When you create a team, what steps do you take?

[Matthew]

Sorry for the title being a little weird. I didn't exactly know how to word it, but when ever I create a team I do this kind of set up:

1) Find a wall combo to use in the team: Though many find wall combo's silly they're are always a building block which helps me get a first step in creating a good team. Though i've always wanted to try a sweeper team I can't because it's come to the point that I need one to start making a good team.
2) Expand outward starting with Sweepers: The 3rd and fifth pokemon slot on the team really. I'm a guy who loves balance and because of this I'll pick 1 special sweep and one physical sweep. Though there are times when I do have an uneven balance of physical sweep to special sweep those teams aren't that good though.
3) Make sure I have no over barring weakness, if I do I take out the sweepers which are causing it: Say I really notice that I have a fire weakness (outside the wall combo) and I then presume to look at my sweepers and then exchange one of those Fire weaks with perhaps a water type, but then I have to repeat this step till I get the desired effects.
4) Make sure there's a balance of 3-3 special and physical pokemon: Some people run the 4-2 physical special kind of set up. I've always found 3-3 the best it helps me always have a back up and since Blissey is just about dead now a days it I see no need for a nother physical attacler/
5) End it with my lead who over all, is the hardest part of the team to create (for me): The lead alawys gives me trouble, but lately Porygon-2 has stolen the spot light from other pokemon because of his ability and the move Magic Coat. Before I found him I had trouble picking a lead because I couldn't decide what kind of lead to make him.

What kind of order helps you guys prepare a team?

 

[MetaNite]

Whenever I try to make a good team, I decide who I want to sweep or base it off of.

Next, I find ways to cover that Pokemon's weaknesses, via Thunder Wave if the Pokemon is slow, or simply having a Pokemon that resist what it is weak too.

Then, I just constantly tweak it through test play until I get it how I want.

Recently I've been having trouble coming up with a good team.

 

[Mario With Lasers]

I always start my team building assembling random pokémon I like, want to test, or I believe to have some synergy, but always having in mind who's gonna be the main sweeper/tank. After I choose three or four, I tweak them a little, decide the other two (or one), choose the final one, make the final fixings, and finally test it.

And then, after a couple battles, I return to team building and change what I think was really wrong. It almost always involve adding/removing a Wisher/Sleep Talker, dunno why...

 

[Vrolok]

It really depends on your playstyle. Conservative players, like me, will tend to build their team around resistances and possible switch ins. Offensive players will usually pick sweepers, find their counters, and build ways to eliminate them.

Overall, make sure you don't have huge weaknesses, a good amount of resistances, and good coverage. Oh, and SR. Make sure you're not too SR weak and make sure you have SR.

 

[Matthew]

This wasn't me asking which way was better. It was just asking what players did...

 

[phalanx]

i end up with offence when i do OU, last time I looked at what is about, what I personally want to test, and general type coverage.
example for my team
Gengar - lots of suicide/setup leads so i use that with trick
Gyara - used this variant before and sweeps well, also used to keep 2 paticular annoyances away
Tyranitar - used to cut through walls
Scizor - wanted to try, fits in a good role and gives good anti-wall coverage (x-scissor cuts cress, celebi and bliss down easily) and a priority attack is always a plus
Shaymin-s wanted to try, type coverage, quick sweeper great for late game (always have a fast sweeper for late game)
heatran - needed to cover the 2 fire weaknesses

 

[seds]

here' s a good one:

put in gyarados(salamence), scarf heatran, scizor, zapdos and 2 more pokemon. That is what it is like these days... I am going back to wi-fi and possibly quitting pokemons for good in skymin is allowed in OU when platinum is released.

I just throw stuff I feel like using and if a pokemon sucks I put in one or two that will help me with my biggest issues.

 

[Green Mage]

I make sure I have synergy and surprise.

Normally, I start with one pokemon with a moveset i'm interested in and build a team around it, and then compare each with the biggest current threats. If one pokemon will lure a threat and can't touch it, I make sure i have something to switch into that threat. So I replace and replace until it feels right, then start testing on shoddy.

Surprise means not using bog standards. This is difficult as some standard sets are obvious and unavoidable, but your opponent thinking "this pokemon is probably going to do this" is a huge trap for you to exploit. Things like Specsluke are great for this. There are also alot of simple tricks like taking a commonly choiced pokemon and giving it an unseeable item like wise glasses or muscle band, so you can not only hit one pokemon, but hit the resist that comes in, too.

 

[Mario With Lasers]

here' s a good one:

put in gyarados(salamence), scarf heatran, scizor, zapdos and 2 more pokemon. That is what it is like these days... I am going back to wi-fi and possibly quitting pokemons for good in skymin is allowed in OU when platinum is released.

I just throw stuff I feel like using and if a pokemon sucks I put in one or two that will help me with my biggest issues.

Skymin can't be used on Wi-Fi. And probably won't be after the US release, unfortunately.

 

[Itsuki]

Actually it could be used on Wi-Fi with a AR Code. I read it in ChouToshio's warstory.

 

[Articanus]

I literally throw a bunch of shit on a team that I like and hope it works. Nothing wrong with playing favorites if you get accustomed with the team enough to figure out plans and act accordingly to certain threats. Of course, if one common threat can take all six of your pokemon, then there's a problem, but I find that hard the believe.

 

[cim]

Sorry for the title being a little weird. I didn't exactly know how to word it, but when ever I create a team I do this kind of set up:

1) Find a wall combo to use in the team
2) Expand outward starting with Sweepers
3) Make sure I have no over barring weakness, if I do I take out the sweepers which are causing it.
4) Make sure there's a balance of 3-3 special and physical sweepers.
5) End it with my lead who over all, is the hardest part of the team to create (for me)

What kind of order helps you guys prepare a team?

I do something similar to you, but backward. If I want to use a specific lead strategy, I'll make that. Then I'll throw in a few guys I want to use, and something to cover the metagame threats with something. From there, on offensive teams I pick a few guys based on resistances that facilitates a sweep.

Wall combos really aren't needed. Rather than cover weaknesses and pray nothing has two different type attacks, just have some supporters that can come in on the metagame threats that hinder your team. Walls are dumb.

Also, you don't need a physical special balance, as nothing but Blissey can take all attacks on one side of the spectrum. Just have diverse sweepers that are either bait or not all walled by one thing.

 

[lati0s]

here's what i do
1. find an effective lead
2.add sweepers
3.mix around sweepers to get rid of big weaknesses/add effective resistances
4. makes sure the balance of physical to special attackers is good (i usually shoot for 4physical/2 special b/c having blissey wall half your team is never cool)
5. test team and make changes as necessary

i play an offensive style which is why walls are not mentioned

 

[TVboyCanti]

1. Pick a sweeper
2. Figure out what pokemon will cockblock your sweeper
3. Add pokemon with movesets that can kill the cock blockers
4. Pick a lead
5. Round out the team to have a resistance to all attacks
6. Fit Stealth Rock onto the team
7. Figure out how much damage my team will take from stealth rock.
8. Test and fix

But normally I just throw a bunch of random favorites together.

 

[tennisace]

I usually do my lead dead last. Sometimes I'll move one of the members to the lead before I finish, but thats rare. Aside from that, I usually think of a "theme" or direction I want the team to go in. Sometimes I play full hyperoffensive teams, sometimes I play bulky offense. Then, I pick one Pokemon that I'd like to base the team around. For example, Specsmence. Then, I put in Pokemon that cover its weaknesses, or support it in other ways like putting down Stealth Rock, luring out counters and checks early, or sweepers that can sweep independent of the Pokemon. Usually thats about 3 or 4 out of the 6. Then, I try and theorymon problems for my team, and add in counters to that. Finally, I add the lead, or sometimes shift a Pokemon from the team to the lead if I need to. The lead, in my opinion, is the hardest part. I think a lead should set the pace for the battle, whatever the theme or goal of my team is.

As Chris said, Wall Combos are rarely seen, and not really needed. If you can spread around resistances and weaknesses, you should be fine. Things like CM Jirachi and DD Mence come to mind, or Shaymin-sky and Scarftran. Synergy is a big part of teams today, unlike Advance and Early DP when you could put together 6 sweepers (or walls) and win. Its important my team works together toward a common goal, not just "Pokemon beats Pokemon with move, but gets beat by Pokemon. Repeat."

 

[Sixonesix]

1. Look at RMTs, watch battles of community members.

2. Add things that seemed cool.

3. Add Heatran.

4. Slap on a random lead.

5. Test team.

6. Find out why it's so goddamn awful, and decide if I can save it.

7. Replace some pokemon, add pokemon to cover weaknesses, specific threats.

8. Repeat step 7 until the team can function well.

9. Test team over and over again, to adjust individual EV spreads.

10. Submit an RMT.

As such, my team is rarely based around one pokemon.

 

[Tingaling]

1. Look at RMTs, watch battles of community members.

2. Add things that seemed cool.

3. Add Heatran.

4. Slap on a random lead.

5. Test team.

6. Find out why it's so goddamn awful, and decide if I can save it.

7. Replace some pokemon, add pokemon to cover weaknesses, specific threats.

8. Repeat step 7 until the team can function well.

9. Test team over and over again, to adjust individual EV spreads.

10. Submit an RMT.

As such, my team is rarely based around one pokemon.

You forgot to slap on a zappy to wall scizor and skymin

 

[Kira]

I literally throw a bunch of shit on a team that I like and hope it works. Nothing wrong with playing favorites if you get accustomed with the team enough to figure out plans and act accordingly to certain threats. Of course, if one common threat can take all six of your pokemon, then there's a problem, but I find that hard the believe.

All these months of talking to Articanus must have left an impression on me. I now seem to pick just one random thing I want to accomplish (ex. Scizor sweep), throw in a few other supporting Pokemon, and call it a day. Then I just go and test it out and then slowly fix my team until it is finally decent.

Before I actually looked at every potential threat and tried to cover it with my mons while trying to execute a certain strategy. However that doesn't seem to work as well as the "throw shit together, play, then fix" method.

 

[Venom]

Look at the RMT forum if you don't know whats going on or don't know what you want to build. Don't make a team of random ass pokemon and think they are going to win a battle for you, because they aren't, in example you trying to be cool and use UU in OU, no. Pretty much make a team with syngerngy, that the pokemon work with each other, and the most important rule, never theorymon teams, trust me, anything looks good on paper.

 

[never_again]

i would just start off with the best pokemon in the metagame, at least the biggest offensive threats and narrow it down so i have some type coverage and weakness coverage

i almost never use walls unless i cant beat it with offense, like back when Garchomp was unstoppable, Cresselia was almost a must

i also use pokemon i like, as long as they can compete in the metagame
like i will always pick Heracross instead of Electivire because EVire is an ugly piece of monkey and Heracross was a god in the GSC days

 

[Shelcario]

I usually just throw in pokemon that I just saw used recently in a Warstory or people were talking about but, make sure to have 2 walls and 4 sweepers and try to cover their weaknesses.

 

[Stagnant]

I tend to build teams like this..

1. Pick Sweeper #1 almost always Physical
2. Find a "gimmick" pokemon either a UU Poke or use a unconventional set. [see signature]
3. Pick out 1 wall breaker
4. Sweeper #2
5. Gimmick set or LGS= Late game sweeper
6. lead

Almost always in that order. I play every team the same to.. Play off resistences and always willing to make sacrifices when needed.

 

[brutal satyr]

-see what i want to do with the team (that means have an theme on it , wil it be mono,rain,sun,trickroom,sandstorm,gravity,joke or just an normal team
-select the tier i want to play in
-chose my lead
-chose my pokes who all combine good (or i've never used before)
-make the movesets for my pokes +ev them( in this step i give them roles like sweeper ,wall ,tank ,revenge kiler ,healer)
-test try with the team
-fix the bugs on it
-then rock wit the team online

 

[Mastadi]

~Pick the main strategy of my team. Be it weakening the foe with sandstorm, status and spikes or just full out offense
~Pick about 3 most important team members. They set up SS/Rocks, they prepare the sweep. I make sure that they aren't raped by a single common threat
~Pick 3 more things, one at a time. Adjust my team accordingly.
~Pick a lead
~Play test it. Note down what pokmon can easily defeat me, what strategies I'm unprotected against etc. While play testing, I usually keep the original team somewhere, but make a lot of changes.

 

[joshua]

-Pick two or three walls for my team
-Pick support/sweepers who take the weaknesses of my walls, or counter their weaknesses
-Pick a Lead which doesn't add any more weakness that I already have, and balance out special/physical. Normally ends up being a choice scarfer.