Feel the Pain of Spikes (and Stealth Rock too)

Zelda100

This is my first Gen V team so any suggestions would be highly appreciated! I haven't been able to do any wifi battles yet but I have versed other teams before so I have tested out this team.

180px-558Crustle.png


Crustle @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Def
Nature: Adamant
-Stealth Rock
-Spikes
-Stone Edge
-X-Scissor

At first I wasn't to sure how helpful this little crab would be but once I used him he proved himself worthy to me. He is a pro at getting stealth rocks up and sometimes as a bonus he can get a few layers of spikes up. If someone taunts me I simply use Stone Edge and X-Scissor to take them out (many taunt users seem to be weak against rock and bug type moves). Gave him an Adamant nature instead of Impish because the Sturdy ability makes sure I survive one hit anyway. A lot of people have underestimated how hard this guy can hit.

cofagrigus.png


Cofagrigus @ Leftovers
Ability: Mummy
Evs: 252 HP, 136 Def, 120 SDef
Nature: Bold
-Shadow Ball
-Will-O-Wisp
-Haze
-Rest

The rapid spinner blocker. His move pool may really stink but I like him. No one can set up on him because he has haze and stops many physical attackers. Rest isn't the best recovery move ever but his high defensives help and people can't toxic stall me. Rapid spinners may be uncommon these days but my team relies on spikes and stealth rock a lot. Not to mention that Cofagrigus pairs very well with my Blissey too!

200px-121Starmie.png


Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP, 252 SAtk, 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
-Surf
-Thunderbolt
-Rapid Spin
-Recover

Oh Starmie, how you continue to amaze me with all your awesomeness. Although my team doesn't really have a stealth rock weakness I do a lot of swithing in my group and Blissey doesn't like toxic spikes. Starmie's high speed and decent special attack even allows it sweep sometimes. Too bad there wasn't any room for Ice beam on this set. Recover is too useful to get rid of.

Scizor_art_by_Pokemon_Diamond.png


Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
-U-turn
-Bullet Punch
-Superpower
-Pursuit

Yes that is right. It's your good old Choice Banded Scizor. I'm in love with priority moves and Scizor is good at just that. He is good for my team because he can finish teams up with bullet punch that are weakened by spikes and stealth rock. Also many of Scizor major counters are weak to stealth rock and since my group is so focused on that why not put a Scizor in my team?

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Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SDef
Nature: Impish
-Drill Peck (probaly going to change this to Brave Bird)
-Spikes
-Whirlwind
-Roost

Skarmory fits this team so well. Gets up the layers of Spikes that Crustle wasn't able to get up then I whirlwind away to my heart's desire. Pretty straight foward. He always pairs up well with Blissey (pretty sure all of you already knew that though).

images


Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SDef
Nature: Bold
-Seismic Toss
-Ice beam
-Toxic
-Softboiled

Many people hate me for using Blissey but she reminds me so much of Jigglypuff I had to use her. Besides I wanted a good special wall and here you go. I chose Blissey over Chansey for three reasons: 1. I don't like the idea of people setting up on me 2. Because of Sandstorm (and Hail) I like her to have Leftovers and 3. Blissey just looks way better than Chansey anyway. This moveset is a little different from most Blissey but as I said before I don't like to be set up on so I give her Seismic Toss and Ice Beam. Softboiled is for healing and Toxic drains people health slowy away.

Things I like about my team:
Because I have alot of walls on my team my opponent has to switch their pokemon a lot for a better match up. Thats where spikes and stealth rock come in. Scizor's U-turn, Blissey's Toxic and Seismic Tosses, Cofagrigus's Will-O-Wisp, etc. all helps weaken my opponent's pokemon. When the moment is right I sweep with my Starmie or my beloved Scizor.

Things I don't like about my team:
Here is a list:
-No fire moves (Forretress likes to set up Spikes against my Cofagrious)
-No ground moves (Earthquake is such an awesome move and no body in my group has it)
-And the biggest issue is no pokemon in my group can change the weather
This team has an extra hard time against sunny day teams because the sun decreases the power of Starmie's Surf and I have 2 fire weakness in my group. Once the sun is up there is no way for me to change it and it kinda sucks.

This group is new so there are probally more flaws in it so if any of you have any suggestions please let me know!
 
Hey so I read over what you like and what you don't like about your team, as well as what you have and what you lack. So first off, you already have Spikes on Skarmory, meaning it's not NECESSARY for Crustle to be carrying it at as well, which means you only really need to keep Stealth Rock on it, once you get to this point, you may as well switch Crustle to Tyranitar. Why do this? Tyranitar can keep Stealth Rock on your team as well, and you still can Spike with Skarmory anyway. What will this do? You can now carry Fire Blast to patch you not having a Fire move on the team. "-And the biggest issue is no pokemon in my group can change the weather" Also you now have a weather changer. :) Which in turn makes it easier for you to deal with Sunny Day teams as well. Here is a good standard set to try:

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Sassy| 252 HP / 180 SAtk / 76 SpD
Stealth Rock / Fire Blast / Crunch / Super Power

You can play around and adjust the set to your liking, heck you could even swap Superpower for Earthquake since you said your team is lacking the ground coverage you'd like. Good luck!
 
Cool team here, although you seem to be open to some pretty prominent threats. Nasty plot Thundurus happens to be one of them as a boosted focus blast will do lots of damage to Blissey and the only team member that you happen to have that is faster is not carrying any moves to help you win against it. It seems like you rely on Starmie to check quite a few threats and remove hazards out of play, although I think you could run something different in that spot to really help you out with Thundurus. Rapid spin Excadrill would work fantastically in Starmie's slot. It gives you the ability to check Thundurus to a decent extent and rapid spin away hazards as well. Zephyr is correct on that you should definitely run Tyranitar over Crustle. Although I would support simply maximizing hp and special defense with a chople berry so that you can win against the likes of Gengar and Thundurus a bit more easily. Excadrill should run a set of swords dance / rapid spin / earthquake / rock slide, adamant, and an air balloom while maximizing attack and speed.

Cofagirgus is definitely the weakest link in this team. There are simply many better choices for a rapid spin blocker than it. I think that running a different rapid spin blocker over Cofagirgius would really help you out in the long run, in both checking threats and having a better longevity for a team member in that spot. This is why a Jellicent would work much better of Cofagirgus as it is a much more solid spin blocker than Cofagirgus is. Jellicent can even shut down threats such as Tyranitar and Ferrothorn with a combination of taunt + will-o-wisp. Speaking of taunt, Jellicent has the ability to invest enough speed so the likes of Skarmory won't spike all over you, which can be a huge hindrance to this team. Jellicent should be running a set of scald / taunt / will-o-wisp / recover with a spread of 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 Spe, bold and leftovers.

As for some minor changes I'd recommend running an alternative ev spread on Scizor. With blissey and tyranitar on this team, the lati twins and other specially based threats will be no problem. This is why I'd suggest running a bulkier set of 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe which still packs and punch, and since Scizor doesn't need all of that speed, the rest can go into hp. Finally, I'd suggest swapping Skarmory's ev spread to 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 Spe. This has the benefit of outrunning choice band Tyranitar that don't run lots of speed so that you can roost before it can get a stone edge off.

After that, this team looks pretty nice. Good Luck.
 
Thank you Zephyr and AB2! I will definitely have to try all those suggestions. I really like the idea of using Tyranitar and Excadrill together. I do like the idea of Jellicent being able to taunt other pokemon so they can't set up on me. I used Cofagrigus mainly because of his super bulk and fewer weakness then Jellicent. However, you brought up some good points AB2. I will have to test it out.
 
Taunt Gyarados is going to poop all over your team once Starmie is gone.
Starmie is your ONLY fire resist, and she takes hits like a meteor hits a soggy piece of paper.

Infernape's will tear through Coff pretty easily after a couple Flare Blitz'es and Starmie is gone.

SkarmBliss really isn't a solid core anymore. There are too many things that crack it open and you don't have the back up walls to support them. Give Spikes to Skarm. Skarm will be able to stay in more turns than that fail Crustle.

Get Crustle out. Terrible lead. You complain about other weather abusers and well...you either wall the weather abusers or you abuse the weather. Sun will poop all over you. Scarf Darmanitan will Flare Blitz your whole team to death with sun up. Get a weather abuser or find walls to do it. Decide and respond back. Then you will have to basically re-create your team.

If you choose weather...change your pokemon. If you don't choose weather...change your pokemon.


Nothing will stop a rain stall team either. Or any stall team for that matter lol.

This is just not a 5th Gen metagame team.
 
You've mentioned that you have no way to change the weather, and have a serious Fire weakness. I'd recommend Tyranitar (EDIT: just saw Zephyr beat me to it :/). I second his recommendation for your set.

However, you team still has problems with many pokemon once Starmie is dead, such as Gyarados and Infernape. To remedy this, I'd try Jellicent over Cofagrigus. Jellicent is better for your team because he gives you another Water resist, as right now you only have one. It doesn't hurt that he gives you yet another Fire resist. Here's the standard set:

593_f.png

Jellicent@Leftovers
Bold Nature, 248 HP, 216Def, 44Spe
Scald
Will-O-Wisp
Taunt
Recover

Scald is your STAB, while Will-O-Wisp is your answer to physical threats such as Gyarados. Taunt shuts down set-up pokemon, while Recover is... well, recovery. Jellicent's Special Defense is already stellar, so most of the EVs just get dumped into Defense and HP.

I'd also at least think about replacing Scizor with Excadrill now that you're using Sandstorm. Excadrill lacks priority, but if you win a weather war priority doesn't matter thanks to his ridiculous Speed after Sand Rush. He also gives you STAB Earthquake, fixing another one of you problems. Here's a common set:

530.png

Excadrill@Air Balloon
Adamant/Jolly Nature, 4HP/252Att/252Spe
Swords Dance
Earthquake
Stone Edge
X-Sissor

Swords Dance on a forced switch, then start attacking. If you get your boost and Sandstorm, it's basically game over. Earthquake and Stone Edge form EdgeQuake. X-Scissor is your best option against various utility counters such as Bronzong.

Ultimately, the choice is up to you. Scizor is a bit more reliable since he doesn't need the Sandstorm. However, Excadrill has enormous potential, and also gives you Ground STAB.

Happy Playing, and good luck!
 
i must say, a dragon dance/shed skin scrafty could totally wreck your team, running double stabs in drainpunch/crunch and ice punch has complete coverage on you. if you like priority, may i suggest using conkeldurr instead of scizor? not only can you use it as a super powerful priority abuser, but also as a status absorber instead of your starmie.
 
so pretty much if i replace Crustle for Tyranitar I won't really have any of the issues that xxmoosexx mentioned so i dont have to recreate my team... not to mention Jellicent would help alot too. I won't be so vurnable to weather and not to mention stealth rocks, spikes, sandstorm, and recoil damage would really hurt Darmanitan and Infernape to an extent.

I really like the idea of putting Excadrill on my team so I'll probally replace him with Starmie as a rapid spinner. Although Conkeldurr can't use pursuit to trap people I think I'll have to try him out instead of Scizor. Then I will have less of a fire weakness in my team and as ryau00 said I can have a status absorber. But if I'll have to teach Conkeldurr Stone Edge so I dont have that Taunt Gyarados weakness since Starmie will most likely be gone.

Thanks guys for all the advice!
 
It's a pretty good team, but i don't like the skarmory-blissey combination. Its just.....it's that old you know? Many Pokemon can break the core nowadays. And switch that Cofagrigus for e.g. Gengar with SubDisable, really annoying and causing a lot of switches. BTW I like the Crustle very much, but I agree with xxmoosexx.
 
ZoroDark said:
It's a pretty good team, but i don't like the skarmory-blissey combination. Its just.....it's that old you know? Many Pokemon can break the core nowadays. And switch that Cofagrigus for e.g. Gengar with SubDisable, really annoying and causing a lot of switches. BTW I like the Crustle very much, but I agree with xxmoosexx.
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Thanks for the rate. But I don't use this team anymore. This was like half a year ago when I was first learning about the metagame. I didn't realize there were better options for Cofagrigus. And I just wanted to test out the Sturdy/Stealth Rock leads and I was expecting Taunting Whimmscotts to a lot more common.
 
this is similar to my team before deo-s went to uber...

I suggest sticking to Cofagrigus as he still has advantages over jelli and gengar. But you can replace skarm with jolly scarf tyra so you can sweep late game and abe to check many threats with fast crunch/stone edge. Also, you don't need starmie since none of your team are weak to SR, so you can replace him with volt switch/scarf rotom-w for great synergy with cb scizor and scarf tyra. this way you can force many switches and make your team a much better offensive threat.
 
I'd also suggest switching the Starmie for something else. With Cofagrigus and Starmie, that's 2 pokemon that are weak to pursuit. (though I'm not sure how willing some pursuers are to hit the mummy)

Yeah, a CB pursuit from something like Scizor or Weavile locks them into that move, but you don't have a setup sweeper to take advantage of the free turn. So yeah, I'd say eliminate a bit of that pursuit weakness.
 
Thank you for the rates guys! I just find this funny because I posted this RMT like half a year ago and I just posted a RMT a couple of days ago and I really wanted to get some feedback on that team. But hey I think I need to tryout Gengar, Scarf Tyranitar (I always liked Scarf Ttar), and Rotom-W. Then I have to come up with a different lead. Thank you again and I will try to adjust these changes ASAP and to test them out.
 
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