ADV XU Tormented Masterpiece

Hello and welcome to the latest of my RMT's. This one is in the ADV NU metagame, and even though this team has no significant history, I feel like it really is a masterpiece - both a creative and refined team, as well as one that is very potent and powerful. I've centered the team building around Torment Haunter, using the same set as Philip7068 used on his Heatran on this infamous team. Haunter's blazing speed (only outsped by Raticate unboosted, with a handful of Pokemon tieing), as well as three useful immunities in Normal, Fighting, and Ground - common attacking types in the tier, and you have a menace. Whilst it does not appear the way from preview, it is a stall team - albeit, versus more offensive teams, it tends to match their pace more, and it can be played quite aggressively.

A first glance:

Spoiler: Teambuilding Process

First thing that I noticed I needed was hazard control. Haunter needs Toxic+Spikes support in order to be effective. Glalie plays too quickly to be effective on this team, and Roselia doesn't synergise very well with Haunter, so I went with Cacturne. Hitmonchan gives the team a good lead and gives me good hazard control, matching up well with ghost-types other than Haunter, as well as all the hazard setters.


I noticed then that I needed to beat Huntail. Bellossom, Lombre and Roselia give me lots of overlap, and I don't like Dewgong as much, so I went with Kecleon. Alongside Cacturne I have the tools to beat Haunter and Chimecho (although as we shall see Whischash is helpful too with Haunter), and it checks a ton of stuff, like a wosre Blissey. Spreading Toxic around (as well as having Twave for Huntail), it's a nice pivot. Protect is suprisingly effective as a recovery option.


The last 2 mons covered various weaknesses, helping me handle hitmonchan, fire types, sleep moves, rock types, and other stuff.

The Team


TurnAround (Hitmonchan) @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 30 Spe
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
- Sky Uppercut
- Hidden Power [Flying]

A slight twist on the traditional Rapid Spin Hitmonchan. In terms of EV spread, max HP max Atk does all I need it to. Max HP helps me check Pupitar, and helps me not worry too much about the various toys of Cacturne and Roselia too. Max Attack lets me hit as hard as possible which is always nice.. okay onto the set which probably requires a tad more explaining. Rapid Spin and Sky Uppercut are self-explanatory, whilst the team is focused around abusing Toxic+Spikes, and being able to toxic Sableye is very handy in wearing it down, preventing it from beating Haunter or successfully spinblocking. HP Flying is a little tech that lets me still hit Haunter for reasonably damage etc. but is mainly for a super-effective physical hit versus Roselia, which otherwise walks over me. With this, I have amazing hazard control. It also is one of the team's checks to Mawile, Sudowoodo, and Relicanth, alongside Whiscash. Finally, Vigoroth which I didn't really think about whilst building this is checked by Chan alongside Pelipper, but it could be a bit of trouble. Well-played Haunter could give roth some trouble though.


Berlusconi (Haunter) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 232 HP / 24 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Torment
- Substitute
- Protect
- Taunt

Shoutout Bedschibaer for the perfect nickname. No attacks and no real relevant defensive benchmarks, beyond surviving Adamant CB Hitmonchan's Rock Slide (which you more than do with this spread), so it focuses on maximum Speed, allowing it to outspeed or tie nearly any unboosted Pokémon in the tier. The set allows it to stall for Toxic damage and PP, forcing the opponent to switch around and rack up Spikes damage, and is in general pretty tricky to kill. It should be saved for later on in the match, other than to emergency check Sunnybeamers, Hitmonchan, Poison- and Normal-type attackers, absorb Explosions, and spinblock.


Scarecrow (Cacturne) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 32 SpD / 224 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Giga Drain

Where the fun starts. Cacturne's defensive capabilities are underrated. Spikes is obviously a nessecity, and Leech Seed was needed to help versus CM chimecho - if I had Toxic, the CM Heal Bell set can potentially overpower it and Kecleon. Giga Drain is for Huntail (once paralyzed it may be possible to bring it in on a predicted HP Grass) if you play it in Smogon's ADV NU, Wailord (can't really switch in though) and Pupitar (which you are EV'd to outspeed), Whiscash, Relicanth, Sudowoodo as well as doing stuff like breaking a Plusle or Minun's substitutes. Protect allows scouting, to rack up Toxic damage, Leftovers recovery, and Leech Seed damage and recovery. Between this and Kecleon I can handle Chimecho, and between this, Whischash, and Kecleon, I can handle Haunter and Electrics too. Using protect and Kecleon, you can scout the Electric's Hidden Power and then wall accordingly.

