it's another RMT that needs help!

Hi there, I am preparing this team to play on Wi-Fi against some friends. I usually get beaten about by them and am looking for some more experienced help. We do not play with the same clauses as are used by the smogon community, really we don't use any. But we do use them as guidelines. So if this team looks unusable because of a rule please ignore that fact as it will not affect me.

I built this team to help me better predict switches. My friends beat me fairly consistently because they are better at prediction than I am. So I chose a team of U-turners with multiple type covering moves, or at least tried to. So please don't let me know that Breloom is great because of Spore and I need him or some such. Anyway here is the team so far.


Ambipom @ Life Orb

U-turn
Fake Out
Brick Break
Thunder wave

Persian @ Life Orb

U-turn
Fake Out
Bite
Hypnosis

The basis of the team. The U-turn/Fake out trick is there as well as trying to either provide coverage or weaken the foe...

Flygon @ Leftovers

U-turn
Earthquake
Dragon Claw
Rock Slide

Allowing Flygon to try and hit whatever is there for a good amount of damage. Moves chosen for STAB or coverage.

Swellow @ Toxic Orb

U-turn
Brave Bird
Facade
Quick Attack

Clearly there to attempt to sweep. No Protect because he SHOULD be U-turned in and get the item activation anyway.


So aside from turning that pile into the best U-turn team it can be I'm not sure if I should add something like Donphan for stealth rock and rapid spin or Infernape for more power. I was even considering a trapper of some kind, mabe Crobat for additional Turning? I'm just not sure what would add the most to the team without taking away from the theme of it. Thanks in advance for any and all help.

S?S.
 
Nice team =) U could add dugtrio and magnezone to trap some pokemon. If u want a good u-turner you can use CBscizor
Scizor @CB
EV:s 252 Atk/ 252 HP
Nature:Adamant
Ability: Technician
-U-turn
-Metal claw/Iron head
-Quick attack
-Pursuit
STAB, CB, U-turn hurts bad.
Hope I helped
 
Its kind of difficult to rate something with only four pokemon and without EVs/natures.

Machamp can kill your whole team if something gets put to sleep. Also Choice Scarfers pose a major threat (I personally like Scarf Metagross, but its pretty rare).
 
I think that Ambipom with Silk Scarf and Return > T-Wave works better since Life Orb damage really adds up. Also, a lot of times you might just not want to Fake Out at all because of the Life Orb recoil. As well, your team (so far anyway) is fairly fast (don't know the natures yet, but even if it's neutral speed nature it's fairly fast), so it might not benefit from T-Wave a LOT anyway.

For Flygon, Rock Slide doesn't really provide much additional neutral coverage (Basically just coverage for Shedinja and being able to hit Skarmory for neutral, but you'll be U-Turning on Skarmory anyway). It does let you hit flyers harder than Dragon Claw (150 instead of 120) but that's about it. I'd suggest Fire Blast for Skarmory or Roost for healing instead.

Something I personally like using is CB Staraptor (with U-Turn of course), since it can Intimidate a physical attacker before U-turning to a counter. But you do have a Normal/Flying bird in your team already, so not sure you want two.

And yeah, having a fighting-resist is probably a good idea.

You also probably want something to attack on the Special side.

U-Turning into counters is good, but right now your team doesn't really have much resistances... Ambipom and Persian, of course don't really switch into anything safely. Flygon is pretty much your most defensive pokemon right now as it has decent defenses and can switch in on electric, ground, and a couple other types that dragons resist, but that's about ALL. Swellow also cannot switch in on anything other than earthquakes and shadow balls, and... it's easily walled by any Steels in BL/OU. So yeah, while U-Turning is a good idea, you don't really have anything that can switch into attacks. Your current team has no resist/immunity for fire, water, fighting, ice, dragon, steel, dark, normal, psychic, flying, poison attacks. ... That's ELEVEN types out of 17. So yah, you can't U-Turn switch into most things. That's the main problem with this team.
 
Wow! I didn't even think I would get replys to this. Maybe Smogon's reputation isn't as deserved as the masses say it is.

Alright I see the major issues are as follows

1- U-Turn requires having more resists to abuse, Tanks or immune pokes are in high demand suddenly, particularly fighting resist.

2-Scarfers in general. Is this just because one good sweeper will beat my strategy? Or is there something I'm missing? Once again defense or immunity is needed.

3-I'm in need of a special side. My problem is that there were no U-Turners on the special side that struck me as good. Have I missed something? Perhaps a MixApe?

4-Choice items for my team. I'm not sold on this because if two pokes with choice items know U-Turn multiple of my pokes are locked into a loop till they run out of PP.

5-A thought occured to me....I will auto lose to Stealth Rock/Spikes with all the switching I'll be doing; therefore a spinner is a must.

6-I need to add more info. Didn't add natures and what not, sorry. The team is not for doubles my formatting is just lax.

So after some thought and editing I have arrived at this:

Aipom @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Technician
EV's: 4HP/252Atk/252Spe
Nature: Jolly

U-Turn
Fake Out
Return
Brick Break/Ice Punch

Modified him slightly to take some good advice into consideration. Fake Out and Return with Silk Scarf is working much better than using Thunder Wave, although I have tried to make the team as a whole on the faster side because of it. I've always taken speed over power.


Persian @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Technician
EV's: 4HP/252Atk/252Spe
Nature: Jolly

U-Turn
Fake Out
Faint Attack
Bite

The kitty is starting to look a little unnecessary. He handily abuses Technician and Silk Scarf and Bite does give a random flinch possibility but he's starting to look too vanilla. Mabe time for a switch? Although I do love the U-Turn->Fake Out combo.


Uxie @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EV's: 252HP/252Def/4SpD
Nature: Bold

U-Turn
Stealth Rock
Yawn
Psychic

Here is the first major renovation. Uxie seems made for this team: learns U-Turn, helps with my Fighting-type issues, can set up Stealth Rock, has Yawn to help force switches and a powerful STAB attack.


Hitmontop @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EV's: 252HP/72Def/184Spe
Nature: Impish

Rapid Spin
Close Combat
Fake Out
Stone Edge

The other major change. No U-Turn but he fills several important roles: Rapid Spin, another Fake Out Chainer, STAB fighting move, Intimidate. I stole this strait from the Smogon 'dex and tried to combine the Technician and Rapid Spin sets; this is what I got. Working well but I admit I'm always a little hampered to not see U-Turn in my combat options.


Flygon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EV's: 4HP/252Atk/252Spe
Nature: Jolly

U-Turn
Earthquake
Dragon Claw
Roost

Modified slightly to be more realistic. STAB attacks and Roost with Life Orb mean more chances to bring more powerful enemies into Swellow's sweep range.


Swellow @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Guts
EV's: 4HP/252Atk/252Spe
Nature: Jolly

U-Turn
Facade
Brave Bird
Quick Attack

Unchanged. I thought that Swellow filled it's role well as a late game sweeper. Again no need for Protect since I almost always get my status off of the U-Turn turn. Facade and Brave Bird smash face and Quick Attack for a priority move.



I did have the thought of turning Ambipom into a mini Electivire with (U-Turn/Brick Break/Dig/Ice Punch) holding a Life Orb. That's 13 of 17 and having my Persian take the lead spot. Is there any data suggesting which is better: Super Effective Attacks or U-Turn->Fake Out combo? And in general do I like that combo too much? It works wonders for me but am I being to set in my ways? Again thanks for the help everyone. Also I do like the idea of Scizor but I'm not sure where he'd fit, but I see that he'd add some resists and a STAB U-Turn is fun with his speed and attack.

S?S.
 
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