Pokemon Tanks, Charge! [Bulky Offense]

[burnpsy]

Well, it's certainly been a while. I've been away from competitive Pokemon since the early stages of generation 5 thanks to the prevalence of rain, and the relative total ease of mirroring a team on the cartridges as of X and Y drew me back in.

Before I begin, that's actually a self-imposed restriction for this team, I will not be using anything that cannot be bred, since I want to mirror my team on the games themselves and don't have as much time to devote to Pokemon. For similar reasons, I'm not using any tutors from gen 3, since I don't have the proper in-game resources for efficient breeding in that generation. This doesn't seem to be holding me back any, but that may just be my subconscious at work.

In any case, I've always found my playstyle worked best with bulky offense, and so this team was made based on that. However, I have found my rating on the ladder stuck lower than I would like (~1500), and thus I'm posting here for help.

Now that I have the introduction out of the way, let's take a look... Changes in red.

Tomoe (Clefable) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SpA
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- Fire Blast
- Soft-Boiled/Moonlight
- Stealth Rock
Replacing Togekiss as a team member, and taking over Excadrill's role, Clefable is the team's lead the vast majority of the time. It needs to get those rocks up to make things easier for the other members, and occasionally knock opposing Pokemon out. Fire Blast helps out quite a bit here, as many seem to switch in their Ferrothorns and Scizors, not expecting them to be taken out in one hit. Unfortunately, it is forced out by any Steel or Poison opposition. It is quite fortunate that the rest of the team supports it quite well at this.

I had attempted to use Clefable as a cleric, but the team never got a chance to use it, replacing it with the aforementioned Fire Blast. Soft-Boiled technically breaks my gen 3 tutor rule, but I'll call Moonlight close enough when I mirror the team in-game and just hope ORAS brings back the Soft-Boiled tutor.

Belief (Excadrill) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 176 HP / 64 Def / 200 SpD / 70 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head

Excadrill is here because a few things about the rest of the team mandate its existence. I have two Pokemon weak to the rocks. Dragonite really cares on the switch-in due to rocks negating Multiscale and my bulky Volcarona is really hurt by rocks, so I have no real choice in the matter.

Otherwise, Excadrill simply uses Swords Dance and hits hard. Mold Breaker allows it some amusing KOs. However, it rarely gets an opportunity to do very much, stopping an opposing team member or two before falling and lacking the bulk to be switched in more than once.

Almighty (Gastrodon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Recover
- Toxic

Gastrodon is actually the latest addition to the team. It tanks several Pokemon that the rest of my team would find problematic, like Talonflame. Thanks to Storm Drain, its presence also makes the team less weak to Water, which the team had no real outs to prior to adding this and Dragonite. Its typing also helps against Ice, which is only otherwise resisted on the team by two Pokemon I don't want to switch in too often, and Fire, which this team really hates dealing with.

It has, however, been unable to stop any Water-types that also carry Grass moves. This notably includes most Greninja I've faced, which would lead against Excadrill, have this tank the incoming Hydro Pump/Ice Beam, then proceed to OHKO with Grass Knot.

Shindeiru (Volcarona) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 18 Spe
Timid Nature
- Bug Buzz
- Fiery Dance
- Quiver Dance
- Roost

In the little I've played of gen 5, nobody seems to expect a Volcarona with high Defense. Although it seems they're more common now, physically defensive Volcarona still appear to catch people off-guard. With this spread, Volcarona's Defense is only a bit lower than its Special Defense, allowing it to survive a few hits it normally wouldn't have any right to, and 248 HP gives it an odd-numbered HP stat.

This was originally a ChestoRest Volcarona in order to get as many boosts as possible and eliminate status (catching many opponents who thought they had the Volcarona taken out off-guard), but that made Volcarona only have one chance to do anything. With a Lum Berry and Roost this is still the case if the rocks are up on my side, but it at least has the potential to not be.

I'd wanted to add a Cleric in instead of using a Lum Berry, but I've found that, as much as the team likes the idea of a Cleric, it never actually gets the chance to use one if one is added. While Dragonite and Togekiss technically have access to Heal Bell, Dragonite cannot have it and ExtremeSpeed simultaneously, and Togekiss cannot afford the slot.

Jusgot (Dragonite) @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Att / 6 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- ExtremeSpeed
- Roost

Dragonite's main role here is getting rid of fast, frail opponents with ExtremeSpeed. This makes it my other Talonflame counter, as the team simply cannot stand up to that bird unless I have two outs to it.

Outside of that, Dragonite is simply bulky and strong. Dragon Claw is there for STAB and Earthquake is there for coverage against things the team can't defeat. Notable among these is Heatran, which danced circles around most of the team until I added this and Gastrodon.

This moveset renders it unable to fight Skarmory, Shedinja and Bronzong, but the latter two are rare and the former can be handled just fine between Gastrodon, Volcarona and Togekiss. The aforementioned Heatran issue is the only thing stopping me from using Fire Punch over Earthquake, which would have left Heatran as the only thing resisting a Normal/Dragon/Fire combination.

However, Dragonite as it it is completely incapable of hitting with enough power to get KOs on its own. It can weaken stuff, get super-effective OHKOs/2HKOs from Earthquake and ExtremeSpeed will seal KOs, but it can't do squat alone.

Meanwhile (Mawile) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate → Huge Power
EVs: 252 Att / 172 Def / 86 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
- Pain Split
- Substitute

Mega Mawile is the team's big gun, and usually comes out towards very end when I'm down to 1 or 2 other Pokemon unless the way the game's going forces my hand. Substitute is here to protect against status and to get 2HKOs against things that could normally OHKO back. After an Intimidate, I've also found that Substitute tends to prevent Ferrothorn from actually doing anything against it (although defeating it takes several hits and dents Mawile's health in the process), which can be quite funny as my opponents stubbornly refuse to switch (or, if it's their last Pokemon, a perfect way to guarantee a victory as the opponent loses all hope).

Pain Split is mainly here to replenish health for substitutes, though having this instead of Swords Dance or Fire Fang has made me lose certain match-ups I've happened to come across, such as the potential mirror match. Mawile's low HP stat has also occasionally undermined its bulk, as many Pokemon seem to easily OHKO without giving me a chance to use Substitute in the first place. As such, if I am ultimately pushed to the point where this is used, its success ultimately depends on whether the team has successfully eliminated everything that gives it trouble.

--

And that's the team as it is right now. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[ChaosKi]

I personally believe that Togekiss is the weak link of this team. Perhaps you can replace it with Skarm or another poke with Stealth Rocks that can prove to be a more dedicated lead than Exca. Perhaps Clefable? You keep the fairy typing, get a dedicated status absorber with magic guard, and a rocker/Fairy/(Fighting/Fire) coverage/A set up sweeper/A set up stopper, or whatever else Clefable wants to do because Clefable is so versatile. Unaware Clefable is also almost garunteed to beat any other set up sweeper, as long as there's no mold breaker or strong SE or a crit.

A Stealth Rock Clefable allows you to run SD + 3 Attacks with Exca which is devastating.

That's really all I can type out I'm on my phone so nothing in depth, just what I noticed.

 

[burnpsy]

Hmm... Skarmory is a tough sell due to it becoming the team's third Fire weakness (otherwise it actually looks like a good idea).

As for Clefable, I actually tried it before. It seems like it would work well but I have no idea how I want to use it. I could make it a bulky attacker, I could give it a support set with rocks/aroma, I could make it a set-up sweeper counter, I just have no idea. Anything you recommend aside from just that it should have Stealth Rock?

 

[ChaosKi]

That's the main problem with Clef. It's versatility gives it a major case of 4 moveslot syndrome. I personally run Softboiled + 3 Attacks because that's what my team needs. So the best advice I can give is that, just test out different sets. I do still recommend rocks though. Excadrill is such a threat and using it as a pseudo suicide lead just seems wrong to me.

Maybe for Clef:

Clefable Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
Nature: Bold
EV: 252 HP/ 252 Def / 4 SpA
Moves:
-Moonblast
-Stealth Rocks
-Softboiled
-Heal Bell

In my opinion you don't necessarily need another set up sweeper as you already have a special one in the case of Volcarona. So a bulky cleric like set could help.

But the best course of action when using Clefable is to just look at the meta and see what your team needs it to do and then adjust it accordingly.

 

[burnpsy]

Yeah, that's pretty much the set I used before, except I had Wish over Softboiled (because of that little gen 3 restriction I mentioned). ...That said, upon examination, Clefable learns Moonlight. I'll just call that "close enough" when mirroring it in-game.

I'm kinda hesitant to make it a cleric for the reason stated in Volcarona's description - the team simultaneously loves the idea of having one and never has the chance to actually use it when it's there (I lack the free turns). I'll try it tomorrow (it's 2 AM where I am) and will replace Heal Bell with Fire Blast or something if Heal Bell doesn't pan out.

Thanks for the tip. Will edit it in after testing.

EDIT: Okay, so Clefable has worked out quite week, except Heal Bell has not, but Fire Blast gets some rather amusing OHKOs against opponents who leave their 4x weak stuff in, and sometimes some nice 2HKOs.

Excadrill isn't working out, though. It has neither the bulk nor the speed that I need it to have to mesh with the team or act as a powerhouse, respectively. In many matches, it gets only 1-2 turns, and one of those has to be spent on Rapid Spin (which I can't remove since the two Pokemon that needed it most are still on the team).

So yeah. Works really well type-wise, but doesn't work well in practice. I need to swap it out for something. Any suggestions?

Also, I seem to be having trouble with opposing set-up sweepers and Mega Venusaur now. I can't stop the momentum of most set-up sweepers (none of my Pokemon can hit strong enough fast enough or remove their buffs) and Mega Venusaur simply stops anything but a well-timed Mega Mawile cold. Landorus is also problematic with my lack of Ice.