SM UU UU Minior Team

[woodaf406]

Hey guys, this is a UU team that I've had great success with for Sun and Moon. UU is and always has been my favorite tier, and I have experimented with quite a few different teams already. I also have quite a bit of fun playing with this team. Without further ado, here it is.

Minior @ White Herb
Jolly Nature
Shields Down
252 Atk, 4 SpD, 252 Spe
Shell Smash
Acrobatics
Earthquake
Stone Edge

I've heard about Minior being a potent sweeper within the tier, so I decided to give it a try. And boy does it work wonders. With it's ability it is in it's defensive mode until it gets to less than 50% HP. So I have found the best use for this is when it's checks are taken care of, sack a pokemon to bring this in on something that can do more than 50% damage to this without OHKOing it. Because then you can set up a Shell Smash, doubling attack special attack and speed, and the white herb returning it's defenses back to normal. Plus being less then 50% health switches it to it's offensive mode. After one set up with a positive speed nature, you are sitting at 744 base speed. Mega Aerodactyl, the fastest pokemon in the tier sits at 438 with a speed positive nature. So essentially you outspeed every unboosted pokemon in the metagame, even all choice scarfers. This plus Stab 110 base power Acrobatics with the removal of the item, this pokemon is absolutely ridiculous with a setup. I have gotten great use out of Acrobatics and Earthquake, but have barely used Stone Edge at all. I might look for an alternative move for that slot.

Shiinotic @ Leftovers
Calm Nature
Effect Spore
252 HP, 4 SpA, 252 SpD
Spore
Leech Seed
Giga Drain
Moonblast

So I was looking at Minior's weaknesses, and Electric and Water stood out to me as the most common. So that's where this guy came in. Having Effect Spore as an ability, and also having access to Spore works very well with this. This thing can tank all sort of hits, and also acts as a check to most Hydreigon and Kommo-o variants. This thing is kind of a special sponge that has been extremely useful.

Forretress @ Leftovers
Relaxed Nature
Sturdy
252 HP, 252 Def, 4 Atk
Volt Switch
Stealth Rock
Rapid Spin
Gyro Ball

So I wanted something on my team that could both set up rocks, and get rid of rocks. I originally had Empoleon in this slot, but then I noticed that Mega Aerodactyl could run havoc on my team. Fully defensive Forretress has been working well to act as a check to Mega Aerodactyl, while also having the ability to set up rocks and get rid of them like I wanted. Here are some damage calcs to show what I mean: 4 Atk Forretress Gyro Ball (105 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Aerodactyl-Mega: 236-282 (78.4 - 93.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO. While Mega Aero's Earthquake does 18-21% and Stone Edge does 27-32%. This also serves as a check to most other physical attackers in the tier.

Swellow @ Flame Orb
Jolly Nature
Guts
252 Atk, 4 Def, 252 Spe
U-Turn
Brave Bird
Facade
Quick Attack

I like to have a back up cleaner when I make most teams. Something that has high speed, and could clean up if necessary. Looking at things I decided to give Swellow a try, and wow am I impressed. I think this may be one of the most underrated pokemon in the UU metagame. With a positive speed nature you sit at 383 base speed, which is only naturally outsped by Mega Aerodactyl and Talonflame, otherwise they need either a boost or a scarf to outspeed this. This plus the Guts and Flame Orb boosting it's attack stat to 403, and essentially giving it a 127 original base attack stat, makes this very powerful. Stab 120 BP Brave Bird, and 140 BP Facade (with flame orb) makes this thing a very potent threat. I honestly cannot believe I did not use this more in ORAS. This thing has worked wonders for this team, sweeping pokemon once it's checks are taken care of.


Nidoking Life Orb
Timid Nature
Sheer Force
252 SpA, 4 SpD, 252 Spe
Earth Power
Sludge Wave
Flamethrower
Thunderbolt

So it is not letting me upload the image of Nidoking haha sorry. But I wanted something that acted as a strong wallbreaker, and decided to go with Nidoking. I think this is another underated pokemon in the UU metagame. Because even with only a base 85 special attack, this thing absolutely tears through teams. I can't tell you how many times I've even swept 3 or 4 pokemon for the win with this thing alone. The combination of Sheer Force and Life Orb is deadly. For the moveset Earth Power and Sludge Wave are a given, and I use the other 2 depending on the needs of my team. Something I sometimes have issues with is Scizor, and with Nidoking resisting Scizor's bug Stab moves, and being able to tank a Bullet Punch, Flamethrower has proven to be very useful. Also with the many attempts at sun sweeping teams, Flamethrower works very well against the grass mons that are being used. Also in some rare cases against Mega Aero, which again is one of the most potent threats in UU, when they predict me to switch and don't use Earthquake I am able to OHKO with Thunderbolt. I have found other uses for Thunderbolt then just that, but that's just an example.

Oranguru @ Choice Specs
Modest Nature
Inner Focus
248 HP, 252 SpA, 8 SpD
Psychic
Thunderbolt
Energy Ball
Shadow Ball

I noticed that my team had mostly physical attackers, so I decided that I wanted to add another strong special attacker. I decided to play around with Oranguru, and it's worked pretty well for my team. With 248 investment into HP, and solid 80/110 defenses, this thing is able to tank hits and then dish out quite a bit of damage. I also like how it has a plethora of coverage options, and I have been able to play around the opposing teams well with this mon.

Overall this team has worked very well for me. I have swept many teams with Minior, Swellow, and Nidoking. Now that you have seen this, I am going to go over some threatlists.

Priority Users
I have learned that I cannot set up and sweep with Minior if the opposing team has anything with priority, as they will be able to outspeed and OHKO. Having weakness to two of the most common priority moves in Aqua Jet and Bullet Punch, and being neutral to Mach Punch, there have been many times that my Minior has been picked off after a set up.

CurseLax
With the lack of any phazer and a strong physical Fighting attack, my team is very susceptible to most CurseLax variants. I even set up on it with my Minior, and after a couple of Curses my Stab double attack Acrobatics only did about 30%. I have found that unless I am able to pick off Snorlax before it has a chance to set up, it can plow through my team with relative ease.

Scizor
Scizor is such a powerful threat in UU. Scizor is a pokemon that I have to keep my Forretress and Nidoking alive to deal with, otherwise it can run rampant with my team.


Well that's all that I can think of at this time. I'm sure there are many more threats to my team, but with my playing these are the most common that I have been seeing and have had issues dealing with. I enjoy reading the comments and suggestions, so go ahead and tell me what you think!

 

[esche]

Hey woodaf, that's an interesting build you got there, mind if I leave a rate? will do anyway so yeah :P

Minior is indeed a cool Pokémon to build around, it definitely has potential. Pairing it up with another Flying type like Swellow is a nice approach to weaken its checks, I like that idea. Shiinotic is something that I have messed around with as well, and even though it faces tough competition from Amoonguss it has a niche. Forretress and Nidoking are nothing out of the ordinary but haven't seen too much use lately. Finally, Oranguru is a weird pick for a Choice Specs user in my opinion: 90 base SpA is nothing too fancy and its speed doesn't do it any good either. It very cleary was designed for Double Battles and that's where it strives best, setting up Trick Room and using Instruct to take advantage of its allies moves.

However, I did find some threats that you have little to no options against:

the best of the best

Thundurus - This thing literally tears your team apart after a single NP boost and interrupts a sweep from Minior with Prankster T-Wave.

Mega Aerodactyl - Once Forretress is weakened (which is rather easy to accomplish given its passive nature), Aerodactyl just runs through.

Scizor - You mentioned this one in your description but the weakness to this is simply too striking. It SDs once and you basically lose.

Bisharp - Same as Scizor. This get's kills left and right and after an SD you're done for.

Cobalion - See above.

Azumarill - Troubles Minior with priority, Band pretty much gets a kill and Knock Off removes Forre's Leftovers. Shiinotic is not even a check.

Primarina - Switch-ins where?

Given the amount of troublesome match-ups this team seems to face, I made some changes to the team:

Minior should definitely keep its moveset: EdgeQuake + Flying STAB is ridiculously good coverage.

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The very first thing I did was replacing Orangure with Volcanion. To be honest: Specs Oranguru isn't a good for the reasons I listed in the introduction of my post and Volcanion helps you out SO much versus a multitude of threats. It checks Scizor, Azumarill, Primarina and dishes out good damage a the same time, while being a hell of an annoyance with Steam Eruption. I went with max HP, enough Speed for Modest Primarina, the rest in SpAtk, double STAB + Sludge Bomb to deal with the Fairies. In the last slot I experimented with Toxic, Earth Power and HP Grass but ultimately decided on Protect because I deemed the extra recovery helpful. I am positive there is a better spread out there for this purpose but for the time being it worked just fine.

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with

Don't get me wrong, I like Shiinotic but I don't think it's the right choice for this team. Shiinotic simply drains too much momentum for this team and doesn't manage to keep all the threats its supposed to check as a bulky Grass type should. Instead, Celebi provides your team with a valuable pivot for threats like Thundurus, Raikou and Keldeo. A bulky SpDef set with Giga Drain, Recover, U-turn and Stealth Rock has a lot of utility and fit the role best (I originally had intented to make this a lure NP set with HP Fire for Scizor but that was before the additon of Volcanion and Cobalion to the team).

I kept Forretress, but made it a more mixed defensive spread and swapped Stealth Rock for Toxic Spikes since Celebi carries Stealth Rock already. Minior appreciates walls like Swampert, Hippowdown and the likes weakened before attempting a sweep and T-Spikes can help applying this pressure. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of Forretress these days and would probably get rid off it in favor of a better hazard removal option but I felt obliged to keep at least 3 members of the team the same.

with

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with

It might seem strange at first to make Swellow, which has a higher base attack than special attack, a Choice Specs user but it's actually really good. Swellow learns Boomburst, a 140 BP move that doesn't miss, get's STAB and ignores Substitutes. Additionally, it got a special attack buff (+25!) and was given access to Hurricane this generation. I recommend a moveset of Boomburst, Hurricane Air Slash (EDIT: apparently Hurricane + Heat Wave is illegal; I guess just use Air Slash like I suggested below, Fire coverage is too nice to give up in my opinion), Heat Wave and U-turn, with max SpA, max Speed and a Timid nature (if you don't like inaccurate moves like Hurricane, you can run Air Slash instead). Give it a try, you might be surprised how hard this thing hits!

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with

Bisharp was still a big threat to the team at this point and there was no Z-move used on this team yet... Cobalion with Fightinium-Z was no-brainer, really. Double Dance is my favourite set at the moment, because it gives you options vs. both offensive and more defensive builds. +2 All-Out-Pummeling (CC) hits very hard, having a chance to straight up removing Hippowdon from the field and softening up walls for Minior to sweep late game. Coba also helps dealing with Dragons better as well as being a soft check to Aerodactyl, which this team still struggles against.

I know these are a lot of changes but I really felt they were necessary given the circumstances. I couldn't fix all the issues, but honestly it's incredibly hard to prepare for everything on this list and even if you somehow manage to do that, you might fall victim to an unexpected Z-move (haha balanced mechanic right?). This rate is far from perfect but so is the meta we are having at the moment... Anway, I hope this helps. Lemme know how it does for you!

importable

Minior @ White Herb
Ability: Shields Down
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake
- Shell Smash

Forretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Def / 160 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Volt Switch
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin

Volcanion @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 232 HP / 96 SpA / 4 SpD / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steam Eruption
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Bomb
- Protect

Swellow @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Boomburst
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave
- U-turn

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 240 HP / 64 Def / 96 SpD / 108 Spe
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Recover
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock

Cobalion @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish

 

[Tace]

just saying, hurricane+ heat wave isn't compatible on swellow