SpikeStack Offensive Peaked(#3)

Hello, smogonairs, it's beginner 14 here bringing you my second Bw underused team. This team has been doing quite well, it actually was able to peak 66 on the smogon ladder. Now, after more months of hard work, I was able to peak #3. Still going. Without further ado, here's my UU team:SpikeStack Offensive


Team at a Glance














Hippoptas(M) @Eviolite
Trait-Sand Stream
Evs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 Spe
Impish nature(+Def, -SAtk)
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
-Slack off
-Roar

Due to the recent banning of Hippowdon, Sand teams have taken a bit of a fall. But, Hippopotas can fill the same role, as well as putting up the rocks and tanking physical hits. Stealth Rock is there to rack up residual damage on pokes that like to switch in such as Darmanitan. Earthquake is there just to damage. Roar to phaze out pokes that try to setup on hippopotas. And Slack off is the only way of recovery, Hippopotas has, besides rest to heal itself. Since this team relies on the hazards in the form of rocks and spikes, I need to lead with Hipopo to get rocks up ASAP. In case I need to lead with something that can counter hipopo's counters, I will do so by Azelf or Heracross. Ev's are there to maximum its bulk.




The Unpredictable (Azelf) @Expert Belt
Trait-Levitate
Evs: 252 Sp. Atk/252 Spe/4 HP
Timid nature(+Spe, -Atk
-Psyshock
-Energy Ball
-Shadow Ball
-Flamethrower

I had alakazam on this team, but unfortunately, it went to OU. Alakazam was a beast, but Azelf could also fill the role nicely. I call this Azelf the Unpredictable one because it has a variety of sets it could use. For example, it could be a lead to set up rocks or suicide lead. My Azelf is an all out attacker, so it tries to lead off to get the momentum going. Secondly, everybody thinks Azelf is either Specs or Scarfs. I don't know why. But I always love it. They switch in to pokes that try and set up subs, but pysch, not specs or scarf, and that is a kill for Azelf. I don't know why its UU, it has so much power.






Heracross(M) @Choice scarf
Trait-Guts
Evs: 252 Atk/252 Spe/4 HP
Adamant nature(+Atk, - SAtk)
-Megahorn
-Close combat
-Stone edge
-Night Slash


Heracross is one of the main sweepers on my team. It's moves are almost perfect coverage hitting grass,psychic,normal,flying,ghost,steel types. It also gets an attack boost when it gets crippled by status users such as sableye with will o wisp. Then he could counter with Megahorn. Even a Slowbro cannot withstand the power of Heracross if he is guts activated. However, due to the sand, and if the opponent has rocks up, these hazards will slowly end Heracross.





Azumarill(F) @Leftovers
Trait-Huge Power
Evs: 252 Atk/252 Spe/4 HP
Adamant nature(+Atk, -SAtk)
-Aqua Jet
-Waterfall
-Superpower
-Ice punch

Azumarill is a bulky monster, even without defense investments. To show how bulky she is, She can take a choice banded retaliate from a stoutland taking only about 80 percent. Then she could counter with a superpower. Waterfall is there to kill of fire types such as darmanitan. And with Darmanitan, there's always a Roserade. 99% of the time I would predict correctly that it will come in, so I'll go for the ice punch,Next thing you know, the roserade is dead. Not much more to be said.





Stoutland(M) @Choice Band
Trait- Sand Rush
Evs: 252 Atk/252 Spe/4 HP
Adamant Nature(+Atk, -SAtk)
-"Retaliate
-Return
-Fire fang
-Crunch


Stoutland is the most power sweeper on this team. Whenever the rest of the team weakens the opponents, stoutland will come in and clean things up with Return. Either that, or I'll revenge with the 140 base plus Stab Retaliate. Without Stoutland, You can't build a good Sand team. Fire Fang just to hit steel types, and crunch just to hit pesky ghosts that come in expecting a Retaliate or Return.









Deoxys-D @Leftovers
Trait- Pressure
Evs: 252 SP.Def/252 HP/4 Spe
Calm Nature(+SDef, -Atk)
-Recover
-Taunt
-Spikes
-Night Shade

Deoxys-D has two roles on this team, a spiker and a special wall. When a special attacker comes in, I'll swap to Deoxys to set up some spikes. Recover is the way of recovery, Taunt to shut down pokes that try to set up on Deoxys. And Night Shade to do a good chunck of damage to all pokes except for normal, doing 100 damage everytime. I like using a special defensive set because most special attackers in the game are ones like milotic and zapdos. But Deoxys can wall them to hell and back. Although Deoxys is heavily countered by Chandelure and Mismagius.


Besides Deoxys-D, I've tried many other special walls such as clefable, chansey, altaria, registeel, and such. But all of them have a little problem. So as if now, I think I'm gonna stay with Deoxys-D.



That is my the team, Spikestack Offensive. Like , Comment, and rate!

Hey, cool team. I've got a few suggestions to help improve it.

No arguement here, Alakazam is a beast, but its moveset needs fixing. Use Focus Blast over Energy Ball. Focus Blast is very powerful, and provides perfect coverage with Shadow Ball, as well as hitting Snorlax, Chansey and the like for super effective damage. I know bulky Water-types may be a problem for you, but Alakazam will still smash through them with Psychic. Also, Replace Hidden Power Fire with Substitute. I know hitting Escavalier is important, but with HP Fire, you lose speed ties against all other Alakazams, and the benefits from Substitute help against all other Pokemon, and not just Escavalier. With Substitute, you can scare out opposing Pokemon, and attack safely from behind a Substitute. That way, you remove the element of prediction, and something will have to take a hit in order to break the Substitute. It also messes up Pokemon that utilize U-turn to counter Alakazam.

