0-5 in Ubers, Help! (UU RMT)

XIIIII

First, a little background since this is my first post. I never really got into competitive battling before i found smogon, because i believed that it took much too long to train evs and breed for IVs. Now, with shoddybattle, all of the pokemon are available to me almost without effort. I'm glad to say that I'm fully addicted, again, to pokemon.

Sadly, after a single week of battling in the OU tier, i discovered that about 99% of the teams there had at least 3 out of these 8 pokemon.
1. Scizor
2. Salamence
3. Zapdos
4. Skymin
5. Bronzong
6. Heatran
7. Deoxys-E
8. Tyranitar

So, I moved to the UU ladder for a change, and what a change it was. An amazing amount of variety greeted my eyes as, amazingly, DIFFERENT species of pokemon were found in each unique battler's team. Quickly falling in love with the UU tier, i decided to make a team. After many weeks of revision and experimentation, i came up with something that now looks surprisingly decent.


All right. This UU team has been doing quite well, but it can always be improved. (Fancy colors=someone's unsure about their sexuality)

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LEAD: Swellow @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd
Adamant Nature/Jolly Nature? What does it outspeed that Adamant doesn't?
- Protect
- Facade
- Pursuit
- U-turn

Average KOs: 2
Average Switch ins: 2-3

This Swellow, one of the fastest pokemon in UU, leads my team. Protect was put over Quick attack to scout for Venusaur and Hitmonlee's choice item as well as to activate burn. Brave Bird's coverage is redundant with facade. U turn is for scouting, and Pursuit is to kill of weakened Rotoms, which seriously annoy me. Overall, a potent physical sweeper that usually finishes the battle for me, or simply starts it off with a bang.

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The Wall Breaker: Clefable @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 216 Attack, 68 Speed, 224 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Focus Blast
- Softboiled
- Shadow Ball
- Double Edge

(Considering Ice beam/Focus Blast over Double Edge? Gain some defenses, but Hypno/Grumpig... bleh.)

Average KOs: 1
Average Switch ins: 2

Credits to umbarsc for this GREAT Clefable. Apparently, no one expects this wall breaker, and at least one Steelix has fallen to his Focus Blast. Double Edge takes out common Special walls, like Hypno, Grumpig, and Lanturn in 2 hits. Focus Blast can also 2hko Hitmontop w/o leftovers, which is useful if my opponent predicts a switch to Altaria. This one of my main wall breakers and my go-to poke against Claydols, Steelixes and various other walls that can't really hurt the pink blob of UU.

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Picky Picky: Hitmontop @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 Hp, 252 Atk, 8 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Mach Punch
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge

Average KOs: 1
Average Switch ins: 3

Hmm... maybe i should run a more defensive spread, with Intimidate? Does rest/talk+Revenge+Rockslide/Stone Edge Top work?

Anyways, Top is my main anti- Lee/Primeape/Absol/Cacturne/lapras/
Scarfed junk killer. Fake Out+Mach punch takes out all of the above, and Fake out also helps get some free damage as well as lefties recovery. Stone Edge is for those Drifblims that enjoy switching in too much against Top. Pursuit now replaces Close Combat, the utility of that moves cannot be underestimated. Anyways, he benefits the team by killing off otherwise dangerous scarfers.

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Endgame- Hitmonlee @ Choice Band
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Mach Punch

Average KOs: 2
Average Switch Ins: 2

Ah, Lee. It seems that all UU teams are made up of pokemon that completely wall Lee, and pokes that die horribly to Lee's....feet. Banded Lee sweeps insanely with Close Combat, and does around 40% to the standard Claydol and around 30% to a defensive Weezing. Most of the time, Lee comes in on a resting/recovering/T-waving poke and quickly checks for resists/ghosts with a Close Combat. Most counters can't take three Close Combats, but Lee can barely even take one attack. Hit and run or another extremely deadly sweeper.

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Prediction is king: Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Poison Point
EVs: 40 Atk, 216 Spd, 252 SpA
Rash Nature
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Megahorn
- Earth Power

Average KOs: 1
Average Switch ins: 1

Ah, Nidoking... With IceBeam, T-bolt, and Earthpower, this can 2HKO a wide variety of pokes. Megahorn takes down Hypno and Grumpig. Used to switch in against an electric and then firing off a Ice beam to try and catch the Flying type switch in. Anything slower is at a risk of getting 2hkoed. King helps me scout for any special walls. Another mixed sweeper contributing to the effort. I'm also thinking about switching Megahorn for something... dark type move? Shadow ball? something? And giving King more speed/defenses.
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Specs...Taria?: Altaria @ Life Orb/Choice Specs
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 114 Hp, 140 Def, 252 SpA (Help)
Modest Nature
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
- Draco Meteor
- Roost/HP Ground

Average KOs: 1
Average Switch ins: 2-3

Well, i wanted a decent fighting wall, what with all of the deadly fighters in UU, and i also needed a slightly reliable Special sweeper. Altaria comes out later in the game, roosts off the omnipresent Stealth Rocks, and strikes hard at whatever came in. Draco Meteor puts HUGE dents into everything not steel typed, which my entire team besides swellow deals with fairly easily. Ice beam and Fire blast are for coverage. Surprisingly tough wall, and can knock holes into stall teams, which frequently sacrifice a poke to Draco Meteor. Altaria opens holes for my Physical sweepers, Lee and Swellow.

