XY Ubers Ghost Stories

[ZoroDark]

Introduction:
​

Hello and welcome to my second Ubers RMT. Considering the Ubers metagame is about to be shaken up if/when Smogon bans Gengarite, this seems like the appropriate time to RMT my favourite and arguably best XY Ubers team. I’ve been using this team ever since XY came out and it’s been widely successful. I peaked both PO’s and Showdown’s ladder with it. This is probably the only team I’ve consistently used during my 33-2 run as PO League gym leader as well. I’ve won the BST Limitation challenge with it and it’s also performed very well for me in various other tournaments, mainly on Smogon. The main reason I’m RMT’ing this team right now is because a lot of people have been / are using a variant of this team with Fairyceus > Tyranitar. I would like to take the credit for this team before something else takes credit for it, which actually happened to another Ubers team I RMT’d. Anyway, that’s more than enough talking about the team itself. The last thing I want to mention is the title, which refers to the amazing album Ghost Stories by Coldplay. I recommend listening to the songs while reading, but either way, enjoy!

Team at a glance

Under the microscope

Ink (Kyogre) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Water Spout
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Thunder​

Kyogre is by far the most important Pokémon on this team. It’s pretty unreal how much it does for this team. The most important job of them all is providing me with a winning condition. It allows me to finish matches, go on the offensive if I’m being pressured and just generally keep my opponent on their toes. Kyogre’s other big job is revenge killing. Pokémon like Mewtwo are notoriously hard to counter or even keep in check, but Kyogre takes care of that. You’d be surprised how easy it is to switch it in on a predicted Taunt which allows you not only to neutralize the threat, but also to potentially do some serious damage. Besides that, Kyogre is a fantastic partner to both Ferrothorn and Tentacruel. The set itself is fairly straightforward. I prefer Scald over Surf and the unreliable Hydro Pump, because getting the burn on Palkia or Grassceus turns them from stern counters to shaky checks in a heart beat.

I see the road begin to climb
I see your stars begin to shine
I see your colours and I'm dying of thirst
All I know
Is that I love you so
So much that it hurts​

Other's Arms (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Def / 208 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
- Toxic
- Gyro Ball​

Everyone who played BW2 Ubers knows how annoying Ferrothorn is. Even though it’s not getting as much usage as it did last gen, it’s still really damn annoying to deal with. With the massive Defog buff, it can’t really mindlessly use Spikes anymore, which has caused Toxic spam to rise as the premier form of Stall this generation. That doesn’t make Spikestack stall any less dangerous however. Defoggers are pretty easy to wear down between Toxic, hazard damage, potential sand or Leech Seed damage. Besides that, Ferrothorn still walls a huge amount of the Ubers metagame. It’s a fantastic check to Kyogre, Zekrom and almost all CM Arceus forms. The moveset is straight-forward while the SpDef EVs give me a jump point, the rest is dumbed into Defense to give me a small extra buffer on that side as well.

Pull yourself into me
Another's arms, another's arms
Love means nothing to me
Another's arms, another's arms​

Oceans (Tentacruel) (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Scald
- Protect
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin​

This is probably the most uncommon Pokémon on this team, but boy does it work still. Tentacruel might actually work better in XY than it ever did in BW except for the fact that Drizzle got nerfed. Spinblockers have gone nearly extinct which makes getting rid of opposing hazards so much easier. Spinning actually isn't Tentacruel's most important task; setting up Toxic Spikes is. They're absolutely amazing in this meta, putting a timer on most Ubers threats. Defog Arceus especially have a tough time and I've won more than a couple of stallwars simply because Tspikes has more PP than Defog. Scald could easily be considered as one of the gayest moves in the game and mons that are immune to Poison damage typically hate to get burned. Clutch burns are never really a bad thing, even though there's a couple of mons you'd rather Toxic. The last moveslot is interchangeable. Haze is a pretty cool option, but I prefer Protect for scouting, healing and status stalling purposes. The EV spread gives you a Rain Dish number while maximimizing Special Defense.

