SM NU Volturn Vikavolt

PrinceLucian

PrinceLucian

Banned deucer.

Introduction:​

  • Hi everyone, lucianvega here, its been a year since I did my last RMT, im happy for having some free time to showcase favourite team I used for a while. I made this for nupl week 2 vs lilligants and it snag a win for hikari, after which i won vs zamrock, while team ended up going 3-1 in the end. Unfortunately we barely missed playoffs and our team didnt have the best luck during our run, but in the end i still think we did decently and managed a nice comeback.
  • I also used it for getting reqs for Meloetta suspect, while passing it to good friends AssassinRogue and Bighairypenguin who also got reqs with it. All in all, I enjoyed my time using it, but for now I dont plan on joining tournaments soon (perhaps until Nu ladder tour). Back to the idea, I looked up week 1 replays and most of the teams were weak to vikavolt, since my opponent was OU player i thought he may bring something safe like balance, which he did. Balance archetypes are obliterated by Specs vikavolt, most of them run cores of Steelix/Bulky poison (Golbat, Skuntank,Vileplume,Drapion), bulky water (Slowbro,Slowking,Jellicent..), and while steelix resists Bug Buzz, Vikavolt has chance of 2 koing the more offensive variant and Lix cant touch it back, only having option to put Stealth Rock or Toxic it ,and toxic was not that great atm considering sub braviary/sub meloetta were one of biggest threat to balance so Lix usually runs Roar, which is imo best filler option rn.
  • I made few set tweaks that ended up being rly good and helped overall team flow, and considering Vikavolt has been getting some popularity and recognition lately, you may get some ideas here. I think its broke vs bulkier builds, and while its speed may hurt it vs offensive paced archetypes, its natural bulk allows it to take any hit and ohko something back, so it wont hurt if you sack it earlier game. It may require some support to use it, but theres rly not much drawback, with recent meloetta ban it should get more usage as one of substitute special wallbreakers. And while some of the sets arent neccesity, they served me well in tournament play.
Since month is coming to an end, we may get new stuff or lose some pokemon that may shape the metagame, which is already changing at fast rate, and I dont think team will be effective as before so I thought its good time to leave it behind
  • That being said, before i go into the team analysis, I firstly wanted to say a huge thank you to all these awesome people that kept me play NU and who i came back to have fun with, I doubt I would be writing this rn if it werent for you.
As most of these people are awesome, im not doing it in a particular order :]

ADVANTAGE - One of coolest and laidback users i met on PS , tnx for picking me in Nupl man, it was a fun ride, hopefully in some future we can be in teamwork again. I also appreciate you noticing me as a player when others didnt, which meant a lot at time.

Tony - Great guy, I said my thoughts already on discord, but you also did a great job of managing the team and helped a lot during nupl

BigHairyPenguin - Good friend, we met in late 2015 when I was fairly new, and then we spammed ladder with Walrein squad(garb team), fun times. After that weve been through a lot stuff, but now its just getting better. Also ladder calls these days were hilarious. #Never forget Signal beaming the scyther and EQ-ing the vikavolt

Assassin Rogue -Awesome guy and friend, unique and funny with lot of knowledge, youll succeed in your goals for sure. Ladder call when

zben -Cool guy and hilarious to be around, tryhard and good battler now its your time to win NUL, dont bring turtonator and NP persian alola, bring sandslash alola rapid spin. Also nice music suggestions, always enjoying Taku vibes

Ed -Another good tryhard, come online a bit more man we miss you

Lord Outrage - MVP at Ubers, funny and cool guy

Chill Shadow- Great guy, battler and the top tier pun maker. Dale.

carcy - My croatian boy, good and underrated NU player that deserves more reckognizion, we should build some fun stuff

neomn - Another Croatian, that recently started the tier and is doing really well so far, Croatians rule!

Eternally - hi, play spl OU match when? Free #Eternally. Memeeeez :333 Cool guy, helped while i was growing on Ps, also hilarious to play vs. On a serious note, big grats on sub forum mod, and go win nupl

Cancer On FLEEK - Savage times with this boy, never gets boring

Casparov - hi casparov, old ripped rugged masculine warrior ,,

HJAD -My ex tutor and great battler, thank you for supporting me in nupl man, youre a cool guy

kland - retired but never forgotten, best OU player ofc, learned lot from him

mirraa~ - Cool boi, nice that you finally got Pc, now we can joke around again. Also a bodybuilding talent heh

Velvet Blood - Sweet person, we havent talked quite some time but i hope youre doing well. I bet youre rockin in AG already

DAVIDpwns - Cool guy and player, always having fun watching each other games tbh. Lets rek some guestlans ill probably join olt soon for lols

Cubonesmother - Come back we miss you.. also update that yt channel!

Hurricane69 - My cool PO nig that enjoys puns huehue, glad you liked the banner tho. Also hope you get a namechange soon haha

HSOWA - hi HSOWA <3 cute PO mod

HappydaTropa - Rly good person, even tho we didnt talk in a while

PursuitOfHappiny - My NU boi, come in Hc more often all croatians hang there. Glad youre doing well in NUL

Klefkwi - Really sweet and nice person to talk to

Superior91 -Glad to have you back man, it started a bit rough on PO but all G now and youre a cool guy

Finding True Love -Overall rly nice guy, glad that you took liking into NU recently

Cruises - cool person that also "enjoys" puns, youre nice as well

Lacus Clyne - German qt, nice to see you back

CobalionCouncil -Classy and smart guy

PD - Cool and funny guy that started to play best tier recently, youre doing well man.

HappydaTropa - Rly good person, even tho we didnt talk in a while :/

Huge shotout to the rest of my Nupl team- amber lamps (you were great but luck was against you :/ ), Get this Money , Vileman , Sam , Dangerous , Star , Ary (tnx for sets and team suggestions), Ark (Awesome and smart guy, sry I missed tagging you) Teddeh , Hikari , Christo who are all great players
Tnx particularly to passion and snagaa who were awesome people to be around, and ofc for unleashing Fairium z whimsicott set with me



Teambuilding phase:




​


  • I started with Vikavolt as my wallbreaker since i wanted to beat classic balance. Vikavolt is also a pokemon with good defensive capabilities, giving my team a ground immunity, electric, grass and even a fighting resist. Choice Specs is most threatening set, since there arent rly viable counters to it.
  • I added Whimsicott as my second pokemon, one of best mons to bring momentum, it also screws up any setup sweeper that could possibly setup on a Vikavolt if a wrong coverage move is used, so it allows you to play Vikavolt more recklessly. Considering Whimsicott is one of the fastest pokemon in tier, its naturally very good vs offense which Vikavolt may struggle vs, and even on the other archetypes, it forces lots of switches, and most of those pokemon that can safely go into Whimsicott (Golbat, Vileplume..) are usually destroyed by Vika. Not to mention, if a Vileplume is a poison pokemon of choice on balance, usually there is none of the bug resists other than Hitmonlee, which isnt a proper check to it.
  • Emboar is my third choice for a team, not only it gives team a great cleaner with good offensive presence, but it offensively sinergizes well with Whimsicott and Vika, and gives team a more offensive ice and fire check.
At this point, core of Whimsicott+Emboar is prone to get worn down by hazards, as reckless Fblitz/wild charge and Spike damage will harm Emboar in the long run, and both were bait for garbodor to setup spikes vs team so I opted for hazard control despite vikavolt being the only pokemon weak to rocks.

  • I added Skuntank, which has good matchup vs Garbodor and Qwilfish, and considering Steelix is best rocker in the tier, special Skuntank beating it 1v1 is always useful. I opted for Skuntank over pokemon like golbat because I feel like Golbat is a huge momentum sack for fast-paced balance, it has horrible matchup vs Steelix and Toad which can threaten to burn it, and only way to pass through this is using super fang or taunt, which doesnt add any value to my team. I feel like Skuntank is really underrated and should get more usage now that meloetta is banned, since it was one of only psychic types that could hurt it.
  • I added a Slowking after, which gave me defensive fire, ice, fighting answers and fullfilled the fighting/dark/psychic and FWG core. Reason I chose it over a Slowbro is at first I thought that with max defense, slowking will be a great mixed wall, which it certainly is. The magic in Regenerator allows me to not having to neccesarily recover vs weaker stuff or in scenario where Slowking is threatening opponent pokemon 1v1 and isnt at full, i can double out into something and gain advantage.
    Slowbro is another decent option, as it has slightly more defensive stat, and works great with Sp.def investment.
  • Every team needs a rocker, and Steelix is top 3 rn which gives my team soft checks to many of the threats i wont be naming in this section since its pretty obvious. Generally, acts as a secondary check to some threats that my team could already handle, but without of need to get my offensive pokemon whittled earlier on (like emboar soft checking sneasel but Lix is more optimal check), while obviously giving resists to flying/normal types.
Team Preview:


Vikavolt @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Bug Buzz
- Energy Ball​

  • Choice Specs Vikavolt is the absolute powerhouse, reaching spatk of 640 and being able to Ohko many walls given the right play. Its the coverage that makes it an absolute beast, since it can break stuff that other Electric or Bug Types have trouble with. Compared to things like Rotom Mow, it cant get entirely cockblocked since bug stab is rather neutral coverage, and most of the resists like Steelix are 3 Ko-ed at worst, while not being able to do much back, plus Golbat players need balls to pull off a play, and theres a chance player will run Z move on Vikavolt, which isnt bad set by any means, but i just find it underwhelming compared to Specs which gives you sheer power in the long run.
  • Why Volt Switch? I usually find myself clicking volt switch when im certain there are some pokemon that I might not ohko with thunderbolt, and i dont wanna vs them 1v1. Its useful to pick on weakened pokemon and gain some momentum while not letting anything setup for free or setup hazards. Its also good vs more offensive teams since other teammates might have better matchup when brought in. While its not a move i will click most of the time, it definitely has lot of merit.
  • Thunderbolt/Bug Buzz is a classic strong coverage and hits most of pokemon at least neutrally, you click those 90% of time and guarantee a kill.
  • Energy ball is mostly for Rhydon/Seismitoad/Lix at full health to prevent rocks, but if theyre tad bit weakened use bug coverage. EVs are maxed Sp.atk and Speed, because Vikavolt already has decent natural bulk to take a hit, and i really dont want to sacrifice any speed in case theres a situation I tie with opposing Vikavolt in crucial situation.



Whimsicott @ Fairium Z
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Moonblast
- Giga Drain
- Encore​

  • This is the set that I made together with passion and Advantage after I wanted to use a Z move on Whimsicott, and it turned out so good that I didnt use any other sets later on. I definitely tried stuff like Z memento and Pixie Plate before i built this team, but this one has particularly being consistent for me. Firstly, its my second fighting check, and I wouldnt appreciate my Pixie Plate getting knocked off since its also my dark resist and absorbs Knock Off, and most importantly its my primary Virizion check, and having ability to Ohko it with Twinkle Tackle is invaluable (252 SpA Whimsicott Twinkle Tackle (175 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Virizion: 324-384 (100.3 - 118.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO), because Pixie Plate cannot do the same (252 SpA Pixie Plate Whimsicott Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Virizion: 212-252 (65.6 - 78%) -- guaranteed 2HKO)
  • Some people have used stuff like Z hurricane on it to check virizion, but that set sacrifices either U-turn/Encore which is a big utility for Whimsicott, while these moves allow me to play my other pokemon more recklessly and still stop setup sweepers.
  • Not to forget, Fairy is a great offensive stab, and Twinkle Tackle bops most of the whimsicott soft checks that people send in ( drapion, toxicroak, houndoom, emboar, xatu,etc..) I used to run Energy Ball at first, but giga drain provides it with some decent recovery which is important for longevity.


Emboar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Wild Charge
- Superpower
- Earthquake
​
  • Emboar is one of the best Scarfers and cleaners in tier, only being outsped by Accelgor, which stab Bug Buzz is X4 is resisted by Emboar. Jolly is required to outspeed stuff like Sceptile, but it doesnt rly lose much power since most of offensive stuff gets revenge killed.
  • Moveset is standard, with a little twist. I find Earthquake to be best filler option on this team, I mostly run it for CM z move delphox which may be a bit problematic, but definitely manageable. As a bonus, Earthquake also hits Garbodor without needing to take recoil damage, therefore making it less of a check to emboar, and it can also hit qwilfish which isnt as common.



