Please help me help my friend. Minimal exp with 5th gen metagame

[ChaosSyn]

I'd like to start off by thanking anyone who can lend me a hand with this team. As the title said, i'm helping a friend of mine build a local/wifi team. Nothing super competitve, just enough to hold his own amongst friends. Please keep in mind when rating that my friend is trying to build his team without relying on wifi trades. That will all come later for him. So, without further delay, here's the team (i will be updating this post with changes in bold):

This is the most update version of the team, almost a complete rebuild but i'm still having problems with water types (Cloyster is WRECKING this team). I also notice i have too many weaknesses to water, ice and grass at this point. Still see a lot of work to be done here so if you have any advice at all please post it! Thanks for your help :)

Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 176 SAtk / 80 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Fire Blast
- Superpower
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch

This set is working somewhat good but i'm noticing a lack of Earthquake is hurting this guy badly. I might be getting rid of Crunch for Earthquake. He's a good lead although doesn't seem to be all that useful against most other leads.

Excadrill (M) @ Air Ballon
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor

This guy is a very good sweeper when he has a chance to actually set up a SD. I do find him getting outsped quite a bit tho. Swords Dance is a good move and it's helped me pull off a 4 poke sweep with just this guy left but between LO damage and him being out sped by pokes that can hit him with a SE attack (Heatran especially) it seems like SD would be better suited to be replaced by something like Shadow Claw for a bit more coverage (although it does seem silly considering X-Scissor basically covers the same, so maybe Protect for a little bit of scouting?).

Gengar (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 100 HP / 252 SAtk / 56 SDef / 100 Speed
Timid Modest
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power (Fire)
- Thunderbolt

This Gengar set is a lot different from the scarfgar i used to run in gen 4 and i must admit he's really hard for me to get used to while i'm testing this team out. I'm finding the subs broken immediately and almost being a wasted turn. The life orb almost seems to be hurting this guy more than he's helping as well. I'm thinking of changing to a different set or maybe a different poke altogether.

Considered Changes:
Item: From Life Orb to either Choice Specs or Choice Scarf
Nature: Modest (if i go with Choice Scarf otherwise stay as timid)
Moves: Focus Blast / Shadow Ball / HP Fire / Thunderbolt adding more coverage.

Metagross @ Life Orb
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 60 HP / 252 Atk / 196 Speed
Adamant Nature
-Agility
-Meteor Mash
-Earthquake
-Thunderpunch

This guy here was a nice replacement for Bronzong. He hits like a truck against most pokes and when he sets up Agility (which is 9/10 times) he sweeps teams of at least 2 (if they're tough, 3 if i can OHKO most) pokes. Meteor Mash and EQ for nice type coverage (Meteor mash gets some nice STAB damage too) while Thunderpunch is in the last slot to help deal with waters and some dragons.

Salamence (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Blast
- Outrage
- Earthquake

This guy seems to be the only poke so far that i have no problem with keeping on the team. He's pulling his weight and then some actually. When i predict correctly and can set up a DD he easily takes out 3 pokes on the other team. Sometimes he even can put a dent in a 4th. Not too sure about the expert belt item since Leftovers might help him survive a little more or even a LO for even more damage. I'm also wondering about the 8 SAtk Evs. I do use Fire Blast quite a bit but 9 times out of 10 it's against pokes that have a double weakness or they're Excadril.

Gliscor (F) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
- Facade

Thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you in advance for any help you can offer :) please keep in mind that i'm trying to set up a team that is easy for my friend to attain the pokes needed (mostly story maybe a little transfer from a friend) so please no pokes like infernape or scizor.

 

[Ashurii]

Porygon-Z is the only member of this team that i've used competitively, and I find that a Life Orb is a better hold item. With LO, STAB, maxed SpA, and Adaptability, Tri Attack is a monster that, with coverage from your other three moves, is pretty hard to beat.

