Rate my team

[frenchfri]

Creative title, m i rite? Anyway, I've been using this team for a while now, and it's worked pretty well, but I wanna see if there's anything I missed or should change.

Gengar @ Life Orb
Levitate
Hasty nature
132 Atk/124 SpA/252 Spd
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball
- Explosion

Yes, it's a lead Gengar without Hypnosis. OHKOs Swampert with Energy Ball, and Gyara with Thunderbolt. Shadow Ball for a solid STAB move. Explosion with 132 Atk EVs always OHKOs Blissey. Weavile leads give me trouble here, since Pursuit OHKOs whether I switch or not.

Claydol @ Leftovers
Levitate
Bold nature
236 HP/216 Def/56 SpA
- Ice Beam
- Earthpower
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin

My spinner and physical dragon counter. 236 HP EVs gives maximum lefties recovery. Its defense is high enough, and the SpA EVs give it a chance to OHKO Heatran, for what it's worth. Toxic is mainly for Cressy or a Ghost that's trying to block my Rapid Spin.

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Water Absorb
Bold nature
188 HP/252 Def/68 SpD
- Surf
- Hidden Power Electric
- Wish
- Protect

Counters Gyarados pretty well with HP Electric. 188 HP EVs gives maximum lefties recovery, 252 Def with the Bold nature seems mandatory, with its crap defense and all. Dumped the rest in Special Defense. Surf for STAB, Wish to help support everything.

Heracross @ Choice Scarf
Guts
Adamant
4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
- Megahorn
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit

Scarf'd revenge killer, pretty self explanatory.

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Torrent
Calm
252 HP/8 SpA/248 SpD
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot/Waterfall
- Roar
- Stealth Rock

Specsmence counter, phazer, and spiker (rawker). Grass Knot has helped me against Swampert, but I might change it for Surf, I'm not sure.

Arcanine @ Choice Band
Initimidate
Jolly
4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Thunderfang
- Crunch

Not sure whether to go Jolly or Adamant here. Flare Blitz for STAB, Extreme Speed because priority moves are nice, Tfang for Gyara. Crunch is mainly filler, but it hurts Slowpoke and Cresselia without the recoil or Flare Blitz, which is nice.

So yeah, go ahead and rate/destroy my team <_<

 

[Shiri]

I'm eying your Empoleon.

He's a special wall and he can wall all day. He can also take non-STAB EQs, which is good for survivability. I recommend the following to you:

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Calm
EVs to your liking, but max HP, drop some in special attack, maybe a few in regular defenses.
Or you can just max HP and special defense. It's up to you.
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Grass Knot
-Stealth Rock

I, myself, have used this to excellent effect. It is the best lead in most situations and if you can't KO or do decent damage, you can at least set up Stealth Rock. The reason I don't suggest Roar is because you're normally going to want to Roar things out that you can't beat (or that are setting up on you), right? Well, pkmn that are setting up on you are best to Roar out. This is true. However, pkmn that just straight up beat you are more than likely going to be faster than you. Roar won't really help in that situation, and by time they're forced out, you've already taken plenty of damage and the next pkmn to come in may not even be a favorable matchup.

You'll want Ice Beam to survive any dragon attack from any dragon and return a OHKO (I cannot tell you how many Salamence leads fall to Empoleon. They're too proud to switch out, I think). Grass Knot helps against Swampert, in particular, since most don't run too many attack EVs. You should be able to survive a Swampert EQ (this kid can just barely survive Flygon EQs, too, so don't be SO quick to switch) and, again, OHKO. Just be on the lookout for Mirror Coat, but I doubt they'll pass up the opportunity for a free EQ. Hydro Pump for STAB, good power, and not-as-bad-as-everyone-thinks accuracy. Not too many things resist water, either, so it's a good element to have on hand (take that, Skarmory!). Stealth Rock is, of course, for maximum gayness.

So here's how he works. I like to lead with him, but he works best when new pkmn take the field, in general, so you can pull him out during a double KO or something like that, too. Switching him in can be a risk sometimes. Anyway, if you're leading, check out who it is. If it's a special attacker that is not named Starmie, keep him in. Do not fear Salamence, Gengar, or Porygon-Z (well, be a little scared of Porygon-Z). These guys are threats, but not immediate dangers. Neither of the top three can OHKO you if your special defense is good, so stay in for the KO. If it's a dragon, you know what to do. If not, Hydro Pump (or Surf if you REALLY want that accuracy up). If they resist both water and ice, chances are they're a water type, so Grass Knot. If the opponent is a special attacker that poses no real danger, you want to set up Stealth Rock first, then either switch or go for the KO. Leftovers keep you tanking pretty hard, so keep at it.

The best thing about Empoleon besides his ability to wall and retaliate is that he can defend somewhat on the physical side as long as he resists (you can say this for most pkmn, I know, but Empoleon in particular). That being said, use any opportunities you can to take free KOs. They don't have to be OHKOs or 2HKOs, but if you can take a pkmn out without sacrificing Empoleon, it's a good idea to do so, I think. He's a pkmn that enforces sturdiness and lack of switching (both for you strategically and for the opponent because of Stealth Rock), so stay in with him as long as you can, but do switch if it looks like you're going to lose him unnecessarily.

Yeah, I'm done.

P.S. - Something else to consider is Substitute, but that's a whole 'nother post. Also, watch out for Focus Sash leads like Gengar.

 

[ss118]

Give your gengar Naive instead of Hasty. It may give it a chance to survive, at least.
Or you could add more ATK and go Focus sash

 

[Wii4Mii 99]

@ Shiri

First of all, impressive explanation of your Empoleon set. Second, whenever you rate a team that has a Pokemon that's on your team as well, I think it's funny how you go reeeeeaaally in-depth with your explanation.

Creative title, m i rite? Anyway, I've been using this team for a while now, and it's worked pretty well, but I wanna see if there's anything I missed or should change.

Gengar @ Life Orb
Levitate
Hasty nature
132 Atk/124 SpA/252 Spd
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball
- Explosion

Yes, it's a lead Gengar without Hypnosis. OHKOs Swampert with Energy Ball, and Gyara with Thunderbolt. Shadow Ball for a solid STAB move. Explosion with 132 Atk EVs always OHKOs Blissey. Weavile leads give me trouble here, since Pursuit OHKOs whether I switch or not.

Good.

Claydol @ Leftovers
Levitate
Bold nature
236 HP/216 Def/56 SpA
- Ice Beam
- Earthpower
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin

My spinner and physical dragon counter. 236 HP EVs gives maximum lefties recovery. Its defense is high enough, and the SpA EVs give it a chance to OHKO Heatran, for what it's worth. Toxic is mainly for Cressy or a Ghost that's trying to block my Rapid Spin.



Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Water Absorb
Bold nature
188 HP/252 Def/68 SpD
- Surf
- Hidden Power Electric
- Wish
- Protect

Counters Gyarados pretty well with HP Electric. 188 HP EVs gives maximum lefties recovery, 252 Def with the Bold nature seems mandatory, with its crap defense and all. Dumped the rest in Special Defense. Surf for STAB, Wish to help support everything.

Good.

Heracross @ Choice Scarf
Guts
Adamant
4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
- Megahorn
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit

Scarf'd revenge killer, pretty self explanatory.

Standard ScarfCross. Good.

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Torrent
Calm
252 HP/8 SpA/248 SpD
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot/Waterfall
- Roar
- Stealth Rock

Specsmence counter, phazer, and spiker (rawker). Grass Knot has helped me against Swampert, but I might change it for Surf, I'm not sure.

Consider Shiri's Empoleon set.

Arcanine @ Choice Band
Initimidate
Jolly
4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Thunderfang
- Crunch

Not sure whether to go Jolly or Adamant here. Flare Blitz for STAB, Extreme Speed because priority moves are nice, Tfang for Gyara. Crunch is mainly filler, but it hurts Slowpoke and Cresselia without the recoil or Flare Blitz, which is nice.

Running Jolly lets you outspeed 252 EVed 100s and Garchomp

So yeah, go ahead and rate/destroy my team <_<

I don't see too many weaknesses on your team.

8.7/10

Until wii meet again,
Wii4Mii 99

 

[frenchfri]

Shiri: Thanks a ton for all the Empoleon info. I think I might drop Stealth Rock or Grass Knot for Surf/Pump (I'll have to do a few calcs). I really need to have Roar on something, or else Ninjask and other baton passers are going to run all over me. I think I will make him my lead for a bit, see how well it works out. Here's what I'm planning on using now:

Emploeon @ Leftovers
Calm nature
236 HP/24 SpA/248 SpD
- Roar
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot/Stealth Rock

Found the EV spread on TLF. Always OHKOs mence and almost always OHKOs Garchomp with Ice Beam. 248 SpD EVs gets the "extra" point, and losing the 4 Hit Points I would've gotten from 252 HP shouldn't make much of a difference. Still can't decide on the last two moves though, I think I might go with GK, at least until the amount of Swampert leads goes down.

 

[Druggedfox]

Not any glaring errors (may look over it again in the near future aka tomorow) but do u notice that half your team has a move to counter gyrados? Also, are the 132 evs put into attack worth the ohko on blissey? Just a thought (im not that good at fixing teams) but maybe you could put all evs into sp attack that u put into attack, give it a move besides explosion such as focus blast (maybe to take out that weavile???) as well as pokemon like ttar, and then figure out which pokemon is helping u the least through trial and error and get yourself another blissey counter. My faves are tryaniboah and dugtrio but its your team, and i maybe be completely wrong on this (hope not lol).

Overall pretty good team, then again everything is good on paper.