~~
UU MONOTYPE CHALLENGE WEEK 3 - DRAGON
~~
Hey everyone :).
Man, I've been dreading this. Out of all the monotypes in the UU challenge, Dragon was by far the one I was most scared about. The only two dragons in the entire UU tier are Flygon and Kingdra, and while they are certainly monsters in their own right, they can't function well without proper support. Plunging into the depths of RU, only Druddigon remains to be selected, so it's all NFE's from that point on.
That said, I managed to score a fairly decent w/l ratio. Please note that these stats are unfortunately not exact, as Smogon went into emergency mode and reset my ladder ranking so I had to fairly accurately guess what I was at before. Without further ado, the stats.
General Rules (read if new to series)
Current Available Types:
Okay, that was a bit of ado. Here's the stats.
If you're still confused about how this RMT works or what the basic layout of this challenge is, it's explained better in my first RMT, which I will link two words from now. (word word) http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3483413
As I mentioned before, I really didn't have too many options in terms of teambuilding. Kingdra and Flygon were practically givens, so we're going to have to start there.
Druddigon is considered a C-rank UU pokemon, and is the only remaining dragon in RU, so I decided to give him a shot too.
From here, it got a bit more tricky. My first step was to try a preliminary wild card. Drawing from the relative success of the first week, I decided to give Qwilfish a shot.
Not having much experience using NFEs, I was reluctant to give them much of a shot. I had to use one of them, so I used Fraxure, who seemed to have the highest stats, and Altaria, the last remaining fully evolved poke.
Altaria is the largest pile of fluffy shit to ever enter the UU tier. Don't use it, ever. I got over my aversion to NFEs and decided to try out Zweilous. I also replaced Qwilfish with EndureSalac Hera because Qwilfish wasn't doing much, as I wasn't stally enough to be able to make spikes helpful, nor was I HO enough to make 2HKOs turn into OHKOs. More importantly, he didn't offer any resistances for my team, being utterly slaughtered by any special attack, even if he did resist it.
Things were slightly better, but Fraxure still seemed awful and SalacCross wasn't fast enough or reliable enough to act as a pivotal member of the team that the wild card had to be. I exchanged Fraxure for a Rain Dance Dragonair to support Kingdra, to see if that would help my speed problem.
Dragonair joined Altaria on the fluffy shit pile. I decided to heed relaunched's request (thanks, by the way), and run a defensively tanky Shelgon. It was the best 6th team member to date, so it has stayed on my team. Now that rain dance was off of my team, I decided to exchange SalacCross for a Scarf Darm.
This iteration of the team was the most successful thus far. Although 3-5 battles on the final alt ended up being with Cross instead of Darm, it is mostly the same and that didn't corrupt the data too much. This team surprised me with its relative mediocrity, as I was convinced initially that no matter what I tried, it would end up being as big of a fluffy pile of shit as Altaria and Dragonair.
UU MONOTYPE CHALLENGE WEEK 3 - DRAGON
~~
Hey everyone :).
Man, I've been dreading this. Out of all the monotypes in the UU challenge, Dragon was by far the one I was most scared about. The only two dragons in the entire UU tier are Flygon and Kingdra, and while they are certainly monsters in their own right, they can't function well without proper support. Plunging into the depths of RU, only Druddigon remains to be selected, so it's all NFE's from that point on.
That said, I managed to score a fairly decent w/l ratio. Please note that these stats are unfortunately not exact, as Smogon went into emergency mode and reset my ladder ranking so I had to fairly accurately guess what I was at before. Without further ado, the stats.
General Rules (read if new to series)
General Rules:
- Each team must be a different Monotype.
- For each Monotype Challenge, I am allowed 1 (count 'em, one) Wild Card. A Wild Card is basically any pokemon in the UU- tiers that does not necessarily have to be the type of my Monotype.
- Every type will be eventually done, no matter how many viable pokemon there are.
- Each team must be a different Monotype.
- For each Monotype Challenge, I am allowed 1 (count 'em, one) Wild Card. A Wild Card is basically any pokemon in the UU- tiers that does not necessarily have to be the type of my Monotype.
- Every type will be eventually done, no matter how many viable pokemon there are.
Current Available Types:
Dark
Electric
Fighting
Fire
Flying
Ghost
Grass
Ground
Ice
Normal
Poison
Psychic
Rock
Water
Electric
Fighting
Fire
Flying
Ghost
Grass
Ground
Ice
Normal
Poison
Psychic
Rock
Water
Okay, that was a bit of ado. Here's the stats.
