Shoddy Battle OU Monotype

[anubite]

I have been using this team for over six months now, recently I've been using it on shoddy battle and have found it fairly effective there (though it's really only a 55%/45% win/loss ratio with it) and I want to improve it:

MONOTYPE POISON

Mission: My mission with this team is to not only have fun, but to whoop ass while I'm doing it. I'm trying to be faithful to the old days of R/B/Y and so in honor of Koga I have a Muk and Venomoth. This team has some synergy and they work well together, but it needs improvement. I don't think I can improve it any more on my own though. I've exhausted my own ideas.

At worst, I'd like to do better than Koga haha.

Crobat

252 Speed / 252 SpAttack
Timid (+Speed -Attack)
Inner Focus (Prevents Flinching)
Focus Sash

Taunt
Heat Wave
Air Slash
Hypnosis

Crobat is godsend lead. He will stop trick room, rain dance – and with proper reading I can also stop a swords dance or baton pass or destiny bond. However, his main job is to scout or force or an enable a switch.

He used to be a physical attacker but recently I found Heat Wave was too good to pass up. It just surprises so many people. Besides, I've found Air Slash is a superior attack option for a hypnosis + flinch combo.

Hypnosis is what I do as a last resort – when I just can't read my opponent. If I'm not sure wether Swampert will Stealth Rock or Stone Edge, I'll risk a hypnosis. Otherwise, I'll taunt or attack. Usually after sleeping, I switch in Toxicroak or Muk, who are specialized in handling a wide variety of foes.

Against a faster pokemon like Aerodactyl or Electrode, I will switch in Toxicroak or Muk.

Gengar

252 Speed / 252 SpAttack
(Adamant +SpAttack -Attack)
Levitate
Focus Sash

Shadow Ball
Thunderbolt
Focus Blast
Destiny Bond

Gengar sweeps. Scizor and priority attackers are his biggest fear, but with good prediction, Destiny Bond forces a switch or allows me to hit them at least once or it kills them, which is lovely.

I tend to send out Gengar mid-fight so that I can switch him in on an earthquake or a fake-out.

Venomoth

252 Speed / 252 SpAttack
(Timid +Speed -Attack)
Tinted Lens
Choice Specs

Bug Buzz
Energy Ball
Sleep Powder
Psychic

Venomoth is my choice attacker. He annihilates anyone who underestimates him. That said, he is easily countered by a speedy foe or someone like Charizard. If he's faster though, Venomoth will tend to OHKO or 2HKO his opponents. Energy Ball and Psychic are saved for 4x weaknesses and Sleep Powder is when I misread my opponent, otherwise I'll Bug Buzz away until death. Venomoth carries his weight, at any rate.

Toxicroak

252 Attack / 128 Hp / 128 Defense
Dry Skin
Adamant (+Attack -SpAttack)
Focus Sash

Ice Punch
Bullet Punch
Cross Chop
Sucker Punch

Priority attacker. He hits pretty hard and covers a lot of pokemon, plus he has great staying power and loves to switch in on surf. I will often switch him in on Aerodactyl, Ice Punch and Bullet Punch assure a KO on many pokemon, Cross Chop devastates walls like Blissey or Snorlax.

Arbok

252 Attack / 252 Speed
Adamant (+Attack -SpAttack)
Intimidate
Choice Scarf

Earthquake
Water Tail
Seed Bomb
Gunk Shot

Initially, Arbok started out as a full-on attacker with a choice band, but I found that Heatran was totally wrecking this team (he was not only speedy, but had a powerful earth move and was immune to Muk's Fire Blast and Crobat's Heat Wave and had a 4x resistance to Bug Buzz – there was nothing I could do to stop this guy until I got a choice scarf). Although he lacks power, Arbok is speedy enough to get some crucial hits in.

Muk

128 hp / 128 Def / 252 SpD
Modest (+SpAttack -Attack)
Sticky Hold
Black Sludge

Acid Armor
Rest
Thunderbolt
Fireblast

Muk is fairly sturdy against special attackers but is generally ill-suited to fight them, he actually takes on the role as a physical wall with Acid Armor and Rest. Although he might be better suited with toxic, I've found the extra user of an electric or fire move is beyond necessary. Muk is my anti-Siczor anti-Gyrados basically. Although he won't OHKO the latter with thunderbolt, he may get the kill if the user just can't afford to switch in someone else.

I'm not really sure about Muk though. He's very situational, but of the 4 other pokemon that once occupied this place on the team (SpAttacker-based Roserade, SpD wall Tentacruel, Pain Split Wall Weezing, Utility Qwillfish) Muk has performed the best of all.

Overall Commentary:

A few people who have battled me question my use of all poison, asking "What do you do about Earthquake?" Earthquake is rarely an issue, as pokemon who hit hard with earthquake are generally devastated by someone like Arbok (who has EQ, Seed Bomb and Aqua tail). Venomoth does not take extra damage from earthquake and Crobat and Gengar avoid it completely. Muk can acid armor and rest through an earthquake, rendering the damage minor.

A speedy psychic type may be the end of this team, however priority moves from Toxicroak (specifically sucker punch), Sleep Powder/Hypnosis, Gengar's speed + Shadow Ball, and Venomoth's bug buzz are generally more than enough to deal with a psychic foe. So far I've yet to run into a pokemon which can solo sweep this team (which would be pretty embarassing). Even against Ubers, this team is capable of holding its own.

But I am hesitant to say that it's complete. I'd really like some C&C here. Since this is my first RMT, I hope I've done this correctly, but don't spare the rod, if you think I've done something noobish here, call it out. I'd love some suggestions on alternate poison pokemon though, Beedrill/Qwillfish/Tentacruel/Roserrade/Ariados/Venasaur/etc are pretty cool but don't really fit this team, or atleast I can't seem to make them fit.

 

[metalsnowman3]

This team is pretty sweet and very original. Not many people use poison only pokemon but poison only loses to two types. Also, Koga was my favorite guy back in the day. However, Drapion is a solid physical wall and with dark type he only loses to ground and can be support with toxic spikes or be a heavy hitter with choice band. Nidoking/queen can be pretty versatile with good movepool and decent stats. Those are my only recommendations and good team, maybe I'll challenge you one day just to see how it works.

 

[musiquev24]

Hello!

First, a few random things. You have Adamant on your Gengar and have it listed as +SpA, -Atk. As you see by your other members, its the opposite. You would want Modest on Gengar. However, Gengar benefits much more from a timid nature, as it needs to outspeed as much as it can. If Scizor is really problematic, you can go SubGar, using Substitute over Destiny Bond, using Leftovers over your Focus Sash (you really should avoid Focus Sash on anything other than a lead; the ever common Stealth Rock breaks your sash, making it worthless. Gengar would love a Life Orb,) and using Hidden Power: Fire over Thunderbolt or Focus Blast. That way you can kill Scizor from behind a Substitute.

Muk's Attack is much higher than his Special Attack, and he learns the elemental punch equivelants of Fire Blast and Thunderbolt (Fire Punch and Thunderpunch.) You would gain a lot more power out of your Muk by running those moves and also changing your Nature to Adamant. You have Gengar and Crobat for dealing out the Special Attacks, so there is no need to be hindering yourself.

Your EV's are a bit random on some pokemon. While it seems like a good idea to just split 128 / 128 for defenses, it doesn't always work out that way. I can already say Toxicroak does not need those EV's as it is a Pokemon designed for attacking; it has no good defenses, so you do not need to invest in them. Muk could make decent use of the EV's, but they are not distributed accordingly. Check Smogon analysis of the specific pokemon for calculated EV's and move sets that will help your Pokemon out the most.

I know you have a mono-type team, but its generally considered that you can have a 'wild card' Pokemon that is allowed to break the type rule. That way you can make a team without being crippled by something that walks all over your team. In this case, Heatran can have a field day on your team. Heatran with a Choice Scarf can Outspeed and OHKO every single one of your Pokemon with Fire Blast barring Muk, who is 2HKO'd. All of this and you can't do anything back. Your best bet is Arbok, who cannot switch in, but has to try and revenge kill.

I don't know how new you are to competitive battling but my suggestion is that you try and design a normal team with a balanced use of types. Monotype teams can be cool, but are very difficult to pull off, especially without a 'wild card' Pokemon, due to the nature of everyone on the team having the same general weaknesses. Lurk around Smogon some more, learn, and try and build a normal team if you haven't already, then try and go back to your Mono-type team once you have the newfound knowledge under your belt.

I hope this helps!

 

[anubite]

First, a few random things. You have Adamant on your Gengar and have it listed as +SpA, -Atk. As you see by your other members, its the opposite. You would want Modest on Gengar. However, Gengar benefits much more from a timid nature, as it needs to outspeed as much as it can.

Oops that was a typo – I meant Modest.

As for the rest, you're right about everything, except I'll agree to disagree about focus sash. Although I have no spinner, I've only had a few instances so far where Stealth Rock really screwed me over. I'll consider the Life Orb on Gengar but there have been many times where his focus sash especially has saved my ass.

And I decided to give Muk SpA on a whim –*I did see his attack nature was higher but I felt like I already had solid attack with Toxicroak and Arbok (though I do admit Muk does swing the balance more toward a spA team).

Finally, the reason why I spread the defense EVs is because I didn't think Toxicroak would be much better with speed, and his defenses aren't that bad if I remember correctly (maybe 90 or 80 base?). Is it worth it to put it all on HP? I thought defenses were generally better with a high/moderate base hp (which Muk/Toxicroak have if I remember correctly).

That said thanks for your input, let me see what I can do...

 

[Witnessed]

Ok, I am not much of an accomplished team rater, and this is my first post. Nice idea of montotype. So anyways looking at your quickly I learned that any Azelf will quickly KO this entire team. Therefore, I recommend that you switch your Gengar to a Scarf set. Ditch Destiny Bond for Hidden Power Fire. Also, as Musiquev said above, you can use a wild card.

Hope I helped.

 

[anubite]

I have fought plenty of Azelf, and as long as they don't have a focus sash, Gengar will OHKO them. If Gengar is dead, Sucker Punch and Bullet Punch gaurentee Azelf's demise. Venomoth will OHKO Azelf too, so long as he doesn't have any SpD evs and isn't faster.

It's very rare that Gengar/Toxicroak will both be dead though, as people tend to send in Azelf as soon as they realize they're fighting a poison team. If they keep him til the end, he can be a little difficult, but he definitely cannot sweep this team. Or at least, I've yet to fight one that has.

If I were to use a wildcard - which I would be reluctant to do - what would you suggest? I mean, if you really think psychic if a big problem, I could always just get a Drapion (which isn't a bad choice actually, though I do prefer Muk), but he's a little too weak to Earthquake for my tastes. If I did get a wildcard pokemon, it would have to be something which really counters Heatran though – something like Aerodactyl? Dunno. I can't even really think of something. I mean, I would like a spinner, but someone like Hitmontop is out of the question (He's weak to psychic too lol).

don't know how new you are to competitive battling but my suggestion is that you try and design a normal team with a balanced use of types. Monotype teams can be cool, but are very difficult to pull off, especially without a 'wild card' Pokemon, due to the nature of everyone on the team having the same general weaknesses. Lurk around Smogon some more, learn, and try and build a normal team if you haven't already, then try and go back to your Mono-type team once you have the newfound knowledge under your belt.

Also, I neglected to explain my reason for not building a normal team: I've played Pokemon a long time... and I've had my normal teams, but doing a mixed team just isn't that appealing to me. I like the extra challenge in limiting myself to a specific pokemon type. Realize that the reason my team might seem a little odd (or even noobish) is simply because there aren't that many amazing poison types. Crobat and Gengar are the only OU-ish poison types, with the rest being UU or NU.

I appreciate the advice though, and I'll be changing some things... when I can get the time today at least.

 

[Witnessed]

If I were to suggest a Wild Card, probably someone who could set up SR for you. You seem to be lacking there. I would suggest Bronzong here. He easily shrugs off Psychic attacks with his amazing typing, and thanks to Levitate he can take the Ground attacks. He also takes the Ice moves aimed at Venomoth and Crobat. Heres the set:

Bronzong@ Leftovers
Sassy Nature (+Sp. Defense, -Speed)
Levitate
252 HP, 86 Attack, 80 Defense, 92 Sp. Defense
0 IV's in Speed (Maximum Gyro Ball power)

Gyro Ball
Stealth Rock
Earthquake
Hypnosis/Explosion

Standard Bronzong Wall here. I would recommend replacing Arbok, as it appears to only to be revenge killing Heatran. This set here sets up SR and can cause some decent damage. Gyro Ball gets some STAB, Stealth Rock dosen't need any describing. Earthquake obliterates Heatran switch-ins, giving you a turn to switch in. The only problem is you might need to sacrifice someone to the Fire Blast/Flamethrower. I will explain that to you a little later. The last slot is up to you. Hypnosis is by far the better option here, as you really need Zong around to take hits. The poor accuracy is a real let down though. Explosion can take down an opponent whos being a nuisanance to you, and can be used to grab a kill late-game, or weaken down a wall severly enough to be KO'd by priority moves from Toxicroak.

To take the Fire attacks from Heatran aimed at Zong, Tentacruel is a nice option. It can Rapid Spin for you, and do a ton of other things. Firstly, it kills Heatrans locked into Fire Blast with Surf if they are foolish enough to stay in. If they are smart and switch, then you get a free turn to clear away entry hazards. Here is a the set for Tentacruel.

Tentacruel@ Black Sludge
Calm Nature (+Sp. Defense, -Attack)
Liquid Ooze
252 HP, 120 Defense, 136 Sp. Defense

Surf
Ice Beam
Toxic Spikes
Rapid Spin

Standard here again, but it works. Surf is for some STAB and your main Heatran kill-move. Ice Beam for coverage against the Dragons. Toxic Spikes weaken Blissey and walls like that, while Rapid Spin clears away the hazards. I would recommend Tenta in place of Venomoth.

Some other options for you:
Roserade can be a nice attacker or can be as your lead. This add's another Fire weakness though.

Weezing is an excellent replacment for Muk. It is a very good DD Gyara counter thanks to its access to Will-o-Wisp and Thunderbolt.

Hope I helped again.