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Transform
- Imprison
- Fire Spin
- Knock Off
Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Transform
- Imprison
- Fire Spin
- Knock Off
NBT continues with our second weekly installment! This time, taking the spotlight is...
WEEK 2: INFERNAPE
Infernape's arrival in the tier was met with a lot of hype, but for some reason it seems to have died down. With an excellent speed stat, strong offensive typing, and good physical and special attacking stats, it can be hard to prepare for what Infernape has in store for you... especially if you bring something unexpected! There are also quite a few tempting utility options available... perhaps one of them will become the Next Best Thing!
The deadline for submission is approximately March 31, 5:00pm -5
WEEK 2: INFERNAPE
Infernape's arrival in the tier was met with a lot of hype, but for some reason it seems to have died down. With an excellent speed stat, strong offensive typing, and good physical and special attacking stats, it can be hard to prepare for what Infernape has in store for you... especially if you bring something unexpected! There are also quite a few tempting utility options available... perhaps one of them will become the Next Best Thing!
The deadline for submission is approximately March 31, 5:00pm -5
Everything already on the smogdex, but you are welcome to present one of these sets with significant alterations
Choice Scarf
Choice Band
Nasty Plot + Life Orb
Choice Scarf
Choice Band
Nasty Plot + Life Orb
Infernape @ Focus Sash
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Flare Blitz
- Taunt
- Knock Off
This is the lead set I like most on Infernape. There are other good options like endeavor + mach punch with iron fist, dropping taunt entirely, etc. but this is what I find most useful to reliably make progress. I generally prefer Blaze Flare Blitz to self KO and GTFO. Knock is great utility and I find its often better than Mach Punch in practice. Big drawback to this set is if you run into lead Lycanroc's you just kinda cut your losses, lead something else and try to get rocks up later.
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Flare Blitz
- Taunt
- Knock Off
This is the lead set I like most on Infernape. There are other good options like endeavor + mach punch with iron fist, dropping taunt entirely, etc. but this is what I find most useful to reliably make progress. I generally prefer Blaze Flare Blitz to self KO and GTFO. Knock is great utility and I find its often better than Mach Punch in practice. Big drawback to this set is if you run into lead Lycanroc's you just kinda cut your losses, lead something else and try to get rocks up later.
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Infernape @ Salac Berry
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Reversal
- Temper Flare
- Endure
- Swords Dance
Sorry I meant to do this sooner. This set is all about doing the maximum possible damage with Infernape, which is often hard due to it's mediocre offensive stats. Endure + Salac Berry allow Infernape to outpace 99.99% of Pokemon in the tier while also boosting Reversal's damage and activating Blaze. Unfortunately Infernape doesn't have many other physical Fire-type moves that fit well on this set, so Temper Flare is available (if Endure fails because it becomes boosted).
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Reversal
- Temper Flare
- Endure
- Swords Dance
Sorry I meant to do this sooner. This set is all about doing the maximum possible damage with Infernape, which is often hard due to it's mediocre offensive stats. Endure + Salac Berry allow Infernape to outpace 99.99% of Pokemon in the tier while also boosting Reversal's damage and activating Blaze. Unfortunately Infernape doesn't have many other physical Fire-type moves that fit well on this set, so Temper Flare is available (if Endure fails because it becomes boosted).
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SD Drain Punch Infernape
Infernape @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Iron Fist
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake
Here we have an offensive set with Swords Dance and Drain Punch over Close Combat. The choice of Drain Punch instead of Close Combat allows Infernape to preserve its own bulk, thus making it more resilient to be revenge-killed. Also, I think that Drain Punch is generally better than Slack Off in a set offensively-inclined like this one in order to avoid being too passive.
Flare Blitz and Earthquake are here for coverage.
Swords Dance is the key of the set and Infernape can reliably use it due to the amount of switches it provides. Although Infernape can't OHKO things from full health, it is a solid cleaner.
Iron Fist is superior here to Blaze because it gives a 20% power boost to Drain Punch, which is useful to rectify its middling base power, but it is worth this choice because of longevity of this pokemon.
The EVs spread is a standard offensive one.
Tera type Water in order to have a more defensivish approach if needed when searching for set-up opportunities.
Sitrus Berry is in my opinion a good choice for a set-up cleaner like this one because it allows an extra turn of set-up, so you can wish to reach even +4 Atk with a little more ease. Also, it allows a little more freedom to use Flare Blitz.
Infernape @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Iron Fist
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake
Here we have an offensive set with Swords Dance and Drain Punch over Close Combat. The choice of Drain Punch instead of Close Combat allows Infernape to preserve its own bulk, thus making it more resilient to be revenge-killed. Also, I think that Drain Punch is generally better than Slack Off in a set offensively-inclined like this one in order to avoid being too passive.
Flare Blitz and Earthquake are here for coverage.
Swords Dance is the key of the set and Infernape can reliably use it due to the amount of switches it provides. Although Infernape can't OHKO things from full health, it is a solid cleaner.
Iron Fist is superior here to Blaze because it gives a 20% power boost to Drain Punch, which is useful to rectify its middling base power, but it is worth this choice because of longevity of this pokemon.
The EVs spread is a standard offensive one.
Tera type Water in order to have a more defensivish approach if needed when searching for set-up opportunities.
Sitrus Berry is in my opinion a good choice for a set-up cleaner like this one because it allows an extra turn of set-up, so you can wish to reach even +4 Atk with a little more ease. Also, it allows a little more freedom to use Flare Blitz.
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SD Expert Belt Infernape
Infernape @ Expert Belt
Ability: Iron Fist
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Thunder Punch
This set takes advantage of a few of infernapes weakness, +2 tera electric thunder punch with expert belt is a guaranteed OHKO vs slowbro, who is as commonplace as ever, and you can bluff scarf earlier in the match since you aren't taking life orb recoil. Tera electric is also nice for baiting talonflame who usually threatens to revenge kill you with their faster flying stab and knock them out in return. Tera thunder punch is also nice stronger option vs vaporeon and milotic. This set very often manages to get a surprise KO or 2 and forces the opponent to tera defensively as to not lose to it, I've found this set to work best on webs offense teams in my testing.
Here's the team that got the best results
NBT Ape Webs (pokepast.es)
Infernape @ Expert Belt
Ability: Iron Fist
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Thunder Punch
This set takes advantage of a few of infernapes weakness, +2 tera electric thunder punch with expert belt is a guaranteed OHKO vs slowbro, who is as commonplace as ever, and you can bluff scarf earlier in the match since you aren't taking life orb recoil. Tera electric is also nice for baiting talonflame who usually threatens to revenge kill you with their faster flying stab and knock them out in return. Tera thunder punch is also nice stronger option vs vaporeon and milotic. This set very often manages to get a surprise KO or 2 and forces the opponent to tera defensively as to not lose to it, I've found this set to work best on webs offense teams in my testing.
Here's the team that got the best results
NBT Ape Webs (pokepast.es)
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Mixed LO Ape
Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 160 Atk / 96 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- Knock Off
- Grass Knot
Mixed Life Orb Infernape that utilizes both of Infernape's offensive stats. Fire Blast is used for the Fire STAB to break past physical walls such as Avalugg and Vileplume. Knock Off is nice as a midground move that provides utility and hits Psychic- and Ghost-types super effectively. Grass Knot lets Infernape deal quite a bit of damage to most of the Bulky waters in the tier. Tera Dark allows Knock Off into Grass Knot to take out Slowbro
Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 160 Atk / 96 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- Knock Off
- Grass Knot
Mixed Life Orb Infernape that utilizes both of Infernape's offensive stats. Fire Blast is used for the Fire STAB to break past physical walls such as Avalugg and Vileplume. Knock Off is nice as a midground move that provides utility and hits Psychic- and Ghost-types super effectively. Grass Knot lets Infernape deal quite a bit of damage to most of the Bulky waters in the tier. Tera Dark allows Knock Off into Grass Knot to take out Slowbro
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Calm Mind Slack Off Infernape
Infernape @ Leftovers
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Slack Off
- Flamethrower
- Aura Sphere
For some reason, infernape gets slack off. Idk why, but it does. This set brutalises stall teams that can't deal that much damage to it, as at +1 special defense infernape isn't taking much damage. Even a scald from slowbro is only doing 51% max, and infernape can easily calm mind again which then means scald is doing 38% max. It even does decently against more offensive teams, as a lycanroc dusk close combat doesn't even ohko, while it fires back with an aura sphere which does *checks notes* 207% minimum. Lmao. Anyways, this set utilises infernape's unique tools in order to decimate unprepared teams. Tera fairy is just a good defensive typing that doesn't have any weaknesses from ape's base typing.
Edit: This absolutely brutalises sun teams. The only thing they have that can defeat this is chandelure, who with smart play can be beaten by teammates. It just calm minds up and destroys everything else.
Infernape @ Leftovers
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Slack Off
- Flamethrower
- Aura Sphere
For some reason, infernape gets slack off. Idk why, but it does. This set brutalises stall teams that can't deal that much damage to it, as at +1 special defense infernape isn't taking much damage. Even a scald from slowbro is only doing 51% max, and infernape can easily calm mind again which then means scald is doing 38% max. It even does decently against more offensive teams, as a lycanroc dusk close combat doesn't even ohko, while it fires back with an aura sphere which does *checks notes* 207% minimum. Lmao. Anyways, this set utilises infernape's unique tools in order to decimate unprepared teams. Tera fairy is just a good defensive typing that doesn't have any weaknesses from ape's base typing.
Edit: This absolutely brutalises sun teams. The only thing they have that can defeat this is chandelure, who with smart play can be beaten by teammates. It just calm minds up and destroys everything else.
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Infernape @ Focus Sash
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Agility
- Upper Hand
- Temper Flare
- Close Combat
Hear me out: gotta go fast. The speed (and more) of Scarf Ape without the choice lock, plus the Upper Hand tech for those pesky priority revenge kills. There's an argument for Iron Fist/Fire Punch over Blaze, but I felt that with how often you get into Blaze with the sash, the extra boost is worth it.
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Agility
- Upper Hand
- Temper Flare
- Close Combat
Hear me out: gotta go fast. The speed (and more) of Scarf Ape without the choice lock, plus the Upper Hand tech for those pesky priority revenge kills. There's an argument for Iron Fist/Fire Punch over Blaze, but I felt that with how often you get into Blaze with the sash, the extra boost is worth it.
FYI, this is way harder than Mew, but aye.
Infernape (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Iron Fist
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fire Punch
- Mach Punch
- Endeavor
- Swords Dance
I still need to test this, but this should be fine on paper. The goal of the set is to lead Infernape and see how your opponents lead. Always go for sword dance unless you think you can OHKO. If the Pokemon is way tanker, you use endeavor to go out with a bang. After SD, you just punch away and hope for the best. I have Tera flying, so if you think the Pokemon will use a ground move, especially if they scarf, it's a free setup.
Infernape (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Iron Fist
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fire Punch
- Mach Punch
- Endeavor
- Swords Dance
I still need to test this, but this should be fine on paper. The goal of the set is to lead Infernape and see how your opponents lead. Always go for sword dance unless you think you can OHKO. If the Pokemon is way tanker, you use endeavor to go out with a bang. After SD, you just punch away and hope for the best. I have Tera flying, so if you think the Pokemon will use a ground move, especially if they scarf, it's a free setup.
SD Raging Fury Ape
Infernape @ Lum Berry
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Dark/Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Raging Fury
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
Designed for a webs team this SD Lum Ape is here to monkey around. Tera Dark is useful for both the immunity to psychic types moves that might try to hit you for SE, it gives you a 56% chance to OHKO Slowbro after Tera+SD, and prevents Prankster mons from ruining your day with status/taunt/encore. You could also choose to use Tera Fire with Blaze to deal more damage to other mons if you feel Slowbro won't be an issue for your team structure.
Raging Fury is used over Flare Blitz or Fire Punch because it is as strong as Flare Blitz but also doesn't have recoil. This is especially useful when in Blaze, letting you fire off some more Blaze boosted attacks. Lum berry is here to both prevent random status(Umbreon toxic on your SD, Prankster T-wave if you don't tera, etc) and also to remove one of the downsides to using Raging Fury, the confusion when your rampage ends.
Infernape @ Lum Berry
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Dark/Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Raging Fury
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
Designed for a webs team this SD Lum Ape is here to monkey around. Tera Dark is useful for both the immunity to psychic types moves that might try to hit you for SE, it gives you a 56% chance to OHKO Slowbro after Tera+SD, and prevents Prankster mons from ruining your day with status/taunt/encore. You could also choose to use Tera Fire with Blaze to deal more damage to other mons if you feel Slowbro won't be an issue for your team structure.
Raging Fury is used over Flare Blitz or Fire Punch because it is as strong as Flare Blitz but also doesn't have recoil. This is especially useful when in Blaze, letting you fire off some more Blaze boosted attacks. Lum berry is here to both prevent random status(Umbreon toxic on your SD, Prankster T-wave if you don't tera, etc) and also to remove one of the downsides to using Raging Fury, the confusion when your rampage ends.
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Alright everyone, submissions are closed for the week. Please reply with your votes for your favorite set, and make sure to value both viability and creativity! This week, you'll be able to vote for up to two sets, all votes will be counted equally.
On the ballot:
Kiyo's Lead
Lucario's Salac Endure
nameless90's SD Drain Punch
Diamonds_realm's SD EBelt
Zangoose's Mixed LO
Heatranator's CM Slack Off
hammer798's Agility Sash
PKQ's Endeavor + SD
TrueScotsman's SD Raging Fury
edit: votes will be counted Wednesday night
On the ballot:
Kiyo's Lead
Lucario's Salac Endure
nameless90's SD Drain Punch
Diamonds_realm's SD EBelt
Zangoose's Mixed LO
Heatranator's CM Slack Off
hammer798's Agility Sash
PKQ's Endeavor + SD
TrueScotsman's SD Raging Fury
edit: votes will be counted Wednesday night
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Nameless90 + Diamonds_realm
Zangoose & Heatranator
Lucario, PKQ
Kiyo's Lead
Zangoose's Mixed LO
Zangoose's Mixed LO
Kiyo, nameless90
Wrapping up week 2, we have a surprising four way tie between Kiyo, Heatranator, Lucario, and Zangoose with 3 votes each. Thank you to everyone for your submissions, but only one set can be the next best thing, so I guess it's up to me to break the tie. The winner for this week's NBT is...
Lucario! again
Infernape @ Salac Berry
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Reversal
- Temper Flare
- Endure
- Swords Dance
I'm a sucker for Salac Berry, plus the sweeping potential of Swords Dance and the boost to Reversal are some fun synergies. Even though this was truly my favorite set of the tiebreak, I won't be beating the favoritism allegations anytime soon. I'll catch you tomorrow for week 3!
Lucario! again
Infernape @ Salac Berry
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Reversal
- Temper Flare
- Endure
- Swords Dance
I'm a sucker for Salac Berry, plus the sweeping potential of Swords Dance and the boost to Reversal are some fun synergies. Even though this was truly my favorite set of the tiebreak, I won't be beating the favoritism allegations anytime soon. I'll catch you tomorrow for week 3!
Welcome to NBT week 3! We only got one new 'mon this month, which we'll be exploring this week:
WEEK 3: FERALIGATR
The Gatr is here and ready to push NU to its limit. Will he be too much for the tier or become a healthy part of the metagame? Perhaps one of the sets posted here will take over!
The deadline for submission is (roughly) Sunday, April 7, 7:00pm -5
WEEK 3: FERALIGATR
The Gatr is here and ready to push NU to its limit. Will he be too much for the tier or become a healthy part of the metagame? Perhaps one of the sets posted here will take over!
The deadline for submission is (roughly) Sunday, April 7, 7:00pm -5
Agility mixed Feraligatr
Feraligatr @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 32 SpA / 224 Spe
Naive Nature
- Focus Blast
- Liquidation
- Crunch
- Agility
When thinking of a set to create, I thought of other sheer force mons to inspire me. The Nido twins were the ones I could remember, and I remember them using a special set. This resulted in this set. While feraligatr has physical fighting moves, they are not boosted by sheer force. However, it does have focus blast, which is boosted. This means that despite gatr's unimpressive special attack stat, it still hits hard. Especially against physically defensive mons such as avalugg, who gets destroyed by focus blast (when it hits lmao). I also decided with agility to overcome gatr's low speed. With these speed ev's, it outspeeds scarf raikou. This allowed me to put some in special attack, making it harder. Crunch deals with slowbro, which is still potentially 2hit KO'd with high rolls. Tera water means despite no attack boosts, gatr can still break through many defensive mons with sheer power.
Feraligatr @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 32 SpA / 224 Spe
Naive Nature
- Focus Blast
- Liquidation
- Crunch
- Agility
When thinking of a set to create, I thought of other sheer force mons to inspire me. The Nido twins were the ones I could remember, and I remember them using a special set. This resulted in this set. While feraligatr has physical fighting moves, they are not boosted by sheer force. However, it does have focus blast, which is boosted. This means that despite gatr's unimpressive special attack stat, it still hits hard. Especially against physically defensive mons such as avalugg, who gets destroyed by focus blast (when it hits lmao). I also decided with agility to overcome gatr's low speed. With these speed ev's, it outspeeds scarf raikou. This allowed me to put some in special attack, making it harder. Crunch deals with slowbro, which is still potentially 2hit KO'd with high rolls. Tera water means despite no attack boosts, gatr can still break through many defensive mons with sheer power.
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