ORAS UU First UU Team (All help appreciated)

[Iconic1]

Hello UU community. I'm a long time OU player that has had quite a bit of success with my teams there, but since I've gotten to the point of ripping my hair out with that meta I decided to try UU. So far I'm having a blast team building and so far this what I've been testing for the past week or so. Again all help is appreciated because I'm still not completely familiar with all the threats and such.

Teambuilding process

I started with an offensive core of Mega Abomasnow and Banded Krookodile

since I tend to favor more balanced teams, and those two already having great offensive presence I added a solid defensive backkbone of vaporeon and Forretress

Then I wanted a second win con/special wall and a great pivot so I added snorlax and crobat

Abomasnow

After looking for a win con for quite some time I finally decided I wanted to use Abomasnow. It's attack becomes extremely scary once it mega evolves, plus it has priority in ice shard, which ice as an offensive typing is very good (lol at this thing's defensive typing). This thing has decent bulk however and can often force switches because of it's amazing attack, and actually pretty decent movepool.

Abomasnow @ Abomasite
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Seed Bomb
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance

Krookodile:

Here's my wallbreaker/trapper. At first I was trying to use other mons like heracross because i'm not to familiar with this guy, but goddamn is it fantastic. Knock is more spamable than ever with this thing because it does so much damage. Stab banded earthquake is also nothing to be laughed at. But most importantly is the pursuit that traps and kills so many threats to Abomasnow it's ridiculous. Overall my favorite poke in UU so far due to it's versatility.

Krookodile @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Superpower

Vaporeon:

Since krook and Abomasnow have no recovery, yet want to switch in as much as possible I needed a solid cleric. I know there are a lot of options for this in UU, but I decided on Vaporeon due to it being a bulky water that really compliments the offensive duo being able to switch in to basically everything that forces them out. Also I really like having the ability to get scald burns on forced switches and such.

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 204 HP / 248 Def / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell

Forretress:

I really needed a hazard control pokemon and forretress is basically the swiss army knife of hazards having rapid spin and basically every relevant hazard. I decided to put rocks and spikes on it because I really liked the extra power of the banded krook, but sometimes forretress does get a little overwhelmed trying to completely control the hazards on both sides of the field. It's also noted that forretress is a very important pivot on this team due to it's defensive bulk and slow volt switch.

Forretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 244 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Volt Switch

Snorlax:

My team was looking very weak to big special attackers especially Hydreigon, so I decided to add a fat mon to help sponge up the hits. I had seen curselax in ou before so I figured it would be good in uu due to the fact that it can set up on basically every relevant special attacker. This guy honestly wins games by himself due to his massive bulk and ability to set up on so much.

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 144 HP / 188 Def / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
- Body Slam
- Curse
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Crobat:

Finally one of my favorite pokemon, and a very important member to the team. I really wanted another good pivot to pair up with forretress, and crobat filled the void perfectly. First of all my team had a little problem with fighting types, and crobat is a hard counter to basically all of them. Also due to it's amazing speed stat it makes the perfect anti-lead which is perfect because my team was lacking any solid lead. Overall the perfect support mon.


Again any suggestions are appreciated since I am new to the tier, and want to make this team competitive!

importable

Krookodile @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Superpower

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 204 HP / 248 Def / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell

Forretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 244 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Volt Switch

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 144 HP / 188 Def / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
- Body Slam
- Curse
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Crobat @ Black Sludge
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 248 HP / 48 Def / 212 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Taunt
- Roost

Abomasnow @ Abomasite
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Seed Bomb
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance

 

[So Dynamic]

hey this is a p solid team u have man. however one thing i noticed is how weak u are to fighting types and how u mentioned that ure real dependant on forretress for hazard control. so a couple of changes I would recommend would be to run defog on crobat/changing krook to a dread plate variant with rocks over superpower. then i feel like doublade would be a better fit on the team over forretress as it gives you a secondary fighting answer thats a counter and not just a check, especially since u were real cobalion weak. also it gives you a way to handle opposing abomasnow which is a threat to the current version of the team. gl with the team mate :]

the doublade set will be something like this:


Doublade @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword
- Swords Dance

 

[Christo]

Hello, cool team. I second the idea of Doublade but if you want to keep power, a Life Orb Krookodile with Stealth Rock over Superpower suffices as well, contrary to dread pl8. i recommend you change Crobat to This Salamence set as you lack any special attacking presence
Salamence @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Defog
- Roost

 

[Vapo]

Hey, nice team Iconic1! Solid team you have here. So Dynamic and Christo gave you good advice as to how you can improve your team, but I'd like to suggest something a bit different from them.

