Hi there. During the UU Test, I was having a lot of fun trying out the new Pokemon that were eligible for play in UU. However, I quit trying things out before the end of the test, and haven't really played in UU since then. Well, I've just gotten back into playing in UU, and I've been getting to know most of the new threats a little better, but I still feel like there's something I'm missing. So I came here to get some advice on the team I've been working on. Thanks for reading and commenting. ^_^
Changes are made in bold.
Crobat @ Leftovers
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 104 HP, 252 Speed, 152 SpA
Nature: Timid
- Roost
- Taunt
- Hypnosis
- Heat Wave
I changed my lead from Ambipom from to Crobat simply because Crobat served a similar purpose (Taunting, stopping other leads), and did it quicker. However, after examining various options I could take with Crobat, I discovered that the Brave Bird variant wasn't being quite as useful for me, so I decided to try a Hypnosis variant, since the two moves are incompatible. This has turned out much better since people usually think it's a Brave Bird variant, and Hypnosis allows me to put something asleep and it takes the opponent by surprise and it's been pretty useful for the little time I've used it. Roost is obvious since it allows Crobat to stay in and annoy another day. The last move I decided for was Heat Wave. U-Turn was considered, but ultimately, all that usually does is allows for 6-10% more damage on a Steelix or something, and it wasn't being all that useful. So I tried Heat Wave, since this combats Steelix and Registeel. People don't expect it, and it allows me to get some damage in I wouldn't have gotten with U-Turn. I've been generally pleased with this switch.
Arcanine @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 228 Atk, 188 Speed, 92 SpA
Nature: Naive
- HP Rock
- Flare Blitz
- Extremespeed
- Overheat
Arcanine is a really nice Pokemon to have in UU. What with other Arcanine and Blazikens running amuk, there's really no lack of opportunities to switch Arcanine in and get a free fire boost, upon which he can choose between physical or special moves and proceed to sweep as needed. Extremespeed is there for the awesomeness of priority moves, and HP Grass is there primarily to counter waters that like to switch in on Arcanine (such as Milotic or Slowbro). However, I've been contemplating HP Ground over HP Grass for the simple reason that common switch-ins to Arcanine seem to be other Arcanine, and then it becomes a battle of which Arcanine kills the other with Extremespeed the fastest. HP Ground would give me an easy way to combat this, but would leave me extremely vulnerable to the water threats, so I can't decent which one I should choose. Thoughts?
Roserade @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP, 252 SpD, 4 Speed
Nature: Calm
- Energy Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
Roserade was recently added to my team as another bulky Pokemon as a primary way to take care of Shaymin. This set does fairly well against both the sweeper Shaymin and the SubSeed variants since apparently most people don't expect Roserade to carry Sludge Bomb (they've rarely switched anyway, so I'm assuming). Spikes gives me another way to set up some entry hazards, and Synthesis is for survival.
Steelix @ Leftovers
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 HP, 120 Atk, 136 SpD
Nature: Impish
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Earthquake
- Gyro Ball
I switched out Registeel for Steelix because they basically serve the same purpose, only Steelix does more of what I need for my team. Stealth Rock is the main attraction, but unlike Registeel, Steelix gives me someone to block other Registeel and Regirock's Thunder Wave (also, Chansey's), as well as Roar, which allows me to shut down things like Mismagius who like to Substitute, Calm Mind, and sweep teams. It also lets me shut down Baton Passing teams to great effect. Earthquake and Gyro Ball are there for STAB and have served their purpose well.
Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpD
Nature: Bold
- Calm Mind
- Slack Off
- Surf
- HP Electric
The second half of the defense forming wall with Registeel. Slowbro can usually tank for quite a while and live to sweep a little bit with the boosts from Calm Mind. Calm Mind is pretty usable considering that I can switch into something that doesn't like Slowbro and get a free Calm Mind in. Slack Off is obviously for survivability. Surf is for reliable STAB, and HP Electric is mainly to combat other bulky waters (Slowbro, Milotic, Feraligatr). My question here is whether or not Psychic is a better choice over HP Electric? It would give reliable STAB and probably hit things like Feraligatr more than HP Electric does (I'm guessing, I don't have damage calculations for this or anything), but would leave me walled against other Slowbro and Slowking.
Mismagius @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 108 HP, 220 Speed, 180 SpA
Nature: Timid
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute
- HP Fighting
Mismagius mainly serves as a great switch in to certain things, and forces switches with its immunities. Upon which, I can set up a Substitute, Calm Mind, and then proceed to sweep as necessary. Thunderbolt is a pretty nice option as the second attacking move as it covers bulky waters and Honchkrow, which is apparently a pretty common Mismagius switch in. My concern with having Mismagius as a sweeper here, however, is that I've already got Slowbro utilizing a Calm Mind set, so I wonder if this is a little excessive and could be better utilized as something else?
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Overall, this team seems to function fairly well together. Registeel practically begs the opponent's fire Pokemon to come out, giving Arcanine adequate time to switch in to get a boost. Registeel and Slowbro seem to work really well together at protecting the rest of the team from hits, and Mismagius has no trouble switching in thanks to its ground and normal immunities. Roserade keeps things like Shaymin in check, and serves as a bulky alternative for taking hits, should Slowbro and Registeel have been taken down, while Ambipom likes to be an annoying little bugger as a lead.
Changes are made in bold.
Crobat @ Leftovers
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 104 HP, 252 Speed, 152 SpA
Nature: Timid
- Roost
- Taunt
- Hypnosis
- Heat Wave
I changed my lead from Ambipom from to Crobat simply because Crobat served a similar purpose (Taunting, stopping other leads), and did it quicker. However, after examining various options I could take with Crobat, I discovered that the Brave Bird variant wasn't being quite as useful for me, so I decided to try a Hypnosis variant, since the two moves are incompatible. This has turned out much better since people usually think it's a Brave Bird variant, and Hypnosis allows me to put something asleep and it takes the opponent by surprise and it's been pretty useful for the little time I've used it. Roost is obvious since it allows Crobat to stay in and annoy another day. The last move I decided for was Heat Wave. U-Turn was considered, but ultimately, all that usually does is allows for 6-10% more damage on a Steelix or something, and it wasn't being all that useful. So I tried Heat Wave, since this combats Steelix and Registeel. People don't expect it, and it allows me to get some damage in I wouldn't have gotten with U-Turn. I've been generally pleased with this switch.
Arcanine @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 228 Atk, 188 Speed, 92 SpA
Nature: Naive
- HP Rock
- Flare Blitz
- Extremespeed
- Overheat
Arcanine is a really nice Pokemon to have in UU. What with other Arcanine and Blazikens running amuk, there's really no lack of opportunities to switch Arcanine in and get a free fire boost, upon which he can choose between physical or special moves and proceed to sweep as needed. Extremespeed is there for the awesomeness of priority moves, and HP Grass is there primarily to counter waters that like to switch in on Arcanine (such as Milotic or Slowbro). However, I've been contemplating HP Ground over HP Grass for the simple reason that common switch-ins to Arcanine seem to be other Arcanine, and then it becomes a battle of which Arcanine kills the other with Extremespeed the fastest. HP Ground would give me an easy way to combat this, but would leave me extremely vulnerable to the water threats, so I can't decent which one I should choose. Thoughts?
Roserade @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP, 252 SpD, 4 Speed
Nature: Calm
- Energy Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
Roserade was recently added to my team as another bulky Pokemon as a primary way to take care of Shaymin. This set does fairly well against both the sweeper Shaymin and the SubSeed variants since apparently most people don't expect Roserade to carry Sludge Bomb (they've rarely switched anyway, so I'm assuming). Spikes gives me another way to set up some entry hazards, and Synthesis is for survival.
Steelix @ Leftovers
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 HP, 120 Atk, 136 SpD
Nature: Impish
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Earthquake
- Gyro Ball
I switched out Registeel for Steelix because they basically serve the same purpose, only Steelix does more of what I need for my team. Stealth Rock is the main attraction, but unlike Registeel, Steelix gives me someone to block other Registeel and Regirock's Thunder Wave (also, Chansey's), as well as Roar, which allows me to shut down things like Mismagius who like to Substitute, Calm Mind, and sweep teams. It also lets me shut down Baton Passing teams to great effect. Earthquake and Gyro Ball are there for STAB and have served their purpose well.
Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpD
Nature: Bold
- Calm Mind
- Slack Off
- Surf
- HP Electric
The second half of the defense forming wall with Registeel. Slowbro can usually tank for quite a while and live to sweep a little bit with the boosts from Calm Mind. Calm Mind is pretty usable considering that I can switch into something that doesn't like Slowbro and get a free Calm Mind in. Slack Off is obviously for survivability. Surf is for reliable STAB, and HP Electric is mainly to combat other bulky waters (Slowbro, Milotic, Feraligatr). My question here is whether or not Psychic is a better choice over HP Electric? It would give reliable STAB and probably hit things like Feraligatr more than HP Electric does (I'm guessing, I don't have damage calculations for this or anything), but would leave me walled against other Slowbro and Slowking.
