ORAS UU My Hands Are Wings Again

Pearl

Romance は風のまま
is a Tournament Director Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis the 7th Grand Slam Winneris a Past SPL Champion

Introduction

Hello, my friends! With both UU Open and my seemingly endless free time coming to an end, I feel like this is the perfect opportunity for me to showcase my greatest (not really) creation. I've been wanting to write a RMT for a while now, but none of my teams really stood out at all, and as someone who's constantly trying to "innovate", it just wouldn't feel right to post a squad that looks exactly like the stereotypical flavor of the month stuff that everyone (myself included) has been using lately. For reference, I was mainly talking about all of the Krookodile/Sylveon/Celebi/Aerodactyl/Tentacruel teams we've been seeing in UU Open and other smaller UU tournaments in the previous sentence.

Rambling aside, I believe that this team is worth sharing with the community due to many different reasons, but mostly because of the usage it received throughout UU Open, even if it wasn't successful all of the time. Don't get me wrong though, the squad still did well for the most part, but considering that it's literally impossible to cover every single viable threat/playstyle flawlessly with this kind of team archetype (Bulk Up Conkeldurr emerging as the premier balance breaker in UU doesn't help the cause either), a couple of losses shouldn't come as a surprise at all. I won't include any fancy ladder peaks in this RMT because most people don't really value those any more, which is justifiable. However, I can guarantee you that it's pretty easy to rack up points on the UU ladder with this team or any other variation of it.

I'll try to be more detailed regarding the team's creation, structure and its various tools later on, but here's some background information nonetheless, straight from my Player of the Week interview:

Question:
What inspired you to build alobliss? Did u think alomomola was basically like 10 pokemon in 1 from playing too much RU, or like...?
Answer:
Here's the deal: I think Alomomola is a stupid Pokemon (not stupidly broken, just designed in a stupid way) no matter the tier it's used in. The ability to heal its teammates back to full HP while staying healthy itself promotes lazy plays and makes it a lot easier to win games on autopilot against people who aren't as knowledgeable about the tier. With that in mind, I started crafting a couple of teams with it to see if it was possible to make an unbreakable team that didn't have to resort to stalling the shit out of people as a wincon to get free wins in UU open, and that's how my AloBliss team was made.

note: I eventually came to the conclusion that it's impossible to cover every single threat with AloBliss as a starting point, but that's not really relevant to the question.
The truth is that the teambuilding process was nowhere near as stressful or intensive as I make it out to be, and you'll be able to realize that soon enough. As for the team itself, I like to think that it's a slightly different and innovative take on UU balance that uses the combination of Alomomola and Blissey (which was considered a "meme" when used on any kind of team other than stall before I decided to actually give it a shot) to handle a vast majority of the tier, which gives their teammates a lot more breathing room to perform their roles effectively as a consequence of having Alomomola's Wish support. Krookodile and Celebi are the squad's main sources of offensive presence, and do a phenomenal job pressuring opposing balances and even stall teams, while Aggron and Crobat glue the team together by checking offensive Pokemon that Alomomola and Blissey can't handle on their own and providing me with obligatory hazard control on top of that.

Just a heads up before I conclude this introduction: Back in XY, Yifeng a.k.a. Bob the Bro used to run a very similar team to the one I'm showcasing right now, and I acknowledge that. However, there are some key differences in the sets we're running, not to mention that the metagame has shifted massively in the meantime. The only thing I can do is congratulate Bob for being a visionary, I guess, but that won't really stop the jokes from coming, or will it?

