Hi everyone, I am a casual/semi serious battler who enjoys doing this for fun and would like some critique to this team I have created. This is my first competitive gen so learning this metagame has been a tough learning curve compared to a lot of people who have many years of experience over me... But it's fun and easy to do in my free time.
This is not a super stellar or innovative team, but I think some of you might appreciate it for what it is. I'm in a rut fluctuating between 1500-1600 area right now, so before I proceed further with this team I thought i'd take the time for smogon to break my team down and see if there's anything I can work on before I proceed further.
My goal was to create as balanced a team as possible. Lots of priority, not too many weaknesses, gets hazards up, and a way to clear hazards. This team does have three pokemon weak to fire type attacks, but I have clearly covered that with 3 other pokemon who resist fire attacks... Other than that, the weaknesses on this team are spread pretty evenly. I feel what I have in balance I lack in true raw power... I don't have that one guy I feel sometimes that can truly set up and sweep my opponent effectively... & talonflame just seems to take too much recoil and has too much to counter it in the current meta game... Maybe i'm not making all the right moves, that's just the feeling I have with this team.
I have not built this team around a specific pokemon or a specific threat, so I would not be against changing a poke or two if it's needed to make this team better... For anyone who is nice enough to critique this team (which I would appreciate since I took the time to write this myself ).
Mamoswine @ Focus Sash
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Icicle Spear
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
I think mamoswine is amazing, checks a lot of great pokes forcing pokes like lando, gliscor, dragonite, garchomp, etc to switch allowing me to get up rocks. Oblivious allows me to avoid getting taunted trying to set up my rocks, thinking of switching it up to Thick Fat though to save myself getting wrecked by fire type attacks. I choose focus sash so I can usually guarantee hitting a poke twice. He's a great lead, but I prefer to usually counter lead depending on what opponent has... I like keeping my focus sash and forcing people to switch in lieu of just sending him in as a suicide lead. Mamoswine should be pretty self explanatory, a lot of threats in the metagame are 2x/4x weak to ice/ground attacks.
Breloom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Spore
- Rock Tomb
- Superpower
This set might require some explanation. I'm using this set to surprise my opponent. The most common set would be to have a focus sash but this particular set has gotten me out of a pinch in many battles. Bullet Seed needs no explanation, stab + technician plus hoping to hit opponent several times. Superpower OHKO chansey after rocks are up, rock tomb hits bird spam switching in. I don't think spore will be popular with many people having a choice scarf, but there's a lot of things that can switch into a breloom without consequence... But switching into a threat or putting a threat to sleep that needs it has gotten me out of so man pinches in battles.
Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Healing Wish
- Defog
This should be a pretty self explanatory set to all... I was a latios fan for a while, but after discovering Healing wish i've fallen in love. I love me some healing wish... This move can take me from losing to winning a game. Draco meteor is an amazing move that can OHKO or completely rock the HP of switch ins to anything that doesn't resist dragon moves. And psyshock is a great stab move to cover chansey switch ins, have coverage against mega venusaur etc., Defog gives me hazard coverage which I need on my team due to having talonflame.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
My physical wall, my answer for talonflame, my will-o-wisp support, my volt-turn switch in priority. I might try out the resto/chesto set for this team down the line, but this rotom set does work with leftovers recovery and annoyance from pain split. My big problem with rotom is he gets worn down easily with low base HP. But for his typing he fits in really well to this team, I feel like I need to switch him in often during matches (which is why i'm complaining about him getting worn down).
Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 84 Atk / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
Bulky Swords dance standard Mega-Scizor set, I really like this. I can switch into a lot of attacks (that aren't fire) & roost forcing a switch. This gives great coverage against dragons (as long as they can't set up on me) and fairies. This is prolly my favorite switch into Lati@s (as long as no HP FIRE - 6.3% chance to OHKO). Knock off is great support + technician/stab/priority bullet punch. Scizor fits nicely on this team as a special/bulky wall that can set up and do lots of work to peoples teams.
Talonflame @ Leftovers
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Swords Dance
- U-turn
Smogon bird! I love talonflame... U-turn gives me volt-turn support to give me an advantage with switch ins, Brave bird priority bird spam is amazing, flare blitz hits hard and fast, and swords dance lets me set-up against death fodder to sweep opposing teams. I like leftovers to get health back from recoil of BB/FB. I might need to invest in roost, and often in matches I feel I have to sac a poke to get rid of rocks to keep this guys health up. Rocks are a huge problem, I find myself needing to sac my latias just to clear rocks off the field (which in turn i lose my rocks, but talonflame cannot win you the game with rocks on the field).
So I hope this is decent little write up, tried to keep it simple...
