THIS INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED - http://www.smogon.com/dp/articles/uber_battling <-- this is the version on the site
A guide by me and Great Sage. If you feel anything needs to be fixed, please post or PM us
INTRODUCTION TO UBERS
The uber metagame is almost a forgotten metagame, the main reason being that everyone plays the Overused metagame (OU), and the fact that some other people even think that Ubers take no skill to use. However, they are wrong. Uber matches are full of strategy. They pack more power and movepool than many OU pokemon, making the Uber metagame quite unbalanced; this is how, when and where strategy, prediction and critical thinking shine the most. One wrong move can destroy its user if one is not careful. This guide will hopefully help one pick Pokemon and their individual aspects (EVs, moves, etc.) that will thrive in the Uber metagame.
Which Pokemon are Ubers?
The following Pokémon are classified as Ubers:
Mewtwo, Mew, Wobbuffet, Lugia, Ho-oh, Latias, Latios, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Deoxys, Deoxys-A, Deoxys-D, Deoxys-S, Palkia, Dialga, Giratina, Manaphy, Darkrai and Arceus
Why are they Ubers?
They are the Pokémon that are considered too powerful for a balanced Standard (also known as Overused, or OU) metagame. Ubers tend to have very high stats and larger movepools compared to most other Pokemon. This results in their being extremely difficult or impossible to counter within the normal limits of the Standard metagame.
Why Wobbuffet?
One may ask why Wobbuffet is Uber; its stats besides Hit Points are very low, and its movepool consists of a meager seven moves (eight counting the promotional Tickle). However, it is known as the ultimate set up pokemon, and it is classified as an Uber purely because it has a trait - Shadow Tag - that traps all Pokémon that are not holding a Shed Shell or have the move U-Turn or Baton Pass. Wobbuffet's titanic HP lets him use his moves - Counter, Mirror Coat, and most importantly, Encore - to great success. His ability to set up sweepers such as Rayquaza and Arceus with a deadly combination of Encore and Shadow Tag is definitely not something that players should overlook. In Advance, 386 play, or the 3rd generation as many call it, 2 Wobbuffets facing each other would cause an extremely long and mindbendingly boring stallwar due to their mutual inability to switch out, thus causing them to try and slap around each other for no damage until they Struggle, which will never finish thanks to the recovery they receive from the item Leftovers. However, this problem has been fixed in Diamond/Pearl. Two Pokemon with Shadow Tag will be able to escape out of each other, and thus preventing this dreadfully boring battle of willpower. This, however, is not a reason why Wobbuffet is not Uber, as it can trap anything else and force either a knockout or a free turn with Encore. If Wobbuffet Encored a damaging attack, the opposition would be promptly destroyed, and if it Encored a setup move, Wobbuffet's user would almost be guaranteed a free turn to switch to another Pokemon and set up.
What makes a team Uber?
Any number of Ubers on one's team automatically makes one's team an Uber team. If one has just one Uber on one's team, one's team is Uber. There are no exceptions.
KNOW THE UBERS
The Pokémon will be organized into groups for effectiveness.
The Uber Walls
Playing Ubers often requires a completely different mindset than playing in Standards. Many strategies that were effective in Standards become completely useless, while tactics that were shunned in Standards sometimes become very effective in Ubers.
The Specials Rule Ubers
In Standards, many of the strongest attackers are physically based; in Ubers, the reverse is true. Much of the Uber metagame is concentrated in Special Attack and Special Defense, as those two stats run into astronomical levels with quite a few Ubers; most Ubers have comparatively low Attack and Defense values, however. This can be exploited by using heavy physical attackers such as Groudon and Metagross; such Pokemon should be handled with care, however, as physical attackers tend to have comparatively low Special Defense and therefore are vulnerable to the powerful special attacks that run rampant in Ubers.
Maximizing Moves
In Standards, it is generally advised to take advantage of a Pokemon’s STAB moves unless the Pokemon was of the Poison type and had better options, as Poison has terrible type coverage. In Ubers, however, type coverage is often more important than STAB, and most Pokemon, regardless of type, tend to use Dragon, Electric, Ice, Dark, and Ghost type attacks. Even though many of the Ubers are Psychic type, they seldom use Psychic type moves for the very fact that many of the Ubers are Psychic. Mewtwo, for example, can deliver more damage with Ice Beam than Psychic to almost every Uber and non-Uber usable in the metagame; this is due both to the fact that the many Psychic type Pokemon of Ubers resist Psychic and that the not-as-many-but-still-common Dragon type Pokemon are weak to Ice. In fact, the only Ubers that Psychic hits harder than Ice Beam are Ho-oh, Kyogre, Palkia, and some rare variations of Arceus.
Dragon, Ice, and Dark attacks can usually be used alone to much success. Darkrai sometimes relies exclusively on its Dark STAB, and Mewtwo on Ice Beam. However, Electric and Ghost types almost never constitute single-type-attack movesets, for some Pokemon are completely immune to their assaults, making any significant setup for nothing. Moreover, Pokemon that boast said immunity are free to use one turn to set up as they wish; in the extremely fast-paced environment of Ubers, one turn of setup frequently proves fatal to the opposition. Instead, Pokemon that choose to use Electric or Ghost type attacks elect to add an attack of another type to their movesets. Pokemon with an Electric attack often pair up with an Ice attack, and Pokemon with a Ghost type attack do the same with Fighting attacks; the purpose of such pairings are to maximize a specific moveset’s type coverage.
Similarly, there are combinations of moves that do not have ample type coverage and are therefore discouraged. For example, a Pokemon almost never has both a Dragon and an Ice type attack on a single moveset, for both types together are redundant in that both are super effective against Dragon types and not very effective against Steel types. This is one instance where STAB does come into play; the general advice is that the Dragon attack be used if it receives STAB, and the Ice attack be used otherwise.
Almost all Ubers are capable of increasing their in-battle stats through moves such as Calm Mind and Swords Dance, and it would do one well to take advantage of such boosting moves. One would think that with the enormous number of stat boosters, phazers would be in high demand. That is a logical but unfortunately incorrect assumption; Uber stats can become numbers that reach far into the thousands, a level that phazers would be hard pressed to contend with. Instead, Ubers relies on having a solid, durable counter that can -do- something to the Pokemon it wants to counter (such as Giratina using Will-o-Wisp on Groudon to smash its physical potential), destroying the opponent before it has the time to set up, or occasionally even a race to see which Uber can raise its stats most in the least amount of time.
The Lead Pokemon
As with any metagame, Ubers is impacted by the Pokemon one leads with. Most good Uber leads fall in at least one of the following categories: immediate damage, anti-lead, and/or weather.
It is always good to lead with a Pokemon that can cause immediate and severe damage without the need to set up with a stat boosting move. Choice Specs Mewtwo is but one such Pokemon; Choice Specs boosts its already impressive Special Attack to even larger levels, and as Choice Specs allows for 4 move choices, its moveset will likely be able to rend anything in the game to pieces in one way or another.
Dialga is the prime example of an anti-lead. It can take on Kyogre and Palkia reasonably, which is important because Kyogre is popular as a lead for two reasons (immediate damage and weather), and Palkia is able to inflict bad damage to well near everything. Additionally, Dialga may even be able to set up Trick Room, a highly unexpected but potentially dangerous tactic in Ubers.
Only two Pokemon truly fit into the “weather” lead category: Groudon and Kyogre. Tyranitar, Hippowdon and Abomasnow can stir up weather, too, but Tyranitar matches up poorly against popular leads such as Kyogre, and the latter two are not fit for competition in Ubers. There are some Pokemon that become extremely powerful based on the weather, and the weather leads attempt to establish the correct weather as soon as possible. Beneficiaries from weather leads include Palkia and Manaphy, which enjoy the rain, and Heatran and Tangrowth, who like the sun.
Although it may be tempting to lead with a wall, it is highly discouraged because of several reasons. Walls should react to certain threats, and as they can usually take a good amount of damage, it is not necessary to meet the Pokemon it wants to wall straight up. Additionally, walls are predictable and the easiest of setup fodders for the opponent to take advantage of if he or she leads with a Pokemon different from the type said wall is geared to handle. As if that were not enough, almost everything in the Uber metagame is capable of bypassing its potential walls; for example, Blissey can take Kyogre’s special attacks, but abhors Waterfall, which leading Choice Scarf Kyogres often carry.
