Battle Spot PRAISE HELIX

[Mac The Writer]

Has anyone done this before? Most likely.

Anywho, this Battle Spot Single set is a rather questionable set. It was originally going to be an Anything Goes set, but I couldn't find a section dedicated to that, so Battle Spot will do. It may not be the best set, though I don't think it's suppose to be. Obviously, it's based on the very old Twitch Plays Pokemon Red stream that happened God knows when (no pun intended), so the following team will most likely suck. It's made mostly for shits and giggles, but it still has a competitive aspect to it, which is why I posted it here. If you guys have any suggestions, feel free to comment down below. With that said, let's analyze the team of our Lord and Saviour Bird Jesus.

Team Details:

aaabaaajss (Pidgeot-Mega) (M) @ Pidgeotite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Substitute
Bird Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, the one who almost got released for our sins. Obviously, without its Mega Stone, Pidgeot would be utterly useless. But since it gets one, and it's one of my favourite Mega Evolutions, he's able to redeem himself with greater power. The set is pretty self-explanatory; No Guard always guarantees 100% accurate Hurricanes, even against Minimize users like Clefable and Driftblim. Heat Wave is there for coverage against Steel-types; Hidden Power Ice is there for Garchomp, Landorus-T and Mega Salamence; and Substitute is there to shield our Lord and Saviour from any hits.

AA-j (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Roost
- Toxic
- Hidden Power [Ice]
The deceiver and murderer who sent many innocent lives to PC Hell, Zapdos is the Defensive Pokemon of my team. Zapdos' main gimmick is to spread Toxic Status around the opponents. Thunderbolt is its most reliant attack to deal a good amount of damage. Hidden Power Ice is to deal against its arch nemesis, Thundurus.

PRAISE HELIX (Omastar) (M) @ White Herb
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 104 Def / 252 SpA / 152 Spe
Modest Nature
- Shell Smash
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
PRAISE HELIX. THERE IS NO OTHER GODS OUTSIDE OF HELIX.
SHOULD I BATTLE GIOVANNI?
maybe someday
THE HELIX HAS SPOKEN.
Anywho, Lord Helix is pretty much what you'd expect from that set; a fast, hard-hitting sweeper with a solid set-up move and item. Surf is its primary STAB move that hits very hard; Ice Beam is to deal against opposing Ice-type Pokemon; and Hidden Power Grass is to deal against the overly common Rotom-Wash.

AIIIIIIRRR (Lapras) (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Freeze-Dry
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Shard
- Sheer Cold
Out of all my Pokemon, Lapras is probably my least viable choice, but since this is themed in Twitch Plays Pokemon, I kinda have no choice. So I did the best that I could with her. For starters, I gave her an Assault Vest and invested on her already-solid HP to take Special Attacks like a complete joke. So, in a sense, she's pretty much the Special Wall Pokemon, in contrast to Zapdos who is the Physical Wall. The moves I gave her is decent enough. Freeze Dry is a solid STAB moves that even hits Mega Swampert and Unaware Quagsire for huge damage; Hydro Pump is its most powerful STAB move; Ice Shard is to finish off weakened enemies quickly; and Sheer Cold is a last-resort move in case the opponent completely walls Lapras or any of my other Pokemon.

AATTVVV (Venomoth) (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Wonder Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Baton Pass
- Bug Buzz
- Sleep Powder
The Dragon Killer herself, the All-Terrain Venomoth is the Baton Pass user who's there to boost my other Pokemon in terms of power. Her set is pretty self-explanatory: set up, use Bug Buzz to sting the opponent, occasionally put the opponent to sleep, and then pass the stat boost to whatever Pokemon would really use it.

AAAAAAAAAA (Nidoking) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 64 Atk / 252 SpA / 192 Spe
Naive Nature
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Superpower
Perhaps my most powerful Pokemon in the team yet, Nidoking is pretty much a great wallbreaker. With Sheer Force and Life Orb combined, moves like Sludge Wave, Earth Power and Ice Beam becomes incredibly powerful and can break through a good share of Pokemon. And finally, Superpower is there for Chansey, who utterly laughts at every Pokemon I have on this team.

So yeah, that's pretty much my idea, so far. Sure, it may not be good, but it's moreso there just for fun rather than a super-serious team (which you can see this thread for a more serious team I built). But with that said, I would love to hear feedbacks from you guys. It would definitely help this team to become better for Battle Spot Singles... or Anything Goes.


Cheers,




Mac the Writer

 

[Omastar68]

Well, one thing that stands out are a couple of weaknesses that are compounded severely. Rock and electric rare the biggest of these. 4 things are weak to rock, while you only have one resist and it's not even bulky. Electric hits three things really hard, w/ one immunity and two neutral to it. Less bad but still bad.

That's overall, let's look at each Poke individually.

First is your main Poke, Pidgeot. First three moves are pretty hard to argue, but Roost can go since uninvested 83/80/80 bulk is quite poor. To put it into perspective, Noivern is slightly bulkier. Pidgeot's movepool is a joke, but any one of Mirror Move, U-Turn(might as well just go Naive for this,nM Pidgeot has crap special bulk w/ two extremely common special weaknesses,) Swagger, Tailwind, Substitute, or Toxic would be better.

Zapdos seems fine, far and away the most standard Poke. They still like to run HP Ice, but Toxic is fine too.

Omastar seems fine except you should probably go w/ Weak Armor. Avoiding crits is nigh on useless for Omastar, and Swift Swim makes zero sense. You can also maybe invest more in bulk at the expense of speed since you may be getting a Weak Armor Boost. In particular you'd want more physical bulk to take certain contact moves to activate Weak Armor. Life Orb>White Herb would make more sense, and if +2 HP Grass doesn't OHKO most Rotom-W I'd say toss it in favor of Earth Power.

You should breed for a flawless(31/X/31/31/31/31) Lapras, as its at enough of a disadvantage in BSS already. If you're Lapras is flawless then you're wasting EVs. AV is certainly an interesting idea, just make sure it can sort of handle users of T-Bolt, since they represent a big portion of special attackers in BSS. For moves Id use Psychic over T-Bolt. Freeze-Dry is weaker, but it hits most of T-Bolt's targets very hard, and Psychic would help for stuff like Mega Venusaur, Conkeldurr, and Gengar. If you opt for Psychchic, see if you can afford to run speed to outspeed uninvested base 80s(Venusaur.)

IDK how Venomoth is a dragon kille, but I'm clearly not in on the joke here anyways. While an odd Pokemon, I think I'd agree w/ the set. She's not a powerhouse herself, but can turn something in to one. Sleep Powder is great to get free turns, while max speed is obvious and a total lack of bulk means you may as well drums the rest in SpA and use a Focus Sash, even if you don't do much damage anyways. Wonder Skin seems really smart to me to greatly reduce the chance of Taunt and T-Wave(among other stuff) hitting. Since Venemoth doesn't sweep herself, Tinted Lense would rarely do you much good.

If you weren't going mixed I'd suggest Nidoqueen, but since you are, Nidoking is a fine choice(well, sort of.) I wouldn't agree w/ Superpower if it weren't for your trouble w/ Normals. Also, what's all the speed for? Max speed base 85s outspeed high speed base 95s and under, but going down the list, high speed base 95s are rare(Gliscor is the only particularly common base 95 that comes to mind, and it doesn't run that much speed,) Max speed Mega Gyarados is both a relatively rare sight and a Pokemon that beats Nidoking anyways, and next is Max speed base 80s. Not sure which one of them you fear, or which ones of them really run Max speed anyways. I actually wouldn't be surprised if Nidoking can OHKO Dragonite, and certainly outspeeding to avoid the OHKO from EQ is a decent idea but Dragonite doesn't give you too many problems in general, and even if it did you could still afford to move a few EVs from Spe to Atk while still outspeeding Max base 80s. Chandelure is more often Modest than Timid, which rules out Max speed. After that is Max speed base 78s(going off DragonWhale's Battle a Spot speed tiers thread in case you didn't know, and base 78s are a rare sight, rarer still going Max speed,) then high speed base 90s(most Kanga are Adamant, and it's base 90 pre mega, but I'm sure many aren't 252 speed if they're not Jolly-and Jolly outspeeds no matter what your EVs-so again it doesn't really matter.) I'd go down to maybe 136 speed for Mega Tyranitar, and Max base 70s which are just one point below that. However, if the extra Atk doesn't get you anything, feel free to run enough speed to outspeed Max base 80s.

This team doesn't seem completely unviable to me, though I am more lenient in terms of what is viable then most, but there are quite a few changes that would make a big impact even w/o resorting to using a more normal standard looking team. I hope that's at least somewhat helpful.

 

[Mac The Writer]

Well, one thing that stands out are a couple of weaknesses that are compounded severely. Rock and electric rare the biggest of these. 4 things are weak to rock, while you only have one resist and it's not even bulky. Electric hits three things really hard, w/ one immunity and two neutral to it. Less bad but still bad.

That's overall, let's look at each Poke individually.

First is your main Poke, Pidgeot. First three moves are pretty hard to argue, but Roost can go since uninvested 83/80/80 bulk is quite poor. To put it into perspective, Noivern is slightly bulkier. Pidgeot's movepool is a joke, but any one of Mirror Move, U-Turn(might as well just go Naive for this,nM Pidgeot has crap special bulk w/ two extremely common special weaknesses,) Swagger, Tailwind, Substitute, or Toxic would be better.

Zapdos seems fine, far and away the most standard Poke. They still like to run HP Ice, but Toxic is fine too.

Omastar seems fine except you should probably go w/ Weak Armor. Avoiding crits is nigh on useless for Omastar, and Swift Swim makes zero sense. You can also maybe invest more in bulk at the expense of speed since you may be getting a Weak Armor Boost. In particular you'd want more physical bulk to take certain contact moves to activate Weak Armor. Life Orb>White Herb would make more sense, and if +2 HP Grass doesn't OHKO most Rotom-W I'd say toss it in favor of Earth Power.

You should breed for a flawless(31/X/31/31/31/31) Lapras, as its at enough of a disadvantage in BSS already. If you're Lapras is flawless then you're wasting EVs. AV is certainly an interesting idea, just make sure it can sort of handle users of T-Bolt, since they represent a big portion of special attackers in BSS. For moves Id use Psychic over T-Bolt. Freeze-Dry is weaker, but it hits most of T-Bolt's targets very hard, and Psychic would help for stuff like Mega Venusaur, Conkeldurr, and Gengar. If you opt for Psychchic, see if you can afford to run speed to outspeed uninvested base 80s(Venusaur.)

IDK how Venomoth is a dragon kille, but I'm clearly not in on the joke here anyways. While an odd Pokemon, I think I'd agree w/ the set. She's not a powerhouse herself, but can turn something in to one. Sleep Powder is great to get free turns, while max speed is obvious and a total lack of bulk means you may as well drums the rest in SpA and use a Focus Sash, even if you don't do much damage anyways. Wonder Skin seems really smart to me to greatly reduce the chance of Taunt and T-Wave(among other stuff) hitting. Since Venemoth doesn't sweep herself, Tinted Lense would rarely do you much good.

If you weren't going mixed I'd suggest Nidoqueen, but since you are, Nidoking is a fine choice(well, sort of.) I wouldn't agree w/ Superpower if it weren't for your trouble w/ Normals. Also, what's all the speed for? Max speed base 85s outspeed high speed base 95s and under, but going down the list, high speed base 95s are rare(Gliscor is the only particularly common base 95 that comes to mind, and it doesn't run that much speed,) Max speed Mega Gyarados is both a relatively rare sight and a Pokemon that beats Nidoking anyways, and next is Max speed base 80s. Not sure which one of them you fear, or which ones of them really run Max speed anyways. I actually wouldn't be surprised if Nidoking can OHKO Dragonite, and certainly outspeeding to avoid the OHKO from EQ is a decent idea but Dragonite doesn't give you too many problems in general, and even if it did you could still afford to move a few EVs from Spe to Atk while still outspeeding Max base 80s. Chandelure is more often Modest than Timid, which rules out Max speed. After that is Max speed base 78s(going off DragonWhale's Battle a Spot speed tiers thread in case you didn't know, and base 78s are a rare sight, rarer still going Max speed,) then high speed base 90s(most Kanga are Adamant, and it's base 90 pre mega, but I'm sure many aren't 252 speed if they're not Jolly-and Jolly outspeeds no matter what your EVs-so again it doesn't really matter.) I'd go down to maybe 136 speed for Mega Tyranitar, and Max base 70s which are just one point below that. However, if the extra Atk doesn't get you anything, feel free to run enough speed to outspeed Max base 80s.

This team doesn't seem completely unviable to me, though I am more lenient in terms of what is viable then most, but there are quite a few changes that would make a big impact even w/o resorting to using a more normal standard looking team. I hope that's at least somewhat helpful.

Alright, thanks for your comment. I updated my page with your suggestions.

 

[cant say]

Oh god, a gimmick team... Is this actually made for the Battle Spot Singles metagame? If it's for Anything Goes then it should have the 'Other Metas' tag. Why did you choose Battle Spot Singles anyway, instead of something like OU or UU?

It does look like a BSS team, since there's no Stealth Rock and you mention some relevant threats, so I'll work on the assumption that you are playing BSS and not just using the tag because you didn't know what else to use... lol

Thundurus is gonna walk all over this team, outside of trying to wall non Life Orb / Nasty Plot sets with Zapdos, or revenging with Nidoking. Too bad they never caught anything good against that in the stream though, right?

You probably want to use Thunderbolt instead of Volt Switch on Zapdos for more reliable damage. It'd suck that you're effectively walling something like Mega Salamence and have to Volt Switch on it. I'd suggest Hidden Power Ice over Heat Wave but then Ferrothorn walls your team pretty well. Maybe you could go HP Ice on Zap and then drop Superpower for Fire Blast on Nidoking. Not sure what Superpower is for anyway, and it allows you to go full Modest / Timid and not split the EVs...

Omastar is a better user of Focus Sash than Venomoth, so I recommend swapping it to him and give Venomoth Black Sludge. That way Omastar can at least revenge kill Thundurus, and Venomoth can still use slower Pokemon as set up fodder. Oh yeah, Tinted Lense instead of Wonder Skin, it will help make Bug Buzz a better mono-attack option.

Psychic on Lapras is crap, use Ice Shard for picking up KOs (yes it works with Modest). Too bad that thing doesn't learn Scald....

Overall, this team isn't fantastic but it's probably the best you can do with the TPP mons and you just wanna have fun sooo.. Would you be open to using any of the other Pokemon Red caught? Because (Mega) Gengar could be a good replacement for Lapras or Omastar (so you aren't doubling up on Waters). I guess it doesn't really fit the theme.

tl;dr
>give Zapdos Thunderbolt, maybe HP Ice
>give Omastar the Focus Sash
>give Lapras Ice Shard
>give Venomoth Black Sludge and Tinted Lens
>give Nidoking Fire Blast and an all-special nature + spread

 

[Mac The Writer]

Oh god, a gimmick team... Is this actually made for the Battle Spot Singles metagame? If it's for Anything Goes then it should have the 'Other Metas' tag. Why did you choose Battle Spot Singles anyway, instead of something like OU or UU?

It does look like a BSS team, since there's no Stealth Rock and you mention some relevant threats, so I'll work on the assumption that you are playing BSS and not just using the tag because you didn't know what else to use... lol

Thundurus is gonna walk all over this team, outside of trying to wall non Life Orb / Nasty Plot sets with Zapdos, or revenging with Nidoking. Too bad they never caught anything good against that in the stream though, right?

You probably want to use Thunderbolt instead of Volt Switch on Zapdos for more reliable damage. It'd suck that you're effectively walling something like Mega Salamence and have to Volt Switch on it. I'd suggest Hidden Power Ice over Heat Wave but then Ferrothorn walls your team pretty well. Maybe you could go HP Ice on Zap and then drop Superpower for Fire Blast on Nidoking. Not sure what Superpower is for anyway, and it allows you to go full Modest / Timid and not split the EVs...

Omastar is a better user of Focus Sash than Venomoth, so I recommend swapping it to him and give Venomoth Black Sludge. That way Omastar can at least revenge kill Thundurus, and Venomoth can still use slower Pokemon as set up fodder. Oh yeah, Tinted Lense instead of Wonder Skin, it will help make Bug Buzz a better mono-attack option.

Psychic on Lapras is crap, use Ice Shard for picking up KOs (yes it works with Modest). Too bad that thing doesn't learn Scald....

Overall, this team isn't fantastic but it's probably the best you can do with the TPP mons and you just wanna have fun sooo.. Would you be open to using any of the other Pokemon Red caught? Because (Mega) Gengar could be a good replacement for Lapras or Omastar (so you aren't doubling up on Waters). I guess it doesn't really fit the theme.

tl;dr
>give Zapdos Thunderbolt, maybe HP Ice
>give Omastar the Focus Sash
>give Lapras Ice Shard
>give Venomoth Black Sludge and Tinted Lens
>give Nidoking Fire Blast and an all-special nature + spread

Alright, I updated some of my Pokemon with some of your recommendation.

 

[dsm77773]

I'm no Battle Spot expert, but I can tell that, sadly, this team has absolutely no place in Anything Goes. I recommend you to check the Anything Goes resources thread to check which mons are viable and to know about the meta in general.
Hope this team gets far (in BSS)!

 

[Omastar68]

Nidoking: 81/ 102/ 77/ 85/ 75/ 85

Nidoqueen: 90/ 92/ 87/ 75/ 85/ 76

Both are relatively slow, so Queen's lower speed doesn't matter too much. King has a bit more SpA, but I don't think that that's as good as Queen's bulk, plus Queen still does pretty solid damage. Kings attack is quite a bit better, but since you're no longer using physical moves, I'd go Queen. Their main moves(as in the ones you're running,) are the same too, as are their abilities. Unless the are some very crucial KOs King gets Queen doesn't, or Queen clashes w/ the idea behind this team, you should go w/ her instead. Here are some calcs(you probably want a different spread for Queen than King, but for simplicity's sake:)


244+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Nidoking: 153-180 (98 - 115.3%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO

252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoking Sludge Wave vs. 44 HP / 0 SpD Talonflame: 140-165 (88 - 103.7%) -- 25% chance to OHKO

I barely ever see CB Talon, but for w/e reason it's the variant I like to calc w/. Sludge Wave may be an OHKO after BB recoil, but your chance to survive are really quite low. Also, that damage is for a not bulky Talon, the specially defensive one would be quite a pain, especially since you can't poison.

252 Atk Choice Band Garchomp Outrage vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Nidoking: 190-225 (121.7 - 144.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Pretty obvious, but worth noting. Obviously you KO Chomp w/ room to spare, but it outspeeds and KOs first unless it's locked into a non-STAB move, Dual Chop, or Dragon Claw(the latter two are also practically OHKOs w/ a CB.)

252 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Return vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Nidoking: 157-186 (100.6 - 119.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Kang doesn't even need DE or EQ to OHKO, and it can PuP on you the first turn cause King only 2HKOes(and a fairly weak 2HKO, meaning Kang will not be on death's door for DE recoil. And that's non bulky Kang. Adamant has gained popularity, which I assume means more EVs in bulk and less in Spe.)

252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Flash Cannon vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Nidoking: 105-124 (67.3 - 79.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO


4 Atk Aegislash-Blade Shadow Sneak vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Nidoking: 42-49 (26.9 - 31.4%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoking Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Aegislash-Blade: 140-166 (83.8 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

More unpleasantness. Aegi 2KOs unboosted w/ a STAB immediately followed by Shadow Sneak, while you just barely miss having a chance to OHKO.

252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoking Sludge Wave vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Suicune: 91-109 (43.9 - 52.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

King is just set up bait for Suicune.


252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoking Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mega Sableye: 87-105 (55.4 - 66.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Goes for Mega Sableye too. Anyways, you probably get the idea here so let's compare to Queen.

252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Nidoqueen: 139-165 (84.2 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoqueen Sludge Wave vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Talonflame: 130-153 (84.4 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

So much better-and since you would never go Timid w/ these EVs on Nidoqueen, the chance to survive is really 100%, while SW OHKOes after recoil.

252 Atk Choice Band Garchomp Outrage vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Nidoqueen: 172-204 (104.2 - 123.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

This Nidoqueen gets KOd by CB Outrage, but max HP doesn't. It even has a 12.5% chance to survive EQ!

252 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Nidoqueen: 168-199 (85.2 - 101%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO

252 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Nidoqueen: 186-222 (94.4 - 112.6%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoqueen Sludge Wave vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Kangaskhan: 97-114 (53.5 - 62.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Very likely to survive DE w/ a decent chance to live an EQ, w/ 252 HP. DE recoil will be at least 42, up to 49, plus at least 97 for SW, up to 114. Kang's HP w/ just 4 EVs is 181, so you don't kill no matter what, but you do at least whittle it down a lot. King doesn't do even that.

252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Nidoqueen: 94-112 (47.7 - 56.8%) -- 89.5% chance to 2HKO

4 Atk Aegislash-Blade Shadow Sneak vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Nidoqueen: 37-45 (18.7 - 22.8%) -- possible 5HKO

+2 252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Nidoqueen: 189-223 (95.9 - 113.1%) -- 75% chance to OHKO

Unboosted won't 2HKO before Queen 2HKOs it, and even a +2 STAB attack may not OHKO(though it usually will, and ofc SS does you in the next turn anyways.)

Queen is still set up bait for Suicune and Sab, but it looks way better from these calcs. Not really recommending either, but if you have to pick one go Queen.

 

[WolfHeartAurora]

Mac The Writer TPP started in February of 2014. I absolutely love this team idea. Slightly disappointed at the lack of Flareon the False Prophet though.

Omastar68 All-Terrain Venemoth is a dragon killer because when we sent out a poison-type against Lance, his Dragonite spammed its only psychic-type move: agility. Gotta love gen 1 AI.