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Concerning mono-type teams
- Thread starter Blastotle
- Start date
And Delibird gets crushed by Stealth Rock. In Advance, I did run a team made exclusively of Flying and Levitating Pokemon because I got sick of Skarmory's Spikes, and it was reasonably successful. If Flying mono allowed Levitating Pokemon, Claydol would be an excellent Spinner.
Edited that for you :P
The people I'll be facing will unfortunatly know that the team is flying (or that at least 4 of them will be part flying), so I can't really hope for some wins.
Mono-poison teams should also be quite formiddable on paper. They only possess two real weaknesses which do have counters in the form of Weezing, Crobat, Drapion and Skuntank who do stop them dead.
Then throw in the fact some of the most diverse pokemon in the game are dual poison type.
-Venusaur, a seriously bulky leech seeder, support and sleeper.
-Tentacruel. Difficult to defend against in general, one of the most powerful in UU and still poses a threat in standards.
-Gengar, this needs absolutely no introduction.
-Toxicroak, immunity to water, high physical offense and excellent moves.
-Seviper, quite an effective status absorber actually.
-Vileplume, Sunnybeam, Cleric duties, you name it.
Then throw in the fact some of the most diverse pokemon in the game are dual poison type.
-Venusaur, a seriously bulky leech seeder, support and sleeper.
-Tentacruel. Difficult to defend against in general, one of the most powerful in UU and still poses a threat in standards.
-Gengar, this needs absolutely no introduction.
-Toxicroak, immunity to water, high physical offense and excellent moves.
-Seviper, quite an effective status absorber actually.
-Vileplume, Sunnybeam, Cleric duties, you name it.
Wow, got lots of good replies :)
I was actually giving serious consideration to a mono-Poison team. It's true that Poison gets no love at all in the pokemon games, it's only supereffective against one type and it is weak to two, one of which is very common. But if I could get around EQ reliably enough, the team could do pretty well.
Gengar and Weezing would be obvious.
Tentacruel would be a good special wall, plus he's just awesome.
Nidoking and Drapion could work as physical sweepers.
Then factor in the Grass/Poisons like Venusaur and Roserade for support, or more offense.
I really think it could work.
I was actually giving serious consideration to a mono-Poison team. It's true that Poison gets no love at all in the pokemon games, it's only supereffective against one type and it is weak to two, one of which is very common. But if I could get around EQ reliably enough, the team could do pretty well.
Gengar and Weezing would be obvious.
Tentacruel would be a good special wall, plus he's just awesome.
Nidoking and Drapion could work as physical sweepers.
Then factor in the Grass/Poisons like Venusaur and Roserade for support, or more offense.
I really think it could work.
Look into Muk too, its a complete physical powerhouse with heavy spcl.def/HP.
Also actually theres a better role for Drapion if you look, you might notice it can learn Knock Off and Whirlwind/Roar plus has some hefty defense ideal for psuedo-hazing. It can Aerial Ace too making it a decent Heracross stopsign and the dual Dark typing gives you somewhat a defense against being Psychic swept.
Also actually theres a better role for Drapion if you look, you might notice it can learn Knock Off and Whirlwind/Roar plus has some hefty defense ideal for psuedo-hazing. It can Aerial Ace too making it a decent Heracross stopsign and the dual Dark typing gives you somewhat a defense against being Psychic swept.
Tsk, no love for the Rock-Teams.
I use one myself. I've yet to build it, but it works pretty well. Of course, when you have Sp. Def of over 9000 with Cradily, who wouldn't? Actually, Rock has some decent coverage, each can support each other. If you lack spinning, even something as simple as Kabutops can do it, while there are possible choices of even Omastar and Armaldo (but Armaldo is weak to Stealth Rock...). Aerodactly takes Earthquakes like a pro. Tyranitar is the bad-ass sweeper. Rhyperior, Golem, and a couple of mentions make good defensive users. Hell, I'll even give props to Solrock, it's an excellent Trick Room user. Then there's the other physical sweeper of doom: Rampardos. :naughty:
So yeah, mine was structured around Sandstorm, and needs a couple tweaks, but maybe I'll give it another shot.
It's a pity that Fire-Type's only spinner is Torkoal. Otherwise, you'd have to carry something like Magmortars with Scarfs and HP Ice. >_>
I use one myself. I've yet to build it, but it works pretty well. Of course, when you have Sp. Def of over 9000 with Cradily, who wouldn't? Actually, Rock has some decent coverage, each can support each other. If you lack spinning, even something as simple as Kabutops can do it, while there are possible choices of even Omastar and Armaldo (but Armaldo is weak to Stealth Rock...). Aerodactly takes Earthquakes like a pro. Tyranitar is the bad-ass sweeper. Rhyperior, Golem, and a couple of mentions make good defensive users. Hell, I'll even give props to Solrock, it's an excellent Trick Room user. Then there's the other physical sweeper of doom: Rampardos. :naughty:
So yeah, mine was structured around Sandstorm, and needs a couple tweaks, but maybe I'll give it another shot.
It's a pity that Fire-Type's only spinner is Torkoal. Otherwise, you'd have to carry something like Magmortars with Scarfs and HP Ice. >_>
I had a Mono tournament with a few of my friends on NB, and I was MonoNormal, and really, I liked it so much that I used that monoNormal team for a while, and it ended up being one of my most succesful teams. It wasn't an 100% mono team because we were allowed to cover our weaknesses with one pokemon, so I went with Dugtrio to revenge kill Hera and Medicham and other things that could 6-0 me... but damn I liked that team alot, something like Dodrio / P2 / Clefable / Lax / Zangoose / Dugtrio...
MonoPsychic is great too, Meta / Cham / Zam / Cressy / Bronzong / Starmie sounds like alot of fun, although obviously Heracross is an ass.
MonoPsychic is great too, Meta / Cham / Zam / Cressy / Bronzong / Starmie sounds like alot of fun, although obviously Heracross is an ass.
Perhaps, but I see Ground having a hard time dealing with any typical Starmie or bulky Water. You'd need half the Ground/Water crew in your team just to avoid getting ran over by any Water pokemon packing both Surf and Ice Beam.
And aside the aforementioned Claydol (or a very Specially defensive Swampert), the team just can't handle Special attackers in general. Camerupt and Steelix aren't exactly strong on the Special end, so despite their grass neutrality they won't be eating a lot of STAB Balls/Knots (eww) and can't hope to absorb Leaf Storm. Most any strong, non-Electric Special attacker can tear through a mono-Ground team.
Hippowdon's Sand Stream is pretty sexy, though. Too bad it doesn't offer you the same benefit as T-Tar's Sand Stream does on a mono-Rock team.
Special Defense loaded Quagsire or Mirror Coat Gastrodon/Swampert can deal with the likes of Starmie. Quags switches into Surf flawlessly. As to Leaf Storm/Grass Knot, granted it puts a damped on a lot of things. You'd likely need a sacrifice to get Mamoswine in, but CB Adamant Ice Shard rips into a ton of Grassers. There's also Fagtrio, who Sucker Punches things like Alakazam back to hell and can KO a weakened Starmie.
The grounds do have quite a lot of problems with Gengar (especially Subbing Gars) and Mismagius though. The way you'd run a ground team is likely to emphasize offense, but have a few tricks like Mirror Coat and Trick Room up your sleeve.
Do also remember mono-ground has access to one of the most powerful mosters in the game, Garchomp. Flygon can belt out a Draco Meteor as well. SpecsFlygon might be Specsmence lite, but it still rips a massive hole in anything with Draco Meteor. Nidoking can do any damn thing you want it too.
Ground also has the added perk of being almost universally resistant to Stealth Rock.
So basically: Hippowdon starts up Sandstorm and gives an advantage to your entire team for free, Scarfchomp with Outrage can probably kill off most of your problems, Dugtrio is the revenge killed from hell, Quagsire can throw Earthquake at nearly any bulky water to weaken it into Chomp or Duggy kill range, and Yawn something like Slowbro. You then have two slots left, and can choose something like the Nidos or Gliscor for a fighting resist; Flygon for CSpecs abuse; Steelix for a mighty physical wall, normal resist, and Boomer; or Rhyperior/Mamoswine for massive CB Damage action. There are other choices of course, but this is a logical way to look at how a Ground monoteam can respond to threats.
