Malley
Dominachu
Alright guys, I've tilted a bit and haven't played much Ubers recently, so I thought I may as well RMT the team I've been using. It's rough as rhino balls, so I figure some of you might enjoy sanding it down a bit.
The basic idea of it is to abuse the obscene imbalance in Ubers at the moment, by chucking the two most potent sweepers around (E-Killer and GeoXern) in with a SpDef P-don and seeing what happens. Nothing flashy - they're just so good that most teams can hardly do anything about it. Filling out the rest of the team are trapper M-Gengar, physical wall Yveltal, and my own bulky Latias who is my bae and basically the only reason I'm writing this thing. That should be all as far as introductions go, so I'll get on with the team.
The Backbone
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Lava Plume
- Earthquake
Set ripped straight off the Smogon dex. The thought process behind choosing it was quite simply 'why the fuck wouldn't I' - I don't know that this is its best set, but I needed a rocker and a GeoXern counter and this does both jobs pretty much perfectly. T-wave + Dragon Tail has got more common recently, since it can cripple Xern and has more utility otherwise, but for the moment I like Roar for getting rid of Sub Lugia as well, and only taking up one moveslot. This does of course lead me onto the next question - "What do those attacks actually do?"; the answer is, in practice, not much. I hardly ever go for an attack hoping to KO, but being able to spray around Lava Plume burn chances is pretty nice - especially against Mence - and EQ ensures that Mega Diancie doesn't shit shiny pink sprinkles all over me. I'm very much open to changing this guy, as long as the rocks and the Xern-countering remain.
The Win Condition
I swear I literally just now found out this thing changes colour.
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 104 HP / 32 Def / 252 SpA / 120 Spe
Modest Nature
- Geomancy
- Moonblast
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ground]
This fucker is insanely good. All it needs is a tiny bit of team support and it can come in on a free switch and go medieval on everybody's ass. After rocks, the only single things standing in the way of a Geomancy sweep (provided they're healthy) are Primal Groudon, a few support Arceuses, Aegislash and Klefki (and I guess whatever other situational steel you want to run), Ditto, and Focus Bands. In addition to these, it can be worn down by repeated sacs with priority, and status damage if you choose to set up on an Yveltal or Giratina, but by the time it goes down the rest of the team should be able to easily clear up. P-don and Ditto are the most annoying 'mons for it, but since P-don rarely has access to any recovery it can be played around easily enough, and Ditto I'll deal with in the threatlist.
For most of my laddering I ran HP Fire, which did pretty nicely against the odd Ferrothorn and Scizor you would see, but I've recently switched it out for HP Ground in order to almost always OHKO offensive P-dons after rocks, and do a nice 55.4 - 65.3% to SpDef variants, compared with 43.8 - 51.4% for Moonblast. I would also consider Focus Blast in that fourth slot, to OHKO Ferro and do exactly the same as HP Ground to P-don, but I am of course terrified by its accuracy, and have decent Ferro answers elsewhere.
The Broken Motherfucker
Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Destiny Bond
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
- Sludge Wave
Gengar do what Gengar do. Don't mean to reignite the ban argument, but I do think this thing should have gone, just because of how much it inhibits team building when it comes to sorting out your Xerneas checks. But of course, I haven't come to preach, and I'm going to abuse this thing as much as I can. Namely, by taking out those few GeoXern counters that exist, and death hugging the way clear for a sparkles-and-rainbows sweep. Not much needs saying about how it works - come in on a free switch, play some mind games with Taunt if need be, then either KO regularly or force a double-down with Destiny Bond and Shadow Tag. Doesn't see too much use, but it is invaluable in tackling Arceus formes and Ferrothorns in the normal manner, and Darkrais and Dittos as will be discussed in the threatlist. One annoyance is that it cannot trap on the turn it mega evolves, but I have become conscious of this recently and have started trying to go mega as early on in the game as I can.
