First Team in a long while.

[RedGalaxy]

Well, I haven't played pokemon in about a month and a half, because of all the new tiers popping up, and the chaos of it all, so I took a break. Now that UU and RU are settling down some, I figured I'd come back and play some more. So, here we go.

Building Process:

I first started with an old favorite from IV gen, because I haven't used him yet in 5th gen, and I already had him in game.

A Special Life Orb Infernape. While not completely original, it is utterly reliable, being able to take care of most threats one way or another. Next I wanted to add Empoleon, but when I just couldn't see how it could fit in with the team I had in mind, so I exchanged him for another favorite.

Standard set Swampert, with Stealth Rock. From here, I have really good synergy, and moves, so I could go in just about any direction I wanted, so that's exactly what I did.

A simple Flight Gem Acrobatic Archeops allows me to handle those pesky Conkledurr's, and other fighting types, as well as possible Flying types. Then my next 2 help Swampert out with defense. Reunicles, because its really easy to set up, and knock-down other things, minus Ferrothorn and Forretress, and Ferrothorn, because what defensive core is complete these days without one? My last pokemon took me a while to settle on. I used everything from a Tornadus, to a Terrakion, but in the end, I felt that a choice Scarf'd Thundurus was my best bet, letting me take care of almost anything that was giving me problems. However, I still ran into problems, so I came here, and had my team rated. The help I received was very helpful, and sure enough, problems were fixed. Now my line up is as follows.

With the addition of Politoed, this officially becomes my very first weather team.

The Team!

Politoed (M) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
- Perish Song

Upon changing my team, and removing Swampert in place of this little froggy, my team officially became a rain team, and my first weather team. I don't know how I feel about that quite yet, but we'll see how it goes. As far as I can tell, this politoed sets up rain, and also becomes a reliable revenge killer. Bowl Cut says that this guy can check Thundurus reliably, but I've yet to encounter one for this guy to enter on, but I do see why he says that. Also, without someone to Roar, I have added Perish song in place of HP grass, allowing me to stop people from setting up.

Gliscor (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 176 Def / 88 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Swords Dance
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake

Not the first time I've used this pokemon, and it won't be the last. Gliscor's not the easiest thing to counter, because of what it can do. However, he does have to watch out for the very random HP Ice, but it does handle physical threats very well, and works very well on rain teams, and against sand teams. The only thing I have to watch out for are, like I said, HP Ice, and water moves I don't see coming.

Scizor (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Bug Bite
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower

Okay, to be honest, I didn't see this one working, because it doesn't have U-Turn, which every Scizor I've ever used has U-Turn, but in the rain, it has staying power, effectively losing his weakness to fire, allowing him to set up on close to anything, and then sweeping the opponent's team. Bullet Punch works for those pokemon that just so happen to out speed me. I added Superpower so I can handle other steel types a bit more effectively, like Ferrothorn, and SD just adds to his power.

Reuniclus (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Focus Blast
- Recover
- Psyshock

Standard Calm Mind Reuniclus has the power to take almost anyone down. Even Blissey has a little bit of trouble fighting this thing off, though not a lot. Calm Mind gives Reuniclus the needed boosts to tank those special hits, Recover to make sure the damage it takes isn't lasting. Focus Blast and Psyshock are a lot like a Bolt Beam. Not many pokemon can take hits from both well. (Psychics being the only type I can think of.) I have Psyshock over Psychic so I can handle Blissey better, as Reuniclus is just about the only pokemon I have that can take anything Blissey has to offer.

Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 60 Def / 192 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Power Whip
- Thunder Wave

Third set I've tried for this one, and it works the best, as it can take the special hits that seem to effect me the most, as well as setting up entry hazards, and slowing down potential sweepers. Power Whip is there as the only attack I feel that Ferrothorn should ever have, (unless he some how gains the ability to learn Horn Leech in the future) Anyways, now being the way he is, I can also have him come in on Gastrodon and Swamperts that appear more frequently these days, though he still doesn't like Fighting or Fire moves in the slightest.

