Revisiting the UU tier

[Double Electric]

Having played DP UU back in the days of pure text based combat and Shoddy Battle, I figured that I might as well try out the UU tier in BW.

This is a pretty reliable team a far as my win-loss ratio is concerned, but it's not without flaws, obviously. It's certainly nowhere near perfect, hence why I'm really hoping someone out there will have some advice that I can use to address its shortcomings.

I've posted other RMTs in the past, but I don't think I ever got a response for any of them. As such, I'm crossing my fingers that this time will be different. Anyone have any advice?

The Team:

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic

Bronzong is a relatively easy fix for a team in many respects, because it covers so many threats at once. Probably a third of the metagame becomes laughably easy to switch into if you have a Bronzong. Plus, it even learns Stealth Rock, a hazard that grants you a huge advantage in the UU metagame. What's not to like?

The big downside of course, is that Bronzong is a huge momentum killer. It gets forced out by half the offensive threats in the tier, and a bunch of Pokemon can switch into it while sustaining little to no damage, often setting up for a sweep. As such, when you use Bronzong, you really benefit from having a dedicated entry hazard core and Rapid Spin user on your team--which luckily, is just what this team provides.

Acne (Qwilfish) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spd
Impish Nature
- Waterfall
- Spikes
- Pain Split
- Toxic

Qwilfish has its issues yes--it can't recover health very well and much like Bronzong, it doesn't offer much pressure against your opponent on its own. That and its lopsided defenses make it rather unforgiving to use if you're careless with it.

That being said, even with the advent of things like Bolt Strike on Victini, Qwilfish still fits remarkably well into the UU metagame, because Fire and Fighting Pokemon are still the most dominant attackers in the tier. As a result, it has an abundance of opportunities to set up its Spikes in the metagame. Against a Qwilfish, sets like Choice Scarf Heracross and Darmanitan become a liability, which is further compounded with the fact that most of the Pokemon Qwilfish checks cannot recover health.

Toxic is probably the most useful filler move, because Blastoise especially likes to switch in on it, and Toxicing Blastoise makes Sableye's job much, much easier. Plus, having Toxic on three of my Pokemon more or less makes up for the absence of Toxic Spikes.

Sableye @ Leftovers
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 136 SDef / 8 Spd
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Foul Play
- Recover

Obviously if I'm going to have so many entry-hazard setters, I need a spinblocker. Sableye may not be as reliable as say, Corfragigus, but it's a heck of a lot more versatile than Corfragigus and can be used in some way against the vast majority of teams.

Sableye doesn't match up very well with Blastoise (probably the most common Rapid Spinner), but it can still successfully spinblock it most of the time, and the other Spinblockers have much easier flaws to exploit that it can take advantage of.

Sableye is also a nice measure against enemy fighting types (Machamp especially), which helps to take the pressure off of Qwilfish. Lastly, priority Taunt means that Sableye can actually work well against fast entry hazard setters and support Pokemon alike.

Note that I tend to speed creep my Sableye, because opposing Sableye actually do pretty well against my team if their Taunt happens to go before mine. If I go first however, then the enemy Sableye goes down pretty quickly.

Hitmontop @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 Spd
Impish Nature
- Close Combat
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic
- Stone Edge

A huge oversight that many entry-hazard teams tend to make is they are often rather vulnerable to entry hazards themselves. As such, Hitmontop provides the best synergy for the team out of the handful of Rapid Spinners available in the tier.

Granted, Hitmontop has its uses other than Rapid Spinning. It helps a lot against Heracross for instance and can act as a backup against many physical attackers due to Intimidate.

Note that I don't bother with Foresight, because it tends to get maimed if it actually stays in against most of the ghosts that switch into it. Toxic for Corfagrigus and Stone Edge for Chandelure for instance, is more effective in permanently dealing with them as opposed to using Rapid Spin and then letting the enemy kill you. After all, most ghosts are quite vulnerable to entry hazards themselves...

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 208 HP / 124 Def / 176 SDef
Careful Nature
- Body Slam
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
- Whirlwind

Phazing is really what makes an entry hazard core intimidating and actually threatening. This set is kind of a joke if you don't have an entry hazard core. If hazards are set up however, then this set becomes one of the most dangerous in the game.

Although even early game, Snorlax is still what I use to handle most of the special threats to this team--Raikou, Zapdos, Rotom and Chandelure are probably the biggest ones that Snorlax blocks. It also barely handles things like Suicune and special Kingdra, if less reliably. It doesn't handle them all as well as I'd like, but it gets the job done well enough so that I can call upon it when needed. And of course, having another Fire and Ice resistance never hurts either.

