First UU Team

[tylerwvwc]

Introduction​

This team has undergone quite a bit of transformation to get to this point but even still I only manage to win about 50% of the time. It's a pretty balanced team. I started out with a Fire, Water, Grass core and attempted to cover my weaknesses from there. I'm open to any and all suggestions as I'm somewhat new to competitive battling.

At a Glance

Roserade
Spiker / Toxic Spikes Absorber
​

Item: Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EV's: HP 252, Defense 120, Special Defense 136
Nature: Calm (-Attack, +Special Defense)
-Giga Drain
-Spikes
-Sludge Bomb
-Rest

I usually lead with Roserade. She reliably gets at least one layer of spikes down. Once I get down spikes I use Rest to recover and switch out to a better counter to the opponents Pokemon. The given EV's make her somewhat bulky and able to take a hit. I chose to use her for spikes instead of toxic spikes to the number of roserades running round UU setting them up.

Blastoise
Tank / Spinner

Item: Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EV's: HP 252, Defense 252, Special Defense 4
Nature: Bold (-Attack, +Defense)
-Rapid Spin
-Scald
-Toxic
-Dragon Tail

My two main attackers don't appreciate Stealth Rocks that much so I needed a rapid spinner. I went back and forth between Blastoise and Hitmontop. I finally went with Blastoise because he provided me with greater synergy. He can come in spin away hazards and phaze out the opponent with Dragon Tail if they are trying to set up. Scald get's stab and I can't tell you how many times the 30% burn rate has saved me. I use toxic in the last spot since I didn't use toxic spikes on Roserade.

Arcanine
Physical Attacker / Revenge Killer

Item: Choice Band
Trait: Intimidate
EV's: 72 HP, 252 Attack, 184 Speed
Nature: Jolly (-Special Attack, +Speed)
-Flare Blitz
-Wild Charge
-Close Combat
-Extreme Speed

There isn't a lot that likes taking an attack from choice banded Arcanine. It has great coverage with the given moves. He completes the fire, water, grass core of this team. With Extreme Speed he can revenge kill many weakened threats. He requires a lot of help to be used to his full potential. Blastoise has to get rid of entry hazards before he can come in and he really needs Wish support from Umbreon due to the massive recoil of his two main moves Flare Blitz and Wild Charge.


Togekiss
Special Attacker

Item: Choice Scarf
Trait: Serene Grace
EV's: 252 Special Attack, 252 Speed, 4 Special Defence
Nature: Timid (-Attack, +Speed)
-Air Slash
-Aura Sphere
-Trick
-Fire Blast

Serene Grace and Air Slash has cause a lot of rage quits. With a timid nature and a choice scarf she out speeds most threats. Trick is invaluable to ruin would setup sweepers. Aura Sphere and Fire Blast hit hard and provide decent coverage with Air Slash. She is honestly the weakest link and I would be happy to change her with another special attacker.

Umbreon
Special Defender / Wish Support

Item: Leftovers
Trait: Synchronize
EV's: 252 HP, 252 Special Defense, 4 Attack
Nature: Careful (+Special Defense,- Special Attack)
-Wish
-Protect
-Heal Bell
-Payback

This guy saves my team. Almost every member of my team benefits from Wish support and he does that better than anyone else. I use Payback over Dark Pulse because due to his low speed it will almost always hit with 100 BP. Protect and Wish allow it to stall to no end if Blastoise has already poisoned the other Pokemon. Heal Bell let's him be a real team player.

Rhyperior
Physical Defender / Stealth Rocks User

Item: Leftovers
Trait: Solid Rock
EV's: 160 HP, 252 Attack, 96 Speed
Nature: Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack)
-Rock Blast
-Earthquake
-Megahorn
-Stealth Rock​

This spot was originally filled by Bronzong but he wasn't doing as well as I had hoped. So I switched to Rhyperior. I bring this guy in on any physical attacker and get up Stealth Rocks with ease. I use Rock Blast so that I can break substitutes and still deal some decent damage because of the Attack investments I've made with him. Earthquake and Megahorn due massive damage as well.



