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GSC UUHUB
(opening post written entirely by Dawn)
GSC UU is a pretty fun metagame, and with the tier soon returning to Spotlight Ladder and also having a Spotlight tourney, now seems like the best time to start discussion on it, There’s still plenty of room for innovation to be used. While the tier might look to be all Stall, there is plenty of viable playstyles, from offense to balance to even Baton Pass teams with Belly Drum Quagsire. This thread will serve for any discussion for this thread and will have various resources. There are a few mechanic changes from different generations, a few example being Giga Drain failing vs Substitute(why Giga Bellossom sucks), Explosion halving Defense and thus being extremely powerful, using Belly Drum under 50% health giving you +2 Attack, and Encore failing against certain last called moves such as Sleep Talk and Struggle(more can be found in the Different Mechanics thread. Basically talk about anything regarding to the tier, it can be discussing and helping others with teams, discussing unique sets or how much you hate fighting Scyther, Sandslash and Baton Pass or love spamming Hypno.
GSC UU ROLE COMPENDIUM (compiled by my friend Dawn) Pokemon are listed alphabetically and are not listed if they do not make viable use of a move despite learning it(so Kabutops is not listed in Rapid Spinners for example) #1: Hazards and Utility role
The Clown woah 200th post pog
The first aspect I want to discuss about GSC UU is one of my favourite Pokemon to use in the metagame, Mr Mime. Mr Mime has had a rather curious history in the GSC Lower Tiers, in fact it was previously an NU Pokemon. But nowadays it ranks among the most dominant Pokemon in the tier with its threatening offensive power and huge variety of supporting moves, ranging from Thunder Wave, Hypnosis, Sub+Baton Pass, Encore and Thief. It’s one of, if not, the most common leads in the metagame because of this, also combined by its ability to threaten other common leads such as Qwilfish and Nidoqueen, and its not uncommon for Mimes to lead off vs each other, which is why it sometimes runs Sub or Miracle Berry to block Thunder Wave or Hypnosis. Mr Mime has quite some set set variety, RestTalk is also an option to give Mime more longevity.
This is an intresting option for the clown to run that I like quite a bit. Nightmare+Hypnosis is able to put pressure on many Pokemon such as Slowking and Slowbro. It’s able to also force out Pokemon such as Hypno, especially ReatTalk Hypno.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Chansey in GSC UU. Its unmatched special walling ability and access to the incredibly useful Heal Bell make it a common sight on defensive teams. It, Hypno, and Blastoise is a common core that is able to stall out a huge number of threats, particularly letting Blastoise run Haze over Sleep Talk due to Chansey having Heal Bell is a nice bonus. Chansey is also a decent threat offensively with Present, letting it deal massive damage to Water-, Psychic-, and Electric- types. Chansey is able to combat foes that stall teams can have trouble breaking through such as Slowbro and Hypno. Chansey is not perfect however, as it lets in many common Pokemon that don’t take much damage from Present like Granbull and Nidoqueen.
And there’s no better feeling then this
Ampharos is fast asleep.
The opposing Chansey used Present!
(Ampharos lost 100% of its health!)
View attachment 300115 The Clown woah 200th post pog
The first aspect I want to discuss about GSC UU is one of my favourite Pokemon to use in the metagame, Mr Mime. Mr Mime has had a rather curious history in the GSC Lower Tiers, in fact it was previously an NU Pokemon. But nowadays it ranks among the most dominant Pokemon in the tier with its threatening offensive power and huge variety of supporting moves, ranging from Thunder Wave, Hypnosis, Sub+Baton Pass, Encore and Thief. It’s one of, if not, the most common leads in the metagame because of this, also combined by its ability to threaten other common leads such as Qwilfish and Nidoqueen, and its not uncommon for Mimes to lead off vs each other, which is why it sometimes runs Sub or Miracle Berry to block Thunder Wave or Hypnosis. Mr Mime has quite some set set variety, RestTalk is also an option to give Mime more longevity.
This is an intresting option for the clown to run that I like quite a bit. Nightmare+Hypnosis is able to put pressure on many Pokemon such as Slowking and Slowbro. It’s able to also force out Pokemon such as Hypno, especially ReatTalk Hypno.
Nothing I disagree on as far as Mr.Mime is concerned. It seems like the best lead hands down due to its high special attack and extremely deadly combination of offence and support moves. Psychic and Thunder!?! Sounds like a dream come true. The fact that you are forced to hand over your lefties to Thief users is testament to how much this mon can leave you second guessing.
I am always afraid of some agility/sub pass lead. The only thing about baton pass in UU is that I occasionally get the feeling that it can be dealt with through offensive means while knowing that you might have an escape option with a certain haze/reflect supporter in the back, as opposed to bulky phazers which are required to respond with immediacy to lead Smeargle in OU.
And now for another topic.
Sleep Talk Hypno is a really comfortable anti-lead in that it can handle most of what Mr.Mime may have to throw at it while tanking any Thunders that should land on it. It does suck to lose lefties to a Mr.Mime though, as you may end up having a real hard time recovering when on the receiving end of a lot of offence from the other team.
In any case Hypno can use, alongside Rest, Sleep Talk and a Stab Psychic, support moves in Reflect or Light Screen, the former of which may be preferable against BP teams which mostly specialise in physical offence. Alternatively there is also Body Slam or Thunder wave which can cripple fast frail psychic types and finally there is Seismic toss as an option. It's quite relevant in Mirror Matches against opposing sleep talk hypno and can prove to be superior when trying to chip pokemon such as Nidoqueen and Bellossom so that they run out of moonlight PP.
Hypno is also good against Qwillfish and Haunter. I would like people to give some input on the non Sleep Talk sets of Hypno and see where they fit in on a team.
Hello, today I am here to talk about an underrated set in GSC UU, Light Screen Scyther. This set sounds odd at first, but it can be incredibly useful in certain games, with the set being Swords Dance, Wing Attack, Hidden Power Ground, and Light Sceen. Light Screen is useful for allowing Scyther to setup its Swords Dance against Pokemon such as Slowbro, Slowking, and Nidoqueen, while also providing security against threats that may come into Scyther after it has picked up a KO, such as Electabuzz. It can also support Scyther's teammates well against dangerous Special Attackers such as Mr. Mime. Wing Attack and Hidden Power Ground are generally the best coverage moves for Scyther in my opinion, and LS+HP Bug seems redundant anyway.
