BUMP
edit: removing pastes of squads for now coz ngl kinda forgot uupl is coming up, but will put them back when I feel like it.
hello friends i played adv uu this year for uu snake (go dragonairs woo) and would like to share the teams i used + the small amount of metagame thoughts i had. i've always enjoyed this tier but this tournament took adv uu to the next level imo and i was happy to be a part of it.
to start off the season i just wanted to start with something "solid." as vague as that is, solid to me in this tier is packing as many tools as possible. this team managed to utilize spikes, aroma, wish, and spin all while managing a fair amount of offensive presence. nothing special, just a balance attack hoping to wear down teams with kang / glig / tenta with spikes. might not be a secret anymore but i basically run qa on most of my gligs because its so useful as an emergency button, should probably start mixing in some iron tail.
for this particular week i was up against star and while i firmly believe he's one of the best overall players on the site, i knew one advantage i might have was overall knowledge of the tier. he was probably going to be passed a team, so if i could build something solid with a few not-so-common sets thrown in i think id have a good chance. spd kang was something i hadn't used much at all (at this point) and that + heal bell ampharos felt like a good support start. amph is really hard to fit on spikes due to compounding ground weaknesses so i just went the spikeless route, relying on wish + heal bell + offensive pressure to give me an overall edge. he ended up bringing an interesting water spam, luckily walrein + kang + amph provided a perfect counterplay to this, especially with hp ice amph being able to lure glig.
at this point there were 2 pokemon i really wanted to bring that i hadn't yet: scyther and muk. both were threatening and useful enough to build solid teams around and i kinda just played with teammates until i felt comfortable with something. i really didn't have much omastar / spikes use in general from previous tours and i felt like now might be the time to break out as offensive a spikes scyther squad as i could muster. kang / scyther / nido / manec form as threatening of an offensive quartet as you can find in adv uu, and surprisingly enough provide equally important defensive counterplay to threats simply through typing and speed. omastar and walrein were just thrown on for spikes and as an overall glue, respectively. admittedly, walrein is a really bastardized set, but i needed to fit another glig check, tenta switch, and basically a mon that could check anything at least once. enter roar walrein. this way i could check what i want, abuse spikes through roar as well as get rid of any annoying opposing boosters, all while still providing offensive pressure with invested ice beam + eq coverage.
if i didnt use it last week i was going to use it this week. muk, as ive alluded to before, is such an amazing mon. it's basically the snorlax of adv uu if snorlax didnt have to contend with sand damage. great stats, stab sludge bomb, all the coverage it needs to lure potential counters and explosion to round it all out certainly make it a top tier threat. traditionally, 2 atk curse rest would be the normal set. unfortunately, this kinda pigeon holes the rest of the team members you can possibly use. kanga + muk + a beller means you are most likely running altaria, it being the only beller that can reasonably check the grounds that give curse muk problems. apart from altaria being a complete shit do-nothing mon other than toxic and hb, it basically guarantees that you need spikes to gain enough offensive pressure, and from there you only have 2 slots to do what you want. don't get me wrong, i've seen this specific team structure work, it's just not really my style so i decided to look elsewhere. i still really wanted to use curse + 2 attack and realized that its poison typing provided built in protection vs the only status im really worried about. i slapped on protect > rest on muk, took some inspiration from a previous bouff squad i had, and felt comfortable putting together the rest of the mons. cm lunatone pairs incredible well with muk, providing boosting pressure from both attacking sides and luna being able to check non itail gligar with ease. spin tenta + golem provide much needed spin + the kang/ scyther check i needed, and sd reversal scyther is an amazing wincon in case everything else goes to shit.
didn't have the motivation i usually have when it comes to building so i was going to bring a linoone squad for most of the week. last minute i pussied out because i didn't want to be a douchebag and i just loaded up a bouff squad that i altered a little bit to my liking. basically just a solid double ground balance. got slightly lucky with a speed tie vs qwilfish, otherwise gligar just cleaned tf up. also my first usage of 2 atk tox kang !
almost all of ftl's leads were waters or elecs and i had been wanting to run lanturn so i was like bop this is the week. lanturn automatically makes builds a little awkward because you're using a water slot on something that doesn't check grounds. oh well, slap on the best ground check we have in xatu and we're off to a cool start. lanturn / kang / xatu / oma came together pretty quickly and then i noticed nido slotted in nicely, specifically queen because i had formulated this particular set i wanted to try. i had a lot of trouble deciding on the last slot, i could use another glig check and i literally had never used a ghost before this so thought it might be time to throw in a spin block. again, this is the only set i'd really consider running on missy and i think it worked out pretty well.
last week of the season. i actually had cooked this up the week prior but i promised ip that i wouldnt bring it vs ftl. this obviously is a far cry from what i've traditionally brought and definitely more on the matchup fishy side, but i had been wnating to bring magmar for a while, noticed it didn't really have much use for its 4th slot other than sunny day and thought why not push "sun" as far as i could go. charcoal magmar was the base, threw on vileplume to take secondary advantage of sun. oh and what other broken offensive threat might be able to? morning sun scyther lgi. kang + oma were just offensive staples to round it out and why not slap on electrode to just blanket check everthing with speed and explosion.
i had a couple builds in mind for this because 1. it was playoffs and 2.bkc is probably the most respected overall adv player of all time. looking back on it, i wish i would of brought the spikes nido squad i had loaded in the back (fun fact: all previous attempts at bringing a nido of any sort had been unrevealed), but going into it i felt really confident in this pick. i wanted to use something with enough pressure to break thru defensive shit while simultaneously using some mons that bouff or bkc might not expect me to bring. tox kang had continued to pick up in usage and my rocker could use some variation, so i immediately thought about building around double cb aggron + scyther. i could use wish kang to keep them healthy and then just fill out the rest of the team with glue. overall i think this is a really unique team and banders need to be explored more in general. unfortunately bkc brought a really tight squadron with a good enough mix of defensive and offensive prowess to break through.
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Metagame thoughts:
Leads
novel concept but the lead slots in adv uu tend to revolve around the 3 best mons in the meta.
kang simply 1v1s most mons in the meta, fast or slow depending on the set, so naturally it flourishes when you're trying to gain an edge.
omastar checks kang and is the best spikes setter in the tier so again, naturally, it also leans towards being a good lead. and then you have
walrein, who similar to kang has the bulk + offensive fortitude to stack up well vs most threats. it can hold its own against kang (kinda) and obliterate oma with hp grass as well so it has that going for it. beyond those big 3, you have a branch-off of what i see as quality leads in adv uu. usually these are going to be your
electrics and
fighters. wanna deter oma / walrein and gain some offensive momentum? manectric and lanturn are your guys. also, if you didnt already notice, all 3 of the big leads are weak to fighting. so, while generally not as momentum grabbing as elecs (due to there being a bunch of diverse checks), fighters can fulfill a similar role.
KINGHASKHAN
there's not a ton i want to touch upon when it comes to kang; it being the best mon in the tier kinda speaks to how important it is anyways. despite this, i KEEP seeing people load up cb kang (it was brought twice vs me) and something needs to be said. i get that in a vacuum its a solid cber, but thats just completely ignoring how dominant a mon it is outside of being locked into a move. kang is so good because it kills everything and outlasts everything. you're trading all of its upside for a little extra power on a choice-locked normal attack. adamant double edge + coverage is still chunking whatever you could possibly need and you get to keep lefties + broken early bird rest. if you need fake out priority i would advise you to reverse and find another way to beat salac mons.
in terms of what sets kang should be running, it seems like the meta has basically devolved into 2 main sets: offensive and spd wish. offensive sets are your traditional adamant spread + whatever mix of bulk and speed your specific squad needs. i tend to lean towards outrunning neutral base 70s as a good midground no matter what. offensive is basically dedge / eq / rest / and a choice between sball or toxic. sball provides immediate answer to potential checks such as missy or the psy/rocks, while tox can help vs the same threats long term while also just providing good tox spam in general. spd sets were traditionally wish tox protect but as esche astutely pointed out, kang still has broken early bird rest so its hard to argue that wish + rest is is not the dominant defensive set with all the tox running around. that said tho, if you can fit a beller onto a squad (not hard), protect still has a ton of benefit.
Underrated Mons
just a quick rundown of some mons i think need some more use.
xatu is numero uno on this list. it has a great speed tier, great offensive typing + ground immunity, and just a godly movepool. oh and have we covered broken early bird rest?. having said all that, it really only needs one set: cm/ psychic/ reflect/ rest. xatu absorbs status, checks gligar, can cm sweep, supports the squad with reflect (may i remind you best mon in the tier is kang), and outruns everything other than tenta + the 105 crowd. this mon is awesome and it's not getting the usage it deserves.
ampharos is everything u want in a electric other than the speed. it has the highest spa stat in the tier, so even when you're running a bulk spread its doing damage. the main selling point is heal bell though, and as ill expand upon later, heal bell is good ! with waters being as good as they are and most elec checks being hp ice weak, amph provides a refreshing plug to some specific team arches.
muk checks every non-psychic special attacker in the tier, is immune to toxic , and curse boosts with sludge bomb stab. this mon is always going to be a threat, and while teams might need to be more specifically tailored to support it, i believe its cemented itself as a base for one of the better team arches in the tier.
slowking, in a similar vein, is a mon that can check a plethora of shit on the physical side while simultaneously cm boost with some great stabs. both really prefer heal bell support, but aside from that can be great standalone bulky boosters. lastly,
golem is basically my plead that spikes (omastar) are 100% not absolutely needed in adv uu. on almost all of my non spikes teams, golem fills the kang + scyther check role. quakeedge coverage coming off 110 base atk is going to hurt everything, and tox protect just adds the bread and butter for it to check what it needs + annoy any potential switchins. it has the added bonus of being able to run rock blast as well, meaning its one of the best ways to check reversal scyther without random priority.
Overrated Mons
now for me to shit on some mons.
hypno, despite my use of it week 1, has firmly proved that it is not of the top tier ilk anymore. once upon a time, i think people saw great spd stats + wish and automatically assumed it was the bee's knees. unfortunately, with toxspam being at an all time high and hypno having to check things with sheer bulk most of the time, its use has kinda faded out. not only that, but as was explained earlier, spd kang has quickly become one of its better sets, and on any team you're running that, hypno is just an afterthought. ive literally run
misdreavus exactly 1 time in adv uu and that was to change up my scouts + wanting to try tox / psy / taunt / pain split, which is probably the only set i would run. i don't know why people run cm anymore, it doesnt have the power to back up its non-stab moves and just gets overrun by most of what it's trying to check or even spinblock.
fearow is bad, scyther is going to be your offensive flyer + priority most of the time and if ur running scythe + fearow the team is already a bit iffy.
solrock doesn't really check kang apart from explosion so i don't really get the use behind it, other than that lunatone is better. maybe cb can be cool on like a double rock cb squad (other rocks are probs better if you only want one rock bander) but ive yet to try out. ill never get
blastoise usage because theres way better waters and if you want a water spinner tenta checks the grounds you wanna beat just by outspeeding them and is just better.