Hello there, fellow companions!
I'm fairly new to Pokémon in general. Played some when I was younger, but started playing Showdown a couple of weeks ago when a friend told me about it. I started by playing OU, but a few days ago I decided to try out Ubers. Tried out some old teams from the RMT (for example Lacus' old team, as some liked to call it whenever they faced me), which went exceptionally well the first day I played I have to say (got to ~1790, which later on sadly went downhill as I started making too many mistakes and had a dip). However, what good is it to play a team someone else created? I literally knew nothing about the team or why it looked like it did, 'cept for the fact that I eventually figured out how to play it. What I'm trying to say is that I decided that creating a team of my own would be far more beneficial for me and my knowledge of Showdown in general. So, here we go. The team has actually done quite well (for a noob, that is), surfacing around ~1600s. Here's the team in whole:
Let's hope it looks good thus far. A very blue-ish team. How did I come up with this team? Not sure. I don't have any previous knowledge in creating teams, but I happened to know that I wanted Ditto. Lacus' team (as I refered to earlier) had a Ditto, which I found very useful. Most people run either Ekiller, Xerneas, Salamence (50/50 for me if they happen to run Return/Frustration) or pretty much any other booster. Either if they play carefully knowing that I have Ditto, i.e. not boosting their Pokémon, or if they just don't know the power of Ditto, Ditto will be useful. If they boost, Ditto will revenge kill and might even sweep a couple of more mons. If they don't, Ditto will stay happy (despite his 0 happiness) because he's doing work holding the boosters off their true power.
I'll carry on explaining why I chose each Pokémon further down as we get to each one.
Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
Happiness: 0
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Transform
- Transform
- Transform
- Transform
First off, Transform. His main stab move, needless to say. Heading forward to his coverage move, Transform. Essential for Ditto, I would say. Why not throw in a couple of more Transforms while we're on it? Okay lame, I'll stop. Explained in the paragraph above. Choice Scarf because I happen to despise speed ties. HP/Def EVs to, for example, survive Ekillers if they're at full health and need two hits to go down. 0 Happiness because most people run Frustration over Return (since they heard it counters Ditto).
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Toxic
- Gyro Ball
I always thought Bronzong was an interesting Pokémon. Works as one of my defensive gadgets. Checks Pokémon like Mega-Diancie, Xerneas, Mewtwo (mainly X and Y), Ekiller and Deoxys-Attack. As for the move set: sets up Stealth Rock when he gets the chance. Toxic/Protect, pretty self-explanatory. Gyro Ball for Diancie/Xerneas and taunters. It also does great work vs. a lot of normal threats with speed. HP/SpD EVs to be able to take care of threats like Latias/Latios and Shaymin-Sky, while taking even less damage from Xerneas/Diancie if they stay in. Leftovers for recovery (together with protect it very often turns a 2HKO into a 3HKO). I have Levitate as ability at the moment, but I'm really thinking of changing it to Heatproof since most people expect it to be Levitate. I'm not sure though if it's worth the risk, since I've encountered some people who like to waste a turn making sure it's Levitate by using a ground move. What do you guys think?
Kyogre-Primal @ Blue Orb
Ability: Primordial Sea
EVs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
I wanted to get in on the fun that is Primal, so why not get Kyogre. Very viable damage dealer, whilst also being able to survive a couple of hits. Scald and Ice Beam is basically all it needs to serve its designated purpose on this team, in terms of damage dealing abilities. Sleep Talk; not only to tank Darkrai's Dark Void, but to together with Rest give it a great way of recovering and nullifying status conditions whilst still being able to go at it. HP/Def to make it as tanky as possible, since Primordial Sea takes care of the damage part. Bold to help it even more when it goes to fight with Groudon switch-ins, for example.
Lugia @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Toxic
- Ice Beam
My second defensive force. I've always really disliked going up against Lugia. Reason: Multiscale. So why not go for it myself. Checks mons like Ho-Oh, Groudon-Primal. I outspeed both Ho-Oh and Groudon, so a switch-in doesn't cost me too much since I can Recover (with Leftovers) to eventually get back up to full health to activate Multiscale, even if rocks are up. Here comes the problem though. Although I haven't found it to be too huge of a problem, a friend of mine told me that one weakness of my team was that it had no Defogger and that it kind of ruins Lugia's strength. Of course it does, but I somehow managed to do well without having Defog. What do you think? I'll get more to it when I get to Arceus-Ground. As for EVs I go for HP and split the rest between Def and Spe. I outspeed Adamant Rayquaza with my 290 Spe, while still being tanky enough to be satisfied myself, thanks to having Bold nature.
Arceus-Ground @ Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
So. I love having my Arceus-Ground as a special attacker (and not a usual Def/HP tank), and it's doing great loads of work. Judgment and Ice Beam are quite standard, I guess. Both making it an incredible check for Groudon, Shaymin-Sky, Salamence and Rayquaza. With SpA in focus I 2HKO most Yveltals and I think every viable Gengar with Ice Beam (who tries to be smart not mega-evolving when Will-O-Wisping). Flamethrower to help deal with Scizor/Genesect or just a Bronzong switch-in. As I talked about earlier in my description of Lugia, here comes the dilemma. I'm as I've mentioned very satisfied with having Arceus as SpA, and putting Defog on it will make it far too slow. Do I need Defog badly enough to make it HP/Def/Spe and skip SpA, while also losing my Scizor/Genesect/Bronzong check with Flamethrower? Please share your thoughts on this. As for Nature I go with Timid to outspeed Groudon/Ho-Oh.
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 184 HP / 28 Def / 252 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Geomancy
- Aromatherapy
- Focus Blast
We have arrived at my last slot. Is it an obvious choice? It felt obvious, for some reason. A dragon killer was something to be found, and indeed it was found. Also needed something to handle Dark types, since both my defensive gadgets happen to be Psychic. Going with a quite standard set of abilities. I decided since I don't have any priority moves on this team that I wanted something strong and game breaking, which Xerneas happens to be. Therefore I went the Geomancy route. Moonblast, a necessity. Focus Blast to be able to take down Steel types, but also to be able to break down some threats that resist Moonblast when Xerneas won't live to get to use two Moonblasts. Aromatherapy, not only because I can help my team out of status conditions, but to help Xerneas out of them when he's up against some stall-ish Pokémon that thinks that everything will be fine now that they got a paralyze on it (Sequence: 1) Xer: Geomancy, Other: Paralyze; 2) Xer: Aromatherapy, Other: *whatever it decides to do, usually not another status condition*; 3) Xer: Moonblast/Focus Blast, Other: Probably dead.). Does a lot of work against Darkrai (having had Kyogre put to sleep, hopefully), Yveltal and even Mewtwo X, but also poses a big threat overall. Works perfectly as a revenge killer as well (while setting up at the same time), even if it doesn't have a priority move. 44 Spe to outspeed Genesect with Scarf when having Geomancy up. Full SpA for obvious reasons. 184 HP/28 Def to survive hits to be able to set up. Modest Nature for obvious reasons.
There we go. That's the team. Most of the EVs were taken from Smogon, since I didn't know too much about that stuff when I created the team. I've learnt a lot though and I also now know exactly why I have these certain EVs and natures. Progress!
So two questions were raised by me throughout the walkthrough:
Q1: Is it worth the risk to go Fireproof on Bronzong?
Q2: Do I need Defog? Is it really worth slowing down my Arceus-Ground and making it defensive (when it's really helping me loads by being SpA) to get Defog?
A third question also comes to mind now.
Q3: Is it essential to have a priority move on your team? Rather, do I need a priority move?
Funny enough, it just hit me now after playing with the team for two days: I have no physical sweeper. I guess that's saying something about my experience in Pokémon.
Q4: Do I need a physical damage dealer?
Kyogre-Primal (with Rest/Sleep Talk)
I don't really have a steady switch-in for this one. I have my own, so it usually just goes face to face with it and I hope to get a switch in to Xerneas or something when it's about to rest. I think it's more of a problem theoretically than it actually has been practically.
Mega-Gengar
No real good switch-ins here either. I actually haven't had a too big of a problem here, yet, but I can definitely see it becoming a problem. I usually fish with Arc-Ground to get it to Will-o-Wisp me (if it's the WoW version) so I get a free Ice Beam off on it, which takes it to 50%. Then I definitely have to switch out since Hex will sweep. Then it no longer is a too big threat. And I guess Arc-Ground also manages to handle other version of Gengar as well, keeping it out of Mega form and also threatening 2HKO with Ice Beam.
Darkrai (with Substitute/Nasty Plot - can get to be a problem)
With a misplay on my part (or if Sleep Talk on Kyogre just decides to Rest when he sets up Substitute... that's why I usually switch out from Kyogre when he's put to sleep) this could definitely sweep my whole team. Will have to sacrifice large portions of my team just to get that Substitute off.
Chansey (since I have no physical sweeper or taunter, it could cause trouble)
Haven't been up against too many Chanseys, but I can see why it would be a problem.
That's it for now. Thank you for checking out my team and reading what I had to say. I very much look forward to your advice and observations.
I'm fairly new to Pokémon in general. Played some when I was younger, but started playing Showdown a couple of weeks ago when a friend told me about it. I started by playing OU, but a few days ago I decided to try out Ubers. Tried out some old teams from the RMT (for example Lacus' old team, as some liked to call it whenever they faced me), which went exceptionally well the first day I played I have to say (got to ~1790, which later on sadly went downhill as I started making too many mistakes and had a dip). However, what good is it to play a team someone else created? I literally knew nothing about the team or why it looked like it did, 'cept for the fact that I eventually figured out how to play it. What I'm trying to say is that I decided that creating a team of my own would be far more beneficial for me and my knowledge of Showdown in general. So, here we go. The team has actually done quite well (for a noob, that is), surfacing around ~1600s. Here's the team in whole:
Let's hope it looks good thus far. A very blue-ish team. How did I come up with this team? Not sure. I don't have any previous knowledge in creating teams, but I happened to know that I wanted Ditto. Lacus' team (as I refered to earlier) had a Ditto, which I found very useful. Most people run either Ekiller, Xerneas, Salamence (50/50 for me if they happen to run Return/Frustration) or pretty much any other booster. Either if they play carefully knowing that I have Ditto, i.e. not boosting their Pokémon, or if they just don't know the power of Ditto, Ditto will be useful. If they boost, Ditto will revenge kill and might even sweep a couple of more mons. If they don't, Ditto will stay happy (despite his 0 happiness) because he's doing work holding the boosters off their true power.
I'll carry on explaining why I chose each Pokémon further down as we get to each one.
Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
Happiness: 0
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Transform
- Transform
- Transform
- Transform
First off, Transform. His main stab move, needless to say. Heading forward to his coverage move, Transform. Essential for Ditto, I would say. Why not throw in a couple of more Transforms while we're on it? Okay lame, I'll stop. Explained in the paragraph above. Choice Scarf because I happen to despise speed ties. HP/Def EVs to, for example, survive Ekillers if they're at full health and need two hits to go down. 0 Happiness because most people run Frustration over Return (since they heard it counters Ditto).
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Toxic
- Gyro Ball
I always thought Bronzong was an interesting Pokémon. Works as one of my defensive gadgets. Checks Pokémon like Mega-Diancie, Xerneas, Mewtwo (mainly X and Y), Ekiller and Deoxys-Attack. As for the move set: sets up Stealth Rock when he gets the chance. Toxic/Protect, pretty self-explanatory. Gyro Ball for Diancie/Xerneas and taunters. It also does great work vs. a lot of normal threats with speed. HP/SpD EVs to be able to take care of threats like Latias/Latios and Shaymin-Sky, while taking even less damage from Xerneas/Diancie if they stay in. Leftovers for recovery (together with protect it very often turns a 2HKO into a 3HKO). I have Levitate as ability at the moment, but I'm really thinking of changing it to Heatproof since most people expect it to be Levitate. I'm not sure though if it's worth the risk, since I've encountered some people who like to waste a turn making sure it's Levitate by using a ground move. What do you guys think?
Kyogre-Primal @ Blue Orb
Ability: Primordial Sea
EVs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
I wanted to get in on the fun that is Primal, so why not get Kyogre. Very viable damage dealer, whilst also being able to survive a couple of hits. Scald and Ice Beam is basically all it needs to serve its designated purpose on this team, in terms of damage dealing abilities. Sleep Talk; not only to tank Darkrai's Dark Void, but to together with Rest give it a great way of recovering and nullifying status conditions whilst still being able to go at it. HP/Def to make it as tanky as possible, since Primordial Sea takes care of the damage part. Bold to help it even more when it goes to fight with Groudon switch-ins, for example.
Lugia @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Toxic
- Ice Beam
My second defensive force. I've always really disliked going up against Lugia. Reason: Multiscale. So why not go for it myself. Checks mons like Ho-Oh, Groudon-Primal. I outspeed both Ho-Oh and Groudon, so a switch-in doesn't cost me too much since I can Recover (with Leftovers) to eventually get back up to full health to activate Multiscale, even if rocks are up. Here comes the problem though. Although I haven't found it to be too huge of a problem, a friend of mine told me that one weakness of my team was that it had no Defogger and that it kind of ruins Lugia's strength. Of course it does, but I somehow managed to do well without having Defog. What do you think? I'll get more to it when I get to Arceus-Ground. As for EVs I go for HP and split the rest between Def and Spe. I outspeed Adamant Rayquaza with my 290 Spe, while still being tanky enough to be satisfied myself, thanks to having Bold nature.
Arceus-Ground @ Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
So. I love having my Arceus-Ground as a special attacker (and not a usual Def/HP tank), and it's doing great loads of work. Judgment and Ice Beam are quite standard, I guess. Both making it an incredible check for Groudon, Shaymin-Sky, Salamence and Rayquaza. With SpA in focus I 2HKO most Yveltals and I think every viable Gengar with Ice Beam (who tries to be smart not mega-evolving when Will-O-Wisping). Flamethrower to help deal with Scizor/Genesect or just a Bronzong switch-in. As I talked about earlier in my description of Lugia, here comes the dilemma. I'm as I've mentioned very satisfied with having Arceus as SpA, and putting Defog on it will make it far too slow. Do I need Defog badly enough to make it HP/Def/Spe and skip SpA, while also losing my Scizor/Genesect/Bronzong check with Flamethrower? Please share your thoughts on this. As for Nature I go with Timid to outspeed Groudon/Ho-Oh.
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 184 HP / 28 Def / 252 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Geomancy
- Aromatherapy
- Focus Blast
We have arrived at my last slot. Is it an obvious choice? It felt obvious, for some reason. A dragon killer was something to be found, and indeed it was found. Also needed something to handle Dark types, since both my defensive gadgets happen to be Psychic. Going with a quite standard set of abilities. I decided since I don't have any priority moves on this team that I wanted something strong and game breaking, which Xerneas happens to be. Therefore I went the Geomancy route. Moonblast, a necessity. Focus Blast to be able to take down Steel types, but also to be able to break down some threats that resist Moonblast when Xerneas won't live to get to use two Moonblasts. Aromatherapy, not only because I can help my team out of status conditions, but to help Xerneas out of them when he's up against some stall-ish Pokémon that thinks that everything will be fine now that they got a paralyze on it (Sequence: 1) Xer: Geomancy, Other: Paralyze; 2) Xer: Aromatherapy, Other: *whatever it decides to do, usually not another status condition*; 3) Xer: Moonblast/Focus Blast, Other: Probably dead.). Does a lot of work against Darkrai (having had Kyogre put to sleep, hopefully), Yveltal and even Mewtwo X, but also poses a big threat overall. Works perfectly as a revenge killer as well (while setting up at the same time), even if it doesn't have a priority move. 44 Spe to outspeed Genesect with Scarf when having Geomancy up. Full SpA for obvious reasons. 184 HP/28 Def to survive hits to be able to set up. Modest Nature for obvious reasons.
~~~
There we go. That's the team. Most of the EVs were taken from Smogon, since I didn't know too much about that stuff when I created the team. I've learnt a lot though and I also now know exactly why I have these certain EVs and natures. Progress!
So two questions were raised by me throughout the walkthrough:
Q1: Is it worth the risk to go Fireproof on Bronzong?
Q2: Do I need Defog? Is it really worth slowing down my Arceus-Ground and making it defensive (when it's really helping me loads by being SpA) to get Defog?
A third question also comes to mind now.
Q3: Is it essential to have a priority move on your team? Rather, do I need a priority move?
Funny enough, it just hit me now after playing with the team for two days: I have no physical sweeper. I guess that's saying something about my experience in Pokémon.
Q4: Do I need a physical damage dealer?
Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
Happiness: 0
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Transform
- Transform
- Transform
- Transform
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Toxic
- Gyro Ball
Kyogre-Primal @ Blue Orb
Ability: Primordial Sea
EVs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Lugia @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Toxic
- Ice Beam
Arceus-Ground @ Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 184 HP / 28 Def / 252 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Geomancy
- Aromatherapy
- Focus Blast
Ability: Imposter
Happiness: 0
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Transform
- Transform
- Transform
- Transform
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Toxic
- Gyro Ball
Kyogre-Primal @ Blue Orb
Ability: Primordial Sea
EVs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Lugia @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Toxic
- Ice Beam
Arceus-Ground @ Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 184 HP / 28 Def / 252 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Geomancy
- Aromatherapy
- Focus Blast
Kyogre-Primal (with Rest/Sleep Talk)
I don't really have a steady switch-in for this one. I have my own, so it usually just goes face to face with it and I hope to get a switch in to Xerneas or something when it's about to rest. I think it's more of a problem theoretically than it actually has been practically.
Mega-Gengar
No real good switch-ins here either. I actually haven't had a too big of a problem here, yet, but I can definitely see it becoming a problem. I usually fish with Arc-Ground to get it to Will-o-Wisp me (if it's the WoW version) so I get a free Ice Beam off on it, which takes it to 50%. Then I definitely have to switch out since Hex will sweep. Then it no longer is a too big threat. And I guess Arc-Ground also manages to handle other version of Gengar as well, keeping it out of Mega form and also threatening 2HKO with Ice Beam.
Darkrai (with Substitute/Nasty Plot - can get to be a problem)
With a misplay on my part (or if Sleep Talk on Kyogre just decides to Rest when he sets up Substitute... that's why I usually switch out from Kyogre when he's put to sleep) this could definitely sweep my whole team. Will have to sacrifice large portions of my team just to get that Substitute off.
Chansey (since I have no physical sweeper or taunter, it could cause trouble)
Haven't been up against too many Chanseys, but I can see why it would be a problem.
~~~
That's it for now. Thank you for checking out my team and reading what I had to say. I very much look forward to your advice and observations.
Last edited:
