I've got no choice - nUU

[Jigo]

Hi guys. I'm not really a fan of the nUU environment, but since I have no choice but to use it on Shoddy, here's my stab at it. It's not really offensive, definitely not stall (which annoys the crap out of me,) so I guess it's a pretty basic cookie cutter team. Enjoy =]

[Lead]

Rotom @ Leftovers
Timid - Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Thunder Wave
-Will-o-Wisp
-Thunderbolt
-Shadow Ball

I chose Rotom as a lead mainly because he's fairly unpredictable. I run a pretty basic offensive double status kind of thing. First turn I usually use a status move, unless I predict a Taunt. Unless it's an obvious choice to attack of course. Crobat, who I seem to see quite often, is pretty easily handled by a Thunderbolt. Rotom is also a great lead because support leads usually switch out, predicting a Trick. In which case I can use a status move to cripple the usual incoming sweeper.

[The Offense]

Starptor @ Choice Scarf
Adamant - Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
-Return
-U-Turn
-Brave Bird
-Close Combat/Pursuit

Ahh Starptor. What a great threat to nUU he is. Staraptor is my main physical offense and a great revenge killer. My main moves are Return and U-Turn, which I always use to see if Slowbro will Thunder Wave. I've never had to use Close Combat, so I'm thinking of testing Pursuit, which I've had quite a few opportunities to use.

Espeon @ Leftovers
Timid - Synchronize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Psychic
-Signal Beam
-Calm Mind
-Substitute

Espeon is my favorite Poke ever, so I had to use him when I finally got the chance! Psychic and Calm Mind are standard, I use Signal Beam over Hidden Power Fighting because I dont want to be walled by other Psychics, particullary Slowbro. Trust me, it works. The 10% confusion is also nice. The reason why I use Substitute over anything else is because after a few Calm Minds, Espeon can get behind a sub and get at least one extra kill before a physical threat would've otherwise taken him down. It's also great for blocking Lanturn's Confuse Ray and Calm Minding up.

Manectric @ Life Orb
Hasty - Static
EVs: 84 Atk / 208 SpA / 216 Spe
-Thunderbolt
-Crunch
-Flamethrower
-Hidden Power Grass

I use Manectric because he's a pain in the ass, and a great wall breaker. Although he cant take on Chansey, Manectric can take on several other problematic defensive threats like Hypno, Lanturn, and Grumpig. Not much switches into a Thunderbolt safely.

[The Support]

Uxie @ Leftovers
Relaxed - Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
-Stealth Rock
-Knock Off
-U-Turn
-Psychic

The game plan is simple with this one. Stealth Rock as soon as possible, Knock Off annoying Life Orbs with those amazing defenses, and then U-Turn the hell outta there. Psychic is mainly filler, but I do use it when Uxie isnt facing a serious threat.

Registeel @ Leftovers
Careful - Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Atk / 200 SpD
-Thunder Wave
-Curse
-Iron Head
-Earthquake

Registeel is a great addition to my team. He's the perfect Raikou counter and can take on plenty of other special attackers. He carries Thunder Wave just in case Rotom wasn't able to paralyze what's too quick, it also works great with Registeel's STAB Iron Head and that handy 30% flinch rate.

Rate away...

 

[bugmaniacbob]

I think you forgot to put the EVs on Rotom. So I cannot judge correctly by my following statement- Ambipom leads will usually get the better of you. Since Fake Out is SE + He flinches you. If you don't invest in def. this will be a problem as he can Baton Pass to someone else anyway.

And yes, Pursuit is considerable on Staraptor, provided you keep it concealed until later in the game, when they will expect CC in that slot and will rarely switch in stuff.

Otherwise this team is quite good, though not the best. You may lose
some odd battles but this is a solid team. Good Work.

What.

Fake Out... is a Normal move. It doesn't affect Rotom. Brick Break, U-turn and Aerial Ace are about as problematic as a dog-ear on a piece of paper. Payback is, of course, a problem, but a simple Will-o-wisp or Thunder Wave easily solves that.

