SM UU CR17S19S8 (CB Terrakion + Necrozma offense)

[Daiyaga]

Hi everyone, name's Daiyaga and I wanted to share one of the teams I've had the most fun with recently. I originally wanted to share it after peaking in the 1600s, but ... Yeah, it didn't go according to my plan. Anyway, let's get started.

Teambuilding Process

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So the team started with Terrakion, a mon everyone knows by now. This musketeer is a disgustingly strong wallbreaker that can just blast away anything that doesn't resist its STABs ( and still deals a fuckton to resists), and I didn't have a team using it at that point, so it caught my interest pretty quickly.

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Next up was Necrozma. I wanted to pair Terrakion with a Psychic-type to take advantage of Terrakion scaring away Dark-types and making them wary of clicking their Dark STAB to avoid giving Terrakion a +1 attack boost. Necrozma wasn't my original pick when I was drafting this team (I think it was Celebi ?), but a friend came in and told me something like "yo wtf is this shit just use Necrozma bro", so I gave it a try and it worked. Necrozma brings a ton of stuff to my team, notably a way to pressure Poison- and Fighting-types, a """lure""" to Scizor (don't know why, but a lot of my opponents have tried to U-turn on it for some reason), an offensive SR setter, and a mon that can soften Steel-types to put some of them (like Aggron-Mega and Steelix-Mega) in Terrakion's range.

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This duo was already looking pretty weak to a bunch of stuff, including (but not limited to) Krookodile, Latias, Hydreigon, Infernape, Crawdaunt and Aerodactyl-Mega. Altaria-Mega can handle all of these without too much trouble, so it became my n°3 mon. This cotton candy brings a ton of defensive utility to the team while not being complete setup fodder either, and could take advantage of Necrozma and Terrakion softening - if not outright deleting - the opposing steel-types.

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Talking about steel-types, this trio was total Scizor food. It was also pretty weak to Mamoswine, Moltres, Cobalion and Manectric-Mega. I also needed Defog support, and if possible something that could keep momentum via slow VoltTurn. Well guess what, Rotom-Heat fills all these criterias (except the "Cobalion check" I guess, but it's still better than what I had). The oven compressed a ton of stuff the team needed at that point, so adding it in just felt natural.

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Scizor came in as my 5th mon,bringing an additional soft-check to Hydreigon, Latias and Aerodactyl-Mega, a check to Beedrill-Mega, more pivoting for Terrakion and Necrozma and speed control thanks to Bullet Punch. It also prevents me from getting 6-0'd by DD Refresh Altaria, which is pretty useful considering how often I've seen it recently.

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Krookodile came as my last mon. It provides a Volt Switch immunity, a Psychic immunity, and excellent speed control to my team. The Pursuit and Knock Off support it provides also helps chipping some annoying stuff, or removing items from dangerous 'mons like opposing Rotom's Berry or Scizor's Choice Band .

Sets in details

The Cataclysm (Terrakion) @ Choice Band
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Toxic

Good ol' CB Terrakion. Get it into play, click a STAB, profit. This monster just tears apart teams, and can easily claim a kill everytime it comes in. Close Combat and Stone Edge are the obvious STABs and have excellent neutral coverage together, Earthquake nails Nidoqueen and Doublade (both are 2HKO'd), while Toxic cripples Palossand and Chesnaught, all of them being common switch-ins to Terrakion.

The Netherlord (Necrozma) @ Metronome
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Photon Geyser
- Heat Wave
- Signal Beam

So, Necrozma. It's a mon I never tried seriously in UU, but it turns out it's been doing its job pretty consistently as both a wallbreaker and offensive rocker. Psychic/Fire/Bug hits pretty much everything for neutral damage, and coupled with its excellent base 127 SpA it puts a lot of pressure on a ton of mons, notably the poison-types that can take a hit from terrakion, and the fighting-types that scare it out. It also sports a great bulk which, coupled with Prism Armor, lets it dodge the OHKO from non-specs Hydreigon and Scarf Krook.

