Other UU-Alpha: The Arctic Shark (peaked #18 on ladder)

[Vengeance417]

proof of peak

Hello, everyone. I'm here with a Mega Sharpedo Hail Hyper Offense team that's been really fun to use as of late.

Teambuilding Process

I know I wanted to start with a Hail core. With access to Aurora Veil, Ninetales is easily the best Hail setter in the game. Aurora Veil in general greatly helps Hail teams thanks to the Ice typing not being the best defensive type around. With many Flying, Dragon, Ground and Grass types in the tier, many of which that are common, Hail, from my experience, is having a great time right now.

Next, I wanted to use a Mega Pokemon that would benefit from bulky grass types being eliminated, while also giving my Hail core a teammate that can eradicate Fire types for them. Enter, Mega Sharpedo. With its pre-mega Speed Boost ability and powerful Crunch and Waterfall STABs backed by its new Psychic Fangs attack, it can hit a wide range of threats in the tier for great damage and clean weaken teams with ease. There are many teams out there that are weak to this monstrous shark now that it has gained Psychic Fangs.

I needed a fast Stealth Rock setter that can outpace Azelf, so naturally, I went with Lead Aerodactyl. It has a fast Taunt and good EdgeQuake coverage to weaken whatever is in front of it for any one of its teammates.

I then wanted another sweeper that would greatly benefit from Aurora Veil support while also breaking down Steel types and providing the team with a Stealth Rock resistance and a Ground, Spikes and Sticky Web immunity. Dragon Dance Flygon was my answer.

Lastly, I wanted a Choice Scarf user. It needed to be able to break down fat Water types for the team, since they were becoming a problem for the 5 Pokemon I already have. I originally went with Rotom-Mow for its ability to use both STABs to damage water types and provide momentum with Volt Switch, but...

I decided to swap it out for a Scarf Celebi, instead. It's way less predictable, with many teams being caught off-guard by a Celebi set that isn't a support one. It provides the team with a hard check to Breloom as well as providing a Fighting resistance overall, a status absorber, momentum with U-Turn which has no immunity, a Leaf Storm similar in power to Rotom-Mow's and Healing Wish to bring back a weakened Pokemon to full health.

THE TEAM:

Ninetales-Alola @ Icy Rock
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Freeze-Dry
- Moonblast
- Encore

A Hail team needs a Hail setter, and Alolan Ninetales does this wonderfully. Aurora Veil is what helps this team go up against the tier's heavier hitters, providing buffed defenses on both sides of the attacking spectrum for 5 turns. Ninetales can also disrupt opposing weather-setters, like Politoed and Mega Charizard Y (although it can't switch in on the latter).

Freeze-Dry is a nice STAB that hurts Water types. Moonblast allows Ninetales to hurt opposing Fighting type Pokemon that threaten this team. Encore locks set-up mons like Mega Slowbro and Suicune in to their respective boosting moves when they try to sweep this team, and can also lock spinners like Tentacruel in to Rapid Spin. This allows any of my sweepers a free switchin.

Sandslash-Alola @ Life Orb
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Icicle Crash
- Iron Head
- Earthquake

My Hail sweeper. Thanks to Aurora Veil support, Sandslash can set up a Swords Dance relatively easy against mons that don't hit it for super effective damage, and at +2 with a Life Orb, it can hit most of the tier pretty damn hard. Jolly lets me outpace base 100 scarfers in Hail, which are running rampant in the tier.

Icicle Crash and Iron Head are its dual STABs and Earthquake lets it smack Steel and Fire type Pokemon for super effective damage.

Sharpedo-Mega @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Psychic Fangs
- Crunch
- Waterfall

I love this thing right now. It's so good and it works really well with Hail. Sharpedo's able to break through Fire types that scare my Hail core as well as Slowbro and Jellicent with relative ease. While Adamant fails to outpace Scarfed 100s at +1, I've had no problems with getting this to +2 speed by playing smart and Protecting for an extra turn against a team that I feel has a Scarfer that can outpace Sharpedo at +1, which is why I prefer Adamant over Jolly. Sharpedo needs the killing power. Sharpedo's typing also grants the team with a Bullet Punch resistance from the likes of Scizor, which dies to Crunch after a little prior damage while not being 2HKOd by Banded Bullet Punch.

Waterfall and Crunch are its dual STABs while Psychic Fangs lets it not lose any health vs Keldeo, Kommo-O (good chance to die after rocks), bulky Crobat, Toxicroak lacking Vacuum Wave, SpDef Amoonguss and Tentacruel.

Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

My suicude rocker of the team. It's capable of outpacing Azelf and tying with opposing Aerodactyl leads to Taunt them and prevent opposing Rocks from going up. Sash Aero could also potentially serve as a backup answer to Volcarona and Mega Charizard Y if need be. Unnerve is used as the ability to prevent Shuca/Charti Berries from being eaten by Pokemon who are weak to EdgeQuake coverage, such as Shuca Berry Cobalion.

The moveset is relatively straightforward: Taunt opposing leads, set up rocks and use EdgeQuake coverage to weaken whatever is in front of it for the next Pokemon on its team to come in and finish it off or force it out.

