Hi there. I've been a little busy breeding Pokemon for my friends and various people on various facebook groups that I'm a member of and in addition to that I have been building myself a mono-type Fairy team and testing it out thoroughly. Its only now that I've finally had the time to build something I've been meaning to for a while, that being a cool BattleSpot singles team.
There have been a few Pokemon I've really wanted to try out, and after filling the rest of the roster with Pokemon that could potentially counter some of the threats to those Pokemon, as well as common BattleSpot threats, I found that my team was hyper offensive. Its quite an unusual team for me as I prefer bulky set-up guys and that's usually how I build my cores.
First Glance:
Without further ado, I'd like to take you through the building process:
Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4HP, 252Atk, 252Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- U-Turn
I think everyone has seen this Darmanitan build, or at least something similar.
Darmanitan has a Choice Scarf to outspeed as many things as possible. Its main move is of course Flare Blitz, which just kills practically anything that doesn't resist it. Superpower is there for horrible things like Heatran, Rock Slide is for stuff like Talonflame or Charizard and U-Turn is there for chip damage, revenge killing and Sash breaking.
Pinsir @ Pinsirite
Ability: Moxie (Aerialate)
EVs: 4HP, 252Atk, 252Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Quick Attack
- Return
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
Another typical Mega Pinsir build, but I don't want to try and reinvent the wheel, I just want a decent Mega Pinsir, and this one seems to work greatly.
I love having Moxie as Pinsir's Ability as it can quickly turn Pinsir from a revenge killer to something that could potentially sweep a team. It has Swords Dance incase it doesn't get the chance for a Moxie Bloost.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4HP, 252SpA, 252Spe
Nature: Modest
- Recover
- Rapid Spin
- Surf
- Psychic
Starmie has Rapid Spin to take away entry hazards, duh, which threaten Pinsir and Darmanitan greatly. It has Psychic and Scald for STAB and Recover for sustain. I chose to give Starmie Surf instead of Hydro Pump or Scald as I am not the biggest fan of Hydro Pump's accuracy and I want straight up kills; something that can't be guaranteed with Scald.
Gardevoir @ Assault Vest
Ability: Trace
EVs: 4HP, 252SpA, 252Spe
Nature: Timid
- Moonblast
- Energy Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
For now I'm rolling with an Assault Vest for Gardevoir. She's actually relatively specially tanky now. Her Ability is trace to cripple things like Intimidate Pokemon.
Gardevoir's moveset focuses on giving the team as much coverage as possible. It has STAB Moonblast, Thunderbolt for Water-types, Energy Ball for Rotom-w and Focus Blast for teh lulz. Just a bit more coverage really. I might be tempted to putting Shadow Ball there instead of Focus Blast in the future.
Drapion @ Razor Claw
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 253HP, 252Atk, 4Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Cross Poison
- Ice Fang
- Night Slash
- Knock Off
Drapion carries a Razor Claw to help maximise its crit potential, as its Ability Sniper gives added power to them. For that reason he has Cross Poison and Night Slash; both STAB moves with high crit percentage. It also has Ice Fang for coverage against Ground-types.
I typically like running Swords Dance for my Drapion's fourth move but Knock Off just hurts when used by a Drapion due to it getting STAB. Its a very handy move for shutting down staller Pokemon.
Garchomp @ Yache Berry
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 4HP, 252Atk, 252Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Dual Chop
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Iron Head
Another pretty basic set for Garchomp. Edge-Quake, classic. Dual Chop to break potential Sashes and Iron Head for Fairy-type coverage.
Garchomp is carrying a Yache Berry to guard against its horrid weakness to Ice-types.
There have been a few Pokemon I've really wanted to try out, and after filling the rest of the roster with Pokemon that could potentially counter some of the threats to those Pokemon, as well as common BattleSpot threats, I found that my team was hyper offensive. Its quite an unusual team for me as I prefer bulky set-up guys and that's usually how I build my cores.
First Glance:
Without further ado, I'd like to take you through the building process:
I've tested this final iteration of my team on Showdown and its doing pretty decently actually! I don't seem to be losing too often which is a promising sign. Here is a breakdown of the team's individual builds:The first Pokemon I wanted to try competitively was Darmanitan. Darmanitan never really showed up on my radar during its debut in Gen V, with other Fire-type Pokemon like Chandelure and Volcarona available in the Unova Pokedex, pushing Darmanitan out of the spotlight. After successfully breeding a Volcarona and a Chandelure in X&Y I began to search for more obscure yet powerful Fire-types, particularly ones from in Gen V. That is what lead me to take a look at Darmanitan initially.