Noteable Weaknesses:
1. Specs/Scarf Glaceon: OHKOs or 2HKOS much of my team, but i can revenge kill with... Top. Yeah. Glaceon pwns me, but is luckily rarely used.

2. Articuno: Ice Beam/HP Flying (but who uses that?) really pisses me off, but i usually OKHO it with Stone edge from either of my fighters...

3. Sleep: AGHHHHHHHHH... If i can't switch to Altaria/Swellow on the Hypnosis/Sleep Powder, Uh oh.

4. Toxicroak with Ice Punch, Swords Dance, Sucker Punch, Cross Chop can tear down just about everything.

4. Hmm... Prediction. Yeah. I hate that thing. People predict a switch to Hitmonlee, they Trick me a burn orb or something. Yeesh.

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tl;dr - GLACEON COUNTER PLZ
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Anyways, thanks for reading or rating my team. If anyone here bothers to read this...


Thanks again!
 
I don't do ubers, but I think Clefable could do with CM instead of double edge (with softboiled and probably boltbeam). It helps against Glaceon.

On that topic, Hitmontop should be EVed to be a Glaceon counter. Or replace it or Hitmonlee with something, because those two are too similar (something not fighting, helps against Grumpig)

Swellow should have Brave Bird for all the fighting UUs.

Nidoking should have more speed. It'll probably have to replace Attack and Dark Pulse replaces Megahorn (though personally, I like megahorn).
 
Brave Bird + Flame Orb + Switching into Stealth Rocks = Real dead Swellow, real quick.

I'd stick with the Swellow moveset you have right now, but I would suggest changing the nature from Adamant to Jolly.

To deal with you status, specifically sleep issues, I would suggest a resttalk Blastoise or Lanturn in place of Nidoking because you already have Clefable fufilling pretty much the same role. A resttalk Blastoise also helps you deal with your Glaceon problem because (quoting from the analysis), "all it can must is a neutral non-stabed hit". Which Blastoise has no problem taking.

Agreeing with the above poster, the two Hitmon sets are jus to close to each other to be viable. If one of them worked as a lure to open up a whole for the other one to sweep then I could see using them both, much as you could use Salamence to open up a Dragonite sweep in OU.
 
Actually, neither Clefable or Hitmontop can be EVd to counter Glaceon effectively, as a Choice Specs Ice Beam from 394 SpA will 2HKO them both respectively. This fact leaves them incapable to switch in, and will only make them function to an extent as revengekillers, which part is already covered a whole lot better by Hitmonlee.

If you are planning on keeping your moveset on Nidoking, which I recommend you do due to your big Timid CM Grumpig weakness in your team which according to DjD's stats currently is by far the most common Grumpig-set, I would recommend running a different EV-spread. 216 Speed with Naive/Hasty nature allow you to outrun these pesky Grumpigs which can make all the difference in the world as special based Nidokings tend to lure out most Grumpigs. In addition, Grumpig won't revengekill Nidoking anytime soon, while you'll get a free kill if they decides to go for it. With Life Orb, 40 Atk EVs is enough to OHKO a full health Grumpig, and in my opinion that's the biggest reason to even run Megahorn, while the additional coverage on Hypno, Lunatone, and Solrock is a great bonus.

However, I think you should take a look at what your Nidoking *don't* cover. A good wallbreaking-duo is necessary for a offensive team to work effectively in UU as even the most threatening Pokémon in UU got some solid counters. Nidoking is in my opinion one of the few exceptions as nothing really can switch in and still being safe.

Rotom is an issue, and resist three of Nidokings moves, and althrough it can't sponge any of your hits very effectively it can definitely switch in a couple of times. It's not like you can spam Ice Beam everytime Nidoking is on the field for the max damage on Rotom. Althrough you could run Shadow Ball to deal with it, I wouldn't recommend losing your OHKO on Grumpig and Hypno, and the dual attacking is priceless on a wallbreaker - STAB or not. Luckily for you, Clefable does quite a good job against Rotom, being able to sponge a couple of hits and easily Softboiled of the damage taken. But lets face it, Fire Blast and Grass Knot is not the best combination you could've used. Shadow Ball and Focus Blast provides a far better coverage, and will provide a super effective hit on Rotom in particular. While Fire Blast and Grass Knot is a great combination otherwise, Grass Knot just lacks the power in UU to work as an efficient wallbreaker in UU. However, Clefable is royally screwed by TrickScarf versions, and considering Clefable is a huge defensive asset to your team its definitely going to make a dent. For this, I suggest a CurseMuk:

Muk @ Leftovers
Ability: Sticky Hold
EVs: 252 HP/80 Atk/176 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Curse
- Shadow Sneak
- Gunk Shot
- Explosion

While Muk isn't a traditional wallbreaker, it's definitely a great defensive - yet offensive - asset to your team, and Sticky Hold allow you to counter any Trick-user, really - Rotom in particular. But most importantly, Muk will promote a sweep, gives you a decent switch-in on Fighting types, and creates a great synergy with the rest of your team. I would consider getting rid of Swellow as both are countered quite nicely by Steelix, if not, I would consider getting rid of Hitmontop and maybe squeeze in Fire Blast on Muk to wear down Steelix enough for even Swellow to kill off Steelix, and that's gonna promote to another possible sweep.

