Core Crisis

[Celever]

Hello Smogon! This is my first UU team since around January and I decided to go with something a bit different; combining two well known cores (based upon typing) and put both of them onto one team. These cores is the very common FWG, or Fire Water Grass core and the lesser-known, but just as effective, PDF, or Psychic Dark Fighting core. On top of this, I wanted to use one of the most under-rated threats in UU at the moment, which would only make sense since said Pokemon is actually listed as NU in smogon tier-lists, even though he is more competitively viable in the RU and UU tiers from my experience. Who is that you ask? The benevolent eel of course...

Eelektross @ Choice Specs Expert Belt
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Mild Nature
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Giga Drain
- Superpower

...Eelektross! Eelektross is actually a fantastic wall-breaker in UU, as well as a good answer to Trick Room. Volt Switch is there since whenever I use choiced Electric-Types I never use Thunderbolt; it's just how I play. Flamethrower and Giga Drain are fantastic for a wall-breaker hitting most of the more defensive pokemon in the tier hard, such as Bronzong (non-Heatproof, seriously don't use Heatproof Bronzong) and Rhyperior, a Pokemon which many people switch into Eelektross predicting an obvious Electric-Type attack. The main unorthodox thing you will notice about this set is using a physical move on a this set, but this is to catch unsuspecting Snorlax on the switch, a Pokemon that actually threatens my team quite a lot. It is also a good attack late-game due to the amount of pokemon Fighting attacks hit in UU, and due to the choice-locking it can be the safest play for weakened teams.

FW Core

Arcanine @ Choice Band
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HPSpe / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- ExtremeSpeed
- Close Combat
- Wild Charge

Arcanine... what bad can I say about you? Well, you are weak to hazards and have to rely on Flare Blitz and Wild Charge which do recoil, but that is beside the point. The first thing a rater of this team will think is "Choice Band Arcanine is completely out-classed by Darmanitan!" but that is untrue. Arcanine's main attack that you should use is actually the STABless ExtremeSpeed, which with Choice Band is incredibly powerful with the Base 80 Power and the +2 Priority is a literal god-send. Arcanine is both the late-game sweeper if Eelektross should faint earlier in the battle and a pretty good revenger, as previously stated. The main use I have found for ExtremeSpeed is Honchkrow, which thinks it can destroy with Sucker Punch. Now obviously the down-side to this is if the Honchkrow runs Substitute (which IMO is definitely the better option over Superpower) since it can then deal massive damage with Brave Bird, which is a potential KO after hazards and a boost or two. Close Combat, like on Eelektross, is a fantastic way to catch opposing switch-ins, however it acts differently on this set. Close Combat is great for something like Rhyperior which would be able to wall the more defensive sets Arcanine runs, as well as Houndoom hoping to collect the Flash Fire boosts. Like with Eelektross later in the battle Fighting-Type attacks are often a safer play, and I would be much quicker to use Close Combat with Arcanine than Superpower with Eelektross since Arcanine's Close Combat is both more powerful and it has less drawbacks -- actually weakening the attack the more times it is used.

Empoleon @ Choice Specs
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Flash Cannon Surf
- Hidden Power [Grass] Grass Knot

The emperor penguin is an appropriate name for Empoleon, since with great coverage, great Special Attack and Choice Specs you just know that Empoleon is here to rule. Aside from the fact that he hits like a nuke, Empoleon actually offers some fantastic things that really benefits the team, the most clear being a reliable Rock-Type switch-in due to its Steel-Typing. Empoleon is only just 3HKO'd by Aggron's Head Smash, which shows just how great he is as a tank. Empoleon is great at playing mind-games with Ambipom thanks to the synergy with my Psychic-Type handling Low Kick easier than Stealth Rock and promptly KOing Ambipom back. He has great both Offensive and Defensive synergy with the rest of my team in several ways.

PD core

Mew @ Life Orb
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Psyshock
- Aura Sphere

This set on Mew is interesting, since it is both support and offense. Now the Psyshock+Aura Sphere gives almost un-resisted coverage in the UU metagame, and the stuff that does resist it are usually slow, letting Mew get off a strong U-Turn and/or set up Stealth Rock, depending on the team I am against. Honestly there is not a lot to this set other than what has been mentioned, although I have started to question whether Life Orb is the best item for this set. Ah well, I suppose that gives you raters something to think about!

Honchkrow @ Leftovers Life Orb
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Substitute Pursuit
- Roost Superpower
- Sucker Punch
- Brave Bird

Remember earlier when I mentioned my opinions on Honchkrow? Either you cleverly deduced that Honchkrow was on my team or you thought I was just being random and saying that. Well here is the set and before doing this I decided to check if Substitute was actually in the analysis, and to my surprise it was slashed on there. This didn't surprise me because it was unviable; it surprised me because battling people on the ladder no one seemed to know Honchkrow can use it well! It is obvious why Substitute is good on Honchkrow; getting off 2 Sucker Punches on bulkier sweepers and having a force-field while he uses Roost. With Moxie boosts he can become a huge threat, however I often find him either too weak or slow in battles, so I would probably have to say he is LVP of the team.

GF

Virizion @ Lum Berry Expert Belt
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Swords Dance
- Sacred Sword
- Stone Edge

And now for the centerpiece. Virizion completes both cores of the team with her incredibly unique-yet-useful typing, Grass/Fighting. Her resistance to Stealth Rock and Spikes are brilliant since she will of course be switching in a lot due to the defensive synergy with 2 thirds of the team being so useful. With most of the things that resist her two STABs out of the way from the support she recieves from the rest of my team Virizion is an incredible Swords Dance sweeper, and she can also come in earlier in the game depending on the team matchups to see if there are any threats that Virizion needs to get rid of, since you can't forget that she is a member of the cores too; she can free up threats for sweeps and she definitely does it well! Now something you will notice about this set that is very unordinary is Sacred Swords over Close Combat. Well Virizion is a bulky threat, and I find the drops in defense are much less beneficial than the extra power -- it's not like she is missing out on any KOs -- any that I have seen at least. Furthermore Sacred Swords is the absolute /perfect/ counter to Bulk Up Scrafty, since it ignores the rising of Scrafty's defense!

So there it is; Core Crisis! I hope you can rate my team and send it to a better future!

importable!

Mew @ Life Orb
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Psyshock
- Aura Sphere

Honchkrow @ Leftovers
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Roost
- Sucker Punch
- Brave Bird

Virizion @ Lum Berry
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Swords Dance
- Sacred Sword
- Stone Edge

Eelektross @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Mild Nature
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Giga Drain
- Superpower

Arcanine @ Choice Band
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- ExtremeSpeed
- Close Combat
- Wild Charge

Empoleon @ Choice Specs
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Grass]

 

[PTJon7]

Hey Celever cool team, I like the Eelektross!

I don't really agree with your decision to make it Specs however, especially since you already have Specs Empoleon. Expert Belt would be much better, you could bluff a choice item to lure in Umbreon or Snorlax and then smack them with a Superpower. I really don't like the idea of getting choice locked into an uninvested Superpower as well.

You might as well give Empoleon and Arcanine atleast 4 Speed EVs just to be able to beat uninvested things with the same base speed. Same with Eelektross.

Empoleon gets Grass Knot, which I'm pretty sure hits almost every Water type harder than HP Grass so I recommend trying that out.

Maybe the reason you find Honchkrow to be "either too weak or slow in battles" is because you've given it no speed investment or a Life Orb? I'd say it'd be worth trying out regular offensive Honchkrow, which is in my opinion it's most effective set. Here's the set I always use:

Honchkrow @ Life Orb
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4SDef
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Sucker Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit

 

[Psychotic]

Whats up Celever, I here are a few changes I would make to this team:

Moveset Suggestions:
First of all, put Thunderbolt over Superpower on Eelektross. It is absolutely necessary to have, there is no reason to use Choice Specs on a mon whose most powerful attack is base 70 power. If you want to use Choice Specs on something, you need a spammable move that does large chunks of damage, and right now, you don't have that. Tbolt gives that to you. Secondly, max speed is needed on Arcanine. Without max speed, a bunch of slower offensive mons, and even some walls are no longer revenged by your Arcanine. LO Roserade, Nidoqueen, Specs Chandelure, CB Heracross; the list goes on. All of them outspeed and KO you with their powerful attacks because you don't outspeed. Your Empoleon set is really inneffective, Flash Cannon covers absolutely nothing, and it already gets a better grass attack than HP Grass. You should put Surf and Grass Knot over Flash Cannon and HP Grass. This gives you a more accurate, but still super powerful move in case Hydro Pump isn't necessary, and Grass Knot almost always does more damage to bulky waters. You should also give it 92 speed Evs, enough to outspeed Hitmontop and below. Lastly, the extra moveslot and Life Orb on Honchkrow is vital, Superpower comes into play much more than Substitute, doing huge chunks of damage to Rhyperior, Porygon2, and 1HKOing Empoleon and Umbreon. This is why you should switch your current Honch to a 3 attacks+Roost set. Max speed Adamant is very important as well, otherwise it gets outsped by many, many walls in the tier, such as Nidoqueen, Suicune, and Gligar.

