Signature Team - The UU Edition

[Tomas Elliot]

Introduction

Remember my Signature Team? Well, I did it again. I once again felt the need to create a team I could really feel as mine, a team I could enjoy on the ladder and in a game alike, a team that could really make me say £heck, if I lived in the Pokemon world, this is the team I would train". So yeah, in order to take a breather from Persona 4 The Golden (the more I play that game the more I love it, it's becoming an obsession...) I picked up Pokemon Platinum for maybe the 76th time... And despite the horrid Honey Tree mechanic trying to stand in my way, this team soon saw the light. And not only was it enjoyable, but it also had a lot of potential in the present metagame as I soon realized: what with most of my team members getting new toys (abilities, moves, items, Mega Evolution) in later generations... So yeah, without further ado, here is the team.

At a glance

The fact that this team originated in a game is made evident by the presence of a Fire-Grass-Water core, something that is more or less a must in games, but not so much in competitive environment. From there, it was all about putting together a crew that could have good synergy, cover for each other's weaknesses, and support one another. And with natural users of Surf and Fly included, I dare say I managed to create such a team while still keeping in mind in-game needs, which is a nice touch. Now that I think about it, isn't it funny how the most hated HM of Gen 4 would return here as a vital move?
And before you ask yes, this team actually works. It has carried me to some decent peak so far, so I am very satisfied with it... It is my new signature team! And in fact, I included it in my signature

In-depth analysis

@ Choice Band
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Mach Punch
- Close Combat
- U-turn

CB Infernape is often overlooked in favor of other variants, but I personally am fond of it. With Iron Fist, it quite literally packs a punch, and if you factor in the monkey's natural speed, you see that Mach Punch becomes a very deadly way of cleaning house to end a game, easily taking out even other priority users. U-turn is used to scout early in the game, and Close Combat and Flare Blitz are powerful STAB moves that, courtesy of Choice Band, hit like a truck, netting me some surprise KOs. Most people won't expect to see their Nidoqueen OHKOed by Fire Blitz... Keep in mind that this is not the suicidal lead variant, you want this guy to stay alive untill the end, so that it can clean house with Mach Punch, so be careful in managing its HP, and don't be reckless with the timing of your switches...

@ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Rest
- Sludge Bomb
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [ice]

Most people see Roserade as a bulky spiker, and forget that she can hit as hard as LATIOS when equipped with a Life Orb. Natural Cure makes her ideal to witch into bulky Water-type mons that like to spam Scald, and the amount of surprise kills you can score on the switch, if you predict right, is hilarious. Oh and resting on their switch and then immediately switching out is fun, too. A lot of prediction is required to exploit this set to its fullest, but you will be reward with a decently bulky Pokemon that sponges special attacks and hits back hard. Better, it hits back hard on the special spectrum, thus complementing Snorlax (see below). Oh and did I mention that her typing makes her the perfect recipient of Vaporeon's wishes, making it ridiculously easy to switch into stuff like Florges? Seriously, what's not to love?

@ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Scald

The team's cleric. I like it more than Blissey or Florges because it provides a reliable out to Sheer Force Feraligatr. And what an out it is: considering that every Feraligatr out there will be carrying Waterfall, Ice Punch and a dance move, the last slot will either be Crunch or Aqua Jet. If it's Crunch, I just ned to wear it down, and Mach Punch will finish it off later; if it's Aqua Jet, Feraligatr will be utterly unable to damage Vaporeon, even at +6, meaning I will be free to just keep on scalding untill I burn it. Truth be told, you need to misplay very badly for this guy to go down, it is seriously a fantastic Pokemon that will have no problems keeping itself and its companions alive. And with the good defensive synergy I have created in this team, passing wishes around really is easy.

@ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Heavy Slam
- Dragon Tail

This thing is crazy. Upon Mega Evolving, it hits 500 Def UNINVESTED, meaning you can dump all of your EVs in HP and Atk, and have a virtually immortal physical wall that hits like a truck. With a bit of Wish support from Vaporeon, setting up Stealth Rock multiple times throughout a match becoes easy feat, Eartquake obliterates anything that doesn't resist it, Heavy Slam obliterates anything else, and Dragon Tail prevents opponents from setting up and dishes out some indirect damage. This guy is supposed to be RU, but I can predict it won't remain there for long...

@ Black Sludge
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 232 HP / 76 Def / 200 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- U-turn
- Brave Bird

Smogon calls it "fast bulky support". Basically you want to be fast enough to outspeed enemies and use your support moves ASAP, or just dish some damage ith Brave Bird or U-turn to safety, all the while being still capable of taking some hits. This way, between Roost and the occasional Wih from Vaporeon, using Defog multiple times won't be a problem, which should enable you to win the hazard war if you don't misplay. And the double resistance to the Fighting and Bug type helps the team a lot, too.

@ Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch

The bane of all special attacks. Hurting this guy with a special attack (particularly those Flamethrowers and Ice Beams aimed at Roserade) is imposible. And its attack is actually pretty high, allowing you to dish out some serious damage while sponging it at the same time. You will mostly use Return anyway, but the other 3 moves provide nice coverage, so they will come in handy eventually. Pursuit in particular aids in trapping things that Snorlax forces out, like Chandelure or even Alakazam.

Conclusions

Well this is what the team does. Comments? Suggestions? Feel free to post them below, but please try and keep in mind the spirit of this team while doing so. The importable is in the usual spoiler, in case you want to try the team for yourself.

Infernape @ Choice Band
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Mach Punch
- Close Combat
- U-turn

Roserade @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Rest
- Sludge Bomb
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [ice]

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Scald

Steelix @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Heavy Slam
- Dragon Tail

Crobat @ Black Sludge
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 232 HP / 76 Def / 200 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- U-turn
- Brave Bird

Snorlax @ Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch

[NickCrash]

As a person who likes using lower tier pokemon in OU, I can verify Snorlax's destructive abilities both in UU and OU.

Pursuit is deadly against things like Chandelure and Jellicent (even though the last one is less frequent) and Psychic types that would otherwise breeze through the tier. Sadly Snorlax does not learn Knock Off.

So far, things that I see threaten the team are special glass tanks like Alakazam, Chandelure and Rotom-H. Perhaps Noivern, and Galvantula can cause serious harm under certain circumstances, but you can never be ready for everything.

Your bulky offense calls for serious wallbreakers to stop the team, which is nice as Vaporeon can pass wishes around easily. In general it looks solid, and if you're moving around enough you'll break balance and stall teams without much effort.

Minor nitpicks: Change your Crobat's EVs to 232HP / 76Def to maximize black sludge recovery and minimize stealth rock damage.

Vaporeon doesn't really care about SR, so you can give it 252HP EVs for constant max lefties and wish recovery.

[Tomas Elliot]

As a person who likes using lower tier pokemon in OU, I can verify Snorlax's destructive abilities both in UU and OU.

Pursuit is deadly against things like Chandelure and Jellicent (even though the last one is less frequent) and Psychic types that would otherwise breeze through the tier. Sadly Snorlax does not learn Knock Off.

So far, things that I see threaten the team are special glass tanks like Alakazam, Chandelure and Rotom-H. Perhaps Noivern, and Galvantula can cause serious harm under certain circumstances, but you can never be ready for everything.

Your bulky offense calls for serious wallbreakers to stop the team, which is nice as Vaporeon can pass wishes around easily. In general it looks solid, and if you're moving around enough you'll break balance and stall teams without much effort.

Minor nitpicks: Change your Crobat's EVs to 232HP / 76Def to maximize black sludge recovery and minimize stealth rock damage.

Vaporeon doesn't really care about SR, so you can give it 252HP EVs for constant max lefties and wish recovery.

Snorlax can generally take care of the likes of Zam, Chandelure and Noivern (but I see your point about needing Pursuit to effectively combat them, so I might test that change), and Steelix doesn't really care about Galvantula, whose Sticky Web is removed by Crobat's Defog.

And I hear you on those EV changes: I'll test them whenever I have the time to, and eventually update the OP.

[Jelly]

only minor nitpicks here. try cc>tpunch on ape seeing as you wont really need to hit flyings w/ ape anyway, sure you could hit them on the switch but you're giving up one of your hardest hitting stab moves for that nice coverage. the only bulky water you'd be hitting with tpunch is suicune and your team already has plenty of answers for that. you could try leaf storm>giga on roserade for the added nuking ability and pressure on swithcins. i'd recommend trying this:

Snorlax @ Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Body Slam
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Earthquake

which allows snorlax to tank hits on the physical side as well as special. lax has huge hp and sdef stats letting you avoid putting anything in hp or special bulk (unless you really really want to tank more special hits). investing in def lets you tank a surprise superpower from lo hydreigon (which would otherwise poop all over lax). one last thing is maybe consider toxic>dtail on steelix to help wear down bulky waters (that arent empoleon/tenta). you might consider then changing lax to a phazing set (resttalk, whirlwind, body slam) to make up for the loss of dtail.

you dont really seem to have a wincon other than wearing things down for infernape to do something, which isnt a very viable strat considering the popularity of crobat/mence/zam/aero. changing ape to scarf and lax to band might be a possible fix (then you'd change mach punch for t punch to hit those flying types ;]). this seems like a weird mix of semistall/bulky offense that kinda works for some reason. 8/10.

list of changes to test:

• cc>tpunch ape
• leaf storm>giga roserade
• lax evs
• toxic m-lix (whirlwind lax?)
• scarf ape+band lax?

