Ugh, I am really sorry about that... I swear I used to be better at internetting than this o.o I'll try not to derp any more than I have done.
What I said about Metagross' speed - it's slow compared to its other stats unless you Mega Evolve and it gains quite a bit of speed.
I'm set on using Salamence, but I'm regretting Manectric. I was in the IRC and the guys there suggested Kangaskhan and helped me out with Talonflame move sets. I found that the pokemon I had difficulties with and thus want to use in my own team have Mega Evolutions - I most probably won't Mega Evolve them unless I get into a mess and have no other choices.
I am... Let's just say I'm pretty bad at pokemon, but that's kind of why I'm here, to learn from the (I'm assuming) pros. I got a Pokérus mon from breh on IRC, so I can tick that off the list. I'm glad someone replied in so much detail, thank you for that. And I'm also glad of the mostly positive replies I've had. I'll try and take up all this advice.
Your idea of how mega evolution works is a bit off. You should not bring several Pokemon, all holding their mega stones, to the same battle and mega evolve one as needed. You can only have one mega evolution per battle, which in triples where you bring all six means you will have a couple mons who won't be able to evolve. This means they are basically itemless, and you need to understand that items are invaluable in battle (and that some non-mega evolved Pokemon are trash compared to their mega evolved formes, meaning it's not worth using them
unless you actually evolve them). Also, 99.99% of Pokemon who mega evolve should do so as soon as they enter the field, not wait until you "get into a mess and have no other choices."
I think if you're just learning Pokemon, you should stick to singles, and pick up triples when you understand the basics a bit better.
I'm working on a new team for singles, using both things that I've tired and things that I've not tried. Some of these sets I got off this forum and others are pretty standard.
Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 84 HP / 12 Atk / 244 Def / 4 SpD / 164 Spe
Impish Nature
-Dragon Dance
-Stone Edge
-Crunch
-Earthquake
I like Mega Tyranitar and this EV spread seemed fun. I use Stone Edge because of the lack of attack investment, though even with that, +1 (or even +2) Rock Slide might not matter much. Either way, Stone Edge works fine for me. Crunch is Crunch, mercs Cresselia and can dent [Mega] Slowbro and otherwise just hits real hard. Earthquake is for that Edgequake coverage, though I'm debating on switching to Ice Punch.
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Flame Charge
- Outrage
- Earthquake
Two megas on the same team has generally worked out quite well for me in singles. Pretty standard double dance set--though I'm not sure if there's a more optimal EV spread I should be using. Either way, Charizard finds some pretty good setup opportunities and hits like a freight train. Burn immunity is fantastic on a setup sweeper. Outrage hits the hardest and I use Earthquake because I don't want to kill my own Charizard with Flare Blitz.
Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 40 Atk / 216 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Low Kick
- Gunk Shot
Standard mixed Greninja. Low Kick gives me a fighting move, which is always nice, and Gunk Shot destroys fairies. I lack Dark Pulse because Mega Tyranitar's Crunch is pretty much all the Dark type attacking power I need. I also don't have Extrasensory because I tend to find Surf to be more useful, though it's not completely out of the question.
Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
IVs: 0 Spe
Quiet Nature
- King's Shield
- Iron Head
- Shadow Sneak
- Shadow Ball
Standard Weakness Policy Aegislash sans the EV spread. I've always felt that Aegislash could be a bit less squishy, and this set helps with that. Iron Head also helps to kill Fairies, along with Greninja. I'm still testing out whether or not Iron Head is more useful than Flash Cannon overall. Against certain things, like Mega Gardevoir, it is, but not sure if that's enough to really make it worth it (or if it actually even matters).
Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Brave Bird
- U-Turn
- Will-O-Wisp
It's Talonflame. This bird is great and can kill so many things. I don't think much needs to be said about this. Talonflame still hits like a monster with Jolly because of Choice Band. Will-O-Wisp, I found, is the most useful move in the fourth moveslot. Spreading burns is grand, even if the move has shaky accuracy. Again, with this one, not sure if there might be a more optimal spread, though this seems to work out just fine.
As you can see, this team is missing a sixth member! I'm really not sure what to do at all--I was thinking Serperior or Chesnaught. I have/had Breloom, but I don't like how his Focus Sash doesn't pair up well (at all) with Tyranitar. I'm mostly looking for help with a sixth member, but I'm also open to changing the existing members--even to completely different Pokemon.
Also, I play on cart, so that means that legendaries (like Landorus) are a bit more rare. And I didn't add pictures because I'm lazy :C
Hey there
Crim Dog and Welcome to Smogon / Battle Spot!
Your team looks pretty well-rounded, however I have some small suggestions.
40 Atk and 216 SpA on Greninja is a waste, as dropping each of those by 4 EVs will give the exact same stat, you could take 4 from Atk and add it to SpA to make 36 Atk / 220 SpA,
however, you only need 20 Atk to get the OHKO against Azumarill with Gunk Shot, and the increased EVs don't reach any important benchmarks, so I would recommend that you
give Greninja 20 Atk / 236 SpA / 252 Spe. Surf is a fine move, but it sorta falls between Scald and Hydro Pump as a safe / boring option. Scald can fish for handy burns and only has 10BP less than Surf, and of course Hydro Pump offers much more power at the cost of some accuracy. I much prefer using Dark Pulse in that slot, as Dark-type moves are easily spammable in the meta, but may be a bit redundant alongside Tyranitar.
Aegislash's build looks odd, like you're trying to squeeze two sets into one mon. If you want to go physically defensive then you should
use a Relaxed nature. Otherwise if you want to keep Quiet then use 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD (assuming your IV spread is 31/31/31/31/31/0).
Jolly Choice Band Talonflame is weird to me. He doesn't have a stellar attack stat and you'll be spamming priority Brave Bird almost all the time anyway. I'm gonna have to refer to the
analysis we have for Talonflame for the best spread:
Adamant 44 HP / 244 Atk / 220 Spe
Talonflame BSS analysis said:
This set is designed to maximize Talonflame's offensive capabilities. Despite only having a measly base 81 Attack, great Attack investment with Choice Band gives it a lot of firepower and makes it easier to spam Brave Bird. Adamant is often preferred over Jolly because the boost in Attack is more important than Speed when Talonflame fires off priority moves. 220 EVs in Speed let Talonflame outspeed maximum Speed Liepard to beat Assist Spore. They also let Talonflame beat priority users such as Mega Kangaskhan and a lot of Talonflame variants that put more investment into HP. 44 HP EVs give Talonflame 159 HP to optimize passive damage and give it a slight boost in bulk. The rest of the EVs are put into Attack.
As for your sixth Pokemon, I noticed that you have some trouble with Ground-type attacks / Pokemon and bulky Water-types.
Serperior would be a fine choice to patch this up, I'll recommend the set I used in my
analysis of him:
Serperior @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 116 HP / 220 Def / 172 Spe
Timid Nature
- Reflect
- Synthesis
- Leaf Storm
- Glare
This set aims to be able to come in against things like Garchomp, Mega Kangaskhan, Landorus etc. and effectively wall them with Reflect and Synthesis. You can also paralyze them with Glare and boost with Leaf Storm (which starts to do big damage after a couple of boosts even though you have no SpA EVs).
However with this lineup,
you have some trouble against Download Porygon2, who can come in against every one of your Pokemon and grab a SpA boost due to them all having higher physical defense, and either start wrecking with Tri Attack / Shadow Ball, or paralyze whatever it wants with Thunder Wave. If you're worried about running into that then I would recommend swapping Serperior for
Conkeldurr. He can beat down on P2 with STAB Drain Punch (or get rid of its Eviolite with Knock Off), and doesn't care about status with his Guts ability. Here's the set I would recommend:
Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Ice Punch
Good luck with the team, and I look forward to seeing you post around here more often!
edit: @
Pyritie I guess I shouldn't have been so literal in saying 99.99%.... I was more referring to how HunterHoundoom was saying that they'd leave their Pokemon un-evolved until they were in trouble. Of course there are instances where select Pokemon are able to make use of their base-forme before evolving but even those Pokemon only stay that way for 1, maybe 2 turns. They certainly don't wait until they're in trouble...