A different kind of Charizard [UU]

[Farasha]

My other UU team has served me well in the past, but I was ready to try something new. This coincided with breeding a ton of Charmanders with Dragon Dance to pass on to future DDTars... and I had a thought.

Why not run Dragon Dance on Charizard instead of Belly Drum?

With that thought in mind, I have designed this team to hopefully support my DDZard the best it possibly can.

Titania - Dual Screen Lead
Gardevoir @ Light Clay
Calm - Trace

* Light Screen
* Reflect
* Healing Wish
* Psychic

Standard screen lead Gardevoir. My sweepers are all a bit fragile, so the screens - and Healing Wish - ensure they last long enough to do their job.

Dante - DDZard Centerpiece
Charizard @ Salac Berry
Jolly - Blaze
252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
* Substitute
* Dragon Dance
* Fire Punch
* Earthquake

Here he is - the brainchild that started the team. Look familiar? It should, he's basically BellyZard with DD > Belly Drum. His job is simple - come in on something he either resists or can scare away (or both). Substitute on the switch, Dragon Dance as they break his Substitute. Then repeat twice - this brings him into Salac range. Once the Salac activates, in an ideal situation he'll have +3 attack (+4 on Fire Punch because of Blaze) and +4 speed. This is not quite the astronomical attack boost that Belly Drum provides, but it has a couple advantages as far as I see it. Number one, if he's Taunted after the first Sub+DD, he has one boost to play with. Number two, if he's Encored out or otherwise forced to switch, he can come back and try again if there isn't SR on the field. So far he's done just fine on Shoddy.

Sirius - Swords Dance
Absol @ Life Orb
Hasty - Super Luck
4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
* Swords Dance
* Sucker Punch/Night Slash
* Superpower
* Psycho Cut

Absol is the second sweeper on the team. His huge movepool gives him an advantage over most of his counters - fighting types won't like being hit by Psycho Cut, Drapion is impacted pretty hard by Superpower. Sucker Punch vs. Night Slash is a hard decision - Sucker Punch packs more power but I dislike moves that are conditional on something your opponent does, and I've had opponents wall Sucker Punch by refusing to attack. Changed to the Swords Dance variant after realizing that Flamethrower wasn't doing much for me with Dante and Samishii's Fire Punch already on the team.

Rhoswen - Spiker
Roserade @ Leftovers
Modest - Natural Cure
4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
* Spikes
* HP Fire
* Energy Ball/Grass Knot
* Rest

Upon suggestion, Meganium has been replaced with something that does its job better. In addition to being able to absorb status with Natural Cure (one of Lapras's old jobs as well), Rhoswen can also lay down hazard, which is something my team previously lacked. Energy Ball or Grass Knot is a decision I'm still pondering - Energy Ball gives consistent coverage, but Grass Knot hits bulky waters much harder.

Loch - Rapid Spin
Blastoise @ Leftovers
Bold - Torrent
252 HP/252 Def/4 SpA
* Surf
* Rapid Spin
* Toxic
* Ice Beam

I replaced Lapras because my team was definitely in need of a rapid spinner to remove pesky SR, and Lapras's weakness to SR wasn't helping me at all. Adding Loch here helped cover that, and he also carries status to better help against bulky pokemon that my sweepers may not be able to touch. Ice Beam is there to hit grass-types that might try to come in on him, as well as for Altaria.

Samishii - Cleanup Crew
Marowak @ Thick Club
Jolly - Rock Head
4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
* Earthquake
* Stone Edge
* Fire Punch
* Double-Edge

I am, at heart, still a GSC battler. Marowak was one of the most frightening pokemon in the Gen II metagame, and it breaks my heart that later generations haven't updated him to remain the great threat he once was. On this team, however, he serves a vital role as a counter to Poison and Electric-types. Poison is ubiquitous in UU, and although Dante carries Earthquake, Samishii is a much better option to use since he gains STAB from it and has astronomical attack. Manectric or other electric-type sweepers would certainly OHKO Dante and, with Stealth Rock support, could take Aurora out as well. Better to take them down before they have the chance.


So that's it! One pokemon at the center with the other five meant to fill in his weaknesses and support his strengths. But if Dante is taken down, the rest of my team is viable to stand on its own. At least, I think so.

Credit for shiny recolors: Commander Wymsy at GTS Plus
​

 

[crimsonstorm]

Hiya. I'd run adamant nature on Marowak for more power since you're not passing any speed to him. If you want a dual screener for a lead, I'd suggest Claydol over Gardevoir. Claydol can at least stick around a little better since Gardevoir I don't think will last very long to set up anything.

Claydol- Careful - Light Clay/lum berry
Ev's 252 hp, 80 df, 176 spd

Explosion
light screen
reflect
stealth rock

Smogon standard. Could drop stealth rock/explosion for ice beam/psychic too just to have an attack or two.

 

[Dark Azelf]

Why do people use a Charizard without a spinner ? Really its a wasted slot without one. That and you have Lapras too. :/

Yeah needs more spinner >>Lapras.

Blastoise@Leftovers
252 HP / 252 DEF / 6 SP.DEF
- Toxic
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
- Surf / Hydro pump

Beats DD Altaria too.

Swords Dance will probably be better on Zard with a Salac and Jolly, but eh. If not just use Adamant and Leichi since zard is pretty fast.

Also Mix Absol is not viable out in uu. Use the Swords Dance set or CB, it outclasses it.

A. Because Steelix is OHKO'd by a SD LO SuperPower

B. Skarm and Forry are not uu, no need for a fire move.

Gardy isnt doing anything in all honesty, id much rather get something to support your Zard better and since you lack entry hazards which is kinda foolish these days. I would suggest Toxic Spikes, but they arent too effective in uu outside of stall due to the vast number of things that absorb them. So, in its place i would suggest using Spikes to still cripple things like bulky waters wanting to wall not only zard, but Marowak too.

Massive Roserade weak. You could shove in your own Roserade to beat other Roserade and set up Spikes for you >> Gardy.

Roserade@Leftovers
evs: 252 HP / 136 Sp.D / 120 Spe
Calm Nature
Natural Cure
- Spikes
- Hidden Power Fire
- Energy Ball
- Rest / Synthesis

I i advise a rapid spin blocker >> her to stop attempts to remove your spikes. Rotom could work, this would also help with your Swellow weak and fighting weak.

Rotom@Leftovers
252 HP/252 DEF / 6 S.DEF
Bold Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Will-o-Wisp
- Thunderbolt

Also absorbs status so Meganium is not needed.

Spiker Roserade
Stalker Rotom
RS Blastoise
SD Zard
SD/CB Absol
Marowak

Something like this ?

 

[Farasha]

Hrm.

I think I will replace Lapras with Blastoise as a spinner - SR is one of the biggest problems for this team, and Blastoise won't add any weaknesses to the team that aren't already there.

I'm hesitant to replace Gardevoir with Roserade simply because Roserade lacks Healing Wish. What if I replaced Meganium with Roserade instead?

SD Absol is a variant I looked at and seriously considered using. I went with Mix Absol for type coverage, but if I can get away with not running Flamethrower the SD set seems like it will work much better for my team.

The only think I'm not going to do is SD > DD on Zard. I know it's not a traditional set, but the point of this is for me to test out whether the DD set works well enough to be run competitively. If I continue to battle with the improved team and find out that Zard is just not doing his job, I will scrap the experiment and the idea and just run a BellyZard. Also, Salac has worked well for me so far but I might try running Leichi instead.

 

[Sebastien Loeb]

You don't have Choice Scarfer and moves as Trick and Choice Scarfer adversaries gives too much you bother, replace Marowak with a Choice Scarf-Sweeper.