SM UU High Hopes (1k Post)

[autumn]

Introduction

Hi, I'm Martha and I'm posting my first RMT. I've been on Smogon for over a year and because this is my 1000th post, I wanted to do something for it. I've never been the best builder, and this team isn't revolutionary or amazing, but it's something that I enjoy using and have a lot of fun with. My time here so far has been great, and I'm not planning on going anywhere anytime soon so I hope it stays just as great or maybe even better. I've surprised myself with how much I've done, how far I've come, and how much I've grown while playing Pokemon, and I've made so many great friends here too.

Teambuilding Process

Mega Altaria, while not as devastating a setup sweeper as it once was, is honestly one of my favourite setup sweepers and Pokemon in UU, so I decided to build the team around it. It’s an underrated setup sweeper for teams, and the rise in Krookodile and especially Hydreigon usage gives this set several setup opportunities in a game.

Mega Altaria’s main problem is the ever-present Scizor; it lacks a Fire-type move to lure it and can’t even pick off a weakened Scizor with Earthquake due to its powerful priority. As a result, I added Moltres to punish it and other Steel-types like Mega Aggron that Mega Altaria struggles to beat.

Nihilego is my Stealth Rock setter of choice, providing a more offensive take on the role while being a Rock-type, which is useful to help deal with opposing Moltres and Togekiss. It provides a good switch-in to several special attackers like Rotom-H as well.

Any team running Moltres mandates reliable entry hazard removal, so I added Empoleon to the team. Empoleon has been rising for a while as arguably the best defensive hazard removal option, especially when paired with Moltres. Empoleon can deal with some of Moltres’s main checks, and Moltres offers a Ground immunity in return.

Chesnaught was then added to give me a Grass-type to help deal with Quagsire more effectively, a better check to physical attackers with Rocky Helmet and overall great physical bulk to compliment Empoleon’s special bulk, and Spikes support to further pressure bulkier teams and switches in general.

Apart from Dragon Dance on Mega Altaria, which is aimed to be the general wincon of the team, it’s rather slow and pressured by a lot of faster Pokemon, particularly Mega Manectric and Zeraora. I added Choice Scarf Krookodile as a result to ease this matchup, act as a secondary check to other faster Pokemon like Latias, and provide an Electric immunity.



The Team

Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Pixilate
Happiness: 0
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Frustration
- Roost
- Earthquake

Mega Altaria provides a strong offensive Fairy-type for the team, a typing that has several merits defensively as a switch-in to Fighting-types like Infernape and Kommo-o and allows Mega Altaria to act as an immediate check to almost all Hydreigon variants and even use it and other Pokemon it walls like Zeraora as setup fodder. Its capabilities as a Dragon Dance user with this set enables Mega Altaria to not only act as an extremely strong physical attacker but also double as a late-game sweeper or cleaner. Running 180 Speed allows it to outspeed up to base 115s at +1, so it can take a hit from Pokemon like Latias and Starmie, boost, and then heavily threaten the opposing team. With Earthquake, it can also muscle past weakened Steel-types, UU’s main Fairy resists. This is the main wincon of the team, and it's best to save setting up until it can sweep, preferably using other teammates to eliminate its checks beforehand. It can also come in to act as a Dragon-type check, particularly for Hydreigon.

Moltres @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Fire Blast
- Roost
- U-turn

Moltres is a really threatening Pokemon with STABs that are only resisted by Rock-types, and even some of them have secondary typings that prevent this. Its Flying-type STAB moves, which are extremely strong ones in Hurricane and even Supersonic Skystrike, hit a lot of the tier for neutral damage, as well as nailing Grass-types like Celebi, and provide amazing coverage with Fire-type moves; the Z-Move can help break through bulkier Pokemon like Alomomola that a boosted Mega Altaria struggles with. Moltres can generate a lot of momentum for teams with U-turn because its STAB moves as well as its good defensive typing force many offensive and defensive threats alike out. This can enable Mega Altaria to come in earlier than it would otherwise to sweep. Moltres is best used to weaken and break Steel-types early, particularly Mega Aggron and Scizor. For Scizor, keeping it healthy and preferably with Stealth Rock off is important to prevent Swords Dance variants from setting up.

