My first "real" competitive team

[Zorua101]

So, yeah. As the title states, this is my first "real" competitive team - as in, it's the first team that I've actually hatched from eggs with the right IVs and natures, and then EV trained them. I hope it's at least OK. It works pretty well against my friend and my sisters, but they don't really EV train their Pokemon or breed for the right natures, so beating them probably doesn't count for much.
Anyway, here's the team...

Aerodactyl @ Life Orb
Adamant/Pressure
252 atk/200 spe/25 def/33 sp. def
-Fire Fang
-Crunch
-Stone Edge
-Taunt

First of all, there's my anti-lead, Aerodactyl. I took note of the fact that Foretress and Skarmory are popular leads, while Talonflame and Starmie are commonly used as anti-leads. Fire Blast and Flamethrower are both a lot more powerful than Fire Fang (which was, obviously, put there since a lot of popular leads are Steel-type (like Klefki)), but he has an adamant nature, so Fire Fang is most likely a better choice for me, especially since Aerodactyl's attack is higher than it's special attack. Crunch is there for Starmie and any other Psychic or Ghost-type Pokemon I come across, and Stone Edge is to handle Talonflame (or any other Flying-types which are commonly used, such as Crobat). Taunt can be used first to stop the lead from setting up Spikes or Stealth Rock.

Espeon @ Light Clay
Timid/Synchronize
200 spe/155 def/155 sp. def
-Light Screen
-Reflect
-Baton Pass
-Dazzling Gleam

Espeon is really just a supporting member of the team. His high speed allows him to set up Light Screen and Reflect quickly, while his defences allow him to take one or two attacks. If he lasts, he can either switch out with Baton Pass or just switch out if he has to. Dazzling Gleam is just there because he needs at least one attacking move (just in case he's ever the last one remaining on the team), and I chose this move in particular because Fairy has nothing which is immune to it, and the only things it's not very effective against are Fire, Poison and Steel, only one of which is commonly used outside of lead Pokemon (Fire).

Azumarill @ Leftovers
Relaxed/Thick Fat
252 def/252 sp. def/6 HP
-Aqua Ring
-Play Rough
-Surf
-Ice Beam

Azumarill is sort of a mixed wall. He makes a good one, because he only has three type weaknesses, and has a pretty good HP stat (even without much EV training in that area). The Aqua Ring + Leftovers combination allows him to regain quite a bit of HP every turn. His special attack is better than his attack stat, oddly enough, so he knows Surf and Ice Beam. Surf gets a STAB, while Ice Beam handles his Grass weakness. Play Rough also gets a STAB, and while it's a physical attack, it can still do quite a bit of damage.

Dragonite @ Muscle Band
Adamant/Inner Focus
252 atk/252 spe/6 HP
-Steel Wing
-Dragon Rush
-Agility
-Waterfall

Dragonite is the team's physical sweeper. She holds the Muscle Band for the same reason Roserade holds the Wise Glasses. Dragon Rush is a good STAB move, and I prefer it over Outrage because it doesn't cause confusion (I just can't stand confusion). Steel Wing covers both Fairy and Ice types. Agility covers Dragonite's low speed, and Waterfall is a powerful, physical Water-type move. She could also be considered kind of a tank, because even without full EV training in HP, she can take attacks pretty well (except Ice-type ones).

Roserade @ Wise Glasses
Rash/Natural Cure
252 sp. atk/252 spe/6 sp. def
-Energy Ball
-Shadow Ball
-Sludge Bomb
-Hyper Beam

Roserade is the team's special sweeper. Energy Ball and Sludge bomb get powerful STABs, while Shadow Ball covers his Psychic-type weakness, and Hyper Beam is one of the most powerful special attacks (but I may still replace it with Hidden Power if his Hidden Power type isn't something completely useless). The Wise Glasses boost the power of all his attacks - only by a little bit, but still enough. Natural Cure was just bad luck on my part (I would've preferred Poison Point, but I can live with Natural Cure). He has a rash nature because I couldn't seem to get a Pokemon in the right egg group with a modest nature, and his sp. def is pretty high anyway.

Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Careful/Sand Stream
252 atk/150 def/108 sp. def
-Crunch
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-Dragon Claw

Finally, there's the team's "tank", Tyranitar. I think the reason she holds the Tyranitarite is pretty clear. Her high attack stat makes all of her moves pretty devastating. Stone Edge and Crunch are good STAB moves, Earthquake is another powerful move (even though it doesn't get a STAB), and Dragon Claw is to take out anything all her other moves can't take out.


So, I hope it's good enough. Don't forget, this is only my first time building a competitive team!

 

[Oranos]

So the first thing I usually do when making a team is run a check with this team building tool to make sure I don't have any glaring weaknesses in my composition. A quick check with this team reveals that you get hit hard by ice attacks (I'm pretty sure choice scarf ice beam genosect can outspeed and 1HKO, or massively dent, most of your team), steel attacks (really big considering all the bullet punches flying around this gen), and rock (less of a big deal, but still, stealth rock is a thing). I try to set it up to where I always have more resistances to any one element than weaknesses, or at least have even amounts. You really don't want to have weaknesses on your team that you cant resist with another mon, especially 3 of them (and on multiple mons too!). I would shuffle around the composition a bit until you pass the "Marriland team builder test" (it doesn't work properly with fairies, keep that in mind).

Aerodactyl: replacing him with heatran immediately solves a bunch of issues with the team. You get an ice resistant/steel resistant tank, who can give you stealth rocks and phasing (roar), plus burn support. His weaknesses are all covered by other members of the team.

Espeon: So the thing about dual screens; they're great on a hyper offense team, and pretty lackluster on more balanced teams. The idea behind hyper offense is that you set up screens, and then use a pokemon that knows a set up move like swords dance/dragon dance/shell smash/etc..., the screens will let the pokemon live long enough to boost himself, and eventually you overwhelm your opponent with multiple offensive setters acting under screens. The problem with using screens when you AREN'T running hyper offense is that you're essentially taking an entire pokemon out of your lineup to set up screens that aren't really essential to your victory. Obviously taking half damage from things doesn't hurt, but most opponents will run defog (which removes both screens in one go), and will quickly eliminate them. Defog isn't as big of a deal in hyper offense because by the time they've used it, you will already have boosted a sweeper at least once, but on a normal team, not so much... If you're set on espeon I would go for a max speed/SpAttk build with psyshock/dazzling gleam/calm mind/signal beam. But in all honesty there are psychics that do a much better job (alakazam, azelf, lati@s).

Azumarill: Run belly drum over aqua ring. You won't get it off very often, but aqua ring amounts to a wasted turn since azumarill isn't tanky enough to be a true wall (aqua ring provides such a nominal amount of healing that it's only used on things like toxic stall, and even there there are usually much better options). But Azu is bulky enough to possibly belly drum and survive. The +6 aqua jet will 1HKO the vast majority of the meta and is quite difficult to stop. Remember to eliminate any extreme speed users beforehand. Oh and speaking of that, run aqua jet over surf, because +1 priority is amazing.

Dragonite: Ok, if dragonite is going to be a sweeper then it should be running dragon dance (infinitely better than agility for obvious reasons), extreme speed (because going faster than almost anything in the game is a very good things for a sweper to be able to do), dragon claw (I wouldn't use a 75% accuracy move unless it had way more power than 100, it isn't even close to worth the trade off). The last move can be kept as waterfall, or maybe changed to fire punch (I prefer punch, it handles steel types nicely), or earthquake, or roost. I would go with leftovers as an item and keep the EVs the same.

Roserade: Wow I didn't realize that this was an in-game team until I read this description hahaha, so some of my above suggestions will have to wait until pokebank. Anyhow, give roserade choice specs instead of wise glasses. You want it to be able to hit like a monster, and wise glasses really aren't enough to get the job done. You will use roserade to break down any walls your opponent has.

