Do you...?
======================================================
======================================================
It's been a long while since I've posted a team...without any gimmicks. :P Until now, I've been playing on the Suspect ladder however, I ended up reverting back to my true love...the UU ladder. xD I love the variety of the Pokes that are used in the metagame (granted my team is actually very very boring and standard haha).
The team itself is well pretty balanced...or would you call it that? 4 Attackers and 2 walls...ok not really but this team isn't exactly suck. I have a goodish win ration with this team which basically means I don't get raped...alot atleast. :P When constructing this team, the only thing I had in mind was to keep it as offensive as possible; and to some extent it has. It's more offensively orientated than my usual teams. My strategy was to rip my opponent's Pokemon a new a-hole until Swellow was able to come out and clear up the messssss. Well here's my team!
Typhlosion (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Spd/252 SAtk/6 SDef
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
109 SpA + Choice Specs + 150 base power Eruption = Ouch. Whilst Eruption and Fire Blast may seem redundant, if Typloshion is at full health, it’s capable of 2HKOing defensively orientated bulky waters such as Slowbro, There isn’t much that can switch in safely other than Flash Fire Pokemon and specially defensive bulky waters. The reason for Choice Specs rather than Choice Scarf is that it’s unorthodox and the fact that ScarfEruption seemed to be underwhelming. Most leads who think that they’re slower than a typical Scarf leads will usually switch allowing me to hit off a full powered Eruption and scout out future counters for Typhlosion.
The reason I’ve opted not to use a mix Typlosion is because Focus Punch is way too risky if I save Typlosion for later and attempt a sweep; granted 70% accuracy is something you shouldn’t be relying on anyways. And not to mention that predicting with Specs and not being able to attack the next turn because they’ll attack sorta sucks; unlike Focus Blast. ^_^;
Steelix (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 HP/112 Atk/8 Spd/136 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Roar
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
Pretty standard stuff really; yet it’s still as beastly as ever. Stealth Rock ‘cos well every team needs Stealth Rock. It’s a really good resist for random Psychic assaults from Espeon and the likes; ones that don’t carry HP Fight atleast. :P
I’ve been considering replacing Stone Edge, simply because there isn’t much use for it, well, I haven’t found much use for it in battles. If I were to change it for another move, it’d probably be Explosion.
Speed Evs to outrun other Steelixes.
Azumarill (F) @ Splash Plate
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 212 HP/252 Atk/44 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Focus Punch
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Return
Haha, I love this little thing. Whilst bulky grasses wall this thing, it’s pretty powerful on its own. Focus Punch is something that I use rarely but it’s good if I can predict a switch. Return is a really good attacking move for Pokes that resist water and Waterfal/Aqua Jet should be pretty obvious. My last resort revenge killer with Aqua Jet.
Now onto the item, Splash Plate. It raises the attacking power of water moves by 20%. The reason I decided to chose this usually worthless item is because Return will never hit for super effective damage and I rarely use Focus Punch, let alone it being super effective. Not to mention, if I don’t hit my STAB moves for SE damage then expert belt will be a worthless item. ‘Zumarill’s attacks don’t offer much SE coverage so I opted for Splash Plate. I’d rather raise my main moves by 20% without needing a SE hit and Splash Plate also allows for me to bluff a Choice Band. :D
Venusaur (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/6 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Very very underrated. Venasaur provides me with a valuable fighting resist with this team is very much weak too. A 75% accurate sleep move is too valuable to give up allowing me to disable random Pokes, making them sitting ducks for the rest of the battle. I don’t have any Wish support and Black Sludge is Venasaur’s only form of “recovery” so ccoupled with Leech Seed it allows Venasaur to stall and recover its health more quickly. Not to mention it’s essential to the rest of my team who usually die due to a lack of recovery. Energy Ball > Grass Knot ‘cos most of the UU Pokes aren’t fatties and well the last move was a toss up.