Nihilego @ Black Sludge
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Sludge Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot

Nihilego’s amazing defensive typing makes it a great partner to compliment Mega Altaria; although they both stack a Steel-type weakness and a large vulnerability to Scizor. Mega Altaria hates Fairy-types and their STAB moves while Nihilego resists them, is specialky bulky enough to survive them, and can easily KO them or force them out. These forced switches from its typing as well as its coverage moves make it an extremely effective Stealth Rock setter. Grass Knot helps a lot against Ground-types like Hippowdon, and Thunderbolt helps to threaten Water- amd Flying-types. It can punish several special attackers, particularly Moltres, being one of the best counters to it in the tier. It can also use its good special bulk and access to passive recovery to switch into other special attackers like Togekiss and Rotom-H too. This also allows it to pressure removal from them as well as Hydreigon if necessary. Nihilego should be used early to get Stealth Rock up and to use its coverage moves to weaken some of its switch-ins like Hippowdon. It should also stay relatively healthy to pivot into special attackers and some removers to keep hazards up.

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Defog
- Toxic
- Protect

Empoleon is by far the best defensive Defog user, using its amazing Steel typing to help it beat Pokemon like Latias and Primarina and find several opportunities to come in. Its bulk, immunity to Toxic, resistance to Dragon, and resistance to Stealth Rock help it find several opportunities to use Defog, which is extremely useful when partnered with Moltres. It has really good defensive synergy with it too, resisting Water- and Rock-type attacks and having the ability to pressure a lot of its answers with Scald or Toxic too. Toxic + Protect really helps Empoleon against bulkier teams, and it can also be an effective way to shut down opposing offensive threats that could otherwise overwhelm the team. It's best to ensure Empoleon is healthy to provide reliable, consistent hazard removal for Moltres. It should only switch in when it's safe to do so unless absolutely necessary and should avoid Knock Off as much as possible too. Protect can be also used for scouting purposes.

Chesnaught @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Drain Punch
- Spikes
- Wood Hammer
- Synthesis

Chesnaught is a somewhat underrated Spikes user that can take advantage of its typing and high Defense to force out Pokemon like Krookodile, Empoleon, and Blissey and set up Spikes. Over the course of a game, its ability to recover and force Pokemon out allows it to get Spikes up several times to punish switches against the team's more offensive partners further. This also makes it a lot easier for Mega Altaria to win games due to chip damage. It also provides a useful physically defensive pivot, which compliments the specially bulky Nihilego and particularly Empoleon well; Chesnaught can switch into and use Rocky Helmet to chip Cobalion, Scizor, and Zeraora. Synthesis enhances its role as a defensive pivot by keeping it healthy to constantly check physical attackers. Chesnaught's role as a Grass-type Spikes user also helps the team against bulkier archetypes. Pivoting Chesnaught into Scizor and other physical threats that could overwhelm the team early is good, and trying to keep at least one layer of Spikes up is also extremely valuable for offensive partners late-game.

Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge

Krookodile is the standard revenge killer and Choice Scarf user for the team, using Intimidate and Dark-type STAB moves with a lot of utility in Pursuit and Knock Off to benefit its teammates. As well as being arguably the best Choice Scarf user, Krookodile can be an annoyance to bulkier teams as well by removing their items and punishing their switches. Krookodile helps to patch up an overall slow team too, and it can help to clean up if Mega Altaria isn't able to. As a team without a Ground-type Stealth Rock user, Krookodile is extremely useful due to its ability to block Volt Switch from Mega Manectric. Zeraora, and Rotom-H. It also helps the team match up against Latias, revenge killing it or trapping it with Pursuit. Krookodile can be used to revenge kill or trap a Pokemon after a teammate has fainted, or it can switch into Electric-types to block Volt Switch and gain momentum for its team too.



Threatlist

Aside from living one hit with Chesnaught and revenge killing with Krookodile, the team doesn't really have much counterplay for Terrakion. It can force a lot of switches and its STAB moves can really shut the team down.

This team doesn't have the best matchup against stall teams. Despite having Chesnaught to set up Spikes and help with Water-types and Krookodile to remove items, stall can easily outplay this team.

Moltres is the team's main Swords Dance Scizor answer, but it is extremely weak to Stealth Rock and with some chip damage, a boosted Bullet Punch can pick it off. After that, there isn;t much counterplay.



Importable

The Team

Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Pixilate
Happiness: 0
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Frustration
- Roost
- Earthquake

Moltres @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Fire Blast
- Roost
- U-turn

Nihilego @ Black Sludge
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Sludge Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Defog
- Toxic
- Protect

Chesnaught @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Drain Punch
- Spikes
- Wood Hammer
- Synthesis

Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge

Shoutouts

Shoutouts

gp

lotiasite you’re basically the reason I even got onto the GP team lol you basically carried me for like 3 months when I was amchecking so thanks sm for that. It’s great you’re back and we really need to talk more.

The Dutch Plumberjack I never really expected to ever talk to you but you’re genuinely one of the nicest and most hardworking people on here. You helped me so much when I was new to GP, to modding, and now to coleading and I really appreciate that. The sheer number of checks you do is really something else too.

A Cake Wearing A Hat I’m super glad I got the opportunity to help you with GP and then start working with you on the room and PS. Randbats working together and with everyone has to be one of my favourite things especially considering how far we came. I think you’re super hardworking and you care about everything you do and it’s great that you’re getting the appreciation for it.

allstarapology Helping you with GP was such a great experience and I love how much you wanted to learn and help us. You’re such a great and caring person and we should talk so much more.

Fireflame479 CryoGyro Kris P Squared GatoDelFuego Electrolyte talkingtree and basically anyone who’s on or has been on the GP team: I didn’t have much on here before I started checking, and after I amchecked for a while and got accepted, I found the most welcoming group of people possible. It’s been so much fun working with everyone here both as a GPer and as leader (still shocked lmao) and I’m just so happy with how the team is and how nice everyone is on it. I’d love to get to know you all more.

frostration mentoring you recently has been super fun and rewarding and I love how much effort you put into amchecks right now. You’re a really cool person and I hope you keep working because you have a ton of potential.


uu

Eyan you helped me get into this tier and that choice to play UU and all your help when I was new helped me to become the player I am now. It sucks that we don’t talk much anymore but I hope school’s treating you okay. You’re such a great friend and I appreciate that.

vivalospride you’re such a great friend and person on here and you’re someone I genuinely enjoy talking to and getting messages from. I hope this team isn’t such a bitch to rate and that you get super far into rating because I know you’re super good at it. Keep following your goals on here because I know you’re really damn good at everything you do.

Nuked It’s weird that we’ve been talking for almost a year because it really doesn’t feel like it. We both started as just contributors who just wrote and checked stuff and played UU and now we’re both forum mods and it’s crazy how that happened lol. You’re such a chill person and I love talking to you and I hope things keep going well.

Sage You’re such a sweet and genuine person and I love talking to you. UUPL was made so much more fun teaming with you when we were both a lot newer and less recognised. You really went so much further after the tour and I hope your tour performances continue to be great.

Kink UUPL has to be one of my highlights of this year and it really helped me grow as both a player and a person and I’m still super thankful you picked me up for it. You’re also super passionate about your team and contributions and UU in general and I really admire that about you.

Amane Misa Hilomilo Kreme Pak and the rest of UU QC I already tagged. When I started to post QC amchecks I never actually expected to make it and to be accepted as a part of this great team. I really enjoy contributing to C&C and the ability to help so many newer players in the position that I was in around this time last year that this gives me, and working with people who are helpful and fun makes the experience so much greater.


ps

Alore You were probably the first person who actually noticed me and wanted to talk to me, which was super surprising. I lurked in tours room for ages and I kept coming back and I eventually got promoted because of the community that you helped me get involved in so much. Thanks for actually seeing the potential in me before I did and for being a good friend for like almost 1.5 years I think.

Quote A Cake Wearing A Hat Qplaz SciencePanda jasprose @A DarkFlames64 pokeblade101 Faisal HeroicTobias Surgeon VigilanteVigoroth Le-Hydra randbats room. This room has been probably my best experience staffing and leading on PS, and I’m so happy with how far we’ve came and how much fun it has been. We started out with nothing and everything we have now is down to everyone in the room so I just wanna say thanks so much to everyone who’s even touched the room.

nui You come under that too as ex-RO but you’re also such a great person to talk to and you’ve really helped me become a better leader and staff member and grow as a person as a result too. You’re super chill and great with policy and I wish we still talked more.

