What UU pokemon are least common BUT have potential?

[Aldaron]

I only read the first page and last pages (lazy aldaron), so I missed any potential MILTANK references in the middle.

But honestly, I just don't understand how Miltank can be NU. August and Whistle will attest to just how incredibly useful Curse Miltank (Loki used a fast Life Orb Miltank) is in UU.

In yanmega-UU on my burpburp team I was utilizing a simple effective defensive core + curse miltank team to cut through UU like no one's business.

Use Miltank bros, she'll be good to you ;)

 

[tubbablubba]

Generally speaking, DD Lapras is incredibly underwelming and can't KO anything.

In the metagame before krow got banned and before raikou and frosslass came down I had great success with sub dd lapras. While the team was centered around a sub dd lapras sweep the concept was pretty simple. Spread t-wave around then switch in on the omnipresent bulky waters (Back then it was milotic/blastoise/slowbro). Sub on the status/switch then dd up. Waterfall/return is good enough coverage that even though lapras' attack is meh you'll pretty much ravage through teams after two dd's.

Now it may be a little more difficult because you have to deal with raikou but sub-dd lapras can absolutely sweep teams.

 

[flashbolt]

In the metagame before krow got banned and before raikou and frosslass came down I had great success with sub dd lapras. While the team was centered around a sub dd lapras sweep the concept was pretty simple. Spread t-wave around then switch in on the omnipresent bulky waters (Back then it was milotic/blastoise/slowbro). Sub on the status/switch then dd up. Waterfall/return is good enough coverage that even though lapras' attack is meh you'll pretty much ravage through teams after two dd's.

Now it may be a little more difficult because you have to deal with raikou but sub-dd lapras can absolutely sweep teams.

Does Feraligatr outclass this?
They have different stats and play differently but i think i would prefer to have Feraligatr on my team.
Water absorb vs Torrent
Better defenses vs (far) better typing

I dont know, just putting it out there. Its probably personal preference.

 

[shrang]

Comparing DD Lapras with DD Feraligatr is like comparing SD Ludicolo and SD Kabutops in the rain. Like SD Kabutops, DD Feraligatr is easily better in terms of pure offense, but Lapras, like Ludicolo has his perks over Feraligatr. Better defenses is easily the most notable, and Lapras also has an excellent Special movepool and usable Special Attack, allowing for a Mixed set that Feraligatr wouldn't be able to use anywhere near as effectively as Lapras.

 

[flashbolt]

Yes the versatiltiy is an issue. I dont think running a mixed set is particularly viable due to moveslot syndrome, you would have to drop substitute which is a big sacrifice IMO. However, the potential of running a special set it what creates the surprise factor that is the big benefit of lapras. (Feraligatr only variety is SD or DD, and perhaps and a choice of move when carrying 3 attacks)
The better defenses are undermined IMHO by the typing; weakness to SR, neutral to Steel (harder to set up on Registeel) and weakness to fighting priority.
As i say it is not that one is better than the other outright, it is difficult to compare, alot comes down to preference and to how well it fits the rest of your team.
But i generally would prefer Kabutops to Ludicolo if i could choose one.

 

[tubbablubba]

When compared to feraligatr in terms of pure sweeping Lapras does have really only its bulk. But Lapras does have superior set up potential on bulky waters and there is the possibility of coming in on a water attack and attempting a second sweep.
But really I found the sub dd set was successful because before I sent lapras out the majority of the other team was already paralyzed. It kind of has to be the focus of the team.

 

[Scoopapa]

Luxray - Mixed wallbreaker is great, Choice Bander is cool, too. Especially with Cresselia gone, there's very little he can't hurt. Intimidate is sweet, and a lot of people don't even realize he has Superpower now. Superpower does way more than Magmortar's Cross Chop, and it can deal with full health waters unlike Blaziken, Nidoking, and even Magmortar. Also, after intimidate, he can survive most unboosted physical attacks from a Rain sweeper, meaning he's an asset against Rain teams.

Tangrowth - Seems like there are none of these anymore. It's a nice physical wall that protects you from Azumarill, Feralgatr, Kabutops (!), and Swords Dance Venasaur, just to name some common things. It takes ~70% from a LO Kabutops +2 Stone Edge, which gives you an idea of how well it can wall neutral attacks. It also gets Synthesis and Leech Seed to help it's survivability. HUGE asset against rain, and capable of dealing with a lot of Physical attacks while attacking from whichever side of the spectrum you want.

