Offensive Mono-Poison Team

[TheBoredNerd]

~Preview~

Before suggestions, please read: This team is for a club at my college, in which 17 of the members pick a unique type and become "gym leaders", meaning they have up to 5 pokemon, no legendary ones, of their type that they will use to battle challengers aiming to get all the badges. For all the rules, you can click here, but it's pretty simple.

The team:
Venomoth @ Focus Sash
Ability: Tinted Lens

EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Quiver Dance
- Baton Pass
- Sludge Bomb / Venoshock
- Sleep Powder

Explanation:
Pretty simple; I quiver dance (at least once, thanks to focus sash) and baton pass off the stats, most likely nidoking. I need at least one poison move, because of the rules, so either sludge bomb or venoshock will do. Sleep powder is to stall for some more dances if necessary. I have the focus sash in case the HP EVs aren't enough for the super effective moves that challengers will have.

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Nidoking @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sheer Force

EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
- Sludge Wave

Explanation:
I found that I needed a focus sash with nidoking in the pokesim, due to him being rather easy to take out upon a baton pass. Ice beam and fire blast provide good coverage, and earth power has nice stab. Sludge wave is also a nice move, though I would rather have thunderbolt here, the rules restrict me to this poison move. After a quiver dance or two, nidoking will almost always sweep an entire team, due to the solid stats and impressive move pool.

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Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate

EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball / Hex
- Sludge Wave
- Destiny Bond


Explanation:
I use gengar to special sweep, and to baton pass into (or just switch into) when I sense a super-effective ground move coming on. Focus blast will take care of any steel, dark, and normal pokemon that challenge my team, while shadow ball will take care of the others with decent damage, thanks to the life orb. Sludge wave is there for the stab and is surprisingly VERY decent. Hex would also be nice, since my team is capable of poisoning and burning with tentacruel's scald. As for the last move, most people tend to forget about gengar having destiny bond, due to the very offensive builds. I use this to my advantage with gengar's very decent speed to surprise my opponent.

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Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze

EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Toxic Spikes
- Scald
- Rapid Spin / Magic Coat
- Ice beam / Mirror Coat / Protect

Explanation:
Tentacruel is my toxic spiker and rapid spinner in one, nice package! After all, it'd be a shame not to have him on a mono-poison team. Although I'm making an offensive team, tentacruel provides nice balance and can get rid of the entry hazards that will ruin my focus sashers with either rapid spin or magic coat. Mirror coat is something I recently found out tentacruel can learn, and although ice beam will help against the ground weakness my team has, I've always been a fan of mirror coat and counter, so I need some help deciding which one I should choose. Protect can also be used to recover some damage.
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Crobat @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus

EVs: 252 Atk / 176 HP / 80 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- U-Turn
- Roost / Taunt / Super Fang
- Cross Poison

Explanation:
Crobat is generally used as an anti-lead or a stall-breaker, but I find his stab brave bird burns holes in many teams, which makes him a great physical attacker. U-turn will allow him to deal decent damage to my psychic weakness and an easy way out to avoid damage. Cross poison is there because of the rules, but when it get a critical hit, it's pretty impressive. I have a hard time deciding between roost and taunt, for him. Taunt seems more useful, but roost will help recover from life orb and brave bird recoil damage. Super fang is also in the mix, because of those pesky steel types that resist my poison moves.

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That's my team! Hopefully I can get some nice input from you guys, and I'm open to switching around some of my team for pokemon like drapion, but it's hard to know who to replace. Just keep in mind that people will have a moveset and pokemon dedicated to defeating poison. Thank you! :D

 

[TheBoredNerd]

For the sixth slot on a sim, I was thinking about amoongus. Any suggestions or builds?

 

[VarunR]

I have used MonoPoison on PO a lot, so I might be able to help you.

Venomoth - Use 252 HP over 252 SAtt. Reason? There's no point in Venomoth trying to kill things by itself. It's Nidoking's job.

Nidoking - Life Orb instead of Focus Sash. It isn't needed if you're smart with switching and Nidoking hits VERY hard with that Life Orb boost, its recoil nullified by Sheer Force. Also, Modest --->Timid, since you've that Life Orb boost. If you don't want to change him though, he should still be a powerhouse so it's your wish.

Gengar and Tentacruel is fine.

Replace Crobat with Drapion and keep him in the 6th slot on the sim. Crobat is an amazing lead with Taunt and Brave Bird, but with Venomoth as a mandatory lead it becomes pointless. Drapion is the only Poison type immune to Psychic so use it to ensure that Psychic types, especially Jirachi and CM Reuniclus don't sweep your team with Psychic/Psyshock. It has access to Crunch and EQ, which means you can most Psychic and Jirachi down. Use Toxic or Cross Poison as a Poison move. So, Jolly, 252 Att, 252 Spe, 4 HP with Cross Poison, Crunch, EQ and Taunt or Swords Dance in the last slot. I'd recommend Taunt, since it shuts down those Will-O-Wisps and Thunder-Waves from the likes of Chansey, Blissey, Dusclops and Sableye.

 

[WhiteDMist]

Sorry, but you should read the rules before making a RMT. Then you'd know that you MUST post complete teams.

 

[Jirachee]

WhiteDMist is right. While it was alright at first because you specified the metagame you were playing only allowed 5 Pokemon, if you want to add a sixth Pokemon, you have to add it by yourself. This is not Build My Team, it's Rate My Team. PM me if you have a sixth Pokemon to add and I'll unlock this thread.