5th Gen RMT; Hex/Venoshock

[Flint Lockwood]

i originally posted this on serebii, but I didn't exactly get the amount of help i originally wanted, so I decided to repost it here.

Hey all, this is my first actual post for a RMT, though I've done competitive battling since the beginning of 4th gen. So hopefully I'm not completely stupid
With a new gen comes a new team. I decided my old team just couldn't handle some of the new threats of 5th gen (Excadrill being my big issue) so instead of fixing it, I decided to retire it and head for a new strategy. I'll start with the team, then list my basic strategy, then I'll go in depth into each member and I'll list possible issues I've already noted.
with that comes the team (NOTE i do like doing custom EV's, but with the new generation I'm still testing out the kinks and seeing what works best, so for now I'm stealing Smogon EV's, but they could be subject to change)

OVERVIEW:

It's how I roll

STRATEGY:
I guess with Team Preview or whatever garbage it is, I get to choose my lead(?) it's whatever, but I'll mostly choose Nidoqueen, unless I feel the need for Porygon2 to start the game. Nidoqueen starts with TSpikes everywhere, and then swap depending on what my opponent has in store (Jellicent if I see a Rapid Spinner. My plan is to spread status in general (Nidoqueen's Toxic Spikes, Porygon2's Paralysis, and Tentacruel's/Jellicent's Burns) and end with an arguably "gimmick" sweep from Gengar, taking advantage of his two STAB moves Venoshock and Hex. To back up my sweeps I have two potent new Gen 5 threats, Cloyster and Conkeldurr, utilizing their new toys (Shell Smash and the upgraded Drain Punch). TD;DR version: Set up Toxic Spikes, Poison/Burn/Paralyze, sweep. I have some back up sweepers if i cannot fully utilize my TSpikes.

THE TEAM:

Nidoqueen @ Black Sludge
Sheer Force
Bold
252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpD
-Earth Power
-Toxic Spikes
-Flamethrower
-Ice Beam

Nidoqueen got a nice little toy with Sheer Force, giving her some good offensive capabilities (not stellar, but much improved) alongside her natural bulk. This, alongside her ground typing, is the main reason I chose her for my team over Tentacruel. Her job is to set up TSpikes and hit what wouldn't usually be Poisoned; steels and Poisons. I really want to toss Venoshock somewhere on here, but I feel that losing coverage on dragons will only hurt my team. Still, I'm thinking about swapping Ice Beam for Venoshock, but I'm not sure if it's secondary effect of doubleing on a poisoned foe counts towards Sheer Force. The EV's are basic; give her as much defensive bulk as possible.

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Trace
Bold
252 HP, 184 Def, 72 SpD
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Recover
-Thunder Wave

I love Porygon2. For one thing he looks sweet. For another he's an awesome check to many threats. I used the thing in 4th gen because it countered threats like Gyarados and Heatran awesomely. In my opinion Eviolite was a godsend to Porygon2, and alongside Trace, he's definitely a wall to watch out for (in b4 no leftovers recovery screws him. He has Recover for christ's sake) Anyway, TWave fits into the team strat of a Hex sweep, while Thunderbolt and Ice Beam give Porygon the tools he needs to counter so much, Discharge for Gyara and Heatran, Ice Beam for the dragons. Once again EV's give him defensive bulk, with enough SpD bulk to avoid being 2HKO'd by Draco Meteor Salamence in sandstorm.

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Water Absorb
Bold
248 HP, 216 Def, 44 Spe
-Scald
-Recover
-Will-o-Wisp
-HP Fire/Taunt

Jellicent used to be Sigilyph, who was awesome as hell. Passed guaranteed burns, could set up with ease, nice instant recovery and could hit hard. In the end, my team lacked a spinblocker (which in all honesty I was not concerned about at first) but I also lacked multiple ways to dealing with Scizor, Forretress and Ferrothorn. Jellicent takes care of the first two with ease, thanks to it's bulk and HP Fire. Jellicent gives burns with both Scald and Will-o-Wisp, and then Recover gives me some nice, uh, recovery. The EV's of Jellicent are a work in progress, as I will most likely be changing them up in due time.

Cloyster @ White Herb
Skill Link
Jolly
252 Att, 208 Spe, 48 HP
-Icicle Spear
-Shell Smash
-Rock Blast
-Shell Blade

And now to the core offensive powerhouses of my team. This is standard 5th gen Cloyster, nothing surprising. I chose White Herb over Life Orb because the defensive recovery is absolutely amazing, and he already has enough power to take out what he needs without Life Orb. The EV's are also standard, they allow him to outspeed Scarfed Garchomp after a Smash. Icicle Spear and Rock Blast both proc Skill Link, turning each attack into automatic Base 125 moves. Shell Blade gets STAB and hits Steels. I opted not for Hydro Pump so I could keepa Jolly nature instead of having to go Naive.

Conkeldurr @ Leftovers
Guts
Brave
252 Att, 120 HP, 136 SpD
0 Spe IV
-Mach Punch
-Bulk Up
-Drain Punch
-Payback

My team originally had some huge problems with Steel Types, especially Heatran (being as how my team focuses on Poison, steels messed me up) Luckily, 5th gen brought Conkeldurr, and he's exactly what my team needed. This is straightforward, you'll be running into this guy a lot this generation. He swaps in on something that can't beat him 1v1, and he Bulks Up. Not much else to say, really, he's there to beat Steel's, and that's what he does.

Gengar @ Life Orb
Levitate
Timid
252 SpA, 252 Spe, 4 HP
-Hex
-Venoshock
-Thunderbolt
-Focus Blast
The star of the team. Gengar hits just as hard this Gen as he did last, and he got plenty of new toys to play with. He's the only Pokemon in the game to get STAB on both Hex and Venoshock, so he was a perfect fit onto my team. It's pretty obvious why I have Hex and Venoshock, Focus Blast gives me that perfect coverage (at least I believe it's still perfect in 5th gen) and Thunderbolt is really there to KO Gyarados and other Flying Types. Also as a plus note, Gengar acts as a spinblocker, so TSpikes can stay out while he's sweeping.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS:

1: No Rapid Spin
This is my biggest worry. I used to have Tentacruel on the team, but I didn't want half my team to be Electric Weak. I don't really feel like my team is in dire need to a rapid spinner, but it couldn't hurt to have one, I suppose. It'd help Cloyster, but at the same time it'd reduce the chance of Conkeldurr living up to his full potential.

2: Heatran, and Steel types in general
Stupid Heatran, resisting both of Gengar's STAB attacks AND FIRE. That butthole. I have Nidoqueen plus Conkeldurr and Gengar, but still those Steels are troublesome It's nothing big, I can manage them, but ugh.

IN SHORT:
That's the team! Thanks for reading through it (while dealing with ponies) I appreciate all rates (though I appreciate them more if they're well written and intelligent, hint hint. Please feel free to nitpick at your heart's content!

[kc4444]

No Hex on Jellicent?, get rid of WoW, and Ice beam>Taunt.
You can give Cloyster Ice Shard.
Life Orb on Nidoqueen, makes its attacks stronger without recoil because of sheer force. Or just switch Nidoqueen to Nidoking.

[Flint Lockwood]

Originally Posted by Fat kc4444

No Hex on Jellicent?, get rid of WoW, and Ice beam>Taunt.
You can give Cloyster Ice Shard.
Life Orb on Nidoqueen, makes its attacks stronger without recoil because of sheer force. Or just switch Nidoqueen to Nidoking.

I'm not using Nidoqueen to sweep, I'm using her to set up TSpikes, she's bulkier than Nidoking, so she's better at that job.

If I use Ice Shard on Cloyster he gets walled by steels.

And as I said, Jellicent is support, not for sweeping, so I'm trying to use Jellicent for his burns, not for coverage

Thanks for the rate though :)

[Kakimori]

Change Scald on Jellicent to Surf. You don't need the burn chance since you have Will-o-Wisp, and the extra power can come in handy.

[Clarion Valenheart]

Hello there, Flint Lockwood!

Here's some of my theoretical nitpicks:

1. I would suggest Rotom-W over Jellicent. You have Gengar as your Spin-Blocker, and it's good. The reason why I suggest Rotom-W over Jellicent is that it can still perform the job Jellicent can--Will-O-Wisping opponents like hell. It will never give you problems on entry hazards [except Stealth Rock, of course], and it can counter Gyarados, Heatran, and other Steel-types better.

2. If you want more stalling action, then go for Scrafty over Conkeldurr. The added Dark-typing on Scrafty will give you some resistances, plus its Shed Skin ability removes status ailments. Same set, but with dual STAB's on Drain Punch and Crunch, it's a better choice. But if Excadrill bothers you a LOT, then Conkeldurr will be your best bet, thanks to Mach Punch.

That's it, for now...

[Seth Vilo]

Just dropping in for 2 things:

1) PONIES!!! 20% cooler indeed.

2) From my use, I found Hydro Pump to be an awesome different option on Cloyster instead of Shell Blade. The reason for this is that I'm naturally found of mixed sets myself, and found at times that it was a great asses when something stupidly physically bulky came walking in. Believe it or not, Physically defensive Forretress and co. still exist. While Shell Blade is indeed a 2HKO on Forretress (44.4% - 52.5%), on that turn it survives it could just Gyro Ball the bajesus outta you, ending your Cloyster sweep. Meanwhile, Hydro Pump from the same set with a Naive nature instead does more than enough to OHKO the bagworm. It's kind of the same story for Skarmory as well; physically bulky versions take 73.1% - 86.2% with all Icicle Spear hits, while Hydro Pump does 117.1%+. So long as that annoying Sturdy is broken, you're good in either case. The accuracy is off putting, but I learned to live with that after I saw the KO's stack up.

[Flint Lockwood]

Back from a busy week at work, thanks for all the rates guys!

Originally Posted by Fat Kakimori

Change Scald on Jellicent to Surf. You don't need the burn chance since you have Will-o-Wisp, and the extra power can come in handy.

I'll try it out, the main reason I kept Scald was that Will-o-Wisp has only like a 75% accuracy (Granted, Scald is only a 30% chance to burn, but I felt that doing some damage would be better than completely missing with my attack.

Originally Posted by Fat Clarion Valenheart

Hello there, Flint Lockwood!

Here's some of my theoretical nitpicks:

1. I would suggest Rotom-W over Jellicent. You have Gengar as your Spin-Blocker, and it's good. The reason why I suggest Rotom-W over Jellicent is that it can still perform the job Jellicent can--Will-O-Wisping opponents like hell. It will never give you problems on entry hazards [except Stealth Rock, of course], and it can counter Gyarados, Heatran, and other Steel-types better.

2. If you want more stalling action, then go for Scrafty over Conkeldurr. The added Dark-typing on Scrafty will give you some resistances, plus its Shed Skin ability removes status ailments. Same set, but with dual STAB's on Drain Punch and Crunch, it's a better choice. But if Excadrill bothers you a LOT, then Conkeldurr will be your best bet, thanks to Mach Punch.

That's it, for now...

Excadrill was a huge problem for my team, which is mainly why I brought in Conkeldurr in the first place, so I think I'll stick with him for now.

But Rotom-W sounds like an interesting option, I'll definitely be testing him out to see how he works :)

Originally Posted by Fat Seth Vilo

Just dropping in for 2 things:

1) PONIES!!! 20% cooler indeed.

2) From my use, I found Hydro Pump to be an awesome different option on Cloyster instead of Shell Blade. The reason for this is that I'm naturally found of mixed sets myself, and found at times that it was a great asses when something stupidly physically bulky came walking in. Believe it or not, Physically defensive Forretress and co. still exist. While Shell Blade is indeed a 2HKO on Forretress (44.4% - 52.5%), on that turn it survives it could just Gyro Ball the bajesus outta you, ending your Cloyster sweep. Meanwhile, Hydro Pump from the same set with a Naive nature instead does more than enough to OHKO the bagworm. It's kind of the same story for Skarmory as well; physically bulky versions take 73.1% - 86.2% with all Icicle Spear hits, while Hydro Pump does 117.1%+. So long as that annoying Sturdy is broken, you're good in either case. The accuracy is off putting, but I learned to live with that after I saw the KO's stack up.

I didn't originally want to go Mixed on Cloyster, but with those damage calcs, I'll definitely consider it :)

I'm now testing new options on my team including Rotom-W and mixed Cloyster, thanks everyone again!