Hi guys, this is my first RMT. I have been battling competitively for a while now, but never got really good (my best ranking is around 700ish). This team has had decent success and on the PO server (I haven't gotten around to PS) is currently ranked #823 with 1280 points. I was hoping the battling community here could help me improve my team.
Team-Building Process:
Started off with these 3 pokes, since they are some of my favorites, and all competitively strong.
Next, I added Salamence, since it resisted 3 of my 5 weaknesses and also provided the (basically) necessary dragon to my team. I have used Dragonite in the past, but after trying out Salamence, I found that with Moxie, it's sweeping capabilities are ridiculous once it gets a kill.
My next addition was Heracross. Honestly, this decision was not extremely thought out, I just liked Heracross and wanted to try it out with its new DW ability, Moxie. I found that it worked as an amazing revenge killer, that also turned into a semi-sweeper after a kill or two. As many players had not seen Heracross used much, the choice scarf set provided a key surprise factor, allowing me to take out many boosted threats. Of course, I know that against better competetive players, the surprise factor would be lost as Heracross is rarely used without a scarf.
At this point, the only type my team had more than one weakness to was fire. Additionally, as my team had 3 physical attackers and 2 special attackers, I was looking for a special attacker to balance my team. The logical choice was Heatran. He provided a great defense against fire types, taking out potential threats such as Volcarona. Additionally, Heatran allowed me to lay Stealth Rock and also functioned as a special wall. After this addition, my team had a double weakness to only one type, and no triple+ weaknesses.
After playing with the earlier team, I found that Reuniclus, my personal favorite pokemon, was sometimes the star poke in a battle, but often did not add anything. Because of this, I had to replace him. His slowness was the main problem, and so to remedy this, I found another pokemon that was similiar in type and ability but had a much higher speed stat: Alakazam. He functioned as a great revenge killer and also a sweeper if he gained a sp. atk boost with Charge Beam. This is my current final team layout.
Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Trick
Rotom provides a key pivot point for my team. He functions as a hit & run attacker, and a semi-counter to rain. Choice Scarf is the necessary item, raising his less than spectacular base 85 speed to more dangerous levels. The nature and evs are simple, allowing him to hit hard, while being as fast as possible. He can outspeed many threats, such as +1 Dragonite and Gyarados, and +0 Starmie, Gengar, and Lati@s. Volt Turn is the crux of this set, allowing my team to keep momentum by placing my other pokes in favorable positions. Hydro Pump provides a powerful stab, necessary on any offensive set. Hidden Power [Ice] allows me to take out many important pokes such as Dragonite, Gliscor, and weakened Grass types. Finally, Trick allows me to essentially incapacitate many opposing pokes, such as Blissey and Chansey, Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Forretress, Skarmory, Deoxys-D etc. Basically any slow boosting attacker, or wall/hazard poke.
Alakazam (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Charge Beam
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic
Alakazam is the initial special attacker. His ability Magic Guard allows him to come in through hazards unscathed and stop any leech seeders or toxic stallers in their tracks. It also pair incredibly well with LO essentially allowing him to hit like a truck with no recoil. Nature and evs are self-explained. Charge Beam is an important attack, allowing him to take out weakened threats while potentially netting a key sp. atk boost. Focust Blast and Shadow Ball provide important coverage alongside Psychic, the necessary STAB. I chose Psychic over Psyshock as I rarely found Blisseys or Chanseys on the opposing team, and the increase in power helped.
Scizor (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 164 HP / 40 Atk / 196 SDef / 108 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Superpower
Scizor is an amazing boosting sweeper. His ability Technician is key, allowing him to hit hard with priority STAB Bullet Punch. The evs are a little strange, I added just enough speed evs to outrun the standard calm Lava Plume Heatran who previously destroyed this set. I'm not sure if the current HP and sp. def EVs do anything, so if someone could help me figure them out, I would be grateful. Nature is understandable to gain the most power. Swords dance turns Scizor into a terrifying monster after 1 turn of boosting, a turn that comes easily, with the number of pokes Scizor forces out due to having only 1 weakness. Pullet Punch is the move that makes this set so fearful. Scizor is hard to revenge kill since his buffed priority can take out many usual revenge killers before they can strike. Bug Bite provides a strong STAB, buffed by Technician. I chose Superpower over Roost since I never found myself using Roost. Superpower allows Scizor to hit many more pokes, especially Heatran, very hard.
Salamence (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
Salamence is a monstrous attacker, more so due to the addition of his new ability, Moxie. Nature and evs are standard for a mixed set. I chose Lum Berry as the item as I found that many opponents would try to status Salamence, giving me a free turn of setup, or, if they didn't, allowed me to instantly recover from confusion after Outrage. Dragon Dance is the boosting move, allowing Salamence to become a fast, powerful truck. Outrage is ridiculously powerful, and with every kill it gets grows even more so, due to Moxie. Fire Blast is to take out the multitude of pokes that would otherwise wall Salamence, almost all of whom are weak to fire. Earthquake provides important coverage in addition to Outrage.
Heracross (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
Heracross is awesome. I can't say how many times he's allowed me to switch the tempo of a battle and give me the win. Choice Scarf turns him into a revenge killer allowing him to outspeed many pokes. He's even faster than a freaking Jolteon! Adamant nature gives him lots of power, and a Jolly nature would not allow him to outspeed many notable pokes, falling quite short of the multitude of +1 base 100 pokes. Close Combat and Megahorn are ridiculously strong STABs, both with base 120 power. Stone Edge provides important coverage especially against flying types. I opted with Earthquake over Night Slash because I found it allowed him to counter many more threats. A key one was Tentacruel, who he previously had no way of beating. Also, as stated earlier, he could outspeed and KO the occasional Jolteon.
Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Lava Plume
- Protect
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
Heatran is extremely important for countering fire types and laying down Stealth Rock. Leftovers provides important recovery for a special wall. Calm nature and the given evs make him into a special tank. Flash Fire makes him a surefire fire-counter, not even taking damage from fire attacks, actually gaining a boost. Lava Plume was chosen for its 30% burn rate along with STAB. Protect pairs with Toxic and Leftovers to make him into a toxic-stalling tank. I found taht he was even able to provide status among many potential threats such as Jellicent and Slowbro, as their Scalds did paltry damage. Toxic eventually whittles away their health. Stealth Rock is an important hazard, damaging every poke that doesn't have Magic Guard. It is important against many foes such as Volcarona, Dragonite and Salamence.
Conclusion:
Overall, I think this team functions pretty well. I seem to have problems with rain teams and basically any poke with water and ice attacks, as Rotom is my only counter. Additionally, any boosting sweeper that gets to +2 speed can essentially sweep my whole team. Hazards, might seem to be a problem as I have no Rapid Spinner, but usually they don't matter that much. I hope that the community here can help me raise this team to new heights.
Thanks for your time. :)