hi
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Teambuilding Thought Process
From the start I knew I wanted to incorporate a core of Hydreigon and Latias on the team to act as the Dragon spammers, with Latias functioning as a lure for Hydreigon's most common checks and vice versa.
After deciding which sets I'd utilize for Hydreigon and Latias and deciding I wasn't going to use Scarf Hydra, I decided on Scizor and Swampert as my core of defensive pivots to deal with the offensive threats in the metagame and to provide utilities like Stealth Rocks, in addition to meshing well defensively and offensively with my two dragons.
The next Pokemon I selected was Keldeo as it provided great offensive synergy with the dragons, being able to weaken each others common checks, threaten Blissey, and defend against opposing Dark type Pokemon like Bisharp and Crawdaunt that could take advantage of the team so far. Keldeo also provides an additional check to opposing Scizor.
The ideal final pick for the team is a dedicated cleaner and revenge killer providing an additional Fighting resistance, considering how weak the team was to Scarf Mienshao in the late game as well as Flame Orb Conkeldurr to a lesser extent. Gengar seemed like a natural fit, with its immunity to Fighting, high speed, and providing the team with a much appreciated additional check to Fairies.
S Q U A D
Spice Girl (Latias) @ Psychium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Psyshock
- Draco Meteor
Latias is the first of the two Draco spammers, being able to come in on a a large portion of the UU metagame due to its typing plus Levitate to simply drop Dracos while occasionally Roosting to remain healthy to switch into Keldeo among other threats.
Calm Mind ensures that fatter targets such as Alomomola, Hippowdon, and Porygon-2 cannot comfortably do as they please or risk getting slammed by a boosted Draco Meteor. Psyshock ensures that this Latias can blast Blissey once it has set up, and allows for a harder hit on Fairies such as Primarina, Sylveon, and Calm Clefable.
At first glance Psychium-Z Psyshock seems like an odd choice because Shattered Psyche ignores Psyshock's effect of targeting Defense, however, Latias can use this technicality to its advantage. As an example of how this could work in practice, consider that +1 Psyshock 2HKOes standard Blissey after Rocks yet Latias will still be able to shred Blissey's defensive partners like Alomomola and Quagsire with Shattered Psyche without having to resort to Draco Meteor (or having to predict the opponent trying to bait Draco). Additionally, Psyshock + Shattered Psyche after Rocks also KOes Unaware Clefable.
However, Shattered Psyche's main purpose still lies in busting past Fairy type switch ins to pave the way for Hydreigon to dominate. At +1 Shattered Psyche obliterates Bold Clef, doing 96% min, and standard Calm Clef takes 80% min, comfortably KOing after a Psyshock. Offensive Primarina is also OHKOed by +1 Shattered Psyche from full whereas +1 Psyshock only does 87 max, barely missing the kill after rocks.
A coverage move can be run over Roost, but I found that Roost eases the stall matchup immensely by providing Latias a way to heal residual damage and in general is necessary to set up more effectively and beat other CM Pokemon such as Raikou with Psyshock.
R.I.P Amethyst (Hydreigon) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Roost
Hydreigon is the second Dragon of the team and the Pokemon responsible for scaring out or defeating Latias' remaining checks and counters, mainly bulky Psychics (such as Reuniclus, Slowking, and Mew) and Steel types like Scizor. As tempting as it seems to run something like Flash Cannon or Superpower in the coverage slot, it's actually quite amazing how many ladder players for whatever reason send in their Scizors on -2 Hydra thinking they're safe to U-Turn only to get sent to another dimension by Fire Blast. Fire Blast is also useful for deterring other Steels that resist Dark such as Bisharp, Klefki and Cobalion which can otherwise take advantage of Hydreigon, and is occasionally useful for hitting weakened Clefs.
Other than that, Life Orb Hydreigon is an immensely powerful breaker in UU with a scarcity of decent switch ins and a good number of common mons it can switch into and take advantage of due to its ability, bulk, and typing. Scizor in particular enjoys having Hydreigon harass fat Water types and Steel types that keep it from cleaning late game.
Once again, Roost is great on Hydreigon as well due to how important it is to keep healthy vs balance and bulky offense and its decent bulk allows it to outheal any damage done by most defensive Pokemon or resisted/non-STAB hits from some offensive Pokemon too.
