Rate my first team ever? Please/thanks <3

[hidethecandy]

So I've been into battling for a while but haven't really put together a cohesive team yet. I put a lot of thought into this one and think it looks pretty sweet on paper, but in real life it's sort of been 50/50 in terms of wins/losses. I really wanted to make a unique, non-conformative (Heatran/Aegislash/Washtom/3 fillers) team with a good balance of offensive and defensive presence. Anyway here we go.

Position 1: Aggron+Aggronite (->Filter)
252 HP, 4 Def, 252 Sp.D (Relaxed)
-Stealth Rock
-Dragon Tail
-Thunder Wave
-Earthquake
I lead with this guy in most battles. Turn 1 go Mega with him and throw in Stealth Rock, then proceed to TWave/phase until I bring in someone he can't beat (Heatran, Landorus, Alakazam, etc). The EV spread is optimized to make the greatest use out of Mega Aggron's awesome mono-Steel typing and ability to make him into a sort of phasing physical wall. Earthquake is to nail predicted switch-ins, but since he runs no offensive investment, he probably won't kill much until the target accumulates enough damage.

Position 2: Goodra+Assault Vest (Gooey)
128 HP, 252 Def, 128 Sp.A (Bold)
-Fire Blast
-Thunderbolt
-Focus Blast
-Dragon Tail
So here we have a special wall. The idea of him is to switch him in to a threat and phaze them away with Dragon Tail. Much Like Aggron. But this guy also has the ability to dish out damage to whatever he brings in. Since I don't have any Grass weaknesses on this team, I went for Gooey because it's a bit more functional than Sap Sipper, and it also gives him more switch-in presence if something makes contact.

Position 3: Gardevoir+Leftovers (Trace)
252 HP, 240 Def, 12 Sp.D (Timid)
-Wish
-Heal Bell
-Thunder Wave
-Moonblast
Gardevoir is my favorite Pokemon 5-ever and the buff (in my opinion) to her this generation has given me hope that she'll see more play. But as great as her Mega form is, my normal use for her (as a cleric) doesn't get a huge boost by going Mega so support Gardevoir it is. Most of the EVs go into HP to pass bigger wishes and help patch her abysmal base Defense. I prefer Thunder Wave on her so I can worry less about my mostly slow guys getting outpaced and KO'd before they can do jack anything. Also, I went for Moonblast>Psychic/Psyshock because nothing is immune to it, and that extra 5 BP is that much more helpful against Assault Vest Conkeldurr, who is a problem.

Position 4: Excadrill+Air Balloon (Mold Breaker)
252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 Sp.D (Jolly)
-Iron Head
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Rapid Spin
I think Excadrill is really important. I really like Air Ballon on him to (somewhat) mitigate his weakness to the ever-present Earthquake. Also, I felt like I needed a dedicated physical attacker on this team and boy does this guy geT THE JOB DONE. The spread on him is pretty basic. The task he performs best, in my opinion, is spamming brutal moves and watching things die. Bonus if opponents have to switch and take Stealth Rocks damage, or if faster threats have already been paralyzed by Gardevoir or Aggron. Rapid Spin is essential to help Talonflame stay alive.

Position 5: Gengar+Life Orb (Levitate)
252 Sp.A, 252 Spe, 4 Sp.D (Timid)
-Shadow Ball
-Focus Blast
-Psychic
-Hypnosis
Alright. So, end-game cleaners are happening. I figured that if I have to switch away from an Earthquake or Close Combat, I might as well have someone with supereffective coverage against common users. Shadow Ball is the obligatory STAB of choice, since most opposing fairies will be more easily dispatched by Aggron/Excadrill and Sludge Bomb doesn't hit enough outside Fairies to justify its use to me. Focus Blast is for Mega Lucario, who easily plows through most of my team without a solid offensive answer. Psychic is for other Fighting- and Poison-types that might give me troubles. Finally, I opted for Hypnosis in the last moveset to catch counters on the switch. At the very least, it forces them to bring in someone else.

