This is a team that I like

Matthew

I love weather; Sun for days
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Hi my name is Genny and I like to play pokemon. Ever since the banning of Excadrill and Thundurus the metagame has forced me to reevaluate my playstyle and create a new (better) team. While I previously didn't like using rain teams ever, I had my mind changed when I used Iconic's (I think) rain team that was based around Sharpedo. Sharpedo is an amazing sweeper that I cannot express how easily it cleans up. While this team seems like it would be easily handled by Dragon- and Water-type attacks, I've never once found them to be of any issue.

When creating the team I knew I wanted it to be slightly anti-metagame, and take that as you will. I wanted to use lesser threats while not completely limiting my options as a whole. In the end I decided to go with a few hand-picked pokemon that fulfill very specific needs on the team. In the end it left me with a team that couldn't really switch into hyper powered Dragon- and Water-type attacks. But through learning with this team and adapting I've been able to come through and stop uselessly caring about resists and instead focus on hyper offensive playstyle. There is one specific pokemon (perhaps two) that stand out as odd, but I can assure you that they do in fact serve a purpose.

However this is not a thread to boast about my accomplishments with this team, and instead it is about improving it. While every pokemon on this team is extensively tried and tested, there needs to be some improvement without limiting the team as a whole. I find myself up against the wall against certain pokemon which really should not be of any issue to me. So I come to the Rate My Team section of the forums to hopefully shed some unseen light on my team in hopes of improving it.

@ Choice Specs Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Focus Blast
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]


As one of my main offensive pokemon is Sharpedo I figured that rain support would be completely necessary in helping it sweep. While my team is not completely reliant on rain to win (I do not have to win the weather war in any way, shape, or form); it is certainly helpful for the most part. While rain does increase the already-present Water-type weakness to my team, through Water resisting Water, Rotom-W and Politoed are often useful enough to come in once or twice before being KOed. However losing a pokemon is not always a bad thing, and I've learned to accept that while laddering with this team. I'd rather be down 3-6 with a clean goal that is achievable than being up 6-3 with 5 pokemon almost completely neutered.



I decided to go with Specs Politoed, a personal favorite of mine. I considered Scarf for some time but then decided that if I am to face a Drought or weatherless team I'd rather have my summoner be able to hit as completely hard as it can. Hidden Power Electric is for Gyarados, but I was considering switching it to Hidden Power Grass for Gastrodon. A pokemon which causes me endless trouble. Standard moveset and EVs. Politoed is there to sponge the odd Ice-, Water-, and what have you-type attack. I'm not completely reliant on Politoed for this team to work, I just wanted a little bit of support in the weather department.





@ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Low Kick
- Ice Punch
- Night Slash
- Swords Dance


Perhaps one of those pokemon which you may raise an eyebrow in concern over. However let me assure you that Weavile is quite the amazing pokemon. With a little bit of damage on Ferrothorn, a +2 Low Kick will OHKO, not to mention it will also OHKO Heatran. Weavile also has a useful knack of outpacing basically the entire metagame as of present. Physical Jirachi does wall it, however as most Jirachi's are Specially Defensive this meta I can expect to do ~60% with a +2 Night Slash. I just need to force Jirachi in once or twice and then set up and prepare for a sweep. With Stealth Rock down not even Gyarados can stop me with Intimidate (as a +1 Ice Punch will OHKO most variants). Weavile is also extremely useful as it outpaces Lati@s and a few other noticeable threats (such as Gengar and Starmie).



@ Life Orb
Trait: Oblivious
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock


The mighty Mamoswine. I normally do not find room on my teams for Stealth Rock, but this time it was an exception. Mamoswine is the pinocle of anti-metagame, and with good reason. As most Lucarios (as of right now) are running Adamant, I have a safe revenge killer if it ever breaks loose. Though NP Lucario can be used, I've been seeing more and more and more Swords Dance Lucario than anything else. Mamoswine, like Weavile, is just here to fuck shit up. Providing useful Electric-type immunities that can help break apart the Scarf Rotom, Band Scizor, Scarf Landorus core that I've been seeing non-stop. Ice Shard is there to pick of weakened foes and Icicle Crash provides a necessary 3HKO against Skarmory (though I have Xatu here to pretty much keep Skarmory and other hazard layers in check).



