Rate my Gen5 team.

[Rubyiris]

Machamp (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: No Guard
EVs: 240 HP / 248 Atk / 16 SDef / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- DynamicPunch
- Payback
- Ice Punch

This, and Jaroda are what I based this team around. When initially building the team, I had no set goal in mind, and simply worked off two pokemon. Machamp, my favorite competitive pokemon of all time, and Jaroda, My favorite gen-5 pokemon bar-none.

Part of why I wanted to run with Machamp was my recent craving to give the attacking lead machamp set that had popped up on smogon recently. After reading the analasys about how Heatran was the best way to go about covering Machamp's bad matchups, I then noticed how well it also complimented Jaroda. This leads to:

Shanderaa (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Fire Blast
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Initially this was Heatran, but because I went into building the team with the intention of using Dragon Tail/Glare Jaroda, I needed a means to stop spins. I initially thought about burunkeru, but then I remembered that this BAMF had Flash Fire, and my team at the time lacked a special sweeper, and opted to go with this.

People have been hyping Shadow Tag Shanderaa, and honestly, it's not going to make much of a difference. Shanderaa's SPA is usually enough to take at least one pokemon down with it even without shadow tag + scarf.

Jaroda (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Atk / 124 Def / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Tail
- Leaf Blade
- Snake Coil
- Glare

The second pokemon I went into PO with the intention of auto-including into my team. My favorite Gen 5 pokemon, and my second favorite starter of all time. After reading about the moveset it's currently rocking, I had been itching to test it out, passing status to help my relatively slow team, whilst using dragon tail to its full effectiveness with spikes/SR.

Jaroda hasn't netted me any kills directly from its doing, but it has set me up to win MANY games by disabling key pokemon, or preventing Doruuzu and Urugumoth from setting up due to mispredictions on my moveset. (apparently nobody expects dragon tail, lol.)

Skarmory (M) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Roost
- Brave Bird

With so many new physical threats, and nearly all of them being walled by Skarmory, and because of my Jaroda set, this was the next logical progression. I initially wanted to chose Natoreii, but after reading it lacked Rapid Spin, I went with Forretress. I then realized that my team lacked a water pokemon, and my team lacked a tbolter, so I replaced Forretress with Skarmory, and made, again, the next logical progression and included Starmie into my team.

The only thing notable about this set was that I dropped WW in favor of SR for two reasons. Jaroda already filled the role of a phazer, and I needed a pokemon to set up SR.

Weavile (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Pursuit
- Ice Shard
- Low Kick
- Night Slash

I had a long list of threats I was worried about, all of which were generally checked by dark and ice, and coincidently were either dragons with 4x ice weakness, or were physically weak (burunkeru, for example.) and Weavile checks most of these. Machamp also carries ice/dark moves, but due to his lack of speed, and lack of special bulk, he may have the strength and move pool to deal with him, but his ability to actually deal significant damage worried me.

Weavile is here to check dragons, and ghosts. Specifically to check Burunkeru, and salamence/garchomp

Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rapid Spin
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Recover

I needed a spinner, a water pokemon, and a tbolter. Starmie fit the bill. Recover works as a pseudo-scout.

 

[kirbyraeg]

Machamp (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: No Guard
EVs: 240 HP / 248 Atk / 16 SDef / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- DynamicPunch
- Payback
- Ice Punch

This, and Jaroda are what I based this team around. When initially building the team, I had no set goal in mind, and simply worked off two pokemon. Machamp, my favorite competitive pokemon of all time, and Jaroda, My favorite gen-5 pokemon bar-none.

Attacking leads will be very powerful in the meta, i think. Machamp won't lose his effectiveness any time soon. My problem with LeadChamp is that you'll have to play a bit conservatively vs. leads that resist dynamicpunch which could cause some problems for you, but I think he'll work just fine against most things.

Shanderaa (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Fire Blast
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Initially this was Heatran, but because I went into building the team with the intention of using Dragon Tail/Glare Jaroda, I needed a means to stop spins. I initially thought about burunkeru, but then I remembered that this BAMF had Flash Fire, and my team at the time lacked a special sweeper, and opted to go with this.

People have been hyping Shadow Tag Shanderaa, and honestly, it's not going to make much of a difference. Shanderaa's SPA is usually enough to take at least one pokemon down with it even without shadow tag + scarf.
Choiced Shandera without Shadow Tag will get walked all over by tyranitar and trapped by scarfed versions unless you lead with HP Ground to 2hko it as it switches in. Other than that specs+flash fire will give it a lot of power, as well as more wall-breaking potential. I would also worry about giving a sweeper like Terakion an opportunity to boost vs. a fire move could also cause you problems.

Jaroda (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Atk / 124 Def / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Tail
- Leaf Blade
- Snake Coil
- Glare

The second pokemon I went into PO with the intention of auto-including into my team. My favorite Gen 5 pokemon, and my second favorite starter of all time. After reading about the moveset it's currently rocking, I had been itching to test it out, passing status to help my relatively slow team, whilst using dragon tail to its full effectiveness with spikes/SR.

Jaroda hasn't netted me any kills directly from its doing, but it has set me up to win MANY games by disabling key pokemon, or preventing Doruuzu and Urugumoth from setting up due to mispredictions on my moveset.
(apparently nobody expects dragon tail, lol.)
Why not a different move over Snake Coil? Those EVs aren't going to do you very much good even if you're paralyzing everything in sight and boosting both your attack/defense. I think you could have a similar set used more effectively by doing this instead:

Jaroda @ Leftovers
Trait: Overgrow
252 HP/252 Def/4 Spe
Bold nature (+def, -atk)

Dragon Tail
Energy Ball/Grass Knot
Calm Mind/Substitute
Glare

He really needs the spdef boost against a lot of things that would come in on him and scare him off, and giving more EVs to his better defenses is more effective than trying to boost his attack. You can also use Substitute for a guaranteed phaze versus some of its prime counters and you can decide case-by-case whether it's worthwhile to paralyze your targets or just to phaze them out. You could also go Leaf Storm/Substitute with Perversity to become an odd sort of boosting annoyer, and if you did that you might want to forgo the defensive EVs and go max HP/SpAtk or SpAtk/Spe depending on your preference.


Skarmory (M) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Roost
- Brave Bird

With so many new physical threats, and nearly all of them being walled by Skarmory, and because of my Jaroda set, this was the next logical progression. I initially wanted to chose Natoreii, but after reading it lacked Rapid Spin, I went with Forretress. I then realized that my team lacked a water pokemon, and my team lacked a tbolter, so I replaced Forretress with Skarmory, and made, again, the next logical progression and included Starmie into my team.

The only thing notable about this set was that I dropped WW in favor of SR for two reasons. Jaroda already filled the role of a phazer, and I needed a pokemon to set up SR.
This looks ok, but I don't know how well it would work this gen...he walls quite a few dragons but not all of them. Watching out for older threats with this guy is important, as mence still tears him a new one, rain Kingdra still beats him solidly, etc.


Weavile (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Pursuit
- Ice Shard
- Low Kick
- Night Slash

I had a long list of threats I was worried about, all of which were generally checked by dark and ice, and coincidently were either dragons with 4x ice weakness, or were physically weak (burunkeru, for example.) and Weavile checks most of these. Machamp also carries ice/dark moves, but due to his lack of speed, and lack of special bulk, he may have the strength and move pool to deal with him, but his ability to actually deal significant damage worried me.

Weavile is here to check dragons, and ghosts. Specifically to check Burunkeru, and salamence/garchomp
Weavile is probably the most important thing on this team, as he is the only thing keeping this team together against a lot of threats. The problem is that he's easily trapped by Shandera if you're forced to lock yourself into Ice Shard, so maybe you could try an LO set here?

Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rapid Spin
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Recover

I needed a spinner, a water pokemon, and a tbolter. Starmie fit the bill. Recover works as a pseudo-scout.
Just my opinion, but I don't think this team really needs a spinner that badly, and starmie is definitely an opportunity to switch in and set up with no spatk EVs. People will be scared of its type coverage (I know it would be stupid to not assume it has Ice Beam) but again, being Shandera bait and expecting to get a spin off against it is kind of a bad thing, with the only way for you to beat it being to surf it as it comes in, otherwise completely losing your Starmie.

: D

I like this team but the main problem that I see is that it gets walked over by speed boosters. RP Terakion, Sand Throw/Swift Swim/Chlorophyll/etc. will walk all over you, and relying on phazing damage is risky when your only spinblock is weak to SR.

 

[Rubyiris]

Doryuuzu/Sandstorm hasn't been a problem (yet.). I've played against a fair share of Sandstorm teams with little problems.

The one thing I've noticed I've been having problems with are Electric pokemon. There was one very saddening game where I got 5-0ed by a mixed Jolteon with Expert Belt.

Shandeera vs Weavile: You raise a good point there. The funny thing is that everyone who I have played has had a similar mind-set as myself regarding Flash Fire vs Shadow Tag, so the few teams where Weavile WAS locked into Ice Shard, they happened to be FF users instead. If they had been Shadow Tag, I would have lost Weavile, and thinking back on those games, effectively lost the game, as Weavile usually in the end killed Shandeera, and often times at least one other pokemon.

Machamp has been, well, a champ on this teams. Every lead, except one that I have encountered has been hard-countered by Machamp. Either because Confusion is gay, or because Machamp just naturally checks A WHOLE FREAKING LOT of leads in Gen 5 via ohkoing them. The one problem I had was a Focus Sash Zoroark ohkoing Machamp with Counter. It appeared as a Hitmontop, which I just Dynamic Punched out of curiosity, expecting fake-out, then u-turn, but got counter ***** lol. It took me a few minutes to realize exactly what happened.

Skarmory has been... eh. It hasn't been BAD. There have been several games where just having Skarmory as a physical wall was enough to win me the game in the long run, but Skarmory has only ever been ever to set up hazards twice. A ridiculous amount of people run Urugomoth, and the moment Shanderaa dies off without taking the firebug with it, Skarmory, and Jaroda's life are generally over.

Speaking of Jaroda, everyone who I have played so far has switched their bug in on Jaroda expecting a free butterfly dance, but has been hit by a dragon tail every time. I giggle every time their firebug gets checked by a grass pokemon. <3

*Edit*

What would you suggest dropping Starmie for?

 

[Gates]

I would suggest using SpD Skarm instead of what you have right now. Skarm's base defense and typing are usually enough to see him through a lot of situations. I also don't like Brave Bird on Skarm but I'm in the small minority of people who think that 0 attacking move TauntSkarm is the greatest thing since sliced cocaine.

I like your Jaorda set but I think something like the spread Kirby suggested would be better (Impish instead of Bold that is).

kirbyraeg, I think he actually might need a spinner since he has a lot of stuff weak to Stealth Rock, which gets set up on Machamp for free. He seems to be relying heavily on Weavile and Chandeliermon as revenge killers, which amplifies their weakness to Stealth Rock since he'll likely be switching them in a lot. Plus, Starmie is good on its own.

 

[Rubyiris]

That was my reasoning behind needing a spinner, lol.

 

[kirbyraeg]

I wasn't suggesting replacing Starmie, I was just questioning the need for Rapid Spin on said Starmie and max HP instead of max SpAtk. He does have a lot of things weak to SR but I'm worried that the turn he tries to spin a Shandera switches in and ***** him. In that case perhaps running a Shed Shell Starmie would work?

As far as bulky spinners go, your options are extremely limited. Blastoise does a decent job but lacks attack power to threaten traditional spinblocks. Forrey gives you an extra Fire weakness (and once somebody smacks Shandera on the switch it doesn't do any good). Most of the other spinners aren't worth mentioning, excluding Delibird who gets awesome points for being a spinner that is x4 weak to Stealth Rock.

As far as your weakness to Electric pokémon, I think that shows more of a weakness with faster pokemon in general. Your team relies on resistances to handle Scarfed sweepers, but for those that are fast enough to outpace your team you don't have any real answers for. Your team doesn't have any electric immunities, and any resists you have will be mauled by their coverage moves. There isn't a lot you can do except put something in that resists Electric and is neutral to Ice, the most common coverage move that goes with it, so actually putting in something like Lanturn would patch up your problem with Electric types. As a bonus he synergizes well with Skarm, covering both Electric and Fire quite nicely as well as neutral hits like Ice, and he can do a lot of fun things on the switch like parafusing or hitting ground-types with surf.

If you wanted to go hyper offense you could run scarfed Dugtrio over Starmie. That would trap any troublesome Electric types and finish them off easily and quickly. The problem with that is it becomes set-up bait for a lot of things, so using a parafuse Lanturn would be a good defensive option.

 

[Rubyiris]

i'm not really gearing toward hyper offense with this team. If I wanted to go hyper offense, I'd be working on a completely different team.

I've always gravitated toward bulkier offense teams, with some exceptions. Many of my teams during gen4 looked like:

Infernape (Custom moveset/ev spread)
Restalk Machamp
Specs Latias
Trace Porygon 2
Bulky Gyarados
LO Gengar/Physically Defensive Swampert

With the exception of Infernape and Gengar, I generally ran pokemon that wounded things, but also had respectable staying power.

Just to note: I did NOT play during Garchomp/Skaymin-S. I didn't even know Shoddy Battle existed until AFTER they were booted to ubers. Latias had JUST came down to OU, and I hopped on that immediately, favoring it over Salamence.