I'm a noob! I need help!

After some of the feedback I have been getting, I decided to change some things around on this team, including some of the pokemon. I'm starting to get a hang of what works and what doesn't work. I took most of the pokemon move sets from Smogon but did edit some things. Feel free to be as ruthless as you want, I'll take any help!

Aerodactyl (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
I'm absolutely loving my suicide lead! Stealth Rock is a given, Taunt is to keep SR from being laid down by opponents. Stone Edge is STAB and Earthquake is just a move to add on. I don't care too much if he dies right away, his purpose is to get down Stealth Rock. Every once in a while, he does give me some bonus kills which is an extra. I tried Gliscor as a lead but prefer Aerodactyl because he is more offensive and much faster.

Rotom-C @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Leaf Storm
- Trick
I switch forms from Rotom-H to Rotom-C. I wanted Leaf Storm because I felt I needed a stronger Grass type attack than Grass Knot. I also felt that Overheat was redundant having a Fire type on the team. Leaf Storm will let me hit Tyranitar, a common switch in for Rotom who has given me trouble with Pursuit. He still is my spin blocker and is awesome for taking out Gengar and bulky waters outside of Swampert. Trick is to screw up Blissey and Vaporeon if I can't KO it.

Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Extremespeed
- Crunch
- Swords Dance
Lucario is one of my favorite pokemon. He is my main physical sweeper. Life Orb is to increase to his power. Close Combat is STAB, Extreemspeed is for revenge killing. Crunch is for killing Psychics and Ghosts. When I think the opponent will switch pokemon, I get a free Swords Dance.

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot
- Thunderbolt
Originally, I wanted a rapid spinner to keep entry hazards off the field. But this team doesn't care much about Stealth Rock so I took Rapid Spin off and am making Starmie more offensive and a special sweeper. Starmie is a water type, which I need on this team, and is also a great attacker. Surf is STAB, and Ice Beam is for Dragons. Grass Knot is for water types who switch in, especially Suicune who normally starts setting up Calm Mind. Because I'm running a purely offensive Starmie, I didn't think I'd need recover. Thunderbolt hits Skarmory, who I've found is a common switch in. I might add Recover to this set but I'm not done testing yet.

Flygon (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
Flygon is my favorite Dragon type. He is my revenge killer. Secondly to attacking, he also absorbs Electric attacks aimed at Starmie and Ground attacks thrown at Infernape and Lucario. I chose him over Salamence because I didn't want to deal with a Stealth Rock weakness and now Earthquake is STABed. Outrage is STAB also, Stone Edge and Crunch are other attacks that I thought would work well with this power set. I like the Scarf option more than Life Orb becaues now I can hit Dragons before they use Dragon Dance. I chose OUtrage over Dragon Claw because when he gets confused, I can switch him out.

Infernape(M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 64 Atk/252 Spd/192 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Fire Blast
- Close Combat
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Ice]
I had a Heatran previously but because I Scarfed Flygon, I decided to replace Heatran with a faster Fire type. Infernape is awesome because he also gets a STAB with Close Combat. He can easily sweep with his high speed and Life Orb makes him deal extra damage. Grass Knot is for water switch ins, HP Ice is for Dragons. Close Combat and Fire Blast are obviously STAB. So far I'm liking him much more than Heatran because he is way more flexible.

This is my first team. As I'm getting used to the ropes, I am starting to win more. I like the new improvements like Infernape over Heatran and other small changes in movesets also. Please don't hold back on any comments. I'll take anything! Thank you for rating this team.
 
Interesting team. Just a few notes about the team itself:

Lucario is good. I suggest that instead of a Choice Band, you use a Life Orb. Also, the use of Swords Dance over Ice Punch is good. Lucario's main problem is Gliscor, and Lucario cannot beat Gliscor by itself, so its pointless to keep it in.

Rotom provides coverage for Water Pokemon, so I suggest using Recover over Thunderbolt. This lets Starmie last a little longer.

Flygon is good, but if you want a good Dragon type physical sweeper, then I suggest the use of Salamence. DDMence is your best bet for all out physical smashing.
Salamence @ Life Orb
Naughty / Naive Nature
232 ATK, 252 SPE, 24 SPA
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Fire Blast
Dragon Dance when you can then sweep.

