With the ninth generation of Pokémon in full swing, I figured now would be a good time for a fresh start in the Aleatory Alliance series. I have selected seventeen competitive formats this time: 1v1, Almost Any Ability, Anything Goes, Balanced Hackmons, Create-a-Pokémon, Doubles, Godly Gift, Little Cup, Mix and Mega, Monotype, Not Fully Evolved, National Pokédex, Overused, Rarely Used, STABmons, Uber, and Underused. So, what’s it going to be? Drumroll, please…
Uber! Same start as last gen; what a coincidence. The tier currently consists of nine Pokémon, one whose form changes in battle, and 49 lower-tier Pokémon with strategies. That adds up to 58, which brings me to the next set of random numbers.
I’ve decided to introduce the team members like this from now on, because obviously I have to find them out before I decide upon their roles. First, there’s the obvious: Froslass is a lead, Maushold is a hazard remover, Alomomola is a wall/cleric, and Kingambit is a late-game cleaner. That just left the less one-sided Roaring Moon and Chien-Pao. I decided to make them both Choice Band attackers because the only other thing they do in the Uber tier (at least from what I can tell) is physical setup, which is better off left entirely to Kingambit and its signature Ability. (Figures that this had to be an Uber team with no actual Ubers.)
What do they do?
Roaring Moon @ Choice Band
Ability: Protosynthesis
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
Tera Type: Dark
– Crunch
– U-turn
– Earthquake
– Dragon Claw
This one has a Speed equivalent to Nature-boosted base 104, enough to exceed Palafin and Garchomp. With its considerable base 139 Attack, it will mostly either Crunch holes into the opposing team or use U-turn to keep itself scarce. Earthquake is strong and reliable coverage that hits every Fairy-type for neutral or more damage, thanks to the current absence of Fairy/Flying, Fairy/Grass, and Fairy/Bug. Dragon Claw is about on the same level of power as Crunch, falling a bit short due to its lack of a secondary effect, primarily useful for being super-effective against Koraidon, Miraidon, and opposing Roaring Moon.
Chien-Pao @ Choice Band
Ability: Sword of Ruin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
Tera Type: Ice
– Ice Spinner
– Crunch
– Ice Shard
– Sacred Sword
More of a speed demon, able to keep up with Flutter Mane, Koraidon, and Miraidon without needing any boosting or priority. Make no mistake, though; Sword of Ruin makes its Attack roughly equivalent to base 177. Ice Spinner is the reliable physical Ice-type attack that has been needed all along, and it has the added benefit of almost literally pulling out the rug from underneath the Violet paradoxes and their Quark Drive. (Aside: Strangely enough, there is no move, let alone one as reliable as Ice Spinner, that clears the weather.) Crunch is to Ice Spinner as Roaring Moon’s Crunch is to its Dragon Claw, putting aside the terrain removal utility, and it does neutral or more damage to most of the Pokémon that resist Ice. (Notable exceptions include Chi-Yu, Azumarill, and Kingambit, two of which are weak to Sacred Sword.) In case of even faster foes, like Dragapult and certain Speed boosters, Ice Shard is a possible clutch factor with its boosted priority. I chose Ice-type Tera by the logic that Dark would be redundant with Roaring Moon.
Kingambit @ Leftovers
Ability: Supreme Overlord
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
Tera Type: Ghost
– Swords Dance
– Iron Head
– Kowtow Cleave
– Sucker Punch
What Kingambit does best is switching in when its five allies have fainted, making Supreme Overlord boost its Attack to an equivalent of base 226, and cleaning up shop. Its EV spread looks to be a Speed creep past Scizor doing a Speed creep past Corviknight, on the grounds that Scizor now has Close Combat for coverage. (Also, the HP EVs give a value of 369, the lowest odd number that allows Leftovers to restore 23 HP per turn.) Swords Dance boosts Kingambit’s already nutty Attack to astronomical levels, although it requires mind games with Terastallization and Sucker Punch to pull off. The former is a quick way to become immune to its quad weakness to Fighting and neutral to its other weaknesses, while the latter is a decent form of priority against many possible foes faster than uninvested base 67. Others, or those who get outwitted, are at the mercy of its two most powerful moves: Iron Head and Kowtow Cleave. (Ironic in the latter case, as kowtowing is a gesture to beg for mercy.) Leftovers help keep Kingambit around for slightly longer, especially the more frequently prediction wars beget stalemates.
Alomomola @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 164 HP / 252 Def / 92 SpD
Relaxed Nature
Tera Type: Fairy
– Play Rough
– Wish
– Protect
– Whirlpool
This one will obviously take more hits than any of its teammates. Its HP EVs give it 512 HP, enough for a 256-HP Wish (at least 69% of every teammate’s HP, nice) and 32 HP per turn of Leftovers recovery. Fairy-type Tera gives it a whole different set of resistances and adds pseudo-Adaptability STAB to Play Rough, a tool strongest against foes like Annihilape, Koraidon, and Miraidon. Protect is used primarily for Alomomola to gain HP from its own Wishes, while Whirlpool serves to limit the number of switches on the opposing side and deal chip damage in the process.
