New team for a new player

Fasick

Still new to the competitive Pokemon scene. Just started playing about a week ago and I've slowly been picking up on its meta game, and over time this is what my team has become. I suppose it's mainly built to combat a lot of the frequent Pokemon i run into on shoddy.

Weavile (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Hasty nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Fake Out
- Taunt
- Counter
- Ice Punch
Anti-lead, i really like the fact that i can stop annoying leads right off the bat. Taunt pokemon like bronzong, and then counter for a OHKO. I especially find this true for people still running ninjask BP leads. Fakeout can stop other focus sash leads. Ice punch is there to do any revenge killing if need be or simply finish off a pokemon.
---

Gliscor (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP/40 Def/216 Spd
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge
Great counter to t-tar with sandveil and its awesome STAB EQ should 2-3HKO him. Stone edge will allow me to hit any flying types that step in such as a gyarados, salamence...etc. Knock off comes in handy against scizor or other choice pokemon as it drastically cuts their damage.
---

Heatran (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Mainly here to counter scizor all though he has come in handy for more than just that. People love to switch in a water type against him and if i can predict so the hidden power grass does wonders. Earth power combats other heatrans and Explosion can help in a sticky situation against walls.
---

Vaporeon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 188 Def/68 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Wish
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Ice Beam
Really good switch in to other water types, especially when someone is trying to come in and take out my heatran.
---

Porygon2 @ Leftovers
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP/216 Def/40 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Discharge
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Thunder Wave
Just recently picked this guy up, he has great def and just seems to be great in all departments. He can take care of stalls with t-wave, and hes an amazing counter to gyarados/heatran/salamence. I have been considering toxic for the 4th slot.
---

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP/36 Spd/224 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Roost
- Sleep Talk
- Heat Wave
Mainly meant to combat SpA pokemon such as Yanmega, Gengar, Milotic, Roserade, Bronzong, and Breloom. Heatwave is also there to combat scizor, if you havent noticed yet i hate scizor.

My main problems i have found are walls like blissey, and pokemon that can bulk up with moves like calm mind.

Any suggestions or any changes are welcomed and appreciated.
 
Hello.

It's a little worrying how your team is unfortunately weak to pokemon with good Special Defense who can utilize a stat up move while tanking your hits; Snorlax, Suicune, Cresselia, and even Umbreon will all cause you problems.

Snorlax only takes 35%~ damage from Gliscor's Earthquake, meaning it can set up some Curses and start the Rest + Curse cycle until it has insane Attack and Defense, from where it can proceed to beat every member of your team one on one. Suicune only takes 40%~ damage from Zapdos' Thunderbolt after a Calm Mind (252 HP / 0 SDef Suicune), so Rest / Sleep Talk / Calm Mind / Surf versions will be especially difficult to deal with as Vaporeon will have trouble beating it due to Pressure. Both of these pokemon are able to come in on Vaporeon, Heatran (Suicune won't want to switch in on Hidden Power Grass though), Porygon2, and Gliscor, and set up their respective moves. Snorlax is also able to set up on Zapdos. Cresselia is able to set up Calm Minds on a lot of your pokemon and only takes 25.93% - 30.62% from Heatran's Fire Blast after a single Calm Mind (96 HP / 0 SDef Cresselia). Albeit far less popular, Umbreon can either Curse or Mean Look the majority of your pokemon, which will often spell doom as it is generally paired with hard hitting stat up sweepers, or bulky hitters that will take your hits and hit back hugely hard after a couple of Curses.

A simple solution would be to add either a pokemon that can deal with all of these threats, and / or a Perish Song user which instantly shuts them down. Because it is increasingly difficult to find a pokemon able to beat all of the aforementioned threats, a Perish Song user could well benefit the team more.

Unfortunately, there is a severe lack of decent Perish Song users. Celebi is by far the best due to 100 / 100 / 100 defenses and Recover. Celebi always makes a good switch in to defensive Suicune and Cresselia, while stopping any Baton Pass attempts of Umbreon's. It can also take Snorlax's weakly boosted hits and Perish Song, and then attempt to stall with Recover until the time is right to switch-out.

252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe with Perish Song / Recover / Grass Knot / U-turn should work well. Your team is relatively defensive as it is, and U-turn is vital to Celebi's success as it allows it to Perish Song against Umbreon and then U-turn out of any dangerous Mean Look. U-turn also helps aid prediction.

I personally would like to see Celebi used over Vaporeon. Celebi has excellent synergy with Heatran, who can take super effective Fire-type hits and convert it into a Flash Fire boost. You already have an excellent counter to Gyarados in Porygon2, so the aspect of beating Gyarados through Vaporeon need not be worried about. While you lose a "secondary" counter to Heatran, Choiced versions can still be beaten provided you predict well. Vaporeon seems like dead weight as it is basically taking hits from Water-types that threaten Heatran, and passing Wish now and then. The main Water-types switching into Heatran will have some form of recovery, and Vaporeon won't be doing tons of damage to them even with Hidden Power Electric. Celebi can hit them hard with a STAB Grass Knot, which also makes life easier against Swampert. You lose the ability of switching into Water-types Surf / Hydro Pump / Waterfall with impunity, but Celebi is still able to tank these hits. Empoleon might cause some problems but Celebi should be able to use Perish Song against it and slowly wear it down in general. The loss of Wish is only really affecting Heatran, as Zapdos, Gliscor, Celebi, and Porygon2 all have their own forms of recovery.

Adding Celebi will also increase the Scizor weakness slightly, but Heatran can still revenge kill as can Zapdos. I would definitely run Stealth Rock over Knock Off on Gliscor as a defensive team like this will utilize the extra damage caused by forcing switches much more.

Good luck :D.
 
Thanks for the advice, this is exactly what im looking for. And yes... you guessed right, vaporeon does feel like dead weight in my team haha. Basically there just to take hits for heatran but i did find that the water types that were switching in i could not kill with vaporeon. Celebi def sounds like an awesome addition and ill def try it out.
 
Ok, let's begin:

On Gliscor you should use Stealth Rock > Knock-Off, the passive damage is great, and since you are running an anti-lead you really should still have someone there to set it up.

For Porygon2 I think, for a defensive team like this, it would be a safe bet to use Toxic > Thunder Wave. Since you opted for Discharge instead of T-bolt, you have a chance for paralysis there.

You said you were having some Blissey woes, so may I introduce you to your new best friend:

dpmfa392.png

Infernape @ Life Orb
Naive | 64 Atk / 252 SpA / 192 Spe
Flamethrower / Close Combat / Hidden Power Ice / Grass Knot

That thing wrecks Blissey. CC should OHKO, and with those attacks he attains perfect coverage so he is going to damage something hard. Surprisingly I can this guy actually giving you some problems, hitting atleast 4 members, 5 with Celebi, for Super Effective damage.

If you want to keep on the defensive and help cover the Ape weak you could use a Defensive CM Latias:

380.png

Latias @ Leftovers
Timid | 128 HP / 128 SpA / 252 Spe
Calm Mind / Recover / Dragon Pulse / HP Fire or Surf

Keeps you defensive, covers Ape, and OHKOs Scizor with HP Fire :naughty:

There you go, hope that helped.
 
Your team is rather dragon weak, with the exception of Heatran. Typically, a good dragon type like salamence will have no trouble defeating the majority of pokemon on your team. Salamence can easily switch in, and, if it carries stone edge, it will cover every member of your team for at least neutral damage. If it has earthquake, it will cover Heatran for 4x damage. Outrage will rip your team to shreds once heatran is gone. I suggest that you switch Porygon2 with Bronzong.
Bronzong offers valuable resistances to 8 types, as well as an immunity to poison and Ground, as well as Spikes.
Bronzong will definitely aid you. I suggest:
Sassy Bronzong @ Leftovers
Gyro Ball
Earthquake
Stealth Rock
Hypnosis

Although hypnosis has crappy accuracy, this variant is usually bulky enough to use it successfully, unless you're me and it misses 5 times in a row in the smogon tour. Then you're screwed.
This version has enough attack to dish out massive hurt with Gyro ball and Earthquake. It resists the Steel, Rock, and dragon types your team fears. Scizor does crap to this, so you can easily switch in on it while it's locked onto bullet punch or something, then you can lay SR down and then hypnosis whatever switches. If it succeeds, you will force another switch, increasing residual damage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top