Wassup guys, lol1z here. I play a ton of uu so many of you may have played me on that account, or possibly on one of my douchy alts such as: “I win at uu”, “I'm good u suck”, “Damn you suck”, or possibly “I'm good ur not.” With that being said, I have played thousands of games with this team and peaked at least top 5 on the ladder with all of the names listed above (#1 with most). As I type this I am currently #1 on the UUcurrent ladder on my account "lol1z test"
This team is very annoying to use since one wrong move will often cost you the game, so I suggest you read the guide thoroughly...
At a glance...
In understanding the mechanics of the team, you first need to realize that the team doesn't revolve around any pokemon specifically. Every pokemon has a distinct job, and to use the team successfully you need to know which pokemon can be sacked in what scenario, and what pokemon you desperately need to counter an opponent's team.
Starting off with one of the most underrated pokemon in the tier, Lanturn.
It has fantastic synergy with Gligar, great hp, good special defense and an ability that is essential to the team not getting swept by cm Raikou. This is your special wall, so keep it healthy. Although it has no recovery, it's bulky enough to tank hits from things as strong as specs Chandelure. Generally you want to bring Lanturn in on things such as specially offensive Empoleon (if you don't know the set always go Xatu to prevent rocks), Raikou, Blastoise, Rotom-H, Slowbro, Tornadus, Yanmega and Zapdos. Furthermore, heal bell is an awesome move that makes it so toxic stallers are worthless against you, and so that you can get rid of that scald burn on Xatu or even Mienshao if need be. One last nice thing about having leftovers on it is that you get that extra HP every time you switch it in for free. An example of what I mean could go like this: you have Mienshao in on an opponent's Umbreon. Your opponent switches out into Slowbro and you predict this and U-turn into Lanturn, gaining leftovers recovery and not having to take a hit. I have played stall teams that attacked my Lanturn down to 10% HP, and by the end of the game I had it back to 60% health due to plays like the one stated above.
You may be wondering why Lanturn has a -speed nature. This is to deal with Porygon2, which is a big threat to the team. In looking at all of my pokemon, nothing on the team can take offensive tri-attacks EXCEPT for Lanturn. If I Volt Switch on the P2 (the offensive variant of course, if it’s download just toxic stall it) and he stays in he gets to do big damage on something on my team. With the minus speed nature, Lanturn tanks the tri-attack and THEN Volt Switches into Mienshao who gets to HJK. Finally, Toxic is a pivotal move on Lanturn since it is your best shot at taking down walls like Milotic and Porygon 2
Next up, the troll of the team, Xatu.
This Xatu set has a couple nice bonuses such as the extra rocky helmet damage it does to physical pokemon, the inability to be hit by status moves and few more nifty things, but the real reason Xatu is here over any other physically defensive pokemon in the tier is that IT PREVENTS STEALTH ROCKS. Once your opponent gets rocks up you basically lose, especially if they have a Raikou. For this reason, Xatu gets Grass Knot to check Rhyperior. With physical defense you can usually tank a rock blast and proceed to do big damage (if Rhyperior is physically defensive GK OHKO’s). Grass knot is also great against Swampert, but that is not nearly as big of a threat as Rhyperior is.
I ultimately think the team works so well because it gives a lot of playing time to heavy hitting glass cannons such as Mienshao and Darmanitan that are normally seen as revenge killers on other teams. With all the U-turning going on you will constantly have these two pokemon on the field, which is a luxury non-VoltTurn teams don't have. If your opponent gets rocks up, however, you can't constantly pressure them by bringing darmy in all the time.
Xatu is essentially as good as you play it. It has all around mediocre stats, but that magic bounce ability can save you over, and over, and over. I often like to troll my opponents by doing things like this in certain scenarios: Registeel is brought in on my Lanturn and I voltswitch to Gligar. My opponent thinks "oh okay, we'll trade rocks and since he has no spinner this works in my favor." I U-turn to Xatu, bounce his rocks back and then proceed to night shade. In this situation the person I'm facing is helpless. They can either predict my switch and seismic toss taking rocky helmet damage, or maybe switch out into something that checks Gligar, but alas I get switch advantage. If you are able to keep the momentum in your favor the whole match you will nearly almost always win.
A few extra things that Xatu checks include Azumarill and Sableye.
Finally, you may be wondering why the hell Xatu has –speed nature. This is because you ALWAYS want to be slower than Gligar. Some idiots you find on PS may tell you that you always want your U-turners and voltswitchers to be fast, but half the time you want to out-slow other Pokemon. In the case of bringing in your Xatu on Gligar, you essentially want Gligar to U-turn and take rocky helmet damage before switching into whatever it is you get to U-turn on. If you out-speed Gligar you (a) lose switch advantage since your opponent U-turns on your switch, and (b) risk Gligar setting up rocks. I hope that made sense….
Next up, Mienshao.
Goddamn is Mienshao good, and like I stated earlier due to being on a Voltturn team I get to bring it in practically whenever I want. Yes, that means no more hard-switching into Snrolax and being parahaxed by body slam. Mienshao’s great coverage makes it a huge threat. Pokes in the uu tier that Mienshao threatens include: Abomasnow, Bisharp, Empoleon, Honchkrow, Houndoom, Kingdra, Porygon2, Registeel, Scrafty, Snorlax, Togekiss, Umbreon, Xatu and Zapdos. Furthermore, Mienshao threatens more Pokemon based on their item/evspread such as: flashfire Arcanine, specs Chandelure, banded Darmanitan, banded Flygon, specs Porygon Z, offensive Rhyperior, offensive roserade (fakeout + stone edge kills), and non-scarfed Rotom-H. Yes, I did just name about half the tier.
Moving onto Mienshao’s moves, I think all are pretty obvious except for Fakeout. HJK is damn strong and OHkO’s a ton of threats to the team such as Snorlax and Empoleon, Stone Edge checks flying types and specs Chandy which causes big problems, and U-turn, well duh it’s a voltTurn team. Many people suggest HP ice instead of Fakeout. I won’t knock HP ice at all since it is a completely viable move on Mienshao, but in the context of my team Fakeout works better. Generally when people try to criticize the team I just tell them to shut up and look at my #1 rank, but since this is indeed a guide I will explain my logic behind using this so called “noob” move. In understanding why Fakeout works, you first need to realize that good players do not spam fake out every time they bring Mienshao in. In fact, I almost always elect to go for U-turn over Fakeout. The reason Fakeout is generally useful is that it gets me out of tight situations that HP ice can’t handle. For example, let’s say rain dance Kingdra lands a crit on Lanturn and I have no check to it, I will usually bring in Mienshao, Fakeout and then switch out to stall rain turns. Perhaps a Moxie Honchkrow chilling at 35 HP has killed Gligar and is prepared to sweep the team at +1. Mienshao comes in and saves the day (Fakeout is a guaranteed OHKO when Honchkrow is that low). Finally, let’s say your opponent has a banded Snorlax on the field. This is their last pokemon and you have say, Mienshao and a Lanturn chilling at 3 HP you saved for death fodder. Now, some people may bring in Mienshao immediately and HJK FTW. I however, HATE using HJK because of the miss possibility, and ALWAYS play it safe when I can. In this case the play would be to bring in Mienshao, Fakeout then U-turn to Lanturn for the sack. Bring Mienshao back in, repeat and then Fakeout/Uturn your way to victory. Now if I had immediately HJK’d with Mienshao and missed, the Snorlax would kill Mienshao and go on to sweep my team. If I HJK immediately I have a 90% chance of winning, but if I go down the U-turn/Fakeout route I have a 100% chance of winning… see the difference?
To sum up, HP ice would no doubt be useful on Mienshao, but Fakeout is necessary.
Alright, moving on to Darmy, the pokemon I sweep most with.
Darmanitan hits like a truck, and just like I previously stated for Mienshao, you get to use it more than you would on a standard team due to free switch-ins. I could talk about the moves, but if you have read this far in the guide I’m assuming you’re a competent player so I’ll talk more about strategy and what NOT to due with mr. 140 attack. Never use Flare Blitz if your oponnent has a Chandelure or Kingdra that could be DD (the specs set is annoying, but cannot sweep my team like a dd set can). Even if your opponent doesn’t predict correctly and lets you kill something with Flare Blitz, allowing them to bring in Chandelure for free almost NEVER ends well, so don’t do it. Kingdra like I just stated is a problem as well, so never let it come in for free either.
With that being said, although you have to play carefully with Darmanitan, you often just get to sit back and repeatedly hit Flare Blitz to win. Generally your game-plan should be stupid simple: target whatever you opponent has to check Darmy, and then bring Darmy in to sweep. You’d be surprised how many good players use strategies as basic as this, but it works and I sure use it sometimes.
The last thing I want to note about Darmanitan is that it is what I usually use to take down opponent’s Gligar. Yes, I realize Gligar is considered a check to Darmanitan, but let me explain how you should play when facing a Gligar. First, bring Xatu in on it. Now, the benefit of Xatu’s –speed nature comes in handy since you will not only get switch advantage, but also force Gligar to take 17% damage if he elects to U-turn against you. This damage combined with Gligar coming in on SR is awesome later in the game, since although your opponent may think Gligar is still a check to Darmanitan, it is not. This is because after Gligar takes rocky helmet and SR, Flare Blitz is a GUARANTEED 2HKO. So basically, you need to remember: Rocky Helmet, Stealth Rocks and Flareblitz, and you should be good to go due to how well constructed my team is.
Next up: the defensive wall on the team, Gligar.
Gligar @ Eviolite
Trait: Immunity
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
Gligar is set-up fodder for many things, and offensively speaking an overall pussy. What it can do, however is tank hits like a absolute boss. It works well on a VoltTurn team because U-turn does not give your opponent the chance to double switch. This means you can consistently bring Gligar in on the pokemon you want to check, and you don’t have to worry about your opponent double switching into a big threat to the team such as Roserade. I like consistency, and things like this that make it so I know what I’m going to switch into 100% of the time make me happy.
There really isn’t much to say about Gligar. Basically you want to switch it in and U-turn out… One thing I do want to note, however, is how NOT to play Gligar against Scrafty. Although switching Gligar in on Scrafty may seem comfortable, NEVER do it. At +2 Scrafty sweeps through the team, so I usually bring Mew in and trick it the scarf. Yes, Mew will probably die, but in most situations this is perfectly fine as long as Scrafty doesn’t get to set up. Sometimes you can ever trick them into DD which is really funny.
The last pokemon is of course, Mew.
Scarfed mew is really, really underrated in my opinion. What is the most common lead pokemon in UU? Crobat. What is a damn good way to get Crobat out of the way first turn of the game? Psychic it with scarfed Mew. I love nothing more than starting a game out OHKOing banded Crobat and immediately being up 6 pokes to 5. The moves I elected to put on Mew have been carefully thought out after trial and error, so let me explain the non-obvious moves. First, why U-turn over Volt Switch if I’m investing in special attack? The answer is consistency. Nothing in the tier can block U-turn meaning I am 100% certain that when I click U-turn on mew I will switch out. Sure, it’s nice to volt switch on Blastoise and Azumarille, but what happens if I volt switch into Rhyperior? The answer is I get screwed since I lose momentum and have to hard switch Xatu in, which is always bad because my opponent gets free damage on it. What I’m getting at is that Volt Switch is nice, but not necessary.
Giga drain is here to stop Rhyperior or Swampert if they manage to kill my Gligar. If you miraculously were able to guess, I don’t like SR on my side of the field. The scenario when Giga Drain is used usually goes like this: Xatu is in on Rhyperior and after getting a nice 60% off with grass knot Xatu dies to a rock blast. My opponent will generally be thinking: “okay, my specially defensive Rhyperior can probably take a hit,” which is the perfect time to hit them with the unexpected grass move on mew.
Since the STAB psychic is pretty obvious, I will spend a good amount of time talking about Mew’s most important move: trick. Trick saves me from getting swept by SO many things, and I will explain the pokemon you generally want to trick. Due to not having any phasing moves on the team, trick is what I use to deal with pokemon that like to set up. I generally trick: Scrafty, Cofagrigus, Kingdra, Suicune, and Snorlax. Without Mew, every one of these Pokemon could sweep though my team if they get the right chance to set up.
Alright, so with all the pokemon out of the way I want to now talk about the biggest threats to the team, and how to deal with them:
Shapedo: I hate Sharpedo, I really, really hate it. The best advice I can give is to always try to kill your opponent with U-turn so that you get Mew on the field. Your opponent will likely bring in Sharpedo on Mew since they (probably) won’t think it’s scarfed. From there you can kill it with U-turn. If you are unable to do this, the game will usually come down to whether Sharpedo haxes Gligar with Waterfall. Although the odds are in your favor, the first of these two situations is always preferable.
Yanmega: This sweeps the team if you don’t keep Lanturn alive… so keep Lanturn alive. The other way to deal with it is to have Darmy in when they bring in Yanmega and Flare Bitz away.
Nidoqueen: Big threat because it can OHKO Xatu and set up SR. If you see a Nidoqueen on the other team ALWAYS lead with mew to prevent it from setting up.
Nidoking: Not as bad as Nidoqueen. I generally switch Mew in on this because it can take any hit and just go from there. It’s also good to note that Darmanitan OHKOs with flare blitz. If Mew is too low to take a hit, you’ll need to do some predicting and this is what I’ll usually do. Predict so that you bring Xatu in on an expected earth power, and then double switch into Darmanitan on the Ice beam. From here just Flare Blitz away. The more you play with the team and learn the general patterns of how people play against it, the more fun you’ll have as well as the more you’ll find out that good predicting can get you consistently out of most tight situations.
Kingdra: The rain dance set is not fun to deal with and neither is specs, but the DD set is the worst. I always switch Mew into Kindra so that I can trick if it tries to set up.
Bisharp: If this is LO it can be kind of a threat dude to being able to hax out Gligar, so I generally trick it the scarf.
Roserade: Huge threat to the team if brought in safely on Gligar, Xatu or Lanturn (usually done by a double switch). Sometimes I hard switch Darmanitan in, sometimes I bring Xatu in on an expected sleep powder. I generally base my move on how good I think the player I’m facing is. There is no consistent way to deal with Roserade, and I will admit it is a problem. My best advice is to always keep the switch initiative in your favor so that you bring in Mienshao or Darmanitan when your opponent has Rosy on the field.
Jason Dang: Avoid this player at all cost. If you are unlucky enough to match up against him, I advise forfeiting immediately in order to save time and your dignity. I have cried myself to sleep at night multiple times after losing to him, so I highly recommend you save yourself from years of therapy by just quitting before he has the chance to destroy you.
So with the majority of the guide done I want to make a few shout-outs. I wanna first thank my IRL friends for being such bros. Ben (dratinigod3), Max (admMudkips), Eloy (lucid), and Philip (Pip): y’all are awesome and I think our youtube video is about as good as it gets. Ma boi Greg (thedarkrayquaza), thanks so much dude for helping with this guide man, and also for coming up with such genius names (I think sackingApimp is my favorite, son). Finally, Jason Dang, Psych071c and Moose, you all are fucking great players and building teams with y’all has been the best!
Alright, so that just about covers it. The best advice I can give about laddering is that a good team wins MOST of the time. There will always be an opponent’s team that just hard counters the shit out you, and you just have to deal with a loss and move on. The best players win most of the time, but are sure to lose eventually due to hax or being counterteamed.
If you have questions feel free to message me if you see me on the UU server on Pokemon Showdown since I’m more likely to be there than on the forums. If you have any team suggestions or criticisms I ask that you at least play enough games with the team to feel comfortable that it would make a definite improvement.
Finally, many people say that VoltTurn is easy to use and anybody can do it. I think quite the opposite, however, and recommend you all try using it before making that judgment. You know the team is good enough to repeatedly make it to the #1 spot on the ladder, so if you lose you basically only can blame yourself, and know that you aren’t good enough to handle a champion’s team... Have fun!
Team importable:
Mew @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Giga Drain
- Psychic
- Trick
Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- U-turn
Lanturn @ Leftovers
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 SAtk / 252 HP / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Volt Switch
- Scald
- Heal Bell
- Toxic
Xatu @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- U-turn
- Night Shade
- Grass Knot
- Roost
Mienshao @ Life Orb
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Spd / 4 HP / 252 Atk
Jolly Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Fake Out
- Hi Jump Kick
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Gligar @ Eviolite
Trait: Immunity
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
This team is very annoying to use since one wrong move will often cost you the game, so I suggest you read the guide thoroughly...
At a glance...
