Hello my name is Snunch and this is my team. I based it on one of if not the most underrated pokemon in UU: Moltres. It has lingered around the top 10 for a while, but I don't really have the motivation to make a push to get #1. This team hasn't lost in recent memory though (except bluewind just haxed the shit out of me UGH so thats not true anymore).
The team's called Blazefire Saber because pkgaming kept yelling at me to use it. I don't know what it means but I don't want to know because I'll probably regret using it as a team name.
Read the team building process, I explain a lot about my team in it.
Deoxys-D @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Night Shade
Hazard machine, that's really all there is to this Deoxys-D. I usually send it out in the beginning of the match, close if not on turn 1. Max speed lets it taunt a bunch of useful stuff like other Deoxys-D and most taunt Mew. Deoxys-D's amazing natural bulk means I get to set up hazards in the face of pokemon who think they can force me out, like pursuit Houndoom. I really don't have the words to communicate how vital hazards are to this team. With two layers, Moltres laughs at Chansey and Milotic, Zapdos is unable to wall Golurk and Heracross, and Raikou gets a bunch of key KOs with +1 HP Ice. Without hazards, a lot of the time it feels like I'm treading water. I'm not using Recover because I rarely if ever actually need it. I don't rely on Deoxys-D to check or counter anything at all, so letting it die in exchange for multiple layers is always a good deal. I obviously try to keep it alive if I feel like their spinner is threatening, but most of the time I can play around spinners so no big loss if Deoxys-D goes down. Night Shade does consistent damage and hurts stuff like sub Mismagius and Froslass, which is more important than hitting Chansey and Snorlax. The best way I can describe this set is the suicide lead for the BW era.
Moltres @ Choice Specs
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- U-turn
Here it is, the boss itself. Moltres wrecks UU, plain and simple. Fire Blast will kill you if you don't resist it and your name isn't Chansey, and Air Slash will kill you if you think your Milotic or Blastoise can counter Moltres after hazards. The best part is that Moltres commonly comes in on grass and bug types, which means I can use either Fire Blast or Air Slash with no risk at all! If your name is Chansey (or Snorlax I guess), I can simply click U-Turn and send out Golurk or Heracross to force you out. With two layers up, Chansey will be at 50% next time it switches in. Two fire blasts will always kill a 50% Chansey, which means that Chansey can't even counter this more than once. If you think I'm making it sound too easy to destroy teams with Moltres, you're wrong. It is that easy. Good bulk, impressive resistances, and nice speed let Moltres come in a lot and deal damage to everything. The only caveat is Stealth Rock. I never switch Moltres into rocks unless I'm particularly absent-minded. Thankfully, since Rotom is rare in UU, Blastoise can spin vs every ghost in the tier. No rocks == no way to stop Moltres.
Golurk @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Shadow Punch
- Earthquake
Every team that uses Golurk gets cool points. Its a ghost robot that can fly. How awesome is that? Oh, and it also is faster than Chansey and with the iron fist boost can pose a threat to stall and offense with Focus Punch and perfect neutral coverage, but you already know that. I U-turn from Moltres into Golurk, forcing Chansey to take a bunch of hazard damage and hitting something with a focus punch (most of the time I'll just focus punch the switch so that Chansey can't heal and switch out). Other than that, Golurk serves as a nice switch into rock attacks and is technically my spinblocker. When I say "technically", it's because I just outright kill most spinners before they get a chance. Donphan and Hitmontop really can't threaten much if anything on my team. Donphan checks Raikou, but will never actually rapid spin if Raikou is at +1. Blastoise is dealt with pretty well by Moltres, who lures it in and 2HKOs with Air Slash. When I do switch in Golurk to block spin, I almost always just let it die if the spinner poses a threat to Golurk. You read about it with Deoxys-D, and the same is true here: keeping hazards up is worth it.
