SM UU My First UU: Dirty Stall and a Krook (Peak 1500)

[Tøp Tier]

Introduction

Hi RMT! I've been playing PS for about a year now, but mostly just randbats and a couple OM's. I decided a fun way to branch out into more competitive tiers and learn some would be to try and teambuild and play my way up to 1500 ELO (above the decay cutoff) on as many tiers as I could. That said, I just finished with UU, and I had a pretty good time with the team I used so I thought I'd bring it here for some pointers to make it even better. Here's the team:

Teambuilding Process

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I decided to go with stall for this team because Blissey Hippowdon alone looked like just an insane Special/Physical defensive core. WishPass Blissey and Stealth Rock Hippowdon are both sets that see usage even in OU, so I started off with these two.

Latias (and Slowbro) seemed to be the biggest immediate threat to this core because Psyshock makes for basically a mixed attacker. I went ahead and double insured against it with Scarf Krookodile for Pursuit trapping and Scizor to dual-resist Latias's stab, plus deal with another big mixed sweeper in Mega Altaria (without Flamethrower) and give me a Toxic Spikes-immune Defogger.

I literally just copy-pasted VinCune off Smogon for help with some physical attackers that were breaking Hippowdon like Grass Knot Infernape, Bloom Doom Arcanine and Mega Sharpedo, and I've now fallen in love with it. Pressure is just dumb good.

Flame Body Moltres rounded the team off nicely as a Ground immunity, backup Defogger, and way to not get 6-0'd by Swords Dance Scizor.

The Bois

Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD Bold Nature IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish - Protect - Heal Bell - Toxic
WishPass Blissey does what WishPass Blissey does. With Heal Bell, it doubles as support and a wall, and I guess since most of the other team has its own recovery, I tend to use Wish more for bringing switches in safely or stalling 1v1 with Blissey. Toxic is great for wearing down teams and I generally prefer it over Seismic Toss for the residual damage. Besides blanket checking most special attackers, it can usually use Wish + Protect to take on a few physical attackers like Mega Sharpedo assuming they're Toxic'd.

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def Impish Nature - Earthquake - Stealth Rock - Whirlwind - Slack Off
Hippowdon deals with a lot of what breaks through Blissey, namely Terrakion, Cobalion, and Infernape (without Grass Knot) and is the team's sole Stealth Rocker. Importantly, it can live two Close Combats from Guts Heracross and then Slack Off against it while Sandstorm and Burn damage chip it down. Stealth Rocks help pressure down opposing teams alongside Toxic, and Whirlwind can catch switch-ins to get some good chip on opposing teams. It also lives a +1 Scald from Suicine and Whirlwinds it out in a pinch, though this isn't preferable because of how low it's left.

Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Jolly Nature
- Pursuit - Knock Off - Earthquake - Stone Edge
Krookodile helps out the stall core by trapping threats and firing off powerful Knock Offs and Earthquakes to pick off weakened opponents late game. I added it to the team mainly to deal with Latias, but other key Pokemon it traps include lead Azelf, Chandelure (which it can also come in a Trick from), Gengar, Mega Beedrill, and weakened Mega Manectric. It also, super importantly, can threaten to Pursuit trap opposing Blissey, which is huge for stopping them from freely coming in and Heal Belling. Scarf Earthquake also allows it to revenge kill threats like Infernape, Magneton, and Terrakion, as well as deal with Nihilego without a Balloon. Stone Edge is coverage and gets key 2HKO's on Mega Aerodactyl and Togekiss.

Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def Impish Nature
- U-turn - Bullet Punch - Defog - Roost
Scizor is a great Defogger that matches up well against tons of hazard stackers and also just provides general defensive utility. It threatens kills on a few major hazard setters like Nihilego, Celebi, Ribombee, Azelf, and Mamoswine, and can consistenly come in and Defog on Swampert, Seismitoad, Hippowdon, Empoleon, and most variants of Nidoqueen, a lot of these being mostly because Heal Bell Blissey lets it not worry much about Scald burns. Its good defensive typing and decent bulk allow it to serve as a defensive pivot on a lot of things, including most other Scizor sets, and living an Aqua Jet from Crawdaunt and then killing with U-turn is nice. Bullet Punch lets it safely revenge kill lots of weakened threats, especially Terrakion, Nihilego and Mega Aerodactyl.

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD Bold Nature IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute - Protect - Calm Mind - Scald
Suicune deals with quite a few offensive threats thanks to its good bulk and typing plus Scald's chance to burn. It's my main answer to Mega Sharpedo and a backup check to Infernape, and Pressure lets it reliably PP stall setup sweepers like Curse Muk and Calm Mind Mega Slowbro. Its also a great late game sweeper, able to reliably set up on more passive Pokemon like Amoongus and Mega Aggron.

Moltres @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA Bold Nature IVs: 0 Atk
Fire Blast * Toxic * Defog * Roost
Moltres is a really nice final Pokemon for this team. It Defogs against quite a few Pokemon if Scizor is weakened, 1v1ing a few thanks to Toxic + Roost, and generally deals better with Klefki, Metagross and Mega Aggron. Its ability to threaten Fire Blasts on Steel types and catch the switch-ins with Toxics is huge, and in general it does great at status spreading. Its typing lets it always come in safely on Scizor and punish U-turns with Flame Body. In a pinch, it can also serve as a back-up answer to Cobalion assuming it doesn't have Stone Edge.

Threatlist
(Things I'd like to deal with better)

Like I said, Moltres pretty reliably comes in against Scizor, even with rocks up, but if Moltres is severly weakened or dead this thing can still be a huge issue if it Swords Dances up.

Rest CM Suicune stands out as one of few setup sweepers that my own Hippowdon cant safely Whirlwind out, that I can't status down, and that reliably 1v1's my own Suicune.

Mega Sceptile (Sprite wont load RIP)
Special Mega Sceptile is no issue, but I dont really have a single switch in to a +2 Outrage save for going Moltres and praying Flame Body goes off, which still isn't necessarily enough to stop this monster.

Tentacruel isn't so much of an offensive threat, but it manages to be a big problem for me just because its so hard to kill. As long as it has a teammate that can safely come in on Earthquakes, it basically never dies, and isn't at all passive either, Toxic Spikes, Knock Off put huge pressure on me.

Togekiss was one of my favorite Pokemon in when I played the game for the first time ever on Diamond version and raised it all the way from an egg, and I can't believe it betrayed me like this. Nasty Plot Air Slash Togekiss basically 6-0's me from Team Preview, unless I can somehow go +6 with Suicune or do some amazing maneuvering with Scarf Krookodile, this thing Roosts off anything I do to it, doesn't even mind Bullet Punch, 1v1's Blissey thanks to Heal Bell, and I'm almost certain has a bugged 100% flinch chance with Air Slash. Please send help.

Conclusion

Laddering UU has been a great time, and I feel like it'd be a fun tier to go back to some time. I think this team does it's job decently and deals with most threats I'd come across, but any help dealing with the threats I listed or any others that seem to be problematic for this team would be lit. Thanks for reading!

Importable

Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Toxic

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Slack Off

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

Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Defog
- Roost

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Protect
- Calm Mind
- Scald

Moltres @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Toxic
- Defog
- Roost

Export!

 

[vivalospride]

Hi, pretty neat team. Although I'd say it leans a little more towards fat balance with a Blissey than stall, so that's how I treated it. Anyways aside from some of the rather linear and subpar spreads on some of these mons (Hippo w/ no SpD, max hp max def Moltres, etc) there're some other issues. The Toge matchup being the one that stands out due to having no flying resist. Anyways, let's see what we can do about all this n_n.

- Going Maero > Krook to fix the Toge matchup while still keeping the sub cm chandy matchup in tact. Sandstorm + Maero is basically a ghost resist with Pursuit. Maero also keeps the team's speed all g, not that it needs too much speed control because it's a fat team.

SET

Aerodactyl-Mega @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Tail
- Earthquake
- Pursuit

- Going with Empoleon > Scizor as a defogger here. Empoleon gives the steel you'd miss with Scizor being gone, being able to reliably check non-elec z Latis and being able to come in on shit like Moltres and fog rocks away instead of having to rely on Maero and take unnecessary rocks damage. Empo + Hippo is just a classic fat balance core and is generally pretty solid and reliable, while defog Scizor is always a bit shaky, especially in this situation where it doesn't really defog on any of the mons you want it to defog on. Knock Off and Protect are two good options on Empo in the filler slot, Knock would be better vs stall and Protect is awesome for passive lefties recovery.

SET

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Defog
- Knock Off / Protect
- Toxic

/

- Amoonguss > Suicune here makes it so you lose your only wincon, which sucks but Amoonguss is great here to switch into shit like pert which annoys tf out of this team atm. Also guss + Maero is a great and reliable balance core. So Amoonguss just felt like the best option, I suppose if you wanna keep your wincon and just Suicune in general, you can run Crocune to reliably switch into Toxic and not really care about it.

SETS

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 72 SpD / 8 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Hidden Power [Fire]

OR

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Scald

Importable

Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Seismic Toss

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Whirlwind

Aerodactyl-Mega @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Tail
- Earthquake
- Pursuit

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Defog
- Knock Off
- Toxic

Moltres @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Defog
- Flamethrower
- Toxic

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 72 SpD / 8 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Hidden Power [Fire]

OR

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Scald

That's pretty much it. I think this improves the team a lot, although with the more balance direction you took with the team, Blissey feels pretty replaceable and unnecessary, but I didn't wanna touch the core. I think if you just replace Blissey for Sylveon you should be fine though. On top of everything I mentioned above, I also fixed some of your spreads that I found to be suboptimal (fixed as in I just c/p the smogon spreads). Mainly being Moltres, Blissey has stoss now, and Hippo spread. Have fun with the team and lmk how it goes n_n.

 

[Amane Misa]

Cool team, I love the core of Scizor + Moltres as hazard controls for stall teams.

