ATTN Uber players

[Mekkah]

You may have noticed my old uber guide sitting on the site, looking sad and incompleted. The reason I never worked on it anymore is pretty simple: I don't know squat about ubers anymore. It's changed too radically. I'm taking it off and we need a new uber guide. I'd post it in the Guide request thread but I'd say this is big enough to get its own thread.

I know Obi has one big uber guide under the presses, but that's been for ages. If you think you can beat him to writing a good guide, go ahead and post it here. If there's multiple I'll pick the best one, or combine the best of both worlds.

I don't like jebroni's uber guide, by the way, and not just because it says "hey I'm the best uber player".

Some general guidelines:
1. List all ubers, first of all.
2. Tell the exact definition of an uber. State why Wobbuffet is considered uber.
3. Give some information on every uber. No need for very in-depth individual analyses, this is what the Strategydex is for.
4. Showcase some primary non-ubers used in ubers. When I wrote my guide, I had Exeggutor, Shedinja and Metagross as the best contenders. I think this has been changed radically.
5. Give aid on how to build a succesful uber team. Obi already has an uber stall guide so you probably won't have to go very deep into that. Things like STAB Psychic isn't as important as Boltbeam or something should be here too.
6. Some aid on prediction and playing may help as well.

That's kinda the minimum requirement I'd like to see. Good luck and thanks for helping!

Also please don't do this if you aren't a seasoned uber player. If I wanted that I'd do it myself.

 

[obi]

I'm pretty sure someone will beat me to it. I hereby give permission for anyone to use anything I've ever written in the guide, because I have a problem with starting stuff but not finishing it.

 

[rekt]

You would probably want someone else to write it, rather than me, but if anyone needs any help I can tell you some important stuff about Ubers. If for some reason you feel that I can write it just tell me I guess and I will see how much time I have on my hands.

 

[Pilocus]

I suppose I could take a stab at it.

 

[Mekkah]

It'd be better if multiple people worked on it together (like writing different sections) than doubling up all the work with 3 people making an uber list or something.

 

[skarm]

hey im the best ubers player behind Chris Darling

 

[Mekkah]

where were you at JAA then huh

 

[Stall]

Wrote this a few months ago. Not perfect by any means, and doesnt have all the things you wanted, but its decent in my opinion. Feel free to use any or all of it. If its wanted, I would be willing to help write a better guide for the site.

Analysis of the Uber metagame


What is the Uber metagame?

Plain and simple, the Uber metagame is pretty much anything goes. Any of the 386 Pokémon are eligible, although you may only use 1 of any species, including Deoxys. Because NB is meant to simulate in-game play as much as possible, you may not use or more different types of Deoxys on a team. This is because the version of Deoxys depends on your game, and obviously you cannot be playing 2 games at once. Even though any Pokémon may be used, the metagame is still dominated by certain Pokémon, and certain Pokémon are much more common than others.


What an Uber team needs

There are certain things that your team just plain needs to be effective. For example, a team without a Mewtwo counter will probably never work. I’ll just list them here (for the tl;dr people), then I’ll explain them all later.

•Counters to the following Pokémon
o Mewtwo
o Lati@s
o Groudon
o Mew
o Kyogre
o Rayquaza
o Deoxys-F
o Exeggutor
o Slaking
o Metagross
o Heracross
o Ho-oh
o Blissey
o Lugia
o Skarmory
o Forretress
o Deoxys-L
•Resistances to the following types
o Psychic
o Ground
o Bug
o Water
o Fire
o Normal
o Steel
•Deal with spikes
•At least 1 sweeper
•Take status
•Not too much conflicting status
•(p)Hazer

Ok, so now that you have a list, let’s go over each part:

Counters to metagame standards – Ok, first of all, lets recap on the definition of counter “Be able to switch into a Pokémon and scare it away”. That means that just because you can out speed and OHKO the enemy means not much if you can’t take a hit switching in. Now, let’s see how we can counter the list of Pokémon:


• Mewtwo – This thing used to dominate specially, but now a physical M2 has emerged. Lugia is one of the few Pokémon that can counter both types, but you can also just counter both types separately. Blissey, Lugia, Snorlax, Deoxys-L reliably beat the special version, while Skarm, Forry, Lugia, Deoxys-L are solid counter for the physical Mewtwo.
• Lati@s – These are almost exclusively special-based, but can vary greatly. Your best bet is to use a wall like Lugia, Bliss, and Deoxys-L that can beat any form, rather than have your Kyogre/Groudon owned by Thunder/Solar beam.
• Groudon – This has 3 main types: CB, SD, EndSalac, but rarely it will be other types, like tankish with rest. Use Skarm, Forry, Lugia, Lati@s, and Mewtwo.
• Kyogre – This will pretty much fall into CM, CMSub, Rest Talk, other. Bliss and Deoxys-L counter all but CMSub; Lugia, Deoxys-L, Mewtwo, Lati@s can counter all types pretty reliably.
• Rayquaza – This will be CB, DD, Mixed, or (rarely) special. Your best bet is to use something that could switch into any type without taking too much damage, then use specific counters once you figure out what set it has.
• Deoxys-F – This is probably the single, most devastating Pokémon in the metagame. Few things can safely switch into it 100% of the time, with it running 2 very different sets, CB and SubPetaya. Forry can beat it, bar Fire Punch, Lugia can wall it somewhat, and Lati@s can sometimes survive a boosted Ice Beam. Pursuit Gross is good to predict in / bring in when it kills something.
• Metagross – With a CB, this is a very hard-hitter. You will want something to resist MM if possible. If not, a physical wall will do the trick.
• Heracross – Similar to Gross, this will hit hard, but it walled by most physical walls.
• Blissey – This can’t do much to you; it mostly just heals the team. Just make sure you have something either physical or CMSub Pokémon with 101 HP subs. Something immune to T-Wave helps too.
• Lugia – This will mainly phase, pseudo-pass and spread toxic. Steel types are nice here, as are heavy-hitters that will deal >50% to it. Blowing up gross can work too.
• Skarmory – This will spread spikes and block physical attacks. Have at least 1 special attacker, lest this walls you 100%. A spinner is useful too. Maggie can work well too.
• Forretress – Pretty much the same thing as Skarm.
• Deoxys-L – This can be a pain in the ass to take down. 101 HP Subs work, but I usually just scare it away and leave it until the end when I can boom/set up on it.

