ORAS UU We Are Giants

[Nightingales]

Hi, I'm Nightingales, and welcome back to another one of my signature RMTs. I dawdled a bit on this one, having kept it in testing for a while, but I decided I'd had enough of that and finally put another one of my fantastic squads out there for the world to use, featuring a very underrated (and tricky mon to use) sweeper in Hitmonlee. Of course, this team is almost entirely speed-based, having two different scarfers and a distinct lack of wallbreakers. As such, this team fares well against more traditional hyper offense, as well as being able to give the finger to balanced teams with some clever playing. Priority is mandatory to be removed, since Hitmonlee can only kill once with it on the field. Unless my opponent is stupid.

On the other hand, stallier teams are an utter pain in the ass unless I can bait something into dropping Hitmonlee into the Red Zone. Trick Room is as well, since everything's super fast, so if I come across a well-made TR then it's pretty much game over unless I can get Hitmonlee up before the room goes back up. So that comes down to being able to play smart around it.

On to the team!

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Hitmonlee @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Def / 0 SpD
Lonely Nature

- Endure

- Reversal

- Knock Off

- Stone Edge
Again starting with a fighting type, Hitmonlee is a bit of an oddity in a mon. It relies on taking damage to do as much damage as possible, and is incredibly frail with a Lonely nature. Even more so with EVs taking away from bulk. This, in my opinion, is the best and only unburden set to be used on Hitmonlee, not some shitty Fake Out + Normal Gem shenanigans. Reaching a maximum speed of 576, it takes a special kind of scarfer to beat it; Anything on par with Crobat or Aerodactyl would do fine. Otherwise, it really needs only two requirements settled to work effectively, and those are priority removed and something to bring it to a minimal hp with Endure.

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Nidoqueen @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 180 HP / 252 SpA / 76 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk

- Earth Power

- Ice Beam

- Stealth Rock

- Sludge Wave
Nidoqueen, especially offensive varients, is a mon I've come to enjoy. While it has a nice amount of bulk to use, it also has a great ability in sheer force and is adept at getting up rocks on a forced switch. That being said, it can still break quite a few things very easily, even while soaking up a hit in the process. There's not much to say about the spread; it's the standard offensive set, which I deemed the best fit here.

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Gardevoir @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk

- Moonblast

- Psyshock

- Energy Ball

- Trick
Scarf Garde is bae. get ur rule 34 out of here However, it also does great things against rain offense, as well as being able to cripple walls with a single turn. On the other side of the spectrum, while this doesn't quite outspeed important things like the mega group, it still does a good amount to a lot of faster threats that are less commonly scarfed these days like dragons, fighting mons, and things trying to set up. It is always great fun crippling a setup sweeper with a scarf, though I tend to be wary regarding what gets that item because it may help more than hinder in the case of things like Salamence.

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Aerodactyl-Mega @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature

- Stone Edge

- Aerial Ace

- Earthquake

- Pursuit
Around this time, Sash Zam was looking not-good. It crippled most of my team, so I said fuck it, trap it with something strong and fast. Mega Aerodactyl is something I don't play with too much, but it fit my purposes serving for a ground immunity, way to stop Zam, and kill a load of scarfed mons. It also did one thing REALLY well, and that was provide some coverage for Flying and fast Fire types. Adamant just for the power over anything, simple enough to choose that.

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Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk

- Defog

- Flash Cannon

- Scald

- Grass Knot
By now, I could handle most hazards, though they were a pain in the ass. Being able to hover above three, absorb one, and not care about the rest, I found myself being worn down uncomfortably quickly. So it was time for some hazard removal. Cue the Empoleon, but instead of the typical set which gets hardlined by things like Swampert, I opted for an offensive-biased set. It's fairly simple; scald and flash cannon are the stabs, and grass knot is my coverage move of choice, dicking over other bulky waters. The Defog slot was the secondary consideration, since I wanted to be able to go toe-to-toe with hazards setters easily.

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Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

- Outrage

- Iron Tail

- Dragon Claw

- Earthquake
Salamence has declined in use for me, where I'd been using it all over the place. My problem was that I'd been using it as my bulky defogger, and sometimes a wishpasser. Which was hell. But now he's returned, coming back with a vengeance to kill everything with his fashionable scarf. It usually comes down to this or Hitmonlee to clean up in the endgame, and man do I love killing things with this. It can snowball very easily, or serve as a one-off killer for things. Fun times either way.

Anyways, that's the team. I don't have anything for fancy replays and shoutouts because there's too many people to list, so have an importable and have fun. c:

CANT KILL US

Hitmonlee @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Def / 0 SpD
- Endure
- Reversal
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge

Nidoqueen @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 180 HP / 252 SpA / 76 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Sludge Wave

Gardevoir @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Energy Ball
- Trick

Aerodactyl-Mega @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Aerial Ace
- Earthquake
- Pursuit

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Flash Cannon
- Scald
- Grass Knot

Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Iron Tail
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake

 

[Threw]

Even though I embarrassingly lost to this team, I figured I should point out that it's super Mamo weak. The easiest way to get a semi-decent way to check it would probably be to go Shuca Berry > Lefties on Empoleon, since you're already running the offensive set which typically runs it anyway. You could also use a slightly bulkier Maero to help out, but for now I'd try that.

ik it's sorta a meme team but I figured why not rate

 

[Cheryl.]

This is the greatest team ever, I even lost to the lord known as Hitmonlee!

But yeah, I agree with Threw's rate with Shuca Berry > Leftovers on Empoleon, as it gives you a one-time Mamo check and also helps you against Krookodile and Swampert.

You said you struggled with stallish teams due to the team not having many wallbreakers that can break through physical or special walls. For this, I recommend to use Toxic > Grass Knot or Flash Cannon on Empoleon to pressure walls and wear them down so the team has an easier time against them. You lose out on valuable coverage, but you gain the ability to threaten stall once the Heal Bellers and Aromatherapy users are gone. You might also want to opt with Hone Claws > Earthquake or Pursuit on Aerodactyl to threatens walls more, but again you lose out on coverage. Overall, this is a really awesome team that can easily catch players off-guard, keep up the good work Nightingales!

 

[Manipulative]

Hey man, cool team! I actually really like the idea here :O. Here are some suggestions to help you improve it.

• The goal of your team relies so much on getting rid of priority users, but I noticed that the team is pretty weak to a lot of UU's most common ones. Mamoswine, Entei, Doublade, Mega Absol, BP+ESpeed Lucario, and even Machamp all give you a run for your money. A quick change that you can make to drastically improve your match up versus almost all of these is replacing Empoleon with Suicune. This will give you a solid answer to most of the priority users listed above. You may lose some offensive presence and your current defogger, but it's well worth it because it becomes so much easier to help your team achieve its goal. Here's the set that I think you should run:

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 240 HP / 216 Def / 52 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Roar
- Rest
- Sleep Talk​

• With your defogger gone, I think something that you could try out is running Defog > Earthquake on Mega Aerodactyl. Though it's not the most common defogger, it's surely something that could clear your field at least once or twice if needed due to its massive speed and how many switches it forces. Earthquake isn't too important as many of the common UU mons you would want to hit with it are either handled by other members of the team, or something you could take advantage of (like Cobalion) with Hitmonlee. You should also definitely be running a Jolly Nature on MAero so that you could handle a +1 Gyara if Cune is gone, as well as Jolly Mega Beedrill and Timid Mega Sceptile.

• I think the use of two scarfers here is pretty unnecessary. I recommend trying out DD Intimidate Mence > Moxie Choice Scarf. This would give you another setup sweeper and the freedom to switch around moves with Mence. DD Mence is another scary sweeper late game and has the boost in both speed and power after the set up. Intimidate gives you many more opportunities to set up, as well as easing some pressure from physical attackers. Most notably, this will give you much better chances at stopping Lucario if it gets an SD up. I would recommend a Lum Berry on it for even better chances at a successful set up. It'll also help you against the likes of Sableye, which, you currently only have Gardevoir for. Here's the set:

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

I hope I helped, and good luck with the team!

 

[Nightingales]

I'm going to add the Shuca and Mence suggestions later on, since Suicune hits about as hard as an uncooked noodle without boosts so I want to keep some kind of pressure on things when they expect a non-offensive Empoleon.

Will put up some replays and edit this later.

 

[Nightingales]

Small bump

 

[Lilligant for OU]

Hello Nightingales, the blue bully. I'm liking the look of the team but there is one thing that I think can help you.

I have to recommend Toxic Spikes on Nidoqueen. I think it could help out a lot considering Pokemon like Gardevoir and Mega Aerodactyl force a lot of switches, and since Toxic Spikes are up, you'll have a lot of poisoned Pokemon to clean up after.

 

[Kaiser emotion]

I would go with black Sludge on nidoqueen just in case a.defogger or spinner takes the rocks out nidoqueen can survive to put them back up and it can also help it wipe a couple more opponent mons before she dies cause she can be healing while doing some damage

 

[Thatwackycruton]

I would go with black Sludge on nidoqueen just in case a.defogger or spinner takes the rocks out nidoqueen can survive to put them back up and it can also help it wipe a couple more opponent mons before she dies cause she can be healing while doing some damage

I personally wouldn't take this suggestion, and but anyway...

Well, I can second the notion of Intimidate DD Mence>Scarfmence a secondary late game cleaner could be useful (granted, Scarfmence is still a nice cleaner) an option that could be considered is Mach Punch or Sucker Punch>Stone edge on hitmonlee. Obviously, stone edge has its uses, but Mach punch can be an important tool for picking off ice shard users and opposing priorety users in general. It also just gives your team a source of priorety, which it lacks rn. Really nice team bro.

 

[Kaiser emotion]

I personally wouldn't take this suggestion, and but anyway...

Well, I can second the notion of Intimidate DD Mence>Scarfmence a secondary late game cleaner could be useful (granted, Scarfmence is still a nice cleaner) an option that could be considered is Mach Punch or Sucker Punch>Stone edge on hitmonlee. Obviously, stone edge has its uses, but Mach punch can be an important tool for picking off ice shard users and opposing priorety users in general. It also just gives your team a source of priorety, which it lacks rn. Really nice team bro.

I was just saying my moveset always has black sludge if there is a poison type I agree with your statement and I also wouldn't take all of my advice I am new at competitive battling but I am still pretty good

 

[Nightingales]

I personally wouldn't take this suggestion, and but anyway...

Well, I can second the notion of Intimidate DD Mence>Scarfmence a secondary late game cleaner could be useful (granted, Scarfmence is still a nice cleaner) an option that could be considered is Mach Punch or Sucker Punch>Stone edge on hitmonlee. Obviously, stone edge has its uses, but Mach punch can be an important tool for picking off ice shard users and opposing priorety users in general. It also just gives your team a source of priorety, which it lacks rn. Really nice team bro.

I might implement this, but Stone Edge is my only way to actually hit Flying Types / Faeries for any real damage. I normally focus on just killing priority users before going for a sweep anyways, so I'm not really sure here.

I was just saying my moveset always has black sludge if there is a poison type I agree with your statement and I also wouldn't take all of my advice I am new at competitive battling but I am still pretty good

Nidoqueen tends to appreciate the power boost more than anything, and doesn't take Recoil damage from Life Orb so it tends to make life a little easier when I come across teams that are harder to break through Physically, since I tend to lack immediate stopping power. Black Sludge simply doesn't provide the power output that's needed, and doesn't really work on an offensive team like this.