Totally new to Shoddy Battle

[kirbix]

Needless to say, I'm definitely not a pro at any of this yet, so I apologize if this team is terrible. However, I have about a 60% win rate right now, so I'm assuming that I have the basic idea down and that I just need some fine-tuning.

To start, I decided to use Infernape. I've been seeing lots of Metagross mentioned on the RMT lately, so I wanted something to anti-lead it. Ironically, I have yet to see a metagross lead :-P

Next, I took the whole "USE SYNERGY GRAAAGH!" advice to heart and started looking for some pokemon to compliment Infernape, and I came up with Scizor.

Next I moved on to "What synergizes with Scizor?" and added in Tyranitar, who also doubles as a synergy for Infernape. Vaporeon was also suggested, and since I've always like Vaporeon anyway, I threw this one in as well.

I noticed a lot of love for Rotom-H on the forums, and having used him, I can see why he's so darned popular. Rotom-H pairs VERY nicely with both Tyranitar and Scizor, so my interest in Rotom was confirmed through them working together.

I was at a total loss for my sixth pokemon, so originally I had latias. However, at the suggestion of people here, I switched to Machamp. These previous five are very stall-weak (something I had been looking to address), so I'm testing Machamp now to see if he helps at all.

So there's my rationale. Now for the in-depth.

Lead Infernape

Infernape @Focus Sash
Naive 64 Atk / 252 SpA / 192 Spe
~ Fakeout
~ Stealth Rock
~ Fire Blast
~ Close Combat

Basic setup here- I start with fakeout to get a quick bit of damage, and then I set up stealth rock. From there I usually wind up getting taken down to 1 HP, at which point if the other lead is slower, I'll use one last fire blast/close combat on my way out. If the lead's faster, I'll pull him out and attempt to get a wish in somewhere to heal him.

I lean towards suiciding this guy to get my stealth rock up. Again, except against faster leads (and swampert), I'll give a parting gift, which has gotten more OHKOs than I would have originally expected.

CBScizor

Scizor@ Choice Band/ Technician
Adamant 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
~ U-turn
~ Bullet Punch
~ Superpower
~ Pursuit

I always said I'd never use Scizor because it's the very definition of "OU," but the darned thing just works with pretty much everything else I'm using, which really leaves me no options, does it.

Again, standard set. Pursuit to deal with ghosts, superpower to deal with blissey, U-Turn to scout, and bullet punch on the rest. He serves as my primary dragon counter, and while I have Latias in the back of my team, I typically leave Scizor to do the heavy lifting on that sort of stuff in order to save Latias for later.

DDTar

Tyranitar@ Babiri Berry
Adamant 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
~ Dragon Dance
~ Fire Punch
~ Crunch
~ Earthquake

As he's used now, he's a potential sweeper. I'll switch into something and if it's a pokemon I can scare out I'll dragon dance and then smack the other pokemon around. Crunch for absurd STAB, while Earthquake was a given- that's my ONLY EQ user on the team. Babiri/Fire Punch have netted me several Scizor KOs, which as was pointed out is one of the things this set really has going for it.

Wish Vaporeon

Vaporeon@Leftovers
Bold 188 HP / 252 Def / 68 Spe
~ Wish
~ Protect
~ Surf
~ Roar

Bulky Waters have always intrigued me, and Vaporeon has been an interesting pokemon to use. I originally had HP lit on this guy, but he wasn't doing too much for me that way, so I switched that over to Toxic. This worked great, but it was suggested that I try roar instead. Given that I always put up stealth rock immediately, roar probably does more for me than toxic would do anyway. Not to mention I get a phazer, which I definitely need.

Rotom-H (Standard)

Rotom-H@Leftovers
Bold 252 HP / 68 Def / 188 Spe
~ Discharge
~ Shadow Ball
~ Overheat
~ Will-O-Wisp

This guy has been awesome for me. Between will-o-wisp and discharge, I get to status people like crazy with this guy while overheat just destroys things. Shadowball nets me some surprise KOs if I decide to stay in against ghosts and psychics.
The EV distribution allows me to outrun Adamant Lucario, which is a pokemon that I have not seen yet. I can't really comment on how well this works until I actually am up against one, but hopefully it proves very beneficial.

Machamp

Machamp@Leftovers/ No Guard
Adamant 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
~ DynamicPunch
~ Payback
~ Stone Edge
~ Substitute

I hate fighting Machamps, so I am very excited to add this bastard to my team. Bring him in on anything weak to dynamicpunch and sub on the switch. From there I can payback rotoms and dynamicpunch most anything else. I just made the switch, so I'll post more details about what this guy can do when I get a chance to test it.

Thanks for all of the input!

 

[Boondocker]

I would deffinitely give latias a scarf to revenge kill dancing dragons. I know you have a scizor but magnezone is a VERY common partner to dragons (at least by good players) so he might not be enough. Next i would give vaporeon toxic over hp electric since you have rotom to deal with gyra (and latias if you use a scarf) so hp electric is unnecisary. Toxic helps you deal with opposing bulky waters, (hp electric does laughable damage to anything not named gyrados) cradilly, blissey, latias, and im sure others that im forgetting. You dont really need ice attacks because you have dragon attacks witch also hit dragons super effectively. As for your sleep problem you could run a rest talk rotom over your current set (trust me your sleep problem is not due to inexperience). So in short here are the changes:

~choice scarf latias
~rest talk rotom
~toxic on vaporeon
~good luck

 

[connoisseur]

One thing that intrigues me is why your babiri-T-tar lacks fire punch. If not using fire punch how are you supposed to kill scizor, the whole point of the babiri berry, who you're meant to surprise KO? That leaves two options (I suggest option 2):
1. change EQ or SE into fire punch
2. change the item to either a lum-berry, life orb, or leftovers

Thunderbolt on latias over trick would work nicely as it gives you a guaranteed DD Gyarados counter (not that rotom-h isn't one) and is definitely the best option to replace trick, since you do not want to use trick.

Machamp is pretty much impossible to counter reliably though and will pose problems to just about any team, but WoWing it with rotom will definitely help.

 

[XtremeTactics]

One thing that intrigues me is why your babiri-T-tar lacks fire punch. If not using fire punch how are you supposed to kill scizor, the whole point of the babiri berry, who you're meant to surprise KO? That leaves two options (I suggest option 2):
1. change EQ or SE into fire punch
2. change the item to either a lum-berry, life orb, or leftovers

Thunderbolt on latias over trick would work nicely as it gives you a guaranteed DD Gyarados counter (not that rotom-h isn't one) and is definitely the best option to replace trick, since you do not want to use trick.

Machamp is pretty much impossible to counter reliably though and will pose problems to just about any team, but WoWing it with rotom will definitely help.

This is coming from a guy with a 95% win rate.

What the person said above is totally true. However I do recommend adding some pokemon that aren't used as frequently such as those in the UU or NU tier. The main reason is that the OU tier is simply too obvious.
If you are not considering UU/NU into your team, then add some changes in the movesets of your team. Use moves that ARE NOT EXPECTED.

If you wish to stall with Vaporeon, replace toxic with attract. This will enable you to attack without damage more often.
Just make sure Vaporeon is female as the default in Shoddy battle tends to be male.

 

[kirbix]

All right, made those changes as well. I decided on firepunch for now- it's already paying huge dividends. I haven't missed stone edge yet, but if I do, I'll make the change. I'm going to keep toxic. I usually can get toxic on 2 or 3 people in a match, which has proven very helpful for me. Again, I may try attract later on, but I'll wait until I notice a real dropoff in my ability to use toxic.

As for Machamp, I can handle the ones who don't rest. Once it's using rest, I more or less will get stalled out. Payback destroys Rotom and rest negates the burn. Then it's just a matter of the machamp managing to sleeptalk a dynamicpunch, at which point I have to either try to hit through confusion, or switch to another pokemon, giving machamp more time to wake up and rest again.

Good to know that it's just a hard pokemon to counter, though. I may have to build a team around Machamp next. Thanks for the input.

 

[The SPrinkLer]

oh thank you for at least being semi-competent as a new player. i actually like this team, utilizing wish to aid your pokemon while trying to sweep with tyranitar. now it seems the main "goal" of this team is to sweep with tyranitar, so you'll want to accomplish that as effectively as possible. i don't see any of your pokemon actually luring in scizor, one of the main hinderances to tyranitar, so you aren't sweeping as effectively as you could be. i also don't like when people use babiri on tyranitar as their only means to actually beat scizor, because trying to set up on latias could put you in bullet punch range if you get hit by a grass knot by latias, so it isnt always very effective. i believe a way to lure in scizor for your team would be to run a mysticgar>rotom. this will effectively allow you to scout which move it uses with protect, and react accordingly by using hp fire, or by switching. now obviously you will have a lot more problems with just taking on scizor with the rest of your pokemon with rotom gone. another option for a reliable and bulky lead to replace infernape would be heatran, as its like the perfect scizor counter and also is less prone to being set up on with using the move explosion. it will be great against stall too by booming on blissey. now for another change, trick on latias over dragon pulse is a way to cripple blissey and just stall in general. scarf latias isnt meant to be a cleaner, just a revenge killer, so dragon pulse isnt a great option for it. dragon pulse also isnt boosted at all, so its rather lackluster in comparison to draco meteor. now since you are removing scizor quite effectively, a great option to use on tyranitar is leftovers, to allow you to set up on things like latias a lot better. also stone edge>fire punch so you can hit gyarados and salamence and not get set up on. hope i helped, good luck!

