Introduction
First Post/RMT/ect ect. I used to do competitive battling quite a bit back in Gen 3 on Netbattle, and then not at all in Gen 4, so I'm going to be honest and say I'm probably not all that in touch with the current Meta-Game, ie, I'm not used to so much Weather abuse, and so I don't intend on using it aswell.
I've been on PO for a couple of weeks to get a feel for things and suddenly discovered a little Pokemon I fell in Love with, namely Scrafty, and so I decided to build a team around him.
I've been on PO for a couple of weeks to get a feel for things and suddenly discovered a little Pokemon I fell in Love with, namely Scrafty, and so I decided to build a team around him.
Team Building Process
Obviously, it all starts off with the Hoodlum himself, from what I've seen he is one of the best Set Up Sweepers of this new Gen and possible deserves more usage than he is currently getting.
As I wanted Scrafty to be the main Sweeper on this team I needed to a) Cover his weaknesses. And b) Lay down some Entry Hazard support. I decided that I definitely wanted Toxic Spikes on the team as they would compliment Scrafty's Semi-Stall Sweeping, and so Tentacruel joined the Party.
Now I wanted a Pokemon that covered Tentacruel's and Scrafty's weaknesses, whilst adding a little bit more of a Punch to the team, so after doing a little research to achieve perfect coverage I would either have to run Lightning Rod Zapdos or an Eelektross. So I decided to ditch the Electric resist and Plumped for Thundurus instead.
There were acouple more things I really wanted in this team at this point, two of them were a) A Designated Lead. b) A Steel type to absorb Outrage. I decided this was a no brainer and stuck in Foretress.
Next I decided that a needed a Special Wall that could provide Wish support, I weighed up all the standard options and decided on Jirachi because it added another Dragon resist to the team to absorb those ever so common outrages and could spread Paralysis through the opponents team if Tentacruel couldn't find time to set up Toxic Spikes.
Finally I decided I needed a way to stop Set Up sweepers and also provide a good solid check to pretty much every offensive member of a Sandstorm team as, has proved obvious over the few weeks I've been playing, Sandstorm rules right now. I did think about putting Gliscor in here, but after much thought, and after my Scrafty had one laugh in his face, I went for Unaware Quagsire.
After afew battles I noticed 2 big things wrong with the team. First of all I was more often than not getting opportunities to set up Toxic Spikes and so Para-Flinch Hax Jirachi was kind of redundant and not doing much other than Wish passing, I also found it frustrating that my Special Wall and my Physical wall were both weak to Fire. Secondly though, and probably more importantly, my Quagsire was getting ruined by Toxic, so I decided I needed a Cleric, and opted for Blissey in place of Jirachi.
After some more testing I decided I needed a Revenge killer and a Ghost type to cover the new found Fighting weakness in my team, Drain Punch Conkledurr was having some fun with this team the second Blissey was dead to stop handing out Wishes to Forretress and Quagsire. I decided the best thing to do was to dump the Toxic Spikes that were helping out my team so much onto Foretress and to ditch Tentacruel, who was admittedly dieing more often than I would of liked. And so, the final incarnation of my team was born with the replacement of Tentacruel with Chandlure.
As I wanted Scrafty to be the main Sweeper on this team I needed to a) Cover his weaknesses. And b) Lay down some Entry Hazard support. I decided that I definitely wanted Toxic Spikes on the team as they would compliment Scrafty's Semi-Stall Sweeping, and so Tentacruel joined the Party.
Now I wanted a Pokemon that covered Tentacruel's and Scrafty's weaknesses, whilst adding a little bit more of a Punch to the team, so after doing a little research to achieve perfect coverage I would either have to run Lightning Rod Zapdos or an Eelektross. So I decided to ditch the Electric resist and Plumped for Thundurus instead.
There were acouple more things I really wanted in this team at this point, two of them were a) A Designated Lead. b) A Steel type to absorb Outrage. I decided this was a no brainer and stuck in Foretress.
Next I decided that a needed a Special Wall that could provide Wish support, I weighed up all the standard options and decided on Jirachi because it added another Dragon resist to the team to absorb those ever so common outrages and could spread Paralysis through the opponents team if Tentacruel couldn't find time to set up Toxic Spikes.
Finally I decided I needed a way to stop Set Up sweepers and also provide a good solid check to pretty much every offensive member of a Sandstorm team as, has proved obvious over the few weeks I've been playing, Sandstorm rules right now. I did think about putting Gliscor in here, but after much thought, and after my Scrafty had one laugh in his face, I went for Unaware Quagsire.
After afew battles I noticed 2 big things wrong with the team. First of all I was more often than not getting opportunities to set up Toxic Spikes and so Para-Flinch Hax Jirachi was kind of redundant and not doing much other than Wish passing, I also found it frustrating that my Special Wall and my Physical wall were both weak to Fire. Secondly though, and probably more importantly, my Quagsire was getting ruined by Toxic, so I decided I needed a Cleric, and opted for Blissey in place of Jirachi.
After some more testing I decided I needed a Revenge killer and a Ghost type to cover the new found Fighting weakness in my team, Drain Punch Conkledurr was having some fun with this team the second Blissey was dead to stop handing out Wishes to Forretress and Quagsire. I decided the best thing to do was to dump the Toxic Spikes that were helping out my team so much onto Foretress and to ditch Tentacruel, who was admittedly dieing more often than I would of liked. And so, the final incarnation of my team was born with the replacement of Tentacruel with Chandlure.
The Team
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Heal Bell
- Seismic Toss
- Wish
- Protect
Blissey is here for one thing and one thing only, and thats to keep the rest of the team healthy, whether that means taking Choice Specs Latios Draco Meteor, Passing off it's ridiculously huge wishes onto which can pretty much fully heal all off my teams HP or keeping away the Status that is so painful to my one of my two new loves of this Gen, Unaware Quagsire. The EV spread is, well, standard, but it's standard for good reason, Max defence is mainly just to help me survive Pursuit's from stuff like T-Tar and Scizor (although if I'm honest, I haven't run any Damage Calcs so I don't know if I will or not) and my way to switching to the appropriate counter. Not exactly a standard set, but I need a Cleric, and Seismic Toss is so I'm not taunt Bait. I have Blissey as the lead on Team preview as it seems to mess with peoples heads (so far every Rain team I've faced has led with Toxicroak because of Blissey being in Slot 1), when ofcourse Blissey is no lead.
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Toxic Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Gyro Ball
My lead in pretty much all situations, I treat him with absolute care at the beginning of a battle because I desperately need him late game when the Dragons come to play. A key member of my team as I don't like Entry Hazards wearing down my team, especially 2 weaknesses to Stealth Rock and only 2 immune Toxic Spikes, so it is absolutely imperative that I win the hazard war, and I don't think there is a better Pokemon out there for that job. Blissey is this guys best friend where he lacks reliable recovery, being the main recipient of Wish once he's taken a bout of Outrage. Being my only Dragon resist, he is very important to the team.
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Overheat
- Energy Ball
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic
I was sceptical of this pokemon before I started using it because of it's astonishing Rank 1 Usage in Dream World but rather lowly by comparison Rank 30 in Over Used. But, after using it for afew battles, I'm happy to say that it is a joy to use (once Stealth Rocks have been Spun away anyway). Now, it isn't the fastest Scarfer in the world, but it still out speeds all major threats that aren't scarfed them selves. Overheat is crazy powerful, but has the annoying habit of missing when you know it would of otherwise of KO'd, and then get's KO'd it'self in return. Energy Ball to revenge kill some Waters against rain teams, Shadow Ball for STAB, Psychic is mainly for Conkledurr if I'm honest. Not as bulky as I'd like, but performs it's job well.
Trait: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stockpile
- Yawn
- Recover
- Scald
Ahhh, my beloved Quagsire, pretty much just laughs at Sand teams, and has out stalled a Ferrothorn running Power Whip into a struggle fight whilst seeded and won, as he took more recoil damage than he was actually doing thanks to Stockpile (although that variant ran Swagger over Yawn). Incredibly bulky pokemon that has saved my behind many a time, Yawn does seem a little redundant with Toxic Spikes but I find it's a good way of Pseudo-Hazing some Steels that I can't touch with this set, namely Jirachi, Scald is there because, a) I'm not doing much damage regardless. b) It's always nice to spread Burns if Toxic Spikes got absorbed/spun away. Not much else say on this one really, except that I <3 him.
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Taunt
- Nasty Plot
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Basically here to give me a little bit of a Special presence that's not a scarf set, but if I'm honest, he doesn't do much for the team. He rarely gets sent out, and when he does he just doesn't seem as powerful as other people's Thundurus. I guess I'm using him wrong. Main idea here was to stop Set Up sweepers with Taunt, Nasty Plot if I can find time and smash stuff out of the way with STAB Thunderbolt, it rarely works out like this. Help on this is seriously needed please.
Trait: Shed Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Atk / 248 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Bulk Up
- Rest
- Drain Punch
- Crunch
Now, the guy who I wanted to base a team around in the first place. He has proved to be a valuable asset to the group and has turned one possible 4-0 loss into a 1-0 Victory just because they're special sweeper was dead and a had 3 Bulk Up's under my hood before they sent out their Conkledurr. Rest + Shed Skin can both be a blessing and a curse, as you sort of expect it to kick in but doesn't always, which can screw you over a bit, but once Set Up is out of the way that's really a none issue as Drain Punch generally provides enough healing. Crunch is there to hit those evil ghosties that would otherwise wall me completely, but you know that. Generally this guy does have to wait until the tail end of a battle, as he isn't exactly a hard hitter without afew Bulk Up's but gladly he walls Sigilyth well, who I've never really had an answer to before, as I'm not a fan of Roar/Whilrwind/ect.
Final note really, I'm still new to Gen 5 so all help, big and small will be greatly appreciated. In my mind I've been in depth in this post, but honestly, I've probably just blabbered on about nothing, but I cba to change it now, that took long enough. But if it is all worthless drivel, I apologise, just let me know and I can work on making the descriptions better if I ever need to post up one of these again.
Thank You For Your Time