Banana Smoothie (Batton Pass standard)

[Go Mango]

Okay well this is my first post on here, and hopefully my first post of many more.
I have not been competitive battling for very long and I'm still getting used to the ropes.

I made this team last night and I don't know what to think of it. It has only lost a couple of times, but I feel that there could be something serverly wrong with it.
The main idea behind it is to create the Banana Smoothie (Medicham) With the ingredients of Banana, Milk Icecram. If that fails I have other BP's and tough sweepers to get the job done.

So here we go. Feel free to rip it apart and spit in my face... With words not saliva.

Banana Smoothie!

On with the show.​

Ninjask [Banana] @ Leftovers
Ability: Speed Boost
EV's: 248 HP | 52 Atk | 184 Def | 24 Spe |
Nature: Adamant
~ Aerial Ace
~ Baton Pass
~ Protect
~ Substitute​

In a Baton Pass team, You cannot go wrong with Ninjask as your lead. he provides a boost in speed at the end of every turn with the Speed Boost ability and has many stalling moves to ensure a few turns pass.
Depending on who the opponents lead is depends on my movement.
It will usually start with Protect, this gives me a free speed boost and after 1 speed boost Ninjask can outrun nearly every Pokemon in the game.
If I think they're gonna throw up a stealth rock first I'll use Sub first, but generally speaking most leads that carry stealth rock carry Taunt so it can be risky if you are outsped.
The usual idea of Ninjask is to Protect, Sub, Protect, Baton Pass. This allows 3 speed boosts, and a Sub to be passed onto the next pokemon of the Smoothie....

Smeargle [Milk IceCream] @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
EV's: 252 HP | 108 Def | 150 SpD |
Nature: Lonely
~ Baton Pass
~ Belly Drum
~ Soft Boiled
~ Spore​

You can't have a smoothie without Milk and Ice Cream. Smeargles main idea behind it is this, It comes in and survives a hit from a pokemon either by focus sash or just surviving it. It will usually come in when Banana is due to use protect again, so most people I've faced thought thats what I was going to do and I get in free. After it survives it is fast enough to lay a spore on anyone. So it spores, Softboils then belly drums. By this time the opponent has woken up, so if I haven't used belly drum, I spore again. After belly drum I baton pass to create....

Medicham [BANANA SMOOTHIE] @ Lum Berry
Ability: Pure Power
EV's: 4 HP | 252 Atk | 252 Spe |
Nature: Adamant
~ Bullet Punch
~ Ice Punch
~ Zen headbutt
~ Thunderpunch​

Okay so you've created the amazing and magnificant Banana Smoothie, was it worth all the trouble? YES is the answer. I'm no good at figuring this out but if someone could for me.
A Medicham with 252 Atk EV's and a belly drum + Pure power = How much attack? Alot, thats all I know.
And with the speed boosts given to it from Ninjask, it is very fast aswell. Again, can someone calculate how fast it is? ANYWAY
This is my main sweeper. It can stop pretty much everything in it's path. So far I've only had 2 problems with it. The first was a Metagross waking up JUST as I got Medicham in and used Explosion. The second one was a team of Bullet Punches and Extremespeeds. The third one was Roar. The Lum Berry Prevents someone from somehow getting in first, or survive with a focus sash and trying to stop me. This pokemon one executed properly is just ridiculously powerfull and for this reason shouldn't be so picked on.

If someone stops me or manages to bring down my Medicham not all is lost, I still have a ready to go Ninjask and a Low healthed Softboiling Smeargle to keep on Baton Passing to my last 2 pokemon, but before I get to them here comes my 3rd and final Batton Passer...

Gliscor [Batfink] @ Lum Berry
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EV's: 252 HP | 60 Spe | 196 SpD
Nature: Timid
~ Baton Pass
~ Substitute
~ Swords Dance
~ Taunt​

The main idea behind Gliscor is to confuse my opponents, many people run gliscors at revenge killers or stallers, so when I bring him out they are expecting as much.
He is a reserve if Ninjask and Smeargle KO, and can set up my last 2 pokemon quite nicely.
When he gets in depending on what pokemon it maybe I will either Taunt, or Substitute, generally I will substitute first then work around it. Throwing up as many swords dances as I can is this guys main priority. After he has thrown up a couple of Sword Dances he batton passes to one of these two...

Scizor [Fanta Pants] @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EV's: 252 Atk | 4 Def | 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
~ Bullet Punch
~ Night Slash
~ Superpower
~ X-Scissor​

Now this pokemon plays many roles in my team, firstly it is batton passed to if I pull off a second belly drum, or a set of Sword Dance's or Speed Boosts, mainly speed boosts, and it still sports a high Attack without Swords Dance help. With few speed boosts, it helps it's attacks that aren't Bullet Punch, the same with a few sword dances, but that also helps Bullet punch. The second use of Scizor is purely just to sweep if I cannot Batton Pass anymore, this has not happened yet, but I have prepared myself if that happens.
Scizor is largely overused in this Metagame, and this is the first time I have used one, it is overused for good reason, with a few boosts in speed it can be quite a sweeper.
Last but not least, here comes...

Machamp [Tiny] @ Choice Band
Ability: No Guard
EV's: 4 HP | 252 Atk | 252 Spe |
Natue: Adamant
~ Bullet Punch
~ Dynamic Punch
~ Earthquake
~ Giga Impact​

Scizor and Machamp have the same dual roles in my team. I will generally choose Machamp first for my baton pass after Medicham has been KO'd. After a few speed boosts from Ninjask (He can generally get 3 off every time) Machamp with No Guard and Dynamicpunch is a ver effecient sweeper and can cause any team problems. But just as Scizor, he is a late game sweeper if I have nothing to Baton Pass with.

The main weaknessess I have come across are the following:
- Roar
- Stealth rock, just for the fact it has made my Smeargle quite easy to OHKO
- Leads who OHKO Smeargle easily.

They're the main weaknesses I can think of.

So hit me with your best shot, whats wrong/good about it. What can I change to make it better. All feedback is thanks immensly.

- Sean.

EDIT: Kambo on Shoddy helped me fix my Medicham, now has Zen headbutt and Bullet Punch. Thanks to him.
EDIT EDIT: Kambo helping me out again on some of my holes. Machamp now has Fire Punch instead of Giga Impact.

 

[ghost]

It looks like a very nice team. Just judging by the avy, could you possibly be BaldWombat from RegiLeague? Anyway, a major problem is DDGyara, which after a DD outruns everybody except those who have Speed Boost passes and Ninjask.

 

[TONY MONTANA]

Use Ingrain on Smeargle, any Baton pass Team need Ingrain :x And Why do you use Choice Band Machamp?! Use the Reststalker, he is the better choice in Baton Pass Teams.

 

[Go Mango]

It looks like a very nice team. Just judging by the avy, could you possibly be BaldWombat from RegiLeague? Anyway, a major problem is DDGyara, which after a DD outruns everybody except those who have Speed Boost passes and Ninjask.

No, No I am not. I just found this Avy on a site, I'll change it now that I'm copying someone lol.

Yeah DDGyara is a problem for alot of teams. I Am trying to think of some way to counter it... But it's a bit hard 'Cos you gotta hit it before it buffs up, I could switch in Medicham prematurely without the Belly Drum and Thunder punch it to oblivion.

BananaSplit: Although ingrain is excellent on BP teams, I try to be Smeargle for as little as I possibly can, Hit a spore, belly drum and get out quick smart before they wake up. Softboiled is for if it got damaged below 50% and after sporing.
And as for Machamp, I was thinking about changing it. When it comes to late sweeping you cannot rely on one move, so I will change that.

THanks to both of you for your input in making my team a better one.

 

[SlottedPig]

Suggestion for Machamp's slot:

Gorebyss @ Leftovers
Timid Nature
-Substitute / Agility / Surf
-Iron Defense
-Amnesia
-Baton Pass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spe / 4 Def

Gorebyss is unique in that it can Baton Pass Iron Defense, Amnesia AND Agility. Substitute can be used because with +2 in both defenses, those Substitutes are going to have sheer muscle (although Gorebyss' HP isn't the best in the barrel). Surf can be used if you fear Taunt.

EVs are quite simple: With max HP, you get the best possible defense with Iron Defense and Amnesia. The Speed EVs and Timid ensure you outrun almost everything with Ninjask's Speed Boosts and get the quick Defense boost, halving the damage you take. The last 4 EVs are mainly filler.

 

[Anachronism]

There is very little synergy in this team. Generally Baton Pass teams should have a monstrous amount of synergy so that they can pass around easily. With this in mind, I think that most of your team needs replacing. BP teams are based on using resistances to get free switches. Your main receivers both lack resistances, which means that you will have a difficult time bringing them in at full health. Also, there is almost no reason to use three recievers that are so similar. Generally, if your chain is disrupted you are dead anyway, though I have won even though my chain was disrupted. It is more important to focus on making sure that your chain isn't disrupted. Use more taunt and roar of your own to ensure that you aren't phazed. My team is almost unphazable. I use Zapdos, Vaporeon, Gliscor, Mr. Mime, Smeargle, and a Lucario reciever. My Zapdos clearly discourages Skarmory, the only common whirlwinder from coming in. Roarers are immediately Soundproofed by Mr. Mime. I also use taunt on Mr. Mime to keep Skarm from coming in on it. Vaporeon has a Roar of its own to both stop opposing stat-uppers and stop phazing as I am faster than any common phazer after a single agilipass. Smeargle has ingrain ('nuff said), and I don't pass to lucario without the ingrain.

As you can see, the are also important resistances on my team, and everything has few resistances as well as few shared resistances. Zapdos can pass to Vaporeon or Lucario on an ice attack, and also can pass to Lucario on a Rock attack. Vaporeon can pass to Gliscor or Zapdos and Lucario for its weaknesses. Gliscor passes all of its weakness to Vaporeon and also Lucario for ice attacks. Mr. Mime is nearly a perfect match with Lucario, as Luke resists all of its weaknesses. These kind of resistance pairs makes it easy to bring things in and allows my team to be incredibly fluid. This is something your team lacks also.

Another thing is that you have a lot of incorrect details in you comments. On Ninjask, the sub is almost always broken even if they don't have one of the ways to immediately disable it, and passing two belly drums doesn't do anything more than passing one. a single belly drum takes you to +6 no matter what you were at before, and +6 is the highest stage you can be at. Most people don't stay in after being spored, and they will usually switch into a priority user like scizor to immediately ko your smeargle, so good luck getting even one belly pass in. Just go with the normal ingrain pass smeargle and bring it in when they switch as you baton pass, as this assures you get in for free. Your Gliscor shouldn't be running lum berry. It is immune to tspikes and twave and already has substitute. Use yache berry or leftovers instead. You should also take out two of your recievers and instead focus on making a full chain, which is much better than three passers and three recevers. I would replace one of your recievers with lucario, who is the best reciever in the game period due to his resistance to sr and immunity to toxic spikes as well as his ability to ko anything in the game even at +4 iirc, as well as a great resistance set. Another reciever should be replaced with a defense passer such as vaporeon, who works well with the ninjask and gliscor you already have as far as resists go. The last reciever should be replaced with a special defence passer, which is typically calm mind mr. mime, as gorebyss is too much like vaporeon, celebi has too many weaknesses to be effective, and hypno is basically bulkier mr. mime without the ability to stop roar and perish song.

 

[garchomp09]

Hey, pretty good looking team.

The usual idea of Ninjask is to Protect, Sub, Protect, Baton Pass. This allows 3 speed boosts, and a Sub to be passed onto the next pokemon of the Smoothie....

If I remember correctly, even behind a sub, taunt still works. So if you get taunted by aerodactyl for example, what do you do next?

Smeargle [Milk IceCream] @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
EV's: 252 HP | 108 Def | 150 SpD |
Nature: Lonely
~ Baton Pass
~ Belly Drum
~ Soft Boiled
~ Spore
You can't have a smoothie without Milk and Ice Cream. Smeargles main idea behind it is this, It comes in and survives a hit from a pokemon either by focus sash or just surviving it. It will usually come in when Banana is due to use protect again, so most people I've faced thought thats what I was going to do and I get in free. After it survives it is fast enough to lay a spore on anyone. So it spores, Softboils then belly drums. By this time the opponent has woken up, so if I haven't used belly drum, I spore again. After belly drum I baton pass to create....

Your Smeargle has a negative defense nature, as well as 108 defense EV's. considering the fact that smeargle has no attacking moves, what is the point of a positive attacking nature? (lonely)
Also, i ran a damage calc, and an adamant brelooms mach punch (because priority will always go before spore lol) on your smeargle is
Damage: 92.04% - 108.28%
with rocks up (a possibility) thats an OHKO, ruining the chain.
A positive defense natured smeargle with 252 defense Ev's though takes
Damage: 59.87% - 70.38%
from brelooms STAB mach punch. just a thought.

 

[Go Mango]

A whole heap of very good stuff.

Wow thanks alot for that post. As I have been playing with this team more I am finding a few problems that keep on arising as you mentioned, Taunt prctiacally stops me in my tracks and forces me to switch in someone else to get rid of it first, Roar and Whirlwind are also the bane of my exsistence.

I made this team mostly for fun, but I about 5 games in a row I managed to make a Banana Smoothie, so I started to takle it seriously. By no means is it a contender for anything, but I am just using it for a bit of fun.
I'll make another Batton pass team sometime today because I really like the idea behind them.. You have helped me monstrously in learning diff kinds of strategies and I thank you very much.

garchomp09: Majority of the time people predict my Protect - Sub - Portect - Sub thing and try to throw in a Buff up or spike or something, this allows me to throw in another sub after one has been crushed (Instead of using protect) and Batton pass the sub onto Smeargle, which prevents him from being killed before I can launch a spore up.
That Gorebyss looks like a pretty good idea, I might try it in my next Baton Pass team, thanks for that suggestion.

I realised I made a few errors in my details in my post and for that I am sorry.

I now have a lot of thinking to do about this team, I might keep it just for fun, and I might switch a few things around... I really like Baton Pass teams and I'll work hard in trying to create a better one.

Thanks all

- Sean <('.'<)