UU without Rapid Spin? You must be kidding

[deadfox081]

So I stumbled upon the wonderful world of Smogon just after Gen V's US release and spent a lot of time learning exactly how the game worked these days (I last played Pokemon at all in Gen III). With OU being all that was around I spent a lot of this time getting creamed and PO quickly became a very occasional thing. Then UU was released and established and I found myself building a team properly and actually playing on as semi regular basis. The end result sees this team having peaked at #64 earlier tonight, a long way from my humble beginnings indeed. I thought this makes it high time I turned to the wider community for advice on how to move up those extra steps.

So without further adeu, I present the team:

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Empoleon @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Roar

My pretty much all the time lead, Empoleon is one of the remnants of my very first team and I find it still performs its role very well. The EVs are a strange concotion of my own designed to give it good bulk on both sides of the spectrum. Its still largely Special Defensive but the Defence EVs and Bold nature surprise many opponents when their EQs don't one hit me. This means I can stand with Bronzong and Swampert toe to toe, with both of us getting up rocks and me more than likely getting a burn. Obviously with no defensive investment Scald is mostly about the burn while Ice beam only picks off those weak to it (hello Outraging Flygon). Roar is a relatively new choice, added over Yawn originally. The guaranteed phazing works better and sending CurseLax back into its ball at the right time is priceless.

Chandelure @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Energy Ball

This is the one thing that has remained standard in all my teams, I love Scarfed Chandy. It has just enough base speed to make use of the Scarf and definitely the natural offensive stats to still hit hard. Modest makes damn sure of this. It really only needs the two STAB moves, and I prefer Flamethrower over Fire Blast because the misses infuriate me. Energy Ball can become very useful late game against Milotics and Swamperts while HP Fighting is pretty much reduntant. Most normal types I end up facing in the tier are special walls anyway and it does next to nothing. I'm fast considering switching it out for Overheat just for the sheer power. Rocks hurt its ability to switch around a lot so often I just try and gain a Flash Fire boost and throw Flamethrowers at whatever comes out. Not the most subtle of tactics but it tends to work.

Machamp @ Lum Berry
Trait: No Guard
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- DynamicPunch
- Payback
- Bullet Punch
- Stone Edge

Basic old Machamp, but if it ain't broke. The Lum Berry is priceless for absorbing that first Will-O-Wisp or switching into Spore/Sleep Powder. DynamicPunch and Stone Edge from max Attack and Adamant are self explanitory as is Bullet Punch. The move I seem to never end up using is Payback, I don't want to stay in against Psychic's and the Ghosts I see are mostly slower than me so it never gets to a decent power. The Speed EVs are to beat out other Machamp's and attempt to confuse them first.

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Earth Power
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt

Nidoking is the newest member of the team, replacing the OU departed Mamoswine. It makes me a little heavy on the special attacking side but the coverage is to die for. He also doubles as a nice Toxic Spikes absorber. Flamethrower is for Bronzong and Timid is so I at least speed tie with other Nidokings. He's probably the most replacable on the team but until I find a hole that needs filling he is doing his job fine.

Togekiss @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave
- Roost
- Air Slash
- Nasty Plot

The first of my set up sweepers, this is standard and completely infuriating Togekiss. With bulk to take a lot of even SE hits he paralyzes a lot of things. From there its a Roost and a couple of Nasty Plots away from going to work. It ends up surpsingly easy to get 2 or even 3 Nasty Plots up and then even resisted hits are doing quite a bit. The one thing that tends to hurt it is status, with Toxic being particularly annoying.

Mew @ Big Root
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Drain Punch
- Zen Headbutt

Another new addition to the team, but this is one that I'm not sure how I ever lived without. Just seeing Mew come out always puts doubt in the opponent's mind and that usually allows me to get in a Sucker Punch for a quick revenge kill. Like Nidoking Speed is completely maximized with one Swords Dance the slightly lower than maximum attack quickly becomes a non issue. I shied away from a Life Orb because I didn't want the recoil and in the end the unusual choice of a Big Root means that boosted Drain Punches very quickly replenish Mew's health and prolong the sweep. Of course it is completely walled by Sableye...

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I'm pretty satisfied with the core of this team having not really frequently encountered Pokemon I have large amounts of trouble with. And yes, I realise its relatively hazard free for UU and its completely without Spin but I haven't seen it hold me back so far. The issue with Rapid Spin is I can't seem to come across a spinner who adds anything to the team aside from Spin and it makes me reluctant to remove anyone from the team.

But one way or another, have at it!

 

[Moo]

Hey man, nice team, although I've got a few suggestions for you.

Firstly, Chandelure definitely needs Fire Blast. I know you might not like the misses (who does?), but the power difference between Flamethrower and Fire Blast is so noticable. There's lots of Pokemon in UU that can tank two Flamethrowers from Chandelure, but they'll find themselves 2HKO'ed by Fire Blast. If you're feeling like like Hidden Power Fighting is redundant, use it over that, so you have a powerful STAB option and a safer option.

Machamp is really cool, although the Lum Berry Lead set from last generation isn't as effective as it once was. I highly reccomend the Substitute set:

Machamp (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: No Guard
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- DynamicPunch
- Stone Edge
- Ice Punch / Thunderpunch / Payback / whatever the hell you want.

This thing is really awesome. The idea is to come in on something you'll scare out, and then set up a Substitute. Behind a Substitute, you can fire off powerful attacks at will, and there's very few Pokemon that can take an attack from Machamp comfortably (except bulky Water-types like Slowbro). If your opponent is weak to Machamp, and you predict correctly, you're pretty much guaranteed a kill from behind a Substitute. DynamicPunch and Stone Edge have great coverage, and the last slot is really just down to preference. I wouldn't reccomend Bullet Punch, though, as it was used last gen on the lead set to beat Focus Sash users, and isn't very good at all now, to be honest.

Eh... Big Roost is a poor choice of item for Mew, because you'll only really use Drain Punch against Registeel, Empoleon, and Rhyperior; you shouldn't rely on it for recovery. I'd definitely suggest Leftovers as the choice of item, because it gives you some nice recovery every turn, and not just when you use Drain Punch. Also, don't worry about Sableye with Mew, because Chandelure can abosrb a Will-o-Wisp and make its life hell!

Good luck with your team, I hope I helped!

 

[THIS GUY]

I'd say swap LO for expert belt on nidoking. You'll be able to really make use of it w/ his coverage.
Also, second everything moo said

EDIT: nvm, kep LO, forgot sheer force stops after-damage items/abilities too

 

[pokemonisfun]

The first thing I noticed when I was reading your team was a lack of good resist-Chandelure being the only thing taking in fire moves decently and Electric moves sort of rape you with Nidoking being the only thing taking those well. Fire and Electrics have coverage moves to screw around your single resistors like EQ/Rock Slide on Darmantian and HP Ice on Zapdos/Raikou with the possibility of Extrasensory so your resists are made less useful.

I also notice how slow your team is, not slow paced as in its a stally team, but your Pokemon are just not fast which is merely acceptable because you use Thunder Wave. Chandelure cannot even revenge kill things like Scarf Darmantian using EQ or anything that really boosts its speed. I hope my suggestions will make this team better:

Nidoking to-----> Raikou! Raikou with a Sub CM set or something easily sets up on stupid things like Zapdos if they do not run Roar which as far as I can tell most do not. It also makes bulky waters (Cune, Milo, Slowbro) lives miserable and more importantly short which aides your Chandelure in spamming Fire Blast/Flamethrower. I would use lefties on Raikou but if you previously used Nidoking to steamroll thru teams early to midgame you might be missing the power so Life Orb is an ok option.

But if you do add Raikou your team becomes even more vulnerable to hazards so I think you really do need a spinner at that point. It might sound insane but I think you should at least give Kabutops a try over Empoleon since it can spin. It still gives you Stealth Rock while you can also run Rapid Spin and Swords Dance. Obviously opposing spinblockers are going to have a tough time with you since none of them can really take an SD boosted move (bar the obnoxiously bulky ones that Raikou/Togekiss walk all over), not to mention they might not even try to spinblock as Kabutops is not known as a spinner. You can try it but you would lose a lot of resists Empoleon has so I am not sure if you want to use it. Your team would lose a lot of special bulk but I was thinking Togekiss could patch it up in that area, seeing as it can fly around unclipped by Rocks.

I hope you consider what I say!