Ubers Teambuilding

[Phazon00]

It isn't Modest, it's Timid. Timid never 2HKOes.

[White symphoni]

Er,why is Blaziken listed in the bulky attacker/tank section and why is there 2 wallbreaker sections?

[TooWycked]

Yeah, I was wondering that myself. Very helpful thread though.

[Furai]

All updated and fixed. Thanks, White symphoni, TooWycked, and everyone who posted sets!

[Brave Bird spam]

[Set]
Xatu@ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 248 HP, 216 Def, 44 SDef, Calm Nature
- U-Turn
- Heat wave
- Roost/ Wish
- Toxic/ Thunder Wave

What it does: One of the most underrated pokemon in the ubers tier, xatu’s niche as a supporter is to utterly troll all hazard users bar mold breaker excadrill and offensive dialga with its incredibly ability, magic bounce. Reflecting all support moves allows xatu to make the job of handling a stall team much easier because it renders passive damage ineffective and heal off direct damage with roost or even wish. It puts a full stop to ferrothorn, Deoxys-S, Deoxys-D, support dialga, jirachi, forretress provided you avoid volt switch on the switch, and more. The EVs allow it to always survive a draco meteor from support dialga so it can outspeed it the next turn and roost. Note that using wish means that dialga can safely achieve a 2HKO. Xatu also has a nice base 95 speed that allows it to outspeed common defensive pokemon.
What Counters it: Xatu’s purpose in life is to block entry hazards, so hazard users that can break xatu will prevent it from doing its duty and most likely limit it to serving as death fodder. Examples of these are mold breaker excadrill, offensive dialga, support arceus-ghost, tyranitar, and the occasional deoxys-a are good examples of these. A pursuit user like scizor or, again, tyranitar can trap and kill xatu as well, though scizor fears heat wave if rain is not up.

Good Teammates: Pokemon that can take advantage of xatu’s uncanny hazard-preventing abilities, like ho-oh, lugia, and reshiram, are mandatory because they justify xatu’s use. Ho-oh can also take on SRers like deoxys-A, offensive groudon, and life orb dialga that xatu has trouble with. Kyogre appreciates its water spout staying at full power. Groudon and the aforementioned lugia are both good teammates as they can fend off sweepers like lum berry DD rayquaza that may try to set up on xatu. Note that neither one has particularly good type synergy with xatu except for groudon’s rock resist. Typewise, jirachi is a good partner because it has good type synergy, can set up stealth rock, and also has u-turn to continue a chain of momentum that xatu can start with its u-turn. The giratinas are also helpful because they’re spinblocking capabilities can help keep hazards xatu may have reflected on the other side of the field.



Additional Comments: Toxic is usually more useful than thunder wave since support pokemon, which xatu usually switches into, but thunder wave works too. Likewise, roost is generally superior to wish as the instant recovery is useful an Xatu’s HP stat isn’t the greatest. Heat wave nails ferrothorn, forretress, and skarmory outside of rain, while also making it significantly harder for scizor to use xatu as setup bait. U-Turn maintains momentum agaist the defensive pokemon that will often switch out from xatu(though forretress can still screw xatu with its slower volt switch). 124 speed EVs allows xatu to outspeed standard lugia, but that does sacrifice a lot of bulk.

I will be posting sets for zekrom and wobbuffet soon as well.

EDIT: Mixed zekrom--


[Set]
Zekrom@ Life Orb
Trait: Terravolt
EVs: 252 Att, 92 SpA, 164 Spd, Naughty or Lonely Nature
- Bolt Strike
- Draco Meteor
- Focus Blast/ Volt Switch
- Dragon Claw/ Outrage
Role: Wallbreaker
What it Does: Zekrom is a devastating mixed attacker, as it can tear apart common walls like lugia, giratina, groudon and kyogre as well as less common threats like skarmory. This EV spread lets it outspeed standard lugia, which is the fastest common wall except arceus forms (which usually run too much speed for zekrom to outpace them anyways) while hitting as hard as possible. Bolt strike mauls the vast majority of pokemon that don’t resist it while draco meteor takes out unsuspecting physical walls like groudon and giratina. Focus blast is mainly for ferrothorn and excadrill, but keep in mind that speedy variants of excadrill can outspeed zekrom, so focus blast should be used mainly to hit excadrill on the switch. Dragon claw and outrage are additional STAB moves that see little use but are helpful once in a while.
What Counters it: Zekrom’s raw power and STAB coverage makes it very difficult to counter. However, various arceus forms, most notably grass and ground, fare well against it. Another approach is to use a wall such as groudon to force zekrom to use draco meteor, switch to a steel type or pink blob to sponge it, then use the original wall to take on zekrom, which is much easier after a special attack drop. However, keep in mind that a good player may predict a switch and turn blissey/ chansey/ jirachi into a smoldering crater with bolt strike. More often than not, though, the best approach is to simply prey on zekrom’s low speed, average defenses, and common weaknesses to revenge kill it. Pokemon like rayquaza, palkia, and lati@s are ideal for this.
Good Teammates: Teammates should be able to take advantage of zekrom’s ability to shatter walls. Swords dance scizor is therefore a good teammate because not only does it have good type synergy with zekrom, but it can take advantage of a ruined giratina/ lugia/ groudon to sweep as well as fending off the revenge killers zekrom attracts with bullet punch. Another option is to use volt switch on zekrom in conjunction with banded scizor or scarf genesect to form a voltturn chain. Swords dance arceus forms are also good teammates because their excellent speed compliments zekroms destructive power nicely and they can sweep late game with ease.
Additional Comments: Volt switch should mainly be used to A) Form a voltturn chain or B) Break Shaymin-S’s subseed cycle. In any other case focus blast is superior.

