ORAS UU Scary Monsters (A Hogg/NV Collaboration)

[Hogg]

She had an horror of rooms
She was tired, you can't hide beat
When I looked in her eyes they were blue but nobody home...

A 501st Post RMT!

Hi all! This was supposed to be posted as my 500th post, but then I got distracted while I was working on it and accidentally posted in NV's thread, which is fitting I guess. Oh well, 501 posts is cool too, right?

Anyhow, this team is a collaboration between myself and NV. NV got in touch with me after I'd posted about the success I was having with bulky DD/Refresh Salamence, asking if I'd be interested in working on a team together with it. We decided to make a bulky offensive team centered around the duo of bulky DDmence and SD Cobalion, as the two work together really well, together walling almost every physical attacker in the tier while also threatening to sweep.

The team's main core came together quickly, as we decided on Mence/Cobalion/Whimsi. There were a couple of versions from that point on, including a fun one with Mega-Blastoise and Cresselia, but this latest version is by far the most successful. Unfortunately the timing of the suspect test meant I haven't gotten the opportunity to test it as much as I'd like, so I'm hoping to get some feedback on it. While I haven't hit any specific ladder peaks with it, I consistently won games with it in the ~1500 range of the ladder (which is as high as my testing alt got before the suspect started), and tested it against a wide variety of playstyles.

Anyhow, without further ado, the team!
​

Salamence @ Leftovers

Ability: Intimidate | EVs: 248 HP / 200 Def / 60 Spe | Impish Nature

• Dragon Dance | Dragon Claw | Refresh | Roost

This thing. This here is the whole reason NV and I decided to make this team. Bulky DD Salamence is a fantastic answer to basically every fighting and fire type in the tier, able to switch in to attacks multiple times throughout the match. Thanks to Refresh, it also doubles as a great Scald switch-in, and can use any bulky Water lacking Roar or Ice Beam as set-up bait. It beats CroCune one on one, and once fairies are removed, it straight up sweeps teams.

EVs maximize bulk, while giving enough Speed to outpace Mega-Pidgeot at +1. With this spread Salamence even survives Mamoswine's LO Ice Shard, meaning that if you can stay healthy as you boost, Mamoswine can't revenge you.

Cobalion @ Leftovers

Ability: Justified | EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe | Jolly Nature

• Swords Dance | Close Combat | Iron Head | Stealth Rock

Since Fairies obviously wall bulkmence to high heaven, our next thought was to put in something that threatens most fairies. We considered things like Aggron and Doublade, but in the end settled on Cobalion, who could serve as a second win condition and did well against many of the things that gave Salamence trouble. We went with SD + rocks so that we could take some pressure off the rest of our team when building. Cobalion threatens out a lot of top threats such as Aero, takes Curselax to school, and forms a surprisingly effective defensive duo with Salamence.

The set is fairly standard, with Rocks over Sub or Magnet Rise. Standard EVs as well.

Whimsicott @ Leftovers

Ability: Prankster | EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe | Timid Nature

• U-turn | Moonblast | Giga Drain | Encore

Noticing a weakness to CM Roar Suicune, Whimsicott was our next choice. Whimsi provided all-around decent team support while also providing solid offensive presence with a Pixie Plate-boosted Moonblast and that fantastic Speed tier. LO was considered but discarded, because LO + U-turn + hazards really limits how many times Whimsi can do her job.

Not too much to say about the set or EVs, with Pixie Plate being the only out of the ordinary thing here. I'm not a huge fan of defensive Whimsi, so this was the obvious way to go for me.

EDIT: Replaced Pixie Plate with Lefties, which help considerably in keeping Whimsi from being worn down.

Rotom-Heat @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Levitate | EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe | Timid Nature | IVs: 0 Atk

• Volt Switch | Thunderbolt | Overheat | Trick

We needed a scarfer that could maintain momentum and check some of the potential issues the team might face, like what to do against birdspam, so we decided to try out Scarf Rotom-H. Rotom-Heat formed a nice VoltTurn core with Whimsi, and also gave another switch-in against most fairies. It also serves as an answer to Mega-Pidgeot, who was looking really difficult to switch into, and helped against Mamoswine as well. Thunderbolt was chosen over WoW because Pidgeot was more of a threat than Mamoswine, and Volt Switch misses the OHKO on Mega-Pidgeot.

Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite

Ability: Rock Head | EVs: 252 Atk / 40 Def / 216 Spe | Jolly Nature

• Defog | Aerial Ace | Earthquake | Roost

Originally hazard support on this team was handled by Mega-Blastoise, but after playing with the team for a while, it was having some issues with offense in general, and scarfed Rotom-H was really only a soft answer to Pidgeot at best. So, I decided to try out Defog Aerodactyl, and it was a much better fit. Mence/Coba/Whimsi/Aero is a really solid core in general, able to do good work against the majority of the tier. AA/EQ was decided on as the best general coverage, while we went with some defensive investment because we decided that surviving Mamo's Ice Shard was more important than trying to Speed tie with opposing Aeros, especially since we lacked Stone Edge or Aqua Tail to hit them with anyhow. (Also, being guaranteed to underspeed most opposing Aeros means that if I'm feeling clever I can try to EQ on their Roost once they think that I'm a free switch for them.)

Suicune @ Leftovers

Ability: Pressure | EVs: 248 HP / 236 Def / 24 Spe | Bold Nature | IVs: 0 Atk

• Calm Mind | Scald | Roar | Rest

This used to be T-Wave Cresselia, but it was really only so-so. Sure, it didn't die, but once we dropped Blaster for Aero the team was fast enough to not really need T-Wave support, and Roarcune just straight up beats a lot of opposing Calm Minders like Reuni/Slowking, as well as providing a second answer to Curselax. Like Cress this was something that could switch into Mamoswine. Unlike Cress, this could actually do something back other than just spam Moonlight until Mamo died of LO recoil. Roar support also helped pressure fairies that relied on Wish to heal, and meant that Suicune wasn't setup bait for Sub Gatr. 24 Speed because I like to creep, and outspeeding opposing Suicune is pretty important.

~~~~~~~

Anyhow, I don't have a ton of replays with this latest version of the team, but here are a couple showing off what it can do:

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uususpecttest-234900757
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-234137504

The team has done pretty consistently well, though full stall with a bulky fairy can be problematic - DDmence does pretty well against stall in general, but if I can't pressure out something like Florges or Aromatisse, which is not always possible against a well played stall team, this team can have some serious difficulty.

Anyhow, I'd love some feedback! Thanks, y'all!​

Importable

chunk (Salamence) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 200 Def / 60 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Refresh
- Roost

Cobalion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock

Rotom-Heat @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Trick

Whimsicott @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Moonblast
- Giga Drain
- Encore

Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Defog
- Aerial Ace
- Earthquake
- Roost

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 236 Def / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Roar
- Rest

Shout outs

Oh yeah, since this is a 500th post RMT, I guess I should do shout-outs. I'm always crap at this sort of thing, but I'll try. If I forget someone, my apologies.

First and foremost is NV, who worked with me on building this team and is always good to test teams with or bounce ideas off of.

Next would be Ernesto and the rest of the Veteran Stars (teal6, Hairy Toenail, Metric, Metal Sonic, TewMew, atomicllamas and kokoloko) - thanks for taking a chance on a player without any recent tour experience and giving me so many opportunities to play in UUPL. It was awesome to make playoffs with you guys.

Finally... ah hell, there are a bunch of you that I talk to and hang out with online, and that have helped me out before. waivv, YABO, CoolStoryBrobat, st123, Christo The Gr8 and a million others that I'm forgetting (also I've got to submit this before the Lower Tier signups go up, or else this is actually going to be my 502nd post :P). Basically, if you think you should have gotten a shout-out and you're not here, just pretend I added you.

Thanks, all!

 

[YABO]

No suggestions just yet but like you said this team fares poorly against stall/bulky cores of something like a Fairy Steel Dragon core of Aggron, Florges, Mence. I really dont a good way of beating them so long as they have a good answer to Roarcune. The only thing I could see aside from a chancey trick would be just a flat out misplay on your opponents part. Even more simple cores like Bulky Water + Fairy could be a pain in the ass without any way to recover health on the team. Only thing I could think of quick would be Leech Seed on Whimsicott or something. Anyways, I'll likely look at this more later but best of luck! :]

 

[Wanka]

The fairy weakness is killer and the only real way I can see you being able to deal with it while not changing the team a whole lot is by trying bulky rotom. the scarf is definitely nice to outspeed offensive threats like a feraligatr at +1 speed or the likes of aero who are not too bad but somewhat annoying for you. It could help with florges in the sense that you can constantly burn it and force seem to waste heal bells. and pain split off damage. Bulky rotom has just been pretty cool in general as it acts as a decent check to mons like tini and mamo. Scarf rotom loses the bulk that helps check those mons better but provides speedy volt switches that are very tempting to give up. A bulky variant could do some decent work against a core like the one YABO said above being able to switch up moves and obtain the ability to burn them and volt switch out to cause some massive widdle.

potential rotom set

Rotom-Heat @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Overheat
- Pain Split

I have not used rotom in a while so I wasn't too sure how the speed creep would go and you are good enough to change them if you go this route so its nbd. Thats what I was thinking as far as moves go though.

Thats all I got. Hope I helped.

 

[Hogg]

In general I've worked around fairies by pressuring them out with Coba or CM Roar Suicune. CM Roar Suicune in particular helps against those bulky Aggron/Florges cores, and once I wear M-Aggron down to about 60%, Cobalion tends to break that core pretty efficiently as well. That and yeah, Tricking with Rotom. I haven't specifically faced the Aggron/Florges/Fatmence combo you mentioned, YABO (for a while it was everywhere, but lately haven't seen it as much), although I did go up against someone using Serp's stall team and didn't have much trouble.

That said, fitting something like Leech Seed onto Whimsi could work - I'd imagine it should still beat Suicune and Slowking with Leech Seed over Giga Drain. I'll give it a shot and see if it helps.