The UU Dark Horse Project

[Hogg]

Yeah, I got mine up to 1484 and then hit a string of bad matchups and dropped down to 1392. I haven't had the heart to re-ladder yet. The team has some serious problems against stall, and I don't know how to fix those problems without major changes that may not work with the Dark Horse project - for example, I could change Entei for a stallbreaking Victini set, but that would put me over 35% usage.

If I get motivated again later, I'll try to push up to 1500. I'm enjoying the team and will probably make a non-Dark Horse version after this is all done, but it's not perfect as-is.

 

[Patrick1088]

Here's the breakdown of the team!

Alt: FrostyPaws

Now, I will be doing a RMT on this team. I think it was very fun (before GeoPass existed..) and I want to bring more people to the DH Project.

Abomasnow (aka Frosty Paws): Holy Cow. What is there to say about this DH. It completely blew my mind and saved my butt so many games. I knew that once Slowbro left the tier, there was going to be an influx of bulky waters trying to replace Bro; CroCune, Alo, Vaporeon, Quagsire, Slowking ,etc.. After a SD Mega Snow was able to 2HKO every single one. But, it's not just that, Priority Ice Shard allowed me to check faster, frailer threats like Mienshao, Scarf Hydre, DD Haxorus, Mega Amphy and Mega Aero. Coverage in Earthquake rounded everything out to hit Victini and Darm on the switch (predicted of course). Also, an immunity to Spore was great with Smeargle dropping. It couldn't be put to sleep and it broke the sash with Hail.

Snorlax (aka Blob 1): I knew that with Mew leaving, the Nidos were going to reign supreme as King and Queen (get it?) of wallbreakers. Along with the influx of Fire Spam with Bro's depature (Tini and Darm), AV Snorlax fit perfect on the team. Pursuit trapping and just hitting hard was what he did well. Abomasnow would really bait the fire types out and to spam V-Create in particular making it easy to pursuit trap. Once Victini was pursuit trapped and gone, it would lead to a clear paths to sweeping with Mega Snow. I ran defense on Lax since it'll help cushion most Psyshock users like Starmie, Alakazam, etc..

Aromatisse (aka Blob 2): Everybody knows how great this pink fairy is. Now that Hera is gone, Aroma's niche has decreased, but it's still a fantastic poke. Aboma/Lax do share a fighting weakness, so Aroma was able to handle that aspect easily. Also, since neither of them have HP recovery, Wish Support and Cleric were almost mandatory. Being immune to Taunt, Encore, etc.. made Aroma a clear choice for my team.

Tentacruel (aka Spinning Blob): Since one of the best defoggers were leaving the tier, hazards were going to run rampant. I decided on Tenta as my spinner since it can absorb T-Spikes and has great synergy with my 3 DHs tanking the Fire, Fighting and Poison moves aimed at them. While, they could handle the ground and electric moves aimed at Tenta. Laying down T-Spikes along with Hail damage really helped bring most pokes to within KO range of Lax and Aboma.

Nidoqueen (aka I HATE FAIRYS): I hate Toge, so freaking much. But, I knew with it dropping that ParaFlinch was going to be everywhere. With Mew leaving, I had to take advantage of Queen's wallbreaking potential. SR and 3 attacks and fantastic synergy with Aboma, Lax and Aroma really helped.

Rotom-H (aka Steve, not Stove): Rotom-H was the glue that really held the team together. When I was still theorymoning, my gut told me that RH was going to be a key member. It's can't be burned or paralyzed and it at such a crucial speed tier ahead of Toge. It's typing allowed to resists both STABs. Trick Scarf has saved me so many times. Once GeoPass became a thing, he was my only option to truly stopping the chain. Tricking a scarf onto Smeargle before it boosts was my only option. I did run Scarf Chandy for a bit to help Spinblock, but RH's typing and higher speed proved all too crucial. So, it switched back.

Overall, this team has been fun to use and it's good to see my theorymoning skills were almost right on with where the meta would head. My predictions for the next month will have Snorlax, Queen and RH moving up. Queen and RH are pretty self-explanatory as I said above due to meta shifts and their niches are now easier and more efficient IMO. Snorlax may not be a DH next month to combat the Nidos and Hera's leaving only helped.

