Gen 4 GyaraVire

[KNotW]

This is the first team I've made where I've had mild success so here you go. (sorry for lack of pictures)

Teambuilding:

I wanted to use a Gyarados and Jolteon combo but I saw the article on Electivire and decided to use it instead as it works well with Gyarados.

Next I needed a lead that would keep Stealth rocks from going up because otherwise Gyarados might not have gotten a chance to set up and sweep so I picked Aerodactyl because it suited my needs well with taunt and it's amazing speed.

I decided that a a Rapid spinner would also be a good Idea just in case Aerodactyl cant do it's job so I added Forretress.

Having my rapid spinner I noticed the fact that my team was very easy to wall so I added subsplit gengar to counter otherwise very troublesome bulky pokemon.

Finnaly I saw that I had both a fire weakness and I was lacking in the special department so I added ScarfTran.


In Depth:

LEAD
Aerodactyl (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake


Aerodactyl is my lead and it's job is to keep enemy Stealth Rocks from going up and to possibly get up some Stealth rocks of my own. It dies most of the time but when it lives it can make an ok revenge killer or death fodder to save another team mate. All in all it does all I ask of it and am quite happy with it on my team.



The Sweeper

Gyarados (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 156 HP / 72 Atk / 96 Def / 184 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Taunt
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge


Yep it's bulky Gyarados, it goes greatly with Electivire by attracting plenty of electric attacks to fuel motor drive. I like to taunt things like Blissey or other defensive pokemon and get DD set up and after DD does up it's a force to be reckoned with. Gyarados is the reason this team exists and is an excellent late game sweeper for me. Also it's something that give scizor trouble so it's also helping gengar somewhat too.


The Lightningrod

Electivire (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Motor Drive
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- ThunderPunch
- Ice Punch
- Cross Chop
- Earthquake


Electivire is here to absorb electric attacks and punish the pokemon that tried to use them to kill Gyarados. It has excellent type coverage and is the perfect partner for Gyarados. It has almost every type covered and is a fore to be reckoned with once motor drive kicks in. Thunderpunch for STAB, Ice punch for dragons/Gliscor, Cross chop is for coverage and Earthquake is there to kill electric types.





The Spinner

Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Atk / 144 Def
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Payback
- Explosion


Forretress brings two important things to the team. One, a rapid spinner to clear away the Stealth Rocks that would otherwise ruin Gyarados. Two, it places Spikes which aid it's teammates with easier kills than otherwise. It has payback to deal with ghosts, and explosion to go out with a bang and possibly kill an enemy pokemon as well.


The WallBreaker

Gengar (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Pain Split
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast


SubSplit Gengar is awesome. Blissey is no problem to me as I can just sub to block status,and painsplit away about half of blissey's health while filling mine then focus blast it to oblivion. Shadow Ball and focus blast can at least hit neutral on just bout everything so I have an attack for almost anything that comes. It's my favorite pokemon so I'll take any excuse I can to use it. Also Gengar serves as a spin blocker to keep my entry hazards on the field.



The Revenge Killer

Heatran (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Hardy Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Grass]


ScarfTran! It's my answer to fire in general as well as being a great revenge killer. Fireblast gives me a powerful STAB move to killl the likes of Scizor, Earhtpower is for other fire types, explosion is to take out things that would otherwise cause too much trouble and HP Grass is to hit bulky water switch-ins. It's also my main source of special damage and if there's a better thing to use to both take and give special hits than please tell me.




So that's my team please tell me anything I could do to make it better.

 

[oOsymphonyxOo]

Maybe use Toxic Spikes over Spikes; Toxic Spikes only needs 2 sets to be lethal, while 1 is still extremely effective. It's maybe a little more preferrence based, and I'd prefer Toxic Spikes.

 

[zapdos=god]

Just a quick look but why is heatran hardy? It should be naive and change hidden power grass to dragon pulse on heatran. It destroys Kingdra whose's chesto rest set can sweep your team.

 

[DracoMihawk]

Maybe use Toxic Spikes over Spikes; Toxic Spikes only needs 2 sets to be lethal, while 1 is still extremely effective. It's maybe a little more preferrence based, and I'd prefer Toxic Spikes.

probably not, his team only has one wall which is what toxic spikes is for, spikes would probably be better since of how many sweeper-types he has which will induce more switches getting the full use out of spikes. if you look at it toxic spikes after the first few turns that something switches doesn't do much damage when compared to spikes.

 

[KNotW]

Just a quick look but why is heatran hardy? It should be naive and change hidden power grass to dragon pulse on heatran. It destroys Kingdra whose's chesto rest set can sweep your team.

It's Hardy? Whoa could have sworn I set that to naive. and I'll try dragon pulse since my only way of dealing with Kingdra is to use explosion. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Tomahawk]

Threats:

• Dragon Dance Gyarados
• Choice Scarf Tyranitar
• Life Orb Starmie

If Dragon Dance Gyarados gets a chance to set-up on Heatran, it can wreck your team with Waterfall and Stone Edge. Every single member of your team bar Forretress is OHKO'd after one Dragon Dance so your only hopes of winning are Forretress exploding on Gyarados or Heatran exploding on it. The last only works if the Gyarados is Adamant, so that isn't as reliable as well. Gyarados can come paired with Magnezone and they trap and kill your Forretress in the process. In short, you lose to Jolly DD Gyarados + Magnezone. Choice Scarf Tyranitar can OHKO every member on your team bar Forretress and can even trap your Gengar with Pursuit. Forretress can't even KO with Explosion and Payback does lol damage. Heatran can outspeed Tyranitar, but due to Sandstorm boosting Tyranitars SpD, it doesn't even come close to KO'ing with Earth Power. Life Orb Starmie outspeeds every member on your team bar Heatran and Aerodactyl. Aerodactyl is often not present when Starmie comes out, and Heatran can only KO with Explosion. After SR, it OHKO's every member of your team.


Solutions:

• Solution A: Starmie over Forretress

Starmie is one of the best Gyarados checks, as it resists Waterfall and KO's back with Thunderbolt. You still have a spinner to spin away entry hazards if necessary as well.

Starmie @ Leftovers
Timid - Natural Cure
252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Rapid Spin
- Recover

• Solution B: Vaporeon over Forretress

Vaporeon is arguably on of the best Gyarados counters in the game. It also counters Tyranitar quite nicely and provides your team with Wish Support.

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Bold - Water Absorb
248 HP / 224 Def / 36 SpD
- Wish
- Protect
- Surf
- Hidden Power Electric

 

[Nix_Hex]

There's absolutely no reason not to use Pressure over Rock Head on Aerodactyl. You're not using any self-damaging attacks, so you might as well use Pressure to drain your opponent's PP a bit before he goes down.

It's also my main source of special damage and if there's a better thing to use to both take and give special hits than please tell me.

Mixed or SpecsTar can do this with the Special Defense boost in Sandstorm but it's not worth getting rid of Heatran for.