SPOILERS! Sword and Shield in-game team discussion thread

[Mega Metal]

I'm able to borrow a copy of Shield and so far here's my team members:

Sobble
Yamper
Wooloo

I've already decided that Sobble and Wooloo are going to be main stay team members to end-game, but I wanted any feedback on any other potential members and/or how my team set up is right now. If it helps any, I'm currently in the Galar Mines.

 

[R_N]

So I beat the game earlier this week with this team:
Rillaboom
Corviknight
Boltund
Drednaw
Orbeetle
Sirfetch'd

I really didn't expect to have 5/6ths of my team built entirely from Route 1/2 mons, but...they all did pretty admirably and held up on their own. Usually I might have one and swap out the rest as I go but this go around I only did that with Wooloo for Sirfetch'd (who i couldn't NOT have!).
Only issues was that the horrible TM selection and trying desperately to not break the level curve (still failed on that front...) meant I had big gaps in my movepools. You'd think a steel type would make the fairies easier to deal with but no. My kingdom for a good ground move for most of the game. But hey they all pulled through, I especially love how Drednaw & Orbeetle became so self sufficient thanks to the move relearner.

I know everyone's in love with late game mons but dont sleep on these early game dudes

 

[Worldie]

I really didn't expect to have 5/6ths of my team built entirely from Route 1/2 mons, but...they all did pretty admirably and held up on their own. Usually I might have one and swap out the rest as I go but this go around I only did that with Wooloo for Sirfetch'd (who i couldn't NOT have!).
Only issues was that the horrible TM selection and trying desperately to not break the level curve (still failed on that front...) meant I had big gaps in my movepools. You'd think a steel type would make the fairies easier to deal with but no. My kingdom for a good ground move for most of the game. But hey they all pulled through, I especially love how Drednaw & Orbeetle became so self sufficient thanks to the move relearner.

I know everyone's in love with late game mons but dont sleep on these early game dudes

To be fair I can't think of another game (maybe RBY nidoran lol?) where a early route mon actually evolves into a good, reliable pokemon. Boltund and Orbeetle are surprisingly some of the best in-game pokemon once they're fully evolved.

 

[hypno28]

To be fair I can't think of another game (maybe RBY nidoran lol?) where a early route mon actually evolves into a good, reliable pokemon. Boltund and Orbeetle are surprisingly some of the best in-game pokemon once they're fully evolved.

It depends on how narrowly you define good, reliable and early route. Are Pidgeot and Stoutland good? Is Talonflame (in-game)? Does Mareep count as early in Johto? Starly definitely qualifies, though, as do Pikipek and Grubbin.

 

[Ketsuban]

because of ... learning that I can’t disable the EXP Share, I opted to ... assemble a rotation of 10 ‘mons

You don't need to do this; the game is balanced around the new experience mechanics. Just build a team of six and don't grind, you'll be at around the same level as the AI the whole way.

 

[TMan87]

Finished the game a couple days earlier, here's the winning team:
Inteleon/Tsareena/Sirfetch'd/Bisharp/Frostmoth/Flygon.
I'll go over in more detail for each individual team member.

Inteleon: Even though the game made me seriously wonder if dropping the starter was worth it, Inteleon's high speed and SpA saved me in quite a few matchups. Getting U-Turn naturally is also a nice boon, as pivoting out of bad matchups was crucial (yes, I'm playing in Set mode). What's a bad matchup for Inteleon, you ask? Well, mine was -SpD and had a crappy SpD EV, so anything that hit on the special side, I guess. It's also a shame it's level-up movepool is eh, forcing you to sacrifice a few TRs. Still a solid mon capable of OHKO plenty of threats.

Tsareena: Got a Bounsweet raid early on and decided to ditch Roselia for it. Tsareena evolved super early and Trop Kick is really good to have to soften up physical threats, which the game has in spades. Really tanky mon, good movepool all around without resorting too much to TRs, I just wish it got HJK a bit sooner. Probably the DynaMVP of the team as well.