Resisting types – You don’t need to necessarily resist it; Blissey can count as a Psychic resist, because it can eat those all day. Not going to bother explaining this any more.

Deal with spikes – 90% of the spikers you will see are Skarm and Forry, so Magnetron can work ok. Other than that, use a spinner, or have at least 4 Pokémon immune to spikes.

At least 1 sweeper – Even on the most stalling team, you want a Pokémon who will be able to clean when the opposing team is weakened. This can range from a fast Pokémon like Mewtwo, to something like CM Kyogre.

Be able to take status – The only 3 status you really see are Toxic, Para, and Sleep. A rest talker works nicely to cover all 3. Otherwise, you'll want a steel, ground, and sleep talker. If need be, an AT user can be decent here.

Little conflicting status – If all 6 Pokémon have a status move, they will get in each others way pretty often. A few is acceptable, but 3 is usually as high as you will want.

(P)Hazer – Unless you want the first CM user you see to rape you, run Roar/WW/Haze on something. ‘Nuff said


Types of Uber Teams

Uber teams come in 3 main categories: Offensive, Defensive, and Weather. The 2 more common by far are Offensive and Defensive, with Weather teams being virtually inexistent. The metagame shifts fairly frequently between Offensive and Defensive, so I recommend having at least 1 of each type of Uber team at all times. I’ll give a brief summary of each here, and spend more depth in each section. Use Ctrl+F to search for a section.

Offensive Teams – An Offensive Uber team is similar to what would be called a Mixed / Standard OU team. This is because the Uber metagame requires at least a few defensively EVed Pokes, so a true Offensive team is not possible. This type of team will usually (though not necessarily) look something like: Sp. Sweeper, Ph. Sweeper, Sp. Tank, Ph. Tank, Filler, Filler. Fillers will usually be sweepers, but utility Pokémon are also used. Teams like this seldom have 3 or more Tanks, but sometimes a 3rd, more general, Tank is used. Offensive teams win by being aggressive with the sweepers, until you can break through and sweep.

Defensive Teams – A Defensive Uber team is very similar to its OU counterpart. It is made up of almost solely Defensive Pokémon, with some players going with the full 6 Defensive Pokémon. Defensive Teams win by slowly and steadily weakening the opposition with spikes, status, and weak attacks until you either are able to sweep with a sweeper (if you have a fast sweeper), or you stat-up with a defensive Pokémon (if you have a stat-up wall).

Weather Teams – As the name implies, this type of teams revolve around manipulating a specific type of weather to give you the advantage. While Sunny Day and Rain Dance are the first 2 types of team that come to mind, and are the most common weather team, one must not forget Sand Storm.

Ok, so now that you understand the basics of each type of team, I’ll go much further in depth into each type, and will build a sample team of each type to illustrate the concepts I make.


Offensive Uber Teams

As mentioned, Offensive Uber teams are more mixed than truly offensive. They got their name by being offensive by comparison to most Uber teams.

How does an Offensive Uber team win?

In simple terms, Offensive Uber teams win by weakening all the counters to a sweeper with repeated abuse, then sweeping with said sweeper. They don’t dilly-dally, getting right to the point.

What does an Offensive Uber Team consist of?

Here, I’ll go over each of the roles in an offensive Uber team 1 by 1, explaining each slot and giving examples.

Physical Sweeper – Pretty simplistic, it’s a Pokémon that aims to sweep using (primarily) physical moves. Ideally, it will have high attack and speed, but certain sweepers have low speed but immense attack. This can be CBed or otherwise, stat-up or not. Groudon, Metagross, Deoxys-F, Slaking, and Heracross are some of the more common physical sweepers, though others certainly exist.

Special Sweeper – Similar to above, a special sweeper aims to sweep using (primarily) special moves. Again, high Special Attack and Speed are ideal, but some can get by with lower speed, although not as much as the physical sweepers. About half the special sweepers stat-up in some way, the others just hit hard. Mewtwo, Lati@s, Kyogre, Ho-oh, and Deoxys-F are the common special sweepers.

Physical Tank – Contrarily to the sweeper counterpart, a physical tank is designed to switch into and wall physical hits. High Defense and HP are crucial here. A self-recovery move is usually included, preferably a 50% recovery move. Your best bets here are Forretress, Skarmory, Groudon, Deoxys-L, and Lugia.

Special Tank – Just like the sweepers, this has many parallels with the physical tank. It needs high Special Defense and HP to wall special hits properly. As mentioned before, recovery moves are very helpful, particularly instant-recovery moves. Here you’ll probably want to go with one of Kyogre, Blissey, Deoxys-L, Latias, Lugia.

Filler – Here you may want to add another sweeper. If you lack a stat-upper so far, you may want to consider adding one, same with a fast sweeper of each type. If you have your bases covered, a mixed sweeper works well. Try something along the lines of Mewtwo, Deoxys-F, Rayquaza, Groudon, Lati@s.

Filler – This last slot serves to cover any large weaknesses the other 5 Pokémon have. Notable is a rapid spinner, since spikes have increased in usage lately. Here is also a spot if you want a better-rounded and less specialized tank. Counters to individual Pokémon troubling your team go here too. Examples include Lugia, Forretress, Magneton, Mew, and Shedinja.


Building an Offensive Uber team

As I said, I will build an Offensive team to demonstrate these points.

Ok, so to build an Offensive Uber team, the best way is to pick a Pokémon to build around. Personally, I find it much easier to build around a sweeper, but some prefer to build around a wall.

For this team, I’ll choose Mewtwo to build around. I’ll try the special M2, since Mewtwo is naturally a Special Sweeper.

Added Mewtwo (Ice Beam / Thunderbolt / Calm Mind / Recover)

Mewtwo gets walled by Blissey, Lugia, and Deoxys-L. Metagross beats all 3 of those, being immune to the toxic from Lugia and D-L, and his low speed makes paralysis not a huge deal. To add more punch, I’ll go with CB, and I’ll include Pursuit to beat Deoxys-F.