An alternative option is to run HP Fire over Protect to help with Sunnybeamers, as they can be very tricky to play around with this team.


THEFURYCUTTER (Kecleon) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Color Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Thunder Wave
- Toxic
- Protect

Kecleon is an incredibly effective Pokemon on this team - as mentioned when discussing Cacturne, it helps with Haunter (beware Explosion!), Chimecho, and Electrics, but the main draw in the teambuilding process is that it answers Huntail. This team however was built for Smogon's ADV NU rather than ADV XU so its Huntail-answering capabilities are no longer needed, however it's nevertheless invaluable as a good special sponge. Double status lets me Toxic the majority of targets, and Thunder Wave helped specifically with Huntail, although various other Pokémon don't enjoy it much either - often it helps with CM Chimecho and SunnyBeamers, and it's probably the best move option for it even with Huntail gone. Protect offers it recovery, whilst Shadow Ball weakly hits most targets, and hits Haunter and Chimecho for great damage. The name is a joke that one time I nearly found a viable use for Fury Cutter on this thing.


EV Fanatic (Whiscash) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Atk / 148 Def / 36 SpA / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Protect

It might look quite complex but really it's pretty nice. The speed gets to the 167 Speed benchmark, around about where Mawile and Flareon are if my memory serves me. The Attack EVs let me get a KO on Minun iirc with Earthquake, but it's the stat that can most afford a negative nature. The SpA allows it to 2HKO 4/0 Pidgeot with Ice Beam. The more Toxic the better, and it alongside Ice Beam lets me hurt sunnybeamers quite a bit, as well as the sunless Bellossom that I quite like (not one that fits on many teams but it's a neat set). Then the Defense is pumped up to help as much as possible with CB Pidgeot and Murkrow. Between this, Cacturne, and Kecleon I can answer any Electric, and Haunter. It also is a very important check to Relicanth, Mawile, and Rock- and Steel-types in general. The main targets missed out on with not running Surf are Sudowoodo and Torkoal, both of which are hit on their stronger defensive stat but Super-Effective with Earthquake, dislike Toxic, and are checked too by Pelipper (in Torkoal's case) and Hitmonchan, and to a lesser degree Cacturne (in Sudowoodo's case). It also helps with Shelgon.


PelicanMan (Pelipper) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Toxic / Ice Beam
- Surf

Pelipper helps me with Hitmonchan (also checked by Haunter), Torkoal (also checked by Whiscash), Sleep absorption, Birds (alongside Whiscash), Flareon (doesn't mind HP Grass unlike Whiscash), Piloswine, and it acts as the team's status absorber (when Protect and Substitute aren't enough). It helps vs some Wailords (they run an awful lot of stuff, but Curse+Self-Destruct is checked well by Haunter) - Wailord is a bit of a weakness but only because something like 3 Special Attacks+Self-Destruct could exist. Still, I think Pelipper and Haunter help a lot. Toxic is better on Pelipper to help with aforementioned Wailord and spreading status in General, whilst Ice Beam helps with Grasses (notably Roselia being immune to Toxic and Tangela being a major threat to the team). Overall, as should be clear, it's an awesome glue. Pelipper and Haunter both tend to stick around into the endgame - both of them being spikes immune gives you a nice advantage, as well as being able to withstand toxic assaults.

Also to round things off full circle, I was inspired to run Torment Haunter after Sapienta commented on the Pelipper analysis about Pelipper getting Torment (it doesn't though).

Spoiler: Importable

TurnAround (Hitmonchan) @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 30 Spe
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
- Sky Uppercut
- Hidden Power [Flying]

Berlusconi (Haunter) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 232 HP / 24 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Torment
- Substitute
- Protect
- Taunt

Scarecrow (Cacturne) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 32 SpD / 224 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Giga Drain

THEFURYCUTTER (Kecleon) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Color Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Thunder Wave
- Toxic
- Protect

EV Fanatic (Whiscash) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Atk / 148 Def / 36 SpA / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Protect

PelicanMan (Pelipper) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Toxic
- Surf

Overall I think it's a very strong team with the capacity to play around its weaknesses and play in any sort of pace. It's quite an aggressive stall-team, and requires very careful play of the status game (although it handles the hazard game very well). I'm sure improvements could probably be made but even so this is still a very powerful team that takes some care to handle.

I am very proud of this team.