Funeral
Introduction
Hello Smogon, this is Superstar here with my first UU RMT. I am very new to the UU metagame, being a primarily Ubers player. However, I always loved using StallRein in DPP OU, so decided to take him out for a spin in UU. I quickly found out that UU is a great metagame. This team has something like a 35-10 record, which I guess isn't too bad for a new player, and peaked 50th on the ladder. I will start with the team building process, and then get on with the team
Introduction
Hello Smogon, this is Superstar here with my first UU RMT. I am very new to the UU metagame, being a primarily Ubers player. However, I always loved using StallRein in DPP OU, so decided to take him out for a spin in UU. I quickly found out that UU is a great metagame. This team has something like a 35-10 record, which I guess isn't too bad for a new player, and peaked 50th on the ladder. I will start with the team building process, and then get on with the team
Forgot to take shot at peak, so this is a bit lower
Obviously, I needed Abamasnow and Walrein, since that was the core I wanted to base my team around.
I next decided I would need something to check Raikou and Fire types, as well as set Stealth Rock, thus Rhyperior was added to the list
Next, I needed a Toxic Spiker to set spikes. I didn't want to double up on Water-types and specially defensive mons, so I rejected Qwilfish in favor of Roserade
Now, I needed a Scarfer. The UU Viability Ranking thread told me that Mienshao was the best scarfer in the game, so I went with him
Finally, I decided I needed a spinblocker, another answer to fire-types, and something to deal with fighting-types. OTR Cofagrigus seemed to solve all of these issues.
At this point, Abamasnow was using an Expert Belt set. I found, that although I was doing alright, I was far too weak to Herracross. I decided to replace Mienshao for a Herracross of my own. This helped to solve the problem as well as give me another Fighting resist.
I was still a bit too weak to fire-types such as Victini. The team also was too defensive for my liking. This made me trade Cofagrigus for the Fire-immune Chandelure, giving the final team.
I next decided I would need something to check Raikou and Fire types, as well as set Stealth Rock, thus Rhyperior was added to the list
Next, I needed a Toxic Spiker to set spikes. I didn't want to double up on Water-types and specially defensive mons, so I rejected Qwilfish in favor of Roserade
Now, I needed a Scarfer. The UU Viability Ranking thread told me that Mienshao was the best scarfer in the game, so I went with him
Finally, I decided I needed a spinblocker, another answer to fire-types, and something to deal with fighting-types. OTR Cofagrigus seemed to solve all of these issues.
At this point, Abamasnow was using an Expert Belt set. I found, that although I was doing alright, I was far too weak to Herracross. I decided to replace Mienshao for a Herracross of my own. This helped to solve the problem as well as give me another Fighting resist.
I was still a bit too weak to fire-types such as Victini. The team also was too defensive for my liking. This made me trade Cofagrigus for the Fire-immune Chandelure, giving the final team.
In Depth
Abamasnow @ Choice Band
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Wood Hammer
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
On most hail teams, Abamasnow sets up the hail and dies. Well, this set is my attempt to do something better with him. Wood Hammer is the crux of this set. With the given EVs, it can hit like a ton of bricks against many of Abamasnow's commons switch-ins, and Ice Shard is great for taking out low-health stuff. Ice Punch is solid STAB. Earthquake can be helpful for fire-types, but usually I'm spamming Wood Hammer. Some examples of Abamasnow's power to dent the mons that give this team trouble on the switch:
252+ Atk Choice Band Abomasnow Wood Hammer vs. 0/ 0 Kingdra: 265-313 (91.06 - 107.56%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Abomasnow Wood Hammer vs. 0/ 0 Victini: 127-150 (37.24 - 43.98%) -- guaranteed 3HKO, or 2HKO with SR
252+ Atk Choice Band Abomasnow Wood Hammer vs. 0/ 0 Darmanitan: 205-242 (58.4 - 68.94%) -- guaranteed 2HKO, chance to OHKO with SR and weather
On the whole, Abomasnow generally sets hail, dents some things, and dies.
Walrein @ Leftovers
Trait: Ice Body
EVs: 252 SDef / 248 HP / 8 SAtk
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Substitute
- Roar
- Blizzard
This is undeniably the star of my team. The rest of the team focuses around setting up a position where Walrein can win the game. He can outstall half the UU metagame all by himself with proper Toxic Spikes support. He can even outstall most flying types and poison types due to hail damage. Truly an incredible pseudo-sweeper. Protect, Sub, and Blizzard should be obvious moves. Roar is useful to phaze out things like RestTalk Suicune that can try to set up.
Maximum special defense is chosen to be able to set up a Substitue against things like an unboosted Raikou or Zapdos Thunderbolt. I tried out the physically defensive set, but rejected it because you still don't get a Sub up against Herracross or Mienshao 100% of the time. 248 HP hits a lefties number I believe.
Roserade @ Black Sludge
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Spd / 236 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Toxic Spikes
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Roserade plays an important role on the team. She provides the Toxic Spikes that are essential to allow Walrein to outstall things. More than this, Roserade checks a variety of Special attackers and it my primary sponge to water-type and electric-moves. Although it may seem strange to not run Rest, this team tends to play more aggressively, and Roserade rarely gets the chance to recover health and come back in. Hidden Power [Fire] is quite useful for hitting Bronzong, Bisharp, and most importantly Escavelier.
The EVs are fairly standard. Maximum special defense allows me to tank special hits as well as possible. 16 Speed outspeeds Modest Empoleon.
Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Trait: Solid Rock
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 244 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
Rhyperior is an absolutely great Pokemon. Although it cannot function as well in hail due to the lack of recovery, it is still an excellent check to the dangerous fire-type in UU. This moveset is pretty standard, so I don't think it have to explain too much. Rock Blast is chosen over Stone Edge to beat SubRoost Zapdos as well as punish Chandelure who may try to Sub on me. Phazing is essential to have, and often helps me rack up the residual damage.
The EVs are standard as well, allowing Rhyperior to check threats such as Togekiss and Victini.
Chandelure @ Life Orb
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 184 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 68 HP
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Pain Split
I tried a whole bunch of stuff in this slot, from Cofagrigus to Slowbro to Qwillfish. In the end, I decided that Chandelure best helped me to further check Fire-types as well as provide the team with a boost of offense. This is the reason Flash Fire is chosen over Flame Body. I can handle Porygon2 alright. The SubSplit set is chosen simply because I believe that it is Chandelure's best set. The added coverage is not needed too much, and it is very helpful to be able to recover almost all my HP when faced with a Snorlax switch-in.
The EVs are standard for the SubSplit set. I do add an undisclosed amount of speed creep, though.
Heracross @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
My team needed a scarfer, and I decided there was no one better for the role than MoxieCross. He was chosen over Mienshao due to his better bulk and defensive typing as well as his Bug STAB. Also Mienshao can't deal with Protect Umbreon effectively and I have trouble enough with that guy as is. The only unusual move here is Pursuit, which is chosen to quickly eliminate Chandelure. I have no true counter (i.e. no Snorlax) so I need the damn thing taken out as quickly as possible. Earthquake is chosen over Stone Edge because the team has a bit of trouble with grounded poison-types such as Qwilfish and Nidoqueen.
Conclusion
Well, that concludes my first UU team. I will appreciate all rates and suggestions; please keep in mind I am fairly new to the UU meta, so I am sure there are holes to threats that I just didn't encounter in the 100 or so matches I played with this team.
Threat List
Flygon-- If you don't have a Bronzong, Flygon is always going to be an issue. However, if I can get it locked into Outrage then Abamasnow can deal with it easily enough with Ice Shard
Umbreon-- This little bitch can outstall even Walrein with Heal Bell, Wish, and Protect. Luckily Herracross can make short work of him.
Qwilfish, Nidoqueen, Roserade -- I don't like things that can absorb TSpikes, however, all of these usually lack recovery and can be brought down.
Stall -- I don't have a true stall breaker, so if I don't execute properly by double switching Herracross and Chandelure, I'll have a tough time. Hail makes it a lot easier to take these teams down though.
