Hello everyone! (UU)

[Trusty]

Hi there! I've been lurking on and off for a little while; I visit one or two times a month just to check things out, but I've never really had it in myself to actually try to play myself until now. I just hope I don't suck too much :P.

This is my first post on these forums! This is also the very first team I've ever made and my first RMT (obv!). I just started competitive Poke, so don't be too hard on me :P. I've been using it for a little while and I've done okay, so I was hoping to see if you guys can help me improve it in any way.

Anyway, I really took a liking to the UU metagame when I was looking through the list of usable Pokemon in each tier, so I decided to start my competitive Pokemon experience here and maybe eventually work my way up to OU. For now though, I'm happy playing UU!

Froslass (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Destiny Bond

Like I said before, this is my first team. I haven't been making teams for very long at all and even I know the importance of entry hazards! Two of my six Pokemon are weak to Stealth Rocks and four get hit by Spikes, so I need this to use its speed to Taunt other entry hazard users and set up a layer or two of Spikes itself. I don't care if it only gets one layer, that's more than enough.

Destiny Bond is for when I find myself without much to do and I have no reason to keep Froslass around any longer. Ice Beam is a handy attack that I use if I can beat whatever they have out in two hits or less, since most of the priority attacks in UU don't hit Froslass (Mach Punch, Quick Attack) or require I attack (Sucker Punch)

Scarf Uxie leads are annoying, but I usually Taunt them just so they can't get the rocks up after tricking me. On the other hand, if they aren't Scarf leads, they don't get rocks up and I get entry hazards out as well. Those and other lead Froslass are the only things I worry about for the most part.

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Honchkrow (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Night Slash
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Oh Honchkrow, you're so stylish! That's actually why I originally picked him for my team. Yeah, I know, I'm totally nuts. He's actually pretty great though! I'm using the standard Scarfer from the database

Pursuit is monstrous! This guy usually ends up coming in on Alakazam or Encored attacks/stat up/whatever moves that do nothing to him, so the switches he causes are pretty nice. Brave Bird is for when I'm not Pursuiting something and Superpower for Registeel, Rhyperior and the like who think they can switch in on his Dark/Flying attacks.

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Quagsire (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP/6 Atk/252 Def
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Recover
- Encore

ADORABLE. Sorry.

Quagsire is my answer to a lot of things. This might be a bit of a weird set up, but I'm really new to the whole Pokemon thing, so there's bound to be a few of those. This has worked pretty well for me so far though. I maximized both HP and Defense to ASSURE this guy survives two CB Scyther Aerial Aces. I noticed that the standard set from the database is 2HKO'd by it, so I had to change it.

EQ is his standard attack that I put there just because it hits Raikou and he gets STAB. I'm considering changing it to Surf or Ice Beam though, since Scyther is also a problem and Raikou can't do anything to Quagsire anyway. Stuff like Venusaur and Torterra always switch into my Quagsire as well, so that would help with them.

Toxic and Recover work very well together, for obvious reasons. Toxic something for damage over time (hopefully a switch-in) and Recover off whatever they do to you if you can survive. I also need it to be able to heal itself since it's mostly my go-to Pokemon for a couple of things.

Encore is amazing. That's it. EVERYTHING tries to set up on Quagsire for whatever reason, so this gives me a huge advantage when they think Quagsire is just set up fodder for them. I can't count how many times I've encored Raikou CMs/Subs, Azumarill subs, Absol SDs, Venusaur SDs etc. Just plain awesome. Just imagine how cute Quagsire would be clapping his hands :(.

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Houndoom (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Atk/192 Spd/66 SAtk
Naughty nature (+Atk, -SDef)
- Overheat
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Crunch

This is a set I made that was inspired by one of the ones on Houndoom's database page.

I'm running 252 attack for max power Sucker Punch/Pursuit/Crunches. 192 speed lets me hit 274, enough to beat Adamant Toxicroak/Venusaur/Gallade and Jolly Absol. The rest is in special attack to power up his Overheat enough to scare those Steel types away.

The attacks probably look really weird. Three dark type attacks and one Fire. Maybe they are weird and I'm showing my inexperience, but it's been working for me so far! I've noticed that the main Pokemon in UU that resist Houndoom's Dark type attacks are mostly Steel, so I decided to take advantage of both of Houndoom's great attack stats and run mixed.

Sucker Punch is a big surprise for this set. 80 BP STAB priority off of 306 attack is pretty nice! I'm running Crunch to surprise Houndoom's other switch ins and hopefully get a defense drop. Chansey, Arcanine without Intimidate and the like are all dealt with if I can grab a defense drop. I've considered replacing it with Thunder Fang or Hidden Power Grass though. I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.

