VGC Help a man who keeps getting thrashed

Simperheve

Simperheve

Soooo, i'm having a major hard time getting into VGC, and am under the assumption i've made a ridiculously bad team. If anyone could help me with getting this team more competition worthy, I would be most grateful.

Gardevoir @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Telepathy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Moonblast
- Dazzling Gleam
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt

Since I wasn't using a Mega-Gard, I though using Moonblast and Dazzling Gleam would help me get past Wide Guard. The fairy coverage is useful in hitting the Dragon types that people seem to be quite fond of. Thunderbolt is there because I couldn't think of what to put in the last slot. Perhaps shadow ball would be better? Telepathy is so it can avoid spread moves on my side.

Talonflame @ Sky Plate
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Quick Guard
- Overheat

Just a speedy Birdspam, but I thought i'd use Quick Guard to help prevent priority hits and Overheat to stop SmogBird being entirely crippled by Intimidate. Though part of me thinks I should just forego it for Roost for some recovery.

Milotic @ Leftovers
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Icy Wind
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Recover

Milotic is my main form of speed control, with Icy Wind enabling me to slow down speedy mons and hit them first. Scald is there for burn chance and Recover is to help keep it in play. Ice beam is to let Milotic hit Dragon's hard, since Icy Wind has low BP.

Salamence @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Double-Edge
- Fire Blast

Salamence is my main damage dealer. I chose a DD set because I wasn't sure about what works best in VGC. He seems to be fairly powerful without it, so I could forego the DD for a mixed attacking set. I chose Fire Blast in the last slot to help avoid being completely stunted by Intimidate.

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 128 HP / 252 Atk / 128 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Seed Bomb
- Protect

I needed a grass pokemon and access to fighting type coverage, so I thought "Why not Breloom?". Speed EVs allow it to outspeed slower enemies and drain with Drain Punch. The priority of Mach Punch allows me to finish up weakened 'mons. Protect gets me free heals.

Zapdos @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Heat Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Roost

Zapdos is because I needed Electric coverage. Heat Wave allows Zapdos to hit Grass and Steel Types hard. I thought Heat Wave would be an interesting choice to run for the sake of coverage. Thunderbolt is for much needed STAB and Roost lets it stay healthy.

I understand this team is likely very terrible, but what can you do being new to the VGC game? I appreciate all the help you can give! Thanks!
 
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Hey!

This actually isn't a bad team; some of your Pokemon's sets just need tweaking.

First, it's great to see someone else using Breloom; I think it's a very good and underrated Pokemon in VGC. However, Poison Heal Breloom just isn't very good, and Breloom is too frail for investment in HP to make a difference. A much better set would be:

Breloom @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
-Spore
-Mach Punch
-Bullet Seed
-Protect

Really, anything that can use Spore, should use it. It is just so powerful, even with Grass-types now being immune to it. Spore is the "Deal with later" button, allowing you to sleep something (ideally a support Pokemon) so you can kill off the other Pokemon, or cancel the offensive presence of Pokemon such as Mega Kangaskhan that otherwise threaten you. Mach Punch and Bullet Seed are both boosted by Technician, and they give the Fighting/Grass coverage that you want on your team. You can run Force Palm over Mach Punch if you want extra power, but since Breloom is frail and somewhat slow, it generally prefers Mach Punch.

I would also suggest running Tailwind over Thunder Wave on Zapdos, since in my opinion it is a much better form of speed control on an offensive team such as yours.

Finally, it worries me that hardly any of your Pokemon carry Protect; Salamence in particular should run Protect because of its 4x Ice weakness, and many Pokemon carry Ice Beam or HP Ice just to hit it. Having Protect would allow it to block an Ice Beam while its partner kills the attacker. Milotic could run it over Ice Beam or Recover, and Zapdos enjoys Protect because Mega Kangaskhan commonly targets it with Fake Out.

Now, I notice that you say Gardevoir carries Telepathy to avoid spread moves from your side, but the only move that hits your side is Salamence's Earthquake, I would suggest either running Trace instead or having more spread moves to take advantage of Telepathy (for example, Discharge on Zapdos).

Hope I helped!
 
Thanks for the feedback!

I'll give that Breloom a go. I'm not sure why but I always though Poison Heal was the better one. Need to keep my information updated I guess. Spore will be helpful for controlling the match, which is something my teams a bit lacking in atm.

I might just get rid of Dragon Dance for Protect on Salamence, simply because I don't want to spend multiple turns setting up in a game as fast paced as VGC.

I think i'll probably get rid of Roost for Protect, and Thunder Wave for Tailwind on Zapdos. It's not built for bulk so roosting will probably just end up being a wasted turn. Especially if Zapdos gets double targeted.

One thing I have noticed is my team has a glaring weakness to rock. 3 of my 'mons are flying types so i'm gonna end up having a big problem with Rock and Ice type moves. Perhaps I should switch out one of my Birds? I could try running something like Arcanine instead of Talonflame. If not I might just run Protect on Talonflame instead of Quick Guard/ Overheat. If I have a lot of mons with Protect, Quick Guard will be a bit moot anyways.

Also, I think i'll go with Trace Gardevoir since the only spread move I have is Earthquake. Any ideas on an item to pick instead of Scarf? That way I could run Protect on the last slot instead of Thunderbolt/ one of the fairy moves.

Edit: Been doing some thinking. Could I possibly replace Gardevoir with Espeon? Since i'm not using many spread moves the Ability to bounce back Status might provide more utility in a fast Psychic type.
 
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Sorry for the double post, but i've made some adjustments to the team.

  • Gardevoir has been swapped for Espeon. Gardevoir wasn't doing all that much Espeon can't do, and Magic Bounce will help to block status on some of the other 'mons while providing the same sort of offense.
  • Every pokemon in the team (minus Milotic) runs protect. Most of them had a slot not doing anything anyway, so I thought they may as well run it.
  • Breloom has been changed to use Spore, as suggested above.
  • Milotic has had Scald swapped for Hydro Pump to give some better offence
  • Talonflame runs Roost, because priority Roost
I'm still struggling a bit, but mostly down to team choice and getting into a good position in game.

Replays of two of my wins can be seen here:

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/battlespotdoublesvgc2015-210927089
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/battlespotdoublesvgc2015-210924275
 
You know what you're lacking? Protect. Playing a dubs format without protect is like playing singles without hazard control and status; you NEED it.
Protect>Flare Blitz on talonflame
Protect>icy wind/ice beam on milotic
Protect>fire blast on mence-->jolly nature
Protect>roost on zapdos

Scarfdevoir is a strong set with telepathy, while espeon doesn't get fairy typing and magic bounce isn't as useful as in singles; hazards and toxic are almost nonexistent and most mons are immune to or don't care about the status they use.

Naughty or Lonely Nature on Talonflame as it can outspeed base 110s with 252 neutral, and the extra doesn't help you much. Also, don't run roost because tflame is really frail. I suggest Life Orb if your'e going for mixflame, as it powers up both moves.

The niche zapdos gets over thundy is twind and heatwave, so I suggest either Tailwind>thunder wave or Thundurus>Zapdos. Thundy is a far more efficent twaver, while zapdos keeps tailwind.
 
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Thanks for the tips everyone! So now the team setup is looking like this:

Gardevoir @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Moonblast
- Dazzling Gleam
- Psychic

Zapdos @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Protect
- Heat Wave
- Tailwind

Salamence @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Protect
- Rock Slide

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Spore
- Drain Punch
- Seed Bomb

Talonflame @ Sky Plate
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Protect
- U-turn

Milotic @ Leftovers
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Icy Wind
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Protect

So I re-introduced Scarfdevoir because Espeon wasn't bringing much benefit. I've replace some moves to focus more on offense and less on trying to cover all bases. I did a more tailored take on Breloom as he wasn't lasting long because of Spore. Now with tailwind support, he can dish out painful drain punches and keep himself alive. I also found Bullet Seed was working against me most of the time so I decided to do without it. Every pokemon except Gard carries protect now, and that's been a major help.

Side note, Heat Wave Zapdos is devastating!
 
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