VGC My first VGC team: Mega Lucario, Gyarados, Landorus and friends

[Awful_Person]

I posted this to the wrong subforum and was directed here.

A little intro:
I've been playing on some capacity for around a year now, but most of what I do is singles. I've built an extensive collection of in-game Pokemon, so I figured I might as well do the official format. I watched a couple of videos on it and played random doubles on Showdown in order to get a feel for doubles, and I made two teams to try it out. This is the one that has worked better, but I doesn't function exactly the way I had hoped it would.

The only perfect legendary I have in-game is Landorus, so I started with that, and I then added mixed Mega Lucario because I like it and Gyarados to complement the others defensively, forming a core. Unfortunately, Mega Lucario, while excellent, has no business being part of any defensive core, despite his helpful typing. I chose Tyranitar to help beat weather and Ferrothorn to help beat Trick Room, but both are also excellent tanks even without those situations. I initially had Rotom-Heat in the last slot, but it proved underwhelming and I was having trouble with Intimidate, so I added Contrary Milotic.

I'm reasonably happy with this team, but it feels sort of shaky to play with it because my coverage is really mediocre and I'm heavily reliant on physical attacks which leaves me vulnerable to burn.

Most of the EV spreads and the movesets have been stolen from Smogon's Pokedex.

Gyarados:

Hide

Gyarados (F) @ Wacan Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Dragon Dance
- Protect

Originally Gyarados was intended to be part of a core with Landorus and Lucario. Gyarados and Tyranitar usually Dragon Dance once and then pick off things. Gyarados creates its own setup situations with Intimidate. I'm not too happy with Stone Edge, but Earthquake hits my own team too hard. Any suggestions here?

Ferrothorn:

Hide

Ferrothorn (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Atk / 52 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Ferrothorn is my best bet in Trick Room and against water types. The Lum Berry makes him a good choice when I'm expecting Will-o-Wisp. This set works wonderfully, although Leech Seed may be the weakest link. I don't think I'd replace Leech Seed, though, because it's good in late-game standoffs, and I don't know what else I'd use.

Lucario:

Hide

Lucario (F) @ Lucarionite
Ability: Inner Focus
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Vacuum Wave
- Flash Cannon
- Protect
- Close Combat

Lucario was chosen for being a reasonably fast Pokemon with Ice and Rock resistances. Unfortunately, even neutral hits are often enough to kill it, but it's so powerful that I kept it. Sometimes I wish Lucario had more coverage, but I wouldn't want to remove any of these moves. Maybe Aura Sphere instead of Close Combat, as someone on the VGC forum suggested.

Milotic:

Hide

Milotic (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Competitive
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 236 HP / 140 Def / 132 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Icy Wind
- Ice Beam
- Protect

Milotic was chosen because I'm otherwise weak against Intimidate. He usually ends up using Icy Wind, but sometimes he uses Scald. Ice Beam sometimes feels redundant, but not always. It's nice to have against Amoonguss.

Tyranitar:

Hide

Tyranitar (F) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Crunch
- Rock Slide
- Dragon Dance
- Protect

Tyranitar almost always Dragon Dances then Rock Slides, or just Rock Slides. She usually comes in near the end, but is also a good check to weather. This looks like it could use another damaging move, but I haven't felt like I needed another one.

Landorus:

Hide

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Knock Off

Landorus was originally meant to be part of my core with Gyarados and Lucario. Sometimes I lead Landorus with Milotic when I'm expecting Intimidate, because he can U-Turn away. More often, though, Landorus functions as a revenge killer. I usually end up using Rock Slide. Locking into one move with Choice Scarf is annoying, but the speed is necessary.

Please tell me what you think, and what you think might work better!

 

[Yellow Paint]

Lovely team! I see an awful lot of gallade teams circulating around, and I don't see why people ever use it over the powerhouse that is megaluke. On to the rate:

I'd suggest replacing that tyranitar with a heatran, as you're notably weak to amoonguss and ferrothorn, and heatran is a much more reliable check to aegislash. Heatran is a strong fire type with great defensive typing, and a better sun check than ttar, which was your original goal. You don't lose much from removing ttar, as you already have dragon dance in gyara, an amazing rain check in ferro, and plenty of rock coverage between lando and gyara. As a bonus, you're *that* much less weak to intimidate (milotic is no hard counter). I'd say shuca, cause you're quite lando weak.

If you aren't happy with ferrothorn's leech seed, why not try a thunder wave set? Your team really enjoys the speed control, and ferro definitely has the bulk to use it. Just be sure to use iron head>gyro ball.

You mentioned ferro as a TR check. Ferro isn't the best of answers to good trick room, as it has plenty of ways to kill ferro, while ferro maybe hits one thing for 50 then dies. A far better check is amoonguss, who beats most of the things that ferro does, with the added bonus of sleep, regenerator recovery, and rage powder. It all really depends on your choice, just amoong is another thing to try out.

Also, I'd say use a life orb>wacan on gyara. Gyara really doesn't hit that hard, even after a boost, and wacan seems situational. To be honest, I find other teams more concerned about where to put their single life orb rather than not using one at all :)

 

[Awful_Person]

Thanks for the reply! I'll try out all these suggestions. Mega Lucario (I'm going to switch to pure special), Life Orb Gyarados (should I use Jolly instead of Adamant?), Landorus, Milotic, Heatran and Amoonguss.