Hey everyone!
I've been playing vgc for awhile now, and i can do fairly well with a team that has no thought put into it. The problem is I want to do better, and this time I'm turning to you lovely people for help. I want to know what you all think and what can be improved, as I have some ideas myself and need some critiquing. Let's get to it!
MAMOSWINE [F] @ Focus Sash
Adamant / Thick Fat
212 HP/100 Atk/196 Spe
31/31/31/--/31/31
-Icicle Crash
-Earthquake
-Ice Shard
-Protect
The initial thought behind this team was seeing Arash win last year with a sweet Mamoswine, I thought it would be a great start. I opted out of Choice Band because I hate being locked in, plus it lets her survive longer with protect while I eliminate threats. This thing tanks anything that isn't Drought boosted fire moves or fighting types, and the EV's allow for a solid 75 - 90% on Garchomp with Ice Shard. Icicle Crash hits hard with flinch, which is decent on the base 80 speed. She was supposed to work in conjunction with Talonflame, and trust me, when the opponent is unprepared, they hit hard, but I feel like Mamo might not be the best fit for this team. I don't find myself using her that much and honestly with the genies out of this season, there is much less reason to use her.
TALONFLAME [M] @ Life Orb
Adamant / Gale Wings
124 HP/252 Atk/132 Spe
31/31/31/--/31/31
-Brave Bird
-Flare Blitz
-Roost
-Protect
The partner to Mamoswine. The thought was that the double priority of Brave Bird and Ice Shard would be magical, KO-ing opponents before they even had a chance to make their first move. Their weaknesses balanced each other perfectly. THE RAW ATTACK POWER. But, 'twas not so, while sometimes Talonflame would get the kill imedeatly and Mamoswine would dole out some decent damage, it usually would end up with a dead Talonflame and a vulnerable Mamoswine. While cool on paper, this team was shut down by anything that; Quick Guarded, Other Talonflames, Rotom Wash, Tyranitar, Charizard Y or anyone that was smart enough to realize that a single Protect on the proper Pokemon was enough to let the other destroy Talonflame. This combo still works against neutrally hit mons and is a fun was to mess with trick room teams, but it's overall disappointing. Regardless Talonflame on any team destroys and will probably be on my team for the rest of Gen 6. Questioning Life Orb though.
The Truest MVP
ROTOM-W [ ] @ Chesto Berry
Calm / Levitate
252 HP/4 SpA/252 SpDef
31/31/31/31/31/31
-Thunderblot
-Hydro Pump
-Rest
-Will-o-Wisp
This thing is amazing. End of story. The bulk on it is amazing, easily countering opponents Talonflames with Thunderblot, doing good damage on Tyranitar and just winning. The Will-o-Wisp alone is enough to cripple the heavily physical metagame, to the point where I swear out loud if I miss it on an important power attacker. As most teams only carry Talonflame as their Fire type, they don't like switching in on this guy to block the Will-o-Wisp. The best part is that, Rest isn't a common move on Rotom and can let him survive much longer while dealing more pain. Oh, hey think you finally got rid of the thorn in your side who burned half your team and preventing a sweep? NOPE (Chuck Testa) FULL HEALTH!!! This thing wrecks teams to the point where losing him early on means a loss for me. Plus using him and Talonflame as a lead against Dark Void Smeargle really surprises opponents. In terms of counters to this guy Charizard Y in the sun OHKO Solarbeam, Meowstic and Amoongus really mess up his momentum
AZUMARILL [F] @ Leftovers
Adamant / Huge Power
252 HP/252 Atk/4 SpDef
31/31/31/--/31/31
-Play Rough
-Superpower
-Aqua Jet
-Belly Drum
Such a good Pokemon and yet I find myself putting her aside. Despite the massive HP and overall good bulk, I find that she gets KO'ed far too quickly. Rotom-W counters her amazingly and the setup with Amoonguss Rage Powder is weak to grass types ever since the Grass "powder moves" buff. This could all change perhaps if I switched Belly Drum for Protect, but I'm worried about letting Belly Drum go. I'm just unsure about this one and whether it should stay or go for something like Togekiss (If available; is it in the Kalos dex?).
KANGASKHAN - MEGA [F] @ Kangaskhanite
Adamant / Scrappy --- Parental Bond
252HP/252 Atk/4 SpDef
31/31/31/--/31/31
-Fake Out
-Power Up Punch
-Return
-Protect
My Mega evolution, and yet another pokemon I'm considering tossing. While this thing delivers power (thanks Parental Bond) I've found that it's never on the field long and can't OHKO things like Talonflame can. It often gets shut down by burn and can't target ghosts (I've tried Sucker Punch and I still dislike it). Because I'm HP EV'd for survivability, I often end up losing Fake Out speed races and over all this things coverage sucks. Problem is I don't know what to replace it with, the original thought was Conceldurr, but he's been nerfed thanks to the loss of elemental punches. Then I would need a new Mega and my first choice is already replacing Mamo with Garchomp or Mega Garchomp because he hits harder, walls Tyrannitar and KO's Charizard Y. I'm at ends as to what to do with this team member.
AMOONGUSS [M] @ Lum Berry
Calm / Regenerator
252 HP/108 Def/148 SpDef
31/31/--/31/31/7
-Spore
-Rage Powder
-Protect
-Giga Drain
This Shroom does exactly what I want it to do. Take hits, be bulky and piss everyone off. The moves should be self explanatory and Regenerator helps Amoonguss live. The 7 Speed IV thing was weird, I read someone used it in gen 5 to be 1 speed point slower than Trick Room using Gastrodon and just a bit higher that another mon out of trick room, plus it out speeds other Amoonguss, outside of Trick Room (not that it really matters). This is just a copy and paste of those IV's though so, pertaining to this generation's Trick Room teams I would need to readjust for pokemon such as Malamar
That's the current Team,
Things to consider; while all my pokemon are good in their own right with sketchy synergy, I have nearly no physical walls or special attackers
current problems I'm running into: Mega TTar, Mega Charizard Y + Venosaur (AKA SUN), Meowstic, Trick Room Dusclops (I still have no idea how to kill this thing) and intimidate teams
Considerations at the moment: Meowstic, Garchomp or Mega Garchomp, Gardevoir or Mega Gardevoir, Mega Mawile, Conceldurr, Togekiss (if legal) and Vivillon (awesome ability)
I've been playing vgc for awhile now, and i can do fairly well with a team that has no thought put into it. The problem is I want to do better, and this time I'm turning to you lovely people for help. I want to know what you all think and what can be improved, as I have some ideas myself and need some critiquing. Let's get to it!
MAMOSWINE [F] @ Focus Sash
Adamant / Thick Fat
212 HP/100 Atk/196 Spe
31/31/31/--/31/31
-Icicle Crash
-Earthquake
-Ice Shard
-Protect
The initial thought behind this team was seeing Arash win last year with a sweet Mamoswine, I thought it would be a great start. I opted out of Choice Band because I hate being locked in, plus it lets her survive longer with protect while I eliminate threats. This thing tanks anything that isn't Drought boosted fire moves or fighting types, and the EV's allow for a solid 75 - 90% on Garchomp with Ice Shard. Icicle Crash hits hard with flinch, which is decent on the base 80 speed. She was supposed to work in conjunction with Talonflame, and trust me, when the opponent is unprepared, they hit hard, but I feel like Mamo might not be the best fit for this team. I don't find myself using her that much and honestly with the genies out of this season, there is much less reason to use her.
TALONFLAME [M] @ Life Orb
Adamant / Gale Wings
124 HP/252 Atk/132 Spe
31/31/31/--/31/31
-Brave Bird
-Flare Blitz
-Roost
-Protect
The partner to Mamoswine. The thought was that the double priority of Brave Bird and Ice Shard would be magical, KO-ing opponents before they even had a chance to make their first move. Their weaknesses balanced each other perfectly. THE RAW ATTACK POWER. But, 'twas not so, while sometimes Talonflame would get the kill imedeatly and Mamoswine would dole out some decent damage, it usually would end up with a dead Talonflame and a vulnerable Mamoswine. While cool on paper, this team was shut down by anything that; Quick Guarded, Other Talonflames, Rotom Wash, Tyranitar, Charizard Y or anyone that was smart enough to realize that a single Protect on the proper Pokemon was enough to let the other destroy Talonflame. This combo still works against neutrally hit mons and is a fun was to mess with trick room teams, but it's overall disappointing. Regardless Talonflame on any team destroys and will probably be on my team for the rest of Gen 6. Questioning Life Orb though.
The Truest MVP
ROTOM-W [ ] @ Chesto Berry
Calm / Levitate
252 HP/4 SpA/252 SpDef
31/31/31/31/31/31
-Thunderblot
-Hydro Pump
-Rest
-Will-o-Wisp
This thing is amazing. End of story. The bulk on it is amazing, easily countering opponents Talonflames with Thunderblot, doing good damage on Tyranitar and just winning. The Will-o-Wisp alone is enough to cripple the heavily physical metagame, to the point where I swear out loud if I miss it on an important power attacker. As most teams only carry Talonflame as their Fire type, they don't like switching in on this guy to block the Will-o-Wisp. The best part is that, Rest isn't a common move on Rotom and can let him survive much longer while dealing more pain. Oh, hey think you finally got rid of the thorn in your side who burned half your team and preventing a sweep? NOPE (Chuck Testa) FULL HEALTH!!! This thing wrecks teams to the point where losing him early on means a loss for me. Plus using him and Talonflame as a lead against Dark Void Smeargle really surprises opponents. In terms of counters to this guy Charizard Y in the sun OHKO Solarbeam, Meowstic and Amoongus really mess up his momentum
AZUMARILL [F] @ Leftovers
Adamant / Huge Power
252 HP/252 Atk/4 SpDef
31/31/31/--/31/31
-Play Rough
-Superpower
-Aqua Jet
-Belly Drum
Such a good Pokemon and yet I find myself putting her aside. Despite the massive HP and overall good bulk, I find that she gets KO'ed far too quickly. Rotom-W counters her amazingly and the setup with Amoonguss Rage Powder is weak to grass types ever since the Grass "powder moves" buff. This could all change perhaps if I switched Belly Drum for Protect, but I'm worried about letting Belly Drum go. I'm just unsure about this one and whether it should stay or go for something like Togekiss (If available; is it in the Kalos dex?).
KANGASKHAN - MEGA [F] @ Kangaskhanite
Adamant / Scrappy --- Parental Bond
252HP/252 Atk/4 SpDef
31/31/31/--/31/31
-Fake Out
-Power Up Punch
-Return
-Protect
My Mega evolution, and yet another pokemon I'm considering tossing. While this thing delivers power (thanks Parental Bond) I've found that it's never on the field long and can't OHKO things like Talonflame can. It often gets shut down by burn and can't target ghosts (I've tried Sucker Punch and I still dislike it). Because I'm HP EV'd for survivability, I often end up losing Fake Out speed races and over all this things coverage sucks. Problem is I don't know what to replace it with, the original thought was Conceldurr, but he's been nerfed thanks to the loss of elemental punches. Then I would need a new Mega and my first choice is already replacing Mamo with Garchomp or Mega Garchomp because he hits harder, walls Tyrannitar and KO's Charizard Y. I'm at ends as to what to do with this team member.
AMOONGUSS [M] @ Lum Berry
Calm / Regenerator
252 HP/108 Def/148 SpDef
31/31/--/31/31/7
-Spore
-Rage Powder
-Protect
-Giga Drain
This Shroom does exactly what I want it to do. Take hits, be bulky and piss everyone off. The moves should be self explanatory and Regenerator helps Amoonguss live. The 7 Speed IV thing was weird, I read someone used it in gen 5 to be 1 speed point slower than Trick Room using Gastrodon and just a bit higher that another mon out of trick room, plus it out speeds other Amoonguss, outside of Trick Room (not that it really matters). This is just a copy and paste of those IV's though so, pertaining to this generation's Trick Room teams I would need to readjust for pokemon such as Malamar
That's the current Team,
Things to consider; while all my pokemon are good in their own right with sketchy synergy, I have nearly no physical walls or special attackers
current problems I'm running into: Mega TTar, Mega Charizard Y + Venosaur (AKA SUN), Meowstic, Trick Room Dusclops (I still have no idea how to kill this thing) and intimidate teams
Considerations at the moment: Meowstic, Garchomp or Mega Garchomp, Gardevoir or Mega Gardevoir, Mega Mawile, Conceldurr, Togekiss (if legal) and Vivillon (awesome ability)