Added Metagross (Meteor Mash / Pursuit / Explosion / Earthquake)

Metagross is a nice Normal resist, but can’t wall Physical hits without being weakened, so I’ll add in arguably the best Physical Wall in the game, Lugia.

Added Lugia (Reflect / Toxic / Recover / WW)

At the half-way point, we seem to have a pretty solid group of 3 Pokémon. Let’s check in with our list of Pokémon to see what we still need to cover.

- Mewtwo – Nothing really counters this
- Lati@s – Mewtwo can hurt it, but can’t switch in
- Groudon – Lugia does a nice job of walling this
- Kyogre – Mewtwo to some extent, has trouble switching in though
- Deoxys-F – Lugia and Gross take care of this as well as possible
- Rayquaza – Again, M2 can hurt, but not switch in
- Metagross – Lugia can stall this out
- Heracross – Gross and Lugia do an ok job of walling this
- Blissey – Gets raped by Gross
- Lugia – Gets hit hard on the switch by M2, Gross can boom late-game
- Skarmory – I can scare it away, but spikes are an issue
- Forretress – Same as Skarm

So far, it seems I have a weakness to Mewtwo, Lati@s, Kyogre, Rayquaza, and Skarm and Forry can spike up on me.

I’ll deal with the Special weakness by adding in a Blissey. Thunder can hurt Kyogre and AT can heal status.

Added Blissey (AT / Softboiled / Thunder / Seismic Toss)

Blissey has a tendency to get set-up on due to its lack of offence. Lugia can wall and phaze any Physical Sweepers, so I’m left with a weakness to CM users. Lati@s can CM up with the best of them, and recover off excess damage. I’ll go with Latias for the extra Special Defense.

Added Latias (CM / Recover / Dragon Claw / Thunder)

The Pokémon I had issues with before were Mewtwo, Lati@s, Kyogre, Rayquaza. I had an issue dealing with spikes too. Bliss and Latias take care of the special threats, leaving spikes as a recurring issue. Let’s check the rest of the checklist.

- Resistances – Psychic, Ground, Bug, Water, Fire, Normal, Steel are taken care of
- Sweeper – Mewtwo and Gross dish out lots of damage
- Spikes – Still an issue
- Taking Status – Gross is immune to Toxic, I have an ATer for Para, Sleep is an issue still
- Conflicting status – Toxic and random Para hacks is fine
- (p)Hazer – Lugia uses WW

Seems like my main issue is dealing with Spikes, followed by sleep. The team is pretty stable otherwise, so I think I’ll just add a Magneton to deal with Skarm / Forry.

Added Magneton (Thunderbolt / HP Fire / Substitute / Toxic)

So, the final team is:

- Mewtwo (Thunderbolt / Ice Beam / CM / Recover)
- Metagross (Meteor Mash / EQ / Explosion / Pursuit)
- Lugia (Reflect / Toxic / WW / Recover)
- Blissey (AT / Thunder / Softboiled / Seismic Toss)
- Latias (CM / Dragon Claw / Thunder / Recover)
- Magneton (Thunderbolt / HP Fire / Substitute / Toxic)

Mewtwo, being fast and powerful, makes a good lead. I’m not an expert at Erving, which is personal anyways, so I’ll leave that to you. Meta takes a CB, rest get lefties.


Defensive Uber teams


A Defensive Uber team is usually made of 5 defensive tanks and a sweeper to finish off afterwards. Usually this is a fast sweeper, but some teams work well enough with a slow, stat-upping sweeper.

How does a Defensive Uber team win?

A Defensive Uber team is not for impatient people. Games will take a while, as the Defensive team will slowly whittle down the opposition until the sweeper can finish off.

What does a Defensive Uber team consist of?

Here, I’ll go over each of the roles in a defensive Uber team 1 by 1, explaining each slot and giving examples.

Physical Tank – This will be your main wall against Physical attacks. This should have immense Def and very high HP. This is the backbone of the team from the physical side, and if it dies, you will mostly likely lose. Therefore, this should have a recovery move, preferably a 50% recovery move. Examples of this include Skarmory, Forretress, Deoxys-L, Groudon, and Lugia.

Special Tank – Just like its Physical counterpart, this will be the main wall against Special attacks. It must be able to take a large Special assault with relative ease as once again, if this goes down, you will usually follow. HP and Special Defense are again needed for its success. A recovery move is needed here too. 90% of the time, this is Blissey, but Deoxys-L and Lugia could potentially work.

Physical Tank 2 – This is your back-up Physical wall. Not to come in when your primary one dies (by then it’s probably too late), but to compliment it. This should be able take any Physical Pokémon that the first wall can’t. A recovery move is nice here, but all the better if it can recover itself. Lugia, Deoxys-L, Groudon, Jirachi are the best candidates for this spot.

Special Tank 2 – Again, similarities can be drawn with the back-up Physical tank. This should be able to deal with any Special attacks your primary Wall can’t, and should support the other Special tank. Deoxys-L, Lugia, Kyogre, Celebi, Latias could work here.

Sweeper – This will be the most, if not only, offensive Pokémon on the team. The main job of this Pokémon is to clean up and sweep the other team after they have been weakened by your gradual indirect damage. There are two routes here, the speedy sweeper and the slow, tankier sweeper. Mewtwo, Lati@s, Rayquaza are good fast sweepers, while Groudon and Kyogre are solid options as slow sweeper. I personally recommend the bulkier sweepers, since they can take some hits earlier on in the match if need-be.

Filler – This last spot is to fill any gaps or holes in the team. This can be a spinner, a spiker, a cleric, whatever your team is missing. In staying with the defensive team, this should be a defensive Pokémon, but it can be powerful as well. This can be anything from Forry, Groudon, Kyogre, Deoxys-L, whatever your team needs.

Building a Defensive Uber team

When I build a Defensive Uber, I tend to just pick Pokémon that follow the roles, rather than go through the long process I do for Offensive teams. Then I adjust and fiddle as needed. Therefore, I’ll just post a recent Defensive Uber team in RMT format, explaining the roles of each Pokémon. Note that I am perfectly capable

Deoxys-L @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Knock Off
- Mirror Coat
- Night Shade
- Recover

This stalls both types of attacks very well. Knock Off cripples CBers and Lati@s, and most Pokémon don’t like losing Lefties either. Mirror Coat helps deal with CMing Pokémon.

Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 148 HP / 108 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Aromatherapy
- Ice Beam
- Softboiled
- Thunder

Can beat pretty much any non-CMing Special Pokémon in the game. AT clears the team of status, while Serene Grace allows it to status-hax the enemy.

Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Atk / 192 Def / 20 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes

Is one of the big Physical walls. It lays spikes on the enemy side, and keeps them off this side of the field. HP Bug hurts most Ubers for SE damage, and it can boom when its job is done.

Lugia @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Def / 80 Spd / 80 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Recover
- Reflect
- Thunder Wave
- Whirlwind

The best wall in Ubers, no questions asked. This is on 100% of the Defensive Uber teams I make, and even 90% of my Offensive teams, it’s that damn good. This sets up Reflect to help take Physical hits, phazes things that try to set up, and paralyses the enemy team to enable a sweep later.

Kyogre @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 112 SAtk / 128 SDef
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Surf
- Thunder

Defensive Kyogre. Surf for STAB, Thunder for Para with 100% accuracy. Rest Talk lets it tank much better, and allows it to absorb status.

Groudon @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 240 HP / 220 Atk / 48 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
- Thunder Wave

Thunder waves in the early and mid-game to help set-up a later sweep. Doesn’t need speed (due to paralysis), so I EVed it to be able to take some physical hits earlier on if needed. Eventually, comes in on a weakened and paralyzed team, Swords Dances once, and then sweeps.

Overall, the team sets down a layer of spikes, and then stalls out the opposition while spreading paralysis. The nice thing about SD Groudon is that the opposing team doesn’t even need to be weakened much, as long as it is damaged and paralyzed.


Weather Uber teams

A Weather Uber team is a team that creates a type of weather, keeps it on the field, and then abusing the weather. Usually, it has 1 or 2 sweepers that gain large benefits from the weather, and can “hopefully” sweep with them.

What does a Weather Uber team consist of?

Due to the varied nature of Weather teams, they don’t tend to have nearly as set a “formula” as other types of teams. They usually have the Weather Uber (Kyogre/Groudon), 2-3 other Pokémon that abuse the weather (Eggy/Ho-oh/Shiftry, Kingdra/Kabutops/Ludi), something to beat opposing weather (opposite of before), and 1-2 fillers.

Building a Weather Uber team

Similar to Defensive teams, Weather teams don’t usually pick Pokémon 1 by 1, checking a counter list, but for very different reasons. Unlike Defensive teams, who have general tanks to take a beating, Weather teams don’t bother walling every Pokémon. They will try to beat you before you beat them. As such, I’ll post my team just like I did for Defensive teams.

Kyogre @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Ice Beam
- Thunder
- Water Spout

Sweeper set. Haven’t calced it, but I’m pretty sure if it’s a full health and CMs on the switch, it can beat Bliss. This is leading to get rain from the start.

Ludicolo (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 212 HP / 96 Spd / 200 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Leech Seed
- Synthesis

Decent Special tank. Out speeds any Deoxys-F in the rain.

Kabutops (M) @ Liechi Berry
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 160 Def / 96 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Endure
- Flail
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance

Dances, Endures, and Sweeps. Out speeds Deoxys-F in the rain. Can take some normal hits.

Kingdra (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 200 HP / 56 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Substitute

Self-explanatory.

Ho-oh @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Sacred Fire
- Thunder

Set up with CM. Thunder in the rain, Sacred Fire in the Sun.

Exeggutor (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sleep Powder
- Solar Beam

Can have some fun if the other team basks in the Sunlight. Way more speed than is usually seen to make sure that it is without a doubt the fastest Pokémon in the sun.


Overall, the team is a high-powered offensive approach, with defense taking the back seat. If this team can break through the Special walls, it should move on to a win.


Conclusion

In conclusion, the Uber metagame is a lot of fun. Although it is not incredibly versatile, there is a lot of room for OU and even BL/UU Pokémon. Although this guide focused more on the top tier Pokémon in the Uber metagame, I definitely know that many “worse” Pokémon have a home in the Uber metagame. This being a beginner guide, I chose to go with mainly the heavy-hitters that work.


What’s next?

Although this is certainly a big guide, its also not complete. This is mainly a beginner guide, showcasing Pokémon that are known to work, and only using the very best OU Pokémon. If this is met with success, I plan on writing a follow-up article going more in-depth on the movesets of individual Pokémon and explaining the roles of the Pokémon. That expansion will also include a lot more variety, including many OU/BL/UU Pokémon that work in Ubers.

 

[Mekkah]

I see a couple of pointers - the abbreviations like CB and SB have to be filtered, Ice type should definitely be there as being resisted (I'd say it's even more important than Psychic), and of course EVs have to be mentioned.

If there's ever going to be one big uber guide, I might just put Obi's stall stuff over yours simply because it is focused on stall and its very purposes...it's basically more. However, this is one great start.

 

[Stall]

Yeah, figured as much. I had that typed up already though, so I figured I might as well post it...

 

[Mekkah]

Like I implied on NetBattle, you have no need to defend yourself or anything. You just contributed the base for Smogon's uber guide and that's fantastic.

[21:35] Sarenji: I was struck with a sudden urge to make an uber guide for no reason!

I love this project already.

 

[Sarenji]

Anything I need to add?


Ubers Metagame Guide


What are Ubers?

The following Pokémon are classified as Ubers:
Deoxys, Deoxys-E, Deoxys-F, Deoxys-L, Groudon, Ho-oh, Kyogre, Latias, Latios, Lugia, Mew, Mewtwo, Rayquaza, Wobbuffet, and Wynaut.

(Celebi, Jirachi, Articuno, Moltres, Zapdos, Suicune, Raikou, Entei, Regice, Registeel, and Regirock are not Ubers!)


So what are they?

They are the Pokémon that are deemed too powerful for Standard (also known as Overused, or OU) play.


Why Wobbuffet?

