Please read this, because I really don't feel like having to put up with posters who evidently do not know what they're talking about. I know it's a little long, so if you feel you have enough experience, you can skip over the background and such, but newer players really should read this so that, 1) they don't get in trouble for making bad posts, or 2) they can learn how to make good sets for UU pokemon in OU.
Ok, so this is going to be a discussion thread about UU pokemon that can successfully utilize a strategy in OU without being dead weight on the team.
Background
Using UUs in OU is a very difficult thing to do well. I cannot stress this enough, because although there are several people who try to use UUs in OU, a lot of them cannot pull it off very well. They being to wonder why, but it is simply because UU pokemon generally aren't as good as OU pokemon for several reasons.
For this reason, they are generally not as easy to use as OU pokemon, and two key techniques are needed to use them succesfully in OU. This is by no means fact, but in my opinion, they are:
1) Prediction - This is extremely important, because there are generally four types of pokemon, being offense, defense, support and tank.
Offensive pokemon generally have very high offenses and speed, but they cannot take hits very well.
Defensive pokemon generally have high defenses, but often have low offenses.
Support pokemon usually have pretty high defenses, and alright offenses, and they live to support.
Tank pokemon are usually very high on offenses and defenses, but have pretty low speed. These are also what your "bulky sweepers" are. There are some cases where Tanks also have high speed and have generally high stats.
What does this have to do with using UU pokemon in OU?
Well, for OU pokemon, even their low stats aren't very low, because even the pokemon such as the offensive pokemon are able to take hits and live another day. They can also be defensive and still have pretty high offenses and speed.
However, this is not the way that it goes for most UU pokemon. They must predict and make their moves much more efficiently than OU, because making mistakes with UUs is much less forgiving. Support and Tank pokemon generally work the same way, but offensive and defensive pokemon from OU and UU work quite differently, meaning that an UU pokemon will have to change its mindset completely when it changes its environment.
The offensive pokemon usually have huge problems taking any kinds of hits, either because of huge gaping weaknesses, such as a 4x Stealth Rock weakness, or just generally bad defenses. They cannot be making mistakes, or they WILL get annihilated very quickly.
The defensive pokemon usually have very little offense in UU, and they tend to resort to using things such as Toxic to deal damage. In OU, this is not the greatest idea, because Steel-types run rampant in OU, and therefore, the defensive pokemon need to make sure they're not just making things bad for the team by giving the opponent free switches with stuff like Toxic.
2) Risk/Reward - This is important, because using an UU pokemon in OU already presents lots of risks for the team, and you want to be able to get some reward out of it. This ties in with prediction quite a bit.
Essentially, the way that Risk/Reward works can be presented with an example using dice. You have 6 dice, you need them all to land as 4's to win the prize of $1000000, if you lose, you have to pay $1000000. However, the odds are greatly against you, and therefore you need to analyze this situation. Do you take the risk of losing your money and hope that you gain the prize money, or do you back down?
The way that this would work in pokemon would be if a Choice Specs Togekiss and a Choice Band Rhyperior are facing off against each other. They both have super-effective moves against each other. Togekiss with Aura Sphere, and Rhyperior with Stone Edge. The Togekiss has the option of using Aura Sphere and to hope it deals near maximum damage for a KO, because if it doesn't, Togekiss has no chance of surviving Stone Edge, or to switch out to a Rock resist. There is also the factor of whether the Rhyperior will simply predict the attack and switch to a Ghost to force Togekiss out.
The risk here is that, a) Togekiss will deal 0% damage, giving the opponent a free switch, or b) if Togekiss does not KO Rhyperior in one shot, he's paying for it by being KOed himself.
The reward here is that, a) Togekiss KOs Rhyperior, or b) Togekiss allows an unharmed switch-in to come in by predicting Rhyperior's switch.
UU pokemon need to perform this in OU a lot more than they do in their home environment, because often, the best way of using an UU pokemon in OU is to take risks with it, otherwise it's not going to be doing much damage, but it needs to be made sure that there's some kind of reward coming from that risk.
Strategy
Here is an example of a pokemon in UU that fits all of these conditions of prediction and risk/reward (this is the format I recommend using for posting movesets in this thread, *means it really should be included):
Kabutops @Mystic Water
EVs: 144 HP/252 Atk/112 Spd
Adamant Nature
Swift Swim
- Aqua Jet
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
Strategy behind it*
Essentially, this Kabutops is made so that it can function well in two types of weather that are commonly abused in OU, Rain and Sandstorm. As a Rock type, Kabutops gets a 1.5x special defense boost in Sandstorm, and a 2x speed boost in the Rain, which makes it a great sweeper. Swords Dance to double its 361 attack make it a huge threat with the priority abusing Aqua Jet, and enough speed to outrun a Bulky Gyarados and destroy it with Stone Edge. X-Scissor can take down Celebi if it chooses to come in, as Celebi is normally a great switch-in to him otherwise.
Risk/Reward (doesn't need to be included)
It tends to die quite quickly if there is not a Sandstorm up, and therefore, it needs to be brought in to force a switch if it wants to pull a Swords Dance off. If it can pull it off, it will almost always kill at least 2 pokemon before going down, especially against offensive teams. It also needs to make sure its risks are worthwhile if it faces a Grass pokemon that did not get hit by X-Scissor or Stone Edge on the switch-in, as the chances are it should switch out.
What its niche is in an OU team (something that sets it apart from other pokemon in OU so it's not outclassed)*
SD Kabutops has the most powerful boostable Aqua Jet in the game, and is one of the few pokemon that can be supported with two different types of weather, getting a boost from both. He also boasts the fastest boostable STAB Stone Edge, and has a little edge over Tyranitar's Stone Edge, since Tyranitar much depend on Dragon Dance for a +1 boost, while Kabutops can go straight to +2 with Swords Dance.
END
Alright, so go, discuss. Remember, when posting a moveset for an UU pokemon to use in OU, make sure you say what the strategy is behind the set, and most importantly, what its niche is in OU teams. You can also put the risk/reward thing, but it is not necessary. This thread is meant to give us a better understanding of how UU pokemon can perform in the OU metagame, because if people want diversity, they've got to make it happen.
Ok, so this is going to be a discussion thread about UU pokemon that can successfully utilize a strategy in OU without being dead weight on the team.
Background
Using UUs in OU is a very difficult thing to do well. I cannot stress this enough, because although there are several people who try to use UUs in OU, a lot of them cannot pull it off very well. They being to wonder why, but it is simply because UU pokemon generally aren't as good as OU pokemon for several reasons.
For this reason, they are generally not as easy to use as OU pokemon, and two key techniques are needed to use them succesfully in OU. This is by no means fact, but in my opinion, they are:
1) Prediction - This is extremely important, because there are generally four types of pokemon, being offense, defense, support and tank.
Offensive pokemon generally have very high offenses and speed, but they cannot take hits very well.
Defensive pokemon generally have high defenses, but often have low offenses.
Support pokemon usually have pretty high defenses, and alright offenses, and they live to support.
Tank pokemon are usually very high on offenses and defenses, but have pretty low speed. These are also what your "bulky sweepers" are. There are some cases where Tanks also have high speed and have generally high stats.
What does this have to do with using UU pokemon in OU?
Well, for OU pokemon, even their low stats aren't very low, because even the pokemon such as the offensive pokemon are able to take hits and live another day. They can also be defensive and still have pretty high offenses and speed.
However, this is not the way that it goes for most UU pokemon. They must predict and make their moves much more efficiently than OU, because making mistakes with UUs is much less forgiving. Support and Tank pokemon generally work the same way, but offensive and defensive pokemon from OU and UU work quite differently, meaning that an UU pokemon will have to change its mindset completely when it changes its environment.
The offensive pokemon usually have huge problems taking any kinds of hits, either because of huge gaping weaknesses, such as a 4x Stealth Rock weakness, or just generally bad defenses. They cannot be making mistakes, or they WILL get annihilated very quickly.
The defensive pokemon usually have very little offense in UU, and they tend to resort to using things such as Toxic to deal damage. In OU, this is not the greatest idea, because Steel-types run rampant in OU, and therefore, the defensive pokemon need to make sure they're not just making things bad for the team by giving the opponent free switches with stuff like Toxic.
2) Risk/Reward - This is important, because using an UU pokemon in OU already presents lots of risks for the team, and you want to be able to get some reward out of it. This ties in with prediction quite a bit.
Essentially, the way that Risk/Reward works can be presented with an example using dice. You have 6 dice, you need them all to land as 4's to win the prize of $1000000, if you lose, you have to pay $1000000. However, the odds are greatly against you, and therefore you need to analyze this situation. Do you take the risk of losing your money and hope that you gain the prize money, or do you back down?
The way that this would work in pokemon would be if a Choice Specs Togekiss and a Choice Band Rhyperior are facing off against each other. They both have super-effective moves against each other. Togekiss with Aura Sphere, and Rhyperior with Stone Edge. The Togekiss has the option of using Aura Sphere and to hope it deals near maximum damage for a KO, because if it doesn't, Togekiss has no chance of surviving Stone Edge, or to switch out to a Rock resist. There is also the factor of whether the Rhyperior will simply predict the attack and switch to a Ghost to force Togekiss out.
The risk here is that, a) Togekiss will deal 0% damage, giving the opponent a free switch, or b) if Togekiss does not KO Rhyperior in one shot, he's paying for it by being KOed himself.
The reward here is that, a) Togekiss KOs Rhyperior, or b) Togekiss allows an unharmed switch-in to come in by predicting Rhyperior's switch.
UU pokemon need to perform this in OU a lot more than they do in their home environment, because often, the best way of using an UU pokemon in OU is to take risks with it, otherwise it's not going to be doing much damage, but it needs to be made sure that there's some kind of reward coming from that risk.
Strategy
Here is an example of a pokemon in UU that fits all of these conditions of prediction and risk/reward (this is the format I recommend using for posting movesets in this thread, *means it really should be included):
Kabutops @Mystic Water
EVs: 144 HP/252 Atk/112 Spd
Adamant Nature
Swift Swim
- Aqua Jet
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
Strategy behind it*
Essentially, this Kabutops is made so that it can function well in two types of weather that are commonly abused in OU, Rain and Sandstorm. As a Rock type, Kabutops gets a 1.5x special defense boost in Sandstorm, and a 2x speed boost in the Rain, which makes it a great sweeper. Swords Dance to double its 361 attack make it a huge threat with the priority abusing Aqua Jet, and enough speed to outrun a Bulky Gyarados and destroy it with Stone Edge. X-Scissor can take down Celebi if it chooses to come in, as Celebi is normally a great switch-in to him otherwise.
Risk/Reward (doesn't need to be included)
It tends to die quite quickly if there is not a Sandstorm up, and therefore, it needs to be brought in to force a switch if it wants to pull a Swords Dance off. If it can pull it off, it will almost always kill at least 2 pokemon before going down, especially against offensive teams. It also needs to make sure its risks are worthwhile if it faces a Grass pokemon that did not get hit by X-Scissor or Stone Edge on the switch-in, as the chances are it should switch out.
What its niche is in an OU team (something that sets it apart from other pokemon in OU so it's not outclassed)*
SD Kabutops has the most powerful boostable Aqua Jet in the game, and is one of the few pokemon that can be supported with two different types of weather, getting a boost from both. He also boasts the fastest boostable STAB Stone Edge, and has a little edge over Tyranitar's Stone Edge, since Tyranitar much depend on Dragon Dance for a +1 boost, while Kabutops can go straight to +2 with Swords Dance.
END
Alright, so go, discuss. Remember, when posting a moveset for an UU pokemon to use in OU, make sure you say what the strategy is behind the set, and most importantly, what its niche is in OU teams. You can also put the risk/reward thing, but it is not necessary. This thread is meant to give us a better understanding of how UU pokemon can perform in the OU metagame, because if people want diversity, they've got to make it happen.