Tyranitar: You didn't mention the EV's but I would go with 252 HP and 252 attack here, and make it a bulky offensive mon. While ttar isn't the best mega, if it's what you have it will get the job done. Personally I think mega lucario would be great here (it's remarkable that you've put the team together without a single steel type haha, it gives you leeway in adding them in), as you have good defensive mon for ground/fighting/fire. It can do way more damage than tryanitar with significantly more speed (including the plethora of priority attacks he has available). But if you do stick with ttar, I don't see anything wrong with his build if you're going for a bulky offensive mon.

Ya so sorry for not realizing this was an in-game team for so long (they really should have separate tags or something). Until you can import heatran you can just pick your favorite steel placeholder (klefki could work well here, as some of your slower mons would appreciate thunder wave support). You could also use skarmory instead of aerodactyl. It isn't as good as heatran for this team, but you would get defog (pretty essential with dragonite) and a very bulky tank. Overall I would just try to shore up those elemental weaknesses and get a defog/rapid spinner in there (I think Aerodactyl and espeon are the weakest links, take those two out for replacements as you breed them). Best of luck!

 

[BenTheDemon]

Most of us use a simulator, so it's not really worth it to have those abilities and items.
Azumarill is less than shit without Huge Power, Multiscale is what makes Dragonite great instead of an inferior Salamence, and Espeon only sees usage because of Magic Bounce. The items are also pretty fucked up.
If you're gonna use Aerodactyl in OU, use the Mega-Forme. Light Clay on Espeon is OK. Muscle Band and Wise Glasses are terrible items, and Tyranitar's Sand is more of a liability to this team than an asset, so I'd highly recommend choosing another teammate.
Finally, Hyper Beam is a candidate for one of the worst moves around.
I'm not trying to shit on you or your team; I'm just providing constructive criticism. The team as it stands will not last in any serious OU environment. Start with the changes I've stated, and we can get to work.

 

[Zorua101]

Thanks, guys. :) I'll probably replace Aerodactyl with Klefki (because I don't want to restart White 2 or Platinum just to get a Heatran with the right nature), and I'll try to find a fast Pokemon with high defences that can learn Defog (better than Rapid Spin and Brick Break in my opinion, since it can get rid of Light Screen, Reflect, Spikes, Toxic Spikes, Stealth Rock, and also lowers the foe's evasiveness all in one go). I'll check Roserade's Hidden Power type in a minute, and if it's good enough (like a Fire or Rock type Hidden Power), then I'll replace Hyper Beam. If not, then I can probably find something better. I don't see how Hyper Beam is bad, though, since it has 150 BP and most people don't really seem to care about charge/recharge turns. By the way, BenTheDemon, I'm not using Aerodactyl in OU, it's an in-game team for Pokemon X. Getting the right IVs on Azumarill was hard enough, I'm not about to go back and redo all the breeding and EV training just for something as insignificant (in this case) as an ability. I don't have a hidden ability Dratini/Dragonair/Dragonite, so I can't get a Multiscale Dragonite. I can replace Aqua Ring with Belly Drum easily enough, and teaching him Aqua Jet will be no problem, although he's supposed to be more defensive than offensive. Roserade's Wise Glasses can be replaced with the Choice Specs, I suppose, but I may have to switch him out so that he can use more than one move (I hate it when my move choices are limited - and what if I use Sludge Bomb and my opponent switches in a Steel Type?). I could give Dragonite a Choice Band or a Life Orb. Thanks for reminding me that I forgot to include Tyranitar's EVs, I'll edit the first post once I'm done typing this. And Tyranitar is sort of a last resort, or the last thing I send out in a battle, so that her Sand Stream ability doesn't hurt the others on the team. But if I need to, I could replace her with Mega Lucario. Again, thanks for the advice. :)

Edit: Roserade's Hidden Power is Ice-type. I'm not sure whether I should use HP or Dazzling Gleam (Hidden Power has better type coverage, but Dazzling Gleam is more powerful).

 

[Ender Wiggin]

HP Ice is one of the best. Also about the Specs; tagging in and out is a huge part of the game. Strategize and try to predict opposing tags with the Specs and the added boost will let you KO much easier.

