Nightfall (Mono-Dark)

[Atrum]

Having fallen in love with making mono-type teams, I decided to make a Dark one and give it a more creative name than my Ghost thread from last time. Anyway, there are a few amazing Dark types that came around this gen, namely Scrafty and Hydreigon. Sadly, Umbreon, one of my favorite Dark types, has once again received nothing and become less useful as a result of the power creep. I feel like this team isn't as well put together as my last one, so any and all suggestions on replacements and alternate sets would be well-appreciated.

Weavile
Ability: Pressure
Item: Focus Sash
Nature: Jolly
Fake Out
Ice Shard
Night Slash
Taunt
4HP/252Atk/252Spe

After some internal debate, I decided upon Weavile as my lead (or anti-lead as the case may be). Weavile operates pretty much the same as it did last generation. Fake Out on turn one to break their Sash, then use Ice Shard or Night Slash as appropriate. Taunt can be used to prevent bulky leads that Weavile can't KO from setting up, as well as preventing sweepers from stat-boosting should Weavile make it to later in the game. The EVs allow for maximum Attack and Speed, as its other stats aren't really worth a second glance.

Scrafty
Ability: Shed Skin
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Careful
Bulk Up
Rest
Drain Punch
Crunch
252HP/160Def/96SpDef

I'll admit that when I first saw Scrafty, my only thought was "WTF?" However, after seeing what this thing can do, it's grown on me. Bulky Scrafty is an absolute monster. Bulk Up boosts its great Defense and decent Attack, allowing it to become a great physical tank. Rest combined with Shed Skin allow it to ignore status, as you can either wait for Shed Skin to remove the status on its own, or Rest it off and bet on Shed Skin removing the Sleep. Drain Punch makes for an awesome STAB with the boost it got this gen and allows for recovery outside of Rest. Crunch couples very well with Drain Punch, giving Scrafty nearly unresisted STAB coverage. The EVs make Scrafty bulky enough to take a few hits while it sets up for a sweep.

Hydreigon
Ability: Levitate
Item: Choice Specs
Nature: Modest
Draco Meteor
Dark Pulse
Flamethrower
Surf
64HP/252SpAtk/192Spe

Hydreigon is one of my favorite Pokémon from this generation and it doesn't disappoint in battle. A Draco Meteor coming off of its base 125 Special Attack boosted by Specs deals massive damage to anything that doesn't resist it and still puts a decent dent in things that do. Dark Pulse makes a reliable secondary STAB. Flamethrower murders most Steels, perhaps most importantly Scizor, who can otherwise be a nuisance for this team. Surf combined with Flamethrower and Draco Meteor gives Hydreigon complete neutral coverage and allows it to hit almost anything for super-effective damage.

Umbreon
Ability: Synchronize
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Careful/Impish
Curse
Payback
Wish
Baton Pass
252HP/96Def/160SpDef

Umbreon has been a favorite of mine for over a decade now. Its usefulness has been buffeted by the sands of time, but still it carries on. This gen it lost the ability to TrapPass, which was its main utility in Gen IV. Luckily, the new Wish mechanics have allowed its Wishes to become more useful to teammates. Curse boosts Umbreon's mediocre Attack and wonderful Defense while lowering its Speed. The Speed loss makes Payback all the more effective, as it will be outsped by more and more opponents. Payback makes a good STAB move, and with a couple Curses can deal some nice damage to non-resisting opponents. Wish allows Umbreon to heal both itself and teammates. Baton Pass makes it so that Umbreon can pass either a Wish to an ailing teammate or some Curse boosts to either Scrafty or Drapion. It could also pass the boosts to any of its other allies, as the Defense boost would still be appreciated. The EVs give it all-around good bulk while maximizing HP to allow for bigger Wishes.

Spiritomb
Ability: Pressure
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Bold
Rest
Sleep Talk
Calm Mind
Dark Pulse
252HP/252Def/4SpDef

CroTomb can be devastating for anyone who underestimates it. The strategy is rather simple. Just CM until you're low on health, then Rest up and Sleep Talk away. Lather, rinse, repeat. The provided EVs send its Defense sky-high and after a few CM boosts, its Special Defense becomes even higher. Even off of Spiritomb's unimpressive Special Attack, those Dark Pulses will leave a mark after it gets a few boosts.

Drapion
Ability: Battle Armor
Item: Black Sludge
Nature: Careful
Crunch
Accupressure
Substitute
Taunt
96HP/46Atk/68Def/252SpDef/16Spe

This is probably the most unusual spread I've ever used on a Pokémon. The EVs give it rather balanced stats across the board, excepting the ignored Special Attack. Substitute lets Drapion take more powerful hits while Taunt shuts down walls and prevents set-up sweepers from setting up. Accupressure, though not the most orthodox set-up move, can be horribly effective. +2 to any of its stats short of Special Attack or accuracy, can turn it into either a lethal sweeper or powerful tank. Crunch makes for a good single attack, as it gains STAB and no type is immune to it. Black Sludge provides healing that opponents might be wary of Tricking onto themselves (admittedly, they may just trick it back onto another one of my own Pokémon) and Battle Armor prevents wayward Critical Hits from breaking through any defense boosts Drapion may have gotten. Alternatively, Drapion could receive Curse boosts from Umbreon and start a sweep from there or attempt to boost while starting from a higher point.​

There you have it. All in all, the team primarily focuses on bulk/tanking, with Weavile and Hydreigon being the only true sweepers there. I'm not very sure on how well Drapion will work, but if it gets the right boosts, I'm positive it could become a monster. All suggestions are appreciated and will be replied to when I can.

 

[Atrum]

Twenty-four hour bump.

 

[Farewell]

How about Mandibuzz?

It can tank, phaze, and use Night Shade for consistent damage, and is Immune to weather damage, should you decide to use Tyranitar, who benefits the team with at the very least: Stealth Rock. Tyranitar can also Taunt with bulk, unlike Weavile.

Honchkrow can use Sucker Punch, Heat Wave, Brave Bird, etc. for effective sweeping especially when Scarfed, and might be more useful than Weavile.

 

[Mr_br_kill]

I have 2 things to say

1) Crotomb is a fine set, but I would change dark pulse for shadow ball, mainly because scarfty can take on all the types that resist ghost and the fact all your guys have a dark move, so for some variety, I wouldn't make tomb's only attack the same type your whole team is spaming, but most importantly umbreon's also a mono attacking sweeper so you shouldn't use 2 mono sweepers with the same type.

2) I would recommend focus blast on your hydregon as a easy way to ohko sp deffseive ttair who otherwise sort of walls him in the sand. (surf doesn't do as much as you would think)

 

[Atrum]

How about Mandibuzz?

It can tank, phaze, and use Night Shade for consistent damage, and is Immune to weather damage, should you decide to use Tyranitar, who benefits the team with at the very least: Stealth Rock. Tyranitar can also Taunt with bulk, unlike Weavile.

Honchkrow can use Sucker Punch, Heat Wave, Brave Bird, etc. for effective sweeping especially when Scarfed, and might be more useful than Weavile.

I'll look into Mandibuzz. Sounds like it should fit in well with the general gist of the team. Honchkrow is something I looked at when building this one, but decided against putting in.

Tyranitar gets a bit complicated for me, as this is a DS-based team. I can RNG, so IVs are no problem, but I lack access to an Unnerve Tyranitar. For obvious reasons, I'd much rather not use one with SandStream. If I can get my hands on one with Unnerve, though, I would be very likely to have it replace Weavile as my lead.

 

[Atrum]

I have 2 things to say

1) Crotomb is a fine set, but I would change dark pulse for shadow ball, mainly because scarfty can take on all the types that resist ghost and the fact all your guys have a dark move, so for some variety, I wouldn't make tomb's only attack the same type your whole team is spaming, but most importantly umbreon's also a mono attacking sweeper so you shouldn't use 2 mono sweepers with the same type.

2) I would recommend focus blast on your hydregon as a easy way to ohko sp deffseive ttair who otherwise sort of walls him in the sand. (surf doesn't do as much as you would think)

1) You definitely have a point there. Only problem I'd have is if a Normal type switches in on it, but I suppose Scrafty could easily handle most of those. Of course, since this team is likely to be used in a mono-type tourney (though it may be used in just for fun battles), I'd probably know when my opponent would have a Normal type on their team and could just switch in Dark Pulse accordingly.

2) The only real problem I have with that plan is that Focus Blast would really only be useful for hitting T-tar, where Surf hits pretty much everything that operates under sand for super-effective damage. Surf just seems more useful on it, not to mention the ever-wonderful Focus Miss.I'll keep Surf for now, but if T-tar does prove to be a problem, then I'll probably switch in Focus Blast.

 

[TM13IceBeam]

I'll look into Mandibuzz. Sounds like it should fit in well with the general gist of the team. Honchkrow is something I looked at when building this one, but decided against putting in.

Tyranitar gets a bit complicated for me, as this is a DS-based team. I can RNG, so IVs are no problem, but I lack access to an Unnerve Tyranitar. For obvious reasons, I'd much rather not use one with SandStream. If I can get my hands on one with Unnerve, though, I would be very likely to have it replace Weavile as my lead.

Nobody should have a legitimate Unnerve Tyranitar here since it's unreleased.

 

[Atrum]

Nobody should have a legitimate Unnerve Tyranitar here since it's unreleased.

Yeah, I wasn't sure if it had been released or not, but, since it apparently is not, I'll have to pass on adding Tyranitar to my team since SandStream will probably do more harm than Stealth Rock does good.