Sharpedo

Before BW, Sharpedo was hopelessly outclassed as a Water-type, its good offenses and Speed offset by its poor defensive typing and incredible frailness. However, it received one of the best offensive abilities in the game from the Dream World: Speed Boost. Now, Sharpedo is a sight to behold, and its scary base 120 Attack and good base 95 Special Attack are more threatening than ever before. That same poor defensive typing from last generation is now one of Sharpedo's greatest assets, because the only common Pokemon in the UU metagame that resists both of Sharpedo's STAB moves is Empoleon. Sharpedo is versatile as well, with attacking stats and a movepool that allow it to either go all-out physically or use a specially attacking set. As counters to the physical set are beaten by the special set, and vice versa, Sharpedo is difficult to deal with before you figure out the set, and it has very few 100% safe switch-ins.

Not all is bright and cheery for Sharpedo in UU, though. It's still ridiculously frail thanks to its 70 / 40 / 40 defenses, and it is susceptible to common priority, such as Hitmontop's Mach Punch and Arcanine's Extreme Speed. Even resisted hits from the likes of Honchkrow and Bisharp leave a large dent in Sharpedo, and when combined with a couple turns of recoil damage, they can bring Sharpedo to its doom. A common characteristic of Speed Boost users is their overreliance on Protect to gain Speed boosts, and Sharpedo is no different. This makes Sharpedo notoriously easy to play around, as most users of Sharpedo are cautious when it comes to attaining Speed boosts. Sharpedo's good mixed attacking stats aren't as good as they appear in the UU metagame, as Sharpedo has to OHKO everything in order to attain a sweep, and this simply isn't possible against most UU teams due to the bulky nature of the metagame. Many Pokemon can take a hit from Sharpedo and retaliate just as strongly. Sharpedo is definitely a threat to prepare for; however, its many flaws hold it back from becoming a top-tier threat.