Teambuilding Process


These are the 2.5 (considering that one of these squads is a rushed adaptation made solely for the Salamence suspect ladder) drafts that started it all. I originally began messing around with Alomomola + Blissey "Offense" teams after hearing about CBU's shenanigans and how much people despised them, and even though I wasn't expecting much from this kind of framework at first, I was forced to eat my own words after going 41-0 with it on the suspect ladder. Although this statement sounds contradictory when you consider how I mentioned a little while ago that people aren't really phased by ladder achievements any more, it was just impossible to overlook how effortlessly I was able to get voting requirements against relatively competent opponents. It's also worth adding that Nails managed to beat Hairy Toenail in Round 1 of UU Open by using the team's original draft. As for the Alomomola + Registeel team, it was born from my various failed attempts at making Spoofy's wet dream (Mega Camerupt for the readers who aren't on par with the UU community's "memes") a reality. It looks completely unrelated to the RMT on paper, but it's actually the real base for it, since Salamence's departure made it impossible for the original version of the team to remain functional, even if it did work on the suspect ladder, since using Granbull as a replacement to Salamence as a Fighting-type check has some inherent drawbacks attached to it that I just couldn't deal with.

I won't spend too much time explaining how those teams were born, as I'm not really a fan of the "I was weak to X so I decided to add Y to the squad" format, but if you pay enough attention, you'll be able to realize that they all follow the same framework: Fairy-type Pokemon, Alomomola, a catch-all Special Wall, a Flying-type Defog user, a Ground-type hard hitter and a solid revenge killer (Mega Beedrill and Hydreigon respectively).


As I mentioned before, Salamence's ban made it a lot harder for the original Alomomola + Blissey team to thrive, so I eventually stopped running it. As for the Mega Camerupt squad, it was flawed from the get go, considering it had no solid Water-type check or even Pokemon that could break down dedicated special walls. However, I was surprised with the effectiveness of the Alomomola + Registeel + Florges defensive core, so I decided to replace Mega Camerupt and Hydreigon for Krookodile and Mega Sceptile instead of scrapping the team entirely, which worked out rather well. I also made a version of the very same team with no Mega Evolution, which was more effective than the Mega Sceptile version, netting some (not really) convincing wins in UU Open. It's not that Mega Sceptile is a bad Pokemon, but Celebi just ended up having better synergy with the rest of the team due to its versatility and ability to single handily break opposing teams if given the opportunity, which happens very often.

The Mega Aggron squad was the result of another draft I was working on at the time, and even though I ended up ditching it eventually due to Florges's inability to hold the squad together as the sole check to specially-oriented threats, it ended up influencing the final result of the team I'm showcasing in a very positive way.


Even though I was already happy with the team and its performance (to an extent), there were some glaring flaws I just couldn't overlook, such as the massive weakness to Nidoqueen and other special attackers that could get past both Registeel and Florges, such as the uncommon Mega Houndoom. The match up against Snorlax was equally painful as well, considering that my answers to it were Krookodile and Celebi, which are quite unreliable for obvious reasons. During a conversation with dodmen about my Alomomola teams, he told me to run Blissey as my special wall and cleric over Florges, which helped me dealing with some of the aforementioned threats better, while also being more useful against many other special attackers, since it is a lot harder to pressure than Florges. With Blissey on the team, there were very few reasons to run Registeel instead of Mega Aggron, so I made the change. Since Snorlax was still uncovered (pressuring it with Aggron's Roar introduces some counterplay, but it still isn't enough), I decided to follow another of dodmen's suggestions and started running Taunt on my Mega Aggron, and while that obviously isn't a perfect answer to Snorlax, it does an excellent job keeping it at bay alongside the team's Toxic users. And this, my friends, is how the team was born.

As for the other draft, I actually haven't played around with it much, but I believe it has a lot of potential as well, considering how it has a much easier time dealing with Snorlax thanks to Doublade (even though this change forces me to run Stealth Rock on either Blissey or Krookodile, which blows sometimes) and still retains most of the appeal related to Alomomola + Blissey teams.

The Team



@

Ability - Regenerator
EVs - 104 HP | 252 Def | 152 SpD
Nature - Bold

Scald | Toxic | Wish | Protect

I think it's safe to call Alomomola this team's centerpiece, considering how easily it is able to keep every member of the squad (including itself) healthy, thanks to its massive wishes coupled with Regenerator, which is arguably one of the best abilities in the game. It's also important to note that Alomomola is able to keep an insane amount of threats at bay by itself. For example, it's one of the most reliable answers in UU to both Choice Band Krookodile and Mamoswine, which are usually two of the biggest threats to slower teams. On top of that, Alomomola can also be used to scout out for possible lures on the opposing team, due to its ability to tank both physical and special hits decently. This trait comes in handy when facing mixed attackers like Superpower Hydreigon, but it's also quite neat against Choice Scarf users like Mienshao and Infernape, since those can't really get enough damage on Alomomola to finish it off. However, unlike its RU counterpart, Alomomola is far from being immortal in this tier, and it has to be used carefully in some particular match ups, such as when the opponent is using threats that can set up on it, such as Swords Dance Toxicroak or Substitute + Dragon Dance Gyarados. It also needs to be wary of teams with Entei, since it becomes a lot easier to pressure when burned by Sacred Fire, and being the team's sole Fire-type resist, as well as the main check to physically offensive Pokemon doesn't really help at all in situations like that.

Alomomola's EV distribution and nature allow it to tank two Earthquakes from Adamant Life Orb Mamoswine without needing to use Protect most of the time, while also maximizing Leftovers recovery at the same time. Scald and Toxic are both self-explanatory options, and even though Knock Off could possibly be used over either of those, it just isn't as useful most of the time, so I'd advise against it. Rocky Helmet over Leftovers with more HP investment is an option that improves Alomomola's match up against Mega Beedrill, Crobat and some other physical attackers, but it also makes Alomomola a lot weaker to special attackers and status effects, which means it's suboptimal unless the goal is to counterteam someone really hard.



@

Ability - Natural Cure
EVs - 240 HP | 252 Def | 16 SpD
Nature - Calm

Seismic Toss | Toxic | Soft-Boiled | Aromatherapy

The second part of the infamous Alomomola + Blissey core, better known as the second fattest blob on earth, only surpassed by its own daughter. Blissey's role on this team (and pretty much every other team that runs it) is pretty obvious: to check most of the specially offensive threats in the tier, and it does a pretty good job in that regard. Hell, it can even tank some physical hits in a pinch if absolutely needed (for reference, Mega Aerodactyl's Stone Edge can't even 2HKO it most of the time), which can be incredibly useful against some specific match ups, especially against mixed Hydreigon, which is usually one of the biggest threats to teams that lack a Fairy-type Pokemon. Aside from that, Blissey also plays a huge part in keeping the squad healthy by protecting it from status effects with Aromatherapy, something that comes in handy against teams that rely on Toxic or even Scald burns to bring down Alomomola and Mega Aggron.

A Calm nature and 16 Special Defense EVs let Blissey handle strong special attackers such as Nasty Plot Infernape, Lucario, Mega Houndoom and Porygon-Z better, while the HP investment helps maximizing its overall bulk. As for alternative options, Thunder Wave over Toxic can be used to cripple faster switch ins better, but Toxic is, in my opinion, more useful overall. I know some people run Calm Mind as a filler move on their Blissey in order to 1v1 Substitute + Calm Mind Chandelure, but between Krookodile and Crobat, I feel like I don't need to resort to such extreme measures to cover Chandelure and other similar Pokemon.



@

Ability - Sturdy Filter
EVs - 248 HP | 16 Def | 244 SpD
Nature - Impish

Heavy Slam | Fire Punch | Stealth Rock | Taunt

Aggron is this team's mega evolution of choice, and it helps holding the squad together by providing it with a secondary check to threats like Sylveon, Mega Beedrill, Mega Aerodactyl and Crobat, which could possibly overload its defensive core otherwise. It's also the team's Stealth Rock setter, and it does a pretty good job keeping them on the opposing side of the field, considering that out of all hazard removers, only Empoleon, Mandibuzz and Tentacruel (if it gets a burn with Scald) can consistently tank Aggron's attacks while being able to threaten it back. Besides that, it's also important to mention that Mega Aggron can be used as a last ditch check to threats that a person wouldn't usually expect it to be able to take on, such as most variants of Nasty Plot Celebi, Choice Band Krookodile and Swords Dance Cobalion, which is quite impressive. All things considered, Mega Aggron is, in my opinion, one of the most dangerous Pokemon in UU when paired with Wish support, thanks to its amazing ability, physical bulk and respectable offensive presence, and while this sounds like a massive exaggeration, it's not uncommon to see Mega Aggron single handily smashing opposing teams.

While this set might seem bizarre at a glance, it fits the team's needs flawlessly. The defense investment doesn't hit any particular benchmark, but it gives Mega Aggron a whopping +50 defense boost, which is quite big and comes in handy when dealing with strong physical attackers. Fire Punch is being used instead of Earthquake in order to keep opposing Forretress and Bronzong in check, which is quite important because the squad doesn't have any Fire-type Pokemon. Taunt is what truly makes my Mega Aggron different from the others, and it lets Aggron to stop last Pokemon Snorlax sweeps, while also allowing it to pressure some of its common switch ins better. As for alternative options, Thunder Punch can be used to cover Dragon Dance Gyarados, Roar is a classic and comes in handy a lot and Thunder Wave cripples some switch ins harder than any other available option.

Disclaimer: it's also recommended to run some speed creep on Taunt Mega Aggron, but I'm not going to be revealing how much I run for obvious reasons.



@

Ability - Infiltrator
EVs - 252 Atk | 4 Def | 252 Spe
Nature - Jolly

Brave Bird | U-turn | Roost | Defog

Even though a lot of UU players like to hate on Cro "hit the Defog button once and die right after" bat, I still feel like the niche it fulfills is too important to overlook, and thus it finds a place on this team as its hazard remover user and Fighting-type check. As the team's fastest Pokemon, Crobat is often used to revenge kill weakened threats, which it does rather well thanks to its deceivingly strong Sky Plate boosted Brave Bird. Having access to U-turn also comes in handy regularly, since it helps both Krookodile and Celebi performing their roles more effectively. Defog is a self-explanatory move, and although Crobat isn't as good of a Defog user as Salamence, it's still among the most useful users of the move in UU. Even though this could be said about any other Pokemon, I truly believe that learning how to use Crobat properly is crucial to this team's success. This seems a lot easier on paper than it is in practice, since Crobat happens to be a Stealth Rock weak Pokemon that chips away at its own health by using its main offensive move, but figuring out when it is absolutely required to keep Crobat at a high HP percentage to either check a particular threat or to use Defog can make or break a game.

Crobat's set and EV distribution are pretty standard, so there's not much to explain in that regard. As for possible alternatives, there's Taunt over either U-turn or even Defog to improve the match up against stall teams and Acrobatics with no item over Sky Plate and Brave Bird in order to handle Knock Off users like Conkeldurr and Krookodile better. I guess that a bulkier EV spread with Black Sludge and possibly Toxic could be used as well, but as I mentioned before, Crobat is the team's fastest Pokemon, so having enough damage to reliably revenge kill is almost always better.



@

Ability - Intimidate
EVs - 252 Atk | 4 Def | 252 Spe
Nature - Jolly

Earthquake | Knock Off | Stone Edge | Pursuit

Krookodile is a Pokemon which doesn't really need to be introduced to seasoned UU players. It's one of the team's two main sources of offensive presence and forms quite an effective offensive core with Celebi, since it traps and weakens most of the Pokemon that stop it from cleaning up. Aside from that, it also helps holding the team together from a defensive standpoint due to its nice typing, which provides it with an immunity to Electric-type moves, and access to Intimidate, a coveted ability that lets Krookodile switch in safely against weaker Pokemon and also allows it be used as a last ditch check to some of the tier's strongest physical attackers, in a similar fashion to Mega Aggron. However, what truly makes Krookodile such a dominant threat in the current metagame is its powerful Knock Off, considering that there are nearly no drawbacks in spamming it, as not even the beefiest Pokemon can remain indifferent to it, due to the move's secondary effect, which chips away at the longevity of Pokemon that rely mostly on Leftovers recovery to stay healthy throughout the match. All in all, Krookodile has rightfully earned the title of "Top 5 Pokemon in the UU tier at the moment".

