UU Team (Getting back into it)

[zealot]

A few years ago when Gen V was pretty young I was a pretty solid UU player, but I stopped battling for a while. I'm looking to get back into it but I lost all of my teams and am not up to speed with the BW2 changes. This is the first team I've made in a long time, and I'd love some advice on it.

The team is in importable format if you want to test it yourself:

Machamp (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: No Guard
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- DynamicPunch
- Stone Edge
- ThunderPunch

Empoleon (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Roar

Absol (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Super Luck
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Sucker Punch
- Superpower
- Psycho Cut

Xatu (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Spd
Careful Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Roost
- Night Shade
- U-turn

Flygon (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- U-turn
- Fire Punch

Porygon-Z @ Life Orb
Trait: Download
EVs: 128 HP / 252 SAtk / 128 Spd
Modest Nature
- Agility
- Tri Attack
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse


Machamp: I typically lead with Machamp unless I find a better match elsewhere. Substitute is surprisingly effective against set up mon as you can get confusion with Dynamicpunch and try to sub again.

Empoleon: Great pokemon, one of my favorites in UU. My only real stop to DD Kingdra.

Absol: Not as reliable as I was hoping. Has great power and I love having Superpower, but if you have a suggestion for something that could do its job better, I'd love to hear it.

Xatu: Excellent utility pokemon. My only stop to hazards so I try to keep it alive as long as possible. Usually I switch it in if they opponent has a bulky hazard/status inducer against my Machamp. I always think that people will predict it, but they rarely do and I usually get free hazards.

Flygon: My favorite pokemon in all of UU. Even with a Scarf, Outrage is devastating for cleaning up lategame.

Porygon-Z: Another pokemon I'm not sure about. Download is kind of unreliable. I've had matches where he sweeps the entire opponents team, and matches where he does nothing.


Some threats I can think of (I'm sure there are many others):
Victini: Victini does a number on most of my pokemon. Flygon can force it out but probably can't switch in.
Flygon: I usually will have to play around what move it is locked into. Seeing a Flygon usually means I am losing a pokemon unless I have Porygon-Z set up in time.
Swampert: A physically defensive Swampert can end up being a pain for me to get around unless Machamp can confuse it with Dynamicpunch and get lucky.


Any C&C you might have is appreciated.

 

[PlatinumDude]

Krookodile or Heracross can do Absol's job better because of their Moxie abilities; they get stronger whenever they KO something:

Krookodile:
-Earthquake
-Crunch
-Stone Edge
-Pursuit/Superpower
Nature: Jolly/Adamant
EVs: 252 SAtk/4 SDef/252 Spe
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie

Heracross:
-Megahorn
-Close Combat
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake/Sleep Talk
Nature: Jolly/Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Item: Choice Scarf/Choice Band
Ability: Moxie/Guts

or
-Swords Dance
-Megahorn
-Close Combat
-Stone Edge
Nature: Jolly/Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Guts

or
-Substitute
-Megahorn
-Close Combat
-Stone Edge
Nature: Jolly/Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Moxie/Guts

 

[zealot]

Not a bad idea, thanks!

I'm leaning toward Krookodile, but that would give me 3 pokemon weak to ice in a tier that allows Hail. Are there any good options to switch with Porygon-Z in order to help mitigate this?

 

[Virgilin]

If you want a good Sp. Attacker like Porygon-Z that can resist Hail, Glaceon might not be a bad idea. Glaceon's ability, Snow Cloak, grants in 20% evasiveness, which is pretty neat.

Glaceon @ Choice Scarf
-Nature: Modest/Timid
-EVs: 4 HP/ 252 SpAtk/ 252 Spd
-Ability: Snow Cloak & since its GenV hidden ability: Ice Body
-Moves:
-Substitute
-Hail
-Blizzard
-Ice Beam

 

[Pokedra]

Glaceon is garbage, unless it's in Hail. Most of the time it'll be a waste of a slot. If you're worried about Hail just slap on a weather-abuser or like...a Fire Pokemon. Something like RD Kingdra or even just slap on something really powerful like Victini or Darmanitan to help with Hail. You can hit half to 3/4 of most Hail teams for SE damage + SR.

I back PlatinumDude's suggestion of Heracross, at present Scarf Mienshao can OHKO 5/6 of your team and that is a massive problem. Adding Cross is not going to alleviate the problem entirely but at least you have something that can survive HJK spam. Actually I think Specs Chandelure > Porygon will help greatly against Hail/ScarfMienShao.

Chandelure @ Choice Specs
Nature: Modest
EV: 252 SpAtk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Overheat / Fire Blast
- Energy Ball
- Trick
- Shadow Ball

Absolute monster, I'd go with Fire Blast for extra power but Overheat does deal like 70% to Umberon.