Project USUM UU Research Week v2 (On a break)

[Moutemoute]

Alright another week of test with about 40 games.. 10 with Snorlax, 15 with Gastrodon and the remaining with Latias. I was able to reach the top 500 this week with about 1530 of Elo. I'm gonna talk about those Pokemon starting with the worst of them and ending with the best in my opinion.

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Choice Band Snorlax - Lowcost Bewear :

The first Pokemon I'm going to talk about is Choice Band Snorlax. While it may seem interesting on the paper, I feel like Choice Band Snorlax isn't a great Pokemon for many reasons. First of all, it's too slow which means it will often take some hits before being able to retaliate and that kinda sucks especially vs Status users which can cripple it pretty easily. I also feel like it has a pretty huge 4 MSS. While you would like to use Return/Frustration, you also have to run Facade if you don't want Snorlax to be useless after being burned. Self-Destruct is in my opinion the only reason to use Choice Band Snorlax so I think you have to use it or at least have it on your moveset. Since Snorlax need to hit Steel types, it needs Earthquake (Fire Punch isn't really worth it in my opinion since Earthquake already does a ton to Scizor). Finally, Pursuit is also really cool to trap Latias or Celebi. On the other hand, Snorlax faced competition from Bewear which is faster, have a better typing and is overall better as a Choice Band user. Bewear also has access to Swords Dance which is huge and make it 100% better than Snorlax has a Normal type offensive breaker. While I was playing with Choice Band Snorlax I also have the feeling that it often failed to ensure OHKO or 2HKO on some foes like Alomomola, Latias or Hydreigon which is annoying for a breaker.

team

Snorlax @ Choice Band
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Self-Destruct
- Facade
- Earthquake

Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge

Cobalion @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch

Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Cute Charm
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Heal Bell
- Protect
- Moonblast

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Def / 184 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Toxic
- Protect
- Scald

Celebi @ Psychium Z
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Snorlax's aim to break opponent's wall which helps a lot Celebi or Krookodile in the endgame. Self-Destruct is especially useful to pick a K.O. While Empoleon is my Defogger and my answer to Primarina, Cobalion is my Stealth Rock setter and a solid check to Scizor and Bisharp thanks to its Rocky Helmet. Krookodile brings some speed to the team and Sylveon is a nice Wisher + Cleric that can support Empoleon and Cobalion.

Replay : I don't have any replays which shows Choice Band Snorlax actually putting some work

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Gastrodon - Thirsty :

I don't have a lot to say about Gastrodon to be honest since it's a pretty straightforward Pokemon. It's a Bulky special Wall which can handle most of Special threats in Underused but it struggles to handle physical Sweeper. While Storm Drain is a cool ability which provides it an immunity to Water types, it's not that much useful. Gastrodon also struggle to handle Electric types because most of them have something to bother Gastrodon. Rotom-Heat has Toxic, Zeraora has Grass Knot + Knock Off while Manectric-Mega can run Toxik or Hidden Power [Grass]. Also Gastrodon is pretty passive which means Pokemon like Altaria-Mega with Refresh can setup on it with ease. During my matchs I found it prety useful and it shone during a few games. Overall it's a decent Pokemon. Not the biggest threat in the tier but still a cool Pokemon.

team

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Recover
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Toxic

Celebi @ Psychium Z
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Nihilego @ Black Sludge
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Power Gem
- Sludge Wave
- Grass Knot

Tentacruel (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Haze
- Knock Off
- Scald

Sharpedo-Mega @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake

Togekiss @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Nasty Plot
- Heal Bell
- Air Slash

A pretty cool Offense I made around Sharpedo-Mega and Nihilego. Sharpedo-Mega is a really strong breaker and a nasty cleaner. Since it struggles to beat Fairy types, I paired it with Nihilego which can pressure them. Tentacruel is my Rapid Spinner and can remove Leftovers from opponent's Pokemon like Empoleon which bother a lot Nihilego. Celebi can pressure Bulky Water types which can handle Sharpedo-Mega. I opted for Hidden Power [Fire] to lure Scizor since it's a huge threat for the team. Gastrodon is there to handle Pokemon like Latias thanks to Recover + Toxik while Togekiss is a usefull Stallbreaker which can support Gastrodon thanks to Heal Bell.

Replay :

• Gastrodon was able to handle and weaken most of the team which helps Sharpedo-Mega in the endgame
• Gastrodon handled Aerodactyl-Mega and Infernape

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Adrenaline Orb Latias - Don't be scared :

Last but not least, let's talk about Adrenaline Orb Latias ! In my opinion, Adrenaline Orb is a pretty fun and underrated item which can be useful during specifics match-ups. Unlike CM Roost Latias which can act as a nice breaker thanks to Pyshock and Z-Move, CM Adrenaline Orb Latias should be played as a Cleaner which can benefits from the fact that the opponent's team is weakened. While it has a 4 MSS it's not that big of a deal and it doesn't remove the fact that Adrenaline Orb is great to lure Choice Scarf Krookodile. Overall it's not Latias's best set for sure but it's a viable one that can shine without a problem. It's as good as Assault Vest Scizor.

team

Latias @ Adrenaline Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Primarina @ Choice Specs
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Psychic

Manectric-Mega @ Manectite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Signal Beam

Tentacruel (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Haze
- Scald
- Sludge Wave

Krookodile @ Groundium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Earthquake
- Knock Off

Scizor @ Iron Plate
Ability: Technician
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 104 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch

The main aim of the team is to weaken enough the opponent's team which allows either Latias or Scizor to clean in the endgame. Groundium Z Krookodile with Taunt and Stealth Rock is pretty nice to chip the opponent's team while Choice Specs Primarina is a great breaker which can pressure and weaken Empoleon for Latias. Tentacruel is my Rapid Spinner while Manectric-Mega is a cool Pivot which paired well with SD Roost Scizor. I decided to opt for Signal Beam + Hidden Power [Grass] on Manectric-Mega because I have Ice Beam on Latias and both Scizor and Primarina can pressure it. It also helps my team to pressure Stall team with Quagsire and Latias/Hydreigon.

Replay : I don't have any replays which shows Adrenaline Orb Latias actually putting some work

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tl;dr :

• Choice Band Snorlax is a nice breaker but it is outperformed by Bewear in this role. Its lack of speed and 4 MSS is really annoying.
• Gastrodon is a cool Pokemon which can handle some threats in Underused like Volcanion, Hydreigon or Manectric-Mega. However it's kinda passive and doesn't have a great physical Bulk.
• Adrenaline Orb Latias is a fun lure to Choice Scarf Krookodile and a pretty cool Late-Game Sweeper. However it will not always be useful.

 

[Darksafadao]

And with that Week 7 comes to an end. Congratulations to Moutemoute who won this week. Now, let's get to it.

Choice Band Snorlax

A lot of players have tested Choice Band Snorlax this week. Scizorphobic, Moutemoute and, Daiyaga pointed out the fact that Choice Band Snorlax faced competition with Bewear which has a better offensive typing but also a better attack and a better speed. However Twilight, Scizorphobic and, Daiyaga highlighted the fact that Snorlax's natural special bulk was useful to check some special threats like Latias and Starmie and it helped it to be an effective trapper with Pursuit. Twilight and Moutemoute agreed that Snorlax's low speed was annoying and because of that, Snorlax was pretty easy to chip while Scizorphobic and, Daiyaga agreed that Choice Band forced some 50/50's which can be annoying. Finally, Scizorphobic, Moutemoute and Twilight noticed that Choice Band Snorlax may have a 4 MSS with either Return/Frustration, Facade, Self-Destruct, Earthquake, Fire Punch and Pursuit.

