Youngster_Joey
Hurrrrr...
- Joined
- May 13, 2010
- Messages
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Well here it goes, my first rate-my-team thread. I don't know if it's allowed, but the following team was built using Shoddy Battle's team builder.
The thing is, I don't have this team in-game, and since EV training, IV breeding, especially in HG/SS, and whatnot is a shit-storm on a platter, I want to get the right team before I actually invest my time with this. Essentially, this is more of a "dream team" than anything else, and all movesets and EV distributions are pretty much the default of Smogon's tier list.
Because I'm new to competitive battling, I haven't really decided what the purpose of the team as a whole is for. I basically thought of what about make a good offense, defense, special defense and special attacker. Also, all of the movesets are pretty much all that was defined by Smogon's dex, but enough chatter, here they are:
Skarmory
Role: Lead Spiker
Nature: Impish
Ability: Keen Eye
Item: Occa Berry
EV: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 176 Def / 16 Spe
Moveset: Spiker
- Brave Bird
- Payback
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
Ever since I used one in my in-game team, Skarmory has proven to be one of the best defensive leads in my opinion. It's typing gives it some resistance against fighting moves, and it can survive against Sand Stream set-ups. Being a defensive pokemon, roost would serve it well in the healing process. I choose Stealth Rock over spikes, as while some pokemon won't take too much damage from it due to typing, it can hit almost everything, making switch-ins to Togekiss or something pathetic as Shedinja dangerous for the opponent. I recognize, however, that Skarmory's major weaknesses appears to be dealing with other defensive leads, like itself. That is where Whirlwind comes in, which I just love to abuse to keep pokemon switching into their spiked trap, and also there to prevent set-ups. I am a little iffy about it, but Brave Bird does provide a good STAB for Skarmory, and I actually find it useful for getting rid of annoying but frail sweepers like Gengar.
CHANGE: PAYBACK FOR ROOST
Being a lead that is easy to take out by fire and electric typing, I've decided to replace roost for payback. This is meant to serve as a check for common Taunt leads such as Azelf
Flygon
Role: Physical Attacker
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Levitate
Item: Choice Band
EV: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Moveset: Choice Band
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- Dragon Claw
PUT IN PLACE OF BRONZONG
I think some of my apparent weaknesses was the lack of fire resistences. Not only does Flygon handle this, but with it's decent speed and ability it actually made a good alternative. U-turn is for surveillance, and while it definately won't 1hitKO it, it's effective for leaving a bruise on Tyrannitar. I've also found Dragon Claw to be excellent on this pokemon, even giving it the potential to become a sweeper. Earthquake and Outrage are powerful STABs, but I usually don't use them unless it's late game.
CHANGE: FIRE PUNCH IN PLACE OF OUTRAGE
Changed this upon suggestion. I think this works really well, as it really doesn't need another risky move to choice band with, and it also expands its coverage.
Blissy
Role: Special Wall and Support
Nature: Calm
Ability: Natural Cure
Item: Lum Berry
EV: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Moveset: Ubers Wisher
- Wish
- Seismic Toss
- Protect
- Thunder Wave
I think now that I'm attempting to enter the competitive side of Pokemon, I finally understand why this pokemon is often a must-have for the OU metagame. Wish is, of course, for healing support to this team. Seismic Toss gives it some sort of offensive oomph. Protect is there to kind of play a prediction game with my opponent, where I would switch out or use an attack at the right time, and Toxic is to further cripple the opponent's team. I usually always switch to Blissy when I anticipate a special attack from my opponent, as well.
CHANGE: REPLACED SHED SHELL WITH LUM BERRY AND TOXIC WITH THUNDER WAVE
I think one of Blissy's major weakness, determined by how many times I've played over shoddy so far, is in fighting against itself. Teams seem prepared with similar sets, and honestly Toxic doesn't seem to be a huge benifit to a team whos common weaknesses are that most of them can be outrun, so replacing it with thunder wave, I think, would be a better alternative.
Lucario
Role: Special Sweeper
Nature: Modest
Ability: Inner Focus
Item: Choice Scarf (changed from Choice Specs)
EV: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Aura Sphere
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power Rock
- Vacuum Wave
Focus Blast is for STAB, Shadow Ball for ghost-countering, Hidden Power Rock for a counter of common sweepers, and Vacuum Wave for priority. Despite it's abundance of weaknesses, Lucario does it for me for having a versatile special sweeper.
EDIT- Changed Choice Specs to Choice Scarf upon request. I've finally found that it does its job much better with this change, thanks.
CHANGE: FOCUS BLAST TO AURA SPHERE.
I actually had aura sphere all along but I got it confused with the other move.
Hippowdon
Role: Physical Wall and Stockpiler
Nature: Impish
Ability: Sand Stream
Item: Leftovers
EV: 176 HP / 84 Def / 248 SpD
Moveset: Stockpilopotamus
- Stockpile
- Roar
- Slack off
- Earthquake
What particularly attracted me about this moveset was how it could take advantage from such a move as stockpile, improving it's already awesome defenses. To further add the awesomeness, it can use Slack off to recover itself, Roar to drive away set-up threats, and Earthquake for a STAB. He is there to expand my coverage against certain types, as well as give me a thunder and ground immunity, which seems to be the biggest threat to this team so far.
Gyarados
Role: Offensive Dragon Dancer
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Intimidate
Item: Life Orb
EV: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
Replaced Breloom
Gyarados' offensive Dragon dancer set. The Dragon Dance move boosts it's already high speed and attack, the other attacks are mostly for coverage, especially earthquake for Heatran or Jolteon (It's Jolly nature should allow it to outrun a Timid nature)
CHANGE: STONE EDGE TO ICE FANG
While Stone edge has much more power, it's plauged with its inaccuracy. Ice fang has 100% accuracy, and not only does the job of KOing Flying types, but also KOing Dragons with a possible 4x damage, and with Dragon Dance and Gyarados' already high attack stat, I think this change would be beneficial.
Closing Thoughts:
After testing this team out a bit over Shoddy, I think one its major problems is in dealing with Calm Mind/Dragon Dance sweepers. While they have the moves to cover it, they are often too slow or I keep failing to predict it to counter it, and the whole team just crumbles. I've also discovered that my team tends to have trouble dealing with fire and electric types, especially since my lead, sweeper, and my tank are all steel types, and there is also no way that I'll send Breloom against a fire type. This is essentially why I need your opinions, here, since I want advice on how to improve this team, or even start over all together.
EDIT After changing and testing out this new team, I've been finding that my results have been improving, though mostly against UU pokemon. I still feel like I'm having trouble against Rock and Steel leads.
Credits to Smogon for the movesets and EVs.
The thing is, I don't have this team in-game, and since EV training, IV breeding, especially in HG/SS, and whatnot is a shit-storm on a platter, I want to get the right team before I actually invest my time with this. Essentially, this is more of a "dream team" than anything else, and all movesets and EV distributions are pretty much the default of Smogon's tier list.
Because I'm new to competitive battling, I haven't really decided what the purpose of the team as a whole is for. I basically thought of what about make a good offense, defense, special defense and special attacker. Also, all of the movesets are pretty much all that was defined by Smogon's dex, but enough chatter, here they are:
Skarmory
Role: Lead Spiker
Nature: Impish
Ability: Keen Eye
Item: Occa Berry
EV: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 176 Def / 16 Spe
Moveset: Spiker
- Brave Bird
- Payback
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
Ever since I used one in my in-game team, Skarmory has proven to be one of the best defensive leads in my opinion. It's typing gives it some resistance against fighting moves, and it can survive against Sand Stream set-ups. Being a defensive pokemon, roost would serve it well in the healing process. I choose Stealth Rock over spikes, as while some pokemon won't take too much damage from it due to typing, it can hit almost everything, making switch-ins to Togekiss or something pathetic as Shedinja dangerous for the opponent. I recognize, however, that Skarmory's major weaknesses appears to be dealing with other defensive leads, like itself. That is where Whirlwind comes in, which I just love to abuse to keep pokemon switching into their spiked trap, and also there to prevent set-ups. I am a little iffy about it, but Brave Bird does provide a good STAB for Skarmory, and I actually find it useful for getting rid of annoying but frail sweepers like Gengar.
CHANGE: PAYBACK FOR ROOST
Being a lead that is easy to take out by fire and electric typing, I've decided to replace roost for payback. This is meant to serve as a check for common Taunt leads such as Azelf
Flygon
Role: Physical Attacker
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Levitate
Item: Choice Band
EV: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Moveset: Choice Band
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- Dragon Claw
PUT IN PLACE OF BRONZONG
I think some of my apparent weaknesses was the lack of fire resistences. Not only does Flygon handle this, but with it's decent speed and ability it actually made a good alternative. U-turn is for surveillance, and while it definately won't 1hitKO it, it's effective for leaving a bruise on Tyrannitar. I've also found Dragon Claw to be excellent on this pokemon, even giving it the potential to become a sweeper. Earthquake and Outrage are powerful STABs, but I usually don't use them unless it's late game.
