The bUUcket list presents: Think Before You Lift V2

CoolStoryBrobat

The hero Smogon needs, but not the one it deserves
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Introduction

Hi, everyone! CoolStoryBrobat here with a real fun team I've had a blast using in UU as of late. Usually when you make RMTs on teams you've had a lot of success with, you usually point out how far you got on the ladder, how many points it got you, what position you've peaked at, etc. For this, I got none of that. It's really nothing more than a team I made for the sake of having some fun, something I admit I haven't felt like I've been able to do with battles as of late. It's always been cut-and-dry try-hard-as-you-can-to-win-only-to-be-disappointed-soon-as-things-go-wrong for me, and I'm trying to break out of that.

The "bUUcket list" of mine, is something I recently made up for myself. It's simply nothing more than just a list of Pokemon I really want to try out in UU sometime before Gen 6 comes out, and right now I was focusing on Gurdurr. I really liked using Gurdurr on Random Wi-Fi battles during my "Pre-Showdown" days and I often had a nack for using less-appreciated and "original" Pokemon. I really noticed how deadly a STAB Mach Punch can be in UU, and wanted to see the full potential for myself. The reason the RMT is called "Think Before You Lift V2" is because I actually had a team built around Bulk Up Scrafty with the same name (Though you won't find it in an RMT, I kind of scrapped the team for the time being) and figured since both teams are built around a Bulk Up Sweeper, I'd name this one after it. Anyway, onto the process of how I made this junk, cause it's (slightly) interesting:

Teambuilding Process


Well, this guy was a guaranteed fit, seeing as the team's built around it.



My immediate next choice was Zapdos, seeing as there's a good amount of Flying-types in UU who can really threaten Gurdurr. Zapdos in general is a blanket check to just about every single one of them, surprisingly. Even opposing Zapdos.



This one was kind of tricky to come forth with, but I decided upon Stallbreaker Mew for its ability to check and force out most Psychic-types, burn Pokemon to possibly allow Gurdurr to use them as setup bait, and well...deal with Stall teams.



It's been said by many a player that having a check to SubCM Raikou is critically important, and a Ground-type not 4x weak to Ice is generally invaluable on a UU team. For that reason, I chose Rhyperior. On top of checking SubCM Raikou, it's also a backup check to most Zapdos variants (Fear no HP Grass, bro) and sets hazards up and gets a little phazing going on. It's also somewhat of a general "backup" check against Flying-types in the event Zapdos gets worn down due to the whole "SR Weak" thing.



I decided to go with a Chandelure as a means of actually KILLING the annoying Psychic-types who obstruct Gurdurr's path to victory. Figured I'd go in with an easy Specs set, one of Chandy's deadliest sets and for pretty darn good reason.



Well, seeing as my team had no revenge killer of any sort, I decided to go for Choice Scarf Heracross. I wanted a Fighting-type who could actually offer some utility of actually being able to switch in on a few resisted hits and do work. Sorry, Mienshao. Sick of using you, anyway. I opted for Guts over Moxie just to be able to allow this guy to take Scald burns and surprise the foe without losing anything on my side in terms of momentum. If you notice, my team doesn't have much to actually SWITCH IN on Water-type moves with. Not only that but Heracross also serves as the primary Fighting-type attacker during the Early-Mid game phases until the opponent's team is weakened enough for Gurdurr to sweep, without having to have it come in too early only to be switched.

...Actually, it doesn't stop there. I tested it for a while and got frustrated. But for some unusual reason I decided not to erase the team because I felt I had a lot of untapped potential going on here, and I knew improvements could be made.



First big issue was my team absolutely hated Kingdra's existence. Unless Zapdos was in at the absolute right time, Kingdra was most likely bound to be killing something or getting easy setup. I also had nothing to really tank any water moves with outside of Mew, so this team really appreciated having Slowking on its side. Though you can't tell, I also changed Chandelure's moveset to what I currently am running now...I won't ruin the surprise, but I'll highlight it down below in the RMT. Same for Slowking, I had a move change on it that actually did a lot for the team itself.



