Don't UU Give Me That Mean Look [Revamped UU RMT]

Don't Give Me That Mean Look
[A UU RMT]

(Note: The original version of this thread was locked due to my having more than one active RMT at the time. Consequently I have waited until my other two RMTs have fallen out of usage before I posted the revamped version of this.)

(Note #2: The title is a bit of a misnomer, now that Mean Look has been taken out of my arsenal. Heh.)



Introduction:​


I'm home sick with what appears to be the H1N1 virus (fever and chills... so fun) and what better way to distract myself than to make another UU Team?

This team is a very rough draft, so I would appreciate it to no end if you'd unleash your criticism upon it. = D




AT A GLANCE:






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TEAM BUILDING PROCESS


First, I needed a lead. I wanted something fast that could benefit the team by setting up an entry hazard as well as managing to avoid the many Normal-Type moves leads like Ambipom often run. So I chose Froslass.


Next I wanted something that could set up dual screens, throw in a Stealth Rock, and escape to come back in when the screens wore out. Uxie, with its access to all those moves and U-Turn, seemed like the proper choice.


I also wanted a Rapid Spinner. I was going to choose Donphan, but I also wanted a Pokemon who could learn Roar in case I was up against something that liked to abuse stat boosts, so I went with Blastoise.


Next, I needed a Baton Pass/Mean Look Pokemon. Umbreon was the obvious choice.


Since I'm only using two sweepers, I wanted to find the most powerful physical and special sweepers available in the UU metagame. Alakazam, though fragile, has the speed and Special Attack to kill fast, and Rhyperior, who is slow, can take a hit before dishing one out from a massive 140 base Attack.


Next, I was informed by a rater that I'm in danger of being killed by Scarf Rotom, and that I should give my sweepers a chance to set up instead of relying on Choice items, which would require a constant Trap-Pass switch. Raikou was recommended, and it seemed like a good choice.


I then decided to switch Rhyperior for Feraligatr, who works well with entry hazards like Spikes and Screens, who can boost both Attack and Speed as opposed to Rhyperior having only Rock Polish, and who works better overall with the synergy of the team.


I was then told my a rater to make Uxie my lead, which allowed for a faster set-up of screens and Stealth Rock; to add Honchkrow as a wall-breaker; and to add Registeel as a wall, which I have done.



And THEN I decided it was time for some major revamping. The team wasn't really working for me, so I decided to make some major changes. First was the lead. Uxie was really too slow for my tastes, and I like to kill the opposing lead early on so it doesn't come back to haunt me later, so I decided to look for an Anti-Lead. Alakazam was an option, but it just didn't sit right with me. And then I found Moltres, who is an excellent Anti-Lead and whose Stealth Rock issue is less of a problem if used right off the bat. I decided to keep Registeel, who works in tandem with Moltres and provides Stealth Rock support. I wanted something to take those Fire attacks aimed at Registeel, and I'd been needing a bulky Water, so Milotic was added. I also needed a Rapid Spinner, mainly for Moltres, who could also provide some offensive heft to the team. Donphan, with massive 120 Attack, became an addition. Raikou stayed. I then decided to add Leafeon as a physical sweeper for some much-needed type coverage, as Feraligatr wasn't really doing it for me.



Wow, this team-building string is getting long. I bet you're sick of it by now. Anyway, I added Venusaur over Leafeon to help check Registeel and to add some sleep support after I took Hypnosis off Milotic.



Next up were some more major changes. I was told by a rater that Alakazam worked better as an anti-lead than Moltres, and didn't require Rapid Spin support, so I decided to use it and cut Donphan. I wanted more defensive support as well as offensive, so I decided to replace Donphan with Rhyperior, who can take a hit and dish one out. I also replaced Raikou with Mismagius.




