I've been trying and trying to succeed at UU on Shoddy, and this team has been my best so far, so I was hoping I could get some advice to work out the kinks. It was originally made to test out a lead that I thought of, but I ditched that lead awhile ago. Now it's based on being a bulky offense team and setting up a late game DDGatr sweep. Each Pokemon on my team fills a role that can be summarized in one word. Here it is, Team Single Word.
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At A Glance:
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Up Close:
The Lead
Ursaring @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Quick Feet
EVs: 252 Atk/12 Def/244 Spd
Jolly Nature
-Close Combat
-Stone Edge
-Facade
-Protect
This thing can bring down most of the common UU leads. It usually Protects on the first turn to activate Toxic Orb, and then it can outrun positive base 105s (think Mismagius) and lower. Facade is for some damage dealing STAB. Close Combat is for Registeel/rock, Steelix, Ambipom, and Lopunny. Stone Edge is for Moltres, Yanmega, and Typhlosion. While Rock Slide seemed like the better choice for accuracy and the OHKO on the first two, it doesn't get an OHKO on Typhlosion, which could be a problem if Typh is Scarfed. If it can catch my opponent off guard, then I'll be up 6-5 early.
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The Supporter
Donphan @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP/4 Spd/252 SDef
Impish nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
Every team needs Stealth Rock, that's kind of a given in every metagame today. I changed Claydol to Donphan because I needed a good check to Altaria, as pointed out by franky. Max SDef EVs give me a fighting chance against Milotic, or at least allow me to survive a Surf and get SR up and get outta there. He has such a high base Defense, it doesn't need all those extra EVs, at least not to take resisted or neutral hits. Impish nature gets 27 more Def points and only 21 less SDef, so it makes better use of his stats. The moveset is rather standard, so there's really no need to talk about it.
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The Tank
Spiritomb @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Bold nature
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- HP Fighting
The strategy here is to come in on a Choiced move that I resist or a Pokemon who just doesn't pose a threat anyway and Sub on the switch. From there, I either attack or Calm Mind up and prepare to sweep. Calm Mind helps me take Special hits well, as nobody else on my team is specifically designated to take them, plus the Bold nature and Defense EVs turns this thing into one heck of a tank once it sets up. It has the classic Ghost / Fighting combo that hits every Pokemon in the game for its two attacks.
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The Sweeper
Feraligatr @ Lum Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant Nature
-Waterfall
-Ice Punch
-Earthquake
-Dragon Dance
When you get swept by a Pokemon you usually realize one of two things. You will probably realize that your team has a rather large <Pokemon> weakness, or you may realize that this Pokemon that just swept you is perfect for your team. The second happened in my case, and here he is, DDGatr. The Gyarados of UU can come in on an Ice attack aimed at Claydol or Venusaur, Water aimed at RK9 or Claydol, or Fire aimed at Venusuar, DD on the switch, and procede to wreck havoc on my opponents. I gave it Lum Berry over Life Orb just to avoid the "I've got to sweep the opponent's entire team and I've only got 3 turns to do it" scenario. This thing is truly a beast, in the first game I used it, it brought me back from 6-1 to win with only one DD under its belt.
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The Avenger
Arcanine @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant Nature
-Flare Blitz
-Extremespeed
-Thunder Fang
-Crunch / Iron Head
Arcanine is one of my favorite Pokemon, and with this set he really gives a reason to be liked. When I had Honchkrow here, my team felt like it needed some priority. Arcanine has got to be one of the best priority users out there. He can take Grass, Ice, and Fire attacks that combine to hit half of my team for super effective damage, and then KO anything that moves. Flare Blitz is for Stab, Extremespeed for priority, Thunder Fang to hit waters, especially Mantine, and Crunch is for Psychics, mainly Slowbro who resists my STAB. Iron Head is of course an option in place of Crunch, but I like Crunch's 2KO on Slowbro, something that T. Fang can't do.
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The Sleeper
Venusuar @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature
- Seed Bomb
- Return
- Sleep Powder
- Sword's Dance
This thing is awesome. It has surprising Speed, base 80, for something so slow looking. I come in on something that I feel isn't a threat, and then Sleep Powder their switch in or occasionally the foe will stay in, and I'll sleep them. Then SD on the switch, or if I'm lucky they won't switch and try to wait out the sleep, in which case I'll get another SD in. From there I can wreck just about everything.
