I've always liked building balanced and bulky offense teams. I felt like they were the most reliable way to win games (aside from Stall, which I just don't find fun to use) and that they were all around fun to play with. However, the one thing I've noticed is that balance has little to no chance to beat stall teams. With Hail back in UU, and regular Stall still hanging tough at the top of the ladder, balanced teams are getting more and more difficult to win consistently with. So my answer to this was to go more offensive... as offensive as I could pretty much. I built this team faster than any other team I've ever had, and I really expected it to underwhelm me. However it surprised me, hovering around 3:1 win/loss ratio in over a hundred battles (should have been better to be honest, I usually start making dumb mistakes 5 battles into laddering or suddenly have to leave). Which is pretty good, but not exactly fantastic. In any case, I’m about to retire the team, so I decided to share it with you guys and see what improvements could be made.
The Hazardous Ones
Froslass (F) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Taunt
- Destiny Bond
Gonna start off by saying I absolutely love Froslass. Very rarely does it fail to do something important to the match. It can scout for scarves when it’s focus sash is intact and paralyze the opponent. It gets at least one layer of spikes up every single match, and usually more. Prevents my opponent from setting up with Taunt, and in desperation can KO a slower attacker with D-bond. Not too much more to say about it really, it’s a pretty awesome Pokemon.
Kabutops @ Lum Berry
Trait: Weak Armor
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Jet
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
Kabutops is extremely underrated in UU. I needed a Pokemon that could set up Stealth Rocks, Rapid Spin, and not completely ruin the momentum and offensive pressure that this team needs to function. Stone Edge is great for KOing Xatu before they can get their screens up (I’ve found most don’t run much speed at all), and Aqua Jet is a great revenge killing move against omnipresent Victini, Darmanitan, and Chadelure . I run Lum Berry to help it break through spin blockers who try to burn it like Cofagrigus and Sableye, and though it can’t always KO those g uys it does do a fair amount of damage. So if Froslass managed to get 3 layers up it can usually come out on top (WoW’s accuracy problems help this a lot as well) Kabutops is also extremely useful for his double resistance to fire type attacks, which my team is a little bit weak to. Switching into Flare Blitz also activates weak armor, making up for how pitifully slow Kabutops is.
The Wrecking Balls
Weavile @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Ice Punch
- Ice Shard
- Low Kick
- Night Slash
I can’t count how many times I’ve seen my opponents team preview and said “Well if I remove X Pokemon, Weavile can KO literally everyone on that team” This guy is a simple as it gets, hit hard and fast and try to break some walls or KO something. I used to run Swords Dance over Ice Punch, but I found that I never really got the opportunity to set up and that Ice Shard was often lacking in the power I needed to win the match. Weavile can’t switch into anything really with his paper defenses unless there’s a sure fire Psychic move coming so he generally functions as a revenge killer. This works well because the way this team is built is to make my opponent switch around as often as possible to rack up hazards damage and to deal as much damage as possible before sacking something. Weavile is usually who I bring in after one of my guys faints, and he almost always KO’s something or at the very least forces a switch.
Darmanitan @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Flare Blitz
People never see this coming for some reason. When you see a Darmanitan most people apparently just assume it’s scarfed…. So I help them by never revealing that I’m LO until absolutely necessary. I rarely U-turn or EQ until late in the match to maintain the bluff, so that when I do it’s detrimental to my opponent. An example would be when I Flare Blitz initially and my opponent brings in Slowbro, I don’t U-turn out so that later on when he brings in his Chandelure for a Flash Fire boost I can follow up the next turn with EQ (Darm has the bulk to live whatever Scarf Chandelure can throw at it if he’s relatively healthy). Darmantian does the majority of wall breaking for this team, 2HKOing Gligar which would otherwise be a major pain and dealing an insane amount of damage to Slowbro with FB + U-turn (when I decide it’s more important to hurt it than to keep bluffing scarf). He is also my best answer to Sableye, who if he's down just burns my entire team to complete uselessness.
Virizion @ Lum Berry
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- Leaf Blade
- Swords Dance
Ah Virizion, the red-headed step-child Musketeer. His usage percentage astonishes me. Virizion’s dual STABS make him a nightmare for a ton of defensive cores, and with his ability to SD in the face of Wil’O’Wisps thanks to Lum Berry he is my main and only boosting sweeper. He usually makes his appearance mid-game, and knocks all sorts of holes into the opposing team. He’s hard countered by a few Pokemon so I can understand that reducing his usage a bit, but after using him I see no reason that he was at the bottom of the tier last month. Wrecking the bulky waters that are many people’s answers to the fighting types running around the tier makes him an invaluable Pokemon, and his ability to switch freely into Scalds with his great special defense and the Lum Berry just add to his importance to the team.
Mienshao @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 4 SpA / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Hi Jump Kick
- HP Ice
- U-turn
- Aerial Ace
Scarf Mienshao cleans up late game. High Jump Kick does crazy damage to just about everything, and when my opponent’s been switching around through spikes and taking hits from the rest of my team it does enough damage to KO a whole lot of things. The only things that really stop this guy are Gligar, Slowbro, and Ghosts. He rarely sees the battle until all of the ghost types are down and the walls are weakened, then I send him in and HJK the hell out of everything. The only complaint I have about him is that a 90% accuracy move misses way, way more than it should in my opinion (hence why he has Regenerator instead of Reckless. The increased damage isn’t worth him getting the recoil damage and not having any way to recover it).
Well that's my team. Extremely straight forward and fun to play with. I suggest you try the team out for yourself and have some fun with it.
Art by Arkeis and Xous54
At A Glance:
The Hazardous Ones
Froslass (F) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Taunt
- Destiny Bond
Gonna start off by saying I absolutely love Froslass. Very rarely does it fail to do something important to the match. It can scout for scarves when it’s focus sash is intact and paralyze the opponent. It gets at least one layer of spikes up every single match, and usually more. Prevents my opponent from setting up with Taunt, and in desperation can KO a slower attacker with D-bond. Not too much more to say about it really, it’s a pretty awesome Pokemon.
Kabutops @ Lum Berry
Trait: Weak Armor
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Jet
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
Kabutops is extremely underrated in UU. I needed a Pokemon that could set up Stealth Rocks, Rapid Spin, and not completely ruin the momentum and offensive pressure that this team needs to function. Stone Edge is great for KOing Xatu before they can get their screens up (I’ve found most don’t run much speed at all), and Aqua Jet is a great revenge killing move against omnipresent Victini, Darmanitan, and Chadelure . I run Lum Berry to help it break through spin blockers who try to burn it like Cofagrigus and Sableye, and though it can’t always KO those g uys it does do a fair amount of damage. So if Froslass managed to get 3 layers up it can usually come out on top (WoW’s accuracy problems help this a lot as well) Kabutops is also extremely useful for his double resistance to fire type attacks, which my team is a little bit weak to. Switching into Flare Blitz also activates weak armor, making up for how pitifully slow Kabutops is.
The Wrecking Balls
Weavile @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Ice Punch
- Ice Shard
- Low Kick
- Night Slash
I can’t count how many times I’ve seen my opponents team preview and said “Well if I remove X Pokemon, Weavile can KO literally everyone on that team” This guy is a simple as it gets, hit hard and fast and try to break some walls or KO something. I used to run Swords Dance over Ice Punch, but I found that I never really got the opportunity to set up and that Ice Shard was often lacking in the power I needed to win the match. Weavile can’t switch into anything really with his paper defenses unless there’s a sure fire Psychic move coming so he generally functions as a revenge killer. This works well because the way this team is built is to make my opponent switch around as often as possible to rack up hazards damage and to deal as much damage as possible before sacking something. Weavile is usually who I bring in after one of my guys faints, and he almost always KO’s something or at the very least forces a switch.
Darmanitan @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Flare Blitz
People never see this coming for some reason. When you see a Darmanitan most people apparently just assume it’s scarfed…. So I help them by never revealing that I’m LO until absolutely necessary. I rarely U-turn or EQ until late in the match to maintain the bluff, so that when I do it’s detrimental to my opponent. An example would be when I Flare Blitz initially and my opponent brings in Slowbro, I don’t U-turn out so that later on when he brings in his Chandelure for a Flash Fire boost I can follow up the next turn with EQ (Darm has the bulk to live whatever Scarf Chandelure can throw at it if he’s relatively healthy). Darmantian does the majority of wall breaking for this team, 2HKOing Gligar which would otherwise be a major pain and dealing an insane amount of damage to Slowbro with FB + U-turn (when I decide it’s more important to hurt it than to keep bluffing scarf). He is also my best answer to Sableye, who if he's down just burns my entire team to complete uselessness.
Virizion @ Lum Berry
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- Leaf Blade
- Swords Dance
Ah Virizion, the red-headed step-child Musketeer. His usage percentage astonishes me. Virizion’s dual STABS make him a nightmare for a ton of defensive cores, and with his ability to SD in the face of Wil’O’Wisps thanks to Lum Berry he is my main and only boosting sweeper. He usually makes his appearance mid-game, and knocks all sorts of holes into the opposing team. He’s hard countered by a few Pokemon so I can understand that reducing his usage a bit, but after using him I see no reason that he was at the bottom of the tier last month. Wrecking the bulky waters that are many people’s answers to the fighting types running around the tier makes him an invaluable Pokemon, and his ability to switch freely into Scalds with his great special defense and the Lum Berry just add to his importance to the team.
Mienshao @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 4 SpA / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Hi Jump Kick
- HP Ice
- U-turn
- Aerial Ace
Scarf Mienshao cleans up late game. High Jump Kick does crazy damage to just about everything, and when my opponent’s been switching around through spikes and taking hits from the rest of my team it does enough damage to KO a whole lot of things. The only things that really stop this guy are Gligar, Slowbro, and Ghosts. He rarely sees the battle until all of the ghost types are down and the walls are weakened, then I send him in and HJK the hell out of everything. The only complaint I have about him is that a 90% accuracy move misses way, way more than it should in my opinion (hence why he has Regenerator instead of Reckless. The increased damage isn’t worth him getting the recoil damage and not having any way to recover it).
Well that's my team. Extremely straight forward and fun to play with. I suggest you try the team out for yourself and have some fun with it.
Art by Arkeis and Xous54
