Focus Sash, Swords Dance Shiftry with Explosion is always fun on a Dark team. The fun thing about Dark teams is that you play to mess with people rather than to win. You have a whole army of thug-like Pokemon to frustrate your opponents (I save Spiritomb for the Ghost team since he's more Ghost-like).
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Monoteams
- Thread starter anubite
- Start date
I tried Bug, but had no success. Mono poison was hella fun too, I should really start using it again since its so simple to play with.
Roserade, Gengar, Tentacruel, Drapion/Skuntank, Weezing
I felt Poison was very similar to non RD Water, you've got something blocking all know weaknesses and things that resist you, have bulky defenders for attacks from both ends.
lol! The banning of Latias from OU and soon Salamence was no surprise and just took too damn long IMO since I said it was gonna happen last winter after I came back from around the time RSE died.
For monoice I would advise against using Stallrein. You absolutely NEED Thick Fat protection against fire types.
I disagree. Walrein doesn't take supereffective damage from fire in the first place, so Thick Fat doesn't help that much. It could be beneficial when pitted against Heatran specifically (Fire Blast 2HKOs Stallrein), but Stallrein can still handle Heatran as long as it isn't the one to switch into the matchup, and it's not worth losing out on Stallrein's advantages against the rest of the field imo.
But in doubles, yeah, Stalrein doesn't really work. I use a more offensive variant that can also heal a Water Absorb Lapras teammate with Surf.
I've only really read the first post in detail ButI've found steel to be one of the strongest.
Doing only mono steel teams i reached a CRE of 1300. Also I believe he left out mono-fighting which is another great type to use. They laugh at rocks and toxic spikes and have a range of sweepers and secondary types.
Also he left out fighting types
With problem pokemon like Machamp, Breloom (and scarf machoke)
Specially defensive Gallade and Heracross (along with machamp)
aswell as the special ofense and coverage of mons like infernape and lucario it's a defeinite strong contender.
Doing only mono steel teams i reached a CRE of 1300. Also I believe he left out mono-fighting which is another great type to use. They laugh at rocks and toxic spikes and have a range of sweepers and secondary types.
Also he left out fighting types
With problem pokemon like Machamp, Breloom (and scarf machoke)
Specially defensive Gallade and Heracross (along with machamp)
aswell as the special ofense and coverage of mons like infernape and lucario it's a defeinite strong contender.
Electric is very good.
Must- use Raikou, you need a Set-upper, and a counter for Starmie, who can Rapid Spin.
Must- Trick-Scarf Rotom-H (Trick, Shadow Ball, Pain Split, Overheat). use it to switch-into Starmie's Rapid Spin, or Thunderbolt, and force it would with Shadow Ball. Can be used as an Explosion check, and can KO Azelf and Gengar. If anything, it is great for opposing Tricking Blissey.
Must- Physical Zapdos (Roost, Thunderbolt, Substitute, Heatwave). *Substitute allows you to Roost without fear of EQ*. Both are Immune to EQ, resist Fighting (helps if you have Magnezone), and pack Fire moves to handle Scizor. Toxic can be used over Substitute, and it works great that way to Pressure, and Toxic Stall with Roost. Also breaks down walls like Swampert.
Must- Use Special Defensive Skarmary as Wild Card- EQ Immunity, Resists a lot, works if you plan on using a Volt Absorber/Motor Driver since it lures Electric attacks. (Lanturn and Skarmary help eachother's Weaknesses perfectly). *Sets up entry hazards, physical wall, PHazer.*
That means you have room for 2 more Electrics. Keep in mind the only physical Electrics are Electivire, and Light Ball Pikachu. This is why if you don't use them Skarmary is a must, as the entry hazards help Calm Mind Raikou alot. Otherwise, you rely on Explosion Electrode/Magnezone.
The best choice for the other Electrics are:
Jolteon - Handles Starmie, can use Wish, can Baton Pass (Substitute, Charge Beam, Agility- helps Magnezone)
Magenzone - Hp Fire owns Scizor, Forretress, Metagross, Empoleon, Jirachi, etc. Use Magnet Rise to deal with EQ Metagross.
Lanturn - Can work on a Rain Dance Mono-Electric team. Rain Dance allows it to make up for its low Sp.A. with strong Surfs and Thunders. Rain Dance also helps Skarmary, and/or Magnezone if you use it. Lanturn can in turn also absorb Thunderbolts aimed at Skarmary.
Electivire - Fairly fast, fairly powerful, can handle Tyranitar, Blissey, Heatran, (use Thunderbolt over Thunderpunch), Gliscor, Flygon, and Salamence switch-ins. Hidden Power Fire can also be used for Forretress and Scizor, especially since Electivire resists Bullet Punch. (Thunderbolt, Cross Chop / Fire Punch, Hidden Power Fire / Ice, Ice Punch / EQ). Although Electivire kinda needs Motor Drive to sweep, it can also be Scarfed.
Electrode: Here's what it's good for: Rain Dance, Taunt, Explosion, and Soundproof (handle's Yanmega's Bug Buzz, resists Air Slash, and packs STAB Thunder/bolt). Electivire is what threatens Aerodactyl from getting up Stealth Rocks, because it can Taunt first, and then Thunderbolt 2x to KO it. Also Taunts Spikes Froslass. Electrode is good, if only because you don't have a Rapid Spinner...
*The reason Electric is good is because the lack of Weakness: Earthquake, which 1/2 your team is Immune to, & is all Raikou and perhaps Jolteon, Electivire, and Lanturn (Grass Knot is weak; watch out for Breloom) need to worry about *weakness* wise.
They have good synergy: Skarmary takes physical and resisted Special hits well, sets up Spikes, and can force switches, while Rotom can take Rapid Spin and Normal attacks easily, not to mention Thunderbolts. Skarmary also makes a good Dragon switch-in, like say against Flygon who otherwise threatens many teammates.
Raikou takes advantage of Entry hazards, and any Toxic users, like Zapdos, to break down weakened walls. With Aura Sphere, Raikou becomes even better at KOing Tyranitar. Raikou alone is a great Pokemon.
Zapdos and Rotom counter Scizor, and Metagross, and otherwise can stall or even force switches to rack up entry hazard damage with Trick, Toxic, or Roar. They are great bulky Pokemon to ensure the team sticks around.
The last 2 are left up to the user; Magnezone helps handle Scarf Tyranitar who thinks it can tear thru the team with Crunch (Rotom), EQ (Raikou), Stone Edge (Zapdos), and Fire Blast? (Skarmary). Avoid the EQ and Fire Blast, but handle its STABs and Magnezone can be great, plus if you use Magnet Rise or Substitute on the switch Magnezone has much less to fear.
Must- use Raikou, you need a Set-upper, and a counter for Starmie, who can Rapid Spin.
Must- Trick-Scarf Rotom-H (Trick, Shadow Ball, Pain Split, Overheat). use it to switch-into Starmie's Rapid Spin, or Thunderbolt, and force it would with Shadow Ball. Can be used as an Explosion check, and can KO Azelf and Gengar. If anything, it is great for opposing Tricking Blissey.
Must- Physical Zapdos (Roost, Thunderbolt, Substitute, Heatwave). *Substitute allows you to Roost without fear of EQ*. Both are Immune to EQ, resist Fighting (helps if you have Magnezone), and pack Fire moves to handle Scizor. Toxic can be used over Substitute, and it works great that way to Pressure, and Toxic Stall with Roost. Also breaks down walls like Swampert.
Must- Use Special Defensive Skarmary as Wild Card- EQ Immunity, Resists a lot, works if you plan on using a Volt Absorber/Motor Driver since it lures Electric attacks. (Lanturn and Skarmary help eachother's Weaknesses perfectly). *Sets up entry hazards, physical wall, PHazer.*
That means you have room for 2 more Electrics. Keep in mind the only physical Electrics are Electivire, and Light Ball Pikachu. This is why if you don't use them Skarmary is a must, as the entry hazards help Calm Mind Raikou alot. Otherwise, you rely on Explosion Electrode/Magnezone.
The best choice for the other Electrics are:
Jolteon - Handles Starmie, can use Wish, can Baton Pass (Substitute, Charge Beam, Agility- helps Magnezone)
Magenzone - Hp Fire owns Scizor, Forretress, Metagross, Empoleon, Jirachi, etc. Use Magnet Rise to deal with EQ Metagross.
Lanturn - Can work on a Rain Dance Mono-Electric team. Rain Dance allows it to make up for its low Sp.A. with strong Surfs and Thunders. Rain Dance also helps Skarmary, and/or Magnezone if you use it. Lanturn can in turn also absorb Thunderbolts aimed at Skarmary.
Electivire - Fairly fast, fairly powerful, can handle Tyranitar, Blissey, Heatran, (use Thunderbolt over Thunderpunch), Gliscor, Flygon, and Salamence switch-ins. Hidden Power Fire can also be used for Forretress and Scizor, especially since Electivire resists Bullet Punch. (Thunderbolt, Cross Chop / Fire Punch, Hidden Power Fire / Ice, Ice Punch / EQ). Although Electivire kinda needs Motor Drive to sweep, it can also be Scarfed.
Electrode: Here's what it's good for: Rain Dance, Taunt, Explosion, and Soundproof (handle's Yanmega's Bug Buzz, resists Air Slash, and packs STAB Thunder/bolt). Electivire is what threatens Aerodactyl from getting up Stealth Rocks, because it can Taunt first, and then Thunderbolt 2x to KO it. Also Taunts Spikes Froslass. Electrode is good, if only because you don't have a Rapid Spinner...
*The reason Electric is good is because the lack of Weakness: Earthquake, which 1/2 your team is Immune to, & is all Raikou and perhaps Jolteon, Electivire, and Lanturn (Grass Knot is weak; watch out for Breloom) need to worry about *weakness* wise.
They have good synergy: Skarmary takes physical and resisted Special hits well, sets up Spikes, and can force switches, while Rotom can take Rapid Spin and Normal attacks easily, not to mention Thunderbolts. Skarmary also makes a good Dragon switch-in, like say against Flygon who otherwise threatens many teammates.
Raikou takes advantage of Entry hazards, and any Toxic users, like Zapdos, to break down weakened walls. With Aura Sphere, Raikou becomes even better at KOing Tyranitar. Raikou alone is a great Pokemon.
Zapdos and Rotom counter Scizor, and Metagross, and otherwise can stall or even force switches to rack up entry hazard damage with Trick, Toxic, or Roar. They are great bulky Pokemon to ensure the team sticks around.
The last 2 are left up to the user; Magnezone helps handle Scarf Tyranitar who thinks it can tear thru the team with Crunch (Rotom), EQ (Raikou), Stone Edge (Zapdos), and Fire Blast? (Skarmary). Avoid the EQ and Fire Blast, but handle its STABs and Magnezone can be great, plus if you use Magnet Rise or Substitute on the switch Magnezone has much less to fear.
Ew someone said wildcard. Wildcard's are cheating.
Anway I think mono-teams are the way forwards. I know they aren't the same but in games such as Warhammer you keep to a theme in competitions, so maybe shoddy battles should all be mono-team battles, then you have to really concentrate on your team's skills, and no-one can go to waste.
Anway I think mono-teams are the way forwards. I know they aren't the same but in games such as Warhammer you keep to a theme in competitions, so maybe shoddy battles should all be mono-team battles, then you have to really concentrate on your team's skills, and no-one can go to waste.
It's cool, Ucal. Girafarig is NU anyway, so that build is one of the very few ways to make the Palindrome Pokemon useful. I'm currently hammering out a mono-Steel, which is amazingly easy with its long list of resistances.
Impossible as in you will get destroyed, or impossible because there aren't enough dragons?
Dragon mono-type team? I'm like 99% sure I did that before... of course that was with Latias around.
Dragonite - Lead/Revenge Killing
Flygon - Mixed, bulky Offense or Physical stall
Kingdra - Physical Sweeper
Salamence - Mixed, bulky Offense
Altaria - Special Stall
Now unfortunately, without Latias there's no dedicated special sweeper, but the wildcard rule lives for the moment, preferably through the likes of Heatran.
The likes of Shelgon and Dragonair could work as walls if played right, or perhaps Dragonite could lean towards sweeping with Dragonair revenging.
In any case, this doesn't strike me as impossible.... just restricted.
Dragonite - Lead/Revenge Killing
Flygon - Mixed, bulky Offense or Physical stall
Kingdra - Physical Sweeper
Salamence - Mixed, bulky Offense
Altaria - Special Stall
Now unfortunately, without Latias there's no dedicated special sweeper, but the wildcard rule lives for the moment, preferably through the likes of Heatran.
The likes of Shelgon and Dragonair could work as walls if played right, or perhaps Dragonite could lean towards sweeping with Dragonair revenging.
In any case, this doesn't strike me as impossible.... just restricted.
I've always loved mono-type. Especially when i use mono-fire or fighting.
My favorite team
Breloom (Seed Bomb, Spore, Focus Punch, Stone Edge) @ Toxic Orb
Gallade (Ice Punch, Swords Dance, Psycho Cut, Brick Break) @ Life Orb
Poliwraith (Rest, Return, Waterfall, Bulk Up) @ Leftovers
Lucario (Aura Sphere, Dragon Pulse, Vacuum Wave, Dark Pulse) @ Choice Specs
Inferape (Flamethrower, Stone Edge, Grass Knot, Close Combat) @ Expert Belt
Magnezone (Reflect, Light Screen, Flash Cannon, Discharge) @ Leftovers
I've found it to be quite a fun team, though i do not always win.
My favorite team
Breloom (Seed Bomb, Spore, Focus Punch, Stone Edge) @ Toxic Orb
Gallade (Ice Punch, Swords Dance, Psycho Cut, Brick Break) @ Life Orb
Poliwraith (Rest, Return, Waterfall, Bulk Up) @ Leftovers
Lucario (Aura Sphere, Dragon Pulse, Vacuum Wave, Dark Pulse) @ Choice Specs
Inferape (Flamethrower, Stone Edge, Grass Knot, Close Combat) @ Expert Belt
Magnezone (Reflect, Light Screen, Flash Cannon, Discharge) @ Leftovers
I've found it to be quite a fun team, though i do not always win.
You'd be surprised how useful it actually is. It hits surprisingly hard, and with correct prediction can get quite a few kills. Props on that set. Good luck with the steels.
I never use Girafarig as a Normal type, like in a pure Normal team or making it function like a Normal-type. It's much more useful in a Psychic team and should be top priority in those teams because the Ghost immunity is very important.
what the fuck is this? do people seriously make teams like this? you aren't going to do shit if all you do is slap together a generic team. even if it is a mono-team. there's a difference between picking the best of a type and picking what works together.
Anyway, I tried for a while making a mono bug team but in the end resorted to adding flygon and gliscor, changing it to a bug themed team. oh and what is this "wild card" bullshit? if you're going to make a mono team, do it right. this thread inspires me to actually start playing again. thanks guys. get ready to be fucked up by some bugs.
I play a mono steel team with no wildcard bullshit. You've got to out predict your opponent, absorb those fire moves, avoid the ground moves and destroy your biggest counters (Heatran, Suicune) early in the match. The element of suprise screws over a lot of people play against me as their normal play style is slowed down by bulky, damaging steel Pokés.
That's the thing about mono-dragon though. You really have no options and no versatility. There are only 6 non-legendary Dragons, one of which is Uber and another which is currently in the crosshairs.
I tried running a mono-dragon team once and it was quite a failed experiment. Altaria ended up being the MVP just because it serves a completely different purpose than your typical Dragons.
I don't remember who talked about a mono-Fighting team, but whoever said that was completely right. I just made one and am actively ripping new holes in people's egos; this thing is absolutely devastating. Close Combat racks up KOs like noone's business once you've identified and removed the counters your enemy has to Fighting-types. Give it a go if you haven't already designed a mono-Fighting team. Mine includes Anti-Multithreat Gallade, ScarfCross, TechSpinTop, No Guard Sp. Def Machamp, SunnyBeam SashApe & SD SashLuke.
that sunnybeam infernape sounds awesome, actually. I made a mono-fighting team the other day also and Salem isn't kidding: it wrecks.
Also, when did people forget about ScarfCross, half the people that say anything on Shoddy say something along the lines "your Heracross is scarfed not banded, gawdd. Noob," as though making an already really strong Poke faster is bad.
Anyway, I've been running Anti-lead Machamp {A variation, but close enough}; Bulky SD Gallade; Specs Lucario (!!); ScarfCross; Physically Bulky Hariyama; and subseed Breloom to a great deal of success.
Also, when did people forget about ScarfCross, half the people that say anything on Shoddy say something along the lines "your Heracross is scarfed not banded, gawdd. Noob," as though making an already really strong Poke faster is bad.
Anyway, I've been running Anti-lead Machamp {A variation, but close enough}; Bulky SD Gallade; Specs Lucario (!!); ScarfCross; Physically Bulky Hariyama; and subseed Breloom to a great deal of success.
Yep - it's extremely proficient at solarily frying anything that dares stand against it. Sunny Day isn't good just because it boosts your already very powerful STAB move and makes Solarbeam useable, it also makes you able to survive the odd water attack here and there. Problems with Grass Knotting those Vaporeons? not anymore, now you have a 120 power Grass attack to hit all of those bothersome Water-types with. Oh, and did I mention that should Sunny Day cause you to survive a Water attack, you'll have a 50% more powerful Fire Blast thanks to Blaze. Get this: 240 Power Fire Blast + Sunny Day.
I dunno why people ignore ScarfCross either, with Guts he's truly a cornerstone of my mono-Fighting team. Rotoms just die like flies to Guts-boosted Pursuits coming from ScarfCross's probably underestimated attack value. And that's just that - ScarfCross still completely rapes anything that takes an attack from it, just like the rest of this team.
Interesting, I'm not running SubSeed Breloom mostly because I am on my #1 team, thus I know of its dreadful effectiveness too ;)
The only things I feel are lacking on a mono-Fighting team are T-Wave, Heal Bell and Stealth Rock; If I had those, then I would be transformed into a demigod. But still, those moves aren't really necessary. I think mono-Fighting is definitely not a handicap but a powerful strength that should be taken good care of. I can only imagine what someone experienced with using such a team could do.
Yep. The point of a mono team is to do something different and have fun. Wild cards take away that fun. Sure, you'll be likely to win easier with one less Ice-weak Dragon but where's the unity of them dragons? Wild card on a Dark team also kills it. Look at all the Dark-types (excluding Darkrai and Spiritomb). They're all thugs. You have a gang right there. You don't want to ruin it by throwing in a...I don't know...Togekiss because it makes it a "better team."
Infernape is a decent lead that sets up SR and Gallade learns T-wave
I actually did monoteams solely a while back and entered some tourneys and even laddered on an account. Got to 1400s with variation between Fighting, Bug and Steel (Call me a cheat!) quite easy fighting have a variety of hard hitting pokemon (Infernape, Machamp, Breloom and my favourite ScarfLee) and Bug had 2 potent sweepers (Yanmega and Scizor) which I had used before so it was easy to handle that to. Mono is easy once you learn the weaknesses and strengths of your team with a bit of tweaking you can easily get into 1400s dare I say 1600s if your good.
I want to fight anyone who endorses this wild card crap; it's downright infuriating. You're either a monoteam or you aren't.
Anyway, i'm not sure where all the hate for ghost is coming from. You've got a great lead in froslass, two pokemon with no weaknesses, a great sweeper in mismagius that can even kill blissey, bulk in rotom and dusknoir, great movepools, complete immunity to rapid spin, a whole lot of will-o-wisp, and destiny bond. My ghost team tore shit up and even beat runningwithscizor's legendary bug team in an epic battle.
Anyway, i'm not sure where all the hate for ghost is coming from. You've got a great lead in froslass, two pokemon with no weaknesses, a great sweeper in mismagius that can even kill blissey, bulk in rotom and dusknoir, great movepools, complete immunity to rapid spin, a whole lot of will-o-wisp, and destiny bond. My ghost team tore shit up and even beat runningwithscizor's legendary bug team in an epic battle.