• I saw that you pretty much struggle with Choice Band Scizor. True, you do have Moltres and Hippowdon, but both can get worn down by it due to how good U-turn is. I replaced Alomomola > Suicune because of it. Alomomola holds a Rocky Helmet to punish U-turn users.
• Next, Mega Aerodactyl > Krookodile helps your matchup against certain stallbreakers including Togekiss, Chandelure, and Latias. It also benefits from Hippowdon's Sand Stream. Togekiss is the main reason I suggest to change Krookodile, though.
• Other than that, I only did a few minor changes. I changed Moltres to a faster spread that allows you to check Heracross better. It also improves the Tentacruel matchup with Pressure; it is able to avoid the 2HKO from an uninvested Scald and stall Toxic Spikes's PP with Pressure. Flamethrower is superior on defensive Moltres because of its higher PP and accuracy. I also changed Hippowdon's spread to a mixed one which allows it to handle Mega Manectric better to improve your VoltTurn matchup. Lastly, I changed Blissey's set because Seismic Toss is pretty much necessary and you have another Wish user and I changed Scizor's ability to Technician because that is its most viable ability, increasing Bullet Punch's base power.

importable

Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Seismic Toss
- Heal Bell
- Toxic

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Whirlwind

Aerodactyl-Mega @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Pursuit

Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Defog
- Roost

Alomomola @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Def / 216 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic
- Scald

Moltres @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Toxic
- Defog
- Roost

I hope that the rate helped, feel free to ask any question.

 

[Tøp Tier]

Hey vivalospride and Amane Misa! Thanks for the advice, I like a lot of it and am probably gonna implement most of your changes. Quick breakdown:

This is great. Krook was honestly just my first thought for Pursuit and I never really considered a replacement. Beating Togekiss is great, and I appreciate not being Choice-locked into moves most teams can take advantage of. At least for now, I like Roost over Aqua Tail for more sustainability and comfort coming in on rocks, though if Mamo starts to give me trouble I might try out Aqua Tail.

Lol Vivalospride thanks for trying to preserve my core, but I thought about it and totally see your point about Blissey not being good for much here. It was my only real answer to Mega Manectric and Hydreigon, but the SpDef you put on Hippowdon makes handling Manectric easier, and Togekiss should be able to handle most Hydreigon. I like Togekiss over Sylveon especially for never worrying about Kommo-o, and because it gives me a backup wincon and more room to mess with Suicune's slot. I could see Thunder Wave as maybe being a help, and maybe its my own bias from getting destroyed by this set, but standard Nasty Plot looks pretty nice.

I honestly do still like Scizor over Empoleon as a Defogger, I feel like it synergizes better with Moltres, and in my experience it has been really consistent. I might mess around with switching Bullet Punch for Knock Off or even Toxic maybe just to really pressure a few setters, but for now at least I don't really feel the need to replace it.

These suggestions all make sense but seem to fill pretty different roles, I think I'm gonna have to just mess around with this slot and see what works, and I'm also thinking maybe Block Slowbro. vivalospride, if I could ask though, what's your Amoongus set got 8 Speed for?

Yeah lol I'm not sure why I had Fire Blast.

Overall thanks a bunch y'all, gives me a lot to think about and I definitely think these changes are gonna make this team work quite a bit better.

 

[Tøp Tier]

Dj Breloominati♬ lol thanks, fixed.

 

[vivalospride]

Hey vivalospride and Amane Misa! Thanks for the advice, I like a lot of it and am probably gonna implement most of your changes. Quick breakdown:

This is great. Krook was honestly just my first thought for Pursuit and I never really considered a replacement. Beating Togekiss is great, and I appreciate not being Choice-locked into moves most teams can take advantage of. At least for now, I like Roost over Aqua Tail for more sustainability and comfort coming in on rocks, though if Mamo starts to give me trouble I might try out Aqua Tail.

Lol Vivalospride thanks for trying to preserve my core, but I thought about it and totally see your point about Blissey not being good for much here. It was my only real answer to Mega Manectric and Hydreigon, but the SpDef you put on Hippowdon makes handling Manectric easier, and Togekiss should be able to handle most Hydreigon. I like Togekiss over Sylveon especially for never worrying about Kommo-o, and because it gives me a backup wincon and more room to mess with Suicune's slot. I could see Thunder Wave as maybe being a help, and maybe its my own bias from getting destroyed by this set, but standard Nasty Plot looks pretty nice.

I honestly do still like Scizor over Empoleon as a Defogger, I feel like it synergizes better with Moltres, and in my experience it has been really consistent. I might mess around with switching Bullet Punch for Knock Off or even Toxic maybe just to really pressure a few setters, but for now at least I don't really feel the need to replace it.

These suggestions all make sense but seem to fill pretty different roles, I think I'm gonna have to just mess around with this slot and see what works, and I'm also thinking maybe Block Slowbro. vivalospride, if I could ask though, what's your Amoongus set got 8 Speed for?

Yeah lol I'm not sure why I had Fire Blast.

Overall thanks a bunch y'all, gives me a lot to think about and I definitely think these changes are gonna make this team work quite a bit better.

Mega Slowbro, mlix, etc on the Amoonguss question