My First Team

[oluukeey]

Okay well I am new to competitive battling and have been watching youtube videos and just viewing the smogon forums for quite a while now and decided to start playing pokemon on the battle simulator pokemon showdown. This team has got 37 wins and 27 losses in my first week of playing and i am wondering if there is any way the team could be improved further, so without further ado here's the team.

San Diego (Cacturne) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- Sucker Punch
- Encore
- Seed Bomb

Okay Cacturne is my lead as i like the spikes and stealth rock combo and Cacturne seemed like the best spiker in NU. He is also an incredibly hard hitter with his seed bomb and has priority which sucker punch (which hits just as hard). Encore is for trapping stealth rockers allowing me to get an extra layer of spikes up before i attack or switch.

Covalent (Weezing) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Bold Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Clear Smog

Next is Weezing, I chose Weezing as it's ability to burn opponents as well as resetting stats works really well. HP fighting is there as i prefer it to thunderbolt or flamethrower due to the lack of fighting moves on my team and it's ability to put a hole in Miltank. Pain split is there as it's Weezing's best form of reliable recovery.

Pourfect (Simipour) @ Life Orb
Trait: Gluttony
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot

Simipour is a great sweeper when switched in against anything with <100 base speed as it can nasty plot up and then fire away with it's great type coverage. Hydro Pump is for stab and is going to majorly damage anything that doesn't resist it after a nasty plot, however the accuracy is a bit of a gamble. Ice beam is a great coverage move in Nu as it takes down some of the most common walls such as altaria and amoongus. Grass knot takes down water pokemon which resist ice beam and hydro pump, plus its a good cleanup move for pokemon resistant to ice due to its great accuracy.

Foxxi (Flareon) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Wish
- Flamethrower
- Toxic
- Protect

Flareon as well as being my all time favorite pokemon does a nice job as a special wall in NU. it has reliable recovery in the form of wish which also lets it heal other pokemon in my team. it is good for toxic stalling as wish toxic and protect really stall time and hurt most non water special attackers. Flamethrower is the attack of choice on this set as it has great accuracy and great damage. Flareon aslo has flash fire making it safe to switch on choice band Emboar which is flare blitz locked and also any will-o-wisps from Weezing and Misdreavus.

Starr (Luxray) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wild Charge
- Ice Fang
- Quick Attack
- Substitute

Luxray may not be the fastest pokemon, But he makes up for this in his sheer power. He also gets safer switch ins on physical pokemon due to intimidate which can cause switches allowing Luxray to sub up and rain down wild charge, ice fang ice for anything that resists wild charge and quick attack is for revenge killing and priority. Luxray is a threat to any offensive pokemon in NU but is countered quite easily by a lot of the common walls.

BigBug (Armaldo) @ Leftovers
Trait: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Rock Blast
- X-Scissor

Finally we have Armaldo, this bug is an incredably hard hitter and has solid physical defences. I chose rock blast over rock slide due to it's ability to break subs and x scissor is for grass, psychic and dark types which are quite common in the NU tier. He is mainly for setting up rocks and spinning though as flareon doesn't like stealth rock and spike damage as one switch in can take up to 50% health off it.

So yeah this is my first competitive team and any feedback on it will be gladly appreciated, Thanks for reading.

 

[WhiteDMist]

Your team needs some work. I recommend checking out Battling 101 to learn more about teambuilding and battling. I'll also tell you what weaknesses you have just to help you understand why I say this team needs work.

You have an odd balance of 4 defensive/support Pokemon and 2 offensive Pokemon, neither of which are reliable as sweepers. You also have very little to handle opposing Flying types, the likes of which can decimate your team easily. On its own, SubBU Braviary sweeps through your team without much struggle. Thanks to Intimidate, not even Luxray can reliably stop it due to Defiant speeding up its boosting. Simipour loses if it switches in, since it'll die to a Brave Bird, especially after Life Orb recoil and hazard damage. Other variants of Braviary and Swellow are also heavily problematic, and Armaldo isn't exactly the best defense against them.

Opposing Water types are also dangerous, especially the likes of Gorebyss, Samurott, Ludicolo, and the other Rain sweepers. While I won't give you a full rate, I will say that Luxray doesn't do much for your team. It is also an inferior sweeper, and is too slow to be a revenge killer (Quick Attack is too weak to rely on). Absol is a better option for its powerful priority and excellent typing. Good luck and welcome to Smogon!

 

[oluukeey]

Thank you for the advice switched Luxray for Absol :-)

 

[watashi]

As WhiteDMist mentioned, Braviary completely runs over this team, even more so now that you have Absol over Luxray. The only way to fix this without a total overhaul of your team is to use Regirock over Armaldo. Although you lose Rapid Spin, which means you'll have to play more carefully with Flareon, the ability to check Braviary and other Flying-types that dominate the NU is worth it.

You should also use Sludge Bomb over Hidden Power Fighting and Haze over Clear Smog. The former gives you a reliable attack that can actually hurt the opponent while the latter allows you to get deal with increasingly common amount of Pokemon that boost under Substitutes better.


Summary of changes:

Armaldo —> Regirock
Hidden Power Fighting and Clear Smog —> Sludge Bomb and Haze on Weezing

Set(s)

Regirock @ Leftovers
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Drain Punch
- Thunder Wave

 

[Shuckleking87]

If you were still worried about hazards, if you include the change to regirock for armaldo, a typical defensive torkoal could take the place of flareon, though you will be missing out on wish support, and not having one of your favorite pokes! But I would suggest to change Air Balloon Luxray to Choice Banded Eelektross with Wild Charge, U-turn, Superpower and Return. It is essentially a slower yet stronger Luxray without worrying about a ground immunity. Plus, you wouldn't want to switch luxray into a ground poke to begin with as you won't be able to do a whole lot of damage in return. Your team is also extremely gurdurr weak barring weezing. I would highly recommend placing Choiced scarfed Gardevoir somewhere on your team. Otherwise, congrats for getting a respectable record for your first team!