UU - A team of misfits!

[Dan Dan]

Porygon-Z and Cresselia left UU in the latest vote, whereas Damp Rock, Moltres, Froslass and Raikou were all voted UU and stay in the tier. So I made a new team using none of these

(M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Rapid Spin
---

Kabutops is an anti-lead on this team, which tries to prevent opposing leads setup their Stealth Rocks in peace. The idea is to attack frail suicide leads as they set up rocks, and hopefully leave them on 1hp without their sash, and then either Rapid Spin to finish them off. If the opposing lead is faster, then i'll go for the kill with Aqua Jet and then Rapid Spin next turn. The EVs are pretty straightforward: max attack to do as much damage as possible, and max speed to hit 284, outspeeding neutral base 80s and giving Kabutops the best chance to strike first.

(M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 HP/4 Atk/252 SDef
Sassy nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Gyro Ball
- Roar
---

I replaced Wormadam with Steelix... probably what should have been in the first place before I got side-tracked by Wormadam's decent typing. Anyway, Steelix still has a great typing, giving my team a valuable Electric immunity. It can do everything Wormadam did, but better. Roar is there for forcing switches, especially since Moltres is on lots of teams and likes to come in on Steelix when they think it'll set up Stealth Rock. EVs are aimed at Steelix taking resisted special hits and using it's naturally massive Defence to compensate for the lack of EVs.

(F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/40 Def/216 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Dragon Claw
- Heal Bell
- Roost
- Toxic
---

Altaria is my answer to Blaziken, who completely ripped apart previous incarnations of this team. Blaziken's most common set is the wallbreaker, with Superpower/Vacuum Wave/HP Grass/Fire Blast and Altaria does a good job at taking those hits and Roosting back up to good health. Heal Bell was something I wanted to try out in UU, and it works well to rid Venusaur or Arcanine of a pesky paralysis, or any other status the team may pick up. The last slot could be anything supporty.. I'm now using Toxic here, and Will O Wisp on Arcanine, as it works well against pokemon looking to setup on Altaria's mediocre Dragon Claw.

(M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 132 HP/140 Atk/236 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Flare Blitz
- Extremespeed
- Morning Sun
- Will-o-wisp
---
Trusty old Arcanine makes it onto a lot of my teams, regardless of tier. This time I'm running one without Hiden Power Grass/Ground and trying out it's new toy from HGSS, Morning Sun. Will-o-Wisp has found it's way ahead of Toxic, as Altaria is now running that. It makes Arcanine very bulky when factoring in Intimidate and Morning Sun. Flare Blitz provides a powerful STAB move, which hits a lot of stuff very hard. Anything that (barely) survives can be picked off with Extremespeed. The EVs are set so Arcanine has 285 speed, outpacing all base 80s, and HP to give it a nice leftovers number. The rest was dumped into attack to boost Flare Blitz' power.

(M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP/164 Atk/32 Spd/60 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Power Whip
- Sleep Powder
- Synthesis
---
I replaced Sceptile with Venusaur because it's bulkier, and arguably has a better typing. Grass is a good defensive type with many support options available to help keep the rest of the team in tip top shape. Venusaur was the #1 used 'mon in UU last month, and with good reason, as it can incapacitate anything threatening with Sleep Powder and then smacking stuff around with Power Whip. Synthesis > Leech Seed to give Venusaur more longevity when switching into water types, and more of a chance to take on late-game Raikous. The EVs guarentee a 2hko on Chansey with Power Whip, and 32 speed outspeed Gorebyss when it's not raining.

(M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 240 HP/252 Atk/16 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Waterfall
- Return
- Ice Punch
- Aqua Jet
---

Azumarill was added over Rotom to give me another check against Moltres, and something to pick off Kabutops in the rain. Azumarill's convenient resistances to Water, Ice, and Fire attacks paired with respectable 100 / 80 / 80 defenses grant it multiple opportunities to switch in and inflict damage. Waterfall and Return provide great type coverage; the attacking combination of Water + Normal is resisted only by Shedinja (in UU) and Empoleon (in OU). Azumarills raw power gives it the potential to 2hko most of the UU metagame with the right attack, but choose wrong and you can easily get setup on. When bringing Azumarill in on a fire or ground type, I usually open with Return as it strikes common switches like Venusaur much harder.


