Hey Smogon,
It's been a while since I posted here. I checked my inbox and it seems that my last post was sometime around 8 years ago. I've been playing plenty of pokemon since then - I didn't play much 5th gen but when I heard they were doing ORAS I went out and got a 3ds and a copy of X. I got into competitive battling again after finding out how easy it is to breed competitive pokemon, especially since I have a full set of dittos for breeding any hidden power or just straight up perfect IVs.
Anway, I've been using this team both on Showdown and on my cart to a good amount of success, so I figured I'd see how you guys thought I could improve.
Team:
Let's start with my favorite team member, Zapdos.
Zapdos @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Heat Wave
I built this team around Zapdos because I happened to get a really good one on my X after only a few hours of SRing. This is my most frequent lead. I usually Volt Switch for damage and to switch to the appropriate mon, though I've been able to get quite a few surprise KOs by anticipating a Landorus switch in. Given the prevalence of Landorus, and to a lesser extent Gliscor, Hidden Power Ice is invaluable on Zapdos. I've actually found myself killing off the aforementioned threats more often than double weak dragons. The choice scarf really helps me take out things like Garchomp, +1 Dragonite, or really most anything that's not scarfed. Heat Wave takes out Ferrothorn and Scizor. 0 Atk for minimum foul play and confusion damage.
Though Zapdos is my favorite pokmeon, Bisharp is perhaps the most important member of my team.
Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
Bisharp's most important function is to switch into defoggers, most often Lati@s. Then at +2, he can often take out 1-3 members of the opponent's team. Pursuit is super useful to kill off the latis once the've realized the huge mistake they made in using defog. Everything else is pretty obvious - Knock Off for realiable STAB and its side effect, Iron Head for killing fairies, and Sucker Punch to kill before Bisharp is killed first. Black Glasses over life orb because I've been stopped in the middle of a sweep by recoil before and it sucks.
At first I thought having once choice scarf mon was enough, but I found myself getting cock blocked by DD Charizard X, so I got a Scarfchomp.
Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 SpA / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Stealth Rock
In addition to revenge killing anything without a scarf and many things with one, Scarfchomp is also my SR setter. It's not my favorite configuration - many times I find myself wishing that I could attack after setting rocks - but being able to revenge kill is more important. Otherwise, base 100 speed scarfers could be a big threat for me.
In putting the team together, I realized I needed to be able to clear hazards, as I find myself relying on Zapdos's Volt Switch quite a bit, so I chose Starmie.
Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Psychic
Bulky Starmie. Switch in, rapid spin, attack or switch out. I've been running recover on my Starmie since I started using it, but Mega Venusaur kind of has a field day with my team so I'm trying out psychic. I could get rid of Ice beam but it's great for disposing of Thundurus on the switch, and I can't not have scald or Heatran walks all over my team.
Stealth Rocks aren't quite enough hazards for my team, as I find I cause a lot of switches with just Garchomp and Zapdos. So I needed a spiker, and I picked Klefki.
Klefki @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Foul Play
- Spikes
Dual Screens ftw. Seriously, having screens on Klefki has saved my ass more times than I can count. Sometimes I'll lead off with Klefki if the opponent's team calls for having dual screens up from the start. If not, it's very handy to have waiting in the wings to take a rock attack meant for Zapdos, an ice attack meant for Garchomp, or even a fairy attack meant for Sableye. I usually just try to set up screens and lay down as many layers of spikes as I can, though if they send in their rapid spinner or defogger I'll switch to the appropriate counter. Which leads me to the last mon on the team:
Sableye @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
Ah Sableye, perhaps the best spinblocker the game has ever seen. He doesn't like fairies or any moves with a 30% chance of burn/poison, but other than that he'll take most attacks like a champ. The only spinner that gives him trouble is Acid Spray Tentacruel, but I've not seen any in a little while. Plus, Magic Bounce is always an amazing ability, even more on a defensive pokemon like M-Sableye (as opposed to, say, M-Absol) though people are more familiar with it now than a the start of ORAS. Sableye is mostly used for his ability and to take attacks that the other team members can't handle.
Well that's it for the team. As for threats, the biggest threat I've noticed so far is Mega Venusaur. None of my mons can do over half to physically defensive variants, and it can just stall out attacks with synthesis. Any suggestions?
I've been having few other problems with specific pokemon, though. What do you guys think of my team?
