New to Competative, please help

[Nabirius]

So this is my first time really trying to breed a team, mostly to play with friends, but friends who are pretty competitive. I've played around with it a bit on the simulator, and it seems alright, but I want to ask for help before I commit hours to training them up. Please forgive any really noob mistakes. Also there is a big Astrix on this team, I like a consistent 'feel' to my team, if that makes any sense. For instance I dislike putting Dragonite and Weavile on the same team, because Dragonite is kind-hearted and Weavile is a dick. I realize that's a bit bizarre, sorry about that.

Skarmory (Anzu) Leftovers
Nature: Impish
Ability: Sturdy
252 HP/ 252 Def/ 6 Spe
-Spikes/Stealth Rock (if possible)
-Whirlwind
-Roost
-Brave Bird

I'm not sure if its possible to get both Stealth Rocks, And Whirlwind+Brave Bird on the same Skarmory. Person on smogon said it wasn't possible, but I'm not sure if he or she is wrong. I would prefer Stealth Rocks to spikes, its 1 turn, potentially the same amount of damage and fewer things are totally immune. Skarmory is likely my lead, she's pretty safe, can set up entry hazards is useful as a wall later, as well as shuffling out potentially dangerous sweepers. One of the problems is that Skarmory can only theoretically deal with pesky faeries, as the only really super-relevant ones are currently special attackers. Seems to Wall-out non-Hydregion dragons fairly well though, which is a positive.

Unfortunately the pokebank isn't still open, as I would honestly prefer Azelf due to higher speed and the ability to run Explosion and Stealth Rock. However I'm not sure if Azelf would actually be better, or if I just like Azelf more. I would also have really liked Jelicent due to Scald + Will'o Wisp.

Greninja (Onoskelis) Focus Sash/Choice Scarf
6 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
Nature: Modest
Ability: Protean
-Hydro Pump/Surf
-Dark Pulse
-Ice Beam
-Extrasensory?

I was really forlorn to find that Greninja couldn't learn sludge wave, it would have been nice. I loaded up the most powerful special moves from Greninja's rather pitiful move-pool. There are 2 nice things about protean, the offensive STAB on everything, and the ability to choose defenses. However this turns Greninja into a predicting game a lot of the time. For instance against my own Espeon, Dark Pulse immunizes me to psychic but leaves me very open to being destroyed by Dazzling Gleam. Perhaps this will change in later gens when its gets a better movepool and isn't so limited in the types that it might be at any moment. On the plus side, he's blisteringly fast and can assassinate sweepers pretty well, ice beam annihilates most relevant dragons, and when in doubt a hydro pump can leave a dent. However he suffers from a lack of I expect him to be OU, perhaps as a true sweeper you baton pass into. I consider that to be very plausible.

Hydreigon (Tanniyn) Choice Specs
Nature: Modest
Ability: Levitate
6 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
-Draco Meteor
-Dark Pulse/Focus Blast
-Fire Blast
-U-Turn/Focus Blast/Hidden Power ???

Hydreigon is meant to show up and blow a single person away before disappearing again. He's not particularly complicated. I put in U-turn instead of the standard focus blast incase an opponent sends in a fairy at the same time as I put in Hydreigon, it hits decently hard if they aren't Togekiss/Mawile/Klefki and I can pivot to someone better. It also helps for when they switch into other things I don't want to take a hit from when I switch into, it makes me sad that I can't get Volt Switch but them's the breaks.

Aegislash (Murgleis) Life Orb
Nature: Brave
Ability: Stance Change
252 HP/252 Atk/6 SpD
-Shadow Sneak
-Sacred Sword
-King's Shield
-Sword's Dance

I like Aegislash, a lot actually, and he forms a good offensive core with Hydregion. His bulkyness n shield form also makes him a decently safe switch in. However he doesn't have any steel type attacks without Iron Head (I'd also get STAB), which is kind of a weakness for this team, no real way to deal with fairies offensively, defensive options, but no offensive ones. However I like the coverage of sacred sword. Shadow sneak can deal with Gardevoir (who I see the most of) pretty well, so its not totally terrible.

What I fear the most on Aegislash is Taunt. The ability to pivot to King's Shield is very important to Aegislash, as it stops those with priority like Scizor or Lucario from just outspeeding and annihilating him.

