Gen 7 The Top - SM UU Balanced Offense

[Nightingales]

(That's a link ^^)


Hello, I'm Nightingales. Most of you know me as that shitter who hangs around UU and bullies faded love. With the SMUU tour kicking off, I decided to scrape off the rust and go back to an archetype that everyone knows and loves - abusing things that hit much harder than they should.

It should come as no surprise that Venomoth is the focal point of this team, absolutely massacring unprepared teams with nutty damage and blasting through many of the typical bug checks with a boosted Z-Bug Buzz. To support this, I went with a typical Steel-Dragon-Fairy core to pivot around and get one of the two breakers in the game. After some quick testing, I decided I wanted a physical wallbreaker that could abuse holes punched in teams by Venomoth, and came across SD Feraligatr. Though not as immediately terrifying as Crawdaunt, it fills a bulkier slot and can clean up quite nicely even after taking a hit or two. From there, my concern was on weakening fat water types such as Suicune, Quagsire, and Swampert. On top of that, I wanted to be able to run Ice Punch on Feraligatr to remove certain Grass-types that could take a hit and Spore in return to kill a sweep. The answer was in Krookodile, who provides much-needed role compression in providing entry hazards, Pursuit, Knock Off, and a way to answer bulky steels who may prove challenging to Venomoth.​

Venomoth

Venomoth @ Buginium Z
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Sleep Powder
- Bug Buzz
- Sludge Bomb

As previously stated, Venomoth is the locus(t) of this team. As a relatively standard set, you're not really seeking to catch out somebody with a clever lure. Instead, your main goal is to just piledrive anything not named Blissey into the ground, and even then the blob has to be careful of being slept and turned into setup bait. At +1, you can easily roll through a good few resists in the tier, taking a 4x to avoid taking near-fatal damage. At +2 and a Z-Move, it's unavoidable for most things, making it a case of picking your poison on what wants to die.

Mega Aggron

Aggron @ Aggronite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Curse
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Simultaneously a wall and a sweeper, Mega Aggron provides the first bit of defensive utility, being able to switch into the many things that might otherwise threaten much of the team - stopping Mega Altaria in its tracks, hard walling Beedrill and non-Superpower Scizor, eating hits for days from Mega Aerodactyl, and more. However, this isn't the primary ambition of Aggron here - instead, it's to clean up when weakened teams no longer have the means of preventing setup that came early in the game. When key checks are weakened and unable to safely threaten out Mega Aggron is the best time to strike. Iron Head deviates from the standard Heavy Slam slightly to provide consistent damage: if you're setting up, 20 extra power won't matter if you're nuking a Fairy.

Latias

Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Roost

Standard 3 attacks Latias, though with Leftovers over Life Orb. The extra ability to sponge hits from the Rotoms Infernape, Mega Manectric, and more has proven invaluable. It allows one to pivot around them much more safely, instead of worrying about chip damage from LO + Rocks. Hidden Power Fire was chosen over extra coverage such as Ice Beam as removing Scizor safely was deemed to be safer than potentially luring out Hydreigon and Mega Altaria, both of which are handled by other members of the team anyways.

Togekiss

Togekiss @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Thunder Wave
- Roost
- Defog

Clerical support for the team, Togekiss pretty much singlehandedly prevents Krookodile from being a major issue. At the same time, being able to paralyze various threats that may be attempting to abuse Togekiss makes for very helpful support in facilitating a potential Feraligatr sweep down the line. Roost and Defog are standard, as are the EVs, and I've yet to find any special need for anything else right now.

Feraligatr

Feraligatr @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Liquidation
- Ice Punch

The secondary wallbreaker of the team, Feraligatr also enjoys the holes that may be blown into teams once Venomoth is done. Though Dragon Dance may be more common, at later stages in the game teams are often more vulnerable to priority. As such, Swords Dance was chosen to pry open more difficult walls and absolutely eviscerate the various Grass Types thinking they're able to wall it in conjunction with Ice Punch. However, the more unique part of the set lies in Aqua Jet, taking the fight to various revenge killers that might otherwise outspeed such as Beedrill and Scarf Infernape.

Krookodile

Krookodile @ Dread Plate
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Pursuit

Finally, we have Krookodile who provides an obscene amount of role compression. Being able to Pursuit trap, Knock Off fat waters to eliminate leftovers recovery, set hazards, and deal with fat Steel-types in a single set that also lowers attack? Krookodile still rides high in the viability rankings multiple generations on, and that's for very good reason. Dread Plate allows for slightly stronger Knock Off and Pursuit, though if one really had a grudge against the various Steel-Types you could always run Earth Plate. Please don't, though.

For the most part, this is a fairly straightforward team. No weird gimmicks, no wildly 'innovative' sets. Break walls down for one of the sweepers to sweep. There are still some leftover weaknesses to Water-types, but Latias could just as easily run Energy Ball for Swampert or Thunder for Suicune. Without a Z-Move though, it seems less viable than just playing smart around them.

Replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-1357874961 - vs Balanced Offense, displaying why you don't give Venomoth free turns.

Shoutout to CoolStoryBrobat who somehow is still playing this, vivalospride who owes me a dollar, and faded love for being bad at Pokémon.

Importable

Venomoth @ Buginium Z
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Sleep Powder
- Bug Buzz
- Sludge Bomb

Aggron @ Aggronite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Curse
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Roost

Togekiss @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Heal Bell
- Roost
- Defog

Feraligatr @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Ice Punch

Krookodile @ Dread Plate
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Pursuit

 

[Nightingales]

Bumping to the top once.

 

[alab]

(That's a link ^^)


Hello, I'm Nightingales. Most of you know me as that shitter who hangs around UU and bullies faded love. With the SMUU tour kicking off, I decided to scrape off the rust and go back to an archetype that everyone knows and loves - abusing things that hit much harder than they should.

It should come as no surprise that Venomoth is the focal point of this team, absolutely massacring unprepared teams with nutty damage and blasting through many of the typical bug checks with a boosted Z-Bug Buzz. To support this, I went with a typical Steel-Dragon-Fairy core to pivot around and get one of the two breakers in the game. After some quick testing, I decided I wanted a physical wallbreaker that could abuse holes punched in teams by Venomoth, and came across SD Feraligatr. Though not as immediately terrifying as Crawdaunt, it fills a bulkier slot and can clean up quite nicely even after taking a hit or two. From there, my concern was on weakening fat water types such as Suicune, Quagsire, and Swampert. On top of that, I wanted to be able to run Ice Punch on Feraligatr to remove certain Grass-types that could take a hit and Spore in return to kill a sweep. The answer was in Krookodile, who provides much-needed role compression in providing entry hazards, Pursuit, Knock Off, and a way to answer bulky steels who may prove challenging to Venomoth.​

Venomoth

Venomoth @ Buginium Z
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Sleep Powder
- Bug Buzz
- Sludge Bomb

As previously stated, Venomoth is the locus(t) of this team. As a relatively standard set, you're not really seeking to catch out somebody with a clever lure. Instead, your main goal is to just piledrive anything not named Blissey into the ground, and even then the blob has to be careful of being slept and turned into setup bait. At +1, you can easily roll through a good few resists in the tier, taking a 4x to avoid taking near-fatal damage. At +2 and a Z-Move, it's unavoidable for most things, making it a case of picking your poison on what wants to die.

Mega Aggron

Aggron @ Aggronite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Curse
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Simultaneously a wall and a sweeper, Mega Aggron provides the first bit of defensive utility, being able to switch into the many things that might otherwise threaten much of the team - stopping Mega Altaria in its tracks, hard walling Beedrill and non-Superpower Scizor, eating hits for days from Mega Aerodactyl, and more. However, this isn't the primary ambition of Aggron here - instead, it's to clean up when weakened teams no longer have the means of preventing setup that came early in the game. When key checks are weakened and unable to safely threaten out Mega Aggron is the best time to strike. Iron Head deviates from the standard Heavy Slam slightly to provide consistent damage: if you're setting up, 20 extra power won't matter if you're nuking a Fairy.

Latias

Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Roost

Standard 3 attacks Latias, though with Leftovers over Life Orb. The extra ability to sponge hits from the Rotoms Infernape, Mega Manectric, and more has proven invaluable. It allows one to pivot around them much more safely, instead of worrying about chip damage from LO + Rocks. Hidden Power Fire was chosen over extra coverage such as Ice Beam as removing Scizor safely was deemed to be safer than potentially luring out Hydreigon and Mega Altaria, both of which are handled by other members of the team anyways.

Togekiss

Togekiss @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Thunder Wave
- Roost
- Defog

Clerical support for the team, Togekiss pretty much singlehandedly prevents Krookodile from being a major issue. At the same time, being able to paralyze various threats that may be attempting to abuse Togekiss makes for very helpful support in facilitating a potential Feraligatr sweep down the line. Roost and Defog are standard, as are the EVs, and I've yet to find any special need for anything else right now.

