Hi, im new to this forums (first comment :D) anyways Ive tryed a fair amount of pokemon and tactics and i'll share my opinion on those.
I hate Rottom-W and i don't like Talonflame, seeing the ranking chart in this forums i see that ALOT of people use them and i don't really get why (well i GET why but i dont like them :P), ratter than using them i tryed to use what counters them, and its really simple and offten ends up in "game"
So for Rottom i use this (and i don't know why i haven't seen other players use this EV spread)
Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Adamant - Multiscale - Max HP and Atack Evs
Outrage
Fire Punch
Eathquake
Dragon dance
Dragonite is a powerhouse and just really good all round but in this particular scenario: turn 1 rottom starts, hydro miss, thunderbolt, u turn almost do no damage most likely they'll try will o whisp, you dragondance and then proceed to sweep SOMETIMES theyll have swicheroo with specs or someting wich counters this but in about 50 rottoms ive played only 1 or 2 had that.
I have the impresion that everytime i face a talonflame they do nothing.
In this format switching is really bad unless you u turn or switch into someting that you resist WHILE having bulk or are inmune to, switching often means losing half or so of a pokemon's life bar and if the oposing pokemon is faster you'll lose 1/3 of your team for nothing, why i mention this? often talonflame is like:
they send talonflame i send megakhan.
they bravebird i live, then return talonflame dies and then chances are they wont have a faster pokemon (sometimes greninja or something) then i earthquake, return OR if they have a faster pokemon i sucker punch.
Sure talonflame is a revenge killer, but i really dont see the point in using revenge killers in this format since you have only 3 pokemon in play, say:
with your first pokemon you weaken theirs, then you talonflame and then talonflame dies, oponent is at 2 pokemon and you at 1, and thats what hapens to most people i see using talonflame, i dont know, maybe my team is somehow strong against it? (im not sure how tho).
Megakan is a beast, i play it like this:
Kangaskhan @ kanganite
Jolly - Frisk - Max Atack - Speed Evs.
Sucker Punch
Earthquake
Power up punch
Return
I tryed Fake out and it was really good in some situations because you almost always "one" shoted their first pokemon, but at the end it laked something and return is alot better, earthquake is really good for Aegislash, if you pull of a power up punch and kanga is faster than the rest of their pokemon its often game, Frisk is really good because you can play mindgames ofthen times leaving you at great advantage if i see a ghost in their team if often goes like this:
I send kanga first they send whatever, i don't megaevolve, return and they switch to ghost, ghost dies or will die next turn you're at 3 pokemon and they at 2.
I think poeple has the missconception that they have to counter EVERYTHING, in a ranked system thats not enterely true, you just have to win consistently and your rating goes up, for context: i play games kinda competitevely (ranked games) was grand master league at starcraft and currently siting in diamond at league of legends, i was 1600 ranking in singles pokemon when ranked went down but i was climbing fast and easy, i play normal battles and win like 8/10 and often some loss its because of a lucky crit or some other hax.
The rest of my team goes like this:
Aegislash @ Sitrus berry
Brave - Max Attack and Hp EVS
sword dance
king's shield
sacred sword
shadow sneak
so classic aegislash combined with mindgames is really good, leftovers in singles arent really that great unless your pokemon is based on staling, sitrus berry lets you set up sword dance, often times defensive pokemon focuses on bulking defensive stats while i sword dance, sacred sword is good for that and also always good for minimize hax teams, nature IMO its important, Aegislash has to be slow to play the mindgames and also to sometimes do the 2 hit combo, (take a hit in defense mode then sacred sword and then shadow sneak) mandibuzz eats Aegi, every single pokemon has counters remember the point is winning consistently, not every single pokemon will counter or be good in every single situation.
Greninja @ life orb
Timid - Protean - max speed Satk
ice beam
hydro pump
grass knot
extrasensory
So to me greninja is a swiss knife pokemon, he stabs with everythng and life orb kinda fixes his "not so high" special atk, he one shots dragons and is good all round to kill random things, he eats mandibuzz and other physical walls and is really good all round pokemon he really helps you winning consistently because he offers alot of options, and to me thats what greninja is all about.
Garchomp @ Focus sash
Jolly - rough skin - Max atk and speed
Sword dance
Outrage
Fire fang
Earthquake
IMO pokemon that are easy to set up are good in this format (and thats what i like), garchomp is really good at doing this because of its great high base speed, you go in to something "safe" (or not so safe, thats why you have focus sash) sword dance and sweep a team, they keep pumping defense? keep pumping sword dance and when you beat that wall their team will be helpless, greninja "one shots him" but you have sash and outrage returns the favor geting locked in to outrage isnt that bad after you do a 1 for 1 trade and because of its high base speed it will often times be a 1 + some damage to a pokemon x 1, and sometimes you just sword dance, outrage, go afk and win.
on a side if they kill garchomp and kill themselves with the rough skin damage you win the game.
Venusaur @ leftovers
sleep powder
leech seed
gigadrain
sludge bomb
I tryed venusaurite and didnt worked so well, maybe i did something wrong because on paper it looked good, i almost never use leech seed, venusaur functions like some sort of bulky special ataker for me, i think i want something to replace venusaur, maybe brelom or something, sleep is broken.
list of pokemon ive used but changed them because they lacked something.
Megazard X was decent but really squishy good counter for rottom.
Noivern was "meh".
Lucario gets owned by the most common atack ever: eartquake.
Megablaziken was good but lacked something is really predictable and easy for you to set up in their "protect" turn.
Gyarados was "meh"
Scizor was "bad" but ive seen some batton pass teams doing decent with it.
Hawlucha oh i love hawlucha's design, tryed a fun set with Sky attack and power herb, since hax are good in singles and a crit or flinch sky attack often results in a dead pokemon and it hits really hard regardles, then your speed stat gets doubled because of unburden and the fun begins with acrobatics and high jump kick, really fun but really squishy and situational.
Klefki (liepard klefki) is luck dependant sometimes it performs amazingly and sometimes is really bad, you wont climb alot using this because youll win 50/50
Conkeldurr tought he would be good because of guts but not really.
Sableye was ok, but i breed him when the game came out and didnt knew half the singles meta was physical atackers so i breed him wrong with special def, ill try him again with a defensive spread.
Tyranitar and lvl 1 Aron Most hilarious thing ever, was actualy kind of a good combination and could sweep teams with it, Aron NEEDS this set: swagger, toxic, protect, endeavour or it wont work, with this set he can take down a pokemon even whitout sand, since singles are 3v3 you dont need more than 5 turns of sand, my Tyranitar had eject button to speed up the proces (because sometimes tyranitar is so bulky that you lose precious sand turns taking hits) OF COURSE this combo has ALOT of counters, but if you pull it off well (team preview is your best friend) and dont overuse it it will be so much fun (for you tho cant say the same thing for your oponent) BONUS this set is incredible in normal games because of the "all legendary and starters teams" lvl 1 Aron EATS mewtwo, xerneas and yvetail.
well hope ALL of this helps someone, ill continue my research and post results, first thing i want to do is break the 1800 rating when ranked comes online again without rotom or talonflame so wish me luck :).
