Choice Madness

[Nox240]

Hey, Nox here. This team is ranked 1908 so far on Showdown and has gotten me to 21 on the UU ladder. If you notice any problems, please comment (still may have problems, also feel free to steal the ideas here for your own use.

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Gyro Ball

This chunk of metal is a complete defensive beast. Not only does he wall every single physical attacker in the tier barring Arcanine and Victini, but he is a great Stealth Rocker and can Toxic the opponent. Also, I realized that Weavile is a huge threat to my team, so this guy can take a hit from him and Gyro Ball to Weavile and other speedy threats. He also is great to switch in on poison and earthquakes. I replaced Psychic with Earthquake to hit Raikou and other electric types, because Snorlax no longer has EQ to deal with him and it works much better on bronzong to hit calm mind suicunes, for example.

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP/252 SDef/4 Atk
Careful Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Body Slam
- Whirlwind

Snorlax is a beast, to say the least. His special defense and HP are off the charts, and he can switch in to any special hit he likes. A RestTalk set lets him easily recover HP and then sleep talk into Body Slam, crippling speedy offensive threats with paralysis and whirlwind away something that wants to set up on sleep. RestTalk can easily beat Suicune, Raikou, and Venomoth, among others.

Flygon @ Choice Band
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 ATK/4 SDef/252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-Turn
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Fire Punch

Ah yes, Flygon. My favorite pokemon from the Hoenn region. Flygon is probably the best or second best scarfer in the tier (probably in competition with Mienshao) and is a great lead to a game. In addition, his moveset allows him to U-Turn for quick revenge kills or go in at the end of games and Outrage to take out the final part of an enemy's team. Flygon is one of the best revenge killers in UU, and he has the ability to take out huge threats to my team like Sheer Force Nidoking and Umbreon.

Chandelure @ Choice Specs
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
- Dark Pulse

Chandelure is the best specially attacking fire type in the entire tier. Chandelure hits SUPER hard with choice specs, and has the ability to 2HKO almost everything in the tier barring bulky waters and Snorlax with Fire Blast. Shadow Ball hits other Chandelures that switch in for OHKO damage, and destroys anything that resists Fire Blast, including Suicune, Kingdra and especially Slowbro. Energy Ball is there to deal with bulky waters who can take more than one Shadow Ball, most notably Suicune and Blastoise. Dark Pulse is there as good coverage, plus it can be used against Snorlax for more damage than the other moves it has. Oh and also, it is a great move to use against Meloettas that want to switch into Shadow Ball.

Roserade @ Choice Specs
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Extrasensory

Roserade, the flower master. Roserade, with Specs, is able to KO so many pokemon in the tier it is ridiculous. Leaf Storm is utterly incredible, and Sludge Bomb pretty much KO's everything that resists Leaf Storm. Sludge Bomb hits other grass types SUPER hard, meaning most grass types in the tier (with the exception of other Roserades) will be OHKO'd. Here's an example of the power of Leaf Storm in the tier:

252 SpA Choice Specs Roserade Leaf Storm vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Snorlax: 225-265 (42.93 - 50.57%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
This is about half damage to the 2nd best stat-wise special wall in the tier, Snorlax, but Roserade 2HKO's Rotom-H without Stealth Rocks even though there is a resistance and 107 Special Defense. Roserade is pretty much a pokemon that likes to switch in and Leaf Storm things, but with Technician HP Fire, Sludge Bomb, Extrasensory, and LS, there is a lot of room to predict.

Cofagrigus @ Leftovers
Ability: Mummy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SDef / 252 Def
Bold Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Haze

Cofagrigus is one of the best physical walls out there, because it has the ability to switch into fighting and normal moves freely, as well as taking bug moves extremely well and poison moves extremely well. It is probably the best wall to Heracross, as it is immune to Close Combat, resists Megahorn and can take Non-STAB Stone Edges for days. It can stop pokemon that want to set up on a switch in their tracks, hazing all their changes away in case snorlax was to die. Pain Split allows it a good method of recovery against pokemon with high health, crippling those pokemon at the same time. Shadow Ball allows it to hit other ghosts types, most notably Chandelure, who want to come in and hit it with a super effective shadow ball, as well as being a natural STAB move for Cofagrigus to spam when it is against something that can't really touch it. WOW is there to stop physical sweepers in their tracks (barring pokemon with guts) as well as dealing some residual damage.


So that's my team, any kind of critique is welcomed.

 

[Torkoals]

I'd replace earthquake on snolax with wild charge, as only roserade resists water attacks, and a bulky water could seriously threaten this team and even take out houndoom. Water types also tend to carry ice moves, so it could potentially help out flygon too. (Watermons like suicine and milotic)

 

[PokemonLionKing]

You might want to consider making Flygon a Choice Band set instead of Choice Scarf. Yes, Flygon will not be able to outspeed things but will be able to 2HKO or OHKO most opponnts if it is banded

 

[Plus]

Biggest issue I can see with this team is the lack of a Bug resist, meaning that you'll have a pretty tough time dealing with Heracross. There isn't anything on this team that I'd say is great at handling Heracross, as you'd probably have to get Flygon or Sableye in safely to threaten it out. Even then, Megahorn spamming would take a rather large chunk out of this team -- and if it gets a Moxie boost from it, then that's even worse.

As much as Sableye is annoying, I suggest changing it to a defensive Cofagrigus in order to deal with Heracross better, while still dealing with the same kinds of things that Sableye would -- mainly Mienshao, Machamp, and even Rhyperior. You could also use it to deal with things like Bulk Up Shedrest Scrafty who can also set up on your team if you're not careful. Specsrade helps somewhat, but Haze gives you extra assurance against these types of threats.

Run Earthquake over Psychic on Bronzong, as Gyro Ball does enough damage to stuff like Mienshao, while Earthquake is very nice for things like Raikou, or hitting Chandy and Arcanine on switch-ins.

Choice Band Flygon might be good for this team considering you have enough of a backbone in Bronzong/Snorlax/Cofagrigus to deal with fast, offensive threats. Scarf Flygon isn't getting past Umbreon; at least Choice Band Flygon hits harder and makes it tougher for Umbreon to simply Wishstall + Foul Play when the time is right. You still deal with Sheer Force Nidoking fine with Band, so I'd run it for a little extra oomph in this team to pair with Specs Rade.

CB Flygon > Scarf Flygon
EQ>Psychic on Bronzong

Cofagrigus@Leftovers
248 hp / 252 def / 8 spdef
Bold
Shadow Ball/Pain Split/Haze/WoW

gl with the team.

 

[MewTheDestroyer]

You're missing 4 EVs on Snorlax, fix that.
Anyways, the suggestions by Plus are all worth taking into consideration, so definitely test them! I'd also recommend giving Snorlax max HP and Special Defense, Careful nature, with the moves Whirlwind / Body Slam / Rest / Sleep Talk. This thing is a MONSTER with stalling, and can really help weaken the opponent with hazards damage. After having to forfeit from 200 turns of boring, I'd know...

 

[Nox240]

Ok, thanks for all the replies. I've been using this team for a while now, and am now ranked 1908 on the Gen V UU ladder on Showdown and 21st on the ladder. I changed some things on the team (some sets) and used some of the things that Mew and Plus recommended. I also took PokemonLionKing's recommendation and changed Flygon to a band set. List of full changes is below, I'll edit the original post for the new team.

Bronzong- Changed Psychic to Earthquake.
Snorlax- Curse set is now a RestTalk set with Body Slam and Whirlwind.
Flygon is now banded, with the same set.
Houndoom has been removed from the team altogether, replaced with Choice Specs Chandelure. Full set is above.
Roserade has no changes (messed around with a life orb set for awhile but didn't work as well)
Sableye- changed to a Cofagrigus, set above.

 

[PokeGyarados]

Just a small thing, but I recommend switching Dark Pulse for Trick on your Chandelure to cripple Snorlax - it's very useful to cripple Snorlax and Porygon2. Dark Pulse offers near redundant coverage with Shadow Ball anyways.

 

[PokemonLionKing]

i agree with PokeGyarados. Also, Dark Pulse isn't 'great' coverage if you already have Shadow Ball, because both Dark and Ghost types have the same time matchups for their moves (except in gen 6 where dark isn't very effective to fairy)

 

[Nox240]

Thanks you guys, this team is awesome IMO. Trick is on Chandelure, works great to cripple walls, as you said. On an alt and laddering, currently at 1888 with a 23-5 record.

 

[Patrick1088]

Cool team! Just a few points though...
you have 2 ghosts, a bulky reliable whirlwinder and stealth rock. This team is practically screaming for spikes to be on this team. You have 2 spinblockers and a phazer. I highly recommend switching roserades set to an offensive spiker set with natural cure. What does hp fire hit that sleep powder cant take care of? Escavalier? Cobalion?

Personally id go with trickscarf on chandy but thats a preference. Other than that good team!

 

[Nox240]

Thanks, I'll try that. I've tryed a sleep powder/spikes/LS/SB roserade with a LO, but I really didn't enjoy using it just because I like the hit and run nature of SpecsRade. I may change it, though, because I agree with you, snorlax and my two ghosts scream for spikes and phazing. Also, I love specs chandelure more than scarf chandelure because fire blast decimates everything.

 

[PokeGyarados]

Thanks, I'll try that. I've tryed a sleep powder/spikes/LS/SB roserade with a LO, but I really didn't enjoy using it just because I like the hit and run nature of SpecsRade. I may change it, though, because I agree with you, snorlax and my two ghosts scream for spikes and phazing. Also, I love specs chandelure more than scarf chandelure because fire blast decimates everything.

Leaf Storm is illegal with Spikes on Roserade, just saying.

Anyways, to compound on what Patrick1088 said, in my opinion you should give Toxic Spikes a try. Even just one layer of Toxic Spikes puts great pressure on your opponent, especially if they don't have a grounded Poison-type and it racks up residual damage VERY easily. Obviously, due to being able to be absorbed it is inferior to Spikes, but being legal with Leaf Storm and only requiring two layers maximum is good enough to warrant use. You also really should not have used both Spikes and Sleep Powder btw - one or the other, because you lose out on a lot if you run both. I'd post an importable, but I'm on my phone so it'd take forever :x