A first team!

[buzzingohrnets]

Hi guys, I am pretty new to this but I've been reading quite a lot about it on the Smogon website and have a pretty good idea of how to build a good team. I have tried both rain and sun teams but I got bored of them pretty quickly (no offense to anyone who likes to use them, just not for me!). So I tried to make a team that is effective agaisnt non-weather teams and weather teams alike. I have been quite successful in terms of early testing, and have been able to beat the majority of non-weather, sand and sun teams I have come up against. I am struggling a bit with beating dedicated rain teams (Rotom-W and Gyrados are causing me quite a lot of problems).

Starmie (M) @ Life Ord
Ability: Natural Cute
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Nature: Timid (+ Spd, - Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Rapid Spin

My rapid spinner. Though half of my team is immune to toxic spikes, spikes and stealth rock (especially against Salamence) provide a lot of trouble when continually switching so this is Starmie's primary role. It is also very useful due its immense speed and great coverage - it is almost my only answer to gyrados before it has set up and also keeps a lot of dangerous pokemon in check with its great coverage.

Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP/ 88Def/ 168 SpD
IV: 0 Spd
Nature: Relaxed (+ Def, - Spd)
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball

The standard Ferrothorn set does well in this team by being a dedicated check to non-fighting physical threats (especially Dragon) and some special threats (Electric or Ghost). It also is able to set up at least one layer of spikes against any team, but often finds time to set up 3 layers and really cause problems for oposing teams. It keeps bulky water types in check with power whip and can dispose of fast threats like Latios or a DDanced Dragon with a 0 Spd IV Gyro Ball. It really helps against sand teams and can be helpful against rain teams.

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spd
Nature: Bold (+Def, - Atk)
- Scald
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover

The other half of my defensive part of my team and my spinblocker. Jellicent is invaluable in being able to switch into fighting attacks and threaten the pokemon out with a burn. Can hit the switch-in with a burn and can taunt any slower defensive pokemon looking to lay entry hazards or threaten it with status. Water Absorb is also incredibly useful against rain teams to take the attack and restore health.

Salamence (M) @ Lum Berry
Nature: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd/ 4 SpA
Nature: Naive (+Spd, -SpD)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage/Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast

The Dragon Dance MixMence set. This guy has saved my team on numerous occasions when it is the last pokemon left. Moxie is an incredible ability for such a powerful physical sweeper. Given its natural bulk, Salamence can often find a chance to switch into a resisted physical attack or against defensive pokemon. If it obtains one Dragon Dance, it can easily drive huge holes in opposing teams early, or finish off a team with a late game sweep. Fire blast is to hit any steel types who think they can switch in and is also incredibly powerful in the sun, so chlorophyll users can be disposed off (especially if Salamence has been able to get 2 DDances). Lum berry is very useful against pokemon trying to inflict status which would ruin Salamence's sweep, or to rid it of confusion from Outrage so it can complete the sweep. I am considering using Dragon Claw so that it is not locked into Outrage, but the power drop is noticeable.

Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature (+ Spd, -SpA)
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Earthquake

My revenge killer. This thing can outspeed many chlorophyll sun sweepers and the vast majority of other pokemon, and tie with fellow choiced Terrakion and Infernape. It is powerful enough to hit off the bat with it's incredible STABs. Earthquake may seem redundant and dangerous to lock yourself into with a choice item, but I have found it is useful to take out pokemon like Tentacruel or Toxicroak on rain teams.

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Nature: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd/ 4 HP
Nature: Modest
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- HP Ice

Heatran is valuable glue to this team. It takes predicted fire attacks from Sun teams directed against Ferrothorn, or predicted Earthquakes against Terrakion or other members of my team so long as it's Air Balloon is in tact. It can beat opposing Heatran one on one if they do not carry a balloon. I often lead with Heatran as it usually finds chance to set up stealth rock, which is incredibly important if facing pokemon like Multiscale Dragonite or Volcarona. HP Ice serves as my main way of killing dragon types and Gliscor (though Starmie can often revenge kill them with Ice Beam). Jellicent can switch in on any fighting type attacks directed at Heatran and retaliate by hitting the switch in with a burn.


Like I said above, I have had quite a bit of trouble with rain teams with electric attacks (Rotom-W) and set-up sweepers that raise their speed (like Gyrados). I welcome any suggestions that might help my team. Things I have considered are replacing my Salamence set with the Scarf MoxieMence set, and potentially using Landorus instead of Terrakion as my EdgeQuake attacker. I used to use Skarmoy and Chansey as my defensive duo instead of Jellicent and Ferrothorn, and using skarmory gave me the ability to beat set up sweepers by phazing them out and abusing entry hazard damage. I switched to Ferrothorn and Jellicent in an attempt to counter Rain Teams (as Chansey was my only way of checking powerful water attacks, but she was worn down and killed a lot of the time). Any suggestions on improvements would be great!

 

[OhMyPancake]

Let me first say welcome to Smogon as I am relatively new as well.

For starters, I like the team overall and I won't try to change too much as I think you probably like the Pokemon you are using a fair bit.

With Starmie, if you're using it mainly as a rapid spinner then life orb is going to force it to take 10% of it's damage in health just to ward off entry hazards. I would suggest, if you want to keep Starmie with a life orb then opt for Recover instead of rapid spin and replace Ferrothorn with Forretress. You could use a Volt Switch + HP Ice Forretress like I do a lot as your rapid spinner and use pain split as it's recovery tool. If this doesn't sound good to you I would simply take life orb off of Starmie and use leftovers.

Nothing wrong with Jellicent at all, I just wanted to bring your attention to Gastrodon. Gastrodon is a Water/Ground typing meaning that if Rotom-W does not have HP Grass then it is completely useless. Gastrodon can also switch in on any water move and gain a 1.5x SpA boost. Look more into Gastrodon if you haven't and try him out and see if you like it over Jellicent. Like I said though, nothing wrong with Jellicent.

With your EV spread on Salamance I would prefer to run a choice scarf Salamance instead of a MixMence. MixMence should have a little more bulk then that as it looks like an Ice Beam will take it out. Outrage is strong enough as it is and if Salamance is your late game sweeper you won't need the DDance to set it up as whatever entry hazards and damage you have done to the opponent along the way should make them Outrage fodder. I would personally go for Flamethrower over Fire Blast for the reliability of it, but that is really up to personal preference.

With Heatran I would only say go for Flamethrower instead of Fire Blast. One Flamethrower from Heatran is enough to take out Ferrothorn or Forretress unless it's in the rain. I can also say that one Flamethrower is enough to take out or seriously dent other Pokemon. I had Fire Blast for a while, but when it misses and you need damage on a wall it'll make you wish you had Flamethrower.

Skarmory could work very well with Blissey over Chansey. I can see Gyarados being a huge problem, but a burn from Jellicent should also make him a non-issue. Choice scarf Salamance could also ruin Gyarados before has time to set-up and be fast enough to outspeed your Salamance.

EDIT: Don't know why I put U-Turn down I meant to say Recover. My bad on that one.

 

[KidChameleon]

if you want to keep Starmie with a life orb then opt for U-Turn instead of rapid spin

i stopped reading here

 

[buzzingohrnets]

Thanks pancake for your input! I had never even thought of gastrodon! I will try it out – thought I am wary of not being able to take fighting attacks too well and also losing the ability to burn. Would you recommend yawn or toxic? I can see yawn would be a good way to force out sweepers hoping to set up

I think I will change to choice scarf mence – though I would change pokemon if it helped the team. I think I may try double dance terrakion if mence is scarfed.

I will try forretress too over ferrothorn. Pain split is always a horrid move to face!

 

[buzzingohrnets]

And yes I would use recover and not u turn!

 

[OhMyPancake]

Sorry about the U-Turn comment with Starmie earlier I meant to say Recover, I edited the post to say Recover, sorry for the confusion there and thanks for pointing it out KidChameleon.

As for Gastrodon, I like to use Toxic as Yawn takes two turns to actually take effect and doesn't provide any residual damage.

 

[Viktor24]

Hey. Nice team there. I wouldn't change much as it's already really good and seems to work well.
Replace earthquake with rock slide on your Terrakion because:
First: Earthquake is redundant with STAB close combat and stone edge.
Second: There are times that the superior accuracy of rock slide will come in handy. Times when you don't want to risk missing with stone edge and rock slide's power is sufficient for finishing the opposing pokemon.
That's it. I hope you have fun with this team.

 

[buzzingohrnets]

Thanks for the suggestions, rock slide over earthquake is a definite change I will make if I use Terrakion as my scarfed pokemon. I have been testing using a choice banded Ferrothorn and have actually had quite a lot of success with a lot of people expecting a defensive version, taunting me and subsequently getting hit hard.

I also switched the roles of Salamence and Terrakion: Terrakion is now the double dancer set and Salamence the ScarfMence and these have been working nicely too.

Substitute Dragon Dance Gyarados is still my number 1 bane so I am looking to include a phazer (maybe switching to SpD Heatran) and possibly Thunder Wave on my Ferrothorn to discourage switch ins. I am also looking for some way to get a pokemon with a priority attack in my party somewhere so any suggestions would be great! (I have thought about Choice Band Dragonite with extremespeed, this could replace Salamence with Terrakion going back to being scarfed?) Any further suggestions would be appreciated!