• I would change Forretress -> Tentacruel for a few reasons. First off, your team is weak to fighting types, especially Heracross and Cobalion, so a fighting resist is always helpful. In addition to this, you gain a Toxic Spikes user, which in junction with Hail really whittles down your opponent's team. The EV spread I would run is 252 HP / 228 Def / 28 Spe with a Bold Nature and Black Sludge as your item, as this allows you to maximize your physical bulk while outspeeding max speed adamant Honchkrow, which could otherwise get a huge hit off with Brave Bird and potentially prevent you from spinning. For the moveset, I would run Scald / Toxic Spikes / Rapid Spin / Haze. First three are self explanatory, but Haze is more of a niche move that I feel fits your team well. SD Cobalion is a huge threat to your team, and Crocune can be an annoyance, so being able to remove their stat boosts is extremely helpful in managing them.
• Because you no longer have Stealth Rock, I would suggest changing Krookodile to an offensive support set. I would change Choice Band -> Dread Plate and Superpower -> Stealth Rock. Krookodile is one of the most reliable rock setters in the tier, and with Dread Plate and max attack it still hits extremely hard. Not being choice locked also allows you to play safer and not have to make certain predictions, as you can switch up your moves if you need to.

Other than that, I feel like you have a strong team. Hope you take the suggestions made by myself and by others, as they can really improve your team's performance. Good luck :]

Team w/ Suggestions

Krookodile @ Dread Plate
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Stealth Rock

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 204 HP / 248 Def / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Def / 28 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Haze

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 144 HP / 188 Def / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
- Body Slam
- Curse
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Crobat @ Black Sludge
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 248 HP / 48 Def / 212 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Taunt
- Roost

Abomasnow @ Abomasite
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Seed Bomb
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance

 

[teal6]

The biggest weakness I see by far on the team is to mixed Infernape. You have actually 0 reliable switch ins, as everything gets 2 or 1 HKOd. With rocks up its even worse, as Crobat can go down to an Overheat after rocks. First step to dealing with this is to follow what Christo says above and put in Salamence on the team. Few, if any, Napes run HP Ice in my experience so you will be able to reliably switch in as you resist both STABs and common coverage moves. Additionally, Intimidate is an incredible ability.

I disagree with adding Doublade as this will emphasize that weakness. If not Nape, your team still has a bit of trouble switching into Entei, as even Vaporeon doesn't like taking rocks -> sacred fire -> burn. With a bit of prior damage, you're kind of boned.

Final thought, but personal preference on MAbomasnow is to not run any speed. I understand outspeeding targets like Slowking before Mega Evolving etc. but typically I find I want to Mega pretty quickly as Abomasnow is relatively weak without life orb in normal state from what I have seen. The extra bulk has helped me more times than not, and I use Abomasnow very regularly.

 

[jjoshcja]

drypass vapy would be preferable to heal bell here, you have enough status soaks and freedom to heal your team at will is a big deal.

Sorry but im just not feeling mence here, this team has a whopping one rock resist in krook and thats already doing 3 other jobs. Crobat can handle every nape there is with drypass wishes from vapy but fighting resist berry on lax would remove a lot of the guesswork from that and help vs heracross.

Dread plate on krook lets you pack taunt (works nicely with crobats taunt as they tend to pick on different targets) and removes the guessing games that come with choice, or you can just jam on rocks if you use tenta.

overcoat on forry could be more useful than sturdy on this team if you don't run it into fire blasts all the time.

Optimize your ev's/iv's

Other than those edits, solid balanced team me likey.

PS: Doublade is terrible on this team WHY WOULD YOU SUGGEST THIS.

 

[Shiba]

Hey Iconic1! Cool looking team you have here. The others above and I both realized you have a strong fighting weakness, bar Crobat. It's also weak to some set up sweepers, such as CroCune or Curselax. As some of the others have also said above, this team also has no special attacking presence as well. I'd like to recommend a couple of things to help this team out, trying to get better in the rate game.

So the first thing I'd change for this team is changing your Krookodile to Guts Banded Heracross. I've had a ton of experience using this Pokemon and I can say it's an extremely good wallbreaker, one of the best in the tier. It KO's Curselax, Reuniclus, and Cresselia and can 2HKO CroCune (if Adamant) after rocks. It can also switch into scalds from Suicune, Empoleon, etc to try to get the guts boost.

