Gimmicks and their Role in the UU Metagame

[Ash Borer]

well yes stealth rock is completely necessary, it functions as a sash breaker and eeks out important damage. Now, yes the most defensive teams end up wearing kingdra down, but what pokemon in UU can stand up to this kingdra? In the second replay I posted I faced a fairly defensive team, snorlax is strong, cofagrigus is too, scrafty is no defensive slouch, nidoqueen is bulky. No glaring water weakness at all. The set up was sealed as soon as we traded stealth rocks in the beginning, nothing on his team would outspeed and KO uxie, to block memento, and this is true for a lot of UU. After memento switching was pointless but attacking was nearly fruitless, because it did little damage and nidoqueen was going to die anyways. Despite a solid looking team, and a convoluted setup, a simple stealth rocking lead meant a set up and sweep. In the other replay we see another rock trade ensuring a setup, and explosion doing its job to break a sub. The crit ice beam was not necessary, shaymin takes like 75% from that kingdra's ice beam. Then, even unboosted we see the opponent even with slowbro's bulk and regenerator, floundering to keep his head above water having to sack pokemon early game, getting lucky against DM and surviving with that kind of HP. The only defense for most teams is switch predicting and sacking.

Everything is seemingly 2hko, and those who are cant KO back. How many teams run more than one pokemon that isnt instantly floored by kingdra? Priority is a big threat, but it wont net a KO on a full strength kingdra, aqua jet is resisted, and arcanine is just not strong enough, a sub is something ive been considering to get around sucker punchers. A more defensive team, especially with multiple water types causes kingdra to run out of steam, but these teams are rare. SAving this combo for late game is something that ive considered, frankly it seems unstoppable at a late or mid game, but also taking up 2 team slots for that purpose is hard to justify. 4 suicide attackers early game followed by the memento + double dance finish is something ill test.

 

[biscuitz]

Shedina@Focus Sash/Lum Berry
Lonely: 252 att, 252 spe (0 def ivs)
Swords Dance
X-Scissors
Shadow Sneak
Sucker Punch

By far this is Shedinja's most threatening set and I run it with a randm sunny day user so I can pretty easily get rid of hail and Blastoise which is quite good at spinning, especially with Foresight. Shedinja counters quite well big threats like Raikou, Kingdra, Slowbro, Suicune, Roserade and can easily set up a single SD on them as they flee. If your opponent only can hurt Shedinja through things like Chandelure they are pretty much doomed since Shadow Sneak will be an easy KO and even if they have something else to deal with you like Honchkrow you can always rely on the Focus Sash to get a hit on Honchkrow and kill him. Occasioanlly Shedinja is almost complete dead weight but even in times where you don't think it is very usefulyou kind of corce your opponent to think about how they move like they can't just use Voltturn unless they have a solid counter to Shedinja or else they will get disrupted badly. Luckily you can outspeed and OHKO Umbreon after a boost so you dont have to waste your Focus Sash on him. Bulky waters with Toxic are usually the biggest problem and trace p2 but you can take advantage of this with Sub Shaymin or BU Scrafty to put more pressure up.

Shedinja is extremely underrated imo

I've also tried Shedinja and whilst I agree that it can be extremely effective, I kinda think Moose V's Baton Pass set that he mentioned before is slightly more useful. Shedinja does have six common weaknesses, and so it would very unlikely that it could wall an entire team, but what he CAN do is force things like Kingdra, SubCM Raikou and choice-locked sweepers to switch out, generating a CRAP ton of momentum for your team. A swords dance set only really works if he can stay in and kill shit, which is hard for this little guy to do (1HP doesn't last for very long). Instead, he can utilize baton pass to simultaneously scout your opponent's switch (yay momentum!) and pass any Hone Claws boosts that he's gathered onto teammates such as Durant and Zweilous. Just in case you didn't see it, the set looked something like this:

Shedinja @ Focus Sash
Trait: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Def / 0 SAtk / 0 SDef
- Hone Claws
- Shadow Sneak
- Will-O-Wisp
- Baton Pass

Just a suggestion!​

 

[Double Electric]

Yeah, Baton Pass Shedinja is much more useful than a straight out sweeping set--it was really unfortunate in Gen IV that Baton Pass Shedinja couldn't learn any boosting moves. I used to play around with Shedinja a lot, and sweeping isn't really its main goal--It's generally really easy to stop a sweeping Shedinja if it tries to go all out.

