New to Battling

murderotica

Okay, it probably looks like I slapped this together in five minutes. But, well, I did. I have no idea what I'm doing, so I just took some stuff that looked good and put it into a team. Not much info because I don't know much about competitive battling. Any help would be appreciated; I'm really looking to work on the team's synergy.

Forgot to mention earlier, this team is for WiFi. Which means that changes in nature and such might not be possible... But I am testing it on Shoddy.

Team Record: Wins - 2 | Losses - 2


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Bronzong @ Lum Berry
Relaxed Nature
Ability: Levitate
EV's: 252 HP, 128 Atk 128 SpDef
Moveset: Gyro Ball, Stealth Rock, Hypnosis, Earthquake

Pretty much your standard Bronzong lead. Lum Berry for the common Hypnosis leads, so I can Hypnosis it right back. Then set up Stealth Rocks, and GTFO unless there's something I think I can OHKO, or at least dent pretty badly.

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Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Mild Nature
Ability: Flash Fire
EV's: 40 HP, 252 SpAtk, 216 Spd
Moveset: Flamethrower, Earth Power, Dragon Pulse, Explosion

I usually switch this in on whatever my opponent sends out to counter Bronzong (or sometimes for Scizor too). Then I get the nice boost and procede to attack. I usually have to predict pretty heavily since I'll only know about 1/3 of their team, so it's a 50/50 chance of doing some worthwhile damage.

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Scizor @ Leftovers
Adamant Nature
Ability: Swarm
EV's: 108 HP, 252 Atk, 148 Spd
Moveset: Swords Dance, Brick Break, X-Scissor, Pursuit

Before I put Brick Break on this, there was Iron Head. But I realized after a few battles that I needed some sort of Fighting type attack. If I switch this in and predict a switch, I'll Swords Dance; Unless of course it's weak to Dark type. Then I'll of course Pursuit it.

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Starmie @ Choice Specs
Timid Nature
Ability: Natural Cure
EV's: 160 HP, 132 Def, 216 Spd
Moveset: Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Surf, Grass Knot

Special thanks to Rag for suggesting putting the Def EV's in place of SpAtk. This has helped me in nearly every battle I've done with this team. I switch Starmie in on something like a LO Gyarados. With them thinking they can pull off an OHKO, I survive their attack (nine times out of ten) and Thunderbolt them for the usual OHKO (sometimes it's a 2HKO).


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Gliscor @ Leftovers
Impish Nature
Ability: Sand Veil
EV's: 252 HP, 4 Atk, 252 Def
Moveset: Earthquake, Aerial Ace, Taunt, Roost

I switch this in late game when my opponent predicts I'll be sending in Heatran. No damage from the Earthquake, and if this can do some damage, I leave it in. If not, I switch for something that can.

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Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Calm Nature
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EV's: 136 HP, 156 SpAtk, 216 SpDef
Moveset: Toxic Spikes, Rapid Spin, Surf, Ice Beam

Wow, this thing completely saved me in a battle against a Ludicolo. Switch this in when I'm predicting an KO on whatever I have out, lay down some Toxic Spikes on the switch (I always try for two layers, unless I need to pull this out), and switch it back out. This has always been my last Pokémon left, and has helped take out two or three Pokémon in each battle.
 
Well if you already have a rapid spin tentacruel its kida useless to have starmie spinner. specstar could be preferred. Swords Dance over Agillity. You need a Azelf counter. Half your team is weak to fire. Heatran maybe but i dont know where it could fit in. Scarf Heatran could actually kill Azelf w/ Dark Pulse; it covers your fire weakness; and its a great revenge killer. I reccomend switching something for it.
 
Gengar with hp ice may prove trouble for you. I suggest adding pursuit on either metagross or scizor as they can sort of switch into gengar and pursuit it. Zapdos may also be a threat as it can hit a lot of your things super effective.

You have two rapid spinners and two agility users. I'm not sure about agility but two spinners is really unnecessary. And from my experience swords dance works better on scizor (imo of course).
 
Mamoswine will cause a LOT of trouble. Your only Ground resists is hit super effective by Ice moves, and that basically means that you got no answer to a Mamoswine. Definitely replace a Pokémon in favor to Bronzong, who'll handle Mamoswine with ease. It will also provide some useful Stealth Rock to your team.

You may want to make your Starmie a bit more bulky as it is your only answer to Gyarados. You could add all your special attack in defence instead, as it will make you take hits somewhat well. This would also let Starmie to take STABed Fighting moves a little better. And basically, considering Tentacruel already run Rapid Spin you don't really need Starmie to use it too. Rapid Spin could be replaced with Recover, which will increase Starmie's survivability by a lot.

Oh, and for Tentacruel, I suggest running 136 HP / 156 SpA / 216 SpD. Screw the Leftovers recovery, this will let you take hits on the special side of the spectrum better.
 
BeastlyTyson said:
Well if you already have a rapid spin tentacruel its kida useless to have starmie spinner. specstar could be preferred. Swords Dance over Agillity. You need a Azelf counter. Half your team is weak to fire. Heatran maybe but i dont know where it could fit in. Scarf Heatran could actually kill Azelf w/ Dark Pulse; it covers your fire weakness; and its a great revenge killer. I reccomend switching something for it.
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>_< That's what I get for making a team so late at night. I'll think about Specstar, but as Rag said, I might make it bulky. I was considering putting Swords Dance over Agility; Suppose it makes sense now that I realize I have two Agility users. I do have a Heatran I could use (this is a WiFi team), so I'll consider that as well. Thanks for the help :).

Dexterity said:
Gengar with hp ice may prove trouble for you. I suggest adding pursuit on either metagross or scizor as they can sort of switch into gengar and pursuit it. Zapdos may also be a threat as it can hit a lot of your things super effective.

You have two rapid spinners and two agility users. I'm not sure about agility but two spinners is really unnecessary. And from my experience swords dance works better on scizor (imo of course).
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I'll probably put Pursuit on Scizor, but what should I replace? Brick Break?

Rag said:
Mamoswine will cause a LOT of trouble. Your only Ground resists is hit super effective by Ice moves, and that basically means that you got no answer to a Mamoswine. Definitely replace a Pokémon in favor to Bronzong, who'll handle Mamoswine with ease. It will also provide some useful Stealth Rock to your team.

You may want to make your Starmie a bit more bulky as it is your only answer to Gyarados. You could add all your special attack in defence instead, as it will make you take hits somewhat well. This would also let Starmie to take STABed Fighting moves a little better. And basically, considering Tentacruel already run Rapid Spin you don't really need Starmie to use it too. Rapid Spin could be replaced with Recover, which will increase Starmie's survivability by a lot.

Oh, and for Tentacruel, I suggest running 136 HP / 156 SpA / 216 SpD. Screw the Leftovers recovery, this will let you take hits on the special side of the spectrum better.
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I was considering Bronzong, but I wanted to keep my team more offensive. I'll think about it though; Especially because my team lacks Stealth Rocks. I'm thinking I'll switch out Metagross for Bronzong.

As for a Bulky Starmie, I'm not so sure (I forgot to mention this is a WiFi team). I think I'll make it a SpecStar so I have one Special Sweeper (taking Dragonite out).

The spread for Tentacruel looks good, but do you think I should run it with Black Sludge (that works for Tentacruel, right?)?

YankeeSprinter said:
I'm a fan of tentacruel w/ knockoff. leave your starmie as a spinner
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Hm, I'll consider it, but if I make my Starmie a SpecStar, I'll need it to keep Rapid Spin.
 
Minor fix; on Starmie, Recover over Thunderbolt. Without any form of recovery outside of Leftovers, you need it, and Leafeon counters Gyarados well anyway. Anyway, at the moment team has a few problems. Think Nasty Plot Azelf, Gengar, and Zapdos for starters. All of these are going to do you serious damage every time they come in and at the moment there is very little you can do about it. Team also struggles to take status; Natural Cure doesn't cut it as you're forced to switch and they'll just sleep whatever comes in next.

I'm not seeing the benefit of Agility Scizor here. You've already got Agility Metagross, they both fill a similar role and are walled by similar things (most notably for you, Zapdos) In it's place, you could run a bulky Choice Band Scizor with Pursuit. Serves as a hard hitter who doesn't need to stat up to do real damage, and can punish Gengar to make it easier to take on.