Sirfetch'd: Let's get the negatives out of the way first. What in Arceus's name is that evolution requirement? Without the graceful help of Maxim I could've carried a Farfetch'd all the way up to Leon & Hop. Although, once you evolve it, it becomes a good physical tank that's useful for later Gyms. First Impression is really good on it to nab KOes. For extra tankiness, throw it an Assault Vest. I sure did. Took down Leon's scary Dragapult when all of my team got outsped and KOed by that monster.

Bisharp: Really late mon that I got from a raid and had Defiant. Nice Psychic immunity, Fairy killer and good IVs (5 star raid yay) meant it demolished things late-game, although I didn't use it much in the end. I'm willing to bet Bede is having nightmares about it though.

Frostmoth: Ugh, another pesky evolution requirement. Sacrificing several dozen Berries to level up its happiness was kind of worth it in the end: a fast, powerful Pokémon with Quiver Dance is really something... except you can't switch it in anything because it just DIES. Really good when it's on the field at full health, not that much when it isn't.

Flygon: Early Vibrava raid yay! Flygon took the Dragon slot and I was never disappointed in it. It got so many sweeps in the game with a single Dragon Dance, it's insane. It has pretty much everything in needs in dual STAB, though Fire Punch from Wyndon really doesn't hurt. Or at least it doesn't hurt you. Single-handedly defeated Raihan in the Finals. Good set of resistances, very solid mon.

And that concludes my in-game team for Pokémon Sword.

 

[R_N]

To be fair I can't think of another game (maybe RBY nidoran lol?) where a early route mon actually evolves into a good, reliable pokemon. Boltund and Orbeetle are surprisingly some of the best in-game pokemon once they're fully evolved.

Yeah, that's true. Even XY, which had maybe one million pokemon before the first gym, mostly kept the usefulness low (though Talonflame & Diggersby would be pretty great if you could have gotten their hidden abilities). Here just about everyone is fairly useful, especially for how realtively quickly they evolve. SM did have a few shining stars in Grubbin, Cutiefly and Alola Grimer at least.



Except Thievul. That's just bad.

You don't need to do this; the game is balanced around the new experience mechanics. Just build a team of six and don't grind, you'll be at around the same level as the AI the whole way.

Hard disagree. In the first 3 gyms, I actually grabebd another team so I could do some wild area exploring and capture pokemon on route 3, but after milo i still started rocketing forward. After Kabu, I decided to just completely ignore the second half of the wild area and all but stopped catching pokemon ( I caught maybe...5 after kabu?) and this kind of worked! Bea was a little above my level and I was on par with Opal and it was great.
Then that all stopped. Even ignoring wild pokemon and the near entirity of Route 9 I was just snowballing levels. Even during the boss rush I was outleveling the others. The Leon level jump (which, btw, was great actually) is the only thing remotely "balanced" around EXP Share.

If it worked for you, that's great dont know what the missing piece was, but I tried pretty hard to tailor my experience around avoiding sources of experience, all but just speeding through routes and skip every optional trainer really, and I was ahead of the game 90% of the time.

 

[Wishy]

Thanks for the warning - because of the availability issues and learning that I can’t disable the EXP Share, I opted to try a very different approach.

I’ve managed to assemble a rotation of 10 ‘mons, which not only cover all types but have no overlap whatsoever. They’re also all new to gen 8.

Water - Inteleon

Fire/Rock - Coalossal

Grass/Dragon - Flapple (playing Shield, I’ll ask a friend to trade the item)

Flying/Steel - Corviknight

Normal/Psychic - Indeedee

Electric/Poison - Toxtricity

Fighting - Grapploct

Ground/Ghost - Runerigus

Dark/Fairy - Grimmsnarl

Bug/Ice - Frosmoth

Still definitely has some availability issues, but organizing every type like this is wayyyy too satisfying to give up.