Behind the walls love
I'm trying to change
And I'm ready for it all love
I'm ready for the change
Meet me in blue sky
Meet me again
In the rain, the rain, the rain​

Midnight (Giratina) @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roar​

Giratina completes the throwback Rain stall core. It's yet another mon that has lost some of its glance compared to last generation, but it remains one of the sturdiest walls in the game. It stands firm against big physical threats such as Blaziken, Ekiller, Groudon and Ho-Oh. Besides that it can act as an emergency check to Kyogre, especially Choice Specs variants who get their Water Spout PP drained so Ferro and Tenta can take it on later. Roar is fantastic for phasing out immediate threats and it's sometimes my most powerful attack if sufficient hazards are up. Even though Dragon Tail would make me less prone to Taunt, I still prefer Roar because it hits Fairy types and goes through subs. The other moves are pretty much set in stone: WoW adds to the residual damage this team thrives on while also cutting the opponent's atk in half while Rest and Sleep Talk provide semi-reliable recovery. The EV spread is meant to speed creep uninvested base 90 like Defensive Groudon or Specially Defensive Kyogre because it’s pretty useful to Roar before they do.

Millions of miles from home
In the swirling swimming on
When I'm rolling with the thunder
But bleed from thorns
Leave a light a light on
Leave a light a light on​

True Love (Tyranitar) (M) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Stone Edge / Roar
- Stealth Rock
- Pursuit​

Tyranitar carves out a niche for itself every gen, it seems. It shined last gen as a trapper for Latis and as a partner in crime for Excadrill. Both are worthless in XY. However, it gained new niches, ones that are critical to this team's success. The most important one by far is trapping Mega Gengar thanks to Chople Berry as consistently as possible without running something like Spiritomb. Other than that it sets up SR for this team and serves as a (soft) check to Yveltal, Darkrai, Mewtwo, Rayquaza and Ho-Oh among others. It can also anti-lead vs Deoxys formes pretty nicely. The set is pretty straight-forward once again. I sometimes use Roar over Stone Edge which has its benefits (like completely wiping the floor with evasion pass on showdown), but that makes Ho-Oh a lot scarier. There might be a better EV spread for this thing, but I haven’t found one yet and this never really failed to do the job. The other version of the team runs SR Arceus-Fairy in this slot and I honestly don’t know why. It makes Mega Gengar and Gothitelle awful to face, and overall makes the team much weaker against Mewtwo, Darkrai and Ho-Oh.

For a second I was in control
I had it once I lost it though
And all along the fire below would rise
And I wish you could have let me know
What's really going on below
I've lost you now, you let me go
But one last time​

Magic (Clefable) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell​

This is probably my signature Pokemon in XY Ubers. It ends up on a lot of my teams because of its versatility and it's honestly never disappointed me. Even though the standard set has max Def, I think max SpDef is superior by far. It turns Clefable into one of the sturdiest GeoXern counters in the game which is hugely important for any team. Between Wish and Protect it cannot 2HKO you, while you gradually kill it back with Moonblast. Moonblast does enough damage to beat Sub Xern thanks to a combination of Moonblast and Fairy Aura. Besides beating Xerneas, it can go toe-to-toe with Yveltal and Palkia outside of rain. If need be, it can also outstall any Arceus form (including Ekiller!) given they are burned/poisoned/leech seeded. This gives my favorite Fairy ample opportunity to perform its cleric duties. None of my other mons like status much at all and Heal Bell can quickly turn a bad situation around. Wish can give another team mate (usually turns to be Kyogre actually) a second life which has saved this team countless times much like Heal Bell. Overall, Clefable is a key cog of this team and any replacement is likely to make the team worse.

Call it magic
Cut me into two
And with all your magic
I disappear from view
And I can't get over
Can't get over you
Still I call it magic
Such a precious jewel​

Conclusion:​

Well that's it. There isn't any threat this team outright loses to as far as I know, which is a pretty big accomplishment in itself.There's a couple of Pokemon who are rather troublesome to face including Specs Kyogre, Rayquaza, CB Ho-Oh and Mewtwo (especially Stalltwo ugh), but those are some of the hardest Pokemon to counter overall, if that's even possible. Those are bad matchups but there's generally some way to overcome those and it usually involves Kyogre lol. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed reading this! Feel free to try the team out (but pls keep the nicknames) and rates and/or likes are always very much appreciated n_n!

Importable:

Importable

Ink (Kyogre) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Water Spout
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Thunder

Other's Arms (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Def / 208 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
- Toxic
- Gyro Ball

Oceans (Tentacruel) (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Scald
- Protect
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin

Midnight (Giratina) @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roar

True Love (Tyranitar) (M) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Pursuit

Magic (Clefable) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell

 

[Krauersaut]

Looks great :D as I'm on my tablet atm, ill edit in a proper rate later, but the team looks very solid at first glance.


EDITS:

What's already been said pretty much sums it up. I would, however keep Protect on Tentacruel over Haze - in the soon-to-arrive Gengarless meta, Protect has infinitely more uses. Edgar's suggestion of Giratina-O compounds Level 56's nicely, and both should be taken.

Damn, virtually everything's already been said .-.

I guess that when Shadow Tag is gone, Tyranitar can be given a Tyranitarite, and run an offensive DDance set. Set in spoiler tags below.

Nice team, Zoro ^_^

DDance Mega Ttar

Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang / Ice Fang

 

[Level 56]

Very solid team, have used this team in tour matches before and it does exceptionaly well.

The only change I see you can make is dragon tail over roar on giratina, as stalltwo can taunt giratina and bring it to struggle, with dragon tail giratina won't be taunt bait.

 

[Edgar]

Hey ZoroDark, nice stall team you got there. It's always interesting to see the use of Giratina since I think it's nowhere near as good as in BW2. Anyways, there's not much stuff that could be changed about the team. One thing I can suggest though is using Giratina-O over Giratina-A. Although regular Giratina is a very solid defensive wall the lack of a ground resist/immunity just makes pokemon like Life Orb Excadrill, Offensive Groudon, etc. have an easier time breaking the team. That's why I think Giratina-O would be great on this team. As for the EVs: 212 Atk / 252 Def / 44 Spe with an Adamant nature allows you to not be 2HKO'd by any ground type's coverage moves as well as taking Extremekiller Arceus' Shadow Claw better. Ferrothorn also helps with Arceus, even though Overheat variants exist, Rain support should be of enough help, although it may seem like a very shaky set for it, you have Clefable which can Wish support it and has amazing defensive synergy with Giratina-O. Giratina-O also offers a bit more offensive pressure, which is always useful. As for moves, Dragon Tail allows you to phaze pokemon like Groudon and Arceus as well as having some offensive pressure with the help of hazard stacking. Shadow Sneak is a very useful move, especially on this team since I think relying fully on Kyogre to revenge kill fast threats such as Mewtwo is not enough. Will-O-Wisp is very useful as it helps cripple common switch-ins like Yveltal and Ferrothorn on the switch. As for last spot, I would try out Earthquake to beat pokemon like Heatran, which is very annoying to this type of teams I feel like. I don't think Earthquake is very common in this generation either so yeah the surprise factor is always there.

Giratina-O set

Giratina-Origin @ Griseous Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 212 Atk / 252 Def / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Shadow Sneak
- Will-O-Wisp
- Earthquake

Nice team, Good luck! :]

 

[Krauersaut]

Hello Zoro, just like to say i happen to like this team very much considering i have a team just like it featuring tenta and orge :]

Considering this team is very well built there aren't many thing to change.
I would however suggest Haze over Protect on Tentacruel, i know you stated you prefer the scouting aspect + rain dish and black sludge recovery but if clefable was trapped by the ever so popular Mega Gengar you would have Xerneas could go though our team, a minor change but haze and protect are both valuable on tenta.
And lastly Surf over Scald on Kyorge, Scald on a team utilizing toxic spikes seems a bit redundant, plus surfs higher base power can ensure ko's scald cant.
Hope i helped and good luck :]

Scald is very useful for bluffing a defensive set on a switch in.

 

[haxiom]

Hey ZoroDark,

This is a really solid team. Most things have already been said, I just a have a few additional comments. When it comes to weaknesses of this team, there are a few minor ones that I see. Some dedicated stallbreakers can beat this team, for example some CM-Refresh Arceus or even some CM Poison/Steelceus can definitely threaten this team, Darkrai is threatening, mostly due to the fact that Giratina, your sleep absorber, isn't beating Darkrai anytime soon, so you are forced to fodder something, leaving you temporarily vulnerable. Gothitelle can really do work against this team, notably forcing you to play very tentatively with Clefable and Tentacruel. LO Deo-A is going to punch holes. You get the point, and it is relatively difficult and unavoidable for stall to be weak to dedicated stallbreakers. However, I do feel like opposing stall teams are really threatening to this team, especially ones with SDef Palkia, since you lack a way to break stall efficiently.