The Auxiliary Win-Condition
Arceus @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Shadow Claw
It seems odd to call E-Killer an 'auxiliary' to anything, but the fact is that the metagame is far better set-up to deal with this guy than it is to deal with GeoXern. A weakness to burn limits him severely - and I'm hesitant to sacrifice my Silk Scarf in favour of a Lum - and bulky 'mons like Giratina, other Arceuses, Yveltal, and Mega-Mence cause problems. That said, E-Killer is still an incredible threat late-game, very often cleaning the bloody mess GeoXern leaves behind; in addition, Silk-Scarf-boosted Extremespeeds are fantastic for revenge killing, an area of the game that my team could otherwise struggle with. I have no other priority, so I will generally try to preserve E-Killer as late as possible.
This bulk means I beat physically defensive Yveltal one-on-one, and have a good chance against Mega-Mence even after the Intimidate drop, simply because of how often people misplay and try to set up. I can also take a +2 Moonblast 75% of the time, without rocks, although I cannot then KO back.
The Utility
Yveltal @ Leftovers
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Foul Play
- Roost
- Toxic
Physical-wall, stallbreaker, anti-sweeper Yveltal is possibly the most fun 'mon to use in all of Ubers, because it handles itself so damn well and does not give a demonic shit about your white-ass physical attacks. Even if it can't KO, as in the case of bulky E-Killer - see above - it can break a sweep provided my own E-Killer is around to finish up the job, and very often it can KO by itself and then heal up to a point at which it can come in again. Probably its proudest moment was against a Scarf Zekrom, threatening to sweep, when it took a Bolt Strike like a fucking boss and KOd back, effectively winning me the game from there.
Not actually relevant, but I wanted to say it because it made me feel warm inside.
It's also my main answer against stall, or just random stally Pokémon that get thrown into regular teams, and while this doesn't come up often it's important to have.
And finally,
The Primal Befouler, Whom I Adore Even If She Looks Kind Of Odd
Latias (F) @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 168 Def / 128 SpA / 140 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Roost
- Psyshock
- Draco Meteor
Yes, that is Psychic and Psyshock on the same Pokémon. Some mons are mixed. Get over it.
As I said at the beginning, Latias is the only one on this team who really feels like my own. I originally ran a more standard set with Defog in place of Psychic, but I was tired of P-don eating up my Dracos and forcing me to switch, so I went a-calcing to see what I could do. I also wanted to keep my ability to repeatedly switch into and force out Primal Shrek, to which Latias is almost a perfect counter barring hax.
Latias is EVd to 2HKO offensive P-don with Psychic, while also retaining the ability to KO with Draco on the second hit and ensure that Yveltal and Darkrai can't switch in freely on it. SpDef P-don can do nothing to me unless it is carrying Dragon Tail - which is admittedly annoying, but can be Roosted off later in the game - and Primal Ogre can't hope to KO me one-on-one before it goes down to my Psyshocks. I am also often able to catch Xerneas on the switch, as it tries to come in on a Draco and set up a Geomancy, and what is more Latias's bulk is such that I can take an unboosted Moonblast even after rocks, and do enough damage with a Psyshock to effectively cripple the Xerneas for the rest of the game. And, of course, there is the surprise factor, which while generally a terrible reason for running a set can come in handy nevertheless.
Lacking any fogger on this team is mildly annoying, but only mildly, as I will almost always get up my own rocks and there are very few spinners running around in Ubers. My only 'mon to really suffer from rocks is Yveltal, and so the chances are that the opposing team will want them gone just as much as I, and will be forced to Defog anyway without any action on my part.
Threatlist
Darkrai, especially lead: I have no sleep absorber on this team, and nothing naturally faster, so really all I can do here is lead off with E-Killer, break any sash, and either hope Dark Void misses (if it does, that's dandy) or bring in Latias on the Nasty Plot to take a +2 Dark Pulse like a god and KO with a Draco. This is obviously not an optimal solution, since it leaves me with one 'mon asleep and another seriously damaged, so I am still looking for a spot in the team for a sleep absorber. I have also considered putting Protect on Mega Gengar (although I'm not sure in place of what) to get up a guaranteed Mega Evolution and be able to then outspeed and KO (barring sash) with Focus Blast.
Ho-oh, if rocks aren't up: There's not much to be said here - Ho-oh is an absolute beast. Nothing on my team can avoid a 2HKO from offensive variants, so my best answer is generally to sac then force out with E-Killer. Thankfully, I have got better at dealing with the Mega-Diancie + Ho-oh core, and haven't had much trouble with this steroidal phoenix for a while.
Shit I just realised that's why Ho-oh gets Regenerator.
Ditto: For a team based around set-up sweeping, this was always going to be an annoying fucker to face. Thankfully it's not too easy a 'mon to use, so I can play around it easily enough against less experienced players, but against better players I really only have one way to tackle it, and it's not at all fun. I set-up with E-Killer early-game, provided there are no other E-Killer checks around, and lure it in with the juicy temptation of stealing my +2 Extremespeeds and sweeping through me with it. Note: Gengar must have already Mega-Evolved. If it doesn't come in, I can proceed to decimate (killing 0.6 of a Pokémon, fuck yeah) the opponent's team, so it is generally forced to. Once in, I have to let it KO my E-Killer, then bring in Mega-Gengar to trap it while being immune to the only move it can go for, and therefore still being fresh to take out any other GeoXern checks that might be around. If the opponent realises what I am doing too late, they cannot save themselves by going for an Earthquake, since my +2 Extremespeed will KO every time against their inferior HP, and I will be set.
And other set-up sweepers; GeoXern in particular: As I have said, P-don is my dedicated GeoXern counter, so if it is gone I am in trouble. I do not often need P-don for much else, so I can generally preserve it, but if it is gone or whittled then my options are limited to exactly what my own GeoXern can succumb to - status, priority with sacs, and horrific misplays. I can also keep up the offensive pressure to limit set-up opportunities, and while this generally works quite well, Yveltal and Latias are natural liabilities.
Conclusion
That's pretty much it. I wanted to go for #1, but schoolwork was piling up and I was too hungover to ever win. Any suggestions would be great, and if I can get a cleaner version of the team then I may be inspired to get back on the ladder and try to make my parents love me again.
Malley out.
The basic idea of it is to abuse the obscene imbalance in Ubers at the moment, by chucking the two most potent sweepers around (E-Killer and GeoXern) in with a SpDef P-don and seeing what happens. Nothing flashy - they're just so good that most teams can hardly do anything about it. Filling out the rest of the team are trapper M-Gengar, physical wall Yveltal, and my own bulky Latias who is my bae and basically the only reason I'm writing this thing. That should be all as far as introductions go, so I'll get on with the team.
The Backbone
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Lava Plume
- Earthquake
Set ripped straight off the Smogon dex. The thought process behind choosing it was quite simply 'why the fuck wouldn't I' - I don't know that this is its best set, but I needed a rocker and a GeoXern counter and this does both jobs pretty much perfectly. T-wave + Dragon Tail has got more common recently, since it can cripple Xern and has more utility otherwise, but for the moment I like Roar for getting rid of Sub Lugia as well, and only taking up one moveslot. This does of course lead me onto the next question - "What do those attacks actually do?"; the answer is, in practice, not much. I hardly ever go for an attack hoping to KO, but being able to spray around Lava Plume burn chances is pretty nice - especially against Mence - and EQ ensures that Mega Diancie doesn't shit shiny pink sprinkles all over me. I'm very much open to changing this guy, as long as the rocks and the Xern-countering remain.
The Win Condition
I swear I literally just now found out this thing changes colour.
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 104 HP / 32 Def / 252 SpA / 120 Spe
Modest Nature
- Geomancy
- Moonblast
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ground]
This fucker is insanely good. All it needs is a tiny bit of team support and it can come in on a free switch and go medieval on everybody's ass. After rocks, the only single things standing in the way of a Geomancy sweep (provided they're healthy) are Primal Groudon, a few support Arceuses, Aegislash and Klefki (and I guess whatever other situational steel you want to run), Ditto, and Focus Bands. In addition to these, it can be worn down by repeated sacs with priority, and status damage if you choose to set up on an Yveltal or Giratina, but by the time it goes down the rest of the team should be able to easily clear up. P-don and Ditto are the most annoying 'mons for it, but since P-don rarely has access to any recovery it can be played around easily enough, and Ditto I'll deal with in the threatlist.