Give Stoutland Pursuit over Fire Fang, in order to take out Ghosts. Crunch is great, but it doesn't stop Ghost-types from simply switching out and remaining safe. Fire Fang only hits Ferroseed, to be honest, and this'll be a great help for Stoutland when it wants to spam Return late game.

Bulky Water-types are everywhere, and your team hasn't got a reliable switch-in to them, apart from Azumarill, which will be crippled by Scald. I suggest replacing Deoxys-D with Roserade.

Roserade (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 136 SDef / 4 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Spikes
- Rest
- Sludge Bomb / Hidden Power Fire
- Giga Drain

This thing can still set up Spikes, but is also a fantastic special wall, which can tank bulky Water-types all day. It has Natural Cure, which gives it reliable recovery when combined with Rest, and can never be crippled by status moves (Scald.... T_T). It makes a perfect partner with Hippopotas, because between the two of them, they get two types of hazards up, and make a great pair of walls. In summary, Roserade makes a fantastic asset to Sand teams, because of its ability to wall Water-types and set up Spikes.

Good luck with the team, I hope I helped.

Thanks moo :D That really helps alot! Bump

Every member on your team is weak to spikes. I would recommend a spinner. I Maybe Blastoise?

I am pretty sure that alakazam is OU now: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3460048
Azelf performs similarly to alakazam, except without Magic Guard.

Azelf@ Life Orb
Timid (-Atk, +Spe)
0/0/0/252/4/252
~Psyshock
~Fire Blast
~Grass Knot
~U-Turn

Straw hat i know, i posted the day before it went to ou, currently i replaced it with mismagius, but your azelf is cool too

I'm inclined to agree with pokezam, a spinner like blastoise would benefit the team. Judging by our battle, azurmaril is the one to swap out, but it's ur choice rly

THIS GUY said:

I'm inclined to agree with pokezam, a spinner like blastoise would benefit the team. Judging by our battle, azurmaril is the one to swap out, but it's ur choice rly

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Thanks this guy, also great stall team!

Hey Guys, recently i replaced alakzam with azelf, it had been doing quite well, because most of the players think they are scarfed and get ohkoed. I'm loving this set, thanks straw hat, and ive actually gotten to number 30 on the ladder, so thanks for all your support and rates

Okay, I've said this many many times to tons of UU teams: Your team is SubSplit Chandelure weak. It OKHOes Potas so you can either fodder it and not get Rocks up or have something else die. Deoxys-D is huge set up fodder to it, change Seismic Toss for Night Shade and Heracross Choice Locked into CC or Megahorn could also give Chandy an open window to set up a Sub.

Since you have a sand team, your team is equipped with one of best Chandelure checks in UU, Krook being the best. Adamant Banded Stoutland is guaranteed to OHKO Chandelure with Crunch and can trap it with Pursuit if you predict them to switch out. I recommend changing Retaliate for Pursuit as Return does the job just fine.

Even with this, If Chandelure manages a Sub or you need Deoxys and can't fodder it out, a Milotic would ease your time as it walls Chandelure pretty well and also helps you against Pokemon like Darmanitan. Azumarill isn't really needed as you have plenty of revenge killers to begin with and your team will appreciate the bulk of Milotic.
Hope I helped!

EDIT: If you go with Moo's recommendations of Roserade over Deoxys-D, then that set is too a set up fodder to SubSplit Chandelure, but you can't do anything to help it without resorting to Weather Ball(In Sand its a Rock-type move) so this makes Milotic ever so important. Since you have Roserade and Milotic and no spinblocker, you can also replace something for your own Chandelure of choice to complete the F/W/G core and have a Spinblocker that easily beats on of the best spinners in the tier, Hitmontop. If you choose your own Chandy over say that Azelf I recommend you fight fire with fire:

Beginner14 said:

Hey Guys, recently i replaced alakzam with azelf, it had been doing quite well, because most of the players think they are scarfed and get ohkoed. I'm loving this set, thanks straw hat, and ive actually gotten to number 30 on the ladder, so thanks for all your support and rates

Click to expand...

wow, it feels good to get praise for a suggestion i made instead of being scolded. lol, jk, but thanks for the thanks and congrats on your ladder position

Gligar says hi to your entire team. Takes 30% from stout lands return and azumarils ice punch can't even kill it. Use rest sleep talk rapid spin scald blastoise !

Thanks guys so many rates thanks so much

I know this might sound gimmicky as hell, but I would recommend trying out CM Duosion in place of Alakazam. It adds some much needed bulk to your team, and actually has the same special attack stat as it's evolution, Reuniclus. This means after a few Calm Mind boosts, it hits incredibly hard, and is extremely tough to take down. It also allows you to have a great switch in to almost every single wall and bulky water in UU. Wiith Magic Guard, the most they can do is watch in horror as you set up in front of them, shrugging off and recovering any damage from their weak attacks. You do have to be wary of pokes with Roar as well as Taunt, because without the boost, Duosion is a sitting duck.

This is the set that I have had the most success with in the past:

Duosion (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Hidden Power Fighting
- Calm Mind
- Recover

Psychic is the STAB move you will be using most of the time, and HP Fighting will hit the pesky dark and steel types which resist Psychic.
Hope this helped, and solid team!

Appreciate it Psyco, and we've battle on PO today, but the crit on escavalier bought me the match. But thanks for the rate! I've gotta try that

This is personal but on Deoxys-D with enough speed investment to outspeed defensive Base 100 pokemon like shaymin and mew can really help Deoxys-D.

Just a minor nitpick, you mention that Deoxys-D can shut down rapid spinners like Donphan with taunt. This is infact false because rapid spin is an attaking move... Rapid spinners can freely spin your hazards away without any effort unless you put a ghost type on your team.

Oh right i realized that olympus, I'll change it. "Rebumping"