I'll make a good Gardevoir team if it's the last thing I ever do! ... Help me... :(

[phoenixwright7]

Intro

So... Gardevoir's been my favorite pokémon for quite some time. In game, she's a pain to train but extremely rewarding do to her fantastic stats and movepool. Competitively, she's still rather cool. Her movepool becomes even more awesome, Trace becomes the most fun ability ever, and she can still be rather rewarding. That said, she's always been kinda sorta outclassed by other psychic 'mons like Alakazam and playing her to her strengths can be a bit difficult thanks either to her base 80 speed or low HP and physical defense. Being a Gardevoir fan, I was extremely disappointed to see 'mons get a lot of new tools last gen that needed 'em but Gardevoir not really get anything last gen to compensate for the power creep. That said, it seems that gamefreak listened to my prayers, giving Gardevoir the secondary fairy typing and a mega evolution. So, yeah... Kinda wanna make an awesome team that makes good use of her new strengths! Hopefully, the new tools that she got will be enough, though so far I've found making a team 'round her to be extremely tough. Halp!

The team

Smeargle (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 80 HP / 80 SDef / 96 Def
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spore
- Sticky Web
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt

One of Gardevoir's biggest problems is her speed. rather it's her normal form's base 80 or her Mega's base 100, there's still plenty out there that can outpace her, and since Gamefreak didn't do anything to patch her lower physical defenses, she can't really afford to tank to many hits, not even resisted ones. Originally, I tried to spread paralysis, but the nerf to the status condition made that not always effective and I'd run into room problems anyways trying to cover all my bases. So, time to try a Smeargle lead for the first time ever! Though suicide leads don't work nearly as well now as they did before, Smeargle still works rather well. Spore may no longer be able to put grass types to sleep this gen, the most common grass type is Ferrothorn who doesn't like Taunt anyways. Sticky Web brings any grounded 'mon down to Gardevoir's level in terms of speed, meaning that I don't have to worry nearly as much. Stealth Rock is, well... Stealth Rock... I highly doubt any explanation is required there, lol. Taunt prevents stuff like Ferrothorn who likes to switch in to take the spore from setting up. Generally, Smeargle does his job fairly well, though there are some leads that Smeargle loses to like Deoxys-D and anyone with a faster or priority taunt. :/

Gardevoir (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast

I would have her Mega pic here, but the site doesn't have her shiny yet <_<. Anywho, Mega Gardevoir is meant to be the star of the team here. Pixilate Hyper Voice is such a boss move that I feel that alone warrants at least testing her in OU, even if other Mega's may either be better or at least easier to build a team 'round. I mean, a Stab that reaches over 100 base power, hits dragons super effectively, and ignores sub? And all coming off of base 165 Special attack? Aweeeeeeeesome! Psyshock may seem like redundant coverage, but hitting on both sides of the spectrum is almost always really freakin' cool and besides, hitting poison's super effectively is pretty neat since they can now hit me for super effective damage. Shadow Ball is nice to use for ghosts, and Focus Miss makes steels wish they were never born. I did have her as a modest nature, but then I was outpaced by a Jolteon still even with webs so I changed her to Timid.

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Pain Split
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp

I hate Rotom. I hate it with a burning passion. I hate seeing it on almost every team, I hate team building and having to literally go out of my way to not use it... Ugh! That said, I decided with this team to swallow my pride in hopes of building a competent Gardevoir team. Hydro Pump hits extremely hard even uninvested, Volt Switch aids in momentum, Pain Split gives me some form of recovery, and WoW because burning things is always awesome. Although I already have Gliscor for physical defense, there are some things like Azumarill and Ice Punch users that Gliscor can't deal with, so Rotom-W can help take some of the pressure off of Gliscor.

Bisharp (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance

Hazards, specifically sticky Web, is quite important in allowing Gardevoir to perform her duties as a late game cleanup 'mon. Unfortunately, hazards are easier then ever to get rid of so you can't really patch up your need to keep hazards on the team by adding a spin blocker. Bisharp tanks ghost and dark attacks which this team is weak to decently well while being an excellent way of countering Defog. When Bisharp switches into defog, along with any other stat lowering move, Bisharp gets an attack boost. Basically, I switch him in and get a swords dance up for free! :). Iron Head is because fairies, Knock Off is broke as all sin, Sucker Punch gives my team some nice priority, and SD is because wynaut. What ever I switch into probably ain't gonna want to stay in, so getting up to +4 in one turn is insane. Life Orb are for those times when I need to hit hard right out of the gate before acquiring any kind of a boost, and the EVs is to let it make use of webs as well.

Gliscor (M) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 Spd
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Taunt
- Protect
- Toxic

Y'know what? Gliscor is a jerk. I honestly don't think I need to say more. Seriously, he's gotta be one of the biggest jerk in this game. Not even Blue reaches his level jerkwadness, and that's saying something! Anywho, Gliscor is my main physical wall. He can tank most physical hits out there fairly well, and make their lives a living Hell with Taunt/Protect/Toxic shenanigans. Really, Earthquake is filler. I mean, it's nice for steels, don't get me wrong, but screw everything, Toxic stall is his main duty and we all know it!

Aegislash (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 HP / 252 SAtk
Quiet Nature
- King's Shield
- Iron Head
- Shadow Ball
- Shadow Sneak

... That's mildly disappointing. Anyways! Aegislash. I have Defog countered, but that still leaves Rapid Spin. Aegislash is a ghost type that only has one safe switch in, so lets go with that! He's also my best switch into fairies. Honestly, he was thrown on 'cause wynaut? I don't like that he shares weaknesses with Bisharp, 'nor do I like that some fairies can still break through him easily. I dunno, some times he does alright, other times... That said, I can say the same thing about half the team <_<

Threat List! ... Oh dear...*sighs*

I have no reliable way to break through her. I can toxic stall her with Gliscor, but that isn't all that reliable unless she's on her own. I can setup on her with Bisharp, but I'd really rater not be paralyzed. I suppose you could say that she can't do anything to me, but I can't really do much to her either reliably or safely.

Fairies in general can be a major pain, but especially Azumarill and Mawhile. I just have no reliable switch into any of their sets and must rely on prediction and prayer to beat 'em. Basically, I lose.

Deoxys in general is rough, do to their stats and speed. They can prevent me from getting up hazards while getting up their own hazards as well. And there really isn't much I can do to 'em. So... When are these guys gonna get banned? <_<

Fast and hard hitting floaters and fliers in general, but Gengar is especially worrisome because of his STABs.

Conclusion

So... Yeah, this team needs a lot of work. I have played it a lot and I think this direction is the best route to go for Gardevoir, but the team needs... Something. Maybe I should drop Shadow Ball on Gardevoir for something with a bit more utility like Taunt or Substitute? Maybe, I should change my spin blocker? Maybe, I should find room for a fighting type? Actually, I think the latter is a definite, of course dem fairies... I dunno. I'm hoping that I don't need to go to the drawing board again so... I guess I'll find out with ya'll suggestions and more testing.

 

[Shaymin :D]

I would reccomend Magic Coat over Taunt on Smeargle, letting you effectively deal with both forma of Deoxys, should they try to set up or Taunt you.

But yeah, really nice team. I'll add anymore thoughts later ^_^

 

[phoenixwright7]

I would reccomend Magic Coat over Taunt on Smeargle, letting you effectively deal with both forma of Deoxys, should they try to set up or Taunt you.

But yeah, really nice team. I'll add anymore thoughts later ^_^

The Deoxys I've seen ran magic coat as well as Taunt, so I'm not sure if running Magic Coat on smeargle will solve my problems. Thanks though.

 

[WaterMargins]

Sorry, this is my first time ever rating a team so forgive me if I do it wrong but.

Your team seems kind of slow, I don't mean just in the fact that some of your mons are particularly slow pokemon, it also requires a lot of turns to set up a noticeable advantage, you have a lot of setting up to be done, which frankly can't always be done and shouldn't always be relied upon.

Your team also lacks a form of reliable recovery, things such as burn, paralysis and general residual damage wear on your team and most stall and bulky offense teams can play around the offense you do have. I personally don't think sucker punch is the most reliable move either, but that's just me.

I personally think Smeargle is too gimmicky to really work well in OU without support, but in your case he is your support, and that I feel makes it easy for your team to get picked apart easily.

That said Gardevoir doesn't have to be a sweeper to be good either. She has a pretty good supporting movepool, Her special attack is extremely monsterous even with no/min investment.

I would also try something fast, and powerful on your team to give yourself some instant firepower, for late-game sweeping, or early-game wall breaking. I find one of the scarf dragons to be really good at this, especially if you're adamant on using smeargle and sticky web.

 

[indian]

Give azumarill 44 speed evs to outpace jolly azumarill. Azumarill is a big threat to your team. It can tale care of aegislash if it has knock off. Bisharp also seems to be somewhat problematic as it gets an attack boost everytime it comes in. You can try low kick on your own bisharp for it.
Hope i helped:)

 

[Swami]

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Pain Split
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp


Try 244HP / 220Def / 44Spd

 

[phoenixwright7]

Sorry, this is my first time ever rating a team so forgive me if I do it wrong but.

Your team seems kind of slow, I don't mean just in the fact that some of your mons are particularly slow pokemon, it also requires a lot of turns to set up a noticeable advantage, you have a lot of setting up to be done, which frankly can't always be done and shouldn't always be relied upon.

Your team also lacks a form of reliable recovery, things such as burn, paralysis and general residual damage wear on your team and most stall and bulky offense teams can play around the offense you do have. I personally don't think sucker punch is the most reliable move either, but that's just me.

I personally think Smeargle is too gimmicky to really work well in OU without support, but in your case he is your support, and that I feel makes it easy for your team to get picked apart easily.

That said Gardevoir doesn't have to be a sweeper to be good either. She has a pretty good supporting movepool, Her special attack is extremely monsterous even with no/min investment.

I would also try something fast, and powerful on your team to give yourself some instant firepower, for late-game sweeping, or early-game wall breaking. I find one of the scarf dragons to be really good at this, especially if you're adamant on using smeargle and sticky web.

The only setup that's really necessary on my team is getting up hazards which takes 2 turns. Bisharp can setup SD, but it isn't something that I always rely on, especially since it gets a free one when switching into defog.

Not having any kind of status absorber can be a problem and is something I'd like to fix. I also wouldn't mind finding room for a rapid spinner of my own. There's actually a lot of things I'd like to do with the team but no room to really do it, lol.

Smeargle actually gets his job done pretty well. The main things that it loses against is Deoxys-D or Deoxys-S, which can be a problem, but...

A support Gardevoir is something that I'd like to try one of these days. She's got a awesome movepool and having something with 165 special attack, Pixilate Hyper Voice, and something like Wil-O-Wisp sounds really awesome. That said, that's something to try on a different team.

I've actually thought of changing Aegislash to a scarf or life orb Gengar, now that you mention using something fast and powerful. Thoughts?

Give azumarill 44 speed evs to outpace jolly azumarill. Azumarill is a big threat to your team. It can tale care of aegislash if it has knock off. Bisharp also seems to be somewhat problematic as it gets an attack boost everytime it comes in. You can try low kick on your own bisharp for it.
Hope i helped:)

I assume you mean Rotom-W, lol. Will do. and Bisharp, what move would you take off for low kick?

I'll test the new EVs on Rotom-W probably after work tonight or something. Gonna very possibly be out all day.

 

[TheInsanity]

The team is pretty balanced: a status absorber, rotom and is momentum, a wall, a power ranger.
So:

Gliscor is pretty cool, if used with a good set. But u already have a physical wall. U really need 2 physical wall?
This team is oriented on gardevoir. When u wanna build a team a round a mon, the first thing to do is choose a pokemon that can support gardevoir: smeargle in this case. The secondo thing to do is a mon that counter who can counter gardevoir. Who can counter gardevoir? Excadrill, aegislash, bisharp, chansey/blissey/sylveon, talonflame, megapinsir, megasaur, Ttar, scizor. All common mon in this meta.
4 weak against ground, 5 against fight, 2 against rock, 4 against fire, 2 against steel, 1 against psychic.

First, we change the gardevoir set:

Gardevoir (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power Fire
- Focus Blast

Now every time scizor, or any steel try to switch in, u have a safe move (and now u can hit aegi) to bite (okho for scizor/thorn).

Imho, gliscor is useless. We can find a mon that can run a ground/rock/fight move.

Landorus-Therian Life Orb/Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk/ 252 Spd / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- U-Turn/ Knock Off

Or

Terrakion @Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk/ 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant/ Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
- Poison Jab
- Earthquake

I would probably replace aegi (pretty meh in this team) with prankster thundurus

Thundurus-I @Leftovers/Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SAtk/ 4 SDef/ 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- T-Wave
- T-Bolt/ Volt Switch
- HP Ice
- Taunt

Is funny because shuts down chansey/deo-d, azumarril didn't like a t-bolt, supports gardevoir with t-wave. But i don't know if can work with rotom.

And explain me in which way gengar can give u problem when u have the power ranger.
Remember: if a mon gives problems to u, using the same pokemon with a scarf didn't help u.

 

[WaterMargins]

The only setup that's really necessary on my team is getting up hazards which takes 2 turns. Bisharp can setup SD, but it isn't something that I always rely on, especially since it gets a free one when switching into defog.

Not having any kind of status absorber can be a problem and is something I'd like to fix. I also wouldn't mind finding room for a rapid spinner of my own. There's actually a lot of things I'd like to do with the team but no room to really do it, lol.

Smeargle actually gets his job done pretty well. The main things that it loses against is Deoxys-D or Deoxys-S, which can be a problem, but...

A support Gardevoir is something that I'd like to try one of these days. She's got a awesome movepool and having something with 165 special attack, Pixilate Hyper Voice, and something like Wil-O-Wisp sounds really awesome. That said, that's something to try on a different team.

I've actually thought of changing Aegislash to a scarf or life orb Gengar, now that you mention using something fast and powerful. Thoughts?

Losing to the most common 'lead' is kind of bad. I mean, Gliscor is a solid status absorber after he's had a turn to get poisoned.

I really really want to say drop smeargle but you seem to like him and I haven't used him much myself, So I'll take your word for it.

 

[Ninja Charizard]

I know your pain, I've been trying to use Gardy for a few days and the only thing that happened was my ELO dropping from 1750 to 1300.

It's like this pokemon is incapable of providing defensive sinergy. Most of the time the team is being carried by the other 5 mons.

Bisharp is by far the most common partner to Gardy, according to the usage statistics. So I guess it works.

 

[phoenixwright7]

I did some testing a little earlier with the new EV investment on Rotom-Wash, HP fire on Gardevoir, Scarf Terrakion over Gliscor, and Thunderus-I over Aegislash. I'll probably test these changes more tomorrow, but here's my thoughts so far...

I didn't really notice any change in Rotom-Wash. I think it's 'cause I've yet to go up against an Azumarill since I made the changes.

HP Fire does not OHKO Ferrothorn. Was very disappointed. That said, Shadow Ball had yet to be all that useful to me, so I'll keep it for now. May consider changing to something else.

Though I was more interested in Terrakion, I miss Gliscor's typing. I'll probably try Landorus later, though I don't really like the ice weakness...

Speaking of Ice weakness, Thunderus did very little :/

To be more specific, fast flying or floating 'mons are a threat since they don't care about webs. Gengar's just a great example since it can also OHKO Gardevoir, ending her late game sweep. Bisharp can at least check Gengar, but if it carries sub, I could have problems. That said, I wasn't considering Gengar to patch up a Gengar weakness. Rather, I was considering him as a replacement spin blocker that has better synergy with Bisharp (Immune to ground, not weak to fire... ) It's still something I may try, but I'm wondering if a more defensive ghost may be better since one of the most common spinners is Excadrill, and he dun care 'bout levitate <_<

Thanks for all the replies, however. I'll see about getting some replays up later to better show off the team and it's strengths and weaknesses.