First team, could use some advice!

Sorrowsworn

Hey guys, I'm new to competitive pokemon and put together this team. It's a lot of fun and I want to at least keep it really similar, but could probably use some advice. Mostly I play amongst my friends but I've had some decent success on PokemonShowdown with it. Hoping to pit it against my friends this week.


Galvantula@Focus Sash
252 SpA/4 Def/252 Spe
Timid / Compound Eyes
- Thunder
- Bug Buzz
- Sticky Web
- Gastro Acid

Sticky Web is good support for my Kangaskhan, Goodra, and Azumarill since they're all relatively slow. For some reason, Bug Buzz deals damage through Substitute on Showdown? Is it supposed to do that? Thunder having 91% accuracy is crazy good and Bug Buzz does decent damage as well. Focus Sash makes sure that he always to survives to Sticky Web and at least get one attack off. Gastro Acid has been awesome against opposing Mega Kangas and Mega Mawiles (though I thought it wasn't supposed to affect them?) by shutting down their stupidly good abilities.

Kangaskhan@Kangaskhanite
252 HP/252 Atk/4 SpD
Adamant / Scrappy
- Earthquake
- Sucker Punch
- Power-Up Punch
- Return

I've always love Mama Bear and she finally has a chance to shine. Sometimes she just wipes the floor with my opponents' teams. I worry for her safety on my team since I've heard a lot of talk about potentially banning her and Mega Gengar, but we'll see if it comes to that, I suppose. She sets up easily and has great coverage so once she's at +2 I can sweep a lot of Pokemon out of the way.

Goodra@Assault Vest
252 HP/4 Def/252 SpA
Modest / Sap Sipper
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Dragon Pulse
- Dragon Tail

Bulky special attacker, absorbs special attacks very well and can dish out some decent damage on his own. Helps my coverage a lot as well and often leads off if I think my opponent is leading with Ferrothorn since I don't have many ways to handle that 'mon as it is. Dragon Tail has been great against all of the Speed Boost setups like Ninjask and Scolipede. They really hate being set back to neutral. Also eats Spores from unsuspecting Smeargles well.

Azumarill@Choice Band
168 HP/252 Atk/4 Def/84 Spe
Adamant / Huge Power
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Superpower
- Play Rough

Haven't had the opportunity to do much with Azu on Showdown yet, but I like this set a lot. I took the EV spread from the Uncharted Territory thread on Azumarill. Not much to say here because when I've won I haven't used Azu and when I've lost I've been crushed.

Garchomp@Choice Scarf
252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Jolly / Rough Skin
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Outrage
- Dragon Claw

Revenge killer and all-around cool guy. Such style. Very damage. Many revenge kill. Wow. StoneQuake coverage with blazing fast speed for taking on opposing Dragonites. Survives an Ice Beam from mixed Dragonites and outspeeds everything that I can possibly think of.

Vaporeon@Leftovers
252 HP/252 Def/4 SpA
Bold / Water Absord
- Roar
- Wish
- Protect
- Scald

Physical wall and Wish support. Heals up my Kangaskhan and Goodra when they really need it and threatens a Burn on opposing physical attackers. Plus I love me some Vaporeon. Protect covers it to make sure it gets the Wish heal off when it's needed for itself or to eke out that list bit of damage with a burn against an opponent without taking a hit back. Roar for beating enemy setups and setting the board back to even.
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I've thought about Aegislash and Dragonite in Azumarill's slot. I've also considered that I might want a Spin/Defog user for my team, maybe Crobat? Also have thought that Gliscor might be superior to Vaporeon, but I'm not certain. Thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated!
 
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Hello.

Pretty interesting team you have here I like the use of Stciky Web Galvantula so props to you on that but couple issues I see is that you don't have a very reliable way to counter Ferrothorn other than Flamethrower on Goodra and that is your only reliable way to hit it.Mega Kangaskhan will take a beating with Power-Up-Punch specially if Ferrothorn runs Rocky Helmet so to help remedy that I recommend you try out Fire Punch over Earthquake on Mega Kangaskhan since I don't think Aegislash gives your team much trouble as you have Garchomp and Vaporeon to force it out with Roar I think you might need to hit Ferrothorn a bit harder and not take of beating from it with Iron Barbs,it also helps against Trevenant which can wall your Kangaskhan as it doesn't hit Trevenant as they tend to predict Sucker Punch .And I also suggest you run Fire Fang or Fire Blast over Dragon Claw since that paired with Outrage is quite redundant in the same moveset and Fire Fang allows you hit Ferrothorn a bit better as your current set is totally walled by it.

I also see you lack Rapid Spin support so I suggest you try out Air Balloon Excadrill over Azumarill since you wanted a spinner and you said you wanted to run something over Azumarill and having Rapid Spin can help you so hazards won't bother you.

Couple minor tweaks,I recommend you run 252 SAtk / 252 SDef / 4 HP on Goodra so you can abuse the Assault Vest at it's finest and I suggest you test out Sludge Wave over Dragon Tail on Goodra so you can hit Fairy Types for Super Effective Damage which give Goodra a really rough time.And you already have Vaporeon to force opponents out so I try it out.

Your Kangaskhan is a bit slow so I recommend you put the HP EV's into Speed so in case Galvantula doesn't get Sticky Web up or it gets spinned away it doesn't get outsped by Opposing Mega Kangaskhan and Speed boosting Nature base 100's and run Jolly Nature so you don't get outsped and with Sticky Web you can slow them down.

And one more thing run 0 Atk IV's on Galvantula,Goodra and Vaporeon so confusion and Foul Play don't make them take unnecessary damage.

Sets:

Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability:Mold Breaker
EV's: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
-Swords Dance/Stealth Rock (Swords Dance in case your team is Pre-Bank)
-Rapid Spin
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide/Iron Head (Rock Slide in case your team is pre bank)

So those were my suggestions hope you found them helpful or at least thought-provoking.

It was an honor rating your team,good luck! :D
 
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All in all pretty decent team, however some changes. Vaporeon isn't really worth using out side of rain so a good replacement is rotom w, plus rotom w makes your team less weak to the bolt beam Combo. maybe swords dance on garchomp instead of dragon claw.
 
Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it!

On Fire Punch: I like this change and will definitely try this. I thought that EQ would be good against bulky Fire types but there aren't any besides HP invested Talonflames really, such are immune to EQ anyway. Might have terrible with Charizard X without it but I always have the Garchomp. But I was definitely troubled by Ferrothorn and Trevenant lately.

For Garchomp, I thought about this as well but figure if I have to Outrage to kill another Dragon and they have a setup Fairy (CM Sylveon, SD Mawile, Belly Drum Azu) then I've lost the game. Is there another option I can use here?

Air Balloon Excadrill is an awesome choice and I'll definitely try that out, thank you! I think it'll be awesome for for my team.

I'm not sure about the change to the Spe EVs and Jolly but maybe only because I've only seen the Bulky Adamant suggested, and it's also the suggested spread on Showdown. I may test it out, though.

I've been enjoying the extra HP on the off chance that Goodra has to take a single physical attack or sandstorm hits. Already he's only receiving around 8% from Rotom Hydro Pump and can survive two Greninja Ice Beams. He's pretty damn stacked right now haha. I think Sludge Wave is an excellent additon though and will be great on Goodra!

Very good point on the IVs. I'll immediately change to that on Showdown but it's a bit harder to get on the actual game. I don't think any of my friends are running Klefki, though, so that's good.

Rotom W won't even come close to fulfilling the same role as Vaporeon, though. It can't really pull off the same physical bulk and doesn't support or phase at all. And Swords Dance on a Scarf wearer is pointless.
 
woops, didn't see the scarf there, my bad. sorry about the lousy advice. But on another note, just try out the bulky chestoberry set for rotom w that might fit the role well. But it is your team so take the advice as you want. have fun battling.
 
You coud run max sdef/hp vappy with acud armor, but i'd suggest you use gliscor over vaporeon if you need physical bulk.

Gliscor @ toxic orb
EVs and nature: not sure, check the strategy pokedex
-earthquake
-roost
-toxic
-protect

From the physical attackers, only non-grounded poison- and steel types will beat this 1v1

Also, i would run fire fang / blast over outrage, if you have an issue with fairy types (use dragon claw to kill dragons)

Also, if you're not sure about azu, try using greninja instead, because, especially if you're gonna run gliscor>vappy, you kinda lack any special attacker. (And protean is really cool) alternatively, i've seen a lot of people run CM clefable, so that might be good if you want a fairy type.
 
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