Team V. Cute Rabbits

[alive]

So I'm not really good at team building and I'm pretty sick of just taking teams from the RMT index so i decided to build my own team. Well i actually did that 20 something times, each time getting a little better. But I'm still not too good, or at least I do not think I am. I stuck to building mainly offensive teams, and this team is my latest offensive creation. It has been giving me pretty mixed results, actually. some times it does really well, some times i get crushed, and some times the battles are decided by a few HP. In the past I could usually get to 1500 ( not that great of a battler either ) but with this team I'm hovering around 1400, which is disappointing.

Metagross @ Occa Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Explosion
- Bullet Punch
- Meteor Mash
- Stealth Rock

On almost all of my teams I used this lead. Gets the job done and does it well. Although, I have changed up the way I play him lately, I used to just rush to get SR out, but now I'm starting to make great use of the two moves I gave him; Meteor Mash and Bullet Punch. I guess I never really noticed before how good these two moves are, but now I use them to full extent and it really is paying off, against frail leads in particular. When my opponent leads Azelf or Aero I usually win no matter what they do. If they taunt or SR then i Finnish them with a swift meteor mash followed by a bullet punch, which leave Metagross in great shape to either switch out and come in later to set up rocks or just do it then. Metagross usually explodes on hippos and Swamperts after he sets up SR, although I'm starting to be a little more cautious around Swampert since I see a lot more protect virants or people run them in conjunction with Rotom. Metagross also serves as my para and sleep absorber, provided he didnt blow up.

Heracross (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Guts
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Stone Edge
- Night Slash

Hera was a neat little sugestion from one of my friends, and the last member to join the team. I really needed something that could outspeed and KO a +1 offensive Gyara, and Hera does it quite nicely. He also gives me something to hit psychics hard with, which comes in handy since Starmie can give the rest of this team trouble. I don't really know why I picked night slash, just seemed like a good idea at the time I guess. It can hit rotom and gengar who wont switch in fear of pursuit and can be a nice, reliable why to hit psychics in case meghorn is just too risky at the time. He is part 1 of my 3 fighting force, which is something I like to do on offencive teams to keep the pressure. Hera is who I switch in when I'm expecting burn, something that can really hurt a full physical team, and poison. Hera is usually my first poke to come out and he can scare off quite a few threats which allows me to scout in a since.

Salamence (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 232 Atk/252 Spd/24 SAtk
Naughty nature (+Atk, -SDef)
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Fire Blast

Salamence is the power house that usually come out mid-game in order to even further break the cracks that Luke/Nape made. Maybe I fibbed a bit when I said it was an all physical team, but Salamence really needs Fire Blast to get through things like Forry, Zong and Skarm. I'm seeing a bit more mamoswine usage, which is annoying, but Salamence usually does his job well enough to keep his spot on my team.

Gyarados (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Bounce

I was a little nervious putting Gyarados on the team when i already have Salamence since I think even one SR weak is pretty bad, but he has been a pretty big help to this team. He usually comes in on Scizor bullet punches and sets up. Mostly early game, bringing him out lets me know what physical walls my opponent is running before I bring out the three big hitters. Bounce is just a fun move whenever my opponent is running EQ on their lead Metagross I always switch in and use bounce as the explode on nothing, since really only Meta can take an explosion but only at full HP, although there next switch could be a bit dangerous since im stuck in bounce.

Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Extremespeed
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance

Number 2 of the 3 fighting force. A truely deadly pokemon, Lucario does by far most of my wall breaking. I picked crunch over ice punch because if Hera goes down Cress can be a big pain but if something like Celebi or Zapdos is still out the rest of my team can take care of it. Sadly this is my main answer to Salamence, as a +1 Sala just wreaks the rest of this team.

Infernape (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Fire Punch
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance

I really love SD Infernape, but he has shown himself to be the weak link. He was supposed to the the 3rd and final member of the 3 fighting force but most of the time by the time he comes out I don't really need him to be fighting ( the idea of the 3 fighting force is to let 2 of the 3 put pressure and weaken the opponents fighting counter and then let the 3rd have a field day). At one point I had Mach Punch over Stone Edge to put the hurt on scarf Heatran but i found the ability to hit Zapdos, Salamence and Gyara for super effective much more helpful. fire punch over flare blitz/blaze kick for survivability/accuracy respectively.

The two main problems with my team that I notice are DD Salamence and Scizor, both can easily take advantage of my team in a pinch can just annihilate me.

Thanks for taking the time to read and rate this!

 

[Janenmori]

You really lack any special attack in the team, and you have no stable tanks or walls. No gaping weaknesses per se, but if your opponent has a lot of physical bulk, you may have a hard time. This team also requires a lot of set up, which leaves you open to status, set-up, and counters. Change Infernape to the Nasty Plot flavor. Replace Lucario with a Magnezone to help with the Scizor weak. Bounce on Gyarados without Substitute is basically begging to be switched into and countered. If you make it bulkier and replace Bounce with Ice Fang, it may help with the Salamence problem.

 

[iKitsune]

Im going to suggest you use a scarfed rotom-A over Heracross. Heracross will leave you set up bait to a large prportion of the metagame and as such its usage has massively declined recently. Although Rotom gets walled entirely by Blissey Trick enables it to severely mess up a stall team.
Rotom also provides you with useful resistances and allowing you to get lots of free switches. I suggest you use a Rotom Wash as it hits both Tyranitar and Heatran hard and is less prone to being set up on than a H or a C with their attack drop moves. With a timid nature you will outspeed all Gyarados after a dance and have a reliable way of annihilating it with an electric attack rather than stone edge.

At the moment you are really battling with Dragon type attacks as soon as metagross goes down that is. Either swap Infernape one of your least affective members by your own admission for either a CB scizor who will help you gain momentum through U-turn and revenge kill Dragons with Bulet punch. Alternatively you could use a Jolly scarf Jirachi it also has Iron head to revenge dragons with, fire punch will give you a reliable method to deal with scizor. Zen headbutt give you some coverage and will cause the odd flinch Ice punch can be used to rape all dragons. Finally use trick in the last slot.

Good luck.

 

[Alex Practice]

I suggest throwing EQ on Metagross over Meatier Mash.
If you're running Occa Berry you can KO Infernapes and Heatrans that think they can outspeed and OHKO your Metagross with Fire Blast.
I'd also highly recommend a Rapid Spin user, since you have a LOT of SR weakness.