Your signature in-game team

[Wukong]

I tried to resurrect a couple in-game team threads and came up with an idea. I'd be interested to hear what other people think is their signature in-game team from a mainline playthrough. It could be your favorite team from your favorite game, or just a team that was especially memorable or enjoyable to play with. As a plus, try to think of what your signature or "ace" Pokémon from that team was (the Garchomp to your Cynthia, the Metagross to your Steven) to add a little more flavor to this thread. Try to also explain why this particular team is your signature one over others, perhaps explaining the composition or particular traits of the Pokémon, to keep this from being too PC++. With that said here's my team:

Infernape, Floatzel, Tangrowth, Luxray, Staraptor, Glaceon from Platinum

This team checks a lot of boxes for me. Platinum is my favorite game. The team matches up well against Cynthia. There's a nice FWG core there. No overlapping types. All Sinnoh Pokemon (I consider Tangela Kanto and Tangrowth Sinnoh, for example, though definitions may vary). I could also get everyone on this team before the fifth gym, which isn't too late. Three 3 stage evo's, three 2 stage evo's. By extension, three medium fast EXP mons, three medium slow EXP ones (I usually don't like other EXP groups, they're either too weird like Erratic or Fluctuating, or too tilted in one direction vs the other like Fast or Slow). Some people may think this is weird but I also like how the only OU Pokémon from that gen on my team is Infernape. Staraptor is UUBL, Tangrowth is UU, and the rest are NU. That gives them an underdog feel compared to Cynthia's team of two UU's, three OU's and one Uber. I know that seems weird but it fits a certain underdog narrative in my head.

As far as moves, by end game (ie post game) I had a nice balance of four mixed attackers, one special attacker (Glaceon) and one physical attacker (Staraptor). My Tangrowth was pure special before post game, but it got the right moves and had the stats to go mixed afterwards. My team could also handle the notorious number of HM's for Mt. Coronet and Victory Road by themselves without assistance from Bidoof/Bibarel, which was nice because I didn't want to have to keep swapping them in and out.

My ace of this team was Infernape for sure. Performs exceptionally well in-game (probably the best in-game starter performance after Swampert in RSE), great Platinum sprite, and the only OU mon on the team as stated before, and lives up to it. It's also the only dual type on my team other than Staraptor, who may as well be pure Flying considering how Flying is never on its own until Gen 5 and is quite often paired with Normal. That dual typing just adds to its uniqueness on this team.

Anyway those are my thoughts. Very curious about other people's opinions on this, in-game team building is probably my favorite casual Pokémon topic to discuss.

 

[The Mind Electric]

Pokémon White: Emboar, Seismitoad, Archeops, Haxorus, Eelektross, Bisharp/Volcarona

I had a lot of fun with this team. I have a lot of nostalgia for the original Unova games because I played them a lot as a kid, and they're still my favorite now that I'm looking at them again as an older human with a functioning brain, so I was basically guaranteed to have fun with them. On top of that, Emboar was my childhood starter, so it made me happy to use it again even though it has a long period in the middle of the game where it doesn't do much of anything.

Nostalgia aside, this team was pretty good. It was a combination of Pokémon that I knew were going to be strong (Archeops, Haxorus, Eelektross, Volcarona), and a couple that exceeded my expectations (Seismitoad, Bisharp). All of them did well against something and were fun to use. Probably my best all-around team, with no real weak links (not even Emboar, though I did replace Bisharp in the post-game just because I really like Volcarona and wanted to use it).

Would definitely recommend giving this team a try.

Edit: Ace was probably Haxorus. Strong Dragon, ripped through some teams, especially the E4.

 

[King Feraligatr]

HeartGold Team: Feraligatr, Noctowl, Ampharos, Magmortar, Mamoswine

I've had HG since the first day it dropped in the States. I've had the same save since that time as well. So this team has lasted over a decade and means quite a bit to me.


