Cicadas In The Summer
That looks like Shedinja right?
Having really enjoyed Ubers in gen 4, I was eager to find
out how Reshiram, Zekrom and Arceus affect the metagame; so I decided to make a gen 5 Ubers sun team. It took me about an hour per Saturday and Sunday for two weeks to bring me to an outstanding #4. It didn't last long as when I came back a week later I had obviously dropped significantly. Now that it is Summer I am playing more frequently and am now floating around 150-200.
That looks like Shedinja right?
Having really enjoyed Ubers in gen 4, I was eager to find
out how Reshiram, Zekrom and Arceus affect the metagame; so I decided to make a gen 5 Ubers sun team. It took me about an hour per Saturday and Sunday for two weeks to bring me to an outstanding #4. It didn't last long as when I came back a week later I had obviously dropped significantly. Now that it is Summer I am playing more frequently and am now floating around 150-200.
FIRST LOOK:
The team basically functions on using an amazing core of Shedinja, Ho-oh and Ferrothorn. It has some beautiful embillishments and glue to
hold it together and make it look pretty-like.
hold it together and make it look pretty-like.
This is a team that I quite enjoy playing, with Pokemon that I generally like as well as it being a pretty good team doesn't hurt either. These factors make my first gen 5 Ubers experience an enjoyable one.
TEAM BUILDING PROCESS:
My general approach for teambuilding is to pick a pokemon I like and use that for my starting point. As I sip my tea and hear the cicadas buzzing under the sun an idea hits me....
Shedinja!
Stare into its eyes.... its disturbing bell-shaped eyes
Shedinja!
Stare into its eyes.... its disturbing bell-shaped eyes
Now, Shedinja's main problem is surprise fire and rock attacks coming from pokemon trying to hit Pokemon like Ho-Oh and Ferrothorn...
Thats a brilliant idea! If i have Ferrothorn and Ho-Oh it will draw in fire and rock attacks so Shedinja can figure out where they're coming from and vice versa. Ho-Oh can also take care of the steel types Shedinja hates, while ferrothorn slaps rocks with a power whip and Ho-Oh can take a fire type aimed at the..... whatever Ferrothorn is. Ferrothorn also sets up the entry hazards that Shedinja and Ho-Oh love while providing paralysis support so Ho-oh and Shedinja can outspeed things. I could go on about how perfect this core is but I must get on to the next pokemon.
Thats a brilliant idea! If i have Ferrothorn and Ho-Oh it will draw in fire and rock attacks so Shedinja can figure out where they're coming from and vice versa. Ho-Oh can also take care of the steel types Shedinja hates, while ferrothorn slaps rocks with a power whip and Ho-Oh can take a fire type aimed at the..... whatever Ferrothorn is. Ferrothorn also sets up the entry hazards that Shedinja and Ho-Oh love while providing paralysis support so Ho-oh and Shedinja can outspeed things. I could go on about how perfect this core is but I must get on to the next pokemon.
Don't bully shedinja or his big brothers will beat you up.
A spinner is the obvious next move but spinners are generally support pokemon and they're gonna need a team to support first. Me needs weather! I can't possibly let sandstorn run around with Shedinja on my team can I?. This brings it down to Groudon vs. Kyogre. hmmm Kyogre cripples Ho-oh AND dicourages opponents from using the fire moves until Shedinja comes out; while Groudon strengthens Ho-oh, gives Ferrothorn a moveslot by being a stealth rock user and adding some more thunder wave support.... hard choice.
Papa Groudon is helping and it's getting hot in here
Papa Groudon is helping and it's getting hot in here
Ho-oh is working great and I love the sun. So much I want another sun sweeper. Maybe a fire resist to take the fire moves that Ferrothorn and Shedinja lure in? But just a x2 fire resist would only be neutral thanks to my sun. I need x4 resistance to even be resistant. Another sun sweeper will also pave the way for Ho-Oh to sweep and vice-versa. How can I do an ubers gen 5 team without trying a gen 5 uber. Reshiram is the only one who can fufill these rolls for me.
Mannish looking aunt appears on the scene; its a regular family reunion!
