Empoleon Epidemic

[martinky24]

My most recent team, composed of some of my favorite pokemon, while still working pretty well together:

So this team looks pretty standard at first, and i suppose it is. Alot of the movesets are somewhat standard, and yet suprising to most people also. The recent petaya-poleon epidemic on RMT got me wanting to try it out as well, and it did suprise me.

Alot of the things I usually look for when creating a team arn't on this team either. Most of my team hides behind subs, is faster than the opponent, or has natural cure, so a status absorber wasn't necessary. I didn't think of specific poke's that needed to be countered, or anything like that. I did manage to find ways around that though, and here we go.

Standard FlailGyra
Intimidate, Adament, with a Liechi
->Substitute
->Waterfall
->Flail
->Dragon Dance

This looks like an interesting lead, and it is I guess. This guy combines a couple of my favorite things into one. I always liked Gyarados, but so do most people so that's not saying much. Hiding behind subs, while raising my stats is also something I also frequently use.

So this guy usually takes care of the opposing lead, and if he can't I swith out to something better fitted to. He's not afraid of SR, like most sub-flail users because he loses 25%, the same amount as a sub.

I really don't have much to say about this guy. He doesn't look like he's all that special, but he works well and is pretty cool...

BP Jolteon
Volt Absorb, Timid, with Lefties
->Substitute
->Wish
->Charge Beam
->Baton Pass

This guy fits in so well with the rest of my team, it's ridiculous. He easily takes thunderbolts so commonly thrown at Gyarados, all the while restoring HP. Getting at least +1 special attack will benefit Empoleon or Togekiss greatly. Passing a wish to Empoleon and Togekiss negate stealth rock damage, and also manage to get rid of the damage taken on that turn.

He has great synergy with the poke's that he usually passes too. If I feel that an EQ is coming, I will pass to 'Kiss in order to keep the sub. If pretty much anything else is coming, I pass to Empoleon. With only one common weakness (EQ, which is dealth with), the sub usually lives.

LO-paraflinch-kiss
Serene Grace, Modest, holding a Life Orb
->Thunder Wave
->Air Slash
->Aura Sphere
->Roost

This is one of those pokes that made me wish that there were 5 moveslots, for Nasty Plot. Anyone wanna talk about broken? Anyway, as I alluded to before, this guy works well with Jolteon. Thunder Wave and Air Slash are the staples of this set. Aura Sphere, mostly for steels. Roost because LO damage adds up quickly. Togikiss also has decent defences, and can take hits, particularly special ones, well.

Support Celebi
Natural Cure, Bold, and holding Lefties
->Thunder Wave
->Leech Seed
->Perish Song
->Grass Knot

I've tried a couple different move sets, and I found this one to work best for me. Thunder wave is a good move in general, but especially for my team. While one of my other poke's is trying to set up, free parahax is always appreciated. Leech seed is mostly for annoyance, but also to prevent a poke from setting up too much. Celebi also appreciates the extra HP without recover. Finally, grass knot. This takes care of bulky waters getting in the way of a few of my pokes. Also, it can keep a banded ground types on EQ in check, and this happens often with Empoleon, Jolteon and Lucario all weak to EQ.

LO SD Priority Lucario
Inner Focus, Adament, with a Life Orb
->Swords Dance
->Extremespeed
->Bullet Punch
->Close Combat

Lucario has always been one of my favorite pokes. I've used alot of different variations of him, agility, reversal, and even specs. But I always come back to this, as it seems to be superior to all the others. It's primary reason for being here is to get quick hits on things it's SE against, or as a revenge killer. Since most of my pokes need to set up, they don't make good revenge killers. His main reason is to keep Bliss in check, as none of my other pokes will do alot of damage to the little bitch right away.

Petaya Empoleon
Torrent, Modest, with a Petaya
->Agility
->Substitute
->Surf
->Ice Beam

Wow, this guy's powerful. Between the +1 or +2 sp.a that it gets from Jolteon, a petaya, and torrent, not much stands up to a crazy strong surf. I mentioned how Empoleon, Kiss, and Jolteon work well together earlier, and that's thanks to Empoleons massive resistances. The only this that I dislike about this set is that it can only have 2 moves, and they don't get coverage on everything, especially bulky waters. So, Celebi it there to deal with that pretty well.


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Well, that's the end of that. Suggestions, criticism, whatever you want. Help me notice common weaknesses?

Well thanks for reading.

 

[Orion]

You have to include EVs when displaying a RMT, otherwise, it's hard for us raters to really figure out what you Pokés can take and not, and when they OHKO or not.
Secondly, you are weak to Electric. "What?" you say, pointing at Jolteon? Well, yeah, but if the opponent is able to predict, or has an Electric Pokémon carrying other moves than Electric-typed ones, your screwed. I can imagine Electivire eating this team as salami on a toast. Especially if he came in on a Charge Beam from Jolteon.
Celebi is OK, but without Recover, he won't live for long.

First, Jolteon is way too weak to effectively be passing away Wish. If you give it Hidden Power Grass instead, you prevent Swampert Cursing up when Celebi is dead. If you want Wish, you're better served letting Togekiss do that part, as it actually has the defenses to pull it off. Then replacing Roost, ofc. With ParaFlinch, having Wish over Roost doesn't make that much difference for Togekiss itself, but makes a lot of difference for the other 5.

Lucario doesn't need both Extremespeed AND Bullet Punch. Choose one of them. If you use Bullet Punch, go with Ice Punch or Stone Edge as your final move. If you choose Extremespeed, go with Crunch. That is so you can kill Ghosts and Psychics, but with Bullet Punch taking care of the most common one (Gengar) Crunch isn't really needed. For the second combination, Crunch is crucial.

And finally, give Empoleon Grass Knot over Ice Beam. Just so that Water Pokémon doesn't screw your sweep over.

Apart from that, a very common strategy regarding Empoleon-sweeping is to use Togekiss as a Nasty Plot-passer. Since you already have Togekiss on your team, I think you should consider that. With Nasty Plot, Togekiss will also occasionally kill some Pokés, and then you pass away to Empoleon, completing the Sweep.

 

[martinky24]

Hm, okay. That makes sense. I think I'll make Togikiss my primary baton passer, and then figure out what to replace Jolteon with. I could have a Zapdos pass agilities to Empoleon, and then he could have 3 attacking moves anyway.

Thanks for the advice. And I'll make sure to include EV's in future RMTs.