I know we're in the middle of the Jirachi suspect right now, but for those not participating (or you're like me and lack the skill necessary to get the reqs), I just wanted to drop some tech I've been experimenting with these last few days.
Gimmicky (but Good): Sharpedo
Sharpedo. Every experienced player of SwSh UU (and those who had to temporarily endure it in RU) knows what this thing does: a frail but potentially devastating late-game cleaner, Sharpedo may have mons that can normally answer it fairly easily, but you'd better hope they're still in good shape by the endgame. At the moment, however, the Shark is currently caught in the nets of RUBL; the main reason for this (besides its nonexistent bulk) is that while devastating, the Shark is rather one-dimensional: it needs Hydro Pump since otherwise Skarmory and Geezing hard wall it, it needs Close Combat to smash big threats like Kyurem, Tyranitar and Cloyster, and it needs Dark STAB because- well, STAB (the current guides recommend Dark Pulse, but I personally prefer Crunch: it hits harder due to higher physical attack, can drop Defense, and means you don't struggle to break Tentacruel, CM or AV Hatterene, Dragalge and the underrated Mantine. Still, DP flinch goes brrrr). And finally, it needs Protect in order to rack up that initial Speed Boost and start the sweep.
Or does it? Behold!
Hehe, whoopsie!
Now behold:
Sharpedo w/Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Att/4 SpA/252 Spe; Naughty/Naive Nature
-
Substitute
-Close Combat
-Crunch
-Hydro Pump
Yes, Substitute. You see, the thing about Shark normally is that it needs to KO whatever it attacks, or else its rather unimpressive bulk means it falls to at least 90% of common attacks. Also, without support from Psychic Terrain or screens, Shark can get bopped by any strong priority should any users remain active. I originally conceived of SubShark specifically to mitigate these two factors; after all, most priority users lack the ability to take one of Shark's hits after breaking Sub, while not many mons in general can live 2 hits. As such, Sub provides Shark with a free safety net should it fall just short of the KO (or if Hydro misses, and if you're like me, that tends to happen a lot) while preventing common priority users from just taking care of it when they can come in. "But how to set up a Sub?" you may ask? Well, the intended method was to take advantage of that conception of Shark as one-dimensional; imagine, if you will, your opponent trying to heal a slightly chipped bulky mon or switching in a mon that Shark can't OHKO on that expected Protect, only to watch Shark get behind the safety of Sub, completely flipping the tables on them. In practice- this didn't work out too well. As I stated earlier, I'm actually a lower ladder player, and down here a lot of players tend to take the strategy of "just click buttons". But hope was not lost for our four- finned friend: even without opponents trying to play mind games, there are still plenty of slower mons that the Shark can scare out or safely sub against. This does mean that SubShark can struggle against faster teams, so in hindsight I'd recommend using Sticky Web (or other reliable form of Speed control) if you can slot it in, just in case.
The Life Orb variant of this idea also packs the ability to potentially be used as a mid-game wallbreaker as opposed to running clean-up (given my experience, it's possible that's actually the better way to use this variant, but I can't say for sure). As for the nature, I welched on SpD as opposed to physical defense since, again, part of the idea of this set was to flip the script on priority users, so I wanted to be able to live weaker priority just in case; I ran Naughty for extra damage output, although Naive is also an option since Naughty can struggle to get started against other base 95s (or Timid Washtom, grumble grumble). You could also run a Rash variant with DP if you prefer that to Crunch (might be better, again I don't know for sure). Still, this set does pack the drawback of losing 2-3 attacks with each Sub, and is not necessarily the best fit for that late-game cleaner role, so I wondered if there might be an alternative. Or maybe two...
Sharpedo w/
Liechi Berry
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Att/4 SpA/252 Spe; Naughty/Naive Nature
-Substitute
-Close Combat
-Crunch
-Hydro Pump
Sharpedo w/
Petaya Berry
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 Att/252 SpA/252 Spe; Rash Nature
-Substitute
-Close Combat
-Dark Pulse
-Hydro Pump
Yep, for these two sets I went back to the SubPinch strats of Shark's own RSE. Shark has always been reliant on Life Orb (at least since DPP) to get off that damage due to its lack of setup; however, either Liechi or Petaya Berry can fix that issue as well. Forgoing LO also allows you a little extra longevity, namely more Subs. You see, the funny thing about Shark's HP is that it sits at 281 without EV investment; due to how Substitute calculates the HP removal, this means that an undamaged SubPinchShark can potentially set up
4 substitutes without healing. Once boosted, Shark's two attacks, depending on the set, will actually hit harder than with Life Orb; this does come with the tradeoff of either Hydro or CC doing less depending on which variant you run, although in practice this only made things harder against Skarm and Geezing for Liechi. Despite that, the Liechi set actually gave me the most success during my testing, both for Shark and the whole team. Petaya- did not do as well or get as many chances to shine as the other two variants, but that might just be because the lower- ladder was doing that thing were everyone is either running one gimmicky mon that just so happens to completely screw you or the team was so garbage that I didn't even need Shark. On paper, Petaya SubShark does have the disadvantage of having to go for a +SpA nature since its Special Attack is not that impressive by UU standards, meaning it lacks the luxury to run a +Speed nature, which can limit set up opportunities against faster teams. Still, while my overall record during testing was a mixed bag, SubShark was quite possibly the most consistent member of my team, as every game where is got to use a move saw it claiming at least 1-2 lives across the three variants I tested. But I think it might be more effective to just show you, so here we have some replays of SubShark saving my ass.
