Would you be so kind as to rate my team?

[PiLON]

Thank you in advance for reading this...

I am not very cultured in Pokemon as I have not played since the Red/Blue games. Even then I was not playing competetively. I am more interested in having fun and using the Pokemon I like than using the best ones available. I am open to all suggestions, but please do not reccomend any legendary Pokemon. If my movesets do not make any sence, ask me to explain, or correct me as I may not have a complete understanding of the game. Below is my team.

Altaria​

​

Natural Cure
Adamant - ↑ Attack ↓ Sp. Attack
@ Powerful Herb
Sky Attack
Dragon Claw
Dragon Dance
Rest​

Camerupt​

​

Hard Rock​

Brave - ↑ Attack ↓ Speed​

@ Focus Band

Smoke Erupt

Earthquake
Stealth Rock
Yawn​

Porygon-Z​

​

Adaptive
Timid - ↑ Speed ↓ Attack
@ ???​

Thunderbolt
Ice Beam
Shadow Ball
Conversion​

Sandslash​

Sand Veil
Careful - ↑ Sp. Defense ↓ Sp. Attack
@ Salac Berry​

Earthquake
Shadow Claw
Focus Punch
Substitute​

Snorlax​

​

Thick Fat
Relaxed - ↑ Defense ↓ Speed
@ Chesto Berry​

Body Slam
Brick Break
Curse
Rest​

Vaporeon​

​

Water Absorb
Relaxed - ↑ Defense ↓ Speed
@ Leftovers​

Surf
Ice Beam
Wish
BatonPass​

​

​

 

[Footnote]

I like your style, my friend! No legendaries and no Hidden Power!

If you're using this thing on Wi-Fi and if Wi-Fi has the Item Clause (I'm not sure whether this is the case), then you won't be able to have Powerful Herb on two Pokémon. If this is a Single Battle Team, I'd be very careful about Camerupt. For one thing, if your opponent has a chance to hit you, Eruption won't be doing much, so you might want to use Flamethrower or Smoke Erupt (for a better chance to burn). In my experience, Camerupt doesn't have the speed or defenses to set up with Amnesia. You could take the easy way out and ditch Camerupt entirely. But if you want to keep it in (and I hope you do), perhaps somthing like this might serve you better.

Earthquake
Flamethrower/Smoke Erupt
Stone Edge
Yawn

Other than that, I'm not sure I'd put Explosion on a Skuntank that already has Detonate. I prefer Body Slam to Return on a Snorlax for the 30% chance of Paralysis. I'm not sure I'd put Hyper Beam on anything, but I guess it'd be quite powerful on an Adaptive Porygon-Z.

It's not exhaustive, but that's where I'd start. Hope it helped!

 

[PiLON]

I like your style, my friend! No legendaries and no Hidden Power!

If you're using this thing on Wi-Fi and if Wi-Fi has the Item Clause (I'm not sure whether this is the case), then you won't be able to have Powerful Herb on two Pokémon. If this is a Single Battle Team, I'd be very careful about Camerupt. For one thing, if your opponent has a chance to hit you, Eruption won't be doing much, so you might want to use Flamethrower or Smoke Erupt (for a better chance to burn). In my experience, Camerupt doesn't have the speed or defenses to set up with Amnesia. You could take the easy way out and ditch Camerupt entirely. But if you want to keep it in (and I hope you do), perhaps somthing like this might serve you better.

Earthquake
Flamethrower/Smoke Erupt
Stone Edge
Yawn

Other than that, I'm not sure I'd put Explosion on a Skuntank that already has Detonate. I prefer Body Slam to Return on a Snorlax for the 30% chance of Paralysis. I'm not sure I'd put Hyper Beam on anything, but I guess it'd be quite powerful on an Adaptive Porygon-Z.

It's not exhaustive, but that's where I'd start. Hope it helped!

I've never heard of this item clause, but I hope it's not in effect. If it is, I really like your Camerupt set, but I'm partial to the Solar Beam on him :blush:. I'm definately changing Explosion to Smoke Erupt, I got confused on the naming I think because that is the 30% burn move I wanted to use. BTW, I'm definately keeping Camerupt.

