Battle Spot Getting Ready For Rating Battles

[KidNeedler]

Hello, everyone! I want to get into competitive battling and I figured Rating Battles is a good place to start. Now, I know there's Pokémon Showdown but I only use it for testing since I want to do everything in-game. I'm aiming for a balanced team but still want to use some of my favorite Pokémon as well as incorporating a Fantasy Core. So, without further adieu...

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Fire Blast
-Roost Ancient Power
-Focus Blast
-Solar Beam

I decided to use Charizard because, not only is it my favorite Pokémon, I really like the fact that it can pretty much OHKO anything and 2HKO the rest. I'm still undecided if I should go with a Modest or Timid nature. I like the extra power but I also appreciate outspeeding Kyurem-B and having a few more speed ties. The set is self-explanatory. Fire Blast is its STAB. Roost is for recovery if needed. Focus Blast deals with Tyranitar. Solar Beam covers Water and Rock-types.

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Hydro Pump
-Dark Pulse
-Ice Beam
-Grass Knot

Greninja is here to back up Charizard. It can deal with what Charizard can't which is Dragon-types, fast Rock-types, and bulky Water-types. I prefer Hydro Pump over Scald for power since Greninja is pretty frail and needs to hit as hard as possible so it doesn't get hit back. Dark Pulse is a good move overall with a chance to flinch the opponent which I seem to get more often than not. Ice Beam is for Grass and Dragon-types. Grass Knot is to deal with opposing Water-types.

Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Bold
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
-Heal Bell
-Minimize Thunder Wave
-Soft-Boiled
-Seismic Toss

There really isn't much to say here. Chansey is a great special wall/cleric and does pretty decent at defending against physical attackers. A standard Chansey set. Minimize is fun to run on her but I might consider switching back to Thunder Wave.

Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
Nature: Impish Jolly
EVs: 240 HP / 176 Def / 92 Spe
60 HP / 196 Def / 252 Spe
-Swords Dance
-Dragon Claw Outrage
-Earthquake
-Fire Blast Fire Fang

Garchomp is another one of my favorites. Tank Chomp is a very fun spread to run. I like the fact that Garchomp can take a few hits, punish physical attackers, then finish off the opponent when running this set. Its bulk lets it set up Swords Dance at least once. Earthquake is Garchomp's main STAB while Dragon Claw hits what the former can't. Fire Blast deals with Steel-types that Earthquake doesn't hit very hard or at all.

Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
Nature: Modest
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Volt Switch
-Thunderbolt
-Flash Cannon
-HP Fire

Magnezone is mainly used as a trapper. I like the Scarf better than Specs since it lets Magnezone outspeed the majority of opposing Steel and Fairy-types. Another common set. Volt Switch is for momentum. Thunderbolt is just a good, strong STAB. Flash Cannon is for Fairy-types that switch in on Garchomp. HP Fire deals with Steel-types that switch in on Clefable and Garchomp after trapping them.

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
-Soft-Boiled
-Calm Mind
-Moonblast
-Fire Blast

Clefable is one of the better Fairy-types out there. I tried Gardevoir but I don't know which is better. Soft-Boiled helps keep her healthy. Calm Mind increases attack power and adds a bit more bulk. Moonblast is her STAB that's powerful after Calm Mind. I prefer Fire Blast over Flamethrower because of the significant boost in power, especially after raising special attack. I don't mind the accuracy since it rarely misses and isn't that much of a problem if it does.


Well, that's my team! This is my first RMT so let me know if I wrote too little or with not enough detail. I win about 80% of the time but I feel like I can make the team better. Charizard is definitely going to stay and I want to have a Fantasy Core. Let me know if there are better Pokémon to back up Charizard or better members for the core. All feedback is appreciated and I will make the changes as they come. Thanks in advance!

 

[NOVED]

Hey man, glad to see more people getting into ingame laddering. You should stop by our PS room if you ever wanna talk more about it.

I think Magnezone doesn't really make too much sense on this team. You have zard that deals with almost every Steel-type, especially when running Focus Blast. And Garchomp deals with a lot of Steel-types too. And beyond that, what common Steel-types is Scarf Magnezone actually beating? Looking at two most common, there's Mawile and Aegislash, and Magnezone loses to both. And beyond that, the next two common are Ferrothorn and Heatran, and Mag just beats Ferro. So that's 3 out of the 4 most common Steels mag is losing to, and that's supposed to be your Steel check. That just doesn't sound good to me when you already have great ways to deal with those in your other mons. I think instead of Mag, you could run another Electric, Thundurus. It doesn't check Steel types, but it's really good at dealing with Flying-types which the rest of your team looks to struggle with, well played Talonflame and Salamence could really do some work on the rest of your team, and Mag actually isnt that good vs Salamence like Thundurus. I think a bulky set like this one will do really well:

Thundurus

Thundurus @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 228 HP / 248 Def / 4 SpA / 28 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Nasty Plot / Taunt
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunder Wave

This set deals with a lot of sweepers with Prankster Twave and thanks to all the bulk its a pretty reliable switchin to Flying types. Mega Salamence or a SpDef Talonflame are both huge pains for Charizard especially and in the case of Talonflame it can taunt your Chansey and Clefable to really mess them up, so I think having a dedicated check to those will do you well. Also paralyzing and slowing things down is pretty nice for Chansey and Clefable to set up sometimes.

On Charizard I think you could consider running HP Ice on it over Roost if you find that Salamence is especially annoying when you face it. But Roost isn't a bad option, HP ice is just a tech option I think you could consider. Overall the Zard set is great, wouldnt change it up too much.

On Greninja I think Hydro Pump is unnecessary. Water doesn't really hit anything notable in the meta right now and it has Protean so it's not like you're benefiting from STAB. I think either Low Kick or Gunk Shot would be really nice. Gunk Shot is great for Sylveon and Azumarill if those trouble you. Low Kick hits a lot of things like Kangaskhan, Mamo, Heatran, but its mainly nice for Kang. If you feel you could fit both of those on I think that would be good as well, just depends on how much you like Grass Knot(which isn't a bad move, but i think that's the second most expendable move if you wanted to switch up your moveset).

On Chansey I think Sub is better than Heal Bell, Sub can also block status and it has the benefit of avoiding some important things. For example, some pokemon may spam OHKO moves against you to try to beat it and Sub is really nice for that. There also may be times where the opponent has something capable of OHKOing Chansey and just need to break through evasion once to kill it. Sub will help against those too, but you normally should try to paralyze mons like that with Thundurus first. In general with Chansey I think paralyzing stuff with Thundurus will help to setup Minimize a lot. I would also take out 252 from Spdef and put it in Speed. You should also consider running some Speed to creep stuff like Porygon2 so you can Sub before they Toxic you. 82 Speed EVs are enough to outspeed most Porygon2, some people even run 252 speed to outspeed as much as possible but I dont think that is absolutely necessary.

If you want to run Tank chomp, I think the best spread in BSS is 60 HP / 196 Def / 252 Spe with a Jolly nature. This spread hits an HP number that helps with residual damage then maxes defense while maxing speed. I think Speed is important in this meta to always outspeed Kanga. When you outspeed you can always guarantee damage and Kanga will usually go down after Helmet+Skin. Some kangas even run Ice Punch so it's especially important against those variants, and Secret Power variants as well. I also think Outrage is better than Dclaw in 3v3, the extra power in this meta, even on a bulky set is really appreciated and Outrage combined with Helmet + Skin will get a lot of damage on some mons.

Alternatively, you could run a bulky Rocky Helmet Lando-T, this does a much similar job but is actually much bulkier than Chomp with Intimidate factored in. Because of intimidate Lando doesn't really need to run Speed like Garchomp should, it can just tank way more hits and even lives Ice Punch from Kang. Lando's usually just run about 252/252 Impish. Lando also has U-turn which can be pretty sweet for giving Charizard some free turns to come in and fire off some Fire Blasts or something.

If you're going to go with a regular CM set on Clef instead of Minimize, I think Sylveon would do the job better. RestoChesto CM also helps deal with Status just like Clef's Magic Guard would. The 4th move on Sylveon could be a lot of things like HP Ground, Snore, or even Yawn.

 

[Omastar68]

Well hi. Zard Y is a nice mon and one I'm always wary of. I typically prefer to see it more than X, but acts just because I'm usually more prepared for it, even tho it's slightly less common.

Timid is actually about twice as common as Modest, and is clearly a good nature. Modest is really nice since the stat it's boosting is already giant, but without any paralysis support I don't think it's a good idea.

Move wise I don't think you should have Roost. Zard Y isn't exactly frail, but it's not that bulky. Very often anything attacking it will out damage its Roost. There are very many other options, tho I can't tell what's best for you.
Ancientpower provides you rock coverage to break mirrors, Talon, and Volcarona in particular. It also hurts Mence ok, tho really not that much more than Overheat. As a finishing move wen the foe of at low helth it's also nice thx to a small chance to boost all stats.

Will-o-Wisp can be good to cripple physical attackers, and can bluff Zard X if you haven't mega Evolved yet.

Another fire move, particularly Flamethrower, tho Fire Blast is good too, can be used for when you don't wanna use Overheat and get your SpA halved(or risk missing in Flamethrower's case-Overheat has 90 accuracy so if you can finish with Flamethrower instead that's way bettr.) All that said Roost is still an ok option, I'm pretty sure.

Greninja usually does about the same thing despite a ton of options. I agree with a Timid one since you don't have much reason to run Gunk Shot when you do pretty good vs Azumarill, and Low Kick wouldn't be that great eithr I don't think. The only really different thing than one might expect about your Gren is a Hydro Pump. Scald and Surf are actually both more common, while many Gren don't even have water moves since everything is STAB for it. Scald is better for switch ins thx to perfect accuracy and a burn chance. Pretty sure Surf is also bettr for those because of perfect accuracy. What OHKOs does HP get the other two don't? If there's nothing specific and it's just power in general I'd say use Scald instead.

Well, good I noticed NOVED's post above me just a few secs ago to save me from saying nothing helpful. I agree on Sub. I didn't think of it, but the reasoning is very good. I'm not completely sold on Spe EVs, but a slightly different EV spread could be good. With Eviolite you mostly want Def and SpD, especially with an obese HP stat, but some HP out of SpD can help take some physical hits and hardly hurts special bulk. Standard is 44/ 252+/ 212

I also agree with Thund over Magnezone. It's really great in general, and you have enough fire coverage already(and technically speaking Thund has a bettr fire move than HP Fire in Incinerate, which also burns berries.) A t-waver is nice, and can allow for a Modest Zard Y if you prefer. Thund also helps more vs Gengar, which is threatening in general and also completely stops Chansey unless she manages to win through PP stall.

I don't kno about TankChomp. It doesn't seem like a great set, and moreover I don't like Fire Blast on this one. Sure it's ok even with a -SpA nature and no EVs, but you got the premier user of fire attacks on here already so that scares off Ferro and such well enough(plus with possible sun and SD boosts, Fire Fang would often do enuff to Ferro and them,) and Rock Tomb or w/e would be really nice for coverage and possibly more Spe control. Most importantly yours is SD, so you want physical attacks. I like Landog as a replacement too, tho eithr one seems fine.

Replacing Clef with Sylveon seems ok too. Tho if you really like Clef it's certainly ok to keep it. If you do so I'd suggest a Kee berry for the item(actually most common item by far, great with cm and reliable recovery,) and then perhaps Unaware for the ability. Magic Guard is nice too tho so there isn't really a right answer unless something specific dealt with bettr by one or the other is a threat to you. Moves seem fine.

 

[cant say]

Wooo a new Battle Spot player!

I noticed you said you want to outsped Kyurem-B, that's banned in ranked Battle Spot Singles so don't worry about it (it's legal in Free Battle but we don't worry about that).

Roost on Zard doesn't achieve anything, add a coverage move on it like Earthquake or Hidden Power Ice, or even something like Flame Charge or Will-O-Wisp.

Greninja seldom run Water-STAB, and it makes even less sense to use it here when you factor in potential sun from from Zard. There are lots of moves you can use, mixed Greninja with either Gunk Shot or Low Kick is great, but breeding for a mixed nature can be tedious. I think running a Naive Greninja with a physically offensive spread (guarantees the OHKO on Mega Kangaskhan) could benefit you a lot though, as you currently only have Garchomp as a physical attacker on this team.

Chansey's set looks odd to me, like NOVED said, Minimize is usually run with Substitute and a faster spread. Heal Bell isn't as great in 3v3 as it is in Smogon's 6v6 singles so I'd recommend dropping it. Natural Cure can offset unwanted status, and if you want to help the team then a Lunar Dance Cresselia would work much better.

Literally the best thing about Garchomp is its speed, so compromising on that doesn't make any sense, and in that case you should use Defensive Landorus-T instead. if you wanna keep Garchomp then use NOVED's fast spread instead. Fire Blast is cool tech for beating Ferrothorn and Scizor, but they aren't huge threats to your team with Zard Y, so consider dropping it for Rock Tomb.

Magnezone contributes nothing to this team. I agree with NOVED that Thundurus would be cool, but something I think would be better is Choice Specs Raikou. Something I like about this set is it has room for Extrasensory which puts pressure on Mega Venusaur, something that looks annoying for your team if Zard is taken out / you don't bring it.

Calm Mind Clefable is outclassed by Sylveon, especially when not using Unaware or Thunder Wave. Unaware + Kee Berry Clef laughs at stuff like Garchomp and Mega Salamence and sets up on / Moonlight stalls them to death respectively. Speaking of Moonlight, you have to use it because Soft-Boiled is banned in ORAS Battle Spot Singles by virtue of the Pentagon Rule (everything must be caught / hatched in a gen 6 game). If you're playing XY where it is legal, I'd then like to know where you got it, since it's rare for someone to have (Wonder Trade / GTS is not trustworthy in our experience). Anyway, Kee Berry + Unaware Clefable basically stops Swords Dance / Choice Scarf Garchomp from sweeping your team.

Anyway, whether you take our advice or not, I'd love to see you around the Battle Spot forum or PS chatroom sometime!

tl;dr:

• Swap Roost for a coverage move on Charizard
• Drop Water-STAB for a coverage move on Greninja. Consider rebreeding for a mixed nature and go with a physically-inclined EV spread
• Use a faster Chansey with Substitute if you want Minimize, otherwise drop it for Thunder Wave and/or Toxic
• Use NOVED's recommended Garchomp spread. Try Rock Tomb over Fire Blast. Consider Landorus-T
• Swap Magnezone for Specs Raikou
• Either use Sylveon or make use of Unaware and Kee Berry on Clefable. Thunder Wave is an option over Fire Blast.

 

[KidNeedler]

Sorry, I've been really busy lately. Thank you for the suggestions!

For Charizard, I've decided to replace Roost with Ancient Power. Roost isn't really doing anything. All it does is heal what was dealt and just wastes turns. Ancient Power deals with Pokémon that the other moves can't.

For Greninja, I realize that having Hydro Pump isn't the best choice especially considering the possibility of sun still being out. I like Low Kick for Kangaskhan but I don't know because I don't want to compromise any Special Attack. Although, I'm sure it's fine with the support of Life Orb.

For Chansey, I'm definitely going back to Thunder Wave.

For Garchomp, I will change the EV spread to 60 HP / 196 Def / 252 Spe with a Jolly nature. I don't know why it says Dragon Claw. I could've sworn I put Outrage and I even put it twice! Outrage is the obvious choice for 3v3. Wow! I did it again with Fire Blast! Fire Fang is a better choice over Fire Blast because of Garchomp's Attack stat. I don't usually like using Legendaries just because I like to breed every Pokémon I use but I will definitely try out Landorus-T.

For Magnezone, if I still want a trapper I'm definitely switching to Choice Scarf Magneton but I might just go for Ferrothorn.

For Clefable, I might go back to SYLVEON, not Gardevoir(geez, and to think I proof read this twice). As for where I got her, she came from my friend's Emerald because I had Moonlight on my Clefable before he gave me this one. I will definitely try out Unaware/Kee Berry before going back to Sylveon.