Grass Monotype Team

[Slayr231]

Grass is an underestimated type that catches a lot of people off guard. I have been working to create the perfect grass team for about a year now and with three tournament victories, the biggest being a sixteen person round-robin tournament, I feel that I'm closing in. However I'm never content and I as I search for ways to get stronger I ended up here. So without further ado, here is my team.

Ferrothorn

Item: Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
Nature: Brave
EV's: 252 Atk, 168 SpD, 48 Def, 40 HP
Moves:
Power Whip
Gyro Ball
Stealth Rock
Leech Seed

Ferrothorn is my main lead. He's meant to get stealth rocks out and deal as much damage before going down. I don't think I'll put spikes on it since Ferrothorn never seems to last that long in a battle. The two attacks are there for type coverage, especially against water teams. With a type littered with ice beams it's important to be able to OHKO just about any water pokemon that crosses my path.

Sceptile

Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Overgrow
Nature: Modest
EV's: 252 SpA, 252 Spe, 4 HP
Moves:
Giga Drain
Focus Blast
Hidden Power Fire
Dragon Pulse

Sceptile is one of my sweepers. I prefer this set over the swords dance set because I can normally outspeed any threat and take them down before they end up sweeping my team. Another point is that my team is mostly physical attackers so Sceptile is nice to have to break those physical walls. Sceptile never loses its held item so unburden isn't necessary.

Jumpluff

Item: Flying Gem
Ability: Chlorophyll
Nature: Adamant
EV's: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 HP
Moves:
Swords Dance
Sleep Powder
Acrobatics
U-Turn

Jumpluff is my main bug counter and wall breaker. Most people expect a more supportive set so the element of surprise isn't a bad addition. Jumpluff rips through teams that aren't prepared by casting an opposing pokemon to sleep and powering up with a swords dance. It also OHKO's Volcaronas that aren't boosted by a quiver dance. Jumpluff is also my lead against sun teams to eliminate Ninetails, or put a dent in Heatran.

Breloom

Item: Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
Nature: Jolly
EV's: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 2 HP
Moves:
Spore
Swords Dance
Mach Punch
Bullet Seed

Breloom finds itself on just about every grass and fighting team and doesn't need much explanation on why it makes my team. My Breloom is running your standard techniloom set meant to break substitutes and sweep teams after they have been weakened.

Shiftry

Item: Leftovers
Ability: Chlorophyll
Nature: Adamant
EV's: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 HP
Moves:
Swords Dance
Sucker Punch
Seed Bomb
Brick Break

Shiftry is there to counter psychic and ghost teams. I can normally revenge kill a would be sweeper, but with Shiftry's frailty I'm lucky if I can get a swords dance up. I tried out Cacturn for a while, but found myself switching over to Shiftry for the better speed and ability.

Tangrowth

Item: Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
Nature: Modest
EV's: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 Spa
Moves:
Giga Drain
Hidden Power Ice
Focus Blast
Synthesis

Tangrowth is there as my physical wall. Not a single, unboosted brave bird has been able to OHKO Tangrowth, while I can strike back with a super effective HP Ice to KO that pokemon. Tangrowth also does very well against fighting teams as most of them are physical attackers. If Ferrothorn is gone then Tangrowth is my backup outrage cushion. An outrage on average eliminates around 35% of Tangrowth's health to give you an idea of its bulk.

Threats:

Heracross has swept my team once Sceptile is gone on numerous occasions. Even Tangrowth can't seem to stop Heracross after a moxie boost.

I always find it difficult to KO a Crobat and it ends up costing half my team to bring it down.

Sableye never sweeps my teams, but it's always a struggle to bring down with prankster. I always get a couple burns and it becomes nearly unstoppable once Sceptile and Tangrowth are gone.

Dragon Teams
No dragon in particular devastates my team, but a whole team of them makes it much harder for me to win and is probably the type I lose to the most.

Fire Teams
The first enemy of grass still remains one of my fiercest. If Jumpluff misses that first Sleep powder and gets KO'd then my entire team seems to crumble.

Steel Teams
With focus blast being an unreliable move Steel is a top threat as grass moves won't do too much.

Well thanks for taking a look at my team, and I'm open to any criticism, or strategy suggestions that you can offer.

 

[xDesch]

I have a lot of experience with monotype, but not much with grass, so I found this very interesting! Seeing how you've even won a 16-man Round-Robin tournament makes me realize just how much time you've spent on this team.
At first, I got a little suprised that you had no poke that summoned Sun, or Rain. And also I thought Ludicolo was a must for Grass teams, because combined with a Rain Dance supporter, he's a counter to both Water and Fire team. But I guess you're good without them, so let's get to my real suggestions.

With 252 Speed EV's and a Scarf, Sceptile is just barely not able to outspeed +2 Cloyster. And Choice Scarf Gengar and Starmie may not be common, but they often combine it with Trick, and therefore runs Timid over Modest, so what your Sceptile should aim at, would be Outspeeding scarfed pokemon with up to 101 base speed, like Salamence and Thundurus-T. So I'd suggest only running 220 Speed, 252 SpA and the remaining in Bulk 36 in the Deffencive side you experience you most often get targeted by.

If you have tested Tangela and it didn't work, don't bother reading this, but if you haven't, give it a try! with Eviolite, Tangela easily becomes a more sturdy Wall, In fact he's a Tank! He can take hits more efficent and he still got a respectable 100 base SpAttack. I've used around half an hour now, making the best Tangela to fit your team and this is the set I reccomend for you:

Tangela @ Eviolite
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Def / 184 SAtks
Bold Nature
- Leech Seed
- Hidden Power [Ice] / [Fire]
- Giga Drain
- Synthesis / Reflect / (another Filler Move)

This set has the same SpAttack, and can even take Physical hits better than your Tangrowth... and because he does that, Leech Seed becomes a very reliable form of recovery. The only thing that is "bad" about this set, is that he loses acces to Focus Blast, and that the recoil from Brave Bird only will be around 67% of what it used to be. And btw, you could take 48 or 52 EV's from his SpA, or HP (or both) to make him outspeed the standard Choice Band Scizor, because he doesn't like Banded Bug Bite, or U-Turn from Scizor, It also helps him outspeed Jellicent :)

As for Ferrothorn, I would change his EV spread a little, just place the 40 EV's from his HP to SpD, this makes Leech Seed recover more of your health, while making you more Bulky in SpD. It also has good synergy with the Rocky helmet + Iron Barbs combination, because opponents don't wanna use Physical moves on him (Bar EQ) in the first place.

I also see that after you put 252 EV's on 2 stats, you like putting the remaing 4 EV's on their HP, but you should really put them on their best Deffencive Stat. This goes especcially for Jumpluff, because with 4 EV's invested in HP he loses 72 HP every time he switches in on Stealth Rocks, instead of the extremely better 71 HP loss. Also, giving every Special attacker 0 Atk IV's (might mess up Hidden Power's typing and power) will make a desperate Foul Play from the opponent Weaker... Hey! You wanted to make it as perfekt as possible, didn't you? It might only be some small details, but it'll help, just trust me on that ;)