First team- Trick Room shenanigans

SeaLegend

At a glance:
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Just a bit of an intro; this is my first VGC team, so while I tried my best to cover all the bases here I am still a little shaky on some doubles mechanics. If you guys could help out a noob it would be great. ^^

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Reuniclus @ Lum Berry
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 172 HP / 252 SAtk / 28 Def / 56 SDef
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball

My 'mon to set up Trick Room. I picked Reuniclus because I felt he provided the best role in my team in that he is able to set up Trick Room, but also hit a lot of Pokemon very hard. Lum Berry is my go to option here because Hariyama should be able to Fake Out almost anything that would be able to Taunt Reuniclus, and getting Trick Room up seems to be very important. In terms of moves, I opt for Psychic over Psyshock because my team is more physical based, so it is important to get Reuniclus's STAB off the special side. Focus Blast and Shadow Ball are my coverage choices in order to take out key threats such as Tyranitar, Jellicent, and Chandelure. However, with Hariyama typically in my lead slot along with Reuniclus, I am thinking of replacing Focus Blast with Energy Ball. Any guidance here?

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Hariyama @ Flame Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 124 Def / 132 SDef
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
- Wide Guard

Hariyama is basically here to make sure Trick Room gets up. With Fake Out and Wide Guard, Hariyama can use its first turn to keep a lot of key attacks away from Reuniclus to ensure that Trick Room comes out as soon as possible. I opt for Close Combat as the obvious STAB move, and Rock Slide gives me somewhat of an answer to fliers as well as the obvious spread move with a flinch chance that it gets so much use for.

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Dragonite @ Leftovers
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Dragon Claw
- ExtremeSpeed
- Fire Punch
- Protect

Dragonite seems to be just too clutch of an attacker for me. With its amazing bulk combined with Leftovers, it can stay on the field for several turns (maybe Yache Berry instead?). Dragon Claw is a powerful STAB to hit nearly anything for strong neutral damage. Extremespeed is a very good priority move that doesn't care much for speed tiers and is a great quick finisher. Dragonite would be walled by Steel types, so I opt for Fire Punch as my last move to sweep up against them.

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Heatran @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature
IVs: 2 Spd
- Eruption
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Protect

Heatran is really a behemoth of a special attacker. Eruption from full health absolutely decimates anything that doesn't resist it. Earth Power and HP Ice are the coverage options here to fill important niches of coverage that I don't otherwise have here. With 2 immunities (including Air Balloon) as well as its amazing resistances, it shouldn't have much of an issue switching in. The only thing I question is whether a Fire Gem might be better to give an even more powerful Eruption.

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Escavalier @ Bug Gem
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Brave Nature
- Megahorn
- Iron Head
- Double-Edge
- Protect

At first glance, the first thing this team seemed to need was a check to bulky Psychics, especially Cresselia. A Bug Gem boosted Megahorn from this bug seems to do a great job of one shotting these threats. Iron Head gives another STAB, while Double Edge is a powerful attack with mostly neutral coverage that I can fire off to also put Escavalier in range of Swarm for even more sweeping power.

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Lickilicky @ Life Orb
Trait: Cloud Nine
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Brave Nature
- Power Whip
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Protect

This is probably the most shaky addition to my team. In early testing, I found that I was having a lot of trouble against rain teams. Enter Lickilicky, whose Cloud Nine ability allows me to shut off the weather. Power Whip provides a strong super effective move against the likes of Politoed, Tyranitar, and Hippowdon who happen to set up weather, while Earthquake will get Ninetales as well as provide an additional spread move. Once Lickilicky has done its job, it can simply go boom and devastate anything on the field.
 
hi, looks like a decent starting point for a TR team. The one thing I notice is hat you have somewhat of a Fighting weakness. Sure, Reuniclus covers them with Psychic and Dragonite resists them, but Heatran and Lickylicky are still both weak to it. What do the EVs on Reuniclus and Hariyama help with? I could rate better if I knew. You might want to put another TR user instead of Lickylicky. It doesn't really add anything to your team. If you really want a rain counter, try breloom. also, your team seems heavily reliant on getting TR up. What if the opponent packs Taunt and Fake Out? Hitmontop-Thundurus-I is a really common lead that can completely shut down your team. What if they OHKO Reuniclus? You'll be on the back foot from turn 1. If you decide to keep Lickylicky, why have EQ on it when nothing resists it on your team? It'll just be a wasted turn of Protecting for the other teammate.
 
Thanks for the tips man :D I do see what you're saying about Lickilicky; even in matchups when I am against rain, it basically allows me to one shot Politoed and nothing else. Breloom definitely seems like a better starting point to countering rain. I have recently been running into it and it gives my team hell. To be honest about those EVs, I just took them from the Smogon sets. I really am not that experienced to know "oh hey, in order to not get one shot by this I should have these EVs" but I really think it would help if I could optimize my Reuniclus better because as you said setting up my Trick Room is absolutely integral. I am thinking that Hitmontop might be a better option than Hariyama thought I'm undecided at this point, Intimidate+Fake Out seem like they would be really helpful to help Reuniclus survive against some OHKOs to get Trick Room set up. Basically I'm looking for a safer way to set up Trick Room at this point. Is the bigger issue that I rely on it too much, or is Reuniclus just not a very safe Pokemon to be using to set it up? I'm not really sure how to make a Trick Room team less reliant on Trick Room, as obviously you need to spec your IVs and Natures accordingly. Thanks again for your help :)
 
Well this does seem like a decent attempt at a trickroom team, considering that it is your first team. I agree with everything said by tlyee61, you do have a big fighting type weakness and you are weak to taunt+fake out leads. There are also some other issues that you may want to address as well.

Reuniclus @ Lum Berry ---> Mental Herb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 172 HP / 252 SAtk / 28 Def / 56 SDef ---> 252HP / 56SpA / 200SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball

The changes that I've made are 1.) changing lum berry to a Mental Herb allowing you remove the taunt if you do get taunt'd and a lum berry seems a little odd as it's only use would be removing sleep as magic guard means satus doesn't deal damage to you 2.) to allow you to survive a dragon gem draco meteor from a modest latios, I couldn't find anything that the defence ev's allowed you to survive.

Hariyama and Dragonite seem to be fine, except I'd change leftovers to a haban berry on dragonite.

Chandelure @ Focus Sash
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature
IV's: 0 Spe
- Heat Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Trickroom
- Protect

Chandelure really seem like it would work better with your team giving you a fake out immune pokemon that can set up trickroom, live any one hit, and then still be able to pack a punch after that. It keeps heatran's fire immunity on top of that.

On escavalier I'd run return over double-edge with 18 less base power and same typing without recoil it is generally a better move.

Abomasnow @ Ice gem/Grass gem
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 196HP / 136Atk / 176SpA
Sassy Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Ice Shard / Hidden Power [fire]
- Blizzard
- Protect

This set would operate as your anti-weather pokemon, the EV's allow you to have as much bulk as possible whilst Maximizing your damage output. Wood Hammer is there for water types, Ice shard is a priority option whilst HP Fire would allow you to hit scizor hard, and the main attacking option the set Blizzard which is 100% accurate in hail and hits both opponents. Abomasnow would normally run focus sash but seeing as you're using a trickroom team not a hail team chandelure calls precedence.

Hope I helped and good luck.

Chenkovsky.
 
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