ORAS UU Sugar and Spice

[Nightingales]

Hey Smogon, it's Night. I've been hanging around, testing some teams in secret in preparation for the drop of Sun and Moon, and I finally came up with something I feel is worth showing off. Mostly because I've always used this forum as a place to get some help as well as showcase my teams that I feel are somewhat acceptable. So why else would I post something if not to do exactly that?

I started out with the idea of Mega Aerodactyl and Infernape, as Nasty Plot Infernape breaks through a metric ton of Aerodactyl's checks, including virtually all bulky waters, fat steel types, Krookodile, and Crawdaunt. It is the only Crawdaunt Counter in uu. On the other side, Mega Aerodactyl handles Flying types, Beedrill, and basically fast things that Ape can't kill with priority. They form a scary as hell offensive pairing, and nobody should ever underestimate it.

However, I noticed a little bit of a problem breaking through faeries and taking hits from them in the first place. But since this is supposed to be offensive, I didn't go with the standard like Bronzong or Registeel. I wanted something that packed a hell of a punch, and still tank hits, and I found my answer in Band Metagross. Though Adamant, it still usually outruns the two bulkiest Fae in the tier, and OHKOs them both. It also has the added benefit of being able to 2HKO Specially Defensive Cresselia and Physical Blissey, which are two major pains in my ass.

From there, I wanted a reliable way to break teams not packing enough of a dragon answer, or whose dragon answer was just Sylveon or Florges. Hydreigon has long since been one of the best mons in the tier, so I elected to use it both to snag momentum off predicted switches and to hammer away at things. It also serves as a psychic spam check, even if a lot of them bring Fairy coverage for that very reason. Also, ground immunity.

Tentacruel often manages to find a way onto my teams, and today is no different. The ability to beat a chunk of the hazard setters is invaluable, and spin on a majority of them is also a blessing. I went with the one, the only, the core shredder, as that gives me the best matchup against a lot of offense and balance that likes to use the Krook/Celebi/Sylveon core. And the last mon is Mamoswine. It's not quite as good as it used to be, but having a way to do a big chunk of damage to Mega Aerodactyl and having some more priority is a good thing. I'm not complaining. It also pairs well with Tentacruel, in that it tends to bring in opposing cruels.

So that's the overview of the whole team, but each of the members themselves deserve some explanation and in-depth-ness of it all. So here goes into the individuals themselves.

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk

- Nasty Plot

- Fire Blast

- Grass Knot

- Vacuum Wave / Close Combat / Focus Blast

Nasty Plot Infernape is easily one of the top ten scariest threats in UU, though not because of strength or typing. It's because of the insane amount of unpredictability it brings to the table; there are very few dedicated counters to every set, and if you mispredict which set it is, you can easily lose in a single turn of setup. Here, I opted for Nasty Plot because I already wanted to blast holes in Bulky Waters to let Mega Aerodactyl sweep, and Grass Knot is the gold standard for doing that on NP Ape. But in addition to that myriad of unpredictability, Infernape still has Fire Blast which even unboosted can wreck shop, absolutely demolishing literally every Steel-Type mon in UU. Even Heatproof Bronzong needs to watch out. The last move, normally, is a toss-up between Fighting Stabs. If I know I'm fighting offense, I'll pack Vacuum Wave, simply to neuter a lot of fast offensive threats that don't resist it. If I'm expecting AloBliss stall, I'll switch natures to Hasty (because Download is still out there) and just plow through that core, while if I'm expecting balance I'll run Focus Blast.

Aerodacty @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

- Hone Claws

- Stone Edge

- Aerial Ace

- Crunch

Mega Aerodactyl can single-handedly be my answer to offense. Sitting in an absolutely amazing speed tier, as well as having stab moves that most Pokémon on offense do not resist, it already can ruin some very dangerous threats. It also does a good job of harassing Balance teams with the combination of Hone Claws + STABs and Crunch, leaving things like Cress, Sylveon, and Chesnaught unable to keep taking hits for long. Most importantly, however, it remains the fastest Mega and naturally fastest mon in UU as it is, meaning that against offense, it already rips holes, giving the rest of the team an easier time to fill the gap and wreck shop.

Metagross @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature

- Zen Headbutt

- Meteor Mash

- Earthquake

- Explosion

An absolutely insane beast in UU, Metagross sees a sadly low amount of usage. It packs a lot of power behind it, and with an Adamant Nature, it becomes capable of 2HKOing non-physical Cresselia. And considering only things like Krookodile and Mega Absol can reliably do that, I am more than happy to run with this one. Being a dedicated Fairy counter, this beast can OHKO just about every Fairy that isn't Arceus. But the good thing is that while a lot of people bring in things like Hydreigon to try and stop it, it does a metric ton to them too. Snorlax gets 2HKO'd, Cress takes a ton, and not even things like Aggron are 100% safe, being 3HKO'd and unable to OHKO in return. But there, of course, is always a last resort - Explosion absolutely nukes a ton of things, and in a perverse way it brings out something safely after / if it kos something.

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature

- Draco Meteor

- Dark Pulse

- Earth Power

- U-turn

Hydreigon isn't broken per say, but it's certainly a hell of a force, nuking absolutely everything and providing some nice defensive qualities to boot. A ground resist that isn't weak to rock can be hard to come by offensively, and with that idea comes Hydreigon. Dragon / Dark is great offensively, hitting hard and hitting fast. Who can ask for anything else, right? Well, I can, and psycho dragon delivers. I decided to go for Earth Power to catch those Cobalions switching in, which they do a lot, while not going for Fire Blast because I have other ways to hit Bulky Steels that aren't Hydreigon. The last slot is the obligatory U-Turn, meant to snag some momentum on a predicted switch. All easy.

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk

- Rapid Spin

- Hydro Pump

- Sludge Wave

- Ice Beam

The core shredder itself finds a way onto my teams scarily often. Not because I have a desire for repeating myself, but because it just works. Maybe not the most effective in terms of wallbreaking, but that's alright because it catches offensive threats like Mamoswine and Krookodile off-guard and just wastes them, Hydro Pump making up for Tentacruel's naturally low base Special Attack. The other moves are pretty interchangeable, but Sludge Wave / Ice Beam is generally my go-to. I've done things like Dazzling Gleam / Acid Spray, and this is just my general go-to set for now.

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

- Stealth Rock

- Earthquake

- Ice Shard

- Icicle Crash

Yes, Krookodile exists. Yes, it probably is a better rocks setter. Yes, I probably have some better synergy with that thing. But fact of the matter is, I needed more priority and things like opposing Hydreigon were scary. Mamoswine packs some terrifying power and has priority that does a ton to a lot of damage to a massive chunk of the tier's offensive mons, opening up some chances for me to hammer through threats with more priority of my own. But this is my mandatory rocks setter, and it just can do that and so much more with incredibly powerful Earthquakes that outdamage a longtime rival in Krookodile.

So that's most of the team. I know I've been gone for a while, but I'm actually going to give it a good run at things this time around and not be an absolute shithead. That's the best I can do, really, and if I do a good enough job of not screwing up, then who knows, I might actually get active in the UU community again.

Mandatory CoolStoryBrobat tag because I told him I was doing this.

Importable is as follows.

Import

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Grass Knot
- Vacuum Wave

Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hone Claws
- Stone Edge
- Aerial Ace
- Crunch

Metagross @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Zen Headbutt
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Explosion

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Earth Power
- U-turn

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Sludge Wave
- Ice Beam

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash

 

[Highways]

Hello Nightingales, I'm Mr. Highways and I'll rate your team. :]

So, I really like this archetype. It's a team with a really solid main core in Infernape and Mega Aerodactyl, and with the aid of Choice Band Metagross and Hydreigon you're breaking walls with so much ease. For the rest of the fast threats, like Mega Sceptile and Hydreigon, you added Mamoswine, and I like a lot this addition because Mamoswine is a very underrated threat actually.

So, I missed one Threatlist, but I noticed that you have serious weaknesses against Water- and Fire-types. Suicune is probably the most annoying defensive threat that you have to deal with because if it setups a Calm Mind (even if it finds very few opportunities to setup versus the most of your Pokémon), it's really hard to worn down thanks to its amazing bulk and possible Scald burns. Mega Swampert and Gyarados are fast Pokémon after one setup that can 6x0 your team; the former has absolutely no switches, with your main answer being Hydreigon with no reliable recovery, and the latter, while easier to deal thanks to Mega Aerodactyl and less opportunities to setup, abuses of Dragon Dance and OHKOes/2HKOes the most of your Pokémon. Entei is really hard do deal with since your Sacred Fire switch is Hydreigon, that has no recovery and hates get burned. Hydreigon, Crawdaunt and Krookodile are very annoying too, being able to do a lot of damage against your team and switching out right after, not to mention that your Dark resist is your Hydreigon and Infernape, what's terrible, but finding a Dark resist that fits well on Offense is really hard actually. Lastly, Mienshao is probably one of the most annoying Pokémon that you could ever, since it has two option versus your team: spam High Jump Kick and 2HKO your entire team or pivot in and out with U-turn. Bulk Up Conkeldurr is a very annoying threat too because your only answer is Choice Band Metagross, but if it's paired with a Pursuit trapper you have few limited answers.

The first change is pretty obvious. Running Roost > U-turn and Focus Blast/Fire Blast > Earth Power on

Hydreigon. This change is extremely obvious since your team is lacking a solid answer to Entei, Crawdaunt and Krookodile. Hydreigon can now switch in without much efforts in Sacred Fire, Crabhammer and Knock Off, respectively. Roost is helping Hydreigon with Life Orb recoil and Burn damage too. Focus Blast is a really nice coverage move that is a bit underrated actually, but that I like a lot since it hits Krookodile and Crawdaunt super-effectively without have to drop your Special Attack by two stages, but Fire Blast can be used to smash Klefki (if it stays in the tier, of course) and Whimsicott. Also, I don't know why you mentioned Earth Power to hit Cobalion since most of them run Shuca Berry.

Right now, I feel like your team really struggles versus Water-types, so I suggest you to replace

Mamoswine with

Yache Whimsicott. Even if I love the use of Mamoswine, I feel that Whimsicott is a much superior pick. First of all, it provides you a really nice Water resist thanks to its nice defensive typing and Giga Drain, but it helps you to defeat Gyarados and Mega Swampert thanks to Encore, what's actually huge because you're very weak to these two Pokémon. It helps you a bit with Suicune too, what's really nice to your team, but it's immune to Dragon-types thanks to its Fairy-typing, what means that you're keeping Hydreigon and Mega Sceptile in check. It adds an extremely useful Dark resist that you can abuse during the mid- to late-game too, but I'd not risk it since you have Hydreigon. Whimsicott adds a Fighting resist too, so it helps with Choice Scarf Mienshao and Bulk Up Conkeldurr. Lastly, Whimsicott has U-turn, what's really nice to retain the momentum against Offense squads. Mamoswine is a really nice Pokémon and I understand why you love it, but I sincerely can't see it fitting well on your team, Ice-type priority is really nice, I know, but it's very frail as a Dragon check and I'm not a big fan of using it as a Stealth Rock user. Yache Berry is the optimal Item on Whimsicott since it helps with Ice Punch coming from Mega Swampert and Ice Beam from Mega Blastoise. I almost forgot to mention that Encore will help Infernape and Mega Aerodactyl to setup and probably clean the mid- to late-game, haha.
Right now, I suggest you to run

Life Orb >

Choice Band and Stealth Rock > Zen Headbutt on

Metagross since I removed your Stealth Rock setter. Metagross still hits really hard with Life Orb, not to mention that it still defeats the most common hazard removal options actually (Empoleon, Tentacruel and Forretress, by viability) and can set Stealth Rock against a lot of Pokémon. Another thing that I think that you should do is running a Jolly Nature over an Adamant Nature, but in my opinion this is a more optional change since Metagross will lose a lot of power, however it will outspeed and OHKO Mega Swampert with Explosion if it's running a Jolly Nature, not to mention outspeeding Mega Blastoise and Nidoqueen.

Okay, we covered the most of the threats, so now I think that you can use Toxic Spikes > Ice Beam and Acid Spray > Sludge Wave on

Tentacruel. This change is going to help you to face bulkier teams since your matchup versus hazard removers is really good, and defeat Suicune reliably if it's not getting an early Scald burn. I'm not a big fan of Ice Beam since its targets are very few after Salamence's ban, and Acid Spray is really useful to deal with bulkier setup threats, like Suicune, Conkeldurr and even Cresselia. I understand that you like to use Sludge Wave because of its immediate power, but I feel that Acid Spray is much better.

I'm ending this rate here, good luck with the team, user: Nightingales, and thanks for sharing it with us! n_n

Updated Importable

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Grass Knot
- Vacuum Wave

Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hone Claws
- Stone Edge
- Aerial Ace
- Crunch

Metagross @ Life Orb
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Explosion

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

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Acid Spray
- Toxic Spikes

Whimsicott @ Yache Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Moonblast
- Giga Drain
- Encore
- U-turn

 

[Manipulative]

Hey, there. Cool team, just got a few suggestions that you can try out to hopefully have an easier time using it.

• Gonna second Mr. Highway's suggestion of replacing Mamo with Whimsicott. It gives you a crucial Draco-switch in as well as some well needed pressure against Water-types. Yache is an option but doesn't seem like a necessity, so I'd personally go with the standard Pixie Plate variant here. I would also recommend carrying Stun Spore, just for the additional help against fast threats such as Mega Bee. Here's the set:

Whimsicott @ Pixie Plate / Yache Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Giga Drain
- Encore
- Stun Spore​

• With the loss off your Stealth Rock user and Electric immunity, I would suggest replacing Metagross with Swampert. This helps make up for losing Mamo to a degree, and also gives you a better answer to things like Entei. More importantly, it gives you a solid answer to opposing Mega Aerodactyl, which is looking like a huge threat against this team, especially without Mamo's Ice Shard. Here's the set:

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Roar
- Stealth Rock​

• Your Hydreigon set is a bit sub-optimal in my opinion. Anyways, since we're taking out Metagross and putting most of the pressure of checking Fairies on Tentacruel, I would suggest using Choice Specs on Hydreigon instead and replacing Earth Power with Flash Cannon. This makes it much easier to deal with Sylveon and the likes, as it'll almost certainly be switching into Hydreigon, and Flash Cannon 2HKOs it after Stealth Rock.

• Lastly, with the above changes, I would recommend using Close Combat on Infernape as well as changing the nature to either Hasty or Naive for sure, as we open up much more room for Blissey to do its thing. You're free to invest some EVs into Attack if you'd like. 136 Attack EVs guarantee OHKOing it, but you don't necessarily need to invest that much.

Hope this helps, and good luck with the team!

 

[Cynde]

x_x. been too long.

I tend to find that not pairing Nasty Plot Infernape with Pursuit users is just asking for your life to be made difficult. Pairing it with Pursuit Mega Aerodactyl opens a door for it to sweep against Mega Beedrill / Chandelure for example, both of which would be able to check it otherwise. And you see without Pursuit / Roost on Mega Aerodactyl in the long run, Beedrill will become a massive problem which is rather pointless when there's an easy solution with no real loss. So I'd just go ahead and replace Hone Claws with Pursuit and focus on Nasty Plot Infernape as your primary win condition.

Again going to second Manipulative Whimsicott (stick w/ yache) / Mr.Highway Tentacruel change. Though you probably could just run 192+ Speed for Krookodile your team doesn't really need it for anything outside of that and the extra bulk might come in handy someday. I'll give all the sets down below.

I'm also of the opinion that Mega Swampert will be rather problematic, provided it gets the chance to set up which is possible on all members not named Infernape / Whimsicott. Even with Whimsicott it's not exactly a fail safe considering it doesn't have leftovers, will be switching into Dragon-types and is going to be hard to keep healthy enough in order to take a Rain boosted Waterfall which does over half. Running Grass Knot on Metagross would prevent it from even setting up Rain which again, will just make sure your team doesn't die. and just allows your team to pressure Water-types more.

I do think your team would enjoy a scary wallbreaker that can open a lot of doors for Infernape like Mixed Hydreigon. Iron Tail pressuring Fairies like Sylveon to the point where they are unable to take a +2 Fire Blast and a Superpower to blow away Blissey just ends up accomplishing the same thing.

I think that just about covers it.

edit: focus blast on nape is an option to pressure stuff like snorlax / bliss which would give you the ability to run fire blast on hydreigon to lure klefki. focus blast might not be a bad idea with gk metagross / whimsicott. just a thought

Sets

Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Aerial Ace
- Earthquake

Metagross @ Life Orb / Expert Belt
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 232 Atk / 56 SpA / 220 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Grass Knot
- Meteor Mash
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 244 HP / 72 Def / 192 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Acid Spray

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 52 Atk / 204 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Superpower
- Iron Tail