XY UU Poultry Pressure - stall (peaked #2)

Poultry Pressure


I’ve come to accept that my best and only method of creating effective teams is to include the most stallish pokemon available. At the very most, I include one or two offensively oriented team members that do little to prevent my matches from being long, arduous and frustrating (for the opponent lol). That being said, I love stall/semi-stall and I think this playstyle generally leaves a lot of room for innovation in any tier. The purpose of this RMT is to showcase a few pokemon that are seldom used in this metagame, and to inspire other players to use these sets and/or incorporate more creativity in teambuilding. This is the first UU team I’ve put together since Megacham and Deoxys forms were removed from the tier.

Peaks:

I made 3 different accounts, one for UU's dark horse project and another one for no real reason. Wasn't quite able to reach #1 just yet :P


Preview



Like most other stall teams, this one was built in an attempt to deal with most of UU’s most relevant threats. Setup sweepers are omnipresent in all UU team archetypes, which means that special measures must be taken to ensure that such sweepers are prevented from setting up or KOing more than one team member. Thus, the team started with an offensive sub-shuffle Kyurem set that performs multiple roles well and doesn’t require a ton of support besides spin/defog and a couple resists. The objectives of this team are simple – it survives hits, stays healthy, inflicts statuses and wears down the opponent’s HP and PP while preventing them from setting up and sweeping. If you have encountered this team on the ladder, you’ve likely found yourself in a long and annoying match. This has always been the nature of stall teams, and if it works then why not take it as far as possible?

Team Building Process

The team building began with a simple defensive core that was supposed to do a good job at staying healthy and providing decent team support while holding its own offensively. I noticed that many of the top tier threats (according to the UU viability thread) were physical wall-breakers and sweepers, so I was naturally inclined to reinforce my team’s physical bulk.

I was feeling extra stally so I chose two of the most mindless physically bulky pokemon with the intention of assigning some more offensively oriented pokemon to the last two slots. Alomomola was mixed bulk with Mirror Coat, because it worked well in OU. Unfortunately it sucks in UU.

My team was lacking hazards, spin support and offense so I put Tentacruel and Infernape in the last two slots. Tentacruel did its job amazingly, while Infernape was rarely given more than one opportunity to use Stealth Rock, often at the expense of its Focus Sash which would have been great for stopping sweepers or something.

It took only a few low-ladder matches to know that my team needed some big changes. Sableye was a poor choice because it failed at effectively spin blocking Mega Blastoise, fire types were too common to use will-o-wisp safely, and it offered little support in general. Infernape was replaced by Hippowdon, a more bulky hazard setter and phazer. I ended up replacing Sableye with Mega Absol for strong pursuit trapping and sucker punching, both from which my team greatly benefitted.

The biggest issue with Mega Absol on a mostly-stall team is that it faints if you look at it funny. I replaced it with Black Glasses Spiritomb who is about as strong as Absol, but also spin blocks and hits/burns through subs. I’ve also been fascinated with the Infiltrator + Sucker Punch/Will-o-wisp combination and was excited to finally use it on a team that needed its assets. I also replaced Florges and Alomomola with Umbreon and Clefairy, who have the same mixed walling capabilities with better type synergy and better moves. Clefairy’s 70/48/65 defenses seemed decent enough to use with an Eviolite.

Hippowdon and Tentacruel were crumbling too fast to the powerful V-Creates, Flare Blitzes and Sacred Fires. I felt the need to replace Hippowdon with yet another physically defensive water type – Gastrodon. Preferred over Swampert for instant recovery and a better supportive movepool. I shifted the hazard-setting role to Clefairy, giving it Stealth Rock instead of Knock Off. Knock Off was essentially filler because Clefairy is too weak to use coverage moves.



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The Team

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Kyurem (Cojiro) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 52 HP / 200 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Dragon Tail
- Substitute
- Roost

The second best chicken in the game (best being moltres), Kyurem is a very solid pokemon offensively and defensively despite its typing being a double-edged sword. The primary purpose of this set is pressure stalling and sub shuffling, and it excels at this by having enough bulk for making fat subs with 101 HP. Kyurem’s offensive capabilities are nothing to squawk at, as they give it the duality of being a stall-oriented pokemon with more than enough offensive pressure to force switches and dish out damage. The speed investment gives it safe sub opportunities whenever possible, while offering it a means of beating offensive threats including Krookodile and Roserade.


Note: Earth Power on Kyurem really isn't good in this meta unless you're running a scarf set. It hits Jirachi for meh damage and that's about it. At the very least it does not belong on a sub roost set.



