My First RMT

[Salamence97]

Hello everyone on Smogon !
This is my first thread here. Although I'm new, but I have a keen interest in Pokemon. So, I'm here to discuss about my newly constructed team.
I've read the RMT rules thread, and I know it's good to put some pictures/sprites of Pokemon in your threads, but since I'm doing this through an iPad, it's not that easy. I'll try my best, though.

Now, moving on to my team. I have somewhat of an idea how bad this team is (I had 6-7 battles on Pokemon Online and lost all of them) so I need advice from you guys on how I can improve my team. This may be because the team contains my favourite Pokemon rather than the best in business, but still, each Pokemon has a purpose in the team, it just seems like they can't execute their plan.

Skarmory @Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP, 130 SpDef, 120 Spd
Nature: Lax
Ability: Keen Eye
Spikes
Stealth Rock
Roost
Brave Bird
Skarmory, my main physical wall and lead Pokemon. The aim is to get some Spikes and Stealth Rocks up as quick as possible. Roost is for healing any damage taken and to temporarily remove the weakness to Electric attacks. STAB Brave Bird can be handy early,mid,or late game to put decent damage on almost any Pokemon.

Sceptile @Leftovers
EVs: 200 Spd, 108 HP, 200 SpAttk
Nature: Hasty
Ability: Overgrow
Substitute
Leech Seed
Leaf Storm
Brick Break
Sceptile is for possibly stalling the opponent with the known Substitute+Leech Seed combo. When the health falls low, Leaf Storm can be brought into play for some extra damage. Since none of my other Pokemon are Fighting Type/even have a Fighting type move, and the fourth slot here was empty, I decided for Brick Break. Focus Blast/Punch were also options, but Focus Blast's accuracy makes it somewhat unreliable and Focus Punch requires charging (and can be disrupted as well).

Umbreon @Leftovers
EVs: 252 Spd, 56 Attk, 200 SpDef
Nature: Careful
Ability: Synchronise
Wish
Toxic
Mean Look
Pursuit
Umbreon is my first support Pokemon. It may not be the best for this purpose, but at least it has access to all the moves that I needed. Firstly, because both of my main attackers lack a recovery move, I've given Umbreon wish. It can also function as a trapper by using Mean Look followed by Toxic. Alternately, I can use Toxic first to encourage a switch, and follow it up by Pursuit.

Cresselia @Light Clay
EVs: 252 Spd, 200 SpDef, 56 SpAttk
Nature: Calm
Ability: Levitate
Light Screen
Reflect
Lunar Dance
Psychic
My other support Pokemon, Cresselia. Light Clay is the held item to increase the duration of Light Screen and Reflect, which buy some time for my Salamence/Metagross to set up a couple of Dragon Dances/Hone Claws. Since it is risky to rely only on Umbreon's Wish, and at times when Cresselia has taken damage to a point when it can't do much more, Lunar Dance is quite a good move to have. Psychic here is given as a basic STAB move.

Metagross @Leftovers
EV: 252 Attk, 252 Spd, 4 SpDef
Nature : Jolly
Ability: Clear Body
Hone Claws
Meteor Mash
ThunderPunch
Rock Slide
Metagross, my secondary offensive Pokemon and partner to Salamence. Hone Claws was the only good Attack-boosting move I could find, but it does raise the accuracy of the slightly unreliable Meteor Mash. This Pokemon can easily switch into Salamence's weaknesses (Rock,Ice,Dragon), and Salamence can switch into Metagross's weaknesses just as well (Ground, Fire), so these to Pokemon seem to work well alongside each other.

Salamence @Life Orb
EV: 252 Attk, 230 Spd, 26 SpAttk
Nature : Adamant
Ability: Intimidate
Dragon Dance
Outrage
Earthquake
Fire Blast
Salamence is my main offensive Pokemon. It has been the only one to perform well in whatever battles I had, netting at least 1-2 KOs. Dragon Dance is to boost Attack and Speed, and the combination of Outrage+Earthquake+Fire Blast can seriously dent almost anything.

I know this is not a "Rebuild my Team" Thread but all I need is someone to point out the mistakes and how can I correct them.

 

[Taylor]

your effort is lacking in certain area. your thread will be locked if you do not improve the quality of individual descriptions for each set in your team: specifically sceptile and skarmory

 

[Asek]

Hidden Power Fighting > Brick Break on Sceptile as it will do more damage

 

[Salamence97]

Hidden Power Fighting > Brick Break on Sceptile as it will do more damage

Click to collapse...

Isn't it that Hidden Power can have a maximum of 70 Base Power while Brick Break has 75 Base Power? Or is it because Sceptile has better Special than Physical Attack, Hidden Power will do more damage? Correct me if I'm wrong anywhere.

 

[askjeevs]

Hi Salamence97, here are some thoughts to chew on.

Firstly, Nature's are important use, as they seriously affect the overall stats of a Pokemon. Perhaps try reading up on them and making some changes to the natures of your Pokemon.

Skarmory looks good by try giving it Sturdy over Keen Eye, and changing its nature to either Careful or Impish.

As previously stated, HP Fighting will do Sceptile better than Brick Break, since you've invested more EV's in Sceptiles Special stat.

For Umbreon, try either Payback or Sucker Punch. Your opponent won't be making many switches thanks to Mean Look, so running pursuit alongside it doesn't seem logical.

 

[Salamence97]

I've been putting some thought into it, and tried to make some changes.
One thing I want to ask is-
Salamence's Outrage is a great attack, but as it gets locked into using it, Salamence mostly ends up getting KOed the very next turn by some Ice type that switches in and attacks with Ice Shard/Beam (like Mamoswine). Also, I think Dragon Dance is a move I've almost never used, so it's better to have a Choice Band/Scarf set, and replace Dragon Dance with another move. What should that move be? I'm thinking between Draco Meteor and Dragon Claw..

 

[Corvus]

A simple Landorus / Magnezone combo under the sand can easily sweep this team with proper prediction coming from the opposition. This team needs a Mamoswine as it can eliminate those 2 threats with little trouble and it can also function as a wallbreaker.

 

[askjeevs]

I've been putting some thought into it, and tried to make some changes.
One thing I want to ask is-
Salamence's Outrage is a great attack, but as it gets locked into using it, Salamence mostly ends up getting KOed the very next turn by some Ice type that switches in and attacks with Ice Shard/Beam (like Mamoswine). Also, I think Dragon Dance is a move I've almost never used, so it's better to have a Choice Band/Scarf set, and replace Dragon Dance with another move. What should that move be? I'm thinking between Draco Meteor and Dragon Claw..

Click to collapse...

Try this set and see how it works for you

Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
4 Def | 252 Atk | 252 Spe
Dragon Claw | Outrage | Earthquake | Stone Edge

this set will give you the option of not being locked into Dragon Claw at early stages of the game, and going full out with Outrage once steel types have been eliminated :)

 

[KM888]

Hello everyone on Smogon !
This is my first thread here. Although I'm new, but I have a keen interest in Pokemon. So, I'm here to discuss about my newly constructed team.
I've read the RMT rules thread, and I know it's good to put some pictures/sprites of Pokemon in your threads, but since I'm doing this through an iPad, it's not that easy. I'll try my best, though.

Now, moving on to my team. I have somewhat of an idea how bad this team is (I had 6-7 battles on Pokemon Online and lost all of them) so I need advice from you guys on how I can improve my team. This may be because the team contains my favourite Pokemon rather than the best in business, but still, each Pokemon has a purpose in the team, it just seems like they can't execute their plan.

Skarmory @Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP, 130 SpDef, 120 Spd
Nature: Lax
Ability: Keen Eye
Spikes
Stealth Rock
Roost
Brave Bird
Skarmory, my main physical wall and lead Pokemon. The aim is to get some Spikes and Stealth Rocks up as quick as possible. Roost is for healing any damage taken and to temporarily remove the weakness to Electric attacks. STAB Brave Bird can be handy early,mid,or late game to put decent damage on almost any Pokemon.

I wouldn't put both Spikes AND Stealt Rocks on Skarmory. Choose 12 to set up because you need the 4th slot for Whirlwind. Then indeed change the nature to Impish or Careful. Also the Ability should be Sturdy.

Skarmory should be able to do a lot more right now.

Sceptile @Leftovers
EVs: 200 Spd, 108 HP, 200 SpAttk
Nature: Hasty
Ability: Overgrow
Substitute
Leech Seed
Leaf Storm
Brick Break
Sceptile is for possibly stalling the opponent with the known Substitute+Leech Seed combo. When the health falls low, Leaf Storm can be brought into play for some extra damage. Since none of my other Pokemon are Fighting Type/even have a Fighting type move, and the fourth slot here was empty, I decided for Brick Break. Focus Blast/Punch were also options, but Focus Blast's accuracy makes it somewhat unreliable and Focus Punch requires charging (and can be disrupted as well).

Since your going for a Sub-Seed set. Why not use Giga Drain over Leaf Storm. It gives you more health, and is still a bit powerfull. Hidden Power Fighting over Brick Break in all cases here.

Umbreon @Leftovers
EVs: 252 Spd, 56 Attk, 200 SpDef
Nature: Careful
Ability: Synchronise
Wish
Toxic
Mean Look
Pursuit
Umbreon is my first support Pokemon. It may not be the best for this purpose, but at least it has access to all the moves that I needed. Firstly, because both of my main attackers lack a recovery move, I've given Umbreon wish. It can also function as a trapper by using Mean Look followed by Toxic. Alternately, I can use Toxic first to encourage a switch, and follow it up by Pursuit.

I wouldnt try to Mean Look anymore. Volt Switch and U-Turn are soooooo much used these days, that you can't use Mean Look to it's full potential anymore. If you try anything, at least do Wish / Heal Bell / Toxic / Sucker Punch.

This will give you a bit more support for your team, since I can't realise your Metagross or Salamence would like getting burned.

I'd also change the EV-Spread. Since you're gonna try and wish-pass at some times, HP is more needed then attack. With 252 HP and 252 SpDef, Umbreon is gonna be a great special Sponge while Skarmory will be your Physical Wall.

Cresselia @Light Clay
EVs: 252 Spd, 200 SpDef, 56 SpAttk
Nature: Calm
Ability: Levitate
Light Screen
Reflect
Lunar Dance
Psychic
My other support Pokemon, Cresselia. Light Clay is the held item to increase the duration of Light Screen and Reflect, which buy some time for my Salamence/Metagross to set up a couple of Dragon Dances/Hone Claws. Since it is risky to rely only on Umbreon's Wish, and at times when Cresselia has taken damage to a point when it can't do much more, Lunar Dance is quite a good move to have. Psychic here is given as a basic STAB move.

This one seems very original and I like it ^^ Since Salamence sweep can happen really quick.

Metagross @Leftovers
EV: 252 Attk, 252 Spd, 4 SpDef
Nature : Jolly
Ability: Clear Body
Hone Claws
Meteor Mash
ThunderPunch
Rock Slide
Metagross, my secondary offensive Pokemon and partner to Salamence. Hone Claws was the only good Attack-boosting move I could find, but it does raise the accuracy of the slightly unreliable Meteor Mash. This Pokemon can easily switch into Salamence's weaknesses (Rock,Ice,Dragon), and Salamence can switch into Metagross's weaknesses just as well (Ground, Fire), so these to Pokemon seem to work well alongside each other.

Why those 3 moves in particular?? Meteor Mash is a great choice. If you could get up 2 Hone Claws maybe Dynamic Punch can be funny, though Hammer Arm is a decent choice all around to hit Steel Types. As your last move Thunder Punch to get rid of those pesky Skarmory as well with DD Gyarados with some luck or prediction.

Salamence @Life Orb
EV: 252 Attk, 230 Spd, 26 SpAttk
Nature : Adamant
Ability: Intimidate
Dragon Dance
Outrage
Earthquake
Fire Blast
Salamence is my main offensive Pokemon. It has been the only one to perform well in whatever battles I had, netting at least 1-2 KOs. Dragon Dance is to boost Attack and Speed, and the combination of Outrage+Earthquake+Fire Blast can seriously dent almost anything.

Like allready pointed out, a scarfed set could work wonders. Though I wouldn't go full Physical offensive. Try a Naïve nature with 252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 SpAtk. The Attacks you should go for are most likely EarthQuake / Outrage / Fire Blast / (last move: Stone Edge OR Dragon Claw)

I know this is not a "Rebuild my Team" Thread but all I need is someone to point out the mistakes and how can I correct them.

Click to collapse...

My comments are in red. I hope I helped you somewhat.

 

[Salamence97]

Will Draco Meteor be good on Salamence ? I know that I'm investing next to no EVs in Special Attack but still... Dragon Claw has little more than half the power of Draco Meteor.
Any comments?

 

[Lebron]

This looks like a good team in 4th gen DP OU
but all in all it's really bad for 5th gen

Skarmory:
if you need a fast spiker, dexoys-D works better. It's not good to lead with skarm due to the bunch of Rotom-Ws, so I suggest you keep it as a wall.

Sceptile:
Whimsicott works much better

Umbreon, Cressilia:
with scizor as the most used pokemon, you should let one of them go. Cress is vulnerable to pursuit whereas umbreon hates fighting moves.

Metagross:
too slow to function properly and won't have time for set up, perhaps agility over hone claws?

Salamence:
DD salamence is outclassed by Dragonite in my opinion, so use that instead or slap mence a scarf and change the ability to moxie

 

[DrunkDemon]

Will Draco Meteor be good on Salamence ? I know that I'm investing next to no EVs in Special Attack but still... Dragon Claw has little more than half the power of Draco Meteor.
Any comments?

Click to collapse...

I wouldn't use it on a scarfed/DD set, since the main appeal of it is acquiring physical boosts. A mixed attacker set with a Life Orb would be good though. Here's the on-site set if you want to try it out.

