So, this team isn't a brand new one per se. The foundations for it were laid when I made another team over a month ago. The link to that thread is located here: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/cactrunes-uu-balance-rmt.3528970/
Anyway, it was one of the most successful teams that I'd ever made, I got a lot of good feedback on it, and I've been using and tweaking it ever since. Here's the new version of the team, though you should look at the old one first for context.
Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aerial Ace
- Stone Edge
- Roost
- Defog
Aerodactyl once again serves as this team's Mega Evolution. It's a very strong Pokemon with the ability to check a wide variety of threats, most importantly some of the faster megas (Pidgeot, Sceptile, Beedrill). Here, I've decided to run a Defog set, because I don't have any other hazard removers on this team, but Aero's resulting limited coverage is compensated for by the team's wallbreakers. Aerodactyl's 4MSS does make me wish that I could change its set without disrupting the team, but it's still a good member of the group.
Heracross @ Choice Band
Ability: Guts
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
Heracross is an incredible Pokemon, and his moves and ability allow him to go toe to toe with the tier's most threatening walls and bulky Water-types. He's got a great movepool that lets him threaten any team, though he struggles with Fairy-types (a recurring theme with this particular team). He's very strong and efficient at what he does.
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect
- Ice Beam
Vaporeon is a great Wish-passer and cleric for balance teams, and I've used it with great results. Baton Pass, though it may seem unorthodox, is a great move that lets Vaporeon literally take one for the team before pivoting out into another member, often restoring large amounts of health to its teammates in the process. The zero speed IVs make sure that Vaporeon pivots into a teammate after the opponent strikes, allowing teammates to come in unscathed.
Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Slack Off
One of the new members of this team is Hippowdon, who replaces Gligar as my main physical wall. Gligar, though very strong, simply can't hack it in this metagame a lot of the time. It's crippling Knock Off weakness and inability to deal with powerful Flying-types like Salamence, Pidgeot, and Aerodactyl make it into setup fodder more often than not. As such, I've replaced him with Hippowdon, who can not only retaliate against flyers with Stone Edge, but also phase opponents out with Whirlwind. I'm really liking this 'mon so far.
Salamence @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Hydro Pump
This guy is the most problematic member of the team, and there's a lot of explanation required to justify his place here. In the first incarnation of this team, this slot was occupied by a rather useless Rotom-Heat. In more defensive builds, that was replaced with Forretress, and on more offensive builds, it was replaced with LO Hydreigon, a Pokemon whose role on the team was indispensable. However, I recently replaced Hydreigon with LO Special Salamence, an incredibly interesting Pokemon. This Salamence variant is cool because not many people see it coming, and it can break popular walls easily with the appropriate coverage move. However, I'm not sure if this set is any good at all. Because of the moveset I've chosen, Fairies take advantage of Salamence (and the team as a whole) easily. I feel as though I should run a Mixed Salamence set in this slot, possibly with Iron Tail or something like that, or even scrap Salamence altogether, but I'm not sure. If you all could help me figure out what would be best for the team, I'd be very grateful.
Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 144 HP / 188 Def / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rest
- Curse
- Sleep Talk
- Body Slam
Snorlax is an incredible Pokemon. It's my late-game sweeper, but its great bulk enables it to start setting up and killing things even early on in a match. At the moment, it's also one of my only answer's to Fairies for no reason besides his incredible special bulk. Snorlax is a solid team member here.
The Team As A Whole:
I feel very positive about the way that this team has turned out so far, but there are, as always, a few problems with it that still need resolving. Salamence, like I said earlier, needs some kind of retooling as far as its moveset and EVs are concerned. This also feeds into my lack of strong answers to Fairy-types, which often causes me to struggle with bulkier teams that use Aromatisse or Florges. Finally, I often doubt the strength of my team defensively, and I think that my defensive synergy could also be improved. I hope you all comment on this team and lend your support in making it better than ever before.
Importable:
Anyway, it was one of the most successful teams that I'd ever made, I got a lot of good feedback on it, and I've been using and tweaking it ever since. Here's the new version of the team, though you should look at the old one first for context.
Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aerial Ace
- Stone Edge
- Roost
- Defog
Aerodactyl once again serves as this team's Mega Evolution. It's a very strong Pokemon with the ability to check a wide variety of threats, most importantly some of the faster megas (Pidgeot, Sceptile, Beedrill). Here, I've decided to run a Defog set, because I don't have any other hazard removers on this team, but Aero's resulting limited coverage is compensated for by the team's wallbreakers. Aerodactyl's 4MSS does make me wish that I could change its set without disrupting the team, but it's still a good member of the group.
Heracross @ Choice Band
Ability: Guts
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
Heracross is an incredible Pokemon, and his moves and ability allow him to go toe to toe with the tier's most threatening walls and bulky Water-types. He's got a great movepool that lets him threaten any team, though he struggles with Fairy-types (a recurring theme with this particular team). He's very strong and efficient at what he does.
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect
- Ice Beam
Vaporeon is a great Wish-passer and cleric for balance teams, and I've used it with great results. Baton Pass, though it may seem unorthodox, is a great move that lets Vaporeon literally take one for the team before pivoting out into another member, often restoring large amounts of health to its teammates in the process. The zero speed IVs make sure that Vaporeon pivots into a teammate after the opponent strikes, allowing teammates to come in unscathed.
Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Slack Off
One of the new members of this team is Hippowdon, who replaces Gligar as my main physical wall. Gligar, though very strong, simply can't hack it in this metagame a lot of the time. It's crippling Knock Off weakness and inability to deal with powerful Flying-types like Salamence, Pidgeot, and Aerodactyl make it into setup fodder more often than not. As such, I've replaced him with Hippowdon, who can not only retaliate against flyers with Stone Edge, but also phase opponents out with Whirlwind. I'm really liking this 'mon so far.
Salamence @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Hydro Pump
This guy is the most problematic member of the team, and there's a lot of explanation required to justify his place here. In the first incarnation of this team, this slot was occupied by a rather useless Rotom-Heat. In more defensive builds, that was replaced with Forretress, and on more offensive builds, it was replaced with LO Hydreigon, a Pokemon whose role on the team was indispensable. However, I recently replaced Hydreigon with LO Special Salamence, an incredibly interesting Pokemon. This Salamence variant is cool because not many people see it coming, and it can break popular walls easily with the appropriate coverage move. However, I'm not sure if this set is any good at all. Because of the moveset I've chosen, Fairies take advantage of Salamence (and the team as a whole) easily. I feel as though I should run a Mixed Salamence set in this slot, possibly with Iron Tail or something like that, or even scrap Salamence altogether, but I'm not sure. If you all could help me figure out what would be best for the team, I'd be very grateful.
Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 144 HP / 188 Def / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rest
- Curse
- Sleep Talk
- Body Slam
Snorlax is an incredible Pokemon. It's my late-game sweeper, but its great bulk enables it to start setting up and killing things even early on in a match. At the moment, it's also one of my only answer's to Fairies for no reason besides his incredible special bulk. Snorlax is a solid team member here.
The Team As A Whole:
I feel very positive about the way that this team has turned out so far, but there are, as always, a few problems with it that still need resolving. Salamence, like I said earlier, needs some kind of retooling as far as its moveset and EVs are concerned. This also feeds into my lack of strong answers to Fairy-types, which often causes me to struggle with bulkier teams that use Aromatisse or Florges. Finally, I often doubt the strength of my team defensively, and I think that my defensive synergy could also be improved. I hope you all comment on this team and lend your support in making it better than ever before.
Importable:
Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aerial Ace
- Stone Edge
- Roost
- Defog
Heracross @ Choice Band
Ability: Guts
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect
- Baton Pass
Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Whirlwind
- Slack Off
Salamence @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Hydro Pump
Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 144 HP / 188 Def / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rest
- Curse
- Sleep Talk
- Body Slam
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aerial Ace
- Stone Edge
- Roost
- Defog
Heracross @ Choice Band
Ability: Guts
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect
- Baton Pass
Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Whirlwind
- Slack Off
Salamence @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Hydro Pump
Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 144 HP / 188 Def / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rest
- Curse
- Sleep Talk
- Body Slam
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