Tadd's Heros

[Donasin]

This team so far has been rather successful in ladder games (have yet to enter a tournament with it) but I feel as if it could be much better. I have ran out of ideas to greatly help this set and so I turn for you guys for help. This is an extremely offensive term with the sole exception of Magnezone (and maybe Togekiss) and with that in mind here it is.

Changes in bold

At a Glance:

Retired:

Dragonite (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Spd/252 SAtk
Quiet nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Extremespeed
- Earthquake
Able to take most common leads expect a certain floating pokemon but that shall be discussed later. With the addition of Extremespeed Dragonite has finally become a great anti-lead wth Draco Meteor destroying almost everything in its path. Earth Quake and Fire Blast take out Steels, Ground, types etc.
---

Vaporeon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 188 Def/68 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Fake Tears
- Wish
- Surf
- Ice Beam
Maybe the best change I made, Vaporeon is able to switch in on a Jirachi can is capable of 2HKOing it. Surf is a good STAB while Ice Beam is my anti-dragon measure. Wish has really helped all of my pokemon (most of them) with life orb as it greatly extended their usability in battle
---

Machamp (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dynamicpunch
- Payback
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

A fantastic lead but a bit different for the one on the sight. I never found substitute to be particularly useful on his build as Dynamic Punch makes my opponent confused and Machamp can 2HKO a lot of things out there. Encore is useful for when I face a common lead and I can develop a strategy around that. Payback is great secondary move and deals with ghosts like no other. Stone Edge is useful at points but I don't use it all that often. I changed my Machamp to his rest move set. He has proven to be a nice late game sweeper.
---

Gengar (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Explosion

My first of my two main sweepers is Gengar. This guy is fantastic for dealing with many pokemon (especially Ghosts) even those which are not weak to anyone of his moves. Focus Blast and Shadow Ball can take care of most things out there but I choose Toxic over Lighting Bolt as Starmie/Magnezone have the electric side of things down-pat. Steel types were giving me a bit of scare when just looking on my team on paper so I switched toxic or HP.
---

Togekiss (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP/6 Def/252 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave
- Air Slash
- Roost
- Aura Sphere

This guy is much better than I had ever expected. With a well place Body Slam followed by a wave of Air Slashes I rarely take much damage and love the feeling of control I get when ever thing goes right. Roost is there for obvious reasons and Grass Knot because I need some Grass-type move to deal with Spamert. Thunder Wave > Body Slam in every way expect damage which body slam fails at anywho. Aura Sphere deals with Steel types.

---

Starmie @ Expert Belt
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 82 HP/176 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Rapid Spin
- Grass Knot
- Surf

My favorite pokemon bringing up the rear. I know I am most likely going to get a lot of people calling for a choice scarf or belt to used but as mentioned I enjoy the flexibility my two main sweepers provide for. As this is the case Expert Belt is a fantastic item. Now maybe if I had a baton-passer in my mist I could use that along with Starmie's Natural Cure but as of right now I find this group to rather solid, but then again, improvement is always welcomed. I use surf over hydro pump as I feel much more secure knowing it will hit all the time. Ice beam destroys dragons, classic Starmie. With Vaporeon on dragon-duty that freed up another space on Starmie for Rapid Spin.
---


Retried:

Rhyperior (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 244 HP/184 Def/82 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rest
- Stone Edge
- Sleep Talk

While it may seem odd to have a rest/talk move set on a pokemon which has 4 weaknesses the rest of my crew is so diverse that I may had little trouble in terms of Rhyperior's many weaknesses. With this mind he is great to bring in on many pokemon, and as long if as I play smart, he should sweep is relative ease.
---

Magnezone @ Light Clay
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 HP/96 Def/162 SDef
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Thunderbolt
- Explosion
- Reflect
- Light Screen

Mangezone serves as a setup for my pokemon to come in and sweep. By setting up Light Screen along with Reflect Magnezone can wall much better than he is given credit for. Also at the end of the day Explosion is where Magnezone shines most with Thunderbolt being used only when the set up is not ready or when his opposent is weak with eletrtic type moves. This is a different set-up than I am used to and I do not quite have it working the way I want to in play. I am rather curious if this type of Magnezone works for my team overall or not.

 

[Explanation]

Just a quick question / suggestion.
1) Do you think you could use a better lead? I mean it's alright but wouldn't you want someone that can setup SR or spikes and still be able to deal out damage?

A suggestion:
You could take out Psychic on Starmie and make it a Rapid Spinner to take out SR, Spikes, etc. Also you can give Starmie a Life Orb so it could deal out more damage.

 

[Eggbert]

Throw SR somewhere on Rhyperior, because you have no way of setting it up. You could give Starmie grass knot to take out swamps because togekiss is walled by steels without aura sphere. Psychic isn't to great anyway.

Magenezone has dual screens, but what exactly is he setting up? For this reason you should consider someone who can set up and support the team, like gliscor over rhyperior. gliscor can pass SDs, wall, and set up SR.

hope this helped a bit.

 

[Pollux-Castor]

The Machamp lead is a very tired lead, not so great in today's moving Metagame. Without Bullet Punch Roserade is still going to sleep you, Encore would make her continuously use Sleep Powder and only have to switch out. And with that it's basically 5-6. You need to change him to something else, like Infernape maybe. Unless you plan on absorbing the sleep with Rhyperior, who doesn't do so well in the jungle (leaf storm ohko's). He is completely outclassed by Hippowdon and to a lesser extent, Swampert. Swampert is probably the better option on this team because you don't need a Sandstorm hurting 4 team members. The use of Toxic on Gengar is interesting, but this new Pain Split set seems better for taking out walls. Read Gengar's analysis page.

Magnezone is a strange choice to dual screen but I suppose it can work, And it is good for Starmie, who is really better off with Recover instead of Psychic. Even with Stab you won't find yourself doing so much damage with the move because there are loads of steels and a few dark types running around. One thing though, you might want to put Grass Knot instead of Psychic, to clear up space for Thunderwave on Togekiss. Then you can throw away the lousy Body Slam for Aura Sphere.

Once you figure it out edit the team or post the changes. Please don't waste your time with the Machamp lead anymore, I used the standard and a few variations for a load of battles on Shoddy and found overtime that he just doesn't cut it.

 

[Donasin]

Thanks for all the help.

dragonite08:
My Machamp has worked well for me thus far, but I feel as if he won't serve me well tournament wise. If anywould could tell me some common leads in tournaments that would be appricated.

Eggbert: It did help, but I am just torn on if I should update him or rid myself of Rhyperior all together.

Pollux-Castor:
I might toy around with Swampert but I'll keep Machamp as the lead on this page until I can be completely sure I am changing just so I don't update this topic a gratuitous number of times. Your advice on Togekiss has been working great thus far so thank you that.

EDIT: Also recover, rapid spin, or grass knot on Starmie?