Next big issue was I got kind of tired Hitmontop and Qwilfish and most stall teams getting in my way and making my life miserable. Zapdos is only one Pokemon, and it has issues with Umbreon. Chandelure takes prediction to use, especially against said Umbreon. Gurdurr doesn't want to go up against a team of 5-6 Pokes just because everything else I have hates dealing with a powerful defensive core. I opted for Bisharp due to his ability Defiant, to discourage these Pokemon as well as being able to setup for almost literally free on Umbreon. I also had a Dark/Fighting/Psychic thing going on with Gurdurr, Slowking, and Bisharp.



...Except, when I WASN'T going up against those specific Pokemon, Bisharp did absolute crap on this team and I was closer than ever before to deleting it. Then...I remember having been shown a pretty useful tool in the form of a site named Beldum.org. It's a simple synergy calculator that shows how well Pokemon can cover eachother's weaknesses. I was looking to replace Bisharp and came up with nada, until I saw how RIDICULOUSLY WELL Chandelure and Cacturne synergized with eachother. It was like a match made in heaven. Figuring that I couldn't really act like I had "standards" when I was using a Gurdurr in UU, I figured I'd go ahead and try the thing out and see how I liked it. Despite no longer having a Scarfer, I was, and still am highly impressed with how good Cacturne is in UU with the right support. Gonna go bombard the Viability Thread to nominate this guy for C-Rank now. With that being said, these are my final guys for this team, and I'd like you to meet 'em.

A Closer Look...





I Got #Bars (Gurdurr) (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Drain Punch
- Payback
- Mach Punch- Bulk Up
  • Yeah, the reasons I wanted to use Gurdurr in UU were stated above in the intro. What I like about it is with this EV spread, it actually can tank even a Psychic or two and still proceed to do something back, thanks to the ridiculous bulk it has with Eviolite. And just as with the case of Bulk Up Scrafty, if the guy manages to get to +3, it's going to be ridiculously hard to take down. And thanks to priority STAB Mach Punch, it actually can kill weakened attackers after a couple boosts, even if they resist it. What amazes me is how this guy can sometimes actually be played midgame to a still-notable degree of success. I had started off using Payback, but got tired of all the Gligars, Crobats, and Zapdos that liked to impede Gurdurr's progress. It got so bad I tried out Ice Punch which still maintains respectable coverage, over Payback. But then soon as I did that everyone wanted to use Chandelure, Victini, Slowbro, and the like, which all walled me pretty badly. So I went back to Payback and refuse to change it again.
  • However it goes without saying that there's a reason Gurdurr hangs in the lower half of NU while Scrafty is up there in UU. While Gurdurr won't at least get its face bashed in by every Fighting-type in the tier (especially not after a few boosts), it instead bears a Psychic weakness that makes it pretty easy to be exploited and threatened in UU. It's also susceptible to Ghost-type attacks, meaning most Chandelure aren't going to be too scared of this guy when it enters. To make things worse, its only recovery is in Drain Punch. And Burn/Toxic (especially Toxic) status put a timer on Gurdurr's time in the game, though it at least buffs it up to ridiculous levels thanks to Guts.



Big Bird (Zapdos) @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Roost
  • Eh, unlike my last RMT, this Zapdos ain't nothing too unique or special. It was meant to KILL opposing Togekiss, Xatu, Crobat, Yanmega, etc. and do some respectable damage to most of the other guy's team as well as get rid of water-types. Offensive Zapdos does that better than any other variant in my opinion, though we're all free to debate on that. Everything about this Zapdos is straightforward...Hidden Power Grass is preferred because Rhyperior and Swampert are troublesome Pokemon.
  • My only beef is how this guy gets worn down by status at times. Nothing on my team in general likes Toxic, and neither does this Zapdos. It's one of the times where I wish I had a SubRoost variant, but like I said, its secondary job is to be doing as much damage as possible in general. Not only that but it's the fastest thing on my team so I really ain't got much room to optimize bulk when offensive Roserade wrecks my team enough as is.



David (Slowking) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 12 Atk / 72 Def / 176 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Dragon Tail
- Slack Off
  • Ah, good ol' King David. Like I said, this guy was given the crown over Mew on this team because my team had serious trouble taking on most Water-type moves, and Kingdra generally was able to get free kills/setup on the majority of my team back when I was running Mew and Heracross. I had Thunder Wave over where I have Psychic, and I came to realize Thunder Wave, despite allowing my slow bulky team to seize the speed advantage, didn't do much in the way of actually helping. Douchebags like Hitmontop could easily tank a Scald and didn't mind paralysis. I could have ran Toxic myself, but what about Roserade switch-ins? The main reason I chose Psychic over Psyshock was to hit most Hitmontop where it really hurts. Which isn't usually in their physical defense, provided they're using a standard Hitmontop set. Same deal with Qwilfish for that matter. Got sick of those dudes. Dragon Tail is my saving grace against Kingdra, the EVs are all the standard UU Utility Counter set's straight off Smogon. This guy's #1 purpose is to just get Kingdra outta my face as much as possible, and it does that by surviving a +1 Outrage from full HP, being able to survive a Specs Draco Meteor, and being able to always break Kingdra's subs with Dragon Tail and do a little bit of damage while shoving it out my face. It also surprisingly checks Nidoking/Queen rather nicely, which my team also had some big issues with.
  • My beef with the King is he's a liability when most physical attacks are involved. As you can see, I don't have any type of primary physical wall, but I use the synergy of my Pokemon to take on most physical hits. The great special defense Slowking offers has been awesome, but it kind of sucks when non-STAB Stone Edges are 2-3HKOing you with no type of boosts. It also hurts when Mienshao comes into play, as this guy can't take U-Turns to save his life, unlike his less-royal-much-more-physically-oriented Bro. But beggars can't be choosers, I find Kingdra, Nidoking/Queen, Qwilfish, and Hitmontop to be annoying to this team to the point I could care less about sponging some U-Turns poorly.



Rocksteady (Rhyperior) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Solid Rock
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 244 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Stealth Rock​

  • As commonly used as this guy is and as much as I sometimes wanna just bust out a nice PILOSWINE in UU, I figured I'd stick to my guns and just use Rhyperior, as so many people including myself have been doing it. Standard Tank set, also jacked straight off Smogon, and this is my main Electric check (okay mainly just SubCM Raikou, but because of this guy I've never lost to it! ...Until that moment when HP Grass, but that's beside the point). This also serves as my hazard setter and my backup Flying-type check, as it still can take on a number of the same Flying Pokemon Zapdos can, save for Giga Drain Yanmega (who actually scrapes this team up very very very badly). The moves are also standard and straightforward. I usually run Roar instead of Dragon Tail on this guy, but Flygon is another issue this team has. It's also still nice to whack Kingdra with it once in a while on a switch-in.
  • My beef with Rhyperior is...well, I dunno. He's actually pretty solid, no pun intended. I mean it's kind of annoying when physical hits do a ton to you, but more importantly that Grass-types just love this guy. Virizion, Shaymin, Roserade, are all pretty threatening Pokemon in general, and have no issue using this guy to setup.



Kurloz (Chandelure) (M) @ Flame Orb
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
- Trick
  • If you weren't aware, the nickname's actually a reference to Homestuck, haha. Anyway the funny thing about this Chandelure set...Aside from being a somewhat comical gimmick that takes intense prediction to work......Is the fact it actually works more often than not. When people see Chandelure, they assume two things: 1. It's SubSplit. 2. It's Choice Scarf/Specs. When they don't see any Life Orb damage, they immediately assume #2 and throw their Snorlax at it on a Fire Blast. Then the fun begins...Trick 'em a Flame Orb and just cripple one of Chandelure's main counters not named Porygon2 (it also kinda helps against P2 by ridding it of its eviolite for something else to kill it down the road). The EVs seem weird, as Timid Chandelure can be considered 'overkill' when you don't outspeed too many important threats that Modest can't. Especially when you consider this set could afford the extra bulk. The main deal behind that, I actually checked last month's simulator stats, the most common spread being run on Chandelure, believe it or not was 252 SpA / 252 Speed Timid, on...29% of them or something? Can't remember. But the main thing is in order to keep with metagame trends and not being outsped and OHKO'd on some BS, I figure I'd rather at least tie with the majority of opposing Chandelure so I don't have to flip my laptop in a fit of rage. Oh yeah, Energy Ball is mainly to slap around Rhyperior/Swampert switching in thinking that I am choiced. Kinda sucks how it doesn't OHKO Rhyperior if it's at full HP...Oh yeah and I guess Chandy serves as a useful spinblocker. People are smart these days and know to just spam Toxic, though. Oh well...
  • My beef with Chandelure, believe it or not, is the prediction associated with it. Once you lose that Flame Orb, good luck getting it back. It better COUNT when you use Trick, otherwise you'd be better off just bluffing the choice set. The only other thing I really hate is how Fire Blast has that lame miss chance, and how even with max investment, Offensive Roserade still outspeeds it. Did I mention Roserade twice by now? Lemme remind you it really messes this team up. It was to the point I considered running a Lum Berry set with Will-O-Wisp instead of Trick, just to take a Sleep Powder and hit back. Still am considering that set, but that's beside the point.



Cractus (Cacturne) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Seed Bomb
- Sucker Punch
- Focus Punch
- Substitute
  • Ah yes, the "other star" of this team...I really love this guy so much, I didn't think it'd be as effective in UU but my mind's been changed, and no amount of 1850+ people critiquing this RMT telling me it sucks and to get rid of it can convince me. The main kick to it, like I said up above, is the incredible synergy it has with Chandelure. Immune to water thanks to its ability. Resists Ground, Dark, and Ghost all in one. Meanwhile Chandelure can absorb Fire, is immune to Fighting, quad resists Bug moves, and resists Ice and Poison moves in itself. But that's not even my favorite part, it's the fact that unless your Slowbro is carrying Ice Beam, Fire Blast, Focus Blast, or the occasional Toxic, it WILL be walled flat by this thing. And in order to capitalize off how well it walls, it can set up Substitute and begin spamming Focus Punch and Sucker Punch (actually both moves have incredible functional synergy together, aside from the coverage). The EVs were to give Cacturne as much bulk and power as possible while also being able to outspeed Umbreon. It's not as pertinent to outspeed Umbreon when Foul Play can still jab you, but it's good if you're able to force Wish/Protect mindgames, as no one wants to let their Umbreon be at low HP. I guess it also helps outspeeding some of the slower, bulkier walls and tanks, like Swampert and Rhyperior. Cacturne's job is mainly to just shake up the opponent's team a bit and capitalize off its fantastic synergy. Sucker Punch is valuable priority especially since I have no dedicated revenge killer of any sort. I would like to try out an SD set at some point and I got one in mind, but right now I'm sticking to the awesomeness that is this Cacturne in specific.
  • My beef with Cacturne...well, it's slow, it's frail, sometimes prediction can be fatal for you if you mess up. Oh yeah, did I mention it's frail? Despite checking the ever loving crap out of most water-types, it can still be too slow to setup on some Pokemon, such as Blastoise, and end up taking a Toxic. Or even worse, taking a surprise coverage Ice Beam from something like an offensive Suicune assumed to be defensive. But like I said, the draw is in the synergy, which is where Cacturne finds itself getting a lot of free switches and damage with Sucker Punch, especially when behind a Substitute.

Threat List
I'm always kinda lazy with these, but I'll try to post what I can remember, long as I can remember why it's such a major issue of a Pokemon:

#1.

Did I ever tell you that Roserade was a big threat to my team? ...I didn't, really? I swear I did...Anyway, it's ONLY the offensive set. As you can see, no clerics are on my team to cure Sleep status with Heal Bell/Aromatherapy. No Pokemon have Sleep Talk to absorb Sleep status and hit back. Not only that, but it's able to actually destroy every single Pokemon on my team with the combination of Life Orb Leaf Storm and Sludge Bomb save for Zapdos and Chandelure. And the issue is neither of them can usually afford to be put to sleep, so a game can really go 5-6 just by this Pokemon itself if Zapdos isn't out before Roserade is.


#2.

It didn't hit me till earlier today when I battled someone in the 2000s using a Weavile against me. It's honestly an annoying Pokemon to prepare for and deal with...Literally my ONLY way to beat Weavile, is to slay it with a Mach/Drain Punch from Gurdurr. Easier said than done when Weavile's got teammates who can pressure Gurdurr to not even so much as raise its iron bar to Weavile. Outside of that, Weavile can KO Zapdos, Slowking, Cacturne, AND Chandelure with very great ease. I mean there's some frail examples if it runs Ice Shard over Ice Punch then obviously Zapdos and Rhyperior can take it on if they're healthy and it hasn't used Swords Dance, but...still a threat to watch out for. I guess Rhyperior's my backup check, but Ice Punch can smash it down if Rhyperior's been worn down by prior damage.


#3.