There was an option of Sludge Bomb and HP Fire. I either get walled by Steels or Grasses. I’ll contine to use HP Fire for the meanwhile however, recently, I’ve been thinking that Sludge Bomb is more useful allowing me to hit hard because HP Fire unstabbed is pretty ass weak. For Steels, I’d probably just prefer to stall with Leech Seed and switch to Magneton to trap them or switch to Azumarrill who’ll stike hard with Waterfall.
Magneton @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 6 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Rash nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
Megneton is probably the most exchangeable member of this team. Well, in my opinion atleast, whilst this Magnet does provide my team will insane resistances, it can only take one or two hits even when attacks are resisted. 50/90/70 defenses really aren’t that great despite its many resistances.
Now, onto the good! This thing takes other Pokes by suprise usually expecting these Magneton to be Specsed! Or in my experience atleast. =_=; Scarfed Thunderbolt coming from 371 takes down alot of Pokes that have already been weakened by my other Pokes. And if Chansey wants to ruin my fun, I explode on them however, from my experience, they always never stay in fearing a KABOOM.
Not to sure about the hidden power as it was a toss up between HP Ground and Fire. Still not sure about the HP I should use so opinions! They cover the same thing, sorta... they both hurt steels. However, last time I used HP on a Steelix it only did around 50% so the enemy Steelix should have less than 50% health before I can even think about trapping it. <_<;
Not too sure on the EVs - I'm sure nothing has 357 speed and the next level is 358. I'll probably drop a few Spd Evs and pump them inot Atk from a "stronger" Explosion.
Swellow (F) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk/6 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Brave Bird
- Facade
- Quick Attack
This Pokemon is the reason why you should all carry a rock/steel type Pokemon in your team. Guts makes this averagely powered bird into a mighty threat. Once I’ve been Guts boosted, my main form of offense is Façade and I try to stick away from Brave Bird unless it’s necessary (Mismagius, Grass Pokes) as SR + Poison will kill this fragile bird quickly. U-Turn is insanely useful if my Guts boos hasn’t activated, allowing me to scout future counters and wearing them down before I attempt to clean up the game with Swellow. I prefer Quick Attack over Pursuit as Rotom isn’t generally a problem for me and it isn’t as common as I’d like it to be. :P Priority users are everywhere and if they think they can finish me off, they’ve got another thing coming. And not to mention, weakened scarf users in KO range will also be shocked when their HP reaches 0. ^_^;
Problems list:
Weather teams:
Nothing can switch into Swift Swim Pokes apart from Venasaur who eats a Rain boosted Surf/Hydro Pump followed by an Ice Beam. I 90% of the time get decimated by Rain (and Sunny Day) teams. My only hope is to start "smart" switching from Venasaur (Water attack) to Azumarill (Ice) to Magneton (Grass/Electric) but then the cycle starts again and Magneton ain't surving a rain boosted water attack and they're just pains in general. My only hope of overcoming the likes of Ludicol is to try and stall out rain through switiching then switiching to Swellow/Magneton to kill as many things as possible.
Scarfed fighters:
If, and when Venasaur is dead, I can fully expect Choice Scard Close Combats to eat my team alive.
ScarfPhlosion:
I can handle it with Azumarrill and Aqua Jet but I have a hard time if it comes out late game and Azumarill is no where to be found. Though Swellow's Quick Attack can weaken eruption but Fire Blast will decimate my whole team minusing Azumarill and my own Typlosion, who can't reall do anything back to it as Focus Blast is a risky move.
Stall:
If I had to bet what team 100% beats me, I'd say STALL. God, I hate it, not only 'cos it takes long but because 5/6 of my team is raped by Spikes. I thrive on switching as I have no real wall breaker so it's hard to break through say the combo of Chansey/Registeel. Not one of my team can really beat both of them. And that's just an example so there are probably many more Pokes my team can't break down in Stall.
Rate and contructive critism as to how I could improve my team please! :D
Thanks for reading!
