Gen 5 Grapes of Wrath (Gen 5 UU)

[r0ady]

GRAPES OF WRATH

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Hello, I am r0ady. Although I am by no means considered a BW UU powerhouse I've somewhat made a name for myself in the tier over the past few years playing it in cups and UUPL and its more or less become the tier people tack onto my name when speaking of me these days. I figured with my steadily declining passion for the tier as well as me doing (very) poorly in team tours the past year I'd drop my favorite team and take a break from playing it for a while. So here it is, my slowly becoming out of date Virizion BO.


Virizion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Leaf Blade
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge

Virizion is very different to the rest of the fighting types in the tier. It lacks the raw power of Heracross and Mienshao and the utility and steel type defensive capabilities that Cobalion can provide. In return you get a set up mon with extremely unique defensive capabilities and surprisingly strong coverage between three moves. This isn't a mon most teams are taking into consideration when building and it shows, as this thing gets so many opportunities to set up because of its host of useful resists in ground, rock, water, and grass, on top of an insane special defense stat that lets it do things like eat off specs draco from Kingdra and live none Life Orb Roserades Sludge Bomb. However this doesn't see tons of usage for a reason, that reason being its weak as shit. It getting a ton of opportunities to SD is the only thing keeping this guy afloat in the tier since at +0 almost nothing is scared of it, with things like Rhyp living Leaf Blade, Blastoise being a roll to 2HKO, and Lax being a roll to OHKO. Nonetheless a large amount of teams in the metagame find themselves scared of this Pokemons unique talents which is why I chose to build with it.


Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 140 Def / 108 SpD / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Earthquake / Toxic
- Pursuit
- Protect

The newest addition to S rank, Big Lax. The ultimate glue Pokemon in BW UU, Snorlax provides such an insane amount of defensive support for teams that its hard not to build with sometimes. A soft check to the Electrics, Fires, Nidos, special Rain mons, Grasses, and Ghosts it was a very easy Pokemon to put on the team. Protect offensive Lax is its most useful set in the current meta since it isn't giving up turns and hits hard as hell. This is gonna be the main way of dealing with Tini, and playing aggressive with the Pursuit is how you're gonna kill that fucker. I use EQ but Toxic is perfectly fine to use in the 4th slot if you want to be better against Coffin, but I find myself EQing a decent amount so its all preference. Just keep in mind that when playing this team against anything that isn't Tini this should be used as your secondary answer to the pokemon I listed above, as the rest of the team has ways around the rest.


Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 200 SpD / 56 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Protect

The best mon that feels impossible to actually fit on teams, Empo. Being a water type that can't check fires or grounds and a steel type that can't check grasses really makes Empoleon hard to put on some teams. However on a core of Snorlax + Emp + Xatu I've always found that to be the best way to run defensvie Emp. This thing is rains worst nightmare, being the hardest stop to Kingdra in the tier. I decided on Ice Beam since I wanted to nail the grasses for good damage and on toxic to fuck over Coffin, as for protect I feel like thats a mandatory move on this since a lot of the best ways to kill it are choiced Pokemon. There are so many viable moves you can run on Empoleon including Roar, Knock off, and Rocks that you can customize this however you want, these are just the moves I've found most consistent.


Xatu @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 26 Spe
- Night Shade
- Grass Knot
- Roost
- U-turn

The best hazard control in BW UU. With there being literally one viable spinner in the tier in Blastoise and a couple of dogshit do nothing spinners in Hitmontop and Claydol keeping hazards off the field in this tier can be very frustrating, but Xatus mere existence can keep them off for you. Pokemon like Qwilfish, Ferroseed, and Gligar immediately become dead weight until Xatu is removed, and having a 4x resistance to fighting is a huge plus, especially for this team. Grass Knot is a given as how else would you yeet this thing into a Rhyperior and come out on top more often than not. Night Shade can be traded out for Psyshock but I find it better in more match ups. The IVs are so that you underspeed other Xatu and U-Turn second for some fat Helmet chip + momentum, and put you at 221, a very convoluted speed tier which is enough for Pokemon hitting 220 for -1 Tini. Physdef is vital here since this will be the mid ground against fighitng types when I cant protect on them.


Nidoqueen (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 128 HP / 36 Def / 216 SpA / 128 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock

The muscle. Queen does a shit ton here defensively, giving me that secondary soft check to Electrics and Fighting types, while also being a strong breaker that pairs very well offensively with Virizion. Focus Blast can be used over Fire Blast here since Xatu counters Bronzong anyway but I'm not hitting that shit so you run what you want. I've also ran Shadow Ball and Tbolt in this slot but honestly whatever you put there you rarely click. This is the rocker but an option that for sure works here is running T spike then going rocks on Empo, as with two protect mons T spike is never a bad option to have on a team. Don't ask what the EVs are for other than you outspeed tinin at -1 tini since i made them so long ago.


Rotom-Heat @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Trick

One could say the flavor pick here. Basically I wanted speed control, a fire resist, and Toge check in one slot so that brought me to the oven. Its admittedly mediocre at all three of those things but it serves the team very well more often than not and being ever so slightly faster than scarf Hera is hot. Not much to talk about it here, Stabs + trick and it also provides a (very) soft check to nidos as well as Torn. I suppose I should also mention its a great lead against rain when paired with Xatu since most dont run Ground types you pretty much always get good momentum turn one.





CONCLUSION

This team for sure has its issues, the biggest being people getting cute with Tini sets as time goes on so just being aggressive around them doesn't always work. Like I said in the beginning this team is starting to get out of date and I'm losing interest in the tier anyway which has brought me to posting it since this was my favorite team for a while, spamming it last year in Cup and and usually loading it in friendlies. Its still a fun team and if you use it just keep in mind you better be ready to outplay some threats. Can't say I know if I'll return to BW UU in the near future but until then, enjoy the team.

import

Virizion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Leaf Blade
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 140 Def / 108 SpD / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Protect

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 200 SpD / 56 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Protect

Nidoqueen (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 128 HP / 36 Def / 216 SpA / 128 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock

Xatu @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 26 Spe
- Night Shade
- Grass Knot
- Roost
- U-turn

Rotom-Heat @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Trick