It's just pride.

[pastel]

Hey, i made this team, it was a long process i don't remember, so I won't tell it, i tested it on shoddy, and its going pretty well, I win 2 out of 3 matches, and people say guys here on smogon are tough, so I will believe, and guess it's a good team. I've played... approximately 30 matches I think, and there are some weaknesses I found I'll tell later(at the end), and I want to improve it, so it is much better.

This team was supposed to prepare the oponent's team for a lucario end game sweep, but I'm terrible at that, I never get one sword dance, and if I do, I can't atack more than once.

So before I bore you with the introduction and you leave, here it is at a glance:

Now that you know the team, let's take a closer look:

Hippo (Hippowdon) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 236 HP/184 Def/88 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Roar

This guy, really is a beast, with him, i usually get alot of damage done due to phazing and some earthquakes. I've managed to bring all of the pokemons of a team lower than 50% with only this guy, if they don't trick him, slack off let him recover alot of health, and start phazing again. He puts the sandstorm in my team, and also the rocks.
I modified the standart EVs because like this, he's hit a lefdtover number, and invested what I took into Def, this helps alot against moves like Ice fang from others hippowdons, however, I am considering returning it to HP, or give it to SpDef, because grass knot, seed bomb, ice beam, and surf are very annoying.
---

Baba (Lucario) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Extremespeed
- Ice Punch
- Swords Dance

Well, lucario is a beast when you get 1 or 2 sword dances, and still have some spare HP left, something i don't manage to do. I went jolly to outspeed impish gliscors, since in wifi, they are used alot. Ice punch is very helpfull, but I'm really considering crunch, but I do not have any other ice type move. I might go for adamant for the extra power, since i feel jolly does not give me so much diference in speed, and adamant increases my power alot.
Those EVs make him faster and stronger.
---

Jelly (Tentacruel) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP/120 Def/136 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes
- Surf

This tentacruel is very strong, he manages to do some KO's when i need it, and he can put on the field toxic spikes. Also, he pairs very well with skarmory due to his high SpDef. HP electric lets me hit some gyarados, vaporeon, and even skarmory. Surf is for STAB and coverage, and he can blow away entry hazards.
EVs focus on HP because it's low, and they are the standart ones.
---

Stapler (Skarmory) (F) @ Shed Shell
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/64 Atk/176 Def/16 Spd
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Roar
- Spikes
- Roost
- Brave Bird

I don't really like too much this guy because of his low special atack, and I'm not good at predicting, and it gets easily KO'd, but he usually makes his work, roar some guys who set up, put at least 1 layer f spikes in the fiel, and roar until he can't, or switch and come bac for more.
EVs are the standart, and you all know how it works.
---

Reaper (Gengar) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Protect
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
MYSTICgar works extremely well, but scizors usually do BP, do I have to switch. This team was planned for wifi, so i have gengar over a rotom form. His job is to be a special atacker, mainly against skarmory, and be a spin blocker, because no one likes to spend 6 turns placing entry hazards to be blown away by a simple foretress, and then explode in your face.
I decided standart MYSTICgar, because he seemed interesting, and he is...very good.
---

Sand Bug (Flygon) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- Stone Edge
- Outrage

My revenge killer of choice, or simply a fast pokemon, this guy has made wonders for me. His moveset originally(in my plans) had U-Turn, but i misclicked, and didn't notice until the 20th battle approximately when another flygon used U-turn, stone edge has helped me against gyarados, but I'm still unsure if relace it.
The EVs are so obvious I don't need to explain it, however i have a problem with nature, would it be to slow if I made him adamant?
---

Now, here are some pokemons or anything that have given me some trouble:

Rain dance teams(battled 2, both crushed me)
Swampert
Aerodactyl
Skarmory
Machamp(sometimes)
Breelom
Heatran(3rd battle)

 

[jc104]

The majority of Gliscors are Jolly (54% to be exact according to the latest stats) whereas only around 1 in 4 are impish. Therefore I suggest, since you will generally still lose to Gliscor, that you run crunch over ice punch, mainly for Rotom-A. (sorry, just noticed that you described it as "mainly" a wifi team. Impish might be more common there too. I have no idea, not even owning a cartridge. On shoddy, definitely use crunch though.)

