NP: UU - Bye Bye Bye

[IronBullet]

I've gotta say, Taunt + SD Drapion is absolutely killer. It's hilarious how many people switch in shit like Registeel, Uxie and Milotic into this guy thinking they can get off an easy T-Wave/ Haze and end up getting Taunted, doing crap damage back and soon staring down a +4 Drapion. Seriously, the only things stopping this set are Ground types like Donphan and Rhyperior, so I run CB Scyther in tandem with Drapion to wear them down with U-Turn, allowing Drapion to KO them late-game.

Edit: Sorry meant +4.

 

[shrang]

Wait what?? +3 Drapion?? How do you get to +3 with SD?? Anyway, I've used bulky Taunt/SD Drapion as well, and I do get quite disappointed with the power output sometimes, although against weather teams and stuff like that, it completely wrecks house.

 

[capefeather]

When I used SD Drapion, so many Dugtrio switched into me :( I was disappointed. It's definitely pretty great when it does get going, though.

 

[MegaKick]

I was experimenting with LO Donphan before as well, but the extra power of CB/LO isn't usually needed (The only place you'll need it is against Milotic). Most Ghosts are OHKO'd by Head Smash (Or Spiritomb's case, EQ does quite a lot of damage to it anyway).

Of course, with a choice band payback, you don't have to kill yourself to remove the ghosts. Head Smash + Life Orb = too weak to survive any attack which = no spin

Anyone seeing lots of blastoise leads lately? they seem to run fake out, ice punch, waterfall, rapid spin. A worse kabutops imo

 

[M BLADE]

I'm considering using my OU Blastoise lead here to UU, but not as a lead.

Blastoise@Mystic Water
Hydro Pump
Aqua Jet
Rapid Spin
Toxic/Ice Beam

Mystic Water to boost Hydro Pump. Max special attack of course.
This set is capable of dealing with any ghost trying to block Rapid Spin.

The calcs with Hydro Pump:
VS Scarf Rotom: 99.2% - 116.9%
VS Defensive Rotom: 78.9% - 93.1%
VS Rest Talk Spiritomb: 48.7% - 57.6%
VS Bulky Mismagius: 43.8% - 51.9%

Aqua Jet deals the "finishing blow".
Torrent adds even more damage to those pokes.

With some HP investiment, not even max Rotom Thunderbolt is going to OHKO this.
Toxic deals with Milotic switches, while leaving you helpless to Venusaur or Altaria. Ice Beam hits those two for SE (even though Saur is probably going to outspeed Blastoise).

 

[Cshadow]

I has a question if someone does not mind answering it. I see a lot of people running double types (ie ghosts) or double of the same type of sweeper (rock polish), the general strategy to find the opponents counters for this Pokemon (or, for ghosts, the pursuit user), and eliminate it. Now, when using this strategy (which I'm assuming I've outlined correctly, if someone can go into more detail that would be nice) is the purpose to let the other Pokemon of that same type set up for a sweep? Ie; Rotom is the bait to lure in Pursuit, Mismagius is the one who Nasty Plots for the sweep. Would it be as effective if I weren't to use it for a sweep? Ie, by running Kangaskhan and Tauros on the same team?

 

[Fiction]

How does that blatoise lead work BTW

Double ghost is usually to prevent spins and keep up spikes or rocks. As foresight lets people surpass single ghost teams. Plus rotom and mismagius play differently so you can't really compare them to the rock polisher doubles.

 

[Legacy Raider]

I has a question if someone does not mind answering it. I see a lot of people running double types (ie ghosts) or double of the same type of sweeper (rock polish), the general strategy to find the opponents counters for this Pokemon (or, for ghosts, the pursuit user), and eliminate it. Now, when using this strategy (which I'm assuming I've outlined correctly, if someone can go into more detail that would be nice) is the purpose to let the other Pokemon of that same type set up for a sweep? Ie; Rotom is the bait to lure in Pursuit, Mismagius is the one who Nasty Plots for the sweep. Would it be as effective if I weren't to use it for a sweep? Ie, by running Kangaskhan and Tauros on the same team?

