My First Team!
This is the first team that I actually composed using sweepers and walls. I’ve found them to be pretty successful and I’m pretty proud of them. This team uses some pokemon you might not think are that strong, and speed is definitely important to their success. I tried not to use pokemon you’d see a lot, and I really don’t like using Ubers. Also, with the pokemon I did end up choosing I tried hard to use some in ways that most people wouldn’t think to use them. Here’s my pokemon:
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At a Glance
At a glance you can see it’s a pretty standard setup, four sweepers and two walls. The way it turned out I ended up with three Special Attack sweepers and one Attack sweeper. It wasn’t intentional but it still works.
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Sasuga - Ambipom (M) @ Liechi Berry
Jolly (+Speed, -Sp.Def)
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Technician
~ Double Hit
~ Thunder Wave
~ Baton Pass
~ Substitute
Call me superstitious, call me OCD, but I’ve noticed that when I start out with this little guy here I seem to win. I’ve been criticized for not breeding him for Fake Out. Not every Ambipom needs Fake Out! Admittedly, it is a nifty little move and I’m sure I could benefit from it, but just because Sasu doesn’t know it doesn’t make him a bad pokemon. I don’t think I need to explain why Sasu has Technician. Double Hit is a pretty obvious choice as well, he deals some serious damage with it. Thunder Wave comes in handy from time to time. Say I have a pokemon that is giving my guys (and girls) and pretty hard time. I may want to paralyze them instead of poison or burn them to slow them down some. Also, can it ever really hurt to have it? Baton Pass is more to annoying my opponent. It lets them think I’m attacking rather than switching. Substitute has a dual purpose. If Sasu needs a Sub for damage purposes it works, but also if I’m in a bind it helps to drain his HP so that Liechi Berry kicks in for some extra oomph. Sasu’s EVs are pretty standard and give him 285 Attack and 341 Speed.
Makigai - Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Bold (+Def, -Atk)
EVs: 252 Def, 252 HP, 6 Sp.Def
Sturdy
~ Explosion
~ Rest
~ Stealth Rock
~ Toxic Spikes
Maki, I would say, is my more important wall. He helps a great deal with Spikes and Rocks. I’ve noticed that when I don’t preserve him it makes winning a bit harder. I try to only bring him in when I see a good opportunity to lay down the Spikes or Rocks. The only other time I use Maki is when I have a pokemon that I just don’t know how I’ll beat. If I see no other option and I feel Maki has served his purpose, that’s what Explosion is for. Maki definitely goes out with a bang. Rest is there to help preserve Maki (and to annoy my opponents. And Rocks and Spikes, as I said before, help out my sweepers. Maki is another pokemon I catch a lot of grief for. Probably because he doesn’t know Rapid Spin or Gyro Ball. I thought about both of those moves, especially Rapid Spin, but I just felt he works more efficiently this way. I feel I need these moves to keep him around longer and to improve my chances of victory. Maki’s EVs give him just shy of 400 Defense! Why the Sp.Def you ask? This gives Maki a slightly better chance of staying alive against Sp.Atk pokemon, not that I would ever send him out against them unless he has a type advantage and I don’t have many other options.
Kousoku - Yanmega (F) @ Petaya Berry
Modest (+Sp.Atk, -Atk)
EVs: 252 Sp.Atk, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Speed Boost
~ Bug Buzz
~ Air Slash
~ Detect
~ Substitute
Kou catches a lot of criticism for knowing Detect rather than Protect, and I don’t see the big deal. Yes, Protect has more PP than Detect, but I gave her a PP up so it has 8 which is pretty close to 10. Besides, the only time I ever use it is when I need the Speed Boost. Bug Buzz and Air Slash are pretty obvious choices here, Air Slash is nice for its flinching possibility. Substitute works for two things (as with Sasu), draining HP to use her berry and just plain having a Sub. Kou works pretty efficiently, my opponents I battle regularly have grown to dislike her because she a thorn in their side. I must say she is one of my favorites to use. Stealth Rock sometimes proposes a problem, being it’s counted as a Rock-Type attack and Kou has an unfortunate double-weakness to those. It can also help though, depending on the situation. It may help lower my HP more to get me closer to using my berry, but you have to be very careful. I often don’t use her unless I need to in that situation. Her EVs give her 364 Sp.Atk and 270 Speed.
Chisoku - Sceptile (M) @ Leftovers
Timid (+Speed, -Atk)
EVs: 252 Sp.Atk, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Overgrow
~ Leaf Storm
~ Giga Drain
~ Leech Seed
~ Detect
Again, Chi catches criticism for Detect. I don’t use it very often and it’s more of a stall if there’s weather in effect and my opponent is low on HP. Leaf Storm comes into play when I need a quick, powerful attack to take care of someone. Giga Drain is used often, but only used first if I need a Grass-Type attack but I don’t think it needs to be strong. Leech Seed is my more common starter, mostly when I think he can take a hit. My reasoning behind giving him Leftovers and not a berry like the others is that I found he never really got a chance to use it. Also, being vulnerable he needs as much HP as he can get. Another nice advantage this gives him is he would be the only sweeper I have that is unaffected by weather (HP-wise anyway). On the surface he may not seem very strong, but used correctly and he can be quite the pain. His EVs aren’t out of the ordinary, bringing his Sp.Atk up to just shy of 300 and giving him 341 Speed.
Iraishin - Dusknoir (M) @ Leftovers
Sassy (+Sp.Def, -Speed)
EVs: 252 Sp.Def, 252 HP, 6 Atk
Pressure
~ Shadow Sneak
~ Will-O-Wisp
~ Toxic
~ Mean Look
Irai’s moveset, in one way, happened by accident. I sort of forgot to make sure that Dusknoir learned Pain Split on its own, rather than having to breed for it. I had originally intended for him to know that, and actually kind of relied on it. I thought I’d completely ruined him when I realized what I’d done, but that wasn’t the case. I find that this moveset works very well also. Shadow Sneak is for a quick kill if I think I can manage to KO them, or for those weak against Ghosts. Will-O is for those unaffected by Toxic (or Toxic Spikes) or foes with exceptional Attack that I’d like to knock down a peg or two. Toxic is for those unaffected by Will-O (in the instance my Toxic Spikes are lifted). Mean Look is probably my most used attack with Irai. It’s good for trapping my victims and switching to a pokemon with an advantage. Irai’s EVs work pretty well, that little Attack helps out with Shadow Sneak. I figured since I had Maki I would go Sp.Def with Irai, and it’s worked out pretty well.
Uzumaki - Kingdra (F) @ Scope Lens
Timid (+Speed, -Atk)
EVs: 252 Sp.Atk, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Sniper
~ Hydro Pump
~ Dragon Pulse
~ Brine
~ Focus Energy
I think in a lot of ways people don’t see Uzu coming. She doesn’t seem like a lot, but she sweeps the majority of a team. It’s an unusual pick for a sweeper, being that it has very even stats and not super-speed and super-attack (or special attack). In some ways I think she’s a better sweeper than most because of her Scope Lens/Focus Energy/Sniper combo. I’ve noticed a lot of people go with the Rain Dance/Swift Swim method, and that’s ok, but I prefer this method. Hydro Pump is obvious, it’s a good strong attack and can deal massive damage with a critical. A moment that comes to mind is when I beat my friend’s Starmie with a Hydro Pump (needless to say he wasn’t expecting it). Dragon Pulse is good against Dragon-Types and also not a lot of pokemon take half-damage from a Dragon attack. Brine is good when her HP starts to get lower (you could say it’s my response to the lack of berry power that the other sweepers have). And Focus Energy, obviously, helps out that crit-rate. Her EVs are pretty standard. I wanted to go Sp.Atk rather than Atk because I saw this moveset as working rather well. She has 278 Sp.Atk and 270 Speed.
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Threats
Most of my threats aren’t really individual pokemon, but just things to watch out for. A few major ones are:
* Priority Attacks - Since speed is important to this team, you can see why this might be annoying. A pokemon I’ve noticed to be common with this is ExtremeSpeed Arcanine. My strategy for this was use Mean Look with Irai and switch to Uzu. Another is Hitmontop, and my choice would be to either use Mean Look then switch to Kou or just use Mean Look and let their HP drain (if they have no status effect Irai can administer one, probably Will-O). My two Detect pokemon (Kou, Chi) could also stall if needed. My best bet though would probably just to take him out with Kou after Mean Look. Aqua Jet can be handled by either Chi or Uzu, and Sucker Punch is resisted by Maki. I have to look out for Crunch by Arcanine, but given Irai’s high Def he should be able to handle it.
* Counter/Mirror Coat - Pretty much anything with these moves could pose a problem to my sweepers if they can’t manage to take them down in one hit. Pokemon with these moves are pretty easily spotted, and not very common. But if I suspect that a pokemon knows one of the two (or have learned it the hard way) my berries come in handy.
* Rock-Type Pokemon - Type-wise, Kou has a double weakness to Rocks and Sasu doesn’t pack a very hard punch against them. They can be handled by Chi and Uzu fairly easily, but it’s something to watch out for with Kou. When Stealth Rock is present, I try to use Kou as little as possible because I realize once I switch her in she’s in until she dies because she probably won’t survive another switch-in.
* Poison Pokemon - Maki is immune to them type-wise, but the reason these guys get on my nerves is because they lift my Toxic Spikes. This means I have one of two options. I can either hunt for an opportunity to drag Maki back out and reset them once they’re gone or I can status effect each pokemon individually. In some instances this might actually help me. For instance, say a Roserade comes out, I kill it, and then a Hitmonchan is sent out. This gives me the opportunity to burn it rather than poison it to help lower its attack.
* Flying Pokemon (Levitate Ability) - I don’t have anything especially good against these guys (excluding Stealth Rock) but they generally aren’t hard to take down. The thing with these guys (which is why I included the ability Levitate) is that they aren’t subject to my Spikes. This isn’t a horrid thing, being they are still hurt by Rocks, but it’s something to keep in mind when thinking of how quickly I expect the pokemon to faint.
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Final Thoughts
There isn’t much left to say. I love these guys to death and put a lot of hard work into them. I hope you enjoyed reading and look forward to any thoughts/criticism/suggestions.