Prediction
In Ubers, it can be incredibly difficult to respond to a threat that has already switched in; for example, there is almost nothing a Palkia can’t hurt. This is where prediction comes in handy to make it difficult for said threats to switch in. For example, a Blissey is an excellent opportunity for a Metagross to switch in, especially if said Blissey is walling a Choice Specs Dialga and unlikely to switch out. However, an intelligent Blissey user may decide to switch to a Palkia, who can easily Surf the incoming Metagross back to the scrap heap. Assuming that the Dialga had used Overheat, it is plain that it would switch out due to the severe Special Attack drop Overheat slams it with, and said Palkia could switch in with minimal risk to itself. Even if the Dialga user predicts Palkia, Overheat wouldn’t do over 10% damage thanks to Palkia’s 4x Fire resistance and Overheat’s Special Attack drop.
However, if the Dialga had used Dragon Pulse, and Dialga’s user knew that his opponent had a Palkia, prediction would be far more interesting. Assuming both players are intelligent and playing to win, the Dialga’s user could perfectly well predict a switch to Palkia to take advantage of his own probably switch to Metagross, and the Blissey’s user could perfectly well stay in and take minimal damage. In this situation, both players could take risks or play at face value, which would lead to either:
TEAM BUILDING
A checklist and a sample team to help you create your own uber team
Uber Team Checklist
When you are playing in the uber metagame, make sure you have most of these covered. Use this checklist as a guide to build your team. Even if an uber team do not have some or these, it is still important that the team needs to cover a vast majority of threats
This is a sample team that follows most of the guidelines.
The special wall/special sweeper
Latias @ Soul Dew
Trait: levitate
EVs: 156 HP / 176 Spd / 176 SAtk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Thunder
- Recover
With her on the team, the weaknesses to Kyogre and Palkia are eliminated. Latias serves as a great lead due to her stated ability to counter Kyogre, a very common lead, and perform decently against Groudon. She also handles a lot of other things as well, including special attacking Arceus that are not Dragon, Bug, Ghost, Dark or Ice type.
The MAIN special wall
Blissey @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def Def / 42 SAtk / 216 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Thunder
- Softboiled
- Ice Beam
Uber Blisseys are geared towards Special Defense to help it take Water Spouts and such. Psych Up is always a welcome option over Calm Mind, if one wishes to snag the opponent’s boosts if they have boosted a couple of times. Calm Mind makes her not entirely reliant on the opponent's boosts, but Blissey can only Calm Mind once per turn, netting only one boost. Natural Cure is needed for Ubers so it can somewhat shrug off status, even though Thunder's 60% paralysis rate with Serene Grace may seem tempting.
The Darkrai and Tyranitar counter
Arceus @ Fist Plate
Trait: Multitype
EVs: 92 HP / 216 Spd / 202 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk ,-Atk)
- Toxic
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Recover
Many of you will oppose and tell me to use Bug Arceus because it stops Darkrai while hitting many other ubers super-effective. This is not the case, however, since a Bug typed Arceus is weak to Stone Edge and thus will make this team vulnerable to Tyranitar. Ice Beam is there for Rayquaza. Toxic is hilarious if Latias and Lugia thinks they can come in and wall this
The physical sweeper, and resistance to Dragon and Ice.
Metagross @ Choice Band
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 210 HP / 140 Atk / 160 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Explosion
The EVs are configured to let is survive a Calm Minded Modest Soul Dew Latios’ Thunder and OHKO it back with Meteor Mash. It also ensures that a Thunder from Blissey is a 5HKO against it, unless that Blissey has over 220 Special Attack. Explosion for some serious hurts when Metagross is low on health. Due to the team's rather disturbing Jirachi weakness, Earthquake is almost a requirement on Metagross
The special sweeper, weather changer and revenge killer
Kyogre @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Water Spout
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
- Surf
Changes weather. With the new Speed boost from Choice Scarf, Water Spout is now usable and will put a dent into almost anything in the game. With this, sunshine is no longer a fear, and things like Heatran can no longer abuse its power. Surf allows for more damage when Kyogre has taken a few hits and is at lower than 63% health.
The physical wall
Giratina @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Dragon Claw
- Will-o-Wisp
This Pokemon is very important. It counters a Normal typed Swords Dancing Arceus, and stops Metagross and Heracross from ruining the team. It also absorbs the sleep status, and can counter Pokemon such as Groudon.
Team check?
This is an evaluation of the sample team. Do they all come together?
The threat list that will also help in the creation of a solid Uber team. Remember, a counter must be able to switch into a Pokemon with little or no risk to itself and threaten to deal immediate and major damage or set up without much risk to itself.
In ubers, Pokemon are generally EVed to outspeed other Pokemon. Examples are Lugia being trained to outspeed Groudon, and Latias being trained to outspeed Palkia. Trick Room reverses all of these, making the attempts at outspeeding useless since faster Pokemon will move last in Trick Room conditions.
Why would one use a turn and a moveslot to set up Trick Room, especially when time and space are such necessary commodities in Ubers? Trick Room can allow powerful but slow Pokemon such as Groudon to make an impact. Of course, Pokemon that can set up Trick Room safely are also necessary. Usually, Pokemon that are used to set up Trick Room in Ubers are sturdy specimens such as Dialga; obviously, one would not leave the Trick Rooming to something such as Deoxys-A.
ARCEUS-IS IT LEGITIMATE?
Arceus is #493 on the National Dex, marking itself as the last Pokemon to exist as of now. So far, Arceus is unobtainable by any means but through a cheating device. This alone raises the concern in people-should it be considered a playable Pokemon, or should it not?
Two sides argued valiantly, but neither can budge the other into finally believing that one side is correct. Due to this, it is decided that Arceus is playable ONLY if both players agree on it's use. In ShoddyBattle, the checking of the Extended Game Clause allows the use of Arceus (and Micle Berry, Jaboca Berry, Rowap Berry and Custap Berry).
If one decides to play with Arceus banned, it is not required that he or she consider Arceus as a threat.
A guide by me and Great Sage. If you feel anything needs to be fixed, please post or PM us
INTRODUCTION TO UBERS
The uber metagame is almost a forgotten metagame, the main reason being that everyone plays the Overused metagame (OU), and the fact that some other people even think that Ubers take no skill to use. However, they are wrong. Uber matches are full of strategy. They pack more power and movepool than many OU pokemon, making the Uber metagame quite unbalanced; this is how, when and where strategy, prediction and critical thinking shine the most. One wrong move can destroy its user if one is not careful. This guide will hopefully help one pick Pokemon and their individual aspects (EVs, moves, etc.) that will thrive in the Uber metagame.
Which Pokemon are Ubers?
The following Pokémon are classified as Ubers:
Mewtwo, Mew, Wobbuffet, Lugia, Ho-oh, Latias, Latios, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Deoxys, Deoxys-A, Deoxys-D, Deoxys-S, Palkia, Dialga, Giratina, Manaphy, Darkrai and Arceus
Why are they Ubers?
They are the Pokémon that are considered too powerful for a balanced Standard (also known as Overused, or OU) metagame. Ubers tend to have very high stats and larger movepools compared to most other Pokemon. This results in their being extremely difficult or impossible to counter within the normal limits of the Standard metagame.
Why Wobbuffet?
One may ask why Wobbuffet is Uber; its stats besides Hit Points are very low, and its movepool consists of a meager seven moves (eight counting the promotional Tickle). However, it is known as the ultimate set up pokemon, and it is classified as an Uber purely because it has a trait - Shadow Tag - that traps all Pokémon that are not holding a Shed Shell or have the move U-Turn or Baton Pass. Wobbuffet's titanic HP lets him use his moves - Counter, Mirror Coat, and most importantly, Encore - to great success. His ability to set up sweepers such as Rayquaza and Arceus with a deadly combination of Encore and Shadow Tag is definitely not something that players should overlook. In Advance, 386 play, or the 3rd generation as many call it, 2 Wobbuffets facing each other would cause an extremely long and mindbendingly boring stallwar due to their mutual inability to switch out, thus causing them to try and slap around each other for no damage until they Struggle, which will never finish thanks to the recovery they receive from the item Leftovers. However, this problem has been fixed in Diamond/Pearl. Two Pokemon with Shadow Tag will be able to escape out of each other, and thus preventing this dreadfully boring battle of willpower. This, however, is not a reason why Wobbuffet is not Uber, as it can trap anything else and force either a knockout or a free turn with Encore. If Wobbuffet Encored a damaging attack, the opposition would be promptly destroyed, and if it Encored a setup move, Wobbuffet's user would almost be guaranteed a free turn to switch to another Pokemon and set up.