Gastrodon

Players surpassed themselves this week with Gastrodon. While Moutemoute said that Gastrodon was pretty straightforward, Scizorphobic, Estarossa and Twilight pointed out the fact that Gastrodon can be used in different ways with either Curse, Mirror Coat, Infestation or as a bulky offensive Pokemon with Groundium Z. Players appreciated the fact that Gastrodon was able to handle some common special threats such as Latias, Manectric-Mega or Hydreigon thanks to its good special bulk and typing. Twilight and Lazadamn liked a lot Groundium Z Gastrodon and said it was an effective lure to Scizor or Empoleon while Scizorphobic explained that Curse allows Gastrodon to act as a good win condition.

Adrenaline Orb Latias

Opinions were divided on Adrenaline Orb Latias. While Scizorphobic and Moutemoute said that it was pretty useful to lure Choice Scarf Krookodile, they also agreed with BlueWinds, Twilight and, Daiyaga that AO Latias was rather situational and it really depends on Intimidate users to be as much effective as possible. BlueWinds, Moutemoute and, Daiyaga also pointed out the fact that AO Latias can't be used like Z-Moves Latias and it didn't have the sheer power of Dragonium Z or Electrium Z Latias which prevents it to be a great breaker.



That concludes our findings, and here are our picks for Week 8



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This Week's Selections

Meloetta

Meloetta @ Filler item

Ability: Serene Grace

Filler Nature

-

-

-

-

Cresselia

Cresselia @ Filler item

Ability: Levitate

Filler Nature

-

-

-

-

Necrozma

Necrozma @ Filler item

Ability: Prism Armor

Filler Nature

-

-

-
-

Meloetta, the newest member of RUBL, has some interesting traits: It's the one of the only wielders of the Psychic/Normal typing, high Special Attack, access to Focus Blast, and a lot of options when it comes to Z-moves. Such Z-moves are where its versatility resides: It can threaten what could be considered regular switch-ins with Fightnium or Electrium as well as it can become a potential omniboost sweeper with Z-Celebrate. Not only all of those things listed, it also has an alternative form of its own with very different stats and strategies, leaving a lot of room to be explored for this Pokémon.

Cresselia is probably one big gem of opportunities that is buried below a Scizor-infested meta. Cresselia has access to a impressive bulk with stats that can hold up even to today's standards, interesting speed for such a big wall, a big movepool, and even a Ground-immunity. It has seen some usage in TR teams, but we believe that there is more to be found on it, being a very sturdy Fighting-resist with the traits aforementioned.

Necrozma has been given the spotlight in the most recent Pokémon games, but it hasn't ever been really seen in the UU scenario. Holder of one of the most versatile moves in the game, Photon Geiser, Necrozma can go both Physical or Special (even mixed, who knows?), while also making good use of its bulk and its ability to fire off strong attacks from its high 127 base Special Attack or maybe a boosted physical attack as it gets Swords Dance. However, Swords Dance isn't the only setup move it gets access too, as it gets Calm Mind and even Iron Defense, giving it even more dimensions to be explored. All of this is coupled with reliable recovery in Moonlight, making it the third pick of this week.

Sign up with a fresh USMRW8 alt, and post your results, as well as your own thoughts on the Pokemon in question. You are free to edit your signup post if your post count is a concern. For this week, the deadline will be Sunday, Feb 10th, at 11:59 pm GMT+2. My co-host moutemoute or I will check everyone's ladder scores then and decide the winner. Good luck everyone and happy researching!

 

[avarice]

USMRW8 swan song, probably just cress

 

[Sickist]

USMRW8 all 3 if I can, its very mind-blowing

 

[Estarossa]

Usmrw8 Estarossa

Definitely cress and maybe meloetta.

Some initial thoughts on Cresselia: Great bulk on a mon, but pretty poor offensive presence really. Naturally it has use on trick room teams, but that is already well known so I won't be looking at those uses at all. Feels like it fits best on stall otherwise, but I am going to attempt to try and fit it on balance too maybe, since it has some useful moves in lunar dance and twave that could pair well with eg. crawdaunt.

Set i'm trying atm

Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
- Moonlight
- Lunar Dance

 

[Euphonos]

Oh no, why did you bring Meloetta up?

USMRW8 Verger

 

[Lazadamn]

USMRW8 Laza

Gonna be trying all Meloetta and Necrozma. Maybe Cresselia too if I have trouble sleeping.

 

[Rawbi]

USMRW8 eclectus

necrozma and meloetta!

 

[Twilight]

I'll try all three again this week. Mainly interested in meloetta though ^_^

USMRW8 Twilight

 

[Daiyaga]

USMRW8 Daiyaga

I'll try best boi Necrozma, maybe Meloetta too

 

[Smallsmallrose]

USMRW8 Ness
Will probably try all 3 at some point

 

[Estarossa]

I know it's insanely early, but I've already pretty much gleamed everything I need to about cresselia, so going to make the post now. Will be talking about Cresselia on a more balance build, as it's use on trick room and/or stall is already well known. Will be using it on a more defensive balance team because I don't believe it to really fit well on a more offensive one, as it has neither rocks/defog/hazing/phasing, and therefore serves better as an auxillary defensive utility mon than part of the defensive core.

Current Highest Elo: (lol when my research week account is higher than my main currently is),

A Replay (I'll put more in as I find ones that demonstrate what it can do).

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-858179334

In this game it played an admittedly small role, but it was crucial in that as hydreigon was the enemies defogger, If it attempted to defog while cresselia was out it would either have to sac itself or die to rocks when it next wanted to come in. This meant I could keep toxic spikes up and beat suicune even if something were to happen to my own suicune. It also helped stop infernape (though blissey coulda done it too), and tanked hits from the terrakion like it was a ratatta.

Ps. surprised how quickly i'm laddering with this team considering I threw it together randomly :o

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-858203563

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-858208640
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Team : https://pokepast.es/3be10696750e3896

Lanayru (Cresselia) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lunar Dance
- Thunder Wave
- Moonlight
- Moonblast

While cresselia seems to mostly have a place on stall and trick room, I can say quite happily after playing with this team it absolutely has a place on balance too. Able to tank physical hits like they are nothing (chose physical bulk because most of the things it'll be wanting to hit with moonblast are physical attackers), and especially totally wall zeraora which a lot of balance mons struggle with, it also has great utility in thunder wave and lunar dance, able to tank hits from stuff like sd terrakion and thunder wave them back, and generally spread paralysis on the swaps it forces.

While its special attack leaves a lot to be desired, moonblast allows it to threaten the multitude of dark types who think it's easy pickings, eg.

0 SpA Cresselia Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Hydreigon: 236-280 (72.6 - 86.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
0 SpA Cresselia Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Krookodile: 146-172 (44.1 - 51.9%) -- 66.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

With its physical bulk, krookodile also can never kill it unless it runs crunch, and it can tank a banded u-turn from scizor too quite happily.

