With X and Y now finally making it easy enough for me to actually breed teams and distribute EVs accordingly, I thought it was finally time to make my team. I've been working on it for about a month and I only managed to now finish breeding and creating my team. I'd appreciate if you guys could give me a hand on fixing the issues I have with it, since I'm not very good at the teambuilding aspect of the game. I'll try my best and give insight as to what the thought process was when I first came up with this team, since it was already a long time ago that I thought of each member.
What did I want to do with this team?:
Honestly, I didn't want to make anything too crazy or out there, since I just wanted a team that could survive on its own in competitive battles with my friends. This being the first real team I've tried hard on in years, I wanted to stick with the basics and simply pick a fairly balanced team. As a result, I feel like none of the choices made for this team will be too farfetch'd or out of the ordinary. I decided to base my team on the simple structure of 2 physical attackers, 2 special attackers, 1 special bulk, 1 physical bulk. I wanted balance most of all with this.
The Team (In order of the first pokemon I thought of to the very last):
Starmie @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 52 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk - Atk)
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
I first started off with Starmie. Before I had even began building my team, a friend of mine had given me a perfectly IV'd shiny Starmie, and when the time came, I decided that this guy would be a pretty good starting point for me. I decided to try and hit fast and hit hard with Starmie so I went with a Choice Scarf. The rest of the moveset shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. I went with Hydro Pump at first, but it became too unreliable for me since I kept missing with it half the time, so I switched over to Surf.
Infernape (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 36 Atk / 220 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
When thinking of a second member of my team, I thought about who would be a good compliment for Starmie? It was then when I thought of one of my old favorites from all the way back since Gen IV: Infernape. I decided to go with a mixed set instead of purely special because then I could justify having moves like Close Combat and U-Turn on to allow me to hit hard as well and scout the other player's team. The rest of the set, again, should not be much of a surprise.
Garchomp (M) @ Garchompite
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
After finishing with Infernape, I thought my team could benefit from a more physical presence. Being part ground, I figured Garchomp could take a hit from other ground type moves directed towards Infernape, and it could take electric type moves that would be directed towards either one of them for an easy KO. Its dragon typing on the other hand is there for power and diversity within my team. As a result, Garchomp came into fruition. I went with a SD set, but instead of putting a Yache or Haban berry on it, I decided to go with a mega stone. Due to the difficulty of obtaining berries ( or at least for me) in game, I simply wanted to stay away from the hassle of having to stock up on them and thus I opted for an easier Mega Garchomp set. I figured anyways, if I could bring in at least one SD while my opponent was switching out, I could easily sweep a lot of the opponent's team, and I was right. More on that towards the end
Scizor (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- U-turn
- Pursuit
After Garchomp, I asked myself what else I could put in my team. I figured Scizor would be an interesting choice. I got greater typing coverage from it and it being a second scout, it would let me strategize between it and Infernape when I was unsure what my opponent was going to do next. With U-Turn on Scizor, I could switch in to either pokemon, and if my opponent switched into something I knew I was faster than, but not to my advantage to keep in for a long period of time, I could simply just switch out again and get some chip damage before my next pokemon could begin wrecking it. I also needed a good revenge killer on my team that I could rely on 90% of the time to get a move in first, and as such Bullet Punch felt like a naturally good move for me to have on the team.
Gliscor (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 40 Def / 224 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Toxic
With all of my attackers over with, I figured it was time to work on my defenses. I started with Gliscor first, it being a my defensive wall. Its typing, again, allowed me to have a greater coverage on my team, and it does the job of absorbing all fire and electric attacks splendidly for me to not have to worry about Scizor or Starmie. I wanted to go with pure stall here, so I went with a SubToxic set. The set is pretty straight forward, my strategy being stall with substitute and protect enough to give Toxic enough time to kill my opponent.
Sylveon (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Hyper Voice
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Calm Mind
With the final member of the team here, I had trouble thinking of what else could cover all my bases properly and still be able to pack a bit of a punch. I had first thought of Jellicent, but it turned out not being something I needed. A friend of mine had suggested Clefable, but I ended up not taking that pokemon in either. Finally I had realized that my answer lied within another fairy type: Sylveon. I knew Sylveon had decent special defense and I knew it had access to Wish and Hyper Voice, with Pixelate being its saving grace, and I set work on the set. After finally going through the trouble of getting Heal Bell, Hyper Voice, and Wish on its moveset from previous gens, I knew Sylveon was also going to make a great cleric for my team. With Gliscor being on the pure stall, Sylveon would come in and heal the rest of my team as I needed to. If my opponent would switch out, I decided Calm Mind would be good to get in at least once for that extra umph to my attacks.
Results:
After some testing with people in real life, and much more testing in Pokemon Online, this is what I came up with.
Pros:
- Gliscor Gliscor Gliscor a million times. For whatever reason, Gliscor has become the star player on my team. Its set allows me to pressure my opponent into acting fast to kill me in less than 3 hits before I can heal back to full health again AND set up a substitute AND not die from Toxic damage. By far, I've been able to sweep teams based on this stall alone. It seems like nobody I've faced has a good answer for Gliscor and I'm glad I put him in there. Gliscor has very little to fear on my team, except for water and grass types, which are usually specially oriented, so my Sylveon is there to cover Gliscor's ass should he need the backup. Thanks to this guy, I've faced many rage quits from people on Pokemon Online who just don't want to deal with this annoyance. As a result, he's become my favorite pokemon on the team.
- Garchomp. While substantially less useful to me than Gliscor, he still sweeps teams for me and comes through. I was right on my assumption that an SD'd Mega Garchomp would be able to sweep most teams and as a result Outrage, I can easily kill at most half of the opponent's team before confusion kicks in. When Gliscor doesn't get the job done on occasion, I've been able to count on Garchomp doing what I need to make happen.
- Sylveon. A perfect partner for Gliscor if I do say so myself. I've been able to stall and kill much with just Wish and Hyper Voice. While Heal Bell has been somewhat less useful to me, when it has been useful, I'm glad it's there on my team. It lets me not fear things like Toxic Spikes or burns or poison. Unfortunately, whenever Sylveon does get KO'd, I lose a valuable member and it turns out being essential for my team for Sylveon to be on. It manages to do its job so well that when I mess up, I can feel the pang of pain on my team from the lack of this amazing cleric
Cons:
- Starmie. Ironically, Starmie does very very very little for my team. I can go through mostly every battle and Starmie will never even need to come out. Infernape does its job well enough I guess and with the rest of my team just being so built up upon Gliscor and Sylveon, Starmie very rarely gets the spotlight. I've been trying to find a replacement for Starmie, because it's too fragile for me to keep it on long enough and it's just overall too useless for me to consider. I just haven't been able to find what else is so versatile as Starmie where I can make it carry moves like Trick, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt and still pack a punch at the same time. I'd prefer another water pokemon simply for the typing coverage, but anything that can do Starmie's job and fit better on my team would be great anyways.
- Mega Venusaur. This guy gives my team one hell of a show. As much as 3 or so pokemon can go down to Mega Venusaur because he just has too much bulk and my newbieness towards 6th gen battling hasn't allowed me to come up with my counters towards him. I can't use my Gliscor to outstall him either because of his poison typing and solar beam, but I can't use Sylveon to back up my Gliscor either because of its Sludge. I have no idea what I could to to prepare my team better for him and much help would be appreciated.
- Mega Charizard X/Y. While not THAT big of a threat, I find it that whenever my Garchomp is gone, the rest of my team has a hard time struggling against them. The unpredictability between forms makes it a hard time for me to counter it.
My opinions:
While I'm happy that certain parts came out as great as they did, like the synergy I've found between Gliscor and Sylveon, other parts of the team pains me and I'd really really like some criticism as to what I could be doing better. From the people I battled in real life, they told me I had a pretty well built team for the most part and I gave someone with a lot of experience a real run for his money.
Any criticisms would be greatly appreciated. This team is like my baby and I'd love for some feedback on what I could do to nurture it.
What did I want to do with this team?:
Honestly, I didn't want to make anything too crazy or out there, since I just wanted a team that could survive on its own in competitive battles with my friends. This being the first real team I've tried hard on in years, I wanted to stick with the basics and simply pick a fairly balanced team. As a result, I feel like none of the choices made for this team will be too farfetch'd or out of the ordinary. I decided to base my team on the simple structure of 2 physical attackers, 2 special attackers, 1 special bulk, 1 physical bulk. I wanted balance most of all with this.
The Team (In order of the first pokemon I thought of to the very last):
Starmie @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 52 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk - Atk)
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
I first started off with Starmie. Before I had even began building my team, a friend of mine had given me a perfectly IV'd shiny Starmie, and when the time came, I decided that this guy would be a pretty good starting point for me. I decided to try and hit fast and hit hard with Starmie so I went with a Choice Scarf. The rest of the moveset shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. I went with Hydro Pump at first, but it became too unreliable for me since I kept missing with it half the time, so I switched over to Surf.
Infernape (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 36 Atk / 220 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
When thinking of a second member of my team, I thought about who would be a good compliment for Starmie? It was then when I thought of one of my old favorites from all the way back since Gen IV: Infernape. I decided to go with a mixed set instead of purely special because then I could justify having moves like Close Combat and U-Turn on to allow me to hit hard as well and scout the other player's team. The rest of the set, again, should not be much of a surprise.
Garchomp (M) @ Garchompite
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
After finishing with Infernape, I thought my team could benefit from a more physical presence. Being part ground, I figured Garchomp could take a hit from other ground type moves directed towards Infernape, and it could take electric type moves that would be directed towards either one of them for an easy KO. Its dragon typing on the other hand is there for power and diversity within my team. As a result, Garchomp came into fruition. I went with a SD set, but instead of putting a Yache or Haban berry on it, I decided to go with a mega stone. Due to the difficulty of obtaining berries ( or at least for me) in game, I simply wanted to stay away from the hassle of having to stock up on them and thus I opted for an easier Mega Garchomp set. I figured anyways, if I could bring in at least one SD while my opponent was switching out, I could easily sweep a lot of the opponent's team, and I was right. More on that towards the end
Scizor (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- U-turn
- Pursuit
After Garchomp, I asked myself what else I could put in my team. I figured Scizor would be an interesting choice. I got greater typing coverage from it and it being a second scout, it would let me strategize between it and Infernape when I was unsure what my opponent was going to do next. With U-Turn on Scizor, I could switch in to either pokemon, and if my opponent switched into something I knew I was faster than, but not to my advantage to keep in for a long period of time, I could simply just switch out again and get some chip damage before my next pokemon could begin wrecking it. I also needed a good revenge killer on my team that I could rely on 90% of the time to get a move in first, and as such Bullet Punch felt like a naturally good move for me to have on the team.
Gliscor (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 40 Def / 224 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Toxic
With all of my attackers over with, I figured it was time to work on my defenses. I started with Gliscor first, it being a my defensive wall. Its typing, again, allowed me to have a greater coverage on my team, and it does the job of absorbing all fire and electric attacks splendidly for me to not have to worry about Scizor or Starmie. I wanted to go with pure stall here, so I went with a SubToxic set. The set is pretty straight forward, my strategy being stall with substitute and protect enough to give Toxic enough time to kill my opponent.
Sylveon (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Hyper Voice
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Calm Mind
With the final member of the team here, I had trouble thinking of what else could cover all my bases properly and still be able to pack a bit of a punch. I had first thought of Jellicent, but it turned out not being something I needed. A friend of mine had suggested Clefable, but I ended up not taking that pokemon in either. Finally I had realized that my answer lied within another fairy type: Sylveon. I knew Sylveon had decent special defense and I knew it had access to Wish and Hyper Voice, with Pixelate being its saving grace, and I set work on the set. After finally going through the trouble of getting Heal Bell, Hyper Voice, and Wish on its moveset from previous gens, I knew Sylveon was also going to make a great cleric for my team. With Gliscor being on the pure stall, Sylveon would come in and heal the rest of my team as I needed to. If my opponent would switch out, I decided Calm Mind would be good to get in at least once for that extra umph to my attacks.
Results:
After some testing with people in real life, and much more testing in Pokemon Online, this is what I came up with.
Pros:
- Gliscor Gliscor Gliscor a million times. For whatever reason, Gliscor has become the star player on my team. Its set allows me to pressure my opponent into acting fast to kill me in less than 3 hits before I can heal back to full health again AND set up a substitute AND not die from Toxic damage. By far, I've been able to sweep teams based on this stall alone. It seems like nobody I've faced has a good answer for Gliscor and I'm glad I put him in there. Gliscor has very little to fear on my team, except for water and grass types, which are usually specially oriented, so my Sylveon is there to cover Gliscor's ass should he need the backup. Thanks to this guy, I've faced many rage quits from people on Pokemon Online who just don't want to deal with this annoyance. As a result, he's become my favorite pokemon on the team.
- Garchomp. While substantially less useful to me than Gliscor, he still sweeps teams for me and comes through. I was right on my assumption that an SD'd Mega Garchomp would be able to sweep most teams and as a result Outrage, I can easily kill at most half of the opponent's team before confusion kicks in. When Gliscor doesn't get the job done on occasion, I've been able to count on Garchomp doing what I need to make happen.
- Sylveon. A perfect partner for Gliscor if I do say so myself. I've been able to stall and kill much with just Wish and Hyper Voice. While Heal Bell has been somewhat less useful to me, when it has been useful, I'm glad it's there on my team. It lets me not fear things like Toxic Spikes or burns or poison. Unfortunately, whenever Sylveon does get KO'd, I lose a valuable member and it turns out being essential for my team for Sylveon to be on. It manages to do its job so well that when I mess up, I can feel the pang of pain on my team from the lack of this amazing cleric
Cons:
- Starmie. Ironically, Starmie does very very very little for my team. I can go through mostly every battle and Starmie will never even need to come out. Infernape does its job well enough I guess and with the rest of my team just being so built up upon Gliscor and Sylveon, Starmie very rarely gets the spotlight. I've been trying to find a replacement for Starmie, because it's too fragile for me to keep it on long enough and it's just overall too useless for me to consider. I just haven't been able to find what else is so versatile as Starmie where I can make it carry moves like Trick, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt and still pack a punch at the same time. I'd prefer another water pokemon simply for the typing coverage, but anything that can do Starmie's job and fit better on my team would be great anyways.
- Mega Venusaur. This guy gives my team one hell of a show. As much as 3 or so pokemon can go down to Mega Venusaur because he just has too much bulk and my newbieness towards 6th gen battling hasn't allowed me to come up with my counters towards him. I can't use my Gliscor to outstall him either because of his poison typing and solar beam, but I can't use Sylveon to back up my Gliscor either because of its Sludge. I have no idea what I could to to prepare my team better for him and much help would be appreciated.
- Mega Charizard X/Y. While not THAT big of a threat, I find it that whenever my Garchomp is gone, the rest of my team has a hard time struggling against them. The unpredictability between forms makes it a hard time for me to counter it.
My opinions:
While I'm happy that certain parts came out as great as they did, like the synergy I've found between Gliscor and Sylveon, other parts of the team pains me and I'd really really like some criticism as to what I could be doing better. From the people I battled in real life, they told me I had a pretty well built team for the most part and I gave someone with a lot of experience a real run for his money.
Any criticisms would be greatly appreciated. This team is like my baby and I'd love for some feedback on what I could do to nurture it.
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