SM UU Trying 2 git gud

[Mon of Steel]

Title speaks for itself. I tried to look for advice on the UU room and the RMT room in Showdown, but no one would help me (except for one kind gentleman named "bow for glory". So maybe here I could get some help?

Teambuild philosophy

These three formulated an attacking force that seemed legitimate to me.

• Gengar would attack the Grass-types that gave Primarina trouble
  
• Krookodile would attack the Electric-types that gave everyone problems (+ Volcanion)
• Primarina would just function as a Water + Fairy – and Fairy would stop Dark-types that Gengar didn't like

From here, I added additional team members.

Aerodactyl was the fastest mon I could find that could Pursuit problematic Psychic-types, not to mention being able to decently damage Amoonguss after something was sleep foddered

Celebi is here primarily for Suicune, its ridiculous fatness allows it to easily drool all over me (literally, too – he is spewing red-hot spit at me, which is pretty disgusting)

Forretress is filler mostly, as Spikes + Stealth Rock would ease the job of the attacking force, and Rapid Spin clears Stealth Rock for Aerodactyl. Ridiculous physical bulk also allows effective manhandling of enemy Aerodactyl.

Philosophy behind selecting the particular mons have been elaborated already, so I will be elaborating on move choice.

Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Wing Attack
- Earthquake
- Pursuit

• Dual STAB for maximum potential in attacking mons with less defenses
• Wide coverage available, had to choose carefully
• Pursuit was deemed the most appropriate choice, seeing as troublesome enemies such as Latias and Gengar gave me a run for my money
• Earthquake chosen because I required a fast way to fight Bisharp – Fire Fang deemed unnecessary due to Celebi's HP Fire

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 40 HP / 216 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Nasty Plot

• Nasty Offensive set chosen to give fat enemies (especially Suicune, Amoonguss, and Scizor) and more difficult time
• Hidden Power Fire selected due to a high need to deal massive damage to Scizor
• Besides just attacking, it possesses respectable defense and an ability which made it stand out to me over other attackers (such as Alakazam) – it worked better that way considering Aerodactyl was on the team already

Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Taunt

• Dual STAB chosen due to lack of good Ghost resists (sans enemy Krookodile), with Poison STAB chosen to stop Grass-types (not Sludge Bomb because then Chesnaught walls me)
• Krookodile is stopped with Focus Blast – also does a good job standing up to Coballion, and achieves near-impeccable neutral coverage with Ghost STAB
• Taunt is chosen utility because other options weren't overly appealing to me – Will-O-Wisp, Destiny Bond, Substitute, etc. looked good, but Taunt chosen because I needed a way to stop enemy walls from using their harassing moves (Spore, Rest, Soft-Boiled), easing job for team's attackers

Forretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock

• Gyro Ball is chosen attacking move because it was needed to swiftly eliminate enemy Aerodactyl
• Hazards selected due to lack of other options and the fact that hazards seemed appealing to ease the job of the team's attackers
• Rapid Spin needed to clear hazards – especially helpful for Aerodactyl

Krookodile @ Choice Band
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Superpower
- Pursuit

• Choice Scarf considered, but Band eventually chosen due to the need of a powerful physical attacker and could easily demolish those who go second if Moxie activates (not to mention Intimidate triggers Defiant on Bisharp, which is something I don't need)
• Krookodile also needed as a countermeasure to Bisharp – resists Sucker Punch and outspeeds Bisharp. Also can act as a countermeasure to Electrics because HP Ice doesn't OHKO.
• Choice Scarf Gengar who is stuck with either STAB gets Pursuitted by Krookodile, and Life Orb/Choice Specs Gengar who is stuck with Focus Blast will get Pursuitted by Aerodactyl
• Superpower to lure Hydreigon, who is otherwise quite threatening if Primarina is down

Primarina @ Choice Specs
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Moonblast
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]

• Dual STAB nigh-unresisted by few – exceptions include Amoonguss and Venusaur
• Ice Beam can heavily damage Amoonguss – it does heavy damage to assist Gengar and Krookodile in taking down the shroom, so I don't have to sleep fodder something and then deploy Aerodactyl
• Max HP selected because a) speed is already pretty bad and b) allows Primarina to act as a more durable switch-in to problematic enemy Fire-types (i.e. Arcanine and Infernape) plus Hydreigon
• HP Electric chosen because alternative options are few and it can handle Volcanion pretty well

Problems (may assist teambuilders by identifying problems to fix)

Problems

Enemy Gengar is still pretty troublesome – it's not hard to take down both Pursuitters on this team, and if they go down, Gengar can go to town.

