UU Anti-Metagame

I was hoping I could have some advice on how to go about creating an anti-meta team. Do I just look at the top pokemon (Milo/Venu/Regi) and pick staunch counters to them or is it (like I think it is) more complicated than that? I'm sorry if I did wrong by posting this thread but I appreciate any help given.
 
There are times where I would argue that anti-metagaming is nigh-on impossible right now because of the strength of the defensive cores right now in UU, Milotic especially... It hinders so much of the creativity possible because of its ability to stall out basically anything that doesn't carry a powerful Super Effective move against it.

Other then that though, I look over the list of the top threats and chose something that can take on a couple of them at once then build a team around it. ex: Regice. It walls Milo and Venu to death with its resttalk sets and still has use for most any special attacker in the metagame. Run it with a spinner, cover its weaknesses, etc. That's my take on it anyways.
 
I've actually made a anti-metagame team myself. It's been working to great success. My best tip on making a team is to try to use pokemon that, rather than countering/walling to top threats, but can power through the top defensive cores. Without that core, many teams are very heavily weakend. Then finish the team off with a powerful sweeper. I have had huge success with this style.

EDIT: I guess I should throw in that CB Aggron rips defense apart. Just have someone else to take Steelix, Registeel, and Torterra, and let Head Smash destroy the rest. I've used mine with dual screen and sandstorm support to make him more thick.
 
I would argue that a combo of Houndoom and Toxicroak is best for that particular trio. They cover each other's weaknesses beautifully, with Houndoom taking the Fire and Psychic type attacks aimed at Toxicroak, and Toxicroak absorbing the Water and Fighting type attacks aimed at Houndoom. That, along with their STABs dealing super effective damage to two of the three (Venusaur and Registeel) and the fact that each of the three has difficulty dealing much damage to them in return without risking being KO'ed is as close as your going to get to perhaps anti-metagame regarding those Pokemon.

It sounds great on paper, but I have no idea how this actually works in principle.
 
You can also carry a poke designed to take defensive cores, and give it some support to get through some "problems" you could face.

Quick Feet Ursaring is a prime example. Get a SD and you can just Facade/Close Combat through pretty much any defensive core with ease.
The support comes from extending Ursaring life (it perishes pretty fast).

There's plenty of ways of doing a anti metagame team, that's just a example.
 
Other then that though, I look over the list of the top threats and chose something that can take on a couple of them at once then build a team around it. ex: Regice. It walls Milo and Venu to death with its resttalk sets and still has use for most any special attacker in the metagame. Run it with a spinner, cover its weaknesses, etc. That's my take on it anyways.
I've seen quite a lot about SpecialDef-Weezing as of late. Would that partner well with Regice? I'd of thought they'd have problems with fire types though.

Also Flameheart could you give some examples if you don't mind? Possibly of ones that have been particularly successful for you.
 
I would argue that a combo of Houndoom and Toxicroak is best for that particular trio. They cover each other's weaknesses beautifully, with Houndoom taking the Fire and Psychic type attacks aimed at Toxicroak, and Toxicroak absorbing the Water and Fighting type attacks aimed at Houndoom. That, along with their STABs dealing super effective damage to two of the three (Venusaur and Registeel) and the fact that each of the three has difficulty dealing much damage to them in return without risking being KO'ed is as close as your going to get to perhaps anti-metagame regarding those Pokemon.

It sounds great on paper, but I have no idea how this actually works in principle.
Although I'm nearly positive these two Pokes work well together, I would find a Pokemon that can take a hit from flying Pokemon as well. Scyther tears these pokes up.
 

Bad Ass

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make a common team (sometimes i use the top 6 pokemon) of stuff that is common (weezlotic + registeel or tomb, f/w/g, etc). when you see something that gives that team trouble, look through the rest of the tier list (top 10). if it only has one counter or something like that, it is anti metagame.
 
yeah or anything with earthquake. Gastrodon and quagsire come to mind. Ironically, a good partner to houndoom and toxicroak would be venusaur, the very poke they are supposed to be countering, to deal with weaker eqs and water/grounds
 
I've seen quite a lot about SpecialDef-Weezing as of late. Would that partner well with Regice? I'd of thought they'd have problems with fire types though.

Also Flameheart could you give some examples if you don't mind? Possibly of ones that have been particularly successful for you.
Moltres, Arcanine and Houndoom are all trouble for Regice, but they're easily walled by Milotic.
 
I've had some success with defensive Kabutops in that spot to come in on 4x resisted Fire moves then hit them with an Aqua Jet or Rapid Spin any problematic hazards. Defensive Mismagius/Spiritomb also work pretty well since they are immune to troublesome Fighting moves and Mismagius is immune to the usually-physical ground moves also.
 