Lucario (Cabell) @Lucarionite
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Justified (Switch into dark to boost, before MEGA)
6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
-Close Combat
-Bullet Punch
-Earthquake
-Sword's Dance

Lucario is by far my favorite pokemon. I've loved him since his first appearance and still try to put him on every team. However with the Steel nerf in gen 6 I am less enthusiastic about him, and really feel like he should be able to learn Meteor Mash, just to give him a decent physical Steel attack. I still think he's awesome, and I think gen 6 did more good than bad for him, but the nerf to dark resist means its less safe to exploit Justified, which is sad. That said, his second attack is seriously bothering. I can think of no good reason to not include Close Combat, and only 1 not to include Extreme Speed. That said I really like earthquake, it hits hard, accurately, and doesn't make contact. That said if I take Crunch, I can threaten Gengar which is a common threat. However Adaptability makes Bullet Punch really attractive, a *2 damage makes up for some lousy base damage without Technician.

However Aegislash is also a relevant threat, and since Earthquake doesn't make contact I can use it freely and with *2 damage against an Aegislash without a King's shield threatening to nerf Lucario into uselessness. I am considering running Bullet Punch instead of Extreme speed, Mega Lucario's can out-speed lots of dudes that Lucario couldn't and +1 priority may be enough, it would still break Gengar's fragile little bones. Another bonus would be the *4 damage against fairies. Then I can still threaten Earthquake. What do you all think?

Espeon Light Clay
Nature: Timid
Ability: Magic Bounce
252 Hp/6 SpA/252 Spe
-Reflect
-Light Screen
-Psychic/Psyshock
-Dazzling Gleam

Funny story, this used to be Togekiss. That wasn't working out so well, plus while I really like Togekiss, I don't think Togekiss fits well with this team. But this team does need a fairy threat, it doesn't really have the fairy defense against dragons to switch into outrage, or just dragon moves in general, one of the reasons I was considering Gardevoir. But I feel like for a dragon set to be viable it needs to threaten fairies somehow. Dazzling Gleam does punish dragons to some extent, which it nice, it also threatens dark types that would normally run all over Espeon. However the real deciding factor is magic bounce, which can really ruin your day when you find stealth rocks on your side, or that you have suddenly been hit with the toxic you used. The dual screens help to create the moment that Mega Lucario needs to set up. That said, Espeon isn't much of a wall, and this team is kinda missing a dedicated wall like Ferrothorn or Fortress, Skarmory only kind of fits.


Anyway this is my team that I am breeding, what should I change? Any entire Pokemon that need to go? Am I missing anything extremely important?

 

[ouchalargerock]

You can easily get both Whirlwind and Bravebird from 1 of 2 parents, and Stealth Rock is not currently possible to get, as you need to have learned it in a past generation to breed it onto something. Spikes is a reasonable switch for it, though.

For Greninja, Hydro Miss is probably a better choice than Scald, as your are going to want to hit as hard as you can, as you are lacking a bit in bulk. On the contrary though, it is probably a good idea to use Ice Beam over Blizzard, as Blizzard is a bit less reliable than Hydro Pump. Also, running Spikes could aid you with the common Electric counter, and adds another Spike-Setter to your team. Switching to something bulkier like Tentacruel may be a good choice, as it also gives a reliable Rapid Spinner and Special Wall.

Give Hydreigon Focus Blast rather than Dark Pulse, and put U-Turn in the last slot. Also, run a Timid Nature, as he needs to outspeed others as much as he can. To function as a Pivot, he needs to outspeed some threats.

I would stay with Sacred Sword on Aegislash, as Shadow Sneak should do enough damage against the majorly Specially-Defensive Fairy-Type. The only notable fairy type that is Defensive also resists Steel.

You could run a Nasty Plot MegaLuc instead. If you want to stick with a Physical Set, running something like what I have in the set should work a bit better.

