Terywj - First UU Attempt

[-Terywj-]

Hey guys, I've been bored of OU, and since a lot of my friends have been playing UU I've decided to try it too. It's a lot of fun actually but I'm having issues with my team. I would take any advice / help. Constructive criticism is fine, just no "Your team sucks change it" comments please.

At a glance:

The Leader

Ambipom @ Silk Scarf
Adamant / Technician
252 Atk / 252 Spd / 6 HP
~ Fake Out
~ Shadow Claw
~ U-Turn
~ Return
Why this set: Since I'm really new to UU, I decided I'd try this out. Ambipom will get a nice guaranteed STAB which causes a flinch assuming the opponent doesn't switch. Shadow Claw hits Ghosts who are immune to Fake Out for super-effective damage. U-Turn allows Ambipom to safely retreat for the future, meanwhile Return is STAB and backed by Silk Scarf can hit anything that doesn't resist it hard.
How it fits in: I've seen a lot of Ghosts in UU, or at least a lot of Ghost-type moves. Ambipom gets a free switch in on those attacks (especially the ones aimed at Uxie) and can hit back with Shadow Claw.

The Triple-A Sweepers

Altaria @ Life Orb
Jolly / Natural Cure
252 Atk / 252 Spd / 6 HP
~ Dragon Dance
~ Earthquake
~ Outrage
~ Roost / Pursuit
Why this set: I have always had a spot in my heart for Dragons, and since Flygon and Salamence are sitting in OU, I looked to their UU brethren Altaria. When setup correctly, he does what his fellow Dragons to: rip things apart. He comes in and tries to Dance for a bit. Then Earthquake and Outrage are his main outlets of destruction. Safely, he can switch out after becoming confused thanks to Natural Cure. For his last move, he can Roost off the damage from attacks and Life Orb, or he can catch escapers with Pursuit.
How it fits in: Altaria along with Uxie help eat up any Earthquakes directed at their team-mates, and use the opportunity to setup. It fears Ice-type attacks, but Arcanine and Uxie will help it out by absorbing those for him. His impressive resistances give him more opportunities to come in on predicted attacks. More importantly he's a status absorber due to Natural Cure.

Absol @ Life Orb
Adamant / Super Luck
252 Atk / 252 Spd / 6 HP
~ Superpower
~ Sucker Punch
~ Swords Dance
~ Psycho Cut
Why this set: Absol is a monster under even one Swords Dance. Sucker Punch delivers strong hits as long as the opponent attacks, and Superpower also hits hard and provides coverrage against Steel-types. Psycho Cut hits Weezing which completely walls Absol without it, but Night Slash could also be prefered to hit things like Slowbro without worrying about failing.
How it fits in: Absol enjoys sponging up Dark-type attacks from Uxie. He gives a chemistry chain as enemy Rotom's Will-o-Wisps have hin switch to Arcanine who favors from Flash Fire.

Arcanine @ Choice Specs
Timid / Flash Fire
252 Sp Atk / 252 Spd / 6 Sp Def
~ Flamethrower
~ Hidden Power Grass
~ Extremespeed
~ Dragon Pulse
Why this set: Since having 3 physical sweepers just asks for a physical wall I thought I'd make Arcanine a special attacker instead. Another bonus of this set is that he enjoys more coverage. Flamethrower / Fire Blast, yeah yeah, but I prefer dependabe power and good accuracy for him, since he has Specs on anyways. Hidden Power Grass hits what Flamethrower cannot: mainly Water and Rock-types. Dragon Pulse helps him hit Altaria as well as everything non-Steel for neutral damage. Extremespeed gives him a nice priority move.
How it fits in: Absol hates Will-o-Wisp and Venusaur burns under Fire. Give Arcanine a switch in, and his Flamethrower will take a boost as Flash Fire activates. He compliments Altaria and Venusaur, as they can switch in and out of their weaknesses.

The Walls

Venusaur @ Leftovers
Calm / Overgrow
252 HP / 252 Sp Def / 6 Spd
~ Sludge Bomb
~ Energy Ball
~ Sleep Powder
~ Leech Seed
Why this set: Venusaur is a great bulky seeder. Sludge Bomb and Energy Ball gets nice STAB. Those who resist it are seeded and then pounded on by a counter. Venusaur is a great switch in on a Water-type attacker. As they flee, render the incoming Pokemon useless with Sleep Powder, and then switch out for a better attacker.
How it fits in: Venusaur isn't shaken by the Water-type attacks Arcanine will receive, same for the Earthquakes. The Psychics from Slowbro go directly to Absol anyways so he has no fear of those. Should an Ice Beam come his way, he'll swap off to Arcanine.

Uxie @ Leftovers
Impish / Levitate
252 HP / 252 Def / 6 Sp Def
~ Psychic
~ U-Turn
~ Yawn
~ Stealth Rock
Why this set: Uxie can setup Stealth Rock, which is useful as many Fire-types run amok in UU. Psychic provides a strong STAB but has relatively poor coverage. U-Turn lets him hit Dark-types for supereffective damage and then safely switch out for a more suited Pokemon. Yawn causes sleep, and if I throw in Protect can give him stalling options for a Choiced attacker.
How it fits in: While Absol generally takes Psychic-type attacks from Venusaur, Uxie does a good job of that as well. Levitate gives him Ground-type immunity, so it can switch in on predicted Earthquakes on Arcanine. Dark-types follow through to Absol, and Bug-types to Arcanine or Altaria. He takes Fighting-types from Ambipom who would suffer from supereffective damage.
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The main issues of this team:

1. No secure Water-type counter: Feraligatr and Azumarill do wonders on this team, and Venusaur fails to counter them thanks to Ice Punch. Maybe take out Ambipom and put in an Electrode lead?

2. Lack of a spinner, and cleric. Claydol and Donphan come to mind for UU spinners, but I'm absolutely clueless as for a cleric, if I need one.

3. Lack of actual walls / tanks. I understand Chansey would work here, but that means Ambipom must go or I'll be using a team with half of its members weak to Fighting-types like Hariyama and Hitmonlee. Perhaps the forementioned Electrode lead could replace Ambipom but who would Chansey replace?

4. Any others if you can note them please let me know and help me out.
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Any and all help is greatly appreciated. So thanks in advance. :)

-Terywj

 

[Sui89]

Hey there!

You mentioned a problem with Feraligatr and Azumarill specifically, but also just a general water sponging problem. After a single DD, Feraligatr has no problems taking out Venusaur, and Azumarill is probably a monster with that Banded Aqua Jet. To help remedy this, I'm going to suggest that you add Milotic to your team. Milotic can serve a lot of purposes, but I think for the purposes of this team, an offensive Milotic would probably work best. Try a set of Recover, Ice Beam, Hydro Pump (Surf, if you're worried about the accuracy, though Hydro Pump can 2HKO Clefable), and HP Grass, with a Modest nature and 80 HP, 178 Speed, and 252 Attack. This will help you with the aforementioned Azumarill and Feraligatr problem by resisting their attacks and threatening a 2HKO with HP Grass, while being able to recover the damage you get from Life Orb and from the switch in. Milotic will also function as a semi-wall of sorts, which should help a little bit with your "lack of walls" problem. I think if you're removing anyone for it, Absol is probably who it should be.

You mentioned a lack of a spinner to be a problem. Instead of recommending a spinner to you, I'm going to recommend that you add Taunt to Ambipom. Get rid of either Shadow Claw or Return. If you get rid of Shadow Claw, it's harder to defeat ghosts, but if you remove Return, Ambipom doesn't have as much late game sweeping power, so it's your call. Taunt will help Stealth Rock from getting set up in the first place though, especially against Uxie leads and Registeel that like to switch in to absorb Ambipom's Fake Outs.

Lastly, using a Timid nature on Arcanine while using Extremespeed seems counterproductive, since you're lowering the effectiveness of that attack. Try a Hasty nature instead so you're not lowering its attack. Also, if you replace Absol for Milotic, you might want to make Arcanine either a mixed or physical sweeper since you won't have Absol's raw power then.

Hope some of this helps. Good luck with your team.

 

[-Zer0-]

This looks like a fine team. First thing Id suggest is take ambipom out of lead slot because its a much better late game sweeper and revenge killer.

Ambipom @ Life Orb
Fake Out
Return
Payback
Brick Break/uturn (I prefer brick break but they both work well)

This thing is crazy, fake out does a lot of damage and when you use fake out-return you'll ko about anything non-defensive and nonresistant while payback and brick break cover everything else. Its a great late game sweeper and can really destroy teams when theyve lost their steelix/registeel/spiritomb.

Since uxie seems to work and it makes a nice lead you might as well just throw it in the spot and keep the set, it works well as a lead.

Though you have quite a subcm mismagius and crotomb (restalk, dark pulse, CM) to a lesser extent given you have absol but if you want a spinner Hitmontop does that well and takes care of mismagius.

A good defensive hitmontop(also a good tank like you talked about):
Hitmontop @ leftovers
156 HP/ 252 atk/ 96 SpD
Fake out
Close combat
Mach punch
Bullet punch

(you could also just use standard technitop from the analysis).

good luck.

 

[-Terywj-]

Thanks for the help, but I was hoping for more UU feedback from other people... =\

-Terywj

 

[wombat152]

I would definitely switch Shadow Claw for Payback on Ambipom, as with Technician it has 75 power (more than shadow claw) if you attack first or 100 power if you attack second. It also deals super-effective damage to exactly the same types.

Arcanine also makes a much better physical sweeper imo, if you're willing to get rid of Absol or Altaria.

 

[BalancedPower]

Try this over arcanine

Blaziken@Choice Specs@Modest/Timid
Fire Blast
Focus Blast/Focus Punch
HP Grass/Ice/Electric
Vacuum Wave

Straight from analysis
Better Spc. Attack. Can sponge fire attacks. Better type coverage with Fire and Focus then Dragon and Fire. Both have priority moves, just seems like a better pick.
Payback over Claw as well as others have pointed out