Gen 2 [GSC UU] Diet Mountain Dew

Estarossa

moo?
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Introduction

Hi everyone, another UUPL season has just ended and I'm so grateful for having the opportunity to play my favourite UU gen again for a whole tour in a pool of amazing players. I'm super happy to have finished the tour with an amazing 5-2 record after my 6-2 record in UUSD and wanted to take the time to share one of my favourite teams from both UUSD and UUPL.

I built this team originally in UUSD in 2021 to use vs Thor in Week 6. Throughout the tour I'd talked a bit with Accel about the incredibly low Dodrio usage, and how much of an underrated threat it truly is in GSC UU for quite a few reasons; posessing a fantastic speed tier sitting above common fairly fast Pokemon like Mr. Mime and Haunter, an incredibly powerful Normal STAB that hits as hard as Snorlax's Double Edge, and a really nice typing that gives it an incredible Ground-immunity, especially useful in a metagame where Spikes are so important. Team's had also been seeing an increase in the use of Haunter as the Normal-resist, which is something Dodrio could prey on nicely.

Dodrio had traditionally been seen on SD + Baton Pass Scyther teams in the past, but I'd personally been falling out of favour with these structures in recent times due to the booming usage of Roar Gyarados, Piloswine, and Shuckle Stall teams. While Scyther has the potential to get through the former two longer-term with support from teammates, it has to contend with Gyarados's ability to easily regain a lot of HP through Leftovers during passive turns caused by Roaring into undesirable teammates or having to Rest against Gyarados, and both these Pokemon can be highly threatening to give turns to, meaning Scyther can be quite a double edged sword in the earlier games.

I instead wanted to explore using Dodrio on a Light Screen style team instead, letting it massively improves its ability to spam attacks into the likes of Mr. Mime, Piloswine, and Nidoqueen, and act as a consistent battering ram that can take advantage of weaker special attackers like Hypno. These Light Screen Hypno structures had already been popular for their ability to overcome Hypno's traditional passive nature and generate dangerous offense through opening up teammates like Curse Granbull and Nidoqueen, but Dodrio seemed like an amazing underrated choice for using on these teams, with Light Screen able to remove its weaknesses to any non Rock-type moves and severely limit the amount of Pokemon that could safely check it without stalling out Screen's turns first or being at risk of Critical hits, with only Omastar, Shuckle, and Magneton truly handling it in these situations.


Teambuilding Process

:dodrio: :hypno:

As discussed I wanted to start with this Dodrio + Light Screen core for the premise of the team. Hypno is by far the best Light Screen setter, and is arguably its most potent set lately hanks to the overwhelming amount of Pokemon it checks and gets chances to set up against, while enabling a lot of offense to counteract the passiveness it can sometimes traditionally cause, opening up all sorts of powerful attackers like Nidoqueen, Curse Granbull, and of course, Dodrio, to much more comfortably threaten their checks. This can be clearly seen in the game vs Thor in UUSD, as despite losing Dodrio early to an unfortunate Critical hit, Nidoqueen was able to directly switch into and check Mr. Mime and Gyarados under Light Screen and force progress despite its typing.

:dodrio: :hypno: :qwilfish:

Spikes is a fairly obvious addition here alongside Dodrio to really pressure switch-ins like Slowbro and Piloswine heavily. Not much more to say here but a Curse set is a nice choice here to help keep Spikes up into Blastoise, especially in the absence of a Haunter on the team, and its speed tier is also pretty nice to help put some extra pressure on stuff like Gyarados.

:dodrio: :hypno: :qwilfish: :granbull:

Omastar is absolutely the biggest issue for a Dodrio when used on a team like this, as you aren't threatening it with a +2 Hidden Power Ground like on Swords Dance passing teams. Thunder Granbull is a cool set that sees some very occasional use that is amazing at luring Omastar, 2HKOing it after Spikes on entry, and outspeeding on the second attack too if it lands a Paralysis. Curse Granbull alongside Dodrio also forms a deadly Normal spam core under the Light Screen support, and with Lovely Kiss as the fourth move helps make this Granbull a cool lead for this team, instantly putting pressure on offense teams and Baton Pass teams, and typically landing an easy Sleep on Haunter switch-ins.

:dodrio: :hypno: :qwilfish: :granbull: :nidoqueen:

A Ground-type pretty necessary alongside Dodrio for Electric-types like Ampharors and Electabuzz. Magneton is particularly threatening since it walls both the Dodrio and Granbull. Nidoqueen fulfills this nicely and offers one of the most dangerous mixed attackers possible, especially threatening under Light Screen where it gets plenty of chances to pressure checks like Hypno, Mr. Mime, and Slowking.

:dodrio: :hypno: :qwilfish: :granbull: :nidoqueen: :omastar:

Omastar offers the team an important Normal-resist for the opposing Granbull matchup. Alongside Nidoqueen it also offers a check to Scyther, a fast Surf to pressure Piloswine, and a powerful tool in Ice Beam to help fish for important Freezes against switch-ins like Hypno and Gyarados to open doors for its teammates.

Team Indepth

Spr_2c_210.png

million dollar man (Granbull) @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Curse
- Return
- Thunder
- Lovely Kiss

Curse Granbull is one of the most deadly threats in the tier with its ability to pick and choose its checks and severely punish passive turns from the opposing player. It's a particularly interesting option in the lead slot to match up well against popular Psychic-leads and instantly apply massive opening pressure, while revealing crucial information about the opposing team's responses to Normal-types. Lovely Kiss is hugely threatening with its ability to instantly shut down responses like Haunter or an aggressive Qwilfish looking to switch in for a Spikes opportunity. Thunder is an interesting option on Curse Bull, as it usually opts to run Hidden Power [Ground] to directly threaten Pokemon like Magneton and Haunter, but Thunder is crucial on this team for its ability to 2HKO Omastar, Dodrio's biggest counter. Thanks to Light Screen support from Hypno, Granbull can very well be used to provide some immediate offense and then kept for further use later to take advantage of Pokemon like Hypno and Mr. Mime under Light Screen, but can also be used to immediately trade for multiple Pokemon in the early-game in the right matchup, such as in my match vs Gorgie in UUPL.

Spr_2c_211.png

born to die (Qwilfish) @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Hydro Pump
- Curse

Spikes is an absolutely crucial part of most GSC UU teams, the bulky nature of the tier makes the extra damage they provide absolutely pivotal in getting certain rolls against opposing Pokemon, and they help punish constant switching and help negate Leftovers recovery somewhat. Spikes are absolutely crucial alongside Dodrio on this team in particular, helping to turn some 3HKOs into 2HKOs against Pokemon like Granbull and Lanturn. Qwilfish's main role is absolutely to just keep Spikes up on this team, in particular using Curse to improve its matchup vs Blastoise in the absence of a Haunter to help Spinblock. Outside of this if not facing a Blastoise, Qwilfish can simply be used to offensively pressure Pokemon like Piloswine, Nidoqueen, and Gyarados, absorb Thief from Haunter, and be used as a timely sack to preserve its teammates.

Spr_2c_085.png

diet mountain dew (Dodrio) @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Double-Edge
- Drill Peck
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Dodrio is absolutely the star of this team. As mentioned in the introduction, Dodrio posesses a range of qualities that make it a massive threat in this tier, especially against teams reliant on Pokemon such as Haunter or Slowbro as their Normal-resists. Dodrio's Double-Edge is the most powerful Physical attack in the tier besides Explosion, and lets it act as a massively threatening wallbreaker able to constantly apply enormous pressure against opposing teams. With Light Screen support, Dodrio can really increase its entry points, not only taking advantage of weaker Pokemon like Hypno but able to comfortably switch into Pokemon like RestTalk Mr. Mime, Blastoise, and Slowking to threaten them too. Rest + Sleep Talk makes Dodrio have absolutely insane longevity and very difficult to take down, as it can comfortably take attacks from Pokemon like Nidoqueen and Piloswine in order to break through them and recover the damage off later. Drill Peck as the coverage move is preferable to Hidden Power [Ground] here due to the much greater neutral damage when pulled off Sleep Talk, despite losing out on the ability to hit Magneton.

Spr_2c_031.png

off to the races (Nidoqueen) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Earthquake
- Thunder
- Fire Blast
- Moonlight

The Queen of UU is arguably the second star of this team, displaying its insane potential as a Light Screen abuser both in an offensive and defensive setting. Nidoqueen serves as a potent check to Pokemon like Electabuzz, Magneton and Scyther for the team, and a deadly wallbreaker capable of threatening Dodrio's main counters and wearing down shared checks like Piloswine. Light Screen turns Nidoqueen's offensive and defensive potential up to 11 however, preventing traditional Nidoqueen checks such as Slowbro, Blastoise, Mr. Mime and Hypno from being able to really threaten it and giving Nidoqueen plenty of opportunites to be able to pressure them and potentially break through them, and giving Nidoqueen the ability to even switch into Pokemon like Gyarados and Lanturn with zero fear of their Water-type STAB moves and heal off any small damage over time with Moonlight, as showcased in my UUSD game vs Thor. Fire Blast is used on Nidoqueen on this team for its ability to pressure through Piloswine and get a safe 2HKO on Scyther.

Spr_2c_097.png

video games (Hypno) @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Psychic
- Light Screen
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Hypno is an amazing defensive wall capable of checking most special attacking threats, in particular Mr. Mime. Light Screen turns Hypno's traditional passivity on its head, using these Pokemon such as Mr. Mime as an opportunity to generate dangerous offensive turns for its teammates, making Hypno as much of an enabler as it is a defensive wall. Hypno serves as one of the teams primary checks to Nidoqueen and Gyarados alongside these special attacking threats, although it should be careful around checking Haunter as losing its Leftovers or being Exploded on can be very disastrous, fortunately Granbull will usually force Haunter asleep in this matchup.

Spr_2c_139.png

dark paradise (Omastar) @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Omastar rounds off the team with a fantastic Normal-resist, capable of walling Granbull and Dodrio and checking Scyther, particularly useful to stop these Pokemon taking advantage of Hypno. While it shouldn't be used as a primary check to it, it can also be used to pressure Piloswine if necessary when it is threatening Dodrio outside of Light Screen, outspeeding and 2HKOing it and capable of switching in comfortably on Ice Beam or Rest. Ice Beam as the fourth move ensures that Omastar cannot pull poor moves against pokemon like Nidoqueen and Quagsire, is Omastar's strongest option against Scyther, and gives Omastar the ability to pressure the opponent with the ability to fish for Ice Beam freezes against checks such as Slowking, Blastoise, or Hypno.

Replays

UUSD II Week 6: Estarossa vs Lord Thorx - Dodrio uses Light Screen support to force a Mr. Mime out and nuke Piloswine early. Dodrio unfortunate got crit by Mr. Mime early in this match despite having an amazing matchup, but Nidoqueen + Light Screen ended up being able to overcome both a Gyarados and a RestTalk Mr. Mime quite comfortably to win the match.

UUPL X Week 5: Estarossa vs Gorgie - Lead Granbull creates a nasty immediate trade for multiple Pokemon in a HO matchup, albeit in a slightly messy rng situation from both sides between an unfortunate Lovely Kiss miss and crit. I wasn't happy with how I played the endgame of this game, failing to take a 100% win path by just sacking something to Politoed's Sleep and then removing it and instead just going for trying to force one of three lovely kiss's to miss or 50% Psychic pull from Hypno (recursive chance factoring in the lack of leftovers from Politoed), but game was still a good showcase of lead Bull's potential.

GSCPL II Week 5: Estarossa vs LpZ - This was an interesting game vs a demonic Swagger team. Dodrio put in massive work in this game in taking out multiple parts of the team, allbeit getting a bit lucky vs Piloswine, making up for Omastar getting first turn Frozen in a matchup where it would have been pivotal.

Shoutouts

I'm never good at shoutouts so I'm gonna keep it fairly short this time, sorry anyone I missed in particular LOL. A general shoutout to all my UU and osrs buddies too, and UUSD Dragonairs and UUFPL Diancies (we're definitely winning! you are all goats). I've particularly loved the direction the UU community has been going the last few years, and have loved being heavily involved in it as a Discord moderator and Room Owner, and am looking forward to the years to come!

Bandkrook - You are my best friend on this site and I love you lots <3 Thank you for always being there for me and being an amazing friend, talking to you always makes my day and I miss having you around lots, but always cherish getting to chat with you whenever you are on.

Juno - My other bestie, watching you get into GSC UU tons recently has been amazing and you are doing so well ngl, and love having a test partner to always play with. Love always having someone to gossip about everything with and always enjoy our chats LOL

Lily - Fellow unviable mon simp :d You do an amazing job with everything on this site and this tier, couldn't have a more amazing person leading UU. Love working with you on stuff and chatting about various stuff like our runescape nerd tendancies :x

Abhi chlo lydian Askov Zephyri Fusion Flare ausma KM Blitz avarice Windingsss Eve - Goated deinos. Love you all and love chatting to you and sharing cat pics especially with chloe and eve :x

Adaam Wanka Accel - Goated Ladies managers. Ty for drafting me and putting a lot of trust in me <3 Especially ty Accel for always being there to sanity check my ideas throughout UUPL and UUSD.

UUPL Ladies - Loved teaming up with you all for UUPL, pity we couldn't make Finals but you all did an amazing job and made the tour great fun :3 Was particularly happy to see Celebiii and Monky25 getting your well deserved chances to showcase what you are capable of, you two have bright futures in future tours.
 
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Does this team honestly need rating? It's really good and I've used a slightly similar structure myself involving screens and Dodrio with a set more along the lines of all-out-offence for Dodrio, namely this one:
:gs/dodrio:
Jane Air (Dodrio) @ Leftovers
Ability: none
IVs: 14 HP / 24 Atk
- Double-Edge
- Whirlwind
- Drill Peck
- Hidden Power [Ground]

It's a reference to the novel Jane Eire.
Nothing extremely out of the ordinary and if I had the opportunity to test the Rest Talk set I probably would have used it in tournament (let's just say that Dodrio is not my favorite sleep talker but you've convinced me that it's still great!). The Hidden Power Ground can be used to hit Omastar and Magneton and Haunter. There aren't really many opportunities that actually warrant you needing both Drill Peck and Hidden Power Ground though. The whirlwind was a comfort move that made my life easier behind screens to phaze out Scyther and it ended up catching a few players by surprise. I suppose I could optimise the one I used as it's not able to be used aggressively to a great effect due to fear of status.
 

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