----------
Team Building Process and Team Roles:
I wanted to test out an anti-lead Sceptile that I had thought up.
Hitmonlee intrigued me, so I wanted to incorporate it into my team as well.
Spiritomb pairs well with Hitmonlee, and I also needed a tank.
I needed Stealth Rock, and Claydol could also come in on Pokemon who threaten Hitmonlee.
I wanted to use Honchkrow as he is sort of my mascot, plus he just got moved back to UU. I saw that he fit by taking some of the hits that hurt Claydol.
I needed a Steel-type, mainly to take Ice-type attacks that hurt my team. So I added Magneton. Since then the Ice weakness has gone away but I still like the way it works with my team.
Hitmonlee wasn't really that great, due to his below average Speed, so I swapped him out for Feraligatr, as mentioned above.
Sceptile wasn't doing quite what I wanted him to do because of its low base Attack, so I switched him out for the more powerful Ursaring with a similar set.
My team had only one priority move, and it was a very weak one. Even Honchkrow's Scarf doesn't outspeed priority moves, so I added Arcanine since they get about the same coverage, but Arcanine has a reliable priority move. The team was pretty good at this point, so I put it up for raters to take a look at.
Venusuar was first suggested by franky as a better counter to Water-types, especially Milotic, and it has really proven to do that well. I used the SD set given to me by whistle to keep the bulky offense feel of the team.
Donphan was also suggested by franky, and it fits very well with this team. It took a little bit longer to be accepted as a team member, but it definately deserves its spot.
----------
Threats:
So far, I've had problems are Slowbro and Yanmega, although now Venusaur and Arcanine can take care of them, respectively. Also, a DD Lapras gave me some trouble but I managed to pull out the win. Encore has hurt my team, since I have three Pokemon susceptible to repeated stat-up moves, but I can usually predict around that.
----------
Testing or Soon to be Tested:
Nothing atm.
----------
So there's the team. I've managed quite a few wins with it, which amazed me because my UU team building skills aren't/weren't that great, I've had three or four other UU teams that did terribly. Anyway, I'm willing to test any suggestion thrown at me, so rate away!
----------
At A Glance:
----------
Up Close:
The Lead
Ursaring @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Quick Feet
EVs: 252 Atk/12 Def/244 Spd
Jolly Nature
-Close Combat
-Stone Edge
-Facade
-Protect
This thing can bring down most of the common UU leads. It usually Protects on the first turn to activate Toxic Orb, and then it can outrun positive base 105s (think Mismagius) and lower. Facade is for some damage dealing STAB. Close Combat is for Registeel/rock, Steelix, Ambipom, and Lopunny. Stone Edge is for Moltres, Yanmega, and Typhlosion. While Rock Slide seemed like the better choice for accuracy and the OHKO on the first two, it doesn't get an OHKO on Typhlosion, which could be a problem if Typh is Scarfed. If it can catch my opponent off guard, then I'll be up 6-5 early.
----------
The Supporter
Donphan @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP/4 Spd/252 SDef
Impish nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
Every team needs Stealth Rock, that's kind of a given in every metagame today. I changed Claydol to Donphan because I needed a good check to Altaria, as pointed out by franky. Max SDef EVs give me a fighting chance against Milotic, or at least allow me to survive a Surf and get SR up and get outta there. He has such a high base Defense, it doesn't need all those extra EVs, at least not to take resisted or neutral hits. Impish nature gets 27 more Def points and only 21 less SDef, so it makes better use of his stats. The moveset is rather standard, so there's really no need to talk about it.
----------
The Tank
Spiritomb @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Bold nature
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- HP Fighting
The strategy here is to come in on a Choiced move that I resist or a Pokemon who just doesn't pose a threat anyway and Sub on the switch. From there, I either attack or Calm Mind up and prepare to sweep. Calm Mind helps me take Special hits well, as nobody else on my team is specifically designated to take them, plus the Bold nature and Defense EVs turns this thing into one heck of a tank once it sets up. It has the classic Ghost / Fighting combo that hits every Pokemon in the game for its two attacks.
