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So I sorta gotta eat my words about Unburden versus Sticky Hold. Absolutely no one has tried to Trick or otherwise mess with Accelgor's Focus Sash, but a metric fuckton of players have got an extra layer of Spikes on them after the Unburden boost.
Alt: Obviously Crocune
Pokemon: Suicune
EDIT: why is this small post getting so many likes (i'm not complaining, just wondering) also so many likes = 2 3 likes somehow
A reminder to everyone that this ends tomorrow evening GMT-5. To be considered a winner of RW, you must post at least some level of analysis regarding the mon(s) you're using.
Well, I'm having a bitch of a time laddering, I'll have something later tonight/tomorrow morning, but I wanna drop some thoughts on Accelgor right now.
If you aren't using Accelgor on a blisteringly aggressive HO team, you've got the wrong Spike stacker, and you might just be misusing Accelgor altogether. Before Defog, and even back in XY when we still had Sableye, you could get away with a Ghost-type to block Rapid Spin and call it good with Rocks and Spike-stacking. As it stands, with Crobat as possibly the best Defogger in the game (certainly the best in UU, with only *snicker* Togetic as real competition in that role), and with how suicidal Accelgor is, you cannot let up on offensive pressure. Rocks really helps maintain that pressure, but unfortunately it's really easy for someone to see something nonthreatening like Forretress come in so they bring in Crobat for free on Stealth Rock and then Defog all your effort away.
Encore is hugely useful. Locking something like Florges into Protect is hysterical. Locking something into Stealth Rock is also fantastic. It's a bunch of free layers of Spikes. I don't think I've ever actually seen Accelgor live through a battle. I either Encore something into KOing it or Final Gambit in order to protect my hazards or damage/KO a threat. Pro Tip: Final Gambit something trying to Defog and it blocks the move, same as a Ghost taking a Rapid Spin. Also Protect does the same, but don't be that guy. Don't use Protect. Unless you're running Mega Beedrill in which case holy fuck you need Protect.
Accelgor was pretty useful and works fairly well in UU. It works very well with volt-turn teams and can usually hugely cripple the other team. Most people just go out and set up rocks which you can then encore into and then set up the rest of your spikes. It can give crucial damage that's needed to take out the rest of the team. I found that Accelgor using spikes works very well with Mega-Pidgeot since it doesn't have that much power the spikes can help to wear things down to the point you need to KO. Final Gambit had a couple moments where it came in handy, but not often did I find myself using it.
Accelgor is a very good mon that can really put pressure on an enemy team. Combined with using rocks, the enemy can find themself having all of there pokemon weakened by more than 25% without taking a single hit. Accelgor worked really well for me and put on a lot of pressure, although I would suggest using it with a spinner so that when you encore a mon into stealth rocks, they don't stay on your side of the field. It helped a lot in my battles and was able to get up all 3 layers of spikes almost every time unless they had a Darmanitan, and was able to put on crucial damage and even stop the enemy from defogging/spinning.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-195072902
This was one of my favorite battles while I was using Accelgor, and the spikes damage was able to ensure KOs on a couple pokemon and put on pressure. Although I said Accelgor works very well on volt-turn teams, it can also work on balance because if you're able to just wall a certain pokemon, and they're at less than 25% with 3 layers of spikes up, they can't switch out and you've got a guaranteed kill. Spikes stacking was a very fun play style that I really enjoyed using with Accelgor's amazing speed.
Because I won't have time to ladder later on tonight/tomorrow, I'll just post how far I got and leave my thoughts on Accelgor.
Probably could have done better if I had more time, but oh well :/
Anyway, Accelgor is an excellent Spikes-stacker in UU. Its combination of Speed, Encore, and Final Gambit makes it an optimal choice for offensive teams. It doesn't have much competition in UU aside from Froslass, as all other Spikes-setters are better-suited for balanced/more defensive teams. I have used both Froslass and Accelgor, and I have to say I like Accelgor a bit more. While Froslass has Taunt to prevent opposing setup, Accelgor has Encore to punish it. Accelgor can also avoid Defoggers/Spinners by simply Final Gambitting against them. Accelgor also has Unburden and its incredible Speed to get past Choice Scarfers (as long as they bring it down into Sash range), while Froslass needs to depend on an unreliable Cursed Body to get past Scarfers. Finally, Accelgor also has a much better matchup against opposing HO leads like Azelf and Magic Bouncers like Espeon and Mega Absol (minor detail but still useful).
