UU Monotype Week 5 - Normal does Werq - Trick Room Bonus :3

[KM]

Hello everyone :)​

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So, this is week 5 of the UU Monotype Challenge, and this week was really fun. Normal Monotype exceeded my expectations, and I was able to create a really fun team with some seriously cool stuff in it that didn't topple bug as the best, but got pretty close. Overall, this week was pretty fun to do. Sorry about the delay in the release of this one, forums and stuff :3​

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So, unfortunately, I have to redo, like, everything because I can't edit my threads anymore. Some of the formatting might be different from the weeks before, so you'll just have to live with that =(​

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The Stats:​

Alt: Kitten Normal 4​

Overall W/L: 75/25​

W/L Ratio: 3.00 = nice ^_^'​

ACRE: 1789​

GXE: 80​

Glicko2: 1855±47​

Average W/L Ratio: 2.85​

Average ACRE: 1777​

Average Glicko2: 1829±46​

Current "best" Monotype: Bug​

Total W/L Ratio: 365.5/135.5​

Challenge Percent Complete = 29.4%​

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The Meat​

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~~Teambuilding Process~~​

The teambuilding process for this team was fairly straightforward. Normal type doesn't have a whole ton of viable options, but there's definitely a different couple of ways I could go. I ended up adding another layer of complexity to the whole monotype thing by attempting to make a really good trick room team out of it.​

The inspiration for the trick room team was a really cool smeargle set I saw for trick room teams that I desperately wanted to use.​

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For a dedicated Trick Room team, I knew that I needed more than one Trick Room user, so I decided to use something that I knew could perform well under Trick Room and had used before - Porygon2.​

I next started filling it in with some Trick Room attackers. The first poke, something I'd never seen before in Trick Room, was Snorlax, a poke I've actually never used competitively (I know, I really should), and was happy to finally try out.​

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I decided to choose a wild card then. The first and most obvious choice that came to mind was Cofagrigus - it could set up trick room, was a good OTR poke, and was immune to fighting.​

The next poke I chose was a poke I hadn't experimented much with, but seemed good on paper. I decided on a Scarf Meloetta to be able to deal some damage when Trick Room wasn't in effect and help me deal with Fighting Types a bit better.​

The final original member of my team was something I had absolutely no experience with and had basically never seen in UU. That said, I was ridiculously excited about its potential ;) All the way from NU, please welcome Ursaring :D​

So I started to test the team. It worked pretty well, but I couldn't help feeling that certain members of the team just weren't pulling their weight. The first to go was Meloetta, who just didn't fit with the overall Trick Room vibe - I realized that the fact that the team was dependent on trick room wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I added a Trick Room Porygon-Z.​

I wasn't very happy with OTR Cofag either. Everything else was just so strong, and it seemed like it was wasting Trick Room turns more than anything else. I tried a poke that I'd previously fallen in love with - TR Victini.​

Finally, Porygon-Z didn't seem to be holding his weight very well. I noticed that Meloetta actually learned Trick Room, so I changed her into a bulky attacker and pivot with Trick Room​

So there we go! I created a team that I was really happy about, and the ladder was pretty happy about it too. On to the analysis :)​

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Team Analysis​

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Iminyourcloset - Smeargle @ Focus Sash​

Level 1​

Trait: Own Tempo​

EVs: sort of irrelevant​

Serious Nature- Endeavor​

- Dragon Rage​

- Spore​

- Trick Room​

Holy shit, this thing is an absolute monster. The basic idea of how it works is something like this: it Trick Rooms on Turn 1 as it's brought down to its sash. It outspeeds everything and puts something to sleep. It then proceeds to knock them down to a point where Dragon Rage will kill with Endeavor. At this point, it has one turn of TR left, letting it Spore - TR - Endeavor - repeat if it gets enough turns of sleep. This is usually the way I use it without fail against less experienced players, but if I get the feeling that someone knows what they're doing, I'll just TR Turn 1 and then just Endeavor and bring in Ursaring to utilize the most turns of Trick Room that I can. Overall, just a really awesome poke that I basically built this team because of.​