Alt: Kitten Dragon 2
Overall W/L Stats: 64/36
W/L ratio: 1.77..... eh
ACRE: N/A, ladder reset on 85 battles
GXE: N/A
Glicko2: N/A
Average W/L ratio: 2.93
Average ACRE: 1774
Average GXE: 78.5
Average Glicko2: 1839 ± 46
Current "best" Monotype: Bug :D
Total W/L: 220.5/81.5
Challenge Percent Complete: 18.75%
Overall W/L Stats: 64/36
W/L ratio: 1.77..... eh
ACRE: N/A, ladder reset on 85 battles
GXE: N/A
Glicko2: N/A
Average W/L ratio: 2.93
Average ACRE: 1774
Average GXE: 78.5
Average Glicko2: 1839 ± 46
Current "best" Monotype: Bug :D
Total W/L: 220.5/81.5
Challenge Percent Complete: 18.75%
If you're still confused about how this RMT works or what the basic layout of this challenge is, it's explained better in my first RMT, which I will link two words from now. (word word) http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3483413
The Meat
~~Teambuilding Process~~
As I mentioned before, I really didn't have too many options in terms of teambuilding. Kingdra and Flygon were practically givens, so we're going to have to start there.
Druddigon is considered a C-rank UU pokemon, and is the only remaining dragon in RU, so I decided to give him a shot too.
From here, it got a bit more tricky. My first step was to try a preliminary wild card. Drawing from the relative success of the first week, I decided to give Qwilfish a shot.
Not having much experience using NFEs, I was reluctant to give them much of a shot. I had to use one of them, so I used Fraxure, who seemed to have the highest stats, and Altaria, the last remaining fully evolved poke.
Altaria is the largest pile of fluffy shit to ever enter the UU tier. Don't use it, ever. I got over my aversion to NFEs and decided to try out Zweilous. I also replaced Qwilfish with EndureSalac Hera because Qwilfish wasn't doing much, as I wasn't stally enough to be able to make spikes helpful, nor was I HO enough to make 2HKOs turn into OHKOs. More importantly, he didn't offer any resistances for my team, being utterly slaughtered by any special attack, even if he did resist it.
Things were slightly better, but Fraxure still seemed awful and SalacCross wasn't fast enough or reliable enough to act as a pivotal member of the team that the wild card had to be. I exchanged Fraxure for a Rain Dance Dragonair to support Kingdra, to see if that would help my speed problem.
Dragonair joined Altaria on the fluffy shit pile. I decided to heed relaunched's request (thanks, by the way), and run a defensively tanky Shelgon. It was the best 6th team member to date, so it has stayed on my team. Now that rain dance was off of my team, I decided to exchange SalacCross for a Scarf Darm.
This iteration of the team was the most successful thus far. Although 3-5 battles on the final alt ended up being with Cross instead of Darm, it is mostly the same and that didn't corrupt the data too much. This team surprised me with its relative mediocrity, as I was convinced initially that no matter what I tried, it would end up being as big of a fluffy pile of shit as Altaria and Dragonair.
Team Analysis
Teehee he said analNO.
( All images edited by yours truly ;) )
RyujinSama - Druddigon @ Rocky Helmet
Rough Skin
Adamant Nature - 252 Atk/252 HP/4 SpD
- Glare
- Stealth Rock
- Dragon Tail
- Sucker Punch
Druddigon really surprised me. I thought it would be more of fodder than anything, but it ended up being a really useful lead that is effective against a good portion of the metagame. For starters, it helps me deal with the most annoying physical threats by constantly whittling down their health with Rocky Helmet and Rough Skin. Steath Rock support is important for my team, and Glare has awesome synergy with Dragon Tail. On an average game, I can usually get up SR, paralyze at least two or three pokes and deal hefty damage with base 60 Phazing moves. I chose Sucker Punch over a stab like Outrage mostly because I already have a lot of strong Dragon move abusers, and I would need the priority far more than I would the extra power. It helps me better deal with certain threats and between sucker punch and RockySkin, I can usually severely weaken anything that is brought in to revenge Drudd. Even though this thing is RU, it's an awesome lead in the UU metagame, and you should all consider using it even if you aren't confined to stupid monotype rules ;). I was considering giving it MVP, but it unfortunately is more of an awesome team player than a really standout star.
MewtwoHiddenElement - Shelgon @ Eviolite (Note that I combined two winners on the poll as 7 people voted and only 6 pokemon so math not workee :( )
Rock Head (Probably should be Overcoat tbh)
Impish Nature - 252 HP/252 Def/4 Atk
- Toxic
- Wish
- Protect
- Dragon Claw
Fabulous physical umbreon, reporting for duty. Seriously, though. This things defences are monstrous after eviolite and max investment, and it can take most of the physical hits needed to be sponged by this team. Just as a general idea of its awesomeness...
252 Atk Life Orb Weavile Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Shelgon: 148-174 (44.31 - 52.09%) -- 12.89% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Machamp Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Shelgon: 88-104 (26.34 - 31.13%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252 Atk Life Orb Mienshao Hi Jump Kick vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Shelgon: 130-153 (38.92 - 45.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Victini V-create vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Shelgon: 59-69 (17.66 - 20.65%) -- possible 5HKO
Need I say more?
Although it does fall short when faring against special ice attacks, Shelgon is an awesome tank overall. It can Toxic some otherwise hard-to-kill threats, like bulky waters, and proceed to stall them out using Umbreon tactics. Protect and Wish are useful for healing, Toxic stalling, as well as passing some HP to other members of the party, although this is less common. Dragon Claw is really more filler than anything else, but it can do some decent damage to physically frail things like Roserade even without investment.
One of Shelgon's major drawbacks is that it is ridiculous set-up fodder for any steel type. Bisharp is this set's, and probably this whole team's worst enemy, as the only thing that can take its attacks on my team can't do anything else but dragon claw. Other than that though, it's sort of a beast.
Pkn range6 - Zweilous @ Eviolite
Hustle
Adamant Nature - 248 HP/8 SpD/252 Atk
- Dragon Tail
- Outrage
- Crunch
- Substitute
I am pleasantly surprised by this set as well. Not only does it boast the second strongest outrage in the entire game, it also has decent utility with Substitute and Dragon Tail, as well as nice coverage. More importantly, its one of the most fun Chandy counters in the world ^.^'.
The damage that this thing can wreak on the enemy is awesome. In some matches, I can tank hits from 2-3 different pokes and OHKO them all with a ridiculously powerful outrage. Unfortunately, Zweilous' extreme power is a two-edged sword. Hustle makes it miss annoyingly whenever it needs the most to hit, e.g. hitting a crucial dragon tail on a +4/+4 poke. This unreliability makes it frustrating, but also very potentially rewarding to use. If only it got hone claws c.c'.
In all fairness though, this thing was only ever meant to be filler, and it has far more than exceeded my expectations in that regard. It's a very useful wallbreaker and stallbreaker, and can take some hits as well if necessary. Not MVP status, but definitely up there.
Harbinger of Peace - Kingdra @ Life Orb
Swift Swim
Modest Nature - 252 SpA/252 Spe/4 SpD
- Surf
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam
Upon the creation of this team, I immediately expected Kingdra to be the MVP, if not the only thing on the entire fucking team that even worked. I was actually very surprised, as it ended up being useful, but by no means as central to the team as other components. Don't get me wrong, it's perfectly good, but I just feel like it isn't that great outside of Rain. In terms of analysis, its a fairly standard LO offense set. I chose Modest for maximum damage. Hydro and Draco are the standard kapow moves, and Ice Beam is for things like Roserade. I chose Surf over Dragon Pulse (Or HP Electric) because I preferred to have the 100% accurate reliable stab, and because I already had a lot of Dragon moves on the team.
It's possible that another variant of Kingdra would be better suited to my purposes, but I feel like this one just sort of stays in and dies. I started by running SpecsDra, but I didn't like the switches that it forced me to make. If you guys have any thoughts on this, I'd be glad to hear them.
Needless to say, not the MVP. However...
(It's fucking pregnant, ok? I'm bad at art :(_ )
FastFlygon - Flygon @ Choice Band
Levitate
Jolly Nature - 252 Atk/252 Spe/4 SpD
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Outrage
- U-turn
I've always passed Flygon off as something of a meh poke. From everything I'd seen, the only niche it had over other physical attackers and dragons was its ability to use U-turn. Whenever I was on the receiving end of one of its attacks, it was almost always from the scarf variant, and the damage seemed pitiful. However, Banded Flygon has taken me absolutely by surprise as to how much I love it. The amount of damage it can wreak with Outrage and EQ is insane, and a banded U-turn isn't appreciated by anyone. Combined with Darmanitan, I have a very strong mini U-turning core that cover each others weaknesses relatively well.
I chose Superpower over Stone Edge because it seemed relatively more useful, and I also didn't like the prospect of an 80 accuracy move on a banded poke. (Hustle is plenty of rage-inducing misses for me, thank you very much.) Flygon is still insanely fast even without a scarf, outspeeding anything below a base 100 and easily tearing through weakened teams. My main win condition in most of my battles is a late game sweep by Flygon, but I don't just use it in the endgame. For most battles, I can severely weaken walls and sweepers using Flygon in the midgame so I can have an easier time sweeping afterwards. A lot of people don't expect band, so they end up losing some key pokes by surprise.
Overall, Flygon's very decent speed, insane power, and awesome coverage make him the absolute MVP of this team.
...shit
I forgot to draw the fucking crown.
(brb)
I can hear you giggling, you know.
Stop that.
Anyway...
My artwork keeps getting better and better.
DarkGiratina - Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Sheer Force
Adamant Nature - 252 Atk/252 Spe/4 SpD
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- U-turn
The second part of the mini U-turning core, Darmanitan is my solution to annoying scarfed pokes as well as things that are just plain faster than Flygon. He's an awesome offensive pivot and revenge killer, and is my secondary win condition for a late-game sweep. He usually doesn't last long, given his weakness to entry hazards and Flare Blitz's unfortunate tendency to hurt bad, but he's a very strong and useful poke while he's alive, and can demolish most of the tier. 95% of the time, I just mash Blitz/Turn, but Rock Slide and Earthquake both have their niches, or if I just don't want to take recoil on a Flare Blitz.
As a wild card, Darmanitan isn't exactly helpful in covering my weaknesses. Although he is neutrally defensive against Dragon moves and resistant against ice, he is far too frail to serve as a switch-in for them, although he can force ice types out.
I've considered running Jolly Nature to outspeed more things, but I'm not really sure if I need it. I'd be happy to hear what you guys have to say about it.
Final Notes/Analysis
I'm not going to go out there and say that this team is amazing. It certainly isn't a team I would ever consider adapting to the actual ladder, like my bug team was. That said, Dragon typing is a very limiting constraint, more so than any other typing, purely because it forced me to go outside of my comfort zone and jump into the depth of mediocre NFEs and NUs to create a semi-decent team. I'm happy that it turned out as "well" as it did, but it was demoralizing after coming off an 81-19 to not do as well. That said, I'm very glad that I got it over with so early, and it was mildly fun to do.
I'm perfectly open to the idea that this team is shit not because I had no choice, but because I am in fact a shit team-builder. As always, feel free to leave a comment down below to tell me what I could improve - this still is primarily an RMT challenge.
I'll put in an importable so some of you guys can try it out for yourselves if you're bored.
Importable:
A ShortThreat List
Bisharp is a major problem for this team. Kingdra and Darmanitan can both wreck its face off on the switch in, but they get slaughtered by a +2 Sucker Punch. Zweilous and Shelgon can take a Sucker Punch, but can't do much in return. The SubSD set is especially hard to deal with.
Cobalion is a problem for the same reason that not much can deal with it. Darmanitan is my best shot, but if it gets a sub up it can ruin my life with Stone Edge/CC. The same goes for other steels like Empoleon or Registeel, but they're generally slow enough to be Flygonable.
I got swept by a Stockpile Stallrein once.
'nuff said.
Seriously though, it's in a replay. This picture sort of just represents my weakness to hail teams in general. Fortunately, they're fairly rare (especially lower on the ladder), but when I do come across them it's almost an instalose. Having 4 pokes weak to Ice just isn't healthy when you're up against scarfed Rotom-F or specs Glaceon. Shelgon and Zweilous are all but useless, Kingdra can't hit for shit, Flygon gets wrecked by everything, and Darmanitan dies to recoil before he can sweep.
Opposing dragons are also very dangerous to this team, most notably Kingdra and Flygon. (Mostly because they're basically the only dragons ever used normally in UU. I account for most of the May stats for use of Altaria, Gabite, Zweilous, Dragonair, Fraxure, and Shelgon as far as I know ;)). When it's in the rain, Kingdra can be deadly to this team, outspeeding everything and being able to kill at least one thing with Draco Meteor. Generally the Outrage set is scarier than the special set, mostly because if Shelgon is weakened or dead I have nothing to really happily take one.
Flygon is also an immense problem to this team. Just about nothing can outspeed the scarfed variant, and the banded variant can wreck holes in my team. Unless I want to risk the speed tie, the only thing faster than it is Darmanitan, who can't really do anything other than U-turn out of there.
Finally, I'd like to show you a replay in which this team (most notably Shelgon the boss) performed exactly as it's meant to. Note that the nicknames weren't in at this point, sorry about that :3. (Sometimes I forgot, but at least you get forum recognition x)) Unfortunately, MVP Flygon doesn't get much love in that replay, but the NFEs do their job ;)
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/uu-21083618
As always, thanks so much for all the support, feedback, and votes. The poll for Week 4 will be active for about a week, and you can expect to see the next RMT within 2-3. Drop a Luvdisc if you really must ;) <3
~Kitten Milk/+Pleasure Kitten <3
Teehee he said analNO.
( All images edited by yours truly ;) )
RyujinSama - Druddigon @ Rocky Helmet
Rough Skin
Adamant Nature - 252 Atk/252 HP/4 SpD
- Glare
- Stealth Rock
- Dragon Tail
- Sucker Punch
Druddigon really surprised me. I thought it would be more of fodder than anything, but it ended up being a really useful lead that is effective against a good portion of the metagame. For starters, it helps me deal with the most annoying physical threats by constantly whittling down their health with Rocky Helmet and Rough Skin. Steath Rock support is important for my team, and Glare has awesome synergy with Dragon Tail. On an average game, I can usually get up SR, paralyze at least two or three pokes and deal hefty damage with base 60 Phazing moves. I chose Sucker Punch over a stab like Outrage mostly because I already have a lot of strong Dragon move abusers, and I would need the priority far more than I would the extra power. It helps me better deal with certain threats and between sucker punch and RockySkin, I can usually severely weaken anything that is brought in to revenge Drudd. Even though this thing is RU, it's an awesome lead in the UU metagame, and you should all consider using it even if you aren't confined to stupid monotype rules ;). I was considering giving it MVP, but it unfortunately is more of an awesome team player than a really standout star.
MewtwoHiddenElement - Shelgon @ Eviolite (Note that I combined two winners on the poll as 7 people voted and only 6 pokemon so math not workee :( )
Rock Head (Probably should be Overcoat tbh)
Impish Nature - 252 HP/252 Def/4 Atk
- Toxic
- Wish
- Protect
- Dragon Claw
Fabulous physical umbreon, reporting for duty. Seriously, though. This things defences are monstrous after eviolite and max investment, and it can take most of the physical hits needed to be sponged by this team. Just as a general idea of its awesomeness...
252 Atk Life Orb Weavile Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Shelgon: 148-174 (44.31 - 52.09%) -- 12.89% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Machamp Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Shelgon: 88-104 (26.34 - 31.13%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252 Atk Life Orb Mienshao Hi Jump Kick vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Shelgon: 130-153 (38.92 - 45.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Victini V-create vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Shelgon: 59-69 (17.66 - 20.65%) -- possible 5HKO
Need I say more?
Although it does fall short when faring against special ice attacks, Shelgon is an awesome tank overall. It can Toxic some otherwise hard-to-kill threats, like bulky waters, and proceed to stall them out using Umbreon tactics. Protect and Wish are useful for healing, Toxic stalling, as well as passing some HP to other members of the party, although this is less common. Dragon Claw is really more filler than anything else, but it can do some decent damage to physically frail things like Roserade even without investment.
One of Shelgon's major drawbacks is that it is ridiculous set-up fodder for any steel type. Bisharp is this set's, and probably this whole team's worst enemy, as the only thing that can take its attacks on my team can't do anything else but dragon claw. Other than that though, it's sort of a beast.
Pkn range6 - Zweilous @ Eviolite
Hustle
Adamant Nature - 248 HP/8 SpD/252 Atk
- Dragon Tail
- Outrage
- Crunch
- Substitute
I am pleasantly surprised by this set as well. Not only does it boast the second strongest outrage in the entire game, it also has decent utility with Substitute and Dragon Tail, as well as nice coverage. More importantly, its one of the most fun Chandy counters in the world ^.^'.
The damage that this thing can wreak on the enemy is awesome. In some matches, I can tank hits from 2-3 different pokes and OHKO them all with a ridiculously powerful outrage. Unfortunately, Zweilous' extreme power is a two-edged sword. Hustle makes it miss annoyingly whenever it needs the most to hit, e.g. hitting a crucial dragon tail on a +4/+4 poke. This unreliability makes it frustrating, but also very potentially rewarding to use. If only it got hone claws c.c'.
In all fairness though, this thing was only ever meant to be filler, and it has far more than exceeded my expectations in that regard. It's a very useful wallbreaker and stallbreaker, and can take some hits as well if necessary. Not MVP status, but definitely up there.
Harbinger of Peace - Kingdra @ Life Orb
Swift Swim
Modest Nature - 252 SpA/252 Spe/4 SpD
- Surf
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam
Upon the creation of this team, I immediately expected Kingdra to be the MVP, if not the only thing on the entire fucking team that even worked. I was actually very surprised, as it ended up being useful, but by no means as central to the team as other components. Don't get me wrong, it's perfectly good, but I just feel like it isn't that great outside of Rain. In terms of analysis, its a fairly standard LO offense set. I chose Modest for maximum damage. Hydro and Draco are the standard kapow moves, and Ice Beam is for things like Roserade. I chose Surf over Dragon Pulse (Or HP Electric) because I preferred to have the 100% accurate reliable stab, and because I already had a lot of Dragon moves on the team.
It's possible that another variant of Kingdra would be better suited to my purposes, but I feel like this one just sort of stays in and dies. I started by running SpecsDra, but I didn't like the switches that it forced me to make. If you guys have any thoughts on this, I'd be glad to hear them.
Needless to say, not the MVP. However...
(It's fucking pregnant, ok? I'm bad at art :(_ )
FastFlygon - Flygon @ Choice Band
Levitate
Jolly Nature - 252 Atk/252 Spe/4 SpD
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Outrage
- U-turn
I've always passed Flygon off as something of a meh poke. From everything I'd seen, the only niche it had over other physical attackers and dragons was its ability to use U-turn. Whenever I was on the receiving end of one of its attacks, it was almost always from the scarf variant, and the damage seemed pitiful. However, Banded Flygon has taken me absolutely by surprise as to how much I love it. The amount of damage it can wreak with Outrage and EQ is insane, and a banded U-turn isn't appreciated by anyone. Combined with Darmanitan, I have a very strong mini U-turning core that cover each others weaknesses relatively well.
I chose Superpower over Stone Edge because it seemed relatively more useful, and I also didn't like the prospect of an 80 accuracy move on a banded poke. (Hustle is plenty of rage-inducing misses for me, thank you very much.) Flygon is still insanely fast even without a scarf, outspeeding anything below a base 100 and easily tearing through weakened teams. My main win condition in most of my battles is a late game sweep by Flygon, but I don't just use it in the endgame. For most battles, I can severely weaken walls and sweepers using Flygon in the midgame so I can have an easier time sweeping afterwards. A lot of people don't expect band, so they end up losing some key pokes by surprise.
Overall, Flygon's very decent speed, insane power, and awesome coverage make him the absolute MVP of this team.
...shit
I forgot to draw the fucking crown.
(brb)
I can hear you giggling, you know.
Stop that.
Anyway...
My artwork keeps getting better and better.
DarkGiratina - Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Sheer Force
Adamant Nature - 252 Atk/252 Spe/4 SpD
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- U-turn
The second part of the mini U-turning core, Darmanitan is my solution to annoying scarfed pokes as well as things that are just plain faster than Flygon. He's an awesome offensive pivot and revenge killer, and is my secondary win condition for a late-game sweep. He usually doesn't last long, given his weakness to entry hazards and Flare Blitz's unfortunate tendency to hurt bad, but he's a very strong and useful poke while he's alive, and can demolish most of the tier. 95% of the time, I just mash Blitz/Turn, but Rock Slide and Earthquake both have their niches, or if I just don't want to take recoil on a Flare Blitz.
As a wild card, Darmanitan isn't exactly helpful in covering my weaknesses. Although he is neutrally defensive against Dragon moves and resistant against ice, he is far too frail to serve as a switch-in for them, although he can force ice types out.
I've considered running Jolly Nature to outspeed more things, but I'm not really sure if I need it. I'd be happy to hear what you guys have to say about it.
