SM Ubers Toxic everything (Trapped in the 1400's)

[Karpi]

With many of the lower tiers yet to stabilize, SM Ubers has proven the perfect environment for me to improve my skills, as it is well-developed enough as a metagame that it does not feel like a hyper offense crapshoot.

I've been slowly modifying this team, which I believe has a solid basis, but my ladder rating has stalled in the 1400's (which seems to be the dividing line where shitty teams stop appearing) due to some problems with the team that I've been unable to resolve on my own.

Ho-Oh @ Choice Band
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Sacred Fire
- Earthquake
- Sleep Talk​

Ho-oh is without doubt the MVP of this team and my favorite Ubers pokemon to use. Although I'm sure you can imagine it, replays such as this demonstrate that matchups vs stall are mostly decided by a long process of Ho-oh trying to slowly beat down all opposing pokemon.

Also notable is that this is my only real check to Mega Lucario, which is a major vulnerability of this team.

Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Precipice Blades
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Roar​

There is nothing to say here. Maybe in the future Pdon will not be a requirement for every team, but for now there is no way to avoid using him on bulky offense teams.

Arceus-Water @ Splash Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Defog
- Recover​

Also known as the "everything check". Waterceus is my primary switchin against Mega Salamence, Rayquaza, defensive Pdon, Ho-oh, and a wide variety of weakened pokemon. Its vulnerability comes from trying to do these things while also Defogging, staying above ~60% health, and staying out of the way of pokemon that can set up on it.

In my experiments with replacing him (Dragonceus, Fairyceus, Giratina-O) it seems that despite the shortcomings of having so many roles to fulfill Waterceus is still the best option.

Dialga @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flash Cannon
- Thunder
- Toxic
- Roar​

Dialga's purpose is as a pivot and secondary check against POgre and weakened Scarf Lunaala on offensive teams and as a crucial Toxic resist, allowing it to completely wall several stall pokemon such as Lugia or Waterceus and to frustrate attempts at Wish healing with Chansey through Roar.

Unfortunately the ground moves being thrown around everywhere and the rise of Groundceus are weighing against Dialga's ability to do his job correctly in many cases.

Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 248 SpA / 12 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Geomancy​

Despite most of the team leaning heavily toward defense, Xerneas is still a great win condition and I honestly have no complaints.

Yveltal @ Leftovers
Ability: Dark Aura
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Roost​

This monstrosity exists as a bandage check to a variety of pokemon that were giving me trouble - CM Darkceus, Lunala, and offensive Pdon. Unfortunately, its results in matchups with these threats are mixed to say the least. Magearna and Mega Lucario also gain free switchins here, which can be annoying in the case of the former and devastating in the case of the latter.

Often I feel as if this Yveltal is dead weight and I only really have 5 pokemon in comparison to my opponent's 6 pokemon (or even 4 vs 6 in a situation where Xerneas must be held back), though he does occasionally come through for me, mostly against Pdon.

MAJOR THREATS:​

1.

Mega Lucario - Anyone who can play Mega Lucario even remotely well can beat this team, and is the main reason why I'm posting this RMT

2.

Lunala, especially Specs - its heavy damage can wear down my team and forces me to try and keep Yveltal on the field, whose many faults can be taken advantage of

3.

Mega Gengar - It is difficult to play against teams that aggressively try to eliminate Waterceus with Mega Gengar, but this appears to be mostly unavoidable

4.

Ice Beam spam, especially Deoxys+POgre - this is similar to the problem of Lunala is that the damage is unavoidable but is clearly a lesser threat

5.

Offensive PDon and/or Excadrill - there is always a chance that misplays can allow these pokemon to run away with the match, and my team is not well-prepared for them in general

6.

Chansey and other clerics - 3 team members have an over reliance on Toxic to deal damage, though replacing or modifying Yveltal could prevent this from being a problem

In order to address these threats, I'm open to replacing any pokemon on the team. I suspect changing Yveltal and Dialga offer the most opportunity for improvement...

 

[Karpi]

Small update: After some suggestions to play more aggressively with Yveltal and discovering this can address several of the problems, I'm starting to think this is actually a finished product team.

 

[kilometerman]

Try switching Yveltal to an offensive set with Dpulse/Owing/Sucker/Taunt. That should help the weakness to Mega Gengar and Lunala.

Also I would switch Dialga to something else, probably Mega Salamence. Dialga doesn't really do much other than set rocks while also dealing damage, and since you already have Pdon as your rocker it seems kind of redundant.

 

[Karpi]

Also I would switch Dialga to something else, probably Mega Salamence. Dialga doesn't really do much other than set rocks while also dealing damage, and since you already have Pdon as your rocker it seems kind of redundant.

This is an interesting idea, because it would alleviate Waterceus's 4 moveslot syndrome by adding a Defogger. I'm a bit unsure about it because Dialga occasionally grabs Xerneas kills, but I'll give it a shot!

 

[kilometerman]

This is an interesting idea, because it would alleviate Waterceus's 4 moveslot syndrome by adding a Defogger. I'm a bit unsure about it because Dialga occasionally grabs Xerneas kills, but I'll give it a shot!

Don't run Defog Mega Salamence. It's not a very viable set and Waterceus doesnt really need another move anyways.

 

[Hacci]

Hey, Karpi

Nice team, man. You seem to have everything under control. I do not see a possible mega hole, although perhaps not needed on this occasion. There are good teams without depending on it. Well, analyzing those threats Lunala seems to be controlled by Yveltal / Ho-Oh above all, but it is true that you have to be careful with a Specs version. Gengar as you say is another, you have a good Defog user, but if you catch and fall you run the risk of losing almost Ho-Oh with Stealth Rock. Offensive teams with Excadrill and PDon can be a problem. In principle you can have something controlled with WaterCeus or Yveltal, but it is not very safe. The Chansey theme has PDon / Ho-Oh itself. The bad news is that you only have them to pressure Chansey or even Blissey. I imagine teams based on Lele + Deoxys-A are dangerous, but that's nothing new if it's that gameplay. Well, in my opinion I see it as solid and that it does not need to depend on a mega. But you can change small things so that it responds a little better. Although I have appreciated it in action and seems to be doing well. Okay, not that I'm very good at helping, but let's see how.

·

-> You can consider trying out your ChoiceScarf set. You have more threats like GroundCeus or Mewtwo-Y among others, so Foul Play would help with the assurance that you will be faster. So you will also have better match up against terrain spam as I mentioned before. With this you cover all kinds of Lunala and Gengar.

I honestly do not think I can continue because if you change something else you may see more holes that were already covered. Congratulations and I liked the replay. He may not say much but stall always feels good, haha.

 

[menusaur-vega]

one small suggestion by me run max speed on ho-oh and toxic over sleep talk. The hp isn't really needed and you get out sped by many threats. n_n