The team that uses Baroks core.

[Pauler]

Hello everybody. My friend Barokmeca helped me a lot with this team, mainly by making a very good offensive core, which lately I have had trouble doing. This core consists of infernape, dragonite, empoleon, and lucario. Infernape and dragonite are for early to mid game sweeping while empoleon and lucario will clean up late game. Now to the details of the team.

Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Flamethrower
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt

This is just a standard SR lead. Taunts or SRs on the first turn depending on the opponets lead, and then trys to kill something with explosion and flamethrower. Not much to this one.

Infernape (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk/192 Spd/64 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Mach Punch
- Overheat

This is the one of my two early game sweepers. This is the standard physical mixape and it almost always kills at least two things every battle, which is always handy for any team. This is usually the second poke I bring out after azelf because it has great coverage and can u-turn out if I don't like the matchup. U-turn is also very useful because most of the time theres a double switch because azelf exploded on something.

Dragonite (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 116 Atk/192 Spd/200 SAtk
Rash nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Superpower
- Thunderbolt
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower

This is the second of my two early game sweepers. I have considered changing this with something because it's starting to feel like a dead weight, although I don't know what I would switch it with. Basically all I do with this thing is attack until it kills something, but it isn't as useful as infernape because most of the time it just ends up dying quickly. This is probably the least useful pokemon on my team.

Rotom-w @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd/252 SAtk/4 SDef
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Hydro Pump
- Trick

This is a pokemon that just supports the core by revenge killing and doing another very useful thing, killing bulky grounds. If you havent noticed by now, this core is very bulky ground weak. This thing does a very good job killing bulky grounds with Hydro Pump and it can also cripple them with Trick. Rotom also does most of my revenge killing, even though infernape has the speed to revenge kill, but I'd rather save one of my ten turns of attacking due to life orb for killing a rabid blissey or something. I have considered changing this to rotom-c, but hydro pump is good enough for killing those pesky bulky grounds and has more overall use.

Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Extremespeed
- Crunch
- Close Combat

This is my first late game sweeper. I tend to use this midgame sometimes because I see a set up opportunity and take it. This thing can also set up more than once unlike empoleon where it's hit or miss. Theres not much to this set.

Empoleon (M) @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 12 HP/244 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Agility
- Surf
- Substitute
- Ice Beam

This is my second late game sweeper. This is such a fun set to use because whenever I can set it up I imagine my opponet freaking out like I always do whenever I see an empoleon use agility. This thing has had an epic late game sweep that won the game for me so many times. I really like this thing and wouldnt want to change it.

Now that I have explained my team, you guys can start making all your improvments to it. Thanks for the help.

EDIT: this core was made by Eevee, not barokmecea(barok, you liar.) Unless of course Eevee's lying, and I wouldnt put it past him, but it's(hopefully) one of the two.
Also, I am currently testing the changes you guys suggested.
And please make sure your posts consist of more than a photo and six words below it.

 

[Slurray]

I'd opt for Life Orb Starmie over Dragonite. Starmie is extremely fast and powerful, can act as a semi-status absorber via Natural Cure, and also as a Rapid Spinner. Furthermore, Starmie resists two of Infernape's four weaknesses; Psychic and Water. Starmie compliments Rotom-W in checking bulky grounds.

Starmie

Item: Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

-Hydro Pump-
-Thunderbolt-
-Ice Beam-
-Rapid Spin-​

 

[Faladran]

This team is decent at applying offensive pressure on opponents, but has trouble defensively against some common threats, which is a common problem among most new teams. However, these shortcomings can be addressed with some useful changes.

Notable Problems

• 
  Lead Machamp

As you may have noticed by now, Machamp anti-leads are designed to easily take out standard Focus Sash variants of Azelf. When faced up against a Machamp, you can either choose to set up Steath Rock, then fall to Payback + Bullet Punch, or take it out with Explosion at the cost of no entry hazards. Fortunately, this can easily be fixed with a minor update to Azelf's lead set, which I'll elaborate more on later.

• 
  LO Jolteon

One of the biggest problems this team faces offensively is the common usage of fast, hard-hitting special sweepers. Jolteon is the first of such attackers, as it can switch into Thunderbolts from Rotom or just to cause some damage and proceed to 2HKO every single member of your team. Infernape's Mach Punch and Lucario's Extremespeed help alleviate this issue somewhat, but neither will OHKO, meaning a good Jolteon player can either net a kill or heavily damage something, then switch out safely to conserve Jolteon for later use.

• 
  SubSplit Gengar
  

As another powerful special sweeper, Gengar is perhaps an even bigger threat than Jolteon is. Neither of your priority moves affect it, and it can safely switch in on any of Infernape's attacks and get a Substitute up. From that point, it can literally OHKO almost every Pokemon on your team, and easily 2HKO anything else. If you decide to attack with Infernape to prevent it from setting up a Sub, you run the risk of being KOd by Shadow Ball.

Suggestions

• Use Colbur Azelf

Azelf @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 8 HP / 140 Atk / 144 SpD / 216 Spe
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SpA)
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Explosion
- U-turn

This set is quite similar to the one that you're currently using, but the added bulk and usage of Colbur Berry allow it to come out on top against Machamp leads. Payback + Bullet Punch will fail to OHKO this Azelf with the given EVs, which means that you are free to set up Stealth Rock on the first turn, and then take out Machamp with Explosion on the second turn. Taunt still shuts down slower leads' attempts at setting up, and U-turn gives you a way to escape from and break the Focus Sash of Aerodactyl.

• Add in Toxic Spikes

Due to Empoleon's ability to sweep through teams itself, and your own usage of Infernape, I feel that Lucario is unneeded on this team. Instead, it would benefit your team to add in a Toxic Spikes user to give special walls trouble. This is the single most beneficial addition you can make to help Empoleon sweep better. After considering some options, I think that a bulky Roserade would be the best choice to replace Lucario:

Roserade @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD
Calm nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Toxic Spikes
- Sleep Powder
- Energy Ball
- Rest

With a Calm nature and the given EVs, Roserade possesses a very significant amount of special defense, which means it will help you out against many special attackers. Since bulky Waters are also very common in the current metagame, Roserade finds ample opportunity to set up. With two layers of Toxic Spikes down, Empoleon's standard counters will be unable to wall it, as they all are susceptible to Toxic Spikes' residual damage. Sleep Powder is a very useful move for its ability to put any major threats to sleep, but a Hidden Power could also work well in its place; Fire allows you to OHKO Scizor and Forretress and damage Skarmory, while Ice takes out Dragonite without any problems.

Good luck with your team!

 

[Pauler]

Thanks for the help guys. Sorry it took me so long to reply but I haven't been able to find time. The change in my lead sounds great, but will it lessen azelfs ability against other common lead beside machamp? And also, roserade will help me against jolteon and empoleons counters(CURSE YOU BLISSEY) but it cant do anything against gengar, except put it to sleep, but thats not the most reliable thing due to sleep powders imperfect accuracy, do you have any suggestions to fix this?

Slurray, starmie could work, but I think it would be better to replace rapid spin with GK and take out rotom because starmie is fast enough to work as a revenge killer.

 

[shaymin1]

Use this pokemon with your set in the late game is fantastic
http://i382.photobucket.com/albums/oo263/VanderLudwing/602539art-lucario.jpg

 

[Faladran]

Thanks for the help guys. Sorry it took me so long to reply but I haven't been able to find time. The change in my lead sounds great, but will it lessen azelfs ability against other common lead beside machamp? And also, roserade will help me against jolteon and empoleons counters(CURSE YOU BLISSEY) but it cant do anything against gengar, except put it to sleep, but thats not the most reliable thing due to sleep powders imperfect accuracy, do you have any suggestions to fix this?

Colbur Azelf actually performs better than the standard Focus Sash Azelf against the majority of common leads due to its higher bulk. It just happens to be specialized to be able to take down Machamp; against other leads, the strategy basically remains the same. All in all, it's a simple lead that works admirably and almost always gets the job done.

Roserade makes for a solid switch-in to most varaints of Jolteon, as it resists Thunderbolt and has plenty of bulk to survive Hidden Power Ice. The main reason I suggested it was because it provides your team with a Toxic Spikes user. Just in case you weren't aware, Empoleon works very well with Toxic Spikes support because its traditional counters (special walls and bulky Water-types) will be easily worn down by Toxic over the course of the match. If Sleep Powder isn't pulling its weight, Hidden Powers Ice or Fire for hitting Dragonite and Steel types, respectively, are good alternative options. Gengar remains problematic, but it can be managed if you play carefully. Try to avoid giving it opportunities to get a Substitute up, and have Infernape use U-turn to scout rather than Close Combat during early stages of the match.