Flygon @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Fire Punch

Flygon is up next for the team. 7th Gen has finally blessed our favorite Dragon type with Dragon Dance, enabling Flygon to become a set up sweeper for once in its life. This generation has also let Flygon play with a new toy: a Dragonium Z. This, when using Outrage as the base, gives Flygon access to a one-time base 195 physical Dragon STAB that can pick off anything in range from dying to it without having to be locked in to Outrage. I was experimenting with Lum Berry at one point, and it had its uses in some games, but Dragonium-Z has been performing much better in practice, especially due to the fact that its attack stat isn't all that stellar un-boosted. Also, this item has more merit with Healing Wish Celebi in the back.

Dragon Dance enables this to sweep teams, Earthquake and Outrage (along with Devastating Drake) are its powerful STAB attacks and Fire Punch enables it to do great damage vs Scizor.

Celebi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- U-turn
- Healing Wish
- Psychic

This isn't the most common Celebi set out there, and I wouldn't go so far to say it's the best set to use on this, but it fits for this team for many reasons. The main crux of this set is a very fast Healing Wish. Given that my team isn't the best off defensively and is guaranteed to take a lot of damage at some points in the match, I'm most likely getting a Healing Wish off to bring back a win condition to full strength. This set also allows me to defeat opposing Adamant Mega Sharpedo, as well as blast holes in bulky Water types, which this team struggles against. Scarf Celebi can also U-Turn against its switchins to bring a teammate in relatively safely. Lastly, Psychic allows Celebi to be a hard check to Breloom, which is a nightmare for this team in general.

Threat list:

This thing is broken.

I hate this thing so much. If Celebi and Ninetales are dead, this train-wrecks this team. Break its Sash and keep your checks as healthy as possible.

Banded versions in general trouble this team. Ninetales and Celebi can chip away at it with their STABs, but Mach Punch is still an annoying move to face.

Scarfed mons base 100 and above are annoying for this team, which force my Mega Sharpedo to boost all the way up to +2 speed if possible.

Importable

Ninetales-Alola @ Icy Rock
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Blizzard
- Moonblast
- Encore

Sandslash-Alola @ Life Orb
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Icicle Crash
- Iron Head
- Earthquake

Sharpedo-Mega @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Psychic Fangs
- Crunch
- Waterfall

Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Flygon @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Fire Punch

Celebi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- U-turn
- Healing Wish
- Psychic

​

 

[viol and bass]

Really solid offensive team. I've run hail a lot, and while your sets are largely very optimal (kudos on running Icy Rock over Light Clay, it's way better), there are a couple changes I would consider: The first is Freeze Dry over Blizzard on Tales to better deal with bulky waters. Yes you lose out on some power, but Tales is not breaking things anytime soon with its 81 base SpAtk and lack of boosting item, and as you mentioned your team as a whole struggles a bit with bulky waters (obviously Keld is an exception that you outspeed and roast with Moonblast). It's preferable to get consistent damage from my experience and fewer mons wall you wholesale. The other change I'd recommend is Jolly over Adamant on Sandslash. I think there are just too many scarfers and +1 setup sweepers that outspeed you with Adamant. Hydreigon, Happy Hour Rachi and DD Mence, for instance. All of these mons give Celebi some degree of trouble as well. With Aurora Veil up and Slash's impressive set of resistances (and neutralities in combination with its solid defense), it's usually not hard to set up with Swords Dance, and I've never felt that Jolly Slash was lacking power after an SD.

I'm mostly concerned with the hail aspects of your team since I've run it a lot, so I don't have too much to say about the rest of it. Sharpedo is fucking great.

 

[Vengeance417]

Really solid offensive team. I've run hail a lot, and while your sets are largely very optimal (kudos on running Icy Rock over Light Clay, it's way better), there are a couple changes I would consider: The first is Freeze Dry over Blizzard on Tales to better deal with bulky waters. Yes you lose out on some power, but Tales is not breaking things anytime soon with its 81 base SpAtk and lack of boosting item, and as you mentioned your team as a whole struggles a bit with bulky waters (obviously Keld is an exception that you outspeed and roast with Moonblast). It's preferable to get consistent damage from my experience and fewer mons wall you wholesale. The other change I'd recommend is Jolly over Adamant on Sandslash. I think there are just too many scarfers and +1 setup sweepers that outspeed you with Adamant. Hydreigon, Happy Hour Rachi and DD Mence, for instance. All of these mons give Celebi some degree of trouble as well. With Aurora Veil up and Slash's impressive set of resistances (and neutralities in combination with its solid defense), it's usually not hard to set up with Swords Dance, and I've never felt that Jolly Slash was lacking power after an SD.

I'm mostly concerned with the hail aspects of your team since I've run it a lot, so I don't have too much to say about the rest of it. Sharpedo is fucking great.

Yeah, I've been switching between Jolly and Adamant on Sandslash, and I've been liking Jolly more as of late. Also, I agree with Freeze-Dry. Hurts Slowbro harder than Moonblast. Thanks for the rate!