Mannish looking aunt appears on the scene; its a regular family reunion!
Okay. Now its time for the spinner. Theres an obvious ice weakness but also a fighting and rock weakness here. This was a really hard choice; Claydol can resist both rock and fighting as well as luring in dark and ghost attacks that Shedinja hates, but its also a Claydol.... Tentacruel can take a fighting and ice move but its main STAB is cut by the sun. Some extra priority and fighting type coverage might be nice. After lots of deliberating I settled on Hitmontop although that choice is far from final.
Creepy uncle shows up not to help you... but to touch you... in places.
IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS:
Groudon @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
Groudon normally starts my team off. He gives me perma-sun from the beginning and early Stealth Rock. Thunder Wave can paralyze set up sweepers that come in to set up on Groudon while Earthquake and Stone Edge from Groudon's high attack will punish them. The EV spread is the basic spread for physically defensive Groudon. This Groudon is obviously my physical wall to take threats like pysical Dialga or even extreme kill Arceus in a pinch. This is what I do against the leads that I normally face:
Deoxys speed: The Taunt is inevitable so just go for the Earthquake for the 2HKO. Unfortunately, Stealth Rocks will be up so keeping Hitmontop alive is a priority.
Darkrai: Depending on the rest of the team I will either sleep Ferrothorn or Hitmontop. If he's running a Stealth Rock user I will always sleep Ferrothorn. I will then switch to Hitmontop or Ferrothorn (whichever is awake) and proceed to Close Combat or stall out with paralysis and Leech Seed as they both can take +2 Dark Pulses and Focus Blasts reasonably well.
Kyogre: Ferrothorn can take specs Water Spouts in the sun all day especially with Leech Seed. Groudon's nature ensures that sun will be up as long as Kyogre isnt using a speed reducing nature although I have been thinking about running a neutral nature and 4 speed evs to outrun neutral base 90's with no investment. I'm not sure though. Just an option. I might also send in Shedinja on the Kyogre to scout for fire or rock move switch ins (not that there'd be a fire move on a rain team).
Groudon has the only grass weakness on my team but can be walled by Ho-Oh, Reshiram, Shedinja and Ferrothorn while the Ice weakness can only be taken by Shedinja although most Ice users dont run anything to take out Shedinja. Groudon can take rock moves for Shedinja, Ho-Oh and Reshiram. If I run Tentacruel instead of Hitmontop it can also take electric moves for it.
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
Nutshell? UFO? It's a what? A durian?
???????
That aside Ferrothorn is amazing. Its was so high on the usage list for a reason. Ferrothorn acts as my main special wall but still has the phsical defense to take extreme killer Arceus or other resisted pysical hits. He acts as my 2nd paralyzer in order for my Shedinja, Ho-Oh and Reshiram to outspeed opponents. Spikes is the obvious move on Ferrothorn and really helps Reshiram, Shedinja and Ho-oh get valuable kills. Leech Seed helps me stall out things that I can't outright kill while giving Ferrothorn recovery ouside of leftovers and can also be passed to Groudon to allow him to recover or to Ho-Oh to give it a sub seeding thing going on. Power Whip is on here because Gyro Ball and Thunder Wave make a terrible combo.
???????
That aside Ferrothorn is amazing. Its was so high on the usage list for a reason. Ferrothorn acts as my main special wall but still has the phsical defense to take extreme killer Arceus or other resisted pysical hits. He acts as my 2nd paralyzer in order for my Shedinja, Ho-Oh and Reshiram to outspeed opponents. Spikes is the obvious move on Ferrothorn and really helps Reshiram, Shedinja and Ho-oh get valuable kills. Leech Seed helps me stall out things that I can't outright kill while giving Ferrothorn recovery ouside of leftovers and can also be passed to Groudon to allow him to recover or to Ho-Oh to give it a sub seeding thing going on. Power Whip is on here because Gyro Ball and Thunder Wave make a terrible combo.
