Hello, it's been a few months since I posted my first RMT. I received some good advice regarding my team. Recently, I've made my foray into UU and this was the first real team that got me anywhere (I was playing around with some monorock permanent sandstorm, but it got me mixed results).
Originally, I guess the biggest criticism I got for my first team was that I was... not making a mixed team. I guess I can understand the criticism, considering that the "best" teams make use of the most "efficient" pokemon. However, the challenge of restricting myself to some theme is more gratifying than number crunching. Furthermore, I've had numerous opponents state that they had to go onto smogon and look up the pokemon I was using since they just had no idea what I was going to do with them. I admit, Arbok, Masquerain, (originally) Stantler, and Granbull don't get much use, but they have their uses and are competent.
This team isn't NU though, it's meant to fight UU, so treat it as such.
Team Intimidating UU Thugs
Overview:
Arbok @Choice Band
Intimidate Adamant
252 Atk / 200 Spe / 56 HP
Switcheroo
Gunk Shot
Earthquake
Crunch
This is the lead. On certain "tricky" leads, he will Switcheroo (especially if the opponent has trick – it's fairly funny for your opponent to be trick'd into tricking). On more offensive leads Arbok will switch out, or if I feel confident, attack with the appropriate super effective move. If the lead is Yanmega, I give in – or atleast, I let Arbok die and I try Stone Edge from Tauros. If that misses (or he switches out and kills Tauros before Yanmega is dead) I lose.
Arbok is a great lead, it's a shame Glare's accuracy stinks. In UU it's pretty much necessary to switch in a sweeper to deal with him. SpA sweepers will be locked into one move, in a worst case scenario.
Arcanine @Leftovers
Intimidate Impish
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Rest
Sleep Talk
Flare Blitz
Roar
Arcanine is quite sturdy, and against slow water opponents (like Quagsire and Walrein) he can even wall them (or at worst, roar them and rest). Fast water makes him run though. Aracanine is great for disrupting my opponent's set up, if he can still set up after a Switcheroo. Roar will ruin most set ups, and he can delay in a rain dance if needed.
Arcanine is completely countered by Milotic and Dugtrio, I am forced to take a loss if it is Dugtrio. I will switch to Granbull or Tauros if it is Milotic.
Masquerain @Leftovers
Intimidate Modest
252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Agility
Baton Pass
Silver Wind
Blizzard
Masquerain, with all the intimidates flying around, is actually useable and has some survivability with 252 HP (he can endure many special attacks besides Ice Beam/Thunder Bolt). With agility he can out speed opponents under 95 base speed. Silver Wind is taken over Bug Buzz because I do ocassionaly get the proc and can baton pass it to Arcanine, Hitmontop or Tauros, making them into tougher beasts. Against a physical attacker I can baton pass an agility to another pokemon, which will take less damage due to Intimidate.
Masquerain will Blizzard opponents who think they can set up against it, it is also useful against countering some Rock/Ground pokemon who may wish to try and Stone Edge it. I take it over Ice Beam simply because of Masquerain's bad SpA, the surprise it brings if it hits, and because although Ice Beam will always hit, Blizzard will nearly always kill a stone edger weak to it – or at least have some chance to. Masquerain will never be able to kill something like that with Ice Beam.
Masquerain originally had Stun Spore in place of Blizzard but with agility it felt redundant.
Masquerain has HP over speed because I intend it to outspeed pokemon who do not use choice scarf or don't have more than 95 base speed. With agility it easily makes this requirement. I have HP over SpD and SpA over SpD or HP/Spe because I don't intend for Masquerain to take a super effective hit. Masquerain has optimal attack and support options with max'd HP and SpA.
Hitmontop @Lieche Berry
Intimidate Adamant
252 Atk / 252 SpD / 4 Def
Agility
Close Combat
Rapid Spin
Bullet Punch
Hitmontop originally had Endure and Stone Edge, but I found Endure lacking (since Hitmontop was surviving with 1-20% hp from a strong SpA or Physical attack anyway) and Bullet Punch / Rapid Spin seemed more useful. I also had Stantler originally, who couldn't Stone Edge. Tauros now fills that niche.
It is not an ideal moveset – however, without Technician and with a limited move pool, things can get tricky. I also needed rapid spin, because of Masquerain and the fondness of this team's switch-loving tendencies. Bullet Punch is filler, but useful against opponents with priority (and Hitmontop has low hp with Lieche active). Close Combat makes attaining Lieche very easy.
He has SpD because of my desperate need to absorb SpA attacks. Originally this team had light screen but because of Stantler's non-bulk it was dropped. Without that, this team has very little to counter fast SpA – however it can counter them with the appropriate Agility (especially since most SpA users have poor def). Agility isn't favored if the opponent is resistant to close combat (2 bullet punches, 1 lieche effected, is usually better). To me, SpD is better than HP even with factoring the loss from Close Combat because I just don't want to have that much HP. My goal is to get speedy then get the lieche bonus, then sweep. Having high initial SpD before I close combat is good because it gives him just enough SpA resistance to survive with less than 25% hp from a super effective stab attack from a 110 base SpA attacker. What further galvanizes me to do this is his terrible base HP.
Granbull @Leftovers
Intimidate Adamant
252 HP / 216 Atk / 40 Def
Heal Bell
Thunderwave
Focus Punch
Super Fang
Granbull is the anti-tank supporter. He's my go-to man for curing Toxic and Paralysis, and sometime's Arcanine's sleep. Thunder wave lets him set up Focus Punch and Super Fang allows him to make recovery moves null.
There's little else to say about him – I wish he were faster or a little bulkier, but no one seems to be able to predict him when I use him, so that's an advantage. Thank god for being NU.
With Intimidate, he has decent survivability, even against fighting types. However, he's very frail to SpA and often dies without contributing. Against walls without taunt he is unstoppable, and often OHKO's or badly injures switch ins with Focus Punch.
Tauros @Choice Band
Intimidate Adamant
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Return
Earthquake
Pursuit
Stone Edge
Tauros replaced offensive support Stantler as my sweeper. Although I miss the Megahorn, Return/Pursuit/Stone Edge are a welcome addition to my anti-SpA sweeper. He is speedy, and perhaps should be Jolly, however, I don't know if I can afford the Atk decrease. Would giving him more speed in UU really benefit me? Most pokemon in UU are below 350 max speed, so going max speed on him would only let me hit a few more pokemon first (basically Roserade).
There's little else to say about Tauros, since he is the standard set.
Strategic Overview
I have kept my descriptions of my team brief because they're really all not that spectacular alone – but together they function very well. Since every pokemon has Intimidate, the scary physical sweepers in UU are silly playthings in my hands. Intimidate will always force a switch, or at least, force my opponent to Swords Dance / Dragon Dance. Because of this, I will always get the opportunity to switch out a pokemon, or set up (Thunderwave, Agility, Heal Bell, Switcheroo). The decent defenses on my pokemon coupled with this means physical sweepers will have a hard time, outside of a lucky critical, becoming effective.
Intimidate is especially unkind to Ambipom leads and Explosion users, as well as bulky physical walls. Against slow SpA, this team also does well, with its plethora of strong physical attacks. Against Physical walls, especially cursing Registeel/Regirock, this team has a little trouble – but only if Arcanine is KO'd prior to their reavealing, Intimidate and status will keep their attack power in check though. Against fast SpA sweepers (namely Mismagius, Moltres, Yanmega, Life Orb Swiftswimmers), this team has a lot of trouble. Luxray would be an attractive option, but I would likely be surrendering Masquerain for another physical attacker, which is undesirable (especially considering's Luxray's lack of power and terrible move pool without rivalry).
Arcanine is the cornerstone of this team, as with Intimidate he can freely switch in on most things and rest, flare blitz, or roar. Arbok and Granbull pull up the rear and the other pokemon are the periphery, contributing baton passes or counters to things that try to counter Arcanine.
