Monotype Steel type Monoteam - HELP

[Sobbyduck]

Hi all!

I am fairly new to the VGC and have an upcoming tournament. My type is Steel, and I've made a build that works decently on Showdown. However, I feel outmatched by mainly water, flying and some rock types like Conkeldurr.

Any help and/or advice for how to improve this build? Make changes?

Jirachi @ Focus Sash
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Body Slam
- U-turn
- Sandstorm

Jirachi is my lead, almost every time. I set up with Sandstorm, then Body Slam for PAR and U-turn into another Mon, fit for the battle. This will often be Aron for the Shed Bell/Endeavor run, or Ferrothorn for Stealth Rock.
Focus Sash is a nice little trick that has proved very helpfull, so I am sure that Jirachi can set up or at least get one Attack in before he faints. It's seldom that I benefit from using Wish so I've thought about changing it for another, Physic or something else.

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Roost
- Toxic
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird

Skarmory has proven to be the best choice I ever made for the team - it works brilliantly with Toxic and Roost, a fearfull combination with Stealth Rock and Whirlwind, and Brave Bird just hits decently all around. Skarmory have good enough defenses that it seldomly get one shot, even when using Brave Bird.
I primairly use Toxic, then Roost and often I've set up Stealth Rock so I can whirlwind mons into taking damage. Roost makes Skarmory able to recover almost every time, so the opponent will die slowly taking damage from Toxic and Stealth rock, while getting hit with Brave Bird eventually.
But please do elaborate!

Aron @ Shell Bell
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 1
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Endeavor
- Protect
- Roar
- Iron Head

Not much to say - works when the opponent isn't prepared or dont have Knock off Mons or Item Switch mons.

Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 112 HP / 172 SpA / 224 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Dragon Pulse
- Stone Edge

I don't think I really understand how to use Heatran, I could use some advice on this. I don't really understand this mon in battle I think. But it has some decent attacks and is usefull aginast Dragon Type and to give me some Fire coverage.

Empoleon @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 212 HP / 252 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
- Defog
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot

Super Effective special attacker, gives the team a better coverage against water teams. Empoleon has proven very useful, especially against water teams. It gives a good offensive coverage against dragon, water/rock, fire and to remove entry Hazards.

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock

Walling walling. See description on Jirachi. Ferrothorn is trained as a Physical wall, and is primarily used as a set up annoyer with Stealth Rock and Thunderwave. Powerwhip and Gyro ball is for coverage

Please elaborate and all advices I would be grateful for!:)

 

[terrors]

Hi. You should check out the RMT Rules and Resources thread as you're not following one of the necessary rules on some of the Pokemon:

#4. Be descriptive. Be as detailed as possible. Each Pokémon on your team should have a small paragraph describing these 3 things: 1) A reason for choosing that Pokémon, 2) the Pokémon's role on the team, and 3) a short description of its set. Don't forget to mention exactly what your Pokémon brings to the team. Here are examples of what to do, and what not to do:

Good

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Iron Head
- Ice Punch
- U-turn
- Healing Wish

I decided to use Jirachi because I needed a Steel type and a Revenge Killer for my team. [1] It's my only Fairy resist, being able to switch into stuff like Gardevoir. It also handles fast threats that my team would otherwise have issues with. [2] Ice Punch is needed to revenge-kill DD Dragonite who is a massive threat to my team. Healing Wish provides my team valuable support, and the Scarf is needed so that Jirachi can revenge-kill various threats. [3]

Bad

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Iron Head
- Ice Punch
- U-turn
- Healing Wish

Jirachi is my favourite Pokemon. [1] It can sweep a lot of unprepared teams. [2] Iron Head for STAB, Ice Punch for coverage, U-turn for scouting, Healing Wish for support. [3]

Besides that, Aron is pretty unnecessary and very unreliable, as Steel teams have much better options, such as Mega Scizor, Bisharp, and Magnezone, all of which are pretty great win-cons. Your Heatran and Jirachi sets are also pretty suboptimal. Heatran generally prefers a more defensive set to capitalize on its decent bulk, while Jirachi works as an excellent Choice Scarf due to its great speed tier. I'd suggest checking out some of the helpful Monotype resources, such as the Viability Rankings thread, Good Cores thread, and Sample Teams to help you out in teambuilding. Good luck!

 

[Ren]

Terrors covered mostly everything but I'm just going to list a few other options/tips.Choice Scarf is a set I'd go with, but if you really like your hax Jirachi can also run a ParaFlinch set similar to Togekiss. I've seen this often and it's notoriously difficult for your opponent to attack whilst they're being constantly flinched and paralyzed. Serene Grace is a great ability that doubles chances for secondary effects to occur, boosting Jirachi's Iron Head to a 60% Flinch chance. People prefer a Trick + Choice Scarf set or just an all-attack Scarf set because Thunder Wave can't hit every Pokemon, though (You're going to have a hard time dealing with Electric and Ground types if you use Thunder Wave + Flinch). Jirachi can run a lot of sets effectively thanks to its stats and movepool.

Heatran generally runs Air Balloon or Leftovers and it has Stealth Rock somewhere. Given that you have rocks on Ferrothorn, the rocks shouldn't be a big deal. I don't main Steel, but I'd recommend looking around and finding some defensive Heatran sets that look nice. As a tip, your team would be lacking a dedicated Special Wall if you choose to change Jirachi's set. You could either replace Aron for a special wall or turn Heatran into one.

Level 1 Aron is unreliable, it won't do much against anything with Leftovers and while Sandstorm might KO these Pokemon (Don't take my word for it, Sandstorm might take place after Leftovers recovery), Gen 6 wasn't really kind with weather. It no longer lasts infinitely so all someone has to do is stall out the Sandstorm and then your Aron is dead weight against any Pokemon that has Leftovers. In addition, Aron is dead weight (Sandstorm or not) against Ghost types and Rock/Steel/Ground types with Leftovers. Following that point, Aron is useless against Pokemon with a status attack or just Pokemon that are content setting up on Aron until they're ready to KO it. If I'm being honest here, FEAR Pokemon are incredibly gimmicky and require way too many conditions to be in place for them to be successful. As terrors said, you can consider other options such as Mega Scizor, Bisharp and Magnezone. I like a balance of Special and Physical on my team so I'm gonna point you towards Magnezone, but as with anything try all your options out and see which one you like best.

 

[Dece1t]

These guys gave you really good suggestions, but I'd reccomend for future reference looking at some other RMT'S so you can have an idea of how much you should write, how you could format/design it, ect.

 

[iLlama]

I wasn't going to say anything, but unless I'm severely mistaken, everybody is missing what the RMT actually is for. I hope that Sobbyduck can clarify if this is a Steel team that is meant for the tier VGC, if so, I will give you rate accordingly.

 

[terrors]

I wasn't going to say anything, but unless I'm severely mistaken, everybody is missing what the RMT actually is for. I hope that Sobbyduck can clarify if this is a Steel team that is meant for the tier VGC, if so, I will give you rate accordingly.

I don't think that changes the fact that most of those sets are unviable and unlikely to work, unless this 'F.E.A.R' Aron is actually a set in VGC..? Furthermore, I don't think Scarf Heatran and Focus Sash Jirachi are very useful either.

 

[iLlama]

I don't think that changes the fact that most of those sets are unviable and unlikely to work, unless this 'F.E.A.R' Aron is actually a set in VGC..? Furthermore, I don't think Scarf Heatran and Focus Sash Jirachi are very useful either.

Right, but if it isn't a team for Monotype, then having the VR and Compendium for Monotype rather than VGC doesn't really help. That's why I asked for clarification.