Ferrothorn acts as my main rain as well as Zekrom counter and as said before, lures out fire move so Shedinja knows when its coming. It can also take the rock moves aimed at Shedinja and Ho-oh with ease. Its fire weakness is hard to deal with because of sun strengthening it but because of Reshiram's x4 weakness to fire he can take them. His fighting weakness is easily taken care of by Ho-oh and Shedinja. At least one of each of my Pokemon's weaknesses is taken care of by Ferrothorn:
Ho-Oh's, Reshiram's and Shedinja's rock weakness is resisted by Ferrothorn; Groudon's water and grass weaknesses is taken care of by the supposed durian and Hitmontop's weakness to psychic moves is halved when used against Ferrothorn.
Ho-Oh's, Reshiram's and Shedinja's rock weakness is resisted by Ferrothorn; Groudon's water and grass weaknesses is taken care of by the supposed durian and Hitmontop's weakness to psychic moves is halved when used against Ferrothorn.
I have considered switcing Ferrothorn to bulky Grass Arceus to help alleviate some of my Groudon weakness. I'm just not sure if I can sacrifice Spikes and a steel typing.
Hitmontop (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Atk / 124 Def / 124 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Rapid Spin
- Sucker Punch
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
He is my temporary spinner for now and a pretty decent one. His marble shaped torso is creepy though.
His EV spread allows him to be a mixed wall of sorts. With a defense stat of: 282, special defense of: 287, a HP of: 304 and Intimidate give him some really nice walling power. Rapid Spin is the whole reason for using him with Sucker Punch for priority in order to kill focus sashers or weakened foes, Close Combat for STAB and extra defense against extreme kill Arceus as well a Stone Edge for coverage, more specifically to surprise Ho-Oh's trying to Brave Bird me to death. I don't run anything to benefit from Technician although I have been thinking about running Mach Punch as a STAB priority move but wouldn't know what to replace it with. Speaking of replacing something, Hitmontop is good but not great. I need to test some other pokemon out; Claydol and Tentacruel are both things I'm considering. Although, neither have worked out for me great in other tiers.
Hitmontop resists rock for Reshiram, Ho-oh and Shedinja as well as dark for Shedinja. He does lure out flying moves for shedinja but I do not have a flying resist on the team; thankfully the most seen flying type user is Ho-oh that Reshiram and Groudon can take a hit from and KO back.
Ferrothorn can also take a psychic move from something like a Psystrike from a Mewtwo that was aimed at Hitmontop.
Ferrothorn can also take a psychic move from something like a Psystrike from a Mewtwo that was aimed at Hitmontop.
Ho-Oh @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Recover
- Substitute
The pheonix's sprite is gonna make me seizure....
My first sun sweeper and a damn good one. I generally play in dream world with Regeneration but for the sake of a more popular RMT page this is gonna be a wifi team with a Pressure Ho-Oh. Thats not all bad though with Sub and Recover I can easily stall out opponents PP especially if Ferrothorn manages to pass Ho-Oh a Leech Seed. I run max HP barring 1 hit point so I can switch into Stealth Rock twice an make 4 Substitutes without Recovering. I obviously run max attack which only leaves with 8 EVs for speed. As said before Recover allows me to stall PP out especially combined with Substitue.
My Ho-Oh's use has already been said, kill things with its amazing attack boosted by sun while drawing in pokemon with surprise rock attacks. It also shares similar purposes and counters with Reshiram, meaning if those counters are eliminated they both can sweep. Ho-Oh can also take fighting moves aimed at Ferrothorn, grass moves trying to kill Groudon and most special moves thanks to Ho-oh's 344 special defense stat.
Reshiram @ Choice Specs
Trait: Turboblaze
EVs: 16 HP / 252 SAtk / 240 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Blue Flare
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Flamethrower
Part two of my ultra-super cool sun sweeping duo. I have spent a lot of time deliberating over this set. I started off with max HP and 4 speed thinking that the paralysis support would compensate for the lost speed. After some testing I saw a huge Groudon weakness, once it got a Rock Polish it would take down enough of my team to not be able to beat the rest of my opponents pokemon. Because of this I gave myself enough speed to outspeed a Jolly unboosted Groudon from the analysis (136 speed). I am now even considering running a scarf because Blue Flare in sun gives me enough power. I run the basic specs set from smogon; no need for more type coverage then dragon and fire.
I often switch him in when I know the opponent is gonna set up Stealth Rocks or switch so I can safely switch him in and proceed to kill things from there. He is my only fire resist because fire is strengthened in the sun. He also can take electric moves with ease. Reshiram is another way to lure out rock moves. It's also my only ground weakness that can be dealt with through Ho-Oh or Shedinja. Reshiram is also the greatest way to muscle through Lugia on my team without having to stall it out with Ferrothorn or have to Sub up and waste precious PP on Ho-Oh.
Shedinja @ Focus Sash
Trait: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd
IVs: 0 Def
Lonely Nature (+Atk, -Def)
- Swords Dance
- X-Scissor
- Shadow Sneak
- Will-O-Wisp
Yes, yes I know Ninjask is more of a cicada then Shedinja but Ninjask is boring.
Here it is, don't mess with it. The EVs are obvious and anymore would be completely useless. 0 Def IVs and Lonely nature give download users like the flamethrower-using Genesect a less useful Attack boost. My item choices are between Focus Sash to always take 1 hit or Lum Berry to not be killed by status. Attackers are much more common in such an offensive metagame as well as unpredictable so Focus Sash seems more practical.
Now for the moveset. A wall set would not fit as well with my core so a swords dancer is my choice. Shedinja's terrible movepool leaves it with two decent coverage and STAB moves; one of which has priority. The last slot was used for Protect in the beginning to scout for surprise rock or fire moves that Shedinja hates so much but i switched to Will-o-Wisp so I can bring Shedinja down to its Sash in order to burn an opposing Groudon or threatening physical sweepers in a pinch. I've talked too much about how amazing Shedinja is so let me just say: 12 immunities.
THREAT LIST:
Blue- Minor Threat
Green- Kinda In-between
Red- Major Threat
Green- Kinda In-between
Red- Major Threat
Groudon: An annoying little moth... fu... stup... fu... grawr! No real problem with defensive or tankish Groudons. It's the RockPolishers that are gonna be the death of me. I normally sacrifice Shedinja to Will-o-Wisp it and stall it out with Ferrothorn or take a hit and kill it off with Reshiram. The problem is when Stealth Rock is up and I have to sacrifice Hitmontop in order to bring in Shedinja or when Shedinja is already dead. In this case I end up having to hope to KO or stall it out with Ferrothorn, Hitmontop and my own Groudon. If not I will be swept and even if I do KO it my team will be significantly crippled.
Ho-Oh: Grrr... It depends on the speed being run but I normally end up hoping my Groudon doesn't get burned by Sacred Fire in order to kill it with a Stone Edge. Stealth rock is generally up which makes things a little easier but I will generally have to sacrifice at least one member of my team to beat it.
Reshiram: With proper prediction I can switch between Ferrothorn and my own Reshiram especially against a choiced Reshiram. Although mis-prediction or over-prediction could spell doom for a valuable team member.
Arceus: Different types are at different threat levels. Some arent even threats at all. I generally am fine with the bulkier variants but the ghost type can sometimes give me trouble as it always hits Shedinja. Obviously the extreme kill one is annoying but Ferrothorn and Groudon are general good counters if it lacks Shadow Claw then Shedinja can easily set up on it.
Kyogre: I don't think there's a sun team in existance that doesn't have at least a tiny bit of trouble with this guy. Ferrothorn is a great counter to him as he can recover off Kyogre's HP with Leech Seed and set up Spikes. My Groudon's nature ensures that: if we both lead with our weather inducers sun gets up as long as Kyogre isnt running a speed reducing nature. Now, to the best Kyoger counter in existance.... Shedinja! Kyogre runs literally nothing to kill him. The only way I could ever have a possible problem with Kyogre is if: 1. Shedinja is dead and 2: If it is a Calm Mind variant.
CONCLUSION:
I am really enjoying the Ubers metagame and having a succesful team makes everything all the better. Please leave constructive criticism no matter if it's the smallest thing, you're opinion always matters. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing this!