Here are some replays. Enjoy! I will be some here and the rest on my RMT.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-160781581
-This is a great battle showing how the team jives together. TrickScarf Rotom, Mega Snow and hazards play a crucial role in the victory here.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-161050757
-Trick Scarf and TSpikes along with a fantastically predicted Knock Off on Turn 6 really helped seal the deal on this one. Turn 17 shows how good Earthquake is on Mega Snow and the prediction was spot-on. From Turn 21, you can see the sweep guarantees the win. Even the burnt doesn't matter from Alo.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-161064384
-This was a very HO team from the beginning. It was pretty easy to see that Mega Snow was going to be a crucial component, so I had to make sure my predictions were spot on. This lead to a very nice early OHKO of Infernape on Turn 2 with Earthquake. Thick Fat AV Lax is just so good, it eats the +2 Crit Fire Blast from Mega Doom and easily KOs with almost 42% remaining after Hail Damage. At this point, the only other relevant threat stopping Abomasnow is Chesnaught with it's Fighting STAB (but most run 1 move and support, but you never know!). We go back and forth with hazards and eventually Aboma gets in safely and nabs the +2 boost. At that point, the game is over.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-162987352
-This is probably one of the closest games I had tbh. His team featured Curse Mega Aggron w/ Earthquake and LO Noivern along with CroCune. That Mega Aggron was the problem here and my only hope was Queen and maybe a burn from Tenta. I get the burn, but then it rests up :-(. To make things worse, Aromatherapy Roserade. Then Queen goes down. At that point, my only option is RH. At that point, I've only been using Volt Switch. So, my opponent figured I was going for it again (Rule #1, never make the same play multiple times). Intead, I go for Overheat and the Steel Titan is down. As of Turn 23, his Shao is gone and he's down to 2 ground types, Noivern and Roserade, which means it's just about sweeping time for Aboma, which I just have to get him in safely for the sweep. Mega Snow was able to set up on a Choice Scarf Locked Donphan and swept the last 4 pokes.

 

[Hogg]

Made it, barely. Just hit 1507: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-163457598

I do really like the team, even though I wish I had an easy answer to stall. Again, if this wasn't for Dark Horse, I'd probably use Victini over Entei for its ability to break stall. I considered Scarf Rotom-H, but it just didn't hit hard enough. When I was testing, I actually originally had Victini over Entei and Alomomola over Starmie, which managed to sneak in under 35%, but much as I love fish she wasn't working on the team (especially since it forced me to put Defog on Aerodactyl and reduce coverage).

I may keep playing with it a bit to see if I can break into the 1600s, but I'm not sure. I also want to work on a non-Dark Horse version of the team, so I might do that instead.

The basic idea is simple - play as a bulky team that wears opponents down with sand and burns to the point where Mega-Aero and Stoutland can clean up. The team is as follows:

Hippodown - Can't have a dog rush team without sand. I went fully physically defensive on Hippo and gave him Roar to prevent setup, especially from Curselax (although it definitely saved me a few times against CroCune if I could switch in on the Rest and pray for no Scald on Sleep Talk). Not too much to say here, except that it is insane how much punishment physically defensive Hippo can take.

Stoutland - My first dark horse, and the dog part of dog rush. Nothing complicated here - CB, and spam Frustration or Crunch, depending on who the opponent had left. Wild Charge and Superpower were there to revenge kill threats that Frustration or Crunch couldn't break through on their own, but they were rarely used late-game except in rare circumstances. No surprise that Stoutland is a fantastic late game cleaner, and an excellent answer to scarfed threats like Hydreigon.

Starmie - Originally this was going to be Alomomola for a third dark horse and to form a double-regen core with Amoongus, but eh. Fish hit like a wet noodle even against enemies weak to her and meant I fully relied on Mega-Aero for any speed outside of sand. Starmie could revenge threats like the Nidos, non-scarfed Infernape and Mienshao, etc., and her Psychic typing actually provided a pretty useful resistance for the team. Most importantly, this change let me move Defog off of Aerodactyl, which was a huge help. 248 HP/60 Def/200+ Speed is the spread I went with, which I'm absolutely loving - this thing basically never dies, outspeeds base 108s, and is probably the most reliable hazards remover I've used in UU.

Entei - When I had fish in over Starmie, this was a Victini. I tried both stallbreaking Victini with Taunt, and a mixtini to wallbreak, and they were both pretty excellent. But moving in Starmie put me over 35%, so I changed it to Entei. I went with AV Entei to add some more special bulk, as Starmie and Hippo were both physical. It was also nice being able to bluff CB and surprise with an Extremespeed. I kept considering swapping in Rotom-H, probably with Trick to better handle stall, but I ended up keeping Entei throughout the run.

