shoutouts cherryb0ng for the AMAZING title
Good afternoon people of Smogon, today I will be sharing my favourite team ever built in my two years of playing this shitty game. In those two years, I have decided to only play GSC UU and GSC NU for whatever reason and no team stands out to me like this one. This team is very obnoxious to play against, with several annoying defensive Pokemon that can hit hard such as Piloswine and Lanturn. Not only is it very good with my style, but also has a very potent offensive/defensive core and has seen a decent bit of tournament success and ive seen SEVERAL mfers make knock offs they arent as good sorry. When I originally was going to build this team, I wanted to build a GSC UU team with NONE of Nidoqueen/Scyther/Granbull/Hypno (that didin’t resort to some hard stall shit) as a challenge...and said team without none of the S Ranks ends up becoming my favorite team in the tier. This is what I cooked up after a few tweaks. Anyway im not gonna talk your ear off lets start this dogshit
Teambuilding
I wanted to build with Lanturn, because frankly its pretty good and quite an obnoxious Pokemon to deal with long term without a special wall like Chansey or a Grass type. Lanturn is an excellent counter to the tiers RestTalking Water types, such as Slowbro, Slowking, and Blastoise, as well as being the best counter to the dangerous Gyarados. One of Lanturn’s primary issues is being difficult to fit on teams, due to it being a Water type that is weak to Ground in a metagame with a lot of Nidoqueen and Piloswine, so I built around it. Spoiler alert, I did not pick a lead when building lmfao so I just threw Lanturn in the slot.
The Nidoqueen Outclasser Himself, Piloswine is a very good pairing with Lanturn. Lanturn is able to counter Water types, in particular Gyarados, which are the few Pokemon that give Piloswine trouble. Piloswine in return can threaten Hypno, Chansey, and Quagsire which give Lanturn trouble. Piloswine is just a very good Pokemon in general, and one of the primary reasons why is that it can fish for freezes on all of its checks, and with Lanturn support Piloswine has a lot of opportunities to Click Ice Beam.
One Pokemon that can semi reliably threaten both Lanturn and Piloswine is Fire Blast Nidoqueen, especially with Spikes, so Blastoise was an ideal pick. Blastoise is able to relieve pressure from opposing offensive teams with Rapid Spin, and it makes a pretty good spinner due to its bulk, typing, and ability to threaten the tiers only spin blocker, Haunter, with a 3HKO. Blastoise also does well against the aforementioned Nidoqueen, but it also checks other threats such as Piloswine, Sandslash, and Gligar.
It wouldn’t be a Holly GSC UU Team without these mfers. Haunter is there to wall the very dangerous CurseRestTalk Granbull, and with Destiny Bond, it can trade against Hidden Power Ground variants (bar LKiss). Haunter also walls other mono Normal sweepers such as Curse Hypno and Curse Wigglytuff which helps. Its a solid offensive threat itself too, being fast with good coverage alongside Explosion. Qwilfish provides more pressure for Piloswine, Haunter, and Lanturn thanks to Spikes, and with Curse, it can defeat RestTalk Blastoise.
With this set of five I noticed several weaknesses. Scyther, Quagsire, Pinsir, and AgilityPass teams all could prolly break through this team if played well, so The Pluffer seemed ideal. Jumpluff on this team is not really used as a paralysis spreader (though it can benefit Piloswine), but more of a defensive tool. Its excellent speed and Encore are very useful and game changing against these threats, and it can do well against other threats in a pinch like Mr. Mime, Fire Blast Nidoqueen, or Nightmare Kadabra.
The Guys
Lanturn @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Surf
- Thunder
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Lanturn lead doesn’t give any free turns to Scyther, can OHKO Qwilfish leads, and can do ok against Mr. Mime. RestTalk STABS is the only Lanturn set that is good; others get worn down too easy. It assists the team in countering the numerous Water types running around GSC UU(Slowbro, Slowking, Blastoise, Gyarados), while being an annoying little shit to switch into with its good STAB combo and Thunder paralysis. Lanturn is quite annoying for a lot of Gyarados offense teams to switch into, even Hypno teams Lanturn can break through in longer games with some luck, especially if Hypno is thieved. Its one of the more important members of the team and makes up a third of the Pilo/Lanturn/Pluff core holly fudge. Lanturn is not great against bulkier teams, but thats where its teammates come in.
Piloswine @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Probably the most key mon. Piloswine is an excellent Lanturn partner and this teams main offensive powerhouse. It, like Lanturn, is very annoying to switch into long term, as very few Pokemon actually check it well, and it has the power called Ice Beam. Ice Beam lets it fish for freezes very well, as most of Lanturns checks are threatened by Piloswine, and Pilo can come in and fire off Ice Beams. Lanturn in return counters Slowbro, Blastoise, and crucially Gyarados, while Jumpluff counters Pinsir without Body Slam. Against teams with none of these threats, Piloswine will go in HARD, and with these teammates its more dangerous. Piloswine also checks several key Pokemon, such as Ice Beam Nidoqueen, Scyther, Haunter, Electrics not named Lanturn / Pikachu, and Jumpluff. Similar to Lanturn, RestTalk STABS is Piloswines only good set. I did try some bullshit Curse set on it one time but it was dicks.
