SM NU Somebody Told Me [peaked ~1550]

[Rabia]

Hi, this was the team I made after July shifts were announced. From those shifts NU gained some problems, namely Hoopa-C and to a lesser extent Decidueye, with many teams having to adapt to the former by carrying a Pursuit-trapper. This made making a team a bit burdensome since there were many threats to accommodate for while building, but I believe I found a good combination of Pokemon.

The idea while building was to build around the offensive core of Medicham and Sneasel; Sneasel would trap opposing Ghosts and Psychics to open the door for Medicham spamming High Jump Kick in the late game.

From there I sought a good defensive core to support an offensive core which didn't really offer much defensively at all. Diancie + Vaporeon + Silvally-Steel has been a nice balance core for awhile and with the recent ban of Sand it got a whole lot better.

Golbat was the last team member since I noticed a bit of an issue the team had with offensive Grass-types, namely Sceptile and Decidueye. Silvally-Steel was an alright answer for Sceptile, but had to be wary of Focus Blast or Earthquake, while my Decidueye counterplay at that point was limited to just Sneasel.

The Team

Medicham @ Life Orb
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Zen Headbutt
- Thunder Punch
- Bullet Punch

Medicham has struck me as an interesting case in NU for a really long time now. Its wall-breaking capabilities are essentially unmatched; it has no real safe switch-ins outside of Palossand and proper prediction and pivoting and a misplay can end up costing you a couple Pokemon. To put Medicham's wall-breaking into perspective:

252 Atk Life Orb Pure Power Medicham High Jump Kick vs. 212 HP / 0 Def Slowbro: 155-183 (40.3 - 47.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Life Orb Pure Power Medicham Thunder Punch vs. 212 HP / 0 Def Slowbro: 239-283 (62.2 - 73.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

With Assault Vest Slowbro very much on the top of the mountain at the point of making the team, Medicham as a Pokemon had an even easier time busting holes in teams since physically defensive Slowbro is one of the few decent switch-ins, being able to stomach multiple Thunder Punches and heal back with Slack Off or Regenerator. I haven't tested Ice Punch > Bullet Punch, but it is probably a fine change if you want to abuse sand castle.

Sneasel @ Dread Plate
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Tail
- Ice Shard
- Pursuit

Sneasel is the other part of my offensive core, providing Medicham with the Pursuit support that it appreciates greatly. This Sneasel is pretty cool because Dread Plate improves your matchup against the many Ghost- and Psychic-types which now like to carry Protect to scout against Sneasel. Dread Plate lets you always use Pursuit on their Protect to bait them to stay in and then to follow up with Knock Off. The other tech on this set is Iron Tail which allows you to beat Diancie 1v1. No Diancie is ever going to attack you, so after they have pivoted in on a Knock Off or Ice Shard you can guarantee hit them for 75%~ of their health.​

Diancie @ Leftovers / Shuca Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Heal Bell / Earth Power

Physically defensive Diancie is one of the best blanket checks in the tier, providing my team with a solid answer to Pokemon like Incineroar, Passimian, Sneasel, and Guzzlord. Because of Diancie's titanic bulk, it's pretty easy to get Stealth Rock up against anything which doesn't threaten you out immediately. I originally had Shuca Berry on this set to better check Incineroar, though since it's probably going to get knocked off at some point I just opted for Leftovers for more general use. I also originally had Earth Power > Heal Bell to apply more pressure to opposing Steels, but after changing Vaporeon to Toxic I needed a cleric. The EVs hit a jump point in Defense and are then dumped into Special Defense, but you could run some Speed for other Diancie.

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic / Heal Bell​

Vaporeon is one of my favorite Pokemon in NU currently; its solid Special Defense even when uninvested lets it blanket check so much ranging from Passimian to Delphox to anything really. You also aren't immediately forced out by Electrics like Heliolisk and Rotom since you will take a Volt Switch, so making Heliolisk take some Life Orb recoil as you Wish is pretty worth it. I originally had Heal Bell > Toxic, but made the switch to Toxic just to aid the Heliolisk matchup while also helping me break Slowbro and Slowking.

Silvally-Steel @ Steel Memory
Ability: RKS System
EVs: 232 HP / 216 SpD / 60 Spe
Calm Nature
- Defog
- Multi-Attack / Flash Cannon / Toxic
- Flamethrower
- Parting Shot / U-turn​

Silvally-Steel completes my defensive core, appreciating both Wish support form Vaporeon and Heal Bell from Diancie immensely while also providing Defog support for the team which Sneasel enjoys having. Having Parting Shot is super great too since it lets me pivot Medicham in on Pokemon like Incineroar, or pivot in Sneasel on a Slowbro or Slowking. The EVs do two things: hit a jump point in Special Defense and let me outspeed Jolly max Speed Incineroar. I originally had Flash Cannon > Multi-Attack, but Multi-Attack makes the Comfey matchup safer. Toxic could be used there since that would generally do the same thing, though Taunt Comfey becomes scarier. I haven't tested U-turn > Parting Shot, but with Braviary's recent surge in viability it sounds pretty nice.

Golbat @ Eviolite
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 240 HP / 92 SpD / 176 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Roost
- Brave Bird​

Golbat has been a super polarizing Pokemon the entire generation. At times it has been considered one of the best special defensive walls in the tier thanks to it checking offensive Grass-types like Whimsicott and Sceptile. At other times it's been considered dead weight because of meta trends. Right now it's on the rise, though I still believe it to be heavily slept on given you reliably check so many top tier threats with it like Decidueye, Medicham, Whimsicott, and Sceptile. Infiltrator is pretty great since it lets you Taunt + Toxic Sub Bulk Up Braviary, while the EVs let me outspeed maximum Speed base 80s like Medicham. The HP EVs hit an odd number, therefore reducing Stealth Rock damage, and then the rest are dumped into Special Defense to check broken Sceptile.

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Hope the team pleases you guys! It was pretty fun laddering with and brought me lots of success, and I still view it to be a solid team even though it's aged a bit.

Import:

The Team

Medicham @ Life Orb
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Zen Headbutt
- Thunder Punch
- Bullet Punch

Sneasel @ Dread Plate
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Tail
- Ice Shard
- Pursuit

Diancie @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Heal Bell

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic

Silvally-Steel @ Steel Memory
Ability: RKS System
EVs: 232 HP / 216 SpD / 60 Spe
Calm Nature
- Defog
- Multi-Attack
- Flamethrower
- Parting Shot

Golbat @ Eviolite
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 240 HP / 92 SpD / 176 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Roost
- Brave Bird

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