Battle Spot Mostly uncommun pokemons

[Imboto]

Hi everyone! In that team, don't expect to see the all of the major threats. I like using some different pokemons once in a while and the challenge coming with them. This team will be used in battle spot and in 6v6. I tested that team these last days, tweaked something there and there, but I'd like your help to use them at their best.

Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Aurora Veil
- Moonblast
- Encore

That Ninetales is pretty straightforward and it's my lead most of the time. Its role is to protect the whole team via aurora veil. The light clay makes sure the dual screen stays up as long as possible. Timid and max speed EVs are important to setup aurora veil before opponents attack. Freeze-dry is to hit water types, notably peliper. Encore is good the lock opponent lead on stealth rock, sticky web, etc., or any pokemon on setup moves. However, that pokemon has low defense. Would it be a good idea to reduce its EVs in SpA to give it more Def? It already has some natural special defense bulk, so that would make it more resistant. Should I do it? If so, it would become an easy setup opportunity for the opponent.

Audino @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Impish Nature
- Wish
- Heal Bell
- Protect
- Return

That Audino is a cleric and staller. Its EVs spread, nature, leftovers and ability (regenerator) make it as resistant as possible. I gave it equally high defense and special defense. Under aurora veil, that makes me unafraid of switching it into mostly any moves. Wish is to heal my other pokemon. Thanks to its max HP, wish heals roughly 60-75% of my other pokemons. Heal bell cures my team. Wish + protect + leftover allow it to stall if needed (poisoned/burnt pokemon, hail damage), reducing threats' HP to allow my other pokemon to sweep them.

Noivern @ Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Roost
- Taunt

That one is simple too. Max SpA EVs and Speed + timid to hit things quickly and as hard as possible. Dragon pulse for STAB. Flamethrower to deal with grass types, Scizor, Forretress, and Kartana. Under auroar veil, Noiver can take a hit and OHKO them on the next turn. I don't have that much experience with Buzzwole and Pheromosa, but I think Noivern could survive a fighting/bug attack and then OHKO them, unless Buzzwole goes for stone edge/ice punch. To deal with Celesteela, it needs a wish (Turn 1: Audino uses wish. Turn 2: Switch Noivern, get hit and HP goes below half, wish heals at around 90% HP. Turn 3: Noivern goes first and decreases Celesteela HP below half, Celesteela does the same to Noivern. Turn 4: Noiverns goes first and finishes Celesteela). That's if Celesteela doesn't have leech seed; that makes it more complicated. Then, roost for recovery. Taunt to prevent setup, status, etc.

Leafeon @ Life Orb / choice band
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Swords Dance (if life orb) / x-scissor (if choice band)
- Quick Attack
- Return

I like grass types, especially Leafeon. I know there are better grass tanks, but that doesn't make Leafeon useless. I tried 2 sets and I can't decide which one is best. I used the same EVs and nature, allowing it to hit hard and fast. Aurora veil support and wish if needed. Swith it into physical atacker thanks to its good physical bulk. Then, leaf blade fo STAB, quick attack for priority and return for things resisting leaf blade it can outspeed. The last move depends on the item used. The first set uses a life orb and sword dance to boost its power even more. Here, the issue is the life orb recoil and hail damage, they both wear down Leafeon's HP quickly. The second set uses a choice band and x-scissor for slightly more coverage. From what I experienced, the choice band set seemed better. Any ideas to make that pokemon better in my team?

Lucario-Mega @ Lucarionite / Lurario @ Choice band
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Cross Chop or high jump kick (if mega) / Close combat (if choice band)
- Swords Dance (if mega) / iron tail (if choice band)
- Bullet Punch
- Earthquake

I don't know if I should mega-evolve it or not. Let's talk about the mega evolution set first. I tried that team in the format "anything goes". Mega Lucario worked well there, but it suffered from the same issue as my life orb Leafeon: hail damage wearing it down. Sword dance for more sweeping power. Bullet punch for priority. Earthquake for coverage. For STAB, I used cross chop did the job, but high jump kick is more accurate. However, that later move reduces Mega Lucario by half if it misses. I didn't use close combat because I thought it was coutnerproductive to setup a sword dance and then decrease its defensis stats and let the opponent forces a switching out. What do you think about that?
Then, for the choice band set, I used a hit and run strategy. So, I didn't mind using close combat. Iron tail instead of sword dance for more powerfull steel attack. Bullet punch and earthquake for the same reasons.
Basically, Lucario will deal with poison (one of my major flaws), fairy, electric types and, if needed, rock types (another one of my major flaws).
Could it be a good idea to combine these 2 sets and make a hit and run Mega Lucario with close combat, iron tail, bullet punch and earthquake?


Finally, I don't know what last pokemon to use. I tried a few ones on Showdown!, but I wasn't satisfied by any of them. That pokemon would need to be a check to my obvious flaws: rock attacks and stealth rock (Ninetales, Noivern), poison attacks (Ninetales, Leafeon) and fire attacks (Ninetales, Leafeon, Lucario). I had some good results with a Tentacruel (max speed, lots of EVs in special attack, some defense ans special defense EVs) with rapid spin, scald, sludge bomb and toxic spikes. However, I had better results with a bulky Tapu Fini.

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Nature's Madness / Haze
- Moonblast
- Defog

Leftovers, nature and EVs spread are to make that pokemon as resistant as possible. That one might look like my bulky Audino, but their roles are different. Audino is meant to support the next pokemon I'll send. Tapu Fini is meant to be a damage sponge. Under aurora veil, even super effective hits don't do that much damage. With its natural good special attack, it can still do some damage to the opponents. Moonblast and scald are STAB. With misty terrain on, scald is still used because it can burn flying/levitate/etc. pokemons and switching other tapus. Defog is a must to remove stealth rock. For the last move, I think haze was more usefull than nature's madness as it removes stat setups on the opponent. That pokemon is usefull against rock and fire types, but that adds another pokemon weak to poison.

In conclusion​

I'd like to keep (Mega) Lucario, Leafeon, Noivern and Ninetales-Alola. I'd like to keep Audino too, but I'm really open to suggestions. Of course, I'll apreciate any suggestions to tweak them and make them better :) For the last one, I'm really thinking of using another one. I'm considering of using a ground pokemon (good against rock, poisin and fire). Any ideas? And thanks for your help guys :D

 

[Solerme]

Hi Imboto, i'll try to help you a little.
I'll start with Ninetales:

@ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe -> 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Aurora Veil
- Moonblast
- Encore

Screeners usually need bulk or a Focus Sash. You can either use an offensive spread like yours with a Focus Sash or go with that bulkier one and a Light Clay, imo.

->

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Rock Slide

I've seen some Audinos around in gen6, mostly its mega variant in stall teams. With Aurora Veil and a sweeper as your mega, i don't think this really fits your team.
With Lucario you could try out Landorus-T, mitigating itsfighting and ground-type weakness, while also covering Fini from Poison and Electric-type attacks.

Even Mamoswine could work here, still being able to take those Electric and Poison-type attacks, while mitigating even more Noivern's and Leafeon's Ice-type weakness.
Having a ground-type, in either Landorus or Mamoswine, would help your team vs Tapu Koko, that at first glance seems a little weak to it.

@ Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 44 HP / 164 Atk / 252 SpD / 48 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear
- Fissure

@ Lucarionite / Lurario @ Choice band
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Bullet Punch
- Earthquake
- Sword Dance

You should definitely use its mega variant, and not a normal Lucario!

@ Life Orb / Flyinium-Z
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse -> Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Roost / Hurricane
- Taunt / Hidden Power [Ground]

I like Noivern, it has some good synergy with your mega, but since its Special Attack is not that impressive you should go with Draco Meteor over Dragon Pulse imo. Life Orb works fine on it; you could also try out a Flyinium-Z putting Hurricane over Roost, dealing huge damage to everything that doesn't resist it (and decent damage to those that do). HP Ground is an option to hit Heatran, that would otherwise completely tank it.

If this doesn't work out, you could try Dragonite that should work pretty well with Mega Lucario.

Dragonite @ Lum Berry / Flyinium-Z / Electrium-Z / Choice Band
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed / Fly / Thunder Punch
- Earthquake



If you -REALLY- want to use Leafeon, i'm suggesting this set, that is taken from a very strong japanese team ( http://yukiyan-poke.hatenablog.com/entry/2016/09/15/120000 ) .

Leafeon @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Leaf Guard
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 156 Def / 4 SpD / 92 Spe
Impish Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Yawn
- Charm
- Synthesis

Since its type is not that good offensively speaking, i would rather use a set that can take the advantage of Leafeon's impressive physical bulk. This set could help your mega vs common Earthquake users such as Garchomp or Landorus that would otherwise threaten it.
I'm not 100% on the translation of the moves, anyway with the combination of Rocky Helmet, Synthesis and Charm can deal decently with physically offensive mons such as Mega Kangaskhan (you should still beware of its mixed variants with ice beam or fire blast) or those two written above.

@ Leftovers / Sitrus Berry / Icium-Z
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 SpD -> 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 Spe
Calm Nature -> Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald -> Hydro Pump / Surf
- Nature's Madness / Haze
- Moonblast
- Defog -> Taunt / Calm Mind / Haze

Because its ability Misty Surge, Scald won't be able to burn so going for Surf or Hydro Pump is definitely a better idea. Defog is a move that mostly no one uses in the battle spot single metagame, that is a faster metagame compared to the 6vs6 and has less entry hazards users in it, so imo you should use something else over it, like Taunt for example. I've added some speed on the spread to always be faster than Celesteela, being able to Taunt it. You can use Calm Mind or Haze instead, maximizing its Defense. Also, since you fully invested the evs on the physical side i'd rather go with a Bold nature and not with a Calm one.
Speaking about the item, lefties are fine here, but even Sitrus Berry or Icium-Z could be good on it too (Z-Haze completely recovers Fini's HP while also being handy to remove your opponents stats boosts).

 

[Fischgrat]

Just to add to Solerme's really good suggestions, i think that your team could benefit from this:

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers / Sitrus Berry / Tapunium Z
Ability: Misty Surge
252 HP / 92 Def / 164 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump / Brine
- Moonblast
- Nature's Madness
- Taunt

While Hydro Pump offers good damage output at any time, it has an accuracy that tends to fail you at crucial times and low PP for a Pokémon that wants to stay around and doesn't go for maximum damage output. Surf is still nice there, but i'd suggest using Brine alongside Nature's Madness or especially Guardian Of Alola, the Tapu-exclusive Z-move, since this way you can easily deal with bulky Pokémon more reliably or dent Tapu Fini's common switchins such as Steel types like Celesteela, Magnezone and Aegislash, in a way that you open up the opposing team for sweeps with Noivern or Mega Lucario. Substitute over Taunt with Leftovers / Sitrus Berry could help in some matchups since you annoy the opponent even more together with the switches Tapu Fini tends to force, but you would then have no real way to stop stall strategies so i think Taunt is better here. Don't worry too much about hazards in a fast-paced 3v3 metagame, they are rather rare so giving a whole attack slot for that is not worth it most of the time.

Brine vs Hydro Pump:
0 SpA Tapu Fini Brine (130 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Celesteela: 69-82 (33.8 - 40.1%)
0 SpA Tapu Fini Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Celesteela: 58-70 (28.4 - 34.3%)

Yes, Brine will have way less power against Pokémon with full HP, but an uninvested Hydro Pump wouldn't KO most targets anyways and when you already have a move that halves the opponent's HP, Brine can help you a lot better to pick off weakened Pokémon.


Your team in general seems to be weak to Mega Metagross in particular and with Mega Salamence to an extent too, since without sash Ninetales won't be able to setup Aurora Veil to allow your sweepers to take care of them without getting KO'd before doing anything. With that in mind i'd definitely recommend using the suggested scarf Landorus-T or:

Hippowdon @ Rocky Helmet / Sitrus Berry
Ability: Sand Stream / Unnerve
252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Yawn (/ Toxic)
- Toxic / Stone Edge / Rock Tomb

This set kinda contradicts using bulky Leafeon on the same team, but it does a bit better especially against Metagross while also helping against other Steel types and physical attackers like Mega Salamence or Mega Kangaskhan. Having another weather setter on your team could be a bit annoying at times, so if you don't like that, Unnerve is an option, although it only really helps against Alolan Muk and in a few rare situations i guess. Yawn is a great phazing move, pressuring your opponent while you have time to recover health, while Toxic helps you beat walls like Porygon2, though you could also use some Rock coverage move. Rock Tomb in particular can help you to beat faster threats more easily with your teammates.

252 Atk Tough Claws Mega Metagross Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 156+ Def Leafeon: 78-94 (45.3 - 54.6%) -- 55.9% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Tough Claws Mega Metagross Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 78-94 (36.2 - 43.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 Atk Hippowdon Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Metagross: 86-104 (55.4 - 67%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

If you go with this suggestion, you could probably keep a more offensive Leafeon set to use Aurora Veil for another setup sweeper, but in that case there would be a bunch of Pokémon that do that job better. You could also invest in more bulk on Leafeon i guess, 252 HP / 212+ Def or more makes Ice Punch only 16% to 2HKO (Max Defense investment still gives Metagross a little chance to 2HKO), but it still doesn't do too well against some common Attackers like Salamence, which Hippowdon has an easier time dealing with.

Other than that, Solerme has covered most of the things about this team.

 

[Imboto]

Thanks Solerme and Fischgrat! I really appreciate your help and your suggestions.

For my Ninetales, I don't know why I thought giving it EVs in Special defence instead of in HP to make it bulkier hahaha! Thanks for pointing that out.

Then, I'll swap my Audino. When I build that team, I wanted something good for battle spot and 6v6 with friends or people I could find on stuff like Discord. The more and more I think about it, that Audino doesn't fit a fast paced battle spot. And using it in 6v6 would make battles last forever hahaha! I mean, the animations and turns are faster on Showdown!, but that's another story in cartridge battles. So, I'll go with one of your suggested ground types. Which one would be better against both Mega-Salamance and Mega-Metagross? I feel Landorus-T would be good vs both, but Mamoswine would be better vs Mega-Salamence and Hippowdon would be better Mega-Metagross. Am I right? And based on my team, Mega-Lucario can deal, after setup, with Mega-Metagross. So, should I focus on Mega-Salamence and go with Mamoswine? I got to say yawn + slack off combo is very tempting on Hippowdon.

For Leafeon, I must say that Solerme provided a very intersting set from that japanese team. According to Fischgrat's feedback, I'll stick with a setup sweeper with Leafeon. The thing is the with hail going on, synthesis would only heal 1/4 of its HP. I do have a question for its ability though. Its both abilities are situational for sun weather, but I thought a speed boost from chlorophyl would be better than curing a status from leaf guard in a fast metagame. Was I right?

For Lucario, it's pretty clear, I'll use the mega variant.

For Noivern, there was a reason why I used dragon pulse with a life orb. I forgot to tell it. I don't think a draco meteor will OHKO many things, meaning that it will need to do a second attack. So, I thought doing 2 life orb boosted dragon pulse (85BP x 2 x 1.3 = 221BP) would not be that much weaker than doing 2 life orb boosted draco meteor ( [130 + 130/2] x 1.3 =253,5). Furthermore, in the case where my oppenent would switch pokemon for a steel type to resist the dragon attack, I could still attack with a non-reduced flamethrower. Was it a good thinking? Then, the Hurricane + Flyinium-Z is really tempting for the extra coverage. Should I combine the 2 sets for this:

Ability: Infiltrator
Item: Flyinium-Z
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk

Dragon pulse
Flamethrower
Hurricane
Hidden power ground


Finally, I think I prefer the calm mind set for Tapu Fini

 

[Fischgrat]

Hey,
I think Landorus-T is not really the ideal pick if you want to handle Metagross, and it would basically require you to bring Landorus and Lucario everytime you expect the opponent to bring Mega Metagross since Earthquake even from Adamant Landorus-T doesn't guarantee the KO (it's not the ideal pokemon to handle Salamence either imo since Rock slide just barely 2HKOs, and a miss or no flinch means it sets up on you). Lucario on its own can't handle Metagross too well either without setup, and even if +2 gets it this matchup just is too poor to rely on always getting the possibility to setup imo. While Mamoswine faints to any Metagross carrying Meteor Mash or Hammer Arm+Bullet Punch ( Sash Mamo doesn't KO, Life Orb is slower and thus faints too - and no one will switch Metagross into Mamoswine directly. Maximum defense Mamoswine does live both Meteor Mash or Hammer Arm, but you won't KO in return either), Hippowdon gets 3HKO'd at best while racking up Rocky Helmet chip damage and Slack Off and/or Yawn while Earthquake threatens the 2HKO. Hippowdon doesn't do too shabby against Salamence either since Yawn doesn't let it setup, and if you pick Rock Tomb to work against the speed boosts your Noivern can revenge, additionally Rocky Helmet plus Double Edge recoil wear down Salamence really fast. Salamence does have a good chance of KOing Hippowdon if it gets to +2 though, so keep that in mind - but it still does the best against these two top megas among the three Ground types, as well as not being dead weight in other situations either.

calcs

252+ Atk Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Metagross: 144-170 (92.9 - 109.6%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
-1 252 Atk Tough Claws Mega Metagross Ice Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Landorus-T: 180-212 (109 - 128.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 Atk Adaptability Mega Lucario High Jump Kick vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Metagross: 112-134 (72.2 - 86.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Mega Metagross Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Lucario: 138-164 (95.1 - 113.1%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

252 Atk Mamoswine Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Metagross: 120-144 (77.4 - 92.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Life Orb Mamoswine Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Metagross: 156-187 (100.6 - 120.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+2 252+ Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 204-240 (94.8 - 111.6%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Aerilate Mega Salamence Hyper Voice vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Hippowdon: 123-145 (57.2 - 67.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO - pretty rare to see a special Mence, and if you do they most likely won't carry Dragon Dance so Noivern is faster

tl;dr: Lando is iffy vs Metagross since no guaranteed KO, Mamo loses to Metagross too, Hippowdon deals with both reasonably.

If you want to really use Dragon Pulse Noivern, it needs Life Orb (or Choice Specs) to have chances to KO Salamence and Garchomp, which you really need to be able to revenge. In general it just has too low of a Special Attack stat to benefit from Dragon Pulse's consistency and attempt a sweep with that, and defensively it's arguably the poorest of all Dragon/Flying types so you don't want anything to live and damage you.
Non-Life Orb calcs:
252 SpA Noivern Dragon Pulse vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Salamence: 132-156 (77.1 - 91.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Noivern Dragon Pulse vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 138-164 (75 - 89.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

On Leafeon, the only Sun you'll get in singles is from opposing Mega Charizard Y which is obviously not a good matchup for it at all; overall either ability doesn't do too much for it, if you go with a sweeper set you probably should use Chrlorophyll though( and a defensive set gets more use out of Leaf Guard respectively), for the very small chance that you got off a SD beforehand:
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Leafeon Return vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Charizard Y: 165-195 (107.8 - 127.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
As well as outspeeding other threats afterwards; note that this situation will not be something you'll see often.
Edit: Due to the Item clause you can only have a Life Orb on either Noivern or Leafeon, which means if Noivern carries it already Leafeon won't KO Charizard Y even at +2, so this is even less relevant of a calc.

Calm mind Fini is a good choice. :)

 

[Imboto]

Thanks for clearing out my thoughts on the ground types. I might over-rated Landorus-T a little bit there. So, it looks like my best option would be Hippowdon.

For Noivern, I only wanted to add my reasoning on why I thought of using dragon pulse + life orb. It wasn't necessarily what I absolutely wanted to do. Maybe I wasn't clear enough, sorry. When I added informations, I wanted to make sure you guys didn't forget about that possibility, weither it'd be a good or a bad idea. For I didn't point it out in my first post, I wanted some feedback on that possibility because I couldn't decide on dragon pulse + life orb OR draco meteor. So, after your feedback, draco meteor definitely seems to be the best option.

Then Leafeon, I know I must not rely on sun because its both abilities are situational. However, if I use Leafeone vs a random sun team, I'll be able to get the most of it instead of saying "Damn, I should have gave it chlorophyll".

And yeah, calm mind Fini ftw :P

 

[cant say]

There's a fine line between using 'uncommon Pokemon' and 'unviable' Pokemon and unfortunately I think you're definitely on the side of unviable. Audino is useless, Leafeon is useless, and Noivern is terribly outclassed by other Dragons and/or Flying types. It's also super hard to give advice when you say you plan to use the team in both Battle Spot and 6v6, it's got to be one or the other as they're totally different formats.

I think you should focus on the Ninetales + Lucario core and add Dragonite like Solerme suggested, but then you kinda have to scrap the other three. Like I was saying above; there are plenty of cool underused mons that can be used before scraping the bottom of the barrel for stuff like Leafeon and Noivern. My suggestion for a replacement three would be Blaziken, Impish Gyarados, and Sassy Ferrothorn. They go together quite well, can be used with any of the other three in your team, and beat a lot of what threatens the Ninetales setup. However they aren't really what you'd consider "underused" so idk

 

[icepyro144]

My suggestion for a replacement three would be Blaziken, Impish Gyarados, and Sassy Ferrothorn. They go together quite well, can be used with any of the other three in your team, and beat a lot of what threatens the Ninetales setup. However they aren't really what you'd consider "underused" so idk

Asking more for myself, but maybe it'll help the OP too. What Blaziken set would you recommend? Baton Pass, Life Orb, other?

 

[cant say]

Asking more for myself, but maybe it'll help the OP too. What Blaziken set would you recommend? Baton Pass, Life Orb, other?

With the proposed 6 I listed in my last post I would suggest mixed / special Blaziken since you'd have 5 physical attackers.

Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 52 Atk / 244 SpA / 212 Spe
Naive Nature
- Overheat / Fire Blast / Flamethrower
- Hidden Power Ice
- High Jump Kick / Superpower
- Protect

This is an old gen 6 bss set which still works now.

So yeah I think a squad of Sash Ninetales / Mega Lucario / DD Dragonite / LO Blaziken / Helmet Gyarados (physdef) / Leftovers Ferrothorn (spdef) could be cool.

 

[icepyro144]

Thanks cant say.

Just so I'm not mooching off of his thread; Imboto, it looks like some great advice so far. Cant say's recommendations hit especially well for me just through my experience with those Pokémon, so I'll vouch for those. They're all really solid, and not all that "overused" either; at least the sets aren't. Blaziken because it's mega stone isn't available yet, Dragonite because Salamencite exists, bulky Gyarados because it's mega is more common, etc.

I personally have my own self-imposed rules with team building too (I don't like using legendaries, personally. Part head-canon, part RP, mostly for the challenge), so don't let that stop you. cant say is right with some Pokémon being outright unviable, so if you still decide to use stuff like Leafeon or Noivern, be prepared to run into issues that they normally can't overcome (note that I don't recommend Leafeon or Noivern with the rest of the team, given all the recommendations so far).

It's been mentioned a few times already, but it's also important to keep in mind that a team built to do well in 3v3 will not necessarily do well in 6v6, and vice versa. You mentioned that it would be a 6v6 format with friends, so it may not be the same as Smogon's 6v6 OU format, but you'll likely not get the mileage you would want in a full team battle. They are vastly different formats, and you might be better served having two, similar teams for both formats.

Lastly, I wanted to suggest the special-based Lucario set. It was part of a solid Dragonite/Lucario/Hippowdon core from ORAS that I've enjoyed a lot. Ninetales takes the role of Hippo in this case, but a special Lucario can help in that it can take a burn aimed at itself or Dragonite and not lose sweeping power (works like a bluff). I don't believe it'll conflict much with the special/mixed Blaziken that's been recommended, since you'd still have Dragonite and (kinda) Gyarados if you use that too.

Lucario @ Lucarionite
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe (the extra 4 are placeholder. I don't remember where their best placement is for this set)
Timid Nature
- Aura Sphere / Focus Blast
- Flash Cannon
- Vacuum Wave / Dark Pulse
- Nasty Plot

Focus Blast if you need more power and are not as concerned about accuracy. Aura Sphere is preferred, though, because of evasion shenanigans in BSS. Dark Pulse if you need the coverage, and not the priority of Vacuum Wave.