Gen 5 New to building teams - How did I do?

[Refracted]

Hey guys! Been a long-time lurker here on the forums and decided that I finally wanted to try out some team-building of my own given how much free time I have on my hands with quarantine and whatnot. Just be aware that I am very new to this. I know the basics (IV and EV spreads, etc) but I can never seem to put together a solid team. On this team, you'll see that I especially begin to struggle as the team gets more full. I'll walk you through my (probably very bad and/or dumb) thought process for each pokemon. Also, I forgot to invest IV's into them on Showdown, so just assume that they're all invested as you'd expect. It's not like I'll be doing anything in IV distribution that you won't be able to infer, y'all are way smarter than me.

Iron Man (Scizor) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Swords Dance

Scizor is a pokemon that always has appealed to me competitively. I had a hard time deciding whether I wanted to build around Scizor or Garchomp, as both seem really fun to use. However, I figured a team with Garchomp would turn out to be a sand team given that it's the weather wars of Gen 5, so I stuck with Scizor on this one. Yes, I am aware that you can make teams using Garchomp that aren't sand teams, it's just that I'm too stupid to know how to make anything better to be honest with you, so I just anticipated that's what it would turn out to be. Plus, Technician sounds just way too fun for me not to try out. This set is pretty standard, capitalizing on Technician using Bullet Punch. I was considering using Quick Attack or Pursuit instead of Superpower, but I like Superpower to keep things like Heatran or Magnezone in check along with other things that resist Scizor's STAB moves. However, I'm still unsure if Pursuit could potentially be better here, or even Quick Attack. Anyways, there's not much else to say here since this is just what I chose to start off the team.

Sushi (Milotic) @ Leftovers
Ability: Marvel Scale
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Haze

Next, I wanted something that could help make up for Scizor's 4x weakness to Fire, so I knew a water type would be a good idea. I went with Milotic due to Marvel Scale allowing it to wall off opponents better than many other walls could if they tried to weaken it with status conditions. Recover is a quite obvious choice here along with Haze to prevent sweepers from setting up on me and completely steamrolling my team while Milotic can do little to nothing to stop them. Ice Beam helps counter pesky grass types and is a nice coverage move to have, and Scald is a reliable STAB move that can also apply burns to whittle down the opposing team.

Chad (Tyranitar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Superpower

With those two out of the way, I wanted something that could not only provide a Specially Defensive wall, which is yet to be seen on this team, along with some setup opportunities with Stealth Rocks or Spikes. I chose Tyranitar due to its access to stealth rocks and the ability to set up a sandstorm, which Scizor is immune to as well as another member of this team that we'll address later. With T-Tar on the field, I can wall off and weaken the opposing pokemon while preparing for Scizor or the other pokemon to be seen later to clean them up and start sweeping. Pursuit can help counter switches into pokemon that threaten T-Tar while Crunch is a staple STAB move for it to have. Superpower, like with Scizor, helps keep potential threats in check such as Magnezone and Heatran.

Weenie (Rotom-Mow) @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Leaf Storm
- Defog
- Will-O-Wisp

Ah yes! Rotom! I actually expected to use Rotom-Wash sooner than I did this little guy, but I needed something that could help deal with water types, especially given how common rain teams were in gen 5. I also needed something that could deal with Stealth Rocks and other such moves, so Rotom's access to Defog works perfectly here as well as it's Grass typing. I added Will-O-Wisp to allow for it to apply status conditions and weaken the opponent, and Volt Switch to swap out safely. I want to use Rotom as an easy pivot, something I can swap to and feel relatively safe about using.

Eyes (Gengar) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast

Now that we have a physical and special wall along with a physical sweeper, why not get a special one? Gengar seemed to work nicely here given its great speed stat, and I thought it's great coverage with Ghost and Poison moves could help counter stuff that I hadn't really thought about yet. I don't have much knowledge of the meta at all, so I just wanted to make sure I covered as many types as possible, so I thought Gengar could work here as a special attacker/revenge killer. However, I also was highly considering running Substitute/ShadowBall/PainSplit/FocusBlast, but I really wasn't sure which was better for this team, so I kinda just chose this.

Anubis (Lucario) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Bullet Punch
- Extreme Speed

Now for the final team member - Lucario! I wanted to have another potential wall-breaker/revenge killer that was also immune to the sand from T-Tar, so I went with Lucario, but I worry about Ground types not just on Lucario, but on this team as a whole. I have three separate pokemon weak to it, but I do have Milotic and Rotom-L to hopefully help with that. With Lucario, I simply ran the standard Swords Dance set with Close Combat and Bullet Punch for STAB moves, as well as Extreme Speed for priority. This is probably the pick I'm most concerned about along with Gengar, as I'm unsure what else I could be using here. Maybe something more towards the utility side? I dunno. Either way, Lucario's goal is similar to Scizor's, but Scizor is much more late-game on this team than Lucario would be (I think? Not sure. I'm just trying my best here.)


Welp, that's about it. Again, this is my first ever team, so please don't go too hard on me. I'm just trying to have some fun. I also expect it to be seen as generic given how new I am to it, which is fine. I just want to get a basic understanding of team-building down so I can get more creative in the future. Let me know what to change in the comments!

Thank you for reading, and have a nice day.

 

[FNH]

Hi! you have some good ideas here but I think you utilize lack luster Pokemon for your team. That along with your sets inhibit the overall capability of your team. Ill give you some simple changes that would improve your team.

There are a few things you need for your team that you lack as well, I'll start with some minor changes then introduce large changes. You have some solid resistances, but you are still unable to mitigate common OU threats with your current 6. Overall as it stands the team is kind of frail.

Some calcs to show you his problem

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Garchomp Calcs

Rotom-M can't tank an Outrage

• 252 Atk Garchomp Outrage vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Rotom-Mow: 186-219 (77.1 - 90.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Scizor is going to struggle to come in on him as well, considering Scizor has no recovery

• 252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Scizor: 163-193 (47.5 - 56.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Even Lucario gets 2 hit by an Outrage here, Earthquake will one shot a Lucario as well. Not to mention Garchomp is faster.

• 252 Atk Garchomp Outrage vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Lucario: 131-155 (46.4 - 54.9%) -- 88.3% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Keldeo Calcs

Your Rotom can't come in on Keldeo

• 252 SpA Keldeo Secret Sword vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Rotom-Mow: 130-154 (53.9 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

In the rain you will struggle vs Specs Keldeo

• 252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Milotic in Rain: 181-213 (45.9 - 54%) -- 96.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
• 252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Hydro Pump vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Rotom-Mow: 137-162 (56.8 - 67.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Excadrill Calcs

Doesnt even need Sand Force boost to KO your Gengar on the swap.

• 252+ Atk Mold Breaker Excadrill Iron Head vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Gengar: 223-264 (85.1 - 100.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

He can easily chip at your Rotom-Mow.

• 252+ Atk Sand Force Excadrill Iron Head vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Rotom-Mow in Sand: 90-107 (37.3 - 44.3%) -- 57.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and sandstorm damage

And he will take out your Milotic with ease.

• 252+ Atk Sand Force Excadrill Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Milotic in Sand: 201-237 (51 - 60.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock, sandstorm damage, and Leftovers recovery

You also are not removing entry hazards. This allows rain teams to stack hazards on you (Ferrothorn can come in on Milotic and Rotom-Mow), which leads to a sweep by Tornadus. I am not trying to trash you or your team, here I am trying to point out its defensive frailty. there are some ways to mitigate these problems though.

Some Changes

first thing here is you have Choice Band and Swords Dance in the same set. The Choice Band locks Scizor into one move. So Swords Dance is absolutely useless here and you are locked into the boost with out being able to capitalize on your boosts and attack. So you should change Swords Dance to Pursuit. It will allow your Scizor to trap opposing Psychic types.

Rotom-Mow is subpar to Rotom-Wash. Hydro Pump + Water typing just makes Rotom-Wash a more defensively solid choice. So I would change Rotom-Mow to Rotom-Wash for starters. The set here will maximize your SpDef Bulk, allowing you to tank hydro pumps and even Hurricanes. Will o' Wisp is to burn opposing Ferrothorns and other bulky walls coming in on Rotom. Volt Switch gives you a handy pivot here, letting you generate momentum. He helps stabilize the team much better.

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Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hydro Pump
- Pain Split

Next change I would argue for is to . Currently as it stands your team cant handle a Toxic Orb Breeloom. He can come in on your team very easily and begin to break holes. While you have a Gengar, Breeloom using protect can quite easily move scout with protect then swap out to a team mate. So by changing Milotic to a Defensive Amoongus, you have a solid answer to Breeloom (who is quite common at the moment). He also gives you another answer to Keldeo who is a threat to your team as it stands, and has great synergy with Rotom-Wash. Slugde Bomb is for Breloom. HP ice is to take out Landorus or Gliscor coming in on you. Giga Drain Provides recovery + something to hit water types, and Stun Spore is to status opponents Latios's who loves to come in on Amoongus. The maximum defense is to prevent Facade Breeloom from removing your Amoongus as well.

Hide

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 224 Def / 24 SpA / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Stun Spore
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Giga Drain

Now we still have the Excadrill and Garchomp problems here that I would like to address. both are have some great STAB's and deal out hard hitting attacks. A few options here to consider, such as Gliscor, Skarmory or Landorus-Therian. In my opinion the former two are a bit slow and lack the power you need here. Landorus is the best option for this next change. So replacing your with would be most beneficial. The easiest change is to implement a the Scarf Landorus set, but we can also make a more complicated change as well. Ill send you the sets and describe them in the Spoiler boxes below

Option 1

For this we are going to just add a Choice Scarf Landorus-Therian. The set is simple all out attack type. We can utilize him to Pivot on opponents building momentum and his ability intimidate gives us a great Physical swtich in as well. He can play the role of revenge KO'er and can even clean with Earthquake late game.

the set

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power [Ice]

there are some other speed variants that maximize bulk as well but the simple 252 max should be just fine for now.

Option 2

Here we can choose a new choice scarf user and have a bulky Stealth Rock Landorus Therian for the Job. at a glance, the Choice scarf would be moved to Tyranitar. Bulky Stealth Rock gives you a really good switch into hard hitting Dragon types and Excadrill. Leftovers gives passive recovery so Landorus-Therian isn't chipped at and removed during the game. Similar role here. Tyranitar and Scizor created a redundancy in the team, so a scarf Tyranitar would have a little bit different of a role, more if a revenge KO'er/Breaker. Ice Beam on Tyranitar allows you to hit both Gliscor and Landorus-Therian and Super Power is for steel types such as Ferrothorn. If I did the spread correctly, this Landorus set gives you enough speed out run a Adamant Sand Force Excadrill, while not getting 2HKO'd by his Iron Head after stealth Rocks and OHKO'ing him with Earthquake.

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf Ability: Sand Stream EVs: 216 Atk / 40 SpD / 252 Spe Hasty Nature - Crunch - Ice Beam - Superpower - Pursuit

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers Ability: Intimidate EVs: 188 HP / 68 Atk / 20 Def / 232 Spe Lax Nature - Stealth Rock - Earthquake - U-turn - Hidden Power [Ice]

As for Lucario, I personally think he is lackluster when compared to other fighting types. You have a Scizor + Tyranitar, so any fighting type can work in that role. Keldeo would be a decent option, but it would have to be a leftovers so he isn't worn down from Stealth Rocks + Sandstorm chip so easily. Terrakion works very well; Breloom could work to, but he is kinda slow so your team might not have enough overall speed.

I hope you like my changes and feedback, thank you for sharing your team.

TL:DR

>>> Swords Dance to Pursuit
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Edited for typos