Good Starters....

y2zipper

Well, a lead is the pokemon you put in front in the front of your party. It should be designed to allow you to gain control of the match from the start. A few ways to do this are with speed, with a choice scarf, with a pokemon that covers other common leads, or a baton passer...

Pokemon that I've seen lead...

Roserade
Breloom
Salamance
Gyrados
Lucario
Brozong
Tyranitar
Infernape
Forrettress

There are others, too, but I think you get the idea
 

poke-chan

Silly, silly people.

SpecsMie is the best lead since forever. With moves to counter Gyara, TTar, Mence, Infernape and Hera among others- and outspeeding all of them (provided no Scarf)- she's my favorite.
 

aramada

How has no one brought up our beloved ancient fossil, AERODACTYL. I mean that thing rapes. jolly choice banded/life orbed with max speed and attack EV's and something like stone edge/ rock slide, earthquake, a fang(your choice) and aerial ace. Hits a lot of pokes hard.
 

bauer

Physical sweepers tend to be a bad starters, seeing as how most common leads have intimidate. I prefer special sweepers, such as Specsmence and the like.
 

Hocus

I use Ludicolo @ Wet Rock, with Rain Dance/Leech Seed/Giga Drain/Surf. He's mostly used to setup Rain Dance for my Gyarados and Lanturn. He doesn't fear Intimidate, but he does fear Heracross.
 

RaikouLover

is a Contributor Alumnus
Gengar, Swampert, Breloom. No one wants to fight any of them. Gengar can be such a bitch if played right as I mentioned earlier. Swampert is too hard to kill unless you have something with HP Grass, and everyone fears 100% sleep.

On the other hand, people make leads just to counter Gyarados, Salamence, and Weavile.
 

The Business Man

I really like using Swampert as a lead. He can resist quite a lot of attacks and set up a SR. Hard to kill unless someone has a Grass move like someone said before me.

The most popular, IMO, is Gyarados. Seen a lot of them around, anyway.
 

Mr_Hobo

Generally:

- Salamence
- Weavile
- Gyarados
- Heracross
- Bronzong
- Gengar
- Yanmega
- Swampert

Also, in Sandstorm teams and stall based teams, it's likely to see a Tyranitar or Hippowdon lead. Also note that Yanmega is not all that common but still an excellent lead, so don't relax thinking you'll never see one.
 

SNX7

I've been leading with Uxie lately. The way I've got her EV'd, Draco Meteor does 70% max to her from Specsmence, and CB Weaviles Pursuit does about 45%. If Weavile Night Slashs instead, it does about 70%.

While the try to KO Uxie, I either Yawn, TWave, or get some Stealth Rocks up. Normally it goes Yawn->TWave the switch in, Stealth Rock.
 

lilwartz

Yanmega@life orb, modest
speed boost
~protect
~hp ice
~bug buzz
~air slash
I've nearly swept whole teams with this before, dying from life orb damage >_>. Kills just about every lead, swampert ice beam does not ohko, and i always get a hax in on gyara with air slash. xD
 

Dragontamer

Ambipom pwns.

Ambipom @ Technician
Fake-out
Double-Hit
U-Turn
Brick Break/Aerial Ace/Shadow Claw/Rock Smash

40 BP Fake-out + technician + STAB === 90 BP and a free hit on most opponents. Double-hit == massive stab. U-Turn == switch out so that you can fake-out _again_ and the last move depends on who you fear.

1. Brick Break == kill weavile and hurts T-Tar (but you really should U-Turn vs T-Tar instead. Lol)
2. Aerial Ace == 90 BP with technician, never misses and kills Heracross
3. Shadow Claw == you don't get walled by ghosts
4. I'm experimenting with Rock Smash. 60 BP + 50% chance of defense-down looks okay on paper. But I need more testing before I settle down on it.
 

SNX7

I like Ambipom to, I've been thinking about him. Double Hit is something aorund 157.5 BP, right?

Also, Vacuum Wave Lucario is the perfect Anti-Weavile lead. It OHKO's him, and is a priority move, meaning you always hit first.
 

DDX

I like Scarcham a lot, and I feel that it's quite underrated as a lead. Even after a Salamence Intimidate, it OHKO's with Ice Punch. Gyara falls to a T-Punch (although you have to be wary of 'Vire here). If you give it enough EVs to outspeed Weavile, it OHKO's with Hi Jump Kick. T-Tar also dies to HJK. You have to be careful of other possible Scarf Pokes though, as well as ones that outspeed you WITH the Scarf.
 

Dragontamer

ShadowNinja X7 said:
I like Ambipom to, I've been thinking about him. Double Hit is something aorund 157.5 BP, right?

Also, Vacuum Wave Lucario is the perfect Anti-Weavile lead. It OHKO's him, and is a priority move, meaning you always hit first.
Click to expand...
Yes, after STAB. I run a silk scarf on him so that would be another 20% extra BP on him. Ambipom seems to always survive by just 10 or 20 HP, so I don't want to run a Life Orb. And choice items screw the point of Fake-Out.
 
Jibaku

Jibaku

Who let marco in here????
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Since the thread just says "lead" and doesn't mention if its standard or uber, I might as well mention the uber leads that I've seen while everyone busily focuses on the standard:

- Choice Scarf kyogre
- Choice Specs Mewtwo
- Palkia

Choice Scarf kyogre poses a big threat to Mewtwo leads. Choice Specs Mewtwo can put a hurting on Lati@s leads. Palkia stops kyogre leads.

Darkrai leads are surprisingly almost nonexistant because they live in fear of Kyogre and Mewtwo leads
 
timw06

timw06

What about Focus Scarf Shedinja. If your opponent can't hurt you then you can get a free Confuse Ray in and confuse the pokemon that they switch to!
 

Trust

About Shedinja: SpecsMence has Flamethrower or Fire Blast, Weavile has Pursuit or Night Slash, some Gyarados has Stone Edge, the same as some Swamperts, Heracross has Stone Edge and Pursuit, Yanmega has Air Slash, Gengar has Shadow Ball, Hippopowdon and Tyranitar kill it with Sandstream, Infernape can kill you with any fire attack. This Shedinja won't survive.
 

Pheonix Gamma

SpecsStar is a good lead, cause her wide variety in special attacks covers a lot of bases, and she's fast.

Also, my special Lucario does a good job as well (high speed, max Sp. Atk, with Aura Sphere, Dark Pulse, Psychic, and Dragon Pulse.)

When I was trying to get BT, I'd have Blaziken as my starter, oddly enough. It's attack and speed were so high that it was common for it to wipe whole teams thanks to Life Orb (though it missed often. I gave it Wide Lens, but it can no long OHKO everything in it's path >_>
 

MiroFTW

Trust said:
About Shedinja: SpecsMence has Flamethrower or Fire Blast, Weavile has Pursuit or Night Slash, some Gyarados has Stone Edge, the same as some Swamperts, Heracross has Stone Edge and Pursuit, Yanmega has Air Slash, Gengar has Shadow Ball, Hippopowdon and Tyranitar kill it with Sandstream, Infernape can kill you with any fire attack. This Shedinja won't survive.
Click to expand...

I think he meant Focus Sash Shedinja. Now that makes me wonder.. how the hell would that work? Shedinja "gets down" to 1hp? I mean, its already at 1 to begin with >_>
 

Tricky

I'm a midgame-type battler, so I tend to start with Swampert, since unless the other lead is packing a grass move(makes me cry) it stops them from getting a lead on me usually >_>.

Breloom is also nice just becasue starting off with a sleep is a good "grr" from the other opponent.

Leading with Gyarados/mence is common and understandable, but for some reason I see them as ACE cards, and just can't deal with showing it so early in a match like that..
 
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