First Time Competitive Team

[candylatte]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to smogon and to competitive battling. I watch a few youtubers (shofu, numbnexus) and play randombats/challenge cup 1v1 usually. I tried doing something different and making a team for the first time, so this is what I came up with. I wanted to make a balanced team where every pokemon has attacking and defending potential, and though that's not completely possible, I think I have what I want in terms of playstyle. I've been playing with it today and it seems to be working well for me, but I would like some overall advice on what to change/what I can do better/etc.

*I'll be editing this team in bold to reflect changes I make based on your suggestions*

candy (Landorus-Therian) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Def 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Adamant Nature Impish
- Earthquake Stone Edge
- Knock Off Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock

I wanted a stealth rock lead who was also overall useful, so I went with bulky Lando-T. I couldn't decide between Knock Off and U-Turn, so I ended up going with both, and it seems to be working well for me. I can set up my own rocks first turn while the opponent sets up their hazard/switches out, and I U-Turn out second turn or stay in and go for an EQ/Knock Off if I don't feel scared. I feel like Candy is an important part of my team in setting up hazards and being my main physical attacker (more on this later). She also comes in during the game as a secondary physically defensive pokemon, using intimidate to make attackers switch out and get a free knock-off/u-turn/EQ.

Stone Edge + Earthquake works nicer for me, I have found. Having no rock coverage on my team kind of sucked against opposing Zapdos/Mandibuzz/Talonflame/Mega-Pinsir, and Candy doesn't really care about them and fires back with a nice stone edge. Also, full physical wall works really well, the intimidate + max hp/def + impish are great at forcing switches, and I can just u-turn out from the switch and go straight to a check/counter. Thanks Timpsu !

latte (Greninja) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot Extrasensory

Latte is the other super important part of my team, I think. She acts as a special sweeper in late game, cleaning up after Candy, Odhu, Magikat, and Muffin have worn down the opposing team, although I occasionally will use her as a revenge killer too against slower pokemon. I think the moveset I went with is pretty standard, but I was contemplating switching Hydro Pump for Surf since I've had more misses than I would like.

odhu (Heatran) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP 252 SAtk / 208 Spd / 48 HP
Modest NatureTimid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Flash Cannon
- RoarHP Ice

Odhu relies on her natural bulk to sit quietly dishing out damage. She mainly spams Lava Plume, and the other moves are for coverage. I have never used Roar, so switching that out could be a viable option, but I don't really know what to switch it with so I just left it there xD. Flash Cannon is secondary stab/my answer to fairies, earth power is there for coverage and it has killed many tentacruels that come in to spin the rocks away (she outspeeds the standard tentacruel with her spread and earth power 2hkos).

EV spread outspeeds jolly mega ttar by one point, adamant dragonite, and adamant mega-gyarados. There was nothing significant I would expect to outspeed with max speed after 208. I dumped rest of the EVs in HP for overall bulk.

magikat (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spd 252 HP / 168 Def / 68 SAtk / 20 Spd
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Thunderbolt
- Roost
- Heat Wave Defog

Magikat is my favorite cat defensive wall. Toxic is there to whittle down opponent walls. T-Bolt is my main stab, Heat Wave is for coverage and works nicely against Scizors that I don't want to use Odhu for in case of superpower. She just sits there and dishes out nice damage while eating up physical stuff, kinda like Odhu. I got the EV spread from the thread on Zapdos.

muffin (Conkeldurr) (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 SDef / 4 Def 252 Atk / 232 SDef / 20 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Mach Punch
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Knock Off

Muffin, I've found, is one of my favorite team members. I use him to tank special hits, absorb status, and wreck with a (possibly Guts boosted) Drain/Mach Punch. Knock Off is there since it is an amazing move, and Ice Punch is there for coverage. I use him as my main physical attacker.

lolnope (Kyurem-Black) @ Leftovers
Ability: Teravolt
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 56 HP / 216 SAtk / 236 Spd
Lonely Nature Mild
- Substitute
- Ice Beam
- Dragon Claw Earth Power
- Fusion Bolt

My last pokemon is kyu-b since I thought I needed another strong, fast physical attacker in my team. I got the ev spread from the thread on Kyurem-Black. I went with the sub set to block status and since I thought that I can use a sub after bringing kyurem in since the oppponent will likely switch out to a check/counter and then have a turn where I can get free damage off while protected behind the sub. Ice Beam and Dragon Claw are main STABs, and Fusion Bolt is there as another strong move. I really only use him at the end of games along with Latte, Latte starts the end sweep and Kyurem finishes if she fails. Because of this, I have really only used him two or three times though, so meh :/. I like having him around, I feel like the times when I *do* use him he's absolutely essential to my team.

Please offer your help and advice! It's greatly appreciated. I can offer a few replays of how I play also, if it helps?
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-114185676
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-114174360
^^in this one I forgot about the sticky web speed drop when I sent in Latte against the mega-chomp and was quite surprised when it died since I was expecting to outspeed and kill and instead died^^

Thanks, you guys are awesome~
--latte

 

[Timpsu]

Hey there! I think your team looks quite solid overall, gonna share a few thoughts on the team though.

I would advise you to switch Lando's EVs from Attack to Defense, since he works much better as a bulky attacker with extra investment in Defense. You also don't have moves that really benefit from that Attack investment, so I think you could benefit from extra bulk. You can also switch your nature to Impish, since it lets you take on M-Pinsir even better. I think you could replace Grass Knot with another move on Greninja, since it hits nothing notable. I would suggest you replace it with Extrasensory, as that gives you a good way to hit Keldeo, Conkeldurr and M-Venusaur. As you like to play your Heatran offensively, I suggest you switch Leftovers to Air Balloon. Air Balloon gives you more switch-in opportunities, and it lets you check some strong offensive threats better. I suggest you switch Lava Plume to Fire Blast, as you need all the power you can muster. Also, if you want to utilize a Heatran with 4 attacks, I suggest put HP Ice in the last slot. As you became immune to Ground, many physical attackers who rely on checking Heatran with EQ are left in a tough spot, and many Dragon-types usually rely on EQ. AncientPower is also an option, since it lets you check Char-Y, who could otherwise be problematic for your team. Also, switch nature to Timid, as to outspeed as much as possible.

I suggest you make room for Defog on Zapdos, as he is an excellent user of the move, and your team could benefit from Defog, especially Kyu-B. I think Heat Wave or Toxic can be replaced with the move. Also, it's best for Zapdos to run a spread of 252 HP / 168 Def / 68 SpA / 20 Spe, as to always outspeed Aegislash, and with SpA investment you always OHKO M-Pinsir. Your Conkeldurr could also run 20 Speed, as to outspeed Hippowdon, who will otherwise stall you with Slack Off. Also, Earth Power should replace Dragon Claw on Kyu-B's moveset, as Earth Power offers best coverage, and is mandatory to dismantle Rotom-W and bulky Steels, such as Heatran and Aegislash. I hope my few thoughts have been of help, good luck with the team!

 

[Suaver]

Very nice Team my only nitpick is that u should run defog> heat wave as ur team especially kyu b losing 25% of zapdos and kyurems hp every time u switch in can really weaken the overall offensive prescence of your team.

 

[candylatte]

I would advise you to switch Lando's EVs from Attack to Defense, since he works much better as a bulky attacker with extra investment in Defense. You also don't have moves that really benefit from that Attack investment, so I think you could benefit from extra bulk. You can also switch your nature to Impish, since it lets you take on M-Pinsir even better.

If I use him as a m-pinsir check/counter (I don't know what the proper term here is), then should I replace EQ with Stone Edge? That will also let me cover char-y and talonflame. Or should I switch in candy on the pinsir, get the Intimidate off, and switch out to magikat next turn to take the softened not-very-effective Return and KO back with Tbolt?

I think you could replace Grass Knot with another move on Greninja, since it hits nothing notable. I would suggest you replace it with Extrasensory, as that gives you a good way to hit Keldeo, Conkeldurr and M-Venusaur.

Thanks, I had Grass Knot on for mega-blastoise but I guess magikat and muffin can handle him. I was scared that ice beam might do too much to magikat, and muffin wouldn't be powerful enough to break through mega-toise's bulk unless he got the guts boost somehow.

As you like to play your Heatran offensively, I suggest you switch Leftovers to Air Balloon. Air Balloon gives you more switch-in opportunities, and it lets you check some strong offensive threats better. I suggest you switch Lava Plume to Fire Blast, as you need all the power you can muster. Also, if you want to utilize a Heatran with 4 attacks, I suggest put HP Ice in the last slot. As you became immune to Ground, many physical attackers who rely on checking Heatran with EQ are left in a tough spot, and many Dragon-types usually rely on EQ. AncientPower is also an option, since it lets you check Char-Y, who could otherwise be problematic for your team. Also, switch nature to Timid, as to outspeed as much as possible.

I'm not entirely sure how to use Air Balloon though. I don't usually face earthquakes on my team so I'm scared I'll switch in odhu and her balloon will just get popped right away. Going to candy for the intimidate and then u-turning out to odhu could work if candy's slower, but it just doesn't seem very reliable to me. HP Ice seems like a good idea, I think I'll use that. As for Modest vs. Timid, are there any notable pokemon I don't outspeed with Modest? Regarding Lava Plume, I use it for the nice 30% burn chance since my team has no Will-o-Wisp-er. At first, I thought about using Will-o-Wisp in the last slot and Flamethrower over Lava Plume, and then I remembered that Lava Plume exists and basically combines those two moves into one.

I did all the magikat/muffin changes you said, swapping out Heat Wave for Defog, and it works great, thanks~

Regarding Kyurem, Earth Power seems like a good option, but then I would have only one physical attacker on my team, muffin (since I changed candy to impish max def). I was worried that my team would be walled by good specially defensive pokemon then, so I thought about making Kyurem mainly physical. Also, which nature should I use? I currently use +Atk -Def since I thought Kyurem-B has a higher base defense, so cutting out defense will not hurt as bad as lowering his already-smaller sp def. Should I use a -sp def nature instead to take the majority of rock, fighting, and steel moves slightly better at the cost of hurting my weaker defense more?

 

[BurningFury101]

Hello there! Amazing team you've got :) as always, no team is perfect so we have us.. humans? To help you out!

First and foremost, I believe that you should replace Knock Off with Stone Edge, as hitting Mandibuzz, Charizard Y, and Mega Pinsir are all very imporant (All of them are a problem for your team). You may also want to take Timpsu's suggestion and switch EV's from Attack, into Defence for better bulk. Personally, I feel your EVs are fine but that's just me. Greninja usually never uses Grass Knot (You see it from time to time, but not often), and it should be replaced by Extrasensory to hit Keldeo, Mega Venusaur, Conkeldurr, and a few other Fighting-Types harder, or HP [Grass] to hit Rotom-W, and Azumarill harder. On the subject of Heatran, because you do not have many physical attackers, the only fully based attacker being Conkeldurr, you should try running Mega Charizard X to replace it, the sheer force it has is amazing, and because you are now running Defog on your Magikat now, it works pretty well with your team.

From here all I can offer is Earth Power > Dragon Claw, then switch Lonely into Mild nature on Kyurem-B for maximum wallbreaker potential.

Good luck!

Set for Char X

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake

 

[candylatte]

So I've switched Latte to extrasensory over grass knot, Kyu-B runs earth power and Mild, and Candy is fully defensive now. Candy I've been using a lot now as a defensive wall to switch in and then knock off/u-turn out on the switch. However, I find both knock off and u-turn essential to playing him. How bad would it be to switch out earthquake for stone edge? EQ is mainly there to have one attack and I hardly use it, and I feel like having stone edge would be really useful when Mandibuzzes and Zapdoses come in to defog away my rocks.

One more issue I have noticed is that Tail Glow Manaphy absolutely wrecks my team. It switches in when Odhu's out, Tail Glows while I switch to Magikat, and then proceeds to destroy my team, no matter what. I ran some calcs, the only way I can beat the Manaphy is by using Lava Plume when it switches in, Earth Power when it boosts to +3, and let it kill me, and then come in with Latte and dark pulse/extrasensory and hope for a high damage roll, otherwise it lives with a tiny bit of hp (because leftovers recovery takes place this whole time), kills Latte also, and then I send out Muffin and finish it with Mach Punch. End result: I lose Odhu, one of my main damage dealers, and probably Latte, my main sweeper. Is there a better way to stop Manaphy with my team?

Hello there! Amazing team you've got :) as always, no team is perfect so we have us.. humans? To help you out!

First and foremost, I believe that you should replace Knock Off with Stone Edge, as hitting Mandibuzz, Charizard Y, and Mega Pinsir are all very imporant (All of them are a problem for your team). You may also want to take Timpsu's suggestion and switch EV's from Attack, into Defence for better bulk. Personally, I feel your EVs are fine but that's just me. Greninja usually never uses Grass Knot (You see it from time to time, but not often), and it should be replaced by Extrasensory to hit Keldeo, Mega Venusaur, Conkeldurr, and a few other Fighting-Types harder, or HP [Grass] to hit Rotom-W, and Azumarill harder. On the subject of Heatran, because you do not have many physical attackers, the only fully based attacker being Conkeldurr, you should try running Mega Charizard X to replace it, the sheer force it has is amazing, and because you are now running Defog on your Magikat now, it works pretty well with your team.

From here all I can offer is Earth Power > Dragon Claw, then switch Lonely into Mild nature on Kyurem-B for maximum wallbreaker potential.

Good luck!

Set for Char X

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake

Interesting suggestion with Char-X, but I'm not sure if it's sufficiently bulky for what I want. It has no recovery, which worries me. As an end game sweeper I think it's fine, but Odhu/Magikat/Muffin/Candy are my main pokemon that I use throughout the match to wear down the other team, and they need constant recovery so they can stay alive for a while and slowly wear down the other team so that Latte/Kyu-B can finish off the team.

 

[BurningFury101]

How bad would it be to switch out earthquake for stone edge?

Not too good, Earthquake is arguably one of the best moves in the game, if you used Stone Edge over Earthquake you would lose a reliable STAB attack.

One more issue I have noticed is that Tail Glow Manaphy absolutely wrecks my team. It switches in when Odhu's out, Tail Glows while I switch to Magikat, and then proceeds to destroy my team, no matter what. I ran some calcs, the only way I can beat the Manaphy is by using Lava Plume when it switches in, Earth Power when it boosts to +3, and let it kill me, and then come in with Latte and dark pulse/extrasensory and hope for a high damage roll, otherwise it lives with a tiny bit of hp (because leftovers recovery takes place this whole time), kills Latte also, and then I send out Muffin and finish it with Mach Punch. End result: I lose Odhu, one of my main damage dealers, and probably Latte, my main sweeper. Is there a better way to stop Manaphy with my team?

Again, as I noted, Charizard X greatly helps the team, shown by calcs here it can severely damage a Manaphy and proceed to kill it, to the point where you don't need to lose two or more Pokemon, which is definitely a huge help.

+1 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Dragon Claw vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Manaphy: 285-336 (83.5 - 98.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Manaphy Surf vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Charizard X: 141-166 (47.3 - 55.7%) -- 78.1% chance to 2HKO

Interesting suggestion with Char-X, but I'm not sure if it's sufficiently bulky for what I want. It has no recovery, which worries me. As an end game sweeper I think it's fine, but Odhu/Magikat/Muffin/Candy are my main pokemon that I use throughout the match to wear down the other team, and they need constant recovery so they can stay alive for a while and slowly wear down the other team so that Latte/Kyu-B can finish off the team.

Charizard X has recovery with Roost, and even if you don't want the sweeper set, you can use the bulky set found within the Charizard Analysis.