UU team peaked at #5

[Morty]

Hey Smogon its Gengar again. The thing about pokemon is that the scene is constantly changing. One of the newest changes is Roserade's tragic loss form uu. This will prove to be the one thing that could stop this team. For months ive used this thing, and its managed to get the impressive record of 82 wins, 13 losses, 5 of those being to Redwind. The idea here is that stall can beat anything, while offensive teams do well against stall. This team has an amazing ability to switch between offense and defense, creating an unbeatable offensive stall. Without further delay, i give you

Team Shield and Sword.

Changes in Bold

Team at a glance:

The lead

Roserade @ Focus sash
Natural cure
timid
252 SpAtk/252 Spe/4 SpDef
-Spikes
-Energy Ball
-Extrasensory
-Sludgebomb

Roserade is an absolute beast. I am one of the few people who use a spiker lead, which can cause some people to mispredict what I'm going to do. Roserade really shows what this team is all about-- the ability to seemlessly switch from offense to stall. She either gets down spikes, or takes out opponents with ease. She also manages to find her way into late game as well, and is a force to be reckoned with. Extrasensory is the odd move here, and is used for several good reasons. First of all, it allows me to have max speed, unlike hp fire. Secondly, its stronger than hp fire and hits opposing Roserades, Venasaurs, and Weezings. The flinches are nice too.

The elite defense part 1

Registeel @ leftovers
Clear Body
Careful
252 Hp/ 100 Atk /156 SpDef
Iron Head
Rock Slide/Shadow Claw
Thunder wave
Stealth rock

One of the best special tanks in the game, registeel checks a lot of pokemon. He gets down the rocks, cripples things with twave, and paraflinches the world to death. My main Missy and Yanmega counter. Rock slide was originally there for Moltres, who cant OHKO, and used to set up subs on me, but then solidified its place with the addition of Yanmega. Combined with Milotic and Rotom, my defense is nigh impenetrable. Registeel also gets his fair share of KO's in addition to his amazing defenses due to Paraflinches. He is the team's primary special defense.

The Special Sweeper

Mismagius @ leftovers
Timid
4 Hp/ 252 SpAtk/ 252 SpDef
Shadow Ball
Thunderbolt
Substitute
Calm Mind

Missy has been a long time uu favorite of mine. This set has been popular since the beginning of new uu and this will never change. Sets up on the tiers sturdiest special wall Chansey, and Roserade/Venasaur after a leafstorm. Also an excellent revenge killer. Missy is another prime example of the teams simultaneous offense and defense, because along with rotom my entry hazards are here to stay, even against foresight-top. Thunderbolt is a useful move in general and allows my Mismagius to hit max speed, which has obvious uses. Also, anything that can stop this incredible sweeper (like Encore Clefable and Registeel) is taken down with ease by my next sweeper.

The Beast

Honchkrow @ Life Orb
Insomnia
Adamant
4 Hp/ 252 Atk/ 252 Spe
Sucker Punch
Drill Peck
Superpower
Pursuit

It doesn't matter who you are. This Honchkrow destroys entire teams, and packs an amazing amount of power. I see alot of people using brave bird with life orb now, and that's just crazy. Drill peck gets the 2HKO on just about everything, and cleans up like hell after the opponent has been softened up by hazards. It is also a good switch in to Roserade's sleep powder, and then the mind games begin of whether to pursuit or sucker punch. I'm good at those mind games, leaving my opponent flustered and with a dead Roserade. Of course, if the roserade had used leafstorm already, its dead either way. You may notice that this member is not catered to be both a sheild and sword, and that was because i needed a little more oomph to balance the team out. So I added a fat bird. I love this game.

The elite defense part 2

Milotic @ Leftovers
Marvel Scale
Bold
252 Hp/ 252 Def/ 4 SpAtk
Surf
Haze
Recover
Dragon Pulse

Milotic is an amazing tank/wall. It stops nearly all stat boosters in their tracks with haze, and offers a valuable answer to Azumarril, Feraligator and Blaziken. The beauty of this pokemon (lol) is that its so hard to take down it has actually had its fair share of sweeps, and finishes a lot of in late game. A wall that absolutely can not be set up on is a great thing. Again, I use a common set with an uncommon variation on the moveset. The alternatives are ice beam and hp electric (which I ran for a long time) but the former left me without a good move to use on the bulky waters this guy is supposed to counter, so that was definitely out. HP electric made Altaria a problem for Milotic, and while Dragon pulse hits water types for less damage, Milotic still beats them 100% of the time and in no worse condition because it usually takes a couple uses of recover to beat them anyway, so the only thing i lose is time. Truly the definition of shield and sword.

and finally

The elite defense part 3

Rotom @ leftovers
Levitate
Bold
252 Hp/ 84 def/172 SpAtk or alternatively 252 Hp/ 84 def/ 44 SpAtk/ 128 Spe
Thunderbolt
Will-o-Wisp
Rest
Sleeptalk

I've been using Rotom well before the New UU, and have always been a fan of his incredible defensive typing and movepool. Rotom completely shuts down most physical sweepers, and burns the rest. Also the given evs allow him to hit an effective 269 Special attack, which gets Rotom a lot of 2HKOs with the hazards, and also puts a big dent in Milotic. He is a great status absorber and spin blocker, beating or scaring all spinners in the game. The only two he struggles against are Donphan and Claydol, But Donphan is easily burnt and stalled to death. Claydol is set up fodder for Mismagius, and is scared of a potential shadow ball. When I find that my sword cant pierce my foe, Rotom can stall for a very long time, and has great synergy with my other walls. The alternative spread gives Rotom less offensive power, but allows me to safely outrun Absol, who, unlike Honchkrow, frequently carries night slash.


Thats the team. By the way, the team's record was not an exaggeration. Also, I firmly believe that this team could have gotten to number 1, but there was a massive difference in points between myself and the next spot up, and I really didn't feel like laddering for several hours to move up 4 spots. I realize that Roserade will have to leave this team soon, and she will be missed, so in addition to any nitpicks/corrections advice on how to adapt this team to the new changes will also be appreciated. Thanks for reading!

 

[Despotar]

Roserade isn't UU anymore, so that'll have to change. lol
But other then that, VERY solid looking team!
This is all I can suggest, I would put Nastey plot over Calm mind on Missy,
it has the element of surprise, (I would do that, but if it ruins the stall Synergy, then forget it.)
And Congrats on #5!

 

[dachickens]

The main things I like about this team are the little things like Roserade's Extrasensory and Milotic's Dragon Pulse that separate it from a dead-standard team. In fact I think I remember playing this team one week in a Smogon Tour once?

In any case, the loss of Roserade does really hurt this team. I'm not 100% sure if this would work, but maybe you might want to change Roserade and Milotic to Omastar and Altaria? With Roserade moving up to OU, Omastar is probably the best Spiker lead around in my opinion. Its reasonable bulk allows it to almost get at least 1 layer of Spikes up against many common leads, which is pretty cool. In addition, it can use Stealth Rock itself, freeing up a moveslot on Registeel to use Explosion or EQ or something.

However, Omastar's weaknesses overlap with Milotic a lot. Altaria, on the other hand, provides many of the same benefits as Milotic while having very, very good synergy with Omastar. Altaria takes Grass, Ground, and Fighting attacks like a champ, while Omastar easily sponges up Ice attacks. Altaria also has the "shield/sword" versatility, with impeccable coverage between Dragon Pulse and Flamethrower on the sword end. For the two "shield" moves, you have Roost and a choice between Perish Song, Heal Bell, and Haze. It has Natural Cure to heal status to boot!

Lastly, I have found that Taunt on Missy works better than Sub. Sub takes a ton of HP, and I find that Taunt does as good a job as Sub in shutting down status inducers. You will have a slightly bigger Sucker Punch/Pursuit weakness, but it appears that you can probably handle that.

Overall, this is a solid team. Great job!

 

[Folgorio]

Eh well i like the team it's got pretty good synergy and whatnot but it also seems pretty weak to some basic things.

SD absol just lols at this team outspeeding most things and OHKOing everything after an SD except for milo which will still take around 75%. After milotic is gone or even weakened things like DDgatr and CB arcanine will give you some huge trouble. Another thing is sub-charge rotom. This isn't a big a deal as absol obviously mainly due to rock slide on registeel but it can still pose a threat. You might want to test hitmontop over something, don't know what though, and perhaps use him as a rapid spinner since he is also a pretty effective absol counter. You could also give him pursuit or something for annoyances like rotom.

 

[Morty]

SD Absol is a bit of a problem, without night slash Rotom has it covered and with Night slash Milotic does a decent job. If the opponent tries to take advantage of a weakened Milotic, th great thing about this team is that there is always support. A CB Arcanine can be taken out by Rotom or revenged by Missy, and Rotom also takes out Feraligator. The real weak points are magneton+Yanmega and SD Absol+ Mixed Blaziken, which I am open to suggestions on how to deal with those. Usually I beat them by out predicting, but there is no reason an equally skilled opponent should fail to break my defense with those combos. Thank you Dachickens, I had thought of Omastar but combining him with Altaria is an excellent idea.

 

[Heysup]

I'd probably boost Rotom's Speed to outspeed Absol, or at the very least, Honchkrow. As much as you dislike Brave Bird Honchkrow, you have a huge weakness to it as of now.

I think that will solve almost all of your problems. Otherwise great team (you owned my shitty BP Team the other day lol).

 

[Iluvtogekiss]

This isnt really a rate as such but more like, what im thinking.
basically what I like about it is that it seems very reliable on most fronts. You make your attacks, if somthing goes wrong, no problems, smoothley switch back to your defence until the time arises to go on the offense again. Thats why your title suits it so well.
Haven't actually fought it yet, (odd) But I imagine one thing that could give you possible problems is LO sweeper ambipom as he can pretty much 2hko your team with Milotic as a possible exception.
All I can think of really, great stuff as usual!

 

[franky]

Good team, not gonna suggest too much here because its solid. Rock Slide seems pretty poor, as your only hitting Yanmega and have to predict Moltres on a switch. Go for Shadow Claw in that slot to actually beat SubCharge Beam Rotom - a big problem for this team once its behind a Substitute. Thunder Wave slows down Yanmega anyways, making it slow the entire match. Iron Head will 2HKO it if you have Stealth Rock down. Shadow Claw is defenitely the better option currently.

On Milotic, Hidden Power Grass is the better version over the unSTABBED Dragon Pulse. Sure it hits everything for neutral damage but your not hitting anything hard. I can assure you can bring down SD Feraligatr, and even Azumarill much faster than Dragon Pulse would. Altaria is no problem anyways as Registeel checks it nicely. Sucker Punch is theree to check it as well.

As for other options, Brave Bird on Honchkrow would be nice. It may seem overkill, but the point is to overwhelm shit with Brave Bird, which is good for this team as it helps the rest of your team finish them off at low health. You can 2HKO Milotic now as suppose with Drill Peck. Something to consider, just my 2 cents, overall gl.

 

[Morty]

Yeah Toge your right. It seems the advent of Low kick Ambipom is just one more thing to send this team into the recordbooks. It will live again once UU has settled down some. Franky, thanks for the suggestion on Registeel, but Milotic is in no hurry to bring down Feraligator and Azumarril, which is why i prefer dragon pulse. Hp grass also capitalizes on my inability to take down altaria without Krow.