Position 6: Talonflame+Sharp Beak (Gale Wings)
252 Atk, 180 Sp.A, 72 Spe (Mild)
-Brave Bird
-Fire Blast
-U-Turn
-Roost

I got a Gale Wings one! And as great as the Choice set is, I really don't feel safe being locked into using kamikaze attacks, so I gave him a Sharp Beak to bluff a Band and still add to his rather disappointing offensive stats. Figuring out his nature was tough. I feel like he can't afford drops in any stat, but definitely needed a power boost, so I went for Mild>Rash to help with his Special stat as well as soften special blows like Thunderbolt, if I ever decide to stay in on them and Roost. (Surprise, bitch. I bet you thought that would be super-effective.) For now, I'm running Fire Blast>Flare Blitz/Overheat because it doesn't make contact to Rocky Helmet or Ferrothorn and also doesn't cut into his longevity (for the former) and it can be used repeatedly (for the latter). I also really debated running Speed investment at all (base 126 with priority Brave Bird is pretty fast!) but outpacing and KOing a weakened Mega Lucario is really important to me, so I gave him enough speed to do that. I think. After I playtest this set some more, I might actually just go for Choice Band, because the increase in power is really important, but for now this set does alright.

Anyways, that's my presentation and I hope you liked it. Feedback is extremely valued and appreciated. I really want to make this team the best it can be.
Thanks!

 

[Mischief Maker]

You have a lot of fighting and ground type weakness to your team. Might want to consider replacing Hydreigon. Maybe switch out Magnezone with Rotom-W, he's bulky and has good coverage.

 

[ModelT]

I can't argue with a person who wants to try something different to break the mold, nobel aspirations, but no lie, your team needs work. =/

For starters, Mischief Maker has a solid point. You DO have a lot of Fighting weaknesses and more than too many Ground weaknessess. Hydregion, Zone, and Excadrill are all weak to fighting without the best defensive stats. Aggron is a beast of a defender, but even he wouldn't want to switch into a High Jump Kick. As for Togekiss, a lot of fighting types bring other attacks to the table that Kiss won't want to take and cannot outspeed on your set at all, like Stone Edge or some steel move (or in the case of most Mienshao, a faster U-Turn), thus making Togekiss a poor defensive pivot.

With Aggron being your Defensive core, I'd suggest Full HP and Sp. Def investment, since his Def is already stupid high (base 230... x.x). His ability is pretty cool, but remember that SE moves still do 1.75x damage, which is a lot on the Special end. That being said, compliment him with a good special wall (maybe something with Assault Vest), and a sweeper that doesn't worry about Ground, Fire, and Fighting. Examples that might be good are Talonflame, Lando-T, DDance Gyrados for the sweeper since aggron can cover physical threats to them well, and perhaps Assault Vest Goodra who compliments Maggron well in the defensive catagory.

This core keeps room for Gardevoir to play cleric and back up Goodra to help soak Special hits (Goodra doesn't like Fairy, Dragon, or Ice, which can be passed to either Gardevoir or Aggron depending on the source/type).

Excadrill, Magnezone, and Hydreigon are all similarly typed to things either already on your party, or things I've suggested. It might be wise to reconsider them for some more utility and perhaps a secondary sweeper.

 

[Oranos]

I would switch aggron for mega venosaur, it is simply a superior tank, boasting reliable recovery while still being able to dish out appreciable damage. If you wanted to keep a phasing move on your tank you can even give him roar! The only things saur is afraid of are psychics (hydreigon handles it) and flyers (magnezone handles them). Also I can't help but feel like gardevoir and togekiss sort of serve the similar roles on the team; you really only need 1 thunder waving wisher on the team. I would suggest replacing togekiss or gardevoir with a good wall breaker like a choice band Staraptor. Since you have good grass/electric resistance (especially if you decide to run venosaur) you could also consider running a bulky water. Since your post indicates you have hipster tendencies you could look into suicune or milotic, they are decidedly not mainstream but can be viable with help (and magnezone/venosaur would provide it). You do get props for making a team without including any of the "absurdly overused" mons though haha

 

[hidethecandy]

Ok, so I think the Ground/Fighting weaknesses are definitely a problem, so I gave Hydreigon and Excadrill the boot in favor of these two:

Position 5: Gengar+Life Orb (Levitate)
252 Sp.A, 252 Spe, 4 Sp.D (Timid)
-Shadow Ball
-Focus Blast
-HP Ice
-Psychic
I figured that if I have to switch away from an Earthquake or Close Combat, I might as well have someone with supereffective coverage against common users. Shadow Ball is the obligatory STAB of choice, since most opposing fairies will be more easily dispatched by Aggron or Magnezone and Sludge Bomb doesn't hit enough outside Fairies to justify its use to me. Focus Blast is for Mega Lucario, who easily plows through most of my team without a solid offensive answer. I threw in HP Ice because he had it anyway and the ability to inflict heavy damage to Landorus and Dragons is always cool. Finally, Psychic is for Fighting- and Poison-types who threaten other members of my team.

Position 6: Staraptor+Choice Scarf(Intimidate)
252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 HP (Jolly)
-Close Combat
-Double-Edge
-Brave Bird
-U-Turn
I love Staraptor! I played with this guy in Gen 5 and he always did his job exactly the way I needed him to. The idea of him, basically, is to switch into a predicted physical move and Intimidate some of the damage off, then proceed to attack or U-Turn into someone better suited to walling attacks. Like Oranos said, he performs spectacularly as a wall breaker. Since his Speed is sort of average, though, and the capability to outspeed and KO a lot of other threats is key to playing with Staraptor, I use a Scarf on him to keep him as fast as possible. He doesn't get a lot of KOs early game because of that, but since this team is more about racking up damage over a long period of time, he manages to get the job done later in the match.

I also agree that having both Gardevoir AND Togekiss is getting a bit redundant, so I kicked out Togekiss, who's admittedly a bit disorganized, for Goodra.

Position 2: Goodra+Assault Vest(Gooey)
252 Atk, 252 Sp.D, 4 HP (Adamant)
-Dragon Tail
-Rock Slide
-Aqua Tail
-Earthquake
Ok, so I'll have to actually catch him and breed him first, but this guy will probably fit pretty well onto this team. Obviously, nobody in their right mind will ever use a Grass-type attack on anyone in my team, so Goodra gets to make use of Gooey instead. I can't recall a memorable Goodra encounter so far, but I definitely like the idea of slapping an Assault Vest on him and taking a cruise down Bruise Street while he shuffles the enemy team through Stealth Rocks. I mean, his offensive stats are kind of meh, but he's like the coolest thing that happened to Gen 6, and having a dedicated Special wall is probably going to be really helpful to Togekiss and my actual sweepers. Maybe this isn't the most appropriate spread for him, but he covers types that nobody else does with Aqua Tail and Rock Slide.

If he doesn't cut it, I'll probably use Milotic instead, but I'd really love to see Goodra work so one thing at a time.

Thanks a ton for the feedback you guys, hopefully I'll be able to give these changes a try soon!

 

[ModelT]

This doesn't exactly have anything to do with the rate, but a tip for Gengar: Watch for things like Knock Off. My Meinshao routinely OHKOs Gengars when they think it's a safe switch to troll on some High Jump Kick recoil. This also goes for things like Assault Vest Conkeldurr who wouldn't mind switching into Gengar at all. I'm not saying get rid of Gengar, but Knock Off is like Super Crunch and more things than you'd expect can learn it.

With Goodra, you have a similar move set-up as your Maggron. It might be wise to try a mixed Defender set-up, with Good HP and Def investment, with some Sp. Def investment, as with Gooey you'll want to be able to take a hit from Physical threats if needed. His naturally large special bulk is awesome, and with little to no investment he can still tank a lot of special hits with an Assault Vest. Consider trying out some different moves, maybe even think mixed Offense as well. He's got a lot more potential than you'd think.

As much as I like Staraptor... Talonflame is (arguably) better. With Priority Brave Bird negating the need for speed (though a large Speed Investment is still widely used) and a bit better coverage (STAB Flare Blits vs. Normal Close Combat, both having detrimental survival drawbacks, and Double Edge doesn't hit anything SE). However, if you don't switch (try TFlame out, see what you like), you're going to want to watch out for Mandibuzz which usually has either Knock Off which will slow you down or Foul Play which will mess you up pretty good.

 

[hidethecandy]

Ok, I'll run a more balanced Goodra and ditch Earthquake and Dragon Tail for some better coverage. Unfortunately, I don't have access to a Gale Wings Talonflame at the moment u_u but if I can get ahold of one I'd definitely like to try it out (Flare Blitz > Double-Edge, 100% agree). And I think I might drop HP Ice for Will-o'-Wisp on Gengar, unless it gets in the way of my paralysis fetish (or maybe I'll just run WoW in Gardevoir too idk). Graphed+illustrated results of these changes are forthcoming.

 

[hidethecandy]

Ok, so I've edited in the changes I made. Since I'm running Talonflame, Rapid Spin support became mandatory, so Excadrill's back! He's taking Magnezone's place now. I don't really need him for Steel-types anymore because obviously.