My first team for competition. Please rate.

[Deleted member]

Meh...this is my first time making a team that's competetive. I've tried this team on Shoddy, and on Platinum. Sometimes i win, sometimes i lose, but i just want to see how i can improve it somehow.

Salamence @ Life Orb

Intimidate / Rash Nature
EVs: 80 Atk/180 SpAtk/252 Speed
Draco Meteor
Flamethrower
Brick Break
Earthquake

I (usually) always use Salamence as my lead. Draco meteor is for STAB and taking down other Dragons, while Flamethrower is for Grass and bug leads like Roserade, or Ninjask. Brick break is there to take down Tyranitar or other Rock type leads, while Earthquake is there for Electrics?

I usually try and take down at least 1-2 Pokemon before sacrificing or switching Salamence back in, but i usually just suicide him.

Cresselia @ Choice Scarf

Levitate / Calm
EVs: 6 Hp / 252 Def / 252 Spdef
Calm Mind
Psychic
Ice Beam
Trick

My wall, and my way to mess up the opponent. I use Trick to switch the Choice Scarf, and then i switch to a more suitable opponents. Psychic is for STAB, Calm mind is for boosting Cresselia's power, and Ice Beam is for more type coverage.

Umbreon @ Leftovers

Synchronize/ Sassy
EVs: 6 Hp / 252 Def / 252 SpDef
Toxic
Mean Look
Wish
Baton Pass

Standard Umbreon set. Mean Look is to trap the opponent, Wish is for healing Umbreon and his teammates, Toxic is for a slow and steady death, and Baton Pass is to pass on the Mean Look to someone else. I usually Baton Pass to Cresselia, because of her Trick.

Typhlosion @ Focus Sash

Blaze / Rash
EVs: 6 Hp / 252 Sp Atk / 252 Speed
Flamethrower
SolarBeam
Sunny Day
Focus Blast

My only Pokemon on my team that's not an OU...lol, anyway, he's my Special attack sweeper. Sunny Day is an obvious must for him, as it boosts up his Flamethrower and weakens super effective water attacks. Solarbeam is also there to take advantage of Sunny Day, and for type coverage. Focus Blast is there for any Rock Types that Typhlosion can't penetrate with Solarbeam (E.g. Cradily or something) and Focus Sash is his held item, so he doesn't get destroyed by Earthquake, or Stone Edge.

Scizor @ Life Orb

Technician / Adament
EVs: 252 Atk / 128 Def / 128 Speed
Bullet Punch
Swords Dance
X-Scissor
SuperPower

Standard Scizor set, and my physical sweeper. He's also used for getting rid of already weaken opponents fast with Bullet Punch.

Swampert @ Lum Berry

Torrent / Naughty
EVs: 6 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Def
Waterfall
Avalanche
Earthquake
Endeavor

My Bulky Water. Standard set, with Waterfall and Earthquake for STAB, Avalanche for Dragon slaying, and Endeavor is for when Swampert's health is low.

So....that's my team. It's my first team for competetion, so if it kind of sucks...eh. I'm open for any constructive critism. Do the EVs need to be moved around? Any Pokemon i should trade for another one? Do i need another Wall/Sweeper/whatever? Thanks in advance.

 

[CRASHiC]

Heracross could potentially cause some some trouble, as could a good Gyardoes. If someone has Heracross, Gayradose, and Infernape, they counter your entire team with just those three pokemon. Not sure how to fix it, but that's the hole I see.

 

[Wave⁂]

Endeavor on Swampert isn't worth the one time you'll use it, try Curse.

Why is Umbreon Sassy?

Salamence can't OHKO Metagross with Earthquake or Flamethrower. Fire Blast is generally better than Flamethrower.

 

[Old Amber]

Nothing else to add on to what the others said, except that Careful would work much better for Umbreon. My competitve Umbreon has Taunt instead of Toxic, because it's main intent is to pass Wish onto my other teammates, instead of inducing poison.

 

[Deleted member]

Heracross could potentially cause some some trouble, as could a good Gyardoes. If someone has Heracross, Gayradose, and Infernape, they counter your entire team with just those three pokemon. Not sure how to fix it, but that's the hole I see.

Hmm...never really thought about Heracross and Gyarados. Maybe i should try and fit in a flying and an electric type move. I've really never had trouble against an Infernape...but i'll see what i can do. Thanks.

Endeavor on Swampert isn't worth the one time you'll use it, try Curse.

Why is Umbreon Sassy?

Salamence can't OHKO Metagross with Earthquake or Flamethrower. Fire Blast is generally better than Flamethrower.

Curse on Swampert...alright, i'll try it out.

Meh...i'll just change Umbreon's nature to a Calm i guess.

I'll consider Fire Blast.

Thanks.

Nothing else to add on to what the others said, except that Careful would work much better for Umbreon. My competitve Umbreon has Taunt instead of Toxic, because it's main intent is to pass Wish onto my other teammates, instead of inducing poison.

Will do. Thanks.

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

Nothing else to add on to what the others said, except that Careful would work much better for Umbreon. My competitve Umbreon has Taunt instead of Toxic, because it's main intent is to pass Wish onto my other teammates, instead of inducing poison.

I agree with this, I mean Toxic can help, but the main purpose of Umbreon in this set is to heal teammates and trap opponents, and you should be passing to someone with an advantage on the Pokemon you've trapped anyway, so Toxic doesn't make too much of a difference in that regard.

 

[Terywj [태리]]

On your Typhlosion, swap Sunny Day for Eruption which packs extreme power, as long as Typhlosion's HP is 100%. Then you can swap Flamethower for Overheat.

-Terywj

 

[CRASHiC]

Hmm...never really thought about Heracross and Gyarados. Maybe i should try and fit in a flying and an electric type move. I've really never had trouble against an Infernape...but i'll see what i can do. Thanks.

Actually, I thought about it, and just run a bulky Gyaradoes. That should shut down your problems. You still get a bulky water pokemon, as well as picking up an extra immunity to ground attacks, which is good since earth quake is so common.

 

[Deleted member]

I agree with this, I mean Toxic can help, but the main purpose of Umbreon in this set is to heal teammates and trap opponents, and you should be passing to someone with an advantage on the Pokemon you've trapped anyway, so Toxic doesn't make too much of a difference in that regard.

Hmm...but this would mean if Umbreon is my last Pokemon for some reason, i'm pretty much screwed...Eh...i'll think about Taunt though...thanks.

On your Typhlosion, swap Sunny Day for Eruption which packs extreme power, as long as Typhlosion's HP is 100%. Then you can swap Flamethower for Overheat.

-Terywj

Hmm...I'll think about this...though that means Solarbeam won't help Typhlosion with type coverage...Thanks though. I'll think about those 2 moves..

Actually, I thought about it, and just run a bulky Gyaradoes. That should shut down your problems. You still get a bulky water pokemon, as well as picking up an extra immunity to ground attacks, which is good since earth quake is so common.

Huh...i'll consider Gyarados too. Thanks.

 

[Ugg]

Here's my rate;


Salamence: I don't see what he does as a lead. If you want a really good anti-lead, I'd suggest a LO Rapid Spin Starmie or SpecsTran. If you're going to keep him, replace the EVs / Nature with 16 Attack / 240 Special Attack / 252 Speed, Naive. The Speed lets him, at worst, speed-tie with other base 100s. Salamence should use Fire Blast over Flamethrower, as the small accuracy loss compared to the power gain is, on-average, more benificial.

Cresselia: Interesting. I'm a fan of Cresselia, and this set has surprise factor. Replace the EVs / Nature with 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 Spe, Bold. It lets you out-speed positively natured base 110s with Scarf. 252 HP for overall survivability, and the rest into Defense. You also basically NEED Charge Beam over Calm Mind so that you have a way to hurt Gyarados, which you don't. It also lets you set-up wilst still able to keep your Scarf, if you ever find that the situation arises.

Umbreon: Replace Toxic with Taunt. Cresselia would make a great partner with Umbreon if you can manage to Mean Look something, Taunt, pass to Cresselia and Trick your Scarf and then set up. Change the EVs / Nature to 252 HP / 92 Special Defense / 164 Speed, Careful. You'll always want to max Umbreon's HP, being a lot lower than both of his defenses. 164 Speed is to out-speed Skarmory and Cresselia, so you're able to taunt them. The rest is toward Special Defense.

Typhlosion: Meh. Focus Sash is redundant anywhere except for the leading position. Sunny Day is also useless, as it powers down Swampert and only helps Typhlosion. You really should replace this guy with something that can revenge kill Gyarados if he gets a DD or two up, because he has MANY opportunities to switch in and set up. If you are going to keep him for whatever reason, replace the Rash nature with Timid.

Scizor: Another Scizor, haha. Let him stay, because he also makes a great partner to the trap-passing Umbreon set. I'd like to change the moveset, EVs and Nature. 248 HP / 252 Attack / 8 Special Defense, Adamant. Moveset should be SD / Bullet Punch / X-Scissor / Brick Break. 248 HP makes is HP odd, for Stealth Rock and such. 8 Special Defense instead of Speed so that you can beat other faster Scizors that try to Superpower you. Brick Break over Superpower so that an Attack / Defense drop doesn't hinder your sweep. You could try Leftovers over Life Orb for extra survivability.

Swampert: Swampert is one of, if not your only answer to Infernape, so be careful. I'd like to replace the EVs, Nature and moveset, though. 252 HP / 252 Defense / 4 Special Attack, Relaxed. A moveset of Stealth Rock / Earthquake / Surf / Ice Beam is what I would suggest. I would suggest replacing Lum Berry with Leftovers, but you could keep Lum Berry if you must. The EVs are just a standard 252 / 252 spread. Your team lacked Stealth Rock, and some kind of entry hazard is VERY benificial to any team. You could even replace this with a RestTalk CursePert, which would benefit very much from Umbreon's trap-passing.


Overall, you're very Gyarados weak, and to an extent, Infernape weak. Sorry for the wall of text. Good luck with the team!