IT'S A TRAP!!! (Gen V "Ubers" team)

[shrang]

Here's some good background music to listen to while you read this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPCPw1dww3E

So yeah, since everyone else is posting up 5th gen Ubers teams, I'm going to give a shot too. I wanted to try a few new things, so I hastily made a team which turned out to be okay. There were a couple of things I wanted to try. First was Dugtrio. A few days ago, I found out that Dugtrio now has a convenient move named Claw Sharpen. While not the Swords Dance I had envisioned Duggy to get, it's still better than nothing, especially when you consider the number of Choiced Electric attacks being thrown around. Secondly, I wanted to try Manaphy. As you all know, I love Manaphy and when I heard Tail Glow got buffed, I knew I had to try it. Then I realised that Manaphy and Dugtrio can actually be quite an interesting combo, so a team quickly formed:

Arceus-Ghost @ Spooky Plate
Trait: Multitype
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Judgment
- Fire Blast
- Magic Coat
- Stealth Rock

Well Arceus was the last Pokemon I put on my team, since I wanted a spin blocker, an anti-lead and a Stealth Rock user all in one, and unfortunately, Ghost Arceus is the only thing that could do all three (I really didn't want to use him, since I don't like Arceus). When I decided what I wanted for this spot, I wanted a lead who could 1) set up Stealth Rock, 2) stop Deoxys-S, Forretress, Nattorei and others from setting up more than one layer of hazards. Arceus brought that to the table quite well. After taking a great suggestion from Jibaku, I replaced Extremespeed with Magic Coat. Magic Coat pretty much reflects everything Deoxys-S tries to do, Fire Blast knocks Forretress down to Sturdy. It gives Darkrai a taste of its own medicine, too. Max SpA Judgement powered by Spooky Plate isn't something to laugh at either, 2HKOing even Specially Defensive Groudon and destroying Giratina-O. Being Ghost-type means mixed Rayquaza can't just DM and Extremespeed it either, which is pretty awesome. I really wanted to fit in Will-O-Wisp on Arceus to check ExtremeKiller sets, but really couldn't find space. Arceus serves as a fine spin-blocker and beats pretty much every spinner except Doryuuzu in the sand with an SD up. The EV spread is a simple 4/252/252 spread.

Manaphy @ Wacan Berry
Trait: Hydration
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Tail Glow
- Surf
- Grass Knot
- Ice Beam

I love Manaphy, he is so awesome. So yeah, this is something I've always wanted to use on a team ever since I wrote the bulky CM set, but in 4th gen, it just wasn't very effective because of 1) Latias and 2) even with the Tail Glow boost, Manaphy wasn't able to get past its counters since he wasn't powerful enough. However, enter Black and White and giving Tail Glow a buff, so Manaphy gets to +3 in a single boost (I mean WTF, Game Freak). This now propels his rather unimpressive 299 Special Attack to a monstrous 747 (Which, if you use the old boost of +2, would mean Manaphy has about a 140 Special Attack). This makes the Stage 3-3 and 3-4 Wacan Manaphy sound much more appealing. With a Wacan Berry, unboosted Thunder from base 150 SpA mons like Palkia, Dialga and Kyogre only does 42.69% - 50.29%, while a +3 Grass Knot will easily OHKO both Palkia and Kyogre. A +3 Surf does 70.76% - 83.33% to Scarf Dialga, so with some previous damage, Dialga too, is OHKOed by Surf. Even if it isn't, I'd just switch Dugtrio into Thunder, set up a Sub and boost to +6 and sweep. The only Pokemon that can defeat a +3 Manaphy in the rain one-on-one are Shaymin-S, Birijion, Grass Arceus and Scarf Zekrom, but Shaymin-S and Birjion are directed to Shaymin-S and Zekrom is a ticket for Duggy to sweep. Grass Arceus is annoying, but if people still run Grass Knot on that thing, I will laugh at you. This set is rather simple. Tail Glow to boost, Surf for double-STAB, Grass Knot to destroy Kyogre, Groudon and Palkia while Ice Beam hits Dragon-types and Grass-types. EVs are so Manaphy is as fast and powerful as possible.

Shaymin-S @ Life Orb
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Seed Flare
- Air Slash
- Earth Power
- Leech Seed

If Latias still had Soul Dew, she would be here (And fuck I wish she was, she'd counter pretty much every Kyogre and Grass Arceus), but she doesn't, so something else had to be my Kyogre switch-in. So after playing around with Gastrodon and other specialised Kyogre counters, I decided I was probably better without a specialised SpecsOgre switch-in after all, since it just hurt the integrity of my team too much (Basically, it meant Grass-types completely fucked with my team, the most prominent being Grass Arceus, whom this would get completely 6-0'd by). So I decided to have a Pokemon who does well against Grass-types as well as still checking most Kyogre when the time came. I thought of using Grass Arceus, but Species Clause prevents this, so I decided to go with the tried and true Shaymin-S. If Celebi was faster, I would have used her, since she counters Psycho Break Mewtwo in the rain pretty well, but the only problem was that she was slower than Grass Arceus and frankly could not do anything back. The addition of Shaymin-S boosted this team greatly, but it is still quite weak against Grass-types. I like my sets simple, and this one is no exception (If you've noticed, all my Pokemon take 4/252/252 spreads, hehehe). Seed Flare is Skymin's main STAB move and hurts pretty much everything that doesn't resist it, including Blissey, should I get the SpD drop. It also destroys opposing Manaphy. Air Slash messes up Grass-types and Earth Power hits Steels. I frankly did not care what I put in the last spot, so I put Leech Seed on it, allowing Skymin to be even more of a douche, especially with all the high HP Uber Pokemon have (I'm looking at you, Arceus, Giratina, Blissey). LO is used so Shaymin-S has power and versatility at the same, and is probably the best item for sweeping.

Skarmory (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Toxic
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost

If you haven't played with this thing yet, go do it now. Skarmory is probably one the most useful Pokemon in the current "Ubers" metagame. It is so useful, that I'm going to proclaim Skarmory to be the "Latias of the 5th gen Ubers metagame" (Everyone remember how awesome Latias was in 4th gen Ubers). It checks so many threats, including the stupid prick ExtremeKiller Arceus better than any other Pokemon. In the rain, Arceus cannot hope to touch Skarm unless he happens to carry Thunder (Which pretty much no-one does, everyone is busy with Extremespeed/Shadow Force/EQ). It also walls Groudon and in the rain, can check CM/Psycho Shock Mewtwo in a pinch by Whirlwinding it away. With a Specially Defensive spread, Skarmory can switch into many Pokemon, Roost off the damage and set up Spikes. With two layers of Spikes and SR up (Sounds harder than it is in practise to get up), Dialga will now go down to a +3 Surf from Manaphy. The moveset is pretty much standard, although I replaced Taunt/Brave Bird for Toxic, which allows me to stall out Pokemon without having to rely on phazing. A Calm nature is used since Skarmory has no attacks on it anyway, and the -ve nature allows Skarmory to take less from confusion.

Kyogre @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Boil Over
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Well, no team with Manaphy is ever complete without Kyogre. Without Kyogre (Like so many of my teams), it would completely collapse. Kyogre's rain allows Manaphy to abuse double-STABed Surfs and Hydration while allowing Skarmory to laugh at the many unboosted Fire attacks that come his way from physical attackers thinking they can just get away with it. Rain also wipes away other dangerous conditions (Although Rain is dangerous as it is), like the Sun, which stuff like Reshiram would have a field day spamming Blue Fire, or the sand, which Doryuuzu could probably sweep the whole team if I'm not careful. On top of that, Kyogre serves as a great stall-breaker, being able to Calm Mind up and do the RestTalk. This is especially awesome because Latias got nerfed. The only thing that could probably defeat this Kyogre on a Stall team (Which I have no idea what would be standard now for 5th gen) would be something like Grass or Dragon Arceus. I chose Boil Over because if I can get the burn (which isn't that unlikely), Kyogre becomes even more of a bitch to kill, as well as giving Steel Arceus some well needed residue damage.

Dugtrio (M) @ Earth Plate
Trait: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Claw Sharpen
- Substitute
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Aaaaannnd we get to the star of the show!! If you ever thought that you could not be swept by weak little Dugtrio, think again. Back in 4th gen, being "Thunder weak" was a great deal, and in 5th gen, that hasn't changed. Now it's just "Thunder and Lightning Strike weak". If you haven't noticed, there are plenty of Choiced Electric attacks being thrown around in Ubers, which is what this team especially capitalises on (Hey look 3 Thunder weak Pokemon on my team, have a go, I dare you). One misplaced Choiced Thunder from Palkia or something like that (which I will do my best to tempt you into), will cost you the match, pretty much automatically, unless you have two or more Pokemon with Base 120 Speed or higher or with priority. Basically, if I catch you throwing your foolish Choiced Thunders around, Duggy will Sub up while you do absolutely nothing back to him and Claw Sharpen up to +6. While a 259 Attack Dugtrio is extremely underwhelming, a 1036 Attack Dugtrio (Especially with 372 Speed) will make you less happy. When Duggy gets to +6, say goodbye. Seriously. I remember when Theorymon abused Wobb + Dugtrio for hilarious results. Well this team doesn't have Wobb on it, but it doesn't REALLY need it, especially when I have 3 Thunder weak Pokemon baiting you into using Thunder/Lightning Strike. Duggy isn't completely useless outside of trapping and setting up either. He can pick off weakened Dialga, Reshiram, Zekrom and Steel Arceus. Again, Duggy adopts a very simple moveset. Sub/Claw Sharpen capitalises on Choiced Thunders which can't do anything to Duggy, EQ is for STAB and Stone Edge to hit most Pokemon that are immune to it. UNDERESTIMATE DUGTRIO AT YOUR PERIL.

Rate/Steal/Hate. Have fun.​

 

[PDC]

Hey shrang! Skarmory is great in ubers, but use Impish so you fare better vs Choiced Outrages and whatnot. That Kyogre spread is pretty cool, but I just rather consider running some speed to outrun standard Ho-oh as it gets out a Arena Trap, comes in on Skarm and Shaymin pretty easy too. So this may help a bit. Anyway, great team.

 

[trickroom]

If Dragon dance Rayquaza managed to set up, your team is dead, ohkoing your entire team. Nice dugtrio it will surely surprise people. Groudon and Nitro charhe Reshiram can be problematic sometimes as Draco meteor hurts Kyogre and Blue fire ohkoes Skarmory. Manaphy will be powerful, and with wacan berry it is great, nice work on the team. Swords dance Lucario can also be a problem when it sets up, unless you still have Arceus. Groudon with Rock Polish can run over your team if Kyogre is weaken enough, which he will be after switching on Reshiram.

 

[ZetoTarken]

If Dragon dance Rayquaza managed to set up, your team is dead, ohkoing your entire team. Nice dugtrio it will surely surprise people. Groudon and Nitro charhe Reshiram can be problematic sometimes as Draco meteor hurts Kyogre and Blue fire ohkoes Skarmory. Manaphy will be powerful, and with wacan berry it is great, nice work on the team. Swords dance Lucario can also be a problem when it sets up, unless you still have Arceus. Groudon with Rock Polish can run over your team if Kyogre is weaken enough, which he will be after switching on Reshiram.

Skarmory stops Ray when it locks itself into Outrage or if it lacks Overheat. Groudon is also walled by Skarm if it lacks a fire move.

 

[trickroom]

The skarm gets 2hkoed by boosted Outrage easily. Groudon comes with Reshiram which owns the team.

 

[ZetoTarken]

The skarm gets 2hkoed by boosted Outrage easily. Groudon comes with Reshiram which owns the team.

It also survives one and whirlwinds it out. And Reshiram can't safely come in after Groudon on Skarm because it will just get whirlwinded out and take more hazard damage.

 

[HART4FLOON]

252 Attack LO Jolly Rayquaza Outrage vs 252 HP / 4 Def Careful Skarmory: 47.3% - 55.7%

Very rarely a 2HKO.

Not going to lie though. Rayquaza can be quite problematic because even with a special attack reducing nature, Rayquaza does 90.4% - 106.6% with Overheat to your Skarmory in the rain.

However, since it looks like you can play around Rayquaza by switching between Kyogre and Skarmory, I'd suggest a simple switch from a Careful nature on Skarmory to an Impish nature to prevent the 2HKO from a +1 Outrage. Skarmory can still take most special attacks pretty well, including a -2 Overheat from Rayquaza in the rain.

 

[ZetoTarken]

252 Attack LO Jolly Rayquaza Outrage vs 252 HP / 4 Def Careful Skarmory: 47.3% - 55.7%

Very rarely a 2HKO.

Not going to lie though. Rayquaza can be quite problematic because even with a special attack reducing nature, Rayquaza does 90.4% - 106.6% with Overheat to your Skarmory in the rain.

However, since it looks like you can play around Rayquaza by switching between Kyogre and Skarmory, I'd suggest a simple switch from a Careful nature on Skarmory to an Impish nature to prevent the 2HKO from a +1 Outrage. Skarmory can still take most special attacks pretty well, including a -2 Overheat from Rayquaza in the rain.

SR makes it a 2hko and Rayquaza negates the rain so of course it does that much. But Skarm shouldn't switch into Ray unless its already locked into outrage(IE on revenge).

 

[trickroom]

You missed out ways to counter the rain abusers. Your team is centralized around rain so Kabutops, Kingdra or even Qwilfish will have an easy time koing your entire team easily. Kabutops can swords dance once and OHKO your entire team, yes even your Kyogre is ohkoed by +2 Stone edge, after rocks damage. Kingdra laughs your team by Dragon dancing up and at least 2hko your whole team, waterfall 2hkoes your current Skarm easily in rain, while Outrage ohkoes Shaymin-s and Manaphy. Plus, your Kyogre needs to beg for a burn to stop Kingdra. Even Gyarados is problematic to your team and after just a bit of prior damage, Skarm is ohkoed by Gyarados while Kyogre is 2hkoed by Earthquake or Outrage. Your team faces huge problem against opposing Kyogre. Scarf Kyogre 2hkoes all your team members at worst and ohkoes your current Arceus.

 

[shrang]

Well, my Ubers teams always have problems with rain sweepers, but they can be played around. For Kingdra, I'd either hope for a burn as he switches in, or bait him into Outrage and phaze/Toxic him with Skarmory. Kabutops can't setup on anything, even Dugtrio would destroy him if he tries it. Gyarados is dealt in a similar way to Kingdra, although Manaphy can actually take hits from it and deal quite a bit of damage to it. ScarfOgre is generally set to Kyogre, and if he dares to Thunder me, Duggy does his +6 thing and wins.

 

[Nails]

It's admittedly an odd threat, but DD Ononokusu outspeeds and ohkoes 4/6 of your team. With a life orb Skarm takes 64-78% from outrage, and arceus does 45% max with Espeed (kyogre has an outside shot to live a life orb +1 Outrage, Arceus/Skymin/Duggy/Manaphy are all cleanly ohkoed).

I hate to be this simple in solving issues, but make skarmory a girl, lol. Onono's +1 outrage will then do 47% max to skarmory. However, if Onono is running taunt then the issue isn't really solved. So I have to suggest a scarfer somewhere, but idk where. It also helps with DD Mence too.

Side note, those calcs are with adamant, which is the less viable nature in ubers. Just saying. And, I'm fairly certain Ononokusu doesn't have a lot of usage in ubers. But it does threaten your team despite its rarity. Cool team, fun duggy set. Has to suck when scarfpalk uses 8 thunders and then struggles to break your sub though XD.

 

[thisisnotreal]

Have you considered swapping Dugtrio's earth plate for soft sand? When flung, earth plate has a base power of 90, whereas soft sand has a base power of 10. If the opposing pokemon knows fling and trick/switcharoo, they could take your plate and fling it at you for some considerable damage. But if they take your soft sand from you and fling it at you, it's pretty much gonna do nothing. I know it would be stupid of the other person to have a pokemon on their team with trick and fling, but hey, there are definatly stupid people out there.

 

[Nails]

If his opponent spends 2 turns tricking and flinging in ubers, shrang will have gotten a free sub and a claw sharpen. That is not a viable strategy.

 

[Mr.Senior]

your dugtrio actually gave me the chills how sick it is.. thats awesome lol i wish i could watch that take its toll one time.. a rayquaza and then a mewtwo could take it out but hey everything has its counters not a reason not to use it. if it guarantees a kill on at least their set-up bitch and then mewtwo or rayquaza thats reason enough to use it honestly. maybe one time stone edge will miss on quaza and you could still get 1 kill out of it on their thundering set-up bitch. pretty awesome if you ask me

Edit: stone edge wont miss quaza after max accuracy never mind. even better. stone edge now isnt the least accurate move in the game anymore. even better than before

 

[calze6]

Roost Lugia can beat duggy:) Still it is awesome. What is wrong with palkia over shaymin-s? A haban palkia could be quite nice in dealing with kyogre and it fits your rain base a lot. Otherwise, just use a scarf. Consider t-wave over CM on kyogre as it really supports your manaphy and duggy as their base 100 speed can get outrun a bit in ubers.

 

[shrang]

I added Shaymin-S so I could deal with Grass-types like Birijion and most importantly, Grass Arceus. I considered Palkia after I played around with Gastrodon, but I needed a decent check to Grass types otherwise the team flat out loses against them. I was considering Celebi, but she isn't strong enough or fast enough (Needs to heavily damage Grass Arceus enough).

+6 Duggy OHKOs Lugia with Stone Edge btw, and I won't have to worry about it missing due to Claw Sharpen boosting accuracy =D.

 

[ZetoTarken]

Roost Lugia can beat duggy:) Still it is awesome. What is wrong with palkia over shaymin-s? A haban palkia could be quite nice in dealing with kyogre and it fits your rain base a lot. Otherwise, just use a scarf. Consider t-wave over CM on kyogre as it really supports your manaphy and duggy as their base 100 speed can get outrun a bit in ubers.

Duggy is 120 base speed, it out speeds and 1hkos Lugia with +6 Stone Edge :)