My first RMT

[Ghast_the_Girl]

Hi! I have been playing with this team for a few months now, and I think it's going pretty well. I have won may battles with this team, but I think it still needs some improvement, and I need your help! This is my first RMT, so please don't be too harsh on me. :D


Team Building

I wanted to make a team based off a bulky Pokemon that could take many hits and retaliate with strong moves. So, I chose Snorlax.

To protect Snorlax from all of the fighting types I decided to put in my team Chandelure, that is immune to fighting attacks, and Crobat, that can hit for super-effective damage.

I wanted to have a way to set entry hazards on my team, so I chose Torterra. I even wanted to have a priority move. I chose Azumarill because of its ability Huge Power, making a 40 base power move like Aqua Jet very powerful. Now I have my Fire/Water/Grass core.

For my last slot I didn't know what Pokèmon to put. Looking at my team, I understood that what I was missing was a late game sweeper. So I chose Scrafty.


Team Description

Fatty (Snorlax) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 52 Def / 200 SDef / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch

Snorlax is the Tank of my team. Max attack lets him hit very hard on any Pokemon. I preferred Snorlax as more of a special wall, because Thick Fat provides some protection from ice and fire type moves, that are more physical. Return is the main stab move. Pursuit is used to hit Ghost types. I didn't want to put Crunch because I don't want the Ghost types to be able to switch out. Earthquake is for the fire types. I gave Snorlax Leftovers instead of Choice Band because I didn't want it to be locked into a move and because I want some extra recovery every turn.

Swaggy (Scrafty) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Shed Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Crunch

Scrafty is my physical sweeper. I chose the Dragon Dance variant instead of the Bulk Up because I want it to be as fast as possible. Drain Punch is for recovering more health. Ice punch is to hit the Bug types and Crunch is the Dark stab move. I chose Shed Skin over Moxie because I didn't want Scrafty to be crippled down by a burn or by toxic damage.

Bobbina (Chandelure) (F) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 120 HP / 252 SAtk / 8 SDef / 128 Spd
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Energy Ball

Chandelure is my Special Attacker and Spin Blocker. Fire Blast and Shadow Ball are the two main Stab moves. HP Fighting is used against Normal types, while Energy Ball is for the Water types. Flash Fire is a very useful ability when the other Pokemon is locked into a Fire type move.

Nightwing (Crobat) (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Cross Poison
- Sleep Talk

Crobat is my Physical Attacker. I gave it Choice Band instead of Choice Scarf because I want it to hit as hard as possible. Brave Bird is the extremely powerful Stab move, U-Turn is for a quick hit and flee, Cross Poison as the second Stab move. I use Sleep Talk instead of Roost because I wanted a way to counter Smeargle. Infiltrator is a good ability because it lets Crobat hit hard even when the opposing screens are up.

Buttons (Azumarill) (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Ice Punch
- Return

Azumarill is Physical Tank of my team. Max HP lets it take some moves, while max Attack lets it hit very hard. Aqua Jet is the priority move, that makes Azumarill a very good revenge killer. Waterfall is the main Stab move, while Ice Punch is used to hit Grass Types. As my last move slot I put Return, but I don't know if it's a good idea because Snorlax already has it and I never use it regardless. I think I'll change the move with something else (do you guys have any suggestions? ;)).

Bonsai (Torterra) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Wood Hammer

Torterra is my Physical Wall and Stealth Rocker. Earthquake and Wood Hammer are the two Stab moves, Earthquake hitting even Fire types. Roar is used to avoid Smeargles to set up a Shell Smash and then poop in my face. Stealth Rocks are the only entry hazards on my team. As an Ability I put Overgrow, but I think Shell Armor could be a better idea, to avoid critical hits.


Threats

The main threats for my team are:

Suicune

Suicune is a very difficult Pokemon to deal with. The RestTalk set is bad, and the Calm Mind set is worst. The only way I can really counter it is with Torterra, because it can take one Ice Beam and kill it with Wood Hammer after Stealth Rock damage.

Baton Pass Smeargle

The Baton Pass Smeargle is one of the worst Pokemon to deal with. The only Pokemon I have that can deal with it is Crobat with Sleep Talk, but it's unreliable.


Replays on Showdown with this Team (I am Ghasty)

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/uususpecttest-49265854
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/uususpecttest-49388899
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/uususpecttest-49403819
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/uususpecttest-50483843

 

[Leafshield]

Not a rater, but I want to throw in my .02.

This team is all around very solid, but I have a recommendation for Crobat. While having dual STAB is overall good to have on most Choiced Pokemon, Banded Crobat a lot of the time is hitting Fighting Types with BB or U-turning out. This is why I think you should remove Cross Poison and Make the set Brave Bird / U-turn / Sleep Talk. This way, you have more of a chance to draw U-turn or BB when asleep, instead of risking being locked into an overall weak coverage option for Crobat.

Hope this helps.

 

[imaloony]

Right away, I see a quick fix to your Baton Passing Smeargle problem. If you put Roar on Torterra, Smeargle won't be able to set up. This is a bit flimsy given that Torterra has that nasty ice weakness, but that's the quickest fix I see without replacing anything. You'll have to sac something to the spore, but smeargle is always going to get that dumb thing off, so it can't be avoided.
I can also see Stealth Rocks maybe being a problem, as they really mess with your two fighting resists. Without switching pokemon out, I don't really see a fix to this other than try to pressure the SRer out. If you WERE interested in switching something out to avoid this, you could drop Crobat for Hitmontop or (I haven't extensively tested this, but it has potential if you want to try it) an Eviolite Pineco.

 

[Ghast_the_Girl]

Not a rater, but I want to throw in my .02.

This team is all around very solid, but I have a recommendation for Crobat. While having dual STAB is overall good to have on most Choiced Pokemon, Banded Crobat a lot of the time is hitting Fighting Types with BB or U-turning out. This is why I think you should remove Cross Poison and Make the set Brave Bird / U-turn / Sleep Talk. This way, you have more of a chance to draw U-turn or BB when asleep, instead of risking being locked into an overall weak coverage option for Crobat.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for the suggestion! I'll surely try it out to see how it works!

Right away, I see a quick fix to your Baton Passing Smeargle problem. If you put Roar on Torterra, Smeargle won't be able to set up. This is a bit flimsy given that Torterra has that nasty ice weakness, but that's the quickest fix I see without replacing anything. You'll have to sac something to the spore, but smeargle is always going to get that dumb thing off, so it can't be avoided.
I can also see Stealth Rocks maybe being a problem, as they really mess with your two fighting resists. Without switching pokemon out, I don't really see a fix to this other than try to pressure the SRer out. If you WERE interested in switching something out to avoid this, you could drop Crobat for Hitmontop or (I haven't extensively tested this, but it has potential if you want to try it) an Eviolite Pineco.

I think I'll replace Synthesis for Roar since I never use it a lot. Your idea was very helpful, thanks!
Stealth Rocks aren't a huge problem for my team. I really don't want to replace any Pokemon. The only Pokemon that is really weak to them is Crobat, and it usually dosen't stay in the battle for a long time, since it always dies of recoil damage.

 

[Moose V]

I don't see torterra doing much for your team. It doesn't resist common fighting type move, takes super effective damage from u-turn and take super effective damage from common physical fire type attacks like v-create and flare blitz. In short, it doesn't deal with uu physical attackers very well at all. It can't even stop electric types because hp ice destroys it.

For a replacement, I'm gonna suggest tank rhyperior or swampert. Both give you a fantastic electric and fire type counter as well as a solid stealth rocker (they both also have roar). Their roles aren't a whole lot different so you can pick which you wanna use.

 

[Ghast_the_Girl]

I don't see torterra doing much for your team. It doesn't resist common fighting type move, takes super effective damage from u-turn and take super effective damage from common physical fire type attacks like v-create and flare blitz. In short, it doesn't deal with uu physical attackers very well at all. It can't even stop electric types because hp ice destroys it.

For a replacement, I'm gonna suggest tank rhyperior or swampert. Both give you a fantastic electric and fire type counter as well as a solid stealth rocker (they both also have roar). Their roles aren't a whole lot different so you can pick which you wanna use.

Thank you for your suggestion, but I think I won't follow it for a few reasons:
I don't really like both Swampert and Rhyperior. I have used them once in some teams I made but they always died because of unexpected Grass moves because of that x4 weakness to Grass, that my team really does not need. Torterra works perfectly on my team because Azumarill resists both Ice and Fire type moves, while Crobat and Chandelure get rid of the Bug types. Torterra has a good synenergy with all of my team and I don't think that switching him out with another Pokemon would make my team better.
...and because Torterra is one of my favourite Pokemon :3

 

[Psychotic]

OK, I will try to suggest ways to cover your weaknesses with your current team without changing out any pokemon.

