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The UU Dark Horse Project

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Alt: DH Torm

User: DH torm
This user has not played any ladder games yet.

Team:
Feraligatr 0.29859%
Abomasnow 0.65758%
Gligar 2.21114%
Alomomola 2.96650%
Darmanitan 9.79317%
Blissey 13.23973%

~29% total


EDIT 1500 achieved:
r9oqhx.png
Only 2 losses not bad, 1 from bs parahax.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-152938543 Game that got me 1500

I really like both Feraligatr and Abomasnow. I've used both Gligar and Alomomola before so I knew they were good but Gatr and Aboma did much better than I expected them too. I was using the Swords dance set on both of them and they could punch holes in so many teams, obviously they aren't threats most people consider when they build teams. They also have excellent bulk so it's not hard to find time to set up. Gatr also works great at luring in bulky waters like Slowbro and unless Bro get 2 scald burns in a row Gatr will win which is very nice for Darmanitan.

Some other replays:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-152810771 Abomasnow putting in work
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-152806403 Abomasnow punching through another team (would have swept everything without the rock slide crit) and SD Gatr finishing it up.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-152799602 He forfeited but Abomasnow would have swept the rest of his team unless he was running lots of bulk on Hera. Also U turn Gligar creates so much momentum.
 
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Not sure if this is too late to enter as I am an idiot when it comes to understanding deadlines with stuff like this but regardless I'll put my info here and if it is too late I'll take it down later.

I'd like to enter under the alt: The Pony Remark
View attachment 21967

My team thus far will be:
Toxicroak | 6.35126%
Jirachi | 8.40249%
Heracross | 11.26368%
Moltres | 0.18859%
Xatu | 0.50609%
Seismitoad | 0.14739%
Total = 26.857 (took from thousandths place without rounding)
Will probably see some edits seeing as I have a bit of cap space to work with.
 
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Meowiekins said:
Not sure if this is too late to enter as I am an idiot when it comes to understanding deadlines with stuff like this but regardless I'll put my info here and if it is too late I'll take it down later.

I'd like to enter under the alt: The Pony Remark
View attachment 21967

My team thus far will be:
Toxicroak | 6.35126%
Jirachi | 8.40249%
Heracross | 11.26368%
Moltres | 0.18859%
Xatu | 0.50609%
Seismitoad | 0.14739%
Total = 26.857 (took from thousandths place without rounding)
Will probably see some edits seeing as I have a bit of cap space to work with.
Click to expand...

Nah, it's not too late, you got all month to get yourself going. Interesting choices btw, especially looking forward to seeing how you fare
 
Meowiekins said:
Not sure if this is too late to enter as I am an idiot when it comes to understanding deadlines with stuff like this but regardless I'll put my info here and if it is too late I'll take it down later.

I'd like to enter under the alt: The Pony Remark
View attachment 21967

My team thus far will be:
Toxicroak | 6.35126%
Jirachi | 8.40249%
Heracross | 11.26368%
Moltres | 0.18859%
Xatu | 0.50609%
Seismitoad | 0.14739%
Total = 26.857 (took from thousandths place without rounding)
Will probably see some edits seeing as I have a bit of cap space to work with.
Click to expand...

Very interesting choices! I haven't used Xatu since I joined BW UU. It was actually on my first UU RMT! #NostalgicMoment

Good Luck though! I'm thinking you'll find Seismitoad to be the strongest on the team since it has potential and got some stat boosts this gen! :-)
 
Hit 1500. Don't have screencap but Brobat was there and he says its ight. Record was 24-1, on a damn critical hit on Victini. Also i used 5 Dark Horses, doubt anyone else has lol. Trick Room is the answer.

View attachment 22139 View attachment 22140 View attachment 22141 View attachment 22142 View attachment 22143 View attachment 22144

| 7 | Victini | 15.68579% |
| 65 | Froslass | 2.45106% |
| 82 | Escavalier | 1.18945% |
| 86 | Whimsicott | 1.11214% |
| 98 | Slowking | 0.79323% |
| 112 | Abomasnow | 0.55039% |

View attachment 22139 Victini: Kitten Milk your Trick Room tini is a fucking god. It either punches major holes early game, or cleans late game depending on tehe team matchup. He lives basically every coverage move and the tier and even some SE STABs that are from weaker walls like Suicune or Slowbro. It then nukes the shit out of everything. V Create Grass Knot and Bolt Strike are all it needs, and it serves as 1 of my 3 trick room setters.

