ORAS UU Fortune Favors the Brave

A few years ago, someone brought a game called "Assassins" to my high school. To play the game you needed a team of two, and every week you were assigned a different team of two which you had to hunt down and "kill" with a water gun. If you failed to kill your targets, or if another team killed both of your members, you were eliminated. The monetary prize for winning was huge, as each team that entered had to pay $20, and we had roughly 150 teams involved. In the "semi-finals", my team was still alive. We had eliminated one of our targets but the other refused to come out of his house, which was declared a safe zone (as in, we couldn't break in). We tried and tried and couldn't seem to catch this kid until one day, the two of us were hanging outside with other friends. A car shows up and out pops our target. I luckily had my water gun on me at the time and was able to grab him just before he reentered his car.

In my jubilation, I yelled out a quote I heard not too long before that time. "Fortunate favors the fucking brave!" Later that night at dinner, I opened a fortune cookie with, ironically, the same message contained therein: "Fortune favors the brave." It's been a quote that's stuck with me a long time, for better or worse, since then and influences a lot of my decision making process. Typically, those who are bold enough to take chances will be rewarded for them, be it professionally, personally, academically, athletically or even in games like Pokemon.

Fortune Favors the Brave
an offense RMT


Thesis

ORAS UU is a tier where nearly every playstyle, from Hyper Offense to full Stall, is viable. While certain builds may, at any given time, be more consistent than others, those familiar with the tier know that the tools are at your disposal to create a viable team in whatever tempo you'd like.

For me, that's offense.

Around the time I built this team, the dominant offensive teams in the metagame were spike stacking hyper offense builds that relied on Froslass. I've never been particularly a fan of Froslass, and the team I wanted to play out faster than a spikes team could. However, without the consistency of all that switch in damage, I was left at an impasse - how do I create a team that can hit extremely hard right off the bat, yet still be fast enough and have wide enough coverage to realistically beat whatever is in front of it?

With Fortune Favors the Brave, I wanted a team that allowed me to enter every matchup based entirely on skill. I wanted the tools to play the style I enjoy best without automatically clicking X against certain mons or combinations of mons. I figured it was possible - with the right combination of high speed, high coverage, and high damage Pokemon I could realistically respond to the threats I am likely to see in any given match, be it tournament or ladder. Achieving that goal, always having a way to win, was the thesis that drove this team.

Team Building Process
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When deciding on a mon that matched up best against the rest of the tier, Salamence was the first to come to mind. Mence is most likely the most viable mon in UU - it's coverage options are incredible, it's speed tier is rather good and it's attack and boosting options are top notch. I knew that, in order to cover as many defensive cores as possible, I would need Salamence.


Salamence does have some natural enemies, though, depending on it's set. The physically defensive steel types of the tier, Forretress and Doublade most notably, give Mence a lot of trouble. Additionally, Porygon2 is often considered a very good Mence check, although considering I was not using the Intimidate set it's much less than it would be otherwise. Finally, variations of Suicune are always an issue for physically offensive mons, and Mence is no different. As such, Infernape could patch these weaknesses and provide me a faster, powerful mon.


Both of my mons had an issue with Mega Aerodactyl, particularly if they were unable to boost prior. I needed something that could deal with that offensively, as well I thought that a particular set would work best for my team, which focuses on removing checks for one another until a clear path is open. With a mega slot still free, Mega Sharpedo made the most sense to me.


Thunder wave users were still going to give me quite an issue, and I needed a bit more priority on the team. Cresselia fit both of these issues, as did P2, so the best way to deal with them was a very powerful Knock Off mon that could avoid getting paralyzed, but still had priority. Of course, this leads to only one mon in the tier, the most powerful wallbreaker available.


I needed something to take on Scarf Hydreigon that didn't ask me to sacrifice either Mamo or Infernape. I recognized that there was an underused thread in the UU tier, a set that I had used extensively in RU. At the time I built this team, I do not believe that Double Dance Cobalion was particularly popular - utility sets had become the norm, particularly SD/SR sets. With the redundancy of rockers on my team, others which seemed much more likely to not carry the move, I figured Cobalion would be useful for a surprise factor, as well as offering two different speeds with which to win games.


Finally, I needed Stealth Rock on the team in order to break any sashes or punish excessive doubling. In my book, the best rocker in the UU tier is without a doubt Azelf, as it matches up very well against many other mons used as leads. Azelf's special presence, as well as ludicrous coverage, allowed me to pick and choose which mons it could respond to well - a necessity for the team to work.