AlphaWittem Robb576 Roseybear Ceteris Paribus Plas Trace frisoeva samjo and probably half the room I missed lol like I said before, tours was my first room on PS. I had been n lobby for a bit but when I axtually started coming on every day to talk and to play Pokemon, tours was the room I'd go to. I got to really know the community there and I enjoyed talking and helping and for some weird reason people liked me back and promoted me three different times. The staff of the room were super welcoming and I met a lot of great people here. I'd love to get to know you all better too.


general

yogi I wanted to leave this at "haha yeet" and see how you'd react I honestly think you're one of the hardest workers on here and really care about your tier. I noticed it first when I was a GP amchecker and I went through a lot of your analyses and I see it even now as council and and a checker too. I admire that and you're a great friend too.

TPP I signed up for OU tutoring just because I thought it'd be useful to know the main tier, but what I have been getting out of it is so much more than that. It's really not as bad as people claim it to be and learning it with you tutoring me has been so great and I've learnt and gained so much as a person and player. Even when you're not helping me, you're super helpful and great to talk to. I hope you take up GP checking soon too.

Indigo Plateau Even though we only really started talking relatively recently, it's been great. Youre such a great person and player to talk to and learn from, and I wish you all the best in majors, UU, and OU in the future, and it would be fun to talk and play and test more too.

GL Volkner We don't really talk that much apart from OM QC stuff and we really should lol but I really like how helpful and approachable you are and how much you give to OMs and helping people and the community. I hope that world cup and every tour goes great and that we talk more too.

lyd You're a great friend and contributor in everything and I'm glad you're being recognised and rewarded for it. Your articles are really interesting and always great reads, and you're one of the most chill and kind people here.

Quite Quiet Luna Tikitik LifeisDANK Codraroll TFP staff. I love contributing to articles because it's such an interesting yet underrated part of the site with such good writers and ideas. Moderating the forum for the past few months has been great, and it's even greater with really chill staff too.

Eien curiosity roman banks Simia Baloor Jordy Eternam Gross Sweep Moosical 3017 and the rest of crew. Joining the server was a great decision I made and I made so many good friends through it too. Everyone is so nice and I'd just love to get to know people more.

if I missed you I'm sorry I suck but I do wanna say that I appreciate everyone on here so much. People really welcomed me to the communities I joined, and this year in Pokemon was absolutely crazy for me and I'm so happy that I didn't decide to quit PS back in 2016 when I first joined.

 

[vivalospride]

Hey, thanks for the shoutout. You're one of my favorite people on this site fr, thank you :). Anyways I've known about this team for a while, and I like it. I do think the fat matchup is a bit difficult and that's the main thing that'll probably be focused on fixing here. I really love the direction you chose to go with this team and I think it's pretty solid, just a few things would need to be done to fix the stall m/u and it should be all g.

- So the first thing I did was try to compress the roles of Moltres + Nihilego into heattom to get a free slot open on the squad to try and fit a stallbreaker of some sort. Moltres is a solid anti steel mon so it obviously synergizes well with malt because of that, and that's basically the same thing w/ heattom except heattom actually checks shit like opposing Moltres as well... another mon Malt has troubles with. Nihilego was the main thing that did this on the team beforehand but I think heattom does a great job at doing what nihi did and what Moltres did in one mon, the loss of fighting resist sucks ofc but it's worth it imo. The spread OHKOs Celebi after rocks.

SET

Rotom-Heat @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 20 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Toxic
- Defog

- In the free slot that was created, I needed something with a good fat matchup and something that could be sort of an offensive answer to Scizor and other steels just to make sure heattom isn't overworked. NP Lucario made the most sense, especially due to the free z move. Lucario has an incredible matchup vs fatter teams/stall while being able to revenge kill weakened fighting types such asCobalion and Terrakion with vwave which I valued a lot due to the loss of Moltres (which was your main fighting resist). Yeah luke just stacks fighting weak mons ig, but you don't use luke for it's defensive utility anyways so who cares. Set is standard.

SET

Lucario @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Steadfast
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Vacuum Wave
- Flash Cannon
- Focus Blast

Smaller changes:
- Stealth Rock > Defog on Empoleon because I got rid of Nihilego and I needed to keep Empoleon due to Lati m/u otherwise and having rocker Empoleon helps the fat matchup a lot while also helping heattom not be overworked by being a secondary bird switch in.

Importable

Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Pixilate
Happiness: 0
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Frustration
- Roost
- Earthquake

Rotom-Heat @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 20 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Toxic
- Defog

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Toxic
- Protect

Chesnaught @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Drain Punch
- Spikes
- Wood Hammer
- Synthesis

Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge

Lucario @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Steadfast
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Vacuum Wave
- Flash Cannon
- Focus Blast

That's it, one thing I noticed is that the opposing Lucario matchup is actually a little rough but luckily it doesn't really setup on anything and there're some things that live +2 hits anyways if you keep them healthy so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Fighting types like Cobalion specifically have a better matchup now then before but it's still 100% doable with heattom + ches + luke. I think this fixed most of the minor issues, not that there were many b/c the team is good as it is. Ily and you're amazing, thanks again for the shoutout :). Lmk if you have any questions as always, im proud of you.

 

[yogi]

I'm not rating your team but I'd just like to say it's been amazing watching you develop as a user. Seeing you going from 0 badges to gptl was really neat, especially considering the time span. I really do appreciate the shout out and keep it up bud. Yeet.

 

[Jaajgko]

I totally agree with Vivalos changes, I just think you should change Protect for Roar on Empoleon to make things easier against Suicune, Slowbro and Refresh Mega-Altaria.

 

[Indigo Plateau]

hey, thanks for the s/o & I'm glad you found a team that you enjoyed enough to rmt

====================

the team itself looks pretty cool, but there are a few glaring threats that give you a really rough time:

Nihilego being your fastest mon outside of Krookodile leaves you vulnerable to Fighting-types like Terrakion, Cobalion, and Infernape, all of which are pretty popular in the current metagame. CB Terrakion fears little from clicking either STAB against your team, NP Infernape can actually sweep you with SR up at +2, and although Cobalion isn't the biggest nuisance, it can still be hard to switch into, especially if SR are up or it has Stone Edge.

I'm also not confident on the team's matchup against Scizor or VoltTurn in general. CB variants can U-turn pretty risk free against roughly half of the team into a breaker, while SD variants can become super problematic late game if SR are up. You have two soft checks to Manectric in Altaria and Nihilego plus a Ground-type in Krookodile, but most times your opponent doesn't lose much from clicking Volt Switch and bringing in a strong breaker seen on offense (Crawdaunt, Nidoking, etc), and if your opponent catches Krookodile with Signal Beam once, your problems get even tougher.

Setup sweepers can get problematic if you play Krookodile poorly; NP Celebi at +2 dismantles your team outside of Nihilego (which doesn't want to switch into Psychic or Earth Power), while CM Latias does the same thing, especially if if it's CM BoltBeam, which is becoming more common.

Lastly, like you stated, stall is hard to break due to your lack of a solid stallbreaker - you're basically relying on hoping Spikes stay up throughout the match, which can be very hard to accomplish if they play well.

====================

Below are my suggestions to improve your team; I'm going to be giving you two different versions, with the first one being a bit more offensive oriented, and the second one being more balance oriented:

Version 1

>

Terrakion helps your team out massively versus opposing fat matchups, something that Nihilego tends to struggle to do versus things like MAggron and Blissey. Although this doesn't solve your problem against opposing Scizor, it does make it harder for it to switch in. Terrakion also has great offensive synergy with Altaria, as it can pressure opposing Steel-types and weaken them for a potential DD sweep, which was what the team was built around. Sure, you might not be able to switch into Fairy-types that threaten Altaria, but you already have Empoleon for that.

>

I'm really not sold on Chesnaught on this team. It's cool and an underrated Spikes user, but my primary problem is that your team doesn't fare well against opposing Spikes teams. Your original team is forced to Defog against Sharpedo spikes because once a couple of layer of Spikes (possibly +Rocks) are up, then Sharpedo can clean up rather easily late game, and Spikes will feel useless on Chesnaught due to the slow nature of the team. Instead, Rotom-C can help you gain momentum against opposing Dragon-types that come in freely versus Chesnaught and is more customizable to deal with certain threats to your team (ie Signal Beam for Dragon-types + Celebi, HP Fire for Scizor, etc). It also helps pressure mons that would normally annoy Altaria, such as Klefki, Hippowdon, and Empoleon.

Stealth Rock > Defog, Roar > Protect
Replacing Defog is pretty self-explanatory given the two changes above, but I value Roar more on this team given that it can struggle against Suicune, Reuniclus, Sharpedo, and Cobalion. Protect can still be nice if you feel the team is vulnerable vs BoltBeam Latias and Terrakion, though, which is why I'm marking this as an optional change.

Version 2

>

Same reasoning as in the version above.

>

Sadly I'm removing Chesnaught again in favor of Amoonguss for a few reasons. Amoonguss is a fantastic pivot and can also serve as a soft check against the likes of Scizor and Fighting-types. Although Terrakion doesn't mind clicking Stone Edge as much now, Close Combat was still a 2HKO on Chesnaught, and thanks to Spore + HP Fire, I'd argue that you actually check Scizor + Fighting-types better than you did before. The biggest difference here is losing Spikes, but given that you have a Moltres and most opposing Spikes matchups aren't favorable (like I mentioned before), Spore can help out Altaria immensely in potentially giving it a free turn to DD.

>

Lastly, I'm replacing Moltres with Rotom-H. It's a good Defog user now that Empoleon needs to carry Stealth Rock after Nihilego was replaced and lets you check Moltres and Electric-types like Mega Manectric much better than Moltres did. The momentum it provides via Volt Switch is also great for bringing things like Terrakion and Krookodile into favorable matchups, and losing a Fighting-resist doesn't hurt you as much now thanks to Amoonguss.

Stealth Rock > Defog, Roar > Protect
Same reasoning as above.

I felt like including this was necessary just in case you really wanted a Z-Move user. Acid Downpour Amoonguss can help against Celebi that try to set up on you, and seeing as how only Terrakion & Krookodile outspeed it (and it can potentially beat both at full HP), it can come in really clutch at the right time - do note that you lose out on the chip damage against Scizor / Fighting-types without Rocky Helmet though.

====================



(click both for importable)

I really like how both of these versions turned out, even if it meant removing Chesnaught on both and the second one changed three mons - I was mainly looking to provide more options by giving you two different versions. If you really wanted to keep Chesnaught, then vivalos gave you a fantastic rate already with it, but I really wasn't comfortable against opposing Spikes or Fighting-types.

Hope that the rate helped you out & I'm glad that you've been going hard in UU lately, keep up the great work! If you have any questions on it you're always welcome to shoot me a PM

 

[Pearl]

hey :) i'll try to keep this concise overall, but congratulations on hitting the benchmark! glad you've been finding yourself at home in the uu community and hope that you can keep on thriving in the future.

anyway, the main reason i'm posting a rate to this (which is going to be a mostly informal thing anyway) is because i was planning on showcasing a team that is very similar to this one in structure. however, procrastination ensues and it seems like i was a little too slow, which is fine by me, but might make my good friend pak a little upset. oh well.

overall, i'd say that what would jump to people's attention first is the fact that this take on the idea is a lot more offensive in nature. my primary reasoning for this choice is that i personally believe an idea like this is easier to support through the usage of a faster squad, considering moltres' stealth rock weakness and the fact that it is pretty much the sole thing keeping the team together against threats such as scizor, which makes being on the driver's seat crucial in a lot of match ups, and chesnaught doesn't quite allow you to do that. nihilego possesses the ability to threaten every single defog and rapid spin user that isn't silvally-steel or scizor (and the latter sucks, why ever lol), while starmie is the hazard remover for faster paced teams, and it just happened to be a good fit alongside these threats. scizor was added as a soft check to mega aerodactyl, terrakion and other pokemon that can be picked off through priority usage. at the time azumarill was in the tier, so pak and i felt it was the optimal choice in order to be able to scout that behemoth's moves, though i still find myself going back to that set even with it gone.

for reference, sets on this are as follows: offensive splash plate starmie w/ thunderbolt, choice specs moltres, bulky u-turn sd scizor, dd mega altaria, scarf krook and electrium z stealth rock nihilego

this is another take on the combination between moltres and altaria that pak and i explored for spl finals. it's pretty much Indigo Plateau's first fix suggestion with cobalion > terrakion and a bunch of set nuances (in fact, not even the two of us were able to decide unanimously on our options at the time ), so just reading his post should provide enough hindsight on how a build like this would work out. it took an L in its only tour appearance, but i still stand by its viability fully.

back to your team: dd mega altaria + moltres is one of the most lethal offensive combinations in the tier, and things have been that way for almost 8 months now. in my original teams with this idea, i opted for a choice specs set over flynium z. the reason for this was the fact that amoonguss was everywhere at the time, and it happened to be one of the best answers to mega altaria, making the utility provided by sleep talk too good to ignore. right now, i believe that fly z is the most reliable option as far as sheer utility goes (plus, nukes are good), but choice specs still wields the higher reward with proper prediction and luck with accuracy, especially with people gravitating towards rotom-heat in the current metagame, so the choice comes down to personal preference.

krookodile is a self-explanatory pick on a team like this, being the most reliable pursuit trapper, offensive ground-type and possessing ludicrous utility on top of its capabilities as a revenge killer. nihilego also shines in the utility department; rocks are good, toxic spikes absorption is good, rock-type has some boons (mostly checking opposing moltres), and its damage is good regardless of which set you opt for to top that off.

from here though, i believe that options diverge a lot more, and while your take isn't bad by any means, i'm not the biggest fan of chesnaught on a team structure like this. as i briefly explained above, this is a pokemon that forces its user to sacrifice momentum for an undetermined amount of turns, as its typing and low damage output make it very easy to scare out by a sizable pool of pokemon, which can be used by the opponent for a plethora of things, such as removing hazards (rotom-h), setting up hazards of their own, setting up a hard hitter such at latias or getting free hits onto your pokemon. i think this is especially troublesome on a team like this because (and this might be my biggest gripe with this version of the idea) moltres is a pokemon that requires solid hazard removal/control to work with, and chesnaught is a pokemon that is prone to losing hazard wars vs a lot of opposing threats. plus, spikes, while being a great asset, lose a lot of value when considering that defog is going to get used a lot by you in dragged out games so moltres can switch into the field reliably, making your strategy a little redundant. with that said, here are my fix suggestions while also keeping this team as close to its current version as possible:

Necessary:

• Tsareena > Chesnaught
• Stealth Rock > Defog on Empoleon
• A different move over Nihilego's Stealth Rock or a whole new set

Optional:

• Choice Specs Moltres > Flyinium Z Moltres
• If you opt for the above, Electrium Z or even Rockium Z over Black Sludge on Nihilego
• Changing Nihilego's EVs so that Beast Boost increases its Speed stat
• If the stall match up is concerning to you, Refresh > Earthquake on Altaria and Superpower > Stone Edge on Krookodile
• Removing U-turn on Moltres for a different 4th move. At the moment, I like Defog (with Pressure) and Will-O-Wisp the most

tsareena + defog pressure moltres would solve most of the issues this team has with hazard removal. if you're feeling brave, however, using tsareena as the sole hazard remover with u-turn to specs moltres is also an option. i'm prolly one of the most critical people about u-turn moltres, and while i won't tell people to drop it entirely, i just feel that moltres' other choices pack a lot more power regardless of the set, and this is a case of a team where said power could be put to good use, either by solidifying the team's hazard game or allowing it to reliably cripple common switch ins with very little risk attached to it. with this change in mind, i'd seriously consider giving stealth rock to empoleon instead of nihilego, as even though both are stellar stealth rock setters, empoleon has very little business doing anything that isn't hazard focused when packing a defensive spread, while nihilego has some interesting options that could be spectacular to the team's central point. toxic spikes are good with roost on both of your primary win conditions + protect empoleon, protect is a fun options that invalidates choice scarf krookodile and cb scizor, acid spray and pain split both allow this pokemon to bother stall and there are a lot of offensive moves worth considering, with psychic coverage being a clear front runner due to its damage output against amoonguss, a prime altaria answer.

i won't go too deep into the other optional suggestions, since this post is already getting too beefy, but all of them are things that, while not necessary, could be worth testing, as they don't sacrifice team cohesion all that much. have a nice day