Team Stunning Light Warriors
Introduction
Hello there! I'm AkaneDomo, and I'm here for my first RMT effort. I've built this team quite recently, and it's worked unusually well. It's mostly an offensive team focusing on sweeping with Leafeon. I have no idea about the name, by the way. I just came up with something. But without further ado, let's roll!
Team Breakdown/Team Building Process
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So, I decided that the base of my team was going to be sweeping with Leafeon since it's got Leaf Blade STAB, Swords Dance, a good Attack stat and more.
What's good for complimenting Leafeon, you ask? Well, two things stood out as the perfect teammates: Dugtrio and Houndoom.
Registeel is one of Leafeon's worst enemies, and Dugtrio is arguably the ultimate Registeel counter. It can come in on a Thunder Wave, trap Registeel and OHKO it with EQ. The fact that Duggy can handle almost anything via revenge trap killing doesn't hinder, either.
Now, Houndoom is absolutely amazing, but plays a much different role.
Leafeon absolutely hates Weezing as well, since it can Haze away all its Swords Dances and Will-O-Wisp it for even more humiliation. However, this is where Houndoom comes in.
Houndoom can easily switch in on a Will-O-Wisp, absorbing it with Flash Fire. It can also OHKO Weezing with a Life Orb + Flash Fire powered Fire Blast.
So, now we have the offensive base of the team. What do we need now? Well, Leafeon and Dugtrio alike love Stealth Rock, so we need something fast to set up rocks and preferrably U-Turn as well. So, I chse one of my favorite leads - Mesprit. It can Trick a Scarf onto bulky leads such as Uxie and U-Turn out if it needs to. It's also great at setting up rocks.
Since Stealth Rock is quite important to the team, I wanted something except Mesprit to set up rocks. In this case, Claydol came to mind. It gives me Psychic support, sets up rocks, and spins them away. So, at the time, Claydol seemed to be awesome.
Now we're at the last team member. I realised that my team had little to no defence right now. So what do I need? A Bulky Water would be perfect - and Milotic's a prime candidate for that. HP Grass, Ice Beam and the ability to sponge hits and Recover the damage was exactly what I needed. Plus, it can take on Houndoom and Dugtrio (in case I'm too afraid to use Leafeon), which is awesome.
Now the team is done, and it's time to take it to Shoddy! After a few matches, though, I realise that Claydol is completely useless to my team as Mesprit manages to get the rocks up easily and Spinning is quite unnecessary since the only team member affected by it is Houndoom, who won't be switching in and out very much. Mesprit also gives me enough Psychic support to go around.
What will my team benefit from the most, then? Let's see... my team is largely offensive, so something that can spread status is quite appreciated. Since Stealth Rock is so important to my team, a spin blocker could be useful as well. What can spin block and spread status?
Well, Rotom, of course!
In-Depth
Mesprit @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 52 HP/204 Atk/252 Spe
Nature: Jolly (+Spe, -SpA)
~Trick
~Stealth Rock
~U-Turn
~Zen Headbutt
Why Mesprit?
Mesprit is one of my favourite leads in UU, simply because it's got such a giant movepool and good stats for leading an offensive team such as mine.
It can set up Rocks, Trick a Scarf onto defensive leads, and U-Turn out if the situation is getting tricky. U-Turn's also good for hitting Uxie when you can't switch into Houndoom. Zen Headbutt doesn't hurt to have either.
Why this moveset?
This is the standard Lead Mesprit, and it's standard for a reason - its movepool contains really fun stuff for leads to play with.
Trick is for hurting bulkier leads and forcing a switch. It's especially good for countering Uxie, one of the more common leads in the UU metagame.
Stealth Rock should be obvious - every UU team needs to have it. Mesprit is a good user of it since it's got okay Speed, the ability to Trick and safely put up the rocks without risking anything, and U-Turning on the switch-in.
U-Turn is insanely helpful in case Mesprit gets a bad lead matchup, or just wants to get away quickly. It also takes a chunk out of Uxie's HP.
Zen Headbutt is the only Psychic support I have on the team, and it's awesome for hitting Venusaur and Blaziken effectively.
Leafeon @ Life Orb
Ability: Leaf Guard
Nature: Jolly (+Spe, -SpA)
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
~Leaf Blade
~Swords Dance
~Return
~Synthesis
Why Leafeon?
Leafeon is the star of my team, and boy, does it deserve that role.
In my opinion, Leafeon is one of the most underrated sweepers in UU. It's got okay Speed, awesome Attack and Defence and STAB Leaf Blade + Swords Dance. What more could you wish for?
Why this moveset?
Leaf Blade doesn't really need explanation. It's got STAB, a Base Power of 90, and more!
Swords Dance is also self-explanatory. +2 Attack in one turn of setup? Yes, please.
Return is a great move on Leafeon as it gives it good coverage and is useful when you can't set up a Swords Dance.
Synthesis is my favourite move of the three "moves of choice" - X-Scissor, Quick Attack and Synthesis. If this team had Wish support, then X-Scissor would be the obvious choice, as it gives fantastic coverage. But since I don't have Wish, Leafeon needs to keep itself alive, and so loves Synthesis.
Dugtrio @ Choice Band
Ability: Arena Trap
Nature: Jolly (+Spe, -SpA)
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
~Earthquake
~Night Slash
~Stone Edge
~Aerial Ace
Why Dugtrio?
Dugtrio is the best revenge killer in UU hands-down, and suits my team perfectly. It takes care of Registeel (one of Leafeon's biggest threats), and has amazing attack power and speed enough to kill most things in UU.
Why this moveset?
Earthquake should be obvious. 100 Base Power, 100% Accuracy and STAB? Oh my.
Night Slash is (for this team) better than Sucker Punch since I'm Choice Banded. It's also got a really nice Critical Hit rate.
Stone Edge is quite awesome as well. I get good coverage for hitting those Flying types, which I really need to do with Dugtrio.
Aerial Ace gives great coverage for Grass-types, and is perfect for dealing with things like Torterra/Leafeon.
Houndoom @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
~Fire Blast
~Dark Pulse
~Nasty Plot
~Hidden Power Flying
Why Houndoom?
Houndoom is arguably the perfect teammate for Leafeon as it resists Weezing, can switch in on a Will-O-Wisp, and OHKO with Fire Blast.
It also benefits my team as an amazing special sweeper.
Why this moveset?
Nasty Plot is amazingly useful since it's like Swords Dance, but for Special Attack instead of Attack. Houndoom puts good use to it as well.
Dark Pulse is nice for coverage as well as an alternate STAB in case Fire Blast isn't welcome.
Fire Blast has STAB and is insanely powerful. I chose Fire Blast over Flamethrower since I needed more power and the accuracy drop wasn't such a big deal, a miss isn't going to win or lose battles - at least not in this team!
Hidden Power Flying rounds out my coverage and is especially good for when I face Grass-types (such as Venusaur) who switch out predicting a Fire Blast.
Rotom @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
~Pain Split
~Discharge
~Will-O-Wisp
~Toxic
Why Rotom?
After discarding Claydol, I needed something with immunities that could set up status and spin block - and Rotom can do all that and more!
Why this moveset?
Pain Split is a very nice move on Rotom as it can essentially drain HP, and a lot of it. Since Rotom likes to stay in battle a lot until it starts to go low on HP, Pain Split is essential.
Discharge is Rotom's best attacking move, as sad as it sounds. It's kind of nice though, with 80 Base Power and STAB.
Will-O-Wisp is an amazing status move. It's got better accuracy than Hypnosis and inflicts the awesome status Burn - perfect for switching in on physical sweeper immunities and crippling them.
Toxic is awesome for things that don't care about burns, such as Chansey and special sweepers. It's also a more reliable option, with its 85% accuracy.
Milotic @ Leftovers
Ability: Marvel Scale
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
EVs: 248 HP/252 Def/8 Spe
~Surf
~Ice Beam
~Recover
~Hidden Power Grass
Why Milotic?
My team needed defence, so a Bulky Water would be great. The obvious choice was Milotic. It's got awesome Special Defence, good HP and Defence and a nice Sp. Atk enough to stand out.
Why this moveset?
Surf is Milotic's preferred STAB move, and for good reason. 95 Base Power and 100 accuracy never says no.
Ice Beam is nice for coverage and Grass-types. It's also quite powerful.
Hidden Power Grass is also for coverage and hitting other Bulky Waters.
Recover is what every defensive Pokémon needs. 50% recovery is always welcome.
Closing Look
Threat list in next post!