@ Life Orb
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Ice Fang
- Waterfall
- Crunch


I can't decide if my MVP is Sharpedo or if Weavile is. Speed Boost is an extremely potent ability that often sweeps teams on its own. Of course Sharpedo being the glass sword he is fears almost all priority attacks -- thus I can safely scout with Protect whilst my Speed keeps increasing. Sharpedo is a mid- to late-game cleaner, much like Weavile. The choice of which has a more likely chance of sweeping depends on a few factors such as the amount of Steel-types a team has, the amount of priority, and how healthy bulkier pokemon on the opposing team is. Once again a standard moveset, I heard mixpedo has a higher damage output than straight physical, but I'm uneasy splitting up the EVs. I feel if I take them out of Speed I'll lose to important pokemon, but if I take them out of Attack then Crunch and Ice Fang will be of complete no use.



@ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave
- Roost
- Reflect
- Night Shade


Xatu is an amazing pokemon, to say the least. Flying/Psychic-typing is amazing to have when all three of my main sweepers are weak to Fighting-type attacks. On top of that Reflect provides Sharpedo, Weavile, and Mamoswine the opportunity to switch in an extra time and make a dent or sweep the opposing team. I thought Xatu would be a momentum killer, and to an extent I was right. The inability to hurt Blissey is truly abysmal, but Blissey can't honestly do much to me either. The main selling point of Xatu is that the standard Deoxys-s (psycho boost / superpower / spikes / taunt or SR) can't hurt me. Ferrothorn can't do anything to me either. I thought about the redundancy of running Xatu and having Stealth Rock on Mamoswine; I decided that on the off-chance I do not predict the Stealth Rock user on the team (not hard) and it gets set up on my side, it'd be better to have a back up plan. Xatu is a useful piece of glue to my team, removing it honestly might cause it to entirely collapse upon itself. I could always run a Rapid Spin pokemon (Forretress) to keep hazards off, but that requires coming in, then using a predictable move. I did have a bulky Starmie here before Xatu, and it wasn't very effective --to say the least.



@ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Trick


Finally my revenge killer and my normal lead. Rotom-W is everything I could want in a Choice Scarf user. Volt Switch, STAB Drizzle boosted Hydro Pump, and Trick. The only issue, and I mean the only issue, I have with this Rotom is my inability to hurt Gastrodon. I am considering Rotom-C on my team, as it has the same useful resistances that I'd abuse (mainly Water-type attacks), but it comes with a STAB Grass-type move. Albeit that Grass-type move comes with a hefty drawback, but a Grass-type move all the same. Rotom-W is here to keep momentum and put me in more favorable positions. I do hate when I kill something with Volt Switch, as that means I've lost all momentum that I tried so hard to build.



The issues with this team are fairly obvious, but the main issue I cannot develop a solid work-around for is Gastrodon. Gastrodon is everything that is wrong with this team and I cannot find a decent enough change without changing at least half of the team and how it flows together. So if you'd please help I'd appreciate it.
 
A great team to be sure, but a few comments:
-Major props for using both Weavile (who I love in the meta) and Mamoswine, but is it really necessary to run both? They serve essentially the serve purpose, and compound to the crippling Terrakion weakness of the team, as Sharpedo can only outspeed Scarf Terrakion 50% of the time, while it can only outspeed Double Dance Terrakion after a Rock Polish 25% of the time, and Sharpedo is the only chance you have to outspeed him, being almost your only way of safely taking him out. Ice Shard from Mamo and Weavile won't help you much, as even after two Close Combats, Momoswine's Ice Shard only does around half. Rotom-W will die to a Close Combat with as little as 25% prior damage, and Xatu will unfortunately be OHKO'd 25% of the time by Stone Edge even with no prior damage, leaving you with nowhere near a counter, and very troubled for a check. Because of that, I recommend changing Mamo or Weavile (and from your comments on Weavile, it appears Mamoswine is the weaker link) to a Scizor or Conkledurr, who both abuse priority like the Ice types and help with the Gastrodon problem with U-Turns (also giving you your own Volt-Turn core) and repeated Drain Punches.
-Continuing on with Mamoswine, why bother with Oblivious? It serves absolutely no purpose past Attract trolls, change it to Snow Cloak so you have a secret weapon against opposing Hail teams if/when you see them.

