Gen 8 Noob Attempts A UU Team!

[Bucsfan818]

Hello there everyone! So earlier this week Pokemon Showdown opened up the UU tier in Gen 8. I gotta say, it’s been pretty fun for the little bit that I played it testing the team I will be breaking down here.

I decided since I did a team building thread for OU, which had more views than I was expecting tbh (this was always a VGC community primarily from what I remember), I’m going to do one for each tier after they open up. So let’s get into this UU team!

The Core

Every team has a starting point. That’s what the core is and it’s normally as simple as picking a Pokemon you like. That’s what I did with this team. I scrolled through the list of available Pokemon until I found one the peaked my interest. That Pokemon was Galarian Weezing!

Weezing-Galar @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Strange Steam
- Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse

What drew me into Weezing was it’s unique typing of Poison/Fairy. It’s an all around good type combination. Defensively it only has 3 weaknesses and offensively it’s only resisted by Steel and Poison. I decided to run an offensive variant simply because in Gen 7 NU, offensive Z move Weezing was one of my favorite Pokémon to use lol.

EV spread is straight forward. Max SpA with a Modest nature for as much power as possible. The rest went into Speed to be as fast as possible. Sludge Wave and Strange Steam are the main moves of choice to be using as they are both STAB. Fire Blast is a must to hit Steel types. Dark Pulse is mainly to hit Gengar. The 4th move is interchangeable, really. This team struggles a bit with Gengar so I use Dark Pulse.

Levitate was the ability of choice to remove Weezing’s Ground weakness. Misty Surge could be used to buff Strange Steam and also makes the team immune to status while Misty Terrain is up.

Just like that I have my starting point of the team. Now let the actual building process begin!

Core Synergy

I wanted to find teammates that pair well with Weezing. Now, that could be offensively or defensively. Doesn’t matter. Even though I am running an offensive set on my Weezing, I did end up deciding to go with teammates with good defensive synergy with Weezing.

Doublade @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- Gyro Ball
- Sacred Sword

A Steel-type paired very well defensively with Weezing. Even thought it has Fire Blast, Weezing does not want to stay on the field against a Steel-type. Doublade can switch into most of Weezing’s checks pretty safely for the most part, outside of coverage moves like Earthquake. Doublade can also act as a late game sweeper with Swords Dance and Shadow Sneak.

The EV spread is the standard Gen 7 spread. Max Attack with 0 Speed to make Gyro Ball as strong as possible. 240 HP EVs minimizes the damage Doublade take from Burn and Stealth Rock. The leftover just goes into SpD.

Swords Dance is to set up on Pokemon that can’t touch Doublade (ie: most of Weezing’s counters). Shadow Sneak is priority to revenge kill and also sweep late game. Gyro Ball with 0 Speed is Doublade’s strongest Steel STAB. Sacred Sword is coverage for Steel-types.

Appletun @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leech Seed
- Recover
- Apple Acid
- Dragon Pulse

I usually mention in these threads that I make that there are 3 sets of type synergies I like to use. They are Fire/Water/Grass, Dark/Psychic/Fighting, and Fairy/Dragon/Steel. Appletun completes that synergistic core with Weezing and Doublade. They all cover each other’s weaknesses very well and can all comfortably switch into what the others struggle against. I tried this core with different Dragon and Steel-types and this is the combination I’ve liked the best.

I’m running max HP and SpD on Appletun just because most of the team has good physical bulk, but not special. Leech Seed and Recover are to wear down opponents. Apple Acid is an easy-to-spam Grass type STAB since it’s guaranteed to lower the target’s SpD. Dragon Pulse is a secondary STAB.

Rounding Out The Team

At this point once I had the core in place I originally just threw 3 Pokémon onto the team just to see what the UU meta was all about. Those 3 were:

-Choice Scarfed Obstagoon because I was afraid of Genger
-Bulk Up + Rapid Spin Hitmontop because the Rapid Spin buff can turn anything into a sweeper
-Utility Mew because I wanted entry hazards even though Heavy-duty boots has kind of nerfed hazards

After running a few battles, there were some threats in the tier that if you didn’t have an answer for then you were gonna have a bad time. The biggest one I saw that was the worst to deal with was G-max Charizard. So I started to fill out the rest of the team with a check to that.