Yea they never get any love. They get a 1.5 boost while Ice Types get nothing. And Rhyperior can take EQ as well.
Off-Topic: SpecsFlygon is actually pretty cool, and if you can believe it, it can get a "tad" bit better coverage than Salamence. Fire Blast / Draco Meteor / Giga Drain / Earth Power is usually the one I use. Specs Flygon also gets the ability to take on Swampert better.
Besides the point, here are probably the best "Mono-Teams" that I can think of, anyways.
Ground: Access to Swampert, Dugtrio, Garchomp, Flygon, Nidos, Gliscor, Claydol, and many others, including Hippowdon for Sandstorm abuse, Golem / Rhyperior can take advantage of the Sandstorm. Camerupt also shares Solid Rock like Rhyperior, just somewhat worse stats, and somewhat better typing. There's quite a bit of coverage from everyone for everyone.
Rock: Believe it or not, Rock has excellent coverage. As well as TTar starting Sandstorms, this makes Cradily a staple. Aerodactyl, Rampardos (to a lesser extent), Rhyperior, Golem, Solrock / Lunatone (TRICK ROOMZ!), Relicanth... the list goes on. Basically, anything with Aero, TTar, and Cradily, will cover some weaknesses that Rock has. Let's not forget Regirock, with his Superior 200 Base Defense + Sandstorm covers... a lot of things.
The reason to mention Rampardos is one thing: Mold Breaker.
Water: Thank GOD Water has some nice coverage. The mixed typing helps as well. Swampert, agian, is a mention, but Quagsire can absorb Water. Gyarados comes in the form of Intimidate, and Dragon Dancing, however, Feraligatr can brag some of this as well. Blastoise, Tentacruel, Starmie, Cloyster, and Omastar, come in the form of Rapid Spinning. Some have the Ice-Type as well, so it helps. Actually, Dewgong can come to mind with Rain Dance + Rest + Hydration. Ludicolo can benefit from Speed Boost from the Rain, or even some more welcomed HP for it. Speaking of which, Ludicolo is one of the only Waters that can SubSeed. Vaporeon can Baton Pass Aqua Rings... I guess. There's a lot of benefits in Water, no joke.
Steel: This is to a lesser extent, but comes in the form of Heatran. Skarmory and Bronzong can counter EQ, and if you want to consider it, Magnezone and Probopass can trap. Aggron is decent and cool and all, but needs help from surviving Close Combat somewhat. Scizor, Bronzong, and Forretress brag only being weak to Fire even, which Heatran covers. Steelix has Ground attribute, so he can take Electric Attacks quite well. And of course, let's not forget our sweeping friend Metagross.
Bug: Yes... Bug. Seems like a wierd mention, but it's true, Bugs are pretty useful. Forretress and Scizor return for some more fun here. Forretress is the Spinner of choice here. Yanmega can boast Speed Boost + Hypnosis, and can really put a world of hurt on teams. Shuckle comes useful here as well, with his High Defenses, expect him to stay a while. Heracross and Pinsir brag one thing: power. While Heracross benefits Guts, Pinsir brags Mold Breaker. Venemoth can take some hits like a pro, and Sleep Powder can come in handy somewhat. Plus, he suffers no Roost drawback like Scizor. Speaking of which, Bugs have a lot of Baton Passing, so this can come to mind as well.
There's a lot of examples of what each type has, but these, other than Psychic, which I didn't mention, because a lot of them have been mentioned in here. Grass lacks a little as far as some defenses, other than Toterra, but does come in the form of Status Effects. Dragon is pretty awesome and powerful, but Ice shuts it down. Normal has a lot of bragging power with Ursaring, Porygon-Z, Smeargle, and the ever-loved Togekiss, but also get Pokemon like... Regigigas. >_>
Just some examples. Steel looks interesting actually. Hehe...