Meloetta @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast

Meleotta's ability to put pressure on the opponent when I need to can really save games for me sometimes, especially in combination with entry hazards on the opposing field. Being a durable attacker, I can actually switch it in comfortably into certain special attacks when necessary. Also, it provides a second layer of protection against opposing ghost Pokemon.

Even with Focus Blast, Meleotta has a lot of trouble with dark types, Pursuit users specifically. It's speed also means that more often than not, opposing sweepers will be able to hit it first, so it's really more of an offensive pivot that I can use as a way of pressuring the opponent as opposed to a sweeper.

Summary:

While this team has been fairly effective for me, it does come across its own problems at times. Foremost, I tend to struggle against specially-inclined water Pokemon like Suicune and about 50% of Kingdra, as well as Empoleon in some cases. Electric types can sometimes wear me down as well, as Snorlax can sometimes be worn down by Raikou and Zapdos's specs Thunderbolts if I switch into them repeatedly.

Generally, this team relies a lot on its hazards, because without them I'm vulnerable to strategies like Volt-turn or whatnot. Finally, Bulk of Scrafty is especially annoying, because beating it tends to require Intimidate stalling due to my inability to immediately switch Snorlax or Meleotta into it, as well as its ability to shrug off status--it's beatable yes, but it takes a while and is rather annoying for both me and the opponent to deal with.

 

[PTJon7]

I assume this is a more defensively based team, as it lacks any offensive presence. If this is a more stall based team, then I would replace Spikes with Toxic Spikes on Qwilfish, as those will greatly help in slowly breaking down the enemy. Also I don't think Waterfall on Qwilfish is very useful, Scald would be better since it can get burns on things.


I agree with you, Water and Electric types fair well against your team. The only pokemon I can think of that would cover both of those weaknesses would be Lanturn. Immune to Electric thanks to Volt Absorb and resists Water. I also has useful support moves like Heal Bell. I would recommend trying that out.


Meloetta is pretty outclassed in UU, Raikou and Suicune are much better CM sweepers. I would recommend using Raikou over it but that gives this team a pretty bad weakness to Gound attacks. Suicune would then make half your team water types. I would say you just want something to fully take advantage of the entry hazards you're focusing around, something Choice Scarfed that deals massive damage. I would say there are 4 pokemon that do this well (in order from best to worst (though they're still all good)): Mienshao, Flygon, Victini, Heracross

All 4 of those have very powerful stab attacks that can clean teams up. Mienshao is best thanks to its high speed and access to Reckless boosted HJK. Flygon is good thanks to its speed and access to Outrage. Victini is good because of V-Create. Heracross is good thanks to Moxie and a good move pool.


I think that covers everything. Hope this was helpful, and good luck!

 

[Queen of Randoms]

I'm gonna definitely advise against Toxic Spikes. Roserade sees a ton of usage in UU and Nidoqueen is on the rise. Overall the guaranteed residual damage and reliability of Spikes will better serve you in this tier.

You have a pretty good grasp of how to do stall, which is more than most can say so kudos to you! However, with the pure power that resides in UU in the form of Victini, Darmanitan, Mienshao, Heracross, etc. you aren't quite prepared. Pokemon like Qwilfish and Sableye have a lot of trouble surviving, and you really can't afford to have them go down. Also, Blastoise being the best spinner in the tier, you're gonna need to be able to have a better answer than Sableye, who will struggle to spin block AND not be able to keep up the pressure as a powerful fire type comes in.

What I would suggest is to remove both Sableye and Qwilfish in favor of Roserade. Roserade has Spikes, reliable recovery in Rest and Synthesis, and offensive presence. She also helps that water weakness. Rather than try to use a dedicated spin blocker to beat Blastoise, I suggest letting your team keep the pressure up to keep him from spinning. Since condensing those two mons has freed up a slot on your team, I suggest something like a bulky Zapdos. Nice recovery and resistances, and again he's got you some strong offensive presence to pressure Blastoise and other Pokemon out, which is still important on a stall or defensively based team. I can tell you know you need to be able to apply pressure from your description of Meloetta, but I don't think she does it well enough here. I would suggest replacing her with a defensive Arcanine. He's got the bulk you need to help handle threats like Victini and Darmanitan and Heracross in a way that Qwilfish absolutely cannot. At the same time, his high attack keeps up your offensive presence and can apply pressure if need be.

I'm on my phone so sorry if this is short and quick- ill probably revisit this a bit later, but I'm the meantime I hope I helped!