Heracross set:

Heracross @ Choice Band
Ability: Guts
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly/Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge/Earthquake

The choosing of Stone Edge/Earthquake is purely preference. I do prefer to hit Crobats on switchin with Stone Edge though, which feels great if you do connect. :)

Another recommendation I have is to change Forretress to Nidoqueen. This gives you a solid special attacking presence as well as a Stealth Rocker to replace Forretress. It also gives you another needed fighting check which this team DEFINITELY needs. If you do go this way I'd definitely put Defog > U-turn on Crobat, as this provides you with the hazard removal you lost in Forry.

Nidoqueen set:

Nidoqueen @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock

This set hits incredibly hard as well as gives you a nice rocker. The speed is to help outrun Adamant Honchkrow as well as uninvested Base 100's or lower, such as Tentacruel or Defensive Arcanine.

Another final nitpick is if you use Heracross, I'd definitely recommend using Baton Pass>Heal Bell on Vaporeon with 28 IVs in Speed to help pass wishes to the likes of a burned Heracross or Mega Abomasnow on a switch-in to Stealth Rocks (Takes 25% from them). And I do second teal6's suggestion to not run any speed on Abomasnow, the extra bulk is extremely nice on it.

Other than those changes I do feel its still a solid team. Good luck and I hope you consider my recommendations!

Importable with changes

Heracross @ Choice Band
Ability: Guts
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly/Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge/Earthquake


Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 204 HP / 248 Def / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 28 Spe
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect
- Baton Pass

Nidoqueen @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock


Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 144 HP / 188 Def / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
- Body Slam
- Curse
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Crobat @ Black Sludge
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 248 HP / 48 Def / 212 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Defog
- Taunt
- Roost

Abomasnow @ Abomasite
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Seed Bomb
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance

 

[dodmen]

Hello, couple things about this team as well as the various rates posted here. For a first UU team this is looking pretty solid and there aren't any huge weaknesses or overall problems.

Baton Pass > Heal Bell Vaporeon, like others have said, would probably be more beneficial to your team to get free passes into Abomasnow and Krookodile, and Snorlax is already there to absorb status from Scald, Sacred Fire, TWave.

Disagree with Mence here, Crobat has some much needed Speed to revenge kill stuff like Shaymin, Infernape (Vaporeon can switch in, but Crobat is needed for NP variants), and Azelf, as well as a Fairy resistance that this team needs pretty badly (especially with fully defensive Forry which can't switch into Florges and offensive Whimsicott on top of the physical threats it normally should). Crobat can also at least stop opposing Snorlax from setting up.

Disagree with the Nidoqueen suggestion as it makes you a lot weaker to Mega Beedrill and Mega Aero and forces Crobat into the hazard clearing role. Tentacruel in this slot also augments the weakness to these two and forces Krook to run a weaker set when ideally it kind of needs CB Superpower to catch Hydreigon and to hit Snorlax as hard as possible. Speaking of this though, you absolutely need Gyro Ball on Forretress so you can actually beat these 1v1, so replace Spikes with this move.

The Heracross suggestion sounds good on paper given that the biggest individual weakness to this team is opposing CurseLax, but when you take a step back you can see that it actually detracts from the team significantly. Krookodile plays a huge supporting role on this team in addition to its role as a wallbreaker. Krookodile can trap the two most common Fire-types, Entei and Chandelure, as well as certain other Pokemon like Bronzong reliably, getting rid of several checks to Abomasnow (which was the original reason for even choosing it over Heracross in the first place) and taking a lot of pressure off of Vaporeon to Wish/Snorlax to Rest (or risk being Tricked). It also provides the team with a better Lucario check and Electric immunity. Basically, it adds a much more significant contribution than Heracross, who would only patch up one or two weaknesses while bringing many more negatives with it.

Again, really good team and props for making it on your first try. Most of what I suggested is to keep what you have with small optimizations. Good luck with using this team in the future :)

 

[jjoshcja]

+1 to dodmen one of the best rates I've seen.

There's options.

Snorlax @ Leftovers/Chople Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 144 HP / 188 Def / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
- Body Slam
- Curse
- Rest
- Sleep Talk/Whirlwind

If opposing curselax's are a big deal and you can comfortable set up lax without sleep talk whirlwind may give you that edge, its also quite good for withering chandys who want to wall you.

Chople is another option that can let you lure and kill fighting types that might bother lax. I cant say using both at the same time would be an amazing idea but on their own both are small innovations that could let this team shine depending on your personal playstyle.