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I also used Articuno, & although I didn't get to ladder as much as I'd hoped to, I have to admit I found it to be more underwhelming than The Shellder Smuggler did. Here was my set:
Articuno @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Freeze-Dry
- Hurricane
- Hidden Power Ground
- Roost
Pretty much the same as The Shellder Smuggler's set, but with Freeze-Dry in place of Ice Beam. I found that the utility of hitting Water-types surprised a lot of people, & it warranted it's use over Ice Beam. It surprised all the Mega Blastoise, Suicune, & Slowbro that thought they were safe. Hurricane did hit very hard (when it hit), & funnily enough I barely got to use HP Ground or Roost. The 4x Stealth Rock weakness is a big disadvantage, & I used Mega Blastoise as my spinner, but having to bring it out to spin away hazards before I could bring in Articuno was a little annoying, but I guess that's the case with anything weak to SR, especially considering how SR weak my team was.
The reason why I found it to be underwhelming was because a lot of the matches I won, I either didn't or barely got to use Articuno, which made me feel like I could have had something else more useful on the team because I was never thinking "Oh I really should bring Articuno out to get this win". When I brought it in, I'd say maybe 50% of the time, it did something useful, but it never really won me a game without getting lucky (check the replay). I also had other members of my team that could deal with everything that Articuno could, but maybe I'm just being harsh. On someone else's team, it might be more of an MVP.
Flygon @ Choice Band
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Superpower
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
Honchkrow @ Life Orb
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 248 HP / 8 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Night Slash
- Brave Bird
- Sucker Punch
- Roost
Rotom-Mow @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunder Wave
Unfortunately, Showdown's replay feature wasn't working for me for a lot of the battles (anybody else get that a lot?) so I couldn't save many battles, let alone ones of Articuno doing work.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-112273887 - OHKOed a Celebi with a crit Hurricane, KOed a Starmie with Freeze-Dry, then brought a Nidoking down to 8% before succumbing. Despite KOing 2 Pokémon & almost taking 3, this is an example of it being underwhelming. It got lucky with the crit, the Starmie was on half health already, & I was a little surprised to find it didn't carry Thunderbolt.
If I can find some more time, I'm going to try Articuno in a different team. There's potential for a good niche in UU, I liked the set I used, I just think there are far too many better options for a team slot than offensive Articuno.
Hah yeah. I wanted it to be more useful, I really did. I've always liked Articuno as a Pokémon, & it had it's moments, but between it's typing & it's shallow movepool, there just isn't enough to make people use it more. I definitely recommend Freeze-Dry over Ice Beam or Blizzard on an attacking set though, the surprise factor was key in netting some KOs. I guess not many of those KOs were crucial ones though, hence why I said it felt underwhelming. It might do a little better in RU, being a great answer to Gastrodon.
Hah yeah. I wanted it to be more useful, I really did. I've always liked Articuno as a Pokémon, & it had it's moments, but between it's typing & it's shallow movepool, there just isn't enough to make people use it more. I definitely recommend Freeze-Dry over Ice Beam or Blizzard on an attacking set though, the surprise factor was key in netting some KOs. I guess not many of those KOs were crucial ones though, hence why I said it felt underwhelming. It might do a little better in RU, being a great answer to Gastrodon.
