UU TR Team

[Bughouse]

This is my first RMT ever, and for good reason. This is my most successful team in any tier ever, getting me into the top 100 on Smogon University's UU ladder (However I am a terrible ladderer, and it has fluctuated widely). I think that a good Trick Room team is incredibly viable in a metagame so Sun-dominated. However, this team is far from perfect and I am looking for advice.

Team at a glance:

My team's objective is simply to get TR up with any of my 3 users (preferably Mew or Dusclops) and then sweep with my abusers.

Changes will be made in Bold

Details:

Mew @ Leftovers
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
IVs: 0 Spd
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Trick Room
- Explosion
- Taunt

I usually lead off with Mew. If the opponent's lead has access to taunt and out-speeds normal lead Mew, then I assume they will taunt, and switch to whichever of my 4 attackers can take a hit best, on the off chance they do attack. Otherwise, I lay up rocks on non-rocks leads and taunt slower rocks leads. I then try to Trick Room and then Explode, if weakened, or switch, if healthy. The first Pokemon I usually switch into is Escavalier, but if they have a Cobalion (or the like), which can tank Megahorns, I might pick someone else. If their lead was faster than my Mew and survived the Explosion, then I go into Victini. EV's in Spdef and HP to take Vulpix with ease.

Victini @ Life Orb
Trait: Victory Star
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
IVs: 0 Spd
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Trick Room
- V-create
- Zen Headbutt
- U-turn

The star of the show, literally. If I can get Victini in on something faster but unthreatening and set up TR (or come in free after an Explosion) then V-Create simply wrecks everything but Arcanine. Slowbro is pretty much the only other thing scary to Victini, but Escavalier beats it in TR and Nidoking outside.

Escavalier (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Shell Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SDef
IVs: 0 Spd
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Megahorn
- Frustration
- Iron Head
- Pursuit

Simply put - CB Megahorn spam. I run shell armor just for some longevity. I rarely am in a position where Swarm would help me. Pursuit is great for Ambipoms. If I see one as my opponents lead, I switch in on the LO Fake Out and Pursuit on the switch. This usually leaves them with under 10% HP, or just one more hit. This is crucial, since Fake Out stalls my turns of TR.

Dusclops (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SDef
IVs: 0 Spd
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Trick Room
- Memento
- Taunt
- Toxic

This thing is SO GOOD. It can take pretty much any hits for days, set up Trick Room and Memento to set up another Victini or Escavalier sweep. Toxic can help on Slowbro, Donphan and a few other threats to my team. Taunt is more helpful than anything else left.

Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk
IVs: 0 Spd
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Flamethrower

I'm not too sure about these last two slots. Sheer Force LO Nidoking is amazing, but his problem is his speed. So I thought maybe he is slow enough for a TR team. Unfortunately, he's not actually slow enough. The problem is that so many teams run Donphan and/or Slowbro who outspeede me in TR. Still, it wrecks many things common in the UU metagame.

First potential change for Nidoking: What do you think about Eelektross? Much slower than Nidoking, mixed attacking stats, typing to beat Milotic and Slowbro (two opponents who threaten to wall some of my team), Levitate trolls Donphan... etc Maybe Eelektross @ LO Quiet Nature 252 SpAtk 252 Atk 4 HP 0 SpeedIV Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Grass Knot, Brick Break (or something similar)?

Druddigon (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
IVs: 0 Spd
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Dragon Claw
- Sucker Punch
- Rock Slide
- Fire Fang

Again, looking for a potential replacement. Unlike Nidoking, Druddigon is slow enough and has enough bulk. The problem is that I just don't think it hits hard enough. Despite having 372 Attack and the LO+Sheer Force boost, I don't think it beats anything in particular. Sucker Punch is my only priority on the team, though, and it helps a lot with opposing Victini.

Threats:

Donphan and Slowbro. Simply put, I have to hope my opponent doesn't play safe with these guys. If they are kept at good health till the end of the match, I have roughly zero chance of winning. I frequently can get around this by laying rocks down, which usually draws out Donphan, or by bringing in Victini and U-turning on the Slowbro switch into my Escavalier. Against a good player, though, this doesn't always work. To a lesser degree, Arcanine is threatening as well. I can't just throw around V-creates, and Extremespeed breaks through my Trick Room.

 

[Paradoxus]

Victini and Mew are horrible for TR as they have 100 Base Speed.

 

[BurtonEarny]

most of your pokemon are simply too fast to make TR worth it and youd be better to just drop it entirely and make it a bulky team. Escavalier is your main abuser and he doesn't really have the move pool to support a lone sweeping effort.

On the other hand, things like Rhyperior and Emboar are much slower and far more deadly in TR.

If you want a consistent TR at the beginning of a match, then you should run something with a mental herb to block the common taunts that are so annoying during the course of a game.

 

[666lumberjack]

@above actually Vicitni is brilliant in TR because it gets 'faster' every time it V-creates. If you lack priority, it becomes incredibly difficult to take down. Mew is decent enough too because it doesn't need to rely on going first anyway.
@op I see a sever Choice Band Staraptor weakness. If it leads off versus Mew it will kill something turn one (Everything on the team is OHKO'd by Brave Bird, except Dusclops who is 2HKO'd.) and then your best bet is to try and Sucker Punch with Crimgan. However, if it switches out of that, it will probably end up killing another Pokemon once it comes back in again. (Incidentally, I believe I fought against you with a variant of my team that's currently in testing.)
To fix this problem, I suggest replacing one of your sweepers with a Rhyperior. It's 'fast' (ie slow) bulky, extrordinarily powerful and it can take Brave Birds all day, although you have to watch out for Close Combat. You noted you wren't hugely satisfied with Nidoking, so perhaps he should be the one to get the boot, so to speak.

 

[Zomeonez]

I have used Escavalier in the past, and I use a set that has defeated pokemon without Trick Room.

Escavalier @ Shell Bell
Swarm
Adamant
§ Megahorn
§ Substitute
§ Iron Head
§ Swords Dance
252 Attack/ 252 Special Defense / 4 Defense

He's bulky enough in Defense, and 252 Special Defense is pretty helpful, taking half damage from a Drought - boosted Ninetales. Set up Sub on the switch, and then Swords Dance. 2HKO to almost everything, and OHKO's other pokemon.

 

[Bughouse]

@Paradoxus As Flygon pointed out, TR Victini is actually quite good, especially against the ever-common sun teams. Mew is just to set up TR, not to abuse it. Of all things available in UU to use TR, the most reliable (aka bulky, more or less) and useful are Mew, Slowbro/king, and Cresselia. Of these I chose Mew due to its ability to lay rocks down as well, which can be crucial. 100 base speed uninvested, with 0 IVs and a negative nature is not particularly fast by the way, too.

@BurtonEarny My Escavalier and Druddigon are very slow. Victini becomes very slow after one V-create. Only Nidoking remains "too fast" to be on a TR team, and even it outruns most UU pokes in TR. I am considering changes to Druddigon and Nidoking, though, as I said above. As for mental herb to avoid taunts, while I suppose it is possible, I rarely am taunted on the first turn anyways. Lead Mew most of the time runs a lot of speed, often max, and as a result is not taunt-able by almost all leads. Also, opponents don't taunt things that could just take them out in one hit, which an offensive Mew could do to many leads.

@FastFlygon I think in my entire laddering, I have seen 3 Staraptor. Only one gave me any issues. If I get rocks up (and keep them up... stupid Donphan), Staraptor's usability drops dramatically. However, after checking some calcs, I see what you mean. Adamant Banded Reckless Staraptor is a monster. It OHKOes many things on this team. However, it does not guarantee OHKO Mew to start off the game. It does 364-429 damage of my 404. I live about 60% of the time. If I am OHKOed, Staraptor take 135 damage, or 43% of its health. Certainly not desirable, but tolerable, I suppose. The good thing is that no one leads with a Banded Staraptor against my Mew, since Band Staraptor is outsped by many lead Mew, since many lead Mew in B/W are max speed and +speed nature, while most BandRaptors are Adamant. And if it is Jolly and they are hoping to win what they think is a speed tie, it won't OHKO my Mew anyways due to my HP investment. I suppose I could shift some of Mew's Spdef to Def to avoid ever being OHKOed by BandRaptor. Max Spdef was there just because most leads I face hit more specially. As for Rhyperior, now suggested twice, I strongly considered it in the team building, but I don't want to replace my only special sweeper, Nidoking, with another physical sweeper. I made a not above about one potential replacement for Nidoking.

@Zomeonez Thanks for the suggestion, but Escavalier really relies on the Choice Band to turn many 2HKOs into OHKOs. The Shell Bell is really unnecessary in the UU environment too, since no one uses Magnet Pull pokemon since there are no Ferrothorn or Scizor to take out.

 

[EonX]

Couple of thoughts here.

I don't like Mew as a good setup for TR. For offense, Mesprit's a much better option, having low enough Speed to sweep in it. For more bulk, Claydol and Uxie are good options as both can also set up Rocks. Uxie can then U-Turn to an abuser while being able to come back in later to setup TR. Also gets Memento which is cool.

Rhyperior over Nidoking is strongly advised, especially for handling Staraptor. STAB EdgeQuake combo is pretty awesome too.

As for Druddigon, try Crunch if you want a Dark type move. Reliably takes out Slowbro(2HKO I think) gets the Sheer Force boost(lol 10% Defense drop chance gone) and doesn't rely on the opponent. If the opponent is smart, s/he will try to stall out TR if his/her team can't adapt to it well and thus use few attacking moves until the effects are gone.

 

[Bughouse]

@EonX- The main reason I use Mew as my TR set-up is due to unpredictability. When opponents face a lead Mew, they expect to be outsped and also threatened offensively. If I used a Uxie or Claydol, I would have to expect a taunt every single time I face a taunt lead. People just don't taunt Mew as much. As I said above, I don't want to replace Nidoking with a physical sweeper, since it is my only special sweeper. Druddigon really appreciates Sucker Punch. It is my only priority on the whole team.

 

[kay-tay]

I don't understand why you have two suicide Trick Roomers on your team, as it counter-productive. Not only is Explosion nerfed, you want Trick Roomers to be alive as long as possible, not to set up trick room once and explode. This is essentially what you are doing with Mew and Dusclops. I would drop explosion for Roost, and drop Taunt for U-turn. U-turn is key because it provides the momentum that explosion can offer without losing Mew. On Dusclops, replace Memento with Pain Split, because Dusclops needs all the recovery it can get. Memento is just a bad choice here because although it can provide momentum, you have nothing to take advantage of it, besides maybe Victini. In order to take advantage of memento, you need someone with set-up capabilities (which you have none, other than Victini arguably) and set-ups aren't very good in Trick Room anyway.

Try Camerupt, Porygon-Z, or Octillery in place of Nidoking.

Try Bisharp over Druddigon because it gets STAB on Sucker Punch, and provides a double resistance to Ghost and Dark, which half your team is weak to.