Foreword
What's up, smogonites, I'm pretty new to online pokemon and I wanted to pick the brains of all you more experienced people. I've put together a team that works pretty well for me, while staying true to a few key principles:
• No ludicrously common pokemon, for a few reasons. First, they bore the snot out of me, since they are fucking everywhere. Second, they're easy as hell to predict, since everybody knows what they can do and packs counters to them. I mean, I'm ready for everything in the top 20, so I can only assume much more experienced battlers are as well. So no Terrakion, no Scizor, no Rotom-W, and so on.
• No weather. Although I totally get that weather is a super useful tool for pumping 'meh' pokemon to ludicrous power levels, I find that it's just too easy to shut down, after which you're just left with a bunch of underpowered pokes. My approach to weather is the same as the bulk of my strategy, which is to use the enemy's team against themselves. For weather, I try to shut down their weather starter, and then flip the weather on them so that my team gains momentum from the sheer virtue of not relying on any kind of field effect.
The team is not bad, I would say I win about 60-70% of my matches, which I deem not terrible, since I'm just starting out. But I'd love to get some feedback from all of you incredible battlers!
The Team!
Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace | Nature: Modest
EV's: 252 Hit Points, 252 Special Attack, 4 Defense
– Ice Beam
– Thunderbolt
– Thunder Wave
– Recover
Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace | Nature: Modest
EV's: 252 Hit Points, 252 Special Attack, 4 Defense
– Ice Beam
– Thunderbolt
– Thunder Wave
– Recover
So I'm sure everyone knows how useful Porygon2 is, but seriously, this guy is just riduckulous. He fills a lot of roles on my team, but the main value is the way he synergizes with Espeon and the weird assortment of pokemon he checks and forces out. What's so cool about him is that just from Trace he has a ton of switch-ins, and the hardest thing about using him is considering how the opponent's ability will affect me. Obviously he's awesome to bring in against things with Flash Fire, Water Absorb, Volt Absorb and so on, but there's a ton of other abilities he can abuse if I pick my switch-in carefully. Take Gliscor, for example: P2 shuts down most Gliscor just by virtue of his ludicrous bulk (~20% from a STAB Earthquake, for example), and by tracing Poison Heal he laughs in the face of the Toxic Orb flingers that seem to be common these days. Other useful candidates for Trace involve Speed Boost from Sharpedo or Ninjask, Prankster to abuse priority Recover, Multiscale to laugh at Dragonite, and the list just goes on. Thanks to his insane bulk and useful paralysis spreading, he's a perfect pivot that can come in on a huge number of pokemon. Threats to P2 include status (Toxic sucks for him) and the ubiquity of Fighting types. Which leads me to...
Sableye @ Lagging Tail
Ability: Prankster | Nature: Impish
EV's: 252 Hit Points, 128 Defense, 124 Special Defense, 4 Speed
– Will-o-Wisp
– Taunt
– Trick
– Recover
Possibly the most annoying thing I've ever seen, I knew that if Sableye was in a match I wanted him on my side. He's possibly the best Prankster abuser in the game, and he loves to toy with enemy expectations. The awesome thing about this Sableye set is that he's got a little something for everyone. Physical attackers by and large hate burns (Guts withstanding), setup sweepers and stallers hate priority Taunts, revenge killers hate having a lagging tail forced onto them, and Sableye can outlast a ton of things with Recover as they slowly die to burns. The nice thing about Sableye is that he's capable of so many different tricks that people know he's going to fuck them over, they just don't quite know how, which makes it so hard to try to predict anything against him. I like to bring Sableye out early to try to gain early-game momentum, and then keep him in reserve in case I need to shut down a dangerous late game sweeper with the Lagging Tail. Prime candidates for the Lagging Tail include Volcarona (who I really struggle against otherwise), Cloyster, and Scrafty (who is immune to most of Sableye's other tricks thanks to Shed Skin). Big threats include anything with Guts or Magic Mirror, which leads me to...
Espeon @ Expert Belt
Ability: Magic Mirror | Nature: Modest
EV's: 128 Hit Points, 252 Special Attack, 128 Speed
– Hidden Power [Fire]
– Sunny Day
– Rain Dance
– Psychic
This set is just so much fun. I don't have a spinner, which isn't the end of the world since none of my pokemon are ludicrously weak to stealth rocks, as well as three of them packing recovery moves. But it's still really nice to be able to keep clear of hazards, which is where Espeon's mind-games really shine. Just by being on the team he's a great deterrent to common hazard abusers, and by experience he's pretty good at shutting down nearly every hazard setter that's not named Heatran or Tyranitar. I run a pretty offensive set, although I don't have a lot of speed investment. This is mostly because the key common threats I need Espeon to check include Forretress, Ferrothorn, Scizor, and Breloom, all of whom have one thing in common: they are slow. Scizor in particular is delightful to take out with this set, since I have enough bulk to deal with a bullet punch, and HP Fire handily OHKOs him. The only Scizor that gives me trouble is Choice Scarf U-Turners, which are uncommon enough that I can live with it. The awesome thing is that people always seem to like to bring Scizor out against Espeon, because they seem to think that I'm countered by him. This is a source of much amusement on this side of the terminal. Ferrothorn can be dangerous with a Gyro Ball or Power Whip, but the Expert Belt gives me enough power to typically OHKO him as well as long as rain isn't up. Against rain teams I need to be a little more careful, usually using Sableye to neutralize Ferrothorn before bringing in Espeon to clean him up.
The dual weather setup may seem weird, but it's key in seizing momentum for my team. If I come in on a reflected move, I can usually force a switch or laugh as the support pokemon frantically tries to deal with whatever hurt just got bounced back. This gives Espeon a lot of free turns, and while some sets try to take advantage of that with Reflect and Light Screen, I find it a million times more useful to shut down weather conditions, as long as I've demolished the weather starter. Espeon synergizes particularly well with Porygon2, since he can bounce back the common status moves people try to neutralize the duck and a STAB Psychic slices apart basically anything with Fighting in its typing, including OHKOing Terrakion. Meanwhile P2 can switch in on ghost-moves that Espeon seems to attract, and then continue spreading paralysis around the enemy team as the ghosts cower before the Mighty Duck. Grass moves are a strange threat to Espeon, since they hit neutrally, and a lot of support pokemon who I like to switch in on pack STAB Grass attacks. Espeon doesn't have a ton of bulk against things which it doesn't resist, which brings me to...
Sawsbuck @ Life Orb
Ability: Sap Sipper | Nature: Adamant
EV's: 4 Hit Points, 252 Attack, 252 Speed
– Aromatherapy
– Jump Kick
– Horn Leech
– Megahorn
Sawsbuck doesn't get nearly the love he should in OU, especially outside of sun. While most people look at him as a Chlorophyll abuser, he can be so much more than that. He has really awesome coverage with strong Fighting, Grass, and Bug moves, and gains the equivalent of a Choice Band boost when he switches in on an easily predictable Grass move. Sap Sipper is really uncommon, which means nobody ever thinks I'm packing it. That's good, since it means I'm not as reliant on setup as most Sawsbuck, and can do without Swords Dance before I start sweeping. Happily, it also makes room for Aromatherapy, which is really useful to use on the switch as I force out Grass types. Porygon2 and Sableye attract status like nothing I've ever seen, and while Espeon can block some of it, Aromatherapy gives Porygon2 especially a new lease on life.
Not too much to say about this, other than this Sawsbuck is fairly fragile, which is sad. I've experimented with somewhat bulkier sets, but I find that he's most valuable when he hits hard and fast. Sap Sipper lets him get going without any setup, and Horn Leech can cover somewhat for his lack of bulk and other recovery, as well as offsetting Life Orb drain. Anyway, I can't think of a clever segue here, so let's just move on to...
Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap | Nature: Jolly
EV's: 4 Hit Points, 252 Attack, 252 Speed
– Stealth Rock
– Sucker Punch
– Earthquake
– Reversal
The beautiful thing about Dugtrio is that the enemy can know you're packing him, and it doesn't even matter. He shuts down so many things that it's abolutely insane, and although he's usually too busy beating people up to care about getting rocks up, that's awesome if I'm not going to be able to bring him in again and I can't deal with the revenge killer someone just brought in. Dugtrio is at his best when he gets in and out quickly. He's great with P2 in particular, since Porygon2 is pretty good at wearing people down and forcing switches with Trace, which Dugtrio loves to clean up the mess. Priority revenge killers love getting a Sucker Punch to the face, which might not be enough to KO, but certainly helps whatever my own revenge killer is going to be.
Again, this is pretty standard, but not used very much, which is weird. Dugtro is pivotal in gaining momentum against Sun and Sand teams, since he can go to town on Ninetales and Tyranitar. Heatran, often a fixture on these teams as well, is toast as long as his balloon's been popped by Porygon2. If Espeon and Sableye aren't around to deal with the massive threat of Terrakion, Dugtrio can either KO him or leave him as easy pickings for...
Sharpedo @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost | Nature: Adamant
EV's: 4 Hit Points, 252 Attack, 252 Speed
– Crunch
– Waterfall
– Earthquake
– Protect
How in the name of god Sharpedo is in UU of all places I do not understand. Speed Boost is legitimately one of the best abilities in the game, and Sharpedo really doesn't get enough credit as an abuser of it. Maybe it's because he doesn't have any setup moves, but honestly: he doesn't need them. This is pretty much the standard for Sharpedo, but he's such a rare sight in OU that I don't feel too bad about it. While he doesn't have the raw power to come out swinging early in a match, my team is awesome at wearing down the enemy for him to devour late-game. This is especially true if Dugtrio can get up Stealth Rocks, or if Espeon can bounce back some hazards. Sharpedo takes out a ton of things which people don't expect. STAB Dark and Water hit a lot of the metagame for some serious pain, and Earthquake is, well, Earthquake. After a Protect Sharpedo is very nearly faster than god, and since I can usually bring him in and provoke a switch, he often gets to enjoy two speed boosts before he starts sweeping. Priority is his bane, and the thing he most relies on the rest of team to help him out with.
Wrap-Up
So there we go. Overall, I've found the team is pretty good at forcing switches and finding easy ways to come onto the field, and has a ton of ways to fuck with the enemy's plans. While it doesn't have the raw power and bulk of many teams, it's got enough useful tricks and counters to wear down the enemy (or at the very least make them want to stab their own eyes out after the eleventh time Sableye priority Recovers in front of them).
That being said, there are still a ton of things I have trouble with. Rain teams, especially bulky rain teams, are especially dangerous for me. I find it hard to switch in on insanely powerful Water and Flying attacks, and Politoed isn't as easy to execute as sun and sand starters. Sawsbuck can threaten out various water types and often OHKO the Toed with STAB Horn Leech, but he also hates the ice attacks those pokes often pack. I've tried Gastrodon for this purpose, but I find he doesn't synergize very well with the rest of team, as I already have two strong attackers with a Ground attack.
So thanks for reading, and I'd love to hear what advice you guys and ladies have to offer! Like I said, I'm just starting out, and probably don't know shit, so please help edumacate me on how dumb I am! :D