What makes a team Uber?
Any number of Ubers on one's team automatically makes one's team an Uber team. If one has just one Uber on one's team, one's team is Uber. There are no exceptions.
KNOW THE UBERS
The Pokémon will be organized into groups for effectiveness.
The Uber Walls
- Lugia: Known as the ultimate wall in the past, Lugia’s tanking ability remains almost unchanged in this fast paced generation. With 106 base Hit Points, 130 base Defense, and 154 base Special Defense, coupled with a recovery move known as Roost, Lugia is always be a pain to take down. Additionally, its base 110 speed outpaces many threats such as Palkia and Groudon. Despite its higher Special Defense, Lugia is often used as a physical wall because it still pales to Blissey in terms of special walling. In Diamond/Pearl, Lugia’s tanking abilities are slightly hampered by Stealth Rock, though.
- Giratina: Known for its ability to stop the rampage of a Swords Dancing Normal typed Arceus, Giratina packs useful stats in tanking and a wide array of moves to back it up. With a godly base 150 Hit Points and base 120 in both defenses, its ability to learn Will-o-Wisp, AND its having useful immunities to Normal and Fighting while resisting Electric, Water, Grass, Poison and Bug certainly makes it a fine wall in Ubers. However, unlike Lugia, Giratina lacks a recovery move. It can't even learn Roost, which is a shame and a major impediment to his tanking ability. Giratina’s weaknesses to Ghost, Dark, Dragon and Ice also hurt it severely, seeing how all of said types are common in the Uber metagame. Giratina's offensive capabilities should not be overlooked, however, seeing that it has access to powerful moves such as Draco Meteor and can launch them from a base 100 Attack or Special Attack when the trainer does not feel like making his Giratina a wall. STABed Ghost and Dragon attacks are certainly something to fear in Ubers.
- Deoxys-D: THE Uber Spiker and Stealth Rocker and Knock Offer; the list goes on. Deoxys-D’s movepool surpasses that of all the other walls thanks to its multiple forms. It has access to Recover to replenish his health, and Toxic to poison the opponent. It can Taunt its victims, too, preventing their attempts to heal. Deoxys-D’s options are so numerous, one wouldn’t be able to explain them all here.
- Latias: Unlike her brother Latios, Latias focuses on the defensive aspects. Latias possesses a base 80 Hit Points, a base 90 Defense, and base 130 Special Defense. This may seem small compared to the others, but Latias’ trump card is her mystical item: Soul Dew. Soul Dew boosts her Special Defense and Special Attack stats by roughly 50%, making it a very deadly sweeper as well. Latias is capable of holding her own against tough attackers such as Kyogre, even if she meets an Ice Beam from 438 Special Attack, and dish back significant with Thunder and Grass Knot. Like many other Psychics in the Uber metagame, Latias has the ability to Recover her lost hit points to make her even a tougher wall. She is, however, prone to Metagross’ Pursuit if she switches out due to her base 80 Hit Points and base 90 Defense, and Meteor Mash if she stays in. She is best known as a special wall that has a considerable amount of offense and speed, which is what separates her from Blissey.
- Dialga: Dialga possesses a base 100 Hit Points, a base 120 Defense, and a base 100 Special Defense, Pressure, and one of the top ranked type combinations (Steel/Dragon) for tanking. While Dialga does not possess the ability to recover quickly like Lugia, he packs a wide range of resistances which makes it quite handy for switching into the constant blastings of Shadow Balls in the uber metagame. Dialga certainly is not a slouch in the offensive departments either. It has a base 120 Attack and base 150 Special attack, which along with powerful moves such as Draco Meteor and Thunder lets him tear a gaping hole in the opponent’s team.
- Groudon: Groudon is usually seen in the offensive department, but a physical walling Groudon deserves mention. Groudon is capable of holding up against threats such as Tyranitar and Metagross with given EV investment in Hit Points and Defense. It only needs 252 HP EVs and 24 Defense EVs to survive a Dragon Danced Life Orbed Outrage from Rayquaza; it can then retaliate with Stone Edge or Counter. The former is powerful enough to put Rayquaza down to an incredibly low amount of health that Life Orb recoil can wipe it out. Counter has a 100% chance of destroying Rayquaza, but only if it attacks Groudon.
- Mewtwo: Mewtwo’s unpredictability ranks above that of Gengar’s. It has a base 110 Attack, a base 130 speed, and a base 154 special attack, all of which are well above average and allows him to strike in both spectrums effectively. It is extremely versatile, with an enormous selection of physical, special, and supporting attacks. It can break stalling Uber teams with Taunt, Recover off damage, Selfdestruct on certain threats, or use Calm Mind to boost its already magnificent Special Attack. Its movepool consists of a wide spectrum of types, including Ghost, Ice, and Electric, all very effective types in Ubers. Mewtwo is definitely and invariably a very high level threat.
- Deoxys-A: It had the misfortune to have been born with pitiful defenses almost equaling to that of Carvanha’s. But laugh at its miniscule defenses as much as you want, and proceed to stare in horror at the base 180 Attack and Special Attack, seasoned with 150 base Speed. Deoxys-A is the Kryptonite in the uber metagame, cleaning out Pokemon like nothing else thanks to those stats and a wide array of moves in both the physical and special categories. It can also surprise opponents with Counter and Mirror Coat (stolen from its sibling Deoxys-D) coupled with the item Focus Sash. There is no true counter for Deoxys-A in the strictest definition of the word. Metagross can Bullet Punch it, but risks at being Countered if Deoxys-A holds a Focus Sash. Dugtrio can trap him and threaten to KO with Sucker Punch, but loses if Deoxys-A carries Substitute. The closest counter to Deoxys-A is Spiritomb, who laughs at anything Deoxys-A does except for Life Orbed or Choice Specs Thunder. If Deoxys-A dares to take that action, Spiritomb promptly replies to that with Sucker Punch. If Deoxys tries to switch, it will risk getting Pursuited.
- Rayquaza: It has a 4x weakness to Ice, but gained massive improvements from 3rd generation to the 4th Generation with the addition of a physical/special split and Outrage getting its power boosted to 120 base power. Rayquaza is THE reason why people carry a steel type in their teams. A Dragon Danced Life Orbed Outrage from a monstrous base 150 base attack can OHKO far over half of the existing ubers. Rayquaza also packs some nice resistances to help it set up, including a 4x resistance to Grass so it can switch into those Choice Specs Grass Knot, and an immunity to Earthquake. Rayquaza also some options aside from Dragon Dancing. He can use Choice Scarf to boost that average speed, Choice Band to hurt a lot of things without a Dragon Dance boost, and Choice Specs to strike from the monstrous base 150 special attack baked with the burning heat of a combination of deadly moves like Draco Meteor and Overheat to surprise unwary foes. Don’t forget Air Lock, which can mess up weather based teams, particularly Pokemon such as Tangrowth that rely on the weather for Speed. Rayquaza can also use Extremespeed to annihilate faster threats such as Deoxys-A.
- Kyogre: Kyogre is able to reach 438 special attack, and has Drizzle to boost its Water moves. Kyogre can fix its mediocre speed with Choice Scarf now, and abuse that new speed with the insanely powerful Water Spout, which effectively has a 337.5 power after the rain boost and STAB. It can use Calm Mind too, although not on the Choice Scarf set. Due to the special/physical split, Kyogre can even surprise Blissey with Waterfall, which may 2HKO under rain. Kyogre can also utilize Choice Specs as well, pushing that titanic special attack so high that not even Blissey can withstand it, although it does come with the price of sitting at 306 speed maximum.
