Project SS UU Research Week - UU RESEARCH - Week 42 Roost Hydreigon and Any sets Crobat - New System !

Hi everyone! First lengthy post here!
Let's keep the research week going, it's very fun to experiment on rather unusual or hidden mons or moves!

My mon for the week was: Bulk Up Conkeldurr

:Conkeldurr:

SETS USED:

Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 212 SpD / 44 Spe
Careful Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch
- Bulk Up

I experimented on this mon and found this set to be the best, trying to differentiate from the usual wallbreaker that is still better at that role. Probably it should be 252 HP / 252 SpD as outspeeding Chansey or non-sassy Diancie is not that important but in my ladder experience I got revenge killed by a Chansey and got mad.
Points in favor of this set:
  • Notable bulk increase helps a lot in switching into threats like Hydreigon or Aegislash, but also helps taking further advantage switching into Slowking, Tangrowth, or Amoonguss without losing important HP as guts Conk will always be on a timer. It can also tank some super effective moves from special attackers or physical attackers after a Bulk Up.
  • Bulk Up is actually pretty good at dismantling wanna-be switch-ins like helmet Tangrowth, or Skarmory that relies too much on Brave Bird to check it.
Points against this set:
  • The loss of one of Knock Off, Facade or Mach Punch (typically Facade) is a very hard choice, and makes it completely helpless against the likes of Primarina, Aegislash, or loses a very important priority move, leaving openings to stuff like Psychic Fangs Lycanroc-D.
  • The loss of power (also due to having Drain Punch over Close Combat as practically mandatory for durability) actually impairs it a lot. It cannot function as well as a wallbreaker, as many more Pokémon can tank a hit.
  • It becomes very slow, and sadly sometimes the added bulk is not enough to live hits from Pokémon other sets might outspeed. It is also hard to Bulk Up without severely being chipped down by the enemy team.
Teammates that I find to be very useful:
  • Thundurus can bring it in safely against passive grass or water-ground types relying on status to threaten their opponents, or into some of its other checks like Nihilego and Chansey.
  • Swampert can set up rocks while bringing it in safely via Flip Turn.
  • Slowking might be good (didn't try it) because of the combo Teleport + Future Sight + Fighting type, even though it is probably better with the original wallbreaking Conk.
  • Grass types (Amoonguss, AV Tangrowth) help it as important switch-ins to Primarina, to which this sets fully surrenders.
  • Steel types (Jirachi, Celesteela) help check the annoying Primarina and Togekiss, and try to heal up Conk via Wish or Leech Seed.
Bulk Up Conkeldurr in action:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1507632968-pox4bu25og95pyyeqpvlsjt80d27ap5pw - This first one is a sad one, showing how it only chips Amoonguss for 50% after a Bulk Up. I probably misplayed but I was expecting much more damage.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1508967684-15eg6ibvef6nw0h2lq9u26aownorl75pw - Comes in on Hydreigon taking very little from Dark Pulse + Draco Meteor. I misplayed again but it shows the utility of the added bulk.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1509017177-0934dle1kg6wdbh2ryvltdi682yecj2pw - This is the best output I got from it. The enemy team is rather unprepared and it can consistently come in on Tangrowth to claim a KO.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1509023569-1rhnqsgzmud1wmds06e1m05l7no9i5tpw - In this game, once more the bulk is shown at its full power. My team is rather weak to specs Keldeo, yet bulky Conk lives Air Slash and retaliates with a fundamental Drain Punch for chip that got me to kill Keldeo and ultimately win.

Overall rating: B-

The added bulk helps it defensively, but it comes short on the offensive side, losing much needed speed and attack. Loss of coverage means some issues (fairies mainly) have to be addressed in the builder with a much more careful eye.

And that's it for me, sadly I won't be able to continue my laddering experience on this alt as I have an exam on Monday.
Here is the team I used in case anyone wants to test the Pokémon by themselves here, i really had a blast:
https://pokepast.es/8336d1e67df35097

See you next Research Week!
 
Last edited:
Gratz to Noxey for winning the Week 40

Week 41 ! Let's start this week with 2 big underrated threats of UU :



Salazzle (F)
Ability: Corrosion
-
-
-
-



Crawdaunt
Ability: Hyper Cutter
-
-
-
-


This time, we chose 2 very big breakers, Salazzle and Crawdaunt. The first one is very strong on the physical with almost no in and the other one takes advantage of the lack of fast fire breakers in the tier to threaten the entire metagame. You can choose any set for these 2 pokemons.


New :

We've made Research Week easier than ever to participate now! All you need to do is copy the optional template below when you make your research findings post. Just copy, plug in your findings, and you're done! WOW so easy! (You are not obligated to use this template, you can still post in your own way however you feel).

INTRO: (write a little blurb here, w/e you want)

ZAPDOS-GALAR

:Zapdos-Galar:

SETS USED:

Zapdos-Galar @ z
Ability: Defiant
EVs: x
x Nature
-
-
-
-

(Any other sets used, list those too)

SUMMARY: (include good cores, good matchups, bad matchups, etc.)

NOTABLE REPLAYS:
(link) - (add commentary, such as: "See here how Zapdos shows it is the bravest bird")
(link) - (add commentary, e.g. "Here Zapdos fails to be anything more than fried chicken")
(more replays - put as many as are relevant!)

CONCLUSION: (final thoughts)

OVERALL RATING: (w/e you want, D through S is standard but you can use whatever scale you prefer)
-
:ss/Nidoqueen:

SETS USED:

Nidoqueen @ z
Ability: x
EVs: x
x Nature
-
-
-
-

(Any other sets used, list those too)

SUMMARY: (include good cores, good matchups, bad matchups, etc.)

NOTABLE REPLAYS:
(link) - (add commentary, such as: "See here how Nidoqueen ascends to the throne")
(link) - (add commentary, e.g. "Here Nidoqueen has truly abdicated the crown")
(more replays - put as many as are relevant!)

CONCLUSION: (final thoughts)

OVERALL RATING: (w/e you want, D through S is standard but you can use whatever scale you prefer)



In order to participate you must do the following:

Post here with a fresh RW alt (such as SSRW41 Draconic or SSRW41 Cake) and the name(s) of the Pokemon you will be using.
Use at least one of the Pokemon being researched.
Post your experiences with the Pokemon you're using, participate in the discussion!
Post logs of this Pokemon in action against other teams - don't just tell us, show us
The winner of the challenge will be the person who has the highest ladder ranking on the Pokemon Showdown UU ladder with their RW alt at the time the challenge ends. Winners will also receive a permanent spot in this thread's Hall of Fame.
This week will end on March 6 at 11:59 PM GMT+0. Have fun everyone!!
 
Hi everyone! I decided to use Salazzle for this week, and it worked well!

:ss/Salazzle:

Set used:

Salazzle (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Corrosion
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Wave
- Knock Off
- Toxic

I used the most standard set imaginable: fire/poison stabs are good to pressure a decent portion of the tier, hitting everything at least neutrally with the exception of Slowking, Swampert, Tentacruel and Nihilego (and other non-UU by usage stuff like Rhyperior), while Knock off and Corrosion boosted Toxic are probably the best support moves imaginable. Sludge wave is used over sludge bomb to actually get toxic poison and not accidentally poison enemies predicting wrong when trying to revenge kill something. It also increases a bit the damage output.
As everyone knows, Salazzle has a great speed tier, outspeeding anything unscarfed (except for the bat). This quality however is often overshadowed by awful defenses and decent but not great damage output, leading to, more often than not, having only a couple items knocked off and a couple toxics spreaded as an output.
I used it in a balance/semistall team to take advantage of its ability to spread toxic poison on enemy teams and as the fastest Pokémon to win taking advantage of weakened foes.
Answers to the above troublesome Pokémon have to be considered, even though it can spread toxic and knock them off.

Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1523307939-0mpvx5et1p7xx813i24pmuery0czrwupw
Early game Salazzle toxics Swampert and removes Chansey's Eviolite exploiting the presence of Skarmory on the enemy team. I then sacrificed it to keep Hatterene (which is very troublesome to deal with for my team) at a very low percentage, allowing Suicune to win.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1523416094-sjmj07rkf9jjrfyo7wk701cl9yvlxinpw
Salazzle exploits Amoonguss to enter the game after Suicune rests to not get spored and pressure every opposing Pokémon from that position, utilizing a misplay of the opponent with Slowking to then basically sweep.

I used this team that worked pretty well for me, feel free to test it and adjust it: https://pokepast.es/785a1009c5923b21 :)

Overall rating: B
 
:ss/Salazzle:
Salazzle (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Corrosion
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Sludge Bomb
- Toxic
- Knock Off

This was the mon and set I used for research week, and I decided that since specs is a little less explored than the typical HDB set, I would try that instead. Having two utility moves on a specs set looks weird, but I think the ability to toxic anything is still fantastic (hitting stuff like swampert and nihilego), and knock off is of course one of the best utility attacks in the game, being able to, again, chip more at salazzle's checks.
Even in the midst of a meta with swamperts, chanseys, nihilegos, and more, I find that salazzle can thrive against teams with these types of pokemon (but of course you'd rather not see these pokemon so u can click your strong stab moves instead of toxic/knock off).

One of course glaring issue specs salazzle has over it's standard HBD variant is that it takes 25% each time it comes in if rocks are up for the opponent. This makes it necessary to have a pokemon with hazard removal on the team, and I even think having TWO pokemon with hazard removal is the way to go, as you want to be bringing in this pokemon as much as possible to blow holes in the opponent's team.

Good speed tier and strong stabs, alongside its great utility moves make this pokemon a serious headache to switch into, and can be very rewarding with good play. However, I believe it is much more difficult to build with than the standard HBD set because of the limitations you have of likely needing two hazard removal mons on your team alongside it.

I tried a couple of different teams, both having two hazard removal moves on them, but I would say I like the team in the first replay more, as I found it easier to get salazzle in more with rotom and mence being such consistent defoggers, but the team with celebi and friends is good as well. A theme here with these teams is having pokemon that can help get salazzle in, like rotom-wash and slowking, while also having two hazard removals, which I think is the way to go when building with specs salazzle.

Here are some replays of it in action (some of them aren't the best but it was hard to find games that wasn't against cheese tbh lol)

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1519987659-0zudkhlrcc5qcx3p6g1073pjwdfswf7pw

A nice game against pif in which salazzle has plenty of opportunities thanks to the consistency of the two defoggers and the nice matchup they had against his team. Even though there is a nihilego, a knock off and multiple blastings of overheat eventually took it down to let the salazzle wreak havoc.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1525079964-tvcywihezns3g4ni3mkx83xfpgneoh8pw

This is a nightmare game for salazzle. Swampert, chansey, AND nihilego all on one team. With the help of slowking scalding the swampert to like ~40%, and salazzle knocking off nihilego early, it still managed to put in quite a bit of work and even allow me to win this game despite the abysmal matchup, with the help of some misplays from my opponent.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1525530209

Finally, a good salazzle matchup. This game ends up going by pretty quickly, but every time salazzle came in, it did massive damage to my opponents team. Not much to say here

Teams I used:
https://pokepast.es/2b51914ed75ae5b8
https://pokepast.es/d34152fc00213f86

I think that if you wanted to use salazzle, the HBD version would be much easier to build around. Frankly, I believe that given the reliance of predictions, alongside the necessary hazard removal mon(s) required to use specs salazzle, the reward is not worth the cost that come with these conditions. With this being said, it can definitely cause more damage than the standard salazzle with correct play.

Overall Rating: B-
 
:salazzle: @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Corrosion
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Bomb
- Knock Off
- Toxic

This is the pokemon i chose and the set I used alongside it. I used boots as on my team I lack removal at all and salazzle is plenty powerful without choice specs and is able to force progress without it via knock + toxic forcing damage on every single pokemon.

Ofc its frail so its on a team where there are a lot of pokemon to pivot it in against the favorable pokemon it faces. Thundy-t, zarude, and swampert usually bring in grasses and flying steels which make it

ON the team I used it for the speed tier which helps cover some weaknesses such as azelf, zy-dog, keldeo which helps give them even less entry points for the opposing pokemon especially since salazzle throws toxic + knock offs a lot.

I tried one team which is this https://pokepast.es/61dcf3d9a311d5d1

It worked fine without removal as it shouldnt be switching into knock anyways and benefits off of free switches given by its teammates to pivot itself in.

Toxic is useful on this team to weaken pokemon such as swampert, slowbro-g, while knock is useful for many pokemon such as having helmet which prevents thundy-t and zarude from spamming u-turn.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1522002392

Salazzle preformed well by being able to utilize to clean late game

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1522626550

Another game of salazzle preforming well as it was able to take advantage of turns given to it and use it to toxic rotom-h and attack amoonguss which opened the hole for mamo to clean through late game

final rank: B+

WEll... thsi is my first time doing this so its pretty short in comparison to others
 
Last edited:
:ss/Crawdaunt:

I decided to do 1 fight with Crawdaunt so that its presence this week is salvaged:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1527538101

:bw/Crawdaunt:
Crawdaunt @ Choice Band
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet
- Close Combat

I used Crawdaunt in Trick Room and as you can see by this one fight it basically won all on its own. OHKO's Aegislash-shield after a King's Shield drop! WOW! Knocking off Azu's Sitrus while dealing more than 50% to stop BD? INCREDIBLE!

I didn't even need to Healing Wish it before it was all over. The crab is truly a powerful beast! It's pretty much always good for a few nukes each game, but it won't really have much lasting power beyond that. But it's a really stressful Pokemon to switch into, as the combo of Dark + Water Adaptability STAB w/ Choice Band will deal at least 50% to any pokemon, and probably OHKO most non-defensive Pokemon. Even a Hydreigon will take a big chunk from Knock, if you don't snipe it with Close Combat.

Overall I'd say the crab is a solid B rank monster.

This was a very short, but easy, post to make, and if you want to participate in Research Week but feel intimidated by the large posts written by our many great researchers, keep in mind something short like this is also helpful for all of us to see how something performs! Don't be scared to share your thoughts!
 
Congratulations to HydreigonTheChild on winning the week! For your great post, win, and contributions, you have been awarded 5 + 10 points! Other points recipients: Noxey with +5 points hariyana grande with +15 points

(For information on how to maximize your points, see this post: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...and-crawdaunt-new-system.3660085/post-9117819 ) Noxey has over 25 total points and has been promoted to be a RESEARCH ASSISTANT!!!!
Congrats!!!!

UPDATED RESEARCH WING:

The UU Research Wing


Dean of Education: KSt3ve
Dean of Development: BigFatMantis

Honorary Deans of Science and Technology (400 points):
(n/a)

Faculty Department Heads (200 points):
(n/a)

Tenured Professors (100 points):
(n/a)

Adjunct Faculty (50 points):
(n/a)

Research Assistant (25 points):

Noxey (30)​

Week 42 !


Hydreigon
Ability: Levitate
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
-
-
-



Crobat
Ability: any
IVs: 0 Atk
-
-
-
-


We decided to choose hydreigon roost non lock at first. We know the strength of the scarf sets and specs of hydreigon and so we wanted to see the strength of hydreigon, both on offense and defense, roost allowing it to last much longer.
In a second step, we chose crobat, a very fast pokemon with access to many support moves like defog, haze, toxic ... but also to uturn, very useful with its very high speed statistic.


New :

We've made Research Week easier than ever to participate now! All you need to do is copy the optional template below when you make your research findings post. Just copy, plug in your findings, and you're done! WOW so easy! (You are not obligated to use this template, you can still post in your own way however you feel).

INTRO: (write a little blurb here, w/e you want)

ZAPDOS-GALAR

:Zapdos-Galar:

SETS USED:

Zapdos-Galar @ z
Ability: Defiant
EVs: x
x Nature
-
-
-
-

(Any other sets used, list those too)

SUMMARY: (include good cores, good matchups, bad matchups, etc.)

NOTABLE REPLAYS:
(link) - (add commentary, such as: "See here how Zapdos shows it is the bravest bird")
(link) - (add commentary, e.g. "Here Zapdos fails to be anything more than fried chicken")
(more replays - put as many as are relevant!)

CONCLUSION: (final thoughts)

OVERALL RATING: (w/e you want, D through S is standard but you can use whatever scale you prefer)
-
:ss/Nidoqueen:

SETS USED:

Nidoqueen @ z
Ability: x
EVs: x
x Nature
-
-
-
-

(Any other sets used, list those too)

SUMMARY: (include good cores, good matchups, bad matchups, etc.)

NOTABLE REPLAYS:
(link) - (add commentary, such as: "See here how Nidoqueen ascends to the throne")
(link) - (add commentary, e.g. "Here Nidoqueen has truly abdicated the crown")
(more replays - put as many as are relevant!)

CONCLUSION: (final thoughts)

OVERALL RATING: (w/e you want, D through S is standard but you can use whatever scale you prefer)



In order to participate you must do the following:

Post here with a fresh RW alt (such as SSRW42 Draconic or SSRW42 Cake) and the name(s) of the Pokemon you will be using.
Use at least one of the Pokemon being researched.
Post your experiences with the Pokemon you're using, participate in the discussion!
Post logs of this Pokemon in action against other teams - don't just tell us, show us
The winner of the challenge will be the person who has the highest ladder ranking on the Pokemon Showdown UU ladder with their RW alt at the time the challenge ends. Winners will also receive a permanent spot in this thread's Hall of Fame.
This week will end on March 22 at 11:59 PM GMT+0. Have fun everyone!!
 
Last edited:
Hi, this is a bit late as life kind of got in the way, but I'll put down my thoughts on Hydreigon here.

https://pokepast.es/9f4cfbebd5b5f733

Set: Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Flash Cannon
- Roost

I admittedly don't have any replays because 1) I forgot, 2) I could only use this for a few days before I was knocked out by the flu, so this is probably incomplete, but I'll give my basic thoughts on the set.

This Hydreigon's okay. It has a really valuable niche of surviving boosted Aegi's shadow sneak, and with how good aegi is in this meta that's worth a lot, but there are also issues here. It's speed tier is really bad, being just below outspeeding some crucial threats like nihilego, zarude, mence, thundy, etc., so it's forced out by a lot. It's also suffers from wanting different coverage moves; Fire Blast is really good for hitting things like steela/skarm/exca and grasses (altho skarm doesn't really need it) but if it doesn't run flash cannon it lets in threats like nihi/prim/azu for free. U-turn is another option that could work in place of coverage to retain momentum here, and it's admittedly probably optimal, but that's probably better on a choiced set where it has more power/speed to threaten things out. Roost, the main feature of this set, is actually alright; it gives Hydreigon pretty good survivability to check threats like aegi/chandelure later on. However, in the viability rankings, it's only really good against Aegi, slowking, grasses + steels (if it carries fblast -- although it can dent skarm and non-av tang w/o it), maybe moltres and that's it. Possibly non-u-turn OR dazzling gleam azelf is included here, but most Azelf's will function as an offensive pivot. Overall, it lacks the speed/power to really be more than niche as a set, although it certainly has its positives.

In terms of good partners, I felt on the team that AV tangrowth was amazing as a defensive pivot with it. It was strong into a lot of threats that drei were weak into, like zydog, lycanroc, keldeo/prim/azu, exca, swampert... it could also knock off things like chansey to give Hydreigon a better matchup against it later. Scarf Jirachi was great as a partner as well -- it had a great matchup into fairies + could possibly outspeed/revenge kill dragons that could outspeed Hydreigon. As speed control it also helped make up for Hydreigon's subpar speed tier. It could also work as a good offensive pivot, forcing out fairies/nihi/lycanroc/mamo and bringing in Hydreigon. Nihilego helped with rocks and could help force out Hydreigon's poor matchup against top threats like special mence, thundy, and it could revenge kill prim + hard counter moltres galar, who could otherwise set up on drei (and who the rest of the team was weak to). Slowking helped as a fighting switchin, although it really wants a colbur berry to eat a knock off from conkeldurr/mamo. Finally, mence helped as a further fighting/grass check + defogger -- without fire blast, amoonguss wasn't an amazing matchup. With draco meteor as well, it could likely revenge kill a non-ddance haxorus, but hurricane is stronger into fighting types/grasses.

Ultimately, this set was alright, but was held back by a lot of hydreigon's natural weaknesses. I'll give it a B rank. It's good into certain important threats, but has a lot of weaknesses that need covering.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top