I'd recommend X-Scissor over Shadow Sneak. S-Sneak is very weak without Swords Dance (only a 25% chance to KO Azelf at +1 for instance, and only after Stealth Rock), and Shedinja gets a lot of chances to hit things on the switch anyway. X-Scissor also helps threaten most of the faster Pursuit users in UU--Krookodile, Weavile, Houndoom, Ambipom and even Honchkrow take pretty big hits and are at worst, 2HKOd if they switch in with the Sash intact. Meanwhile, Escavalier and Snorlax can be Baton-Passed away from before they can use Pursuit (and possibly burned as well).

Also, fun fact--I've had my Shedinja kill itself on occasion when my opponent accidentally forgot to set Speed Boost to their Sharpedo :(.

 

[biscuitz]

I'd recommend X-Scissor over Shadow Sneak. S-Sneak is very weak without Swords Dance (only a 25% chance to KO Azelf at +1 for instance, and only after Stealth Rock), and Shedinja gets a lot of chances to hit things on the switch anyway.

The purpose of Shadow Sneak isn't so much to kill full-health pokes as to make up for Shedinja's abysmal base 40 speed and finish off weakened sweepers. Shedinja sucks offensively and should only be used as a momentum-generating pivot that can strengthen team mates. The only time it should actually start attacking is if it has an opportunity to brutally murder any priority-lacking offensive pokes that are on their last legs (HINT: opposing Darmanitan lose lots and lots of health to SR). As for hitting stuff on the switch: the turn that the opponent switches in is usually the one Shedinja uses to boost/will-o-wisp physcial mons before running away to a suitable counter. Imo, using the free turns that it generates to attack things is just a waste...

 

[psVoltage]

Flame orb chandy man, so amazing for crippling umbreons and gligars and p2's

 

[CoolStoryBrobat]

Oh yeah, here's a couple more gimmicks for ya. I have a penchant for posting 2 sets in one post I guess, but they ARE both the same Pokemon. I suggest ya try 'em sometime:

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Trait: Analytic
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Thunder
- Blizzard
- Gravity
- Recover

Gravity Porygon2, I had heck of a ton of fun using this guy on a dedicated Gravity team, but this set shouldn't be TOO hard to fit on most teams that would normally use a Duck Tank Porygon2. Naturally it takes a turn of setup, but given how good Porygon2 is at tanking hits, that is practically not an issue at all. Gravity pretty much guarantees that Thunder and Blizzard will always hit the few turns it's set up, and Recover is just to keep you going so you can continue your onslaught. With Quiet Nature, you guarantee that most Pokemon will outspeed you so that you can take advantage of Analytic, and that your special attack is maxed through the roof. I kinda am too lazy to post calcs of how effective this is, but just grasp the concept for a second: A Pokemon with a fully-invested base 105 SpA stat, using two 120-power moves that are guaranteed to hit with perfect coverage in the tier (Aside from Lanturn, Piloswine, Magneton and Rotom-H), one having a 30% chance of paralysis, further boosted by an ability that gives you an extra 30% power increase if you move last (Which isn't hard to accomplish). You're basically doing some serious work on most Pokemon, especially on frail offensive ones that try to switch in on you, but some walls (mainly ones weak to either of these moves) aren't gonna try to stand up to this Pokemon's attacks either.

Don't get me wrong, it's not the most perfect Pokemon, and because you aren't affording any defensive EVs outside of HP, you're gonna be taking hits a bit worse than a fully defensive Porygon2. Not to mention it still costs you an entire turn to set up the move, and Taunt will pretty much annoy you. But if you can get around this you can focus on keeping the pressure up on the opponent for the 4 turns you have Gravity up, and I guarantee something will die (or at least come near being 2HKO'd at the absolute worst).

You could use Zap Cannon instead of Thunder, for the 100% paralysis rate, but only moves with 60% accuracy are guaranteed to hit under Gravity's effect. Meaning it may be rare, but Zap Cannon could still miss...wouldn't want that when you're trying to make every turn count. As for the other set...