252 Atk Krookodile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cresselia: 186-222 (41.8 - 50%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO ( remember no item after though)
252+ Atk Choice Band Scizor U-turn vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cresselia: 240-284 (54 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

It is also not ohkoed by mega sharpedo, but it also can't ohko back in return, so can't be used to counter it but can certainly finish it off after chip. (Could run colbur for a chance to not be 2hkoed by adamant sharpedo or guaranteed 3hko from jolly, but imo leftovers is going to be more useful for the most part).

0 SpA Cresselia Moonblast vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Sharpedo-Mega: 154-182 (54.6 - 64.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Strong Jaw Sharpedo-Mega Crunch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cresselia: 288-342 (64.8 - 77%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

In general, twaving switches into set up sweepers and then getting into something to finish them off is the way it stops itself from being set up fodder, however it needs something on team that still deals with a scizor that sds up since paralysis doesn't threaten it, but on my team I suicune (and tentacruel to haze if necessary) so this isn't a threat.

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Tldr: Passive pokemon, but has the ability to cripple set up sweepers with twave for an offensive partner on the team to then deal with, and totally wall even supereffective physical attacks, and can bring a pokemon back to full with lunar dance which can often shift the tide of a battle in a balance team. In general, quite easy to fit on a balance team as it provides a lot of support/utility roles, but it needs support to finish off the things it cripples with twave, as its too weak to kill anything with decent bulk / recovery.

Cresselia works hard for the money for sure. However, I feel there are generally better options on a balance team than cresselia, with klefki being able to spread paralysis but also spikes at same time and counter hydreigon/latias etc, and pokemon such as latias and celebi able to also use healing wish while being far less passive and also learning defog/trick and rocks/twave respectively.

However cresselia has a niche over these in that it walls zeraora, and has recovery / doesn't get pursuit trapped easily unless it is at very low health.

 

[Moutemoute]

Approved by Kink">Kink

USMRW8 Moute.
I don't know if I will test all the 3 Pokemon. Just wait and see..

 

[Twilight]

Early post from me as I won't have enough time to test extensively anymore this week, so spent this afternoon writing my post up instead. I had a lot of fun this week and tbh I didn't hate any of the Pokemon chosen. I won't list these in any particular order of favourites, but I'll talk about Melo last. So, I tested all three using different archetypes for each of them. I wanted to test Meloetta out the most, so I ended up using four different sets on it lmao. I had fun playing these different playstyles and building the teams as usual, hope you guys enjoy using them too if you give them a try (Some need tweaking). I think I only played about 30 games on ladder this week and as always I'll update the peak if I find time.

Current Peak: 1480 81% GXE

<Click Sprites for Importable>

A HO Spike stack team built with a standard Necro set except I used Rock Polish over SR and I went 10-0 using this squad. Klefki gives me my spike stacker and my Hydra check. Foul Play opted for SD Scizor. MegaShark is busted so I threw that on. Idk why I threw on Zeraora but it gave me an Electric immunity and I'm using Taunt, Kommo-o as my rocker and finally SD Quick Attack Scizor as another wincon / Lati check. Yes, I know the team has no ground immunity...probably better to run something over Zera but I was lazy and was just tryna breeze through low ladder.

Rock Polish Necrozma

Necrozma @ Metronome
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rock Polish
- Photon Geyser
- Heat Wave
- Signal Beam

Necrozma is pretty decent but I wouldn't say it is anything crazy. The main thing I like about Necro is how versatile it can be with all its coverage options and set-up moves, even if I did run the standard moveset and just slap on Rock Polish. But not many people expect it to boost its speed which made it very difficult to revenge especially because of its ability Prism Armor. Reducing the power of supereffective attacks is really nice for allowing this thing to eat a hit well from Gengar or Scizor for example. I also found I never needed to press RP most of the time anyway as it has so much freedom just firing off its attacks and ramping up Metronome. As I stated, I only used a pretty standard set mainly because I didn't feel like testing this thing out much (I'm sure you guys will use a lot more innovative sets) but it actually hits like a truck with its signature move Photon Geyser alongside the base 127 SpA it has. This move is actually very spammable for this reason (Assuming no dark type) especially with Metronome boosting its strength. I genuinely think this thing is pretty slept on and there are A LOT of unexplored sets worth trying out which I never got around to doing. I didn't have a game where it swept with RP, I came close once but the guy set a Light Screen with his Klefki :(

Necrozma Replays

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-858071206 - Necrozma kills crobat and almost nukes Pidgeot thanks to Metronome

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-858076508 - Necrozma metronome killing Gligar and nuking haxorus trying to set-up

<Click Sprites for Importable>

Yes, I used stall for the first time and went 8-2. Scizorphobic suggested this approach and it has been working well, also thanks SilvioGuacamole for help building this team. Using Fairium-Z CM Cresselia on this squad. Blissey as my SR user and you know sponges hits. Pyuku as the chosen Unaware Mon. Gligar as hazard removal, Toxic absorber and Electric Immunity. Alo wish passes to stuff. Finally defensive Substitute Moltres. Team can have issues with Daunt and Celebi but it has been fine so far. This team is also pretty much Togekiss food, but I made a different version that helped fix this.

CM Fairium-Z Cresselia

Cresselia @ Fairium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Moonlight

Cresselia is ridiculously bulky lol. It sponges off so many hits with ease which makes it an excellent candidate to set-up Calm Mind. It does have issues with being susceptible to Toxic but paired with any cleric support and it is fine. Also, thanks to it utilizing a Z-move it can actually eat a Knock Off decently well from CB Daunt and blow it back the next turn if needed, but Cress is faster anyway as it was EV'd to be faster than Bewear. Fairium-Z actually catches quite a few things off guard as they don't expect to get nuked by a Z-move at +1. Levitate is really nice for providing a ground immunity and again because of the Z-Move it actually comes in / sets up on non Crunch Krook pretty easily. Sure, it is walled by the steel types in the tier but in this particular case it doesn't matter, because of the style of the team. Moonlight is nice recovery for the Mon, but it can be annoying outside of wish passing with how little PP it has imo. Without a CM boost it really does no dmg even if it drops the Z-move. It doesn't even pick up the kill on things I was expecting to drop like Haxorus or Terrak (Unboosted that is). Not really sure what else to say, other than it makes up for its mediocre SpA stat for how bulky it is which does it more favours in most cases anyway. This type of playstyle isn't really for me, but I think the Mon can shine pretty well on stall. If I had attempted using this on BO I think it would probably have been to much of a momentum drain, just speculation though. I'm a bad stall player, so don't judge me for any questionable plays in those replays >.<

Cresselia Replays

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-858144969 - Idk what this was but that Dusclops actually fcked me up. Now I know what Curse actually does, but Cresselia put in some work with CM.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-858152848 - Cress setting up taking out Malt and Moltres

<Click Sprites for Importable>
​

Right time for the big one. I used 4 different Meloetta sets in about 4-5 room tours and 11 on ladder. It was by far the most fun thing to use this week. For the sake of how long the post will be I'll just post one team and explain the sets. Okay so this was my Z-Celebrate squad. I added Doublade as a check to Cobalion, Terrakion etc. Also weakens some Steel types + threatens Lati. Krook to remove Lati and Gengar + speed control. Bulky Prima to help check Kommo-o, Krook and Hydra. Rotom-H as another Scizor check and hazard remover. Kommo-o to sets rocks.

Z-Celebrate Meloetta

Meloetta @ Normalium Z
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Celebrate
- Hyper Voice
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Celebrate Melo isn't all that amazing, but I still think it is or ties as the best set. Z-Celebrate turns Melo into an effective sweeper under the correct conditions thanks to the boosts. As for coverage I went with stab Hyper Voice + Dazzling and HP Fire. Hyper Voice felt necessary to actually pull off anything as it hits most things for nuetral unlike Psychic. Dazzling was nice for killing Kommo-o and Hydreigon and HP Fire is mainly for Scizor but hits other steel types. This set does have some pretty bad 4MSS because it can't run all the moves it wants like Psychic, Focus Blast or Shadow Ball. The worst thing about this Pokemon is just how slow it is, and while base 90 might seem okay it really isn't. Even if this had base 100 I would be happy, because this way you could at least outspeed scarf Hydra and Krookodile at +1. Being slower than them is honestly so annoying for the set to put in work and because I didn't use any dedicated lures it just came down to severely weakening them and keeping Melo at full to eat one hit after a boost. The other issue is finding the chance to set-up, as this is so frail on the Def side and thus can only do it against a few special mons that are slower. However, it has a pretty good SpD stat which means it sponges special hits pretty well which is really nice for setting up on Celebi for example. I think the set has a lot of potential and can be pretty effective, but it requires a lot of support to make work. However if I am honest I really see no reason to run this set over Z-Celebrate Shaymin imo. I've used the set before and pulled off sweeps, but only pulled it off once (sorta) on this account.

Celebrate Melo Replay

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-858269550 - Celebrate Melo cleaning sorta, it ate SE from Maero after a boost too

Specs Meloetta

Meloetta @ Choice Specs
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast

Specs Meloetta is one of its best sets, because it can be a lot more effective in a majority of games. Specs was really nice with a good VoltTurn team, otherwise it struggles to find the chance to fire off an attack due to its speed and susceptibility to common scarfers. If it does get a free turn it can hit something extremely hard, but ofc this still requires a degree of prediction to do so. This set suffers less from 4MSS because it has the ability to fit in whichever 4 coverage moves it wants, usually stabs + 2 coverage options. This just made it a lot nicer for breaking things, such as Doublade and Aggron thanks to the two options I chose. Essentially you can view it as something that hits just a bit harder than Specs Primarina, but is more reliant on Focus Miss to pressure steel types. Without a doubt it is still scary to switch into, it just doesn't have the same defensive utility from its typing unlike Prima. I think this set is actually easier to pull off than Celebrate as less support is required, but the speed tier hurts it when it can't boost its defences. I can't really compare this with Celebrate much as they perform two completely different roles, which is why I am unsure which set is 100% better. Overall, I was pretty happy with this set on a more VoltTurn aggressive team (Can see the squad in the replay), as it was able to put in a lot more work.

Specs Melo Replay

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-858266547 - Specs Melo putting in a decent amount of work and cleaning

Fightinium-Z Meloetta

Meloetta @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Hyper Voice
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast

I played like 4 games with Fightinium-Z + Shadow Ball, but I used it a lot on a previous team about a month ago for The Dark Horse project (Which I failed >.<) so I have enough knowledge to talk about it. I think this set could have potential but again it being so slow just makes it hard to pull the set off to break or sweep against offense. The CM I found to be quite nice to eat a hit from unboosted Hydra and potentially nuke it back, but it is still basically at the cost of the Mon. This set however can lure in things like Doublade with Shadow Ball which would otherwise wall it, as well as Aggron which may not expect the AoP. Being able to lure these Mons and blow them back is nice and it can honestly go in against Balance and other slow squads. But any normal offense team limits the effectiveness of this set. It isn't awful, but not as conventional as the ones above imo.

Fight-Z Replay

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-858670561 - It would have 6-0'd in this room tour (Buzzwole was allowed but still showcases it against Balance, was on my main but w/e)

Meloetta-Pirouette

Meloetta @ Life Orb
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Relic Song
- Close Combat
- Return
- Knock Off

Yeah i didn't play with Meloetta-Pirouette for very long because it really isn't all that viable imo. Having to waste a turn just to swap forms and then losing the form when you switch out blows. While Relic Song has the chance to sleep it still sucks having to waste a turn doing basically zero to something. Like Meloetta-Pirouette actually has pretty decent Atk and Spe stats of 128 but having to carry Relic Song is just such a let-down for it. As far as its effectiveness, it basically just stopped things like Cobalion & Terrakion revenging it and it hits frail Mons / Steels hard. Imo it also gains a much better typing upon transformation, especially offensively. While the LO was nice for the dmg boost, it really isn't enough to let it break defensive walls like Hippo or Gligar. This is why I had Knock Off to punish them and to beat ghost types which obviously wall this set. It has no way to boost its Atk unless you drop Knock for PuP, but then you are walled by ghost types so it needs even more support. That or you drop LO for Z-Celebrate which imo isn't viable at all outside of veil. Two turns to set-up is just impossible otherwise. It could have had so much potential if they made this work the same way as Hoopa and Hoopa-U, then it would actually be pretty viable and not need to waste a slot on Relic Song.

TL DR;

- Necrozma was decent but nothing crazy, at least the set I used anyways being RP to be harder to revenge. Photon Geyser is very spammable with 127 SpA and there are a lot of sets that are worth trying thanks to its movepool + array of set-up moves.

- Cresselia is just a bulky nuisance lol. It is very hard to kill with its defensive stats + access to recovery. The CM Fairium set put in a lot of work and caught some things off guard. Levitate is nice for handling thinks like Krook a lot better also. Moonlight has pretty low PP which can be annoying and it is susceptible to status. Pair it with Wish + Heal Bell and you are good.

- Tried a lot of Melo sets and was the best Mon this week imo. Celebrate is one of its best sets, but it isn't amazing. Has a poor speed tier and serious 4MSS, requires a lot of support. Does become an effective cleaner under the right conditions. Specs is its other best set and was easier to pull off. Has less 4MSS, but it suffers even more from its sub-par speed and thus I had to partner it with VoltTurn. Fight-Z isn't awful, can lure in Doublade and other steel types and can melt Balance. But again same issue as specs, it is too slow to be able to break offense. Meloetta-Pirouette is so hard to pull off as it requires a turn to get the form. If it worked like Hoopa it would be good. Even with LO it doesn't hurt bulky walls that much.

Thanks for reading my posts. It takes a lot of time writting these kinda things out, so I appreciate the support. I had fun testing these Mons out especially Meloetta. Anyways, maybe I'll look to climb higher if possible but ya'll are too good at this. Takes too many brain cells for me to even hit 1600 with basic squads. Regardless, I'll see you guys next week lol ^_^

 

[Rawbi]

Are we earlyposting?

(Importable)
(I like the music sharing let's keep it up)​

Pretty simple SD spam. Kommo-o takes Dark and Ghost attacks for Necrozma and sets up Rocks. Crawdaunt is a second wallbreaker and powerful priority. Doublade handles birds, ignores Toxic, and has another form of priority. Rotom provides hazard removal, burn support, and some momentum. Scarf Moltres is an experiment. The firebird makes a decent Scarfer with base 90 Speed and U-turn, but it's let down by inaccurate moves (a lot of my losses are from a Hurricane miss) and that debilitating SR weakness. It does carry a fair amount of surprise factor though and can be used for speed control in a pinch. (Hydreigon is a big problem for this team so I'll probably tweak it before going much higher on the ladder.)