Amoongus - Double powder Amoongus, alongside AV Entei, formed the second half of my specially defensive core. It could reliably check most bulky waters, which is why I went specially defensive instead of physically. I originally went Spore/Giga Drain/Sludge Bomb/Foul Play, but Stun Spore on the switch was key for hitting anything that could outspeed rushed Stoutland, such as Scarfnape and Unburden Hitmonlee. Giga Drain for STAB and recovery, and I waffled between Sludge Bomb and Foul Play in the last slot, though I think Sludge Bomb was overall more useful.

Mega-Aerodactyl - The other general cleaner and revenge killer, especially once I added Starmie and dropped Defog off her set. People seemed to forget how bulky she gets under sand thanks to the SpDf increase. I went with three attacks plus Roost, with Stone Edge/AA/EQ, the latter being a guaranteed OHKO against Nidoking and Lucario, and dealing heavy damage to Jirachi. This was in many ways the star of the team, especially with Starmie to back her up and keep hazards off the field.

Here are some replays:

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-163300379 - Set up for a Stoutland sweep, but Hippodown ended up doing the job for him.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-163304869 - A misprediction in the first turn causes me to lose Mega-Aero, but Hippo and Amoongus still manage to patch things back together and set up Entei and Stoutland to clean up.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-163455401 - An unexpected Energy Ball crit from Jirachi takes out Hippo early, leaving me vulnerable to CurseLax. Luckily Stone Miss saves my ass for once, with a pair of crits allowing me to break through him and opening up the rest of the match.

 

[Patrick1088]

Hogg congrats! How did you deal with GeoPass like denisss team? Once set up i cant see how your team would break it (as is the case with most UU teams).

 

[Hogg]

Mostly by losing :/

Basically my goal was to get Hippo out early to break sashes with sand, and then get in Mega-Aero or Entei. I won one by catching Smeargle with an unexpected Roar, but overall it was tough to break through Reflect and Cotton Guard when your strongest attack is CB Frustration.

 

[Patrick1088]

Mostly by losing :/

Basically my goal was to get Hippo out early to break sashes with sand, and then get in Mega-Aero or Entei. I won one by catching Smeargle with an unexpected Roar, but overall it was tough to break through Reflect and Cotton Guard when your strongest attack is CB Frustration.

I know. Smeargle could've just Taunted/Spore'd most checks/counters. It's pretty ridiculous tbh.

Have you tried Arcanine in place of AV Entei? Your team is pretty weak to CurseLax and hard hitting Fire types like Banded Tini and Darm (I think your Mega Aero stayed in on scarf darm thinking they would u-turn out, but OHKO Mega Aero with Rock Slide). LO Arcanine is pretty legit and cleanly 2HKO CurseLax even at +1. Add in SR and Sandstorm and it's easy pickings then.

252+ Atk Life Orb Arcanine Close Combat vs. 144 HP / 188 Def Snorlax: 367-434 (73.8 - 87.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Life Orb Arcanine Close Combat vs. +1 144 HP / 188 Def Snorlax: 247-291 (49.6 - 58.5%) -- 68.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

As far as damage output...

252+ Atk Life Orb Arcanine Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Victini: 125-147 (36.6 - 43.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Entei Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Victini: 99-117 (29 - 34.3%) -- 3% chance to 3HKO

Just an idea to try! And you have Wild Charge to really beat down Bulky Waters, which Entei really couldn't touch. Between LO Arcanine and Stoutland, the pups can really wear down the usual checks and counters. You could even opt for Intimidate, to really get more bulk on Amoongus on both ends of the spectrum. Just an idea to try! :-) And I think you should still be somewhere under 35%

 

[Hogg]

I know. Smeargle could've just Taunted/Spore'd most checks/counters. It's pretty ridiculous tbh.

Luckily the threat of Amoongus keeps most Smeargle from using Spore, but Taunt and Dark Void are both big problems. I guess I could actually put in Clear Smog over Stun Spore on Amoongus and have a pretty handy answer, come to think of it, but I do like having access to double powders.

Your team is pretty weak to CurseLax and hard hitting Fire types like Banded Tini and Darm (I think your Mega Aero stayed in on scarf darm thinking they would u-turn out, but OHKO Mega Aero with Rock Slide).