Pursuit is there because Houndoom causes switches like mad. It's a pretty high power attack on the switch with STAB. Overheat is there to threaten Steel types and anything else. Overheat is extremely powerful even without heavy sp atk investment.

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Sceptile (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Atk/176 Spd/80 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Leaf Storm
- Low Kick
- Earthquake
- Leaf Blade

I liked this thing so much that I (almost) took it right out of the analysis! Like most of the Pokemon on my team, I changed it based on my own opinion and view of the current metagame. The EVs themselves are right out of the analysis, no surprises here. I'm happy with them.

For the moves..weird again? I thought this one was one of the only ones I did an okay job with :P. Leaf Storm for a high power special attack to throw out there when I need it. Leaf Blade is there to fool people into thinking I'm a purely physical variant and to still have some powerful STAB on the physical side as well.

Now, you're looking at my other two moves and you're thinking "The spectrum and type coverage here kind of clash, doesn't it?". You'd be right for the most part, but I've found great use for both of these attacks on it. Low Kick 2HKOs the standard Registeel that LOVES switching in on this thing. Leaf Storm + Low Kick will also 2HKO standard Steelix with better accuracy than Focus Blast.

EQ is there with it for a very specific reason though; Fire types. Sceptile outspeeds and OHKOs Ninetails, Houndoom, Blaziken and Typhlosions that aren't Scarfed. It will also 2HKO standard Arcanine without Intimidate factored in. Using Rock Slide or X-Scissor would mean these fire types all beat me. The result of this is that Sceptile can not deal with CB Scyther, which does hurt a little bit.

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Rotom @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/88 Def/170 Spe
Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Pain Split
- Will-o-Wisp
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Well, that's my very first team! I apologize if I didn't explain myself well enough, I'm still pretty new to Pokemon and all. Hopefully it isn't TOO horrible of a team :P. I'd be very grateful if anyone could help me improve it even a little bit. If it's beyond help, I'd appreciate some team building tips in general as well! I'm really interested in the game and I'd like to learn.

Thanks!

 

[franky]

hello trusty,

one thing I noticed is your troubles with a well played venusaur. houndoom and sceptile don't make good switch ins to venusaur since 1. houndoom loses a sizable chunk of its HP from power whip, and when you consider its poor defenses and stealth rock weakness, i wouldn't be shocked to find its hp below 50 percent. sceptile can't switch in as well since it might suffer from sludge bomb. also both of them will seriously fall under sleep powder - making them poor switch ins to venusaur. what will patch this up? a choice scarf honchkrow is your best bet with the nature jolly and the evs 252 atk / 4 def / 252 spe with the movesets brave bird / pursuit / night slash / superpower with the ability insomnia over super luck. man, super luck is an okay move since you rely on hax for the most part. however, insomnia is more useful for coming in on venusaur's sleep powder. you outpace it, you smash it with brave bird (most will stay in). the original life orb set isn't really required for this team since not many benefit from it. with choice scarf honchkrow you get a pretty reliable venusaur check, as well as checking some faster threats in the long run of the match.

has spiritomb proved to be helpful in this team at all besides spin block? i'd head for a defensive rotom in that spot for a number of reasons. firstly, it adds a swellow and honchkrow check to your team and overall flying-type moves. is status absoring absolutely necessary? i mean you have honchkrow to absorb sleep, you have houndoom to take wows, and you have quagsire to take thunder wave. you wont be loosing much trust me. the set i'm toying with at the moment is a timid rotom with 252 hp / 88 def / 170 spe evs and the movesets thunderbolt, shadow ball, will-o-wisp, pain split. this current spread ensures you outpace base 80s and lower, this includes (honchkrow, venusaur, blaziken, gallade, etc.) you can cripple most of them with will-o-wisp, while taking their hits farely well thanks to your typing. as for spin blocking, rotom does a fantastic job scaring away blastoise, hitmontop, and donphan - all three are common rapid spin users. defenitely look for rotom as a replacement over spiritomb.

as for other options, rock slide over leaf blade might turn out to be good for sceptile just to scare away moltres. right now, moltres is a huge thread and you can't afford to switch out from it otherwise something is gonna loose their hp fast. quagsire can't do much to it to be perfectly honest since it falls to hidden power grass. i was never really a big fan of quagsire in this current state of the metagame. i WILL suggest milotic over quagsire but based on your descriptions, you seem to be glued on quagsire. look for a defensive milotic with a bold nature and evs of 252 hp / 252 def / 6 spa with the movesets surf / recover / ice beam / hp grass. milotic is something to look for as an alternative over quagsire, since you will have ur fare of troubles with moltres and fire-types who wield hp grass in general. milotic makes a great defensive bulky water, look for that if your not sold on your quagsire set. overall gl!