Skuntank @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Acid Spray
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Defog​

  • Now that we came onto the bulkier part of the team, Ill explain some variations. Shuca berry is the best item for skuntank (other one being Darkinium Z), as it gives him a chance to both defog and deal a big damage to steelix that can EQ it back. I invented Acid Spray black sludge Skun back in Oras, but I still find it useful to pressure bulkier builds, while its still good for some stuff like Seismitoad and Rhydon that can switch in vs it, and it can beat CM psychics 1v1, like annoying flame orb sigilyph that i sometimes still see on lower ladder hehe.
  • Sludge Bomb/Hidden Power Grass have some merit over Acid Spray and its preferable on player, it can also depend which threats in tier you want to cover more, and despite my team having 3 checks to fighting types, machamp and emboar can still be a bit annoying so thats why Sludge bomb might be prefered, while HP Grass is for hitting Seismitoad/Rhydon 1v1 without the spdef drops. I also have few more soft psychic checks, so thats another reason to try these, but Acid spray is just my personal choice as it still deals enough damage vs fighting types after a spdef drop if they switch on Acid spray.
  • Speed is maxed compared to 148 speed in oras, since many people creep around that speed tier, so i dont wanna play with fire. It has naturally enough bulk to already check most stuff it resists.



Slowking @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Scald
- Slack Off
​
  • Mixed wall for team, it checks most of special threats like specs Typhlosion and scarf Delphox, and can play around Sigilyph, while max defense gives it ability to take on fighting types like Emboar, Hitmonlee, and soft check Toxicroak. I already have the Z move and i dont rly find waterium/psychium Z particularly good on slowbros when using bulky offense, and colbur berry gives it chance to burn any dark type, or chew any Knock off from Hitmonlee and retaliate back with psyshock. Moveset is pretty standard, it gives my team a win condition other than having few pokemon to clean up late game.
  • Slowbro can be used with mixed EV spread of 252 HP/120 Def/136 Spd with Bold nature and Colbur berry which allows me to take on Emboar a bit better (Talking about Band Emboar, since scarfed one isnt an issue at all), while still having the ability to not get 2 KOed by Specs typhlosion, and taking special hits better. Comparing usage from scarf to band emboar, ive seen a lot more scarfed once since speed it brings is usually more valuable for some teams, and since slowbro is in tier people might prefer special over physical wallbreakers. Im not overlooking band set, as its still strong, but as a wallbreaker its easily worn down earlier in match, while scarf functions later. Thats why I usually just run Slowking version, since I dont find it as big issue to face.

Steelix @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Atk / 120 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Roar​


  • Last but not least, we have Chople Berry Steelix, which is imo most useful item in meta atm and I strongly suggest everyone to try it. I never found Leftovers to bring value to more offensive balanced teams, and chople serves as a revenge killer /lure for fast fighting types like Virizion, and Hitmonlee which is most popular spinner, and usually they either predict you to switch and spin(which is best scenario), and other one is just weakening Lix while getting revenged in process. I can also Rkill Toxicroak, since its fighting stab is Drain punch which does pitiful damage.
  • Why Gyro Ball > Heavy slam? Heavy Slam doesnt do any damage to Virizion since Virizion is a heavy pokemon, and it does nice chunk to lot of offensive threats since its strong stab considering Steelix low speed.
  • Roar > Toxic? Sub sweepers are one of scariest pokemon to face, as defensive can setup on standard Lix, and Meloetta was no slouch either, being able to 1 shot it after 1 boost, while Chople berry saved me from it.


Conclusion:
While this team may be classified as balance, it can afford aggresive plays and play like bulky offense so its borderline there. Most of the time you can afford to lead Vikavolt earlier in game, and in case you dont, during match Whimsicott/Emboar both force pokemon in that Vikavolt beats, so just double around to get a kill. In case you predict wrong, defensive backbone can take on most of threats, or beat them offensively, just dont be too obvious as dead Vikavolt can lead into team having problems beating bulky cores.


