UU RMT: Second go around

I've already RMT'd this team elsewhere, but I've been using it and would like to see what kind of feedback ya'll would provide.

Overview:




The Lead

Registeel@Leftovers
252 HP/168 Atk/90 Def
Clear Body/Careful

-Thunder Wave
-Stealth Rock
-Iron Head
-Explosion

Comments: Not many Registeel leads out there. He gives me bulk enough to set up SR, but despite his tank status, I find him better to play offensively. Twave + Iron Head is a paraflinch to be reckoned with (I paraflinched a Dunsparce lead to death for a delicious dose of irony.) On Crobat or Electrode leads, Explode right off the bat. Why, you ask? Because the rest of my team is weak to standard Crobat, and Electrode sets up Rain Dance, plus both taunt on the first turn. On Roserade leads, Swap to Honchkrow for the Sleep Powder then kill it with Drill Peck (or predict a switch and go with Pursuit for max damage). Between him and Clefable, I can (and usually do) paralyze most or all of my opponent's Pokemon giving me a marked advantage.

The Spinner

Blastoise@Leftovers
252 HP/252 Def/ 6 SpA
Torrent/Bold

-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Rapid Spin
-Toxic

Comments: Rapid Spinner to deal with stall teams. I don't particularly fear Stealth Rock, as only Honchkrow is weak to it, but it's nice to get rid of spikes and ensure krow lives longer. Toxic on the predicted Bulky water switch, Ice Beam on the (99% of the time) Shaymin switch (god I hate that thing). Blastoise's huge defense lets him switch into fighting types then come back with a rather powerful surf (especially if their second attack activates Torrent). He does a great job as both a physical wall and Poison passer, and he along with my next one can out stall most anything.

The MVP

Clefable@Toxic Orb
252 HP/154 Def/100 SpD
Calm/Magic Guard

-Encore
-Thunder Wave
-Seismic Toss
-Softboiled

Comments: This counters 80% of the UU metagame when played correctly. It absorbs status and special hits, passes around paralysis, survives nearly all non-fighting moves, and Encores the hell out of any and all setup sweepers. Clefable is the heart of the team and if she dies early (or gets paralyzed due to me switching in to stupidness) it's usually game over. With good prediction (mine's decent), Clefable is the best UU stall bar none. It can outstall Chanseys, Miltanks, and other Clefables if it needs to. On top of that, Encoring a weak special attack (like a slowbro or tank milotic Ice Beam/Surf for example) allows Espeon to come in, CM once so it doesn't break sub, then sub up and sweep everything. Encoring a water type attack or T-spikes can also allow Toxicroak to come in, NP up and sweep. With Blastoise around to take physical hits and Toxic/Surf Clefable's counters, she nearly always survives till late game to allow me to win. Team MVP, right here.

The Rain Counter

Toxicroak@Life Orb
252 SpA/252 Spe/6 HP
Timid/Dry Skin

-Vacuum Wave
-Nasty Plot
-Sludge Bomb
-Dark Pulse

Comments: Typical NP Toxicroak with 1 exception: Dark Pulse beats the hell out of Shadow Ball. Same coverage, but with a flinch chance and it hits normals, there's no reason to ever use Shadow Ball despite what the strategydex might say <_< This is my counter to Ludicolo specifically (OHKO with Sludge Bomb and survives either of his STAB attacks), but it can take out a Shaymin, Steelix (with a NP, or if he's low HP/doesn't have EQ), and several other problems as well as revenge kill low HP stuff with STAB Vacuum Wave.

The Revenge Killer

Honchkrow@Choice Scarf
252 Atk/252 Spe/6 HP
Jolly/Insomnia

-Drill Peck
-Superpower
-Night Slash
-Pursuit

Comments: Scarfkrow is a great revenge killer. Pursuit kills Ghosts and Psychics regardless, Superpower breaks normal walls, Drill Peck takes out Roserade and Shaymin (and other grass types), and Night Slash gives me a strong STAB high crit chance attack to hit things I'm neutral to with. With scarf, he outspeeds most of the non-scarfed tier. I used to have heat wave for Steels in place of pursuit, however splitting the EVs to give him enough SpA to make it useful is not worth it at the cost of OHKOing a bulky Shaymin or Hariyama, plus it seals Mismagius's fate.

The Endgame

Espeon@Leftovers
252 SpA/252 Spe/6 HP
Timid/Synchronize

-Substitute
-Calm Mind
-Psychic
-Signal Beam

Comments: Espeon has acted as the finisher for this team since its inception. Never comes out until the steels/stronger special walls are all dead. With Espeon's decent SpD without EV investment, she can easily set up against walls like Slowbro, Milotic, and Articuno and CM up to +2-3 before they wise up and switch. By then, it's too late. The only 2 pokemon I found that completely wall Espeon are Registeel and Chansey, and both can easily be Encored into a healing/stat up move to allow Espeon to get the CMs she needs to take them down. Most people don't expect the sub, allowing me to get a free turn as they try to status her. Signal Beam/Psychic gives coverage over everything but Steel. Quite the beast of the endgame.

Threats:
Resttalk Tomb walls me pretty well. Registeel can paraflinch it, Espeon can set up on it if Encored into Sleep Talk, and Clefable completely walls it.

Crobat: Registeel is the only one that can take a Brave Bird without being very, very injured. Combined with roost means I can't wear it down with Blastoise/Honchkrow, and Taunt beats Encore, so I usually blow Registeel up to take it out when it's a lead.

Scarfmonlee: Runs through the team if Blastoise is down. Limber prevents the paralysis I normally rely on for those sorts of revenge killers, and I have no ghost to force it out. Blastoise can usually damage it quite a bit with surf, then have Toxicroak revenge kill it. If it's locked into EQ, Honchkrow can take it.

Yanmega: Registeel walls and paraflinches it, Clefable can take a couple hits and paralyze it, once it's paralyzed it's dead. If he comes in after Registeel is dead and flinches Clefable to death (It's happend far more than once), I generally lose.

Sub Magneton: Hurts most of my team pretty bad. If I can get an encore on the sub or get it paralyzed it's not much of a threat.

Sub-Punch Poliwrath: This is my Achilles heel. Sets up sub on Blastoise and nothing on my team can both break it and live a Focus Punch.

Physical Blaziken: Superpower 2HKOs at best my entire team with maxed attack stat. Most people run Mixed Blaziken, so it only 3HKOs Blastoise. Honchkrow outspeeds and can kill with Drill Peck and Blastoise can OHKO with Surf, but this can come in on Clefable then wreck at least one person.

One last addendum: My team is all Female. Why? Because I've run into a couple of gimmick teams using Attract or Cute Charm in order to screw over sweepers, and some people pick Rivalry. This negates both without any negative effects.

Those are the only ones this team has trouble with, feel free to deconstruct it at your will.

This is my one bump.

Mixed Magmortar looks like he could throw you around a bit, T-bolt for Blastoise, Cross Chop on Clefable, Fire Blast on everything else. He's very rare though.

Yeah, not sure if you should be Exploding Registeel ASAP, he's your best line of defense against some threats such as SubCM Missy and (as you said) Yanmega, and you might find yourself missing him if something like that shows up later.

SubSeed Roserade might help with some of the threats you listed. It should be able to take Rest Talk Spiritomb one-on-one; another fighting resist would be helpful against Hitmonlee; and it resists both of Poliwrath's STABs while hitting back hard with STAB Energy Ball or Leaf Storm.

Against Magneton, Gardevoir Traces Magnet Pull and kills him with Focus Blast. Not sure how useful it would be in general, it's just an idea.

WJC3688 said:

Mixed Magmortar looks like he could throw you around a bit, T-bolt for Blastoise, Cross Chop on Clefable, Fire Blast on everything else. He's very rare though.

