ORAS UU FWG and stuff - an attempt on defensive approach in UU

[Roninord]

Hello! This team is pretty much my first attempt at teambuilding in the 6th Gen. UU seems the most fun tier for me so far, with lots of variety of viable Pokemon and decent balance of all playstyles. So without further ado, here is the team:

Basically I wanted to run a Fire-Water-Grass core centered around Chesnaught - because it's a really fun Pokemon to use and I wanted to build a defense-oriented team. So here we go:

:

Parsifal (Chesnaught) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Drain Punch
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
- Spiky Shield
​

Here he is, the bulky spikestacker. I love how versatile Chesnaught is - he can tank hits, set up Spikes or Leech Seed, and even dish out decent damage with Drain Punch. I used to run Rocky Helmet and Roar instead before - Roar stacked decently with Spikes and damging opponents while they try to hit you is really nice but the recovery from Leftovers and ability to stall with Spiky Shield for that recovery and Leech Seed damage turned to be too good to pass up. There are two chief issues I see with this build: the first is a severe 4 moveslot syndrome: besides the already mentioned Roar, I'd also love to fit there Synthesis for reliable healing or Wood Hammer for an actual way to hurt Water types that Chesnaught decently walls. The other issue is rather average special bulk, which can sometimes become an issue, but I usually have Florges and Vaporeon for eating special attacks anyway, so it works.

Seaworth (Vaporeon) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Def / 56 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Wish
- Roar
- Protect
​

Speaking about eating Special attacks, here's the first part of the Special tank duo and the second element of my core. Vaporeon is one of the premiere Water-types in UU for a reason - even though I say he's there to eat special hits, he can actually take pretty much any attack and even retaliate somewhat decently with Scald, damaging and burning opponents. That's not the chief reason I chose Vaporeon though - the actual utility of him comes from Wish. Vaporeon provides nice and fat Wishes for the entire team easily, or alternatively stalls opponents with the Wish+Protect combo. Another thing I greatly appreciate is Water Absorb - this gives Vaporeon great advantage over fellow Waters and allows him to heal himself on the switch. I also run Roar on Vaporeon now - that's my best bet at phazing a set-up attacker, although I'd really love to jam Toxic onto Vaporeon somehow - this would make his stalling capacity much much better.

Arianne (Chandelure) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
- Trick
​

Chandelure completes the elemental core of the team. My team is mostly on the slow side, so I needed a fast pokemon who could clean late-game or revenge kill a dangerous threat and ScarfLure does an amazing job at both. There aren't much things faster than her and Trick is an amazing move that allows me to cripple Pokemon that I could otherwise have trouble with by locking them into a single move. Not to mention that Chandelure prevents opposing Fire-types like Darmanitan from spamming their attacks as she can use Flash Fire to eat the attack and then sweep easily. All in all, that's a very straightforward but reliable pokemon with a trick (pun somewhat intended).

Malkuth (Florges) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Synthesis
- Aromatherapy
​

lol at noobs thinking it's a grass type and trying to kill it with fire
Florges functions rather similarly to Vaporeon; some could even say they are redundant. I however disagree - while similar in stats they fulfill different roles due to the movepool variety. Instead of focusing on Wish passing which Vaporeon arguably does much better, Florges acts ast the team Cleric. I know that Vaporeon can run Heal Bell too, but this way I free a slot for Vaporeon and besides become less reliant on a single member of a team for support. Besides, this defensive CM set allows Florges to dismantle opposition as it becomes very self-reliant as long as the opponent's Steels and Poisons are removed, though she loses CM wars to pokes with Psyshock. Furthermore, Florges is my best bet against opposing Dragons as it checks pretty much all of them.

Henriette (Nidoqueen) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
​

While I have Spikes support in Chesnaught, I still need a decently bulky pokemon that can set up Stealth Rock reliably. I also wanted somebody who can dish out decent damage from the very beginning acting as an anti-lead of sorts. Nidoqueen does all this splendidly. She's bulky, she's powerful, her coverage hits pretty much any threat, the Ground typing allows her to steal momentum from VoltTurn teams. What more can I say? If Nidoqueen was a bit faster, she'd be the definite MVP. I still prefer her over Nidoking due to more power and bulk though.

Minerva (Aerodactyl) (F) @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Aerial Ace
- Aqua Tail
- Defog
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Stone Edge will miss when it's most needed, gl hf

SERIOUSLY THOUGH IT'S LIKE 5% ACCURACY

Jokes aside, Mega-Aero is amazing. She fullfills two roles here - a super-fast and strong physical attacker and also a reliable Defogger for the situations when the opponent sets up Toxic Spikes that hurt the team a lot or just for the situations when my spikestacking somehow fails. She also synergizes decently with the team, providing a Ground immunity and Flying coverage. I've used to run Roost over Aqua Tail in the past, but Aero doesn't have much opportunities for healing in practice and besides I have Wish support anyway but no way to reliably remove Nidos who are a trouble for the team without Aqua Tail (besides Vaporeon maybe).


So that's that. While I love this team a lot, I think there's room for improvement. Despite the bulk, I have like zero status play, and no way to break stuff due to the lack of set-up pokes besides Florges who's not exactly a sweeper with only a single attacking option. and orientation on defence. Maybe I lack something else, but I can't for the love of God figure out what exactly. So some help would be greatly appreciated!

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[Roninord]

Shameless bump

 

[Vesitippa]

Hi Roninord! Your team looks very solid. Couple suggestion

I think you should put Wood Hammer on Chesnaught over drain punch, just to deal better with those bulky waters.

And CM Florges should carry psychic for Nidos, otherwise they can come in freely and deal a lot of damage to any of your mons.
Besides atm they can come in on either Florges and Chesnaught pretty much for free, and if Nidoking/queen happens to carry Tbolt you don't have anything to switch in on those mons.

Florges@Leftovers
Nature: Bold
EV's: 248 Hp, 168 Def, 84 Sp.att, 8spd
-Moonblast
-Psychic
-Calm Mind
-Synthesis/Aromatherapy

84 Sp.att is to always 2HKO Standard Offensive Nidoqueen with Psychic.

And IMO it's not wise to run Defog on team that use Spikes and SR... Besides, your team is not so weak to hazards(only chandy) and you have wish passer and leech seeder to gain health. Maybe replace it with taunt? to prevent opponent from laying down too many hazards

Hope I helped:)

 

[Roninord]

Thanks for your suggestions! I really appreciate your reply.

I think you should put Wood Hammer on Chesnaught over drain punch, just to deal better with those bulky waters.

Sure, I'll be certain to try that and hope that Leech Seed + Leftovers recovery is enough.

And CM Florges should carry psychic for Nidos, otherwise they can come in freely and deal a lot of damage to any of your mons.
Besides atm they can come in on either Florges and Chesnaught pretty much for free, and if Nidoking/queen happens to carry Tbolt you don't have anything to switch in on those mons.

Florges@Leftovers
Nature: Bold
EV's: 248 Hp, 168 Def, 84 Sp.att, 8spd
-Moonblast
-Psychic
-Calm Mind
-Synthesis/Aromatherapy

84 Sp.att is to always 2HKO Standard Offensive Nidoqueen with Psychic.

This sounds like a good idea, although Florges is a shaky check at best, as both Nidos are faster and Sludge Wave is a clean 2HKO without CM boosting SpDef. I guess I'll try toying with the EVs and see how it goes.

And IMO it's not wise to run Defog on team that use Spikes and SR... Besides, your team is not so weak to hazards(only chandy) and you have wish passer and leech seeder to gain health. Maybe replace it with taunt? to prevent opponent from laying down too many hazards

I've tried using Aero without Defog before, but it wasn't really that great. I haven't considered running Taunt on it though, so it could work actually! I'll be sure to give it a whirl.

Thanks a lot!