Yeah, in that replay I was expecting Darm to lead with U-turn and lost Aero as a result. I was still able to play around him and come up with the win, but that was rough. In general though, Darm hasn't been a big issue, since it gets worn down super fast. Victini is a whole other ball game, though - no recoil off its most damaging attack, way better coverage and the fact that it can go mixed makes it a big deal. Getting SR down fast and keeping it down is paramount when I see Vic.

CurseLax hasn't been a huge problem thanks to Stoutland OHKOing with Superpower after rocks or sandstorm damage, and Roar on Hippo pretty much countering it every time. Against kokoloko I screwed up and lost Hippo early, which is why I needed to break through his curses with SE. My plan had been to spam SE until he was in KO range from Stoutland Superpower, but the second crit made that unnecessary.

Have you tried Arcanine in place of AV Entei?

That's a nice thought. Arcanine might be worth a shot, especially with Intimidate. Flare Blitz and LO recoil hurts, but I guess he can use Morning Sun to make up for it. Maybe Flare Blitz/ES/Wild Charge/Morning Sun?

EDIT: Just checked. Arcanine will put me just over 35%, so I'd need to change something else to fit it in.

 

[Jellied Eels]

View attachment 26463

Team :
Aromatisse - 2.02586%
Rhyperior - 2.06421%
Kingdra - 3.85518%
Reuniclus - 1.01666%
Crobat - 15.88534% ouch
Jirachi - 9.20796%

Total = 34.05521 aka barely getting by

(i used this alt to test a couple of dh teams already - first draft was a web team, hence the name - but all of them were under 35% usage, I pwomise)

let's see how far I can get a team that hilariously weak to Jirachi

Importable if anyone's interested

Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 244 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Roar

Aromatisse @ Leftovers
Ability: Aroma Veil
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect
- Aromatherapy

Kingdra @ Scope Lens
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Focus Energy
- Agility
- Draco Meteor
- Waterfall

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Trick
- Fire Punch

Crobat
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 48 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 204 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Acrobatics
- Roost
- Defog
- Super Fang

Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Focus Blast

edit at below : oops

 

[Patrick1088]

Jellied Eels change aromatisses ability to aroma veil....

 

[Sean B.]

Team:
Slowking 0.74468% Gastrodon 0.90359%
Forretress 11.72017%
Alomomola 3.11446%
Aromatisse 2.02586%
Hippowdon 6.47171% Celebi 5.49176%
Chandelure 10.22748%

Total: 34,30436% 33,48332%

Alt:
User: dh2 tormThis user has not played any ladder games yet.

EDIT: Replacing Slowbro with Gastrodon because Empoleon was annoying.
EDIT 2: Replacing Hippo with Celebi because Shaymin was annoying and didn't need Hippo to check Mega Amph anymore because of Gastro.

 

[SlottedPig]

• If someone else took your same dark horse to a higher ranking, you don't get to enter the hall of fame for that dark horse! Only one of your dark horses needs to not be topped in order for you enter the hall of fame

If someone uses a team with both Alomomola and Meloetta for this challenge (just as an example), do they have to beat one of the previous records to get into the hall of fame? Both Alomomola and Meloetta have been used in the challenge but never on the same team.

 

[Sage]

No the months are standalone, you just have to beat the competitors of the month and not use Dark horses you used last month.

 

[SlottedPig]

Fresh alt: quendra with a qu

Blissey | 12.16%
Ampharos | 10.28%
Celebi | 5.49%
Alomomola | 3.11%
Gligar | 2.21%
Granbull | 1.38%
Total | 34.63

======

Many of my games came down to pivoting until I could land attacks off of Mega Ampharos, but nonetheless every team member played a part.

Alomomola is nothing new to UU, although the fact that it is a tier below a mixed-defenses bulky water it is mostly superior to (Milotic) is pretty horrifying. Though pivoting into Victini was one of Alomomola's chief roles, it's still effective as it can take on Infernape (LO Grass Knot does ~30-40% to 120 / 252+ / 136 Alomomola) while also being able to switch into almost every physical attacker in the tier without being worn down.

Gligar is the Dark Horse I want to talk most about, as I feel it is the one most underrated. I used max SpD Careful Gligar, which is unorthodox but effective and operates on the same principle as SpD Hippowdon. Ground-types in general are in high demand in this meta --blocking Mega Ampharos' Volt Switch is extremely powerful -- and SpD Gligar completely walls Mega Ampharos while also boasting self-recovery, useful resistances, Defog and U-turn (I used Earthquake | Roost | Defog | U-turn).

SpD Gligar's advantages don't end there, however. Since Ice Punch isn't used at all, Gligar counters Lucario easily, including the special variants. It is also probably the best defensive answer in the tier to Alakazam, as physical attacks allow Gligar to 2HKO Alakazam while its typing prevents it from being 2HKOd in return -- it's not weak to anything Alakazam uses, and only takes ~30% from either STAB not counting Life Orb. With U-turn, which I replaced the seldom-used Toxic with midway through, Alakazam becomes a free momentum machine for Gligar.

Thanks to Gligar's high base physical defense, it still counters quite a few physical attackers e.g. Mega Aggron and Rhyperior (Rhyperior is hard to wear down without Knock Off or Toxic though). It's a pretty amazing 'mon -- in fact, using Gligar in this challenge has convinced me that SpD Gligar is probably completely superior to anything Hippowdon can do besides phaze, especially without Mew in the tier.

Granbull was mostly on the team to shore up weaknesses to Fighting-types, Mega Absol, Sableye and Haxorus. SpD Gligar is really dependent on its item (standard Gligar still counters things like Mienshao when it's knocked off, but SpD Gligar can't go anywhere near them) and so Granbull allowed the team an answer to Knock Off-users while also allowing aggressive play with proper pivoting. On offensive teams, very little can switch into Granbull's Play Rough / Close Combat (which I replaced EQ with after realizing the team was completely walled by Blissey and Curselax) and so long as Granbull is sustained with Wish support it can all but neutralize the aforementioned threats while also being really cool as an aggressive cleric.

Lastly, while Celebi wasn't one of my Dark Horses it's still underused in my opinion and a really cool 'mon. I used a physically defensive set (Stealth Rock | Giga Drain | Recover | Perish Song) and it often set up rocks with impunity against the many bulky waters in the tier, and coupled with SpD Gligar afforded me hazard control in most games while being very difficult to wear down as well as ensuring an end-game victory against immovable set-up sweepers like Crocune or Curselax. That said, this Celebi set allows Crobat to Defog for free and due to Celebi's weaknesses, a high-pressure game can prevent Celebi from ever setting up rocks.

Replays

Replays:

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-164587167
While a fairly mediocre game, this replay is great at illustrating how threatening Granbull is even without offensive investment.

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/uu-164590321
Celebi can't be pursuit trapped, hehe bwoi

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/uu-164591735
Gligar completely walls Mega Aggron, Galvantula and Alakazam and secures hazard control for my team.

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/uu-164595520
This is a longer game. I mess up early on by not knowing Trevenant's speed tier vs. Blissey's as well as by not scouting for Zoroark (especially given that I didn't check for Porygon2's ability notifications) but I make (IMO) pretty big plays late game to keep SR off the field. Also, Gligar walls Infernape by taking 36% from Blaze Fire Blast :]

Unfortunately I didn't get a replay of the best match I had while laddering, but I did get a log. If you want to read it for some reason (47 turns): http://pastebin.com/YfCRXpSX

 

[dodmen]

Team:

Goodra (5.61536)
Tornadus (2.52292)
Cobalion (1.41070)
Nidoqueen (5.41587)
Jirachi (9.20796)
Flygon (5.66439)

Total: 29.8%

Alt: OHKO'd by Vcreate http://prntscr.com/4nv7ld

 

[Kink]

My team:


Ampharos - 10.27939%
Chesnaught - 6.51426%
Snorlax - 3.95660%
Alomomola - 3.11446%
Tornadus - 2.52292%
Dugtrio - 2.01267%

Total: 28.4003%

Alt: Kink Horse

 

[Kink]

Hit c-rank: http://puu.sh/bDOUZ/0292adcd51.png
Hit b-rank: http://puu.sh/bEhrK/c5fdca3b99.png

Couple replays to show you guys how it works. I'll post an analysis when I have some extra time.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-164837973
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-164827262

 

[YABO]

Okay, I hit 1500 now. Brobat had to be a meanie when I hit 1499 but it's alright, I forgive him.