Keep CC on 'Raptor. Things like Aggron and Registeel are going to have a field day if you don't keep it. Pursuit is useful, but if you don't have CC you might as well use Toxic Orb Swellow for higher speed and ability to switch between attacks.

Azumarill can use Ice Punch, Aqua Jet and Superpower, which you may want to think about.

I personally use a TrickScarf Espeon to get the jump on possible counters.

Other than that, excellent team.

 

[Erazor]

It might just be that I am biased, but Close Combat is necessary on Staraptor. It's what seperates him from Swellow, who is completely walled by Steels/Rocks. Close Combat gives him a fighting chance(no pun intended) against Registeel/Steelix/Regirock. This is even more important than usual since Staraptor is choiced. As RaikouLover's thread points out, coverage is necessary. Staraptor doesn't get STAB on pursuit, so I don't think that it is worth it.

By the way, your Rotom has no EVs listed. I would recommend 252HP, 252 def Bold on Rotom, to take hits from Staraptor.

I think there is a big CM Raikou weakness: if your opponent is smart and saves it for late game, it runs through the full team assuming Thunderbolt/Shadow Ball/HP Ground. So I would recommend putting a Registeel in Azumarill's place. It lowers the team's offensive capabilities, but it's worth it.

Registeel @ leftovers
Careful nature
EVs: 252 HP, 200 sp.def, 56 Atk
-Earthquake
-Iron Head
-Thunder Wave/Toxic
-Curse

This might help you. After a couple of Curses, it's nearly impenetrable. If you don't want Curse, you could use Explosion, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Hope I helped

 

[Jigo]

I think you forgot to put the EVs on Rotom. So I cannot judge correctly by my following statement- Ambipom leads will usually get the better of you. Since Fake Out is SE + He flinches you. If you don't invest in def. this will be a problem as he can Baton Pass to someone else anyway.

And yes, Pursuit is considerable on Staraptor, provided you keep it concealed until later in the game, when they will expect CC in that slot and will rarely switch in stuff.

Otherwise this team is quite good, though not the best. You may lose some odd battles but this is a solid team. Good Work.

thanks, I put in the EV's.

as for Pursuit on Staraptor, I've decided to leave it as Close Combat thanks to those who posted below you.

What.

Fake Out... is a Normal move. It doesn't affect Rotom. Brick Break, U-turn and Aerial Ace are about as problematic as a dog-ear on a piece of paper. Payback is, of course, a problem, but a simple Will-o-wisp or Thunder Wave easily solves that.

Keep CC on 'Raptor. Things like Aggron and Registeel are going to have a field day if you don't keep it. Pursuit is useful, but if you don't have CC you might as well use Toxic Orb Swellow for higher speed and ability to switch between attacks.

Azumarill can use Ice Punch, Aqua Jet and Superpower, which you may want to think about.

I personally use a TrickScarf Espeon to get the jump on possible counters.

Other than that, excellent team.

The reason that I like Rest Talk Azumarill is because of his relative bulkiness and because he is mostly unexpected. Most people expect a standard CB Azumarill with the same attacks, Waterfall / Superpower / Aqua Jet / whatever, so if they have something that they think may be taken down by an Aqua Jet, it gives me the opportunity to use a more powerful attack and hit the incoming Poke.

What knid of set do you run on Espeon? Through all my battles with this team, I dont think I would've ever needed to use a Scarf on Espeon. I may test Trick SPecs, though. Perhaps with a set of Psychic / Signal Beam / Hidden Power Fighting / Trick. thanks for your help =]

It might just be that I am biased, but Close Combat is necessary on Staraptor. It's what seperates him from Swellow, who is completely walled by Steels/Rocks. Close Combat gives him a fighting chance(no pun intended) against Registeel/Steelix/Regirock. This is even more important than usual since Staraptor is choiced. As RaikouLover's thread points out, coverage is necessary. Staraptor doesn't get STAB on pursuit, so I don't think that it is worth it.

By the way, your Rotom has no EVs listed. I would recommend 252HP, 252 def Bold on Rotom, to take hits from Staraptor.

I think there is a big CM Raikou weakness: if your opponent is smart and saves it for late game, it runs through the full team assuming Thunderbolt/Shadow Ball/HP Ground. So I would recommend putting a Registeel in Azumarill's place. It lowers the team's offensive capabilities, but it's worth it.

Registeel @ leftovers
Careful nature
EVs: 252 HP, 200 sp.def, 56 Atk
-Earthquake
-Iron Head
-Thunder Wave/Toxic
-Curse

This might help you. After a couple of Curses, it's nearly impenetrable. If you don't want Curse, you could use Explosion, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Hope I helped

I've decided to keep CC on Starptor =]

I'm leaning towards a quicker Rotom as my lead, mainly because my team isnt very fast, so if I can get a quick Thunder Wave or something before it get's KO'd (which it may not if I test Bold.) Also, I often revenge kill slower enemies with Rotom's relatively high special attack. but I'll think about testind a Bold version.

and as for Registeel, I have had problems with Raikou and Registeel could definitely help, I'll test him. thanks for your help =]

 

[Imran]

I see a reasonable weakness to things such as Swords Dance Absol / Cacturne. You can play around this as you can pretty much guarentee that they will never be running Night Slash and Sucker Punch on the same set, but relying on Espeon and Rotom to deal with Sucker Punch variens doesn't seem very reliable to me. One thing that could help is switching around Staraptors set, if you run a Substitute set, you can suprise them by Substituting and then using Close Combat to KO them. This is the set that I would suggest:

Staraptor @ Leftovers
Jolly Nature / Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
~ Close Combat
~ Brave Bird
~ Substitute
~ Roost

The unpredictability of Substitute and Roost will generally keep your Health at decent levels, and Brave Bird and Close Combat provide exellent coverage in UU, only Rotom resists it! Another item I have been running on this set is Sharp Beak, which grabs more 2HKOs and allows you to fake a Choice Band should you wish to.

Of course, if you use this set you lose your multi-purpose revenge killer, so we will ned to sort that out. Espeon seems the sensible place to go for this sort of thing, as we are already adding another Substitute set, and I'm not entirely sure exactly what Espeon is doing for your team, outside of being "another attacking threat, another one that is in fact walled by Chansey, the majority of whom carry Seismic Toss. My suggestion for this spot is a Choice Scarf Gallade, which will hit Dark types without Sucker Punch hard, and also has a psychic STAB, as Espeon did. You also get the handy STAB close Combat that will hit a lot of things hard. If they switch out of your attempted revenge kill, they are still not tnessecarily "safe," as they were more likely to be when you were using Staraptor in this role, here is the set that I would suggest:

Gallade @ Choice Scarf
Nature see-below / Steadfast
EVs: see below
~ Close Combat
~ Psycho Cut / Zen Headbutt
~ Night Slash
~ Trick

Trick can be used to screw over one of your opponents Pokemon at any point in the game, which could prove useful. Those three moves provide perfect coverage in the whole of Pokemon, but you may run an elemental punch in the last slot, should you want to hit something specific for super-effective damage. Zen Headbutt's flinch rate is workable with the Choice Scarf, although Psycho Cut is the generally more relibale option. As for the EVs, stick 252 into Attack, but then Speed is something we should be looking at, I have provided a list of numbers that you might want to hit:

423 - Jolly, 244 EVs - Outspeeds Torterra after a Rock Polish
419 - Jolly, 232 Evs - Outspeeds Scarf Roserade / Moltres and Exeggutor under Sunny Day
399 - Jolly, 184 EVs - Outspeeds Sunny Day Tangrowth, gives a bonus Speed point, 398 is impossible with a +Speed Nature / Scarf, so this is the number to use to beat Scarf Magmortar too
395 - Jolly, 176 EVs - Outspeeds +Speed Croabt
389 - Jolly, 140 EVs - Outspeeds Scarf Medicham
383 - Adamant, 236 EVs - Outspeeds +1 Feraligatr
373 - Adamant, 212 EVs - Outspeeds +Speed Sceptile
362 - Adamant, 178 EVs - Outspeeds +Speed Raikou

I doubt you would want to go any lower than that. Either way, select the Speed number that you want. This gives you the Nature, and then number of Speed EVs, then chuck 252 EVs into Atk, and the Rest in HP.