For the record, Impidimp is available right before the third gym (whatever that route between Motostoke and Galar Mine #2 is) so he's not that late.

 

[Slash90]

To be fair I can't think of another game (maybe RBY nidoran lol?) where a early route mon actually evolves into a good, reliable pokemon. Boltund and Orbeetle are surprisingly some of the best in-game pokemon once they're fully evolved.

Anyway, here are my thoughts on the team I used in Sword:

Rilaboom: A good solid, bulky starter. It learns some good coverage moves later in the game, as well. Faster than you’d expect, too.

Centiskorch: It’s definitely not the second coming of Volcarona, but it’s strong and reasonably bulky. I taught it Leech Life relatively early through TR, and it really took care of itself most of the game. An excellent choice for a Fire type.

Barraskewda: I have seen other people saying they weren’t impressed with this thing in game, but for me it was probably the MVP. It’s fast and strong and has great coverage, and it comes early if you’re willing to sift through a bunch of Magikarps on Route 2 (5% appearance rate). It’s also great for general Dynamaxing because Max Geyser sets up rain.

Hatterene: Probably the hardest team member to use. It’s pathetic as Hattena, but even as Hattrem, it seems like its weaknesses are everywhere in game. Evolving and getting Fairy typing help mitigate this, but to me it still felt a bit like S/M Decidueye: a strong, slow Pokemon that that seems to be weak to at least one attack on everything in-game. Still, if it can take a hit, Hatterene’s STAB attacks are *strong*.

Corviknight: Not gonna lie, it wasn’t spectacular until evolving the second time. Rookidee and Corvisquire actually miss having Normal STAB, but Hone Claws + Power Trip is fun in the early game. Its movepool isn’t great, but it gets what it needs, and it’s very sturdy once it evolves.

Toxtricity: It requires some babying as a Toxel, but it’s very strong once it evolves. It’s worth your time to get Punk Rock on it, as boosted Overdrive wrecks anything that doesn’t resist it later in the game. It doesn’t get a strong special Poison move by level-up, but Acid Spray will do unless you want to try and get a TR.

I disliked not being able to turn off the Exp Share, but I think it is designed to keep your levels reasonable if you have a full team of six and don’t do any unnecessary grinding. I was never dramatically overlevelled, but by the end I was a few points too high since I spent a lot of downtime in the wild area. Overall, both in the level curve and AI, I felt this game was quite a step back from Gen 7 in terms of difficulty.

 

[Zedseayou]

I just finished my run through and didn't particularly hunt for pokemon to use much, didn't raid, although I did end up with an entirely physical team which isn't really my preference. It does seem harder to find suitable special pokemon sometimes. Thankfully this basically didn't matter. Here's who I used (on Sword). I'd also note that I found it strange how wild pokemon were often higher leveled than trainers on a route, and that this was particularly difficult if I wanted to catch things en route, because I'd often be lower levelled and apparently catch rate tanks if you're lower level than the pokemon now, even by one or two.

Main 3:

Rillaboom: I think pretty decent, it's bulky, hits hard and handles early game fairly well with Razor Leaf and Screech, if need be. Miracle Seed is also relatively early. I think there is a dead period after Nessa, since between 25-35 he starts to feel a little week. Getting Drum Beating on evolution makes up for it though, and he has few resistances through the Gyms. Gave him Brick Break for coverage

Gyarados: I think this is going to be S tier for sure. You can get Magikarp at Magnolia's house (pool to the left), which is ridiculously early (aka before Pokedex), and it just accumulates XP until 21 with the exp share. Then, you get Waterfall and Crunch almost immediately, remember Ice Fang for SE coverage, and can go to town. You also get a Flying type which has good resistances against Bea and other Fighting/bug attacks. At 36, when stuff starts to get harder, you get Dragon Dance and the setup for most fights after this becomes DD twice (or more) and sweep, especially with Max Geyser. He is good for Kabu, Gordie and Raihan and honestly my default for basically all fights because being able to setup sweep is so good. The setup is also easy because of Intimidate as well. My run really ended up kinda being the Gyarados show. If there's any issue at all, it's that the slow leveling rate actually made me keep him out even more than I would normally (everyone else levelling way faster with the shared XP), and that probably kept me roughly in lockstep with AI levels instead of overleveling like some have said. I ended up in the late 50s for Leon. Also, Intimidate adds animation time.

