Rate my mediocre UU team

[Mijzelffan]

Well I've taken a shot at UU battles on shoddy lately, and after some team puzzling I finally got a team that works. Well sorta. It wins 50% of the time, but it also loses 50% of the time. It might be my lousy tactics, but I'd still like to get it rated.

Here goes:

Lead: Cloyster @ Focus Sash
Skill Link
Careful / 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

~Spikes
~Rapid Spin
~Ice Shard
~Rock Blast

At first I just stole the anti-lead set from Smogon, but it didn't really help in getting up spikes. Focus Sash is to ensure one layer of spikes, and ice shard is to break opposing focus sashes while Cloyster has 1 hp left. In case it gets forced out by taunt it might be able to rapid spin later on too. Ev's are to give it bulk so that it has a chance of getting multiple layers of spikes when opposing leads are using weak attacks.


Sceptile @ choice specs
Overgrow
Timid / 252 SpA / 4 Def / 252 Spe

~Leaf Storm
~Energy Ball (/Dragon Pulse?)
~Hidden Power Ice
~Focus Blast

It's Sceptile! This guy is amazing. Leaf Storm really rips through everything, even resisters. Specially defensive resisters are more of a problem though (like Articuno). Set stolen entirely from Smogon, because it's pretty good. If only he got some more good special attacks. Energy ball might be replaced by Dragon Pulse for a powerfull almost always neutral damage attack (hey, that's no bad idea).


Blaziken @ Life Orb
Blaze
Mild / 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

~Fire Blast
~Superpower
~Vacuum Wave
~Hidden Power Grass (/Stone edge?)

Mixed attacker Blaziken. Works like a charm. I might change hp Grass to Stone edge, as I usually just switch to Sceptile for water and ground pokémon. On the other hand it does help when Sceptile is down. Vacuum wave has helped me out so many times it's unbelievable. If only Blaziken had Close Combat though.


Registeel @ Leftovers
Clear Body
Careful / 252 HP / 100 Atk / 156 SpD

~Stealth Rock
~Thunder Wave
~Earthquake
~Shadow Claw

Standard Smogon Tank. Doesn't have much attacking power, but can set up rocks and maybe even paralyze someone. Usually ends up as one of the last pokémon being alive.


Porygon2 @ leftovers
Trace
Calm / 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 SpD

~Thunderbolt
~Ice Beam
~Recover
~Toxic

Ev's are totally random. Smogon doesn't have porygon2 sets specified for UU, but yet he works great for me. Switch to Lanturn or Houndoom, take a hit, toxic the enemy, and hope to survive their special hit. Also a great staller late game.


Mismagius @ leftovers
Levitate
Calm / 252 HP / 196 SpD / 60 Spe

~Shadow Ball
~Psychic
~Will-O-Wisp
~Pain Split

Blocks spins. Taking straight from Smogon. Psychic over Hidden Power fighting to deal with Fighting types better, which I otherwise wouldn't be able to hit super effective. Burn criples physical attackers, like enemies trying to pursuit me.


Aside from the normal rating, a pokémon that's still really hard for me to take down is Moltres, so maybe some of you know what pokémon could get a rock move for that? Thanks in advance.

 

[Wombat]

Your team is very nice, and to help deal with moltres, go ahead and swap out HP [grass] for stone edge, you should also focus on keeping cloyster alive, or rocks off your field so you are more readily able to switch between 'tile and 'ken to deal with moltres or grass/grounds or whatever it is you would switch.

 

[Troggy]

Your team is very nice, and to help deal with moltres, go ahead and swap out HP [grass] for stone edge

Type coverage wise that makes sense, but will only work if Moltres switches into a Stone Edge. Milotic/Azu/Gatr/etc is more likely to come in on Blaziken than Moltres, and in the case that Moltres is already in, Blaziken can't switch into it. I would pack some more insurance than that if you are worried about the flaming chicken.

The Cloyster seems a bit off to me. SpA EVs with a Careful nature? That must be a typo. Not sure if Careful even makes sense? If you're going to work that hard to set up some hazards and prevent them from being spun away, you should probably make your team more offensive to take advantage.

Although Porygon2 is awesome and can counter threats with Trace, he seems a little too passive for your team. I would either ramp up the stall factor and try to win that way, or add some set up sweepers to take advantage of OHKO's afforded by hazards.

Even with Mismagius, I'd still be kind of wary of things like Technitop, who does loads of damage to the rest of your team members. I doubt he'll stay in against Mismagius to get burned unless you are in Bullet Punch KO range.

But yeah, stuff like wallbreaking Blaziken is awesome with some Spikes/SR support as you'll get the KOs on junk like Milotic that you wouldn't otherwise. I'd just take that them a little bit further if that's the route you are going down.

 

[Mijzelffan]

Type coverage wise that makes sense, but will only work if Moltres switches into a Stone Edge. Milotic/Azu/Gatr/etc is more likely to come in on Blaziken than Moltres, and in the case that Moltres is already in, Blaziken can't switch into it. I would pack some more insurance than that if you are worried about the flaming chicken.

Staying against Milotic with Blaziken is death anyway, so I usually switch to Sceptile.

The Cloyster seems a bit off to me. SpA EVs with a Careful nature? That must be a typo. Not sure if Careful even makes sense? If you're going to work that hard to set up some hazards and prevent them from being spun away, you should probably make your team more offensive to take advantage.

It was a typo. Also more sweepers mean opposing pokémon will just rape through my team quicker (my team was more offensively oriented at first, and kinda sucked).

Although Porygon2 is awesome and can counter threats with Trace, he seems a little too passive for your team. I would either ramp up the stall factor and try to win that way, or add some set up sweepers to take advantage of OHKO's afforded by hazards.

Actually the stall works wonders late game, having saved my back multiple times. Also the toxic/recover combo eventually forces the switch because of toxic damge accumulating. Plus I just like having a Porygon2 on my team :3

Even with Mismagius, I'd still be kind of wary of things like Technitop, who does loads of damage to the rest of your team members. I doubt he'll stay in against Mismagius to get burned unless you are in Bullet Punch KO range.

Most Hitmontop actually usually stay in, suspecting me to carry Shadow ball and possibly hp fighting. Might be my opponents though.

But yeah, stuff like wallbreaking Blaziken is awesome with some Spikes/SR support as you'll get the KOs on junk like Milotic that you wouldn't otherwise. I'd just take that them a little bit further if that's the route you are going down.

Well I usually just like spikes and SR so that people will have to think twice about switching weakened pokémon, so that I can get the kill easier (because they'd be dead with their next switch-in). I could make Mismagius more offensive though (Although the way he is now has been working well usually. Registeel and Cloyster are generally the ones letting me down).

 

[VanillaThunderbolt]

Cloyster looks awesome. Skill Link and Rock Blast probably help out a good bit, I'd imagine. How well do the Sp.Def EVs and Careful work out? Most leads are Physical, and Cloyster's Sp.Def is pretty bad anyway. If they work out well tough, keep it as is. Also, how has Ice Shard treated you? With Skill Link, Icicle Spear may be an okay option.

Dragon Pulse probably won't do anything Leaf Storm of HP Ice can't, so it may be kind of unnesecary. In the same regard, HP Grass looks like it would be more useful on Blaziken.

Registeel should maybe consider Curse to help boost it's power. It works charms for me.

How does Porygon2 handle Magneton? Toxistall won't work, and Magneton's gonna resist both of the attacks. Porygon 2 will keep Magneton in, probably by Tracing Magnet Pull, but it's likeyly to Thunderbolt you to death. However, how common is Magneton, really?

As far as Mismagius goes, does it ever have trouble with Nasty Plot Houndoom? With only Shadow Ball as a way to hurt it, and Will-o-Wisp only giving Houndoom more Fire Power, I could imagine it makes you set up bait. That's probably why HP Fighting is crucial. Again though, you said Moltres is one that gives you trouble, not Houndoom.

You may want to consider getting Rocks up earlier than whenever Registell manages to find its niche. Either making it a Lead instead of Cloyster, or even replacing Cloyster altogether. Moltres without HP Grass or Ice will really be afraid of Rhyperior, so you could give that a chance. Really, Moltres is UU because of its weakness to Stealth Rocks, which is almost always up. Take advantage of that, with a few priority moves (namely Fake Out and Extremespeed), and Moltres shouldn't cause enough trouble to take out the whole team.

 

[Troggy]

Staying against Milotic with Blaziken is death anyway, so I usually switch to Sceptile.

Sure, that makes sense (although you won't be able to do that once your opponent knows you have Sceptil since they will Ice Beam you...Milotic is just a big pain in general), but it wasn't the point I was trying to make :/

It was a typo. Also more sweepers mean opposing pokémon will just rape through my team quicker (my team was more offensively oriented at first, and kinda sucked).

That doesn't seem like the best way to look at the situation, but if you're OK with the makeup of your team I would just work on countering the threats you haven't covered.

Most Hitmontop actually usually stay in, suspecting me to carry Shadow ball and possibly hp fighting. Might be my opponents though.

I don't see why Top wouldn't switch out unless he thought he could KO with Bullet Punch. Most Top only have Sucker Punch otherwise which is very risky against Mismagius since Missy can Sub/Nasty Plot/WilloWisp. As long as you keep Mismagius healthy, Top shouldn't be a big problem.

Well I usually just like spikes and SR so that people will have to think twice about switching weakened pokémon, so that I can get the kill easier (because they'd be dead with their next switch-in). I could make Mismagius more offensive though (Although the way he is now has been working well usually. Registeel and Cloyster are generally the ones letting me down).

The point I was trying to convey earlier is your team isn't taking advantage of the entry hazards, which is why you are saying Registeel and Cloyster let you down. They are probably doing their jobs well, but that doesn't contribute all that much to your win condition. Specstile usually won't be sweeping as much as he will be wearing things down for something else.

The best shot at cleaning up is definitely Blaziken, but that means you have to get priority users and bulky waters out of the way and probably paralyze a thing or two (Which, depending on what switches into Registeel, you may be able to do).

Also, how has Ice Shard treated you?

At least in my experience facing Cloysters, I would say Ice Shard is the way to go.

Dragon Pulse probably won't do anything Leaf Storm of HP Ice can't, so it may be kind of unnesecary. In the same regard, HP Grass looks like it would be more useful on Blaziken.

Dragon Pulse is a workable neutral option against Fire types, but I would agree it doesn't have a ton of utility in UU as there is only one Dragon type.

HP Grass is nice on Blaziken if you can get it (If this team is online then it's pretty easy to add). If you smell a bulky water coming in, just HP Grass then Superpower. That will kill most of them, especially with some hazard support. If I remember correctly, if you get some Spikes/SR up you can even KO Milotic with Fire Blast followed by Superpower. That eases prediction a bit since Fire Blast is your trump card and the move you will likely use the most.

However, how common is Magneton, really?

It's not that common.

As far as Mismagius goes, does it ever have trouble with Nasty Plot Houndoom? With only Shadow Ball as a way to hurt it, and Will-o-Wisp only giving Houndoom more Fire Power, I could imagine it makes you set up bait. That's probably why HP Fighting is crucial. Again though, you said Moltres is one that gives you trouble, not Houndoom.

I would agree that Houndoom troubles this team also. When your best bet to 'counter' it is switch in on a predicted Nasty Plot and try to KO it with a 70% accuracy move (Focus Blast) with something weak to his primary STAB attack, I'd be a little nervous.

I know you said Porygon2 is designed to take on stuff like Houndoom, but a +2 Houndoom does 62-73% with Dark Pulse, which will wear you down very fast. If it is Specs Houndoom and you can get them to use Fire Blast, sure, Pory2 can handle it, but just something to be aware of.

Really, Moltres is UU because of its weakness to Stealth Rocks

Obviously a good statement. Since you do have a pretty good spin blocker, this is a good way to do business. I have also seen a lot of Scyther lately, which again increases the urgency to lay rocks.