My Struggle for 1400: The Three Core Approach

[Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1]

Hello everyone!
As my name would suggest, I am known as Tileboom on Showdown.
I decided to take up Little Cup when it was found that I had about 0 success on OU. Instantly, I was in love! My Little team was doing very, very well, and I almost broke the 1400.
Alas, every time I get close, the pieces fall apart.
It is for this purpose that I ask you to rate my team, and to help me figure out the weak points.

Mien Kampf auf 1400

Teambuilding

My team is built on three solid cores of Pokemon:

Surskit/Mienfoo

These two work really well together mainly via their function. The setup that Surskit runs can cripple Speed along with either Attack or Special Attack. Haze allows it to remove potential setup sweepers. Mienfoo is able to outspeed almost anything after Sticky Web, and can break Sturdy and Focus Sashes with Fake Out. The hazards and droops also benefit other members of the team. The Sticky Web entry hazard also benefits the rest of the team, which is rather slow.

Spritzee/Pawniard

This is a powerful healer/hitter core that functions well on resistances and healing. Pawniard's 4x weakness to fighting is covered well by Spritzee, who can then use Draining Kiss to take out the fighter, then pass a Wish or cure with Aromatherapy if needed. Likewise, Pawniard is immune to Spritzee's Poison weakness and scoffs at Steel attacks. However, this core normally lacks the ability to do one thing: break itself. By including Brick Break on Pawniard, it can hit the opponent's Pawniard (which is usually at 0.67x Speed at this point) for 4x damage, then Iron Head the Spritzee. The point of this core is to sustain Pawniard and to cripple with as many Knock Offs and Toxics as necessary.

Koffing/Scraggy

Somewhat like the Spritzee/Pawniard core, tis core features a powerful attacker and a bulky supporter. The difference? Koffing functions as a crippler rather than a healer, and Scraggy is often able to be an effective setup sweeper. Koffing can easily switch in on Scraggy's 4x Fairy weakness, and can return with either a powerful Sludge Bomb or a crippling Will-O-Wisp. In the meantime, Scraggy is immune to Koffing's only weakness, Psychic. Scraggy, after a Sticky Web and a Moxie boost, becomes an absolute monster whose only trouble seems to be Flying types.

Full Team

Señor Skit (Surskit) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 5
EVs: 196 HP / 20 Def / 36 SAtk / 20 SDef / 236 Spd
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- Haze
- Struggle Bug
- Scald

Mienkampf (Mienfoo) (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 236 Spd
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Fake Out

Spritzeal (Spritzee) @ Eviolite
Ability: Aroma Veil
Level: 5
EVs: 52 HP / 116 Def / 92 SAtk / 236 SDef / 12 Spd
Calm Nature
- Aromatherapy
- Wish
- Draining Kiss
- Toxic

Pawn 'til Dawn (Pawniard) @ Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 196 Def / 36 SDef / 36 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Brick Break

Coughing (Koffing) @ Eviolite
Ability: Levitate
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Def / 196 SAtk / 76 SDef
Modest Nature
- Clear Smog
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sludge Bomb
- Flamethrower

Scraggilicious (Scraggy) @ Eviolite
Ability: Moxie
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 60 SDef / 212 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
- Dragon Dance

Known Threats

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
I cannot tell you how many times I have gotten to the 1390's only to meet this piece of crap.
My only somewhat-viable way to take out this monster is Pawniard. Pawniard takes nothing from its Flying- and Normal-Type attacks, but is often gone by the time this monster comes out.

The other threats are fast Levitate-users and other Flying types, such as Misdreavus and Archen, who avoid Sticky Web and retaliate with powerful Flying-, Fairy-, or Fighting-Type attacks.

Importable

Señor Skit (Surskit) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 5
EVs: 196 HP / 20 Def / 36 SAtk / 20 SDef / 236 Spd
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- Haze
- Struggle Bug
- Scald

Mienkampf (Mienfoo) (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 236 Spd
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Fake Out

Spritzeal (Spritzee) @ Eviolite
Ability: Aroma Veil
Level: 5
EVs: 52 HP / 116 Def / 92 SAtk / 236 SDef / 12 Spd
Calm Nature
- Aromatherapy
- Wish
- Draining Kiss
- Toxic

Pawn 'til Dawn (Pawniard) @ Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 196 Def / 36 SDef / 36 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Brick Break

Coughing (Koffing) @ Eviolite
Ability: Levitate
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Def / 196 SAtk / 76 SDef
Modest Nature
- Clear Smog
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sludge Bomb
- Flamethrower

Scraggilicious (Scraggy) @ Eviolite
Ability: Moxie
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 60 SDef / 212 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
- Dragon Dance

Thanks for your time!

 

[NotSoClutch]

Not bad. I would recommend a life orb on mienfoo though. That way it can hit harder than it does currently and since mienfoo isnt really a defensive pokemon it generally doesnt need eviolite. Regenerator helps keep mienfoo alive and kicking and allows the life orb recoil to be almost a non factor.

 

[ApplepieFTW]

"Mein Kampf"


WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW

 

[Corporal Levi]

Basing a team around multiple cores is a very interesting concept, but the issue here is that all cores will have their weaknesses, and threats to one of your cores aren't necessarily covered by the other cores. As such, I'll probably disassemble some of your cores to make the others more effective.

Threats to cover (some are probably harder to deal with than others) -

I don't think Surskit offers a lot for your team - Scraggy seems to be the only one reliant on speed, and it gets Dragon Dance, anyway. One Pokemon that I think could offer a lot for your team instead is Archen. It will help enormously in checking Fletchling, Trubbish, Croagunk, Bunnelby, and Zigzagoon, all of which would otherwise be able to sweep through or wall significant portions of your team. it can also learn Defog, which helps lessen your weakness to suicide hazard stackers.
Archen @ Berry Juice
Ability: Defeatist
Level: 5
EVs: 76 HP / 156 Def / 76 SDef / 196 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock / Rock Slide / Rock Tomb
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake
- Defog
Having both Stealth Rock and Defog gives Archen excellent hazard control, and lets Archen choose which to use depending on the situation. Acrobatics and Earthquake together provide excellent neutral coverage, hitting a large portion of the tier for quite a bit of damage once Berry Juice has been activated. However, any of Archen's moves could be replaced with a Rock-type STAB move to hit Fletchling and opposing harder.

Scraggy is another Pokemon I don't think your team hugely benefits from, since it further amplifies your weaknesses to Flying- and Fairy-types. Instead, I think Porygon would be a strong option, being an excellent overall glue Pokemon and actually forming a nice defensive core with Spritzee. In particular, it's able to beat Misdreavus.
Porygon @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
Level: 5
EVs: 236 HP / 196 Def / 76 SDef
Calm Nature
- Ice Beam / Thunder Wave
- Tri Attack
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
Tri Attack is Porygon's reliable STAB, while Shadow Ball is a nice coverage move, in particular hitting Misdreavus. Recover is necessary so Porygon can stick around for longer. Ice Beam can be used to hit Archen, Drilbur and Fletchling hard, but Thunder Wave is also a good option to cripple a multitude of switch-ins (be careful of paralyzing Timburr, though).

From there, some of your Pokemon have spreads and/or movesets that probably aren't the most effective for the team.

Mienkampf (Mienfoo) (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 156 HP / 116 Def / 196 SDef
Impish Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Fake Out
Here, I made Mienfoo a more defensive variant. This allows it to abuse Regenerator more easily and check a multitude of threats with ease, such as Pawniard, Omanyte, and Shell Smash variants of Tirtouga and Dwebble.

