Yin&Yang - A balanced X and Y OU team

[Matt Garry]

Hey, so I decided to get into competitive battling again and after floundering for a while I finally made a team that has a pretty good success on the pokemonshowdown ladder (got to around 1300 on a test run) and on wi-fi battles. However I still get beat more than I'd like to and I'd love some feedback on this team.

Team Preview

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Yin (the defensive core)

So basically the role of Yin on this team is to take the hits aimed at my team and to status (burn, paralyze, and toxic) threats and revenge killers so that yang (my sweepers) can come in and finish the job.

Clankz

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252HP/48Def/208Sdef
Brave Nature
-Gyro Ball
-Thunder Wave
-Leech Seed
-Stealth Rock

Clankz main job is to set up rocks as early as possible. These help my sweepers secure OHKOs and 2OHKOs on a lot of pokemon and just builds up damage overtime on other team from the switches my team forces. Clankz is my main wall, he takes the majority of hits on my team and does it admirably, sometimes dealing rocky helmet and iron barb damage to the attacker in the process. His move set is rounded off with leech seed to give him a form of recovery and damage over time, thunder wave to slow down faster sweepers and revenge killers that may give my sweepers trouble so they can set up and KO them, and gyro ball to prevent him for being setup fodder.

Birdman

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244Hp/40Def/224Spe
Impish Nature
-Substitute
-Toxic
-Earthquake
-Swords Dance

Birdman functions as a physical wall as well as a pivot and a toxic staller on my team. His job is to come in and wall an opposing physical attack, set-up a substitute, and then either sit behind the substitute and swords dance or toxic, depending on the situation. He's my earthquake user, and after a few swords dances it's a powerful earthquake. He's a force to be reckoned with and has won me a fair amount of games. He also functions as a wall breaker on this team, poisoning the wall and then chipping away at them with swords dance earthquakes behind a substitute while healing.

Willywash

Rotom-W @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252Hp/252Def/4Spa
Bold Nature
-Volt Switch
-Hydro Pump
-Will-O-Wisp
-Rest

Willywash is my jack of all trades. One of his main functions as his name describes is to come in on physical threats cripple them with a will-o-wisp. He also functions as a great pivot with his great typing and bulk and slow volt switch. Hydro pump lets him hit surprisingly hard and rest gives him the ability to absorb statuses that Starmie doesn't want to take. He can take a hit and creates openings for all of my other pokemon to come in and do their job.
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Yang (the offense/cleaners and sweepers)

The role of yang on my team is simply to come in on weakened teams, set-up, and KO as much of the opposing team as possible before going down.

Mr. Quivers

Volcarona Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252Spa/252Spe/4SDef
Timid Nature
-Fire Blast
-Bug Buzz
-Quiver Dance
-Roost

I wanted a fearsome special sweeper on my team, and after much debate I decided on Volcarona. Mr Quiver's job is the come in something it resists or a will-o-wisp (frequently aimed at tyranitar) and precede to quiver dance and sweep. Bug Buzz and Fire Blast are great dual stabs and hit almost everything for at least neutral damage. Roost is there so that Volcarona can heal off life orb damage and possibly get an extra quiver dance or two after tanking a special attack and then heal up, which usually results in a clean sweep for Mr. Quivers. His main problem is his crippling weakness to stealth rock, which is why I have starmie on my team to spin rocks and hazards away (he also has good offensive synergy with Starmie).

Run!Godzirra!

Tyranitar @Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252Atk/252Spe/4Hp
Jolly Nature
-Dragon Dance
-Crunch
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake

There's not much to say about this pokemon, other than that he is a beast who has won me countless games. His job is to come in on anything he resists once his checks and counters are weakened and eliminated, Dragon Dance, and then proceed to sweep teams. Run!Godzirra! is the physical end of my assault while Mr. Quivers is the special end. With a dragon dance he becomes near unstoppable, save a few checks and counters and with Crunch, Stone Edge, and Earthquake he has great coverage. He also draws a lot of will-o-wisps that volcarona can come in on with no problems. He loves ferrothorns ability to paralyze faster pokemon, giving him a lot more set-up and switch in oppurtunities.
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Utility

Starmie (still needs a nickname)

Starmie Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248Hp/32Def/4Spa/224Spe
Timid Nature
-Scald
-Ice Beam
-Recover
-Rapid Spin
Starmie is my utility on this team. He has good synergy with the majority of the team and functions as my rapid spinner, status absorber, and situational revenge killer. He's running a rather bulky set with recover to keep him alive for most of the match so he can keep doing his main job, which is keeping rocks off the field. He's running Scald for damage and status and Ice Beam for coverage, as my only ice type move on this team. He's a good team member and serves me well, but is sometimes dead weight. I do need him though to rapid spin rocks off the field for Volcarona and revenge kill certain threats to my team.


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So that is Yin&Yang, I really appreciate you guys reading this :)

I would appreciate any rates and I'll try and rate back to the best of my ability. Here's an importable.


Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 48 Def / 252 HP / 208 SDef
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Thunder Wave
- Leech Seed

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 40 Def / 224 Spd
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Earthquake

Rotom-Wash @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Rest
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp

Volcarona @ Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Quiver Dance
- Roost

Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 32 Def / 4 SAtk / 224 Spd
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Ice Beam

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[Nuanda92]

good team, even if you believe you are safe with Ferrothorn, but the use of greninja with hp fire is common. Do not think that just greninja could make a mess with your team? I would also recommend some priority abuser that are always important ....

 

[Matt Garry]

good team, even if you believe you are safe with Ferrothorn, but the use of greninja with hp fire is common. Do not think that just greninja could make a mess with your team? I would also recommend some priority abuser that are always important ....

Thanks for the rate!

And that is a good point. I would love to have a priority user on this team, I just don't know where to fit it in. I was thinking of running Assault Vest Azumarill, but I don't know who to replace. I would either replace Rotom-W, Gliscor, or Starmie. However replacing Rotom-W I would lose my volt turn, losing opportunities to switch in and set up, If I replaced my Gliscor, I would have trouble breaking stall, and if I replaced Starmie I would lose my rapid spin which is vital to Volcarona.

 

[Nuanda92]

starmie don't make a good rapid spin in this gen just because in 1/3 team of this metagame there is aegislash that stop rapid spin starmie and kill him with shadow ball i know that you have gliscor that can switch into aegislash but is dangerous, i suggest knock off gliscor instead of sword dance. You can insert azumarill assault vest that is a good choice to pass into Keldeo and Greninja and Charizard X that make seriously problem to your team, with this you can choice rapid spin Excadrill or donphan because you have just problem with Thundurus I that paralize volcarona and kill Gliscor with Hp ice, Ferrothorn can rexist to him but there are a good use of thundurus i with focus blast in the metagame. i suggest a spinner that cannot be stopped by aegislash because he stop you ever. You can also use latios or latias (if you're looking bulky) to defog, and tried hp fire or fighting if you are scared by ttar and Bisharp into them. Sorry 4 english LOL But i'm italian.

 

[Matt Garry]

Thanks again, I'll definitely play with your suggestions and see how they work.

I'm definitely thinking of running that Azumarill, but if I take Starmie off the team for Azurmarill I would need to make two switches so I could run Excadrill or a defoger. Any suggestions on who to replace and which spinners and defoggers to consider? I'm pretty set on replacing Starmie now, but I don't know exactly how I'm going to do that.