In understanding the mechanics of the team, you first need to realize that the team doesn't revolve around any pokemon specifically. Every pokemon has a distinct job, and to use the team successfully you need to know which pokemon can be sacked in what scenario, and what pokemon you desperately need to counter an opponent's team.
Starting off with one of the most underrated pokemon in the tier, Lanturn.
Lanturn @ Leftovers
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 SAtk / 252 HP / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Volt Switch
- Scald
- Heal Bell
- Toxic
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 SAtk / 252 HP / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Volt Switch
- Scald
- Heal Bell
- Toxic
It has fantastic synergy with Gligar, great hp, good special defense and an ability that is essential to the team not getting swept by cm Raikou. This is your special wall, so keep it healthy. Although it has no recovery, it's bulky enough to tank hits from things as strong as specs Chandelure. Generally you want to bring Lanturn in on things such as specially offensive Empoleon (if you don't know the set always go Xatu to prevent rocks), Raikou, Blastoise, Rotom-H, Slowbro, Tornadus, Yanmega and Zapdos. Furthermore, heal bell is an awesome move that makes it so toxic stallers are worthless against you, and so that you can get rid of that scald burn on Xatu or even Mienshao if need be. One last nice thing about having leftovers on it is that you get that extra HP every time you switch it in for free. An example of what I mean could go like this: you have Mienshao in on an opponent's Umbreon. Your opponent switches out into Slowbro and you predict this and U-turn into Lanturn, gaining leftovers recovery and not having to take a hit. I have played stall teams that attacked my Lanturn down to 10% HP, and by the end of the game I had it back to 60% health due to plays like the one stated above.
You may be wondering why Lanturn has a -speed nature. This is to deal with Porygon2, which is a big threat to the team. In looking at all of my pokemon, nothing on the team can take offensive tri-attacks EXCEPT for Lanturn. If I Volt Switch on the P2 (the offensive variant of course, if it’s download just toxic stall it) and he stays in he gets to do big damage on something on my team. With the minus speed nature, Lanturn tanks the tri-attack and THEN Volt Switches into Mienshao who gets to HJK. Finally, Toxic is a pivotal move on Lanturn since it is your best shot at taking down walls like Milotic and Porygon 2
Next up, the troll of the team, Xatu.
Xatu @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- U-turn
- Night Shade
- Grass Knot
- Roost
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- U-turn
- Night Shade
- Grass Knot
- Roost
This Xatu set has a couple nice bonuses such as the extra rocky helmet damage it does to physical pokemon, the inability to be hit by status moves and few more nifty things, but the real reason Xatu is here over any other physically defensive pokemon in the tier is that IT PREVENTS STEALTH ROCKS. Once your opponent gets rocks up you basically lose, especially if they have a Raikou. For this reason, Xatu gets Grass Knot to check Rhyperior. With physical defense you can usually tank a rock blast and proceed to do big damage (if Rhyperior is physically defensive GK OHKO’s). Grass knot is also great against Swampert, but that is not nearly as big of a threat as Rhyperior is.
I ultimately think the team works so well because it gives a lot of playing time to heavy hitting glass cannons such as Mienshao and Darmanitan that are normally seen as revenge killers on other teams. With all the U-turning going on you will constantly have these two pokemon on the field, which is a luxury non-VoltTurn teams don't have. If your opponent gets rocks up, however, you can't constantly pressure them by bringing darmy in all the time.
Xatu is essentially as good as you play it. It has all around mediocre stats, but that magic bounce ability can save you over, and over, and over. I often like to troll my opponents by doing things like this in certain scenarios: Registeel is brought in on my Lanturn and I voltswitch to Gligar. My opponent thinks "oh okay, we'll trade rocks and since he has no spinner this works in my favor." I U-turn to Xatu, bounce his rocks back and then proceed to night shade. In this situation the person I'm facing is helpless. They can either predict my switch and seismic toss taking rocky helmet damage, or maybe switch out into something that checks Gligar, but alas I get switch advantage. If you are able to keep the momentum in your favor the whole match you will nearly almost always win.
A few extra things that Xatu checks include Azumarill and Sableye.
Finally, you may be wondering why the hell Xatu has –speed nature. This is because you ALWAYS want to be slower than Gligar. Some idiots you find on PS may tell you that you always want your U-turners and voltswitchers to be fast, but half the time you want to out-slow other Pokemon. In the case of bringing in your Xatu on Gligar, you essentially want Gligar to U-turn and take rocky helmet damage before switching into whatever it is you get to U-turn on. If you out-speed Gligar you (a) lose switch advantage since your opponent U-turns on your switch, and (b) risk Gligar setting up rocks. I hope that made sense….
Next up, Mienshao.
Mienshao @ Life Orb
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Spd / 4 HP / 252 Atk
Jolly Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Fake Out
- Hi Jump Kick
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Spd / 4 HP / 252 Atk
Jolly Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Fake Out
- Hi Jump Kick
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Goddamn is Mienshao good, and like I stated earlier due to being on a Voltturn team I get to bring it in practically whenever I want. Yes, that means no more hard-switching into Snrolax and being parahaxed by body slam. Mienshao’s great coverage makes it a huge threat. Pokes in the uu tier that Mienshao threatens include: Abomasnow, Bisharp, Empoleon, Honchkrow, Houndoom, Kingdra, Porygon2, Registeel, Scrafty, Snorlax, Togekiss, Umbreon, Xatu and Zapdos. Furthermore, Mienshao threatens more Pokemon based on their item/evspread such as: flashfire Arcanine, specs Chandelure, banded Darmanitan, banded Flygon, specs Porygon Z, offensive Rhyperior, offensive roserade (fakeout + stone edge kills), and non-scarfed Rotom-H. Yes, I did just name about half the tier.
Moving onto Mienshao’s moves, I think all are pretty obvious except for Fakeout. HJK is damn strong and OHkO’s a ton of threats to the team such as Snorlax and Empoleon, Stone Edge checks flying types and specs Chandy which causes big problems, and U-turn, well duh it’s a voltTurn team. Many people suggest HP ice instead of Fakeout. I won’t knock HP ice at all since it is a completely viable move on Mienshao, but in the context of my team Fakeout works better. Generally when people try to criticize the team I just tell them to shut up and look at my #1 rank, but since this is indeed a guide I will explain my logic behind using this so called “noob” move. In understanding why Fakeout works, you first need to realize that good players do not spam fake out every time they bring Mienshao in. In fact, I almost always elect to go for U-turn over Fakeout. The reason Fakeout is generally useful is that it gets me out of tight situations that HP ice can’t handle. For example, let’s say rain dance Kingdra lands a crit on Lanturn and I have no check to it, I will usually bring in Mienshao, Fakeout and then switch out to stall rain turns. Perhaps a Moxie Honchkrow chilling at 35 HP has killed Gligar and is prepared to sweep the team at +1. Mienshao comes in and saves the day (Fakeout is a guaranteed OHKO when Honchkrow is that low). Finally, let’s say your opponent has a banded Snorlax on the field. This is their last pokemon and you have say, Mienshao and a Lanturn chilling at 3 HP you saved for death fodder. Now, some people may bring in Mienshao immediately and HJK FTW. I however, HATE using HJK because of the miss possibility, and ALWAYS play it safe when I can. In this case the play would be to bring in Mienshao, Fakeout then U-turn to Lanturn for the sack. Bring Mienshao back in, repeat and then Fakeout/Uturn your way to victory. Now if I had immediately HJK’d with Mienshao and missed, the Snorlax would kill Mienshao and go on to sweep my team. If I HJK immediately I have a 90% chance of winning, but if I go down the U-turn/Fakeout route I have a 100% chance of winning… see the difference?
To sum up, HP ice would no doubt be useful on Mienshao, but Fakeout is necessary.
Alright, moving on to Darmy, the pokemon I sweep most with.
Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- U-turn
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- U-turn
Darmanitan hits like a truck, and just like I previously stated for Mienshao, you get to use it more than you would on a standard team due to free switch-ins. I could talk about the moves, but if you have read this far in the guide I’m assuming you’re a competent player so I’ll talk more about strategy and what NOT to due with mr. 140 attack. Never use Flare Blitz if your oponnent has a Chandelure or Kingdra that could be DD (the specs set is annoying, but cannot sweep my team like a dd set can). Even if your opponent doesn’t predict correctly and lets you kill something with Flare Blitz, allowing them to bring in Chandelure for free almost NEVER ends well, so don’t do it. Kingdra like I just stated is a problem as well, so never let it come in for free either.
With that being said, although you have to play carefully with Darmanitan, you often just get to sit back and repeatedly hit Flare Blitz to win. Generally your game-plan should be stupid simple: target whatever you opponent has to check Darmy, and then bring Darmy in to sweep. You’d be surprised how many good players use strategies as basic as this, but it works and I sure use it sometimes.
The last thing I want to note about Darmanitan is that it is what I usually use to take down opponent’s Gligar. Yes, I realize Gligar is considered a check to Darmanitan, but let me explain how you should play when facing a Gligar. First, bring Xatu in on it. Now, the benefit of Xatu’s –speed nature comes in handy since you will not only get switch advantage, but also force Gligar to take 17% damage if he elects to U-turn against you. This damage combined with Gligar coming in on SR is awesome later in the game, since although your opponent may think Gligar is still a check to Darmanitan, it is not. This is because after Gligar takes rocky helmet and SR, Flare Blitz is a GUARANTEED 2HKO. So basically, you need to remember: Rocky Helmet, Stealth Rocks and Flareblitz, and you should be good to go due to how well constructed my team is.
Next up: the defensive wall on the team, Gligar.
Gligar @ Eviolite
Trait: Immunity
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
Gligar is set-up fodder for many things, and offensively speaking an overall pussy. What it can do, however is tank hits like a absolute boss. It works well on a VoltTurn team because U-turn does not give your opponent the chance to double switch. This means you can consistently bring Gligar in on the pokemon you want to check, and you don’t have to worry about your opponent double switching into a big threat to the team such as Roserade. I like consistency, and things like this that make it so I know what I’m going to switch into 100% of the time make me happy.
There really isn’t much to say about Gligar. Basically you want to switch it in and U-turn out… One thing I do want to note, however, is how NOT to play Gligar against Scrafty. Although switching Gligar in on Scrafty may seem comfortable, NEVER do it. At +2 Scrafty sweeps through the team, so I usually bring Mew in and trick it the scarf. Yes, Mew will probably die, but in most situations this is perfectly fine as long as Scrafty doesn’t get to set up. Sometimes you can ever trick them into DD which is really funny.
The last pokemon is of course, Mew.
Mew @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Giga Drain
- Psychic
- Trick
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Giga Drain
- Psychic
- Trick
Scarfed mew is really, really underrated in my opinion. What is the most common lead pokemon in UU? Crobat. What is a damn good way to get Crobat out of the way first turn of the game? Psychic it with scarfed Mew. I love nothing more than starting a game out OHKOing banded Crobat and immediately being up 6 pokes to 5. The moves I elected to put on Mew have been carefully thought out after trial and error, so let me explain the non-obvious moves. First, why U-turn over Volt Switch if I’m investing in special attack? The answer is consistency. Nothing in the tier can block U-turn meaning I am 100% certain that when I click U-turn on mew I will switch out. Sure, it’s nice to volt switch on Blastoise and Azumarille, but what happens if I volt switch into Rhyperior? The answer is I get screwed since I lose momentum and have to hard switch Xatu in, which is always bad because my opponent gets free damage on it. What I’m getting at is that Volt Switch is nice, but not necessary.
Giga drain is here to stop Rhyperior or Swampert if they manage to kill my Gligar. If you miraculously were able to guess, I don’t like SR on my side of the field. The scenario when Giga Drain is used usually goes like this: Xatu is in on Rhyperior and after getting a nice 60% off with grass knot Xatu dies to a rock blast. My opponent will generally be thinking: “okay, my specially defensive Rhyperior can probably take a hit,” which is the perfect time to hit them with the unexpected grass move on mew.
Since the STAB psychic is pretty obvious, I will spend a good amount of time talking about Mew’s most important move: trick. Trick saves me from getting swept by SO many things, and I will explain the pokemon you generally want to trick. Due to not having any phasing moves on the team, trick is what I use to deal with pokemon that like to set up. I generally trick: Scrafty, Cofagrigus, Kingdra, Suicune, and Snorlax. Without Mew, every one of these Pokemon could sweep though my team if they get the right chance to set up.