Articuno - It's already rare, but I'm possibly the only person who runs it with 252 HP / 252 SpDef, so that's the set I'm vouching for here. Obviously you need spin support in a big way. It's typing isn't very good, but it's stats are high enough that it can still wall things like Lanturn and defensive Rotom. It's a dead stop to a lot of special attackers, and STAB on Ice is cool especially with all the Ground-type Stealth Rockers out there. It's bulky enough to survive a Fire Blast from LO Moltres (not that you'd want to stay in) just to give you an idea of it's bulk. I don't know how easy it is to fit on a team though... I use it on a team where it works great, but it may just be a specific niche. Some of you can probably vouch for this thing's effectiveness, though.

Also, about Lapras, what about Curse? That's definitely something it has over Feralgatr, and it can make better use of it's defenses. You can actually Lure and kill Raikou. If it's Life Orb, it will always die to LO + SR + boosted Aqua Tail + boosted Ice Shard, meaning you can Curse on the switch and win. If it uses Calm Mind, though, you will both probably die. Against the more popular lefties variants, you can survive two hits (at full health) and KO it with a twice boosted Aqua Tail followed by Ice Shard. Stealth Rock kinda messes this up, though, since you can't survive two hits from 75% health. You could pull it off with Water Absorb, though. Otherwise, Curse + Ice Shard just seems cool anyway. He can be EV'd to always survive a Thunderbolt and 2HKO with Avalance and Ice Shard, but running both really limits your coverage.

 

[Delko]

Wallrein is NU but he can works perfectly in a UU Hail team as Stallrein. But even outside of Hail he has potential. With the Thick Fat ability he makes a great counter to Fire and Ice Types moves and with Support moves such as Encore he could really support your team.

 

[PK Gaming]

I've been using mixed Raichu but I don't know if its outclassed by Electabuzz. (More testing is required)

opinions?

 

[SJCrew]

For starters, there's no way you're going to get away with a Nasty Plot set in UU, as it's not powerful enough and Duggy is just going to run right through you. Nasty Plot can't be combined with Surf, which bones one of the few things it has over Rakou, the other being mixed potential. Subpunching sets are wholly outclassed by Electabuzz, so I wouldn't advise that either.

I think the only way you can make good use out of Raichu is through Volt Tackle, but again, it's not a particularly strong Pokemon and that Life Orb/move recoil will kill it before it does anything particularly threatening. Use Froslass to get those Spikes down and see how it serves you then.

 

[Thund91]

For starters, there's no way you're going to get away with a Nasty Plot set in UU, as it's not powerful enough and Duggy is just going to run right through you. Nasty Plot can't be combined with Surf, which bones one of the few things it has over Rakou, the other being mixed potential. Subpunching sets are wholly outclassed by Electabuzz, so I wouldn't advise that either.

I think the only way you can make good use out of Raichu is through Volt Tackle, but again, it's not a particularly strong Pokemon and that Life Orb/move recoil will kill it before it does anything particularly threatening. Use Froslass to get those Spikes down and see how it serves you then.

Raichu also has Encore, which is useful enough to set it apart.

 

[PK Gaming]

For starters, there's no way you're going to get away with a Nasty Plot set in UU, as it's not powerful enough and Duggy is just going to run right through you. Nasty Plot can't be combined with Surf, which bones one of the few things it has over Rakou, the other being mixed potential. Subpunching sets are wholly outclassed by Electabuzz, so I wouldn't advise that either.

I think the only way you can make good use out of Raichu is through Volt Tackle, but again, it's not a particularly strong Pokemon and that Life Orb/move recoil will kill it before it does anything particularly threatening. Use Froslass to get those Spikes down and see how it serves you then.

I will definetely report back with my findings.
Also, it seems that I need to run Volt Tackle with the Mixed set.
Disagree with sub punching as Raichu has both encore AND is stronger to pull it off. Speed isn't really much of an issue as you switch in Raichu at the end of the match.

Mainly, these testings are based on Raichu's mixed sets.
(I might run Leftovers)

 

[Reaver12]

What do you guys think about Hypno? In a meta where Venusaur is throwing Sleep Powder everywhere I'm really missing a Pokemon that can both avoid the sleep and scare Venusaur out. Sure there's Primeape, but I wondered if there was any viable way to use Hypno in UU, when aside from Insomnia he's pretty much outclassed in every way.

 

[PK Gaming]

What do you guys think about Hypno? In a meta where Venusaur is throwing Sleep Powder everywhere I'm really missing a Pokemon that can both avoid the sleep and scare Venusaur out. Sure there's Primeape, but I wondered if there was any viable way to use Hypno in UU, when aside from Insomnia he's pretty much outclassed in every way.

Hypno fell out of grace when people started using Clefable and Chansey as a Special walls, and due to his atrocious defensive typing. (Pursuit weak=not good)

All is not lost, as he can still be a good wall under the correct circumstances. He's still got insomnia, taking out Venusaur. Give him a shot if you want, I find that winning is important in Pokemon but having fun once in a while can't hurt.