I've had some success with defensive Kabutops in that spot to come in on 4x resisted Fire moves then hit them with an Aqua Jet or Rapid Spin any problematic hazards. Defensive Mismagius/Spiritomb also work pretty well since they are immune to troublesome Fighting moves and Mismagius is immune to the usually-physical ground moves also.
I want to keep sr off the field if at all possible to prolong Regice's longevity and I was thinking of maybe using Maggy as a lead to taunt. Maybe Zam or Drapion as an alternative. As for a spinner I think it would be between Tops, Donphan or Hitmontop
 
Although I'm nearly positive these two Pokes work well together, I would find a Pokemon that can take a hit from flying Pokemon as well. Scyther tears these pokes up.
yeah or anything with earthquake. Gastrodon and quagsire come to mind. Ironically, a good partner to houndoom and toxicroak would be venusaur, the very poke they are supposed to be countering, to deal with weaker eqs and water/grounds
I guess we could go into detail about what partners well with that combo, but that's just kind of team building, and not really about the OP's question. Having said that, Donphan is a good bet for a defensive Pokemon that can eat attacks from the tier's two most common flyers (Swellow and Scyther) and counter back with Ice Shard for major damage. EQ doesn't phase him either. As far as Ground/Waters go, they aren't really common enough to actively take into consideration when considering running ToxiDoom.
 

Ice-eyes

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Double-Edge SD Leafeon is incredibly good right now, because it gets so many setup opportunities and can muscle its way through the frail, pathetic husk that is Specially Defensive Weezing. Pair with Sub Rhyperior for maximum results.
 
Ah thanks for sharing that. Really good read and sounds like a great team. Obviously I'd rather not use a carbon-copy of someone else's team but I have used some of those Pokes before so I think it'll definitely help in giving me an idea of the sorts of pokes I can use.

Thanks again to everyone whose posted with advice etc. If anyone else has other recommendations then I would still appreciate them although I will now be hitting the team builder to try and make a good anti-meta team.

EDIT: @ Ice-Eyes, I have decided to use that Leafeon although what would you recommend for the last slot? I thought synthesis to heal DE and LO recoil but I wasn't whether quick attack was preferred although I've never found priority all that useful on Leafeon.
 

Ice-eyes

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Yeah, Synthesis or Quick Attack. Quick Attack isn't all that powerful so I would recommend Synthesis unless you're running other priority users to weaken fast stuff.
 
If you have stall problems, try walling a wall. Most people I know use Clefable as a mini Blissey. I usually change mine up a bit and either try a Belly Drum or a Mega Wall that abuses Cosmic Power.
 
I would argue that a combo of Houndoom and Toxicroak is best for that particular trio. They cover each other's weaknesses beautifully, with Houndoom taking the Fire and Psychic type attacks aimed at Toxicroak, and Toxicroak absorbing the Water and Fighting type attacks aimed at Houndoom. That, along with their STABs dealing super effective damage to two of the three (Venusaur and Registeel) and the fact that each of the three has difficulty dealing much damage to them in return without risking being KO'ed is as close as your going to get to perhaps anti-metagame regarding those Pokemon.

It sounds great on paper, but I have no idea how this actually works in principle.
Pair it up with Rotom, who beats Scyther and Levitates. Its weaknesses are also conveniently resisted by Houndoom, and Toxicroak resists Dark and hits them back super-effectively.
 
I find when you try to make an "Anti-Metagame" team, you end up doing more harm than good. You end up packing several different pokemon to try to check the biggest threats on their own, but in the end you realize they don't have the proper synergy required to function together as a single unit and it falls apart rather quickly. The best process I find is to find a pokemon that you may or may not like, but has potential to take on a lot of the metagame. I'm not really sure what that would be in UU, but thats the advice I would give.

tl;dr - Anti-Metagaming is generally more harmful than helpful, because you generally try to make stuff work instead of letting it work.
 

SJCrew

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I don't see how anti-metagaming is even possible in UU. There are way too many usable Pokemon you have to prepare for, and there are even some viable NUs that can ruin your day for having two Milotic counters and three Venusaur counters.

The best approach is not to think of a way to take advantage of what everyone else is using (bad idea, you have no control over that), but rather try to build the best team synergy possible so that you're prepared for almost anything. It's not that hard, but it takes a lot of time and practice to employ successfully.

Now if were talking OU, that's a different story altogether...
 
I've only recently entered the UU foray, and having tried my hand at both a by the book team and an anti-meta one, I can say that a big issue is Registeel.

Along with the previously mentioned venasaur and milotic, registeel forms the final piece to a powerful defensive core. Biggest thing about registeel is the paralysis, crippling what would normally be great counters. I agree with SJ in that focusing on synergy is probably your best option. Also borrowing from MetaGross66 wouldn't hurt (he's teams bloody brilliant)
 
If the only thing bothering you about Registeel is paralysis, why not use the obvious ground type like Dugtrio and trap it, or Limber Hitmonlee, which forces it out.
 
I've only recently entered the UU foray, and having tried my hand at both a by the book team and an anti-meta one, I can say that a big issue is Registeel.

Along with the previously mentioned venasaur and milotic, registeel forms the final piece to a powerful defensive core. Biggest thing about registeel is the paralysis, crippling what would normally be great counters. I agree with SJ in that focusing on synergy is probably your best option. Also borrowing from MetaGross66 wouldn't hurt (he's teams bloody brilliant)
Hitonlee comes in on Registeel on the obvious thunder wave or stealth rock with ease.

Torterra comes in with ease and sets up in its face if it carrying thunderwave. Donphan comes in and spins away hazards or sets up hazards or phazes. Rhyperior comes in and sets up with ease.
 
SD Blaziken can OHKO Milo/venu/regi after a +2 aswell as Weezlotic so i suppose you can call that anti-metagame. Besides that, just listen to SJ and build a solid core.
 

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