WIP: List of Counters and support Puppets incomplete, other sets need testing.
Nue
Type:
Miasma/
FlyingResistances: Dream, Miasma, Faith, Heart, Beast, Nature(x2)
Immunities: Earth
Weaknesses: Reason, Steel, Wind, Ice
Base Stats:HP: 90
Atk:
95Def: 80
Spd:
130Sp.Atk: 75
Sp.Def: 80
Overview:Nue, the Mysterious Youkai. When I saw her stats, my first thought was "wow, the only thing she needs is Swords Dance" and sure enough, she is able to learn this move, allowing her to become a fierce attacker.
Then, the combination of Miasma/Flying is really nice, granting Nue immunity to Poison status and Earth attacks, resistance to 5 types and a x4 resistance to Nature-type, which allows her to switch safely into Toxic and predicted Earth or Nature attacks.
And just in case that wasn't enough, Nue has a respectable amount of support moves at her disposal, namely Will-o-Wisp, Taunt, Recover and Toxic, which combined with her great base Speed allow her to work effectively against leads and annoying walls.
However, after all this, Nue still has her flaws. Although Flying nullifies Miasma's weakness Earth, she still has several weaknesses from her Flying-type. Then, the fact that Flying-type is weak to not only 1, but 2 priority moves (Blade Flash and Ice Shard) doesn't help, as those moves turn Nue's high Speed irrelevant. Finally, Nue is way too vulnerable to Steel-types, who not only resist her both STABs, but also threat her with STAB super-effective Steel attacks AND Nue cannot learn any move effective against them.
Nue can be highly aggressive Puppet, but at the same time she has several tricks under her hand, and if the opponent doesn't have any Steel type or priority users (or you deal with them in advance), she might be able to finish entire Teams by herself.
The closest Pokemon version of Nue is Crobat, who apparently is not doing that bad at the OU Metagame, and with a wider support movepool and slightly better stats, we should expect even more from Nue.
Abilities:Mysterious: Although it fits Nue as the Mysterious Youkai, you should only give her this ability if you want a for-fun set, because it will mess your STABs up and your opponent can take advantage of it by using its own coverage moves.
Pressure: Not the best ability around, but definitely better than the other option, and it is always good to deplete those stalling or powerful 5-PP moves faster.
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Suggested by
Josh:
StallbreakerNue @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Ev's: 216 Spd/40 Hp/252 Atk
Nature: Jolly (+Spd-Spatk)
-Brave Bird/Poison Jab
-Recover
-Taunt
-Will-o-Wisp
"The given EV's outspeed base 100 fully invested allowing Nue to outpace even the fastest walls in the game and the combination of taunt, recover, and WoW allows her to break them down pressure is just icing on the cake and can allow Nue to PP stall a few otherwise annoying moves. Max attack is just there to fully abuse brave bird because offensive D kayuga is a thing, but you can run a 16 spd/240 Hp/252 Def/Spdef spread instead to take hits better.
Countered by: Magic stones/H Eirin/Chiyuri"
Anti-leadNue @ Airline Uniform/Wedding Dress
Ability: Pressure
Ev's: 252 Spd/252 Atk/4 Hp
Nature: Jolly (+Spd,-SpAtk)
-Brave Bird
-Taunt
-Wilo Wisp
-SelfDestruct
"Taunt spiker and then either cripple it, Kill it with brave bird, or wtfboom to take it out. Or just wtfboom to grab the games momentum instantly and attempt to force a sweep with another mon."
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U.F.D. - Undefined Fantastic Dance (Swords Dance)Nue @ Lum Berry/Leftovers/Airline Uniform/Nurse Uniform
Nature: Adamant (+Atk; -Sp.Atk)/ Jolly (+Spd; -Sp.Atk)
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/4 HP
-Swords Dance
-Brave Bird
-Poison Jab/Gunk Shot
-Selfdestruct/Heart Break/Steel Wing
Set up Swords Dance and then sweep. Brave Bird and Poison Jab are your STAB moves and after Nue is worn down by the recoil of the former move, you can finish with a boom!
