ORAS UU My UU Team

[reale]

Hi guys :3

I admit I'm not so new in smogon, but I haven't played for so long since early X/Y.
This time I want to try UU instead of standard OU because of so many new megas in OU.
I never played UU seriously before, and here is the competitive team that might need some pointers:

Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Whirlpool
- Dark Pulse
- Dragon Pulse
- Rapid Spin

My favorite Pokemon since RBY. Because it kills charizards. Good thing he is actually good in the meta.
Rapid spin and his EV spread pretty much standard, spinning while tanking moderate hits. Dark Pulse is the primary STAB, and dragon pulse is for coverage. History told me that everyone that faces M.Blast pretty much expected a strong water attack, and M.blast rarely swept with water moves anyway. So I decided to put a new innovation here.

Gligar @ Eviolite
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Toxic

My premium physical tank and a good support pokemon. EV and item are standard. Pretty good in synergy with M.blast since it weaks to ice and water. I feels like adding EQ but momentum is too important to pass. Roost are mandatory for me. It will took a lot of hits while putting stealth rock. I used defog instead of Toxic before, but it soon feels like a bad idea, so the job for spinning was burdened to M.blast alone.

Chandelure @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball
- Trick
- Energy Ball

My assassin. I play it like I play the latis' back in OU. I use choice scarf because I think Overheat with 252 SpA+ is enough. Also my soft answer to walls due to Trick. Now for the coverage moves my alternatives are Psychic and Hidden Powers. I dropped them since I realize I need power anyway, hence the SpA+ instead of Spe+. Shadow Ball is the most reliable one and Energy Ball is just there as last resort against water pokemons. I rarely used coverage moves with this guy anyway, whenever I send it out, it's overheat time.

Krookodile @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge

My back-up plan for assassination. This time it's a physical one for balance. I prefer intimidate since it's so rare to do Moxie sweep. Whenever I killed something, they always send his hard counter anyway. EQ/Knock Off/Stone edge are classic. Dragon claw might be substituted with... a lots of things. Aqua tail, bulk up, brick break, superpower, fire fang, shadow claw, outrage etc.

Snorlax @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 248 Hp / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Rest
- Body Slam
- Crunch
- Earthquake

THe big guy who I found the most problematic building. There are simply many good sets for him, like CurseLax or a Sleep Talk. I even have difficulty deciding upon his primary STAB, body slam or Return. Body Slam is good for spreading paralysis fear upon the opponent, forcing them to switch often. I Choose RestoBerry is for one time burst recovery, since my main point for Snorlax to be a breaker, instead of a virtual invincible tank. For the coverage, like my previous 2 pokemon, I didn't managed to use them quite so often, not surprising considering their reputation are well-known. But Crunch and EQ are too important to pass.

Cobalion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Stone Edge

My second most important pokemon. All his moves are useful and critically important. The fastest pokemon on my team, it's natural for him to learn SD for damage. Close Combat over Sacred Sword for power. Iron Head for that pesky florges. Stone Edge for Salamence. My powerhouse pokemon, he holds the offensive momentum of my pokemons and acts as my team vanguard, since it checks so many things.


Well that was it, I think my team is pretty good, 4 bulk-2 squishy team composition gave me proper balance. However, I found problems facing ice/water pokemons, including suicune, mamoswine, and vaporeon. I also found that my team is physical-oriented, this will give weakness to WoWs, although chandelure mends the problem somewhat. I feel like switching Krookodile out but I'm not entirely sure. Lucario/Salamence/Roserade/porygon-z/hydreigon/infernape/heracross/Haxorus all sounds pretty good.

 

[Caliber]

Hi.

Here are a few changes I'd like to point out:

First off: Scald over Whirlpool on Mega Blastoise, and Aura Sphere over Dragon Pulse. Then Fire Blast instead of Overheat on Chandelure because it is more of a sweeper rather than a wall breaker since it is scarf. Then I'd change Life Orb Moxie Krookodile to Dread Plate Intimidate Krookodile, seeing it is a standard set and it also let's you check SD Lucario. The set is :

Krookodile set

Krookodile @ Black Glasses
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Pursuit

I would run this set on snorlax:

snorlax set

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 144 HP / 184 Def / 176 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Body Slam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Cobalion should have Substitute instead of Stone Edge since Sub SD is a great set which can setup on many things. Finally, I would switch Gligar to Rotom-Mow in order to deal with bulky waters. Here is the set:

Rotom-C Set

Rotom-Mow @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Leaf Storm
- Thunderbolt
- Trick

Good luck on your team. I hope I helped o.o

 

[Kreme]