Suggested Changes:

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Eelektross @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Giga Drain
- Thunderbolt

Arcanine @ Choice Band
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- ExtremeSpeed
- Close Combat
- Wild Charge

Empoleon @ Choice Specs
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 SAtk / 92 Spe / 164 HP
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Surf
- Grass Knot

Honchkrow @ Life Orb
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Superpower
- Roost
- Brave Bird

 

[Celever]

Thank you for the rates @PTJon7, @Kingler12345 and @PsYch071c!

For now I will use the Expert Belt Eelektross PTJon7 said to use, since I think it will be good to have a powerful attacker who can also switch moves well. I do think that Roost will be good to have so I will just copy the rest of PsYch071c's team since all of the EVs make a lot more sense than my max ones; I'm getting back into UU after a break and don't know anything about the speed tiers that I have to get. (Also you said about Grass Knot too PTJon7, thanks :)).

@Kingler12345 The problem with Blastoise is his lack of any type of offensive presence in any way whatsoever, especially on such an offensive team like mine. I don't have a lot of bulk and I don't really plan to add any, since Blastoise would have to be offensive and I play badly with bulky offense the like of Blastoise (not the Pokemon on my team though that are bulky).

 

[Sharoy]

Since arcanine is choice locked and will be switching in and out often, you should have a spinner imho.If mew dies, scarfed fighting pokes can be troublesome.intimidate helps but arcanine won't last long due to its Sr weakness. :/ you could try hitmontop or xatu over honchkrow.also you might wanna keep a scarfer on your team :3

 

[Celever]

Sharoy, the only Pokemon who I could replace to do this is Mew for Xatu, but then that's 2 Flying-Types. I've never found hazards to be a problem in my battles, Arcanine is more of a suicide nuker with Flare Blitz and Close Combat means it doesn't matter as much about keeping him alive.

I have decided on my own that Expert Belt on Virizion could work better than Lum Berry; boosted she is very powerful however unboosted she seems to be missing out on KOs quite frequently, which is why I think Expert Belt could work better.

On another note PTJon7's Honchkrow set is just amazing, and so are the new EVs so I will edit the OP now. Also I haven't used Grass Knot that much, however when I have used it it has been amazing; 2HKOing Blastoise is the main thing I love about it, preventing a spin.

 

[KM]

So basically I'm an awful person who's been inactive on Smogon since Wednesday so I never saw your VM sorry Celever D: but late rate is better than no rate xD

I love FWG and DPF cores, and they work really well. When you have all that awesome coverage, you have extremely strong offense as well as an inherent defense due to the diverse resistances, so it's really quite cool.

The only thing I'm really unsure about is that Mew. I feel as though it's trying to fill a lot of roles, but I just don't see it being super useful. I feel like a Baton Pass set might fit this team well, or even just a straight boosting set. I may be wrong as I haven't personally tried out that set, but just play around with it.

Something to think about would be making Mew fully offensive (SD 3 attacks, NP 3 attacks, SD/NP Pass), and then taking the specs off of Empoleon as well and making it a more defensively oriented poke with Roar and SR. This also gives you some nice Phazing as well as a generally more tanky SR setter who can dish out some good damage without having to rely on LO.

That said, this is a really cool team with a lot of criminally underused pokes on it, so great job :)

 

[DEOXYS attack forme]

I would suggest replacing your mew's current set with this one, making it fully support as you have no other defensive pokemon on your team
Mew @ Normal gem / Leftovers
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Atk (184 Sp.atk) / 36 Def / 36 SpD
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Will-o-wisp/thunder wave
- Explosion/ Psyshock

Explosion is to take out a foe after setting up, SR and taunt are obvious, will-o-wisp is to cripple physical attackers, thunder wave if you would rather slow things down, you could use psyshock over explosion if you would rather have mew not explode. If you're using explosion, use normal gem, if you're using psyshock, use leftovers