Unitas - Porygon2 @ Eviolite​

Trait: Download​

EVs: 252 HP/252 SpA/4 SpD - 0 Atk IVs, 0 Speed IVs​

Quiet Nature​

- Tri Attack​

- Thunderbolt​

- Recover​

- Trick Room​

Porygon2 is an amazing pokemon as well as an amazing tank. It can survive a CC from heracross with ease at +0, and then return fire by Trick Rooming and firing off a powerful Tri Attack. Not only is it ridiculously powerful, it also has amazing bulk, and can survive for quite a while with Recover. Porygon2 has the remarkable quality of serving two roles on my team in that sense, as well as supporting the main sweepers of the team with Trick Room. If you aren't using Porygon2 on a trick room team, you're doing it very, very wrong.​

patrick11756- Snorlax @ Choice Band​

Trait: Thick Fat​

EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 SpD - 0 Speed IVs​

Adamant Nature​

- Return​

- Earthquake​

- Crunch​

- SelfDestruct​

Snorlax represents the first of my two main physical sweepers. It is an amazing poke banded, as it can take tons of special hits as well as deal surprisingly strong blows with very good coverage moves. In Trick Room, it excels even further, becoming not only incredibly powerful and bulky but also gaining godly speed. Return was chosen over Body Slam because I don't want things to be paralyzed, as they'd outspeed me. Earthquake and Crunch are the preferred coverage moves - I might change EQ for Fire Punch to deal with Bronzong better, but Victini can usually get rid of it pretty handily. Finally, SelfDestruct is a little weird, but it allows me to eliminate major threats (e.g. +1 Curselax) by blowing the living daylights out of literally everything. Furthermore, it lets me take advantage of the rest of my trick room turns with something that can perhaps take advantage of them better, as well as just maintaining momentum overall. I don't use it every game, certainly, but it definitely can come into play.​

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qSeasons<3- Ursaring @ Flame Orb​

Trait: Guts​

EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 SpD​

Adamant Nature​

- Facade​

- Hammer Arm​

- Crunch​

- Protect​

So, um. At this point, you're probably wondering why the fuck I'm using an Ursaring on a UU team. I guess the real reason is something to do with the folllowing... base 135 Atk base 140 stab guts boosted facade :D​

In other words, everything dies. Ursaring is an absolute beast with guts - the set in NU is known as "Village Crusher" on the calculator. Doing a quick 1VA calculation, we see that the following Pokemon can not be 2HKOd by Ursaring.​

Bronzong (UU Tank)​

Dusclops (UU Curse)​

Hmm, where's the rest of my list? It must have gotten stuck in the printe....OH WAIT NO THATS THE WHOLE LIST HOLY SHIT.​

Fangasms aside, Ursaring is basically the best thing ever in Trick Room. It's worth noting that the two things that can even survive 2 hits from Ursa can't really do shit in return. Gyro Ball won't do anything, Status is irrelevant, and yeah. It isn't too frail either - because there's no speed investment necessary, the full HP investment lets it take most hits and return with an OHKO. It basically slaughters every single HO team in existence if backed by Trick Room, and can deal some significant damage even without. I didn't min out its speed because it allows me to outspeed some significant things outside of trick room, most notably standard Machamp, who otherwise can be a bit of a bitch. Basically, this thing is just good all around, and is seriously underrated. MVP for sure - I sometimes feel like this team is just things to set up trick room and Ursaring to kill everything ^_^'​

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Othesemo- Meloetta @ Mind Plate​

Trait: Serene Grace​

EVs: 252 HP/100 Def/156 SpA - 0 Speed IVs​

Quiet Nature​

- Psychic​

- Trick Room​

- Focus Blast​

- U-turn​

This Meloetta is a bit of an oddity, really, but it does its job very well. It's primary purpose is actually to set up Trick Room, at that point, it can use U-turn to get out of there. After min IVs, it has middling speed, which is nice, as it allows me to U-turn out against slow tanks, take the damage as they move first, and get into one of my sweepers. The EVs are a custom build in order to allow me to always live an LO HJK from Mienshao after Stealth Rock. Finally, I chose Mind Plate as I really didn't know what else to give it, and it gives Meloetta some nice power boost for Psychic. Furthermore, it lets me bluff the choice. I've considered and tried focus sash in its slot, but hazards are up in too many games for it to be much use, and I usually bring this thing in more than once.​

Other than that, Psychic is for the reliable special stab and Focus Blast is for the coverage on things like Umbreon. Even without max investment, it can still tear some sizable chunks through teams, even though its main objective is to keep the momentum going and provide an emergency check against threatening pokes.​

ben gay- Victini @ Life Orb​

Trait: Victory Star​

EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 SpA - 0 Speed IVs​

Brave Nature​

- Grass Knot​

- Trick Room​

- V-Create​

- Bolt Strike​

This thing is an absolute beast in Trick Room. The basic concept of the set is that you set up Trick Room and then proceed to V-Create spam, using the -Speed drops to your advantage as you proceed to outspeed and destroy everything in the tier. Bulky waters are dealt with by Bolt Strike or Grass Knot, and Rhyperior and Swampert are lightly demolished with a cute little Grass Knot. (Everyone knows that if you tie a knot with grass around a giant creature made of rock, it'll just straight up implode. Derr.)​

TR Victini isn't just good on paper, it's also very nice for this team. Not only does it provide a key resistance to Fighting, but it can offer Trick Room support for the other sweepers as well. It also can take a couple hits, given that it has full HP investment as it doesn't need to run Speed. Overall, a really solid poke that more people should use. (Good thing I got it in before the suspect ._.")​

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Conclusion :)​

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So yeah :) This team worked really, really well and was overall just tons of fun to make and create. One of the reasons why it did work so well, and why Trick Room teams in general are pretty cool, is that everything gets to be a bulky attacker even if it isn't meant to be. With bulk investment, things like Meloetta, Victini, and Ursaring transform from being frail but fast attackers into bulky and extremely powerful monsters. ​

Here's a replay of how this team works - I didn't get to fully showcase Ursaring's ownage because of a bad prediction, but it highlights the role that all of the pokes on this team play in an average battle. Also, I realized after I'd done all my testing that I didn't have any good replays, so that's why it's on my main account ;3.​

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/uususpecttest-38963127​

I'm not going to create a full threat list for this team, because it's pretty obvious. I really don't have any gaping weaknesses except for Fighting Types, and that's the one thing that I really do have trouble with. Mienshao and Machamp are less of an issue, as both Meloetta and Victini can deal with them more readily. However, Heracross can be a major pain to this team if the opponent is smart and puts it in the field against a weakened member of the team when trick room isn't up. I have to play very carefully and make sure I don't open myself up for a sweep, and keeping Victini at high health is a must.​

Other than that, I'm really interested in your guys' feedback. I know this installment of the Monotype challenge wasn't quite as flashy as others have been, but I decided to just keep it to what it really should be - an RMT. Thanks for reading =)​

~~Kitten Milk/Pleasure Kitten :)​

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[GenXXZ]

Hey Kitten Milk! Good to see another mono-type. Like I said before with the last mono-normal that was posted here, I can understand that normal can be a reallyyy hard type to make a mono-team out of (Not that doing Poison/Dragon is any easier, but... Yeah) and the fact that you were able to accumulate Trick Room in this team is almost unbelievable, you never disappoint! Also while I have the opportunity, I'd like to thank you for mentioning Trick Room Victini to me. I've been using it on my TR team with the KrowPert core and I absolutely love it.

Anyways, on to the rate.

First off I gotta say that these sets are awesome. That Smeargle? Absolute genius. Also extra cool points for using Ursaring.

I guess what really concerns me is that you don't have a whole ton of options to stop stall teams bar Ursaring. I'd say throw Toxic on something, but there really isn't anything to throw Toxic on. I guess you could put it on Porygon2, but you would lose a lot of offensive prowess that way. I don't know, maybe you're not having problems with it, stall really isn't that common. Just something to think about though.

Mind plate seems odd on Meloetta. You seem to suggest that the point of her being there is to set up Trick Room and run, so I don't really understand why Psychic needs the buff. It may seem odd but, how about Custap Berry? That way you'd be guaranteed a U-Turn when you're on your last legs. It wouldn't work for Trick Room though because, well you know, -7 priority (I'll never understand why that is...). Other than that, I wouldn't really know why you wouldn't use plain leftovers.

I think Pursuit might be a better option than Selfdestruct on Snorlax. I don't know, the damage output just doesn't seem to be worth the sacrifice of a mighty Snorlax. Also, I'd want a reliable way to get ghosts out of the way, especially on a mono-normal team. Snorlax would be an excellent ghost killer with pursuit.

That's pretty much all I have to say. Again, excellent job, you never cease to impress.

 

[Kentucky Fried Colonel]

Really love this team, trick room is a fun strategy and deadly to offensive teams. I've seen a few trick room teams, and have always been perplexed as to why none of them run victini, since V-create gives it a speed boost in trick room. Victini. Gets a speed boost. From V-create. I don't think you emphasized that enough. I also love the ursaring. I can't really think of a more threatining pokemon to face in the lower tiers due to lack of steel types. I would say however to change hammer arm with close combat as hammer arm seems counter productive to trick room teams. Other then that, seems like a pretty well rounded trick room team that seems fun to use

 

[SquirtleSquad626]

Holy mother of coincidence!!! Literally four days ago I started building a trick room team featuring Ursaring!!! I haven't completed it yet, but I love the entire concept. He's perfect for TR, with guts, protect, STAB facade and great coverage moves!!! Full rate later

 

[KM]

Thanks for the rates, everyone :) Squirtle, I look forward to your full one :P

To address a couple of things:

GenXXZ - I actually don't have much problem with stall purely because of the sheer power of the things on my team. Usually all it takes is a couple of predictions and double switches to wear things down enough to where Victini, Snorlax, or Ursaring can just sweep. That said, they are harder to win against than hyperoffense for sure.

As to Meloetta's item, it's sort of funny. I've never been happy with Mind Plate, and I've tried a ton of stuff. (Like a complete derpy, I even tried chople berry before I realized it wouldn't work because Fighting isn't super effective >.>') I actually tried custap berry, but at the end of the day I didn't really like it because being knocked down to below 25% was pretty situational, and if it were a situation where I wasn't switching in, I would be going for Trick Room to be faster anyway. Oftentimes, I don't want to have my U-turn go first, as it means my Meloetta would avoid damage and a sweeper would have to take it - I'd rather Meloetta die so I can bring something in for free. And I agree, -7 priority is just stupid. At least make it -4 or something so it avoids Roar/Whirlwind x_x"

Hmm, I considered Pursuit on Snorlax, but here's the thing. I was lucky enough to run into a mono ghost team once on the ladder, and while it's true that I didn't have much to hit it, nor did it have much to hit me. The reason I'm not too scared of ghosts is because they really can't do much to most of the things on my team, most notably things like Ursaring that don't care at all about status. SelfDestruct is situational though, so I might try out Pursuit or Fire Punch.

Thanks again for all the nice compliments, it's people like you that keep me motivated to keep this series going <3

KFC - You're completely right - Victini is an absolute monster in Trick Room and is criminally underused. As you can see by the replay, even in a team with Cofag and like 4 things that resist V-Create, it's still able to rip giant holes in any team. Such a fun thing to use, too, it catches everyone off guard.

Ursaring also deserves all the praise you gave it, but I don't understand how Hammer Arm has bad synergy with Trick Room. Hammer Arm makes Ursaring slower, which in Trick Room boosts its speed. I thought about running CC (and I think it does allow me to get the 2HKO on Zong, meaning that only Dusclops isn't 2HKOd, lol), but the SpD and Def drops aren't always nice. Yes, Ursaring is a sweeper, but usually it can take a hit outside of Trick Room and kill something that way as well, its defenses aren't monstrous but it does have full HP investment.

Thanks for the rate, it's awesome to see people acknowledging Trick Room's awesomeness ^^,

Oh also just a general edit - I forgot in the team-building section that the team once featured a Granbull, a Ditto, and perhaps a Togekiss. They were all pretty shit though xD.

 

[Patrick1088]

Yay mono normal time! And very unexpected may i add lol i cant do a full rate until tomorrow night but ill make sure to comment!

 

[Scotti]

Hello Kitten i can't help but find your teams interesting and great. First on your smeargle, (Which i love), i suggest changing the nature to Brave or any nature that lowers speed. Though it is something small if you play another lvl 1 pokemon you might as well want to be the slowest. On Usaring i find protect to be kinda wierd because you only really have 4 turns of trick room. You set trick room up and then change you already have 3 turns left. Protect doesn't seem like it would be used since you normally switch Ursaring in after trick room. I say replace Protect on Ursaring with Fire Punch. This allows you to 2hko Bronzong and gives better coverage.

Calcs 252+ Atk Guts Ursaring Fire Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Bronzong: 176-208 (52.07 - 61.53%) -- 96.09% chance to 2HKO

Hope i helped Kitten ~Scotti~ (Love the Smeargle set it also works in RU.)

 

[Iminyourcloset]

Hey kitten! As usual, your team impresses me beyond compare (Thanks for making me the lead 'mon too ;P)
I can't add anything productive to this team without ripping it to shreds ;-;
I can only just sit here in awe and admiration.
Wonderful team!!!!!GJ!!!!!*clapclapclap*!!!!!

 

[Kentucky Fried Colonel]

Oops, thought that hammer arm lowered your opponents speed. I would still consider using close combat though simply because of it's raw ouput and better accuracy (I don't know about you, but UI frequently lose games because of missed moves like high jump kick, maybe you have better luck though)

 

[KM]

Aww, thanks closet/Scotti/patrick <33 you guys are the bext ^^

And yeah, I probably should min out Smeargle's speed, but it's like base 2 or something so I don't think it can go down any further ._.'

 

[Moose V]

Haha great RMT man. That ursarings powerful holy shit. Considering no one uses shitclops and bronzong can't do much back, I might just have to try this thing out. One thing tho, ursaring's base 130 attack not 135.

Couple things:

• You might wanna give snorlax pursuit. With pursuit, you're pretty much guaranteed to take out chandy and mismagius. I'm not gonna make you get rid of selfdestruct but I find it more useful than crunch a lot of the time.
• With only one psychic move on mel, you might want to consider a different item. I kinda get the role you've carved out for her, somewhat defensive as a trick room setter but also able to pack a punch. You might wanna try psychic gem or make it slightly bulkier w/ leftovers. Also since mel isn't one of your main sweepers and is more of a bukly tr setter, I would actually keep it at normal speed. The reason for this is that it actually helps you to underspeed with a tr up as, with the tr set up, Mel can take say a scald from something like suicune and proceed to then u-turn out into a threat. Thus Mel takes more hits and your offensive powerhouses take less. Kinda shitty explanation but hopefully you get what I'm trying to say.
• Are you sure you want protect on ursaring? I get why you'd use it normally but on a tr team it seems like it would just wear down trick room turns. Though I wouldn't run SD either for the same reason, I think a stab quick attack could come in handy. It would provide the team with a nice priority move and help take down things like heracross and mienshao: Quick Attack: 60.14 - 71.21% to scarf mienshao.

Nice team man! I've been thoroughly enjoying your uu monotypes thus far.


EDT: my bad, ursaring doesn't get quick attack, in that case I agree fire punch could work for bronzong

 

[Patrick1088]

Now that i have some time ...
1. I like the smeargle but im sure you know sableye stops this set cold. Immune to endeavor and access to taunt. I thinl subcm raikou is annoying too because sub blocks status and it can pp stall endeavor.
2. For p2 i would be very careful of cb hera. I dont have the calcs but i believe it is just about a clean ko?
3.yay for lax being named after me lol cool set though. Change nature to brave though to be faster than opposing lax.
4. Cool ursaring! I like bear pokes (hoping panchams evo is uu lol) switch fire punch over protect and have a brave nature.
5. Victini isgood, no complaints : )
6. May i suggest a completely different set for melo? Perhaps scarf set max speed to check scarf hera. U turn, psychic,thunderbolt and close çombat to scare away umbreon and lax lol. Having one scarf poke will help put pressure on outside of tr. : )
great team though!

 

[KM]

Patrick -
1. Yeah, Sableye does sort of stop it cold. That said, I don't always lead with Smeargle so I can easily just switch out into something else. Sub pokes actually don't bother the set too much, something like this happens.
T1 - Raikou used Sub!
Smeargle used Trick Room!

T2 - Smeargle used Endeavor. The foe's Raikou's substitute implodes! (or whatever)
Raikou used Thunderbolt or something idek hi sash.

T3 I'm free to either spore or just bring it down to 1hp so ursaring can start sweeping.

2. Everything on my team has to be careful of cb hera, lol.

3. Yeah brave should probably be there. I'd edit the OP but I can't >.>"

4. I'm definitely considering Fire Punch, but Brave nature would mean I don't outspeed Machamp anymore.

5. Better not be :>

6. I tried scarf melo before (see teambuilding), but I just didn't feel like it fit in. On a team with Banded Snorlax, Guts Ursaring and TR LO Victini, you're just better off having trick room up all the time so you can smash everything. Melo does help me check some fighting types, but I'd prefer the trick room support, as once trick room is up any fighting type will die straight up from a Facade/Return/Psychic/V-create.

10801: Yeah, that makes sense about Meloetta. I do want a "slow" u-turn in trick room so not minning speed might help. I don't think it's ever been a problem one way or another but you never know.

I addressed Pursuit a couple of posts up, I just don't have any problems with Mismagius/Chandelure so I feel no reason to lock myself into a base 40 unstab move :3.

I missed the Fire Punch tip earlier on too, sorry. It's definitely an option for the fourth moveslot - the only time I ever use protect would be in a situation against Mienshao (pretty common) or when I'm actually trying to stall out trick room. Machamp can be a problem if he gets into Trick Room, so at 1 turn left I would bring in ursaring after death and then protect so I could facade the turn afterwards. I've not really had much problem with Bronzong, but I suppose it's a good idea. I normally try and wear down bulky things like that before I start sweeping anyhow. Thanks again all =)

 

[Patrick1088]

Well i was saying that a good player wiuld use pressure/sub against you esp againzt a lvl1 smeargle
So itz be:
T1 rai uses sub, smeargle tr
T2 smeargle uses endeavor 2 pp gone, rai subs

This will continue until endeavor is done conveniently when tr ends right?

 

[Patrick1088]

Also, i forgot my main gripe before..
Ursaring needs toxic orb >flame orb. Its less dmg than flame orb.
Also youll be speed tying machamp out of tr at best. You have a trick room team with4 viable set up pokes. I think its better for ursaring to be slower than machamp in tr rather than hope for the best in a speed tie right?

 

[SquirtleSquad626]

@Patrick- I thought Flame Orb does less damage since Toxic orb makes you "badly poisoned" and the DOT increases each turn? I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure thats correct

 

[KM]

Toxic Orb would definitely be a downgrade. I keep Ursaring in for up to 4-5 turns at a time of burn damage while sweeping, and the damage quickly wracks up.

The general rule of thumb for Flame/Toxic is this - if it's hit-and-run (e.g. stays in for only 1-2 turns), then you run toxic orb. If it's usually in for 3 turns, either works. If it regularly stays in for more than three turns, you should always run Flame Orb.

 

[Patrick1088]

@Squirtle, Toxic Orb does less actually as KM correctly pointed out. Usually I would see Trick Room + Toxic Orb, but it doesn't make too much of a difference? It's not like Zangoose which requires toxic orb lol :-)

The only reason I said T-Orb was for the exact reason. It would seem that out of TR after at least 1 hammer arm that Ursaring is incredibly vulnerable. But Flame Orb is quite fine! :-D

 

[SquirtleSquad626]

That makes sense, thanks for clearing that up:)

 

[ryo yamada2001]

That Meloetta set is a bit weird, but I like it!
Like for the great team and Meloetta ofc

 

[KM]

^^ thanks it was fun to use meloetta, It was actually the first time I've ever seriously used it in a team. I'm looking forward to trying it out in other teams later.



On a separate note, I have no idea how to do polls in the new forums. If someone could tell me how to do that in a PM that would be amazing, otherwise I'll unfortunately have to abandon the voting part of this series. For this week, I'll just do whatever had the most votes besides normal last week. Thanks =3

Edit: Meloetta<3 already pmed me, so fast ^^ Thanks a ton :D