[Tomas Elliot]

that kinda works for some reason.

Lol this could be said about most of my teams: they don't look like they should work, but somehow they do...

This being said, I specifically made this team to use Band Infernape, also I am not fond of using more than one choiced Pokemon, specially not in a team like this, so I don't really like the Scarf Infernape - Band Snorlax suggestion. All your other points however are valid, I'll test everything and report here on the results whenever I have the time

[JapaneseWallpaper]

only minor nitpicks here. try cc>tpunch on ape seeing as you wont really need to hit flyings w/ ape anyway, sure you could hit them on the switch but you're giving up one of your hardest hitting stab moves for that nice coverage. the only bulky water you'd be hitting with tpunch is suicune and your team already has plenty of answers for that. you could try leaf storm>giga on roserade for the added nuking ability and pressure on swithcins. i'd recommend trying this:

Snorlax @ Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Body Slam
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Earthquake

which allows snorlax to tank hits on the physical side as well as special. lax has huge hp and sdef stats letting you avoid putting anything in hp or special bulk (unless you really really want to tank more special hits). investing in def lets you tank a surprise superpower from lo hydreigon (which would otherwise poop all over lax). one last thing is maybe consider toxic>dtail on steelix to help wear down bulky waters (that arent empoleon/tenta). you might consider then changing lax to a phazing set (resttalk, whirlwind, body slam) to make up for the loss of dtail.

you dont really seem to have a wincon other than wearing things down for infernape to do something, which isnt a very viable strat considering the popularity of crobat/mence/zam/aero. changing ape to scarf and lax to band might be a possible fix (then you'd change mach punch for t punch to hit those flying types ;]). this seems like a weird mix of semistall/bulky offense that kinda works for some reason. 8/10.

list of changes to test:

• cc>tpunch ape
• leaf storm>giga roserade
• lax evs
• toxic m-lix (whirlwind lax?)
• scarf ape+band lax?

Tpunch would be, in my opinion put in there for the predicted flying type to come in so the damage can be put on them. (consider ice punch for Landorus T switch un)

leaf storm would be good on Roserade, but i think this particular roserade is survivability/damage, instead of speed and damage. So giga drain would be (unless the enemy has liquid ooze tentacruel) better in most situations. Also lowering sp attack isn't too good.

Infernape has quite high speed (base 108)(max 348 with positive nature and 252 evs) so the scarf would not be as useful as could be and the band lax is viable, but for this particular team, it wouldn't be recommended as it is Special wall

[Tomas Elliot]

Tpunch would be, in my opinion put in there for the predicted flying type to come in so the damage can be put on them. (consider ice punch for Landorus T switch un)

You do realize this is UU right?

[Jelly]

Tpunch would be, in my opinion put in there for the predicted flying type to come in so the damage can be put on them. (consider ice punch for Landorus T switch un)

leaf storm would be good on Roserade, but i think this particular roserade is survivability/damage, instead of speed and damage. So giga drain would be (unless the enemy has liquid ooze tentacruel) better in most situations. Also lowering sp attack isn't too good.

Infernape has quite high speed (base 108)(max 348 with positive nature and 252 evs) so the scarf would not be as useful as could be and the band lax is viable, but for this particular team, it wouldn't be recommended as it is Special wall

you seems to have ready the summary of my post and none of the reasoning behind it

[NickCrash]

Replace Lando-t with Salamence & Sceptile, and we're fine

[Tomas Elliot]

Replace Lando-t with Salamence & Sceptile, and we're fine

While this might be true, there is also the fact that Infernape doesn't learn Ice Punch...

[Tomas Elliot]

BUMP: tests have been made, and sets have been edited. The OP has already been updated, I will update my signature whenever I feel like.

Changelog:

1) Close Combat replaced Thunder Punch on Infernape

2) Leaf Storm replaced Giga Drain on Roserade

3) Vaporeon's EVs were tweaked

4) Crobat's EVs were tweaked

5) Pursuit replaced Crunch on Snorlax

Also I have noticed that Forretress and Mega Aggron have this tendency to switch into Roserade freely: HP Fire over Ice? What would I miss out on?

[NickCrash]

Change the Hidden Power to fire. The ape can have t-punch, because it can live aqua jets, and a scald.

[Tomas Elliot]

Change the Hidden Power to fire. The ape can have t-punch, because it can live aqua jets, and a scald.

I actually found that, without Close Combat, Eviolite P-2 is a pain, so yeah, I will stick to Close Combat on Infernape. Currently testing HP Fire on Roserade.