Mono Bug Team

Alice Chain

This is my OU monotype bug team for Shoddy, and I love it to death. It does pretty well considering it's a mono team, but could still use some work. Here's the lineup:

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And now in depth:

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Armaldo (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 128 HP/252 Atk/128 Def
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake*

The best thing about Armaldo is that it'll catch people off guard. Most people in overused have never seen one before and don't know what to expect. Stone Edge is my main STAB move and OHKO's those pesky fire sweepers that will threaten this team, though it's frustratingly inaccurate. X-Scissor is a much more reliable STAB and will easily OHKO Azelf. Earthquake is mainly here for steel types but I may consider replacing it. All in all, he's an amazing lead.

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Scizor (F) @ Choice Band/Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 244 HP/252 Atk/14 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Scizor is the most popular Pokemon in the metagame for a good reason. He serves as a great scout/revenge killer. The 14 Speed EVs are there so I can out speed other Scizor if I have to.

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Heracross (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Guts
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Megahorn
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Night Slash

Heracross is the main physical sweeper of this team. His two 180 base damage STABed moves Megahorn and Close Combat often times will take down half an opponents team. Stone Edge is there to counter the pesky fire/flying types, and Night Slash hits Ghost types hard.

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Yanmega (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 4 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Bug Buzz
- Air Slash
- Whirlwind
- Hidden Power [Electric]

With Yanmega being the only good bug type special sweeper, I had to save a spot for him on my team. Tinted Lens, one of the best abilities out there, was just a bonus. The real drawback to Yanmega, however, is his 2x weakness to stealth rock. Bug Buzz and Air Slash are the main STAB moves here. Shadow ball is good for ghost types, but I may replace it with Whirlwind because I desperately need a phazer. Hidden Power Electric is there mostly as a Skarmory and Garydos counter.

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Forretress (M) @ Leftovers/ ?Occa Berry?
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Rapid Spin
- Payback
- Spikes
- Explosion

With Yanmega on my team, I definitely need the rapid spinner. The special defense EVs are to help against fire type moves. Payback really hits hard on ghost types, and explosion is there as a last resort or if I just need to take out any pokemon giving me trouble. I'm considering swapping leftovers with an occa berry because fire types are such an issue here.

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Shuckle (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Rest
- Toxic
- Encore

Shuckle will flat out wall anything not super effective to it, and with Rest and Toxic, it can easily take out any pokemon not immune to poison. Many times he's been a last resort game winner for me, so don't underestimate him. His one major drawback is simply his weakness to water type moves.
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Please rate and make suggestions!
 
Choice Scarf Heatran....Runs through this team completely, and so can Infernape.

Your lead is actually horrible when you compare it to other leads. Meteagross is going to STAB Meteor Mash you, Swampert wins with Surf, Azelf usually carries Fire Blast, Machamp's Dynamic Punch screws up pretty much any lead, including Armaldo, honestly don't bother with this lead, it loses to just about every other common lead.

I know you may not like the idea of this, but nearly all mono teams allow for one wild card, and most types such as bug can't compete with types such as Fire without this wild card.

So I suggest something along the lines of Gyarados, or a bulky water/offensive fire type pokemon, perhaps a Heatran of your own.

You have done a semi-decent job with what you have, although I don't think you looked at the team as a whole, but rather at each individual pokemon/role. At the moment, all your sweepers have a Choice Item, not exactly great, and also you have Stealth Rock and Spikes, yet no Ghost [I know its a bug mono :(] to block rapid spin, which could mean you have wasted 2+ moves.

So here is what I recommend, the team won't be great, but I will try to help with what you are limiting yourself to.

Change Yanmega to lead, and use possibly a Hypnosis set, although its fairly risky, its the best option you have really, otherwise you can try for Forretress lead, which can work, but very risky, specifically because of Infernape/Heatran and Azelf [Fire Blast] leads.

If you were to replace a Pokemon, it would be Armaldo, its not really doing much for the team. As I mentioned earlier, run either a Scarf Tran, Sub + 3 Attacks Tran, or possibly an Infernape.

Use Life Orb on Scizor, and run an bulkyish set, you need him to be somewhat reliable as a set up sweeper.

Scizor @ Life Orb
Adamant - Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 164 Atk / 96 SpD
Moves:
~Bullet Punch
~Brick Break
~Swords Dance
~Roost / Bug Bite

And good luck with the team
 
Thanks, I'll try your suggestions and see. Honestly though, Armaldo has done pretty well for me as a lead.

Typically, Azelf uses taunt then either stealth rocks or explodes before I finish it off, Metagross uses earthquake, and I just switch to Forretress on Swampert.


Oh, and no wildcards for me :P
 
Ok, are you testing this team out on Shoddy or something? How are you testing it ?


Here are some calcs, all are for Armaldo Adamant 128 HP / 128 Def against some popular leads

Metagross Meteor Mash Adamant 236 Atk (99.07% - 117.65%) Sets up rocks and OHKOs
Swampert Earthquake Neutral 0 Atk (44.58% - 52.32%)
Swampert Surf Neutral 0 SpA (66.87% - 78.64%) Sets up Rocks and hurts, a lot
Azelf Psychic Neutral 252 SpA (56.66% - 66.87%) Sets up Rocks and hits hard
Heatran Fire Blast Neutral 252 SpA (73.37% - 86.38%) Decent match up, but Armaldo loses thanks to Shuca Berry.
Jirachi Iron Head Neutral 252 Atk (59.44% - 70.59%) Can either Iron Head for the 2HKO, or Trick....

Basically all the popular leads beat Armaldo, you can beat some if they don't go for rocks straight off, but then chances are you won't either.
 
I don't know, maybe I'll switch Armaldo with Yanmega as a lead, but I need to keep Armaldo to counter fire types.

I really do like the Scizor suggestion though.
 
Armaldo isn't exactly a fire counter at all really, his SpD stat doesn't allow him to take more than one STAB or LO Fire move. Although you can't exactly do anything with an all bug team :(
 
You know, at least Heatran kind of looks like a bug, lol

I applaud you for the effort, but Bug has never truly been the best type, though it does give you access to Scizor, Foretress, and the unappreciated Yanmega.

If I can make one in theme suggection though, it would be to add Flygon somehow. While not technically a bug, it looks like, and evolved from the part. The ground type would also help you deal with the Fire pokemon that give you problems.

A similar sneaky tactic would be to include Pupatar, again, in theme, but still giving you options.

But if you're adhering strictly to your self imposed rules, I'd say you're doing a decent job with that you have.
 
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