SM UU FlySwitch (Offense ft. Flygon; peaked 241)

MTB'er Ben · Apr 4, 2019

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my 2nd RMT, this time featuring Flygon yet again. It has and always will be my favorite Pokemon, which made it being the first choice as the easiest to make. The second requirement for the team was that Flygon had to be paired with a Volt-Switch user, thus completing the Volt-Turn core and the team's namesake. Obviously you can see by looking at the rest of the team, that it has its roots in the RU tier barring Nidoking. Rather than the 'King, it was the 'Queen in that slot instead. As fate would have it, Rotom-H was eventually banned from RU in October 2018 which threw my team into a weird spot. Did I replace Rotom-H and keep playing RU, or did I try and compete with you nutty UU guys using scary UU 'pokes? The answer came to me in a challenge- the Dark Horse Project. For the uninitiated, the DHP was a laddering challenge where players can build a team using 'mons not commonly used in UU which would in theory encourage creative team building. The timing for to participate seemed perfect and so I put my UU hat on to go to work. After a tweak, I eventually developed the latest iteration of members you see above and deemed FlySwitch a UU capable team.

Team A.I.M.S.

Flygon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Tailwind

Enter the poor-man's Garchomp, Flygon. I decided to build around the Choice Scarf set, which I'll maintain is its best set to date, even after receiving DD. I don't think one can capitalize on its sweeping potential as well as its ability to both open and close the curtain. It's simply not strong enough to net KO's when it should during a sweep. U-Turn is clicked about 60%-75% of the time, opening windows for the team' wallbreakers. EQ and OR are used to pick off weakened threats in the endgame, while Tailwind is the set's weird choice. It's pretty much there as a last resort when I know either Nidoking and to a lesser extent Blastoise-Mega will be needed to outrun threats or Flygon is on its last leg in the match. Jolly was selected to outrun sub-100 Scarfers, Kommo at +1, Beedrill-Mega, and non-scarf Zeraora to name a few. Very underrated 'mon in UU atm.

Escavalier @ Groundium Z
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Drill Run
- Megahorn
- Iron Head
- Pursuit

I've committed Escavalier into the second slot for a variety of reasons:

sponges ice type attacks aimed at Flygon and Nidoking
alleviates spore shenanigans
lures the unsuspecting Mag looking to trap
outright KO's or seriously dents other would-be checks like Infernape, Empoleon, and Terrakion on the switch or attempting to setup
checks fairy types not packing heat
pursuit trap Latias and other psychics
nails entire unresisted tier barring Hippo and other Def walls w/ Megahorn
provides counter play to Trick Room teams

I used to run Choice Band > Groundium Z w/ Knock Off > Drill Run, but Mega Stones, Z-Crystals, and regen 'mons reduced the set's utility. I've also considered running enough EV's to outrun uninvested neutral base 30's like Amoongus and Slowbro. Standard bulk EV's to notably live two HP Fires from the fungus 95% of the time.

Snorlax @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 188 HP / 64 Atk / 156 Def / 100 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Recycle
- Facade
- Fire Punch

Ah yes, the sweeper, mixed wall in-one that glues the team together to make things "work". I'll throw some calcs out there:

252+ Atk Choice Band Scizor Superpower vs. +1 188 HP / 60 Def Snorlax: 374-442 (73.6 - 87%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 116 Atk Snorlax Fire Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Scizor: 388-460 (137.5 - 163.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Scizor All-Out Pummeling (190 BP) vs. +1 188 HP / 60 Def Snorlax: 396-468 (77.9 - 92.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Primarina Hydro Pump vs. 188 HP / 144+ SpD Snorlax: 213-252 (41.9 - 49.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Adaptability Crawdaunt Hydro Vortex (180 BP) vs. 188 HP / 60 Def Snorlax: 484-570 (95.2 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Moltres Supersonic Skystrike (185 BP) vs. 188 HP / 144+ SpD Snorlax: 216-255 (42.5 - 50.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Infernape Close Combat vs. 188 HP / 60 Def Snorlax: 438-516 (86.2 - 101.5%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO

Snorlax can potentially live hits to snowball thru teams (this set caught a lot of low ladder off guard). The other benefits to having the big guy on the team was to soak up opponents rampantly clicking scald to fish for burns. One has to be weary of toxic by pivoting to Escav or Nidoking, however. Facade is there for massive damage, capable of overpowering the pink blobs in the tier if allowed to setup. Fire Punch rounds out coverage against the UU King of the tier, Scizor. Overall, Snorlax is a champion at negating burns and doesn't mind being paralyzed, along with absorbing a handful of choice Z-Moves.

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Beam

At this juncture, the team needed a stealth rocker. Nidoqueen originally fit the bill for getting past Gligar, Empoleon, and Klefki, but lacked the power and speed to keep up and combat the likes of Togekiss, Primarina, Altaria-Mega, and Kommo-o. To really sweeten the deal, as experimentation helped to convince, Nidoking's versatile movepool, stats, and Tailwind from 'Gon produced just the right amount of offensive pressure needed to keep opponents on their toes. The icing on the cake was in its Poison typing to act as both a pivot to fighting types (in a pinch) and as a toxic spike absorber. Ice Beam was the coverage move of choice to ease the Kommo-o match-up and to KO Hydreigon plus Latias under Tailwind after a bit of chip.

Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Pulse
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin

Next, the team needed hazard control, a solid check to Hippowdon, and an emergency response to setup sweepers. Originally, I ran Aura Sphere > Ice Beam to round out coverage against Steels, but then I lacked a reliable way of 2HKO'ing Kommo. This was later fixed by splitting the duty between Groundium-Z Escav and Specs Rotom-H. Ice Beam would prove useful to check the myriad of Dragons running around, damage Amoongus on a predicted switch, along with bopping the occasional Gligar attempting to Defog. Water Pulse is there because of its consistency over Hydro Pump.

Rotom-Heat @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Lastly we have the easy-bake boi, Rotom-H. Love, love, love this set. At team preview, I always assess the likelihood of hunting down the opponent's ground type or volt absorber in order to freely volt switch around. Also, it bluffs Defog at team preview- which often impels people to stay in on it, especially turn 1 leads vs Swampert. I'd say 80%-90% of the time people leave Swampert in to try and get rocks up. But this is not the main boon to the set; really I view this set as a two-in-one what for wallbreaking in general or stallbreaking pesky pink blobs and the Hippo. Modest was chosen over Timid to allow for slow pivoting and to maximize cooking potential in Overheat. After using it in UU, I can see why it moved up- it provided a cushion against Scizor and other Steels while checking many Water types swimming around in the tier.

Closing

That's the quick and dirty of this team. It climbed all the way to 1547 on the ladder albeit my benchmark for "success" was 1456 (by my estimates, was the middle of the pack ELO at the time). In other words I exceeded all expectations, and had tons of fun in doing so. To add, I got to learn a new tier aside from RU and my bread-and-butter Hackmons Cup. Hope you enjoyed the RMT and let me know if you try the team out. Last note, I think I've reached the point where I need another set of eyes on this team...so with that, feel free to rate :] Thanks for reading!

Replays

Importable

Flygon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Tailwind

Escavalier @ Groundium Z
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Drill Run
- Megahorn
- Iron Head
- Pursuit

Snorlax @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 188 HP / 64 Atk / 156 Def / 100 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Recycle
- Facade
- Fire Punch

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Beam

Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Pulse
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin

Rotom-Heat @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Twilight · Apr 5, 2019

Hey Codsauce this is definitely an interesting team and I applaud you for your peak with it. Over all I can see the general idea you were going for with this, but I feel there is only so far you can go using Pokemon like Escavlier. There is one huge issue I see with the team and that is the premier fighting types in the tier just claiming something each time. Your resist is Nidoking which isn't going to tank a hit well. NP Infernape especially threatens the team and can sweep with chip on Flygon. I do think your Scizor match-up isn't as good as it could be with using offensive Rotom-H and no speed MegaToise which will get worn down as your only water switch-in. With all this in mind I intend to make quite a few changes, which I hope you'll like and consider:

Major Changes:

>

: The very obvious move is to just replace Escavalier for Scizor, which outclasses it in pretty much every way. While Escav has a monstrous attack, it is extremely slow and while it helps vs trick room the archetype isn't prominent in UU. I opted for a Buginium-Z set as the team appreciates the ability to nuke a lot of bulky Pokemon like Hippo, Alo, Amoonguss, Suicune etc. It still provides a check to Latias and adds another pivot to your core of Flygon and Rotom-H. The spread explanation is in the Scizor analysis, if you want a more offensive variant use this set.

>

: This change is to ease your match-up against the fighting types which I stated you have issues with. Bulky Starmie provides an excellent check to Cobalion and Infernape. It also eases your Terrakion match-up a little bit. I opted for Protect in the last slot to net extra recovery from Lefties and scout what common scarfers like Krook lock themselves into. This will still perform the role of removing hazards which takes pressure off your Rotom-H. You can also opt for Colbur with Toxic over Protect if you prefer this variant. The Def EVs lets it always eat a CB Stone Edge from Terrakion at full and eat a +2 Fight-Z from Cobalion at full. Also always eat 2 CB Infernape CC's and Blitz's.

>

: So I am replacing Snorlax to give the team an easier time for pressuring stall and Mega Sableye a new addition to UU which you you only had Escavalier to pressure it (Which it eats and burns back). While it has to scout for Toxic against these Pokemon, once at +2 it can attempt to beat them with Air Slash. Togekiss acts as a lure for Scizor with the Babiri berry easing pressure off Rotom-H, as offensive LO and even CB variants can give it problems. It has uses of luring other steel types too like MegaLix, Aggron and Cobalion etc.

Minor Changes:

(Set Change): I changed this to the standard bulky fast Rotom-H to handle Scizor and flying types better. Toxic over HP [Grass] for putting Pokemon on timers and finally Pain Split in the last slot to act as a form of recovery to keep doing its job effectively. EV spread changed to the following as max special attack isn't needed 232 HP / 24 SpA / 252 Spe with a Timid nature for outpacing base 85s.

(Move suggestion): I just opted for Dragon Claw in the final slot instead of Tailwind. I felt having a dragon stab that you didn't have to lock yourself into as a scarfer is nice. Especially as Pokemon like Scarf Lati and Hydra have access to Draco to prevent this from happening. Flygon in general is really weak, so you can't bank on it doing much with said move. If you still prefer Tailwind then go for it, though you are kinda limited to it only helping Nidoking the most.

<Click Sprites for Importable>

I hope you like the changes I have suggested for the team. It still has issues with Starmie being the sole water resist, but with the addition of Togekiss I think it is fine. Primarina is pretty scary to switch into, but enough members on the team pressure it and Starmie can always scout what Specs Prima locks itself into with Protect. I tried my best to keep Flygon as effective as possible, but its main function is just going to be pivoting and inviting in bulky grounds or fairies for Scizor and Nidoking to punish. Again, gratz on your peak using the team and I know I made a lot of changes, so it is up to you whether you try them out. If you have any questions just let me know ^_^

MTB'er Ben · Apr 5, 2019

First, thanks for the speedy and well thought out rate. Yes, fighting types in general were a huge problem to deal with. Some end games came down to Scarf Terrakion only needing 15% chip on Flygon for the win with CC.

Your new members definitely provide some easing to this while simultaneously keeping to the spirit of the team. I'm willing to make all the swaps to new members, they seem like a lot of fun.

As to the individual set changes- Flygon with dragon claw makes sense, will def give it a go. Tailwind was rarely clicked and when it was it was momentum killing to have to switch.

The new rotom set will take some convincing; but I think I can get onboard with it.

Thanks again, will let you know how things pan out on the ladder!

SM UU FlySwitch (Offense ft. Flygon; peaked 241)

MTB'er Ben

Twilight

MTB'er Ben