Priority In Ubers

[fidgety]

OK, Priority in Uber is a hugely influential factor in team building as much so or even more so than any tier. This is due to the presence of Extremespeed-Killer Arceus and Swords Dance Rayquaza as well as Thundurus and it's priority T-Wave/Taunt, Giratina-O with its solid Dual STABs, Ghost Typing, and bulk, and all the other lesser options. Priority Abuse is not a strategy that should be overlooked able to blow through any lesser team and even give some of the best built teams serious issues particularly offensive who don't like having the Speed tiers put so far off balance, though due to the sheer power of some of the best priority abusers Stall teams can get quite shaken up as well.

THE SWEEPERS



EXTREMESPEED-KILLER ARCEUS

Stats:

HP: 120
ATTACK: 120
DEFENSE: 120
SPECIAL ATTACK: 120
SPECIAL DEFENSE: 120
SPEED: 120


EVs:

Max Attack generally Adamant, 132 Speed to beat the base 90s; 176 Speed to beat the 95s; 212 to beat the base 100s; 232 Speed to beat Chomp, 176 Jolly to beat the base 110s, and 184 Jolly to beat Thundurus/Tornados (though they take enough from Extremespeed that generally it isn't worth it), then put the remainder in HP.

Moves:

• Swords Dance
• Extremespeed
• Earthquake
• Shadow Claw
• Fire Blast/Overheat
• Brick Break
• Recover
• Substitute

Swords Dance allows Arceus to Attain +2 Attack, Extremespeed is a solid STAB Attack, Earthquake + Shadow Claw is perfect coverage bar Skarmory though for those of you who really think it is worth it Brick Break can be used over Earthquake as to attain perfect coverage though with 25 less base power. Fire Blast/Overheat Allow Arceus to beat Steels like Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Forretress, Scizor, and the odd Bronzong more easilly than any other option and are great when paired with Swords Dance Rayquaza. Substitute allows for Status Defense and Recover allows for reliable HP recovery.


Items:

• Leftovers
• Life Orb
• Silk Scarf
• Lum Berry

Lefties are the main option as to further Arceus' bulk, Life Orb powers up all of Arceus' moves by 30% at the cost of 10% recoil every round while Silk Scarf Doesn't have the Recoil but only Powers up E-Speed and by 20% instead, Lum Berry allows it to recover from Status.


Summary:

Extremely (excuse the pun but too good to pass up) strong, its Speed stat allows for immense versatility in EVing as was demonstrated, plenty of power, and arguably the best priority sweeper in all of Ubers due to STAB Extremespeed. 4 different options for Items that all provide good results, 9 Different Moves that allow it to handle so many different approaches to it's job and do any of them well, and Stats that are befitting of the god of all Pokemon base 120 across the board make it outright amazing. No wonder that on both PO and Smogon it is constantly top 5. It partners with so many different Pokemon in the tier so well and it has a Movepool such that it can fit nearly any team with fairly little effort.



Checks/Counters:

Physically Defensive Groudon - This is the one of the main choices of Defensive teams to keep Arceus in check, 3HKO'd by +2 Extremespeed assuming Lefties and can Roar it out or do pretty good damage with Earthquake.

Giratina-A: Will-O-Wisp neuters anything physical that isn't immune and this thing has more bulk than god itself, though Lum Berry variants can be trouble.

Ghost and Steel Arceus - Same thing as Giratina-A minus having more bulk than god itself.

Lugia - Reflect + Recover(if Multi-Scale in Dream World only)/Roost + Toxic allow it to stall Arceus out.

Cresselia - Reflect + Moonlight + Toxic allow it to stall Arceus out thanks to it's amazing bulk though Moonlight has only 8 PP as opposed to the 16 PP of Roost/recover, and it is not very good under Rain nor the odd instance of Sand as it only heals 33.33% as opposed to 50%, however under Sun it heals 66.66% so it's healing is unreliable.

Skarmory - If Arceus doesn't have a Fire move Skarm walls it all day and Phazes it with Whirlwind.

Bronzong - Same as Skarm except it can't Phaze.

Scarf-Dialga/ Terrakion (Scarf may or may not be necessary based on number of speed EVs on Arceus) - Resists E-speed and hits back hard with Draco Meteor or Close Combat respectively.

SWORDS DANCE RAYQUAZA

STATS:

HIT POINTS - 105
ATTACK - 150
DEFENSE - 90
SPECIAL ATTACK - 150
SPECIAL DEFENSE - 90
SPEED - 95

EVs:

Max Attack generally 216 Speed Jolly to beat the base 90s remainder (aka 40) into HP.

Moves:

• Swords Dance
• Extremespeed
• Dragon Claw/Outrage
• Earthquake
• Fire Blast/Overheat

Outrage v Dragon Claw comes down to weather or not you want a lot of power or a way to avoid getting trapped by steels, Earthquake or Fire Blast/Overheat depends on weather or not you are worried about Arceus-Steel/Dialga/Arceus-Rock/Tyranitar/Rachi vs. Ferrothorn/Scizor/Forry/Skarm/Zong.


Items:

• Life Orb
• Leftovers

Life Orb just because this guy loves the extra power, but Lefties are an option nonetheless for extra Bulk.


Summary:

The other priority sweeper that dominates Ubers individually it and Arceus are dangerous together they are out and out devastating, I learned early on either carry 2 sweepers with similar behaviors and counters or exact opposite ones these two function so much alike it is almost scary and since Ubers is more of a special based tier running 2 Physical Sweepers like this is destructive unless your opponent is prepared to face both in the same battle.


Checks/Counters:

A lot of what stops Extremespeed-Killer Arceus.

Exceptions: Giratina-A dies to a +2 Life Orb Dragon Claw, if the Rayquaza is running Outrage not stopping it even if it is holding Lefties, unfortunately for Arceus Steel Earthquake is a bit more common on Swords Dance Rayquaza than it is on Arceus and with Life Orb +2 76% chance 1HKO with Rocks, Terrakion needs to use Stone Edge not Close Combat and the Scarf is pointless as even with max Speed Rayquaza is slower, and Lugia and Cresselia can threaten more directly due to Ice Beam.

Jirachi - Can 1HKO Ray with Ice Punch and Resists Dragon Claw/Outrage and E-Speed.

Palkia - Spacial Rend/Draco Meteor both 1HKO but Extremespeed hurts it a lot.

Garchomp - See Palkia but change Spacial Rend/Draco Meteor to Dragon Claw/Outrage.

GIRATINA-ORIGIN FORME

STATS:

HIT POINTS - 150
ATTACK - 120
DEFENSE - 100
SPECIAL ATTACK - 120
SPECIAL DEFENSE - 100
SPEED - 90

EVs:

Focus on power unlike Arceus and Rayuaza's Extremespeed, Giratina's Shadow Sneak isn't overly powerful and it is in the base 90 tier so speed wise it is hardly winning any awards so balance with as much power as you can and then set the remaining EVs into bulk, though you could focus on Speed before the offenses but this thing's offenses are kind average by Uber standards and as stated base 90 Speed tier isn't great.

Moves:

• Outrage/Dragon Claw
• Dragon Tail
• Shadow Ball
• Shadow Sneak
• Hidden Power [Fire]
• Draco Meteor
• Earthquake
• Aura Sphere

Draco Meteor is the strongest dragon move in the game but with the drawback of a -2 Special Attack, Hidden Power Fire is for Ferrothorn, Forry, Skarm, and Excadrill among others. Shadow Sneak is priority though as I've already mentioned this guy doesn't emphasize on it the way Ray or Arceus do for Extremespeed, Shadow Ball is a Special Ghost STAB option, Dragon Tail is for Phazing, Outrage/Dragon Claw is for Physical Dragon STAB, Aura Sphere/Earthquake are alternate options to Hidden Power Fire for beating Steels.


Item:

• Griseous Orb

Now then you may notice that the only Item listed here is Giratina's trademark Item the Griseous Orb which powers up all of Giratina's Ghost/Dragon moves by 20% and for those of you that don't know it can't hold anything else and still be in it's Origin Forme this includes via Trick which is really nice and part of the reason it saw use in Gen 4 Ubers though it is a shame that you can't use Lefties to allow it to regain HP nor LO as to power up all it's moves but that is life.


Summary:

Considered the best spin blocker/trick absorber in Ubers history, the entire reason it has carried HP Fire since it started to see use in gen 4 is because it handled Forry better than any other viable ghost type. In Heart Gold/Soul Silver it picked up a new toy known as Shadow Sneak a Physical Ghost move with +1 priority this took it into IIRC the top 10-15 in Ubers, this thing will always have an impact on the Ubers tier and a strong one at that.


Checks/Counters:

Lugia/Cresselia - Can take most anything Giratina can send their way and chip it down with Ice Beam.

Arceus-Steel - Resists everything Giratina commonly has bar HP Fire and doesn't take enough from that for a 2HKO.
Heatran - If it is lacking Aura Sphere and EQ Giratina can't do much if anything and takes major damage from Dragon Pulse.

Tyranitar (Specially Defensive)/Jirachi (Specially Defensive) - Come in on a special move and threaten with Crunch (Tyranitar), come in on a Dragon move other than Dragon Tail threaten with Iron Head or ice punch or just sit on it and take little to nothing from all common Attacks (Jirachi).

Power house Dragons have no issues revenging it though Dialga does it best due to its Ghost resist.

HONORABLE MENTIONS - OFFENSE

Deoxys-A - 180/180/150 offenses with that Movepool are unrivaled, but it can't take a real hit to save it's life.

Other Arceus forms - While having the alternate STAB is nice it misses the versatility in the item department and the STAB on Extremespeed.

Scizor - SD/Band Technician Bullet Punch is powerful it doesn't have the same impact and power as it does in OU.

Weavile - can sweep with Swords Dance using Ice Shard to beat faster or speed boosted Dragons though it isn't as good as it was last gen.

Mamoswine - while it can necessarily sweep it is a decent user of choice band due to Earthquake, Stone Edge, Ice Shard, Icicle Crash, and super power, though like Weavile its out of its prime.

Tornados - +1 priority Bulk Up would be interesting but not enough bulk or resources to really pull it off.

Lucario - Great Typing combined with, Swords Dance, nice offensive movepool including things like Crunch; Ice Punch; Close Combat; and Extremespeed, However 110 Attack/90 Speed isn't doing it many favors nor is its lackluster bulk.

THE SUPPORTERS



THUNDURUS

STATS:

HIT POINTS - 79
ATTACK - 115
DEFENSE - 70
SPECIAL ATTACK - 125
SPECIAL DEFENSE - 80
SPEED - 111

EVs:

This guy really doesn't have much in the way of bulk so go all out on Speed and the Special Attack (the only time you will use the Physical Attack stat is on a mixed set using Hammer Arm to Bait and Defeat Chansey/Blissey).

Moves:

• Thunderbolt/Thunder
• Hidden Power [Ice]
• Focus Blast
• +1 priority Thunder Wave
• +1 priority Taunt
• Volt Switch
• Grass Knot
• Nasty Plot (has +1 priority but as it doesn't effect the opponent's pokemon nor does it boost Thundurus' Defenses/restore its HP/status it's priority is completely irrelevant)
• Hammer Arm

The first thing that you will notice is that for a poke with little bulk I'm putting a fair bit of emphasis on it's support moves that is for the likely few if not none of you that don't know it has the new ability Prankster giving it's support moves +1 priority but it has a very nice offensive movepool as well with Nasty Plot (+2 SAtk anyone), Volt Change (scouting), Hammer Arm (beat Chansey/Blissey on a mixed Set), Thunderbolt/Thunder (main STAB (Thunder is really only if used with Ogre)), Focus Blast (to beat Steels), HP Ice (Beat all those Dragons running around), and Grass Knot (beat Groudon mainly).

