Defenders of Sesame Street (2,000+)

[Deoxys Prime]

So I've finally spent some time dabbling in many of the tiers and I think I've found my best fit in Ubers. After topping at roughly 1,800 in OU and making about 1,600 in everything else without much issue I finally got around to trying my hand at Ubers. I quickly cruised to just over 2,000 with only a limited number of losses. I've got to say that I've been enjoying this the most so far. Anyway, enough of the silly introduction. Let's get to the team.

Team at a glance:

Bulky offense is the name of the game here. Ho-Oh, Groudon, and Giratina provide an extremely stable and reliable core of defense that can take almost any attacker. It's also built to handle unique situations with two Dragon Tails and Ho-Oh being armed with an Assault Vest. Xerneas and Kyurem-W deal team-breakingly high special damage and warrant immediate attention from the other team. Scizor provides Defog support and much needed priority.

Big Bird (Ho-Oh) @ Assault Vest
Regenerator
Impish
252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpD
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Iron Head
- Earthquake

Ho-Oh is one of my team's two anchors. Without these two anchors the team would simply fall apart. Ho-Oh has impressive Special Defense even without any investment. Add on an Assault Vest and it's already higher than it would be had you spent the EVs in it anyway. This allowed me to focus on Defense and this has worked well so far. Ho-Oh can safely stay in against many physical threats that would threaten it otherwise and threaten to burn them. The lack of reliable recovery is a shame but the improved defensive stats make up for it - Regenerator provides enough healing most of the time.

Oscar the Groudon (Groudon) @ Leftovers
Drought
Impish
252 HP, 252 Def, 4 Att
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Dragon Tail

Groudon is the other of my team's two anchors. Groudon is my most preferred lead. Even if this build is a bit standard it works very well for me. Stealth Rock is very important to my team. It allows me to significantly cripple a variety of threats in the tier. Ho-Oh, Kyurem-W, and Shaymin-S immediately come to mind. EdgeQuake provides standard coverage to hit most things for pretty effective damage. Dragon Tail provides necessary phazing and also can also act as a surprise opening move if I'm expecting to be on the receiving end of a Taunt. Groudon is also incredibly physically bulky and can handle almost any unboosted physical attack without issue.

The Count (Giratina) @ Leftovers
Pressure
Impish
248 HP, 252 Def, 8 SpD
- Will-o-Wisp
- Dragon Tail
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Giratina acts as a compliment to Ho-Oh and Groudon in a sense. It doesn't exactly resist things that the other two are weak to (Rock and Ice come to mind) but it does provide necessary burn support and it has reliable enough recovery to stay in against a wide variety of attackers. It also handles Mega Kangaskhan particularly well. It's hard to say too much more about such a standard wall. Giratina is so commonplace in Ubers that it doesn't really warrant much more than, "huehuehue tina es #1 always burn never die"

Cookie Monster (Kyurem White) @ Choice Specs
Turboblaze
Modest
252 SpA, 252 Spe, 4 SpD
- Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam
- Fusion Flare
- Focus Blast

Having entirely missed Gen 5 competitively, I was itching to try some new stuff out. This thing is a monster. I specifically wanted something with so much sheer power that it could plow almost anything down in a single attack. Choice Specs Draco Meteor is just so potent from this that if there isn't a timely switch into something that is both specially defensive AND resistant to Dragon that something will almost certainly lose a gigantic amount of health. The rest of the moveset is pretty standard coverage and the obligatory second STAB. I was surprised when I saw Kyogres getting OHKO'd by neutral damage from full HP or from only Stealth Rock damage.

Grover (Xerneas) @ Power Herb
Fairy Aura
Timid
252 SpA, 252 Spe, 4 HP
- Geomancy
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock

After hearing much ado about this deer I figured I'd take Bambi for a ride. I have not been disappointed. After a Geomancy boost almost nothing can safely come in on it. Ho-Oh is one of the few things that can and if Stealth Rock is down even it isn't safe. I went with the Geomancy set because with all of the bulky support the rest of the team provides I can almost always find an opportune time for Xerneas to come in and safely boost. It also helps that a lot of people use Yveltal on their teams because I've found that Xerneas can switch into almost any one of Yveltal's attacks, boost, and then kill it. I may just be facing bad players that are unprepared for Xerneas but it hasn't worked poorly even once. It has always managed to pull something off.

Elmo (Scizor) @ Scizorite
Technician
Adamant
252 HP, 252 Att, 4 SpD
- Defog
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Knock Off

I believe Scizor is the weak link of my team. I needed Defog support to help out Ho-Oh and Kyurem-W but a great many Pokemon in the tier can squash this bug. I will attest that Scizor has been very helpful when dealing with Xerneas. It can't switch in safely but it can remove an enormous portion of Xerneas' health with Bullet Punch. Bug Bite is standard coverage and it helps with many common Pokemon. Knock Off does a surprising amount of damage to many Pokemon that don't expect it. It also helps in weakening many Pokemon that rely on their items. I chose to use Scizorite instead of Leftovers because I felt that the boost to its defenses would be more useful than the recovery. I've also considered running Roost but I don't know what I would run it over.

Threat List Inside

Kyogre - Most Kyogres present a problem to my team. Ho-Oh is fairly specially defensive but rain boosted Water type attacks are incredibly threatening to almost any member of the party. Giratina hates Ice Beams too. Scarfed variants are the hardest to deal with because they can threaten Kyurem-W too.

Arceus - It's hard to deal with many varieties of Arceus. Extremespeed revenge killers are typically the easiest to deal with because of how burn heavy my team is but bulkier varieties that run plates can be very challenging.

Mewtwo - Ho-Oh can switch into almost any special attack and then survive the Psystrike that follows but it takes a lot out of Ho-Oh to do it. Mewtwo can also run through the rest of my team quite easily if Ho-Oh should fall. If it loses a chunk of HP then Scizor can usually finish it off but that doesn't mean it didn't wreak havoc with my team.

Deoxys-A - Lead variants of Deoxys-A are a pain to deal with for my team. My preference of leading with Groudon has made him Taunt bait. If I predict a Taunt I could choose to attack and break its Focus Sash but I could also be wrong and get OHKO'd by an Ice Beam or Psycho Boost. If I Dragon Tail I risk bringing in something that I can't safely set up rocks against. This is especially awkward when I pull in Geomancy Xerneas.

Considerations/Notes

Scizor's lackluster position on my team has made me think of running a support themed Arceus with Defog. I don't know how well that will work. I feel like Scizor helps check Xerneas when Ho-Oh can't and I don't know how well a support Arceus would fulfill the same role. I could always run a Specially Defensive Arceus Steel I guess.

I need something to handle other people's leads and anti-leads. Groudon is taunt bait and is very susceptible to the ever present Deoxys-A lead.

I'm also thinking that maybe I need more ways to deal with hazards. I'm so reliant on Ho-Oh that I prioritize removal of rocks with Defog even if my own rocks are already up.

 

[Jordansucksatpkmn]

As an ou player, I don't exactly know the uber metagame, aside from xerneas having over fifty percent usage, I feel like you need me special investment. As it now you simply have two physical walls and a mixed wall. You don't really have an answer for xerneas if it carries hp fire.

 

[Deoxys Prime]

As an ou player, I don't exactly know the uber metagame, aside from xerneas having over fifty percent usage, I feel like you need me special investment. As it now you simply have two physical walls and a mixed wall. You don't really have an answer for xerneas if it carries hp fire.

I've seen many people use Xerneas but I haven't had trouble with any yet. Ho-Oh can take almost any hit from Xerneas and retaliate with incredibly potent damage. After landing at least one Sacred Fire usually Scizor can come in and clean up.

On another note, I tried substituting Arceus into my team over Scizor to some moderate success.

Snuffy (Arceus) @ Iron Plate
Multitype
Careful
252 HP, 252 SpD, 4 Def
- Defog
- Toxic
- Recover
- Extreme Speed

I think Extreme Speed was the wrong choice. Steel Arceus with no Attack investment has no business trying to revenge kill anything. It worked well in many cases though because it could safely Defog against most enemies and stall out many special attackers with Toxic. However, putting Arceus in on the team greatly weakened my revenge killing and I struggled against teams with clerics. I did like how strongly defensive Arceus was but I think I need to retune it a bit in order to make it a better fit for the team.

 

[Banzaii^^]

Or... You can use the banned Kangaroo.
Or Mega Lucario, Blaziken, Gengar. I feel like megas are better than arceus
Cheers.
Banzaii.

 

[Deoxys Prime]

Or... You can use the banned Kangaroo.
Or Mega Lucario, Blaziken, Gengar. I feel like megas are better than arceus
Cheers.
Banzaii.

I took Arceus because I needed another specially defensive Pokemon and I needed Defog support. Extreme Speed was there as a filler but now I run one with Roar instead. Roar lets me push away Pokemon with Substitutes up and lets me apply Toxic to more Pokemon. I end up playing a stall-like game this way.

Mega Kanga, Lucario, Blaziken, and Gengar fail to bring that same thing to the team. Gengar traps and can kill with Perish Song stalling or high sweeping stats. Blaziken is a pretty standard set-up sweeper that struggles to get past Giratina in most cases. Lucario is an OU sweeper that can run either a special or physical set well. Mega Kangaskhan is a difficult to kill sweeper with a limited number of viable switch-ins.

None of those bring Defog utility to the team nor are they defensive enough to sit where Arceus does. However, I am missing Scizor's priority even if he wasn't defensive enough to actually use Defog properly. I'd run Defog on Giratina but I need Rest and Sleep Talk and I'm not going to get rid of the all important Dragon Tail and Will-o-Wisp.