Mismagius @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 108 HP, 220 Speed, 180 SpA
Nature: Timid
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute
- HP Fighting
Mismagius mainly serves as a great switch in to certain things, and forces switches with its immunities. Upon which, I can set up a Substitute, Calm Mind, and then proceed to sweep as necessary. Thunderbolt is a pretty nice option as the second attacking move as it covers bulky waters and Honchkrow, which is apparently a pretty common Mismagius switch in. My concern with having Mismagius as a sweeper here, however, is that I've already got Slowbro utilizing a Calm Mind set, so I wonder if this is a little excessive and could be better utilized as something else?
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Overall, this team seems to function fairly well together. Registeel practically begs the opponent's fire Pokemon to come out, giving Arcanine adequate time to switch in to get a boost. Registeel and Slowbro seem to work really well together at protecting the rest of the team from hits, and Mismagius has no trouble switching in thanks to its ground and normal immunities. Roserade keeps things like Shaymin in check, and serves as a bulky alternative for taking hits, should Slowbro and Registeel have been taken down, while Ambipom likes to be an annoying little bugger as a lead.
Concerns
I have a couple of main concerns for this team. Firstly, Crobat seems to be a real problem, as Ambipom struggles to take care of it right off the bat, since Crobat is immune to flinching and Taunts faster than I can Taunt it. So my question here is, should I replace Ambipom with Crobat? Crobat serves a similar purpose as Ambipom, with the Taunting, only it doesn't have Fake Out. Plus it gives me another immunity to Earthquake, which this team seems to be in grave need of. I couldn't decide if this was a good idea or not, since otherwise I've been rather pleased with how Ambipom has been treating me.
Secondly, things like Clefable and Chansey and other normal walls like this have been giving my team a hard time. This is mainly because I lack a good fighting-type Pokemon like Hitmonlee to break them, I think, but I couldn't really think of who I could afford to lose in order to make room for this, so I slapped Hammer Arm on Registeel to try to remedy it, not to much effect. I'd appreciate any suggestions on this matter especially.
Another concern I had is with my lack of a Rapid Spinner. While it's generally not a problem, Arcanine doesn't really appreciate any extra damage going into battle, since it's already getting its life drained by Life Orb. Do you think this team would benefit from shoving a Rapid Spinner in there somewhere, or isn't Arcanine enough to warrant needing one?
The next threat is with things like Mismagius or other things that like to boost their stats behind Subs. Generally, I don't really have anything to counter this, so they get a turn or two of free set up, then proceed to destroy the rest of my team with their boosted stats. Originally, I was thinking of fixing this by replacing Registeel with Steelix and giving Steelix Roar, but I've never really had a lot of luck with using Steelix, and it never seems to serve the purpose I wanted it to. Do you think making this substitution is a good idea, or do you have another way I could fix the problem?
Lastly, while it's not as big of a concern as the others, is hail teams. While this team seemed to do a fairly adequate job of taking down sun and rain teams, hail teams just kind of stall me out and destroy me. This hasn't happened so often, since hail teams don't seem to be all that widely used now, but it's a concern nonetheless.
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Again, any suggestions anyone could make are greatly appreciated. I'm open to suggestions on replacing entire Pokemon, EVs, moves, whatever. Thanks for reading!
Sui
Secondly, things like Clefable and Chansey and other normal walls like this have been giving my team a hard time. This is mainly because I lack a good fighting-type Pokemon like Hitmonlee to break them, I think, but I couldn't really think of who I could afford to lose in order to make room for this, so I slapped Hammer Arm on Registeel to try to remedy it, not to much effect. I'd appreciate any suggestions on this matter especially.
Another concern I had is with my lack of a Rapid Spinner. While it's generally not a problem, Arcanine doesn't really appreciate any extra damage going into battle, since it's already getting its life drained by Life Orb. Do you think this team would benefit from shoving a Rapid Spinner in there somewhere, or isn't Arcanine enough to warrant needing one?
The next threat is with things like Mismagius or other things that like to boost their stats behind Subs. Generally, I don't really have anything to counter this, so they get a turn or two of free set up, then proceed to destroy the rest of my team with their boosted stats. Originally, I was thinking of fixing this by replacing Registeel with Steelix and giving Steelix Roar, but I've never really had a lot of luck with using Steelix, and it never seems to serve the purpose I wanted it to. Do you think making this substitution is a good idea, or do you have another way I could fix the problem?
Lastly, while it's not as big of a concern as the others, is hail teams. While this team seemed to do a fairly adequate job of taking down sun and rain teams, hail teams just kind of stall me out and destroy me. This hasn't happened so often, since hail teams don't seem to be all that widely used now, but it's a concern nonetheless.
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Again, any suggestions anyone could make are greatly appreciated. I'm open to suggestions on replacing entire Pokemon, EVs, moves, whatever. Thanks for reading!
Sui
