hello. this is my first ever competitive team. this team does quite well, so i'm not really looking for any major changes unless they're really vital, but anyhow, constructive suggestions are welcome.
I really liked the thought of using Trick room teams, so here it is.
Bronzong (Levitate)
-Relaxed
-Lum Berry
-252 HP/ 152 Atk/ 8 Def/ 96 Sp.Def.
-Trick Room
-Gyro Ball
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
Standard TR Bronzong. I use this guy because of its ablilty to lay Stealth Rock, and reliably set up Trick Room. Strategy is, G-ball or Stealth Rock first, then Trick Room and switch out, if the opponent brings out a Bronzong counter. Generally a great pokemon, but i'm aware that I don't have a Special Wall, or that I'm quite weak towards dark type pokemon like tyranitar and absol, so if there's any replacement for this bronzong, I will consider it. I put Macho Brace on zong, because its moveset resembles something of an offensive TR zong, so i wanted to make it quite bulky and offensive at the same time. Thus Macho Brace works as zong effectively outspeeds all the pokemon in the metagame that is not named shuckle in TR conditions (and when do you exactly see shuckle anyway) and powers up zong's G-ball. Earthquake is for those heatran leads.
★Problem★ Levitate vs Heat proof. Normally Fire type moves are the only way to get rid of bronzong easily, but if I try Heat proof, even that doesn't work. Then I normally explode, so that the opponent wont realise too early that im using heatproof. But I quite like levitate as well, eventhough cresselia is immune to it, so can easily switch into EQ. So I'm quite open to suggestions on this one.
Heatran (Flash Fire)
-Quiet
-Choice Specs
-252 HP/ 252 Sp.Atk / 4 Def.
-Eruption
-Earth power
-Dragon pulse
-Hidden power Grass
My special sweeper. I don't use the comventional scarf heatran. And the negation of speed, plus heatran's reletively low speed make him an ideal pokemon for TR sweeping. Even if heatran switches into stealth rock, its eruption power is not that different from fire blast, and the added accuracy is a bonus. A full powered choice specs eruption from heatran, is nearly an instant OHKO to all weaker pokemon, and takes away nearly 90%~100% on average to pokemon taking neutral damage. Even a bulky vaporeon took 50% damage from this, so i guess eruptions the way to go. I use this pokemon until TR runs out, or if its HP gets any lower than 60%. Dual screen prevents heatran from dying too slowly. And the investment into HP makes this beast something of an all rounder assault. The rest of the moveset is pretty standard, with HP grass to take out the occasional swampert, or water types.
Marowak (★) (Rock Head)
-Brave
-Thick Club
-252 Hp/ 252 Atk/ 4 Def
-Earthquake
-Double Edge
-Fire punch
-Thunder punch
Everyone who has remotely experienced a Trick Room team, would realise the beastly nature of marowak. Marowak is one of my physical sweepers. And after Reflect support from my trick roomers, its defence become pretty sturdy, not so much the usual, fragile marowak. The whole point of marowak is, get in, kill 2~3 pokemons, then get out. I really am careful about marowak, as i try to keep him alive for him to be my lunar dacing recipient.
EQ is for STAB, and its strongest move, and double edge for strong, non recoil damage to those who resist EQ. Fire and Thunder punches are there to fill in the variety of movepool which only 3 sweepers are to cover, and to kill some grass pokemon, and the gyarados, which always switch in, if i dont have stealth rock operating. Gengar,who resists both the strongest moves of marowak, is easily OHKO'd by the elemental punches.
★Question★ Scizor vs. marowak. I know that marowak is a beast, but there is also Scizor who has amazing attack. i'm currently not using scizor only because if 2/3 sweepers have choice items, it simply limits the range of attacks which i can land. But i would use CB scizor if there is a good reason to do so.
Exeggutor (Chlorophyll)
-Quiet
-Life orb
-4HP/ 252 Atk/ 252 Sp.Atk
-Trick Room
-Explosion
-Leaf storm
-Worry Seed
Ok. I replaced Uxie with Exeggutor. And for a good reason too. Exeggutor is strong enough to take out at least 1 pokemon, along with setting up TR. The EV spread is a pretty standard TR spread, made to maximise its (suicidal) attacking skills. Exeggutor also rids me of my weakness to water pokemon, which is one of the key points to replacing Uxie. Strategy here is to TR(obviously) and then leafstorm, which is pretty damn strong, 2HKO ing most pokemon. After that if whatever switches in that is not good for Exeggutor, I explode. Sleep powder would seem to be the sensible option, but I hate it SO MUCH when it misses, and exegg just dies if it does. So, i made the last move WORRY SEED. Pretty useless at first glance, but this move turned out to be amazing. It turns levitating pokemons useless, vulnerable to marowaks powerful STAB EQ, or my Heatrans boosted Earth power. This also gets heatran's flash fire, breloom's poison heal, gyarados' intimidate, among many others. It's surprisingly useful. Life orb is for more power, as exegg is one TR set up that isn't meant to last too long. But this pokemon is certainly worth it. :)
Thanks to ppl who suggested this to me.
Hariyama (Guts)
-adamant
-leftovers
-252 HP/ 252 Atk/ 4def
-Belly Drum
-Bullet punch
-Close Combat
-Ice Punch
This hariyama, is somewhat of an anomaly in the TR team, but that works in its favour. Alot. Hariyama takes out at least 2 pokemon, if used correctly. Hariyama, with dual screen support, becomes the biggest mumba bear there is, taking hits after hits. However, that is secondary, as its primary objective is to sweep. Hariyama is probably the most effective in my team, with lots of defensive support. Hariyama usually goes for the belly drum, and it becomes extremely hard to kill, even with only 50% HP left. He is one of the few drumming-priority users, which enable him to work outside of TR as well. The strategy here is to drum, and then CC/Ice P/or BP. after drumming, bullet punch OHKO's fragile pokemon such as gengar, jolteon, etc. It does even 50~55% on defensive dusknoir, so its actually really useful, despite the disapproval from the web, and also by the fact that it can work outside of TR.
Close Combat is strong. Even without Belly drum support it OHKO's a large majority of pokemon which isnt dedicated to walling hariyama, and despite the drop, BP allows it to do more damage before it gets knocked out. Hariyama can also work as a revenge killer, as it has BP to kill weak pokemon, and then Stealth Rock damage is healed off by leftovers. The EV spread is to mximise its gigantic HP and Atk. Ice punch for further coverage. This pokemon is to be used in late game, when i know most of the opponents team, and i know that when i switch it in, it wont lose half HP. Hariyama is simply an amazing pokemon.
★Question★ Swords Dance scizor vs. Hariyama. I understand that Swords Dance scizor fills a similar role to that of my hariyama. It's just I haven't bothered to try it out, and Close Combat from Belly drum is like a heaven's napalm, that's all. But I understand that scizor has more resistances, and can contend for power after Swords dance, and can be a pain for the other team. But i just really like the raw power and the bulkiness of hariyama, especially when I have dual screen support, and when I dont have to worry about the defenses that way. But it would be nice to run a scizor who has Brick Break, as dual screen can get frustrating for the opponent at times.
Any suggestions are welcome.
Cresselia (★) (Levitate)
-Relaxed
-Light clay
-252 HP/ 148 Def/ 108 Sp.Def
-Light Screen
-Reflect
-Trick room
-Lunar dance
Cress is simply an amazing pokemon. most pokemon simply cannot think of defeating her, especially with dual screens. She first sets up dual screens, then Trick Room. She has the bulk to do so. She doesnt really worry about absorbing status problems, as I switch out after her job is done, which usually doesnt take that long. Also, she is to be used in later game play, for resetting dual screens, or lunar dancing to heal my sweepers. This pokemon is simply too great to count out, as its prefect for giving hariyama another go at swepping even after a drumming attempt.
★Question★ I'm not too sure about whether I should choose dusknoir or cress, as some people says its a pretty good idea, eventhough from exp. cress is actually quite useful. So a suggestion would be welcome, about whether i should use cress or dusknoir for late game TR support.
★Problems for the team as a whole★
*My Wall/Trick Room set ups are quite weak to dark types.
*Brick Breakers such as scizor can be such a pain. maybe dusknoir?
*I don't have a mixed attacker, and I know that it is such a great thing to have when running a TR team. But dragonite is ruined by stealth rock, unless used in a lead, which negates the purpose for him, and Tyranitar such slowly nags away at my own pokemon, so no good. That only leaves me with Metagross, as a mixed sweeper who can really fit into TR, and i dont particularly like him, as I actually have a large coverage with my 3 sweepers. But if there are any other options, give me a suggestion.
There have been quite a lot of suggestions for a mixed sweeper. These included:
Octillary
Blazekin
Metagross
But i ruled out blazekin, as it was simply not as good as specs heatran on use, and i'm not sure on octillary becasue im not sure about its EV spread, moveset, nature, and how it will affect my team as a whole. (TEam synergy? is it called? IDK)
So any suggestions about mixed sweepers... please help me on this :)
thanks for reading.
I really liked the thought of using Trick room teams, so here it is.
Bronzong (Levitate)
-Relaxed
-Lum Berry
-252 HP/ 152 Atk/ 8 Def/ 96 Sp.Def.
-Trick Room
-Gyro Ball
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
Standard TR Bronzong. I use this guy because of its ablilty to lay Stealth Rock, and reliably set up Trick Room. Strategy is, G-ball or Stealth Rock first, then Trick Room and switch out, if the opponent brings out a Bronzong counter. Generally a great pokemon, but i'm aware that I don't have a Special Wall, or that I'm quite weak towards dark type pokemon like tyranitar and absol, so if there's any replacement for this bronzong, I will consider it. I put Macho Brace on zong, because its moveset resembles something of an offensive TR zong, so i wanted to make it quite bulky and offensive at the same time. Thus Macho Brace works as zong effectively outspeeds all the pokemon in the metagame that is not named shuckle in TR conditions (and when do you exactly see shuckle anyway) and powers up zong's G-ball. Earthquake is for those heatran leads.
★Problem★ Levitate vs Heat proof. Normally Fire type moves are the only way to get rid of bronzong easily, but if I try Heat proof, even that doesn't work. Then I normally explode, so that the opponent wont realise too early that im using heatproof. But I quite like levitate as well, eventhough cresselia is immune to it, so can easily switch into EQ. So I'm quite open to suggestions on this one.
Heatran (Flash Fire)
-Quiet
-Choice Specs
-252 HP/ 252 Sp.Atk / 4 Def.
-Eruption
-Earth power
-Dragon pulse
-Hidden power Grass
My special sweeper. I don't use the comventional scarf heatran. And the negation of speed, plus heatran's reletively low speed make him an ideal pokemon for TR sweeping. Even if heatran switches into stealth rock, its eruption power is not that different from fire blast, and the added accuracy is a bonus. A full powered choice specs eruption from heatran, is nearly an instant OHKO to all weaker pokemon, and takes away nearly 90%~100% on average to pokemon taking neutral damage. Even a bulky vaporeon took 50% damage from this, so i guess eruptions the way to go. I use this pokemon until TR runs out, or if its HP gets any lower than 60%. Dual screen prevents heatran from dying too slowly. And the investment into HP makes this beast something of an all rounder assault. The rest of the moveset is pretty standard, with HP grass to take out the occasional swampert, or water types.
Marowak (★) (Rock Head)
-Brave
-Thick Club
-252 Hp/ 252 Atk/ 4 Def
-Earthquake
-Double Edge
-Fire punch
-Thunder punch
Everyone who has remotely experienced a Trick Room team, would realise the beastly nature of marowak. Marowak is one of my physical sweepers. And after Reflect support from my trick roomers, its defence become pretty sturdy, not so much the usual, fragile marowak. The whole point of marowak is, get in, kill 2~3 pokemons, then get out. I really am careful about marowak, as i try to keep him alive for him to be my lunar dacing recipient.
EQ is for STAB, and its strongest move, and double edge for strong, non recoil damage to those who resist EQ. Fire and Thunder punches are there to fill in the variety of movepool which only 3 sweepers are to cover, and to kill some grass pokemon, and the gyarados, which always switch in, if i dont have stealth rock operating. Gengar,who resists both the strongest moves of marowak, is easily OHKO'd by the elemental punches.
★Question★ Scizor vs. marowak. I know that marowak is a beast, but there is also Scizor who has amazing attack. i'm currently not using scizor only because if 2/3 sweepers have choice items, it simply limits the range of attacks which i can land. But i would use CB scizor if there is a good reason to do so.
Exeggutor (Chlorophyll)
-Quiet
-Life orb
-4HP/ 252 Atk/ 252 Sp.Atk
-Trick Room
-Explosion
-Leaf storm
-Worry Seed
Ok. I replaced Uxie with Exeggutor. And for a good reason too. Exeggutor is strong enough to take out at least 1 pokemon, along with setting up TR. The EV spread is a pretty standard TR spread, made to maximise its (suicidal) attacking skills. Exeggutor also rids me of my weakness to water pokemon, which is one of the key points to replacing Uxie. Strategy here is to TR(obviously) and then leafstorm, which is pretty damn strong, 2HKO ing most pokemon. After that if whatever switches in that is not good for Exeggutor, I explode. Sleep powder would seem to be the sensible option, but I hate it SO MUCH when it misses, and exegg just dies if it does. So, i made the last move WORRY SEED. Pretty useless at first glance, but this move turned out to be amazing. It turns levitating pokemons useless, vulnerable to marowaks powerful STAB EQ, or my Heatrans boosted Earth power. This also gets heatran's flash fire, breloom's poison heal, gyarados' intimidate, among many others. It's surprisingly useful. Life orb is for more power, as exegg is one TR set up that isn't meant to last too long. But this pokemon is certainly worth it. :)
Thanks to ppl who suggested this to me.
Hariyama (Guts)
-adamant
-leftovers
-252 HP/ 252 Atk/ 4def
-Belly Drum
-Bullet punch
-Close Combat
-Ice Punch
This hariyama, is somewhat of an anomaly in the TR team, but that works in its favour. Alot. Hariyama takes out at least 2 pokemon, if used correctly. Hariyama, with dual screen support, becomes the biggest mumba bear there is, taking hits after hits. However, that is secondary, as its primary objective is to sweep. Hariyama is probably the most effective in my team, with lots of defensive support. Hariyama usually goes for the belly drum, and it becomes extremely hard to kill, even with only 50% HP left. He is one of the few drumming-priority users, which enable him to work outside of TR as well. The strategy here is to drum, and then CC/Ice P/or BP. after drumming, bullet punch OHKO's fragile pokemon such as gengar, jolteon, etc. It does even 50~55% on defensive dusknoir, so its actually really useful, despite the disapproval from the web, and also by the fact that it can work outside of TR.
Close Combat is strong. Even without Belly drum support it OHKO's a large majority of pokemon which isnt dedicated to walling hariyama, and despite the drop, BP allows it to do more damage before it gets knocked out. Hariyama can also work as a revenge killer, as it has BP to kill weak pokemon, and then Stealth Rock damage is healed off by leftovers. The EV spread is to mximise its gigantic HP and Atk. Ice punch for further coverage. This pokemon is to be used in late game, when i know most of the opponents team, and i know that when i switch it in, it wont lose half HP. Hariyama is simply an amazing pokemon.
★Question★ Swords Dance scizor vs. Hariyama. I understand that Swords Dance scizor fills a similar role to that of my hariyama. It's just I haven't bothered to try it out, and Close Combat from Belly drum is like a heaven's napalm, that's all. But I understand that scizor has more resistances, and can contend for power after Swords dance, and can be a pain for the other team. But i just really like the raw power and the bulkiness of hariyama, especially when I have dual screen support, and when I dont have to worry about the defenses that way. But it would be nice to run a scizor who has Brick Break, as dual screen can get frustrating for the opponent at times.
Any suggestions are welcome.
Cresselia (★) (Levitate)
-Relaxed
-Light clay
-252 HP/ 148 Def/ 108 Sp.Def
-Light Screen
-Reflect
-Trick room
-Lunar dance
Cress is simply an amazing pokemon. most pokemon simply cannot think of defeating her, especially with dual screens. She first sets up dual screens, then Trick Room. She has the bulk to do so. She doesnt really worry about absorbing status problems, as I switch out after her job is done, which usually doesnt take that long. Also, she is to be used in later game play, for resetting dual screens, or lunar dancing to heal my sweepers. This pokemon is simply too great to count out, as its prefect for giving hariyama another go at swepping even after a drumming attempt.
★Question★ I'm not too sure about whether I should choose dusknoir or cress, as some people says its a pretty good idea, eventhough from exp. cress is actually quite useful. So a suggestion would be welcome, about whether i should use cress or dusknoir for late game TR support.
★Problems for the team as a whole★
*My Wall/Trick Room set ups are quite weak to dark types.
*Brick Breakers such as scizor can be such a pain. maybe dusknoir?
*I don't have a mixed attacker, and I know that it is such a great thing to have when running a TR team. But dragonite is ruined by stealth rock, unless used in a lead, which negates the purpose for him, and Tyranitar such slowly nags away at my own pokemon, so no good. That only leaves me with Metagross, as a mixed sweeper who can really fit into TR, and i dont particularly like him, as I actually have a large coverage with my 3 sweepers. But if there are any other options, give me a suggestion.
There have been quite a lot of suggestions for a mixed sweeper. These included:
Octillary
Blazekin
Metagross
But i ruled out blazekin, as it was simply not as good as specs heatran on use, and i'm not sure on octillary becasue im not sure about its EV spread, moveset, nature, and how it will affect my team as a whole. (TEam synergy? is it called? IDK)
So any suggestions about mixed sweepers... please help me on this :)
thanks for reading.