Salamence (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 64 Atk / 192 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Draco Meteor
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake

 

[skaybestrogue]

The Agility-Metagross boosting set from the Smogon Page is superior in almost any role to the Hone-Claws set, you should really give it a shot.

 

[Salamence97]

I've thought about it a lot, made a lot of changes to my team, and here's what I've come up with-

Ferrothorn @Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP, 48 Attk, 208 SpDef
Ability: Iron Barbs
Nature: Sassy
Stealth Rock
Leech Seed
Protect
Gyro Ball
This is my replacement for Skarmory, because this thing has a bit more balanced stats than Skarmory (Skarm's 65/140/70 defenses compared to Ferrothorn's 74/131/116). Stealth Rock is your usual entry hazard. Also, instead of having a SubSeeder Sceptile, Leech Seed is given to Ferrothorn as well. Protect is to possibly rack up Leftovers recovery/Leech Seed damage over a couple of turns. Because this thing is really slow, a STAB Gyro Ball can take full advantage of that by putting some useful damage on other Pokemon if needed.

Cobalion @Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP, 224 Def, 32 Spd
Ability: Justified
Nature: Impish
Close Combat (?)
HP Ice
Toxic
Roar
Umbreon out, Cobalion in. Terrakion might be more popular than this, but it seems like this guy is just the one for the job, most notably It's nice base Defense and decent Attack. This is one of my two core Defense/Support Pokemon, and Steel/Fighting is a good type to have to support my Special Wall. STAB Close Combat, though a useful move, does lower your Defense, so I was thinking of replacing it with Sacred Sword. Hidden Power Ice to deal with some ground types if needed, Toxic is a good move to steadily damage the opponent (bar steel types) and Roar to remove something I don't want in the battlefield.

Latias @Leftovers/Light Clay (?)
EVs: 252 HP, 56 SpDef, 200 Spd
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timd
Dragon Pulse
Mist Ball (?)
Healing Wish
Thunder Wave (?)
Girl out, girl in. Latias might seem inferior to Cresselia in the sense that Cresselia has better physical Defense and HP, Latias has her reasons of being here. First, and most important, half of my team is comprised of Steel Types, so covering all their weaknesses is crucial. Metagross and Cobalion are weak to fire (so is Scpetile) and Ferrothorn is 4x weak. Metagross and Cobalion are vulnerable to ground as well, and Cobalion and Ferrothorn will have a tough time against Fighters. Enter Latias. While offering the same base Special Defense as Cresselia, she comes with an added resistance to Fire due to her part Dragon type. She can also take Fighting attacks decently well, and also shares the Levitate ability with Cresselia, and thus has no problems switching into Eartquake. Also, Latias seems to have an extra offensive edge, as not only she has better Special Attack than Cresselia, her STAB Dragon Pulse offers better coverage in general. She also has good speed to get the job done quickly. Since PP isn't THAT much of a problem, Healing wish works just as well as Lunar Dance. I'm initially not going with any screens because their purpose in my original team was to help Salamence/Metagross take hits while setting up their D-Dances/Hone Claws. Now, since both of them are Choice-item users, I doubt I'll need them, but I might replace any of the moves with (?) with Reflect.

Sceptile @Life Orb
EVs: 200 Spd, 56 Attk, 252 SpAttk
Ability: Overgrow
Nature: Hasty
Leaf Storm
Earthquake
HP Fire
Dragon Pulse
Since Cobalion now carries a STAB Close Combat and (this is the reason why) Ferrothorn is given Leech Seed, as it allows Scpetile to use a far more offensive set than a SubSeeder. Not much to say, except that this is my extra offensive Pokemon apart from the SalaGross duo. I've picked this set from the Smogon page. Leaf Storm as a powerful STAB move, with all others being basically coverage moves. Some EV investment in attack as well as I'm using Earthquake.

Metagross @Choice Band
EVs: 200 HP, 200 Attk, 108 Spd
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant
Meteor Mash
Hammer Arm
Bullet Punch
Explosion
The Choice Band Metagross set. It still serves the same purpose, to work alongside Salamence, switch into any Ice Beams/Rock Slides/Outrages and then KO it. Anyways, Metagross can have Ice Punch, right? ('cause he could learn it in Emerald)I thought of giving it Ice Punch to counter Dragons. Any advice?

Salamence @Choice Scarf
EVs: 252 Attk, 4 SpAttk, 252 Spd
Ability: Moxie
Nature: Naive
Outrage
Dragon Claw
Earthquake
Fire Blast
My entire team has had some changes, and Salamence is no exception. The standard Choice Scarf set. Hopefully this would perform better than the Life Orb set I used earlier.