If you are a fan of Fire Blast and similar moves, then Gunk Shot is the move for you, but if you prefer accuracy over power, you can stick with Poison Jab and let Brave Bird inflict the heavy damage.
If you don't like the idea of Self-destructing Nue, then you can go for Heart Break to hit hard any Reason-type that might threat Nue, or Steel Wing to take down threatening Ice-types and for coverage, but it will be resisted by the dreaded Steels.
Lum Berry is the first item of choice, while Leftovers increases durability and mitigates the recoil from Brave Bird, but you can hold Airline Uniform to dish even deadlier Brave Birds out, or Nurse Uniform if you feel that Poison Jab needs a boost or want to shoot devastating Gunk Shots.
Because of the popularity of Steel-types, this moveset is the least recommended, but it is still an option for taking down non-Steels.
Other options:Toxic/Taunt/Will-o-Wisp/Confuse Ray: You can take advantage of Nue's high Speed to cause status on the opposing Puppet or lock its support moves before they get the chance of doing anything.
Recover: With average 90/80/80 defenses, 6 resistances and 1 immunity, Recover is a feasible move for Nue, allowing her to last longer, relief recoil damage and, given the opportunity, set Swords Dance a second and even a third time. This move can be further supported with Leftovers and an investment on HP.
Quick Attack: If you hate the fact that even with full investment on Speed Nue priority moves can still outspeed her, you can resort to this move. However, by using this would be dropping either the powerful Brave Bird, or limiting Nue's already small coverage even more.
Cross Poison: If you want to bet on the RNG you can use this instead of Poison Jab. It has 15 less Base Power after STAB, but landing a critical hit can be a game-changer.
Ingrain: This move can allow Nue to Sword Dance without fear of losing the boosts through Phazing while relieving recoil damage.
Disable: "After something dies to Drawn Line/Braver, Mana Burst/Luster Purge, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam you can lock out their Nue-killing move and SD Up".
- shai_LP[Despite her average defenses, the combination of Leftovers, defensive EVs and Toxic, Recover, Taunt, Ingrain and/or Detect might allow Nue to perform as a Toxic Staller by taking advantage of her base Speed for attacking first, but such moveset has yet to be tested].Support:Nue will appreciate the company of any Puppets that can deal with those pesky Steels that wall can her and those Mana Burst users that seem to be way too common.
On the other hand, you can use Puppets weak to Earth and Nature to attract opposing Puppets with those moves, only to switch Nue in for her to take the now ineffective attacks, and take the opportunity to set up.
As for specific Puppets who can work well along Nue, right now I can only think on
Technical Toyohime, who can hit Steel and Reason-types hard with STAB Earth Power and Shadow Ball respectively, while encouraging your opponent to bring out his/her Puppets with Nature attacks.
Counters:As stated before, Steel-type resists both Nue's STABs so most Puppets with that typing can take advantage of it, especially the defensive ones who might be able to survive a Selfdestruct, which is the next move they should expect from Nue, besides of a switch out.
Then, even with her impressive Speed, Nue is still vulnerable Blade Flash and Ice Shard, so pretty much any Puppet with an outstanding Atk/Sp.Atk and access to those moves should scare her off, unless she is running Quick Attack and the opposing Puppet it at risk of being heavily damaged by the move.
Specifically,
Youki and
Youmu forms are excellent Nue counters, since they have STAB Blade Flash, resistance to Nue's STABs, and immunity to both Selfdestruct and Heart Break; Youmu and Youki stand out since the former has 120 base Attack to deal powerful Blade Flashes, and the latter has a higher base Speed than Nue and even higher base Attack than Youmu, which means that with a proper investment on Speed he should be able to outspeed Nue and hit with an stronger Battle Chant or Drawn Line.
Advent Cirno and
Advent Letty are another remarkable counters, who are Steel type, have access to Ice Shard, and have a nice 125 and 115 base Atk respectively to support the move.
