ORAS UU J Cole's Album - UU Fire Spam Offense

[Mr.Murkrow]

Hey everybody, your acquaintance, Murk, here with another fun team that I put together for UU! If you're familiar with UU, you'd probably know that fire mons are pretty big threats, and having 2 of the best in the tier to break down each other's checks along with other support mons makes a pretty tough team to take on. I don't have an exact peak, but I've meandered around in the top 250 with this team, and won a couple room tours with it. It's a lot of fun to use, and I hope that you enjoy reading!

- listening to this soundtrack whilst I write this, so hope it relaxes you from your hard work and struggles from a tough day and enjoy the read once again :^)

Teambuilding Process

So first, we have said fire spam core. Infernape is a fantastic mix attacker, and has a lovely little surprise for one of the more popular fire checks of right now, and banded Entei is just amazing at breaking walls and revenging/cleaning with banded extreme speeds + sacred fire is awesome.

Next I added Lisk because fat waters are obviously going to be an issue, and Lisk is far and away my favorite water check/counter. I also thoroughly enjoy the volt switching ability to get free drops to my other members, mainly ape and entei because they're easily worn down.

Next I noticed that my team gets fully shredded by ground mons, so I opted to add the lovely Shuca lure empoleon to help deal with those a little bit better. It also does obligatory emp things like taking hits from hydreigon, and being a very reliable rocker in the tier.

Next up, I wanted to add a wincon and a fighting check, so Doublade fit the bill perfectly.

Lastly, I added mence to the fray for defog support (Lure emp typically don't use defog) as well as another fighting and ground check.

Rotom-M replaces lisk to remedy ground weakness better

Le Squad

GOMD (Entei) @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
-Extreme Speed
- Flare Blitz
- Stone Edge
Okay, so for starters, we have ye olde standard as shit banded entei, and why? Because this is fire spam, and entei is just an incredibly good pokemon in the UU tier. With the band, this thing has a fairly few switches, and can still hurt switchins with a good prediction, or just a mindless SF spam burn. ESpeed is such a great move for entei, and more often than not on this team, this guy will be the mon to clean up the game after everything has been thoroughly weakened. Overall just a fantastic revenger/wallbreaker, and I'd say is the best fire type in the tier for its sheer power (fuck you darm).

Fire Squad (Infernape) @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 24 Atk / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 27 HP / 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Fire Blast
- Close Combat
- Grass Knot Vacuum Wave
MixApe is yet another fantastic mon, and pairs up really well with Entei for wallbreaking purposes and such. This guy is really great at dealing with weakened threats, and takes care of almost every fire check with some prior damage minus Chandelure whom I cannot touch at all. I opted to forgo Vacuum Wave/Mach Punch for HP Ice, because the common Fat Mence/Special Defog mence, can get a little too comfortable switching in on ape, and when that happens they get a little present. Other moves are for fairly obvious reasons, GK for phat waters and stuff like rhyperior who don't mind a close combat too well, fire blast for powerful STAB, and close combat for another strong STAB. More often than not, ape is a mon I'll use to soften up the opponent so that Entei or Doublade can clean up the game. - Also, the hp ivs are to give ape a life orb number and get a few more hits out in theory.
Vac Wave > GK on behalf of Christo The Gr8 's suggestion, which does make quite a bit of sense, especially since Rotom is added for a serious grass nuke + VWave does let me handle mons like Hydra, Sharpedo and even Lisk late game where I had to rely on Entei to pick them off.

Hello (Rotom-Mow) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Leaf Storm​

Thanks to Christo The Gr8 for the suggestion. Rotom-M replaces Lisk to better remedy my ground weakness, while still having a very strong electric type. I decided Specs would be the way to go because I wanted more power out of Volt switches and other moves than Scarf could offer + there really isn't that much that Rotom needs to outspeed that Lisk did, the exception that comes to mind is Krook. While the water immunity is lost, no water in the tier especially appreciates taking a Specs Leaf Storm to the face. Trick is also a new toy that rotom has over Lisk which makes stall slightly more manageable if done right. Lastly, I opted for Timid Specs > Modest specs so that I can outspeed all variants of Gatr and Mamo (though shard still stings).

