SS UU UU Arcanine Team

[AxelRod45]

This is a UU Team I built around Arcanine. I started my teambuilding by putting in Arcanine(obviously) and then inserting in Pokemon that countered Arcanine's weaknesses, and furthermore putting in Pokemon that countered my counter's weaknesses etc. Anyways, here is my squad, built around the fiery fan-favorite good boy himself, Arcanine!


Arcanine (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Extreme Speed
- Wild Charge

Here's the scorching star of the show, Arcanine! Arcanine naturally struggles with the several Ground, Rock and Water pokes of the UU tier(i.e. Barbaracle, Blastoise, Rhyperior, etc.). So I added countermeasures in its moveset. Arcanine runs a fast, hard-hitting physical set, with a Jolly nature to buff its good-but-not-great speed stat. It runs Flare Blitz for bashing stuff like Roserade, Frosmoth, and Lucario into oblivion, and gets even more power for it by swapping into a Fire move with Flash Fire. Close Combat allows it to damage Rock-types highly. Extreme Speed is for obvious priority, and Wild Charge is a surprise counter for Water-types that aren't bulky enough to live it. Arcanine holds the Life Orb for even more power.


Roserade (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Sludge Bomb
- Spikes
- Sleep Powder

Next we have Roserade. I added it to the team to counter Arcanine's weaknesses safely and with more power behind it. It's also our resident hazard-setter, as it knows Spikes, along with Sleep Powder to pacify opponents for either safe setup or a needed KO. Next, Roserade runs Leaf Storm as its primary STAB, dealing massive damage to anything that doesn't resist it, and basically a guaranteed KO on stuff that's weak to it, as long as the SpA drop hasn't happened yet. And we have Sludge Bomb on stanby to deal with opposing Grasses and Fairies. Roserade holds a Focus Sash to survive a free hit from full health.


Frosmoth (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Ice Scales
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Ice Beam
- Air Slash

Up at third we have the evolution of the cutest Ice-type hands down(), Frosmoth! Frosmoth's purpose is to help out against Flying and Psychic types with its STABs. It also has Quiver Dance, and its ability, Ice Scales, makes any neutral Special attacker setup fodder. Its STABs are Ice Beam and Bug Buzz, and for its coverage slot, I chose Air Slash, because you never know when a flinch might come in handy. Frosmoth holds the Heavy-Duty Boots to avoid the 50% HP cut from Stealth Rock.


Barbaracle (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Tough Claws
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Stone Edge
- Bulk Up
- Poison Jab

Coming fourth is Barbaracle, the Collective Pokemon! Its purpose on the team is to deal with Fire and Rock types, as well as to have a more safe option for Flying types, if needed(Frosmoth is still weak to Flying attacks itself, blame the Ice type in general for only resisting itself). For STABs, it carries Liquidation and Stone Edge. Bulk Up is on the set for buffing up and taking out opposing physical attackers. Finally, Poison Jab is on the set to dish out the pain against unexpecting Grass types that switch in. Barbaracle carries Leftovers for steady recovery, and its ability, Tough Claws, boosts Liquidation and Poison Jab's power by 30%.


Flygon (M) @ Yache Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Following that we have Flygon. Flygon is on the team to take on Electric-types, simply put. I had other options, but Flygon seemed the most fun. It also has Levitate, bringing along a great immunity to EQ, Earth Power, etc. Flygon is a D-Dancer, and thanks to its decent defensive typing, what with it only being weak to 3 not-too common types, it can pull off a dance or two and start menacingly clawing at the opposition. It carries Outrage and EQ for strong STABs, and Stone Edge is with it as your typical coverage for Ground types. Flygon holds the Yache Berry for survival against Ice-types.


Sylveon (M) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Pixilate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Hyper Voice
- Shadow Ball
- Mystical Fire

Last but not least, we have Sylveon, who's poised and ready to shatter any Dragon's dreams of brutally wounding my Flygon. It is a Calm Mind user, with Hyper Voice as its STAB move thanks to Pixilate making it Fairy type and giving it a 20% power boost. Shadow Ball is here for coverage against Ghosts, and for the last slot, I decided to drop Psyshock in favor of the more unique Mystical Fire. This, despite only having 75 BP, gives Sylveon some nice emergency Fire coverage in the absence of Hidden Power, and can also lower the offensive prowess of Special Attackers with its effect. Sylveon holds the Expert Belt to potentially erase mons that could survive a super-effective attack before with a 20% buff to reward proper prediction.

How was the team? Feel free to critique it in the comments!

 

[Twilight]

AxelRod45 this is a pretty interesting team you've got around Arcanine but I've got a few suggestions to help improve it. The first thing I notice is that a lot of your sets aren't optimal enough with things like Ebelt Sylveon and BU Barbaracle. This team lacks a lot of immediate power and lacks structure, it comes across as a lot of set up sweepers without the necessary utility to support them all.

Major Changes:

>

: While Frosmoth is a cool Pokemon it isn't something you can just slap onto a team. Frosmoth needs a LOT of teambuilding support and as such it doesn't fulfill the roles you really want it to do. Pangoro gives you a way to maintain the ability to break through Psychic-types but it also gives you a needed Ghost resist, which helps with your matchup against Chandelure. Pangoro also gives you a more immediate breaker with a Choice Band when brought in by Arcanine (A change I will get to later).

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: Barbaracle just doesn't fit on your team and again is another Pokemon that needs more team support to make work, which isn't something you were particularly aiming for. Copperajah gives you a needed Stealth Rock setter as well as a Steel-type to help with matchups like Celebi, Roserade, Sylveon, and Gardevoir. Copperajah is relatively strong so it doesn't sap up momentum against foes like Cobalion for example.

Minor Changes:

(Set Change): Offensive Arcanine isn't very viable as it struggles to compete with Darmanitan as an All-Out Attacker and Incineroar outclasses it with SD sets. Instead, I suggest running a physically defensive set to ease your matchup against foes like Cobalion. Teleport allows Arcanine to get the initiative and bring in your breakers like Roserade, Pangoro, and Copperajah in safely to fire off an attack.

(Set Change): Lead Roserade isn't necessary here so I suggest you just use a Life Orb to increase its damage output and wallbreaking potential. This is an optional change but Synthesis is something worth considering to help with your matchup against Water-types. If you wish to keep Sleep Powder then that is still a viable option but you'll be more reliant on Wish support.

(Set Change): DD Flygon is a pretty good set but I recommend you run Choice Scarf here. You really need Speed control because this team is fairly slow outside of it and Roserade. Scarf Flygon helps with foes like Cobalion and DD Haxorus. Defog in the final slot just gives you emergency removal if you need it.

(Set Change): I suggest running a Physically Defensive Sylveon to help deal with Fighters like Panda and Machamp better as well as easing your Haxorus matchup. I also recommend using a Wish set because Pokemon like Arcanine and Copperajah really appreciate the healing support it can provide. Mystical Fire helps you deal with Escavalier better, which can be really annoying to break with Copper lacking coverage for it.

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These changes should make your team a lot more optimal and help with the matchups I pointed out that you previously struggled with. As far as threats go, Cobalion is rather annoying to play around but Arcanine is able to stomach any boosted hit and Flygon can revenge kill it. Also, nothing lets it in for free, if it attempts to pivot into Roserade then it's at risk of losing half its health to Leaf Storm, making it easier to deal with. Escavalier can be annoying to play around but setting up Spikes with Roserade and pressuring it with Sylv + Arcanine + Pangoro makes the matchup more than doable. Against more offensively inclined teams it is important to minimize the number of opportunities you let something set up or switch in to fire off powerful attacks. I hope these changes help you out and are too your liking.

 

[AxelRod45]

thank you for the rate!