However, as Lord Of Bays mentioned previously, you need to have proper offensive pressure to make sure that Accelgor's Spikes, as well as Accelgor's slot, are not wasted. You either need to keep up enough offensive pressure to prevent a Defog, which is admittedly pretty hard with the excellent Defoggers available to UU (Crobat, Empoleon, etc.), or make it so that you take advantage of the free turn Defog gives perfectly, which is much easier to do with the myriad of terrifying threats in UU. I used a team that I feel does the latter just fine, using a handful of boosting sweepers as well as general Pokemon that are hard to switch into and can take advantage of Defoggers/Spinners very well:
Accelgor @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Spikes
- Bug Buzz
- Final Gambit
- Encore
To start off, I knew that having boosting sweepers would both discourage the opponent giving me a free turn as well as give me something to abuse my Spikes with. Swords Dance Lucario is arguably the most frightening boosting sweeper in the game, and Calm Mind Alakazam follows close behind. Both of them can also get past their usual checks with a bit of prior damage (which a layer or two of Spikes provides). The Jirachi set I use is sort of a relic from the UU Open, which Finchinator used against me when we were testing. It provides me with an offensive Stealth Rock setter that can also lure in and beat stuff like Hippowdon, which is useful for both Lucario and Mega Alakazam to sweep (since both can't break past it even with Spikes). Jirachi also serves as an emergency check to Mega Absol, Mega Sharpedo, and Hydreigon thanks to Colbur Berry and Moonblast. I was really weak to Ground-types at this point, so I added Hydreigon, which gives me a Choice Scarfer as well as a general check to most Dark-types. It does, however, give a lot of Defoggers switch in opportunities, so I need to play very carefully with it. Lastly, I added Banded Crobat (which is one of my favorite mons to use in BW UU) since it works amazingly with Spikes support. Overall, the team is pretty solid and helped me reach a decent spot at the ladder, and I think it illustrates Accelgor's capabilities fairly well, although I have never been a good teambuilder tbh so idk :/
Accelgor is an amazing lead, it's outrageous speed and interesting movepool give it the tools it needs to provide an early game advantage.
Its movepool provided gives hyper-offense teams the hazards and early game kill it needs to make the game significantly easier to win. How I play Accelgor is I access if the opponent lead with a hazard-maker, a scarfer, or a Mega Beedrill.
Mr first team was this:
With Accelgor killing off the lead (or a switchin) and/or getting hazards up, it made it easy for Zygarde or Mega Lopunny to eat through teams. Mienshao was a Sash+SD+BatonPass set I once saw on a Mienfoo in LC and I had a choice the boost to Zygarde, Mega Lopunny, or Scarf Rachi. Scarf Rachi was mostly here as a pivot and Iron Head spam if it came down to it. Tentacruel dealt with lots of things this team was weak to, notably Fairies and Crocune. Acid Spray handily wore them down.
Accelgor @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Bug Buzz
- Encore
- Final Gambit
Lopunny @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Return
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Punch
Mienshao @ Focus Sash
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Baton Pass
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP / 240 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Acid Spray
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Fire Punch
- Ice Punch
Things this team had problems with:
Ground types, I had no real switch-ins
I put way too much weight on Tentacruel, so if it died... I was very weak to Fairies and Special Attacks.
Scarf Darmantian was a huge threat to this team.
I came back after a few day hiatus and I learned that Lopunnite was banned.
So I had to change my team up.
I found that Mega Aerodactyl was a huge threat to much of the UU tier. (I bet you already knew that, but hush ;w;)
Hydreigon and Mega Aerodactyl covered the huge ground weakness I mentioned earlier.
Some of the weight, for some reason, was lifted from Tentacruel, as it wasn't my only switchin to everything.
Scarf Darmantian is still a huge threat.
Also, someone once used a Togetic on ladder against this team, I was completely destroyed :c
Accelgor @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Bug Buzz
- Encore
- Final Gambit
Accelgor, unlike Froslass, which I used to use in past UU teams, has a more offensive presence. Magic Bouncers aren't really a problem, and Bug Buzz commonly 2HKOs them. The shock factor from seeing an Accelgor get up hazards and Final Gambit sometimes leads to some nasty things in the chat. Just to wrap this up, Accelgor makes a great lead for UU hyper-offense teams and can always get one layer of Spikes down and/or even a Final Gambit kill, to cripple your opponent.
Alright, so after moving back home from college and losing the piece of paper with the password for Space Jammer I randomly hit keys on the keyboard to make a new name, so after approval from King UU my alt is "osajifkdn".
So now that Mega Lopunny is gone and I don't have to contend with fake-out shenanigans Leadnape is doing very well for me, it matches up great against a lot of different offensive and defensive leads because a lot of people don't even seem to be aware that Leadnape is a thing. I was surprised by the fact that I had a great time keeping it alive and using it against stall teams that didn't appreciate the Taunts when it was healthy or the Endeavors when it was low on HP. Anyway, I'll post a little on the different leads I went up against more than once.
