Roar of the Earth

envydei

Hello Smogon, I'm new to these forums, though not the site, and so figured this would be a good place to make a first post about the stuff I'm involved in. I'm currently competing in a between-friends tournament that we made with a particular theme in mind. We're sorta doing a mock pokemon league thing, each member must select a certain type of Pokemon and their team must consist of only pokemon of that type (or that type and another type), and that we may also use one "honorary" of that type (a pokemon who can learn two moves of the partiuclar type either by leveling up or by breeding, but is of a different type (For example, Forretress, who can learn both Spikes and Sand Tomb is a viable option for my Ground team)).

So, my type is Ground. I need to have one ground single-type, and am allowed to have as many partial grounds as I like, or honoraries (though I can only use one honorary in each battle). The tournament has already started, but I kinda just wanted to post this here and see
a) what you guys think of my theme team
and
b) Pokemon I could maybe include to improve it, in keeping with the type idea, of course.

I've been using this team so far within the tournament and in some matches outside of the tournament against people's competitive teams and it has actually been doing much better than I thought a primarily single type team would.


Oh, one other thing. As per the request of the tournaments director, we are not allowed to use pseudo-legendaries or legendaries until we've gotten to a certain point in the tournament (semifinals), at which point we are allowed to use one pseudo-legendary or elemental trio member in keeping with our type, meaning Garchomp or Tyranitar for me.


Here are the pokemon I have so far, in no particular order.

260Swampert.png


Isaac/Swampert @ Choice Band or Life orb
ability: Torrent
move #1- ice punch
move #2- Waterfall
move #3- Stone Edge
move #4- Earthquake
Nature - Adamant
EV's 136 HP, 204 Atk, 64 Def, 100 Speed

Swampert is my primary offensive unit most of the time. Given that I'm competing in a type-based tournament, if I can switch Swampert in on something that is weak or even neutral to it, I can often OHKO or 2HKO it. My biggest problem with Swampert is deciding whether or not choice band is a good idea, since in a tournament based on types, switching out from something like a grass type may just mean something else on my team is KO'ed instead of Swampert.


330Flygon.png


Harlan/Flygon - Life orb
ability: Levitate
move #1 - fire punch
move #2 - roost
move #3 - earthquake
move #4 - dragon claw
Nature - Jolly
EV's 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Speed

Flygon acts primarily as a sweeper for me. I send Flygon in if my opponent has no ice moves (as best I can tell) and Flygon can outspeed it. Flygon is a very kill or be killed Pokemon for me. If he isn't KO'ed or somehow crippled in the first turn he is switched in, he sweeps very well with dragon claw and Earthquake, roosting off life orb damage when I think he might get off for that turn.

450.png


Christie/Hippowdon - Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
move #1 - Earthquake
move #2 - Stealth rock
move #3 - Slack off
move #4 - Ice Fang/Thunder Fang/Fire Fang (switched as I feel appropriate for what type I'm about to face)
Nature - Impish
EV's 252 HP, 168 Def, 88 SpD

Hippowdon is usually the second Pokemon I send in (my lead is usually Mamoswine). Hippowdon is my set-up pokemon, giving me sandstorm and stealth rock. She is bulky enough to last a while and has slack off to heal her when she is getting low on HP.

473Mamoswine.png


Jules/Mamoswine - Focus Sash
Ability: Snow Cloak
move #1 - Ice Fang
move #2 - Earthquake
move #3 - Endeavor
move #4 - Ice Shard
Nature - Jolly
EV's 252 Atk, 4 SpD, 252 Speed

Mamoswine is usually my opener. She is able to get a good ice shard in on opponents who send in part-flying types expecting me to open with a more traditional ground type like Hippowdon or Rhyperior. My main issue wondering about mamoswine is whether or not the focus sash is really such a good idea. You can probably guess what I'd be going for with it, Endeavor + ice shard. But to date, I have never had to use this. So I wonder if perhaps I should give Mamoswine Stealth Rock and give Hippowdon something else, like Toxic perhaps.

464Rhyperior.png


Rhyperior - Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
move #1 - Stone Edge
move #2 - Megahorn
move #3 - Earthquake
move #4 - Hammer Arm
Nature - Impish
EV's 244 HP, 184 Def, 80 SpD

Rhyperior is similar to Hippowdon when I use her. She is a bulky pokemon that I mainly use to sponge attacks and deliver strong attacks back. I tried to keep Rhyperior's moveset diverse, so as to just increase type coverage.


toxicroak.png


Gibson/Toxicroak - Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
move #1 - poison jab
move #2 - cross chop
move #3 - sucker punch
move #4 - swords dance
Nature - Adamant
EV's 252 Atk, 4 SpD, 252 Speed

Toxicroak is my preferred honorary most of the time. He has been useful in dispatching grass pokemon and ghosts who are immune to Earthquake via levitate. He is also decent at forcing some water types to switch out due to Dry Skin.
---------------------------------

and those are my pokemon. I'd love to hear whatever criticisms you all have. Also, if there are any suggestions anyone could give about overcoming this teams innate lacking in Special Defense, I'd love to hear those as well. Thank you all for your time.
 
Believe it or not my friends are doing the same thing (though we don't use any legendary but pseudo are okay and all must share the same type). I also chose ground and you can check out my team on the Ground Team Thread. Your team looks strong and I think I amy have some ideas you can use.

1st: A Brave Claydol. Claydol is the only ground type with access to trick room, a move that can give your swampert, hippowdon, and rhyperior the ability to hit hard first. It can also use explosion after trick room to clear the field so that your others get a fresh start on the other team. You can find the set on the Claydol page.

2nd. Keep Mamoswine back. She's a powerhouse, but her specialty is revenge killing anything that took a hit while taking out your teammates. She'll probably do better with an Adamant nature (around 370 attack) with a choice band (around 550 to 555) and a STAB Ice Shard. I would also say using Superpower and Stone Edge in case you run into something that Ice Shard or Earthquake won't really hurt like Gyarados and other Ice types. If you're worried about speed, I used this set and mine has a speed of 253, much better than I thought it would have and it won't matter with a priority move like Ice Shard.

3. A jolly Flygon is good. It's speed is nice and can work as an excellent scout with U-Turn. With the life orb, you can still hit hard with your STAB moves and Type coverage, but with U-Turn instead of fire punch, you can switch him out, deal damage, and have someone else bulky like Swampert and Hippowdon to take damage for him.

4.Quagsire. Yes Quagsire. This guy may not seem like much but he's an excellent wall against Ground's greatest threat; water (if your opponents use them). He has water absorb and massive HP and Defense and has access to both Recover (breeding with Corsola) and Yawn, enabling you to stall while putting your opponents to sleep. Try it out if you want.

The Sponge
195.png

Quagsire (Male)
Type: Water/Ground
Nature: Impish
Ability: Water Absorb
Item: Leftovers
Ev Value: 252 Hp/ 4 Atk/ 252 Def

Move Set:
Earthquake
Ice Punch
Recover
Yawn

Also, do you know the types your opponents will use or will you not know until it starts?
 
First of all, thanks a lot for the advice! I had thought about adding a Claydol to my backups. We are doing this tournament between all of us to sort of create a mock Pokemon league. We do know the opponents type beforehand, and so far in the tournament, I have made it to the final four. My oponent for this round will either be the grass trainer or the Electric trainer. I recently had a battle with our Electric trainer and he beat me, much to my surprise. Mostly because I had forgotten about Rotom as an option and his Magnezone as well (Magnet Rise, Hidden Power Ice, Grass Knot.. not fun) I have a Gliscor in my backups that I'd bring out for the grass trainer should I have to fight her.

I actually went against our water trainer in the first round and won due to using my normally benched Torterra and Cacturne in the fight.

After we complete our tournament and fill out our mock league, we intend to go to forums and just post ourselves as a challenge for people to take on for fun, going through our 8 gym leaders, elite 4, and champion, such as they are.
 
If you're having problems with Magnezone and Rotom might I suggest Camerupt? If you have trick room up, Camerupt can sweep them with flamethrower or fire blast. The Solid Rock strategy on the site also emphasizes special defense, which will put a damper on special attackers like Rotom and Magnezone.

Also, my opponents are using rock, ice, water, and dark. I had to build nine guys just to fight them.

My team so far is:
Garchomp
Hippowdon
Rhyperior
Swampert
Flygon
Camerupt
Mamoswine
Quagsire
Claydol

I also would like to challenge you whenever you feel like taking on a fellow Ground Trainer. Battling the other four becomes tedious and I want to stack up my team against other Ground Users.
 
Sure thing for the battle. I'm pretty much up for any time. Just shoot me a PM if you want to battle.

My current team

all of the 6 above
and
Torterra
Cacturne
Forretress
Gliscor

Now that I'm a member of our Elite 4, I can actually add a pseudo-legendary to my team. I have to talk to our director but I'm debating between Garchomp and Tyranitar as is. I know Garchomp is usually considered the better, but Tyranitar's just a personal favorite of mine, and I think he has slightly more options available to him than Garchomp. My big thing is, as mentioned before, it seems like ground teams are largely limited offense-wise to sweepers and heavy physical hitters. Because of this, pokemon like the poison trainers Weezing I found quite hard to take down. Things like a Claydol or a mixed Tyranitar could help out where I'm lacking in Special Attack.
 
That is true. Physical walls are a problem. Umbreon and Cloyster are the same for me. That's why I have Camerupt. He has the highest special attack for ground types and uses fire, making him neutral to ice. Tyranitar does indeed have a vaster move pool than Garchomp, plus higher special attack. I believe going with Tyranitar will benefit you in the long run rather than running both Hippowdon and Garchomp together.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top