SV UU Lurkington City (Peak 19)

[Geopolitics]

WELCOME TO LURKINGTON CITY



After a six month hiatus from UU (see: law school, bar exam, etc.) I'm back with another RMT. As with past RMTs, this post is mostly to demonstrate the usefulness of Pokemon which I feel are underutilized. The team could certainly improve by swapping out some of the niche Pokemon with stronger threats; however, I personally enjoy reading/writing RMTs that try and push the meta in different directions (so that is what this one will do).

Teambuilding Process

The team all starts with Lokix. Lokix has few counters in the tier and, at least in my experience, usually struggles most with things like Cobalion and Zapdos. Starting with Lokix gives me an immediate U-Turn presence, but also establishes clear weaknesses.


Cobalion is one of my favorite Pokemon in UU right now - it brings utility and speed. However, it also is limited in what it can do to Golurk. Ideally, Golurk gets in versus slower walls (Toxapex) or comes into Cobalion off of a U-Turn. Since most Cobalion run Volt Switch and Body Press as their only attacking moves, Golurk is gift wrapped opportunities to nuke walls with its strong STABs.


Golurk and Lokix are an odd duo and greatly benefit from speed support and strong wallbreaking - particularly against things like fast Skeledirge and Zapdos. The sand duo of Tyranitar and Excadrill gives speed and power here - along with Rapid Spin - to help wear down/break through walls which otherwise take advantage of Lokix's limited coverage options.


Literally my goat. Helmet feels mandatory for Lokix/Scizor, Thunder Wave provides excellent support to Golurk and Tyranitar, and Stealth Rocks are still broken.


I believe in Noivern more than myself. I needed a water resist here and some natural speed, as most of my other "speed" is dependent on sand and priority.

Lokix, to me, is clearly the best Pokemon in UU right now. It has a little bit of Tornadus-T to it in the sense that it is extremely splashable and can wear a number of different hats depending on what the team needs (e.g. Banded, Boots, Scarf, SD). I wanted to make Lokix the focal point of the team and use its strengths as the foundation of a team rather than something that merely enhances the existing threats. The moveset and spread are extremely straightforward here and do not merit extensive explanation. While using this team, it's important to recognize high priority threats and their KO percentages with First Impression - once you've mastered that, this team becomes extremely fun to use (especially when you can confidently say, Tera Normal Noivern rather than Tera Bug Lokix).

Choice Band Tyranitar seems to find its way onto tons of my teams - not only does it blow soft counters away with CB Knock Off/Stone Edge, but it provides sand support to Excadrill. The sand support really greases the offensive wheels of the team: Tyranitar can come in, weaken physical walls which would otherwise sit on Excadrill, and then enable Excadrill two to three turns of Sand Rush. By that point, the battle can be functionally over. It's important to mindfully click Knock Off on this team, as the use of Poltergeist is offset by Knock Off. I've found Tyranitar to be especially useful at luring in Cobalion (opening the door for Golurk); I'd encourage aggressive play with both Tyranitar and this team.

What can be said about Excadrill that has not already been praised? I went with Air Balloon here (mostly due to my susceptibility to other Excadrill) over Life Orb. The Life Orb power is nice, but oftentimes is not worth the HP tradeoff. I think the standard spread omits Iron Head for Rock Slide, although I have yet to entertain that option extensively. Reviewers may seek to persuade me in the replies.

Cobalion has been a longtime UU staple - I fondly remember spamming this in ORAS UU with my buddy Brendan. The default set seems to use Tera Dragon, although I believe Tera Fairy helps this team's matchup versus things like Scarf Okidogi substantially. This team has pretty thin protection against things like Scizor and Lokix - when you see either in team preview, you need to hold onto this goat until you can ensure a revenge kill with Lokix. I opted for Close Combat over Max HP and Body Press, although I am open to changing that.

Golurk is absolutely a meme wallbreaker, but he finds unique effectiveness on this team because of how much better he handles Cobalion than other Lokix companions. Golurk is slow - you need to maneuver it well and pick your spots to really make the most of it. Look to come in off of Lokix U-Turn and Noivern U-Turn: both lure out steel types who are otherwise susceptible to Golurk. Once you get Golurk in versus something like Cobalion, you realize how few Ghost resists there are in the tier. Players will frequently have to sack or let their best physical wall take substantial damage, paving the way for Excadrill or Lokix to sweep.

