Tyranizor? Scitar? Who Cares, Just Rate It!

[Zachary]

Introduction:
This is my very first team up for rating! I tried to work around the concept of having two main sweepers, Scizor and Tyranitar. From there, I worked with two main defensive walls/tanks, Blissey and Bronzong, and two supporting Pokémon, Starmie and Ninjask. Then I replaced Tyranitar with Swampert, making my team name invalid, and Ninjask with Rotom-H.

Any and all advice is welcomed an appreciated, because I am new to this. I may have questions with regards to your suggestions, but please don’t think I’m trying to undermine them; I just want to understand them to make my team--and my understanding--better. I am willing to switch out one or two members of this team for new ones.

At-a-Glance:

Swampert sets up Stealth Rock, Starmie Rapid Spins the opponent's set up, Rotom-H spinblocks, Bronzong acts as a tank and gets off a few good attacks, Scizor and Swampert sweep, Blissey walls and extends the team's useability with Aromatherapy.

The Team:

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Nature: Relaxed
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Earthquake
Swampert is both a lead and a sweeper. 4 Speed EVs give it a bit more edge over other Swampert leads, Protect grants me a free turn of Leftovers recovery, Ice Beam takes down Dragons and Flying-types, and Earthquake handles Fire- and Steel-types that might threaten my team. Strategy-wise, Swampert casts Stealth Rock and then immediately begins taking on opponents.

​

Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
- Rapid Spin
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Recover
Basically, this is a by-the-books Rapid Spinner. Since neither Bronzong or Swampert would be fast enough to stop Stealth Rocks / Spikes / Toxic Spikes by other leads (I'm talking to you, Aerodactyl), it’s pretty vital for my team. Starmie would primarily switch in only for Rapid Spin and then switch out, although it may be used to counter Gyarados or Fire-types that would threaten Scizor and Bronzong.

Rotom-H @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Nature: Timid
- Overheat (Will-O-Wisp when not in form)
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Trick
Rotom acts as a spinblocker for the team, as well as offering Fire and Electric support. Trick helps handle Blissey, Bronzong, and other stallers by forcing my Choice Scarf onto them.

​

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Heatproof
EVs: 252 HP / 98 Atk / 80 Def / 80 SpD
Nature: Sassy
- Hidden Power Ice (70)
- Gyro Ball
- Payback
- Explosion
This is a modified Tank Bronzong, in that I took 12 EVs from Special Defense and moved them to Attack. This team absorbs special attacks pretty well, and needed a more offensive edge. Payback works through and Gyro Ball is powered by Bronzong's 2 Speed IVs and hindering nature. Hidden Power takes down Dragon-types, Heatproof saves Bronzong from their fire attacks, and Explosion offers one last stand when HP gets low.

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Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- U-Turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit
Choice Band Scizor is a strong and fast offensive sweeper, with Bullet Punch being the primary attack, Superpower used to counter Tyranitar and take out Umbreon, Pursuit to lock-in Psychic-types and Gengar, and U-Turn as an insurance if I switch in poorly.

​

(?) Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Nature: Bold
- Aromatherapy
- Softboiled
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
Cleric Blissey would offer insurance from abnormal statuses on Swampert and Scizor, helping them restart a sweep gone bad. Additionally, it would work as a Special wall for the team. Seismic Toss hits for constant 100 damage, which is nothing to snort at, and Softboiled/Toxic helps when the team's in a pinch and has to stall. Considering switching to Skarmory, as per BlazinKickinChicken's suggestion. Let me know what you think.

How I Built this Team:
Scizor was the first Pokémon on this team, as it’s always been a favorite of mine. I then tried out Starmie, as both Scizor’s and Starmie’s strategy pages suggested pairing them. From there, I added Aerodactyl as a suicide lead, but later replaced it with Ninjask. To pair with Ninjask, I chose Tyranitar (at the time to use as a counter to a friend of mine’s Lugia and Zapdos). I added Blissey as a Special wall, but also to up my team’s longevity with Wish. This left one spot open, and I deliberated over it for quite a while, finally choosing Bronzong as it acted as both a tank and picked up Stealth Rock, which I lost when I dropped Aerodactyl.

Team Edit History:
Swapped out Choice Band for Life Orb on Tyranitar, thanks to Pandaly's suggestion.
Swapped out Tyranitar for Swampert, thanks to HouseFantastic and BlazinKickinChicken.
Swapped out Ninjask for Rotom-H due to everyone's suggestion that Ninjask wasn't working, but particularly BlazinKickinChicken's for the replacement.
Made Swampert lead and played around with Bronzong's moves/EVs, thanks to Snorlaxe.

Thank you in advance for any advice!

 

[Pandaly]

Don't use Ninjask if the only pokes it can pass to are Choiced. Either replace the Choice Bands with Life Orbs, or replace Ninjask.

 

[Zachary]

Hmm, alright. I may replace it entirely with Lead Aerodactyl, then. For now, though, I am going to try to get a Life Orb. I didn't have one on hand, so I've been trying to work with the Choiced Tyranitar instead. :P

Thanks!

 

[HouseFantastic]

If you're going to use Bronzong's gyro ball, you had best switch the speed IV of bronzong to 0. That will maximize its damage potential.

Choice band on both scizor and tyranitar is probably not the best thing this team needs, seeing as you have defensively oriented pokemon like blissey and bronzong, the team seems to be more of a balanced team than an offensive one. Because of this, you're going to need to adapt to certain situations, as it leans toward a 'jack of all trades, master of none' type. Having a choice band is great, but I would pick one or the other (I would suggest keeping scizor).

Now, on to specifics. Three of your pokemon on this team are weak to fire, one of them doubly so. One of your fire-counters is weak to ground. This means that Heatran can do some serious damage to this team. I would recommend, therefore, instead of Tyranitar, a Mixed Swampert

@Leftovers
Relaxed nature
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
~Earthquake
~Ice Beam
~Stealth Rock
~Protect

Swampert works excellently with Scizor and Bronzong in that they can take the grass attacks aimed at Swampert with impunity, while Swampert can take fire attacks aimed at them with the same stride. The moveset given will allow you to lay down rocks if your Bronzong gets taunted and KO'd before you get the chance to do so, take advantage of Protect for a free turn of leftovers recovery, and knock out powerful foes like Heatran and Magnezone with his mandatory STAB.

While you might want to go with surf, Ice beam is more important because you don't really have any ice attacks on the team, which are necessary for dealing with pesky dragon types, who often also carry fire moves that would wreck your scizor and bronzong.

Hope this helps! Remember to have fun, even when you're frustrated!

 

[Zachary]

Speed IV is something like 2 or 3 on my Bronzong. It's not perfect, but it's still very strong. If I get around to it, I'll work on raising another one with 0 IV.

Thanks for the suggestion about Swampert. I'll raise one and see how it goes. Fire weakness has been my most glaring flaw, I think, and since Scizor is one of my favorite Pokemon I'm no stranger to that particular weakness.

I did overlook Ice attacks. Thanks for pointing that out; they honestly just slipped past me. I think one the guides of these Pokemon suggested Hidden Power Ice, but that didn't work out with my IVs and I forgot about it later.

 

[BKC]

Couple things; why Baton Pass to Tyranitar when it can set up perfectly fine by itself? Imo, Ninjask is wasting a slot on your team. Change Tyranitar to this set:
Adamant Nature
Item: Babiri Berry [to stop Scizor and ScarfRachi from revenging you]
EVs: 252 Attack/252 Speed/4 HP
-Dragon Dance
-Stone Edge
-Crunch
-Fire Punch

Another thing is that, as I already mentioned, Ninjask is wasting a slot on your team, as well as Blissey, since doesnt really provide anything for you. I'd recommend changing this duo to first, a Special Defensive Skarmory to setup Spikes and make sweeping easier for you.
Impish Nature
Item: Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP/252 SDef/4 Def
-Spikes
-Whirlwind
-Roost
-Brave Bird

And then, since you need a spinblocker, a Scarf Rotom-H. This gives you a secondary way to deal with Gyarados if Starmie goes down as well.
Timid Nature
Item: Choice Scarf
EVs: 252 SAtk/252 Speed/4 HP
-Thunderbolt
-Trick
-Shadow Ball
-Overheat

Now that you have the Spikes, I believe Swampert is a better option than Bronzong as a Stealth Rock lead. It can help shuffle to rack up entry hazard damage, and provide good synergy with Skarmory.
Relaxed Nature
Item: Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 Speed
-Stealth Rock
-Roar
-Ice Beam
-Earthquake

The 4 Speed EVs seem redundant, but they allow you to get the first Roar off versus other Pert leads.

Good luck.

 

[Jase D Ace]

Hmmm... There's something that doesn't sit right with using Jask outside of a lead position... I guess if it works, it works, but in my experience, Ninjask is really frail and gets hit really, really hard by SR (read: losing 50% every time it switches in). That said, switch Zong and Jask, as you've been debating? I guess if you want to keep Jask, I think this might be the way to go. I'm just giving an alternative if you want to keep your Jask.

Good luck.

 

[Zachary]

BlazinKickinChicken, it's interesting that you removed Pursuit from Tyranitar's moveset. I'd been considering that myself before posting, as Crunch is a perfectly capable Dark move and that slot could be better used to give my team more variety. Fire Punch is a good replacement for this team, which doesn't have any fire moves otherwise.

I'm working right now on a Swampert, and I'll go with 4 Speed EVs over 4 Attack EVs, to give it a bit of an edge; 4 EVs really isn't much in attack, but it can definitely make a difference in who attacks first. That said, my original plan was to replace Tyranitar and keep Bronzong, which I'm going to stick to for now. I'll work out another Tyranitar as you suggested after raising Swampert and Rotom-H, then see how it fits in.

Rotom would be a particularly good choice considering that Starmie is one of the most popular Rapid Spinners--heck, even my noobish self has got one. Electric + Ghost is pretty much perfect to handle Water + Psychic, after all. I'll raise a Rotom-H and update my original post after testing it out a little. Unfortunately, Rotom reverts to original form on Wifi without the use of an AR.

