Gallant (My best team)

[Chaoswalker]

My friend really likes Gallade. I promised him to make the best team I could for the green knight. It ended up being the most effective team I've made so far, finally pushing me out of the 1500s to 1600s in Showdown. Hoping to still climb, here's what I got:

The uh... team:

The main goal of the team is to eliminate Gallade's threats/counters so that he can freely bulk-up and become unstoppable. That means eliminating ghost, flying, and psychic types. While keeping the bladed poke alive isn't necesary for victory, he's definitely take two or three other mons down with him.

Jolteon @ Choice Specs

Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Volt Switch
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]

I have absolutely fallen in love with specs Jolteon. The stab Volt Switch with specs does great amounts of damage, and can act as a "Eh, I don't know what to send out, I'll just Volt Switch" Pokemon. And of course, he doesn't just have to "keep momentum" as they call it. His speed and power allows him to eliminate slower pokemon, which is especially helpful in getting rid of flying types that might try to stop Gallade. His biggest problem is ground types and volt absorbers, who when present force me to eliminate them first before making Jolteon a real offensive presence. Sometimes a well predicted HP ice can alleviate this problem. Speaking of HP Ice, apparantly it can OHKO Breloom. Who knew? Finally, the ability Volt absorb can offer free switch ins from Politoed and Tentacruel, which is much appreciated since Jolteon can't take a hit well.


Scizor @ Choice Band

Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Atk / 216 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit
- U-turn

Scizor is just a good pokemon in general. Will this guy ever stop being OU? Well, he's got one main job on the team: Trapping. Can't have ghosts murdering Gallade, or psychics halting his attacks. Other than that, he does Scizor things. Stop toxic, murder Ttar, Revenge kill, etc. Like I said, good in general. Oh, and I suppose he's a good switch in for grass moves.


Politoed @ Choice Scarf

Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Perish Song
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Weather isn't necessary to make this team work, but it definitely helps. Ferrothorn enjoys having fire weakness lowered (sometimes it actually helps), Tentacruel becomes a viable wall with the recovery, and Jolteon's Thunder becomes 100% accurate. Oh, and of course the reason Politoed even has a scarf: Hydropump rips things up. Oh yes, let's not forget that changing the weather... changes the weather. This can screw up other teams, especially once their weather inducer is gone. Finally, Politoed is a REALLY good switch in for the two fire weaknesses.


Ferrothorn @ Leftovers

Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 168 SDef / 252 HP / 88 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Thunderwave
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Ferrothorn... that wonderful little... er, big... heavy wall.... yeah. I opted not to carry spikes, as I'm more concerned about hurting flying types, and to be honest if I can only have one hazard I'd rather pick the one that hits everybody. Leech seed not only acts as recovery, but it makes players by far less likely to keep a pokemon in, even if they could do tremendous damage to Ferrothorn.


Tentacruel @ Black Sludge

Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spd
Bold Nature
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
- Surf
- Protect

Tentacruel, the only pokemon really dependent on the weather. I used to run Toxic spikes on it, but this team is by no means geared toward stall. The ability to instantly put a death timer on a threat, (especially flying and levitating ones) is much more useful." I also opted for Surf over Scald, since I picked Toxic, and Surf does such respectable damage in the rain.


Gallade (M) @ Leftovers

Trait: Justified
EVs: 240 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef / 12 Spd
Careful Nature
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Shadow Sneak
- Bulk Up

It's not Reuniclus or Conkeldurr, but that's ok. Gallade is deceptively strong, being able to take special attacks with a special defense that most wouldn't expect. And of course once the bulk ups start, it's time to heal with Drain punch. He needs all the team support he can get though, as having even one pokemon resistant to drain punch could cut short what may have been a sweep. The Shadow Sneak is a weird priority move, but can help finish off come potential counters with enough bulk ups. Ice punch can remove a lot of flying types that may attempt to stop him, like Gliscor and Dragonite. Gallade in the end, is the main offensive force of the team, even sweeping while paralyzed or toxic poisoned.



The team has the most trouble with (ironicaly) rain, since I can't eliminate the enemy weather, and Thundurus and Tornadus Therian can cause major mayhem. Electric immunity and Hurricane cause me alot of problems. Breloom also causes me grief, being only killed by HP ice, or a fully buffed Gallade.

 

[Jimbon]

Hi there,

Interesting team, Gallade is a 'mon that doesn't get a lot of love, and it's nice to see someone using it. I think one of Gallade's main downsides as a sweeper is that awful speed stat. While you do have Shadow Sneak to make up for it, it's very weak and you need multiple boosts before it can do anything. Another problem Gallade has is how difficult it can be to successfully set up, and even then it's easily outsped and can be revenged while your trying to boost up. Given that this team seems like it is based around a Gallade sweep, I think you should try to make this job a lot easier for yourself. I think trying out Thunder Wave over Protect on Ferrothorn would be a good idea. Thunder Wave on Ferrothorn slows down many opponents, making them much easier to be turned into setup fodder for Gallade. It also means Gallade does not have to rely on its weak priority to revenge kill, and can actually beat stuff with it's main coverage moves. Given that Ferrothorn can easily switch into many faster and offensive threats such as Latios and Salamence, you can paralyze them meaning Gallade can outspeed both of them. It also makes some of the threats you mentioned that are problematic for your team much easier to face, as you can revenge them with any member of your team. Tornadus-T and Breloom in particular do not appreciate a Thunder Wave, and both commonly switch into Ferrothorn so you'll have an easy time shutting them down. Losing Protect really isn't that big of a problem in this scenario. There's not a lot of situations where you will avoid being 2HKO'd after a Protect for the extra Leftovers / Leech Seed recovery, so in most cases Thunder Wave will benefit you more.

I also noticed that your team has a big problem against hard hitting Special attackers. Teams carrying Keldeo, Thundurus-T or Tornadus-T can prove annoying to face, as you really lack a solid answer to all three. While Tentacruel can check Keldeo well, it loses to Thundurus-T leaving Keldeo to sweep you. You also may have some trouble with Latias / Latios when Ferrothorn is down, leaving you open for them to hit everything on your team hard. I think if you change your Scizor's EV spread slightly, you will certainly ease some of your problems against the aforementioned Special Attackers. A set of 248 HP / 44 Atk / 216 SDef will suffice, given that you really want that extra special buffer alongside Ferrothorn. This set allows you to switch into Latias / Latios a lot more freely, being able to Pursuit trap both while avoiding the 2HKO under Rain. This set allows you to beat the 'mons that stand in the way of Gallade, giving you a much easier time when attempting a sweep.

I was also looking over your Politoed set, and I noticed something. I really do not like the use of Focus Blast on Scarf Politoed, as you still miss out on the 2HKO on Ferrothorn, the main reason to use Focus Blast. While you may argue that you hit Tyranitar harder, it won't appreciate taking a STAB Hydro Pump either, while Scizor and Gallade already deal with Tyranitar well enough. I'd strongly advocate the use of Perish Song over Focus Blast on Politoed. Perish Song clears up some of the problems you have, especially against opposing stat boosters in Rain. Things such as SD Roost Scizor, CM Latias and Sub CM Jirachi all look annoying to face. After you Perish Song, you essentially force your opponent out as you can respectively switch into something to wall the stat booster in question. For example, Politoed vs Sub Calm Mind Jirachi. Politoed Perish Songs, Jirachi has only 3 more turns to stay in. You switch to Ferrothorn, get up hazards for free as you wall Jirachi. It switches out on the next turn, you Thunder Wave and paralyze it. It also gives you a lot more opportunities to setup with Gallade, forcing out it's counters and effectively giving it a free Bulk Up.

Good luck!

 

[Ada]

Ferrothorn can get both Stealth Rock and Spikes now. Also, one thing I noticed was that the majority of your team are grounded; this means opposing Spikes will hurt a lot and also allows the opponent to spam moves like Earthquake etc.

 

[Chaoswalker]

Hi there,

... I think trying out Thunder Wave over Protect on Ferrothorn would be a good idea. ... Losing Protect really isn't that big of a problem in this scenario. There's not a lot of situations where you will avoid being 2HKO'd after a Protect for the extra Leftovers / Leech Seed recovery, so in most cases Thunder Wave will benefit you more.

I also noticed that your team has a big problem against hard hitting Special attackers. Teams carrying Keldeo, Thundurus-T or Tornadus-T can prove annoying to face, as you really lack a solid answer to all three. ... I think if you change your Scizor's EV spread slightly, you will certainly ease some of your problems against the aforementioned Special Attackers. A set of 248 HP / 44 Atk / 216 SDef will suffice, given that you really want that extra special buffer alongside Ferrothorn. ...

... I'd strongly advocate the use of Perish Song over Focus Blast on Politoed. Perish Song clears up some of the problems you have, especially against opposing stat boosters in Rain. ...

Good luck!

You are definetly right that thunderwave helps, though I'm opting to keep protect, and instead replacing power whip. Protect + Leechseed in fact has turned out to be a way to force switches from a lot of pokemon, even Heatrans. I haven't felt the loss of Powerwhip yet, so I think it'll turn out well.

Actually, I'm starting to think that problem runs a little deeper in the team synergy. I have biggest trouble with those special attackers, as well as ground types in general. My fear is that the set Politoed is running, or scizor himself are weak links. Because this:

Also, one thing I noticed was that the majority of your team are grounded; this means opposing Spikes will hurt a lot and also allows the opponent to spam moves like Earthquake etc.

is very true. Ground types stop my volt switches, taking away alot of team momentum, as well as being able to spam earthquake if Ferrothorn is gone.

One thing I considered to alleviate this problem was CB Snorlax over Scizor to keep a trapper, AND deal with special attackers... though I still have that ground problem. Another is changing Jolteon out for C.Scarf Thundurs-T. It would be a sacrifice of power for speed, as well as a stealth rock weakness... but a ground immunity.

Good idea? Yes? No?