Yeah, not sure if you should be Exploding Registeel ASAP, he's your best line of defense against some threats such as SubCM Missy and (as you said) Yanmega, and you might find yourself missing him if something like that shows up later.

SubSeed Roserade might help with some of the threats you listed. It should be able to take Rest Talk Spiritomb one-on-one; another fighting resist would be helpful against Hitmonlee; and it resists both of Poliwrath's STABs while hitting back hard with STAB Energy Ball or Leaf Storm.

Against Magneton, Gardevoir Traces Magnet Pull and kills him with Focus Blast. Not sure how useful it would be in general, it's just an idea.

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Clefable walls SubCM Missy. If she encores sub or CM I can set up any sweeper, and if she Encores HP fighting, even at +1 it fails to break an Espeon sub, allowing me to set up. If a team has Yanmega, Shaymin, and Crobat (which are surprisingly rare all on one team, since that's by far the most powerful 3 there are in UU), they will win unless I utterly outplay them. I run out of counters too fast.

Sub/seed Roserade sounds pretty good, are you thinking over Espeon? Espeon is one of the best for cleaning up late game, but if I'm forced to draw her out early she's generally useless. Also, Espeon outspeeds and OHKOs non-scarfed Blazikens and other mixed sweepers that Roserade would leave me more weak to.

I put Magneton as a threat merely because I've lost to him several times by mispredicting him as a specs set. This team requires spot on prediction (moreso than most UU teams) and if I fail for turn it can screw me.

Not sure what to put Roserade over. I could see it being more useful than Toxicroak, and it gives many of the same resistances as both are Poison-type, though it's not going to be nearly as helpful against rain teams, ofcourse.

I think you should get rid of Blastoise. Only one Pokemon on your team is weak to SR, it is not a large concern, and against stall teams Blastoise is just going to get a Spiritomb thrown in its face, a wall that Blastoise has no hope of breaking. And outside of Rapid Spin I don't see much reason to use Blastoise in the first place. If you still want a water-type, Milotic would probably be better as a defensive Pokemon, and Azumarill as an offensive one.

Don't use Registeel as a lead, the most common leads beat it one vs one.
Arcanine will force you out with flare blitz, Roserade will force you to switch to Honckrow, Crobat and Ambipom will simply taunt you and u-turn to an appropriate counter. Nontheless, Registeel is your best counter for Yanmega and Crobat, so you should try to keep it healthy when these pokemons come out.

If I were you, I would probably replace Toxicroak with a good lead, moving Registeel as a special\mixed wall.

Arcanine@lum berry
nature: naughty
trait: intimidate
EVs: 192 hp\ 252 atk\ 64 spe
- flare blitz
- extremespeed
- toxic
- hidden power grass\ hidden power ground

Crobat@leftovers
naure: jolly
EVs: 104 hp\ 152 atk\ 252 spe
- brave bird
- taunt
- u-turn
- roost

These are, in my opinion, the two best leads at the moment. If you really fear rain teams, Crobat may be the better choice thanks to taunt (though beware of the rare Electrode lead which will still outspeed you).

Hope this helped.

WJC3688 said:

Not sure what to put Roserade over. I could see it being more useful than Toxicroak, and it gives many of the same resistances as both are Poison-type, though it's not going to be nearly as helpful against rain teams, ofcourse.

I think you should get rid of Blastoise. Only one Pokemon on your team is weak to SR, it is not a large concern, and against stall teams Blastoise is just going to get a Spiritomb thrown in its face, a wall that Blastoise has no hope of breaking. And outside of Rapid Spin I don't see much reason to use Blastoise in the first place. If you still want a water-type, Milotic would probably be better as a defensive Pokemon, and Azumarill as an offensive one.

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The thing is: Rain Teams walk all over this team without Toxicroak. Ludicolo OHKOs everyone but Blastoise and Clefable with Surf, Quilfish OHKOs everyone but Blastoise with a SD Waterfall. I'd look into another person for Blastoise, but as it is, he's the only member of my team that can take a Fighting-Type hit from a choicer without keeling over and dying.

For Spiritombs, I love them switching in on Blastoise. Toxic + Clefable swap > them, especially when I encore Calm Mind/Dark Pulse and force them to swap out while I swap in one of my sweepers to counter.

Haunterfan said:

Don't use Registeel as a lead, the most common leads beat it one vs one.
Arcanine will force you out with flare blitz, Roserade will force you to switch to Honckrow, Crobat and Ambipom will simply taunt you and u-turn to an appropriate counter. Nontheless, Registeel is your best counter for Yanmega and Crobat, so you should try to keep it healthy when these pokemons come out.

If I were you, I would probably replace Toxicroak with a good lead, moving Registeel as a special\mixed wall.

Arcanine@lum berry
nature: naughty
trait: intimidate
EVs: 192 hp\ 252 atk\ 64 spe
- flare blitz
- extremespeed
- toxic
- hidden power grass\ hidden power ground

Crobat@leftovers
naure: jolly
EVs: 104 hp\ 152 atk\ 252 spe
- brave bird
- taunt
- u-turn
- roost

These are, in my opinion, the two best leads at the moment. If you really fear rain teams, Crobat may be the better choice thanks to taunt (though beware of the rare Electrode lead which will still outspeed you).

Hope this helped.

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I really don't like Registeel as a lead either, but he's worked so far. Iron Head if Taunt is predicted, Explosion if Taunt/Rain Dance is predicted, T-wave if neither is predicted, then SR after paralyzed.

The first incarnation of this team had a Lead Driftblim with Shadow Ball/HP Fighting/Destiny Bond/Hypnosis, but that made me lose against Crobats every time, which is why I swapped in Registeel, the problem being it left me with a crappy lead.

Again, if I replace Toxicroak, everyone dies, he's my only RD counter and only Priority move in the entire team.

Crobat is also obviously the best lead, but that's why every RD team I've seen runs either him or Electrode, meaning the entire thing is either a speed tie or almost garunteed loss if I were to swap out Toxicroak. That's why I explode Registeel on Electrodes/Crobats: They're very often setup pokes with Damp/Heat Rock and neither carry Focus Sashes and always Taunt on the first turn. Losing a quick RD and allowing me offensive control for the first turn is very important on those teams.

The thing is: Rain Teams walk all over this team without Toxicroak. Ludicolo OHKOs everyone but Blastoise and Clefable with Surf, Quilfish OHKOs everyone but Blastoise with a SD Waterfall. I'd look into another person for Blastoise, but as it is, he's the only member of my team that can take a Fighting-Type hit from a choicer without keeling over and dying.

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Simple solution. First, change Registeel's EV spread. Make it 252 HP/80 Atk/176 spdef Careful, and move it from the lead slot.
Then, replace Blastoise with Slowbro. Slowbro is the most reliable pokemon in UU, and it's bulky as hell.

Slowbro @ Leftovers
212 HP/252 Def/ 44 SpAtk
Bold
-Surf
-Psychic
-Slack off
-Toxic
These 2 combined should ease your troubles with Rain Dance.

And you could change Honchkrow's set. Not a scarfer, but a life orb attacking wallbreaker:

Honchkrow @ Life Orb
252 Atk/252 Spe/ 4 def
Adamant
-Sucker Punch
-Pursuit
-Superpower
-Drill Peck

Or you could change it entirely, and make it a Blaziken.

Blaziken@Life Orb
236 Atk/252 Sp Atk/ 20 Spe
Mild
-Superpower
-Fire Blast/Flamethrower
-Hidden power Electric
-Vacuum Wave

This thing breaks walls like no other, and gives you priority.

This pretty much covers your entire threat list =)

Due to the nature of the team now, replace Espeon with Sub CM Mismagius. It helps with Spiritomb(if it has already got a couple of Calm Minds) and gets better coverage than Espeon.

Hope I helped.