In anticipation of the release of Golden Sun DS, I have decided to make a new Shoddy Battle team.
To start off, I wanted to use Tangrowth. This pokemon is severely underestimated and has been harshly banished to the land of lost toys--I mean the UU tier. This little buddy has stunning stats bar speed and special defense, but I love it anyway. It took me a bit to figure out what set to abuse, and in the end I decided on the special sweeper.
Tangrowth, being only grass, has a plethora of weakness and a few resistances. I decided to pair him with Heatran. This combination resists every type of move in the game save for rock. Heatran takes hits from bug, flying, fire, ice, and poison while Tangrowth resists Heatran's water and ground weaknesses.
Adding to this dastardly duo, I decided to throw a little wrench in the gears for my competitors. Although unexpected, it doesn't take a genius to figure out Tangrowth can be killed by a quick special attack. In order to help with this, I decided to take an offensive special tank. Tangrowth, being my physically bulky special sweeper, has great synergy with Tentacruel, whom I decided should be my specially bulky physical sweeper. I took the sword dance set because it would be unexpected and deadly. The only problem with this, though, is my glaring weakness to ground.
In order to fix this ground problem, I added a scarfed Flygon in order to ensure a nice bit of revenge if any of my precious Pokemon bit the dust. I have had great success with him prior to this team and his ability to levitate comes in handy quite often.
I soon noticed that Ice had also doubled up a weakness and so to counter this I added a second physical revenge killer, Scizor. I figured that the added fire weakness (also shared by Tangrowth) would be kept in check by Heatran's Flash Fire and Tentacruel's natural resistance (also shared by flygon).
Finally, it was time to choose a lead. I noticed that Rotom-a would go well on my team, but I needed a lead and a set for it. I chose Heatran to change from sweeper to lead and took Rotom-s.
Jenna (Heatran) (F) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Earth Power
The standard Heatran lead. I have found it to be very durable and very useful. Not only does it not mind being tricked a scarf, but it always manages to kill the opposing lead and, with a little prediction, a few others. I don't usually get rocks up, but that's not a problem because my team doesn't really gain much by them. Hidden Power [Grass] is for Swampert leads (another favorite of mine). Like Jenna, from Golden Sun, Heatran poses a powerful special threat and specializes with fire. Nothing says Serpent Fume like a STAB Flamethrower.
Isaac (Tangrowth) (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Leaf Guard
EVs: 20 HP/252 Def/238 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Leaf Storm
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Ancientpower
Tangrowth, much like Isaac, is a tank. With a high defense and reasonable HP, Tangrowth pretty much can switch in on any physical attack (even many super effective ones). Isaac's Psynergy specializes in the earth elements as does Tangrowth's abilities. Ancientpower hits fliers hard as Leaf Storm has incredible damage output even after the stat reduction. I am wondering, however, if a better set for Tangrowth can be used. I have been very satisfied with how he has worked, but I still would like to hear some feed back on him.
Piers (Tentacruel) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk/178 Spd/80 SAtk
Lonely nature (+Atk, -Def)
- Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Poison Jab
- Surf
Piers is a physical fighter trapped inside the class system of a spell caster. Like Tentacruel, he is often used mainly for support and rarely sees much fighting. Instead of using him for toxic spike and rapid spin support, Tentacruel is busting out the swords for sick damage. Poison Jab and Waterfall hit quite a few things (though maybe not as many as I would like) and Surf is for physical tanks. I have used this with mild success and it usually steals me a kill or two.
Garet (Scizor) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 250 HP/252 Atk/8 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Brick Break
- Quick Attack
Scizor is red. Garet is red. That's all I could connect with this one. I guess both are extremely physical and don't have much support besides revenge killing and possibly sweeping. I stole the bread and butter banded Scizor save for Pursuit. Since my team doesn't really need to worry about ghost or psychic types tearing it apart, I've dropped Pursuit for the added bonus of hitting Gyarados and Electrics for neutral damage. Just to let you know, Garet is a fire adept.
Sheba (Rotom-s) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Air Slash
Sheba, like Rotom-s is a user of wind. She is fragile, sadly like set i chose, and very powerful with wind magic. Once I have figured out my opponent's team, I send Sheba out against something she can switch in on. If the other team lacks T-tar, kudos, if not, I Hidden Power [Fighting] no matter what. This thing is my least useful Pokemon and I only have it to fill resistances. I really do not like the defensive Rotom-a sets and I really don't know what else to do with him. I don't really need another special sweeper. This thing is a great Machamp counter and I really enjoy using it against lead-champs, but I have also been considering Dusknoir (which sadly lacks the resistances of Rotom-a as well as levitate) and Gangar (which seems a bit too frail). My path of thinking: If I'm already doing an attempted sweep with a ghost, might as well be Gengar.
Felix (Flygon) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
Felix is also an earth adept. His power is unmatched by any other character in the game. This Flygon, like Felix, gets many kills each game. The standard scarf-gon revenge kills like a monster and can switch in on any ground type attack lest gravity be active. I am satisfied with this Pokemon's performance on my team.
