Team Blue Voltage
So it's been a while since I battled. My last forray into competitive battling was a tiny dab last year but proper laddering was almost 2 years ago. I return to find myself disgusted at the mess that is BW OU and quickly discarded any idea of playing it instead opting to go for UU which I found a decent and reasonably balanced metagame. This team has served me well netting me a rating of 1266 and 15th on the Smogon ladder respectively. By most people's accounts it's not very impressive but for me a rusty battler I was quite happy. The current record is 32-3. I intended to continue laddering however with the BW2 changes coming in, no one is playing UU and I thought I'd get some feedback on this team and probably retiring it.
Final Version (Team Preview)
THE TEAM
Azelf @ Focus Sash
Nature: Timid
EV's: 252 HP / 4 SpAtk / 252 Spe
Trait: Levitate
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Reflect
Wonderful lead, it always gets up SR and stops anything not named Crobat via Taunt. My first move is usually Taunt to shut the other Pokemon down, preventing SR which most of my team will enjoy before setting up SR making it so much easier for Kingdra/Raikou to sweep. After that I usually attack with Psychic letting Azelf do as much damage as possible before dying or throw up Reflect for my next Pokemon and switching out, it's fast Taunt is useful mid-late game to shutdown anything that tries to setup. I opted for Explosion at first but with the nerf it's practically useless and I decided to throw Psychic on letting me hit most things for neutral damage. I considered Magic Coat to stop Crobat taunting me but it was too situation and Reflect was generally the better choice. Of course with just Psychic Azelf can't do anything to stuff like NPDoom and SD Krookodile making life a pain as I miss a turn to run away. Focus Sash is questionable but it's saved me multiple times when I've mispredicted and since Azelf is always leading just gives me that chance to get both Reflect + SR up. Azelf is usually sacrificed to make way for my next Pokemon unfortunately and I find myself down 5-6 most of time however it's works perfectly fine for me as I can weaken their Pokemon to easy KO range for all my other Pokemon and have SR and Reflect up.
Heracross @ Choice Band
Nature: Adamant
EV's: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Trait: Guts
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
CBCross, I always dissed this thing thinking it was too slow to do good but switch around to BW UU where 85 Spe is actually reasonable and this thing is a monster. The satisfaction of OHKOing a +2 Def CurseLax is simply awesome, assuming I'm able to take the opponent's Ghost out this thing will rip holes into their team, no physical non-Ghost wall in UU can stand 2 hits from this thing. Even if it only rips holes and doesn't kill anything it makes Kingdra and Raikou's sweep that much easier. More then anything Heracross loves Reflect as that helps compensate for the CC defenses drop. I usually bring this in late in the game after I've gotten a good idea of what sets the opponent is running on their Pokemon and then bring him in on a resisted hit and fire off attacks. I like keeping Heracross alive simply because he hits the hardest on my team the quickest and is my main defense against walls.
Chandelure @ Leftovers
Nature: Timid
EV's: 48 HP / 208 SpAtk / 252 Spe
Trait: Flash Fire
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
- Substitute
Chandelure provides me with both a Fighting resist and his immunity to Fire is absolutely amazing. This things checks many different UU threats, CB Heracross is a good example, this can come in on it's 2 main attacks and land a attack on the switched in Pokemon softening the opposing team again for my endgame sweepers. Did I mention how good a Sun-boosted + Flash Fire + STAB Fire Blast is? This paired with Heracross lets me shred through most walls. With SR up things like Zong, Zappy, Regis, Blastoise and Slowbro can't afford to take repeated hits from these two. Let alone the ass that is Hitmontop which people seem to enjoy using. Timid and 252 EV's in Spe help me get the jump on Pokes like Modest Suicune and whatnot, 145 base SpAtk is already downright amazing and the extra Speed has saved me more often or not. Sub is useful for scouting and warding off statuses. Basically he serves the same role as Hera aka. smash and soften the opposing team up to make sweeping easier while providing handy resistances for the team's synergy. He's also my spinblocker as my team loves SR.
Flygon @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Jolly
EV's: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Trait: Levitate
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Stone Edge
- U-Turn
Flygon serves two roles, primarily a revenge killer for anything that I've let setup. DD Kingdra, SD Cobalion and CM Raikou come to mind. Secondly he serves as a scout early game throwing U-Turn around to keep up offensive momentum while giving my team the optimal switch-in. This thing is invaluable against other Scarfers as my team generally lacks priority and Scarfers are a big pain to deal with. Other then that he provides useful resistances to stuff like TWave and pairs well with Raikou and Chandelure to cover their Ground weaks while absorbing TWaves thrown their way. A niche role he has served is as a cleanup Poke when I've lost both Kingdra and Raikou to misprediction. He lacks power but when their team has dealt with my other 5 Pokes even unboosted EQ's and Outrages can spell their doom. Jolly > Adamant imo, need to outspeed Adamant Scarfgons and Jolly Scarf Darmanitan and just get as much speed as possible.