Hello, today I am here to talk about an underrated set in GSC UU, Light Screen Scyther. This set sounds odd at first, but it can be incredibly useful in certain games, with the set being Swords Dance, Wing Attack, Hidden Power Ground, and Light Sceen. Light Screen is useful for allowing Scyther to setup its Swords Dance against Pokemon such as Slowbro, Slowking, and Nidoqueen, while also providing security against threats that may come into Scyther after it has picked up a KO, such as Electabuzz. It can also support Scyther's teammates well against dangerous Special Attackers such as Mr. Mime. Wing Attack and Hidden Power Ground are generally the best coverage moves for Scyther in my opinion, and LS+HP Bug seems redundant anyway.
I legit didn't know it had Light Screen. That's pretty cool if you ask me, especially since it can be tricky to find a teammate in the builder that actually can be a solid recipient for Baton Pass that isn't queen, bull or kabutops. Sounds comfortable to go in a more bulky offence direction. I could see this set actually slowly being picked up.
Any thoughts on HP bug + Normal coverage or Hp bug+Normal+Wing Attack?
I remember when starting to use Scyther that Normal coverage from Return was pretty nice as a combination alongside bug stab in certain situations: Haunter and rock types have to be taken care of though, whereas Magneton are more manageable.
Hyper Beam has proven to be a helpful 'tech' move which you could use to really put extra damage on threats like Curse Granbull.
+2 Scyther Hyper Beam vs. +1 Granbull: 181-213 (47.2 - 55.6%) -- 19.3% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
a 45-55% range means there may be a slight chance that you actually OHKO an unsuspecting curse granbull after having chipped it with +2 Wing Attack before the first Curse. The chip can also help put it in range of a special attacker you might have in the back, like Slowbro.
GSC UU ROLE COMPENDIUM Pokemon are listed alphabetically and are not listed if they do not make viable use of a move despite learning it(so Kabutops is not listed in Rapid Spinners for example) #1: Hazards and Utility role
Glad to see this tier being well received. Do you think you could group the para spreaders as one group? and the sleep spreaders as one?
I think Pineco can be dropped from this. It's too weak to reliably help in the spikes game. Qwilfish is far better at Spiking because it takes more hits and can actually threaten things offensively too, so provide utility outside of just the spikes game.. Blastoise and Graveler are better at spinning for the same reasons.
There are a few more (particularly NU Pokemon) here that I don't think are viable enough to deserve a place in UU like Dewgong and Raichu. While the speed tier is nice, Raichu doesn't offer much more over Ampharos which takes and dishes out hits considerably better (most importantly vs Scyther +2 Leftovers Scyther Hidden Power Ground vs. Raichu: 302 - 356 (93.5 - 110.2%) -- 61.5% chance to OHKO Raichu Thunder vs. Leftovers Scyther: 280 - 330 (85.6 - 100.9%) -- 7.7% chance to OHKO after Leftovers Leftovers Ampharos Thunder vs. Leftovers Scyther: 333 - 392 (101.8 - 119.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Leftovers +2 Leftovers Scyther Hidden Power Ground vs. Leftovers Ampharos: 253 - 298 (66.1 - 77.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers)
Dewgong has to compete with too many better Water types (Slowtwins, Qwilfish, Blastoise, Omastar) to justify using it even for Encore. The Ice STAB is nice, and maybe you can get lucky by cheesing with Whirlpool PSong, but it's not consistent enough because Whirlpool isn't exactly Mean Look.
I don't think Sandslash as a spinner really works because of the lack of resistances and recovery giving means it has fewer chances to come in and spin.
I think Thief and Phazing deserve mentions as roles. Quagsire should also be in Curse too, and I don't think Chansey should be.
Screens setters should definitely be included, as they are a valuable resource not only against many forms of standard offence,
but also against Baton Pass. That's because setting up BP can be tricky already against everything your opponent may throw at you just to get one attack boost or speed boost so a Reflect can make everything a lot less beneficial, and light screen can give more breathing room to the Haze users as well.
Screens are also excellent for stall due to their naturally high PP and complete spammability on the likes of bulky pokemon such as Hypno.
Hello all, I’ve been playing a lot of this tier recently and would like to share the teams I used in UUPL/other things
This was the team I brought in Week 6 of UUPL and I really like it, Its a fairly usual bulky offense type team. Nidoqueen lead was there because I was almost certain I was gonna fight Scyther lead(which I did!), Gyarados is there to check waters, hit hard, and phaze, Hypno is there to setup Light Screen for Scyther and Granbull, while checking most special attackers like Mr. Mime and Haunter. Lastly, Haunter because strong offensive Pokemon and to prevent Granbull doesn’t trounce everything, and then Scyther and Granbull to take advantage of Light Screen support.
This was the one I brought Week 7 and its somewhat similar to the previous team with screens+SDer. Blastoise+Ampharos is a really good defensive core, and they support each other well while checking most of each others weaknesses. Kabutops is generally very scary, especially with screens, and the 10% from Ancient Power can end the game right there. Kabu is also a decent mono Granbull answer, although can lose if it doesn’t boost/gets unlucky with Hydro accuracy/PP. Nidoqueen is Nidoqueen, its always just a good #6th mon whenever you don’t know what to choose because its consistently good, and Qwilfish because Spikes is the best move in GSC.
This set was something I thought of as an anti stall threat. Dynamic Punch is a great Chansey lure(provided it hits!), and not many other mons can safely handle Thunder on stall. Ampharos is still a decent answer to mons like Haunter without RestTalk.
This is a Gyarados set that should only really be used as a Swords Dance recipient. +2 Double-Edge hits very hard from Gyarados, and HP Ground takes care of those pesky Haunters and Omastars. You also have Substitute in case anything like Hypno or Bellossom tries to paralyse you.
Dynamic Punch is very niche, really useful for nailing Granbull in particular(Nidoqueen Dynamic Punch vs. Granbull: 153-180 (39.9 - 46.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery), which can be very useful
Utility Buzz. Pursuits Haunter which is good for Granbull, Blastoise etc, Thieves Leftovers, and still remains a fast and strong offensive threat.
Piloswine @ Leftovers
Ability: none
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Roar
- Protect
I think Piloswine is under explored outside of its standard STABS+RestTalk set. Roar Piloswine in particular is one of the few good phazers in GSC UU, and good at forcing chip with Spikes down. Its also great against Scyther, and can Roar out Granbull in a pinch. Also messes up Baton Pass quite a lot.
Anti Lead Dodrio. I like using this set on offensive teams without caring about its health and (With this set you just click Double-Edge over and over and then Hyper Beam when you are about to die.
(can run exact same set on Slowking as well!)
Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: None
- Belly Drum
- Return
- Earthquake
- Surf
Belly Drum Slowbro sounds like a meme, but its actually pretty scary with heavy paralysis support, and can mess up defensive teams. Running Drum Bro means it can’t do most of its usual defensive uses, so I think pairing it with Slowking is a good idea. You could also just do vice verse and run Drum Slowking and regular RestTalk Slowbro.
Quag is mostly used as the Agility recipient on Baton Pass teams, but I really think its a solid choice on non BP as well with Curse sets. STAB EQ is always very good, and Quag is decently bulky, making it a good check to mons like Haunter. Its also comfortably able to defeat Scyther one on one and its typing also makes it fantastic vs Electrics like Electabuzz.
Now when building with Kadabra my heart was broken as sub and encore are incompatible. That didn't stop me so I used protect. The idea is to Protect turn 1 and scout. The according to the move you go into...
Pursuit Buzz. If psychic, encore and widdle it down, thunder, go into buzz and pursuit for a chunk, if sub, encore and go into something that can break the sub and threaten it. Pilo, bull etc. Hypnosis, sleep absorber. This is actually worse case scenario because now you have to go back to Kadabra and eat a Thunder. Twave is also annoying but again, status absorber. It can bp a sub which proably invalidates the whole strat but it abosulety dominates rest talk.
Now when building with Kadabra my heart was broken as sub and encore are incompatible. That didn't stop me so I used protect. The idea is to Protect turn 1 and scout. The according to the move you go into...
Pursuit Buzz. If psychic, encore and widdle it down, thunder, go into buzz and pursuit for a chunk, if sub, encore and go into something that can break the sub and threaten it. Pilo, bull etc. Hypnosis, sleep absorber. This is actually worse case scenario because now you have to go back to Kadabra and eat a Thunder. Twave is also annoying but again, status absorber. It can bp a sub which proably invalidates the whole strat but it abosulety dominates rest talk.
You have a good point. You could, of course, just stay in with Kadabra if you manage to catch a substitute or a psychic. Chances are you'll be able to recover against it and chip it, thus forcing it into a position where it has to switch into a secondary psychic if it has one. This can be an excellent way of scouting the opponent's team.
Here is my take on full-on mixed gyarados sets. Though it isn't my favorite set as of late I still think it finds some use.
Set 1
IVs: 14 HP / 24 Atk / 26 Def
Hydro pump
Thunder
Hidden Power Flying
Double Edge
On a mixed set there never really is a reason not to run Double edge as it has the most compatibility with Hydro pump in terms of coverage and it also just pairs so well with Gyarados' Attack stat. One of the reasons why Gyara is so good is because it is bulky and can take care of many threats due to its mid-to-high tier speed. It's able to 2HKO both Nidoqueen and Scyther thanks to Hydro Pump and HP Flying, respectively and in turn it's solid enough to tank hits from Scyther in general. Thunder to me is what makes this mon truly shine, if I have to be completely honest. In a metagame where the Water types are otherwise divided into the slowtwins and those that can't sit on a Surf or Psychic, Gyarados's ability to 3HKO with Thunder a lot of different Water types helps create variance and prevents utterly stale situations from happening.
Set 2
IVs: 14 HP / 24 Atk
Hydro Pump
Fire Blast
Hidden Power Ground /Hidden Power Flying
Double Edge
I haven't seen this so much but I usually imagine hidden power ground pairing better with Fire Blast. This isn't worthy of being called a set in and of itself but Fire Blast at least means you will have something to hit Bellossom supereffectively as well as Scyther, which you really don't want to lose having a 2HKO against or the trade-off would be too great. All in all I am not sure if I am entirely sold on this but it can be interesting none-theless.
Now after having paid close attention to UUFPL and talking with Reeece and Estarossa I am beginning to notice the potential of another set on Gyarados and that's the Rest variant.
Though some have used a set which involves Rest in conjunction with Sleep Talk, I am more focused on the benefits of having a set with no sleep talk to go with, instead opting to have a wider damage spread. If you are familiar with Undisputed's Gyarados + Salamence team in ADV OU (at least I think that's who designed one variation of it) then you may notice that Gyarados has the perfect amount of bulk to sit on Water types that might otherwise try to check it through use of Rest, then slowly setup.
While there is no setup to work with here, I noticed how Rest grants Gyarados with the perfect tool in its kit to last for very long amounts of time against Stall teams that might not be able to handle it particularly well, while still having the coverage to be deadly against offence teams.
And now for the set that I used in UUFPL against Diophantine.
Set
IVs: 14 HP / 24 Atk / 26 Def
Hydro Pump
Thunder
Hidden Power Flying
Rest
In the right conditions, with this particular combination I had the power to choose at any given time an attack which threatened as many pokemon as possible, nearly independently from what I had in front of me. In this particular bout I positioned myself pretty well also due to the fact that I could fairly safely switch in Gyarados on Bellossom or Omastar, so I could force my opponent into situations where they had to stay in and take a super effective move (turn 56) or make a hard call out on an attack, which went well once, but also ended up poorly on a different turn (turn 57). The fact that it lasted until the very last turn should be testament to how well it can dictate the pace of a game.
*I understand anyone stating that Omastar would be above Gyarados in terms of viability but I think this set is actually a strong case against it.
I entirely agree that Gyarados is a very good Pokemon in GSC UU rn. Strong offensively, while providing useful defensive qualities due to its all around good bulk, resistances, and immunity to Spikes. With HP Flying, its a solid answer to Scyther, while Gyarados also sits on stall.
While on the topic of discussing the viability of mons, I’ll show my current GSC UU VR
Things that stick out
at #1
This is an opinion I’ve had for a while, but I truly believe Granbull to be the best Pokemon in the entire metagame. Its more centralizing than Nidoqueen to me, as it forces most teams to run Normal resists to not be weak to the dominant CurseRestTalk set. The normal resists are solid mons on their own(Haunter is strong offensively and has good moves while being able to explode, Omastar is a major pain to switch into for teams without Waters/mons like Chansey or Hypno, and Kabutops is a powerful offensive threat), but the former two especially wouldn’t be as good if Granbull wasn’t around. Granbull also 1v1s a ton of the tier due to its power and decent bulk. It also checks key mons like Nidoqueen, Scyther, and Hypno, making it very splashable. Nidoqueen is obviously absolutely amazing, and can fit onto teams easier than Granbull can, but I find Granbull has to be taken into account more in the builder and when playing.
at #5 over Hypno
This is probably because I spam offense lol but Mr Mime is one of the biggest pains to play against. Its a top offensive mon, fast, high SpA, solid coverage, and little resists Psychic. Its support movepool is also insane, with Encore, Thief, Substitute, Thunder Wave, Hypnosis, Dual screens and more all at its disposal. RestTalk Mime is also excellent and very underrated, giving it much better longevity and letting it switch into mons like Slowbro and Haunter more. Mr Mime is a massive threat to those Mime/Granbull/Scyther/Nido/Qwilfish type offense teams, usually relying on their own Mime to beat the clown reliably.
at the top of A
I have Haunter over Electabuzz and Slowking here. Its a solid offensive threat with good SpA, Psychic+Thunder having good coverage, alongside Thief and Explosion. The mono Granbull countering is also incredibly useful for many teams. I like to pair it with Omastar, as Haunter can boom without having the knowledge of ones team becoming weak to Granbull without Haunter.
Other things
and in B
Bellossom take is prolly controversial but I don’t like using this mon much, pretty passive and easy to take advantage of. I prefer Jumpluff most of the time. Magneton is rly rly bad IMO but it has a place, I suppose.
in B+
Not the easiest mon to fit on a team, but has a really good metagame niche. One of the best counters to Omastar, Slowbro, etc, while also being good against most of the stronger Special Attackers like Mr. Mime, Haunter, and Kadabra. An Electric-type that can actually 2HKO Nidoqueen is also great.
in A-
I think Pilo is very good. Its good offensively because Earthquake+Ice Beam is exceptional coverage in this tier, and it provides huge defensive niches in countering most Electrics, while being one of the better Scyther checks.
at #1
This is an opinion I’ve had for a while, but I truly believe Granbull to be the best Pokemon in the entire metagame. Its more centralizing than Nidoqueen to me, as it forces most teams to run Normal resists to not be weak to the dominant CurseRestTalk set. The normal resists are solid mons on their own(Haunter is strong offensively and has good moves while being able to explode, Omastar is a major pain to switch into for teams without Waters/mons like Chansey or Hypno, and Kabutops is a powerful offensive threat), but the former two especially wouldn’t be as good if Granbull wasn’t around. Granbull also 1v1s a ton of the tier due to its power and decent bulk. It also checks key mons like Nidoqueen, Scyther, and Hypno, making it very splashable. Nidoqueen is obviously absolutely amazing, and can fit onto teams easier than Granbull can, but I find Granbull has to be taken into account more in the builder and when playing.
I 100% percent agree. Such a splashable Nido check with a monsterous base 120 attack is absurd. There is 1 consistent answer being Omastar. Haunter gets pp stalled and needs a spdef drop or crit thunder. I also feel like Nido checks are more splashable than bull checks.
Another few controversial takes on my favorite ghost pokemon:
Haunter
Set
No item
Thunder
Thief
Pyschic
Destiny Bond
This set is good in one circumstance but its enough for me to consider it good and that's hyper offence (especially versus stall). In this generation in general, stall teams are seen having an excruciatingly hard time trying to maintain spikes control, to the point that there strategies often have to focus on this moreso than any other archetype. Whatsmore, lower tiers teams in gsc cannot afford the conventionally solid core of dual spinning like the one Forretress oh so desparately requires to work well in OU. This leaves players to choose between having rapid Spin Blastoise and Rapid Spin Blastoise (Sandslash's use as a rapid spinner is non-existent) and it only has any success if it can survive so optimal strategies for opposing players are to fish for crits with Qwillfish, racking up of poison damage, or unsuccessful sleep turns. Blastoise is in its own right pretty powerful, comparatively stronger against Haunter than Cloyster is to its evolution when clicking Surf, so Haunter users may have to overcommit to spikes defence with their lives, and this may not payoff if the Qwilfish was already taking damage in the lead position or if the opponent finds an opportunity to use Rest with their Blastoise later on, thus making any trade of damage between Haunter and Blastoise meaningless...
Ok that was a lot to swallow. So what gives?
At this point it should be clear that Haunter has a lot of nasty tricks to take out just about anything it needs to. Destiny bond is really good because you can trade Haunter for Blastoise (or even Sandslash if the opponent is daring) and thus cementing your advantageous position in the spikes war should you be unfortunate enough to switch Haunter in on a Surf instead of a Rapid Spin. You even have a turn to steal lefties before the decisive blow to ensure that the Blastoise is going down in the long run, or something else. This set is pretty good in general I'd say because there won't be much that can actually call out the Destiny Bond and switch in on a Thunder/Psychic. Granbull is still in a hard spot if you are playing against offence.
Other set
Leftovers
Thunder
Psychic
Destiny Bond
Explosion
Now imagine what I said and taking it even further? This is to guarantee that Haunter is going to take down or severely injure at least one pokemon not named Kadabra and you can bait some opponents that are crazy enough to think they can stay in on Haunter and Explode.
Not much to say besides the fact that its good.
Another honorable mention of a move on Haunter has to be Substitute. Are you tired of spamming "ofc" in the chat as your opponent's +1 HP ground Granbull catches and OHKOes your Haunter on the switch? Are your insults not scathing enough to do damage to your opponent-enemy? Do you want to do damage besides clicking Explosion because of how bad your timing and your predictions are? Look no further as yourundead friendgets another chance on life with Substitute! You can now scout out any cheeky stupid Granbull with HP ground and also get an advantage from the information. You can spam the move against an unsuspecting player who's only goal it is in mind is to pass a +6 attack boost to Nidoqueen with their Scyther, only to find that their options have run out (because lets face it, they would have switched out by now if they had hp bug). Sub can even let Haunter stay in for another turn and essentially grin at the face of a healthy Nidoqueen while your opponent begins to wonder why they are even playing this game!
So what are you waiting for? Get subbed and let your foes get snubbed!
Hey everyone, I’m here again to talk about an interesting team/playstyle I’ve been experimenting with recently : Full Growth Pass. While quite inconsistent, there are some matchups where it can work. GSC UU has just the right amount of Baton Passers to make this work. Electrode is a fantastic Screen suicide lead with 140 Speed, both Screens, and Explosion to safely bring in a teammate. The follow up to this is usually Ariados. Ariados’s appreciates screens with its bulk, and its advantage over other passers is Spider Web, making it the only Pokemon able to trap pass in this tier. With Psychic or Sludge Bomb, Ariados can also threaten either Haze Qwilfish or Jumpluff, two issues for this team. Mr. Mime is the best SubPasser available, and can also pass Barrier which is very useful. Encore also helps it take advantage of Spider Web from Ariados. Girafarig is the second Agility passer after Ariados, and is much more reliable at the job. Amnesia passing is useful as well. Flareon is the final Baton Passer and uses all the Barrier and Amnesia defensive boosts and speed boosts passed to it to safely setup Growth, which it normally struggles to due to its bulk and being Hazed by Qwilfish. The Growth recipient is 4 Attacks Kadabra with Miracle Berry. With all the boosts passed to it, it should demolish right through teams with boosted Special Attack and stats all around.
Hey everyone, I’m here again to talk about an interesting team/playstyle I’ve been experimenting with recently : Full Growth Pass. While quite inconsistent, there are some matchups where it can work. GSC UU has just the right amount of Baton Passers to make this work. Electrode is a fantastic Screen suicide lead with 140 Speed, both Screens, and Explosion to safely bring in a teammate. The follow up to this is usually Ariados. Ariados’s appreciates screens with its bulk, and its advantage over other passers is Spider Web, making it the only Pokemon able to trap pass in this tier. With Psychic or Sludge Bomb, Ariados can also threaten either Haze Qwilfish or Jumpluff, two issues for this team. Mr. Mime is the best SubPasser available, and can also pass Barrier which is very useful. Encore also helps it take advantage of Spider Web from Ariados. Girafarig is the second Agility passer after Ariados, and is much more reliable at the job. Amnesia passing is useful as well. Flareon is the final Baton Passer and uses all the Barrier and Amnesia defensive boosts and speed boosts passed to it to safely setup Growth, which it normally struggles to due to its bulk and being Hazed by Qwilfish. The Growth recipient is 4 Attacks Kadabra with Miracle Berry. With all the boosts passed to it, it should demolish right through teams with boosted Special Attack and stats all around.
I am assuming that Kadabra has HP Dark to check psychics? My only qualm with this team being that after a boom it could be a good signal to bring in one's own psychic type, as players don't want to let their qwilfish die. Also, there could be a decent chance that qwilfish just comes in on flareon and uses Haze. Unlike with agility passing to Poliwrath you don't have a tool to handle someone trying to stop you and no immediate threat either, but this is at least something that a player will have to come in on and scout for, which can cost them their qwilfish.
Since it resembles agili pass I may feel hard pressed to make a hard switch in with qwillfish on the batonpass, only to have it get stuffed by a girafarig psychic.
Hey everyone, I’m here again to talk about an interesting team/playstyle I’ve been experimenting with recently : Full Growth Pass. While quite inconsistent, there are some matchups where it can work. GSC UU has just the right amount of Baton Passers to make this work. Electrode is a fantastic Screen suicide lead with 140 Speed, both Screens, and Explosion to safely bring in a teammate. The follow up to this is usually Ariados. Ariados’s appreciates screens with its bulk, and its advantage over other passers is Spider Web, making it the only Pokemon able to trap pass in this tier. With Psychic or Sludge Bomb, Ariados can also threaten either Haze Qwilfish or Jumpluff, two issues for this team. Mr. Mime is the best SubPasser available, and can also pass Barrier which is very useful. Encore also helps it take advantage of Spider Web from Ariados. Girafarig is the second Agility passer after Ariados, and is much more reliable at the job. Amnesia passing is useful as well. Flareon is the final Baton Passer and uses all the Barrier and Amnesia defensive boosts and speed boosts passed to it to safely setup Growth, which it normally struggles to due to its bulk and being Hazed by Qwilfish. The Growth recipient is 4 Attacks Kadabra with Miracle Berry. With all the boosts passed to it, it should demolish right through teams with boosted Special Attack and stats all around.
Faced this team the other day but it had scyther instead of Kadabra and, man was it a doozy. If you don't have Hypno or Curse Granbull on your offence team (or at worst Omastar), the bp becomes unstoppable. The presence of Scyther contributes by letting Flareon run Hidden power ground, with which it can outspeed and OHKO a qwillfish if given a speed boost. There are not many ways to counter it besides having the 3 checks I mentioned on offence whereas on Stall, it should be manageable due to Chansey and Crobat.
Qwilfish suffers from the issue that the best play for it is ususally to make a hard switch on a baton pass turn, which is in itself incredibly risky. Its Psychic weakness makes it susceptible to Psychic baton passers. You also must be weary of trying to hurt Ariados with the likes of Slowking, as it able to trap and pass.
One of the most important things to take into account for any metagame without team preview is the choose of ones lead. GSC UU has plenty of Pokemon that make effective leads and makes the lead metagame an interesting dynamic of this tier.
Mr Mime and Hypno
and
I’m grouping these together, as Mr Mime and Hypno are the most common leads in the tier and define the lead metagame. Often times, their use in the lead can help sus out what playstyle the opposing team is. Mr. Mime is a fixture on offensive teams(as well as potentially less common Baton Pass teams), usually followed up by Pokemon such as Nidoqueen, Haunter, Scyther, etc. It threatens opposing teams off the bat with its powerful Psychics and Thunders, while also bringing incredibly useful supporting moves such as Thunder Wave, Hypnosis, and Encore to help its team out. Thunder Wave and Hypnosis can also mess up other opposing leads, such as opposing Mr. Mime or Electabuzz.
Conversely, Hypno is usually found on more bulky teams, and is one of the best Mr. Mime punishers. It can similarly support well right off the bat with moves like Thunder Wave, Hypnosis, as well as the possibility of Light Screen and Reflect. It has a solid matchup against Mr. Mime, Nidoqueen, and Electabuzz leads, and is generally a reliable lead choice for any bulkier team out there.
Offensive leads
Scyther with Hidden Power Bug and Miracle Berry hugely punishes lead Psychics such as Mr. Mime, Hypno, as well as the rare lead Girafarig. It also poses a huge threat in its own right, and it can sway the game on the offset hugely. Scyther is a threat to almost every team without Pokemon such as Crobat. Baton Pass is another huge tool it has, being able to pass to threats such as Granbull, Nidoqueen, Dodrio, and more to cause havoc.
Electabuzz plays similarly to Mr. Mime, being a powerful and fast special attacker that can scare out other leads. While Mr. Mime has more supporting moves, Electabuzz is even faster and its Thunder is strong than Mr. Mime’s Psychic. Electabuzz also dominates Scyther leads. With Pursuit, its also able to remove Haunter decently well, huge for Pokemon such as mono Granbull and Pinsir. Electabuzz is a great choice for fast offensive teams.
Haunter’s wide movepool with moves such as Hypnosis and Thief let it cripple a foe early on and threaten with Psychic, Thunder(bolt), and Explosion. Hypnosis is always useful for shutting something down early on in a game. It can potentially stop Qwilfish leads from getting up Spikes with Hypnosis, and can Explode on a problematic Pokemon.
Nidoqueen does struggles vs Mr. Mime leads, but brings a Sleep move in Lovely Kiss to the table and a solid matchup against leads like Electabuzz and Scyther leads. It can also threaten non RestTalk Hypno with Lovely Kiss, which can be huge for Pokemon such as Electabuzz.
Dodrio is one of the most powerful physical attackers in the tier. Right off the bat it threatens Mr. Mime, Hypno, and Scyther with potential 2HKOs and can cause huge damage at the start of a game for its teammates to capatilze on. Its just a solid attacking lead all around for offensive teams. It could run Mircale Berry as well, which can shrug of paralysis.
Qwilfish Lead
As GSC UU’s only relavent user of arguably the best move in the game, Spikes, Qwilfish certainly has a place as a lead. Getting Spikes up early on in the game for powerful offensive Pokemon such as Nidoqueen, Electabuzz, Scyther, Haunter, Mr. Mime, Gyarados, and more is incredibly useful and makes Qwilfish worth using on almost kind of team. You may notice that most of the leads already mentioned threaten Qwilfish greatly, which speaks to how important potentially preventing Spikes can be. Qwilfish is usually able to take one poweful super effective hit though, such as Slowbro/Mr. Mime Psychic. Qwilfish is a solid lead for bulky offense/stall teams as well!
Slow Leads
Slowbro and Slowking are both interesting options for leads. They are similar to Hypno, but are more powerful, and have STAB Surf. They can both spread paralysis for slower teammates, hit hard, and do well vs other leads such as Nidoqueen and Slowbro can also deal well with Dodrio. I generally prefer Slowking in this role, as it is safer against Mr. Mime’s Thunder and other mons like Haunter.
Screen / Baton Pass leads
Electrode is probably the best screen setter in the tier. Its unmatched 140 base Speed, access to both Light Screen and Reflect as well as Thunder Wave, and Explosion to bring in a teammate and heavily chip most foes make it able to support its teammates very well. With, Miracle Berry it can eat status, making its job easier. After the screens have gone up, something like Girafarig can setup Agility safely or Ariados can safely trap a foe with Spider Web.
Girafarig lead is somewhat matchup fishy, but it can potentially end the game on Turn 1 if it manages to matchup against the right lead. Against something like Hypno, it could just pass Agility to Belly Drum Quagsire to end the game. It threatens most of the most common leads around as well, such as Qwilfish(important considering it can potentially Haze), Haunter, and Nidoqueen.
Granbull works as an anti lead with Return/Lovely Kiss/Shadow Ball/Dynamic Punch. It hits almost all the tier for solid damage and threatens sleep. You generally want to use Granbull for other uses, though.
Mr. Mime is generally more reliable as a lead, but Kadabra does have a few advantages. It notably outspeeds Haunter and unlike Mr. Mime, it OHKOs Qwilfish with Psychic.
Overall, GSC UU has many good choices for a lead and I hope this highlighted the premier ones.
This is my favourite Queen set after the standard Fire Blast Moonlight one. Its super forceful and great at putting pressure on bulkier teams with the combination of Thief and Lovely Kiss. Many of the slower Queen answers like Slowking, Hypno, and Granbull became shakier at switching into Nidoqueen without Leftovers. Lovely Kiss is also very useful and potentially game changing against Pokemon like +2 Scyther.
RestTalk Mr. Mime is excellent, and the best Mr. Mime set in my opinion. A very splashable set that I run on like 90% of offensive teams, Mr. Mime is already excellent offensively, and RestTalk enables it to stick around longer, switching into foes like Slowbro and Haunter more reliably in longer games. Being able to shrug off status is great too against mons like Hypnosis Haunter, Jumpluff, Bellossom, opposing Mr. Mime, etc. Its a decent specially bulky mon in general, not being useless vs stuff like Electabuzz.
Ice Punch on RestTalk Hypno is not really used for damage(although does smack the shit out of Gligar and Jumpluff), but instead the freeze chance. Ice Punch works well on Hypno due to the amount of Pokemon it can come in on an how many turns it can stay alive for. Its useful in wars against other Psychic-types like Slowbro, Slowking, opposing Hypno, as well as other specially bulky Pokemon like Ampharos. Instead of just trying to PP stall, you can shoot for a freeze to get a potentially huge advantage.
Haunter @ Miracle Berry
Ability: none
- Destiny Bond
- Protect
- Mean Look
- Perish Song
Perish Trap Haunter is a widely unexpected threat with potentially huge upside. With how many teams in GSC UU rn rely on mostly Hypno as their blanket Special attacking check(notably the Hypno Gyarados Nidoqueen Haunter stuff) this set can lure Hypno in and remove it, turning special attackers like Mr. Mime into big threats. It has other fun uses too; sometimes mono Granbull will stay in on Hypno to recover its health or predict a HP Ground scout, only to be trapped and KOd. If you are using this set I’d advise running a secondary mono Granbull however.
Quagsire really doesn’t need to be passed Agility to be good. Its typing is great with just one relatively uncommon weaknesses and its decent stats let it take on Electric-types, Nidoqueen, and Scyther if at high health. Belly Drum Quagsire can be a nice setup sweeper on defensive teams when supported by stuff like Light Screen + Heal Bell Chansey, TWave Hypno, and Blastoise. It can find a good few setup opportunities, especially when supported by Light Screen, and is tough to KO even at 50%.
God tier mon and set, wins against so much of the tier. Gyarados is very reliable against most of GSC UU, being solid offensively and defensively, and this set really maximises its offensive power. HP Flying is useful for 2HKOing Scyther, Pinsir, Bellossom and other things. Roar is useful for racking up Spikes damage on common switchins to Gyara like Ampharos and Hypno, as well as phazing setup sweepers like Scyther and being decent against BP Girafarig(just watch for Thunder!). Hydro + Thunder is great coverage in general as well.
I think SD Bellossom is a underrated pick in the current GSC UU metagame. In particular, variants with HP Ground to take advantage of teams running Haunter as their Granbull check make it a good pairing with the bulldog. Its able to lure it in and has a 51% chance to OHKO Haunter with +2 HP Ground. HP Ground also lures in Magneton and can do decent damage to Omastar. Bellossom can spread paralysis effectively as well, notably being able to paralyse Ground-types like Nidoqueen since Stun Spore hits Ground-types.
Fun option on Kadabra that can let it break through RestTalking special walls that can give it trouble like Hypno, Lanturn, and Ampharos. With some good luck with opposing Sleep Talk rolls this set can actually be a major pain, especially to teams that rely on Ampharos and shit as their Psychic check. Not much to say really.