-I honestly think you should change Sharpedo to a mix set, or at least try it out. It is walled by a lot less, as physical walls will usually come in only to be blasted by Hydro Pump, just c/p the standard mixed set.
 
I think I told you on PO how much I liked this team (especially SD Weavile) so I feel obliged to throw a rate at it! Obviously by brain processes Water / Dragon / Gastrodon weakness as --> Ferrothorn, but fitting it onto the team is another matter entirely (it doesn't).As such I have a couple of suggestions. The theme of this team is cool, underrated sets so to me a good replacement would be Specs Gastrodon over Rotom-w. I don't really see why you need a revenge killer when you have Sharpedo, who functions perfectly well as a revenge killer thanks to Protect. Gastrodon is really underrated as a Specs user- thanks to Drizzle and possible Storm Drain, his surfs hurt A LOT. The one change I'd make is to use hp Grass over Recover. Recover on a choice mon is fucking stupid, and Hp Grass (in my experience with using Specs Gastrodon) is loads better, as it lets you ACTUALLY HIT Rotom-w whom you're supposed to counter, and in this instance, opposing Gastrodon trying to get cocky with Toxic. This set is not OHKO'd by much dragons, and does shit tons in return with Ice Beam. It also stops TR Reuniclus from stomping you!

The other change would be to use a more classic Politoed, with Scald / Perish Song / Protect / Ice Beam. This prevents dragons from setting up on it, and as such, so long as you play smart with Gastrodon, they won't pack quite the sting they used to. Perish Song should lend you plenty of opportunities to set up Sharpedo or get Mamoswine in, and is useful for BP chains / stall obviously. I hope this all helps, good luck!
 

Bobtheball4

CAP Playtesting Expert
Hey Genny. I can see gastrodon and terrakion give you major problems. Terrakion can be covered by adding a gliscor, but that can also be bad, as it dies easily in the rain, as water moves are powered up, guaranteeing a 1hko. Instead of Mamoswine, maybe try Celebi. It gives off stealth rock support, which mamoswine also did. Celebi may not be immune to electric type attacks, but it takes them like a boss. Maybe try this set:
@

Celebi @ Leftovers Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 82 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Recover
- Leaf Storm
- U-turn / Baton Pass


Stealth rock, to support your team. Recover is for a nice recovery move, which comes in helpful when taking super effective hits, like tinkerbell does always. Leaf Storm to let you stay in while t-tar thinks pursuit because you are so scared of almighty tyranitar. U-turn is using to escape CB scizor's pursuit, as it will 2hko you without switching, with technician obvi. Baton Pass does the same, but doesn't let you do damage to your opponent, while fleeing.

Weavile is getting so outclassed and underused. Use standard SD lucario. It is almighty, and fucks up the whole metagame now the excadrill is banned. And it has access to extremespeed, which allows you to stay in on pokemon like rotom-w, which normally you would have to switch, because outspeed. At +2, LO lucario can 1hko dragonite, even if multiscale is in effect. It 1hko's Gastrodon with Close Combat, at +0, if its not a physical gastrodon, which most aren't. It also 1hko's standard quagsire with close combat at +4. After stealth rock, every pokemon should be 1hko'ed by extreme speed, as long as they do not resist it highly. Here's the set:

@

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


Swords dance is the stat raising move. Close Combat is STAB, and wrecks almost everything that doesn't resist it. Extreme speed is for faster pokemon that can 1hko lucario. It can 1hko gliscor at +2 with extreme speed. Crunch is used to hit ghost type pokemon, as the other two moves can't touch ghost pokemon. It also is nice to be able to 1hko Jellicent, oppose to Ice Punch instead of Crunch, you would not be able to hit bulky ghost pokemon hard.