Kingdra @ Lum Berry
Nature: Adamant
EV's: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Trait: Swift Swim
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Waterfall
- Rest
ChestoRest DD Kingdra! The whole purpose of this team is let this or Raikou walk over the opposing team. Simply put, this is an absolute monster in UU. In DPPt OU it was simply "meh" but now in UU this Pokemon is ready to terrorize teams. UU hits way weaker then OU does giving me ample opportunity come in and setup. One DD is usually all I need especially after my Ghost and bug have had their fun, Kingdra's natural bulk ensures I survive basically all unboosted attacks, other then that it is my secondary Fire resist and my primary Water resist. Unlike OU bulky waters Kingdra uses UU bulky waters as setup fodder, I've found people love switching in their bulky water as I DD then they TWave or Toxic as I DD again which is where Lum Berry can come in. +2 Outrage destroys most Cune, Blastoise and Slowbro after SR if I recall and Empoleon (barring rare 252HP/252Def) is usually OHKO'ed. Besides my team has no issue with Empoleon whatsoever so. In the event that my Lum Berry is not consumed I can Chesto(Lum)Rest and come back for more. Lum > Chesto because I hate parahax and it cures Outrage confusion and is more versatile. Tricking people with Chesto never works anyway.
Raikou @ Leftovers
Nature: Timid
EV's: 128 HP / 76 Def / 52 SpAtk / 252 Spe
Trait: Pressure
- Thunderbolt
- HP [Ice]
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
Bulky SubCM Raikou is a very interesting Pokemon and has worked very well in this team. HP Ice and Thunderbolt is decent but I'm tempted by HP Grass to finish Swampert which can be a major pain for this team but then I lose to every single Grass type out there and can't hurt Flygon. Basically I bring this in lategame and setup a Sub on something that can't hurt it then proceed to net 1-2 CM boosts before destroying everything I can. After 2 CM's most special attackers fail to break his Sub, the resistances he provides are pretty good. It covers Heracross and it does wall Zappy pretty well bar the haxed Heat Wave crit and burn. EV's are tailored so ScarfGon can never break his Sub netting me another CM and the general bulk assists in taking hits when need be. I find he cleans up so well simply because people either expect Specs or try status which I avoid via Sub :>
Team Building Process
I was browsing Smogon looking for an idea for a good team and someone posted a SubCM Raikou set and I thought that was interesting and decided to try it. So the team's aim would be to let this sweep and I had my first member.
Going into this I really wanted to try the Double Dragon strategy Smogon touted as one of the awesome combos of UU. Knowing that I got two of my favourite Dragons dropped from OU since last gen. The fact they don't share many weaknesses was only a added bonus. Why is this relevant? I want to weaken the team for Raikou to sweep and two rampaging Dragons would do just fine in removing most special walls bar Snorlax. I opted for DDLum Kingdra as it was prime favourite of mine in DPPt OU. ScarfGon was my favourite Flygon set due to him not being Pursuit-bait and near immunity to hazards. I thought why not? Team could use a revengekiller/scout.
Now I needed a wallbreaker or basically something to power through stuff like Snorlax and Empoleon. Things that would really hinder Raikou and Kingdra so I decided I didn't need another setup sweeper rather a Specs user or Choice Bander would suffice. I tried CB Cobalion but that lacked the power I needed to break through walls though the speed was nice. Finally I switched him out for CBHera and was very pleased with that.
Lead, lead. I wanted 3 things, SR + Taunt + Speed. Deoxys-D has been banned though so I looked at two options. Azelf and Uxie, Uxie didn't have Taunt so it made life easier. I chose Azelf cause it fit my criteria and actually had some decent offensive statuses to avoid being setup bait.
Finally, Raikou and Kingdra love SR and so I needed a spinblocker. I could either go Dusclops, Mismagius or Chandelure. Dusclops didn't fit the offensive feel of the team and I have to admit Chandelure's 145 SpAtk enticed to me try him and Flash Fire was awesome too.
Conclusion
With BW2 coming out and new Pokes being buffed I can see this team having to change but atm I'd like any advice you can provide. Synergy works very well but I am willing to take some changes. All in all though this team surprised me, I thought it was a joke when I started laddering though it relies entirely on prediction to make it work well.
