4th gen. team (my first post/RMT)

[aznmastah54]

Hey, so I made this team a little while ago, and I've had little problems with it. Except, I have no clue where my weaknesses are. Also, I have some trouble with stall teams. Hope you can help!

1. Kingdra

Special Lead
Item:
Focus Sash
--> Kingdra has alright defenses, and health. However it can survive some attacks such as Explosion. Focus sash ensures that it survives the hit. Also since I will be setting up Rain Dance, the sash ensures I will survive for a turn in the rain.

Ability:
Swift Swim

Nature:
Naive
To outspeed a wider range of leads

EV's:
4 HP, 252 Speed, 252 Spc. Atk
252 Spc. Atk. to increase attack power, 252 speed for increased speed (boosted with rain dance), rest in HP for slightly more survivability (not much)

Move List:
Rain Dance -->To be used in conjunction with Swift Swim, also boosts Surf's attack power
Surf -->STAB move, takes out many leads such as Infernape or Gliscor
Ice Beam -->For flying leads such as Togekiss or Ninjask, or for taking out pokemon in general. Very useful against dragon types.
Signal Beam -->Takes out psychic type leads such as Azelf

2. Gengar

Life Orb Special Sweeper
Item:
Life Orb
--> To give Gengar more attacking power.

Ability:
Levitate

Nature:
Timid
--> To make Gengar faster than he already is. Outspeeds most things. Also to effectively utilize Destiny Bond when Gengar is about to be KO'd

EV's:
4 HP, 252 Speed, 252 Spc. Atk
252 Spc. Atk. to increase attack power, 252 speed for increased speed, rest in HP for slightly more survivability

Move List:
Focus Blast -->To take out normal types primarily.
Shadow Ball -->STAB move to take out other ghosts and psychic pokemon
Thunderbolt -->Takes out flying types. Also deals with water types quite well.
Destiny Bond -->When he's about to be KO'd, destiny bond takes the enemy with him.

3. Starmie

Spc. Atk./Semi-Stall (not really sure what to call it..)
Item:
Leftovers

Ability:
Natural Cure

Nature:
Modest

EV's:
4 HP, 252 Speed, 252 Spc. Atk

Move List:
Cosmic Power -->Boost defenses of Starmie to astronomical levels (hehe). Increases his chance for survival. Used in conjunction with Recover, Starmie becomes quite strong in terms of defense.
Surf -->STAB move
Ice Beam -->To take out grass types primarily. Also useful when it inflicts Freeze.
Recover-->Used in conjunction with Cosmic Power, can be used to stall.
Note: I use Starmie generally as a replacement to Kingdra once Kingdra is KO'd. I'll switch in Starmie onto a stall pokemon, or something a move he will resist, and raise his defenses. After that Surf and Ice Beam can be used for attacking.

4. Tyranitar

Mixed Attacker
Item:
Leftovers

Ability:
Sand Stream

Nature:
Sassy

EV's:
252 HP, 76 Attack, 4 Defense, 176 Spc. Atk
76 Attack makes it so that while he OHKO's ghost and psychic pokemon, he can also damage other pokemon (who do not resist Crunch). 176 Spc. Atk. does the same thing except for special attacks. 252 EV's in HP and 4 in Defense ensure maximum survivability given 256 EV points.

Move List:
Crunch -->Can take out most psychic and ghost type pokemon.
Rock Polish -->Tyranitar's speed is terrible. However, if I get a chance to get a Rock Polish in, his speed isn't that bad. Not great, but it becomes average.
Thunderbolt -->Takes out waters with great ease.
Flamethrower-->Mainly to counter Scizor, but is also great at taking out other steel/grass/bug pokemon.

5. Flygon

Physical Attacker
Item:
Leftovers

Ability:
Levitate

Nature:
Adamant

EV's:
4 HP, 252 Attack, 252 Speed

Move List:
Dragon Claw -->For other Dragons.
Earthquake -->Deals with electric pokemon with great ease.
Quick Attack -->Priority attack to take out weakened pokemon or pokemon who hold focus sash.
Protect-->For scouting purposes, also to allow more healing from leftovers.

6. Snorlax

Counterlax
Item:
Leftovers

Ability:
Thick Fat/Immunity (I'm not quite sure which one is better. Immunity helps with toxic/toxic spikes, but thick fat allows less damage to be taken overall.)

Nature:
Adamant

EV's:
252 HP, 4 Attack, 252 Defense

Move List:
Counter -->The specialty of this set. With the EV spread Snorlax can take a hit. Several hits infact (as long as they're not fighting). He can also survive at least 1 fighting attack given that it's not focus punch.
Crunch -->Allows Snorlax to be effective against ghost pokemon.
Body Slam-->STAB move which also causes paralysis.
Curse-->If I get a chance, I can turn this Counterlax into a Curselax to maximize his attacking capabilities.

In general, people seem to be surprised to see a Kingdra lead. Most times I can set up Rain Dance pretty easily. Once that's up, I use Surf/Ice Beam/Signal Beam depending on the situation. Gengar is primarily to take out water and flying types. However he's also quite effective being a revenge killer. He always manages to take out at least 2 pokemon. Starmie is generally to replace Kingdra once he's KO'd. However with Cosmic Power Starmie can attack effectively while taking several hits. Tyranitar has many uses, and with his EV spread, he can effectively take 1 or 2 super effective hits from water or grass pokemon and take them out with flamethrower or thunderbolt. Snorlax takes out physical attackers easily with counter. Flygon is the resident earthquaker and takes out electric pokemon.

 

[aznmastah54]

bump

 

[wacky tabaky]

Kingdra I would have Draco meteor instead of signal beam as it is a very strong STABed move so instead of surf have waterfall to fall back on after the sp att drop.
Gengar is fine.
I have never seen a defensive starmie but rapid spin should be put in so snorlax can have thick fat as immunity then won't be needed.
Tyranitar is perfect as he is
Quick attack is to weak but it doesn't have any other priority attacks(it should have Espeed like look at it) but it should have either:one of the element punches/stone edge/arial ace I would have stone edge it offers more super effective coverage mainly against flying.
Snorlax should have thick fat as this orientates on defence so the special helps with that. Why do you have max defence when your using counter don't you want as much damage dealt to you so you can launch it back at them.

 

[EssTeehDeeh]

Kingdra is Ok as a lead, but I think too many people would open with a Pokemon that knows Electric type moves (I.E. Dragonite), For instance, My Magneton beat loads of hard Water types with a quick Lock On + Thunder combo with a focus sash kinda makes the lead redundant, beware! Considered a Tyranitar for a Wall/Annoyer/Lead?

 

[bubbly]

Eeek. Okay, there are quite a few problems with this team, a lot of them because of the somewhat strange sets you are using. First of all I'd just like to point out that using Rain Dance Kingdra and Tyranitar, which automatically removes Rain, is somewhat counterproductive. Due to the predominance of Focus Sash on leads your Kingdra isn't very effective either since against many common leads they will have enough time to lay down a hazard and then attack.
Anyway, now I'm just going to examine what the biggest threats to your team are and how we can fix them:

-Breloom = Pretty basic here, you just don't have a counter to this guy and he has ample opportunity to come in against Snorlax and on his first Spore. Once he comes in he basically will be killing something every time.
-Dragonite = Again, if Rain Dance isn't up (meaning Kingdra can revenge kill), a DD set will basically go through your entire team. Mixed is also extremely dangerous since it OHKO's every member.
-Gyarados = Same problem, easily sets up and will 6-0 you since you have no counters.
-Lucario = This one doesn't set up as easily. Agility sets can go straight through every member, SD only fears your Gengar.
-Machamp = Again, no counter.
-Metagross = Again essentially a clean sweep, unless you can sacrifice Starmie from full health to put it into LO recoil range.
-Scizor = OHKO's most of your team, you can't really damage it bar possibly luring it into Tyranitar.

There are quite a few others, such as Suicune and Zapdos, but these are the main offensive threats you have. They are all extremely extremely serious and many will basically mean you will lose if you're playing against anyone decent. As you pointed out you also have a minor stall weakness but the offensive threats are clearly much more dangerous. So, to fix these problems:

Gyarados @Leftovers, Adamant nature, 156 HP / 72 Atk / 96 Def / 184 Spe
-Dragon Dance
-Taunt
-Waterfall
-Stone Edge/Earthquake/Bounce

This guy should go in place of your Starmie since it covers Infernape and Heatran just as well and is the best general stop to your current issues. This still leaves problems with Dragonite, Gyarados, and Metagross, as well as a couple of minor threats. First off I think a Choice Scarf Rotom-W, from its analysis page, should be substituted over Gengar, which acts as a good counter to Gyarados and Metagross as well as a strong general purpose revenge killer. Its Trick can help a lot against stall too.

Finally, I think that you need both Stealth Rock, and some Steel type, on this team. Stealth Rock is almost essential to keep a number of top tier threats in check, as well as allowing you to rack up hazard damage by switching around. Having one Steel type is also essential since it is the only resist to Dragon in the game, meaning without one something like a ScarfFlygon or Dragonite can cause ridiculous amounts of damage. I'm going to recommend a Specially Defensive Skarmory, but if you decide you don't like that Bronzong is a good choice too.

So, this is leaving you with: Skarmory, Gyarados, Tyranitar, Rotom-W, Snorlax, Flygon. This is defensively pretty decent but a bit inefficient. First off using Tyranitar and Snorlax together is rarely a good idea since they have many of the same counters, as well as coming in on the same pokemon. Snorlax's Counter and Curse sets are not as effective as they have been in the past (although its CB set is good), so I would say replace him with something else and keep your Tyranitar, although changing the set to Dragon Dance Tyranitar. This set works well alongside the Taunt + DD Gyarados I suggested earlier, since Gyarados sets up against the Fighting and Ground types which are usually brought in to stop Tyranitar, while Tyranitar can set up on Rotom-A which is the most common Gyarados counter.

Okay, so now we have a nice core of Skarmory/Gyarados/Rotom-W/Tyranitar. There are still a couple of remaining issues. Starmie is one, although we have a decent counter in Rotom-W. Shaymin could also be difficult to deal with, as well as Tyranitar, while we can't do much damage to the Steel types like physically defensive Skarmory which can wall both of Tyranitar and Gyarados, our sweepers.
There are quite a few options you can use to cover these pokemon. One which I'll suggest is to use an Expert Belt Flygon with Fire Blast. The point here is that nearly all Flygon have Choice Scarf, meaning that by using Expert Belt you can pretend that you have Choice Scarf. This commonly draws in Skarmory and co., who you can then Fire Blast for massive damage. Flygon also covers Tyranitar pretty decently.
Last pokemon needs to sort of cover both Grass types and Water types, both of whom can potentially be difficult. I'm going to recommend a Specially defensive Roserade, with Toxic Spikes, Sleep Powder, Grass Knot, and Hidden Power Ice.


Huh. I realise I sort of just remade your whole team :) Anyway, these changes will definitely be beneficial for your team if you choose to use them. In conclusion I'm suggesting your team should look like:

1. Skarmory (specially defensive, Stealth Rock + Spikes)
-Gyarados (bulky DD with Taunt)
-Rotom-W (Choice Scarf)
-Tyranitar (Dragon Dance @ Lum Berry/Life Orb)
-Flygon (Expert Belt lure)
-Roserade (midgame Toxic Spiker)

Good luck!