First Ultra Moon Team: Primarina, Malamar, Hawlucha, Gengar, Jolteon, Garchomp

This was my first UM team. While normally that wouldn't matter much, this team was also involved in quite a bit of the playtesting for my hack as well. Suffice to say, I got a lot of mileage out of it.

 

[RocketSurgery]

This is the team I ended my Ultra sun mono-ghost playthrough with, my favorite playthrough of the series so far. Ghost is my favorite type, and when it was revealed that Decidueye became ghost type I decided I wanted to do a mono-ghost run of Moon.... only to be foiled by Honedge being locked to Tuesday, Gengar never wanting to appear in SOS battles, and Dhelmise being ghost/grass instead of ghost/water. (In the end I think my team was Decidueye, A-Marowak, Mimikyu, Pallosand, Wishiwashi, and A-Muk).

When Ultra Sun came out, I decided to try again---this time with the advanced knowledge of how the island scan worked and with several new ghosts available: I had a spare Marshadow, my new favorite Pokemon, from the SM distribution, Blacephalon was introduced, and totem Mimikyu and Marowak were available, and my brother had picked up Sun by this point so I could trade to get Gengar. I started off with Decidueye and stuck to catching only ghost types on my journey; frillish/jellicent, sandyghast/palosand, drifblim, and probably others made transient appearances on my team as I made my way through the island challenge and collected the ghosts listed above. Alas, Marshadow came at level 50 from the event, so I held back on bringing it on as my ace until the final island, adding it to my team in time to get the satisfaction of stealing totem Kommo-o's boosts and blowing Ultra Necrozma back with Marshadow's Z-move. (I also couldn't resist stealing totem Ribombee's boosts).

Blacephalon was the final addition to the team, replacing totem Marowak for the post-game Rainbow rocket campaign.

I love this team so much that I recreated it in SwSh, with the modification of adding new second favorite mon Dragapult to the team, to give a final lineup of

With this recreation I also managed to breed for a shiny Rowlet, which is just one of the best shinies. This is the team I carry around when not doing anything specific in the game. Blacephalon gets to rotate onto it too, occasionally (the one I transferred to SwSh still has a live Pokerus, so I tend to keep it in the box :P). It gives me an unreasonable amount of joy to just get to wander around with this team.

EDIT: Now I have to make room for a ghost salmon, too, I guess.

 

[Siggu]

It's no secret of mine that I think the "PC Anywhere" feature is simply the best thing to have happened to main story playthroughs. Being able to rotate Pokémon in the party with virtually no time loss (compared to needing to find a Pokémon Center in the past) opens up a whole can of worms of possibilities.

And because of that, I'll choose for "signature team" the largest one I've used so far. The one from Let's GO Pikachu.



An outright immense team that no one took part in more than two Elite Four battles (Champion Trace included) and I ensured everyone used at least one move during the entire challenge. I did not leave anyone behind - all of them were at either level 55 or 56 when I defeated Trace.

The team I used in Sword's main story was smaller, albeit still quite large. And with a similar approach to the league.



If BDSP have PC Anywhere, I have the full intention of using an even larger party than that of Let's GO.

 

[Coronis]

Pokemon Silver: Typhlosion, Pidgeot, Ampharos, Scyther, Sudowoodo, Gyarados

My first team in my first game will always hold a special place for me.

Pokemon Ultra Moon: Ampharos, Flygon, Infernape, Staraptor, Greninja, Mimikyu

Though I bred all of them and traded them over in my second playthrough as soon as possible rather than catching them in game, this also holds a special place for me because I got to use my 6 of my absolute favourite mons from the very beginning of one of my favourite games, it was just such a fun playthrough. (I’m hoping to be able to do something similar when BDSP arrive, probably replacing Flygon with Garchomp and Ampharos with Toxtricity)

 

[Ironmage]

BW:

To be honest, I wasn't sure about originally going into BW, since I wasn't that interested in most of the previewed mons. I did end up getting it since I had figured out at least a full team of 6 with help from a friend who had info from the Japanese version. The mon designs exceeded my expectations, with only two of the original lines actually seeing use in this main set (the drilbur and klink lines, if you were curious). Super weak to ground, but I at least had flash fire on chandelure to deal with my other stacked weakness. Was only partially there for the first credits roll, but was a lot closer when I beat Alder.

USUM:

The team from my first casual palythrough. Deliberately artificial-themed to contrast with the base region. Rotom ended up being traded in firstly to deal with totem Marowak, since all of the base options were weak to one of fire, ghost, or ground. Easily toxic-stalled Necrozma, and had a bit of a silly interaction with Giovanni. I was hoping to bring down Mewtwo with my own ace in Magnezone, but unfortunately my Sturdy was broken by the Stealth Rock giovanni had set back on turn one.

 

[Volt-Ikazuchi]

Platinum: Empoleon, Staraptor, Rotom, Garchomp, Gallade, Porygon-Z.

Empoleon is just amazing. Water/Steel is a great typing, Flash Cannon looks cool and breaks off the monotony of a Water-type. Straight up my favorite starter.
Staraptor needs no introduction. It's just a ton of fun to use and the design is amazing.
Rotom gives me a cool Electric mon and some Fire coverage because I hack in the event to get Rotom-H.
Garchomp is another mon that really needs no introduction, just incredibly fun to use.
Gallade is my boy. Takes a bit of work to get going but when it does? Lawd have mercy, this thing is a menace.
Porygon-Z is probably one of the most underrated Platinum mons. This thing is ridiculous.

 

[MrHands]

Depends on the game, but if it can be caught I usually catch a Gyarados. Gen 3 onward it had Dragon Dance + Intimidate, which is imo the most broken ability and move combination in the game. Gyarados alone can 6-0 pretty much any boss by leading against a physical attacker, switching around to chain Intimidates, then Dragon Dancing 2-3 times. Pair it with something that has Twave or Flash and the hardest trainers in the game become trivial.

Also Tentacruel is my favorite Pokémon so I use it when I can. It doesn't hit very hard but it has good coverage with just its STABs, one of which is HM 3 and it still has two more move slots to fill with Whirlpool, Cut or something useful like Ice Beam or Giga Drain.

 

[Grizou88]

To me, Heartgold is definitely the best gen4 game, so I decided to do a full walkthrough (5-star trainer card) using some of my favourite Pokemons.
- Typhlosion is my favourite starter because of its design and overall efficiency in the game. I managed to get one with a Modest nature, 31 SpAtt IV and a 68-70 base power Hidden Power Rock (no RNG manip).
- I trained Lucario from lv1 by breeding the one of my Platinum save file and directly transferred Shaymin from the same save file. These two mons were already part of my Ruby Destiny team a few years ago and have been some my all time favourites ever since.
- As MrHands stated in the previous post, red Gyarados is easily one of the best pick in the game,being able to set up Dragon Dance on many mons thanks to Intimidate + good SpDef. He is very useful for important battles (Lance for instance).
- Skarmory and Tauros are here for HM purposes, being able to use 7 out of 8 HMs (Waterfall is used by Gyarados anyway) + Flash
- I also used a Technician Smeargle with False Swipe, Spore, Foresight and Mean Lock as a catcher (especially useful for roaming legendaries).

I also appreciate the fact that there aren’t any “aces” and each member has its own role and usefulness.

 

[Chadlad50]

My Ultra Sun team

I've only been playing since March and have only played 3 Pokemon games so far so I wouldn't say I have a solidified signature team, but out of the 3, this is my favorite.

Incineroar: My favorite starter of the Alolan 3 and one of my favorites in general, Incineroar was undoubtedly my Ace. He easily put in the most work out of everybody on my team. I'm a really big fan of the moveset I used (If I recall, by the end it was Drain Punch/Cross Chop, Flare Blitz, Darkest Lariat and U-Turn) and once I got Incinium-Z it cleaned house. I love his design too. It's a little humanoid but he has so much personality and character that it doesn't bother me. My favorite memory was when it survived two Ultra Necrozma Power Gem's in a row due to the power of friendship and killed it all by itself. Definitely my favorite starter of the 3 games I've played.

