The Boys are Back in Town

[frewboo]

Oh man, guys. It's been a while since I made my last RMT. It was a good NU one that works pretty well and keeps me at a decent ranking. But now it's time to STEP IT UP A NOTCH and hit y'all with a UU team. Hang on to your hats, scarves, and other extraneous clothing articles.

EDITS ARE IN BOLD

AT A GLANCE

SHIT'S BOUT TO GO DOWN!!!

DAT TEAMBUILDING PROCESS
When I first forayed into making this team, I only had a few definates of what I wanted. It ended up being a highly educational experience for me as I ended up learning the general stats of the entire UU tier. What you see before you is me bringing some of the common staples of UU together on one team that packs quite a punch. Enjoy.

Flygon is the flyest pokemon in this entire tier. You step to him, you get smacked. Being one of the only viable dragon pokemon in the tier and being one of my favorite pokemon, it was only natural that I chose him as my offensive and team core.

I figured, hey, I already have one strong physical threat, why not add another? Mienshao is arguable the best fighting type in the tier (Heracross puts up a good fight) and even Smogon says it "destroys everything."

To round out the offensive core, I decided to bring in Chandelure for the special attacker. I really like how he worked out with the other 2 attackers and he covered practically all of their weaknesses.

Now for the walls. You can't say I didn't try different sets out with these next three. None of them are what I originally thought would be best. But Bronzong came up in the search as one of the best walls in the tier. He also gives free hugs.

We're going b-b-b-back in time to resurrect this beast. Not only is he OG, but he's pretty much the best rapid spinner in the tier. He also works as a good phazer with his moveset that I'll get into later.

I rounded out the set with another OG, one that needs no introduction. With the highest HP in the tier, Snorlax is an excellent wall for stopping up pretty much anything but fighting types.

ANALYSIS

Destruction (Flygon) (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant/Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- U-turn
- Fire Punch

Went with the Band set on this one. I originally had Flygon scarfed, but his low attack proved not good enough, so I made the switch. Standard set here, but it's really the only Band set to be run. And Outrage just destroys anything not steel type. Went with Jolly nature here after some helpful advice about relative speed stats of some threats in UU. Thanks!

POWER (Mienshao) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant/Jolly Nature
- Hi Jump Kick
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Aerial Ace

I switched back and forthe between scarf and band with Mienshao and Flygon, and landed with scarf on Mienshao because of his already rediculous attack. I also think it's less comonly used, so people dont expect it. The Aerial Ace gives a nice surprise to Heracrosses that try and set up or sweep. I chose Reckless over Regenerator because there's really no need for the health regain and I need as much power on HJK as I can get. Taking after a suggestion, I switched the nature to Jolly just to get as much speed as possible. Besides, reckless makes up for lost attack stat.

Lights (Chandelure) (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 120 HP / 252 SAtk / 8 SDef / 128 Spd
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Energy Ball
- Shadow Ball

Yet again, a standard set. HP evs for a little bit of bulkiness. He can take a scald from Blastoise and Non-specs Slowbro and counter with energy ball or shadow ball. Fire Blast and HP fighting self explanitory.

Free Hugs (Bronzong) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Gyro Ball

Dude, he just wants a hug. But for real, Bronzong is such a goddamn special wall. Having only fire types as checks, he can live through and stall out a rediculous amount of other pokemon. He's also a good switch-in for a band/specs set where I don't really know what's coming.

is Turtle (Blastoise) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Careful Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Scald
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin

The OG with the Standard set, but it works like a charm. Rapid spin clears all those damn hazards, scald is if I'm looking for burn hax, and the Toxic/Dragon Tail combo can either stop a setup or phase for an indefinite amount of time.

FAT BOYYY (Snorlax) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Atk 252 Atk / 56 Def / 200 SpD
Calm/Adamant Nature
- Curse/Pursuit
- Body Slam/Return
- Earthquake
- Rest/Fire Punch

Good old Classic CurseLax here. This one really brings it back to the old days. The necessary Curse and Rest, of course, as well as the signature Body slam. I threw in Earthquake instead of crunch just because the coverage it gave was better for my team than crunch. And once Snorlax sets up 2 or 3 curses, may God help your team.After a few more hours on the battlefield messing around with each of Snorlax's sets, I decided to go with the standard offensive set. I really liked its versatility in being pretty much a wall and offensive threat at the same time.

DEM THREATS THO
Slowbro-really only specs set, as I have no safe switchins to that. The best bet would be Bronzong, but if the other player predicts and goes for fireblast, I'm screwed
Mienshao- yes, screwed by my own man. This massively muscular monster can do some damage with a Band set. Really the only check is Blastoise, but even then, Reckless Banded HJK does 81%-95%. I've had to play careful around this one in the past.
Darmanitan- This thing is a monster. Base 140 attack is nothing to mess around with. Once again, the best counter in Blastoise is still at risk of 2HKO. Mienshao outspeeds and can OHKO with Stoneedge, but once again, I take caution around this guy.
Kingdra- I have had so much trouble with this guy in the past. I found it hard to counter him without changing the entire layout of my team. Seriously, this guy should be put in OU in my opinion. Once it subs and dances, there is no return.

Well, that's it for now boys. Hope you like the team, and feel free to tear me to shreds if you so desire. Until next time, Cordially yours,
FREWBOO

 

[SoulRed12]

I'm much more partial to roar blastoise, as I find I rely on him to phaze substitutes more than just stat boosts.

Actually, I tend to expect ScarfShao for some reason until it shows me the fake out. But he's faster than Flygon, so I like where you put the two items.

I don't really recommend 3 choice users. Makes you super weak to entry hazards and can put you in tight positions if you make one mispredict. Perhaps Consider LO Flygon instead of Banded, since it's just a minor drop in power but you get to change moves. Or, you could go expert belt, since everyone expects him to be choiced and it could allow you some surprises.

Your threatlist:
SpecsBro: Blastoise should be able to take whatever it does bar grass knot or whatever grass move it usually uses if any, and retaliate with toxic. Most I've seen run psyshock over psychic so Blastoise's physical bulk should help you there. At any rate, once Blastoise tanks a hit, you can switch to an appropriate resist if necessary.

Mienshao: Just takes some prediction. If you can bring your Mienshao in on a stone edge (or your flygon if the Mienshao is scarfed), you should be fine. Also, if it's choiced and you bring in Zong on a stone edge, you can maul it with Gyro ball. The problem is that the best counters to Mienshao are bulky ghost types like Cofagrigus (who, amusingly, can deny Mienshao regenerator recovery if it u-turns out as you bring it in thanks to Mummy), but if you replace Chandy for Cofag, it means you lack a fire move. Though, that could get rid of your 3-choice-users "problem." But at the same time, you would lack a serious specially offensive presence. I know this isn't a solution, it's just some things to think about.

Darmanitan - There's not much anyone can do to this thing except predict the hell out of it. Always remember that just because it doesn't take recoil damage, doesn't mean he's choiced (thanks to sheer power). Your best bet as it is is to switch Flygon into it, as according to smogon's analysis, it is "never OHKOd by any of [Darm's] moves." You would always outspeed if you switched his nature to Jolly. (unless, of course, the Darm is scarfed)

Kingdra: You're right about it being a threat--you don't have much to do to it except switch in Blastoise and pray it's not either a special set or a substitute set, and then use dragon tail. Switching Blastoise for Empoleon could ease some of your troubles here (he resists all of Kingdra's attacks and is pretty all around bulky, and he can learn toxic and roar), but then you have more trouble with things like Darm and you end up lacking a spinner. Honestly, lacking a spinner isn't really the end of the world for you, unless you let the opponent get up lots of spikes too. Only one of your pokemon is weak to SR, and three resist it. Also, Snorlax doesn't really GAF about spikes either, since it can just rest. Just a thought.

 

[PTJon7]

I honestly think CurseLax is not very good, you are literally giving your opponent 3 free turns every time you use Rest. It leaves you completely open to your opponents setting up one of their own pokemon or just phazing out Snorlax.

A standard offensive set with either Leftovers or a Choice Band would really serve you much better, as it can take special hits really well and hit back very hard.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Hi there. This is a decent team, but there are ways to improve it.