For most of my laddering I ran HP Fire, which did pretty nicely against the odd Ferrothorn and Scizor you would see, but I've recently switched it out for HP Ground in order to almost always OHKO offensive P-dons after rocks, and do a nice 55.4 - 65.3% to SpDef variants, compared with 43.8 - 51.4% for Moonblast. I would also consider Focus Blast in that fourth slot, to OHKO Ferro and do exactly the same as HP Ground to P-don, but I am of course terrified by its accuracy, and have decent Ferro answers elsewhere.
The Broken Motherfucker
Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Destiny Bond
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
- Sludge Wave
Gengar do what Gengar do. Don't mean to reignite the ban argument, but I do think this thing should have gone, just because of how much it inhibits team building when it comes to sorting out your Xerneas checks. But of course, I haven't come to preach, and I'm going to abuse this thing as much as I can. Namely, by taking out those few GeoXern counters that exist, and death hugging the way clear for a sparkles-and-rainbows sweep. Not much needs saying about how it works - come in on a free switch, play some mind games with Taunt if need be, then either KO regularly or force a double-down with Destiny Bond and Shadow Tag. Doesn't see too much use, but it is invaluable in tackling Arceus formes and Ferrothorns in the normal manner, and Darkrais and Dittos as will be discussed in the threatlist. One annoyance is that it cannot trap on the turn it mega evolves, but I have become conscious of this recently and have started trying to go mega as early on in the game as I can.
The Auxiliary Win-Condition
Arceus @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Shadow Claw
It seems odd to call E-Killer an 'auxiliary' to anything, but the fact is that the metagame is far better set-up to deal with this guy than it is to deal with GeoXern. A weakness to burn limits him severely - and I'm hesitant to sacrifice my Silk Scarf in favour of a Lum - and bulky 'mons like Giratina, other Arceuses, Yveltal, and Mega-Mence cause problems. That said, E-Killer is still an incredible threat late-game, very often cleaning the bloody mess GeoXern leaves behind; in addition, Silk-Scarf-boosted Extremespeeds are fantastic for revenge killing, an area of the game that my team could otherwise struggle with. I have no other priority, so I will generally try to preserve E-Killer as late as possible.
This bulk means I beat physically defensive Yveltal one-on-one, and have a good chance against Mega-Mence even after the Intimidate drop, simply because of how often people misplay and try to set up. I can also take a +2 Moonblast 75% of the time, without rocks, although I cannot then KO back.
The Utility
Yveltal @ Leftovers
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Foul Play
- Roost
- Toxic
Physical-wall, stallbreaker, anti-sweeper Yveltal is possibly the most fun 'mon to use in all of Ubers, because it handles itself so damn well and does not give a demonic shit about your white-ass physical attacks. Even if it can't KO, as in the case of bulky E-Killer - see above - it can break a sweep provided my own E-Killer is around to finish up the job, and very often it can KO by itself and then heal up to a point at which it can come in again. Probably its proudest moment was against a Scarf Zekrom, threatening to sweep, when it took a Bolt Strike like a fucking boss and KOd back, effectively winning me the game from there.
Not actually relevant, but I wanted to say it because it made me feel warm inside.
It's also my main answer against stall, or just random stally Pokémon that get thrown into regular teams, and while this doesn't come up often it's important to have.
And finally,
The Primal Befouler, Whom I Adore Even If She Looks Kind Of Odd
Latias (F) @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 168 Def / 128 SpA / 140 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Roost
- Psyshock
- Draco Meteor
Yes, that is Psychic and Psyshock on the same Pokémon. Some mons are mixed. Get over it.
As I said at the beginning, Latias is the only one on this team who really feels like my own. I originally ran a more standard set with Defog in place of Psychic, but I was tired of P-don eating up my Dracos and forcing me to switch, so I went a-calcing to see what I could do. I also wanted to keep my ability to repeatedly switch into and force out Primal Shrek, to which Latias is almost a perfect counter barring hax.
Latias is EVd to 2HKO offensive P-don with Psychic, while also retaining the ability to KO with Draco on the second hit and ensure that Yveltal and Darkrai can't switch in freely on it. SpDef P-don can do nothing to me unless it is carrying Dragon Tail - which is admittedly annoying, but can be Roosted off later in the game - and Primal Ogre can't hope to KO me one-on-one before it goes down to my Psyshocks. I am also often able to catch Xerneas on the switch, as it tries to come in on a Draco and set up a Geomancy, and what is more Latias's bulk is such that I can take an unboosted Moonblast even after rocks, and do enough damage with a Psyshock to effectively cripple the Xerneas for the rest of the game. And, of course, there is the surprise factor, which while generally a terrible reason for running a set can come in handy nevertheless.
Lacking any fogger on this team is mildly annoying, but only mildly, as I will almost always get up my own rocks and there are very few spinners running around in Ubers. My only 'mon to really suffer from rocks is Yveltal, and so the chances are that the opposing team will want them gone just as much as I, and will be forced to Defog anyway without any action on my part.
Threatlist
Darkrai, especially lead: I have no sleep absorber on this team, and nothing naturally faster, so really all I can do here is lead off with E-Killer, break any sash, and either hope Dark Void misses (if it does, that's dandy) or bring in Latias on the Nasty Plot to take a +2 Dark Pulse like a god and KO with a Draco. This is obviously not an optimal solution, since it leaves me with one 'mon asleep and another seriously damaged, so I am still looking for a spot in the team for a sleep absorber. I have also considered putting Protect on Mega Gengar (although I'm not sure in place of what) to get up a guaranteed Mega Evolution and be able to then outspeed and KO (barring sash) with Focus Blast.
Ho-oh, if rocks aren't up: There's not much to be said here - Ho-oh is an absolute beast. Nothing on my team can avoid a 2HKO from offensive variants, so my best answer is generally to sac then force out with E-Killer. Thankfully, I have got better at dealing with the Mega-Diancie + Ho-oh core, and haven't had much trouble with this steroidal phoenix for a while.
Shit I just realised that's why Ho-oh gets Regenerator.
Ditto: For a team based around set-up sweeping, this was always going to be an annoying fucker to face. Thankfully it's not too easy a 'mon to use, so I can play around it easily enough against less experienced players, but against better players I really only have one way to tackle it, and it's not at all fun. I set-up with E-Killer early-game, provided there are no other E-Killer checks around, and lure it in with the juicy temptation of stealing my +2 Extremespeeds and sweeping through me with it. Note: Gengar must have already Mega-Evolved. If it doesn't come in, I can proceed to decimate (killing 0.6 of a Pokémon, fuck yeah) the opponent's team, so it is generally forced to. Once in, I have to let it KO my E-Killer, then bring in Mega-Gengar to trap it while being immune to the only move it can go for, and therefore still being fresh to take out any other GeoXern checks that might be around. If the opponent realises what I am doing too late, they cannot save themselves by going for an Earthquake, since my +2 Extremespeed will KO every time against their inferior HP, and I will be set.
And other set-up sweepers; GeoXern in particular: As I have said, P-don is my dedicated GeoXern counter, so if it is gone I am in trouble. I do not often need P-don for much else, so I can generally preserve it, but if it is gone or whittled then my options are limited to exactly what my own GeoXern can succumb to - status, priority with sacs, and horrific misplays. I can also keep up the offensive pressure to limit set-up opportunities, and while this generally works quite well, Yveltal and Latias are natural liabilities.
Conclusion
That's pretty much it. I wanted to go for #1, but schoolwork was piling up and I was too hungover to ever win. Any suggestions would be great, and if I can get a cleaner version of the team then I may be inspired to get back on the ladder and try to make my parents love me again.
Malley out.
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