1st 1st UU Team, Needs Help (Peak 1320 Points PO)

[FPlease]

Hey, this my UU I have ever created at a competitive stand point. Well hopefully you and enjoy and most importantly help my team's success. Please remember I do play on the PO servers because there are a lot more people to play so consider that roserade is banned. My previous teams were for some reason always naturally weak to roserade.

Building Process

I started with hitmontop. Best spinner in UU when donphan was brought up a tier. Rapid spin has always been important to me in UU with the common bunch of hazards in UU. Hitmontop ended being my physical wall in my team.

Deoxys-D was my second choice for my team. You don't get a lot of choice when it comes to good spikers in UU (remember no roserade!) luckily deoxys-D in UU and IMO the best spiker in UU. Synergy wise it pairs well with hitmontop.

Zapdos is a great Pokemon and fortunately is available in UU. If my starting core was going to be fighting/psychic, yanmega and swellow came to mind as pokemons that could instantly ravage my team. Zapdos typing allows to resist bug and flying types which my core needed. As well as that, bolt/beam is more potent in UU that it is in OU, well atleast thats how it feels.

My team was looking pretty weak to chandelure. It walls hitmontop and deoxy-D with relative low risk, so in comes houndoom it is immune/resist to both shandy's dual STABS! Flame charge houndom is, IMO the best set. After a nasty plot and flame charge, it pretty is much set with the ability to generally outspeed the rest of the opponents team it it was my most probable sweeper on my team.

I always have been a fan of rhyperior, when it gets a free switch in it can really punch a hole in the opponents team. With troll avalanche it has also OHKOed a few flygon in its time. it also worked as a counter to victini/darmanitan, damn both of them hit hard so rhyperior had a handy resist.

Uxie was a rather gimmicky poke in my team. It was a lagging tail set with trick room, u-turn and healing wish. Purely to support rhyperior and because of this, I did get some amusing of the bat rhyperior sweeps.

My team over all had some bulk issues. Especially houndoom, it was very frail and with LO and hazards wearing it down, it regularly just dies with out being attacked. Even though houndoom was one of the best in my team, I could do better. I decided to replace with porygon2, porygon2 still countered chandy while being a lot more bulkier than houndoom.

Porygon2 was actually very underwhelming even with the download boost it didn't quite do the damage I hoped it to. Even with boosted thunderbolts suicune can just setup on it along with others. Scolipede then became my setup sweeper. The main problem with my team when I replaced houndoom was that I didn't have any big hitters so scolipede aided that very well. Scoliped also became a toxic spike absorbers which was problem?atic for my team.

As I said, uxie was rather gimmicky and became a dead weight. My team also needed a phaser as well as something that could more reliably place stealth rock on the field. Empoleon was the one. It was able phase, setup stealth rocks, counter shandy as well as pack decent SpA. When it is in torrent range, empoleon actually unintentionally does the mini sweep. With empoleon around replacing uxie. The viability of rhyperior was being challenged as well as having 2 fighting weaknesses in my team rhyperior had to go. I replaced it with a scarfer, my team could have done with some speed and and heracross provided nicely, with guts it also eliminated the need for a toxic spike soaker and instead offensively capatilize.

Sadly I now had a gaping darmanitan and victini weakness so I needed to replace something. Then in came chandy, the poke I always feared from the start is now in my team. It countered darmanitan and victini very well. They never flare blitz or v-create when chandy is around because of fear of giving the flash fire boost and when they do my shandy gets a free sub. As well as that chandy also doubles up as a heracross counter and a spin blocker as hazards have give a big component of my team.

Hitmontop @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Att / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin-Obviously used to spin away the hazards which threaten my team
- Close Combat- Main STAB attack, I prefer CC to hi jump kick which seems to be the other popular choice. I just don't want to be screwed over if I miss.
- Stone Edge-I used to have Sunny day on this slot, but things like chandelure, togekiss and crobat kept on switching in on poor hitmontop. So I decided to put in stone edge to give them a gift when they do decide to switch in.
- Toxic-Toxic is a must in any UU team. Too many walls and passive setup sweepers like quagsire and cradily running around. Also very good at nailing incoming ghost switch ins like dusclops and Subbing mismagius.

Hitmontop is my dedicated physical wall on this being able to stop things like weavile sweeping my team. Overall hitmontop is great and right now seems irreplaceable unless another spinner suits my team better.

Deoxys-D @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 32 SpD / 228 Spe
Timid Nature
- Seismic Toss- Seismic Toss a standard on Deoxy-D and really whittles down sweepers that attempt to switch into deoxy-D. With combination of hazards seismic toss can actually 2HKO/3HKO its main threats and rapid spinner including cocky hitmontops that want to rapid spin away really limiting deoxys-D's counters.
- Spikes-Spikes is spikes, what else could you ask. Very useful against things without recovery.
- Taunt-Taunt is also a must in my eyes. Taunt pretty much shut downs other walls attempting to challenge deoxys-D while pressure it PP stalling their attacking moves causing more switching.
- Recover-Recovery is needed to help shutdown other walls.

Right now deoxy-D is just a straight up stall breaker. Its natural bulk also allows to take hits as well. Thinking of replacing seismis toss with night shade not entirely sure which is better. Currently deoxys-D is irreplaceable unless a better spiker gets brought down into UU.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Roost-With out roost zapdos would end up being pretty mediocre. Roost is very useful when pressure stalling which zapdos can successfully do.
- Thunderbolt-Main STAB does a truck load to anything that doesn't resist aside for snorlax and p2.
- Hidden Power Ice-Used for psuedo Bolt/beam coverage which is very useful in UU like I said previously.
- Heat wave-A filler move pretty much. Not using that often unless the occasional ferroseed comes along, then this move is very useful.

Zapdos is just here for added resistances, it sports great natural bulk to do so as well as doing some major damage with great coverage. Right now I don't see anything else that that can do what zapdos does without the decrease of coverage.

Chandelure @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 88 HP / 168 Spe
Modest Nature
- Substitute-Substitute is always threatening on ghost types, it's just a fact. Shandy can utilize this very well with ample opportunities it can easily get a free one.
- Energy Ball- This move was recommended by Moo and it currently a great inclusion. Bulky waters can now get 2HKOed with hazad support.
- Fire Blast-My main STAB fire blast along with great SpA gives a lot of 2HKOs so nothing can really switch in on it.
- Shadow Ball-My second STAB used when it does more damage than fire blast or when I need a 100% accurate move.

Chandelure is my newest member of my team so I am still testing it. I am thinking about adding Life Orb instead of lefties for that added power and making pain split that bit more effective. The HP investment is to survive a CB crunch from stoutland.

Heracross @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 Att / 24 Hp / 232 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Megahorn-Megahorn is an epic move to the very least. One of heracross's powerful STABS an is great for nailing deoxy-D
- Close Combat-Heracross's second STAB fighting will always be potent in pretty much any tier. Great for eliminating snorlaxs and p2s
- Pursuit-A suggestion by Moo, pursuit hasn't actually been used yet but I can see the potential. Used for trapping stall orientated ghosts like dusclops and cofagrigus.
- Stone Edge- Fighting and Rock is great coverage. One of the reasons why terrakion destroys unprepared teams.

Overall heracross has great coverage for a sweeper and is very helpful for revenge killing and to stop prominent normal types.

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Roar-My teams phasing move. It is mainly to stop things that manage to try to passively setup like suicune, togekiss and snorlax.
- Stealth Rock-Stealth Rocks is considered the best move although that description can be open for interpretation.
- Scald-Empoleons Main STAB as well as being an attempt to burn physical threats.
- Toxic-My second toxic user for some insurance. I hating loosing games when I could have one them is a managed to toxic something so I mustn't sack hitmontop/empoleon too early because of this.

Over all empoleon has great typing with the ability to wall a lot of things as well as phase my opponents. Best steel in UU IMO.

Hopefully you can give me some good feedback on how to improve my team. Thanks for reading.

 

[Moo]

hey, this team is looking pretty good. You seem to have everything well covered.

First, try out Pursuit over Night Slash on Heracross. If Night Slash just feels like a filler move for you, then you might appreciate the ability to trap ghost-types more. You can catch fleeing ghosts as they switch out, effectively allowing Heracross to trap them, which will your team, because nothing can really take on the Ghosts if Empoleon is weak.

Ice Beam is a must on Empoleon. I know Toxic is important in UU, but think about the things that usually switch into it: Roserade, Shaymin, etc. You're much better off being able to punish them for thinking they can switch in for free. Hitmontop is much better at poisoning bulky Water-types anyway (which are the main Pokemon you want to hit with Toxic), as they tend to switch into him more, and Empoleon can simply use them as set-up fodder for Stealth Rock / phaze them with Roar.

I've found from experience that Pain Split isn't all that necessary on Chandelure if you use it right. I suggest running Energy Ball over it, to hit Swampert for a clean OHKO, and other things. The extra coverage can come in handy, and with Substitute and Leftovers, you can usually scare your opponent and cause them to switch around a bit, getting free recovery from Leftovers. Energy Ball is a safe move to use against bulky Water-types, and it also comes in very handy because it allows you to 2HKO Blastoise after Stealth Rock damage, which is good because Blastoise is one of the only spinners that can threaten Chandelure.

Deoxys-D is a cool stallbreaker, but I can see it failing against things like Roserade and Porygon2, because offensive variants can power through its great bulk. I suggest changing its EV spread to 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe with a Calm nature. This will let you take on stronger special attackers like Roserade and Porygon2 while still being able to set up Spikes and break stall. You're kinda weak to Zapdos too, so it will also help there.

Good luck with the team, I hope I helped!

 

[FPlease]

Thanks for the great rate!

First off I just what to say that I did write that I play on the PO server for more battles so that does mean there is no roserade so some of your comments are somewhat void because of that.

I have put pursuit on heracross but I haven't had the chance to apply it in battle yet (dusclops isn't getting usage lately.)

I am keeping toxic on empoleon because there is no roserade and shaymin isn't a big threat to my team in fact shaymin is one of common things I like to see my opponents teams. Other than that, for the other grass types toxic is just as good as ice beam reduce the effectiveness of seed stall shenanigans and annoying tangrowth with regenerator.

I have tried using energy ball on chandelure and I have to say I am impressed. I can now 2HKO bulky waters now with hazard support and over all energy ball is a move use more often than pain split.

As for specially defensive deoxys-D, once again there is no roserade so really the only wall I am afraid of is discharge p2 which you did identify. I normally switch in hitmontop against p2 and discharge only does 25% against empoleon while empoleon can hit back with toxic, so my game plan is to really just toxic stall the crap out of porygon2 or until I can bring my heracross on a predicted recover/toxic can get a free close combat in. Over all p2 isn't really a big threat when my opponent can't alleviate toxic on it. LO timid zapdos actually can't 2HKO deoxys-D even with stealth rock support, if its modest I can outspeed it and I can just recover stall as LO drains its HP away. Although I have decided to give deoxys-D a little more SpD investment but still have enough speed to outspeed modest base 100 which is a solid target.

Just a mention as well, I actually did used to run a specially defensive deoxy-D but it was too much of a setup fodder to too many things that like to subsitute as well as defensive zapdos and togekiss which had a much better time against my deoxys-D when they out speed me. Overall a fast taunt is the bane to many unprofessional stall teams.

I have also gave all my pokemon odd HP numbers as well. Although empoleon may want to get more damage from rocks to increase the possibility for torrent... maybe...

 

[Moo]

Well you're supposed to post teams based on smogon rules, so I made my rate based on that :P

Also, I didn't say this earlier because I didn't really have a reason to it, but you should definitely try out Life Orb Zapdos over the set you have. I couldn't really think of a reason yesterday, but I'm gonna suggest it anyways, simply because it's a fantastic mon, and is very dangerous and overpowering when used right. Here's the set, give it a try:

Zapdos @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Heat Wave
- Roost

Pretty much nothing can switch into this safely. Even things like Snorlax will be 2HKO'ed if they are previously weakened and you have entry hazards up. Leftovers on Zapdos is a bit weak, so you should try out Life Orb for a much appreciated power boost!

Glad you found my rate helpful

 

[FPlease]

Sorry for taking a long time to reply, I was just testing a LO orb set and to be honest, the total difference is really small and unnoticeable. They're times where I wish I had either. For Hidden Power Grass, I never liked it because of Nidoqueen and Nidoking. I will still continue to alternate the two to try and differentiate.

Thanks to your suggestions I have been able to Peak to 1350 and pursuit trapping troublesome azelfs help this team a lot as well.