- Groudon: Kyogre’s opposite. Kyogre has Calm Mind, but Groudon has Swords Dance. In this generation Groudon received new toys to play with. It no longer needs a Hidden Power to destroy Lati@s this time since it gets Dragon Claw and Shadow Claw. It also no longer fears a defensively built Kyogre due to Life Orb. Groudon isn’t seen much because of its lower special defense, lack of STAB that goes with the weather, and the fact that Lugia is often built to counter it. Groudon is definitely still a threat to look out for, however. When not Swords Dancing, Groudon can be a Choice Bander (although he greatly fears Rayquaza switching into a Choice Banded Earthquake), Choice Scarfer to boost that mediocre speed, or a defensive player to stop Tyranitar, Metagross and Rayquaza
- Ho-oh: Severely hurt by the existence of Stealth Rock, it loses a massive 50% of its total Hit Points right off the bat if it switches into the flying rocks. However, Sacred Fire is nothing to laugh at. The 50% burn rate can destroy physical sweepers such as Rayquaza. Even though Ho-oh severely misses its physical Shadow Ball, that slot can be replaced by Punishment, which can be very handy dealing with boosted opponents (like a Latios who managed to pull 3 Calm Minds). A Choice Scarf Ho-oh under sunlight is magnificent to watch as it rips the opponent apart with Sacred Fire. Ho-oh has other options too, such as Calm Mind, Shadow Ball, Flamethrower, Thunder and Hidden Power for special sweeping, the item Choice Specs (don’t use Calm Mind with Specs), and Choice Band for even more physical sweeping power (for less speed obviously). It can dent many different with Life Orb coupled with a base 130 Attack and 110 base special attack. As for healing moves, it can Recover and Roost.
- Palkia: Kyogre was jealous that Groudon received a Sun abusing partner in the 3rd generation (Ho-oh), so Palkia decided to be Kyogre’s partner to overcome his jealousy in the 4th gen. Palkia is an absolute terror under rain, launching Surfs at a base 150 special attack coupled with either Lustrous Orb, Life Orb, or Choice Specs, while punishing Dragons that attempt to switch into it with a powerful Draco Meteor or Spacial Rend. Palkia does not fear Blissey because it has access to Aqua Tail, which easily 2HKOs under rain. Palkia comes packed with a 4x resistance to water and makes it a decent non-Calm Mind Kyogre counter. Palkia’s base 100 speed allows it to outspeed many Ubers, such as Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Dialga, Giratina and Deoxys-D. Palkia’s base 120 Attack allows him to strike at the physical side with Dragon Claw. It can boost that further with either Choice Band or the move Bulk Up. Furthermore, Palkia can use Choice Scarf to outspeed many unsuspecting Ubers, including a Dragon Danced Rayquaza who is about to sweep your team; it makes a fine lead too.
- Dialga: Has the same offensive stats as Palkia, although misses out on the speed and the water typing. Dialga's resistances allow it to swap into moves quite easily, and with those offensive stats and an offensive movepool consisting of Brick Break, Dragon Claw, Draco Meteor, Fire Blast/Flamethrower/Overheat, Thunder and Dragon Pulse, expect Dialga to inflict a lot of pain into your team. Dialga's immunity to Toxic grants it the ability to switch into Blissey and put a hurt on to her with Brick Break, and Draco Meteor, Fire Blast and Thunder keep most of the other Pokemon away from switching into this. The only counters to a mixed Dialga are Fighting Arceus and Deoxys-D. The first is up for debate in terms of existence and legitimacy, whereas the other is quite lacking in serving other purposes. It is essential to be unpredictable when confronted with a mixed Dialga.
- Darkrai: Base 90 Attack, base 125 Speed and base 135 Special Attack; its stats might make it look like an inferior Mewtwo, but Darkrai is far from that. His ability to Dark Void the opponent into slumberland is one thing that separates it from Mewtwo. The other thing is his Dark typing, which gives it an edge in Uber battling by providing the STAB in Dark Pulse. As one may know many Ubers are Psychics and thus despise getting Dark Pulsed in the face. Darkrai, like Mewtwo, has virtually have no counters. Any sleep talker can get Taunted. Blissey fears Focus Punch and cannot beat a Darkrai with Substitute and Calm Mind unless it has Seismic Toss or, if one is lucky, Psych Up/Calm Mind, and the great walls such as Lugia fear Dark Pulse. The best one may have against Darkrai is to let something like Dialga to absorb Dark Void, and then run off to a Fighting type Arceus to completely stop Darkrai.
- Latios and Latias: One can’t forget about these two. They pack a serious punch into a team because of their boosted stats thanks to Soul Dew. Latios boasts a 591 maximum Special Attack, which allows it to smash many Pokemon in the opponent’s team. Latias packs less power than that for more durability. However, this great 591 is instantly nullified by the great special wall Blissey with Calm Mind or Psych Up. In this generation, the Lati twins earned several power boosts. Dragon Pulse now replaces Dragon Claw. Draco Meteor is always there to instantly cause insane amounts of damage. They also received Grass Knot for Groudons and Tyranitars. A difference between Latios and Latias aside from their stats is that Latios learns Dragon Dance while Latias learns Wish. Latios can now utilize a physical STABed Dragon Claw with Dragon Dance. To aid their sweeping abilities, Latios and Latias learn a variety of supportive moves such as Calm Mind and Recover. They can Safeguard to prevent things like Blissey from statusing them, as well.
- Manaphy: Manaphy is yet another little event pixie with 100 base stats across the board. For the most part, Manaphy is an Uber simply because it is too strong for Standards; however, it can be extremely powerful when used in conjunction with Kyogre. Kyogre’s rain grants Manaphy virtual immunity to status, which is particularly helpful when Manaphy is trying to boost its Special Attack by making the appendage on its head flash with Tail Glow. Even though Manaphy’s attacking movepool is limited to Surf, Ice Beam, Energy Ball, and Grass Knot, a moveset with Tail Glow, Surf, Ice Beam, and one of the Grass moves offers huge type coverage and is definitely a force to watch out for.
- Arceus: Sporting a base 120 in every single stat, plus a ton of moves to choose from, Arceus could be anything. It gets Recover, Will-o-Wisp, Roar and more in the defensive side, and so many physical and special moves that it is impossible to mention a quarter of them in this little sentence. It can Swords Dance to boost its attack, and Calm Mind to boost its special attack. It has Multitype to become of any type it wants. To make long thins short, Arceus can virtually be a copy of any Pokemon and role except a Baton Passer. Want a powerful Normal type sweeper? You got it. Eccentric, and want a Poison type tank? You also got it. Want a Steel type special attacker and supporter? Arceus can do that, too. Because of this, Arceus can fit into any Uber team. When not using Multitype to change forms, Arceus can abuse Swords Dance and sweep with STABed Extremespeed.
- Mew: Unpredictable. Base 100 in every single stat means it can do almost whatever it wants. Its stats are infinitely outclassed by Mewtwo, but Mew learns quite a decent amount of things Mewtwo doesn’t such as Nasty Plot and Hypnosis. Mew is capable of instantly turning the tables in your team at the precise timing, because it can learn all TMs and Baton Pass +2 of any stat. Mew can really mess up phazers such as Lugia by Taunting them. It can pass every single stat boost except for accuracy. Besides Baton Passing, Mew can physical and special sweep; however, special sweeping is instantly outclassed by Mewtwo. On the physical side, Mew gets Explosion, a handy move that can destroy an opponent valuable to the opponent’s team. It can also use Transform for kicks, or Trick Room to mess up speedy strategies. Contrary to previous beliefs, Mew DOES NOT learn Trick. It learns Role Play instead, which doesn’t help it against anything in Ubers really. In the right hands, Mew can be lethal.
- Deoxys and Deoxys-S: Inferior to their other forms. Deoxys-S, however, is a pretty good Deoxys-A counter, as it is able to survive anything but Choice Specs Thunder and Shadow Ball. Deoxys-S is faster than Deoxys-A and can Pursuit it, obliterating it even if it doesn’t switch.
- Blissey: The supreme special wall in standard play returns! With 255 base HP and 135 Special Defense, she does not need to be explained much. However, with the insanity of special attacks in Ubers, Blissey is often geared to the special defensive side rather than the usual physical defensive department. This by now means leaving the defense untouched. Blissey needs at least 100 Defense (stat) in Ubers. In Ubers, one doesn’t want Blissey to die in 2 Dragon Claws from Giratina, or OHKOed by a Metagross’s Pursuit. Also, the normal Seismic Toss/Thunder Wave/Softboiled/Ice Beam Blissey set is not very effective in Ubers. For maximum special walling capabilities, people go with Thunder, Ice Beam, Softboiled and either Calm Mind or Psych Up. Psych Up can grab stat boosts from things like Latios if he Calm Minds quite a bit, while Calm Mind lets it stat up on Pokemon who may not set up like Roar-less Giratina. Occasionally, Blissey will carry Toxic to break down walls, and this is also a reason why in Ubers there exists a…
- Metagross: Metagross is a valuable Pokemon in Ubers. Its Steel typing allows it immunity to Toxic. With Choice Band, Metagross can put a big dent in an opponent’s team. Meteor Mash can give many Ubers a hard time. It also has a few other weapons besides the metallic crusher. Pursuit can seriously hurt Blissey as she switches, and can OHKO Latios and Latias. Pursuit also destroys Deoxys-A who tries to avoid you by switching. Metagross gets Bullet Punch for weakened opponents, and Deoxys-A gets crushed again. After all of that, Metagross has Explosion to put a serious dent into anything but Ghosts once its job is done. Another great thing about Metagross is that it resists Outrage, making it a decent Rayquaza stopper provided it’s already locked into Outrage. Resistance to Ice is always handy.
