Hey guys, its PurpleGatorade here, this time with an Ubers rmt. I usually play Anything goes, but a few months ago I decided to try out Ubers since it seemed very similar. After tweaking one of my old AG teams a bit, I was able to construct a Ho-Oh Balance Squad that peaked #1 on the ladder. So without further ado, let's get into the team!
I wanted to start out with a choice band Ho-Oh, because it's a monster in this meta with precious few checks and counters.
The next choice was obvious: Primal Groudon is the best pokemon in Ubers. It checks geoxern and sets up rocks.
At this point I really wanted to deviate from the standard mega diancie/ho-oh core, so I opted for my favorite mega evolution instead: Mega Mence. It provides a good answer to opposing Ho-Oh and is a late-game sweeper.
I really wanted a reliable darkrai answer and a revenge killer, and scarf xerneas fit the bill perfectly.
The team seemed extremely weak to any and all physical attackers, so I added one of my favorite mons- physically defensive yveltal.
Obviously, my biggest weakness at this point was rocks, so I added the obligatory defogger in the form of arceus-ground.
Ho-Oh @ Choice Band
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 184 Atk / 52 SpD / 24 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Earthquake
- Sleep Talk
Ho-Oh is absolutely fantastic in this metagame, particularly its choice band set. I preferred this over life orb because it can 2hko most variants of primal groudon, ohko certain variants of primal kyogre, and destroy salamence switchins. Sacred fire is the way to go at first, as its 50% burn chance cripples physical attackers greatly, allowing the other team members to handle threats like mega salamence and ekiller far more easily. Brave bird is the nuke button which severely dents anything that doesn't resist it. Earthquake is here for the occasional rockceus, and is sometimes used to hit Primal Groudon a little harder. Sleep talk is honestly just here as a filler move because the team already has a reliable darkrai counter in xerneas. Most of the time you will be clicking brave bird or sacred fire.
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Lava Plume
- Roar
The King of Ubers himself. Primal groudon is a must-have on any Ubers team, and this one is no different. I opted for a max spdef set because it's the only reliable xerneas check this team has. Stealth rock is self-explanatory, precipice blades hits all grounded pokemon extremely hard, although it misses a little too often for my liking. Lava plume greatly annoys typical switchins to primal groudon such as yveltal, mega salamence, and giratina-o. The burn rate coupled with ho-oh's sacred fire make for a reliable way to check physical attackers. The final (and perhaps most important) move on groudon is roar. I always click roar if I switch in on a geomancy from xerneas, especially if it is at full health. Precipice blades misses when it really counts, so roar is always the safer and better play.
Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Aerilate
Happiness: 0
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Frustration
- Facade
- Roost
With its incredible bulk and devastating attack stat, Mega Salamence is an extremely valuable asset to the team. Whether it's checking Ho-Oh, revenge killing kyogres, or setting up for a sweep late-game, it is always very useful. Dragon Dance is the obligatory setup move, Frustration is a reliable stab attack (I used to use double edge but I didn't like the recoil), facade allows it to check Ho-Oh and other hazard spammers, and roost is obviously to regain health. Not much else to say, really. When played smartly Mega Mence can sweep through opposing teams with ease.
Xerneas @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SpA / 224 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Sleep Talk
- Geomancy
Scarf Xerneas provides a ton of utility for this team, countering darkrai, revenge killing dragons, and simply blowing holes in opponent's teams. Moonblast is used to severely damage every pokemon that doesn't resist fairy, sleep talk allows xerneas to check darkrai, and geomancy is there just in case it gets knocked off by a yveltal. In balance vs balance matchups, Xerneas can also be used as bait to get ho-oh or mega salamence in on a double switch (for example if there is an obvious ferrothorn switchin).
Yveltal @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 236 HP / 248 Def / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- Roost
- U-turn
- Sucker Punch
Yveltal is one of my favorite pokemon, and for good reason: It punishes nearly every single physical attacker with its nasty foul play, threatens the latis and deoxys-a with a dark aura-boosted sucker punch, heals itself with roost, and gains tremendous offensive momentum for the team with u-turn. Since yveltal forces out so many pokemon, u-turn can be used quite liberally to get Ho-oh into a wallbreaking position or safely bring in arceus-ground to defog. Yveltal can sometimes single-handedly destroy teams once opposing xerneas have been taken care of.
Arceus-Ground @ Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Defog
Ho-Oh Balance can't possibly exist without a defogger, and arceus-ground performs that role admirably. I used to use an arceus-water, however I found that it didn't force out primal groudon nearly enough and gave free switchins to other mons like klefki and ferrothorn. I usually lead with arceus-ground to scare opposing primal groudons away and prevent rocks from the very beginning. Judgment is the obvious stab move which ohkoes many variants of groudon. Ice beam ohkoes mega salamence and rayquaza, and also provides a way to hit giratina-o for decent damage. 56 speed evs are used to outspeed neutral nature rayquaza and ohko it before it deals any damage. Arceus-ground is extremely useful as a check to mega salamence, because it leaves yveltal free to beat up on ekillers and the lati twins.
Threatlist
Arceus-Rock is probably the single greatest threat to this team. It ohkoes half the squad with one move, cripples arceus-ground with will-o-wisp, and also does decent damage to primal groudon. The best way to get rid of it is to weaken it to the point where a banded earthquake from ho-oh kills it. However, if it has adequate team support, I usually lose.
Even with two fairy resists, xerneas is still a pretty big threat. If primal groudon is weakened it can take it out with a +2 focus blast or HP ground, and Ho-Oh can only reliably check xerneas if it isn't at +2. Most of the time, however, it isn't an issue.
Life orb yveltal can punch holes into this team, as the only resistance I have is xerneas which is 2hkoed by oblivion wing. Arceus-ground can threaten it with ice beam, and mega salamence can come in when it's at low health and revenge kill it as well.
Ho-Oh is also a very potent wallbreaker, however mega mence can usually handle it and punish any sacred fire burns with facade. Yveltal can also switch in on life orb brave birds and do massive damage with foul play.
Team Importable
Ho-Oh @ Choice Band
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 184 Atk / 52 SpD / 24 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Earthquake
- Sleep Talk
Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Aerilate
Happiness: 0
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Frustration
- Facade
- Roost
Xerneas @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SpA / 224 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Sleep Talk
- Geomancy
Yveltal @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 236 HP / 248 Def / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- Roost
- U-turn
- Sucker Punch
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Lava Plume
- Roar
Arceus-Ground @ Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Defog
Chloe. Thanks for being a great room owner and it's always fun battling you :)
Thimo Your memes are the best lol. I will never stop using barb/
TylerWithNumbers You've been one of my closest friends on this site for like 5 months. You really need to ladder ag again lol
Legendoftsih You're a real homie man, and your teams are really inventive and interesting. Sorry for haxing you every time lol
Quantum Tesseract Shed is disgusting <3
Fardin Stall is shit. You're good. Ur "RTM" is ugly. Thanks for all the great battles.
DontStealMyPenguin You're a really great friend and it's always a pleasure to battle you. I hate your darkrai tho :/
Yuga42 Pigeons you're an amazing player and it was really fun hitting you on ladder when you used to play. You should come back again :)
Catalystic Thanks for testing all those teams with me and the fun battles. No thanks for always beating me with that diancie team tho :(
Teambuilding Process
The next choice was obvious: Primal Groudon is the best pokemon in Ubers. It checks geoxern and sets up rocks.
At this point I really wanted to deviate from the standard mega diancie/ho-oh core, so I opted for my favorite mega evolution instead: Mega Mence. It provides a good answer to opposing Ho-Oh and is a late-game sweeper.
I really wanted a reliable darkrai answer and a revenge killer, and scarf xerneas fit the bill perfectly.
The team seemed extremely weak to any and all physical attackers, so I added one of my favorite mons- physically defensive yveltal.
Obviously, my biggest weakness at this point was rocks, so I added the obligatory defogger in the form of arceus-ground.
A Closer Look at the Team
Ho-Oh @ Choice Band
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 184 Atk / 52 SpD / 24 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Earthquake
- Sleep Talk
Ho-Oh is absolutely fantastic in this metagame, particularly its choice band set. I preferred this over life orb because it can 2hko most variants of primal groudon, ohko certain variants of primal kyogre, and destroy salamence switchins. Sacred fire is the way to go at first, as its 50% burn chance cripples physical attackers greatly, allowing the other team members to handle threats like mega salamence and ekiller far more easily. Brave bird is the nuke button which severely dents anything that doesn't resist it. Earthquake is here for the occasional rockceus, and is sometimes used to hit Primal Groudon a little harder. Sleep talk is honestly just here as a filler move because the team already has a reliable darkrai counter in xerneas. Most of the time you will be clicking brave bird or sacred fire.
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Lava Plume
- Roar
The King of Ubers himself. Primal groudon is a must-have on any Ubers team, and this one is no different. I opted for a max spdef set because it's the only reliable xerneas check this team has. Stealth rock is self-explanatory, precipice blades hits all grounded pokemon extremely hard, although it misses a little too often for my liking. Lava plume greatly annoys typical switchins to primal groudon such as yveltal, mega salamence, and giratina-o. The burn rate coupled with ho-oh's sacred fire make for a reliable way to check physical attackers. The final (and perhaps most important) move on groudon is roar. I always click roar if I switch in on a geomancy from xerneas, especially if it is at full health. Precipice blades misses when it really counts, so roar is always the safer and better play.
Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Aerilate
Happiness: 0
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Frustration
- Facade
- Roost
With its incredible bulk and devastating attack stat, Mega Salamence is an extremely valuable asset to the team. Whether it's checking Ho-Oh, revenge killing kyogres, or setting up for a sweep late-game, it is always very useful. Dragon Dance is the obligatory setup move, Frustration is a reliable stab attack (I used to use double edge but I didn't like the recoil), facade allows it to check Ho-Oh and other hazard spammers, and roost is obviously to regain health. Not much else to say, really. When played smartly Mega Mence can sweep through opposing teams with ease.
Xerneas @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SpA / 224 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Sleep Talk
- Geomancy
Scarf Xerneas provides a ton of utility for this team, countering darkrai, revenge killing dragons, and simply blowing holes in opponent's teams. Moonblast is used to severely damage every pokemon that doesn't resist fairy, sleep talk allows xerneas to check darkrai, and geomancy is there just in case it gets knocked off by a yveltal. In balance vs balance matchups, Xerneas can also be used as bait to get ho-oh or mega salamence in on a double switch (for example if there is an obvious ferrothorn switchin).
Yveltal @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 236 HP / 248 Def / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- Roost
- U-turn
- Sucker Punch
Yveltal is one of my favorite pokemon, and for good reason: It punishes nearly every single physical attacker with its nasty foul play, threatens the latis and deoxys-a with a dark aura-boosted sucker punch, heals itself with roost, and gains tremendous offensive momentum for the team with u-turn. Since yveltal forces out so many pokemon, u-turn can be used quite liberally to get Ho-oh into a wallbreaking position or safely bring in arceus-ground to defog. Yveltal can sometimes single-handedly destroy teams once opposing xerneas have been taken care of.
Arceus-Ground @ Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Defog
Ho-Oh Balance can't possibly exist without a defogger, and arceus-ground performs that role admirably. I used to use an arceus-water, however I found that it didn't force out primal groudon nearly enough and gave free switchins to other mons like klefki and ferrothorn. I usually lead with arceus-ground to scare opposing primal groudons away and prevent rocks from the very beginning. Judgment is the obvious stab move which ohkoes many variants of groudon. Ice beam ohkoes mega salamence and rayquaza, and also provides a way to hit giratina-o for decent damage. 56 speed evs are used to outspeed neutral nature rayquaza and ohko it before it deals any damage. Arceus-ground is extremely useful as a check to mega salamence, because it leaves yveltal free to beat up on ekillers and the lati twins.
Threatlist
Arceus-Rock is probably the single greatest threat to this team. It ohkoes half the squad with one move, cripples arceus-ground with will-o-wisp, and also does decent damage to primal groudon. The best way to get rid of it is to weaken it to the point where a banded earthquake from ho-oh kills it. However, if it has adequate team support, I usually lose.
Even with two fairy resists, xerneas is still a pretty big threat. If primal groudon is weakened it can take it out with a +2 focus blast or HP ground, and Ho-Oh can only reliably check xerneas if it isn't at +2. Most of the time, however, it isn't an issue.
Life orb yveltal can punch holes into this team, as the only resistance I have is xerneas which is 2hkoed by oblivion wing. Arceus-ground can threaten it with ice beam, and mega salamence can come in when it's at low health and revenge kill it as well.
Ho-Oh is also a very potent wallbreaker, however mega mence can usually handle it and punish any sacred fire burns with facade. Yveltal can also switch in on life orb brave birds and do massive damage with foul play.
Proof of Peak
I laddered Ubers on one of my alts, DarkStar729 and peaked at 1878 elo.
Replays
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ubers-427300206 (Somehow beat a rockceus team)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ubers-428545359 (Haxed him pretty bad but I don't have better replays lol)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ubers-428545359 (Haxed him pretty bad but I don't have better replays lol)
Team Importable
Ho-Oh @ Choice Band
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 184 Atk / 52 SpD / 24 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Earthquake
- Sleep Talk
Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Aerilate
Happiness: 0
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Frustration
- Facade
- Roost
Xerneas @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SpA / 224 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Sleep Talk
- Geomancy
Yveltal @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 236 HP / 248 Def / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- Roost
- U-turn
- Sucker Punch
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Lava Plume
- Roar
Arceus-Ground @ Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Defog
Shoutouts
Don't know many people in the Ubers community, so I'll just give shoutouts to my friends from the AG room.Chloe. Thanks for being a great room owner and it's always fun battling you :)
Thimo Your memes are the best lol. I will never stop using barb/
TylerWithNumbers You've been one of my closest friends on this site for like 5 months. You really need to ladder ag again lol
Legendoftsih You're a real homie man, and your teams are really inventive and interesting. Sorry for haxing you every time lol
Quantum Tesseract Shed is disgusting <3
Fardin Stall is shit. You're good. Ur "RTM" is ugly. Thanks for all the great battles.
DontStealMyPenguin You're a really great friend and it's always a pleasure to battle you. I hate your darkrai tho :/
Yuga42 Pigeons you're an amazing player and it was really fun hitting you on ladder when you used to play. You should come back again :)
Catalystic Thanks for testing all those teams with me and the fun battles. No thanks for always beating me with that diancie team tho :(
Conclusion
I'm still not a very good Ubers player, but I'm pretty happy that I was able to peak the ladder with this team before the end of Gen 6. Feel free to use it and any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks for reading!
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