----------
The Sweeper
Feraligatr @ Lum Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant Nature
-Waterfall
-Ice Punch
-Earthquake
-Dragon Dance
When you get swept by a Pokemon you usually realize one of two things. You will probably realize that your team has a rather large <Pokemon> weakness, or you may realize that this Pokemon that just swept you is perfect for your team. The second happened in my case, and here he is, DDGatr. The Gyarados of UU can come in on an Ice attack aimed at Claydol or Venusaur, Water aimed at RK9 or Claydol, or Fire aimed at Venusuar, DD on the switch, and procede to wreck havoc on my opponents. I gave it Lum Berry over Life Orb just to avoid the "I've got to sweep the opponent's entire team and I've only got 3 turns to do it" scenario. This thing is truly a beast, in the first game I used it, it brought me back from 6-1 to win with only one DD under its belt.
----------
The Avenger
Arcanine @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant Nature
-Flare Blitz
-Extremespeed
-Thunder Fang
-Crunch / Iron Head
Arcanine is one of my favorite Pokemon, and with this set he really gives a reason to be liked. When I had Honchkrow here, my team felt like it needed some priority. Arcanine has got to be one of the best priority users out there. He can take Grass, Ice, and Fire attacks that combine to hit half of my team for super effective damage, and then KO anything that moves. Flare Blitz is for Stab, Extremespeed for priority, Thunder Fang to hit waters, especially Mantine, and Crunch is for Psychics, mainly Slowbro who resists my STAB. Iron Head is of course an option in place of Crunch, but I like Crunch's 2KO on Slowbro, something that T. Fang can't do.
----------
The Sleeper
Venusuar @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature
- Seed Bomb
- Return
- Sleep Powder
- Sword's Dance
This thing is awesome. It has surprising Speed, base 80, for something so slow looking. I come in on something that I feel isn't a threat, and then Sleep Powder their switch in or occasionally the foe will stay in, and I'll sleep them. Then SD on the switch, or if I'm lucky they won't switch and try to wait out the sleep, in which case I'll get another SD in. From there I can wreck just about everything.
----------
Team Building Process and Team Roles:
I wanted to test out an anti-lead Sceptile that I had thought up.
Hitmonlee intrigued me, so I wanted to incorporate it into my team as well.
Spiritomb pairs well with Hitmonlee, and I also needed a tank.
I needed Stealth Rock, and Claydol could also come in on Pokemon who threaten Hitmonlee.
I wanted to use Honchkrow as he is sort of my mascot, plus he just got moved back to UU. I saw that he fit by taking some of the hits that hurt Claydol.
I needed a Steel-type, mainly to take Ice-type attacks that hurt my team. So I added Magneton. Since then the Ice weakness has gone away but I still like the way it works with my team.
Hitmonlee wasn't really that great, due to his below average Speed, so I swapped him out for Feraligatr, as mentioned above.
Sceptile wasn't doing quite what I wanted him to do because of its low base Attack, so I switched him out for the more powerful Ursaring with a similar set.
My team had only one priority move, and it was a very weak one. Even Honchkrow's Scarf doesn't outspeed priority moves, so I added Arcanine since they get about the same coverage, but Arcanine has a reliable priority move. The team was pretty good at this point, so I put it up for raters to take a look at.
Venusuar was first suggested by franky as a better counter to Water-types, especially Milotic, and it has really proven to do that well. I used the SD set given to me by whistle to keep the bulky offense feel of the team.
Donphan was also suggested by franky, and it fits very well with this team. It took a little bit longer to be accepted as a team member, but it definately deserves its spot.
----------
Threats:
So far, I've had problems are Slowbro and Yanmega, although now Venusaur and Arcanine can take care of them, respectively. Also, a DD Lapras gave me some trouble but I managed to pull out the win. Encore has hurt my team, since I have three Pokemon susceptible to repeated stat-up moves, but I can usually predict around that.
----------
Testing or Soon to be Tested:
Nothing atm.
----------
So there's the team. I've managed quite a few wins with it, which amazed me because my UU team building skills aren't/weren't that great, I've had three or four other UU teams that did terribly. Anyway, I'm willing to test any suggestion thrown at me, so rate away!
