ORAS NU The Number of the Beast

[Ares]

Kiyo

~ Woe to you O earth and sea, for the Devil sends the Beast with wrath, because he knows the time is short. Let him who hath understanding reckon the Number of the Beast, for it is a human number. Its number is six-hundred and sixty-six. ~​

Introduction​

So I haven't posted an RMT in a while and I was just itching to make on after seeing some of the awesomely formatted ones recently. I thought to myself is their a specific post / concept I can base a team off of for this RMT? The tier had recently gone through a number of changes from drops to bans and so I hadn't really bothered to build anything serious, just borrowing teams off of frens when I got the hankering to battle. This ment that I pretty much had the entire NU / PU tier to choose from when it came to something to build around. I then realized that I had never done a 666 post shoutout, and being a huge Iron Maiden fan this was bad M'kay. So I realized I was pretty close to 1,666 posts and decided to do an RMT for that benchmark based off of the Pokemon whose Dex # is 666, Vivillon. The Number of the Beast, song above, ranks among my top songs by Iron Maiden and it seemed like the perfect thing to base a team off of. Having only used Vivillon a couple of times a while back, I was unsure what set I really wanted to use and so started off using a set that Dat Blast had hyped up with Endeavor. Now that I had the Pokemon I wanted to base my team off of I was ready to get onto the teambuilding process.

Teambuidling Process​

Teambuilding Process

So I knew I wanted to start off with Vivillon and the biggest thing that Vivillon requires is hazard support due to its 4x weakness to Stealth Rock and the fact that Giga Drain and Roost aren't the best options on Vivillon. I wasn't quite sure that I wanted to have a Defog Pokemon at this point and I had been playing around with Xatu recently and really enjoying the mind games that came with it, so I went with Xatu. (being on the other side with predictions is a lot more fun than trying to get your rocks up against an opposing Xatu :<) Magic Bounce is absolutely amazing and 9 times out of 10 I'm able to keep hazards off of the field with prediction, or at least keep them off of the field to a point where having late game Stealth Rock isn't really important.

Next up I wanted some momentum, as well as a reliable revenge killer for Feraligatr (which wasn't banned at this point) and Rotom-Fan is really quite awesome in general. Momentum + good defensive typing (secondary fighting resist) + revenging gatr, was exactly what I was looking for.

I then decided I wanted to over prepare for Feraligatr a little bit and go with the one hard counter that NU had to offer, Poliwrath has a unique typing / ability that allows it to counter Gatr. Poliwrath was also another Pokemon that I had been wanting to use for quite a while after seeing some friends use it to great success.

After having a decent defensive backbone I needed another setup sweeper and decided to go with Klinklang, who with the recent departure of Steelix / Mega-Steelix, just got incredibly good. Offensive Steel-types in general are really good right now as the meta has had a huge sigh of relief after Mega Lix left.

Looking at my team I realized I didn't have a reliable stop to Fire-spam, Poliwrath was defensively based and took huge amounts from Eruption or coverage while everything else didn't resist Fire. I decided to go with Rhydon because I also needed a special tank and it is just a good and fun mon in general. I didn't really bother to do an indepth look at this point, just wanted to test it out on the ladder, had a bit of an Ice-type weakness at this point.

So after playing about 6 matches on the ladder the team was doing pretty well, Vivi and Klinklang were sweeping consistently and I wasn't having problems with Gatr...then I ran into Jynx. Jynx posed a huge threat to my team being able to straight up 6-0 it from team preview with its dual STABs and Focus Blast coverage. I knew I probably need to switch out Rhydon for another Stealth Rock setter and probably something else to patch up the holes that Rhydon leaving opened up. I went and asked user: Can-Eh-Dian what he thought I should do as he is an aspiring rater and fixing the problem would help both of us. He suggested yama > wrath and pilo > don, I agreed with his quick suggestions as Piloswine was a lot of fun and underrated, and while I don't like going super standard with Hariyama I needed the extra priority. I also had been running Tailwind on Xatu, but after playing a Seismitoad I realized I don't have the best matchup against it and decided to put Giga Drain > Tailwind on Xatu.

I laddered for a while and was doing really well with the changes, most of my holes were covered and through careful playing I could win my matchups. I then asked user hollywood what he thought of my team and he said it was good except that there wasn't a water resist. Yes I can get away with playing well and allowing certain Pokemon to absorb Scald Burns, Hariyama can take on more offensively based Water-types and overall the team was pretty good at that point. But I wanted to make it better so I asked Hollywood what he would change. He suggested Seismitoad > Piloswine and something>yama. I thought about these changes and asked user Dat Blast to weigh in and see what he thought of the team before I made any changes. He looked at the team and noticed that I don't matchup well against offensive Steel-types which was a problem. He said I could do something like Mega Rupt > Pilo and then try and fit another water resist somewhere else or I could go with Holly's change of toad. I ended up going with Seismitoad as my Stealth Rock Pokemon and it has been working out really well as it is also a good check to offensive Steel-types. I decided against switching out Hariyama as it was my only priority after removing Piloswine and priority is always good as well as being my Fire-spam stop.​

The Squad

666 (Vivillon) (F) @

| Compound Eyes
Modest | 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Quiver Dance
- Sleep Powder
- Hurricane
- Endeavor

This is the thing I originally wanted to build around, the set was inspired by Dat Blast who has used Endeavor to great effect. It struggles a bit with things resisting Hurricane (Rock-types) and that have priority, cause you can't get the Endeavor off. Quiver Dance with mono coverage will get you a sweep, or at least hurt the opposing team enough to open a hole for Klinklang, 75% of the time. Vivillon is terrifying and teams tend not to prepare enough for it. Sleep Powder is good for coming in early on and putting hazard leads to sleep and setting up or threatening out opposing Seismitoad, who is an annoying bulky POS.

Xatu @

| Magic Bounce
Bold | 168 HP / 252 Def / 88 Spe
- U-turn
- Psychic
- Roost
- Giga Drain

Xatu is honestly the most annoying Pokemon to play against and a ton of fun to play with, the mind games that this mon causes are ridiculous. Xatu has a decent matchup against a lot of bulky hazard setters and is a good switch into them, keeping hazards off of the field. Or you can switch into a better matchup instead of Xatu because the opponent will predict you to go into Xatu on the hazards. U-turn is there for momentum as Xatu causes lots of switches (although people stay in with Weezing o.0) and also gets you out of bad situations. Psychic is used over Psyshock to nail things like Gurdurr and Weezing harder, Psyshock is generally better on the Calm Mind set as you can boost up and beat some of the other Calm Mind Pokemon. Giga Drain is on this set specifically for Seismitoad, because nothing on my team can straight up OHKO toad and a lot of the time they will be predicting Heatwave / Psyshock and I can bop them with a Giga Drain, it also matches up well against most rock setters.

Rotom-Fan @

| Levitate
Timid | 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Air Slash
- Volt Switch
- Trick

This thing is so good, it was even better when Feraligatr was here, but even after Feraligatr has left this thing is a more powerful Rotom (except without Spin Block). It has good power / coverage with its STAB and stats and gets amazing momentum with Volt Switch. You can also run Will-O-Wisp, but I think Thunderbolt is much better on Rotom-Fan. This thing also provides a good Fighting-type check and can switch into a Close Combat at least once as well as being able to revenge kill Fighting-types with Air Slash. I usually lead with this or Vivillon and being able to Volt Switch is awesome (I can't stress it enough).

Seismitoad @

| Water Absorb
Bold | 200 HP / 252 Def / 56 SpD
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Scald
- Toxic

Seismitoad is a glue mon, my rock mon, and is just all around a bulky mon. It was the last addition to my team and I need it to check a variety of things such as offensive Steel-types. Toxic is there to cripple bulky mons that like to switch in and I'm running Earth Power over Earthquake so that I don't have to run a minus speed nature. There really isn't to much to say about toad other than its glue and its specifically here as a water resist and to check offensive Steel-types as Seismitoad is one of the more standard Pokemon in NU.

Klinklang @

| Clear Body
Adamant | 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
- Substitute
- Gear Grind
- Return
- Shift Gear

Klinklang is filling the void that was left by Mega-Steelix, which is also the hardest counter to Klinklang. Mega-Steelix leaving means that a ton of teams are no longer running something to beat offensive Steel-types. Klinklang and Mawile are thriving and are terrifying to most teams in NU atm. Running a spread I got from Dat Blast to beat neutral speed Mesprit iirc. Substitute over a coverage move to block status and to allow Klinklang to setup on a variety of things. Klinklang is also my stop to Musharna and Uxie as it can boost up faster and KO them before they are able to beat me, not the best check but it seems to work good enough.

Hariyama @

| Thick Fat
Adamant | 252 Atk / 228 SpD / 28 Spe
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Bullet Punch
- Fake Out

Hariyama is like the premier mon to stop Fire-spam, it always seems to get suggested to patch up holes. But it really does this quite well, which is why its on my team. Stops a variety of threats and has the priority I need to revenge kill things, if I was running priority anywhere else i might switch out Fake Out for EQ or Ice Punch, but I'm not so I need all the priority I can get. Hariyama has been my favorite mon for quite a while and I'm glad that he has gotten so good in the NU meta.

Threatlist​

Threatlist

This thing has the ability to give me huge problems, luckily Hariyama can revenge kill with a combination of Fake Out and Bullet Punch.

I have yet to actually face this thing, but looking at my team it is actually quite hard to wear down. A combination of Rocky Helmet damage and Vivillon with Endeavor is probably the way I would beat this.

Normal Spam
I don't exactly have a good normal resist outside of Klinklang (usually the Normal-type has coverage for Steel-types), i can get around it with good switching and prior damage and what not.

This isn't exactly common right now, but with a combination of Fire-, Psychic-, Grass-coverage this thing can rip my team a new asshole.

This thing comes in for free against Rotom-Fan / Xatu (unless I click U-turn) and takes little damage from Klinklang and threatens a lot of my team. Hariyama can deal with it but doesn't apprieciate taking a Will-O-Wisp.

Misclicks / Hax
Yooo wtf, why did Showdown click Rock Polish for me??????

Importable​

Importable

666 (Vivillon) (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Sleep Powder
- Hurricane
- Endeavor

Xatu @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Def / 88 Spe
Bold Nature
- U-turn
- Psychic
- Roost
- Giga Drain

Rotom-Fan @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Air Slash
- Volt Switch
- Trick

Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Def / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Scald
- Toxic

Klinklang @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Gear Grind
- Return
- Shift Gear

Hariyama @ Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 228 SpD / 28 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Bullet Punch
- Fake Out

Shoutouts​

Shoutouts

All of these ppl are ppl who make Smogon / PS enjoyable and a big thank you to you for making it so (if I forgot you VM me :<)​

NU Room / NU peeps
hollywood Raseri Zebraiken Can-Eh-Dian marilli Nozzle Punchshroom Quite Quiet scorpdestroyer Teddeh Chef Rice Deej Dy Disjunction HJAD iplaytennislol QueenOfLuvdiscs Realistic Waters SolarisFox Soulgazer The Goomy xzern Aladyyn Dat Blast blaziken1337 boltsandbombers Bowtie Addo Brawlfest Draeden Kiyo Pokedots Scarf Buck CanadianWifier Zenza

Battle Spot Room / Battle Spot peeps
CoolStoryBrobat Feliburn Angeela Ksnake789 Hulavuta cant say Theorymon GroudonEmpire FlamtapShuckle NOVED xastify ethan06 HydreigonIsOP mhykah Lucina09

RU Room
barton Lyto Molk The Leprechaun Arikado atomicllamas Caption EonX galbia Glory innovamania migzoo Kushalos Ojoni Scene Ajna aoemica GGBud lighthouses Pearl. Tidal Waltz Bouffalant Robert Alfons The Bravest Bird

PU Room / PU peeps
Dell WhiteDMist Anty Eevee General Magnemite Dundies GasQuake GrimoireGod Megazard Z Mistress Remilia Texas Cloverleaf BadPandaPancham unfixable Raiza. TONE114

Cool people
Anto f(x)

Replays​

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nu-216263559
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nu-216248611

 

[DKFirelord]

To decrease you're Malamar weakness I would replace endevour

Edit:lol with Bug Buzz

 

[ryan]

Probably worth adding Mega Camerupt to your threatlist, as it comes in pretty much for free on Rotom, Klinklang, and Xatu unless you click U-turn on the switch. Camerupt weakness isn't exactly easy to cover, just make sure you play wisely around it. The team definitely looks more solid with a Water resist than without one, even if nothing on your team is weak to it. Even though stuff like Life Orb Samurott can still be really threatening, at least the opponent can't just spam Hydro Pump every time it comes in.

I already gave my main thoughts to you when you asked me about the team, so I guess I'll just say that the team looks pretty solid in its current state. Jynx is pretty hard to cover defensively, but you can run Earthquake over Earth Power on Seismitoad to help make it less of a problem. You can already pivot around Jynx decently well with Seismitoad/Hariyama/Klinklang anyways, so as long as they can all threaten it back, you should be fine. If you're overly concerned about Malamar, you can try Signal Beam over Giga Drain on Xatu as well.

 

[aVocado]

better version of the song: (cover by iced earth)

 

[Ares]

To decrease you're Malamar weakness I would replace endevour

Edit:lol with Bug Buzz

Endeavor will let me beat Malamar as well (with a bit more careful playing), it also lets me weaken a lot more threats than Bug Buzz would. Thanks for the suggestion though!

Probably worth adding Mega Camerupt to your threatlist, as it comes in pretty much for free on Rotom, Klinklang, and Xatu unless you click U-turn on the switch. Camerupt weakness isn't exactly easy to cover, just make sure you play wisely around it. The team definitely looks more solid with a Water resist than without one, even if nothing on your team is weak to it. Even though stuff like Life Orb Samurott can still be really threatening, at least the opponent can't just spam Hydro Pump every time it comes in.

I already gave my main thoughts to you when you asked me about the team, so I guess I'll just say that the team looks pretty solid in its current state. Jynx is pretty hard to cover defensively, but you can run Earthquake over Earth Power on Seismitoad to help make it less of a problem. You can already pivot around Jynx decently well with Seismitoad/Hariyama/Klinklang anyways, so as long as they can all threaten it back, you should be fine. If you're overly concerned about Malamar, you can try Signal Beam over Giga Drain on Xatu as well.

Yah Mega Rupt is threatening to about every team atm, but yama and careful playing handle it decently enough. Jynx is always so surprisingly threatening, I always consider it a non threat because of how weak it is to priority, but it always ends up putting in work.

better version of the song: (cover by iced earth)

False

 

[Evan.]

hey Montsegur really cool team, I know you showed it to me before but I'm glad you decided to RMT it. Anyways the team looks really solid and there really isn't much that needs to be changed. I don't really like Quiver on Lead Endeavor Vivillon, I feel like it tries to do too much at once for it to be truly effective. Therefore, I'm going to suggest that you run Energy Ball > Quiver Dance on Vivillon as it still does what endeavor vivillon should do, while also being able to bait in bulky waters for Klinklang. With this newfound way to bait in bulky waters, I believe that you can afford to run Signal Beam > Giga Drain on Xatu to help fix up that Malamar weakness. Cool team and formatting (wonder where you got that from hehe bwoi) and I hope my changes helped!

: Energy Ball > Quiver Dance

: Signal Beam > Giga Drain

 

[Ares]

hey Montsegur really cool team, I know you showed it to me before but I'm glad you decided to RMT it. Anyways the team looks really solid and there really isn't much that needs to be changed. I don't really like Quiver on Lead Endeavor Vivillon, I feel like it tries to do too much at once for it to be truly effective. Therefore, I'm going to suggest that you run Energy Ball > Quiver Dance on Vivillon as it still does what endeavor vivillon should do, while also being able to bait in bulky waters for Klinklang. With this newfound way to bait in bulky waters, I believe that you can afford to run Signal Beam > Giga Drain on Xatu to help fix up that Malamar weakness. Cool team and formatting (wonder where you got that from hehe bwoi) and I hope my changes helped!

View attachment 38046: Energy Ball > Quiver Dance
View attachment 38047: Signal Beam > Giga Drain

The thing is that I don't always use Vivillon to lead, sure it can put something to sleep and what not. But I also use it as a late game wincon to setup and weaken opposing teams with Endeavor. Pretty much from the team preview I'm looking to see does the opponent have a ground type? If so how can I lure it in and beat it so I can freely volt switch with Scarf Rotom. If the opponent doesn't have one I tend to lead with scarf rotom-s to pivot out into w/e is appropriate. I'd probably end up going bug buzz > endeavor if I really did have a major problem with Malamar that didn't involve keeping vivillon alive. I'm also a bit hesitant to give up giga drain cause it is good against rock setters. But I'll test out your changes to see if I like them.

Thx for the rate

my team is weak to zangoose lol