ORAS UU Acquiesce

IronBullet

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Introduction

Hey everyone, I'm back with another RMT which also doubles as my 2k! This has been my go-to team over the last few months but I've decided to retire it now pretty much with the advent of the new tier shifts. The team, with slight variations over the weeks, netted me a lot of success during SPL and was a huge part of my initial 5-1 run. The one that I'm posting today is the variant that I found to be the most consistent and reliable to use on the ladder and in tours. I think the main reason for its success is that the core is very solid and difficult to break through, so even though I kept most of the Pokemon in the team constant which made it rather predictable (as Cased told me countless times :P), it was still hard to beat. Most of the Pokemon are standard, but a couple have become relevant in UU only recently. People started realizing the value of Heliolisk during SPL as a Scald switch-in and cool sweeper with two nice STABs and base 109 Speed, while Bronzong has risen in popularity over the past few months as a great counter to some of UU's biggest threats in Mega Aerodactyl, the Nidos, Shaymin, and Kyurem.

The team itself started out with Mega Aerodactyl, easily one of the, if not the, best Pokemon in UU. I decided to use it for its potential to dominate all playstyles. It didn't matter whether the opponent was using stall, balance, or offense - Aero had the ability to win the game. There really isn't a reason not to use Aero as it's so adept both offensively and defensively thanks to its its well-rounded stats backed up by its absolutely blinding Speed. Not to mention it itself checks so many key offensive threats such as its fellow Megas Pidgeot and Beedrill, among other things like Salamence, Entei and Krookodile. So Aero was the focal point with the rest of the team built to support it in the form of hazards and powerful wallbreaking, with Aero in turn supporting them with its sweeping potential and ability to check key offensive threats to my team. Heliolisk and Krookodile form a two-punch core that teams found very difficult to stand up to, exerting immense pressure both specially and physically. They also possess extremely valuable resistances and immunities which allow them to offer some defensive support as well. Two supporting walls in Tentacruel and Bronzong help make transitions between offensive periods while setting up the hazards that make my sweepers so dangerous. Whimsicott acts as a glue of sorts, providing valuable resistances to Fighting, Dragon and Dark while being able to shut down all manner of random threats from bulky stat-uppers to setup sweepers thanks to its access to Prankster Encore.

What I like most about the team is its balance. Bulky offense has always been my preferred playstyle and this exhibits it really well. The team covers pretty much all the relevant UU threats while still allowing me to go on the offensive and put my opponent under pressure at any time. It's very important to have a defensive core to fall back on when things go wrong, and at the same time to have a way to break down my opponent's own core. And I feel that balance provides the best of both worlds in this sense. There are a few Pokemon that the team struggles with, but hey no team is without weaknesses right? Overall though the team performs well against most of the common team builds in UU, and the specific threats can always be played around. Although this is more of a showcase as I don't really plan on using the team anymore with the new drops, especially with Mamoswine being such a huge threat to it, I will still greatly appreciate any comments that you have and take into consideration anything that could make the team more suited to the new metagame.


In-Depth




Heliolisk @ Choice Specs
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hyper Voice
- Grass Knot
- Thunderbolt

Dry Skin alone makes it one of the coolest Pokes in UU. Seriously though with all the Scalds flying around you absolutely need a reliable switch-in to them. I make it a point to consider a Water Absorber or Dry Skin user for all my teams just because of the disgusting burn chance that makes even Water resists cry. Enter Heliolisk as the ultimate CroCune counter and premier switch-in to every Water-type in UU. It's also an amazing check to SD Aqua Jet Feraligatr. Its use is not limited to just beating up Waters, though. Equal base 109s in Special Attack and Speed combined with a great offensive typing make it the ideal Specs user. Helio hits incredibly hard with Thunderbolt and Hyper Voice, hitting a wide variety of Pokemon in UU for at least neutral damage. Volt Switch is the ultimate momentum clincher while still packing a mean punch, and Grass Knot provides important coverage against bulky Ground-types.

Life Orb versions are perhaps more common, but I really prefer the pure power of Specs. Hyper Voice does some crazy damage with the extra power, straight up OHKOing MixMence after SR, easily 2HKOing Swampert and Dragalge and dealing upwards of 75% to Hydreigon. Using Specs also removes the unnecessary recoil the Life Orb version sometimes accumulates by using Volt Switch against Pokemon it doesn't really hurt. It also somewhat compromises its special bulk which actually isn't half bad - it's able to tank Life Orb Shaymin Earth Powers at full health.

Heliolisk is usually what I aim to use early-game to put offensive teams under a lot of pressure. It's quite fast - with a base Speed of 109 it outspeeds a significant portion of the metagame, and importantly the Pokemon that sit at base 108 such as Infernape, Cobalion, and Virizion. Against teams lacking a Ground-type especially, Helio is an absolute terror and usually the Pokemon I lead off with to smack something hard with Volt Switch and put me on the front foot. Its only downside is its terrible physical bulk which makes it the least bulky member of my team, but thanks to its valuable Water immunity it is still quite important defensively. I really recommend trying this set out if you haven't, it's very fun to use! Raikou's exit has really given it the chance to shine.




Krookodile @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Krookodile forms the first part of the Krook / Cruel / Zong / Whimsi core that was the mainstay of my teams in the initial part of SPL. This guy just hits so damn hard with two great STABs and the base 117 Attack backed up by Choice Band. Knock Off is extremely helpful for crippling and breaking down physical walls for Mega Aero, seeing as Krook and Aero share a lot of counters. Entei and Heracross are the other premier wallbreakers I considered but what made me sold on Krookodile was its Electric immunity, access to STAB Knock Off, ability to trap Ghosts with Pursuit to make spinning easier for Tentacruel, and a higher Speed stat than the other two which allowed it to check the likes of Lucario and Entei itself. Superpower is mainly for smashing Hydreigon whose Life Orb set can be a real headache for this team to face if used well. I also prefer it for its ability to hit Snorlax and Blissey super-effectively.

Krook's main job is to break walls with its powerful moves to make Aero's job much easier endgame. This makes Krook my main weapon against stall teams, putting all my opponent's Pokemon under pressure right from the start with the threat of its powerful moves. Knock Off has great utility in removing Leftovers and Eviolite from Pokemon that give Aero a lot of grief, such as Suicune, Forretress, and Porygon2. Pursuit heavily weakens various other Aero checks like Cresselia, Doublade, and Slowking, while also trapping Ghosts to enable Tentacruel to spin more easily as mentioned earlier. Heliolisk also appreciates the removal of Ghosts as it allows it to spam Hyper Voice more freely. With the Ground typing Krook also ensures that VoltTurn teams don't have their way with me, although it has to be careful of switching into Electric types like Mega Ampharos, Rotom-C, and Magneton as they do have the coverage moves to hurt it. Krook also has a role as an emergency check to certain physical attackers thanks to Intimidate. In a pinch it can tank CB Sacred Fires from Entei, +2 ExtremeSpeeds from Lucario, boosted Outrages from Mence, Aqua Tails from Aero, etc. and OHKO back (after Stealth Rock in the case of Mence and Aero). Not much else to say really, everyone knows what this set does and it's one that's simply grown in effectiveness over time.




Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 240 HP / 244 Def / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes
- Scald
- Acid Spray

Tentacruel is one of my favourite Pokemon to use because it just offers so much utility. It spins away the rocks which Aero despises. It sets up the Toxic Spikes which Helio, Krook, and Aero all greatly appreciate. It checks powerful Fire- and Fighting-types like Entei, Mienshao, and Infernape. It spreads burns around with Scald. And it checks various bulky setup sweepers with Acid Spray.

Hazard control has become increasingly important with the rise of spike-stacking HO teams that use Custap Forry or Froslass to get up hazards early, and Cruel really does my team a lot of good by getting rid of them reliably. With its numerous resistances and decent bulk it gets a lot of opportunities to switch in and do its thing. Due to the fact that it lacks reliable recovery, I often look to Heliolisk or Whimsicott to draw in things like Florges and Entei that they can pivot out of and give Cruel a free switch in. Toxic Spikes as mentioned before help my sweepers out a whole lot. Helio has trouble getting past the likes of Florges and Blissey for example, and forcing them to be afflicted with poison every time they switch in goes a long way towards helping it break past them. It's a similar story for Aero and Krook against their common counters such as Swampert, Suicune, and Alomomola. T-Spikes aren't essential to the success of the team though as constant offensive pressure can break through those walls just as easily, but they definitely come in handy on occasion. Scald is Scald, the bane of so many physical sweepers and the centrepiece of those beautiful Tentacruel vs Empoleon stall wars. It's the source of a lot of controversy among UU players but it can't be denied that it offers a ton of utility, burns are extremely helpful in checking physical attackers and in wearing foes down in general.

Acid Spray is a really cool recent find that enables Tentacruel to force out CMers like Florges and Suicune and not be setup bait. In general it puts a lot of pressure on more defensive teams, forcing them to constantly switch around and accumulate hazard damage which is really useful. Not to mention the additional coverage helps against Fairies and Grass-types like Aromatisse, Whimsicott, and Chesnaught. It also lets Tentacruel check Feraligatr in a pinch. While Swords Dance versions aren't a huge problem to the team as a whole, Dragon Dance can be an issue if Whimsicott is down, and Tentacruel has the physical bulk to take a couple of Crunches while wearing Gatr down with Acid Spray.




Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Toxic
- Earthquake

Zong's defensive potential in UU was recognised surprisingly late considering the number of threats it handily counters, but better late than never! This guy has risen to be one of the best defensive pivots in UU, being able to come in on so many attackers, both physical and special, and set up rocks or spread poison around. It really is one of most reliable Stealth Rock users in the tier; it just gets so many opportunities to set it up with its amazing bulk and resistances. Take a look at the viability rankings and see the number of S and A rank Pokemon it hard checks - Aero, Nidoqueen, DD Mence, Cresselia, Shaymin, Whimsicott, Abomasnow, Dragalge, Kyurem, Porygon2, Slurpuff, Tyrantrum. Sure it can't do much back to some of them but there's nothing like free rocks and Toxic usually handles bulky stuff anyway. Overall Zong just handles a ton of threats which my team would otherwise fall apart against.

Stealth Rock, Toxic and Earthquake are usually a given on support Zong, but I've mixed it up a bit when it comes to EVs and choice of STAB. Instead of maxing out either Defense or Special Defense I went for a mixed spread that gives Zong roughly equal defenses and makes it a fantastic mixed tank. The reasoning behind this was that it handles specially-inclined threats fine enough even with the reduced special bulk, while the increased physical bulk helps it greatly in tanking hits from the likes of Aero, DD Mence and Mega Abomasnow. The HP and Defense EVs give it enough bulk to never be 2HKOed by +1 Mega Aero's Aqua Tail while comfortably 2HKOing back with Iron Head. The rest is dumped into Special Defense to take on the Nidos, Kyurem, and Florges very comfortably. Speaking of Iron Head, the reason why I've gone for it over Gyro Ball is due to my quite large weakness to Mega Abomasnow. Gyro Ball doesn't do as much as I would like, while Iron Head allows me to comfortably 2HKO it while also outspeeding it thanks to not having to run a Speed-hindering nature. It also hits stuff like Aromatisse much harder, plus I'm paranoid about PP wars against stuff like SubRoost Kyurem lol.




Whimsicott @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 132 Def / 128 Spe
Timid Nature
- Encore
- Giga Drain
- Moonblast
- U-turn

Wouldn't be an IB team without Whimsi would it? :P What can I say I just love this little cotton ball. It's such an incredible fail-safe for so many threatening sweepers that I ended up just slapping it on a lot of my teams during SPL. DD Gatr, DD Mence, bulky stat-uppers such as Snorlax and Suicune, are all Pokemon that Whimsi can easily check by Encoring into useless setup moves. Other than checking setup sweepers it it's extremely useful against offense. Its excellent typing makes it a solid check to Hydreigon, Krookodile, Mienshao, Heracross, Kyurem, Mega Sharpedo, and Mega Swampert (provided I switch into the appropriate moves of course!). It can also Encore threatening sweepers into moves that don't particularly hurt the rest of my team as a last-ditch attempt to stop them. Whimsi's also extremely useful against more defensive teams, able to mess up Wish users and hazard-setters by locking them into useless moves and then U-turning as they switch out to gain priceless momentum.

Usually people go for the Life Orb attacker or all-out defensive set but I've gone for a sort of speedy bulky hybrid set here. The Speed EVs ensure I outspeed base 100s; I originally just wanted to outrun Hydreigon but I thought might as well add an extra point to outspeed Shaymin as well. The rest is put into Defense and HP to give it decent physical bulk, letting it switch into resisted hits easily such as Waterfall from Gatr and Sharpedo, Earthquake from Krook and Pert, and Fighting attacks from Heracross and Mienshao.

Moonblast, Encore and U-turn are self-explanatory, but I went for Giga Drain in the last slot over another support move like T-Wave or Leech Seed mainly because I wanted a reliable way to hit Water-types, in particular Mega Swampert because Moonblast doesn't do much to it at all. While Giga Drain hits Swampert hard it doesn't do much to the likes of Vappy and Jellicent, but along with Encore it does enough to force them out rather than having them stay in and simply stall me out if I happen to have gotten a burn from Scald or something. It also helps Whimsi stay relatively healthy, which is important as I do rely on it to check several threats.



Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Hone Claws
- Roost
- Aqua Tail
- Aerial Ace

The ultimate clean-up Pokemon against both offensive and defensive teams, and the team's primary revenge-killer due to my lack of a Scarfer. Aero just does its job so well, coming in to pick off weakened Pokemon or check key offensive threats, especially Mega Pidgeot, who has really only been stopped from rising to S rank due to Aero's presence. Aero actually has really nice bulk in its Mega form, so I can depend on it to take random hits like Mega Beedrill's U-turn or Krookodile's Knock Off and Roost them off quite comfortably.

