Hi. So I recently got back into pokemon and been playing it a lot of the DS. I've been wanting to make a great team, so before I take the massive undertaking of breeding the perfect pokemon, I've been testing out my team on shoddy. Because of nostalgia I really wanted to use charizard, starmie, dragonite, and gengar. Fortunately for me, 3 of them are OU and one is BL. I've been playing a lot with my team and I think I'm at the stage where I could really use some feedback. Im hovering around 1500 rating on shoddy with these guys. If you don't feel like reading just skip to the problems section.
So on to the team:
Charizard (M) @ Choice Specs (maybe Expert Belt)
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 6 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Flamethrower (Fire Blast with Expert Belt)
- Focus Blast
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Charizard is my lead. This guy is a beast. There is no doubt in my mind he would be comfortably in OU if it wasn't for Stealth Rock. He has incredible coverage, capable of OHKO many other lead or severely damaging them. My favorite is taking out lead swampert in one shot. That means no stealth rock and my opponent always pauses to take in what just happened. With azelf, he puts him to 1% thx to sash. Then because a lot of ppl in OU are predictable, I switch to dusknoir/gengar when they explode. Among the top 10 leads, 8 of them have to switch out or just die (I can only stop swampert from setting up stealth rock but they are all severely damaged), and 2 of them I get a normally very safe switch
I am currently trying out Expert Belt. Choice Specs puts a major weakness into my team. I kill a pokemon, tyranitar switches in and uses DD. I can't stop it because I'm locked into a move. I also normally don't mind heatran, but its nice giving heatran the fire bonus, then using focus blast because they think they can hurt charizard with it. Unfortunately, I have to switch to fireblast to keep the OKHOs, and I HATE HATE the inaccuracy. 85% still feels like gambling to me. Furthermore, swamperts are living through hidden power, and focus blast no longer OHKOs heatran.
Also, I hate focus blast, but I have to use it. If anyone has a more accurate move to OHKO tyranitar and heatran I'm all ears. I wish I could use focus punch, that would blow past blissey as well :(
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Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 136 HP/156 Def/216 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
So starmie is pretty standard. Rapid spin is so important. SR hurts charizard and dragonite bad, and breaks gengar's sash. It also counters gyrados. In fact a lot of the stuff that switches in to charizard can't hurt starmie. I ask myself a lot of times, should starmie be faster? I don't have a stealth rock user, so is this really the best set to counter gyarados? A lot of times I'll get one 90% thunderbolt into gyrados after DD, and then he'll kill starmie. But I also don't want to mess with the EVs because I need starmie to stay alive to rapid spin. A conundrum indeed.
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Dragonite (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 HP/60 Atk/196 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Roost
- Safeguard
See the bottom part for explanation of dragonite and his combo with absol.
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Gengar (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Hasty nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Counter
- Destiny Bond
- Hypnosis
- Shadow Ball
In my opinion there is nothing I would change about this Gengar's moveset. It is so fun. Seriously, this is everything that comes to mind when I think of ghost pokemon. He's such a tricky little bugger. I especially like it when my opponent in switches in scizor thinknig they'll get an easy KO, and bam counter. Even with stealth rock, hypnosis/destiny bond/ shadowball is still very potent. Gengar is the great equalizer.
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Absol (M) @ Scope Lens
Ability: Super Luck
EVs: 120 HP/252 Spd/138 SDef
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Baton Pass
- Mean Look
- Pursuit
- Sucker Punch
I've been thinking which moves to use among these 2: Sucker Punch or Fire Blast. Is it worth it so that Skarmory takes lots of damage for switching into Absol? I'm leaning towards sucker punch so far. Also, see below for the combo with dragonite.
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No shiny gif for dusknoir :'(
Dusknoir (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/78 Atk/180 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Shadow Sneak
- Protect
- Will-o-wisp
- Earthquake
---
I'm been muddling with dusknoir. Earthquake is great on him, destroying the fire types that switch in on him due to WoW. He's very bulky, and takes a lot of special hits for me. His method of fighting involves burn, protect, shadowsneak or EQ, protect, repeat. It is surprisingly effective. That being said I wish he could setup, like use bulk up or something.
Dragonite / Absol
So you may be wondering what the synergy between these two is. It isn't too hard to figure out. Dragonite's EVs make him very bulky. Absol has mean look and baton pass. The idea is to trap a pokemon, then dragonite builds up DDs and sweeps. I've OHKO a bronzong before without a crit after 6 DDs. I get max DDs fairly often. After 6 DDs the only way to stop dragonite without losing lots of pokemon is Skarmory whirlwind, Bronzong/registeel explode, or priority STAB ice shard. All other steel pokemon just roll over and die. When absol switches to pursuit attack, the opponent usually decides to stay in against absol. Perfect situation to mean look and pass it. Absol's defence isnt that great, but the EVs make it decent. I use him over umbreon because absol has the second strongest pursuit in the game (first if you average out super luck). If your pokemon cannot hit dragonite for at least 65% damage, you are a possible candidate to get trapped. Blissey, Celebi, Zapdos, Jirachi, Togekiss all come to mind. This doesnt always work obviously. For example: blissey with ice beam. Usually I'll be able to take out blissey, but dragonite probably only built one or 2 DDs and is going to be at very low health. I use dragonite over salamence because dragonite is much more defense oriented, and has the very important safeguard.
Problems
So the biggest problem with this team is definitely fast, powerful special electric pokemon. All forms of Jolteon and Scarf Magneton kill me and give me an incredible headache. Unless I get lucky with hypnosis or they don't switch out of Dusknoir's EQ or I pull off absol/dragonite combo, that electric pokemon will probably kill everyone on my team. I really need a way to stop it.
Tyranitar also gives me problems. Sandstream really hurts a lot of my pokemon, and while charizard can kill him if he has choice of move he cannot switch into him. After a dragon Dance, my only hope is I burn him with dusknoir or gengar pulls off counter/destiny bond. It is one of the reasons why I'm testing out Expert Belt instead of Choice Spec. In fact, any DD will sweep my entire team if I'm not careful. Especially if I can't get rid of Stealth Rock because that stops gengar from countering.
Calm mind users are also a problem. Absol used to have psych up + baton pass so it wasnt a problem, but after the switch I've been having trouble with latias or suicune. Again, I have to use gengar's destiny bond.
All sweeper teams give me a problem. A team like this: (Infernape, Salamence, Scizor, Lucario, Gyrados, Jolteon). Rain dance teams are also all sweepers, so they give me a problem. I can't pull off Absol/Dragonite against this.
Draco meteor hits me hard :(
I actually did about 40 rating points better when I used Raikou:
Raikou @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/42 Def/216 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rest
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Discharge
---
He took care of my Electric pokemon problem and my calm mind problem, and was another great candidate to mean look/ baton pass. Probably even better because after 6 CMs the only thing stopping raikou is dugtrio. He also has a lot less weaknesses than dragonite. Two reasons why i don't use him. First, I cannot breed a perfect Raikou on my DS. I will never get a perfect Raikou. Secondly, Dusknoir looks a million times more awesome.
I've had a lot of players comment on how cool my team, which in itself is pretty cool. A lot of time I think I win my matches because players underestimate the pokemon I use.
Finally, I would really like to get rid of the inaccurate moves. Focus Blast, Fire Blast, and WoW. Unfortunately, I don't see a good way to do that. I don't mind completely overhauling Dusknoir and Charizard, even cutting Dusknoir to do it.
Anyway, if you're still reading this thanks a lot for going through all that text. Even if you don't need a comment. I'm not a really good writer and write too much.
So on to the team:
Charizard (M) @ Choice Specs (maybe Expert Belt)
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 6 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Flamethrower (Fire Blast with Expert Belt)
- Focus Blast
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Charizard is my lead. This guy is a beast. There is no doubt in my mind he would be comfortably in OU if it wasn't for Stealth Rock. He has incredible coverage, capable of OHKO many other lead or severely damaging them. My favorite is taking out lead swampert in one shot. That means no stealth rock and my opponent always pauses to take in what just happened. With azelf, he puts him to 1% thx to sash. Then because a lot of ppl in OU are predictable, I switch to dusknoir/gengar when they explode. Among the top 10 leads, 8 of them have to switch out or just die (I can only stop swampert from setting up stealth rock but they are all severely damaged), and 2 of them I get a normally very safe switch
I am currently trying out Expert Belt. Choice Specs puts a major weakness into my team. I kill a pokemon, tyranitar switches in and uses DD. I can't stop it because I'm locked into a move. I also normally don't mind heatran, but its nice giving heatran the fire bonus, then using focus blast because they think they can hurt charizard with it. Unfortunately, I have to switch to fireblast to keep the OKHOs, and I HATE HATE the inaccuracy. 85% still feels like gambling to me. Furthermore, swamperts are living through hidden power, and focus blast no longer OHKOs heatran.
Also, I hate focus blast, but I have to use it. If anyone has a more accurate move to OHKO tyranitar and heatran I'm all ears. I wish I could use focus punch, that would blow past blissey as well :(
---
Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 136 HP/156 Def/216 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
So starmie is pretty standard. Rapid spin is so important. SR hurts charizard and dragonite bad, and breaks gengar's sash. It also counters gyrados. In fact a lot of the stuff that switches in to charizard can't hurt starmie. I ask myself a lot of times, should starmie be faster? I don't have a stealth rock user, so is this really the best set to counter gyarados? A lot of times I'll get one 90% thunderbolt into gyrados after DD, and then he'll kill starmie. But I also don't want to mess with the EVs because I need starmie to stay alive to rapid spin. A conundrum indeed.
---
Dragonite (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 HP/60 Atk/196 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Roost
- Safeguard
See the bottom part for explanation of dragonite and his combo with absol.
---
Gengar (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Hasty nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Counter
- Destiny Bond
- Hypnosis
- Shadow Ball
In my opinion there is nothing I would change about this Gengar's moveset. It is so fun. Seriously, this is everything that comes to mind when I think of ghost pokemon. He's such a tricky little bugger. I especially like it when my opponent in switches in scizor thinknig they'll get an easy KO, and bam counter. Even with stealth rock, hypnosis/destiny bond/ shadowball is still very potent. Gengar is the great equalizer.
---
Absol (M) @ Scope Lens
Ability: Super Luck
EVs: 120 HP/252 Spd/138 SDef
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Baton Pass
- Mean Look
- Pursuit
- Sucker Punch
I've been thinking which moves to use among these 2: Sucker Punch or Fire Blast. Is it worth it so that Skarmory takes lots of damage for switching into Absol? I'm leaning towards sucker punch so far. Also, see below for the combo with dragonite.
---
Dusknoir (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/78 Atk/180 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Shadow Sneak
- Protect
- Will-o-wisp
- Earthquake
---
I'm been muddling with dusknoir. Earthquake is great on him, destroying the fire types that switch in on him due to WoW. He's very bulky, and takes a lot of special hits for me. His method of fighting involves burn, protect, shadowsneak or EQ, protect, repeat. It is surprisingly effective. That being said I wish he could setup, like use bulk up or something.
Dragonite / Absol
So you may be wondering what the synergy between these two is. It isn't too hard to figure out. Dragonite's EVs make him very bulky. Absol has mean look and baton pass. The idea is to trap a pokemon, then dragonite builds up DDs and sweeps. I've OHKO a bronzong before without a crit after 6 DDs. I get max DDs fairly often. After 6 DDs the only way to stop dragonite without losing lots of pokemon is Skarmory whirlwind, Bronzong/registeel explode, or priority STAB ice shard. All other steel pokemon just roll over and die. When absol switches to pursuit attack, the opponent usually decides to stay in against absol. Perfect situation to mean look and pass it. Absol's defence isnt that great, but the EVs make it decent. I use him over umbreon because absol has the second strongest pursuit in the game (first if you average out super luck). If your pokemon cannot hit dragonite for at least 65% damage, you are a possible candidate to get trapped. Blissey, Celebi, Zapdos, Jirachi, Togekiss all come to mind. This doesnt always work obviously. For example: blissey with ice beam. Usually I'll be able to take out blissey, but dragonite probably only built one or 2 DDs and is going to be at very low health. I use dragonite over salamence because dragonite is much more defense oriented, and has the very important safeguard.
Problems
So the biggest problem with this team is definitely fast, powerful special electric pokemon. All forms of Jolteon and Scarf Magneton kill me and give me an incredible headache. Unless I get lucky with hypnosis or they don't switch out of Dusknoir's EQ or I pull off absol/dragonite combo, that electric pokemon will probably kill everyone on my team. I really need a way to stop it.
Tyranitar also gives me problems. Sandstream really hurts a lot of my pokemon, and while charizard can kill him if he has choice of move he cannot switch into him. After a dragon Dance, my only hope is I burn him with dusknoir or gengar pulls off counter/destiny bond. It is one of the reasons why I'm testing out Expert Belt instead of Choice Spec. In fact, any DD will sweep my entire team if I'm not careful. Especially if I can't get rid of Stealth Rock because that stops gengar from countering.
Calm mind users are also a problem. Absol used to have psych up + baton pass so it wasnt a problem, but after the switch I've been having trouble with latias or suicune. Again, I have to use gengar's destiny bond.
All sweeper teams give me a problem. A team like this: (Infernape, Salamence, Scizor, Lucario, Gyrados, Jolteon). Rain dance teams are also all sweepers, so they give me a problem. I can't pull off Absol/Dragonite against this.
Draco meteor hits me hard :(
I actually did about 40 rating points better when I used Raikou:
Raikou @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/42 Def/216 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rest
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Discharge
---
He took care of my Electric pokemon problem and my calm mind problem, and was another great candidate to mean look/ baton pass. Probably even better because after 6 CMs the only thing stopping raikou is dugtrio. He also has a lot less weaknesses than dragonite. Two reasons why i don't use him. First, I cannot breed a perfect Raikou on my DS. I will never get a perfect Raikou. Secondly, Dusknoir looks a million times more awesome.
I've had a lot of players comment on how cool my team, which in itself is pretty cool. A lot of time I think I win my matches because players underestimate the pokemon I use.
Finally, I would really like to get rid of the inaccurate moves. Focus Blast, Fire Blast, and WoW. Unfortunately, I don't see a good way to do that. I don't mind completely overhauling Dusknoir and Charizard, even cutting Dusknoir to do it.
Anyway, if you're still reading this thanks a lot for going through all that text. Even if you don't need a comment. I'm not a really good writer and write too much.