As far as I can see, as far as the rest of your team goes, Tentacruel seems largely deadweight. Starmie spins for you, counters Infernape for you, et ceteta. It does help massively against Heatran and Specsmence though. For this reason, I would recommend a specially defensive ReSTalk Heatran over your Tentacruel. Covers opposing Heatran, Specsmence, Azelf, takes status for you and isn't overly scared of Zapdos. It also counters Gengar pretty well for you if Pursuit Scizor isn't enough for you. Finally, you may want to consider Thunderpunch over Explosion on Metagross to take out Ice Fang Bulky Gyarados, who can cause problems. Metagross makes a fine counter, and it stops Skarmory from walling you quite as badly.

Hope that helps :)
 
Evil Hamster said:
Minor fix; on Starmie, Recover over Thunderbolt. Without any form of recovery outside of Leftovers, you need it, and Leafeon counters Gyarados well anyway. Anyway, at the moment team has a few problems. Think Nasty Plot Azelf, Gengar, and Zapdos for starters. All of these are going to do you serious damage every time they come in and at the moment there is very little you can do about it. Team also struggles to take status; Natural Cure doesn't cut it as you're forced to switch and they'll just sleep whatever comes in next.

I'm not seeing the benefit of Agility Scizor here. You've already got Agility Metagross, they both fill a similar role and are walled by similar things (most notably for you, Zapdos) In it's place, you could run a bulky Choice Band Scizor with Pursuit. Serves as a hard hitter who doesn't need to stat up to do real damage, and can punish Gengar to make it easier to take on.

As far as I can see, as far as the rest of your team goes, Tentacruel seems largely deadweight. Starmie spins for you, counters Infernape for you, et ceteta. It does help massively against Heatran and Specsmence though. For this reason, I would recommend a specially defensive ReSTalk Heatran over your Tentacruel. Covers opposing Heatran, Specsmence, Azelf, takes status for you and isn't overly scared of Zapdos. It also counters Gengar pretty well for you if Pursuit Scizor isn't enough for you. Finally, you may want to consider Thunderpunch over Explosion on Metagross to take out Ice Fang Bulky Gyarados, who can cause problems. Metagross makes a fine counter, and it stops Skarmory from walling you quite as badly.

Hope that helps :)
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I was afraid of this. I should of edited the team before I bumped it up :/...
 
With Rag's advice of Bronzong, you got rid of the horrible Weavile and Mamoswine weakness. Everything has been said really, I would just to pass on a small suggestion. Why not try Gliscor over Leafeon? I don't really see Leafeon stopping anything in OU, from Tyraniatar to Heracross, so Gliscor would be ideal. You could run Heatran with a Choice Scarf since you lack some speed, just make sure you have Earth Power, Flamethrower, Dragon Pulse, and a filler here, it will help you out. Starmie should have 160 HP / 132 SpA / 216 Spe @ Timid, Bulky Starmie for Gyarados and friends.
 
Thanks Venom. I swapped out Leafeon for Gliscor. I think this team is looking decent finally. Just a few more things need to be looked over.
 
Now that you lack Leafeon you cannot afford to run a Specstar as a LO-Gyarados will rip your team apart. Use the spread Venom posted, but Def > SpA is a good insurance as it normally can OHKO with Stealth Rock on the field.
 
Rag said:
Now that you lack Leafeon you cannot afford to run a Specstar as a LO-Gyarados will rip your team apart. Use the spread Venom posted, but Def > SpA is a good insurance as it normally can OHKO with Stealth Rock on the field.
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Alright, but by that do you mean I should put some EV's into Def over SpAtk? Or all?
 
I'd prefer to go all in defence as the extra defence is more useful in general imo. The extra special attack is more useful for sweeping purposes though, but Heatran covers a lot of ground already, so I think you would be good.
 
I've actually written some stuff about each of their roles now that I've battled a few times. I still need a few things to be decided. Mainly whether I should run Lum Berry or Leftovers on Bronzong; Choice Specs or something else on Starmie; And just a general team rate.
 
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