Trying to get a feel for it

[Gammal]

Hello guys, welcome to this modest RMT.
I just have one thing to say before we get started;
Dont underestimate venusaur.
I think you could even call this team a semi stall, with focus on forcing alot of switches.

The team at a glance:

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Swampert (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP/216 Def/52 SAtk
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Roar
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock

---
This is a standard mixpert, with SR instead of Hydro pump.
With leftovers and EV´s in both defence and HP makes this guy a beast, able to sponge quite a few attacks while being able to hit back pretty hard himself.

Earthquake is probably not a suprising option seeing as its STAB and has good coverage, and I dont see any reason explaining it any further.
Ice beam is there to take care of Dragons and flying types, and same goes here, the move in itself is pretty much self explanatory
Now on to the key move of this set; Roar.

Roar works as my only means of phazing my opponent aswell as giving me info abbout the opponents team, and lets not forget, Stealth Rock shuffle damage FTW :).

If all goes according to plan Swampert will roar away a threat and make something it can kill come in, ofcourse that only forces a switch, but that SR damage racks up quickly ;).
--

Porygon2 @ Leftovers
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP/216 Def/40 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Recover
- Discharge
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
---
So here is my Gardevoir replacement. Using its near exclusive ability, Trace, Porygon2 copies Intimidate and
cuts Gyarados' and Salamence's Attack on the switch in, allowing it to easily take the beatings.
Discharge does a minimum of 75% to Gyarados, OHKOing after Stealth Rock.
But the fun doesnt end there. It can safely switch into Heatran, Vaporeon, and Jolteon, with ease, thanks to Trace.
It is immune to Fire when it switches into Heatran and forces a switch.
Also boasting Recover for self healing, and ofcourse Toxic wich compliments this set well, helping porygon2 to take
care of other healing walls.
Ice Beam is there for coverage, making short work of those nasty dragons.
---

Metagross @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 28 HP/252 Atk/228 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Thunderpunch
- Explosion
---
*Awaiting update due to switch*

Venusaur (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP/4 Spd/252 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Sleep Powder
- Leech Seed
- Grass Knot
- Sludge Bomb
---
Even if I said it in the beginning of my post, im gonna make myself clear.
Dont underestimate this guy, hes a valuable asset to my team,
and brings alot to the table seeing as this guy is the only means of dealing with a strong grass type hence, he carries Sludge Bomb.
You are welcome to help me improve my team, but just saying "switch Venusaur for Roserade" aint the kind of help im looking for.

So this is how it works; Put something to sleep, Leach Seed on the switch, assuming SR is up (wich is usally is concidering my lead)
the pokemon that descides to switch in has alredy taken some damage, and in some cases healed venusar some aswell.

Some might also argue that Celebi does this job alot better, and there for think Venusaur should be discarded entierly.
But the thing that puts venusaur above Celebie in my eyes are the ever increasing presence of bug moves such as U-turn and X-scissors.
Celebie also fears Pursuit and Shadow Sneak, wich Venusaur shrugs of.

"Venusaur can come in on some of the major physical offensive threats of the metagame like Gyarados, Electivire,
and Medicham along with special stars like Raikou, Zapdos, Jolteon, and Suicune and foil any chance at a sweep.
Venusaur’s ability to sponge hits from both ends of the offensive spectrum while still maintaining his own offensive capacity with dual STAB sets him apart." - Smogon.com

Grass Knot is for coverage and ofcourse STAB, wich does suprsingly a good amount of damage to anything not resisting it.
And last but not least, Sludge Bomb.
Not only is this move my 2nd STAB move, but it also takes care of pretty much anything els that resists my grass attacks,
with Venusaurs great defenses I can even take on a celebi and come out on top most of the times.
---

Flygon (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 82 HP/252 Atk/176 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
---
Flygon works as my revenge killer and Scout, carrying a Scarf it outspeeds almost everything.
Usally I use U-turn to scout out switches, and then proceed to the correct counter.

Earthquake is here aswell, being STAB and all... :), when used alongside Outrage its resisted only by Levitate Bronzong, Skarmory, and Shedinja
Outrage works great with Choice Scarf, seeing as im alredy locked into that attack for a couple of rounds,
this attack is of course STAB and take care of things resisting the other attacks, aswell as revengekilling other dragons.
---

Dusknoir (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/232 Atk/20 Def/4 Spd
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Sucker Punch
- Focus Punch
- Ice Punch

---
Thanks to Dusknoirs many imunities and ofcourse the ability to take a few hits allows him to setup Substitute,
and then deal large damage to the opposition from Dusknoir's often underestimated Attack stat and its impressive physical move pool.
Focus Punch hit Tyranitar (who can OHKO Dusknoir with CB Crunch) and Heracross (who appreciates a potential burn from Will-O-Wisp),
common switches into Dusknoir for huge damage, actually OHKOing Tyranitar and putting a big dent on Heracross.

