Hello everyone, this is my first post on the forum and I'm eager to become a part of the community! I have a big long story about how this is an older team and how I went up and down the ladder but who cares about that stuff so here it is:
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The focus of this team is the Durant/Kingdra core. First I get an opportunity for Durant to set up, such as on a Roserade or something. Durant draws in a lot of the things that hinder Kingdra, steel types such as Empoleon or Registeel and bulky waters such as Blastoise and Slowbro. It will hopefully kill whatever comes in, prompting the opponent to revenge kill with what is likely to be one of the many common scarfed fire types in the tier (Darmanitan, Rotom-H, Victini, Chandelure, etc.) to toast my ant. This is perfect because Kingdra, with its 4x fire resistance, sets up on choiced fire attacks. I often leave Durant in even when I'm expecting a fire move because if it's not choiced they can switch up moves and wreck Kingdra. However if they're not choiced they won't outspeed. They could also predict the Kingdra switch and go for a different move, such as U-Turn, which Durant can live. The other Pokemon are there to counter common threats in the tier and generally just wear everything down until it's time for Kingdra to clean up.
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Victoria (Kingdra) (F) @ Chesto Berry
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Waterfall
- Rest
Queendra Victoria here is like the center of a danish pastry; it's the best part and you want to save it for last. Even if I have an early game opportunity to set up I often save her until the end when everything has been weakened a bit. I'm using Chesto DD because I feel this really expands the range of things that she can set up on and against certain threats it allows me to obtain several boosts. A good example would be Bronzong who often likes to Toxic Kingdra to death. You can live several turns of Toxic and a few EQs and Rest it all off, ready to sweep with several boosts and close to full health. Kingdra has pretty solid bulk in general so she can be used to take a hit then smack down a fast Pokemon going on a sweep.
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Flik (Durant) @ Life Orb
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Hone Claws
- X-Scissor
- Iron Head
- Superpower
Good old Flik here is really important to this team. He draws fire types for Kingdra to set up on and breaks down walls with his insanely powerful attacks. He's an essential player in breaking down tough walls such as Umbreon and P2. You can see I went for dual stab + Superpower, foregoing the more common Rock Slide. This is because I don't really want it to kill fire type and because it needs to break down steel types. While the main goal is to grab a boost, I often fire off unboosted attacks early game to weaken walls such as Cofagrigus. He can also take the odd Outrage and retaliate for heavy damage.
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Murray (Houndoom) @ Life Orb
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
IVs: 30 Def / 30 SAtk / 30 SDef / 30 Spd
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Fire Blast
Murray the ghost buster is a staple on many of my teams, being the best offensive check/counter to Chandelure, switching in on STABs and Pursuit trapping. His other main role is switching to bulky ghosts such as Sableye and then either killing them with Flash Fire boosted Fire Blasts or denting them with Pursuit. He's also good for nabbing stray psychic Pokemon such as Victini and halting sweepers with Sucker Punch. Combined with priority Ice Shard from Piloswine I feel perfectly safe foregoing a Choice Scarfer. If I'm not quite comfortable switching in Kingdra yet Houndoom can also switch into Flare Blitzes and V-Creates. This is somewhat counter productive as it decreases the attractiveness of throwing out fire moves for Kingdra to set up on, but I feel like Houndoom provides multiple unique functions this team needs to succeed.
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Mr. White (Amoonguss) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 4 SAtk / 252 HP / 252 Def
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Spore
- Stun Spore
Mr. White is here to deal illicit Spores to all the young Pokemon. For the sake of his family. Amoongus is really important for this team, being a good switch into bulky and offensive water types, most grass types, and most fighting types. He can even deal with certain electric types. However despite checking such a wide range of threats I'd generally steer clear of passive walls such as Amoongus but his dual status moves make him fairly difficult to set up on and Sporing the switch in then Paralyzing the second switch in is just too good. Often I'll have games where this happens and with the opponents first and second answer to Amoongus crippled they have nothing to take it on. I decided to go without Synthesis as I really don't like giving my opponent free turns or stalling too much. Playing smart with Regenerator works well enough anyways. I had considered running offensive LO as it is more my speed and had proven to be very effective for me in the past but this team really appreciates the sturdiness of a fully defensive Amoongus, especially since I rely on it to check so many different mons.
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Mr. Pig (Piloswine) @ Eviolite
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear
- Stealth Rock
Mr. Pig is a really really good Pokemon in UU and while it could be seen as kind of a ghetto Rhyperior/Swampert I think it's a really valid choice and I often find Piloswine to be the MVP of my matches. Plus whenever I sweep with him I say to people "THEY CALL ME" "MR PIGGGGGG". Anyways, like Rhyperior/Swampert he can set up rocks and provide an excellent check to the threatening Electric types in the tier. Like Rhyperior he gets a multi-hitting move allowing him to smash through subs and lead Focus Sashes. Unlike the other two mentioned he doesn't resist fire but he can live pretty much any hit, V-Creates and Flare Blitzes failing to 1HKO. The main advantage of Piloswine is the priority Ice Shard. I can switch into Flygon on an Outrage, take 30-40% then 1HKO with Ice Shard after rocks. Thanks to Ice Shard I can beat lead Nidos 1v1 and finish off all sorts of threatening sweepers.
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Pecker (Zapdos) @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Roost
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Pecker's main reason for joining this team was to give my team switch in for Crobat and strong ground moves. But over time he has really shown himself to one of the most valuable members of the team. His good typing and bulk allows him to wall threats such as Shaymin and Yanmega who would threaten my team, as well as provide a secondary check to fighting types and bulky ghosts who would burn my other attackers. HP Grass was chosen over HP Ice as this team is somewhat SR weak and has no spinner, meaning that being able to kill Swampert and Rhyperior before they can set up rocks is invaluable.
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So if there's one thing I've learned from my little go at the ladder it is that...
This team isn't really that good at all. It struggles a lot vs walls and hazards and while I don't think I've played a match where the loss wasn't my fault I feel like a well played Umbreon or whatever could just straight up wreck my team. This isn't one of those brag RMTs, I'd really appreciate some help with this team and maybe with a few tweaks it could come back and take #1.
