Megahorns

[Heysup]

I guess it just got old. Was really fun earlier in the metagame though. This team thrives against offense and balance but can't really break stall that easily. The basic strategy is to get hazards up and get Escavalier in to shoot Megahorns to wear down the Bug resists. Once the counters were worn down, I used Heracross to sweep.

Team Megahorns:

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Froslass (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Snow Cloak
EVs: 224 HP / 108 Def / 176 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Taunt
- Spikes
- Pain Split
- Ice Beam

Role Summary: Spiker and Spin Blocker. I have been addicted to Froslass for two gens out of a possible two. Having 2 slots in one Pokemon is an invaluable skill to have. It also makes a decent check to Heracross and other foes. Froslass is just so good at what she does that I can't even consider another Spiker. The Ice Beam at a faster Speed allows me to revenge kill Staraptor AND Flygon.


Moveset, Item, and EVs: Taunt is to stop opposing set up while Spikes are quite clear. Ice Beam is a staple, but Pain Split is also very useful because it allows me to use a psuedo-attack psuedo recover. Outspeeds Base 100s (Celebi, Flygon, Zapdos) and rest in bulk with Leftovers and HP. This allows Froslass to abuse its versatility.

Donphan (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Atk / 96 Def / 16 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Shard

Role Summary: Again, another Pokemon that has dual roles. Stealth Rocker and Rapid Spinner. Similar to Froslass, it comes with the ability to check various mons including Rhyperior and other physical attackers. Donphan is my usual crutch when it comes to taking an attack here and there, especially one that I know Snorlax can't take. I generally need to keep Donphan alive for an unexpected sweeper. Sturdy helps as well, since I can easily get Stealth Rock up if I have to.


Moveset, Item, and EVs: Basic EVs that I used from last Gen to survive 2 Heracross Megahorns, Gallade CCs, and Rhyperior Earthquakes. It also packs a bit of a punch. I should probably change Ice Shard since Sun is not common anymore, however.

Shaymin @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Seed Flare
- Air Slash
- Leech Seed
- Substitute

Role Summary: Shaymin wins games for me; people never expect a SubSeeder. Shaymin was originally on the team to take Earthquakes and Water-types while providing a sweeping force, but the SubSeed set really shines with Spikes and Stealth Rock up. Air Slash allows me to annoy Celebi, but it is really best used to surprise kill Pokemon like Heracross.


Moveset, Item, and EVs: Max HP for 101 Subs, but I am considering going MinHP with max SpA. Air Slash is the best coverage move because it hits opposing Grass-types the hardest and can really screw people over with the flinch.

Escavalier (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 252 HP / 255 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Megahorn
- Iron Head
- Frustration
- Pursuit

Role Summary: Very important part of my offense. I try to get him in on a nice resisted attack or on the revenge kill and let loose as many Megahorns as possible to break down the opponents core. I also use him to deal with Espeon who like stopping me from Spiking. Megahorn Megahorn Megahorn all game.


Moveset, Item, and EVs: Megahorn, Iron Head, and Frustration are pretty straightforward, but I use Megahorn 9/10 times. Pursuit destroys Espeon quite easily, and lets me Spike freely.

Snorlax (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 40 HP / 68 Atk / 224 Def / 176 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Body Slam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Whirlwind

Role Summary: I originally thought of this as a joke, but it is far from it. The ability to phaze out basically any Special Attacker while also shooting out hard hitting paralyzing Body Slams has put Snorlax in a great spot on this team. It is my primary check for every kind of special Pokemon, as well as a nice Paralysis spreader.


Moveset, Item, and EVs: Restalk gives Snorlax survivability and Whirlwind and Body Slam make him very annoying. The EVs, well, I don't recall exactly why I made them like this. They are a spread of bulk, defense, and Attack that make Snorlax so versatile.

Heracross (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Stone Edge
- Night Slash

Role Summary: Heracross is simply my late game sweeper. I absorb status whenever I can to make sure I hit harder. Heracross also functions excellently as a revenge killer. Nothing else to say about Heracross really. I chose him over other sweepers (obviously) because of his access to Megahorn. You can't run a team with double Megahorn without double Megahorn right?


Moveset, Item, and EVs: Straightforward moves until you get to Night Slash, which is mostly just a filler. I like hitting Ghost-types for a little harder than just relying on .5x Megahorn.

 

[Snunch]

Yeah the metagame just took a huge dump on this team transitioning from round 1 to 2. You seems pretty helpless against Staraptor and the birds it's commonly paired with. A good way to fix this would be to use Rhyperior over Donphan. The "standard" EV spread from 4th gen (140 HP / 252 Atk / 32 Def / 84 Spe Adamant) survives 2 adamant Staraptor CCs after rocks. This makes you very weak to opposing spikestacking though, so you could also consider Kabutops, but it can't take hits nearly as well as Rhyperior can. Good luck!

 

[jc104]

Cool team.

I don't know much about UU, but I can remember that Snorlax tends to get better overall defenses from investing heavily in HP rather than Def and SpD. In gen 4, where ResTalk Snorlax was surprisingly good, I used something like 240hp 252def 16 spdef careful for roughly even, optimum defenses. Snorlax still hits pretty hard, but you could move some evs to attack if you want. Unfortunately X-Act's applet is down so I can't tell you exactly what's best - have a go with the damage calculator.

Also, I would recommend HP fire over Air Slash on shaymin. It is only very slightly weaker, and has perfect accuracy, but most importantly it provides coverage against steels; you did say that taking out bug resists was a major objective of this team, and HP fire can help do exactly that. If you were to move the HP evs to special attack this may be an even better idea, since Celebi and Heracross should give you less trouble. The IV drop is unfortunate, but atm I dont see what business you have staying in against many base 100s to risk a speed tie anyway. You can even have some HP and Special attack investment together.

Good luck

 

[Graceclaw]

Cool looking team. As mentioned before, the EV spread on the Snorlax is rather weird. I've always just invested in HP over Sp D, since it's the better stat to invest in when going for bulk. His defense, even with those EVs is kinda bleah, and how many physical attackers do you leave him in on? Maybe go with 200 HP/200 Sp D/Rest in Attack and see how it does. Your team is also pretty weak to fire, with Froslass taking 2x and Esca (a core part of your offense) taking 4x. If an Arcanine (very popular 'cause he's a boss) comes in and threatens to flare blitz the hell outta your team, what are you going to do to stop him? Snorlax's thick fat won't do much to protect his pitiful defense, the aforementioned pokes are insta KO'd, Donphan can only really take one and might not be able to retaliate in return, Heracross is frail (duh), and Shaymin takes 2x from it. All in all, it's gunna hurt. Rhyperior, as mentioned above, makes a great choice, resisting fire and having the ability to set up subs and wreck (with Megahorn, no less! (even though this time w/o STAB :( ))

 

[Heysup]

@ Above

Arcanine doesn't give me much trouble because I can just hop around and bait Close Combat as I switch into Heracross or Donphan. He also starts off with ~50-60% HP due to hazards so he can only come in once or he can't attack and needs to Morning Sun.

Cool team.

I don't know much about UU, but I can remember that Snorlax tends to get better overall defenses from investing heavily in HP rather than Def and SpD. In gen 4, where ResTalk Snorlax was surprisingly good, I used something like 240hp 252def 16 spdef careful for roughly even, optimum defenses. Snorlax still hits pretty hard, but you could move some evs to attack if you want. Unfortunately X-Act's applet is down so I can't tell you exactly what's best - have a go with the damage calculator.

Generally higher HP means that you want to invest in defenses for more defense per point in hp because Pokemon is a game of %s. I could be wrong though?

Also, I would recommend HP fire over Air Slash on shaymin. It is only very slightly weaker, and has perfect accuracy, but most importantly it provides coverage against steels; you did say that taking out bug resists was a major objective of this team, and HP fire can help do exactly that. If you were to move the HP evs to special attack this may be an even better idea, since Celebi and Heracross should give you less trouble. The IV drop is unfortunate, but atm I dont see what business you have staying in against many base 100s to risk a speed tie anyway. You can even have some HP and Special attack investment together.

Good luck

I'd consider it actually. Air Slash is really useful for flinching shit though.

 

[jc104]

I had a go with the damage calc, and I can confirm that a max hp spread for snorlax is better than your current one, though I somewhat doubt that it is optimal. The key is that an HP increase affects both of your defences; even Blissey tends to get better defences with heavy HP investment. The damage difference seemed fairly minimal in this case though so you may wish to consider stoss, leech seed etc. in making your decision.

edit - heysup that really doesnt prove anything - you failed to look at SpD, which I assure you makes all the difference. X-acts applet is actually back up; it never tells me to use less than 164 evs in hp, and never more than 188. I think this tells you how much HP you need to use.

 

[NickiMinaj]

I would have Wish support on you team to utilize escavalier more. So I would recommend adding a blissey instead of snorlax.

 

[Heysup]

I had a go with the damage calc, and I can confirm that a max hp spread for snorlax is better than your current one, though I somewhat doubt that it is optimal. The key is that an HP increase affects both of your defences; even Blissey tends to get better defences with heavy HP investment. The damage difference seemed fairly minimal in this case though so you may wish to consider stoss, leech seed etc. in making your decision.

Again, not true. I'll show you by example: Let's call this a Flygon's Adamant Earthquake vs Snorlax. One EQ vs Max HP / 0 Defense one EQ vs 0 HP / 128 Defense.

Max HP / 0 Def: 328 Atk vs 166 Def & 524 HP (100 Base Power): 211 - 250 (40.27% - 47.71%)

0 HP / 128 Def: 328 Atk vs 198 Def & 461 HP (100 Base Power): 178 - 211 (38.61% - 45.77%)

As you can see, a 128 Def / 128 SpD snorlax takes hits from anything better than a Max HP one would. The amount of base HP that lax has makes each defense point worth MORE than 2 HP points.

I would have Wish support on you team to utilize escavalier more. So I would recommend adding a blissey instead of snorlax.

Blissey is OU. Chansey does not have Whirlwind or 308 Attack STAB Body Slam.