np: UU - Higher Ground

[JabbaTheGriffin]

Dugtrio and Donphan have become UU due to their low usage in OU play

Umbreon has been promoted to OU because people in that tier used it enough

Crobat and Shaymin were voted BL by a majority of eligible voters

Honchkrow is no longer a suspect, and it is available in UU play once again!

Everyone's deviation and rating will be reset to accomodate for the new UU testing plan. The plan can be found here.

This thread is for discussion of UU play on the ladder. Have fun, and play that ladder!

ps - the current round of testing ends September 8th

 

[petrie911]

Since that thread you linked to is rather muddled, especially with the argument about SEXP going on in the middle, could you post a quick summary of what the new plan actually is?

 

[Rook]

Hmmm, the new UU looks interesting. The decisions made my Smogon actually reflect my personal beliefs. Like, the 1 time I played UU Crobat and Shaymin were annoying and overpowered. And on that team, I used a Mixed NP Honchkrow, which I found to be good, but not overpowered. So who knows, I might get in to UU. But overall, I think the Smogon community made some excellent desicions!

 

[ultimifier]

i havent played any UU but i did partake in most of the OU suspect testing, and i agree with the above poster. I think the testing for UU has gone over more smoothly and has had better decisions. Congrats to the UU people who voted, as it sure as hell looks like your doing a good job. PS, i might get into UU soon. it looks fun

 

[d2m]

Now that Honchkrow is back I can start making another team. Of course, I'd have to un-lazy myself for that.

 

[whistle]

two things

1. jrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr could you clarify the bit about honchkrow's critical rate being glitched? was it just a stage higher than it should have been (25% for normal moves instead of 12.5% with super luck) or what?

2. i wonder how well a linoone based team would do? i tried one out a few months ago and it performed moderately well but was kind of hit and miss. now there's dugtrio which helps get rid of stuff like regirock that can't be magnet pulled, but intimidate hitmontop is a lot more popular. maybe i'll try making one when i stop being lazy (heh d2m).

 

[E.A.]

Thank goodness Honchcrow is UU. Now I can salvage one of my older (and really kick-ass) teams. Maybe I'll finally make voting reqs. this time.

Dugtrio and Swellow looks to be a fun combination. Dugtrio to ditch Steels and Rocks, and Swellow to just clean everything up. *prepares new team*

 

[Thund91]

I'm liking Donphan. And since Honchkrow stayed it seems even more a reason to use him.

Dugtrio has been failing against me. I don't use one but it's never done anything significant besides trap my Roserade after she already laid down spikes. They usually just sacrifice themselves and chip away a bit of my Steelix's health.

Lopunny has got to be the best lead i've ever used. Encore really is an underrated move and subpassing is useful as per usual.

 

[Flashstorm1]

I've just started playing in the UU tier, and I have to say I've had a blast battling on the ladder so far!

From my own perspective, stall teams seem to be the most effective team to use on the ladder right now. I've been using stall for my duration on the ladder, and from my current rating and position on the leaderboard (look at my sig ^_^), you can easily tell just how useful stall is. I've seen many people try to use Drapion as their stall breaker, but it appears to no longer be viable with the introduction of Donphan into the tier, since even a +2 Crunch fails to 2HKO.

As for the introduction of Dugtrio and Donphan into the tier, they are welcome additions, but I don't find either to be overly broken at this point. Dugtrio has not been a problem for me since I use Shed Shell on both my Chansey and Roserade, but I feel that at this point, Dugtrio could easily be BL under the support characteristic even though Dugtrio sucks as a physical attacker, but I'm not going to go into that at this point. Donphan, I have to say, is one hell of a spinner and an overall physical tank. Donphan is problematic to switch in Spiritomb (the most common spin blocker on stall), as from my experiences so far, Donphan can take up to 40% of Spiritomb's health with Earthquake, making it hard to repeatedly switch in.

Since I just started, I can't wait to see how Honchkrow will affect the metagame.

Also, when are ladder ratings going to be reset?

 

[Ash Borer]

what happens to frosslass now?

 

[franky]

This metagame lost my interest, used to be my favorite. Well anyways, after laddering today I found Polish Relicanth to be an absolute for here. Attracts Dugtrio on a Polish switch in and outpaces Jolly versions. Any unprepared teams that think they can run Dugtrio + Flying-types, Relicanth can defeat. My opinion on Donphan is actually different, he performs pretty well as an Anti-lead. Dugtrio isn't much of a threat after because its unable to OHKO Steel-types like Steelix. Chansey will carry Shed Shell most of the time and Dugtrio is no where near broken yet.

 

[Stellar]

two things

1. jrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr could you clarify the bit about honchkrow's critical rate being glitched? was it just a stage higher than it should have been (25% for normal moves instead of 12.5% with super luck) or what?