Umbreon @ Leftovers

Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Protect

Umbreon has borne the weight of sponging powerful special attacks while keeping teams healthy for the past two generations. This team slot originally belonged to Florges to establish defensive synergy with Kyurem. The defensive core was completed by Alomomola who was later replaced by Clefairy, and thus Umbreon became a perfect support option by inheriting Alomomola’s fat wish passing and Florges’ cleric abilities. Foul Play assists Umbreon against most physical setup sweepers regardless of their typings, giving it an edge over other walls that would often be used as setup bait. The rest of the team has respectable mixed bulk despite all of the physically oriented EV spreads, which takes some of the burden off Umbreon especially when dealing with VoltTurn and hazards.



Spiritomb @ Black Glasses

Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Alternative Options: LO with Shadow Sneak over Pain Split

Spiritomb generally struggles in this metagame by facing too much competition as a pursuit trapper and not having enough raw bulk to do anything effectively with its great defensive typing (not to mention being outclassed by Sableye in this aspect). Instead, Spiritomb has arguably the best ability to use along with Sucker Punch, distinguishing itself from most other priority attackers and pursuit trappers in the tier. Infiltrator ensures that Will-O-Wisps and Sucker Punches will interfere with most substitute users, namely Chandelure, Jirachi and Cobalion sets. Unlike any other pursuit trappers or spin blockers in the game, Spiritomb has the ability to fill both roles effectively. Black Glasses increases power without adding recoil or choice-locking, and it allows Spiritomb to OHKO Chandelure, Starmie, and Victini after rocks (prior to its ban).




Clefairy (Grog) @ Eviolite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Stealth Rock
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled

Clefairy is more than it meets the eye. This set is basically ripped straight from the typical OU Clefable sets with some added utility in Stealth Rock. Clefairy distinguishes itself from other hazard setters by having impressive mixed bulk and a threatening presence in being a potentially unbreakable setup sweeper. With the exception of repeated critical hits and notoriously powerful choice band threats, Clefairy can usually maintain its HP at a safe percentage by eating eggs and getting yolked with CM boosts.


252 Banded Krookodile Earthquake vs. Clefairy: 168-198 (48.8 - 57.5%)
Clefairy Moonblast vs. Krookodile: 182-216 (54.9 - 65.2%)
252+ LO Hydreigon Flash Cannon vs. Clefairy: 211-250 (61.3 - 72.6%)
Clefairy Moonblast vs. Hydreigon: 300-352 (92.3 - 108.3%)
+2 252 Haxorus Poison Jab vs. Clefairy: 282-332 (81.9 - 96.5%)
Clefairy Moonblast vs. Haxorus: 182-216 (61.2 - 72.7%)

The above calculations demonstrate Clefairy’s impressive bulk in particular situations where scouting or surviving powerful attacks can greatly benefit the team. In the first two situations, Clefairy can either take a powerful hit and immediately Softboiled for scouting purposes, or deal significant damage with Moonblast and switch out with enough HP to survive later on. While its subpar offensive stats don’t always allow Clefairy to be the slayer of all dragons, STAB Moonblast can quickly become threatening to almost everything in the tier after one or two Calm Minds. Clefairy’s greatest weakness is its inability to effectively run coverage moves against pokemon such as Jirachi and Roserade due to its initially low special attack. Fortunately, there are very few relevant pokemon in the tier that can use Clefairy as setup bait while simultaneously being able to deal with Kyurem. Thus, Kyurem and Clefairy have enough defensive synergy to hold their own against most offensive and defensive teams in UU. I would like to see this pokemon get more usage in the coming months (currently #291 in usage), because it performs impressively in the current meta. It is possibly the best Hydreigon counter in the tier.



Tentacruel @ Black Sludge

Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 204 HP / 242 Def / 64 Spe (EVs subject to change)
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Sludge Bomb
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin

Almost every stall/semi-stall team needs some method of clearing hazards off the field, and Tentacruel fits this role perfectly by offering significant utility in all of its moves. Scald and Sludge Bomb have decent offensive and status-inflicting coverage despite having 0 SpA investment, and Knock off greatly assists in breaking down other defensively-oriented cores. Defensively, Tentacruel completes the Clefairy/Kyurem defensive core by offering valuable resistances to steel, poison and fire. Considering Tentacruel’s lack of recovery outside of Black Sludge and Umbreon’s wishes, Gastrodon does an excellent job at reinforcing these three resistances, thus further solidifying the team’s ability to keep all essential members alive.




Gastrodon @ Leftovers

Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Clear Smog
- Toxic
- Recover
Alternative Options: Def Quagsire

This tier is full of water types, fire types, steel types, setup sweepers and strong physical attackers. For this reason, having two physically defensive water types is strategically beneficial rather than redundant in this metagame. Gastrodon is less oriented towards a team support role than Tentacruel, and instead it focuses on survival and pure stall by having less weaknesses, greater physical defense, two immunities and instant recovery. Clear Smog along with Kyurem’s Dragon Tail and Infiltrator Spiritomb ensures that the opponent will have difficulty setting up and sweeping in almost any situation.