View attachment 22141 Froslass: Y'all know the drill, suicide spikes, taunt to block defog, destiny bond to take out one threat. I use ice beam since Icy Wind harms a Trick Room team as does Thunder Wave, so i run max speed timid with max SpA. Thanks to clever mindgames i manged to killa Honchkrow behind a sub which is cool. Between Taunt, Destiny Bond, and spikes, Froslass keeps your opponent guessing.

View attachment 22140 Escavalier: The power. It hits like a truck has awesome coverage with newly buffed Knock Off and Drill Run. I ran Life Orb so i can switch up moves over say a choice band, and this allowed me to gain crucial sweeps, since most games with this team last about 15 turns. Also Overcoat lets it be immune to Hail and Sleep which is good synergy with Mega Aboma.

View attachment 22142 Whimsicott: Honestly an amazing Trick Room setter, thanks to its Fairy typing and access to prankster. with prankster it can't be roared out because of Trick Rooms -7 priority going up to -6, and it outspeeds all common Roar users. Fairy lets it resist Dark, a problem with Trick Room as it hits most Psychic and Ghost setters, and it is my only switch reliable switch in to Mega Absol. Memento is probably the main reason i chose it though, Prankster Memento saved me many games in a last mon situation where it could OHKO my whole slow team since Trick Room had ended.

View attachment 22143 Slowking: Regenerator helps him set multiple times if needed. I ran Nasty Plot + Leftovers with dual STABs, and it performed well as both a setter and sweeper. IT has great special Bulk along with enough physcal bulk to take some neutral and resisted hits.

View attachment 22144 Abomasnow: Used a Mega Swords Dance set with Earthquake, Wood Hammer, and Ice Shard. Ice Shard helps me clean weakened offensive teams at +2 once things have been weakened, the others hit most walls at least neutrally. Really powerful even without boost, and priority has good utility. I used Soundproof to gain switch ins on Sound Moves like Bug Buzz, Boomburts, Roar etc. Also lets me keep Hail up longer

This team had surprisingly good synergy as shown by the record and i plan to take this higher with more time. GL to all other Dark Horse competitors.
 
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Okay so thus far, I've noticed a few things on how to use the different mons that I chose.
View attachment 22137
Moltres Leftovers
Nature: Timid
EV's: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Moves:
-Substitute
-Roost
-Toxic
-Flamethrower

Ev's outpace Jolly Hera since he's kind of a problem. Not an uncommon idea for a set but the bulk was just lacking and the power was the same. All in all, if you couldn't set up a toxic easily was usable but not fantastic.

View attachment 22138
Seismitoad Leftovers
Nature: Relaxed
EV's: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Atk
Moves:
-Scald
-Earthquake
-Stealth Rock
-Toxic / Knock Off

This guy is really underrated in my opinion. While he normally loses out to his bro, Swampert in terms of Offensive presence and slightly in bulk, he was one crucial advantage, Water Absorb. Water Absorb is crucial to help Moltres with troublesome Water-types. I had Knock Off originally because it's always great utility so why not, but with the change of the Moltres set my team could use more Poison.

View attachment 22145
Xatu Life Orb
Nature: Timid
EV's: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
Moves:
-Psyshock
-Giga Drain
-Heat Wave
-Roost / U-Turn

Does his job sometimes but nothing more. Doesn't have nearly enough power to do anything meaningful offensively but doesn't have stellar defenses to do much else either. Can bounce back hazards but once you get to the more competent opponents it becomes a mindgame and if you predict wrong you lose your Xatu. For now has been scratched from the team but maybe will come back in the future.
The original idea that I had going into this competition was to abuse the good synergy between Seismitoad and Moltres to force switches and rack up hazards and toxic damage, all the while keeping hazards off my side of the field through the use of Xatu and hopefully preserving a slot needed for a Rapid Spinner like Forretress or Blastoise who mostly fulfill the same role as Seismitoad. And while this may sound promising on paper, in practice it was rather underwhelming. While with this original strategy I was able to blow past the low ladder jumping to a quick 10 wins, the matches were much too close to think that I would be able to make it up to a respectable rank. Players were allowing their Swamperts and Forretresseseseses to die out of ignorance to what Xatu's movepool is.

So after that team failed to produce a desirable result I went back to the drawing board and made a stallish team but that was horrible so I won't even talk about it.

Back to the drawing board again I did some more testing and decide on this team.

-Life Orb Moltres with Fire Blast, Hurricane, U-Turn, and Roost........0.18859%
-Physically Defensive Seismitoad, set posted above......................0.14739%
-Support Celebi with Giga, TWave, Recover, Baton Pass................5.16402%
-SD Doublade with SD, Gyro, Sacred Sword, and Sneak.................1.38740%
-Standard Scarf Hydreigon with U-Turn......................................17.91226%
-SpD Empoleon with Scald, Defog, Toxic, Roar.............................7.09426%
-TOTAL................................................................................31.892%

How do the new additions work with the Dark Horses? Good question. Well my previous iterations always had trouble with very strong hitters like Porygon and Heracross and providing a beefy special tank to absorb those hits goes a long way. Empoleon also clears hazards effectively and lures Fighting, and Ground moves for Moltres to switch in on. Hydreigon patches up a lot of the vulnerability to set up sweepers if I play it correctly. Celebi spreads paralysis to allow free turns for Moltres and slows down very fast threats. Team functions to a degree as a Volt-Turn team minus the Volt but moreso as a tanky team that tries to find favorable matchups that allow free hits to pave the way for a late game sweep with either Hydreigon or Doublade.

That's all for now will comment again at some point with my eventual peak (fingers crossed it's not an embarassment).
 
alt: sapphire wing
pokemon: whimiscott / slurpuff / dugtrio / rotom-h / crobat / jirachi = 30,6%

huge change here wish me luck lmao
 
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Well, I did it
View attachment 22396

So the final team consisted of Doublade, Moltres, Seismitoad, Hydreigon, Celebi, and Empoleon and I was very pleased with how the team functioned most of the time. Against offensive or Balanced teams I was able to slowly wear down my opponent to clean up with either Hydreigon, Moltres, or Doublade. However, seeing as my team is basically Semi-Stall and I didn't have a stall breaker, I was up a very dirty creek without a paddle against teams that basically were doing what I was doing just better. I initially was at a 23-3 record at 1496 points but right on the cusp of reaching 1500 i would get knocked down repeatedly by stall.

Looking back at the replays I have here, I wish I could have utilized the Dark Horses to better effect because late game it turns into the fodder something so Hydreigon can change its move until you win strategy.

Other than that, the way I was best able to use Moltres was as a wall breaker and a general threat to the other team as STAB Fire Blast and Hurricane really packs a punch. U-Turn was used to preserve momentum on something like a Blissey who until worn down by hazards, toxic, and roaring it out of its own wishes is out of 2HKO range by a long shot. Moltres has a very convenient yet inconvenient typing for this metagame. With caution, it can be used as a great Heracross check and also with just a bit of luck breaks through the annoying Sableye. This also applies to Florges if it is not played extremely conservatively.

Seismitoad did its job and then some. In combination with Celebi, he serves a cold stop to Crocune which on a team such as this one with no true powerhouses is something that is very useful. There was one occasion where I had to PP stall Suicune by switching repeatedly back and forth from Celebi and Sesmitoad. In addition, Seismitoad serves as a stop to physical Fire-types such as Victini, Arcanine, and Darmanitan. Although it should be noted that it has worse bulk than Swampert so it can certainly be worn down throughout the match. The extra recovery that can sometimes be gained from Water Absorb is greatly appreciated in these scenarios.

I ended up switching Xatu out for Doublade eventually in an effort to almost remake my Volt-Turn team that I had a lot of success with in beta. On that team I basically had Pert for rocks; Zone, Tornadus-T, and Scarf Hydreigon for Powerful Volt-Turning; SpD Celebi to help slow down some fast threats, and SD Doublade to help check stuff like Cloyster. Notice the similarities? Anyways, Doublade functions as it always has, checking powerful physical attackers and killing them with whatever move. Not much to say, except I did do a bit of experimenting with Doublade to try and patch up some weak points on the team. Initially I was using, SD, Gyro, Sacred, Sneak. It provided nothing against Stall and was mediocre unless it was dealing with one of the aforementioned threats that you counter. SO, I tried out 4 Attacks for awhile and it was pretty cool having Pursuit on Doublade because it allowed me to get that extra bit of chip damage on all the big walls that were so difficult to take down. Finally I switched to SD, Iron Head, Shadow Claw, Sneak and that's worked out well so far.
Replays:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-154022361
This battle shows just how resilient these mons can be in conjunction with each other, being able to overcome a fair bit of hax to come out on top. It also shows the unfortunate downside of using Moltres, its reliance on Hurricane which can miss often.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-154162680
In this battle we see the other side of the coin, how just a bit of luck can make Moltres a great addition to the team. We also get to see the impressive bulk of Seismitoad while he tanks V-Creates admirably. A couple of misplays on my opponents side patch up a few rough plays that I made throughout the match.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-154300110
This is one of the times where it really comes down to the fodder for Hydreigon game but this team does well at that too. Excelling at getting off chip damage to weaken threats just enough that Hydreigon can come through. We also get another example of Seismitoad doing his job checking both Entei and Toxicroak during the game.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-154309749
Another fun game that had me thinking on my feet at the reveal of Sucker Punch Rotom-H. Moltres did a great amount of damage in this game and everything did its job once again.
 