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Trait: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 144 SpD / 112 Def
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Ice Beam
- Magic Coat
- Recover

Haha, you were expecting me to post a Return Porygon2 here, weren't you? Nah, I'm not entirely sure if this set actually counts as a gimmick (If it doesn't, I can just edit this back out or something hopefully) but it uses a nifty move in its movepool that never gets too much spotlight: Magic Coat. I had a bundle of fun using this Porygon2 to irritate my opponents, because I learned if you can just keep that pseudo-Tundrabolt (It's 2013, we Tundrabolt now. Eff some BoltBeam) coverage on Porygon2, and Recover, that 4th moveslot is entirely up to you, which is why this still fits so nicely without costing much to use it effectively. Magic Coat basically reflects most status moves back at your opponent, and absolutely irritates them 'cause they will NEVER see it coming. From my experience, when using a team lacking a decent spinner, I always found it best to play this Porygon2 in the lead position, since most people just try to get Rocks up early as possible. It's also a good way to anti-lead against the occasional Crustle or something who is forced to switch out afterward.

However a downside to this set (And the move Magic Coat in general) is that it takes 100% prediction, even in situations where you'd think it was obvious the other guy was going to use Stealth Rock or something. Not only that but while it's not necessarily all over just because you showed the opponent you have Magic Coat, but it turns into a mindgame on when you're supposed to use it again, because it's now going to be expected. Sometimes after bouncing Rocks back, they just use Stealth Rock again. You could spam Magic Coat over and over, but they may actually go for a different move to outplay you with. Or even worse, you overpredict and decide NOT to use the move when you had an optimal time to. It literally starts turning that phase of the game into a coin-flipping session, so it really takes some godlike timing to play it correctly. Issue that also sucks is just because you have the Magic Coat doesn't mean you can switch in on some predicted move like you can with Xatu. Kinda ineffective, for obvious reasons. But nonetheless, I guess the flaws that hold this set back are what make it somewhat more of a gimmick. Try 'em both out at some point!

 

[Ash Borer]

I used to use that same porygon 2 as an OU lead back in gen 4 for fun, the amount of reflected taunts, stealth rocks, intimidates, flash fires, etc is truly something to behold. Trace porygon makes a top tier chandelure switch in, though, watch out for those tricks.

 

[Anty]

I have used a lot of gimicks and out of all of them i love this:

Mew @ Life Orb
Trait: Synchronise
EVs: 252 Spe / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Zen Headbutt
- Roost/Sucker Punch/Earth Quake

Mew is an extremely versatile pokemon. It is great at forcing switches especially when they don't know what set you're running. Its role is to lure in common checks, such as snorlax and umbreon, as well as pursuit trappers, krookodile and houndoom, and punch them to death. Zen Headbutt is for STAB and finishing off if require whilst the last slot is either recovery or priority or extra coverage. You might say why not use superpower/drain punch but focus punch has more needed power.

Calcs:
252+ Atk Life Orb Mew Focus Punch vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Umbreon: 356-421 (90.35 - 106.85%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Life Orb Mew Focus Punch vs. 144 HP / 188 Def Snorlax: 432-510 (86.92 - 102.61%) -- 93.75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Life Orb Mew Focus Punch vs. 72 HP / 0 Def Snorlax: 551-650 (115.03 - 135.69%) -- guaranteed OHKO (banded snorlax)
252+ Atk Life Orb Mew Focus Punch vs. 0 HP / 0- Def Houndoom: 751-884 (258.07 - 303.78%) -- guaranteed OHKO (lol)
252+ Atk Life Orb Mew Focus Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Honchkrow: 328-386 (96.18 - 113.19%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Life Orb Mew Focus Punch vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Cobalion: 312-369 (81.03 - 95.84%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock (why you have Zen Headbutt)
252+ Atk Life Orb Mew Focus Punch vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Solid Rock Rhyperior: 232-275 (53.57 - 63.51%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Life Orb Mew Focus Punch vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Registeel: 273-322 (75 - 88.46%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

 

[Moose V]

This is actually a pretty cool gimmick I've stumbled upon:

@ Tanga Berry
Ability: Pickpocket
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Ice Punch/Ice Shard
- Night Slash
- Low Kick/Pursuit
- Ice Shard/Pursuit (note that these moves can pretty much be changed around as you see fit)


Ok so basically this set is paired really well with anything with protect, preferably something like bulky that can take a hit. Here's how it works:

Turn 1, Lead with some sort of protect scouter as your opponent will likely lead with their scarfer if they have one.
Go for protect, as they will likely try to u-turn unless they do something dumb like HJK.

Turn 2, surprise the bitch by switching into Weavile.

This may seem dumb at first, but Tanga Berries reduce the power of bug moves so weavile will only take like 40% which means it is still very much usable. On top of that, because the berry activates before weavile takes the hit, Weavile has no item when u-turn makes contact with it (I've tested this out and it works). Thus, because of pickpocket, weavile steals the opponent's scarf and Voila! your opponent just lost their scarfer and there was absolutely no way the could've seen it coming.