Anyway, I find SD Necrozma to be a pretty cool set, as it lures its ordinary checks. Blissey, Alolan-Muk, and Steels are blown away by Tectonic Rage. Holding a Z-Crystal meshes well with Prism Armor in that Necrozma can tank a Knock Off and deal serious damage back. Getting burned seriously cripples this set, however, and while 97/101/89 defenses are good on paper, pure Psychic typing means it will be eating a lot of neutral attacks it can't recover from.

Those are just my thoughts currently. I work the rest of the week so I don't know if I'll be able to get to Meloetta, but if I do, I'll make another post.

 

[Daiyaga]

Kinda getting tired of laddering, so might as well post my thoughts before I start tilting too much. Can't remember how many games I played at that point, sorry.
Anyway, I only played Necrozma for this week. I said I'd try Meloetta too, but then I tried it for a few games and hated it, so I'd rather not share my thoughts on it unless I somehow build something interesting and fun to play with it, and it puts in work instead of being a death fodder.

Necrozma

​

I really liked it. It's not incredible per say, but unless I was fighting something like Daunt+MSharp+Zor+Hydra it always managed to do something. the main things going for it is a solid 97/101/89 bulk, excellent base 127SpA alongside a more honest base 107 Attack and a decent base 79 Speed, a broken ability in Prism Armor, a decent typing in pure Psychic (although the Pursuit and U-turn weaknesses are annoying), a broken signature move in Photon Geyser and a decent movepool that works pretty well with its stats, with the most notable moves being Signal Beam, Earth Power, Heat Wave, X-Scissor, Calm Mind, Swords Dance, Knock Off, Earthquake, Stored Power, Iron Defense, Moonlight, Stealth Rock and Rock Polish.
All of this combined make Necrozma a potent and versatile offensive threat, able to fulfill a lot of different roles, whether it's an offensive rocker, a bulky win condition, a fast set-up based cleaner, or a strong wallbreaker. Its ability to hit on both the physical and special side is especially interesting when combined with Photon Geyser's ability to be either physical or special depending on your stat investments, as it can let you get big hits on unsuspecting targets (a surprise 2HKO on Blissey for example).
Now let's talk about the sets I tried. I'll put all that into spoilers so that post doesn't look too long.

3Atks Necrozma

Physical variant

Necrozma @ Metronome / Twisted Spoon / Groundium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock / Morning Sun
- Photon Geyser
- Earthquake
- X-Scissor/Knock Off

Special variant

Necrozma @ Metronome / Twisted Spoon / Psychium Z / Firium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Photon Geyser
- Heat Wave
- Signal Beam

These are what I'd call the most consistent sets on Necrozma. They allow it to take advantage of its decent offensive movepool to threaten a lot of common 'mons (its coverage moves let it hit everything in the tier for neutral damage) while either providing support to the team (with Stealth Rock) or having some kind of longevity (with Morning Sun). The item of choice should be Metronome for SR variants as the damage boost lets you kill most defoggers without too much trouble. Twisted Spoon/Z-move are better on the Morning Sun variants to have slightly higher damage on your STAB without relying on landing several hits beforehand, or have a one-time surprise nuke to either hit anything that comes in hard (Psychium Z) or hit the common steel-types harder (Groundium/Firium Z). 144 EVs in speed reaches the 230 benchmark to always outspeed Adamant Scizor and Jolly Crawdaunt, rest is poured in the corresponding offensive stat and bulk, but you can go for 188 EVs in speed to creep Timid Primarina (doesn't matter too much though, since you can't OHKO it). BTW Psychium Z isn't an option on the physical set 'cause Z-Photon Geyser is always special (unless you run Psycho Cut ig, but who the hell would do that).

SR Necrozma squad

Terrakion @ Rockium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Substitute

Necrozma @ Metronome
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Photon Geyser
- Heat Wave
- Signal Beam

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Haze
- Sludge Bomb

Rotom-Heat @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 24 SpA / 248 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split
- Toxic

Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 92 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Frustration
- Dragon Dance
- Refresh
- Roost

Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 16 HP / 232 Atk / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off

That squad is Twilight's (how tf do I tag people) version of a team I posted in the RMT subforum some time ago. To sum it up, Terrakion and Necrozma pressure each other's checks and weaken bulky Steel-types for Altaria. Krook provides speed control and a failsafe against most physical attackers thanks to Intimidate, and can pressure annoying 'mons thanks to Knock Off and Pursuit. Tentacruel provides hazard removal and a check to Primarina and Lucario aka two of the biggest menaces to the team, and Rotom gives a Mamoswine, Scizor, Moltres, Pidgeot and Togekiss check. Pretty weak to Refresh Altaria if Tentacruel gets weakened too much, so be careful when you see a fluffy boi.

SR Necrozma replay

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-859020022 - Necrozma kills the two roadblocks to Altaria aka Nidoking and Scizor, letting fluff boi clean up afterwards.

Choiced Necrozma

Specs Necrozma

Necrozma @ Choice Specs
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Photon Geyser
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power / Psyshock
- Signal Beam

Band Necrozma

Necrozma @ Choice Band
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Photon Geyser
- Earthquake
- X-Scissor
- Knock Off / Rock Blast

These sets were weird. Not exactly underwhelming as I didn't have too many expectations, but I think they were the second worst Necrozma sets I tried. Sure, they hit stupidly hard, but the abundance of Dark-types make clicking Photon Geyser pretty risky in a lot of situations. But once said Dark-type is out of the equation, boy does this thing hit hard. Nothing much to say except that specs has the advantage of hitting harder, while band has slightly more utility (because of Knock Off) and an additional surprise factor. BTW the Rock Blast option is only here to mess with Substitute Moltres, 'cause it can Pressure stall your Photon Geysers if you're not careful (and you have nothing to hit it).

Offensive Calm Mind

Necrozma @ Groundium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Photon Geyser
- Earth Power
- Signal Beam
S/O Moutemoute for that set. It's a surprisingly good breaker early/mid-game that is also not too susceptible to Hydreigon and Krookodile thanks to the SpDef boost and the Z-Crystal. Z-Earth Power is an extremely effective tech to get rid of Steel-types (and Alolan Muk). I paired it with DD+Refresh Altaria and it was pretty ridiculous tbh. Can't add much to it, it works extremely well and often only needs to get 1-2 kills to have done its job, meaning you can very well let it stay for a long time on the field.

Calm Mind Necrozma squad

Necrozma @ Groundium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Photon Geyser
- Earth Power
- Signal Beam

Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 92 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Frustration
- Dragon Dance
- Refresh
- Roost

Cobalion @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Stone Edge

Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Moltres @ Charcoal
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Hurricane
- Roost
- Defog

Tsareena @ Lum Berry
Ability: Queenly Majesty
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Power Whip
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Synthesis

Pretty straightforward squad, Necrozma acts as my main wallbreaker and aims to get rid of steel- and poison- types for Altaria to clean late-game, Cobalion provides rocks to the team and a soft Scizor check (Stone Edge over Swords Dance 'cause the Moltres MU was ridiculously rough), Krook provides speed control and an electric immunity, Moltres brings a sturdier Scizor check and a potential Z user to make Z Necrozma more surprising, and Tsareena pressures bulky Waters while removing hazards for Moltres (Defog Moltres + Tsareena can handle almost all rocks setters in the tier, bar Nihilego and Terrakion). Worked pretty well when I was playing seriously.

Offensive CM replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-859345677 - Necrozma gets an early boost on my opponent's Gligar, puts Scizor into rocks range, and can't be RK'd by my opponent, letting it get 3 kills before dying from poison. One good example showcasing the importance of the SpD boost from Calm Mind.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-859349448 - Necrozma drops the Z on Scizor, killing it and letting Altaria clean a bit later.

Bulky Calm Mind Necrozma

Necrozma @ Psychium Z / Leftovers
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Rest
- Signal Beam / Heat Wave / Iron Defense
This was a pretty interesting set to use, making Necrozma act as a bulky wincon instead of a setup-based wallbreaker. It's extremely effective once you get the ball rolling but requires more support than the offensive CM set. Typically, you want the phazers to be dead or close to death, and Dark-types either dead or Toxic'd. The last slot can change depending on what you want to hit : Signal Beam lets you nail said dark-types so you don't have to rely completely on your teammates to get rid of them, Heat Wave deals serious damage to the steel-type phazers (Aggron and Empoleon) and allows you to get rid of Scizor without burning the Z, and Iron Defense makes Necrozma impossible to kill without a crit. All three options worked for me, so play whatever you want. This set really messes up bulkier builds, and can sometimes work against offensive teams as well. Oh, and Psychium-Z is used to kill Tentacruel if he tries to Haze away your boosts, as Stored Power-based Shattered Psyche is a guaranteed OHKO. Colbur Berry is also an option with Signal Beam, but I think Psychium Z and Leftovers are the better options.

Bulky CM Necrozma squad

Aurorus @ Focus Sash
Ability: Snow Warning
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Freeze-Dry
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Encore

Sandslash-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aurora Veil
- Rapid Spin
- Icicle Crash
- knockoffhail

Doublade @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Swords Dance
- Gyro Ball
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Sneak

Necrozma @ Psychium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Signal Beam
- Rest

Kommo-o @ Salac Berry
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Belly Drum
- Drain Punch
- Shadow Claw

Linoone @ Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 148 HP / 248 Atk / 8 Def / 88 SpD / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Extreme Speed
- Stomping Tantrum
- Seed Bomb

Weakness Policy Rock Polish Necrozma

Necrozma @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rock Polish
- Stored Power / Photon Geyser
- Heat Wave
- Signal Beam
This set is a meme, but at least it's a funny one. Honestly, it didn't really work except for a few low ladder games, but you could make anything work there so it doesn't count. It's a decent cleaner that really takes advantage of Prism Armor to get the WP boost more easily and proceed to wreck havoc from there. The choice of STAB is probably the hardest part for me : Photon Geyser gives you a consistent move that can deal damage even without the WP boost, but Stored Power has a higher BP with a +2 boost in Speed, Attack and SpA, and can even go higher if you manage to set several Rock Polish up (220 BP with +2 Atk, +2 SpA and +6 Speed, which is kinda overkill). I ran max speed with a positive nature on this set as Necrozma reaches 282 speed this way, meaning it outspeeds all common scarfers in the tier after a Rock Polish. Nothing much to add, it can be a decent set with proper support but that's about it.

RP Necrozma squad

Aurorus @ Focus Sash
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Freeze-Dry
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Encore

Sandslash-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aurora Veil
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin

Necrozma @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rock Polish
- Stored Power
- Heat Wave
- Signal Beam

Linoone @ Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 148 HP / 248 Atk / 8 Def / 88 SpD / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Extreme Speed
- Stomping Tantrum
- Seed Bomb

Altaria @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Return
- Refresh
- Roost

Infernape @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Vacuum Wave

replay

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-858903762 - Necrozma sets two RP and gets hits by Jellicent's Hex, then proceeds to clean

SD Necrozma

Necrozma @ Groundium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Photon Geyser
- Earthquake
- X-Scissor
Calm Mind Necrozma is better. Yeah, that's pretty much all there is to say. Sure, it has some kind of surprise factor behind it and gets a +2 boost instead of CM's +1 boost, but there's only one mon that walls the CM set and gets destroyed by the SD set, and it's Blissey (Alo-Muk dies to +1 Z-Earth Power after rocks). So unless you really hate that pink blob or something, there isn't much reason to use it compared to CM Necro.

Of course, everything isn't all sunshine and rainbows with Necrozma. While 79 base Speed isn't horribly slow, it still leaves it outsped by a lot of the metagame that can then proceed to kill or severely dent it before going down to a Photon Geyser. Coupled with its lackluster recovery option in Morning Sun (only 8PP & lowered by Hippowdon's sand, great) and decent but not exceptional bulk, and it can often struggle to switch into a lot. Finally, Signal Beam/X-Scissor lack power and fail to get the OHKO on most Dark- and Psychic-types, which sucks 'cause it'll have to take a hit if it stays in/get pursuited as it switches out or be forced out if you want to keep it healthy.

tl;dr
Necrozma is a pretty good offensive 'mon only held back by its average bulk and speed. It has a lot of options available that require different counterplay, and Photon Geyser makes scouting for the set kinda hard. U-turn being so common both hinders and helps it, and the amount of Dark-types running around is pretty annoying for Necrozma even if it has ways to circumvent them.

Now back to the drawing board with Meloetta zzz

 

[Lazadamn]

Full disclosure: I did not like this week at all, mostly from the way I played these games. I played a lot more than usual this week, but somehow Necrozma (and Meloetta to an extent) did not meet my expectations.

Necrozma Team 1:

Necrozma @ Groundium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 88 HP / 168 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Photon Geyser
- Earth Power
- Signal Beam

Scizor @ Assault Vest
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Nihilego @ Expert Belt
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 76 HP / 176 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Sludge Wave
- Power Gem
- Grass Knot

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Defog

Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Facade
- Earthquake
- Roost

Infernape @ Choice Band
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch

Necrozma Team 2:

Necrozma @ Groundium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 88 HP / 168 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Photon Geyser
- Earth Power
- Signal Beam

Scizor @ Assault Vest
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Nihilego @ Expert Belt
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 76 HP / 176 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Sludge Wave
- Power Gem
- Grass Knot

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Defog

Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Facade
- Earthquake
- Roost

Infernape @ Choice Band
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch

I tested quite a bit of Necrozma sets; CM Groundium Z, SD Groundium Z, Defensive (Thunder Wave, SR) and Specs. The one I actually like the most was the CM Groundium Z (shoutout to Moutemoute ) because it got the power and coverage. Defensive Necro with SR is actually viable in my opinion because Prism Armor is really good, but its passive as hell and you're bound to be blocked by something since you have 1 slot for an Attack (unless you forgo Thunder Wave, but then the utility is limited to SR and I would rather use something else). Necrozma is often bulkier when you're expecting it to die, but Frailer when you're expecting it to live. The word that I would use for Necrozma is awkward. Its speed tier is awkward, its typing is awkward, wide coverage but 4MSS is really strong in this one. Sometimes it would break a team apart and sometimes its a sack. Overall, a mediocre Pokemon that I'm sure is better wielded by better players than me. 3/5

Meloetta Team:

Meloetta @ Choice Specs
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Shadow Ball
- U-turn
- Psyshock

Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Superpower

Kommo-o @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 76 Atk / 180 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Clanging Scales
- Close Combat
- Flamethrower

Manectric-Mega @ Manectite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Scizor @ Buginium Z
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 244 HP / 136 Atk / 128 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off

Primarina @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Managed to find a time to test Meloetta too, even if I only used 1 set, Choice Specs. I've used Z-Celebrate before and really don't like how it only has one shot to sweep. Specs Meloetta has been better for me than Necrozma, on the account of 2 things; better speed tier and U-turn for momentum. Its got great power, Hyper Voice is highly spammable, and its coverage is wide open. That said, better speed tier doesn't mean its good. 90 is average in UU, and prominent Dark types are all faster than it like Krookodile and Hydreigon (nobody likes you Muk). Specs gave it a far easier wall breaker to wield for me and its been doing better than Necrozma. 3.5/5

Thanks for reading.