Boltund: I felt like he was ok but I never actually used him that much because of my playstyle, mostly for cleaning if something lived a Gyarados attack and return KOed. Getting Spark at 20 helps a lot with Nessa. He gets Strong Jaw (50% on bite), Crunch and and you can teach Thunder Fang and Fire Fang from TM in Hammerlocke. Magnet is also pretty early. Eventually Play Rough, as well. No boosting meant I didn't use him a lot in battles, but while I still had Nuzzle it was good for catching pokemon. Levels fast.

Secondary 3:

Bisharp: Comes kinda late (I got it on the way to Circhester, route 8) but I think it's worth it. Resistances are good and Night Slash/Brick Break/Slash is great coverage. Plus, you get free Defiant boosts surprisingly often off intimidate and Snarl from Team Yell. The late evolution means that you can have a use for Eviolite until pretty late in the game. Kept through the end. Unfortunately Sucker Punch isn't available and Iron Head comes late.

Excadrill: Picked this up late in the Wild Area looking for Gallade. Didn't use it a lot, but I think if I'd tried earlier it would have been promising (pretty sure you can get Drilbur in Galar Mine). Ground/Rock/Steel would have been good coverage, gets Swords Dance, and if I had a Sand Rush one it would have been great to Dynamax, given the ability to set sand with Max Rockfall.

Gallade: Also picked this up late in the Wild Area, because I wanted to have something to catch pokemon with (False Swipe + Hypnosis). Not much else to say here, I tried not to use it in battled even though I probably could have.

Others:

Haxorus: I scooped an Axew at some point and thought I'd keep it around to have a Dragon, but this was pretty disappointing. Slow to level (never caught up with main team). Not good coverage and much worse resistances than Gyarados.

Corviknight: Was useful for Milo early, but I dropped it later to try other things so I can't speak to lategame. My suspicion is that it would tail off pretty fast.

Swoobat: Kept around for a while but not getting Simple and not getting Calm Mind until pretty late was not good. STABS were at least nice, with Confusion and Air Cutter/Psychic and Air Slash coming in at good times.

Diggersby: I caught this early and used it for free Pickup items for a while before dropping it.

 

[Misfit Reindeer]

You might need some ...earlier alternatives for Snom and Grapploct ....

Either that, or you can trade! I'm more than happy to let you have one of my Snoms.

 

[Darvin]

I switched up my team for each gym battle. Challenge rules were that I was to win major fights with no more than 3 pokemon, set battle style, no items in trainer battles (other than held items), no affection bonuses, and no dynamax. The teams I used for each fight were as follows:

vs Milo: I brought a Rookadee and Growlithe. I can't remember the third pokemon I brought because it wasn't necessary. Milo is a typical first gym leader, if you're bringing type advantage he folds pretty easily.
vs Nessa: I went to the computer to pick out a team, and realized just about everything I'd been training was garbage against water. I had a Pikachu, but that wasn't going to get through her Drednaw. Then I saw it, and a trollish grin spread across my face. I brought Pikachu and Wobbuffet. Pikachu beat her way to Drednaw, then Wobbuffet stepped in and used Counter to end it
vs Kabu: I did this one blind, otherwise I would have taken a Carkol and just walled him with it while beating him down with rock-type moves. Instead I brought Boldore, Drillbur, and Drednaw, which beat him easily.
vs Allister: the first gym to actually defeat me, I switched up my strategy and won handily with just Gyarados and Excadrill
vs Opal: I had Excadrill. It wasn't even a contest.
vs Melony: Actually a bit tough on me, as although I wasn't weak to Ice... I also lacked anything strong against it. I ended up going in with Boldore, Arcanine, and Wobbuffet. Go ahead, set up your Aurora Veil, it doesn't reduce Mirror Coat damage.
vs Piers: I took the opportunity to bring Butterfree and wreck him with it.
vs Raihan: I wasn't expecting the double battle, but I still had no trouble winning with Flygon, Excadrill, and Gyarados

Championship Team: Excadrill, Gyarados, Arcanine, Haxorus, Tyranitar, and Corviknight. Most of the fights were stupidly easy and I never needed to use more than one pokemon. I beat Marnie with my Corviknight. Hop got swept by Haxorus who had a Lum Berry equipped and didn't care about getting Body Slammed. Bede met the same fate as Opal and got swept by Excadrill. Nessa got swept by Corviknight. Allister got swept by Excadrill. Then Raihan got swept by Excadrill.

Leon, however, was by far the most challenging opponent in the game, due to his massive level advantage. My team was 52-55, his team was 62-65. The entire game I'd been struggling to avoid over-leveling my team for each new challenge, and suddenly there's a 10 level gap at a point in the game where there was no new area to go catching in so I gained no experience. I decided against using my candies and instead trying to win in spite of the level disadvantage. Ultimately with a few item switches I was able to pull it off, tanking his Charizard and putting it down with AV Tyranitar.

 

[CoolMan6001]

I don't have the game yet, but once I do, I plan to use this team:

:

Rilaboom (Yeah I made most of the sprites in the post myself by scaling down the official ones.)
It has my favorite design of the three starters. I'll work out it's moveset later, but for now, this will be in the team as my Grass-Type. If it wasn't the chosen starter, I likely would have used :

Flapple or :

Appletun instead depending on the version.

:

Centiskorch
Sadly, :

Coalossal has mere 80 attacking stats, and with my want to only use the new Pokemon, I obviously plan to use the stronger Fire-Type.

:

Arctovish
I was thinking about Dreadnaw initially, but I decided ~20 less attack was worth more special defense for my Water-Type.

:

Dracozolt
Hustle with Bolt Beak seems cool for an in-game Electric-Type. I might be proven wrong by that however.

:

Runerigus (or however you spell that)
~10 less attack than :Sandaconda (I did not make that menu sprite) seems worth the extra STAB and bulk. I'll see how it goes for my Ground-Type.

:

Corviknight
Lastly, I wanted a Steel-Type because those were usefull before, and Corviknight seems like no exception.

I'll temporairly use :Drednaw (I did not make this menu sprite) and :

Boltund untill I get the apropriate fossils.

Because I have not started the game yet, I'm open to suggestions. Keep in mind I would like to only use the newly introduced Pokemon and/or Galarian Forms.

 

[AlolaPikachu]

I caught everything outside of the Wild Area where possible, because Wild Area spawns can be fairly high-leveled and overpowered for that point in the game. One clear exception to this rule however.

My team (Pokemon Sword):

Inteleon: (Snipe Shot/Hydro Pump/Ice Beam/U-turn) It was good enough for most of the game despite coverage issues galore. Acrobatics helped a LOT since it was its first move which really hit Grass-types (U-turn doesn't do nearly enough damage to OHKO). Double Water STAB because PP and accuracy.

Corviknight: (Brave Bird/Drill Peck/Steel Wing/Hone Claws) It actually held its own pre-evolution which was a little surprising. Hone Claws+Power Trip lays the hurt on a lot of major battles that resist Flying, and its Attack, while not the greatest, was good enough. As a Corviknight it was a great catch-all tank and sometimes swept teams in a pinch. It complemented Inteleon perfectly.

Weezing: (Sludge Bomb/Strange Steam/Heat Wave/Haze) Pre-evolution was really difficult since Koffing is slow and doesn't do any damage, but once it evolves it gets Strange Steam and Heat Wave from the Move Relearner and it started wrecking everything from Bea onwards. It's still slow but great resistances+Levitate and that Defense stat helped a lot. Dynamaxing boosts your special attack with Max Ooze but tbh that's mostly overkill.

Sinistea: (Shell Smash/Shadow Ball/Stored Power/Giga Drain) I actually found a rare Authentic form, which was a double-edged sword since the Chipped Pot is not available outside of the bargain vendor (I still have not gotten one actually, so if anyone has one please let me know), but it was Timid with 31 Special Attack IVs so I figured I'd run with it. And it was actually still quite good, though I think most of that is because of how good the Ghost typing is in the lategame. Nasty Plot and later Shell Smash were great sweeping moves, and in particular Hop's lead Dubwool has only Normal and Fighting-type moves so it's possible to just set up three Shell Smashes and go to town. Of course if it failed to OHKO something it was usually toast that turn.

Darmanitan: (Icicle Crash/Superpower/Flare Blitz/Earthquake) I think I only ever clicked a move other than Icicle Crash like 2 or 3 times. This thing is BUSTED in-game especially since the Choice Band/Scarf are available basically immediately once you evolve it. It does have to wait until "Surf" to evolve and is a bit of a rare encounter, but it was totally worth it. Helped a LOT with grinding some of my later catches too since it bodies even the Lake of Outrage Pokemon that are higher-leveled.

Dragapult: (Dragon Dance/Dragon Darts/Phantom Force/U-turn) I caught this after Spikemuth Gym so it was a bit annoying since I had to find a level 55 Drakloak which is a 0.25%, but it was still higher-leveled than the rest of my team at that point. Drakloak itself is not that bad at battling, though Darmanitan (which was about level 45 at the time) was still faster and stronger. I grinded it to level 60 and it destroyed Raihan, though being overleveled certainly contributed there. Again being Ghost-type helped a lot with setting up and in a lot of the final battles I just set up Dragapult and swept. Definitely worth the hour spent looking for it imo. I definitely recommend catching this in the overworld rather than trying to find Dreepy in the grass since overworld encounters are much faster to go through.

Zacian: (Swords Dance/Play Rough/Iron Head->Behemoth Blade/Sacred Sword) The raid sweeper. Not much to say here, just click Behemoth Blade most battles. Sacred Sword helps against encounters that like to troll with Contrary.

Other Pokemon used:
Sirfetch'd: It looks cool. Way too slow though, and there's just too many late-game things that resist Fighting. Weezing already covered Dark-types also.
Hawlucha: Again Weezing already covered everything, but Hawlucha at least outsped a lot of things. Was VERY annoying to find; in my experience, 2% grass takes longer to encounter than 1% overworld (I found the 1% Trapinch on the same route before Hawlucha, ditto with Drakloak/Dreepy and Duraludon/Stonjourner), but it might have been worth it. I liked Weezing better ultimately.
Pokedex data entries: I kept various Pokemon around the party before I assembled my full team in order to evolve them for dex entries. Very few battled; Yamper used Nuzzle a few times on wild Pokemon early in the run and that was about it. Most notably I evolved a Snom to trade Frosmoth for Duraludon, which was a total waste of time since I also encountered a Duraludon while looking for Stonjourner. At least friendship seems easier to raise now that you only need 160 and not 220.

Exclusives?:
I was actually looking forward to using Mimikyu, but apparently "heavy fog" (Misty Terrain) is exclusive to post-game. Notably this also completely cuts off access to Clefairy, Gothita (Sword only), and Solosis (Shield only) until post-game. Gardevoir/Gallade are also a pain to catch without Fog, since they're both above level 55 iirc.
I haven't seen this indicated anywhere but the fossils seem to be version exclusives. So far I have about 20 Birds and Dinos but no Drakes and Fishes. This would make only Arctozolt available during a normal Sword run and only Dracovish during a normal Shield run. I wasn't planning to use any of the fossils anyways since they come at level 10 that late in the game, but just a word of warning to anyone planning to use the fossil mons.

 

[Ze Diglett]

I haven't seen this indicated anywhere but the fossils seem to be version exclusives. So far I have about 20 Birds and Dinos but no Drakes and Fishes. This would make only Arctozolt available during a normal Sword run and only Dracovish during a normal Shield run. I wasn't planning to use any of the fossils anyways since they come at level 10 that late in the game, but just a word of warning to anyone planning to use the fossil mons.

Can't you get all of the fossils from the Digging Duo in the Wild Area? I may be wrong, but I could've sworn I got the Sword fossils in Shield through that method.

 

[AlolaPikachu]

Can't you get all of the fossils from the Digging Duo in the Wild Area? I may be wrong, but I could've sworn I got the Sword fossils in Shield through that method.

I've somehow only gotten the Sword fossils from the Digging Duo so IDK if they're rare, exclusive, or if I'm just really unlucky. I haven't seen it documented anywhere either, one way or another.

 

[Slash90]

I've somehow only gotten the Sword fossils from the Digging Duo so IDK if they're rare, exclusive, or if I'm just really unlucky. I haven't seen it documented anywhere either, one way or another.

They are definitely not version exclusive. I got all 4 from the Digging Duo in Sword, though it took FOREVER to get the Fossilized Fish. Maybe the odds are different between the games, but I think it's just down to luck.

 

[Worldie]

They are definitely not version exclusive. I got all 4 from the Digging Duo in Sword, though it took FOREVER to get the Fossilized Fish. Maybe the odds are different between the games, but I think it's just down to luck.

The odds are indeed different. Basically the two "version" fossils are common, the other 2 are rare. But they're not version exclusives per se, you can get all 4 in both games.

 

[Hada Yaba]

I don't have the game yet, but once I do, I plan to use this team:

:

Rilaboom (Yeah I made most of the sprites in the post myself by scaling down the official ones.)
It has my favorite design of the three starters. I'll work out it's moveset later, but for now, this will be in the team as my Grass-Type. If it wasn't the chosen starter, I likely would have used :

Flapple or :

Appletun instead depending on the version.

:

Centiskorch
Sadly, :

Coalossal has mere 80 attacking stats, and with my want to only use the new Pokemon, I obviously plan to use the stronger Fire-Type.

:

Arctovish
I was thinking about Dreadnaw initially, but I decided ~20 less attack was worth more special defense for my Water-Type.

:

Dracozolt
Hustle with Bolt Beak seems cool for an in-game Electric-Type. I might be proven wrong by that however.

:

Runerigus (or however you spell that)
~10 less attack than :Sandaconda (I did not make that menu sprite) seems worth the extra STAB and bulk. I'll see how it goes for my Ground-Type.

:

Corviknight
Lastly, I wanted a Steel-Type because those were usefull before, and Corviknight seems like no exception.

I'll temporairly use :Drednaw (I did not make this menu sprite) and :

Boltund untill I get
Because I have not started the game yet, I'm open to suggestions. Keep in mind I would like to only use the newly introduced Pokemon and/or Galarian Forms.

Centiskorch is ok but as a coalossal user in sword, i think its rly great. Its not strong but the typing allows it to stomp a ridiculously high amount of route trainers. Centiskorch also is available aafter gym 3 unlike carkoal who can stomp milo. Not trying to say coalossal is better but if yr interested, def try it out, one of my better members. Rock blast before the first gym in particular was insane.

