UPDATED 8/18~
After making various changes to my Under-Dog team I decided to take a different approach. I've moved my Underdogs into the RU Tier with some tweaks and have gone for an all new UU team. Please tell me what you think as I've doing quite well with it so far!
~.~.~.~.~
"Azure" @ Choice Band
Trait: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Ice Punch
- Double-Edge
CB Azumarill is one of the most powerful pokemon to take a hit from. Prediction can net me a key KO or leave me Aqua Jetting a Kingdra. I've love using it as the Water Rabbit can really help me tear down some of the sturdiest of walls.
I'm using Double-Edge over Return as a way of handling Waters/Grass types that want to come in for free. The Recoil has been noted, but I still think the extra power was the right way to go. Super Power was not very useful on the team.
Though I do not have numbers Aqua Jet works great at Revenge Killing Mienshao, Scarf-Chandelure and things like Flygon after prior damage. Her natural bulk also means that it's almost impossible to OHKO Azumarill. I try to save her for late-game as she can clean up pretty well with just Aqua Jet. Can't deal with Zapdos, but I've OHKO'd/2HKO'd Raikou when they suspect I'm switching to Flygon or something.
"Leo" @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 6 HP
Adamant Nature
- Wild Charge
- Superpower
- Ice Fang
- Volt Switch
Luxray is just awesome. I send him to Revenge Kill or to just absorb status moves. People don't know what Luxray can do, how fast it is, how hard it hits or even that it gets Guts. Seeing a Luxray hit the field seems to cause people to question their next move carefully and because of that I'll usually wind up taking out 1-2 pokemon just off surprise factor.
Guts and Scarf are key to make Luxray work. People use W-o-W on Luxray all the time, or toss Toxic on it even. In fact since I don't have a Poison type I usually look forward to sending in Luxray onto a 1 Layer of Toxic Spikes and KOing the most common user of it(Roserade) with Ice-Fang.
Mostly I try to bring Luxray in on a slow wall about to go down(Bronzong for instance) as I try to keep his speed hidden. However, if the opportunity arises I'll happily Revenge Kill early on. Bulky Zapdos aren't as common as offensive ones, but both are the go-to pokemon to remove Luxray. Bulky Ones go for Toxic and Roost Stalling, but this gives me Guts behind his base 120 Atk. Offensive ones will be 2HKOd.
"Sky" @ Choice Band
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 6 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- U-turn
Mid-Late Game Flygon can enter the field and seriously just start bashing things around. It's CB-Outrages demolish everything and I've actually survived an Ice Beam from a 0-SAtk Blastoise which was pretty funny. He has flaws, but his place on the team is well earned.
I've definitely found that using Flygon as the lead has been beneficial for scouting and bluffing a Choice Scarf set. Azelf+Sharpedo(barring the rare HP:Ice/Ice Beam) can't OHKO it and won't like a U-Turn either. I think the Scarf might make the best Lead, but I do need Choice Band to help me tear down walls.
I wish I could say more, but we've all seen how powerful a Choice Band Flygon's Outrage can hit and that's purely why he's such a great pokemon on this team.
"Ember" @ Passho Berry
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 6 HP
Timid Nature
- Sunny Day
- Flamethrower
- Dark Pulse
- Solar Beam
Houndoom is still helping me get out of some really nasty situations. The Passho Berry has still been helping greatly and due to Swampert fearing a switch to Mismagius or Flygon on Earthquake they'll always go for a Waterfall instead. 9/10 times Houndoom is the ultimate Lure to a bulky water pokemon who will find it's life cut short by the Berry surprise.
It's also my best counter to Chandelure. Most I've been fighting do not carry HP:Fighting for fear of not speed tieing with other Chandelure. Plus it can deal with Slowbro(another really annoying pokemon) due to the Passho Berry.
And sometimes I just need a meat-shield to see what I'm about to be hit with. Either way Houndoom proves useful.
Edit: Using Sunny-Beam - This was somewhat of a funny decision. I was having a few issues with teams who would abuse Rain as well as Azumarill. Sunny Day helps me beat the few Rain Teams in the tier who can actually just stomp all over me, weakens Water moves when combined with Passho Berry can really save me a lot of the time and allows me to for sure OHKO pokemon like Swampert. It's not common and can be surprising to see Houndoom fire off a Solar Beam.
"Gear" @ Leftovers
Trait: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 6 SDef
Adamant
- Substitute
- Dynamic Punch
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
Even though Mismagius covered my Fighting weakness, she was still physically weak and even an on-slaught of U-Turn was enough to start tearing her down. Beyond that Raikou was coming in and just setting up on her, which became very troublesome.
So here is Gear the Golurk! No Guard Golurk is as fearsome as No Guard Machamp, only with the added benefit of a Fighting, Normal and Electric Immunity. Ambipom, Mienshao or Heracross are common...each team has been 1-3 of these and Golurk is happy for this. He comes in easily on resisted hits and U-Turns and hides behind a Sub. With his great HP stat and decent base defenses he can take Scarf Megahorn and non-stab Sucker Punches as well and can switch in on quite a few things while resisting SR. He isn't perfect, the speed is dreadful and being weak to Water is not good at all! I have to play Golurk very defensively, he's not on here to sweep, but to counter threats that would otherwise walk all over this team.
Though Golurk's not sweeping, he does great at checking three of the most over-played UU pokemon, the biggest threat to this team(Raikou) and forcing Milotic/Blastoise to suffer Confusion if they think they can come in unscathed.
"Cobalt" @ Leftovers
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Substitute
Cobalion has been surprising to say the least. I honestly didn't think it'd be as strong as it has been, but I seem to be able to get up 2-3 Sword Dances with Cobalion. In fact half the matches I've played I either wind up sweeping with Cobalion or forcing the opponent to sacrifice 2 pokemon to take it out. It's seriously been a beast!
He can come in and set-up on Bronzong Screeners and stall out behind Subs, can set up a sweep safely behind a Sub on Spikes Roserades. His speed means he can get Sub up way fast and avoid a crippling Thunder-Wave/Sleep Powder or Spore. Huge defenses also mean that Gligar or Bronzong EQs don't damage him that much either.
Beautiful thing about Cobalion is that unless they have a Roar ready he'll be able to set up on most support pokemon with ease and without fear and his speed allows it to just run through teams.
~.~.~.~.~
~. Threats .~
Trait: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Ice Punch
- Double-Edge
CB Azumarill is one of the most powerful pokemon to take a hit from. Prediction can net me a key KO or leave me Aqua Jetting a Kingdra. I've love using it as the Water Rabbit can really help me tear down some of the sturdiest of walls.
I'm using Double-Edge over Return as a way of handling Waters/Grass types that want to come in for free. The Recoil has been noted, but I still think the extra power was the right way to go. Super Power was not very useful on the team.
Though I do not have numbers Aqua Jet works great at Revenge Killing Mienshao, Scarf-Chandelure and things like Flygon after prior damage. Her natural bulk also means that it's almost impossible to OHKO Azumarill. I try to save her for late-game as she can clean up pretty well with just Aqua Jet. Can't deal with Zapdos, but I've OHKO'd/2HKO'd Raikou when they suspect I'm switching to Flygon or something.
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 6 HP
Adamant Nature
- Wild Charge
- Superpower
- Ice Fang
- Volt Switch
Luxray is just awesome. I send him to Revenge Kill or to just absorb status moves. People don't know what Luxray can do, how fast it is, how hard it hits or even that it gets Guts. Seeing a Luxray hit the field seems to cause people to question their next move carefully and because of that I'll usually wind up taking out 1-2 pokemon just off surprise factor.
Guts and Scarf are key to make Luxray work. People use W-o-W on Luxray all the time, or toss Toxic on it even. In fact since I don't have a Poison type I usually look forward to sending in Luxray onto a 1 Layer of Toxic Spikes and KOing the most common user of it(Roserade) with Ice-Fang.
Mostly I try to bring Luxray in on a slow wall about to go down(Bronzong for instance) as I try to keep his speed hidden. However, if the opportunity arises I'll happily Revenge Kill early on. Bulky Zapdos aren't as common as offensive ones, but both are the go-to pokemon to remove Luxray. Bulky Ones go for Toxic and Roost Stalling, but this gives me Guts behind his base 120 Atk. Offensive ones will be 2HKOd.
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 6 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- U-turn
Mid-Late Game Flygon can enter the field and seriously just start bashing things around. It's CB-Outrages demolish everything and I've actually survived an Ice Beam from a 0-SAtk Blastoise which was pretty funny. He has flaws, but his place on the team is well earned.
I've definitely found that using Flygon as the lead has been beneficial for scouting and bluffing a Choice Scarf set. Azelf+Sharpedo(barring the rare HP:Ice/Ice Beam) can't OHKO it and won't like a U-Turn either. I think the Scarf might make the best Lead, but I do need Choice Band to help me tear down walls.
I wish I could say more, but we've all seen how powerful a Choice Band Flygon's Outrage can hit and that's purely why he's such a great pokemon on this team.
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 6 HP
Timid Nature
- Sunny Day
- Flamethrower
- Dark Pulse
- Solar Beam
Houndoom is still helping me get out of some really nasty situations. The Passho Berry has still been helping greatly and due to Swampert fearing a switch to Mismagius or Flygon on Earthquake they'll always go for a Waterfall instead. 9/10 times Houndoom is the ultimate Lure to a bulky water pokemon who will find it's life cut short by the Berry surprise.
It's also my best counter to Chandelure. Most I've been fighting do not carry HP:Fighting for fear of not speed tieing with other Chandelure. Plus it can deal with Slowbro(another really annoying pokemon) due to the Passho Berry.
And sometimes I just need a meat-shield to see what I'm about to be hit with. Either way Houndoom proves useful.
Edit: Using Sunny-Beam - This was somewhat of a funny decision. I was having a few issues with teams who would abuse Rain as well as Azumarill. Sunny Day helps me beat the few Rain Teams in the tier who can actually just stomp all over me, weakens Water moves when combined with Passho Berry can really save me a lot of the time and allows me to for sure OHKO pokemon like Swampert. It's not common and can be surprising to see Houndoom fire off a Solar Beam.
Trait: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 6 SDef
Adamant
- Substitute
- Dynamic Punch
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
Even though Mismagius covered my Fighting weakness, she was still physically weak and even an on-slaught of U-Turn was enough to start tearing her down. Beyond that Raikou was coming in and just setting up on her, which became very troublesome.
So here is Gear the Golurk! No Guard Golurk is as fearsome as No Guard Machamp, only with the added benefit of a Fighting, Normal and Electric Immunity. Ambipom, Mienshao or Heracross are common...each team has been 1-3 of these and Golurk is happy for this. He comes in easily on resisted hits and U-Turns and hides behind a Sub. With his great HP stat and decent base defenses he can take Scarf Megahorn and non-stab Sucker Punches as well and can switch in on quite a few things while resisting SR. He isn't perfect, the speed is dreadful and being weak to Water is not good at all! I have to play Golurk very defensively, he's not on here to sweep, but to counter threats that would otherwise walk all over this team.
Though Golurk's not sweeping, he does great at checking three of the most over-played UU pokemon, the biggest threat to this team(Raikou) and forcing Milotic/Blastoise to suffer Confusion if they think they can come in unscathed.
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Substitute
Cobalion has been surprising to say the least. I honestly didn't think it'd be as strong as it has been, but I seem to be able to get up 2-3 Sword Dances with Cobalion. In fact half the matches I've played I either wind up sweeping with Cobalion or forcing the opponent to sacrifice 2 pokemon to take it out. It's seriously been a beast!
He can come in and set-up on Bronzong Screeners and stall out behind Subs, can set up a sweep safely behind a Sub on Spikes Roserades. His speed means he can get Sub up way fast and avoid a crippling Thunder-Wave/Sleep Powder or Spore. Huge defenses also mean that Gligar or Bronzong EQs don't damage him that much either.
Beautiful thing about Cobalion is that unless they have a Roar ready he'll be able to set up on most support pokemon with ease and without fear and his speed allows it to just run through teams.
~.~.~.~.~
~. Threats .~
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~. Lead Pokemon Choices .~
This team has no dedicated Lead. Because of this my choice on a lead will always depend on the pokemon I see my opponent using:
~.~
And that is the team!
I'm using far more standards then my old team, but I still carry a pretty huge surprise/unpredictability factor with this team. It has flaws, but those flaws do NOT hold it back from packing some serious punch!
Update:
~ Crunch > Volt Switch on Luxray
~ SDef EV > HP EV(Thanks for catching this MoJoee!!)
~ Golurk replaced Mismagius
~ Included New Threat: Kingdra
~ Included Lead Pokemon Selection
~ Sunny Day+Solarbeam Combo on Houndoom
Since swapping to Golurk the team has been doing a much better job~
