ORAS UU "This is a team"

[Stocke]

I'm not very experienced with competitive battling at all (as in, my only experience is with laddering on Showdown), so I figured that I'd be able to get some tips as to how to improve the team that I've already built via the Showdown teambuilder by posting in this subforum.

Also, I apologize for the title, I couldn't think of anything better on the spot, as this team doesn't have any particular theme.

Here's the team:

Hyper Cutter (Gligar) (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake / Knock Off / Rock Slide
- Taunt / Defog
- Stealth Rock
- Roost

Gligar is my dedicated physical wall. Due to the Eviolite boosting its bulk substantially, it's very good at taking physical hits. Eviolite also boosts Gligar's Special Defense to the point where it's able to live weaker special hits with a substantial amount of health, and due to this it's a very effective wall. This Gligar set is usually my lead due to the fact that it knows both Stealth Rock and Taunt, the former good to weaken opposing Pokémon for my sweepers and the latter to stop stray Stealth Rocks and Will-o-Wisps. Taunt isn't always effective though, as I'm going for bulk with this set rather than speed.

Useless (Tentacruel) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 240 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
- Acid Spray
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Scald

Now, Assault Vest Tentacruel may seem a bit gimmicky, and you'd indeed be right, but it's certainly effective at walling special hits. Due to Assault Vest boosting its already fantastic special bulk, it's generally able to take as many special hits as it needs to, fish for burns with Scald, and remove the opponent's items with Knock Off. In addition to this, Tentacruel provides even more team support with Rapid Spin to remove hazards (although none of these Pokémon are weak to Stealth Rock), and against a weakened team is even able to sweep with Acid Spray + Scald.

Spectra (Umbreon) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 148 Def / 104 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Foul Play
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell

Umbreon is a mixed wall and the cleric/healer of the team. The EVs may seem a bit odd, but they ensure that Umbreon will be able to take hits on either side of the spectrum equally as effectively, barring SE hits. Standard fare as far as healers go, although Foul Play is very effective at stopping physical boosters in their tracks, provided that they don't resist the move. In addition, Umbreon's weaknesses are covered nicely by the other two members of the defensive core, especially the Fighting type.

Link (Gallade) (M) @ Galladite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch / Psycho Cut / Knock Off / Poison Jab

Gallade is the physical sweeper of the team. Despite having no EV investment in the Attack stat, it hits fairly hard to begin with, and through Bulk Up is able to up its attack stat and physical bulk easily. Basic strategy with this one:

1. Set up Substitute against an opponent, preferably slower.
2. Bulk Up until your substitute is broken, or further if you think you can take the hits.
3. Spam the attack(s) of your choice.

chineze (Shaymin) @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seed Flare
- Air Slash / Psychic
- Earth Power
- Dazzling Gleam / Psychic

Shaymin is a special sweeper, and a very effective one at that. 100/100/100 bulk is decent even when uninvested, and fully invested Timid 100 Speed is able to outspeed most of the metagame and hit hard with Life Orb. Shaymin suffers from being the Grass type, which entails a slew of weaknesses, but it's able to make up for that with a 120 base STAB attack in Seed Flare, as well as a wide movepool outside of that. Air Slash, Earth Power, and Dazzling Gleam or Psychic round out the coverage nicely.

Spearmint (Empoleon) (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Flash Cannon
- Roar

Empoleon. Bulky attacker and my secondary SR setter. There isn't much else to this one, other than the fact that it resists common weaknesses (esp. Ice) throughout the team.

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Thanks for viewing my RMT! If you have any suggestions as to how to improve this team, feel free to leave them as a reply to this post (that's the purpose of this subforum, after all!) Any feedback or criticism is appreciated, I'm always looking for ways to improve my teams.

 

[BlueLobster]

Umbreon's EVs don't help. The 4 attack does nothing, Foul Play uses the opponent's attack. It's nature is wrong too, it should be Careful. would copy the standard EVs for it, they are far more effective than the current ones you have.

Also, your Gligar is messed up. Defog is illegal with Immunity, so you have to run taunt, and I would use Toxic instead of SR, as your Empoleon has SR, and Gligar really needa the passive damage of toxic.

Empoleon should have defog, as rocks are problematic for this team. Use it instead of roar.

Gallade is too frail for what you're trying to do with it. I think you should replace Substitute for Psycho Cut and Bulk Up for Swords Dance.

Your Tentacruel is interesting, but I think it'll work fine, and Shaymin is great.

Not bad for a new player, your team is good, but missing a little synergy. Ice and Electric cause troubles, but you should be able to combat that with the resists you have.

 

[Stocke]

Umbreon's EVs don't help. The 4 attack does nothing, Foul Play uses the opponent's attack.

