Tormented
Hey guys! I'm pretty new here, but I have a bit of experience with competitive battling, although not too much. I've made a few other offensively based teams, but I could never seem to get them to win consistently. This is my first time playing a more defensively based team, and it's based around the use of Tormentran, who I just recently discovered and immediately fell in love with. I made the rest of my team based around him, by covering his weaknesses and giving him some much needed support in order to be successful. The end result was much different than any other team I've used, although it definitely is in need of some help. (Coincidentally, it's also the only team I've used to not have any 5th gen pokemon in it.)
Team building process:
Obviously, you can have a team based around Tormentran without the Tormentran itself, so of course he's my first choice. I decided to start making my other choices by covering his type weaknesses with pokemon that'll be useful later.
To cover up his weakness, I went with Gastrodon and Gengar for several reasons. First, Gastrodon absorbs the water attacks that Heatran is weak to and get a boost from them. Gastrodon is also able to use Toxic and Scald to inflict status on anyone who isn't hit by the toxic spikes that I'll incorporate into the team later. Gengar, although it isn't bulky, can still manage to let toxic run its course with a SubDisable set. Next, I needed someone to actually set up the toxic spikes I need.
Forretress was quick to come to mind, and for good reason. Not only can it reliably set up toxic spikes, it can also use either spikes or stealth rock alongside it, and rapid spin away opposing hazards. Next, I decided that a phazer could be extremely useful to take advantage of the entry hazards provided by forretress.
Garchomp? I guess I went in a different direction with this guy as my choice as a phazer, but truth be told, he can do the job exceptionally well by using RestTalk combined with the new, amazing damaging phazer, Dragon Tail! The team was finally near its end, and my first choice to fill in the last slot was pretty tough, taking me two tries to get decent enough for my tastes.
I went with Tyranitar as a lead at first because he could set up stealth rocks and create a sandstorm which helped out quite a few of my teammates. However, after battling, I was never able to get too much out of him once he set up rocks, and it was frustrating to try to take advantage of weather when so many other teams run weather also.
After deciding against Tyranitar, I went with Gallade, one of my favorite pokemon. He seems to be a much better fit into the team, as he's able to use bulk up and drain punch to stay alive for quite awhile, and Tyranitar's job of setting up rocks is now being handled by forretress in addition to toxic spikes. Forretress was also put into the lead position as the best candidate for the job.
Team Preview:
Team In-Depth:
Note: Underlined words signify changes that have already been made to the team.
Forretress @ Macho Brace
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef (0 IV in speed)
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Toxic Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Gyro Ball
For my lead, I chose to use Forretress for its amazing ability to get entry hazards up and to spin away the opponent's hazards as well. By giving forretress max special defense EVs, he is able to at least get two layers of spikes up against most leads. Of course, there are times when I won't be able to get hazards up immediately due to the opposing lead being a large threat to Forretress. In these cases, I usually switch to something that can resist it. The worst leads to go up against, obviously, are any leads packing fire-type moves. If I suspect that the other lead is hoping to roast Forretress on turn 1, I usually switch into Heatran, take the fire damage boost, and hopefully force a switch. In some cases, I can switch to Garchomp to bluff an offensive set as well.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 16 SAtk / 100 SDef / 140 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Torment
- Substitute
- Protect
- Lava Plume
Next is Heatran, who is usually the main focal point of the team. Since he's definitely going to wreck up some serious shit when played at the right time, I usually hold off on sending him out, instead waiting until I get the opportunity to get him in and safely set up a Sub. Once he's in, he's ready to show the opponent why he's called Tormentran. Since most pokemon will only have one move that can hit Tormentran hard, the combination of Torment, Sub, and Protect can make it impossible for the opponent to do any major harm while Toxic slowly but surely whittles down their health. Lava Plume is vital to the set for its burn rate, causing the pokemon not affected by the Toxic Spikes to get crippled anyways. When this set works, it can be one of the most frustrating sets in the game, rendering even those with super effective attacks useless against him.
Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Def / 44 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Scald
- Recover
This guy is extremely useful to the team. With Storm drain, water type moves are beyond useless against him. Switch in when one's about to come (and when doesn't a team have water moves) and he'll tank like a beast. Ice beam is crucial to take out any flying types that aren't affected by toxic spikes, and Scald is able to burn anything that can't get poisoned. Toxic is to hit flying types with the status they avoided upon switching in, and recover keeps Gastrodon in to tank more hits. The EVs in the set are physically defensive because, as you could probably tell by the specially defensive Forretress, I hate limiting a defensive pokemon to only one type of attack. And since water types can be both physical and special, it really helps. I considered using a Quagsire in this spot, but it doesn't actually resist water types, and Excadrill, one of my most hated pokemon, 2HKOs it if I'm not mistaken, making gastrodon my preferred choice here.
Gengar @ Black Sludge
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Disable
- Hex
- Focus Blast
Oh, SubDisable Gengar, what could I ever do without you? Ever since I saw the combination used with Disable's new 100% accuracy, I've used a similar set to this in almost all of my teams. I just can't live without it. This thing laughs in the face of pokemon like Machamp and Conkeldurr which rely on either Payback or Stone Edge to hit this thing, and when they're no longer able to use those moves against me, they're forced to switch after wasting several turns to poison while at the same time giving me a free turn to make a sub. Hex was chosen over Shadow Ball because most of the pokemon he goes up against are going to end up with some kind of status, usually poison from the toxic spikes or Gastrodon. Combined with Focus Blast, it's a real force to be reckoned with.
Garchomp @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Tail
- Swords Dance
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
My, uh, different Garchomp set to say the least. I found it on the OP of the Creative Movesets Topic (which also has the SubDisable Gengar set, but I saw the set used before then). The main reason for using this set is to use RestTalk + Dragon Tail to get a 0 priority phzing move that also does damage. I've also used Roar in place of Swords Dance on this set, and I like both too much to really choose just one, but for now I'm running Swords Dance. I uses to run a chesto berry on this set, mainly because of the overabundance of leftovers already and because it could sometimes let me swords dance on my opponent, rest off their damage, and swords dance again before resting, however, the berry usually only served to do more harm than good for me, especially since it made it more difficult to switch into sleep moves. Sand Veil makes this set even more annoying when I go up against a team that uses SS for themselves, making this guy even harder to kill.
Gallade @ Leftovers
Trait: Steadfast
EVs: 240 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef / 12 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Shadow Sneak
This is the Bulk Up Gallade set straight from the analysis topic. Ever since I saw Gallade for the first time, it instantly became one of my favorite pokemon. Fortunately, it's also able to hold its own in battle, so I'm always excited when I'm able to use him. What many people overlook about this fighter is his incredible ability to shrug off special attacks. This, combined with Bulk Up to bring his Physical Defense up as well as his already amazing attack, make gallade a huge threat to those who let him set up even a little. What little damage he takes can be recovered indirectly with drain punch, while Ice punch one again covers the flyers that I hate so much. Shadow sneak gives Gallade some much needed priority, as well as perfect neutral coverage. By opting to use this Bulk Up set over his other options, he's able to last longer, once again letting toxic spikes be used to their full potential.
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So, that should just about be it for this RMT topic. As much as I'd like to list the team's major threats, identifying them is where my noobiness is at its worst. All I can really say is that SS teams can be extremely frustrating due to all the Steel types laughing as Toxic Spikes. Excadrill in particular is terrible. Excadrill may have been my first and only shiny I've seen and caught myself, but that doesn't stop me from hating him with SS up. Another pokemon that can be problematic is Dragonite. If Forretress doesn't get Stealth Rock up, Dragonite can troll Heatran with a combination of Multiscale and Outrage to laugh at Torment. I know there are bound to be tons of other threats to the team, but I have no clue how to identify them really.
Regardless, I do know that this team needs some definite improvement. I really don't want to get rid of the Heatran, and I'm particularly fond of Gallade in general, though I could part with him if it's really necessary. I'll be the first to say that I have no idea how to make an EV spread, and if you see an EV spread that isn't 252/252/4 of some sort, it was pretty much copy-pasted onto my pokemon. So, now that I've gotten all my noobiness out into the open, what suggestions do you guys have to improve this team?