Items:

• Life Orb
• Leftovers
• Lum Berry

This thing has Wants Life Orb for the Extra Power unless it is running NP, however Either Way Lefties and Lum Berry are options to help its Longevity with either a HP regen or 1 time Status recovery.


Summary:

This thing was an absolute beast in OU however despite it's Stats seeming fairly average bar its Speed in Ubers it is still a solid force though not what the other 3 are. Despite the rough tier it is a good supporter and can maintain offensive momentum which is very nice. All in all much more than it first appears to be and should not be ignored while building your Team.

Checks/Counters:

Blissey/Evolite Chansey - Duh, so long as it isn't running Taunt/Focus Blast + NP or is a Hammer Arm variant these two can stall for LO + Toxic damage all day.

Fast power hitters - If it can get past 353 speed it will more than likely take care of Thundurus though watch out for T-Wave.

Scarf-Chomp - Outrage and Dragon Claw dispose of it and is immune to the Electric moves.

Ground-Arceus - Immune to T-wave and T-bolt/Thunder/Volt Change outspeeds, 1HKOs easy with Edge.

HONORABLE MENTIONS - SUPPORT:

Whimsitott - Huge support movepool but meh bulk by UU standards so a slight letdown in OU and not overly efficient in Ubers Without serious support.

Volbeat- Tail Glow and Priority Baton Pass is an interesting concept but it doesn't have enough bulk to get more than 1 boost and that is with a sash and spin support on top of this it doesn't have the other crucial resources such as Taunt and so on to help protect its passing.

Sableye - Perfectly tuned movepool including Will-O-Wisp, Recover, Swagger+Foul Play, Taunt, Substitute, and torment and typing for abusing prankster however it's Defenses (50/75/65) and general lack of resists give it issues.

Liepard (Dream World Only) - Priority assist if it gets a Phazing move is annoying though if it doesn't the thing is good as dead so unless you want to gimmick your opponent to death not worth using.

IF I HAVE MISSED ANY CHECKS/COUNTERS OR THERE IS SOMETHING YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO ADD PLEASE POST IT BUT KEEP IT REASONABLE.

Well here are a couple teams that do a good job of Abusing Priority figured having them here for further reference would be a good idea (take note they would have pictures a Number of pictures (the second has none ATM) but many are gone due to issues over on Veekun and I haven't had a real Chance to take care of them yet).

Uber Attack

Team Ninja

If you want one of Your Own Teams added to the list PM me with said Team the only Prerequisite is that is peaked in the top 100 on either the Smogon or PO/Beta Servers and actually be priority abuse teams (just because a team has SD Ray, E-Speed-Killer Arceus, Support Thundurus, or Mixed Giratina-O doesn't mean it is a real priority abuse team).

[bluemon]

priority nasty plot isnt useless. it allows you to use it before taunt.
but regardless..

GREAT POST :)

edit: maybe sableye in hm?

[fidgety]

Originally Posted by Fat bluemon

priority nasty plot isnt useless. it allows you to use it before taunt.
but regardless..

GREAT POST :)

edit: maybe sableye in hm?

considering Deoxys-S is about the only thing that will consistently run taunt and outspeeds (the only other thing that i can think of that ever will is certain variants of Mewtwo) the priority is pretty useless.

Thanks; also for those of you who are wondering why it is so thorough from square one it is because i've been developing it over on the OP forums since early April.

Sableye is a possibility its probably more viable than Whimsicott, I'll want more feed back on this though first, Leipard is really only there because I've been trolled to hell by it using priority Assist and constantly rolling Whirlwind/Roar and someone over on PO was pushing for it anyway.

[shrang]

No mention of Lucario? I've been watching and playing various Ubers matches and have been seeing how weak so many teams are to this thing. Just your standard SD set runs through quite a lot of weakened teams.

Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant / Jolly
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Crunch

[waterwarrior]

Lucario is pretty much outclassed by Terrakion as a Fighting type and Arceus as an ExtremeSpeed abuser. Its base 80 (right?) Speed doesn't help it, as its slower than the majority of Ubers, unlike the two pokes I mentioned.

[Furai]

I think you are missing a point. Lucario is somewhere between those two, what makes him a total beast.


AND WHERE THE FUCK IS SABLEYE.

[fidgety]

I'm adding luke (the only reason it isn't already is that it doesn't see too much use in Ubers so i wanted to see someone suggest it before I added it Tornados was Added because i remembered the BU set being in one of the older Analyses (I think it was Shrang's though i can't remember for certain)), Volbeat was really more with all the Special Attackers and was added like May/June, and Mamoswine/Weavile were suggested over on the PO thread.

Ok, seeing as i've Got another for Sableye I'll add it.

@waterwarrior it is a base 90 not 80.

[ZetoTarken]

Originally Posted by Fat waterwarrior

Lucario is pretty much outclassed by Terrakion as a Fighting type and Arceus as an ExtremeSpeed abuser. Its base 80 (right?) Speed doesn't help it, as its slower than the majority of Ubers, unlike the two pokes I mentioned.

Lucario is base 90 speed which means it can outspeed a good number of pokes because base 90s tend to cut speed for bulk unless they're scarfed.

[CommandurrClowncrete]

My favorite has to be Sucker Punch Bisharp. It requires good prediction but can be brutal if used properly.

[fidgety]

@above with all the Fighting, Fire, and to a lesser extent Ground moves being used for coverage or otherwise in Ubers Bisharp Struggles to come in And has trouble beating top pokes like Dialga, Darkrai, Groudon, Skarmory, Scizor, Excadrill, Arceus-Normal Forme (if you Use Sucker Punch it fails against E-Speed and EQ KOs before you can Get in Brick Break), and Blaziken just to name a few.

[CommandurrClowncrete]

Originally Posted by Fat fidgety

@above with all the Fighting, Fire, and to a lesser extent Ground moves being used for coverage or otherwise in Ubers Bisharp Struggles to come in And has trouble beating top pokes like Dialga, Darkrai, Groudon, Skarmory, Scizor, Excadrill, Arceus-Normal Forme (if you Use Sucker Punch it fails against E-Speed and EQ KOs before you can Get in Brick Break), and Blaziken just to name a few.

I know it has some problems but It works well against pokes locked into Outrage(quite a few pokes use outrage).
The question is "Which is your favorite featured Priority Abuser?" I like using Bisharp. Its a challenge. And it works pretty well for me inspite of everything you mentioned.

[IcyMan28]

Originally Posted by Fat waterwarrior

Lucario is pretty much outclassed by Terrakion as a Fighting type and Arceus as an ExtremeSpeed abuser. Its base 80 (right?) Speed doesn't help it, as its slower than the majority of Ubers, unlike the two pokes I mentioned.

I would be careful with this. As another poster stated, it is between those two in terms of usefulness.

Terrakion has the stronger fighting STAB and higher speed, but it lacks the priority that Lucario can use to seriously wound things like ScarfPalkia or Lati@s before going down. And since many of its fellow base 90 group don't invest much in speed (Kyogre, Groudon, Dialga, etc), it still manages to do a good bit of damage with its STAB to the point where it can muscle past things Extremekiller doesn't.

[fidgety]

Originally Posted by Fat Rby94

I know it has some problems but It works well against pokes locked into Outrage(quite a few pokes use outrage).
The question is "Which is your favorite featured Priority Abuser?" I like using Bisharp. Its a challenge. And it works pretty well for me inspite of everything you mentioned.

OK, I Thought you meant it as an addition to the OP so this I can respect.