This guy's a douche, seriously. Zapdos is my most solid means of checking it. Slowking can actually live a Bug Buzz if it's healthy, but unless SR + Life Orb damage has taken its toll then it's most likely not gonna be dead after taking a Scald/Psychic. Gurdurr can live an Air Slash if it's healthy, but Payback doesn't do all too much...If Yanmega does Carry Giga Drain, then Rhyperior's on the menu. Chandelure can also take it on but Air Slash does a lot of damage on the switch-in, especially if you factor in Stealth Rock. And a potential HP Ground can be bad...Cacturne just gets sodomized by this guy and can't switch in on any of its moves (except maybe Giga Drain/HP Ground), but Sucker Punch is only doing so much if Yanmega hasn't felt the pain of Stealth Rock.


#4.

I don't know how I've been beating players using this (Well, Gurdurr, duh!) but Swords Dance Virizion, literally can bust my entire team to pieces with little to no restriction. Cacturne can't do much to it unless I Focus Punch on a predicted Swords Dance, but there's nothing stopping it from going for Close Combat before setting up. Not only that, but Stone Edge demolishes Zapdos and Chandelure, even without boosts as both are outsped. It literally takes resorting to hax for either of those two to get past it. My usual gameplan is to lure it into using Stone Edge, then switching in Gurdurr. Long as it hasn't set up, I actually have a fighting chance...

#5.
,

It's weird to lump two different Pokemon together on the same slot, but they're both actually dangerous and often have near-identical means of threatening my team. However I usually can get around choice scarfed variants of Mienshao and Heracross by playing around their moves. Luring them into Stone Edge and going to Gurdurr/Rhyperior, for instance. Or luring Megahorn and going to Gurdurr, Chandelure, or Zapdos. Or luring Close Combat and staying in with Rhyperior at full HP (Thanks to Solid Rock, it usually can live one) or going to Slowking, Zapdos, or Chandy in any case. Band Heracross is the same issue except everything hurts way more when it attacks. At least Zapdos outspeeds and can KO with Heat Wave. Mienshao's kind of the same deal if scarfed, but I've been seeing SubPass and Life Orb ones lately...they're tricky and require my full prediction to stand evenly against, mainly due to the fact they outspeed my entire team, have access to Regenerator to make weakening them to allow Cacturne to Sucker Punch a weakened one nearly futile. On top of that the ability for it to switch moves doesn't allow me to really play around it. Gurdurr's my only option in that case, and it usually can smash Mienshao with a Drain Punch followed by a Mach Punch.

Anyway, I know there's way more threats to my team but that's all I kind of can think of at the moment. If you see some, holler at me and let me know, maybe even pitch me a suggestion in the comments!

Conclusion

Anyway, that's it for the team! The focus was, and has always been to be a real fun team to use in UU, and to bring a breath of fresh air to the game for myself and whoever the heck else wants to use it. Figured I'd show it off since I know I'm not gonna try and make a serious alt to ladder with it (Not anytime soon, anyways)...Due to that I probably won't really apply most team suggestions and criticisms in favor of more standard things unless they're absolute total improvements that in no way shape or form involve removing Cacturne. But like I said, feel free to leave a comment, a rate, a whatever you wanna leave! Also...I'm gonna post a replay or two here of this team in action so you can get a feel of how it works.
Replays:
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/uu-45878573 Vs. A guy with a somewhat-standard team and a decent 1709 rating
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/uu-46191737 Vs. A guy who actually was seizing the upper hand throughout the match until the very end (though there was a bit of hax involved).

Exportable
Seriously, use this team! It's why I spent an hour typing all this crap up!
Make sure not to change the nicknames, though...So your opponent knows it's real.



I Got #Bars (Gurdurr) (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Drain Punch
- Payback
- Mach Punch
- Bulk Up

Big Bird (Zapdos) @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Roost

Kurloz (Chandelure) (M) @ Flame Orb
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
- Trick

Cractus (Cacturne) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Seed Bomb
- Sucker Punch
- Focus Punch
- Substitute

David (Slowking) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 12 Atk / 72 Def / 176 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Dragon Tail
- Slack Off

Rocksteady (Rhyperior) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Solid Rock
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 244 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Stealth Rock

 
Hi there,

Cool team I like the use of some nonstandard stuff. I think the easiest way to work around the threats you stated without messing up your lineup too much is to swap out your current Chandelure set for a Choice Scarf variant. While your set is a cool surprise for Snorlax / Pory2 / Umbreon, a faster revenge killer can take down every threat you listed, except for a Yanmega with a super effective Hidden Power at +1 Speed, or scarfed variants of Heracross and Mienshao locked into a super effective attack. Trick is still a cool move to disable Chandelure's counters if revenge killing is not needed, and with Rhyperior and Gurdurr on the team you should be able to escape Snorlax through double switching to a Pokemon that exploits it. Scarf Chandelure can also revenge kill some Pokemon that could get out of hand with the correct predicitions, such as Mixed Victini or Life Orb Zapdos. It also makes better use of the Timid nature, being able to outspeed everything up to but not including max speed Accelgor. Here is the set:

Chandelure @ Choice Scarf | Flash Fire
Timid | 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Fire Blast
-Shadow Ball
-Trick
-Energy Ball / Will o Wisp

Will o Wisp is interesting to cripple Snorlax without having to double switch around to avoid a powerful Pursuit, but Energy Ball is nice to clear out bulky waters.

Good luck with your team!
 
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nv

The Lost Age
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
Hey Brobat. Glad to see an RMT from you and am happy to see your use of non-UU tiered Pokes in UU. I am a huge supporter of that. Onto the rate...

1. You say your beef with Slowking is you dun have a "premier physical wall". Rhyperior can take some physical hits but not too much and is specially defensive anyways. I say replace Slowking with Suicune and give the standard Crocune set from Smogon. This allows you to still take the Water type moves you have trouble with and give you a great physical wall to take U-Turns from Mienshaos and being able to boosts its SDef stat with Calm Mind. Suicune can also take on Weavile, being resistant to one of its STAB and having a chance to ruin Weavile with a burn from Scald.


Suicune @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Calm Mind
- Scald


2. I second Friar's change to Scarf Chandy as even though I like the Trick Flame Orb set, the Scarfed Chandy set allows you to get the jump on Yanmega and Roserade, two threats to your team.

I love this team, and I hope you can complete your bUUcket list before Gen VI.
 

CoolStoryBrobat

The hero Smogon needs, but not the one it deserves
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Hi there,

Cool team I like the use of some nonstandard stuff. I think the easiest way to work around the threats you stated without messing up your lineup too much is to swap out your current Chandelure set for a Choice Scarf variant. While your set is a cool surprise for Snorlax / Pory2 / Umbreon, a faster revenge killer can take down every threat you listed, except for a Yanmega with a super effective Hidden Power at +1 Speed, or scarfed variants of Heracross and Mienshao locked into a super effective attack. Trick is still a cool move to disable Chandelure's counters if revenge killing is not needed, and with Rhyperior and Gurdurr on the team you should be able to escape Snorlax through double switching to a Pokemon that exploits it. Scarf Chandelure can also revenge kill some Pokemon that could get out of hand with the correct predicitions, such as Mixed Victini or Life Orb Zapdos. It also makes better use of the Timid nature, being able to outspeed everything up to but not including max speed Accelgor. Here is the set:

Chandelure @ Choice Scarf | Flash Fire
Timid | 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Fire Blast
-Shadow Ball
-Trick
-Energy Ball / Will o Wisp

Will o Wisp is interesting to cripple Snorlax without having to double switch around to avoid a powerful Pursuit, but Energy Ball is nice to clear out bulky waters.

Good luck with your team!
Hey, thanks for the rate, man. I highly appreciate it. I had considered running Scarf Chandelure, but I was kind of worried about the main scarfers who scare me that it can't outpace, Mienshao, and Heracross. But for general purposes and utility I'm still tempted to try it and I'll give it a brief go. Will-O-Wisp on Scarf is also a fun and interesting option, but the miss rate can be costly. I may just have to play around with double switches, but it's definitely worth a go, and I'll try it out! Once again, thank you very much.

Hey Brobat. Glad to see an RMT from you and am happy to see your use of non-UU tiered Pokes in UU. I am a huge supporter of that. Onto the rate...

1. You say your beef with Slowking is you dun have a "premier physical wall". Rhyperior can take some physical hits but not too much and is specially defensive anyways. I say replace Slowking with Suicune and give the standard Crocune set from Smogon. This allows you to still take the Water type moves you have trouble with and give you a great physical wall to take U-Turns from Mienshaos and being able to boosts its SDef stat with Calm Mind. Suicune can also take on Weavile, being resistant to one of its STAB and having a chance to ruin Weavile with a burn from Scald.


Suicune @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Calm Mind
- Scald


2. I second Friar's change to Scarf Chandy as even though I like the Trick Flame Orb set, the Scarfed Chandy set allows you to get the jump on Yanmega and Roserade, two threats to your team.

I love this team, and I hope you can complete your bUUcket list before Gen VI.
Thanks for the rate, I appreciate it! As many flaws as Slowking can have for my team, I don't think Suicune will patch up the entirety of them. While it has Sleep Talk to absorb Roserade's Sleep Powder, Offensive Roserade's Leaf Storm will still OHKO it afterward if I stay in, which isn't really worth it. It has some utility as a physical tank and setup sweeper which I do like, but it's not going to be saving this team from any Kingdra anytime soon, especially if I'm not packing Roar. Slowking also still helps with checking the Nidos, who are otherwise extremely hazardous to try mindgames switching into. Much as I hate to say, I'm gonna have to decline Suicune only because the few holes slowking has that get patched up, new ones Slowking handled get opened up for this team. But I do appreciate the time you took to rate this, man. Thank you very much!

EDIT: I've also had some thoughts, I almost literally forgot about this Pokemon's existence when considering this team, but I'm thinking of putting in RestTalk Milotic over Slowking, with a bit of a customized mixed defensive spread, for checking Weavile as well as Kingdra, while still being able to walk off with only a 3HKO from Nidoking's Thunderbolt at full HP.

And user Trainer Au had PM'd me on Showdown suggesting to replace Zapdos with Crobat to deal with the grass-type threats who really irritate this team, as I still have a primary bulky water check in Cacturne (though I don't like all the pressure being put on him). I'm also willing to test these ideas, I'm gonna be mixing and matching a lot of suggestions to see what all works and how well it all works. So once again, thank all of you for your suggestions as well as at least taking the time to view my RMT.
 
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Trainer Au

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What exactly is Adamant doing for you on Rhyperior when it's your main tank?
http://www.smogon.com/bw/pokemon/rhyperior

It does nothing really, just lets rhyp take hits and dish them out

0 Atk Rhyperior Rock Blast (3 hits) vs. 248 HP / 236+ Def Zapdos: 180-216 (46.99 - 56.39%) -- 12.89% chance to 2HKO

16+ Atk Rhyperior Rock Blast (3 hits) vs. 248 HP / 236+ Def Zapdos: 198-240 (51.69 - 62.66%) -- 97.27% chance to 2HKO

0 Atk Rhyperior Rock Blast (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 56 Def Togekiss: 216-258 (57.75 - 68.98%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

16+ Atk Rhyperior Rock Blast (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 56 Def Togekiss: 240-288 (64.17 - 77%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

You need less hits vs things, idk may save you one day.

EDIT: I guess those calcs are kinda irrelevant.

16+ Atk Rhyperior Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blastoise: 117-138 (32.32 - 38.12%) -- 99.83% chance to 3HKO after Stealth Rock

0 Atk Rhyperior Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blastoise: 103-123 (28.45 - 33.97%) -- 6.84% chance to 3HKO after Stealth Rock

-1 16+ Atk Rhyperior Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hitmontop: 81-96 (26.64 - 31.57%) -- possible 4HKO after Stealth Rock

-1 0 Atk Rhyperior Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hitmontop: 72-85 (23.68 - 27.96%) -- possible 4HKO after Stealth Rock

Lets you wear spinners down faster.
 
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CoolStoryBrobat

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What exactly is Adamant doing for you on Rhyperior when it's your main tank?
Yeah, basically what Trainer Au stated. I kinda ripped the standard Smogon spread, and it actually works pretty nicely. Emphasis on the fact Rhyperior's my main TANK, but more offensively oriented. Slowking (Milotic at this time) is the one who's all-out defensive and doesn't need to afford itself any offensive EVs outside of what's needed to deal damage to Kingdra.
 
I would say Rhyperior's main job should be taking hits since it has such bad typing in terms of special hits (4x weak to grass/water). I would personally run Careful, same as Moose.
 

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