Hello. I'm only recently returning after a hiatus, so I'm still getting the hang of all the Gen 6 changes. Of course, I was never a spectacular player to begin with, but I try to make sensible decisions.
The following team centers around a Greninja, Dragonite, and Mawile offensive core. Admittedly, this is largely because I just really like Dragonite (and come on, who wouldn't?), and hope to keep using him so long as he's viable. The other three team members are a bit less secure in their spots. The idea was to go hyper-offense minus one, basically.
Forgive me if I am a tad light on text quantity. I tend toward more succinct, concise descriptions. That, and sometimes I just don't have the knowledge base yet to speak at length.
Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Grass Knot
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Extrasensory
There's not much to say here. Greninja provides superb offensive coverage and has the speed to revenge kill a variety of threats. He also works very nicely with the next two pokemon. I opted for Grass Knot primarily to deal with Quagsire, but it can give me an answer to other bulky water types. I'm open to adjusting his moveset if folks believe it will support my team more effectively.
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Play Rough
- Fire Fang
- Sucker Punch
As the second piece of my core, Mawile-Mega provides some serious offensive muscle. I opted for Swords Dance because it allows him to destroy a wide variety of targets when he sets up (and allows him to remain threatening even if he gets burned). If I can secure a good switch in (or bring him in after a faint), he can set up and go to work. Intimidate gives him many opportunities to switch in against physical attackers. Fire Fang is a mean surprise for those hoping to wall with Ferrothorn.
Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- ExtremeSpeed
- Earthquake
Dragonite is the third piece of my core, providing some extra bulk and potential revenge killing with Extreme Speed. He's a little trickier to get into battle and set up safely than Mawile, but can be even more dangerous when I pull it off. I'm torn between Outrage and Dragon Claw. Outrage is obviously significantly stronger, letting me OHKO more targets with a single boost, but Dragon Claw offers more flexibility, especially when predicting Fairy-type switches.
Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Roost
Talonflame does what Talonflame is supposed to do -- crash into targets and make them dead. Naturally, priority Brave Bird offers plenty of revenge kill opportunities as well. I’m not 100% sure about this move set, though it seems to work reasonably well overall. I don’t get to use Roost very often, but it’s quite nice the times I do. U-turn lets it scout, with several of his teammates covering his weaknesses. Brave Bird and Flare Blitz are naturally his main offensive moves.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
To preface, I have tried other rapid spin and defog users (including Excadrill) with poor results. Though it has fallen into the UU tier for the first time, Starmie fills its niche very effectively on this offensive team because of its speed, power, and excellent coverage. Its build is as standard as it gets, so no need to spend much time on it. It is possibly the most important member of the team, as Dragonite and Talonflame absolutely rely on a rocks-free entrance. Its speed lets it do this job more reliably than Excadrill, with its power and coverage threatening most spin-blockers. As a secondary role, it can sweep weakened teams and revenge kill in certain situations as needed. My main uncertainly here is its ability. Analytic makes him hit extremely hard on a switch, but Natural Cure lets me soak up status freely and come back to clear more hazards later as needed (paralysis and sleep can make his job nearly impossible).
Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Stealth Rock
This last slot is up in the air (er, no pun intended). I know that I probably want a Stealth Rock user on the team (though feel free to enlighten me on the full extent or lack thereof of its necessity). I also want a hedge against electric attacks. Landorus does both and offers some extra offensive power where needed. I lead with him sometimes, if I think he'll be safe enough to set up Rocks. Other times, I'll bring him in at the earliest viable opportunity to get those Rocks set up. He can also counter Heatran pretty effectively, -unless- it's a Scarf-tran with Hidden Power Ice, and even then, it would only beat Landorus on a fresh switch-in (which I could easily predict).
I'm still mulling over different options for this slot (like Mamoswine), but I'm not sure.
*
In early testing, I had some trouble with Charizard-Y, but I soon realized that I was playing against it the wrong way and it wasn't my team's fault. From what I can tell so far, this team's main hole is defensive -- electric attacks are a bit tough to switch into, though this hasn't screwed me over that often yet. (EDIT: the addition of Landorus plugs this hole somewhat.) There are probably other issues that I haven't foreseen yet, so I look forward to learning them, as well as how I can improve the team on the whole. I want to keep the core the same for the most part, but I'm not as attached to the bottom three pokemon.
Thank you for your time!
The following team centers around a Greninja, Dragonite, and Mawile offensive core. Admittedly, this is largely because I just really like Dragonite (and come on, who wouldn't?), and hope to keep using him so long as he's viable. The other three team members are a bit less secure in their spots. The idea was to go hyper-offense minus one, basically.
Forgive me if I am a tad light on text quantity. I tend toward more succinct, concise descriptions. That, and sometimes I just don't have the knowledge base yet to speak at length.
Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Grass Knot
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Extrasensory
There's not much to say here. Greninja provides superb offensive coverage and has the speed to revenge kill a variety of threats. He also works very nicely with the next two pokemon. I opted for Grass Knot primarily to deal with Quagsire, but it can give me an answer to other bulky water types. I'm open to adjusting his moveset if folks believe it will support my team more effectively.
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Play Rough
- Fire Fang
- Sucker Punch
As the second piece of my core, Mawile-Mega provides some serious offensive muscle. I opted for Swords Dance because it allows him to destroy a wide variety of targets when he sets up (and allows him to remain threatening even if he gets burned). If I can secure a good switch in (or bring him in after a faint), he can set up and go to work. Intimidate gives him many opportunities to switch in against physical attackers. Fire Fang is a mean surprise for those hoping to wall with Ferrothorn.
Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- ExtremeSpeed
- Earthquake
Dragonite is the third piece of my core, providing some extra bulk and potential revenge killing with Extreme Speed. He's a little trickier to get into battle and set up safely than Mawile, but can be even more dangerous when I pull it off. I'm torn between Outrage and Dragon Claw. Outrage is obviously significantly stronger, letting me OHKO more targets with a single boost, but Dragon Claw offers more flexibility, especially when predicting Fairy-type switches.
Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Roost
Talonflame does what Talonflame is supposed to do -- crash into targets and make them dead. Naturally, priority Brave Bird offers plenty of revenge kill opportunities as well. I’m not 100% sure about this move set, though it seems to work reasonably well overall. I don’t get to use Roost very often, but it’s quite nice the times I do. U-turn lets it scout, with several of his teammates covering his weaknesses. Brave Bird and Flare Blitz are naturally his main offensive moves.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
To preface, I have tried other rapid spin and defog users (including Excadrill) with poor results. Though it has fallen into the UU tier for the first time, Starmie fills its niche very effectively on this offensive team because of its speed, power, and excellent coverage. Its build is as standard as it gets, so no need to spend much time on it. It is possibly the most important member of the team, as Dragonite and Talonflame absolutely rely on a rocks-free entrance. Its speed lets it do this job more reliably than Excadrill, with its power and coverage threatening most spin-blockers. As a secondary role, it can sweep weakened teams and revenge kill in certain situations as needed. My main uncertainly here is its ability. Analytic makes him hit extremely hard on a switch, but Natural Cure lets me soak up status freely and come back to clear more hazards later as needed (paralysis and sleep can make his job nearly impossible).
Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Stealth Rock
This last slot is up in the air (er, no pun intended). I know that I probably want a Stealth Rock user on the team (though feel free to enlighten me on the full extent or lack thereof of its necessity). I also want a hedge against electric attacks. Landorus does both and offers some extra offensive power where needed. I lead with him sometimes, if I think he'll be safe enough to set up Rocks. Other times, I'll bring him in at the earliest viable opportunity to get those Rocks set up. He can also counter Heatran pretty effectively, -unless- it's a Scarf-tran with Hidden Power Ice, and even then, it would only beat Landorus on a fresh switch-in (which I could easily predict).
I'm still mulling over different options for this slot (like Mamoswine), but I'm not sure.
*
In early testing, I had some trouble with Charizard-Y, but I soon realized that I was playing against it the wrong way and it wasn't my team's fault. From what I can tell so far, this team's main hole is defensive -- electric attacks are a bit tough to switch into, though this hasn't screwed me over that often yet. (EDIT: the addition of Landorus plugs this hole somewhat.) There are probably other issues that I haven't foreseen yet, so I look forward to learning them, as well as how I can improve the team on the whole. I want to keep the core the same for the most part, but I'm not as attached to the bottom three pokemon.
Thank you for your time!
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