Your two biggest weaknesses by far are Offensive CM Suicune, and pretty much any Kingdra set. I don't see any way to reduce your Kingdra weakness without replacing a pokemon, but you don't want to do this so I will respect that. To combat Suicune though, I suggest replacing Leftovers on Torterra with Yache Berry, and making Torterra max Attack+Adamant nature. When holding a Yache Berry, Torterra easily tanks a +1 Ice Beam from Suicune and can 1HKO back max speed versions with Wood Hammer, and put Max HP versions into Crobat KO range. If the opponent doesn't have Suicune, this Torterra set still gives you a consistent Stealth Rocker that deals a ton of damage by spamming Wood Hammer and EQ.

Another thing that can help against setup sweepers a lot is replacing Fire Punch on Snorlax with Whirlwind. Fire Punch is almost exclusively for Bronzong, and I think it would be more helpful for you to be able to phaze out CM Suicune or Cresselia than to hit Bronzong for 35% damage, you have other stuff to beat Zong with. Also, I would probably slap 8 speed EVs on Snorlax so you don't speed tie with all the other Snorlax that run 4 speed EVs, which is a lot of them.

On Crobat, I would not recommend replacing Cross Poison, as Leafshield said. Cross Poison allows you to revenge kill weakened Zapdos and Raikou, which I always find really helpful, since versions with HP Ice could be problematic for your team once Snorlax is weakened. Yache Berry on Torterra helps against HP Ice Raikou, but can't really touch Zapdos.

Suggested Changes:

Hide

Bonsai (Torterra) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Wood Hammer

Fatty (Snorlax) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 48 Def / 200 SDef / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
- Whirlwind

Nightwing (Crobat) (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Cross Poison
- Sleep Talk

 

[Ghast_the_Girl]

OK, I will try to suggest ways to cover your weaknesses with your current team without changing out any pokemon.

Your two biggest weaknesses by far are Offensive CM Suicune, and pretty much any Kingdra set. I don't see any way to reduce your Kingdra weakness without replacing a pokemon, but you don't want to do this so I will respect that. To combat Suicune though, I suggest replacing Leftovers on Torterra with Yache Berry, and making Torterra max Attack+Adamant nature. When holding a Yache Berry, Torterra easily tanks a +1 Ice Beam from Suicune and can 1HKO back max speed versions with Wood Hammer, and put Max HP versions into Crobat KO range. If the opponent doesn't have Suicune, this Torterra set still gives you a consistent Stealth Rocker that deals a ton of damage by spamming Wood Hammer and EQ.

Another thing that can help against setup sweepers a lot is replacing Fire Punch on Snorlax with Whirlwind. Fire Punch is almost exclusively for Bronzong, and I think it would be more helpful for you to be able to phaze out CM Suicune or Cresselia than to hit Bronzong for 35% damage, you have other stuff to beat Zong with. Also, I would probably slap 8 speed EVs on Snorlax so you don't speed tie with all the other Snorlax that run 4 speed EVs, which is a lot of them.

On Crobat, I would not recommend replacing Cross Poison, as Leafshield said. Cross Poison allows you to revenge kill weakened Zapdos and Raikou, which I always find really helpful, since versions with HP Ice could be problematic for your team once Snorlax is weakened. Yache Berry on Torterra helps against HP Ice Raikou, but can't really touch Zapdos.

Suggested Changes:

Hide

Bonsai (Torterra) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Wood Hammer

Fatty (Snorlax) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 48 Def / 200 SDef / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
- Whirlwind

Nightwing (Crobat) (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Cross Poison
- Sleep Talk

Your advice was very helpful! I changed Torterra to max Attack and Adamant nature, but I am still thinking about changing the item. By having a Yache Berry I can surely live a +1 Ice Beam, but without the Lefties I miss out on some extra recovery, that could be very helpful. I'll certainly think about it.
For Snorlax I think I'll keep Fire Punch, because it was helpful to me in some occasions (for example with suicide lead Roserade).
I'll keep the Cross Poison on Crobat because of that chance to poison and the higher crit rate.
Thank you again for the advice!

 

[Ghast_the_Girl]

Bump

 

[Maverick Jones]

Good team. I like it.

 

[Ghast_the_Girl]

Good team. I like it.

Thank you. I like it too. :p