Last gen I started out playing lots of OU and then slipped into the UU metagame where I had a lot of success, so this gen I've just been on my UU grind the whole time. I've been slapping teams together throughout the whole myriad of changes that went down in the tier, but once it settled into a pretty cohesive meta I put a solid amount of effort into making this team. I ended up peaking at #2 under the tag AllBlackErryThin with a rating of 1701. Since then I hit a stream of hax and bad play and plummeted back down the ladder into about the top 25ish. I think I've done about all I will do with this team, feel free to try it, make suggestions alterations and all such, lets get into it.
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The Team
Mega-Manectric
Item: Duh
Ability: LightningRod --> Intimidate
EV's: 252 Speed 252 SpAtk
Timid Nature
IVs 30Atk 30Spatk
- Hidden Power (Grass)
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Flamethrower
Mega-Manectric is a great poke in UU this gen almost entirely due to his ability to hit hard, keep momentum, and not have to rely on a choice item to do it. Intimidate is also a great ability to deal with some threats like Mienshao, and it allows him to take an eq if you are leading him against someone like swampert or even hippowdon. (provided they are uninvested) His moves are standard with the exception of hpgrass over hp ice. I prefer it because common switches into manectric can be OHKO'd by hp grass, and it generally just surprises people. By leading with Manectric against people who lead swampert or rhyperior, it often allows me to megavolve, cripple to OHKO with hp grass, and if they survive they just set up rocks, having expected a switch, which is a trade I am always willing to make.
Manectric fits the team due to his ability to clean late game, keep momentum, and deal with key threats
Victini
Item: Choice Specs
Ability: Victory Star
EV's 252 SpAtk 252 Speed
Timid Nature
- Blue Flare
- U-Turn
- Psychic
- Energy Ball
Specs-Victini is a revelation this gen. First off it just isn't that common, the surprise factor can net me a kill right off the bat as they switch to a common scarf or band counter expecting the v-create, and instead get slapped with a blue flare or psychic. To give you an idea of it's power, it 2HKO's physically defensive Arcanine. It does in the range of 45% to both florges and umbreon, meaning a little prior damage or a burn ensures a 2HKO. Blue flare is an amazing nuke, and unlike v-create you can continue to spam it without worrying about a speed drop. U-turn can be used to bluff a scarf set early on, or just as an easy momentum keeper if you don't have the damage on their special walls that you need. Psychic is a good secondary stab, hitting plenty of the tier neutrally as well as giving me an easy answer to Nidoking/Queen. It also 2HKO's a ton of switches for Band or Scarf Victini, like Mega-Blastoise, Donphan, and so on. Energy Ball is the final move, it comes in handy ever so often with stuff like gastro, but its rare that I will use it on the switch because almost everything that EB hits on the switch is still 2HKO'd by Psychic and it is just a safer choice.
There really is no great answer to Specs-Victini when played safely. All you need to watch out for is getting pursuit trapped after it has claimed it's victim.
Forretress
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EV's 252 HP 180 Def 76 SpDef
Relaxed Nature
0 Speed IV's
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rocks
- Volt Switch
- Toxic
Forretress has long been my favorite wall/utility mon, so I was sad to see him slipping out of relevance in OU last gen. However, his fall to UU has brought him new glory, and he is a fantastic UU pokemon at the moment. The moves are all pretty standard, but volt switch is especially useful, allowing me to keep momentum even after being put on the back foot by needing to switch forretress in. My team often causes umbreon and florges switches, and Forry is pretty much untouched by both of them, meaning I can set up rocks or spin with impunity. Having a healthy forretress to spin is always a priority though, as my team does not like rocks or tspikes, and
especially hates sticky web. If I don't get rid of Sticky web that can often be GG right there with all the volt/u-turners being too slow to do their job.
Mienshao
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Reckless
EV's 252Atk 252 Speed
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Poison Jab
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
Another classic 5th gen mon makes its appearence, scarf shao is still a huge threat. Reckless High Jump Kick still leaves a serious dent, and its fantastic speed makes it about the fastest pokemon in the tier when scarfed. (weird scarf Raikous not included) Again it can keep momentum with constant U-turns, steadily wearing down the opposing team unrelentingly. Knock Off can occasionally be useful on ghost switches, or taking eviolites, while poison jab is for particularly worn down florges, but I don't often find myself using it.
People seriously underestimate the power of Reckless Shao, it OHKO's scarf flygon, 2HKO's Ampharos etc etc.
Shao is also my answer to Honchkrow often times, as it lives a +1 suckerpunch after rocks to OHKO back, so if the opposing team has a Krow I have to play pretty carefully. Speaking of Honchkrow...
HonchKrow
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Moxie
EV's 252 Atk 252 Speed
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Brave Bird
- Superpower
- Pursuit
Honchkrow is in my opinion, the best pokemon in UU at the moment. He just hits ridiculously hard, and once he gets rolling with the moxie boosts he quickly becomes unstoppable. Since my team is all about the volt-turns it is easy to get Honch in safely and unleash hell. Pursuit+Suckerpunch is a deadly combo, and works especially well with Forry. This sequence happens often: They set up hazards, I get forry in, I 1st turn VS as they go to their Chandelure, I pursuit with Honchkrow, and now can safely spin hazards and have a +1 Krow to boot. At +1 Honchkrow is insanely powerful, most common revenge killers are OHKO'd after rocks by suckerpunch, and he has the power to take common walls down too, standard EV Forry (or what I have) gets OHKO'd after rocks too. With proper play Honchkrow should be taking 1 to 2 pokemon down a game, if not outright sweeping. Often with my team though, taking 1 to 2 pokemon is enough to leave holes for the rest of my team to sweep through, especially the fifth member:
Suicune
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EV's 252 HP 252 Def
Bold nature
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Scald
The classic of classics, Crocune is making its return hard this gen. I don't think I have to explain the set at all, but it fits perfectly in with the rest of my team. Crocune is so dangerous because often times teams will only have 1 or 2 pokemon who can stop its sweep, so after the rest of my team has run itself ragged and punched a bunch of holes, I often have already secured a Crocune sweep. It still suffers from it's age old problems though, so be very careful you don't try to set up when the opponent still has a Toxicroak waiting in the wings. The pokemon Crocune does well against it ruins, but the pokemon it doesn't beat tend to ruin it in return.
Besides its ability to sweep, it just has great defensive synergy with my team, being able to deal with stuff like Honchkrow before a moxie boost, or Scarf-Heracross, provided you play it safe.
Threat List
With a a very offensive team like this one (I'm wouldn't quite call it hyper-offense, but close) there are always a ton of threats because your team is pretty delicate. This team requires good predictions every game as well as planning several moves ahead in order to be effective, so it can tackle almost any threat with the proper play. The only ones I would set apart as
serious problems are:
--Mega Ampharos: He is OHKO'd by nothing on my team and can basically OHKO anything back. If suicune can get to +2 before he comes in she will win the 1v1, but it will take a bit and give amphy plenty of time to crit me. In order to handle him I basically need to sac something every time, and if he has solid wish support I am in serious trouble.
--Rotom-F: He also is very difficult to take down, and can pass his wisp around with impunity, again I rely on wearing him down with volt-turns to victini, and then maybe a choiced psychic. When I see him I make getting rocks up a serious priority.
--Toxicroak: SD croak is crazy hard for me to deal with, luckily he isn't very popular, but he beats pretty much every member of my team 1v1 except Victini if I can get him in before a SD. He also
loves Suicune, so I tend to switch Cune in on something, double switch to bait Croak in vs Victini and play from there. A healthy Manectric can also provide an answer with some intimidate support, but if he gets to +2 while at full health I'm in for a bad time.
Conclusion
This team works very well together and can play very cohesively. It relies on taking out key defensive pokemon on the opponents team through a combination of surprising power and constant pressure, and once it gets rolling it never relinquishes momentum. I had a lot of fun with it, and getting to play against the other top UU teams with it was always a blast.
Thanks for Reading!
