Hey guys, I have been playing Pokemon for as long as the games have been around, starting on the Super Nintendo cartridge player with my yellow and silver until I could finally afford a GBA for sapphire and fire red... all the way through to playing X now.
This is the first generation that I have tried my hand at competitive battling and have found moderate success with this team, but I feel like there are some holes that need to be addressed. I win more than I lose, but can get some quite lengthy loss streaks when reaching anything higher than 1600+.
I am not the greatest breeder, I have a few pokemon with perfect IVs for their cause and this may be my problem, but I'm sure there's something I can do in the meantime while I work on that flaw. Not having a ditto FC doesn't help haha.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, as I would love to know if there is something I'm doing that's holding me back!
Tyler (Politoed) @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 216 HP / 40 Def / 252 SpDef
Bold Nature
- Hypnosis
- Scald
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
Rain Setter / Special Wall
Fairly self-explanatory why I am leading with Politoed.
Was originally running Damp Rock>Leftovers, however it doesn't seem to have an effect on drizzle (yes this shows how inexperienced I am haha)
Scald allows for good STAB damage in the rain and provides burns on physical attackers while walling special attackers
Hypnosis is always useful for pokemon who pose 2HKOs to politoed but is not always reliable and I am open to suggestions for this slot
Psychic and Ice Beam serve as type coverage and powerful special attacks. Psychic works as a better counter to MegaSaur due to Thick Fat and Ice Beam helps against flying and dragon foes. I am not particularly attached to either of these but I don't think Politoed's movepool allows for other better special attacks. His HP is water, completely useless!
Those 40Def EVs have saved me from a number of burned leaf blades and matches his SpAtk stat (I'm a little OCD)
Manetric @ Life Orb
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
-Thunder
- Volt Switch
- HP Ghost
- Flamethrower
Lightning Fodder / Special Sweeper
I feel like keeping Manetric in it's regular form is of more benefit when starting with Politoed, as Lightning Rod draws pesky electric attacks away and increases his special attack and most people expect the mega. I have played with a few different items and have not found one I particularly like. I am considering Choice Scarf, but Life Orb is on right now
Thunder and Volt Switch are essential for massive STAB damage and 100% accuracy in rain / Scouting respectively.
I was hoping for HP Ice (was in description when I traded for it) or even water/grass, but ghost has its uses and hits neutral to ground and grass types that resist electric attacks. I would prefer to run a stronger dark move, however bite is not viable for a Special Attacker like Manetric.
Flamethrower allows for coverage against ferrothorn which otherwise reigns over this team like an iron spiky ball of defense. Generally more useful after the rain has stopped (for obvious reasons) and allows Manetric to come back after the rain from volt switching out.
Dart (Toxicroak) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
-Fake Out
- Drain Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Poison Jab
Physical Sweeper / Fast Health Recovery
This guy definitely has his weaknesses, but he is a useful and annoying part of my team. Dry skin allows him to catch novice players off guard who are planning on sweeping with a banded Azumarill or want to use the power of rain against me. A team-mate surf, SE Drain Punch and Rain with Black Sludge can bring this guy from near death to full health in one turn and is extremely reliable.
Fake Out is used for the same reason anyone uses Fake Out, it is annoying and allows the other pokemon to set up / avoid a potential OHKO. I've found people don't expect it on the Toxicroak as much and even if they do, there isn't much defense to it.
Sucker punch is essential for dealing with that massive 4x weakness to psychic moves (especially from Alakazam) and it's abysmal frailty to special attacks.
Drain punch is fantastic, it hits hard and recover health quickly. While Brick Break would be the more pwoerful move and allows from walls to be broken down, I find that more often than not players over-estimate the frailty of Toxicroak and leave it with just a few HP which very quickly becomes half.
Poison Jab is a powerful STAB move which can generally deal with most fairies as well as dealing neutral STAB damage to grass walls such as Venosaur and Amoongus.
Pineapple (Ludicolo) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpAtk / 252 SpDef
Bold Nature
-Surf
- Rain Dance
- Toxic
- Giga Drain
Back-up Rain / Special Wall
I toyed between rain dish and swift swim for ludicolo and ended up going with rain dish as it was the ability that cam out with the IVs I wanted and allowed for yet another recovery ability for my team.
Rain Dance is essential for longer battles where I lose Politoed early and could benefit from another set-up. It also works for a lead against slower weather-mon (Tyranitar always seems to use Sand Stream after my Drizzle) and can set up a longer weather situation.
Surf was added for the benefit of dry skin Toxicroak and originally Helioptile before I switched it for Manetric (I'll post the proposed Helioptile as well) and I am considering swapping it for Scald to balance the defenses (see Politoed) However, the nerf to Surf from being a spread move is almost countered by the rain boost so makes it a reliable and powerful spread move.
Toxic is just hanging around for status damage since I cannot burn and prefer taking on walls with increasing damage rather than the steady damage of burn. Also, I like having an option against Fire pokemon for if water moved won't cut it or they bring Sunny Day
Giga Drain is far more useful now that it is 75 base power and allows Ludicolo to get some STAB recovery to compliment the fairly weak effort of Rain Dish. It also allows for a strong move against Quagsire which walls this team so far.
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate / Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDef
Adamant Nature
-Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Play Rough
Bulky Physical Sweeper / Coverage
In all honesty, this is probably one of my favourite Megas besides MegaMom as it does it's job so well and there isn't much set-up needed to get the sweep started. It doesn't fear fire as much in the rain and a burnt pokemon using earthquake after an intimidate does little to phase this beast.
Iron Head and Play Rough are both fantastic STAB moves with Huge Power and can take on many physical walls with ease (excluding Ferrothorn) and cover against types that are not hit hard by other pokemon on my team. If Mawile gets the chance to set up with a Swords Dance or two, these moves are devastating to even the most bulky of pokemon.
Due to the lack of speed, getting off a sucker punch against a frail but fast sweeper is always a solid hit if not a KO punch and goes a long way towards making up for the lack of speed.
I would consider changing Swords Dance for another move, but there isn't a lot more in the immediate movepool that I can see as being particularly useful. SpAtk is too low for a surprise fire blast to be viable IMO, but I could be wrong.
Cofagrigus @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Mummy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpDef / 4 Def
Relaxed Nature
-Trick Room
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest
- Hex
Trick Room / Physical Wall
Probably one of the more annoying and fun pokemon on the team. I love trick room, especially for a team using frail sweepers that can't always keep up with the other frail sweepers when racing for that first attacking spot. So long as they are not running slow, bulky pokemon themselves, allowing Mawile to out-speed Garchomp or Togekiss and get off STAB OHKO attacks is rather appealing.
It also works wonders as a physical wall, changing the opposing pokemons ability to mummy before sleeping off any damage / status conditions and coming back to inflict burns and smash hex at anyone in its way.
As a final pokemon (generally teamed with something slower) it capitalises on whatever situation it is thrust into, using pre-existing status conditions to deal with lingering threats or setting up a stalling burn on something that didn't bring enough coverage (MegaMum is usually the main culprit)
Honorable Mention
This is the first generation that I have tried my hand at competitive battling and have found moderate success with this team, but I feel like there are some holes that need to be addressed. I win more than I lose, but can get some quite lengthy loss streaks when reaching anything higher than 1600+.
I am not the greatest breeder, I have a few pokemon with perfect IVs for their cause and this may be my problem, but I'm sure there's something I can do in the meantime while I work on that flaw. Not having a ditto FC doesn't help haha.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, as I would love to know if there is something I'm doing that's holding me back!
Tyler (Politoed) @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 216 HP / 40 Def / 252 SpDef
Bold Nature
- Hypnosis
- Scald
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
Rain Setter / Special Wall
Fairly self-explanatory why I am leading with Politoed.
Was originally running Damp Rock>Leftovers, however it doesn't seem to have an effect on drizzle (yes this shows how inexperienced I am haha)
Scald allows for good STAB damage in the rain and provides burns on physical attackers while walling special attackers
Hypnosis is always useful for pokemon who pose 2HKOs to politoed but is not always reliable and I am open to suggestions for this slot
Psychic and Ice Beam serve as type coverage and powerful special attacks. Psychic works as a better counter to MegaSaur due to Thick Fat and Ice Beam helps against flying and dragon foes. I am not particularly attached to either of these but I don't think Politoed's movepool allows for other better special attacks. His HP is water, completely useless!
Those 40Def EVs have saved me from a number of burned leaf blades and matches his SpAtk stat (I'm a little OCD)
Manetric @ Life Orb
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
-Thunder
- Volt Switch
- HP Ghost
- Flamethrower
Lightning Fodder / Special Sweeper
I feel like keeping Manetric in it's regular form is of more benefit when starting with Politoed, as Lightning Rod draws pesky electric attacks away and increases his special attack and most people expect the mega. I have played with a few different items and have not found one I particularly like. I am considering Choice Scarf, but Life Orb is on right now
Thunder and Volt Switch are essential for massive STAB damage and 100% accuracy in rain / Scouting respectively.
I was hoping for HP Ice (was in description when I traded for it) or even water/grass, but ghost has its uses and hits neutral to ground and grass types that resist electric attacks. I would prefer to run a stronger dark move, however bite is not viable for a Special Attacker like Manetric.
Flamethrower allows for coverage against ferrothorn which otherwise reigns over this team like an iron spiky ball of defense. Generally more useful after the rain has stopped (for obvious reasons) and allows Manetric to come back after the rain from volt switching out.
Dart (Toxicroak) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
-Fake Out
- Drain Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Poison Jab
Physical Sweeper / Fast Health Recovery
This guy definitely has his weaknesses, but he is a useful and annoying part of my team. Dry skin allows him to catch novice players off guard who are planning on sweeping with a banded Azumarill or want to use the power of rain against me. A team-mate surf, SE Drain Punch and Rain with Black Sludge can bring this guy from near death to full health in one turn and is extremely reliable.
Fake Out is used for the same reason anyone uses Fake Out, it is annoying and allows the other pokemon to set up / avoid a potential OHKO. I've found people don't expect it on the Toxicroak as much and even if they do, there isn't much defense to it.
Sucker punch is essential for dealing with that massive 4x weakness to psychic moves (especially from Alakazam) and it's abysmal frailty to special attacks.
Drain punch is fantastic, it hits hard and recover health quickly. While Brick Break would be the more pwoerful move and allows from walls to be broken down, I find that more often than not players over-estimate the frailty of Toxicroak and leave it with just a few HP which very quickly becomes half.
Poison Jab is a powerful STAB move which can generally deal with most fairies as well as dealing neutral STAB damage to grass walls such as Venosaur and Amoongus.
Pineapple (Ludicolo) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpAtk / 252 SpDef
Bold Nature
-Surf
- Rain Dance
- Toxic
- Giga Drain
Back-up Rain / Special Wall
I toyed between rain dish and swift swim for ludicolo and ended up going with rain dish as it was the ability that cam out with the IVs I wanted and allowed for yet another recovery ability for my team.
Rain Dance is essential for longer battles where I lose Politoed early and could benefit from another set-up. It also works for a lead against slower weather-mon (Tyranitar always seems to use Sand Stream after my Drizzle) and can set up a longer weather situation.
Surf was added for the benefit of dry skin Toxicroak and originally Helioptile before I switched it for Manetric (I'll post the proposed Helioptile as well) and I am considering swapping it for Scald to balance the defenses (see Politoed) However, the nerf to Surf from being a spread move is almost countered by the rain boost so makes it a reliable and powerful spread move.
Toxic is just hanging around for status damage since I cannot burn and prefer taking on walls with increasing damage rather than the steady damage of burn. Also, I like having an option against Fire pokemon for if water moved won't cut it or they bring Sunny Day
Giga Drain is far more useful now that it is 75 base power and allows Ludicolo to get some STAB recovery to compliment the fairly weak effort of Rain Dish. It also allows for a strong move against Quagsire which walls this team so far.
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate / Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDef
Adamant Nature
-Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Play Rough
Bulky Physical Sweeper / Coverage
In all honesty, this is probably one of my favourite Megas besides MegaMom as it does it's job so well and there isn't much set-up needed to get the sweep started. It doesn't fear fire as much in the rain and a burnt pokemon using earthquake after an intimidate does little to phase this beast.
Iron Head and Play Rough are both fantastic STAB moves with Huge Power and can take on many physical walls with ease (excluding Ferrothorn) and cover against types that are not hit hard by other pokemon on my team. If Mawile gets the chance to set up with a Swords Dance or two, these moves are devastating to even the most bulky of pokemon.
Due to the lack of speed, getting off a sucker punch against a frail but fast sweeper is always a solid hit if not a KO punch and goes a long way towards making up for the lack of speed.
I would consider changing Swords Dance for another move, but there isn't a lot more in the immediate movepool that I can see as being particularly useful. SpAtk is too low for a surprise fire blast to be viable IMO, but I could be wrong.
Cofagrigus @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Mummy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpDef / 4 Def
Relaxed Nature
-Trick Room
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest
- Hex
Trick Room / Physical Wall
Probably one of the more annoying and fun pokemon on the team. I love trick room, especially for a team using frail sweepers that can't always keep up with the other frail sweepers when racing for that first attacking spot. So long as they are not running slow, bulky pokemon themselves, allowing Mawile to out-speed Garchomp or Togekiss and get off STAB OHKO attacks is rather appealing.
It also works wonders as a physical wall, changing the opposing pokemons ability to mummy before sleeping off any damage / status conditions and coming back to inflict burns and smash hex at anyone in its way.
As a final pokemon (generally teamed with something slower) it capitalises on whatever situation it is thrust into, using pre-existing status conditions to deal with lingering threats or setting up a stalling burn on something that didn't bring enough coverage (MegaMum is usually the main culprit)
This was my original idea for my electric coverage Heliolisk, but was just too frail to deal comfortably with anything. Plus that Normal typing was a pain!
Heliolisk @ Absorb Bulb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Thunder
- Grass Knot
- Dark Pulse
Special Sweeper / Coverage
So the idea was that this guy would come out, take out one threat to my team-mate, take a hit, then be revived with a surf that also boosted his special attack, heal a little more in the rain and proceed to sweep out opposing pokemon systematically. The idea was great, until I realised that he couldn't take that first hit. He isn't fast enough to ensure a first hit and is too frail to hit if he isn't first, so he was swiftly cut in favor of Manetric.
My Thoughts
Heliolisk @ Absorb Bulb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Thunder
- Grass Knot
- Dark Pulse
Special Sweeper / Coverage
So the idea was that this guy would come out, take out one threat to my team-mate, take a hit, then be revived with a surf that also boosted his special attack, heal a little more in the rain and proceed to sweep out opposing pokemon systematically. The idea was great, until I realised that he couldn't take that first hit. He isn't fast enough to ensure a first hit and is too frail to hit if he isn't first, so he was swiftly cut in favor of Manetric.
I feel like I should be able to adequately deal with most things, but I know that Ferrothorn is a big threat and I can't deal well with bulky Mega Venusaur at this stage. I would bring in a Ferrothorn myself but I don't know where to put it and whether it would benefit me enough to be worthwhile. I like these guys and would love to hear your thoughts, but I feel like some changes are in order
Thanks for your help :)
Thanks for your help :)