Against offensive teams I usually don't find the need to boost up at all, Aerial Ace and Aqua Tail provide excellent coverage together and backed up by Aero's great Attack stat it can usually clean up offensive teams easily late-game. Against defensive teams though Aero's ability to sweep depends on how successful my other Pokemon are in breaking down the opposing team. If Toxic Spikes are up and my wallbreakers have sufficiently worn down the foe, then the stage is set for Aero to boost up to +1 and sweep with its powerful moves. Its good bulk also makes it notoriously difficult for stall teams to OHKO, I think only Mega Aggron has the capability to do that. And late-game it's very unlikely that anything on a defensive team can survive two +1 hits from Aero in conjunction with hazards.

It might seem odd that I've excluded Stone Edge from the moveset considering that it gains dual benefits from Hone Claws and the fact that it is Aero's most powerful move, but I have found that I never really missed it. The extra power does help sure, but I don't miss out on too many OHKOs or 2HKOs that make Stone Edge more valuable than the benefits I gain from using Aerial Ace. First thing is that Aerial Ace allows Aero to hit Grass-types super-effectively, especially Shaymin who my team has the potential to struggle against. My best bet against it apart from Aero is to Encore it into Synthesis with Whimsi or Toxic it with Bronzong which isn't the most reliable strategy considering it has Natural Cure. Stone Edge doesn't do nearly enough to Shaymin as I'd like, while Aerial Ace is a clean KO after rocks and one round of LO/poison damage. Other than that it's also very useful against the likes of Chesnaught and Whimsicott, who Krook has obvious difficulty getting past. I also really prefer the increase in accuracy. I'm kind of paranoid about this but I would rather not leave it up to an 80% chance to revenge-kill a weakened Hydreigon, for example, when Aerial Ace does the job almost equally well but with perfect accuracy. The extra power does definitely come in handy against the likes of Cresselia and Suicune for sure, but in most cases I find that they are weakened sufficiently enough that Aerial Ace can do the job. I did consider Stone Edge + Aerial Ace, but Aqua Tail was just too useful for its ability to hit Steel-types neutrally and Ground-types, in particular Hippowdon and Nidoqueen, super-effectively.

I also used Taunt sometimes over Hone Claws because I found in some matches that I didn't really need the boost from Hone Claws to sweep late-game, and Taunt was quite valuable in shutting down Pokemon like defensive Cresselia, Whirlwind Hippowdon, Snorlax, even Suicune in a pinch. In general it prevented defensive Pokemon from setting hazards or boosting up, which was very useful against stall and balance. I interchanged them quite flexibly in SPL depending on who I was facing.


Conclusion

In conclusion I'd just like to thank you guys for opening and reading this RMT, I hope you enjoyed it! I also thank you in advance for any rates or feedback you might have. I must say I didn't quite know what to expect when I rejoined the community in July last year, but my second stay has been as eventful and enjoyable as my first. I've made some great new friends and renewed acquaintances with old ones, and as for the game itself I took a liking to ORAS UU almost immediately and I've only grown more and more fond of it as the metagame has developed.


Shoutouts

Sam, Bouffalant, King UU, aim, dodmen, radianthero156, Ernesto, Meru, and all my other #xyuu buddies, it has been a great pleasure to get to know you guys (except Meru we know each other from before :P), my experience here wouldn't have been the same if the UU community wasn't as fantastic as ever.

RMT and Battling 101 teams, all of you are wonderful to work with. Jirachee is a cute co-leader n_n

#scooters! Thanks in particular to IZANAGI-NO-OKAMI and bro fist for drafting me and believing in me over the course of the season even during my late slump, was a pleasure. Cased and New Breed too for helping me out with the team and all the testing :)

ium n_n <3 dog.


Threatlist (biggest ones)

DD Feraligatr: Whimsi handles it fine if it uses Waterfall / Crunch / DD, but if it gets hit with Ice Punch on the switch and KOed then Gatr will be extremely hard to deal with if it manages to grab a boost later. At least if it uses Ice Punch it means that it won't have used DD making it easy to revenge.

Mega Abomasnow: Can sweep my team clean if Bronzong is gone, which it is always in danger of if my opponent packs a Pursuit user. Krook can take a +1 Ice Shard and KO with Superpower and Tenta can Acid Spray but that's pretty much it.

Life Orb Hydreigon and MixMence: Really hard to deal with because they have the coverage moves to hurt both Zong and Whimsi. I need to predict carefully to avoid switching Whimsi into Fire Blast (Sam :P) but they can both be revenged fairly easily.

Scarf Mienshao: Must keep Tentacruel and Whimsicott healthy in order to avoid a HJK late-game sweep. Aero and Bronzong can tank one in a pinch.
 
Personally, I don't see the purpose of having Iron Head over Gyro Ball, Iron Head may or may not be more reliable sure, but Gyro Ball deals sever damage to anything remotely fast.
 

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