PESTILENCE

Ok, I got sick of using and seeing the same old pokemon on the ladder, so i decided to try some 'off-the-beaten-path' mons and see if I could be successful. I wanted to use sandstorm as my weather, as it is the 'anti-weather' in ubers (In my opinion, using abomasnow just so you can give kyurem-w blizzard is just gimmicky, and abomasnow sux in ubers).
This team only uses 2 ubers, and aesthetically it is one of my fav teams.






PITLORD
Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Sandstream
Careful 252 Hp / 36 Def / 220 SpDef
Crunch
Fire Punch
Thunder Wave
Stealth Rock

Tyranitar is a great lead in ubers and does well against a suprising amount of opposing leads. His main selling point is his auto-weather, and his low speed means he will almost always have the sandstream up vs Kyogre or Groudon. Sandstorm has the added benefit of raising Tyranitars SpDef a stage and breaking opposing leads focus sashes.
Lum Berry is to guarantee the T Wave on Darkrai leads, which ruins them 9/10. With sandstorm up TTar can even stay in on non-specs Kyogre and get the T Wave off.
If I foresee a Deoxys-A lead I will not lead with Tyranitar in fear of superpower. Vs Groudon leads I generally just stealth rock and hope for the best, but I mix it up and sometimes switch in Gliscor, which is one of my teams MVPs and a very underrated pokemon, especially in the hands of a skilled user.
Crunch for reliable, obligatory stab,
Fire Punch is for Forry/Ferro/Scizor/Genesect
Thunder Wave cripples pretty much anything bar Groudon,
Stealth Rock because someone has to and it may as well be the crappy TTar :)

SCORPINAK

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Poison Heal
Jolly 252 Hp / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Earthquake
Toxic
Protect
Substitute

This little guy is awesome in ubers. Very underrated. Immune to spikes, neutral to stealth rock, immune to status.
Groudon cant really touch it, outside of Swords Dance variants, and even then finds it tough going.
Once poisoned, Gliscor is immune to status, and with a sub up or against a poisoned slower pokemon, is generally a guaranteed KO for Gliscor.
Having a sub up when the new opposing mon comes in is key to success. When toxic stalling, alternating between sub and protect, sometimes double sub just to confuse the opponent and keep them guessing as to when to switch their dying mon out. Can indefinitely sub/protect stall when poisoned thansk to poison heal (Well until it runs out of pp).
The greatest strength of this little guy is that a lot of players don't kno how to handle him, and under estimate him, making errors and watching on in horror and as a little mon that hatched from an egg kills their godly ubers.
Max speed to at least tie with non scarf Rayquaza, and to outspeed the bases 90s. Outspeeding a mon that cant OHKO you = KO/toxic force out, rinse, repeat.
A lot of people don't run protect, but it is key to this guy working. Protect is infintely better than roost on an ubers Glisocr in my opinion. If this guy takes a hit he is genrally dead, and poison heal is enough healing hiding behind your subs and protects.I used to run taunt over earthquake to stop the annoying steels setting up hazards, but I have a spinner now and earthquake means he isn't complete taunt-bait himself and can hit Dialga and Jirachi and eventually beat Ferrothorn.

PESTILENCE

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Iron Barbs
Sassy Nature 252 Hp / 4 Def / 252 SpDef
0 Spe IVs
Gyro Ball
Leech Seed
Protect
Spikes

Every team needs a counter to Kyogre, and this mon, being resistant to rocks and immune to poison and sandstorm is a nice choice.
Can set up spikes, and protect in tandem with leech seed and sometimes even poison is very nice. Iron barbs and sandstorm damage help out too.
Gyro ball just to deal around 50% to the latis and to really hurt Mewtwo/Deoxys/Kyurem on the switch or in the rain if you're at full HP.
Max SpDef to ensure it can tank hits from even specs Ogre.


RIPPER

Excadrill @ Leftovers
Sand Rush
Adamant 252 Hp / 104 SpDef / 156 Spe
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Rapid Spin
Sword Dance

This guy is one of the best spinners in ubers, and definitely my choice of spinner on a sand team. A lot of players underestimate this mon too. If their weather is down I can feel free to sword dance up vs defensive mons and attempt a sweep, but generally this guys usefulness comes down to his bulk and ability to spin. Resistance to common priority moves in ubers like extreme speed helps too. Immunity to toxic/toxic spikes and 4x resistance to stealth rock is nice.
The speed EVs are to ensure it ouruns scarf base 100s in the sand, with the rest dumped into its defenses to give it more longevity than some people expect. Rock slide > Shadow claw just to hit Ho-Oh/Rayquaza harder, but I think Shadow claw is probably just as useful.


DEATHMETAL

Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Download
Rash 4 Att / 252 SpAtt / 252 Spe
Thunderbolt
U-Turn
Ice Beam
Flamethrower

This guy is one of the most awesome new additions of the 5th gen to ubers competitive play. Scarf is pretty much the only set to run, I go for accuracy in my moves(i'd definitely run Thunder >Thunderbolt if it was a rain team). This guy outspeeds and hurts Mewtwo a lot with stab U-turn, and can act as a late game cleaner if download raises its SpAtt.
Resists extreme speed again, and I give it a rash nature over mild to give it higher Def to survive extreme speed.
Again, it's a mon that is immune to toxic, and no pokemon on my team is weak to stealth rock.
I think about running a +Spe nature to ensure I outrun scarf timid Kyogore and other +Spe bases 90's but so far I havn't had any problems because of this.


DOOM


Arceus-Ghost @ Spooky Plate
Multitype
Adamant 4 Hp / 252 Att / 252 Spe
Extreme Speed
Sword Dance
Shadow Force
Brick Break

My obligatory spinblocker. Another pokemon that is often underestimated, but for different reasons than the others on this team. A lot of spinners will stay in and set up their own hazards, expecting a defensive or special attacking ghost forme of Arceus. But what they get instead is sword dance and maybe sword dance again, GG.
Shadow force is the only 2-turn move i'd ever consider using. This guy outspeeds Rayquaza and sometimes I cant help but laugh as Ray DD's on the vanish turn, then outspeeds and outrages nothing before I hit him with the Shadow force. Shadow force is the only move it carries that can hurt ghosts, so opposing scarf ditto will get a hell of a shock when they are forced to shadow force 1st, then die to my slower shadow force.
Max speed adamant generally ensures I outspeed 99% of normal type extreme killer arceus. Basically I lose the stab on the extreme speed for the stab on the shadow force(which eats giratina/lugia-if it doesnt sub) and the ability to spin block.Being immune to fighting and extreme speed is nice too.
 

His Eminence Lord Poppington II

proverb:the fish who eats most dies still too
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
T-Wave Tyranitar / Rash Scarf Genesect / Ferrothorn / Bulky Excadrill / SD Ghost Arceus / Jolly Gliscor

This team is weak to, in order of importance -

ExtremeKiller

Kyogre

Rayquaza

Fighting Arceus

Palkia

Ho-Oh

A lot of your sets are suboptimal. ExtremeKiller is left completely unchecked, Gliscor has no Defense and Ghost Arceus is completely ill equipped to handle it. Ferrothorn with only Protect and Leech Seed is run over by any boosting Kyogre (you lose to Choice Specs regardless). Rayquaza can't be checked by Genesect because you aren't running a speed-boosting nature. Fight Arceus can't be stopped by Ghost Arceus due to a lack of bulk and recovery. Palkia can wear down Tyranitar easily and Ferrothorn is OHKOed by Fire Blast. Moreover, Darkrai and Mewtwo aren't checked efficiently by your Genesect, as it fails to OHKO them. Latias can be checked by Ferrothorn, so it isn't as huge of an issue. Tyranitar can somewhat deal with Darkrai but fails to get an SE hit on it, compounded further by being OHKOed by an LO Focus Blast. +1 Mewtwo also OHKOes Tyranitar if it is carrying Aura Sphere, making it a poor switch-in. Not using Taunt on Gliscor makes it huge hazard bait, having a no Attack Excadrill does not allow you to magically remove all hazards, and in fact means you are soundly beaten by even specially defensive Giratina unless it misses Will-O-Wisp (a reliable strategy).

Tyranitar should be using a Superpower and a Brave nature with Fire Blast over Fire Punch. This allows it to lead effectively against Darkrai, having Genesect lead against Darkrai and being unable to OHKO makes U-Turning to Tyranitar somewhat pointless as it will just Dark Void you twice or Focus Blast twice. Even max attack Hasty Genesect can fail to bring Darkrai down to its Focus Sash without an attack boost, making this Tyranitar set somewhat of a neccessity. Fire Blast is preferable over Fire Punch because Fire Punch triggers Iron Barb damage from Ferrothorn, and it can actually do a decent amount of damage to Groudon in the sun.

Tyranitar
move 1: Superpower
move 2: Crunch
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Stealth Rock
item: Lum Berry
ability: Sand Stream
nature: Brave
evs: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 192 SpD


Genesect should be running a Hasty physically-based Choice Scarf set, practically a neccessity if one needs it to deal with Lati@s / Darkrai / Mewtwo (which you do).

Genesect
move 1: U-Turn
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Iron Head
move 4: Explosion
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Download
nature: Hasty
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe


The speed-boosting nature is neccessary to outspeed +1 Rayquaza and to revenge it with Ice Beam, otherwise it would sweep your team clean. Iron Head gets a solid SE hit against Terrakion and the Kyurem formes, while also providing a good ~40% against max HP Arceus provided you get the boost, allowing you to beat some of them in a pinch, provided they are Burned / Poisoned / Leech Seeded / Paralysed (or if you're lucky you will get flinches when you need it. Overall, it is just a strong STAB move that is useful to have in an unlikely situation. Explosion is also a pinch move, but can lure Ho-Oh when you need to and does a surprising amount of damage in a last ditch scenario. Ice Beam is mainly for Rayquaza, but obviously helps with all the other 4* weak Dragons and gets a solid hit on Zekrom and Groudon too, although not OHKOing them by a long shot.

A fast Taunt-less Gliscor is cool (against some forms of HO), unfortunately with many of your members grounded, and a reliance on Tyranitar for Excadrill, a way to stallbreak is much more appreciated. Preventing the use of recovery / support moves and hazards provides far more utility to your team than more efficient Toxic-stalling (which Gliscor can still do, even without Protect, albeit less efficiently). Additionally, Defense EVs are somewhat of a neccessity so Groudon doesn't embarrassingly break your Substitutes with Fire Punch or Stone Edge. I recommend these EVs, providing a good mix between a solid amount of Defense and enough Speed for all those pesky base 90s.

Gliscor
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Taunt
move 3: Substitute
move 4:Toxic
item: Toxic Orb
ability: Poison Heal
nature: Impish
evs: 244 HP / 216 Def / 48 Spe


The EVs let you outspeed Tentacruel, allowing you to 2HKO it before it does you, 244 HP is divisible by 8, maximising the HP recovered from Poison Heal and the rest is dumped in Defense, allowing you to Toxic Extreme Killer Arceus and not dying to a +2 ExtremeSpeed.

While SD Ghost Arceus is very cool and occasionally anti-metagame, without a reliable check to Extreme Killer Normal Arceus a different set is required, at the bare minimum a Focus Blast CM set should be used, ideally a support set with WoW is one I recommend.

Ghost Arceus
move 1: Will-O-Wisp
move 2: Focus Blast
move 3: Judgment
move 4: Recover
item: Spooky Plate
ability: Multitype
nature: Timid
evs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 Spe


The Speed EVs let you outspeed Lati@s, letting you get a Judgment in before it sneaks in a Calm Mind, doing ~50%, forcing it to Recover and alowing you to switch-in Genesect on it the following turn with minimal risk (if it chooses to attack on that turn you can just revenge-kill it with Excadrill, ensuring Latias will never outright sweep you if these 'mons are alive). The remaining EVs are invested in Defense, allowing you to be a better buffer against Extreme Killer.

Excadrill is totally wasted without investing in its Attack, making it a poor revenge killer for what Genesect can fail to cover. A Life Orb set provides the power you need to pressure opposing teams and get the OHKO on the Pokemon that matter (such as the OHKO on max HP Arceus after at +2)

Excadrill
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Rock Slide
move 3: Rapid Spin
move 4: Swords Dance
item: Life Orb
ability: Sand Rush
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe


Rock Slide is chosen over Iron Head because of the urgent Ho-Oh weakness. Earthquake with maximum investment and Life Orb packs massive power, capable of OHKOing Darkrai and just slamming shit in general. It also helps greatly with Palkia, which after a few turns of sand damage + Stealth Rock can swiftly be eliminated at around ~75% of its HP, reducing its threat level significantly.

I highly recommend running Power Whip over Protect on Forretress, while Protect + Leech Seed is obviously very cool the need to beat boosting Kyogre is undeniable. Any sort of Substitute Kyogre will shit on you as well, and that's just embarrassing. Power Whip also provides invaluable damage against Tentacruel, which would set up on you otherwise, and hitting Groudon on the switch, etc. You are also incapable of stopping Manaphy without Power Whip. A Pokemon should be able to beat what it should. Protect is nifty, but its utility is far outshone by Power Whip's.

A weakness to Fighting Arceus still remains, but being able to check the other Pokemon I mentioned is invaluable. Good luck.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top