Hello Smogon University. I was just wondering about the team which I have been using for quite some time and was thinking what all suggestions and comments you all can give me. I've won a decent amount of matches with this team, though never really got around 1700s with this team. I made this team considering all the major threats in the tier, meaning I won't be swept by a Bulky Quiver Dance Volcarona or a Keldeo under the rain or a Dragon type.
Skarmory (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spd
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
This is kind of a standard Physically Defensive set for Skarmory with some significant changes. I have kept both types of entry hazards so that every type of Pokemon gets some damage when enemy brings his Pokemon in. Stealth Rock is my main priority as it ensures that enemy's Pokemon will take damage [because Spikes misses out on Flying types and Levitate which can me major threat such as Dragonite, its very important to break it's Multiscale]. If I'm lucky, I can get another layer of entry hazard which is my Spikes. Roost if for slowly killing off Life Orb Physical attackers and Whirlwind is for ensuring that no one sets up on Skarmory. The bad part is that Taunt instantly makes this set useless, though Taunt isn't a very popular move anyways, mostly Deoxys-D uses it which isn't seen very much these days at least for me.
Terrakion @ Choice Band
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Earthquake
A standard Banded Terrakion. Hits extremely hard, very useful with its excellent coverage and above average speed. The main purpose is simply to possibly take out an enemy's Pokemon and then switch according to the situation. Its Fighting type allows to hit a very strong Close Combat and that typing means it won't be taking much from Stealth Rock. Stone Edge is another strong STAB move taking care of a number of Pokemon, mainly Flying/Dragon types. X-Scissor is important for dealing huge damage on Deoxys-D and other Psychic and Dark types. I know Smogon hates Earthquake but its a strong Ground type move which has been very useful.
Banded Terrakion is a BEAST, if you don't resist, you'll most likely be going down.
Jellicent (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Taunt
In my opinion, Jellicent is the best support Pokemon in the tier. Its extremely useful sue to its typing and ability and the excellent movepool it has. Scald is a general attacking move to deal some damage. Will-O-Wisp allows to instantly cripple physical attackers which other wise would hinder Jellicent. This is very useful as usually a Physical Attacker would switch in to counter Jellicent, and just on that switch, assuming the move doesn't miss, the Pokemon gets burned. Recover is for staying on the battlefield for a long time and Taunt is for making other defensive Pokemon useless.
This is not the end, there's more to it, its Ghost typing makes is a Spin Blocker of course as I wouldn't want my Skarmory's efforts wasted. Since Keldeo is such a big threat, every team really needs an answer to it. Even when Keldeo has Specs, this set of Jellicent never would be 2HKO'ed by it. Though I have to watch out for Sub Calm Mind Set.
Salamence (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 64 Atk / 192 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
I wanted to use a Dragon type on my team. At first I thought of Latios, but I don't like it that much. Garchomp was my next thought, which has slightly higher speed than Mance, but problem with Garchomp was that it can't run a mixed set. Fire move, offensively is an important move [Or else Ferrothorn is a nightmare for you], and the best it had was Fire Fang which is weak despite Garchomp's high Attack. Salamance seemed perfect. Monstrous Attack, decent Special Attack and decent Speed. Draco-Rage, Fire Black and Earthquake all together has excellent coverage while investment in both attacking stats makes it really hard for the enemy to survive a hit for this set [Oh and the Life Orb boost as well!] Though the problem is that Stealth Rock really hinders this Pokemon and Life Orb further makes sure that it'll die quickly.
Scizor (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Superpower
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
Ah, the king of the tier, Scizor. No wonder why its always one of the most or the most used Pokemon of any month. Great Pokemon. Excellent typing. Excellent typing. Excellent ability. Excellent movepool. The idea it to get up a Swords Dance and start sweeping. With +2, its really hard to survive any moves, no matter what, you'll need a Pokemon who resits all moves such as Gyarados or Jellicent or Volcarona or Physical Wall, or else you'll likely to be whooped by this bug. This is my main sweeper with Life Orb to get further boost while attacking, common is there anything else to say? Everyone knows this very well. The only bad thing about this is the 4x weakness to Fire, which are usually Special which my Jellicent can take like a boss. I'd say, these are great Pokemon paired up. Both cover each other's weakness very nicely.
Alakazam (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball
Easily the best Revenge Killer in Pokemon history in my opinion. Strong STAB Psychic for taking care of Pokemon suck as Keldeo and other Fighting types. Focus Blast speaks for itself, which has great coverage and can take down the mighty T-tar. We all knows Dragons have greats stats and are strong, once they set up, its hard to deal with them, that's why its important to pack an Ice type move on your team to deal with them, so that's why HP Ice is there. Shadow Ball is another coverage move taking care of Ghost and Psychic types such as Espeon and Gengar.
So that's my team. Now there are some obvious flaws in my team:
-Not having a Rapid Spinner.
-Small issue, but important, no electric type move. Gyarados might create problems.
-Some specific sets of some Pokemon can create problems such as Breloom, Latias, Toxicroak.
Of course there are some more problems with this team, I would really like to hear all of your suggestions and comments for my team. Thank you for reading!
Skarmory (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spd
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
This is kind of a standard Physically Defensive set for Skarmory with some significant changes. I have kept both types of entry hazards so that every type of Pokemon gets some damage when enemy brings his Pokemon in. Stealth Rock is my main priority as it ensures that enemy's Pokemon will take damage [because Spikes misses out on Flying types and Levitate which can me major threat such as Dragonite, its very important to break it's Multiscale]. If I'm lucky, I can get another layer of entry hazard which is my Spikes. Roost if for slowly killing off Life Orb Physical attackers and Whirlwind is for ensuring that no one sets up on Skarmory. The bad part is that Taunt instantly makes this set useless, though Taunt isn't a very popular move anyways, mostly Deoxys-D uses it which isn't seen very much these days at least for me.
Terrakion @ Choice Band
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Earthquake
A standard Banded Terrakion. Hits extremely hard, very useful with its excellent coverage and above average speed. The main purpose is simply to possibly take out an enemy's Pokemon and then switch according to the situation. Its Fighting type allows to hit a very strong Close Combat and that typing means it won't be taking much from Stealth Rock. Stone Edge is another strong STAB move taking care of a number of Pokemon, mainly Flying/Dragon types. X-Scissor is important for dealing huge damage on Deoxys-D and other Psychic and Dark types. I know Smogon hates Earthquake but its a strong Ground type move which has been very useful.
Banded Terrakion is a BEAST, if you don't resist, you'll most likely be going down.
Jellicent (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Taunt
In my opinion, Jellicent is the best support Pokemon in the tier. Its extremely useful sue to its typing and ability and the excellent movepool it has. Scald is a general attacking move to deal some damage. Will-O-Wisp allows to instantly cripple physical attackers which other wise would hinder Jellicent. This is very useful as usually a Physical Attacker would switch in to counter Jellicent, and just on that switch, assuming the move doesn't miss, the Pokemon gets burned. Recover is for staying on the battlefield for a long time and Taunt is for making other defensive Pokemon useless.
This is not the end, there's more to it, its Ghost typing makes is a Spin Blocker of course as I wouldn't want my Skarmory's efforts wasted. Since Keldeo is such a big threat, every team really needs an answer to it. Even when Keldeo has Specs, this set of Jellicent never would be 2HKO'ed by it. Though I have to watch out for Sub Calm Mind Set.
Salamence (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 64 Atk / 192 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
I wanted to use a Dragon type on my team. At first I thought of Latios, but I don't like it that much. Garchomp was my next thought, which has slightly higher speed than Mance, but problem with Garchomp was that it can't run a mixed set. Fire move, offensively is an important move [Or else Ferrothorn is a nightmare for you], and the best it had was Fire Fang which is weak despite Garchomp's high Attack. Salamance seemed perfect. Monstrous Attack, decent Special Attack and decent Speed. Draco-Rage, Fire Black and Earthquake all together has excellent coverage while investment in both attacking stats makes it really hard for the enemy to survive a hit for this set [Oh and the Life Orb boost as well!] Though the problem is that Stealth Rock really hinders this Pokemon and Life Orb further makes sure that it'll die quickly.
Scizor (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Superpower
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
Ah, the king of the tier, Scizor. No wonder why its always one of the most or the most used Pokemon of any month. Great Pokemon. Excellent typing. Excellent typing. Excellent ability. Excellent movepool. The idea it to get up a Swords Dance and start sweeping. With +2, its really hard to survive any moves, no matter what, you'll need a Pokemon who resits all moves such as Gyarados or Jellicent or Volcarona or Physical Wall, or else you'll likely to be whooped by this bug. This is my main sweeper with Life Orb to get further boost while attacking, common is there anything else to say? Everyone knows this very well. The only bad thing about this is the 4x weakness to Fire, which are usually Special which my Jellicent can take like a boss. I'd say, these are great Pokemon paired up. Both cover each other's weakness very nicely.
Alakazam (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball
Easily the best Revenge Killer in Pokemon history in my opinion. Strong STAB Psychic for taking care of Pokemon suck as Keldeo and other Fighting types. Focus Blast speaks for itself, which has great coverage and can take down the mighty T-tar. We all knows Dragons have greats stats and are strong, once they set up, its hard to deal with them, that's why its important to pack an Ice type move on your team to deal with them, so that's why HP Ice is there. Shadow Ball is another coverage move taking care of Ghost and Psychic types such as Espeon and Gengar.
So that's my team. Now there are some obvious flaws in my team:
-Not having a Rapid Spinner.
-Small issue, but important, no electric type move. Gyarados might create problems.
-Some specific sets of some Pokemon can create problems such as Breloom, Latias, Toxicroak.
Of course there are some more problems with this team, I would really like to hear all of your suggestions and comments for my team. Thank you for reading!