Would it be better to replace Blissey with Skarmory or to switch Blissey's moveset to sort of a Cleric/WishBliss?
Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Nature: Bold
- Softboiled (Aromatherapy/Wish is illegal)
- Aromatherapy
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
This gives Blissey a little more purpose, in case Scizor were paralyzed, burned, or put to sleep--all things that devastated my team before. I can see this working pretty well with Scizor, as it doesn't require any setup or stat boosts to work with Bullet Punch.

Jase D Ace, I've mostly battled against irl friends, and Stealth Rock is pretty rare among them. I've had success Rapid Spinning it away and switching in Ninjask, but in battles against more...competent opponents I can see that being a problem, what with the popularity of SpinBlockers. I think I'll switch out Ninjask for Rotom-H as suggested above regardless.

 

[Zachary]

Team updated! Both some major changes--added Swampert and Rotom-H, removed Ninjask and Tyranitar--and some minor changes--changed Bronzong's ability, switched to Cleric Blissey.

 

[Snorlaxe]

This team looks pretty good as a whole, but I think there are some things that you can do to make it better. While your team can take on the majority of offensive threats very well, your team lacks almost any offensive prescence. The only member of your team who is capable of dealing solid damage to the opposition is Scizor. Aside from that, Rotom and Starmies attacks will only be doing mediocre damage, and it will be fairly easy for the opponent to wall them. Swampert and Bronzong arent powerful either, and Blissey basically has no offensive prescence. While this would be fine if this were a more stall-based team, your team isn't; it is a pretty odd mix of Pokemon tbh. Another problem is Blissey herself. I dont really see why your team needs her, as you already pack solid switch-ins to most common special attackers. She essentially brings nothing to your team at all, and just adds to the fact that your team doesnt have an offensive prescence. She's not stalling anyone, either, as physical Steel-types like Lucario and Scizor will switch in all day and OHKO her (or worse, set up on her).

The first step towards improving your team is to get rid of Blissey. As I stated earlier, she contributes almost nothing to your team, and another, more offensive, Pokemon will fit in that slot better. I recommend that you use Breloom over Blissey. Not only does Breloom synergize really well with the other Pokemon on your team, but he also can put the opposing Pokemon to sleep with Spore, shutting down threats on the other team. Try a set of Spore | Substitute | Focus Punch | Seed Bomb, an EV spread of 12 HP | 252 Atk | 244 Spe, and an Adamant nature with the ability Poison Heal and the item Toxic Orb. Not only will Breloom restore his own health each turn, but he will wear down the opposition with his powerful attacks, and I think he'll be a good fit on your team. After replacing Blissey, another change I would make to give your team a more offensive push is changing your Starmie set to a Life Orb Rapid Spin Starmie. There's really no need for you to run such a defensive Starmie set on your team, as Rotom-H is already checking Gyarados for you, so Starmie is free to run a more offensive moveset. Try a set of Hydro Pump | Rapid Spin | Thunderbolt | Ice Beam, an EV spread of 4 HP | 252 SpA | 252 Spe, and a Timid nature with the item Life Orb and the ability Natural Cure. Starmie is still quite a capable Rapid Spinner with this set, but has the additional ability to 2HKO defensive Rotom-A, the most common Spinblocker, with her STAB Hydro Pump. I think the change will help your team a lot, and encourage you to try it. If I were you, I would also tweak up Rotom-H's EV spread a little bit. Try a spread of 228 HP | 24 SpA | 252 Spe. This allows you to switch Rotom in much more easily against resisted and neutral attacks, while still retaining the ability to OHKO Gyarados and Lucario with Thunderbolt and Overheat respectively. Considering you use Rotom to check a lot of threats, the extra bulk is pretty important, and you wont really miss out on any power. Finally, I think you should make Swampert your lead; he can set up Rocks more consistently, and is generally a better lead. From there, try changing Stealth Rock to Hidden Power Ice on Bronzong; having two Stealth Rock users is pretty unneccessary imo, and Hidden Power Ice allows you to more easily beat Salamence and Flygon.

While my changes may seem drastic, I tried to change as little as possible from your current team concept while still making your team more offensive. If you have any questions regarding my suggestions, dont hesistate to ask; good luck! ^_^

 

[Zachary]

I've been considering switching out Blissey for a while, firstly with Skarmory as someone suggested above, but I felt that Skarmory was a bit redundant for my team--what with two steel types already, a big fire weakness, and two stealth rockers. Breloom seems like a much better suggestion; I'll raise one after I finish tweaking my Bronzong.

A more offensive Starmie and Rotom-H would both benefit my team. I lost a lot of offensive power when I dropped Tyranitar. I'll work on them after Breloom.

Like I said, I've been tweaking Bronzong a bit and switching to Hidden Power Ice won't be too difficult; if I'm not mistaken, I have the proper IVs already.

I'll update this post and the thread when I finish. Thanks for the help, Snorlaxe!