Despite not being ranked in the VR, I think Noivern is super strong in the current metagame. It outspeeds both Greninja and Serperior (while being able to switch into their STABs) and threatens to revenge or pivot to a better situation. Choice Specs Tera Normal Boomburst just melts non-resists and all but commands ghost or steel types onto the field - which, of course, opens the door for a U-Turn into Golurk.

Boomburst Calcs

252 SpA Choice Specs Tera Normal Noivern Boomburst vs. 208 HP / 108 SpD Assault Vest Tornadus-Therian: 181-214 (51.5 - 60.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Choice Specs Tera Normal Noivern Boomburst vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Excadrill: 199-234 (55.1 - 64.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Choice Specs Tera Normal Noivern Boomburst vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Arcanine-Hisui: 168-198 (50.7 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Choice Specs Tera Normal Noivern Boomburst vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Hydrapple: 337-397 (81.2 - 95.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Tera Normal Noivern Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Metagross: 153-180 (42 - 49.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Choice Specs Tera Normal Noivern Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Slowking: 256-303 (64.9 - 76.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

********************

Thanks for reading. Threatlist and importable are in the below spoilers.

Threatlist

If it runs protect, you need to prevent it from Battle Bonding by keeping rocks off the field and preserving Noivern's HP. If it doesn't run protect, you have Lokix.

Pain in the ass - outsped by Drill in Sand and Noivern if not Scarf, but can cause some trouble if you're locked into Knock Off on Tyranitar after a KO and it comes in. Preserve Noivern's HP and do whatever you can to catch it with a Thunder Wave on the switch in with Cobalion.

You need to preserve Cobalion to win. Try to only take U-Turns and keep your Rocky Helmet, sacrificing your own Lokix's Heavy Duty Boots if need be.

see above

Importable

Lokix @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Tinted Lens
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch

Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin

Cobalion @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Justified
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch
- Thunder Wave

Golurk @ Choice Band
Ability: No Guard
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Poltergeist
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Sleep Talk

Noivern @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Boomburst
- Draco Meteor
- U-turn
- Flamethrower

Proof of Peak

 

[TheDuckChris]

No way the Lokixington masterpiece

 

[Estarossa]

This is a pretty cool looking team, Sand Structures are definitely underrated rn and something I've been enjoying too, I thought based off the comment you made on the Excadrill bit i'd try and convince you on Rock Slide a little though, I think the main reason I'd eye it up on a team like this is the benefits given through actually having an Excadrill that beats Zapdos (and to a lesser extent *can* beat Mandibuzz) here given the vulnerability of multiple other Pokemon to things like this. On that angle I think having a more defensive Tera is useful to it here too potentially for those things like the Zapdos etc, Tera Rock is neat when in combo with Rock Slide for the power up but also the sand boost and Flying/Fire resists.

On paper triple choice is quite daunting to run on a structure like this, worth noting you don't actually pack Water-resists too and things like Gren could be capable of picking everytime they come in since Noiv wont rly take more than 1 hit / could get dropped by Ice Beam, Same issue is going to apply to your ability (or lack thereof) to switch into Slowking in theory. Tbh I think while Noiv is undeniably a cool Pokemon I would potentially be eyeing up the value given by replacing your Noiv for something like an AV Tornadus-T, you are getting that Ground resist but also giving yourself more counterplay against Waters and keeping the speed + momentum, but I could definitely see a world for a Zapdos instead too at some cost for your Gren matchup to give yourself your Excadrill answer if you wanted to take Air Balloon off your Excadrillfor a better answer.

On the multiple Choiced Pokemon angle, perhaps there's room to explore running something like a DD + protect set on your Tyranitar here, you could definitely also explore putting Stealth Rock onto it and running an offensive Rocks set and running both Zapdos and an AV torn over Cobalion + Noivern perhaps, it gives you the best of both worlds I was talking about before but the Zapdos still provides you your Lokix + Scizor counterplay there. Also still provides that paralysis support through Static (+ Discharge if you wish with a Discharge + U-turn set?) that you would lose by giving up Coba.

I'm perhaps a little confused by the value provided by running Sleep talk on your Golurk, given that Sleep Clause exists you are only really looking at ways of Self-Sleeping, the last slot is admittedly kinda low value, but you definitely have a few options still kinda, Dynamic Punch given on a No-Guard set could be a nice middle ground thing for instance, or Ice Punch potentially for your best take-out move versus Hydrapple for Excadrill?