Salamence: At the time of my Ultra Sun playthrough, Dragonite was my favorite Pokemon. And since you can barely ever get Dragonite before post game in any game, I went with the next best thing: Salamence. He took a while to get there but once he did he pulled his weight. A useful ability in Intimidate, good stab options like Draco Meteor. I even equipped it with a Firium Z just because. Not the most memorable member but valuable nonetheless.

Alolan Raichu: I remember spending like 30 minutes hunting for a Pichu in the grass by Route 1 so I could get one. It was definitely worth it, because Alolan Raichu is so fucking adorable. Probably my favorite Electric type. My most fond memories are of playing with it in Refresh, but that isn't to say it didn't pull it's weight in battle. It did take a while before it had an Electric move besides Charge Beam but once it got it, it served as a really good special attacker for my team. I even gave it Grass Knot for coverage. Love this thing.

Dusk Lycanroc: Lycanroc was a Pokemon I wanted to use, but there was a problem with that. I had Ultra Sun, and I don't like Midday Lycanroc (it's seriously a white bread dog design). Midnight Lycanroc was fine but I didn't have Ultra Moon. And instead of having someone breed or trade me a Midnight form Lycanroc, I decided why not have someone breed me a Rockruff with Own Tempo and use the infinitely cooler Dusk Form? And luckily a good samaritan bred me one for nothing in return, and I wish I could give them something cause this pup was a beast, second to Incineroar. Cool design, great ability and battle prowess, and a cool Z move. It did end up a bit overleveled because of EXP share and it was a traded Mon but that's really all I can think of I had issue with this good boy.

Golisopod: One of the Pokemon I knew I wanted to use in my playthrough. Even though Emergency exit is usually bad competitively, I thought it'd be fun in game, and I was right. There's something satisfying about using First Impression and refusing to elaborate after I get switched out. Not to mention it has a great design. I even loaded it up with Sucker Punch for extra priority, and Liquidation hit plenty hard too. He's even the reason I managed to beat Giovanni. And by the way, fuck Giovanni and his drugged up Mega Mewtwo X. I mean it was cool to have a legit challenging fight, but fuck it.

Hariyama: Hariyama was the unspoken God of my team. I first got it as a Makuhita and it didn't do much. I usually considered replacing it often, but after I was unable to find anything that I could replace it I just kept it. Then it evolved into Hariyama, and things only got better from there. Since it had Guts I gave it a Flame Orb, and it was unstoppable. It took hits like Unaware Quagsire and hit back hard with Facade and Close Combat. I'm pretty sure I even had Bullet Punch for priority. He ended up becoming one of the strongest members of my Ultra Sun Run.

And that's all there is to it, my strongest team so far and my signature team. It'll probably change come BDSP and I'll have access to my favorite Pokemon, Infernape, along with other cool ones like Garchomp, Floatzel, maybe Staraptor, and Torterra if I trade a Turtwig into my game.

 

[RocketSurgery]

Thank you richi3f for not waiting until the HOME update to add the datamined PLA mons to your team planner :)

No leaked mons in this post, but I've been waiting to update my signature team in an aesthetically pleasing format since October. Technically, even after PLA is officially out it won't be possible to have all of these mons in a single game, but maybe some day... Until then, I guess I can line them up in Pokemon HOME...

There are too many awesome ghost-type mons to have on just one signature team, so I split it into two:

Signature team 1 updates the team in my previous post (given in icon form) to include Hisuian Zoroark over Decidueye. H-Zoroark feels much more nature in this team composition with Gengar and Mimikyu. I really like this take on Zoroark, and the fabled Normal/Ghost type makes it all the more appealing. I can't wait to use it in LPA, and I hope against hope that the upcoming HOME update comes along with an update to SwSh that adds all of the BDSP and PLA mons to it so that I can really have this as an in-game team.

The second version of the team retains Marshadow, Dragapult, and Aegislash as the core 3, but retains Decidueye and Blacephalon from the iterations in my previous post, and adds the new Basculegion to make a FWG core in the second half of the team:

I have been waiting for a new water/ghost mon for a while---I thought not introducing a water/ghost umbrella yokai mon was a missed opportunity for Galar, but I'll take a ghost salmon. It forms a nice FWG core with Blacephalon, whose weirdness I love, and Decidueye, whose design I liked even when it was first leaked. As a fun minor bonus, all of the mons in this team have ghost as the secondary type.

At this point, I think my signature teams are pretty much complete---I am not hoping for any new mons to fill any gaps in particular. However, if GF ever makes a water/ghost Blastoise, then that would certainly be a very strong contender for Basculegion's slot on team 2 (I would say guaranteed, but I don't want to jinx it... GF has made at least one ghost variant I don't care for). Similarly, I could see a new ghost/fairy competing for Mimikyu's slot. While I quite like Mimikyu, I am otherwise not a big fan of 'mons with a true form that we never see' and having to headcannon an explanation for why every Mimikyu wears a similar spooky Pikachu disguise. I'd rather pretend it's just an example of biological mimicry and the cloth is actually part of Mimikyu (or at very least, like... some sort of spider-web-like material the unseen form uses to spin itself a costume that happens to look like Pikachu...). But I digress.

tl;dr: GF please patch SwSh or give us surprise SwSh DLC to add all of these new mons so I can actually have these as in-game signature teams.

 

[Bull Of Heaven]

Silver: Feraligatr, Alakazam, Espeon, Lugia, Snorlax, Ho-Oh

The first team I used to fully play through a game. I even recreated it in Virtual Console Silver years later, though I wasn't able to evolve Kadabra that time.

Sapphire: Sceptile, Latias, Flygon, Aggron, Kyogre, Kecleon

The first three in particular. I traded them to Emerald at some point and used them in the Battle Frontier, so they kind of became the main core. The other three spots actually had a few different occupants over time, but I've put the most frequent ones in the list. Over the years, I've transferred Sceptile, Latias, and Flygon all the way to Alola, though for some reason I haven't bothered to move them to Galar so far.

All Games: Celebi, Diancie, Naganadel, Mewtwo, Gengar, Melmetal

This comes from a pandemic-time attempt to figure out my own "all-time" team. It's really only a team in theory, since I can't actually gather all of them in the same game. Each of these Pokemon has something unique about it within my overall collection, usually in how I obtained it:

• Celebi is from the HGSS distribution that unlocked the Giovanni event. My brother took my game to it, on his own initiative, while I was away.
• I don't exactly remember how I got Diancie, but it was from some other country's online version of a store-based distribution that I only found because someone posted about it here on Smogon.
• Naganadel is from the shiny Poipole distribution a few years ago. It's not my only EB-Games-distributed Pokemon, but this one in particular took a lot of walking before I found a participating store.
• Mewtwo was traded to me by a cousin a long time ago. That cousin used to visit sometimes in summer, and we would stay up late playing Pokemon.
• Back when a certain now-disgraced Poketuber was doing Wonder Trade Wednesdays, I decided I wanted to participate in one. So, starting in Alpha Sapphire with no breeding infrastructure, I quickly got together a bunch of 5IV Gastly (Gengar being my favourite Pokemon) with full sets of egg moves. I happened to get just one 6IV Gastly from this process, so I kept that one for myself.
• I never really got into Pokemon Go, but I played it just long enough to get Meltan and Melmetal.

 

[BIG ASHLEY]

the team i used to play through my first pokemon game (heartgold). my strategy mainly consisted of throwing typhlosion at opponents and hoping that its signature moveset (eruption/cut/rollout/ember) would carry me to victory. failing that, i would use ho-oh; when ho-oh went down, i would send in one of the other guys and revive typhlosion. the game became much easier when my friend traded me a number of (action replayed! :wow:) legendaries that i could use to beat red up.

 

[SpiritGuy]

This is what I can consider as my signature in game team since XY is the first game that make me trully involved into Pokemon (and yeah, I spare a slot so I can train any Pokemon). Note that I've used several Pokemons before that such as Pancham, Seadra (yeah, I didn't know how to evolve them back when I was a kid), Pyroar, Reuniclus etc.

 

[Bull Of Heaven]

Note that I've used several Pokemons before that such as Pancham, Seadra (yeah, I didn't know how to evolve them back when I was a kid), Pyroar, Reuniclus etc.

Don't worry, I first played through X as an adult, and I carried Pancham and Doublade all the way through the League because I didn't know how to evolve Pancham or that Doublade could evolve.

 

[khlaylav]

I don't remember a lot of my in-game teams, but there's two I remember very strongly:

A Platinum team where I had a friend helping me trade so I had Torterra, Machamp, Houndoom and Scizor.

Second, the Burmy team where I used all four Burmy evolutions.

 

[Ishiftyounot]

HeartGold: Blastooka the Typhlosion, Thyme the Bellossom, Thunder the Electabuzz, HatsOff 2U the Honchkrow, Halo the Umbreon and Cozmo the Politoed

This is my HeartGold team that I used way back in 2012 (which means the team is a decade old... oh my god) - I was not having the best of times in life and playing this game with this team cheered me up a lot, to the point where 10 years on I'm still incredibly fond of all of these Pokemon. Bellossom was meant to be a Vileplume but I used a Sun Stone on it just to see if the former was any good, and then saved accidentally. Electabuzz and Honchkrow were Pokewalker additions that I grinded for (well I grinded for Elekid, Murkrow was a spontaneous choice) since Electivire is my favourite Pokemon ever... that I didn't end up using. Umbreon was fully intended for the team and despite being more of a tank than a damage dealer I would still pick it over Espeon any day of the week - it's a must-have Johto Pokemon for me. Politoed was the most random choice of all, as I needed a Water type and kinda went "screw it, Politoed is cool". It then proceeded to slaughter Lance for me despite only being level 40, landing every Blizzard it used and even freezing one of the Dragonites I think?

This team did not make it to Kanto though due to the whims of 12 year old me, and unfortunately none of the team exists in any of my games to this day. I still cherish them in my heart though, and I have used Electabuzz and Umbreon since on various other teams in the last decade or so.

 

[rickdrw424]

Just curious, what are people's methodology to picking their signature teams? Any tips.

Do you always have water-fire-grass?
Do you plan your team based on the elite four?
Just take whatever pokemon you catch and keep it?
Any others?

I myself have done all three. But lately, the last.
i.e. sapphire: Swampert, Breloom, Camerupt...

 

[Daylight]

HeartGold: Blastooka the Typhlosion, Thyme the Bellossom, Thunder the Electabuzz, HatsOff 2U the Honchkrow, Halo the Umbreon and Cozmo the Politoed

This is my HeartGold team that I used way back in 2012 (which means the team is a decade old... oh my god) - I was not having the best of times in life and playing this game with this team cheered me up a lot, to the point where 10 years on I'm still incredibly fond of all of these Pokemon. Bellossom was meant to be a Vileplume but I used a Sun Stone on it just to see if the former was any good, and then saved accidentally. Electabuzz and Honchkrow were Pokewalker additions that I grinded for (well I grinded for Elekid, Murkrow was a spontaneous choice) since Electivire is my favourite Pokemon ever... that I didn't end up using. Umbreon was fully intended for the team and despite being more of a tank than a damage dealer I would still pick it over Espeon any day of the week - it's a must-have Johto Pokemon for me. Politoed was the most random choice of all, as I needed a Water type and kinda went "screw it, Politoed is cool". It then proceeded to slaughter Lance for me despite only being level 40, landing every Blizzard it used and even freezing one of the Dragonites I think?

This team did not make it to Kanto though due to the whims of 12 year old me, and unfortunately none of the team exists in any of my games to this day. I still cherish them in my heart though, and I have used Electabuzz and Umbreon since on various other teams in the last decade or so.

This team has such good vibes. I love it. I love how it’s basically half “cutemons” and half “coolmons.” And the story of the team is so heartwarming.

Just curious, what are people's methodology to picking their signature teams? Any tips.

Do you always have water-fire-grass?
Do you plan your team based on the elite four?
Just take whatever pokemon you catch and keep it?
Any others?

I myself have done all three. But lately, the last.
i.e. sapphire: Swampert, Breloom, Camerupt...

Personally, when I play a game I start with 2-4 of whichever of my favorite Pokémon (Milotic, Ninetales, Gardevoir, Espeon, Rapidash…) are available and let the remaining members happen naturally. I like the idea of discovering new favorites organically. I do try to keep type synergy in mind though. Though I’m not wedded to any particular core.

 

[Siggu]

Just curious, what are people's methodology to picking their signature teams?

I just pick Pokémon I like with absolutely no regard for balance or how viable they are.

This image (the Pokémon are sorted in which groups of 6 were used for each Elite Four challenge, and the groups themselves were assigned randomly) should speak by itself.

Hide

 

[Ishiftyounot]

I just pick Pokémon I like with absolutely no regard for balance or how viable they are.

This image (the Pokémon are sorted in which groups of 6 were used for each Elite Four challenge, and the groups themselves were assigned randomly) should speak by itself.

I have to ask... how do you manage all the rotations? Like do you feel as if you adequately use each and every one of those Pokemon on your team? I always wanted to try rotating a team (Legends: Arceus may be the time) but when it comes to the gym challenges or final run against the E4/Champion and you have to pick your final 6 I'd feel bad for the team members not chosen, or feel like they were kind of wasted since they weren't with me for the final bout. Also how were Pachirisu and Chatot to use? Kind of want to use both on a "cutesy" team but those 45 offenses on the former sound awful, and traded experience in BDSP sounds like a level-cap nightmare.

Just curious, what are people's methodology to picking their signature teams? Any tips.

Do you always have water-fire-grass?
Do you plan your team based on the elite four?
Just take whatever pokemon you catch and keep it?
Any others?

I myself have done all three. But lately, the last.
i.e. sapphire: Swampert, Breloom, Camerupt...

I'm a chronic planner and team builder, but without a definitive set of "must haves" which is amusing. Typically speaking though I like to have all HMs accounted for on my team without a dedicated HM user, which means I often have a Water type and a Flying type on the squad. I like having an Electric type because they tend to be speedy and there's often lots of Water Flying types in the Pokemon games to prey on, plus they only have one weakness. Starter always stays no matter what - they're my buddy, my ace, my first pick of the game and therefore are a necessity for the journey! Beyond that I'll pick my favourites and that's how I build my teams, type synergy be damned. I used to transcribe to the F/W/G core with a Flying type, Electric type and a random sixth slot, but nowadays I'm more willing to go with the flow. I want a full team by the fourth or fifth gym though - I want the whole gang to experience at least half the game, using a Pokemon after the 8th gym onwards sounds awful! It's why stuff like Dreepy will never really make the team - by the time it's good the game is over.

That being said, looking at my "signature" team - half of those guys were spontaneous picks. Bellossom was meant to be a Vileplume, Honchkrow was initially going to be a Yanmega I think and Politoed's slot on the team could've been taken by anyone! I could never be that spontaneous nowadays, although Legends: Arceus looks like it might be opening me up to be that way based on the structure of the game (i.e. not many trainer battles, focusing on Pokedex completion and "missions", main bosses are Totem Pokemon 2.0).

 

[Siggu]

I have to ask... how do you manage all the rotations?

Oh, it's very simple. I set up a target level, and once a Pokémon reached it, it was immediately shoved into the Box and replaced with someone else. Rinse and repeat.