Final Notes/Analysis
I'm not going to go out there and say that this team is amazing. It certainly isn't a team I would ever consider adapting to the actual ladder, like my bug team was. That said, Dragon typing is a very limiting constraint, more so than any other typing, purely because it forced me to go outside of my comfort zone and jump into the depth of mediocre NFEs and NUs to create a semi-decent team. I'm happy that it turned out as "well" as it did, but it was demoralizing after coming off an 81-19 to not do as well. That said, I'm very glad that I got it over with so early, and it was mildly fun to do.
I'm perfectly open to the idea that this team is shit not because I had no choice, but because I am in fact a shit team-builder. As always, feel free to leave a comment down below to tell me what I could improve - this still is primarily an RMT challenge.
I'll put in an importable so some of you guys can try it out for yourselves if you're bored.
Importable:
FastFlygon (Flygon) @ Choice Band
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- U-turn
- Superpower
Harbinger of Peace (Kingdra) @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Surf
RyujinSama (Druddigon) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Glare
- Stealth Rock
- Sucker Punch
MewtwoHiddenElement (Shelgon) @ Eviolite
Trait: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Impish Nature
- Toxic
- Wish
- Protect
- Dragon Claw
Pkn range6 (Zweilous) @ Eviolite
Trait: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 248 HP / 8 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Dragon Tail
- Outrage
- Substitute
Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Earthquake
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- U-turn
- Superpower
Harbinger of Peace (Kingdra) @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Surf
RyujinSama (Druddigon) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Glare
- Stealth Rock
- Sucker Punch
MewtwoHiddenElement (Shelgon) @ Eviolite
Trait: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Impish Nature
- Toxic
- Wish
- Protect
- Dragon Claw
Pkn range6 (Zweilous) @ Eviolite
Trait: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 248 HP / 8 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Dragon Tail
- Outrage
- Substitute
Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Earthquake
A ShortThreat List
Bisharp is a major problem for this team. Kingdra and Darmanitan can both wreck its face off on the switch in, but they get slaughtered by a +2 Sucker Punch. Zweilous and Shelgon can take a Sucker Punch, but can't do much in return. The SubSD set is especially hard to deal with.
Cobalion is a problem for the same reason that not much can deal with it. Darmanitan is my best shot, but if it gets a sub up it can ruin my life with Stone Edge/CC. The same goes for other steels like Empoleon or Registeel, but they're generally slow enough to be Flygonable.
I got swept by a Stockpile Stallrein once.
'nuff said.
Seriously though, it's in a replay. This picture sort of just represents my weakness to hail teams in general. Fortunately, they're fairly rare (especially lower on the ladder), but when I do come across them it's almost an instalose. Having 4 pokes weak to Ice just isn't healthy when you're up against scarfed Rotom-F or specs Glaceon. Shelgon and Zweilous are all but useless, Kingdra can't hit for shit, Flygon gets wrecked by everything, and Darmanitan dies to recoil before he can sweep.
Opposing dragons are also very dangerous to this team, most notably Kingdra and Flygon. (Mostly because they're basically the only dragons ever used normally in UU. I account for most of the May stats for use of Altaria, Gabite, Zweilous, Dragonair, Fraxure, and Shelgon as far as I know ;)). When it's in the rain, Kingdra can be deadly to this team, outspeeding everything and being able to kill at least one thing with Draco Meteor. Generally the Outrage set is scarier than the special set, mostly because if Shelgon is weakened or dead I have nothing to really happily take one.
Flygon is also an immense problem to this team. Just about nothing can outspeed the scarfed variant, and the banded variant can wreck holes in my team. Unless I want to risk the speed tie, the only thing faster than it is Darmanitan, who can't really do anything other than U-turn out of there.
Finally, I'd like to show you a replay in which this team (most notably Shelgon the boss) performed exactly as it's meant to. Note that the nicknames weren't in at this point, sorry about that :3. (Sometimes I forgot, but at least you get forum recognition x)) Unfortunately, MVP Flygon doesn't get much love in that replay, but the NFEs do their job ;)
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/uu-21083618
As always, thanks so much for all the support, feedback, and votes. The poll for Week 4 will be active for about a week, and you can expect to see the next RMT within 2-3. Drop a Luvdisc if you really must ;) <3
~Kitten Milk/+Pleasure Kitten <3
