RMT - Xiri's Squads (UU Team 1)

[Xiri]

Greetings. My name is Xiri and I like to make competitive teams (mainly for UU and below). The teams may not be entirely perfect, but I plan to share some of the teams I built which shows good potential and performance (and because a certain Ody wanted me to post teams xD). Any sort of feedback would be much appreciated because I'm still learning how to be a good teambuilder.

Without further ado, let's begin:

A team at a glance:

Wow the icons are small

When I build teams, I try to build around 2 mons. In this case, I have chosen to build around Salamence and Reuniclus - 2 set up sweepers that can wreak teams that are not prepared for them.

In detail:

Salamence @ Lum Berry

Ability: Moxie

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Dragon Dance

- Earthquake

- Iron Tail

- Outrage

It's the standard DD Lum Salamence set which allows to hit almost everything pretty hard once a DD is up. Once all of Salamence's threats are gone (e.g Mamoswine, Entei etc), Salamence can freely set-up. Things like Forretress, Rotom-C after a Leaf Storm are excellent set-up baits.

Reuniclus @ Leftovers

Ability: Magic Guard

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA

Bold Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Calm Mind

- Focus Blast

- Psyshock

- Recover

Fun fact about me - I used to HATE this Pokemon because I always ended up getting swept by one whenever I encountered it in battle. But I figured I would just use it because why not? Magic Guard is a fantastic ability which makes it immune to residual status damage from Poison and Burn (although it doesn't really like to be paralyzed). Psyshock allows it to beat fellow Calm Mind sweepers such as Florges and Suicune. Focus Blast is there over Shadow Ball because its more crucial to hit those pesky Dark types such as Hydreigon, Krookodile and Absol, which can be annoying.

Escavalier @ Assault Vest

Ability: Overcoat

EVs: 248 HP / 176 Atk / 84 Def

Adamant Nature

- Drill Run

- Iron Head

- Knock Off

- Megahorn

AV Escavalier is awesome. Most special attacks don't do much at all to this thing, and it acts as a counter to annoying special attacking mons such as Porygon-Z, Alakazam and opposing Reuniclus, and deal heavy damage in return. Pursuit can be used over Drill Run if trapping things like Alakazam and Espeon are a priority.

Blastoise @ Blastoisinite

Ability: Torrent

EVs: 184 HP / 252 SpA / 72 Spe

Modest Nature

- Dark Pulse

- Ice Beam

- Rapid Spin

- Water Pulse

The team's Mega/Hazard Remover/Bulky Powerhouse. Dark Pulse and Water Pulse are given to take advantage of its rather unique ability. Maximum SpA is given so that it will deal maximum damage.

Swampert @ Leftovers

Ability: Torrent

EVs: 240 HP / 16 Atk / 252 Def

Relaxed Nature

- Earthquake

- Roar

- Scald

- Stealth Rock

Swampert is the team's physical wall and the SR setter. Things like Band Entei and Mega Aerodactyl are really common, and Swampert checks both of those mons with ease. Roar is there to force mons like Gyarados, Suicune and Reuniclus who tries to use Swampert as set-up bait.

Mienshao @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Reckless

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- High Jump Kick

- Knock Off

- Stone Edge

- U-turn

Scarf Mienshao is usually the team's lead. Reckless HJK is a deadly move which at least 2HKOs almost anything (apart from things like Chesnaught and Alomomola).

And that's it. I didn't really add much explanations since they are pretty much quite obvious. Your feedback on this team would be much appreciated

[Ironbound]

Fat physical tanks like Chesnaught and opposing bulky waters may give this team a hassle, since Escavalier is easy to wear down or even diapatch, unless you keep it safe. Other than than, it seems quite fine.

I don't usually play UU much, since OU and Ubers were my forte back in my Smogon days when I played competitive on PS main, but as of now this team may also have some issues with Zapdos IMO, especially offensive HP Grass versions which I believe are not uncommon. You'll have to have Reuniclus and/or Swampert healthy to keep it in check.

I also believe Crawdaunt is now in UU, so that thing is always a threat. If it manages an SD or if its teammates weaken down Mienshao and Salamence the rest of your team is murked by Crabhammer and Knock Off.