Your Heatran should have a Naive Nature if its going to run Explosion. Also, those 4 EV's in DEF should be placed into ATK.
 
hello, i got your request, so here goes my rate! :)

on this team, i really and truly thing that you should go for a dragon dance salamence in flygon's spot. while flygon is good due to stab earthquake, flygon is really not built for the role of an all-out attacking pokemon, and more often than not its rather low defensive stats will let it down. salamence's stealth rock weakness really is not a huge problem at the moment to be honost, as aerodactyl will almost always prevent the opponent from setting up stealth rock thanks to its fast taunt. even if the opponent does manage to set up stealth rock, then starmie can always just use rapid spin to shoo it away; this team is actually very solid against entry hazards when you look at it like that. anyway, salamence...use a set of dragon dance | outrage | earthquake | fire blast, an ev spread of 232 atk | 24 spa | 252 spe, and a naive nature with the item life orb. salamence is a pretty independent sweeper, and after a dragon dance its outrage hits harder than any other attack in the entire ou tier, barring choice specs latias's draco meteor. fire blast and 24 special attack evs allow salamence to 2hko bronzong, who otherwise can stop this set relatively easily.

i realize, however, that one of your main reasons for using flygon is for its useful electric type immunity. an easy way to keep an electric type immunity is to change your team's lead to a gliscor. gliscor is essentially a more sturdy version of aerodactyl, and it can still use taunt against slower leads to stop stealth rock. the only lead it cant taunt is azelf, as a matter of fact. use a set of earthquake | stealth rock | u-turn | taunt, an ev spread of 252 hp | 40 def | 216 spe, and a jolly nature with the item leftovers and the ability sand veil. ordinarily i would tell you to use roost on gliscor, but roost really isnt needed on this team; gliscor is generally the only pokemon on a team that can check swords dance lucario; your team handles lucario marvelously, however, with two choice scarf users. u-turn is useful as it allows you to break the focus sash of opposing leads like azelf, aerodactyl, and roserade, as well as just scout the opposing team in general. gliscor is more useful on this team, i feel, as it is much more bulky than aerodactyl and can last further into the game so that it can further support your team, and not just immediately die like aerodactyl does.

i don't really see the need for heatran to hold a choice scarf on your team to be honest. heatran generally only holds a choice scarf on teams that have a rather large weakness to swords dance lucario and swords dance scizor, but it isnt at all necessary on your team as your team has choice scarf rotom-h, arguably the best check to the aforementioned threats in the entire ou tier. simply use a life orb on heatran as opposed to choice scarf. also, try using substitute over dragon pulse, as against foes like scizor who will defintely switch out of heatran you can just set up a substitute, and proceed to fuck up the opposing team pretty good. finally, i would personally use an adamant nature on lucario as opposed to a jolly nature. while jolly is useful in the midgame for outspeeding some threats, lucario is more of a lategame cleaner pokemon on your team, and as such wants as much power as it can muster. if introduced later in the game, lucario's swords dance boosted extremespeed can kill many weakened pokemon that could otherwise outspeed and trouble lucario, like salamence. also, try stone edge over crunch, as stone edge allows lucario to hit gyarados and zapdos very hard; this is important, as these pokemon could otherwise stop lucario's sweep with relative ease.

hope i helped, and good luck! ;)
 
I tried the new suggestions you gave me and after 10 battles I was 6-4. I'm really liking so far but I'm not sure if I like it as much. Gliscor works wonders. The current one posted is 18-9 so far (including before and changes were made) and has done increasingly better after adding Grass Knot to Starmie, nobody seems to expect that and I've sometimes taken out half a team with just Starmie. I'm going to keep testing both teams for now. One thing I have considered is only switching Gliscor for Aerodactyl but keeping Flygon, but I'm not sure yet. Thanks so much for rating it!

I am considering replacing Explosion for Dark Pulse on Heatran. I had Explosion for Blissey, but I haven't had a hard time taking it out with Lucario and Flygon/Salamence's high physical attacks. Any comments?
 
Hiya!

Well done on your first team! I hope you are liking Pokemon so far!

About your team: upon first glance, your team seems horribly weak to water and ice type moves, which only rotom and starmie resists, and lucario for ice. With that said, I feel that you might have a problem with any variant of Suicune. CroCune is the biggest threat here, able to set up CM on 4/6 of your mates and being able to 2HKO them. Your besg bet against it is Trick on Rotom, but if Rotom is gone, you have nothing against it, since Thunderbolt on Starmie fails to 1HKO after a CM and he can just Rest/Sleep Talk for a 33% for another CM. To help give yourself a second answer to this, I suggest either a Celebi or a Vaporeon over Starmie on this team.

Your team doesn't mind SR much, since only Aero is weak to it, and is usually dead early anyways. With an offensive Celebi, you have a chance to 1HKO Cune with Leaf Storm. With a Seed Celebi, you can HP sap Sune even when he rests and just laugh at his Surfs while you 3HKO with Grass Knot/Energy Ball. With Celebi however, you will have a huge Ape weakness, which is why I will recommend Vaporeon more. Vaporeon doesn't completely kill Cune, but will absolutely wall CroCune completely, as well as counter most variants of Ape.

But if you opt for Celebi, you will need to replace Flygon with Scarf Latias or Bait Latias. Scarf Latias will efectively counter ALL variants of Ape as well as provide your team with revenge killing. Expert Belt is highly recommended to bait Scizor onto the field and kill it outright to help your team.

And also have you tried Gliscor as a lead? Gliscor will help your team counter Lucario more effectively, since this teams looks like it has a slight problem with Luke, since only Flygon has a chance. Gliscor does practicaly the same thing for the cost of a little speed. It is also more bulkier than Aero.

I hope I helped! Good luck!
 
I checked on Marriland's Type Weakness Chart thing and if I add both Celebi and Latias, half my team would be weak against both Dark and Ghost types. Also, I'm not that weak to Water or Ice. as both only have 2 weaknesses on this team. Water is the worse because only one pokemon is resistent to it. I haven't had too much trouble with an Suicunes so far. I normally take them out with physical attacks (namely Lucario) after I weaken them with Starmie (when Rotom is already dead). I did try a Glizcor lead and I liked it. It's all on my last post. I might even replace Aero with Gliscor but i'm not sure yet. Thanks for looking and commenting!

I am considering exchanging Rotom-h for Rotom-c to get LeafStorm. I don't think I need Overheat sinse I have Heatran already. This will let me take out Hippowdon much easier, and now Rotom will be able to attack TTar also. Is this a good change?
 
Try not to double post buddy ;)

On with the team, I will start with the minor details such as the combination of Choice Scarf Rotom and Choice Scarf Heatran, something that is not recommended to be in the same team as they both function very similar in terms of revenge killing. I would stay with Rotom and change Heatran to a Substitue version with Toxic, Earth Power and Fire Blast, or simply give it a Life Orb and replace Dragon Pulse for HP Grass in the current moveset. Substitue+Life Orb ins't a good idea in my opinion, as it just consumes Heatran's HP even more fast. HP Grass offers a substantial coverage along with Earth Power and FB.

On Starmie, I don't see the necessity for using Rapid Spin as your entire team isn't importantly harmed by Stealth Rock. But in case you decide to try Snorlaxe's DD Mence out, replace Grass Knot for Recover and Leftovers for Life Orb in order to turn Starmie into a more offensive Pokemon. Also, Hydro Pump is another good option for Starmie if we are talking about offensiveness.
What I just suggested on Starmie was really needed since it is your best check for the likes of Infernape and Heatran, both hit very hard and without Recover after a couple of switches you will be at risk of being swept by one of them. Don't doubt about changing GK for Recover, otherwise the slightly weakness to the LO variants of the aforementioned threats that the team has, won't disappear ;)

As a last note, I see Jolteon being a problem too, I know Rotom is there, by with the completely offensive set that is currently running, plus the task that it needs to fulfill against Lucario and Gyarados, I don't think it could last for so long... I'm going to suggest a bulkier set to take Jolteon's hits a bit more easy and still maintain the capacity to OHKO both Gyarados and Lucario: 200 HP / 56 SpA / 252 Spd.

Good team overall, gl.
 
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