- Heatran: A terror under the sun like Ho-oh, Heatran is another valuable Steel type in Ubers due to its resistances and sheer power. It can Dragon Pulse the Dragon type switch ins, and burn everything to cinders with Overheat. Under the sun and bolstered by Choice Specs, Overheat or Fire Blast puts a big dent into anything that doesn’t resist it except for Blissey (and even so, it does over 40% to the Weight Watchers dropout). Heatran might seem like Kyogre bait, but it can explode on Kyogre and then let your sun-based team sweep off without facing something that would rain on your parade. Heatran is no Palkia, but it is not to be trifled with.
- Tyranitar: STABed Crunch puts a huge dent in Ubers. It hurts Lugia and Giratina, the main walls in the Uber metagame, and a lot of other psychics. Not many Ubers can withstand such physical power. There aren’t many Uber Rock resists to take Stone Edge. The only Ubers resisting Rock are Dialga, Groudon and Fighting Arceus. Dialga loses to Earthquake, leaving a Fighting Arceus and Groudon as the only reliable counters for Tyranitar in Ubers. Another thing about Tyranitar is a STABed Pursuit, which puts a giant dent in Blissey as she switches out. Latios and Latias also despise getting nailed by Pursuit as they switch out. If they stay in, they will risk getting Crunched. Its ability, Sandstream, can change the weather and mess up weather teams. The sandstorm also hurts the Lati twins now that they lose 6% HP each turn, destroying their special walling abilities. Tyranitar is an incredible anti metagame Pokemon in Ubers and with the Special Defense boost its own Sandstorm grants can put an end to the “BoltBeamBoltBeamBoltBeam” mentality of Ubers.
- Heracross: In Ubers, Heracross make a fine sweeper with a powerful STABed Megahorn that not many Ubers resist. It can also stop Darkrai with Sleep Talk and Choice Scarf. Heracross is utterly walled by Giratina, but that does not mean it’s horrible. The fact that not many Pokemon uses Psychic in Ubers allows it to switch in and score a Megahorn on those poor Psychics.
- Ninjask: A great Baton Passer with its ability to pass Speed and Attack to the incoming recipient thanks to his ability, Speed Boost, and access to Swords Dance; it can punish Psychics by itself with X-Scissor. Not much else can be said about it.
- Skarmory: It resists Normal, is immune to Earthquake, and has access to Whirlwind, making it a great counter to a Swords Dance Normal typed Arceus without Overheat. It is immune to Toxic, gets a 50% healing move, and launches Spikes or Stealth Rock into Ubers. It makes a good Metagross and Lugia counter as well. Skarmory’s weakness is his pathetic special defense. It cannot switch into any special attack except for Grass Knot. But it isn’t all bad; Toxic is a good weapon to use on Skarmory in this metagame, as it completely messes up special attacking threats such as Latias who might attempt to switch into you. Toxic severely hampers Lugia and Deoxys-D’s defensive abilities, too.
- Forretress: Yet another Steel type, Forretress comes into ubers with the wonderful ability to launch Spikes, Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes into the opponent’s field. Toxic Spikes will hamper Blissey’s tanking ability quite drastically, while Stealth Rock hurts Lugia and Ho-oh badly if they switch into the battlefield. Forretress sorely misses its STAB Hidden Power Bug from the 3rd generation, however, and is grudgingly forced to use Gyro Ball and Explosion as its method of damage dealing (or the unreliable Pin Missile, and the occasional Earthquake for Magnezones and Metagrosses). With Giratina in existence, Heracross switching into Toxic Spikes won’t be as fearsome as it may seem, so there should be minimal worries there.
- Magnezone: Magnezone exists in Ubers solely to destroy other Steel types that may be blocking your attempt to sweep with Rayquaza. With an awesome base 130 Special attack, many pokemon will fear a STABed Thunder from it. Seeing as most Metagrosses in uber don’t carry Earthquake, Magnezone will have an easy time eating it alive. Magnezone can also Toxic the tough special walls such as Latias, and strike fear to the Groudon switch ins with Hidden Power [Ice].
- Dugtrio: Due to the decent abundance of Choice Specs or Scarf Thunder, Dugtrio can come in and pick off anything that simply is unfortunate to throw in the electric attack thanks to Arena Trap. Commonly Choiced Pokemon such as Kyogre and Mewtwo will need to think twice before making a move. Dugtrio can switch in on a Deoxys-A on Thunder or after a kill, trap it, and Sucker Punch it to death (Substitute versions give trouble, however). With STABed Earthquake, Dugtrio is powerful enough to take down a Dialga at around 80% with the help of Choice Band. If Blissey doesn't have Ice Beam, Dugtrio can switch in and 2HKO her with Earthquake, effectively opening up the sweeping capabilities of special attackers such as Kyogre. Even if Blissey has Ice Beam, she needs to have a ton of Special Attack EVs in order to have a decent shot at OHKOing Dugtrio.
- Weavile: Weavile’s main STAB moves are super effective against almost every Uber, making him a decent candidate for a non-Uber in Ubers. Its speed ties with Darkrai, which is pretty fast. It can Ice Shard those Rayquazas stuck on Outrage thinking they can destroy your team, or a Deoxys-A that would otherwise wreck your team. Weavile’s problem is his frailness, and the fact that Metagross is extremely common. If the opponent has no form of field affecting attacks, the defenses can be helped by the item Focus Sash, which lets Weavile Swords Dance and potentially rip an Uber team apart. Weavile can also abuse Choice Band Pursuit, which can totally beat up Latios and Latias, which switches out in fear of Ice Punch.
- Shedinja: There's an opposing Kyogre that has Calm Minded 6 times and has a Substitute up? For this little husk, it's no problem! Shedinja does have that pathetic 1 Hit Point, but its Wonder Guard ability lets it avoid damage from any direct attack that is not of the Fire, Ghost, Dark, Rock, or Flying type. Many Ubers lack an offensive move of those types, including the mentioned Kyogre, as well as many Latias, Latios, Palkia, and some Mewtwo. There are also lots of other Pokemon that Shedinja can take on, with its decent base 90 Attack and Swords Dance boosting its STABed Bug type X-Scissor. While Shedinja can easily fall to sandstorms, Spikes, and Stealth Rock, these are significantly less common in Ubers than in Standards. Shedinja can also use the move Will-o-Wisp to incapacitate beasts like Tyranitar, Metagross, and Groudon that think they have a free switch in.
- Garchomp: STAB Outrage, Earthquake, Dragon Claw, Stone Edge and a base 102 Speed. Garchomp, who was once not considered a threat in the uber metagame, now proved itself to be extremely devastating in the right hands. It has the immunity to Electric and resistance to Rock, allowing it to switch in quite easily against the likes of Choice Specs Thunder and Tyranitar. Garchomp's base 102 Speed is quite impressive in ubers, as it outruns all base 90 to base 100 Speed ubers unless they carry Choice Scarf. It also outruns the standard Lugia, allowing it to 2HKO the Psychic bird with Choice Banded Stone Edge without the fear of being stalled to death by Roost. Speaking of Choice Band, Garchomp is capable of 2HKOing the bulkiest non Arceus ubers with Outrage and Earthquake, and that is certainly something that one player must be aware of before constructing a team.
- Scizor: Some people consider Scizor to be better than Metagross for an uber team. That may be true in some occasions. Scizor has STAB in U-Turn and X-Scissor, allowing it to OHKO Psychics without the need of Choice Band. It has Technician to boost Pursuit to deal quite a bit of hurt to Psychics that predict it and refuses the switch out. Unlike Metagross, Scizor can recover its health with Roost, allowing it to stick on a team much longer than its spider counterpart. With Dark resistance, base 130 Attack and STAB U-Turn and X-Scissor, Scizor is a decent counter to Darkrai. In a similar vein to Metagross, Scizor can lock Deoxys-A into a state of decision. If it decides to switch, Scizor can Pursuit Deoxys-A to death, whereas one trying to stay in may be annihilated by Quick Attack.
- Chlorophyll Pokemon: There are three main Pokemon with the ability Chlorophyll, namely Tangrowth, Exeggutor, and Jumpluff. These Pokemon are often used in conjunction with Groudon, because Groudon's sunlight activates Chlorophyll and doubles their Speed. Tangrowth and Exeggutor are mainly used to take on Pokemon such as Groudon with their Grass type assaults. Grass Knot, a move available to both Tangrowth and Exeggutor, hits the heavy Pokemon of Ubers hard and can OHKO Groudons that don't invest in Special Defense. Power Whip, available to only Tangrowth, does less damage to Groudon for being a physical move (Groudon has a remarkably high Defense), but deals greater damage to incoming Kyogres thinking that they can shut down Tangrowth's power source. All three main Chlorophyll Pokemon are capable of using Sleep Powder. Jumpluff, unlike its Grass type brethren, has a rather pitiful Special Attack, and serves more of a supporting role. It can inflict an exceedingly fast Sleep Powder off its Chlorophyll boosted 110 base Speed, and use the move Encore to lock Ubers into set up moves or Earthquake. Shiftry has weaker defenses than Exeggutor and lacks Sleep Powder, but it resists Ghost and Dark and can launch Dark pulse against psychic and ghost ubers. Being able to hit Giratina and the Lati twins with Dark Pulse makes it quite different than Exeggutor.
- Jirachi: Another one of the little pixies with complete 100 base stats, Jirachi's Steel typing provides valuable resistances to the Dragon and Ice attacks so often seen in Ubers; it is not weak to Ghost, Dark, or Electric attacks either. While Jirachi's offensive capabilities pale in comparison to many Uber sweepers, it can provide valuable team support in the form of Wish and the Screens. Also, Jirachi can set up Stealth Rock (residual damage is always nice). If Jirachi absolutely must attack, it can smack other Pokemon round with Thunder, which has a 60% paralysis rate under Serene Grace, and Grass Knot, potentially boosted by Calm Mind. Additionally, Jirachi gets Ice Punch, Fire Punch, and U-Turn on the physical side; of note is Ice Punch, which can destroy Rayquazas locked into Outrage, and has a cool 20% Freeze rate under Serene Grace.
- Swift Swimmers: Quite similar in role as the Chlorophyllers, the main Swift Swimmers are Ludicolo, Kingdra and Floatzel. These pokemon are often used in conjunction with Kyogre, because the Rain Kyogre creates doubles their speed. Ludicolo is capable of launching the Grass typed assault Grass Knot, which allows it to hit heavyweight pokemon such as Kyogre, Palkia and Groudon. It also gets Ice Beam, which allows it to hit Rayquaza. Kingdra is a miniature Palkia that is faster. With the Swift Swim boost, it can use Choice Specs effectively. Floatzel is a physical attacking Swift Swimmer, something that scares a lot of ubers since a lot of ubers are focused on the special defense. While Ludicolo and Kingdra can be walled by the combination of Latias and Blissey, Floatzel has no fear of them due to physical Ice Fang and Waterfall respectively. While none of these are capable of using Sleep Powder, their STAB attacks are boosted in the rain and will pose as much threat as the Chlorophyllers, probably more since Kyogre is more common than Groudon in the uber metagame.
- Bronzong: Bronzong can use its Steel/Psychic typing and respectable 116 base defenses to do some stalling in Ubers. Levitate removes its Ground weakness, allowing it to beat some Groudon and all Metagross, and it can do significant damage to fast Ubers like Latios with Gyro Ball. Bronzong is capable of beating walls such as Lugia with Toxic while avoiding Poison itself through its Steel typing. Additionally, it can spread Poison around many sweepers, as it can switch in on Pokemon such as Latias decently due to its coveted Ice and Dragon resistance. Bronzong can also take attacks such as Choice Specs Mewtwo's Aura Sphere with plenty of Hit Points to spare, and Rest off the damage later. When Bronzong is about to faint, it can finish off with an immensely powerful Explosion. Note that Bronzong needs major Special Defense investment to compete in Ubers, though.
Playing Ubers often requires a completely different mindset than playing in Standards. Many strategies that were effective in Standards become completely useless, while tactics that were shunned in Standards sometimes become very effective in Ubers.
The Specials Rule Ubers
In Standards, many of the strongest attackers are physically based; in Ubers, the reverse is true. Much of the Uber metagame is concentrated in Special Attack and Special Defense, as those two stats run into astronomical levels with quite a few Ubers; most Ubers have comparatively low Attack and Defense values, however. This can be exploited by using heavy physical attackers such as Groudon and Metagross; such Pokemon should be handled with care, however, as physical attackers tend to have comparatively low Special Defense and therefore are vulnerable to the powerful special attacks that run rampant in Ubers.
Maximizing Moves
In Standards, it is generally advised to take advantage of a Pokemon’s STAB moves unless the Pokemon was of the Poison type and had better options, as Poison has terrible type coverage. In Ubers, however, type coverage is often more important than STAB, and most Pokemon, regardless of type, tend to use Dragon, Electric, Ice, Dark, and Ghost type attacks. Even though many of the Ubers are Psychic type, they seldom use Psychic type moves for the very fact that many of the Ubers are Psychic. Mewtwo, for example, can deliver more damage with Ice Beam than Psychic to almost every Uber and non-Uber usable in the metagame; this is due both to the fact that the many Psychic type Pokemon of Ubers resist Psychic and that the not-as-many-but-still-common Dragon type Pokemon are weak to Ice. In fact, the only Ubers that Psychic hits harder than Ice Beam are Ho-oh, Kyogre, Palkia, and some rare variations of Arceus.
Dragon, Ice, and Dark attacks can usually be used alone to much success. Darkrai sometimes relies exclusively on its Dark STAB, and Mewtwo on Ice Beam. However, Electric and Ghost types almost never constitute single-type-attack movesets, for some Pokemon are completely immune to their assaults, making any significant setup for nothing. Moreover, Pokemon that boast said immunity are free to use one turn to set up as they wish; in the extremely fast-paced environment of Ubers, one turn of setup frequently proves fatal to the opposition. Instead, Pokemon that choose to use Electric or Ghost type attacks elect to add an attack of another type to their movesets. Pokemon with an Electric attack often pair up with an Ice attack, and Pokemon with a Ghost type attack do the same with Fighting attacks; the purpose of such pairings are to maximize a specific moveset’s type coverage.
Similarly, there are combinations of moves that do not have ample type coverage and are therefore discouraged. For example, a Pokemon almost never has both a Dragon and an Ice type attack on a single moveset, for both types together are redundant in that both are super effective against Dragon types and not very effective against Steel types. This is one instance where STAB does come into play; the general advice is that the Dragon attack be used if it receives STAB, and the Ice attack be used otherwise.
Almost all Ubers are capable of increasing their in-battle stats through moves such as Calm Mind and Swords Dance, and it would do one well to take advantage of such boosting moves. One would think that with the enormous number of stat boosters, phazers would be in high demand. That is a logical but unfortunately incorrect assumption; Uber stats can become numbers that reach far into the thousands, a level that phazers would be hard pressed to contend with. Instead, Ubers relies on having a solid, durable counter that can -do- something to the Pokemon it wants to counter (such as Giratina using Will-o-Wisp on Groudon to smash its physical potential), destroying the opponent before it has the time to set up, or occasionally even a race to see which Uber can raise its stats most in the least amount of time.
The Lead Pokemon
As with any metagame, Ubers is impacted by the Pokemon one leads with. Most good Uber leads fall in at least one of the following categories: immediate damage, anti-lead, and/or weather.
It is always good to lead with a Pokemon that can cause immediate and severe damage without the need to set up with a stat boosting move. Choice Specs Mewtwo is but one such Pokemon; Choice Specs boosts its already impressive Special Attack to even larger levels, and as Choice Specs allows for 4 move choices, its moveset will likely be able to rend anything in the game to pieces in one way or another.
Dialga is the prime example of an anti-lead. It can take on Kyogre and Palkia reasonably, which is important because Kyogre is popular as a lead for two reasons (immediate damage and weather), and Palkia is able to inflict bad damage to well near everything. Additionally, Dialga may even be able to set up Trick Room, a highly unexpected but potentially dangerous tactic in Ubers.
Only two Pokemon truly fit into the “weather” lead category: Groudon and Kyogre. Tyranitar, Hippowdon and Abomasnow can stir up weather, too, but Tyranitar matches up poorly against popular leads such as Kyogre, and the latter two are not fit for competition in Ubers. There are some Pokemon that become extremely powerful based on the weather, and the weather leads attempt to establish the correct weather as soon as possible. Beneficiaries from weather leads include Palkia and Manaphy, which enjoy the rain, and Heatran and Tangrowth, who like the sun.
Although it may be tempting to lead with a wall, it is highly discouraged because of several reasons. Walls should react to certain threats, and as they can usually take a good amount of damage, it is not necessary to meet the Pokemon it wants to wall straight up. Additionally, walls are predictable and the easiest of setup fodders for the opponent to take advantage of if he or she leads with a Pokemon different from the type said wall is geared to handle. As if that were not enough, almost everything in the Uber metagame is capable of bypassing its potential walls; for example, Blissey can take Kyogre’s special attacks, but abhors Waterfall, which leading Choice Scarf Kyogres often carry.
Prediction
In Ubers, it can be incredibly difficult to respond to a threat that has already switched in; for example, there is almost nothing a Palkia can’t hurt. This is where prediction comes in handy to make it difficult for said threats to switch in. For example, a Blissey is an excellent opportunity for a Metagross to switch in, especially if said Blissey is walling a Choice Specs Dialga and unlikely to switch out. However, an intelligent Blissey user may decide to switch to a Palkia, who can easily Surf the incoming Metagross back to the scrap heap. Assuming that the Dialga had used Overheat, it is plain that it would switch out due to the severe Special Attack drop Overheat slams it with, and said Palkia could switch in with minimal risk to itself. Even if the Dialga user predicts Palkia, Overheat wouldn’t do over 10% damage thanks to Palkia’s 4x Fire resistance and Overheat’s Special Attack drop.
However, if the Dialga had used Dragon Pulse, and Dialga’s user knew that his opponent had a Palkia, prediction would be far more interesting. Assuming both players are intelligent and playing to win, the Dialga’s user could perfectly well predict a switch to Palkia to take advantage of his own probably switch to Metagross, and the Blissey’s user could perfectly well stay in and take minimal damage. In this situation, both players could take risks or play at face value, which would lead to either:
- Blissey taking minimal damage and hitting Dialga for little damage
- Blissey meeting Metagross and inflicting minimal damage, and be threatened
- Palkia gets OHKOed by Dragon Pulse
- Metagross meeting Palkia and being threatened
TEAM BUILDING
A checklist and a sample team to help you create your own uber team
Uber Team Checklist
When you are playing in the uber metagame, make sure you have most of these covered. Use this checklist as a guide to build your team. Even if an uber team do not have some or these, it is still important that the team needs to cover a vast majority of threats
- Have a special wall. Blissey and Latias are the main choices here. Blissey should be prioritized, however, seeing as she is not as vulnerable to Pursuit as Latias is, and has higher HP and Special Defense plus neutrality to Ice and Dragon (very important here, since Draco Meteor would otherwise tear you up). Latias is useful for dealing some immediate and significant damage to Pokemon such as Kyogre and Palkia, though.
- Have a physical wall. In Ubers, Lugia and Giratina are the best physical walls. Giratina is capable of stopping a Normal typed Swords Dancing Arceus and burning things with Will-o-Wisp, while Lugia has access to Reflect and Roost.
- Have a physical sweeper that is not weak to Ice or Electric, or have a high special defense to be able to absorb those two types. You will need something to stop Blissey, otherwise she will wall your entire team. Since Uber Blisseys generally run Thunder and Ice beam, using Rayquaza as your Blissey counter is not recommended.
- Have a special sweeper. Physical walls may not be common in Ubers, but they do exist; however, as a majority of the Ubers are special attackers, you’d most likely end up using two or three anyway.
- Have a resistance or immunity to the following types (1 check for each type): Dragon, Ice, Electric, Psychic, Dark, Ghost, Bug, Fighting, Ground, Water, Fire, Steel and Rock
- Have a pseudo hazer (phazer). This isn’t as necessary as the others, since Ninjask is the only thing that would really lose its Baton Passing abilities when phazed. Don’t even think about phazing Mew; it will probably Taunt you anyway.
- Have a counter to most of the pokemon described. That would be all ubers, Metagross, Blissey, Heatran, Forretress, Skarmory, Magnezone, Ninjask and Weavile. It is impossible to fully counter everything, as some, such as Palkia, does not have a real counter. It is advised that you get close to countering all of them as possible, however.
- Have a sleep talker/absorber. There are two Ubers capable of using sleep moves: Darkrai and Mew. Due to the Uber metagame’s speed and pace, losing a Pokemon to a sleep move can be fatal to your team. It is important to keep your Pokemon from fainting until it has done its job. A sleep absorber in this metagame is more important than in the OU metagame. For newer players, a Sleep absorber uses the move Sleep Talk to take the status condition sleep and activate Sleep Clause (a standard rule that states one may only put one opposing Pokemon to sleep at a time); Sleep Talk is so it's not completely useless while sleeping.
- Have a Rapid Spinner. Spinning helps you get your Ho-oh, Lugia and Rayquaza into the field. However, in the Uber metagame, the only Pokemon that should be considered for spinning is Forretress, and in the Uber metagame, Forretress doesn’t do much besides help physical walling and soaking up Outrages, and possibly Exploding.
- Have a Spiker and/or Stealth Rocker. One has a few options here: Skarmory, Forretress, Deoxys-D can learn Spikes and Stealth Rock. Other pokemon that learns Stealth Rock but not spikes are Dialga, Groudon, Blissey, Heatran and Metagross. Stealth Rock will help you weaken things like Lugia, Ho-oh and Rayquaza, while Spikes hurt everything that’s on the ground. This isn’t not mandatory, but it will certainly be helpful.
- Have a weather changer. Tyranitar, Kyogre and Groudon are the only weather changers in uber play (no one uses Abomasnow or Hippowdon). They will help one against teams who rely on weather to win, and those kind of teams can be very dangerous unless the weather is changed. Even if you only have one weather changer, a simple change in weather can impact the game significantly.
This is a sample team that follows most of the guidelines.
The special wall/special sweeper
Latias @ Soul Dew
Trait: levitate
EVs: 156 HP / 176 Spd / 176 SAtk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Thunder
- Recover
With her on the team, the weaknesses to Kyogre and Palkia are eliminated. Latias serves as a great lead due to her stated ability to counter Kyogre, a very common lead, and perform decently against Groudon. She also handles a lot of other things as well, including special attacking Arceus that are not Dragon, Bug, Ghost, Dark or Ice type.
The MAIN special wall
Blissey @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def Def / 42 SAtk / 216 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Thunder
- Softboiled
- Ice Beam
Uber Blisseys are geared towards Special Defense to help it take Water Spouts and such. Psych Up is always a welcome option over Calm Mind, if one wishes to snag the opponent’s boosts if they have boosted a couple of times. Calm Mind makes her not entirely reliant on the opponent's boosts, but Blissey can only Calm Mind once per turn, netting only one boost. Natural Cure is needed for Ubers so it can somewhat shrug off status, even though Thunder's 60% paralysis rate with Serene Grace may seem tempting.
The Darkrai and Tyranitar counter
Arceus @ Fist Plate
Trait: Multitype
EVs: 92 HP / 216 Spd / 202 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk ,-Atk)
- Toxic
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Recover
Many of you will oppose and tell me to use Bug Arceus because it stops Darkrai while hitting many other ubers super-effective. This is not the case, however, since a Bug typed Arceus is weak to Stone Edge and thus will make this team vulnerable to Tyranitar. Ice Beam is there for Rayquaza. Toxic is hilarious if Latias and Lugia thinks they can come in and wall this
The physical sweeper, and resistance to Dragon and Ice.
Metagross @ Choice Band
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 210 HP / 140 Atk / 160 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Explosion
The EVs are configured to let is survive a Calm Minded Modest Soul Dew Latios’ Thunder and OHKO it back with Meteor Mash. It also ensures that a Thunder from Blissey is a 5HKO against it, unless that Blissey has over 220 Special Attack. Explosion for some serious hurts when Metagross is low on health. Due to the team's rather disturbing Jirachi weakness, Earthquake is almost a requirement on Metagross
The special sweeper, weather changer and revenge killer
Kyogre @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Water Spout
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
- Surf
Changes weather. With the new Speed boost from Choice Scarf, Water Spout is now usable and will put a dent into almost anything in the game. With this, sunshine is no longer a fear, and things like Heatran can no longer abuse its power. Surf allows for more damage when Kyogre has taken a few hits and is at lower than 63% health.