 

[Darkon]

I prefer infernape a sweeper, he as a lead don't is a good.

Try lead Swampert > Vaporeon, to help you too with Electric attacks and you can use a Infernape sweeper set like:

- Close Combat (stab)/ Earthquake (tentacruel)
- Thunderpunch (gyarados) / Grass knot (swampert)
- Flamethrower (stab)/ Fire Blast (stab)
- Hidden Power Ice (salamence)/ Mach Punch (stab to kill scarfs, lucario extremespeed)

Try it.

 

[Nosferalto]

Hi. For a first team, this team is actually solid. You've got pretty much every threat covered except for some. There are only a few problems, mainly your team's offensive capabilities. As of now, some members of your team check the same threat meaning that you can change some move-sets to improve your team offensively.

One of your biggest weaknesses are Stall teams for sure, as every Pokemon of yours is walled by a certain Pokemon, every time you switch-in one of your Pokemons, your opponent will execute switches and you won't be able to break through. Eventually, your team will be worn down by entry hazards and residual damage and you will most likely lose against an opposing stall team.

As of now, the first and the second most common used Pokemon in the OU metagame are currently Scizor and Tyranitar, both of which always carry almost all of the time the move Pursuit. With that being said, if your opponent has Tyranitar or Scizor in his team, the first time you switch-in your Choice Scarf Latias, it will get Pursuited for sure. I wouldn't recommend Scarf on Latias for that very reason, because of the abundance of Pursuiters. Choice Scarf on Latias isn't needed at all, since it is only useful for revenge killing threats such as DD Salamence and Gyarados, the latter being checked by CB Scizor with Bullet Punch and the former being countered by Vaporeon + Rotom-H.

Latias, on this team doesn't bring anything to the table imo. All of the threats it checks are already covered. Infernape is countered by Vaporeon and specially oriented sweepers are covered by a combination of Tyranitar and CB Scizor. Gyara and Mence are also checked. Instead of Latias, I think it is possible to replace it with a three attack Substitute Machamp. Here's the set:

Machamp @ Leftovers | No Guard
Adamant | 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Substitute | Dynamic Punch | Stone Edge | Payback

This team lacked a rock resist, and is therefore a bit susceptible to opposing Tyranitar. This Machamp provides a rock resist, and a solid Tyranitar check. Additionally, Machamp single-handedly destroys Stall as it is designed for. Dynamic Punch manages to ruin anything it hits except Gyarados and Rotom that are commonly run on Stall teams, which are OHKOed by Stone Edge and Payback respectively. Just switch it in on Blissey and sub on the switch. It fits your team perfectly since it may be worn down by the sub damage but you have Wish support to alleviate that problem. Rotom-A which is also an issue as it seems, is kept at bay to an extent if you are behind a sub.

Now, looking at your team, I had noticed it was a bit SD Lucario weak. It can easily set-up on Scizor locked onto Pursuit, and KO every member of your team relatively easy with the appropriate move. As a problem solver, I would simply recommend changing your Rotom's EV Spread to: 252 HP / 68 Def / 188 Spe, which is just enough to outspeed Adamant Lucario. Usually, Lucario thinks it outspeeds you when it sees you're not Scarf, so you burn him with Will-o-Wisp before it gets the chance to hit you with Crunch.

Finally, the final suggestion I'd like to make is Roar over Toxic on Vaporeon since your team suffers from a CroCune weakness and you won't be able to beat him without Roar. With Roar, you'll still be able to counter Gyarados because of SR on the field, and it will be useful to scout the foe's team so the you can respond accordingly.

Other than that, this is a decent team. Good Luck.

 

[kirbix]

All right, testing that out now. I agree about the Latias redundancy- Typically a team that I cover can be defeated without ever needing to bring Latias out, which meant it wasn't really doing much for me.

Throw in Machamp, which I hate going up against, and I'm really looking forward to what this team can do.

 

[kirbix]

Just met my first SDLuke! I was looking forward to letting Rotom do some lifting against him.

He was Jolly, and proceeded to mow me down. Timid instead of Bold?

 

[Zach]

I'm far too lazy to give you a full rate but as someone who has used the same Rotom-h EV spread as you let me recommend 248 HP / 72 Def / 188 Spe instead. It is a minor nitpick but when Rotom has 252 EVs in HP it yields a Sandstorm number, meaning it takes more damage from Sandstorm than it should due to rounding.