Goodstuff team

[avalanche3387]

I have a VGC team here that I want to get some suggestions about. The intro is boring though so I’ll just get straight to the pokemon.

At a Glance:

Jolteon @ Air balloon
Timid nature, Volt Absorb
Evs: 252 sp att, 252 speed, 4 hp

Thunderbolt
Discharge
Hidden power ice
Protect

Jolteon is my favorite pokemon in the game. Discharge is one of my few spread moves for hitting both opposing pokemon and Thunderbolt is a more powerful option for hitting a single opponent and not hitting Jolteon’s partner. Hidden power ice helps with dragons and ground types and provides solid coverage. I just love Jolteon’s speed and how it can outspeed nearly everything except swift swim and trick room. The air balloon is there to protect Jolteon from my Garchomp’s earthquake and give myself a pseudo DisQuake combo that people won’t expect. Protect is a staple move that should be on every non-choice pokemon and Jolteon is in no way an exception.

Ludicolo @ Focus sash
Modest nature, Swift Swim
Evs: 252 sp att, 252 speed, 4 hp

Scald
Giga Drain
Ice Beam
Protect

Ludicolo is my anti-rain pokemon. He gets grass STAB to counter other water types and has absolutely wonderful coverage in his attacking moves. I feel like he could definitely have a better item but focus sash works at least for the time being. He has decent bulk but it isn’t wonderful. His EV spread could also be improved most likely and add bulk, but I don’t know what it would be changed to. Ludicolo could be replaced if there are better options but I still like him.

Heracross @ Bug gem
Adamant nature, Guts
Evs: 252 att, 252 speed, 4 HP

Megahorn
Close Combat
Protect
Rock slide

Heracross is probably the most easily replaceable on this team. I added him to help against trick room teams to prevent it in the first place and to help against Cresselia. I liked him for sure, but he just wasn’t quick or bulky enough to really secure him a spot. Bug gem Megahorn is pretty beastly though. I used to have Terrakion and Scrafty in his place and both did about as well as Heracross. I am trying to get a Scizor to try out here (if anyone has a flawless one with Bug Bite and Superpower I will trade for it). Scizor has priority in bullet punch and more bulk over Heracross.

Chandelure @ Fire Gem
Modest nature, Flash Fire
Evs: 188 HP, 4 def, 252 Sp Att, 12 Sp def, 52 Speed

Heat Wave
Shadow Ball
Psychic
Protect

This guy I just added recently over Latios and have liked it so far. Heat wave gives me a spread move which I definitely need and is very powerful (Did about 70% to a Ninetails in the sun with the gem boost). Shadow ball is secondary STAB and gives me a 100% accurate attack to fall back on. Psychic is anti fighting. Protect is almost a necessity. The EV spread is definitely unique but I have a reason for it. 188 HP EVs give me 159 HP so Sandstorm and Hail only do 9 points of damage. Special Attack is maxed for obvious reasons. 52 Speed Evs gives me 107 Speed to outrun 0 speed neutral Cresselia and Rotom-A. The other EVs in the defenses are there to maximize the use of the leftover EVs. I am willing to replace the Fire Gem for a focus sash but I need to find a new item for Ludicolo and I find Chandelure has a decent amount of bulk (Base 90 in both defenses).

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Adamant nature, Sand Veil
Evs: 252 att, 252 speed, 4 HP

Dragon Claw
Earthquake
Outrage
Rock Slide

Garchomp is THE heart and soul of this team, at least when I am using the team right. He outspeeds everything that isn’t swimming swiftly and has plenty of unboosted power to do plenty of damage. Garchomp is my most common lead against most teams partnering with either Jolteon or Togekiss and combos well with both. Dragon claw is the most used attack and will 2ko plenty of pokemon. The speed he has with Choice Scarf is amazing and it is the best feeling to catch people off guard when Dragon Claw outspeeds and OHKOs the opponent’s Lati@s. Earthquake is the 2nd most commonly used move and forms the other half of my DisQuake combo with Jolteon. The only problem with Garchomp is his Ice weakness which does not help him in any way. Outrage and Rock slide are rarely used but they are both nice to have around when I need them. Garchomp is probably the most irreplaceable pokemon on this team.

Togekiss @ Sitrus Berry
Modest Nature, Serene Grace
Evs: 252 HP, 156 Def, 100 Sp Def

Follow Me
Thunder wave
Air Slash
Protect

If anyone is more irreplaceable than Garchomp, it’s Togekiss. I love this thing so much. He has absolutely insane bulk, especially with Sitrus Berry. Togekiss has won me more battles than anyone else on this team. Follow Me is often a difference maker making Togekiss take an attack for his team mate. It’s great attracting Sucker Punches aimed at team mates and having it do nothing. Follow Me is easily the best and most tactical move on this team, I just love it. Thunder wave is helpful against Swift Swimmers and a good support move in general. It also helps turn Togekiss into the annoying ass paraflincher it has been known to be. Togekiss is a hax machine and has used the hax to help me win several battles I have had no business winning. Protect is actually a little bit more situational on Togekiss and not used as much as it is on other team mates. Overall, I just F***ing love this guy.

Well, there’s my team. I have the most trouble against Trick Room teams and Blizzard users. This team has insane ice weakness which I hope is helped with replacing Heracross with a Scizor. Trick Room I usually have to stall out with protect and Togekiss. Rain Dance teams I have little difficulty with thanks to Togekiss and Ludicolo. Sun teams are rarer and can cause problems only if they are well built and well played. I have very little to hit steel types hard too so that it a problem. I don’t know how helpful a fire type would be to me and the only one that I have really considered is Infernape. This team and variants of it have a Wifi record of about 137 wins and 37 losses plus disconnects that I haven't counted. Any help would definitely be appreciated, Thanks guys.

 

[voodoo pimp]

The biggest problem I see you've already identified, with hail teams and Abomasnow in general. Three Ice weaknesses, and against scarfed Abomasnow you're going to be relying pretty much entirely on Heracross to beat it. If you're already considering replacing Latios, you might want to put a Fire-type in its place. Maybe try Chandelure - it kills lots of stuff, and only shares one weakness with any of the teammates taking into account Jolteon's Air Balloon.

On to the individuals:

Jolteon - Pretty good, but as I found out last year, Discharge paralysis hax on your partner can cost you games if you're not careful. With only Garchomp as a viable partner you might find more use in Shadow Ball to hit Latios, Cresselia, Chandelure, and some of the other top threats harder.

Ludicolo - Absorb Bulb would probably be the best item for it in my opinion, for when you switch in to a Water attack or catch the corner of a Surf. Fake Out is one of the best moves in the metagame, so you should try to fit it on the set if you can. Otherwise, looks good.

Heracross - I see you had the same idea I did for killing Cresselia, though I used Escavalier instead. Since you have no other Fighting attacks and that Megahorn is pretty beastly, I'd think about keeping him over Scizor. If you do, I'd recommend switching the ability for Swarm, since it's unlikely anybody is going to try to burn or poison it.

Latios - I'd recommend Psychic over Psyshock; there aren't a lot of specially bulky threats that really bother Latios (aside from Tyranitar, which is obviously irrelevant in this case), and the lower base power can cost you some KOs. Draco Meteor is an amazing move, especially since Latios has a tendency to die or get forced out after one or two attacks anyway. However, should you use it, I strongly suggest not using White Herb for one reason: Intimidate. More often than not it'll be wasted before you get a chance to use it.

Garchomp: looks pretty solid, no comments aside from the Ice weakness.

Togekiss: The nature and EV spread don't really seem to go together, I'd suggest either committing to the bulk or giving it some more SpA to do damage. Since you mentioned that you don't use Protect much and use Follow Me a lot, how about giving it Roost to help deal with all the attacks it'll be soaking?

 

[avalanche3387]

Stuff

Thanks for the rate. Jolteon has discharge and thunderbolt for a reason. If I'm using discharge it's because I'm also using protect or have Garchomp out. Shadow Ball does seem interesting though.

For Ludicolo, Absorb bulb would definately be interesting, but I don't think I would be switching into very many water attacks, but I'll give it a try anyway. As far as Fake Out goes, I loved it on my Scrafty but he just didn't cut it. What move would you drop for Fake Out on Ludicolo?

Heracross I am still going back and forth on. I like him but he just doesn't have enough speed or bulk. He is passable on both but not great in either. I also think Scizor might be helpful because it has priority, something no one else has.

Togekiss: I have thought roost may be helpful over protect and would like to try it out. My problem though is that I can only RNG reliably in 5th gen and can't get a Togekiss with roost. Protect does still have its uses, mainly stalling out trick room and roost. I have a modest nature because I thought it could have at least some offense and also because it was the most handy when breeding it. What would you say is the best EV/nature spread?

Latios/replacement: I really do like the idea of a fire type. Which would be best though between Infernape, Chandelure, and Volcarona or another fire type? Seems like all have their pros and cons. It just seems like Chandelure would run into the same problems as Heracross, not enough speed or bulk.

Seems like I've already built a solid core for the most part just needs minor tweaks.

Another note, I've only used it on Wifi, haven't done any simulator matches with it. What is the best server to use for VGC?

 

[voodoo pimp]

I can see why you have both moves on Jolteon, just suggesting that it might not be worth the move slot depending on how much you use it.

On Ludicolo, you need Giga Drain to properly handle Water-types, and Scald gives you the best coverage and is one of your few ways of hitting Steel-types, so it depends whether you want the extra coverage of Ice Beam (keeping in mind you also have HP Ice and two Dragon-types) or the tactical benefit of Protect.

If you add a Fire-type, then Heracross's Fighting attack becomes less important, and Scizor can handle Tyranitar just as easily. So it mostly comes down to how important OHKOing Cresselia is to you.

Don't give up on something just because you can't RNG it. Even if you aren't able to do it yourself (though I recommend trying to do so if you have a 4th gen game, it's not hard once you get the hang of it), there are lots of people on this forum giving away free Pokémon for VGC, so you'll probably find one if you look hard enough. Since you have multiple Ice weaknesses, a Calm nature to take weaker attacks better would probably be best in my opinion. With Follow Me, Thunder Wave, and possibly Roost, you probably won't have a lot of free turns for attacking anyway, so the damage drop shouldn't matter much.

If you're going to drop Heracross, then I'd definitely go with Infernape. Fake Out is once again a great move, and it outspeeds pretty much everything you'd want to hit with it except Terrakion.

Skarmbliss is the "official" server for VGC matches, but I haven't been on PO lately so I dunno if the updates on the Smogon server have changed that at all.

 

[avalanche3387]

Traded Latios out for a Chandelure and finding it useful (no more blizzard bitches f***ing with me) and it really helps a whole lot against trick room. Only thing I really don't like about Chandelure is that I lose an Earthquake immunity and add a weakness to it which doesn't combo well with Garchomp but I use Dragon Claw more anyways and I haven't had many times when Garchomp and Chandelure out at the same time. Maybe that's because I use Garchomp against offensively minded teams and Chandelure against bulkier teams.
I really like Ice Beam on Ludicolo though as a backup plan. I still have a little bit of trouble against Fakeout/Rage Powder + Trick Room/Tailwind leads but I usually manage. Fake out is the only way I can think of solving this but I can't find any room for it unfortunately. I would still like to try Scizor out sometime too.

 

[avalanche3387]

Sorry guys, I'm gonna give myself a bump.

I'm in the process of breeding an Infernape and I'm still wanting to try a Scizor out sometime. Just something I've been thinking about.