First Shot at Competitive Battling! [UU]

[Lila]

Hi, this is my first team for competitive battling. I'm new to this, and I'm especially new to the EV and Nature concept of pokemon, so if I make any novice or obvious mistakes, I apologize. Anyway, without further delays, here's my team! It's a hail team, if you didn't notice already. XD

Changes are in bold.

At a glance:

Abomasnow @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 6 Def
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -Sp. Atk)
Ability: Snow Warning

Substitute
Leech Seed
Focus Punch
Ice Shard

He's here to set up hail, and possibly annoy my opponent and do some damage, and also to lure my opponent into using fire attacks on him so I can switch to Ninetales. This move set isn't something I'm in love with, but it does okay.

Concerns:

Since this is a hail team, Abomasnow is probably one of the most important members. I don't think I'll have to constantly refresh hail, but if I don't have him alive, a lot can go wrong. I figured substitute and leech seed would be good for stalling and annoying, but I'm open to changing this set. Anyway! Focus punch is pretty good added with Substitute, and Ice Shard is a very good move that is useful for going first. I've never used Abomasnow on a hail team, so I'm not sure what the best set is.

Clefable @ Flame Orb
EVs: 252 HP, 150 Def, 108 Sp. Def
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
Ability: Magic Guard

Trick
Seismic Toss
Softboiled
Toxic

Clefable is pretty amazing on a hail team. She doesn't take damage from the hail, and her usual skills of taking advantage of Magic Guard are also used here. She'll Trick Flame Orb onto the opponent once she gets burned, which prevents her from falling asleep or getting any other unpleasant status effects. I picked Flame Orb over Toxic Orb since I thought it'd be more useful for messing up physical sweepers (unless Flame Orb isn't the same as a regular burn?). Softboiled is there for healing herself and Seismic Toss is for reliable damage.

Concerns:
Clefable seems like a perfect member of this team, but I do have a few concerns about her. Should I give her Reflect for extra support, or t-wave/toxic to status the opponent even further if I've already Tricked the Flame Orb?

Froslass @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 Spd, 252 HP, 6 Def
Nature: Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
Ability: Snow Cloak

Blizzard
Substitute
Spikes
Destiny Bond
Froslass can be incredibly annoying on a hail team. With her increased evasiveness combined with substitute, she can set up three layers of spikes, and also do quite a bit of damage with Blizzard. I was considering using Brightpowder for extra evasiveness, but it doesn't add that much, and without Leftovers she has no way of recovering.

Concerns:
Froslass is frail. She can go down from one hit if something out-speeds her, and this set may backfire if I have bad luck with evasiveness. I wasn't sure what to use as her last move - Shadow Ball provides another STAB move, t-wave can cause more annoying, Protect for stalling, and Destiny Bond for when Froslass is about to go down and has already set up spikes.

Ninetales @ Life Orb
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Spd, 6 HP
Nature: Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
Ability: Flash Fire

Flamethrower
Dark Pulse
Energy Ball
Extrasensory

Most hail teams have to have a pokemon with Flash Fire to function well. Ninetales is that pokemon, and with a more diverse move-set than ever before, I think she pulls it off quite well. Flamethrower is her STAB move and is boosted by Flash Fire, while the other moves are just for coverage. Once she gets a boost from Flash Fire, she's ready to sweep.

Concerns:

Ninetales is quite frail, but she is one of my favourite pokemon, and does have quite a diverse move pool now. I'm willing to think of replacements for her, but I think that I absolutely need a pokemon with Flash Fire for this team. I'm also not sure if I should get Dark Pulse or Ominous Wind.

Claydol @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP, 117 Def, 141 Sp. Def
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
Ability: Levitate

Rapid Spin
Stealth Rock
Earth Power
Toxic

Claydol is here to rapid spin away pesky SR and spikes, and can also set up some SR of his own!

Concerns:

I really need a rapid spinner on this team. I'm also unsure of Claydol's EVs... but to be honest, I think that it is a very good fit to this team.

Walrein @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP, 126 Def, 132 Sp. Def
Nature: Calm (+Sp. Def, -Atk)
Ability: Ice Body

Toxic
Protect
Blizzard
Substitute

Yay for stallrein! He restores health every turn because of hail and leftovers. Once the substitute is up, Toxic goes onto the enemy pokemon. Protect allows him to restore more health every return, and also protects him from damage and to keep the substitute up. Blizzard is there just for a powerful STAB move and for some defense if he gets taunted.

Concerns:

I think Walrein is amazing on any hail team, so I'm not willing to replace him - however I am a little confused about the best EV's to use, or if I should change up his move set a little bit - toxic and substitute have to say, but the other two slots are negotiable, I think.

-----

Anyway, there's my team. Unfortunately I haven't been able to try it out very much, since Shoddy has been down for me all day, and it's always hard for me to find an UU battle on Shoddy, too, so the few times I tested it, it went up against OU teams. It did pretty well, but I haven't had the chance to thoroughly test it.

I have, obviously, realized that it has a few weaknesses.

As you can see, my team has a lot of ice pokemon, and one fire pokemon - so I have four pokemon that have weaknesses to stealth rock. I'm not too sure how to fix this, since Hail teams will have to have Ice-types, but I do want to fix this problem, I'm just not sure which pokemon to replace. : / From the little testing I've done it hasn't posed too much of a problem, but maybe I just got lucky. Claydol does help with SR, but it can't all of the time, of course.

I also know that my EV's and natures probably aren't the best - this is because I didn't know they exist up until a few months ago, and didn't realize how important they are. I tried to do calculations to see what EVs would help to counter certain pokemon, but it was very overwhelming and I ended up being more confused than I was before attempting it.

I know this team isn't the best, but I think it has potential to do well. Any helpful comments would be greatly appreciated, but keep in mind I want this to stay a hail team - and it's also UU, so please don't suggest I add Heatran or Mamoswine to my team. >_>

 

[Archer]

Actually, it looks like a good team with not a heap to pick at.

Watch out for Hariyama, as it resists both Ice and Fire; Restalk Versions can cause you serious issues - taking status and being immune to Walrein's Toxic. The support variant however, has Knock Off, which could put you in a bad way. Claydol can't take too many Ice Punches and Froslass isn't bulky at all. Anyone care to run calcs on Froslass?

 

[Shardwire]

Well, I have to say one thing: I'm impressed. I could never make a UU team with good movesets, good pokmon, and a good plan. But, watch out if you're sending out Abamasnow first. I've battled alot of UU teams against my UU team, and they usually have their fire type out first.

Never save Ninetales for last too. One Earthquake and she's gone for good.

Frosslass is also a weak pokemon that can get you down. I'd say go with Shadow Ball or Destiny Bond. Frosslass is weak; it won't take many hits. That makes Destiny Bond very useful on Frosslass. But, you also need another damaging move, because Blizzard won't do crap to a fire type if they send it out against you.

In my opinion, this could be a great team. And don't worry, every team has flaws. (Like my Shuckle knowing Double Team. Stupid Evasion Cause. =P)

 

[wolf]

Go Thunder Wave on the last slot for Clefable. For Froslass, the the slot, Destiny Bond would be helpful against Hariyama>switch in on a Fighting move, then DB afterwards, and he attacks bringing both of you down. Oh, and isn't this a bit too special offensive of a team? Only Abomasnow is physical, meaning you could get walled by a few of those annoying special walls. Where is Arcanine? JK, but really you should look over that. May I suggest this EV spread for your Claydol?: 252 HP / 144 Def / 144 SpA. This goes well with conjunction with Bold, I don't suggest Calm because he should never need it since most special attacks are super effective on him. Maybe change around Clefable's EV spread also to this: 252 HP / 152 Def / 100 SpD / 4 Spe. <That gives you an extra Speed boost. I simply love that Abomasnow moveset, and the Walrein set is great! Except, you may want to change that EV spread, but this is not a great must if you want him special: 220 HP / 240 Def / 48 Spe, Bold. <Remember, that isn't a must. Overall, I really liked this team, it looks very well done, and I like the idea of a Flash Fire Pokemon in a Hail team (that is usually what I do when making teams). I am still unhappy there is no Arcanine there... JK.

 

[Dark Azelf]

Just a note that Froslass and Aboma are suspect now, so you might not be able to use them in uu soon.

Since this team is very stallish by nature and bulky, the omnipresisent Toxic Spikes will cause problems when used against you (As we all know Rapid Spin is not the most reliable move because pretty much every ghost comes in in uu comes in and goes lolol) and could well be an asset for you to use yourself in addition.

Ninetails seems really out of place here tbh.

Something like utility Qwilfish with max sp.def and Taunt/Toxic Spikes/Waterfall/Poison Jab works well >> it, ive used it on some of my stall teams in the past too and solves both problems of absorbing T-Spikes and setting them up. It also makes stalling easier for you in the long run and it also walls the hell out of foe Ninetails too lol

The use of Toxic Spikes could then free up a slot on Walrein for you to further annoy things, aka Roar >> Toxic for shuffling stuff around and PHazing.

Also if we are still playing with suspects, staraptor and gallade (Especially SD LO ones with Shadow Sneak) waste you pretty much >.<.

Spiritomb could be placed >> Froslass for Gallade weak and then Spikes could be placed on Qwilfish over a move, probably taunt, so you dont lose much from that.

As for staraptor, i just hope Ice Shard from Aboma can do sufficient damage. You could put Ice Beam >> Toxic on Claydol for extra insurance against it too. Gladly it cant switch in much and you have SR so meh.

I actually think Wish support would be nice here and could easilly be placed on Clefable and maybe use a calm nature and more sp.def evs to better weather (lol pun) special hits. Trick and flame orb will be then redundant because of all the toxic damage.Toxic/Wish/S-Toss/Softboiled or Encore works well.

Tomb/Aboma/Qwilfish/Walrein/Claydol/Clefable <---Something like this.

 

[Sebastien Loeb]

Well, I see a big weakness to the Fighting types (particularly if they have a very dangerous movemes for Froslass and Claydol or Payback), some Evs are slightly mistaken I would for instance reverse the Evses in defense and special defense to Walrein.

 

[Lila]

Actually, it looks like a good team with not a heap to pick at.

Watch out for Hariyama, as it resists both Ice and Fire; Restalk Versions can cause you serious issues - taking status and being immune to Walrein's Toxic. The support variant however, has Knock Off, which could put you in a bad way. Claydol can't take too many Ice Punches and Froslass isn't bulky at all. Anyone care to run calcs on Froslass?

Thanks. :)

I hadn't noticed it too much before, but I probably do have a very big fighting weakness, especially against bulkier fighters like Hariyama. I haven't run into one yet, but I'm sure that my team would have trouble against it, especially if it was a Restalk version. x_x Hm, I'll keep testing to see how my team fairs against him, maybe that way I'll be able to find out what a decent counter will be.

Well, I have to say one thing: I'm impressed. I could never make a UU team with good movesets, good pokmon, and a good plan. But, watch out if you're sending out Abamasnow first. I've battled alot of UU teams against my UU team, and they usually have their fire type out first.

Thank you! I have noticed many fire leads or pokemon with fire attacks on them, but luckily it's not too difficult to avoid that by switching to Clefable, or even Ninetales, to absorb the hit.

Never save Ninetales for last too. One Earthquake and she's gone for good.

Frosslass is also a weak pokemon that can get you down. I'd say go with Shadow Ball or Destiny Bond. Frosslass is weak; it won't take many hits. That makes Destiny Bond very useful on Frosslass. But, you also need another damaging move, because Blizzard won't do crap to a fire type if they send it out against you.

Unfortunately I have noticed how frail Ninetales is, and even with a Flash Fire Flamethrower coming out of her, she doesn't seem to pump out that much damage.

I've tested out Destiny Bond on Froslass, and while it hasn't been perfect every match, it's been quite useful. I'll stall with substitute and Snow Cloak, all the while setting up spikes in between. Then, just before Froslass is taken down, she'll take down the other pokemon. This strategy doesn't always work since some people will predict it, but usually as long as I time it correctly and don't give away that Froslass has Destiny Bond, it works.

I have had bad luck with Snow Cloak in some battles, but Froslass has still been incredibly useful... although since she is so frail, I'm always a little hesitant to switch her in when I'm predicting a normal move will come.

Go Thunder Wave on the last slot for Clefable. For Froslass, the the slot, Destiny Bond would be helpful against Hariyama>switch in on a Fighting move, then DB afterwards, and he attacks bringing both of you down.

I think Toxic is a better slot for Clefable, I've tested it out and it works quite well, especially since Clefable is such a tank and ends up poisoning or burning (Flame Orb) at least three pokemon. It's very useful, since once she goes down I can stall with Froslass or Walrein until the enemy dies. ^_^

Oh, and isn't this a bit too special offensive of a team? Only Abomasnow is physical, meaning you could get walled by a few of those annoying special walls. Where is Arcanine? JK, but really you should look over that. May I suggest this EV spread for your Claydol?: 252 HP / 144 Def / 144 SpA. This goes well with conjunction with Bold, I don't suggest Calm because he should never need it since most special attacks are super effective on him.

It is quite special, although since it's a stall team I find it doesn't make too big of a problem. However, I actually am considering switching Ninetales with Arcanine... I could use the physical attacks, and Ninetales still can't do very much, I've found her quite useless other than absorbing Fire-type moves. x_x I could ditch the Flash Fire thing in general since even Walrein can take the hits, but I'll try out Arcanine and see if he's useful.

I'll also try out that EV set for Claydol, I am not sure what I was thinking when I made the previous EV's/Nature, lol.

Maybe change around Clefable's EV spread also to this: 252 HP / 152 Def / 100 SpD / 4 Spe. <That gives you an extra Speed boost. I simply love that Abomasnow moveset, and the Walrein set is great! Except, you may want to change that EV spread, but this is not a great must if you want him special: 220 HP / 240 Def / 48 Spe, Bold. <Remember, that isn't a must. Overall, I really liked this team, it looks very well done, and I like the idea of a Flash Fire Pokemon in a Hail team (that is usually what I do when making teams). I am still unhappy there is no Arcanine there... JK.

Hm, I'm not sure if the extra speed is really worth it for Clefable. I've been contemplating giving her more Defense EV's, because the only thing that really hurts her are fighting moves like Brick Break or Close Combat, everything else doesn't do much at all.

Is the second EV set for Walrein, I'm guessing? I'm not sure if you're referring to Spe. Def or Atk in the last slot, but I'm assuming Sp. Def since he's a tank. Walrein seems to go down mostly to Thunderbolt, but I think I may just keep him the way he is. He only gets really messed up by Clefable since status/weather don't hurt them at all. I'm definitely going to try out Arcanine tonight, though.

Just a note that Froslass and Aboma are suspect now, so you might not be able to use them in uu soon.

Yeah, I saw that they were both suspect - I've tried this team out in OU, and it did surprisingly well (besides against Infernape and Tyranitar/that fat hippo-thing), but if Abomasnow gets moved to OU this team doesn't work anymore, of course. XD I could do without Froslass, though, so hopefully only she gets moved.

Since this team is very stallish by nature and bulky, the omnipresisent Toxic Spikes will cause problems when used against you (As we all know Rapid Spin is not the most reliable move because pretty much every ghost comes in in uu comes in and goes lolol) and could well be an asset for you to use yourself in addition.

I was hoping Tentacruel was UU when I was making this team, since he's such an amazing pokemon for absorbing Toxic Spikes, rapid spinning and also setting up Toxic Spikes up... but alas, he's OU. ._. I could use a poison pokemon, though.

Something like utility Qwilfish with max sp.def and Taunt/Toxic Spikes/Waterfall/Poison Jab works well >> it, ive used it on some of my stall teams in the past too and solves both problems of absorbing T-Spikes and setting them up. It also makes stalling easier for you in the long run and it also walls the hell out of foe Ninetails too lol

The use of Toxic Spikes could then free up a slot on Walrein for you to further annoy things, aka Roar >> Toxic for shuffling stuff around and PHazing.

Hm, Qwilfish seems like a good idea... do you think he'd be able to absorb fire attacks well? The initial idea of Ninetales was to absorb fire attacks, and that's why I'm considering Arcanine... but since Qwilfish is a water type perhaps he'd be able to absorb them alright, as well as counter them with Waterfall? I'll definitely have to try him out in the Ninetales spot, too (poor Ninetales has so many better candidates to replace her >_>)

That's a good point, while I love Toxic on Walrein since it helps stalling, if I instead had a Qwilfish with Toxic Spikes I could use Roar instead, which would be pretty good for annoying people, poisoning them, or even damaging them with SR or Spikes if I have them up!

Also if we are still playing with suspects, staraptor and gallade (Especially SD LO ones with Shadow Sneak) waste you pretty much >.<

I haven't run into Gallade yet, but Staraptor didn't give me too much trouble with the abundance of ice moves, at least. Most sweepers who have too much time to set up do screw me over, though, so Walrein with roar could really help.

Spiritomb could be placed >> Froslass for Gallade weak and then Spikes could be placed on Qwilfish over a move, probably taunt, so you dont lose much from that.

I've never used Spiritomb before, but I guess he'd be very good for stalling with Pressure, and he can take hits, too. He'd be a better ghost switch-in than Froslass, since he's not as frail... but would he work alright with a hail team? The only reason I'm using Froslass is that she can be very annoying with Hail up, can put up spikes and then can Destiny Bond or even use Blizzard to take out at least one pokemon.

Thanks to everyone for the help so far! :) I don't think I missed any posts, but I apologize if I have. I'll update my original post now with the few updates, and I'll also go test out Arcanine and Qwilfish in place of Ninetales. Does anyone have a couple of good sets for them? I can make them myself, of course, but I'm not entirely sure what Qwilfish's EVs would be.

 

[Dark Azelf]

Qwilfish@leftovers
252 HP / 252 SP.DEF / 6 Att
Careful nature
- Spikes
- Toxic Spikes
- Waterfall
- Poison Jab

Thats the set i use, helps coming in on Ninetails and other fire attack.



And sure tomb would be cool, not all your pokes have to be immune to hail, so i shouldnt see why not.