As a reference, with 42 Pokémon it took 78 hours to beat Cynthia, and 6 more to beat her with the other 6 teams.

Like do you feel as if you adequately use each and every one of those Pokemon on your team?

For the Gym Leaders I didn't really care if the use was adequate - my goal was to use them all for the Elite Four. For the Gyms I just arbitrarily chose certain Pokémon depending on what I felt like doing (such as using Octillery against Volkner because he also has one).

I always wanted to try rotating a team (Legends: Arceus may be the time) but when it comes to the gym challenges or final run against the E4/Champion and you have to pick your final 6 I'd feel bad for the team members not chosen, or feel like they were kind of wasted since they weren't with me for the final bout.

Well, that's why I defeated Cynthia 7 times before even stepping into the post-game.

I wanted to use them all against the Elite Four, and each one of them at least once during the entire challenge. Some were used more than others, though (such as Beautifly that was literally the only Pokémon I used against Aaron, Lucian and Cynthia).

Also how were Pachirisu and Chatot to use? Kind of want to use both on a "cutesy" team but those 45 offenses on the former sound awful, and traded experience in BDSP sounds like a level-cap nightmare.

Pachirisu was critical thanks to Pickup, as I'd otherwise would not have got Togekiss, Honchrow and Roserade before the third gym, whereas Chatot was kind of harmed by the fact I could not get a Nasty Plot TM.

And then both were kind of harmed because they were part of Team 1, which I used for scouting so they lost to Cynthia multiple times (one of the two teams to lose to her, the other being Team 7, and the only one to do so more than once), and they weren't exactly helped by the glaring weaknesses to Fighting and Ground. So Chatot reached Level 70 by the time they won.

 

[rickdrw424]

I used to transcribe to the F/W/G core with a Flying type, Electric type and a random sixth slot, but nowadays I'm more willing to go with the flow.

I totally resonate with this! I always had that combination in generation 3/4. In fact, you can effectively beat most types this way.

I just pick Pokémon I like with absolutely no regard for balance or how viable they are.

I like how indiscriminate this method is.

I'd be interested to know if people incorporate whatever the game gives you: Gift pokemon, pokemon with plot significance...

But really interesting choices!

 

[bdt2002]

My Ultra Sun team

I've only been playing since March and have only played 3 Pokemon games so far so I wouldn't say I have a solidified signature team, but out of the 3, this is my favorite.

I'm not sure if you're open to making adjustments to an already great team, but I happen to know about a neat little surprise waiting for you over in the postgame "Poni Gauntlet area" of what I'm guessing was your first main series Pokémon game. There's a few fishing holes you can find in the area, and if you take a Super Rod there with you, you might just be able to find a special someone with enough luck and maybe some S.O.S. calls. I'll give you a hint as to what this is: I bet I can guess why a Salamence is on your team...

Just curious, what are people's methodology to picking their signature teams? Any tips.

Do you always have water-fire-grass?
Do you plan your team based on the elite four?
Just take whatever pokemon you catch and keep it?
Any others?

I myself have done all three. But lately, the last.
i.e. sapphire: Swampert, Breloom, Camerupt...

For different games, especially in recent years, I've found that there's always some sort of underlying theme to my teams, depending on what game I'm playing. The new Legends: Arceus game is actually a perfect example of this, now that I think about it, because I planned on using a full team of the five Noble Pokémon plus my starter. (No spoilers on what they are, don't worry.) But as far as my own methodology is concerned for picking individual Pokémon, I'm about as clueless as a box of rocks. I often find myself looking at type matchups against important NPCs and versatility among members, but every now and then you will find that there's a Pokémon that, for whatever reason, I just have to try out using. I'll post whatever the closest thing(s) I have to a signature in-game team(s) is/are later, because I actually have a few of these in the works at the moment.
: I bet I can guess why your team has a Salamence.

Edit: Why does this post keep getting screwed up?