DPP UU LonelyBalance: A UU RMT For The Ages

[LonelyNess]

So I’ve actually only ever submitted a single RMT. It was a long time ago, and was an Explosion team that, let’s face it, wasn’t that good. Since then however, I’ve become somewhat proficient in UU. And with all of the UU teams I’ve rated, I figure maybe I should lead by example…

And so I present to you: LonelyBalance

Team at a Glance

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The Lead

Steelix (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 HP/4 Atk/252 SDef
Sassy nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock
- Roar

Why This Pokemon?

One’s lead in Pokemon should always have a specific purpose, one that sets up momentum for the player and allows for advantage. My Steelix does just that. Its main objective is to set up Stealth Rock, and with the current state of UU leads being either weather enducers, or Status leads, Steelix does an extremely good job. I welcome these suicide Nidos that have popped up lately, because it means a free kill for my team… and personally I feel a kill is more valuable than Rocks.
Another reason for Steelix is that simply, it walls so many things. It keeps Swellow at bay, as well as so many other Physical threats that would simply run through my only other answer to physical beasties (like those Pokemon with Rock STAB). I couldn’t live with any other Pokemon.

Why This Set?

Earthquake is a no brainer on any Steelix set. It provides consistent STAB, and is Super Effective against a large portion of the UU metagame. That and a Steelix without STAB is just blasphemy. Stealth Rock is pretty self explanatory as well. It provides Steelix with something to do while it sits there soaking up hits, as well as is the main purpose of him being in the lead position to begin with. Gyro Ball is on the set because Glaceon fails to OHKO this Steelix with so much emphasis on Special Defense. With Gyro Ball, I can do ~75% to Glaceon, which with Stealth Rocks is a OHKO. I originally had Crunch on the set in order to hit Rotom and Claydol, but I realized that I already had enough checks on those two Pokemon, that a further check on Glaceon was warrented. The Evs on this set seem unorthodox, but in all honesty, Steelix doesn’t need any kind of boost to its defense. Its defense is already so beefy that it needs no help from Evs or even a +Nature to do its job. I go for a Max HP / Max SpD spread because 351 / 254 is actually not that bad specially defensively. For example, my Steelix always survives a Life Orb Flamethrower from Ninetales without a Nasty Plot boost, and has a chance to survive against Fire Blast. He obviously returns with an OHKO with Earthquake. Long story short, Special Defensive Steelix is just the best way to go.

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The Core

These four Pokemon make up the core of my team, and work off each other’s weaknesses and resistances in order to slowly wear down the opponent for ONE of them to make a sweep. All are potent in what they do, and can sweep at a moment’s notice. They are also all quite bulky, which is important because they must be able to switch in and out with each other consistently throughout the match. Notice how none of them are Stealth Rock weak… that was done on purpose in order to lessen the penalty of switching a lot.

Clefable (M) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP/152 Def/104 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Softboiled

Why This Pokemon?

I couldn’t really tell you why I chose Clefable over any other Pokemon. Mainly I needed something that I could switch in reliably to the majority of Pokemon and NOT be OHKOd. This was incredibly important to me because there are many Pokemon in UU who are capable of running more than one set, and the chance for a misprediction was far too great before Clefable was on the team. Clefable is simply put not OHKOd by anything unless it’s Fighting typed. This allows me to atleast make a judgement of how to asses the problem. Furthermore, assigning my “set discoverer” to a Pokemon that doesn’t add much to the resistance chain of my core means that the penalty for losing Clefable isn’t that high.

Why This Set?

To be honest, this set was really only chosen because it is Clefable’s best chance for a sweep in UU, not to mention it completely wrecks UU Stall, which could be a problem for me considering I have a team that is of a Balanced nature. This set also takes advantage of the opponent using Mantine. With Clefable I get a free Calm Mind, or a chance to hit an incoming sweeper with an attack and tack a little bit of extra damage onto it. If I was going to change a set, or even an entire Pokemon. Clefable’s would be it.

Venusaur (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 72 HP/184 Spe/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Leaf Storm
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Energy Ball

Why This Pokemon?

Why Venusaur? Simply put, he gets the job done. He provides a much needed 4X grass resist that protects my Gastrodon from getting blown to pieces. He also packs the necessary power to break through nearly everything that UU can throw at him. He also “absorbs” Toxics that are directed at my sweepers that dislike it (read: Gastrodon and Camerupt). As well, Venusaur lets my team take some of the strain off of Weezing through his Fighting resist, making Venusaur my first switch-in to TechTop if I know the rest of my opponent’s team and they have more than one Fighting type Pokemon.

Why This Set?

Max Special Attack Choice Specs Venusaur allows me to not have to predict at all. He does crazy damage to nearly every threat in UU. There is no Special wall that can avoid a 2HKO from Venusaur if there are Stealth Rocks down, meaning that unless the opponent predicts correctly and gets in a Grass resistant Pokemon, they are going to lose something. Even then, they have to be packing a fairly specific set of Pokemon that can actually threaten Venusaur now that they’ve barely survived a CS Leaf Storm. I use this set because it provides an instant threat that the opponent must manage. This not only keeps the opponent on their toes, but gives me something to go to if I can’t set up the sweep on one of my other core players.

Lapras (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 120 HP/136 SAtk/252 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Thunder
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Ice Beam
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Why This Pokemon?

I chose Lapras because of a few reasons. It has great Special Defense, Water Absorb, Ice STAB, and acces to Electric moves that compliment that STAB perfectly. Lapras may not be able to complete a sweep, but it lures in Grass types that my Venusaur can take advantage of. It also brings in the Electric types that my Camerupt can take advantage of. And surprisingly it brings in Drifblim, which Clefable takes advantage of. Its typing, along with its amazing stats allow it to perform a multitude of roles on my team.

Why This Set?

The EVs given ensure that Lapras is not 2HKOd by Omastar's (And Gorebyss by extension) HP Electric or Grass even after Stealth Rock. This also allows for her to take Hidden Power Fighting from Glaceon like a champ. Thunder may be inaccurate, but I need the extra power to kill foes using Rain Dance. Without it, they may lose their Rain Dance sweeper, but I could possibly lose Lapras in the process. Plus, during an opponent's Rain Dance, it is 100% accurate anyway. Outside of Rain Dance, Lapras has plenty of bulk to afford a few misses with Thunder. Ice Beam provides consistent STAB as well as another way to damage things if I don't want to rely on Thunder missing. Rest and Sleep Talk round out the set because it would be bad if I lost Lapras early in the match and I still needed it to take on threats like Glaceon or a last minute Rain sweep by Omastar or Gorebyss.

Camerupt (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 12 HP/244 Spe/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Earth Power
- Explosion
- Rock Polish
- Fire Blast

Why This Pokemon?

Water / Grass / Fire is an amazing defensive combo. The only thing keeping it from greatness is the fact that Fire is weak to Stealth Rock, which limits the ability to continuously switch around. Fire / Ground is an amazing typing, and with Solid Rock, it only gets better. Couple that with Camerupt’s good stats and great STAB moves, and it’s really a no brainer why I’ve chosen Camerupt for my Fire Pokemon.

Why This Set?

If you’ve ever read my UU Metagame Analysis, you’ll know why I’ve chosen this set. It absolutely wrecks an opponent’s team, and has plenty of chances to switch in… like on Ninetales / Rotom / etc… This set has single handedly nearly half of my matches due to nothing but the sheer unpreparedness of the opposing team. Fear this set, or watch as you are 6-0’d

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The Glue

With my core in place, I saw that there were a good number of Pokemon that, even if they couldn’t risk switching in, they would still destroy my team on a revenge switch. Thus, I needed a “glue” Pokemon in order to hold everything together. I assessed the threats, and added the best solution possible to the team.

Weezing (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Will-o-wisp
- Thunderbolt

Why This Pokemon?

I needed a Pokemon that could take care of all of the Fighting types of UU, as well as Drapion, Skuntank, and Absol. These were of the utmost importance because with my Fire / Water / Grass resistance chain, special attackers were kept at bay, and Steelix covers all Physical threat except for these Pokemon. I first had Claydol in this slot because it covered the Fighting types, but upon play testing, I found that I had a huge Absol / Drapion weakness. I used Weezing because it can stop everything that previously tore the team a new one.

Why This Set?

I knew that I had to keep Weezing alive and healthy the entire battle if I was going to keep my team held together. This meant that Rest / Sleep Talk was a necessity because I couldn’t rely on the unpredictability of Pain Split for recovery. Will-O-Wisp is there to cripple the opponents so that my core can take them on one on one. I decided that Thunderbolt was the best move because it was neutral or super effective on the majority of Pokemon that threaten Weezing. The fact that Ground types are immune to Thunderbolt is a moot point as none of the UU ground types bar Gastrodon have any kind of recovery, meaning that a Burn and subsequent Rest stall will beat them every time through passive damage. It’s the same set I use on my Bulky Rotom, and it works for the same reasons.

 

[LonelyNess]

So there’s my team. Let’s look at the common UU threats and how I can either stop them, or use them to my own advantage.

The Threat Down

Claydol: Clefable and Venusaur both come in at little to no risk to themselves and begin to wreck havoc on the opposing team, either through forcing to deal with a set up, or massive power. Lapras can't set up on Claydol, but can come in with impunity and start firing off Ice Beams

Steelix: Weezing can come in, burn and stall it. Clefable can come in and set up on it. Venusaur can come in once or twice (hopefully not on Earthquakes though) and spam Choice Specs Leaf Storms. Lapras can come in on any set that doesn't use Stone Edge.

Hitmontop: Venusaur can come in on TechTop sets, but needs to stray away from Choice Band sets. Weezing is obviously a full stop to Hitmontop.

Rotom: A combination of Clefable and Camerupt will take on any Rotom, however Trick can be bothersome... Venusaur can even come in on a choiced Thunderbolt and threaten to OHKO with Leaf Storm.

Clefable: My own Clefable can set up on it. Venusaur 2HKOs Max HP / Max SpD versions and OHKOs 252 HP / 0 SpD versions with Leaf Storm. And Camerupt sets up a Rock Polish and 2HKOs with Fire Blast. Basically, my entire core can take this thing down.

Venusaur: Arguably the biggest threat to my team, however with crafty resistances built into my team, along with residual damage from Stealth Rocks and switching into weak attacks it can be dealt with. I basically have to “predict around” this guy, but that’s nothing I’m not used to.

Ninetales: Camerupt uses its nice Special Defense stat to take even boosted hits like a champ… it can then set up a Rock Polish and outspeed and OHKO with Earth Power. Steelix can take a Life Orb Flamethrower from Ninetales if it needs to prevent Ninetales from setting up on the team, however this is kind of “last resort-ish." In that same tenet, even Lapras can take a +2 Life Orb Energy Ball from Ninetales, however it can't OHKO back with Ice Beam and has to hope for a hit from Thunder. If I was going to get rid of Ice Beam or Surf on Lapras, this would be why.

Hitmonlee: Weezing is pretty much a full stop to any and all Hitmonlee sets.

Swellow: Read: Hitmonlee but replace Weezing with Steelix and Hitmonlee with Swellow.

Absol: This Pokemon can bite my ass…. I hate it, even with all my efforts to weed out Psycho Cut Absol, if it does carry this move, then I am all but done for. It can destroy my entire team with a single Swords Dance. The only consolation is that every Pokemon except for Clefable can fell Absol in a single blow… but if Absol gets in on Clefable and gets a Swords Dance, and has Psycho Cut… then it’s all over. There’s really nothing I can do but kill it before it sets up. If it lacks Psycho Cut for Night Slash, however, then Weezing takes it handidly.

