Team Border Hopper!

[The Death Owl]

Team at a Glance:​

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In-Depth:​

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The Queen (Uxie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/6 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Yawn
- Thunderbolt
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
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Set's up Stealth rocks then yawns if possible... U-Turns after Yawn - if it is a fragile Psychic, then I'll U-Turn. Focus Band because more commonly I don't get OHKO'd.
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The Pawn (Houndoom) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Will-o-wisp
- Nasty Plot

I absolutely love this thing... IT IS A.... DOG? A Nasty Plot > Dark Pulse will OHKO a Azelf like nothing. Switches in on the ever so common Heatran and prays it was using a Fire attack for the boost.
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The Knight (Ambipom) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Brick Break
- Fake Out
- Ice Punch
- Return

You're probably thinking - Choice Band + Fake Out = No! But this is the most evil thing ever. Switches in on something and uses Fake Out (Last time on a Bulky Gyarados, I did 47%) then switches out. Can't decide between Ice Punch or Fire Punch.
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The Rook (Sceptile) (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]

<3. Sceptile has always been my favorite pokemon like... ever. He is an amazing special sweeper on this team also. Hidden Power [Ice] for Skymin's and such. Focus Blast for normal types and pretty much what my other attacks don't cover.
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The Bishop (Honchkrow) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Super Luck
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Drill Peck
- Sucker Punch
- Steel Wing
- Night Slash

Oh my lord... STAB'd Sucker Punch on this thing OHKO's a 100% (252 Defense, 252 HP, 6 Sp. Defense) Blissey. Drill Peck OHKO's Heracross and other bug/grass/fighting types.
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The King (Feraligatr) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Waterfall

Feraligtr is one of my two physical sweepers (The other being Honchkrow).
Usually it's one Dragon Dance than sweep. Earth Quake > Rock for coverage.
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Poll: Forgot to add to it... can you edit polls anyways? I wonder.... can you?
But - 1 being lowest | 10 being highest.

 

[eig]

How do you deal with Stone Edge as you have frail or weak pokemon and only Uxie seems to have much chance of surviving from CBTar? (No damage calcs done there.)

 

[Malfunction]

Will, if you ask me, I won't be rating it more than 4 or so..
Although it appears you like sweepers, you still must have some form of bulkiness. You're pokemon will have a hard time switching in. You need some more defense in your team. I can also see you kinda abuse choice items, which means you'll have to switch more, and since you can't do that efficiently, you need to fix some stuff..

Fist of all, Uxie looks fine as it is. I just don't understand that focus band part. Just stay with leftovers :S You might also want to run 252Hp/96Def/162SpDef with a bold nature if you decide to use forretress.

Houndoom is completely walled by heatran, and it might be problomatic since most of your team has a hard time against it. Even though most are scarfed, there is still tyranitar. I would suggest you switch will-o-wisp with HP fighting. Otherwise, it looks fine.

I don't understand how ambipom helps your team. I would switch it with something like forretress. Your team is kinda weak to spikes, SR, and toxic spikes. A rapid spinner can be really useful. You can also set up spikes, and then explode on something like bliss.

I would run a timid nature on sceptile. You are already using a specs, and your team kinda lacks speed. You can also run scarf with a modest nature, since things like skymin will outspeed all your team and KO sceptile, houndoom, feraligator, ambipom, murkrow with ease. Otherwise it looks fine.

Feraligator looks fine as it is, I can't see anything that needs to be changed.


Overall, your team lacks speed and defense. You have a nice choice of pokemon, but you'll have a hard time switching in. You also need some form of fast revenge killer. I rated your team 4/10.

Thanks for your time, hope I helped!

 

[Jigo]

Houndoom cant switch in on the average Heatran. Even if it does use a fire type attack, Houndoom cant hit back while Heatran can use Earth Power.

Also, in my own opinion, Feraligatr isnt a very good Pokemon. Perhaps a Bulky Gyarados could replace either of these. It could switch in on Heatran and threaten with Waterfall. It could also become a useful late-game sweeper.

CB Tyranitar wrecks most of this team. Perhaps a Breloom could help you counter it and also provide Spore support. Hariyama is also a good counter, as it can also phaze with Whirlwind.

 

[Brawley]

The skarmory-blissey combination walls you to no end, so to remedy this why not use Close Combat/HP Ice/Fire Blast/Grass Knot Infernape?

 

[Colonel M]

A lot of things are outclassed here in general. DD Feraligatr is done by Gyarados a helluva lot better and such.

There are a ton of questions before I want to rate this. How does this team handle ScarfTran? Don't tell me Houndoom because one misprediction puts you in BIG trouble. What about Shaymin-S behind the Substitute? The 3 Attack one is going to be a major pain in the ass against this team as well. DDSala? At least Sucker Punch from Honchkrow will win if its locked into Outrage but still not the greatest idea. And as Brawley mentioned, SkarmBliss walls this to no end whatsoever. I see a LOT of Pokemon perhaps plowing through this team. To name some more Tyranitar makes a big dent in this team, Scizor just kind of chuckles at everything barring maybe Feraligatr and Houndoom, and finally Lucario just laughs and uses Swords Dance and Extremespeed to decimate the team, etc. And I want to question many more things and such blah blah but I'll get on with this.

I won't argue against Uxie other than Lead Tyranitars stop it almost cold. Choice Band Crunch should 2HKO at the very worst and he can just simply switch after the Yawn and just react from there.

Houndoom... isn't doing anything to Heatran or any Pokemon in general with Will-O-Wisp. I'd definitely recommend Hidden Power Fighting or Ground over it. Fighting might be something more preferable for Tyranitar in general.

That Ambipom is just... dear God no. Especially because you've opted to use Choice Band Fake Out which, within itself, forces you to switch right after. And hey, I don't care because I could swap Gengar in the Fake Out and act from there or even swap Scizor to intercept it and then just Swords Dance. Yeah, this setup is not working at all to me. If you're really liking Fake Out then I recommend the "Economy Monkey" set (yeah, I gave it a nickname).

- Fake Out
- U-Turn
- Brick Break
- Pursuit
item: Life Orb
ability: Technician
nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def (I think. Whichever leaves you at an odd number for HP decrease the IV to).

Why I recommend this moveset? Simple. First off it helps Ambipom become really annoying with this setup. And then there's Pursuit that's the interesting part. Ever been hampered by Gengar? Wait until you meet Scarf because I bet it does a number to this team at times. Without using Honchkrow as your buffer you can have Ambipom come into the Scarfed Shadow Ball instead. And even those without Scarf meet Pursuit at its plate as well. Keep in mind that before Pursuit does 60 damage and then 80 if they switch out. Brick Break is really a filler but pairs well with Pursuit. AND, it also prevents Tyranitar from screwing you over if its the Choice Band variant.

Sceptile I'm going to say is quite a weak link like Houndoom. To really ask yourself a lot of questions such as "can't Celebi or Shaymin-S do this better?" and such. And even so its a very frail sweeper that could be left at mercy by Scizor in general.

The Honchkrow set up is fine but Superpower > Steel Wing for obvious reasons. Choice Scarf might not be a bad thing to consider here as Heat Wave is still a blessing for him. Choice Specs, etc.

Feraligatr I'm going to give you two options: either use a different set that Gyarados doesn't outclass or just use Gyarados. I'm sorry to say but Feraligatr does not have the stats to use Dragon Dance to begin with nor the raw power. Life Orb with Dragon Dance / Waterfall / Stone Edge / Earthquake or Ice Fang works best with an Adamant nature. Jolly with Wacan Berry also is acceptable as getting two Dragon Dances pushes you beyond Timid Gengar with a Choice Scarf.

As for Pokemon to seek out is something that is difficult even for myself because I, too, am a lover of Pokemon like Honchkrow. Infernape is not a horrible suggestion in general but keep in mind that it should only be used when Skarmory and Blissey are becoming a nuisance to you (in other words don't use it as a lead). You could recreate your Honchkrow to be a Skarmory and Blissey breaker as well by using something such as Life Orb / Expert Belt or Choice Specs / Scarf with Heat Wave and Superpower with each other. But this isn't always the best suggestion; however, it makes a nice backup. MixMence and DDMence with Fire Blast still makes a good suggestion as to prevent from being utterly walled by the combination. Choice Scarf also works as Shaymin-S and Scarf Heatran can be outpaced and the power is still quite high. I'd find Scarf Heatran despite how bog standard it is simply because it stops a lot of Pokemon from trampling your team; Lucario and Scizor in particular. If Scarf Heatran isn't your thing than Zapdos makes an okay consideration. The only problem with these two is simply Blissey is going to be a major pain in the ass either way. You're going to have to simply experiment and hope for the best.

Hopefully I've helped somewhat.