SM UU Feedback Request for Gen 7 UU Team

[Nightvalzin]

Hi all,

I am currently working on a UU team that utilizes the Mega Evolution of one of my favourite Pokemon, Aerodactyl. So far, I've got a good idea of what it is I want my team to do and look like but I still like to know what you all think.

Forretress w/ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Sturdy
IVs: 31IVs except SpA
EVs: 252 HP / 4 ATK / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Gyro Ball
- Pain Split

Forretress is my starting Pokemon who I use to set up Stealth Rock and also have a spinner ready for my opponent's entry hazards. Gyro Ball serves as an attacking option especially against fast Pokemon and particularly ones who are also weak to Steel. Pain Split is also a bit of recovery so that I can still have Forretress if necessary. This is further added with the Sitrus Berry. I originally thought of using a Rocky Helmet but since Forretress' weakness is to Fire, I felt that weakness could go either way in terms of physical/special. I also thought of using other entry hazard starters who may be able to put up more offensive power, but I felt that I should have at least two Pokemon focused more on the defensive side to help balance out my team.

Aerodactyl w/ Aerodactylite
Ability: Pressure (Tough Claws after M. Evo)
IVs: 31IVs except SpA
EVs: 252 ATK / 4 SpD/ 252 Speed
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Aerial Ace
- Fire Fang
- Earthquake

I chose Aerodactyl as my Mega Evolution as it's one of my favourite Pokemon so I decided to make a team with him. Obviously the Aerodactylite helps him to Mega Evolve as it really helps his stats and physical attacks with Mega Aerodactyl's Tough Claws ability. I went for the the all-out attacker setup for this as this gives him as much coverage as possible and really helps him utilize his heightened physical attack and the speed he gets from the Jolly nature and the EVs. As someone who likes to play it safe, I was contemplating using Rock Slide over Stone Edge as the former is more accurate even with 25 less base Power. However, I felt that for this setup to truly work its best, I had to go with a STAB move that would deal as much damage as possible. I chose Aerial Ace as its another STAB move for Aerodactyl and although it is a bit weak, it is guaranteed to hit and gets powered-up by Tough Claws. Fire Fang is a coverage move that can help Aerodactyl out against Steel-types, who Aerodactyl's Rock/Flying typing doesn't well against plus it's another move for Tough Claws. Finally, there's Earthquake which while it may not get affected by Tough Claws, it is still very powerful and offers some more coverage for Aerodactyl.

Cobalion w/ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Justified
IVs: 31IVs except SpA
EVs: 252 ATK / 4 SpD/ 252 Speed
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Sacred Sword
- Poison Jab
- Thunder Wave

For Cobalion, I chose as I wanted a more offensive Steel-type as well to deal with Fairy-types and Rock-types. While not as useful, since his Steel-type covers most of it, there are sometimes where a person will use a Normal-type so having the Fighting-type as well helps me with that. I chose to have another Jolly nature as I want Cobalion to have as much capability to deal damage as possible. By increasing his Speed, he can deal with threats that would be a double-edged sword for him. I use both Iron Head and Sacred Sword as his STAB moves, both of which are quite strong moves and Iron Head is one of the few Steel-type moves with really good accuracy. Sacred Sword also bypasses stat changes making it quite good as there aren't too many Defense-lowering moves the opponent will likely use on themselves. Poison Jab is a move that's useful against Grass-types and doubly useful against foes like Tapu Bulu. Thunder Wave is there as an option for when Cobalion is having trouble or can't do much so it can at the very least paralyze the opponent. The Rocky Helmet is there for any Fighting-types who decide to attack Cobalion for his Steel-type.

Gardevoir w/ Psychium Z
Ability: Synchronize
IVs: 31IVs except ATK
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 SpA/ 4 DEF
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball

I chose Gardevoir to fill the role of dealing with the types Psychic and Fairy-types are strong against. It is less defensive and bulky than I typically like, but the typing is useful for providing overall coverage for the team. Psychic is a very good Psychic-type move with 90 Base Power and has a chance to reduce the opponent's SpD as well, making Gardevoir's attacks hit higher. I thought of using Psyshock which calculates damage based on the opponent's DEF instead of SpD, but my team is already heavily skewed towards physical attacks I felt I needed some special coverage as well. Moonblast is the most powerful Fairy-type move that isn't a signature move, allowing for heavy damage against Dragon-types, Fighting-types and Dark-types. Calm Mind is there to help Gardevoir in her offensive and defensive power in regards to special attacks, and it was this move that ultimately made it more difficult to choose between Modest and Timid, choosing a defensive stat boost over a Speed one. Finally, there's Shadow Ball for dealing with other Psychic-types as well as Ghost-types. I was thinking of using Energy Ball or Thunderbolt in this slot for more coverage against Water-types and I may still go with one of those options especially given some of the other members of my team. I chose Gardevoir to have the Z-Crystal as I felt she could do the most with it with the given movesets.