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Now, without further ado,

THE TEAM ITSELF









THE ANTI-LEAD



ALAKAZAM @ Focus Sash
Inner Focus
Timid
252 Spe / 252 SpA / 4 HP

~ Taunt
~ Encore
~ Counter
~ Psychic

Alakazam is an excellent Anti-Lead. Aside from Electrode, it outspeeds frequently used UU leads such as Ambipom, which allows me to prevent entry hazards with Taunt.

Since Taunt means I know the opposition will be attacking, Counter lets me deal double the damage that would have been done to me. Thanks to Alakazam's frailty, this means Counter will be dealing a lot of damage. This especially is useful against leads like Uxie and Ambipom that attempt to U-Turn out. This combined with Inner Focus prevent Fake Out from doing much at all. Counter also beats Pokemon who like to switch into Alakazam, like Umbreon, Drapion, and Honchkrow.

Encore lets me stop stat-boosters in their tracks. If Focus Sash leaves Alakazam with one HP, it can switch back in later and Encore a sweeper trying to set up, which lets me in turn set up on them.

Psychic is a good STAB move that hits other leads harshly and may even let me revenge kill Pokemon like Venusaur later in the game.

HOW ALAKAZAM DOES AGAINST SEVERAL TOP LEADS:
Ambipom: Alakazam outspeeds. I use Counter for the inevitable Fake Out/Return/U-turn.

Froslass: Alakazam outspeeds. Taunt for Spikes and Destiny Bond. Then I take it out with Psychic.

Uxie: Alakazam outspeeds. Taunt for Stealth Rock, and then either Counter for U-Turn or switch out into Mismagius.

Moltres: Since Alakazam is OHKO'd by Air Slash/Overheat, I switch out to Milotic. That or Counter.

Arcanine: Switch out to Rhyperior.

Spiritomb: Taunt and then switch out to Registeel.

Cloyster: Straight to Mismagius to take out with Thunderbolt.














THE TANK



REGISTEEL @ Leftovers
Careful
252 HP / 100 Atk / 156 SpD

~ Iron Head
~ Earthquake
~ Toxic
~ Stealth Rock

Registeel's a great tank, endangered only by Fire, Fighting, and Ground switch-ins. The Fire switch-ins can be crippled by Earthquake, and Thunder Wave is to cut the speed and reduce attack rate of fast sweepers that switch into Registeel.

I don't like Explosion on walls (not a big fan of blowing up my tank.) Stealth Rock for support. Toxic can wear down even the sturdiest of Pokemon.

Iron Head gets great STAB, and Earthquake can hurt Fire switch-ins and even damage bulky Waters that arrive to take Iron Head.







THE BULKY WATER



MILOTIC @ Leftovers
Bold
148 HP / 252 Def / 108 SpA

~ Hidden Power Grass
~ Recover
~ Surf
~ Ice Beam

Milotic provides good partnership with Registeel, acting as a sponge for the inevitable Fire switch-in. This Milotic used to be a sleep-inducer, but I was told this left it wide-open to being set up upon by Pokemon like Feraligatr. Since I'm no longer running Roar on Donphan, I didn't want that, so I changed Hypnosis to HP Grass, which helps with other bulky Waters and such.

Surf is great STAB and helps me against those Fires, Rocks, et cetera. Ice Beam is for grasses like Venusaur who might try to switch in on Milotic.









CHOICE BAND ATTACKER AND WALL



RHYPERIOR @ Choice Band
Solid Rock
Adamant
252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Def

~ Earthquake
~ Stone Edge
~ Aqua Tail
~ Fire Punch

With its sky-high Attack stat and almost equally impressive Defense, Rhyperior makes an excellent candidate for a Choice Attacker. Even with Speed EVs, it's not going to be outspeeding much from 40 base Speed, so I've put the Speed EVs that normally accompany into this set into Defense, which allow for a somewhat tank-ish attacker. The basic plan is to come in on a physical attack and wreak havoc with two useful STABs and Water/Fire coverage.