Wobbuffet is classified as an Uber purely for the fact that it has a trait - Shadow Tag - that traps all Pokémon, and Wobbuffet's abundantly large HP lets him use his moves - Counter, Mirror Coat, and Encore - to great success. Not to mention that if two Wobbuffets encounter each other, and both have Leftovers, the battle will literally last forever (unless a Sandstorm is raging)! Once the Wobbuffets enter the inevitable Struggle stage, neither will be able to Knock Out the other, as Struggle damage is less than what Leftovers recovers back.


What makes a team Uber?

Any number of Ubers on your team automatically makes your team an Uber team. If you have just one Uber on your team, your team is Uber. No exceptions.

Uber Metagame Pokémon Information

The Pokémon will be organized into groups for effectiveness.

The Great Walls

• Lugia. The ultimate wall. Able to reach 416 Hit Points, 394 Defense, and 447 Special Defense, Lugia can survive anything. Lugia is primarily used as a Defense Wall, though, as even Lugia pales in comparison to...
• Blissey. The ultimate Special Defense wall. Able to reach 714 Hit Points and 405 Special Defense total, it is able to take any Special attack in existence. But while it is very good at taking Special Attacks, Blissey will fall easily to Physical attacks.
• Deoxys-L. Not as often used any more, but still a Great Wall. It learns Knock Off, leaving its opponent itemless; Recover, which is a great instant recovery move; Thunder Wave and Toxic, two great statuses in Ubers; and it can learn Spikes, one of the most important moves in Ubers.

The Stormtroopers

• Mewtwo. Mewtwo is right up there with Gengar in terms of unpredictability. He could be a mixed sweeper, he could be a physical sweeper, he could be a special sweeper, he could be anything! With a beastly Special Attack, good Attack, and good Speed to boot, Mewtwo is a big attacking threat in Ubers.
• Deoxys-F. You can laugh at his pitiful Hit Points, Defense, and Special Defense. Laugh all you want. But stare in horror at his humongous Attack and Special Attack. With a Choice Band, Deoxys-F can reach 756 Attack! And his Speed is nothing to laugh at, either. There are two solid sets for Deoxys-F - The Choice Bander and the Mixed Sweeper. Both seem equally used.
• Rayquaza. With Air Lock, Rayquaza can foil the strategy of teams that depend on weather. But, perhaps just as important, Rayquaza has astoundingly large attack. When it is Choice Banded, it is immediately transformed into a huge threat - a threat with 657 Attack. Less common than the Choice Bander is the Dragon Dancer. One reason people use Rayquaza is that it can scare off Deoxys-F, as Rayquaza learns Extremespeed, which will One-Hit Knock Out, or OHKO, Deoxys-F. Take care that Latias/Latios will almost always be faster than Rayquaza and can OHKO Rayquaza.
• Kyogre. Able to reach 436 Special Attack, Calm Mind, and get a x2.25 boost on Surf (Same Type Attack Bonus, or STAB, and Rain power boost on Water moves both multiply Kyogre's Surf by x1.5, for a product of x2.25), Kyogre is able to put huge dents into teams that don't have the Great Special Wall, Blissey. Kyogre usually has a Special sweeping set. Some have Sleep Talking sets. A Choice Band set can generate much surprise, and it can work.
• Groudon. The opposite of Kyogre. Whereas Kyogre learns Calm Mind, Groudon learns Swords Dance and Bulk Up. Not often used nowadays thanks to the Great Wall, Lugia, who is usually configured to be faster and beats this Groudon. Usually is a Choice Bander, Swords Dancer, or, in rarer occasions, a Sleep Talker that can take hits.
• Metagross. Metagross is in a similar vein as Groudon. Whereas Groudon is immune to Electric and gets STAB on Earthquake, Metagross is immune to Toxic, one of the most prevalent moves in Ubers, and gets STAB on Meteor Mash. When Choice Banded, Metagross can easily put dents into teams. In addition, Meteor Mash has a bonus effect - it can raise Metagross's Attack by one. And with a little luck, Metagross can give the Great Wall, Lugia, a hard time. Metagross can also learn Pursuit, which OHKOs Deoxys-F if it switches.
• Tyranitar. Tyranitar can potentially rip apart Uber teams, thanks to the lack of Rock resists. Lugia, the Great Wall, is weak to Rock, so, when a team is weakened, Tyranitar can utterly destroy it. However, if a team has Groudon, Tyranitar is screwed, as Groudon is the counter to Tyranitar, with its huge defense, respectable Hit Points, and resistance to Rock.
• Ho-oh. Able to learn Calm Mind and Recover, it is instantly a potential Special Sweeper, but it is easily walled by the Great Special Wall, Blissey. Therefore, people have taken advantage of Ho-oh's larger Attack and Choice Banded it - making 591 Attack! And with the threat of a Fire move, Ho-oh wards off the ever-present Forretress in Ubers. However, Ho-oh has problems with Kyogre, even if it has Thunder/Thunderbolt or is Choice Banded: Kyogre is resistant to Ho-oh's Fire moves, and its Drizzle ability making infinite rain makes it even more resistant; Kyogre's Surf will either severely damage Ho-oh or OHKO; and Kyogre can survive three one-Calm-Mind Thunders/Thunderbolts with 404 Hit Points. Only a Choice Band Earthquake is capable of a two-hit-Knock-Out - if the Kyogre hasn't put in Defense as well as Hit Points - and the Kyogre will likely switch afterwards. Choice Band versions will likely be switched into by Groudon, Lugia, or maybe Forretress.
• Aerodactyl. Aerodactyl is fast, gets STAB Rock Slide, and gets a no-recoil Double-Edge. It gives Lugia trouble, as a switch in will let Aerodactyl hit Lugia twice. The first Rock Slide does severe damage, and the second Rock Slide will surely Knock-Out Lugia - a two-hit-Knock-Out. A Groudon poses more problems, but a Double-Edge is a three-hit-Knock-Out. And Forretress cannot do much to Aerodactyl.