Jumpluff @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Encore
- Stun Spore
- Leech Seed
- Synthesis
Jumpluff is very annoying and a good backup to the previous two Pokemon. Encore and its insane speed can be crucial against GSC UU’s several strong setup sweepers, in particular broken ass Scyther as well as Pinsir and Quagsire. Jumpluff can also be very annoying for AgilityPass teams, though It should be wary of Thunder paralysis. If absolutely needed, it can Encore Granbull as well, but this is very risky. Stun Spore is needed on Jumpluff to stop it from giving free turns to Pokemon like Gyarados, Nidoqueen, and Electabuzz if it has already slept something. Synthesis and Leech Seed keep Jumpluff (and potentially its teammates with the latter)healthy and let it actually do shit long term. Without Leech Seed / Spikes, Jumpluff is worthless into any defensive team. Against offensive teams though its quite annoying and can stop some setup sweepers and paralyse or force out key threats.
Blastoise @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Surf
- Rapid Spin
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Holly fuck. Another RestTalk mon. Blastoise is GSC UU’s only Rapid Spinner (Graveler is bad), and it does quite a good job getting them off. Its great bulk and pure Water typing let it check threats like Piloswine and Nidoqueen, while it can Rapid Spin against bulkier threats like Hypno. Haunter is the tiers only Spinblocker, but Blastoise is able to threaten it with a strong Surf on the switch which can potentially 2HKO. Blastoise is crucial against offensive teams, as its Rapid Spin is very nice for reducing pressure from Spikes. Another nice trait of Blastoise is that Rapid Spin has over 60pp, making it invaluable in any pp stall related bullshit.
Haunter @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Destiny Bond
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Explosion
A Pokemon immune or resistant to Normal is virtually mandatory on any good GSC UU team due to the presence of CurseRestTalk Granbull, and Haunter is the best fit here. Haunter is a fast and pretty strong special attacker in its own right, and Explosion is very useful in endgames or against teams without Granbull or any other more passive mono Curse user, such as Wigglytuff or Curse Hypno. Haunter can also be an ok spinblocker against stall, which is nice for Piloswine and Lanturn having more offensive pressure with Spikes. Destiny Bond is also valuable for trading against threats such as Hidden Power Ground Granbull.
Qwilfish @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Hydro Pump
- Curse
Last up, Qwilfish provides the Spikes that let Lanturn, Haunter, and Piloswine be more annoying to switch into, as well as letting Jumpluff actually do something when it forces switchs with Leech Seed and Stun Spore. Qwilfish is equipped to beat Rapid Spin Blastoise with Curse (Haze Qwilfish sucks xD), and can also threaten some other Pokemon like Bellossom, Jumpluff, and Ground types with its STABS, decent power, and good speed. Against offensive teams without Blastoise, its usually the first Pokemon sacked, as it doesnt check too much and is pretty expendable.
Threatlist
HP Ground sets, especially Lovely Kiss ones, are quite dangerous, as with Lovely Kiss you can dodge Destiny Bond from Haunter and then kill the ghost. Encore with Jumpluff is very risky against it as one wrong move and you are pretty fucked. You do have a few special attacks that can threaten it, though, so it’s manageable. Jumpluff can also try stop Scyther from passing Swords Dance or Agility to it.
These are manageable with Lanturn and Piloswine, but are an important threat to keep in mind and play smart against. You don’t have a Hypno or Chansey, so they can be pains to switch into long term, and RestTalk Mime in particular can ac be kinda hard to break through if Piloswine is gone or weakened.
This shitty mon being a threat to a GSC UU team in 2022 is Quite Funny but yea. Walls Lanturn and Blastoise, and can status everything, Piloswine can threaten it but it speed ties and Bellossom can hit it super effectively with its STAB Grass moves. Qwilfish or Exploding on it with Haunter are your best bets.
Very annoying to switch into, especially if it has Light Screen support, but that goes for any team without Omastar or Shuckle really. You can play around it with Piloswine and Lanturn potentially, but one crit and you are in a shit spot.
Conclusion
This is my favourite GSC lower tier team I have ever made, and it feels so comfortable to play with. I can bring this in a tournament and feel confident every time, and so many teams are just bad against the core of Lanturn and Piloswine. I think this team boosted the popularity of Lanturn from me spamming it kek. But yea I love this team and I am not going to play this game much anymore because it Sucks Dick so I thought this would be a fun way to end it.
Juno
Specs Trevelion dnagerbdager Links Kaede Ainzcrad SuperEpicAmpharos susciety
Lunala ur banned :sob: ur my bestie tho i cant wait for ur unban :D
Replays and Paste
Me vs Drogba in Shenhua UUSD Week 7
Me vs gorgie UUPL Week 1
HSA vs Torchic UUPL Week 3
HOLLY
If theres any mistakes ping me on discord calling me a dumbass or something