Thundurus (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast

Last we have Thundurus, who is a completely different type of beast then before. The revenge killer has become Politoed, and Thundurus has become a very nasty Special Sweeper in the rain. Thunder, because it can't fail in Rain, minus a protect, and HP Ice creates a Pseudo BoltBeam combo, and Focus Blast is just sort of there though, pretty much all it does is handle Tyranitar, or the occasional Magnezone really, but that's okay, because they are still pains.

The Retired!

Hide

Swampert (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 116 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Scald
- Roar

Swampert is a very reliable pokemon, and people were afraid he wouldn't stand up in the new 5th gen tier. He has yet to let me down. He will almost always get rocks up, and roar away first turn subbers, he is also my answer to those pesky Baton Pass teams that pop up now and again. I went the Scald over Surf because of the chance for burn, which allows him to survive more physical threats then he could before.

Infernape (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Vacuum Wave
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Psychic]


Infernape's move set was an easy one to choose, because it was the one I liked using in Gen IV. Flamethrower, because I do like the accuracy a fair bit more then I do the power of Fireblast. Vacuum Wave for the priority. Grass Knot for troubled pokemon, like Jellicent and Heavy pokemon like Terrakion. The last move is a bit different then what other people go with, but I have found that while I have HP Psychic, other fighting pokemon do not like coming in, even if they are just a bit bulky. It really is a surprise move that people don't see coming.

Archeops (M) @ Flight Gem
Trait: Defeatist
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- Acrobatics
- U-turn
- Endeavor


Archeops. The first pokemon I tried out in Vth gen, and thus, the first Vth gen pokemon I fell in love with. Its ungodly powerful, and pretty fast to boot. Stone Edge and Acrobatics are stab, and handle common threats easily. U-Turn, so I can get the jump of common switch ins. Endeavor a great move on this set, because Archeops my not be exceedingly bulky, but he does have this uncanny ability to survive a hit or two, and pull off an Endeavor that throws the opponent off guard.

So, that's my team. Any thoughts? Any Comments? Anything you just want to say? I'm all ears, and I'm willing to take criticism on any pokemon on my team, if you think its not any good. The only thought I have is that my team seems a little Sp.D weak, but only a little.

 

[Bowl Cut]

From what I understand, your main check to Conkeldurr is Archeops, which isn't bulky at all to begin with, and won't be doing as much damage as it should after its health has been cut in half. Your team also has troubles with some Terrakion, most notably the RP+SD variants, which are awfully common in OU due to it's great sweeping capabilities.

I'll recommend you a few things to improve your team:

Poison Heal Gliscor > Archeops
Swords Dance Scizor > Infernape
Choice Scarf Politoed > Swampert
Trick Room Reuniclus > Your current Reuniclus
Stealth Rock > Spikes on Ferrothorn

Reasoning behind all this:

1. Poison Heal Gliscor (Toxic Orb, Impish, 244 HP / 176 Def / 88 Speed, Taunt, Swords Dance, Earthquake, Ice Fang) takes on Conkeldurr as well as other potent threats to your team.

2. Swords Dance Scizor (Leftovers, Adamant, 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SpDef, Swords Dance, Bullet Punch, Bug Bite, Roost) checks Terrakion as well as most Trick Room Reuniclus which can dent this sort of teams.

3. Choice Scarf Politoed (Timid, 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Speed, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Focus Blast, Hidden Power Grass) reliably checks Thundurus which can OHKO-2HKO your entire team.

4. Toxic Reuniclus really isn't good at all since practically everything in your team now can handle Blissey with ease, and Trick Room Reuniclus (Life Orb, Quiet, 192 HP / 64 Def / 252 SpAtk, 0 Speed IVs, Trick Room, Psychic, Focus Blast, Shadow Ball) fits this kind of team.

5. You lose out on Stealth Rock by removing Swampert, and more offensive oriented teams rely on Stealth Rock more than anything.

You also should run a Nasty Plot Thundurus over your current set, as it ensures some KOs that this team needs, and it can tear up most teams apart, especially with Stealth Rock and Rain support.

Thundurus @ Life Orb
Timid Nature l 4 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Speed
Moves: Nasty Plot l Thunder l Focus Blast l Hidden Power Ice

Another thing you could do is running Protect over Thunder Wave on Ferrothorn, as it eases prediction somewhat and recovers Ferrothorn a ton of health, assuming Leech Seed is on the opponent.

Overall, nice team. Good luck.

 

[RedGalaxy]

I'll try out Gliscor over Archeops, and Politoed over Swampert(though I do love my Swampert, so it could be a hard fit...) and because I'll switch out Swampert, I'll go into using Scizor, and I'll switch Spikes for SR on Ferrothorn. The Thundurus set... I'll try it out also, because it does look pretty good.

However, I do have a question about switching Reunicles. Why have run TR on it if you aren't running a TR team? It doesn't make a whole bunch of sense to me. I mean, if your forced to switch pokemon in the middle of TR, then you run the chance of the rest of your team getting swept by something that can now outspeed your team.

PS: Oh, I also like how you said I built a nice team, but then recommend I change half my team to different pokemon. I just find that funny. :)

 

[RedGalaxy]

Bump- Team Updated.

 

[-Tsunami-]

Hi there.
On Politoed, run Perish Song/Hypnosis over Hidden Power Grass. HP Grass doesn't ohko Gastrodon anyway. Perish Song can stop you from getting swept and Hypnosis can put common switch ins like Rotom-W asleep. Also, definitely run a Lum Berry on Thundurus, as you can set up a free nasty plot on Jirachi. With Thunder and Nasty Plot, it will not detract from Thundurus' power too much. Also, I would definitely put Thunder Wave back on Ferrothorn, as Thundurus is a huge problem for your team, and that would at least stop your Ferrothorn from being set up fodder. Also, if you test this team and Blissey is somewhat of a problem, you can always give Reuniclus Psyshock over psychic, although that will make it harder to ko Gliscor.

 

[Evire]

I recommend putting Thunder Wave on Ferrothorn or perhaps on Thundurus as the Nasty Plot sweeper set is very standard, Thunder Wave could cripple opposing sweepers. However if you don't agree with my point I agree with TheMasterOfOz when he makes the point of putting Lum Berry on Thundurus, as a unexpected paralysis or poison status ailment would decrease your chances of sweeping significantly

 

[Faladran]

Hi, this team is looking a lot more solid after Bowl Cut's suggestions. The first thing I'd recommend is tweaking Ferrothorn's set a bit. Try a Careful nature with 252 HP / 60 Def / 196 SDef - this helps out Ferrothorn's special bulk and allows it to survive 2 Earthquakes from CB Haxorus. I also think Stealth Rock / Spikes / Power Whip / Thunder Wave would be an ideal moveset for stacking hazards and paralyzing opponents.

You may want to think about Superpower on Scizor for hitting other Ferrothorn, which rain teams really appreciate eliminating. Roost is pretty useful for survivability, though. I also think you should try the standard CM Reuniclus, since TR actually hurts some of your team members. You have other Reuniclus and Latias / Latios handled pretty well, so Shadow Ball isn't necessary. Last of all, definitely go Timid on Thundurus and try a Lum Berry. The speed is essential for outspeeding most threats, and Lum shields you from status while ensuring you still have plenty of power. This way, you won't have to worry about getting paralyzed against Jirachi and you can potentially beat Blissey after a boost. Good luck!

 

[RedGalaxy]

Thanks for the advice. Surprisingly, I actually thought about a Lum Berry late last night after I edited this thread yesterday, as well as running Timid on Thundurus.

I have made the recommended changes, as well as changing Ferro to the set mentioned by Faladran, because it seems more useful then my current set. (I did miss T-Wave) and I actually abandoned the TR Reuniculus also, moving back to my original set, but the CM set seems more useful, so I'll test it out. So, now I'm off to test my team as it stands now, at v2.2.

Question. Should I remove Choice Scarf from Politoed if I have Perish song on it?

 

[chaotictyranitar]

nice team if your worried about it being speccially weak try changing ferros evs to this 252hp/128special defense/128 def that is only a suggestion and i dont think it is all that nessessary but it might help

 

[RedGalaxy]

Team Updated. Any last comments, or remarks?