RMT: Beginner's UU team

[Phlegmatic]

Changes in green.

It's been quite a while since I've played Pokemon seriously, but I've been bored recently and itching for some strategic gaming, and have just stumbled upon Shoddy I figured this would be a good filler for that niche. I tihnk the last time I worked on teams was early Ruby, so a lot of what I knew doesn't apply any more. I'm playing UU because I enjoy the variety there, and I'd get bored of seeing the exact same OUs over and over again.

Anyway, I've been playtesting this a bit, and while I'm getting a feel for the ins and outs of the game again, my teams feels lacking and I don't have the experience to know how to fix it. All of the movesets are pretty much standard. Anyway, here we go.

tldr: I'm new, help.

At a glance:​

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Roserade @ Focus Sash
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/252 Spd/4 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Sleep Powder I'm planning on testing out the Stun/Spikes moveset, but for now I'm finding the sleep really useful. We'll see.
- Toxic Spikes
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Grass Knot

My lead, and probably the pokemon I'm most content with. Grass Knot anf HP Fire have a lot of coverage, hurting or killing a lot of unsuspecting leads. If I don't do any exceptional damage to them, sleep + spikes does just as well to give me a good openning.

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Clefable @ Flame Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP/6 Def/252 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Trick
- Seismic Toss
- Ice Beam
- Softboiled

Trickfable, useful for neutering phys attackers and even decent for wittling away at walls when used with Toxic (or Spikes). Not always entirely useful because I probably need more practice in order to fully maximize the trick potential, but that'll come with practice. The attacks make it a decent sweeper too. I tend to pull it out on a ghost, dark, dragon and grass types, especially when they're going to be faster than Medichamp, as those seem to be the types the rest of my team has trouble with.

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Probopass @ Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 HP/168 Def/88 Spd
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave / (Toxic?)
- Flash Cannon

Replaced Bastiodon as a physical switch in, and adds some support after removing Claydol. Stealth Rock is something I found lacking, so this helps there. Earth Power works for steels that get trapped, Flash Cannon is a nice STAB. Zap Cannon is the other option in that slot for flying that threatenned Roserade, but we'll see. I'm not sure which status I'll use in the end; it'll probably depend on which spikes I go with on Roserade.

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Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 212 HP/252 Def/44 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Ice Beam
- Slack Off
- Surf

Spiritual successfor to the old Bastiodon in it's longevity, and adds some much needed anti-fire. I've have a couple of Blazikens ravage my team, and I thought this might help. Calm Mind gives it some special walling capacity, and even some ability to sweep. I've also tried Lapras in this slot, but found I had too much fighting weakness. Also going to give zocho's Quagsire a test, if this doesn't fit.

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Medicham @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Ice Punch
- Psycho Cut
- Thunderpunch
- Hi Jump Kick

Physical sweeper. Pretty simple. Two STAB moves and the two punchs add a ton of coverage. This tends to be my late game play, dealing with any acute threats and finishing up with some big blows. My only concern is that it adds to the aforementioned Ghost/Dark weakness.

NOTE: This slot is up in the air. I've come to see the merit behind zocho's point about this being solely a revenge killer. While it was amazingly/amusingly useful against a mono-ice team, I'm looking for a different physical sweeper. One I'm considering is:

Kabutops @ Life Orb
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 80 HP/252 Atk/176 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet

However, with Slowbro/Quagsire that's a lot of grass weakness. More suggestion are welcome.

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Mismagius @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 48 HP/252 Spd/208 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute

Mid-late game sweeper. Decent special wall. Adds to Ghost weakness, but generally only loses Ghost v Ghost matchups to Spiritomb due to speed. HP Fighting has been extremely useful, it's quite satisfying to pull it out on an unsuspecting dark. Sub give it some time to Calm Mind and some status immunity however it still tends to die a lot, and I'm not sure if I'm just being too sacrificial with it or not supporting it enough.