Hydreigon can U-turn on allies like Celebi, so switch-ins like Primarina have to deal with whatever teammate is coming next.

Scizor can survive one HP Fire (if no Nasty Plot) and if it gets healed later, Celebi's death was for naught.

Bisharp has massive DPS and can take out Krookodile (+ everyone on the team) with Sucker Punch given enough prior damage.

No switch-ins.

Is Autism incarnate (very unnerving to look at). Also tough to safely switch-into and manhandle.

 

[Hammerhead96]

Hi, I like the team comp, seems very offensive, and it's not a bad core, however, have you ever thought about scarf gengar? It's pretty common on ghost monotype teams, and it could really threaten your team if it gets in, outspeeding even megadactyl and 2hkoing with focus blast. Now, this might seem crazy, but what I suggest is that you could run scarf gengar as well, not only to counter LO variants, but also get more speed control out of your own gengar, allowing for outspeeds on +1 mega sharpedo, scarf terrakion, raikou and even crobat, even with a modest nature, for some easy revenge kills. Even though it may reduce some of the damage output you have, this set is mainly for revenge killing, so if you have SR down it can really clean things up after some damage.

nightshade (Gengar) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Destiny Bond

This is the set I have, destiny bond can also be used to help kill a strong threat even if SR aren't down. I'm going to say this now, I have very limited experience with the UU metagame itself, but I think this set can really help against some of those threats, especially the treats on the threat list up there. Also as a side note, you might want to try having either a devoted specially defensive celebi, or try out empoleon instead of celebi, as it can Really give opposing primarinas and hydreigons a headache, especially the scarf variants.

Hope this helps a bit!

EDIT: another thing to note is that nobody, and I mean nobody, uses wing attack when aerial ace is available. Same base power, but can't miss? No reason not to run that on your megadactyl

 

[SovereignC2]

Hi, I like the team comp, seems very offensive, and it's not a bad core, however, have you ever thought about scarf gengar? It's pretty common on ghost monotype teams, and it could really threaten your team if it gets in, outspeeding even megadactyl and 2hkoing with focus blast. Now, this might seem crazy, but what I suggest is that you could run scarf gengar as well, not only to counter LO variants, but also get more speed control out of your own gengar, allowing for outspeeds on +1 mega sharpedo, scarf terrakion, raikou and even crobat, even with a modest nature, for some easy revenge kills. Even though it may reduce some of the damage output you have, this set is mainly for revenge killing, so if you have SR down it can really clean things up after some damage.

nightshade (Gengar) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Destiny Bond

This is the set I have, destiny bond can also be used to help kill a strong threat even if SR aren't down. I'm going to say this now, I have very limited experience with the UU metagame itself, but I think this set can really help against some of those threats, especially the treats on the threat list up there. Also as a side note, you might want to try having either a devoted specially defensive celebi, or try out empoleon instead of celebi, as it can Really give opposing primarinas and hydreigons a headache, especially the scarf variants.

Hope this helps a bit!

EDIT: another thing to note is that nobody, and I mean nobody, uses wing attack when aerial ace is available. Same base power, but can't miss? No reason not to run that on your megadactyl

wing attack has higher pp. destiny bond risky on scarf cos fail if twice in a row.

 

[Hammerhead96]

wing attack has higher pp. destiny bond risky on scarf cos fail if twice in a row.

Hi sovereign, thanks for your opinion, but I actually don't agree with you.... At all, so here's why I chose what I did. Ok, so there is higher PP on wing attack, but like come on, in what situation is megadactyl going to run out of PP if aerial ace already has 32 PP? It dies way too early for stall to outlast that. Secondly, with the reduced damage from no LO, dazzling gleam just isn't worth the extra coverage, so there's actually not much of a choice when it comes to that anyway.

 

[Festus_Returns]

Hi sovereign, thanks for your opinion, but I actually don't agree with you.... At all, so here's why I chose what I did. Ok, so there is higher PP on wing attack, but like come on, in what situation is megadactyl going to run out of PP if aerial ace already has 32 PP? It dies way too early for stall to outlast that. Secondly, with the reduced damage from no LO, dazzling gleam just isn't worth the extra coverage, so there's actually not much of a choice when it comes to that anyway.

my n00t this isn't battle spot there's no evasion here there's literally no reason not to run wing attack over aerial ace wing attack is just slightly better bc more pp

 

[Festus_Returns]

hey man,
actually, as a newbie, your team looks pretty good, considering when I made my first UU team it had 5 fairy weaknesses
from what i can tell, you're going with a very offensive team build, and while forretress is good, it's not the best on this sort of team
i would say Klefki>Forretress, as it's the fastest Spikes user in the tier and provides helpful speed control against gengar, latias, hydreigon and darmanitan. It also scares off latias which is nice
your team is also shit on by Megapedo once forretress is dead and klefki can help with that a little
Here's the set I would recommend:

Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Play Rough
- Foul Play/Magnet Rise

Klefki's bread and butter set, if you've played against a klefki you've faced this
Spikes is a great form of residual damage, racking it up on stuff like amoonguss and suicune
T-Wave provides awesome speed control, crippling scarfers not named krookodile and having a nifty chance to immobilize them for a turn
Play Rough is to smack Latias and Megapedo
Foul Play is used to deter setup, put Magnet Rise can be used to set spikes on hippo or other grounds

With klefki replacing forretress, your team is even weaker to Megapedo, and you really need priority, so i would change Infernape>Gengar to help with the shark problem and hit amoonguss harder
unlike gengar, infernape can also run a mixed set, like the one below

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch
- Overheat
- U-Turn

The trick with LO Mixed infernape is accumulate as many debuffs as possible then U-Turn out. This set provides 2 extremely powerful attacks in overheat and close combat, with mach punch for priority and u-turn as a pivot.
the team looks good overall tho :] keep it up

 

[Amane Misa]

Hi! Nice team!

Other than the suggestions above, changing Primarina's spread to 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe with a Timid nature is way better in my opinion. It might give you a harder time against Hydreigon but I still it still worths it.

Set

Primarina @ Choice Specs
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Hydro Pump

SubCM Clefable > Celebi is another option I think you could consider. SubCM Clefable is a set I have been testing. Substitute allows it to set-up on Amoonguss and Tentacruel, what it can't do without it. It also helps it a lot against Suicune. It should make your team less Hydreigon weak, too.

Set

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 44 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Substitute

44 SpD to never have its Substitute broken by a neutral Suicune's Scald (Calm Mind alongside it).

I had more changes on top of my mind but I forgot... I need more sleep, huh?

Hope you found it helpful... feel free to contact me if you need any help!

 

[Mon of Steel]

Hi, I like the team comp, seems very offensive, and it's not a bad core, however, have you ever thought about scarf gengar? It's pretty common on ghost monotype teams, and it could really threaten your team if it gets in, outspeeding even megadactyl and 2hkoing with focus blast. Now, this might seem crazy, but what I suggest is that you could run scarf gengar as well, not only to counter LO variants, but also get more speed control out of your own gengar, allowing for outspeeds on +1 mega sharpedo, scarf terrakion, raikou and even crobat, even with a modest nature, for some easy revenge kills. Even though it may reduce some of the damage output you have, this set is mainly for revenge killing, so if you have SR down it can really clean things up after some damage.

nightshade (Gengar) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Destiny Bond

This is the set I have, destiny bond can also be used to help kill a strong threat even if SR aren't down. I'm going to say this now, I have very limited experience with the UU metagame itself, but I think this set can really help against some of those threats, especially the treats on the threat list up there. Also as a side note, you might want to try having either a devoted specially defensive celebi, or try out empoleon instead of celebi, as it can Really give opposing primarinas and hydreigons a headache, especially the scarf variants.

Hope this helps a bit!

EDIT: another thing to note is that nobody, and I mean nobody, uses wing attack when aerial ace is available. Same base power, but can't miss? No reason not to run that on your megadactyl

Small rate, but better than no rate. Cool idea for the ScarfGar, though I may want to toss Trick onto there so fatmons (i.e. Suicune) can't set up. Also it disrupts setup sweepers/Bisharp.

hey man,
actually, as a newbie, your team looks pretty good, considering when I made my first UU team it had 5 fairy weaknesses
from what i can tell, you're going with a very offensive team build, and while forretress is good, it's not the best on this sort of team
i would say Klefki>Forretress, as it's the fastest Spikes user in the tier and provides helpful speed control against gengar, latias, hydreigon and darmanitan. It also scares off latias which is nice
your team is also shit on by Megapedo once forretress is dead and klefki can help with that a little
Here's the set I would recommend:

Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Play Rough
- Foul Play/Magnet Rise

Klefki's bread and butter set, if you've played against a klefki you've faced this
Spikes is a great form of residual damage, racking it up on stuff like amoonguss and suicune
T-Wave provides awesome speed control, crippling scarfers not named krookodile and having a nifty chance to immobilize them for a turn
Play Rough is to smack Latias and Megapedo
Foul Play is used to deter setup, put Magnet Rise can be used to set spikes on hippo or other grounds