At a glance Darmanitan had some great physical offence and okay-ish speed, but I was turned off by its pitiful defences. A close friend of mine and fellow Pokemon enthusiast was even more doubtful, which in turn made me even less bothered about Darmanitan. Then I saw Flare Blitz in its moveset and the Ability Sheer Force. Needless to say my opinion of Pokemon's second fire chimp did an about turn. Darmanitan's already good offences are potentially boosted by its Ability, and the fact that its a Fire-type makes it immune to the one threat that completely shuts down physical attackers, Will-O-Wisp.
Darmanitan is definitely a Pokemon that needs a Choice Scarf to be useful as without one it is threatened by Pokemon such as Greninja. Greninja was the Pokemon that was in the back of my mind when coming up with Darmanitan's build (more on that later) and for me it held the speed benchmark I wanted to exceed. If I could outspeed Greninja I'd be a happy chappy, and the way to do that would be with a Choice Scarf. Yes, there are some faster Pokemon out there, but to a Darmanitan there's nothing scarier than going up against a fast and strong Water-type. Darmanitan could potentially tackle Greninja as Greninja is part Dark-type and Darmanitan had an access to an array of Fighting-type moves.
Next on the list of Pokemon I wanted to try was Starmie. I underestimated how quick Starmie really is, with great offences and a pretty awesome offensive typing. I think many people forget about Starmie and plumb for the other Water/Psychic-types, Slowbro and Slowking. Starmie could also carry Recover and Rapid Spin, as well as covering Darmanitan's Ground and Rock weaknesses.
Last on my wish list was Mega Pinsir. I'd heard so many great things about this Pokemon, and to be honest I don't know why I hadn't chosen to breed one sooner considering Pinsir is in my list of top 5 favourite Pokemon of all time. I've always seen Pinsir as a 'pseudo Fighting-type' as it is a brawler with some great Fighting moves without the Fighting-type weaknesses. As such I've often put it on teams in place of a Fighting-type. It has served me well in a couple of teams in Gen V and its time to bring Pinsir back in Gen VI.
There isn't much else to be said about Mega Pinsir other than its a formidable physical sweeper and revenge killer.
That brought an end to the Pokemon I wanted to try competitively. I threw some random Pokemon in there just to flesh the team out slightly. I didn't focus too much on synergy and type-coverage at the time as I was more interested on how the original three Pokemon would get on in battle. I'll take you through the Pokemon I did have that were later replaced for my final team.
Firstly I wanted a tanky Fairy-type. Florges then. I mentioned previously that I have a mono-type Fairy team. Florges belongs to that team but she was drafted in as I've never known a Pokemon like it in all my life. There was one notable occasion where she was my only left in a 6v6 match, and she swept through my opponent's entire team, scoring me an unexpected victory. Her extremely high natural SpD allows you to invest minimal EVs into SpD, thus enabling you to invest them into HP and Def instead. It makes her an all round tank. With Wish + Protect for sustain and Calm Mind + Moonblast for set-up/sweeping, it just makes her a beast. Eventually she just becomes almost unkillable. One of my favourite Pokemon for sure.
Umbreon was my fifth Pokemon. I had recently bred a friend an Umbreon and it made me want to try one too. Umbreon's Curse + Payback combo made it the physical version of my Florges. Umbreon also had Toxic and Moonlight.
My final Pokemon was Dragonite. Nothing too special, just your bog-standard Multiscale + Weakness Policy Dragonite with Dragon Dance, Extreme Speed, Dragon Claw and Iron Head. I wanted something other than Florges (who I'll admit needs a bit of set-up before she can really sweep) that could go toe-to-toe with Dragon-types.
I played many Showdown matches with this team and low and behold, my first three Pokemon, the Pokemon I had put all my effort into building, were doing great in battle, whereas the other three just sat there doing nothing. More often than not the three Pokemon I'd choose would be Darmanitan, Starmie and Pinsir, with Dragonite making the odd appearance. Umbreon was by far the most useless Pokemon at this stage of my testing.
I scrapped Florges, Umbreon and Dragonite and began to think of their replacements.
For Florges' replacement I started to think about perhaps using a Togetic with Eviolite. I had used Togekiss in my Fairy-type team, but I still wanted something tanky. I didn't really have an idea of a Togetic build just yet, I only knew that it might be an option. I just gave it the same build as my Togekiss for the time being, which was Nasty Plot, Dazzling Gleam, Air Slash and Roost.
Umbreon's replacement came in the form of Drapion. Drapion was my trademark Pokemon in Gen IV, so I knew it was awesome. The inclusion of Poison gave me coverage against Fairy-types; something the original idea for my team really lacked. Drapion also gave Togetic a more secure place on the team as it gave me something to switch into at the event of an Earthquake.
Last but not least, Dragonite was replaced by Garchomp. I'm sorry but I really really hate Garchomp. Sorry if you use it, and I'm not disputing its power, but I find it SO dull and overused. That being said Garchomp did fit really nicely into the team. I had nothing to deal with Electric-types in general, and it offered Starmie some coverage.
I tested my team even more. It looked almost perfect, but I really struggled against Water-types as I had nothing to combat them. I also got shat on by the all too common Rotom-w.
I threw Togetic out of the window and decided on another Fairy-type. I wanted a Fairy that offered a lot of coverage. I chose Gardevoir as it was part Psychic-type, which are known for their crazy coverage moves. Gardevoir's weaknesses to Bug, Ghost and Steel were covered by pre-existing members of my team; Darmanitan, Drapion and Garchomp/Darmanitan respectively.
Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4HP, 252Atk, 252Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- U-Turn
I think everyone has seen this Darmanitan build, or at least something similar.
Darmanitan has a Choice Scarf to outspeed as many things as possible. Its main move is of course Flare Blitz, which just kills practically anything that doesn't resist it. Superpower is there for horrible things like Heatran, Rock Slide is for stuff like Talonflame or Charizard and U-Turn is there for chip damage, revenge killing and Sash breaking.
Pinsir @ Pinsirite
Ability: Moxie (Aerialate)
EVs: 4HP, 252Atk, 252Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Quick Attack
- Return
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
Another typical Mega Pinsir build, but I don't want to try and reinvent the wheel, I just want a decent Mega Pinsir, and this one seems to work greatly.
I love having Moxie as Pinsir's Ability as it can quickly turn Pinsir from a revenge killer to something that could potentially sweep a team. It has Swords Dance incase it doesn't get the chance for a Moxie Bloost.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4HP, 252SpA, 252Spe
Nature: Modest
- Recover
- Rapid Spin
- Surf
- Psychic
Starmie has Rapid Spin to take away entry hazards, duh, which threaten Pinsir and Darmanitan greatly. It has Psychic and Scald for STAB and Recover for sustain. I chose to give Starmie Surf instead of Hydro Pump or Scald as I am not the biggest fan of Hydro Pump's accuracy and I want straight up kills; something that can't be guaranteed with Scald.
Gardevoir @ Assault Vest
Ability: Trace
EVs: 4HP, 252SpA, 252Spe
Nature: Timid
- Moonblast
- Energy Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
For now I'm rolling with an Assault Vest for Gardevoir. She's actually relatively specially tanky now. Her Ability is trace to cripple things like Intimidate Pokemon.
Gardevoir's moveset focuses on giving the team as much coverage as possible. It has STAB Moonblast, Thunderbolt for Water-types, Energy Ball for Rotom-w and Focus Blast for teh lulz. Just a bit more coverage really. I might be tempted to putting Shadow Ball there instead of Focus Blast in the future.
Drapion @ Razor Claw
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 253HP, 252Atk, 4Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Cross Poison
- Ice Fang
- Night Slash
- Knock Off
Drapion carries a Razor Claw to help maximise its crit potential, as its Ability Sniper gives added power to them. For that reason he has Cross Poison and Night Slash; both STAB moves with high crit percentage. It also has Ice Fang for coverage against Ground-types.
I typically like running Swords Dance for my Drapion's fourth move but Knock Off just hurts when used by a Drapion due to it getting STAB. Its a very handy move for shutting down staller Pokemon.
Garchomp @ Yache Berry
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 4HP, 252Atk, 252Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Dual Chop
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Iron Head
Another pretty basic set for Garchomp. Edge-Quake, classic. Dual Chop to break potential Sashes and Iron Head for Fairy-type coverage.
Garchomp is carrying a Yache Berry to guard against its horrid weakness to Ice-types.