Besides the point, here are probably the best "Mono-Teams" that I can think of, anyways.
Ground: Access to Swampert, Dugtrio, Garchomp, Flygon, Nidos, Gliscor, Claydol, and many others, including Hippowdon for Sandstorm abuse, Golem / Rhyperior can take advantage of the Sandstorm. Camerupt also shares Solid Rock like Rhyperior, just somewhat worse stats, and somewhat better typing. There's quite a bit of coverage from everyone for everyone.
Rock: Believe it or not, Rock has excellent coverage. As well as TTar starting Sandstorms, this makes Cradily a staple. Aerodactyl, Rampardos (to a lesser extent), Rhyperior, Golem, Solrock / Lunatone (TRICK ROOMZ!), Relicanth... the list goes on. Basically, anything with Aero, TTar, and Cradily, will cover some weaknesses that Rock has. Let's not forget Regirock, with his Superior 200 Base Defense + Sandstorm covers... a lot of things.
The reason to mention Rampardos is one thing: Mold Breaker.
Water: Thank GOD Water has some nice coverage. The mixed typing helps as well. Swampert, agian, is a mention, but Quagsire can absorb Water. Gyarados comes in the form of Intimidate, and Dragon Dancing, however, Feraligatr can brag some of this as well. Blastoise, Tentacruel, Starmie, Cloyster, and Omastar, come in the form of Rapid Spinning. Some have the Ice-Type as well, so it helps. Actually, Dewgong can come to mind with Rain Dance + Rest + Hydration. Ludicolo can benefit from Speed Boost from the Rain, or even some more welcomed HP for it. Speaking of which, Ludicolo is one of the only Waters that can SubSeed. Vaporeon can Baton Pass Aqua Rings... I guess. There's a lot of benefits in Water, no joke.
Steel: This is to a lesser extent, but comes in the form of Heatran. Skarmory and Bronzong can counter EQ, and if you want to consider it, Magnezone and Probopass can trap. Aggron is decent and cool and all, but needs help from surviving Close Combat somewhat. Scizor, Bronzong, and Forretress brag only being weak to Fire even, which Heatran covers. Steelix has Ground attribute, so he can take Electric Attacks quite well. And of course, let's not forget our sweeping friend Metagross.
Bug: Yes... Bug. Seems like a wierd mention, but it's true, Bugs are pretty useful. Forretress and Scizor return for some more fun here. Forretress is the Spinner of choice here. Yanmega can boast Speed Boost + Hypnosis, and can really put a world of hurt on teams. Shuckle comes useful here as well, with his High Defenses, expect him to stay a while. Heracross and Pinsir brag one thing: power. While Heracross benefits Guts, Pinsir brags Mold Breaker. Venemoth can take some hits like a pro, and Sleep Powder can come in handy somewhat. Plus, he suffers no Roost drawback like Scizor. Speaking of which, Bugs have a lot of Baton Passing, so this can come to mind as well.
There's a lot of examples of what each type has, but these, other than Psychic, which I didn't mention, because a lot of them have been mentioned in here. Grass lacks a little as far as some defenses, other than Toterra, but does come in the form of Status Effects. Dragon is pretty awesome and powerful, but Ice shuts it down. Normal has a lot of bragging power with Ursaring, Porygon-Z, Smeargle, and the ever-loved Togekiss, but also get Pokemon like... Regigigas. >_>
Just some examples. Steel looks interesting actually. Hehe...
Mono-Bug can have an absurd number of OU pokemon on the team while still retaining a number of good resistances. Scizor, Ninjask, Heracross, and Forretress and Yanmega for the OU pokemon for example.
Mono-Normal and Mono-Water deserve mentions as well... but they aren't as "cool" as mono-bug. IMO, mono-bug is underestimated... but the obvious mono-normal (Ambipom/Tarous, Blissey, Togekiss, smeargle) and mono-water (Rain Dance Swift Swim Kabutops, Bulk Up baton-pass Floatzel, Swampert / Quagsire / Gastrodon (Swampert is probably the standard choice, but Gastrodon gets recover making an interesting bulky water choice), Gyarados, Hypnosis Milotic, Suicune, Ludicolo... water is absurd)
But yeah, Bug is the way to go for baton pass, mono-water will do excellent in the rain, and mono-normal seems like fast choice-users who can hit and run to Blissey / Miltank / Snorelax / any other tank.
Mono-Normal and Mono-Water deserve mentions as well... but they aren't as "cool" as mono-bug. IMO, mono-bug is underestimated... but the obvious mono-normal (Ambipom/Tarous, Blissey, Togekiss, smeargle) and mono-water (Rain Dance Swift Swim Kabutops, Bulk Up baton-pass Floatzel, Swampert / Quagsire / Gastrodon (Swampert is probably the standard choice, but Gastrodon gets recover making an interesting bulky water choice), Gyarados, Hypnosis Milotic, Suicune, Ludicolo... water is absurd)
But yeah, Bug is the way to go for baton pass, mono-water will do excellent in the rain, and mono-normal seems like fast choice-users who can hit and run to Blissey / Miltank / Snorelax / any other tank.
I've been running a mono-poison team on Shoddy pretty similar to that and have had moderate success. I say go for it!
I'm pretty sure Forretress has never been OU, at best only BL regions.
Mono-bug is horribly weak in coverage for the fact no matter what combination you use its always going to be fire, rock or stealth rock raped. Bug probably come second second after Ice in terms of worst possible mono-type teams.
Even then Bug types in general lack a half decent special attacker and general physical coverage making them prone to being walled.
It doesn't take much to figure out that only special offense you have is Yanmega who doesn't have much in the way of attacks that don't get walled by Steel or Rock.
Speaking as someone who has used semi mono-bug teams before they are lacklustre even with BP and Heracross at their disposal.
Massive difference from typings like water, ground or poison who have immunities/neutralities through dual typing or traits.
I personally from my experience tend to class the types into these categories as far as mono-type teams are concerned. Important thing to note is these are not tiers in anyway....well except the last group which is the downright losers category.
-Water, Ground, Poison-
These types have a ridiculously good number of dual typing combinations/traits and access to alot of moves and common strategies and power. Generally best all-round.
-Dragon, Steel, Psychic, Normal-
Have access to an obscene ammount of powerhouses but have difficulty covering one glaring weakness which can be exploited.
-Grass, Ghost-
Generally lacks power/diversity but has such strong access to support and moves it can deliver a different take on things.
-Dark, Fighting, Electric, Rock-
Generally need more thought put in due to more or harder to cover weaknesses or have some issues offensively but still have the power and access to moves to perform well.
-Flying, Fire, Bug, Ice-
Have severe coverage issues both offensively and defensively and lack of ability to deal with many common strategies.
I see Psychic as one of the single best mono teams and wouldn't ever place it above Poison in this regard, but whatever floats your boat, I'm not going to argue about that for hours. Just note that Psychic has Metagross, Bronzong and Jirachi who all have some of the best defensive stats and typings to cover any weakness.
It really depends on which Heracross you're facing. Choice Band is no contest because Alakazam is faster and will get the jump on it if you can make the sacrifice. Choice Scarf means you need to rely completely on the 3 dudes, Bronzong/Metagross/Defensive Jirachi, without Mega Horn/Pursuit/Night Slash weak. 2/3 of those can Explode on it, meaning it's not actually a battle. Adamant Heracross is weak to Choice Scarf Jolly Medicham's Psycho Cut in either instance.
To be very honest, that's not the reason why CBMegahorn would be stopped, it's more because it can't even OHKO the neutral Pokes to it, and would be slower than most of the ones that can OHKO it to begin with, not to mention it'll be hardpressed to even get in without the Hera user sacrificing first.
ScarfCross however, fails to 2HKO the 3 Steel/Psychics, all of which can learn Reflect, as well as Jirachi being able to Wish itself and other team members.
As for other types, I'd generally avoid mono teams that fall to Infernape, which includes four popular types in Rock, Grass, Normal and Steel.