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OLD: A couple final notes: I find myself lacking anything useful to deal with fire. I have one ground move on Claydol, but that's it. Hasn't been that big of an issue, but there have been some Arcanines that have stuck around longer than expected. Also, a bunch of my comments are more related to my playstyle(or lack thererof) than the Pokemon themselves. Given that I'm new I wanted to make sure I'm not making any wrong assumptions, so I thought I'd throw 'em out there. Tips on uses are just as welcome as tips on build. Finally, I'm not entirely sure where I want to go with the over strategy; it's somewhat lackign at the moment. Given the lead and sweepers, I'm thinking about adding either some walling or support/status capacity to set things up, but I'm not entirely sure. Thoughts?

UPDATED: Some changes aiming to deal with my weakness to fire, and some general dead weight. Roserade, Mismagius and Clefable are still doing fine, but those other three slots aren't complementing their efforts well. I felt like I was on the defensive way too often, even with my sweepers. I hope this can shift that a little bit. (Maybe not too much, I'm naturally a defensive player) I think my crossroads at this point is whether or not to add more offensive capability, or keep with the bulky defense and add some annoyances - Toxic, maybe a SubSeed. Right now I'm leaning toward being balanced and adding the offense, but I'm open to input on what complements the core I've got so far.

And thanks in advance for the help. Very much appreciated.

 

[Garganator]

I agree, ScarfTyphlosion will be huge threat for your team and if your Sleep Powder misses, you're in a really bad spot.

But let's start from the beginning. For first I would run Stun Spore + Spikes, as Sleep Powder with Spikes is unfortunately illegal. With all those grounded poison types running rampant in UU tier (Toxicroak, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Roserade to name few) it's not worth it to use Toxic Spikes. But I still recommend using Spikes. Other then that looks solid.

Clefable looks ok, as a nasty surprise for attackers like Hitmonlee.

Bastiodon... Registeel runs exactly the same set 100% better thanks to his much better mono-steel typing and better defenses. Registeel is far superior with this set. The only difference is weakness to fire, which makes your fire weakness bigger. I agree with that, but we'll fix that soon.

About Claydol... I think you may replace it. Roserade absorbs Toxic Spikes, Clefable is immune to any spikes/toxic spikes, you have two levitators and none of your pokemon is weak against Stealth Rock. In other words you don't need Rapid Spin. I think that you may think about two options, which are Milotic as it takes on Fire types like a champion. Both Rest/Sleep Talk and normal one with Recover are fine. Or something less standard, but may work is Lunatone (or Solrock). Probably set like this:

Lunatone @ Leftovers
252 HP/ 200 SpD/ 56 SpA
Nature: Bold
~ Stealth Rock
~ Reflect
~ HP Rock
~ Earth Power / Psychic / Toxic

With those EVs he can some special attacks, especially those with fire typing on, which gives you alot of trouble. It would also work quite well with Registeel as it takes Registeel weaknesses quite well (ground immunity, fighting resist, fire resist, etc.) when Registeel takes Lunatones more then well enough. Reflect will help you in taking physical hits, as Lunatone isn't the bulkiest guy around on physical site and will support your other members against some physical dark-type deadly attackers like Absol, which Registeel for example with Reflect can handle and dark/ghost special attacks Registeel can take on. Anyway you need Stealth Rock, as it punish many pokemon on switch and stops Focus Sashers from ruining your team.

Medicham is fine, but I would suggest running High Jump Kick. If dark/ghost types really worry you, you may replace this guy on ScarfHitmonlee as it resist dark types attack and with his basic 100 Special Defence he can take weaker ghost attacks.

Mismagius is fine.

In other words team isn't bad, but it had some flaws, which most of them you found out ;). Good luck with it and I hope that helped you ;).

 

[zocho]

i agree with gargantor that rapid spin isn't really required on your team. stealth rock is still a great thing to have, and you can place that on a sturdy support wall like registeel or regirock. if you still want to use bastiodon try using metal burst for a surprise ko, but other than that there are pokemon that do the same thing better.

if you want a decent ground poke to replace claydol, you can try out quagsire. it has two immunities (with water absorb), resists fire, and fits great into your team because your team has no grass weaks (and roserade has a 4x resist):

quagsire@lefties
relaxed
252hp/96atk/160def
earthquake
ice beam
yawn/toxic
protect

protect is great for scouting moves and racking up lefties recovery. yawn can force switches while toxic can be used to stall if you don't have it on somebody else already.

i have never encountered any scarf medichams before, usually they are baton passed speed/attack and then proceed to sweep. yours, while having good coverage, is limited in its sweeping with the scarf, and there are better scarf fighters to use. revenge killing is nice but it might be more beneficial to your team to have a dedicated physical sweeper since you have walls to deal with offensive threats.

good luck, hope this helped

 

[Phlegmatic]

OK, so after considering advice and doing some playing, changes have been made.