Feraligatr

Feraligatr @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Liquidation
- Ice Punch

The secondary wallbreaker of the team, Feraligatr also enjoys the holes that may be blown into teams once Venomoth is done. Though Dragon Dance may be more common, at later stages in the game teams are often more vulnerable to priority. As such, Swords Dance was chosen to pry open more difficult walls and absolutely eviscerate the various Grass Types thinking they're able to wall it in conjunction with Ice Punch. However, the more unique part of the set lies in Aqua Jet, taking the fight to various revenge killers that might otherwise outspeed such as Beedrill and Scarf Infernape.

Krookodile

Krookodile @ Dread Plate
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Pursuit

Finally, we have Krookodile who provides an obscene amount of role compression. Being able to Pursuit trap, Knock Off fat waters to eliminate leftovers recovery, set hazards, and deal with fat Steel-types in a single set that also lowers attack? Krookodile still rides high in the viability rankings multiple generations on, and that's for very good reason. Dread Plate allows for slightly stronger Knock Off and Pursuit, though if one really had a grudge against the various Steel-Types you could always run Earth Plate. Please don't, though.

For the most part, this is a fairly straightforward team. No weird gimmicks, no wildly 'innovative' sets. Break walls down for one of the sweepers to sweep. There are still some leftover weaknesses to Water-types, but Latias could just as easily run Energy Ball for Swampert or Thunder for Suicune. Without a Z-Move though, it seems less viable than just playing smart around them.

Replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-1357874961 - vs Balanced Offense, displaying why you don't give Venomoth free turns.

Shoutout to CoolStoryBrobat who somehow is still playing this, vivalospride who owes me a dollar, and faded love for being bad at Pokémon.

Importable

Venomoth @ Buginium Z
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Sleep Powder
- Bug Buzz
- Sludge Bomb

Aggron @ Aggronite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Curse
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Roost

Togekiss @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Heal Bell
- Roost
- Defog

Feraligatr @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Ice Punch

Krookodile @ Dread Plate
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Pursuit

anything you could replace aggron with?

 

[Nightingales]

In theory, you could potentially replace it with Mega Steelix. But that introduces a brand new weakness to Waters, making the Primarina weakness even worse. I wouldn't really want to do that unless I had a better way to deal with Waters in general.

 

[alab]

Mk. Thanks

 

[avarice]

Hey Nightingales , cool to see you back (I was named scizorphobic before if u rm)! I am a big Venomoth fan and it's sick seeing a squad with it-- especially post Quagsire. I think there can be some improvements here since Venomoth feels somewhat out of place and the team seems to struggle against Pokemon like Empoleon and Scizor. Venomoth definitely prefers faster-paced teams and could use some more support to get past the Steel-types, even with Tinted Lens.

Major Changes
->

Defensive Utility Gligar

Gligar @ Eviolite
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 100 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn

Togekiss really clashes with the offensive nature Venomoth team typically needs. The two together also makes the matchup against Rock-types like Nihilego and Mega Aerodactyl a pain. Gligar is able to provide hazard removal , provide decent counterplay against Terrakion and Nihilego, and pivot Venomoth into other passive Pokemon to set up on.

->

Defensive Primarina

Primarina @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Feraligatr is a fun mon but on this type of BO structure but it and Venomoth kinda occupy the same role and the amount of shared checks to wear down is limited. Primarina is able to provide much more utility with its typing. Its ability to wear down Empoleon with Scald is great for Venomoth too.

->

Choice Scarf Infernape

Infernape @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Close Combat
- Gunk Shot

With the edition of Gligar, there is not a need for the electric-immunity compression by Krookodile. Infernape is able to draw in Alomomola, Altaria, etc. for Venomoth to set up on. It also is another Scizor check.

Minor Changes

SR Mega Aggron

Aggron-Mega (M) @ Aggronite
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 248 HP / 48 Atk / 56 Def / 148 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Fire Punch
- Head Smash

The Scizor matchup is rather risky as is and it's difficult to support a niche setup booster like Curse Mega Aggron while building around Venomoth. The specifics are not too important/mainly preference, but you should definitely fit Fire Punch. The set provided is just the TDK head smash to lure Moltres / Rotom-H since the former looked rather threatening.

Choice Specs Latias

Latias @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Trick

Choice Specs Latias is great at smashing shit and is it's best set when you cannot run a Z-move, imo. The main draw for using Choice Specs Latias here rather than 3 attacks Roost is having Surf to lure Mega Steelix, which is otherwise a huge block to Venomoth. Choice Specs Latias also can fit Trick to cripple Blissey.



https://pokepast.es/d4c401458d0d3bc6
I had fun building with Venomoth again and I hope you find this version enjoyable too! The stronger matchup against the tier’s Rock- and Steel-types should make sweeping with Venomoth easier.