Escavalier and Nidoqueen

[DittoCrow]

Both Escavalier and Nidoqueen recently dropped from UU to RU. Both are really good Pokemon; they both have good overall stats and great typings. Escavalier is predicted to fit well in RU, as Pokemon such as Moltres, Steelix, Poliwrath, and Magneton all counter it, and there are many Ghost-types that resist Escavalier's powerful STAB Megahorn. Nidoqueen's abilities are rather unexplored at the moment, as only Munchlax and Clefable are the main counters being discussed. Time to learn more about these new additions to RU!

Escavalier
Type: Bug / Steel
Base Stats: 70 HP / 135 Atk / 105 Def / 60 SpA / 105 SpD / 20 Spe
Abilities: Swarm / Shell Armor / Overcoat
​

Escavalier has excellent stats; the ones that stand out are its massive base 135 Attack and great base 105 Defense and 105 Special Defense. The downside to Escavalier is its pitiful base 20 Speed, but that can be quickly mitigated through Trick Room. Bug / Steel typing is good defensive typing, as well as offensive because Escavalier can hit extremely hard with moves such as Megahorn and Iron Head. However, Escavalier's movepool is quite lacking. The most notable moves are: Megahorn, Iron Head, Pursuit, Return, and Swords Dance. Basically, it will most likely be running a Choice Band set with the first four moves above, as it is too slow to take advantage of a Swords Dance boost. Escavalier can also use a defensive set with Toxic, as it has good 70 / 105 / 105 defenses to back it up. Unfortunately for Escavalier, RU is lined with offensive Fire-types such as Moltres, who 4x resists Megahorn. There are also a few popular defensive Pokemon to take care of Escavalier, most notably Steelix and Poliwrath. Because of this, I feel that Escavalier will fit well in the RU metagame.

• What sets can Escavalier use?
• What are good teammates with Escavalier?
• What counters Escavalier?

Nidoqueen
Type: Poison / Ground
Base Stats: 90 HP / 82 Atk / 87 Def / 75 SpA / 85 SpD / 76 Spe
Poison Point / Rivalry / Sheer Force ​

Nidoqueen has decent stats overall, both offenses and defenses. She also has a great special movepool, with moves such as Sludge Wave, Earth Power, Ice Beam, Fire Blast / Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, and Focus Blast. With Sheer Force, the power of these moves will be increased by 30%, making Nidoqueen a very threatening wallbreaker with an offensive set. She also has access to Toxic Spikes, but those are less useful now that another Poison-type is in the tier. Other notable moves include Dragon Tail, Roar, and Taunt. Right now, it looks like the most popular set will be the offensive one, as it can break through stall teams. Some possible counters are Munchlax and Clefable, but they aren't very good. Will Nidoqueen be the next suspect? Let's explore its potential a bit more.

• What sets can Nidoqueen use?
• What are good teammates with Nidoqueen?
• What counters Nidoqueen?

 

[Double01]

I feel escavalier will be a beast in this meta especially paired with TR cofagrigus. I wonder if lilligant might start hp fire because hp rock is way to weak to damage escavalier. The only thing I can see that would be considered a hard counter is steelix so I suspect its usage will rise aswell. Nidoqueen will be a boss as while basically destroying the tanking combo. With it's fantastic coverage hardly anything can switch in. Not only is it q beastly offensive threat but it also gets great support options to support your team. Can't wait to get home to play in this awesome new meta.

 

[SuperHydreigon1996]

It looks like Nidoqueen can also be one of the best Physical Walls in the RU metagame. It's immunity to Electric and resistances to Fighting, Poison, Rock, and Bug allow it to switch into moves such as the newcomer Escavalier's Megahorn and force them to switch out. What it lacks in sheer Physical Bulk that its competitors Tangrowth and Steelix have, it makes up for in utility. It can set up Stealth Rocks and Toxic Spikes(Stealth Rocks will be more useful, though, as there are more poison types in RU than UU.) A possible partner could be Clefable. Nidoqueen takes Fighting moves for Clefable, while Clefable takes Special Attacks for Nidoqueen. Nidoqueen also happens to not be set up, as with Sheer Force taken into account, she has a high Special Attack.

 

[Rakan]

Escavalier pretty much 2HKOes the entire tier with Stealth Rock down and a Choice Band equipped... I've been using it on a Trick Room team, and despite my inexperience with TR teams, Escavalier just hits ridiculously hard. Interestingly enough, Escavalier works well with Nidoqueen, as Escavalier eradicates special walls such as Slowking so that Nidoqueen can clean out the opponent's team with its great movepool and Sheer Force to go along with it. I have been using a Sheer Force set with max special attack and enough speed to outrun certain things that I don't remember atm, along with Stealth Rock as the fourth move. Overall, I really like these two so far, ad I'm sure we'll see more of them as we get more adjusted to the new metagame.

 

[Scubasteve23]

Even though he's down in RU now, I still find Escavalier to work really well on a trick room team in UU. But he is definitely a lot more at home in RU now.

 

[Endorfins]

A great set I've been using on Escavalier is a Specially Defensive set with Knock Off and Toxic. Escavalier easily sponges light special hits such as Slowking's Scald, Tangrowths Hidden Power Rock / Focus Blast and Scarfed Electric-type attacks. 70 / 105 Specially Defensive stats are excellent and Escavalier's typing leaves it with only one weakness and a multitude of resistances. Toxic and Knock off catch common Escavalier 'counters' such as Steelix and Cofagrigus on the switch in, robbing them of their Leftovers and sapping their health with Toxic. Even without investment, Megahorn hits extremely hard and will surprise opponents who assume Specially Defensive Escavalier is setup bait.

 

[Explorer]

We may start to see the rise of an Moltres/Escavailer/Slowking core: Slowking can burn with Scald and take lots of special hits, then Moltres and Escavailer can just rip holes into the entire team.

I'm likely to build a new RU team to test this myself.

 

[Hunter Mufasa]

Whereas I do think Escavalier will be a very big offensive threat. I think that we are forgetting that Fire punchand Heat wave return as move tutors move tutor meaning alot of pokemon now have ways of dealing with him. However, I also agree that CB Megahorn is CB Megahorn and that tends to hurt

 

[Bigblue]

I am really happy too see escavalier in RU but nidoqueen really is an unwelcome visitor. The Life orb set for nidoqueen is so powerful that it is really hard to switch in anything besides from munchlax. The coverage of this set is so hard to combat with the available walls in RU.

Nidoqueen (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power

Mandibuzz- Ice Beam/Thunderbolt
Slowking- Thunderbolt
Cyogonal- Flamethrower (Can outspeed but can't KO with icebeam)
Amoongus- Flamethrowe/Icebeam
Drapion- Earth Power
Ferroseed- Flamethrower
Lanturn- Earthpower
Roselia- Flamethrower/Ice Beam
Clefable- If Specially defensive can take 2 hits but needs icebeam to combat nidoqueen.
Munchlax- Can take many hits and can para with body slam then whirlwind or rest talk.

The only weakness is the lack of speed but if you can get nidoqueen in for free and force a switch it can easily cause huge trouble.

 

[Avira]

Ice Beam is unnecessary. In its place, it would be better to use Stealth Rock or Focus Blast. And if you don't mind having less accuracy, Fire Blast over Flamethrower.

 

[DittoCrow]

Actually there's a few Dragon-types flying around, mainly Druddigon and Marvel Scale Dragonair. Ice Beam is a good option for those and Grass-types if you don't want to risk missing Fire Blast. You could also use Sludge Wave instead of Ice Beam which is a good STAB move!

 

[alexwolf]

I am really loving Specially Defensive Escavalier right now. He checks so much stuff. Lilligant, Galvantula, Tangrowth, Sceptile, Rotom, SubCM Uxie, Drapion, Cofagrigus, Gallade, Cryogonal, you name it. With Megahorn, Knock Off, Toxic and Pursuit he is in awesome special tank with lots of utility. He also pairs relatively well with Alomomola, which makes up for Escavalier's lack of reliable recovery. Magneton is a dick though...

 

[asterat]

I am really loving Specially Defensive Escavalier right now. He checks so much stuff. Lilligant, Galvantula, Tangrowth, Sceptile, Rotom, SubCM Uxie, Drapion, Cofagrigus, Gallade, Cryogonal, you name it. With Megahorn, Knock Off, Toxic and Pursuit he is in awesome special tank with lots of utility. He also pairs relatively well with Alomomola, which makes up for Escavalier's lack of reliable recovery. Magneton is a dick though...

Checking SubCM Uxie is key for a stall based team. Some of those are situational- HP fire lilligant can break through after a boost and some damage- especially if it's LO

 

[Bigblue]

Ice Beam is unnecessary. In its place, it would be better to use Stealth Rock or Focus Blast. And if you don't mind having less accuracy, Fire Blast over Flamethrower.

After contemplating on the bus the use of the fully offensive set, yes ice beam is unnecessary, if they do not have a dragon type but I would rather switch it out for substitute over stealth rock or focus blast because I would be guaranteed to hit something super effectively or get a strong earth power off on the opposing pokemon.(Unless it happens to be Altaria)

 

[A Fhaol Bhig]

Magneton is a dick though...

No Drill Run, thanks Game Freak...



Also thanks to his crappy speed, I can make sure he "out speeds" cofagrigus in Trick Room and smack him with a Choice Banded Iron Head or Pursuit. I even use it as set up bait when I choose to run Swords Dance over Choice Band. (Their is a chance for Wil-O-Wisp sure, but not on the OTR variant)


I haven't had much success with a Rest/Sleep Talk set, have any of you guy's experimented with it?

 

[alexwolf]

Checking SubCM Uxie is key for a stall based team. Some of those are situational- HP fire lilligant can break through after a boost and some damage- especially if it's LO

Yeah true this is why i said that he is a check. Funny fact: +1 HP Fire from Timid LO-less Lilligant does 82.55 - 97.67% to 248/252+ Esca, which means that most of the time it can survive an HP Fire after SR, and ohko back with Megahorn (pls no posts of how Lilligant can use Sleep Powder, we alrdy know that, that's why we are assuming that Sleep Clause is active). But you should never do that anyway, unless your life depends on it.

But as Asterat said, SpD Escavalier look like a serious contender for Stall teams. Many stall teams have problem with pokes such as SpecsTile, SD Acrobatics Sceptile, SubCM Uxie, Mandibuzz, and SD Taunt Drapion, which are handled to a degree by Escavalier. A Steel type is starting to become more and more needed as well with Druddigon and the NU dragons gaining new toys. And having another defensive Steel type to chose for a stall team except from Steelix is definitely nice (Ferroseed gives way too much set-up opportunities to consider using it in a stall team, and Roselia is just too good to pass up and does the spiking job 10 times better while also having reliable recovery and an actual attacking stat). Also Pursuit is awesome for stall teams, to trap the best spinner in the tier that threatens your valuable hazards, and any troubling poke in general. Rest is also an option for Escavalier over Knock Off/Toxic if you have a cleric (which most stall teams do).

 

[Mafeking]

Hi RU n_n

I'd like to continue discussing the merits of Nidoqueen's offensive set. Currently I'm running Earth Power / Ice Beam / Sludge Wave / Thunderbolt with 236 SpA EVs and 92 Speed EVs (the rest are in HP atm). The Speed EVs guarantee that Nidoqueen outspeeds Rain Dance Rotom-C (important--you'll see why in a second), Utility Qwilfish, and, though Nidoqueen can't do much unless it's low on health, Bulk Up and Bulky Swords Dance variants of Gallade. It also outspeeds neutral-natured 252 Omastar, Crawdaunt, and Bouffalant.

I've found that I don't particularly miss having a Fire-type move at Nidoqueen's disposal because I've been pairing her with Entei--specifically the Sunny Day variant, which is why it's nice to beat the rare Rain Dance Rotom-C. Thunderbolt, which is often the move replaced by Fire Blast / Flamethrower, is fantastic as well, because it deals an awesome chunk of damage to Slowking, Alomomola, Charizard, and Poliwrath. It also OHKOes Moltres after Stealth Rock (EDIT: it does like 77% damage minimum so you can OHKO it after a little previous damage as well), which is great if you can clip it on the switch-in. Unfortunately, it gets a lot of redundant coverage with Ice Beam when combined with Earth Power and Sludge Wave, doing the same amount of damage to things such as Mandibuzz, Aerodactyl, Scyther, and Braviary. However, it does allow Nidoqueen to take down any Feraligatr who plan on nabbing a Swords Dance boost before attacking with Aqua Jet, and also allows Nidoqueen to still OHKO Articuno after Stealth Rock.

And, of course, Tangrowth is taken down by Sludge Wave anyway, so a Fire-type move on Nidoqueen isn't necessarily missed except to take down, ironically, Escavalier and his cohort Ferroseed, which is why I've found partnering Nidoqueen with offensive Fire-types is a great plan. Even if it can't boost with Sunny Day or Calm Mind, Entei can strike hard at the Pokemon that Nidoqueen would be taking down with a Fire-type move. I've been toying with changing Entei's set, though. It's really all up to personal preference: the point is that Offensive Nidoqueen + Offensive Fire-type is a combination that works pretty well in the current metagame. Unfortunately, they both share Water- and Ground-type weaknesses, which makes them weak to Slowking. Partnering the two with a Slowking of your own has proven very helpful so far (additionally, create a Fire-Water-Grass-Nidoqueen core by adding Tangrowth or Ferroseed to your team!)

SO. tl;dr: Nidoqueen with Thunderbolt > Fire-type move + Offensive Fire-type is a great pair that can really help create a core in your team when you can also consider the Fire-Water-Grass core that seems to be pretty standard these days thanks to TanKing. :3

edit: fine omi have it your way I just don't like Fire Blast and I stand by my statement!

 

[Rakan]

I would drop Ice Beam for Fire Blast, as the coverage is almost entirely redundant with Thunderbolt. The only thing useful that Ice Beam hits is perhaps Altaria, and it isn't commonly seen. I do agree that Thunderbolt is mandatory, as it hits Slowking really hard, 2HKOing it after Stealth Rock. I'd much rather hit Escavalier and Ferroseed... Also, Fire Blast does a massive amount of damage to Cryogonal on the switch-in, OHKOing the offensive variant after Stealth Rock, and doing around 55-65% to the Specially Defensive variant. Nidoqueen can outspeed any Cryogonal not running any Speed EVs even with a Modest nature and full Speed investment, so it can easily 2HKO the Specially Defensive variants if they switch in.

tl;dr, Fire Blast > Ice Beam

 

[EonX]

Agreeing with Mafeking that 92 Speed EVs seems to be the way to go on SR+3 Attacks/Offensive Nidoqueen. Outspeeding Specially Defensive Cryo just doesn't seem to be a big deal, especially if Nido carries SR herself. If Cryo comes in with Rocks already up and takes a TBolt on the switch (or Sludge Wave for that matter) then it's forced to either spin and die or Recover stall as Nido can take an Ice Beam if she's in good or decent health. Of course, Nidoqueen needs to have Fire Blast to make all this work.

 

[SilentVerse]

Ehhh, personally I'd rather use 168 Speed on Nidoqueen. I'll admit that Specially Defensive Cryogonal might not be that important (especially since you can just pair Nidoqueen with Escavalier to remove it), but max Speed Omastar is very important. By running less than 168 Speed, you also lose the ability to tie with stuff like Feraligatr, support Rotom-C, Specially Defensive Drapion, Uxie, and other cool stuff that Nidoqueen can potentially beat. Are there any significant 2HKOes or OHKOes that Nidoqueen can avoid with those extra HP EVs? Unless there's something significant that Nidoqueen can survive with extra HP, it seems much better to use 168 Speed EVs or even max Speed imo.

 

[EonX]

Well, I suppose the issue with Speed on Nidoqueen largely comes down to how much you rely on her to switch into resisted hits. If one needs her to come in on more resisted hits, then the extra HP EVs would help with that. If she's used more specifically as a wallbreaker and isn't relied upon to switch into many resisted moves, then going the route of more Speed EVs would be better. 168 Speed EVs should be the max amount run imo since Escavalier can easily be paired up with Nidoqueen to take out Cryogonal, as well as Clefable (bar those with a Fire move) whom is one of Nidoqueen's few checks/counters in the tier.

 

[DittoCrow]

Misdreavus is an excellent counter to Nidoqueen. It resists both of Nidoqueen's STABs; it is immune to Earth Power because of Levitate and resists Sludge Wave. LO 252 SpA+ Nidoqueen's Fire Blast does 38.58 - 45.37% to 252/0 Misdreavus! I can definitely see Misdreavus becoming better.

 

[D4RR3N]

Misdreavus is an excellent counter to Nidoqueen. It resists both of Nidoqueen's STABs; it is immune to Earth Power because of Levitate and resists Sludge Wave. LO 252 SpA+ Nidoqueen's Fire Blast does 38.58 - 45.37% to 252/0 Misdreavus! I can definitely see Misdreavus becoming better.

but what does Misdreavus do back? I assume the set you talking about is the defensive Eviolite one, but iirc it only does like 20-ish% to Nidoqueen with Shadow Ball. And if it carries only Pain Split, Sludge Wave might even get a shot to poison it if u wanna give poisoning a shot.

 

[Rakan]

Sludge Wave won't poison because of Sheer Force :P

But critical hits will definitely wear it down, and I do agree that Misdreavus won't be doing much in return. Escavalier seems to have a harder time against Misdreavus, since it won't ever be 2HKOed by Megahorn, and only has a very slight chance of being 2HKOed by Iron Head, which gives it the chance to burn Escavalier with Will-O-Wisp and then Pain Split up as well. Granted, Misdreavus can't really do anything back other than burn it...

Honestly I don't like Misdreavus in this metagame simply because so many things can set up on it, especially the defensive variant, which is the only variant that people use. It seems good on paper, and has good supporting abilities, but it gets set up on by half the tier, much like Ferroseed.

 

[/B/utterfree]

...people use Misdreavus in RU? News to me. I haven't seen a Misdreavus in my many battles in RU

Anyway, I've played a lot with Escavalier. He's a boss. Steelix and Magneton supposedly wall him, but I don't quite find that they've reliable recovery to do this well enough. Didn't they supposedly check Durant, though?

I also tried Nidoqueen, and played her in RU as I would a Nidoking in UU. She definitely does well, but I'm not too certain she's broken. I might have to make a Nidoqueen-specialized team, much like what I'm doing with Escavalier in making a specialized team for him.