Abilities single handedly make crappy pokemon good and vise versa. Azumaril is really bad without huge power because then it's attack is awful.
252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 306-360 (79.2 - 93.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Azumarill Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 152-182 (39.3 - 47.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Superpower vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 578-680 (80.9 - 95.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Azumarill Superpower vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 290-342 (40.6 - 47.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Sylveon: 255-300 (64.7 - 76.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Azumarill Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Sylveon: 127-151 (32.2 - 38.3%) -- 1.5% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

See the difference huge power makes on Azumaril against some of the better walls? Hyper Beams need to recharge is what makes it so bad. 150 without STAB (same type attack bonus) is nice but compared to something that has STAB like sludge bomb 135 with no recharge is vastly superior. And the main reason for non-STAB attacks is coverage. Hyper Beam has none .Defensive Azumaril is gonna do next to nothing for you considering it's mediocre defensive stats and really bad defensive movepool.

Dragonite without multiscale as stated above makes it an inferior salamance. Multiscale is the only reason to run dragonite.

Put Tyranitars into HP instead of the defensive stats. This allows it to take both kinds of hits better without spreading out defenses.

 

[Trickzumarill]

If you cannot get multi scale dragonite, use salamence instead. Also if your going with a duel-screens espeon or almost any duel screener for that matter then you need to give it max Hp evs. Since all status attacks will be bounced back, your opponent will just attack it so it needs more bulk and it already has good SpD so don't invest that much in that. It's Hp and Def stats are low so they need the ev's in this situation to give it better mixed bulk.

 

[Derpylink]

i woulnt run espeon without magic bounce

 

[Zorua101]

I still don't have a Dratini/Dragonair/Dragonite with Multiscale, so I'm afraid it's completely impossible for me to get a Multiscale Dragonite. I can't find a Bagon - I know where to get one, but I can't seem to find one. And no way am I doing all that breeding and EV training all over again, Dratini eggs take ages to hatch. Same with Bagon eggs.
How does this team sound?

Klefki @ Air Balloon
Careful/Prankster
200 def/200 sp. def/104 atk
-Thunder Wave
-Swagger
-Foul Play
-Crafty Shield

Azumarill @ Leftovers
Brave/Huge Power
252 atk/252 HP/6 sp. def
-Belly Drum
-Aqua Jet
-Play Rough
-Power-Up Punch

Dragonite @ Choice Band
Adamant/Inner Focus
252 atk/252 spe/6 HP
-Dragon Dance
-Dragon Claw
-Extreme Speed
-Fire Punch

Roserade @ Choice Specs
Rash/Natural Cure
252 sp. atk/252 spe/6 sp. def
-Energy Ball
-Shadow Ball
-Sludge Bomb
-Hidden Power Ice

Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Careful/Sand Stream
252 atk/252 HP/6 sp. def
-Crunch
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-Dragon Claw

Blaziken @ Life Orb
Mild/Speed Boost
200 atk/200 sp. atk/104 spe
-Flamethrower
-Poison Jab
-Stone Edge
-Focus Blast

 

[Trickzumarill]

Blaziken is banned in OU

 

[Ender Wiggin]

On Klefki cut crafty shield for substitute give it leftovers over Azumaril as it needs them for it to work and for EVs you want.
200 HP / 252 Def / 56 Spdef and a Bold Nature. This will give you maximum leftover recovery. Foul play uses your opponents attack stat. That's why it's so good with swagger. You have no need for attack EVs.

And yeah blaziken is banned because of speed boost.

 

[RotomPoison]

While I can give you a HA Dratini in-game, most people use Showdown, so they assume this team is perfect in terms of IVs, natures, and everything else. Also, how did no one notice the EVs in the OP weren't multiples of 4?

http://www.smogon.com/dp/articles/intro_comp_pokemon explains most of the basics, though it's a bit outdated. Almost anyone here would help you with any questions if you PM them.

As for this team, going off post 8, I think you should change what you see fit after reading the intro, then post results, then we can help you more after that.

