I've been doing this competitive battling thing for quite some time now (just over a year and a half) so far, this is my second successful core team. I got the inspiration for making a team based entirely around a Dragon Dance feraligatr sweep when it was discovered that feraligatr got Aqua Jet. It didn't take much thinking to realize that before long, the Dragon Dancer would be only a distant memory...
I've dealt with several DD Feraligatr's on shoddy, and i've got the general jist of how they work. You Dragon Dance 2-3 times, then you're forced to attack. Usually in the end, they kill themselves off with their own life orb. So, instead of utilizing your standard little offensive DDGatr, I decided to create a custom defensive DDGatr.
At a Glance
Ambipom @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Technician
Jolly nature (+Spe, -Atk)
252 Atk, 252 Spe, 6 HP
- Fake Out
- Taunt
- Payback
- Low Kick
With the advent of HG and SS, Ambipom scored quite possibly one of the coolest movepool additions ever in the form of low kick. With Low kick, he no longer has to rely on the impressively weak brick break, or the terribly risky focus punch in order to beat aggron and registeel. Lead Ambipom is fairly standard, so try to be as space friendly as possible here. Fake Out lets ambipom break sashes, and scores a nice STAB Technician boost. Taunt let's ambipom keep the foe from setting up their stealth rocks and other random status moves. It's also useful for giving blissey and certain status abusers from having a field day with certain portions of the team. Payback > Double Hit/Return/U-turn, so i'm not completely walled by mismagius.
This thing is one amazing lead, capable of dealing with just about anything that comes his way. He starts off the match attempting to push the tide of battle in my favor, and is capable of coming in during later portions of the game to help keep the tide flowing in my direction. Although since I got rid of return, should I possibly change the item to expert belt (I'm not going for life orb on this guy, as he has a terrible knack for killing himself off at the worst possible times)
Registeel @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
Careful nature (+Sp Def, -Sp Atk)
252 HP, 100 Atk, 156 Sp Def
- Iron Head
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
Alright, so feraligatr is going to appreciate some entry hazard support, and somebody to help soak up grass attacks for him. Registeel fit the bill fairly reasonably with his monstrous special defense stat. Iron Head for your standard STAB junk. Explosion > Earthquake, to help secure feraligatr a free switch in should the situation for such a thing arise. Thunderwave for para flinching criminies, and to help deal with speedy sweepers.
So far this guy is good for dealing with things like SubCM Mismagius, and exploding on troublesome foes. Although a lot of times he doesn't see the light of battle until quite some ways in...
Mismagius @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
252 Sp Atk, 252 Spe, 6 HP
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- HP-Fighting
- Taunt
This thing is an absolute monster, and has scored me several 4-0's and 5-0's by herself, after only a single nasty plot. Originally, I had been intent on putting a dugtrio in this spot, but my team was seriously lacking some special offense. So instead, I put offensive mismagius there for several reasons. The surprise value obtained when the foe realizes they're not up against the standard Sub CM maggy, gives me some extra leeway in setting up, and can turn the game over in my favor. She also provides 3 greatly appreciated immunities, the most important being ground and fighting. Taunt is actually a really great move on Nasty Plot mismagius, as it can force out a few random pokemon, and can help her setup her nasty plots with great ease.
Absolute monster is all that's needed to describe this. With the aid of taunt, mismagius can setup in the face of virtually any foe, including the best special wall UU has to offer in the form of chansey, who is taunted out of using it's toxic's and twaves. The rare chansey's that run special attacks, can barely do any significant damage (Fire Blast does roughly 15% on average iirc) several people have left the match just because they were dumb enough to allow me +6.
Ludicolo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
Modest nature
252 Sp Atk, 166 HP, 92 Spe
- Hydro Pump
- Energy Ball
- Ice Beam
- Focus Punch
First thing you may notice, is the altered EV spread from the smogon variation. Since I was having troubles with Milotic, I decided to give him just enough speed EV's to go beyond the 0 speed milotic, and speed tie with 4 speed milotic (If any run 4 Spe EV's) Hydro Pump is insanely powered STAB, and has helped me out in many situations > Surf. The accuracy might be a bit distasteful, but the extra power output is a HUGE Plus for him. Energy Ball > Grass Knot, since even with specs and Stealth Rock there's only about a 29% chance of 252/0 HP/Sp Def Milotic being OHKO'd, and energy ball hits more of the UU tier for more damage as it is anyway, and is capable of doing between 70% and 82% as it is, meaning milotic loses. Ice Beam is obvious in itself, my move for 2HKO'ing Venusaur, and desecrating all things altaria. Focus Punch wraps up the set, as it deals with those ever broken clefables always trying to ruin my day, and is good for nailing those unsuspecting chansey's for some serious damage.
Ludicolo has been a huge plus to the team, as it is bulky like venusaur, but doesn't have to worry too much about fire blast from the likes of blaziken. He still misses out on the power and speed of roserade, but he actually makes a better counter to milotic, since he has very little to fear from ice beam.
Gardevoir @ Light Clay
Ability: Trace
Calm nature (+Sp Def, -Atk)
252 HP, 120 Sp Def, 136 Spe
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Psychic
- Will-O-Wisp
Alright, the prime supportive member for the mighty feraligatr. This gal provides him an absolutely ridiculous amount of support, it's almost not even funny. She gives him dual screens making him insanely bulky on BOTH ends of the spectrum. Then she's capable of effectively neuturing any and all physical attackers with a nice little burn. Some things in particular she can burn are azumarill and the hitmonfamily. Finally, to keep from being total taunt bait, and giving me something to hit himtonlee with, gardevoir has a somewhat decently powered STAB psychic.
She's been a pretty good supporter of the team. Usually mismagius gets a lot of usage from the screens as well as feraligatr. Not much more that can really be said here, apart from just being all around decent support.
Feraligatr @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
Adamant nature (+Atk, -Sp Atk)
100 HP, 176 Atk, 88 Spe, 80 Def, 64 Sp Def
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
Alright, you've all waited fairly patiently to see the star of the show, and now here he is. What's this? Why it's just a dragon dancer! There's nothing special about this at all! But wait, didn't you notice the specialized EV spread? This is my version of dragon dance feraligatr. You see, your standard offensive dragon dance feraligatr has some serious problems with killing itself off from life orb recoil. So what better way to keep such a thing from happening than by customizing the bulky variation of dragon dance feraligatr. Your standard feraligatr, is capable of getting on average 2 dragon dances before it's forced to start attacking. This one however, after some testing, is capable of getting between 3 and 4 on average before being forced to attack. Then after it's gotten rid of the thing troubling it, leftovers brings him back up to a point where he can get back to dancing the night away. Now when you back it up by it's ability to secure a free switch in by registeel's explosion, ambipom's u-turn, even venusaur's sleep powder, and mix in the dual screens, you are, in fact, screwed.
EV's
100 HP EV's puts him at one of his lower lefties recovery points, attack is at a jump point, the 88 Speed EV's put him beyond +speed base 95's after a single dragon dance. The extra defense EV's are nothing more than the remainder EV's delegated between the two to help him sponge attacks better.
100 HP EV's puts him at one of his lower lefties recovery points, attack is at a jump point, the 88 Speed EV's put him beyond +speed base 95's after a single dragon dance. The extra defense EV's are nothing more than the remainder EV's delegated between the two to help him sponge attacks better.
If allowed to reach +4 (You wouldn't believe how simple that is) he can completely desecrate anybody and everybody that dares stand in this teams way. He can actually contend with Slowbro 1-on-1, provided it's running Twave > Toxic. Since I can setup to +4 while he slowly attempts to whittle away my health, then 2HKO with Earthquake.
Two of my more recent core teams (One Flygon based and one Azumarill based) were doing alright (In particular the flygon team) when I decided I should make a UU core team to keep the battling flow from getting monotonous. I appreciate any and all suggestions given.
