I'm extremely annoyed after losing on my 36th battle on the Super Singles with this team:
Ferrothorn "Nutrey" @ Leftovers
Relaxed (+Def -Spe)
252 HP, 252 Def, 6 SpD
~ Stealth Rock
~ Spikes
~ Leech Seed
~ Gyro Ball
Since Nutrey hates Fire and Fighting type attacks, the opponent almost always leads with either a Fire or Fighting type. Ground or Ice type leads are also very common. Only a few occasional leads like Roserade or Durant are setup fodder. After playing so many matches, I would actually be surprised if the opponent's lead didn't carry a STAB Fire, Fighting, Ground or Ice move. Getting frozen sucks, but I have to admit that Nutrey manages to thaw himself out after two or three turns most of the time. The opposing lead Pokemon I hate the most is probably Houndoom, who not only roasts Nutrey, but can also chew up Burungel. Not surprisingly, Houndoom has by far (no kidding) been the most popular opposing lead, with Energy Ball Ninetales close in second place. Vanilluxe, Mamoswine, Scrafty and Conkeldurr have also been common opposing leads.
If the opposing lead lacks STAB Fighting or Fire moves, I usually start off with Leech Seed, which is awesome. I would then proceed with setting up Spikes and Stealth Rock if they didn't have other STAB moves such as Blizzard or Earthquake. Leech Seed sucks away their HP while Nutrey is having fun. Iron Barbs is a great ability too, since it helps wear down physical attacks along with Leech Seed. Quite often, the opponent is already down to OHKO range with Gyro Ball by the time Stealth Rock and Spikes are set up. Slugs like Nutrey are prone to Taunt, so it must have at least one attacking move. Gyro Ball is also handy for smashing Pokemon that would outspeed Thunder.
Jellicent "Burungel" @ Lum Berry
Bold (+Def -Atk)
252 Def, 212 SpD, 44 Spe
~ Surf
~ Shadow Ball
~ Will-O-Wisp
~ Recover
Burungel has proven to be possibly the best partner for Nutrey, since Chandelure lacks the bulk to take many hits. Since the opponent loves leading with Fire or Fighting type attacks, I love switching in Burungel to take the hit, especially if their lead doesn't have any moves to hurt Burungel with. However, for some reason, Burungel is often cursed with having to take many critical hits, much more than Nutrey and Thunder. Burungel has had to put up with bulky opponents with SpD boosts and spam Rest. Did Burungel manage to land at least one critical hit every ten turns? Hell no. Should Burungel spam Recover against hard hitters? Hell no, because the opponent WILL score a critical hit within four turns. Moves like Night Slash landed as critical hits more than half the time.
Burungel used to have Scald + Acid Armor, but the chances of Scald burning the opponent (apparently 30%) were obviously far lower than them scoring a critical hit (apparently 6.25% to 12.5%) and OHKOing Burungel. Acid Armor was useless too, since the opponent usually scored a critical hit at least once every three turns, which ignores the Defence boosts. It sucks when Will-O-Wisp misses, but I don't regret putting it in Burungel's moveset since it can be a lifesaver when it lands. Most importantly, the damage from critical hits is halved when burnt, so Burungel can usually manage to Recover the damage before getting OHKOed by even super effective moves. Status sucks, hence Lum Berry, since I can't put Leftovers on both Burungel and Nutrey. I wish Burungel had higher base Speed, as it would make Burungel's job even easier. The extra Speed EVs help outspeed Tyranitar, so Burungel can burn it before it uses Crunch.
Zapdos "Thunder" @ Life Orb
Timid (+Spe -Atk)
6 Def, 252 SpA, 252 Spe
~ Thunderbolt
~ Heat Wave
~ Hidden Power [Ice]
~ Roost
If Stealth Rock and Spikes are fully set up, most opponents are within OHKO range by Thunder. There isn't much here to explain except to hit and hope the opponent faints. I refrain from sending out Thunder unless Nutrey and Burungel have fainted or to utilise its Ground immunity against opponents trying to shake things up with Nutrey. Thunder only has base 100 Speed, but it can survive most attacks except for STAB Blizzard or Stone Edge. Roost is interesting, since it will take reduced damage from Rock, Ice and Electric moves if it gets to Roost first.
I lost to an opponent that lead with Mamoswine (a Pokemon that has appeared in almost a quarter of all teams I've faced).
Mamoswine | Adamant | Lax Incense | Hail | Earthquake | Superpower | Fissure | HP/Atk
Since one of the four Mamoswine sets carries Fissure, I attacked with Gyro Ball in the first turn to get the potentially deadly mammoth out of the way. Indeed, Mamoswine used Superpower, indicating that it was the one with Fissure. Both Superpower and Gyro Ball reduced the two Pokemon to the orange HP range.
Thinking that Mamoswine would use Superpower again (as usual in the past), I switched out to Burungel. Unfortunately, Mamoswine chose to use Earthquake, which inflicted about 48% damage. Mamoswine was faster than Burungel, so it managed to land another Earthquake before fainting to Burungel's Surf. Burungel was down to red HP.
Vanilluxe was sent in. Again, the ice cream was faster, so Burungel fainted to Blizzard before it could do anything. I sent Nutrey in ready to use Gyro Ball, but Blizzard was too much for Nutrey. Thunder didn't manage to OHKO it with Heat Wave and got OHKOed with Blizzard.
I may have had a chance at winning if Nutrey used Stealth Rock in the beginning so that Vanilluxe would be OHKOed by Thunder later on. However, beating that Mamoswine with Burungel alone is another story.
Any opinions on how I can improve this team or play things a bit differently?