I can only expect you to use a sharpedo, lol. It is so outclassed. It doesn't hit pokemon like ferrothorn or skarmory hard. Leaving you having to switch, or be set up on or ko'ed. Try a dragon dance gyarados. It is so powerful. I have tried it in the rain, and literally it is unstoppable. Here is the set:

@

Gyarados (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Waterfall


Dragon dance is the stat raising move. Double edge is to hit Rotom-W. After one dragon dance, it one hit ko's max defense and HP rotom-w. Earthquake hits electric type pokemon hard. It also hits ferrothorn pretty hard. Waterfall is for STAB, and it can be abused, as it has a flinching chance, and in rain, it's power is boosted. Life Orb powers up his attacks immensely.

Other than those suggestions, nice team man. Good luck with future peaks, and i hope my advise helped.

EDIT: I DO NOT MEAN TO CHANGE YOUR WHOLE TEAM.
 

Matthew

I love weather; Sun for days
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
A great team to be sure, but a few comments:
-Major props for using both Weavile (who I love in the meta) and Mamoswine, but is it really necessary to run both? They serve essentially the serve purpose, and compound to the crippling Terrakion weakness of the team, as Sharpedo can only outspeed Scarf Terrakion 50% of the time, while it can only outspeed Double Dance Terrakion after a Rock Polish 25% of the time, and Sharpedo is the only chance you have to outspeed him, being almost your only way of safely taking him out. Ice Shard from Mamo and Weavile won't help you much, as even after two Close Combats, Momoswine's Ice Shard only does around half. Rotom-W will die to a Close Combat with as little as 25% prior damage, and Xatu will unfortunately be OHKO'd 25% of the time by Stone Edge even with no prior damage, leaving you with nowhere near a counter, and very troubled for a check. Because of that, I recommend changing Mamo or Weavile (and from your comments on Weavile, it appears Mamoswine is the weaker link) to a Scizor or Conkledurr, who both abuse priority like the Ice types and help with the Gastrodon problem with U-Turns (also giving you your own Volt-Turn core) and repeated Drain Punches.
-Continuing on with Mamoswine, why bother with Oblivious? It serves absolutely no purpose past Attract trolls, change it to Snow Cloak so you have a secret weapon against opposing Hail teams if/when you see them.

-I honestly think you should change Sharpedo to a mix set, or at least try it out. It is walled by a lot less, as physical walls will usually come in only to be blasted by Hydro Pump, just c/p the standard mixed set.
I will gladly admit that Terrakion is completely threatening to my team -- but I have not been running into the a great lot. I mostly see scarf or banded variants, which is handled by a mixture of Xatu + clever switching. Though any competent player will be able to run me in circles, though I guess it could be a two-way street. Oblivious because I once lost to an Attract team and that was a very demoralizing experience.

Weavile and Mamo serve to different roles, though there is some overlap I'll admit. Weavile is there to sweep, and he does in fact sweep, while Mamo is there to punch holes and use his useful immunity to my teams benefit. While I did have some doubts about MixPedo I'll give it a shot after I finish working on using Gastrodon.

I think I told you on PO how much I liked this team (especially SD Weavile) so I feel obliged to throw a rate at it! Obviously by brain processes Water / Dragon / Gastrodon weakness as --> Ferrothorn, but fitting it onto the team is another matter entirely (it doesn't).As such I have a couple of suggestions. The theme of this team is cool, underrated sets so to me a good replacement would be Specs Gastrodon over Rotom-w. I don't really see why you need a revenge killer when you have Sharpedo, who functions perfectly well as a revenge killer thanks to Protect. Gastrodon is really underrated as a Specs user- thanks to Drizzle and possible Storm Drain, his surfs hurt A LOT. The one change I'd make is to use hp Grass over Recover. Recover on a choice mon is fucking stupid, and Hp Grass (in my experience with using Specs Gastrodon) is loads better, as it lets you ACTUALLY HIT Rotom-w whom you're supposed to counter, and in this instance, opposing Gastrodon trying to get cocky with Toxic. This set is not OHKO'd by much dragons, and does shit tons in return with Ice Beam. It also stops TR Reuniclus from stomping you!

The other change would be to use a more classic Politoed, with Scald / Perish Song / Protect / Ice Beam. This prevents dragons from setting up on it, and as such, so long as you play smart with Gastrodon, they won't pack quite the sting they used to. Perish Song should lend you plenty of opportunities to set up Sharpedo or get Mamoswine in, and is useful for BP chains / stall obviously. I hope this all helps, good luck!
I have currently changed the Rotom-W for Gastrodon, and my first experience has been very lackluster. I'm sure I'm just not completely use to how Gastrodon balances out the team, I'll come back with some more information later. I'm not sure about the Politoed switch, without that I'm kinda up the creek if I'm facing an Unaware Quagsire. Though Perish Song handles that too... I'll give it a try in a bit.

Hey Genny. I can see gastrodon and terrakion give you major problems. Terrakion can be covered by adding a gliscor, but that can also be bad, as it dies easily in the rain, as water moves are powered up, guaranteeing a 1hko. Instead of Mamoswine, maybe try Celebi. It gives off stealth rock support, which mamoswine also did. Celebi may not be immune to electric type attacks, but it takes them like a boss. Maybe try this set:
@

Celebi @ Leftovers Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 82 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Recover
- Leaf Storm
- U-turn / Baton Pass


Stealth rock, to support your team. Recover is for a nice recovery move, which comes in helpful when taking super effective hits, like tinkerbell does always. Leaf Storm to let you stay in while t-tar thinks pursuit because you are so scared of almighty tyranitar. U-turn is using to escape CB scizor's pursuit, as it will 2hko you without switching, with technician obvi. Baton Pass does the same, but doesn't let you do damage to your opponent, while fleeing.

Weavile is getting so outclassed and underused. Use standard SD lucario. It is almighty, and fucks up the whole metagame now the excadrill is banned. And it has access to extremespeed, which allows you to stay in on pokemon like rotom-w, which normally you would have to switch, because outspeed. At +2, LO lucario can 1hko dragonite, even if multiscale is in effect. It 1hko's Gastrodon with Close Combat, at +0, if its not a physical gastrodon, which most aren't. It also 1hko's standard quagsire with close combat at +4. After stealth rock, every pokemon should be 1hko'ed by extreme speed, as long as they do not resist it highly. Here's the set:

@

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


Swords dance is the stat raising move. Close Combat is STAB, and wrecks almost everything that doesn't resist it. Extreme speed is for faster pokemon that can 1hko lucario. It can 1hko gliscor at +2 with extreme speed. Crunch is used to hit ghost type pokemon, as the other two moves can't touch ghost pokemon. It also is nice to be able to 1hko Jellicent, oppose to Ice Punch instead of Crunch, you would not be able to hit bulky ghost pokemon hard.

I can only expect you to use a sharpedo, lol. It is so outclassed. It doesn't hit pokemon like ferrothorn or skarmory hard. Leaving you having to switch, or be set up on or ko'ed. Try a dragon dance gyarados. It is so powerful. I have tried it in the rain, and literally it is unstoppable. Here is the set:

@

Gyarados (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Waterfall


Dragon dance is the stat raising move. Double edge is to hit Rotom-W. After one dragon dance, it one hit ko's max defense and HP rotom-w. Earthquake hits electric type pokemon hard. It also hits ferrothorn pretty hard. Waterfall is for STAB, and it can be abused, as it has a flinching chance, and in rain, it's power is boosted. Life Orb powers up his attacks immensely.

Other than those suggestions, nice team man. Good luck with future peaks, and i hope my advise helped.
While the Celebi suggestion is good the other two are completely backwards. You cannot compare Lucario to Weavile, they are completely different pokemon and saying that Lucario outclasses Weavile is silly. Weavile is here to revenge and sweep, not just sweep. The main advantage of Weavile is that basically nothing outside of Scarf users (and the odd Jolteon) are going to outpace him. Lucario cannot make the same claim. And while +2 ExtremeSpeed is a strong move, it isn't as strong as I'd like. Weavile comes with STAB Ice- and Dark-type moves, with Low Kick for coverage. That's much better than relying on your STAB move and then two coverage moves. Plus Lucario will be completely fucked by Gyarados, a major selling point for me when using Weavile. (it's also fucked by Dragonite). Saying Sharpedo is outclassed by Gyarados also leaves a very odd taste in my mouth. Gyarados requires turns to set up, while Sharpedo doesn't require anything, it simply needs to be out on the field. I don't understand where having counters is a bad thing, especially because the counters that you listed to Sharpedo are easily handled by the rest of my team.
 
the biggest problem is stuff like sd speed scizor and bu/stone edge/drain punch/mach punch conk, also tr reuniclus could really shit on you if it predicts the xatu switch ... xatu is good but he cant handle everything - basically, you have a fight weakness

mamos cool but xatu can do the sring by default, and you have weavile, rotom-w, sharp, AND xatu and they basically cover everything that you dont cover already - i would probably replace mamoswine with a trick room lo reuniclus of your own or even a cm recover version - solid sweeper that appreciates what your team is doing and can handle some lategame shit if needed

you could also use something like sd scizor of your own to keep the priority and at least make things a 1 for 1 with other scizor/conk and handles reuniclus well.

id also give politoed 231 speed to outspeed the trans hitting 230 (kind of common know) as well as obviously scizor.
 

Bobtheball4

CAP Playtesting Expert
While the Celebi suggestion is good the other two are completely backwards. You cannot compare Lucario to Weavile, they are completely different pokemon and saying that Lucario outclasses Weavile is silly. Weavile is here to revenge and sweep, not just sweep. The main advantage of Weavile is that basically nothing outside of Scarf users (and the odd Jolteon) are going to outpace him. Lucario cannot make the same claim. And while +2 ExtremeSpeed is a strong move, it isn't as strong as I'd like. Weavile comes with STAB Ice- and Dark-type moves, with Low Kick for coverage. That's much better than relying on your STAB move and then two coverage moves. Plus Lucario will be completely fucked by Gyarados, a major selling point for me when using Weavile. (it's also fucked by Dragonite). Saying Sharpedo is outclassed by Gyarados also leaves a very odd taste in my mouth. Gyarados requires turns to set up, while Sharpedo doesn't require anything, it simply needs to be out on the field. I don't understand where having counters is a bad thing, especially because the counters that you listed to Sharpedo are easily handled by the rest of my team.
I see why you keep Sharpedo, as it sharply helps deal with Terrakion. Now Weavile is an okay Pokemon, but while it is quick, it isn't strong. I just saw you hit Rotom-W with night slash in a battle, and it did a measly 36 percent damage. I guess Weavile would work better late game somehow in your mind, but it's your team, so whatever.
 
Espeon is a much better Magic Bounce user than Xatu, plus it sets up screens better as well. It'll also help you combat the clearly glaring Fighting weakness you have. Seriously, even Mienshao could wreck this team the way it is now by either flinching to death with Fake Out or smashing things apart with Hi Jump Kick for example.
 
No need really for HP Electric on Politoed specifically for Gyarados when you have it pretty well handled by Rotom-w. HP Grass helps with your Gastrodon problem a little, as some people still blindly switch Gastrodon into every water attacker. It also looks hard for this team to play around Rotom-w. It can come in on Mamoswine pretty easily and you can't bring anything in on a Hydro Pump without it dying the next turn. You can just replace Icicle Crash with Frustration or Stone Edge. You say you have Icicle Crash for 3HKOing Skarmory but that's not too important with Xatu on your team. Mamoswine is basically the only chance for other Rotom-w to switch in safely since every other mon ohkos or 2hkos it. With Rotom-w out of the way Sharpedo cleans up easier too. Hope this helps. Good Luck.
 