 

[avarice]

Might be using these teams in the future so I don't wanna post them but since the post I was writing throughout the week poofed I'll be brief

originally this was the only mon I was gonna use for the week since I already had a team built with it. It's not the best pick for balance imho since there are easier ways to deal with the fightings without giving opposing Steel-types more room. I did enjoy Cress on stall though. Very nice win con and it can opt for psyshock or hp fire depending on how well the team handles suicune. Pretty weak even with multiple boosts but like what do you expect. 5/5 met my expectations

I didn't plan to build with this thing during the week but it fit the team rather nicely as a stealth rocks user. It hits so damn hard with Photon and with the metronome can really annoy the fatter pokemon like gligar. the team i used flipped between metronome and iapapa berry and honestly both worked well. with necro's natural bulk it had a solid amount of times iapapa popped. 4/5 good mon but wouldn't use it unless i had to

oh how i wish this thing was good. I mainly played with a team from Twilight and meloetta served its purpose generally. awkward speed tier makes it not as good as shaymin or even p2 in regards to omniboosting sets. id rather just use prim for specs.

 

[Moutemoute]

Alright, that was another cool week for sure. I've done around 50 games. About 20 with Meloetta and Necrozma and a dozen with Cresselia. I was able to reach more than 1600 Elo. As usual, I'm gonna talk about those Pokemon starting with the worst of them and ending with the best in my opinion. Also I lost all my teams like a retarded so sorry but I couldn't share them with you this week.

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Cresselia - Bulky but lazy :

I didn't expect Cresselia to be my crush this week and he didn’t shine like I expected. While Cresselia is really Bulky and able to handle a plethora of hits on both side of the spectrum (physical and special), it's a Pokemon which is way too passive to be really effective in my opinion. Outside of really Bulky builds, I don't think that Cresselia can be effective. While it has some great options to support its teammates like Thunder Wave, Toxic or the mighty Lunar Dance, it really struggle to be effective in my opinion and it has a pretty bad 4 MSS. It needs Moonlight (which is by the way a pretty bad move considering it only has 8 PPs) and then Cresselia has to opt between moves like Hidden Power [Fire] to be able to threaten Scizor, Moonblast to pressure Hydreigon, Haxorus or Krookodile or a Psychic STAB like Psychic or Psyshock (because it can't pressure Pokemon like Tentacruel without it). I don't see a reason to use Cresselia in the current Underused when we have options like Latias, Reuniclus, Starmie or Celebi. While Lunar Dance may be interesting on the paper, it's not the same in game. In my opinion, Choice Scarf Latias with Healing Support is a way better support than Cresselia with Lunar Dance. Both of them have Levitate and the Psychic type but Latias is way faster and able to hit pretty hard while Cresselia is passive as fuck. Even Hidden Power [Fire] can't OHKO 0 HP Scizor.. like c'mon.. Even if I like the insane Bulk of Cresselia, I think that there is much better option which aren't not that much passive in the tier and which are still able to support their teammates. Also, I don't think CM Cresselia is a good option at all, Reuniclus and Celebi are in my opinion way better !

Pokepast of the set I've been using during this week : here

Replay :

• Cresselia was able to handle some hits and scout some attacks. Unfortunately, it drops like a poop vs Bug Bite LO Scizor

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Meloetta - Prima Ballerina :

Meloetta is a pretty cool Pokemon and I loved trying it. While it speed tier kinda suck since it's slower than Krookodile and Hydreigon, it has a great Bulk which allows it to setup with ease on a lot of special Pokemon. I tried 3 set of Meloetta : Z-Celebrate, CM + Z-Focus Blast and Z-Celebrate + Relic Song. Overall, all of them were able to show themselves useful. Z-Focus Blast is in my opinion the worst of them. Even if it's a good way to lure Steel types (which can help a teammate like DD Refresh Altaria-Mega), the lack of speed is super hard to deal with and it's pretty tough to setup effectively. On the other hand, Z-Celebrate Meloetta is a really cool Late-Game Sweeper or Mid-Game Breaker. Even if it has an annoying 4 MSS, it was cool to use it. Last but not least for sure, Z-Celebrate + Relic Song Meloetta was a pure pleasure to use. Even if it's the most hard one to use since it needs 2 turn to be effective and it has a pretty huge 4 MSS, it's a pure pleasure to Sweep with it. It also need some huge support in my opinion like Screens or Aurora Veil.

Pokepast of the set I've been using during this week : here

Replays :

• Z-Celebrate Meloetta was able to do the job in the endgame

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Necrozma - Dark prism :

Necrozma was without a doubt my favorite Pokemon this week. I think Necrozma is a really underrated Pokemon in the tier despite it's amazing Movepool and its Statistics which are pretty cool overall. I've been using moslty Groundium Z Necrozma (with either Stealth Rock or Calm Mind) and it was great to nuke some Empoleon, some Muk-Alola or some Scizor. While Groundium Z Necrozma is a great lure, Choice Specs Necrozma is an insanely hard Pokemon to Switch-into since it has a really high Special Attack and some nasty coverage which allows it to hit almost everything it needs. Heat Wave / Earth Power allows it to punish Steel types (especially Scizor for Heat Wave and Empoleon for Earth Power) while Signal Beam is useful to pressure Dark types such has Hydreigon and Krookodile. It's also great to punish Latias and Celebi. Psyshock is a less common option but it allows Necrozma to ensure the 2HKO on Blissey without Stealth Rocks damages which is huge. SD Necrozma is also nice but I feel like it's not Necrozma's best set atm considering Muk-Alola isn't as much common than before. Necrozma is definitively a cool Pokemon I encourage people to try it !

Pokepast of the set I've been using during this week : here

Replays :

• Necrozma removed Scizor, it was able to set its Stealth Rocks and weakened a lot Muk-Alola
• Necrozma was able to KOed Klefki and Latias
• Necrozma removed Kommo-o and Manectric-Mega but it also weakened Scizor and Primarina
• Another game where Necrozma shined

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tl;dr :

• Even if it's Bulky as fuck, Cresselia is pretty bad and too much passive to be a good Pokemon.
• Meloetta is a pretty viable Pokemon in Underused. Even if it only a niche Pokemon, it can be effective with the right support. However, like Shaymin it has a 4 MSS which may be annoying.
• Necrozma is a Pokemon which can pressure a lot of Pokemon in Underused thanks to its great Statistics and wide Movepool. Since it's a prety versatile Pokemon, it can lure some threats for its teammates rather easily.

 

[Moutemoute]

And with that Week 8 comes to an end. Congratulations to Moutemoute who won this week. Now, let's get to it.

