ORAS UU The Gecko and the Swords

[Shadestep]

hey everyone! this is my first real RMT. I made a couple before, but was far more inexperienced and ended up deleting them. the purpose of the team is weakening stuff with Doublade + M-Sceptile, so that Mienshao and Sharpedo can sweep/clean up.

Sharpedo @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 104 SpA / 152 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Protect
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Ice Beam


Sharpedo is one of the sweepers/cleaners of this team. I first had Honchkrow > Sharpedo, but I found myself more confortable using Sharpedo as you dont rely on Sucker Punch as much.
Sharpedo is a really underrated thread that - with the right support - can nicely clean up a weakened team.
I have Ice Beam > Ice Fang because of fatmence and other physically bulky dragons.

Doublade @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Sacred Sword
- Shadow Sneak

Doublade is one of the few things on my team that can break things like CM Cresselia and Curselax.
Other than that, Doublade counters like half the tier lol, its always nice as a switch-in to things like Tyrantrum, Mega Abomasnow, etc.
The set is pretty self explanatory. SD on a weak defensive mon (florges, cresselia, etc.) and SD and win. Doublade and Sharpedo work in tandem really good with Mega Sceptile.

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Stealth Rock
- Defog
- Roar

Empoleon is the only SR setter and remover on the team. my team isnt really hurt by Rocks that much, and I see myself going for SR (with Rocks on my side of the field up) rather than Defog.
Scald for the cheesy standard water STAB-move, rocks and defog for hazards and Roar to phaze out things I don't like. when empoleon is near useless in a match and almost dead, I find myself spamming Roar until I die, just to get some more chip damage off without letting anything set up on me.

Sceptile @ Sceptilite (couldnt find a working mega sprite ;_;)
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast

Sceptile is one of the wallbreakers of this team. Fast, powerful, dank STAB-Moves, and a 'meh'-coverage move make Sceptile really good for Nuking things.
I went with modest because I find Timid sceptile really weak, and apart from the super-sanic-fast mega's in the tier (which I have other checks/counters to) Modest (which hits 389 speed) outspeeds almost all non-scarfed mons in the tier.

Leaf storm and dragon pulse for normal STAB, giga drain for recovery against weak and not offensively threatening mons, and last but not least Focus Blast, because it hits more often than you think it does.

Mienshao @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Knock Off

next up, I needed a scarfer that can revenge kill most of the stuff that threatens M-Sceptile out.
Stone Edge for Pidgeot and Aero, HJK for a weakened Ampharos/Blastoise and most importantly Cobalion which has been rising in popularity lately. I first had Fake out > Stone Edge, just to bluff the non-scarf. It worked out a couple of times, but Stone Edge really is better and Scarfed fake out is just really a stupid gimmick. verlisifyarmy4lyfe

Florges @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Synthesis
- Aromatherapy

Last but certainly not least is Florges. Yes, another potential win-con lol.
I went with the CM set over the regular wish-protect set because when OR/AS came, Florges got access to a really cool move called Synthesis. this allows florges to run both Aromatherapy and Recovery, because you dont have to waste a move slot on Protect. Phys. Def just because we are going to boost our Sp.Def with CM, and Florges' Sp.Def is already huge!
Calm Mind also beats a lot of mons which Florges would otherwise really struggle against, like offensive M-Stoise, Mega Pidgeot, Chandelure, Heliolisk etc. these mons deal around 30-40% to Florges, and all have strong attacks with an additional effect which can really screw Florges over (looking at you, mega pidge).


Now that we have covered all of the team members, lets take a look at the threats and other problems.

big threats

Entei can really blow through this team. most of the time you have to sack a member to get Sharpedo in safely. something I thought about for making this a lesser problem is putting Vaporeon > Empoleon. this gives me some great free switches with Baton Pass + Wish, and puts less pressure on Florges to get rid of status.

Feraligatr (what a surprise!) also can sweep through this team. if it is SD, i can most of the time kill it with M-Sceptile before things get out of hand, but if I ever let it get up 2 DDs, I pretty much lose to it. I dont want to put Whimsicott > Florges to check it, because Whimsicott doesnt have the right utility and power that my team needs.

Suicune with Roar and Calm Mind can fuck over my team a lot. Suicune outspeeds Empoleon and can Roar it out before Empoleon can do anything back, but most of the time I can threaten it out with Mega Sceptile.

Burns by moves like scald and will-o-wisp can really cripple a lot of my team members. Florges is the only mon on my team that can get rid of status, but Florges' job is most of the times too busy taking fire from special mons.

Porygon-2, the bane of all stall and balance teams, is also a threat to mine. with a Bolt-Beam-combo it can dent a lot of my teammembers, and Mienshao can't safely come in because of f*cking Thunder Wave.

Rotom-Heat. that thing is god damn intouchable lol. only thing I really have for it is Stone Edge on Mienshao, but that tends to miss often and you'll end up with a burned mienshao vs. a Full HP Rotom.

Importable

Sharpedo @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 104 SpA / 152 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Protect
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Ice Beam

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Stealth Rock
- Defog
- Roar

Doublade @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Sacred Sword
- Shadow Sneak

Sceptile @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast

Florges @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Synthesis
- Aromatherapy

Mienshao @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Knock Off

so, if you are still reading this, thanks for your time and drop some cool sets/tips below :] have a good day!

EDIT: forgot to post some replays, didnt have many saved. here are some (a few are with older/modified versions of the team:

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uususpecttest-249283520
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-249415909 (dont take this one serious lol)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-251122568

 

[Adaam]

Hey man I love the use of Mega Sceptile, who I think is a very underrated Mega in UU right now. I have some changes that I think can help your team.

First I would change Sceptile to Modest and replace Giga Drain with Energy Ball. Sceptile can switch on Suicune even if it CMs and beat it with Energy Ball + Leaf Storm if Timid, and the loss of power is definitely worth it. You outspeed Crobat, Scarf Chandelure, +1 Jolly Gatr, and can tie with Jolly Bees and Sceptiles. The nature change is not that necessary, but I truly believe Giga should be replaced since it hits like a wet paper towel.

Second, I would change Florges to the Wish Passing Cleric set because Sceptile is the only mon on your team that can switch into Suicune and beat it, but it can be easily worn down by Scald burns and hazards. With Wish, you can pass Wishes to Sceptile if Suicune comes in to increase its longevity. I'm on a phone so I can't post the set, but keep the current EVs and replace Synthesis and Calm Mind with Wish and Protect.


Third, your Entei weakness is extremely glaring. It can switch in on Doublade and Florges all day and get an easy kill each time, or it can revenge Sceptile, Shao, and Sharpedo with Espeed. You need an Entei switch in, and I believe Mienshao is the most replaceable mon since you don't really need a scarfer since if you go Timid Sceptile. Timid Scep naturally outspeed all mons except Aero which is walled by Doubalde. There are the scarfers that outspeed it like Shao and Hydra, but they are handled by Florges + Doublade. I don't really see a use for Shao, especially since it can't switch into any mon really except maybe Umbreon. There aren't many ways to get him in as you have no U-Turners besides Shao. I thus recommend changing Mienshao to Curselax. This gives you another wincon, a much needed Entei check, and also a Nido switch in, which also is a HUGE problem to this team. Again, I'm on my phone, so I can't post the set but you can easily find it on the smogdex. If you go with any change, I highly recommend this one since Nido and Entei really have their way with your team (especially since they both can switch in on many of your team members), and they also are found on the same team frequently.

I hope I helped

Edit: Fixed the massive run on sentence holy shit

 

[Shadestep]

Hey man I love the use of Mega Sceptile, who I think is a very underrated Mega in UU right now. I have some changes that I think can help your team.

First I would change Sceptile to Modest and replace Giga Drain with Energy Ball. Sceptile can switch on Suicune even if it CMs and beat it with Energy Ball + Leaf Storm if Timid, and the loss of power is definitely worth it. You outspeed Crobat, Scarf Chandelure, +1 Jolly Gatr, and can tie with Jolly Bees and Sceptiles. The nature change is not that necessary, but I truly believe Giga should be replaced since it hits like a wet paper towel.

Second, I would change Florges to the Wish Passing Cleric set because Sceptile is the only mon on your team that can switch into Suicune and beat it, but it can be easily worn down by Scald burns and hazards. With Wish, you can pass Wishes to Sceptile if Suicune comes in to increase its longevity. I'm on a phone so I can't post the set, but keep the current EVs and replace Synthesis and Calm Mind with Wish and Protect.


Third, your Entei weakness is extremely glaring. It can switch in on Doublade and Florges all day and get an easy kill each time, or it can revenge Sceptile, Shao, and Sharpedo with Espeed. You need an Entei switch in, and I believe Mienshao is the most replaceable mon since you don't really need a scarfer since if you go Timid Sceptile, you naturally outspeed all mons except Aero which is walled by Doubalde, and then there are the scarfers like Shao and Hydra which are handled by Florges + Doublade as well. I don't really see a use for Shao, especially since it can't switch into any mon really except maybe Umbreon, so there aren't many ways to get him in (as you have no U-Turners besides Shao). I thus recommend changing Mienshao to Curselax. This gives you another wincon, a much needed Entei check, and also a Nido switch in, which also is a HUGE problem to this team. Again, I'm on my phone, so I can't post the set but you can easily find it on the smogdex. If you go with any change, I highly recommend this one since Nido and Entei really have their way with your team (especially since they both can switch in on many of your team members), and they also are found on the same team frequently.

I hope I helped

Hey there, thanks for the suggestion. Curselax looks like a good addition to my team. I will try it out and see how it works. Wish-support seems like a good option although Florges becomes set up bait for some other threats.

PS: I assume you mean change Sceptile to Timid? small typo haha

 

[jjoshcja]

To start this off I'll say that your thinking in terms of a focused team along with check/counters within the metagame which is good. hell your even basing your overall focus on a known good plan in shark + grass nuke. So you get a thumbs up for that, however a lack of experience in general and an over focus on perceived threats kills this team "I wanted a scarfer, p2 is a threat to stall, im cune weak, etc" shows this lack of knowledge while the team composition in general shows the overbuild for certain types and pokes while ignoring others entirely. Good effort and a solid overall start but...

You have deeper issues than your threatlist lets on. Doublade checks half the tier, its a great mon, but it and scarfed mienshao are all you have for...half the tier.

You have 0 for ground+ice, mamoswine, nido's, megasnow, mega swampert, Just RIP something every time these come in.

You have 0 for fire, Non choiced Infernapes, non scarf Chandelures, Darmanitan, offensive Rotom-H, Entie... Rip something

Grass types, Roserade, Tangrowth, Amoongus, Chesnaught, Shamin, These are all a pain in the ass for your team, they come in on what they want and do what they want, you just have 0 for these.

Dragons: Dragalge and mixed Mence are just suffering for your team.

These are just specific threats from the s-b- tiers of uu viability that can either pressure your team tremendously or break open your defensive core but you can "play around" a weakness sometimes so I'll try not to overly focus on these things too much. But ya note P2 and suicune are not on that list, you handle both more than well enough.

Additionaly your team is crippled by...

Spikestack: You rely on mons with no means of recovery to check mons defensively and while emp can beat quite a few rocks users it hates dealing with spikers.

Volturn: Namely Mbee+rotom form, if you see this in team preview just click x, you lack the ability to punish this kind of play entirely.

Overload: while you have reduntant checks to birds and fighting types you have at best minimal soft checks to a huge portion of the tier. Mons with overlapping checks/counters thrown at this team quickly open it up insanely quickly.

Stall: You have 0, click x.

The source off all these weaknesses is... the team is bad balance with poor synergy. You have a harsh case of both dead slot syndrome and 5 mons and syndrome. A lot of this team is 5 mons weak to a thing and a check, additionally you have 2 mons with 0 offensive presence and 2 mons with 0 defensive presence forcing you to play out your games 4 vs 6 against more focused teams.

To make this into an efficient team you'll have to swap out at least 3 mons. Florges and Empoleon just do not give enough bang for your buck on a shark team while scarfshao is just bad when the tier has as many users of priority as it does (outside of serving as glue on some offensive teams)

Anything I rebuild this into will similar to the shark teams here: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/oras-uu-sample-team-thread.3536731/

I would seriously advise using one or more of these and just tweaking it to your liking until you have a better understanding of teambuilding and threat assessment in general.

 

[Shadestep]

To start this off I'll say that your thinking in terms of a focused team along with check/counters within the metagame which is good. hell your even basing your overall focus on a known good plan in shark + grass nuke. So you get a thumbs up for that, however a lack of experience in general and an over focus on perceived threats kills this team "I wanted a scarfer, p2 is a threat to stall, im cune weak, etc" shows this lack of knowledge while the team composition in general shows the overbuild for certain types and pokes while ignoring others entirely. Good effort and a solid overall start but...

You have deeper issues than your threatlist lets on. Doublade checks half the tier, its a great mon, but it and scarfed mienshao are all you have for...half the tier.

You have 0 for ground+ice, mamoswine, nido's, megasnow, mega swampert, Just RIP something every time these come in.

You have 0 for fire, Non choiced Infernapes, non scarf Chandelures, Darmanitan, offensive Rotom-H, Entie... Rip something

Grass types, Roserade, Tangrowth, Amoongus, Chesnaught, Shamin, These are all a pain in the ass for your team, they come in on what they want and do what they want, you just have 0 for these.

Dragons: Dragalge and mixed Mence are just suffering for your team.

These are just specific threats from the s-b- tiers of uu viability that can either pressure your team tremendously or break open your defensive core but you can "play around" a weakness sometimes so I'll try not to overly focus on these things too much. But ya note P2 and suicune are not on that list, you handle both more than well enough.

Additionaly your team is crippled by...

Spikestack: You rely on mons with no means of recovery to check mons defensively and while emp can beat quite a few rocks users it hates dealing with spikers.

Volturn: Namely Mbee+rotom form, if you see this in team preview just click x, you lack the ability to punish this kind of play entirely.

Overload: while you have reduntant checks to birds and fighting types you have at best minimal soft checks to a huge portion of the tier. Mons with overlapping checks/counters thrown at this team quickly open it up insanely quickly.

Stall: You have 0, click x.

The source off all these weaknesses is... the team is bad balance with poor synergy. You have a harsh case of both dead slot syndrome and 5 mons and syndrome. A lot of this team is 5 mons weak to a thing and a check, additionally you have 2 mons with 0 offensive presence and 2 mons with 0 defensive presence forcing you to play out your games 4 vs 6 against more focused teams.

To make this into an efficient team you'll have to swap out at least 3 mons. Florges and Empoleon just do not give enough bang for your buck on a shark team while scarfshao is just bad when the tier has as many users of priority as it does (outside of serving as glue on some offensive teams)

Anything I rebuild this into will similar to the shark teams here: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/oras-uu-sample-team-thread.3536731/

I would seriously advise using one or more of these and just tweaking it to your liking until you have a better understanding of teambuilding and threat assessment in general.

all of the problems you have noted are fixed by Do A Bibarel 's suggestions.

 

[jjoshcja]

all of the problems you have noted are fixed by Do A Bibarel 's suggestions.

Bolded the things changes do 0 to help with either entirely or vs certain sets.

 

[Christo]

Hello Cynthia's Chomp, interesting team you have here. I see some glaring weaknesses to this team like Entei and Nidoqueen for starters, and these weaknesses will hinder this teams viability. I have come up with changes that I believe will optimize this teams potential, although there are 4 pokemon changing(All pokemon are similar and fulfill the same roll that your previous pokemon were there for). I also saw some serious issues with beating stall and fatter teams in general and my changes should remedy that.

My first suggestion is LO Taunt+Roost Hydreigon > Sharpedo. I am assuming you built your team around this pokemon, but it really did not provide anything for your team and I feel Hydreigon can do the same as Sharpedo but provide a fire resist as well as a way of breaking through fatter teams with Taunt + Roost. Hydreigon is also a ground immunity which is something your team had none of before.

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Taunt
- Roost

Next, I had the same idea as Do a Biberal with adding in Snorlax. Although, I am thinking the change to Snorlax > Empoleon instead of over Mienshao. Snorlax will provide another Fire Resist(Due to Thick Fat) as well as an answer to pokemon like Nidoqueen which otherwise steamrolled through your team.

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 144 HP / 188 Def / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Body Slam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Since I took away your Stealth Rocker, I think the change to Cobalion > Mienshao will work great. Cobalion can still revenge kill with its high speed as well as set up Hazards and sweep with Swords Dance.

Cobalion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head

My last piece to the puzzle would be Reuniclus > Florges. Reuniclus will serve as your secondary fighting resist and win condition that I believe is superior to CM Florges. It has good synergy with Cobalion as Cobalion can take all the in-coming Knock Offs ad such.

Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Recover

All of these changes remedy most of your weaknesses in my opinion. You also totally demolish stall with 4 setup sweepers which I think is awesome, haha. The team does not have a way to get rid of Hazards, but the team is not weak to Stealth Rock and if you keep Hazards on your opponents side of the field that will pressure them to Defog themselves. I am sorry if I changed your team up with all of the pokemon changes. I did keep the structure that you were going for, though, and I just tried to synergies it all a bit better. Good luck with this team and hope you try out my changes. I will for sure try this team out and edit in some replays I get. Here is a full import of the whole team: http://pastebin.com/3NBn2GP7

 

[Shadestep]

Hello Cynthia's Chomp, interesting team you have here. I see some glaring weaknesses to this team like Entei and Nidoqueen for starters, and these weaknesses will hinder this teams viability. I have come up with changes that I believe will optimize this teams potential, although there are 4 pokemon changing(All pokemon are similar and fulfill the same roll that your previous pokemon were there for). I also saw some serious issues with beating stall and fatter teams in general and my changes should remedy that.

My first suggestion is LO Taunt+Roost Hydreigon > Sharpedo. I am assuming you built your team around this pokemon, but it really did not provide anything for your team and I feel Hydreigon can do the same as Sharpedo but provide a fire resist as well as a way of breaking through fatter teams with Taunt + Roost. Hydreigon is also a ground immunity which is something your team had none of before.

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Taunt
- Roost

Next, I had the same idea as Do a Biberal with adding in Snorlax. Although, I am thinking the change to Snorlax > Empoleon instead of over Mienshao. Snorlax will provide another Fire Resist(Due to Thick Fat) as well as an answer to pokemon like Nidoqueen which otherwise steamrolled through your team.

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 144 HP / 188 Def / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Body Slam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Since I took away your Stealth Rocker, I think the change to Cobalion > Mienshao will work great. Cobalion can still revenge kill with its high speed as well as set up Hazards and sweep with Swords Dance.

Cobalion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head

My last piece to the puzzle would be Reuniclus > Florges. Reuniclus will serve as your secondary fighting resist and win condition that I believe is superior to CM Florges. It has good synergy with Cobalion as Cobalion can take all the in-coming Knock Offs ad such.

Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Recover

All of these changes remedy most of your weaknesses in my opinion. You also totally demolish stall with 4 setup sweepers which I think is awesome, haha. The team does not have a way to get rid of Hazards, but the team is not weak to Stealth Rock and if you keep Hazards on your opponents side of the field that will pressure them to Defog themselves. I am sorry if I changed your team up with all of the pokemon changes. I did keep the structure that you were going for, though, and I just tried to synergies it all a bit better. Good luck with this team and hope you try out my changes. I will for sure try this team out and edit in some replays I get. Here is a full import of the whole team: http://pastebin.com/3NBn2GP7

hey christo, nice suggestions! Hydreigon is a good option indeed, as I really struggle with things like banded krook and other EQ users. Snorlax is a good fit on this team. Ive played a couple of matches already, and it has been doing good. the idea of Cobalion > Mienshao seems good as it indeed gives me a knock off switch in, and can really deal with P2 well (outside of twave hax).

Reuniclus is an interesting option. it is a good wincon, but doesnt give me the utility that Florges gives me. Aromatherapy is a must for this team, as it gets crippled by will-o-wisp and other status. Reuniclus + Snorlax give me 2 immunities, but Hydreigon, Empoleon, and Doublade are cripples badly by burns.

thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Adaam]

Hey there, thanks for the suggestion. Curselax looks like a good addition to my team. I will try it out and see how it works. Wish-support seems like a good option although Florges becomes set up bait for some other threats.

PS: I assume you mean change Sceptile to Timid? small typo haha

My bad lol I definitely meant change to Timid