I'm aware of this, it's set up using those EVs (specifically the 4 into attack) due to the fact that I originally planned for it to use Curse + Payback rather than running a cleric set, but that's a very valid point. I'll change it straightaway.

It's nature is wrong too, it should be Careful. would copy the standard EVs for it, they are far more effective than the current ones you have.

I like the ability to be able to take hits from both physical and special attacks, and my team doesn't seem to have too much trouble with special attacks anyway. However, I may change the EVs and nature by your suggestion, as Umbreon isn't able to hit Fighting types hard with Foul Play.

EDIT: Wouldn't Calm be better, to reduce the damage from confusion and opposing Foul Plays?

Also, your Gligar is messed up. Defog is illegal with Immunity, so you have to run taunt, and I would use Toxic instead of SR, as your Empoleon has SR, and Gligar really needa the passive damage of toxic.

Ah, now I remember why I wasn't running Defog on Gligar in the first place! Thanks for the reminder. I do like the utility of Stealth Rock on Gligar, since it's generally my lead and very bulky due to Eviolite, although you're indeed right about the need for more passive damage; especially since Earthquake can't hit Flying-types. I think I'll slash Toxic in with Taunt, since Taunt isn't too useful on an uninvested Base 85 speed Pokémon while facing fast, offensive threats (not sure what's super-common in the tier, since I haven't played much UU)

Also, you made a typo in your post, I've bolded it for your convenience.

Empoleon should have defog, as rocks are problematic for this team. Use it instead of roar.

Valid point, changed. I do have Rapid Spin on Tentacruel, but Stealth Rock + Defog on one Pokémon is never a bad thing.

Gallade is too frail for what you're trying to do with it. I think you should replace Substitute for Psycho Cut and Bulk Up for Swords Dance.

Substitute is there to block status, which definitely helps despite (Mega) Gallade's frailty, but I'll replace Bulk Up with Swords Dance as per your suggestion.

Your Tentacruel is interesting, but I think it'll work fine, and Shaymin is great.

I've tried this Tentacruel set before, and it's very effective at spreading burns and clearing hazards. Problem with it is its lack of physical bulk, but I can always adjust the EVs to improve its overall hit-taking abilities. And yes, the Shaymin set, albeit not original by any means, is indeed an effective special sweeper.

Not bad for a new player, your team is good, but missing a little synergy. Ice and Electric cause troubles, but you should be able to combat that with the resists you have.

Thanks! The reason I added Empoleon in the first place was to counteract the Ice weakness my team has, and Gligar outright being immune to Electric definitely helps. In addition, thanks for the help that you've given me on this team!

Also: I'm considering replacing Flash Cannon on Empoleon with something else, but I don't have any other moves to hit Fairy super-effectively on this team. Any suggestions?

 

[BlueLobster]

Yeah, calm would be better on Umbreon, don't know why I suggested careful.

I would personally keep flash cannon on Empoleon, hitting fairies is very useful, evem though Diancie's gone.

 

[HT]

Hey Shine, cool team! Gonna agree on a faster SD set for gallade and gonna add a couple suggestions for you that I think could help quite a bit:

• First there isn't really any need for 2 Stealth Rockers on a team so I would have Defog on Empoleon while keeping the Rocks on Gligar so you can keep the much preferred ability in immunity to dodge toxics that can wear you down.
• Next on your Tentacruel I would move your Spdef EVs to Defense with a Bold Nature. Since you already have an AV to boost your Spdef, you won't really miss out on the special bulk and water is a much better physically defensive typing anyways. These defense EV's really help with Fire spam from things like Darm and Entei which put a lot of pressure on your team as Gligar can't reliably switch in on either of them. Something to consider is Tspikes > Knock off. Obviously to do this you would need to take off your Vest, but I don't think that's too bad as you can then run Black Sludge for residual recovery which Tentacruel really appreciates. Tspikes are really good in the meta right now, weakening mons and pressuring opposing teams to Spin/Defog them away.
• Right now I'm seeing a huge weakness to Zygarde on your team as well as other Dragons such as Haxorus. Something to help with this is Whimsicott over Shaymin. Whimsicott, while despite its poor stats has a fantastic typing allowing it to hard check Sub Coil Zygarde and can Encore Haxorus into DD and threaten both with Super Effective Moonblast. Whim also serves as a good check to bulky waters which can be a pain to play against. Gaining momentum from U-Turn is also a huge plus that Cott brings to the table.
• Gonna brush up on your Empoleon set a bit. Leftovers over Sitrus Berry and move the SpA EV's to Spdef with a Calm nature. Offensive Empoleon is nice, but it is honestly just incredibly outclassed by its defensive set and since you have Defog on it I would imagine you would want to keep it around as long as possible. Grass types also seem to annoy your team quite a bit so I would try out Ice Beam over Flash Cannon to try and hit them on the switch.

And that's it, hope I was helpful! Good luck in future battles :]