Quick Threatlist

Absol - Get Arcanine to Intimidate, priority.
Alakazam - Priority moves - Arcanine Xspeed, Kabutops Aqua Jet, Venusaur outspeeds with scarf
Blaziken - Altaria, Arcanine, Kabutops revenge
Chansey - Kabutops, Arcanine, Altaria can heal status
Donphan - Rotom blocks spin, burns and shadow balls...
Drapion - Hmm could be threatening if it gets a free switchin on a Toxic, Venusaur has EQ and I guess Arcanine can dent it with Flare Blitz.
Cradily - Wow.. nothing can really take Cradily in a Sandstorm... maybe I should go back to Perish Song on Altaria.
Hariyama - Thick Fat ones can get Burnt.. those with Guts can be annoying.
Ludicolo - Altaria/Steelix to wear down with Life Orb/Rain turns... hope it doesnt SD.. got priority though.
Kabutops - if it gets SD in the rain.. gg
Mesprit - probably use Arcanine and Flare Blitz + Xspeed it..
Milotic - Toxic after scouting the initial switch, then get Venusaur in on a Surf.
Miltank - Usually go to Rotom on the normal move and Burn it, then play from there.
Altaria can heal status.
Moltres - Stealth Rock, Altaria, Kabutops. Still very much a threat with the popular use of Spikes to wear down it's "counters". Important to keep Spikes off the field and keep our SR up.
Registeel - Arcanine, Venusaur
Regirock - Hmm could be threatening, Kabutops only 3hkos with Waterfall. Venusaur could probably take it if it gets a Rock Polish off.
Rhyperior - Rotom/Venusaur
Rotom - Steelix can take it's STAB moves, but wary of WoW. Altaria can heal.
Slowbro - Toxic, Leaf Storm Venusaur
Spiritomb - Toxic if possible with Altaria, Arcanine Flare Blitz till it dies.
Umbreon - Curse varients could be problematic if Altaria goes, but try to Toxic it and chip away.
Weezing - Rotom.

I hope this isn't too short, I'm not really very good at writing these!

 

[Bluewind]

Hey there Dan

So, this is actually a solid team, and I don't see many glaring weakness, thus some minor tweaks should be enough:

-First, I suggest you take Leech Seed off Venusaur and add Synthesis over that. Venusaur will constantly be switching into stuff like Milotic, Azumarill; and Synthesis should make that job much easier for him, especially considering they might catch you switching in and use either Ice Punch or Ice Beam, which really wear Venusaur down. Added to that, if your opponent has a Raikou waiting in the wings after weaking Venusaur, this could be outloud spelling good game to you if Steelix is down; whereas with Synthesis it's likely you'll be in top shape to face it and get yet another solid counter for Raikou.

-You might wanna give Arcanine enough EVs for it to reach 285 Speed, so that it outpaces base 80 pokés by one point, which is (IMO) one of Arcanine's main selling points. It also allows you to take Venusaur down before it has the change of either sleeping or EQing you.

-I'd move the Def EVs of Steelix to SpDef, as those 20 stat points will make much more of a different on the latter, specially against Mismagius and Raikou.

-I honestly don't think Rotom is needed on this team. You've got 2 fighting resist besides him, as well as 2 Normal resists, meaning Rotom's useful resistances are not seeing that much use as they should; and added to that, Kabutops beats Ambipom by himself. You might want to use another bulky water poké on its place, like Azumarill or Milotic, so that you have another means of checking stuff like Moltres, Kabutops anf Rhyperior (who might turn out to be very troublesome if it gets a RP up on Altaria or even Steelix feating Earthquake).

I guess that's it. Not much of a top rate, because I've never been good at these, but these nitpicks might give you some ideas for the team.

Good Luck =)

 

[Dan Dan]

Thanks Bluewind! That was actually really helpful, especially suggesting Venusaur to run Synthesis > Leech Seed, it's worked really well so far at sponging hits from bulky waters and nonchalantly recovering off the damage.

The only thing that still worries me are opposing Rain Teams, especially SD Ludi and Kabutops.. I always find myself switching around trying to take the "predicted" hit, and then they get a Swords Dance and well it's gg right there.. I've had Golduck suggested to me > Azumarill, but wasn't sure if having a decent ability and mediocre everything else was worth the spot on the team? Something like this setup:

Golduck @ Life Orb / Expert Belt
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid / Modest
Cloud Nine
~ Surf / Hydro Pump
~ Ice Beam / Psychic
~ Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Electric
~ Calm Mind

+0 Kabutops using Stone Edge against Golduck = 86.8% - 102.3%
+0 Kabutops using Stone Edge against CB Azumarill = 63.8% - 75.6%.
CB Azumarill Aqua Jet vs. Kabutops = 68.5% - 80.6%
CB Azumarll Return vs. Gorebyss = 74.6% - 88.1%
Golduck HP Grass vs. Gorebyss = 60.8% - 71.5%
Golduck HP Grass vs. Kabutops = 123% - 145.2%

Thoughts? Also I've updated the first post with changes suggested by Bluewind.