Easily one of the favourite things I’ve come up with in GSC UU, SubGrowth Politoed is a menace with a good matchup and when supported by paralysis. Substitute can let it dodge status from Pokemon like Hypno(it has a decent shot at breaking with Psychic tho) and can let you Sub up on paralysed Qwilfish and Nidoqueen. Hidden Power Electric is also useful for hitting Water-types like Slowbro and Gyarados that can give the standard RestTalk Growth set trouble. This set is can be a threat to the Hypno Ampharos Blastoise type bulky offense teams which is nice. I’ve even used Hydro Pump over Surf on this set, but I think Surf is generally better due to being more reliable.
Lanturn is a decent paralysis paralysis spreader with TWave as Surf hits all non Quagsire Ground-types hard. TWave ruins Grass-types like Bellossom and Victreebel, and can annoy special walls like Ampharos and Hypno. Thunder Wave can also stop a setup sweeper like Pinsir or Scyther reliably. Protect is there to maximise recovery from Leftovers seeing as you don’t have Rest and as such are shakier at switching into Pokemon like Mr. Mime.
Arcanine @ Leftovers
Ability: None
IVs: 14 HP / 28 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Double-Edge
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Roar
Roar + 3 Attacks Arcanine is a nice fit on some offensive teams with Spikes support. Hidden Power Electric notably has a 59% chance to 2HKO Qwilfish after Spikes, which means you can potentially stop Spikes going up if you got Spikes up earlier. Double-Edge is generally a strong attack to throw out and is your hardest hit on Hypno (63% chance to 3HKO after Spikes) as well as other special walls like Chansey and Ampharos. Roar is a big pain for Baton Pass teams and a lot of setup mons and a good way to rack up Spikes damage.
Feraligatr is actually pretty decent! It faces competition from Gyarados and other Water-types, but Feraligatr has all around solid stats and a great movepool with notable access to Earthquake, which can 2HKO Ampharos after Spikes. It also 2HKOs every other Electric-type, Qwilfish, and can OHKO Haunter after Spikes. A lack of a Rock weakness also means Feraligatr can deal with Kabutops reasonably well, and a lack of a 4x Electric weakness means you can live an attack in a pinch. The third attacking move has a good few options, like Crunch for Psychic types like Slowbro, Ice Beam for Flying and Grass types and a useful freeze chance, and Rock Slide for massive damage on Scyther as well as hitting Gyarados and Dodrio hardest.
Curse Thunder Wigglytuff is a decent setup sweeper when supported by Heal Bell Chansey on defensive teams. Thunder 2HKOs Omastar and 3HKOs Haunter so they can’t just sit on you like if your running mono Curse Wigglytuff, as well as 3HKOing Slowbro without having to boost. Wigglytuff in general is quite underexplored I feel, it does face competition from Granbull but Wiggly has marginally better ability to take on special attackers, which gives it a place.
Okay before I do get into posting a team dump, I thought I'd mention another interesting candidate who you might occasionally see filling in a role you otherwise might not expect.
Slowbro is quite surprisingly a very bulky pokemon and very tanky. When I first started off in this tier, I treated him and Slowking like any other psychic, that is, as a strong answer versus Nidoqueen. It was only until one day on the ladder that I gave up using Slowking because of how cheated I felt taking crit thunders and eqs and decided to switch to a much more consistent Hypno, who doesn't resist any moves perse, but also has the benefit of not being weak to Thunders, which is nice against Nidoqueen as well as Mr.Mime or even Haunter. If I want to justify using either of these two, personalle, it's not for their defence as much as the incapability of the metagame to handle their STAB combination: many pokemon, barring Chansey, that can take Psychic, cannot take Surf, or viceversa. Want to send an Electric? Surf hits them hard and Psychic hits Lanturn neutrally. Bellossom or Vileplume? Psychic. Other Water types? Psychic again. What I think really makes their dual STAB shine is how Surf benefits from the other STAB move's special defence drops to act as a sort of keep away against opposing Psychics. What I mean with this is that Psychic types like Mime, Hypno and Kadabra, who already fear Surf are horrified at the prospect of being subject to a Special defence drop, because all of a sudden the team's Slowbro/king check could be in range of a 3HKO or 4HKO of Surf, and the opponent has to choose which teammate to switch to. Even switching to Scyther can be troublesome.
Additionally, Slowbro's defence might actually have given it a niche over its kingly counterpart. Often times you will see non-HO teams having one normal resist in the form of, from frailest to bulkiest, Haunter/Kabutops/Magneton/Omastar. This is because Granbull has an inherent ability to decimate teams on a whim and unlike with Scyther or Nidoqueen, there isn't usually enough room on a team to have more than one of these (notice the shared weakness to Ground). Some players opt to forgo the dedicated normal resist slot in the form of more pro-active ways of playing around this.
Slowbro is occasionally treated as a very valuable candidate to thwart Granbull's plans. Why? Let's have a look at the calcs
Slowbro Surf vs. Granbull: 141-166 (36.8 - 43.3%) -- 99.6% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Slowbro Psychic vs. Granbull: 133-157 (34.7 - 40.9%) -- 67.8% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Slowbro Surf vs. Granbull: 141-166 (36.8 - 43.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Spikes and Leftovers recovery
Slowbro Psychic vs. Granbull: 133-157 (34.7 - 40.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Spikes and Leftovers recovery
Granbull Return vs. Slowbro: 118-139 (30 - 35.3%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
Granbull Return vs. Slowbro: 118-139 (30 - 35.3%) -- 26.6% chance to 3HKO after Spikes and Leftovers recovery
+1 Granbull Return vs. Slowbro: 176-207 (44.7 - 52.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 Granbull Return vs. Slowbro: 176-207 (44.7 - 52.6%) -- 85.5% chance to 2HKO after Spikes and Leftovers recovery
Granbull Return vs. Slowking: 145-171 (36.8 - 43.5%) -- 99.7% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Granbull Return vs. Slowking: 145-171 (36.8 - 43.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Spikes and Leftovers recovery
Granbull is faster but cannot really 3HKO Slowbro without spikes, nor does it want to necessarily. In this awkward matchup for the bull, it is hard pressed to attack or switch out if it wants to hold on to its own life. To match Slowbro's threat of a 3HKO it would require to already be at +1 and is still outsped, so setting up against Slowbro is not at all advisable because it would essentially give Slowbro an extra turn to attack, allowing itself to get 2HKO'd from around 60-70%. Not to mention that in a 1v1 situation where Granbull doesn't have any Curse set up yet, it might not even want to attempt a KO, since its middling speed could be its own undoing by exposing it to a revenge kill.
It's actually quite amazing because Slowbro is just tanky enough to survive a 3HKO from an unboosted Granbull and is just powerful enough to put it on the ropes.
Of course the matchup is very dependent on the scenario, but the matchup knowledge can be used to the advantage of a smart Slowbro user.
Edit: Surf also synergizes extremely well with Zap Cannon/ Thunder wave
GSC UU ROLE COMPENDIUM Pokemon are listed alphabetically and are not listed if they do not make viable use of a move despite learning it(so Kabutops is not listed in Rapid Spinners for example) #1: Hazards and Utility role
Reeece I think you should include Sandslash among the rapid spinners, despite it never really using the move and Hypno among the sleepers. Also I am not sure if they are worth being considered sweepers but Amnesia users should be included (you can probably omit Substitute I suppose).
Holly I think you should include Sandslash among the rapid spinners, despite it never really using the move and Hypno among the sleepers. Also I am not sure if they are worth being considered sweepers but Amnesia users should be included (you can probably omit Substitute I suppose).
Spin Sandslash is pretty much completely unviable; running it on Sandslash means dropping SD which makes it a lot less offensively threatening. Its also just kinda worse at the job than Blastoise and even Graveler.
Onto the real topic though…
HO IN GSC UU
Gm, I wanted to talk about a playstyle in GSC UU that I have been spamming to quite good success, that being HO teams. While flawed in a few ways, such as being weak defensively, prediction reliant, and struggling against Pokemon like Jumpluff, I think these teams are tournament worthy. They take advantage of standard many lead Mr. Mime / Hypno + Gyarados + Haunter team BO teams well with their fast paced assault and having Pokemon that naturally trouble these teams, such as Dodrio. There is also usually two Explosion users on these teams, which gives you a way of removing or at least hugely denting answers to setup sweepers such as Scyther or powerful wallbreakers like Pikachu and Dodrio. Overall, I think HO teams have a decent place in GSC UU and can catch an opponent off guard with how fast they play. I find they are a good option to bring against people less experienced with GSC UU as a result. Plus they are fun to play!
Common HO mons:
Qwilfish is the standard lead on HO, as it provides the incredibly useful chip damage from Spikes so the teams offensive threats exert more pressure. Lead Qwilfish with Miracle Berry is almost guaranteed to get up Spikes up on turn 1, as the only Pokemon that can always outspeed and always OHKO it are Kadabra and Thunder Electabuzz. After setting up Spikes, Qwilfish is useful death fodder for later.
These next three mons I personally consider to be mandatory on all HO teams alongside Qwilfish. Electrode is arguably the most important mon on these teams; not only is it a decently strong Electric-type that can boom, but it also is your early game switchin to special attackers such as Haunter and Electabuzz. Electrode is also a useful safety net against all setup sweepers due to outspeeding the entire tier and having Explosion. Haunter is a similarly strong and booming special attacker, but it is also the switchin and wall to the dangerous mono Granbull. It can block Rapid Spin from Blastoise reasonably well, which is incredibly useful for keeping up the pressure. Haunter and Electrode form a powerful double booming combo that can remove the answers to other threats on the team, and Scyther is one of those threats. Scyther is already a very powerful sweeper, but its especially deadly when the opposing team is weakened by the Explosion users or other threats like Dodrio and Sandslash. Instead of the usual SD Wing Attack HP Ground BP set, on HO I run SD Wing Attack HP Ground and Double-Edge with Miracle Berry. Double Edge Scyther is a very dangerous threat, 2HKOing most of the usual Scyther checks such as Gyarados and Piloswine at +2 attack, and Miracle Berry gives Scyther as many setup opportunities as it can get.
These are some of the options I have tried for the last two slots. Dodrio is a very powerful and fast physical attacker thats a huge pain to switch into without a Rock-type, while Sandslash and Pinsir are strong setup sweepers that can provide some defensive utility, such as Sandslash checking Scyther well. Poliwhirl and Politoed both have the Lovely Kiss + Belly Drum combo making them decent lategame sweepers, especially Poliwhirl due to its great base 90 speed. Pikachu is an extremely powerful Pokemon that appreciates Explosion removing or at least heavily denting one of its checks, and Electrode shares similar foes to it so it can try remove them for Pikachu. SD Bellossom with HP Ground has useful defensive utility and can pose a threat in return while also spreading paralysis for slower teammates like Sandslash and Drum Politoed. And lastly, other Explosion (or Self-Destruct in Sudowoodo’s case) are decent as well. I think if you go the route of 4 Explosion users + Scyther you can actually drop Spikes Qwilfish lead and run another boomer or something like Dodrio, as you wont need the support from them as much.
Threats to these teams:
Jumpluff is possibly the biggest pain to fight. It outspeeds almost everything and just clicks Stun Spore on everything. In addition, it can shut down setup attempts from Scyther, Sandslash, Pinsir and others with Encore.
Magneton and to a lesser extent Ampharos are really annoying. Magneton hard walls both Haunter and Electrode and is extremely troublesome to switch into. Ampharos is similarly tough to switch into, but it doesnt resist Explosion, so you can possibly do stuff like switch Electrode in and explode on it.
The only real switch in to the offensive Psychic types is Electrode or Bellossom without Moonlight on a lot of these teams, and while they are both easy to threaten in numerous ways its still an important thing to remember. Both Kadabra and Mr Mime are able to use tools such as Thunder Wave or Encore to annoy the team as well. As for Nidoqueen, it is potentially awkward to switch into, but you can play around it I find and explode on it to open up your other teammates.
Team Examples
Dodrio + Sandslash variant [Holly HO]
^This is easily my most used variant of this team style and the first one of these I built. For a long while it had Pinsir over Sandslash but I got tired of losing to Scyther after Trode died lol. shoutout to esteemed user Trevelion who I tutored in this tier by exclusively using HO for this idea...
BKC just recently made a video on the top 10 best tiers of all time and he included GSC UU as 8th best tier. We all know he actually meant first but he didn't want to get his DPP and BW fans mad so I forgive him.
With that out of the way, I'd like to ask how the hell is Bellossom supposed to be used. It's one of those pokemon I have a bit of a hard time wrapping my head around. I like her a lot and she's super bulky but I kind of make mistakes and include the wrong sets like no recovery move and no status or something like that.
Since I know some people like to use her as well, I think it would be a good idea to make a brief explanation of her movesets and the little variations to look out for in the meta. Does anyone feel inspired? The swords dance set has already been covered but that's only one.
Viability Rankings(Updated fairly recently)
Introduction Guide
RoA Sample Teams
Speed Tiers(Huge thanks to Plague von Karma for making this)
Role Compendium
(can run exact same set on Slowking as well!)
and 
in B
in B+
at top B
