SM UU cloudy skies

[pdt]

hi y'all, after coming back to usum from a very long hiatus, i got back into seriously playing for the first time since oras. after playing a couple hundred too many ladder games, i felt i had a good understanding of how the metagame worked and decided to take a crack at balance. balance historically in gen 7 uu has been pretty garbage, as both offense and bulky offense have dominated the metagame thanks to both z-moves and the introduction of various threats into uu that shifted the game largely in favor of offensive builds, such as breloom and scizor. balance had no way to cover all of the threats without turning into semi-stall or hard stall and keep enough offensive pressure to beat bulkier teams. and honestly, not much of that has changed in the current metagame to help out balance that much except for the exit of mamosime, but with balance being a lot better for higher level play than it is for mid-ladder or casual play, i decided try and make my matchup versus bulky offense as good as possibly with still being able to dismantle bulkier builds.

i played around with this team on the ladder climbing up to around 1650, nothing crazy, but proving the team's worth being able to hold its own in high level ladder play, and team is organized alphabetically to avoid revealing thought process while teambuilding that could give clue to opponent to what set my pokemon may have.

teambuilding process

i usually start building my balance teams with the initial defensive core to try and check as much of the meta as possible and ground / steel / fairy cores typewise are pretty broken especially with gliscor because it alleviates pressure from sylveon to check fighting types and gives a reliable ground immunity. gliscor also helps with status absorption so that sylveon isn't forced to heal bell all the time.

at this point my scald switch-in was nothing and i was moving towards offensive pressure. celebi destroys a lot of stall and bulkier teams ill-prepared for it and is a very good water check. natural bulk also makes it a decent pivot for certain mons.

i adamantly believe that all balance teams need speed control and this one is no different. scarf hydreigon, albeit standard, is one of the best scarfers in the tier, also giving me a decent fire check while completing the dragon/steel/fairy core.

the team was lacking hazard control as well as still being vulnerable to strong fire types, and tentacruel provides the perfect utility with toxic spikes pressure and being one of the most reliable spinners in the tier. also gave me a desperately needed azumarill and primarina check.

Aggron-Mega @ Aggronite
Ability: Filter
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Fire Punch
- Toxic

mega aggron has gotten better and better recently due to its ability to check prominent pokemon such as scizor, latias, mega altaria, mega pidgeot, and mega aerodactyl as well as having fantastic defensive typing in general. it provides amazing utility with stealth rock and toxic being able to passively pressure the opponent's team, being one of the most reliable rockers in the tier. heavy slam is general stab that does a stupid amount of damage for a defensive pokemon with no investment, giving aggron offensive presence in being one of the most active walls in the tier. fire punch is much needed coverage to avoid being setup bait for scizor, as bulky sd variants can setup and punish earthquake variants of mega-aggron. EVs are pretty standard, just maximizing specially defensive bulk because aggron's defense is already ridiculously high and doesn't require any investment. this set is very standard and performs its job well.

Celebi @ Groundium Z
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Psychic
- Earth Power
- Nasty Plot

this thing is vastly unprepared for in most teambuilding, and while latias and hydreigon are both very common and naturally check it, this team has very solid answers to both and can easily make doubles on obvious switchins to lesser-played pokemon. i opted for the groundium z nasty plot set because it beats alolan muk and nukes mega aggron in the stall matchup to let celebi run havoc against bulkier builds. giga drain and psychic are both stab, and earth power is steel type coverage as well as the base move for the tectonic rage. celebi sets up on non-uturn gliscor, bulky waters, fat grounds, and nukes scizor, a-muk, and aggron that think they can check this mon. celebi's natural bulk is very helpful in giving it many opportunities to set up, as well as being the best offensive check in the tier to breloom, a huge threat to any style of team.

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 76 SpD / 188 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Facade
- Roost

swords dance gliscor has a scarily good matchup against so many teams including other balance teams but even offense because of its insane longevity through recovery. gliscor is my electric check, so that voltturn doesn't run all over me, mostly pivoting in on mega-mane and then pivoting out into an hp ice switchin to get sorta free turns. it is the main status absorber on the team, and while its synergy with a heal bell cleric is not the best, its rather easy to activate toxic orb more than once. earthquake and facade give the best coverage, because this gliscor doesn't particularly need to beat other gliscor with ice fang, and although mega-aero kinda walls it mega aggron is one of the best mega-aero checks in the tier. 244 hp is the poison heal number in order to get maximum recovery out of toxic orb, and 188 speed with a jolly nature hits 300 speed, just above entei and outspeed the base 85 tier with important mons such as nidoking, heracross, as well as the large base 80 pool. the rest of the EVs are dumped into special defense in order to take stuff like dracos from hydreigon and lati better and roost on them, allowing gliscor for better setup opportunities.

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- U-turn

hydreigon is one of the best scarfers in the tier with its ability to nuke with draco meteor and spam dark pulse, as well as generate momentum with uturn. hydreigon provides a secondary ground immunity to support tentacruel and aggron, as well as a much needed chandelure and alolan marowak check. hydreigon also revenges threats such as +1 sweepers, such as kommo-o, and acts as a soft check for mega-manectric. it is the sole ghost resist on the team so stuff like specs chandelure and specs gengar don't automatically dismantle the defensive core. hydreigon mainly performs the important role of revenge killer and speed control. very straightforward mon.

Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell

sylveon fulfills the role of team cleric and being the main dark resist on the team, checking both hydreigon and mega-sharpedo that both can dismantle many balanced builds. wish support is crucial for both m-aggron and tentacruel that can easily get worn down by checking things like scizor and clearing / setting up hazards. sylveon is also a fantastic blanket check for much of the metagame, able to absorb many hits that others need to not take in order to check certain huge threats. the EV spread is very standard, just maxing out both hp and defense in order for it to take as many hits as possible. moveset is very standard, having hyper voice as a main stab and wishtect for recovery. heal bell is not clicked as much as the team has 2 fantastic status absorbers in celebi and gliscor, but it can be useful to remove annoying burns from itself and mega aggron, as well as to avoid being toxic'd and losing the ability to check threats as well.

Tentacruel @ Waterium Z
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Sludge Wave
- Hydro Pump
- Toxic Spikes

this is easily the weirdest set on the team, because i already have a designated z-move user and obviously you can't use more than one z-move a game. however, the purpose of waterium on this set is to better check banded azumarill with knock off as well as being able to nuke unsuspecting annoying gliscor when z-ground on celebi is not crucial to win the game. i opted for sludge wave over haze because this is a faster tentacruel variant, and sludge wave is more helpful for breloom, togekiss, and azumarill. hydro pump gives tentacruel a tad more offensive presence and gives the z-move the power it needs to ohko gliscor, even if the miss chance sucks. you could easily run black sludge and scald on this set, but i never found myself in games wishing i had either of those when tentacruel can remove gliscor whenever it wants and band azu cant just tear through my team. the EV spread maximizes hp while 216+ speed creeps max speed gliscor, so even sd variants running max jolly can be nuked, as well as hitting the tier for annoying base 90s such as moltres, and the rest is dumped into defense for azu. tspikes + rapid spin provide amazing utility and reliably remove hazards while pressuring certain teams really hard, even though grounded poisons have become more popular lately.

importable

Aggron-Mega @ Aggronite
Ability: Filter
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Fire Punch
- Toxic

Celebi @ Groundium Z
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Psychic
- Earth Power
- Nasty Plot

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 76 SpD / 188 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Facade
- Roost

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- U-turn

Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell

Tentacruel @ Waterium Z
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Sludge Wave
- Hydro Pump
- Toxic Spikes

replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-724933778 vs. swankChair
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-724924311 vs. Chloe (ly)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-726158470 vs. A Doggs Purpose
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-726223549 vs. Moutemoute

i'll edit in some more replays if i get some, didn't really save many

shoutouts

not gonna tag a ridiculous amount of people but here goes (lmk if you're missing one!)

shoutout to all the UU room friends, you know who you are, especially the MSPL guys, y'all are awesome

shoutout to Lobby staff, top tier users on the site <3

shoutout to my bud CBU, Adam, Iroh and the rest of the goons on Discord

extra special shoutout to you guys, chloe, volk, donno, kris, cn, flint, and many more :]

thanks for reading! i hope you enjoyed my building thought process and hope you guys try out the team, and as this is a RMT, feel free to leave any potential improvement and suggestions below! make balance great again, cya :]


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