Spritzeal (Spritzee) @ Eviolite
Ability: Aroma Veil
Level: 5
EVs: 212 HP / 196 Def / 12 SAtk / 76 SDef / 12 Spd
Bold Nature
- Protect
- Wish
- Moonblast
- Aromatherapy / Calm Mind
Spritzee is almost always physically defensive because the Pokemon it's trying to beat (Fighting-types, Carvanha, etc) tend to be physical. Protect should be run with Wish so Spritzee can reliably heal itself more easily. Moonblast is usually the best option for a STAB move because it can actually threaten opposing pokemon without more investments. Toxic isn't usually the best of moves on Spritzee because switch-ins are usually Steel- or Poison-types, neither of which are affected by Toxic; instead, Aromatherapy can be used as a support move, or Calm Mind can be used to turn Spritzee into a win condition with a ton of mid-game utility.

Pawn 'til Dawn (Pawniard) @ Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SDef / 196 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Brick Break
Pawniards tend to be max Speed for Speed ties with Brick Break, so you'll want to be max Speed as well and try to pull off a Brick Break they do.

Coughing (Koffing) @ Eviolite
Ability: Levitate
Level: 5
EVs: 36 HP / 236 Def / 236 SDef
Bold Nature
- Pain Split
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sludge Bomb
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower
Koffing's low Special Attack means its offensive presence isn't all that notable; instead, you should consider a defensive set instead to check a multitude of threats and fire off Will-O-Wisps. Pain Split is Koffing's only built-in form of recovery, since Wish tends to be predictable and can be difficult to pull off at times.

That's it for now. Good luck!

 

[Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1]

Basing a team around multiple cores is a very interesting concept, but the issue here is that all cores will have their weaknesses, and threats to one of your cores aren't necessarily covered by the other cores. As such, I'll probably disassemble some of your cores to make the others more effective.

Threats to cover (some are probably harder to deal with than others) -

I don't think Surskit offers a lot for your team - Scraggy seems to be the only one reliant on speed, and it gets Dragon Dance, anyway. One Pokemon that I think could offer a lot for your team instead is Archen. It will help enormously in checking Fletchling, Trubbish, Croagunk, Bunnelby, and Zigzagoon, all of which would otherwise be able to sweep through or wall significant portions of your team. it can also learn Defog, which helps lessen your weakness to suicide hazard stackers.
Archen @ Berry Juice
Ability: Defeatist
Level: 5
EVs: 76 HP / 156 Def / 76 SDef / 196 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock / Rock Slide / Rock Tomb
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake
- Defog
Having both Stealth Rock and Defog gives Archen excellent hazard control, and lets Archen choose which to use depending on the situation. Acrobatics and Earthquake together provide excellent neutral coverage, hitting a large portion of the tier for quite a bit of damage once Berry Juice has been activated. However, any of Archen's moves could be replaced with a Rock-type STAB move to hit Fletchling and opposing harder.

Scraggy is another Pokemon I don't think your team hugely benefits from, since it further amplifies your weaknesses to Flying- and Fairy-types. Instead, I think Porygon would be a strong option, being an excellent overall glue Pokemon and actually forming a nice defensive core with Spritzee. In particular, it's able to beat Misdreavus.
Porygon @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
Level: 5
EVs: 236 HP / 196 Def / 76 SDef
Calm Nature
- Ice Beam / Thunder Wave
- Tri Attack
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
Tri Attack is Porygon's reliable STAB, while Shadow Ball is a nice coverage move, in particular hitting Misdreavus. Recover is necessary so Porygon can stick around for longer. Ice Beam can be used to hit Archen, Drilbur and Fletchling hard, but Thunder Wave is also a good option to cripple a multitude of switch-ins (be careful of paralyzing Timburr, though).

From there, some of your Pokemon have spreads and/or movesets that probably aren't the most effective for the team.

Mienkampf (Mienfoo) (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 156 HP / 116 Def / 196 SDef
Impish Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Fake Out
Here, I made Mienfoo a more defensive variant. This allows it to abuse Regenerator more easily and check a multitude of threats with ease, such as Pawniard, Omanyte, and Shell Smash variants of Tirtouga and Dwebble.

Spritzeal (Spritzee) @ Eviolite
Ability: Aroma Veil
Level: 5
EVs: 212 HP / 196 Def / 12 SAtk / 76 SDef / 12 Spd
Bold Nature
- Protect
- Wish
- Moonblast
- Aromatherapy / Calm Mind
Spritzee is almost always physically defensive because the Pokemon it's trying to beat (Fighting-types, Carvanha, etc) tend to be physical. Protect should be run with Wish so Spritzee can reliably heal itself more easily. Moonblast is usually the best option for a STAB move because it can actually threaten opposing pokemon without more investments. Toxic isn't usually the best of moves on Spritzee because switch-ins are usually Steel- or Poison-types, neither of which are affected by Toxic; instead, Aromatherapy can be used as a support move, or Calm Mind can be used to turn Spritzee into a win condition with a ton of mid-game utility.

Pawn 'til Dawn (Pawniard) @ Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SDef / 196 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Brick Break
Pawniards tend to be max Speed for Speed ties with Brick Break, so you'll want to be max Speed as well and try to pull off a Brick Break they do.

Coughing (Koffing) @ Eviolite
Ability: Levitate
Level: 5
EVs: 36 HP / 236 Def / 236 SDef
Bold Nature
- Pain Split
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sludge Bomb
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower
Koffing's low Special Attack means its offensive presence isn't all that notable; instead, you should consider a defensive set instead to check a multitude of threats and fire off Will-O-Wisps. Pain Split is Koffing's only built-in form of recovery, since Wish tends to be predictable and can be difficult to pull off at times.

That's it for now. Good luck!

This is definitely super helpful! I do have one question though. Why run Trace on Porygon?

Also, I feel like making Mienfoo defensive and eliminating Scraggy turn this into an extremely defensive team. I generally do poorly with defensive playstyles. Anything offensively minded in mind?

 

[Corporal Levi]

Trace on Porygon allows you to switch in on Volt Absorb Chinchou and wall it. If you would like, however, Download could certainly be used for more power. Analytic probably isn't a good idea because it's incompatible with Tri Attack and Recover.
As for more offensive Scraggy checks, Mienfoo is fairly innately frail, so reducing its EVs will leave it vulnerable to a multitude of boosted powerful attacks. In addition, with Pokemon like Spritzee, Koffing, and Porygon, your team is already fairly defensive in nature; luckily, all three are fairly straight-forward, so they shouldn't be too difficult to use. However, if you so desire, you could instead replace Mienfoo with Timburr; it's a shakier check to things like Pawniard and Tirtouga due to its lack of Regenerator, which leaves it prone to be worn down, but thanks to Mach Punch and the ability to run a lot of Attack EVs while still maintaining bulk, it packs more initial offensive presence.
Timburr @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
Level: 5
EVs: 76 HP / 76 Def / 156 SDef / 196 Atk
Impish Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Bulk Up / Poison Jab / Stone Edge
Drain Punch is Timburr's reliable STAB move which also grants it a bit of survivability, while Mach Punch is a decently powerful priority move that helps finish off weakened pokes in conjunction with Drain Punch. Knock Off provides good coverage with Timburr's STAB while also crippling opponents. For the last slot, Bulk Up can turn Timburr into a win condition, while Poison Jab hits Cottonee (Spritzee needs its Eviolite removed beforehand to get 2HKOed), and Stone Edge hits Larvesta and Archen.

 

[Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1]

After trying it out, I'm putting Download on Porygon. Being my dedicated Special Defender, I need it to stop Drought Vulpix. I can usually stall out the sun, but not being able to switch in my Special Defender was a problem. Also, I don't feel like Archen is working very well for me. Usually he doesn't survive for the Berry Juice.

Also, I'll try Timburr.

 

[Corporal Levi]

Normally, Archen will only want to stay in on stuff that it knows can't hurt it severely unless pulling off a Stealth Rock or Defog is absolutely necessary (which, granted, is a lot of pokes). If you want, a spread of 236 HP / 156 Def / 76 SDef / 36 Spe with an Impish nature and Eviolite could be run, giving it solid bulk, but this variant of Archen is quite defensive, which might not suit your style.

 

[Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1]

Update: Timburr... just no. That Mach Punch does so much less than I thought it would, even with a bulk up. It turns out, I really need that Fake Out + U-Turn combo.