The Others

• Latias. With a Soul Dew, Latias's Special Attack and Special Defense are raised by 50%, the equivalent of one Calm Mind - a move she also learns. Coupled with her already respectable Special Defense, she makes for a great counter for Kyogre, even if the Kyogre has Ice Beam. With Calm Mind, Latias can also become a Special sweeper, able to beat Blissey one-on-one! Safeguard and Refresh also help Latias survive, preventing for five turns or getting rid of status effects (such as Toxic), respectively. Latias, unlike Latios, can learn Wish, helping support the team.
• Latios. Not as oftenly used as his sister, Latias, Latios still packs a punch. The two siblings have similar moves. Whereas Latias is focused on Defensive stats, Latios is focused on Attack stats. With a Soul Dew, Latios can reach 591 Special Attack right at the start. However, Latios is not as sturdy as his sister, and the awe of 591 Special Attack is instantly nullified once the Great Special Wall, Blissey, or a Pokémon that can destroy Latios easily is on the field. Latios, unlike Latias, can learn Dragon Dance, giving him a potential Physical sweeping status, but the Special sweeping set is preferred, thanks to the far higher stats.
• Mew. Mew is instantly outclassed by Mewtwo's infinitely better stats, but Mew can play many unpredictable roles, especially since it can learn every single TM in the game! For one, it can be Choice Banded. A Choice Banded Explosion is sure to dent the opposing team, and a well-timed Trick will also severely impair the opposing Pokémon. Another role could be a Calm Minder, as it can have 404 Hit Points, and can, therefore, have 101 Hit Point Substitutes (essential, as Blissey's Seismic Toss will always do 100 Hit Points of damage). Mew also learns Softboiled to recover itself and Hypnosis, a great move, putting a Pokémon, preferrably its counter, to sleep and out of commision right away. There are so many sets that Mew can use that it's impossible to give a definite set, like Gengar, but Mew sets lean towards Physical, since it learns Swords Dance. Very unpredictable and can be very lethal in the right hands. Mew is a great anti-stall.
• Deoxys-E and Deoxys. Their -F and -L counterparts completely outclass them in both Attack and Defense, and thus, these two are nearly unheard of in Ubers. Not much to say here.
• Wobbuffet. Hopefully, I will not need to explain this, as I have already covered it in the Why Wobbuffet? section!
• Forretress. Forretress is a very popular Pokémon in Ubers for two main reasons - Spikes and Rapid Spin. Spikes is very important in Ubers. Whenever the opponent switches out a Pokémon for another, the Pokémon switching in takes damage. Can be stacked three times for a maximum of 25% damage to the Pokémon switching in. Rapid Spin gets rid of all Spikes that your opponent placed on your field, making it a vital move in Ubers. It is also a solid Defense wall in itself, and can beat all types of Deoxys-F that don't have Fire Punch. And it can explode on Pokémon with Explosion.
• Skarmory. Used once in a fairy tale. Skarmory has been replaced by Forretress. The primary reasons people use Forretress over Skarmory is that Forretress learns Rapid Spin, unlike Skarmory, and resists Ice and is neutral to Electric, whereas Skarmory is neutral to Ice and is weak to Electric.
• Magneton. Have you noticed both of the above Pokémon are of Steel type? Indeed, Magneton's trait - Magnet Pull - comes very much in handy here, making Steel types unable to switch as long as Magneton is on the field. Its Thunderbolt is also incredibly powerful, usually killing these Pokémon in two or less hits. If Magneton traps a Choice Banded Metagross, Magneton can destroy it, too, since Metagross's most likely move to use is Meteor Mash, which Magneton resists well enough. Magneton also helps versus Lugia, immune to its Toxic or Ice Beam and its Thunderbolt deals large, Super Effective damage with STAB. Magneton usually has a Hidden Power - what kind is entirely up to the user. The most popular Hidden Powers are Fire, for the OHKO on Forretress, or Ice, to hit Groudon, Latias, Latios, and Grass type Pokémon.
• Jirachi. Magneton is not a Jirachi counter, no matter what people tell you. Anyway, Jirachi's immunity to Toxic works very well here, and with Wish, it can support itself and the entire team. It can also Calm Mind. Ice Punch plus an Electric move (such as Thunder or Thunderbolt) is popular on Ubers Jirachi. Psychic is not very good, even with STAB, what with half the ubers resisting Psychic moves. The Great Special Wall, Blissey, cannot stop this.
• Gengar. Like Mewtwo, Gengar has many, many kinds of sets. In Ubers, Gengar can be more on the Physical side, as STAB Shadow Ball or Thunderbolt can put the hurt on Lugia, Brick Break/Focus Punch hurts Blissey, and Fire Punch/Thunderbolt hurts Forretress. Gengar has an added bonus of blocking Rapid Spin, as it is a Ghost type. And, of course, Explosion.
• Heracross. With so many Psychic Pokémon, Heracross likes Ubers. Not to mention the move Psychic is uncommon, thanks to the aforementioned Psychic Pokémon. Can be beaten by a combination of Lugia and Forretress, but, at the same time, it can be incredibly deadly. "Hera-weak" wasn't invented for no reason.
• Muk. Yeah, Muk. Resists Toxic, can Curse up, has huge Special Defense and Hit Points to boot. When Lugia comes to ruin your day, Toxic it before it Whirlwinds you out to ruin Lugia's day instead. Forretress walls this, but can't really do anything except Spike up.
• Shiftry, Exeggutor, Ludicolo, Victreebel, Jumpluff, and other similar Pokémon. All of these Pokémon have a Speed raising trait whenever the field is Sunny or Rainy, making them good in conjunction with Groudon or Kyogre, whose trait causes infinite Sun or Rain, respectively. However, a simple weather change or Rayquaza (his trait, Air Lock, negates all kinds of effects weather would normally give, like Speed boosts, as long as Rayquaza is on the field) will ruin this strategy. It still does not and should not keep these kinds of Pokémon from being used, though.
• Snorlax. Able to have two good traits in Ubers: Immunity, for being unable to be Toxiced; and Thick Fat, for halving Fire and Ice damage dealt to Snorlax. Not to mention there are very few Normal resists aside from Steel types such as Forretress in Ubers. However, there is one impassable Wall, the Great Wall, Lugia. Unless Snorlax is the last Pokémon and manages to Curse up, Snorlax is utterly walled by Lugia. Selfdestruct is a great option, especially to destroy the aforementioned Great Wall. Try to do it when Lugia is weak, as even Selfdestruct will not OHKO when a Reflect is up.
• Dugtrio. Dugtrio is a pain in Ubers, especially since it can trap Blissey, and since Blisseys don't usually carry Counter or Ice Beam in Ubers, Dugtrio easily picks it off. It can also pick off a weakened Metagross and other weakened Pokémon without much trouble.
• Shedinja. In the old days, this used to be good. Not so much now. The Uber metagame is filled with Spikes and Toxic, Shedinja's bane. However, Shedinja still does have its uses. Like rendering Kyogre, Flamethrower-less and Shadow-Ball-less Mewtwo, and the Mixed Sweeper without Fire Punch Deoxys-F useless.

What to expect in Ubers and how to make a team.

The most common Pokémon used in Ubers would have to be:

• Blissey
• Latias
• Lugia
• Forretress
• Deoxys-F
• Mewtwo
• Kyogre
• Groudon
• Metagross
• Rayquaza
• Mew (not so common, but deserves mention)

There are, of course, other Pokémon used in Ubers, but many Uber teams will include three or more Pokémon from the above list.


The Ubers metagame is a combination of stall and sweeping.
This consists a common Uber team makeup.

1. Walls. The Great Wall, Lugia, and Forretress are the most common Physical Walls. The Great Special Wall, Blissey, is the most common Special Wall.
2. Physical Sweepers. The most popular being Deoxys-F, Metagross, Groudon, and Rayquaza. A Physical Sweeping Mewtwo or Mew is not unheard of.
3. Special Sweepers. The most popular being Mewtwo and Kyogre.
4. Mixed Sweepers. The most popular being Deoxys-F and Mewtwo.
5. Spikers. The most common Spiker is Forretress. It is very rare to see a Skarmory or Deoxys-L, but always be prepared.
6. Status. Especially Toxic. Toxic is the most used status, even more so than Thunder Wave.
7. (P)hazers. A phazer is defined as a Pokémon that nullifies the enemy Pokémon's Stat Ups, like Calm Mind. The most common is Lugia, who Whirlwinds the enemy Pokémon away, getting rid of all the Stat Ups they gained.
8. Counters for the above. A counter is a Pokémon that can switch into the enemy Pokémon safely and wall, scare off, or easily kill the enemy Pokémon. A counter is not a Pokémon that is killed in one hit by the enemy, even if it scares it off. Ex: Groudon is a complete counter to Tyranitar. It negates Tyranitar's Sandstream with Drought, replacing the sandstorm with infinite sun. Groudon is capable of reaching 404 Hit Points and 416 Defense, able to survive any Physical hit Tyranitar throws at it, especially Tyranitar's STAB move, Rock Slide. And Groudon gets STAB on Tyranitar's weakness, Ground, and a very powerful Ground move - Earthquake, severely weakening or OHKOing Tyranitar.

An Uber team should generally have:
Two Walls, one for Physical and Special; one or two Sweepers, Physical, Special, and/or Mixed; and one Spiker, most probably Forretress.


Uber Stall

Everything that is needed to say for Uber stall has already been said in Obi's guide to Uber stall.


Anti-Uber-Stall

Popular Pokémon candidates and recruits to break the Uber stall are able to sweep with huge Attack and/or Special Attack, can have 101 Hit Point Substitutes, are immune to Toxic, or can Taunt, or a combination of the four.

Able to sweep with huge Attack and/or Special Attack

One prime example is Deoxys-F. It can attack great on both sides of the spectrum, and it can sweep both sides at the same time. A popular moveset is as follows - the Mixed Sweeper.

Deoxys-F @ Petaya Berry
~ Ice Beam
~ Thunder / Thunderbolt
~ Substitute
~ Superpower

It covers both Blissey and Lugia, dealing massive damage to both of them. It is one of the most lethal Pokémon in the game.

Another candidate for this is Mewtwo. Mewtwo can learn Taunt, which brings Pokémon dependant on Toxic and Recovery moves to ruin, Recover himself, and sweep with huge Special Attack and Calm Mind. He can also be a Mixed Sweeper, as he learns Focus Punch and can use 101 Hit Point Substitutes, covered in the next section.

101 Hit Point Substitutes

A very important technique for Special Sweepers. Some Sweepers, such as Kyogre and Mewtwo, are capable of having 404 Hit Points. A Substitute takes away 25% of your total Hit Points to create a "decoy" - so, for them, if the trainer gives them 404 Hit Points, their Substitutes will have 101 Hit Points.

When the Substitute is broken, the Pokémon does not take any "leftover" damage, and can be hit directly once again. So, if an attack deals 300 damage to a 101 Hit Point Substitute, the Substitute will break, but the Pokémon will not take 199 Hit Points of damage.

The Great Special Wall, Blissey, has a move, Seismic Toss, which deals damage according to Blissey's Level. As Blissey will always be Level 100 in competive Pokémon, Seismic Toss will always deal exactly 100 damage.

Do you see it yet? Blissey will have a very hard time beating a Pokémon with 101 Hit Point Substitutes, thanks to Blissey having to use two Seismic Tosses to break the Substitute. And with Leftovers recovery, the Pokémon with Substitute will be able to easily set up on Blissey!

One popular user of 101 Hit Point Substitutes is Kyogre. It easily destroys Blissey in two hits at maximum Calm Minds.
Note: Some Blisseys have Psych Up + Thunder, which allows it to beat Kyogre with ease, so Kyogre cannot beat all Blisseys.

Kyogre @ Leftovers
~ Calm Mind
~ Ice Beam / Thunder
~ Substitute
~ Surf

Kyogre can break stall teams with this, if the trainer does not have an appropriate "SubCMKyogre" counter, as this set is named.

Mewtwo can do the same, with Substitute and Focus Punch. Since a Substitute taking damage does not make the Pokémon "lose its focus" when it's using Focus Punch, Mewtwo can abuse 101 Hit Point Substitutes against Blissey and use his two remaining move slots for Special Attacks, commonly Ice Beam and Thunder/Thunderbolt.

Immunity to Toxic

Steel and Poison types are the only types that cannot be Toxiced. This immediately gives them value, able to be by default immune to one of the biggest parts of Uber stall. This is also one of the reasons why people use Forretress over Deoxys-L. Forretress, not only immune to Toxic, can get rid of Spikes, as well, making it an essential part of Ubers.