SPECIAL SWEEPER



MISMAGIUS @ Leftovers
Timid
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

~ Nasty Plot
~ Substitute
~ Shadow Ball
~ Thunderbolt

This set makes an excellent pair to Registeel and overall provides great synergy to the team. I had a massive Ground weakness, which is covered by Mismagius, who also handles the Fighting/Ground switch-ins from Registeel. Mismagius comes in on those (and anything else it directly threatens) which allows it a free turn of set-up as the opponent switches out. (It's also great for Rapid Spinners like Donphan and Hitmontop.) I can either use Substitute or Nasty Plot right away, which gives me a +2 Special Attack boost. Leftovers is for recovering Substitute damage.

Shadow Ball is great STAB that takes care of Psychic walls like Slowbro and Uxie. Thunderbolt handles switch-ins like Honchkrow and Milotic, OHKOing both after Stealth Rock damage. This, however, means that Mismagius will have difficulty taking care of Pokemon like Clefable, Steelix, Chansey, and Registeel; nevertheless, those are handled by Rhyperior, whose immunity to Thunder Wave also helps out Mismagius.








THE PHYSICAL SWEEPER



VENUSAUR @ Life Orb
Jolly
Overgrow
252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 SpDef

~ Power Whip
~ Earthquake
~ Sleep Powder
~ Swords Dance

A Swords Dance Venusaur. Venusaur has a higher base SpA, but its physical movepool is something to be reckoned with. If it gets a chance to set up, its decent bulk, type coverage, and 80 base Speed make it rather hard to stop.

With this Venusaur, I use Sleep Powder on my first turn, which allows me to set up with Swords Dance as the opposition sleeps or switches.

Another quote from Reyscarface:

This set is really powerful on play. +2 Venusaur, and max speed ones, are really hard to stop if used correctly, because it can sleep its counters, set up on them, and then finish them. Its not good that your 2 main sweepers (Raikou and Leafeon) cant beat a Registeel at all, so Venusaur helps with this issue. Venusaur wont be OHKOd by +1 HP Ice from Raikou also, while you OHKO with LO EQ, something you couldnt do with Leafeon.









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A FINAL LOOK





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PREVIOUS MEMBERS




SCREEN SUPPORT AND STEALTH ROCKER



UXIE @ Light Clay
Impish
252 HP / 180 Def / 76 Spe

~ Reflect
~ Light Screen
~ U-Turn
~ Stealth Rock

Uxie provided reliable screens, but I wanted Registeel for Moltres support. I considered keeping both, but since Registeel has Stealth Rock, all Uxie was really doing was screens. I decided I could find another (more multi-purpose) Pokemon for the job, since I don't like my team members to be devoted to one cause only.


HONCHKROW @ Life Orb
Insomnia
Naughty
252 Atk / 196 Spe / 60 SpA

~ Sucker Punch
~ HP Grass
~ Superpower
~ Brave Bird

Didn't work well with the synergy of the team.


THE MEAN LOOK PASSER


UMBREON @ Leftovers
Careful
252 HP / 92 SpD / 164 Spe

~ Mean Look
~ Baton Pass
~ Wish
~ Yawn

Eh. With Hypnosis support from Milotic, Umbreon wasn't really needed anymore.


PHYSICAL SWEEPER



LEAFEON @ Life Orb
Jolly
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

~ Swords Dance
~ Leaf Blade
~ Return
~ X-Scissor

Venusaur worked better.


THE LEAD:



MOLTRES @ Life Orb
Timid
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

~ Fire Blast
~ Roost
~ HP Grass
~ Air Slash

Still up for debate as a lead, but I chose Alakazam because Alakazam doesn't require Rapid Spin support, which opens up a valuable spot on my team.


THE ATTACKING RAPID SPINNER



DONPHAN @ Leftovers
Adamant
52 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Def

~ Rapid Spin
~ Earthquake
~ Assurance
~ Ice Shard

Without Moltres as a lead, my need for Rapid Spin support is greatly diminished, so Donphan was unnecessary.


THE SPECIAL SWEEPER



RAIKOU @Leftovers
Timid
68HP/116SAtk/72SDef/252Spd

-Calm Mind
-Substitute
-Thunderbolt
-HP Ice

Mismagius provided more useful resistances.










AFTERWORD:


Again, this is a VERY VERY rough draft of a team, and it needs a lot of help. I love competitive battling, but I'm still fairly new at it, and any assistance offered would really help shape me as a battler. So please feel free to comment and rate, even if it's only the smallest of nitpicks. Thanks in advance!
 
Your team is very counteractive. First you set up all these hazards only to use mean look to trap the pokemon. This inturn prevents switches which prevents hazards. So something is definately going to change.
There are relatively only 2 teams that require spikes and use them effectively
1. Stall- Which you stated you don't wish to use and for a stall team you would change all the mechanics of the team
2. Spike Stacking / Heavy Offense- Using heavy offense to force switches. Which would not be this team.

As spikes are not being used I would recommend that you bag Frosslass and lead with you Uxie. This would allow you to get your screens and such up immediately. And not waste turns laying spikes that you aren't using

Next I don't see what blastoise is doing on the team. As you spend most of your turns setting up and not using switches hazards are not a big problem for you. None of your pokemon are super affected by rocks. It is for this reason, that I recommend ditching blastoise for something that could help the team more.

Now as for your replacements for these guys. I would recommend adding honchkrow. He with is ability to "Blow holes" through opposing teams. THis makes the boosting members job alot easier.

Next as you lack a raikou counter and sp def pokemon of your own I would recommend registeel. He would be able to wall sp atks especailly with screens up. Take out opposing raikous. He can use Twave to slow down opposing teams. All while being able to explode and go out with a boom taking something with him. And with wish from umbreon steel could be around for a long time.

Umbreon is fine

Raikou is fine

Feraligatr- I recommend using a Sword Dance set as he can boost his attack quicker as an awaken pokemon could be trouble. This is further aided by steels twaves allowing him to outpace the opponent.

Now your team would be uxie physical screener, registeel sp defensive tank, krow wallbreaker, raikou sp sweeper, feraligatr physical sweeper
 
I think that this team has potential if you put an agressive tomb as your lead for taking out other leads and reaplace uxie with a wannabe rachi xatu. This can give wish support + screens.
Toxicroak should replace blast because your only problem is toxic spikes. You should run the focus punch set to weaken most of the popular walls in uu
The tomb can be found at corrections+contributions
 
After Frolass dies (which is quite often I might add) Venasuar is going to wreck some serious havoc on your team. Both of your sweepers will get nailed by a common Venasuar attack (Leaf Storm / EQ), and any attempt to phaze him will cause you to end up with a dead Blastoise.
 
@Brass: Thank you for the advice! Uxie is now my lead, and I added Registeel and Honchkrow.


@Trick Room: I've used Spiritomb before, and I've never been comfortable with him. But thank you for your contribution.


@Delve: You're completely right. But hopefully now I'll be safer from Venusaur with Honchkrow on the team.
 
Hmmm... your team is still somewhat patchy. But I'll try to help as best as possible.

Honchkrow wants a Wall-breaker set. I suggest you try Brave Bird/Superpower/Sucker Punch/HP Grass @Life Orb w/ Naughty Nature, Max Attack, 196 Spd, and the remainder in SpA. It works well with Raikou, in particular, who also wants HP Ice/Extrasensory, since Honchkrow can switch in and KO the threats that Raikou needed HP Grass for with its own HP Grass (E.g. Quagsire, Rhyperior). Extrasensory is good for Venusaur in particular, though if you have Grass-type problems overall, go with HP Ice.

However, I recommend HP Fire, just because your team hates Steelix. Plus, you maintain coverage on Grassers.

IMO, Feraligatr isn't really working well on your team, apart from setting up on its own. To better take Flying moves, and to work better overall, I'd suggest an SD Kabutops. Max/Max w/ Jolly and SD/Stone Edge/Waterfall/Aqua Jet. Waterfall > Aqua Tail because Stone Edge's inaccuracy is enough.

