Team:
Charjabug (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Battery
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 118 Def / 140 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 28 SpA
- String Shot
- Iron Defense
- Bug Bite
- Protect
One of the main focuses of my team, and one of my leads. Once I learned about Battery, I really wanted to find a way to take advantage of it. EV Spread is kinda unique, I believe that it was EV'd to take a max Marowak-A Flare Blitz in rain, I don't really remember. I made that spread when I was messing around with Charjabug being in VGC. Eviolite helps increase the overall bulk of Charjabug
String Shot was meant to help slow down threats to the rest of my team, but I hardly ever used it.
Electroweb is another option, but I bred this prior to Bank was released, and I didn't want to breed another one at the time.
Iron Defense ended up being a waste, again a leftover from my VGC planning. I considered changing it to
Substitute with a slight EV modification to get to an HP stat of 163, so I can get 4 Subs and have 1 HP left.
Bug Bite was definitely my most used move, primarily eating away the Super Effective and Healing Berries that I noticed so many of the Pokemon carried. Gave Charjabug many random stat boosts from things like Liechi Berries and healing from Sitrus Berries. Taking away the Super Effective Berries also allowed my other lead, Porygon-Z, to get away with a much nicer sweep.
Protect worked nicely for stalling and protecting itself from things like my Krookodile's
Earthquake.
Porygon-Z @ Normalium Z
Ability: Adaptability
Level: 50
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 6 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Conversion
My other lead, and primary sweeper. Abuses Battery, Adaptability abuses STAB even better, and
Z-Conversion gives it an even bigger boost on power. EV Spread is pretty basic, to hit hard and hit fast.
Moves weren't too hard for me to decide.
Shadow Ball for a decently good STAB after
Z-Conversion, with the bonus of being immune to Fighting moves that commonly target Porygon-Z Turn 1.
Thunderbolt and
Ice Beam provide the standard BoltBeam coverage, and is almost never reduced in damage from things like various berries thanks to
Bug Bite.
Salamence (M) @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 1 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Dragon Pulse
- Flamethrower
-
Tailwind Protect
Backup sweeper and another abuser of Battery. Intimidate is a great help at weakening anything that Salamence has to come in on, since it is usually switched in once on of the leads faints. Again, basic spread, could probably be optimized better.
Hyper Voice gives a nice spread attack, good coverage, Battery boosted, STAB.
Dragon Pulse is another STAB move and is good for some things that resist Flying.
Flamethrower is primarily to hit Steels that resist the other two moves.
Tailwind was never used in my run, since Salamence usually could spend it's time better by hitting things. Probably would replace it with
Protect, but I don't really want to breed up another one since I don't want to lose out on
Tailwind on this Salamence.
Due to flight, Salamence also pairs well with Krookodile, with double spread attacks of
Hyper Voice and
Earthquake, walled only by Steel/Flying types, if I remember correctly. Double Intimidate from the two is also really nice, basically destroying the physical strength of the opponents.
Krookodile (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 6 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 18 SpA
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Rock Slide
- Brick Break
Final sweeper and balances out the team with a physical attacker. Choice Scarf because I wanted something really speedy on the team, although I am thinking about changing it to a Jolly Life Orb set. Intimidate really helps with switching in, although it's really frail, often getting OHKO'd.
Earthquake gives a STAB spread move, and Rock Slide makes a pseudo EdgeQuake combo of spread attacks. Crunch is a secondary STAB attack, and Brick Break helps round out the coverage.
Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 6 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spd
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield
Sort of a Trick Room counter and switch in for Salamence.
Shadow Ball and
Flash Cannon are basic STABs, and lets Aegislash not worry about Intimidate.
Wide Guard works greatly against Rock Slide and Earthquakes, letting me protect what is usually Salamence while it tears through teams.
King's Shield changes Aegislash back to Shield Form, letting it take hits it weakening opponents. Weakness Policy was originally just thrown on there with no real reason, but it has come in handy when taking a hit, then countering back the same turn for a KO.
Threats
To be honest, at this run, I try to guess which Pokemon had what set, so I have no real clue as to what the threats to this team are. But, I do recognize these:
Ice-Types: With two weaknesses to Ice, these Pokemon can get a little bit scary, as they are generally able to one shot either Salamence or Krookodile. Unless I can one shot them myself the turn they come in, something on my side will probably go down. They are frail though, so most things can one shot them.
Rock-Types: Similar to the Ice situation, but slightly more tolerable because Krookodile can deal with it better. Plus, Porygon-Z often can cover many of the Rock types due to either a secondary typing or a lower Special Defense. Charjabug is also sometimes able to take a Rock attack thanks to it's bulk.
Both of these threats, while still bad, are now better thanks to Aegislash.
Things faster than Porygon-Z: While not the biggest issue, it just makes it a lot harder for Porygon-Z to set up properly while surviving a potential double target, something that it can sometimes do thanks to the added bulk from Z-Conversion.
New Threats:
Dark-Types: I really don't like leads carrying a Dark type move, as a Z-Conversion can put Porygon-Z at risk. Dark types in general I'm not a fan of, with the addition of Aegislash. I can generally take them, but I have nothing to hit them super effectively besides Charjabug.
Lead Thunder Wave: Always targets Porygon-Z, always slowing it down and risking paralysis. Just not a fan of hoping for the best.
Team Problems:
EV Spreads aren't optimized at all, and I don't really like my weakness to Ice. Currently considering a change of Krookodile to a Special Aegislash, but it then makes Fire Types an issue. I'm also not a big fan of a Choice item, so I really want to get rid of it. Tapu Lele has potential, but at the moment, I don't have one ready to use, otherwise it might take Porygon-Z's spot, opening up the Z Crystal again.
Final Notes:
Issues aside, I really liked this team. Clearly, based on my explanations, I think it's pretty clear that I'm really happy with Charjabug, and I think I'm gonna try out the Aegislash for my next run, with everything else the exact same, more or less.