Krookodile's set and moves are fairly standard, with only Stone Edge being a rather unorthodox option, but it's absolutely necessary to pressure Mandibuzz, which could potentially wall the whole team by itself otherwise. I don't think there are any other alternative options I'd consider in this slot aside from Superpower over the aforementioned Stone Edge, but missing out on Hydreigon isn't too bad, since it is a really shaky switch in to Krookodile anyway.



@

Ability - Natural Cure
EVs - 4 Def | 252 SpA | 252 Spe
Nature - Timid

Psychic | Giga Drain | Dazzling Gleam | Nasty Plot

Last but not least there's Celebi, the (arguably) second best Pokemon in UU right now. From a defensive perspective, it holds the team together by pressuring most Suicune variants, Swampert, opposing Alomomola and other bulky Water-type Pokemon, but what makes it such a valuable team slot is its ability to pressure slower teams like no other Pokemon in the tier is able to, due to its access to Nasty Plot, Giga Drain and countless opportunities to boost up. The very few reliable answers to Celebi are usually trapped by Krookodile, weakened to the point where they can't really fight back any longer or completely walled by the team's defensive backbone, which makes Celebi the team's main win condition under most circumstances. I'd also like to stress out how valuable of an ability Natural Cure is, since Celebi is often going to be tanking hits from Scald and even Thunder Wave users.

Once again, there's not really much to explain regarding Celebi's set and EV distribution. Dazzling Gleam was chosen as the coverage move of choice due to the team's lack of Fairy-type Pokemon, so having a coverage option to deal with Hydreigon, Sableye, Mandibuzz and Dragon-types in general is a huge asset. However, Celebi's coverage slot can be tweaked around as its user pleases, and there are many incredibly useful options available, such as Leech Seed to slowly whittle down common switch ins, Shadow Ball to hit Bronzong, Cresselia, opposing Celebi, Doublade and other Psychic-type Pokemon harder, Earth Power or Hidden Power Fire in order to damage Steel-type Pokemon in general, Recover, which allows Celebi to sustain itself without needing Alomomola's constant support among others.

Threat List


Fighting-type set up sweepers - Considering how hard it is to cover every single viable Fighting-type Pokemon (and also that I'm not using any fairy on this particular team), it's not surprising that these are by far the biggest threats to my team, especially because neither Crobat nor Celebi are what one would call consistent Fighting-type resists. Against Conkeldurr, it is vital to preserve Crobat throughout the whole game, since Brave Bird is the team's best tool to pressure it. Also, never use Toxic on a full HP Conkeldurr, since a poisoned Conkeldurr can easily take at least 2 Pokemon before it dies, which makes it impossible to regain momentum. Cobalion isn't that bad, since most people run Shuca Berry to handle Mega Aerodactyl and other Earthquake users better, but the good old Substitute + Swords Dance Cobalion can set up on either Alomomola or Krookodile when it's locked onto one of its Dark-type moves and proceed to wreck havoc afterwards. Usually, the play is forcing Cobalion to use Close Combat so Crobat is able to revenge kill it through its Substitute. The other Fighting-type Pokemon have a much harder time setting up due to their low defensive stats, but can get out of control incredibly fast under some circumstances.


Gyarados and Crawdaunt - If given the chance, Substitute + Dragon Dance Gyarados can set up on Alomomola, which makes it incredibly annoying to deal with. For this match up, it's worth keeping in mind that a full HP Krookodile can tank a Waterfall if it manages to get an Intimidate off beforehand, and also that if you force Gyarados to use Bounce without letting it get a Substitute up (by, for example, pressuring it with Celebi), it's possible to Toxic it and stall it out of HP afterwards with Alomomola, but it involves getting a lot of 50/50s right, so it can get quite tricky. As for Crawdaunt, it hits really hard from the get go and can get at least one kill per game against this team if if predicts switch ins properly, but it's usually not that hard to stall it out of HP with Toxic (and Life Orb recoil sometimes). Krookodile can be used to tank predicted Knock Offs in a pinch if Crawdaunt manages to grab a Swords Dance boost.


Mandibuzz and Sableye - Once again, a weakness related to the team's lack of a Fairy-type Pokemon. However, these two are a lot easier to handle in practice than they are on paper, since the team has enough tools at its disposal to pressure Taunt + Recover users. For starters, knocking their Leftovers off with Krookodile and fishing for burns with Alomomola's Scald forces both of them to use their respective recovery move a lot more often than usual, which can be exploited by both Celebi and the aforementioned Krookodile.


Sacred Fire Entei - I know that it sounds pretty ridiculous on paper to consider a pure Fire-type Pokemon a threat to a team with Alomomola, but Sacred Fire is a retarded move, so it's not too hard for Entei to pressure Alomomola if Stealth Rock is up. If Alomomola gets worn down too much, opposing physical attackers have a much easier time pressuring the whole squad. The best way of approaching this match up is to make the UU community realize how busted Entei actually is so the tier leaders end up banning it, but since that's not feasible, I guess you can try to keep Alomomola as healthy as humanly possible so the team doesn't end up crumbling to the pressure. Stealth Rock helps a lot too, by the way!


Snorlax - Already went over how threatening Curse Snorlax can be, and while Taunt on Mega Aggron helps a lot against it, a well played Snorlax can still put in a lot of work against this team. Make sure Mega Aggron is at a healthy HP percentage (and not paralyzed) and try to get a Toxic off on Snorlax before taunting it. Both Krookodile and Celebi can also pressure Snorlax if it hasn't boosted its stats up yet.

Closing Words

Even though they'd probably boost my like count massively, I won't be writing any shoutouts this time, since I did so very recently in my UU PotW interview. However, I'd still like to thank Accelgor for the amazing banner he created for this RMT, Nails for willingly proofreading everything I wrote, CBU for the inspiration and last but not least, you readers, for bearing with me until the end. I truly hope you've enjoyed this RMT, even if the team itself isn't particularly fun to play against, so I guess I should also apologize in advance to everyone who'll eventually end up having to face this squad on the UU ladder or even in the first edition of UU Majors. Oh well. Peace out!

Importable


Alomomola @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 104 HP / 252 Def / 152 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Wish
- Protect

Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
- Soft-Boiled
- Aromatherapy

Aggron @ Aggronite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 244 SpD
Impish Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Fire Punch
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt

Crobat @ Sky Plate
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Roost
- Defog

Krookodile @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
- Dazzling Gleam
- Nasty Plot
 
Last edited:
Hey Pearl :) love this team and your detailed descriptions were really cool to read. Like you said, the biggest threats to this team are setup sweepers who can use Alomomola and Blissey as total setup bait, the most common ones being SD Lum Cobalion, SD Toxcroak, and Bulk Up Conkeldurr. One variation on this team I've been using is bulky Crobat with Haze > U-turn, which lets you counter all of these Pokemon even if they manage to set up multiple boosts (especially Cobalion which is the most common and dangerous threat to this team). A bulky Crobat set also lets you switch into AV/CB Conk more easily which is quite important for balance teams lacking a Fairy type.

I also understand the need for Dazzling Gleam on Celebi as, again, the lack of Fairy type can make LO Hydreigon a devastating threat, and having a surefire way to revenge kill it is appreciated. However, if Hydreigon were to be banned with this suspect test, I think I better option for your team would be Hogg's max HP Celebi with Substitute in the fourth slot. This would let you easily destroy opposing stall teams that rely on Blissey/Bronzong/etc to counter Celebi, gives you potential safety from Aero that might want to trap you, and most importantly, gives you a great answer to Gyarados which this team currently lacks. The answer to Gyarados may be important enough (I believe it currently 6-0s you unless the player makes a bad mistake) that you might consider switching to it right away. Perish Song defensive Celebi would also be an interesting option to give you a surefire answer to Reuniclus (without risking Krook), opposing NP Celebi (if it has Leech Seed), Gyarados again, CM Roar Suicune, Lax, etc, but I believe NP Celebi more suits your style of play and is just better for this team in general.

These two changes would take a lot of Pokemon off your threatlist, though again the latter would turn Hydreigon into a larger threat. I do prefer Haze Crobat over offensive though.

Thanks for the shoutouts/credit in the intro!
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top