Are you ready Smogon?

[Nightshade911]

No, I'm not an elitist braggart =P. But, for some reason my teams never get rated too much...I'll recieve about 2 comments, then the thread dies. Hence the title; now that I peaked your interest, maybe you can help me out by rating my team....hopefully more than two people rate it lol.

Keep in mind that my forte' is with stall teams and this is the first offensive (read: semi-offensive) team I have made in a very long time. With all that out of the way, on to my team!

At a glance:

@ Lum Berry
Adamant
252 Hp/ 160 Atk/ 96 Sp. Def
No Guard
-Dynamic Punch
-Payback
-Stone Edge
-Substitute

My anti-lead lead. I know it is right off of smogon's Strategy Pokedex, but I really wanted to try Machamp out, and I have never used one before. The EV's allow him to take some hits and dish them back out; he isn't OHKO'd by an unboosted, Modest Azelf's Psychic so that's pretty good. Dynamic Punch is great STAB; plus it will always confuse thanks to No Guard. Payback is for any psychic or ghost leads I face and Stone Edge is great against Gyarados. I sub up if the opponent is going to status, boost, or set up entry hazards/ screens. He has been a great lead so far, and always gets me at least one KO; sometimes even a full sweep. Lum Berry for any status's I may encounter.

@ Leftovers
Impish
252 HP/ 76 Def/ 172 Atk
Torrent
-Earthquake
-Ice Punch
-Stealth Rock
-Roar

My physical tank and stealth rock layer. I usually would lead with this guy; and I usually make him mixed but I figured that since he has great physical stats it might be better to take advantage of them. Earthquake for a strong STAB and a good way to counter Heatran, Tyranitar, and Electrivire. Ice Punch gives a constant 75 BP rather than a sometimes 60 BP or sometimes 120 BP that Avalanche comes with. Stealth rock is self explanatory. I placed Roar over Waterfall because Vaporeon is so much better at dishing out water attacks; and because I needed a phazer in case I get a Dragon Dancer, Swords Dancer, ect...Roar will get rid of them, as well as rack up additional damage.

@ Leftovers
Adamant
32 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def / 216 Spe
Technician
-Swords Dance
-X-Scissor
-Superpower/ Brick Break
-Bullet Punch

One of my main Physical attackers, Scizor can be a real pain after he sets up. The EV spread on this one doesn't feel right; he needs more speed (I don't want Agility>Swords Dance; SD stays); so suggestions here please. The basic plan here is to come in on something that I predict will run (such as Celebi without HP fire); then proceed to SD. X-Scissor grants STAB, and Superpower is a good filler. Superpower is also great if I predict a Heatran switch-in. I know that SP lowers my attack; but with Swords dance it won't make much difference. Bullet punch is a great priority move, backed by STAB and Technician, it's BP increases to 90...then add a SD or two, and there's trouble!

@ Life Orb
Jolly
6 Hp/ 252 Atk/ 252 Speed
Inner Focus
-Dragon Dance
-Ice Punch
-Roost
-Earthquake

Ok...this set looks weird, so let me explain. Dragonite comes in late game, once my entry hazards have been set up. With all the Choice Heatran running around, I can either draw a fire attack w/ Scizor, or Earthpower w/ Heatran, then switch in this guy and DD. He is mainly my answer to Togekiss, who sadly has been able to pwn my other teams late game with flinchax. Since Dragonite can't flinch, he can attack, and after Togekiss takes 25% damage to SR; ice punch should take care of him (and other pokemon like Skymin, Donphan, ect...) Since I don't have a spinner, I placed roost on him so he can heal himself every once in a while. Earthquake grants greater coverage than a dragon move, so it took priority. It also helps against Heatran if my other counters are KO'd. Dragonite not only serves as a late game physical sweeper, but also my counter to Skymin, Togekiss, Heatran (if predicted right).

@ Leftovers
Bold
252 HP/ 58 Sp. Atk/ 200 Def
Water Absorb
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Wish
-Toxic/ HP Electric

Changed the EV's around to make him more sturdy and able to take a physical hit; very important with the abundance of physical attackers. He soaks up water attacks aimed at Heatran; and can switch into ice attacks aimed at Dragonite. Surf gets great STAB and Ice beam is for coverage and dragons (and grass switch-ins I may predict). Wish for recovery, as well as support for the rest of the team. Toxic wears down other waters as well as any walls/tanks I may have trouble with. Wheras HP Electric gives me an effective Gyarados counter as well as a way to hurt other water types...tough choice.

@ Choice Scarf
Timid
6 Hp/ 252 Speed/ 252 Sp. Atk
Flash Fire
-Flamethrower
-Earthpower
-HP Ice
-Explosion

Scarftran with extra speed to outrun the standard 236 speed/ modest Heatran; then OHKO with Earth Power. I opted for flamethrower because I don't want to waste turns missing with Fire Blast if I am locked into one move. Earthpower for other Heatran, fire types like Infernape, and Rock types. Explosion as a last ditch effort against a tenacious opponent. Heatran comes into fire attacks, then threatens. HP Ice on Shoddy for sure, but on Wi-Fi...it may only be there if I get it by dumb luck...not too sure if I'm concerned enough to soft reset for hours...and by the way, does soft reseting work to get different IV's on legendaries in-game, or are the IV's determined each time to start a new game? Scizor draws a lot of fire attention, so Heatran makes a good team mate for him lol

My basic strategy is offense for this team, so I'm not interested in any walls (use them plenty in my other teams lol). Swampert comes in as soon as Machamp is KO'd; or when he gets a chance, then sets up SR...This will help against Togekiss and other flyers. Once said pokemon comes out, Dragonite will enter and Ice Punch (same strategy for Skymin). Once those two are taken care of, I proceed to stay on the offensive and switch around to my counters. Vaporeon's water absorb and Heatrans flash fire make this strategy viable.

Any suggestions on replacements (except Vaporeon) are appreciated, as well as your comments, criticisms, and move suggestions/questions.

Thanks for reading all this and for your help...hopefully more than 2 people RMT...

 

[Bogmire]

swampert needs max hp if it plans on taking on the likes of cbtar and ddmence.

 

[panamaxis]

Neutral Fire Blast doe more than suppereffective dark pulse. So if this is for wifi dragon pulse is fine, otherwise hp ice for shoddy. Change heatran nature to hasty and put explosion over dark pulse. Vaporeon and swampert need nearly max hp and def to beat salamence. Outrage > ice punch on Dragonite (does more then a suppereffetive hit 150 vs 180)

 

[Phoenix_21]

You got your calcs wrong on Dragon Pulse I think - Max/0 HP/Sp.Def Mence takes almost 60% min from DP, so whilst HP Ice is better you could leave it as Dragon Pulse to help with Kingdra's locked in Outrage if you wanted.

 

[Professor Dick Weed]

Just a minor suggestion for machamp. If gyra gives u problems u can switch stone edge 4 thender punch. Its an option only if he gives u alot of troble, because stone edge is far superior against other flyers & without it gliscor will uterly wall machamp. This has probably been noted b4 but swampert should have max hp, more hp than def evs allows most tanks more survivability than having said evs switched around.

 

[Imran]

Starting with Scizor, if you want a nicer EV spread the new Standard is 32 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def / 216 Spe with an Adamant Nature, which allows you to outspeed Modest Magnezone that may try to trap you. It emphasizes bulk a little less but you'll probably find that scizor is bulky enough for your needs anyway, so that should solve that problem. I like the Dragonite actually, its nice to see individual sets that works specifically on a team, I'm not quite sure why @ Lum Berry you have two POkemon that can take toxic and one that can take thunder Wave, sure it may allow you to set up a DD, but you already have a plan to get a DD and that is to use Scarftran, so maybe Life Orb would be a better Idea, to give it more sweeping potential. This will work with Roost too. If you go with Lum Berry you could easily go with Outrage > Roost as it will then be more of a Late Game sweeper and the Extra Power that Outrage gives will be very useful in certain situations.

I'm not sure what the Speed EVs are doing on Vaporeon, they seems a little pointless if you want a special Tank Vaporeon you could always use the Specs Vaporeon EV Spread: 252 Def / 252 SpA / 4 Spe which will give you more powerful attack but still allow you to counter things like GYarados and DD Mence, but you might still want to go with HP Electric > Toxic for the ability to actually damage those Gyarados. HP Ice vs Dragon Pulse on Heatran is a little hard to decide on, but I do think HP Ice will benefit you here, it will provide you with a definate OHKO on Salamence whereas Dragon Pulse will only do 76% Max, Dragon Pulse wont hit other things much harder than Earth Power will except for flying things who you can hit with HP Ice anyway. And the odd grass type perhaps, but you can also nail them with Flamethrower. Here at Smogon we dont care about your distain for "UNobtainable Hidden Powers" and my advice to you is to use it.

Overall your team is very well built providing you a lot of opportunities to get Dragonite in to sweep, the only thing I have that annoys me about it is how Swampert is pretty useless on your team. Celebi might be a better replacement to deal with those Gyarados who will run through you (especially as you dont have HP Electric on Vappy, but I suggested changing that. Celebi will allow you to beat non Ice Fang Gyara, he can hit back with Grass KNot, Paralyse and support your team with leech Seed or other Attack. Hp Fire for instance will beat Scizor. So I would definately suggest Celebi over Swampert who is a little dead weight on your team, to deal with Gyarados and other Such threats. You can also go HP Ice if you miss the coverage against Salamence. Scarf Celebi might even be an Idea ^^

Good Luck, and I hope some of this helped.

 

[chenman333]

Swampert gets Ice Punch now, so you don't really need avalanche.

I don't really like Dark Pulse on Heatran, since it is weaker than Fire Blast, but since you do want to use flamethrower, I guess you need to use it.

 

[Nightshade911]

Thank you all for your comments; now my record of replies is 6 lol

I like Goldfan's idea with Scizor as well as the spread; it was exactly what I was looking for (albeit less bulky). One question though: Is Brick Break superior to Superpower on Scizor? Or is the attack drop not too significant? I'm still debating as to whether or not I will run BB over Superpower...

Swampert is on the team mainly to set up rocks for any fliers that might come in as well as counter Electrivire, Heatran (if Vaporeon is KO'd), dragons (if Vaporeon is KO'd), and add some more offensive power. I will run Ice Punch over Avalanche due to the constant BP of 75 rather than sometimes 60 BP and sometimes 120 BP. If the Celebi that was suggested is capable of setting up rocks as good as or better than Swampert, than I will replace pert for Celebi...Seeing as how I don't have a real Gyarados counter other than Machamp anti-lead. So I could use some Celebi suggestions, and if at all possible, a set or two to get my creative juices flowing...I've never used Celebi before. In fact, Heatran is the only Legendary I have ever used (I've been playing since pokemon red first came out), and I just started using him this week lol

I like the idea of Vaporeon's spread, since I don't know what 200 EV's will outrun...but I'm not going to put specs on him because I don't want to keep switching him around...it kind of limits his support role as well as his versatility. I'll keep Toxic > HP Electric because toxic will enable me to wear down walls and bulky waters (like suicune lacking Rest) for a little longer to see how much I like it. If it doesn't perform as well on this team as it did on my countless stall teams, then I'll run HP Electric on Shoddy...and in my spare time try to breed the right IV for HP Electric =P

Dragonite's moves will stay, since they are very specific to pokemon that always seem to give me trouble; Togekiss and Skymin. DD is neccesary to boost his atk and speed for sweeping potential, roost gives him staying ability. Ice Punch for the flyers and gets great coverage. Earthquake is for even more coverage, making me only fear levitating steels (with enough DD's Ice Punch will seriously hurt them though). I'll replace Lum Berry for Life Orb for more power; the berry was only there for one extra DD in case of status. Thanks for your compliment Goldfan!


Although I appreciate your suggestions, I still have some doubts about Hidden Power. The teams I use in Shoddy are modeled after what I would use on Wi-Fi. Since I play the game mostly for fun (I do love to compete as well though), I really am not going to sit around for 6 hours soft reseting for a perfect HP on a pokemon; especially a legendary. I still have to study for college, as well as work. If I get lucky, then I'll stick on the good HP on that I may run across, but other than that, I doubt it.

In regards to Heatran, I'll use HP Ice in Shoddy, but on Wi-fi, I'll stick with Explosion>Dark Pulse>HP Ice (I don't know what I was thinking by putting Dark Pulse on him lol).

EDIT: I've updated my team on the top of the page for fast reference.