Hello! My name is Beets. I am fairly new to competitive Pokemon but I am loving what I have experienced so far. I recently discovered the Monotype metagame. As Crobat is my favorite Pokemon, I decided to try my hand at a mono-poison team. I have seen some nice successes, and have been having a lot of fun! However, I find myself losing to flying teams. Also any team that has any steel Pokemon on them at all.
Because I rely on setting toxic spikes and then sweeping with Hex, my gameplan is very 1) predicatable 2) easy to negate and 3) stupid. If you have any Pokemon that flies or levates, you are completely exempt from my win condition. If you have any steel-types at all, you are the win condition. If you can outspeed / outlive choice scarfed-hexing-Gengar, then you've beaten me.
Here are a few examples of my recent experiences. Notice that in these matches I forgot to invest EVs into Gengar and Venusaur (lol).
Against a competent fire team.
Against a friendly dark team.
Against a rude ground team.
Against an asshole who assumed Venusaur was my win condition.
Although I have not played against a competent flying team, I know that I would (probably) be unable to win as most of my moveslots are allocated by entry hazards and venoshock (lol). If I had access to a poison-type Pokemon that could learn the move GRAVITY then all of my problems would be solved. However, as of this writing, the only Pokemon that meets those requirements is Arceus, who, also as of this writing, is banned from Monotype.
I have changed a few things since those replays. I have replaced curse with hp fire on Venusaur. I have also invested EVs into my Gengar and Venusaur. Anyway, this is a fun team. I don't know if this sort of mono-poison team is common or not. I hope you have all enjoy reading this team, and can help me improve on my team's weaknesses.
Crobat
Crobat @ Black Sludge
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Toxic
- Roost
- Taunt
Crobat is my go-to Pokemon for any team that I ever make. Crobat's base 130 speed used to mean something before power creep. Infiltrator has saved me so many times, it's not even funny. There was a mono-grass team with an ancientpower-suction cup-Cradily that I probably only beat because I could toxic it through its substitute. And yeah, taunt and roost are almost always on Crobat, as he outspeeds most set-up sweepers. His typing and STAB brave bird are also very useful for taking down the likes of Heracross and Mega Pinsir. Oh, and he isn't afraid of ground-types. Heck yeah.
Drapion
Drapion @ Air Balloon
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Knock Off
- Whirlwind
- Toxic Spikes
- Rain Dance
Drapion is not just an obligatory psychic-check; Drapion is one half of my win condition. Set up one or even two sets of toxic spikes around my opponent's team, and the entire team (bar fliers, levitators, steel-types, Pokemon with immunity, and poison-types) is ready to be swept with either Hex or Venoshock from Gengar. Knock off is a powerful STAB move. Whirlwind is for phazing Pokemon that assume they can set-up on Drapion. It's also pretty hilarious that Drapion can learn whirlwind. I put rain dance on Drapion because Fire-teams absolutely wreck me. When Drapion uses rain dance, people also immediately assume my Qwilfish is a swift swimmer; so they actually leave Drapion alive and stall out the rain! It's pretty funny and can play mind games with the opponent. Air balloon turns Drapion into a zero-weakness Pokemon. Often times players forget I have it, and use earth moves on me anyway. It works.
Gengar
Gengar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Venoshock
- Psychic
- Will-O-Wisp
Choice. Scarf. Gengar. What outspeeds choice scarf Gengar? Choice scarf Crobat! That's right! I almost always save Gengar for when I am confident that I can sweep the rest of my opponents team with either hex or venoshock, depending on what my opponent has left alive. Choice scarf Gengar outspeeds other choice scarf users. This is pretty awesome. Psychic is there for coverage, although I have yet to have seen it's usefulness. Will-O-Wisp is there for steel types and is pretty hilarious lol. I went back and forth on life orb and choice scarf, and life orb is just never gets the job done. I can't see this set working without the scarf. lol
Nidoqueen
Nidoqueen @ Expert Belt
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 44 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Flamethrower
Nidoqueen is the other half of my entry hazard core. Stealth rocks is almost a necessity if I want to stand a chance against flying teams, and even then they can just defog all of my work away. The rest of her moveset is simple coverage. Sheer Force Earth Power is a guaranteed 2HKO on Lucario, and her defensive EV investment allows her to tank EarthQuake and still have approximately 50% hp. Nidoqueen also provides a key ground typing, giving her synergy with Crobat, who is otherwise volt switch bait for the never-ending usage of Rotom.
Qwilfish
Qwilfish @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Poison Jab
- Aqua Jet
- Explosion
Qwilfish. This Pokemon is no joke. Qwilfish is my only water-type Pokemon and also my only physical attacker at all. Qwilfish has saved me countless occasions, including being able to clean up my ground-type opponents. I messed around a lot with swift swim combined with Drapion's rain dance, but found myself always up against Mega Charizard, leaving me with no choice but to poison jab (or explode). Poison jab is an excellent STAB move that has a 30% chance to poison, which can be crucial if I am against a flying or levitating opponent. Intimidate has allowed me to survive a sun-boosted flare blitz from scarfed Darmanitan, and, after stealth rock and toxic damage upon entry, Qwilfish is actually able to finish him get a significant amount of damage in with Aqua Jet. Charizard, who brings the sunlight and avoids toxic spikes, also does not appreciate a life orb-boosted aqua jet. Qwilfish is a formidable Pokemon that can effectively clean up many a weakened team, so long as they aren't all choice scarfed.
Mega Venusaur
Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Synthesis
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sludge Bomb
Mega Venusaur provides the glue to make my team even somewhat viable. Verses grass teams, it can almost sweep the opponent single-handedly with its powerful Sludge Bomb. Mega Venusaur is also my only special attack sponge. Without Mega Venusaur, threats such as Galvantula and Scizor would sweep my team without any trouble. I have forgone curse for hp fire because of the previous two mentions. Steel types are also the bane of my existence, and so it would be folly not to fun it. Mega Venusaur is also capable of taking Earthquakes from Pokemon that run it as a coverage option such as Heracross and Lucario. Synthesis is necessary for longetivity, and giga drain is my prefered STABed grass-move of choice. Synthesis would also probably be invaluable versues the many sunny fire teams that I am pitted against in the lower rungs of the ladder, but my forgetting to invest in EVs has not proven that to be true. I run overgrow over chlorophyll so that I can tank a hit as I Mega Transform and then heal, as opposed to making the first move, getting hit, and then dying the next turn because I DON'T go first.
In conclusion, this is a very fun team to run, but I don't really win lol. If I could use Arceus that ran a GRAVITY set, I might win once. If you are up against assault vest Volcarona, you won't be able to take off 50% of its HP with Gengar's Hex. So, don't try it. I hope to see all of you out there on PS!