[Hack He Must]

I love that mon Brave Bird spam! An alternative spread that has functioned very nicely was 252 hp, 136 def, 120 special def, careful natured with Focus Sash. Allows Xatu always do its job at least once no matter what happens. Thank you Anikrahman1995 for this spread! It allows feats such as surviving a hit from LO SR Dialga, night shading or heat waving for some damage (+2 LO recoils) which gets it in range for Ho-oh. Btw, mention Ho-oh as a teammate. It's really the best team-mate to any magic bouncer.

The reason is this list: Groudon, Dialga, Ferrothorn, Forretress, Jirachi, Deoxys-A, Arceus-formes.

These are all common stealth rock setters. They all fear Ho-oh who in the sun can deal massive amounts of damage to all of them, 2HKOing everyone with an invested, life orbed, sun boosted sacred fire. The synergy with Xatu doesn't matter. Rock weakness is just what Xatu is going to help out with by bouncing rocks. And you will run Groudon alongside the two.

Reserved for Espeon.

[Go10]

Why are using Xatu as a suicid lead when you can do the same job, if not better, with Espeon ? The latter is used when you dont really need bulkyness, playing Xatu like this is kind of a waste.

[Brave Bird spam]

Originally Posted by Fat Hack He Must

I love that mon Brave Bird spam!



An alternative spread that has functioned very nicely was 252 hp, 136 def, 120 special def, careful natured with Focus Sash. Allows Xatu always do its job at least once no matter what happens. Thank you Anikrahman1995 for this spread! It allows feats such as surviving a hit from LO SR Dialga, night shading or heat waving for some damage (+2 LO recoils) which gets it in range for Ho-oh. Btw, mention Ho-oh as a teammate. It's really the best team-mate to any magic bouncer.

The reason is this list: Groudon, Dialga, Ferrothorn, Forretress, Jirachi, Deoxys-A, Arceus-formes.

These are all common stealth rock setters. They all fear Ho-oh who in the sun can deal massive amounts of damage to all of them, 2HKOing everyone with an invested, life orbed, sun boosted sacred fire. The synergy with Xatu doesn't matter. Rock weakness is just what Xatu is going to help out with by bouncing rocks. And you will run Groudon alongside the two.

Me too =D

If you used focus sash on xatu though, would it be better to invest more in speed over bulk or as go10 said even use espeon...? Also I will edit my earlier post mention that ho-oh takes on the SRer xatu can't. Thanks for pointing it out!

[Frog]

Ok, So I haven't finalized EVs or anything yet but I have this idea I would like to share, this subsplit giratina-o. It works well with sub/d-tail/HP fire/pain split at protecting hazards, with lots of speed and some attack, a little SpA just to get through ferro/genesect/skarmory/forretress. I have been using it in standardish sun with groudon/ho oh/latias/forretress/terrakion, can somebody else test this out to see what they think? I guess in rain it could run will o wisp or earthquake or thunder.

[Hack He Must]

Go10, it's not a suicide lead, it is just able to switch in on any SR users, whatsoever, and bounce at least once. I agree that Espeon outclasses it in the role of a focus sashed magic bouncer, but Xatu is still bulky enough to stall support Groudon and other defensive stealth rockers with this spread.

