RMT Request
I'm rather poor at building good teams, and even though I think my following team has got the basis down, it still functions poorly. Of the approx 20 battles I played, I only won 5.., rather depressing.
That's why I hope you all can help me fix some obvious weaknesses this team has.
Introduction
First of all, I've use Slaking quite a few times on teams as a revenge killer, often using the scarf variant, but also the CB version at times. I often used it to plug a hole on a team. However, it grew to be one of my more favourite pokemon, especially whenever I was using the CB variant, for it's immense destructive power.
So this time, I decided to build a team around Slaking, hoping to let him perform as the star of the team, not just a last-choice pokemon to plug a hole.
Meet the team
So naturally, my first team member is.
Now, before I read Slaking's analysis page, I already had a certain idea about what I wanted with him as team members, most specifically something bulky that can phaze since I expected him to draw in lots of stat-up sweepers. That, and something that could well handle his fighting weakness. However, after reading Slaking's analysis page, I noticed that the team options section was very well written and basically already detailed the entire team, which helped me a lot.
Because of that analysis, I basically chose the following 5 pokemon.
Now presenting the first team mate that came to mind.
I considered Skarmory even before I read the team section of Slaking. What other pokemon can phaze as well as Skarmory without much fear for his life because of incredible bulk. Not only that, it also eats the mostly physical fighting moves that could be directed at Slaking and roosts of any damage taken. To top it off, it's ability to lay down spikes is a great asset to any team, but especially when you want to be 100% sure that Slakings attacks will always OHKO, because 2HKO are very unwanted on a pokemon like Slaking.
Now the pokemon that came to mind for actually letting the spikes that I worked hard to place stay intact. Yes, obviously it's..
Not only does Rotom function as a spin blocker, and therefor protects the spikes that Skarmy worked so hard for to lay down, it also resists any electric attacks that might have been aimed at said Skarmy. It also totally resists the fighting attacks aimed at Slaking, while in turn, Skarmy resists dark attacks, although there is no way to take the pursuit for Rotom, and Slaking enjoys the ghost attacks that couldve been launched at Rotom. This gives this trio great typing synergy so far.
Going back to the team options section on Slaking's page, I noticed the mention of a fighting type, in case a rock or steel type came in to wall Slaking's Returns, which was a very good mention. Therefore, let me introduce my fourth team member..
I chose Hariyama for his bulk. Rotom isn't incredibly bulky, Skarmy has a rather big special weakness, etc. Thick Fat Harry works wonders for a pseudo-fire resist to help out Skarmy. It's synergy with Skarmy makes it so that I have two very good options to chose from if I need to phaze, as both Skarmy and Harry can Whirlwind, both bulky, one taking physical attacks well, and the other taking special attacks, and almost perfectly resisting each others weaknesses.
Now, Stealth Rock was still missing, and I wanted a lead that was also strong enough to come in later and scout opponent's pokemon. A hard decision, but I eventually chose this little cutie.
Isn't it adorable. Sadly, in terms of type synergy, this thing did not add much, except for another annoying fire weakness, so I can't say I'm totally proud of this choice. Hence why I'm doing a RMT in the first place. However, in playability terms, this little critter sets up just the things I need.
Finally, the last member of the team. I pretty much wanted another fire resist, as well as a status absorber, as well as late-game statup sweeper. Yes, harsh demands, but I did find one.
Crocune. Healing, status absorbing, Fire resist, natural bulk, statup sweeping, which is highly possible after a few calm minds and a very powerful Surf. But, yet another Electric weak, which has cost me the match more than once..
Behind the spoiler are the sets of the original pokemon.
Update after testing
Changes to the team
Before DrkSlay mentioned Swampert, I was already considering him as a replacement for Jirachi. However, this team is already more of a semi-stall team than an offensive team, which hurts Slakings performance, in my opinion. I'm more busy absorbing hits, than having any offensive momentum myself. Since Jirachi still had some killing potential with Iron Head combined with flinchhaxing, I actually often used him that way.
On the other hand, Swampert at least did better typing wise.
I decided to replace Jirachi with Swampert after all.
However, I was still not content with the team, Suicune was being worthless, the offensive variant did just as bad. I also wanted a better lead to give more offensive momentum to me right of the bat.
It took a while for me to find him, but I never knew Dragonite had a lead set, especially one that's so darn effective.
Fighting types became a little less scary for me with my Dragonite also resisting them, and my Rotom just wasn't working like I wanted him to. I chose another rotom form with another set which complements my team much more.
