VGC Whimsicott Centered VGC Team In Need of Help

[evilnarwhalwarlock]

I recently got very into VGC after reading the rules and watching a lot of Wolfey Glick's YouTube channel. I tried to make a team prior to this, but it was not very good, and I lost the majority of battles. I then graduated to using the team used by Marco Silva seen here, and saw success with that, but it unraveled whenever I ran into a trick room team. That lead me to creating my own team, which I think is quite good, but could use improvement.


Whimsicott @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tailwind
- Taunt
- Moonblast
- Charm
Whimsicott is my opening support Mon. I almost always lead with it. Tailwind make my other common send ins very useful. Lucario gets some useful speed buffs, Dracovish gets even better, and Sylveon can reliably out speed most other Pokemon. Taunt shuts down trick room teams and set up-ers, and moonblast keeps me from struggling if I get hit by Taunt. I seriously considered giving it Cotton Spore or Fake Tears over Charm, but I only have one notable special attacker, and I already have tailwind for speed supremacy. Charm defangs any Physically attacking Pokemon, and can make dynamaxing useless in a wide variety of cases. I'm not great at making EV spreads, so any tips here would be appreciated.

Lucario @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Justified
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Meteor Mash
- Close Combat
- Protect
Lucario is an offensive beast. Typically my favored dynamaxer, he greatly benefits from the doubled health, and getting a consistent boost in defense or attack form Max Knuckle or Steelspike is amazing. I'm running him with complete defensive EVs, which allows him to survive for than a hit or two, and allows him to activate Weakness Policy, which ultimately makes up for any lack of hitting power he might have. Extreme speed for a priority move, plus it hits harder than Bullet Punch, Meteor Mash is my STAB steel type move, and it can reliably 2-shot a Dragapult, a Pokemon that could be a check to it. Close Combat destroys the majority of Mons after a boost in Attack. Protect is useful for stalling out dynamax or trick room.

Dracovish @ Choice Band
Ability: Strong Jaw
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Psychic Fangs
- Rock Slide
- Dragon Rush
One thing I've learnt about VGC 2020. You either have Dracovish, have a counter to Dracovish, (Like Gastodon or Lapras) or you lose. It's fairly apt, considering the monster that this dude is. Fishious Rend is one of the best moves in the entire game, and can easily one or two shot just about anything. Psychic Fangs is also very powerful, and an extremely unpleasant surprise to any and all Dual Screeners. Rock Slide covers ice and gives it a chance to flinch, and Dragon Rush is inaccurate, but can easily come in clutch under certain circumstances, like 1v1ing a Dragapult. However, because of Fishious Rend's power, it make Dynamaxing Dracovish relatively niche

Sylveon @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Pixilate
Level: 50
EVs: 68 Atk / 188 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Quick Attack
- Yawn
- Protect
This moveset is a carbon copy of the one from the team above, which I very much liked. I added a bit in attack, because Sylveon gets very little there, and Pixilate boosts it further. I also added quite a bit in defense because while Sylveon is very Specially defensive, it falls apart at any strong physical attack. People tend to underestimate the power of Pixie Plate + Pixilate Hyper Voice, and I can easily 3 shot Pokemon that resist it. Yawn is very useful when predicting Dynamax, and protect means you can wait it out until it sets in.

Togekiss @ Lum Berry
Ability: Serene Grace
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ancient Power
- Dazzling Gleam
- Follow Me
- Rest
I see a lot of people try to pull off a hyper offensive Togekiss, but I find that this is much better. Togekiss already has a great Special stat, so it needs very little bolstering in the role that it fulfills. I use Ancient Power whenever I get a free turn, as with serene grace I get a 20 percent chance of pulling off the all stats get +1. Dazzling Gleam is my STAB move, and can be very useful fighting off dragon or dark types. I put all of my EVs into making Togekiss into a defensive beast, all because I can use follow me. Follow Me allows my team to pull off any set-up or dish out damage to high priority targets at will. Finally, using Rest, Togekiss can fully recover it's health, which opponent find very frustrating, plus Lum berry wakes it up instantly.

Darmanitan-Galar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Gorilla Tactics
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Flare Blitz
- Zen Headbutt
- Focus Punch
This is easily the weakest link in my team. I really needed another strong Offensive Pokemon, and this is what I came up with. Choice Scarf, plus Gorilla Tactics makes it a beast, but because of how frail it is, I can only really use it in cordination with Togekiss. Icicle Crash is STAB, and deletes just about anything, Flare Blitz concerns just about anything that resists Ice, Zen Headbutt takes care of Fighting types, and Focus Punch if I'm using follow me. I really want a suitable replacement for this one, as it's situational at best, and can't contribute anything to other teammates.


Welp, that's the team! I appreciate any tips you can give, particularly concerning EV spreads. I very much would like a replacement for Darmanitan, but other than that I like what I have. I'm shooting for more of a High offence team. THANK YOU!

 

[Tigere]

I like this team for the most part, however there's definitely some things I think could be improved upon. I think the biggest overall issue I see with this team is consistency. While some of these 'mons might work here and there, I don't see them working all of the time, which can cause huge problems when opponents find ways around your strategy. Here's some tips I think that can make your team more reliable overall.

Sylveon:

- Get rid of the attack EVs. Sylveon functions best as a purely special attacker, with Quick Attack mostly being used to activate weakness policy because it doesn't hit hard enough to do any real damage, but it can't activate the weakness policy on the 'mon you have it one because it's not supereffective.
- You have Extreme Speed on Lucario for priority already, and I think Mystical Fire would be better on Sylveon here given you don't have fire type coverage on this team yet. I think the extra attack EVs would be much more beneficial if pumped into Speed or HP, plus Mystical Fire lowers Sp. Atk which could be really useful for your team.

Lucario:

- This set just is not consistent, while the gimmick factor is there which can take opponents by surprise, not having a reliable way to proc weakness policy by another member of your team means your Lucario just doesn't have enough killing power before he goes down, even with the EVs into Defense.
- What I'd do is remove weakness policy in favor of a life orb or maybe Leftovers if you REALLY want to make this Lucario defensive, and do a spread maybe like 164 Atk / 88 Def / 252 Spe. Then, here's the kicker, replace Charm on Whimsicott for Beat Up. Beat Up + Justified can way more consistently put you at +4 Atk, not just +2, which gives you much more killing power.
- The Speed is kind of necessary on Lucario i think, because Lucario is just not a great defensive tank and functions way better when it can kill threats before those threats can kill it. For example, my Rhyperior set (which doesn't have 252 Attack) can survive Close Combat and revenge kill with High Horsepower, even with 252 Defense and even assuming your Weakness Policy has been proc'd:

+2 0 Atk Lucario Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Solid Rock Rhyperior: 334-396 (76.9 - 91.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
154+ Atk Rhyperior High Horsepower vs. 0 HP / 252 Def Lucario: 332-392 (118.1 - 139.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

and, no, Max Knuckle doesn't kill either:

+2 0 Atk Lucario Max Knuckle vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Solid Rock Rhyperior: 267-315 (61.5 - 72.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Darmanitan:

- Darmanitan I think could be replaced by a reliable pivot like Raichu, Incineroar, or Hitmontop here.
- Raichu can provide extra Speed Control to make Tailwind more reliable with Nuzzle, and Volt Switch to your stronger attackers after crippling one or two 'mons.
- Incineroar is also a wonderful pivot, with Intimidate + Parting shot helping cripple opposing sweepers, and Fake Out adding great utility for stopping mons in their tracks.
- Hitmontop is also a great pivot, and getting switcheroo + eject button can really mess with the opponent and even take their dynamax out of commission, and it gets several priority moves like Bullet Punch and Vacuum Wave (Bullet Punch is better).
- Pivots are great at adding team synergy and filling that last slot on your team, and I don't think you actually need that extra physical sweeper as Dracovish + Lucario both have potential to be very strong.

Whimsicott:

- This set is fine for the most part, the only thing I'd change up is the EV's. I think you'd benefit more from investing in Defense, Special Defense, and HP.
- Keep the Timid nature especially if you do the Beat Up + Justified strategy, but I'd only keep 20 EVs in Sp Atk and pump the rest into HP, and then maybe take like 164 EVs out of speed and pump them into your choice of Def, Sp. Def, or both.
- This gives Whimsicott much more survivability, ensuring it can get those Prankster Tailwinds up.

Those are my suggestions! Take them or leave them as you please.

(EDITS: to add feedback and fix some errors)