So this is my first attempt at making a serious competitive battling singles team. I've watched a lot of youtube videos to get an idea of how the last B&W metagame works, but I haven't actually played pokemon since 3rd gen, so I may have missed some glaring holse here. Currently this team has just been tested in Pokemon Showdown, but I eventually plan on making it in Y.
I've tried to stick to a few principles here in building the team, which I'm not sure is the best way to go, but it's sort of worked so far.
- Stick solely with physical attackers. Assuming the opponent prepares special walls, that means at least one useless pokemon from the start.
- No SR-weak pokemon. I'm not really sure how to integrate a spinner into an offensive team without losing momentum, so for the moment I'm just using entirely pokemon that don't care too much about SR.
Overview of team:
Garchomp and Scizor form a strong offensive core, as they complement each other's weaknesses nicely and give lots of opportunities to setup with Swords Dance. Gliscor and Rotom-W form a defensive core using U-Turn/Volt Switch to switch in the above attackers so as to not lose any momentum after eating a hit. Machamp + Tyranitar break walls with the Paralysis + Confusion denying moves. Tyranitar fight weather wars, sets up rocks, phazes when needed. Machamp blows things up in general.
My lead is usually a Machamp since I've found that most people lead with things which usually can't handle Machamp, so I get a free Dynamic Punch + confusion off usually. Alternatively, Tyranitar is the lead if the enemy team has something crippled by Stealth Rock. Gliscor is the lead if I'm confused about what to lead with.
Problems I've run into so far from testing:
There are some massive physical walls that give a lot of trouble (as expected with running a purely physical damage team). I've managed to take down roosting Skarmories using the Paralysis from TTar and beating it with Dynamic Punch from Machamp, although maybe there's an easier way. I also ran into an Avalugg that I had a lot of trouble killing after my Machamp was down already.
The Scizor set is somewhat shaky. +4 Technician STAB Bullet Punches hurt like crazy and is extremely easy to set up with Weakness Policy and Endure. However it falls to any kind of priority (although the speed EVs let me outspeed other Scizors nicely) and burn hax from flamethrower/fireblast (which it kind of lures). I'm thinking of switching to a more conventional swords dance Scizor set and slapping a Mega Stone onto it.
Machamp @ Leftovers
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Brave Nature
- Dynamic Punch
- Stone Edge
- Bullet Punch
- Fire Blast
Lead + Wallbreaker Machamp; it generally cripples everything. It can eat a hit from pretty much any unboosted attacker and retaliate with a crippling Dynamic Punch, so it's a good answer to any sort of threat as a switch-in from U-turn/Volt Switch. Stone Edge for coverage and catching ghosts/talonflames switching in. Fire Blast for killing Ferrothorns/Forretresses.
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Careful Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Crunch
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
Support Tyranitar; I'll lead with this instead if there's something on the opposing team that would be crippled by rocks. Against weather teams I use him just for the Sand Stream mostly; he's also great for breaking focus sashes on Cloysters and things. Unfortunately he's kind of taunt bait, and Dragon Tail can put me in bad situations.
Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Poison Jab
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Swords Dance
Pretty standard Garchomp sweeping set, with Poison Jab to murder all the new fairies running around.
Mega Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Brick Break
- U-turn
- Swords Dance
A more standard offensive swords dance Scizor.
Not entirely sure about this set. SD + Weakness Policy + Endure makes setting up +4 STAB Technician Bullet Punches extremely easy, after which Scizor rips everything apart. However, this plan gets completely ruined by burns from flamethrower/fire blasts, which is actually exactly the attack I want when I use Endure…
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 40 Def / 224 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Taunt
- U-turn
Physical wall with U-turn to act as a pivot. Taunt with the Speed EVs is for stopping setup sweepers as well as Brelooms from sporing, and with two other U-Turn/Volt Switch pokemon it's pretty easy to switch it into an unboosted sweeper. The EV distribution was just taken from the B/W Gliscor page - I assume it hits some magic speed breakpoints.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Confuse Ray
- Hidden Power [Flying]
The only non-physical guy. The specially defensive equivalent of the above, with burn for burning physical attackers on the switch-in. Confuse Ray because I hate Hydro Pump missing and wasn't sure what else to put in. HP Flying for Brelooms.
I've tried to stick to a few principles here in building the team, which I'm not sure is the best way to go, but it's sort of worked so far.
- Stick solely with physical attackers. Assuming the opponent prepares special walls, that means at least one useless pokemon from the start.
- No SR-weak pokemon. I'm not really sure how to integrate a spinner into an offensive team without losing momentum, so for the moment I'm just using entirely pokemon that don't care too much about SR.
Overview of team:
Garchomp and Scizor form a strong offensive core, as they complement each other's weaknesses nicely and give lots of opportunities to setup with Swords Dance. Gliscor and Rotom-W form a defensive core using U-Turn/Volt Switch to switch in the above attackers so as to not lose any momentum after eating a hit. Machamp + Tyranitar break walls with the Paralysis + Confusion denying moves. Tyranitar fight weather wars, sets up rocks, phazes when needed. Machamp blows things up in general.
My lead is usually a Machamp since I've found that most people lead with things which usually can't handle Machamp, so I get a free Dynamic Punch + confusion off usually. Alternatively, Tyranitar is the lead if the enemy team has something crippled by Stealth Rock. Gliscor is the lead if I'm confused about what to lead with.
Problems I've run into so far from testing:
There are some massive physical walls that give a lot of trouble (as expected with running a purely physical damage team). I've managed to take down roosting Skarmories using the Paralysis from TTar and beating it with Dynamic Punch from Machamp, although maybe there's an easier way. I also ran into an Avalugg that I had a lot of trouble killing after my Machamp was down already.
The Scizor set is somewhat shaky. +4 Technician STAB Bullet Punches hurt like crazy and is extremely easy to set up with Weakness Policy and Endure. However it falls to any kind of priority (although the speed EVs let me outspeed other Scizors nicely) and burn hax from flamethrower/fireblast (which it kind of lures). I'm thinking of switching to a more conventional swords dance Scizor set and slapping a Mega Stone onto it.
Machamp @ Leftovers
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Brave Nature
- Dynamic Punch
- Stone Edge
- Bullet Punch
- Fire Blast
Lead + Wallbreaker Machamp; it generally cripples everything. It can eat a hit from pretty much any unboosted attacker and retaliate with a crippling Dynamic Punch, so it's a good answer to any sort of threat as a switch-in from U-turn/Volt Switch. Stone Edge for coverage and catching ghosts/talonflames switching in. Fire Blast for killing Ferrothorns/Forretresses.
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Careful Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Crunch
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
Support Tyranitar; I'll lead with this instead if there's something on the opposing team that would be crippled by rocks. Against weather teams I use him just for the Sand Stream mostly; he's also great for breaking focus sashes on Cloysters and things. Unfortunately he's kind of taunt bait, and Dragon Tail can put me in bad situations.
Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Poison Jab
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Swords Dance
Pretty standard Garchomp sweeping set, with Poison Jab to murder all the new fairies running around.
Mega Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Brick Break
- U-turn
- Swords Dance
A more standard offensive swords dance Scizor.
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 40 Def / 224 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Taunt
- U-turn
Physical wall with U-turn to act as a pivot. Taunt with the Speed EVs is for stopping setup sweepers as well as Brelooms from sporing, and with two other U-Turn/Volt Switch pokemon it's pretty easy to switch it into an unboosted sweeper. The EV distribution was just taken from the B/W Gliscor page - I assume it hits some magic speed breakpoints.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Confuse Ray
- Hidden Power [Flying]
The only non-physical guy. The specially defensive equivalent of the above, with burn for burning physical attackers on the switch-in. Confuse Ray because I hate Hydro Pump missing and wasn't sure what else to put in. HP Flying for Brelooms.
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