Perhaps consider a defensive Intimidate Defog+Roost Salamence and replace Blastoise for mega Ampharos? It can run a physdef RestTalk set with Dragon Pulse and Volt Switch to help vs some of the above, and also act as an absorber of Knock Off and status in general. This also makes much of your team slow, so Trick Room is viable on Reuniclus. Mienshao can also work well with Ampharos.

[Xiri]

Fat physical tanks like Chesnaught and opposing bulky waters may give this team a hassle, since Escavalier is easy to wear down or even diapatch, unless you keep it safe. Other than than, it seems quite fine.

I don't usually play UU much, since OU and Ubers were my forte back in my Smogon days when I played competitive on PS main, but as of now this team may also have some issues with Zapdos IMO, especially offensive HP Grass versions which I believe are not uncommon. You'll have to have Reuniclus and/or Swampert healthy to keep it in check.

I also believe Crawdaunt is now in UU, so that thing is always a threat. If it manages an SD or if its teammates weaken down Mienshao and Salamence the rest of your team is murked by Crabhammer and Knock Off.

Perhaps consider a defensive Intimidate Defog+Roost Salamence and replace Blastoise for mega Ampharos? It can run a physdef RestTalk set with Dragon Pulse and Volt Switch to help vs some of the above, and also act as an absorber of Knock Off and status in general. This also makes much of your team slow, so Trick Room is viable on Reuniclus. Mienshao can also work well with Ampharos.

Chesnaught is an easy set-up bait for Reuniclus as it is immune to Leech Seed and its attacks do barely any damage.

Zapdos is annoying for any sort of team, and yes HP Grass Zapdos does exist to counter Swampert. But most Zapdos are defensive and carries support moves such as Defog and Roost, so Reuniclus acts as an okay counter. Variants without Heat Wave gets walled by Escavalier too. Salamence + Mienshao also deals a lot of damage to it, so I'm not too worried about Zapdos.

Yeah, Crawdaunt actually deals heavy damage to this team, and its probably the most threatening mon. I might alter Blastoise's EV spread a bit to avoid being 2HKO by LO Knock Off (which is kinda ridiculous). I'm thinking of replacing Dark Pulse to Aura Sphere to counter this better.

Mega Ampharos sounds pretty good - but removing Mega Blastoise means I don't have a hazard remover. SR is a pain for Salamence, so a spinner/defogger is a must in this team. I'll consider the Defensive Salamence variant.

[pyrromanis]

Aura Sphere > Dark Pulse almost every time on M-Blastoise. Dark Pulse does have some niche to hit SE the various psychic types in uu, but Water Pulse is neutral to all of them so you can still deal some good damage to them. Aura Sphere on the other hand can hit SE Crawdaunt as you stated, which is a huge threat and can deal with special defensive Empoleon and can almost ensure the KO on Hydreigon.
(252+ SpA Mega Launcher Mega Blastoise Aura Sphere vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Hydreigon: 322-380 (99 - 116.9%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO).
It also 2HKO M-Aggron, OHKO Cloyster, Lucario & Sharpedo and has a small chance to 2HKO Porygon2.
And to wrap this up, Dark Pulse might give an unwanted att boost to the Justified users that lurk in uu.

Edited April 16, 2016 by pyrromanis

[Tomas Elliot]

Just a thought: considering that you already have a solid physical attacker in Escavalier, and considering that your win condition is setting up Reuniclus to win, have you considered using the bulky variant of Salamence, with Intimidate, Defog and Roost? Such a set would help mitigate the Crawdaunt issue, provide a solid out to the likes of Heracross (I am not saying that your team is weak to Heracross, I am simply saying that, against such powerful sweepers, it is better to have mons with access to recovery moves, so that they can switch in multiple times without being worn down), and take care of hazard removal, thus allowing you to try some other mega in Blastoise's stead. I would advice agaist Ampharos because two dragons in the same team might prove risky, but for example Aggron can prove a good partner for defensive Salamence, tanking Ice attacks aimed at it while Salamence takes care of Ground-type attackers. Meanwhile, Beedrill can giv you better offensive presence and access to U-turn. OR, if type synergy is important to you, you could make Swampert your mega (the boost to stats is so significant, it might be worth the loss of Lefties, provided that you time your switches carefully. Defensive Mega Swampert is underrated IMO), and use Rotom Fire in your last team slot: Rotom Fire is very useful to this team, as it shrugs off any and all moves Zapdos can learn, it walls Mamoswine (which can otherwise prove problematic to switch into), can use WoW to cripple enemy physical attackers, and provides momentum with Volt Switch.