Now, let us move back to Azumarill, the "Status abosrber who went wrong." You don't seem to like it that much and you seem to indicate that it could be replaced, so the question is "does it needs to be replaced," well as I already alluded too a resist to Dark would be nice, as would a resist to Dragon, unfortunately this is much more easily accomplished in OU> I think we have a couple of options here:

1.) Replace the Azumarill with Registeel, who doesn't care about Thunder Wave or Toxic, and frees up a moveslot on Uxie to put something move useful that Stealth Rock, Tric Scarf for example

2.) ResTalk Steelix is generally a poor option, but could work here, seeing as you already have the Stealth Rock support on Uxie, it makes a decent all purpose counter, but lots of things got Super Power so this might not work as effectivly as we might want.

3.) Keep Azumarill, and try the changes that others and I have suggested, this way you will get a clearer picture of what the issues that this team still faces are, and we may be able to fit a more appropriate candidate for that spot if nessecary.

I'm tempted to go with option 3 here, as it will allow you to gauge how well the already suggested changes work, without "changing too much at once" then you can post back and say, I like this, I like that, I dislike this, this is / still is a problem etc... So we fix this team up in stages rather than in one huge long step, hopefully that way we can come to a more concrete solution for you =) Good luck with your team and don't forget to post back telling us what it is that is working / not working!

 

[Jigo]

hey guys, I've been testing Registeel and he works great! plays a much bigger role than Azumarill did. thanks!

the next one I'll be testing is Imran's Starptor idea.

 

[Altair]

Have you considered Magmortar for this team? It outclasses Manectric in almost every way except speed, which Espeon and Staraptor can compensate for with their good base speeds. Magmortar is a far better wall-breaker since it is able to take on Chansey with Cross Chop, and can still take on bulky waters like Milotic and Slowbro thanks to T-bolt. For Magmortar's set I would recommend this:

Magmortar @ Life Orb
Mild Nature
82 Attack, 182 Special Attack, 244 Speed

Fire Blast
Thunderbolt
Cross Chop
HP Grass

Pretty standard set, a combination of Skiddle's Magmortar and the Magmortar in the analysis. Fire Blast is for STAB, T-bolt is for bulky waters, Cross chop is for Chansey, and HP Grass is for Lanturn, who can give your other two sweepers a bit of trouble. The EVs allow you to always 2HKO a 0/252 Bold Chansey with Cross Chop when SR is down. Overall, it's a very good wall-breaker and would fit very well onto your team.

Edit: Edited Post

 

[sora13]

Have you considered Magmortar for this team? It outclasses Manectric in almost every way except speed, which Espeon and Staraptor can compensate for with their good base speeds. Magmortar is a far better wall-breaker since it is able to take on Chansey with Cross Chop, and can still take on bulky waters like Manectric could thanks to T-bolt. For Magmortar's set I would recommend this:

Magmortar @ Life Orb
Mild Nature
82 Attack, 182 Special Attack, 244 Speed

Fire Blast
Thunderbolt
Cross Chop
HP Grass

Pretty standard set, a combination of Skiddle's Magmortar and the Magmortar in the analysis. Fire Blast is for STAB, T-bolt is for bulky waters, Cross chop is for Chansey, and HP Grass is for Lanturn, who can give your other two sweepers a bit of trouble. The EVs allow you to always 2HKO a 0/252 Bold Chansey with Cross Chop when SR is down. Overall, it's a very good wall-breaker and would fit very well onto your team.

Manectric as a bulky water??!?!?!?!

Anyways, I agree with this poster. Magmortar is a far better wall breaker than Manectric could ever hope to be.

 

[Aquamentus]

Magmortar is a far better wall-breaker since it is able to take on Chansey with Cross Chop, and Magmortar can still take on bulky waters with T-Bolt, just like Manectric could.

That make sense?
Anyway, I'm not an expert on UU, but this team looks like it's already pretty solid with the suggestions the others have made. Ice Punch over Iron Head would give better coverage, but the STAB and flinch on Iron Head is worth it. So... I guess I don't have anything to nitpick. Good job.