With klefki replacing forretress, your team is even weaker to Megapedo, and you really need priority, so i would change Infernape>Gengar to help with the shark problem and hit amoonguss harder
unlike gengar, infernape can also run a mixed set, like the one below

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch
- Overheat
- U-Turn

The trick with LO Mixed infernape is accumulate as many debuffs as possible then U-Turn out. This set provides 2 extremely powerful attacks in overheat and close combat, with mach punch for priority and u-turn as a pivot.
the team looks good overall tho :] keep it up

Excellent ideas, but this will leave me bereft of Stealth Rock (in a metagame where practically everyone utilizes this, I need it myself, as much as I hate it). My instincts tell me to put it on Celebi, but this makes Celebi's attacking job harder. I assume you want to put Stealth Rock on Krookodile instead?

Hi! Nice team!

Other than the suggestions above, changing Primarina's spread to 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe with a Timid nature is way better in my opinion. It might give you a harder time against Hydreigon but I still it still worths it.

Set

Primarina @ Choice Specs
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Hydro Pump

SubCM Clefable > Celebi is another option I think you could consider. SubCM Clefable is a set I have been testing. Substitute allows it to set-up on Amoonguss and Tentacruel, what it can't do without it. It also helps it a lot against Suicune. It should make your team less Hydreigon weak, too.

Set

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 44 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Substitute

44 SpD to never have its Substitute broken by a neutral Suicune's Scald (Calm Mind alongside it).

I had more changes on top of my mind but I forgot... I need more sleep, huh?

Hope you found it helpful... feel free to contact me if you need any help!

Thanks for the ideas, they're certainly viable alternatives. Though I'd like to ask two things (given my inexperience):
• Max Speed Primarina is "way better," but could you explain how?
• Clefable seems like a good Calm Minder, but doesn't it lose to Suicune because Pressure will deplete its PP faster than Suicune does?

Again, thanks to everyone because they were willing to help a scrub out.

 

[Festus_Returns]

Small rate, but better than no rate. Cool idea for the ScarfGar, though I may want to toss Trick onto there so fatmons (i.e. Suicune) can't set up. Also it disrupts setup sweepers/Bisharp.Excellent ideas, but this will leave me bereft of Stealth Rock (in a metagame where practically everyone utilizes this, I need it myself, as much as I hate it). My instincts tell me to put it on Celebi, but this makes Celebi's attacking job harder. I assume you want to put Stealth Rock on Krookodile instead?Thanks for the ideas, they're certainly viable alternatives. Though I'd like to ask two things (given my inexperience):
• Max Speed Primarina is "way better," but could you explain how?
• Clefable seems like a good Calm Minder, but doesn't it lose to Suicune because Pressure will deplete its PP faster than Suicune does?

Again, thanks to everyone because they were willing to help a scrub out.

yea, looking back on it, i would change krook to a rocky helmet defensive krook with rocks
you can keep pursuit for latias and other psychics, but change moxie to intimidate as no bisharp wants to switchin on earthquake and even at +1 bisharp can't OHKO with sucker punch. If you run enough speed to beat bisharp you should be fine

 

[Lixx]

I would suggest running enough speed on primarina to outspeed conkeldurr. 138 speed investmant in primarina allows you to do that. Running max speed in general is a good idea to tie with other primarinas as well. Team looks good regardless. Best of luck.

 

[Amane Misa]

Small rate, but better than no rate. Cool idea for the ScarfGar, though I may want to toss Trick onto there so fatmons (i.e. Suicune) can't set up. Also it disrupts setup sweepers/Bisharp.Excellent ideas, but this will leave me bereft of Stealth Rock (in a metagame where practically everyone utilizes this, I need it myself, as much as I hate it). My instincts tell me to put it on Celebi, but this makes Celebi's attacking job harder. I assume you want to put Stealth Rock on Krookodile instead?Thanks for the ideas, they're certainly viable alternatives. Though I'd like to ask two things (given my inexperience):
• Max Speed Primarina is "way better," but could you explain how?
• Clefable seems like a good Calm Minder, but doesn't it lose to Suicune because Pressure will deplete its PP faster than Suicune does?

Again, thanks to everyone because they were willing to help a scrub out.

Honestly, I haven't tested a Clefable vs. Suicune scenario so I really can't tell you. Though Substitute should definitely help it, as Suicune's neutral Scald can't even break it so Suicune has to waste two Scalds in order to break a Substitute.

Max speed Primarina outspeeds Adamant Bisharp, most Nidoqueen sets, Jolly Crawdaunt, Adamant Scizor and a lot more. Check out the UU speed tiers thread to see more.