INTRODUCTION
I really wanted to build an Articuno team for a long time, so i finally got around to it recently. It ended up being pretty successful for a fun team, peaking right around 1600 (i think 1602 was my peak?) and i figured i'd share it because Articuno is a really underrated UU mon and deserves more love!
DA LEGENDS
I really wanted to build an Articuno team for a long time, so i finally got around to it recently. It ended up being pretty successful for a fun team, peaking right around 1600 (i think 1602 was my peak?) and i figured i'd share it because Articuno is a really underrated UU mon and deserves more love!
DA LEGENDS
Omastar (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Earth Power
- Surf
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
Omastar makes a quality appearance in this team as an awesome suicide lead that gets alot of chances to lay down Spikes and Stealth Rock! Surf / Earth Power off of 252 SAtk and a 125 base stat can actually do a fair bit of damage as well, with Earth Power nearly OHKOing Toxicroak, aswell as doing around 70% to the Bulky Spiking Omastar lead. Surf does around 45ish % to Hitmontop and OHKOs Donphan, making it difficult for spinners to come in easily (barring Blastoise, whom is covered fine by Rotom). Swift Swim is kinda obvious, and helps a bit against Rain Dance i guess if i keep Omastar alive! Normally I run Hidden Power [Grass] on this lead Oma set, but after realizing this team could have a fair bit of trouble against Toxicroak, i decided it would probably be smart to change it.
This is how Oma fairs against the most common leads from June!
Drapion (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 HP/4 Spd/252 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Whirlwind
- Toxic Spikes
- Crunch
- Protect
Typical Ghost counter, helps alot vs Plot Missy and Rotom. Gets Toxic Spikes up fairly easily thanks to auspicious typing! Protect is cool to scout Choiced Fighting types and get Leftovers recovery, and also rack up some Toxic Spikes damage if i have them down. Whirlwind is kinda necessary, as Drapion is the only phazer on my team. Crunch for STAB and for ghosts, as i mentioned before. Sometimes I use this to phaze Curse Registeel and Milotic if they get annoying! This is generally my second switch into Venusaur, first if Stealth Rock is down, as it severely disables Articuno.
Sometimes I really Wish that I had Rest on this, because sometimes Leech Seed Venusaur gets annoying. I'm probably going to end up testing Rest over Protect, the only reason I didn't want Rest on the first draft of the team was that I had no cleric, but i realized Articuno makes a pretty solid cleric and that it increased the longevity of the team in general cause Top could Rest effectively and spin easier. Sometimes I don't like using Drapion as a Toxic Spiker, as it seems to draw Hitmontop and Donphan in rather easily without really being able to harm them. Donphan isn't really a huge problem, but my team can have a bit of trouble against Specially Defensive Foresight Hitmontop, as Rotom only 4HKOs, meaning it can easily come in and Foresight Spin, but i usually play around it (usually...)
Despite Drapion attracting Hitmontop and Donphan, i find its probabably the best Toxic Spiker in the tier, and it really has quite a few advantages over Nidoqueen. First off, Drapion can beat Ghosts alot easier thanks to more Special bulk and STAB Crunch. Second off, Nidoqueens Ground-typing leaves it water weak, which is screaming for Milotic to come in. If Milo comes in on Drapion as its Toxic Spiking, i can easily throw down another layer, Protect, and Whirlwind it out while still being above 50%. Admittedly, Nidoqueen is much better against Fighting-types (especially Toxicroak) which i really feel would be good for this team, but unless i decide to throw Special Defense Spiritomb over Rotom or something, Drapion is staying.
Rotom @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP/252 Def/8 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Will-o-wisp
- Thunderbolt
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Although not seen so frequently, I find that ResTalk Defensive Rotom is quite a solid spinblocker for Stallish Teams. Rotom also helps solve my large weakness to Life Orbed Fighting-types as well as most Ground-types (although Rhyperior and Torterra can still be quite hard to handle). Will O Wisp cripples all of the aforementioned, as well as providing passive damage on common switch ins like Venusaur and Registeel. While not completely advised, Rotom makes a decent switch into Defensive Milotic if you can predict a Recover, as the threat of Thunderbolt is generally enough to force it out.
Rotom is my first choice to absorb Sleep from Venusaur as well as status in general, like Registeel's Toxic or Thunder Wave. Rotom and Milotic also combine to wall the majority of Water-types in the tier, with the only troublesome one being Swords Dance Feraligatr. Rotom is my main switch into Swellow, as it usually Facades off the bat and Rotom can scare it away with the threat of Thunderbolt. Rotom is the first switch into Fighting types thanks to the heavy physical investment and Will O Wisp to potentially cripple them. Rotom is pretty awesome for preventing Blastoise from spinning thanks to STAB Thunderbolt, and being able to stop almost every spinner in its tracks (curse you, Careful Hitmontop...)
Against stall teams WITHOUT Careful Hitmontop, Rotom is a pretty awesome spinblocker, especially thanks to Levitate, meaning it isn't effected by any passive damage barring Stealth Rock. It can also easily outstall Chansey if Drapion gets 2 layers of Toxic Spikes down, barring Aromatherapy Chansey. Sometimes i've considered a Defensive Pain Split set so i can run Shadow Ball to hit Missy switch ins, but i really like having a solid status absorber so i'm a bit hesitant. EVs are pretty straight forward, 8 Spe to beat 4 Spe Defensive Rotom, however rare they may be, while the rest is pumped in HP and Defense so Rotom can switch into physical threats better.
Hitmontop (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP/136 Def/16 Spd/104 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Rest
- Rapid Spin
- Foresight
A spinner was necessary if i was going to run Articuno, and i figured Blastoise would be a tad redundant with Milotic, and I dislike the fact that Donphan doesn't have Foresight so it isn't a consistent spinner. Hitmontop also helps against random Darks like Absol and Drapion, as well as giving me a Stone Edge sponge to bring in if Articuno is threatened by one. The moveset is pretty self explanatory, Rest Rapid Spin repeat blah blah Foresight if needed, Close Combat for STAB.
I stole the EVs from eo, thats why they suck. Nah just kidding, they're pretty cool EVs, survives SD Superpower from Absol, plenty of defensive bulk. I took the EVs from attack and threw them in special defense, since it makes it easier to Foresight spin, and i really need to keep Stealth Rock off the field. Intimidate is pretty awesome for softening blows and allows Milotic and Rotom to come in on alot for stuff. Its also nice for a last ditch effort if i need to weaken something, like Intimidating a Torterra for example. Since most stall seems to be using Spiritomb now, Hitmontop has a fairly easy time spinning, which is pretty awesome. Sorry for the bad description Hitmontop is hard to talk about!
Milotic (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Marvel Scale
EVs: 252 HP/236 Def/20 Spd
Calm nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Surf
- Haze
- Recover
What's a UU team without Milotic? Milotic fits very well on this team (as it does on almost every UU team!) thanks to its ability to easily handle Fire mons as well as Curse Registeel, both of which annoy Articuno quite alot. In particular, Milotic patches up the Houndoom weakness, which is one of the Fire mons Articuno cannot afford to Protect against, as it risks Houndoom getting a Nasty Plot boost and sweeping the whole team. Haze also handles CM Tomb and other random stat boosters like Dragon Dance Feraligatr. Hidden Power [Grass] is mainly to break Azumarill's subs, although i'm considering just throwing Toxic on instead so i can handle other Milotic better and stall them easier with Articuno. The downside is that i'd then have to handle sub punch Azu with Hitmontop and Rotom, which is a bit sketchy if you ask me.
The EVs provide a fair amount of Defensive bulk (and 144 hits a jump point) as well as being able to deal wih Moltres fairly easily. The 16 Speed is to outspeed Venusaur and Blaziken that don't invest in speed or invest very little. I've also considered Hidden Power [Psychic] over Hidden Power [Grass] a few times (and have actually experimented with it), but it seems a bit foolish considering its only for Toxicroak, but to be fair i guess i do have a pretty big Toxicroak weakness. This is actually one of my only times using Milotic in UU, and i'm very impressed by its performance and will likely start using it alot more! I've been thinking about adding a little more special bulk for Moltres, but i'm worried about physical waters hitting my team too hard then. I'd like some suggestions on this if possible!
Articuno @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/216 Spd/40 SDef
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Roost
- Protect
- Ice Beam
- Heal Bell
And ofcourse, the star of the show! I've always been a huge fan of Articuno in UU, but never really got around to using it. After playing with Earthworm's team in OU and spamming Toxic Spikes Forretress and Protect Heatran to rack up passive damage and scout for choiced users, i decided to try a similar strategy in UU, spamming Protect Articuno since it also abuses Pressure. Venusaur is the most common Toxic Spikes absorber in UU, so i figured i would use something that "scares" Venusaur, and Articuno generally keeps it at bay thanks to STAB Ice Beam. Articuno has amazing defenses with 90/100/125, capable of surviving an array of attacks even without large investment. Heal Bell is pretty cool because it helps support the team, as well making it impossible for Milotic to just Toxic Articuno and stall it out with Recover, which comes in handy.
Protect is a very underrated move on Articuno. Most of the attacks that pokemon use to scare away Articuno are Rock or Fire, generally Stone Edge and Fire Blast respectively. Both of these attacks have only 8 PP, and 2 PP is wasted on every Protect thanks to Pressure. Protect is also cool to scout for Choiced users and rack up Toxic Spikes damage, as well as just stall out attacks in general (i have had to completely stall out Milotic several times with Protect + Roost + Heal Bell).
Between all my team members, i have most of Articuno's threats covered. Milotic will beat most Fire-types, Hitmontop is a solid Stone Edge switch in, Drapion sets up Toxic Spikes to allow Articuno to spam Protect, Rotom prevents them from being spun away, and Omastar provides entry hazards to wear down the opponent.
So thats my Articuno team!! I hope you liked it! I'm looking for some feedback on how to make it better, and also some ideas for the future incase i ever decide to build around Articuno again.
CHANGES BEING TESTED
Scarf Rotom > Restalk Rotom
Earthquake > Protect on Drapion
252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spe on Milotic CHANGED
252 HP / 136 Def / 16 Spe / 104 SDef on Top Changed
252 Spe on Articuno
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