Strategy & Metagame Usable Gimmics in the UU Metagame

[PumpHead]

Doing a bit of research, I narrowed it down to these 4:

Last Resort Ambipom
Ambipom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Lonely Nature
- Fake Out
- Last Resort
This set can put out serious damage as a lead for the Technician Life Orb Fake Out heading towards the opponent can hit leads hard. Last Resort's 140 STAB Base rips through various threats. It's countered very hard by Ghosts such as Cofagrigus or Mismagius.

Nasty Plot Crobat
Crobat @ Black Sludge
Ability: Inner Focus/Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Heat Wave
- Nasty Plot
- Giga Drain/Dark Pulse/Shadow Ball
- Air Slash
The Nasty Plot Crobat is a fun set I see a lot on the UU ladder that can be a bit unexpected. After a turn of setup, it turns into a great special sweeper. It has a surprisingly diverse movepool for special moves and it can be a good fighter. It is flimsy though, which is the real drawback to not using the typical Choice Band set where switches are easy.

Whirlperish Azumarill
Azumarill @ Leftovers
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 HP / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Perish Song
- Whirlpool
This trapper set can murder any wall with ease. Whirlpool traps the wall or other Pokemon and then Perish Song can lead it to it's doom. When it's your last turn, swap out to something bulky, take the hit, and the foe will drop dead. This doesn't work on attackers that can crack through it though. UU will probably lose Azum for Gen 6, but this set is definitely worth a mention.

EndureSalac Heracross
Heracross @ Salac Berry
Trait: Moxie/Swarm
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spe/4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Endure
- Reversal
- Megahorn/Close Combat
- Stone Edge/Close Combat
The popular EndureSalac set definitely deserves a mention. It will drop many foes with Reversals that will OHKO many different threats, even bulkier ones. Hera's speed with Salac gives it enough to Reversal out and do great damage, and I like this set quite a bit. It can be weak to multi-attackers with Skill Link, but majority of people don't bring in Ambipom or Cincinno in on a Heracross.

This is a first-timer thing, and I'm not sure if it's worth it due to the newer generation coming. Hopefully it is!

 

[skylight]

I recall us discussing this on IRC a bit. Most of us aren't too sure whether these are really usable gimmicks, but just gonna tag kokoloko so that he can fill us in on whether it's suited to an article or not. :)

 

[Bummer]

Only set that catches my eyes is the plotting Crobat and perhaps the Heracross, the rest doesn't seem as reliable. Ambipom attracts Ghosts with Fake Out alone, and Last Resort implies that Ambipom can survive for 3 turns (2 because of Fake Out) which I doubt it can. Azumarril should drop Aqua Jet or Waterfall for Protect so that its stalling becomes more manageable. I'll leave the final word to someone who actually plays UU though.

 

[kokoloko]

the only set presented here that i would call usable is the crobat set. if you get off a completely free NP then you're good to go. you need LO, though.

the rest are terrible.

if the OP comes up with better sets then i don't see why not, but i'm not a fan of gimmicks for the sake of gimmicks. crobat works because it wrecks rhyperior and bulky waters with giga drain, steels with heat wave and can do big damage to zapdos with a +2 LO sludge bomb--aka. it beats its common counters.

 

[skylight]

PumpHead do you have other ideas for gimmicks or would you rather just scrap the idea?

Also thanks for replying kokoloko :)

 

[PumpHead]

Scrap. Don't feel like there's anything else even slightly playable. This is the best of the gimmics (which isn't saying much)

 

[skylight]

Okay - don't let this discourage you from submitting further ideas, though! Hopefully you come back with some more ideas soon~