Why Not Swadloon? [UU]

[Drummer]

Overview: I find it very boring to play without having at least one unique member on the team. So I decided to take it to the extreme and use Swadloon on an UU team!

Swadloon: Secondary lead, baton passer, potential stall

Blissey: Primary wall, cleric, secondary calm mind reciever

Fortress: Secondary wall, entry hazards, rapid spinner

Aerodactyl: Primary lead, entry hazards, phazer, backup physical attacker

Lucario: Physical sweeper/choice user

Ampharos: Special sweeper, baton pass receiver

Swadloon @ Eviolite

Ability: Overcoat

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD

Bold Nature

- Agility

- Baton Pass

- Calm Mind

- Synthesis

With eviolite, swadloon's defense stats shoot up to 459 Def & 388 Sdef before any calm minds. With those defenses, he can come in easier than you'd expect. Not to mention, it freaks out the other person, after all, what on earth can a swadloon do? It's one and only job is to use it's underestimated bulk to get in one or two calm minds or agilitys and pass it off. Surprisingly, he doesn't make a bad lead, and could lead to a devastating full team sweep if he sets up while the other team is putting up entry hazards. After a calm mind or two, he becomes a viable wall, and synthesis allows him to stay in longer and get some more stat boosts in. Agility can arguably replaced, if a good reason is given.

Aerodactyl @ Quick Claw

Ability: Rock Head

EVs: 148 HP / 108 Atk / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Stealth Rock

- Pursuit

- Roar

- Double-Edge

Because I haven't been competitive since 4th gen, it seems like a natural choice for a primary lead to me. Aerodactyl, can set up stealth rocks quickly, and hit reasonably hard after thats done. If something is annoying, you can roar it away. Pursuit is completely up for debate; Its had a few uses, but overall I'm guessing something else can take it's place easily.

Ampharos @ Ampharosite

Ability: Static

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Modest Nature

- Dragon Pulse

- Agility

- Thunderbolt

- Focus Blast

Ampharos is why Swadloon is scary. Mega Ampharos, backed by a few calm minds and an agility can and will devastate teams. Even if Swadloon fails, he is still a force to be reckoned with, and works as a late game sweeper, or a mid game sweeper if he is willing to go kamakazi and let Lucario finish the job.

Forretress @ Leftovers

Ability: Overcoat

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD/0 Spe ivs

Relaxed Nature

- Rapid Spin

- Spikes

- Volt Switch

- Gyro Ball

Fortress/Blissey looks great on paper, but in practice he hasn't been all that useful. Looking for a replacement to cover the team's weaknesses. Preferably something tankish (first thing that comes to mind is swampert)

Blissey @ Leftovers

Ability: Natural Cure

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD

Bold Nature

- Wish

- Protect

- Flamethrower

- Toxic

Blissey is a saint. She heals things that are about to die, and is a near impenetrable wall. We all know how it works. However, if she is passed a few calm minds... Well, than things get real crazy. That is the reason behind flamethrower vs seismic toss.

Lucario @ Choice Band

Ability: Inner Focus

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Extreme Speed

- Blaze Kick

- Earthquake

- High Jump Kick

A physical sweeper with little competition, if there is any. He has extreme hitting power, and with extreme speed is a neigh unstoppable late game sweeper, and can can even pull a sweep mid game. With Blissey backing him up, he can afford to be a little reckless as well.

Main things I'm looking for advice on:

-Fortress replacement

-Potential Ampharos replacement (has the potential to get wrecked by things swadloon can set up on)

-Aerodactyl move list/potential replacement

-Agility replacement on Swadloon?

Main issues I've encountered so far:

-Mega Aerodactyl is a HUGE issue, although admittedly pretty uncommon

-Fire types run rampant if Lucario is down, especially arcanine.

And no, I won't replace Swadloon

Edited January 19, 2015 by Drummer

[Sonikku]

Swadloon would get crippled all the way down until the struggle is real, but If you can Baton Pass even a single calm mind to Amphy, it would work wonders. Lucario functions really well with a life orb, along side

fite the powah (Lucario) (F) @ Life Orb

Ability: Steadfast

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Extreme Speed

- Swords Dance

- Close Combat

- Crunch

Lucario is too unreliable when Adamant, so be the fastest thing alive, go for Jolly. Blissey would be a real teamplayer if it has seismic toss over flamethrower, and Heal Bell over Toxic. Empoleon is an amazing pokemon. It can Defog away hazards, set up it's own hazards, and take an Earthquake from Mega Aerodactyl. Empoleon can also hold its own against fire types, excluding Darmanitan. It can replace both Forretress and Aerodactyl. Aero was not built to take hits.

Then slap on Rhyperior. max attack and speed with a Jolly nature and a Life Orb, get up a rock polish and you outspeed everything that is unboosted. Go for gold with Rock Slide, (fak you stone miss) Ice punch and Earthquake. It can somewhat deal with Darmanitan, but Wallbreaker Darm can 3ohko it with Flare Blitz, so be sure to take care of that huge threat quick.

Swadloon can eat up a few hits. Give it max HP and Defense though. With 4 in special defense. Grass and Bug are pretty good on the physical defensive. Even on the special side.

252 Atk Tough Claws Mega Aerodactyl Fire Fang vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Swadloon: 204-240 (64.9 - 76.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

To replace Ampharos,. I can't believe I'm saying this, but use Bird Jesus. It's one of my personal favorite mega evolutions.

This Bird, ahem, The Bird is a monster. Its moves can never miss, meaning you can use Hurricane and Heat Wave all you want. For the spread I'd say-

El Quetzal (Pidgeot-Mega) (M) @ Pidgeotite

Ability: No Guard

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Naive Nature

- Hurricane

- U-turn

- Heat Wave

- Roost

Naive so U-Turn doesn't get weakened. If you can pass a few calm minds to it---

Thank you if you read the whole thing :')

[Drummer]

A lot of great suggestions here!

Here is my take on them:

Change to lucario: I have run quite a few sets on Lucario, and this is the one that I have the most fun playing, and has saved me the most times. Not saying you gave a bad suggestion, in fact it is probably better, but not having to set up has saved me more than a few times. Also, I find if you dump everything on att, than you will be able to use Extreme Speed more often, and speed will matter less.

Swadloon: Most of the time it sets up on special attackers (I'm looking at you electric and water types!). Physically, it already forces switches on earthquake users, and just overall gets a lot more potential set up if its a mixed wall.

Empoleon/Rhyperior: These two sound great! I'll test them out and get back to you, overall they seem like exactly what I was looking for. Their bulk should also allow a little more recklessness of lucario's

Blissey: Hmm... With the above two, it seems like there are going to be much better back up BP receivers, seismic toss would definitely work much better.

Pidgeot: Seems really interesting... I'll definitely test it out. I'm not sure how much I like U-turn though... I think the rest of the team would have enough bulk for it to switch out without crippling someone, and as it is the calm mind sweep would get completely halted by a few things.

Thanks a ton!

UPDATE:

Empoleon worked great, and is my main lead. However, suicune stalled endlessly, so I switched out rhyperior for swords dance toxicroak, who is actually pretty terrifying. I'm still playing with Pidgeot's last move, but because of overall lack of a movepool, U-turn is looking like the best choice. Lastly, I might end up replacing lucario ( </3 ) with infernape (similar set) for stab on fire.

Edited January 19, 2015 by Drummer