My Team - Any suggestions?

[Tuner89]

I just recently got into competitive battling about 3 days ago. I went from knowing next to nothing, to winning about 60% of my battles against random people... it's the remaining 40% i'm worried about. If any one can give me some suggestions to help my team, I'd be most grateful =)

My team is mostly offensive, containing mostly sweepers and revenge killers, and it seems to work out alright. There's definately problems though.

Lead-
Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Taunt
-Stealth Rock

Aerodactyl's my lead, I usually taunt first thing to prevent setting up/opponent lead spikes. I then generally place my own stealth rock. If I have an obvious type advantage and I think I can OHKO the opponent(ex. heatran, infernape) and I don't think they have a focus sash, I might use earth quake or rock slide to take them out. Usually though, aerodactyl gets in, does its job, and dies.

Problems: Trick leads

Physical Sweeper-
Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 48 HP/252 Atk/208 Spd
-Spore
-Focus Punch
-Seed Bomb
-Stone Edge

Breloom gets me out of a ton of tough situations. I use it against normal type walls such as blissy, as well as anything else I am having trouble killing any where else. Spore puts them to sleep, then focus punch gets a kill almost every time I use it after, whether they switch out or not. If I'm fighting a type weak to grass or rock, I'd use those moves instead, but Focus Punch is the main focus of this guy. Poison Heal ends up saving me from usually pretty costly switch in-hits, which is just poor planning on my part.

Problems: Faster pokemon

Special Revenge Killer
Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Modest
EVs: 4 HP/252 SpAtk/252 Spd
-Dragon Pulse
-Earth Power
-Flamethrower
-Explosion

This guy's pretty great, I generally send him in when another one of my pokemon dies and he's got a move that can counter the other pokemon easily. He can deal some massive damage with his modest nature and can often earn kills even when the opponent switches. Explosion's saved for blissey or other pokemon that I'm having trouble beating, or simply to counter finishers easily.

Problems: Earthquake

Special Sweeper -
Latias @ Life Orb
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP/252 SpAtk/252 Spd
-Calm Mind
-Dragon Pulse
-Surf
-Recover

Latias is a calm mind sweeper who I send out when my other sweepers such as tyranitar are dead or when the typing is ideal. I generally don't have time to set up because I can either OHKO without it(in the case of infernape, salamance, dragonite, etc.) or I'm on the defensive and forced to use recover. The times I DO get Calm Mind off, the opponent instantly switches in for a pokemon that knows Ice Beam, giving me trouble and forcing me to recover. I rarely end up using Latias to its full potential in games.

Problems: using it tactically, ice beam

Physical Sweeper -
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
-Crunch
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-Ice Punch

Tyranitar's great at taking things out. STAB Crunch can kill most things 2HKO at least. Ice Punch is useful for dragons, but seems reduntant because of Stone Edge, which takes out most dragons in OU due to their dual typing with flying. Tyranitar works well while its out, but generally ends up getting outsped by pokemon such as electivire then getting earthquaked or cross chopped/low kicked and killed.

Problems: Speed, Earthquake

Physical Revenge Killer-
Weavile @ Choice Band
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 40 HP/252 Atk/216 Spd
-Pursuit
-Low Kick
-Ice Punch
-Ice Shard

Weavile's great at what he does. I send him out whenever one of my pokemon dies and the opponent pokemon is almost dead, weak to ice, dark, or fighting, or i suspect that they'll switch out. Ice Shard works great against pokemon who have really low health, but I know have moves super effective against weavile, as it generally takes the opponent by surprise by going first. It also works well on pokemon I know are faster than me. Pursuit works wonders on pokemon who have high health left and are at a type disadvantage as they generally would immediately switch out and get hit double. Ice Punch and Low Kick are generally the most common moves used though, as their typing and STAB Ice Punch allows for alot of versatility, taking out most pokemon with mid-low health easily.

Problems: spikes, faster pokemon



Overall, my team works pretty well. The main problems I've found are that my team's too ground/rock/fighting heavy, and lacks reliable water/fire/electric support. Ice seems redundant as well because rock can take out almost every dragon in OU and I'm not in short supply of that at all.

I'd really appreciate any criticism/suggestions you'd like to give me, thank you very much. =)

 

[Plus]

hello

This is actually a decent start for a beginning player, though there are some problems that I want to address. You are correct in that you are very heavy with the Fighting/Rock/Ground problems. The team does carry resists to these types, but they are a bit skimpy -- if Machamp comes in on Weavile Pursuit or Tyranitar, your best bet is switching into Latias. if Machamp should sub by then, then you have basically lost one of your pokemon depending on who you choose to sacrifice. Basically, a lot of your team is concrete in what to do when you are trying to deal with a threat, without a lot of leeway to take advantage of your opponent switching in something instead.

Stall based teams also seem problematic for this team, the simple SkarmBliss + Bulky Water core that many Stall teams utilize will hurt your team greatly.

To ease up these problems, I'd first recommend running Gliscor over Aerodactyl, something that would greatly ease your tendency to fall a bit apart when a Machamp should come in on Tyranitar. This also saves you against Breloom, as well as Lucario, who you only have heatran to deal with at the moment. In addition to taking away the stress from Heatran for Lucario, it takes away the stress from Breloom for Tyranitar -- your breloom even fails to beat Bait tar, or dragon dance tar who run 228+ speed.

Next, I would replace Weavile for Scizor, as your team lacks the ability to ensure that Specs Latias goes down after it uses a Draco Meteor, something that is very important to note when dealing with a pokemon as threatening as her. With scizor, you lose your weaknesses to SR, bullet punch, and Fighting, and get a much bulkier option that still has Priority + Pursuit.

For where you are going with your Tyranitar, I'd suggest running the mixed Tyranitar over your current one -- it hits things like Gliscor for 100% with Ice Beam and can also keep its physical prowess with Crunch and Superpower -- it is by far one of the most effective stallbreakers you can get.

Since you yourself said that Latias doesn't usually get Calm minds up, I recommend further boosting your anti stall abilities by running Trick Specs Latias. This Latias 2hkos nearly everything with SR up, and you can also Trick Blissey or any other set up pokemon that is in your way, such as crocune, which your team would seem to have a bit of a problem with. Instead of Calm Mind and Recover, replace the two with Draco Meteor and Trick.

Over your current Tar spread, you can run 48 Atk / 252 SpA / 208 Spe Hasty with Expert Belt, running Crunch/Flamethrower/Ice Beam/Superpower, which effectively baits a more common Scarftar set, and throws off the opponent which gives you a free turn in the process.

For Gliscor and Scizor, I would run respectively:

Gliscor @ Leftovers
Sand Veil | Impish |252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Earthquake / Roost / Taunt / Stealth Rock

Scizor @ Choice Band
Adamant @ 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
U-turn/Bullet Punch/Superpower/Pursuit

CB Scizor is given 8 SpD evs over 8 speed so you can go last against other Scizors who would uturn, giving you the second uturn during battle so you can switch to what they uturn to first. Gliscor hits 280 speed with that spread which is enough to outspeed and kill Adamant lucario.

Good luck with the team, and good luck with competitive battling!