If you do opt for Rotom-Cut, you could use HP Grass over Leaf Storm. Believe it or not, you don't have to use Leaf Storm when you use Rotom-Cut, and while HP Grass is significantly weaker than Leaf Storm, it still gets the STAB bonus, making it not as pathetic
 
Espeon is a much better Magic Bounce user than Xatu, plus it sets up screens better as well. It'll also help you combat the clearly glaring Fighting weakness you have. Seriously, even Mienshao could wreck this team the way it is now by either flinching to death with Fake Out or smashing things apart with Hi Jump Kick for example.
Not necessarily, Xatu has superior defensive capabilities, and a better defensive move pool. Xatu also has moves like Night Shade, and Thunder wave, which Espeon can't learn. Besides, the team has enough offensively strong Pokes already. Did I also mention the double fighting resistance is needed.
 

Pocket

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You noticed yourself that this team has problems in covering threats. Having 3 frail LO sweepers doesn't help. So I think it is significant to keep the momentum on your side. Although SpecsToed is not something that people could take lightly, being locked into a coverage move is dangerous. I support Smith in losing the Specs, but I have a different set in mind to keep the momentum on your side.

Politoed @ Leftovers
192 HP / 248 SAtk / 68 Spe | Modest Nature
~ Hydro Pump / Scald
~ Ice Beam
~ Hypnosis
~ Encore/ HP Grass


Sleep is a boon on offensive teams, and this team is no different. Putting walls like Gastrodon, Jellicent, and Ferrothorn asleep would make your life easier. Encore is there to prevent the opponent from setting up on Politoed, letting you switch into your frail sweepers if you lock them into a non-damaging / weak move. You can go with HP Grass if you still want to nail Rotom-W and Gastrodon, though. Hydro Pump lets you OHKO Heatran, who thinks it is faster than your defensive Politoed to set up Rocks. However this Politoed is faster, not letting it set up rocks. Scald, however, is an awesome move that cripples monsters.

I think that if you're sticking with Xatu, I'd go with Dual Screens with Light Clay. Also give Xatu U-turn to give the team momentum, because your team cannot afford to guess when or what the opponent is switching. U-turn would minimize the damage taken by your team, imo. As your final move, you can stick with either Thunder Wave for paralysis support or Roost.

You may even want to try Dual Screen Deoxys over your Xatu. Just set up SR + screens and let your team go to work. You don't need to lead with Politoed, since only Sharpedo really relies on the Rain, so you can keep Politoed in the sidelines. Going with Deoxys-S also opens up a moveslot on your Mamoswine, letting you go with Superpower to hit Rotom-W hard on the switch and finish off Ferrothorn quicker.

As for your weakness to Gastrodon, all I can suggest is adding HP Grass > Trick on Rotom-W. Another interesting choice is going with Jolteon. Jolteon is fast enough to outrun Gyarados and Dragonite after 1 DD, so it doesn't need to have the weak Scarf. You can give it more power with Choice Specs or Life Orb, or you can let it pass Substitutes to bring in your other mons safely. Of course provide it with HP Grass to lure-and-destroy Gastrodon. Jolteon also stops Volt Switch without risking Mamoswine. Not saying that Jolteon is better / more useful than Rotom-W, but you may want to test it out. For example:

Jolteon @ Leftovers
252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe | Timid Nature
~ Thunder
~ Hidden Power [Grass]
~ Substitute
~ Baton Pass


Best of luck with your team's endeavors. Much props in finding your own style :d
 

Matthew

I love weather; Sun for days
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The addition of Specs Gastrodon was a wonderful idea, I very much love it on my team. However the change of Celebi over Mamo was rather poor and changed the flow of the team too much. I really enjoy the use of mamo's STAB Ice-type attacks. I'm considering SD Scizor in place of Weavile but I'm not sure
 
