I've played casually competitive pokemon for a while, but I've never really gotten above 1600-1700 on PS. I'm currently working with a team that I feel like has good potential, the pokemon work very well with each other, but it is still lacking something to break the 1700-1800 roof I seem to be hitting.
Overall, I would call this a team plus a mega. Originally it was Mega Kanga. Then it was Charizard. Then Gardevoir. Now it's Mawile. The team does most of the lifting in all cases, with the mega only being at all relevant in late games. I'm not even sure this team want's a mega, but I do find their overwhelming power useful at times.
The Current Team
Trevenant @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Curse
- Substitute
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
Well it's the trevenant set we know and love, with it's zany HP bar shenanigans. This is what I generally use to force out really bulky mons. Of course theoretically Trevenant works as a spin blocker, but I rarely need it to. Trevenants main role is to shut down some attackers with WoW and curse stalling, and near the second half of the game suicide curse to force out a pokemon while I bring in Hydreigon or mawile. This particular role is VERY important, and shouldn't be overlooked. Lategame, something like a free draco meteor from Hydreigon can be completely game changing, and if the opponent has not kept death fodder, typically is the point at which I gain the winning edge. Another interesting note, Trevenant is often the best pokemon on my team to take all the WoW flying around, at least in any battle where I know I will need to conserve my Hydreigon's HP.
Problems; only pokemon to absorb a burn, fine, but if hit with a toxic, it's only good for one more curse. Also, Substitute users can abuse this trevenant ridiculously.
Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
- Power Whip
- Thunder Wave
There is one reason, and one reason alone I have not switched Ferrothorn. Mega Kangaskhan. Whenever i see it on the opposing team, I keep this thing around simply to combat it. It can typically survive a PuP and another non-super effective hit(or another PuP), and retaliate with a Power Whip to kill(or T-wave in some cases). In battles without Mega Kenga, Ferrothorn is not dead weight, it provides vital paralysis support (my team is of course exceedingly slow and this is sometimes nescessary for a very threatening scarfer), and occasionally I even use spikes. However, I've often found this mon lackluster, as it mostly ends up being used simply to switch into physical attackers and then switch out again without doing anything more than RockyBarbs residual damage. It is also held back by lack of recovery as it generally does not have time to abuse leech seed. (Given this I tried taking it off my team, but I was never able to reliably beat Mega Kanga). It also reliably kills smeargle with only one hazard, when coupled with sandstorm from a t-tar lead.
Problems; No residual recovery, leech seed rarely gets used because ferrothorn typically switches out as soon as the pokemon it counters does(which is immediately).
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Taunt
I would say this is the best pokemon on the team. Gyarados typically takes out 3 mons and stops rampaging pokemon in their tracks. A reliable switch in to Talonflame, and patches up (along with tyranitar) the general fire weakness of my team. Their dual purpose in countering fire types allows me more freedom in when to use tyranitar, thus making tyranitar a more deadly attacker. Gyarados is also my most reliable ground counter, with the exception of Excadrill. Taunt is exceptionally useful on this set, and at least half the reason that this pokemon works as well as it does on my team, since I can use it to shut down annoying healers and statusers that my team otherwise might have trouble with.
Great Pokemon all around, except Rotom-W bait. Rotom-W is the bane of this gyarados sets existence, since it allows the opponent to gain momentum every time I send in Gyarados.
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 180 SAtk /72 Spd
Quiet Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse
Tyranitar has gone through a lot of move changes and ev spread changes since I started using it. And now it is a Quiet fully invested in SpAtk monster. So, I know that many people will look askance at this as a very strange and wasteful set, since it more or less throws away Tyranitars ungodly 134 attack for a mediocre 95 SpAtk. But I made this change because of what Tyranitar counters on my team. First off, I noted that the only times I used stone Edge were on pokemon that are very weak to it. In other words, I miss out on very few KOs when using Stone Edge on this Spread. Secondly, the single most common pokemon tyranitar is pitted against is Physically Defensive ferrothorn, and uninvested, Fire Blast Caps at about 90% damage. The current investment is the absolute minimum needed to 100% OHKO. 72 speed EVs are also nescessary, as it allows me to outspeed any base 50(cough cough Aegislash) by two points, thereby catching any person who has invested there extra 4 EVs in speed.
Great....until people catch on. The simple fact is, by running this set, I cannot get the power of a physical set. So once people realize fully mixed, they can take advantage of the power it lacks, since both attack stats barely break 300. This is felt particularly harshly in Pokebank, where this set becomes a tease for strong pokemon to switch in on me and threaten with a U-turn, again gaining momentum.
Gardevoir@ Gardevoirite
Ability:Syncronize
EVs: 248 HP/252 SAtk / 8 Spd
Modest Nature
Wish
Protect
Hyper Voice
Psyshock
Gardevoir is primarily used on this team for sub-breaking, and surprisingly late game sweeping. Wish is a first step towards patching up my teams recovery, but I rarely get a chance to pass it. It is very helpful merely for my own recovery, but with two moveslots it sometimes feels like a waste.
Latios@ Choice Specs
Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Defog
- Energy Ball
- Psyshock
Latios hits like a truck, and psyshock allows it to go mixed. Energy Ball is to allow it to hit rotom-w for super effective damage. Defog seems out of place here, but it is very easy to get off a defog and absolutely nescessary to my team. It has problems in some redundancy of coverage with Gardevoir, though I use them to play totally different rolls, and being completely walled by steels, which is a challenge as it is my main damage inflictor through the early and mid-game.
I feel that what this team is missing is a "win factor," the only problem is, I have no idea what that means. Can anybody give me any advice?
If you read this and respond in any way, thank you so much!
Main Flaws of my team
Substitute. Especially Gengar. Or machamp. Or Mawile. Or...or anything at all behind a substitute. It's horrible. I normally have to sack a pokemon to get rid of a strong attacker behind a sub.
It's a major flaw when a defensive biased team cannot outlast a balanced team....but occasionally I feels that I lack HP recovery. There are particular pokemon that have no HP problems*cough* Trevenant *cough* but other than that, my defensive core has no reliable recovery, especially ferrothorn. In stall vs stall this inevitably leads to a problem. Which leads to my next flaw.
Hazards. If people bring spikes, I'm in trouble. I'm missing a rapid spinner or defogger, and it is bad enough for parts of my core that a strong team with spikes instantly has the advantage over my team. That said, I just cannot find a good way to incorporate a spinner into this team.
Finally, my team does seem a little knock-off weak. Odd to say, since it wasn't even a factor in the last gen, but all the recovery I have, is via items. Knock-off forces me to sacrifice recovery on my core, my choice specs on my one mid-game attacker, or force in Mawile in a predictable and problematic way.
Pokemon this team has problem with
Unfortunately, Rotom-W. Ferrothorn and Trevenant are the only pokemon that are really good against it, and Ferrothorn is Burn susceptible while Trevenants tactics are negated by volt switch.
My team does not appreciate Magic Bounce, though it is fun to use Curse on espeon and people be totally shocked that it works
Gastrodon completely walls my team in the absence on ferrothorn. (Not counting Mawile with SD, but the 30% chance of burn makes this somewhat...sketchy)
Mega-Kanga. This goes without saying I feel, because no one wants to face that thing.
When I take the team into Pokebank it is wrecked by genesect.
__________________________________________________________________________
The Rejects
Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- U-turn
The Nuke, da Bomb, the big damage of the team. I run U-Turn over Focus Blast for better team synergy, as the things that I need Focus Blast for, my team honestly deals quite well with anyway. My team typically presents one or two opportunities for Hydreigon to come in and fire off a huge hit in the early game, which is of course useful for wearing the opponents team down. However, where Hydreigon shines is in the last part of the game. The nature of my team generally tends to weed out the faster pokemon in the first half of the battle, so that in the second half of the battle, even if the opponent had many pokemon faster than Hydreigon, the necessary trade in bulk brought by that speed has brought them down. However, quite a lot of pokemon in the 80- 100 range typically live into the late game against my team, and This is where Hydreigon shines. I chose Hydreigon over some other special Nuke type pokemon because a) his type synergizes very well with my team, and b) His niche below base 100 actually tends to work in my favor as people do not explicitly save pokemon to outspeed as they would if they were thinking of it as a fast sweeper. That said, there are some occasions where I have wished it was base 101 XD.
Problems....it's speed is base 98. Need I say more? Additionally, the team places too much of a burden on Hydreigon. If I lose Hydreigon early on, it sorta feels like climbing out of a hole. it generally does not end well. Hydreigon worked well with my team, but after moving into pokebank, it just became clear that there were pokemon that could work better.
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
-Iron Head Fire Fang
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
The reason that I have currently settled on Mawile is Intimidate and its raw obscene power. I have on occasion looked for a special pokemon that would work as well, but as of yet, I haven't found anything that works as well. (Probably because M-Mawile is broken as the US Gov.) The two intimidates in the party let me cycle and counter various pokemon without even evolving mawile for a while, and the terror of a sudden OHKO from it's Mega-Form lets me utilize what would otherwise be a mediocre pokemon to great effect until the time is more opportune for a sweep or wall breaking needed. That said, I don't like using M-Mawile. It gets me the win, but it just feels broken and boring to use. I mean, come on, one swords dance and you can rip through the majority of a team? I would love recommendations on what to use in its place mega or no, and why. Alternatively, just let it be. It works really well and doesn't need fixing.
This was removed to give space for Mega-Gardevoir.
Landorus@Life Orb
4 Atk/ 252 Sp. Atk/ 252 Spd
Naive Nature
Earth Power
Sludge Wave(them pesky fairies)
HP Ice
U-Turn
The Reason I have decided not to run this is my teams already large problem with Rotom-W. Hydreigon is able to resist Rotom-W's dual stabs, and Hit back very hard. Running Landorus over Hydreigon takes away me teams only real resistance to Rotom-W. However, I am now considering running Latios.
Overall, I would call this a team plus a mega. Originally it was Mega Kanga. Then it was Charizard. Then Gardevoir. Now it's Mawile. The team does most of the lifting in all cases, with the mega only being at all relevant in late games. I'm not even sure this team want's a mega, but I do find their overwhelming power useful at times.
The Current Team
Trevenant @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Curse
- Substitute
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
Well it's the trevenant set we know and love, with it's zany HP bar shenanigans. This is what I generally use to force out really bulky mons. Of course theoretically Trevenant works as a spin blocker, but I rarely need it to. Trevenants main role is to shut down some attackers with WoW and curse stalling, and near the second half of the game suicide curse to force out a pokemon while I bring in Hydreigon or mawile. This particular role is VERY important, and shouldn't be overlooked. Lategame, something like a free draco meteor from Hydreigon can be completely game changing, and if the opponent has not kept death fodder, typically is the point at which I gain the winning edge. Another interesting note, Trevenant is often the best pokemon on my team to take all the WoW flying around, at least in any battle where I know I will need to conserve my Hydreigon's HP.
Problems; only pokemon to absorb a burn, fine, but if hit with a toxic, it's only good for one more curse. Also, Substitute users can abuse this trevenant ridiculously.
Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
- Power Whip
- Thunder Wave
There is one reason, and one reason alone I have not switched Ferrothorn. Mega Kangaskhan. Whenever i see it on the opposing team, I keep this thing around simply to combat it. It can typically survive a PuP and another non-super effective hit(or another PuP), and retaliate with a Power Whip to kill(or T-wave in some cases). In battles without Mega Kenga, Ferrothorn is not dead weight, it provides vital paralysis support (my team is of course exceedingly slow and this is sometimes nescessary for a very threatening scarfer), and occasionally I even use spikes. However, I've often found this mon lackluster, as it mostly ends up being used simply to switch into physical attackers and then switch out again without doing anything more than RockyBarbs residual damage. It is also held back by lack of recovery as it generally does not have time to abuse leech seed. (Given this I tried taking it off my team, but I was never able to reliably beat Mega Kanga). It also reliably kills smeargle with only one hazard, when coupled with sandstorm from a t-tar lead.
Problems; No residual recovery, leech seed rarely gets used because ferrothorn typically switches out as soon as the pokemon it counters does(which is immediately).
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Taunt
I would say this is the best pokemon on the team. Gyarados typically takes out 3 mons and stops rampaging pokemon in their tracks. A reliable switch in to Talonflame, and patches up (along with tyranitar) the general fire weakness of my team. Their dual purpose in countering fire types allows me more freedom in when to use tyranitar, thus making tyranitar a more deadly attacker. Gyarados is also my most reliable ground counter, with the exception of Excadrill. Taunt is exceptionally useful on this set, and at least half the reason that this pokemon works as well as it does on my team, since I can use it to shut down annoying healers and statusers that my team otherwise might have trouble with.
Great Pokemon all around, except Rotom-W bait. Rotom-W is the bane of this gyarados sets existence, since it allows the opponent to gain momentum every time I send in Gyarados.
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 180 SAtk /72 Spd
Quiet Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse
Tyranitar has gone through a lot of move changes and ev spread changes since I started using it. And now it is a Quiet fully invested in SpAtk monster. So, I know that many people will look askance at this as a very strange and wasteful set, since it more or less throws away Tyranitars ungodly 134 attack for a mediocre 95 SpAtk. But I made this change because of what Tyranitar counters on my team. First off, I noted that the only times I used stone Edge were on pokemon that are very weak to it. In other words, I miss out on very few KOs when using Stone Edge on this Spread. Secondly, the single most common pokemon tyranitar is pitted against is Physically Defensive ferrothorn, and uninvested, Fire Blast Caps at about 90% damage. The current investment is the absolute minimum needed to 100% OHKO. 72 speed EVs are also nescessary, as it allows me to outspeed any base 50(cough cough Aegislash) by two points, thereby catching any person who has invested there extra 4 EVs in speed.
Great....until people catch on. The simple fact is, by running this set, I cannot get the power of a physical set. So once people realize fully mixed, they can take advantage of the power it lacks, since both attack stats barely break 300. This is felt particularly harshly in Pokebank, where this set becomes a tease for strong pokemon to switch in on me and threaten with a U-turn, again gaining momentum.
Gardevoir@ Gardevoirite
Ability:Syncronize
EVs: 248 HP/252 SAtk / 8 Spd
Modest Nature
Wish
Protect
Hyper Voice
Psyshock
Gardevoir is primarily used on this team for sub-breaking, and surprisingly late game sweeping. Wish is a first step towards patching up my teams recovery, but I rarely get a chance to pass it. It is very helpful merely for my own recovery, but with two moveslots it sometimes feels like a waste.
Latios@ Choice Specs
Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Defog
- Energy Ball
- Psyshock
Latios hits like a truck, and psyshock allows it to go mixed. Energy Ball is to allow it to hit rotom-w for super effective damage. Defog seems out of place here, but it is very easy to get off a defog and absolutely nescessary to my team. It has problems in some redundancy of coverage with Gardevoir, though I use them to play totally different rolls, and being completely walled by steels, which is a challenge as it is my main damage inflictor through the early and mid-game.
I feel that what this team is missing is a "win factor," the only problem is, I have no idea what that means. Can anybody give me any advice?
If you read this and respond in any way, thank you so much!
Main Flaws of my team
Substitute. Especially Gengar. Or machamp. Or Mawile. Or...or anything at all behind a substitute. It's horrible. I normally have to sack a pokemon to get rid of a strong attacker behind a sub.
It's a major flaw when a defensive biased team cannot outlast a balanced team....but occasionally I feels that I lack HP recovery. There are particular pokemon that have no HP problems*cough* Trevenant *cough* but other than that, my defensive core has no reliable recovery, especially ferrothorn. In stall vs stall this inevitably leads to a problem. Which leads to my next flaw.
Hazards. If people bring spikes, I'm in trouble. I'm missing a rapid spinner or defogger, and it is bad enough for parts of my core that a strong team with spikes instantly has the advantage over my team. That said, I just cannot find a good way to incorporate a spinner into this team.
Finally, my team does seem a little knock-off weak. Odd to say, since it wasn't even a factor in the last gen, but all the recovery I have, is via items. Knock-off forces me to sacrifice recovery on my core, my choice specs on my one mid-game attacker, or force in Mawile in a predictable and problematic way.
Pokemon this team has problem with
Unfortunately, Rotom-W. Ferrothorn and Trevenant are the only pokemon that are really good against it, and Ferrothorn is Burn susceptible while Trevenants tactics are negated by volt switch.
My team does not appreciate Magic Bounce, though it is fun to use Curse on espeon and people be totally shocked that it works
Gastrodon completely walls my team in the absence on ferrothorn. (Not counting Mawile with SD, but the 30% chance of burn makes this somewhat...sketchy)
Mega-Kanga. This goes without saying I feel, because no one wants to face that thing.
When I take the team into Pokebank it is wrecked by genesect.
__________________________________________________________________________
The Rejects
Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- U-turn
The Nuke, da Bomb, the big damage of the team. I run U-Turn over Focus Blast for better team synergy, as the things that I need Focus Blast for, my team honestly deals quite well with anyway. My team typically presents one or two opportunities for Hydreigon to come in and fire off a huge hit in the early game, which is of course useful for wearing the opponents team down. However, where Hydreigon shines is in the last part of the game. The nature of my team generally tends to weed out the faster pokemon in the first half of the battle, so that in the second half of the battle, even if the opponent had many pokemon faster than Hydreigon, the necessary trade in bulk brought by that speed has brought them down. However, quite a lot of pokemon in the 80- 100 range typically live into the late game against my team, and This is where Hydreigon shines. I chose Hydreigon over some other special Nuke type pokemon because a) his type synergizes very well with my team, and b) His niche below base 100 actually tends to work in my favor as people do not explicitly save pokemon to outspeed as they would if they were thinking of it as a fast sweeper. That said, there are some occasions where I have wished it was base 101 XD.
Problems....it's speed is base 98. Need I say more? Additionally, the team places too much of a burden on Hydreigon. If I lose Hydreigon early on, it sorta feels like climbing out of a hole. it generally does not end well. Hydreigon worked well with my team, but after moving into pokebank, it just became clear that there were pokemon that could work better.
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
-
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
The reason that I have currently settled on Mawile is Intimidate and its raw obscene power. I have on occasion looked for a special pokemon that would work as well, but as of yet, I haven't found anything that works as well. (Probably because M-Mawile is broken as the US Gov.) The two intimidates in the party let me cycle and counter various pokemon without even evolving mawile for a while, and the terror of a sudden OHKO from it's Mega-Form lets me utilize what would otherwise be a mediocre pokemon to great effect until the time is more opportune for a sweep or wall breaking needed. That said, I don't like using M-Mawile. It gets me the win, but it just feels broken and boring to use. I mean, come on, one swords dance and you can rip through the majority of a team? I would love recommendations on what to use in its place mega or no, and why. Alternatively, just let it be. It works really well and doesn't need fixing.
This was removed to give space for Mega-Gardevoir.
Landorus@Life Orb
4 Atk/ 252 Sp. Atk/ 252 Spd
Naive Nature
Earth Power
Sludge Wave(them pesky fairies)
HP Ice
U-Turn
The Reason I have decided not to run this is my teams already large problem with Rotom-W. Hydreigon is able to resist Rotom-W's dual stabs, and Hit back very hard. Running Landorus over Hydreigon takes away me teams only real resistance to Rotom-W. However, I am now considering running Latios.
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