Anyways, as for changes I agree with a lot of what has been mentioned. Haze can be useful not only versus xerneas but also stuff like CMceus so it might be worth the slot. I also agree with Gira-O, the loss of recovery unfortunately puts a lot more pressure on Clefable so Xerneas becomes more annoying but it is manageable. As for stall breaking- my first thought was SpecsOgre, but Scarf is really important in pressuring stuff like Stalltwo. One thing that might be really cool is running a substitute Gira-O set. While you might lose a little bit of security against stuff like Ekiller and ultimately end up pressuring Ferrothorn more, substitute Gira-O might be kinda cool to break down opposing stall while still checking stuff. As for the set, I personally don't even have much experience with it but running a mixed offensive one is probably the best option. WoW is not even that important when you consider that TSpikes are going to be up often, and Draco Meteor from an offensive Gira-O hits most of the stuff you want to burn really hard. I even considered Iron Head/Tail to destroy fairies, particularly stuff like cleric Xerneas and such, though you are hard pressed for slots.

Here is a potential set but it is definitely a WIP since I'm not super familiar with the mon:

Gira-O

Giratina-Origin @ Griseous Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 180 Atk / 252 SpA / 76 Spe- subject to change, as this is just from the analysis
Rash Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Shadow Sneak
- Dragon Tail / Iron Tail
- Substitute

So yeah if anyone has any more experience with this or knows of/about it, feel free to comment on this.

OPTIMIZATION:

0 IVs on anything without physical attacks. Other than that, I can't think of anything although I'm curious what the Ferrothorn EVs do.

EDIT: Oh and I forgot-

Good luck!

 

[ZoroDark]

thanks for the rates n_n

re: Aenonar
thanks :) yeah i'm probably going to stick with protect because haze never really came in handy all that much whereas i missed protect a lot actually. i think both options are very viable and it's just really a matter of preference.

re: chramsr
yeah haze or protect is a toss up. surf over scald depends a lot on the situation and there's some times you wish you would have the other move. in general i think i still like scald better because most of the time i actually end up playing with only one layer of toxic spikes (against offense it's plain better and against stall you want to spare your pp) and burn damage = 1 layer of tspikes damage. missing a ko hasn't happened to me yet either, or at least afaik. so yeah idk it's really minor, surf will probably work just as well in most battles.

re: level 56
i still like roar better simply because ho-oh is such a threat and losing to sub ho-oh would suck. also phasing incoming fairy types is really, really neat too. even with dragon tail, stalltwo actually still beats you in the long run :((

re: edgar
gira-o actually sounds very nice and i'll definitely try it out :) the only issue i have with it is that it makes ho-oh even worse to face than it already is. ferrothorn, clef and tentacruel can't really touch it. gira-a + ttar struggles to beat the bird as it is and i'm afraid that it'll be even worse with gira-o in its spot. other than that it does seem like a better fit and i'll surely try it out, but i'll be using stone edge as the 4th move. but yeah thanks for the suggestion and the kind words :)

re: haxiom
hey thanks for the extensive rate! yeah dedicated stall breakers always kinda suck but i have ways around all of them. refresh arceus is rare and the only forms that commonly run it are fairy, dark and water afaik. if it's refresh cm fairyceus it's gonna lose to ferrothorn. i don't think i've even faced a darkceus lol but i'm pretty sure clefable actually beats it. waterceus is gonna have a tough time getting around giratina, ferrothorn and clefable. darkrai is always annoying because fuck sleep but without the rare focus blast, ttar laughs at it, ferro and tenta can take a hit and ogre can revenge so it's definitely doable. you're absolutely right about lo deo a ugh that thing sucks at least it can't come in. opposing stall teams aren't terrible either it just takes a long time to dismantle them. assuming they can't touch me either, i'll most always win the hazard war and consequently the game because most defoggers are easy to wear down and spinners are gonna have a tough time against gira.

man i didn't even get to your suggestion yet oops. but yeah i'll try out stone edge gira-o and just generally mess around with it. rest might not be awful as a fourth move instead of wow lol, but yeah i'll get back to you. as for the ferro evs, they just give a jump point in spdef and i dumped the rest in def because it helps a tiny little bit against zekrom and stuff.

 

[Edgar]

If you have a problem with Ho-Oh you can always run Stone Edge, Heatran is uncommon so eh.

 

[haxiom]

Uh yeah I actually didn't suggest SE... Anyways I kind of forgot about Clefable so ignore CMceus. Regarding stall, I guess you are right, it is iffy but I can see this matching up solidly against stall. I actually suggested sub though idk if you need it tbh.