Life Orb:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1170561837 (SubShark starts 26).
Liechi:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1170628752-u21yppcxqc3cij0l5jtvxrglo222gbqpw (SubShark starts 36. I'd like to shout out MichaelVilla's Trick Darmanitan tech, which actually screwed me over in our first match (this was our second match). That's why I switch in Geezing that one time).
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1170643611 (SubShark starts 34).
Petaya:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8uu-1171213188-dt7yuoe3xrzb779vfqwxlezjosjsbm0pw (SubShark starts 23. This is why Scarf tends to be the best option on Chandy).
As you can see in these replays, a well-played SubShark can easily swing the tide of battle in its user's favor. Generally speaking, the tests did show that Sub was successful for providing a safety net, which did come in clutch several times. In terms of the specific matchups, here's a few advantages that SubShark holds over the standard Protect variant.
Duskroc and Mamoswine: I didn't encounter these two much, surprisingly, but they are prime examples of priority users that are just screwed against SubShark; if you don't have them on the field when Shark comes in, you'd better hope their partners are still healthy. Also, CC from even the Petaya set guarantees the KO on both behind Sub, so you don't even need to risk the Hydro miss most of the time.
Bisharp: Surprisingly, this was the mon the SubShark got the most comparative advantage out of in practice. While Shark does resist it, it still doesn't want to take boosted Sucker Punch. Sub basically guarantees the KO against Sharp, as Shark easily reads the Sucker and sets up. However, Sharp still
has to Sucker since otherwise it gets shredded by CC.
Ditto: While not currently UU by usage, I have heard about Ditto seeing serious usage on semi-stall teams, and did run into a few of them. If this were the normal Shark set, then sending it out might open the risk of being counterswept by your own set; however, Sub provides a no win situation for Ditto. If it comes in on that predicted Protect or forced switch, Shark subs and easily takes Ditto out next turn (unless Ditto tries to be cute and lock into Sub, which can be easily PP stalled). Of course, if Shark already has its Sub up, then Ditto is stuck untransformed and can be taken out by a light breeze.
As for partners, here are a few potentially great ones I've scouted. There may be more/better options for partners, but I'm sure smarter players can think of those options if they exist.
While SubShark doesn't necessarily need Grimmsnarl or Mindeedee to nullify priority for it, it still greatly appreciates help from these gents. Grimmsnarl's Reflect provides some extra security against common priority, while the rarer Mindeedee nullifies it entirely, although Mind is still worse than Grimm since it doesn't ease Shark's inherent burden of getting in safely like screens do.
Speaking of getting Shark in safely, the (Slow)King of UU can achieve this thanks to naturally solid bulk and Teleport. It can also provide some useful status thanks to Scald and TWave to give more opportunities for Shark to come in.
I initially decided to pair SubShark with Fighting types in order to bait Psychic attacks for more switch-in opportunities for Shark; however, I quickly found that Geezing was much better in this regard since it doesn't share a Fairy weakness. Like Slowking, it can provide status to whittle down more problematic Shark checks, thanks to Sludge Bomb poison and Wisp. It also really helped with the Skarm matchup, as it can threaten Skarm with Fire coverage, and packs an immunity to Toxic, a quad resist to Body Press and potential Defog to screw over Skarm's hazards.
In honesty, I went with Cobalion as my Fighting type mainly so I could Iron Head opposing Fairies. However, it can offer good support beyond that thanks to Rocks, fast TWave (which has been really great against opposing Jirachi, funnily enough) and Taunt to allow it to wear down defensive mons. A great overall mon whose talents can be uniquely suited to help Shark.
Like I said, while I ultimately didn't get around to testing Webs, it's definitely one of the best ways to help Shark start the sweep if your opponent is loading up on fast mons. I'm not recommending any particular Web setter since I'm not sure which would be best suited for a team with Shark.
Overall, these partners lead me to believe that SubShark may be best suited as either a partner to a more defensive team or as a member of a HO hazard stacking team.
Now, is this set better than the standard Shark set? Probably not. While it can provide great mind games, help with the problem of priority and let Shark take an extra hit, the lack of Protect can definitely hurt against an opponent who loves fast offense or doesn't really feel like playing mind games. The whole +Att/SpA vs +Spe nature would never be an issue for the Protect set, since there you can always get at least one Speed boost for free. I fully acknowledge that this is, in fact, a gimmick no matter how effective I found it to be. Still, there's far worse gimmicks one could be running in UU. ;)
There may be more variants of SubShark that could see great success with the right support, possibly even one with Sub
and Protect, but I can't speak to how effective those would be (plus I don't have the patience to extensively test any more SubShark variants). I may not be a top-tier player, but I hope this info could be of great use to an objectively better player, hence why I've been going on about SubShark for so long. So, to sum up:
SubShark is an admittedly gimmicky option for Sharpedo that can still greatly reward any trainer brave or crazy enough to try it out, especially since it can be effectively supported by some of the best mons in the tier. Thank you for taking the time to read this post.
PS: I couldn't help but notice on Showdown that Sharpedo, along with Zoroark and Linoone, is still listed as RU despite currently being RUBL. If whoever's in charge of that is reading this, I just wanted to let you know.