The Screens Team ♥

[Tangrow]

Okay okay, so last night, I had the silliest idea ever, and that was to try and make a team based upon keeping screens up! FOREVER. I had a feeling it would not fare so well in OU play, so this team is for UU. This pretty much means I'd rather not hear people suggesting to put something like Tyranitar in my team (Even if he doesn't learn Screens :x) So, here I go~!

Claydol@Light Clay
Adamant Nature
Levitate
252 HP/128 Def/128 Sp.Def
-Explosion
-Stealth Rock
-Reflect
-Light Screen

Off the bat, I wanted a lead that could sit there, set up the screens, then die. I noticed that Claydol had suitable defenses for this, and so this set spawned! I've been tampering with EVs other than the generic 252/252/4 spread, so I tried to give it as much HP, and then split the Defenses down the middle. Lovely old Claydol's job is mostly to set up the Screens, then Stealth Rock it if it has the time. After this job is done, he decides to go boom! My only worry is of Taunt leads, but I'm not sure how prevalent they are in UU.

Uxie@Light Clay/Choice Scarf
Adamant Nature
Levitate
252 HP/128 Spd/64 Def/64 Sp.Def
-Reflect
-Light Screen
-U-Turn
-Memento/Trick

Uxie is my second main Screener friend. The EVs are a little odd, and although I'm not certain how many Pokemon Uxie can surpass with that Speed, I'm pretty sure she'll have around the same longevity as Claydol, despite the lower Defense EVs. Anyway, I kinda wanted to mix something up here with the moveset. On the definite end, the screens are there, and U-Turn is to switch into one of my larger sweepers after the Screens come in. At this point, I get a little hazy. I was thinking to do a Trick with Choice Scarf option, so that Uxie can get a free turn to put up screens if the Scarf locks the opponent into an unfavorable position. On the other hand, I want the Screens to laste fairly long, so I was thinking of Light Clay. Memento just kinda draws me, cause it sounds helpful. ♥

Houndoom@Power Herb
Naughty Nature
Flash Fire
252 Atk/76 Sp. Atk/180 Spd
-Nasty Plot
-Flamethrower
-Crunch
-Solarbeam

As both of my main and lovely Screeners are psychic, I decided they needed some Pokemon who could assault Ghost Types and the like, and in general, a fine sweeper to recieve the Screens. Houndoom spawned from this, having both the Attack and Special Attack to hurt meanies D:< The EVs, I think even out the Attack and Special Attack, and the rest goes to speed for aiding the dear. So, I plan to either let Houndoom loose on the U-Turn or death of Uxie and Claydol, respectively. After which, if I believe he'll scare away the opponent's Mon, I'll try and get a Nasty Plot in. If not, I'll jump in and breathe Fire and bite my enemies ♥. Solarbeam and Power Herb is to obliterate Quagsire, Whiscash, and Gastrodon. Plus I think it's kinda fun c:

Rotom@Choice Specs
Modest Nature
Levitate
4 HP/252 Sp.Atk/252 Spd
-Thunderbolt/Discharge
-Shadow Ball
-Hidden Power Fighting
-Trick

Rotom is my Special Sweeper, made to shoot down other things in tandem with Houndoom. His Nature, item, and EVs reflect this. It's all self-explanatory really. Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball are STAB, although I'm debating Discharge for the paralysis chance. Hidden Power Fighting seemed like a good idea to bat away Dark Types and the like, and Trick is there cause it's a Choice Set and I kinda had no other ideas at the time.

Vespiquen@Leftovers
Adamant Nature
Pressure
248 HP/252 Atk/8 Spd
-Attack Order
-Heal Order
-Destiny Bond
-Aerial Ace

Vespiquen's high defenses are even more annoying with screens. As such, I decided to make a more or less attack oriented one. 248 EVs in HP are so it survives getting rocked stealthily, while Attack is for, well, Attack. Speed is so it god forbid, outspeeds something. Anything, Attack Order and Aerial Ace is pretty much what it can do with. Heal Order is to make Vespiquen even more obnoxious, and Destiny Bond is when I finally think Vespiquen is gonna to be dead. I'm not too sure about her and my next choice, things get rather hazy for me.

Blastoise@Something
Bold Nature
Torrent
Not very certain on EVs
-Surf
-Rapid Spin
-Aqua Jet
-Earthquake

Blastoise is my Spinner and general Water guy. I feel much better with Earthquake on someone on my team, so I placed it here ♥ Aqua Jet is for priority, and Surf is for Water hurt hurt ♥ I'm at a loss for an item, sadly, so help there is ♥.

That's my team! It was really well defined in my head for the first four or so, but Vespi and Blastoise are kinda wishy washy in my head. If you people had ideas for a Substitute, I'd greatly appreciate them! Critique as you will ♥

 

[KoL]

Alrighty, time to go to work:

- Adamant isn't really the Nature you want here since it boosts your Attack, which only serves to give you a slightly more powerful Explosion. Careful or Impish will be the best Natures for you here. Otherwise, fairly standard overall - watch out for anything that may be carrying Taunt.

- Your Uxie set is...interesting, to say the least - two screen users may be a bit overkill, although this is more a flaw within the concept of a screen team itself more than anything else. Memento seems a bit of an overkill move to have with screens up, while Trick can really crush anything that would try and stall out your screens, so I'd consider Scarf/Trick superior to Clay/Memento here.

- One thing of note about mixed sets is that mixed =/= randomly slapping a physical attack on a special sweeper or vice-versa, and while Houndoom can do mixed, Crunch + two special attacks isn't the best way to do it. If you're going for a Nasty Plot set, you're far better off going all-Special and using 3 Special attacks, especially since you'll be hard to wall if you somehow manage to grab a Flash Fire boost AND get a Nasty Plot up - Nasty Plot alone will force any potential walls to get rid of you quick, otherwise you'll be able to set up more than one Plot and murder them. Dark Pulse over Crunch here, and full 252 in Sp.ATK and Speed is best.

- Discharge tends to work better on bulky Pokemon as opposed to sweepers who would find the extra power from Thunderbolt more desirable, so Thunderbolt gets my pick here. Otherwise, a very solid set you have there - a second Trick will make stalling out your screens an even tougher task for the opponent if you can catch the right opponent out.

- Vespiquen's Base 80 Attack may end up yielding rather mediocre results from an offensive standpoint, and Vespiquen's horrible Speed renders Destiny Bond somewhat mediocre overall. Endeavor's a very funny option if you end up low on HP and predict well, and will probably work a bit better than Destiny Bond would - unfortunately, Vespiquen's movepool is tiny, so you're pretty strapped for moves either way here.

- Blastoise can go full HP/Attack or Attack/Speed potentially, and run Waterfall over Surf to make a second physical set since Vespiquen may not be able to deliver the goods alone. Blastoise's Speed, while not amazing, is at least useable, which makes Speed training quite viable, especially since Waterfall can score flinches on slower adversaries.

Overall, your team is definitely an interesting one - while the concept may end up being a bit looser than you may have planned in practice. Keeping the screens up perpetually is impossible - you'll have to go without them at certain points, and you'll want to make sure your team still functions solidly when the screens are down. As for potential replacements, you'll probably get a better idea of what works and wha doesn't through battle practice, so...get to battling, grasshopper.