 

[Trusty]

one thing I noticed is your troubles with a well played venusaur. houndoom and sceptile don't make good switch ins to venusaur since 1. houndoom loses a sizable chunk of its HP from power whip, and when you consider its poor defenses and stealth rock weakness, i wouldn't be shocked to find its hp below 50 percent. sceptile can't switch in as well since it might suffer from sludge bomb. also both of them will seriously fall under sleep powder - making them poor switch ins to venusaur. what will patch this up? a choice scarf honchkrow is your best bet with the nature jolly and the evs 252 atk / 4 def / 252 spe with the movesets brave bird / pursuit / night slash / superpower with the ability insomnia over super luck. man, super luck is an okay move since you rely on hax for the most part. however, insomnia is more useful for coming in on venusaur's sleep powder. you outpace it, you smash it with brave bird (most will stay in). the original life orb set isn't really required for this team since not many benefit from it. with choice scarf honchkrow you get a pretty reliable venusaur check, as well as checking some faster threats in the long run of the match.

I like this idea, 'cause all I need to do is switch items on an already existing member :P. Venusaur has been a bit of a problem, but it usually isn't healthy enough to actually sweep me.

has spiritomb proved to be helpful in this team at all besides spin block? i'd head for a defensive rotom in that spot for a number of reasons. firstly, it adds a swellow and honchkrow check to your team and overall flying-type moves. is status absoring absolutely necessary? i mean you have honchkrow to absorb sleep, you have houndoom to take wows, and you have quagsire to take thunder wave. you wont be loosing much trust me. the set i'm toying with at the moment is a timid rotom with 252 hp / 88 def / 170 spe evs and the movesets thunderbolt, shadow ball, will-o-wisp, pain split. this current spread ensures you outpace base 80s and lower, this includes (honchkrow, venusaur, blaziken, gallade, etc.) you can cripple most of them with will-o-wisp, while taking their hits farely well thanks to your typing. as for spin blocking, rotom does a fantastic job scaring away blastoise, hitmontop, and donphan - all three are common rapid spin users. defenitely look for rotom as a replacement over spiritomb.

This sounds like a good idea too. I forgot that NFE Pokemon were allowed. Spiritomb is probably the weak link of the team. The only problem with this that I see is that Spiritomb is a large part of my bulk on the special side of the spectrum and losing it leaves me vulnerable to even neutral special type attacks.

The other big problem is that Rotom's defenses pale in comparison to Spiritomb; tomb is a good Honchkrow counter even if my only attack is NVE against it because I can still beat it as long as it isn't CB. This Rotom loses to Honchkrow that pick Night Slash and kill you on the switch. After that I'm forced to use Quagsire to handle it.

Definitely going to try it out though. Thanks :).

as for other options, rock slide over leaf blade might turn out to be good for sceptile just to scare away moltres. right now, moltres is a huge thread and you can't afford to switch out from it otherwise something is gonna loose their hp fast. quagsire can't do much to it to be perfectly honest since it falls to hidden power grass. i was never really a big fan of quagsire in this current state of the metagame. i WILL suggest milotic over quagsire but based on your descriptions, you seem to be glued on quagsire. look for a defensive milotic with a bold nature and evs of 252 hp / 252 def / 6 spa with the movesets surf / recover / ice beam / hp grass. milotic is something to look for as an alternative over quagsire, since you will have ur fare of troubles with moltres and fire-types who wield hp grass in general. milotic makes a great defensive bulky water, look for that if your not sold on your quagsire set. overall gl!

That Milotic is 2HKO'd by LO Moltress' HP Grass as well. It appears to me that HP Rock and HP Ice see more use than Grass from the most common threats as well. I originally had Altaria in Honchkrow's place (the only change I made to the team before this topic) and every single LO Moltres I switched in on hit me with HP Ice or HP Rock (I doubt it was HP Dragon anyway <_<). I would also lose to Raikou BADLY if I switched Quagsire for Milotic. Having to try and play around every Raikou used is more of a threat to me than having to play around the odd LO HP Grass Fire type.

I think that making a slight change to Houndoom would help me more with Fire types than opening myself up by switching Quagsire. HP Rock and a bit of extra speed would keep my overall team defense more sound as well as allow me to outspeed and OHKO Modest Moltres and threaten other fire types. I feel that Pursuit is the only thing I could do without if I were to take this route though.

Thanks for the suggestions though! I'm definitely going to try out that Scarfkrow.