RMT: Dark Type Team

[DarkDragoon]

My school's game club set up its own little Pokemon League sort of deal, and I was elected Dark Type leader. After a few matches with some of the more prominent trainers, it became obvious my team, although mostly solid, had some weak points. I'm not positive what I should do about them, so I'm posting here.

Note: This is a Dark Gym team, no sleep clause and no item clause in the matches. It is a bad idea to use Choice items because it cuts down on the flexibility of the Pokemon which I need more often than not.

Okay, my previous build had lots of issues with Taunt. Namely, taunt shut down a third of my team, and made buffing difficult, which ended up costing me a lot of turns working around it, so here [after a couple weeks] is my new build, now more of a stall into sweep team, replacing the more feeble teammates with bulkier ones that can hit just as hard.

========================================

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"Scorpio"
Drapion @ Leftovers
Careful, Battle Armor
252 HP/ 4 Def / 252 Sp.Def
-Toxic Spikes
-Whirlwind
-Knock Off
-Crunch

Custom Toxi-Spike lead. Get the toxic spikes, the whirlwind as much as I can, Crunch or Knock Off anyone that can't be whirled. My opponents usually aren't packing any spinners since Dark Types can't run Stealth Rock.

---------------

"Anasia"
Umbreon @ Leftovers
Impish, Synconize
252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SpDef
-Curse
-Payback
-Wish
-Yawn

Umbreon 2.0, now with extra Curse. I should probably put down a Yawn first, then wish if she hasn't been taunted already. I try to make sure the taunt user on the opponent's team is taken care of before sending her out though, which is usually their lead.

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"Tyrant"
Tyranitar @ Life Orb
Jolly, SandStream
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
-Dragon Dance
-Rock Slide
-Crunch
-Earthquake

Haha, I love this guy. If everything works out, the opponent will be dealing with Toxic Spikesx2 + SandStorm, and that will make huge dents in anything sent out after a couple turns. Still not confident enough to switch to Stone Edge because I tend to miss with attacks when I really can't afford to...which is all the time with this guy, but we'll see how this set runs as is.

---------------

"Yucca"
Cacturne @ Leftovers
Adamant, Sand Veil
252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 SpDef
Substitute
Swords Dance
Sucker Punch
Seed Bomb

Yucca will go in after Tyranitar, so a Sandstorm is up. Always. Otherwise this set is useless. Set up a Substitute, then abuse Sand Veil all day as I boost up with a Swords Dance into Seed Bomb, or call it with a Sucker Punch. So delicious.
---------------

"Witch"
Honchcrow @ Life Orb
Naughty, Super Luck
252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
-Brave Bird
-Sucker Punch
-Super Power
-Heat Wave

The coverage and effectiness of this set is amazing. She's come through for me and swept opponents just as much as Tyranitar has. It is really something special, and is especially useful at getting rid of various fighting types and Scizor. Usually ends up being a suicide attacker though, since attacking second will leave it with a sliver of health, usually, which is then taken by Life Orb. I only use Sucker Punch when it will get me a KO for sure, since it'll reduce it's lifespan from 2 turns to 1 in many cases.

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"Hades"
Spiritomb @ Leftovers
Modest, Pressure
252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 Sp.Def

Calm Mind
DarkPulse
Shadowball
Psychic

Replacing Houndoom is Hades here, my *Shiny* Spiritomb, less coverage and damage, but good at at least 2 hits, usually 3. It has the bulk and no-weakness with immunity to fighting, making it a solid switch in. I'm tempted to replace Shadowball with Pain Split or Will O' Wisp because of how effective it was on previous builds, but I'll wait and see.

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-DD

 

[Gates]

1. Is this Gen IV or Gen V?
2. Are you playing with Evasion Clause or OHKO Clause? I ask because you're not using Sleep Clause.

 

[DarkDragoon]

1. Is this Gen IV or Gen V?
2. Are you playing with Evasion Clause or OHKO Clause? I ask because you're not using Sleep Clause.

This is Gen IV. I wouldn't be caught dead with Houndoom if I had the ability to use Sazandora.

Evasion and OHKO is still in effect. Item and Sleep are not.

-DD

 

[Wave⁂]

I'd suggest making some custom Toxic Spikes Drapion lead. You'd probably want to replace Houndoom with Spiritomb, maybe a Calm Mind set.

 

[DarkDragoon]

I'd suggest making some custom Toxic Spikes Drapion lead. You'd probably want to replace Houndoom with Spiritomb, maybe a Calm Mind set.

Okay, so maybe sub in:

Drapion @ Leftovers
Careful, Battle Armor
252 HP/ 4 Def / 252 Sp.Def

Toxic Spikes
Whirlwind
Knock Off/Taunt
Crunch

As the new lead,

and this for a new Spiritomb:

Spiritomb @ Leftovers
Modest, Pressure
252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 Sp.Def

Calm Mind
DarkPulse
Rest/ Shadowball
Sleep Talk/ Water Pulse

I can see Spiritomb fixing up the Blaziken problem with this set if outfitted with the Water Pulse, but I don't know if this is that much of a fix against Taunt users...or if it is could you enlighten me as to how?

-DD

 

[Terywj [태리]]

You probably should be running an all-purpose item on Houndoom if you're indeed planning on keeping Houndoom on the time. Leftovers and Life Orb are going to be much more beneficial at basically any given time compared to Passho. Houndoom's defenses aren't going to really help him much against the next Waterfall / Surf / Hydro Pump anyway, so you're better off with Leftovers or Life Orb.

Is the accuracy issue that much to pass up on Stone Miss for Tyranitar?

I can see Spiritomb fixing up the Blaziken problem with this set if outfitted with the Water Pulse, but I don't know if this is that much of a fix against Taunt users...or if it is could you enlighten me as to how?

-DD

Blaziken problem? This is Gen. IV, right? Blaziken is negligible. Infernape tears this team apart. If you're going to run a different Spiritomb set, use Psychic over Water Pulse. Water Pulse has such terrible base power, and although Psychic has poor coverage, it's probably going to be enough to OHKO Infernape due to his frailness and even moreso if Spiritomb has a couple Calm Minds.

Baton Pass Umbreon is so bad. I mean, I used Umbreon when Umbreon fell into UU during Gen. IV, and the Curse set works so much better, because anything with Taunt completely ruins Baton Pass.

Umbreon @ Leftovers
Synchronize / Impish
252 HP / 136 Def. / 120 Sp. Def.
~ Curse
~ Wish
~ Payback / Sucker Punch
~ Protect / Yawn / Heal Bell

You can mess around with the EV spreads as you like, but since Umbreon is so bulky anyway, as long as you provide enough investment to take general hits you don't even to worry. Curse is self-explanatory, and Wish provides your recovery. Payback works very nicely in conjunction with Curse, and also smashes switch-ins as well. Oppositely, you could ignore all the Speed drops from Curse with Sucker Punch, but you're going to have to be more careful due to the limited PP. Protect works great with Wish for instant recovery, but after a couple Bulk Ups you really don't even need Protect--you could just spend the turn boosting or attacking, really. Yawn helps spread status (especially without Sleep Clause) and usually allows for 100 base power Payback opportunities. SynchroBell doesn't even afraid of anything, and is another alternative to "passing status" onto your opponent, while acting as a cleric for the rest of the team. You should definitely look into this set over Baton Pass.

Also, Weavile is a horrible Pokemon, lol.

 

[Wave⁂]

Oh my god, I totally forgot about Cacturne

Cacturne @ Leftovers
Adamant / Sand Veil
252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 SpDef
Substitute
Swords Dance
Sucker Punch
Seed Bomb / Focus Punch

Sand Veil abuse, boosting with Swords Dance. Caution, you might get punched IRL

 

[Terywj [태리]]

You could also consider Sharpedo.

Sharpedo @ Life Orb
Technician / Adamant
252 HP / 252 Atk. / 4 Spd.
~ Fake Out
~ Aqua Jet
~ Ice Shard
~ Bite

Oh wait a minute.

 

[DarkDragoon]

Oh wow.
This helps a lot guys. I'll rearrange my team and test them out.

Thanks a lot!
-DD

 

[Gates]

You could also consider Sharpedo.

Sharpedo @ Life Orb
Technician / Adamant
252 HP / 252 Atk. / 4 Spd.
~ Fake Out
~ Aqua Jet
~ Ice Shard
~ Bite

Oh wait a minute.

Don't make jokes like that. This guy's not a PC regular, he doesn't know about the NU to OU project.

 

[DarkDragoon]

Don't make jokes like that. This guy's not a PC regular, he doesn't know about the NU to OU project.

>.> Well, I know he doesn't get Technician, so I wasn't really thinking of using that...as amazing as it sounds.

That Cacturne set though sounds really good.
And I hope to be more regular on here. I've been meaning to for a while. xD
-DD

 

[DarkDragoon]

[TEAM USED IN THIS POST IS NOW IN THE OP!]

So I took this team for a run against an opponent seeking my badge, and he opened with a Close Combat/Taunt Primape, so I got one layer of toxic spikes down before dying. I probably should have switched out to Spiritomb first turn, but whatever.

I killed Primape off with Honchkrow's Brave Bird, except it missed the first time so I ended up suiciding for the kill after his attack missed, which made his next pokemon a LOT harder to kill.

Then he switched in Scyther and I switched in Umbreon. I was already sadfacing really hard about him using Scyther, which outspeeds my entire team [since I was lacking Weavile] AND avoided the spikes, and I made a huge error in using Curse instead of Yawn...and he Swords Danced.
So Umbreon lasted 3 turns, Curse, then flinched from Bug Bite, then dead.

Then I switched in the Special Attacker Spiritomb. I forget what happened, but I never got a shadowball off somehow. I think I was being dumb and used Calm Mind. Guh.

So I switch to Tyranitar, turns on Sandstorm, and then gets BrickBreak to the face for Technician +2 x4 Damage. I cried on the inside a little.

Then I switch in Cacturne, he uses Bug Bite instead of Aerial Ace, which missed, so I get a Substitute out and suckerpunch next turn. Dead Scyther. He sends out Jolteon, I use swords dance, and he uses [missed] Signal Beam. Then I seedbomb. Jolteon died. Then he sends out Arcanine, and I should have used SuckerPunch instead of trying to re-sub. He used Flare Blitz, and Cacturne died.

:[ I lost.

What I'm thinking:

I might want to reinvest Drapion's EVs in Def over Sp.Def...since my team doesn't see too many special-attack leads. And if I do I'll switch out to Umbreon or Spiritomb who can handle that.

Yawn first, ask questions later. Umbreon's main function is still going to be applying status it seems, and only doing the cursebacks to taunters...except if they're faster than me, then its just paybacks.

I'm not sure how much I like this Spiritomb over my previous one. I might make some sort of combination with WoW, CM, Dark Pulse, and Psychic, because burn is really useful against physical attackers that somehow avoid my Toxic Spikes, or if they were cleaned up by a Muk/Toxicroak/whatever.

But uhh...maybe I'm wrong. I'll run it again soon and see how it works out when I don't make scrubby mistakes, but for now those are my impressions.

-DD

 

[Terywj [태리]]

Your OP doesn't seem to be updated.

 

[DarkDragoon]

Your OP doesn't seem to be updated.

>_> Just did it. Didn't count on people being here when I posted. LOL
-DD

 

[Wave⁂]

Brave Bird has perfect accuracy. Dat Brightpowder.

I'm no expert in Spiritomb, to be honest, listen to Tery. I just know that I've had trouble with Calm Mind sets in the past. Your lack of a Scarfer (or Scarf-level speed Pokemon) seems to be troubling you. Weavile is just really bad. I don't know. You could try Scarf Absol, but I dunno.

A lot of your problems seem to be decision-making. I'd recommend more practice.

 

[DarkDragoon]

Brave Bird has perfect accuracy. Dat Brightpowder.

I'm no expert in Spiritomb, to be honest, listen to Tery. I just know that I've had trouble with Calm Mind sets in the past. Your lack of a Scarfer (or Scarf-level speed Pokemon) seems to be troubling you. Weavile is just really bad. I don't know. You could try Scarf Absol, but I dunno.

A lot of your problems seem to be decision-making. I'd recommend more practice.

Yeah, I definitely need practice. I'll run this team on those online things, I guess. See how I do.

What service would be best used for that?
-DD