Balanced Offensive 5th Gen Team

[Cosmic Donut]

Hello all. Long time lurker. In 4th gen I just played with whatever pokemon I felt like using without TOO much thought if the team fit together nicely or not. This time around since a lot of my friends are playing I am deciding to step my game up a bit and try to make a solid team that I can fall back on. Well here is what I came up with from looking around Smogon and other reading and research.

My team:

Mienshao "LetsFtnLuv" @

Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Atk, 6 Sp.Atk, 252 Speed
Hasty (+Speed, -Defense)
-Fake Out
-U-Turn
-Hi Jump Kick
-Hidden Power [Ice]

Mienshao can serve as a lead for this team, similar to an Ambipom or Infernape "Sash-Breakinging" lead. Fake Out makes it so that leads with Focus Sash can't do their job since they rely on the Focus Sash to do so. They would either have to switch to prevent the Sash from breaking or hope they can survive a STAB Hi Jump Kick or U-turn. Hidden Power Ice is for later in the game, when I can revenge kill slower threats weak to Ice. Regenerator is an amazing ability that works great with U-turn, letting me scout, deal damage, and recover a bit of HP for later in the game. Mienshao also resists Stealth Rock which is amazing.

Ferrothorn "OwMyBalls!" @

Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP, 10 Def, 248 Sp.Def
Relaxed (+Defense, -Speed) (0 Speed IV)
-Gyro Ball
-Stealth Rock
-Leech Seed
-Thunder Wave

Ferrothorn serves a lot of purposes for this team. His main purpose is to set up rocks. Since this pokemon carries a long list of resistances and immunities, as well as high defensive stats, he can come in on a resisted attack and set up rocks. He could even possibly survive another attack after setting up rocks. After he has rocks down, he can cripple the enemy team with Thunder Wave, allowing Azumarill to do his job a lot better. Ferrothorn has Leech Seed for recovery since he is lacking the Leftovers. Gyro Ball lets Ferrothorn get some damage out versus other Grass types or Magic Guard pokes.

Azumarill "Trix!!" @

Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 226 HP, 252 Atk, 16 Def, 16 Sp.Def
Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack)
-Waterfall
-Aqua Jet
-Ice Punch
-Superpower

This cute aquarabbit does a whole lotta damage! Usually never enough to OHKO, but he leaves a pretty big dent in whatever he touches. Also, I don't have too much exposure to 5th gen, but he counters Balloon Excadrill pretty nicely from what I have read with Aqua Jet. Paralysis really helps Azumarill late game too, since he can ensure OHKOs since he will be faster than his crippled target. I thought of replacing Ice Punch with Toxic to cripple walls, but that would mean that Venusaur and Toxicroak would force me out and they are pretty nasty this gen. The EVs in defense are for a wee bit of bulk to go along with my massive health pool.

Darmanitan "Hefner" @

Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk, 6 Def, 252 Speed
Jolly (+Speed, -Special Attack)
-Flare Blitz
-Rock Slide
-U-turn
-Superpower

Darumaaaaaaaa. I love this guy. His Flare Blitz hit like a monster, even when not very effective. I needed a dedicated revenge killer and a fire type (I like a Fire/Water/Grass core for my team usually) so I chose this guy. His movepool gives his decent coverage and the scarf allows him to outspeed slower sweepers and kill them with a Flare Blitz. This guy is weak to rocks though, and with FB recoil he can only come in a few times but he usually gets the job done.

Latias "Sonte" @

Ability: Levitate
EVs: 160 HP, 96 Def, 252 Speed
Timid (+Speed, -Attack)
-Dragon Pulse
-Calm Mind
-Roar
-Recover

This Latias counts as a wall of sorts. It is a counter to Reunculus as well. This dragon is so bulky that it can even take non STAB Ice Beams, and hit back hard with a +1 Dragon Pulse. Recover helps to shake off damage mainly from sandstorm and to keep her in the game for later as well. I usually save Latias for mid game after I have scouted the team with U-turns and forced switches. The Lum Berry is so that she won't die to toxic or be crippled by paralysis.

Thundurus "Chad" @

Ability: Prankster
EVs: 6 Def, 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Speed
Timid (+Speed, -Attack)
-Nasty Plot
-Thunderbolt
-Hidden Power [Ice]
-Taunt

Chad is a bro. When I was making this team I realized that I was lacking on the Special Attack side, as well as missing Thunderbolt from my team. So I searched and found a decent special attacker that can even boost his own stats and sweep. Thundurus has a large movepool so he can keep the opponent on their toes when I send him out. I could bluff a scarf early game versus faster pokemon weak to electric, but I have to be careful because Thundurus does not have good defenses. After a Nasty Plot, Thundurus can OHKO many pokemon with a STAB Thunderbolt, and almost any dragon with HP Ice after SR damage. I would rather use Focus Blast than Taunt, but I do not have another Taunt user on my team so I NEED Taunt to prevent people from setting up. It also has priority which is a huge plus versus baton passers.


Threats and Flaws:
The reason I am posting here is for team critique to help me basically cover my flaws as much as possible and help to beat certain threats.

Flaws:

• 2 Pokes weak to SR but no Spinner
• Weak to Toxic Spikes
• May need a better scarfed pokemon, lots of other scarf users have higher base speed than mine.
• May need an Anti-Weather pokemon (one that can put up Sunny Day basically)
• May need lefties on Thundurus rather than Life Orb

Threats:
I am not very up to date on specific threats but the ones I do know I tried to cover with this team (Reunculus, Balloon Excadrill, Chandelure). If anybody could point out other pokemon that could run through my team I would appreciate that.

Edit: If my descriptions are not long enough let me know so I can try to expand them.

Thanks for looking at my first RMT.

 

[Cosmic Donut]

24 hour bump. Please help!

 

[haunter]

As you have probably noticed, your team has massive troubles with weather teams which, currently, are dominating the metagame. You're absolutely massacred by Sun teams in particular. When the sun is up a basic growth Venusaur or BD Volcarona can easily 6-0 you after a single turn of setup. In my opinion this team has the potential to become a pretty solid rain dance team.

So let's start with your weather summoner:

Politoed (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump / Boil Over
- Focus Blast
- Hypnosis
- Ice Beam


I suggest that you use this "lead" instead of your Mienshao. Politoed is bulky enough to switch into opposing weather changers and threaten them with its stab water attacks. FB and ice beam are there for coverage and hypnosis can immediately disable things like the Lati@s that may come in on your water attacks. Politoed also works perfectly in tandem with your current core of Azumarill (boosting to insane levels its already powerful water moves) and Ferrothorn (weakening random hidden power fire from the likes of Latios and Magnezone).

At this point you have to replace Darmanitan with something else. My suggestion is Scizor:

Scizor (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Roost

Scizor adds another sweeper to your team while also giving you the chance to revenge kill things like a weakened Salamence or DNite. Superpower is preferred to bug bite as most rain teams have troubles with Ferrothorn and you can ohko it after a SD. You also have Latias to cover CM Reuniclus, so a bug move doesn't look necessary to me. Leftovers is for survivability but you can opt for life orb if you need more immediate power.

Last but not least: go with leftovers and focus blast on your Thundrus. After a NP you'll be already able to 1-2hko everything you need to and I can tell from experience that leftovers helps a lot if you're facing SS teams. As for focus blast, you desperately need it to get past Ferrothorn and specially defensive TTar among the others. Don't worry about taunt, there's literally nothing capable of setting up on a +2 Thundrus.

I believe I've covered everything but this is my first actual rate in a long time, so bear with me, lol.

 

[Cosmic Donut]

WThanks a lot for the tips, Haunter. It seems I need to break away from always having a grass/fire/water type on my team because it can usually hurt me. I will definately get on to having a politoed and a replacement for Darmanitan. Scizor seems really nice because the rain would weaken fire attacks against it and it may be able to survive a non stab hit.

Question: Is Drizzle Politoed currently obtainable in B/W?

 

[haunter]

Yes, drizzle Toed has been released in DW so it's obtainable ingame. I have no clue how easly you can get it though, if you're playing on the cartridge you may take a look at our WiFi section, somebody may trade you one. Good luck with your team.