Other Freed Ubers

[Shurtugal]

To be honest, I haven't had any issues against it either. I know everyone is saying it's a really good Pokemon, but maybe it's just my playstyle that has made it mostly a non-issue to me. I usually run either pretty offensive teams or bulkier teams with tons of pivots because I hate not having the upper hand. Still, I tried playing with it tonight and was so underwhelmed with it lol. I know it's not the case because it's a Water-type with good bulk, but I felt like I didn't get any opportunities to set up with it. Maybe it was just the opponent's I played. /shrug

I've been using Manaphy with Sticky Web. Manaphy sets up so easy in SW and is nearly impossible to stop. Its easy to add partners to prevent defogging / spinning too like Taunt Thundurus, etc. Timid Manaphy OHKOs Exca which is nice, and then there is the matter that Mana easily breaks stall teams since its coverage at +3 is near impossible to switch into, and most stall defoggers / rapid spinners give it free set ups.

Anyway I've never ran it outside of SW, but I have to say that using Manaphy is super easy when you use it in SW (assuming you are skilled enough to keep SW up). It gets so many set up opp. and can literally just click one of its coverage moves and destroy the entire metagame. Its bulky enough to live every priority attack in the game too at 100% which is a great feat in and of itself.

I'm not sure Mana is "broken". Under SW, I'd say holy fuck yes. However, keeping SW up isn't THAT easy, and it's a team support option offered to a lot of Pokemon, so I digress.

 

[Gjones18]

I think Landorous fell enough to be less useful then his Therian form.

Maybe Sand Force Landorus, but Sheer Force Landorus is ungodly powerful. He's my favorite Pokemon so I hope he doesn't get the Uber treatment again (lol) but SF Lando is definitely just as useful as Lando-T, if not more so.

Also, I still feel like Genesect is as good as ever, even with the introduction of Talonflame and the ever-present Heatran, Genesect is very easy to play with and proper U-turns will always turn the opponents advantage against Genesect into a disadvantage. Of course U-Turn/Volt Switch will naturally be a good momentum gainer, but it's even more ridiculous with Genesect, who can U-Turn for huge damage, even higher when given a potential Download boost...there's always the popular Genesect/Dugtrio combo, all you have to do is keep Trio alive for Heatran and he's toast :/ One could even run a Genesect/Dugtrio/Tyranitar (or Rotom) trio, Genesect can U-Turn into Dugtrio for enemy Heatrans and he can switch into Tyranitar/Rotom for Talonflame...bulky T-tar always has rocks to cripple Talonflame as well later in the match. It seems to me like you have to be too many steps ahead of Genesect in order to really bring him down

 

[Calm_Mind_Latias]

Maybe Sand Force Landorus, but Sheer Force Landorus is ungodly powerful. He's my favorite Pokemon so I hope he doesn't get the Uber treatment again (lol) but SF Lando is definitely just as useful as Lando-T, if not more so.

A Lando-I Sheer Force, LO Earth Power may be the most powerful special attack (if it hits neutrally) without Status drops, turn of recharging, inaccuracy issues (but can be avoided with prediction), or Choice lock-in.

However, Earth Power and Psychic are not reliable or spammable coverage moves.

Perhaps if you want offensive prowess, try a Nasty Plot Thundurus-I/T, perhaps with LO.

I said this about Gengar and this also applies to Landorus.

One of the reason why I did not like Gengar in Gen 5 because it suffered from the indignity that a prominent physical wall checks it (Skarmory) since it could resist Ghost and its only recourse is to use Focus Miss to 2HKO it while Skarmory can Brave Bird, but with the Ghost buff/Steel nerf Gengar's presence can pressure Stall teams physical walls.

Earth Power does not affect Skarmory and Psychic is resisted. Lando-I has to use Focus Blast to hit it, although it may involve one try because a LO Sheer Force Focus Blast is more powerful than Gengar's LO Shadow Ball. One should avoid the temptation to run Sludge Wave to deal with Fairies since Sludge Wave practically gives Air Balloon steel types a free switch.

101 Speed is merely average for an offensive Pokemon and certain offensive Pokemon will remove its momentum and force it out. This is an issue for Lando-T to, but this is somewhat ameliorate with its U-Turn
---
In contrast, Lando-T is useful in dealing with many physically offensive threats, particularly Excadrill and to a lesser extent, Talonflame (as Stone Edge misses). However, unlike Lando-I with Psychic, Lando-T does not have reliable means of dealing damage. Lando-T's offensive moves are there to deal with specific threats or to maintain momentum, not to threat entire teams with: Earthquake can be predictable; Stone Edge is inaccurate; and U-turn forces you to switch out while you may want to stay in.

Lando-T, while lacking offensive flexibility to due the nature of its moves, with its ability and some defensive investment (and perhaps Volt/Turn support) it is quite flexible defensively. Lando-T can switch in to more threats without prediction due to its ability and passive recovery, while Lando-I could only do so on a predicted Earthquake. Lando-I mainly comes in to revenge kill non-scarf threats, so there are fewer opportunities for it to wreak some havoc.

Also, Lando-T can defeat some offensive threats, provided they are not immune to Earthquake. It can beat Garchomp, who outspeeds Lando-I whether Garchomp has a Scarf or not, with the Intimidate drop. It can beat Dragonite with broken Multiscale with Stone Edge (as can Lando-I with HP Ice or Rock Slide)

Besides, Lando-I has to compete with Gengar as a special attacker, who now has access to a buffed Shadow Ball.

===

Lando-T seems better equipped to deal with the meta.

 

[mertyville]

I have been able to transfer some of my gen 5 Pokemon and throw some of them into my team that was very frail but also had Genesect in it.
After battling with it, I realised that it is still as powerful as it was back in gen 5. Without any skill I won most of my battles by just bringing Genesect in.

I run:

Naive@Scarf
252 Spe, 252 SpA, 4 Atk
- U-Turn
- Bug Buzz
- Flammthrower
- Ice Beam

The moment Genesect switches in, it already has setup with a pseudo-dragon dance (Scarf+Download), ready to just punch holes into opposing teams. And with all those physically bulky pokemon online, the special boost is most of the time guarantied.
Whenever something comes in, that could tank the move I am locked in, I sacrificed one of my team mates just so I can switch moves. It feels so cheap to win battles which I didn't deserve to win.

I tested my old Gen 4 Deoxys-S as well, a suicide lead.

Jolly@Focus Sash
252 Spe, 252 Atk, 6 I don't know
- Taunt
- SR
- Spikes
- Espeed

The results weren't as good as I expected, since Stealth Rock are rarely making as much difference as they did last gen, and thats not just because of all those defoggers that are running around. Taunt, on the other hand, was really effective with all those WoW and Sub Users running around.

 

[Cheatingtaco]

Guys, you do realize that you can run Hurricane w/o infinite rain? Last gen I used azumaril + damp rock then switched to tornadus and that was amazing in UU.

 

[LoDart210]

Am I the only one who finds Tail Glow Manaphy really hard to use yet really hard to stop -_-?

When I use it....
Damn it! I got killed/paralyzed/toxic'd/phased


When its used against me...
It's too powerful to kill/paralyze/toxic/phase!

 

[Explorer]

The only ones I've faced in Pokebank are Excadrill and Genesect. Drill is deadly no matter what it runs and Rotom can't even burn it due to Mold Breaker. Genesect in all honesty doesn't seem to bad to me as long as I switch in the right mons and manage to burn it.

I would rather paralyze it actually--it becomes easier to handle that way.

Really though, Mega Venusaur and Mega Charizard-X can switch in on Genesect pretty freely if they have already Mega-Evolved, as can Heatran. Nearly all other very common Pokemon get destroyed by one or more of its moves.

 

[LoDart210]

I don't see the fuss about excadrill. Outside of sand he's mediocre at best. Not to say he isn't powerful but he's not exactly a dominating force. I've only encountered him as a air balloon spinner, and he performs decently at that.

And besides scarfing it, it's offense prowess is unimpressive.

 

[Tava]

Thundurus-I is stupid good atm. NP for huge offensive pressure (tbolt/focus miss have pretty sick coverage.)

The main thing that makes me almost commit suicide everytime I see it is the priority t-waves :/. It's pretty much Thundurus saying "Fuck You" right to your face :9.

And Genesect is still the ridiculously annoying Poke from last gen (easily #1 in usage atm.)

Personally been running:

Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Download
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Ice Beam
- U-turn
- Explosion
- Flamethrower

 

[rachet67]

I see a lot of people running 4 HP/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe Manaphy, and I agree that it's too frail. I've found more success with a 252 HP/ 4 SpA/ 252 Spe leftovers set. Even though it's SpA is underwhelming at first, after one tailglow it can still OHKO pretty much anything that it can hit super effectively. It can also stand for a whole lot more abuse.

 

[Calm_Mind_Latias]

Well, I think Lando-I does have a niche as a powerful Psychic user without any of the defensive disadvantages of Psychic typing or Stealth Rock weakness of Talonflame. It is nice if you find Conkeldurr or Mega Venusaur problematic; regarding the former, Extrasensory Greninja does not check it. Of course, Psychic is its secondary attack, and it is quite powerful, but of course, one reason that brings Lando-T down is its reliance on Earth Power to inflict damage.

Its 101 Speed is a letdown, since it does not outspeed Garchomp or at least let you know that it is Scarfed when it kills something like a Gengar. Still, having to use Focus Blast to get past Skarmory, a physical wall, really sucks.

Gengar and Greninja seem to be better attackers as Gengar has a highly powerful and spammable Shadow Ball and can scout the opponent out, while Greninja has unrivaled special coverage and power.

===

I see a lot of people running 4 HP/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe Manaphy, and I agree that it's too frail. I've found more success with a 252 HP/ 4 SpA/ 252 Spe leftovers set. Even though it's SpA is underwhelming at first, after one tailglow it can still OHKO pretty much anything that it can hit super effectively. It can also stand for a whole lot more abuse.

Water, Ice, and Grass does not offer much Super Effective coverage.

 

[Ryolain]

I see a lot of people running 4 HP/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe Manaphy, and I agree that it's too frail. I've found more success with a 252 HP/ 4 SpA/ 252 Spe leftovers set. Even though it's SpA is underwhelming at first, after one tailglow it can still OHKO pretty much anything that it can hit super effectively. It can also stand for a whole lot more abuse.

Water, Ice, and Grass does not offer much Super Effective coverage.

It's enough to hit 40 out of the top 70 most used Pokes in OU super effective. That doesn't sound horrible to me.

 

[noknuckles]

I don't see the fuss about excadrill. Outside of sand he's mediocre at best. Not to say he isn't powerful but he's not exactly a dominating force. I've only encountered him as a air balloon spinner, and he performs decently at that.

And besides scarfing it, it's offense prowess is unimpressive.

Outside of sand, Excadrill is "only" good. It performs better than decently as a spinner. Gengar and Aegislash can't really switch in on an EQ, so that's the two top ghosts being unable to block a spin (or at the very least requiring very bold predictions to block it).

I've found that whenever I get it in, it does some good work but I've never really found it to be overpowering. It does its job of spinning very well and any additional power you get after that (which is quite a lot of power) is just bonus. It's good, but not dominant. It's very unfair to say that it's mediocre

 

[Calm_Mind_Latias]

What, Excadrill is a credible threat in this meta, simply because it has STAB Mold Breaker Earthquake against Rotom-W. Gengar cannot reliably spinblock it and has to risk a Focus Blast if it successful switches in, or a KO with Earthquake if Excadrill uses Earthquake. STAB Iron Head is a nice anti-Fairy tool, and can break stall Pokemon that don't resist it due to Flinch chance giving you a long-term advantage.

 

[LoDart210]

Outside of sand, Excadrill is "only" good. It performs better than decently as a spinner. Gengar and Aegislash can't really switch in on an EQ, so that's the two top ghosts being unable to block a spin (or at the very least requiring very bold predictions to block it).

I've found that whenever I get it in, it does some good work but I've never really found it to be overpowering. It does its job of spinning very well and any additional power you get after that (which is quite a lot of power) is just bonus. It's good, but not dominant. It's very unfair to say that it's mediocre

I agree with what you've said, and meant the same, I just stated it dispassionately. I've just come across a lot of players that give it more credit than its due.

Like I said in my first post, excadrill is good, but it isn't game defining as some online players would insist.

 

[rachet67]

Water, Ice, and Grass does not offer much Super Effective coverage.

Actually, that has excellent super effective coverage. Really are not that many bulky pokemon (aegislash, blissey/chansey are some exceptions though there are a few more) that aren't hit super effectively by ice, water, grass. Not to mention that you can always go for another boost, though thats a little risky. There's a reason Manaphy's A+ on the OU viability thread.

It's enough to hit 40 out of the top 70 most used Pokes in OU super effective. That doesn't sound horrible to me.

To add to this, a bunch of the pokemon that are in that 20 are frail enough to be OHKO'd by +3 surf anyways.

 

[ShadowMarioGalaxy64]

*Posting after NOT reading the previous pages and understanding when the last post was*

I recently used Landorus-I in a team and...WOW!

Landorus-I @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Nature: Timid
4 HP/252 Sp. Atk/252 Spe
- Earth Power
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Sludge Wave

After clearing Dragonite/another possible dragon not named Hydreigon, this set has swept entire teams by itself. One could replace Sludge Wave with Hidden Power Ice, but my team had issues with some Fairies and Sludge Wave does a considerable amount of damage to them when they don't see it coming. Anybody else have any luck with this set? Here are some calcs:

252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Sludge Wave vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Sylveon: 192-229 (48.7 - 58.1%) -- 58.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
This right here is assuming Sylveon is going all-out Specially Defensive.

252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Sludge Wave vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Clefable: 250-294 (63.4 - 74.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
...ouch...poor Clefable.

252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Psychic vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Mega Venusaur: 260-307 (71.4 - 84.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Psychic is pretty damn important now, isn't it? Actually...
252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Mega Venusaur: 195-230 (53.5 - 63.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Ha. Look at that for ya...

252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Sludge Wave vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Rotom-W: 152-179 (50 - 58.8%) -- 74.2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Focus Blast is a guaranteed 2HKO and all Rotom can do is Hydro Pump it; status only shortens the sweep a little (and on my team, is migitated thanks to Heal Bell support).

So...yeah. I'm starting to re-love Landorus-I again. Anybody else?