Mono Bug Team

redshift71388

I have two competitive teams made, so I decided I'm going to make a third team based on my favorite type, Bug! So, I'd like some suggestions for improvement from anyone who thinks they need to be made. I don't want to completely change the members of this roster, so just tell me if anything can be improved with what I have. Anyway, here is my Bug team:

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Ninjask / "Kaiser" (M)
178 HP / 252 ATK / 80 SPD
Speed Boost / Adamant / Liechi Berry
- Aerial Ace
- Substitute
- Baton Pass
- Protect

This will probably be my lead most of the time. I opted for a Liechi Berry rather than Swords Dance, since it complements Substitute and keeps me from having to waste a turn powering up the attack stat to pass on. I could use X-Scissor instead of Aerial Ace, but the latter seems more useful.

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Yanmega / "Meganeura" (F)
106 DEF / 252 SP. ATK / 152 SPD
Speed Boost / Modest / Focus Sash
- Bug Buzz
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power
- Protect

Hidden Power would be Ground-type preferably, but not absolute. I'm still unsure about dropping Hypnosis. If I keep it (which would be easier than going for Hidden Power Ground), I'd also give her the Wide Lens. She's a pretty good lead with Hypnosis, even though its accuracy dropped.

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Scizor / "Katana" (F)
34 HP / 252 ATK / 224 SPD
Technician / Adamant / Life Orb
- X-Scissor
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Swords Dance

My new Scizor has more speed EVs than my previous one. This will probably be the most common pick after Baton Passing with Ninjask. I don't want to use U-Turn because the forced switch would erase any Swords Dance or Ninjask boosts. Superpower is her ticket against most Steel-types.

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Heracross / "Hercules" (M)
6 HP / 252 ATK / 252 SPD
Guts / Jolly / Choice Band
- Megahorn
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Night Slash

I think this is a pretty standard set for the supposed "best of Bugs". U-Turn could also replace Megahorn for better accuracy and a switch to reset the Choice Band.

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Forretress / "Burger" (F)
252 HP / 114 ATK / 144 DEF
Sturdy / Relaxed / Leftovers
- Gyro Ball
- Explosion
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock

Forretress is the newest member of my team, replacing the FEAR Wormadam I had. His purpose is obviously setting up the Stealth Rock ambush and removing any opponents'. It's a shame; I just caught a shiny Pineco but its nature wasn't right...

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Armaldo / "Gladiator" (M)
14 HP / 252 ATK / 244 SPD
Battle Armor / Adamant / Leftovers
- X-Scissor
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Rock Polish

Originally I wanted to use Vespiquen, but I didn't like the idea of so many Bug/Flying Pokémon on my team. Armaldo's terrible speed can be taken care of with Rock Polish and its teammate, Ninjask. Instead of Earthquake, I could give him Rapid Spin through breeding. Though now that I'll be using Forretress, two spinners might not be necessary. Then again, my team has a bigger vulnerability to Stealth Rock than others.

That is all.
 
Take it from somebody who once made it up to the top 10 of the Shoddy leaderboard with a Bug team:

- Venomoth. A Choice Scarf lead with Shield Dust is immune to flinch from Fake Out (and Scarfed Jirachi's Iron Head), and can sleep Stealth Rock leads before they act.
- Shuckle. With its defenses you can a) Stealth Rock, b) Encore even boosted hits and switch to a resistance, c) annoy the hell out of opponents who can't KO it in time to stop Resting.
- Forretress. Rapid Spin is a must to keep Stealth Rock from eating your team alive. Keep Payback to dent incoming Ghosts from blocking Rapid Spin.
- Heracross. Give it a Scarf; it'll help you defeat offensive teams that rely on that speed. Dump Night Slash for Toxic to hamper incoming Ghosts, Gliscor, and bulky Vaporeon. I know it sounds weird, but trust me, it works.
- Yanmega. Should have HP Ground so it doesn't get walled by Heatran or Magnezone. Also no point in keeping it Timid with Speed Boost.
 
Awww, I love bugs.:P
I've got a bunch of fighting beetles, roaches, scorpions etc in my garage. Giraffa stag, rainbow stag, hercules, goliath, elephant and centaur beetles most notably with a ton more less well-known species.

I'd consider Forretress and Venomoth in particular, and make Yanmega modest with a hidden power: I personally use HP water but ice and ground are solid options also.
 
Zog said:
Awww, I love bugs.:P
I've got a bunch of fighting beetles, roaches, scorpions etc in my garage. Giraffa stag, rainbow stag, hercules, goliath, elephant and centaur beetles most notably with a ton more less well-known species.

I'd consider Forretress and Venomoth in particular, and make Yanmega modest with a hidden power: I personally use HP water but ice and ground are solid options also.
Click to expand...

you have scorpians o.O arnt u scared if they get out?
 
I guess this was already mostly said but scarf venomoth and forretress are some amazing bugs.

Toxic spikes isn't really the thing for this team but explosion or normal spikes will help your team greatly.

Hope it performs well but right now it definitely needs some tweaking.
 
For starters, I'd like to look at your Yanmega. As of now, its EV spread, moveset, and item aren't really the best they could be. I just suggest you go with a set less easily parishable. Since Yanmega is actually quite bulky on the physcial side, and with a small bit of investment it can take many physical hits, change the EV spread to 104 Def, 252 SpA, 152 Spe. With this spread, after 1 speed boost you will be faster than base 130s (Aerodactyl, Jolteon), and after 2 you will be outspeeding Timid Scarf Gengar. The Defense EVs allow Yanmega to survive a +2 LO Extremespeed from Lucario and make Scizor's Bullet Punches a 3HKO on average. You don't need to run max Speed on Yanmega with Protect, so that is the EV spread that Yanmega is better off using for the reasons I mentioned above. The Speed boost provided is heartily enough to outspeed the whole metagame even without any EVs. Anyway, the max Special Attack allow Yanmega to pack a huge punch. Go for HP Ground over Hypnosis in the third slot as it will give the best coverage overall and Hypnosis is also unreliable due to the 60% accuracy. Yanmega is a frail user of Hypnosis even with the Defensive EV's and Yanmega cannot afford to miss. HP Ground allows you to hit Pokemon such as Heatran and Magnezone who wall the current set you are using. Your team also has a significant weakness to Heatran and HP Ground will allow you to OHKO. You will outspeed Choice Scarfed Heatran after a Speed Boost as well. As for an item, use Focus Sash. Focus Sash allows Yanmega to survive any opening attacks that it is vulnerable too when leading. Lastly, use Modest on Yanmega over Timid. Since you are already gaining speed from yamega's ability Speed Boost, Timid in not really necessary because Yanmega will be able to outspeed most Pokemon after one Speed Boost. Modest allows Yanmega to attack much harder with its attacks of Bug Buzz, Air Slash, and the newly suggested Hidden Power Ground.

To aid Scizor to effectively use Swords Dance to hopefully pull of a sweep, try a spread of 200 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Spe. With that EV spread, Scizor will be able to outspeed most Skarmory, Metagross, and CB Tyranitar with the 56 Speed EV's. That EV's invested into HP will also help you take hits from Latias allowing you to Pursuit it for the kill. If you would like a Scizor that is more Specially Defensively oriented that is more suited switching into opposing Latias and Gengar's Special Attacks to Bullet Punch them, try a set with 24 HP / 252 Atk / 176 SpD / 56 Spe. With the Special Defense EV's, you will be able to take Draco Meteor's and Focus Blast's more effectively. Those two mentioned EV's will give Scizor more durability, allowing Scizor to set up more effectively with Swords Dance thanks to the HP EV's. Also, use U-turn over X-Scissor. U-turn will allow Scizor to come in early and U-Turn out of the counters that switch into it, allowing you to scout some of the opponents team. Scizor's counters such as Zapdos and Rotom cannot continually take U-Turn + SR damage. Speaking of Stealth Rock, I will suggest a Pokemon that can use this for your team later on.

Okay, your team has a hard time with Stealth Rock since Yanmega and Ninjask take 50% from Stealth Rock each time they switch in meaning they will only be able to come in twice. A Rapid Spin user such as Forretress over Wormadam will help your team greatly. As previous posters have mentioned, Forretrss is one of the best Pokemon to use on a Bug team. It has great typing and adds a myriad of resistances to your team. Steel is an excellent typing, which allows Forretress to come in quite easily. Forrtress also provides your team with a user of Rapid Spin, something that will help this team immensely due to Stealth Rock hurting your team quite a bit. I fail to see what Wormadam is doing for your team as it really does not contribute much. If using Forretress use Leftovers, Rapid Spin, Steath Rock, Earthquake/Gyro Ball, Explosion, 252 HP / 112 Atk / 144 Def, Relaxed Nature. The choice between Gyro Ball and Earthquake is a tricky one. Earthquake allows you to get a nice hit on the Fire types that love switching into Forretress such as Heatran, Infernape, etc. Earthquake will take care of those two easily. Gyro Ball on the other hand will allow you to hit Latias, Gengar, and various other Pokemon that are immune to Earthquake. Rapid Spin clears Steakth Rock for Ninjask, allowing it to set up more effectively and allowing Yanmega to come in more times and do what it does best, sweep! Stealth Rock helps wear down the Pokemon such as Zapdos that hurt your team. Steakth Rock will limit the amount of times it can switch-in, allowing you to deal with it a bit better. Explosion is to get a last minute kill on Pokemon such as Gyarados, another threat to your team. The EV's give Forretress as much durability as possible, alllowing it to do what it has to do for your team, Rapid Spin and set up Stealth Rock.

Lastly is Ninjask! On your Ninjask, I believe using an EV spread of 248 HP / 52 Atk / 184 Def / 24 Spe will be better than the current EV spread you are running. With 248 HP / 52 Atk / 184 Def / 24 Spe, Ninjask can survive almost any priority attack. This spread makes sure that Ninjask will never be OHKOed by a Jolly Choice Band Weavile's Ice Shard or an Adamant Scizor's Choice Band Bullet Punch, and is almost never 2HKOed by an Adamant Lucario's Life Orb ExtremeSpeed. Basically, that EV spread allows Ninjask to set up more effeciently, making it significantly easier for Ninjask to pass boosts, now that you have Rapid Spin support from the Forretress I suggested.
 
Ok, I'm going to use Forretress, since the general plurality of you are highly for it. And yes, Wormadam is really just for novelty so it's easy to replace. Plus I haven't even come up with a nickname for her yet...

I'm reluctant to let go of my current Yanmega but I've always regretted it being Timid.

Also, I was going to have Armaldo as a Rapid Spin user as well (over Earthquake). I think he can learn it through breeding. Would it be a good idea to use two Rapid Spin users with the Stealth Rock vulnerability I have?
 
I've updated the changes I've made to my team. Bloo, I went with a lot of your suggestions but not all. Still, you were pretty helpful, so thanks.
 
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