Realize the theme of this team is intimidate, so while a SpA wall would make my team very happy, the loss of even one intimidate is very, very undesired. Masquerain fills the niche of switching into fighting moves (which it is very good at doing since most fighting moves are physical and because I have 2 normal types).
Yanmega, which I consider personally to be BL (just my justification for /ragequit over him), destroys this team with Air Slash speed ups. Tauros can counter him, but only if he isn't flinched. Tauros will lose most of his health though, so if he's damaged prior to entering (such as stealth rock) it's doubtful if he can live.
Moltres is another foe, less scary than Yanmega, but still just as deadly. If kept until the end I will have a good chance of winning, since I tend to save Tauros for the big threats, but early on it will catch me unprepared. Milotic can be countered if I can get a thunder wave off from Granbull (or a free agility baton pass to Hitmontop), but Milotic will always cost me at least one pokemon.
Mismagius and offensive Substitute users are the a big threat, as stated, which are only countered by Roar and Granbull (sometimes Granbull, other times he is OHKO'd). They can be killed if I have the appropriate pokemon out when they show up.
Rain dance teams are the last big threat, since the 1.5x to water moves cancels out Intimidate, and with the speed boost, I have trouble countering them. Since my lead doesn't have taunt (sadly) and isn't very speed rain dance usually occurs. The best I can do is to stall with a pokemon and hope to stop rain dance from occurring a second time (usually costing me Hitmontop or Arcanine).
The biggest problem with this team is its lack of resists – Arcanine has terrible resists, Granbull Tauros have only ghost immunity. Masquerain and Arbok are the only ones who provide any useful resists. Because of this, switching in on SpA can be difficult. The pokemon work together fairly well though, fire or ice on Masquerain can be resisted by Arcanine, Ground on Arbok or Arcanine and fighting on Tauros/Granbull are resisted by Masquerain. What I wish I had was flying and psychic resistance.
Despite my attempts to guard myself against heavy criticism, feel free to undo my arguments. I can admit Masquerain and Hitmontop's move sets aren't ideal, and perhaps there's a better solution I'm missing.
Thoughts?
Originally, I guess the biggest criticism I got for my first team was that I was... not making a mixed team. I guess I can understand the criticism, considering that the "best" teams make use of the most "efficient" pokemon. However, the challenge of restricting myself to some theme is more gratifying than number crunching. Furthermore, I've had numerous opponents state that they had to go onto smogon and look up the pokemon I was using since they just had no idea what I was going to do with them. I admit, Arbok, Masquerain, (originally) Stantler, and Granbull don't get much use, but they have their uses and are competent.
This team isn't NU though, it's meant to fight UU, so treat it as such.
Team Intimidating UU Thugs
Overview:
Arbok @Choice Band
Intimidate Adamant
252 Atk / 200 Spe / 56 HP
Switcheroo
Gunk Shot
Earthquake
Crunch
This is the lead. On certain "tricky" leads, he will Switcheroo (especially if the opponent has trick – it's fairly funny for your opponent to be trick'd into tricking). On more offensive leads Arbok will switch out, or if I feel confident, attack with the appropriate super effective move. If the lead is Yanmega, I give in – or atleast, I let Arbok die and I try Stone Edge from Tauros. If that misses (or he switches out and kills Tauros before Yanmega is dead) I lose.
Arbok is a great lead, it's a shame Glare's accuracy stinks. In UU it's pretty much necessary to switch in a sweeper to deal with him. SpA sweepers will be locked into one move, in a worst case scenario.
Arcanine @Leftovers
Intimidate Impish
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Rest
Sleep Talk
Flare Blitz
Roar
Arcanine is quite sturdy, and against slow water opponents (like Quagsire and Walrein) he can even wall them (or at worst, roar them and rest). Fast water makes him run though. Aracanine is great for disrupting my opponent's set up, if he can still set up after a Switcheroo. Roar will ruin most set ups, and he can delay in a rain dance if needed.