1) Agreed, Rapid Spin wasn't nessecary. I'm going to keep the team SR neutral to keep it that way.

2) Bastiodon is gone, replaced with another tank, in this case Slowbro to help deal with fire. Milotic and Quagsire have not been forgotten, but I need to do some testing before I decide which I like best... Both have their uses. This tank slow seems hard to fit, simply because I'm trying to cover the rest of my team's weaknesses.

3) Support role Claydol is now a support Probopass. Nice steel wall a la Bastiodon, and provides SR and some status. Offensive abilities aren't set in stone yet, though. Advice welcome.

4) The physical sweeper. Medicham is useful, but not overly so. Replacement suggestions?

5) The general shape of this team seems to be:
-Lead
-Counter
-Support
-Bulky counter
-Physical sweeper
-Special sweeper

Pretty balanced, I think... just need to find the right Pokemon to fit those. >.>

Anyway, thanks for the help so far. The team is playing better already.

 

[Garganator]

2) Bastiodon is gone, replaced with another tank, in this case Slowbro to help deal with fire. Milotic and Quagsire have not been forgotten, but I need to do some testing before I decide which I like best... Both have their uses. This tank slow seems hard to fit, simply because I'm trying to cover the rest of my team's weaknesses.

Slowbro can't switch on Scarf Typhlosion Eruption, as it 2OHKoes with SR up. Just for your note, so that's why I suggested Milotic. Slowbro can't take powerful fire attacks from special side like Milotic, so I really don't recommend it. But on the other hand right now it's the only thing which stops Azumarill, especially substitute one from running rampant. However, Physically Defensive Milotic takes both on them with solid comfort. But if it works, then fine ;).

There's still one titanic problem - If Absol switches in (for example on Slowbro or Medicham Psycho Cut), SD's up you're in deep trouble, as it 6-0 this team. ScarfHitmonlee unfortunately can't fix that, as it's OHKOed by Sucker Punch after SD. SubMismagius also gives you troubles, as Clefable can't handle with it with Seismic Toss and Ice Beam and nothing on your team can handle boosted Shadow Ball/HP Fighting. In other words it would be nice to find a free spot for Drapion or Hariyama with Whirlwind. It takes care of this problem. Also Hariyama gives you important fire resist. But to be honest I'm not sure what to replace here. Or if you don't want to loose offensive power too much and have some bulk, TechniTop may help.

Never, but never run defensive EVs on Probopass - he can't take most physical hits, especially those with fighting and ground typing, as the most popular physical attacks hits him for super-effective. It's much better typing for special tanking. If you really want to use Steel/Rock type pokemon, run Aggron. It outclasses it with 70/180 Defence and it's a bit faster (and also has access to T-Wave) with only difference is that he must use physical attacks (110 attack is quite solid so that's another point for Aggron). And still I recommend Registeel, as it takes both special and physical hits really well and Mono-Steel type is superior to Rock/Steel and it also counter Mismagius. Nothing stops you from using Defensive EVs on Registeel. And right now with bulky water fire attacks are not troublesome anymore.

About Physical Sweeper - you may try Blaziken, as it can also take some weaker fire attacks. Choice Scarf may stay for revenge killing or try something else like Swords Dance and see what fits your tastes ;).

 

[crynts]

Slowbro can't switch on Scarf Typhlosion Eruption, as it 2OHKoes with SR up.

Stealth Rock won't be up if Typhlosion is the lead. However, I do agree that Scarf Typhlosion will cause a lot of problems. Switching Slowbro to Slowking can put a stop to Typhlosion. It's also a decent sweeper with Nasty Plot.