The physical wall
Giratina @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Dragon Claw
- Will-o-Wisp
This Pokemon is very important. It counters a Normal typed Swords Dancing Arceus, and stops Metagross and Heracross from ruining the team. It also absorbs the sleep status, and can counter Pokemon such as Groudon.
Team check?
This is an evaluation of the sample team. Do they all come together?
- Have a special wall? Yes (Latias and Blissey)
- Have a physical wall? Yes (Giratina)
- Have a special sweeper? Yes (Latias, Arceus, and Kyogre)
- Have a physical sweeper? Yes (Metagross)
- Have resistances to Dragon, Ice, Electric, Psychic, Dark, Ghost, Bug, Fighting, Ground, Water, Fire, Steel and Rock? The team resists them all.
- Have a Spinner? No, but with 2 pokemon resisting Stealth Rock, one immune to Spikes and having everything besides Metagross and Kyogre being able to heal, Spikes and Stealth Rock are not that much of a threat.
- Have a phazer? No, but since Ninjask is the only Baton passer in ubers, and is rather uncommon due to the appearance of Stealth Rock, it is not much of a deal.
- Have a weather changer? Yes (Kyogre)
- Have a Spiker/Stealth Rocker? No, but these aren’t exactly required anyways.
- Have a sleep talker? Giratina
The threat list that will also help in the creation of a solid Uber team. Remember, a counter must be able to switch into a Pokemon with little or no risk to itself and threaten to deal immediate and major damage or set up without much risk to itself.
Ubers
- Mewtwo: Giratina and Kyogre should handle the physical variants, and Kyogre handles the special variations that have only Ice Beam. Special variants are handled by Blissey. Taunt versions can get ruined by being paralyzed by Blissey’s Thunder.
- Mew: Nothing honestly counters this, as its movepool is enormous. Giratina can take the sleep and Kyogre can Water Spout it off.
- Wobbuffet: If you can’t switch out, you can’t counter it. Therefore, Wobbuffet is impossible to counter.
- Lugia: Metagross handles the Calm Mind variants while Giratina takes on the Toxic variant. Blissey is able to laugh at any special attack Lugia does, and is a backup. Arceus can Toxic non Resting variants, but must avoid getting hit by Toxic at all costs.
- Ho-oh: Kyogre and Giratina stop it completely.
- Latios and Latias: Blissey can come in and take little damage from their attacks, and Metagross can destroy both with either Meteor Mash or Pursuit.
- Kyogre: Blissey and Latias. Mostly Latias, who can easily take any attack thanks to the Special Defense boost Soul Dew provides. Blissey can also defeat it with Thunder. Giratina handles the odd physical versions. Mixed Kyogres fall to Latias.
- Groudon: Giratina burns it while taking minimal damage from Earthquake and Arceus defeats non-Life Orbing variants.
- Rayquaza: Metagross resists Outrage and can put Rayquaza’s health very low with Choice Banded Meteor Mash or utterly destroy it with Explosion if need be. Not much else besides that, since Rayquaza is very, very hard to counter due to its extremely powerful Outrage.
- Deoxys-A: Metagross destroys it, and so does Latias. Giratina handles it if it doesn’t have Ice Beam.
- Deoxys-D: Metagross handles the Toxic/Taunt/Agility variant while Blissey beats up Deoxys-D with the help of Calm Mind. Arceus is immune to Knock Off (a bonus of its Multitype trait) and could work against it in the same way as Blissey.
- Palkia: Latias outspeeds and destroys it, and can take a Spacial Rend if it doesn't critical hit. Choice Scarf versions play with prediction. Palkia has no real counters and Latias is about as close to the best counter one can get.
- Dialga: Arceus beats up on it with its Fighting types Judgment, and Blissey takes care of any and all special variants.
- Giratina: Depends. Physical attacking versions can be handled by Metagross and the Giratina on this team. Roar/Protect versions are handled by the Giratina on this team. Latias is there to help as well.
- Darkrai: If predicted right, Giratina absorbs the sleep and Arceus handles Darkrai with powerful Fighting Judgments.
- Manaphy: Manhandled by Blissey's, Kyogre's and Latias' Thunders.
Arceus Variants
- Normal Swords Dance forms: Handled by Giratina and Fighting Arceus.
- Any other non Fighting type special Arceus: Blissey will hopefully counter them. Latias can come into the non Ghost, Bug, Dark, Ice and Dragon types
- Physical attacking Arceus that are not Dragon or Ghost type: Handled by Giratina
- Non Extremespeed versions can be revenge killed by Kyogre provided Kyogre is at full health and is able to use Water Spout at a high power.
Non ubers
- Metagross: Countered by Giratina, who can Will-o-Wisp it, and Kyogre, who deals huge damage with its STABed weather boosted Water moves. Beaten one on one by Arceus
- Blissey: Metagross can come in and Meteor Mash it.
- Heatran: Kyogre and Giratina should wall it, with Kyogre cutting off its main power source, the sun.
- Weavile: Metagross can Meteor Mash or Bullet Punch it to its grave, and takes little damage from even Night Slash.
- Tyranitar: Arceus ruins it with Fighting Judgment, and Kyogre can set the rain back after Tyranitar is vanquished.
- Skarmory: Arceus, Blissey, Kyogre, and Latias can all smash it to pieces with their powerful special attacks.
- Forretress: Giratina absorbs Explosion, Arceus beats it up with Judgment, and Kyogre destroys it with STABed weather boosted Water moves.
- Magnezone: Blissey and Latias can easily take any special attack it throws out, Arceus can land a super effective hit on it, and OHKO. Giratina can take the Explosion.
- Ninjask: None sadly, but if it is repeatedly attacked, it will usually pass nothing but Speed, which by itself isn't overly threatening.
- Heracross: Giratina walls it infinitely and whittles away at its health with Dragon Claw.
- All Chlorophyll Pokemon (such as Tangrowth and Exeggutor): All are handled by a combination of Blissey, Metagross, Giratina and Latias. Kyogre, while it can't switch in directly, cuts off the sun. Jumpluff is a little harder to handle due to its high speed and stally tactics, but Giratina can waste its PP and Kyogre beats it up with Choice Scarfed Ice Beam.
- Shedinja: Metagross lands an easy Pursuit on it. Arceus Toxics it, and Giratina can Burn it.
- Swift Swimmers: Ludicolo and Kingdra are handled by Blissey and Latias. Floatzel is slightly harder to handle, but without Taunt it is ruined by Giratina. Its weak defenses allow it to be a snack to the common Thunder in the team
- Jirachi: Metagross can Earthquake it. Blissey can paralyze it with Thunder too, although nothing but a stallwar happens when two pokemon are facing each other armed with Calm Minds. Blissey might emerge victorious in the end with a single critical hit, whereas Blissey will survive a Critical Hit anything Jirachi throws at it
- Bronzong: Giratina absorbs Sleep, Kyogre Water Spouts it. Blissey walls it. Metagross is immune to Toxic and can Meteor Mash it into oblivion (3-4HKO. More likely to be 3 since there's the attack boost)
In ubers, Pokemon are generally EVed to outspeed other Pokemon. Examples are Lugia being trained to outspeed Groudon, and Latias being trained to outspeed Palkia. Trick Room reverses all of these, making the attempts at outspeeding useless since faster Pokemon will move last in Trick Room conditions.
Why would one use a turn and a moveslot to set up Trick Room, especially when time and space are such necessary commodities in Ubers? Trick Room can allow powerful but slow Pokemon such as Groudon to make an impact. Of course, Pokemon that can set up Trick Room safely are also necessary. Usually, Pokemon that are used to set up Trick Room in Ubers are sturdy specimens such as Dialga; obviously, one would not leave the Trick Rooming to something such as Deoxys-A.
ARCEUS-IS IT LEGITIMATE?
Arceus is #493 on the National Dex, marking itself as the last Pokemon to exist as of now. So far, Arceus is unobtainable by any means but through a cheating device. This alone raises the concern in people-should it be considered a playable Pokemon, or should it not?
Two sides argued valiantly, but neither can budge the other into finally believing that one side is correct. Due to this, it is decided that Arceus is playable ONLY if both players agree on it's use. In ShoddyBattle, the checking of the Extended Game Clause allows the use of Arceus (and Micle Berry, Jaboca Berry, Rowap Berry and Custap Berry).
If one decides to play with Arceus banned, it is not required that he or she consider Arceus as a threat.
