Team Building
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb (The Shield for the Sword)
Special thanks goes to HypoLast for this. My two biggest issues all solved in one sexy package: The lack of any sort of wall and Aegislash. With his beefy defense and average typing as well as his psuedo-Leftovers, "immunity" to status conditions, access to a recovery move, and Protect stalling, you can't go wrong. Combine all that together and throw it at Aegislash and you've got yourself an amazing wall for the team. Earthquake fills in a much needed coverage slot and deals with a few common weaknesses to the team (mainly Fire) as well as Super Effecting many common meta threats (such as Tyranitar and Mega Mawile).
Goodra @ Choice Specs (Goopy Wall of Goo)
Scolipede @ Focus Sash (Focus Pass)
Cloyster @ White Herb (Slam Clam)
Cloyster runs the standard Shell Smash Skill Link set. I was running Rapid Spin over Razor Shell, and while arena hazards DO ruin Scolipede's day and generally beat up my team, the additional coverage to keep him from getting walled once he starts rolling helps a lot. Not much to say on him, really. He cleans up just as easily as Azumarill does after a successful Shell Smash (or Baton Pass from Scolipede and someone else you'll see later) and even puts in great work even if he's not Smashed yet.
Gengar @ Choice Scarf (Secret Scarfer)
When most people see Gengar, they usually expect you to be using Mega Gengar. This allows me to use Mega Blaziken (seeing as Mega Gengar is a very popular choice) while making it a guessing game for them, seeing as LO Blaziken is a popular choice as well. Dazzling Gleam is there to deal with the plague to Gengar's well being, the Dark type, while also dealing with Dragons and the less threatening Fighting types. Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb are the obvious STABs. Finally, Thunderbolt is in there to deal with common types disadvantages to the rest of my team as opposed to Energy Ball and it has more accuracy than Focus Miss, reliability being something that this fragile creature desperately needs (and Dazzling Gleam deals with Dark types anyway). This rounds me out to 0 resistances and a plethora of Super Effectives, making him my prime revenge killer. Especially against Mega Gengar. Mega Gengar can pose a staggering threat to my team if Aegislash has fallen, and a Scarfed Gengar can be a huge surprise and ensure a guaranteed kill against an unprepared opponent, thinking that there is no way their speed master can be outsped by his weaker version. In fact, my Scarf Gengar has a perfect X-0 streak against Mega Gengars.
Blaziken @ Blazikenite (The Ender of Worlds)
My undisputed favorite starter since his debut in Ruby and Sapphire, Blaziken once again blazes a trail through the meta and directly into Ubertalk territory. Seeing one of my favorite Pokemon of all time get a Mega Evolution while noone else I liked more got one practically ensured him a spot in my team. And he anything but hold them back. Enough of the fluff, let's get into the moves. Blitz and High Jump are the obvious STAB moves for his moveset, while Swords Dance fills in the obvious set-up slot since I'm not going for the coverage route. Instead that Swords Dance not only helps him tear through other teams, but also opens up access to a second Baton Pass user. After a few Speed Boosts (and maybe a Swords Dance, even), when I know that Blaziken is about to eat it, instead of wasting all those delicious stat boosts I've been working on a standard switch, I can Baton Pass any of them to any of the other members of my party. 1 SD and 2 turns of Speed Boosting can basically Shell Smash Cloyster while any number of Speed Boosts can easily help Aegislash turn from a constantly switching out Pivot to a down right mixed type coverage sweeper up there with Gengar. Anything more than that before the Pass is simply icing on the cake.
In Closing: This is my first attempt at a competitive team, and I'm by far no stranger to other competitive rings so I know there are a lot of holes in it that need fixing. Namely the lack of walls (we'll see how Gliscor does), mostly coming from my lack of knowledge about not only the standard meta but also simply not knowing any of the good choices out there. Though I have been getting more wins than losses and even more blow-outs than close calls, so I know I'm on the right path. Major problems I've discovered have been Mega Mawile, Mega Kangaskhan, Talonflame, and Greninja.
I'd like to keep Blaziken and Gengar (though mostly the latter because he's the only Poke I've gotten the chance to perfect breed yet). Cloyster would be awesome to be able to keep, but they can go if needed. I can always find a place for them in my Doubles, WiFi Rotation, or a mono team if they are too much of a dead weight for this team.
Thank you for reading this and I'm open for suggestions. Please feel free to critique as hardly as you want, but remember to keep in mind that I'm new to this and team building is far from my strong point, so expect to see some novice mistakes in both the team and the Pokemon themselves.
Special Thanks: UltiMario for the Aegislash set up, welsknight for the indirect Scolipede inspiration, HynoLast for the Gliscor suggestion, and Kibblecat for the Goodra suggestion.
Credit: Xous54 for the Scolipede image and tomycase for the Mega Blaziken image.
I'm not going to lie. Being a casual player at heart, I decided to base my team on my favorites and work from there. After some testing on cartridge with all of my favorites, and reading around on the forums, three of my all time favorites really stood out.
It was torn between Mega Gengar and Mega Blaziken for the Mega Slot, but seeing as Scarf Gengar has some nice surprise factors with outspeeding Mega Gengar and not losing Levitate, I picked him over the more fragile version of Mega Blaziken, Life Orb Blaziken.
While trying to come up with some members for the team, I stumbled upon Belly Drum Azumarill and decided to work with him as well, seeing how devastating he can become with a successful Drum. It was at this point that I heard wind of UltiMario's Pivot Aegislash and switched to that from the standard King's Shield version.
While trying desperately to come up with a way to pull off a safe Belly Drum, I was reminded of the glory days of the good ole' Cleric Umbreon. Having lost set-up with Aegislash, I decided to replace that (but not Aegislash himself) with another personal favorite set-up sweeper of mine: the almighty Slam Clam, Cloyster.
This team quickly shot me up the ladder and netted me tons more wins than loses, but that wasn't enough for me. The team was way too fragile. While bulky against non-SE moves, especially Special attacks, Umbreon was getting slammed way too much by the oh so common Fighting coverage as well as not being able to pull his weight at all whenever his set-up potential was blocked. It was at this point that I had run out of ideas and turned to this thread for help. While waiting for a response, I stumbled upon welsknight's team. It was a set-up Sweep team just like mine, but instead of Umbreon SubPassing to allow for set-ups, he had a much better idea in mind. One I liked OH so much better. It was at that point that I added Scolipede. It seemed Umbreon's glory days were a thing of the past, sadly, and I was just a little too late. His replacement was more than glad to fill in the gap, and oh boy did he pull his weight, being a crucial player in every victory since then.
While a huge game sealer under the Sub, without his brother, Umbreon, Azumarill quickly lost his ace in the hole, becoming extremely fragile and dying when trying to Drum way more than he killed because of it. And his bulk and speed made it difficult for him to stand up to the OU threats that the rest of my team couldn't already handle even with STAB SEs. Sadly Azumarill had to go as well. He will be dearly missed, though. In his steed, on HynoLast's suggestion, he was replaced with Gliscor. Helping in filling in the HUGE glaring weakness of having no wall as well as taking out the gamesealing +2 Aegislash.
While Aegislash was serving his role as a defensive pivot quite nicely, he could never truely force a Pokemon out. Instead he made himself vulnerable after taking them out, allowing them to switch in another threat and either take out Aegislash again, or get a boost off while I'm forced to either King's Shield or switch out of fear. That's where Goodra came in. On Kibblecat's suggestion, I added her in to allow some more meaty staying power, as well as proving a more terrifying moveset to make many of the team's threats that Gliscor can't force out stay in their Pokeballs out of fear. As for now, testing will continue and we'll see how things go!~
It was torn between Mega Gengar and Mega Blaziken for the Mega Slot, but seeing as Scarf Gengar has some nice surprise factors with outspeeding Mega Gengar and not losing Levitate, I picked him over the more fragile version of Mega Blaziken, Life Orb Blaziken.
While trying to come up with some members for the team, I stumbled upon Belly Drum Azumarill and decided to work with him as well, seeing how devastating he can become with a successful Drum. It was at this point that I heard wind of UltiMario's Pivot Aegislash and switched to that from the standard King's Shield version.
While trying desperately to come up with a way to pull off a safe Belly Drum, I was reminded of the glory days of the good ole' Cleric Umbreon. Having lost set-up with Aegislash, I decided to replace that (but not Aegislash himself) with another personal favorite set-up sweeper of mine: the almighty Slam Clam, Cloyster.
This team quickly shot me up the ladder and netted me tons more wins than loses, but that wasn't enough for me. The team was way too fragile. While bulky against non-SE moves, especially Special attacks, Umbreon was getting slammed way too much by the oh so common Fighting coverage as well as not being able to pull his weight at all whenever his set-up potential was blocked. It was at this point that I had run out of ideas and turned to this thread for help. While waiting for a response, I stumbled upon welsknight's team. It was a set-up Sweep team just like mine, but instead of Umbreon SubPassing to allow for set-ups, he had a much better idea in mind. One I liked OH so much better. It was at that point that I added Scolipede. It seemed Umbreon's glory days were a thing of the past, sadly, and I was just a little too late. His replacement was more than glad to fill in the gap, and oh boy did he pull his weight, being a crucial player in every victory since then.
While a huge game sealer under the Sub, without his brother, Umbreon, Azumarill quickly lost his ace in the hole, becoming extremely fragile and dying when trying to Drum way more than he killed because of it. And his bulk and speed made it difficult for him to stand up to the OU threats that the rest of my team couldn't already handle even with STAB SEs. Sadly Azumarill had to go as well. He will be dearly missed, though. In his steed, on HynoLast's suggestion, he was replaced with Gliscor. Helping in filling in the HUGE glaring weakness of having no wall as well as taking out the gamesealing +2 Aegislash.
While Aegislash was serving his role as a defensive pivot quite nicely, he could never truely force a Pokemon out. Instead he made himself vulnerable after taking them out, allowing them to switch in another threat and either take out Aegislash again, or get a boost off while I'm forced to either King's Shield or switch out of fear. That's where Goodra came in. On Kibblecat's suggestion, I added her in to allow some more meaty staying power, as well as proving a more terrifying moveset to make many of the team's threats that Gliscor can't force out stay in their Pokeballs out of fear. As for now, testing will continue and we'll see how things go!~
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb (The Shield for the Sword)
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 248 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Protect
- Toxic
- Substitute
- Earthquake
EVs: 244 HP / 248 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Protect
- Toxic
- Substitute
- Earthquake
Special thanks goes to HypoLast for this. My two biggest issues all solved in one sexy package: The lack of any sort of wall and Aegislash. With his beefy defense and average typing as well as his psuedo-Leftovers, "immunity" to status conditions, access to a recovery move, and Protect stalling, you can't go wrong. Combine all that together and throw it at Aegislash and you've got yourself an amazing wall for the team. Earthquake fills in a much needed coverage slot and deals with a few common weaknesses to the team (mainly Fire) as well as Super Effecting many common meta threats (such as Tyranitar and Mega Mawile).
Goodra @ Choice Specs (Goopy Wall of Goo)
Ability: Gooey
EVs: 232 HP / 252 SpA / 24 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Sludge Wave
- Fire Blast
- Draco Meteor
Special thanks goes to Kibblecat for the Goodra. While Gliscor deals with walling off the pesky physical attackers, Goodra serves to protect him and the rest from the special attackers. Though instead of using the Assault Vest set for perfect special walling, she's running the Choice Specs, allowing her role as the defensive pivot to be filled out more effectively, forcing out attackers by dishing out a startling amount of damage (damage they didn't expect seeing as they'd expect the currently oh-so-common Assault Vest set). Either way, Goodra can switch in safely against a Pokemon that'd otherwise threaten the rest of my team and return the favor with a massive hit from her triple digit attacks combined with the maxed SpA EVs and the power granted by the Choice Specs. This also allows her to deal with more meaty threats that Gengar is too squishy to handle when speed isn't an issue.EVs: 232 HP / 252 SpA / 24 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Sludge Wave
- Fire Blast
- Draco Meteor
Scolipede @ Focus Sash (Focus Pass)
Ability: Speed Boost
Nature: Impish
- Protect
- Swords Dance
- Baton Pass
- Megahorn
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
This beauty is the wheel thatt helps get the team rolling. After some Speed Boosts (assisted by the Protect) and a Swords Dance or two, you can pass that delicious boost over to either Aegislash, Cloyster, or Blaziken and start ruining things. Focus Sash helps you set up without fear as long as they don't have Sand/Hail or a priority attack. Finally Megahorn rounds out the moveset so that Taunt doesn't decimate him as well as allowing him to cover for the Dark and Psychic weakness this team has.Nature: Impish
- Protect
- Swords Dance
- Baton Pass
- Megahorn
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Cloyster @ White Herb (Slam Clam)
Ability: Skill Link
Nature: Adamant
- Shell Smash
- Razor Shell
- Rock Blast
- Icicle Spear
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Shell Smash
- Razor Shell
- Rock Blast
- Icicle Spear
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Cloyster runs the standard Shell Smash Skill Link set. I was running Rapid Spin over Razor Shell, and while arena hazards DO ruin Scolipede's day and generally beat up my team, the additional coverage to keep him from getting walled once he starts rolling helps a lot. Not much to say on him, really. He cleans up just as easily as Azumarill does after a successful Shell Smash (or Baton Pass from Scolipede and someone else you'll see later) and even puts in great work even if he's not Smashed yet.
Gengar @ Choice Scarf (Secret Scarfer)
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
When most people see Gengar, they usually expect you to be using Mega Gengar. This allows me to use Mega Blaziken (seeing as Mega Gengar is a very popular choice) while making it a guessing game for them, seeing as LO Blaziken is a popular choice as well. Dazzling Gleam is there to deal with the plague to Gengar's well being, the Dark type, while also dealing with Dragons and the less threatening Fighting types. Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb are the obvious STABs. Finally, Thunderbolt is in there to deal with common types disadvantages to the rest of my team as opposed to Energy Ball and it has more accuracy than Focus Miss, reliability being something that this fragile creature desperately needs (and Dazzling Gleam deals with Dark types anyway). This rounds me out to 0 resistances and a plethora of Super Effectives, making him my prime revenge killer. Especially against Mega Gengar. Mega Gengar can pose a staggering threat to my team if Aegislash has fallen, and a Scarfed Gengar can be a huge surprise and ensure a guaranteed kill against an unprepared opponent, thinking that there is no way their speed master can be outsped by his weaker version. In fact, my Scarf Gengar has a perfect X-0 streak against Mega Gengars.
Blaziken @ Blazikenite (The Ender of Worlds)
Ability: Speed Boost
Nature: Adamant
- Swords Dance
- Baton Pass
- Flare Blitz
- High Jump Kick
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Swords Dance
- Baton Pass
- Flare Blitz
- High Jump Kick
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
My undisputed favorite starter since his debut in Ruby and Sapphire, Blaziken once again blazes a trail through the meta and directly into Ubertalk territory. Seeing one of my favorite Pokemon of all time get a Mega Evolution while noone else I liked more got one practically ensured him a spot in my team. And he anything but hold them back. Enough of the fluff, let's get into the moves. Blitz and High Jump are the obvious STAB moves for his moveset, while Swords Dance fills in the obvious set-up slot since I'm not going for the coverage route. Instead that Swords Dance not only helps him tear through other teams, but also opens up access to a second Baton Pass user. After a few Speed Boosts (and maybe a Swords Dance, even), when I know that Blaziken is about to eat it, instead of wasting all those delicious stat boosts I've been working on a standard switch, I can Baton Pass any of them to any of the other members of my party. 1 SD and 2 turns of Speed Boosting can basically Shell Smash Cloyster while any number of Speed Boosts can easily help Aegislash turn from a constantly switching out Pivot to a down right mixed type coverage sweeper up there with Gengar. Anything more than that before the Pass is simply icing on the cake.
In Closing: This is my first attempt at a competitive team, and I'm by far no stranger to other competitive rings so I know there are a lot of holes in it that need fixing. Namely the lack of walls (we'll see how Gliscor does), mostly coming from my lack of knowledge about not only the standard meta but also simply not knowing any of the good choices out there. Though I have been getting more wins than losses and even more blow-outs than close calls, so I know I'm on the right path. Major problems I've discovered have been Mega Mawile, Mega Kangaskhan, Talonflame, and Greninja.
I'd like to keep Blaziken and Gengar (though mostly the latter because he's the only Poke I've gotten the chance to perfect breed yet). Cloyster would be awesome to be able to keep, but they can go if needed. I can always find a place for them in my Doubles, WiFi Rotation, or a mono team if they are too much of a dead weight for this team.
Thank you for reading this and I'm open for suggestions. Please feel free to critique as hardly as you want, but remember to keep in mind that I'm new to this and team building is far from my strong point, so expect to see some novice mistakes in both the team and the Pokemon themselves.
Special Thanks: UltiMario for the Aegislash set up, welsknight for the indirect Scolipede inspiration, HynoLast for the Gliscor suggestion, and Kibblecat for the Goodra suggestion.
Credit: Xous54 for the Scolipede image and tomycase for the Mega Blaziken image.
Last edited:
