A question

Frazzel

First of all apologies if this kind of thread has already been written/discussed,
I had small search and couldn't find something exactly like this, but I digress, my question is this, how do you start building an offensive team? I'm kinda at a loss as to where to start, because from what I know offensive teams don't really have any solid rules to go by, no need for a special wall etc.

So if someone could give me some pointers for where I should start building this attacking team I would be greaty appreciative
 
Heh, funny someone asks this question right after I finish experimenting with them for the night

I'm not TOO experienced with them, as with the above statement, but here's what I noticed

1) Keeping up pressure on the enemies. Make them counter you - rather than countering them. Basically you are in control of the game's flow.
2) Good set of resistances and immunities are always helpful - as with things that are pretty fast. Intimidate is a very valuable ability since it allows you to switch in easier.
3) Speed is pretty important - since you're not really going to try and take hits. If it's something slower (aka Gyarados) that need a DD, make sure it can damage it's usual counters, or work around that concept. A "general wall" is also quite helpful - things such as Bronzong and Jirachi are very helpful.
4) Priority moves so you can revenge kill if you screw up.

Don't be afraid to sacrifice - but something I noticed with the teams is that you need quite a bit of experience with them before you can use them effectively. The more experience you have the more you know how you can deal with it.
 
ahh thanks, yes I see. So with the first pokemon I have should that be a choice scarf pokemon or something. Or should I try building a offensive core, just finding it hard to know where to start really.
 
I've been focusing on offensive teams for a while now too. Tangerine hits it on the nose. A few things I'll add are:

Your goals:

1-force lots of switches
2-be able to switch in to certain attacks, and then not counter the target, but be a large threat to pretty much everything.
3-in other words, instead of trying to counter stuff, you need to be able to just dish out damage in general.

For instance, take Gyarados' waterfall. It's not an attack like stone edge that can take out specific targets, but it lets gyarados dish out quite a bit of damage each time it comes in. Infernape will be wanted Overheat > Flamethrower for instance.

While in a standard team, your sweepers will be wanting to set up half the time to go for a full sweep, in an all offensive, each member has got to be able to dish out damage on-the-go. In otherwords, nape doesn't have time to be nasty plotting-- after all the effort of getting it, it wants to blast ass on whatever it can. I've seen blissey stay in on infernape and take 40%+ from Overheat on occasion, believe it or not (and sometimes be knocked out by it, not expecting that degree of damage).

I'd say you want a good set of resistances/immunities, and a mix of high speed and high bulk, so not all gengars and infernapes, but not all tyranitars and gyarados either.
 
I have and still do play a lot of offensive teams, so I'll try to give some advice.

Tangerine hit on some good general rules, so I'll try to be more specific.

Your lead is very important. It will set the pace of the game. Things like Lum Berry Bronzong and Focus Sash taunt/SR/explosion Azelf are very good candidates, since they beat out almost every other lead (even if they have to explode to do it).

Where the rocks at? Set up Stealth Rocks as soon as you can. They will often ensure a 1-2HKO, and they stop focus sash, the bane of the offensive team.

Explode! Your team will likely have trouble with certain walls, and having a couple of explosion users really comes in handy. It's also a great way to turn an 11% HP poke into an extra KO.

Trick your opponent into sacrificing their important walls. If you are running DD Tyranitar, SD Lucario, and SD Garchomp, then it would be a useful idea to give TTar ice beam or Lucario HP Ice to get through Gliscor.

Resist Berries. The game will not last too long if all goes well, so in a lot of cases the resist berries are more useful than leftovers. Yache Garchomp is an obvious choice; Chople Berry TTar is a great Gengar killer; Wacan Gyarados will net you an extra DD (and a OHKO) against Starmie.

Stat ups. Dragon Dance TTar and Gyara will outspeed and 1-2HKO their counters after a single boost; Nasty Plot Infernape has so few counters it's almost a joke; SD Chomp is pretty much a staple.

Don't switch as much as normal. Offensive teams are ironically wrecked by opponents' stat-ups, so if you don't have a great counter to something it's often best to not let it set up.

Abuse abilities, resistances, and immunities. Tangerine touched on this, but it's so important that it must be stated again! Without proper walls you won't have a surefire counter to too many pokemon, so be sure you use pokes that have a lot of resists/immunities (e.g. Gengar, Lucario), damage reducing abilities (e.g. Intimidate, TTar's Sandstream, Sand Veil), and generally decent defenses (Garchomp, TTar, Metagross)

Sleep. It might as well be a KO. Though these moves are usually high risk, the reward is so great that it's tough to pass up if you can fit them in.

aaaaaaaaa Toxic Spikes. If you can fit a Toxic Spikes user onto your team, you will not be disappointed. Toxic Spikes help deal with opponents' offensive threats, in addition to providing predictable switches for you to capitalize on. As a sort-of bonus, offensive teams are generally very bad against toxic spikes, so having a grounded poison to clear them up is very helpful.

If I think of anything else I'll edit it in.
 
Tangerine and TAY have provided you with useful information that you should take on board when building an 'offensive' team, but they're merely guides/tips from experience - don't overlook 6 random Pokemon, saying "that doesn't fit the specifications", because it all comes down to actually playing the team. Believe me, even something as random as: Gengar, Infernape, Starmie, Azelf, Deoxys and Metagross, will work wonders so long as you can play as well as you originally built the team.

I don't see how one of my most successful, yet oldest offensive team was cohesive at all (because it simply was not), but I managed to play around to victor in the majority of my matches due to playing considerably well.

Generally speaking, there is no such thing as a 'well built' or 'poorly constructed' offensive team at all - at the end of the day, if that team wins you games then you would be inclined to think it's a formiddable and successful force.

I know I haven't directly answered your question, but due to the fact that both Tangerine and TAY covered the basics, there weren't anything else I could've helped you with.
 
Almost everything has been covered, so I'll put in one little bit of advice: keep the pressure on your opponents enough to not let them set up too many Spikes. You can't always fit a Rapid Spinner into an offensively based team, so it is imperative that you either have plenty of resistances to Toxic Spikes/Spikes/Stealth Rock or you are able to play fast enough to not give your opponents a chance to do anything. For example, sure they can try to set up Toxic Spikes, but if you have Gyarados setting up Dragon Dance ready to sweep their whole team, does it even matter? Or more realistically, would they even try to set it up? No.

Listen to the advice that everyone has left; all of them are very experienced battlers and know what they're talking about. Good luck!
 
One thing to definitely try out is to alter some spreads to punish the opponent's predictions. While having bulkier Pokemon with resists can be really helpful in offensive team use, it can wreak a whole lot of havok when someone thinks they're switching into a 12 attack EV Dragon Dancing Gyarados and gets smacked with a 252 CB Waterfall.
 
heh glad this got a few more replies, and all good ones at that.

anyways thanks everyone,this thread has really helped me build my offensive team ^__^
 
Also I think an important part of heavy offensive teams is the inability to be defensively set up on. What I mean by that is avoid using Pokemon that things like Skarmory, Zong, Swampert, Gliscor, etc can easily set up on. Allowing one or 2 of those is usually fine, but Pokemon like Metagross which let a large array of defensive Pokemon come in and lay rocks are definitely what you should be avoiding.

Also a Pokemon I'd strongly recommend for all offensive teams is Deoxys-e. Offensive teams can sometimes have problems if a good offensive setup pokemon comes in (say Gyarados comes in on Infernape or something). Instead of using a scarfer for that revenge kill you can just use deoxys-e so that after you revenge kill it with d-e rather than say a Scarfgar Tbolt, your opponent can't just switch in Garchomp and get another free setup turn.
 
Offensive teams are all about forcing your opponent to keep up with you. This is how I started out playing in DP, and it is still a great form of play. Chou touched on a subject that I want to reiterate. Find pokemon that can do huge damage to everything.

I used Choice Specs Lucario in one of my early DP teams. The reason Specs Lucario was (and still is) so great, is because it damages EVERYTHING. Fighting has always been a great attacking type, and Aura Sphere is a great fighting attack. There are only a few instances where you will find yourself having to Dark Pulse / Dragon Pulse instead. Another example here is Garchomp. Garchomp doesn't have great SE type coverage, but Outrage / Earthquake 1-2HKO a lot of pokemon.

Another thing I like taking into account is the speed of play. Using pokemon such as Infernape (without Nasty Plot) and Deoxys-E allow you to threaten almost everything that switches in. You're not taking a turn to set up, which means you get an extra attack for type coverage, and often times this is all you will need.

Finally, like Jabba said, don't let yourself get set up on. Letting Skarmory get 2-3 layers of spikes will really hinder your team. Same with Toxic Spikes, and sometimes stealth rock. Most offensive teams don't have the room or the time to utilize a Rapid Spinner, so you need to count on your ability to not let your opponent set these things up.
 
Really nothing to offensive teams. Everything was pretty much said already.

A strong lead is very important, I always prefer a pokemon with taunt, to absolutely make sure Stealth Rock / Spikes / Status don't start the match. It's all about flow, and taunt happens to be the most gamebreaking move IMO.

Pick the hardest hitters. You may or may not like seeing Gengar, Infernape, Azelf, Lucario, Gyarados, Garchomp, etc., but they hit the hardest and aren't walled very easily. Make sure all of them can break down walls or beat their counters, because that is the bane of an offensive team.

Stay on the offensive. Force a lot of switches, hell double switch if you have to. It's all about pressure.

Encore is a move that really helps... frail teams such as these because it allows your Garchomp / Gyarados to set up, and prevents you from getting set up on. Wob is actually a fantastic addition to offensive teams.

Explosion... abuse it. ABUSE this move.

Focus Sash, while it may be a "noob item," if you can keep residual damage off the field with your pressure, it can save your ass from a deadly sweep, or allow Gengar that extra turn to explode on something, etc. Very gamebreaking.
 
Perhaps we ought to make an article about this, so we can use this information even after this thread has disappeared from the front page.
 
RaikouLover said:
.....Pick the hardest hitters. You may or may not like seeing Gengar, Infernape, Azelf, Lucario, Gyarados, Garchomp, etc., but they hit the hardest and aren't walled very easily. Make sure all of them can break down walls or beat their counters, because that is the bane of an offensive team....
Click to expand...

Inspired by this thread, I decided to create an offense-only team using sweepers I already had. It has every single Pokemon you mentioned there in it, and I did that before you posted this. :P

I've only played 1 wifi game with it, but it wrecked shit.

Try to make sure your lead-in does at leat decent agianst Gengar and Bronzong, since they're popular leads.
 
Deoxys-E with Taunt, Psychic, Thunderbolt, and Ice Beam is a great lead in general and for offensive teams as well, since most players prefer to start games with hypnosis or stealth rock. It might not be a bad idea to have multiple pokemon with taunt.
 
Bronzong's superior in general to Deoxys' attacks and wouldn't hesitate to attack with Gyro Ball if you had initially used Taunt. Gyarados' Taunt is much more effective, as it can take advantage of the situation by setting up Dragon Dance or use it as bait to discover the opponent's Gyarados counter. Use Deoxys as a late-game sweeper to clean up the remains of the opposing team, so keep its identify sealed until the time is right.
 
One thing I like to do when playing offensively is to try not to have Pokemon that are walled by the exact same defensive walls. It's commonly been said that in DP, you can't counter EVERYTHING. So take advantage of this. As MoP said, a defensive staple is the most overrated thing in offensive teams. Get 6 sweepers. Pick them smart. Your opponent can counter a few, but the ones they can't will run through their team. I'm not going to spell out which Pokemon to use, because a lot of BL and even some UU things will work fine as well. But I'm just going to say that if you take this approach when you build a team, Deoxys is a staple. I'm mentioning this because I don't think it gets much love, and as Jabba mentioned - its great.
 
ultimatefreshness said:
One thing I like to do when playing offensively is to try not to have Pokemon that are walled by the exact same defensive walls. It's commonly been said that in DP, you can't counter EVERYTHING. So take advantage of this. As MoP said, a defensive staple is the most overrated thing in offensive teams. Get 6 sweepers. Pick them smart. Your opponent can counter a few, but the ones they can't will run through their team. I'm not going to spell out which Pokemon to use, because a lot of BL and even some UU things will work fine as well.
Click to expand...

Actually, a strategy that I have found to work well is to use several sweepers which are walled by the same things. If you give one of them a non-standard move to beat that poke in a single shot, then the rest of your sweepers will have an easy time. To restate an example from my earlier post, if your team has TTar, Garchomp, and Lucario, then if you give TTar or Luke Ice Beam/HP Ice, you will be able to easily clear out gliscor and their main counter to your threats will be eliminated. I guess what this comes down to on a basic level is knowing what walls your team, and preparing your team to beat it. This is a lot easier to do when you have several sweepers which are stopped by the same three or four walls. In addition, having each member of your team countered by a different poke would theoretically allow your opponent to use a different full-health poke to counter each of your threats, whereas if they are countered by the same thing you can deal some damage to the opponent's wall and send the next sweeper in to finish where the last guy left off.

Sixonesix said:
Perhaps we ought to make an article about this, so we can use this information even after this thread has disappeared from the front page.
Click to expand...
I am definitely interested in this. I get home (finally!) tomorrow, so i'll look into it and hopefully get started then.
 
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