Threatlist:
While i have answers to most of threats in meta and there isnt anything that outright beats me, there are no perfect teams and naturally there are always gonna be some annoying pokemon in earlier NU stages. I adjusted movesets for most of these threats, and while not asking for a rate, I wouldnt mind some EV spread, suggestions etc.. That being said, team was rly fun to use that idc, so lets get into threats:

  • To start with annoying archetypes, Aurora Veil teams and Sticky Webs offense can both be annoying. Aurora Veil is stronger, since aurorus has the utility to bring both rocks and hail, while sandslash isnt easy to revenge, and EQ set might be annoying vs emboar, while most of pokemon on aurora veil are borderline broken to deal with in general, especially with boosted defenses theyre hard to revenge kill. Meloetta was probably biggest threat on these kind of teams(both aurora veil and webs), but now that its banned theyre easier to play vs. Usually these kind of teams have more setup sweepers than sticky webs, and you need to play smart vs those mons. Whimsicott can Encore setups, and mons on the team are bulky enough to take some hits, and if you find an opportunity to Defog, then do it.
  • Sticky Web is less popular, and on most of these teams I saw Mismagius/Toxicroak/Sceptile being popular, first one being a good spinblocker. So the way to deal with these is not that of an issue, since Skuntank can defog vs some threats, and usually Meloetta was usually only one stopping it as psychic type with annoying double stab.

  • Pokemon with protect can be quite annoying, as 2 of my pokemon are choice locked, and if opponents team is bulky it can be rly annoying vs my team. The way to deal with these teams is usually doubling into Vikavolt vs a pokemon that dont have protect, and try to outplay the switchin.

  • Some setup sweepers with Z move:
    Delphox shouldnt be an issue to play around, as EQ Emboar + Slowking can beat it. You can outplay it with double switching on a Grass Knot as well. That being said, the scarf delphox set isnt a threat. Another one that is a really rare sight is
    rockium Z barbaracle, but you can easily see if its a Z move since shell smash boost will leave it with defense drops. When I play around it, I usually look at the opponents team and identify is there another pokemon that could carry Z move, and theres a possibility another mon already used it, so I will either stay in vs it to do as much damage possible as it sets up, or go hard whimsicott to prevent sweep. I can also revenge it with slowking/bro assuming they dont crit.

  • Vikavolt: Opposing vikavolts can also be annoyance, since its naturally good vs balance and sometimes they arent choice locked (less damage,more coverage which is double edged sword), but you can definitely outpredict it, and 2 of my mons can R-kill it, just put rocks before twinkle tackling it.

  • Emboar: Only choice band set can be an issue to switch in, but that gives me information that i can outspeed it with 3 of my pokemon, and it usually is worn down due to recoil, while i can use Skuntank Aftermath against it. Scarf is underwhelming, as slowking can check it rather well. Also, if you feel like youd prefer a bit more bulk, you can run my slowbro set i listed above as option, even tho its not neccesary. ( Another fighting pokemon like hitmonlee/machamp arent threatening considering i have 3 fighting resists on a team, and also a Chople Lix as a lure)

  • Vanilluxe: At this point, Im gonna name some mons which definitely arent big threats but still annoy balance overall, and vanilluxe is definitely one of them, as NU is tier known to lack a sturdy ice resists(talking about freeze dry in particular). Usually how i play vs it is, I will first go into my water type pokemon to scout which which move they clicked, and if its Freeze Dry I always live a hit while not taking much, and then double out into Emboar, while sometimes just recover predicting a switch. The set really depends on how threat is it, and you can assume that from team preview, scarf is very easy to play around, while specs set can be outsped. This pokemon is not that common, so a soft check or 2 is enough.

  • Drampa/
    Eggy: Balance that hard checks this dont exist, but theyre not hard to R-kill considering the bad speed, altough theyre threatening on a TR. Since i have dragon immunity and resist in team, they will hardly click draco meteor, and slowking might even setup on drampa switch, while Eggy might be a bit more annoyance.

  • Togedemaru could be annoying for Vikavolt to deal with, but it depends how well is that team built around it, and generally its more of a gimmicky mon so it shouldnt be an issue since its extremely rare to versus.

Thats it, I wanted to give an idea of the general balance threatlist when you consider building it, there are more pokemon that you should prepare for, particularly
Rotom-Mow,
Sceptile, but this team has 4 grass resists, and 2 of my pokemon resist both Rotom stabs, so its not an issue for me


Replays:
With slowking/slowbro variation


Reqs:


Importable​
Vikavolt (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Bug Buzz
- Energy Ball

Whimsicott (F) @ Fairium Z
Ability: Prankster
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Moonblast
- Giga Drain
- Encore

Emboar (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Reckless
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Wild Charge
- Superpower
- Earthquake

Slowking (M) @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Scald
- Slack Off

Skuntank (F) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Acid Spray
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Defog

Steelix (M) @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Atk / 120 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Roar
 
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