ScarfCross however, fails to 2HKO the 3 Steel/Psychics, all of which can learn Reflect, as well as Jirachi being able to Wish itself and other team members.
As for other types, I'd generally avoid mono teams that fall to Infernape, which includes four popular types in Rock, Grass, Normal and Steel.
I run a decently going Mono-Ice team, with Cloyster as spinner and half Infernape counter (FS and Explode) and Regice. Abomasnow leads, brings in the hail and subseeds. Hits also hard. Weavile and teh Mammoth for physical beating and covering. And another thing (I can't remember) for special attacks.
Can you explain how Cloyster can come in, or switch in after a kill and survive against Infernape, unless you're using a Scarf Cloyster.
As for special attacks that you mention, perhaps if you're talking about Special Attacking, Glaceon, or absorbing, maybe Articuno?
As for special attacks that you mention, perhaps if you're talking about Special Attacking, Glaceon, or absorbing, maybe Articuno?
Well I did clearly state I'm not exactly placing it lower. Since to be honest typings like Dragon hit so hard that they just don't distinguish between typings.
I scoff at Ground being a "best all-around." Needs to be switched with Psychic in Forsety's list thingy.
As an aside, Electric is probably better than ever now that Electivire can act as a physical threat for the team. Unfortunately, Motor Drive is as bad as no ability at all in a mono-type.
What makes Infernape such a threat to Rock? They have high defense in general so CC isn't liable to OHKO most of them and anything that isn't 4x weak to Grass can probably take even a once-NPed Grass Knot with the SpD boost in play. Infernape will also be worn down very quickly by Sand Stream carrying its typical Life Orb, it'll get OHKOed by a large majority of the team, and Aerodactyl is faster if it somehow still ends up being a threat.
Sceptile and Jumpluff are faster, many Grassers are bulky enough to force Infernape to take a turn Nasty Plotting, and it has a hard time getting in without a sacrifice because Leech Seed and status effects make it cry. A CB set with Flare Blitz could be a worry, however.
Normal, lewl. There's really no need to explain why Normal is so potent. Infernape could be replaced by any number of Fighters in this context.
Steel perhaps, but they have so many resistances in general that not much else scares them. The Steel/Psychic would probably need to handle him and Lucario usually packs a priority move that can do a number on Infernape. Heatran and Empoleon can probably be EVed physically bulky to survive a Close Combat too, but I'm not sure.
And mono-teams in general have more obvious weaknesses, so it's easier to take note of that and cover with better Reflect-Light Screen support. Since your team largely shares the same weaknesses, you can also throw a resistance berry on a couple team members.
As an aside, Electric is probably better than ever now that Electivire can act as a physical threat for the team. Unfortunately, Motor Drive is as bad as no ability at all in a mono-type.
What makes Infernape such a threat to Rock? They have high defense in general so CC isn't liable to OHKO most of them and anything that isn't 4x weak to Grass can probably take even a once-NPed Grass Knot with the SpD boost in play. Infernape will also be worn down very quickly by Sand Stream carrying its typical Life Orb, it'll get OHKOed by a large majority of the team, and Aerodactyl is faster if it somehow still ends up being a threat.
Sceptile and Jumpluff are faster, many Grassers are bulky enough to force Infernape to take a turn Nasty Plotting, and it has a hard time getting in without a sacrifice because Leech Seed and status effects make it cry. A CB set with Flare Blitz could be a worry, however.
Normal, lewl. There's really no need to explain why Normal is so potent. Infernape could be replaced by any number of Fighters in this context.
Steel perhaps, but they have so many resistances in general that not much else scares them. The Steel/Psychic would probably need to handle him and Lucario usually packs a priority move that can do a number on Infernape. Heatran and Empoleon can probably be EVed physically bulky to survive a Close Combat too, but I'm not sure.
And mono-teams in general have more obvious weaknesses, so it's easier to take note of that and cover with better Reflect-Light Screen support. Since your team largely shares the same weaknesses, you can also throw a resistance berry on a couple team members.