Taunt

Taunt is a powerful move, making enemy Pokémon unable to use supporting moves for the current turn and the next turn, the most important being recovery, phazing, and status. Mewtwo is a popular user of Taunt, since it's fast, can Recover, set up, and sweep.

Mewtwo @ Leftovers
~ Calm Mind
~ Recover
~ Psychic / Ice Beam
~ Taunt

Be careful of moves that have a side-effect, such as Thunder (30% chance to Paralyze on each hit).


Conclusion

The Uber metagame is filled with hard hitters, huge tanks, and a whole lot of fun. It is played differently than Standard or OU, yet they are the same. There are many different kinds of Uber teams, and it is up to you to battle them to get experience in playing Ubers and seeing what kinds of teams and other Pokémon sets that are out there!

 

[Stall]

One thing I think should be included (and you can just c/p mine in if you want) is a walkthrough of building an Uber team.

 

[skarm]

where were you at JAA then huh

Winning JAA Chicago and then being disqualified from the Nationals in NYC due to being Canadian?

Anyway, these guides have really failed to mention Dugtrio, which I use now, and Aerodactyl, which I used for a bit with good success. Maybe I should take over where Obi left off so that perhaps we can actually finish a project.

 

[Mekkah]

I was being skarmtastic.

The first guide has a team building walkthrough and Sarenji's one covers a lot of basics, which I like. A few things I noticed when reading this:
- I didn't know Mew was any common at ubers. I don't play it often but I have literally never seen it.
- I think Magneton should have some Hidden Power mentioned - Hidden Power Fire for that OHKO on Forretress, or Hidden Power Grass/Ice for Groudon.
- Shedinja dies to Shadow Ball, so "Flamethrower-less Mewtwo" doesn't really mean it's safe for Shedinja. Just a nitpick.
- Magneton traps Metagross, and since most people use Choice Band, utterly destroys it.
- Come to think of it, Metagross isn't mentioned in that entire section.
- Latias can Wish and Latios can Dragon Dance...while it's tiny, I think it should be noted when telling the differences.
- Kyogre is really troublesome for Ho-oh.

So, we got a place to start now. If anyone has a smart idea on how to combine these two in addition to putting Obi's in there without making it look like a copy-paste mess, that would be cool. If not I'll work on it.

 

[skarm]

To be honest the only one I've seen using Mew in the last few months in Council. Other than that, as for Magneton, its probably best off with some sort of Thunderbolt/Toxic/HP Fire/Substitute moveset so it can just Toxic Groudon and deal with Forretress effectively, which is the only reason I'd ever use Magneton in ubers.

 

[obi]

I used Rest, Sleep Talk, Thunderbolt / Thunder, HP Fire / Toxic at the time when I was trying to make Blissey obsolete so I could use something like Snorlax or Deoxys-F or Lapras or something cool. =) I was considering dropping Sleep Talk for Toxic.

Also Slobroking used Mew against me in the Versatility finals we just had, and because I had replaced Groudon for Kyogre, I sent in Forretress in case of Trick, only to be Hypnotized (I had Resttalk Groudon / Kyogre). From what I've seen, Mew is a lot more popular in Pokerealm than Smogon.

 

[Sarenji]

To be honest the only one I've seen using Mew in the last few months in Council.

Well, I've seen quite a few myself, most recently during a PokeRealm tournament and during Obi vs. Slowbroking's Versatility match, so at the last second prior to posting I thought, "Why not? It could be dangerous, and I want people to prepare for it."

But I suppose this would have been better said in the Mew information, so I edited it out. I'm actually quite surprised so many people called out the Mew, and not just you two. I didn't think it would be such a big deal.

EDIT: I never knew Obi posted before me. And when talking to him, he said I should add it back in. So I did. I would like some additional views on Mew's status.

Anyway, I added all the changes Mekkah and skarm talked about a few hours ago (besides the Metagross bit, which was just confusion which I fixed by fusing the two parts of "The Others" into one), but didn't feel like only posting that I did.


I'll probably do a team-building walkthrough sometime, but not sure how many I should do.

 

[Mekkah]

Since Obi has an uber stall guide and Stalling has a team building part as well, this may not be needed. What I need help with now is ideas on how to progress this bulk of information, together with all the awesomeness Obi pulled out of his anus, into one cool guide for the site.

 

[gamegeek2]

My lugia uses

Calm/Modest/Bold Nature
Susbstitute
Calm Mind
HP Dark
Psychic or Recover or Ice Beam

it owns uber, seriosly, it swept a whole uber team, no losses

 

[Mekkah]

HP Dark is too underpowered for something like Lugia. Really, that set is of no use, just because you beat people with it doesn't automatically make it a good set.

 

[Sovereign]

not sure if it was mentioned or not, but: some things are either underated or never mentioned in uber guides for some reason....as in: cb rock moves, jirachis, heracrosses, dugtrios, and that ice beam/thunder/focus punch, brick break/shadow ball, selfdestruct mewtwo.

a lot of uber guides fail to either recognize or mention those listed things as possible great threats in this ubergame. btw, i do have an uber guide if you need one mekkah. (its the one that you checked out at ign)

 

[COalex]

Seconding Heracross and Jirachi. Hera@ Salac sweeps with Swarm Megahorn.

 

[Peanut-Lover]

I haven't logged in for a long time, but i can really telll you that you did miss important pokemon...

Slaking - Yes, it has truant. But it also has rediculous HP, good defenses, and a 460 unboosted Attack. You probably won't run Jolly, because most will outrun it, and cb'ed, that attack is 690. Return, shadow ball, EQ, Focus Punch/Brick Break, Slack Off. Yawn works, too.


Heracross - Megahorn, STAB, Sky High Attack. In a metagame of psychics? PErfect environment. You could substitute and swords dance up, and with a salac kick, you may do okay. You could go for end-flailing (reversal is resisted by most). Probably Jolly/252. You could CB, as CB Guts really does a number.

 

[Kataphraktoi]

Yep, heracross is definitly around, ussualy endure w/ salac. Slaking pwns.
There are a number of threats not mentioned there...most uber teams i see have only 1-3 ubers and the rest are pokes that cant work in standard but are dangerous in uber...watch out for endure...