View attachment 26622

Team was
Offensive Whimsicott with Leftovers
CB Haxorus
CB Crobat
CSpecs Exploud
Mixed Wall Alomomola
SpD Uxie

Now in terms of what the team meant to do...
It was designed initially to provide paralysis support with Whimiscott's Stun Spore and Uxie's TWave. However, these two 'mons when defensive has pretty similar switchins so I was only paralyzing a couple things per match and I wasn't hitting the key things that I needed to to win. Also, I was hoping to use that paralysis support to set up an SD Haxorus sweep but that was still tough to do.
Eventually, I just overhauled the team and decided to make everything hit like a truck. With 3 Choice users it was hard for some of the less fat walls to switch in repeatedly. I also had a nice little U-turn core going with Uxie, Whimsicott, and Crobat.

Whimsicott: Provided a great switch-in to basically every hydreigon set for the most part. Since Hydreigon normally came in on Alomomola I could Protect to scout and see if it was indeed a safe switch-in. Giga Drain and Moonblast provides good coverage in the tier barring Steel-types. Emergency Tailwind was a great boon to the team and gave me a reliable win condition in most games.

Exploud: My normal win condition. There are only a handful of mons that actually switch in to Exploud. Not much to say about him to be honest. Tailwind with Whimsicott or Crobat and die sets up Exploud to destroy offensive teams. Watch out for scarfers though, I lost a match because Modest Exploud under Tailwind loses to Scarf Hydreigon.

Sunfish: Did what I wanted it to. No complaints here, won't be a dark horse for long. Passing wishes was invaluable to the team. Burning things is pretty nice too.

Uxie: I enjoyed using this thing and for the longest time I didn't even have EVs on it. Nuff said.

P.S. I liked this team better since the Dark Horses were the stars as opposed to other 'mons like on my last team.

 

[Jellied Eels]

View attachment 26625

Sneaked C rank before the retests fuck up my team even more n_n
Tbh team is so hilariously weak to Jirachi (to the point I actually tried out Super Fang or Heat Wave Crobat lol) and like everyone on the ladder runs it rn so...

Team Breakdown, long as fuck

I had been wanting to use a defensive core along the lines of this one for a while now : Rhyperior was really antimeta in the past metagame, being a counter to Thunder Wave Togekiss and check to other variants, full on counter to the numerous new Electric-types, check to choiced Fire-types, etc... It had the most synergy with the fairies, who could take on Fighting moves, provide the support Rhyp needs to function on Bulky Offense, as well as scout the aforementioned Fire-types with Protect n_n
With only those two, I found I had already ticked a lot of the boxes I use whenever I build bulky teams :
Fire-type Check
Fighting-type Check
Stealth Rock
Can the team take on +2 Mega Absol ? (jk, Iron Tail fucks me up)

That said, the important things I still needed to cover were :
Hazard Removal ☐
Can the team take on +2 Lucario ? ☐
Can the team rk +1 Haxorus ? ☐
Is the entire team fucked by Mega Blastoise ? ☐ By Nidos ? ☐
Does Crocune sweep with standard support (read: duggy) ? ☐
Does the team have several ways to beat Blissey + [insert fat mon] ? ☐

Since Rhyperior is really only a soft check to Tini and the like, I decided to try out Critdra as a dedicated lategame sweeper that could take advantage of said Fire-types, while also incidentally taking a dump on Crocune, which had already gotten a lot more popular again on the ladder at that point.
Sets up on Crocune
Secondary Fire-type Check
Beats Blissey + [insert fat mon]
Critdra actually really surprised me, I always thought of it as kind of a gimmick mon I guess but it turned out to be okay once I realised I had to run just a little bit of Atk investment. In lots of situations you can do fairly well with only one boost under your belt, and the damage it dishes out mid game if you have that opportunity is akin to that of a mixed LO Hydreigon with a good match-up .-. Good mon

At this point I had a lot of % to spare so I decided to tick some of the most restrictive boxes while looking out for team synergy. Hazard removal was a big one considering all the spinners were either really redundant at this point or far too passive on an already slow team. Out of the deffogers I could really only choose Crobat ; Defog Mega Aerodactyl is far too redundant with Rhyperior and Defog Flygon made me far too weak to offensive Grass-types.
Hazard Removal
Secondary Fighting-type Check
Jirachi was added pretty much because it's like the only mon that can always rk +2 Luke, as well as a Fairy switchin and therefore a good partner for Critdra should I fuck up with Waterfall. By slapping a Scarf on it I not only joined the ranks of the fucking twats that abuse Scarf Iron Head but also had sthg that could sort of stop a +1 Haxorus.
Takes on +2 Lucario
Rks +1 Haxorus

At this point (which I find to be the hardest by the way, many a time have I scrapped a team that couldn't find a good 6th glue mon) I was sort of stumped : not only had Crobat sucked up a lot of % space, I had no way of ticking both the Mega Blastoise AND Nidos boxes without using a shit blob mon that made me uber weak to stall. I decided that Mega Stoise was the lesser of two evils considering that Aromatisse can take on the dumb ones that don't run Hydro Pump + it was just a matter of bringing it down to Draco Meteor territory. Not only that but I could just use a good ol' bulky CM Psychic-type to crap on both Nidos and blob stall !
Copying marth and using Cress felt kinda wrong considering I use his Froslass team to ladder usually so I gave CM Reuniclus a whirl. I used a pretty good set btw, physically defensive w/ LO, because Lefties is usually really underwhelming imo I mean look at those sexy calcs :
4 SpA Life Orb Reuniclus Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Hydreigon: 296-351 (91 - 108%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
4 SpA Life Orb Reuniclus Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Krookodile: 367-432 (93.3 - 109.9%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
Basically it's a middle ground set that still does pretty well vs stall n_n. The debate between Focus Blast and Shadow Ball is basically not a debate at all, losing to Sableye is the least of my worries considering I pack Aromatisse. Meanwhile Pursuit Krook is like the new flavour of the week pokemon and I can't afford to let Hydreigon U-turn out of Aromatisse considering my Steel-type weakness.
Beats Blissey + [insert fat mon]
Sets up on Crocune
Nido check

So yea at this point I just started laddering and tweaked some stuff, like bumping up the Atk evs on Kingdra after a climactic loss vs PK and a surviving Mega Houndoom (really ?), trying out lots of stuff on Crobat's fourth slot to somewhat fix the Rachi/Metagross weakness (like Super Fang or OP Heat Wave)
252 SpA Crobat Heat Wave vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Jirachi: 138-164 (40.4 - 48%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
d-damage

With the new changes in the tier, I made the team more offensive :
Spdef Rhyperior --> 252 Atk with Megahorn
Super Fang ACrobat --> Scarfbat with sneaky Defog
Scarf Rachi --> SubCM Rachi (omg the synergy with Critdra is amazing)
Bulky CM Reuniclus --> TR Reuniclus with 3 attacks

The rest of the month might be a bit too hectic for me to ladder so I'll leave this as my contribution to the thread ^^

EDIT: got a nice replay http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-165054253 :3

 

[CoolStoryBrobat]

Man everyone's ninjaing into C-Rank all around the same time this month. Not that I mind, though. Congrats everybody, and keep it going for those not there yet

 

[branflakes]

I guess I'll get in on this.

Alt: hp salt

33 | Umbreon | 7.30811%
49 | Tentacruel | 4.86651%
78 | Kyurem | 1.39481%
97 | Gastrodon | 0.90359%
135 | Spiritomb | 0.30027%
291 | Clefairy | 0.01744%
Total: 14.97%

 

[Sean B.]

1500 achieved

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-165020777 game getting 1500, misplayed pretty badly but still won so whatever. Will probably go for 1600 later, have noticed some big weaknesses to the team though so we'll see how it goes.

 

[branflakes]

Achieved 1600: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-165317344

I probably should have used a fresh alt with no matches on it, but it's probably fine as long as the alt has no UU matches.
The one loss was from a stupid reuniclus with signal beam confusion + double crit /salt

records (before/after)

and just to be a dick

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-165137829 :)

 

[dodmen]

Hit 1600 as well: http://prntscr.com/4oi2kd

Basically it was triple dragon spam + 3 fairy checks / 2 steel checks. Lots of fun and I ended up having some really good games.

SD Cobalion is really good and I think it's gonna really rise in popularity after the Victini ban. Kyurem was slightly underwhelming but very good nonetheless.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-164929304

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-165328140

 

[branflakes]

Achieved 1750: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-165714999

The team in case anyone is interested

 

[IronBullet]

My team:

Flygon - 5.66439%
Starmie - 4.34352%
Toxicroak - 5.18497%
Jirachi - 9.20796%
Whimsicott - 1.37487%
Houndoom - 3.55851%

Total: 29.33422%

Alt: Obladi