In Depth
Fortune Favors the Brave plays in a relatively particular way that takes advantage of common UU cores and combinations in order to win. As I stated in the Thesis section, I wanted a team that could realistically defeat any combination of mons if played correctly. Additionally, I wanted to minimize the impact of my opponent's hax on me - done so by attempting to keep myself on the front foot throughout the entire match from start to finish. It's rare that this team plays more than 25 turns, if only because if I don't have a solid way to win by that point, I likely don't have a way to win at all. Fortunately, though, when played right there should always be a path to victory.

In this section I'll cover the set on the particular Pokemon as well as the manner in which I believe they should be played for optimization. The order will not follow the above order, but instead the order which they appear most often during matchups.


Azelf @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Energy Ball / Thunderbolt

As the SR setter, Azelf is the most common lead I use. Azelf's incredible speed means that slower teams are often at the mercy for what I decide to do when leading with it. The coverage options available on Azelf are plentiful, and can significantly dent checks to other members of the team, facilitating a sweep. Life Orb remains, in my estimation, the best set due to the sheer damage output it has. The set choice is simple: SR because it is the most consistent, fastest setter, Psychic is a very powerful STAB right off the bat, Fire Blast is aimed at Doublades, Forretresses and Cobalions most of the time and Energy Ball deals with Krookodile.


  • Against a Crobat lead, the first thing to ascertain is how much rocks are needed for the matchup. If your opponent is unlikely to have any sashes mons, or cannot switch into your STABs from other mons often at all, it is best to leave Azelf in and actually go for the Psychic. Crobat leads try to taunt the Stealth Rock predicting a Sash variant. If this happens, getting rid of Crobat can be a big boon, as otherwise you will be forced to take damage to defeat it. However, if rocks are desperately needed and you are in a matchup vs a Crobat, switching to something like Mamoswine is usually the best play. You can live any hit and judge what type of Crobat it is in order to formulate a plan further down the line.

  • Krookodile leads usually assume you will SR right away, and cannot OHKO them otherwise. An LO Energy Ball is, most of the time, a guaranteed OHKO so attack straight away.

  • Attacking Mamoswine right away is not a bad option, but determine what the main sweeper will be before doing so. If Mence is going to act more as a wallbreaker or backup sweeper, with Cobalion taking over the major duties for the team, it could be useful to get rocks up instead of attacking right away.

  • It's almost never worth risking the speed tie against opposing Azelf, who are very likely to Taunt right away. Attacking twice is usually the best course.



Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Vacuum Wave
- Grass Knot

Infernape acts as both a backup sweeper and a wallbreaker. The NP set allows Infernape to defeat many of the would be counters to its physical set, such as Suicune, Jellicent and Swampert. At the time of creation, the most popular Infernape sets in UU were either Mixed or Physical. In order to gain the one free turn needed so often for a sweep, I played off this and made sure to use a fully special Infernape. Infernape's speed tier provides it many openings, as it threatens out would-be issues for the rest of the team like Tangrowth, giving it the option to boost and sweep thereafter. Intimidate Salamence is also taken advantage of with this set, as +2 Fire Blast kills the LO version after rocks, while wasting a valuable turn of response time for the opponent.


  • The way to play against Doublade differs depending on what you have left on your team. If, for example, you still have a healthy Salamence and Cobalion, against any good player it is likely the best idea to NP on the switch as no sane player will sacrifice a counter to Cobalion for a low amount of damage in Shadow Sneak. The NP can make all the difference wallbreaker afterward, so grabbing it at this point is usually vital.

  • Tentacruel is one of the few mons that outright stop Infernape's ideas. There are usually two routes that are best to go for Tentacruel - first, if you see a Mence sweep in the near future, take advantage of the redundant coverage to weaken Cruel as much as possible, putting it in range of Mence's EQ (and subsequently gaining the Moxie boost). Otherwise, Sharpedo or Azelf are the best switches to take advantage of Cruel.



Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off
- Ice Shard

Mamoswine's powerful priority and incredibly strong STABs ensure that I'm able to respond to threats both fast and slower. A combination of EQ and/or Icicle Crash 2HKOs much of the tier, with a well timed Knock Off stopping a lot of what avoids that category. Mamoswine, in contrast to a lot of teams that use him, is designed to be a one and done Pokemon the vast majority of the time. I don't intend to get him in on clever doubles or after sacrificing a Pokemon - once he breaks a single key member of the opponent's team, he usually done his job. It's for this reason why I don't mind keeping him in on say, Suicune - if I can cripple Suicune, or force him to Rest and give me the free turn I need to set something else up, Mamoswine's accomplished what I've needed already. As a backup role, his priority stops things if I let them get too far - Salamence, Hydreigon and Mega Aerodactyl being the best examples.


  • Florges is often used as the catch all "physical wall" of balance teams. Mamoswine usually exposes why this isn't a good idea, dealing a significant amount of damage with either STAB. Wish/Protect variants should be Knocked Off when going for Wish, CM variants on the Synthesis (so EQ first, Knock Off second, usually Icicle Crash then until flinch or die)

  • Try to catch Suicune's on the switch in with a Knock Off. From there, EQing until Mamo goes down is most likely the best course of action, leaving it low enough to be revenged by another mon such as Sharpedo or Salamence.

  • Mamoswine acts as a switch in to P2, and threatens a Knock Off thereafter. If you successfully get it Knocked Off it becomes much more easy to deal with, whereas otherwise P2 presents a challenging proposition to the rest of the team.

  • Mamoswine is a switch in to Cresselia as well. Knock Off is usually the best first course of action, though some intelligent players will Moonlight first turn. From there, Icicle Crashing until gaining the flinch (just one is usually needed to 2HKO after KO damage) is the best option.



Sharpedo @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Destiny Bond
- Crunch
- Waterfall

Sharpedo allows me to defeat Mega Aerodactyl (note that Sharpedo does not outspeed Jolly Aerodactyl if it has already mega evolved, in this situation aim to bring it in early enough to get the +2 so that Mega Aero cannot come in on you), as well as deal with a lot of bulky psychic types that have the potential to give the team a headache such as Reuniclus. Typically, the best course of action is to bring Sharpedo in on something that it can outspeed and finish off in base form, as +2 speed is useful to ensure you beat many potential scarfers. Additionally, carrying Destiny Bond adds a lot of utility to the team - by cleverly removing a particular threat you will greatly open the door for the rest of the team.


  • If Florges is particularly low and will likely Wish/Synth/Protect to gain HP, Waterfalling first is usually the best idea. Otherwise, Destiny Bond off the bat.

  • Cobalions know they can take any one hit from Sharpedo. RP variants are not very common, so protecting in base form in order to outspeed is usually a viable option. If a weakened Cobalion can be taken advantage of by Salamence, it is perhaps best to Waterfall to gain damage, in order for a +1 Salamence to kill off a Shuca Cobalion afterwards to gain the extra Moxie boost.



Cobalion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Rock Polish

Double Dance Cobalion makes use of its fantastic defensive typing and good natural bulk, as well as threatening offensive typing to boost past the point of defeating. Common UU mons such as Sharpedo, Choice Locked Entei or non-EQ Mega Aerodactly give Cobalion this chance, so this set functions as slightly anti-meta by aiming to win the game off a free turn provided by very common mons.


  • Mega Aerodactyl's EQ does not defeat Cobalion, and after rocks damage Iron Head will KO. In this case, RP looking for the first boost, even if you've yet to scout the EQ.

  • Porygon2 provides a setup opportunity for Cobalion, as this variant packs Lum Berry. This is particularly useful for winning games due to the fact that switchins to +2 CC cannot usually OHKO Cobalion at -1, allowing him to cover all of his bases by getting an RP afterwards.



Salamence @ Lum Berry
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Iron Tail

DD Salamence is the best offensive mon in the tier. Plentiful resistances, a good speed tier and an incredible ability mean that Mence will find many chances to set up and win the game provided a single free turn to click DD. Mons like Forretress should be weakened substantially or removed prior to attempting a sweep, and the rest of the team provides this utility. The two prominent Ice Shard mons of the tier, Abomasnow and Mamoswine, are both checked offensively by Cobalion with the former being a switchin.


  • Tangrowth provides a sticky situation as you will need multiple boosts to defeat PhysDef versions. If a fairy is still alive, you can't Outrage just yet, so the best course of action is to Iron Tail particularly as many variants cannot hit you.

