First off, I'm new to the whole competitive Pokémon thing, I’ve been reading about it and reading war stories and stuff for a while as well as going through battle tower etc. in game, but I'm new to the whole battling other people competitively, I tried to start up a while ago, but couldn’t get the hang of it, and gave up pretty quick due to other interests taking preference. Now I'm finished high school I have more free time and have decided to get into it, especially with the advent of gen5, there just looked like far too much fun stuff to not give it a shot.
So don’t expect the best team, but it’s also not entirely crap I don’t think. I spent a while throwing together a team and trying it out. So far I've had a bit of success, winning about half my matches it seems, but given the starting point for new players probably isn’t that high, that probably is not too good, so I've decided to post it up here, to see whoever my loses are because of the team, or because of me, and to get help on improving it.
The Team:
Porygon2@Evolution Stone
Ability: Trace
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 Health/252 Defense/4 Special Defense
Moves:
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Recover
-Magic Coat
This is my lead, porygon2 with evolution stone is VERY bulky, and recover makes up for leftovers, keeping it alive and helping it survive and kill things. Ice Beam and Thunderbolt are for damage and coverage, as well as the HAX freeze/paralyze(has won me a couple of games).
Magic coat is because it's a lead, and so often leads will just throw out entry hazards letting me bounce them right back at them, as well as for annoyances like erufuun.
As a normal type, it has a tendency to attract fighting type moves, which are generally physical, and on physical Pokémon, which is a great thing with my next Pokémon.
Sableye@Leftovers
Ability: Mischievous Heart
Nature: Careful
EVs: 252 Health/120 Defense/136 Special Defense
Moves:
-Night Shade
-Will-O-Wisp
-Taunt
-Recover
Sableye, the Pokémon only so willing to get fighting attacks thrown at it, swapped into from Porgygon2. Priority Will-O-Wisp then cripples whichever physical Pokémon threw the fighting attack, night shade for some damage(I prefer its constant nature over trickery) and recover keeps it alive.
I also tested out substitute and trick+iron ball in place of taunt, but neither of them helped as much as taunt does.
He has a problem with fire types immune to WoW and special attacks, special attacks are eaten by porygon2 and zuruzukin, while I don’t have a solid counter to physical fire types, I generally beat them with my thick fat mamoswine's earthquake or my nidoking's earth power. Guts Roopushin is a problem since I cannot burn it, taunt stops bulk up and forces him to use payback, which generally gives me a few turns to night shade and finish with icicle shard Mamoswine, however this requires sacrificing Sableye which can be problematic later on.
Zuruzukin@Leftovers
Ability: Shed Skin
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Health/252 Attack/4 Special Defense
Moves:
-Drain Punch
-Crunch
-Amnesia
-Taunt(or bulk up?)
Zuruzukin is rather powerful but also relatively bulky, this is a defensive set that doesn’t use bulk up, but rather amnesia. Amnesia misses out on the attack boost, but physical sweepers are hopefully crippled by Sableye's burn to the point it can tank it with drain punch, while amnesia then allows him to shrug off special attacks as well.
Drain punch for damage and healing, crunch for impressive coverage from a dual stab, and taunt then stops defensive Pokémon, the ones not bothered by either burn or amnesia.
He has a tendency to also draw fighting attacks, again to be drawn to sableye, however both have a problem with guts roopushin.
I'm also considering swapping taunt for bulk up, letting me set up on either end of the spectrum and giving a damage boost, while I can still use Sableye for a priority taunt that’s probably better all round because of it.
Mamoswine@Choice Band
Ability: Thick Fat
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 152 Health/252 Attack/104 Special Defense
Moves:
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-Ice Shard
-Stealth Rock
Mamoswine, choiced mamoswine hits hard for revenge with ice shard, helping it also decimate dragons that would want to kill me, stealth rock is there but I don’t use it much due to the choice band and the fact I often get free entry hazards from magic coat, but if I get a chance to set it up it works great, and there is not a lot that I need icicle drop for that either earthquake or ice shard is not sufficient for.
Other than that, not a lot to say about it, I generally use it to take out fire types due to thick fat giving neutral hits and taking them out with a powerful earthquake, which is useful as they are immune to sableye’s burn, but since its only a neutral hit some of the more powerful ones can still pose problems.
Nidoking@Life Orb
Ability: Encourage
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 Health/252 Special Attack/4 Speed
Moves:
-Earth power
-Fire Blast
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
Nidoking, a very powerful special attacker with great coverage and no life orb recoil, I’ve gone for the pure special attacking version over toxic spikes due to wanting to burn things. I chose him for the power it offers while also being one of my favorites since generation 1, with encourage giving him the boost to convince me to use him. I didn’t run any Speed because most things would out speed him anyway, and the bulk is better for that, however I don’t know all too much about speed tiers or anything, so if speed would be better on him I would be willing to change that.
Breloom@Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Attack/252 Speed/4 Health
Moves:
-Bullet Seed
-Stone Edge
-Mach Punch
-Spore
Techniloom, I chose it for a few of reasons, a second strong priority in addition to ice shard doesn’t go amiss, sleep from spore which scizor or hitmontop lack helps it’s case and I don’t have any other grass moves, it also breaks subs really well.
In all that, she performs well, and also performs excellently against the Natt/Bung duo, which is more than enough to get a spot on my team due to it being one of my favorites since gen 3.
So yea, some of the problems I have encountered have been set up sweepers that I cannot outspeed that come in after sableye has died taking out someone else, that may also just be me though, maybe i should be more careful to keep him around.
Also, strong pokemon outspeeding mine in general can be a problem as nidoking and mamoswine are not incredibly fast, I tried thunder wave support on porygon2 for a while, but it was not worth what i lost by losing thunderbolt.
So don’t expect the best team, but it’s also not entirely crap I don’t think. I spent a while throwing together a team and trying it out. So far I've had a bit of success, winning about half my matches it seems, but given the starting point for new players probably isn’t that high, that probably is not too good, so I've decided to post it up here, to see whoever my loses are because of the team, or because of me, and to get help on improving it.
The Team:
Porygon2@Evolution Stone
Ability: Trace
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 Health/252 Defense/4 Special Defense
Moves:
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Recover
-Magic Coat
This is my lead, porygon2 with evolution stone is VERY bulky, and recover makes up for leftovers, keeping it alive and helping it survive and kill things. Ice Beam and Thunderbolt are for damage and coverage, as well as the HAX freeze/paralyze(has won me a couple of games).
Magic coat is because it's a lead, and so often leads will just throw out entry hazards letting me bounce them right back at them, as well as for annoyances like erufuun.
As a normal type, it has a tendency to attract fighting type moves, which are generally physical, and on physical Pokémon, which is a great thing with my next Pokémon.
Sableye@Leftovers
Ability: Mischievous Heart
Nature: Careful
EVs: 252 Health/120 Defense/136 Special Defense
Moves:
-Night Shade
-Will-O-Wisp
-Taunt
-Recover
Sableye, the Pokémon only so willing to get fighting attacks thrown at it, swapped into from Porgygon2. Priority Will-O-Wisp then cripples whichever physical Pokémon threw the fighting attack, night shade for some damage(I prefer its constant nature over trickery) and recover keeps it alive.
I also tested out substitute and trick+iron ball in place of taunt, but neither of them helped as much as taunt does.
He has a problem with fire types immune to WoW and special attacks, special attacks are eaten by porygon2 and zuruzukin, while I don’t have a solid counter to physical fire types, I generally beat them with my thick fat mamoswine's earthquake or my nidoking's earth power. Guts Roopushin is a problem since I cannot burn it, taunt stops bulk up and forces him to use payback, which generally gives me a few turns to night shade and finish with icicle shard Mamoswine, however this requires sacrificing Sableye which can be problematic later on.
Zuruzukin@Leftovers
Ability: Shed Skin
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Health/252 Attack/4 Special Defense
Moves:
-Drain Punch
-Crunch
-Amnesia
-Taunt(or bulk up?)
Zuruzukin is rather powerful but also relatively bulky, this is a defensive set that doesn’t use bulk up, but rather amnesia. Amnesia misses out on the attack boost, but physical sweepers are hopefully crippled by Sableye's burn to the point it can tank it with drain punch, while amnesia then allows him to shrug off special attacks as well.
Drain punch for damage and healing, crunch for impressive coverage from a dual stab, and taunt then stops defensive Pokémon, the ones not bothered by either burn or amnesia.
He has a tendency to also draw fighting attacks, again to be drawn to sableye, however both have a problem with guts roopushin.
I'm also considering swapping taunt for bulk up, letting me set up on either end of the spectrum and giving a damage boost, while I can still use Sableye for a priority taunt that’s probably better all round because of it.
Mamoswine@Choice Band
Ability: Thick Fat
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 152 Health/252 Attack/104 Special Defense
Moves:
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-Ice Shard
-Stealth Rock
Mamoswine, choiced mamoswine hits hard for revenge with ice shard, helping it also decimate dragons that would want to kill me, stealth rock is there but I don’t use it much due to the choice band and the fact I often get free entry hazards from magic coat, but if I get a chance to set it up it works great, and there is not a lot that I need icicle drop for that either earthquake or ice shard is not sufficient for.
Other than that, not a lot to say about it, I generally use it to take out fire types due to thick fat giving neutral hits and taking them out with a powerful earthquake, which is useful as they are immune to sableye’s burn, but since its only a neutral hit some of the more powerful ones can still pose problems.
Nidoking@Life Orb
Ability: Encourage
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 Health/252 Special Attack/4 Speed
Moves:
-Earth power
-Fire Blast
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
Nidoking, a very powerful special attacker with great coverage and no life orb recoil, I’ve gone for the pure special attacking version over toxic spikes due to wanting to burn things. I chose him for the power it offers while also being one of my favorites since generation 1, with encourage giving him the boost to convince me to use him. I didn’t run any Speed because most things would out speed him anyway, and the bulk is better for that, however I don’t know all too much about speed tiers or anything, so if speed would be better on him I would be willing to change that.
Breloom@Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Attack/252 Speed/4 Health
Moves:
-Bullet Seed
-Stone Edge
-Mach Punch
-Spore
Techniloom, I chose it for a few of reasons, a second strong priority in addition to ice shard doesn’t go amiss, sleep from spore which scizor or hitmontop lack helps it’s case and I don’t have any other grass moves, it also breaks subs really well.
In all that, she performs well, and also performs excellently against the Natt/Bung duo, which is more than enough to get a spot on my team due to it being one of my favorites since gen 3.
So yea, some of the problems I have encountered have been set up sweepers that I cannot outspeed that come in after sableye has died taking out someone else, that may also just be me though, maybe i should be more careful to keep him around.
Also, strong pokemon outspeeding mine in general can be a problem as nidoking and mamoswine are not incredibly fast, I tried thunder wave support on porygon2 for a while, but it was not worth what i lost by losing thunderbolt.