So far im 13-5 with this team

Thorn_bloodscale

Intro: After having the metagame make a sudden shift due to recent rules I decided to make a new team utilizing pokemon which I may not have used before. Collectively, these are basically my favorite yet efficient pokemon.

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Zapdos @ Choice Scarf
Timid
4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
~ Thunderbolt
~ Hidden Power Ice
~ U-turn
~ Thunder Wave

Zapdos makes a great lead, he can also resist ground and thunderbolts waters. His hidden power gives a lil throw towards ice even though theres no chomp. His U-turn allows for minimal scouting, mainly just if i dont like what i see. Thunderwave allows me to cripple leads like gengar and such.
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Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Adamant
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
~ Dragon Dance
~ Outrage
~ Fire Punch
~ Earthquake

Dragonite has always been in my original favorites and still is. His fire punch comes into in great use as outrage may not always be the best option. DD on a switch and usually outrage if I can. Earthquake gets some mad coverage.



Tentacruel @ Leftovers
Calm
204 HP / 96 SpA / 172 SpD / 36 Spe
~ Surf
~ Sludge Bomb
~ Rapid Spin
~ Toxic Spikes

Added in place of Weavile to add even more defenses and allow me to spin away those hurtfull stones that are so eager to dig into my team. I put sludge on instead of ice beam because i feel with gyarados and suicune and zapdos i can confidently counter most dragons and sludge allows me some grass coverage which may have been more lacking.

Gyarados @ Life Orb
Adamant
72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
~ Waterfall
~ Earthquake
~ Ice Fang
~ Dragon Dance
This monster is a powerhouse and his arsenal of coverage moves make him quite a worth placeholder. His stab waterfall is something you don’t wanna get caught hitting. Stone edge takes out the pesky fliers and im debating taking out either earthquake or ice fang for something else since both of those have been covered.





Lucario @ Choice Specs
Modest
4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
~ Aura Sphere
~ Vacuum Wave
~ Dark Pulse
~ Dragon Pulse

I must admit, I never thought I would use Lucario; however, his prowess as a special attacker has grown on me. His aura sphere can manage a blissey usually. Dark pulse is great for ghosts that may be rivaling my position. Dragon pulse hits quite a few things hard and is a great end sweep.




Suicune @ Leftovers
Bold
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
~ Surf
~ Sleep Talk
~ Rest
~ Ice beam
Calmcun has actually swept an opponents team for me and usually makes for quite a turn around. His roar runs through the other team but ill prolly switch that to something else. He has great survivability and had him with ice beam but I feel like electric could be more beneficial as other pokes got ice moves covered.

Outro: Some problems ive run into so far are having quite similar coverage types with a few pokemon, and not extending out to hit all types effectively well enough. I also was thinking about adding in a snorlax for special support and maybe a sleep absorber, although i dont know who id take out for that.
 
Mainly because zapdos, weavile, and gyarados have ice moves and with no more chomps running rampant, I may want suicune to take out electrically weak pokes since only zapdos is there for em. I may test around a little.
 
If you're thinking of removing ice fang or earthquake on gyrados I'd get rid of ice fang since you have a lot of other coverage on your team, and I'd give gyra either dragon dance, taunt, and don't quote me on it but he might have acess to thunderwave (it gives you another chance to cripple foes after your zapdos is gone). I also just noticed none of your pokes have stealth rock or spikes, which have proven very valuable in todays metagame. Also, sandstorm would affect everyone on your team except lucario, not neccissarily something you need to change but something to think about.

On your Zapdos lead, I'd go with Life Orb, because leftovers would seem invaluable since your not stalling anything, and you have mostly sweeping moves and, it will pack the extra punch you need against Zapdos's opponents. Life Orded U turn looks good and might surprise the lead ttar. Good set, and Good team overall.

Another thing to think about: Gyrados, Dragonite, and Zapdos will have trouble switching in on stealthrock multiple times, and it hurts you dont have a rapid spinner. But, like you state, these are pokes you like and work well for you so I am not going to tell you to switch your pokes because of small problems.

A note on stragedy: you say lucario is a late game sweeper, but I'm not sure I'd wait to bring him in last just because of the choice specs disability (In late game you might be unable to make a safe switch). For this reason Id change him to life orb, or if you dont like having two life orbers, maybe expert belt or something?

Overall, I like this team and good luck with your future battles ^^
 
I don't like the amount of choice users relative to the defensive core of the team (or Life Orb users for that matter). Seems like you would definitely lose to a team with residual damage. I would much rather centralize Zapdos as a bulky flyer to deal with Lucario and company, and switch Gyarados's Choice Band to Life Orb and add Dragon Dance over Stone Edge.

As someone before me mentioned, you have a horrible Stealth Rock weakness. I would scrap Dragonite for something like Blissey, as it gives you the special wall you said you need. This frees up Suicune to be the late-game sweeper, if you add Sleep Talk + Rest and forego Roar and HP Electric.

Rather than simply hitting and running with Choice items, I'd rather you run Life Orbs and use stat-ups to pummel the defense of the opponent. Seems more efficient to me that way.
 
I can probably bet those 5 loses came from teams with SR. 4 of the 6 pokes in your team. Two of them have a choice item which means that if your opponent has decent prediction well then you basically lose two pokes. It doesn't help at all that Zapdos is using a LO. A spinner is almost necessary for this team. Now the question is what can give you some support on the special side while still being a good spinner? There is one answer that comes to mind...Tenacruel. Not only does it spin, set up spikes and help you out on the special side but it also counter mixape who right now is loving your team.

If you want to use Zapdos as a lead then I advise using the Choice Scarf set. This allows you to have a decent lead and revenge killer. Yes I know you have Weavile but seriously he isn't needed. I would replace him with the Tentacruel I mentioned earlier in this rate.

Choice Band Gyarados is kinda meh... it really doesn't have the speed. Why not just give it Dragon Dance?

Finally somebody uses SpecsLuke! Use HP Ice if you can since you get coverage on ground types as well it also hits dragons a lot stronger. You could try Psychic if you want but it isn't as good as the set you have.

I guess the suicune you have works fine but no recovery is kinda bad. I guess it works but if Gyarados gets out of control I would suggest switching to a resttalk.

That's it for my rate.
 
one more thing: i just noticed because of posts after me that you have a choice band on your gyra. I wouldn't suggest this at all. give it DD. and another thing, tentacruel, as said by someone else, is a good option for this team as it attacks from the special side, takes hits on the special side, and spins and sets up spikes. Id largely consider it in the place of gyra or suicune (whichever is the weakest link) Id run a defensive set with Surf/Ice Beam/Toxic Spikes/ Rapid Spin
 
I edited it for the suggestions and as far as the 5 losses go, 3 had stealth rocks and another one had breloom who wrecked havok on my team just because hed out predict me after he disposed of my suicune and statused me in a pretty hardcore-like fashion. Now im a little worried about gengar and co. [other ghosts] but with zapdos i feel i should be able to handle em.

Oh and lucario is my main special sweeper, i just meant that dragon pulse is a great clean up move, that just wasnt clear.
 
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