Hello smogon community, lately i've been messing around just trying to make basic teams that dont do anything fancy but are solid and get the job done nicely. Here is one that i put a bit of work into and have had moderate success with. However i feel like its missing 'something', not entirely sure what so i thought i would ask for some advice :)
Also im relatively new to these forums so apologies in advance if i miss something out, please let me know and i will endeavor to fix it.
Teambuilding process:
So i kinda wanted to build a team based on two of my favourite pokemon from back when i used to play pokemon red on my brick gameboy:
These two are just awesome! Every run i would pick up a charmander and then later head to the safari zone to find the weird pink dude who eventually got eaten by a crab type thing when it evolved. Decided to give Charizard an X stone because dragon/fire typing is excellent and with a dragon dance it can 1 hit pretty much anything that doesnt resist and 2 hit a lot of those that does resist its moves.
Then i wanted to pick up a grass type because fire/water/grass is a good solid combination, hits lots of types effectively and covers weaknesses quite well.
Been seeing a lot of Serperiors around and for good reason. When this thing gets a +2 boost from a leaf storm it can totally clean up the house. This mon doesnt have the most covering moves but the basic set on the smogon dex works pretty effectively.
So im pretty happy at this point with the basic core, but i still need a rock setter and decided on the hippo!
This guy is a beast tank. He has a fairly standard set except i gave him ice fang because he is my main switch into many lando-t and other 4x ice type weakness mons. Often gets a surprise KO with it.
Felt at this point i could really use a utility pokemon capable of taking a few hits so i picked up Klefki!
Thanks to his great typing, he resists so many different attacks and can switch in often. I've made him into a duel-screen user as this gives my sweepers much more setup utilities. 2 hit KOs turn into 3/4 hit KOs which often makes a huge difference.
Finally i decided to implement a cleric, since Klefki has foul play as his only attacking move i really wanted a fairy move to use and a spd tank since both of my other bulky types are physically defensive. Enter Sylveon
With max spd investment and wish/cleric support sylveon plays a key role in keeping my teammates healthy. Hyper voice with pixelate is a fantastic check to many mons in the current meta game, hitting through substitutes is not to be underrated either.
At this point i sort of realised i had no hazard control so i decided to pick up one of the most popular options and one with the same typing to Slowbro to keep the water/fire/grass core.
Went for fully hp/speed invested starmie to keep it healthy as possible and keep it doing its job as long as possible. Went for the reflect type build as many teams try to pressure me when attempting to spin by switching in a pursuit trapper.
Detailed pokemon analysis
Walking (Starmie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Reflect Type
- Recover
The Hazard controller, this guy can switch into neutral attacks if needed and is speedy enough to be able to recover or reflect type depending on the situation before he can get KO'd. Scald is his only attack for the very important burn chance. Keeping rocks of the field is very useful to get zard in and out as much as possible, max speed and HP to outspeed most of the battlefield and live long as possible
On a dream (Klefki) @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Foul Play
- Thunder Wave
- Light Screen
- Reflect
Originally had spikes/twave/screens but switched to foul play as it hits really hard on heavy attackers and psychic types. EVs are to make him as bulky as possible on the Defensive side since i have slyveon as a special tank/cleric. Prankster thunderwaves and screens are a godsend and often key to my victories.
Running (Charizard) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs:252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
Aggressive Charizard, Dragon Dance to boost him to hyper levels. Roost is there to deal with flare blitz recoil and any hazards upon switching in. Dragon Claw hits pretty much everything except steels/fairies and Generally a +1 Flare Blitz will KO them anyway. EVs are straightforward - nuke everything as fast as possible
For the Thrill (Hippowdon) @ Leftovers
Ability:Sand Stream Sand Force
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
My tanky bulky wall checking in. Defensive investment and HP means he lives pretty much any neutral attack unless they have boosted prior to switch in. Stealth rock to wear down my opponents and Ice Fang to catch people unaware, its a pretty clutch move which can take a lot of people by surprise when they expect stone edge instead. Does mean that it cant do anything to talonflame however.
Always pushing (Serperior) @ Life Orb
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power[Fire] [Ground]
- Dragon Pulse
Fully specially invested Serperior, maximum speed investment means it outspeeds all 350 speed pokes which is crucial to getting many kills. Leafstorm for the free nasty plot. Giga drain to keep healthy from recoil and residual damage. Dragon pulse and HP fire to hit the things that try to wall it. Cant do anything to heatran with these moves but apart from that everything else is golden (except talonflame)
Up the hill (Sylveon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Hyper Voice
the classic Wish/tect combination combined with heal bell to heal key status elements. Hyper voice is the one attack of choice and that ensures that Sylveon is not totally screwed by taunts. sdef investment means that with screens support sylveon basically is unkillable and takes very little damage while doing its job of passing wishes while keeping team healthy.
Importable:
Threatlist:
This guy seems to always put work in against my team, maybe becaues starmie is defensive and apart from starmie only hippo can dent it.
If this thing manages to get a free switch in (which it can on quite a few pokes) and DD to +1 then really i have to try and revenge check it with Sylveon, but even that doesnt work if i've taken some prior damage.
Replays:
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-220845552 - Zard was about to sweep big time before FF
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-220799345 - Zard doing work with screen support and Sylv clean up
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-220637720 - Yet another zard sweep. Had spikes on klefki at this stage but swapped it for foul play so i could actually dmg psychic types
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-220604784 - Serperior doing work, at this stage i had hp ground for heatrans but it felt like whichever one i ran i would get walled by something and i see more use with hp fire than ground
EDIT: More replays:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-221034201 - Reflect type starmie is awesome!
Currently i feel like i really rely too much on Zard/Serp to actually do damage and kill things and if either of those dies early then its very much an uphill battle. So i really would like to see peoples advice.
Thank you for your time taken to read this! Have a song for your patience :)
Also im relatively new to these forums so apologies in advance if i miss something out, please let me know and i will endeavor to fix it.
Teambuilding process:
So i kinda wanted to build a team based on two of my favourite pokemon from back when i used to play pokemon red on my brick gameboy:
These two are just awesome! Every run i would pick up a charmander and then later head to the safari zone to find the weird pink dude who eventually got eaten by a crab type thing when it evolved. Decided to give Charizard an X stone because dragon/fire typing is excellent and with a dragon dance it can 1 hit pretty much anything that doesnt resist and 2 hit a lot of those that does resist its moves.
Then i wanted to pick up a grass type because fire/water/grass is a good solid combination, hits lots of types effectively and covers weaknesses quite well.
Been seeing a lot of Serperiors around and for good reason. When this thing gets a +2 boost from a leaf storm it can totally clean up the house. This mon doesnt have the most covering moves but the basic set on the smogon dex works pretty effectively.
So im pretty happy at this point with the basic core, but i still need a rock setter and decided on the hippo!
This guy is a beast tank. He has a fairly standard set except i gave him ice fang because he is my main switch into many lando-t and other 4x ice type weakness mons. Often gets a surprise KO with it.
Felt at this point i could really use a utility pokemon capable of taking a few hits so i picked up Klefki!
Thanks to his great typing, he resists so many different attacks and can switch in often. I've made him into a duel-screen user as this gives my sweepers much more setup utilities. 2 hit KOs turn into 3/4 hit KOs which often makes a huge difference.
Finally i decided to implement a cleric, since Klefki has foul play as his only attacking move i really wanted a fairy move to use and a spd tank since both of my other bulky types are physically defensive. Enter Sylveon
With max spd investment and wish/cleric support sylveon plays a key role in keeping my teammates healthy. Hyper voice with pixelate is a fantastic check to many mons in the current meta game, hitting through substitutes is not to be underrated either.
At this point i sort of realised i had no hazard control so i decided to pick up one of the most popular options and one with the same typing to Slowbro to keep the water/fire/grass core.
Went for fully hp/speed invested starmie to keep it healthy as possible and keep it doing its job as long as possible. Went for the reflect type build as many teams try to pressure me when attempting to spin by switching in a pursuit trapper.
Detailed pokemon analysis
Walking (Starmie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Reflect Type
- Recover
The Hazard controller, this guy can switch into neutral attacks if needed and is speedy enough to be able to recover or reflect type depending on the situation before he can get KO'd. Scald is his only attack for the very important burn chance. Keeping rocks of the field is very useful to get zard in and out as much as possible, max speed and HP to outspeed most of the battlefield and live long as possible
On a dream (Klefki) @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Foul Play
- Thunder Wave
- Light Screen
- Reflect
Originally had spikes/twave/screens but switched to foul play as it hits really hard on heavy attackers and psychic types. EVs are to make him as bulky as possible on the Defensive side since i have slyveon as a special tank/cleric. Prankster thunderwaves and screens are a godsend and often key to my victories.
Running (Charizard) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs:
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
Aggressive Charizard, Dragon Dance to boost him to hyper levels. Roost is there to deal with flare blitz recoil and any hazards upon switching in. Dragon Claw hits pretty much everything except steels/fairies and Generally a +1 Flare Blitz will KO them anyway. EVs are straightforward - nuke everything as fast as possible
For the Thrill (Hippowdon) @ Leftovers
Ability:
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
My tanky bulky wall checking in. Defensive investment and HP means he lives pretty much any neutral attack unless they have boosted prior to switch in. Stealth rock to wear down my opponents and Ice Fang to catch people unaware, its a pretty clutch move which can take a lot of people by surprise when they expect stone edge instead. Does mean that it cant do anything to talonflame however.
Always pushing (Serperior) @ Life Orb
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power
- Dragon Pulse
Fully specially invested Serperior, maximum speed investment means it outspeeds all 350 speed pokes which is crucial to getting many kills. Leafstorm for the free nasty plot. Giga drain to keep healthy from recoil and residual damage. Dragon pulse and HP fire to hit the things that try to wall it. Cant do anything to heatran with these moves but apart from that everything else is golden (except talonflame)
Up the hill (Sylveon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Hyper Voice
the classic Wish/tect combination combined with heal bell to heal key status elements. Hyper voice is the one attack of choice and that ensures that Sylveon is not totally screwed by taunts. sdef investment means that with screens support sylveon basically is unkillable and takes very little damage while doing its job of passing wishes while keeping team healthy.
Importable:
Walking (Starmie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Reflect Type
- Recover
On a dream (Klefki) @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Foul Play
- Thunder Wave
- Light Screen
- Reflect
Running (Charizard) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
For the Thrill (Hippowdon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
Always pushing (Serperior) @ Life Orb
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Dragon Pulse
Up the hill (Sylveon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Hyper Voice
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Reflect Type
- Recover
On a dream (Klefki) @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Foul Play
- Thunder Wave
- Light Screen
- Reflect
Running (Charizard) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
For the Thrill (Hippowdon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
Always pushing (Serperior) @ Life Orb
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Dragon Pulse
Up the hill (Sylveon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
- Hyper Voice
Threatlist:
This guy seems to always put work in against my team, maybe becaues starmie is defensive and apart from starmie only hippo can dent it.
If this thing manages to get a free switch in (which it can on quite a few pokes) and DD to +1 then really i have to try and revenge check it with Sylveon, but even that doesnt work if i've taken some prior damage.
Replays:
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-220845552 - Zard was about to sweep big time before FF
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-220799345 - Zard doing work with screen support and Sylv clean up
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-220637720 - Yet another zard sweep. Had spikes on klefki at this stage but swapped it for foul play so i could actually dmg psychic types
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-220604784 - Serperior doing work, at this stage i had hp ground for heatrans but it felt like whichever one i ran i would get walled by something and i see more use with hp fire than ground
EDIT: More replays:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-221034201 - Reflect type starmie is awesome!
Currently i feel like i really rely too much on Zard/Serp to actually do damage and kill things and if either of those dies early then its very much an uphill battle. So i really would like to see peoples advice.
Thank you for your time taken to read this! Have a song for your patience :)
Last edited:
