Foolish attempt at a Pokemon team? More than likely... Help wanted... I have cheese!

[Macc]

Its been awhile Smogon... So, I'd like to say hello! You can call me Macc the Cheesemage!!! I've attempted to build a team using mixed sweepers and tanks other than Blissey and Skarmory. I also wanted to give the team a wide coverage as far as typing goes and what they can switch in on. I first discovered this site over a year ago and I hope I've learned a thing or to since I first started using it as my main resource for team creation.

Without further delay... Here's my team!

SonSon: Infernape, Hasty, Focus Sash
64 Atk / 252 SpA / 192 Spe
(Flame Thrower) (Close Combat) (Taunt) (Fake Out) Considering Grass Knot over Taunt

First off we have the Monkey Mistress herself Sonson. She is sporting a mixed sweeper set designed to take down stereotypical tanks like Skarmory and Blissey. I hate moves with bad accuracy so I threw Fire Blast out the window, but I think with the suggested EV speard that it shouldn't matter. Close Combat is self explanatory in the fact that it can take out anything weak to fighting / some pokemon with low def. Taunt is to prevent status and or prevent someone setting up on her and my team until I can switch to an appropriate counter. Lastly, Fake Out is for scouting / removing focus sash.

Ness: Gengar, Hasty, Leichi Berry
136 Atk / 122 SpA / 252 Spe
(Sludge Bomb) (Thunder Bolt) (Explosion) (Substitute)

Next up to bat is Ness, he's PK Rockin'! Yet again sporting a mixed sweeper set up. Ness is as fast as a Gengar can be without the use of illegal stimulants and or something full of dooshbaggary like Choice Scarf! No hate'n on the scarf though yo! Anyway, Sludge Bomb is a powerful STAB attack that can poison his target and covers things that Thunderbolt wont. Thunderbolt is meant to be used for its super effective abilities against the likes of Skarmory or Gyarados much like sludge bomb it can status the target. In this case, with paralysis. Explosion is the only physical move Ness has at his disposal and can be a fun suprise for my opponent... Maybe. Either my opponent knows Earthbound and that Gengar looks like Ness when he teleports, which he appears out of covered in soot and his hair all spiky. Or, they don't buy into my crazy relation schemes and assume I won't stay in and be walled or I will explode, which would be my only two options... :_( Lastly Ness has Substitute to take advantage of his pretty good speed to either punish my opponent for switching out or get him closer to using his berry, which may change from the SpA to the Atk booster depending upon how saucy I feel at the time of the match.

Abe Sapien: Swampert, Relaxed, Leftovers
240 HP / 216 Def / 52 SpA
(Earthquake) (Surf) (Stealth Rock) (Protect) Considering Roar over Stealth Rock

Abe is as Abe does he's a Sapien! Also, he's My last mixed sweeper. On top of that Abe can also stall with protect allowing him to gain back 1/8th of his HP, which is great for a switch in that deals very weak dmg. Earthquake is a great STAB attack that unfortunately is a little too predictable. Surf is another predictable STAB attack, but doesn't have as severe a penalty for being switched in on since there aren't any pokemon immune to water that I know of... Stealth Rock has to be on one of my Pokemon and Abe can handle it very well. He might place Stealth Rock after a switch in protect combo thing I invisioned. Protect is nice for alot of reasons. For example, stalling, avoiding attacks like Explosion *with good prediction,* or scouting / messing with my opponents! :D Muhuhahahahahahaha....

Cheshire: Umbreon, Sassy, Chople Berry
252 HP / 160 Def/ 92 SpD
(Toxic) (Wish) (Covet) (Protect) Considering Taunt over Covet...

He hairy, he's crazy he may or may not be from a drug induced novel... It's Cheshire the Umbreon!!! Did I mention I'm his biggest fan? Anyway, he's one of my two main tanks and has the fawesome ability to wishpass! Toxic is his main form of damage slowly, but surely taking out his opponent. Wish is his recovery not just for himself, but for his allies too. Covet is nice for taking opponents leftovers and anything else once Chesh gets hit by a fighting type attack. Protect is meant to be used in combination with Wish and Toxic as well as a way to stall / scout.

Ray MK 2: Porygon 2, Relaxed, Macho Brace Considering Lum Berry
252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SpA
(Discharge) (Ice Beam) (Recover) (Trick Room)

He's small, he's ducky? Well, maybe... You can call him Ray and he's quite technical. Imploying naturally bulky defensive stats and also decent HP it can take many different physical threats. Mainly its SUPER EFFECTIVE at defending against physical attacking Pokemon with intimidate like Gyarados and or Salamence. Discharge is a decent dmging electric attack to occasionally paralyze and take out Gyarados. Ice Beam is good against dragons and or any other Pokemon weak against Ice. Recover is meant to be used after Ray gets hit... <,<; Self Explanatory! Finially, Trick Room is meant to counter trick room teams and or severly piss off opponents who think they are fast sweepers only to find out that their frail defenses don't compensate for Ray attacking first.

Isaac: Forretress, Relaxed, Shedshell
252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SpD
(Rapid Spin) (Spikes) (Sleep Talk) (Rest) Considering Stealth Rock over Spikes

He's one bad mother shut yo mouth! Isaac likes to take his awesome space armor and defend for the sake of dismemberment! Isaac likes to Rapid Spin away from the crazy alien Pokemon putting spikes and other kinds of things on the field. He also likes to do what they do back in their faces with his Spikes. Sleep Talk is for working while sleeping on the job. Rest is for sleeping on the job.

Sorry about the large pictures, but it easily could have been worse. My goal was to make this RMT oozing with my personality! Also, I have to admit that none of the evs were calculated by me and I am absolutely horrible at doing so. I cannot take credit for all the movesets either, but I think this is definately a start to a much better team. Now, I need your help! Save my Smogon Forumers! You're my only hope!

Also, I wouldn't mind completely reformating my team if needs be. I like pokemon that can take a hit and was considering incorporating Tyranitar, or Dragonite in Sonson's (Infernape) spot as well as Sceptile or Mow Rotom in Ness's (Gengar) spot. Could I beg for help with learning how to calculate evs and or ways to have a deeper understanding of how to form a Pokemon team?

Thank you so much for your time and I hope you enjoyed what you've read!

 

[christopher_ 1942]

Uhh. I'm afraid those pictures are NOT the Pokemon you chose. They are just random images. But who cares...

I guess you need to think more hard on this team. First Taunt doesn't really come in handy when Infernape only does the sweeping. It does have Focus Sash, but it will not come in handy...

Why do you have Covet on Umbreon? It's useless! It only takes the item away and that will cost you the whole match. Take that move out and put in Payback.

That Forretress with Rest and Sleep Talk won't help you much either. It does only Spikes and Rapid Spin and that's about it. The Pokemon needs to set up more like putting Stealth Rock and Explosion in. Stealth Rock for flying type like Charizard and Ninjask and Explosion so you can get a KO if your Forretress is about to do down. Hope this helps. :)

 

[Macc]

Thanks for your advice. The pictures are related to the nicknames I gave my Pokemon, which are named after the characters in the pictures. So, in that since they are my Pokemon, because that's what they reminded me of when I first got them.

As far as the use of Taunt, I originally was planning on having Grass Knot in its place. When would Taunt be useful on an Infernape? Also what should I use in Focus Sash's place? Life Orb? I like the ability to choose his moves so Choice Scarf doesn't seem like it would be in her interest.

I was considering Payback, but I wanted to make sure Chesh would have enough Def evs to survive physical attacks pretty well and I pretty much just put the remaining evs that weren't recommended into Def. I guess I thought Covet takes the opponent's item and equips it if the user doesn't have one. How is it useless? My umbreon could survive a Fighting type attack and come back in to steal a leftovers later on. Unless I am mistaken of what Covet does... Is it just Knock off in where it removes my opponent's item?

I know that my Forretress does only Spikes and Rapid Spin. He's strictly a defensive Pokemon to compensate for the fact that I don't have the standard Special Defender, Physical Defender, Mixed Defender combo. Rest keeps him alive. If anything I was considering taking out Spikes for Stealth Rock and Giving my Swampert Roar instead of his Stealth Rock. The only real downside to Rest Sleep Talk is the fact that Sleep Talk will randomly select between Rest, Spikes(Stealth Rock), or Rapid Spin. I hate to put anything to fate, but an Exploding Forretress is so cliche and easily delbt with.

Forgive me to seem like I am disregarding your feedback, but I wanted to let you know that I had a plan! I just need a little more detail to fully comprehend how the things you suggested would be more useful. Thank you so much nonetheless!

 

[christopher_ 1942]

It's not a problem. I'm just here to make points on how to make your team better. And yes, Covet has the same effect as Knock Off.

 

[MapleSandwich]

I really don't think Trick Room is the best move to utilize on Pory2. If the opponent forces you to switch out after using it, your other, fast Pokemon will all of a sudden run into problems. I'd suggest either adding more Pokemon that can take advantage of Trick Room, or simply replace that with Magic Coat or the like.

 

[Macc]

I definitely will have to consider something in Covet's place then. My initial idea is to use Payback like you suggested, but I don't know if having no attack evs would make it worth while. However, since I need Umbreon to be as defensive as possible I think I would want to use something like Taunt, Confuse Ray, or Moon Light.

Also, I agree with you Maple on Trick room not seeming as effective as it could be. Swampert is about the only pokemon I have that could sweep with it, but it could help my Forretress or Umbreon. So... I was considering Dragonite or Tyranitar to replace Infernape, while Sceptile/Breloom or Mow Rotom to replace Gengar.

The main problem with using some of those pokemon is the fact that there doesn't seem be to ev sets for what I would like them to do. I don't want to emphasize speed at all I want to emphasize defenses, but that takes calculations and I haven't a clue where to start. So yet again can someone help me to learn how to calculate evs effectively?

My idea was to make Tyranitar and Dragonite both Bulky yet mixed sweepers minus their speed, which would obviously go to defense, but will it be enough to survive attacks? The Tyranitar's set would probably be the Tyraniboah with Flame Thrower and Crunch. Dragonite would need to be more creative between its evs, but it would probably use the MixNite set exactly. A large part of me wants to use Tyranitar because half of my team *Tyranitar included* wouldn't take dmg from Sandstorm and the other half could probably put up with it. However I realize the wisest combination of Pokemon *With the moves I want* to replace Gengar and Infernape would be Dragonite and Mow Rotom, because they give awesome resistances and possible moves for the party. Dragonite could be a regular mixed sweeper and Rotom could be defensive and slow to take advantage of Trick Room. Other than being nice for switch ins it doesn't feel as solid as the original team...

What would you do? What would Jesus do?