Gen 5 Electra Heart

Lily

wouldn't that be fine, dear
is a Tutoris a Site Content Manageris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributoris a member of the Battle Simulator Staffis a Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Senior Staff Member Alumnus
UU Leader


~
~

Introduction


BW UU is a staple in my repertoire of tiers for a multitude of reasons; I'm somewhat known for being the weirdo that likes to play all the BW lower tiers, at least to team tournament managers, and it makes sense that as the UU girl I'd have started in BW UU... except that's not really what happened. In fact, not so long ago, I didn't really like this tier at all! It was the last BW tier I picked up, owing largely to the fact that it seemed the most figured out; phenomenal builders like Accel, Liam, Finch and choolio had all been doing their thing in this tier for ages, and in a sense it felt like anything I'd try to come up with would have already been done by them, so I just never bothered. Sure, I'd play a game of it in a tournament here or there if I had to - I did know the tier pretty well after all - but it was never with my own teams, and as such I'd never put my own unique spin on the metagame. That remained true up until UUSD II - after some complications with my team's BW slot, I took up the mantle of our BW player and figured I'd give the tier a shot and see what I could do with it.

During that tournament I built a lot of teams - some were some awkward, poor attempts at more traditional balance/offense structures, while others were a bit more creative and fun. One thing I did build a lot of, though, was hyper offense. I'm a firm believer in hyper offense in just about every BW tier and it isn't hard to see why - Spikes become more and more difficult to manage the lower you go in the tiering rung, and while the setup sweepers become less potent, there's still plenty you can do to make them powerful. I obviously don't wanna make any silly claims like the idea that I invented hyper offense in this tier or whatever, but I do think it's fair to say that it was almost unused before I started using it; you'd see the occasional user of choolio rain or Finch using his own rain but apart from that it was pretty uncommon. I realised how much potential hyper offense had when I started building various Spikes teams with Qwilfish - such as this one! - but I hadn't tried or seen screens. That's when I decided I had to put one together, and after many failed attempts, this is the one I found the most success with. With many having ripped the team from replays at this point, I figure I might as well RMT it; it's had a great deal of success in various tournaments, and it's one of the teams I'm most proud of to this day. So here it is; enter Electra Heart.

Building Process
In general I tend to go over my building process more in depth in the actual Pokemon's descriptions, but here is a quick rundown.

I wanted something that gets Screens up, so I started with Screens Azelf since it's the fastest viable setter that can get itself off the field.

I wanted to fit Spikes somewhere, and while I'd have loved to use a setup sweeper that can Spike as well, there weren't any worth using, so I went with Accelgor instead. It was, to me, the best at getting em up and keeping em up for hyper offense squads.

As I go into more detail on later, I knew from my previous HO builds that Kingdra was a mandatory slot for the Rain matchup among other things, and it's a very good Screens abuser in its own right so it was the obvious next slot.

Originally I tried a Linoone here for no real reason other than wanting to use a Linoone, but I ended up not liking it much since it can't really hurt Steel-types at all this gen. Fun mon but not consistent.

Next up was Venomoth, which was better than Linoone but just didn't have the consistency I wanted bc of how reliant I was on Sleep Powder hitting. When I build hyper offense I tend to like to use as many accurate moves as I possibly can since these teams really can't bounce back from turns going wrong the way something like a bulkier team can, and a 75% accurate move was just not cutting it. It's also just not strong enough even at +1 or +2.

Eventually I realised I was being silly and put Cofagrigus on the team since it's just better in every way and performs the almost-mandatory spinblocking role anyway.

Next I added Mew; this was originally the team's Fighting-type punish since there wasn't a Cofagrigus here, but it also checks stuff like Weavile that can be annoying, and it's just a very good sweeper on its own.

Finally we have Cobalion, which resists a billion types in BW and breaks holes very well for other mons on the squad. It's a great way to trade with Electric-types and tends to blow past them if you play it right, while also pressuring Umbreon and Snorlax very well for the rest of the squad.

The Team

:bw/azelf:
Starring Role (Azelf) @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Explosion

Yes, I know there are better spreads! I just never bothered to lab one out. Anyway, Azelf's role here is pretty simple - set up Stealth Rock, set up one screen, set up a second screen if you're lucky, otherwise explode and send in setup mon #1. Azelf was chosen because not many other mons get the combination of Rocks + Screens + way to generate momentum; Uxie does also work in this slot if you'd like something more durable, and Memento is often better than Explosion, but the Speed tier is pretty important imo in getting the jump on Victini and notably faster Taunt Mews. Once you've gotten your hazard (if it's necessary - sometimes Spikes will be enough), all you really have to do is judge which screen will be more valuable depending on the matchup; you'll often only get one since Azelf isn't too bulky, but against weaker teams you can occasionally get both. Not much else to say on it, good mon that does its job well.

:bw/accelgor:
Hypocrates (Accelgor) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Bug Buzz
- Yawn
- Final Gambit

So I'll admit now that imo this set is worse on Accelgor than the one I more frequently use (which I will include later in the post) but it is more noob friendly so I opted to put it here anyway. Accelgor is the fastest Spiker in the tier and is pretty decent at keeping its own hazards up thanks to Yawn and Final Gambit; Yawn is great for forcing switches and letting you get 2 Spikes up if, for example, Blastoise comes in on you and spins (you Yawn it, you Spike as it switches, you Spike again as it comes back in and then you Final Gambit). Final Gambit serves the dual purpose of spinblocking and letting you get momentum on a forced switch via Yawn. Bug Buzz does pretty pathetic damage to most things because Accelgor is quite slow, but it does dissuade Taunt Mew from doing Taunt Mew things which lets you keep up hazards mostly uncontested outside of Xatu matchups. However, the Xatu matchup is super bad for this team, which is why I've come to prefer this set:

:bw/accelgor:
Hypocrates (Accelgor) @ Bug Gem
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 24 HP / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Bug Buzz
- Acid Spray
- Final Gambit

Acid Spray lets you shred through Xatu with a Bug Gem-boosted Bug Buzz, enabling you to get up at least 1 Spike. In addition, if you Acid Spray a Blastoise looking to cheekily spin your Spikes away, Bug Buzz will OHKO that at -2 as well. Bug Buzz is also just pretty strong from this set in general thanks to that beefy Modest nature and Bug Gem boost, letting you shred things that wouldn't expect to take that much damage - it OHKOs -1 Victini, it shreds offensive Roserade for 75% minimum, it does around 40% to Snorlax (great for Kingdra) and gets good chip on stuff like Raikou, Rhyperior, Bronzong and friends etc. you get the point it's p strong. You do miss Sash often but there aren't many faster mons that can OHKO you and most often they won't want to even if they can - Scarf Tini doesn't wanna lock V-Create bc of Kingdra in the back, Fighters don't wanna lock Stone Edge bc of Mew / Coffin, etc. so really it's mostly just Heracross clicking Megahorn which is pretty risky into potential Sash versions anyway since you really need Heracross in the HO matchup and if you let it go to sleep through Yawn you're kinda screwed.

:bw/kingdra:
Primadonna (Kingdra) (F) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Outrage
- Rest

Sweeper #1 is DDRest Kingdra. Before I go into the set, let me preface with this - I firmly believe that any hyper offense like this absolutely 100% needs Kingdra. If played properly, you will solo the rain matchup with it (force them to lock a Water move, grab 2 boosts, congrats on the win) which is otherwise unwinnable for hyper offense. Kingdra being mandatory is no issue since it's arguably the best sweeper in the tier anyway, but yea - if you're going to build HO and it doesn't have a Kingdra, you should probably find a way to put one on it. Anyway, while many gravitate towards SubDD - which I can't blame them for, it's a great set - I really love what DDRest brings to the table here. Kingdra is notoriously difficult to OHKO, tanking shit like Scarf Heracross/Mienshao/Flygon (minus Outrage) for some ungodly reason, but I find that once you trade with those Pokemon you're often going to faint afterwards; Kingdra is strong, but it isn't that strong, so even at +2 you're not OHKOing bulky stuff like Snorlax, physdef Zapdos or Cofagrigus unless you lock Outrage. Rest lets you turn the tables here by trading with the scarfer, getting a free rest on the bulky mon that can revenge a 20% Kingdra but not a 100% one, and going to town once again. It's also just great for beating teams that rely on something like Bronzong Toxicing it; Sub does this too ofc but it's a nice side benefit of Rest. Most commonly, you'll be able to grab 2 or even 3 Dragon Dances before having to pop Rest, and by that point the game is usually over. You could probably slot SubDD here and do just fine though if you really wanted.

:bw/cofagrigus:
Living Dead (Cofagrigus) @ Leftovers
Ability: Mummy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 2 Spe
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Trick Room

A true classic, OTR Cofagrigus brings a lot to any hyper offense. It's got a lot of great traits; it's a very important Fighter check, it spinblocks if necessary (it doesn't really match up that well against Blastoise but if your hazards are more important than your Cofagrigus then it's absolutely a valid play to trade your Cofagrigus for the turtle, it'll usually put it in range of everything else on the team), and it is also very difficult to stop for teams that don't have a Togekiss or something along those lines. While it's rarely going to sweep itself, Cofagrigus really helps with the headache that can be other highly offensive teams by punishing Choice Scarf Mienshao and Heracross extremely hard. Mummy is also extremely clutch against things like physical Sharpedo and Darmanitan. Most often I find myself using this to trade for Blastoise in matchups against that and otherwise I try my best to -not- use it - while that may sound counterintuitive, the longer you can keep Cofagrigus in the back, the longer your opponent has to respect it and thus become wary of spamming their High Jump Kicks and whatnot. The mental game is important here. It can definitely sweep alone though; at +2 it really shreds offense and even some bulkier teams can struggle to handle it depending on what they're running as a specially defensive pivot, e.g. Mew teams tend to have an awkward Coffin MU. Speaking of...


Bubblegum Bitch (Mew) @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Synchronize
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 180 HP / 252 SpA / 76 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Fire Blast
- Rock Polish

Mew is often the Pokemon you'll see on the winscreen for this team. Because of how naturally bulky it is, Mew can do a lot for offense; it is a situational check to everything, and as such your opponent has to be quite particular in how they play around it. On this team it's importantly able to pressure and check Electric-types Raikou and Zapdos that are otherwise very problematic, since this team doesn't have an Electric resist. It's also able to check Weavile, (kinda) Sharpedo and Krookodile thanks to its Colbur Berry, and while the latter two need quite a bit of chip to drop to Fire Blast it's still a decent bonus. If Mew manages to get +2 +2 it's really difficult to beat it; it outspeeds every Scarfer and it's strong enough to OHKO most things at +2 save for the bulkiest of special walls and Victini. It can often find setup on stuff like defensive Roserade, choiced Flygon, choiced Fighting-types, and stuff like Qwilfish. It's kinda broken tbh.

:bw/cobalion:
Homewrecker (Cobalion) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Zen Headbutt
- Stone Edge

I find myself going back and forth on this slot a lot, frequently wondering what coverage or item I should include on this Cobalion, but this is what I most often settle on. Being a bulky Steel-type means that Cobalion provides a heck of a lot to this team, checking Roserade, Togekiss, Weavile, Umbreon and, thanks to its Shuca Berry, Krookodile and Flygon. The coverage is chosen to let it pressure as much as possible; Stone Edge is absolutely required for Zapdos, and while I do enjoy Zen Headbutt for Qwilfish and Nidoqueen, there are other options there if you please. Iron Head is decent consistent damage against stuff like Togekiss, Mew, Nidoqueen and Gligar, while HP Ice specifically nukes Gligar pretty well, notably letting you get through the Umbreon + Gligar core if you really hate that for some reason. Rock Polish is also viable if you want to go that route. Cobalion will rarely ever sweep, but it can use its good bulk and resistances to wallbreak, most often trading for Raikou or Zapdos which is almost always worth doing.

Threatlist


If you don't have the right Accelgor set Xatu is extremely annoying because it blanks both of the hazard setters; Azelf's Explosion can put it in Bug Buzz range, though, so it's not all bad. If you're expecting a Xatu I'd recommend using the Bug Gem Accelgor set. Otherwise, play aggressively; Xatu won't usually want to lead against you but rather come in and after something else leads, so use that obvious switch to double into something like Kingdra and force an awkward position out the gate.


I mean, yeah, there's no Electric resist here! These two are always gonna be annoying. They're very playable, though; don't be afraid to trade one of your Pokemon for them. They're generally not durable enough to take on more than one, and if you can neutralise them, you'll often have a good winpath with something else (frequently Kingdra). The best mon to trade for them is almost always Cobalion if you can, but otherwise Mew or Kingdra itself can break past them, and Cofagrigus can break past non-Roar Zapdos too. Against Raikou, if things get dire, try to set up a Trick Room with Cofagrigus and then pop it with Close Combat or Outrage. Ideally these two are chipped out by your hazards to the point where they can't do anything, and remember - everything is an Electric resist behind screens.

+

To be clear I do not think these are problems at all but for some reason others tell me this team loses to Umbreon + Gligar so here I am to tell you what you do - don't play like a dummy! Get your hazards up first and foremost. Umbreon is immovable without them but with them it's pretty worthless; it becomes unable to check Kingdra and Mew if it's eating Spikes every time, and Gligar really only checks Cobalion to begin with. When you force Umbreon out with your Cobalion, don't just thud into Gligar for no reason; bring in your Kingdra and get your free DD or bring in your Mew and get your free NP. If you really hate this matchup you can slap HP Ice on Coba and call it a day.

Replays

Not all of these replays will use the same variant of the team since I don't pass it out all that often and people will assume sets / change them to their liking.


sasha vs Fakee



Punny vs Hydronics



Finchinator vs Bushtush



SoulWind vs Shiba



Lily vs Amukamara



Lily vs Cam



Lily vs Eternal Spirit


Importables



Focus Sash Accelgor Variant



Bug Gem Accelgor Variant


Conclusion

BW UU is one of the most fun metagames Smogon has to offer and it has been such a delightful experience for me to learn and experiment within it. For one reason or another, BW tiers hold a special place in my heart, and UU is probably my favourite of the bunch now; there really is something so enchanting about the massive variety of structures within the tier and the plethora of viable Pokemon that all lead to a dynamic and high power level without feeling overwhelming. I know there are many out ther that don't find the tier fun because it's a Spikes fiesta or whatever, but I encourage them to give it another try and enjoy it for what it is; offensive tiers like this are very enjoyable once you learn to thrive in them.

To anyone who read this the full way, thank you very much. I hope you learned something new or enjoyed the ride, and if not, well, you got a free team out of it so I hope you get some use out of that at least. Enjoy making other players hate you and call you a cheeser. Not gonna do the big shoutouts thing for once, but thank you very much to all my friends who make playing this game as enjoyable as it can be.

o7
 

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

Top