VGC Weakness Policy Zoroark

[TrainerAurelius]

So this is the first time im ever posting on any pokemon forum so please have mery on my low level pokemon skills.
Ever since I first saw Zoroak it instantly became one of my favorite Pokemons. No idea why. The concept with the whole illusion thing just kinda hit home.
Naturally i had to build a team around it. Thats when i realised, that im really not a good teambuilder and up until a few weeks ago i mainly just copied teams of other people. So i dug into the material, watched and read tons of stuff and then began building. I actually netted some really cool wins on Showdown but i wanted to get some help on improving it a bit more before i go and breed the Mons for Sword/Shield.


Zoroark @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Illusion
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Night Slash
- Shadow Claw
- U-turn
- Retaliate

This is my main physical attacker. I saw a pretty cool video where someone played WP Dragapult with Sylveon and i thought "Hey, that could work here too"
My main focus point atm is to put more variety into the movepool. Maybe something like Dig or or even Low kick just for more Options in Dynamax form.
As this together with Sylveon is my main core it is also my main Option for Dynamaxing


Sylveon @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Pixilate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
- Quick Attack
- Hyper Voice
- Dazzling Gleam
- Protect

Part 2 of my main core. Quick attack to trigger weakness policy on Zoroark. Im trying out some moves instead of Dazzling Gleam cause i found that i use Hyper Voice in 99% of all cases anyway. Also hyper voice and Muddy Water give some great AoE while coming from realativly bulky Mons.


Dragapult @ Expert Belt
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Draco Meteor

My main special attack. In my opinion Dragapult is just so good and gives me a good coverage with his diverse moveset + Expert Belt. Also it covers a lot of the weaknesess of my main core.


Corviknight-Gmax @ Leftovers
Ability: Mirror Armor
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 164 SpD / 92 Spe
Careful Nature
- Body Press
- Brave Bird
- Bulk Up
- Roost

Frist of all, this is Gmax cause i had no other Gmax option in the Team and saw no reason not to use it. I wanted something bulky and a Steel Type just kinda fit well into the fairy and dragon types i already had. Maybe its just the amateur builder in me who read something about Fairy-Dragon-Steel Core somewhere


Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Rush
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Slash

Mainly for speed control. I had quiet a few problem with people outspeeding me so thought a basic sandcore could do the trick. Also it helps against weather teams as i am able to switch to sandstorm basicly anytime i want to.



Tyranitar @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- Earthquake
- Crunch

While the Excadrill is Max Speed/Max Dmg, the Tyranitar is mainly there for setting up the Sandstorm. Also a bit more bulkyness couldnt really hurt my team sine Corviknight is the only really defensive Pokemon i have


I hope atleast some of my thought have become clear enough for you to understand what this is about.

Edit: So i have no idea if im allowed to edit my team after posting, so if thats not ok im gonna just post again in 2 Weeks.
For some god unkown reason the idea with the Sand Core just occured to me yesterday and not in any of the two previous weeks i was working with the team.

 

[Le Annoyer]

Just some quick notes I have from a first glance at this team, didnt really test much on the ladder. Your only pokemon with protect is sylveon and you have few other status move throughout your team, which really hurts you since you cant really use max guard.

Zoroark can be nice, but having the ilusion intact is what makes him a threat in the first place, so you dont want to be hit to reveal yourself. Also WP has a terrible sinergy with uturn since you lose your buffs when you switch out, and you lose one turn with sylveon in order to activate it. So I highly recommend an item change: life orb. Zoroark is so frail the LO damage wont be much of an issue. Also normal type moves without stab arent really good, so I would suggest you change retaliate for protect. And I think you forgot to set his nature, make it jolly for the speed.

When it comes to sylveon, dazzling gleam is not really useful, so you have two options: take a supportive role with yawn or an offensive role with mystical fire.

Dragapult, just like zoroark, doesnt have a nature. Make it timid for the speed as well, and now that zoroark has LO, you can actually equip a weakness policy on him. If you strongly want to keep WP on zoroark, which I dont recommend, put the LO on dragapult. And again, drop one of his coverage moves for protect.

Corviknight is a really good pokemon, but make him a regular dmax instead of gmax. Max airstream increasing speed is more valuable than removing an opponents terrain which they can easily set up again. And for the item, I would swap leftovers for lum berry, since roost keeps him healthy enough and burn, paralysis and sleep cripple him a lot.

Excadrill is already blazing fast in sand without a speed boosting nature, so you want him adamant because that extra attack makes a huge difference. Just like I said for zoroark, normal moves without stab are bad, so swap slash for protect. Earthquake seems to hinder your team a lot, so I would swap it with high horsepower, a single target ground move that is actually stronger since spread moves have a x0.75 multiplier in doubles.

Finally for tyranitar, you either want to swap one of his coverage moves for protect or equip an assault vest. And since VGC has a lot of stat dropping moves and abilities being thrown around, swap crunch for lash out, one of the new moves in the DLC, because it doubles the damage if you had a stat dropped by the opponent this turn.

Thats it for now, let me know if you have any questions. Im sure someone else will come and rate this team with more details after me, but this should be a nice start. Have fun on the ladder