Incineroar w/ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
IVs: 31IVs except SpA
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 ATK/ 4 DEF
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Darkest Lariat
- Leech Life
- Drain Punch

Incineroar is my resident Fire/Dark Pokemon to deal with Pokemon that are weak to those types. I decided to go for the Adamant all-out attacker build for him to have him be as bulky as possible while also being able to deal out lots of damage while also having plenty of coverage. This is further emphasized with the Life Orb, giving Incineroar more powerful attacks at the expense of recoil. Flare Blitz is my go-to Fire-type move as it's quite a powerful move and physical. The recoil can really hurt, especially with the Life Orb, and normally I would go for a move that didn't inflict recoil but the next-most powerful Fire-type physical move he can get is Fire Punch, which only has a Base Power of 75. Darkest Lariat is Incineroar's Dark-type signature move which deals 85 while also ignoring Defense or evasion boosts the opponent has. Leech Life is a good coverage move that restores health which is useful given the Life Orb but Incineroar's first 2 moves already cover most of the Bug-types' effectiveness so I may change this to U-turn or Thunder Punch. Incineroar's final move is Drain Punch, a nice Fighting-type move that can deal with things like Normal-types and Rock-types. It's also another recovery option to help Incineroar with the recoil damage.

Milotic w/ Leftovers
Ability: Cute Charm
IVs: 31IVs except ATK
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 DEF/ 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Recover

Milotic is my Water-type choice. I designed it with a bulky set in mind to take advantage of its use of Recover. To help with this mindset, I made a defensive stat setup with Leftovers as its item. I wasn't sure between using Cute Charm or Marvel Scale, as the first can make the opponent need to retreat if they attack physically, while the other further increases DEF if it has a status condition. In the end, I chose Cute Charm as it seems more reliable. Scald is Milotic's designated Water-type move, providing both STAB and the possibility of burn, which will weaken physical attacks. Ice Beam can provide coverage against Dragon-types and Flying-types and it's another offensive option in case Scald is walled. Toxic is for my opponent's to deal with as the damage worsens over time and when it seems like poison is the best status condition for the Pokemon. Recover is there obviously there as a recovery option and also as a stall tactic for Toxic.

 

[TPP]

Welcome to Smogon! I'm locking your RMT for the time being as the forum rules require that you provide in-depth descriptions for each Pokemon to explain their roles. Please read the rules carefully and take a look at Team Showcase to see the level of detail we require. PM me with updated descriptions and I'll be happy to unlock this.

Edit: Opened

 

[Twilight]

Hey Nightvalzin I love the idea of building around Maero which is one of, if not the best mega in the tier. However, you have chosen a lot of Pokemon that aren't that viable in the UU tier such as Gardevoir and Incineroar which are just outclassed by the threats we have in the tier. For this reason, I am going to make more changes than I normally would to help you better support Maero. I won't make any aimless changes as I plan to choose Pokemon that perform a similar role to the Mons you chose, also you don't need to worry about having 0 SpA investment as no move has an equivalent affect like Foul Play. Anyways, I plan to work off the core of Maero and Cobalion so let's just get into it:

Major Changes:

- Milotic is replaced with Primarina which while this set doesn't perform the same role it gives you a fairy typing which eases your match-up against Hydreigon and Kommo-o. I opted for Specs mainly to be a better breaker for the likes of Maero to put in more work, e.g. it can muscle through Aggron, Steelix. It also makes breaking Chesnaught easier. Very standard moveset so won't explain anything here. Gave it 216 Spe to be faster than standard Primarina but you also outpace Adamant Crawdaunt.

- Replaced Forretress with Rotom-H because it is a much better hazard remover for supporting Aero. Forretress is mainly a SR and Spike suicide lead so it is a very weird pick for this team. Rotom-H gives you a secondary answer to Scizor and the flying types in the tier like Togekiss and Moltres. 248 Speed makes it slower than other Rotom-H to get momentum. It has Defog to have an easier time removing hazards and Toxic lets it cripple the dragon types like Latias and Hydra.

