Introduction:
Before advancing, it is important that you know that I pieced this team together under the following rules: RSE/FrLg Pokémon only, all Legendaries and Starters (+Wobbuffet) are banned, and there is a cap level of 60. My name is Scrap-A-Dap, and I’ve been playing Pokémon since I was a kid, and I just recently got into the competitive part of it, so I will probably need a lot of help. As you may be able to tell by the name, I am an Espeon fan, and I decided to base my team around him, so without further adieu, I introduce Team E.S.P.Y. (Espeon’s Skills Pwn You)
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At A Glance:
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Team Building Process:
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As previously mentioned, Espeon is my favorite Pokémon and I wanted to base my team around him. I decided he would best be used as a Calm Mind-Baton Passer, with the ability to do some serious STAB damage with psychic.
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The next Pokémon that came to mind was Milotic. Neither of these two share a weakness, and Milotic is a great special tank, especially with Light Screen, that can do damage herself.
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I didn’t want to send out Milotic or Espeon as a lead, so I decided to choose Gengar. He has three immunities which comes in handy, especially against the common earthquake. He has decent speed, and a great movepool to choose from the can cause damage to theoretically any team.
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I noticed that so far, these have been offensively oriented Pokémon, minus Milotic, so I needed some physical beef. Immediately Skarmory came to mind, as he is probably the best physical tank in the RSE generation. He will also take the role of Spiker and PHazer with roar. Overall, he added three dimensions to my team in one pickup.
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After picking up Skarmory, I realized that if I were to get spiked, I didn’t have a rapid spinner, and Donphan seemed to fit well. He has a powerful STAB move with Earthquake, and has the underestimated ability to self-heal with Rest. Not to mention, you can never have too much defense.
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Now with plenty of defense in play, I needed a pickup who could handle situations late in the game when they were needed. Salamence fits this description well with tons of attack, speed, and Intimidate which could potentially force a switch, which I could probably take advantage of with a great movepool.
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A Closer Look:
The Lead
Gengar @ Leftovers
Levitate
Mild
156 Att | 168 spA | 184 Spe
Substitute
Ice Punch
Focus Punch
Thunderbolt
Ice Punch
Focus Punch
Thunderbolt
Gengar seemed to be a good lead for many reasons. One reason is he has a top-notch move pool, with combinations that are able to cause harm to every Pokémon, and almost every team. Another strong selling point Gengar had was, despite poor defense and HP, was three immunities (fighting, normal, and ground) and three resistances (half grass, and one-fourth to both bug and poison) which is especially useful to a top physical sweeper such as Heracross, or standard leads with Earthquake. Sub-punching is extremely effective in this generation and Gengar packs enough punch (get it?) to execute it.
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The Special Tank
Miltoic @ Leftovers
Marvel Scale
Modest
252 HP | 184 Def | 56 spA | 16 Spe
Ice Beam
Light Screen
Recover
Surf
Light Screen
Recover
Surf
You may notice the modest nature as a little weird, but a big reason for this is the ease of evolving Feebas, as I am actually playing on Game Boy Advanced with no Action Replay or mods to help me out. Milotic is a good counter for the pesky dragon types with Ice Beam, and has a very nice, accurate STAB with surf. An important aspect of a tank for me is the ability to self-heal, which this can do with recover. Light screen will also boost its special defense, and if I decide to switch out, it can help out my teammates’ defenses as well.
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The Physical Tank
Donphan @ Leftovers
Sturdy
Impish
252 HP | 44 Att | 188 Def | 24 Spe
Earthquake
Rest
Rapid Spin
Rock Slide
Rest
Rapid Spin
Rock Slide
Donphan was chosen because he was a good self-healing tank with a powerful STAB, and was able to shoo off those annoying spikes, which is pretty much all I can ask for out of one Pokémon. A STABed earthquake is capable of providing tons of damage, especially with his high attack rating. I will generally try to save him until I have KOed their spiker, but if they bring out a physical sweeper, he might hit the arena early. I like the ability that he can rest, it saves me another slot since I don’t need a Cleric. A Rock Slide is powerful enough to scare away/KO any Salamence.
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The Utility-Man
Skarmory @ Leftovers
Keen Eye
Impish
252 HP | 60 Att | 184 Def | 12 Spe
Spikes
Roar
Rest
Drill Peck
Roar
Rest
Drill Peck
Besides being the best physical tank of this generation, Bar none in my opinion, Skarmory provides the luxury to spike, PHaze (since I don’t have a hazer), and heal itself, which I’ve said a lot, is ideal in a tank for me. Skarmory only has two weaknesses, but most Pokémon that can counter this one, I have a counter for myself. Spiking early sets up a lot of good things, as you probably already know, as it is pleasant to sit back and watch an opponent get damaged significantly every time they switch out. With rest, this Pokémon is virtually unkillable, as it can most likely take enough shots to wake back up and rest again. It can also stop baton pass chains and Pokémon having a little too much fun raising their stats while I rest.
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The Cleaner-Upper
Salamence @ Leftovers
Intimidate
Adamant
252 Att | 116 HP | 140 Spe
Dragon Dance
Earthquake
Brick Break
Flamethrower
Earthquake
Brick Break
Flamethrower
As we all know, things seldom go the way we picture it, and adjustments need to be made. Think of this Pokémon as my late-game adjustment. He will only butt his head in late in a match when needed. His raw power and speed, accompanied by his type-variety of moves, make him a scary enemy to have late in the match, but a great one to have on your side.
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The Core of the Team
Espeon @ Leftovers
Synchronize
Timid
200 HP | 236 spD | 72 Spe
Calm Mind
Substitute
Baton Pass
Psychic
Substitute
Baton Pass
Psychic
Before I got into competitive battling, Espeon was dubbed my favorite Pokémon. This was back at a point where I didn’t know about IVs, EVs, or even base stats. Back at a time where I thought a good moveset was four attacking moves on every single Pokémon in my computer. So you can imagine I was pleasantly surprised when I started getting deeper, to discover the Espeon is a very usable Pokémon. I was so happy, in fact I decided to base my tournament-team around him. He can provide great synergy with Milotic, Salamence, and Gengar, with the fact that he can calm mind and baton pass to them, all having at least one special attack. Or after calm minding, he can unleash psychic on the opponent, which is a very powerful attack if coupled with STAB.
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Thanks and Closing Notes:
Thank you for making this far, and thank you even more if you took the time to read everything. Before commenting, please don’t forget the guidelines that I am under and that this is my first time doing anything like this, so my insights might be foolish or non-considering to some counters/combos/moves that you may know that I don’t. You may also notice my lack of Choice items, that is because I am not good enough at predicitng and long-term thinking to use them. I am here to learn so criticize away, but please be nice about it. Thank you again.