I would first suggest that you go for a Jolly Nature instead of Adamant on your Scarf Mienshao. Mienshao admires the extra Speed as it then outpaces every single Scarfer in UU, including the odd Scarf Raikou, which is a big plus. Mienshao does not need an Adamant nature as it has a massive damage output with Hi Jump Kick to begin with. Mienshao usually prefers Jolly Nature.

A Jolly Nature should also go on Flygon too. Flygon likes his 100 Speed tier, so you must take full advantage of it to nab at Darmanitan and Roserade, which you wouldn't otherwise with an Adamant Nature. A Jolly Nature is basically better; you're getting that power from CB.

I could potentially recommend SubSplit Chandelure over Specs. While I love SpecsLure, SubSplit would be good too, as Chandelure can recover itself somewhat well, making you less prone to hazards, while still hitting really damn hard. A Substitute also helps against faster opponents trying to come in so you can score a free hit on them and smash.

Bronzong and Blastoise are good, no need to change.

I would suggest Offensive Snorlax, just as PTJon said. Rest makes Snorlax a deadweight, and is a bad idea especially considering you have no cleric support. Offensive Snorlax takes hits well and can trap stuff while being a great offensive threat. Overall that would be more suitable than CurseLax.

Summary of changes:

Hide

Adamant------->Jolly on Mienshao and Flygon
Specs Chandelure--------->SubSplit Chandelure
CurseLax----------->Offensive Snorlax

Sets:

Hide

Chandelure @ Life Orb
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 68 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 184 Spe
Modest Nature
- Substitute
- Pain Split
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball

Snorlax @ Choice Band / Leftovers
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 52 Def / 200 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Fire Punch

So that's that and I hope I helped with the team!

 

[Aecor]

Hi, pretty good team, but I think a few tweaks can make it better.

First off, Flygon and Mienshao should have a Jolly Nature. Jolly allows it to speed tie with opposing 100's and 105's respectively. Their speed tiers are so sensitive that a +Spe nature is NEEDED to have any chance of victory.

I would suggest Roar for Blastoise, that way, when it is burned, it isn't complete set up fodder for SubCM 'Mon's such as Raikou and Mismagius. Also, Roar, in general is a more reliable phasing move (no misses, etc); however, if you need to phase through taunt, go for Dtail. That being said, there aren't many Taunters in UU that need to be phased, as they are easily killed...IE Frosslass, Aerdo, etc. I would also put 0 Iv's on your Blastoise to weaken Foul Play from Sab and Umb, two fairly common Pokes in the tier.

I would change your Chande to SubSplit or all out attacker, seeing as you already have 2 choiced Pokes. Having half a team choiced is generally not a good idea; however, I've seen people pull it off, but it isn't easy.

Also, I don't think your natures are right for some Pokes...shouldnt' it be Careful for Snorlax and Bold for Blastoise?

 

[ryanr554]

Looking at your team, I don't really think you need a rapid spinner. A lot of your Pokemon are resistant to Stealth Rock and I am sure Chandelure can be a threat even with SR on the field. The reason I am saying this is that apart from Rapid Spin, there really is no reason to use Blastoise over other bulky waters.

From your threat list, I think Physically Defensive Slowking would be a great addition to your team instead of Blastoise. Advantages include an extra resistance to fighting, A LOT more recovery, a better move pool and it also hits slightly harder and can even beat or damage Roserade with STAB Psyshock. It also deals with all the Pokemon on your threat list better than Blastoise. Status isn't the worst thing in the world for Slowking either due to all the recovery it has but it is a death sentence to Blastoise.

It does add extra bug, ghost and dark weaknesses but you seem to have those covered already and you benefit from switching out anyway.

 

[frewboo]

From your threat list, I think Physically Defensive Slowking would be a great addition to your team instead of Blastoise. Advantages include an extra resistance to fighting, A LOT more recovery, a better move pool and it also hits slightly harder and can even beat or damage Roserade with STAB Psyshock.

Thanks for the help! Just curious though, why do you recomend Slowking over Slowbro? If I were going to run physical defense, shouldn't I go with the bro? Just wondering.

 

[Swamp-Rocket]

Thanks for the help! Just curious though, why do you recomend Slowking over Slowbro? If I were going to run physical defense, shouldn't I go with the bro? Just wondering.

It's most likely because Slowking has Dragon Tail (a move you run on Blastoise) and Slowbro does not.