SV UU Balance/ bulky offense

[Photonphoenix45]

The team: https://pokepast.es/e63746c07a1c84fb


Tinker (Tinkaton) @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 184 SpD / 72 Spe
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Gigaton Hammer
- Thunder Wave
- Encore

Tinkaton is part of the Tink + Sandy + Slither core. As my only fairy resist, it can be the one to switch into other tinkatons or scream tails. As such, tinkaton's role is to be a bulky steel type and my special wall, which is also the reason why I had went for more hp evs and more SpD evs. Knock off is there to remove items that could be a threat to my team, such as a rocky helmet etc. Gigaton hammer is there because I needed a strong steel type move. Thunder wave to para and slow down the opponents to further ensure they will not outspeed my sweepers and encore is to lock mons into setting up. The thunder wave and encore combo sometimes is able to completely incapacitate the opponents from moving and allowing me to safely switch into one of my sweepers to set up and finish off.


Sander (Sandy Shocks) @ Magnet
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Spikes
- Volt Switch
- Tera Blast

I decided to use sandy shocks because it is an amazing mon in UU and wanted to add it to my team. Its role on my team is a pivot and set-up to set spikes, breaking sashes and threatening pokemon on switch-in. It is also my lead. I had to decide on whether to use magnet or booster energy as its item and eventually decided on magnet as in most games that I have tested this team, I find it switching out a lot. As for the set, Thunderbolt for quickly taking out water types, Spikes for hazard, Volt switch for pivoting. Tera blast was because I did not know what to put for the last slot. A possible alternative could maybe be a hazard move or a status move.


Mohawk (Slither Wing) @ Silver Powder
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wild Charge
- First Impression
- U-turn
- Close Combat

Another pivot! With U-turn and not being choice-locked, it can keep the momentum going or absolutely destroy psychics. Wild charge for flying types, First impression for a strong bug type move to quickly take foes out first turn, U-turn to pivot and close combat for steel and rock types. Silver powder makes first impression and U-turn more deadly.


Im ga- (Quaquaval) @ Leftovers
Ability: Moxie
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Step
- Close Combat
- Rapid Spin

Decided on quaquaval for two reasons. One, I needed a good spinner that does not have a weakness to fire or water. Two, I needed something to take care of ground types that threaten half my team. Its role on my team is a rapid spinner to clear hazards and a fire resist. SD to raise attack, aqua step (basically a water-type trailblaze but stronger) to raise speed and get ready to sweep, CC for a fighting type STAB move, and Spin to clear hazards on my side.

Alternative to quaquaval:


Tatsugiri @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Tera Type: Steel
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Rapid Spin

This fufills the criteria of a spinner that does not have a weakness to fire or water even better. Its role on my team is a spinner to clear hazards and kind of as a sweeper too. Nasty plot allows it to buff itself after draco or before, Draco as a strong special STAB move ,Surf as its water type STAB move and spin to clear hazards.

Salamander (Salamence) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 140 SpA / 12 SpD / 108 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Roost

Sweeper, ground immunity and something that can hit dragons for supereffective damage. It is also a special attacker as there are too many physical attackers in my team and I wanted to balance things out. Heavy-duty boots is in case there was hazards that quaquaval couldn't safely switch in to remove. For the moves, I run hurricane for a flying STAB and to take advantage of any opposing rain teams, draco meteor as an extremely powerful dragon move, flamethrower over fire blast for the accuracy and roost to restore HP.


Slow asf (Slowbro) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Future Sight
- Yawn
- Ice Beam
- Slack Off

Its role is simple. One, be annoying with yawn and slack off. Two, a physically defensive wall to stop physical threats. By giving it rocky helmet and regenerator, Slowbro can tank hits, switch out or slack off, and be in perfect condition again. As for the moves, future sight if there wasn't a good move to go for in the situation, yawn to switch into another mon safely, Ice Beam to snipe flying and ground types, and the signature slack off to regain hp. Having played gen 8 before, I wanted to put teleport into its moveset, but is now illegal. Thus, I went for future sight to replace teleport.

I have done a few practice games and tests with this team and feel like the team works together fairly well. However, I feel like there are still many changes that can be made to this team. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know! Thanks!

 

[Cepha]

The team is quite solid overall, but I have a few suggestions. I'll go through each Pokémon in turn:

Tinkaton - Pretty much keep it how it is. Knock off is great for forcing progress against bulkier Pokémon such as Wo-Chien and HDB Talonflame, Salamence and the like (More on this in the Sandy Shocks section), and overall this is the ideal utility build.

Sandy Shocks - I would recommend changing the moveset to the following:

Sandy Shocks @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Tera Blast
- Volt Switch
- Stealth Rock / Spikes

At the moment, your team has some difficulty breaking through Gastrodon and Quagsire - not the most common Pokémon, mind, but not to be ignored. Sandy Shocks being tera grass is the better option the way I see it, as these two can otherwise sit on the team pretty hard. You also gain a resistance to earth power from opposing Shocks, which the opponent ought to click before tera blast should they be tera ice, as using up tera and becoming stealth rock weak potentially pointlessly is a high-risk play. Choice scarf allows for maximum SpAtk and consistent speed control, neither of which are offered by booster energy (A waste anyway if you are considering this as a lead). I think it is crucial to be running double STAB on Sandy Shocks so that it is not too tera reliant, in which case volt switch is the better option to keep for electric STAB due to being able to pivot. Scarf also allows Shocks to function as a potent revenge killer in addition to a lead. Which of the two hazard moves you use is at your liberty, though in a Talonflame meta I would prioritise stealth rock especially since you can remove HDB via knock off on Tinkaton. If you do want to run spikes on Shocks, I would recommend replacing thunder wave on Tinkaton with stealth rock.

Slither Wing - I would switch this out completely. For a pivot, Slither Wing doesn't have an ideal typing for switching in repeatedly, even if you were to run morning sun, and is generally held back by STABs being resisted by Talonflame and Mence (And bug by Tinkaton, but you aren't choice band so this is less of a factor). I back the set, but the Mon should normally be leaning towards a fully offensive build with an item such as life orb and be present on more dedicated offence, rather than balance. Seeing as you lack reliable removal right now (See Quaquaval change in a minute), I would recommend this replacement:

Talonflame @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Roost
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog

Self-explanatory, really. You cripple any physical opponent with burn, giving your bulkier Pokémon an easier time and potentially allowing easier setup from Quaquaval and Mence (See below). Defog is your removal, roost is for longevity. Flare blitz is to be able to threaten SpDef Tinkaton and is as valid an option as brave bird considering that this is not rain.

As for Quaquaval, I would change it to a fully offensive build:

Quaquaval @ Expert Belt / Life Orb
Ability: Moxie
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aqua Step
- Close Combat
- Ice Spinner
- Swords Dance

Tera fire is a great option for Quaquaval, allowing you to set up on defog-using support Pokémon like Decidueye and Talonflame, and avoid being burnt by Talonflame. A max speed build is nice also in allowing you to outspeed Talonflame at +1. Ice spinner is a great option in allowing you to hit Decidueye for super effective damage, as well as have a way of dealing with enemy Salamence, which will be a thorn in Quaquaval's side with intimidate. Right now having Quaquaval as both a sweeper and a spinner is too much role compression.

Considering you have a fast, semi-bulky support core in Tinkaton and Talonflame, as well as Slowbro, Salamence can now lean fully into offence to function as a secondary win condition for the team. Considering that you'll be setting up to break opposing defensive Pokémon, it shouldn't be a huge deal that only Shocks and Slowbro attack on the special side. As such:

Salamence @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Moxie
Tera Type: Fire / Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw / Iron Head
- Dual Wingbeat
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance

Dragon dance Mence is deadly, and can run either tera fire to resist fairy and become immune to burn, or tera steel to also resist fairy and grant STAB to iron head - Mence doesn't really need dragon STAB, but it is a nice option to be able to better threaten opposing, defensive Mence. Iron head would, of course, be for any fairy type not named Tinkaton, which is dealt with by earthquake anyway. Overall, the team should now have a solid balance between deadly offence and hard-to-break defence.

For Slowbro, not a lot has to change:

Slowbro @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Future Sight
- Surf
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off

Thunder wave is ultimately a better status option on Slowbro this Gen I feel considering the loss of teleport. Slowbro can no longer force an opponent out and guaranteed gain momentum through a delayed pivot. On the other hand, rather than forcing continual switching, thunder wave can cripple anything, offering even more speed control outside of the amended Sandy Shocks. Stacking thunder wave (Ie: This and Tinkaton) gives the team more of the direction that you mentioned at the start - crippling the opponent and safely switching into a sweeper. I wouldn't forego surf as STAB considering that you don't want to let Talonflame defog on you without trading, and this Mon can sit on dragon dance Salamence even without ice beam. Finally, tera grass is a considerably better option than fairy in granting you an electric and grass resistance to a Mon previously weak to both.

Hope some of these suggestions help! :)
-

 

[Photonphoenix45]

Thanks for your help! :)

 

[justdrew]

I’ve been waiting for people to post UU RMT’s again. I’m currently out of the country and without a computer so my rate won’t be as pretty as it normally would be. Bear with me please.

You chose some cool Pokémon to use. Here are some minor things you should take note of. Firstly your team doesn’t have stealth rocks which every competitive Pokémon team should have. You should also stick to analysis sets to begin with. Items like magnet on Sandy shocks and silver powder on slither wing aren’t items that are used competively and thus should be changed. Your spread on salamence should just be standard max speed and max special attack as well.

I tried to keep your team as similar as possible and made some minor and major changes.

https://pokepast.es/7f8d1e188ac90d39

You titled your team balance so I tried to make it more like balance. I replaced slowbro with alomomola as they are both physically defensive water types and alo provides you with the wish support balance teams commonly have. You can now sustain the health of tinkaton and Sandy shocks. I replaced salamence with talonflame because you desperately need speed on your team and need to maintain a check to scizor, slither wing, and lokix. I kept Quaqeval because it’s an easy to use and phenomenal sweeper. I removed rapid spin and added ice spinner for salamence. You can also use roost or Tera blast if you wish. And then finally I added an assault vest cyclizar to give you another reliable switch in to special attackers which you formerly lacked and also give you the best rapid spinner in the tier in my opinion.

Your team now has special and physical walls, a strong regenerator core, wish pass, stealth rock, rapid spin, multiple pivots and knock off users which are all things that your team benefits from or just absolutely needs.

Sorry I couldn’t edit this post as I normally would. If you have any questions please feel free to tag me. Enjoy!

 

[Photonphoenix45]

Thanks for the help :)