Ultimate team of Unknowing Awesome, or Berift's Little Cup Team

[Berift]

So after a good start (Currently #42 on the ladder! Woo!) on Little Cup I began to adapt my first team. Here they are; the beauties!

D'aww... Cute and deadly; the two reasons I love Little Cup!
Below you'll find stats, movesets and descriptions of their roles etc.
Please read and your analytical, planet-sized brains to help me perfect my formula!!! MY FORMULA FOR DESTRUCTION!!! *Evil Laugh*​

Norris, the Machop @ Oran Berry
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 206 ATK 125 DEF 125 SPD
Nature: Adamant
- Dynamic Punch
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Bullet Punch

I usually lead with Norris as his 100% accurate Dynamic Punch, thanks to No Guard, is super-effective against many common leads such as Aipom or Dwebble and even without the super-effectiveness the confusion usually messes the opponent up considerably. Earthquake deals with pesky electric, rock, steel and fire types with considerable effect and Ice Punch takes down flying types and ground types, mainly Hippopotas. Bullet Punch is a good priority move and helpful when facing opponents who would outspeed Machop such as Mienfoo or Buizel. I favour the Oran Berry for Machop as it allows him to be an effective lead, take damage, heal himself and then return later in the game for a sweep.

Polaris, the Staryu@ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 36 HP / 200 SpA / 240 Spe
Nature: Timid
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Recover
- Rapid Spin

My first major change. I've replaced Moby Dick the Chinchou with Polaris the Staryu in favour of the starfish Pokemon's speed and rapid-spinning qualities which cover Solaris the Larvesta's weakness to Stealth Rock. Polaris's Hydro Pump and Thunderbolt cover the same bases as Chinchou minus the STAB TBolt and Recover gives my lil' star a decent recovery option. Rapid Spin will help me dispel Spikes, Toxic Spikes and other entry hazards to protect other members of my team, primarily Solaris.

Tentacula, the Lileep@ Eviolite
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 228 HP 114 DEF 28 SPA 64 SPD 16 SPE
Nature: Calm
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power (Rock)
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock

I've gone through a few grass types now and Tentacula is by far my favourite. She has massive bulk and her typing means she isn't super-effected by fire types as well as being resistan against normal and electric type attacks! Her ability, Storm Drain, gives her immunity against water-type attacks and ups her SPA every time she is hit by one! So with the right timing I can set up on the switch in and then hit with Giga Drain or Hidden Power. These two attacks provide STAB and have good coverage, with Giga Drain healing Tentacula too! Toxic is thrown in their before Tentacula switches out as thanks to her general bulkiness she can take the extra hit! Stealth Rock helps her set up before a potential sweep.

Solaris, the Larvesta@ Eviolite
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 76 HP / 236 Atk / 156 Def / 36 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- U-turn
- Flare Blitz
- Morning Sun
- Wild Charge

As per advice from Ray Jay and my own annoyance at Hustle I've replaced Darumaka with a Larvesta named Solaris. It fills the same roll as Darumaka as a physical sweeper seeking to take care of the weaknesses of the other members of my grass-fire-water core (Staryu-Larvesta-Lileep) and generally cause the enemy some trouble! U-Turn hits ghost and psychic-types which Solaris doesn't want to fight and Flare Blitz provides Solaris' primary beatstick with STAB and phenomonal damage. Wild Charge hits water and flying-types, both of which who would be deadly to Solaris and Morning Sun provides her with the option of recovery.

Balthazar, the Abra@ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 240 SPA 200 SPE
Nature: Timid
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power (Fighting)
- Protect

Balthazar! When I was talking about Machop I mentioned that he was my lead most of the time. Balthazar is my back-up lead with a vast moveset, Magic Bounce, Focus Sash and Protect he is a jack of all trades and can take most of the things that Machop can't. He's also super-fast and is probably my second best Sweeper on the team.

Skullduggery, the Cubone@ Thick Club
Ability: Battle Armour
EVs: 36 HP 196 ATK 36 SPD 236 SPE
Nature: Adamant
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Swords Dance

Skullduggery is amazingly, superly, fantastically easy to down... Which is a shame but with the right switch-in and a single Dance he becomes a monster, well more of a monster. To tell the truth he can normally handle himself without setting up but I like to anyway. A bit of insurance. Skullduggery has a massive ATK stat anyway but with the addition of Thick Club and perhaps some dancing it becomes titanic. Earthquake hits electric and rock types for STAB damage as well as dealing with most things that aren't resistant to it. Thunder Punch deals with flying types or Pokemon with Levitate as well as water-types (if he's quick enough). Fire Punch takes out slower grass and ice-types as well as providing the extra chance of a status condition, the same applies to Thunder Punch.

So that's my team! See any glaring flaws? Comment! See something shiningly beautiful? Comment! See a Unicorn? Stop taking drugs!

Peace out,
B.​

 

[Gengan]

Ah, good times. I remember coming across this team while battling on PS. You totally kicked my ass that time.

Honestly, I can't find a weakness to this team. You were totally on-spot in our battle. The only problem I can see are people who lead with Gastly, but since Ice Punch has normal effect and Bullet Punch has priority, it really comes down to luck when dealing with one. I like the use of Battle Armour on Cubone, although I could see Lightningrod possibly being helpful when you switch out into an electric type. Otherwise, not a bad group!

 

[Berift]

Ah, good times. I remember coming across this team while battling on PS. You totally kicked my ass that time.

Honestly, I can't find a weakness to this team. You were totally on-spot in our battle. The only problem I can see are people who lead with Gastly, but since Ice Punch has normal effect and Bullet Punch has priority, it really comes down to luck when dealing with one. I like the use of Battle Armour on Cubone, although I could see Lightningrod possibly being helpful when you switch out into an electric type. Otherwise, not a bad group!

Thank you so much! It means a lot to hear that! And yeah, the Gastly problem. Ghost-types are my nemesis. I've been thinking about it and I can't really see a way to combat this so if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Lightningrod redirects electric-type attacks towards the holder and makes the holder immune. I don't really see how that could help Cubone as he's immune anyway and unless he's in a double battle situation the attack is going for him anyway.

Thanks for the help, Gengan! :D

 

[Gengan]

You're right, Lightningrod wouldn't be helpful until double battles are implimented...

As for the Ghost-type problems, Abra seems to be the best defense, and since he's your backup lead, the only issues are prediction (will they lead with the ghost type? Will they lead with something else?) and Abra's typing, so Abra's speed probably rules in it's favor there.

 

[Ray Jay]

Abra's ability is Magic Guard, not Magic Bounce.

Fighting-types are the most common thing in the tier right now, with Pokemon as Mienfoo, Croagunk, and Timburr dominating usage. Unfortunately, your team can't exactly take on Fighting-types with the ability to repeteadly switch-in, as Abra is your only Fighting-type resistance, and it can't hope to switch into U-turns from Mienfoo or Shadow Balls from Croagunk. This, combined with the inconsistency of Darumaka (in my experience, a Scarf Pokemon needs to be able to hit a U-turn 100% of the time) makes me think Larvesta would be a better choice in that slot:

Larvesta @ Eviolite
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 76 HP / 236 Atk / 156 Def / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Flare Blitz
- Morning Sun
- Wild Charge / Will-O-Wisp

This opens up the need for a spinner on your team due to Larvesta's massive weakness to Stealth Rock. Strangely enough, Cubone and Machop have a similar set of primary switch-ins (Misdreavus, Gastly, etc), and in my experience, Cubone is incredibly difficult to actually sweep with. If you agree, you could use a spinner more orientated around offensive pressure with a surprise factor: Life Orb Staryu.

Staryu @ Life Orb
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 36 HP / 200 SpA / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt / Hidden Power Fire
- Recover
- Rapid Spin

This will provide some much needed Speed to the time now that your Choice Scarf user is gone as well, providing utility against Murkrow and other Pokemon.

Overall, interesting team and I hope my suggestions make sense!

 

[Berift]

Abra's ability is Magic Guard, not Magic Bounce.

Oops! Typo! Thanks for spotting it! :D

...makes me think Larvesta would be a better choice in that slot

Larvesta @ Eviolite
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 76 HP / 236 Atk / 156 Def / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Flare Blitz
- Morning Sun
- Wild Charge / Will-O-Wisp

Hmm... I tried a Larvesta before and found that it was too frail. I'll give it another go with this set and I second what you said about Scarfers needing accuracy. Hustle is fantastic when it works but soul-crushingly not when it doesn't...

This opens up the need for a spinner on your team...

Staryu @ Life Orb
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 36 HP / 200 SpA / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt / Hidden Power Fire
- Recover
- Rapid Spin

A good spinner set, I like it. Do you recomend swapping Chinchou for Staryu?

Thank you for your comment! You've been very helpful! :D

As for the Ghost-type problems, Abra seems to be the best defense, and since he's your backup lead, the only issues are prediction (will they lead with the ghost type? Will they lead with something else?) and Abra's typing, so Abra's speed probably rules in it's favor there.

Indeed, although I run a risk everytime I send him out. About a quarter of the time he's killed outright but the rest of the time he's perfect and deadly and speedy etc.

 

[Gengan]

You seem to have forgotten to remove Chinchou's sprite.

 

[Sunkern]

Skullduggery, the Cubone@ Thick Club
Ability: Battle Armour
EVs: 36 HP 196 ATK 36 SPD 236 SPE
Nature: Adamant
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Swords Dance

Skullduggery is amazingly, superly, fantastically easy to down... Which is a shame but with the right switch-in and a single Dance he becomes a monster, well more of a monster. To tell the truth he can normally handle himself without setting up but I like to anyway. A bit of insurance. Skullduggery has a massive ATK stat anyway but with the addition of Thick Club and perhaps some dancing it becomes titanic. Earthquake hits electric and rock types for STAB damage as well as dealing with most things that aren't resistant to it. Thunder Punch deals with flying types or Pokemon with Levitate as well as water-types (if he's quick enough). Fire Punch takes out slower grass and ice-types as well as providing the extra chance of a status condition, the same applies to Thunder Punch.

So that's my team! See any glaring flaws? Comment! See something shiningly beautiful? Comment! See a Unicorn? Stop taking drugs!

Peace out,
B.​

This is more of an opinion thing but bonemerang is usable instead of earthquake to take out subs and sturdy without needing a second turn. Also I personally find double edge is a good clean up move with perfect accuracy, high damage, and no recoil with rock head. You don't need t-punch for water because your STAB ground hits just as hard

Staryu @ Life Orb
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 36 HP / 200 SpA / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt / Hidden Power Fire
- Recover
- Rapid Spin

Pretty sure staryu doesn't get flame body :P

 

[Berift]

This is more of an opinion thing but bonemerang is usable instead of earthquake to take out subs and sturdy without needing a second turn. Also I personally find double edge is a good clean up move with perfect accuracy, high damage, and no recoil with rock head. You don't need t-punch for water because your STAB ground hits just as hard

Pretty sure staryu doesn't get flame body :P

Hmmm... Interesting, I might alternate between the two and see which I prefer. I use T-Punch to hit flying types who switch into Cubone thinking they're 'safe' and although Double-Edge is an impressive alternative I think I prefer T-Punch.

And yep! :P I noticed it too! Kind of guessed I'd need Natural Cure.

 

[Trakyan]

rock slide hits flying types too, also bug types. Personally i'd go for the edgequake combo, tried and true, plus, flinch is nice ;)

 

[Mylo Xyloto]

Maybe consider recover on Lileep to last longer