Sweeping and Walling: A Balanced Ubers Team

[Elite_Trainer_U]

Introduction​

Well, I've always wanted to make an ubers team, but I had never gotten the chance to. Yesterday, I finally got the opportunity to make my first ever ubers team! While it may seem strange to post a RMT after only one day, I feel that I've already passed through the growing pains of entering a new tier. This team has eclipsed the 1400 mark on the beta server of PO (I only play there because the smogon server has a very small number of ubers players), and while this ranking is certainly not bad, I feel that I can improve it with your help. Enough of my rambling, here's the team!​

The Team​

Changes will be made in bold​

Darkrai @ Focus Sash​

Trait: Bad Dreams
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Void
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast

A standard NP lead. Most of the time, I dark void first, and NP until the opponent wakes up. The sash prevents me from being OHKOed during this time period. When they wake up, I begin to sweep, unless I'm only at +2. Then I put them back to sleep and start the sweep at +4. This set generally nabs me a kill every match, unless I make some stupid decisions. This set is most likely going to stay as is, unless someone has an absolutely brilliant idea.

Groudon @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Atk / 136 Def / 8 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Dragon Tail

With Kyogre running rampant in ubers, I needed a way to change the weather. Obviously, the best option would be groudon. The EVs are a bit strange though. I run 8 speed evs as a bit of a power creep and the attack EVs to 2HKO most kyogre forms. His moveset is fairly standard for a bulky groudon. Dragon tail is for the ever annoying Mew and baton pass teams. Since Ferrothorn has been giving me some trouble lately, I decided to run Fire Punch over SR for coverage.

Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SDef / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic
- Seismic Toss

With the abundance of special attackers, I needed a special wall. Hmm tough decision, right? The EVs are also somewhat standard. Max defense is obvious, and I decided to throw in the rest for SP. D to further raise chansey's already massive SP. D stat. This set is for stalling the living crap out of special attackers. Toxic first, and wish + protect them to stall them into oblivion. Seismic toss is just so I can hit steel types, which are rare outside of Dialga. I'm in love with this set, so I don't think I'll be changing it anytime soon.

Arceus-Ghost @ Spooky Plate
Trait: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Judgment
- Focus Blast

Every team needs an arceus! Well, I only had to options, Extreme speed killer, or ghost. I chose ghost, so I can wall the more common normal arceus, and I can have reliable recovery. This is a standard set. CM to +2, and begin to sweep with nearly perfect coverage. Focus blast's accuracy irks me, but I can't switch to HP fighting because the drop in power is too significant. I run max speed and HP to become bulkier and tie with other arceus's at worst. All in all, he is very reliable, but I would not mind changing his set.

Palkia @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Spacial Rend
- Surf
- Thunder
- Fire Blast

The revenge killer, Palkia. EVs are standard game, nothing out of the ordinary. Spacial rend and surf are obligatory STAB, and thunder let's me 2HKO all Kyogres not running wacan berry. The last moveslot is a filler, and I chose fire blast, because if the sun is up, it's gonna hurt! Unfortunetly, this set is very predictable, and Palkia can become dead weight if I'm facing a smart opponent. That being said, Palkia has still saved my ass numerous times by outspeeding Arceus and Mewtwo. I'm not really interested in changing him for something else, but if the need arises, I wouldn't hesitate.

Ho-Oh @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Recover
- Substitute

This is my replacement for Rayquaza. Ho-Oh is a strong physical presence on the field that can clear the field whenever I need him most. With only a base 90 speed, I saw no reason for him to run max speed, so I went for a bulky sweeper spread. Sacred fire and Brave Bird are obligatory STAB. Since Ho-Oh takes 50% damage from SR he needed recover to mitigate that damage. Also from Brave Bird and LO recoil, Ho-Oh can have a short life span if not used correctly. Substitute is more of a filler, but it provides me a shield from status and one free turn to recover or attack. All in all, I feel that Ho-Oh is better than Rayquaza in all ways, except for the fact that I lack priority, but that can be easily played around.

Conclusion​

This team has been successful, considering the fact that I only built it yesterday, but there are a few threats I struggle with. The first is CM and/or Sleep talk Kyogre. The first isn't too problematic, as I can wall it with chansey with toxic stall. The second one gives me nightmares. After a few CM it can't be killed. It just can't. Palkia thundres are doing negligle damage and I have nothing else to take it down with. The second of these is manaphy in the rain. This is basically Kyogre 2.0 but it is a bit easier to kill with Palkia. The last threat I encounter is BP Mew + Dialga. Groudon try as he might, can't phaze Mew if it know substitute. If Dialga gets +2 speed and +2 Sp. A, it's pretty much gg because chansey can't toxic it, and groudon dies to DP. If someone could help me counter these threats it would be greatly appreciated. Rate away!​

P.S. Anyone got an animated ghost arceus sprite?​

 

[Ninjadolphin]

Try out cb rayquaza, you get a surprise factor and it works really well. I guess dragon dance could be replaced with outrage or any other physical move, but it doesnt really matter

 

[DarthChocoboz]

Hey dude nice team a few things.
Darkrai Sleep something then set up 1 plot then kill their lead if its even still in there. However i don't think focus sash darkrai is the best option for you, i would go with a Scarfed Darkrai. Scarfed palkia is good but darkrai is much better. It can sleep stuff cause havoc to mewtwo and mew who may be trying to outspeed you and allows you to outspeed 0 speed deoxys-s [i use it]. Even though it seems sorta nubby spacial rend is an option on darkrai.

Arceus You have 0 Steels, and you're playing in ubers, i don't quite understand this, how are you supposed to take dialga draco meteors? sure chansey can take them but it can't set up, this is why i am suggesting arceus steel forme, keep your set since it works perfectly fine for pretty much everything in Ubers.

Paklia Palkia looks good although i think a change to specs might help but dual scarfers is very uncommon in Ubers so i think you should keep it

Rayquaza Now rayquaza is just about the best pokemon in the game.Offensivly off course [lugia says hi] but you don't need rayquaza to be a DD set since your team is very offensive based already and the DD set lacks the power to deal with walls like deoxys and lugia while also losing to scarfers. I think Swords dance is the way to go since your team lacks priority you can definatly hurt lugia a lot and pretty much make your opponent shit themselves.

I hope i helped.

Darkrai set

Darkrai @ Choice Scarf
Modest 6 DEF 252 SP ATK 252 SPEED
Dark Void
Dark Pulse
Spacial Rend
Hidden Power Fire/Focus Blast

Rayquaza set

Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Adamant 32 HP 252 ATK 228 SPEED
Swords Dance
Outrage
Stone Edge
Extrememspeed

 

[Elite_Trainer_U]

Hey dude nice team a few things.
Darkrai Sleep something then set up 1 plot then kill their lead if its even still in there. However i don't think focus sash darkrai is the best option for you, i would go with a Scarfed Darkrai. Scarfed palkia is good but darkrai is much better. It can sleep stuff cause havoc to mewtwo and mew who may be trying to outspeed you and allows you to outspeed 0 speed deoxys-s [i use it]. Even though it seems sorta nubby spacial rend is an option on darkrai.

Scarf sounds good on paper, but when you out something to sleep, you'll have to switch out, and if the opponent wakes in the next turn, you just revealed you were scarfed, and it goes downhill from there. The sash is really useful against other scarfers since they can't KO me, but I can put them to sleep. I think I'm gonna stick with sash.

Arceus You have 0 Steels, and you're playing in ubers, i don't quite understand this, how are you supposed to take dialga draco meteors? sure chansey can take them but it can't set up, this is why i am suggesting arceus steel forme, keep your set since it works perfectly fine for pretty much everything in Ubers.

Good catch, I do need a steel. But if I make Arceus steel, his current set is ruined, and I'd have to go to the extremekiller set, which normal arceus preforms much better. Also, he's my only check to normal arceus, and I think he needs to stay. However, a steel pokemon can replace rayquaza, any suggestions?

Paklia Palkia looks good although i think a change to specs might help but dual scarfers is very uncommon in Ubers so i think you should keep it

Yea, I definetely need scarf, revenge killing is one of the things I specialize in, and palkia is one of the best in the game.

Rayquaza Now rayquaza is just about the best pokemon in the game.Offensivly off course [lugia says hi] but you don't need rayquaza to be a DD set since your team is very offensive based already and the DD set lacks the power to deal with walls like deoxys and lugia while also losing to scarfers. I think Swords dance is the way to go since your team lacks priority you can definatly hurt lugia a lot and pretty much make your opponent shit themselves.

I actually do have priority lol. But rayquaza needs speed. Base 95 isn't outspeeding much. I'll give swords dance a shot, but I feel like I'm going to be forced to use extremespeed most of the time. And again, I'll just be using an infierior normal arceus. Maybe I'll try a steel in this spot, is dialga any good?

I hope i helped.

Thanks!

 

[DarthChocoboz]

Steel arceus still checks normal and you can wreck it with a focus blast.

Dialga isn't a fantastic steel since it doesn't resist dragon, which is the whole point, i'd try out scizor or metagross then, i don't know all the uber sets off the top of my head but i do know that since your using SD rayquaza thunder wave may be an option on chansey. but toxic is need for stuff like Lugia but rayquaza and darkrai take easy care of that.

 

[guanlong]

A possible option for a Steel-type not named Scizor is SpD Jirachi. It has decent bulk and has a great movepool for paraflinchy goodness. It even gets U-Turn to flee from incoming attackers and helps keep up the momentum on your side of the game.

By the way, NOBODY uses Steel Arceus with Focus Blast. It usually appears as a utility counter for Normal Arceus with WoW/Judgement/CM/Recover. Steel Judgement is cruddy offensive-wise in Ubers, so if you're gonna run such an offensive set, use CM Ghost Arceus, which also checks the Extreme Killer.

As for Rayquaza, my favourite set is MixQuaza, which packs a punch and is very unexpected. However, my main experience with it is in the lead position, so it may not be the set for your team.

 

[Elite_Trainer_U]

Hmm I'm liking the sound of jirachi. I tried steel arceus and it just wasn't strong enough for my liking. I suppose I could run a utility set but then I'd lose a valuable sweeper.

Well what I'm thinking is running a scarfed jirachi over rayquaza. I think it should know iron head, u-turn, trick, and something else. Does that sound good?

 

[Elite_Trainer_U]

Well sorry about the double post but I felt like there were some things I needed to address:

Firstly, the reason I never saw Jirachi before in ubers is because it's terrible. Chansey is my special sponge and it can take draco meteors all day. I do realize I have an overdependence on Chansey, but it works fanatasticly for me.

Secondly, I've been struggling with SubSeed Ferrothorn. For this reason I added fire punch over SR on groudon. Stealth rocks isn't incredibly useful in ubers, for me at least, and I decided that it was time for it to go.

Thirdly, I found a replacement for Rayquaza. Upon the discovery that sacred fire is a physical attack, I immediatly replaced Rayquaza with Ho-Oh. Here's the set:

Ho-Oh @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Recover
- Substitute

I don't have time to write a full description, so I'll edit this in the OP later.

Lastly, I've discovered the bane of this team. Toxic spikes. I can handle one layer but two layers spells death for everything not named Ho-Oh (which is 4x weak to SR, oh the irony). I do not know how to counter this so suggestions would be apprecitated.

WILL EDIT OP LATER

 

[guanlong]

Ho-Oh requires Rapid Spin support, as it is rarely in the lead position. Forretress is the classic spinner on an Ubers Sun team. I guess if you have an aversion to using such a defensive Pokemon, you could use an Espeon to block entry hazards with Magic Mirror.

 

[Elite_Trainer_U]

Well while Ho-Oh prefers rapid spin support, I've found that can be played around rather easily. My opponent only has time to set up SR if they lead with a deoxys or if they can get groudon in freely. I don't see deoxys-s very often and after two turns of them setting up, I have all the momentum with darkrai, so the SR is irrelevant. Groudon doesn't like setting up on my team, since almost everything bar chansey and groudon can easily 2HKO it, and with the elimination of groudon I can blow the game wide open.

I could try espeon or fortress, but in all honestly, they are over centralizing.