ORAS UU Bulk Up Conkeldurr Balance


Introduction

Hello, this is a team featuring Bulk Up Conkeldurr, a threat that went under the radar for a few months after Conkeldurr dropped from OU in May. As the new metagame developed, Conkeldurr's most used sets changed from the initially over-hyper Sheer Force to AV to Choice Band. With the latter two sets, it established a more useful niche than similar Fighting-types in Heracross and Machamp, and promptly shot up in usage. However, Bulk Up Conkeldurr was a set not used for a few months until we realized how good it was against a lot of balance teams. While I'm normally known for playing offense, I found that Bulk Up Conkeldurr fit best on defensive teams, where it has more longevity and support and more opportunities to setup against opposing balance teams. Here's the best team featuring Bulk Up Conkeldurr that I've been able to come up with.

Overall, balance is quite difficult to pull off successfully in UU due to the sheer number of fearsome threats, including Hydreigon, Sylveon, Celebi, Crawdaunt, and Gyarados. However, it's definitely possible to make a solid balance team that can stand its ground against /most/ of these threats and can still break down opposing defensive teams. This team is 5-2 (as far as I know) in UU Open, used by myself, Ice Tea, and blunder.

Teambuilding Process

I wanted to use BU Conkeldurr; while I'd made a bunch of offensive teams with CB and some with AV, I'd yet to try the third viable Conk set.

Bulk Up Conk fits best on balance teams, and so I added a solid defensive core that provided me with a lot of utility. These three Pokemon give my team good hazard support, a great set of resistances and immunities, and checks to most of the threatening Pokemon in UU.

Using Tentacruel as the Water type makes balance teams really weak to Entei, and Snorlax gave me the best hard counter possible without having to double up on Water-types (and made more sense than Diancie). Together, Conk and CurseLax put a ton of pressure on opposing defensive teams.

As with many balance teams, I added an Aerodactyl at the very end to check a myriad of offensive Pokemon that threatened my team.

In-Depth



Conkeldurr @ Leftovers
Ability: Guts
EVs: 212 HP / 252 SpD / 44 Spe
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch

Bulk Up Conkeldurr is notorious for dismantling Fairy-less stall and balance, and with the proper support, can even outlast balances with Sylveon and Florges. It's very hard to take down with stall, which often can't afford to run a Fairy because of how badly they tend to overlap roles with the stall necessity Blissey. The best way to play Conk on this team is to Knock Off Fairy-types early game and then continue to chip away at them with entry hazards, status overload, and offensive pressure. I choose to run max SpDef because on this team, Conk would much rather focus on setting up on and more easily beating special attackers than hitting slightly harder from the get-go. Conk is also useful for giving me one of the best checks to Curse Snorlax available, remove the items of annoying things like Roar Suicune, and checking offensive threats like Mega Sharpedo, Mega Absol, and Lucario if they manage to bust through my defensive Pokemon. I also run a good amount of Speed which lets me outrun Blissey and Mega Aggron (and I've actually seen this Speed come into play before) as well as other AV/BU Conkeldurr.



Florges @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 28 SpD / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Synthesis
- Moonblast
- Heal Bell

As most people know, having a Fairy-type is almost necessary on UU balance teams to deter Dragons from mindlessly clicking their STABs, to check a bunch of Fighting types and Mega Absol/ Mega Sharpedo, and to provide great utility for the rest of the team wish Wish and Heal Bell. With Sylveon in the tier, many players choose to ignore Florges's strengths in favor of running Sylveon. However, Florges has a lot of attributes that I need for my team, and it's Wish + Synthesis set fits wonderfully on my team. First, Florges's higher special bulk and access to Synthesis lets it check special attackers like Kyurem, Mega Blastoise, and Mega Sceptile much more easily; each of these Pokemon can beat my other special tank with its Fighting coverage. Synthesis also prevents me from losing too much momentum early game; Sylveon can invite things like SpDef Forretress and Tentacruel to lay hazards while it's forced to stay in an extra turn to receive its own Wish. Also, Florges's extra Speed allows it to outspeed Conkeldurr, whose CB and AV sets could otherwise be huge pain for my team. What Florges lacks in power and the ability to force switches, it more than makes up for with all of these benefits.




Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Protect
- Psywave

Bronzong is a rather reliable Stealth Rock user for balance teams, capable of switching in over and over to the things it completely shuts down (Nidos, defensive Sylveon/Florges, Mega Sceptile and most other Grass types) to set up rocks and toxic things. Toxic + Protect is a great set on Bronzong as it nails stuff like Mega Blastoise on the switch to proceed to wear it down. It also lets me scout Hydreigon sets, scout Krookodile, stall out Sylveon and Celebi and stay relatively healthy after doing so, and just basically wear down whatever wants to come into it. Psywave is what I usually prefer for its ability to chunk bulky Steel-types (Forretress and Mega Aggron particularly would be annoying), but I know other people who've used this team used Gyro Ball to immediately threaten Mega Aero/Sceptile, Crobat, Mamoswine, Kyurem, and Slurpuff. While Bronzong can be a rather risky check to these attackers due to the ubiquity of Krookodile, it's a good option for a Steel-type here; without its Ground immunity, Nidoqueen would have free reign to spam Earth Power and put huge pressure on Snorlax.



Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Haze

Though overall it's not a great Pokemon, Tentacruel is the best option for this team and many other balance teams in UU. The utility it offers is amazing, but the lack of bulk basically forces me to rely on my other teammates to switch into attackers like Aero and Entei. Tentacruel's typing does let it deal with most of the Fighting-types that Florges can't handle - Infernape, Cobalion, Toxicroak, and to an extent, Lucario. Haze is basically mandatory here in the last slot to stop Doublade, Cobalion, Gyarados, and a couple other sweepers from setting up too freely, though I'd love to run Knock Off to cripple opposing Tentacruel and Empoleon. I've chosen to run enough Speed for Toxicroak (which can be Hazed and revenged with Aero), which is also useful to outrun Mamoswine, Nidoking, Metagross, and Chandelure. It could certainly be EV'd to outrun Krook as well. Toxic Spikes are the team's primary way to wear down Conkeldurr checks outside of Crobat.



Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
Happiness: 0
EVs: 144 HP / 176 Def / 188 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Frustration
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

As I said in the intro, Snorlax was mainly added onto the team to reliably switch into Entei, but its presence alongside Conkeldurr is a massive headache for other fat teams. I nearly always prefer Sleep Talk > Earthquake as it lets me boost more reliably alongside CM Suicune/CM Cresselia/HC Aero, doesn't give Fighting-types completely free reign once I'm asleep, as doesn't force Snorlax to just Rest every three turns as attackers simply spam their moves waiting for a crit or flinch. I also almost always prefer Frustration over Body Slam, the extra power is really useful against Suicune, Infernape, and some other guys. Snorlax also gives me extra insurance against Roserade (an underrated pain for balance right now), Nidoqueen, and Hydreigon (who I feel can actually be comfortably answered with Florges + Snorlax + Conk). There isn't much else to say about Snorlax besides the fact that it's capable of manhandling a lot of HO since the Fighting types usually found on these teams (Infernape, Toxicroak, Lucario, Mienshao) can't switch in comfortably and/or can't even beat a boosted Snorlax.


Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 216 Atk / 40 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Aerial Ace
- Earthquake
- Pursuit

Finally, Aerodactyl is on this team for all the usual reasons. It's an emergency check to the majority of offensive Pokemon that can threaten my team - Beedrill, Entei, Heracross, Infernape, Nidoking, Mega Sceptile, Celebi, Kyurem Mega Houndoom, Chandelure, and so much more. Since Aerodactyl doesn't actually switch into many attackers, I felt comfortable forgoing Roost and instead going with 4 attacks - Stone Edge for the most power overall and to take out Kyurem, Crobat, and Specs Sylveon; Aerial Ace for all the Fighting-types and Celebi, Earthquake for Cobalion, Metagross, and a safe hit on Fire-types, and Pursuit most notably for Beedrill, but also to help wear down Crobat (for Conkeldurr) and other frail attackers. The only things I really need to say on how to play it are to try to double directly into a Beedrill switch (as it tries to come into Florges), and switch it directly into Slurpuff and stay unevolved as you KO with Edge and prevent Sitrus/Unburden with Unnerve.


Threatlist

Sadly, Reuniclus is the one Pokemon that can just 6-0 the team from the beginning, with plenty of opportunities to set up and Focus Blast destroying Snorlax before it can damage it too much. Skill Swap can be used over Protect on Bronzong to deal with it, and Crunch can be used over EQ on Aero to pressure it as well.

Physical offensive Water-types are the primary threat for my team, as I'm usually forced to deal with them through a combination of Tentacruel and Conkeldurr. Mega Swampert is the primary reason I have Defense investment on Bronzong, so I can begin to Toxic stall it. Snorlax and Conkeldurr can boost against it in an emergency. Crawdaunt is the main threat for this team because Crabhammer just destroys everything and I usually have to sack something to bring in Conk or Florges safely. Gyarados's para and flinch chances can also potentially break through everything.

CB Krook is a big threat as always, though with Protect Bronzong, phys def Florges, and Conkeldurr, it won't straight up beat me. DD Haxorus bypasses the team's two usual Dragon checks with Mold Breaker EQ and Poison Jab. Usually I'd have to trade Snorlax or Conkeldurr for it. Band Haxorus also threatens everything with EQ. SD Escavalier can be a nuisance, I usually have to rely on Conk to beat it 1v1 and/or Aero to revenge kill.

As far as balance breakers go, those are the threats that have the most potential to break through this team.

Thanks for reading!
 

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