UU Team Too Much Toxic

The Team

I'm rather new to playing the actual metagame but have been a follower for a year or two now. I only recently decided to try my hand at it. Loaded up Shoddy, figured I'd get owned in OU so I threw together a UU team and rolled right into it. Here is the Mons I threw together.



Ah, my naive days of two weeks ago. When these fellows got obliterated I rapidly made some haphazard changes to this team



I was promptly destroyed in many nasty and unpleasant ways. However I still wanted to stick with a mainly defensive team. Very many iterations of the above later I think I've reached the point where I'm now winning much more than I am losing. So, bolstered by my newfound confidence in my team-creating abilities I decided to ask what you guys thought of what I like to call "Team Too Much Toxic."




The Breakdown

Yes, their names are all call signs from Top Gun.

Viper (Kabutops) (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Swift Swim EVs: 74 HP/252 Atk/184 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
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For a long time I was struggling to figure out a good lead. Froslass, though usually able to set up a layer or two of spikes, simply wasn't cutting it as many team are prepared for its shenanigans. Setting up SR is his main job but I do love putting the hurt on any Froslass leads with Stone Edge. He also proves useful against most Rain Dance team as Swift Swim turn him into quite a speedy fellow.



Slider (Cresselia) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Moonlight
- Psychic
- Toxic
- Calm Mind
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Usually I try to keep Slider under wraps until late in the game. Most teams are packing a counter for the moon wall and I love surprises. She is extremely useful for bailing the rest of the team out of trouble switching in to many attacks with impunity and either packing an unfriendly toxic or setting up some Calm Mind if her counters are gone.



Merlin (Venusaur) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Overgrow EVs: 56 HP/72 Atk/164 Def/216 Spd
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Sleep Powder
- Energy Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Earthquake
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Choice Scarf Venusaur may be a few steps off the beaten path but I find that the surprise factor can put the hurt on a lot of people expecting to get in the first move. Besides being a necessary force to deal with bulky waters, Merlin is my backup answer to steel if Moltres has bit the dust, sleeping or EQing if enough residul damage has accumulated. He is also one of my main switch-ins to Raikou, who can often spoil my fun most of my team taking super effective damage from Thunderbolt of Shadow Ball.



Goose (Drapion) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Battle Armor EVs: 252 HP/4 Atk/252 Def
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Crunch
- Whirlwind
- Knock Off
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Goose is my ultimate utility Mon as well as completely shutting down Mismagius he shuts down opposing Cresselias, Uxies, and basically any opposing psychic pokemon who doesn't want to experience a STAB Crunch. Scare them out then knock off any incoming pokemon's item is my usual strategy. He also functions as another check to Raikou able to whirlwind away sub varieties as they set up.

Many would find it strange that on my toxic stall team i don't have Toxic Spikes on one of the best toxic spikers in UU. Truth be told he was rock the Spikes in earlier versions, and I found myself heartbroken again and again as Venusaur or Toxicroak would simply switch in and spoil all my hard work. With three other pokemon with toxic Goose is simply best just knocking off leftovers for faster poison death.



Iceman (Blastoise) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent EVs: 252 HP/144 Def/114 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rapid Spin
- Surf
- Protect
- Toxic
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As much as I love setting up some stealth rocks, the opponent getting some up often ruins my day, or at least Moltres' day. As well as being a fair rapid spinner Iceman is the only pokemon on my team that can scare off fire types who, especially if Moltres is out of the picture make my life very unfun, they are basically best buds, Iceman clears away rocks and Moltres switches in to a clear field hopefully occupied by a nice flammable grass type. He also loves to tox a switch-in and then protect up and let the toxic do its magic for a bonus turn before switching to a counter of my own.



Maverick (Moltres) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure EVs: 248 HP/148 Def/112
Spd Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Substitute - Roost
- Toxic
- Flamethrower
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Maverick is probably my most hit and miss pokemon either tearing through unprepared teams or barely holding on to life trying to stall a poisoned pokemon. The effectiveness of the sub stalling Moltres is unquestionable he also acts a a handy check to Venusaur, who he hopefully has a sub up for lest he ruin his day with a Sleep Powder leaving me pretty helpless.

The Threats I See

Pokemon that often ruin my day are steel types, especially Registeel who are immune to toxic and wall the rest of my team quite effectively, with the exception of Moltres. Poison types like Qwilfish, Venusaur, and Toxicroak also pose some problems resisting toxic, if I lose a counter to one of them they can ruin my whole day. Also Dark types are quite unfriendly to this team, as I am packing no super effective attacks against them, this makes dealing with opposing Drapion difficult at best.

The Conclusion

Hello

First thing I notice about your team is that you have 3 pokemon weak to electric attacks on no immunities. So my first suggestion is to replace Blastoise. Your team also lacks an anti spinner, but since you are only using Stealth Rocks this isn't really a problem. Still I would like to suggest Rotom here, the Rest-Talk version as he can also be used as your status absorber since you have no pokemon with status healing moves like Aromatherapy or Heal Bell. But if you go with Rotom, he could absorb these for you.


Rotom @ leftovers/ bold/ levitate
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA

- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Will-o-wisp
- Discharge

--> Bulky Rotom with Rest will be hard to take down as it can Rest of any taken damage. Will-o-wisp is handy for physical attackers who could be problematic but it is also nice on pokemon that have no way of healing themself outside of Leftovers. With Discharge, you could get the added effect of paralysing a foe, which could come in handy sometimes.

Since if you follow my above suggestion, you should give Kabutops Rapid Spin. Preferable over Waterfall. Having a spinner in the team is really beneficial for Moltres. But also against stall teams who mostly rely on entry hazzard damage.

Speaking about Moltres, I noticed you are using the EV's spread that was used for Moltres in OU. I believe an EV's spread of 252 HP / 78 Def / 180 Spe would be better for him in UU. You still remain quite bulky with it but you will outrun base 80 pokemon (pokemon like Venusaur and Blaziken) so you can get a Substitute up before they do anything annoying like put you to sleep.

Also, since you are using Earthquake on Venusaur maybe a Mild nature could be better as a Modest one reduces your attack stat and so the power of Earthquake.

Another suggestion I would like to make is to replace Toxic on Cresselia with either Signal Beam or Hidden Power (fighting). This will give her more type coverage. If you go with Calm Mind on a set you are better of with a special attack move instead of a status move. The moves mentioned before are both super effective against Dark types (who are immune to Psychic) but the difference is that Signal Beam hits opposing Psychic types a lot harder while Hidden Power (fighting) gives you more power against Steel Types.

Oh... and a small nitpick, if you are using only one attack move on Drapion then I suggest using Night Slash over Crunch. Night Slash could hit some important crits. Hell, you could even change it's ability to Sniper to make them even more common.

Hope this helped!

Delko said:

Hello

First thing I notice about your team is that you have 3 pokemon weak to electric attacks on no immunities. So my first suggestion is to replace Blastoise. Your team also lacks an anti spinner, but since you are only using Stealth Rocks this isn't really a problem. Still I would like to suggest Rotom here, the Rest-Talk version as he can also be used as your status absorber since you have no pokemon with status healing moves like Aromatherapy or Heal Bell. But if you go with Rotom, he could absorb these for you.

Rotom @ leftovers/ bold/ levitate
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA

- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Will-o-wisp
- Discharge

--> Bulky Rotom with Rest will be hard to take down as it can Rest of any taken damage. Will-o-wisp is handy for physical attackers who could be problematic but it is also nice on pokemon that have no way of healing themself outside of Leftovers. With Discharge, you could get the added effect of paralysing a foe, which could come in handy sometimes.

Since if you follow my above suggestion, you should give Kabutops Rapid Spin. Preferable over Waterfall. Having a spinner in the team is really beneficial for Moltres. But also against stall teams who mostly rely on entry hazzard damage.

Speaking about Moltres, I noticed you are using the EV's spread that was used for Moltres in OU. I believe an EV's spread of 252 HP / 78 Def / 180 Spe would be better for him in UU. You still remain quite bulky with it but you will outrun base 80 pokemon (pokemon like Venusaur and Blaziken) so you can get a Substitute up before they do anything annoying like put you to sleep.

Also, since you are using Earthquake on Venusaur maybe a Mild nature could be better as a Modest one reduces your attack stat and so the power of Earthquake.

Another suggestion I would like to make is to replace Toxic on Cresselia with either Signal Beam or Hidden Power (fighting). This will give her more type coverage. If you go with Calm Mind on a set you are better of with a special attack move instead of a status move. The moves mentioned before are both super effective against Dark types (who are immune to Psychic) but the difference is that Signal Beam hits opposing Psychic types a lot harder while Hidden Power (fighting) gives you more power against Steel Types.

Oh... and a small nitpick, if you are using only one attack move on Drapion then I suggest using Night Slash over Crunch. Night Slash could hit some important crits. Hell, you could even change it's ability to Sniper to make them even more common.

Hope this helped!

Click to expand...

I will definitely fix the ev's on Moltres and try out Rotom in Blastoise's slot, using Kabutops as a spinner. I had been experiencing some trouble with status moves especially Thunder Wave. He would also certainly help with my general weakness to StABed normal attacks which put a huge hurting on my team, which is heavy in sp def.

I guess I didn't think too hard about the power I lose with Modest on Venusar. I might be losing a little bit of my defensive durability but hopefully he won't have to take many physical hits. Extra Raikou stopping power might be worth it.

I am however a little hesitant to get rid of Calm Mind on Cress. Generally I'm not looking at it for the sp atk boost but rather to beef up my sp def to levels where I can take some very big or super effective hits, letting me stall out the likes of Porygon-Z, Mismagius (if Drapion is down) and non-sub Raikou varieties even after they boost.

I might play around with Night Slash but using Super Luck leaves me open to random critical hits which Drapion is not a fan of not having any reliable recovery move.

Mom Inspector said:

I will definitely fix the ev's on Moltres and try out Rotom in Blastoise's slot, using Kabutops as a spinner. I had been experiencing some trouble with status moves especially Thunder Wave. He would also certainly help with my general weakness to StABed normal attacks which put a huge hurting on my team, which is heavy in sp def.

I guess I didn't think too hard about the power I lose with Modest on Venusar. I might be losing a little bit of my defensive durability but hopefully he won't have to take many physical hits. Extra Raikou stopping power might be worth it.

I am however a little hesitant to get rid of Calm Mind on Cress. Generally I'm not looking at it for the sp atk boost but rather to beef up my sp def to levels where I can take some very big or super effective hits, letting me stall out the likes of Porygon-Z, Mismagius (if Drapion is down) and non-sub Raikou varieties even after they boost.

I might play around with Night Slash but using Super Luck leaves me open to random critical hits which Drapion is not a fan of not having any reliable recovery move.

Click to expand...

Just a quick mention but on Cress he's suggesting replacing toxic with either of those attacks, not calm mind. Signal beam is the most reliable choice unless you're particularly worried about registeel (hp fighting) or stuff like sd drapion (hp ground).

Team looks solid to me though :)

Kenshiro said:

Just a quick mention but on Cress he's suggesting replacing toxic with either of those attacks, not calm mind. Signal beam is the most reliable choice unless you're particularly worried about registeel (hp fighting) or stuff like sd drapion (hp ground).

Team looks solid to me though :)

Click to expand...

Oh, I got he wanted me to replace Toxic but without it Cress' stalling power is hurt a lot which is its main role. The boosted Psychic is usually just icing on the cake to give her a little bite. Potential does exist with HP Fighting for Registeel, or overconfident dark sp atkers that think they can KO her. I might play around with it a bit but the toxic is a pretty essential component to my team, with only Moltres packing a backup, who often runs into trouble with SR.

Hello again

If you desperatly need Toxic on Cresselia then Hidden Power (fighting) is indeed a fine replacement for Calm Mind. Otherwise you are completely walled by Steel types like Registeel (although Hidden Power (fighting) is a 4HKO on bulky versions) who can just status you in return and stall you out. This will become even worse when they have rest. But with HP fighting you can at least do some damage back in return.

Also another thing I noticed is that you could replace Focus Sash on Kabutops with Leftovers. Since the only lead that could OHKO Kabutops is Moltres with Hidden Power (grass) which can easily be taken by your own Moltres. With Leftovers he heals a little bit of damage every turn and since he is your spinner he need to come out in the battle a couple of times so that little bit restoration could be helpful.

Hope this helped! And good luck with the team.