Rate Away!!!

 

[Psychotic]

Hey, cool team dude, but I do have a suggestion. From the looks of it Banded Flygon and DD Kingdra would both have field days on your team, as after Stealth Rock every poke is 2hkod by Outrage from Flygon, and Kingdra just strait up sweeps you if Blastoise is weakened a bit. To patch this weakness up I would recommend using Empoleon over Rhyperior, and if you do this testing Flash Fire over Intimidate on Arcanine, since you will have nothing to sponge strong fire attacks. Empoleon would allow you to get rocks up, as well as check the two main threats to your team, both of which are beginning to see a lot of usage. This is the Empoleon set I would reccomend:

Empoleon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 164 SDef / 92 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Stealth Rock
- Roar

This set would allow you to sponge a few Outrages and Waterfalls and either KO with Ice Beam or phaze out. The Speed Evs are there to outspeed almost every Hitmontop and assure that they are unable to spin.
Hope I was able to help!

 

[Penance]

Arcanine is outclassed by Darmanitan who doesn't need a Band to do massive damage coming off a massive 140 Base attack. I would use a Scarf Darmanitan over Band Arcanine.

Also Lickilicky is a better Wish passer than Umbreon with a higher HP stat and less weaknesses. Also for Togekiss I would use Thunder Wave over Aura Sphere because Togekiss isn't exactly the fastest thing around and if you trade your Scarf you aren't going to be outspeeding a lot. Finally I would use Roar over Dragon Tail on Blastoise. It allows you to pHaze through Subs and Dragon Tail's damage is pitiful.

sets

Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SpA)
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- U-Turn

Lickilicky @ Leftovers
Trait: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spd
Careful Nature (+SpD, -SpA)
- Knock Off / Refresh / Thunder Wave
- Protect
- Toxic
- Wish

I honestly don't think your team gets wrecked by status too much since you have 2 physical attackers no set up sweepers and a T-Wave absorber and something that can just switch into status whenever it wishes.

 

[Moo]

Hey, I've got a few suggestions for your team.

Firstly, the EV spread you're using on Roserade is sort of outdated. The defense EVs were used to allow Roserade to survive an attack from Dugtrio and KO it back, but since Dugtrio is OU now, they're pretty much useless. I suggest changing it to a simple 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpDef, making it as specially bulky as possible. The last 4 can go into Speed or Special Attack if you want, it doesn't really matter.

On Blastoise, I think you should try Roar over Dragon Tail. The reason for this is because Dragon Tail can be unreliable in some cases. It has a small chance to miss, which isn't too bad, but it can really screw you over when you need it. Also, it doesn't work against Substitutes, so you can't phaze out things that use them, like Bisharp, Honchkrow and Cobalion. Sacrificing small damage each time you phaze for a more reliable phazing move is definitely a helpful choice.

If Togekiss is a weak link in your opinion, replace it with Life Orb Zapdos:

Zapdos @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Roost

Zapdos is arguably the best special attacker in UU. It's really fast, very strong and bulky, and has reliable recovery. Zapdos has similar typing to Togekiss too, so your coverage is bascially kept in tact. I didn't suggest Zapdos for any particular reason, it's just an amazing special attacker, and can hit pretty much everything in UU extremely hard (barring Umbreon and Snorlax). Hidden Power Grass and Heat Wave provide good secondary coverage, but you can use other Hidden Powers like Ice and Flying, or Volt Switch too, if you want.

I agree with what Penance said about using Choice Scarf Darmanitan over Arcanine. With Togekiss gone, you'll need something with a high speed, and Darmanitan can do that while still having a massive Attack stat. Also, it has access to U-turn, which can help you in keeping offensive momentum against your opponent. I really disagree with replacing Umbreon with Lickilicky, though. Umbreon has amazing special bulk, and Heal Bell support is invaluable.

Good luck with the team, hope I helped!