With Muk, you can actually afford getting rid of Altaria too if you need some insurance against Glaceon. Lapras is the first Pokémon who crosses my mind, and is generally a good switch-in due its quadruple resistance to Ice, and doesn't really need any defensive EVs to take hits well. With Dragon Dance it's also a quite potent sweeper, and fits perfectly into your team.

Good luck. :)
 
Thanks, all. I think i'll switch out Altaria for Muk... and give it a few SpD EVs to fend of ice beamers? Rag, I tried Gunk Shot, and four misses in a row just didn't work. Poison Jab what I'm using currently...

Some minor troubles with Toxicroak, Blastoise and Lanturn get 2HKOed and are kind of set up material...

Tuskate, I'm gonna switch up my King set... more speed less attack. 40 Evs? Alright.

I normally use Top to scout for Lee counters and... perhaps i should give pursuit another try...I'll also use Life Orb, seems to be helping.
 
This team has potential, but it's very weak to several pokemon. Once Muk is down, it's hard for you to counter the likes of Hypno and Grumpig. Glaceon isn't that rare, I use one. :) But, anyway, use Lapras, like Rag said. It would be great with your team.

Hope I helped. :)
 
Techni, thanks for your input. Nidoking can OHKO Hypno/Grumpig.

Infamous, if i switch out life orb for Toxic orb, some 2hkos on Fable get reduced to 3HKOs. Though... around 80% to Hypno/Grumpig does seem interesting...
 
If you were wondering, Adamant Swellow will be slower than positive nature max speed base 110+s and scarfed Glaceon.

Consider Sucker Punch as the last move for Nidoking if you do decide to get rid of Megahorn since it'll hit stuff like Froslass and priority on a pokemon is always nice...... or you can use Stealth Rock. Your team does not have stealth rock. It wants the rocks. The rocks will help your team out T__T
 
Ok, I've been playing with this team a lot lately... trying to get a feel for how it works and everything, and I can say that it's ridiculously good. I do have a few suggestions though.

1. Put Grass Knot and Fire Blast back on your Clefable, you need the extra power of Fire Blast to 2HKO Weezing, and you without Grass Knot you are hopeless against Curse Gastrodon who will gladly get free curses and sweep you with ease if it comes in on Clefable or Altaria. It also helps against Vileplume and Venusaur who if they were to run a physically bulky set would wall your attacks and prey on your weaker defenses (since you're not INCREDIBLY bulky)

2. Glaceon is a HUGE problem, however when I was using the team, I found that Poliwrath over Hitmontop served me far better.

Poliwrath @ Leftovers
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Atk
Relaxed

Hydro Pump
Ice Punch
Focus Punch
Substitute

This is the best set that Poliwrath has available to him. Hydro Pump has amazing utility and should really be used over Waterfall every time. It 2HKOs Weezing / Rotom / Claydol / Steelix with ease, and it's only 80 accuracy which means it's not THAT inaccurate. This helps your Glaceon problem, as well as an unseen Relicanth problem that you had. It has been far more useful to me than Hitmontop

3. Use Rest on your Altaria. Rest is all together better because in both cases (rest and roost) you will have to switch out afterwards anyway, and with Rest you lose the sleep because of Natural Cure. It's a no brainer here.

4. On Nidoking, use Earthquake over Earthpower. The things you want to use a Ground attack on are weaker to it than Earth Power. The only thing that it hits harder is Steelix, but Steelix is 2HKO'd by Earthquake anyway, so it's not switching in. And Ice Beam does ~70% to it, so you should have no problem taking Steelix down even without Earth Power.

5. With your Toxicroak problem, you don't have any real "checks" against it, but your opponent can not afford to Swords Dance on any of your Pokemon, and many times relies on Sucker Punch to beat you. Because of this, immediately switching to Nidoking is a great way of taking it out because none of Toxicroak's attacks can OHKO you and you destroy it with Earthquake. It's not a fix, just a "how you can play it" help.

6. Take off the Choice Band on your Hitmonlee and put a Life Orb on it. The loss of power is negligable and doesn't really matter on any OHKOs / 2HKOs and it affords your Hitmonlee far more sweeping potential. I've been using Sucker Punch over Mach Punch, but that's largely a personal thing and isn't a change that NEEDS to be made.
 
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