I'm slightly confused what you're asking exactly, but you asked for clarification. The strategy you outlined is an effective way of weakening your opponent's checks to a certain kind of sweeper, letting a similarly molded sweeper break past them and sweep the rest of the team. Many people rely on a single pokemon to check a variety of threats, meaning you can easily double up on said threats and use this double-tap offensive to take them out. Common battle example - you send out LO Houndoom on your opponent's Spiritomb. They switch to Milotic as you Nasty Plot. You hit them with a LO +2 Dark Pulse as they take you out with Surf. Now, although you're one pokemon down, their Milotic is at critical health and hasn't been given a chance to recover. Now your LO Arcanine can easily come in and KO it with Thunder Fang, before proceeding to sweep the Fire-type-weak remnants of your opponent's team.

You could probably get away with the Kangaskhan + Tauros strategy as they do play in a similar way, i.e. hard hitting Normal-type sweeper, commonly Banded. However, if you do choose to go through with strategy, I would advise you not to just slap a CB on both, since they play so similarly that they could easily be outstalled by the same Pokemon, e.g WoW Weezing. Running Substitute on your 'scouter' Pokemon would help see exactly what your opponent plans on doing against that mold of attacker while also protecting you from status. Personally I'd run a Sub / Return / Focus Punch / Sucker Punch Kangaskhan as a scout for Tauros, as it gets that nice bulky 101 HP Sub and perfect coverage with Return + Focus Punch in order to wear down basically anything and everything that could get in Tauros' way later on.

 

[Cshadow]

~Big Helpful post~

The way I phrased my question was bad, but the explanation you gave me was exactly what I was asking. Thanks~

 

[capefeather]

Well, I tried to get back into UU, but I just can't. I don't know what to do at all. At least I'm not losing to randoms anymore, but 1400s seem to mean auto-lose for me.

 

[yond]

Well, I tried to get back into UU, but I just can't. I don't know what to do at all. At least I'm not losing to randoms anymore, but 1400s seem to mean auto-lose for me.

Im seeming to have similar troubles. I have only broke the 1600 barrier once since i've started, and I seem to be fixing my team every single day. The metagame is shifting to much and its hard to bring enough to take everything. For example, the other day I was seeing Venu + Milo everywhere, but now it seems like tangrowth is becoming more of a threat. Not to mention steelix has taken a giant leap forward in usage. I also started testing SubCm Alakazam and am having lackluster results. Maybe I'm running the wrong moveset of sub, cm, psychic, focus blast? So far preferring Uxie/Mesprit.

Another thing I'd like to mention is that physical dark type abusers like Sharpedo are excellent in this metagame. The simple: crunch, eq, surf, aqua jet takes care of just about everything beside things that outspeed it( mismagius, scarfers, swellow (full health) ) and grass types. So really if you pair Sharpedo with any fire type like maybe LO Arcanine and you have a pretty good sweeping pair. ( as least from my experience)

 

[Emerald Blaze]

A pokemon I seem to be having a large problem with is Venusaur. It's not the power that I'm scared of, it's sleep powder. I usually have to dedicate one of my pokemon to stopping Venusaur while still trying to find a way to make it pull other uses in my team. Even then, I can't just blindly switch into it. I have to be careful and not get hit by Power Whip or Sludge Bomb.

Another problem I've been having is lacking a huge amount of speed. I tend to run slow, bulky, and powerful pokemon. On my most recent success team, my fastest pokemon is a Magmortar that doesn't even have max speed (only enough to outrun Venusaur not like I can switch into him). A lot of times, this lack of speed tend to bite me in the ass. I need to find faster pokemons.

 

[SJCrew]

ban rotom

 

[Rolf]

The set I was running on Sharpedo was Substitute/Crunch/EQ/Aqua Jet with Adamant and a Life Orb (max att/spe). It was really fun 2HKOing everything in UU except Milotic/Tangrowth/Weezing. Zen Headbutt is fun on Sharpedo too - it gains a 2HKO on Bulky Venusaur and a chance of one on Weezing with sr while OHKOing more offensively-inclined Venusaurs. It also hurts those dumb Hitmontops.

