Force of nature (Gen 4 Team)

raijinken

First off, I'm more of a wi-fi player and have only dabbled a little in simulators. I've played Pokemon since ancient times but only began to do serious competitive battling recently due to the advent of Nintendo Wi-fi. Wi-fi battles just attract me more than simulators so just bear with me. Finally, this team may seem like a "gimmick" team due to my usage of all 3 Sinnoh starters but I believe these 3 have incredible synergy in terms of coverage and type resistances with each other (more on that later). I've used this team on wi-fi which net me a pretty good success rate so I'm very happy with it but any comments to improve it will help. Without further ado...

Introduction

This is a balanced team with Infernape, Empoleon and Torterra as the core of the team that exploits the incredible coverage of each others weaknesses as well as strengths. The aim is to set up a set up with Empoleon through the usage of the weaknesses of Infernape and Torterra and the resistances of Empoleon.

The Force of nature

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Infernape @ Choice Band
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Flare Blitz
- U-Turn
- Close Combat
- Shadow Claw

A great scout with Choice Banded U-Turn as well as my chief physical attacker. The Choice Band besides providing great punch to its attacks allow for Empoleon to set up when predicting a switch since all of Infernape's weaknesses save for Ground is resisted by Empoleon. It has some decent resistances for my other team mates such as Fire and Ice for Torterra but I generally only do this as a last resort due to its terrible defenses meaning even resisted attacks do terrible damage to it with enough stats behind the attacks.

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Empoleon @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Agility
- Substitute
- Surf
- Ice Beam

Probably the strongest sweeping set of Empoleon, the set up is made hugely easier due to the presence of Aerodactyl, Infernape, Alakazam and Torterra whose weaknesses were nearly all covered by Empoleon allowing me unpredictable switch-ins to set up when I please. Amazing end game sweeper and the x4 resist to Ice allows it to be a really great partner to Torterra as Torterra provides key Electric immunity and Ground resistances for it in return.

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Torterra @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Wood Hammer
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Leech Seed

The physical tank of the team, Torterra helps to sponge physical attacks very well as well as provide offensive ammunition with its powerful STAB Wood Hammer and Earthquake. Stone Edge is a key attack since it deals heavy damage to all significant Torterra counters types such as Ice, Fire and Flying. Leech Seed contributes a lot towards the physical of Torterra. Torterra while Wood Hammer and Earthquake helps to smash Empoleon's checks such as Ground and Electric types to ensure the success of its sweep.

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Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 6 Def / 252 Atk / 252 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Body Slam
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Block

Resident special tank and primary ice beam/blizzard absorber of my team so I can bring Empoleon out much more later, Block may be consider outrageous on Snorlax due to this ludicrously low speed but can be surprisingly effective on Special sweepers heavy team which I may find when scouting with Infernape's U-Turn. The idea is to use Block on an incoming opponent as the enemy switches to a special sweeper that likely as Focus Blast or Aura Sphere for Special heavy teams to deal with Snorlax. Mostly this means Gengar, Lucario and Togekiss. Crunch and Earthquake handles the first 2 while paralyzing Togekiss with Body Slam is really useful, even if it finishes off Snorlax. I would like to have Selfdestruct in the last slot but since it's a real chore to get, I didn't get it and instead used Block as a surprise choice.

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Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 6 Def / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Rock Slide
- Crunch

Token SR set up Aero set. Stealth Rock is amazing in this team due to the huge amount of switches it forces with the coverage of Empoleon, Infernape and Torterra. Also a very useful Taunt user late game on supporters if he managed to survive the early game. I choose Crunch over Earthquake to counter Starmie mainly as one of the few in my team to be a shoo-in to be faster than it except on Choice Scarf Starmie which are getting rarer and rarer. Besides, the Earthquake on my Torterra and Snorlax deals a lot more damage.

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Alakazam @ Life Orb
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 6 HP
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Signal Beam

My favourite Pokemon since Gen I. You may have noticed the generally lack of hard Fighting counters in the team. Most of the team are neutral to Fighting and even neutral Fighting STABs hurts quite bad due to the generally strong offensive stats of Fighting types and the high base power of most Fighting attacks. Besides revenge killing Fighting types, Alakazam serves as a powerful special attacker who have a tendency to attract Choiced Pokemon which I can exploit.

Threats to this team

The lack of a priority attack at all makes me really vulnerable sometimes but it's a problem that can be solved by smart playing since little teams carry more than 2 types of priority attacks and Empoleon resists nearly all of them.

Besides that, I lack reliable status moves and status absorber which I attempt to overcome through the sheer threat of superior match-ups though this has failed at times while succeeding for the most part.

Please advise upon how to further better this team and thanks for reading my first RMT :D
 
I'll have time later to do a thorough analysis of your team and make more specific recommendations , etc., but at a glance your team looks very Hera weak, having only an Empoleon (which I wouldn't bank on) and Infernape that can really take him and having 4 mons with weaknesses to commonly run Hera moves (SE, Megahorn, Close Combat). I'd recommend if you plan on keeping your Aero, to lead with it and get up a SR, saving your Ape for later in the game. Consider a Scarfed Gengar or even a Sub/Disable Gengar set to block spinners and to switch in on CC's from Hera. I would switch Torterra out for Gengar in this case, or if you are looking for a more defensive replacement, consider Dusknoir. A variation of the Pain Split set would work nicely on your team, I think.

Dusknoir @ Leftovers
252 HP/28 Atk/228 Def
Impish
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split / Substitute
- Fire Punch / EQ
- Thunder Punch

Thunder Punch is there for Tenta's and Starmie's that will want to switch in and RS away your Rocks, and Fire Punch is there to hit Forretress and grass types that may come in to try and Leech or Status your Dusk. EQ can be used over Fire Punch, but really you'll just be hitting things that my next pick can take on more easily with his STAB'd EQ.

In addition to running this Dusknoir over your Torterra, I would also recommend running a Scarfed Flygon, as your team is very slow and could use some quick explosive power. Consider replacing your Aerodactyl with this variety of a Scarfgon:

Flygon @ Choice Scarf
252 Atk/252 Spe/4 SpD
Jolly
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- U-turn
- Stone Edge

This will allow you to scout with U-turn while having a STAB'd EQ and Outrage. This gives your team some much needed dynamic power, as a Life Orb Zam and Infernape could use some help picking up the slack of a Snorlax and Empoleon defensive core.

Another suggestion worth mentioning is changing your CBApe to a MixApe; this leaves you with a powerful and diverse attacker, while still giving you a scouter in Flygon who can switch out Ice-type attacks directed at him to Snorlax. U-turning out Infernape leaves your Snorlax or Empoleon most likely taking EQ damage and being a turn behind -- so it is probably a better idea to switch in Flygon if you experience trouble getting your MixApe started up.
However, Infernape needs entry hazards to sweep, and without an Aerodactyl, he needs Empoleon to set them up for him.
So here are my final two suggestions, MixApe and Lead Empoleon:

MixApe @ Life Orb
252 Atk/64 SpA/192 Spe
Hasty
- Close Combat
- U-turn / Grass Knot / Stone Edge
- Mach Punch
- Overheat

Empoleon @ Leftovers
172 HP/160 Def/80 SpA/92 SpD/4 Spe
Calm
- Stealth Rock
- Hydro Pump / Surf
- Aqua Jet
- Ice Beam / Grass Knot

These sets give you enough coverage to be able to sweep late game with Zam or MixApe, while allowing MixApe to stay alive with U-turn for a longer time if you decide to let him warm up earlier on in the game. Empoleon as a lead is bulky and not too shabby with a STAB'd Hydro Pump and priority Aqua Jet, like listed in the above moveset. You can use Grass Knot over Beam if you find that Swampert and the like are too difficult to deal with, but I'd take Ice Beam, as Emp will be your best bet against Dragons. Most importantly, this set allows him to set up SR and stay in the game for longer as a defensive-oriented Poke.
 
Move Aerodactyl to lead position and replace crunch with EQ on it. Remove Shadow Claw on Infernape cause it just sucks. Replace it with something like Stone Edge or Mach Punch (The Priority you wanted). On Snorlax replace Block with Fire Punch because of Bronzong and it actually does a bit to Skarmory. On Alakazam replace signal Beam with Hidden power fire cuse Scizor is a big threat to it.
 
Thanks for the tips to improve my team. Just a couple of things:

- I had tried some variation of the Dusknoir you posted but I found him a bit lackluster due to it significantly slowing down offensive momentum due to his low damage, even if it was a super effective hit. Maybe I'll try Gengar as you suggested.

- I had thought about Scarfed Flygon so I would be trying that.

- I haven't really tried MixApe before due to the fact that I feel it would significantly lack more punch than either a Special or Physical attacker Ape, even after entry hazards but it's more of a feeling than actual experience so I'll look into that.

- The Empoleon lead set sounds good but a few questions. Firstly, would it be more advisable to move some of the Def EVs into speed to allow me to outspeed bulky opponents, say Skarmory? Or will the lose of Def be too much usually?

- I would like to replace Signal Beam with HP Fire on Zam but like I said, I play on wi-fi for the most part so I tend to only concentrate on breeding perfect IVs onto the 2 chief stats. However, would using Shadow Ball instead be more generally viable?

- Lastly, a thing to take note of is this team have trouble against concerntrated stall teams such as Skarmory, Blissey, etc. which while relatively rare on wi-fi still turns up occasionally, and more so at any tournaments. What would be the ideal solution to this problem?

Thanks for the advice.
 
@raijiken
True, Dusknoir will slow down the tempo of your team. Gengar is a great choice I think alongside Scarfgon; however, I still think a Dusknoir like that would fit better as a replacement of sorts for your Torterra. . .but your team, your choice, of course.

MixApe lacks the physical prowess of the set you had posted, but I think that it works a lot better behind a lead Empoleon. Speaking of which, the 160 Def EVs on Empoleon let it survive 2 LO'd Outrages from Kingdra, and I feel that if you see an Outrage from anything coming, Empoleon is your best choice. Furthermore, you have a STAB'd Hydro Pump and a priority move in Aqua Jet, so walls shouldnt be that big of an issue (especially with a MixApe capable of killing off Bliss with CC and, if need be, Skarm with Overheat).

If you go with Gengar, not only will Skarm be less of a wall to your team, but the big picture here is you'll likely have 3 Special threats (Ggar, Zam, Ape) and 2 Physical threats with MixApe and Scarfgon both hitting hard. These Pokes as an offensive core will have great coverage and synergy, I believe. You can get around HP Fire on your Zam by having Scarfgon with SE -- Hera is basically a non-threat to your team now.
 
@guddagudda

Ok, your suggested team sounds great but I have one last concern which is sorta major. I used to play my Aerodactyl rather conservatively instead of the regular suicide lead approach since I find taunt to be an irreplaceable against nearly every support mon totally screwing over the likes of Ninjask, Cresslia, etc. Just wondering if I could still somehow fit a taunt user into the new team? Thanks.
 
lucario lolz at ur team, i suggest running the dusknoir, with eq! mix nape is also a very good choice over the band, once blaze kicks in its flamethrower beacomes deadly , flygon is a good choice, hell its a good choice on any team , im not understanding what your doing with aero not as a lead, i take it u want it to get rocks up, but you could aslo use a modified azlef or uxie to do the same thing as lead, i prefer and uxie lead with duel screen and rocks with uturn still avoids eq with levitate and uturn will deal some damage to those starmie
 
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