Wet Dreamz (Empoleon) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 168 SpA / 88 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Grass Knot
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Beam
Ahh... Lure emp, such a fun set... This gives me a way to 1v1 the spooky ground types in the tier like Nidoqing, Krook, Pert, and Mamo, as well as DD Mence even though I've noticed it not being as popular lately. It's just a fantastic rocker for offensive teams since it can deal serious damage/kill a lot of pokes that would usually prevent emp from staying in and laying rocks. It's ev's let it kill mamo and krook with torrent boosted scald, mence with ice beam, and non bulky perts with gk. Pretty good deal huh? For whatever reason, people don't really catch on to it being lure emp that often which is pretty nice since my team really doesn't appreciate eq's. Of course it can't switch in on an eq or earth power, so predictions are mandatory, but c'mon boys, on offense we make plays :^)

A Tale of 2 Citiez (Doublade) @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 232 HP / 252 Atk / 24 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- Iron Head
- Sacred Sword/Shadow Claw
Nascar doublade because speed ties are worse than hitler So if you couldn't tell, I have absolutely no switchins to fighting attacks, as well as no clear win condition and a kinda shaky MAero check with emp. I thought Doublade was absolutely perfect for this role, and it really helps out with the fire spam as it can get rid of pesky things like chandies with +2 sneak, as well dealing with fat psychics which can be a little annoying.I haven't used SClaw > Sacred Sword because I'm only annoyed by cress really, and cress can't do shit to Doublade anyways, but it's whatever. Like I was joking about earlier, I went with 24 speed ev's to attempt to creep pretty much every other doublade in the tier, which I think can be handy. Doublade is absolutely perfect for this team like I was saying, since it gives me a solid thing to beat up fighters with, and can really clean up a game with support from Fire Spam + Lisk. Also the fact that it can set up on so much of the tier makes it that much more threatening.

St. Tropez (Salamence) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Defog
- Roost
- Fire Blast
For the last slot of the team, I wanted a way to remove hazards as well as another check to ground and fighting. I noticed that this mence set had been gaining in popularity around the time P2 Offense was getting more popular, so it was something I really wanted to try out. Draco + Fire blast ravages offensive pokes in the tier, and doublade handles most of the things that can chew those two attacks. The intimidate support makes defogging away hazards a little easier, and I just found that a really good offensive defogger like this one suits my team extremely well, and is off the charts synergy-wise with the rest of my team.

Threat List

- Ground spam is very scary vs. my team because I have very limited switchins, but all of the offensive grounds in the tier can be revenged pretty easily, Empoleon can 1v1 all of them, and mence can switch in if predicted right, if not a mamo ofc.

- Enormous threat to my team, but gets worn down by rocks, Doublade is a fairly good switch and can 1v1 it, as well as emp can 1v1 it if my shuca isn't burned and emp is at good health

- Very annoying since they all pack Psyshock which hurts lisk, so I have to be careful. Doublade takes it on pretty well if they lack fire blast and I don't get burned.

- Can be extremely difficult to kill if Doublade is gone, but blade pretty much hard counters these since Reu seldomly run Shadow Ball in UU, but reu still doesn't appreciate recieving a nuke from Entei

- What team isn't threatened by this fucker? I just have to play smart around it, and go for damage and stuff. They carry aqua jet more these days, so ape is a little less reliable at taking on SD variants

- Not all too common, but shreds me pretty hard. I just gotta hit it really hard in order to deal with it.

- Ape lures in special/fat ones and does around 80% to max hp variants. Can be spooky if it gets up a DD, but I have emp to take an eq and kill in return.

- Can be problematic b/c emp lacks recovery, and ape doesn't have v-wave, so I just have to go for chip damage and finish it off with entei or catch it on a switch

- Annoying piece of shit as it walls a good part of my team. Lisk is my best option, but can be annoying if paired with a ground

(Mega) - Can sweep through me, I need prior damage, and Entei can kill with espeed, definitely have to be careful.

- Keep doublade alive

(Mega) - Hard to switch in on. Doublade can take on some variants. Best course of action is to get into entei range.