It's been a while since I posted here. I checked my inbox and it seems that my last post was sometime around 8 years ago. I've been playing plenty of pokemon since then - I didn't play much 5th gen but when I heard they were doing ORAS I went out and got a 3ds and a copy of X. I got into competitive battling again after finding out how easy it is to breed competitive pokemon, especially since I have a full set of dittos for breeding any hidden power or just straight up perfect IVs.
Anway, I've been using this team both on Showdown and on my cart to a good amount of success, so I figured I'd see how you guys thought I could improve.
Team:
Let's start with my favorite team member, Zapdos.
Zapdos @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Heat Wave
I built this team around Zapdos because I happened to get a really good one on my X after only a few hours of SRing. This is my most frequent lead. I usually Volt Switch for damage and to switch to the appropriate mon, though I've been able to get quite a few surprise KOs by anticipating a Landorus switch in. Given the prevalence of Landorus, and to a lesser extent Gliscor, Hidden Power Ice is invaluable on Zapdos. I've actually found myself killing off the aforementioned threats more often than double weak dragons. The choice scarf really helps me take out things like Garchomp, +1 Dragonite, or really most anything that's not scarfed. Heat Wave takes out Ferrothorn and Scizor. 0 Atk for minimum foul play and confusion damage.
Though Zapdos is my favorite pokmeon, Bisharp is perhaps the most important member of my team.
Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
Bisharp's most important function is to switch into defoggers, most often Lati@s. Then at +2, he can often take out 1-3 members of the opponent's team. Pursuit is super useful to kill off the latis once the've realized the huge mistake they made in using defog. Everything else is pretty obvious - Knock Off for realiable STAB and its side effect, Iron Head for killing fairies, and Sucker Punch to kill before Bisharp is killed first. Black Glasses over life orb because I've been stopped in the middle of a sweep by recoil before and it sucks.
At first I thought having once choice scarf mon was enough, but I found myself getting cock blocked by DD Charizard X, so I got a Scarfchomp.
Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 SpA / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Stealth Rock
In addition to revenge killing anything without a scarf and many things with one, Scarfchomp is also my SR setter. It's not my favorite configuration - many times I find myself wishing that I could attack after setting rocks - but being able to revenge kill is more important. Otherwise, base 100 speed scarfers could be a big threat for me.
In putting the team together, I realized I needed to be able to clear hazards, as I find myself relying on Zapdos's Volt Switch quite a bit, so I chose Starmie.
Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Psychic
Bulky Starmie. Switch in, rapid spin, attack or switch out. I've been running recover on my Starmie since I started using it, but Mega Venusaur kind of has a field day with my team so I'm trying out psychic. I could get rid of Ice beam but it's great for disposing of Thundurus on the switch, and I can't not have scald or Heatran walks all over my team.
Stealth Rocks aren't quite enough hazards for my team, as I find I cause a lot of switches with just Garchomp and Zapdos. So I needed a spiker, and I picked Klefki.
Klefki @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Foul Play
- Spikes
Dual Screens ftw. Seriously, having screens on Klefki has saved my ass more times than I can count. Sometimes I'll lead off with Klefki if the opponent's team calls for having dual screens up from the start. If not, it's very handy to have waiting in the wings to take a rock attack meant for Zapdos, an ice attack meant for Garchomp, or even a fairy attack meant for Sableye. I usually just try to set up screens and lay down as many layers of spikes as I can, though if they send in their rapid spinner or defogger I'll switch to the appropriate counter. Which leads me to the last mon on the team:
Sableye @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
Ah Sableye, perhaps the best spinblocker the game has ever seen. He doesn't like fairies or any moves with a 30% chance of burn/poison, but other than that he'll take most attacks like a champ. The only spinner that gives him trouble is Acid Spray Tentacruel, but I've not seen any in a little while. Plus, Magic Bounce is always an amazing ability, even more on a defensive pokemon like M-Sableye (as opposed to, say, M-Absol) though people are more familiar with it now than a the start of ORAS. Sableye is mostly used for his ability and to take attacks that the other team members can't handle.
Well that's it for the team. As for threats, the biggest threat I've noticed so far is Mega Venusaur. None of my mons can do over half to physically defensive variants, and it can just stall out attacks with synthesis. Any suggestions?
I've been having few other problems with specific pokemon, though. What do you guys think of my team?