  • If Mamoswine is still alive, it's necessary to have something else on the team that can OHKO it still remaining to chase it out. Clever doubling may be needed, as it is too risky to switch in anything necessary right away on Mamoswine, as nothing on the team wants to take an LO EQ.




Overall, I believe that this team has the capabilities to play around any matchup and still win. While very specific combinations of mons can provide a problem, I've yet to run into a combination of 6 mons that make a match impossible to win. Based on this experience, I believe that this team has accomplished its goal - while I may not necessarily have a favorable matchup in some games, I certainly do not feel as if I have an unfavorable one ever. Having a tournament match or high ladder match come down to nothing but my skill is all I can ask for and I contend that Fortune Favors the Brave has given me that.

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Vacuum Wave
- Grass Knot

Azelf @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off
- Ice Shard

Cobalion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Rock Polish

Salamence @ Lum Berry
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Iron Tail

Sharpedo @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Destiny Bond
- Crunch
- Waterfall


Christo The Gr8 - Thank you so much for all the help in building, testing, theorizing. I wouldn't have gotten as far without it.
King UU - Including me in the UU tier and group has made this game a lot more fun than it would've been otherwise. I'm very thankful for that and all your help.
Hogg - My first friend in this game, your insight and style of play are incredible and you've been so helpful to all of my efforts since UUPL
R0ady - You always pick out things that 6-0 me off the bat, and frank criticism is the most useful kind, thanks man
Euphonos - You have the best attitude on this website, it's always a pleasure to build with you and hear your ideas

Sacri' LilOu IronBullet DaSpoofy Valentine Bouffalant dodmen Lord Outrage
Thank you all for all of your support and for always being incredibly helpful. I enjoy playing this game because of the people in it, it'd be miserable otherwise. Very much appreciated my friends

To anyone I may have missed, apologies, there's been so many great people on Smogon to the point where I don't even understand why this community gets a bad rap sometimes. It's hard to remember at this hour every name but I hope to interact with all of you more in competitive and friendly settings going forward, big things ahead for us all I think.
 
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Take Azelfie

More flags more fun
I really like the format of the RMT you used and I have honestly never seen it done like as well as helping me understand the team a bit better. I honestly can say this is one of the most well built teams I have ever seen for UU as well. My most favorite part was the double dance Cobalion which for a team with so much wallbreaking and offensive pressure makes for that, "oh wait, I didn't think of this, welp I'm f***ed."
 
Hey teal, really awesome team you have here as I am a very big enthusiast of offense!
So the main issue, which isn't really any issue, just a side note is that I really think you should be Running Jolly > Adamant on both Sharpedo and Mamoswine. While I know well that the allure of running Adamant stuff is quite attractive, both Mamo and Shark hit the tier absurdly hard regardless.
Now I'm not just saying this on a whim so here's my reasoning:
For the Shark, as you said, with Adamant nature, you can't outspeed Max Speed Aero at +1, as well as being unable to speed tie and be able to Dbond potential revengers like Scarf Hydrei and more importantly Mienshao which you have really nothing to take a HJK with rocks up, so I think at the least speed tying that thing in a bad scenario is a better risk than straight up losing your Shark for nothing. Yeah, you can just be the boss like you are (great story btw : ^) ) and just outplay it but I tend to find being a little safer on offense builds is better.
For Mamo, it's the same general reasoning for why I think Shark should be Jolly, but in this case to at least tie with Chand and opposing Mamo which seem pretty damn threatening to this team.

Two pretty easy fixes that just make it a little less stressful in some scenarios in my most humble of opinions, but you know what you're doing so feel free to do your own thing if you see it fitting.

Really nice team, and well written rmt! Gl with future stuff n things! ^_^
 
Hi Mr.Murkrow ,

First, thanks for taking the time to read my RMT! I appreciate all sets of eyes on it. However, I have to disagree with your changes. Trust me, when constructing the team, I considered Jolly, definitely for the same reasons that you are talking about. But the issue is that you are looking at what I like to call the "battle" and not the "war".

I'll use this as an example to explain more clearly how this team, and offensive teams in general, tend to work. When playing with an offensive team you generally do not preserve mons with the same regularity that you do for balance teams, or even bulky offense teams. Depending on the construction of my opponent's team, I actually can be in a very comfortable position even 6-1 down. The key difference here is that offensive teams want to engineer a situation where they can take advantage of the matchup on the board. I'm glad you used Hydreigon in your post as well, because that is the mon that most clearly lets me illustrate what I mean.