- Krookodile over Incineroar mainly because the team was kinda slow even with Aero + Cobalion. Krookodile still has the defensive utility you wanted because of Intimidate, but still has offensive presence. It also gives you a much needed Ground type to stop Volt Switch spam. It also gives your Pursuit support to remove the like of Gengar and Latias, as well as racking up chip dmg if you predict a switch.

- So, I decided to lean away from the idea of a hard hitting Psychic type and went with Scizor because Latias isn't that easy to switch into for your squad unless it is BoltBeam in which case Rotom-H can pivot in and out. I opted for an SD set to be a better late game cleaner, but I made it bulky with Roost to still check what it is supposed to. I opted for BP + U-turn which gives you momentum and a VoltTurn core with Rotom-H. As for item of choice I went with Iron Plate and the EVs are enough to outpace Klefki and other Scizor only looking to creep Klefki. Rest dumped into HP.

Minor Changes:

- I decided to go for a Hone Claws Maero set because it gives it a lot more offensive pressure against Bulky and Offense teams alike. With Coba and Rotom-H handling Scizor it allows this set to be a lot more effective. Aqua Tail in the last slot for breaking bulky Ground types like Hippowdon.

- Close Combat is a lot better than Sacred Sword regardless of Def drops. Poison Jab is very redundant on Coba other than hitting Celebi I guess, so I gave it Swords Dance which is a lot better for breaking. In the last slot I shifted Stealth Rock onto this Pokemon. Also, I gave it Steelium-Z to help break through Pokemon like Primarina, Amoonguss and Gligar etc which is nice for most fo your squad.

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Alternative Changes:

- If you wish to keep the idea of a hard hitting Psychic type you can use Celebi over the Scizor change. Give it Psychium-Z and Dazzling Gleam to catch out Hydreigon. At +2 it nukes most steel types which still lets Maero be an effective cleaner.

- I would advise then using this Maero set with Pursuit with another coverage option or Roost. This is because Lati becomes a lot scarier so more Pursuit support is needed.

- Give Cobalion Rocky Helmet as the Z-Move is needed for Celebi.

- Give Krook Crunch over Stone Edge, again because Latias becomes a lot more threatening.

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I hope you like the changes and it helps you out with utilizing Maero to the best of its ability. I tried to stick to the original ideas you had going to an extent while keeping the BO approach you seemed to be going for. Both teams don't have the easist times switching into things like Primarina but you have enough offensive pressure to handle such things. It is still worth me pointing out the first team has a much easier time handling the likes of Latias thanks to Scizor + Krook. If you have any questions just let me know bud and I look forward to future squads you come up with ^_^

 

[Nightvalzin]

Thanks for the detailed reply and level of effort Twilight. I knew that there were some problems with my team but I didn't know how to alleviate them. I was overly cautious trying to stay away from having too much of one weakness plus as you said the Speed. Thanks for trying to keep to my overall style while thinking this up as well. I know I only have experience really with Sun/Moon tournament events so things like designing with Smogon tiers in mind is difficult.

Regarding Cobalion. Close Combat is a better move than Sacred Sword, but I'm kinda cautious so how much does the DEF/SpD resulting from it affect Cobalion?

For Rotom, is the strategy for it while using Overheat is to use it when needed then switch out with Volt Switch next turn or Toxic?

 

[Twilight]

Thanks for the detailed reply and level of effort Twilight. I knew that there were some problems with my team but I didn't know how to alleviate them. I was overly cautious trying to stay away from having too much of one weakness plus as you said the Speed. Thanks for trying to keep to my overall style while thinking this up as well. I know I only have experience really with Sun/Moon tournament events so things like designing with Smogon tiers in mind is difficult.

Regarding Cobalion. Close Combat is a better move than Sacred Sword, but I'm kinda cautious so how much does the DEF/SpD resulting from it affect Cobalion?

For Rotom, is the strategy for it while using Overheat is to use it when needed then switch out with Volt Switch next turn or Toxic?

Close Combat is significantly stronger than Sacred Sword. In some cases sure the drops can be annoying but because of its speed tier there are only a few things that can come in and revenge it. In most cases you might need to double yourself, so I hope this answers your queries. And as for Rotom-H use Overheat when it seems spammable, aka no fire resists left or there Ground type is something like Krookodile which doesnt take an Overheat well. Otherwise you'll probably be using Volt Switch for momentum. Or using Toxic if you expect Hippo, Latias etc. to come in and you'll Defog whenever you need hazards off pretty much