Hi friends. I've never done anything like this before, and don't particularly consider myself to be anything special when it comes to competitive. However through some strange miracle I've broken 1450 on the UU ladder (a big deal for me okay??!?!?) on something like an 18 match win streak, and a few people have asked for the pastebin of this team, including one guy who told me he was in the UU Open. As you can see, my Name's Cacturnt Up and you can find me on Showdown with the same name, usually in the UU chatroom.
The initial thought process behind this team was the realisation that in about 18 months of battling competitively, I'd never managed to make a Toxicroak work on a team. So I looked into it and this is what I got. As the team progressed I became aware that despite my failure to make such a great poke work, it was a clear check to two of my least favourite things in UU; CroCune, and CurseLax.
Now, I'm not trying to start any kind of debate about battle styles, but I personally will never use those two sets, and despite not being a competitive person on the whole, I cannot stand losing to those sets. I'm also guilty of playing favourites with UU pokes, which often works to my disadvantage, but I never expected it to be perfect (and it definitely isn't), it just works better than a lot of the stuff I usually put together.
I've always enjoyed hazard stacking, and in this team I've found that throwing spikes and rocks out there really helps to cover some of the glaring weaknesses in this team.
The Team
Jerome (Toxicroak) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Gunk Shot
- Sucker Punch
Since I had never made Toxicroak work on a team, I decided not to take many risks with the set I used. Priority, recovery, and STAB as well as the L/O boost make this one potentially slippery customer.
Bar none, this is the best switch in to Suicune I have encountered. Unless it's the rare Extrasensory set. Any bulky water type should fear this thing. Even a standard Mega-Blastoise can only use Ice Beam or Dragon Pulse to land a neutral hit, and don't even mention Empoleon. Intimidate Salamence is a switch in, but if it's an offensive, none choiced variant, with rocks up, even a plus-one Gunk Shot will kill it, you just have to risk staying in and assuming it going for a DD. The benefits of Sucker Punch are obvious to anyone who's ever seen a Honchkrow. I'd like to say that Croak can switch in on other fighting types but it does struggle with No Guard Machamp and most variations of Heracross. But hey, this is why we have a team of six.
Axl (Swampert) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Roar
A UU staple in whether mega or not. And it looks fabulous in pink. This is a relatively standard rocks-setter, but I figured that I'd rather have a burn on an opponent that a harder-hitting potential flinch.
Roar is for predicting set-ups like the aforementioned DD-Mence, the calm mind Reuniclus, and of course the eternal enemies of CroCune and CurseLax. It will also deal additional damage to flying defoggers like Mandibuzz and Crobat. Can also go toe-to-toe with a non-Freeze-Dry, Life Orb Mamoswine, killing or crippling it with a successful Scad, and you mayb anticipate a Roserade's switch-in and give decent neutral damage with Earthquake. You can also switch back into Croak to take a grass move. God I love poison types.
Morrissey (Roserade) (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
IVs: 0 Atk
Calm Nature
- Spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain
- Leech Seed
I'm quite proud of this nickname, and I love this set. This team has quite a strong weakness to ground and fighting wallbreakers. Which is why you set up hazards, which is where this charming plant comes in. It's a joy to switch this in on fat mons, like Blissey or even Umbreon, set up a seed to pressure the switch, and start spiking up. One turn of seed damage will regain at least as much as what a Blissey's Seismic Toss will do, and it works well to mop up Toxic Spikes, as well as sponge up status moves with Natural Cure, because this team is lacking a cleric. Some of the switch-ins to things like intimidate, defensive Arcanine are risky, given it's not the best on the physical side, but there's also Swampert for that. It also can do nothing to Crobat and does not get along at all well with Reuniclus. Sounds like we could do with psychic/flying counters.
Hans (Hydreigon) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Roost
- Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse
Named after the immortal villain from Die Hard, if you don't play around this thing probably, your team's gonna DIE HARD!!!!
I'll stop now.
But Seriously, this can blow a hole in any team. the poison types already in place on this team mean that Flash Cannon isn't required for fairies, and can check a Reuniclus Focus blast if they have to. and presuming this to be used as a revenge-killer, it can give you offensive momentum, especially with hazards already up. Dual-STAB plus Fire Blast for Cobalion/Forretress is pretty tidy. Whilst this is a guaranteed safe switch in to almost and Chandelure. and even if it Tricks you, Scarfed/Specs Hydreigon is still perfectly viable. Whilst many mons on this team having glaring 4x weaknesses, I find that simply gives you more scope to make predictions and plays, which is just fun. Espcially when Roosting.
Cara (Darmanitan) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Fire Punch
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
Named after the overrated actress/model with the weird eyebrows, this thing is anything but overrated. Like Miss Delevigne though, it's everywhere at the moment.
Another relatively standard set, but a very effective pivot and lead. In case you can't tell from the Roost on Hydreigon, I absolutely hate recoil moves, and I find a SF Fire Punch can do a perfectly good job when it needs to as well. Also, given that there's no spinner on this team, the less damage I can inflict upon myself the better. This is probably the most common lead in the team, blowing a hole in both Azelf and Mega Beedril, with the Slide/Quake combo to deal with Flash Fire users and switch-ins like Rhyperior or similar physical walls. Requires some prediction in terms of a Hydreigon switch-in, as U-Turn can blow the aforementioned hole in it, but FP/Earthquake really can't.
Soul Patch (Aerodactyl) (M) @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Tough Claws
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 8 SpD / 248 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Roost
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Aerial Ace
OH SWEET LORD I LOVE PURSUIT TRAPPING NOW.
I know it's not stab, but boy is it effective. If you predict a Knock Off from an Azelf, U-turning into Aero with Darmanitan means that you can potentially kill the Azelf before it does too much damage, or even gets up rocks. I hope you can tell by that level of detail, that that's happened a lot for me.
Aero also acts as an excellent revenge killer to foes like No Guard Machamp (Aerial Ace gets the TC boost) and any non-scarfed Shaymin. It's a shame Stone Edge doesn't get the TC boost but Aero's power is more than enough to take out something like Crobat and stop it from defogging. Roost is there for the inevitable Empoleon switch, and even then, Emp would suffer at the hands of a seeding Roserade and a punching Toxicroak, and be pressured into switching from there.
There is no spinner, there is no cleric, and no real check for powerful ground types, but I find this team exceedingly fun to use, and maybe you will too. If you have any advice I welcome it. I hope I've followed the rules and not missed any criteria. Happy Laddering!
If you want to try the team, here's the pastebin link: http://pastebin.com/FCzEwY0D
