Help a noob improve his team! (Grass/Fire/Water Core)

[BlackwaterPark]

Introduction​

By all accounts, I should be better at team building than I really am. I've been playing competitive Pokémon since late Generation IV, and I like to think that I know what's good and what isn't. However, my actual teams often aren't too good. In Generation IV, my best team utilized a Grass/Fire/Water core of Celebi/Heatran/Swampert (the one which, combined, resists every type). I decided to try a similar concept again, and this is what I came up with.

I use standard sets, because I'm a noob and don't know any better. As such, I have no idea what some of these EV combinations are supposed to do. Normally, I start out with standard sets and try to make a few changes later on, but they usually don't work. Don't be surprised if my team has some horrible, glaring flaws that I haven't seen yet. I haven't tested it much, but I win with it more often than not, with a few very close comebacks.

Now, onto the team!

At a Glance​

A Closer Look​

Name: Rotom-W
Item: Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
EV's: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Moveset:

• Thunderbolt
• Hydro Pump
• Hidden Power Fire
• Trick

Even though this guy is partially Water-type, he's not part of my core. Instead, I like to put him in the lead spot, because he deals good damage to a lot of things right from the start. Weather leads aren't a problem: Hydro Pump gets the 2HKO on Tyranitar and the OHKO on Ninetales, while Thunderbolt OHKO's many Politoed while 2HKOing specially defensive variants. Hidden Power Fire is for Ferrothorn, and Scizor to a lesser extent. Trick is for things like Chansey and Blissey that would normally have a field day with this guy.

Considering:

• Using a Modest nature (+SpA, -Atk), to increase damage output and turn a couple of 2HKO's into OHKO's.
• Changing the Hidden Power type to Fighting, for a more accurate 2HKO on Tyranitar while maintaining coverage against Ferrothorn.

Name: Breloom
Item: Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EV's: 12 HP / 252 Atk / 244 Spe
Moveset:

• Spore
• Substitute
• Focus Punch
• Seed Bomb

Ah, here we go. This is the Grass-type member of my core, and he's phenomenal. He gets a lot of free switch-ins, even with his meager defenses. Once he's in, I usually use Spore and put something to sleep, but if I think the opponent will switch to something that's already statused or a Sleep Talker, I'll go right to Substitute. From there, I hit hard with powerful STAB attacks, which do a lot of damage even to things that resist them:

Focus Punch vs. Nasty Plot Thundurus: 60% - 71%
Focus Punch vs. Offensive Latios: 53.64% - 63.25%
Focus Punch vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Volcarona: 36.9% - 43.58%
Seed Bomb vs. Gengar: 41.38% - 48.66%

As you can see, there's not much that can switch into this guy. Few other Pokémon are so good at staying alive while dealing such tremendous damage.

Considering:

• Using a SubSeed set.
• Dropping Substitute in favor of a third attack.

Name: Volcarona
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
EV's: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Moveset:

• Quiver Dance
• Bug Buzz
• Fiery Dance
• Hidden Power Rock

I originally considered Chandelure for this spot, but ultimately decided on Volcarona as he has almost as much Special Attack, but actually gets a decent Speed stat and a great boosting move to make good use of it. Seriously, this guy is powerful. With a Quiver Dance or two under his belt, he's able to inflict massive damage on pretty much everything. I use Fiery Dance because I very much like the 50% chance of a Special Attack raise. There aren't many Pokémon that resist the combination of Bug, Fire, and Rock. The only common one is Terrakion, which Volcarona shouldn't really be staying in on anyway.

Considering:

• Running a Modest nature for more damage output.
• Using a ChestoRest set. This would help against opposing Breloom and also allow for potentially more Quiver Dances.

Name: Tentacruel
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Liquid Ooze
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
EV's: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Moveset:

• Toxic Spikes
• Rapid Spin
• Surf
• Hex

I absolutely need this guy to spin away Stealth Rock so Volcarona can get in and sweep. He also lays down entry hazards down in the form of Toxic Spikes, which can be incredibly helpful to my sweepers. Surf is a good STAB attack that deals decent damage even without any Special Attack investment. The last moveslot was tricky, but I eventually decided on Hex because it will hit every spinblocker that isn't Sableye or Spiritomb for super effective damage. With luck, I can even have Toxic Spikes up before the switch and further double the damage.

Liquid Ooze is just a fantastic ability. This Tentacruel handles Drain Punch Conkeldurr very well and makes Whimsicott think twice about using Leech Seed.

Considering:

• Replacing Hex with Ice Beam, for better coverage.
• Making Tentacruel specially defensive, instead of physically defensive.

Name: Gliscor
Item: Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Nature: Impish (+Def, -SpA)
EV's: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spe
Moveset:

• Swords Dance
• Earthquake
• Ice Fang
• Protect

This guy can take physical hits extremely well, even ones that are super effective. He hits very hard with Earthquake and Ice Fang, and he often finds opportunities to set up Swords Dance, as a lot of things are forced to switch out against him. Protect has many uses on Gliscor. It allows for the accumulation of more HP due to Poison Heal, acts as a good scouting move, and protects against the now-rare Explosion.

Gliscor plays an important role in keeping Tentacruel alive, not caring at all about Ground and Electric attacks aimed at the venomous jellyfish, while Tentacruel in turn takes Water and Ice attacks for the flying scorpion.

It should be noted that both Breloom and Gliscor are immune to status after Toxic Orb has been activated, and since I generally have trouble dealing with status, this is very helpful to me.

Considering:

• Investing more in Attack.
• Running a set consisting of Fling / Acrobatics / Earthquake / Swords Dance. Sometimes I feel that Ice Fang doesn't do quite enough damage, and Acrobatics would probably be more effective on most things. However, Fling might not have much use, as I have Toxic Spikes support already, but poisoning Latios and other things with Levitate is always nice.

Name: Jirachi
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Nature: Careful (+SpD, -SpA)
EV's: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Moveset:

• Thunder Wave
• Iron Head
• Wish
• Stealth Rock

Jirachi supports the team along with Tentacruel, but in much different ways. If Toxic Spikes are not set up, Thunder Wave can cripple faster Pokémon to make life easier for my sweepers, particularly Breloom. Iron Head and Thunder Wave together form the infamous paraflinch strategy, giving the opponent only a 30% chance to attack each turn. Wish can heal the rest of the team as well as Jirachi itself, and paraflinch provides a good chance of a free second turn for Wish to activate. As for Stealth Rock... well, it's Stealth Rock. What else is there to say?

Considering:

• Dropping Thunder Wave in exchange for another support move or attack, such as Light Screen or one of the elemental punches.
• Replacing Jirachi with a spinblocker, in order to keep Toxic Spikes on the field.

Conclusion​

So, there you have it. That's how it is so far, and I need help from you to make this team better. Only have time for one comment? Go ahead and leave it! Want to dish out extremely harsh criticism? No problem! I'm happy with literally any help you can provide. Thanks for taking the time to read, and even more so for your comments! :D

 

[Oblivion IX]

This is a cool looking team and I don't really see much that needs to be changed besides a few details with some of your movesets. First thing that you're going to want to do is replace Protect on Gliscor with Taunt. It will give you the ability to set-up against Skarmory and Ferrothorn while they'll have no other choice but to attack you for laughable amounts of damage or switch. Either way, you'll get a free boost. Now, let's talk about Protect. Good players don't tend to use Explosion anymore because of the new mechanics revolving around it so there's no need to worry about that. You do get a free turn of recovery, but overall the advantages of running Taunt completely outweigh the advantages of protect.

The biggest threat to your team is Hidden Power [Ice] Landorus which has the coverage and power to OHKO your entire team outside of a healthy Rotom-W. Try using Bronzong over Jirachi as it will give you a secondary way of handling Garchomp and Excadrill while also not fearing anything that Landorus will want to throw your way. However, this will make TR variants of Reuniclus quite a pain to deal with, but you could work around them a bit easier than you could with Landorus. If you decide that you want to keep Jirachi than use Body Slam instead of T-Wave because it will give you the chance to inflict paralysis on any Ground-type that risks switching in.

Bronzong:

Hide

Bronzong @ Leftovers | Sassy | 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SDef
Gyro Ball | Earthquake | Hidden Power [Ice] | Stealth Rock

My last suggestion is at least testing out a Scarfed variant of Rotom-W over your current set. You'll lose the brute force you have now, but it will give you a way to outspeed and KO threats like Terrakion that can wear down Gliscor after a while. It also works well in the lead position and can effectly scout your opponent's moves and switches with Volt Switch. Same set is recommended only with Volt Switch over T-Bolt.

I hope these suggestions help you out and good luck with the team!

 

[Mode2Xplode]

If you want to make a SubSeed set for your Breloom, I would recomend getting rid of Seed Bomb. While you lose an attacking option, Spore + Leech Seed would cause a lot of switching, although it might be pretty obvious (I'm new so this might not be a good idea, but it sounds good in theory). Oblivion IX's recomendation to switch Jirachi for Bronzong is pretty good, and at first I couldn't understand why you wanted a spin blocker, but I remembered that the Rotom forms now lose their ghost typing so if you want a spin blocker I'd recomend something bulky such as Dusknoir or Dusclops (with evolite) so that Gliscor wouldn't have to wall by itself. I'd post calculations but I'm not sure on how to get them.