For Espeon, run Psyshock, so you aren't completely walled by things like Blissey.

sets

Lucario (Cabell) @Lucarionite
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Justified
6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
-Close Combat
-Earthquake
-Extremespeed
-Blaze Kick

Lucario (Cabell) @Lucarionite
Nature: Modest
Ability: Justified
6 HP/252 SAtk/252 Spd
-Aura Sphere/Focus Blast
-Dark Pulse
-Dragon Pulse
-Nasty Plot

 

[Nabirius]

Thanks for the reply. What I am concerned about with Special Lucario is that Mega Lucario is, a) slightly more physical (not a huge deal), and b) Lacks priority (leaving me potentially vulnerable to Mach Punch and its ilk). I'll make a second, special sweeping, Lucario. But I do want to ask is there a good reason to run Dark Pulse instead of Flash Cannon. Steel covers Fairy (currently strong against all attacks in the set), Ice (Not a huge issue, but still nice), and Rock (already covered). Dark Pulse only is super effective against Psychic and Ghost, and while those are relevant types to be afraid of, Flash cannon would still deal the same damage to them as Dark Pulse because it would be boosted by Mega Lucario's Adaptability.

I'll take your advice on Hydreigon, however what in particular am I trying to outspeed here? Should I choice scarf Hydreigon to outspeed Salamence and Garchomp? Greninja can outspeed either of them if they aren't scarfed.

I like the idea of Tentacruel. I'm not a rain team so Rain Dish may be unnecessary, however it could still be useful if I go up against a rain team. Do you think Toxic, or Toxic Spikes would be a better investment? I'm thinking Toxic, because tentacruel isn't a lead.

Also I still worry that is may not be better than either a Choice scarf or a Focus sash Greninja. The Focus sash can buy him a turn if the first attack doesn't finish them off. Scarf insures the chance to kill, as few things are faster than Greninja.

 

[Hiryunix]

before I start I want to get this off my chest

Seriously an arcanine would eat your team alive. greninja isn't hard to take down with priority.
here are some changes I suggest if you want to improve your team.

1: surf should always be considered over scald. Even if you land burn there is a good chance they will take advantage of your mediocre defenses.

2: You should consider the moves you want on your pokemon. What do you want your pokemon to accomplish?

3: your ev spreads are focused around maxing stats which is fine, but I think you aren't playing to your pokemon to their strengths by hindering their speed.
(spe is speed and spd is special defense just in case its a typo)

4: Consider your synergy, if you have to write a few sentences about a member that used to be there obviously the synergy ins't there.

5: why run so many things weak to fire types without a a few designated counters! greninja can barely switch into a primed fire type. and hydreigon is the only other pokemon that can resist it and he lacks an anti fire move outside of draco meteor.



in conclusion:
your team has some strengths but you aren't playing your pokemon to their fullest saving skarmory because its the only pokemon here that you seem clear about. Greninja has a lot of strengths you seem to over look like his "rather pitiful movepool" when his coverage is incredible. Another example is you using hydreigon for quick hits when other dragons are much more suited for the job.(salamance outspeeds it, mega garchomp has better typing, dragonite was made to take a super effective hit without croaking so it can use weakness policy to destroy your oppenent in response) I don't think your team is awful I think it just needs some stronger consideration. before you think of changing sets and switching moves just figure out what you want to acomplish.

You have the tools to win but how are you going to do it?

 

[Nabirius]

Whoops. Yeah, Spd is speed, sorry about that SpD is special defense. I'll fix that.

To answer a few questions. I've decided to focus sash Greninja, I didn't consider it at first because I'm a bit dumb XP. With focus sash he should be able to take out threats like Salamence and Garchomp without being completely wrecked turn 1. If he is already in he's guaranteed 2 turns to kill his opposition, which hopefully takes care of Dragonite. You said that Surf>Scald, for Greninja what about Hydropump? Is that extra attack power worth the miss chance?

The big issue after that is entry hazards, which could break the band. That's what Espeon is for, to bounce back entry hazards. But the question that it leaves me with is does Magic Bounce remove entry hazards that have already been placed, or only when others try to place them? Espeon still has a place for the dual screens, but if that's all she can do it may be better to switch for Gardevoir

What other coverage does he have other than spikes though? Do you have any other move recommendations for a special Greninja.

Hydregion isn't there to fight off Salamence and Garchomp, he can't really do that. I was about to go into that last post, he's there to break walls and turn anything that can't insta-kill him into dust.

You are right about the weakness to fire. I was considering Gliscor over Skarmory, but without access to Stealth Rocks I'm a little hesitant. Also it seems to me to be worse since then I can't switch into Skarmory to shuffle out boosting dragons. Are there any other recommendations for walls? Vaporeon maybe?