ORAS UU You're gonna need a bigger boat... (M-Pedo Hazard offense, peaked #4)

[Hogg]

You're gonna need a bigger boat...
Hazard stacking with Mega-Pedo

This was a team originally put together for the UU Dark Horse Project. For those unfamiliar, participants are given a month to ladder with teams using members that are under 4% usage. The idea is to encourage experiment and discussion with pokemon used less frequently in any given tier.

This was the first time that the ORAS megas were allowed, and I had been wanting to build a Mega-Sharpedo team for a while. With Sharpedo on the DH list, I knew that this was my chance. I built up a hazard-stacking core designed to combat the dangerous megas in the tier, fiddled with the team a bit, and jumped in with both feet. I was a little worried how hazard-stacking would do without Sableye, but I decided it was worth a shot.

The end result was an incredibly fun team, and one that did consistently well on the ladder. In the week and a half I laddered with the team, I made it from the bottom of the ladder up to the top 10, peaking at #4 with an ELO of 1661.

Proof of Peak

THE TEAM

Sharpedo @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Ice Fang

Can't have a Mega-Pedo team without Mega-Pedo! After a couple of weeks of playing with the shark, I can safely say that Mega-Sharpedo has a serious presence in UU. It can 2HKO a huge portion of the tier, and with smart playing is nearly impossible to revenge kill. While the power drop on Waterfall compared to LO Sharpedo is disappointing, being able to spam the most powerful Crunch in UU is fantastic. More importantly, the defensive boost that the shark gets on evolving means it is no longer vulnerable to priority. Entei's CB Extremespeed, for example, only deals 62-73%, meaning Sharp can take two rounds of rocks damage and still not worry about being RK'd by Entei.

Of course, Sharpedo isn't the easiest thing to play in the world. It is easy to wear down, and with no way to boost its attack, there are a lot of threats it 2HKOs at best. It relies on Adamant for power, which means that it loses out to most common scarfers, like Hydreigon or Jirachi or Mienshao, unless you can arrange two boosts. Evolving it too early only to be forced out means you give up your Speed advantage. On the other hand, keeping it on deck for so long that you never use it means you might as well have an empty spot on your team.

So, the rest of the team is set up to make sure Sharpedo can succeed, as much as possible. More on that later.

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Roar

I needed a Stealth Rocker, I needed a defensive backbone for my team, and I needed to make sure I didn't get swept by CroCune. Swampert fit the bill perfectly. Fully defensive, it can take hits all day while setting rocks or Roaring away set-up sweepers who think they can get cute. EQ is his primary attack, with Scald for the burn chance mostly.

EVs are fairly straightforward - max defense, with some Speed creep to outspeed Empoleon and smack it with EQ before it can Defog. That's the main reason for running Impish here, despite it lowering my damage with Scald - I really can't afford to lose out against Empoleon.

Froslass (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Icy Wind
- Destiny Bond

(Word of advice: if using Google Image Search on Froslass at work, SafeSearch ON.)

Froslass is the primary hazard setter for the team and my most common lead. She sets spikes, prevents opposing hazards or defogs with Taunt, slows down Scarfed leads or faster Taunters with Icy Wind, and forces switches or takes out threats with DBond. Fairly simple. I went with Icy Wind over Shadow Ball or IB to better deal with leads like Scarfshao or Azelf. Usually the threat of DBond is enough that once they're slowed down, you can get a free switch and pull off a turn of Spikes.

EVs are pretty straightforward - I'm not hurting anybody too bad with Icy Wind regardless of investment, so EVs go into HP instead of SpA to keep Froslass going longer.

Playing Froslass is always interesting and depends a lot on the Team Preview. If the opponent is relying on a rapid spinner to get rid of hazards, you can usually play her pretty aggressively, as long as you don't need her to check something down the road. Slow defoggers like Empoleon or Gligar are also usually not too hard to play around, although you might want to preserve yourself for later. Fast defoggers, in particular Crobat, mean you've got to play around them a bit, usually dropping one layer to lure Bat out and switching to something that can burn him or hit him hard.

Huuuugggs!

Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 192 HP / 64 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball

TReuni is my other major offensive threat besides Shark. The combination of impressive bulk, surprising power and the ability to absolutely shit all over offensive teams makes this a hugely important team member. To put things in perspective, LO Reuniclus hits as hard as Modest Megazam (slightly harder, actually). This thing is also hardy enough to survive hits such as Fake Out + Return from M-Lopunny or Knock Off from M-Gallade, OHKOing in return (Gallade requires some prior damage, but Shadow Ball always OHKOs if rocks and one layer of Spikes are down). In addition, this can chase out threats like Tentacruel and Crobat, who will rarely risk spinning or defogging since it might mean getting OHKO'd by Psyshock for their troubles.

I'll be interested to see if TReuni stays quite as good with Lop and Gallade gone, since having the ability to use Trick Room to screw them over was a big part of his appeal, but it's still so fantastic against offense in general that I intend to keep it. Even if I don't use TR to sweep, it's great support for Machamp, Spiritomb and Swampert.

Machamp @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Heavy Slam
- Bullet Punch

Guts Machamp, because No Guard is for chumps. Alongside Reuniclus, this is my other major status absorber, and is my main answer to strong Special Attackers not named Alakazam. Heavy Slam and Bullet Punch may seem a bit redundant, but I found I wasn't using Ice Punch or Stone Edge except when I wanted to hit Crobat on the switch... and even then, catching them with Knock Off and getting the truck out of there was usually the better option. Heavy Slam instead gave me a rock solid answer to Florges, OHKOing offensive versions and dealing as much as 96% to defensive versions. Bullet Punch was there for much needed priority and chip damage when TR wasn't up.

Anyhow, other than Guts and Heavy Slam, this is pretty standard. EVs give him enough to outspeed Vaporeon and Umbreon, two annoyances that Machamp loves dealing with. Machamp's job is to switch into Scalds like there's no tomorrow, put a damper on Hydreigon, and just generally knock the opposing team around a bit to keep them on the defensive. Close Combat just makes Machamp so much more of a threat than Dynamicpunch, and it's still pretty amazing how often people assume Machamp will be No Guard and try to Wisp him.

There's a lot of synergy here with Reuniclus as well - while Machamp is a bit fast for a dedicated TR sweeper, he's still slow enough to work, and he can switch into Dark attacks aimed at Reuniclus and hit back hard as all hell.

Spiritomb @ Dread Plate
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt

Spiritomb was one of the later additions to the team, but it has become such an important member. Basically, I needed something that could spinblock, didn't immediately die when it switched into Mega-Blast's Dark Pulse, and could give me an additional check to Mega-Gallade. (Sharpedo can check Gallade, but it can force me to evolve earlier than I would otherwise want to.) Spiritomb could do all of these things, and with an offensive set, could also handily respond to other big threats. In particular, Sucker Punch and Pursuit manage to take out a lot of fast offensive threats before they can touch me. Sucker Punch and Pursuit both OHKO fully healthy Mega-Bee, so I can usually guarantee the Bee's destruction right from the get-go. It also OHKOs Darm after rocks damage, does 80-95% to Scarfrachi, and even takes a solid 40% off of Mienshao. This also gives me a fantastic answer to Alakazams of all stripes.

Anyhow, the moves are fairly straightforward. Sucker Punch is for priority, and is great with Infiltrator. Pursuit is also really important, as not only does it allow me to trap threats like Beedrill or Starmie, it also lets me weaken spinners as they switch out, so that when they switch back in they are in KO range from Sharpedo. WoW and Taunt are necessary to beat Forry one on one without getting Spikes set up all over me, and can pressure set-up 'mons like Suicune, who think they can CM up and Rest off Wisp damage - my usual tactic against Suicune is to burn it, Taunt it and switch off to Machamp. WoW is also how this thing beats SubCoil Zygarde, who is otherwise a major pain in the ass. Infiltrator Wisp is just hugely important.

Max Attack and Dread Plate are necessary to guarantee the OHKO on Beedrill. I could use Life Orb, but the extra damage still doesn't quite net me the OHKO on Scarfrachi, and the LO damage hurts Spiritomb's bulk too much. 44 Speed EVs put it just ahead of uninvested Rhyperior to catch with a burn. I used to have 84, which meant I also beat Granbull and Mega-Ampharos, but it wasn't actually particularly useful, so I moved the EVs into HP for improved bulk.

Closing Thoughts

So, I really enjoyed this team. It has some obvious problems - three Fairy weaknesses with no resists, for example - but by playing aggressively most of these were not insurmountable. (On the other hand, Granbull and Mega-Audino just demolish this team. Like, don't even try.) While it was originally intended to showcase some dark horses, it has instead demonstrated to me that hazard offense is still totally feasible after Sableye's departure, even if it is less reliable. It has also shown the strength of partial TR teams against offense, and the general power of Mega-Sharpedo.

I'm curious to see how the team will fare now that Gallade and Lopunny are banished to the bowels of BL. Part of its strength is that it actually did consistently well against Lop and Gallade teams, who tended to rely on those threats to carry their offense, and who consistently lost to Sharpedo once they had taken some prior damage. The banning of those two fighting threats means I also expect an upsurge in Machamp and Mienshao usage, and while neither of those are huge problems for the team, they require some careful playing around - Machamp is bulky enough to only take ~60% from Pedo's Waterfall, meaning hazards alone won't net me the OHKO, while Mienshao is often scarfed and requires two Speed Boosts to bypass.

In particular I was impressed with Spiritomb and Reuniclus, both of whom proved to be very viable in UU right now. Spiritomb is another whose usage might decline now that he doesn't need to check Gallade, but on the other hand the departure of Lop means his insanely good typing gets a little bit better.

I will probably tinker with this team to adapt it to the new metagame, and I'd love some thoughts on how to do so.

Thanks for reading, all!

Replays

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-192423573
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-192148849
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-192168316
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-192175102
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-192999356
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-192989215
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-192962661
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-192796610
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-193639094
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-193620288
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-193625131

Importable

Sharpedo @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Ice Fang

Machamp @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Heavy Slam
- Bullet Punch

Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 192 HP / 64 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball

Froslass (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Icy Wind
- Destiny Bond

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Roar

Spiritomb @ Dread Plate
Ability: Infiltrator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt

 

[Hogg]

(Reserving for threatlist and additional comments....)

 

[HT]

Hey Hogg, really solid team and congrats on the peak! I love your take on Froslass offense especially since Sableye has left the tier.

I really think your team could benefit from a fast taunter better ensure that your hazards stay on the field, but I can't really find a way to fit one without changing the general make up of your team. Don't really have much to say other than that to improve your team besides possibly running 164 Speed Machamp which allows you to outpace min speed Florges. This is a pretty large amount of speed I know, but as you said fairies are a pretty big threat to this team and outspeeding one of the more common defensive fairies in the tier is worth the bit of bulk that you're gonna lose.

Pretty much all I have to say haha, congrats again, team's really creative!

 

[Lannister's Debt]

i tried this team and it's really funny to play with it, other than being really good. The only thing i see it really struggles with is bulky waters, since this team doesnt really have a reliably way of killing them

 

[HammerHeadKitty]

Since mega gallade is gone, I might advise running Flash Cannon on reunclius because like you said, youre really weak to fairy, and it'll be able to tank fairy hits most likely. just saying it might be more useful than shadow ball in the current meta game.



Also, maybe you shouldn't call the team "Mega-Pedo" xD

 

[Hogg]

i tried this team and it's really funny to play with it, other than being really good. The only thing i see it really struggles with is bulky waters, since this team doesnt really have a reliably way of killing them

Yeah, bulky waters are a pain. Machamp is my main answer - he switches in to Scalds like nobody's business, and if he happens to catch a burn, he even 2HKOs Suicune. Other than that, Sharpedo 2HKOs any bulky water not named Suicune if there are some hazards down, although you don't want to be too reckless and catch a Scald burn.

Against Suicune, just play really aggressively and force it to rest. Once you force it to rest, it's usually pretty easy to take care of, since half the team (Sharpedo, Machamp and sorta Reuniclus) can 3HKO it.

Since mega gallade is gone, I might advise running Flash Cannon on reunclius because like you said, youre really weak to fairy, and it'll be able to tank fairy hits most likely. just saying it might be more useful than shadow ball in the current meta game.

Hmm. Interesting idea, although it means that psychic types (especially Celebi/Jirachi) wall Reuniclus pretty well. Not sure I like losing the coverage on Reuniclus, but it might be worth trying out.

Don't really have much to say other than that to improve your team besides possibly running 164 Speed Machamp which allows you to outpace min speed Florges.

I'll have to crunch the numbers to see how Machamp holds up against Hydreigon with the reduced HP, but if it doesn't sacrifice too much bulk, that's actually a really good idea. I generally just tank a Moonblast (even 252+ Moonblast doesn't OHKO) and hit back with Heavy Slam, but running a faster Machamp might be a better option. I'll play with it.

Thanks for the feedback, all!

 

[pi3rate]

reallly fucking solid team bro nice mons and nice colors too. I just had a hard time dealing with roserade and suicune. The only thing that I would see beating both is raikou but I dont see it benefitting your team one bit. Thats all i gotta say nice team.

 

[Hogg]

reallly fucking solid team bro nice mons and nice colors too. I just had a hard time dealing with roserade and suicune. The only thing that I would see beating both is raikou but I dont see it benefitting your team one bit. Thats all i gotta say nice team.

Heh, glad someone noticed the colors. It was totally unintentional, but when I realized the shinies for Reuni and Spiritomb were blue, I was pretty happy to have an all blue team.

You could theoretically drop Machamp for AV Raikou, but you'd lose a lot of synergy that way. The inability to absorb status, the lack of a dark resist and the lack of Knock Off are all problematic.

Another point that I missed in the OP is that it's not always wise to sac Froslass, since Taunt + Dbond can go a long way toward neutralizing problems like Suicune.

 

[Waiv]

good shit hogg

 

[pi3rate]

alright im back after laddering with this team and one thing that can beat this entire team would be physically defensive av tangrowth yes this thing takes like 32% from sharpedos ice fang and takes 23% from reuniclis psyshock one of the annoyances to the which is growth but their since too much changes I think would benefit the team. Id only thought of Yanmega over Reuniclus since the jobs are kinda same in a way because room is kinda like speed boost idk. Yanmega is definately a mon that could benifit this mon over reuniclis. Other than that I think is the best team I've used so far in the UU tier.

TEAM

Hide

Yanmega @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Air Slash
- Bug Buzz
- Giga Drain/HP Fire
- Protect

 

[Celsius]

Hi Hogg ,
This is a very solid team you have here , no doubt about it .
As Lannister's Debt said the team have hard time against bulky waters , but yeah you've got a way to deal with them with Machamp , so it is nice !

Let's talk about fairies , i think you should run Jirachi over Reuniclus :

Jirachi @ Expert Belt
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 188 Atk / 172 SpA / 148 Spe
Naive Nature
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch
- Psychic
- Energy Ball

Benefits :

• Resist to Dragon , Fairy , Grass
• Can weaken Bulky Water Mons
• Can work as a lure
• Helps the team to deal with Fairies

Losses :

• Hit less harder than Reuniclus
• TR synergy with Machamp
• Lategame Cleaner , but Sharpedo has this role

I think you could try this . But yeah this is just an option , i'ill try it myself on the ladder .
That's all i had to say , very good job man ! I definitly love the dual ghost :).

 

[Hogg]

alright im back after laddering with this team and one thing that can beat this entire team would be physically defensive av tangrowth yes this thing takes like 32% from sharpedos ice fang and takes 23% from reuniclis psyshock one of the annoyances to the which is growth but their since too much changes I think would benefit the team. Id only thought of Yanmega over Reuniclus since the jobs are kinda same in a way because room is kinda like speed boost idk. Yanmega is definately a mon that could benifit this mon over reuniclis. Other than that I think is the best team I've used so far in the UU tier.

Hi Hogg ,
This is a very solid team you have here , no doubt abut it .
As Lannister's Debt said the team have hard time against bulky waters , but yeah you've got a way to deal with them with Machamp , so it is nice !

Let's talk about fairies , i think you should run Jirachi over Reuniclus :

Thanks for the feedback, all.

Anyhow, yeah, the team definitely needs some updates to work properly in this meta. This was designed for the Mega-Lop/Mega-Gallade metagame, which meant a couple of things: much of this team is dedicated to taking on Lop/Gallade teams, and this team was really built for a meta when offense was by far the most dominant playstyle, because of the degree to which Mega-Gallade just tore through most stall and balance teams. That's why things like Reuniclus were so effective - as a bulky psychic it could take on most fighting spam, and with TR and major firepower it could do really nasty things to offensive teams.

That's not to say the team isn't viable anymore; hazards + Mega-Pedo will probably always be a winning combination. But with bulkier, more balanced teams coming back in a big way after Galladite's ban, I definitely think it's a good move to switch things up a bit. You've both probably got more or less the right idea in replacing Reuniclus, who is as good as ever against offense but struggles against bulkier teams. I'm more inclined to look to Jirachi as a replacement rather than Yanmega, though Yanmega is definitely cool; while AV Tangrowth is a monster against this team, bulky fairies are probably a bigger threat overall. Another potential option would be Specs Shaymin, who OHKOs most bulky waters with Specs Seed Flare and destroys physically defensive fairies as well, easily 2HKOing Aromatisse and having a solid chance of OHKOing Granbull. Shaymin would also let you play a little bit more recklessly with Machamp and Pedo thanks to Healing Wish. (Specs Shaymin is also probably my single most-used pokemon in UU, so it should be a surprise to no one who has spent any real time playing against me that I am trying to fit it on here.)

A third option would be to create a more dedicated TR core, now that Spiritomb is somewhat less essential thanks to Galladite's departure, and replace Tomb with something like Nasty Plot Cofagrigus. However, dropping Spiritomb means the team is far more vulnerable to CoilGarde, so you'd have to play super aggressively to keep it from setting up.

I'll have to keep thinking on how I can continue to improve the team so that it works better in the current meta. I'll probably try out that Jirachi set first, and see what ideas come up. Thanks!

Also, maybe you shouldn't call the team "Mega-Pedo" xD

Just be glad I didn't call this RMT "Shart-Infested Waters" like I'd originally wanted to...

 

[Celsius]

Thanks for the feedback, all.
Another potential option would be Specs Shaymin, who OHKOs most bulky waters with Specs Seed Flare and destroys physically defensive fairies as well, easily 2HKOing Aromatisse and having a solid chance of OHKOing Granbull. Shaymin would also let you play a little bit more recklessly with Machamp and Pedo thanks to Healing Wish.

Yeah ShayminSpecs with Healing Wish work very well with the team too .
I'm afraid about SpecsDragon giving your team a hard time , but they are not common so .