Venoshock Sweeps

[Veral42]

I've been trying to make a Venoshock team for some time now, and I finally got one ready that I wanted to test. So far, after about an hour of battle testing, this team seems to be holding its own, and I've won far more than I've lost. However, i know I have some common type weaknesses, so if anyone can suggest any switches or has any ideas let me know. Here's the team at a glance:

BIG CHANGES! I've reorganized this entire post to be more efficient, and to help people track the team's progression as I work on it.

Team Building Process

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I knew that I wanted to build a Venoshock team right from the get go, and Scolipede seemed to be the obvious choice, with his speed and ability to set both kinds of spikes.

Togekiss was the next addition to my team. I knew that poison wasn't super effective against many types, and that's when Togekiss arrived with decent bulk, a recovery move, Nasty Plot, and Baton Pass. It fit so perfectly that I knew it had to take this spot.

Accelgore came roaring in and then just kept going and going... Accelgore has just simply OVERWHELMING amounts of speed, good SpAtk, and can actually learn Venoshock.

I use Ferrothorn. I use Ferrothorn a lot. I use Ferrothorn a lot, especially when I'm not sure what else I want to use at the moment. He works, I guess... he's Ferrothorn. He adds more to the Fire weakness growing here though.

Crobat was my next addition, and though I was a bit reluctant I ended up going with Crobat in the end. He continued my Venoshock routine with the constant poison up and covered a Steel (Ferrothorn especially) weakness with Heat Wave.

Kyurem... I loved Kyurem when I first added him to the team, even though I knew I might find something that works better later on. He covered some things that I was lacking coverage for, and was another target for NP passes.

And They Began To Test...

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I love Crobat, but it simply has not been working at all. Thus, I have switched over to Gengar for a new angle on things. Thanks to those who suggested I look into Gengar.

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Kyurem covered for Dragon types... over and over and over again. Tentacruel is a bit of a different role than I guess I originally envisioned filling this slot with, but it has proved valuable in being able to allow me to make my team slightly more versatile.

As Of Now!

Ok, now for a closer look at each of my team members.

Stage One

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Scolipede @ Focus Sash
Poison Point
4Hp 252Atk 252Spd
Jolly
- Toxic Spikes
- Spikes
- Megahorn
- Earthquake

Scolipede is here as a setter lead, and at the end of 2 turns I'm usually either pulling Scolipede out or getting in an attack and letting him die after he sets. Toxic Spikes > Spikes, depending on the team you're up against, and especially with how the rest of this team plays. Poison Point helps apply poison to any physical sweepers or leads.

Crobat @ Choice Scarf
Inner Focus
4Hp 252SpAtk 252Spd
Modest
- Venoshock
- Heat Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb

Crobat is a fast, coverage sweeper that I can use with my Togekiss to try and sweep. Easy to switch in against ground types, or anyone using ground if I just want Crobat to revenge kill. Heat Wave is a big necessity since I don't have much else to handle steel types. Also, this is the first place you see Venoshock, one of the primary sweep moves on my team and why there's so much poison.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Iron Barbs
252Hp 60Def 196SpDef
Sassy
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Thunder Wave
- Protect

Honestly, while not set to be a sweeper and instead set as a staller, this Ferrothorn has gotten just as many kills as any of my sweepers. Pretty basic stall list, set TW (when can't psn with Toxic Spikes) and Seeds, then Protect for health and Whip when you can afford an attack. Iron Barbs can help with dmg as well, but I usually switch Ferrothorn out as soon as an effective counter is put out.

Togekiss @ Leftovers
Serene Grace
4Hp 252Def 252SpDef
Bold
- Baton Pass
- Nasty Plot
- Roost
- Air Slash
A bit on the slow side, but that's never proved to be a serious issue with how bulky this Togekiss is built to be. Togekiss acts as a buff passer, passing Nasty Plots over to Accelgor; Crobat; and Kyurem, however after 1-2 pumps it can hold its own in a fight as well. Roost works especially well to keep Togekiss up so it can keep passing.

Accelgor @ Focus Sash
Sticky Hold
4Hp 252SpAtk 252Spd
Timid
- Venoshock
- Focus Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Giga Drain
Accelgor is fast, with good SpAtk to go with it. After getting a NP or 2 from Togekiss, Accelgor can sweep entire teams. Focus Sash is there to improve its ability to survive. Venoshock is its main sweep move, with Giga Drain to help keep it alive and Bug Buzz / Focus Blast for coverage moves.

Kyurem @ Choice Scarf
Pressure
4Hp 252SpAtk 252Spd
Timid
- Draco Meteor
- Focus Blast
- Flash Cannon
- Ice Beam
Kyurem is the final pure sweeper on my team, and it's also my true revenge killer. Kyurem is FAST with a CS equipped, and it has great SpAtk to, so even though it doesn't fit the Venoshock sweep theme, it gives me some of the most important coverage on my team with Draco Meteor and Ice Beam. If Kyurem gets a NP or two from Togekiss the battle is usually decided.

The First Evolution

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Scolipede (F) @ Focus Sash
Poison Point
4Hp 252Atk 252Spd
Jolly
- Attract
- Spikes
- Megahorn
- Earthquake

Ok, SO. At first I was looking at a lot of changes all over my team and especially here. Eventually I took a step back, looked at it, and was all WTF!?! Bringing it back to scale, I switched the gender to female and added Attract to be annoying and let it set spikes easier.

Crobat (REPLACED)

Gengar @ Black Sludge
Timid / Levitate
4Hp 252SpAtk 252Spd
- Venoshock
- Giga Drain
- Shadow Ball
- Toxic
This set is all about Venoshock, staying alive, and killing things. Toxic is there to nail anything that avoids my Toxic Spikes, while Venoshock grows stronger as the opponent is poisoned. Giga Drain + Black Sludge help Gengar to stay in the fight, and Shadow Ball hits the ever hated CM Reuniclus.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Iron Barbs
252Hp 60Def 196SpDef
Sassy
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Thunder Wave
- Protect

Togekiss @ Leftovers
Serene Grace
4Hp 252Def 252SpDef
Bold
- Baton Pass
- Nasty Plot
- Roost
- Air Slash

Accelgor @ Focus Sash
Sticky Hold
4Hp 252SpAtk 252Spd
Timid
- Venoshock
- Focus Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Giga Drain

Kyurem (REPLACED)

Tentacruel @ Leftovers
Calm / Liquid Ooze
252Hp 128Def 128SpDef
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam
- Venoshock

Kyurem covered Ice / Dragon / Ground / Rock / etc. with a lot of moves that covered all of them. Ice Beam does the same thing but only takes ONE space rather than all 4. A nice bulky water, thanks to hhjj for suggesting the set. I altered more balanced EVs a bit. I'll update as things come to me or are suggested.

A Minor Tweek

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Scolipede (F) @ Focus Sash
Poison Point
4Hp 252Atk 252Spd
Jolly
- Attract
- Spikes
- Megahorn
- Earthquake

Gengar @ Black Sludge
Timid / Levitate
4Hp 252SpAtk 252Spd
- Venoshock
- Giga Drain
- Shadow Ball
- Toxic

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Iron Barbs
252Hp 60Def 196SpDef
Sassy
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Thunder Wave
- Protect

Togekiss @ Leftovers
Serene Grace
4Hp 252Def 252SpDef
Bold
- Baton Pass
- Nasty Plot
- Roost
- Air Slash

Accelgor @ Focus Sash
Sticky Hold
4Hp 252SpAtk 252Spd
Timid
- Venoshock
- Focus Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Giga Drain

Tentacruel @ Leftovers
Calm / Liquid Ooze
252Hp 80Def 40SpAtk 136SpDef
- Toxic Spikes
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Venoshock
I wanted Tentacruel to be able to go on the offensive a bit more, given his set, so I pumped the EVs a bit and replaced Rapid Spin with Surf. It's been about a 50/50 trade off, so we'll see how it goes in the long haul.

A (Current) Final Look At The Team

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Scolipede (F) @ Focus Sash
Poison Point
4Hp 252Atk 252Spd
Jolly
- Attract
- Spikes
- Megahorn
- Earthquake

Gengar @ Black Sludge
Timid / Levitate
4Hp 252SpAtk 252Spd
- Venoshock
- Giga Drain
- Shadow Ball
- Toxic

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Iron Barbs
252Hp 60Def 196SpDef
Sassy
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Thunder Wave
- Protect

Togekiss @ Leftovers
Serene Grace
4Hp 252Def 252SpDef
Bold
- Baton Pass
- Nasty Plot
- Roost
- Air Slash

Accelgor @ Focus Sash
Sticky Hold
4Hp 252SpAtk 252Spd
Timid
- Venoshock
- Focus Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Giga Drain

Tentacruel @ Leftovers
Calm / Liquid Ooze
252Hp 80Def 40SpAtk 136SpDef
- Toxic Spikes
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Venoshock

My Bench
Pokemon on the "Bench" are pokemon that aren't usually on the running version of the team, but still pokemon that I haven't rejected.

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Kyurem @ Choice Scarf
Pressure
4Hp 252SpAtk 252Spd
Timid
- Draco Meteor
- Focus Blast
- Flash Cannon
- Ice Beam
Kyurem, while not on my main team anymore, is on my bench at the moment. He always served me well, and is still a fine addition to this teams roster, but I've simply decided for now that he shouldn't be on the main team.

Rejected

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Crobat @ Choice Scarf
Inner Focus
4Hp 252SpAtk 252Spd
Modest
- Venoshock
- Heat Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
As has been said, and I agree, Crobat is not really a great fit on this team. Honestly, I didn't think Gengar would really be much better, but he serves much more useful that Crobat, bar limiting my options for Steel types more.

Testing

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No pokemon are currently to the testing stage at this time.

What I Want To Work On:

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I have a large Fire and Steel weakness that is poorly covered on this team. this is bad because, as pointed out, they're fairly common. I haven't been able to come up with anything that fits without breaking the mold of the team.

 

[Shiny Mew2]

The team looks okay, but add pictures. 2 poision types isn't that good. Try replacing crobat with Gengar, if you must have 2 poisions.

 

[WaterBomb]

Why Scarf and not Specs on Crobat? Also if you're going to feature Venoshock on this team, you need to provide MUCH more coverage against Steels and other types that resist poison. I suggest HP Fighting over Shadow Ball on Crobat for coverage.

 

[Veral42]

Why Scarf and not Specs on Crobat? Also if you're going to feature Venoshock on this team, you need to provide MUCH more coverage against Steels and other types that resist poison. I suggest HP Fighting over Shadow Ball on Crobat for coverage.

I might play around with Specs a bit on Crobat like you said. Initially, my idea was to get Crobat to a point where he could speed over pretty much everything. I opted for a choice set of some kind over my original sleep set simply because Crobat doesn't know any reliable sleep inducing moves, even though last i checked he was still the fastest pokemon with the ability to induce sleep.

Steels haven't actually been much of an issue, being dealt with by Crobat's Heat Wave and Accelgor's Focus Blast. the thing I'm stumped on is Fire. Fire is a big weakness of this team's, and so far my only saving grace has been that the Fire type pokemon I've encountered are all weak to Flying, so Togekiss usually is enough to deal with them. I haven't figured out how to deal with the possibility of Togekiss going down before having it sent out. Earthquake on Scolipede is there to handle common Fire/Steel leads, but Scolipede isn't usually around later in the game. I haven't been able to figure out a solution to get the coverage while keeping the core of the team's feel intact.

 

[Farewell]

Gengar with both Evil Eye, & Venushock, Focus Blast, and Hidden Power Ice over your current Crobat; give it Scarf, immune to Ground like Crobat is so it works.

In regards to Fire try a Tentacruel, it can Rapid Spin, Surf (no Scald since Ferrothorn paralyzes Steels/Flyings/Poisons/Levitators), Ice Beam Dragons and of course use Venushock. It also has access to Toxic Spikes if you want to take Toxic Spikes off Scollipede and let it just use Spikes and another move.

Tentacruel can also handle Fires that pack fighting/bug moves like Infernape, Volcarona and can take on Bulky waters with Venushock / Toxic Spikes stall. Also, Liquid Ooze makes Leech Seed, Giga Drain, Drain Punch and Horn Drain hurt the foe and back-fire on Cottonee and other foes.

 

[Veral42]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. The one that rings the most critical atm seems to be the fire weakness. I'll make edits later after I've worked through some set ideas (will post as an edit on the main team).

Team is updated for the moment, after final locks I'll clean it up for more tweeking.

 

[MajorGambit]

This a competitive forum. Themed teams generally fail to be competitive and that's your case here. This metagame is dominated by weather, steel and dragons. You have no way to deal with common threats like dory, rp terakion and landrous. Crobat has awful satk. It needs nasty plot to help a little on this and even if it does get from kiss, it's counterproductive to pass boosts to choiced pokes. Don't use focus sash on a non lead or non magic guard poke unless you have a good spinner. You lack type coverage and good synergy along with nice damage output. The whole concept COULD work in UU but fails in OU. I'm sorry to be harsh but this is a competitive rmt. Also, don't get too confident cause u won many battles at first: the low level in the ladder is full of noob players.

 

[Veral42]

This a competitive forum. Themed teams generally fail to be competitive and that's your case here. This metagame is dominated by weather, steel and dragons. You have no way to deal with common threats like dory, rp terakion and landrous. Crobat has awful satk. It needs nasty plot to help a little on this and even if it does get from kiss, it's counterproductive to pass boosts to choiced pokes. Don't use focus sash on a non lead or non magic guard poke unless you have a good spinner. You lack type coverage and good synergy along with nice damage output. The whole concept COULD work in UU but fails in OU. I'm sorry to be harsh but this is a competitive rmt. Also, don't get too confident cause u won many battles at first: the low level in the ladder is full of noob players.

I usually don't force rated matches until I've fully finished tweeking a team, which in a lot of cases can take 3-5 months of testing for me (as will prolly be the case for this team). I do appreciate to note though, and I'd appreciate if you looked at the edits I've made to my initial team post (edits are in red) and give further feedback.

 

[Veral42]

Bump post. Large update/restructure/enhancement/extension of main team post