Alright, so with all the pokemon out of the way I want to now talk about the biggest threats to the team, and how to deal with them:
Shapedo: I hate Sharpedo, I really, really hate it. The best advice I can give is to always try to kill your opponent with U-turn so that you get Mew on the field. Your opponent will likely bring in Sharpedo on Mew since they (probably) won’t think it’s scarfed. From there you can kill it with U-turn. If you are unable to do this, the game will usually come down to whether Sharpedo haxes Gligar with Waterfall. Although the odds are in your favor, the first of these two situations is always preferable.
Yanmega: This sweeps the team if you don’t keep Lanturn alive… so keep Lanturn alive. The other way to deal with it is to have Darmy in when they bring in Yanmega and Flare Bitz away.
Nidoqueen: Big threat because it can OHKO Xatu and set up SR. If you see a Nidoqueen on the other team ALWAYS lead with mew to prevent it from setting up.
Nidoking: Not as bad as Nidoqueen. I generally switch Mew in on this because it can take any hit and just go from there. It’s also good to note that Darmanitan OHKOs with flare blitz. If Mew is too low to take a hit, you’ll need to do some predicting and this is what I’ll usually do. Predict so that you bring Xatu in on an expected earth power, and then double switch into Darmanitan on the Ice beam. From here just Flare Blitz away. The more you play with the team and learn the general patterns of how people play against it, the more fun you’ll have as well as the more you’ll find out that good predicting can get you consistently out of most tight situations.
Kingdra: The rain dance set is not fun to deal with and neither is specs, but the DD set is the worst. I always switch Mew into Kindra so that I can trick if it tries to set up.
Bisharp: If this is LO it can be kind of a threat dude to being able to hax out Gligar, so I generally trick it the scarf.
Roserade: Huge threat to the team if brought in safely on Gligar, Xatu or Lanturn (usually done by a double switch). Sometimes I hard switch Darmanitan in, sometimes I bring Xatu in on an expected sleep powder. I generally base my move on how good I think the player I’m facing is. There is no consistent way to deal with Roserade, and I will admit it is a problem. My best advice is to always keep the switch initiative in your favor so that you bring in Mienshao or Darmanitan when your opponent has Rosy on the field.
Jason Dang: Avoid this player at all cost. If you are unlucky enough to match up against him, I advise forfeiting immediately in order to save time and your dignity. I have cried myself to sleep at night multiple times after losing to him, so I highly recommend you save yourself from years of therapy by just quitting before he has the chance to destroy you.
So with the majority of the guide done I want to make a few shout-outs. I wanna first thank my IRL friends for being such bros. Ben (dratinigod3), Max (admMudkips), Eloy (lucid), and Philip (Pip): y’all are awesome and I think our youtube video is about as good as it gets. Ma boi Greg (thedarkrayquaza), thanks so much dude for helping with this guide man, and also for coming up with such genius names (I think sackingApimp is my favorite, son). Finally, Jason Dang, Psych071c and Moose, you all are fucking great players and building teams with y’all has been the best!
Alright, so that just about covers it. The best advice I can give about laddering is that a good team wins MOST of the time. There will always be an opponent’s team that just hard counters the shit out you, and you just have to deal with a loss and move on. The best players win most of the time, but are sure to lose eventually due to hax or being counterteamed.
If you have questions feel free to message me if you see me on the UU server on Pokemon Showdown since I’m more likely to be there than on the forums. If you have any team suggestions or criticisms I ask that you at least play enough games with the team to feel comfortable that it would make a definite improvement.
Finally, many people say that VoltTurn is easy to use and anybody can do it. I think quite the opposite, however, and recommend you all try using it before making that judgment. You know the team is good enough to repeatedly make it to the #1 spot on the ladder, so if you lose you basically only can blame yourself, and know that you aren’t good enough to handle a champion’s team... Have fun!
Team importable:
Mew @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Giga Drain
- Psychic
- Trick
Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- U-turn
Lanturn @ Leftovers
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 SAtk / 252 HP / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Volt Switch
- Scald
- Heal Bell
- Toxic
Xatu @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- U-turn
- Night Shade
- Grass Knot
- Roost
Mienshao @ Life Orb
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Spd / 4 HP / 252 Atk
Jolly Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Fake Out
- Hi Jump Kick
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Gligar @ Eviolite
Trait: Immunity
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
Attachments
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