rs
STANDING ON BUSINESS
Introduction:
Hey Smogon, I'm Shiba and welcome to my 2nd RMT! So with the drop of one of the now best Pokemon in the tier, Gyarados, dropped in early January, the tier of UU changed drastically with it. This team was obviously built around the huge threat that is Gyarados, and also showcases the perfect partner for it and a Mega Evolution that has been getting a lot of love lately, Mega Sceptile. I did achieve rank #2 on ladder (pif wouldn't let me call myself #1 for this RMT and it would take forever to catch him on the ladder D:) and went a solid 53-5 in the process with a portion of those losses coming from haxxy games. Originally I wanted to save this team for a big UU Tournament of some sort, but I didn't get drafted for SPL and UUPL doesn't start till around March, so I decided I might as well post it now!
Teambuilding Process:
lol I had a lot of versions of this team D:
(from v4 to final product)
So, as I said in my introduction, I wanted to build a team around Gyarados. The set was either gonna be Sub DD or DD 3 Attacks, but I did opt for Sub DD, as I found Sub lets Gyara set up A LOT easier.
Next, I wanted a Volt Switch deterrent + an electric immunity to help support Gyarados.. I usually try to come up with a nice VoltTurn deterrent core in most of my teams first, because its pretty easy to build onto the core after that.
Porygon2 came next as a kind of all around wall for Pokemon like Mega Aerodactyl, Hydreigon, Mence, etc(had mixed defenses before it was replaced) and a nice status spreader with T-Wave. Even though P2 hasn't the best lately it still put in a solid amount of work at the time it was on this team.
Next came the obligatory Stealth Rocker + Fire Resist (every team always has to have these lol). Swampert also serves as a phazer and just an extra Physical wall.
Looking at the 4 members of my team, I really had no way of beating any kind of Bulky Normal, Psychic, or Fairies. This is where Doublade comes in, effectively beating all of these types of Pokemon with ease. Doublade also serves as an extra physical wall and a Dragon Dance slayer with Gyro Ball over Iron Head.
Lastly, every balance team needs hazard control. I felt that Zapdos filled this spot perfectly, even having ways of creating momentum with Volt Switch.
After a couple games of testing, I realized that the team was susceptible to Knock Off and Fighting-types in general (common ones almost always carry Knock). I decided to put Florges over Porygon2 as an extra Fighting check and Knock Off Absorber if needed.
The Team:
rozes (Gyarados) @
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Bounce
Gyarados is my star of the show here, the Pokemon I initially wanted to build around. I did opt for a Dragon Dance + 2 STAB move set so it could fill the role as a sweeper/cleaner if needed. I did choose 2 STAB moves over something like Earthquake or Ice Fang because the 2 STABS have really nice coverage overall. A lot of people also don't like Bounce because of the momentum loss, but I found it really nice to use as a way to gain even more passive recovery through lefties while in the air and beside a sub. Although this set can't really hit things like Spiky Shield Chesnaught or Vaporeon (there were a ton of these on ladder for some reason), it's pretty insane how many sweeping opportunities Gyarados actually gets, and with the right team support it makes it even easier to obtain these kinds of opportunities.
Always! (Sceptile-Mega) @
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast
Next, I wanted something that completely destroyed a lot of Gyarados' checks, such as the Chesnaughts, RoarCunes, Vaporeons, etc.. and also covered its big 4x Electric-type weakness. This is where Mega Sceptile comes in, deterring Electric-type foes from just clicking Volt Switch against Gyarados. And if they do when Sceptile switches in, a large majority of the time Sceptile gets a kill at +1. I did choose to go for a Modest Nature over a Timid mostly because I like the power and speed-tying Jolly Mega Beedrill and outpacing Choice Scarf Chandelure (especially when running Calm Florges) wasn't all that important to this team at all.
Vapo (Swampert) @
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 8 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
Next up we have my obligatory Stealth Rocker and Fire-check. It also acts as my phazer if I absolutely need it, such as if Pokemon like Gyarados or Reuniclus get out of hand, Swampert might need to come in to take a hit to phaze them out. The set is pretty much the most standard of standard Defensive Swampert sets with Scald and Earthquake as its main STAB moves and Stealth Rock and Roar are usually staples for the other slots The only thing not common about this set is the fact that I do run 8 Speed investment for Dragalges that try to creep Relaxed Swampert (Creeping Dragalges has come up huge in a lot of cases).
petyer (Doublade) @
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 240 HP / 236 Atk / 32 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword
- Gyro Ball
- Swords Dance
Doublade gained the next slot on the team. When testing with a couple of other Pokemon before Doublade (I tried out things like Cobalion and P2), I found that I was pretty susceptible to things like Calm Mind Florges, Reuniclus, Snorlax, etc. Although I get that Doublade does take a nice chunk of damage from switching into Moonblasts or Psyshocks so often, its a pretty nice counter to those aforementioned Pokemon, especially considering I can always Wish-Pass from Florges later in the game. For the set, I did opt for the standard Gyro Ball set, as it helps against Dragon Dancers like Haxorus, Salamence, and Gyarados.
DrReuniclus (Zapdos) @
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 16 SpA / 244 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Heat Wave
- Roost
- Defog
Zapdos filled the next slot as a Defogger + momentum creator. The spread and moveset is kind of unique, it's one that was posted in the np thread when Zapdos first dropped and I haven't really changed it at all when putting Zapdos in on teams due to the effectiveness of it. Usually these kinds of defensive Zapdos sets carry Hidden Power Grass or Toxic, but I did opt for Heat Wave as I like hitting Pokemon like Doublade, Cobalion, and Lucario harder. The spread is used to outpace Jolly Heracross, while putting in a significant amount of bulk, but still maintaining a solid offensive presence with some Special Attack investment and a Modest nature.
anto (Florges) @
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Aromatherapy
- Moonblast
Lastly, we have Florges. The main role for Florges to become the main Special Attacker check and also work as a decent Fighting-type check (although it is Calm Nature). Florges also helps the defensive backbone in Swampert, Doublade and Gyarados stay healthy by passing Wishes rather easily a large majority of the time. It also takes a lot of threats such as Chandelure or opposing Sceptiles really well, which the team was rather weak to before the slot went to Florges over Porygon2.
Conclusion:
Thanks for reading and I hope you give this 'snapshot of balance in the meta' (shoutout LittleRunnerXC lol) a try for yourself. As for people thinking that Gyarados is broken, it's pretty easy to handle for a lot of archetypes, just gotta have the right blend :].
Threatlist:
lol yeah these 2 are pretty annoying for any team due to the coverage. I can usually play around with the coverage moves a bit (switching around till I get the right Pokemon), so they're pretty easy to handle if I still have the right mons alive.
(HP Fire or Ground) yeah HP Fire/Ground rose is pretty annoying, and its a good thing that the set isn't common in the first place. An option would be running more Speed on Zapdos for it but I don't think Rose is that common to warrant that type of change.
Replays:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-320131151 vs CSB
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-321933552
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-321931604
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-321492709 vs CSB again
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-321494408 vs some form of stall
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-321489152 vs Rain
Hey Smogon, I'm Shiba and welcome to my 2nd RMT! So with the drop of one of the now best Pokemon in the tier, Gyarados, dropped in early January, the tier of UU changed drastically with it. This team was obviously built around the huge threat that is Gyarados, and also showcases the perfect partner for it and a Mega Evolution that has been getting a lot of love lately, Mega Sceptile. I did achieve rank #2 on ladder (pif wouldn't let me call myself #1 for this RMT and it would take forever to catch him on the ladder D:) and went a solid 53-5 in the process with a portion of those losses coming from haxxy games. Originally I wanted to save this team for a big UU Tournament of some sort, but I didn't get drafted for SPL and UUPL doesn't start till around March, so I decided I might as well post it now!
Teambuilding Process:
lol I had a lot of versions of this team D:
(from v4 to final product)
So, as I said in my introduction, I wanted to build a team around Gyarados. The set was either gonna be Sub DD or DD 3 Attacks, but I did opt for Sub DD, as I found Sub lets Gyara set up A LOT easier.
Next, I wanted a Volt Switch deterrent + an electric immunity to help support Gyarados.. I usually try to come up with a nice VoltTurn deterrent core in most of my teams first, because its pretty easy to build onto the core after that.
Porygon2 came next as a kind of all around wall for Pokemon like Mega Aerodactyl, Hydreigon, Mence, etc(had mixed defenses before it was replaced) and a nice status spreader with T-Wave. Even though P2 hasn't the best lately it still put in a solid amount of work at the time it was on this team.
Next came the obligatory Stealth Rocker + Fire Resist (every team always has to have these lol). Swampert also serves as a phazer and just an extra Physical wall.
Looking at the 4 members of my team, I really had no way of beating any kind of Bulky Normal, Psychic, or Fairies. This is where Doublade comes in, effectively beating all of these types of Pokemon with ease. Doublade also serves as an extra physical wall and a Dragon Dance slayer with Gyro Ball over Iron Head.
Lastly, every balance team needs hazard control. I felt that Zapdos filled this spot perfectly, even having ways of creating momentum with Volt Switch.
After a couple games of testing, I realized that the team was susceptible to Knock Off and Fighting-types in general (common ones almost always carry Knock). I decided to put Florges over Porygon2 as an extra Fighting check and Knock Off Absorber if needed.
The Team:
rozes (Gyarados) @
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
Gyarados is my star of the show here, the Pokemon I initially wanted to build around. I did opt for a Dragon Dance + 2 STAB move set so it could fill the role as a sweeper/cleaner if needed. I did choose 2 STAB moves over something like Earthquake or Ice Fang because the 2 STABS have really nice coverage overall. A lot of people also don't like Bounce because of the momentum loss, but I found it really nice to use as a way to gain even more passive recovery through lefties while in the air and beside a sub. Although this set can't really hit things like Spiky Shield Chesnaught or Vaporeon (there were a ton of these on ladder for some reason), it's pretty insane how many sweeping opportunities Gyarados actually gets, and with the right team support it makes it even easier to obtain these kinds of opportunities.
Always! (Sceptile-Mega) @
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
Next, I wanted something that completely destroyed a lot of Gyarados' checks, such as the Chesnaughts, RoarCunes, Vaporeons, etc.. and also covered its big 4x Electric-type weakness. This is where Mega Sceptile comes in, deterring Electric-type foes from just clicking Volt Switch against Gyarados. And if they do when Sceptile switches in, a large majority of the time Sceptile gets a kill at +1. I did choose to go for a Modest Nature over a Timid mostly because I like the power and speed-tying Jolly Mega Beedrill and outpacing Choice Scarf Chandelure (especially when running Calm Florges) wasn't all that important to this team at all.
Vapo (Swampert) @
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 8 Spe
Relaxed Nature
Next up we have my obligatory Stealth Rocker and Fire-check. It also acts as my phazer if I absolutely need it, such as if Pokemon like Gyarados or Reuniclus get out of hand, Swampert might need to come in to take a hit to phaze them out. The set is pretty much the most standard of standard Defensive Swampert sets with Scald and Earthquake as its main STAB moves and Stealth Rock and Roar are usually staples for the other slots The only thing not common about this set is the fact that I do run 8 Speed investment for Dragalges that try to creep Relaxed Swampert (Creeping Dragalges has come up huge in a lot of cases).
petyer (Doublade) @
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 240 HP / 236 Atk / 32 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
Doublade gained the next slot on the team. When testing with a couple of other Pokemon before Doublade (I tried out things like Cobalion and P2), I found that I was pretty susceptible to things like Calm Mind Florges, Reuniclus, Snorlax, etc. Although I get that Doublade does take a nice chunk of damage from switching into Moonblasts or Psyshocks so often, its a pretty nice counter to those aforementioned Pokemon, especially considering I can always Wish-Pass from Florges later in the game. For the set, I did opt for the standard Gyro Ball set, as it helps against Dragon Dancers like Haxorus, Salamence, and Gyarados.
DrReuniclus (Zapdos) @
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 16 SpA / 244 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
Zapdos filled the next slot as a Defogger + momentum creator. The spread and moveset is kind of unique, it's one that was posted in the np thread when Zapdos first dropped and I haven't really changed it at all when putting Zapdos in on teams due to the effectiveness of it. Usually these kinds of defensive Zapdos sets carry Hidden Power Grass or Toxic, but I did opt for Heat Wave as I like hitting Pokemon like Doublade, Cobalion, and Lucario harder. The spread is used to outpace Jolly Heracross, while putting in a significant amount of bulk, but still maintaining a solid offensive presence with some Special Attack investment and a Modest nature.
anto (Florges) @
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
Lastly, we have Florges. The main role for Florges to become the main Special Attacker check and also work as a decent Fighting-type check (although it is Calm Nature). Florges also helps the defensive backbone in Swampert, Doublade and Gyarados stay healthy by passing Wishes rather easily a large majority of the time. It also takes a lot of threats such as Chandelure or opposing Sceptiles really well, which the team was rather weak to before the slot went to Florges over Porygon2.
Thanks for reading and I hope you give this 'snapshot of balance in the meta' (shoutout LittleRunnerXC lol) a try for yourself. As for people thinking that Gyarados is broken, it's pretty easy to handle for a lot of archetypes, just gotta have the right blend :].
Threatlist:
Replays:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-320131151 vs CSB
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-321933552
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-321931604
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-321492709 vs CSB again
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-321494408 vs some form of stall
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-321489152 vs Rain
On 1/15/16, at 7:36 PM, Ryan wrote: > ill buy everyone in this convo a pizza if I get Shiba on ps tbh
rozes go undefeated in SPL bud, I didn't realize how good you were at NU until I actually started watching you play lmao. Thanks for banners and stuff :]
petyer Dodgers are ass LOL
DrReuniclus glad you came back bud and seeing you in UU and tours and stuff like that :]
anto ILYSM SUPREME SMOGON OVERLORD
Vapo dont quit please, youre a cool guy to have around to test/talk to :]
Always! pass teams for OST u fuk
Snowy. look at above s/o
other ppl
NV thanks for being supportive all the time :] appreciate everything, man! You're the bomb
Hairy Toenail King Kunta
miltankmilk use Vaporeon HO instead of what I taught you in tutoring, also crawdaunt is broken btw
Feliburn is a snek
YABO offense player looking ass
LeoLancaster not a snake
King UU thanks for sticking around dude! glad the opposite didnt happen lol, you're pretty important to UU in general
Mazz come back u bitch
dingbat DING
Kreme free points
Cyndequil. Callout master tbh
rozes go undefeated in SPL bud, I didn't realize how good you were at NU until I actually started watching you play lmao. Thanks for banners and stuff :]
petyer Dodgers are ass LOL
DrReuniclus glad you came back bud and seeing you in UU and tours and stuff like that :]
anto ILYSM SUPREME SMOGON OVERLORD
Vapo dont quit please, youre a cool guy to have around to test/talk to :]
Always! pass teams for OST u fuk
Snowy. look at above s/o
other ppl
NV thanks for being supportive all the time :] appreciate everything, man! You're the bomb
Hairy Toenail King Kunta
miltankmilk use Vaporeon HO instead of what I taught you in tutoring, also crawdaunt is broken btw
Feliburn is a snek
YABO offense player looking ass
LeoLancaster not a snake
King UU thanks for sticking around dude! glad the opposite didnt happen lol, you're pretty important to UU in general
Mazz come back u bitch
dingbat DING
Kreme free points
Cyndequil. Callout master tbh
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Bounce
Sceptile-Mega @ Sceptilite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast
Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 8 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
Doublade @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 240 HP / 236 Atk / 32 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword
- Gyro Ball
- Swords Dance
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 16 SpA / 244 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Heat Wave
- Roost
- Defog
Florges @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Aromatherapy
- Moonblast
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Bounce
Sceptile-Mega @ Sceptilite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast
Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 8 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
Doublade @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 240 HP / 236 Atk / 32 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword
- Gyro Ball
- Swords Dance
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 16 SpA / 244 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Heat Wave
- Roost
- Defog
Florges @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Aromatherapy
- Moonblast
Last edited: