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Introduction
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Introduction
Hello Smogoners, I'm frogbandit and up until this point have been posting mainly OU RMTs and spending most of my time on the OU ladder on Shoddy. However this is a UU team that I've been testing and tweaking for a long time now. At times this team has been unstoppable, but at others it has been easily beaten by some of the better battlers on the ladder. I've come to post this RMT mainly to receive help from all the good team raters out there and to get this team to the leaderboard. My rating with this team hasn't been too good, considering my mediocre battling skills and relative inexperience in UU. However, I feel that with a few changes my team will be much improved and will help me win more games.
I started this team right when the new movesets for HGSS were released, and I knew I wanted to make a UU team, considering the number of changes that were made in the tier. Almost instinctively I started with Quagsire, the evolution of probably my favorite pokemon of all time. I was aware that it could learn Recover now, making it 'officially' (ahem) better than Gastrodon and turning it into one of the premier walls of UU. So began the core of my team, Quagsire.
Next I had to think of what pokemon in UU match up well with Quagsire synergy wise. I also wanted a pokemon more offensive that could act as one of my main sweepers, yet bulky enough to provide a defensive complement to Quagsire. A thought sprang to my mind: SD Venusaur. With the addition of Power Whip Venusaur seemed like a great pokemon to have along side of Quagsire. In addition, it absorbs Toxic Spikes, one of Quagsire's weaknesses. Venusaur takes Quagsire's horrible Grass weakness and can easily set up a Swords Dance and wreak havoc with Power whip. So Venusaur was added.
So what is Venusaur weak to? With this nice synergy combo, I decided to continue it and go with the best type combination in the game: Grass - Water - Fire. I wanted a bulky Fire type that could take hits, recover it off, and still pack a wallop. Morning Sun Arcanine fit the bill perfectly. With the addition of Morning Sun Arcanine could afford to be more defensive, and with that it has skyrocketed to being one of the most used pokemon in UU (#2 IIRC). So Arcanine was added to the team.
So I had the core of my team, so now I do what I always do after I make the core: Choose a lead that will benefit all three members. I noticed all three benefit from Stealth Rock, and I wanted a lead that could cripple other leads, attack back, scout, and basically support my team. Moreover, I didn't want a lead that shared any of the common weaknesses of my core, to keep the synergy alive. From there, I went with Uxie, another bulky pokemon that could set up Stealth Rock, scout with U-turn, spread around paralysis with Thunder Wave, and deal with the likes of Poison types and Blaziken with Psychic. So Uxie was added to the lead spot.
Now with a team comprised of bulky pokemon, I wanted a fast special sweeper to make the team more balanced. I looked through the pokemon that were moved to UU from BL or OU recently, and Raikou caught my eye. With Venusaur, Arcanine, and Quagsire all specially based, I wanted a special sweeper that could set up and wipe out teams quickly. I wanted to keep the synergy so I chose Raikou, an electric type that was both fast, powerful, and had a nice set up move in Calm Mind. It also works well synergy wise with the rest of the team. With that in mind, Raikou was put into the team.
For the last slot on my team, I wanted another sweeper that could fill the holes left in my team, yet not share any huge weaknesses with the rest of the team. I chose Gallade, mainly because it had another priority move in Shadow Sneak, and could deal damage to just about anything in UU. It could function as a back up sweeper just in case Venusaur or Raikou go down early. Gallade gives me another check to Mismagius and was also recently moved down to UU. So I decided to incorporate Gallade into my team.
So there is my thought process while building the team. My team is relatively bulky, and what I've noticed is that it is a bit slow
So I'd like as much help as I can to deal with this. Also I've noticed that I have no flying types on the team, meaning I'm quite vulnerable to the most common move in the game, Earthquake. Again, any suggestions on this would be appreciated. So thats all for the Introduction (phew). This is by no means a great team, and I intend to make some changes. So I'll take all criticism and comments constructively, any suggestions would be helpful. Now for more a indepth look at the team.
In - Depth
Uxie @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
Uxie starts of the game with excellent support moves that clears the path for my sweepers and eases the job of my defensive walls. Uxie acts as my scout, utilizing U-turn and Thunder Wave to perfection. Thunderwave was put in for Yawn because my team is noticably slow and my sweepers will benefit a lot more. Stealth Rock is a no brainer, it is necessary for every successful team, and I thought stealth rock was the easiest way to get up some quick residual damage. A lot of my sweepers are also dependent on stealth rock damage to net a few OHKOs.
Uxie is an excellent defensive pokemon itself, with 130 defenses on both sides. This allows me to get up stealth rock almost all the time. I chose Psychic over Thunderbolt or Protect simply to take care of Venusaur and Blaziken. I felt that I had my water weaknesses covered with Quagsire and Venusaur. On the analysis page it says Thunderbolt is really only useful for Gyarados and Starmie, which are literally nonexistant in UU. Milotic and other bulky waters are taken care of by Venusaur and Quagsire. And I felt that another attacking move was more better than another scouting move, Protect, which really only helps against Choice Band users and suicide leads. Even without protect, Uxie takes explosions fine.
Relaxed Nature to be more bulky on the Defensive side, and the EVs are crafted to be as bulky as possible, leaning towards Defense, due to there being more physical leads in UU (please correct me if I'm wrong) and to take Explosions easier.
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Quagsire (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP/4 Atk/252 Def
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Recover
- Curse
Before HGSS, Quaggy was a mediocre wall in UU with nothing special other than the fact it had Water Absorb. Its only support options being Toxic and Protect, it had no reliable way of healing itself, a huge detriment to any wall. However, with the coming of HGSS came Recover, which gave Quagsire a neat recovery move that enhanced its walling ability. I combined the set with the Curse set, a powerful set on its own, and without warning Quagsire can be a powerful sweeper of its own. Recover fits nicely on the set too, as it can take hits as it sets up and recover off the slowly decreasing damage.
Earthquake and Waterfall provide my dual STAB moves that provide pretty good type coverage and get a good physical boost from Curse. With Quagsire I can sometimes get a few late kills in the game just by using Curse a few times. In fact, I've 6-0ed a few unaware opponents who let Quaggy get 5 or 6 Curses, and I just massacre with EQ and Waterfall. The idea with this set is to switch in on any water or electric move and Curse up on the switch. From there I can either keep cursing up if I feel what I'm up against is not a huge threat, or attack immediately with Earthquake or Waterfall.
The EVs were tailored like Uxie's, to take physical hits more effectively and to max out HP to get both sides of the attacking spectrum. The remaining 4 EVs I dumped into Attack to give more power on my attacks. I also went with an Impish nature because it didn't lower my attack, and boosted my defense.
So yeah, Quagsire is a beast .
One side note, I've been trying out the Stockpile + Recover set too, but right now I think this set has been more effective, especially for the rest of the team. If you think I should change the set around, please feel free to give me any suggestions. :P
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Arcanine (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/6 Spd
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Flare Blitz
- Morning Sun
- Extremespeed
- Toxic
Arcanine is now at the top of UU and for good reason; even before HGSS it was one of the most fearsome attackers in UU, with the combination of great stats, a decent movepool, Intimidate, and access to the best priority move in the game (move over, Bullet Punch), Extremespeed. On my previous UU teams I've almost always had Arcanine due to the fact it it was very versatile and could fulfill the role of main sweeper and backup revenge killer (I've even tried the Anti-lead set a few times, and its wonderful) However, Arcanine got Morning Sun from HGSS, making it even more versatile and allowing it to possibly (possibly?) run a defensive minded set. I tried to do that with this set, and it really works wonders late game.
I took the standard moves you see on the offensive Arcanine: Extremespeed and Flare Blitz. To that I combined with Morning Sun, the reliable recovery move, and Toxic, the best stalling move in the game. With Morning Sun, access to Toxic, pretty nice defensive stats, and a few EVs, I thought Arcanine had the makings of a good defensive pokemon.
I went with the Impish Nature, just like with Quaggy and Uxie, to boost Defense at the cost of a stat I don't need, in this case Special Attack. And the EVs are made to max HP and Def, and give a slight boost to Speed.
After looking at these three, I'm sort of uncomfortable with the fact that all three of these pokemon are defensive walls, and that I don't know how I'm going to take the special attacks aimed at my team effectively. To all you team raters out there, is this a big issue? If it is, I'm leaning towards using Stockpile Quagsire instead of Curse. I'd like to have some feedback on this :P
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Venusaur (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Power Whip
- Swords Dance
- Synthesis
Ahh Venusaur. Pokemon #3 in the Pokedex, and one of the best grass type pokemon till a bunch of random things from Hoenn and Sinnoh started showing up. However, it still finds a home in UU, where it shines as the best Grass type pokemon, by far (Sceptile and Torterra...not so much). However, as with Quagsire and Arcanine, I'm trying a new set, flipping things up and using a Swords Dance set. The motive for this is yet another new move learned by Venusaur with the coming of HGSS: Power Whip. Yes, the extremely powerful and unpredictably inaccurate move that made up the Sunny Day beast that is Tangrowth. With this set, combined with the +2 Attack boost from Swords Dance, can do massive amounts of damage to even things that resist it.And to those steels that resist Power Whip, I have Earthquake as backup for more coverage. Earthquake, the most popular move in all tiers, is really great on this set as it takes out Fire types too.
And setting up Swords Dance is not very hard; I almost always get at least one every time I switch in. The idea with this set is to switch in on a resisted attack, and begin to Swords Dance. At that point I don't really care if I'm losing a little health because of Venusaur's solid defenses, and Synthesis, another recovery move that helps him survive longer and last as a check to many of the threats to my team like Milotic and Donphan. From there I can continue to Swords Dance (to make Power Whip unstoppable) or just attack if I feel I can sweep already.
Jolly Nature is for +Speed, Venusaur is naturally not the fastest pokemon so I tried to make up for this by putting this nature. The EVs were made to max speed and attack, necessary for the sweep, and to add some to HP, as Venusaur is naturally bulky and can take a few hits before it goes down, even without any Defense or HP EVs. Leftovers for optimal recovery.
I'm also trying out the Sub-Salac set, which I found on the creative movesets thread on Stark, and I'm not sure yet which one would be better. Like with Quagisre, I'd like some more feedback on this question. Thanks
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Raikou @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Extrasensory
- Hidden Power [Water]
With the defensive backbone of the team taken care of, Its time to get into the main sweepers. With Raikou being banished to the UU tier, I felt it was time to give it a place on the team because of its sheer effectiveness at what it does. Its staggering speed stat and impressive Special Attack, coupled with access to Thunderbolt and Extrasensory make it the ideal special sweeper, if not in OU then in UU. The Calm Mind set really works wonders in UU, as it is easier to set up Calm Minds then simply ravage the opponent.
Thunderbolt is my main STAB option, one of the most used moves in any tier due to its high power and accuracy. Often with just a few calm minds, Thunderbolt itself will begin to sweep through teams. If I'm up against something that resists or easily takes Thunderbolt (Venusaur, Steelix) I resort to my other backup Special Attacks, HP Water and Extrasensory, which makes quick work of both of them. With HP Water and Extrasensory also comes impressive type coverage, hitting almost all types for neutral if not Super Effective. HP Water is a huge improvement to HP Fighting because of its ability to not only kill Steelix, but also Dugtrio, Rhyperior, Claydol, and Donphan.
The EVs are Standard. Make Speed, Max Special attack, and the rest dumped into HP to ensure survivability and lengthen a sweep. This set also works nicely with Stealth Rock support, turning possible 2HKOs into OHKOs and 3HKOs into 2HKOs. Timid Nature was chosen to make Raikou as speedy as possible, and to outspeed other base 115s in UU.
Not much else to say about Raikou, its an effective sweeper that can really tear any team apart with just a few Calm Minds.
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Gallade (M) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Steadfast
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Leaf Blade
- Ice Punch
- Shadow Sneak
No, its NOT the star of the team -.- Its Gallade, one of the most welcomed arrivals to UU from its drop from the BL, seriously I've seen it on almost every UU team I've come across. Still, thats saying something to its effectiveness as an excellent late game sweeper, back up sweeper, and priority user. Although not the fastest sweeper, Gallade rounds off the team with excellent coverage coming from powerful attacks: STAB Close Combat, a powerful move on its own, Leaf Blade to make quick work of bulky waters, and Ice punch to deal with Grass types, Flying types, and the occasional Altaria. However, one of the best moves Gallade has access to is Shadow Sneak, giving my team a good check to SubCharge Rotom and other ghost types that prowl around UU.
This set is pretty standard by all means, so theres not much else to say about it. Expert Belt was chosen over Life Orb for a couple of reasons. One, I really didn't like the life orb recoil that could really hinder a sweep. Second, I felt that Expert Belt should be a better option on something with such a large movepool as Gallade, giving it almost the same power as a Life Orb would. Third, it sometimes comes in handy in faking a choice scarf, allowing me to get an easy kill. If you think I should go life orb, you'll have to convince me.
The EVs are also standard, max attack and max speed to at least tie with other base 80s. The remaining for were dumped into HP for the same reason as with Raikou. Adamant Nature over Timid Nature basically because I felt the power boost was more valuable than the speed boost.
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Conclusion
Yeah, so thats the team. Go ahead and rate it please, I'd appreciate any kind of feedback. :naughty:
Heres one last look at the team (in case you have ADD and forgot):
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Heres one last look at the team (in case you have ADD and forgot):
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