Lovers (Scizor) @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 124 Def / 136 SpD
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
- U-turn
- Swords Dance
Bulky SD Scizor provides the team with a blanket check to quite a few Pokemon this team is otherwise vulnerable to, in particular other Dragon types such as opposing Latias, Haxorus, and Zygarde-10%, and Fairy types like Clefable which Scizor can threaten with STAB Bullet Punch. Additionally, it eases some pressure off of Swampert to deal with some physical threats like Terrakion and Mega-Aerodactyl, ensuring that Swampert in turn stays healthy for threats Scizor can't handle like Infernape and Talonflame. Scizor's slow U-turn is also extremely useful for this team in order to gain momentum and safely be able to switch in the team's hard hitters (Hydreigon and Keldeo). Thanks to it's strong priority and access to Swords Dance, Scizor can also act as a method of cleaning up late game or help in revenge killing a sweeper run amok. Scizor's only weakness to Fire is also conveniently resisted by four members of the team, and at least three members are ideal switch ins to the dreaded Scald and Will-o-Wisp that can swiftly halt an SD Scizor sweep.
Cream (Gengar) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Trick
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
Gengar fits well on this team as the main cleaner of the team, being particularly helpful vs teams that are very offensive in nature. Gengar also provides the team with another Fairy resist and a Fighting immunity, both of which were sorely needed. Shadow Ball and Sludge Wave are Gengar's STAB moves of choice for general neutral coverage and Fairy coverage respectively, Sludge Wave in certain situations can also come in handy for its 15 extra base power over Shadow Ball which could net a KO that Shadow Ball fell short of. For example, Sludge Wave has a significant chance to OHKO Mienshao after a round of Rocks while Shadow Ball never does.
Trick I found to be more useful than Destiny Bond for additional utility against fatter teams, being able to render a bulky set up Pokemon or a wall like Blissey useless. Gengar in particular I find to be an excellent Trick user due to benefitting from Black Sludge Tricked off of Pokemon like Tentacruel and Amoonguss instead of taking damage from it. Finally Focus Blast provides Gengar with coverage over Dark types that can otherwise easily take advantage of it such as Krookodile and Bisharp looking to Pursuit trap it. Additionally Focus Blast nails Empoleon which could otherwise take its hits rather comfortably and can also be a hinderance to the two Dragons.
Made in Heaven (Keldeo) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump / Surf
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Secret Sword
- Icy Wind
Specs Keldeo provides the team with a solid answer in the form of Specs Secret Sword to certain special walls that could otherwise prove to be a nuisance to the Dragon core, specifically Empoleon, Blissey, and the occasional Porygon-2. Additionally, this Keldeo can also lure in and smack prominent threats to the team as a whole, cleanly 2HKOing Primarina with HP Electric and 2HKOing Latias with Icy Wind after Rocks. Even if Keldeo fails to 2HKO an opposing Latias with Icy Wind, the speed drop from the move landing allows my own Latias and Hydreigon to subsequently outspeed it. Keldeo is also great for punching holes into Fairy types like Clefable and Togekiss that can switch into the Dragon core yet are not necessarily scared off by Keldeo's presence on the field, allowing Keldeo to fire off Specs Hydro Pumps or Surfs at them to weaken them for the Dragons later on. I usually hate having slashes in RMTs but for this one I'll make an exception because while I do prefer Hydro Pump's power myself, it can be incredibly frustrating to use and Surf is a perfectly serviceable alternative for consistency and higher PP against Protect spammers (you know the ones).
Defensively, Keldeo is a more aggressive answer to Scizor's Fire type banes, and is a great partner to Gengar by taking care of certain offensive threats it can't RK, specifically strong priority users like Bisharp and Crawdaunt.
Reborn MVP (Swampert) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Roar
- Earthquake
Swampert is the stealth rock user of choice for its general reliability, matchups vs other common Rockers like Empoleon and Hippo, synergy with Scizor, and ability to act as a blanket check to a variety of physical offensive threats in the tier, taking some heat off of Scizor when needed. Scald and Earthquake are the mandatory STAB moves used to potentially burn targets or weaken Pokemon that require chip damage to revenge kill. Swampert's access to Roar is also incredibly useful to keep bulky set up Pokemon like CM Slowbro and Clefable from taking advantage of it and subsequently sweeping or severely damaging the team, but it can also be used to predict and subvert switch ins while racking up hazard damage.
Swampert aids the team by switching into Steel types that Scizor is incapable of damaging very well and could threaten the rest of the team, such as Cobalion, opposing Scizor, Bisharp, and the rare Doublade. Swampert's presence greatly eases pressure off of Keldeo which would otherwise be relied upon to soft check these Pokemon.
Damp seems nifty to prevent Pokemon like Azelf from Exploding and severely weakening Swampert for other threats, but the team already has two solid Explosion switch ins and Torrent is actually quite useful to OHKO Talonflame from full with Scald after getting hit by +2 Supersonic Skystrike and subsequently knocked into Torrent, among other situations.
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Threatlist: Spice Girl (Latias) @ Psychium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Psyshock
- Draco Meteor
Latias is the first of the two Draco spammers, being able to come in on a a large portion of the UU metagame due to its typing plus Levitate to simply drop Dracos while occasionally Roosting to remain healthy to switch into Keldeo among other threats.
