The Lapras Corollary - ADV UU

[Umby]

I've been getting back into the game recently, and decided to pull up my best (or at least my favorite) UU team from the grave. Thought I might as well post it here so I wouldn't have to search so hard for it again. ._.

The title is misleading, so let it be known that Lapras is not actually in this team, and has a more indirect influence:

[18:11] Umby: Watch me end up creating a team that works because it's all blue.
[18:12] Jameson: Blue and purple are the colors of Pokemon victory.
[18:12] Jameson: See: Lapras.
[18:12] Umby: This is true.
[18:12] Umby: Needs to be a Corollary or something.
[18:12] Umby: Possibly a law.
[18:14] Jameson: Pokemon Corollary No. 34: A Pokemon team whose team member's colors is any close variant of cyan has its chance of victory increased by an exponential amount based on the number of Pokemon sharing this color variant.
[18:15] Umby: Also known as: The Lapras Corollary

What started as an inside joke from way back spurred me to make this team on a whim when I was in a team building slump, and to my surprise it turned out to be pretty solid when I started using it. The premise is that all of the Pokemon here are blue/violet in either their regular or shiny forms. I'm pretty sure what I've pulled here was my first draft and some things might have changed during playtesting, but let me shut up.

Omastar (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 236 HP / 132 Def / 140 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Spikes / Ice Beam
- Rain Dance
- Surf

Omastar's popular role as a Spiker means that a lot of people would end up sleeping on its flagship Rain Dance set. However, Omastar can still serve an offensive role from a defensive position, which is what I aimed for here. I originally had Ice Beam to make it even more of an offensive threat with a BP from Lunatone, but I have no *real* means (without changing certain moves) to handle Shedinja without Spikes.

Muk (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sticky Hold
EVs: 200 HP / 128 Def / 180 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Curse
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Sludge Bomb

Muk's another lady that people tend to sleep on. Steel and Ground types aren't the most common in the metagame (just gotta watch out for Nidoking and Gligar), giving it a decent chance to get at least one Curse up, effectively making it a pretty decent threat. It's mostly meant to sit in as a counter to the Grass types that otherwise overrun the rest of the team, but its prowess as a special tank allows it to back up Lanturn and Quagsire as a special defensive core.

Lunatone @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 224 HP / 96 SAtk / 188 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Hidden Power [Dark]
- Baton Pass / Hypnosis
- Psychic

While being a shoddy back up to handling Kangaskhan alongside Omastar, it's also a key component to the team in that it a)is my second way of dealing with Shedinja (provided the opponent is somehow completely unaware that I'm carrying HP Dark) and b)provides an offensive boost to to Lanturn, Omastar, and of course itself. Quagsire appreciates the increased Ice Beam damage as well, but it's not as important. HP Dark is pretty important for screwing over Hypno and Grumpig as well, without risking damage or status to Pinsir in the process. Hypnosis is an option to help against opposing CMers, like Grumpig and Slowking (watch out for Sleep Talk) to help it set up easier, but often the team is lacking too much in offense to not just pass along the boosts.

Pinsir (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 188 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bulk Up / Swords Dance
- Double-Edge / Rock Slide / Frustration
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Bug]

One of the top threats in ADV UU, if standards have remained consistent this whole time. I'm pretty sure I switched to Swords Dance and a slightly different spread at some point, but Bulk Up works fine too, if you want to take an HP Flying from Gligar with confidence. The second slot is normally Double-Edge for me, but I've listed Rock Slide due to the aforementioned Shedinja problems, and Frustration as an alternative to Double-Edge's recoil damage. So why use a Normal type move over Rock Slide? Note that Pinsir's strongest move on neutral without D-E/Frustration/Return is Earthquake. It's far more optimal to have Double-Edge for more damage without being resisted by Fearow on a good prediction. In that, it *generally* negates have to predict it switching in at all. Aside from that, it just does a lot more to Gligar than Rock Slide, who is probably the most viable Pinsir counter.

Lanturn (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 100 HP / 208 SAtk / 128 SDef / 72 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt

Paralysis support, co-special tank, and another defensive-offensive threat with a CM pass or two.

Quagsire (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 104 Def / 88 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Last, but not least, my Sleep Talker. With no cleric and nothing running Lum Berry/Insomnia, I felt it important for at least one member of the team to be able to take status. It's also an important go-to for Nidoking, who can Megahorn Lunatone and Earthquake everyone else except for Pinsir. It also helps out with Gligar if I need to save Pinsir's health for late game or if Lunatone runs into the rare Iron Tail Gligar. For the most part, it just sits there looking pretty until something comes in that the team can't normally handle or that Pinsir doesn't want to take damage from just yet.

Aside from Shedinja (because you don't run Shedinja without a Spinner), the team suffers at the hands of Kangaskhan (but what doesn't?) without sacrificing something in the process. It also has somewhat of a reliance on Spikes and Lunatone's CM Passing to do significant damage, meaning I have to be careful on how I use their resources. Other than that, it can get bogged down by most heavy physical offenses, such as that from Granbull, but it's overall solid and can strike back with strong offenses of its own, even at the cost of one Pokemon to do the job.

Yeah, that's it.

 

[Triangles]

I've recently taken up ADV UU and this team looks excellent - I can tell you one thing for sure, you have no issues whatsoever with Druidcruel. I have very few suggestions and weaknesses to mention that you haven't mentioned yourself to input aside from the fact that once Muk is gone or severely weakened and you're a bit weakened in general, you may have issues with Sunnybeam Viloplumes (although the cleric is more common these days I tend to find), due to your four Grass weaknesses (2 double weaks) and the fact that one of your Grass resists (Pinsir) can't deal with a sun-boosted HP Fire - therefore I'd suggest that you add a Flareon of some ilk to tis team, perhaps over Lanturn, in that as well as covering Viloplumes, it can act as another reciever of Calm Minds from Lunatone, (and beat Sheddy, unlike Lanturn), and if a specially defensive set is utilised, it can pass Wishes along to support your mostly recoveryless team. Although perhaps if Flareon is used it leaves you more open to Electrics such as Buzz and Manectric if they carry HP Grass (Quaggy gets nailed). This is a really good team and I found it difficult to find flaw, and my suggestions are really nitpicks and it's perfectly OK if they are roundly ignored. Btw, can I nick your Quagsire EV spread if you don't mind?

 

[shrapn3l]

in addition to vileplume, flareon or CAMERUPT could give you tons of shit with mixed sets. i could see opposing pinsirs giving you trouble, and nidoking. cm misdreavus seems like it could be a pain. feraligatr seems like your worst nightmare. i realize it's a bit hard to keep things like offensive variety and synergy in mind when you're going for monocolor, but i think your pokemon, though individually some of the best pokemon in the tier, overlap in their offensive and defensive roles a bit too much, and the team is ultimately a bit too passive, and not focused. you haven't really committed enough to an offensive or defensive goal. a lot of the team is quite slow and nothing can sweep without setup. meanwhile, all of your tanks are trying to be sweepers and you don't have much support for them. you know quagsire is dead weight offensively. you know lanturn isn't scary without a cm. you know muk isn't sticking around too long to do additional damage before it has to explode. omastar is horrifying with a cm, but without one it's not scary enough offensively nor is it lasting long enough for all it has to accomplish defensively i think. pinsir is immense if you get the swords dance in at the right time. against certain threats like electabuzz or tentacruel this team might seem impenetrable, but for all of the tanks it has it sure has a lot of weaknesses. without wish support or rest here and there your tanks probably won't do enough offensively or defensively to really be worth it.

i would think about using restalk muk, or maybe (shiny!) hypno over either lanturn or lunatone depending on the role you want it to play (cm or support) or where you want the team to go; maybe gligar over quagsire. you could use sharpedo, manectric (even though it sux) or choice band granbull somewhere for some immediate offense, or use cb (shiny) aggron over omastar for offense, and stuff qwilfish somewhere else (over lanturn?) if you want to keep the spikes. sableye would block spin and make shedinja's life harder as well as shut down kangaskhan. :x i really think lanturn or quagsire or both need to go for something that is going to provide support and/or pick up the slack though. with cursetalk muk can handle electric types and tentacruel on his own, and then you have much more room for offensive and defensive variety.