I read all of the rules, so I think I've got them all but sorry in advance if I miss anything
First of all I'd like to note that I'm somewhat new at competitive battling. While I've been doing fairly well (unless I do something stupid or am out predicted) there are some flaws with my team that I noticed and since I'm new there may be some others. The final things is the main reason I'm on shoddy is to test out a team for soulsilver that I can train. As such there will be something pokemon I can't get a hold of, namely legendaries with the right nature, so bear that in mind when suggesting other option. So without further ado.....
The Team
Infernape@Focus Sash
Naive
Blaze
EVs:164atk/152spA/192 Spe
-Fake Out
-Stealth Rock
-Overheat
-Close Combat
Infernape serves as lead on my team. Fake out, then either stealth rock or attack depending on the situation, while maintaining my own focus sash. It's a standard smogon build and while it's suggested for offensive teams because of the momentum, it provides, I find it extremely useful for both its lead capabilities and the fact that it provides powerful STAB fire and fighting moves. After Methmite suggested it, I decided on Overheat as opposed to Fire Blast. Some very quick testing already showed a slight advantage, and I plan on continuing, though it seems like a great change. I also moved some EVs from special to physical attack. While the effects aren't noticable right away the logic behind the argument his sound.(Thanks)
Blissey@Leftovers
Calm
Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def/84 SpA/172 SpD
-Calm Mind
-Softboiled
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
Blissey serves as my special wall, it can sponge up almost any special attacker and proceed to stall them out, if they choose to stay in. While initially, I had a Cleric Blissey with Aromatherapy, I found this Blissey to be, for the most part ineffective. It could take most special attackers, but some eluded me, such as calm mind set up sweepers. Aromatherapy's ability to heal status wasn't really worth it, and when I swapped out Gyarados(my former Suicune counter), making Blissey a calm mind Blissey allowed me to keep a counter, even to substitute calm mind Suicune. It was a brilliant change, and one I'm glad I made
Gliscor@Leftovers
Jolly
Sand Veil
EVs:252 HP/ 40 Def/ 216 Spe
-Earthquake
-Taunt
-Roost
-Toxic
Gliscor's spot had initially been occupied by a bulky DD Gyarados. While it had won me matches, I found it was only effective when stealth rock wasn't in play. Otherwise switching would wear it down. I couldn't find a rapid spinner spot, so I switched to Gliscor. It's main asset is physical walling, but taunt is the biggest reason I use it. Ever since I added a taunt user to my team, my success in matches has gone up considerably. It's such an incredible move against so many tricks in competitive battling and gliscor still has the defenses to take hits. However, it sometimes feels that Gliscor is not pulling his weight on my team(my bad prediction may be part of that issue). If anybody has any good ideas on a better taunt user or moveset change they would be appreciated. However, even if he doesn't always pull his weight, he has still been a useful member to my team.
Rotom-C/W@Choice Specs
Timid/Modest
Levitate
EVs:4 HP/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
-Thunderbolt
-Shadow Ball
-Trick
-Leaf Storm/Hydro Pump
Rotom was one of the initial members of my team, because of the ease in which he counters scizor. I initially started with a Rotom-H because of this. However, after testing out in battles, I learned thunderbolt(on all Rotom appliances) counters Scizor fairly easily. The advantages warranted by overheat, were generally taken care of by the rest of my team. This lead to change to Rotom-C, with Leaf Storm for Swampert. I used Choice Specs as this seemed preferable to Scarf. It turned to be, but smogon suggests using Rotom-W with Specs, so I'm considering changing to this and would like some advice on the matter. One of the biggest points is how does specs hydro pump fair against swampert? The nature is also something I'm in conflict about.
Weavile@Choice Band
Jolly
Pressure
EVs: 40 HP/ 252 atk/ 216 Spe
-Pursuit
-Ice Shard
-Low Kick
-Ice Punch
Weavile was added to my team as a multi-purpose revenge killer. Ice Shard dragons, low kick tyranitar, pursuit anything weak to it. Despite a weakness to stealth rock, it never affects me as badly as it did with gyarados. A point of consideration is the final move. Also, at Methmite's suggestion, decided on Ice Punch, as opposed to Night Slash, because of the stronger type coverage and effectiveness of ice. Weavile is in a bit of a limbo of the late. If Salamence is banned, it's nowhere near as useful as it was and I'd consider replacing it. I don't want to have to retrain my team, so is there any pokemon that could replace Weavile easily? Suggestions would really be appreciated here, even if it include a major team revamp.
Scizor@Life Orb
Adamant
Technician
EVs: 32 HP/ 252 atk/ 216 Spe
-Swords Dance
-Bullet Bunch
-Brick Break
-Roost
Once again, not much to say. Scizor is my endgame sweeper. Huge attack, strong priority move. Easy switch in and setup. The rest of my team tries to clear the way for Scizor to sweep by eliminating threats. The EV spread is designed to be defensive, so I can have opportunities to use roost. It also helps mitigate the damage from life orb.
Team Building:
Started out with Scizor. It's brilliant for a CB user, but always appealed to me as and endgame sweeper with its strong attack, and priority.
I lacked a scizor counter on my previous team(which was a failure), and since Scizor is such a common pokemon, I felt as though I needed a counter.
Magnezone tends to be a scizor counter, so I wanted a way to deal with it. While there tends to be better ones, I felt Blissey would be suitable. Rotom could cover scarfed magnezones and absorb explosion with prediction.
Gyarados is another Scizor counter, so in addition to Rotom, Vaporeon could've granted additional security and wish support.
Salamence is such a common threat(though I guess that may not be the case for long) So I felt Weavile made a great addition for that. However, I'm considering swapping him, if mence is banned.
All that was left was a lead. Infernape rounds this out perfectly with fake out, SR and two powerful STAB moves I don't have already.
Vaporeon wasn't suiting my team as well as I'd like. Taunt seemed like a good move choice to try out, so I put in a bulky dd gyarados. Taunt worked wonders, but my team only did really well with a lack of stealth rock. I couldn't put a spinner so that lead to my next switch.....
Since stealth rock was becoming too much of a burden, I replaced gyarados for a taunting gliscor. I then lacked an effective sub suicune counter, so I switched my Blissey from aromatherapy to a calm mind one. I have yet to regret both decisions, since as long as I don't screw up(switching Gliscor into an ice beam)
After seeing my Scizor get torn apart by a Rotom using thunderbolt, I thought that Rotom-H for overheat was pointless, I had other ways of dealing with steel types. So I swapped him for a Specs Rotom-C. Surprise factor actually has made him a better Scizor counter(Specs thunderbolt can OHKO Scizor). However, I'm told Rotom-W is a better specs user so depending on how effective it is against Swampert I might swap it.
Threat Assessment:
Aerodactyl: As a lead, I need to predict when to switch infernape out. Otherwise Weavile, Rotom, or Gliscor can counter it.
Azelf: Most of my team, save for Gliscor and Infernape, can deal with Azelf well enough. If I predict properly, it's almost useless.
Blissey: Scizor can generally set up on Blissey. Rotom can trick it. Infernape can use Close Combat. Weavile, either pursuit or low kick, and gliscor can stall with toxic if it doesn't have ice beam.
Breloom:A lack of a phazer means all pokemon with subsitute can give me problems. Scizor can try and use bullet punch and gliscor can try to stall with roost and earthquake. If the sub is down. Infernape or weavile can finish it off.
Bronzong: Rotom or Blissey can deal with Bronzong. As a lead, Infernape's Fire Blast will deal with it and usually can later as well.(especially with Blaze).
Celebi: Weavile can pursuit it to death or use Night Slash(or Ice Punch). Infernape can Fire Blast and has an easier time switching in. Blissey can set up use Ice Beam.
Dragonite: Weavile can revenge kill it with ice shard. Other than that, I don't have an effective way of dealing with dragonite, though, so it's in a similar role to salamence.
Dusknoir: Weavile can pursuit it, if it gets in. Rotom can kill with shadow ball. If it doesn't carry ice punch, Gliscor can toxic stall it(though risks burn).
Electrivire: Electrivire is generally dealt with by Rotom. If it lacks Ice moves Gliscor can eliminate it with an EQ. As long as I don't let it get a motor drive boost I'm usually fine.
Empoleon: Calm Blissey can counter it and Rotom as well if I can predict and attack. Infernape isn't the best counter but if it gets a close combat off, it can do well too.
Flygon: Weavile. Ice Shard. GG. Gliscor can work as well with toxic too, though.
Foreterress: A lot of my team can deal with foreterress well, but the issue is preventing him from setting up hazards.
Gengar: Blissey sponges it and can set up calm mind. If it does somehow get a kill, weavile with pursuit ensures it wont get any more.
Gliscor: Rotom can prey on Gliscor's weaker special defense and is immune to EQ. If it doesn't have toxic, my own gliscor will stall it. Blissey's ice beam is also effective.
Gyarados: Rotom counters hard with thunderbolt. If it switches on blissey I can thunderbolt it during the setup.
Heatran: Blissey counters it, and depending on the moveset, Gliscor can too.
Heracross: Gliscor can counter him fairly well. Scizor can bullet punch if he's weak enough. Infernape can usually outspeed him and KO with Fire Blast.
Hippowdon: Rotom can hit with leaf storm. Gliscor can outstall if it doesn't have ice fang.
Infernape: Gliscor can KO with EQ. Other that that, can be a bit of a trouble pokemon.
Jirachi: My 2nd least favorite pokemon in the game. As a lead a fire blast eliminates it. If it lacks an ice move, Gliscor can stall it(unless serene grace procs) and scizor can do the same lacking a fire move. Blissey can stall a special set too.
Jolteon: Blissey can sponge its hits all day. Gliscor can as well and KO with EQ.
Kingdra: Another trouble pokemon. The ease at which Kingdra sets up and sweeps makes me wonder why it's not used so often. My best bet is wear it down. Really this is a pokemon that gives me a lot of trouble.
Lucario:As long as it doesn't have ice punch gliscor can switch in and outspeed for a KO. Rotom can switch in on an extremespeed and thunderbolt. Blissey can take care of special variants.
Machamp: Gliscor resists dynamicpunch and as long as confusion isn't too bad can deal wit him. Rotom can switch in a dynamic punch and finish with an attack if he's weak enough.
Magnezone: Blissey takes it's hits all day, Gliscor is similar if it doesn't have HP ice. Rotom can switch in on the trick variants.
Mamoswine: As a lead infernape defeats it. Scizor can kill with bullet punch. Rotom can switch on an EQ and use leaf storm.
Metagross: Rotom is a brilliant counter, resists most of his moves and can retaliate with specs thunderbolt. Gliscor can switch in on a lot and counter with EQ.
Ninjask: Weavile with ice shard can KO it easily. Gliscor can switch in and taunt it to make it almost useless.
Roserade: Fairly uncommon, but blisey handles it well enough. As does infernape, and ice shard on weavile as well.
Rotom: Blissey handles most movesets save for the trick one, which can be absorbed by my own rotom. Weavile can trap it pursuit or finish it with night slash.
Salamence: Ice Shard OHKOs it. Often times mence sets up on blissey to get ice beamed. Gliscor can taunt to prevent DD, and scizor can bullet punch if it's weakened.
Scizor: Spec thunderbolt from Rotom usually OHKOs. A fire blast from infernape is effective and well and gliscor can usually sponge it's hits.
Skarmory: Rotom can kill it with thunderbolt. Blissey can do similary depending on Skarmory's moveset.
Smeargle: Can be taunted by Gliscor. Most of my team can hit pretty hard,(even Blissey with calm mind boosts). Baton passers need spore, and after sleep clause is in effect, smeargle's options against my team are limited.
Snorlax: Gliscor can take most of Snorlax's attacks, while using taunt to prevent curse. Then it can finish with a toxic stall. Specs Rotom also can trick specs onto snorlax, which will shut it down.
Starmie: My biggest counter to starmie is weavile, who can pursuit it to death. Aside from that, Blissey can take Starmie's hits, and Rotom can use specs thunderbolt to finish it.
Suicune: One of the pokemon that ended forcing me to make major changes to my team. Most variants can be handled by rotom. Now that I use a calm mind Blissey, it can handle, all versions of suicune extremely well.
Swampert: Swampert doesn't like Rotom's leaf storm at all, and can't stay in. Rotom can easily switch on an EQ, but aside from Rotom, I lack another counter.
Tentacruel: Rotom can beat most tentacruel. Blissey can use thunderbolt, but toxic spikes causes problems.
Togekiss: The pokemon I hate the most out of every single one. I've lost so many matches I should've won because of flinchhax. However, if the proc rate isn't unreasonable. Blissey or Rotom can easily take out togekiss or set up on it. Weavile can come in with ice shard too.
Tyranitar: Gliscor can take hits from any ttar lacking an ice move. I can revenge kill DD tyranitar with low kick from weavile. I'm not sure how effective Rotom's Leaf storm would be, that could potentially take it out.
Umbreon: One of my favorites, that I couldn't fit on my team. Infernape can KO with Close Combat. Gliscor can taunt, which usually makes umbreon useless. Most umbreon(that I've seen) run a trap passing moveset, so predicting that with Gliscor and taunting takes care of most of them.
Vaporeon: Blissey can set up with Calm Mind easily. Spec Rotom can use thunderbolt to take care of it.
Weavile: Weavile is so fragile most attacks do a lot of damage, especially with stealth rock. Scizor can deal with it, but most of my team can switch in on good prediction and defeat Weavile.
Zapdos: Zapdos is countered by Blissey. Weavile with ice shard can take out a weakened one. If it doesn't have HP Ice I can toxic stall with Gliscor.
Potential Changes:
The biggest change I'm looking at is if Salamence really gets banned. While I'm open to suggestions the only one I've come up with is changing scizor to a choice bander and using a endgame sweeping kingdra instead. CB Scizor counters most of the things Weavile did, and generally better(aside from the dragons of course). I've been killed by Kingdra as an endgame sweeper enough to know it's power as well.
Final Comments:
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I've managed to hit a conservative ranking of 1100 with this team, and I'm told you can be considered decent if you hit 1200, which I'm closing in on. The main considerations are the moveset choices I've mentioned and a potential replacement for weavile. I hope to begin training this team on soul silver soon. Thanks again!
First of all I'd like to note that I'm somewhat new at competitive battling. While I've been doing fairly well (unless I do something stupid or am out predicted) there are some flaws with my team that I noticed and since I'm new there may be some others. The final things is the main reason I'm on shoddy is to test out a team for soulsilver that I can train. As such there will be something pokemon I can't get a hold of, namely legendaries with the right nature, so bear that in mind when suggesting other option. So without further ado.....
The Team
Infernape@Focus Sash
Naive
Blaze
EVs:164atk/152spA/192 Spe
-Fake Out
-Stealth Rock
-Overheat
-Close Combat
Infernape serves as lead on my team. Fake out, then either stealth rock or attack depending on the situation, while maintaining my own focus sash. It's a standard smogon build and while it's suggested for offensive teams because of the momentum, it provides, I find it extremely useful for both its lead capabilities and the fact that it provides powerful STAB fire and fighting moves. After Methmite suggested it, I decided on Overheat as opposed to Fire Blast. Some very quick testing already showed a slight advantage, and I plan on continuing, though it seems like a great change. I also moved some EVs from special to physical attack. While the effects aren't noticable right away the logic behind the argument his sound.(Thanks)
Blissey@Leftovers
Calm
Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def/84 SpA/172 SpD
-Calm Mind
-Softboiled
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
Blissey serves as my special wall, it can sponge up almost any special attacker and proceed to stall them out, if they choose to stay in. While initially, I had a Cleric Blissey with Aromatherapy, I found this Blissey to be, for the most part ineffective. It could take most special attackers, but some eluded me, such as calm mind set up sweepers. Aromatherapy's ability to heal status wasn't really worth it, and when I swapped out Gyarados(my former Suicune counter), making Blissey a calm mind Blissey allowed me to keep a counter, even to substitute calm mind Suicune. It was a brilliant change, and one I'm glad I made
Gliscor@Leftovers
Jolly
Sand Veil
EVs:252 HP/ 40 Def/ 216 Spe
-Earthquake
-Taunt
-Roost
-Toxic
Gliscor's spot had initially been occupied by a bulky DD Gyarados. While it had won me matches, I found it was only effective when stealth rock wasn't in play. Otherwise switching would wear it down. I couldn't find a rapid spinner spot, so I switched to Gliscor. It's main asset is physical walling, but taunt is the biggest reason I use it. Ever since I added a taunt user to my team, my success in matches has gone up considerably. It's such an incredible move against so many tricks in competitive battling and gliscor still has the defenses to take hits. However, it sometimes feels that Gliscor is not pulling his weight on my team(my bad prediction may be part of that issue). If anybody has any good ideas on a better taunt user or moveset change they would be appreciated. However, even if he doesn't always pull his weight, he has still been a useful member to my team.
Rotom-C/W@Choice Specs
Timid/Modest
Levitate
EVs:4 HP/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
-Thunderbolt
-Shadow Ball
-Trick
-Leaf Storm/Hydro Pump
Rotom was one of the initial members of my team, because of the ease in which he counters scizor. I initially started with a Rotom-H because of this. However, after testing out in battles, I learned thunderbolt(on all Rotom appliances) counters Scizor fairly easily. The advantages warranted by overheat, were generally taken care of by the rest of my team. This lead to change to Rotom-C, with Leaf Storm for Swampert. I used Choice Specs as this seemed preferable to Scarf. It turned to be, but smogon suggests using Rotom-W with Specs, so I'm considering changing to this and would like some advice on the matter. One of the biggest points is how does specs hydro pump fair against swampert? The nature is also something I'm in conflict about.
Weavile@Choice Band
Jolly
Pressure
EVs: 40 HP/ 252 atk/ 216 Spe
-Pursuit
-Ice Shard
-Low Kick
-Ice Punch
Weavile was added to my team as a multi-purpose revenge killer. Ice Shard dragons, low kick tyranitar, pursuit anything weak to it. Despite a weakness to stealth rock, it never affects me as badly as it did with gyarados. A point of consideration is the final move. Also, at Methmite's suggestion, decided on Ice Punch, as opposed to Night Slash, because of the stronger type coverage and effectiveness of ice. Weavile is in a bit of a limbo of the late. If Salamence is banned, it's nowhere near as useful as it was and I'd consider replacing it. I don't want to have to retrain my team, so is there any pokemon that could replace Weavile easily? Suggestions would really be appreciated here, even if it include a major team revamp.
Scizor@Life Orb
Adamant
Technician
EVs: 32 HP/ 252 atk/ 216 Spe
-Swords Dance
-Bullet Bunch
-Brick Break
-Roost
Once again, not much to say. Scizor is my endgame sweeper. Huge attack, strong priority move. Easy switch in and setup. The rest of my team tries to clear the way for Scizor to sweep by eliminating threats. The EV spread is designed to be defensive, so I can have opportunities to use roost. It also helps mitigate the damage from life orb.
Team Building:
Started out with Scizor. It's brilliant for a CB user, but always appealed to me as and endgame sweeper with its strong attack, and priority.
I lacked a scizor counter on my previous team(which was a failure), and since Scizor is such a common pokemon, I felt as though I needed a counter.
Magnezone tends to be a scizor counter, so I wanted a way to deal with it. While there tends to be better ones, I felt Blissey would be suitable. Rotom could cover scarfed magnezones and absorb explosion with prediction.
Gyarados is another Scizor counter, so in addition to Rotom, Vaporeon could've granted additional security and wish support.
Salamence is such a common threat(though I guess that may not be the case for long) So I felt Weavile made a great addition for that. However, I'm considering swapping him, if mence is banned.
All that was left was a lead. Infernape rounds this out perfectly with fake out, SR and two powerful STAB moves I don't have already.
Vaporeon wasn't suiting my team as well as I'd like. Taunt seemed like a good move choice to try out, so I put in a bulky dd gyarados. Taunt worked wonders, but my team only did really well with a lack of stealth rock. I couldn't put a spinner so that lead to my next switch.....
Since stealth rock was becoming too much of a burden, I replaced gyarados for a taunting gliscor. I then lacked an effective sub suicune counter, so I switched my Blissey from aromatherapy to a calm mind one. I have yet to regret both decisions, since as long as I don't screw up(switching Gliscor into an ice beam)
After seeing my Scizor get torn apart by a Rotom using thunderbolt, I thought that Rotom-H for overheat was pointless, I had other ways of dealing with steel types. So I swapped him for a Specs Rotom-C. Surprise factor actually has made him a better Scizor counter(Specs thunderbolt can OHKO Scizor). However, I'm told Rotom-W is a better specs user so depending on how effective it is against Swampert I might swap it.
Threat Assessment:
Potential Changes:
The biggest change I'm looking at is if Salamence really gets banned. While I'm open to suggestions the only one I've come up with is changing scizor to a choice bander and using a endgame sweeping kingdra instead. CB Scizor counters most of the things Weavile did, and generally better(aside from the dragons of course). I've been killed by Kingdra as an endgame sweeper enough to know it's power as well.
Final Comments:
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I've managed to hit a conservative ranking of 1100 with this team, and I'm told you can be considered decent if you hit 1200, which I'm closing in on. The main considerations are the moveset choices I've mentioned and a potential replacement for weavile. I hope to begin training this team on soul silver soon. Thanks again!