Calm Mind ensures that fatter targets such as Alomomola, Hippowdon, and Porygon-2 cannot comfortably do as they please or risk getting slammed by a boosted Draco Meteor. Psyshock ensures that this Latias can blast Blissey once it has set up, and allows for a harder hit on Fairies such as Primarina, Sylveon, and Calm Clefable.
At first glance Psychium-Z Psyshock seems like an odd choice because Shattered Psyche ignores Psyshock's effect of targeting Defense, however, Latias can use this technicality to its advantage. As an example of how this could work in practice, consider that +1 Psyshock 2HKOes standard Blissey after Rocks yet Latias will still be able to shred Blissey's defensive partners like Alomomola and Quagsire with Shattered Psyche without having to resort to Draco Meteor (or having to predict the opponent trying to bait Draco). Additionally, Psyshock + Shattered Psyche after Rocks also KOes Unaware Clefable.
However, Shattered Psyche's main purpose still lies in busting past Fairy type switch ins to pave the way for Hydreigon to dominate. At +1 Shattered Psyche obliterates Bold Clef, doing 96% min, and standard Calm Clef takes 80% min, comfortably KOing after a Psyshock. Offensive Primarina is also OHKOed by +1 Shattered Psyche from full whereas +1 Psyshock only does 87 max, barely missing the kill after rocks.
A coverage move can be run over Roost, but I found that Roost eases the stall matchup immensely by providing Latias a way to heal residual damage and in general is necessary to set up more effectively and beat other CM Pokemon such as Raikou with Psyshock.
R.I.P Amethyst (Hydreigon) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Roost
Hydreigon is the second Dragon of the team and the Pokemon responsible for scaring out or defeating Latias' remaining checks and counters, mainly bulky Psychics (such as Reuniclus, Slowking, and Mew) and Steel types like Scizor. As tempting as it seems to run something like Flash Cannon or Superpower in the coverage slot, it's actually quite amazing how many ladder players for whatever reason send in their Scizors on -2 Hydra thinking they're safe to U-Turn only to get sent to another dimension by Fire Blast. Fire Blast is also useful for deterring other Steels that resist Dark such as Bisharp, Klefki and Cobalion which can otherwise take advantage of Hydreigon, and is occasionally useful for hitting weakened Clefs.
Other than that, Life Orb Hydreigon is an immensely powerful breaker in UU with a scarcity of decent switch ins and a good number of common mons it can switch into and take advantage of due to its ability, bulk, and typing. Scizor in particular enjoys having Hydreigon harass fat Water types and Steel types that keep it from cleaning late game.
Once again, Roost is great on Hydreigon as well due to how important it is to keep healthy vs balance and bulky offense and its decent bulk allows it to outheal any damage done by most defensive Pokemon or resisted/non-STAB hits from some offensive Pokemon too.
Lovers (Scizor) @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 124 Def / 136 SpD
Impish Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
- U-turn
- Swords Dance
Bulky SD Scizor provides the team with a blanket check to quite a few Pokemon this team is otherwise vulnerable to, in particular other Dragon types such as opposing Latias, Haxorus, and Zygarde-10%, and Fairy types like Clefable which Scizor can threaten with STAB Bullet Punch. Additionally, it eases some pressure off of Swampert to deal with some physical threats like Terrakion and Mega-Aerodactyl, ensuring that Swampert in turn stays healthy for threats Scizor can't handle like Infernape and Talonflame. Scizor's slow U-turn is also extremely useful for this team in order to gain momentum and safely be able to switch in the team's hard hitters (Hydreigon and Keldeo). Thanks to it's strong priority and access to Swords Dance, Scizor can also act as a method of cleaning up late game or help in revenge killing a sweeper run amok. Scizor's only weakness to Fire is also conveniently resisted by four members of the team, and at least three members are ideal switch ins to the dreaded Scald and Will-o-Wisp that can swiftly halt an SD Scizor sweep.
Cream (Gengar) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Trick
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
Gengar fits well on this team as the main cleaner of the team, being particularly helpful vs teams that are very offensive in nature. Gengar also provides the team with another Fairy resist and a Fighting immunity, both of which were sorely needed. Shadow Ball and Sludge Wave are Gengar's STAB moves of choice for general neutral coverage and Fairy coverage respectively, Sludge Wave in certain situations can also come in handy for its 15 extra base power over Shadow Ball which could net a KO that Shadow Ball fell short of. For example, Sludge Wave has a significant chance to OHKO Mienshao after a round of Rocks while Shadow Ball never does.
