First Team

[vdogsandman]

Hi all,

I've been playing with this team for quite a while, and it's been reasonably successful. I've had pretty decent results with it, and I rarely (if ever) lose. However, there's always room for improvement, so I look forward to your wisdom. Without further adieu:

Forretress w/ leftovers
252 hp, 252+ def, 4 SpA, Bold
Stealth Rock, Spikes, Rapid Spin, Volt Switch
This is your fairly standard Forretress set; I immediately set up stealth rocks because my first priority is breaking any and all sashes on the other team. If I can, I set up as many layers as I can of spikes (this works well with my Lugia). Rapid Spin is in case I have to spin things, and Volt Switch is in case I need to escape. Nothing special here.

Arceus-Ghost
252 hp, 4 SpA, 252+ Spe
Focus Blast, Judgment, Recover, Calm Mind
Arceus-Ghost gets so many sweeps on my team that it's not even funny anymore. The combo of Ghost Judgment and Focus Blast is unresisted, and after getting one, or even two, Calm Minds, I proceed to just tear through opposing teams. Arceus is also a pretty steady go-to wall when I'm in a bit of a fix because of its natural bulk. In addition to that, it provides amazing Spinblocker support, and works fantastically as a counter against other bulky Ghosts (I'm looking at you, Giratina!)

Lugia w/ leftovers
252 Hp, 176+ Def, 80 Spd
Toxic, Dragon Tail, Substitute, Roost
Lugia is amazing when I get layers of spikes down. She's tanky enough to withstand almost any hit; I then proceed to set up a Sub and either Dragon Tail the other team to hell's end or Toxic then Dragon Tail. Lugia is just extremely consistent in tandem with Forretress, and other walls (namely Latias and Giratina) have not performed this job quite as well.

Palkia w/ Lustrous Orb
4 Hp, 252 SpA, 252+ Spe
Surf, Spacial Rend, Fire Blast, Thunder
Palkia, what would I do without Palkia! My team rather desperately needed a Kyogre check of some sort, and I decided to use Palkia. It just so happens that Palkia comes with a vast number of other perks, namely being a general beast and having the ability to check a very large portion of the metagame. Palkia is here mainly to wreck Kyogre, but when opportunity (and weather) permits, it can wreck others as well (ex. Ferrothorn). It's a rather niche pokemon on my team though, and I'd love to find a better use for it.

Rayquaza w/ Life Orb
252 Atk, 4 Spd, 252+ Spe
Dragon Dance, Outrage, Earthquake, Extremespeed
Rayquaza is my physical sweeper, but it's also a general beast. Rayquaza performs best against SR/Spike setters in my opinion, because the dragon dance is more or less free. He also serves well as a late-game sweeper thanks to ESpeed and an incredible attack stat. Rayquaza is frail though, so he lives under a hit-hard-or-hit-home philosophy. Nonetheless, Ray's gotten me out of a lot of ridiculously tight situations.

Genesect w/ Choice Scarf
4 Atk, 252 Spa, 252+ Spe
U-Turn, Bug Buzz, Ice Beam, Flamethrower
I got Genesect mainly because Darkrai is annoying as hell. No matter what Download boost I get, it almost always manages to OHKO Darkrai. Against Kyogre, UTurn actually does pretty respectable damage, too, and I can turn out to Palkia in order to finish the job. Genesect checks Mewtwo too, as well as a lot of dragons in the tier (SpA Download boost, anyone?) Overall a very versatile Pokemon, and one of the cornerstones of my team.

There you have it. Any improvements or suggestions, please do let me know!

 

[vdogsandman]

Bump.

 

[vdogsandman]

Bump.

 

[Shaymin 492]

Longer descriptions please, layout is a bit confusing. If you use Forretress as a lead, use Custap Berry, you'll normally get more hazards that way. If this is your first team, you should test it more and make modifications because it's easier to rate a tested team than one like this.

 

[blitzlefan]

Yeah, I agree with the above poster. When the general formatting of the RMT is confusing or cluttered, people tend to not want to rate it. I'd suggest you use importables and perhaps add (small) pictures. If you can't do it or need help with formatting, PM me and I'll see what I can do to help. Your descriptions are also a bit lacking; make sure you have at least 3 lines of useful text.

I'd change Genesect to a physical variant, with Iron Head > Bug Buzz, and possibly Explosion over Flamethrower, as the majority of your team can deal with Ferrothorn and Explosion helps deal with Ho-oh (and generally deals an impressive amount of damage).

I'd use a specially defensive Forretress, as the majority of the tier's attacks will come from the special side. However, you can also keep the spread and try Toxic + Pain Split, as you have a pretty big Arceus-Normal weakness.

To be honest, the synergy of this team isn't the best, and you want more stable checks to Kyogre, Arceus-Normal, and Arceus-Ghost, but I'm not sure how to do this without changing the team too much. Can somebody help me out here? Thanks.