5th gen [UU]

So a wile back i decided to make a fire, water, grass core UU team. This turned out to be my most successfull team in terms of laddering, i think it peaked at 44 with around 1250something points in the smogon server. Anyway the tier changes have taken away some beloved members so i need to change the team around a bit in a hope to mirror its previouse success so if you have any suggestions that might be helpful please feel free to make them




Modest@Life Orb@Natural Cure
Leaf Storm
Sludge Bomb
Sleep Powder
Rest
252Spatk/252Speed/4Hp
NOTE: Roserade is banned on the PO server but not on smogon. Just thought i would mention that.

This Roserade hits hard. Just to give you an idea of its power a neutral leaf storm will hit harder than a standerd life orb Latios draco meteor. The best thing about this set is everyone expects the standers spiker set, pokemon like sableye taunt and are OHKO by leaf storm. I usually bring this guy in on a wall, sleep powder and hurt something with its dues stabs. Rest works well with natural cure.


Careful@Leftovers@Intimidate
Flare Biltz
Will-O-Wisp
Toxic
Morning Sun
252HP/252Spdef/4Def

Double status Arcanine! A lot of people overlook Arcanines defensive capibiltys for his offensive ones. You would be suprised at how many hits this guy can take, and after an intimidate and will-o-wisp he can physicall hits too, i remember stalling out a intimidated, will-o-wisped Azumarill. This set works well because everyone expects the standerd life orb set. Will-O-Wisp to cribble physical attackers, toxic for walls and special attackers, morning sun for recovery and flare blitz for some form of attack. The best thing is i usually spam will-o-wisp without fear of heracross switching in and once they realise i have will-o-wisp i can usually get a free toxic off on walls.


Bold@Leftoves@Regenerator
Scald
Psychic
Flamethrower
Slack Off
252HP/252Def/4Spatk

Slowbro is my physical wall. He can take any physical hits thats not super effective. Scald for the chance to burn + stab, psychic for secondary stab, flamethrower for coverage and slack off recovery. Not much else to really say.


Adamant@Choice Scarf@Guts
Close Combat
Megahorn
Stone Edge
Sleep Talk
252Atk/252Speed/4Hp

Hercross is probably the best scarfer in the UU metagame. Massive 125 base attack two powerful stab options in close combat and megahorn and stone edge rounds off good coverage. The last move i opt for sleep talk, it works great switching into roserade and tangrowth who might be carrying sleep powder and it also gives me my guts boost. This guy also works well to absorb status that slowbro doesnt like as it activates guts.


Timid@Leftovers@Pressure
Subsitute
Calm mind
Thunderbolt
Hidden Power Ice
128HP/76Def/52Spatk/252Speed

Raikou is one of the best set up sweepers in UU. Thunderbolt and hidden power ice round off perfect coverage, calm mind to boost and subsitute to block status and is just a helpful move in general.

Now my lost slot is troubling me. Originally i had donphan in this spot to set up entry hazzard and rapid spin. Now hes moved to OU iv trouble, first i had to decide wheather i wanted entry hazzards or rapid spin support. Anyway these are the options iv been trying lately.


Bold@Leftovers@Poison Point
Stealth Rock
Earthpower
Fireblast
Dragontail
252HP/252Def/4Spatk

Out of all Nidoqueen probably has worked the best. It counters the biggest threat to this team that i can think of (heracross) and can set up stealth rock (SR)


Impish@Eviolite@Sand Veil
Stealth Rock
Eatrhquake
Knock Off
Roost
252HP/252Def/4Spdef

Gligar has also worked well, he can set up SR and has monsterouse defense with eviolite. He also is a good counter to heracross as well.


Impish@Leftovers@Intimidate
Rapid Spin
Toxic
Close Combat
Sucker Punch
252HP/252Def/4Spdef

Hitmontop is probably the best rapid spinner in UU at the moment. The intiimidate is nice and rapid spin support is nice. The only problem is SR seems to be more important for Raikou, Heracross and Roserade.

Nice team dude especially, Gligar because it hasn't evolved yet.

Do you do more singles, or doubles? in singles Hitmontop Outclasses the other two, because rapid spin is almost necessary if you want to assure Herracross, Arcanine and Raikou get some field time, and Suckerpunch to shut down a few Choice ghost types. Whereas in doubles its less important so Nidoqueen will be your best bet, due to Access of a phasing move and some much needed ground support. (in doubles SR is almost useless without some form of phasing)

I only play singles. The reason its really hard is because in my ideal team id have both stealth rock and rapid spin (for UU). Stealth rock allows my pokemon to get some improtant KO's wile rapid spin support is important in UU.

Darm is the best scarfer in UU meta atm, and is the biggest threat to your team.

Flare Blitz > Roserade, Raikou, Heracross

Earthquake > Raikou, Nidoqueen, Arcanine

U-turn > Slowbro

Playing with fire here man.

N-slash is superior to sleep talk.

Also what happens when people try to set up on you? You don't have trick, or knock off for eviolite users. No encore, no taunt, no phasing and no hazing. Defensively your team is lacking.

Also Nidoking is pretty dangerous to your team as well.

I will admit that i have had trouble with darm but slowbro walls it pretty easy. It on takes 50% from a banded max attack U-turn and i can either slack off or regenerate heatlth back but i can see where your coming from, i definly need to play around it.

It's all very minor. When I have to point out specific pokemon to criticize your team man, its pretty solid, and works very well.

Also I'm stealing your Roserade set because it's pretty great.

Thanks Action and yeah Roserade works awesome, nothing better than a sableye taunting you only to get OHKO by leaf storm. Do you have any suggestions for the last slot? Thats where iv been struggling latley, I just tried Claydol which works simular to Donphan but makes my team extremely weak to Heracross.

Your team is pretty solid, And I don't see many walls giving you much trouble, but I think that a rain team would give you some trouble due to your offensive powerhouses being out-sped. and on an unrelated note, A Scarfed Crobat would check both Roserade and Herracross. So if your opponent kept up with the entry hazards they could force out your hardest hitters and force your replacement to eat a brave bird as well as entry damage.

Arcanine, Raikou and Slowbro can take brave birds all day. Do the calcs.

Also weather without auto weather is pretty weak.

I would still probably go with nidoqueen. I like roar over D-tail, but that's debatable.

Slowbro. A U-turn will always hurt Slowbro for a medium amount of damage, while letting your opponent get a free switch-in.

Roserade. cant do ANY major damage to Crobat short of a critical hit since he has a 4X resistance to Leaf storm and a resistance to sludge bomb, making sleep powder your only option.

Back to Herracross. while Stone edge is the best counter to flying, most of the time a Crobat will switch into a close combat or a Megahorn, then OHKO you (or at least force a switch)

Raikou. yes, Raikou will rip Crobat in half. ha-ha.

Arcanine. This puppy will hassle Crobat into oblivion. although the "pretty weak" weather can disturb his healing for a revenge kill.

All in all im not saying your doing anything wrong, im just saying to watch out for that pesky bat.

I rate crobat highly in all tiers but honestly its best set is stall breaker. Scarfed crobat is uncommon becasue of its speed so a choice band set is more likely. Even then slow bro takes 34-40% from a max attack choice band U-turn and i can just regenrate that health back. Also slowbro and arcanine can scare it away with the chance to burn it.

I'd be more worried about stall golbat, than a physical crobat. Whirlwind, Roost, Toxic, B-Bird/Taunt is more dangerous.

All stevo needs to do to mitigate any offensive crobat is switch to Raikou or slowbro. Both of which hard counter it.

Offensive Crobat =/= UU threat.

did he decide what to use for the last slot in his team yet?

Um for the moment im just going to stick with nidoqueen but if you have any suggestions that would be helpful

If you don't mind using someone else for entry hazards, or just want a pure supporter. then Togekiss. your team is already quite solid so add in a baton passer to shore up loose ends and your team would be a force to be reckoned with. The thing about Togekiss is given its natural bulk/SpAtk most people don't expect a baton passer so they set up to defend against it just to get beaten over the head with a boosted teammate. It can also cripple their team with thunder wave. The downside being lack of a spinner/SR user. (putting toxic spikes on Roserade over sleep powder would patch up our lack of entry hazards, but at the same time sleep powder *if it hits* shores up weaknesses of its own.)

another pokemon i would suggest is Azelf. not only can he fill your SR needs but after hes set up (or before) you can put up dual screens (or just one) to support your teammates with. Azelf shores up defenses rather then offenses (Togekiss) but also fills your SR needs.

the last is mew. there's not much to say other then he can fill any role you want him to. his downside is he is not as much as a special wall as Togekiss and not as fast or strong as Azelf.

sorry to give you more options rather then take them away but i personally think you were headed in the wrong direction with your final pokemon. and a supporter would serve you better

I can sort of see where your coming from. Id prefer to use mew as a boton passer over togekiss as it can pass more stat boost and has magic coat to stop phasing but honestly id rather have SR support than baton passing. I first tried this team with mew as my supporter to set up SR and it kind of worked but it just made my team more Heracross weak. Sorry if i sound like im not listening/just brushing off everyones suggestions and im definly not suggesting that im always right but im just speaking from the personal experience/testing iv already done. Just to give you an idea of what i mean by heracross weak ill show you

This is for a Adamant Choice Scarf Heracross
Roserade: Mega Horn- 129-152% (OHKO) without Guts
Slowbro: Megahorn- 72-85% 2 hit KO and OHKO's with Guts (107% Min)
Arcanine: Stone Edge- 2 Hit KO, OHKO with Guts, 2-3 hit KO at -1 Attack and 2 Hit KO at -1 with Guts.
Heracross: Stone Edge- 48-57% (2-3 Hit KO) and 73-86% with Guts (comes down to speed ties+misses)
Raikou: Close Combat- 68-80% (2 Hit KO) and 102% min with Guts OHKO
Nidoueen: Close Combat- 21-25% 4-5 Hit KO and 32-37% with Guts 3-4 Hit KO
Gligar: Stone Edge- 16-19% (6-7 Hit KO) and 24-28% with guts (4-5 Hit KO)

So from that you can see why i decided to go with either Nidoqueen or Gligar. Obviouly a choiced Heracross can be played around e.g slowbro can take its close combats all day.

And from your options Azelf is always OHKO by Megahorn (Even Max HP and Max Defense). Standerd baton pass togekiss is 2 hit KO by stone edge and has a 68% chane to OHKO with Guts (although togekiss can OHKO with Air slash). Max HP Max Defense Mew is 2 Hit KO by Megahorn and OHKO by guts boosted megahorn.

then the trick is to hit Herracross with a flying move. almost any flying wove will OHKO him.

Zephyr he means a dedicated Heracross wall in UU. You can't solve everything with offense. People will switch out Heracross when confronted with a flying move, and there is no shortage of flying type resists.

Also, I do recommend not compounding your rock weakness. Slowbro can take the rock hits, but you don't want to have another pokemon weak to rock without a resist.

Confragrigus man. Will-o-wisp the sucker. Mummy takes care of the rest. Maybe Weezing. I know you like your arcanine, but both of those pokemon basically replace it. Also both can use haze.


Bold
Leftovers
Mummy
252 Hp, 252 Def,4 spD
~Calm Mind
~Rest
~Shadow Ball
~Will-o-Wisp

But this is just an offensive set. I'm sure you know the bulky ones.

I usually pair it with something with heal bell, like this.


Careful
Leftovers
Nat. Cure
252 Hp, 16 att, 176 spD, 64 spe
~DD/Roar
~Dragon Claw
~Roost
~Heal Bell

Then maybe a swampert to finish off the core

That would be a prtty cool core. Iv always wanted to use cofagrigus but the fact he couldnt learn sleep talk turned me off. I like how you fixed that with using Altaria as a cleric but id rather use Umbreon as it has better synergy with cofagrigus.

Careful@Leftovers@Synchronize
Wish
Payback
Healbell
Protect/Toxic
252HP/252Spdef/4Def

And id probably use swampert, bronzong or registeel as the last member of the core. Ill probably end up building a dedicated team around this core soon haha.

Anyway i feel like we are building a whole new team, Nidoqueen works well in the last slot the only thing that id like to add to the team would be rapid spin support, its just finding who to replace or if to replace at all.