Coalossal-Gmax @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Flare Blitz / Heat Crash

Coalossal was the Pokémon I chose as my answer to Charizard because it checks it defensively and offensively thanks to its Rock/Fire typing. Coalossal also gives me a G-max option on the team that’s worth using. I tried G-max Appletun and I didn’t like it because I lost access to Leech Seed and Recover for 3 turns.

248 HP gives Coalossal and odd HP number, which is something small I try to do with any Pokémon that’s weak to entry hazards. An odd HP number on a Pokémon weak to hazards like Stealth Rock means you can survive switching into them 4 times. 252 Atk and Adamant to hit as hard as possible. The rest I just put into SpD.

I mentioned in the opening to this segment that I wanted a hazard setter and Coalossal also checks that box with Stealth Rock. Stone Edge is a strong STAB option. Earthquake is good coverage. Now the Fire STAB is where this set could change. Flare Blitz is Coalossal’s strongest physical Fire-type attack, but the recoil is a downside. I thought about running a Special attacking variant with Fire Blast instead, but the best Special Rock-type STAB it gets is Ancient Power. Also the damage drop off from Earthquake to Earth Power hurt as well (ie: Gengar is guaranteed to live Earth Power, but EQ is 94% chance to OHKO). Heat Crash is an option over Flare Blitz so I mentioned it in the set, but it’s too unreliable.

With an answer to Charizard on the team, I was already feeling safe. However, there was still one Pokémon I was worried about... G-max Gengar. Gengar is a bit trickier for me to add an answer for on this team. It’s speed of 110 is tough to deal with, unless you use a Choice Scarf Pokémon. And I tried that with Obstagoon and, well, Obstagoon is awful. In fact, most Dark-types in the tier that are fast enough to put a Scarf on aren’t very good. I thought about putting a Scarf on a Psychic-type like Espeon or Gardevoir, but I didn’t want to add another Pokémon weak to Ghost-types when trying to counter Gengar... What I decided to do was add 2 Pokémon that can deal with Gengar in certain situations, while still helping the rest of the team.

Crawdaunt @ Choice Band
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Knock Off
- Crabhammer
- Close Combat

Crawdaunt was the first Pokémon I chose. It’s an incredibly strong wallbreaker for the team and it can also revenge kill faster Pokémon, like Gengar. This is a standard set. Nothing crazy. Although Crawdaunt having access to a better Fighting-type coverage move than Superpower is amazing. Not much to say about Crawdaunt, it’s a very very good UU Pokemon.

Mr. Rime @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Ice Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Rapid Spin
- Freeze-Dry
- Shadow Ball

There wasn’t much to say about Crawdaunt. Mr. Rime on the other hand, there is. As I mentioned in the opening to this segment about Hitmontop, the Rapid Spin buff (50 BP and gives +1 Speed) can turn any Pokémon into a sweeper, including Mr. Rime. +1 Speed with max Speed makes Mr. Rime faster than Gengar.

The set might have some people asking questions, specifically the 4th move. Weakness Policy is a fun item to use on Mr. Rime for a quick boost to SpA to turn him into a potent wallbreaker as well. That plus the speed boost from using Rapid Spin and it could be game over. Calm Mind is on the set as a more reliable way to boost Mr. Rime instead of relying on Weakness Policy.

The 2 offensive moves are worth talking about separately. Most people when making an offensive Pokémon might just put on the strongest attacks a Pokémon has to use. In this case it would be Ice Beam and Psychic. The reason why I’m running Freeze-Dry and Shadow Ball are to give Mr. Rime less checks. Ice Beam and Psychic are immediately walled by Steel-types, namely Bronzong (Bronzong is bad this Gen in singles so idk how common it will be). That move combo is also checked by bulky Water-types in the tier, like Milotic. Freeze-Dry is a little weaker than Ice Beam, but the added effect of being Super Effective against Water-types makes up for the power difference. Running Shadow Ball over Psychic gives Mr. Rime a way to hit Steel-type Pokémon neutrally, so it’s not completely shutdown by them. Plus with this team specifically, I have ways to deal with Fighting and Poison-types with the rest of the team, so Psychic coverage isn’t as needed.

There is the team. Feel free to try it out for yourselves and see what you think. UU has been a fun tier in the early stages since the meta isn't completely developed yet. If you do try this team out, please comment below and let me know what you think and any changes that you made or think should be made

[Marcusube]

fucsban

[Bucsfan818]

(Dec 29, 2019, 01:45 AM)Marcusube Wrote: fucsban