 

[Peachfuzz]

ban rotom

Just sat through a twenty minute stall war with a Substitute/Pain Split/Will-O-Wisp/Thunderbolt fucking Rotom. On one hand that thing is such a bitch to kill and it has a gigantic 96 PP. On the other hand, it doesn't seem to accomplish much. It can't really do much to pokemon with recovery moves, it seems like it would get stalled back by stall teams between combinations of Chansey, Spiritomb, Milotic, and Venusaur. What happened in my match was that Venusaur got a "lucky" paralysis by Thunderbolt, and proceeded to sit in front of it and stall back. I think it would be fairly effective with Toxic Spikes and possibly a Venusaur/Drapion lure. I don't know, it just seems like a pretty overrated set. It's just annoying as hell.

I've been trying a Destiny Bond Mismagius with Life Orb paired with a hard hitting Psychic or Ghost type, and it has been working very well. Its main objective is to just deal as much damage as it can, and once a Pursuiter comes in, you can Destiny Bond, which accomplishes many things: avoids Sucker Punch, takes the Pursuiter down with it if gets killed (except for Choice Scarf Absol), or escapes if the Pursuiter doesn't want to go down with Missy. If Missy gets away free, most Pursuiters are pretty easy to take advantage of, especially if they try to Sucker Punch after the Destiny Bond. If the Pursuiter goes down, Alakazam, Mesprit, offensive Rotom, and other attackers that are Pursuit bait can sweep fairly easily. This combo does really well against offensive and balanced teams, who usually don't rely on Chansey, Milotic, Venusaur, Spiritomb, etc. and combinations thereof to counter Psychic and Ghost type special attackers.

 

[MegaKick]

venasaur beats rotom, energy ball does like, 50%. If you get a defense drop, you can 2hko with lefties. People need to realize SD venasaur sucks. Walled by moltres, easily revenged, etc... He works much better ar a wall, using energy ball - sleep powder - synthesis - light screen/reflect/sludge bomb/leech seed. You could even go specs, (sceptile does that better) physical attacking wall, etc. A very versatile pokemon. Needs uses as things other than a subpar sweeper.
/rant over

P.S. passho donphan works well, surviving things like milotic surf to spin.

As for variety, I think it's starting to settle down. Most teams are either slow bulky offense, running things like vensaur/milotic/clefable/rotom etc., speedy offense which is scyther/moltres/spinning hitmonlee, or even stall. Stall seems to be the fastest to settle into a mold, typically running chansey/registeel/cloyster/hitmontop/spiritomb/rotom.
Also seen some toxic stall teams with lead drapion. Very funny, since I set up rocks and 2 spikes while they t-spikes and whirwind, and they whirlwind right to venasaur. I am so lucky. 4/5 times it goes to vensaur

 

[Heysup]

venasaur beats rotom, energy ball does like, 50%. If you get a defense drop, you can 2hko with lefties. People need to realize SD venasaur sucks. Walled by moltres, easily revenged, etc... He works much better ar a wall, using energy ball - sleep powder - synthesis - light screen/reflect/sludge bomb/leech seed. You could even go specs, (sceptile does that better) physical attacking wall, etc. A very versatile pokemon. Needs uses as things other than a subpar sweeper.
/rant over

I haven't seen a good player use SD Venusaur all round. All I'm seeing are SubSeed, SpD wall, and the most prominent of all: the LO Special Venusaur. I personally think this one's the best; it beats stall, offense, and balance.

P.S. passho donphan works well, surviving things like milotic surf to spin.

Or just use this Donhpan set and beat like 10+ other Special Attackers.

And Rotom is good but it's really not THAT bad.

 

[Dexodon]

A pokemon I seem to be having a large problem with is Venusaur. It's not the power that I'm scared of, it's sleep powder. I usually have to dedicate one of my pokemon to stopping Venusaur while still trying to find a way to make it pull other uses in my team. Even then, I can't just blindly switch into it. I have to be careful and not get hit by Power Whip or Sludge Bomb.