Hi genny,
These are some quick nitpicks. On Sharpedo, 252 Speed really isn't outrunning anything after a speed boost or two; I would use 136 Speed to outrun Scarfed base 108s after two boosts and dump the rest into hp so you can take weak hits like a scizor's bullet punch. For Politoed, HP [Grass] screws over Gastrodon and other waters; gastrodon in particular can be bothersome for you so HP [Grass] should definitely go over HP [Electric]. Finally, for Focus Miss, it is a complete waste of a move. Not only does it have garbage accuracy, but your locked into it and Surf will usually be a much better option. I would recommend Perish Song over it; perish song wrecks boosters & baton pass teams along with last pokemon sweepers like CM reuniclus. nice rain team by the way; lovin the mamo and weavile!
 
Swords Dance Lucario can really cause your team trouble: It can Swords Dance vs only Ice Beam and Hidden Power from Politoed really, but after that nothing on your team can beat it. Mamoswine doesn't check it because +2 ExtremeSpeed KOes after a little residual damage (think of Life Orb, Stealth Rock), doing 73 - 86%. After that nothing can stop it. A well played Lucario can set up against Xatu while you Thunder Wave (probably) and Swords Dance again while you switch, and KO your whole team with ExtremeSpeed. If you switch turn 1 you still lose though, so if Lucario comes in on Xatu or Ice Beam / Hidden Power Politoed, you will likely lose unless Mamoswine is at 100% or at 85% while Stealth Rock isn't up, which is pretty unlikely.
Toxicroak may seem less dangerous because Sucker Punch is not very effective vs Weavile and Sharpedo, but you have to realize that they can't KO (Weavile Ice Punch: 69% - 82% while Cross Chop KOes, Sharpedo Ice Fang: 44% - 52%) and Dry Skins recovers his damage. He does a little less to Mamoswine (71% - 84%), but again, Mamoswine isn't really what I call reliable.
Rock Polish Terrakion can set up on Politoed sometimes or Weavile and very rarely on Rotom-W. After that, he 6-0es you with his speed and Close Combat / Stone Edge. Nothing outspeeds, nothing isn't OHKOed.
You also have a slight weakness to opposing rain teams, relying pretty much entirely on Rotom-W to take the attacks, which becomes harder to do. Sharpedo helps a lot against rain teams though imo.
No Dragon resist might harm you sometimes, but Ice Shard Mamoswine might help you there, as well as a fast Weavile and Protect Ice Fang Sharpedo.

Okay, so to fix this generally, is using a Latias over Xatu. I'm personally not really a fan of Xatu, and Latias is a more reliable Fighting-type resist, and resists Water as well. A Choice Specs set would probably be best I think, OHKOing Lucario with Surf, KOing Terrakion with Surf as well while taking its attacks well, and outspeeding it when it decides to Swords Dance. He also helps a lot against Drizzle teams. He's weak to Sucker Punch, but Tricking on the Sucker Punch helps a lot, forcing them out ;). If you want to keep Reflect though, you can try Dragon Pulse / Reflect / Recover / Surf, which supports the team more, but I would probably go with the Choice Specs set though, which looks like this:

Latias @ Choice Specs | Levitate
Timid | 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Draco Meteor / Dragon Pulse / Surf / Trick


Also, HP Grass > HP Electric imo, Gyarados is handled well but Gastrodon could be troublesome. Snow Cloak > Oblivious because noone even uses Attract while hail is more common. As for a minor change, have you considered Ice Shard on Weavile? It could help against Dragons that might be troublsome.

Good luck!
 

Nova

snitches get stitches
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As you said Genny I would recommend replacing Weavile with Scizor as Scizor is able to take advantage of the rain. I personally prefer the bulky SD set

Scizor (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk /216 SpD
Adamant Nature (+Atk , -SAtk)
-Swords Dance
-Roost
-Bug Bite
-Bullet Punch
 
Ever consider running U-Turn on your Xatu? After Xatu forces something to switch, u can u-turn on their switch and put yourself into a favorable position.
 

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