 

[Pancham]

Primeape.
I've been using Primeape as a scarfer lately, it's proved to be quite nice. :)

 

[whistle]

Hypno may be immune to Sleep Powder but it sure isn't liking Power Whip (Jolly LO Power Whip vs 252/56 Hypno: 62% - 73.3%), even if it does have access to Reflect / Thunder Wave, I like attacking off the bat with Venusaur instead of just spamming Sleep Powder. it sort of seems like the same situation as switching Electivire into Rotom-A's Thunderbolt only to get walled by it. It does seem like a good switch / counter to defensively oriented Venusaur, though, so I'd prolly definitely still carry something for offensive variants.

speaking of Hypno I've seen a Grumpig used pretty effectively against LO Moltres (Thick Fat) and with RestTalk it can sort of perform the same job as Hypno against defensive Venusaur although obviously not as effectively cause of the randomness of Sleep Talk. it seems like Hypno brings a lot more team utility due to Wish / Reflect / Thunder Wave, though... Grumpig is probably sadly outclassed by other special tanks now.

 

[tubbablubba]

What do you guys think about Hypno? In a meta where Venusaur is throwing Sleep Powder everywhere I'm really missing a Pokemon that can both avoid the sleep and scare Venusaur out. Sure there's Primeape, but I wondered if there was any viable way to use Hypno in UU, when aside from Insomnia he's pretty much outclassed in every way.

I used to run hypno as a lead and it worked out pretty well. In the pre-raikou frosslass metagames I ran t wave/wish/seismic toss/psychic. Now you'd want to switch it up. Keep t-wave but switch the other attacks to deal with the top leads now (lass and ambipom). It already bones scarf venasaur. Maybe protect for fake out and different attacks to take care of lass (dark pulse maybe?)

That is of course if you're willing to let hazards come in on you in exchange for a ko and possibly a status on their next poke.

 

[DM616]

Oh wow, lots of posts...lots to try out lol, articuno, hypno, luxray etc.

:O

How's Victreebell? That's one of my favorites and I noticed it's NU :3

 

[SJCrew]

Victreebell has Chlorophyll and Weather Ball going for it, but that's it. Use it on a Sunny Day team, possibly mixed.

 

[shrang]

Victreebel is good, on a Sunny Day team, he is very deadly. The SD set is probably the most viable, by using SD/Leaf Blade/Sucker Punch/Weather Ball or Hidden Power Fire, it cuts (No pun intended) through many teams.

Anyway, just theorymoning here, would Specs Electrode work?? Base 80 Special Attack is usable, and it would finally be something to abuse his ridiculous Speed stat. He has just enough, put Thunderbolt/Hidden Power (Insert Here)/Signal Beam/Explosion would make him quite the late game cleaner, like Jolteon is in OU. Something as simple as 4 Atk/252 SpA/252 Spe with a Hasty or Naive nature could work. Not getting revenged by Dugtrio (Unless he catches you locked into Thunderbolt) is what he has over Raikou, IMO.

 

[GMLW]

Victreebell is a great mixed attacker on Sunny Day teams. It has Swords Dance, Sucker Punch, Leaf Blade, and is the first Chlorophyll Pokemon to get Weather Ball, and so can use a Fire attack without using Hidden Power. This allows it to use another Hidden Power type if it wants to. Anyway, great movepool, great ability, excellent mixed Sunny Day attacker.

EDIT: Wow, I was beaten twice. :/

Anyway, on Electrode, I would use Hidden Power Grass, since Signal Beam hits Grass-types. I guess it gets walled by Steelix, but who the hell uses Steelix?

 

[PK Gaming]

Victreebell learns Weatherball? Looks like Castform's signature move went out the window.

I think I should give Rivalry Luxray a go. Often times, most pokemon are male (by default, most people are to lazy to change the gender except in certain cases)

 

[DM616]

So uh, how is setting up a NU Sunny Day team sound? Jumpluff & Victreebell :O

 

[SJCrew]

In that case, let me redirect you to the Sunny Day thread.

Also, do keep in mind that although Jumpluff has Chlorophyll, it is by no means a good or even decent offensive Pokemon. Make good use of moves like Encore, Leech Seed, Substitute, and Uturn. Read the Smogon page for more details: http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/jumpluff

Also, be sure to read the guide to Sunny Day teams if you're not sure what to do with the rest of your team.

 

[GMLW]

Victreebell learns Weatherball? Looks like Castform's signature move went out the window.

Roserade got Weather Ball before Victreebell.

Oh, and I just looked at teh Guide to Sunny Day teams. It's horribly outdated. Don't use it. Check out Naruylg's Sunny Day team. It's pretty good.