SD Zangoose

[The Atomic Demon]

So I wanted to use a Zangoose in UU and there was only one way, in my eyes, to do it. With lots of extra bulk. I'm not exactly the best player but this team doesnt seem to be doing very well and I'm not entirely sure why.

Zangoose (M) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Toxic Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Facade
- Close Combat
- Night Slash
- Swords Dance
The main member of the team and the thing I created the rest of the team around. It's very frail but can OHKO or 2HKO almost everything in UU after a swords dance with toxic boost. The moves are pretty self explanatory and predictable.

Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Roar
- Slack Off
Hippowdon is the physical wall of my team and is also there to set up rocks. He usually doesnt do much more than that. Base 112 Attack is good but most things weak to EQ just switch out to a wall or a flying type.

Umbreon (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Def
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Heal Bell
- Foul Play
- Protect
Umbreon is the special wall on the team. It can handle most special attacks very easily and can heal up the team with wish support and heal bell. Protect is there to get the wishes back onto myself without taking damage. Foul play is there because Umbreon has pitiful attacking stats.

Cresselia (F) @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Def / 28 SDef
Calm Nature
- Psyshock
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Thunder Wave
Cresselia is a mixed dual screens set with thunder wave to slow things down for Zangoose to deal with. Psyshock has not been very beneficial but psychic has had little improvement over it. I feel like Cresselia is dead weight on the team most of the time. I've seen dual screen Metagross before. Would that be better than Cresselia?

Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
Modest Nature
- Aura Sphere
- Dark Pulse
- Water Pulse
- Rapid Spin
Blastiose is my mega on the team and can do some major damage to a lot of things. It is also there for rapid spin support to help out Chandelure and to help out the rest of my team by making it safe to switch constantly.

Chandelure @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
- Psychic
Chandelure is the scarfer on the team and does s damn good job. With a 389 stat in Sp. Atk, it can, and will, destroy anything that's not meant to be a wall.

I'm aware my team is bad and cant stand up to most threats but i want some constructive criticism on it. Please comment what you think I should change about it.

 

[Brawlfest]

This is a cool team! This being said, some of the sets are rather inefficient, and I love the fact that you are trying to pull use the underrated threat that is zangoose. One thing I do notice is this team is extremely weak to Hawlucha, Mienshao and other Fighting Types, as they 2HKO the majority of the team, and outspeed the entire thing. On top of this, I feel that your two defensive pokemon lose a lot of offensive momentum pressure for your team.

Your Chandelure definitely needs Trick over Psychic. Psychic adds absolutely nothing to your coverage, and on top of this your team is weak to defensive pokemon in general. By utilizing Trick, you can immediatly shut them down, making them deadweight to the opponent.

I will suggest Assault Vest Tornadus-T over Umbreon for multiple reasons. The first is the fact that it can continue to pivot into powerful special attacks. Next, it makes your team much less fighting weak, making it less likely that you will lose to pokemon such as Scarf Mienshao or Acrobatics Hawlucha, and Regenerator can keep you consistantly healthy. Finally, it loses much less offensive pressure for your team, making it the better choice in general.

Hippowdon confuses me. You state that you are focusing on a Zangoose sweep, but Sand is absurdly detrimental, as Sand + Toxic damage wears down your primary sweeper to no end. Instead run Tank Donphan as it fills the exact same role but will not start sand upon switching in, making it so that your Zangoose is in a much better position to wreck the opponent, rather than dying in 4 turns to residual damage without even touching the opponent. (If you run Rapid Spin plan to change Mega-Blastoise's slot to Toxic)

Fun team! Hope this helped!
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Chandelure @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
- Trick

Tornadus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 96 HP / 192 SAtk / 4 SDef / 216 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hurricane / Air Slash
- Focus Blast / Superpower
- Knock Off
- U-turn

Donphan @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Toxic / Rapid Spin / Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock

 

[Detective Scruffy]

I believe that using Metagross over cresselia would, indeed, be more beneficial. It has offensive pressure and can deal with fairies if needed. I suggest the following set:
Metagross @ Light Clay
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Explosion
- Meteor Mash
It is very simple: set up screens then explode. Meteor mash is for fairies but overall exploding will be best to get your sweeper in and set up.

 

[Ununhexium]

Change Psychic to Trick on Chandelure.

Either drop Zangoose or Hippowdon. Zangoose needs Toxic Boost to function and with sand up, Zangoose dies way too fast. Also, maybe you could switch Swords Dance to Quick Attack. Zangoose isn't way too fast so priority is nice.

thats all i can think of right now. ill come back later.

 

[Squidward]

Sup, Squidward here. IMO Ursaring is a better pokemon for Zangoose's role due to quick feet, sword dance, and its tremendous attack. But that's just my opinion. I really have no experience with Zangoose whatsoever so I will try to rate the rest of your team.

First of all, I strongly agree with Brawlfest and Scuffy... they kind of covered everything there...um...that is actually all I have to say.

Your team looks good and with the changes that Brawlfest and Scruffy made, I am sure you will do even better. Best of luck!

Here are some reasons why you might want to use Quick Feet Ursaring:
-better speed than Zangoose: to get a picture of how fast Quick Feet Ursaring is, his max speed stat is 229. 229 x 1.5 = 343. That is enough speed to out speed banded Mienshao!
-better bulk than Zangoose: Ursaring: 90/75/75 Zangoose: 73/60/60

Here is the set that I would use:

Ursaring@Toxic Orb
Jolly
252 Speed, 252 Attack, 4 Health
Quick Feet
Sword Dance
Crunch
Close Combat
Facade