SS UU (SS UU) Rate My Team

[personguy9922]

Team Building Process:

I started with Zarude, since it had Jungle Healing, which let it freely switch in against statuses, and it had access to U-turn too. A perfect Pokemon to use for pivoting.

Then I added Azelf, because Zarude had trouble dealing with Pokemon that are faster than it that had a supereffective move, like Thundurus. Azelf could outspeed Thundurus, and Zarude could cover for most of Azelf's type weaknesses.

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I added Salamence as a physical sweeper, basically. Zarude was more of a pivot to gain momentum, so it wouldn't stay on field for long.

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I added Primarina to counter Ditto, which would threaten to wipe my team if it copied my Moxie Salamence. Salamence has Outrage, the only supereffective move against it, so the Ditto would be locked into Outrage if it wanted to faint my Salamence, letting my Primarina kill it easily. If not, my Salamence could just faint it with Outrage by itself.

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I realized my team had a big weakness against Ice, so I added Lycanrock-D. It was fast and it had good attack, so it could take out Ice types quickly.

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Finally, I added Shuckle to set up Sticky Web and Stealth Rock. Sticky Web is especially important, since i would want to avoid being slower.
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The team:

Zarude @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Leaf Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Jungle Healing
- Darkest Lariat
- Power Whip
- U-turn

Zarude's main role is to take statuses that would cripple the team, like Will-O-Wisp on Salamence. Jungle Healing cures it's status condition while healing it, making the status useless. Darkest Lariat and Power Whip are 2 strong STAB moves, so it can do decent damage if it doesn't need to switch out. If the enemy resists it's attacks, Zarude will use U-turn and switch out, since some of my Pokemon struggle with switching in. Although Zarude can stay on field for quite long, I don't want it to take unnecessary damage and waste Jungle Healing PP, since I'll be using it alot. Heavy-Duty Boots stops hazards from crippling it.

Azelf @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Ice Punch
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic
- Fire Blast

Azelf is a standard switch-in for Zarude to protect it, and vice versa. Ice Punch can damage Flying types, but it's more of a filler move. I'm willing to switch it out for a better move. Shadow Ball is also in the same situation. Psychic is a strong STAB move. I didn't use Psyshock since there's enough physical damage on the team. Fire
Blast is a strong Fire type move to deal with Bug types, which threaten Azelf and Zarude alot. Most of Azelf's weaknesses are covered by Zarude, and Azelf can help deal with Pokemon that outspeed Zarude. Leftovers is for more sustainability.

Salamence @ Yache Berry
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dual Wingbeat
- Outrage
- Brick Break
- Crunch

Salamence is my physical sweeper, with it's good attack paired with Moxie deals tons of damage after 1 or 2 faints. Dual Wingbeat stops Substitute stalling, Outrage is a powerful Dragon STAB move which stops Ditto (more explanation at Team Building Process) from sweeping. Brick Break counters Ice types, and destroys screens as an added bonus. Crunch lowers defense, which can stop physical walls from stalling for too long with some luck. Yache Berry halves Ice moves, which let's Salamence keep sweeping.

Primarina @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Primarina is my special sweeper. I didn't use Liquid Voice since I think Scald with a chance to burn is better than a slightly higher damage Hyper Voice. Moonblast is a strong STAB move. Rest and Sleep Talk plus Leftovers makes Primarina immune to statuses, and also heal while dealing damage. High HP EVs makes it stay on field even longer.

Lycanroc-Dusk @ Life Orb
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Accelerock
- Close Combat
- Crunch

Lycanrock-D is my counter to Ice types, which is a big problem for my team. Stone Edge is a powerful STAB rock move with a added bonus - a high crit rate. Accelerock is useful for crucial moments where Lycanrock needs to move first. Close Combat is a powerful move. Crunch lowers defense, making Accelerock do more damage.

Shuckle @ Berry Juice
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 1
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Stealth Rock
- Encore
- Knock Off

Shuckle is my starting Pokemon. It sets up hazards, which greatly help my team. It's level makes Sturdy activate 100%, and Berry Juice makes it activate again, ensuring both hazards to be set up. Sticky Web helps with things that outspeed. Stealth Rock deals chip damage, which might come in handy in certain situations. Encore is useful for Pokemon that try to set up against it, and Knock Off cripples the first Pokemon if it tries to set up.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to be as harsh as you want in commenting.

 

[personguy9922]

Uh, for some reason, my images are bugged out, so just pretend like they're there. Sorry for the inconvenience!

 

[StarFalcon555]

Hi there! This is a nice starting point for your team overall. Most of the team members have good synergy with each other and their roles are clearly defined. However, some of your sets do need a bit of work, so I'm going to go over what you should fix there.