Offensive:
Azelf- I could usually get rocks off since the lead Azelfs I went against didn't expect me to put up rocks and didn't taunt, but in all honesty if your opponent knows the set they'll shut you down.
Accelgor- Not sure if I faced one of you guys or if someone was randomly motivated to try Accelgor out, but I limited it to a single layer of spikes, survived the final gambit, and Endeavored the next poke in. It can stop you from setting up rocks, but it doesn't overrun you.
Scarfers- I have to say that I found scarfers annoying. They tend to make it so you either can't hit sash because of U-Turn, or limit you to just rocks. Either way they pretty much prevent you from doing everything you want to do.
Defensive:
Mega Aggron- No problem for Leadnape whatsoever.
Donphan- As long as it doesn't EQ then Ice Shard you'll at least do something by leading off with Taunt, whether its get off rocks and then Endeavor after he EQ's or Endeavor immediatly after the EQ and take him down to 1hp. Either way worked pretty well for my team honestly.
Empoleon- He loves to Scald you, and then he has like no HP left after an Endeavor and he's worthless for the rest of the game. I usually start off by Taunting it to keep it from getting up rocks and from clearing mine away.
I'll edit in some replays later on.
EDIT 1: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-194860538
Taunted first turn to stop Suicune from setting up, set up rocks after Chandelure came in, the rest is just a show of how powerful WP Celebi and Mega Sharknado are together.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-194610784
Leadnape does well in this match to put get rocks up, as it puts Raikou in Mega Sharknado's OHKO range since I was using Jolly Sharknado at the time, and getting the Endeavor off on Diancie to put it within Haxorus's OHKO range(crit didn't matter). With those two pokes out of the way and Bronzong taken out Sharknado could sweep even without boosts from Celebi.
Because I won't have time to ladder later on tonight/tomorrow, I'll just post how far I got and leave my thoughts on Accelgor.
Probably could have done better if I had more time, but oh well :/
Anyway, Accelgor is an excellent Spikes-stacker in UU. Its combination of Speed, Encore, and Final Gambit makes it an optimal choice for offensive teams. It doesn't have much competition in UU aside from Froslass, as all other Spikes-setters are better-suited for balanced/more defensive teams. I have used both Froslass and Accelgor, and I have to say I like Accelgor a bit more. While Froslass has Taunt to prevent opposing setup, Accelgor has Encore to punish it. Accelgor can also avoid Defoggers/Spinners by simply Final Gambitting against them. Accelgor also has Unburden and its incredible Speed to get past Choice Scarfers (as long as they bring it down into Sash range), while Froslass needs to depend on an unreliable Cursed Body to get past Scarfers. Finally, Accelgor also has a much better matchup against opposing HO leads like Azelf and Magic Bouncers like Espeon and Mega Absol (minor detail but still useful).
However, as Lord Of Bays mentioned previously, you need to have proper offensive pressure to make sure that Accelgor's Spikes, as well as Accelgor's slot, are not wasted. You either need to keep up enough offensive pressure to prevent a Defog, which is admittedly pretty hard with the excellent Defoggers available to UU (Crobat, Empoleon, etc.), or make it so that you take advantage of the free turn Defog gives perfectly, which is much easier to do with the myriad of terrifying threats in UU. I used a team that I feel does the latter just fine, using a handful of boosting sweepers as well as general Pokemon that are hard to switch into and can take advantage of Defoggers/Spinners very well:
Accelgor @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Spikes
- Bug Buzz
- Final Gambit
- Encore
To start off, I knew that having boosting sweepers would both discourage the opponent giving me a free turn as well as give me something to abuse my Spikes with. Swords Dance Lucario is arguably the most frightening boosting sweeper in the game, and Calm Mind Alakazam follows close behind. Both of them can also get past their usual checks with a bit of prior damage (which a layer or two of Spikes provides). The Jirachi set I use is sort of a relic from the UU Open, which Finchinator used against me when we were testing. It provides me with an offensive Stealth Rock setter that can also lure in and beat stuff like Hippowdon, which is useful for both Lucario and Mega Alakazam to sweep (since both can't break past it even with Spikes). Jirachi also serves as an emergency check to Mega Absol, Mega Sharpedo, and Hydreigon thanks to Colbur Berry and Moonblast. I was really weak to Ground-types at this point, so I added Hydreigon, which gives me a Choice Scarfer as well as a general check to most Dark-types. It does, however, give a lot of Defoggers switch in opportunities, so I need to play very carefully with it. Lastly, I added Banded Crobat (which is one of my favorite mons to use in BW UU) since it works amazingly with Spikes support. Overall, the team is pretty solid and helped me reach a decent spot at the ladder, and I think it illustrates Accelgor's capabilities fairly well, although I have never been a good teambuilder tbh so idk :/
