Major threats in UU?

Question

I have been meaning to get a Showdown! account for the last litte while, however my schedule has been very busy as of late. However, come March, I will have some free time on my hands and I plan on doing it then. That gives me a month to map out a team.

Instead of starting in OU, with all those icky Landorus and Mega Sableye, I want to start in UU. In order to make a half-decent team, I need to know the major threats of the tier. I know I asked a question like this before, but this one is different. I need to know what Pokémon are on nearly every team and that I need to have a check/counter for, and how to do that. Thanks a mil!

Comments

Scarfed Darmanitan. Everyone and their mother has one of those.

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I use a choice scarf imposter ditto. With this, even if they have something you never considered, you can get it yourself. If they set up a lot, copy them and take them out, as you will always outspeed. Also can be used to foil hazards by copying their spinner/hazard setter. Other items could be used if you want to copy stallers rather than sweepers.

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I gotta agree with generekt, I tried to start in RU, but I regret that.  I moved on to OU and learned all the basics much easier.  OU is really (imo) the best tier to start with.

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OU is by no means easier. It is actually quite more difficult (imo) to battle in. You have to cover annoying stall teams, balanced, and HO all in one. In lower tiers, HO is rather less common, leaving you to more balanced and stall based teams.  Not to mention that most lower tiers dont have those "press this pokemon to win" shenanigans, as they can be easily seen as OP and suspected to see if it is good, or simpy broken (Current examples would be Dragalge in RU as a broken "press this mon to win"). OU is littered with these, specifically most megas. They differ from a win condition, and just become abused (much like Greninja, bar whatever you believe in its ban). It becomes harder to abuse megas and/or wallbreakers in the same fashion in lower tiers. It requires a bit more thinking and or innovation (MPidgeot Work Up set). Of course this is all my (slightly biased) opinion, but I stand by it.

TL;DR OU has more threats to cover, meanwhile they arent deemed as broken because of the sheer damage of everything.  Lower tiers are easier to check mons unless actually demmed broken, in which they are immediately suspected and banned, whereas it takes ages in OU to do such thing.

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^^Dont forget Contrary Serp as a win button

Answer 1

Here is my top 10 most prominent UU Pokemon (in no special order). Pokemon that uses similar strategies or are just generally similar have been put together. Also, some Pokemon fall under several categories of threats and can use a number of different sets.

• The Glass Cannon Megas.
  Starting things of are some of the Megas residing in the tier. These include Sceptile, Beedrill and Aerodactyl. These three poses enough power and raw speed to steamroll many of their non mega sweepers, and you should always be prepared for them. Their greatest weakness is that they are as frail as wet toilet paper. Another Scarfer like Jirachi and Darmatian can finish them all of fairly easy. At the same time they struggle against really bulky walls such as Blissey, Aggron and Hippowdon. They are also fairly weak to entry hazards, so make sure to carry that around.

• The Bulky Tank Megas.
  Blastoise, Aggron, Swampert and Ampharos are type examples of this sort of Pokemon. Hard to take down and hitting hard, they are the ultimate tanks. Sadly, they are very predictable, and very prone to being worn down. As they all lack proper boosting moves and reliable recovery you just have to keep hitting them or status them to quickly wear them down. Beware though, as they have good coverage and can hit back hard.

• The Dragons.
  Despite the appearance of Fairies and Steely types in the tier the Dragons are still a force to be reckoned with. Haxorus can hit extremely hard, Kingdra have its gimmicky but good all crit set, Flygon makes a decent scout with good coverage, Goodra have extreme bulk and coverage, Hydreigon is just a monster whilst Noivern fly in circles around the most of the tier. Overall though, they are all weak to entry hazards, bulky Fairy types and faster Scarfers. Bare in mind that they can hit really hard and all have really good coverage, but they aren't unbeatable.

• The Bulky Water types.
  Vaporeon, Suicune, Swampert, Milotic, Tentacruel and Empoleon make up this vast category. Albeit not that powerful, they can be a outright pain in the Arceus if not prepared for. A strong Grass or Electric attack, perticulary a physical one, demolish them all, but good users of those are rare and far between. Luckily they can't really set up or sweep, but serve more as a roadblock. It is advisable to carry something that at least can threaten these Pokemon, or face to consequence of a near unbeatable Pokemon.

• The Fire types.
  Similar to the Water types, there is a plethora of Fire types in UU. Darmatian, Infernape, Rotom-H, Entei and Arcanine are all threats that shouldn't be overlooked. Unlike the Water types however, the Fire types are sweepers, they dish out damage but can rarely take it themselves. Any good solid attack can threaten them out, and Stealth Rocks hurt them immensely, whilst the aforementioned Water types wall them to no end. Nevertheless, they make up a formidable sweeping power that shouldn't be overlooked.

• The fast Fighting types.
  Last of the types we will look into the Fighting types. All physical, their roles range from sweepers to tanks, and they are all powerful. Machamp is an overall great tank with access to No Guard+Dynamicpunch, Mienshao is a great sweeper with even better Abilities, Lucario can even run a special set on top of its great physical sets and Medicham is a great Choice Scarf users. A strong Brave Bird or a faster Scarf users send them all running to the hills however.

• The myriad of setup sweepers.
  These do deserve a special mention. Absol, Closter, Azelf, Toxicroack, Sharpedo, Scrafty, Porygon Z, Honchkrow and to some extent Galvantula and Espeon all turn into one-man-armies with very little setup. If you are unable to force or threaten them out before setting up its advisable to hit them hard with a decent Scarfer, or a good priority move. Do prepare for these Pokemon and predict when they will come out, or you stand a good chance of simply being swept away.

• The Choice Scarf users.
  As mentioned a lot previously the answer to many Pokemon in UU is a good scarfers. These can be Jirachi, Rotom-H, Darmatian, Hydreigon, Krookodile, Mienshao, Porygon Z and Nidoking. They are counters in the same way however. A faster Scarfer can kill most of them, or a really bulky wall that they can't get past. They can be both special and physical so there really is no clear cut thing to take all of them on, but with sufficient entry hazards and enough wits the hunter can easily become the hunted.

• The walls and clerics.
  There are a lot of walls and clerics in UU, to many to be able to go through all of them here. Generally it's advisable to outpredict them. Scouts and Volt-Turn users can be used to give you momentum to switch into a suitable Wallbreaker or setup sweeper, otherwise it's advisable to wear them down via entry hazards and switching. Some notable walls are:
  Blissey, Forretress, Florges, Hippowdon, Celebi, Chesnaught, Shaymin, Aggron, half of the aforementioned Water types, Umbreon, Trevenant, Roserade and Snorlax.

• Miscellaneous threats.
  Rounding things of I will just mention some miscellaneous Pokemon that don't fit into any other category but still deserve a mention. Life Orb Nidoking, Assault Vest Raikou, Crobat (just everything about it), Magic Bounce Espeon, Forretress and Galvantula's entry hazards, Paraflinch Jirachi, any Mega I didn't mention, the entire RU tier and their respective monsters and finally, at the end of all things, Miltank.

That should give you a general idea what UU is like, what reside in the tier and what can deal with it, I hope this was useful and happy hunting!

Comments

Few nitpicks:

- Addition of MPidgeot under Glass Cannon category. It is good enough with its standard set, yet its Mono attacking work up set destroys stall single handedly.
- Serperior. This thing deserves a whole category to itself.
- VoltTurn. This is almost everywhere bar stall teams. Being able to bring in high caliber threats through a slow switch in move is highly appreciated.
- Groud types serve an importan role in stopping most VoltTurn cores.
- Swampert + Crobat. This core should really be a must to cover, as they have a history of pairing together quite often.

Answer 2

Darmanitan

Why: Incredibly high attack stat, respectable speed, and add that with Sheer Force and you have one of the strongest Flare Blitz users in the game. Most of them usually run a Choice Scarf or Life Orb set. Can easily sweep a team if unprepared. These things also run U-Turn, and get enough coverage with Rock Slide and Superpower.

One can also bluff a Scarf set with Life Orb, since Flare Blitz won't show the Life Orb recoil due to Sheer Force, so watch out for that.

Coutners: Since Darmanitan is quite frail despite a good HP stat and its weakness to SR, anything that's quicker than it can easily beat it such as a Scarfer with >95 speed if you're facing off against the Scarf or Band variant (which is more common) or just flat outspeed it with Priority or speed if it's a Life Orb set. Bulky water types also wall it out pretty well.

Calm Mind + ResTalk Suicune - CroCune

Why: Pure water is pretty solid typing, especially with 100/115/115 bulk and base 85 speed, which is fast for a defensive mon with above average bulk. With that, most of them run a physically defensive spread with Scald as their attacking move for incredible bulk on both sides after a Calm Mind. It can then just shrug off the damage and status with a Rest, then Sleep Talk to allow it to keep setting up.

This thing is also pretty good in OU too, just to tell how good it is. If you don't have anything to hit this with, these are going to be a female dog to kill. (Legendary dogs? Get it?)

Counters: CroCune, despite it's power, suffers from 4 moveslot syndrome, since Scald or Ice Beam are its best attacking options. Both of which are things you can easily wall out. Water Absorb hard counters CroCune, so carrying a Vaporean or Jellicent is worth considering. Other defensive mons that can take special attacks with ease or a uninvested but boosted Water STAB such as AV Goodra, Celebi, Tentacruel, and Empoleon. You can also play around it with Taunt from sources like Whimsicott or Crobat.

You can also just flat out kill it too instead of walling it with things like the finally released Contrary Serperior, Roserade, Sheer Force Nidoking, and Shaymin.

Porygon-Z

Why: P-Z boasts two excellent attacking abilities: Downlad and Adaptability, which can be used accordingly to what kind of set you want to run. (Adaptability is generally more common though) This virus thing also carries a strong special movepool having access to BoltBeam, Psychic, and Nasty Plot with base 135 Spatk, making it a strong wallbreaking option with decent base 90 speed.

Almost nothing doesn't get 2HKO'd by a Life Orb, Specs, or Silk Scarf Adaptability Tri Attack from P-Z, which are the more common sets, which is why this thing is so damn dangerous if you can't outspeed and kill it.

I personally use the Silk Scarf in a Mono-Normal team I'm messing with to fake a Specs set, so then I can hit them with coverage when they send in a supposed resistance.

Counters: Blissey is the only thing I know of that doesn't get 2HKO'd from a specs Tri Attack, considering that things already hard enough to kill in UU already. Shuckle also works too.

That doesn't mean P-Z has no counters though, it's base 90 speed needs a scarf to outspeed major attacking threats so it can kill them at the cost for its trademark power. This being said, P-Z is also relatively frail.

Gonna add some more later