CHANGE: FIRE PUNCH IN PLACE OF OUTRAGE
Changed this upon suggestion. I think this works really well, as it really doesn't need another risky move to choice band with, and it also expands its coverage.
Blissy
Role: Special Wall and Support
Nature: Calm
Ability: Natural Cure
Item: Lum Berry
EV: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Moveset: Ubers Wisher
- Wish
- Seismic Toss
- Protect
- Thunder Wave
I think now that I'm attempting to enter the competitive side of Pokemon, I finally understand why this pokemon is often a must-have for the OU metagame. Wish is, of course, for healing support to this team. Seismic Toss gives it some sort of offensive oomph. Protect is there to kind of play a prediction game with my opponent, where I would switch out or use an attack at the right time, and Toxic is to further cripple the opponent's team. I usually always switch to Blissy when I anticipate a special attack from my opponent, as well.
CHANGE: REPLACED SHED SHELL WITH LUM BERRY AND TOXIC WITH THUNDER WAVE
I think one of Blissy's major weakness, determined by how many times I've played over shoddy so far, is in fighting against itself. Teams seem prepared with similar sets, and honestly Toxic doesn't seem to be a huge benifit to a team whos common weaknesses are that most of them can be outrun, so replacing it with thunder wave, I think, would be a better alternative.
Lucario
Role: Special Sweeper
Nature: Modest
Ability: Inner Focus
Item: Choice Scarf (changed from Choice Specs)
EV: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Aura Sphere
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power Rock
- Vacuum Wave
Focus Blast is for STAB, Shadow Ball for ghost-countering, Hidden Power Rock for a counter of common sweepers, and Vacuum Wave for priority. Despite it's abundance of weaknesses, Lucario does it for me for having a versatile special sweeper.
EDIT- Changed Choice Specs to Choice Scarf upon request. I've finally found that it does its job much better with this change, thanks.
CHANGE: FOCUS BLAST TO AURA SPHERE.
I actually had aura sphere all along but I got it confused with the other move.
Role: Physical Wall and Stockpiler
Nature: Impish
Ability: Sand Stream
Item: Leftovers
EV: 176 HP / 84 Def / 248 SpD
Moveset: Stockpilopotamus
- Stockpile
- Roar
- Slack off
- Earthquake
What particularly attracted me about this moveset was how it could take advantage from such a move as stockpile, improving it's already awesome defenses. To further add the awesomeness, it can use Slack off to recover itself, Roar to drive away set-up threats, and Earthquake for a STAB. He is there to expand my coverage against certain types, as well as give me a thunder and ground immunity, which seems to be the biggest threat to this team so far.
Gyarados
Role: Offensive Dragon Dancer
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Intimidate
Item: Life Orb
EV: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
Replaced Breloom
Gyarados' offensive Dragon dancer set. The Dragon Dance move boosts it's already high speed and attack, the other attacks are mostly for coverage, especially earthquake for Heatran or Jolteon (It's Jolly nature should allow it to outrun a Timid nature)
CHANGE: STONE EDGE TO ICE FANG
While Stone edge has much more power, it's plauged with its inaccuracy. Ice fang has 100% accuracy, and not only does the job of KOing Flying types, but also KOing Dragons with a possible 4x damage, and with Dragon Dance and Gyarados' already high attack stat, I think this change would be beneficial.
Closing Thoughts:
After testing this team out a bit over Shoddy, I think one its major problems is in dealing with Calm Mind/Dragon Dance sweepers. While they have the moves to cover it, they are often too slow or I keep failing to predict it to counter it, and the whole team just crumbles. I've also discovered that my team tends to have trouble dealing with fire and electric types, especially since my lead, sweeper, and my tank are all steel types, and there is also no way that I'll send Breloom against a fire type. This is essentially why I need your opinions, here, since I want advice on how to improve this team, or even start over all together.
EDIT After changing and testing out this new team, I've been finding that my results have been improving, though mostly against UU pokemon. I still feel like I'm having trouble against Rock and Steel leads.
Credits to Smogon for the movesets and EVs.
Last edited:
