New team

[mood4food77]

Hey guys, I made a new team for shoddy and was playing around with it. It's an okay team, still needs a few tweaks here and there but it's done a decent job.

Here's the team at a glance:

Let's step into each poke for a better look-see:

Machamp @ Leftovers
No Guard / Adamant
240 HP / 248 Atk / 16 SpD / 6 Spe
Dynamic Punch
Payback
Bullet Punch
Ice Punch

Simply put, Machamp leads ****. The only lead it fears is Heatran (since they now sometimes carry Overheat to net the OHKO on Machamp). It stops BP leads, SR leads, anything. Such a good momentum builder and I absolutely love using this thing. He's basically the best lead ever.

Synergy:
Flying- Rotom-W, Heatran
Psychic- Starmie, Heatran

Starmie @ Chioce Scarf
Natural Cure / Timid
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 6 Def
Surf
Thunderbolt
Ice Beam
Psychic / Grass Knot

4 Attack Choice Scarf Starmie does wonders for my team. Now my team has less problems with Gyarados, Starmie, and Gengar thanks to this little beast. Thanks to Wave+ and IceArrow for mentioning the set. Great asset to my team as now I have a reliable way of revenge killing enemy pokes. I may replace Psychic with Grass Knot if the need comes up, but Psychic is there to help deal with Machamp better. The need hasn't come up but there is always the possibility of using it.

Synergy:
Electric- Rotom-W, Breloom
Grass- Breloom, Heatran, Staraptor
Bug- Machamp, Rotom-W, Heatran, Staraptor
Dark- Machamp, Breloom, Heatran
Ghost- Heatran, Staraptor

Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Levitate / Bold
252 HP / 168 Def / 90 Spe
Thunderbolt
Shadow Ball
Hydro Pump
Will -o- Wisp

Bulky Rotom-W goes a long way. I don't have the need for a revenge killer on this team and this bulky set, combined with Will -o- Wisp, allow me to take care of many physical threats. I had Snorlax in this spot but that didn't work out at all. Hydro Pump helps my team check a lot of threats to my team.

Synergy:
Dark- Machamp, Breloom, Heatran
Ghost- Heatran, Staraptor

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Poison Heal / Adamant
14 HP / 252 Atk / 244 Spe
Spore
Substitute
Seed Bomb
Focus Punch

Sporesubpunch Breloom works great. He doesn't have a large need for Stone Edge as my team already has Starmie and Rotom to deal with flying types. The combo of Spore and Substitute guarantee that this little guy takes off a huge chunk of damage for the switch-in. He is a great stall-breaker and having access to Spore is huge for my team.

Synergy:
Fire- Starmie, Heatran
Flying- Rotom-W, Heatran
Psychic- Starmie, Heatran
Ice- Starmie, Heatran

Heatran @ Leftovers
Flash Fire / Naive
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 6 HP
Substitute
Fire Blast
Earth Power
Explosion

Ah, the number 1 poke in the meta-game. His typing creates awesome synergy with my team and with Substitute, scouting is always helpful. He tends to lure out opposing Heatran only for them to eat an Earth Power. Explosion allows him to remove a possible threat from the match (like Scarf Flygon) and allow my other team members to finish the match. Heatran is an amazing poke and really, nothing can take this spot.

Synergy:
Water- Starmie, Breloom
Ground- Rotom-W, Breloom, Staraptor
Fighting- Starmie, Rotom-W

Staraptor @ Lum Berry
Intimidate / Adamant
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 6 Def
Brave Bird
Close Combat
Substitute
Roost

Oh what a surprise, I'm using Staraptor. But this time it's different. He's not scarfed but instead it's the SubRoost set, courtesy of kirbyraeg. With this set, he can scout and heal off any damage he took from SR and Brave Bird, this makes no need for Wish support nor Rapid Spin support. The two moves offer a lot of power and good type coverage. He's predominantly used as a late game sweeper.

Synergy:
Rock- Machamp, Breloom
Ice- Starmie, Heatran
Electric- Rotom-W, Breloom

Team Threats:
-Zapdos gives this team hell for obvious reasons. I can hit it with Starmie's Ice Beam but outside of that, it's a ***** to deal with.
-Starmie is pretty much the bane of this team, especially 4 attack LO Starmie. I faced it once and there was literally nothing I could do to stop it.
-Bulky DD Gyarados also gives me some problems, especially those with bounce, not as bad as Zapdos or Starmie, but still it's a pain. I pretty much have to play around it and force it into making a mistake against Starmie, Rotom-W, or Staraptor.
-Jolteon is tough for my team. He is beatable but still a pain. LO Jolteon is a ***** and a half, I have to hope Machamp is still alive and at full health so it can revenge kill it (it sounds weird but a full life Machamp can take a specs Thunderbolt and OHKO with Dynamic Punch). So annoying to deal with.
-Gengar, in a similar situation to Jolteon but not as bad. I have Psychic on Starmie to get the kill and Machamp can possibly 2HKO it with Payback to Bullet Punch without it being OHKO'd by Shadow Ball (since Gengar never runs Psychic). Rotom can take any non-boosted Shadow Ball and then deal a good portion of damage to Gengar. He's a bit of a problem but he's not as bad as the rest.

When I find another poke that causes problems, I'll let you know because as of right now, it's the only one that really gave my team trouble.

Thank you guys for your time and I hope you enjoy.

 

[IceArrow]

Nice team you have. Your Breloom could have more EVs. I think a Choice Scarf Starmie would be better then life orb starmie.

 

[mood4food77]

not changing starmie, i need the ability to switch moves, it's just that 4 attack LO starmie has a SE move for MY ENTIRE TEAM!!!! which could become more popular with the rise of machamp

i'm assuming you mean breloom could use more HP EVs but with this spread, he gets optimal poison heal recovery and honostly, i've had no need to change his spread as he's my stall breaker

i may possibly exchange staraptor to specs jolteon, it doesn't help me with my zapdos problem but starmie and gyarados are much easier to deal with, but his lack of synergy with the team is what holds me back from doing it

i'll test that out later since i'm not on a comp with shoddy (and my parents yell at me for dling it onto another comp but w/e) but i think that's a possibility

 

[IceArrow]

252 + 208 + 14 = Not 508

You could put 20 EVs in something else like Def.

 

[mood4food77]

fixed it, i didn't have the right Spe EVs, i'm running 244, don't ask why i put 208 there

 

[Zankoku]

It all makes sense now, why you give recommendations for the same Pokémon on every RMT.

 

[Wave⁂]

Choice Scarf Starmie > 4 attack LO Starmie that wrecks your team

 

[mood4food77]

It all makes sense now, why you give recommendations for the same Pokémon on every RMT.

i don't think i exactly know what you're getting at

besides that, i rarely use rotom and heatran on my teams, i really just plug in members until it feels right

this team is just missing one piece and it's probably a revenge killer

i'll try choice scarf starmie and see how that goes, should i replace recover with rapid spin or something like that?

and what should i do about my zapdos weakness?

 

[Wave⁂]

Hydro Pump could also work.

 

[mood4food77]

i'll give it a shot, i'll let you guys know tomorrow if that change becomes permanent

 

[Circa]

How often do you actually use Seed Bomb on Breloom? I mean, I know you said you didn't plan to give it Stone Edge, but considering how good of a bait SubPunch Breloom is for Zapdos, it might be something to consider. You could just bait it in and then beat its face in and not have to worry about it bugging your team for the rest of the match.

It'd help with Gengar a bit too (Gengar likes to switch into Breloom as well sometimes, thanks to resisting Seed Bomb and obviously not giving a **** about Focus Punch), which seems like it could be a major pain in your side (Shadow Ball / Thunderbolt / Focus Blast / filler variants; which I guess aren't too common anymore but whatevs) once Starmie's down. You won't KO it, but it'd still be nice to at least slow its sweeping process.

Actually, now that I think of it, what DO you do against Gengar?

EDIT: LO Sweeper Jolteon w/ HP Ice does dirty, dirty things to your team too. If it nets a Charge Beam boost then it rips straight through everything on your team (Naive Heatran is always OHKO'd by +1 Thunderbolt after SR, just an FYI) BUT your lead, which is probably dead or badly injured by the time Jolteon hits the floor. Starmie kinda keeps this from happening I guess, but once again if it's out then you're done.

 

[mood4food77]

i haven't really faced gengar nor a LO jolteon

and with gengar, i can always give starmie psychic since it's gonna be scarfed, let alone rotom does a good job at taking a hit and dealing some massive damage to him

and breloom helps a lot against suicune and vaporeon, i use seed bomb quite a bit

they can be problems but i haven't faced enough of them to really consider them to be one yet

okay...just played a LO Jolteon, don't know if it had HP ice but it still was a pain, don't ask how i was victorious cause machamp gave me no momentum (he also had a dragonite lead)
flygon is a nuisance for my team once heatran is gone

i like scarfmie as a revenge killer, i think i'll keep it, but with scarfmie, i'll run roost on staraptor and i think i'll just change it to agility

 

[Cease Tick]

i haven't really faced gengar nor a LO jolteon

and with gengar, i can always give starmie psychic since it's gonna be scarfed, let alone rotom does a good job at taking a hit and dealing some massive damage to him

and breloom helps a lot against suicune and vaporeon, i use seed bomb quite a bit

they can be problems but i haven't faced enough of them to really consider them to be one yet

okay...just played a LO Jolteon, don't know if it had HP ice but it still was a pain, don't ask how i was victorious cause machamp gave me no momentum (he also had a dragonite lead)
flygon is a nuisance for my team once heatran is gone

i like scarfmie as a revenge killer, i think i'll keep it, but with scarfmie, i'll run roost on staraptor and i think i'll just change it to agility

Rotom gets 1HKOd by Gengar I'm pretty sure.

 

[kirbyraeg]

I don't get why you'd run Agility at all on Staraptor...honestly, running a subroost set would probably work much better for you (u-turn over sub would work pretty well too but I think he'd get worn down quickly by SR as well if you do that).

 

[mood4food77]

possibly, but i'm currently running psychic on my starmie to keep it check, i have yet to run into one

shadow does not OHKO rotom unless it runs a boosting item

i think i just might run sub roost, i was trying to run tailwind to see if i could make it work, the only thing holding it back is the fact that it only lasts 3 turns

should i keep the lum berry?

 

[Cease Tick]

48% of Gengar run Life Orb.

 

[mood4food77]

the only one i played was not boosted, that's why i said it

and sand viel is gay, i lost to this guy cause starmie's surf missed gliscor

subroost is working great and scarfmie is awesome

i've lost once in the past ten battles and it was only because of sand viel

thanks guys

 

[xLeafybug =D]

Good RMT.

I know you don't want it, but Breloom would love Stone Edge as it would destroy Zapdos.

Starmie ****s you up... really bad. Good luck with that.

 

[mood4food77]

yea, i realize that, rotom pretty much is my only hope, but with scarfmie, i can revenge kill it and completely keep it in check

also, machamp does a decent job on the scarfmie's if they don't carry psychic as payback deals a lot to starmie

i'll try stone edge over seed bomb and see how it goes

 

[Zankoku]

i don't think i exactly know what you're getting at

In the last couple of RMTs you've posted in, you recommended Life Orb Starmie, Staraptor, and Rotom-H, multiple times, and talked about the serious problems of Machamp and Heatran.

I was wondering how someone could be so repetitive in which Pokémon he discussed.

 

[mood4food77]

i think it was just shear coincidence that it happened

i rarely make a team with rotom (i have like 50 teams and only like...5 of them have rotom), but rotom is a good poke with a good typing, so he is able to fit onto many teams

staraptor was only once, but i always try to find a spot for my baby

and starmie is just a beast in general, i use this thing a lot and it fits onto many teams

i think it just so happened this week (or past few weeks) that i suggested them

 

[mood4food77]

i have one last question

should i change my rotom to another form? cause i rarely use overheat on it but i don't know what appliance would help me more

i'm trying out the cutter form and it really doesn't make a difference, i might just get rid of that 3rd attack cause i rarely use it

also, i don't think i need stone edge, i have yet to use it in my last 8 battles, but i'll keep it on as a safety net to zapdos

but this overall is one of my most complete teams, it needs a light change here and there and it's pretty much set

i keep getting rage quitters...dunno why

 

[Moozle]

Starmie is really all you have to deal with Infernape. If starmie is dead, he will give you pretty big problems. If that's the case, maybe try Rotom-W? It's great for dealing with Infernape. It's also good for when you try to will-o-wisp something and your opponent switches in heatran; Hydro Pump away! Rotom-W can also get rid of Tyranitar, instead of just crippling it with WoW.

 

[mood4food77]

i have no problems with ttar, machamp, breloom, and staraptor all OHKO it, rotom cripples it, and starmie hurts it on a switch in

i forgot about the slight nape problem, i'll try water next time, thanks

stupid life orb azelf lead friggen ***** my team....

 

[Wave⁂]

Air Slash does **** damage without STAB.
Leaf Storm is decent against Tyranitar, but it's really only for Swampert.
Hydro Pump helps with Infernape and Heatran, and also helps (a little) against Tyranitar.
Blizzard is a joke.

Air Slash really only hits Breloom hard, but you've got Heatran and Staraptor.
Leaf Storm is unnecessary given Breloom. If you really want more Grass, drop Psychic on Starmie and give it Grass Knot.
Hydro Pump is really popular given Heatran's recent usage Explosion.

I'd try out Hydro Pump, if only because it's probably better than your rarely used Overheat.

 

[mood4food77]

i'm using the washer form now and i have yet to have a need for hydro pump but with what you said, i'll probably stick with it

and i'll replace psychic with grass knot if the need comes up, as i use psychic to give an extra check to machamp

if only breloom could run a 5th move, this team would be perfect

i hate these obscure leads (expert belt starmie? LO azelf? overheat heatran?) it's so frustrating

one last thing, how is ninjask a top ten lead?

 

[Wave⁂]

one last thing, how is ninjask a top ten lead?

People at the very top of the ladder:
Azelf, Machamp, Metagross, Swampert, etc
Obscure Gallade, Hariyama, Blissey

People in the middle of the ladder:
Azelf, Machamp, Metagross, Swampert, etc

People near the bottom of the ladder (Electivire-users):
Ninjask

 

[mood4food77]

makes a good point

cause every team that had a ninjask lead just got *****

 

[kirbyraeg]

those aren't obscure leads, those are representations of the changing metagame!

 

[mood4food77]

my rating is pretty low due to lack of playing and being in a slump of team making (it was down to 1021, i got it back up to ~1200)

 

[Cubes]

Obscure leads are just leads that haven't been discovered and sold out yet. /hipster

 

[mood4food77]

i got up to 1232 wit this team (after being at 1018) so i think it's time to retire it and make a good team

either that or a tweak here and there could make this better for the skill level i'm playing at

 

[Circa]

i'm using the washer form now and i have yet to have a need for hydro pump but with what you said, i'll probably stick with it

Hydro Pump isn't actually supposed to be used often. The idea behind using the form, at least in my experience, is to keep Tyranitar and Heatran (especially the latter) from switching in. It's kind of like a most logical option for you so long as you don't actually need the form-specific move. It'll always keep your opponent a little skeptical.

i hate these obscure leads (expert belt starmie? LO azelf? overheat heatran?) it's so frustrating

Lol, those aren't obscure. Expert Belt Starmie's been around for a long while now, LO Azelf is a predictable increase thanks to Machamp, and Overheat Heatran follows the same predictable increase thanks to Machamp.

I wish I had stable computer access now to actually make a new team. I have so many ideas...

 

[mood4food77]

expert belt starmie has been around for a while

but who the hell uses it as a lead?

LO azelf leads are annoying, and heatran using overheat as a lead is just dumb...

 

[Zankoku]

Expert Belt Starmie can pretend to be choiced since Scarf Starmie is a known set. Seems like a reasonable plan to me.

 

[Circa]

expert belt starmie has been around for a while

but who the hell uses it as a lead?

I meant SPECIFICALLY as a lead.

LO azelf leads are annoying, and heatran using overheat as a lead is just dumb...

You know what else is annoying? Machamp leads. That argument is two-fold. LO Azelf is really surprisingly potent to begin with. Machamp's existence just makes it all the more usable.

And Overheat on lead Heatran is more useful than you'd think. The extra power mixed with the higher accuracy makes it, at least in some ways, a more reliable move to use than Fire Blast.