[jackm]

Reshiram @ Choice Specs
Trait: Turboblaze
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Modest nature
- Blue Flare
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast
Role: Wallbreaker
What it Does: Choice Specs Reshiram is a dangerous Wallbreaker, pushing through common walls like Lugia, Arceus, and even Kyogre with ease. Heck, under sun Blue Flare can OHKO Manaphy! Unfortunately, Reshiram faces some competition from Kyurem-W, who boasts similar coverage but greater speed and overall power. In order to have Reshiram warrant a teamslot, one needs to capitalize on its incredible ability to shred through common walls with its overwhelming power.
What Counters it: Nothing counters Choice Specs Reshiram, in the strictest sense of the word. Its ability to 2HKO everything under the sun (no pun intended) after Stealth Rock means that more indirect measures have to be taken to head it off. Changing the weather is the most reliable approach, considering that Reshiram's ace in the hole is its sun-boosted Blue Flare. SDef Kyogre can do this fairly well, although it has the potential to be 2HKO'd by Draco Meteor, regardless of hazards. Bulky Tyranitar also suffices, as the SDef boost that sand grants Tar allows it to weather anything but Focus Blast with ease. Once the weather is changed, Reshiram becomes significantly easier to deal with. Walls like Chansey, Blissey, and Lugia can all come in and stall Reshiram out, although Lugia requires rain. If one really needs a pinch check but Stealth Rock isn't up, Chansey or any Fire-resisting Arceus (sans Dragon, obviously) will do the trick, as they can usually avoid the 2HKO under sun.
Good Teammates: Weather is unarguably the most important factor in determining Reshiram's success. As such, Groudon is a mandatory partner. Without control over weather, Reshiram will be rendered ineffective against a large portion of teams due to the ubiquity of rain. Groudon's access to Stealth Rock compounds its usefulness; Choice Specs Reshiram greatly appreciates the presence of entry hazards on the opponent's field because they aid it in breaking through common switch-ins such as Ho-Oh (which can no longer switch into Reshiram at 50%) Kyogre, and Rock Arceus. A spinner or Magic Bounce user is also important to this set, due to its reliance on Reshiram's ability to switch in, hit hard, and switch out. Finally, Choice Specs Reshiram's wall-shattering power makes cleaners, such as Darkrai, Mewtwo, and Choice Scarf Palkia, great partners due to their ability to easily sweep through a weakened team. (This last part was copypasted from my Reshiram analysis)

[trixter109]

Shaymin-Sky @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Leaf Storm / Seed Flare
- Earth Power
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Role: Support, Wallbreaker, and Lead

What it does: This Shaymin-Sky serves as a wallbreaker and good support option for a sun team. It poses a threat to all four weather starters used in Ubers. With it's astounding base 127 speed stat and max speed EVs; it can outrun any unboosted pokemon in the metagame even without a plus speed nature. It can also be a lead, flinching threats such as Darkrai to death. If you don't know what I mean about the flinching, Air Slash has a a 30& chance to make the opponent flinch. That is doubled by Serene Grace, Shaymin's ability.

I perfer Leaf Storm for pure power, but it also halves your special attack. Seed Flare can deal more consistant damage, but I like to switch Shaymin a lot so Leaf Storm works well for me. Air Slash complimens Leaf Storm and Seed Flare well. It gets STAB and can KO opponents through flinching. Earth Power covers mainly Steel-types that shake off the former moves. HP-Ice is good for revenge-killing opposing Shaymin, Garchomp, and Rayquaza.

EVs are fairly simple. Max special attack and speed to be sure it hits hard and outruns the whole unboosted tier. Minimal investment in special defense gives a little bulk.

Good Teammates: Well this obviosly is mostly for a Sun team. It takes out certain whales and behemoths with ease and can kill the most nutorious wallbreaker out there, Rayquaza. This also could find a unique niche on a stall team. You could use it to destroy wallbreakers, like the aformentioned, Rayquaza.

What counters it: There is much that can kill Shaymin-S, so proper support should be there. Common fire-types, such as Blaziken and Ho-Oh eliminate Shaymin-S with ease. Other than that Shaymin-S can flinch and revenge-kill most of the tier.

Additional Info: Well, I'm afraid I said everything there is to say above. I will, however, leave you with this warning: Do NOT use this set to sweep. While it seems tempting with all that speed and power, you will get into a spot where your locked into Leaf Storm against a Blaziken. Other than that, thanks for reading my post and have a nice day, night, or whatever time of day you are reading this at.

[jackm]

Just nitpicking, but Hippowdon is quite viable in Ubers as well as Tyranitar; therefore, it should be "It poses a threat to all four weather starters in Ubers".

[trixter109]

Originally Posted by Fat jackm

Just nitpicking, but Hippowdon is quite viable in Ubers as well as Tyranitar; therefore, it should be "It poses a threat to all four weather starters in Ubers".

True, Hippodown is viable in Ubers. I think that was a typo, anyway. Thanks for pointing it out and I fixed it.