Introduction
Hi there. I'm khz and relatively new to competitive battling. After trying out various teams I've settled on this one that I quite like, having reached a CRE of 1200 on Shoddy. However I'd still like to improve and therefore I am posting this team for analysis and improvement.
Team Building Process
When building this team I wanted to include a physical sweeping Celebi. Very rarely have I seen one and after using it on an older team I was amazed at its ability to set up and sweep through unprepared teams. It just seems that no one suspect him of being able to pull off a sweep.
Unfortunately Celebi is near useless against the most common Pokemon in the metagame, Scizor. Therefore I needed a counter for him. It came down to Heatran and Rotom-H but in the end I went for the appliance due to his ability to spin block.
Whilst these two could hold their own defensively, they still came up short against some of the stronger attackers. Therefore I decided I needed at least two defensive Pokemon, with the ability to phaze and heal status between them. Thus I decided on Blissey for special walling and Suicune to not only shuffle the opposition's team but also deal with Salamence and Heatran, among others.
With the core of the team done, I decided to choose a lead. In my short battling career Aerodactyl has become my favourite by far, being able to set up Stealth Rock and sometimes deal significant damage.
Finally to round off the team I needed a revenge killer to pick off weakened foes. Scizor was an obvious choice and also had the advantage of being able to cover some of the team's weaknesses.
Aerodactyl (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Taunt
Aerodactyl is so far my favourite lead. He is able to set up Stealth Rock most of the time and usually gets at least one hit in before he dies. This is the standard lead spread with max speed to outrun almost everything and tie with other Aerodactyls. Focus Sash means that he will always get one move in and Stone Edge and Earthquake allows him to cause some damage.
Celebi @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 36 HP/252 Atk/220 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Seed Bomb
- Recover
- Zen Headbutt
My mid to late game sweeper. The moveset contains two STAB's with decent coverage, Swords Dance to power up and Recover to restore HP after Life Orb recoil. Maxed attack is obvious, and the speed EVs allow her to outrun neutral speed natured Gengar. The other EVs are put in HP for slight bulk.
Rotom-H @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/168 Def/88 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Will-o-wisp
- Overheat
- Discharge
- Shadow Ball
This is a standard defensive Rotom-H set. The speed investment allows it to outrun max speed Adamant Scizor and OHKO it with Overheat. Discharge with the paralysis rate is helpful, and Shadow Ball is the second STAB. Will-o-Wisp rounds off the set with the ability to cripple physical sweepers.
Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP/252 Atk/8 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit
Scizor acts as a cleaner in my team. He can come in and hit hard with Bullet Punch to pick off frail sweepers, scare off Blissey whilst switching with U-turn and chase down leavers with Pursuit. Superpower allows him to OHKO Tyranitar and dent Magnezone.
Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Surf
- Roar
- Rest
Suicune is a key member of this team, able to deal damage with Surf or Ice Beam, shuffle around the opponent's team with Roar and then Rest off the damage. I originally ran Calm Mind over Rest but changed it after I found a lack of opportunitites to set up a sweep.
Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 24 HP/252 Def/232 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Softboiled
- Thunder Wave
- Aromatherapy
- Seismic Toss
Blissey's main role is to cure status, pass around paralysis and wear down the enemy with Seismic Toss. The EV setup is from the Cleric set found in the Shoddy box and I have found it more efficient than other EV setups. The move set is fairly standard: Aromatherapy to cure status, Softboiled to heal, Thunder Wave to spread paralysis and Seismic Toss to wear down opponents. I chose Seismic Toss over the other attacking options because it allows Blissey to hit with consistent damage against everything but ghosts, who Scizor can Bullet Punch or chase down with Pursuit.
Team Weaknesses
So far my team has experienced the following issues. Any advice on how to deal with them is appreciated.
-Toxic Spikes is a pain since nothing can absorb them and it forces me to switch around alot. Spike has a similar problem but to a lesser extent.