This is the current team. So far, it's been performing substantially better, with me winning at least 50% of the matches over the past 2-3 days. However, there are still some glaring weaknesses, which I will explain later.
Explaining the sets
First of all, I'm not really good a team building. Most of my sets will come straight from the smogon analysis pages. I might have a move changed out here or there, but that's about it.
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
Nature: Quiet
EV's: 252 Atk, 252 S.Atk, 4 Spe
Moveset
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Extremespeed
Even though Slaking should be the star of the team, this guy is netting me more kills. The somewhat surprise factor, combined with the Extremespeed, which allows me to net many kills on faster frail sashed leads lets me start of many matches to my advantage. The entire set hurts incredibly hard, and even if the top 3 moves barely see any play, Extremespeed alone is giving me enough reason to use this guy. With Extremespeed, this guy can pick off so many weakened targets, it works almost as well as a dedicated revenge killer. And let's face it, it's just too hopeful to say that Slaking always nicely cleans up anything with OHKO's. I often find myself facing bulky stuff switching in, not being OHKO by my Returns. That's basically Dragonite's entrance que, so he can use either his stronger moves when he's faster to revenge kill, or use Extremespeed on frailer and faster targets to finish them off.
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
Nature: Relaxed
EV's: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 Atk
Moveset
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Protect
Basically, when Dragonite is done with his Anti-Lead business, Swampert comes in early in the match, on a favourable match-up, most likely, and sets up my Stealth Rock. After SR is up, Swampert acts as a physical tank, and is a great counter to a myriad of scary strong pokemon that could have their way with my team. However, because I often use it counter pokemon later in the game, I often find this guy not having enough coverage or attacking power to take out what I want it to take out. Protect gives me a good chance to scout moves and gives me free healing from Leftovers, but I think a tad more offensive set would serve my purpose better. Any other suggestions are welcome too though.
Item: Shed Shell
Ability: Keen Eye
Nature: Impish
EV's: 252 HP, 64 Atk, 176 Def, 16 Spd.
Moveset
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
The standard Spiker set, no exception. The moves probably require no explanation. Brave Bird is a rather fun move for my team, though. Fighting types can ruin my fun a bit, and Brave Bird takes care of two fighting types that are specifically dangerous to me, Heracross and even more so, Breloom. Heracross is just terrifying, period, especially if it comes in on Rotom's Will-O-Wisp. Breloom walls a lot of my pokemon and sets up Substitutes without any fear on Slaking, so Skarmory is about the only thing that can touch him.
Skarmory itself has been a very very valuable member so far, taking lots of beatings, setting up the spikes, phazing and taking out certain targets, so unless there is a clearly superior spiker, I don't think Skarmy should be replaced.
Item: Choice Band
Ability: Truant
Nature: Jolly
EV's: 80HP, 252 Atk, 176 Spd
Moveset
- Return
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- Pursuit
Standard CB set. I chose pursuit over Sucker Punch, as I find a lot of things are switching whenever they see this beast. I'd rather pursuit something on the way out if I want to absolutely hit the thing that was in, then having a small chance that Sucker Punch will ever do something.
Other than that, he's the absolute star of the show and works just like I hoped he would. He.. hits.. hard. Absurdly hard. The Returns-almost-KOing-steel-types, kind of hard.
He's my wall breaker, and I get him in whenever I can in early battle, to KO or at least weaken as much of the opponents team as possible, which he does nicely.
Slaking is obviously the only pokemon that has to stay, no matter what.
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Bold
EV's: 252 HP, 168 Def, 88 Spe
Moveset
- Discharge
- Shadow Ball
- Will-o-Wisp
- Leaf Storm
I chose this set because at first, I noticed my issues with bulky grounds, like Swampert or Hippowdon. Because of my lack of grass attacks else where, or water attacks, for that matter, I opted for the lawn mower, just for it's ability to take those two on with Leaf Storm. However, just like Air Slash wasn't performing greatly, Leaf Storm only finds few uses in battles. Discharge is almost always the better option because of STAB and the fact that my S.Atk stays intact, as well as the paralysis chance which is always a nice plus. Also, between Swampert, Skarmory and Rotom, I have 3 physical tanks, which seems rather redundant. The overall flow of the battle really just seems to be more about taking hits repeatedly and do some tickles back, instead of plowing through teams with high powered attacks (which a CB Slaking team kinda should be about).
This set/form also seems up for tweaking.
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
Nature: Careful
EV's: 80 HP, 172 Atk, 252 S.Def, 4 Spd.
Moveset
- Force Palm
- Whirlwind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
One of my all-time favourite pokemon, and next to Rotom, by far my most important pokemon. Where Rotom isn't taking much beating, but getting much screentime, by constant switchins at strategic times to cancel out certain moves, just to do one quick burn, trick, and to switch out again, Harry is the one actually taking the damage. Resttalk also makes it so I use Harry to take any and all status attacks aimed at my other pokemon. Sleep Talk combined with Whirlwind and much Entry Hazards makes a fun combo, as Whirlwind doesn't suffer from -1 speed drop. Combine that with Force Palm which for some reason has been working in my favour, spreading paralysis against opposing teams, and I get a pokemon, even though not fully under my control when Resttalking, that is just singlehandedly destroying the team while barely ever dying. I love this guy.
Type chart
Updated conclusion
I believe this team is decently on track now towards becoming a good team. There are still some major kinks on which I would like some help.
First of all is the "stallish" nature this team seems to have in play. I basically have 4 pokemon that have been EV'd defensively, 3 of them physically based, which is just overkill. Bulky offensive is one thing, but none of them, with perhaps the exception of Swampert or Rotom have even the moveset to be called offensive. And even Swampert and Rotom, who have decent coverage with their 2 or 3 moves, respectively, they just lack the power to inflict real damage.
Now, I don't mind bulky offense, or stallish teams. However, a team that's been build around a very offensive pokemon like CB Slaking, whoms only goal in life is to hit with gigapowered moves, should at least be somewhat build around that same idea of offensive power. Not slowing him down. I feel that on average, the pace of any of my battles is just bringing out my tanks and hit for some damage and mostly just soaking up damage myself. I only get to bring out my Slaking once my tanks have set up a oppertunity to do so. So I'd like the team to be more offensive overall. Any suggestions towards that end are well appreciated.
Another issue I have is the lack of a real dedicated late-game sweeper, but first and foremost, the lack of a revenge killer. I think these two could be very well combined into one pokemon. I've lost at least 4 matches only yesterday where the opposing team was weakened beyond repair from continues abuse from Slaking, with most of them under 40% HP remaining. However, the second Dragonite dies, I have nothing on my team of notable speed, nor any priority attacks. It just sucks big time that I have to see my remaining members die 1 by 1 to something faster on the opponents team, when I could've swept their entire team with ease if I just had one speed thing myself. A choice scarfer seems logical, however, the fact I want my revenge killer also to be my late-game sweeper, being able to finish of the entire (weakened) team, being locked into one move will never help. And when looking at the standard fast pokemon, I found none that really just pop up as the perfect candidate for my team.
My last concern is coverage. This is of course also due to at least two of my pokemon having only 1 damaging move, Skarmory and Hariyama. And Hariyama's Force Palm even failed to take out a Tyranitar once, which is kinda sad. So you probably can't call that coverage at all. I have 1 ice attack, only 1 notable fire attack. Slaking is strong, but Fire Punch is probably only decent against scizor. Fire Punch is physical, and everything I want to hit with fire is probably strong on the physical defensive side, steels. Grass is only available once, and isn't that great either, and water is even fully absent.
What this means is, that in most battles, I get dragons in my face, or something extremely frightening, like a Gyarados or Tyranitar and only have 1 pokemon that could deal with said pokemon well. If my counter is dead, I often have to go to one of my tanks and (when accumalated) whirlwind any boosts away, so that I can perhaps get in Slaking next time on more even terms and hope Return can take out said threat. This kind of play takes a huge strain on my team, having my take much more beating than necessary if I had a bit more decent coverage on my pokemon. This is my other major concern and would love some suggestions for this.
Thanks for your rates so far and any further help is well appreciated.
Credits
As requested by their sites, credits to Pokemon Elite 2000 for the small sprites at the top. Credits to Arkeis for the bigger sprites used in the moveset descriptions.
I'm rather poor at building good teams, and even though I think my following team has got the basis down, it still functions poorly. Of the approx 20 battles I played, I only won 5.., rather depressing.
That's why I hope you all can help me fix some obvious weaknesses this team has.
Introduction
First of all, I've use Slaking quite a few times on teams as a revenge killer, often using the scarf variant, but also the CB version at times. I often used it to plug a hole on a team. However, it grew to be one of my more favourite pokemon, especially whenever I was using the CB variant, for it's immense destructive power.
So this time, I decided to build a team around Slaking, hoping to let him perform as the star of the team, not just a last-choice pokemon to plug a hole.
Meet the team
So naturally, my first team member is.
Now, before I read Slaking's analysis page, I already had a certain idea about what I wanted with him as team members, most specifically something bulky that can phaze since I expected him to draw in lots of stat-up sweepers. That, and something that could well handle his fighting weakness. However, after reading Slaking's analysis page, I noticed that the team options section was very well written and basically already detailed the entire team, which helped me a lot.
Because of that analysis, I basically chose the following 5 pokemon.
Now presenting the first team mate that came to mind.
I considered Skarmory even before I read the team section of Slaking. What other pokemon can phaze as well as Skarmory without much fear for his life because of incredible bulk. Not only that, it also eats the mostly physical fighting moves that could be directed at Slaking and roosts of any damage taken. To top it off, it's ability to lay down spikes is a great asset to any team, but especially when you want to be 100% sure that Slakings attacks will always OHKO, because 2HKO are very unwanted on a pokemon like Slaking.
Now the pokemon that came to mind for actually letting the spikes that I worked hard to place stay intact. Yes, obviously it's..
Not only does Rotom function as a spin blocker, and therefor protects the spikes that Skarmy worked so hard for to lay down, it also resists any electric attacks that might have been aimed at said Skarmy. It also totally resists the fighting attacks aimed at Slaking, while in turn, Skarmy resists dark attacks, although there is no way to take the pursuit for Rotom, and Slaking enjoys the ghost attacks that couldve been launched at Rotom. This gives this trio great typing synergy so far.
Going back to the team options section on Slaking's page, I noticed the mention of a fighting type, in case a rock or steel type came in to wall Slaking's Returns, which was a very good mention. Therefore, let me introduce my fourth team member..
I chose Hariyama for his bulk. Rotom isn't incredibly bulky, Skarmy has a rather big special weakness, etc. Thick Fat Harry works wonders for a pseudo-fire resist to help out Skarmy. It's synergy with Skarmy makes it so that I have two very good options to chose from if I need to phaze, as both Skarmy and Harry can Whirlwind, both bulky, one taking physical attacks well, and the other taking special attacks, and almost perfectly resisting each others weaknesses.
Now, Stealth Rock was still missing, and I wanted a lead that was also strong enough to come in later and scout opponent's pokemon. A hard decision, but I eventually chose this little cutie.
Isn't it adorable. Sadly, in terms of type synergy, this thing did not add much, except for another annoying fire weakness, so I can't say I'm totally proud of this choice. Hence why I'm doing a RMT in the first place. However, in playability terms, this little critter sets up just the things I need.
Finally, the last member of the team. I pretty much wanted another fire resist, as well as a status absorber, as well as late-game statup sweeper. Yes, harsh demands, but I did find one.
Crocune. Healing, status absorbing, Fire resist, natural bulk, statup sweeping, which is highly possible after a few calm minds and a very powerful Surf. But, yet another Electric weak, which has cost me the match more than once..
Behind the spoiler are the sets of the original pokemon.
Explaining the sets
First of all, I'm not really good a team building. Most of my sets will come straight from the smogon analysis pages. I might have a move changed out here or there, but that's about it.
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
Nature: Jolly
EV's: 80 HP, 252 Atk, 176 Spd
Moveset
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch
- Trick
- Stealth Rock.
I'm basically using the standard Leadrachi here, with one minor adjustment, Fire Punch over U-Turn. I barely find myself seeing any situations where I want to use U-Turn. A fire Punch however, has helped me against quite a few steels pokes that think they could wall the Iron Head forever and do there setting up, like Metagross leads or Forretress'. Stealth Rock provides a solid form of residual damage and Tricking a Choice Scarf to something that doesn't like it is always fun. However, Jirachi is the one working out the least of all my pokemon.
I've considered both a Swampert lead and a Dragonite anti-lead, but both left me with more weaknesses than I would probably want.
Out of all pokemon, this one has no priority to stay, so feel free to suppose different leads.
Item: Shed Shell
Ability: Keen Eye
Nature: Impish
EV's: 252 HP, 64 Atk, 176 Def, 16 Spd.
Moveset
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
The standard Spiker set, no exception. The moves probably require no explanation. Brave Bird is a rather fun move for my team, though. Fighting types can ruin my fun a bit, and Brave Bird takes care of two fighting types that are specifically dangerous to me, Heracross and even more so, Breloom. Heracross is just terrifying, period, especially if it comes in on Rotom's Will-O-Wisp. Breloom walls a lot of my pokemon and sets up Substitutes without any fear on Slaking, so Skarmory is about the only thing that can touch him.
Skarmory itself has been a very very valuable member so far, taking lots of beatings, setting up the spikes, phazing and taking out certain targets, so unless there is a clearly superior spiker, I don't think Skarmy should be replaced.
Item: Choice Band
Ability: Truant
Nature: Jolly
EV's: 80HP, 252 Atk, 176 Spd
Moveset
- Return
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- Pursuit
Standard CB set. I chose pursuit over Sucker Punch, as I find a lot of things are switching whenever they see this beast. I'd rather pursuit something on the way out if I want to absolutely hit the thing that was in, then having a small chance that Sucker Punch will ever do something.
Other than that, he's the absolute star of the show and works just like I hoped he would. He.. hits.. hard. Absurdly hard. The Returns-almost-KOing-steel-types, kind of hard.
He's my wall breaker, and I get him in whenever I can in early battle, to KO or at least weaken as much of the opponents team as possible, which he does nicely.
Slaking is obviously the only pokemon that has to stay, no matter what.
Item: Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EV's: 4 HP, 252 S.Atk, 252 Spd
Moveset
- Air Slash
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Trick
Rotom is somewhat of a sweeper set, turned tank. I probably messed him up because he's both performing sub-par and overperforming.
Let's start with the overperforming. I find, that in battles, Rotom has about the most screenplay of all of my pokemon, even more so than Slaking. That's because of my Electric weakness, for one. But also my reliance on Entry Hazards and the fact that Ground and Fighting moves are mighty common. So, in a way, Rotom is my most valuable pokemon. It's often the case that if he dies, I get swept by something that probably only couldve been stopped by him.
However, I messed up the moveset. In my head, a Choice Specs boosted Air Slash to take out fighting types and grass types, two types that I struggle with quite some bit works worse in reality than on paper. Being locked isn't helping Rotom one bit either. Once I tricked away the Choice Specs, the Air Slash is becoming even more laughable, basically becoming a moveslot wasted, unless a Breloom is out and not substituting and etc.
Rotom is incredibly important for my team so far, as he's been doing the most tanking of all of them, however, the set I have is underperforming. But a standard resttalk set works even worse, especially since two of my coming pokemon are already resttalkers.
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
Nature: Careful
EV's: 80 HP, 172 Atk, 252 S.Def, 4 Spd.
Moveset
- Force Palm
- Whirlwind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
One of my all-time favourite pokemon, and next to Rotom, by far my most important pokemon. Where Rotom isn't taking much beating, but getting much screentime, by constant switchins at strategic times to cancel out certain moves, just to do one quick burn, trick, and to switch out again, Harry is the one actually taking the damage. Resttalk also makes it so I use Harry to take any and all status attacks aimed at my other pokemon. Sleep Talk combined with Whirlwind and much Entry Hazards makes a fun combo, as Whirlwind doesn't suffer from -1 speed drop. Combine that with Force Palm which for some reason has been working in my favour, spreading paralysis against opposing teams, and I get a pokemon, even though not fully under my control when Resttalking, that is just singlehandedly destroying the team while barely ever dying. I love this guy.
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Bold
EV's: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 Spd
Moveset
- Surf
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
This blue doggy is a big dissappointment so far. It's been dying a lot to physical attackers and I'm often finding myself bringing him in much too early, because I don't have proper walls for fire attacks, wearing down my supposedly late game sweeper, before he even gets a chance to do just that. This one's definitely up for a replacement, but I have no idea what.
Type Chart
First of all, I'm not really good a team building. Most of my sets will come straight from the smogon analysis pages. I might have a move changed out here or there, but that's about it.
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
Nature: Jolly
EV's: 80 HP, 252 Atk, 176 Spd
Moveset
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch
- Trick
- Stealth Rock.
I'm basically using the standard Leadrachi here, with one minor adjustment, Fire Punch over U-Turn. I barely find myself seeing any situations where I want to use U-Turn. A fire Punch however, has helped me against quite a few steels pokes that think they could wall the Iron Head forever and do there setting up, like Metagross leads or Forretress'. Stealth Rock provides a solid form of residual damage and Tricking a Choice Scarf to something that doesn't like it is always fun. However, Jirachi is the one working out the least of all my pokemon.
I've considered both a Swampert lead and a Dragonite anti-lead, but both left me with more weaknesses than I would probably want.
Out of all pokemon, this one has no priority to stay, so feel free to suppose different leads.
Item: Shed Shell
Ability: Keen Eye
Nature: Impish
EV's: 252 HP, 64 Atk, 176 Def, 16 Spd.
Moveset
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
The standard Spiker set, no exception. The moves probably require no explanation. Brave Bird is a rather fun move for my team, though. Fighting types can ruin my fun a bit, and Brave Bird takes care of two fighting types that are specifically dangerous to me, Heracross and even more so, Breloom. Heracross is just terrifying, period, especially if it comes in on Rotom's Will-O-Wisp. Breloom walls a lot of my pokemon and sets up Substitutes without any fear on Slaking, so Skarmory is about the only thing that can touch him.
Skarmory itself has been a very very valuable member so far, taking lots of beatings, setting up the spikes, phazing and taking out certain targets, so unless there is a clearly superior spiker, I don't think Skarmy should be replaced.
Item: Choice Band
Ability: Truant
Nature: Jolly
EV's: 80HP, 252 Atk, 176 Spd
Moveset
- Return
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- Pursuit
Standard CB set. I chose pursuit over Sucker Punch, as I find a lot of things are switching whenever they see this beast. I'd rather pursuit something on the way out if I want to absolutely hit the thing that was in, then having a small chance that Sucker Punch will ever do something.
Other than that, he's the absolute star of the show and works just like I hoped he would. He.. hits.. hard. Absurdly hard. The Returns-almost-KOing-steel-types, kind of hard.
He's my wall breaker, and I get him in whenever I can in early battle, to KO or at least weaken as much of the opponents team as possible, which he does nicely.
Slaking is obviously the only pokemon that has to stay, no matter what.
Item: Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EV's: 4 HP, 252 S.Atk, 252 Spd
Moveset
- Air Slash
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Trick
Rotom is somewhat of a sweeper set, turned tank. I probably messed him up because he's both performing sub-par and overperforming.
Let's start with the overperforming. I find, that in battles, Rotom has about the most screenplay of all of my pokemon, even more so than Slaking. That's because of my Electric weakness, for one. But also my reliance on Entry Hazards and the fact that Ground and Fighting moves are mighty common. So, in a way, Rotom is my most valuable pokemon. It's often the case that if he dies, I get swept by something that probably only couldve been stopped by him.
However, I messed up the moveset. In my head, a Choice Specs boosted Air Slash to take out fighting types and grass types, two types that I struggle with quite some bit works worse in reality than on paper. Being locked isn't helping Rotom one bit either. Once I tricked away the Choice Specs, the Air Slash is becoming even more laughable, basically becoming a moveslot wasted, unless a Breloom is out and not substituting and etc.
Rotom is incredibly important for my team so far, as he's been doing the most tanking of all of them, however, the set I have is underperforming. But a standard resttalk set works even worse, especially since two of my coming pokemon are already resttalkers.
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
Nature: Careful
EV's: 80 HP, 172 Atk, 252 S.Def, 4 Spd.
Moveset
- Force Palm
- Whirlwind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
One of my all-time favourite pokemon, and next to Rotom, by far my most important pokemon. Where Rotom isn't taking much beating, but getting much screentime, by constant switchins at strategic times to cancel out certain moves, just to do one quick burn, trick, and to switch out again, Harry is the one actually taking the damage. Resttalk also makes it so I use Harry to take any and all status attacks aimed at my other pokemon. Sleep Talk combined with Whirlwind and much Entry Hazards makes a fun combo, as Whirlwind doesn't suffer from -1 speed drop. Combine that with Force Palm which for some reason has been working in my favour, spreading paralysis against opposing teams, and I get a pokemon, even though not fully under my control when Resttalking, that is just singlehandedly destroying the team while barely ever dying. I love this guy.
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Bold
EV's: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 Spd
Moveset
- Surf
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
This blue doggy is a big dissappointment so far. It's been dying a lot to physical attackers and I'm often finding myself bringing him in much too early, because I don't have proper walls for fire attacks, wearing down my supposedly late game sweeper, before he even gets a chance to do just that. This one's definitely up for a replacement, but I have no idea what.
Type Chart
Update after testing
Changes to the team
Before DrkSlay mentioned Swampert, I was already considering him as a replacement for Jirachi. However, this team is already more of a semi-stall team than an offensive team, which hurts Slakings performance, in my opinion. I'm more busy absorbing hits, than having any offensive momentum myself. Since Jirachi still had some killing potential with Iron Head combined with flinchhaxing, I actually often used him that way.
On the other hand, Swampert at least did better typing wise.
I decided to replace Jirachi with Swampert after all.
However, I was still not content with the team, Suicune was being worthless, the offensive variant did just as bad. I also wanted a better lead to give more offensive momentum to me right of the bat.
It took a while for me to find him, but I never knew Dragonite had a lead set, especially one that's so darn effective.
Fighting types became a little less scary for me with my Dragonite also resisting them, and my Rotom just wasn't working like I wanted him to. I chose another rotom form with another set which complements my team much more.
This is the current team. So far, it's been performing substantially better, with me winning at least 50% of the matches over the past 2-3 days. However, there are still some glaring weaknesses, which I will explain later.
Explaining the sets
First of all, I'm not really good a team building. Most of my sets will come straight from the smogon analysis pages. I might have a move changed out here or there, but that's about it.
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
Nature: Quiet
EV's: 252 Atk, 252 S.Atk, 4 Spe
Moveset
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Extremespeed
Even though Slaking should be the star of the team, this guy is netting me more kills. The somewhat surprise factor, combined with the Extremespeed, which allows me to net many kills on faster frail sashed leads lets me start of many matches to my advantage. The entire set hurts incredibly hard, and even if the top 3 moves barely see any play, Extremespeed alone is giving me enough reason to use this guy. With Extremespeed, this guy can pick off so many weakened targets, it works almost as well as a dedicated revenge killer. And let's face it, it's just too hopeful to say that Slaking always nicely cleans up anything with OHKO's. I often find myself facing bulky stuff switching in, not being OHKO by my Returns. That's basically Dragonite's entrance que, so he can use either his stronger moves when he's faster to revenge kill, or use Extremespeed on frailer and faster targets to finish them off.
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
Nature: Relaxed
EV's: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 Atk
Moveset
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Protect
Basically, when Dragonite is done with his Anti-Lead business, Swampert comes in early in the match, on a favourable match-up, most likely, and sets up my Stealth Rock. After SR is up, Swampert acts as a physical tank, and is a great counter to a myriad of scary strong pokemon that could have their way with my team. However, because I often use it counter pokemon later in the game, I often find this guy not having enough coverage or attacking power to take out what I want it to take out. Protect gives me a good chance to scout moves and gives me free healing from Leftovers, but I think a tad more offensive set would serve my purpose better. Any other suggestions are welcome too though.
Item: Shed Shell
Ability: Keen Eye
Nature: Impish
EV's: 252 HP, 64 Atk, 176 Def, 16 Spd.
Moveset
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
The standard Spiker set, no exception. The moves probably require no explanation. Brave Bird is a rather fun move for my team, though. Fighting types can ruin my fun a bit, and Brave Bird takes care of two fighting types that are specifically dangerous to me, Heracross and even more so, Breloom. Heracross is just terrifying, period, especially if it comes in on Rotom's Will-O-Wisp. Breloom walls a lot of my pokemon and sets up Substitutes without any fear on Slaking, so Skarmory is about the only thing that can touch him.
Skarmory itself has been a very very valuable member so far, taking lots of beatings, setting up the spikes, phazing and taking out certain targets, so unless there is a clearly superior spiker, I don't think Skarmy should be replaced.
Item: Choice Band
Ability: Truant
Nature: Jolly
EV's: 80HP, 252 Atk, 176 Spd
Moveset
- Return
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- Pursuit
Standard CB set. I chose pursuit over Sucker Punch, as I find a lot of things are switching whenever they see this beast. I'd rather pursuit something on the way out if I want to absolutely hit the thing that was in, then having a small chance that Sucker Punch will ever do something.
Other than that, he's the absolute star of the show and works just like I hoped he would. He.. hits.. hard. Absurdly hard. The Returns-almost-KOing-steel-types, kind of hard.
He's my wall breaker, and I get him in whenever I can in early battle, to KO or at least weaken as much of the opponents team as possible, which he does nicely.
Slaking is obviously the only pokemon that has to stay, no matter what.
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Bold
EV's: 252 HP, 168 Def, 88 Spe
Moveset
- Discharge
- Shadow Ball
- Will-o-Wisp
- Leaf Storm
I chose this set because at first, I noticed my issues with bulky grounds, like Swampert or Hippowdon. Because of my lack of grass attacks else where, or water attacks, for that matter, I opted for the lawn mower, just for it's ability to take those two on with Leaf Storm. However, just like Air Slash wasn't performing greatly, Leaf Storm only finds few uses in battles. Discharge is almost always the better option because of STAB and the fact that my S.Atk stays intact, as well as the paralysis chance which is always a nice plus. Also, between Swampert, Skarmory and Rotom, I have 3 physical tanks, which seems rather redundant. The overall flow of the battle really just seems to be more about taking hits repeatedly and do some tickles back, instead of plowing through teams with high powered attacks (which a CB Slaking team kinda should be about).
This set/form also seems up for tweaking.
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
Nature: Careful
EV's: 80 HP, 172 Atk, 252 S.Def, 4 Spd.
Moveset
- Force Palm
- Whirlwind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
One of my all-time favourite pokemon, and next to Rotom, by far my most important pokemon. Where Rotom isn't taking much beating, but getting much screentime, by constant switchins at strategic times to cancel out certain moves, just to do one quick burn, trick, and to switch out again, Harry is the one actually taking the damage. Resttalk also makes it so I use Harry to take any and all status attacks aimed at my other pokemon. Sleep Talk combined with Whirlwind and much Entry Hazards makes a fun combo, as Whirlwind doesn't suffer from -1 speed drop. Combine that with Force Palm which for some reason has been working in my favour, spreading paralysis against opposing teams, and I get a pokemon, even though not fully under my control when Resttalking, that is just singlehandedly destroying the team while barely ever dying. I love this guy.
Type chart
Updated conclusion
I believe this team is decently on track now towards becoming a good team. There are still some major kinks on which I would like some help.
First of all is the "stallish" nature this team seems to have in play. I basically have 4 pokemon that have been EV'd defensively, 3 of them physically based, which is just overkill. Bulky offensive is one thing, but none of them, with perhaps the exception of Swampert or Rotom have even the moveset to be called offensive. And even Swampert and Rotom, who have decent coverage with their 2 or 3 moves, respectively, they just lack the power to inflict real damage.
Now, I don't mind bulky offense, or stallish teams. However, a team that's been build around a very offensive pokemon like CB Slaking, whoms only goal in life is to hit with gigapowered moves, should at least be somewhat build around that same idea of offensive power. Not slowing him down. I feel that on average, the pace of any of my battles is just bringing out my tanks and hit for some damage and mostly just soaking up damage myself. I only get to bring out my Slaking once my tanks have set up a oppertunity to do so. So I'd like the team to be more offensive overall. Any suggestions towards that end are well appreciated.
Another issue I have is the lack of a real dedicated late-game sweeper, but first and foremost, the lack of a revenge killer. I think these two could be very well combined into one pokemon. I've lost at least 4 matches only yesterday where the opposing team was weakened beyond repair from continues abuse from Slaking, with most of them under 40% HP remaining. However, the second Dragonite dies, I have nothing on my team of notable speed, nor any priority attacks. It just sucks big time that I have to see my remaining members die 1 by 1 to something faster on the opponents team, when I could've swept their entire team with ease if I just had one speed thing myself. A choice scarfer seems logical, however, the fact I want my revenge killer also to be my late-game sweeper, being able to finish of the entire (weakened) team, being locked into one move will never help. And when looking at the standard fast pokemon, I found none that really just pop up as the perfect candidate for my team.
My last concern is coverage. This is of course also due to at least two of my pokemon having only 1 damaging move, Skarmory and Hariyama. And Hariyama's Force Palm even failed to take out a Tyranitar once, which is kinda sad. So you probably can't call that coverage at all. I have 1 ice attack, only 1 notable fire attack. Slaking is strong, but Fire Punch is probably only decent against scizor. Fire Punch is physical, and everything I want to hit with fire is probably strong on the physical defensive side, steels. Grass is only available once, and isn't that great either, and water is even fully absent.
What this means is, that in most battles, I get dragons in my face, or something extremely frightening, like a Gyarados or Tyranitar and only have 1 pokemon that could deal with said pokemon well. If my counter is dead, I often have to go to one of my tanks and (when accumalated) whirlwind any boosts away, so that I can perhaps get in Slaking next time on more even terms and hope Return can take out said threat. This kind of play takes a huge strain on my team, having my take much more beating than necessary if I had a bit more decent coverage on my pokemon. This is my other major concern and would love some suggestions for this.
Thanks for your rates so far and any further help is well appreciated.
Credits
As requested by their sites, credits to Pokemon Elite 2000 for the small sprites at the top. Credits to Arkeis for the bigger sprites used in the moveset descriptions.