Good luck with the team, hope I helped.
 
You're right. The team is patchy. Which is why I've made some pretty major revisions. Only two members of the original team have been kept. Do you think it's any better?
 

reyscarface

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I had some ideas for your team when reading each one of your pokes.

First of all, your team looks pretty solid, but a change I would do is removing Hypnosis from Milotic and adding something like Hidden Power Grass. This will mean Milotic is no longer set-up fodder for things like SD Feraligatr or Sub Punch Azumarill, since they wont have a chance to set-up with ease.

Honchkrow troubles you insanely too, nothing on your team can switch in safely because they all risk a 2HKO or an OHKO in the case of Leafeon. I think you should change your lead Moltres to a Life Orb set lead set. Its pretty strong since it hits like a truck, while winning recovery and more survability. Sure you lose speed, but there isnt really a lot you outspeed with Scarf Moltres that you dont beat with Life Orb, and you get an insane power boost. Moltres, being your only Fighting resistance will really enjoy having Roost or else repeated CCs or Hi Jump Kicks will finish Moltres really soon in the game. The EV spread would change to max/max SpA, Speed, with Timid to outspeed Bulky Froslass (who gives you trouble since it sets up tremendously easy and 5/6ths of your team are grounded pokes) and things like max Base 80s and 85s. Modest gives you a big boost in power that lets you 2HKO things like Azumarill with Fire Blast + SE HP easier, which is a pretty nice boost. The moves would be Roost, Fire Blast, Air Slash and HP Grass. This lets you get really nice coverage and also aids you with recovery. Not only that, but now you can switch in on Honchkrow to take a Superpower/Brave Bird and then use Roost to avoid the Sucker Punch, which lets you have a good Honchkrow check.

Donphan is your spinner, you must keep it healthy in order to let Moltres play the whole game and remove Spikes that really hurt Raikou. Leftovers is better than Life Orb for Donphan in this case, and if you want to use Roar, dont use it over Earthquake which is your main attack with STAB, use it over Ice Shard or Assurance. You also should take some attack EVs and use them in Speed, around 20 EVs can work to let you win the speed wars vs Azumarills or Registeels, which can prove crucial in some points of the match (to stop a Sub on Marill or a SR set up on Registeel).

Lastly, I think a Venusaur helps you more instead of Leafeon there. SD Venusaur is tremendous in this metagame, and it will also help Raikou a lot since it lures in Registeels, and also gives you Sleep Status over Hypnosis on Milotic, which means it also supports your team. +2 Life Orbed Power Whip can OHKO most things that dont resist it after Stealth Rock, and Earthquake gives you neat coverage. It also helps you counter Raikou better instead of Glaceon. The set would be:

Venusaur @ Life Orb
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 SpDef
- Power Whip
- Earthquake
- Sleep Powder
- Swords Dance

This set is really powerful on play. +2 Venusaur, and max speed ones, are really hard to stop if used correctly, because it can sleep its counters, set up on them, and then finish them. Its not good that your 2 main sweepers (Raikou and Leafeon) cant beat a Registeel at all, so Venusaur helps with this issue. Venusaur wont be OHKOd by +1 HP Ice from Raikou also, while you OHKO with LO EQ, something you couldnt do with Leafeon.

Well, thats pretty much everything I can say, good luck with your team buddy!
 
Thank you so much, Reyscarface! I've made all the changes, and I hope you don't mind if I quote you a bit in two of my descriptions?
 
Sub salac venusaur is more effective, with an overgrow boost he hardly needs the life orb as even a 4 times ressiting salamence is 2hkoed after stealth rock (assuming you have a sword dance and a sub to block intimidate, you can 2hko with a salac boost before he can touch you as he has to break your sub). Mence is OU, but im just using it as an explample of venusaurs power, it would have to replce sleep powder and although sub salac is a much more effective late game sweeper, I understandt your team likes the sleep support, in which case leftovers would allow your team to take advanatge of it more.

Alakazam is also capable of learnign calm mind, and after 1 calm mind he can outspeed almost all of UU and OHKO with awesome power as calminf plus life orb is a 1.98 times boost and is a much better sweeper in my opinion than raikou.

To prove my point I'll show there use in UBERS, by using the best special wall in UBERS a max hp, max sp.def calm blissey.
- Alakazam after 1 calm mind does 55% to a blissey
- Raikou after 1 calm mind 18%, almost negated by leftovers
- Raikou after 6 calm minds does 48% (still fails to ko even with a +6 crit)

OK this shows that alakazam is powerful in Ubers lets, move further down the chain to the slower less bulky UU metagame.

Lets add the fact that modest nature is vaible in UU allowing you to and after a calm mind he can do 75% to a max sp.def calm chansey and chansey is the only pokemon who can survie a hit from alakzam, and she can't survive it very well, 2 layers of spikes and 1 layer of rocks and he can OHKO like the enitre UU metagame, while your raikou (who can't set up on chansey) on 6 calm minds does 65%. Alakazam also has the advanatage that he doesn't need a boost to sweep weakened teams and can switch in and out with ease, then calm mind late game when the oponent doesn't expect it and sweep. Raikou sucks, raikou needs 6 calm minds to be less effective than alakazam after 1 calm mind, and alakzam can easily set up in an instant and just try agin later. Raikou can be walled even easier as he has only 2 attacks for type coverage.

Alakzam also gets perfect coverage in UU, and while his poor defences may seem bad, remeber he can put ev's form sp.atk and speed into them to become just as fast/powerful and more specialy bulky than your raikou, so bassically raikou sucks, and alakazam is broken in the UU tier, I've been using the calm mind sweeper, bring it in early game scout counter (generally only 1), then kill it and sweep late game. He also gets encore to make setting up that 1 calm mind even easier, but signal beam is usually beter

My only bias has been giving alakazam a modest nature for damagde calcs and raikou a timid, but raikou needs timid to be effective, alakazam does not, so that bias is removed. This rmt has chanelled how I think raikou sucks, he doesn't work he needs 101 hp or to be a ghost to work for s-toss, while showing that alakazam is broken in the UU tier and should be left in BL.

Slowbro > milotic, slowbro has more defence, the same hp, same instant recovery, more usefull typign with your team I would say, but its your choice, slowbro is another option
 

Bluewind

GIVE EO WARSTORY
is a Top Contributor Alumnus
Sub salac venusaur is more effective, with an overgrow boost he hardly needs the life orb as even a 4 times ressiting salamence is 2hkoed after stealth rock (assuming you have a sword dance and a sub to block intimidate, you can 2hko with a salac boost before he can touch you as he has to break your sub). Mence is OU, but im just using it as an explample of venusaurs power, it would have to replce sleep powder and although sub salac is a much more effective late game sweeper, I understandt your team likes the sleep support, in which case leftovers would allow your team to take advanatge of it more.

Alakazam is also capable of learnign calm mind, and after 1 calm mind he can outspeed almost all of UU and OHKO with awesome power as calminf plus life orb is a 1.98 times boost and is a much better sweeper in my opinion than raikou.

To prove my point I'll show there use in UBERS, by using the best special wall in UBERS a max hp, max sp.def calm blissey.
- Alakazam after 1 calm mind does 55% to a blissey
- Raikou after 1 calm mind 18%, almost negated by leftovers
- Raikou after 6 calm minds does 48% (still fails to ko even with a +6 crit)

OK this shows that alakazam is powerful in Ubers lets, move further down the chain to the slower less bulky UU metagame.

Lets add the fact that modest nature is vaible in UU allowing you to and after a calm mind he can do 75% to a max sp.def calm chansey and chansey is the only pokemon who can survie a hit from alakzam, and she can't survive it very well, 2 layers of spikes and 1 layer of rocks and he can OHKO like the enitre UU metagame, while your raikou (who can't set up on chansey) on 6 calm minds does 65%. Alakazam also has the advanatage that he doesn't need a boost to sweep weakened teams and can switch in and out with ease, then calm mind late game when the oponent doesn't expect it and sweep. Raikou sucks, raikou needs 6 calm minds to be less effective than alakazam after 1 calm mind, and alakzam can easily set up in an instant and just try agin later. Raikou can be walled even easier as he has only 2 attacks for type coverage.

Alakzam also gets perfect coverage in UU, and while his poor defences may seem bad, remeber he can put ev's form sp.atk and speed into them to become just as fast/powerful and more specialy bulky than your raikou, so bassically raikou sucks, and alakazam is broken in the UU tier, I've been using the calm mind sweeper, bring it in early game scout counter (generally only 1), then kill it and sweep late game. He also gets encore to make setting up that 1 calm mind even easier, but signal beam is usually beter

My only bias has been giving alakazam a modest nature for damagde calcs and raikou a timid, but raikou needs timid to be effective, alakazam does not, so that bias is removed. This rmt has chanelled how I think raikou sucks, he doesn't work he needs 101 hp or to be a ghost to work for s-toss, while showing that alakazam is broken in the UU tier and should be left in BL.

Slowbro > milotic, slowbro has more defence, the same hp, same instant recovery, more usefull typign with your team I would say, but its your choice, slowbro is another option
I wanna see an Alakazam take something more than a Tackle from a Caterpie and survive. The fact you just put a bunch of calcs together, most of which are wrong, and say Raikou sucks won't be proving anything, nor does that have anything to do with this thread as far as I know.
Moving on, this seems to be a solid team, but you have no Stealth Rocks whatsoever, so I'd recommend removing either Toxic or Thunder Wave for it.
 
@George: Thank you for your input, but I've used Alakazam before, and their frailty is really crippling to the team, especially when I'm depending on it almost exclusively for special sweeping.

@Bluewind: Oh, darn, I forgot I switched out my only Stealth Rocker and didn't put it back on Registeel. Thanks for reminding me.
 
I wanna see an Alakazam take something more than a Tackle from a Caterpie and survive. The fact you just put a bunch of calcs together, most of which are wrong, and say Raikou sucks won't be proving anything, nor does that have anything to do with this thread as far as I know.
Moving on, this seems to be a solid team, but you have no Stealth Rocks whatsoever, so I'd recommend removing either Toxic or Thunder Wave for it.
do them yourself, ther not there not wrong, use the marriland damage calculator if your unsure, alakazam has the highest sp.atk out of all NON ubers.

alakazam can take a hit form cataprie, and with no defence or hp ev's a choice banded metagross bullet punch "will do between 209 and 245 damage" (quoted from the marriland damage calculator) and alakazam has 251 hp, and think everyone knows that a choice bandedmetagross is more powerful than a cataprie.

(you knew this was comming) a catprie tackle does "between 21 and 24 damage!" which isnt even a Ten hit ko and cataprie is slower and OHKOed by phychic.

If you think im wrong then prove it, do some calcs your self, alakazam is not as useless as people think. Calcs do prove lol, that is the only form of proof there is that doesn't contain opinion.


But alakzam is my opinon so w/e,
now for some "proper rating" as you people would call it lol:

I agree you need stealth rock, many UU's are 4x weak to stealth rock, e.g. moltress, yanmegar, articuno etc and SR is useful even if its neutral as it discourages switching and can help wear down an oponent if your locked into a switch war. SR is one of the best move's in the game, and every team should carry it.

A sword dance sceptile is capaple of destoryign all 3 of your walls with leaf blade and earthquake, and OHKoing moltres with rock slide. I woudl suggest scarfing moltres to revenge kill sceptile, and useing slowbro over milotic as slowbro can live sword dance leaf blade and attack back with ice beam/physich/ t-wave etc.

With a t-wave slowbro, you could switch registeel to thunderwave aswell, it can annoy stalling walls and make them easier to take out and with this tunderwav support it can help your raikou and venusaur sweep and take on faster scarfed pokes, or jurast faster pokes in the case of venusaur.

I would suggets a sub calm mind mismagius over raikou, it is imnue to fighitng and ground so can work well with registeel, it appreciates thunderwave support and can set up on chansey as its imune to s-toss. it is just as cripplede by encore clefable and reggsteel as raikou is. Mismagius is also imune to extream speed, mach punch and fake out etc. and mismagius can avoid succer punch with substitute (as can raikou).

with mismgius you negate the need for moltres and another anti lead could be used, which negates the need for donphan, so a dugtrio can be used to trap sceptile, registeel etc to help raikou/mismagius set up for a sweep. Im asuming registeel has stealth rocks (its confuisn he has 2 toxics im guessing you meant steal trock). So an anti lead alakazam can be used :)
Timid nature
Inner focus
24 HP / 252 SpA / 16 SpD / 216 Spe
- substitute
- encore
- physhci
- signal beam/ hp fire/ focus blast

"Encore is a unique move and can be used to allow Alakazam to set up a Substitute. This can also work effectively as a lead, allowing you to Encore Stealth Rock or another support move and then Substitute as your foe switches. If you do opt to use this as a lead, Inner Focus is the recommended ability, since it will allow Alakazam to bypass the flinch from hitmontop or Ambipom's Fake Out.

With good prediction, Alakazam can ruin most attempts to sweep. Alakazam can switch into opponents using Calm Mind, Substitute, or another support move, and Encore them, completely turning the tables on your opponent. Furthermore, Encore is invaluable against Baton Pass teams, forcing them to switch and start all over." (quote from http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/alakazam)

It is a solid team, but for it to go to the next stage up, I feel many pokes may have switch around a bit, but if your affraid of ruinung the synergy then don't make drastic changes and of course alakazam is needed :)
 
@George: Wow, you really like Alakazam, don't you? :] I can't blame you. Its Special Attack stat makes it pretty appealing. Thank you for such an extensive rate. As soon as I finish testing this version of the team, I'll EV train your suggestions, switch things around, and see if it works better. Which it probably will, considering my less-than-extensive knowledge of the metagame. So thanks!
 

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The damage dealt by Raikou holding no boosting item after 1 CM hovers around 21% (19.63% - 23.05%). With LO it goes up to 27%. Not only that, but you're employing a super effective attack on Alakazam, not its STAB psychic. I'm not going to start a war on this thread because this is no place to do so, thus I'll just do what i should have done, ignore it and let the thread owner decide wheter or not he should implement the changes.
 
4 of your pokes are weak to priority. Moltres is to Aqua Jet, and a CB Azumarril could mess up lots of your team. Registeel is to Mach Punch and Vaccum Wave, though both can't OHKO at full health, but can pick Registeel off when its got low health. Aqua jet and Ice Shard to Donphan. Ice Shard to Venusaur.

CB Azumarril can have a CB, Huge Power Aqua Jet to OHKO Moltres easily. Aqua Jet 2HKOs Donphan. Superpower OHKOs Registeel with SR up. Ice Punch is an OHKO on Venusaur, if it's paralyzed, because usually your Saur is faster and can OHKO with Power Whip, or use it as Set-Up fodder and sleep it and SD. Your Raikou can OHKO it with STAB Thunderbolt, but not before it Aqua Jets you. Milotic completely walls it though, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem, unless Raikou, and Milotic are dead.
 
@Pokemon: Thanks for that information. I'll try to fix my team accordingly.

Also, George, I've done as you recommended and added Alakazam in over Moltres as a lead.
 
Question to anyone who may be able to answer:

I really want a Ghost-type on my team (preferably with Levitate to help with my massive Ground weakness) to check Fighting and Normal types. Should I use a Nasty Plot Mismagius or a Nasty Plot/Calm Mind Spiritomb? And who should I switch out?
 

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