The Fire/Water/Grass Core

[Thetwiggy13]

Hi, this is my second UU team posted here on Smogon, and I've been playing around with it and doing decently (although with all of my failed teams, my score hardly ever goes up). I'm trying to switch from defensive to offensive, as that seems to be the better of the two in this tier. Stay with me on this team, though, because I'm willing to change whatever to make this team more viable.

Now, on with the team:

Houndoom @ Life Orb
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk/ 4 SAtk
Hasty Nature
- Fire Blast
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Crunch

I saw Houndoom on the lower end of the ladder and felt upset, mainly because I've always liked it and used it in Pokemon XD and also in Platinum, where it did (and still does) work with Fire Blast. In gen 5 UU, nothing's changed. I chose Houndoom > Chandelure mainly because it has two key immunities in Fire and Psychic. Anyways, let me explain myself. Houndoom can easily trap Choice-Locked Chandelure, and can take a Hidden Power Fighting on the switch, or if they Pokemon feels brave. From there, it can use Pursuit to KO the fleeing Pokemon (not just Chandelure, this also counters Arcanine, Victini, and other fire- or psychic- types) or Sucker Punch for priority. Fire Blast is an amazingly strong STAB suited for killing the likes of Banded Heracross, or, if I'm lucky, Scarf Heracross that get paralyzed from a Pokemon below. Crunch is to defeat Roserade without worrying about the accuracy of Fire Blast, and also hits every ghost-type hard. I originally had Houndoom with a Choice Scarf, as it outsped ScafCross, Banded Victini (with scarf I had Dark Pulse > Sucker Punch), and any other Pokemon Houndoom could overcome. Have any of you tried a Scarf? It's gimmicky but surprisingly effective! Although Houndoom isn't the best fire-type in the tier, I've really enjoyed it and have basically centered my team around Houndoom.

Swampert @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 16 Atk / 240 HP / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Roar

Replacing Qwilfish as my sponge and common lead, Swampert can alleviate both Cofagrigus and Snorlax of doing all the work. Swampert's excellent typing grants an immunity to Raikou or Zapdos (although I must watch for HP Grass), and also I'm able to phaze out the setup sweepers with Roar. Stealth Rock provides residual damage on incoming switches, Waterfall is for a nice water-type STAB, and Earthquake is a powerful ground-type STAB as well. Swampert is doing its job decently, and the access to phazing and rocks makes it ahead of Qwilfish by just a little. I will miss Thunder Wave though!

Roserade @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Sludge Bomb
- Sleep Powder
- Rest

Standard Roserade set here, which is used in my FWG core, obviously. Roserade absorbs status, which really helps. Sleep Powder usually guarantees Roserade time to attack, use Rest, and hopefully switch. Leaf Storm is really strong, and Roserade can pick off weakened threats late-game, or start off as my lead to put the opponent to sleep. Rest is perfect, for when I switch her out, Natural Cure fixes the sleep. Roserade is the perfect Scald switch-in. The Attack IVs are for minimum Foul Play damage. Roserade also ruins all hopes of Toxic Spikes.

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

Replacing Flygon, Mienshao acts as a very effective scout, who can switch to Houndoom against psychic-types, Cofagrigus against physical threats, and Snorlax on the special side. Mienshao's Reckless ability boosts Hi Jump Kick to sky-high levels, and I've swept the first three teams since I've changed from Flygon. Stone Edge is for coverage and the likes of Crobat, while Aerial Ace is for Heracross mainly. However, Heracross is 2HKO'd by HJK and won't enjoy switching in. Mienshao is used sometimes as a lead to scout, but is usually in play once spinblockers (Ghost-types) are gone. U-turn is a pivot on this set. The 4 Special Defense IVs are used to give Download Porygon-Z an attack boost, making it less overwhelming.

Cofagrigus @ Leftovers
Trait: Mummy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature
IVs: 11 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SAtk / 30 SDef / 2 Spd
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Trick Room
- Hidden Power [Fighting]

Meet the best TR user in the tier (IMO), Cofagrigus. Not only is this creepy coffin strong with its ~145 Base Defense, but it has around ~105 Base Special Defense, too (don't kill me if I'm wrong, doing this by memory). Cofagrigus acts as my fighting-type counter. A giant help to this team, however, is not its walling capabilities, but rather Mummy. Yes, Mummy. Mummy ruins Moxie and Guts Heracross, Moxie Scrafty / Krookodile, and even Victini. While negating Victini may not seem impressive, Victory Star is ruined and Bolt Strike misses just as much as Fire Blast now, so any resistant Pokemon can use that advantage, such as Swampert or Snorlax. Trick Room not only ruins scarfers, but helps my specially-based sponge, Snorlax. Whether or not I feel comfortable, I'll use Nasty Plot and boost my Special Attack, and then use Shadow Ball and HP Fighting to take on major threats. The IVs are to have 70 BP Hidden Power but still have little Attack IVs for Foul Play and little in Speed for Trick Room. This Pokemon serves as my main physically defensive sponge.

Snorlax @ Choice Band
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 200 SDef / 52 Def / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch / Seed Bomb

Snorlax and Cofagrigus have great synergy together, and Snorlax has more physical attack to pair with it even further. Return is for a very strong STAB, and Pursuit is for Chandelure, Mismagius, and Psychic-types. Earthquake provides coverage. The tossup here is between Fire Punch and Seed Bomb. Fire Punch is for Bronzong especially, and can help me in situations where I need it. However, Seed Bomb helps with Rhyperior, Swampert, and does slightly more damage to bulky waters than STAB Return does. Either way, Snorlax helps sponge hits from Raikou / Zapdos as well, and has earned his spot on my team.

Importable:

Houndoom @ Life Orb
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse
- Pursuit
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Roserade @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Sludge Bomb
- Sleep Powder
- Rest

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

Swampert @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 16 Atk / 240 HP / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Roar

Cofagrigus @ Leftovers
Trait: Mummy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SAtk / 30 SDef / 2 Spd
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Trick Room
- Hidden Power [Fighting]

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

Let me know what you all think! Major threats include DD Kingdra (unless Swampert phazes it out), NP Togekiss, all Yanmega variants, and other Flygon who outspeed mine. Flygon is no longer a threat thanks to Mienshao, who outspeeds every variant and beats it. I have a way to get through all of them, but it's completely situational. I guess it's weird not having Stealth Rock, and also not having a spinner, but I've been doing decently so far.

I'm willing to make changes to suit my needs, thanks for taking your time to ready this and have a nice day =D

 

[psVoltage]

This looks pretty good, I like the use of houndoom its pretty good imo. But the only thing i see that would be changed is Flygon changed to choice scarf Mienshao. Atm it has to be the best scarfer due to its insane power coverage. Plus its also the fastest common user of choice scarf. Heres a set.

Mienshao @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Reckless or Regenerator
Evs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Hp
Jolly Nature
- Hi Jump Kick
- Stone Edge
- Aerial Ace
- U-Turn

**Edit Another thing you can do is make Snorlax and Cofagrigus Specialy defensive and Defensive Respectivly. This forms a nice defensive backbone for your sweepers to fall back on. This would also fix pretty much every problem you said that you had lol.

 

[Thetwiggy13]

Thanks TeraVoltage for your rate, I'll test Mienshao over Flygon. I'll also try moving the sets of Snorlax and Cofagrigus to more defensive roles.

 

[Astral Spirit]

It seems like you really like Houndoom (and possibly built your team around it from what it sounds like?) I certainly hope no one would suggest getting rid of it! It's definitely a threat in the UU tier, I would just keep in mind how it's extremely frail while I'm using it. Also, HP Grass seems a bit redundant to me, and I would suggest trying out Crunch instead. With an offensive Roserade and Houndoom's terrible defenses, I wouldn't want to rely on HP Grass for the likes of Water Types, especially with an offensive Roserade set! Houndoom with triple Dark stab is a commonly used set for a reason, and Crunch provides more reliable stab over Pursuit and Sucker Punch, which, while still useful, are more situational. Along with this change, I would recommend changing the EV Spread to 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd, since you'd have more physical moves to use.
I also like the idea of a Physically Defensive Cofagrigus that TeraVoltage suggested. NastyRoom Cofagrigus can be a big threat, but I'm always a bit hesitant on using that variant on a team that isn't totally reliable on Trick Room, as it could end up hurting your faster Pokemon in the long run. Between Qwilfish, Cofagrigus, and Snorlax, you'd have a pretty good defensive core. Snorlax's natural bulk is pretty good, so personally I think I'd keep it as a banded set.
Overall, this is a nice team, and a Fire/Water/Grass core is always something not to mess with! Good luck with your team!

 

[Moose V]

You might wanna change cof's IVs for a base 70 hp fighting. You'll need 11 Attack IVs to maximize HP's power.
Also I disagree w/ the use of defensive cof, I think the offensive set helps keep up the offensive pressure of your team while still patching up some defensive holes which is invaluable. Plus banded lax in a tr is a huge threat

 

[Thetwiggy13]

Thanks guys! When I get home, I'll test it out! HP Grass seems good on paper, but I believe it only 2HKOs Swampert, and Crunch will definitely help against those predicting Sucker Punch. Defensive AND Offensive Cofagrigus both sound fine with the same set since its Special Attack will be boosted anyways. And @Astral Spirit it kind of is built on Houndoom. Not sure why it has low usage.

 

[Plus]

Hey,

When I looked at this team I noticed the lack of Stealth Rock present on the team, which could be problematic for an offensive team. I'd be willing to say that it's more important to your sweeps than Spikes is, as it only takes a turn to set up and you get to nail pesky flyers such as Togekiss and Zapdos who get free reign on this team to switch in and attack, which will whittle down your Snorlax's health as the battle progresses. It seems that much of the team's defensive backbone is reliant on Snorlax because of its ability to sponge special attacks, but this team lacks a form of recovery that will allow Snorlax to take these hits continually. Luckily, you are running more of an offensive oriented team so it may not matter as much, but I would still strongly consider using a pokemon with Stealth Rock instead of Spikes. And most importantly, Yanmega. That is freaking annoying to face if you don't have Stealth Rock, so I'd highly suggest you get some rocks up.

Qwilfish is a decent physical wall in the metagame, but another alternative you could try who has more rounded bulk is Swampert. Swampert provides you rocks, and electric immunity, and more offensive power than Qwilfish. Your team would really like to have an electric weakness, especially to annoying pokemon like Rotom-H who often go choiced and Volt Switch around everywhere. This is not to say that you can't deal with most electric types with Snorlax, but Swampert helps alleviate the pressure off of Snorlax in terms of switching into electric types as long as you predict that HP Grass is not an option. It acts as a physical wall with the regular support spread, and its defenses are good enough to act as a specially defensive pivot on your team as well.

Swampert also has Phazing abilities with the use of Roar, in which you can maximize its effectiveness by predicting switches to pokemon such as Roserade and Shaymin and forcing them out with Roar. You then get to play mindgames with your opponent as to how safe it is to actually bring these threats in by applying offensive pressure with the help of Rocks and Roar. Lastly, Swmpaert has excellent synergy with Roserade because it can absorb Toxic Spikes, put things to sleep, and if need be you could even play around with different sets for Roserade, such as Spikes support or Aromatherapy in order to help Swampert out even more. However, I am personally a fan of the Life Orb set myself, and you can afford to keep that set as it is currently. I'm just throwing some ideas out there now that Qwilfish is gone. You can opt to run Spikes on Roserade to get both types of entry hazards out, although admittedly you will lose some offensive presence, though not much, because you regain offensive presence in the form of two entry hazards.

Lastly, your DD Kingdra issue you addressed earlier -- Swampert deals better with DD Kingdra than Qwilfish does given that it can break subs and deal significant damage to it in the form of Earthquake, and can also Roar it out if need be. I wouldn't call Swampert a premier Kingdra response, but Swampert fits in beautifully with your team and can help rack damage better than Qwilfish, especially if you are facing ChestoRest of SubDD. If it is weakened enough and without a Sub, then Houndoom can then pick it off with Sucker Punch for the most part during an Outrage. Swampert helps because it will rarely be OHKOed by Kingdra barring rain sets. You can even run Protect on Swampert over something like Roar if you want to scout for the Outrage, or if you are up against Choiced users like Flygon or Mienshao who like to U-turn instead of HJK/Outrage.

Swampert@Leftovers
Impish 252 HP/240 Def/16 Atk
Earthquake/Roar/Stealth Rock/Waterfall

Good luck with your team, hope I helped.

 

[Thetwiggy13]

Thanks for the rate! The lack of SR is disappointing, and Qwilfish was mainly to make Cofagrigus' life easier. However, I will be using a defensive spread so Swampert will help Snorlax, who can't take too many repeated hits. I've tried Swampert on other teams, but for some reason I just didn't here. I will definitely test it out, though, so thanks.


Edit: I forgot to mention that I used Qwilfish for Thunder Wave, which helps both Roserade and Houndoom outspeed scarfers. Although, I think that Qwilfish will cause switches into Pokemon that can take those attacks, so Swampert is winning against it at the moment. Will update later tonight!