- get your 50/50's right with Doublade and Mence, and it's cool lmao

- Tough to deal with with entei, and is untouchable vs ape. Gotta play smart, and try to pick it off with doublade

So that's the team! If you noticed anything that could improve it, then I'd love to hear your critiques. If you're here to be a bum and just use it because you're too lazy to make your own damn teams, then go for it :^)

Replays

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-256948070 - vs. Stall using Christo's Changes - Best shows off how Entei can heavily damage walls
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-256962808 - Entei runs the show

importable

GOMD (Entei) @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Stone Edge
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed

Fire Squad (Infernape) @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 24 Atk / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 27 HP / 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Grass Knot
- Fire Blast
- Close Combat

Hello (Rotom-Mow) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Leaf Storm

Wet Dreamz (Empoleon) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 168 SpA / 88 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Grass Knot
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Beam

A Tale of 2 Citiez (Doublade) @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 232 HP / 252 Atk / 24 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- Iron Head
- Sacred Sword

St. Tropez (Salamence) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Defog
- Roost
- Fire Blast

Thanks for reading!​

 

[Christo]

Hey Mr.Murkrow this is a pretty cool team you have here. Fire Spam is a really fun strategy and it can be really effective. It gave me success in the past UUPL. I like your use of HP ice Ape to lure in mence so Entei can have fun vs the opponent team. The only problem I have with this team is the stacked ground weaknesses.

My main suggestion is to try Rotom-M > Heliolisk. Rotom-M gives you a ground immunity while still doing practically the same job as Heliolisk but with a lower speed. Even without Dry Skin, Rotom M is a pretty reliable switch into bulky waters like Suicune. I also think this is a nice option as you get access to Trick. Trick can be useful for pokemon like Cress and Reuniclus if you see they are going to get out of hand. Doublade is pressured to wall a lot of pokemon, making it really easy for it to get worn down(your only answer to such sweepers). You should opt for Choice Specs and if you feel you lack speed, you can try Choice Scarf. Here is your set:

Rotom-Mow @ Choice Specs /Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature / Modest
- Volt Switch
- Leaf Storm
- Thunderbolt
- Trick

My last suggestion would be to use Vacuum Wave > Grass Knot. Pokemon like Hydreigon and Sharpedo are very threatening and having access to Priority will be beneficial in picking such pokemon off. You already have a Rotom M and Grass Knot on Empoleon so the Grass Stab on Infernape does not seem too necessary.

These are pretty much my only suggestions, the team was pretty well made. When making Fire Spam, team building is limited as it is, so I think you did a solid job. If the team was not designed to be fire spam, I probably would have suggested a Mega Evo > Infernape and the Rotom Mow suggestion, but I do not want to defeat the purpose of the team. Good Luck with the team, man!

 

[Mr.Murkrow]

Christo The Gr8 Thanks for the rate man, I'm reserving this slot to let you know what I think of the changes in action, but they all do make a lot of sense

 

[teal6]

Hey Mr. Murkrow,

So, when looking at your team I definitely see a really cohesive idea that I've actually tried myself! Fire Spam is fun especially because most of the fire mons in UU are pretty sick. Unfortunately, you're running into one of the problems I was, in that you literally get hit for SE damage by Mamoswine on every single mon you have. You do have Shuca Empoleon but Emp is very commonly a pivot, so I'm unsure in practice how long it'll keep the health required to make use of a STAB SE LO hit coming off a massive attack.

So reviewing mon by mon to try and optimize your goal...

Entei and Infernape look good. Infernape in particular is really good, a perfect set to mess up the counters (well, checks, because Entei has almost nothing that switches in on it) to Entei. I have to say I really like this pairing and would love to see some replays where they dominate.

I had a really similar thought to you, too, in building a fire spam team by adding Heliolisk. After all, it's usually the most perfect CroCune counter, right? But in terms of entire team cohesion I think you should definitely follow Christo's suggestion and run Rotom-M. I like Rotom a lot more than Heliolisk in this meta because it's pressure toward slower paced teams is so insane. Literally 3 of its 4 options are outright balance and stall breakers, which is always nice.

With this change though you have a bit of a weakness to the Nidos. Of course, they're one of the hardest to check in the entire tier because of sick coverage. Again, Shuca Emp is there but I'm not 100% sold on the set being the only vanguard against something like a rampaging King just due to how often it gets whittled. Given the offensive nature of your team I sort of like switching Emp for an offensive Azelf. Standard LO 3 attacks and rocks. This gives you a decent way of checking Nidos offensively and may increase the pace of your team a bit, but open you up to Krook a little more.

If you're interested, try the above and see what you think. I'd love to see replays of the team in action.

 

[Sacri']

If you're interested, try the above and see what you think. I'd love to see replays of the team in action.

UU room tour final : http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-256943311.

 

[Mr.Murkrow]

Hey Mr. Murkrow,

So, when looking at your team I definitely see a really cohesive idea that I've actually tried myself! Fire Spam is fun especially because most of the fire mons in UU are pretty sick. Unfortunately, you're running into one of the problems I was, in that you literally get hit for SE damage by Mamoswine on every single mon you have. You do have Shuca Empoleon but Emp is very commonly a pivot, so I'm unsure in practice how long it'll keep the health required to make use of a STAB SE LO hit coming off a massive attack.

So reviewing mon by mon to try and optimize your goal...

Entei and Infernape look good. Infernape in particular is really good, a perfect set to mess up the counters (well, checks, because Entei has almost nothing that switches in on it) to Entei. I have to say I really like this pairing and would love to see some replays where they dominate.

I had a really similar thought to you, too, in building a fire spam team by adding Heliolisk. After all, it's usually the most perfect CroCune counter, right? But in terms of entire team cohesion I think you should definitely follow Christo's suggestion and run Rotom-M. I like Rotom a lot more than Heliolisk in this meta because it's pressure toward slower paced teams is so insane. Literally 3 of its 4 options are outright balance and stall breakers, which is always nice.

With this change though you have a bit of a weakness to the Nidos. Of course, they're one of the hardest to check in the entire tier because of sick coverage. Again, Shuca Emp is there but I'm not 100% sold on the set being the only vanguard against something like a rampaging King just due to how often it gets whittled. Given the offensive nature of your team I sort of like switching Emp for an offensive Azelf. Standard LO 3 attacks and rocks. This gives you a decent way of checking Nidos offensively and may increase the pace of your team a bit, but open you up to Krook a little more.

If you're interested, try the above and see what you think. I'd love to see replays of the team in action.

I'm kind of a bum and forget to save replays, but I'll work on compiling some.

Also, not exactly sure about the Azelf change, but I suppose I'll give it a shot

 

[Dread Plate]

Hey there Mr. Murkrow!

First of all, I LOVE J. Cole and it is half the reason that I was so pumped to rate this team. Alright, now to give you my findings.

Now because I was busy testing the team people have thought of what I was thinking off. SIGH! But it's no big deal! As you know, I tested your team in the room tour and the final battle is posted. The other games were against inexperienced players. But, honestly to my surprise, the team held up. The problem that I can see with it, as of now, is that it can be slow at times. I also was going to suggest LO 3 Attack Azelf > Empoleon. Running this give you a rocker that can do immediate damage, even though Empoleon is fairly good on the team you get rocks decent coverage you don't have now and a ground immunity. Plus much needed speed. Azelf just lends itself better to this team, in my opinion, since this team has a very HO feel to it. Emp makes it hard to keep up the offensive pressure you need to have with this team, you need to be in control cause when you lose control the team starts to dwindle and requires a series of great plays to get back to where it needs to be.

Rotom-Mow has been brought up a lot because it is really good right now and it was my first replacement when testing things. But there is something to Heliolisk on this team, I don't know. Rotom-Mow can do basically the same thing, but Heliolisk just gives you a little bit more reliablity on this team. This team requires a lot of thinking and smart plays to win. Where Rotom-Mow gives you power and offense that the team is good at it also can slow you down after -2 from leaf storm, whereas Heliolisk has grass knot and know -2. I don't know, I have tried both and Helio seems to fit better to me, but Christo The Gr8 and teal6 both seem to have more knowledge than me on this specific play style.

Included in these changes, I would like to suggest trying maybe Scarf Hydreigon > Salamence. The only reason I say this is because I feel the team needs a Scarfer and one that can provide a similar job to Mence as well as access to U-turn or Volt Switch. Of course then this leaves you a little open to hazards, but I feel the trade for a more offensive pivot could do some good. This is just some food for thought though, Mence did do decent work when I used it. Just spamming Dark Pulse can be fun.

To briefly explain my choices in a concise sentence or two:

LO 3 Attack Azelf: This gives you speed and that much needed extra ground immunity, as well as giving you hazards and nice coverage

Rotom-Mow: This gives you another out to bulky water and a means to cripple them as well as another ground immunity.

Scarf Hydreigon: Gives the ability to gain switch initiative and can be a default lead, and it also packs powerful STAB moves and ground immunity.

Super fun playing with it, loved the references in the names, very nice work :] (Cole World)

 

[Mr.Murkrow]

Hey there Mr. Murkrow!

