This is one of my first real competitive teams, which is altogether going quite well, but I'm having trouble with a few things. Any suggestions on improvements would be appreciated, however I'd rather not use any legendaries, or moves that I can't get in pokemon X/Y, since I'd like to transfer this team there.
Here is the team:
Edit:Move changes, thank you for contribution
Here is the team:
Infernape @ focus sash
Ability: Blaze
Ev's : 252 atk, 252 speed, 4 Spa
Naive nature
- Fake out
- Overheat
- Close combat
- U turn
I chose infernape as an anti lead for this team due the amount of common leads infernape can counter. Overheat is there to kill both steel and bug type leads such as ferrothorn, fortress and galvantula, fake out can break sashes used on pokes such as galvantula and smeargle, close combat is a powerful stab move which is very helpful against normal tanks like blissey. U turn is for switch initiative if I predict a switch first turn. I gave infernape focus sash for the leads which can out speed infernape, such as deoxys s, but usually the sash ends up being useful somewhere in the mid game to revenge kill a sweeper. Nape is one of the teams MVP's due to the amount of use I get out of him each game, even after the sash proc, he does work with the fake out against pokes who damage them self all lot like talonflame or life orb users.
Rotom-wash @ Chesto berry
Ability: Levitate
Ev's : 252hp, 56 def, 200 SpD
Bold nature
- Rest
- Hydro pump
- Volt switch
- Will-o-wisp
I chose rotom due to the levitate, the good typing, and for the sake of how annoying washtom can be to the opponent. The EV spread is designed to be as tanky as possible, and rounds off the defensive stats nicely, giving 290 defense and 300 special defense. I use slightly less defense investment due to having Will-o-wisp. The move set is simply designed to be as annoying as possible, using confuse ray and Will-o-wisp to cripple any pokemon, whilst hydro pump always packs a good punch. Volt switch is there for switch initiative, and flying/ water types. I can usually switch rotom into virtually any move other than the hardest hitting, and still live with enough HP to respond with a confuse ray or Will-o-wisp, and volt switch is always there when I need to get out quickly.
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate / Huge power
EV's: 252 HP, 252 atk, 4 SPD
Adamant nature
- Fire fang
- Play rough
- Sucker punch
- Swords dance
I chose mawile mainly for the great typing, and intimidate, however it also serves as an amazing physical threat. The spread makes mawile tanky due to its large sum of resistances, and intimidate means I can switch in on a good number of physical threats and set up swords dance for free. The set is standard, and used to take full advantage of mawile's awesome offensive capabilities. Iron head serves as a stab to KO all of the defensive fairies such as sylveon. Play rough is another powerful stab which hits a good deal of pokemon, and is to be used anytime you outspeed, or predict something that will stop you sucker punching. Sucker punch is there so mawile can essentially sweep, due to the priority it gives, and the massive damage mawile is capable of outputting.
Trevenant @ Sitrus berry
Ability: Harvest
EV's: 252 HP, 152 def, 104 SPD
Adamant nature
- Horn leech
- Leech seed
- Shadow claw
- Will-o-wisp
I chose trevenant mainly because of its typing. I wanted both a grass type to negate the fairly common powder based sleep inducing moves, and to counter rotom/ vaporeon etc, and a ghost type to sponge normal ands fight moves. Trevenant fits very well with the team, providing good type synergy, and another Will-o-wisp, as I usually like to carry 2. The set I am using is to optimise both tankiness and the damage dealt by horn leech. The EV spread gives me 226 in both defendes, whilst the movepool combined with the harvest sitrus berry makes trevenant heal stupid amounts each turn, to the extent that only super effective hits such as ice beam from greninja or knock off from conkeldurr can KO me. The adamant nature is to boost the offensive capability, giving trevenant 281 attack, which will make horn leech hit fairly well. Shadow claw is there for a stab move, however I used it to replace subsitiute after not liking it much, better suggestions are welcome.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural cure
EV's: 248 HP, 32 def, 4 spa, 224 speed
Timid nature
- Psyshock (Could replace with ice beam, can't decide)
- Recover
- Ice beam
- Scald
I needed a spinner/ defogger for the team, and chose starmie due to the synergy starmie has with trevenant. The two typings complement each other well, I can easily switch them around in battle due to their combined resistances and good recovery, and also natural cure means that starmie can sponge all of the statuses trevenant cant, and further justifies giving trevenant sitrus berry instead of lum berry. I wanted a tanky set for starmie due to the aforementioned reasons, and because of its job as a spinner. This set I stumbled across on the smogon forums was just right. The spread optimises tankiness, with 32 def enabling it to survive power whip from ferrothorn, whilst the speed investment still allows starmie to outspeed many threats. I gave starmie life orb so it can still deal a heavy amount of damage even with low spa investment. Scald is a stab with a decent amount of damage and a 30% chance to burn which can be taken advantage of with the tanky spread. Psyshock is there to hit sp def tanks on the physical side, and is a stab for dangerous fighting types like conkeldurr. I could replace this move with ice beam to hit garchomp, however both are fine. Recover is to help starmie stick around after taking hits and life orb damage. Overall starmie and trevenant have served well in many situations.
Excadrill @ Air baloon
Ability: Mold breaker
EV's: 252 atk, 252 speed, 4hp
Adamant nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid spin
- Rock slide
- Poison jab/swords dance
I originally used this poke to counter rotom-w on an old team, and it has been with me ever since. Scarf excadrill does lots of things for me, it serves as a late game sweeper, with the powerful stab earthquake once all the flyers are gone, I've won with the drill 1v3 many times in the end game. It can take out unsuspecting charizards and talonflames with rock slide, and can even switch into them if I predict right. Metal claw is for faries, and x-scissor for grass types. Mold breaker let's me KO plenty of pokemon though sturdy, and let's me KO gengar and rotom after I outspeed with scarf. The drill is sort of like the glue in this team which can always get me out of sticky situatons, with the ground typing being a further help to dodge electric attacks. Drill comes in useful almost every game, and I probably wouldn't make a team without it.
So there is the team, and thanks for reading! Any constructive criticism is welcome, and I'm open to advice / changes, but please try to stick to what it says at the top.Ability: Blaze
Ev's : 252 atk, 252 speed, 4 Spa
Naive nature
- Fake out
- Overheat
- Close combat
- U turn
I chose infernape as an anti lead for this team due the amount of common leads infernape can counter. Overheat is there to kill both steel and bug type leads such as ferrothorn, fortress and galvantula, fake out can break sashes used on pokes such as galvantula and smeargle, close combat is a powerful stab move which is very helpful against normal tanks like blissey. U turn is for switch initiative if I predict a switch first turn. I gave infernape focus sash for the leads which can out speed infernape, such as deoxys s, but usually the sash ends up being useful somewhere in the mid game to revenge kill a sweeper. Nape is one of the teams MVP's due to the amount of use I get out of him each game, even after the sash proc, he does work with the fake out against pokes who damage them self all lot like talonflame or life orb users.
Rotom-wash @ Chesto berry
Ability: Levitate
Ev's : 252hp, 56 def, 200 SpD
Bold nature
- Rest
- Hydro pump
- Volt switch
- Will-o-wisp
I chose rotom due to the levitate, the good typing, and for the sake of how annoying washtom can be to the opponent. The EV spread is designed to be as tanky as possible, and rounds off the defensive stats nicely, giving 290 defense and 300 special defense. I use slightly less defense investment due to having Will-o-wisp. The move set is simply designed to be as annoying as possible, using confuse ray and Will-o-wisp to cripple any pokemon, whilst hydro pump always packs a good punch. Volt switch is there for switch initiative, and flying/ water types. I can usually switch rotom into virtually any move other than the hardest hitting, and still live with enough HP to respond with a confuse ray or Will-o-wisp, and volt switch is always there when I need to get out quickly.
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate / Huge power
EV's: 252 HP, 252 atk, 4 SPD
Adamant nature
- Fire fang
- Play rough
- Sucker punch
- Swords dance
I chose mawile mainly for the great typing, and intimidate, however it also serves as an amazing physical threat. The spread makes mawile tanky due to its large sum of resistances, and intimidate means I can switch in on a good number of physical threats and set up swords dance for free. The set is standard, and used to take full advantage of mawile's awesome offensive capabilities. Iron head serves as a stab to KO all of the defensive fairies such as sylveon. Play rough is another powerful stab which hits a good deal of pokemon, and is to be used anytime you outspeed, or predict something that will stop you sucker punching. Sucker punch is there so mawile can essentially sweep, due to the priority it gives, and the massive damage mawile is capable of outputting.
Trevenant @ Sitrus berry
Ability: Harvest
EV's: 252 HP, 152 def, 104 SPD
Adamant nature
- Horn leech
- Leech seed
- Shadow claw
- Will-o-wisp
I chose trevenant mainly because of its typing. I wanted both a grass type to negate the fairly common powder based sleep inducing moves, and to counter rotom/ vaporeon etc, and a ghost type to sponge normal ands fight moves. Trevenant fits very well with the team, providing good type synergy, and another Will-o-wisp, as I usually like to carry 2. The set I am using is to optimise both tankiness and the damage dealt by horn leech. The EV spread gives me 226 in both defendes, whilst the movepool combined with the harvest sitrus berry makes trevenant heal stupid amounts each turn, to the extent that only super effective hits such as ice beam from greninja or knock off from conkeldurr can KO me. The adamant nature is to boost the offensive capability, giving trevenant 281 attack, which will make horn leech hit fairly well. Shadow claw is there for a stab move, however I used it to replace subsitiute after not liking it much, better suggestions are welcome.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural cure
EV's: 248 HP, 32 def, 4 spa, 224 speed
Timid nature
- Psyshock (Could replace with ice beam, can't decide)
- Recover
- Ice beam
- Scald
I needed a spinner/ defogger for the team, and chose starmie due to the synergy starmie has with trevenant. The two typings complement each other well, I can easily switch them around in battle due to their combined resistances and good recovery, and also natural cure means that starmie can sponge all of the statuses trevenant cant, and further justifies giving trevenant sitrus berry instead of lum berry. I wanted a tanky set for starmie due to the aforementioned reasons, and because of its job as a spinner. This set I stumbled across on the smogon forums was just right. The spread optimises tankiness, with 32 def enabling it to survive power whip from ferrothorn, whilst the speed investment still allows starmie to outspeed many threats. I gave starmie life orb so it can still deal a heavy amount of damage even with low spa investment. Scald is a stab with a decent amount of damage and a 30% chance to burn which can be taken advantage of with the tanky spread. Psyshock is there to hit sp def tanks on the physical side, and is a stab for dangerous fighting types like conkeldurr. I could replace this move with ice beam to hit garchomp, however both are fine. Recover is to help starmie stick around after taking hits and life orb damage. Overall starmie and trevenant have served well in many situations.
Excadrill @ Air baloon
Ability: Mold breaker
EV's: 252 atk, 252 speed, 4hp
Adamant nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid spin
- Rock slide
- Poison jab/swords dance
I originally used this poke to counter rotom-w on an old team, and it has been with me ever since. Scarf excadrill does lots of things for me, it serves as a late game sweeper, with the powerful stab earthquake once all the flyers are gone, I've won with the drill 1v3 many times in the end game. It can take out unsuspecting charizards and talonflames with rock slide, and can even switch into them if I predict right. Metal claw is for faries, and x-scissor for grass types. Mold breaker let's me KO plenty of pokemon though sturdy, and let's me KO gengar and rotom after I outspeed with scarf. The drill is sort of like the glue in this team which can always get me out of sticky situatons, with the ground typing being a further help to dodge electric attacks. Drill comes in useful almost every game, and I probably wouldn't make a team without it.
Edit:Move changes, thank you for contribution
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