I'm not quite sure what move to use on Snorlax, Return or Body Slam are as good as any. My thinking was that Snorlax would be powerful enough to faint the opponent with only a few returns and the paralysis wouldn't be useful enough. I'm probably wrong on this though.

The Hyper Beam Porygon-Z really excites me because I think it should be able to kill most things with just one hit. This could come in handy later in the battle, although I'm not sure if it is that useful though. I was thinking about changing that move to return and using Porygon-Z's other ability, download. Maybe this could make a good mixed sweeper.

Thanks a lot for your responce, I really appreciate it. It really helps to have others give their input, especially for a noob like me!

 

[Footnote]

Well, your opinion about the item clause is a popular one with the online battling community. Personally, I like having it on because otherwise everyone seemed to just use Leftovers, Salac Berry or Choice Band on almost everything, which could get a bit boring. Thankfully, with all the new items in Diamond and Pearl everyone's branching out a bit more.

Since you haven't played since the Red/Blue days, I'll tell you something about Solarbeam. Now, you may very well already know this, so I apologize if that's the case. During bright sunlight, Solarbeam doesn't take a turn to charge like it does under normal circumstances. The sunlight is usually brought about by the move Sunny Day. Almost all Fire types learn Solarbeam now so that they can take full advantage of Sunny Day, beacause it also increases fire damage by 50% and halves water damage. So, usually Solarbeam isn't used on a Pokémon unless you expect to have Sunny Day active.

Tying the last two points together, keep in mind that Powerful Herb is used up after you use it, so you can only make use of it once per battle. I think its a terrific idea on Altaria, but may not be worth it on Camerupt.

I have a Snorlax with Body Slam in my 3rd Gen games, and in my experience, it's worth it to paralyze your opponent. For one thing, since a lot of battles with Snorlax tend to be drawn out (I notice you already have Rest. Excellent.), you're almost guaranteed to eventually paralyze your target. Now, I'd recommend giving your Snorlax a Special-Attack-lowering nature instead of a Speed-lowering one. You don't need the Special Attack and this way, once your foe is paralyzed, you'll probably move faster. So it's like a free turn, but more importantly, you won't have to predict when to use Rest. Not only that, but your opponent will lose about 1/4 or their turns to Paralysis.

Even if you're not planning to have drawn-out Snorlax battles, if your foe is paralyzed and KOs Snorlax, your next Pokémon will probably be faster than your paralyzed foe and can take it out without taking damage. Since a lot of your Pokémon are on the slow side, this could be a real game-winner.

I like mixed sweepers more than the average player, but Porygon-Z's Special Attack is so much highter than its Attack that I wouldn't bother putting physical attacks on it. If you want something that'll work with Adaptive and you don't want to lose a turn to recharge after Hyper Beam, you could use Tri-Attack. Or, you could just put Conversion where Agility is now and/or give it a third non-Normal special attack. It's not as predictable, but Conversion would always change its type to the type of a move you have and therefore give you the Adaptive bonus on that move. So, that strategy may not be perfect, but it sure sounds like fun to me.

Anyway, sorry if this was more information/opinion than you wanted. I guess I got a little carried away.

By the way, I like how few type-weaknesses your team has. Very defensible.

 

[PiLON]

First of all, thank you very much for your responces Footnote. You have no idea how much they are helping. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out. It was definately more information than I was expecting, but not more than I would have wanted, thank you. Is there any way for me to increase your rating/reputation on this forum? I would gladly do that if I could.

I never knew that some of these weather/status effects had such an impact. I was aware of Sunny Day's increase in Fire Power and one-time Solar Beaming, but did not know it lowered Water's power. Also, I did not know that Paralysis lowered the opponents speed. I will now be changing Snorlax's nature to Impish, and adopting Body Slam; your argument was very persuasive.

Back to Suny Day, do you think that would be viable on Camerupt, or are his defences to low to set-up? Maybe I could put rest on him to help out. I was also thinking about putting in Yawn and Protect to go with Smoke Erupt and Earthquake. The Enigma Berry also sounds good when coupled with Camerupt's Hard Rock trait. Is that just a one time use aswell?

Your Porygon-Z moveset sounds just plain old fun to use. I would be worried about dieing quickly though, can his defences hold up? Porygon 2 maybe better for that since it has better defences and a respectible Sp. Attack. I might just do that. My only worry would be that I would not have any fast Pokemon on my team. Is that something that should be of concern?

Again, thank you so much.

 

[Footnote]

Well, I'll give you the bad news first. As much as I'd like Sunny Day to be viable on Camerupt, it often wouldn't survive both the setup of Sunny Day and the execution of Solarbeam, even with Hard Rock. Generally when I put a weather effect on a team, I gear most of the team around it, so that if your Camerupt faints, for instance, you've got another Pokémon that can come out and take advantage of the sun. It would help Stuntank's Fire Blast, but it would hurt Vaporeon quite a bit.

The reason that I suggested Yawn earlier was that a low Speed is less of a factor when using it. Yawn puts your opponent to sleep at the end of the following turn (if they don't switch in the intervening time). On a side note, Yawn is now the most accurate sleep-inducing move, as it can never miss, even if the target has raised evasiveness.

I'd be wary of using Rest on the Camerupt, again because it's not very durable. While you're asleep, the opponent will probably be able to knock off however many Hit Points you've regained from resting. Although, if you're up against an opponent that uses Physical attacks and you've burned it, it can't hit you quite as hard. Protect (in single battles) is normally used to stall for time while you recover HP (from Leftovers, etc.) and/or while your opponent loses HP (from Poison/Burn/Sandstorm). I'd like to say that there are better ways to use that moveslot, but on Camerupt I'm still straining my brain to think of how. Stealth Rock might be a good choice.

If you want to know my own personal bias, I think Camerupt works better in a double-battle environment where its partner can distract the opponent with Fake Out and Follow Me, but I applaud your using it and I think it can fit into a single-battle team, especially with Hard Rock.

By the way, if you're the number-crunching type, as I know a lot of us here are, Paralysis quarters Speed and Burn halves attack. Also, Sunny Day decreases the accuracy of the move Thunder to 50%.

The Enigma berry is definitely a one-time use item, but I'm not sure exactly how much damage it recovers after a super-effective attack. So until I know, I'll keep my mouth shut about that.

I agree that Porygon2 is more durable, and I think it still has a place in competitive battling, but it can't have the Adaptive ability, so that exact strategy won't fly. But, here's the good news: Porygon-Z's defenses really aren't terrible. Just make sure you slap a lot of EVs into Hit Points, and it won't be too fragile. Since it's faster than Porygon2, it will often be able to get off a Conversion before its opponent can act. But, I'm assuming here that you won't be fighting too many legendaries.

To answer your last question, yes it is a great advantage to have a few fast Pokémon. I used to eschew Speed entirely on my slower Pokémon, like you're doing with your team, but you'd be surprised how often it helps to put some points into Speed. Here's my general rule: only use a Speed lowering nature on a very, very slow mixed sweeper (like Camerupt) or on a Pokémon where very few of its moves are affected by Speed (Fake Out, Vital Throw, Counter, Revenge, etc. aren't hit as hard by having a low Speed.) So, you don't need Attack on your Vaporeon, do you? Give it an Attack-lowering nature. This has the additional advantage of you taking less damage from confusion. Oh, and if all of a particular Pokémon's stats matter (as in the case of your Skuntank), consider giving it a neutral nature, like Quirky.

By the way, do you know much about EVs? If not, I can point you to some good guides on the subject.

As for the reputation thing, I have no idea! I'm new to this forum thing myself. But I really appreciate the thought. Your team caught my attention immediately due to the lack of legendaries and Hidden Power. These are rules I use myself, so I had to help you out. By the way, I happen to have a shiny Camerupt lying around that I never use, so if you want it when Diamond and Pearl come out, you can have it. I'll understand if you don't, though. I know I'm a stickler when it comes to training my own Pokémon.

 

[PiLON]

I suppose you are right on the Sunny Day, as it doesn't help my team tremendously and would render Vaporeon almost useless. I like it in it's suppurt role right now, but it still need some attack power. Thanks again for the nature tip on Vaporeon, I will change it to Bold as it only makes sense.

I'm glad to hear the news on Yawn, I never knew that it could not miss, but what is this Sleep Clause I keep hearing about? Does it not allow you to use sleep inducing moves? Also, would you expect that most would switch out after Camerupt uses Yawn? This could open the oppurtunity for Camerupt to get a free shot it at the new Pokemon which sounds good to me. Also, I beleive you are correct about the resting, Camerupt would probably just lose the HP all over again. Maybe stealth rock is a good option, or maybe a supporting move like Focus Energy could help. Does that also inrease the critical hit ratio for special moves?

Thanks for the stats on Paralysus, Burn and Sunny Day, I was unaware of their secondary effects. I have been known to take out a calculator from time to time, but I am not knowledgeable enough in the subjet to number crunch the way I have seen some other users here. I may get there one day though. I will see if I can find some info on the Enigma Berry in some of the other threads here, it could potentially be a good combo with Hard Rock, even if just for one turn.

My mistaks on suggsting that moveset on Porygon 2, I just assumed it would have the same ability. Good to know that Z's defenses aren't that bad, I still don't know what is considered good or bad at the moment. As far as the legendaries go, I will be using this team on Wi-Fi so I will face whoever my opponent uses I suppose. I would like to think that I will not run into many Legenderies or Ubers, but that is out of my control. I beleive I have the gist of EVs but some additional guides could help, thanks.

I'm glad my team caught your eye, you have helped me out immensely. I like giving myself some rules, even if no one else uses them. I try to pick Pokemon that are not that common, although I had to pick Snorlax since he is my all-time favourite. I only use Pokemon that I like and wouldn't use one just because it is good.

I am awe-struck at your offer of the Shiny Camerupt. Normally, I would decline as I like to train the Pokemon myself, but any Pokemon coming from you would be a joy to have, and I would hold it in high esteem. Thank you so much for your generosity. I look foward to trading and battling with you when DP ships, it should be quite the rivalry! Although I'm also sure you will have the upper-hand. By the way, how did you manage to catch such a cool shiny?

 

[Drab Emordnilap]

Oh, and if all of a particular Pokémon's stats matter (as in the case of your Skuntank), consider giving it a neutral nature, like Quirky.

You should never use a neural nature, on anything. If all of the stats matter (like with Skunktank here), use the nature that boosts its best stat, and lowers its worst. Then, you can use EVs to re-increase the lowest stat, and have a higher highest stat than you would with a neutral nature, with all the other stats being the same.

Maybe I can phrase this better. Say, hypothetically, there's a pokemon with 300 attack and 200 speed, the way I have it EVd, with a Quirky nature. Giving it a Brave nature (+atk, -spd) would give it +10% attack, up to 330, and -10% speed, down to 180. Then, if I use 20 of the EVs I had in attack in speed instead, I end up with 310 attack and 200 speed, which is better than the 300 attack and 200 speed I had with the neutral nature.

Does that help any?

 

[PiLON]

You should never use a neural nature, on anything. If all of the stats matter (like with Skunktank here), use the nature that boosts its best stat, and lowers its worst. Then, you can use EVs to re-increase the lowest stat, and have a higher highest stat than you would with a neutral nature, with all the other stats being the same.

Maybe I can phrase this better. Say, hypothetically, there's a pokemon with 300 attack and 200 speed, the way I have it EVd, with a Quirky nature. Giving it a Brave nature (+atk, -spd) would give it +10% attack, up to 330, and -10% speed, down to 180. Then, if I use 20 of the EVs I had in attack in speed instead, I end up with 310 attack and 200 speed, which is better than the 300 attack and 200 speed I had with the neutral nature.

Does that help any?

How did the Pokemon go from 330 to 310 in attack? Also, if the Pokemon ended up with 310 attack and 200 speed, why didn't you keep the neutral nature and use those 20 EVs directly into attack instead to get 320 attack and 200 speed? Isn't that better? Sorry if I am not understanding correctly.

 

[Great Sage]

You have a huge huge Garchomp+Sandstream weakness, with nothing that may be considered a physical wall. Consider Ice Beam over Acid Armor on Vaporeon to remedy that. And you have a CBTar Crunch weakness, which further stresses the need of a physical wall. Altaria is useless compared to Salamence, which Dragon Dances about 900% better. And lol about not using legendaries. Take Tyranitar and Entei for example. Which is better? Which is legendary?

 

[PiLON]

You have a huge huge Garchomp+Sandstream weakness, with nothing that may be considered a physical wall. Consider Ice Beam over Acid Armor on Vaporeon to remedy that. And you have a CBTar Crunch weakness, which further stresses the need of a physical wall. Altaria is useless compared to Salamence, which Dragon Dances about 900% better. And lol about not using legendaries. Take Tyranitar and Entei for example. Which is better? Which is legendary?

I originally had Ice Beam over Wish on Vaporeon but realized I should use Wish. Is Wish really that much better than Acid Armor, and do you need to Baton Pass Wish for it to work, or can you just switch Pokemon? I am aware of the Tyranitar weakness, but isn't the Skunk enough to take it out? I have been considering choosing a different Pokemon for that spot, but I really like the Skunk.

Also, it's not specifically legenderies that I do not like to use, I just used that as a rule although I would never use one myself anyway. I would also not use Pokemon like Tyranitar, Metagross or Garchomp. This is the reason I will be using Salamance. I only chose Pokemon that I like, not just the most powerful ones. Sky Attack on Altaria is a plus for me aswell.

Thank you for your input!

EDIT: Never mind about the Skunk, I realized it's not a good counter.

 

[Great Sage]

lol Sky Attack. You do realize that Powerful Herb will only work once, right?

 

[PiLON]

lol Sky Attack. You do realize that Powerful Herb will only work once, right?

Yes, I am aware of that. You can still use the attack after the fact though, and I don't mind taking the hit while charging it up because Altaria can Rest, and using Natural Cure, come back awake after a switch. Altaria is also a really cooling looking Pokemon IMO, and I just like it.

 

[Footnote]

You should never use a neural nature, on anything. If all of the stats matter (like with Skunktank here), use the nature that boosts its best stat, and lowers its worst. Then, you can use EVs to re-increase the lowest stat, and have a higher highest stat than you would with a neutral nature, with all the other stats being the same.

Maybe I can phrase this better. Say, hypothetically, there's a pokemon with 300 attack and 200 speed, the way I have it EVd, with a Quirky nature. Giving it a Brave nature (+atk, -spd) would give it +10% attack, up to 330, and -10% speed, down to 180. Then, if I use 20 of the EVs I had in attack in speed instead, I end up with 310 attack and 200 speed, which is better than the 300 attack and 200 speed I had with the neutral nature.

Does that help any?

I have a mild disagreement with this. I agree that its almost always best to use a nature that raises your highest stat, but keep in mind that when you put EVs into the low stat, you do lose 1/10 of those EVs. The only major problem with this is that you're putting a lower cap on the stat you're lowering.

I'll be more clear. On a Pokémon with wildly varying base stats, like a Cloyster, it's totally worth it to use a Defense-raising nature, even if you lower a stat you care about. You can, as RiptideFugitive says, make it up with EVs. But on a Pokémon like Skuntank, where all the base stats (other than HP, which cannot be altered by a nature) are within a fairly small range, if you care about the Defense, you're losing EVs while you make up that stat, so it more or less balances out.

The upshot? For a mixed sweeper like Skuntank, unless you want to max out the EVs on the stat you're lowering, it doesn't make a big difference either way.

 

[Great Sage]

Yes, I am aware of that. You can still use the attack after the fact though, and I don't mind taking the hit while charging it up because Altaria can Rest, and using Natural Cure, come back awake after a switch. Altaria is also a really cooling looking Pokemon IMO, and I just like it.

Do you realize that the charging time will be the death of you? Altaria charges while the opponent switches to something that can survive Sky Attack off Altaria's pathetic Attack, which is still pathetic even if it Dragon Dances, and can OHKO Altaria, and Altaria can't switch while it's charging.

 

[Footnote]

One of the reasons I like Sky Attack/Powerful Herb on your Altaria is that your other attack, Dragon Claw, is resisted by very few Pokémon (pretty much just Steel types.) This somewhat mitigates the fact that you can only use one-turn Sky Attack once. Also, you're absolutely right about Altaria's Rest/Natural Cure combo. You'll lose Dragon Dances when you switch, but it is a nice ability that Salamence lacks.

On the subject of Salamence, I generally don't use anything in the Dragonite/Tyranitar/Salamence/Metagross/Garchomp range, either. They are more powerful than many legendaries and I prefer not to battle with them. Salamence and the other dragon types on that list do have a double weakness to Ice, so they're not too overpowered, I guess.

Speaking of Ice, I agree with Great Sage about Ice Beam on your Vaporeon. I tried a Vaporeon with the same setup you have now, and I ended up having to throw Ice Beam on there. The problem with only having Surf is that it's really easy to block. And, an Ice attack or two really helps a team. So many overpowered Pokémon are weak against Ice.

When I put Ice Beam on my Vaporeon, I think I got rid of Baton Pass, but I'd have to check. Regardless, you don't have to Baton Pass for Wish to work, but many people do so that Vaporeon will take the hit, rather than whatever switches in, since Baton Pass doesn't necessarily go first in the round.

I wouldn't worry too much about a weakness to Sandstorm. If you want, you could put that Sunny Day on your Camerupt just to get rid of any sandstorm, put I probably wouldn't bother. Great Sage does have a good point about a physical wall. The real quesiton is, are there any high-defense Pokémon that look cool/interesting to you? If so, tell us and maybe we can figure out what to replace in your team.

In my opinion, it's really about finding a happy medium between using Pokémon that are powerful and Pokémon that you enjoy using. That medium isn't the same for everybody, and it sounds like you land further on the latter side than most of the people here. So, don't worry too much about having a counter for everything. Don't worry so much that you stop using Pokémon you like.

 

[Great Sage]

I don't mean to turn this thread into something different from its original topic, but if something is allowed, why should one not take full advantage of its capabilities? Competitive Pokemon isn't about "favorites", it's about the Pokemon that are powerful and work well.

 

[PiLON]

Your right about Altaria Footnote, the Sky Attack can come as a surprise while Dragon Claw works against almost everything. I really like the Rest + Natural Cure combo even if I lose the Dragon Dances.

One of the reasons I wasn't overally worried about Physical Sweepers was because I could Baton Pass Vaporeon's Acid Armor which raises defene 2 stages. That is why I was wrestling with Ice Beam/Wish/Baton Pass. Having said that, do you think it would be best to add Ice Beam and remove Acid Armor then add a Defensive Wall?

Before I even think about countering Sand Storm, can someone explain it's effects to me? Thanks.

That balance is definately delicate Footnote, and I just know that I would not have fun using a Pokemon that I did not like. The reason I play is to have fun, and although winning is nice of course, it is not my first priority. On the other hand, I would equally not enjoy getting beaten every time on Wifi. I will heed your adivice.

 

[Phuquoph]

You're going to have the same problems most do when using a team of favourites. You'll lose easily against some of the more powerful threats.

If you are adamant about not changing any of members on your team, all anyone can do is give you advice on movesets, items and EV spreads. This will improve your team slightly, but not enough to truly compete against stronger teams.

 

[Footnote]

I don't mean to turn this thread into something different from its original topic, but if something is allowed, why should one not take full advantage of its capabilities? Competitive Pokemon isn't about "favorites", it's about the Pokemon that are powerful and work well.

First of all, Great Sage, to answer your question, there's no reason not to use it. Different people just play Pokémon for different reasons. For a lot of the people here, it's about finding the Holy Grail of single-battle teams: a superb, all-purpose team that can counter everything, or nearly everything.

For me, it's mostly about finding cool strategies and combinations of Pokémon, moves, abilities and held items. I've come up with a lot of them. Some of them are viable in competitive battles, and some aren't. Finding out which ones work is a lot of fun for me.

For PiLON here, it seems to be about using the Pokémon that he likes on a team that, while it may not be able to stand up to one of your teams, is a solid team that he can use on Wi-Fi.

I know that there are a lot of people who take the extreme opposite yours and use Pokémon teams that have no chance in a real battle, just because they like them. That's not what Smogon.com is for. But PiLON here, even if he doesn't take the extreme of using only the most powerful, still cares about serious battling. I mean, all of his Pokémon are fully evolved, and he doesn't have two of the same type of attack on the same Pokémon or anything like that. He's clearly not a complete noob.

I enjoy the challenge of taking an underused Pokémon and saying, "How can I make this thing work in a real battle?" I believe that variety is the spice of Pokémon, which is why I'm encouraging him to stick to his guns. Likewise, if you enjoy using the Pokémon you use, for whatever reason, I've got no problem with that. More power to both of you.

 

[Phuquoph]

Altaria getting easily walled by Steel types isn't good, especially when she has access to Earthquake. Dragon Dance/Dragon Claw/Earthquake then either Aerial Ace, Feather Rest or Rest offers better coverage. If you give her a recovery move, then Life Orb is a good choice to help her hit harder, otherwise go with Leftovers.

Camerupt will be lucky if it gets off one full powered Eruption, it's too slow to use it. Flamethrower, Smoke Erupt or Fire Blast would be better here.

Powerful Herb and Solarbeam is far too gimmicky. It will finish the likes of Swampert and Quagsire, but won't do much to Milotic and Suicune. Amnesia isn't helping, especially without Leftovers.

If you're using Agility on PorygonZ you have no need for a Timid nature, he should be Modest. Drop Hyper Beam for Tri Attack and give him a Life Orb to hold, he makes a quite effective late game sweeper with that set.

 

[Footnote]

Your right about Altaria Footnote, the Sky Attack can come as a surprise while Dragon Claw works against almost everything. I really like the Rest + Natural Cure combo even if I lose the Dragon Dances.

One of the reasons I wasn't overally worried about Physical Sweepers was because I could Baton Pass Vaporeon's Acid Armor which raises defene 2 stages. That is why I was wrestling with Ice Beam/Wish/Baton Pass. Having said that, do you think it would be best to add Ice Beam and remove Acid Armor then add a Defensive Wall?

Before I even think about countering Sand Storm, can someone explain it's effects to me? Thanks.

That balance is definately delicate Footnote, and I just know that I would not have fun using a Pokemon that I did not like. The reason I play is to have fun, and although winning is nice of course, it is not my first priority. On the other hand, I would equally not enjoy getting beaten every time on Wifi. I will heed your adivice.

PiLON, unfortunately, you won't be able to depend on your Vaporeon's Acid Armor being Baton Passed in most situations. It's time-consuming to set up and you won't always be able to bring out your Vaporeon when you need the defense. If you are worried about Physical Sweepers (and after reviewing your team again, I admit you may have reason to), then I think you may want to include some sort of physical wall. A Fighting-type which has a Rock-type attack, for instance, could potentially take out both your Snorlax and your Altaria, two of your best physical defenders. Again, are there any high-Defense Pokémon that appeal to you? Prefereably ones that aren't weak to Fighting or Rock. Some suggestions include Weezing, almost any pure Ground-type, and Kingler, but there are many more.

Sandstorm deals damage to any Pokémon on the field that isn't a Rock-, Ground-, or Steel-type. It takes away 1/16 of such a Pokémon's HP at the end of each turn. The only thing on your team it won't damage is Camerupt. However, Snorlax, Altaria, and Vaporeon all have ways to recover HP, so it's not that bad. Also, while a sandstorm is in effect, any Pokémon with the ability Sand Veil, like Garchomp, is harder to hit. As a side note (to cover all my bases), Cacturne, a Grass/Dark type, also has Sand Veil and is therefore immune to Sandstorm's damage.

As for being able to use your favorites in a real, competitive battle, GameFreak seems to be working harder this generation to make sure that almost all fully-evolved Pokémon have a place on a competitive team. Some of them are only really useful in double battles, but that's a discussion for another thread, methinks.

 

[Footnote]

Altaria getting easily walled by Steel types isn't good, especially when she has access to Earthquake. Dragon Dance/Dragon Claw/Earthquake then either Aerial Ace, Feather Rest or Rest offers better coverage. If you give her a recovery move, then Life Orb is a good choice to help her hit harder, otherwise go with Leftovers.

Camerupt will be lucky if it gets off one full powered Eruption, it's too slow to use it. Flamethrower, Smoke Erupt or Fire Blast would be better here.

Powerful Herb and Solarbeam is far too gimmicky. It will finish the likes of Swampert and Quagsire, but won't do much to Milotic and Suicune. Amnesia isn't helping, especially without Leftovers.

If you're using Agility on PorygonZ you have no need for a Timid nature, he should be Modest. Drop Hyper Beam for Tri Attack and give him a Life Orb to hold, he makes a quite effective late game sweeper with that set.

Phuquoph is right about your Altaria being walled by Steel-types. If you want to keep Sky Attack, though, keep in mind that your Camerupt, Snorlax and Skuntank all have attacks strong against Steel. Just remember while you're battling that Camerput and Skuntank are weak to Ground attacks, which many Steel-types carry.

I do believe we've addressed the Camerupt problems. Heh. PiLON, maybe you should edit your first post to include some of these changes. I'm sure most people who read this don't want to read through the huge blocks of text I'm writing. Sorry about that.

Phuquoph's also right about the Porygon-Z's nature if you end up keeping Agility. If you decide to switch to Conversion, you'll probably want the Speed.

Oh, and I never answered your question about the Sleep Clause. When it's in effect, you can only have one of your opponent's Pokémon asleep at any given time. If your opponent uses Rest, it doesn't count against you, though. You can still put another Pokémon to sleep. So, if it's in effect, your opponent may not switch out of a Yawn because that way, you can't use it on any of their other Pokémon. It gives your opponent a greater degree of choice regarding which Pokémon they have asleep. It can still force a switch in many situations, though. Especially if your opponent wants to avoid sleep altogether. I don't know whether the Sleep Clause is active in DP Wi-Fi battles, but I generally abide by it anyway.

 

[PiLON]

Thanks to everyone who has responded and made this topic a good discussion. All comments/suggestions are welcome!

Phuquoph, I swear I had that same set with Altaria before I decided to change it. I had the Life Orb with Feather Rest/Aerial Ace/Earthquake/Meteoric Swarm. I thought it was pretty good but wanted to take advantage of Dragon Dance. I will also consider your Porygon-Z moveset. I figured he would die possibly in one hit, which is why I gave him the focus strip and agility to outspeed most Pokemon.

Footnote, I am coming to the realization that I need a physical wall. I am searching for one now. I really appreciate all of your input and explanations, thank you. So far, my favourite one is Tangrowth, Tangela's evolution. It meets your criteria of not being weak to fighting or rock although it does not resist either. I am a fan of Kingler aswel, but am wary of having two water types. Weezing is a definate option.

Sorry for the slow replies as I am watching a basketball game. I will edit my first post when I choose my next Pokemon, thanks for the tip.

 

[nomargu46]

other nice walls from the physical end include Skarmory, Dusknoir, Slowbro and Suicune. Battle experience is really what separates the competitive players from the others, but i like your style and would encourage you to stick with it. in competitive gameplay, powerful herb is not an excellent hold item because of its single use.

on porygon-z, i would recommend either a modest nature with Agility or a Timid nature with Scheme. A Timid Agility-user gets great speed but would like to see a few of those speed points somewhere else (i.e. special attack)

keep up the effort; try battling wi-fi on Diamond/Pearl to get a bit of battle experience, and i like the good attitude you've been displaying in your posts.