I'm building a team around Sceptile.
Dark horses: Sceptile, Omastar, Cobalion

Sceptile (M) @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Unburden
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brick Break
- Leaf Blade
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance

Hippowdon (M) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Whirlwind
- Slack Off

Florges (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Symbiosis
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Aromatherapy

Omastar (M) @ White Herb
Ability: Shell Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shell Smash
- Hydro Pump
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam

Cobalion @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Stone Edge
- Volt Switch

Ampharos (F) @ Ampharosite
Ability: Static
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Dragon Pulse
- Substitute
- Toxic

Percentages:
Sceptile: .58161%
Hippowodon: 7.68600%
Florges: 15.90967%
Omastar: .20907%
Cobalion: 1.3397%
Ampharos: 8.50374$

Total: 34.22979%

Alt: Brave Lizard
Ladder Ranking: 1049
COIL: N/A
W-L-T: 1-1-0
 
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CoolStoryBrobat
question: are we allowed to use the dark horse pokemon that others have used in the previous month? i see quite a few repeats in the hall of fame.



also: im planning to use my ULT alt thing for this cause [two objectives at once]

ULTimate sonic

^since ULT is impossible to wini(for those people who have a life), i'll try out for this.


EDIT: reached 1500 http://puu.sh/b3V54/c58bc6ad74.jpg

reached 1600: http://puu.sh/b4wzn/f8394475ba.jpg

dark horses: granbull and Hawlucha(?) [if hawlucha isnt counted then im changing it to hitmonlee]
 
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Metal Sonic said:
CoolStoryBrobat
question: are we allowed to use the dark horse pokemon that others have used in the previous month? i see quite a few repeats in the hall of fame.



also: im planning to use my ULT alt thing for this cause [two objectives at once]

ULTimate sonic

^since ULT is impossible to wini(for those people who have a life), i'll try out for this.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that too is fine. You just can't use the Dark Horse YOU won with last month. If it was from 2 or more months ago that's fine too. Good luck sir
 
Yo when are signups closed? i might join last-minute if they're open

EDIT: I might as well post my team. I have like a week or so anyways, and judging from CSB's earlier posts (I.e. June Post) they should still be open.

| 19 | Swampert | 10.00051% | 66243 | 8.053% | 59021 | 8.728% |
| 37 | Raikou | 6.73407% | 43985 | 5.347% | 35466 | 5.245% |
| 48 | Noivern | 5.05566% | 51954 | 6.316% | 41569 | 6.148% |
| 73 | Doublade | 1.38740% | 9691 | 1.178% | 8137 | 1.203% |
| 89 | Hitmonlee | 0.99573% | 14570 | 1.771% | 11864 | 1.755% |
| 221 | Mr. Mime | 0.07442% | 2032 | 0.247% | 1669 | 0.247% |
Total: ~23%
This should be Floette-E, but I cannot find any usage stats for it
Never mind, it's unreleased.
Changed Floette-E to Mr. Mime. I couldn't use Floette-E and that was the only reason I wanted to use Floette. Therefore I think changing it to Mr. Mime is allowed.

Will update with alt name very shortly, but i'm in a tour rn so I can't
Alt name: Scatterplot
 
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Metal Sonic said:
CoolStoryBrobat
question: are we allowed to use the dark horse pokemon that others have used in the previous month? i see quite a few repeats in the hall of fame.



also: im planning to use my ULT alt thing for this cause [two objectives at once]

ULTimate sonic

^since ULT is impossible to wini(for those people who have a life), i'll try out for this.


EDIT: reached 1500 http://puu.sh/b3V54/c58bc6ad74.jpg

reached 1600: http://puu.sh/b4wzn/f8394475ba.jpg

dark horses: granbull and Hawlucha(?) [if hawlucha isnt counted then im changing it to hitmonlee]
Click to expand...

Before adding you to the Hall of Fame can I see the entire team you used? Not sets, just the mons themselves
 
Ok then I will ladder on a fresh new account since for some magic reason I can actually qualify for ULT so I won't be picky

New alt name: Darkspined Sonic

Pls help me verify that this is a legitimate, fresh and usable alt

Sean B. CoolStoryBrobat
 
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