Hi all
I'm an average-ish player and my favourite way to teambuild is to just stick 6 random things on a team and play. This is a technique I employ across all tiers. However, every once in a while, I actually put a bit of thought into my teams. I normally think about certain combos and build around that, but rarely do I really put deep thought into a team and think about the connections that each pokemon has with every other pokemon on the team. This is maybe the second time I've actually used my brain in team building this gen. I peaked around 1540 with this team and as an average-ish player I'm really happy about this. My Glicko seems to be lower than everyone around my ranking so that must mean that I have less talent and thus worked harder for my 1540 than the others around me!
I'm normally an offensive player, but this team is a stall team and while I hate playing with and against stall, building a stall team is very rewarding, especially considering it goes against everything I believe in, and it somehow works despite that.
I'm not gonna go through the entire evolution of the team as it is a very messy process. The basic idea of the team is to use defensive abilities and immunities to discourage my opponent from using certain types of attacks. It is held together by two obvious combos. Seismitoad together with Sap Sipper Bouffalant, and Ferroseed together with Flash Fire Flareon. This double core combines and works together pretty well. With so many immunities and deterrents, this team aims to slowly wear down the opponent with hazards (Seismitoad, Ferroseed, and Weezing as my triple threat hazard setting trio), combined with safe switch-ins.
Torch (Flareon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Atk / 172 SpD
Careful Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Toxic
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Probably the weirdest of my sets. I use Flareon as my special wall. This is the member of my team that is most awkward to use. A wall that's weak to rocks, with super awkward recovery. However, it somehow kinda works, and performs great against the special fire types in the tier, especially Typhlosion. There are many comfortable switch-ins like bulky waters and rocks, and many things that like to switch in for free and set up on Flareon's face. Toxic is specifically for these threats. It annoys the bulky mons (eg. Seismitoad, Regirock), and it puts pressure on the offensive ones (eg. Barbaracle, Feraligatr). Without Toxic, these dangerous water sweepers have no qualms with just setting up on my face. However, Toxic atleast allows me to burn their Lum Berry, and it pressures them into going straight for an attack for fear of getting toxicked again. EVs are somewhat random, but it gives pretty good special bulk, and just enough attack to be generally threatening. EVs can definitely be shifted around and are not optimal, but they work pretty well. Watch out for Psyshock and mixed attackers (Mixed Magmortar)
Richter (Seismitoad) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
Super standard defensive Seismitoad. Works well with Flareon as it can take on general physical attacks aimed at Flareon, as well as resisting rock and absorbing water. Seismitoad is just reliable and is able to just spam the two most skillful moves in the game (Scald and Knock Off). Toxic and Sludge Wave are possibilities, but I just can't find room for it. Scald, Knock Off and SR have so much utility, and EPower is good for stuff like Omastar and especially Qwilfish, who can find many many opportunities to come in and set up on this team. You can give something up for Toxic, but I think you'd give up too much
Calgary (Bouffalant) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 104 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Head Charge
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
Pretty normal, except I use Pursuit in place of a good attack. My team is absolutely horrible against Xatuand Gothorita. Xatu can just come in easily on my 3 hazard setters, completely eliminating the entire reason this team even exists. My three hazard setters can't do anything to Xatu, and in return Xatu can hit all 3 of them supereffectively. I like moves like Stone Edge and Mega Horn, but ya know, Pursuit's alright. I'll be spamming Head Charge/EQ most of the time anyway, and Pursuit does hit a few threats that give that combo trouble (like Mismagius). Speed EVs are for Lanturn that think they can safely Volt Switch out of battle, only to be met with a juicy supereffective EQ from my best attacker.
Barbara (Ferroseed) @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 116 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Spikes
Using Ferroseed makes me feel like I'm playing OU, just spamming Leech Seed for like... 4 turns in a row. Ferroseed strengthens my defensive core, giving me alternative switch-ins to say a grass attack aimed at Seismitoad. Sometimes the Seismitoad -> Bouff switch is really predictable, and Ferroseed gives me an alternative safe switch that can actually punish a misprediction.