Arcanine is completely countered by Milotic and Dugtrio, I am forced to take a loss if it is Dugtrio. I will switch to Granbull or Tauros if it is Milotic.
Masquerain @Leftovers
Intimidate Modest
252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Agility
Baton Pass
Silver Wind
Blizzard
Masquerain, with all the intimidates flying around, is actually useable and has some survivability with 252 HP (he can endure many special attacks besides Ice Beam/Thunder Bolt). With agility he can out speed opponents under 95 base speed. Silver Wind is taken over Bug Buzz because I do ocassionaly get the proc and can baton pass it to Arcanine, Hitmontop or Tauros, making them into tougher beasts. Against a physical attacker I can baton pass an agility to another pokemon, which will take less damage due to Intimidate.
Masquerain will Blizzard opponents who think they can set up against it, it is also useful against countering some Rock/Ground pokemon who may wish to try and Stone Edge it. I take it over Ice Beam simply because of Masquerain's bad SpA, the surprise it brings if it hits, and because although Ice Beam will always hit, Blizzard will nearly always kill a stone edger weak to it – or at least have some chance to. Masquerain will never be able to kill something like that with Ice Beam.
Masquerain originally had Stun Spore in place of Blizzard but with agility it felt redundant.
Masquerain has HP over speed because I intend it to outspeed pokemon who do not use choice scarf or don't have more than 95 base speed. With agility it easily makes this requirement. I have HP over SpD and SpA over SpD or HP/Spe because I don't intend for Masquerain to take a super effective hit. Masquerain has optimal attack and support options with max'd HP and SpA.
Hitmontop @Lieche Berry
Intimidate Adamant
252 Atk / 252 SpD / 4 Def
Agility
Close Combat
Rapid Spin
Bullet Punch
Hitmontop originally had Endure and Stone Edge, but I found Endure lacking (since Hitmontop was surviving with 1-20% hp from a strong SpA or Physical attack anyway) and Bullet Punch / Rapid Spin seemed more useful. I also had Stantler originally, who couldn't Stone Edge. Tauros now fills that niche.
It is not an ideal moveset – however, without Technician and with a limited move pool, things can get tricky. I also needed rapid spin, because of Masquerain and the fondness of this team's switch-loving tendencies. Bullet Punch is filler, but useful against opponents with priority (and Hitmontop has low hp with Lieche active). Close Combat makes attaining Lieche very easy.
He has SpD because of my desperate need to absorb SpA attacks. Originally this team had light screen but because of Stantler's non-bulk it was dropped. Without that, this team has very little to counter fast SpA – however it can counter them with the appropriate Agility (especially since most SpA users have poor def). Agility isn't favored if the opponent is resistant to close combat (2 bullet punches, 1 lieche effected, is usually better). To me, SpD is better than HP even with factoring the loss from Close Combat because I just don't want to have that much HP. My goal is to get speedy then get the lieche bonus, then sweep. Having high initial SpD before I close combat is good because it gives him just enough SpA resistance to survive with less than 25% hp from a super effective stab attack from a 110 base SpA attacker. What further galvanizes me to do this is his terrible base HP.
Granbull @Leftovers
Intimidate Adamant
252 HP / 216 Atk / 40 Def
Heal Bell
Thunderwave
Focus Punch
Super Fang
Granbull is the anti-tank supporter. He's my go-to man for curing Toxic and Paralysis, and sometime's Arcanine's sleep. Thunder wave lets him set up Focus Punch and Super Fang allows him to make recovery moves null.
There's little else to say about him – I wish he were faster or a little bulkier, but no one seems to be able to predict him when I use him, so that's an advantage. Thank god for being NU.
With Intimidate, he has decent survivability, even against fighting types. However, he's very frail to SpA and often dies without contributing. Against walls without taunt he is unstoppable, and often OHKO's or badly injures switch ins with Focus Punch.
Tauros @Choice Band
Intimidate Adamant
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Return
Earthquake
Pursuit
Stone Edge
Tauros replaced offensive support Stantler as my sweeper. Although I miss the Megahorn, Return/Pursuit/Stone Edge are a welcome addition to my anti-SpA sweeper. He is speedy, and perhaps should be Jolly, however, I don't know if I can afford the Atk decrease. Would giving him more speed in UU really benefit me? Most pokemon in UU are below 350 max speed, so going max speed on him would only let me hit a few more pokemon first (basically Roserade).
There's little else to say about Tauros, since he is the standard set.
Strategic Overview
I have kept my descriptions of my team brief because they're really all not that spectacular alone – but together they function very well. Since every pokemon has Intimidate, the scary physical sweepers in UU are silly playthings in my hands. Intimidate will always force a switch, or at least, force my opponent to Swords Dance / Dragon Dance. Because of this, I will always get the opportunity to switch out a pokemon, or set up (Thunderwave, Agility, Heal Bell, Switcheroo). The decent defenses on my pokemon coupled with this means physical sweepers will have a hard time, outside of a lucky critical, becoming effective.
Intimidate is especially unkind to Ambipom leads and Explosion users, as well as bulky physical walls. Against slow SpA, this team also does well, with its plethora of strong physical attacks. Against Physical walls, especially cursing Registeel/Regirock, this team has a little trouble – but only if Arcanine is KO'd prior to their reavealing, Intimidate and status will keep their attack power in check though. Against fast SpA sweepers (namely Mismagius, Moltres, Yanmega, Life Orb Swiftswimmers), this team has a lot of trouble. Luxray would be an attractive option, but I would likely be surrendering Masquerain for another physical attacker, which is undesirable (especially considering's Luxray's lack of power and terrible move pool without rivalry).
Arcanine is the cornerstone of this team, as with Intimidate he can freely switch in on most things and rest, flare blitz, or roar. Arbok and Granbull pull up the rear and the other pokemon are the periphery, contributing baton passes or counters to things that try to counter Arcanine.
Realize the theme of this team is intimidate, so while a SpA wall would make my team very happy, the loss of even one intimidate is very, very undesired. Masquerain fills the niche of switching into fighting moves (which it is very good at doing since most fighting moves are physical and because I have 2 normal types).
Yanmega, which I consider personally to be BL (just my justification for /ragequit over him), destroys this team with Air Slash speed ups. Tauros can counter him, but only if he isn't flinched. Tauros will lose most of his health though, so if he's damaged prior to entering (such as stealth rock) it's doubtful if he can live.
Moltres is another foe, less scary than Yanmega, but still just as deadly. If kept until the end I will have a good chance of winning, since I tend to save Tauros for the big threats, but early on it will catch me unprepared. Milotic can be countered if I can get a thunder wave off from Granbull (or a free agility baton pass to Hitmontop), but Milotic will always cost me at least one pokemon.
Mismagius and offensive Substitute users are the a big threat, as stated, which are only countered by Roar and Granbull (sometimes Granbull, other times he is OHKO'd). They can be killed if I have the appropriate pokemon out when they show up.
Rain dance teams are the last big threat, since the 1.5x to water moves cancels out Intimidate, and with the speed boost, I have trouble countering them. Since my lead doesn't have taunt (sadly) and isn't very speed rain dance usually occurs. The best I can do is to stall with a pokemon and hope to stop rain dance from occurring a second time (usually costing me Hitmontop or Arcanine).
The biggest problem with this team is its lack of resists – Arcanine has terrible resists, Granbull Tauros have only ghost immunity. Masquerain and Arbok are the only ones who provide any useful resists. Because of this, switching in on SpA can be difficult. The pokemon work together fairly well though, fire or ice on Masquerain can be resisted by Arcanine, Ground on Arbok or Arcanine and fighting on Tauros/Granbull are resisted by Masquerain. What I wish I had was flying and psychic resistance.
Despite my attempts to guard myself against heavy criticism, feel free to undo my arguments. I can admit Masquerain and Hitmontop's move sets aren't ideal, and perhaps there's a better solution I'm missing.
Thoughts?