There are astonishingly few chances where I will ever use Destiny Bond with Sharpedo to bring down Scarf Hydreigon. The main reason for this is because Cobalion takes advantage of Hydreigon so immaculately that the Scarf set is a huge liability against my team. So, say there is an example where Hydreigon comes in on my +1 Mega Sharpedo. I'll always protect first turn, just to scout. If I don't need Sharpedo any more, there are MANY situations where I don't want to actually take Hydreigon out in this scenario. Say for example, the opponent has several hard to break mons left that I can't reliably OHKO with anything unboosted - for this example, I'll use Tangrowth, Florges and a Swampert that has taken rocks + EQ damage from Mamoswine while taking it out.

These sorts of fat balanced cores are very common on balanced teams both in ladder and tournaments. I should know, I used them myself! And they often like to run the "common" scarfers like Hydreigon which provide me this chance. So if I let Sharpedo die to a Draco, I can win the game from that point on, because the subsequent turn allows me to SD with Cobalion while taking next to nothing from a Draco or forcing a switchin to, say, the Swampert. At this point I'll be strong enough to defeat that or, depending on the EQ roll previously, RP in its face while eating an EQ/Scald (the latter option not a terrible idea because of the ubiquity of Shuca Berry on Cobalion) so I can outspeed the Hydreigon afterward. If I were to take Hydreigon down with me, sure, I'll end up with one more mon down on the opponent's side of the field, but I'll be in a much worse position afterward.

Of the list you provided, only ScarfShao (currently in decline, a bit of a meta call on my part taking advantage of the popularity of Doublade) provides a minor threat. This is mainly due to the fact that it outspeeds Salamence after a DD. In most of those cases, I'll attack straight off the bat if I bring in my Mence on the ScarfShao, as I can't risk two reckless HJKs. But the rest of the team has plenty of ways to deal with ScarfShao, so usually it is not a humongous issue, just requires early game planning for the possibility.

Additionally, if I were to switch to Jolly for these powerful mons, I lose a LOT of strength in my Cresselia matchup. Cresslia is already one of the most difficult mons for this team to face, and requires generally good play to defeat or cripple. By reducing the power output on Mamo and Sharp, I lose the edge that I considered when creating the thesis for this team - be able to defeat anything I am likely to face with good enough play. I never want to enter a matchup and be forced to click X at the very beginning, and a Jolly Mamoswine sort of means that I have to to be honest.

(For record, Mamo does not need to speed tie potentially timid Chandelures - the wallbreaker set uses Modest the vast majority of the time, and even if it wins the speed tie I am able to take advantage of whatever it is locked into with either Sharpedo or Salamence. For timid scarf sets, the power output is even less, so my position becomes even better actually)

I hope that this explains why those choices are, for the vast majority of matchups, actually more useful for me. A big part of the usage of this team is in strategically thinking long term and not worrying about sacrificing mons or losing potential speed ties in order to win the entire match. To do so, you have to be ready and able to exploit certain metagame choices that you are likely to face - Scarf Hydreigon being the best example.
 

Century Express

melodies of life
is a Tutoris a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Former Old Generation Tournament Circuit Champion
World Defender
The idea of using Destiny Bond on Sharpedo fits the team really well, same for NP Nape to give offensive presence + utility to remove some Water-types. Usually a lot of people try to see Sharpedo him only as a late-game cleaner, but in this team it really acts a flexible mon in this team, especially when this squad really appreciate Porygon2 / Florges / some Water-types defeated, giving Nape and Mence more free space to wreck some stuff. The only thing that makes me worried is a lack a Fairy-resist (Flying-resist in a lesser extent), making it a bit exposed against Whimsicott. Not the defensive Support, but some Pixie Plate / Life Orb variants, but fortunately they're less common, and since this team works in a offensive pace, trading something to kill it with Mamoswine / Cobalion and Sharpedo (if Whimsicott uses a variant without Encore) sounds fine enough to alleviate these issues.

Btw, have you considered using Magnet Rise or Shuca on Cobalion? Not to patch up some weakness, but to capitalize his breaking potential vs Swampert and Bronzong, but idk. Since your team works to take the momentum ASAP, Double Dance is a good thing to consider. I really don't have anything to rate, since the team's proposal looks really effective. gg wp :toast:
 

Lixx

Banned deucer.
After playing a good ammount of games with this I would suggest using Overheat over Fireblast on Infernape. Might just be my preference but I hate missing.