According to SDS, the base crit rate with Super Luck was set to +2 instead of +1.

 

[Sidd]

So what about the older suspects such as Gallade and Staraptor, will they be forever banned from UU?

Good to know Krow's back.

 

[jrrrrrrr]

1. jrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr could you clarify the bit about honchkrow's critical rate being glitched? was it just a stage higher than it should have been (25% for normal moves instead of 12.5% with super luck) or what?

Super Luck added an extra 12.5% (+2 stages instead of +1) to the crit rate of moves, which is relevant to both Honchkrow and Absol. That means a Super Luck Night Slash would have had a 37.5% crit rate, boosted to 50% with a Scope Lens. Normally, those rates would be 25% and 37.5%, respectively. Moves without "a high crit rate" had a 25% crit rate with Super Luck (37.5% with Scope Lens) instead of 12.5% (or 25% with SL).

They'll be fixed ASAP, I believe DougJustDoug already knows about it. He'll also be resetting the UU ratings soon too. The voting period will start 6 weeks after he's done.

what happens to frosslass now?

So what about the older suspects such as Gallade and Staraptor, will they be forever banned from UU?

The answer to these are the same, after the UU->BL vote occurs, the BL->UU nominations/votes will happen. This is to ensure that everyone knows what is actually going to be in the tier before nominating things to be brought down...for example, it would be tough to decide if Raikou is BL while people are wondering if Dugtrio may or may not be in the tier, since that question would have a large impact on the placement of both pokemon.

 

[Random Pizzaman]

I gotta ask, what's "Higher Ground" supposed to mean? Its not a song title, is it...?
Anyways, I made a team of Dugtrio+Swellow+Roserade+Yanmega, +Milotic and Donphan, and to my surprise, Dugtrio was dead weight most of the time, and Donphan ended up being the star of the show.
Lastly, I want to see the re-testing of Staraptor, Froslass and Gallade. Donphan could actually check Staraptor and Gallade, and Dugtrio would be a big thorn in Raikou's side.

 

[Ash Borer]

dugtrio also outruns and koes frosslass with stone edge.

 

[Lord Jesseus]

I gotta ask, what's "Higher Ground" supposed to mean? Its not a song title, is it...?

It is the name of a Red Hot Chilli Peppers song (one of their better ones too). I'm not sure I see the relevence here though.

 

[Vrolok]

Two good ground pokemon get sent to UU and the title is in question?

 

[Thorns]

Great! I've been putting off UU because I can't use my dear Honchkrow. Now I can stop using my stupid hyper-offensive Sunny Day Team ^_^

 

[Seven Deadly Sins]

For anyone interested...

http://shoddybattle.cvs.sf.net/view...chanics/AdvanceMechanics.java?r1=1.63&r2=1.64

Basically, see where it says "factor += 2"? That means that when it noticed a Pokemon had Super Luck, it was giving it +2 crit rate instead of +1 like it should be. Now it says "factor += 1" in the updated code, meaning when the code gets uploaded, it will be fixed.

However, there's another note. Critical Hits negate Attack drops, normally, such as the ones caused by Intimidate and Superpower. However, it did not do this in Shoddy Battle, as was reported to me by LonelyNess. That has also been fixed. This means that Luxray is *not* as good a counter to Honch as it was before, as it severely risks getting 2KOed after a CH Night Slash.

 

[Huntofthelion]

To clarify for my own understanding, after 6 weeks we can nominate suspects. Immediately after nominations, you will pick eligible voters based on if they saw or used the suspect(s) enough with no testing in between nominations and voting?

I think I got it right but I'm reading this at 20 to 5 in the morning lol.

 

[Blue_Tornado]

Finally! I'm overjoyed with Honchkrow back. Now there will finally be a better solution to stall again. I'm tired of every second team being stall, and this, along with Duggy, will restore some 'balance'. Finally you can use offensive team effectively!

My thanks for the UU voters that voted for the UU Honchkrow.

 

[Ritsi_Time]

It is the name of a Red Hot Chilli Peppers song (one of their better ones too). I'm not sure I see the relevence here though.

It's a Stevie Wonder cover!

Will the BL Pokes have to be re-tested with these changes? Not Crobat and Shaymin, but the others maybe.

 

[A.P.]

Dugtrio isn't very effective in this metagame, for me.

I mean, it is quite good at revenge killing, but just seems to not hit the Rocks and Steels hard enough, and without a Jolly nature, it gets destroyed by things like Persian, Ambipom, and even Espeon.

 

[Space Guard]

Honchkrow is suited to life in UU IMO. With Honchkrow in UU, it means that it can be used effectively. Personally, my current UU team containing Sneasle can easily check for Honchkrow, as it can outspeed them and hit hard with a CB'd Ice Shard.