First up is Azelf. Ice Punch and Shadow Ball are absolutely not needed on this set. Fire Blast basically hits all of the targets that those two moves hit (bulky Grasses for Ice Punch and Aegislash for Shadow Ball). Leftovers are also a terrible item to run on Azelf since its so frail. The preferred set for Azelf would be this:

Azelf @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Psyshock
- Fire Blast
- Energy Ball / Dazzling Gleam

This set is much better at taking advantage of Azelf's offensive prowess. Psyshock is preferred over Psychic to hit Chansey. Energy Ball hits Water and Ground types, while Dazzling Gleam hits Dark types. You can pick whichever one you prefer out of those two :3


Next up is Salamence. First off, there is no reason to run any item that isn't Heavy-Duty Boots on a Salamence. Avoiding Stealth Rock damage is so much more important for increasing its longevity. Besides, Salamence's 4x Ice weakness means that it won't be surviving any Ice attack even with a Yache Berry. Brick Break and Crunch are also unnecessary on this set. You already have Lycanroc-Dusk with Close Combat (basically a stronger Brick Break) and Crunch; why do you need two Pokemon with Fighting and Dark coverage? This is the preferred Moxie Salamence set:

Salamence @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Dual Wingbeat
- Earthquake

Dragon Dance makes Salamence an even better snowball sweeper, allowing it to become even more unstoppable after a boost. Earthquake hits Steel types like Aegislash.


Your Primarina set is mostly fine, but the nature and EVs do need to be changed. RestTalk Primarina is usually ran with a Calm nature and 252 HP / 132 Def / 124 SpD to improve its defenses on both ends. Using this EV spread will help you switch into Mamoswine more easily.


Last up is Shuckle. And if I'm being honest... I really don't think Shuckle works well with this team. You mention that you want Sticky Web so that you won't be slower, but every other member of your team bar Primarina has at least 100 base Speed, so you'll be outspeeding your opponents a lot of the time anyways. And Shuckle is just not a good Pokemon in general: after it gets its hazards up its basically dead weight, so it's like you basically have five team members.


My suggestion is to replace Shuckle with Rotom-Heat. This Pokemon just has really good synergy overall with the rest of your team. It gives your team an Electric and Fire type, two types that your team is lacking. It serves as a hazard remover, something that is very important to your team so that you can keep Azelf, Salamence, and Lycanroc-Dusk alive for longer periods of time. Its Volt Switch allows it to form a pivoting core with Zarude to keep up momentum, and it's another switch-in to Mamoswine. Here is the set you should use for it:

Rotom-Heat @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Defog
- Pain Split

I explained what Volt Switch and Defog do above. Overheat is the Fire STAB, and Pain Split serves as recovery.

If you really want a Stealth Rock + Knock Off lead in the last slot, then you can use Krookodile instead, but I don't recommend this since it stacks weaknesses and makes Mamoswine even more of a problem. The important thing is that you get rid of Shuckle.

So anyways that's all the feedback I have! Hopefully I didn't come off as too harsh haha... If you have any questions, please feel free to shoot me a PM or write a message on my wall!

 

[avarice]

Yo personguy9922, welcome to Smogon! You have a pretty solid set of Pokemon with good offensive synergy here. However, some of these sets could be more optimal to take on the rest of the metagame. I decided to lean more into a Bulky Offense to better support the original Pokemon, Heavy Duty Boots Zarude. I hope you consider some of these changes as I believe they will make the team more consistent within the current metagame.

Major Changes
->

Choice Scarf Jirachi

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Thunder Punch
- Healing Wish

Azelf is difficult to support with Heavy Duty Boots Zarude. They are both pivots but do not particularly synergies well enough to justify the lack of defensive utility Azelf has. Jirachi plays similarly but appreciates Zarude's STABs much more as it can draw in more Pokemon that Zarude can immediately threaten like Rotom-W. Jirachi's Steel-typing and utility in Healing Wish is appealing as well. Thunder Punch is chosen as the coverage move to remove boosted Gyarados and pick off Keldeo reliably.

->

Offensive Hazard Setter

Nidoqueen (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Fire Blast

Having two Rock-types is pretty much impossible to support outside of raw hyper offense. Shuckle is just out of place and Lycanroc is easier to support with no Azelf. Nidoqueen is a strong wall breaker that can appreciate Zarude and Jirachi bringing in Pokemon like Amoonguss. She can also put up Stealth Rock. Fire Blast is chosen over Ice Beam since Celesteela can be difficult to break.

Minor Changes

Offensive Defog

Salamence @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Flamethrower
- Defog
- Roost

Salamence does not have enough support to run Dragon Dance here. Meanwhile, hazard removal is needed and Salamence is able to perform that role well with a specially offensive set. Having a more supportive role makes Intimidate more useful as it can relieve some pressure off Primarina. Hurricane and Flamethrower have great coverage and not hitting Rotom-W is not very important with Zarude able to counter it.

RestTalk

Primarina @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Def / 124 SpD
Calm Nature
- Moonblast
- Scald
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Primarina is a great glue Pokemon on this structure, it can sponge plenty of hits and be rather annoying for the opposition given how potent its typing is both offensively and defensively. Rest and Sleep Talk give Primarina nice durability but it is most efficient with mixed bulk. The Special Defense investment can be extremely useful for handling Pokemon like Keldeo more consistently.


https://pokepast.es/625400a99f07c661
This version of the team should give you more flexibility playing while not feeling too slow without Sticky Web support. Enjoy!