======================================================
======================================================
It's been a long while since I've posted a team...without any gimmicks. :P Until now, I've been playing on the Suspect ladder however, I ended up reverting back to my true love...the UU ladder. xD I love the variety of the Pokes that are used in the metagame (granted my team is actually very very boring and standard haha).
The team itself is well pretty balanced...or would you call it that? 4 Attackers and 2 walls...ok not really but this team isn't exactly suck. I have a goodish win ration with this team which basically means I don't get raped...alot atleast. :P When constructing this team, the only thing I had in mind was to keep it as offensive as possible; and to some extent it has. It's more offensively orientated than my usual teams. My strategy was to rip my opponent's Pokemon a new a-hole until Swellow was able to come out and clear up the messssss. Well here's my team!
Typhlosion (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Spd/252 SAtk/6 SDef
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
109 SpA + Choice Specs + 150 base power Eruption = Ouch. Whilst Eruption and Fire Blast may seem redundant, if Typloshion is at full health, it’s capable of 2HKOing defensively orientated bulky waters such as Slowbro, There isn’t much that can switch in safely other than Flash Fire Pokemon and specially defensive bulky waters. The reason for Choice Specs rather than Choice Scarf is that it’s unorthodox and the fact that ScarfEruption seemed to be underwhelming. Most leads who think that they’re slower than a typical Scarf leads will usually switch allowing me to hit off a full powered Eruption and scout out future counters for Typhlosion.
The reason I’ve opted not to use a mix Typlosion is because Focus Punch is way too risky if I save Typlosion for later and attempt a sweep; granted 70% accuracy is something you shouldn’t be relying on anyways. And not to mention that predicting with Specs and not being able to attack the next turn because they’ll attack sorta sucks; unlike Focus Blast. ^_^;
Steelix (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 HP/112 Atk/8 Spd/136 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Roar
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
Pretty standard stuff really; yet it’s still as beastly as ever. Stealth Rock ‘cos well every team needs Stealth Rock. It’s a really good resist for random Psychic assaults from Espeon and the likes; ones that don’t carry HP Fight atleast. :P
I’ve been considering replacing Stone Edge, simply because there isn’t much use for it, well, I haven’t found much use for it in battles. If I were to change it for another move, it’d probably be Explosion.
Speed Evs to outrun other Steelixes.
Azumarill (F) @ Splash Plate
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 212 HP/252 Atk/44 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Focus Punch
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Return
Haha, I love this little thing. Whilst bulky grasses wall this thing, it’s pretty powerful on its own. Focus Punch is something that I use rarely but it’s good if I can predict a switch. Return is a really good attacking move for Pokes that resist water and Waterfal/Aqua Jet should be pretty obvious. My last resort revenge killer with Aqua Jet.
Now onto the item, Splash Plate. It raises the attacking power of water moves by 20%. The reason I decided to chose this usually worthless item is because Return will never hit for super effective damage and I rarely use Focus Punch, let alone it being super effective. Not to mention, if I don’t hit my STAB moves for SE damage then expert belt will be a worthless item. ‘Zumarill’s attacks don’t offer much SE coverage so I opted for Splash Plate. I’d rather raise my main moves by 20% without needing a SE hit and Splash Plate also allows for me to bluff a Choice Band. :D
Venusaur (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/6 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Very very underrated. Venasaur provides me with a valuable fighting resist with this team is very much weak too. A 75% accurate sleep move is too valuable to give up allowing me to disable random Pokes, making them sitting ducks for the rest of the battle. I don’t have any Wish support and Black Sludge is Venasaur’s only form of “recovery” so ccoupled with Leech Seed it allows Venasaur to stall and recover its health more quickly. Not to mention it’s essential to the rest of my team who usually die due to a lack of recovery. Energy Ball > Grass Knot ‘cos most of the UU Pokes aren’t fatties and well the last move was a toss up.
There was an option of Sludge Bomb and HP Fire. I either get walled by Steels or Grasses. I’ll contine to use HP Fire for the meanwhile however, recently, I’ve been thinking that Sludge Bomb is more useful allowing me to hit hard because HP Fire unstabbed is pretty ass weak. For Steels, I’d probably just prefer to stall with Leech Seed and switch to Magneton to trap them or switch to Azumarrill who’ll stike hard with Waterfall.
Magneton @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 6 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Rash nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
Megneton is probably the most exchangeable member of this team. Well, in my opinion atleast, whilst this Magnet does provide my team will insane resistances, it can only take one or two hits even when attacks are resisted. 50/90/70 defenses really aren’t that great despite its many resistances.
Now, onto the good! This thing takes other Pokes by suprise usually expecting these Magneton to be Specsed! Or in my experience atleast. =_=; Scarfed Thunderbolt coming from 371 takes down alot of Pokes that have already been weakened by my other Pokes. And if Chansey wants to ruin my fun, I explode on them however, from my experience, they always never stay in fearing a KABOOM.
Not to sure about the hidden power as it was a toss up between HP Ground and Fire. Still not sure about the HP I should use so opinions! They cover the same thing, sorta... they both hurt steels. However, last time I used HP on a Steelix it only did around 50% so the enemy Steelix should have less than 50% health before I can even think about trapping it. <_<;
Not too sure on the EVs - I'm sure nothing has 357 speed and the next level is 358. I'll probably drop a few Spd Evs and pump them inot Atk from a "stronger" Explosion.
Swellow (F) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk/6 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Brave Bird
- Facade
- Quick Attack
This Pokemon is the reason why you should all carry a rock/steel type Pokemon in your team. Guts makes this averagely powered bird into a mighty threat. Once I’ve been Guts boosted, my main form of offense is Façade and I try to stick away from Brave Bird unless it’s necessary (Mismagius, Grass Pokes) as SR + Poison will kill this fragile bird quickly. U-Turn is insanely useful if my Guts boos hasn’t activated, allowing me to scout future counters and wearing them down before I attempt to clean up the game with Swellow. I prefer Quick Attack over Pursuit as Rotom isn’t generally a problem for me and it isn’t as common as I’d like it to be. :P Priority users are everywhere and if they think they can finish me off, they’ve got another thing coming. And not to mention, weakened scarf users in KO range will also be shocked when their HP reaches 0. ^_^;
Problems list:
Weather teams:
Nothing can switch into Swift Swim Pokes apart from Venasaur who eats a Rain boosted Surf/Hydro Pump followed by an Ice Beam. I 90% of the time get decimated by Rain (and Sunny Day) teams. My only hope is to start "smart" switching from Venasaur (Water attack) to Azumarill (Ice) to Magneton (Grass/Electric) but then the cycle starts again and Magneton ain't surving a rain boosted water attack and they're just pains in general. My only hope of overcoming the likes of Ludicol is to try and stall out rain through switiching then switiching to Swellow/Magneton to kill as many things as possible.
Scarfed fighters:
If, and when Venasaur is dead, I can fully expect Choice Scard Close Combats to eat my team alive.
ScarfPhlosion:
I can handle it with Azumarrill and Aqua Jet but I have a hard time if it comes out late game and Azumarill is no where to be found. Though Swellow's Quick Attack can weaken eruption but Fire Blast will decimate my whole team minusing Azumarill and my own Typlosion, who can't reall do anything back to it as Focus Blast is a risky move.
Stall:
If I had to bet what team 100% beats me, I'd say STALL. God, I hate it, not only 'cos it takes long but because 5/6 of my team is raped by Spikes. I thrive on switching as I have no real wall breaker so it's hard to break through say the combo of Chansey/Registeel. Not one of my team can really beat both of them. And that's just an example so there are probably many more Pokes my team can't break down in Stall.
Rate and contructive critism as to how I could improve my team please! :D
Thanks for reading!