Team "I Came Up With This Yesterday While Listening To Avenged Sevenfold"

[Marioman07]

Building Process

I was just browsing the strategy dex yesterday, and stumbled upon the anti-lead Dragonite set, which i really liked. I like the idea of catching the opponent off-guard and killing their lead.

After I chose my lead, I decided i needed a counter for the most heavily used pokemon today; Scizor. I chose this pokemon because of the ease it has to Scizor, and is a complete counter, being able to switch in easily, and threaten to OHKO with Heat Wave. That pokemon is Zapdos.

Already, I have a glaring ice-type weakeness. This next pokemon is a counter to special ice-type attack(er)s, and a general special wall, and counter to Infernape; Tentacruel.

Next up is my physical wall, Metagross. It takes attacks all day with it's 80/130/90 defenses .

Now, I realized after all this that my team lacked sweeping powers, besides Dragonite. I needed something able to be diverse and hard hitting, as well as speedy, and Azelf fit the job.

I actually had Azelf fill the physical spectrum of the sweeping portion of my team, so it was obvious that i needed a special sweeper. Infernape may seem like an unorthodox choice for a specs user, but it catches many by surprise, doing a lot of damage with STAB Vacuum Wave.

Without Further Ado, Let's Begin

M.Shadows the Dragonite
@Life Orb
Quiet nature
EVs: 252 Atk/ 252 Sp.Atk/ 4 Spe
-Draco Meteor
-Extremespeed
-Earthquake
-Fire Blast
Dragonite is a potent anti-lead; able to counter the frail leads like Azelf, Aerodactyl, and other suicides. It is able to deal a hefty blow with either Draco Meteor, Earthquake, or Fire Blast, and then destroy them with Extremespeed. Now for the other, bulkier leads, M.Shadows deals heavy damage with the above attacks. The only real problem he has is with faster leads that carry an ice type move, which I dont see coming.

The Rev (R.I.P) the Zapdos
@Leftovers
Bold nature
EVs:248 HP/228 Def./32 Spe
-Thunderbolt
-Hidden Power [Ice]
-Heat Wave
-Roost
Zapdos really is the perfect Scizor counter. It easily switches in on a weakened Bullet Punch or fighting type move of choice, and easily OHKO with Heat Wave. Thunderbolt is there for STAB and goes hand in hand with HP[ice] for great type coverage. Roost is there for added survivability.

ZackyV. the Tentacruel
@Black Sludge
EVs:252 HP/120 Def./136Sp.Def
Calm nature
-Surf
-Sludge Bomb
-Rapid Spin
-Toxic Spikes
Tentacruel serves as my Bulky Water/Rapid Spinner/Toxic Spiker. The 120 Def. EVs are there to allow Zacky to take physical hits better than if they weren't there. It serves as a perfect MixApe counter, dealing lots of damage to it with STAB SE surf. It can also come in on a ScarfTran Fire Blast after a Flash Fire boost, and it can also take an Earth Power quite nicely. Sludge Bomb is there to damage grass types if necessary, but it is able to be removed for a better option. Rapid spin gets rid of those annoying stealth rocks and spikes, and toxic spikes are there for status.

JohnnyChrist the Metagross
@Leftovers
Careful nature
EVs:252HP/244 Def./12Spe
-Meteor Mash
-Earthquake/Thunderpunch
-Stealth Rock
-Explosion
Metagross is a beast when it comes to taking physical attacks with it's 130 base defense stat. Meteor Mash is there for great STAB and also for the chance to raise his attack. Earthquake is on there for a powerful attack to everything that resists Meteor Mash, while ThunderPunch could be useful for water types attempting to come in on a resisted Meteor Mash. Stealth Rock is on here for an entry hazard besides Toxic Spikes, and Explosion is for an epic WTF BOOM moment when needed the most.

Nightmare the Azelf
@Choice Band
Adamant nature
Evs: 252 Atk/252 Spe/4 HP
-Zen Headbutt
-Ice Punch
-Explosion/Fire Punch
-U turn/ Thunderpunch
I just love catching people by surprise with this set. Choice Band Azelf is a potent physical sweeper who's fast and hard hitting. Zen Headbutt for STAB and flinching chance. Ice Punch is for Dragons and all-around coverage. Now, most times i sorely regret not having Fire Punch on here instead of Explosion, as i already have a WTF BOOM-er. I don't really like having U turn on this set because i dont like the idea of switching out after killing an opponent, which allows them to send in a counter, so Thunderpunch is here for lack of a better option :P.

SynGates the Infernape
@Choice Specs
Modest nature
EVs: 252 Sp.Atk/252 Spe/4 HP
-Vacuum Wave
-Heat Wave
-Hidden Power [Ice]
-Grass Knot
SpecsApe is pretty powerful, especially after Blaze takes effect. Vacuum Wave is here for priority, and it is pretty powerful with STAB and the Choice Specs to boost it. I chose Heat Wave because it has higher accuracy than Fire Blast, yet higher base power than Flamethrower, like a happy medium. Hidden Power [Ice] is for dragons and coverage, while Grass Knot is a powerful answer to Swampert and other heavy bulky waters.





I hope you enjoy rating my team, thanks in advance!






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[Marioman07]

Bump. C'mon guys, i really need some opinions on this team

 

[Shizzle]

Fairly solid team, although some problems here and there.

Firstly, there is no point using Toxic Spikes without a Spin Blocker, such as Rotom-A, I mean your opponent can purposely let you set up 3 layers before switching to their Rapid Spinner, like Starmie who doesn't mind Toxic at all. Not to mention the Steel centralised metagame makes it even less reliable. To be honest, I wouldn't use Toxic Spikes without first getting SR down [unless you are stall]. IMO you don't need Tentacruel, and his roles outside of a Toxic Spiker in terms of advantages over other spinners is next to none. I would change him for something like LO Starmie or CS Flygon.

I dislike CB Azelf, and IMO, CS Jirachi is a monster, allowing you to remain fearless against foes like DDmence/DDdos/SDLuke. Not to mention that CS Jirachi is a great scout, and can finish battles off easily with spamming Iron Head.

 

[jumpluff]

Firstly, you should use Timid on Infernape. Modest only reaches 315 Speed, which isn't enough to even tie with the likes of Flygon, Salamence, and Jirachi, all of whom you would like to be able to revenge. However, I would like to suggest you switch it to mixed Infernape. Close Combat would help you a lot more against Heatran, Tyranitar, Blissey, Vaporeon (low weight so Grass Knot does jack against it), etc. etc., all of which give you some grief.

Jolly is helpful on Azelf as well, to let you tie with Starmie (which can do significant damage to everything on your team, and come in on Infernape, MMing Metagross, Tentacruel, and a weakened Zapdos) and beat Timid Gengar, which is the most common nature of Gengar and can rip holes in your team. You should put Ice Beam over Sludge Bomb on Tentacruel, since it lets you hit Dragons while maintaining coverage against Grass-types. However, I don't think you should use it at all, TSpikes aren't really helpful to your team, especially since you lack a spin blocker. Tentacruel is taking up a slot uselessly. You could use a Water-type though, so I suggest something like Suicune, which is infinitely more threatening.

You also have Dragon Dance Tyranitar problems. After a Dragon Dance (it can DD on a weak Tentacruel Surf, a locked-in Infernape [another reason to use mix], Zapdos, any move Azelf is locked into [seriously, U-turn is good, try it... it really shields you against Pursuit and lets you scout / get some free damage in. Otherwise you're just a sitting duck]), it just shreds your team if Metagross is gone or weakened. Switch Azelf to Scarf Jirachi imho. Azelf and Metagross sort of double up on each other and Jirachi helps you check a lot of stuff, like Gengar, Salamence, and Tyranitar, since Scarf lets you outspeed +1 and Iron Head it to death. To be honest, in that case, you could probably replace Metagross too, but I'm a little distracted with soccer so yeah. An extra Electric resist would be helpful, since you can't switch well into Pokémon like Jolteon. Hope this helps a little!

 

[animenagai]

Just a note, pursuit hits a u-turner and gets priority.

 

[jumpluff]

Yeah, I know, but U-turn lets him hit an incoming Tyranitar super effectively and go to something safe, as well as escape Scizor.

 

[tab]

Hey. There's some pretty big problems with this team, most notably the real lack of offensive power. You're relying entirely on a lead that's going to struggle to stick around for a while and two very frail choiced pokemon to break through teams, which I really don't see working properly. The main problem with the way you've built the team is the way you went about building the defensive core to cover your weaknesses - by the time you've put defensive Zapdos, Tentacruel, and a defensive Metagross on an offensive team, along with your lead, you're simply not going to have enough room to make it work well.

A better way to go about making this kind of team work is to base your defenses around bulky pokemon that are also capable of helping out a lot offensively (Heatran, Salamence, Suicune, Tyranitar, Jirachi etc), so I'll focus my rate around steering you in that direction.

I'm going to start off with Tentacruel. The only real reason you'd ever use Tentacruel over the other options is to have a pokemon with both Rapid Spin and Toxic Spikes in one when Forretress is undesirable - there's better Spinners (Starmie), there's better TSpikers (Roserade), and there's better checks to the pokemon Tentacruel checks (Starmie, Suicune, Vaporeon). Now, seeing as your team isn't really built to use Toxic Spikes properly, you'd be much better off going with a Life Orb Starmie with Hydro Pump/Thunderbolt/Ice Beam/Recover, and an EV spread of 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe and a Timid nature, which, while not quite as bulky as Tentacruel, is still bulky enough to check what you need it to, and gives your team a way of dealing with quite a few pokemon that it's going to struggle against otherwise. This Starmie is also extremely dangerous offensively, which is going to go a long way towards helping you to break through other teams.

Again, the Metagross set you're using isn't optimal. There's not much point going with that much bulk on Metagross, as it's bulky enough to survive what you need it to with some of the EVs moved to Attack, which allows it to pose a threat offensively too. Instead, I'd use an Adamant Metagross with a Shuca Berry, 252 HP / 236 Atk / 12 Def / 8 Sp, and Stealth Rock/Meteor Mash/Explosion, and either Earthquake or Ice Punch, which will give you a reasonable check to Dragon Dance Salamence, which your team is really lacking, and will still enable you to use Metagross in a similar fashion to the way you're using it now, but with much more offensive potential.

With Infernape, I'd go with the Physical MixApe set from its analysis, as Specs really isn't the best way to go about using Ape. Physical Mix will help out a lot against both offensive and defensive teams, as well as functioning as a decent lure for pokemon like Starmie, which I can see absolutely destroying your team. I've suggested Physical Mix over special here because of the way your team's built so far - you're going to struggle a lot more with the pokemon physical Ape excels against than the once Special ape does.

CB Azelf is another pokemon that I'd suggest changing entirely - it's simply not very effective. Scarftar is one of the most common switches into Azelf along with Scizor, both of which can easily get a free KO on Azelf from Pursuit, and as soon as your opponent figures out your set, it really shouldn't be too difficult to wall. There's a lot of possible replacements here, so you can easily try out various pokemon to see what suits you, however one you may want to look into is an offensive Shaymin with Seed Flare/HP Fire/Earth Power/Rest, which will round off both your offences and defences nicely.

Finally, I'd definately use HP Grass on Zapdos. Out of your team, Dragonite, Zapdos (with its current set), Metagross, and Infernape all struggle against Swampert to some extent, and having a way to lure in and potentially KO them is incredibly useful, especially as the vast majority of the time you get a chance to use HP Ice, you're going to be forced to switch out of fear of letting Zapdos get KOed.
Alternatively, another set you may want to look into is Subsitute/Roost/Toxic/Thunderbolt with a faster EV spread, which, while not quite as bulky as your current set, can be extremely difficult for a lot of teams to deal with, while still checking what you need it to. Your current set is fine if you don't fancy changing it though.

Good luck!

 

[Marioman07]

Wow, thanks guys! That's alot of rates in about 3 hours o.o. Now that I see it from another point of view, Tentacruel really is dead weight for my team. I will be replacing that with LO Starmie. @Tab, why physicalMixApe instead of special? I will replace CBAzelf with ScarfRachi.

 

[tab]

Physical mix does 47.8% - 56.5% to Vaporeon with Close Combat, 74% - 87.8% to LO Starmie and 55.6% - 65.8% to defensive Starmie with U-turn, etc, which means that it's great at luring in and 2HKOing the pokemon special mix struggles against, which are generally the ones more troublesome for your team, while still being able to wall break pretty well.

 

[Grayheart]

I definitely support either a Scarf Jirachi or Scarf Flygon over Azelf, since if the opponent gets SR up (which they will against a team like this) then SpecsJolteon can run through your team entirely with Thunderbolt, especially if you don't use EQ on Gross. Just a forewarning, but Scarf Flygon would definitely remedy that situation the best.

 

[Marioman07]

I definitely support either a Scarf Jirachi or Scarf Flygon over Azelf, since if the opponent gets SR up (which they will against a team like this) then SpecsJolteon can run through your team entirely with Thunderbolt, especially if you don't use EQ on Gross. Just a forewarning, but Scarf Flygon would definitely remedy that situation the best.

Alright thank you! i'll test out both to see how they work

 

[Shizzle]

You should probably update the OP a little more, otherwise some who don't read the other comments are going to be giving the same/similar feedback

 

[Salad]

One small nit-pick;

Heat wave doesn't have better accuracy than fire blast because it gets avoided quite bit. So change to Fire Blast or Flamethrower.

 

[Marioman07]

@ Shizzle, i will when i have time :P
@ Salad, Heat wave has 5 better base accuracy than fireblast