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first attempt at competitive play

Hi, this is my first real attempt at a competitive play team, so please give me as much input as possible, as I would love to get a really great UU team going.

I'm a big fan of taking advantage of other peoples' strategies and turning them around on them, so my first choice for a lead/anti lead was girafarig:
203_girafarig_1_m.png

Girafaroo
Inner Focus/Modest/Leftovers
EVs: 252HP, 32Def
160SpA, 64Spe
Moves:
Magic Coat
Psychic
Grass Knot
Wish

I like Girafarig, because it destroys a lot of the lead strategies I've seen in UU. Inner focus lets it take Ambipom out with one psychic after fake out, magic coat turns the tables on status leads, and grass knot destroys Rhyperior. Wish is mainly to provide support, and with girafarig's slight bulkiness, I have even been able to use it to heal girafarig itself. EVs are spread out, HP and Def help give it a little more bulk while SpAtk and Speed allow it to come out on top when it comes to leads.

Next up, I needed someone to provide hazards and blow the opposing team's away. Naturally I chose Claydol.
claydol.png

DollofClay
Levitate/Bold/Leftovers
EVs: 252HP, 144Def, 112SpA
Moves:
Stealth Rock
Rapid Spin
Earth Power
Shadow Ball

I've had some really good luck with Claydol so far. Not only is it spectacular at setting up hazards but its typing helps to keep the opposing team from switching in their spinners (Claydol fears Shadow Ball, Hitmontop fears Psychic). Claydol's bulkiness has also helped me quite a bit as I can use it as a pseudo-wall, and wish support from girafarig never hurts. EVs are simple, HP/Def for bulkiness, SpAtk helps it deal decent damage

I needed a sweeper next, and I knew that when it comes to physical power as well as type diversity, Absol is one of the best bets.
359_absol_1_m.png

Disasterer
Super Luck/Adamant/Choice Scarf
EVs: 252Atk, 4SpD, 252Spe
Moves:
Psycho Cut
Night Slash
Superpower
Pursuit

Absol really is a disastrous pokemon, that is for the other team. The main advantage I've found with absol aside from his great type diversity and massive attack power is the fact that people assume i'm running swords dance and figure they have time to switch to a counter or they're fast enough to take him down in 1 hit. That's when I get them with the surprise of a choice scarf. When I see a switch coming, I run pursuit which tends to sting a bit coming off of STAB 120 base power. If their current 'mon has a powerful fighting- or bug-type move up their sleeve, then I surprise them with the scarve'd speed boost and knock 'em dead, unless, perhaps, I already ran superpower and lost some oomph, in which case i switch to Claydol, who has great typing to block most of absol's weaknesses bar bug. EVs are standard for this set: Max Atk, Max Speed, Leftover 4 into SpD so maybe he can take one hit without being crushed.

Next, I figured a bulky water would be in order, so I chose Milotic, mainly due to my desire to HAVE one, as I was never able to catch one back in RSE.
milotic_display.png

Mitotic
Marvel Scale/Bold/Leftovers
EVs: 248HP, 252Def, 8 Spe
Moves:
Surf
HP Grass
Recover
Ice Beam

Milotic is a really cool pokemon. It's ability allows it to benefit from statuses, while dealing respectable damage and healing instantly. Surf provides STAB, HP Grass kills other water types dead, Recover heals, Ice beam provides protection against bulkier grass types and Altaria, as well as other flying types foolish enough to challenge Mitotic. EVs work well for bulky types, HP and Defense, a bit of speed.

I saw at this point that I had a gaping weakness to bug-types, as well as a lack of a second sweeper. To remedy this, Moltres was brought in.
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Supernova
Pressure/Modest/Life Orb
EVs: 252SpA, 4 SpD, 252Spe
Moves:
HP Grass
Air Slash
Roost
Fire Blast

Moltres is a real game breaker on this team. It provides great special sweeping capabilities with respectable speed and a perfect type combo to switch into on my greatest weak point: Bug. The only big problem with Moltres is its fragility, since stealth rock kills it dead and it has no real investments in any sort of defense. It really is heavily reliant on claydol, because without claydol to clear stealth rock, it loses 1/2 of its health right there. Roost provides backup on this, as, should claydol die, moltres could come in and force a switch, using that free turn to heal from the damage. EVs are what you'd expect; SpAtk and Speed and a li'l SpDef to take a hit while switching into wish.

Finally, I wanted something that could annoy the hell out of the other team, with statuses and flinching. Ladies and gentlemen, please get ready for the incredible might of Dunsparce!!!!!
206.png

DunDunDunn (get it???)
Serene Grace/Adamant/Leftovers
EVs: 144HP, 252Atk, 36Def, 76SpD
Moves:
Body Slam
Rock Slide
Headbutt
Earthquake

Dunsparce is clearly just here to irritate. With Serene Grace he can paralyze 60% of the time with Body Slam as well as flinch them into despair with Rock Slide and Headbutt. Rock Slide hits Flyers hard, and Headbutt provides STAB. Finally, Earthquake rounds it all out with decent power and coverage. EVs are spread to boost Atk to its greatest levels, HP and Defenses help Dunsparce to take hits on those seldom occasions.

And that's it! Thanks for taking a look at everything, and I'd love to hear any input you have to offer!
 
the only thing i can think of right now would be to change claydol for donphan. Donphan can both spin and set up stealth rock as well as having major defensive bulk. It also gets rid of your bug weakness which you have. I suggest using the rapid spin set

Leftovers Adamant
Moveset EVs 52 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Def
~ Rapid Spin
~ Earthquake
~ Assurance
~ Stealth Rock
 
Great team you have here! I have a quick suggestion to give to you; I recommend changing your current Girafarig lead to an Pure Attacking Spiritomb Lead. In the current UU metagame, this lead can counter many of the most used leads including Ambipom and Absol. Here's the set:

447.png

Spiritomb @ Spell Tag
244 HP / 48 Atk / 204 SpA / 12 Spe
Quiet Nature/ Pressure Ability
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden power [fighting]/ Hidden power [Rock]
- Shadow Sneak
- Pursuit


The moveset is pretty self explainable: Shadow Ball acts as a much needed reliable STAB attack, Shadow Sneak is for sashed leads and Pursuit is for leads like Alakazam. The choice between HP Fighting and HP Rock comes down to which kind of lead you want to beat - Ambipom/ Absol or Moltres. I personally use HP Fighting to help take down the most overused UU lead - Ambipom, but if you really dislike Moltres leads, you can use HP rock which will deal 91% - 107.2% to the standard lead Moltres. Note that with the given EV's, Spiritomb will always live an LO Moltres' Fire Blast if its at full health. Hope I helped, and good luck!
 
Hi, I like the structure of the team as it is so what I am about to say is aimed at making this a more "competitive" team.

Girafarig is not a bad lead (mostly because of surprise factor) but it can't really stand against common leads:

-Ambipom uses Fake Out dealing 41.9% - 49.7% damage to your Girafarig while your Psychic deals 55% - 65.3% but since the opponent is faster he uses
U-Turn/Payback/Pursuit and kills you.

-Uxie/ set up SR and maybe Double Screen and then U-Turns to a counter

-Spiritomb deals 66.9% - 79.1% with Pursuit if you switch (and you WILL switch)

... And the list goes on. This is just to show you that Girafarig only handles Sleep inducer Leads, for this reason if you like to make this team more competitive I'd replace it with another lead, just like the Spiritomb the guy above me suggested.

Claydol is a good spinner but since you already cover Ground and Fighting type moves (with Moltres) probably the standard Donphan is a superior choice.

Personally I prefer running a Timid nature on LO Moltres because it's really able to pull off a late game sweep and can revenge kill much many threats even without the lack of power of a positive nature.

The other members of the team are ok, I won't say anything about Dunsparce (except maybe replace Body Slam with Thunder Wave so you can handle Rotom and Mismagius) because is one of my favourite pokés, he is f**king cool the way it is...

Good luck with the team and enjoy the UU metagame!
 
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