Heracross (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Guts
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
Scarfcross is a UU terror. Not good enough to be broken, but good enough that if I gameplan right, and my wallbreakers do what they do, I can sweep late-game with a STAB attack consistently. I personally make sure every one of my teams has a Heracross counter, but this is definitely not true for all of the ladder. Many people carry a bug resist that is neutral to fighting, or a fighting resist that is weak to bug. Heracross preys on these teams. It is very easy to, for example, come in on a resttalk snorlax and megahorn the incoming Mew. When choosing a scarfer, I usually have to decide between Flygon and Heracross. Here, I chose Heracross because threatening Chansey is too important for this team. Jolly to outspeed other Hera's, lots of Rotom-A, and most +1 Kingdra.
Blastoise (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Roar
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam
Blastoise is such a good pokemon right now. With more physical bulk than Milotic, Blastoise shrugs off many physical attackers with ease. Every common ghost in UU is defeated one-on-one by simply scalding it, which is why I don't run Foresight. Blastoise laughs in the face of Froslass, forcing it out and spinning away its spikes, regardless of snow cloak (until Froslass starts using tbolt…). Blastoise shrugs off scarfed V-Creates from Victini like it's nothing, meaning I have a hard counter to the most common scarfer faster than Heracross. Blastoise also makes a very good switch into most Rock types, so sandstorm teams have a hard time relying on the boosted special defense of rock types to defend themselves from Moltres. It's guaranteed spin compared to the pressure my team puts on opposing spinners means I'm winning the hazard war every time.
Raikou @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 128 HP / 76 Def / 52 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Another 4th gen star that was left in the dust. Raikou has a hard time switching in to most of the pokemon it's supposed to set up on, especially with the advent of Scald, but my strategy of forcing bulky waters to recover instead of attack means that Raikou gets free switches more often than not. While I wish it were a little stronger sometimes, Raikou is still a literal beast. I chose Sub CM because I knew I didn't want to run Rash in case I had to switch into a scald, and substitute is simply a better move than Shadow Ball or whatever else I would use. There are a bunch of random ground types in UU that can take a +1 HP Ice pretty well, but they for the most part take spikes damage, letting me get the best of them with enough switches. Substitute helps me avoid status, and because it is relatively uncommon, it always works once. This gives me the extra edge needed to take down a Deoxys-D or something similar. With the EVs, Flygon will never break Raikou's sub with U-turn.
My name is Snunch and that was my team. If you haven't, read the team building process. I explain a lot about how the pokes work together there.
The team's called Blazefire Saber because pkgaming kept yelling at me to use it. I don't know what it means but I don't want to know because I'll probably regret using it as a team name.
Read the team building process, I explain a lot about my team in it.
"Moltres was such a boss in 4th gen UU, what metagame shift has completely eliminated it from the metagame?" I wondered to myself. Suicune is surprisingly rare also, so the only new enemy I could see is an improved Chansey. Thankfully, Moltres gets U-Turn, so I devised a team formula to exploit Chansey and leave it helpless.
+ Hazards + Ghost + Spinner + Secondary Chansey check + Bulky water check
The ghost was easiest for me to decide on. Mismagius and Golurk both work as potential U-Turn targets, but Mismagius doesn't abuse hazards nearly as well as Golurk does.
+ Hazards +
+ Spinner + Secondary Chansey check + Bulky water check
Now I needed something I could switch into Chansey, even if it didn't come in via U-turn. Essentially it needed to take status well and handle Chansey. Heracross was the obvious choice.
+ Hazards +
+ Spinner +
+ Bulky water check
Moltres is dead if I can't keep rocks off the field. When I made this team, there were only two spinners actually used in UU: Hitmontop and Donphan. The Froslass boom had not happened yet, but after abusing a hail team, I knew it would happen soon. I chose Blastoise as my spinner to keep ahead of the metagame and pre-emptively laugh at Froslass.
+ Hazards +
+
+
+ Bulky water check
I had two choices of what I could do with the last two slots. I could fill them in with Roserade and a stealth rock user, which would create a pretty balanced team, or I could put both spikes and stealth rock on the same pokemon and use the bulky water check as a sweeper. This would make my team much more offensive, and I decided that offensive suited Moltres' natural playstyle more than balance. Deoxys-D was the obvious choice for a hazard user, getting both hazards up against nearly every team.
