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First b/w team. Please Help out.

CrossOutTheEyes

So I played a lot of Gen 4 and I decided it was time to dip my feet in the gen 5 metagame. I built a team and played a few games today, but my lack of knowledge of the metagame has led to mixed results and some holes on my team. If anybody could help me out and tweak my team a little that would be great. It's based on my gen 4 team which was pretty successful.

Team at a glance​

infernape.png
Starmie.gif
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Heatran.gif
Scizor.png

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Infernape.jpg

Changes in red

Infernape @ Life Orb
Timid Nature
252Spa/252spe/4Spd
-Fire Blast
-Close Combat
-Vacuum Wave
-Nasty Plot
I wanted to try to build a team around Infernape. He's extremely dangerous with a boost and he can wipe out whole teams that aren't prepared for him. My whole goal for this team is to clear the way for Infernape to sweep and for Starmie to clean up the leftovers. This set worked extremely well for me in Gen 4 and it's been working pretty well here. Virizion is on the team to take care of bulky waters and starmie. Scizor and heatran help against dragon types such as latios, haxourous, and dragonite. Starmie is here to clean up the job when inferanape can't finish the sweep. I picked Vacuum wave over Grass Knot because I find a priority move to be much more useful to this set than grass knot. It covers a scarfed pokemon looking to revenge kill him.

121-Starmie.png

Starmie @ Life Orb
Timid Nature
252Spa/252spe/4hp
-Hydro Pump
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Recover
Starmie punches holes in teams and has really good synergy with my team. I like using her as a lead. He creates a lot of mismatches and difficult decisions for the opposing player right of the bad. A lot of teams have trouble switching into Starmie and he usually cleans up the leftovers late. Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, and Hydro Pump were must haves on this set for me because of the excellent type coverage and damage output they have. I opted for recover over rapid spin because I like to keep Starmie around the whole game and life orb damage takes a toll. She out speeds a lot of threats and I need that late.

Virizion-1.png

Virizion @ Leftovers
Hasty Nature
104atk/152spa/252spe
-Work Up
-Close Combat
-Giga Drain
-Hidden Power Ice
I need Virizion to take out most of the pokemon that prevent Infernape and Starmie from sweeping. Virizion can take care of bulky waters and starmies fairly easily. I need Virizion to keep my team from getting destroyed by fighting types such as Conkulder and electric types. With a few Work ups, Virizion can also sweep, so that's just an added bonus. He also has exellecent defensive synergy with Heatran, Scizor, and Starmie.

Scizor.gif

Scizor @ Choice Band
Adamant Nature
248hp/252atk/8spe
-Superpower
-Bulletpunch
-Pursuit
-U-turn
Scizor is one of my revenge killers and he really pulls the team together. His offensive stats are obviously off the charts and he can take a hit from some boosted dragon type moves and hit back with bullet punch. He also serves as a Tyranitar counter and a pokemon that I can generally rely on to stop a sweep if it's not being performed by Volcorna, Heatran, or Infernape.

Heatran.png

Heatran @ Leftovers
Calm Nature
248hp/100spd/160spe
-Lava Plume
-Stealth Rock
-Protect
-Toxic
Heatran puts my rocks up to aid sweeps and acts as a wall and a check on this team. He has good synergy with Virizion, Scizor, and Starmie. He walls most fire types pretty nicely that give Virizion and Scizor trouble. He can toxic protect stall any pokemon that I'm having a ton of trouble dealing with. He also deals with dragon types quite nicely. I was thinking about running a more offensive heatran on my team but I need him to be able to take hits. Any suggestions?

579Rankurusu_Dream.png

Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Bold nature
252hp/252def/4spd
-Calm Mind
-Psychic
-Focus Blast
-Recover

Like New World Order suggested I replaced Latios with Reuniclus. Reuniclus does fit better on the team and Latios was lost in the mix. This thing is a beast once it's threats are gone, which is pretty easy to do with the way my team is structured. It helps a lot of with fighting types and rain teams. Magic Guard makes him eat stall teams a live. He pokes holes pretty well and I've won every game I've played with him so far. He definitely works better than Latios on this team.

I'm new to the 5th generation metagame and this team is definitely full of holes. Any help, suggestions, and changes that could be made to make this team run smoothly would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
Hi, cool team. Now first things first. Focus Blast is awful and should only be used when there are no other options. However, Infernape has a much better option in Close Combat. Although Close Combat is not boosted by Nasty Plot, it is still a useful move nonetheless. First of all, Fire Blast is the main move on the set, without a doubt, the only Pokemon that you need your Fighting STAB for are Fire resists, such as Heatran, Tyranitar, Latios, and such. In most cases, Close Combat does more than damage to the Pokemon (specially Defensive Tyranitar, for example), while Pokemon such as Latios wall Infernape regardless of Focus Blast vs Close Combat. The fact that Close Combat allows Infernape to power through Chansey and Blissey is just icing on the cake. Oh yeah, and even though Focus Blast can score some 2HKOs that Close Combat cannot, keep in mind that your chances of hitting two Focus Blasts in a row is 49%, Close Combat is more effective at the end of the day.

In the midst of all this, Latios seems lost. It doesn't really take on anything that somebody else can take on more easily. While Specs Draco Meteor does help open holes for an Infernape sweep, there are better options out there. Now, Fighting-types, such as Conkeldurr, seem to give your team a bit of problems. Rain stall as well, could prove problematic if Virizion goes down. A great replacement for Latios is Calm Mind Reuniclus. People forget how dangerous this little guy was at the beginning of BW OU, and the only reason it's not used so much anymore is that Scizor, Jirachi, and Tyranitar are consistently in the top 10 in usage. However, your team has Infernape, Virizion, Heatran, and Scizor, so you should have no problem dealing with these 3. Once these 3 are gone, just get in Reuniclus, and watch the magic happen.

GL
TLDR version
Close Combat>Focus Blast on Infernape
pros: CC does about as much/ more than Focus Blast in most cases, no annoying accuracy issues
cons: Focus Blast sux

Calm Mind Reuniclus>Specs Latios
pros: helps take on Conkeldurr/ Fighting-types in general, destroys stall
cons: doesn't have as much immediate power as Latios
Sets
Infernape @ Life Orb
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Vacuum Wave
- Close Combat

Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Recover
 
Thanks man. I tried this team out a couple times and I'm really liking Reuniclus. I'm gonna make the change permanent. I was only running focus blast on infernape because I didn't know if I could get the ohko's I needed without it, but if I can I'll definitely be running close combat.
 
this team seems really balanced. my only complaint is that you have no spinner or spinblocker and only 1 hazard. that could come to bite you. stamie doesnt exactly have survivability with life orb. recover or not. so i suggest putting rapid spin over it.
 
A lot better than the last time I checked. Maybe next time before making another RMT you should check this out.

Quiet honestly, I don't see much synergy going on in this team. I know this team is an "updated" version for this generation, but you can't slap together 6 pokemon and expect to be successful in this generation. With all this rain and hail teams going around, even offensive teams are carrying at least some type of bulk.

First problem I see is a sort of Fighting-type problem against your team. You have no type of safe switch into a dangerous Fighting-type Pokemon. Your somewhat defensive core can take a Fighting hit but with all this Choice Band Terras going around and Sword Dance'd Close Combats, nothing is actually safe in your team. You don't always have to need a Ghost-type Pokemon to take your Fighting weakness away, something like a bulky Dragon-type comes to mind really. If you played DPP like you said, you should remember a not so common but so very effective combination between Dragon-type and Steel-type, more importantly the Salamence and Heatran combination. Heatran can take the Ice and Rock moves that Salamence can't handle while Salamence can handle Ground moves thrown at Heatran. Salamence doesn't have to be all out offense either, you can carry the the old school Salamence that ran Life Orb with some Bulky EV spread and Roost, after a few Dragon Dances with certain threats eliminated, Salamence became a monster, and seeing how you still have that offensive style of play, I'd think you can play with this combination pretty well.

With the addition of that Dragon, Latios seems kind of out of place in this team. Initially I was going to suggest replacing Salamence with Starmie, but seeing how Starmie Rapid Spins away the much needed Stealth Rocks that bother Salamence a shitload, I'd suggest getting rid of Latios for Salamence. If you don't want to do this, then I'd suggest replacing it for Starmie. Doing this will cause conflicts in the team, mainly because Salamence needs a Rapid Spinner in order to be successful most of the times. Replacing Latios for Salamence seems like the best idea here.
 
I'm not used to carrying bulk yet, but I've definitely seen the need this generation as I've been playing this team. I guess a lot of the holes on my team come from being new to this metagame that obviously doesn't play the same way as DPP did. I definitely like the idea of the synergy between Mence and Heatran. I was trying to make a team with no weather that is mostly offensive, but I guess I need to be more defensively balanced this gen. Thanks for the advice.

And to only having one entry hazard, I can't really think of a way to get another entry hazard on this team without blowing it up.

I think I'm gonna put spin on Starmie. I'll try Salamence over Reuniclus and see which one I like better.
 
Hey there.

Volt-Turn cores are major problms for this team. Virizion has no recovery and can be easily worn down; nothing on your team can really take on both Rotom-W and Scizor effectively regardless. Powerful Water-type moves are also problems, and with all the rain teams going around, this can be a major problem. Virizion and Starmie are the only Pokemon you have that have a hope of taking these hits, but neither of them have recovery, and as such, aren't reliable counters. To fix these problems, replace Virizion with a Celebi. Celebi can utilize Hidden Power Fire to destroy Scizor and Volt-Turn cores, and can easily tank hits all day long with Recover and its solid bulk. By running a Nasty Plot set, Celebi can also retain the offensive presence and type synergy that Virizion had, making Virizion's loss not much of an issue.

Hide
Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
220 HP / 252 SAtk / 36 Speed
Modest nature
-Hidden Power Fire
-Recover
-Nasty Plot
-Giga Drain

Also, switch Heatran's EV spread to 252 HP / 248 SDef / 8 Speed. The Speed EVs you're running now aren't really helpful, especially since Heatran is a wall and its only attacking move is Lava Plume. This spread will help Heatran take special hits much better, and will also ensure that you retain the ability to phaze out opposing Heatrans before they can phaze you.

Solid team. Hope I helped, and good luck!
 
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