Trick I found to be more useful than Destiny Bond for additional utility against fatter teams, being able to render a bulky set up Pokemon or a wall like Blissey useless. Gengar in particular I find to be an excellent Trick user due to benefitting from Black Sludge Tricked off of Pokemon like Tentacruel and Amoonguss instead of taking damage from it. Finally Focus Blast provides Gengar with coverage over Dark types that can otherwise easily take advantage of it such as Krookodile and Bisharp looking to Pursuit trap it. Additionally Focus Blast nails Empoleon which could otherwise take its hits rather comfortably and can also be a hinderance to the two Dragons.
Made in Heaven (Keldeo) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump / Surf
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Secret Sword
- Icy Wind
Specs Keldeo provides the team with a solid answer in the form of Specs Secret Sword to certain special walls that could otherwise prove to be a nuisance to the Dragon core, specifically Empoleon, Blissey, and the occasional Porygon-2. Additionally, this Keldeo can also lure in and smack prominent threats to the team as a whole, cleanly 2HKOing Primarina with HP Electric and 2HKOing Latias with Icy Wind after Rocks. Even if Keldeo fails to 2HKO an opposing Latias with Icy Wind, the speed drop from the move landing allows my own Latias and Hydreigon to subsequently outspeed it. Keldeo is also great for punching holes into Fairy types like Clefable and Togekiss that can switch into the Dragon core yet are not necessarily scared off by Keldeo's presence on the field, allowing Keldeo to fire off Specs Hydro Pumps or Surfs at them to weaken them for the Dragons later on. I usually hate having slashes in RMTs but for this one I'll make an exception because while I do prefer Hydro Pump's power myself, it can be incredibly frustrating to use and Surf is a perfectly serviceable alternative for consistency and higher PP against Protect spammers (you know the ones).
Defensively, Keldeo is a more aggressive answer to Scizor's Fire type banes, and is a great partner to Gengar by taking care of certain offensive threats it can't RK, specifically strong priority users like Bisharp and Crawdaunt.
Reborn MVP (Swampert) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Roar
- Earthquake
Swampert is the stealth rock user of choice for its general reliability, matchups vs other common Rockers like Empoleon and Hippo, synergy with Scizor, and ability to act as a blanket check to a variety of physical offensive threats in the tier, taking some heat off of Scizor when needed. Scald and Earthquake are the mandatory STAB moves used to potentially burn targets or weaken Pokemon that require chip damage to revenge kill. Swampert's access to Roar is also incredibly useful to keep bulky set up Pokemon like CM Slowbro and Clefable from taking advantage of it and subsequently sweeping or severely damaging the team, but it can also be used to predict and subvert switch ins while racking up hazard damage.
Swampert aids the team by switching into Steel types that Scizor is incapable of damaging very well and could threaten the rest of the team, such as Cobalion, opposing Scizor, Bisharp, and the rare Doublade. Swampert's presence greatly eases pressure off of Keldeo which would otherwise be relied upon to soft check these Pokemon.
Damp seems nifty to prevent Pokemon like Azelf from Exploding and severely weakening Swampert for other threats, but the team already has two solid Explosion switch ins and Torrent is actually quite useful to OHKO Talonflame from full with Scald after getting hit by +2 Supersonic Skystrike and subsequently knocked into Torrent, among other situations.
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hoo boy this thing is rough to deal with. It's tanky on the special side (meaning Gengar may not kill with Sludge Wave from full), gets free switch ins on Hydra, and lmao my switch in is that x button. This is the sole reason Specs Keldeo is running HP Electric over a reliable Water STAB.
A well played HP Fire Latias is very scary to face given how it won't drop to Scarf Shadow Ball from full and how well it takes on most of my team due to Hydreigon not being Scarf. Risking the speed tie is also far from a favorable scenario obviously. Much of the same applies to opposing Scarf Hydras but at least its locked in and I have a resist to every move and can predict around U-turn to gain momentum.
This just blows to deal with due to the lack of a real Flying resist and requires that I keep hazards up and/or Swampert very healthy at all costs otherwise its time to sack until Gengar can RK. Applies to Swellow as well to a lesser extent. I have a version of this team with Rhyperior over Swampert, thats how massive of a threat this is.
Just a fat piece of shit that doesn't drop to Psyshock like Blissey and can actually fuck the team up if it's the TR variant and it gets a SAtk raise from Download. TR in general can be painful to play due to the lack of Taunt on the team which typically results in matches being decided by how well I can switch around and predict to waste TR turns while preserving Hydreigon to halt the most common setters.
This can be a real nuisance if it's the LO Analytic set, but is generally worn down easily and the threat of Scarf Gar coming in on Spin allows me to play aggressively around it.
On paper my team has plenty to check this, but nonetheless can be scary with hazards given that this team lacks hazard control and how crazy strong it is as well as the addition of Psychic Fangs to its movepool. Still loses to ScarfGar though at only +1 Speed.
Thanks for reading!
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