Gen 4 Specs Starmie Red Offence

[Cure Moonlight]

I've been playing competitive Pokémon on and off for a while now, but have never been great at team building. This is my first serious attempt at making one.

Building Process


I wanted to use Breloom, because he is a silly little guy.


I added Scizor to for pursuit support.


I needed a rocker, something besides Scizor that wouldn't immediately crumble to a draco meteor and a fire resist, so I added Heatran.


The team needed some speed, so I added a scarf Latias. Also helps check special attackers.


I wanted something that could sweep late game and help check physical attackers. Gyarados seemed perfect for that.


I thought the team could use some immediate power, so I decided to add a specs Starmie.


I ended up replacing Scizor, because TTar performed better. It sadly doesn't fit the red color theme of the team.

The Team

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 60 SpA / 196 Spe
Modest Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Explosion

Heatran holds the team together defensively. It helps the team check threads like Jirachi, while also being a strong offensive presense. Thanks to its great typing and hp investment, it can live a couple of hits and reliably set up stealth rock. Leftovers make sure it remains healthy as the game progresses. Thanks to a lot of speed EVs, Heatran gets many opportunities to fire off its mighty attacks. Even without much special attack investment, Heatran is a massive threat. Fire Blast deals heavy damage even to resists, and Earth power hits other Heatran and TTar hard. Explosion rounds out the set. It helps the team power through special walls like Clef and Latias.


Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 76 HP / 248 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Superpower
- Seed Bomb
- Mach Punch

Breloom is the main wall breaker of the team. With its high base attack and Spore, it threatens many walls, like Swampert and Clef. I went with the standard set in this case. Superpower and Seed Bomb are looms strongest attacks, Mach Punch picks off weakened foes and helps against DDtar and Spore is Spore. A lot of speed and attack to make Breloom as threatening as possible. Breloom switches in to ground and water attacks aimed at Heatran early on and regains momentum by putting something to sleep. Heatran can then come back in to set up rocks.


Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 48 HP / 144 Atk / 52 SpA / 184 SpD / 80 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Crunch
- Fire Blast
- Pursuit
- Earthquake

TTar helps the team get rid of ghost types and Latias thanks to pursuit. This is great for both Breloom and Starmie. Crunch is a reliable stab option with few resists. Fire Blast hits Scizor, Breloom and Jirachi on the switch and threatens physical walls in general. Earthquake is a great move in general. I chose it specifically to help against sub roost Zapdos, but it also hits Heatran and Jirachi quite hard. The EVs make TTar very bulky on the special side and a strong physical attacker, while ensuring that its Fire Blast is strong enough to OHKO Breloom. Chople Berry helps it trap Gengar, not sure if that's worth it though.


Latias (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
- Healing Wish

Latias is the main form of speed control. With timid max speed and a scarf, it outruns everything else. Max SpAtt makes sure it can leverage that speed well. Draco is amazing against almost everything and OHKOs DDnite. Thunderbolt is for Gyarados and also hit steels decently. Trick helps the against special walls like Clef. Healing wish can heal up Gyarados and enable a late game sweep (in theory, at least). Thanks to it's high natural bulk, Latias is also a nice check to some mons the team would otherwise struggle against, mainly Starmie.


Starmie @ Choice Specs
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Trick

Next up is the literal star of the team. With timid and max speed Starmie outruns everything that isn't boosted. It's unimpressive SpAtt is compensated for with choice specs and Hydro Pump's high base power. Starmie can come in early to grab revenge KOs and clean up entire teams late game. I almost exclusively use Hydro Pump, as it is strong enough to 2-hit-KO even resists, but Boltbeam coverage gives Starmie reliable alternatives. Trick helps against defensive teams. I've experimented with Surf+Hydro, as Hydro Pump is very unreliable, it is hard to fit, though. Starmie also profits massively from TTar pursuiting scarf Rotom and Latias, since they can actually revenge KO Starmie.


Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake

With Dragon Dance, Gyarados can clean up teams late game. Waterfall is its main stab move, and Ice Fang and EQ hit water resits hard. I originally gave it Taunt and Double Edge, but I felt like the extra hard hit on Metagross and Jirachi was necessary. Gyrados also helps the team check physical attackers early game, like Machamp or Metagross. In practise, it rarely actually sweeps. I gave it lefties to increase its longevity, which is very helpful, but leaves it vulnerable to status and electric attacks.


I've reached 1400 elo with this team, which isn't bad for me.

It's hard for me to pinpoint the team's flaws. Sometimes, the team just kinda crumbles, and it feels impossible to defend, while the team itself is unable to make much progress.

I'd be happy if you guys could help me improve the team, thanks in advance!

paste: https://pokepast.es/75fd9ed8913bac81

 

[Jeong]

I know it's hard for you to mention team defects or things that cause problems, but it would be easier when it comes to helping. I can only say that I see Starmie better with RSpin, so maybe the team doesn't fall apart at times.

 

[mackie]

I was thinking maybe an additional bulky Steel type could be beneficial, in the case that Heatran faints early or just from the resistances that Steels bring to the the table (there is a reason why Steel is one of the best types in DPP). You mentioned that Gyarados rarely sweeps, so I was thinking of replacing him with an Offensive TR Bronzong:

Bronzong @ Macho Brace
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
Brave Nature
- Trick Room
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Explosion

Gyarados brings a useful Fighting resist that Bronzong doesn't have, however Latias and Starmie already cover those. He also has nice synergy with Tyranitar removing Rotoms (well if he doesn't get burnt), as well as Starmie potentially baiting and removing Rotoms trying to anticpate a Rapid Spin but instead being KO'd by Hydro Pump. Late game he can TR and take something out with Explosion, which may open the door for your naturally slower Pokemon like Heatran, Breloom, or Tyranitar to outspeed and clean the rest of the team. In this case I would also run a bulkier Breloom (still with Mach Punch) to help deal with SD Lucario better (Lucario can grab a Swords Dance on a 0.5 Draco Meteor).

Only thing you lose out on is Intimidate, which was useful for Machamp in particular, however I think you can still play around his moves. Well Intimidate was also useful for Lucario.

Also I would run Surf/Psychic over Ice Beam on Starmie, just because I don't think you need it for Latias or Grasses, since your other team-members cover those well enough. Also locking into Ice Beam gives another opportunity for Lucario to get a Swords Dance.

I'm just mentioning Lucario since he seems like the biggest danger to the team if Gyarados is gone, however he cannot get a Swords Dance boost on anyone on the team outside of a locked Draco Meteor or Ice Beam. A sort of "out there" adjustment would be to give Bronzong a Chople Berry just for being able to take out Lucario in case he goes on a sweeping spree. I ran some calcs and the Macho Brace doesn't seem to give too much of a boost to Gyro Ball in most cases so it shouldn't be too bad to replace the item.