OK so I have a plethora of changes to recommend. I attempted to try and fix as much of the team as possible without changing too much. Firstly, I recommend having Scald / Hydro Pump over Whirlpool on Mega Blastoise. While innovative, Whirlpool doesn't actually allow Blastoise to get past any of its checks and counters (as far as I know) and Scald / Hydro Pump allow Mega Blastoise to have a reliable STAB attack. Scald should be chosen if the burn chance and perfect accuracy be more to your liking than the power provided by Hydro Pump. I'd also recommend having at least 96 Spe EVs on Blastoise, as that allows it to outspeed the likes of Suicune and Cresselia. Next, I recommend having Fire Blast over Overheat on Chandelure with a Timid nature over a Modest nature, as the Speed of a scarfer is far more important than a power boost imo and Fire Blast allows Chandelure to consistently do damage to the opponent. If you wanted to have Chandelure as more of a nuke, Choice Specs would have been a better option. One thing I noticed is this team is weak to Mamoswine. To supplement that I suggest having Shuca Berry over Leftovers on Cobalion, as that allows Cobalion to survive a Ground-type attack and retaliate. This also allows you to smack Salamence that have already setup a Dragon Dance without worrying about taking too much damage. I highly recommend having Florges over Gligar, as that acts as a decent glue, providing Wish support for the bulky Pokemon, while also functioning as a cleric, Fighting-type resist, Hydreigon counter, as well as ensuring you have a good switch-in for Mega Blastoise. I would then recommend having Stealth Rock over Dragon Claw on Krookodile, as that allows you to compress more roles into a Pokemon, and Krookodile acts as a physical offensive deterrent thanks to Intimidate anyhow. I also recommend having CurseLax over current Snorlax set, as I'm very unsure of how effective the set is and CurseLax allows Snorlax to act as a secondary win condition.

Florges set

Florges (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect / Synthesis
- Heal Bell

A more specially defensive spread can be run should you want to deal with the likes of Mega Blastoise and Hydreigon better. Protect is also interchangeable with Synthesis.

Snorlax set

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 144 HP / 188 Def / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Sleep Talk / Earthquake
- Body Slam
- Rest

Should you feel the team might have a hard time dealing with Cobalion / Lucario / Chandelure that attempt to use Snorlax as a free setup opportunity, then you can have Earthquake over Sleep Talk, although being useless for two turns isn't something I'm a big fan of tbh.

 

[teal6]

Hi Reale,

I see that you are trying to build a pretty balanced team. In your writeups you mention a lot of what each mons checks. This is one way of building, but sometimes can lead to a team that is overall not terribly efficient. In short, there is not a huge cohesiveness to what your switchins punish.

Let me start with a more practical example, your first mon, Mega Blastoise. This is a really good mon in our current meta as it is very strong, bulky and has amazing coverage options. However, what you are running simply doesn't do enough to warrant its usage at the moment. I think we can look at the viability rankings and see some of the threats you will want to use MBlastoise for:

• Entei
• Krookodile
• Mamoswine

The above three are just some of the more threatening mons in the tier. Now, take a look at your Blastoise. While switching in on anything Entei would like to do is a bit difficult, the other two have clear options for you to get an easy pop in. Krook could Knock Off or go for Rocks and this is essentially a free opportunity for one of your biggest offensive threats to hit the field. Then, though, take a look at your moveset! You can't can't really threaten them out at all with what you have. Sure, you may get a spin off the first time you come in, but the moment you reveal that Whirlpool is your STAB move of choice you'll be in for a world of hurt. Of note, you miss out on crucial OHKOs, take for example Mamoswine:

252+ SpA Mega Blastoise Scald vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Mamoswine: 218-260 (60.7 - 72.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

(Side note, Whirlpool isn't even in the Damage Calculator, lol, so the above is with the base power adjusted)

Using Whirlpool means you're going to have to eat an additional EQ, which will likely be the end of Blastoise. Not something you really want. Additionally, I would change Dragon Pulse to Ice Beam. You still hit Dragons SE, but you hit some harder and have better neutral coverage. With Whirlpool --> Scald and Dragon Pulse --> Ice Beam you are much better equipped to offensively take on the metagame. I understand the want for innovation, but frankly there just isn't much benefit added in this case. Don't neuter the best offensive spinner in the tier, really.