This strategy works very well if you have a generally fast, offensive team containing things like banded crobat or scarfed togekiss which now outspeeds everything on your opponents team (unless they have the oddball 2 scarfers). Without a scarfer, it's much harder for an opponent to revenge kill your pokes.

This also works for stealing gligar's eviolite, or just messing up something like xatu.

 

[CoolStoryBrobat]

This is actually a pretty cool gimmick I've stumbled upon:

@ Tanga Berry
Ability: Pickpocket
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Ice Punch/Ice Shard
- Night Slash
- Low Kick/Pursuit
- Ice Shard/Pursuit (note that these moves can pretty much be changed around as you see fit)


Ok so basically this set is paired really well with anything with protect, preferably something like bulky that can take a hit. Here's how it works:

Turn 1, Lead with some sort of protect scouter as your opponent will likely lead with their scarfer if they have one.
Go for protect, as they will likely try to u-turn unless they do something dumb like HJK.

Turn 2, surprise the bitch by switching into Weavile.

This may seem dumb at first, but Tanga Berries reduce the power of bug moves so weavile will only take like 40% which means it is still very much usable. On top of that, because the berry activates before weavile takes the hit, Weavile has no item when u-turn makes contact with it (I've tested this out and it works). Thus, because of pickpocket, weavile steals the opponent's scarf and Voila! your opponent just lost their scarfer and there was absolutely no way the could've seen it coming.


This strategy works very well if you have a generally fast, offensive team containing things like banded crobat or scarfed togekiss which now outspeeds everything on your opponents team (unless they have the oddball 2 scarfers). Without a scarfer, it's much harder for an opponent to revenge kill your pokes.

This also works for stealing gligar's eviolite, or just messing up something like xatu.

Only thing...make sure it's not Stallbreaker Crobat, lol. Otherwise you will be playing 5-6

 

[CHOICE_SPECS_MACHAMP]

Name: CursedBat
Crobat w/White Herb
252Atk/+252Spe/4SpD
Curse/Acrobatics/Roost/X-Scissor
This set... this set is so destructive when facing the most common set in UU: Choice Scarf Heracross. If Heracross is locked into one of its two stabs you are free to curse. You will have a great attack stat (Not outstanding, this is crobat) and pretty solid defense while having neutral speed but with a 110 base power move that hurts like a bitch. This isn't so overpowered it is broken, otherwise it would be on smogon, but this wrecks weakened teams. These are the pokemon Crobat can set up on (off the top of my head) Xatu lacking psychic attacks (Reflect is annoying though but if it is one of the last pokemon it doesn't matter to to much), any pokemon locked into bug, ground, grass, poison, or fighting move, stall pokemon that really on toxic for damage. This guy.. it is great... but.. don't get me wrong... it has its own hard counters, but this guy is still damn

 

[noknuckles]

What does everyone think about a double boosting Mew? Something like this:

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 24 Spd / 252 HP / 184 SDef / 48 Def
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Iron Defense
- Giga Drain

The idea here is becoming an unkillable setup sweeper. Something like Suicune, where if you give it more than one setup turn, it simply won't die to anything. Mew has a huge variety of setup moves it can use. I went special here, but it can very well go physical with Amnesia/Bulk Up. The double boosting makes Mew invincible, Sub protects it from status and critical hits, and the attacking move is just whatever I feel like using. Psychic attacks get walled by dark types. I tried Scald for maximum annoyingness. I finally decided Giga Drain to drain back enough life to Sub.

I don't remember what 24 speed was for. It might have been for Honchkrow. The Def and SDef EVs are kinda random, I wanted mixed bulk. I decided a bit less Def was alright since Iron Defense boosts Def faster than CM can boost SDef.

Suicune is better in the sense that it can't be worn down easily and can thus switch out and still be useful next time it comes in. However, this Mew can really fluster opponents. A lot of people don't know what to expect, whereas vs Suicune, you know, you gotta bring in your Suicune counter right away. As a Mew player, it's a matter of trying to predict what your opponent is gonna do and use the appropriate defensive boosting move. Sometimes, when your opponent doesn't know what to expect, they'll stay in with whatever they have to try to size you up. That one turn of setup can spell doom

This mew loses to stuff that sets up alongside of you (Raikou being the most common) and gets completely walled by Sap Sippers. Good thing Bouffalant is not exactly common. I also feel that Houndoom might try to switch in. That could be a problem as I don't think Mew can grab enough boosts to withstand many Houndoom hits.

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/uucurrent-53932160

Here's a replay of Weavile doing absolute jack to Mew, and I was ONLY at +2 (that's one boost). It also shows how staying in on Mew with a Bronzong (a reasonable play if you're expecting SD or NP which are probably the 2 most dangerous Mew sets) can absolutely ruin you. The crucial turns went like this:

The turn Mew switches in, Zong uses SR
The next turn, Zong Toxics and Mew subs. Toxic is completely reasonable since Mew can't synchronize Toxic onto Zong. How was he supposed to assume that I had sub? That's 1 turn wasted
Next turn, Mew Iron Defenses, which helps against Gyro Ball. 2nd turn wasted
Next turn, he Gyro Balls again, which as it turns out was a mistake. I understand his logic. He wants to break my sub before switching into a suitable counter.

At this point, I've grabbed 3 boosts and he wasted 3 turns. 2 of those moves were reasonable and the 3rd move was arguably reasonable (though I woulda subbed on the switch anyway). So he made 1 bad play and 2 reasonable ones, yet all 3 of those moves got punished and snowballed into an unwinnable fight

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Here's one gimmick I've found to be surprisingly effective so far.

Claydol @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot
- Rapid Spin

I know I've said multiple times before that I don't like Claydol, but after trying out this set I actually kind of like it. Although Claydol is known for its lack of offensive presence, its offensive stats, of which are 70, aren't completely terrible, so with a Specs intact Claydol can hit surprisingly hard for a defensively oriented Pokemon. Earth Power is pretty strong, and does hefty damage to Chandelure and Cofagrigus hoping to block a Rapid Spin; in general it is Claydol's most reliable STAB, and also lets it hit Raikou quite hard. Ice Beam and Grass Knot provide decent coverage overall; and Grass Knot is nifty to surprise Swampert and Rhyperior; and it works well with Zapdos or Raikou since Claydol can destroy the Ground-types. Ice Beam is also nice to catch Shaymin on the switch and murder Zapdos. Rapid Spin is just there because Claydol synergizes quite well with Honchkrow, so it can remove hazards and Electric-types for Honchkrow to sweep a team clean. This is a rather fun gimmick that I like using, and with this set Claydol is actually quite decent, even though the defensive sets are quite horrific.

 

[iliketrains11]

IDK if this counts as a gimmick (it's not in the main sets on Smogon) but here's a set that i really like

(Obamasnow) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Blizzard
- Focus Blast
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
The best part of this set is that nobody uses it. Nobody ever expects scarf abomasnow, so i get a free kill from it most battles
With scarf, abomsnow outspeed everything below 115 speed, and it is able to spam blizzard on them until they die. nidoking/queen, zapdos, no scarf mienshao, tornadus, togekiss, many others get owned by this set. If you ever make a UU hail team, try this set.

 

[GarchompPit]

IDK if this counts as a gimmick (it's not in the main sets on Smogon) but here's a set that i really like

(Obamasnow) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Blizzard
- Focus Blast
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
The best part of this set is that nobody uses it. Nobody ever expects scarf abomasnow, so i get a free kill from it most battles
With scarf, abomsnow outspeed everything below 115 speed, and it is able to spam blizzard on them until they die. nidoking/queen, zapdos, no scarf mienshao, tornadus, togekiss, many others get owned by this set. If you ever make a UU hail team, try this set.

So it looks like I am not the only one using this set :P

 

[qwazz]

So this is a pretty risky set , and I'm not totally sure if its viable or not, but here it goes.
(No sprite, sorry. Not sure how to do that, I may edit later to add it))

Gothorita
@choice scarf (what??)
EV's: 252 hp or speed. 252 defense. 4 Sp.Atk.
Bold nature
-Trick
-psychic
-calm mind
-thunderbolt/shadow ball/signal beam/hp fighting
So first off some notes: #1. I know, no eviolite is bad. Maybe you'll get lucky and catch a porygon2 using recover (unlikely)
#2. this is somewhat ballsy, and very risky, and should only be done if you can predict well
#3. This set is very preference based. What I normally run is 252 hp/252 defense/4 sp.atk. However speed can be helpful I guess... But keep in mind that 252 EV's and a neutral nature only aproaches 190ish, so I don't recommend it.
#4. To add on to the preference thing, moveset is somewhat interchangeable to what you see fit. If you're worried about dark and bulky steel types, go for hp fighting. If you're worried about dark and bulky psychic types then go for hp bug. If you're worried about bulky psyhic and pesky ghosts, then use shadow ball
Thunderbolt is gothorita's strongest move aside from stab psychic, which is why I can see that being used.
Now you're probably thinking I'm crazy, and I am a bit off the rocker sometimes, but here's some drinks for thought: only
9 viable and generoc sets in the tier of uu can OHKO it. 2 are rhyperior sets, 2 are heracross sets, 1 darmanitan 1 honchcrow 1 victini
1 sharpedo and 1 arcanine. Now you're probably tired of reading by now but I've got more! When at +6 it ohkos anything that's super effective, and many things that are normally effective.
So basically, the idea is to 1 take out its biggest threats: heracross, umbreon, krookodile(if you're using the t-bolt psy set or shadow ball, but hp bug and fighting make it no longer much of a threat), honchcrow and sableye, which doesn't seem to be very common anymore...
So while yes, all of her threats are common pokemon, it is unlikely that they will have more than 2 of them.
So now you've eliminated the threats, what now? You make a perfect prediction trick when the opponents setting up. And while the opponent is scarfed now with a set up move do to shadow tag, you can freely set up your calm mind, and (hopefully) proceed to sweep. Also while rocks are not required, they are a nice addition! Anyways, very gimmicky indeed, and under the right circumstances, can be hilarious to watch someone get sweeped

EDIT: I forgot to add this: watch out for residual damage from life orb, as that is a fairly popular item amongst set up sweepers. Leftovers is fairly come as well.

 

[PokeGyarados]

So this is a pretty risky set , and I'm not totally sure if its viable or not, but here it goes.
(No sprite, sorry. Not sure how to do that, I may edit later to add it)
(Insert sprite here)
Gothorita
@choice scarf (what??)
EV's: 252 hp or speed. 252 defense. 4 Sp.Atk.
Bold nature
-Trick
-psychic
-calm mind
-thunderbolt/shadow ball/hp fighting or bug
So first off some notes: #1. I know, no eviolite is bad. Maybe you'll get lucky and catch a porygon2 using recover (unlikely)
#2. this is somewhat ballsy, and very risky, and should only be done if you can predict well
#3. This set is very preference based. What I normally run is 252 hp/252 defense/4 sp.atk. However speed can be helpful I guess... But keep in mind that 252 EV's and a neutral nature only aproaches 190ish, so I don't recommend it.
#4. To add on to the preference thing, moveset is somewhat interchangeable to what you see fit. If you're worried about dark and bulky steel types, go for hp fighting. If you're worried about dark and bulky psychic types then go for hp bug. If you're worried about bulky psyhic and pesky ghosts, then use shadow ball
Thunderbolt is gothorita's strongest move aside from stab psychic, which is why I can see that being used.
Now you're probably thinking I'm crazy, and I am a bit off the rocker sometimes, but here's some drinks for thought: only
9 viable and generoc sets in the tier of uu can OHKO it. 2 are rhyperior sets, 2 are heracross sets, 1 darmanitan 1 honchcrow 1 victini
1 sharpedo and 1 arcanine. Now you're probably tired of reading by now but I've got more! When at +6 it ohkos anything that's super effective, and many things that are normally effective.
So basically, the idea is to 1 take out its biggest threats: heracross, umbreon, krookodile(if you're using the t-bolt psy set or shadow ball, but hp bug and fighting make it no longer much of a threat), honchcrow and sableye, which doesn't seem to be very common anymore...
So while yes, all of her threats are common pokemon, it is unlikely that they will have more than 2 of them.
So now you've eliminated the threats, what now? You make a perfect prediction trick when the opponents setting up. And while the opponent is scarfed now with a set up move do to shadow tag, you can freely set up your calm mind, and (hopefully) proceed to sweep. Also while rocks are not required, they are a nice addition! Anyways, very gimmicky indeed, and under the right circumstances, can be hilarious to watch someone get sweeped

EDIT: I forgot to add this: watch out for residual damage from life orb, as that is a fairly popular item amongst set up sweepers. Leftovers is fairly come as well.

Pokemon Sprite Source
Gothorita gets Signal Beam, thought you ought to know as it's definitely superior to HP Bug.

EDIT: Sorry nvm, I thought it got it but that's just Gothitelle o.o

 

[qwazz]

Really? I actually wasn't aware of that, I'll change that