Stealth Rock lets me put hazards to help Terrakion breaking stuff and generally cripple the opposing team. Photon Geyser is an extremely spammable STAB with nice Base Power that deals decent damage to a lot of common defoggers/spinners (like Blastoise-Mega, Gligar, Tentacruel,Altaria, Moltres, Togekiss, Florges and Rotom-Heat), Heat Wave chips the Steel-types that may try to tank Photon Geysers, and Signal Beam nails Dark- and Psychic-types, 2HKO'ing (or OHKO) all of them except Bronzong, Houndoom-Mega and Muk-Alola. Metronome increases Necrozma's damage output the more you spam a move, and it helps dealing with Reuniclus, Latias and Gligar (Latias and Reuniclus are forced to recover non-stop, and Photon Geyser outdamages Gligar's recovery after a few hits).
The 144 EVs in speed lets Necrozma hit the 230 Speed benchmark, outspeeding max speed adamant Scizor by 1 point. Rest goes into SpA and HP to maximize damage output and get some nice extra bulk.

The Endbringer (Altaria-Mega) @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 92 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Frustration
- Roost
- Refresh

That one fluffy dude everyone either loves or hates. It was originally an offensive DD set, but King DDD's ability to shrug off status thanks to Refresh was invaluable, especially considering the amount of teams relying on Will-o-Wisp/Toxic Rotom-Heat or sturdy physical walls as a way to check Altaria-Mega, since neither can really do anything to the DD + Refresh set. Also Altaria is my only water resist in case you didn't notice, so not having to care about scald burns post-mega was just too good to pass up.
The EV spread is the ORAS King DDD spread, and it still works for me. 28 EVs in speed reaches 203 Speed, letting you outpace Manectric-Mega after two Dragon Dances. 252 HP EVs + 92 SpD EVs lets you take a +1 Ice Beam from Latias, rest goes into Def to better take hits from the likes of Infernape, Crawdaunt and Aerodactyl-Mega.
I tend to use Altaria as a defensive pivot early-/mid-game, and wait until steel-types and fairies have been severely weakened (or removed) before attempting to setup.

The Divine Blast (Rotom-Heat) @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 24 SpA / 248 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Defog
- Toxic
My bread-and-butter pivot. Rotom is just amazing at everything it does. Keeping Scizor and Mamoswine in check is priceless for this team, slowish Volt Switch is amazing to bring Terrakion in, and Defog helps this team a lot considering how often you have to switch around. I'm running 248 EVs in speed instead of 252 to always attack last against opposing Rotoms, allowing me to get the momentum back in a Rotom vs Rotom situation. Toxic went in the last slot as a way to cripple the dragons that think they can come safely on Rotom. I guess Pain Split could work in the last slot too, but I'm not a big fan of it with a pinch berry.

The Everqueen (Scizor) @ Buginium Z
Ability: Technician
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost
Yeah, Roost on an offensive Zor. I'm not really a fan of it either, but I really needed Scizor to stay healthy most of the time to deal with stuff that can be pretty dangerous for the rest of the team, notably the dragons if Altaria didn't mega-evolve yet, but bulky Scizor's lack of damage kept bugging me, so I replaced it with this Scizor. 84 Speed EVs speed creeps Klefki, rest is put in Attack and HP. Buginium Z wasn't there at first, but I lacked a Z-move and it does some pretty cool stuff to help Terrakion, like killing Amoonguss and Alomomola after a SD (and some chip in Alomomola's case since the OHKO isn't guaranteed), also it reduces damage from Knock Off which is always nice.

The Iron-Eater (Krookodile) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
Arguably the best scarfer in the tier atm, so it shouldn't be surprising that it's here. Volt Switch immunity is very nice against VoltTurn teams, and its ability to Pursuit trap and chip a lot of stuff really helps the team's match-up against stuff like Starmie, Zeraora, Manectric-Mega, Aerodactyl-Mega, Latias, Chandelure and Gengar. It also helps a lot dealing with opposing Terrakions (and physical attackers in general) thanks to Intimidate.Knock Off and Pursuit provide invaluable support to the team by chipping mons (in Pursuit's case) or removing Leftovers/Black sludge from sturdy walls or 'mons that lack reliable recovery (in Knock Off's case), and Stone Edge nails stuff like Togekiss and Moltres that think they can come in safely (Crunch is also an option, but considering my Latias match-up I don't think it was the better option over Stone Edge).

Usage Tips

• Most of the team's offensive power comes from Terrakion and Necrozma, so finding ways to switch them in safely is vital. Scizor and Rotom are here to help with that, but you may have to resort to aggressive switches a lot of the time.
• Although Altaria should be the cleaner of the team, in practice it's often hard to set it up because of the common Steel/Fairy cores (Aggron + Florges or Steelix + Florges for example)that it can't break reliably. If you can't remove the Steel-type AND weaken the fairy-type, then there's no reason to try to setup Altaria.
• All the mons in this team can take hits in a pinch, but you should let Altaria and Scizor take them most of the time, as they are the only ones with actual recovery.
• Keep Terrakion alive. Seriously, this monster can basically carry you to victory against slower teams as not a lot can tank two hits from CB Terrakion and have reliable recovery (the list comes down to Gligar, Palossand, Jellicent and Chesnaught), and even more offensive teams don't have a ton of pokemon that can revenge kill it.
• Scout for phasing moves on mons like Swampert, Hippowdon and Empoleon if you want to set Altaria up. If they don't have phasing or super-effective moves, they're setup fodder.
• The Z-move on Scizor really is meant to hit Amoonguss, so you have to make your opponent think you can't hit it before revealing the Z (yeah, that's how lures work, thanks Sherlock).

Threatlist

I can't reliably punish a Scizor clicking U-turn, and it forces out 4 of my 6 mons. Pretty annoying unless your opponent decides to sack it on banded CC, or tries to U-turn on Necrozma (seriously don't do that).

My only water resist is Altaria, and I don't have a single mon that hits it super effectively (except Rotom, but Rotom's damage sucks so it doesn't count). I considered running Z-thunderbolt on Rotom just for this one mon, but I'm not sure that's a good idea.

Figuring out the set is the hardest part. DD variants can be handled by Scizor/Rotom-Heat, and Altaria has a good chance to OHKO defensive variants after a boost and rocks (56.3% chance). Still a pretty annoying mon to face, especially if it's paired with Magneton.

I don't have a single mon that resists both Steel and Fighting. Rock Polish variants are especially deadly once Necrozma is KO'd. Keep Necrozma healthy, and avoid locking Krook/Terrakion in moves it resists so it doesn't get a free turn to set up.

Sub+Z-fight variants can easily kill several mons if it gets a chance to come in and setup a sub.It shouldn't be able to do that very often considering Altaria is the only mon in my team that can't hit it at all, but it's still worth mentioning it 'cause I had a pretty hard time last time I faced one. So yeah, don't click CC on Terrakion unless you absolutely need to, and if you have to bring Altaria in, switch out immediately so it doesn't get a chance to come and put a sub.

I've been having some trouble dealing with stall depending on its composition. Terrakion does pressure it pretty well by forcing predictable switches on mons like Gligar or Alomomola, but if you can't keep the hazards up on the opponent's side, don't expect to break anything.

Conclusion
Hope I didn't forget anything
This team has been a lot of fun to use and I hope you'll like it. Building and playing it has been a lot of fun to me, as I never really played 'mons like Terrakion that require some decent predictions to be used. Current UU metagame is a ton of fun and I hope it stays that way in the future.

Importable btw

Terrakion @ Choice Band
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Toxic

Necrozma @ Metronome
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Photon Geyser
- Heat Wave
- Signal Beam

Altaria @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 92 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Frustration
- Roost
- Refresh

Rotom-Heat @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 24 SpA / 248 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Defog
- Toxic

Scizor @ Buginium Z
Ability: Technician
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost

Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

 

[Twilight]

Yo really love the team and I've had a lot of fun trying to rate it especially because you've used Necrozma something I have tried to use in the past. The changes I plan to suggest should alleviate most of the problems you previously had with said threats, without changing up the core principle of your team:

Minor Changes:

- So I decided to use a Rockium-Z Terrakion instead here because I plan to swap your current Z-move user out + this in conjunction with SD alleviates your stall match-up a bit and lets you break through certain Pokemon like Gligar, Bulky Prima and Slowbro easier. The last moveslot is very much up to you as Earthquake is nice for Nidoqueen and Doublade as your previously mentioned, Toxic to cripple bulkier walls or you can use Substitute which makes it very hard to RK + gives it an easier time breaking.

- Because I intend to add Tentacruel this freed up the slot for Rotom to run Pain Split. This also helps with your Refresh Malt match-up.

Major Changes:

- So I ended up dropping Scizor for Tentacruel because this gives you an answer to Primarina, Cobalion, Lucario and Scizor. Pretty standard set here with Haze to annoy set-up sweepers + helps vs Refresh Malt. Again the last slot is up to you but I think T-Spikes can be really nice vs Stall and Balance or Sludge Bomb to ease up your fairy match-up but I don't think this is as necessary.

Recommended Change:

- So because I have removed Scizor it has definitely made your Latias match-up etc. a lot harder so I would probably suggest swapping Necrozma out for SR Empoleon or Bronzong for example to better handle this. However this is completely up to you as I know you built this squad around both Terrakion and Necrozma, so if you feel it isn't necassary then the team should be solid as is.

Terrakion + Necrozma Team

Terrakion @ Rockium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Substitute / Earthquake / Toxic

Necrozma @ Metronome
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Photon Geyser
- Heat Wave
- Signal Beam

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Haze
- Toxic Spikes

Rotom-Heat @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 24 SpA / 248 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split
- Toxic

Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 92 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Frustration
- Dragon Dance
- Refresh
- Roost

Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 16 HP / 232 Atk / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off

Empoleon or Bronzong Variant

Terrakion @ Rockium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Substitute

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Haze
- Toxic Spikes

Rotom-Heat @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 24 SpA / 248 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split
- Toxic

Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 92 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Frustration
- Dragon Dance
- Refresh
- Roost

Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 16 HP / 232 Atk / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Protect

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Protect
- Psywave

I had a blast rating this and I hope these changes help you out and break past that 1600 barricade you were aiming for. Sub Gengar is still pretty scary but I think the match-up is a bit better depending on if you use Sub Terrakion for example. If you have any questions just let me know and as always I'm keen to know what you think ^_^

 

[Moutemoute]

I have struggled a lot to find smth to say about your team. Twilight's rate is pretty clean imo so it was kinda hard to propose other changes.

Major changes :

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• First of all, I decided to change Necrozma and Rotom-Heat for Empoleon and Gligar. Empoleon brings to your team a really nice answer to Primarina. On the other Gligar is really nice to deal with Scizor, Cobalion or Altaria-Mega. I've been thinking a lot to how I could increase your MU vs Scizor without Rotom-Heat. With that in mind, I came up with two choices. The first one is to play Curse on Gligar. It increases a lot your MU vs SD Scizor, SD Cobalion, SD Terrakion and DD Altaria-Mega. However, this option is still a bit shaky vs SD Knock Off Scizor so be careful about it. On the other hand, you can bump Empoleon for Tentacruel, it's definitively a great pick to deal with Scizor. However, the team will become much weaker to Flying types and Choice Specs Primarina will be a threat because it can catch Tentacruel on the Switch-in thanks to Psychic.

>

• I deciced to opt for Hydreigon over Krookodile. Since your team has Terrakion, it needs some Momentum because Terrakion loves that its teammates can bring it on the field. Hydreigon is also quite nice to Revenge Kill Cobalion and non-Choice Scarf Gengar.

Minor changes :

• Even if Choice Band Terrakion is a nightmare to handle on the Switch-in, I think SD Rockium Z / Fightinium Z would be even better especially to pressure Stall. Substitute also allows Terrakion to pressure Scizor because it can't Revenge Kill Terrakion when it's under a Substitute.

• I changed a little bit Scizor's EVs spread and I decided to change Buginium Z for Iron Plate. You can also change U-Turn for Knock Off if you want to bother Pokemon like Tentacruel, Rotom-Heat etc..

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Team with Empoleon

Terrakion @ Rockium Z / Fightinium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Substitute
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat

Altaria @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 92 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Frustration
- Roost
- Refresh

Scizor @ Iron Plate
Ability: Technician
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 104 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn / Knock Off
- Roost

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast

Empoleon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Def / 184 SpD
Calm Nature
- Defog / Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Knock Off / Protect
- Scald

Gligar @ Eviolite
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 248 HP / 156 Def / 104 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock / Defog
- Roost
- Curse
- Earthquake

Team with Tentacruel

Terrakion @ Rockium Z / Fightinium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Substitute
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat

Altaria @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 92 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Frustration
- Roost
- Refresh

Scizor @ Iron Plate
Ability: Technician
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 104 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn / Knock Off
- Roost

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes
- Haze
- Scald

Gligar @ Eviolite
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 248 HP / 156 Def / 104 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- Curse
- Earthquake