I may catch some flak for this, but I absolutely hate Scarf Chandelure, especially with Overheat. Put simply, if you are relying on a scarf mon to clear out the board a bit, you do not want to be dropping 2 stages of SpA every time you click a move. The power difference to Fire Blast isn't worth it. One of the reasons I don't like scarf Chandelure, as well, is because of his relative lack of power compared to what he could be taking, as well as underwhelming speed tier. For example, you don't outspeed Max MAero, which is frankly I'd reckon the most important speed tier to beat for a scarfer. Additionally, scarfers are usually played two ways: the first is what I've already mentioned, when you clear out a variety of checks and counters and can reliably click one move to clean up the game. That's nice and simple! But with a tier filled with Snorlaxs, Porygon2s and a few other specially bulky pokemon, you're going to be hard pressed to do that reliably. The second way is mid-game to force a switch or get a surprise hit off. The problem with this, though, is that Chandy is a grounded and rocks weak mon. You can see the the difference in how this effects the mon's play compared to another common scarfer, Hydreigon. Say, for example, there are rocks and one layer of spikes on your side of the field. If you are using Chandelure, you take 37% to come in and fire off an Overheat. Your SpA is now -2, you maybe got a kill, but you have to switch out. If you do the same thing with scarf Hydreigon, you also get -2 Spa, but you only take 12% and can come in a few more times. The difference is palpable.

I would recommend changing scarf Chandelure for a Specs Rotom-M. This adds a bit more power to your team, where it is lacking otherwise sans Mega Blastoise. Additionally, it gives you a fighting chance against the bulky waters of the tier which otherwise run you over at the moment, and your only way to stop them is with a Trick. Rotom-M keeps the trick utility and also provides a powerful Leaf Storm, but more importantly, VoltTurn utility which will allow you to get your big breakers (Mega Blastoise) or setup sweepers (Cobalion) in more often.

If you take the Rotom-M change, your team becomes a bit slow. When teams end up on the slower side, I find there are usually two ways to fix it. The first would be, well, changing out some mons for faster ones. The second would be doubling down and understanding you aren't outspeeding anything really and working around that. When your team is a bit slower, you should have some power to make up for it, what we call "Bulky Offense". So the following two changes work with that, I believe:

Gligar should be replaced with Nidoqueen. You are able to keep SR utility, however you double down with Blastoise in having strong SpA attackers which have few switchins due to coverage options. You keep a fighting check and become much more immediately threatening. Nidoqueen's coverage options take care of many MegaBlastoise problems, such as Roserade, where Gligar fails to do this at all with his pitifully weak EQ. In addition, an immunity to Volt Switch will mean that your opponent has to think twice about clicking it mindlessly when they come in on MBlastoise. This synergy is great for your team and will allow you to play according to the opponent's habits.

Finally, I think you can sacrifice Krookodile here for a Florges. While the two mons are obviously completely different to one another, Florges will allow you to support your team through the use of Wish and Aromatherpy, keeping them alive for longer. In your case, Mega Blastoise will often be the target, as a second lease of life on Stoise will often mean an unwinnable game for the opponent, just considering how tough it is to take him down.

A little change I think can be making Snorlax the standard CurseLax set. On Bulky Teams it helps to have two "paces" of sweepers. In your case, Cobalion is the more straight forward "click-SD-and-sweep" variant, with just one free turn meaning a clear path to victory. With CurseLax, you can function against bulkier teams that can't immediately threaten you. Both struggle with Fighting type mons, which is why Florges comes in handy, as well as Queen who can actually threaten those mons (namely, Heracross) out rather than sitting by passively as they boost around you.

So, changes:

Rotom-Mow @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Trick

Florges @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Aromatherapy

Nidoqueen @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Sludge Wave

Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 144 HP / 188 Def / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Body Slam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

 

[reale]

big thanks to everyone here! Yes you guys are right, I did have problems with water-types and mamoswine. As you can see, this is also happened because 3 of my teams are basically weak to water, and my physical tank is double weak to ice. I originally thought about replacing krookodile to a more ice-friendly pokemon, but now I have lots of suggestions and options (my primary concern is that rotom).

After lots of heavy thinking, I finally still can't decide on the final decision, however, after taking considerations and learning, I present these changes that I would like to be on my team:

Snorlax->Florges

Florges @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Aromatherapy

It's the most problematic guy that will be thrown out 1st after all. I choose this over snorlax for healing support. Both pokemon are slow, tank hits and the difference in firepower doesn't seem to outweight it's usefulness.

Blastoise
changed whirlpool to Scald
Chandelure
changed overheat to fire blast

Krookodile @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge

So how is it? It would be good if you guys can review my changes over the team

 

[Dread Plate]

I think it would really benefit you to take a look at what teal6 and Kreme said. They gave you some very good suggestions of what sets should go with what mon and what mons should be switched for others. It seems to me that you only really took some of what they said and applied it. That's a fine thing to do, but they had some really great critiques and I really think you should reconsider them.

Firstly, changing Whirlpool to Scald is great, but you should also look at the set that teal6 posted, it contains Ice Beam. Though he didn't explicitly mention it in his post it is a much better option than Dragon Pulse. Think about what else you can hit with an Ice-type move as opposed to a Dragon-move. Kreme mentioned running 96 Spe for Suicune and Cresselia. Being able to attack those pokemon before they have a chance to recover their health is very big and you should change the speed to that otherwise you might have a hard time beating them.