With that said, I do miss my old setup carrying WOW and Pain Split, but I dont really see how I can fit that into my team.
---

So im getting a bit... well bored with this team...
First off, im thinking of reverting back to my old azelf lead.
Also thinking about replacing swampert for Suicune.
Dusknoir despite how it looks works GREAT, no change needed.


As a final note... I know im mix ape weak..

Help :)

 

[tab]

Hey.

The immediate problem that I can see here is that your only steel is your lead. When you're leading with Metagross, you can't rely on it to be healthy enough later in the game to take the dragon-type attacks that you need a steel to take. A pretty simple change is to move your Swampert into the lead position, and replace Hydro Pump with Stealth Rock. Losing Hydro Pump doesn't really hurt Swampert too much, as it's already more than effective enough at doing its job with Earthquake/Ice Beam/Roar, and leading with Swampert allows you to carry a safer switch into Draco Meteors.
With Swampert leading, you're free to change up, or even replace Metagross to cover your problems and act as a more effective answer to them. A good choice of replacement would be the standard Choice Band Scizor, which gives you a fairly safe Latias counter, and makes it possible for you to play around MixMence without letting it cripple the rest of your team. If you'd like to keep Metagross, a Choice Band or Scarf set would work just as well there too, although Scizor is generally the more effective choice these days due to it getting a more powerful Bullet Punch and U-turn.

The next really big problem for you is Lucario - if it gets a chance to Swords Dance on you, which it can get pretty easily against Porygon2, a Lucario can easily sweep through your team, OHKOing every member of it with a moveset of Crunch, Close Combat and Extremespeed. The simplest fix would probably be to simply go with a Scarf Metagross as your steel-type, although relying on revenge killing can be fairly risky, especially as Lucario will sometimes use Close Combat rather than Swords Dance against its most common switch in here.

If you're willing to change things up a bit more, I'd try out using a Scarf Rotom instead of Dusknoir as your ghost-type, as Dusknoir is generally a fairly ineffective pokemon in this metagame. While Scarf Rotom still suffers from not being a completely reliable Lucario check like Metagross, it's a bit safer. Scarf Rotom also has the advantage of giving you a Trick user, which helps out a bit against stall teams, although you're still going to struggle pretty badly against them.

With Rotom using a Scarf, you're free to use something other than a Scarf Flygon, as you've got your weaknesses and revenge killing needs covered pretty well without it. As I mentioned, you're currently really weak to stall teams, and could do with a way of beating them. There's not really any one pokemon that I can think of that's going to solve that particularly well for you, as it's going to need a pretty big revamp of the team to fix, so I'll just leave it at suggesting you look into some other options over Scarf Flygon.

Good luck!

 

[Gammal]

Thank you for that! Really helpfull!
I have made Swampert my lead, and switched meta to a Choice scarf version.
Now I just need to replace my Flygon with something.

What do you reckon i need? team support? Offence? defence?
Thanks!

 

[franky]

Problems:

Mix Ape


How to fix:

You already mentioned this threat because there are generally no good switch-ins to this guy, that would take too much damage. Since your looking to replace Flygon, I'd generally just go for Latias:

Latias
@ Life Orb
Timid Nature (SpA+ / Atk-)
252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

- Draco Meteor
- Thunderbolt
- Surf
- Recover

The standard 3 attacks + recovery Latias can fit in nicely. Having a good check to the common Fire-type users is great. What makes Latias a better addition than Flygon is Recovery, a fast one too. Draco Meteor / Thunderbolt / Surf boasts pretty good coverage. Be careful not to use Draco Meteor, it will often lead to pursuit from scizor or Tyranitar. Other than that the moveset is self explanitory. Also the added resistance helps vs. guys like Jolteon.

I agree with Tab though, Scarf Rotom with Trick helps versus Stall teams, so you should defenitley give that a try.

As for other options go, I'd maximize Swampert's def and hp to get the best out phazing and walling Tyranitar significantly better. Other than that gl with this team.