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Help out this Team.

baseballgeekz

Hi, I'm really new to competitive battling. This is my first team, and I'm pretty sure I need to make a lot of changes. Critique me all you like, I want to make this team as good as possible, so I need some pointers. Thank you for your help!

No..... I don't have pictures. To be honest, I'm just too lazy to go find them.


Lead:

Togekiss @ Kings Rock
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 hp / 6 Def / 252 / SpD
Calm nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Air Slash
- Body Slam
- Aura Sphere
- Roost

The flinching Togekiss set is great for screwing up enemies, and it will completely immobilize most of them. Not only is this pokemon's Special attack amazing, it is also rather bulky, so it can take a few hits. While my opponets are struggling to attack, I have the chance to roost off any damage its taken thus far. Aura Sphere, besides just being a plain good attack, also has the added bonus of doing good damage to tyranitar. Twave may be the more reliable paralysis move, but the fact that body slam has the chance to paralyze jolteon / electivire + ground types, wins it the spot. Kings Rock just makes the flinch more likely and it makes this set that much more devistating.

Special Sweeper:

Gengar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest nature (+ SpA, -Atk)
- HP Ice
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast

This set may be really standard, but I love it. I pack Thunderbolt to help me deal with Gyarados. Shadow Ball, with a truck load of SpA Evs + Choice Scarf, helps me get the edge on other ghosts. hp ice can help me take out mence.

Wish Support / Tank:

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 188 Hp / 252 Def / 68 SpA
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- HP Electric

I have always loved the eevee evolutions. In this case, I chose Vaporeon, for the purpose of dealing with Infernape. I'll be honest, the prospect of Infernape really freaks me out. Not only is Vaporeon an easily qualified "Bulky Water", it also takes damage from an Infernape Grass Knot, better than its bulky brethren. HP Electric allows me to deal damage to other water types that it would normally not be effective against. Surf is a great stab move, and I pack enough SpA to deal respectable damage to most of my other opposition.

Revenge / Choice Band:

Weavile @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly nature (+ Spe, - SpA)
- Pursuit
- Ice Shard
- Brick Break
- Swords Dance

Weavile is my favorite pokemon. The moves in this set allow it to deal with a lot of common threats. I know a normal set would invest more EVs in Hp, but if weavile has one weakness, its defenses. This thing won't take many hits at all. If it does its job, it shouldn't have a problem setting up a potential sweep. I chose Focus Sash incase an azelf or gengar has the balls to try and hit this guy while I sd. The only problem is that with so many stones, spikes, and weather effects that are common in typical play, it makes switching in potentially more difficult. Also, the extra speed can help me out speed some of Weavile's threats, namely flamethrower / HP fighting Azelf.

Mixed Attacker:

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 120 Atk / 156 SpA / 232 Spe
Hasty nature (+ Spe, - Def)
- Stone Edge
- Flamethrower
- Close Combat
- Grass Knot

Hmmm....... Wow. How ironic. Yes a mixed Infernape. Not quite the normal set up, but it is taylored to fit my team. This thing is a beast. It takes out Steels with ease, not to mention the ability to threaten "bulky waters". This thing scares the hell out of me, but by God I love it way too much.


Special Tank / Sponge:

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: (252 Atk / 252 SpD / 4 Hp)
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Body Slam
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Fire Punch

After realizing I had no answer to special attackers, I decided on this guy. Snorlax can absorb special hits like a champ, and then pack a powerfull punch with his high attack. Body Slam is a great stab move on this guy with the chance for paralysis. Earthquake ruins tyranitar, and crunch destroys ghoasts. Fire Punch wasn't my first choice, but I have no way of obtaining selfdestruct, so it will have to do. Still fire punch will put a nice dent into any steels that try to get in my way.
 
So you're considering using EQ on Hiriyama to take care of TTAR when you have Close Combat?

Interesting.

And I'd replace hypnosis on Gar for something else. HP ice? Idk these days. But with it on Yanmega, it's sorta won't be used all to much because of sleep clause.

On Vaporeon, definitly not yawn if you have hypnosis on two pokes already. I'd go for HP Electric. Take care of gyara and other waters mostly. Or protect though.
 
Ha Ha, brain spasm. I don't know what I was thinking with the close combat earthquake. My main reason for earthquake I guess would be because it's my only ground move. I also get what your saying with the Gengar. It doesn't make sense to have multiple hypnosis with the sleeping clause. Thanks for your help!
 
I've found that HP Fire works well on Yanmega as it destroys incoming Scizor and Forretress. You could also experiment with Substitute / Leftovers over Protect / Focus Sash. With a Sub up, it can punish switchers harder while Leftovers nullifies Sandstorm and Hail damage. If you plan on using Yanmega after leading at all, you may want to consider some Rapid Spin support.

Earthquake on Hariyama could be useful for killing Heatran if CC doesn't already do it. (You'd have to do a damage calc for that.)

CB Weavile is good, but you could also experiment with Swords Dance / Night Slash instead of CB Pursuit on switching Pokemon.

NP Ape is great, but I have one nitpick that's just a matter of personal taste. Infernape is fast yet frail. With all of the priority moves running around today, you might want to run Naive over Hasty as the only Special priority is Vacuum Wave.

You may want to consider Crocune for your special sweeper as it can absorb status well, but having two waters may be slightly redundant.

Overall, it looks like a good team, but you may want to experiment a little bit to find out how to stop many of the common OU threats.
 
I don't really see why you really need a Tyranitar counter. I mean look at your team. Yanmega's Bug Buzz, Infernape's Close Combat, Vaporeon's Surf, Gengar's Focus Blast, Weavile's Brick Break. 3 of which will OHKO while the other takes over 50%. I'd rather ditch Hariyama for something like Snorlax who can help cover up all your special short comings. Without it, Zapdos could provide a huge problem as it can easily get in on a few Pokes while you have nothing that can really switch into it. You'll still have plenty of offensive opporunities with it.

Now the thing I want to explore is, with Weavile in the picture, this means you can remove most ghosts, those stuck in Shadow Ball if Scarfed, or those slower who you won't have to worry once you get in. Now if we take away the Rotoms and Gengar, wouldn't Scizor and Lucario benefit a lot? That's just a thought that we can replace over Infernape for an instance. Their resistence could help and both could be a better check for that "Tyranitar" counter you had if you ran Bullet Punch.
 
Starting from the top, my first recommendation would be to replace Yanmega with Togekiss and running the standard flinch moveset, which is Thunder Wave/Air Slash/Roost/Aura Sphere. Thanks to Serene Grace, using Thunder Wave + Air Slash makes your opponent have to deal with the extremely annoying combination of flinching and Paralysis, and with those two coupled, they'll only have a 30% chance to actually hit you. A defensive EV spread is what you should use: 252 HP / 6 Def / 252 SpD. Moving along to Gengar, I can see it performing better if it was Scarfed. You'd also be better off making it Modest instead of Timid, since Scarf variants using a Timid nature usually lack the necessary power to cause OHKO'es as opposed to using a Modest nature. I don't see why you need Hidden Power Fire unless you're afraid of Scizor or Forretress, but besides that, running Hidden Power Ice would be the wiser choice. Vaporeon needs to have Hidden Power Electric for Gyarados, so replace that with Protect, mainly because Protect is just for scouting or stalling a turn to wait for Wish to activate, of which you don't really need since its bulky enough.

Continuing with Weavile, instead of making it CB'ed, run Swords Dance/Night Slash/Ice Shard/Brick Break movespread and use a Life Orb. This way, you'll find yourself stuck in moves less. This is the strategy: manage to use SD at least once, and this brings you to +2 Attack, and combined with LO, you will be hitting harder than a CB variant. Pursuit is a viable option over Night Slash if you want to revenge kill easier. On Infernape, other than maybe running more of a physical set than you currently have, I don't see anything wrong with it. Stone Edge would allow you to hit Flying types effectively. U-Turn is also a possibility, as it allows you to scout for dangers, but that's better off used on Choice Band Infernapes. Lastly, Hariyama should be replaced with a Machamp, a far superior Fighting Pokemon. Running a Bulky Machamp movespread is what I suggest:

Machamp @ Leftovers
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Bulk Up
~ DynamicPunch
~ Ice Punch/Thunder Punch
~ Stone Edge

When you consider the 100% accurate DynamicPunch confusing the opponent combined with possibility of ample time to use Bulk Up due to confusion, you'll realize the potential of sweeping increases greatly. Gliscor will be no problem if you use Ice Punch, and Thunder Punch is there for Bulky Waters and Gyara. Running Payback > Stone Edge is an option if you fear Ghost and Psychic types, which counter this. Due to the lack of Speed, fast sweepers, namely Special ones, will give this set a hard time. Maybe Rest on the third slot if you're really worried about not lasting long, but I don't recommend this unless you feel it is completely necessary, as you will lose coverage over a few Pokemon that can give you trouble if you decide to make that change.

I'll check back here if you have any questions and I will gladly help you if needed. Hope this advice helps you out! =)
 
Unfortunately, a maxed IV and EVs in sp.attack Infernape@choice specs could probably OHKO your vaporeon with focus blast...no EVs in special defense aren't good, even though its a decent special wall...however, not many are going to be running an Infernape like that.

You might want to give gengar choice specs (I'm a HUGE fan of choice items) so it could OHKO almost anything with shadow ball. As long as it doesnt resist it, that is.

Like Solidus said, you might want to change Yanmega to Togekiss and do a flinch set. I personally find Serene Grace+King's Rock+Air Slash simply devastating, with a posibility to inflict flinch over 75 percent of the time. That sucks for many people, especially if your faster. Be sure to pack thunder wave or else!

By the way, you can't have two pokemon holding the same item (life orb) in competitive battling.

Other than that, GREAT JOB! :D
 
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