my competitive team

[einstineon]

I'm pretty new to competitive battling, so I thought I'd try my hand at building a team. This is a balanced team designed around leading with an uncommon pokemon, lucario, that really hurts most leads to put pressure on the opponent from turn 1. Any helpful comments would be greatly appreciated! So, here it is:

Lucario@Life Orb
ev's: 104 Atk 154 SpA 252 Spd
Lonely (+atk, -def)
-Aura Sphere
-Extremespeed
-Psychic
-Crunch

This guy is typically my lead, for two reasons:
1) He destroys most enemy leads, and
2) He's still useful mid-to late game, which is more than you can say about some leads.
Aura sphere can do a lot to many common leads, such as physically defensive Metagross and Tyranitar. Crunch does a lot to suicide azelf. Psychic is used mostly for surprise value, as it hits a lot of things that I normally couldn't touch with lucario. Extremespeed is great, as it can pick off focus sash leads without letting them do something like exploding on me. It also makes lucario an effective revenge killer against weakened pokemon.

Blissey@Leftovers
evs: 252 hp 4 def 252 spD
Calm (-atk, +spD)
-Stealth Rock
-Toxic
-Aromatherapy
-Softboiled

The first member of my defensive core, Blissey just stops everything. It forces so many switches, it's not funny. Then it uses the free turn to set up rocks, and get out of there. But you all know what blissey does. Also, I run this ev spread because blissey couldn't take a physical hit to save its life anyway.

Skarmory@Leftovers
evs: 4 def, 252 SpD, 252 Spe
Impish (+ Def, -SpA)
-Spikes
-Roost
-Brave Bird
-Whirlwind

This is the classic spiking set, with me spiking, roosting, rinsing, and repeating until I get 3 layers down, then I BB what I want to fight, and WW away what I don't. Whirlwind is also my main way of countering boosting sweepers. I gave it speed rather than HP or more defense because I like going first.

Gigalith@Leftovers
evs:248 hp 252 atk 8 def
adamant (+atk, -SpA)
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-Return
-Curse

Aside from an average hp stat, gigalith is the epitome of bulky offense. This is my curse set, which in my opinion works really well when I find time to set up, and even hits decently hard without a curse. It may seem like a strange choice, but this makes for a great revenge killer when hazards aren't down. I'm not outspeeding anything anyway, though, so I put leftover evs into my stellar defense.

Jolteon@Leftovers
evs: 252 SpA 4 SpD 252 Spe
Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
-Thunderbolt
-Shadow Ball
-Signal Beam
-Light Screen

This little guy is the bomb. I have him with max speed so I can outrun almost everything, and his power is already good. Besides starmie, this is the only thing saving me from a gyarados sweep, and Jolteon has a more powerful thunderbolt. I'm thinking of changing it to thunder to combat rain teams, which are one of the problems this team has.

Starmie@Life Orb
evs: 4 hp 252 SpA 252 Spe
modest (+SpA, -Atk)
-Hydro Pump
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Rapid Spin

This thing(starfish? two starfish? item from WoW?) is my rapid spinner, although it is so powerful I often use it to dent the opposing team instead. The only things I don't hit at least neutrally are Lanturn, which is in UU, and shedinja, but who uses it?

Conclusion
I really like this team and have fun playing with it, but I'm sure there are some improvements to be made, which is why I have posted it. I used to have tyranitar in the fourth spot, but I really think gigalith is more fun to play with, and sturdy has saved me a few times, so I would like to keep it. I'm glad you took the time to read this far, and good battling!

 

[Finchinator]

Well, not to be offensive but I can see that you are new. However, this is a great start. Here are some changes I'd advise you'd look over and possibly make:
Lucario: Lucario @ Life Orb
Crunch
Close Combat
Extreem Speed
Swords Dance (for sweeping)/ Ice Punch (kill em' dragons)/Bullet Punch (priority is needed)

Gilgalath? GILGALATH? ...no

I'd advise either Terrakion http://www.smogon.com/bw/pokemon/terrakion
Or maybe Landorus http://www.smogon.com/bw/pokemon/landorus


Jolteon is an interesting choice, I might go with Zapdos just for the bulk and the versatality.
Zapdos
Heat Wave
Thunderbolt/Roost
Hidden Power (ice)
Volt Switch
As you can see this guy hits everything, except Tyranitar. (volt switch it)

Also, scald on Starmie.

Please look over the changes and inform me how they work.

 

[einstineon]

I am going to keep gigalith, but zap and the other lucario sound good. I think i'll try them.

 

[einstineon]

they work great! thanks!

 

[Harsha]

As stated above, I think that Gigalith could be replaced with SubSD Terrakion. I'll edit this with an actual rate later, though. Do you insist on keeping Gigalith, or did you find his replacements inadequate? Because I believe that both suggestions help you more than Gigalith will. Anyhow, Curse will leave you vulnerable to any Water-type switch-ins, and you will not be able to play around that.

 

[blobman]

i dont get how gigalith is the epitome of physical defence considering its only has the 29th highest def. terakion would be ALOT better

 

[einstineon]

Im looking at their base stats and gigalith has both higher attack(six points) and higher defense(40 points). terrakion does have better hp and sp. def, but that is offset by sturdy.

 

[einstineon]

So, does anyone have suggestions besides ripping on gigalith? but i guess i could try terrakion if itll get you to stop bothering me about it.

 

[phoenix_master]

Im looking at their base stats and gigalith has both higher attack(six points) and higher defense(40 points). terrakion does have better hp and sp. def, but that is offset by sturdy.

You have clearly never used Terrakion. CB Terrakion hits so hard it's rediculous. Not even Skarmory can wall it.
.

 

[HardCore]

Sword Dance Lucario puts pressure on various teams. If you run bullet punch on the set you'd increase your chances of actually sweeping; this would probably occur late game however. Moreover Lucario is a hit and run kind of Pokemon until it can securely sweep. I would consider having a different Pokemon as a designated lead. However in this generation there really aren't any leads. Since you are new to this generation I will give you an example. I change my lead according to the following: Will my lead be effective in the act of breaking down the opponents team, Should my lead act as a fodder and just go for entry hazards, should I use my lead to get a super effective uturn or volt switch against the opponent, will my lead use their best bet to counter my lead (this is the technique I normally use), and lastly could my lead be used to cripple the opponents team from the beginning. I said that to say I have no designated lead on any of my teams. Although I generally do lead with Tyranitar to send up sand or get up stealth rocks I do often switch to intimidate the opponent.
Instead of using an unreliable set. Mixed Lucario without Close Combat isn't good in any case. Now you can't really hurt Chansey who might thunder wave you before they think you use Nasty Plot.

Here is my suggestion for this spot on your team souly.
Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch/ Extreme Speed
- Crunch

Using Lucario as nothing more than a powerful hitter then switching him out for later use intimidates the opponent. Not only that but you'd be surprised as to how many Pokemon Lucairo can OHKO without a boost other than Life Orb.

Here's what I would do next for your team.
Gigalith's stats may seem outgoing however he just isn't in the running for being great in OU. Mainly because of his speed. Your team lacks whether, which is the deciding factor in how much of an advantage you will have or how much of a disadvantage.
I would suggest Tyranitar in his position. Personally because of the excessive amount of fighting Pokemon in this generation i wouldn't even attempt to have any slow rock Pokemon that set up.
Here is a great Tyranitar set that I have come to love. It's my custom Tyranitar set that has gotten me through many phases of the meta-game shifting.

Tyranitar (F) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 160 HP / 132 Def / 112 SDef / 104 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Roar
- Crunch
I've been running different variants of defensively based Tyranitar sets for a while now and enjoy the results of using a common Pokemon effectively in my own way.

This set will allow you to surprise Scizors and add another move like Protect/Wish(over soft boiled and SR) or Seismic Toss to Blissey. Not only that but of course it gives you sand support and another phaser, which will allow the abuse of the entry hazards you have.

For Blissey I would change her to this set.
Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SDef / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave
- Protect
- Wish
- Seismic Toss/Heal Bell (which heals the whole teams status and can be used with wish)

Thunder Wave is better on Blissey because many pokemon can switch into toxic blissey with impunity. That is an unacceptable debacle to your teams overall performance, becuase of the large amount of sweeps that could occur as a result of not using thunder wave.

Lastly I would take out Jolteon. It hinders your team and is only playing the role of an electric absorber that packs a punch when you already have LO Starmie on the team. There are no electrical threats that Blissey and prediction for tricking Rotom can't handle. At this point you have SkarmBliss, Lucario, Tyranitar, and Starmie. This Lacks a revenge killer, however with such bulk on your team I don't see how that is a huge problem. Landorus could run Expert Belt or Choice Scarf to satisfy the needs of this team. The only potential set up sweeper that actually has a chance to break this team's core would be Taunt Gyarados. With LO on Starmie the odds of a late Gyarados sweep would be hard to avoid with an offensive set such as yours. It's really a circumstance that could be over looked just because Starmie doe shave thunderbolt, but Late game there would be little your team could do to avoid being swept by a Taunt Gyarados. The best solution for this problem I would say is to Play your best and possible run Extreme Speed on Lucario instead of Bullet punch. This would allow you to use one of your pokemon as a fodder after using brave bird to get Gyarados in Extremespeed range. Why so you can run ExpertBelt Landorus or even Life Orb Latios in the place of Jolteon. Both of these Pokemon would be quite beneficial to your teams offensive capabilities and they'd take advantage of your what circumstances your team provides you with. That would be taking advantage of entry hazards by having powerful Pokemon that don't need to set up and taking advantage of the weather.

Good Luck. PS please read the RMT rules. Not to shoot you down but first time teams isn't really what this thread is designed for.