Note: I have decided to keep Gastrodon in this slot instead of Quagsire. Quagsire's bad special bulk made certain special attackers (ie blastoise and ampharos) a bit too troublesome. Quagsire's slightly greater physical bulk was insignificant for the most part, and the added Earthquake coverage and Unaware proved to be too situational. Futhermore, Gastrodon also has decent power behinds its Scald without investment, which I've found to be very useful. A weak scald from something like Quagsire or Alomomola is essentially Will-O-Wisp with terrible accuracy lol


Threat List
In listing threats for stall teams, I prefer to use the corresponding Viability Ranking Thread to organize the threats from most relevant to least relevant.
Red = Notable threats

S Rank (as of 9/22)
Hydreigon - Almost always handled easily by Clefairy barring LO Iron Tail sets

Jirachi - Jirachi is banned and needs to be disgusting

Lucario -
Can be revenge killed by Spiritomb, Tentacruel, Gastrodon, Clefairy and Kyurem, seeing as +2 LO attacks usually do not outspeed and OHKO anything besides Umbreon. Still threatening because its Lucario.

Victini - Gastrodon is a reliable check to physical sets; Tentacruel can take a banded V-Create and hit back hard. Spiritomb can OHKO after rocks but requires prediction
Togekiss - Kyurem can KO after some prior damage. +2 flinches can destroy my entire team if Kyurem has been picked off too soon
A+ Rank
Mega Aerodactyl -
Countered by Gastrodon; Clefairy can stall out Stone Edges and set up on offensive sets lacking Hone Claws

Alakazam -
Loses 1v1 to Umbreon, revenge killed by Spiritomb

Mega Ampharos -
Best taken down with status and heal spamming if it has Focus Blast. Otherwise handled by Umbreon and Gastrodon, Kyurem forces out and/or subs

Mega Blastoise -
Also best taken down with status. Tentacruel can win 1v1 if it inflicts poison with Sludge Bomb. Clefairy can set up and threaten to sweep

Crobat -
Checked by Gastrodon and Kyurem. Banded bird spam can be dangerous

Haxorus -
Too many 50/50 mindgames between allowing Haxorus to set up and unnecessarily losing something to Outrage. Clefairy can revenge kill +2 non-LO sets; Spiritomb can revenge kill with 50.5 - 59.5% Sucker Punch

Mienshao -
All sets countered by Clefairy (at the expense of Eviolite sometimes); Tentacruel checks and Umbreon handles scarf sets with Protect

Swampert -
Banded sets can be annoying to deal with but easy to wear down when inflicted with status. All other sets are handled by various team members

Suicune -
Shuffled out or PP stalled by Kyurem. Crocune cannot touch Gastrodon
More to come


Replays
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-165710527
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-167177986
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-164559346
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-165560735
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-165137829
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-165131898
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-165007369
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-166055047
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-164915479


While the team is pretty effective in its current state, it is subject to change seeing how the metagame is constantly changing and obviously not everything about the team is perfect. Feel free to comment, rate and make suggestions.

Importable

Give this team a shot and have fun at the expense of others!
Cojiro (Kyurem) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 52 HP / 200 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Dragon Tail
- Substitute
- Roost

Spiritomb @ Black Glasses
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 204 HP / 242 Def / 64 Spe
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Sludge Bomb
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin

Umbreon @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Protect

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Clear Smog
- Toxic
- Recover

Grog (Clefairy) @ Eviolite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Stealth Rock
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled
 
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Hey man, good team! I love how you can show a lot of offensive pressure while being a stall team. Really love the thought you took for each poke. Anyways, there are some things that I can suggest. Your team shows a great type synergy, but seem to have a lot of trouble dealing with fairies. They are immune to Kyurem's dragon tail and it looks like Florges can stall through your team. But, Florges can be broken through if you apply enough pressure or PP stall out its Aromatherapy, forcing it to be Toxic'd. Also, most of your team is Taunt bait, meaning that Sableye can deal with basically all your pokemon bar Clefairy; However, Clefairy can 2HKO it with Moonblast without any boosts.

Also, you have problems with common wall/stall breakers that setup. Toxicroak gets an honourable mention when using the SubBU set, as it can take out all your pokemon slowly. It also gets healed from scald and absorbs Toxic Spikes. Therefore, I suggest Quagsire -> Gastrodon. The only reason I suggest this is because it provides a win condition to setup sweepers and gets access to scald and recover, making it have a similar role to Gastrodon. It also provides less pressure to setup sweepers (so you don't need to use Clear Smog) Suicune doesn't seem to give you problems as long as Kyurem is alive. Also, with Earthquake, it can 2HKO Toxicroak off the bat. The physical side of it also helps with taking out dedicated special walls such as Blissey.

I'd also consider running Cosmic Power > Calm Mind on Clefairy. It becomes a defensive behemoth that can only be taken out by Crits. The fact that it is immune to Toxic damage, its able to keep going and going. At +6, it can just slowly use Moonblast or Stored Power (which hits harder when at +6) and break through the [blissey-less] team. With Toxic Spikes up, it can be more effective. This is only something I'm considering, not suggesting it. Test it if you like.

Minor Changes:
- Tentacruel should have 204 HP / 252 Def / 44 SpD / 8 Spe so that it has a Black Sludge number; which, is important because it doesn't have reliable recovery. 44 SpD can be put into speed to make it quicker; but it isn't that important. Also, it helps now that Gastrodon is gone. You can use 204 HP / 252 Def / 52 Spe instead if you want to go faster, but isn't really needed.
- Replace Knock Off/Sludge Bomb with Toxic Spikes on Tentacruel to make it more of a stall team.
- Use Pressure > Infiltrator on Spiritomb now that Toxic Spikes makes the opponent avoid Substitute.

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Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Recover
- Encore/Haze/Toxic


Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 204 HP / 252 Def / 44 SpD / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off / Toxic Spikes
- Toxic Spikes / Sludge Bomb
 
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Thank you for the suggestions and feedback!

Funny enough, I've never actually considered using Quagsire in place of Gastrodon because I overlooked it entirely. Unaware would be a fantastic ability for this team without a doubt, and the added ground coverage would also be useful. I suppose my biggest concern would be that Kyurem cannot single-handedly deal with Crocune, other than forcing it out until later. Quagsire would however be able to deal with Cro-ggron which is a rare set that my team can do absolutely nothing to stop lol. I'll try it out and see how much I need the extra crutch in Unaware with some added physical bulk at the expense of special bulk.

You mentioned a few threats to my team: Sableye, Florges and Toxicroak. The former is not so much of a stand-alone threat, but its ability to spin block and burn Tentacruel can really give my team a lot of trouble against offensive threats later on. It takes a certain amount of willpower to try not to spin desperately, even if I feel the need to do so. As for Florges, Tentacruel's current set can really give it a lot of trouble. With Knock Off and Sludge Bomb it can put enough pressure on Florges to constantly heal poison and spam Wish/Protect until it eventually goes down or switches at a low %. Finally, SD taxicrak is a huge issue - there's no denying it. Quagsire would be an excellent answer to any Toxicroak set, because right now I need to rely on using Clear Smog and burning with Spiritomb, or wearing it down with Tentacruel (knock off, sludge bomb and liquid ooze) and playing around Sucker Punch to get a revenge kill with Kyurem. The other thing, besides 4MSS, that discourages me from using Toxic Spikes is that scald burns are amazing. Running two pokemon with Scald while forcing poison status seems kinda counter-intuitive.

CP over CM on Clefairy is something I probably wouldn't try though. This turns Clefairy into the worst kind of setup bait and would absolutely require me to run Quagsire for its Unaware ability. Also this is pretty sad damage: 0 SpA Clefairy Stored Power (260 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Lucario: 165-195 (58.7 - 69.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Lastly, thanks a lot for providing me with a better EV spread for Tentacruel. One thing that I'm still somewhat unsure about is how much speed investment a defensive Tentacruel should have.
 
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If you are curious, 64 speed EVs on Tentacruel allows you to outspeed Modest, max speed Nidoqueen. I don't know if that is a benchmark to necessarily be aware of, but it is something to think about. Also, I'd throw at least 12 EVs into Umbreon's speed to beat speed ties with other base 65s, but as you know, I put speed on everything
 
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i have played this team several times om the ladder and i find calm mind suicune is able to destroy this team. most of the people i battle who used this team were pretty bad, so it may just be a lack of skill issue. i was using the sexy rmt when battling. i dont know how you would fix this issue.
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sexy-sadie-peaked-2.3517810/

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-167311028
It's as simple as switching in Kyurem before Suicune gets to +4 lol
 
i have played this team several times om the ladder and i find calm mind suicune is able to destroy this team. most of the people i battle who used this team were pretty bad, so it may just be a lack of skill issue. i was using the sexy rmt when battling. i dont know how you would fix this issue.
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sexy-sadie-peaked-2.3517810/

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-167311028

I've been using Quagsire over Gastrodon because of the multitude of calm mind/dance type sets I've been seeing and he works really well to stop them. Not only unaware, but using encore on the calm mind/swords dance allows time for Kyurem to get in, set up a sub, roost and dragon tail once, or you can skip the roost if they subbed. I know I play at a low elo and that the people I play are a little slow to catch on to what I'm doing but I think quagsire is still powerful if you need to stop setups.

The biggest problem I've had is Florges. Tentacruel can't really kill it with sludge bomb before it can heal back up so most of the Florges I've run into I have just pp walled out.
 

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