Meloetta

3 players have been testing Meloetta this week and they got inspired ! All of them highlighted the fact that Meloetta's speed is a problem since it makes it pretty weak to Krookodile and Hydreigon. On the other hand, Twilight and Moutemoute pointed out the fact that Meloetta has a bad 4 MSS overall and it doesn't depend of its set. Lazadamn and Twilight tried Choice Specs Meloetta and they agreed that this set suffered a bit less from the 4 MSS. Lazadamn also said that U-Turn was pretty cool on this set. On the other hand, both Twilight and Moutemoute agreed that CM Z-Focus Blast Meloetta wasn't Meloetta's best set and it has some several flaws like its lack of Speed and the fact that it's hard to setup. Twilight and Moutemoute have been testing Z-Celebrate and while they agreed that it needs some support to setup, they had different opinions. Indeed, Twilight found it worst than Shaymin while Moutemoute seem convinced by it. Twilight also tried Meloetta-Pirouette and found it really bad while Moutemoute said that he liked Meloetta-Pirouette with Z-Celebrate a lot even if it was hard to play with it.

Cresselia

The majority of the players which played Cresselia during this week agreed that Cresselia can be effective in Stall. However, Estarossa pointed out the fact that Cresselia was viable in balanced even if it mets some competition from other staples like Klefki, Latias or Celebi. Moutemoute agreed on that point and highlighted the fact that Latias was definitively better than Cresselia thanks to its better Speed and the fact that it's less passive. Estarossa, Moutemoute and Twilight enjoyed the bulk of Cresselia which allows it to handle a plethora of physical threats like Zeraora or even Krookodile without Crunch. Estarossa and Moutemoute also said that Cresselia was useful to support its teammates thanks to Thunder Wave or Lunar Dance. However, most of them agreed with that fact that the passivity of Cresselia was a huge issue and Twilight and Moutemoute said that the low PP of Moonlight was also an issue in the long run.

Necrozma

Necrozma has been the most used Pokemon this week and the players have been innovative. Indeed, they have been trying a dozen of Necrozma's set : Choice Specs, Offensive Stealth Rock, Swords Dance and even more exotic ones like Offensive Calm Mind, Choice Band, Rock Polish and Bulky Calm Mind. Daiyaga, Twilight and Moutemoute pointed out the fact that Necrozma is a really versatile Pokemon thanks to its great movepool. Daiyaga and Twilight also said that its Signature Move was great and it was a splashable move. Lazadamn and Moutemoute agreed that Groundium Z Necrozma was a useful lure which was able to remove with ease Steel types. On the other hand, Rawbi really enjoyed the fact that SD Necrozma was able to lure Blissey or Muk-Alola. However, Daiyaga pointed out the fact that Necrozma can be held because of its Speed and the fact that U-Turn is pretty common in the tier. On his side, Scizorphobic said that Necrozma was a pretty nice Stealth Rock setter. A few players also pointed out the fact that Necrozma's ability : Prism Armor, was quite useful.


That concludes our findings, and here are our picks for Week 9

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This Week's Selections

Echoed Voice Primarina

Primarina @ Metronome
Ability: Liquid Voice
Filler Nature
- Echoed Voice
-
-
-

Electrium Z Magneton

Magneton @ Electrium Z
Ability: Magnet Pull
Filler Nature
- Thunder / Thunderbolt
-
-
-

Sceptile-Mega

Sceptile-Mega @ Sceptilite
Ability: Lightning Rod
Filler Nature
-
-
-
-

Primarina has been the Fairy in the spotlight recently, with the Defensive set acting as a good glue for teams in this meta, the Specs being the fearsome breaker it's been for a good time in UU, and even the Work Up version of its Defensive set having an interesting niche. With the same idea of the latter two sets, the Echoed Voice + Metronome set tries to make Primarina even harder to wall, getting a rapid snowball effect and potentially annoying fat teams. With this, we believe such set is worth of some exploration.

Magneton has had the same role since it set itself as an UU Pokémon: trap steels, mainly Scizor. As such, the most common sets are the Scarf and Specs ones, as they try to patch the lots of flaws Magneton has and trying to make it be somewhat effective to do something else aside from its main purpose. With optimization in mind, the Electrium Z set brought some interesting new tools to Magneton: as it can actually kill Scizor with its Z-move, it has an open slot to run moves such as HP Grass, making it more annoying to be stopped from Volt Switching and potentially luring unaware Ground-types, and just having a one time nuke on its hands grants it at least for one turn a breaking power comparable to the Specs set. As such, we want to see how much of a niche this Magneton set can have.

Mega Sceptile hasn't been having the best of times since Rotom-Wash was claimed by OU. Since then, many stages of UU happened, but it never had such a niche as it used to. However, times have been changing and the meta trends may actually bring Mega Sceptile a new niche in the form of breaking Primarina, one of the most common Fairies, and the pick for such a Fairy on your team may grant you with a somewhat big weakness to this Pokémon. Aside from that, it still has great Speed and interesting coverage, while also doing a good job at abusing bulky Water-types. So, in this week, we'd like to find out how Mega Sceptile can do in this current stage of the meta.

Sign up with a fresh USMRW9 alt, and post your results, as well as your own thoughts on the Pokemon in question. You are free to edit your signup post if your post count is a concern. For this week, the deadline will be Sunday, Feb 17th, at 11:59 pm GMT+2. My co-host Darksafadao or I will check everyone's ladder scores then and decide the winner. Good luck everyone and happy researching !

 

[Twilight]

You damn well know I'm using Mega Sceptile. I'll also give Magneton a try and maybe Prima, but I don't have much faith in that set already tbh

USMRW9 Twilight

 

[Smallsmallrose]

Moute never let me do my RW post I feel cheated :(

Anyways I guess I'll take the Magnets and Sceptile
USMRW9 Dragmag

 

[Estarossa]

Usmrw9 estarossa

Definitely trying sceptile. I've used the primarina one before so less trying more just analysing it I guess, but will do it too.

May try magneton but not sure how I feel about it honestly.

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Initial thoughts on sceptile: it does have nice speed and spA stats, but taking up a mega slot and being totally walled and set uup on by mega altaria is worrying in my books. Can run nice mixed sets or even sd to totally change your set of counters though, and dragon plse will hit altaria hard before mega evolution, so it definitsly has uses. Good against heavily offensive teams too though, and balance teams not running a cleric core. Shutting down suicune even after its had opporrtnity to set up a little is amazing too honestly.

My biggest problem in my books is sceptile takes up a mega slot and an offensive slot on balance teams while being totally useless against defensive teams, unless it runs an SD set in which case it suffers from truly horrible 4mss and can never cover everything it actually wants to. On the other hand m-alt offers large stallbreaking capability with its dd refresh set and aero can pursuit trap things and check moltres, and blastoise offers incredible hyper offence matchup against spikes stacking teams since it is impossible to stop it rapid spinning really, while still hitting hard against bulky balance or stall too with its powerful attacks, while sceptile is just a fast hard hitting but frail mon with no good coverage for fairies at all, and no utility. And that's just one example from each mon, the first two could run so many other things. If it didn't take up mega slot and could use an item like a z move i think it'd be so much better honestly.

In my eyes if you want an all out attacking mega on team, only benefit sceptile has over blastoise to me is the speed, but with cleric support blastoise can easily stay alive a whole match with its incredible bulk anyway, and isn't fucked over by bulky teams like sceptile is.

 

[avarice]

USMRW9 Lucky Strikes
lol like im actually gonna ladder

Already have echo prim team, will probably try the others ^^

 

[Sickist]

USMRW9 disease

cheated again by moute posting results before i get home from work smh