Gary/Blue Hybrid

NastyJames

NastyJames

Hello everyone! This is my very first post here at Smogon. I've been coming here a lot the past few months to broaden my knowledge. For someone who has been playing since Blue, I was surprised at how little I knew... Anyway, I just started using the Showdown simulator, and thought it was a perfect chance to play in the vein of my favorite Rival/Champion/Leader, Blue. I understand a little, and know this team needs improvement. PLEASE, tell me what I can do to get more wins, but understand that I would like to use Pokes similar to ones used by Blue/Gary in the games or anime. If that is unreasonable, I am open to other suggestions. So, now that I'm all out of internet breath, here is the team.

Arcanine @ Expert Belt
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: HP 252, ATK 252, SpD 4
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- ExtremeSpeed
- Wild Charge
- Close Combat

Let me just say, Arcanine isn't going anywhere. As my favorite poke, he will be staying on my team, lol. Anyway, I mostly use him as a wild card/priority user. Close Combat has ruined so many unsuspecting Snorlax, that I would have a hard time getting rid of it. I couldn't think of anything better than Flare Blitz for a STAB. ExtremeSpeed seems almost mandatory to me, but Wild Charge isn't as useful as I had hoped. I want Arcanine to have good coverage though. Flash Fire is a nice ability, as I love to make this guy even stronger than he is, and make an opponent's attack useless :)

Machamp @ Black Belt
Ability: No Guard
EVs: HP 252, ATK 252, SpD 4
Adamant Nature
- Ice Punch
- Bullet Punch
- Stone Edge
- DynamicPunch

Machamp is definitely the beast I wanted him to be. The STAB/Black Belt boosted DynamicPunch is wonderful. I am a fan of priority, hence Bullet Punch. Stone Edge is a powerful move, and helps if I'm forced to fight a Flying type. Ice Punch is kind of a place holder, but it is fairly nice against Dragons. No Guard is great on this freak, and makes DynamicPunch really scary.

Blastoise @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: HP 252, ATK 4, SpD 252
Careful Nature
- Toxic
- Aqua Jet
- Rapid Spin
- Dragon Tail

Ok, so I really feel I may have stretched this guy too thin. Toxic is a way of dealing with threats that are somehow too bulky for what I have available. Aqua Jet is... priority. As I'm typing this, I'm wondering if I have put too much focus on priority here. Rapid Spin is obvious, and it's my only real counter to entry hazards. Dragon Tail is my best attempt at keeping opponents from setting up. I just feel like Blastoise is doing ok at what it does, but it's not really excelling. Torrent isn't awful, and it sure beats Rain Dish in this case, since I personally never summon any rain.

Umbreon @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: HP 252, ATK 4, SpD 252
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Foul Play
- Heal Bell
- Protect

This beauty's main job is keeping my killers healthy, but does a somewhat good job of a little stall play too. Wish is a pretty cool move, and it has worked well for me thus far. Foul Play is a great move all around, and a great attack for a poke with not a whole lot of ATK. Heal Bell is to keep my big baddies from being taken out by poison, weakened by burn, or worse case scenario, sleeping through the whole dang battle. Protect is for the those times when I'm trying to stall or cause a misread. Synchronize is awesome, since any status affliction I get can be Heal Bell'd, so essentially the opponent just hurts themselves!

Aerodactyl @ Choice Band
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: HP 4, ATK 252, Spe 252
Jolly Nature
- Fire Blast
- Stone Edge
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake

My lead! 9.9/10 I lead with Aerodactyl. Fire Blast is for any Grass type with bulk to cause me trouble. Stone Edge is a powerful STAB that I usually have success with. I am such a fan of the Rock Head/Double-Edge combo! It does really good damage with no downfall, and isn't bad to get locked in to either. Earthquake is just there, and I would love a good alternative to it. Like I said, Rock Head is lovely since I mostly use Double-Edge here.

Azelf @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: SpA 252, SpD 4, Spe 252
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Grass Knot
- Psychic
- Fire Blast

I needed a psychic type/Special Attacker to take Alakazam's place, and I had been whooped on by a few Azelf's in the UU. Nasty Plot is to further boost it's already good SpA to try to OHKO as many threats as possible. Grass Knot is strictly for those large, bulky water types. Psychic is self explanatory. It's a good STAB. Fire Blast is here in case it's needed, but that's about it.



So there it is! My Blue/Gary team. I have had some luck with this team, but as I said, I'm looking forward to hearing from you guys.
 
Hey, welcome to Smogon! And if you're new to the UU tier, welcome again! (:

This is a good team! Here's some things I would recommend.

Replace Black Belt with Life orb and Expert Belt with either Leftovers/Life orb. Whether you give Arcanine Leftovers or Life Orb is all dependant on if you want extra strength or extra bulk. For boosting attack power though, Life orb is the better option.

First off, your Arcanine is going to have more longevity if you fit it with a recovery move. It's not mandatory, but I think he'll end up dealing a lot more damage if you Replace Wild Charge or Close Combat with Morning Sun. That's not a required switch however, so it's up to you if you think that countering Snorlax is more important.

Your Blastoise seems like it struggles to support it's own weight. With no real way to do efficient damage, all your opponent is gonna do is set up on it. Sure, you have Toxic, but RestTalk Pokemon like Crocune are just gonna take advantage of your lack of offensive presence and just absolutely dominate you. If you want to keep Blastoise, Fit Scald in there somewhere. Whether you give up priority or status is up to you. Your team doesn't seem to need Rapid Spin that much, so even Rapid Spin could be removed and your team would still function fine. Also, you may want to consider Roar over Dragon Tail to deal with Pokemon that try to set up Substitute on you.

Watch out for U-turn revenge killers. I see that your main special attacker here is Azelf. A beautiful Pokemon, but it's important to have a check for revenge killers. Make sure you Keep Aerodactyl alive for as long as you can so if a U-turner comes along, you can save your Azelf and then proceed to kill everything with Choice Band. This may persuade you to not use Aerodactyl as a lead, but more of a pivot.

Everything else looks good to me (: Good luck, and have fun!
 
GenXXZ said:
Hey, welcome to Smogon! And if you're new to the UU tier, welcome again! (:

This is a good team! Here's some things I would recommend.

Replace Black Belt with Life orb and Expert Belt with either Leftovers/Life orb. Whether you give Arcanine Leftovers or Life Orb is all dependant on if you want extra strength or extra bulk. For boosting attack power though, Life orb is the better option.

First off, your Arcanine is going to have more longevity if you fit it with a recovery move. It's not mandatory, but I think he'll end up dealing a lot more damage if you Replace Wild Charge or Close Combat with Morning Sun. That's not a required switch however, so it's up to you if you think that countering Snorlax is more important.

Your Blastoise seems like it struggles to support it's own weight. With no real way to do efficient damage, all your opponent is gonna do is set up on it. Sure, you have Toxic, but RestTalk Pokemon like Crocune are just gonna take advantage of your lack of offensive presence and just absolutely dominate you. If you want to keep Blastoise, Fit Scald in there somewhere. Whether you give up priority or status is up to you. Your team doesn't seem to need Rapid Spin that much, so even Rapid Spin could be removed and your team would still function fine.

Watch out for U-turn revenge killers. I see that your main special attacker here is Azelf. A beautiful Pokemon, but it's important to have a check for revenge killers. Make sure you Keep Aerodactyl alive for as long as you can so if a U-turner comes along, you can save your Azelf and then proceed to kill everything with Choice Band. This may persuade you to not use Aerodactyl as a lead, but more of a pivot.

Everything else looks good to me (: Good luck, and have fun!
Click to expand...
I agree with all of this. But one more thing. I would replace Fire Blast on Aerodactyl with Aqua Tail. Aqua tail hits Rhyperior harder than Earthquake. Your team is pretty good while at the same time having the same Pokemon as Gary/Blue!
Gl in the future!
 
