Team AmbigUoUs

Proodle. · Nov 2, 2011

I've been lurking around for UU for quite a while, laddering every now and then. Winning as many times as I lost. However, after having a few days free, reading some of the teams on here and the brand new mons we have down here in UU, i decided to have a serious go at laddering and here is the team i'm using.

This team has so far got me to a rating around 60-ish, under the alt Proodle.

For those interested here is the team building process.

I started off wanting to use at least one of the new UU 'mons, one of the pokemon i had always had problems with in 4th gen was Machamp, therefore the first pokemon was chosen.

Next on my list was some decent defenses, choosing (imo) one of the most underated walls in UU, Cresselia was picked. I also needed something to take physical hits, thinking it would be rude to ignore the shiny new physical wall we have, Hipppowdon was selected, as well as being a brilliant SR-er.

Now seeing as both Roserade and Donphan are champions of the tier this month, i needed something to counter Donphan and counter Toxic Spikes (Roserade), therefore the best counter to that in my opinion is Roserade herself. As well as providing my own Toxic Spikes and Sleep, she has a decent Sp. D.

With a solid core I was looking for a fast scarfer, and a decent special attacker, drawing on past experience i know Rotom-H is a beast, therefore he was added.

Lastly with the obsession everyone has with frail psychic/ghost types, i needed a solid counter for them, and also a solid priority user. I was torn between Spiritomb and Herracross, but with already one scarfer, Spiritomb was chosen, therefore the final team looks like...

Hippowdon was proving to be more of a hindrance than a blessing, therefore he was switched out for a physically bulky Donphan, doing exactly the same job just without the sand.

"The Lead" - Donphan

Donphan @ Leftovers
Sturdy
EV's: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Roar
- Ice Shard

Donphan i my unofficial lead, i need him purely to lay down SR and tank pretty much any non-super-effective physical hit being sent my way. The EV's are to maximize his defensive prowess. Ice Shard is another useful form of priority though i might switch it for Rapid Spin depending on the success, mainly due to my team not being a massive lover of Spikes. Roar is my only phazing kind of move. Earthquake is purely for STAB and destroys stuff coming off his 120 atk.

The Wall - Cresselia

Cresselia @ Leftovers
Levitate
EV's: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 S.Def
Bold
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Cresselia is my special sponge, walling pretty much anything except powerful ghost/dark mons. This set works exactly like Crocune, but in my opinion even more powerful. the EV's are purely to maximize my Def, with Calm Mind allowing me to boost my S. Def myself. Cress is a beautiful last game pokemon, with many people unsuspecting rest in tandem with sand. Either way, she's a monstrous wall.

The Absorber - Roserade

Roserade @ Leftovers
Natural Cure
EV's 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 S. Def
Calm
- Toxic Spikes
- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Sludge Bomb

My premium water/ground check, she is also beautiful at letting Machamp come in by sleeping anything incoming. She also eases his job toxicing the majority of Machamps walls. Giga Drain is for recovery and i prefer it over the massive drop caused by Leaf Storm. Sludge Bomb is purely for stab, possibly a hidden power could be swapped for this... The EV's are a bit random, but it's purely to help Roserade survive as long as possible, might need some possibly tweaking.

The Psychic Killer - Spiritomb

Spiritomb @ Leftovers
Pressure
EV's: 252 HP / 152 Atk / 102 Def
Adamant
- Shadow Sneak
- Pursuit
- Suckerpunch
- Will-O-Wisp

With the massive influx of powerful, yet fragile, psychic and ghost types in the new UU tier. Therefore i needed something to trap and then kill them. Pursuit and Sucker Punch plays mind games with pretty much anything, Shadow Sneak is for some sort of priority which otherwise this team massively lacks. Will-O-Wisp was proving to be far better than Toxic. Making any physical attackers job even harder. The EV's are to give it some physical defense and the attack EV's is purely to help me get a 2OHKO on Snorlax on the pursuit switch.

The Scarfer - Rotom-H

Rotom-H @ Life Orb
Levitate
EV's: 252 S.Atk / 252 Spe / 4 S.Def
Modest
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Hidden Power (ice)
- Trick

Rotom-H is my special attacker, Overheat allows me to safely destroy Escaliver and Herracross, it also generally deals a mass of pain to anything that doesn't resist it. HP (ice) is for Flygon and Donphan. Volt Switch is for momentum and is just as good as T-bolt. Trick is to cripple those beautiful Chanseys and other eviolite abusers. It can also screw up walls or things like Snorlax. The EV's are obvious, to purely maximize the damage dealt. Timid gives it the speed Rotom-H needs and Life Orb the power. Rotom-H is usually the pokemon i lead with off the bat, purely to maximize the amount of switched he can use due to being SR weak. Also nobody seems to suspect he'll have a life orb, which can be a nice surprise for the opponent. Not sure what to do with the last move, as Trick isn't massively helpful, any ideas?

The Powerhouse - Machamp

Machamp @ Leftovers
No Guard
EV's: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant
- Dynamic Punch
- Payback
- Substitute
- Bulk Up

Dang, what a pokemon Machamp is. And this set in my opinion is his most potent. Substituting on the switch can really screw most of his counters up. Allowing him to Payback his counter. Usually 2OHKO-ing standard Chandelure and Alakazam. With a bulk up and a substitute then he's not going anywhere. Dynamic Punch is brilliant for the confusion and STAB. Substitute also blocks any unwanted statuses from Dusclops and jazz. I much prefer the current EV's, giving me the power and the bulk he needs. The 8 Speed EV's are too be a bit faster than other machamps.

So here is my team, rate away please. :) Threat list might come soon if i have any time (uni applications + winter exams)

Godsend · Nov 2, 2011

I guess I'm not great at team rating, but there are somethings I'd like to suggest. On your EV spreads, like for Hippowdon and Machamp, you put EV's into defense instead of HP. HP adds more overall bulk. For Hippowdon, I'd say move the EV's into HP, at the very least. You could also change the attack EV's to defense if you want it to take physical hits better, but that's up to you. For Machamp, 128 hp/252 atk/128 speed is the best spread. It allows you to outspeed Hitmontop, among other things, which will prove quite useful. Also, considering this is a Sand team, I'd suggest Stoutland somewhere on the team. I'm not exactly sure where to fit him in, maybe over Cresselia. I've tried to CM Cress, and for me, it didn't work well. Also, Sandstorm removes its Leftovers recovery. For Stoutland, I'd say use Choice Band, 252 atk/252 spe Frustration/Pursuit/Wild Charge/Crunch. It's great at cleaning late game, and abusing hazards. That's all I can really see. Good team, grats on making top 100. Good luck.

Proodle. · Nov 4, 2011

Godsend said:
For Machamp, 128 hp/252 atk/128 speed is the best spread. It allows you to outspeed Hitmontop, among other things, which will prove quite useful.

I shall try this spread on machamp, see what happens, cheers.

Godsend said:
Also, considering this is a Sand team, I'd suggest Stoutland somewhere on the team. I'm not exactly sure where to fit him in, maybe over Cresselia. I've tried to CM Cress, and for me, it didn't work well. Also, Sandstorm removes its Leftovers recovery. For Stoutland, I'd say use Choice Band, 252 atk/252 spe Frustration/Pursuit/Wild Charge/Crunch.

Cresselia is going nowhere, but i agree it was pointless running hippowdon and sand wasn't helping me at all (apart from getting rid of the odd hail)
Considering that, i've now changed Hippowdon to Donphan, he does almost exactly the same job and also adds priority.
I've also changed Rotom-H to a life orb varient.

Cheers for the rate, Proodle.

Kaos · Nov 4, 2011

Alright, lets get down to business. Donphan is probably fine and much better for your team than Hippowdon, though I can't see him so I don't know for sure.

Onto Roserade, the Defense EVs that were apparently used last gen are no longer a good choice. I would move them into SpD. She also NEEDS Spikes. I would put it in over Sleep Powder, since Sleep Powder is illegal with Spikes. If you do that, I would switch out Sludge Bomb for Rest too, just because shes gonna need some recovery to be able to lay all those hazards.

On Spiritomb, you probably want WoW over Toxic. Its just generally a better status. And although recovery isn't strictly necessary, I would use Pain Split over Sucker Punch or Pursuit. Because otherwise your mon will just get slowly worn down over the match, which can be bad when the opponent has an eager spinner.

On Machamp, I would use Stone Edge over Bulk Up because the SE coverage is nice, but if you want to stay unorthodox it won't be the end of the world. And finally, although I hate to contradict Godsend, the best spread for Machamp in UU is Max Hp, Max Attack, with maybe a little speed creep if you want (like 8 speed or so purely to beat out other 'champs and the many other mons that share his base 55 speed). The sole reason Machamp did those 128 speed EVs in OU last gen was Skarmory. In UU, fortunately for Machamp, he does not exist.

Proodle. · Nov 5, 2011

Kaos said:
Alright, lets get down to business. Donphan is probably fine and much better for your team than Hippowdon, though I can't see him so I don't know for sure.

Sorry about that, i didn't have a lot of time last morning, all of the changes are up to date.

Kaos said:
Onto Roserade, the Defense EVs that were apparently used last gen are no longer a good choice. I would move them into SpD. She also NEEDS Spikes. I would put it in over Sleep Powder, since Sleep Powder is illegal with Spikes. If you do that, I would switch out Sludge Bomb for Rest too, just because shes gonna need some recovery to be able to lay all those hazards.

I prefer Toxic Spikes over Spikes and Sleep Powder can be pretty helpful to allow Machamp to come in on.

Kaos said:
On Spiritomb, you probably want WoW over Toxic. Its just generally a better status. And although recovery isn't strictly necessary, I would use Pain Split over Sucker Punch or Pursuit. Because otherwise your mon will just get slowly worn down over the match, which can be bad when the opponent has an eager spinner.

I'll try the Pain Split suggestion out, W-O-W has been changed and it was definitely the superior option, cheers.

Kaos said:
On Machamp, I would use Stone Edge over Bulk Up because the SE coverage is nice, but if you want to stay unorthodox it won't be the end of the world. And finally, although I hate to contradict Godsend, the best spread for Machamp in UU is Max Hp, Max Attack, with maybe a little speed creep if you want (like 8 speed or so purely to beat out other 'champs and the many other mons that share his base 55 speed). The sole reason Machamp did those 128 speed EVs in OU last gen was Skarmory. In UU, fortunately for Machamp, he does not exist.

The EV's have been changed and the added bulk is very welcome. Bulk Up will be kept as it is, preferring the unorthodox set as not many people expect it, even though Conkeldur runs a similar set in OU.

Cheers for the rate, Proodle.