SS UU Roserade + Skarmory + Toxic & Spikes: Hazards Always Win Games!

[SweepySleepyDreepy999]

Hazards Always Win Games!: The Roserade & Skarmory Team

Overview:






Team Building Process:


I wanted to design a team around toxic spikes that could be viable in UU. I opted for Roserade.



I chose Skarmory to back her up because he is very good with setting up spikes and they cover each other well.



The team needed Fire, Electric, Ground, and Fighting coverage. I opted for Rotom-W for spreading toxic and self heal with pain split.



Scizor is a very good Sword Dance user. Also it can help tank hits when needed for the team.



Slowking is the future sight user of the team.. It help spreads Toxic and covers the team well. Roserade covers the grass hits for the team so it is important to have a special wall.



Krookidille is a very hard hitter and can serve as a revenge killer and pseudo late game moxie sweeper.








Roserade @ Black Sludge
O Atk IV
252 hp / 252 Def/ 4 spe
Nature: Bold
Ability: Natural Cure

- Toxic Spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder

Roserade is the star of the team! She spreads sleep status and functions as a toxic spiker and spinner. She tanks grass hits very well. Roserade is a very hard hitter and can spread toxic also through Sludge bomb which allows her to easily counter pokemon's such as Tapu-Bulu. You could also opt for protect over sleep powder. It misses way more than it should.





Slowking @ leftovers
0-Atk-IV
252 hp / 252 Def/ 4 spa
Nature: Calm
Ability: Regenerator

- Future Sight
- Toxic
- Slack Off
- Scald

Slowking is here because it can spread status, tank hits, and abuse future sight. The objective of this pokemon is to come in and out. This team has a gaping grass weakness issue, but makes due with Skarmory, Scizor, and Roserade, so I opted to still play this guy.
He is a very good regenerator user and can generally survive throughout the match and spread toxic if Roserade can not. This thing and roserade have insane synergy





Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Impish
252 hp / 252 Def / 4 spe

- Roost
- Brave Bird
- Stealth Rock / Taunt
- Spikes

Skarmory serves to aid Roserade in setting hazards and tanking physical hits for the team. I chose brave bird because recoil doesn't bother Skarm very much. It counters most grass types and SR seemed to help more than taunt. Skarmory helps deal with Amoongus. Anything that counters Skarmory allows you to switch to Rotom-W and vice versa.





Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Calm
252 hp / 252 Def / 4 spe

- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Toxic
- Pain Split

I opted for a very wonky set because the only special hits I need this guy to tank are electric ones. Any other special hit he can not tank Roserade & Slowking can with ease. Pain split it helpful for stalling. Volt switch helps him pivot in and out. Toxic spreading is also nice. I almost opted for Shadow Ball, but didn't find use for it. This team is a natural balanced stall team, so Toxic is fine. I generally play in ou tier, but found it difficult to use this team idea in ou without playing Toxapex. I wish this guy was more bulkier than he is, but he usually gets the job done. However, it has to stay because this thing counters or checks over half of UU





Scizor @ Muscle Band / Choice Band
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Technician

252 hp / 252 atk / 4 spe

- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Sword Dance
- Super Power / Knock Off / U-Turn

I opted for muscle band and super power. Super power helps with Chansey and other steel types. U-turn is greatly missed for pivot but not needed. This team lacks a defogger so playing Scizor intelligently and with patience is key. Bug Bite and Bullet Punch are excellent in contention with Muscle Band to come in and out of you aren't ready to SD sweep. This guy takes Grass, Ground, and Fighting hits well enough to come in and out when needed. He helps deal with Fairy types well; even tho they aren't as prevalent in UU; it comes up! He plays well under trick room too. 4 spe is there for Scizor mirror. His fire weakness is a bit annoying and he has an issue dealing with Salamence. This teams only true counter is Salamence. I try to toxic it out or pain split it out Leech Seed it and keep putting it to sleep. It's flame thrower and fire blast do not ohko Roserade





Krookidille @ Choice Band / Choice Scarf
252 Spe / 252 atk / 4 hp
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Moxie

- Earthquake
- Close Combat
- Fire Fang / U-Turn
- Knock Off

Scarf of Band work fine. However, I prefer Choice Band because this guy doesn't hit as hard as I would like him to. With Scarf it's easier to handle Coballion and Keldeo, but without it he works fine against most the meta. Also, Amoongus is a huge threat so even tho I greatly miss U-Turn here I opted for Fire Fang. This guy helps support with Revenge killing, forcing switches, and late game sweeping, so he is like the Kartana of the team. This guy can come in and out often because he resists most hazards. Skarmory isn't an issue for this team because Rotom threatens the switch. If they are able to get spikes up (Especially max layers; he can be problematic late game.) Although, I'll switch to rotom let the bird get up a layer of spikes and bluff fire fang and grab the OHKO because I opted for Band. If it is able to survive it has to switch or die and will have to aim for a Roost later. Knock Off slams bulky psychics: pokemon such as Azelf and more.

In conclusion, this team (after testing) performed well enough against the UU meta to be considered viable. It struggled against bulky grass types, very fast Fighting and steel types, and stall teams that could find a way to put up more hazards. Anything immune to Toxic can tank Ground, Steel, Grass, and Dark hits were an obvious issue. It was been tested, but not exactly thoroughly. I play in OU so this more of an idea for fun. However, within testing it won often more than it lost. There was no and is no current peak with this team.



Threat list:

Amoongus: annoying (stops hazards and is a huge threat around the right squad. This and Salamence is the only true issues for this team.)
Salamence: threat (just wow this thing with Roost walls the entire team)
Celesteelia: annoying (Leech and fire coverage)
Chandelure: threat (flash fire and shadow ball)
Rotom-W: annoying (walls Scizor without set up)
Rotom-H: annoying (it's sp all drop saves the team from being picked apart)

this team would never loose if Salamence did not exist lol.

 

[SweepySleepyDreepy999]

Choice Scarf Flygon can be annoying, same for Swampert if you some how misplay. Chandilure can be as well. However, the only real threat to his team I was able to spot was Amoongus. You have to either deal with it using Krookidille or keep trying to mirror it with Roserade until you can. Also there is Skarm and Brave Bird.

 

[SweepySleepyDreepy999]

You could also opt for 252 spD calm nature on slowking.

 

[SweepySleepyDreepy999]

Sorry for sloppy RMT and short explanations. I just feel is is only UU tier and to a good player this team sort of explains itself with it's pokemon choices and sets. It really is a simple balanced stall team is all. Feel free to leave feed back and ask any questions for a deeper explanation!

 

[AJ]

Hey SweepySleepyDreepy999 I hope all is well! I just saw your RMT so I'm giving it a rate. For being new to UU and RMT's I thought you did a good job explaining your process and actually made a pretty solid team composition wise. Here are all my changes:

Major changes:

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Two things Krookodile provided your team were speed control and Knock Off. With Scizor now being Knock SD Roost, your team really needs offensive pressure along with speed. I opted for Choice Band Zygarde which is a threatening breaker with an optimal speed tier as well. It also provides you priority with Extreme Speed.


I gave Skarmory Stealth Rock. Prior to this, no Pokemon on your team had Stealth Rock. I'm going to repeat this several times so you know that every team needs Stealth Rock.

Minor changes:



Allow me to explain these changes. Every set you see below wasn't created by me, they are analysis sets. When you go on Pokemon showdown and join a chat, you can type /analysis [pokemon] and it will bring you to an article written on every single UU Pokemon that lists its potential sets and the reasons why those exist. When you're newer to the game, make sure to use these sets to learn how to use each Pokemon. For example, Toxic Spikes are terrible this gen with Flying, Poison and Steel types like Salamence, Amoonguss, Nihilego, Celesteela, Cobalion, Excadrill, in addition to the Pokemon that use Levitate. Slowking doesn't use Toxic, it much prefers Teleport when using Future Sight. I changed Skarmory to Stealth Rock which every competitive Pokemon team needs. All the evs of your sets were suboptimal and the analysis sets will serve you much better.

This is also the paste for my rate:

Analysis Sets

Roserade @ Black Sludge
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Spikes
- Sleep Powder

Slowking @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Scald
- Future Sight
- Slack Off
- Teleport

Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Bold Nature
- Iron Defense
- Body Press
- Roost
- Whirlwind

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 12 Def / 248 Spe
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Pain Split
- Toxic

Scizor @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 244 Def
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Roost

Zygarde-10% @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Extreme Speed
- Outrage
- Superpower

This is just a note: Krookodile can't learn U-Turn. You have that under potential moves for it, but it's unable to learn that move.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1711727418

Here's the only replay I have time to grab. I realized in this game that you didn't have Stealth Rock. Watching this replay you can see how the team plays but also how annoying and game changing it is to not have Stealth Rock. This was a very winnable matchup, but without rocks to pressure Chansey and Salamence withotu Heavy Duty Boots I lost. I hope all these suggestions and tips will help you improve. Reach out if you have any questions!

 

[avarice]

hi SweepySleepyDreepy999 Skarmory spikes builds can be pretty fun and I wanted to rate with an additional alternative. Toxic Spikes tend to be rather underwhelming in SS UU given the prevalence of grounded poison-types like Amoonguss and Nihilego. Roserade as a whole is rather flimsy and its small niche is pretty much void when paired with Skarmory Spikes. Like Drew mentioned, every team should have Stealth Rock as well.

Major Changes
->
Nihilego is an incredible strong Pokemon in UU with its natural bulk just having passive recovery gives it an impressive amount of staying power. Its ability to contribute hazards (stealth rock) and specially defensive utility allow it somewhat cover both Slowking and Roserade's roles. Dhelmise gives you hazard removal for matchps that you cannot fully overwhelm your opponent to remove them for you (or if they have their own spinner). Dhelmise covers some Pokemon Nihilego can't while being a niche Grass-type, such as Keldeo like Slowking would. I opted for Corrosive Gas on Nihilego and Knock Off Dhelmise to ensure everyone gets Heavy-Duty boots removed. Corrosive Gas is ran over Knock Off on Nihilego to prevent it from activating Cobalion's Justified.

->
Zygarde 10% can do well in the current meta with Amoonguss being more relevant than Tangrowth. Spikes support especially makes Zygarde difficult to switch into. Its natural speed gives it a strong matchup against more offensive teams and having unresisted STAB can get a position for either it or Scizor to cleanup quite nicely.


I made a few edits to the remaining members like Drew did, though the main difference would be the Scizor set running Dual Wingbeat to delete Grass-types early for Zygarde, or catch Keldeo early game to relieve Dhelmise. Metal Coat is for killing Azelf at +2, as it would be more challenging without Slowking. Hope you enjoy!