+
+
+
+
+ Bulky water check
I knew that my bulky water check didn't need to take any scalds switching in. Assuming they came in on Moltres' fire blast or Golurk's substitute, they would have to heal off residual damage on the switch instead of attacking. Once I realized that, I knew Raikou would be the perfect fit for my team.
+
+
+
+
+
The ghost was easiest for me to decide on. Mismagius and Golurk both work as potential U-Turn targets, but Mismagius doesn't abuse hazards nearly as well as Golurk does.
Now I needed something I could switch into Chansey, even if it didn't come in via U-turn. Essentially it needed to take status well and handle Chansey. Heracross was the obvious choice.
Moltres is dead if I can't keep rocks off the field. When I made this team, there were only two spinners actually used in UU: Hitmontop and Donphan. The Froslass boom had not happened yet, but after abusing a hail team, I knew it would happen soon. I chose Blastoise as my spinner to keep ahead of the metagame and pre-emptively laugh at Froslass.
I had two choices of what I could do with the last two slots. I could fill them in with Roserade and a stealth rock user, which would create a pretty balanced team, or I could put both spikes and stealth rock on the same pokemon and use the bulky water check as a sweeper. This would make my team much more offensive, and I decided that offensive suited Moltres' natural playstyle more than balance. Deoxys-D was the obvious choice for a hazard user, getting both hazards up against nearly every team.
I knew that my bulky water check didn't need to take any scalds switching in. Assuming they came in on Moltres' fire blast or Golurk's substitute, they would have to heal off residual damage on the switch instead of attacking. Once I realized that, I knew Raikou would be the perfect fit for my team.
At a Glance:
Deoxys-D @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Night Shade
Hazard machine, that's really all there is to this Deoxys-D. I usually send it out in the beginning of the match, close if not on turn 1. Max speed lets it taunt a bunch of useful stuff like other Deoxys-D and most taunt Mew. Deoxys-D's amazing natural bulk means I get to set up hazards in the face of pokemon who think they can force me out, like pursuit Houndoom. I really don't have the words to communicate how vital hazards are to this team. With two layers, Moltres laughs at Chansey and Milotic, Zapdos is unable to wall Golurk and Heracross, and Raikou gets a bunch of key KOs with +1 HP Ice. Without hazards, a lot of the time it feels like I'm treading water. I'm not using Recover because I rarely if ever actually need it. I don't rely on Deoxys-D to check or counter anything at all, so letting it die in exchange for multiple layers is always a good deal. I obviously try to keep it alive if I feel like their spinner is threatening, but most of the time I can play around spinners so no big loss if Deoxys-D goes down. Night Shade does consistent damage and hurts stuff like sub Mismagius and Froslass, which is more important than hitting Chansey and Snorlax. The best way I can describe this set is the suicide lead for the BW era.
Moltres @ Choice Specs
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- U-turn
Here it is, the boss itself. Moltres wrecks UU, plain and simple. Fire Blast will kill you if you don't resist it and your name isn't Chansey, and Air Slash will kill you if you think your Milotic or Blastoise can counter Moltres after hazards. The best part is that Moltres commonly comes in on grass and bug types, which means I can use either Fire Blast or Air Slash with no risk at all! If your name is Chansey (or Snorlax I guess), I can simply click U-Turn and send out Golurk or Heracross to force you out. With two layers up, Chansey will be at 50% next time it switches in. Two fire blasts will always kill a 50% Chansey, which means that Chansey can't even counter this more than once. If you think I'm making it sound too easy to destroy teams with Moltres, you're wrong. It is that easy. Good bulk, impressive resistances, and nice speed let Moltres come in a lot and deal damage to everything. The only caveat is Stealth Rock. I never switch Moltres into rocks unless I'm particularly absent-minded. Thankfully, since Rotom is rare in UU, Blastoise can spin vs every ghost in the tier. No rocks == no way to stop Moltres.
Golurk @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Shadow Punch
- Earthquake
Every team that uses Golurk gets cool points. Its a ghost robot that can fly. How awesome is that? Oh, and it also is faster than Chansey and with the iron fist boost can pose a threat to stall and offense with Focus Punch and perfect neutral coverage, but you already know that. I U-turn from Moltres into Golurk, forcing Chansey to take a bunch of hazard damage and hitting something with a focus punch (most of the time I'll just focus punch the switch so that Chansey can't heal and switch out). Other than that, Golurk serves as a nice switch into rock attacks and is technically my spinblocker. When I say "technically", it's because I just outright kill most spinners before they get a chance. Donphan and Hitmontop really can't threaten much if anything on my team. Donphan checks Raikou, but will never actually rapid spin if Raikou is at +1. Blastoise is dealt with pretty well by Moltres, who lures it in and 2HKOs with Air Slash. When I do switch in Golurk to block spin, I almost always just let it die if the spinner poses a threat to Golurk. You read about it with Deoxys-D, and the same is true here: keeping hazards up is worth it.
Heracross (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Guts
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
Scarfcross is a UU terror. Not good enough to be broken, but good enough that if I gameplan right, and my wallbreakers do what they do, I can sweep late-game with a STAB attack consistently. I personally make sure every one of my teams has a Heracross counter, but this is definitely not true for all of the ladder. Many people carry a bug resist that is neutral to fighting, or a fighting resist that is weak to bug. Heracross preys on these teams. It is very easy to, for example, come in on a resttalk snorlax and megahorn the incoming Mew. When choosing a scarfer, I usually have to decide between Flygon and Heracross. Here, I chose Heracross because threatening Chansey is too important for this team. Jolly to outspeed other Hera's, lots of Rotom-A, and most +1 Kingdra.
Blastoise (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Roar
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam
Blastoise is such a good pokemon right now. With more physical bulk than Milotic, Blastoise shrugs off many physical attackers with ease. Every common ghost in UU is defeated one-on-one by simply scalding it, which is why I don't run Foresight. Blastoise laughs in the face of Froslass, forcing it out and spinning away its spikes, regardless of snow cloak (until Froslass starts using tbolt…). Blastoise shrugs off scarfed V-Creates from Victini like it's nothing, meaning I have a hard counter to the most common scarfer faster than Heracross. Blastoise also makes a very good switch into most Rock types, so sandstorm teams have a hard time relying on the boosted special defense of rock types to defend themselves from Moltres. It's guaranteed spin compared to the pressure my team puts on opposing spinners means I'm winning the hazard war every time.
Raikou @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 128 HP / 76 Def / 52 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Another 4th gen star that was left in the dust. Raikou has a hard time switching in to most of the pokemon it's supposed to set up on, especially with the advent of Scald, but my strategy of forcing bulky waters to recover instead of attack means that Raikou gets free switches more often than not. While I wish it were a little stronger sometimes, Raikou is still a literal beast. I chose Sub CM because I knew I didn't want to run Rash in case I had to switch into a scald, and substitute is simply a better move than Shadow Ball or whatever else I would use. There are a bunch of random ground types in UU that can take a +1 HP Ice pretty well, but they for the most part take spikes damage, letting me get the best of them with enough switches. Substitute helps me avoid status, and because it is relatively uncommon, it always works once. This gives me the extra edge needed to take down a Deoxys-D or something similar. With the EVs, Flygon will never break Raikou's sub with U-turn.
My name is Snunch and that was my team. If you haven't, read the team building process. I explain a lot about how the pokes work together there.
Moltres @ Choice Specs
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- U-turn
Raikou @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 128 HP / 76 Def / 52 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Heracross (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Guts
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
Blastoise (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Roar
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam
Golurk @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Shadow Punch
- Earthquake
Deoxys-D @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Night Shade
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- U-turn
Raikou @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 128 HP / 76 Def / 52 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Heracross (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Guts
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
Blastoise (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Roar
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam
Golurk @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Shadow Punch
- Earthquake
Deoxys-D @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Night Shade