ORAS UU I Have No Idea What I Am Doing

[reicko]

Hello, hello. I'm fairly new at this, and for the most part I steal sample teams and use them with no alterations because I'm awful and I know that I need every advantage I can get even if that means being boring. But I do like creating teams and I'm fond of the idea of being able to work with something a little different that I had a hand in creating.

This UU team is where I've expended the most effort on fitting the pieces together, but it still isn't quite good. I don't really build with a metagame in mind, being terrible at this and barely knowing what the metagame is, and instead try to have an answer to each type as well as a spread of physical/special damage. That's probably somewhere I could use help.

I realize that my losing ways are more than likely due mostly to my lack of skill at piloting my team, but it does feel a bit weak at times as well. Without further ado, I present the Aztec Empire, in descending order of my certainty that they belong.

Quetzelcoatl (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 176 Def / 68 SpA / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Roost
- Defog
- Heat Wave

There's nothing particularly interesting to see here. This Zapdos sure is Zapdos. He's a pretty reliable team member and can spend a turn defogging without getting destroyed, usually. I don't think this is where any mistakes I've made lie.

Tlaltecuhtli (Gligar) (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Roost
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic

Sometimes this guy is a great wall for me the entire game. Other times I get stuck with him and die to a special SE move or get knocked off, but as long as a stealth rock sticks it doesn't seem like too terrible a loss. His ability to switch in on neutrally effective physical attacks is a real boon.

Tlaloc (Milotic) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Marvel Scale
EVs: 248 HP / 128 Def / 132 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Recover
- Dragon Tail
- Ice Beam

Yes, I know what you're going to say, why don't I use Suicune? Eh. I like Recover and I don't feel that I can play Rest well. Marvel Scale sometimes gives him a period of usefulness after being statused that you might not expect. I am open to switching him to Suicune, but you'll really need to sell me on it. I see these first three as sort of a team core looking for some reliable ways to deal damage to the enemy, which is something I'm not sure I've found yet. Oh, and I'll happily take any suggestions about how to allocate his EVs, I've tried a few different setups and I'm not sure which one is best.

Xolotl (Lucario) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- High Jump Kick
- Bullet Punch
- Earthquake

Lucario feels so powerful, and he dishes out enough damage that I regularly happily High Jump Kick into what I know will be a switch-in that resists it, as it frequently 2HKOs anyways. I know that Close Combat is a more orthodox choice, but I don't really like it. Feel free to try to convince me I should. But, Lucario so frequently just isn't fast enough to get the job done all the way. When he has the speed, he's a really great addition. Maybe he needs more of it, but I'm not sure that solves the whole problem. He could just as easily turn into a special attacker or get removed entirely. I've found I like Earthquake because for some reason it seems to catch people off guard.

Xipe Totec (Sceptile) @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Giga Drain
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast

Rounding out the team are the two guys I've changed a few times. I used to have Mega Beedrill here, but wasn't happy with his inability to ever get hit by anything without dying. I'm not sure if this is the right replacement. He's been okay so far, but not a standout.

Tezcatlipoca (Darmanitan) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Earthquake

This slot is the carousel. I've put a few different things in here and hated all of them, and Darmanitan is no exception. He might function better with a Scarf, or something. I hate choice items and have tried to craft a team that wouldn't need them, but I'll suck it up if I have to. I'd be perfectly happy coming up with something better for this position, he's really just the pokemon of the week at present.

 

[Sylveon.]

Hey..I see you have joined today.. so Welcome!!! :o)
So as far as the team goes I think you are stressing too much on the defensive core of the team but otherwise I will go one by one for each mon-

1) Zappy is fine, But I think you will appreciate a specially defensive one as it checks and to some extent pressure stalls a lot of common mons for example hydreigon, if played correctly, and your team I feel needs that insurance specially against scarfed ones, as sceptile does not check them any more. It also counters opposing sceptile if you replace Hp ice>Heat wave, which could be a hassle for your team if yours loses the speed tie.

2) Gligar is good, but again your team is weak against dragons a bit, so as far as I think, a mamoswine will fit in pretty nicely, as even a possibilty of ice shard from mamo prevents salamences from setting up.

3) As you said yourself, suicune just outclasses milotic, though milotic has reliable self sustain, but that gigantic def stat of suicune is too good. Plus if you decide to replace gligar with mamo, then aero match up becomes a bit shaky, so suicune fixes that up too.

4) Lucario's main attraction lies in it getting extreme speed, which practically allows it to clean up at +2, Also close combat is better move anyways with HJK not giving you any specific koes, as lucario is going to be really important against stall, and as so many stall mons pack protect, so you should better be using close combat.

5) Sceptile is just fine though.

6) Darm's life orb set though really powerful, but kind of falls apart due to subpar speed, so you can either try the scarf set or even better use wallbreaker entei who could spam sacred fires all day and also gain dual priority along with lucario and mamo's ice shard , but then you will lose the volt-turn core though , thus you can use t-bolt on zappy to check sub-gyara.

Sets::

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 64 Def / 180 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Roost
- Hidden Power Ice
- Defog

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Icicle Crash
- Stealth Rock

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Extreme Speed
- Ice Punch/Bullet Punch

Entei @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Stone Edge

Well then best of luck :o)

 

[Manipulative]

Hey there! Cool team you've got going. Here are some suggestions to help you improve it.

• I feel like Gligar isn't doing very much for this team and just adds on to some unnecessary passiveness. You already have two physical walls in Zapdos and Milotic, so I think you can afford replacing Gligar with Nidoqueen. With this change, you retain a Stealth Rocker, but also pick up some much better qualities. Nidoqueen allows you to put so much more offensive pressure on the opponent since it's such a good wallbreaker. It also gives your team a grounded poison type to easily remove Toxic Spikes from your side of the field. The majority of the team struggles to take down fairies, and Nidoqueen offers you help with that as well. Note that this makes you a bit more vulnerable to Mega Beedrill, but one of my suggestions later on in this post should help with that. Anyways, here's the set:

Nidoqueen (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 168 HP / 252 SpA / 88 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Beam​

• Lucario's current set is pretty sub-optimal. I would suggest a moveset of Swords Dance / Close Combat / Extreme Speed / Crunch. Every SD Lucario should be running Extreme Speed because it's in most cases stronger than Bullet Punch, would be used much more often against common threats, and holds +2 priority rather than +1. Close Combat is overall much better than High Jump Kick because of its reliability. Despite High Jump Kick being slightly more powerful and not dropping your defenses, it has a 10% chance of missing and struggles against mons who run Protect. Rather than risking those misses and having to play mind games against protect users, you should just opt for Close Combat. Lucario runs priority, which in a lot of cases, can help compensate for the drops in defenses that Close Combat leaves you with anyways. Also, Crunch is on this set because I noticed how much your team struggles with Bulky Psychic types. You don't really have much for Cresselia and Reuniclus, so the addition of Crunch should really help. Lastly, I would recommend running a Jolly Nature because Lucario's speed tier is really important. Without running Jolly, Lucario fails to outspeed important threats like Heracross, the Nidos, Chandelure and Mamoswine. Here's the set:

Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Extreme Speed
- Crunch​

• Life Orb Darmanitan is pretty redundant honestly, and your team looks like it would greatly appreciate a boost in speed from running a Choice Scarf, considering how slow it looks right now. Darmanitan is already scary strong without a Life Orb thanks to Sheer Force. In fact, its Flare Blitz would still deal more damage than a Banded Entei's Sacred Fire. You currently don't have a scarfer, and although it isn't necessary to have one, you could very easily fit it on Darmanitan to help versus faster threats such as Mega Beedrill and Cobalion.

On to some minor adjustments:

• Zapdos really needs Thunderbolt over Volt Switch to check things like Gyarados, who can otherwise use Substitute on the Volt Switch. Alternatively, you could also try out Discharge for that nice 30% chance at paralyzing the target. Also, an EV spread of 240 HP / 176 Def / 68 SpD / 24 Spe would allow you to more easily switch into Mega Sceptile and also to outspeed Adamant Honchkrow. You may also want to consider Hidden Power Ice over Heat Wave to get Mega Sceptile and the dragons.

• The team would also appreciate Haze over Dragon Tail on Milotic to be able to clear your opponent's stat boosts. Overall, this is much more useful than Dragon Tail and could be a lifesaver at times.

I hope this helped, and good luck with the team!

 

[reicko]

Thank you both. I've been messing around with different combinations of your changes all day. Scarf on Darmanitan is correct for sure. Lucario is much better now and has turned into an effective sweeper. I'm trying to find the right set for Suicune still, I'm not sure if I'll keep him or not. I hate Mamoswine and will probably go with Nidoqueen.