 

[ChaosSyn]

Porygon-Z is the only member of this team that i've used competitively, and I find that a Life Orb is a better hold item. With LO, STAB, maxed SpA, and Adaptability, Tri Attack is a monster that, with coverage from your other three moves, is pretty hard to beat.

so basically just change it to this?
Porygon Z / Life Orb / Adaptability
Modest / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Tri Attack
Thunderbolt
Dark Pulse
Ice Beam

 

[Ashurii]

Pretty much, yes. A Timid nature also works better.

 

[bubbly]

Uh, is this a 4th gen or 5th gen team? You clearly say that its designed for 5th gen but it looks a lot like a 4th gen one with no 5th gen pokemon, abilities, etc

 

[ChaosSyn]

Uh, is this a 4th gen or 5th gen team? You clearly say that its designed for 5th gen but it looks a lot like a 4th gen one with no 5th gen pokemon, abilities, etc

it's on my friend's copy of pokemon black (it might be white not 100% on that). I don't really know that much about the 5th gen metagame. I looked on the strat dex but it doesn't seem to have any of the 5th gen pokes on there, unless i missed them? I would like to add in some 5th gen but only if they're better.

 

[Jirachee]

I'd use Excadrill instead of Porygon-Z to make use of Tyranitar's sandstorm. Giving Gliscor Poison Heal can also be a good idea (although this is DW only).

 

[ChaosSyn]

I'd use Excadrill instead of Porygon-Z to make use of Tyranitar's sandstorm.

Do you have a specific set you would suggest for Excadrill?

 

[Flywinged]

Yes. Run a Excadrill something like this
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Adamant 252Att 252Spd 4Hp
Sand Rush
X-scissor
Earth Quake
Rock Slide
Swords Dance

This will allow for Excadrill to outspeed many Pokes( you might want to use a jolly nature as it boosts speed further) and with a SD up it can easily sweep entire teams

 

[wraiders11]

why would you run sand veil on gliscor if you are using him as a lead, before ss is up? use toxic heal and toxic orb, far mor effective way of healing and prevents statuses

 

[ChaosSyn]

Yes. Run a Excadrill something like this
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Adamant 252Att 252Spd 4Hp
Sand Rush
X-scissor
Earth Quake
Rock Slide
Swords Dance

This will allow for Excadrill to outspeed many Pokes( you might want to use a jolly nature as it boosts speed further) and with a SD up it can easily sweep entire teams

Thank you for the suggestion :) I've corrected my original post. What exactly does air balloon do tho?

why would you run sand veil on gliscor if you are using him as a lead, before ss is up? use toxic heal and toxic orb, far mor effective way of healing and prevents statuses

I'm not familiar with this set. Would you mind posting it?

 

[Flywinged]

The Air Ballon allows for ground moves to miss Excadrill. this means you have one less weakness to worry about. but once you are hit by any other type of move it will pop. despite this it is still a good item to have on excadrill. you could try a life orb if you want more damage

 

[ChaosSyn]

The Air Ballon allows for ground moves to miss Excadrill. this means you have one less weakness to worry about. but once you are hit by any other type of move it will pop. despite this it is still a good item to have on excadrill. you could try a life orb if you want more damage

Considering the fact i haven't had experience with the air balloon item, it seems to be predictable and useless after he takes one hit (if i'm reading what you wrote correctly), so i might try the life orb option instead. I had considered Choice Band when he was first suggested, but i think life orb would be better so i'm not locked in (seems this guy isn't walled often but the diversity is needed so he can't be set up on or allow a free turn when i have to switch).

 

[Flywinged]

If you can keep the sandstorm up then you should keep Adamant as the only other thing that would outspeed you is Ninjask, Deoxys-S, and An opposing Jolly Excadrill. also consider using the ability multiscale on dragonite. this would allow him to only take 50% of the usual damage when he has full health. this allows you to easily get up a DD every time

 

[ChaosSyn]

If you can keep the sandstorm up then you should keep Adamant as the only other thing that would outspeed you is Ninjask, Deoxys-S, and An opposing Jolly Excadrill. also consider using the ability multiscale on dragonite. this would allow him to only take 50% of the usual damage when he has full health. this allows you to easily get up a DD every time

I wasn't even aware of Dragonite's new ability. That does sound better than Inner Focus (even tho it's a one hit wonder like air ballon), the free DD is very appealing. I'll switch that out right now. So basically the Adamant won't have many problems out speeding other pokes (unless they're running scarf or have setup)? If so then i'll be keeping the adamant nature for sure :)

EDIT: what do you think about fire punch vs Extremespeed on Dragonite? I'm leaning towards Extremespeed strictly for priority but fire punch could help add a bit more coverage couldn't it?

 

[Flywinged]

Once you have a DD up priority wont be quite as important. Therefore fire punch would be the better option

 

[ChaosSyn]

Once you have a DD up priority wont be quite as important. Therefore fire punch would be the better option

I had considered that when i was deciding which to use, but i'm afraid i don't know much about the actual stat changes from boosting moves, i didn't know if i could still come across problems of being outsped. also keep in mind that my friend will probably either try to use DD 3 times or just once so idk if that makes any difference :/

Thank you for all of your help i really appreciate it :)

 

[Flywinged]

One DD makes your attack and speed 1.5x higher. so after one DD Dragonite should be able to outspeed most things. One DD is usually enough to take out most things

 

[ChaosSyn]

One DD makes your attack and speed 1.5x higher. so after one DD Dragonite should be able to outspeed most things. One DD is usually enough to take out most things

I didn't realize it was that huge of a boost :O thanks for the knowledge. Would you mind taking a look at the rest of the team and giving me your 2 cents worth?

 

[Flywinged]

Overall its fairly decent (I'm not the best at rating entire teams) but you might want to put T-Tar as your lead so you can get sand up early

 

[ChaosSyn]

Overall its fairly decent (I'm not the best at rating entire teams) but you might want to put T-Tar as your lead so you can get sand up early

If i make T-Tar my lead then should i replace Gliscor? He doesn't seem to be much use outside of being my lead.

 

[Flywinged]

No, you should keep gliscor. This is my favorite Gliscor set as it is a great wall and can Pass on massive stat boosts

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison heal
EV's 240Def 252 HP 16Spd
Nature: Impish
Earthquake
Rock Polish
Swords Dance
Baton Pass

This will allow you to set up a Swords dance and a Rock Polish and Baton Pass out to any of your other Pokes (As they all seem to be physical attackers(You might want to change that)) And they could easily sweep the opposing team

 

[ChaosSyn]

No, you should keep gliscor. This is my favorite Gliscor set as it is a great wall and can Pass on massive stat boosts

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison heal
EV's 240Def 252 HP 16Spd
Nature: Impish
Earthquake
Rock Polish
Swords Dance
Baton Pass

This will allow you to set up a Swords dance and a Rock Polish and Baton Pass out to any of your other Pokes (As they all seem to be physical attackers(You might want to change that)) And they could easily sweep the opposing team

I do like that set, execpt that Earthquake is easily walled. so what about replacing Gliscor with a special sweeper?

EDIT: i forgot to ask, what set would you suggest for a lead T-Tar?

 

[Flywinged]

I think the T-Tar you've got is fine. The Idea behind the Gliscor set wasn't to sweep with the Gliscor (Even though it can as long as it doesn't run into and levitate or flying types) the idea was to Baton Pass all the Swords Dances and Rock Polishes that you used to another poke that has a better sweeping potential then Gliscor.
I think you do need a special sweeper and you might want to consider replacing Lucario for it

 

[ChaosSyn]

I think the T-Tar you've got is fine. The Idea behind the Gliscor set wasn't to sweep with the Gliscor (Even though it can as long as it doesn't run into and levitate or flying types) the idea was to Baton Pass all the Swords Dances and Rock Polishes that you used to another poke that has a better sweeping potential then Gliscor.
I think you do need a special sweeper and you might want to consider replacing Lucario for it

Any suggestions on the replacement for Lucario? I had originally thought of using Magnezone instead of Lucario, but i don't really like his move pool much. Also i do like the Gliscor set but that seems like a bit too much in the way of prediction and set up for my friend. I think he's still in the old school way of just attack attack attack until your poke faints (i'm not even sure if he switches out at all lol).