I am also slightly unsure of how much toxic spikes really support a Lucario sweep. Its main counters (Gliscor, Rotom, Gyarados) are immune. Your team seems like a semi-stall team, therefore I think Gengar seems out of place (particularly MysicGar - becasue pursuit offers an excellent switch-in oppportunity for Lucario. EDIT: ok wifi team spin blocker). You need something to remove these counters. Due to recovery, Gliscor should be the main priority. If you ran ice fang on hippowdon, this could well grant a surprise KO. You probaby can rely on SR for Gyarados.

You said you had problems obtaining a swords dance. This is probably because you are not providing enough switch-in opportunities. A good idea is to tempt people into locking in to dark and rock type moves. Your Gengar set is not appropriate at all in this respect, so I suggest you switch it to a more standard attacker. I would suggest a Rotom forme but...

U-Turn is a must on Flygon. It really helps to maintain momentum, and to avoid becoming setup bait for sweepers. It is great in the early game a most opponents will switch out. This lets you scout the switch-in to help with move choice later on.

Only guys with a good CRE are tough on Smogon(generally.) If you've just started, they probably aren't!
Good luck anyway!

Edit: CRE stands for conservative rating estimate - in other words ladder ranking. Also, I am talking about dealing with gliscor, not using gliscor, which would give your team a massive ice weakness. Ice fang on Hippowdon is generally not an especially good idea, but if you kill Gliscor with it, it will open the opponent up for a sweep. It also goes over Roar - always.

There are two Rotom sets worth considering - Standard spin blocker and RestTalk. Look them up in the analysis. When using toxic spikes, definitely use the oven forme of rotom (That is, Rotom-H)because it scares the immune steel types. Either run 252hp 168 defence 88 speed bold with a set of Thunderbolt/Shadow Ball/Will-O-Wisp/Overheat, or run 252hp, 120def 136 spDef bold with a moveset of Thunderbolt/Shadow Ball/Rest/Sleep Talk. Both reliably check gyarados, so you should replace Hp electric on Tentacruel (Knock Off/Sludge Bomb and Ice Beam are good replacements.) The RestTalk set acts as a status absorber, hence it helps against Breloom and other status inflictors. Rotom is better than Gengar due to better defences and better typing - defensively and for dual STAB. I think becasue sand will cancel leftovers, that the RestTalk set is probably the best option. I should add that will-o-wisp is an option over Shadow Ball, but it works poorly in tandem with Tspikes if you cannot chose your moves. Will-o-wisp could cripple physical pokemon allowing lucario to switch in more easily

Actually you should keep toxic spikes, because it helps with many of the things you identified as weaknesses (swampert, Machamp, Rain)

 

[pastel]

The majority of Gliscors are Jolly (54% to be exact according to the latest stats) whereas only around 1 in 4 are impish. Therefore I suggest, since you will generally still lose to Gliscor, that you run crunch over ice punch, mainly for Rotom-A. (sorry, just noticed that you described it as "mainly" a wifi team. Impish might be more common there too. I have no idea, not even owning a cartridge. On shoddy, definitely use crunch though.)

I am also slightly unsure of how much toxic spikes really support a Lucario sweep. Its main counters (Gliscor, Rotom, Gyarados) are immune. Your team seems like a semi-stall team, therefore I think Gengar seems out of place (particularly MysicGar - becasue pursuit offers an excellent switch-in oppportunity for Lucario. EDIT: ok wifi team spin blocker). You need something to remove these counters. Due to recovery, Gliscor should be the main priority. If you ran ice fang on hippowdon, this could well grant a surprise KO. You probaby can rely on SR for Gyarados.

You said you had problems obtaining a swords dance. This is probably because you are not providing enough switch-in opportunities. A good idea is to tempt people into locking in to dark and rock type moves. Your Gengar set is not appropriate at all in this respect, so I suggest you switch it to a more standard attacker. I would suggest a Rotom forme but...

U-Turn is a must on Flygon. It really helps to maintain momentum, and to avoid becoming setup bait for sweepers. It is great in the early game a most opponents will switch out. This lets you scout the switch-in to help with move choice later on.

Only guys with a good CRE are tough on Smogon. If you've just started, they aren't!
Good luck anyway!

Well, I'll make it for wifi, but atm I am using shoddy, so a rotom forme would be good, but i don't know much about them, so a suggestion on who to use would be appreciated.

Also, if I understood, I should change my tentacruel for a gliscor right?
also, I don't think my hippowdon will appreciat Ice Fang, because I'd need to take out a move, and all are pretty helpfull, I think I'll test him changing his slack off.

thank you for taking your time.

EDIT: What is CRE?

 

[les gets]

Hi there, I see a few things that I think should be changed.

I do not see the need for Toxic Spikes on your team, other than to help take down bulky water-types that might get in the way of Lucario's sweep. I get the impression that Tentacruel is dead weight on this team for the most part having no real important job other than to check a few Pokemon and lay down Toxic Spikes which you do not really need, and having no wish support as well as a sandstorm brewing does not help. The first change I suggest you make is replace Tentacruel to a Starmie:

Starmie @ Leftovers | Natural Cure
Timid | 136 HP / 156 Def / 216 Spe
Rapid Spin / Recover / Surf / Thunderbolt

Starmie checks the same stuff as Tentacruel and more, including Pokemon you said you had trouble with such as Heatran, Aerodactyl, Swampert, and Skarmory. With Recover, Starmie will be able to come in again and again, which is something Tentacruel cannot do.

Secondly, I do not think Flygon should be using Fire Punch. It may seem like the better option over Fire Blast at first, but Fire Blast in fact hits harder in most cases when a fire-type attack is applicable. Skarmory, Forretress and Bronzong (levitate), just to name a few, are all hit harder by Fire Blast. I would also replace Stone Edge with U-turn because a Scarfed Flygon's main job is to scout, and it does a very good job at it. It also wears down bulky stuff that comes in which helps pave the way for a Lucario sweep. Also, I do not think the 64 Atk EVs on Skarmory is worth it. If I remember correctly, the EVs are only useful for 2HKOing and OHKOing offensive Gyarados and Lucario after the defense drop from a Close Combat respectively, and both of said threats are not a problem thanks to Starmie/Flygon (for Gyarados) and Hippowdon/Flygon/Gengar (for Lucario). I would go ahead and dump those Atk EVs into Skarmory's Defense to help take hits from Scizor, Tyranitar, Metagross, etc.

The next change I think you make is to change your Lucario set to the one below:

Lucario @ Life Orb | Inner Focus
Adamant | 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Swords Dance / Close Combat / Extremespeed / Crunch

It's a lot like the Lucario you are using now, but there are two key differences. The first and obvious change is Crunch over Ice Punch. Ice Punch is mainly only useful for Hippowdon and Gliscor, however both of those two walls are easily taken care of by Starmie alone so you might as well use Crunch to hit bulky ghost- and psychic-types harder so Lucario isn't too redundant. The other difference is the nature; I suggest you use Adamant. The extra power in Lucario's attacks is extremely helpful, turning many 3HKOs into 2HKOs and even some 2HKOs into OHKOs. Skarmory and Bronzong are both OHKOed by Close Combat with an Adamant nature, and Rotom is always OHKOed by Crunch as well. Also, since this Lucario doesn't have Ice Punch, the speed needed to outpace Gliscor is no longer necessary anyway.

I have one last suggestion. Since Skarmory has Whirlwind to phaze stuff with, I suggest you replace Roar with Ice Fang on Hippowdon. With Ice Fang, Hippowdon becomes a solid check to opposing Flygon and, more importantly, DD Mence, which is a pretty big threat to your team at the moment (or to any team, for that matter).

I believe these changes will fix many of your problems. I hope I have helped, and good luck with your team!

 

[pastel]

thank you, I'll try everything now.
I had just changed to starmie by myself, but another one, and it helped alot.

 

[Reverb]

just a nitpick, change Roar on Skarmory to Whirlwind. Roar will not work on Pokemon with the Soundproof ability (read: Mr. Mime). it hardly ever matters, but it absolutely better to have.