Monotype Competitive Teams

[KarlG]

Hello guys,

So as you may know (or don't), I am a Bug type expert, and I am currently interested in creating a monotype competitive team - that means, a team that is able to cover a lot of the type's weaknesses, pull off a win in most monotype battles, and also handle typical standard battle teams over wifi.

So feel free to post your favorite Dark, Psychic, etc. teams that you think will do well competitively. Hybrid types are of course most welcome, and at most you can include ONE Pokemon not of your monotype, but it HAS to have one move of the monotype.

Fire away!

 

[DCM]

When I used to run one incarnations of this website's "Pokemon League" i used to rock a Bug Monotype team. This was back in Generation IV, when obviously there was a noticeable difference in available pokemon. I've flirted with the idea of recreating that bug team, or building a better bug pokemon team, but haven't had time to start. Keeping in mind the two generation gap since then, my team, iirc, was Yanmega, Heracross, Scizor, Forretress, Ninjask and a last changeable spot, all with their standard movepools. These later generations have definitely opened up the possibility of creating a much better team.

 

[Cressy]

I find building a monotype team to be incredibly difficult, with all of the variations of pokemon and their movesets; there are simply thousands of things you can't be properly prepared for. In my regular team, I like to use Marowak, as it's my favorite pokemon, and it catches absolutely everyone off guard. While attempting to exercise with a flying monotype team, I ran into not a Rotom Wash, but a Rotom Heat that proceeded to wreck everything. It's all really situational, and while I feel prepared walking into battles with a balanced team, I always feel nervous walking into battles with a monotype team.

 

[sharkshocker]

You're gonna get a couple of posts from the gym leaders here

I think it's possible to use monotype teams competitively. However you need to not only adapt to what's popular in the meta but also have solutions to your team's shared weakness. Since there's a Mega Pokemon for each type you have an easier time of building a team around it and using it competitively compared to before, as DCM has said.

I play Psychic and I'm fortunate enough that it offers enough versatility to play different strategies and work against its weaknesses, i.e. Psychic/Fighting Pokemon against Dark, Shadow Ball's wide distribution. It's gotten to the point where I'm more comfortable building mono-Psychic teams rather than regular ones.

 

[UB-01 Kenobi]

Yeah it can be hard to get the ball rolling but stick with it and it's incredibly fun to play and win with a mono-team. I obviously can't post my actual team here to preserve the surprise for challengers but I will let you know that at one point I had entertained the thought of a Sun team based around MHoundoom and Shiftry xD

 

[Stardust_Trainer]

Ive got to say Grass is really difficult. In a similar competition on a different site, I tried using a Grass monotype team and failed miserably. On the other hand, I recently tried Steel and it was quite fun. It is pretty difficult to adapt though however, for some teams more then others. For a Bug-type team for example, there isn't many Bugs who resist Rock-type moves which makes Scizor or something of that nature mandatory. For Grass-type, finding an answer to Flying moves is difficult since Tropius and his friends aren't all that without sunlight. And on top of that, sunlight benefits Chlorophyll Grass users but also builds their weakness.

Steel is fun because you've got a few Megas on their end and they resist Dragons and kill new pesky Fairies. Mawile resists the Fighting-type. Scizor resists a lot of the Bug-weaknesses. Lucario is pretty powerful regardless. Aegislash's Ghost type makes it immune to Fighting-type moves. And Heatran can eat up the famous weakness of Fire to the team and boost his own attacks.

I personally ran-
Skarmory
Metagross
Bisharp
Aegislash
Mega Lucario
Magnezone

Against somebody who made a team just for me, I won somehow with some slips but even though all my Pokemon started getting destroyed by their shared weakness, I did what I knew I could do with them and kept on. I did get caught off-guard sometimes but for my second try at monotype, it went pretty well. Im actually working on a Fire team now so thatll be seen soon.
6S5G-WWWW-WWW5-BZZJ for the above battle if anyone wants to see.

 

[Wispy Willow]

As most of the above have mentioned, getting the most out of a certain Pokemon type is challenging, especially with the Fairy type's low numbers, but can be realy rewarding. Like -Glory Blaze- I will not reveal my whole gym team but let's just say Klefki can be realy annoying... heh heh heh.

 

[AnybodyAgrees]

Like Sharkshocker, I find it easier to make a good monotype water team than it is to make a good regular OU team(I may do better in the lower tiers.)

 

[Hector]

It's definitely a fun exercise, but it depends so much on what type you're using. Ice seems like it would be a painful endeavor however Dragon or Fairy seem like they would be much easier.

But I'll throw together a team right now for fighting, my favorite type.


Infernape: My lead, counters other common leads
Naïve, Blaze, Focus Sash, 252 Atk, 252 Speed, 4 SpAtk

Fake Out
Stealth Rock
Close Combat
Overheat


Lucario (Mega): Hits like a truck. Adaptability CC is a nightmare for anything that doesn't resist (and even weaker mons that do)
Adamant, Adaptability, Lucarionite, 252 Atk, 252 Speed, 4 HP

Close Combat
Bullet Punch
Ice Punch
Crunch


Heracross - psychic check
Adamant, Moxie, Leftovers, 252 Atk, 252 Speed, 4 Defense

Swords Dance
Close Combat
Megahorn
Stone Edge


Breloom - let's play some defense
Jolly, Toxic Heal, Toxic Orb, 252 Speed 252 Defense 4 HP

Spore
Substitute
Focus Punch
Leech Seed



Terrakion - scarfer, good counter for psychics
Choice Scarf, Justified, 252 Atk 252 Speed 4 HP, Adamant

Earthquake
X-Scissor
Close Combat
Stone Edge


And for my wildcard:

Gengar - trolls so hard, wallbreaker
Timid, Levitate, Black Sludge, 252 Sp Atk 252 Speed 4 HP

Substitute
Disable
Focus Blast
Shadow Ball



I'm sure this team isn't perfect, but I threw it together on the fly

As for competitiveness, I feel like for the most part this team could compete at OU. Heracross is a bit weak for that level of competition, however the others fit in well at the OU level. The main concerns for this team are physical walls (that resist Lucario's CC) and fast sweepers that can potentially hit on my shared weaknesses.