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First Competitive Team :P

Death Guardius

Death Guardius

MY TEAM:

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This is the first competitive team i have built and i have been making changes to it for a while now. In theory the team should be able to deal with most threats and cover most bases. However, i'm having trouble fitting every type into the team and moves to counter all types. Another problem i have is that the team doesn't seem to work that well together and i am really struggling with how to fix that. I play tested this team on Shoddy today and lost 5 in a row and won 1 down to luck so i think some changes really need to be made.


THE SUPPORT WALL
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Item: Leftovers
Ability: Hyper Cutter
Nature: Jolly
Evs: 252 HP, 252 SPEED, 40 DEF
Moveset:
Roost
Earthquake
U Turn
Stealth Rock​

Sets up Stealth Rock and absorbs ground and electric attacks. Can U-Turn to scout and pairs up with Vaporeon to cover each other's weaknesses.


WISH SUPPORT
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Item: Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Nature: Bold
Evs: 252 HP, 6 SPATK, 252 DEF
Moveset:
Surf
Ice Beam
Wish
Protect​

Surf and Ice Beam take advantage of it's high SpAtk and what it lacks in speed it makes up for with defense, allowing him to recover quickly and combo well with protect and wish. Water Absorb makes any water attacks useless so he works as a great wall against certain moves. I can deal with it's Grass weakness through Ice Beam unless the Grass opponent is faster (which is more likely than not) and Salamence can take care of it's electric weakness.


ELEMENTAL TANK
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Item: Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Impish
Evs: 252 HP, 128 DEF, 128 SPDEF
Moveset:
Ice Punch
Fire Punch
Will-O-Wisp
Pain Split​

Can take various hits, recover with Pain Split and burn (reduce atk) with Will-O-Wisp. I'm not sure whether i should replace one of the elemental punches with Fire Punch to deal with Steel types which get in the way... His speed can sometimes be a problem though.


ELECTRIC SWEEP
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Item: Expert Belt
Ability: Motor
Nature: Adamant
Evs: 252 ATK, 6 DEF, 252 SPEED
Moveset:
Cross Chop
Thunder Punch
Ice Punch
Earthquake​

Can switch into Electric attacks and sweep away covering many types and combos with other team pokemon to avoid it's Ground Weakness. Can deal with Snorlax and Blissey with Cross Chop and STAB Thunder Punch deals with Gyrados.

PHYSICAL SWEEPER
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Item: Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Adamant
Evs: 252 ATK, 6 HP, 252 SPEED
Moveset:
Fire Blast
Earthquake
Dragon Dance
Outrage​

After setting up a Dragon Dance or two Salamence can take most things down with Life Orb and the range of attacks, which cover threats and Fire Blast can take down most Steel walls that may get in the way, even though i'm not sure if Fire Fang would be better because of the ATK boost from DD.


SPECIAL SWEEPER
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Item: Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
Evs: 252 SPATK, 6 DEF, 252 SPEED
Moveset:
Energy Ball
Thunderbolt
Shadow Ball
Focus Blast​

Special Sweeper with good coverage of it's weaknesses and any threats that may get in the way. Can be switched into against Fighting types and Ground type attacks. Not sure whether Life Orb would be more beneficial over Specs...


Let me know if i have missed something out and any suggestions you may have would really help me out. Thanks in advance :D
 
Ok, to start out, you have no stealth rock support or a sturdy lead. Due to most leads in the metagame today, fortress just won't cut it.

Second, That mence isn't going to cut it. i would suggest using him like this:


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Salamence@life orb
EV's: 232 atk/24 Spa/ 252 spe
naughty nature
-dragon dance
-outrage
-earthquake
-fire blast

The minimal investment in special attack and the change in nature will guarantee a 1HKO on skarmory,fortress and scizor. Dragon claw is extremely outdated now that he gained outrage, but if you don't want to always be locked in, you could swap earthquake for dragon claw. Even with the confusion of outrage, it is way more superior to dragon claw.

If you really want to keep vaporeon, then i'd switch dusknoir for a gliscor like this to absorb electric/grass attacks and sweep at the same time:


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Gliscor@ leftovers
Ability:hyper cutter
EV's: 252 Hp/ 40 Def/ 216 Spe
Jolly nature
-Earthquake
-stone edge
-roost
-u-turn/knock-off

this guy can serve as a bulky sweeper while absorbing attacks for vappy. You can choose u-turn to scout or knock off to get your oppenents item off.

Your going to want to change fortress for the standard metagross lead since vaporeon and gliscor can wall physicly.

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@ occa berry
EV's: 252 hp/236 atk/12 def/ 8 spe
adamant nature
-explosion
-earthquake
-bullet punch
-stealth rock

the only thing this lead loses to is azelf.aero goes out in 2 bullet punches and infernape goes out after an eq then bullet punch.sam thing goes for most sashers. Explosion is for people thinking that you're set up fodder for them, only to be blown to smitherines.

i would also recommend switching dusknoir for a cb scizor maybe. i will edit soon with more suggestions. hope i helped for now!
 
The Metagross and Gliscor definitely make sense and seem a much better option than Forretress and Dusknoir. When you say if i really want to keep Vaporeon do you think it needs to be replaced? Also isn't a ghost type necessary to block Rapid Spin?
 
Your team is extremely weak to Gyarados and sd lucario. Adding HP electric to Vaporeon can help deal with Gyarados better. Changing Dusknoir to a scarf rotom-h can help with lucario and gyarados. Rotom-h can switch into Lucario on any move besides crunch and then outspeed it and ko it back and can do the same to Gyarados.
 
I suggest a new Dusknoir set.

Dusknoir w/ Leftovers
Nature: Careful
Ability: Pressure
Evs: 228 HP/ 124 Def/ 120 SpD/ 36 Atk
Moveset:
Will-O-Wisp
Thunderpunch
Shadow Sneak
Pain Split

A little set I came up with. 228 HP evs allow Optimal Leftovers recovery. The defenseive evs allow you to survive Gengars LO Shadow Ball and lets you 2HKO it with Shadow Sneak. The 36 Atk also lets you 2HKO Gyarados after Intimidate and OHKO it w/o Intimidate with Thunderpunch. This handles to top threats that could take down your team. I don't suggest Ice Punch since your team can already handle Salamence ok. But I do suggest replacing either Alakazam or Drapion for Scarfed Heracross as a revenge killer

Heracross w/ Choice Scarf
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Guts
Evs: 252 Atk/ 252 Spe/ 6 Hp
Moveset:
Megahorn
Close COmbat
NIght Slash
Stone Edge

I would explain this set but I gtg. Ill explain it later.


Hope I helped
 
I'll been testing out Gliscor instead of Dusknoir and i have two issues.

1. The double weakness to ice which Salamence also has.

2. Lack of elemental attacks, which i used Dusknoir for.

I also feel that relying on Salamence alone to deal with Steel types with Fire Blast is kind of risky seeing as most have stone edge.

The Dusknoir idea seems good, because switching Alakazam into a Gengar is never a good idea. Heracross seems like a good alternative to Drapion and can sweep more easily so i'll test these changes out. Also Close Combat is ideal, because i really need a way to deal with Blissey.
 
The Dusknoir set mentioned from Rezor is certainly a fine choice when helps the team in terms of adding a priority move, whilst still keep the excellent Will-O-Wisp to help cripple Physical attackers.

Heracross is a must over Drapion I believe. Drapion doesn't seem to be doing much and as you've identified youself, Blissey can be taken out much more easily if Heracross was added to the team.

Stealth Rock is must have in today's metagame, so I'd advise either using Swampert as your lead. Swampert's typing means that it can switch in on Electric attacks aimed for Vaporeon later in the game and also it can set up SR for the team. I'd recommend a set similar the physical set on it's Smogon page, but with a movespread of Earthquake/Avalanche/Roar/Stealth Rock.

I'm only new to the RMT thing, so I hope I've helped in regards to your issues. :)
 
The only problem with eliminating Thunder/Ice Punch is losing the elemental coverage of threats for the team... Heracross seems to work well though.
 
I would reccomend you to change your Alakazam into a Gengar. It can run exactly the same set and be just as threathening, but it can find much more gaps to come in on ground, normal and fighting attacks. Its not essential, but I think you could benefit from it more. Then you could replace Draipon with a scarf Heracross.
 
SD Luke and DD Gyra can cause you serious trouble.

Scarf Rotom can help you deal with both of them. I suggest you use Rotom H in the Place of Dusknoir. With this set
Timid @ Choice Scarf.
248 Hp/ 36 Sp. Atk/ 224 speed.
Overheat
W-O-W
ThunderBolt
Shadow Ball

You even Outpseed Jolly Gyrados after a Dragon Dance.

Your Salamence's moveset is okay. But is should be Naughty or Naive and 24 Atk Ev's. This grants you an OHKO on Skarmory. SO the evs should look like this. 232 Atk/ 24 Sp. Atk/ 252 Spe.

Without Sniper, The damage output from Drapion won't be wonderful, because of his lackluster attacks. They don't cover enough and he is walled by many things. SD Infernape and SD Lucario can do his Job much better. They also have access priority moves and Close Combat.
Choice Banded Scizor can also function well in the place of Drapion but this will give you a double 4X fire weakness.
 
I personally prefer Gengar over Alakazam, but was worried about the shared weaknesses with Dusknoir. If i replace Dusknoir with another Tank/Wall then i could easily replace Alakazam with Gengar.

Herracross definitely seems ideal as a replacement for Drapion, covering the types which can be a threat to the team. Although Scizor also seems like a good alternative. I'll have to test them both to see which works better.

I think 3 sweepers are enough for the team and maybe a replacement for Dusknoir should have more of a supportive role...
 
Eehm Dusknoir's and Gengars shared weaknesses are ghost and dark, and Alakazam is weak to them too, so that doesn't make any difference. Furthermore, Gengars STAB is way more useful than psychic STAB, so I usually consider Gengar to be the better one.

Scarf Rotom can actually be a quite supportive pokemon, crippling defensive pokemon with his scarf and WoWing physical threaths when his scarf is gone. A scarfed WoW can also be quite useful sometimes, when you need to make quick work of stuff like DDmence, DDgyrados
 
Which Gengar set do you think i should replace my Alakazam with? I personally prefer the Life Orb set over the Choice Specs because of them switching into a Shadow Ball with a Normal type such as Snorlax or Blissey.

I'm also going to go with the Scarf Herracross set over my Drapion as it seems to work a lot better and more consistently in Shoddy and doesn't rely so heavily on luck as my Drapion.

As i said before, i definitely see the uses of Rotom, but surely 4 sweepers that rely on speed with little defense are too many and i should replace Dusknoir with another wall or tank that can support the team and can be switched into and survive the hit.
 
Updated my Team. Still not sure about the Dusknoir who only seems to be there to W-O-W opponent. I was thinking of replacing Vaporeon with Slowbro for Thunder Wave, but that would cause some triple weaknesses and i wouldn't know what to replace Dusknoir with...
 
Replace Dusknoir with Rotom-h.

Rotom-h is better than Dusknoir because:
1)It has 81 base speed(Dusknoir only has 40).
2)It can sweep better with high defenses.

Give it:
Rotom-h @ Choice Scarf
228 HP / 224 Speed / 36 Special Attack
-Shadow Ball
-Thunderbolt
-Will-o-Wisp / Trick
-Overheat

The standard Rotom-h set.Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball are given.Seeing you want W-o-W support it is there.Though Trick works much better there.Blissey = GG with Trick.Overheat as its signature move and Scizor = GG.

There you go.
 
Casanova said:
Replace Dusknoir with Rotom-h.

Rotom-h is better than Dusknoir because:
1)It has 81 base speed(Dusknoir only has 40).
2)It can sweep better with high defenses.

Give it:
Rotom-h @ Choice Scarf
228 HP / 224 Speed / 36 Special Attack
-Shadow Ball
-Thunderbolt
-Will-o-Wisp / Trick
-Overheat

The standard Rotom-h set.Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball are given.Seeing you want W-o-W support it is there.Though Trick works much better there.Blissey = GG with Trick.Overheat as its signature move and Scizor = GG.

There you go.
Click to expand...

Lolwut? When do high defenses have anything to do with sweeping? Second, Rezon's suggestion of a new dusknoir supports the team better.
 
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