The Nasty Plot UU
Hello everyone and welcome to my first UU 6th gen. RMT! I’m Liontank, and despite the name I really like offensive teams, just as the one I’m going to show here. It’s based on one of the most broken things you can encounter in the UU metagame right now (in my opinion), and that is NP + Baton Pass Celebi.
The goal with the team is simple: set SR, make sure you’re facing a balance, semi offensive or offensive team and proceed to NPpass in the proper recipient. It’s not as easy as one could imagine, but if the strategy works, it works wonder.
Let’s see the team members:
AT A GLANCE:
TEAMBUILDING PROCESS:
When I found out Celebi was in UU, I could not resist and I wanted to make a team around its ability to NPpass.
Then I thought about the recipients. I found out that Kyurem was in the tier, so I decided to implement it as my scarfer.
I wanted a Pokémon that could get rid of hazards and take some hits, as well as having some offensive presence, so I decided that Mega Blastoise could fill this spot.
To complete the pseudo FWG core, I added CB Entei, one of the most powerful wallbreaker and revenge killer in the tier.
I wanted even more offensive pressure and I added Sash Azelf with the SR placer, the pseudo stallbreaker and the generally fast and powerful nuisance roles.
To complete the offensive core, I wanted a lure to catch the omnipresent special walls in the tier and I found out that physical LO Nidoking could be the response.
IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS
Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 SDef / 36 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Baton Pass
- Recover
- Psychic
General analysis:
Good old Celebi, why are you so awesome? This set makes the pixie a great defensive pivot, a functional momentum grabber and a standalone tank. It has nice resistances and some decent bulk to back them up, as well as a way to power up its offensive presence.
Its most consistent trick is, however, the NPpassing. Since the team is built around this trait, it’s really easy to come on a resisted special hit, NP and either Recover or Baton Pass on one of my offensive threats, making them bulky or speedy juggernauts ready to nuke something down. The most common situation is when the opponent sends a bulky water to resist a hit from one of my threats. When this happens, Celebi is there, ready to catch the ball, giving no worries from Scald burns and passing the NP.
The beauty of this strategy is that it’s really consistent in a plethora of situations, from the mid-sweep to the lategame, and even (if not mainly) in the early wallbreaking game. No question about it, Celebi is THE teamplayer of UU.
Moveset:
-Nasty Plot: as shown in the analysis, a scary move. The opponent has to decide whether or not risking a switch, thus I can rack up SR damage and make one of my team members (even Celebi) a monster to face for a few turns;
-Baton Pass: part 2 of the NPpass combo. It also is a great scouting move: I can decide to dry BP to scout the eventual switch and send one of my threats to create vital momentum opportunities;
-Recover: if I need to stall a bit, that’s the move to click. Recovering 56,25% health (counting Leftovers) in a turn is always beneficial;
-Psychic: over Giga Drain because of the higher Base Power and the overall better offensive typing. It synergizes better with the other team members’ moves as well.
Kyurem @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Flash Cannon
General analysis:
Why is this thing in the tier? Of course, SR and priority weaknesses mean that he’s not gonna do that much in the high tiers, but here! Here the chicken dragon shines, especially with Celebi’s partnership. Nothing lacking priority switches into this beast without taking a beefy hit.
The chicken dragon has two main purposes: wallbreaking and mid to lategame sweeping, and it does it well, courtesy of a good speedtier, decent natural bulk and a great SpAtk stat.
The show begins when Celebi NPpasses into this monster. Well, the opponent most likely wants to switch in his special wall, for example Florges, right? WRONG. +2 Flash Cannon 2HKOs it,and it even has a chance to do so after a Protect + Leftovers recovery. This happens with a lot of special walls: if one can predict switches, one of the opponent’s Pokémon is going down, no matter what. If you’re lategame and there’s no Fairies or Steels in your way, do yourself a favour, NPpass into Kyurem and Dragon Pulse: it wins games. To make this into perspective, after a NP Scarf Kyurem reaches 718 SpAtk and 475 Speed. You don’t want to mess with it. NEVER.
Moveset:
-Draco Meteor: if it doesn’t miss, a nuke. Note that after NPpass you can fire off two successful DMs, one with doubled power and one neutered. Say wallbreaker louder, please;
-Dragon Pulse: you don’t want to lock yourself into Draco Meteor forever, so this is the move for the lategame sweep. Despite the introduction of Fairy types, Dragon is still an incredible offensive typing, remember that;
-Ice Beam: a nice secondary STAB. With Dragon, it forms a really nice STAB combo;
-Flash Cannon: to plow through Fairies like a hot knife in butter. If you can predict and you’re +2, specially defensive Florges is 2HKOed with this move, as shown in the analysis.
Blastoise (M) @ Blastoisinite
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Rapid Spin
- Roar
- Water Pulse
- Aura Sphere
General analysis:
My utility Pokémon. Stat uppers and hazards are issues, and Mega Blastoise fits in the team perfectly for the purpose of getting rid of both. This helps a lot when facing stall and balance: my Entei and my Kyurem, the heavy hitters, are severely crippled by SR, and the entire team (except for Azelf in some situations) cannot handle stat-uppers.
He doesn’t just spin and phase stat-uppers, but it also has a more than decent SpAtk stat. You already know what does that mean, right? Of course! Celebi is a bread and butter partner for Mega Blastoise, who’s my main response for bulky, slow teams. At +2, it hits like a truck. It forms a nice core with the forest pixie: it’s the other defence-invested Pokémon outside of Celebi, meaning that it’s the one who takes the hit for the other members and tries to damage a bit the opposing threats.
Moveset:
-Rapid Spin: as mentioned, hazards are problematic and Mega Blastoise can spin almost safely. I try to pass a NP with Celebi before spinning, as this way I practically get a free spin by intimidating the opponent, who has to choose to lose a large portion of health or his set of hazards;
-Roar: if the team is threatened by a stat-upper, this is the panic button. Over Dragon Tail because I fear Subs more than being Taunted;
-Water Pulse: powerful and consistent STAB with Mega Launcher as an added bonus, it also has a chance to confuse. A must, in my opinion;
-Aura Sphere: I think this move is better than Dark Pulse in this slot, because Water Pulse does already tons of damage and I think having Water/Fighting coverage is better than Water/Dark. However, if you want to spin more consistently, you can use Dark Pulse as a Ghost breaker.
Entei @ Choice Band
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Flare Blitz
- Sacred Fire
- Extreme Speed
- Sleep Talk
General analysis:
If you’re searching for a utility-offence Pokémon, look no further. This thing is a monster! Outside of Chandelure, nothing really enjoys facing CB Entei. My team needs a Pokémon that breaks special walls, and the legendary fire dog is capable of this and some more things.
Firstly, one could ask: why double Fire move? I say: why not? They’re both consistent in different situations. Entei has a really good natural bulk, if I need to take some hits then Sacred Fire is easily the button to click. On the other hand, Flare Blitz lets me maintain the offensive pressure at the cost of health.
It’s also a reliable revenge killer: Extreme Speed is an awesome move, and lets me also deal with slow threats that rely on SD + Sucker Punch to outprioritize my team.
And finally, it can also work as a winning condition. ESpeed is really, really useful in this sense, because it lets me kill weakened Pokémon without worrying about priority; a really scary asset, in my opinion. I can easily switch between Kyurem’s and Entei’s roles, from winning condition to wallbreaker, and still have a functioning offensive core.
Unfortunately, Adamant is the only legal nature with this set, but that means that I can outprioritize threats and hit harder with ESpeed instead of outspeeding them, so yeah.
Moveset:
-Flare Blitz: nuke button. The opponent has to take a huge hit every time I get a free switch. As I said previously, this is the most offensive of my options, but the recoil is something to pay attention to;
-Sacred Fire: a blessing for Entei, the single move that makes him better than Arcanine or Victini for the spot. Outside of his consistent power, it has two main advantages over Flare Blitz. One is no recoil, the other is the huge 50% chance of burning, definitely a thing to watch out for. If the opponent is using a physical threat, then this is the move to go for: it does a lot of damage and can cripple a Pokémon for the rest of the match, so that it practically creates a win-win situation;
-Extreme Speed: the most defensive of my options against potential frail sweepers, and also the move to click when using Entei to sweep. +2 priority means that the move lets me revenge kill everything I need without caring about the enemy’s priority moves;
-Sleep Talk: really important, despite me not including the move in the general analysis. If Celebi (sigh) unfortunately dies, I can absorb sleeps and use Sleep Talk with Entei. Not exceptionally safe, but safer than the other options.
Azelf @ Focus Sash
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
General analysis:
This thing has so many uses! One cannot stress how versatile Azelf still is, and still no one uses it, I don’t really know why. He’s a great leader, a good revenge killer, a stall breaker and a potential NP recipient.
Team Preview is the tool to use when deciding how to manage his presence into the battle. If I’m facing hyper offence, then he can work well as an anti lead, courtesy of Taunt and SR combined with Focus Sash and his great speed. If I’m facing stall, then it’s used as a stallbreaker, mainly switching in for Taunt purposes or to deal with CM users by using Psyshock.
This set’s power relies however on its ability to deal with balance teams, because he can work in all of these situations in all of his roles, depending on how the battle evolves. You lost Blastoise and that Slowbro is ready to CM? You can Taunt it. Your Sash is intact, but you lost all of your other sweepers? No problem, Celebi can pass a NP and you can attempt a sweep, even if faster threats attempt to KO you. Are there threats low on hp and you don’t know how to deal with them? You can late SR. I like versatility, and Azelf is versatility at his quintessence.
Moveset:
-Stealth Rock: chip damage is good, Sashers aren’t welcomed, SR is a must in every team and Azelf is the best candidate to place them (at least in this team);
-Taunt: this move alone justifies this Pokémon’s existence! It lets me work around stall teams and hyper offence with hazard stacking, as well as deal with stat-uppers a little better;
-Psyshock: over Psychic because I really hate CM users, Suicune above all of them. Also it’s better than Psychic in an Azelf sweep scenario if there’s still a special wall alive;
-Thunderbolt: coverage.
Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Poison Jab
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- Sucker Punch
General analysis:
Four attacks LO Nidoking. Nothing special, right? In fact, yes, nothing special, only physical moves! This Pokémon is great to lure out special walls and get the necessary damage to ease the midgame and the final sweep.
His special movepool easily overshadows the physical one, but beware underestimating physical Nidoking: it has a decent 102 Atk stat, better than his SpAtk, and an amazing ability to beef it up, so that he can lure out the designated victim and free the way for the other teammembers.
The 6th gen. metagame has done two favours to Nidoking: it introduced Fairy types, something that he enjoys eating for breakfast, and introduced Assault Vest, something that means safety for those Pokémon not expecting a physical hit from Nidoking.
His STAB combination is a scary one: Poison/Ground and his coverage moves mean that nothing can safely switch in to take an attack, unless it is faster; in that case, Sucker Punch adds some offensive pressure.
He’s also a nice Toxic Spikes absorber, a niche ability that everyone tends to forget, but it is vital for my team to perform well. Overall, it’s good to have Nidoking around!
Moveset:
-Poison Jab: the strongest Poison move in Nidoking’s arsenal, bar none. Florges is easily one of the most annoying walls to deal with, but Nidoking can one shot it. If you play Nidoking well, the opponent will not see Poison Jab coming; you can exploit this overconfidence to fake a special set and eliminate Fairies easily, thus proceeding with an easy sweep by Kyurem.
-Earthquake: not powered up by Sheer Force, but still his most powerful physical Ground move. After STAB and LO, this is a 195 BP move with 100% accuracy, which is really consistent. The only cost is recoil, but oh well… As I said, Poison/Ground is a fantastic offensive STAB combo, the one eliminating the other’s resistances;
-Fire Punch: Assault Vest Escavalier is a thing, Nidoking annihilates him with Fire Punch. Nothing more to say. It also catches the occasional Bronzong;
-Sucker Punch: a really useful priority move that also lets me sweep lategame. It mainly catches offguard fast and frail Pokémons and puts them in killing range for ESpeed coming from CB Entei.
HOW I PLAY THE TEAM
Speaking about offensive pressure, the scary thing about this team is that is works in a lot of scenarios. It deals well against a lot of formats: Balance, Hyper Offence, Stall… I carry a response for practically all of them.
In my opinion, the thing about 6th gen is about being able to 2HKO things or go home. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on the point of view), metagames have been literally transformed: things that were OU descended into this tier, single moves have changed the way some Pokémon were seen, and Mega Pokémon are powerful threats to be really scared of. If one can’t keep up with the offensive pressure, no matter what, he’s gonna fall.
Speaking of the team, I feel it represents the just mentioned playing style really well. The strategy revolves around playing the threats with intelligence and not be rush about killing things. Another beauty of these Pokémon (outside Azelf) is the fact that they are naturally really bulky, so that they can afford a couple of hits before hitting hard.
Entei is one of the main reasons I play this team, along with Celebi, as it shows all of the characteristics I summarized above. It has all he needs to succeed: some good bulk, great Spe and Atk stats, and an amazing movepool. The CB set is really threatening, and it lets Entei do what he does better: wallbreaking. Wallbreaking with the fire dog is a joy to watch and exploit: after the opponent’s special walls are down, nothing, and I can’t stress it enough, NOTHING can resist a +2 Kyurem sweep. Since the main priority users in the tier aren’t going to hurt badly Kyurem’s 125/90/90 defences (apart from Technician Hitmontop, but you don’t encounter them a lot), the goal with the team is exactly this: wallbreak and sweep.
Even if I didn’t show much love in his analysis, Nidoking is another thing to consider when trying to wallbreak. Physical Nidoking is gaining popularity, but it isn’t really common, so that it effectively surprises the opponent when I show him Poison Jab. It really deals tons of damage, and even if Nidoking isn’t lasting long on the battlefield, he can pull off the necessary damage to create a win condition.
By priority, this is a list of what one should do when playing this team:
1)Analyze Team Preview and check for your offensive winning condition;
2)NEVER LET CELEBI DIE IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE;
3)Get your field clean from hazards and eliminate the opposing Rapid Spinner/Defogger;
4)Place Stealth Rock;
5)Eliminate the special walls;
6)Pass a Nasty Plot to the designated winning condition and sweep;
7)If none of your special sweepers made it this far, sweep with either Entei or Nidoking.
Notice that you MUST be flexible about your gameplan. This team’s members are certainly bulky enough to take one or two resisted hit, but none of my Pokémon (aside from Celebi and Mega Blastoise) is going to last long if you send them in repeatedly to do so. The team works if you don’t let any of your team members afford too much pressure, remember this simple rule and you will succeed. If your winning condition is dying, you HAVE to think about an alternative one: the next time you’ll send it into the field you have to plan that it will be for death fodder. Think about multiple ways to deal with the opponent and catch the right opportunity to exploit.
THREATS
Speaking of threats, I have a plethora of checks, but not a lot of counters in my arsenal. The only way to avoid more than one of your Pokémon to faint by the hand of one of your opponent’s is to just keep the offensive pressure up. Remember, a dead Pokémon is generally better than two weakened in this game and specifically in hyper-offence format teams.
To deal with some common situations I have to be paying attention to some Pokémon:
-Pursuiters: you absolutely don’t want to knock something out with Celebi if there’s a potential pursuiter lurking in the opponent’s bench. Instead, pass the NP to one of your threats and let them do the job. Remember, you can still win if one of your threats dies, but you can’t NPpass if Celebi does;
-Stat uppers: The team hates defensive stat-uppers. CM is a terrifying move and if you want to have a chance to survive Mega Blastoise has to do the dirty job and Roar the Calm Mind/Bulk Up spammers. Taunt+Stat Up is beaten by Tauting them before or simply kill the stat upper by hitting their weakest defensive stat;
-Hazards setters: Azelf is one of your best friends fighting against stall teams, and you have to use him correctly if you don’t want to be stormed by hazards. Mega Blastoise is, again, a valuable resource for an emergency Rapid Spin. Watch out for the Ghosts in the tier.
And that’s all, I guess. Feel free to rate, use the team and constructively criticize it. Thanks for reading!
