SM UU As You Were


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Hey there RMT section, it’s TSR aka gsc legend god aka drakeula aka yung urkelvictory (please kill me). It’s been a hot minute since I last posted here, so here I have a team I’ve been wanting to RMT for a while. Woulda posted this much sooner but anyone who's been talking to me in the last few months know I basically work near full time on top of college, so getting this all written up has been really hard ;-; Using this squad has brought me reasonable success, as it’s done a pretty decent job of getting me reqs for both the Mega Latias and Weavile tests, as well as winning a handful of games in some smaller tours. Y’know, about as successful as a team not being used in important Slam/Snake games can be. I built this team around a pretty offbeat (at the time) Mega Latias set, packing Dragon Pulse and Hidden Power Fire as opposed to the more run-of-the-mill BoltBeam sets. In some games later into the Mega Latias meta I’ve seen this set popping up more often but I’d like to think I was (likely) one of if not the first to experiment with this set. I summed up most of my thoughts that weren’t already said on Mega Latias’s place in Underused in this post, so as you can imagine the recent banning of it has me a little less hopeful for the future development of our tier. Either way, Mega Latias is banned now and the USUM UU meta has been underway for nearly two weeks now, I figured it was high time to officially retire this team since it’s been the closest thing I could create to something I envision would be an ideal SM UU metagame team. We're still a pretty far way off from what I think is the ideal state of UU this generation especially with Mega Latias being banned, but hopefully we'll be able to viably run teams like this again in what's to come.



Teambuilding process:



I began with Mega Latias as anyone with half a brain could tell you that she was bound to be one of the most influential Pokemon in the UU metagame and I wanted to experiment with it as much as possible. Rather than immediately slapping a Calm Mind set with Thunderbolt and Ice Beam on it like a lot of people did early on in this stage of the metagame, I used Dragon Pulse and Hidden Power Fire which I theorized would give many of its standard offensive checks a hard time. Long story short, I was right.



What’s a Bulky Calm Mind user without Toxic Spikes? Tentacruel was my next choice for the team as it brought me said Toxic Spikes, as well as hazard control early on in the teambuilding process, which is always helpful in my opinion. Tentacruel also proved to be a more reliable switchin for most Infernape sets as it would stop Latias from being Pursuit trapped by Alolan Muk. It also does an incredible job of holding off Klefki, which can land a detrimental Thunder Wave or Toxic on Mega Latias. Being able to hold off Klefki Spikes (while Thunder Wave doesn’t do what it does best) and absorb opposing Toxic Spikes can often be pretty useful for this team as it often relies on Krookodile as an offensive pivot.



Next on the agenda was stopping cores of Mega Manectric and/or Rotom-Wash and Alolan Muk from trampling the team. I could always slap on a Seismitoad or Swampert and call it a day, but with a Bulky Mega Latias and Tentacruel, I decided on the next two teammates as the team was at a risk of quickly becoming too passive. Scarf Krookodile is a pretty decent all around revenge killer and capable of taking on Manectric and Mega Aerodactyl for a few turns, which is typically all this team needs. I decided to use Taunt + Roost Hydreigon as I needed a better Krookodile answer of my own, as well as a safer, long-term pivot for Rotom-Wash. This set, especially with Toxic Spikes ready to support it, gives me a real chance against defensively inclined teams.



With Mega Latias and Tentacruel, I had a decent Scizor lure and a very shaky check, so I needed a better way of really switching into it long term, though this mainly goes for variants with Roost as they tend to stick around longer than Offensive SD or Choice Band if you play them well. Cobalion fit this bill pretty well and also provided Stealth Rock which I was lacking up until this point.



Lastly, this team was in desperate need of a Fairy-type. Klefki puts a stop to Latias, Mega Sceptile, and Hydreigon spamming Dragon-type moves for a free win against this team. Between Krookodile, Cobalion, and Tentacruel, opposing Mega Altaria had a pretty hard time setting two Dragon Dances, but I really needed some substantial insurance against it as well. Spikes are great support for most of this team, and Thunder Wave is always great support for Cobalion and wallbreaking Hydreigon variants.



A closer look:



For What It’s Worth (Latias-Mega) @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Recover


The linchpin of the team, Mega Latias acted as a great wincon and all around pivot / midground for a ton of threats like Infernape, Cobalion, Rotom-Wash, Mega Manectric, Nidoking, and many more. Its ban was quite unfortunate for balance and slower paced teams in general, but I digress. Dragon-type STAB gives stellar neutral coverage to just about any mon that can use it. Hidden Power Fire somewhat lowers its overall coverage but gave it the power to slap around things like Cobalion, Scizor, and Doublade that switch in expecting to take advantage of a BoltBeam set. This gave this set alone an excellent matchup against lazily built Volt-turn teams that plague both ladder and more competitive play. Scizor is often an integral member of teams of this archetype, and arguably the best Pokemon in the UU tier, so luring it in with this was nearly always beneficial as my alternative counterplay to Scizor was often dependent on what set it was running. Some of this is typically discernable from team preview, but Choice Band, Swords Dance, and bulky sets are all viable and seeing a Scizor in the lineup rarely narrows down any absolutes. Hidden Power Fire at +1 OHKOs pretty much any variant of Scizor bar Occa Berry holders, which are few and far between. These Scizoressentially only existing to avoid being trapped by Magneton, though it should be obvious from this team that Occa Berry Scizor can have several useful implications. Regardless, this set was definitely created with Scizor in mind, but of course also works against Metagross, Doublade, and Cobalion. It is also useful for forcing damage on Klefki to open up holes for Hydreigon later in the game. Dragon Pulse is also useful as it makes it much harder to take advantage of with Kyurem or Hydreigon, which the Choice Specs variants often didn’t mind taking an Ice Beam from the standard Mega Latias in order to shred it with Draco Meteor in return. The rest is fairly standard; Calm Mind for sweeping, Recover for well, recovery, and the same EV spread anyone worth their marbles was probably running.

none, this specific set has been pretty integral to the success of the team. Reflect Type Ice Beam might have been semi-useable because it’s kinda hard to kill but it’s even harder to sweep anything with.






Universal Gleam (Tentacruel) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic
- Toxic Spikes


Ironically, with the transition from ORAS to SM, Tentacruel has become much more consistent as a hazard remover. Tentacruel does a decent job of stuffing Klefki which can be pretty important for this team as nothing else really wants to take it on in a one-on-one scenario. Its use of Toxic Spikes synergizes well with Calm Mind Mega Latias, and as such it was alluring to add to this team, as well as giving me hazard control very early on in the teambuilding process. I wanted to lay Toxic Spikes as consistently as possible, so I added Toxic. Much how Tentacruel easily blocks Klefki from laying its hazards, Mantine typically can perpetually come in on Tentacruel unscathed and Defog on it. Toxic, as you might imagine, prevents this exchange. Tentacruel also often finds itself in some silly looking cripple fights against other common UU hazard control like Empoleon and opposing Tentacruel, as the rest of the team is somewhat annoyed by switching into Scalds or Toxic. Landing a burn on either of them is typically just fine as this opens the path to wearing them down, which in turn gives opportunity for Klefki to freely lay Spikes. The EVs I use outspeed Mamoswine, a decently threatening poke to the team on paper, but in all honesty, I’ve rarely struggled with it in practice. As it creeps the base 80 Speed tier, it also comes with the added benefit of outspeeding Volcanion, Togekiss, Mega Blastoise, and unboosted Mega Altaria. Clear Body also prevents it’s Speed from falling due to Stick Web, which typically grants it the ability to remove them in a pinch if Krookodile or Cobalion needs such.

Tentacruel @ Icium Z
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Haze
- Toxic Spikes

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Sludge Bomb
- Toxic Spikes

Tentacruel can take the Z crystal from Hydreigon to use Z-Haze, giving it a form of recovery as well as being a more solid check to Scizor. Alternatively, it can run Sludge Bomb to more effectively pressure Primarina, while still being able to cripple Mantine, though not to the extent that being badly poisoned via Toxic will.






Paper Crown (Cobalion) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance


One of my favorites in this tier going on two generations now, Cobalion once again shows up on a team of mine, this time to provide Stealth Rock, a necessity for any team not in gen 5. Swords Dance Cobalion in general is quite good in our meta at the moment, as many of its sturdier checks like Doublade, Jellicent, and Slowbro have fallen out of favor. Rocky Helmet is an odd item choice that Cynde turned me onto as Cobalion is a generally good offensive pivot for many middle-of-the-road powered physical attackers and Rocky Helmet can help it punish them. Once again, this is aimed at Scizor more than any other Pokemon in UU. While not extremely threatening to this team in general, U-turn variants of Scizor can often grab annoying momentum and escape from my usual ways of killing it if played relatively well. This damage can really rack up with my team taking damage from entry hazards and can put this team pretty far behind very quickly. This set seeks to punish this, but also comes with the extra benefit of punishing Altaria as well as Tentacruel that attempt to passively spin on it, though I usually don’t bother trying to keep Cobalion in during these types of scenarios unless Stealth Rock are extremely influential to the next few turns in a game.

Cobalion @ Psychium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Close Combat
- Zen Headbutt

Cobalion @ Steelium Z / Fightinium Z / Shuca Berry / Chople Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance

Psychium Z- boosted Zen Headbutt is extremely niche but useable to power through stall teams that feature Tentacruel as their hazard remover, allowing Tentacruel and Klefki to lay their hazards, which typically seals up any chance of Hydreigon not powering through the remainder. Other options are pretty run-of-the-mill, Cobalion can use the Z move if Hydreigon isn’t. Steelium Z in particular makes it much easier to kill Gliscor, while Shuca can sponge a hit from Krookodile. Chople Berry lets it take out Cobalion in a one-on-one scenario as well as sponge a hit from Flame Orb Heracross.




Greedy Soul (Hydreigon) @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Taunt
- Roost


This is a pretty underrated set, since it’s so easy to slap a Choice Scarf Hydreigon on Voltturn and be done with it. This is the set that I personally used the most on ladder as said ladder lords tend to think Gliscor counters everything, though I have tried out a few variations to strengthen matchups against various threats, which you can see down below. Dragonium Z turns Draco Meteor into a stupidly powerful nuke that pretty much decimates a poke for free if I can manage to get rid of Primarina, Syvleon, Klefki and/or Togekiss. I typically aim this at Gliscors if possible, though preventing Cobalion from setting up twice lategame or nuking Alolan Muk for Latias are all great options as well. The lack of Life Orb makes it slightly weaker overall, but actually makes it able to batter through Blissey easier since the lack of recoil damage makes it have to Roost less often while squaring off against it. Also makes for a stellar Krookodile counter since it’s somewhat annoying to the rest of the team. While Devastating Drake can usually nuke Gliscor out of exsistence, Taunt also proves handy since it can shut down Toxic variants, especially SubToxic Gliscors which can be extremely troublesome to this team if they get a sub. I would recommend to anyone reading this to give a try to wallbreaking variants of Hydreigon the next time you wanna slap a Choice Scarf on it - A lot of teams don’t properly prepare for Hydreigon with Taunt or a Steel-type move and catching the same tired answers to Hydreigon can put your opponent on the back foot pretty quickly.

Hydreigon @ Life Orb / Dread Plate
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Taunt
- Roost

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Roost

Hydreigon @ Steelium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Flash Cannon
- Roost

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Superpower
- Roost / Fire Blast

If Hydreigon gives up the Z crystal, It can replace it with a general power boosting item. Life Orb is the standard but Dread Plate allows it to hit Blissey easier while Taunt Roosting it. Fire Blast lets it smash Scizor as well as Klefki upon switchin, which can often clear the path for a Latias sweep. Steelium Z works in a similar fashion, allowing it to slam fairies like Altaria and Sylveon which also assists Latias. Superpower in its moveset allows it to break through Empoleon and Blissey which again, assists Mega Latias.






You Better Run (Krookodile) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Iron Tail


Krookodile is still a pretty nice glue mon that people underrate because it’s not as mindless of a Pursuit trapper as Alolan Muk can be at times. The general speed control is very nice to bring to this team, especially against annoying threats like Mega Manectric (specifically with support from Alolan Muk) and Mega Aerodactyl. Iron Tail has been the superior choice for me since the days of the Clefable/Keldeo/Bisharp meta (please bring this back) as it can still cleave through Aerodactyl all the same as Stone Edge while also being able to massively dent Clefable back in the day; in this current meta it’s pretty useful against Mega Altaria. CM regular Latias can be troublesome to this team if Klefki goes down via Magneton or general Klekfi lures and breakers. Krookodile can force it out decently well or pick it off with Pursuit if it’s weakened, one of the main reasons this set rose in popularity in the earlier stages of UU. Rotom-Wash is somewhat annoying to it, but with two Dragon-types in the wings mean this is almost never problematic for the team overall. Seriously underrated mon right now, so again I’d make a recommendation to the reader to give Iron Tail a chance, as most people fail to even mention this as an option. There’s a lot of great mons in UU right now but I seriously don’t think this one has fallen off as hard as some people would like you to think.

None, this specific set has been pretty integral to the success of the team.





I’ve All I Need (Klefki) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 192 HP / 216 Def / 100 SpD
Impish Nature
- Play Rough
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Reflect


Ah Klefki, how I both love and hate this mon with a burning passion. On one side, it can blanket check a ton of dangerous stuff like Hydreigon, Latias, and Mega Beedrill while providing a solid annoyance to what I like to call “retard offense” (that I essentially explained what it was in that post from the intro). On the flip side, it can get Spikes against hazard removers like Tentacruel and Mantine that should beat it through the sheer bullshit that is full paralysis, and can do crazy stuff like forcing out Infernape lategame because of the mere threat of Thunder Wave. I’d like to convince myself I’m using Klefki in the last slot of this team for the former reasons I listed, but as I have recognized not too long ago, I am a twave loving (BAN ME PLEASE). Still, Klefki does make a nice pivot against (Scarf) Hydreigon, Latias, Mega Sceptile, Beedrill, and Aerodactyl, Nihilego, and some Togekiss sets. It also provides a form of Speed control against some threatening stuff like DD haxorus and Rock Polish Cobalion if I somehow let them get out of hand. Reflect gives Klefki the power to aid the rest of the team against Cobalion, Heracross, Mamoswine, Mega Altaria, and Gliscor which can be annoying to pivot around otherwise, if given ample opportunity. I always run Play Rough on my Klefki sets as not being able to actually kill Latias with your best switch in would be silly. The rest should be self-explanatory; Spikes are great, Thunder Wave is great for all the wrong reasons, and it has a sick defensive typing that lets it throw these around pretty easily. I kinda threw the EVs together to be quite honest, lowering its HP down to the next lowest multiple of 16 for optimal Leftovers recovery and whatnot, and dumped the rest into Special Defense so I don’t shit myself if Sceptile clicks Hidden Power Fire on the switchin once.

Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 192 HP / 216 Def / 100 SpD
Impish Nature
- Play Rough
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Light Screen / Heal Block / Foul Play

Klefki @ Eject Button
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 192 HP / 216 Def / 100 SpD
Impish Nature
- Play Rough
- Spikes
- Fairy Lock
- Recycle

Light Screen’s an option if you’re scared of Mega Sceptile (you shouldn’t really be) and also makes Mega Manectric and Rotom-Wash marginally easier to deal with. Heal Block is also a neat option you can use to stuff Gliscor and help chip Tentacruel, Empoleon, Mantine, Blissey, Quagsire. Lastly, Foul Play is a great option to stop Scizor from setting up in a pinch. Second one is a fun set that lets you rip through defensive teams because they typically just throw Tentacruel or Blissey in to heal or chip you down and Fairy Locking them lets your other teammates take them out for free. Definitely gimmicky and wouldn’t recommend it in 8 or 9 out of every 10 serious games, but I’ve had it work before.



Anywho, that’s all from me. I feel like I might have rambled a bit but I typically don’t get a chance to talk about the metagame in detail so I went a little overboard. Hopefully the advent of Ultra Sun and Moon makes this metagame more enjoyable to play in the near future. I don’t have much more to say about this team as a whole, so here are some results that the team has managed to rack up. Not the most impressive resume compared to some other teams, but it’s done just about the best it can do.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/thread...tification-thread.3617516/page-2#post-7542311

http://www.smogon.com/forums/thread...tification-thread.3619776/page-3#post-7573705

These two posts show me on the Weavile and Mega Latias ladder since I didn’t bother saving screenshots myself. I know going super high on suspect ladders isn’t that impressive, but both of these runs were fairly Quick and Easy™ compared to some of my previous runs that some people have been unfortunate enough to witness.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-324113 UU majors CHAMPION Bushtush vs. Pohjis in semifinals. Unfortunately majors was not as hype as compared to last year’s due to the change in format, lowering the size of the main tour, but still packed some pretty good games overall.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-645261791 I gave it to slurmz and he wins a game in some Mexican tour lmao.


I'd also like to point out that I have a ton of replays saved under my main from my Weavile suspect run as well because someone saved the last 13 replays (PLEASE I JUST WANNA KNOW WHY YOU DID THIS, MYSTERY MAN). I won’t link them here because it’s a lot, and they’re mostly just run of the mill ladder games. Losing to Scarf Nidoking on webs offense, Mega Latias sweeping through teams with no Steel- or Fairy-types, standard stuff. You can search em up if you’re interested I suppose.

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Lastly, the obligatory threatlist:

Mega Pidgeot and Togekiss: Kinda tough to deal with since my Flying resists are pretty thin. How Togekiss is take down depends on its sets; sets without Heal Bell are typically much easier to pressure but are kinda hard to really finish off. Pidgeot sightings are few and far between nowadays but can melt Klefki with Heat Wave if played smart and can clean the team up with some chip (doesn’t OHKO Cobalion or Hydreigon with any one attack).

Mamoswine: Mamoswine seems incredibly threatening on paper as it can hit my entire team for super effective damage with either of its STABs. I’ve never had any problem dealing with it in practice, however. Must be a bad mon lmfao.

Hydreigon: Life Orb Hydreigon can give me a hard time if packing Fire Blast since it can roast Klefki, which is typically the initial switchin. Other than that, it’s not impossible to deal with.

Gliscor: Gliscor can just annoying to actually kill, no set is really threatening to break the team on its own.

+
Infernape and Mega Manectric alongside Alolan Muk: The presence of Alolan Muk means I have to use my secondary means of checking Infernape and Manectric, which are marginally shakier than throwing Mega Latias in.

Bulky Water hazard removers: Mantine, Tentacruel, and Empoleon are annoying since they block Toxic and regular Spikes. Luckily, the only tend to be annoying at best. Tentacruel becomes legitimately troublesome when found on Alomomola + Blissey + Quagsire stall however, as it has the proper support to avoid being worn down easily.

Amoonguss: Much like Gliscor, Amoonguss can be annoying to kill but hardly can be considered a real threat to the team.

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I did really personalized shoutouts last time I posted an RMT, but this time I am feeling much lazier as it took so long to actually get this thread posted, AND they took forever so I can’t be asked to write up a bunch of new ones for everyone, f school + full time job :(. There are a ton of people who have made my experience playing this awful game pretty enjoyable, hopefully you guys all know who you are. n_n
Other than that, I don't really have many closing thoughts other than mentioning once again that the Mega Latias ban was pretty unfortunate for the devolpment of the tier, in my opinion. Hopefully if you've gotten this far you've enjoyed reading this RMT. Anyway, there's been more than enough rambling from me in this post, so this'll be TSR signing out.
 

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