Too much steel

Spidy

Spidy

I made this team a few days ago, just for fun kinda. It didn't really turn out the way I would have liked, but I decided to roll with it anyway. The team worked decently, but it's clear it can do better.

The problem is i somehow ended up with 4 steel types on the team, even though there is one immune to every type steel is weak too, it just seems like it could work better if 2/3 of the team isn't one type. I'm just not really sure who to take out, and what i could add in. Team building has always been my weakest area, so I figured I would come here for help.

anyway here it is



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Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 HP / 252 SAtk
Brave Nature
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword
I've wanted to use this ever since i had one on my in game team. And I don't know why I've waited so long. I really like this set. Ghost and Fighting hit everything for neutral, and shadow ball makes him a pain to wall. King's Shield has proven to be a great asset as well giving the bulk I need to tank hits that could be disastrous.

greninja.gif

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
I picked chespin, so this was my first time ever using the blue frog ninja. Protean gives this thing excellent damage output, and its got crazy speed. First three I find gives the best coverage for its movepool (ok maybe that's about all it gets). U-turn is for some scouting, and I've learned it OHKOs espeon.

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Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Recover
I was hesitant to try this at first, but now i'm glad I did. Excellent bulk with good recovery and great typing, I don't know what i was worried about. I would like for him to have toxic, but I also like the coverage this set provides.




heatran.gif

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Earth Power
Heat provides a valuable fire immunity for my team, and keeps mega charizard Y from eating my whole team for breakfast. Lave Plume is used for a nice burn chance while still doing damage, Earth power is for coverage. Roar is for some phasing, but i'm considering protect instead, in testing i've only used roar once on a swords dancing talonflame.

lucario.gif

Lucario @ Lucarionite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Crunch
I don't know why picked mega lucario when lucarionite is about to get banned (pretty obvious if you look at the suspect thread), but i needed a good physical fighting type cause i noticed blissey gave me huge problems. I've considered Ice punch on it but like the coverage with crunch, so its a hard choice. I'm not sure if i should keep him though with the imminent banning.



gliscor.gif

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Taunt
Gliscor gives my team some needed physical bulk as well as essentially having status immunity. Toxic is for wearing down other pokemon. Protect allows me to take in another turn of poison heal while the opponent takes in anther turn of damage, its also great for scouting moves. Taunt cripples defensive pokemon and stops setups.



skarmory.gif

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 232 Def / 252 HP / 24 Spd
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Whirlwind
- Stealth Rock
- Roost

The last member, i realized i needed a a solid physical wall, as well as a spinner and maybe some entry hazard support. With defogs new mechanics, I decided to give it a go and skarmory seemed perfect for what i needed. I know he's total taunt bait (it hasn't happened yet, witch i'm surprised at), but despite that it gets the job done. Defog and Stealth rock doesn't conflict to much, i can usually just put stealth rocks right back out if i need to remove hazards.
 
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One easy way to remove a steel would be to replace skarmory with mandibuzz. They fill a very similar role, and although I personally think skarmory is better in general, mandi would work well on the team by helping to lessen your steel weakness (because God help you if heatran dies and he has a charizard...)

I think heatran is best used as a specially defensive tank that can set up rocks if you replace skarmory. My preferred set is roar/will-o-wisp/lava plume/earth power with leftovers and a bulky spread. Considering this, I would then replace gastrodon with an offensive juggernaut like choice spec latios, because your current team lacks a wallbreaker, and you can afford the ice and dragon weaknesses that coke with latios thanks to all your steel types. The only issue would be your lack of a ground type to handle your 2 electric weaknesses, but since most electric attacks are special, heatran is usually quite able to soak them up.

If lucario gets banned, mega mawile is a suitable replacement, and having a fairy type is pretty nifty
 
I'm not sure if mandibuzz is the best choice to defog with a sr weakness. I'm not really sure if I need a spinner/defogger; the team i posted has no rock weakness, and nothings ruined with a little damage on switchins, i mainly decided to use defog for spikes and sticky web, but im not seeing as much as that as i thought i would. But i'll give mandi a shot, i've had some pretty questionable suggestions before that ended up working really well.

You are right about me needing a wall breaker, Ive had a few times when I've just not been able to KO some key walls and it cost me the game, im not sure if replacing gastrodon is the right choice, even if latias is resistant to electric. I would definitely have to switch heatran to a tank to keep my team from being to offensive based. I'll test them a bit to see how it works though.

As far as lucario goes, his megastone will definitely get banned, a huge majority has already voted for it in the suspect thread. Im not so sure about mawile, yes shes strong, but i dont like her speed; makes her too reliant on sucker punch, and that can lead to easy predictability
 
I have an idea to get rid of 2 birds with one stone here, First off you said yourself that lucario is going to be banned pretty soon, so why don't you switch him out for an assault vested conkeldurr, now by doing this you are missing out on your precious mega slot right? now i know that the way you are using heatran is as a tanky by type sweeper, and it just so happens that there is a mega that can do the exact same thing that happens to fit into your team rather well, mega venusaur, this thing is a monster its typing alone make it amazing, and it has a pretty good movepool with synthesis and leech seed for healing, and strong stab in sludge bomb and giga drain, if you want a boost it also has access to growth, and it can go mixed with earthquake i really think that these two will fit your team nicely.
 
