XY OU New to Pokemon, rate my team please

Wixer

Wixer

Hello Smogon forums. I just recently started playing Pokemon on Pokemonshowdown (I played the games on gameboy for years when I was a kid) a few months ago and I've been hooked ever since! A friend got me into the game, and he helped me construct the teams that I've been using. But now I want to try my hand at making my own team. My explanations for the pokemon I choose may not be completely up to par because of my inexperience, but I will do my best to clarify my reasoning. Any criticism is welcome!

Absol (F) @ Absolite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Play Rough
- Fire Blast
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch

Absol is one of my favorite Pokemon aesthetically, and I wanted to use it in my team. I'm using mega Absol and basically I'm going to try and utilize it as a mixed sweeper/lead of sorts. With magic bounce I can laugh at stealth rocks, thunder wave, and most importantly willowisp which would otherwise cripple it. I added play rough to deal with dragons and fire blast to deal with ferrothorns and the like. I am considering swapping swords dance for maybe knock off or pyscho cut/zen headbutt to deal with mega venosaur, im not sure.

Goodra (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Gooey
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast
- Ice Beam
- Sludge Bomb

My special defense tank, goodra is a good switch in to take special hits and can also deal solid amount of damage herself. Gooey is a good way to ensure that attackers will be slower than my absol or latios unless they switch out. I like the assault vest but I could be persuaded to pick up something else.

Weezing (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 86 SpA
Relaxed Nature
- Haze
- Pain Split
- Thunderbolt
- Sludge Bomb

Weezing is another pokemon that I really like that I also never see. Really really good physical wall with a decent move pool, pain split makes sure it can handle really heavy hitters and haze is good if someone decides to start setting up in my face. I guess skarmory would probably be better because of roost, but I also see skarmory everywhere and even I myself am tired of using it so I'm going with weezing.

Talonflame (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 260 SpD
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Bulk Up
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost

My favorite pokemon in the game. I am a bird lover, and I love the fire pokemon so this was a very nice pokemon to me. I used to run it scarfed but i got tired of how limiting it felt sometimes. I used SpD evs because I found that I did enough damage without them and it helps talonflame's frailty a bit. This could be totally wrong but its just something I felt.

Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Defog

Latios is my defogger and psychic user. I plan on using him and talonflame to ruin the lives of venosaurs everywhere. Not much else, pretty standard.

Mamoswine @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Icicle Crash
- Stone Edge

Finally we have the big pig himself. Mamoswine is my stealth rocker and stone edge user. I think he will be useful against other talonflames and mega pinsirs possibly.

So thats the team, please do not hesitate to pick it apart and tell me if I'm being silly. I love mini maxing but sometimes I will just use a pokemon if I like it, even if its not optimal. Thank you so much!
 
Hi Wixer, interesting team!
I have a couple of recommendations. Mega Gardevoir looks like a big threat for your team, as you have no effective way of dealing with it, as Sludge Bomb does ~50%, and Mega Gardevoir can 2HKO with Psyshock. For this reason, I recommend changing Goodra to Choice Band Scizor. This way, you have an effective way to deal with Gardevoir, and it also gives you the opportunity to pursuit trap Pokemon such as the Lati Twins.
Secondly, I'm sure this was a spelling error, but Talonflame cannot have more than 252 EV's in one stat. I also feel his investment is not optimised, as he could be used as a great revenge killer. For this reason I recommend changing his EV spread to a more offensive spread.
Thirdly, I recommend running Jolly Max Speed on Mamoswine, and changing Icicle Crash to Icicle Spear. The reason for changing Adamant to Jolly is to outspeed Jolly Breloom, and avoid is sporing a member of your team. Breloom is the same reason for running Icicle Spear. Most Breloom are lead Breloom, running a Focus Sash. Running Icicle Spear will allow you to break the Sash with the first hit, and proceed to KO it with the following hits. It is also more useful for dealing with Dragonite, as you can break its Multiscale with the first hit.


Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 200 HP / 56 Atk / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn

Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Roost
- U-turn/Bulk Up/Swords Dance

Mamoswine @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Icicle Spear
- Stone Edge
 
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll definitely consider the scizor swap. And would you swap the attack or hp on mamoswine for the speed? Also that was a spelling error sorry :P
 
Well, first of all, welcome to smogon, and welcome back to pokemon! So, without further ado, let's look at your team:

The first thing I notice is how badly mega charizard X could tear you apart. You need a pokemon that can handle mega charizard X, as it will tear through a lot of your team after a boost. Here is what would happen if you let char get a Dragon Dance:

+1 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Dragon Claw vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Absol: 432-508 (159.4 - 187.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Dragon Claw vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Goodra: 764-900 (198.9 - 234.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 172+ Def Weezing: 289-342 (86.5 - 102.3%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
+1 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Dragon Claw vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Talonflame: 378-445 (105.2 - 123.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Dragon Claw vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latios: 686-810 (227.9 - 269.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Thick Fat Mamoswine: 518-612 (122.7 - 145%) -- guaranteed OHKO

So.... yeah. The only pokemon you have that might survive is weezing, and even then, what's it going to do back? To put those stats in perspective a little, let's look at what you could hope for if you got the drop on char X somehow:

+2 252 Atk Mega Absol Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Charizard X: 265-313 (89.2 - 105.3%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
84 SpA Weezing Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Charizard X: 108-127 (36.3 - 42.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 Atk Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Charizard X: 100-118 (33.6 - 39.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Mamoswine Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Charizard X: 67-79 (22.5 - 26.5%) -- 19.7% chance to 4HKO
252+ Atk Mamoswine Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Charizard X: 326-386 (109.7 - 129.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Not very pretty. If your absol used swords dance the same turn charizard used dragon dance, you'd have a CHANCE to KO it before it KO'd you, unless it were a slightly bulkier version, which is actually becoming rather common. If weezing survived, it could tag it with a small hit. Your talonflame could get some chip damage with priority brave bird, but char still wouldn't be dead even if it just took one of weezing's hits. your mamoswine's only choice for damage would be ice shard, which also wouldn't do much. I included earthquake on the million to one chance you catch char on the switch... but that's never gonna happen. I didn't bother including attacks from goodra or latios, as they'd have no chance of getting anything off before they were killed.

So as you can see, this is a big problem for you. But luckily there are some solid options for dealing with char-X. The first, and possibly best thing for containing a char-X sweep that comes to mind is unaware quagsire. He makes charizard's boosted attacks pointless, and either toxic stalls him to death or wears him down with earthquakes and scalds. Basically any set quag runs will ruin char-X's chances of sweeping as long as quag is still alive and healthy. Another suggestion for beating this beast would be to switch your mamoswine set around. Run this one instead:

Mamoswine @ Focus Sash
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

There are a few things this mamoswine does better than the one you have. First, a focus sash basically guarantees an action by mamoswine to happen. That helps make sure you could put up rocks, then get an ice shard before death. Addidtionally, it can beat out char-X with an earthquake, which after factoring in flare blitz recoil, will be a guaranteed kill on even the bulkiest of char-X variants. Also, go with icicle spear over icicle crash. Icicle crash's 90 accuracy will let you down more often than icicle spear's inconsistent power. Plus, icicle spear can help break through certain pokemon's subs, and completely ruin dragonite's multiscale. And with ice shard there as insurance, you can finish threats off even if icicle spear needed one more hit to do the job. Run Jolly with max speed EVs to have the distinction of always outspeeding jolly breloom, and since even technician breloom's mach punch won't OHKO you, you can icicle spear it knowing that you only need 3 hits to kill it, and if you don't get it, ice shard will outspeed it and finish the job.

And just for convenience, here's an importable of a good unaware quagsire set:

Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Recover
- Scald
- Earthquake/Bulldoze
- Stockpile/Curse/Swagger*

What this quagsire does very well is tank any physical hits barring grass moves like a boss. Any of the opponent's stat boosts mean nothing to him, he just shrugs them off with his epic derp face. Run max HP max Def, with a relaxed nature so you don't damage your SpA or SpD, which you still need. Run scald for STAB and chance of burns, earthquake or bulldoze for STAB, with the latter also lowering the target's speed, which can potentially be helpful. As for the last slot, it's your choice. Stockpile raises both defenses, but you can only use it three times, so there's a lower limit to your boosts than other boosting moves. Curse will raise Atk and Def, which can boost the strength of your earthquakes/bulldozes, and swagger I have to mention because it's annoying as hell to hit yourself with more confusion damage while doing the same damage to quagsire... but it's illegal on showdown with the current metagame rules, so you could only do that on the cartridges.

A few other nitpicks: I see what you wanted to do with weezing, but the reason it's not used that often is because gliscor does it's job soooooo much better. Run this gliscor as a physical wall:

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 216 Def / 48 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Toxic
- Protect

This thing makes people crazy. Bring him in once all your opponent's special attackers are gone, and it's pretty much GG right there. Earthquake for STAB, Knock Off to be annoying, Toxic and Protect to stall their HP while yours constantly heals. The EVs give you as much survivability as possible while hitting an odd HP number, while outspeeding certain speed creeps and uninvested neutral-natured base 100 speed pokemon. Trust me, simply from a survivability standpoint this thing will put in way more work as a physical wall as weezing ever did. Gliscor's ability to heal itself while sapping the opponent's HP makes it an annoying thing to face, and it's capable of stalling out entire teams if they aren't prepared for it.

Sorry if that's a lot to take in at once, but hopefully it was some help to you. Lastly, I just wanted to say that I like your team a lot, and you did a good job putting it together. Well done!
 
Thanks! I appreciate that a lot. I kind of agree with you about weezing as ive been playing a lot of matches today and he gets really torn apart by psychic and strong SpA in general. I see you suggested Quagsire and Gliscor? Having both in my time or one or the other?
 
Wixer said:
Thanks! I appreciate that a lot. I kind of agree with you about weezing as ive been playing a lot of matches today and he gets really torn apart by psychic and strong SpA in general. I see you suggested Quagsire and Gliscor? Having both in my time or one or the other?
Click to expand...

Either way works, it just comes down to what you're comfortable with. You could actually switch out weezing for either of these, or switch out weezing and say, mamoswine or talonflame, and run both. Really, it all comes down to what you think you can live without. The big thing, however, is dealing with char-X, so you'll probably want to prioritize quagsire over gliscor for the time being, then find out what works from there.
 
Thanks, i think ill give quagsire a shot. I'll post again when I feel I've tested sufficiently. Thanks for your help :)
 
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