Love the team though
 
The idea of using Destiny Bond on Sharpedo fits the team really well, same for NP Nape to give offensive presence + utility to remove some Water-types. Usually a lot of people try to see Sharpedo him only as a late-game cleaner, but in this team it really acts a flexible mon in this team, especially when this squad really appreciate Porygon2 / Florges / some Water-types defeated, giving Nape and Mence more free space to wreck some stuff. The only thing that makes me worried is a lack a Fairy-resist (Flying-resist in a lesser extent), making it a bit exposed against Whimsicott. Not the defensive Support, but some Pixie Plate / Life Orb variants, but fortunately they're less common, and since this team works in a offensive pace, trading something to kill it with Mamoswine / Cobalion and Sharpedo (if Whimsicott uses a variant without Encore) sounds fine enough to alleviate these issues.

Btw, have you considered using Magnet Rise or Shuca on Cobalion? Not to patch up some weakness, but to capitalize his breaking potential vs Swampert and Bronzong, but idk. Since your team works to take the momentum ASAP, Double Dance is a good thing to consider. I really don't have anything to rate, since the team's proposal looks really effective. gg wp :toast:
Hi Century Express, great catch man, and I think you're really right. In testing / tour / ladder runs I haven't run into an offensive Whimsi too much, but since then I've asked people to play against me with it and it's seriously a threat. I'm currently theorizing any potential fixes that maintain momentum and increase that matchup - luckily right now my options include Mamo / Coba / Infernape to beat it, but the difficult part lies in how little scouting my team is able to do due to the frailty of a lot of the mons, and I'll have to play differently against offensive versions than defensive versions. Great catch man, thanks! (and any suggestions? haha)

On the second part, I don't think Coba can sacrifice a moveslot for Magnet Rise, but you actually caught one of my "tech options" with Shuca. I find that and Lum a bit interchangable when I actually play with the team, probably use Lum 60-65% of the time and Shuca the rest. I find that it doesn't change the way that the team plays too much, but gives me different setup targets - I can take advantage of Mamo, like you said. Swampert on the other hand is a little different - when playing someone that doesn't know the team, they're forced into an informational imbalance because of how often Shuca is run on Cobalion (and the fact that Shuca Coba "fits" on my team) so, usually if I'm already boosted, a Pert's best play is either Roar or Scald from their point of view. Like I said, definitely something I've played with before, and I guess I tend to lean on Lum a little bit more just because it makes some of the bulkier choices like P2 / Cress slightly easier to deal with.

After playing a good ammount of games with this I would suggest using Overheat over Fireblast on Infernape. Might just be my preference but I hate missing.


Love the team though
Hey Lixx, glad you like the team. Missing is a pain but remember the team is named "Fortune Favors the Brave", if you're brave enough to click it just assume it won't miss :) But in all actuality running Overheat is tough, because it can give away free turns. I understand not wanting to miss, maybe try using Flamethrower actually - most FT targets are still one-or-two-hit-KOs with LO / NP damage, only missing out on Reuniclus as an important one I believe. Try it out and let me know how it goes! Glad you are enjoying the team too man, I hope it's a fun one.
 
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I think Flamethrower is even worse than Overheat on that kind of set tbh, I'd rather miss 10-15% of the time rather than miss out on the last sliver of damage for K.Os 93.75% of the time and then get K.Od in return. (The 6.75 being the critical hit chance.)

At least with Nasty Plot + Overheat that's one huge wallbreaking shot followed by another +0 Overheat. 2 Overheats still outdamages 2 Flamethrowers no matter how many Nasty Plots you have. Nasty Plot Flamethrower is kind of meh, I can't imagine it K.Oing many resists after S/R like Nasty Plot Fire Blast can.

Don't really have anything to add team-wise, but have you considered Knock Off on Azelf? The mixed attacking stats make it a viable coverage move, not just for chip damage and getting rid of items. You could even drop Fire Blast, most people expect Fire Blast on Azelf so would play around it. Infernape sets up on most of Fire Blast's targets as well so you can turn them into liabilities by keeping them alive.

I guess you already have it on Mamo though and it's a nice move to throw out when facing a poke you want to sacrifice Mamo on.
 

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