Why don't you just make a Blaziken/an Arcanine with Chesto/Lum Berry, it holds Power whip and Sludge Bomb for the most part, and the berry let them wake up/un-toxic them if they become it. After that you can burn them out!

 

[SJCrew]

I seriously contemplated using Flareon today for that Rotom fucker since I just so happened to remember it has Flash Fire and sp. def worth dicks, but it comes at the price of everything else.

 

[FlareBlitz]

You could always run specially-defensive FF Arcanine, which pretty much completely shuts down rotom. Also makes a hell of a moltres/magmortar/special venu counter. Slap toxic on it to cripple bulky waters. 252/20 SDEF/236 SPE Jolly should be the set, and it should be running Toxic/Morning Sun/Flare Blitz/Extremespeed. I'll run some calcs in a bit and edit them into this post.

Edit:

LO Timid Moltres Air Slash: 47.1% - 55.7%. You outrun it, so with leftovers and Moltres' LO recoil/toxic poison building up, you can easily outstall...although this will kill your morning sun PP due to Pressure.
If you switch into Fire Blast start slamming things with your boosted Flare Blitz.

Specs Thunderbolt from Rotom: 57.3% - 67.4%. Again, you outrun it, so you can heal up with morning sun or just kill it with Flare Blitz.
Unboosted Thunderbolt from Rotom: 38.3% - 45.3%. Nothing to worry about here.

LO Venu's Sludge Bomb: 48.4% - 57%. Even if it poisons you, you'll live, and you can ohko back.

Bulky Water Milotic's Surf: 62.5% - 74%. You can survive and Toxic it if you REALLY want to, but don't expect to be doing much else. Just catch it on the switch. Slowbro/Slowking do around this much too. Same applies.

 

[shrang]

That Rotom set does do stuff (Doesn't just sit there and do nothing). It spin-blocks. Anyway, that set is nowhere near as annoying as say, Sub/T-Wave/Iron Head/Fire Punch Jirachi. On that topic, I want to try Sub/T-Wave/Headbutt/EQ Dunsparce *drools*

 

[Erazor]

Well, I tried to get back into UU, but I just can't. I don't know what to do at all. At least I'm not losing to randoms anymore, but 1400s seem to mean auto-lose for me.

The opposite seems to be happening to me - I'm playing far more consistently that previous rounds.

I'm really, really enjoying this metagame. Now, I have to work on a "No suspects" nomination...

 

[IronBullet]

You could always run specially-defensive FF Arcanine, which pretty much completely shuts down rotom. Also makes a hell of a moltres/magmortar/special venu counter. Slap toxic on it to cripple bulky waters. 252/20 SDEF/236 SPE Jolly should be the set, and it should be running Toxic/Morning Sun/Flare Blitz/Extremespeed. I'll run some calcs in a bit and edit them into this post.

Edit:

LO Timid Moltres Air Slash: 47.1% - 55.7%. You outrun it, so with leftovers and Moltres' LO recoil/toxic poison building up, you can easily outstall...although this will kill your morning sun PP due to Pressure.
If you switch into Fire Blast start slamming things with your boosted Flare Blitz.

Just wanted to point out that Pressure doesn't affect Morning Sun, as the target of the move isn't Moltres. Nice set. Is Extremespeed really necessary? How about trying out Will-O-Wisp? Provides an annoying status platform...and burning Physical attackers on the switch-in would be cool I guess.

 

[Thund91]

Except Houndom and other Flash Fire users would just love abusing Arcanines inability to do anything remotely threatening to them...

 

[IronBullet]

Except Houndom and other Flash Fire users would just love abusing Arcanines inability to do anything remotely threatening to them...

You could still poison them, which would whittle down their health pretty quickly...and Houndoom and opposing Arcanine are practically the only used Flash Fire users out there. Opposing Arcanine can't do shit to this set anyway.