Maushold @ Wide Lens
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
Tera Type: Normal
– Tidy Up
– Population Bomb
– Bite
– Encore
Funny multi-hit mouse family. Tidy Up removes opposing hazards even in the presence of Gholdengo, and it also provides a Dragon Dance boost. (With one Speed boost, it outspeeds the whole unboosted metagame, as well as Houndstone with Sand Rush active.) Wide Lens is essential in boosting the accuracy of Population Bomb to 99%, increasing tenfold the chance of each 30 BP (as boosted by Technician) hit to land.* Bite is 90 BP coverage against Ghost-types, and its 30% flinch chance is not to be overlooked. Encore is also not to be overlooked, as it can shut down a setup-reliant foe, which would offer a free switch or the opportunity for a Tidy Up boost.
*Wide Lens is more significant for Maushold alone than it ever has been since its debut. Here is some mathematical proof.
The “Miss” row consists entirely of fixed values, the one-to-nine-hit percentage formula is the cell above multiplied by 0.9 with Wide Lens and 0.99 without, the ten-hit percentage formula is 1 minus the percentages above it, BP is the percentage multiplied by what it would normally be with that many hits (e.g., 90 BP for three hits), and the Expected BP is the sum of all BPs above it.
Yep, just the one tenth makes that much of a difference. That is why Maushold always holds Wide Lens, instead of Heavy-Duty Boots to facilitate switching into entry hazards or Protective Pads as a measure against Rough Skin and Rocky Helmet users.
Froslass @ Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
Tera Type: Steel
– Spikes
– Taunt
– Icy Wind
– Destiny Bond
One of the Spikes setters of all time. Focus Sash is a lifeline required of her flimsy 70/70/70 bulk and defensively unfavorable typing. The latter is what Steel-type Tera is for, but I would advise to use it sparingly. Taunt is a means to sabotage slower status move users, Icy Wind makes opponents slower if they are not already, and Destiny Bond uses her frailty to her advantage via the possibility of taking an opposing Pokémon down with her.
Importable: https://pokepast.es/5420851014cb437f
What went wrong?
Three Dark-types. (Again.) Two Ice-types. Not enough special attacks. Non-boosting Scarlet paradox (thanks in part to Kingambit) with no Koraidon. One flimsy Spikes user, and no Stealth Rock or Gholdengo. Not enough allies that benefit from Wish. No Aromatherapy or Heal Bell for the many allies that would prefer it. No shiny new offense-enabling tools like Shed Tail or Revival Blessing. No resistances to Fairy or Ground. Aside from Froslass, the only resistance to U-turn is when Alomomola or Kingambit Terastallizes. With the thorough lack of Flying, Dugtrio can trap and KO just about anything.
Top 5 Watchlist
Iron Bundle can run Taunt to prevent Froslass from setting up Spikes or taking it out with Destiny Bond. It is faster than the entire team, and its decent physical bulk enables it to take a Sucker Punch from Kingambit without a Swords Dance boost. Being quad resistant to Ice Shard also helps its cause. The best case scenario would be for Maushold to get a Tidy Up boost and hit it with a Population Bomb; even then, in the likely event that the opposing team has a Miraidon to activate Quark Drive, one boost is not enough.
Speaking of Miraidon, that in itself is a force to be reckoned with. The way it sets Electric Terrain to make foes like Iron Valiant and Speed-oriented Iron Treads harder to deal with, one can only hope to safely bring in Chien-Pao and remove the terrain, which is most likely a matter of switching it in after a fainted ally and hoping that it either can win the Speed tie or is dealing with a slower Miraidon.
Due to the offensive nature of this team, Shed Tail from Cyclizar can be quite a pain to deal with, especially when Maushold cannot use Population Bomb or Tidy Up to remove the Substitute. With Population Bomb being the only multi-hit move on the team, not to mention the lack of sound-based moves and Infiltrator, even slower threats can prove difficult to eliminate when given a free Substitute.
Pawmot is not weak to anything from the team, apart from Alomomola’s Play Rough and Roaring Moon’s Earthquake. Not to mention, its Mach Punch is dangerous against Roaring Moon, Chien-Pao, non-Tera Kingambit, and Maushold. If this little “Pika-clone” is left unanswered, it can use Revival Blessing to bring back two threats (or one threat twice) that should have been eliminated.
Corviknight can take advantage of the team’s lack of Fire- and Electric-type moves, and if Froslass sets up her Spikes too hastily, you can bet that it has free rein to remove them with Defog. Also, if it’s the physically defensive variant, it will be even harder to break with the dearth of special attacks.
Afterword
♪ “Don’t even need no shade, when your sun don’t shine, shine…” ♫
“Weavile, eat your heart out.”
“Most of you are mere pawns. Alomomola is my queen.”
“Dude, your Egg Group is Human-like, while I’m in Water 1 and Water 2. Besides, our genders aren’t even determined until the battle starts.”
“I can be like 10 pawns at once! En passant, mother-lovers!”
“I can put three pawns on the board, but…is that even legal?”
Vouiv-review 