First of all, I LOVE J. Cole and it is half the reason that I was so pumped to rate this team. Alright, now to give you my findings.

Now because I was busy testing the team people have thought of what I was thinking off. SIGH! But it's no big deal! As you know, I tested your team in the room tour and the final battle is posted. The other games were against inexperienced players. But, honestly to my surprise, the team held up. The problem that I can see with it, as of now, is that it can be slow at times. I also was going to suggest LO 3 Attack Azelf > Empoleon. Running this give you a rocker that can do immediate damage, even though Empoleon is fairly good on the team you get rocks decent coverage you don't have now and a ground immunity. Plus much needed speed. Azelf just lends itself better to this team, in my opinion, since this team has a very HO feel to it. Emp makes it hard to keep up the offensive pressure you need to have with this team, you need to be in control cause when you lose control the team starts to dwindle and requires a series of great plays to get back to where it needs to be.

Rotom-Mow has been brought up a lot because it is really good right now and it was my first replacement when testing things. But there is something to Heliolisk on this team, I don't know. Rotom-Mow can do basically the same thing, but Heliolisk just gives you a little bit more reliablity on this team. This team requires a lot of thinking and smart plays to win. Where Rotom-Mow gives you power and offense that the team is good at it also can slow you down after -2 from leaf storm, whereas Heliolisk has grass knot and know -2. I don't know, I have tried both and Helio seems to fit better to me, but Christo The Gr8 and teal6 both seem to have more knowledge than me on this specific play style.

Included in these changes, I would like to suggest trying maybe Scarf Hydreigon > Salamence. The only reason I say this is because I feel the team needs a Scarfer and one that can provide a similar job to Mence as well as access to U-turn or Volt Switch. Of course then this leaves you a little open to hazards, but I feel the trade for a more offensive pivot could do some good. This is just some food for thought though, Mence did do decent work when I used it. Just spamming Dark Pulse can be fun.

To briefly explain my choices in a concise sentence or two:

LO 3 Attack Azelf: This gives you speed and that much needed extra ground immunity, as well as giving you hazards and nice coverage

Rotom-Mow: This gives you another out to bulky water and a means to cripple them as well as another ground immunity.

Scarf Hydreigon: Gives the ability to gain switch initiative and can be a default lead, and it also packs powerful STAB moves and ground immunity.

Super fun playing with it, loved the references in the names, very nice work :] (Cole World)

Thanks for the rate, and glad you enjoyed :] I am definitely seeing the trend that Azelf should replace Emp, so I will give that a go.
On the matter of Dreigon > Mence, while makes the team faster paced and all, I am going to keep Mence for the following reasons
A) This team absolutely needs Defog in my mind if I want to effectively get as many opportunities to blast the opponent with Entei and Ape, who get worn down very easily.
B) Part of the reason why I chose Mence was to check fighting. If I replace it, I only have one answer to fighting mons, and Scarf Mienshao in particular can absolutely tear my team apart if Doublade is gone, who coincidentally, has far more pressure to take on fighting mons on its own vs. having mence there to sponge hits as well.

So yeah, I do really appreciate your kind words, and the fact you took the time to rate the team, as this goes to everyone else :]

 

[jjoshcja]

The original team honestly seems really absurdly solid to me. Honestly the only change this wants is an offensive specs/scarf rotom-h over entie to take some pressure off empoleon against grounds and give lisk a nice redundant buddy with trick.

Losing espeed sucks but the overall power gain seems worth it.

 

[Mr.Murkrow]

The original team honestly seems really absurdly solid to me. Honestly the only change this wants is an offensive specs/scarf rotom-h over entie to take some pressure off empoleon against grounds and give lisk a nice redundant buddy with trick.

Losing espeed sucks but the overall power gain seems worth it.

It is an interesting thought which gives me a better way to take on mamo and others, but losing Entei would could lose the main skeleton of the team as well as my best revenge killer and wallbreaker

 

[jjoshcja]

Yeah, I really hate suggesting any mon's removal on a team with this much thought put into it.

Entie just feels like a weak point in the team somehow and rotom-h just feels really natural in that slot (same with rotom-m somehow heliolisk just feels right on this team). Don't ask me to define why its just the feels all 4 of those mons serve similar roles on this team so it may just come down to personal preference.

(sorry again for the sparse posts, but on good teams like this everything becomes tempo based and that's just more visceral to me than it is intellectual)