More Concerns:
Mewtwo continues to be extremely hard for my team to deal with. Groudon can't take many hits from regular Mewtwo sets or Mega Mewtwo Y sets. Ho-Oh struggles to take repeated Psystrikes even with the maximum defense investment. Giratina gets worn down very quickly by Mewtwo and doesn't deal much damage in return. Sometimes I think I'm clever when I switch in Arceus but I often end up finding that I'm fighting a Mega Mewtwo X instead. Dealing with Mewtwo is probably my biggest concern right now.

Kyogre is probably my second biggest concern. I don't have anything that can safely handle Kyogre well. Water Spouts and Surfs might not do much to Giratina but Ice Beams certainly do. Ho-Oh absolutely can not switch into Kyogre while rain is up and neither can Arceus. Groudon can bring back the sun but most of the time Groudon will take a lot of damage even from sun reduced attacks. Kyogre usually just switches back out after the sun comes out. I struggle dealing with that.

Other Arceus can be a pain to handle. The standard Extreme Speed Normal Arceus is the easiest to deal with but the plethora of other sets are harder for my team to handle. Arceus Rock has destroyed my Ho-Oh and Arceus Ghost has wreaked some havoc with my Giratina.

Darkrai can be a little obnoxious because I almost always allow it to Dark Void my lead while I switch in Ho-Oh. This means that I fail to set up rocks - which is important for a team like mine. Even switching to Giratina to take the sleep (since it has Sleep Talk) still puts off my placement of rocks and I will often struggle to find another good moment to place rocks.

Deoxys-A is pretty easy for me to deal with now. Most of them try to Taunt leads on the first turn - but I force them to trade their Focus Sash for it. I fail to set up rocks but I do manage to cripple their lead. I haven't yet encountered a non-lead Deoxys-A so I don't know how I would handle that.

 

[Not a missingno]

I took Arceus because I needed another specially defensive Pokemon and I needed Defog support. Extreme Speed was there as a filler but now I run one with Roar instead. Roar lets me push away Pokemon with Substitutes up and lets me apply Toxic to more Pokemon. I end up playing a stall-like game this way.

Mega Kanga, Lucario, Blaziken, and Gengar fail to bring that same thing to the team. Gengar traps and can kill with Perish Song stalling or high sweeping stats. Blaziken is a pretty standard set-up sweeper that struggles to get past Giratina in most cases. Lucario is an OU sweeper that can run either a special or physical set well. Mega Kangaskhan is a difficult to kill sweeper with a limited number of viable switch-ins.

None of those bring Defog utility to the team nor are they defensive enough to sit where Arceus does. However, I am missing Scizor's priority even if he wasn't defensive enough to actually use Defog properly. I'd run Defog on Giratina but I need Rest and Sleep Talk and I'm not going to get rid of the all important Dragon Tail and Will-o-Wisp.



More Concerns:
Mewtwo continues to be extremely hard for my team to deal with. Groudon can't take many hits from regular Mewtwo sets or Mega Mewtwo Y sets. Ho-Oh struggles to take repeated Psystrikes even with the maximum defense investment. Giratina gets worn down very quickly by Mewtwo and doesn't deal much damage in return. Sometimes I think I'm clever when I switch in Arceus but I often end up finding that I'm fighting a Mega Mewtwo X instead. Dealing with Mewtwo is probably my biggest concern right now.

Kyogre is probably my second biggest concern. I don't have anything that can safely handle Kyogre well. Water Spouts and Surfs might not do much to Giratina but Ice Beams certainly do. Ho-Oh absolutely can not switch into Kyogre while rain is up and neither can Arceus. Groudon can bring back the sun but most of the time Groudon will take a lot of damage even from sun reduced attacks. Kyogre usually just switches back out after the sun comes out. I struggle dealing with that.

Other Arceus can be a pain to handle. The standard Extreme Speed Normal Arceus is the easiest to deal with but the plethora of other sets are harder for my team to handle. Arceus Rock has destroyed my Ho-Oh and Arceus Ghost has wreaked some havoc with my Giratina.

Darkrai can be a little obnoxious because I almost always allow it to Dark Void my lead while I switch in Ho-Oh. This means that I fail to set up rocks - which is important for a team like mine. Even switching to Giratina to take the sleep (since it has Sleep Talk) still puts off my placement of rocks and I will often struggle to find another good moment to place rocks.

Deoxys-A is pretty easy for me to deal with now. Most of them try to Taunt leads on the first turn - but I force them to trade their Focus Sash for it. I fail to set up rocks but I do manage to cripple their lead. I haven't yet encountered a non-lead Deoxys-A so I don't know how I would handle that.

TFlame may actually help with the struggles your having,against (mega)mewtwo.MMY has ATROCIOUS defense so its easily RKd,MMX is weak to flying,and normal mewtwo is koed with prior damage.