Hey PTJon7; I've been lurking on this thread for a few days now. I want to suggest a big format change for this, which you can reject or accept to your heart's desire:
Is it possible that rather dividing by
playstyle, we divide by a pokemon's
Role?
ie Sweepers/Setupers/Tanks/Walls/RapidSpinners/SpinBlockers (there's a shitton, but I believe it's worth it)
I know it kinda changes the thread, but it's what I know I do when teambuilding: Rather than definitively picking a play style, I just need a 'mon that fits a certain spot on my team.
Plus, it helps out with the problem of Balanced just kinda sitting there, being a repeat of Stall and Offense. I think that Balanced shouldn't really be much of a category; you take some offense and some defense. It's a playstyle, but the problem is you're just reiterating the other sections. With my suggestion, we won't divide by playstyle.
I also think it would be more helpful to the general public of UU players that rather than just picking a playstyle, they can look for and pick that wall they need to sponge Zapdos or the perfect sweeper to outspeed and KO Raikou.
EDIT: Also for my idea, we could post sets.. hm?
You could also have the "Good On:" snippet by every pokemon. Like, with Snorlax, it would be "Good On: bulky offense teams; is a nice special sponge for more defensive teams." or something like that.
But yeah, that's just the Klinks turning in my cranium.
Anyway,
I would also like to propose Zapdos for Balanced, in the Special Walls category. (even though I kinda just suggested taking it out lol) I've been using SpDef Zapdos on my team for a while now, and it's fucking amazing. It's perfect against shaymin (who gets walled hard, unless it uses psychic, which is lolzy) and when my snorlax is low on health, I can switch in Zapdos on nearly any special move (Nidoking/queen Ice Beams still hurt) and he (it?) can Roost, Sub to avoid status, and use its uninvested yet supahstrong Spatk to blow things up. if need be, you can forgo sub for coverage, or for Roar even if you really need a phazer. I'll just post the smogon sp Def Zapdos set.
GTFO (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 236 SDef / 24 Spd
Calm Nature
- Roost
- HeatWave / Toxic / Substitute (I use sub, but apparently smogon doesn't :/)
- Thunderbolt / Discharge (power v. Para)
- Hidden Power [Grass] / Roar / Hidden Power [Ice] (KOing swamper and rhyperior/ Phazing/ Good Coverage and killing Gligar and Flygon)
- It Hits fairly hard, even when uninvested
- It has reliable recovery, something a lot of walls wish they had
- It's no Mew, but pretty versatile
- Only really fears Rock and Ice attacks, or crazily too strongth physical attackers
Also, Zapdos appears to be a great physical wall, although I have no experience with it.