 

[Zorua101]

I just did a quick PC box scan and found out that I actually do have a Marvel Scale Dratini which I got from wonder trade a while ago. It's female, too, meaning that it's easy to breed more Marvel Scale Dratini. I decided to replace Dragonite after all.
I thought that it was obvious by a few other posts in this thread that this is an in-game team, but obviously not. XD I'm not using Blaziken in OU, or any other tier for that matter, this is a team for Pokemon X, and I'm reasonably sure that in-game Wifi battles don't include tiers. (I hope that didn't sound rude).
I always thought Subsitute was a pretty useless move. It only has as much HP as the user lost, which generally means it gets broken after one hit (especially in competitive battles), making it basically pointless. I could EV train it in sp. atk and give it Flash Cannon or something, though, but Crafty Shield would protect from entry hazards (I think).
I only have one Leftovers and I can't think of anything else for Azumarill. Maybe I could give it the Shell Bell? Swagger + Foul Play does a lot of damage, so it could potentially heal quite a lot of Klefki's health.

 

[Ender Wiggin]

It needs leftovers to function.

Substitute blocks status moves and combined with t-wave and swagger is an added layer of protection And how would crafty shield protect from hazards o.o

Mystic Water wouldn't be to bad on Azumaril. With belly drum Sitrus Berry is a really good option.

 

[Zorua101]

Aren't the entry hazards technically status moves, since they fall into that category? But I guess I'll use Subsitute instead anyway, because it will work better with the Leftovers, and the Sitrus Berry Azumarill idea is really good.
On a side note, does anyone know where on this forum to post individual Pokemon ideas rather than full teams?

 

[Ender Wiggin]

How would a move block damage before it can be used or am I missing something?

http://www.smogon.com/forums/forums/overused.281/

Go to the correct thread for said pokemon in here.

 

[Zorua101]

I don't think that Crafty Shield blocks damaging attacks, only status moves like Thunder Wave and Feather Dance. I'm not 100% sure whether it blocks entry hazards or not, but I'm sure it blocks status moves.
Thanks for the link. ^^

 

[Zorua101]

I just realized that I should remove the Choice Band from Dragonite because of Dragon Dance and replace it with the Life Orb or something. Either that or replace Dragon Dance with Steel Wing (which I think is really good on Dragonite since it's super effective against both Ice and Fairy).

 

[AustinJ]

It's kind of hard to make suggestions of adding/removing pokes since this is not an OU team or any tier team for that matter. If all you want is to win regardless of tiers, just use 6 ubers... Anyways, most of the movesets/EV spreads/natures are not the best, if you want an idea on what movesets or EV spreads to use, I recommend going to 6th generation contributions forums and reading the OU analysis. For example, on Mega Tyranitar, a Jolly Dragon Dance Mega Tyranitar is the best way to go, or if you want to keep it this way, use Ice Punch over Dragon Claw for coverage against Gliscor and Landorus. On Azumarill, power up punch is pretty redundant with belly drum. I'd recommend either Waterfall or Superpower over Power Up Punch. Your Blaziken, despite it being banned but seeing you don't care, shouldn't have those SpA EVs, instead running 252 Att / 252 Spe / filler since his attack stat is much better. The moveset should be High Jump Kick / Flare Blitz / Swords Dance / Protect to gain a free +1 speed boost.

 

[Zorua101]

I think I'll use Ice Punch over Dragon Claw instead of going back and re-doing the whole thing... that Larvitar was a nightmare to hatch. The question is how I'm supposed to actually get Tyranitar to learn Ice Punch in generation 6. Ice Fang might be a better decision, actually, since there aren't any "real" move tutors in X and Y.
Superpower would reduce Azumarill's attack, making the whole Belly Drum thing pretty pointless. I'll probably use something other than Waterfall, though, since it already has a Water-type attack. Brick Break, perhaps? Even weaker moves like Rock Smash can do some damage with a +6 attack boost.
With Blaziken, I was kind of trying to make it a mixed sweeper, since the team already has Tyranitar, Dragonite, and Azumarill to cover the physical half, while only Roserade covers the special half. It does have a better attack stat, I'll admit, but it has good special attack, too, and a mild nature will boost its special attack without lowering its attack at all.