#Rarelyused Challenges

[DittoCrow]

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Hey everyone! Welcome to the #Rarelyused Challenges, the RU version of the #Pokemon Challenges. The main goal of these challenges is to find underrated Pokemon or strategies and figure out if / how they work in our metagame. This means finding new niches for those Pokemon and seeing if they can earn a spot in the hearts (and teams xD) of the RU players. To increase our chances of reaching this goal, we need some discussion about the theme. Feel free to post your opinions and experiences here or talk about them in #rarelyused, and you'll definitely learn something new each time you do so!

For these challenges people will have to post in this thread or PM me a fresh alt either here or on IRC (this means, you must create it for this challenge). Feel free to use alts such as username-ruc (ex: DittoCrow-ruc) to be easily spotted and so that people can see you making stuff work. Also, if for some reason you want to create a new alt, just PM me the new alt and I'll make it the change (the previous alt is immediatly out, so think wisely). To win, get #1 on the RU ladder or have the highest peak in the challenge. Also, in order to win the challenge, you must post your opinions on the Pokemon, strategies, or combinations you used throughout the challenge. If you are a winner of the challenge, you will be given HOPs in #rarelyused.

 

[DittoCrow]

Hall of Fame

Challenge #1: Dark Horses
Rules: Use at least 2 Pokemon on your team that are below 2% in February's Standard RU Usage Stats
Winner: SilentVerse

Team

Rotom @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Trick
- Volt Switch

Vileplume (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Effect Spore
EVs: 52 HP / 252 SAtk / 204 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Sleep Powder
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis

Rapidash (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Flare Blitz
- Quick Attack
- Megahorn
- Wild Charge

Slowking (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Def / 48 SAtk / 156 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
- Scald
- Psyshock

Hitmonchan (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Mach Punch
- Rapid Spin

Steelix (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Def / 160 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Roar

Comments

My inspiration for using Vileplume and Rapidash as Dark Horse Pokemon, in addition to the basic team structure, was based on my past experience from Gen IV UU. Special attacking Vileplume really resembles special attacking Venusaur, which was extremely successful last generation. The combination of Sleep Powder, Giga Drain, and Sludge Bomb is actually surprisingly hard to wall, and Vileplume has a ton of longevity between Synthesis and Giga Drain, which allows her to survive throughout the match and wreck the opponent's team. Oh, not to mention that Vileplume hits really, really hard, and even stuff that could feasibly take on Sludge Bomb or Giga Drain are shut down by Sleep Powder. However, Vileplume still does have issues with stuff like specially defensive Drapion and Ferroseed. To help Vileplume out, I initially decided on Choice Band Entei to hit most of the stuff which walls her hard (aka Poison- and Steel-types). However, as I made the team, I realized that I still needed another Dark Horse Pokemon, and I really couldn't think of anything else to replace. Thus, I decided to use Rapidash over Entei. After all, Rapidash was basically a frailer, but faster Entei, and it had some cool tools like Megahorn, Flash Fire, and Wild Charge to abuse (and Quick Attack!). And, it still did exactly what Entei did by breaking down those Pokemon Vileplume had issues with.

The team itself wasn't very hard to plan. It is a basic balance team, using a defensive core of Slowking + Steelix to wall most threats, with Vileplume and Rapidash to dish out most of my damage. Rotom acts as my revenge killer and check to bulkier mons with Trick, while Hitmonchan Rapid Spins and breaks through stuff like Munchlax who can be a pain to deal with otherwise. The Grass / Fire / Water core has always been great, and Steelix complements this by walling stuff like Druddigon. I felt that a balance team would be the most beneficial team style for Vileplume, since her combination of bulk and power really stands out, since her poor Speed lets her down for offensive teams, while stall doesn't even need her power. Rapidash also does poorly on stall, and while she is a bit more useful on offense, balance was the best compromise between the two.

Vileplume and Rapidash have been really cool mons to use imo. LO Vileplume is really amazing; you guys should really use it because it's just so stupidly good. I know I've said this a lot, but it's just so useful since it checks so much and still poses a huge offensive threat. Rapidash is also quite cool, since even though it's a lot frailer than Entei and weaker, it still hits similarly hard and the extra Speed helps quite a bit, since it allows you to beat some cool stuff like Rotom, Sigilyph, and such. Megahorn is also awesome to nail Slowking stupidly hard on the switch, and Wild Charge does a bunch to stuff like Qwilfish. Granted, Quick Attack kinda sucks and Baton Pass would be better over it, but ehh, this team needed the fast priority no matter how weak it was. Overall, these are definitely two very cool mons which should see more use.

Challenge #2: Weather in RU
Rules: You must have at least two Pokemon with either Rain Dance, Sunny Day, Hail, or Sandstorm on your team and at least one Pokemon with a weather abusing ability such as: (Chlorophyll, Leaf Guard, Flower Gift, Solar Power, Swift Swim, Rain Dish, Hydration, Dry Skin, Sand Rush, Sand Veil, Sand Force, Snow Cloak, or Ice Body)
Winner: SilentVerse

SilentVerse's Team

Manectric (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Lightningrod
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Switcheroo
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Vileplume (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Sleep Powder
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis

Moltres @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Sunny Day
- Fire Blast
- SolarBeam
- Roost

Slowking (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 144 Def / 116 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Sunny Day
- Psyshock
- Scald
- Slack Off

Steelix (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Def / 160 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Roar

Cryogonal @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
- Haze
- Recover

Comments

So, for this challenge, I decided straight away that using a full out weather team wouldn't be ideal. I remember some tournament I participated in a while ago used the whole weather theme too, and I actually got pretty far using a counter-weather team for that tournament. However, the thing that made me realize that using all weather for a challenge like this wouldn't be the best idea was the match I lost; iirc, the guy who I faced used a stall team with common staples, meeting the bare minimum requirement for the tournament. Then, when this challenge came along, I decided to do something similar by meeting just the minimum requirements, and using the rest of my Pokemon to just make a fairly solid RU team that could take on the ladder somewhat well.

Okay, now I do know that this team looks awfully similar to my Dark Horse team, but I swear I didn't really mean for it to turn out that way :/ . I decided to use Sun at the beginning, since that would allow me to use the Grass / Fire / Water core more easily with Pokemon who could abuse it as well, I then decided on using SunnyBeam Moltres, which btw is incredibly underrated and is an awesome Pokemon, and my Life Orb Vileplume, only with Chlorophyll and more Speed EVs instead of Effect Spore to take advantage of the sunshine from Moltres. Since I needed one more user of Sunny Day, I opted for Slowking, since he also deals with most opposing Fire-types very well, and rounds off the Grass / Fire / Water core. Manectric was chosen as a revenge killer, with Flamethrower getting the boost from Sunny Day if it was up to hit Rotom-C hard. The last two slots more much more difficult to decide on, since I knew I needed Stealth Rock to help Moltres and Vileplume, and Rapid Spin for Moltres. Initially I wanted to use Kabutops for both roles and stick something else to cover my Ground weakness and Rock weakness, but I didn't really like sticking both moves on one Pokemon. Instead, I went with Steelix, since I really do love the combination of Slowking and Steelix heh, and I ultimately went with Cryogonal as my Rapid Spinner since it's by far the most reliable, and it has Levitate to take on the Sandslashes that are getting more common nowadays. Though it is very similar to my Dark Horse Challenge team,

The team was pretty fun to use overall, but it was a pretty bumpy ride to the top partially due to the amount of hax there was on both sides (ie: one match I would freeze two of my opponent's mons with Cryogonal's Ice Beam, in another match two of my mons would get crit by Gatr), and I ended up tilting a bunch of times. I did feel sometimes that it would have been much better to use a standard Moltres though, since sometimes it was really hard to get Sunny Day up, but there were also times that I was gaping at just how easily SunnyBeam Moltres ripped through teams. Seriously, it's just so absurdly powerful, almost like the Choice Specs Analytic Magneton I used before the tier shifts except it can switch attacks and wreck without needing that much prediction. But, the nice thing about this team was that even if I couldn't get weather up, I wasn't really an auto lose since everything worked so well outside of sun, as Vileplume is awesome no matter what and Moltres still has those Fire Blasts it can spam.

tl;dr it was a nice #rarelyused challenge that was fun to participate in. Also, more people should use SunnyBeam Moltres and Vileplume because they are amazing together.

Challenge #3: Fuk Hazards
Rules: You cannot have the move Rapid Spin or any entry hazards (Stealth Rock, Spikes, Toxic Spikes) on your team.
Winner: TheMexican

TheMexican's Team

Quetzalcoatl (Sigilyph) (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Air Slash
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Spiderman (Galvantula) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Compoundeyes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunder
- Volt Switch
- Bug Buzz
- Energy Ball

DaKing (Slowking) (F) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 212 HP / 252 SAtk / 44 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Surf
- Fire Blast
- Psyshock
- Grass Knot

Hulk (Tangrowth) (F) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SAtk / 144 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Leaf Storm
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Rock]
- Sleep Powder

Tlaloc (Natu) (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Roost
- Reflect
- Thunder Wave
- U-turn

Scorpion (Drapion) (F) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Battle Armor
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Swords Dance
- Crunch
- Earthquake

Comments

This is the team I used for the challenge, and let me say it was pretty random. I built it around Swords Dance taunt drapion, which I had heard about how good it works, and Calm Mind 3 attacks Sigilyph which is incredibly good. I went for Hidden Power Ground over Fighting since it still hits what I need to hit like steels and gets the super effective point against Drapion and alongside with psyshock gets a pretty good coverage. Drapion was mostly late game, once the big defensive mons like steelix, tangrowth have been eliminated or weakened he just set up and started sweeping like a boss. Since I couldn't use hazards I decided to give natu a try, funnily it actually worked. Behind the reflect it could set up, and thunderwave it helped drapion to set up much easier and its ability was very useful sometimes.
Now that I had those three, I needed the rest of my team. Again, since I wasnt using hazards, nor rapid spin I would have a difficult time against opposing hazards, that's when I thought about Tanking, which, with regenerator and those very high defences would make a great addition both offensive and defensivly, and both hit incredibly hard with specs, I just needed a little prediction to make things work. The last spot was a bit tricky. I used to have Manectric but I didnt really liked when my opponent predicted the HeatWave and then set up, also its Hidden Power grass wasnt exactly powerful, also other manectrics were problematic if played well, that's when I thought about trying galvantula, which has pretty much the same coverage, abit more speed and of course that amazing stab thunder that hits everything like a truck, same as Bug Buzz which helped against TanKing alot, the only downside its that it ended up dying very fast without being able to spin but still it was manageable.
So that was pretty much it, I enjoyed this challenge. This team might have some weakness but with offensive Tanking and Sigilyph + Drapion the offensive pressure didnt let the opponent do much. This was a fun challenge, and people should use 3 attacks sigilyph more.