Drifblim: Steelix can Crunch it or Roar away Substitute Baton Passers… and with the Special Defense Evs invested will take little damage from a Hidden Power Fighting, Gastrodon can take on the Trick sets, and Clefable can set up on it. Drifblim is really no threat to my team.

Froslass: Froslass’ weak attacks mean that even Steelix can take it on. Clefable can use Froslass as set-up bait. Oh, and don’t forget Camerupt too. Spikes are annoying, but they can be worked around.

Weezing: Clefable and Camerupt both love to see a Weezing because it means a free sweep set up.

Altaria: This one is a bit tricky. If it’s DD Life Orb, then I have to force it to Outrage on Weezing and revenge kill with Steelix. If it’s any other version though, it doesn’t do enough damage to Steelix to be a threat… Not to mention, Lapras is bulky enough to take an Outrage and blow it out of the sky with STAB Ice Beams coming from 240 SpA.

Hypno: Clefable uses it for setup bait, Venusaur 2HKOs with Leaf Storm, Lapras can easily stall with Rest, the only core member who can’t do much to Hypno is Camerupt… but it can still boom on it and take it out if it’s REALLY that desperate.

Electrode: Only ever seen as a lead carrying Rain Dance. The most threatening is the Damp Rock versions. I can stall out 5 turns of rain with ease through intelligent switching, but stalling out 8 is a far more difficult task. I generally try and keep Electrode IN as long as possible with Steelix, wasting its Rain Dance by using Stealth Rock and Crunch… if Electrode lacks Explosion, it can’t risk bringing in the Rain Dance sweepers since all but Gorebyss fall to Earthquake. This lets me stall down some of the turns.

Kabutops: Ok, here's the deal with Kabutops. Every single one of my Pokemon deals super effective damage in some way to Kabutops. And all of my Pokemon can survive a hit, as long as it's not Swords Dance. So basically, as long as I "don't panic" and switch, giving Kabutops a free Swords Dance, I beat it... hands down. (And yes, even a Rain boosted Waterfall with Life Orb does not OHKO Steelix. It NEEDS the Swords Dance)

Primeape: Read: Hitmontop / Hitmonlee

Toxicroak: Physical versions are taken on nicely by Weezing, and special version are taken on by Lapras… Who with its nice Special Defense, isn't really phased all that much by the weak Vacuum Wave.

Lanturn: Venusaur loves to see Lanturn because it means a free switch. Especially because Ice Beam coming from Lanturn only does ~33% to Venusaur. The only threat it poses is Thunder Wave, but considering that 5 out of the 6 of my Pokemon are either immune to Thunder Wave, or have Rest to get rid of it making them perfect Status Absorbers, I don't see how my opponent would be using it that often.

Drapion: Weezing takes it on nearly perfectly. The only thing I worry about is an untimely critical hit from a Swords Dance Night Slash. Other than that, I’m golden. Steelix also takes Swords Dance Earthquakes like a champ and returns with an OHKO from its own Earthquake.

Blastoise: Gastrodon, Venusaur, Clefable all love to set up on Blastoise.

Manectric: Clefable takes on all non-Life Orb versions. And Steelix can take a Life Orb Flamethrower if it has to and return with an OHKO with Earthquake.

Leafeon: Steelix has high enough defense that it can Roar it away with impunity. Weezing burns it and stalls. Venusaur comes in with its 4X Grass resistance and blows it away with Sludge Bomb.

Venomoth: As long as Lapras is awake, even Choice Specs Bug Buzz is still a 3HKO. It requires that I don’t get criticaled, but it’s the best answer I have against it. Steelix can also take the hits because it’s specially defensive. All of my Pokemon can deal with it if they come in after it has Kod something as well.

Poliwrath: Weezing beats any Poliwrath lacking Hydro Pump. Venusaur can take a hit from Ice Punch and KO with a Grass move. Belly Drum / Salac versions could arguably give my team A LOT of trouble.

Scyther: Scyther doesn’t OHKO any of my team mates barring Venusaur, and all of them either proceed to set up on him (Camerupt), kill him in return, or neuter him through Rocks or Burn

Articuno: The ToxicStall is probably the most threatening. But I can stall it out with Calm Mind Clefable. Even with Pressure as long as I use Calm Mind until it’s depleted, I can beat it one on one. Non-Toxic stalling versions are set up bait for Camerupt. And Lapras can easily PP Stall with Rest

Sharpedo: Venusaur can come in on a Surf or Hydro Pump, take the Ice Beam, and kill with Energy Ball. Clefable can take all sets lacking Hydro Pump. And Lapras can take on virtually any set.

Glaceon: No longer a pain in my ass… Steelix can take one Ice Beam thanks to all of that Special Defense. I use that opportunity to throw down Gyro Ball, leaving it at 25%. Then I go to Venusaur for the revenge kill. Because nearly all of my Pokemon can set up and kill Glaceon if it switches IN on them, the only threat is a revenge switch-in. I basically have to make an intelligent sacrifice and keep bringing in Venusaur to force it out. It’s a pain, but it works generally. I can also just go to Lapras who with its Special Defense investment, allows for a full stop to Glaceon sets.

There you have it, the top 30 threats in the UU metagame, and how my team handles them.

 

[iKitsune]

What a delight it is to read somthing as cogent and articulate as this, well done. You obviously know far more about pokemon than most people so i doubt you will get any intelligible rates. You pretty much perfectly evaluated your team. I love your core by the way and the detail that you went into choosing these pokemon. I have one other thing to say other than RMT business. I would love to have you rate my team (exploding trick room of guts) and also maybe one day maybe make a team with you.
Once again well done on an entirely solid team.

I would also be very interested to know if you thought there was any chance of absol becoming BL along with Gastrodon and clefable as ultimately they are becoming slightly too overpowered.

 

[umbarsc]

I played this team last night, and I wasn't too impressed with its performance. I'm not sure how effective balance is in the current metagame, because any fully offensive team can pick holes in this team, and once one Pokemon dips below 100% it allows certain Pokemon to than destroy you. This careful synergy can easily be played around, and if you lose one Pokemon to a misplay or a crit or whatever, then you're just asking to be swept.

This is more of a rant than a rate, though.

Anyways, I have some problems with your threat list. For example:

Ninetales: Camerupt uses its nice Special Defense stat to take even boosted hits like a champ… it can then set up a Rock Polish and outspeed and OHKO with Earth Power. Steelix can take a Life Orb Flamethrower from Ninetales if it needs to prevent Ninetales from setting up on the team, however this is kind of “last resort-ish”

With minimal HP investment and no recovery at all, Camerupt is more of a "kinda sorta" check against Ninetales than a true counter. Camerupt takes about 40-50% from Life Orb Fire Blast, meaning that Ninetales can just throw around Fire Blasts and Energy Balls without any problems. HUGE Ninetales weakness.

Kabutops: Venusaur can stop it even if it’s in the rain. Don’t forget that Gastrodon can take it on too if it lacks a Swords Dance.

Venusaur is not a stop to Swords Dance Kabutops, even when it's not raining. Swords Dance Stone Edge is an easy OHKO, and I believe Swords Dance Life Orb Return OHKOs as well. I'm not 100% on this, but I think that if Gastrodon comes in on Kabutops while Kabutops uses Swords Dance, Kabutops comes out winning because even if Waterfall isn't a OHKO, I believe Earthquake isn't a OHKO either.

Kabutops is also a huge threat to you, even moreso because it's a 100% revenge-killer to Camerupt.

 

[LonelyNess]

I think it's a fairly obvious statement that a team filled with nothing but my team's problem threats will break through my team.

I wonder who plays a team like that *looks through the RMT forum* Oh... looks like Umbarsc.

Of course you played the team and beat it, not that you had an easy time. If I remember the score was 0-2 at the end... and I lost largely to a misplay.

The fact is that unless my opponent uses ALL of my biggest threats on the same team, then my biggest threats can be dealt with. Not to mention this assumes that I am reacting to them, rather than building my own momentum.

 

[Kir]

I am by no means an expert regarding UU, but I had to post to compliment you on this thread. It was the most enjoyable RMT read for me in a long time.

The team looks excellent, although I have to agree with umbarsc that Nintetales and Kabutops could certainly be problematic if they are played correctly, but they are nothing that you can't play around with ample prediction.

Outstanding Job.

 

[Cynthia]

It's a pretty solid team, but like all teams it does have weaks: namely Absol, Glaceon, and Ninetales which are not good Pokemon to be weak to, though absol and Glaceon can't switch in easily.. I think a Rain team could sweep fairly easily, you may think you can outpredict but you do only have 1 water resist. I like to run attack Evs on Stellix but I guess full spdef can work.

 

[Olie]

This was quite a joy to read, LN. Seems Perfect for someone (like myself), who is just starting in UU and needs some help with the threats and all that. This should totally be stickied.

 

[cim]

This is the sexist damn team I've ever seen. A really coherent rate, it's a great way to learn about UU threats and how to deal with them.

The only thing I see that is a problem from my small amount of UU experience is a Rain team that's managed to set up on you, though you can probably outplay any Kabutops as everything on your team packs an SE Move.

 

[Ronca_Lapor]

I'd run body slam on gastrodon instead of EQ

water + normal provide great coverage... that's what mine has :)

 

[LonelyNess]

After losing to quite a few rain dance teams, I made a hard thought switch on one of my Pokemon. I swapped out Gastrodon for Lapras. It covers everything that Gastrodon used to (although it leaves a LITTLE bit more strain on the rest of my team... and the lack of an ability to make a sweep is regretable) and also covers Glaceon and the Rain Dance abusers.

I also updated my threat list with this in mind.

 

[umbarsc]

My point is that the synergy is easily broken up by weakening some of your Pokemon. Say, for example, that I send out Kabutops and hit Weezing with two Waterfalls before it goes down to Thunderbolt, and Weezing is at, say, 50% health (just making up some numbers). That means it can no longer counter Absol and I run you over with +2 Absol.

Speaking of which, what is your Weezing's fourth move? The set says Thunderbolt, but in the Threat Checklist (under Leafeon) you mention Sludge Bomb.

By the way, and I'm not trying to be immodest or an ass or anything, but it wasn't too close of a win. Most of it was myself just putting the pressure on you and making sime timely sacrifices to ensure the win.

 

[LonelyNess]

I was speaking of Venusaur coming in to Leafeon with its 4X resistance. Venusaur has Sludge Bomb. Weezing has Thunderbolt.

 

[Colloquy]

Lapras is good for this team. It gives you a solid Rain Dance check. Keep.

 

[Cynthia]

I think Lapras is a good choice here, it stops some of your weaknesses. Ninetales is still a big problem though as a point of reference it OHKOs Camerupt after SR with a +2 Life Orb Fire Blast so that's not such a great counter.

 

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Lapras stays for the aforementioned reasons.

This is an amazing RMT for a pretty badass team. I haven't tried that Camerupt yet, but it looks like an absolutely amazing Pokemon that I want to use in my next team. The only thing that I'd watch out for is that if Lapras dies, Glaceon makes your team sadface. Also, your team has the same issue with Lopunny => Octillery that so many other teams have, so I'd be wary of how you play that one.