Team At-A-Glance
I haven't put this team into practice yet, but so far it looks good to me on paper. I just recently got back into battling and there are probably a ton of things that I am not up to date on, so I am sure that there are some holes in this team I have not picked up on. Things in bold are what I am currently using.
Bad News(Ursaring) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Quick Feet
EVs: 250 HP / 200 Atk / 60 Spd
Adamant nature (+ATK, -SpA)
- Facade
- Close Combat
- Night Slash
- Sword Dance
I've used Ursaring as a lead before and it has worked quite well. The exception is when someone uses a lead with a strong fighting move and can 1-shot Ursaring (i.e. weavile). If it gets off sword dance and the toxic orb takes effect, activating quick feet, Ursa becomes a great sweeper. Facade will deal crazy damage and I have night slash and close combat to deal with ghosts and steels.
Suicune @ Leftovers or Lum Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 200 HP/ 250 Def/ 60 SpD
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Surf
- Ice Beam/????
- Calm Mind
- Roar / Rest
I love Suicune. It can take so much damage and just keep going. After one calm mind it can take a thunderbolt pretty well, and after two it's got almost nothing to worry about. It's biggest weakness as far as what I have come across in other battles if getting hit with toxic. Suicune will still hold out for a few rounds, but it have a very short time to try to get a lot done. STAB surf does decent damage and ice beam covers some stuff, but I still don't know if I should rotate it out for something different. The biggest threats here are other bulky waters that render Suicune almost useless.
BEYOND!! (Dusknoir) @ Leftovers or Lum berry or Sticky Barb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 6 HP/ 252 Def/ 252 SpD
Impish Nature (+Def, -SpA)
- Will O' Wisp
- Confuse Ray/Double Team/ Payback
- Substitute/ Rest
- Night Shade
Another wall that works well with either type of attack. The primary purpose of Dusknoir is to weaken physical attackers with WOW and to confuse them. Since most people are against the use of double team I have confuse ray, which is a great attack in and of itself. After that you have night shade to deal damage, but I'll be SOL if the opponent is a normal type. I've debated using payback, which will solve that problem and play on the fact that dusknoir's low speed. I have substitute right now, but I think rest with a lum berry may be a much more useful option. I really have to worry about sp sweeper like gengar or anything else with shadow ball as it will easily 2HKO me. The use of a sticky barb works well if I switch in on a physical hit, but this would also benefit if I could use double team.
Habatake (Gengar) @ Choice Scarf / Expert Belt
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 HP/ 252 SpA/ 252 Speed
Lax Nature (Neutral)
- Energy Ball
- Thunder Bolt
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
I know it's an awful nature to have but this is the only shiny I have ever encountered, and the fact that it's actually useful makes me want to use it. The use of the choice scarf makes it useful as a revenge killer, almost exclusively. It has a diverse move pool combine with the expert belt and if worse comes to worse it always has STAB on shadow ball. Sadly it cannot take a hit very well. Which is good that it has three types that cannot hit it at all. The other "threat" is the usual damn Blissy. Even focus blast won't do dick against it.
Spica* (Starmie) @ Leftovers or Yache Berry
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 160 HP/ 138 SpA/ 212 Speed
Hasty Nature (+Speed, -Def)
- Surf
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Thunder Bolt/ Psychic/ Thunder wave
Just your normal rapid spinner Starmie, and it's gotten me out of a fix before. I cannot decide if I want to keep t-bolt or get psychic for a second stabbed attack. I think given my party psychic would be a better decision because I don't have anything else with it. But I occasionally place Starmie on another party with Cresselia, where t-bolt provides better coverage. Thunder wave may also be useful, but I am not sure. Starmie has to rely on it's speed in case it gets met by a sweeper with a good electric move, but if it uses t-wave it has a good chance to switch out. This is the most iffy on my team, I could see using something else. I'm really using leftovers because I cannot think of a good alternative, and like I said, this pokemon is iffy.
Dragonite @ Focus Sash or Choice Scarf or Persim Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 6 HP/ 252 Atk/ 252 Speed
Naughty Nature (+Atk, -SpD)
- Outrage
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake
Dragonite is mostly to be used as a late game sweeper. Using the focus sash it can come out after one of my pokemon is KO'ed and get off a dragon dance, then depending on the circumstances use one of it's other moves. The choice scarf could make it a wannabe scarfchomp with lower speed. Nonetheless it will do good damage. If I use the persim berry I have a shot at using outrage a second time. Threats are the usual "anything with ice".
I think the team is not too shabby, but there are areas I am still not comfortable with. Like mentioned above I don't want to be running into a Blissy late in the game, those things are annoying beyond all reason. Aside from that I think it's at least a decent team.
Bad News(Ursaring) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Quick Feet
EVs: 250 HP / 200 Atk / 60 Spd
Adamant nature (+ATK, -SpA)
- Facade
- Close Combat
- Night Slash
- Sword Dance
I've used Ursaring as a lead before and it has worked quite well. The exception is when someone uses a lead with a strong fighting move and can 1-shot Ursaring (i.e. weavile). If it gets off sword dance and the toxic orb takes effect, activating quick feet, Ursa becomes a great sweeper. Facade will deal crazy damage and I have night slash and close combat to deal with ghosts and steels.
Suicune @ Leftovers or Lum Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 200 HP/ 250 Def/ 60 SpD
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Surf
- Ice Beam/????
- Calm Mind
- Roar / Rest
I love Suicune. It can take so much damage and just keep going. After one calm mind it can take a thunderbolt pretty well, and after two it's got almost nothing to worry about. It's biggest weakness as far as what I have come across in other battles if getting hit with toxic. Suicune will still hold out for a few rounds, but it have a very short time to try to get a lot done. STAB surf does decent damage and ice beam covers some stuff, but I still don't know if I should rotate it out for something different. The biggest threats here are other bulky waters that render Suicune almost useless.
BEYOND!! (Dusknoir) @ Leftovers or Lum berry or Sticky Barb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 6 HP/ 252 Def/ 252 SpD
Impish Nature (+Def, -SpA)
- Will O' Wisp
- Confuse Ray/Double Team/ Payback
- Substitute/ Rest
- Night Shade
Another wall that works well with either type of attack. The primary purpose of Dusknoir is to weaken physical attackers with WOW and to confuse them. Since most people are against the use of double team I have confuse ray, which is a great attack in and of itself. After that you have night shade to deal damage, but I'll be SOL if the opponent is a normal type. I've debated using payback, which will solve that problem and play on the fact that dusknoir's low speed. I have substitute right now, but I think rest with a lum berry may be a much more useful option. I really have to worry about sp sweeper like gengar or anything else with shadow ball as it will easily 2HKO me. The use of a sticky barb works well if I switch in on a physical hit, but this would also benefit if I could use double team.
Habatake (Gengar) @ Choice Scarf / Expert Belt
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 HP/ 252 SpA/ 252 Speed
Lax Nature (Neutral)
- Energy Ball
- Thunder Bolt
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
I know it's an awful nature to have but this is the only shiny I have ever encountered, and the fact that it's actually useful makes me want to use it. The use of the choice scarf makes it useful as a revenge killer, almost exclusively. It has a diverse move pool combine with the expert belt and if worse comes to worse it always has STAB on shadow ball. Sadly it cannot take a hit very well. Which is good that it has three types that cannot hit it at all. The other "threat" is the usual damn Blissy. Even focus blast won't do dick against it.
Spica* (Starmie) @ Leftovers or Yache Berry
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 160 HP/ 138 SpA/ 212 Speed
Hasty Nature (+Speed, -Def)
- Surf
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Thunder Bolt/ Psychic/ Thunder wave
Just your normal rapid spinner Starmie, and it's gotten me out of a fix before. I cannot decide if I want to keep t-bolt or get psychic for a second stabbed attack. I think given my party psychic would be a better decision because I don't have anything else with it. But I occasionally place Starmie on another party with Cresselia, where t-bolt provides better coverage. Thunder wave may also be useful, but I am not sure. Starmie has to rely on it's speed in case it gets met by a sweeper with a good electric move, but if it uses t-wave it has a good chance to switch out. This is the most iffy on my team, I could see using something else. I'm really using leftovers because I cannot think of a good alternative, and like I said, this pokemon is iffy.
Dragonite @ Focus Sash or Choice Scarf or Persim Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 6 HP/ 252 Atk/ 252 Speed
Naughty Nature (+Atk, -SpD)
- Outrage
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake
Dragonite is mostly to be used as a late game sweeper. Using the focus sash it can come out after one of my pokemon is KO'ed and get off a dragon dance, then depending on the circumstances use one of it's other moves. The choice scarf could make it a wannabe scarfchomp with lower speed. Nonetheless it will do good damage. If I use the persim berry I have a shot at using outrage a second time. Threats are the usual "anything with ice".
I think the team is not too shabby, but there are areas I am still not comfortable with. Like mentioned above I don't want to be running into a Blissy late in the game, those things are annoying beyond all reason. Aside from that I think it's at least a decent team.
