Featured UU RMT

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At first glance, Jabba's team is a bit strange, boasting 3 NU Pokémon including a lead Qwilfish. However, this team was very successful despite it seeming like an odd team at first glance, peaking in 1st place with 1720 CRE. Spikestacking has always been a dominant strategy in UU, although it seems to have died down a little with the absence of Froslass in the tier. Jabba proved with this team that offensive Spikestacking is still perfectly viable, laying down Spikes and throwing out hard hitters like Choice Band Kangaskhan and Choice Scarf Primeape, whilst still maintaining a solid defensive core via Slowking and Torterra.

Qwilfish, as previously mentioned, is Jabba's lead. Besides being able to lay down layers of Spikes, Qwilfish also helps by preventing Stealth Rock or Spikes from being layed by bulkier leads such as Omastar. Qwilfish is also useful later in the game, being able to come out and lay Spikes on bulky Water-types such as Milotic, or weaker Pokémon like Spiritomb. Explosion helps Jabba should he be in a pinch against a bulky set up sweeper like Nasty Plot Slowking, as well as being useful in general to eliminate troublesome Pokémon to Jabba's team (Leafeon, anyone?). Jabba shortly touched on how Qwilfish's role was previously filled by both Cloyster and Omastar, and it's very likely that Qwilfish works better due to both Taunt and the fact that it maintains a faster pace than the slower, bulkier Omastar and Cloyster. Qwilfish can keep spinners at bay at least for a little bit in fear of Explosion, as it will severely weaken spinners like Blastoise and Hitmontop, preventing them from being able to successfully Rapid Spin. By keeping them away for a bit, Jabba can wait until near end game to reveal his ace in the hole, Sub Charge Rotom.

Jabba's main backbone of defense comes from the combination of Slowking and Torterra. Synergy wise, they work very well, with Slowking easily beating most Fire-types (bar Houndoom) who Torterra has trouble with, while Torterra provides a rather safe switch in to most physical Dark-types like Drapion and Absol, as well as Electric- and Ghost-types like Manectric and Mismagius. Slowking gives paralysis support to the team, which is always welcome to help slow down frail sweepers, leaving them susceptible to Choice Band Kangaskhan later on in the game. Slowking is also a very solid hard counter to Azumarill, only fearing a Choice Banded Return / Double Edge, which would allow Rotom a free Substitute and potential to cause havoc. Torterra can make an easy switch into slower defensive Pokémon like Registeel, allowing Torterra a free turn to Stealth Rock while generally forcing Registeel out with the threat of Earthquake. With a specially defensive EV spread, Torterra is capable of surviving many random special attacks, such as Defensive Milotic's Ice Beam, Rotom's Hidden Power Ice, and +2 Mismagius Life Orb Shadow Ball, which is quite a surprise to most ladder players.

Leading the charge on the offensive end of the spectrum are 2 Choiced attackers, Primeape and Kangaskhan, both of which can easily abuse Spikes. Kangaskhan, as Jabba mentioned, doesn't even need Spikes to sweep, easily 2HKOing most of the tier after the opposing Steel-type is removed, and thanks to Scrappy it can just keeping attacking if a Ghost-type comes in, an advantage it yields over every other Normal-type Choice Bander (barring Miltank, whom I don't see with a CB set very often..). Primeape's powerful Close Combat is generally enough to force switches against more frail Pokémon, and Primeape is the main source of revenge killing on Jabba's team, revenge killing Rock Polish Rhyperior, Aggron, Swords Dance Absol, and Rock Polish Torterra to name a few. Of course, U-turn is infinitely useful for scouting and racking up Spikes damage, as well as getting easy opportunities for Rotom and Kangaskhan to come in and easily start an offensive assault.

Lastly, Jabba includes his favorite Pokémon (no matter what tier he is playing!), Substitute Charge Beam Rotom. Rotom also acts as the spinblocker for the team, and abuses Spikes damage rather well. Just about all of Sub Charge Rotom's counters in UU are grounded and do not take a liking to Spikes, specifically Steelix, Drapion, and Specially Defensive Torterra. If given the opportunity to set up against stall, Rotom will easily 6-0, especially behind both entry hazards and Choice Band Kangaskhan. Rotom gets numerous set up opportunities on Choiced Ground- and Fighting-type attacks, which are plentiful in the tier. Rotom can also set up on weaker bulky Pokémon like Registeel, thanks to its resistance to Iron Head and immunities to Earthquake and Explosion.

It goes without saying, however, that even a good team has its fair share of weaknesses. Jabba's biggest weakness is Swords Dance Leafeon, who gets a fair share of chances to set up, notably against Torterra, Primeape's Rock Slide, and Kangaskhan's Sucker Punch and Aqua Tail. Once Leafeon gets a boost, it is very hard for Jabba's team to beat, outspeeding everything bar Primeape, whom will have trouble denting Leafeon thanks to its 130 base Defense. Swords Dance and Choice Band Scyther both have the potential to give Jabba trouble, especially if Jabba can't manage to keep Stealth Rock on the field. Rock Polish Rhyperior can also cause a fair amount of damage, but Scarf Primeape can take a decent chunk out of it with Close Combat, and Kangaskhan's Sucker Punch will KO it when it gets low on HP. Rhyperior will also likely have to hit 2 Megahorns in succession against Torterra and Slowking, and has little opportunity to set up in general. Weaknesses aside, JabbaTheGriffin yet again brings us a team strong enough for the Featured Rate My Team!

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