Ask a Simple Question, Get a Simple Answer - UU Edition

Halcyon.

@Choice Specs
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ok why are drought and sand stream banned and not drizzle?
There's no Pokémon that can have Drizzle in UU or below. For sand there's Hippopotas and for sun there's Vulpix. Neither of Politoed's pre-evos got Drizzle, so unless it drops to UU usage levels (lol), there wouldn't be any need for a ban.
 
is a spinner necessary for stall? i'm trying to aid my friend in making his stall team, and it seems one would be - after all, you'll be doing a good amount of switching, and you want to keep your team as healthy as possible.

but the spinners in the tier are a little... yeah.
 

TPO3

Never practice; Always perform.
I think full stall is one of the few kinds of teams where a spinner is actually necessary. Normally you would be able to keep hazards off the field with offensive pressure, or just use a more offensive team where the game is over in a short amount of turns, but in full stall where you're constantly switching, having hazards on your side of the field would be devastating. I think having a spinner on full stall is definitely needed.
 
IMO you should also look at what kind of opportunities your team presents for hazards setters. Like do you have a bulky water for Roserade to switch into and what can it do to possible Roserade switchins, do you have something to immediately scare out the Nidos, does your electric carry HP grass etc.

Also I am wondering what do you guys do with Honchkrow? It doesn't really lend a tonne of defensive synergy to teams, it gets worn down really quickly, Sucker Punch makes it easy to play around, and even if it gets a boost there are the ubiquitous fighting types to tank a Sucker Punch and revenge kill. Help me learn to stop worrying and leave the bird.
 
Also I am wondering what do you guys do with Honchkrow? It doesn't really lend a tonne of defensive synergy to teams, it gets worn down really quickly, Sucker Punch makes it easy to play around, and even if it gets a boost there are the ubiquitous fighting types to tank a Sucker Punch and revenge kill. Help me learn to stop worrying and leave the bird.
Honchkrow can definitely be hard to use sometimes, but it has the potential to sweep entire teams. This'll be the set I'll analyze and recommend for you to use:
Honchkrow @ Life Orb
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Sucker Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit
First off Brave Bird is an excellent move in UU, looking at a lot of teams you'll find no more than 1 resistance to Flying, and some teams don't have a Flying resist at all. Honchkrow's other 2 STAB moves Sucker Punch and Pursuit are what make Honchkrow even more deadly. These two moves result in huge mind games for your opponent, as both hinge on whether or not they attack or switch out, and predicting wrong can often lead to an early Honchkrow sweep.

Ideally you don't want to bring Honchkrow in more than 1 or 2 times a game, as Life Orb, Brave Bird, and Stealth Rocks all really take a toll on the bird and make it much harder for it to sweep for extended periods of time. The best situations for Honchkrow to come in on are weakened walls and things Choice locked into a move. To get a good idea of how powerful Honchkrow is, here are some calcs for Honchkrow against UU's most common walls:
252+ Atk Life Orb Honchkrow Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blastoise: 196-231 (54.14 - 63.81%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Life Orb Honchkrow Superpower vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Umbreon: 335-395 (85.02 - 100.25%) -- 6.25% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Life Orb Honchkrow Superpower vs. 144 HP / 188 Def Snorlax: 403-476 (81.08 - 95.77%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

-1 252+ Atk Life Orb Honchkrow Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hitmontop: 273-322 (89.8 - 105.92%) -- 43.75% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Life Orb Honchkrow Brave Bird vs. 240 HP / 252+ Def Swampert: 211-250 (52.61 - 62.34%) -- 98.83% chance to 2HKO

252+ Atk Life Orb Honchkrow Sucker Punch vs. 248 HP / 244+ Def Slowbro: 244-291 (62.08 - 74.04%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Life Orb Honchkrow Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 244+ Def Slowbro: 185-218 (47.07 - 55.47%) -- 16.41% chance to 2HKO

As you can see, Honchkrow has the ability the 2HKO all of these walls. After getting one boost Honchkrow is truly terrifying, as pretty much no wall can take a hit from it and almost any attacker will fall to a Sucker Punch.

The main ways Honchkrow's sweep will end after getting it's first boost are it dying to recoil, having to use Sucker Punch on a sweeper that resists it (this usually doesn't apply after getting a second attack boost), or facing a sweeper with Substitute (especially Sub-CM Raikou).

TLDR: Use Honchkrow as a wallbreaker and late game cleaner. Use Pursuit smartly and always keep in mind how powerful Brave Bird actually is against walls. Use Honchkrow's massive power and threatening nature to your advantage and reap the benefits of the most bad ass pokemon in UU.

I hope this is helpful to you and doesn't come across as me rambling =/
 
which pokemon can deal well or significantly weaken the gligar + umbreon core? or say any core revolving around a physical wall and a special wall? the only thing i can think of now is scrafty :/
 
One that I've used is Expert Belt/Life Orb Medicham. Ice Punch almost OHKOs Gligar and you can use Drain Punch freely against Umbreon and OHKO that. Youll have to watchout for Umbreon's Foul Play however as that had OHKOd my Medicham before in battle.

Sub-Bulk Up Scrafty also deals with them both excellently, their attacks don't come close go breaking Scrafty's Subs and Shed Skin lets Scrafty deal with and statuses the it gets hit with.
 

Arkian

this is the state of grace
is a Contributor Alumnus
which pokemon can deal well or significantly weaken the gligar + umbreon core? or say any core revolving around a physical wall and a special wall? the only thing i can think of now is scrafty :/
HP Ice Meinshao is a good Pokemon for that specific core, as it can HJK Umbreon (Foul Play hurts, despite the resist), and HP Ice Gligar. There aren't too many Pokemon that can break through both special and physical walls, although Mixed Pokemon can give them trouble. Examples of such Pokemon in UU include: Arcanine, Azelf, Houndoom, Kingdra, Sharpedo, Tornadus, Victini, and Zoroark.
Hope I helped ^_^
 

reachzero

the pastor of disaster
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Nasty Plot/Heal Bell Togekiss actually sets up on both Umbreon and Gligar, so it's probably the best wallbreaker for destroying that core. Just make sure you have a teammate that can cover Zapdos.
 
I would think Swords Dance Cobalion could also set up on both, would only really fear and EQ from Gligar as it 4x resists Foul Play.
 
Thanks PTJohn, I've been running a Honchkrow sweep oriented team and I've been pretty impressed by his raw power. I tend to shy away from Pokemon that don't have anything they can switch into easily but killing everything with a little support is not a bad trait either. Is it viable to run some other item like Lum Berry or Lefties? I'd like to be more aggressive with him early game but I really can't afford the SR damage.

Ooh we definitely need more people discouraging that core.

-SD Virizion can do it with a couple boosts, but it can set up easily on either part of the core.
-Superpower/HP Ice Eelektross can do it if you time the Superpower well.
-Sub BU Poliwrath can do it as long as it doesn't get Toxic'd before the sub goes up.
-Stallbreaker Crobat can kind of break the core but Foul Play does just a little too much damage for comfort.
 
wow thanks much guys for all these suggestions...they all look pretty great! will spend quite some time trying out some of those pokes haha
 
3 questions:
1. Why is Drought Vulpix banned yet Hippopotas isnt?
2. What are good sunny day setters in UU?
3. Who pairs well with Lilligant to form a core? Prefferably an FWG that can function in the sun
 
1. Hippopotas should still be banned, unless we've started testing sand in the meta.
2. Anything bulky that can avoid being OHKO'd most of the time would be acceptable at a bare minimum, otherwise consider type synergy for your team and then check which options can learn sunny day after that.
3. A FWG that can function under the sun...I'd be going with slowbro for the water part, as either him or slowking are the best due to being able to learn fire blast, while being bulky and able to take repeated hits, particularly from other fire, fighting and water types. As for the fire part...That's a bit harder and depends on personal preference.

-Type synergy wise, houndoom would work, especially with sucker punch to deter other fire types after some residual damage.
-Darmanitan is good if you have something to keep hazards off your field. No-one is dealing with Sheer-Force, Sun Boosted flare blitz anytime soon, with the exception of flash-fire pokemon and kingdra, who won't overly enjoy powerful coverage moves.
-Victini is a nice choice, as Sun-Boosted V-create is pretty damn terrifying, and deals with bulky waters well thanks to bolt strike, but V-create side effects leave it susceptible to being revenge killed moreso than the other two options listed.
-Arcanine is okay, but struggles badly with bulky waters. Morning sun is nice to keep it healthy though.
-Chandelure ends up being too slow without a scarf, or too weak with one, which doesn't help it with snorlax at such high usage. It does get memento though, which could really help you get lilligant in safely and set up quiver dances for it to sweep.
 
If I remember correctly, Hippopotas and Vulpix are perfectly usable (usable, not viable), just not with their weather-starting abilities, which are the ones that ended up being banned. The hippo is gonna get a test, though, so it might get unbanned. The reason for this is that the so-called 'weather abusers' for Sun are much more powerful than those for Sand, especially now that Sand Veil is banned from OU.
 

Iminyourcloset

OBJECTION! What do you mean I have a weakness now?!
is a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Hippo and Vulpix are completely "usable" in the sense they're not illegal, but they have absolutely no use competitively. Sand may be retested, it's supposedly in the works to see if we will or not.
 

KM

slayification
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This is a bit more of a general question than a specifically UU AASQGASA, but I think it's worth putting out there anyway.

When Gen 6 is released, how will the pokes in it trickle down into each tier? Will they all start at OU and either be banlisted or dropped, or will their relative usability in each tier be calculated based on ability and stats and placed in provisional tiers to start with?

The reason I'm curious about this for UU is because it's basically the most well-balanced metagame currently out there. Gen 6 pokes could severely threaten this balance depending on how they are implemented into UU. I've never been around for a gen shift before, so I was curious as to how it would work. Thanks :)
 

Ace Emerald

Cyclic, lunar, metamorphosing
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This is a bit more of a general question than a specifically UU AASQGASA, but I think it's worth putting out there anyway.

When Gen 6 is released, how will the pokes in it trickle down into each tier? Will they all start at OU and either be banlisted or dropped, or will their relative usability in each tier be calculated based on ability and stats and placed in provisional tiers to start with?

The reason I'm curious about this for UU is because it's basically the most well-balanced metagame currently out there. Gen 6 pokes could severely threaten this balance depending on how they are implemented into UU. I've never been around for a gen shift before, so I was curious as to how it would work. Thanks :)
Hey I'm pretty qualified to answer this as I've played BW UU since it was created. We started off with just OU and a banlist, we banned stuff and after a while (I don't know how the decision was made) we took the usage stats and everything under the cut off point was UU. BW UU tiering will not affect XY UU at all, we'll start fresh.
 
Probably might sound weird but is sp def swampert viable? I am looking for a pokemon with fire and rock resistances that can tank special hits but im not sure how many special attackers swampert could handle.
 

kokoloko

what matters is our plan!
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SpD Swampert is actually something I thought about using before, but then I ended up using SpD Rhyperior instead. Certainly "viable", but I'm not sure it's optimal.
 
Can I get a link to a good team building guide (specifically for UU). I can't seem to find a good one. I've reached 1900+ with a couple of RMT teams, but I've only gotten past 1700 once with a team of my own. Is it just supposed to be a continuous process of fail until you strike gold, or am I just bad?
 

Ace Emerald

Cyclic, lunar, metamorphosing
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Can I get a link to a good team building guide (specifically for UU). I can't seem to find a good one. I've reached 1900+ with a couple of RMT teams, but I've only gotten past 1700 once with a team of my own. Is it just supposed to be a continuous process of fail until you strike gold, or am I just bad?
Here is a great guide released in the smog!
 
What makes Shaymin good? It just seems like it would have a tough time earning a team spot against Roserade. Are their any notable advantages it has over Roserade except for base 100 stats all around?
 

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