The last option is probably the best one, so I am going to reiterate: run a defensive, Defog-Roost-Dragon Tail set on Salamence, make Swampert your mega, and replace Blastoise with Rotom Fire.

[Odybld]

VS and strong dark types.

I think you have a small Sableye problem, since Reuni can't touch it literally and it Wisps your entire team with no problem. Salamence's Lum Berry means that you have to ohko it before you set up, WoW pretty much cripples Mienshao who can't spam HJK with Sab around anyway, and your team in general gets really weakened by it. If you feel it's a great threat, you could change Focus Miss into something else like Signal Beam or Energy Ball (or Thunder if you like to gamble and don't care about Krook). That way you can still deal with dark types and, especially if E-ball or Thunder) get something to hit Roarcune before it phazes you out and starts to set up. Reuni wins the 1v1 against non-Roar variants because of Psyshock but should lose to the Roar

0 Atk Sableye Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Reuniclus: 144-170 (33.9 - 40%) -- 34.3% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

0 Atk Sableye Foul Play vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Reuniclus: 114-134 (26.8 - 31.6%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

You can also give Reuniclus a Colbur or Kee berry to better handle Dark types without relying too much on Signal Beam 2hkos / Focus Misses / whatever else or to boost your defense even more, respectively. I like the Colbur idea.

Minor set thingies

Consider Fire Blast > EQ on Salamence to better deal with various physically bulky checks. Scald or Hydro Pump are much better on Megastoise than Water Pulse, sadly for it. The burn chance is worth the small power drop and Hydro just wallbreaks better. Keep Dark Pulse btw to beat Jelliscent and anything that tries to spinblock you. Also you could try an alternative 248 HP / 52 Atk / 208 SpD Adamant spread for Escavalier to go with Lefties instead of AV. And Pursuit would be cool too, since an Encore set could troll some of your teammembers really hard. Drill Run is fine too tho, whatever you want of the two.

I'll be back later to see how I can make Swampert and Mega Blastoise into Rain Dance Mega Swampert and another hazard control mon god damn Tomas ninja'd me I will keep DDMence tho because it's one of the most dangerous UU wincons after a single dance.

Edited April 16, 2016 by Odybld

[Tomas Elliot]

Ody, you do realize Mega Sableye is OU right?

[Odybld]

Regular Prankster Sableye... if it Wows Mence and wears down Blastoise it's a massive pain in the ass.

[Tomas Elliot]

Regular Prankster Sableye... if it Wows Mence and wears down Blastoise it's a massive pain in the ass.

This is very true, but then why did you say this?

0 Atk Mega Sableye Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Reuniclus: 158-188 (37.2 - 44.3%) -- 100% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

0 Atk Mega Sableye Knock Off vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Reuniclus: 108-128 (25.4 - 30.1%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

[Odybld]

Whoops. The damage calc hasn't got the UU regular Sableye yet I put the right calcs now.

[Reignited'Light]

nice team, although you're right about Alakazam being a threat. I skimmed most of the other comments, so I'll also try to add on to them

drop Drill Run for Pursuit. The only thing you hit with d-run is empoleon and fire types like arcanine/entei, which still takes decent damage from knock off and sr combined. Also D-run isn't that useful in the long run, cause the things you do hit with it, usually just ko escavalier with fire stabs. I guess you hit lucario, but your team is particularly threatened by it, even if you drop d-run. plus the utility of pursuit is just much more useful to beat alakazam. Although it doesn't come in for free vs anything, it drops a psychic n' go if you don't run pursuit

Use Scald instead of Water Pulse. The increase in Water Pulse damage is nice and all, but the utility of Scald is just more useful than a slightly higher base power move. This is an optional change, since I don't know any notable 2hko's/ohkos between each move, but if water pulse does anything significant, you may choose to keep it.