The fossils don't get their broken moves until lvl 60s unfortunately. They don't even have a good secondary STAB requiring tr investment. Also u got it at lvl 10 when everything else is 30s. Def go for it if u like their design tho but in pure battling, other mons like boltund n drednaw might fit the new mon +water/electric slot bettet

 

[Ze Diglett]

Centiskorch is ok but as a coalossal user in sword, i think its rly great. Its not strong but the typing allows it to stomp a ridiculously high amount of route trainers. Centiskorch also is available aafter gym 3 unlike carkoal who can stomp milo. Not trying to say coalossal is better but if yr interested, def try it out, one of my better members. Rock blast before the first gym in particular was insane.

Centiskorch is available as early as Route 3, where Sizzlipede is a 1% encounter. It may be a slog to obtain one that early (it wasn't hard for me personally, since you can shuffle between wild encounters really quickly in this game), but its dual supereffective STAB completely invalidates Milo's team, and unlike the Rolycoly line, he doesn't have to evolve to do it.

 

[Windgrace]

I recently completed a Sword play through (after initially completing it on Shield). I had a better idea of team compositions this go around to make the game a little bit easier as well as a clearer understanding of when and where certain Pokemon would be available to catch.

: Cinderace

Overall pretty impressed with the bunbun. Pyro Ball wrecks things once it gets to that point and it learns fighting coverage pretty early on. Didn't get used much late game I noticed, though.

: Flapple

Caught an Applin thinking it'd be a good grass type for a FWG core. Flapple didn't disappoint, but not being able to evolve before the Water gym made that fight a bit of a struggle. I ended up using X Defenses/Attacks to power through with Astonish. Once it evolves though it was quite fun to use and had some useful resistances.

: Drednaw

This guy rounded out my FWG core. Very useful dual STAB was excellent.

: Sirfetch'd

I spent the first half of the game with this thing sitting in my party wondering why it wasn't evolving. Broke down and Googled what I needed to do and was very glad I did. Fighting proves to be very useful towards the end of the game. This guy is a crit city and plowed through a lot of the tougher fights.

: Grimmsnarl (no sprite)
Very useful double-typing but I came away from it rather underwhelmed. Moves a little too slow versus late game mons to fire off hits, and those hits didn't hit very hard. Though I did appreciate it naturally learning Play Rough (looking at you G-Rapidash).

: Excadrill (can't find matching sprite)
Broke my rule of using only new Pokemon for this playthrough to use this guy. Highly recommend. Very useful immunities and strong STAB typing made this guy super useful. Swords Dance + Rock Move (sets sand storm which activates Sand Rush when D-maxed) made this guy shred through the Champion battle.

 

[Spenstar]

How good is Dracovish ingame? I know how amazing it is competitively so I want to use it ingame to develop a connection with it (also I love the design) but it doesn't seem too promising until the very end. Probably going to use Kingler instead for my water type (Gyarados is a no, for I do not want to COMPLETELY break the game)

edit: also, how early do you get the ability to fish?

 

[earl]

How good is Dracovish ingame? I know how amazing it is competitively so I want to use it ingame to develop a connection with it (also I love the design) but it doesn't seem too promising until the very end. Probably going to use Kingler instead for my water type (Gyarados is a no, for I do not want to COMPLETELY break the game)

edit: also, how early do you get the ability to fish?

Dracovish is pretty good in-game if you nab a strong jaws variant.
You can fish right from the start

 

[Siggu]

How good is Dracovish ingame? I know how amazing it is competitively so I want to use it ingame to develop a connection with it (also I love the design) but it doesn't seem too promising until the very end. Probably going to use Kingler instead for my water type (Gyarados is a no, for I do not want to COMPLETELY break the game)

Not much, to be honest. Fishious Rend is learned at level 60, as in "the very end of the main story", and it requires farming in TRs as its level up movepool is really bad.

It also applies to the other three fossils.

 

[Spenstar]

Not much, to be honest. Fishious Rend is learned at level 60, as in "the very end of the main story", and it requires farming in TRs as its level up movepool is really bad.

It also applies to the other three fossils.

That's a dang shame, considering how cool the fossil designs are. Oh well, I'll just end up using either Kingler or Barraskewda unless I get lucky with Technical Records