Many thanks to both of you! I really look forward to trying your suggestions out.

GenXXZ, I was also contemplating Hydro Pump on Blastoise, should I do it, and Scald, or just Scald and keep the rest? Also, it's just so hard to see Arcanine go down, I may do Leftovers and Morning Sun haha. And if I save Aerodactyl for later on, can you suggest a better lead?

Magical Magmortar, That's a really good suggestion, especially since Azelf already has the Fire Blast. I will make the change immediately!
 
The recommended set for Blastoise is this:


Blastoise @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: HP 252, ATK 4, SpD 252
Careful Nature
- Toxic
- Scald
- Roar
- Foresight/Toxic.

You don't really need Hydro Pump as the accuracy is shaky and scald does fine enough damage on anything that doesn't resist it. Also something that I forgot to mention for Blastoise is Foresight. Getting Spinblocked by the likes of Cofagrigus and others is never fun, so that's also another suggestion.

It can be hard to have a dedicated lead on your team because of Team Preview. However, if you really want to lead with something specific, a very effective one would have to be Dedicated Lead Froslass.

Froslass @ Leftovers
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Spd, 4 Sp. Def
Timid Nature
-Spikes
-Taunt
-Destiny Bond
-Ice Beam/Shadow Ball

You could try giving her a shot!
 
Once again I thank you! You make a great point about Scald > Hydro Pump. Foresight is a good idea, as well. As far as Froslass, I'm not so sure. It looks fairly formidable, but I actually think choosing between Arcanine, Blastoise, and Machamp to lead seems viable, especially with the recent changes I've made.
 
Those all seem like good contenders as Pokemon that you could lead with. Since both Arcanine and Machamp are physical attackers, it's pretty safe to say that either one could be spared as a lead. Funny, Arcanine could actually be a good Froslass counter xD

Blastoise is better suited for spinning away hazards once the lead that set them is dealt with by your other team members.
 
Alright, cool team you got there, and awesome team theme.
Your Arcanine doesn't look like it specialises in something. I recommend it be changed into either:
Arcanine @ Life Orb/Expert Belt <--POWAR sweeper set
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: ATK 252, SDef 4, Spd 252
Jolly Nature <--Unless you aren't afraid of other Arcanine
- Flare Blitz
- ExtremeSpeed
- Crunch <--Chandelure otherwise COMPLETELY walls you, and also wild charge will do nothing against Milotic/Suicune etc.
- Close Combat
OR
Arcanine @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate <--Physical wall
EVs: HP 252, Def 252, Spd 4 <--Just to clarify, spd=speed and sdef=special defence
Bold/Impish Nature
- Flamethrower/Fire Blast/Flare Blitz <--More PP, no recoil
- ExtremeSpeed <--Despite the -atk nature, sorry
- Morning Sun
- Will-O-Wisp/Toxic/Crunch/Close Combat
Also, if Aerodactyl is a dedicated lead, as you say, why not try something like this?
Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash/Leftovers/Lum Berry
Ability: Pressure <--no use for Rock head here
EVs: HP 4, ATK 252, Spe 252
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock <--You have no hazards at all so far
- Stone Edge/Crunch <-- Froslass/Azelf opponent leads, will not miss
- Taunt/Crunch <--Same!
- Earthquake
Hope I helped!
 
Thanks Exbo! Glad you like the theme :)

You've certainly got a point about Chandelure. Arcanine has trouble with it every time. I'll experiment with Crunch in place of what has become Morning Sun. And his EVs should probably be a little more defensive now that I'm trying to make him last longer, I'll look into that as well.
I think I'm going to keep Aerodactyl as a Choice user, I'm a big fan. Machamp and Arcanine have done fairly well leading. They aren't perfect, but they are pretty intimidating and can back it up haha. Thanks very much for your help!!
 
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