Since people have stated you're weak to sableye, which you sorta are, you can go Signal Beam instead of Focus Blast, which does offer the same coverage, except you don't hit Forretress harder(Also taunt sableye stops reuniclus). Honestly, I'd drop Mienshao for CB Entei. Yes, I know those two cover different things, but Choice Band Entei breaks bulkier teams more easily cause all it does it click Sacred Fire and watch something drop. Extreme Speed also remedies the missing revenge killing utility like Scarf Mienshao.

Entei @ Choice Band

Ability: Pressure

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Sacred Fire

- Extreme Speed

- Stone Edge

- Will-O-Wisp / Iron Head / Filler

Hope these suggestions improve the team for you bro

Edited April 16, 2016 by Reignited'Light

[Xiri]

Whoo lots of feedback. Thanks guys!

Aura Sphere > Dark Pulse almost every time on M-Blastoise. Dark Pulse does have some niche to hit SE the various psychic types in uu, but Water Pulse is neutral to all of them so you can still deal some good damage to them. Aura Sphere on the other hand can hit SE Crawdaunt as you stated, which is a huge threat and can deal with special defensive Empoleon and can almost ensure the KO on Hydreigon.

Very good point. The Justified boost you mentioned can be quite annoying too, so yeah I did make the change. Thanks!

The last option is probably the best one, so I am going to reiterate: run a defensive, Defog-Roost-Dragon Tail set on Salamence, make Swampert your mega, and replace Blastoise with Rotom Fire.

Those seem pretty solid suggestions - especially the defensive Mega Swmapert set, which I never really used before. Thanks! However, I am slightly hesitant to use defensive Salamence because I prefer Salamence to act as a sweeper in this team.

nice team, although you're right about Alakazam being a threat. I skimmed most of the other comments, so I'll also try to add on to them

drop Drill Run for Pursuit. The only thing you hit with d-run is empoleon and fire types like arcanine/entei, which still takes decent damage from knock off and sr combined. Also D-run isn't that useful in the long run, cause the things you do hit with it, usually just ko escavalier with fire stabs. I guess you hit lucario, but your team is particularly threatened by it, even if you drop d-run. plus the utility of pursuit is just much more useful to beat alakazam. Although it doesn't come in for free vs anything, it drops a psychic n' go if you don't run pursuit

Use Scald instead of Water Pulse. The increase in Water Pulse damage is nice and all, but the utility of Scald is just more useful than a slightly higher base power move. This is an optional change, since I don't know any notable 2hko's/ohkos between each move, but if water pulse does anything significant, you may choose to keep it.

Since people have stated you're weak to sableye, which you sorta are, you can go Signal Beam instead of Focus Blast, which does offer the same coverage, except you don't hit Forretress harder(Also taunt sableye stops reuniclus). Honestly, I'd drop Mienshao for CB Entei. Yes, I know those two cover different things, but Choice Band Entei breaks bulkier teams more easily cause all it does it click Sacred Fire and watch something drop. Extreme Speed also remedies the missing revenge killing utility like Scarf Mienshao.

Entei @ Choice Band

Ability: Pressure

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Sacred Fire

- Extreme Speed

- Stone Edge

- Will-O-Wisp / Iron Head / Filler

Hope these suggestions improve the team for you bro

Ah the teambuilding god came to help me. Thanks Skitty!

Yeah, I replaced Drill Run, Water Pulse, Focus Blast for Pursuit, Scald and Signal Beam respectively. I only put Water Pulse there just for extra damage, and I guess a chance of residual burn damage is more viable here. Signal Beam won't OHKO Hydreigon on a switch-in but I guess its better than being walled by Sableye.

[Nova]

There's only one rule for using CM Reuniclus: Use a Kee Berry.

You have quite some solid outs to Knock Off, like Mienshao and Blastoise, and Escavalier can check most of them. You need only avoid the first Knock Off to make Reuniclus immortal to everything, even Mega Beedrill, except for some Choice Band Sets and powerful Dark Pulse/Shadow Balls before you've set up enough CMs. Of course, phazing is still a large risk as well, but the Kee Berry doesn't change that fact.

With those threats removed, all you need to do is bait a weak priority attack such as Bullet Punch Machamp, switch Reuni into it, and laugh as your opponent foolishly struggles to defeat you.