Cloudtrio (Weezing) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Clear Smog
- Toxic Spikes
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
The glue that holds my team together. Tspikes is really great for wearing down threats, and Clear Smog lets me cancel out sweepers. This is my main switch-in to fighting types, as my above 4 mons are pretty bad at dealing with them. Being my main fighting switch-in, I use Rocky Helm since all these fighting types will WITHOUT A DOUBT be spamming Knock Off. If I'm gonna spend the entire game itemless, might as well do that tiny little bit of damage to Hariyama/Sawk etc.
Arnie (Cryogonal) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Signal Beam
- Freeze-Dry
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
Not very happy with Cryo on this particular team. It seems to clash with the idea of having a solid stall core, but it covers a lot of things missing on my team. Rapid spinning is important, since my team is so bulky and non-threatening that it is easy for things like Qwilfish to set spikes all over me. This is the only special attacker that can be expected to do any damage (kinda like how Bouff is the only one on the team that does any physical damage). I really need something that can hit Malamar as my entire team is incredible terrible against it, and Cryo is really the best bet at killing off Malamar. Losing HP Ground is hella annoying, losing coverage on fire switch-ins as well as stuff like Bastiodon. However, I'm basically just losing coverage on stuff my team already handles decently, so it's more of an annoyance. The alternative is to use HP Ground and then auto-lose to Malamar.
BIGTIME THREATS:
Malamar - Almost auto-win against my team. Weezing can take an attack, but has to suffer through a +1 Psycho Cut. Seismitoad can take hits, but can't kill Malamar in return. Basically my two ways of beating it is sac something, then bring in cryo for the revenge kill OR status it on the switch-in (whether it's Toxic or TSpikes), then do some fancy and dangerous switching around to stall it out. Saccing sucks for a Stall team, and making 8 consecutive risky plays to dance around Malamar is not exactly reliable.
Xatu - It's nice that it doesn't do too well against Bouffalant. The fact that it shuts down half my team and has the capability to U-Turn out of Bouffalant is really annoying, and while I could EVENTUALLY Pursuit trap it, it's already done enough damage. Me not being able to lay down hazards at all for 10+ turns is already huge. My team's plan basically gets disrupted right at team preview.
UNCOMMON THREATS:
Resttalk Spiritomb - I've never ever seen one, but theoretically this can stall out my team and I actually have no way of killing it other than pressuring it via Leech Seed. I have to deal with it through a combination of Knock Off/Leech Seed/Clear Smog. I have no way of hitting it...
Fraxure - Best I can do is hope that Seismitoad/Bouff can take it down 2v1.
REPLAYS:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nubeta-141739725
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nubeta-142042584
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nubeta-142821593
Hopefully more to come
I'm an average-ish player and my favourite way to teambuild is to just stick 6 random things on a team and play. This is a technique I employ across all tiers. However, every once in a while, I actually put a bit of thought into my teams. I normally think about certain combos and build around that, but rarely do I really put deep thought into a team and think about the connections that each pokemon has with every other pokemon on the team. This is maybe the second time I've actually used my brain in team building this gen. I peaked around 1540 with this team and as an average-ish player I'm really happy about this. My Glicko seems to be lower than everyone around my ranking so that must mean that I have less talent and thus worked harder for my 1540 than the others around me!
I'm normally an offensive player, but this team is a stall team and while I hate playing with and against stall, building a stall team is very rewarding, especially considering it goes against everything I believe in, and it somehow works despite that.
I'm not gonna go through the entire evolution of the team as it is a very messy process. The basic idea of the team is to use defensive abilities and immunities to discourage my opponent from using certain types of attacks. It is held together by two obvious combos. Seismitoad together with Sap Sipper Bouffalant, and Ferroseed together with Flash Fire Flareon. This double core combines and works together pretty well. With so many immunities and deterrents, this team aims to slowly wear down the opponent with hazards (Seismitoad, Ferroseed, and Weezing as my triple threat hazard setting trio), combined with safe switch-ins.
Torch (Flareon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Atk / 172 SpD
Careful Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Toxic
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Probably the weirdest of my sets. I use Flareon as my special wall. This is the member of my team that is most awkward to use. A wall that's weak to rocks, with super awkward recovery. However, it somehow kinda works, and performs great against the special fire types in the tier, especially Typhlosion. There are many comfortable switch-ins like bulky waters and rocks, and many things that like to switch in for free and set up on Flareon's face. Toxic is specifically for these threats. It annoys the bulky mons (eg. Seismitoad, Regirock), and it puts pressure on the offensive ones (eg. Barbaracle, Feraligatr). Without Toxic, these dangerous water sweepers have no qualms with just setting up on my face. However, Toxic atleast allows me to burn their Lum Berry, and it pressures them into going straight for an attack for fear of getting toxicked again. EVs are somewhat random, but it gives pretty good special bulk, and just enough attack to be generally threatening. EVs can definitely be shifted around and are not optimal, but they work pretty well. Watch out for Psyshock and mixed attackers (Mixed Magmortar)
Richter (Seismitoad) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
Super standard defensive Seismitoad. Works well with Flareon as it can take on general physical attacks aimed at Flareon, as well as resisting rock and absorbing water. Seismitoad is just reliable and is able to just spam the two most skillful moves in the game (Scald and Knock Off). Toxic and Sludge Wave are possibilities, but I just can't find room for it. Scald, Knock Off and SR have so much utility, and EPower is good for stuff like Omastar and especially Qwilfish, who can find many many opportunities to come in and set up on this team. You can give something up for Toxic, but I think you'd give up too much
Calgary (Bouffalant) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 104 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Head Charge
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
Pretty normal, except I use Pursuit in place of a good attack. My team is absolutely horrible against Xatu
Barbara (Ferroseed) @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 116 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Spikes
Using Ferroseed makes me feel like I'm playing OU, just spamming Leech Seed for like... 4 turns in a row. Ferroseed strengthens my defensive core, giving me alternative switch-ins to say a grass attack aimed at Seismitoad. Sometimes the Seismitoad -> Bouff switch is really predictable, and Ferroseed gives me an alternative safe switch that can actually punish a misprediction.
Cloudtrio (Weezing) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Clear Smog
- Toxic Spikes
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
The glue that holds my team together. Tspikes is really great for wearing down threats, and Clear Smog lets me cancel out sweepers. This is my main switch-in to fighting types, as my above 4 mons are pretty bad at dealing with them. Being my main fighting switch-in, I use Rocky Helm since all these fighting types will WITHOUT A DOUBT be spamming Knock Off. If I'm gonna spend the entire game itemless, might as well do that tiny little bit of damage to Hariyama/Sawk etc.
Arnie (Cryogonal) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Signal Beam
- Freeze-Dry
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
Not very happy with Cryo on this particular team. It seems to clash with the idea of having a solid stall core, but it covers a lot of things missing on my team. Rapid spinning is important, since my team is so bulky and non-threatening that it is easy for things like Qwilfish to set spikes all over me. This is the only special attacker that can be expected to do any damage (kinda like how Bouff is the only one on the team that does any physical damage). I really need something that can hit Malamar as my entire team is incredible terrible against it, and Cryo is really the best bet at killing off Malamar. Losing HP Ground is hella annoying, losing coverage on fire switch-ins as well as stuff like Bastiodon. However, I'm basically just losing coverage on stuff my team already handles decently, so it's more of an annoyance. The alternative is to use HP Ground and then auto-lose to Malamar.
BIGTIME THREATS:
Malamar - Almost auto-win against my team. Weezing can take an attack, but has to suffer through a +1 Psycho Cut. Seismitoad can take hits, but can't kill Malamar in return. Basically my two ways of beating it is sac something, then bring in cryo for the revenge kill OR status it on the switch-in (whether it's Toxic or TSpikes), then do some fancy and dangerous switching around to stall it out. Saccing sucks for a Stall team, and making 8 consecutive risky plays to dance around Malamar is not exactly reliable.
Xatu - It's nice that it doesn't do too well against Bouffalant. The fact that it shuts down half my team and has the capability to U-Turn out of Bouffalant is really annoying, and while I could EVENTUALLY Pursuit trap it, it's already done enough damage. Me not being able to lay down hazards at all for 10+ turns is already huge. My team's plan basically gets disrupted right at team preview.
UNCOMMON THREATS:
Resttalk Spiritomb - I've never ever seen one, but theoretically this can stall out my team and I actually have no way of killing it other than pressuring it via Leech Seed. I have to deal with it through a combination of Knock Off/Leech Seed/Clear Smog. I have no way of hitting it...
Fraxure - Best I can do is hope that Seismitoad/Bouff can take it down 2v1.
REPLAYS:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nubeta-141739725
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nubeta-142042584
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nubeta-142821593
Hopefully more to come