Secondly, changing Overheat to Fire Blast was a great choice, it was the second thing I noticed and wanted to offer the same switch. If you chose to keep Chandelure on this team you need to make it Timid Scarf. Trust me, the speed is much needed on this team. I think changing Chandelure for Rotom-Mow will be better for the direction your team is already on. teal6 had an excellent explanation of why this change should be made and I 100% agree.

Next, looking at Krookodile, teal6 and Kreme had different views on what you should do with it. If you are more set in keeping the team the way it is (which is what it seems like) then making it Dread Plate Intimidate Krookodile will be the best bet. This set is different than you one you chose to use after you made changes. This set keeps the offensive nature of Krookodile while giving it some "defensive" traits in stealth rock/taunt and Intimidate. With what teal6 said in replacing Krookodile with Florges in mind, your team would definitely benefit with this mon. Florges, as stated, can heal you other pokemon whether they need health or status removal. Another thing to consider for this spot could be Defensive Whimsicott. This will allow you the chance to paralyze things with Stun Spore as well as encoring things like Feraligatr, Suicune, Reuniclus, Snorlax, pretty much anything that thinks they can set up on you whether it be boosting moves or hazards. Whimsicott also gives you the option of U-Turn to scout what the opponent chooses to do. You also have a much easier time dealing with Krookodile. These are just two fairies to think about.

Snorlax, as you mentioned, is a very good breaker. Using the CurseLax set will only make this team better, and the removal of Snorlax will make it very had for you to win games as this set can potentially sweep, whereas Florges cannot. To switch topics to the Gligar for a moment, changing it to Nidoqueen will very much help your team. As teal6 said, your switchins don't have the capacity to punish what they switch in to. Nidoqueen is an immediate threat, and the set that teal6 offered even had more speed than the one I was thinking of.

Lastly, Cobalion. Kreme mentioned using Shuca Berry Cobalion, and this would be a great addition to this team. Since it is clear that you only want to use Cobalion as a wallbreaker/sweeper Shuca Berry will provide longevity in your attempt to do either.

In summary: Nidoqueen>Gligar: This will allow you to immediately threaten the opponent, and it also allow you to have a fairly strong attacker in the back for when you need her.
Rotom-Mow>Chandelure: This switch will allow you to severely cripple a lot of switchins while also giving you a chance to gain some switch initiative with Volt Switch. You still have the Trick option to shut down walls and set up sweepers (Suicune, Reuniclus, Snorlax).
Whimsicott/Florges>Krookodile: This both give you a dragon answer. Using Whimsicott will allow for more paralysis support for your team. You would need to watch out for Hydreigon and Special Salamence while using this pokemon because a Fire Blast will roast you. Florges can handle a Fire Blast from either and gives you the option to heal your team. I prefer Whimsicott only because of it abilitly to status things and Encore Feraligatr. This choice is up to you

The sets:

Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 162 HP / 252 SpA / 96 Spe
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin

Nidoqueen @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Modest Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Ice Beam

Rotom-Mow @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Leaf Storm
- Thunderbolt
- Trick

Whimsicott @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Stun Spore
- Encore
- Moonblast
- U-turn

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 144 HP / 188 Def / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Curse
- Body Slam

Cobalion @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Stone Edge

 

[reale]

Thanks, Mr. Dread Plate! Your insight are beautiful!
And yes, I reviewed what everyone here carefully and I agree that I might not have made the best choice.

My primary concern of not replacing gligar with NidoQ is that NidoQ isn't a superior tank. And unlike gligar, she has no recovery.
The same thing can be said about my reason of using florges instead of snorlax, because it is a special tank that will heal Blastoise. Blastoise may be strong, but it is chipped away quickly when my opponents are playing stall game. Basically the game was made upon making good prediction with Blastoise's coverage moves. If I fail, I'm allowed to have a second chance.

However, I like the idea of replacing Chandelure with Rotom-M. I never thought about rotom-M until now actually. It's going to be a good answer for my team weaknesses to water types.
(Still brainwashed to think the only Rotom is Rotom-W)

I might use Shuca Berry on Cobalion and Ice Beam on Blastoise.
Whimsicott looks like a good idea.
With all thse changes, I feel like I have to change my playstyle considerably, but if it was for the better good, why not.
I will try playing with your team in a few days, and I will update here about my experiences with it.

Update Replay:
It turns out pretty good @@
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-256485556
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-256522980

Update:
After lots of battling, it seems this team has problem with Darmantian especially if blastoise is dead :(
I tried my stop-gap solution by switching whimsicott to goodra for now.

however I'm still waiting for better one if exists