After testing out madibuzz, it just turned out to only be better than skarm in a few situations. skarms ability to sponge damage better just makes it a better candidate, while it might be better to get rid of skarm, im pretty sure mandibuzz isnt the right choice

latios most of the time wasnt to bad, but the team really suffered without gastrodon. Although latios resists water, i still had some problems with water types, but the biggest thing was loosing electric immunity. heatran on the other hand proved very effective with a sp def set, gonna test it some more

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I like the idea of conkeldurr, however venusaur not so much, getting rid of fire immunity for another fire weakness doesn't seem like the best idea, this also leaves me extremely open to mega charizard y.
 
Spidy said:
After testing out madibuzz, it just turned out to only be better than skarm in a few situations. skarms ability to sponge damage better just makes it a better candidate, while it might be better to get rid of skarm, im pretty sure mandibuzz isnt the right choice

latios most of the time wasnt to bad, but the team really suffered without gastrodon. Although latios resists water, i still had some problems with water types, but the biggest thing was loosing electric immunity. heatran on the other hand proved very effective with a sp def set, gonna test it some more

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I like the idea of conkeldurr, however venusaur not so much, getting rid of fire immunity for another fire weakness doesn't seem like the best idea, this also leaves me extremely open to mega charizard y.
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Remember, megasaur doesn't have a fire weakness I.e. Thick Fat

But you are right that you still need Heatran to deal with MegaZard Y
 
Well since lucarionite is about to get banned, have you thought about mega medicham. A huge power high jump kick can wreck any mon not 4x resistant to it.. So he another choice for a mega and you don't lose that fighting coverage .
 
Spidy said:
After testing out madibuzz, it just turned out to only be better than skarm in a few situations. skarms ability to sponge damage better just makes it a better candidate, while it might be better to get rid of skarm, im pretty sure mandibuzz isnt the right choice
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Between which is the better hazard remover and tank, the answer is clearly skarm, as you stated.

Mandibuzz brings three things to the table that skarmory can't: a fairly quick taunt to force-out other walls or wish-passers (I remember completely walling-out and disabling a team based on wish-passing vaporeon earlier this month on wi fi), knock off, and STAB foul play. Mandibuzz is not just a hazard-remover and physical wall, but also something that can switch-in on Mega-Garchomp, copy its stat boosts, and crush it with Foul Play.

Comparing Skarmory and Mandibuzz one-to-one is ncorrect: Skarmory is certainly a better hazard remover and layer--Mandibuzz fills a different capacity.

Once again, in a case like this, the role that pokemon is meant to play is what is most important.
 
The Greninja is a great U-Turn lead, but is beaten by common Scarf Leads.

I suggest replacing Skarmory with Mandibuzz.

I on the fence about a max speed Heatran, but the shock value may provide the necessary unexpectedness for an opponent's bad swap.

You could also add in Staraptor or Darmanitan, even though neither poke is in OU, with Lucarionite about to get banned they provide necessary fsat-fighting coverage that this team needs.

To get rid of even more steel typing you could run Goodra over special Aegislash. But i do not view this as necessary.

The Gastrodon and Greninja are definitely two thigns that i would not recommend changing, any team can be good wit the right tampering.

Overall, even with the four things being steel typing, this is a great team. I just think that it is not balanced enough.
 
Spidy said:
I like the idea of conkeldurr, however venusaur not so much, getting rid of fire immunity for another fire weakness doesn't seem like the best idea, this also leaves me extremely open to mega charizard y.
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Just wanted to chime in here and say yeah, do NOT replace your Heatran with Venusaur. As someone who runs Char Y, Heatran gives me a lot of trouble, while Venusaur is just a minor annoyance. Keeping the Flash Fire alive will make your opponent hesitant to just spam Fire Blast (which kills most of your team).
 
Ok i'll give madibuzz another go, but with a different set, before i had the same set as skarm, only with foul play over stealth rock
so i'll try this:
Mandibuzz @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 Def / 248 HP / 8 SDef
Bold Nature
- Defog
- Taunt
- Foul Play
- Roost
m95408 said:
The Greninja is a great U-Turn lead, but is beaten by common Scarf Leads.
I on the fence about a max speed Heatran, but the shock value may provide the necessary unexpectedness for an opponent's bad swap.
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this happens, as well as people trying to beat my heatran with theirs, mine wins every time.

im torn between conkeldurr and medicham, both ideas are good, i'll test both. probably will pick conkeldurr for bulk and pseudo status immunity. but medichams power might be a better option

i kinda like the idea of goodra, but my team already has a lot of special attackers i dont think removing one of my pokemon that can reliably do some physical damage for it is best
 
Like you said Idon't think you need to have hazard clearing moves since the only relavent one this gen is SR, and most on your team resist rock. If you want a physical wall I suggest Gliscor as it gives you a much needed electric immunity, and the ice weakness can be mitigated by all the steels on your team.
 
Updated, gliscor worked better with heatran in a defensive set so added that too

still havent replaced lucario, havent really tested medicham or conkeldurr yet
 
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