Battle Spot *่EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE MIXED PHYSICAL SWEEPERS RMT

[Meatloaf]

Here's the team:

Hello everyone, it's my first time posting on this forum, or website, but after reading the rules and requirements for posting a thread here, I hope I can make a positive contribution to this community. I'm hoping that my team can win battle spot rating battles and random 6v6 singles wifi battles. These are honestly just Pokemon I like using,
and they just happen to attempt to sweep. I'm not really competitive in Pokemon, but I just want to have a solid team where I can defeat other people (including my brother!) in Pokemon.

1. Ambipom
EVs: 252 ATK, 6 SPD, 252 SPE
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Technician
Item: Cheri Berry
-Fake Out
-Last Resort

First of all, I love Ambipom's speed and power, especially for fake out, which gets the technician boost. Because those are the only two moves it has, I'm wondering if there is another move set that would be more effective, because this move set is not really a sweeping move set, and Ambipom isn't really much of a tank, more like a glass cannon where the cannonballs shrunk and the gunpowder packets are empty. I'd like a better item on it too. Ambipom is also pretty useless against ghost, rock, or steel types. Nevertheless, Ambipom has been successful in taking out some Pokemon, but that number is only limited to at most one per battle, and I'm definitely open to replacing him to get better type diversity and a more diverse move pool.

2. Cloyster
EVs: 252 ATK, 6 DEF, 252 SPE
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Skill Link
Item: Focus Sash
-Shell Smash
-Ice Shard
-Icicle Spear
-Rock Blast

I love Cloyster; it makes an amazing sweeper when I lead off with shell smash. He's always able to survive that first hit, and he almost always gets to hit much harder. The only problems are the obvious ones, resistant Pokemon, type match ups, rock blast missing, sandstorms, attacks that hit multiple times (I'm looking at you mega-Kanghaskhan!), and taunts. I really want to have a more diverse team with Pokemon I can switch into, oh and also entry hazards are a huge problem (I would LOVE to have an effective rapid spinner on my team, but I just don't know where to put it.)

3. Dusclops
EVs: 252 HP, 124 DEF, 134 SPA
Nature: Bold
Ability: Pressure
Item: Eviolite
-Calm Mind
-Dark Pulse
-Rest
-Shadow Ball

Dusclops it fraile, even with the Eviolite. I'd love to have it where I can get enough calm minds in to do actual damage, and be in a position where I can effectively use rest, but in a spot where aegislash roams free and priority moves prosper, dusclops feels outdated. Don't get me wrong, after getting a few calm minds, this guy gets crazy, but I don't feel he's fit to be on my team. I'd like a different Pokemon here, but I'm not sure who to choose. All I know is that I'd like a ghost, psychic, or dark type, and that I've experimented with mega-Banette, but it seems sluggish in anything but non-damaging moves. Dusclops' speed is also lacking.

4. Togekiss
EVs: 252 HP, 252 DEF, 6 SPA
Nature: Modest
Ability: Serene Grace
Item: Chesto Berry
-Rest
-Air Slash
-Nasty Plot
-Thunderwave

Togekiss is just great. I get a kick out of paralyzing the opponent and flinching them with air slash. After a nasty plot, the deal sweetens. He's also my Chesto-rester, but he is susceptible to getting one-shotted surprisingly, and relying on luck is not something I love. I would just like to make Togekiss more efficient in terms of tanking hits and out-speeding non-electric types who possess electric-type moves.

5. Infernape
EVs: 252 ATK, 2 DEF, 4 SPD, 252 SPE
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Iron Fist
Item: Lum Berry
-Mach Punch
-Close Combat
-Fire Punch
-Thunder Punch

Infernape's speed is superb, and close combat is a great move against any Pokemon that doesn't resist it, really. I'm already using a focus sash on my Cloyster, so that's not a possibility, so I gave him a Lum Berry, any suggestions? Also, is there any way to diversify his moveset? I love having Thunder Punch in there to severely damage his weaknesses (rarely defeating them), and Mach punch is great to revenge kill any Pokemon with low health. Infernape is extremely delicate, should I replace him or what?

6. Slurpuff
EVs: 252 HP, 6 ATK, 252 SPE
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Unburden
Item: Sitrus Berry
-Belly Drum
-Thief
-Play Rough
-Drain Punch

Slurpuff is...hard to set up with. His base stats aren't all that, and if he drops below half he can't set up. The idea is to use belly drum, get the health below half, use the Sitrus Berry, have the speed doubled, ???, profit! However, Slurpuff is weak, but in the late-game, when he actually gets the setup, then it's gg, and that's awesome. I mainly chose its moves for type coverage, to restore health, and take items, but this Pokemon is extremely hard to work with. Perhaps a better setter-upper?

-----

One of the biggest problems I have with my team is that I have no Pokemon to switch into if I can predict an opponent's supereffective move. It seems most of my Pokemon are quite fraile, and that even taking neutral damage may cripple them or even defeat them.

Once again everyone, thank you so much for rating my team! I worked hard on it, and I experimented with it extensively, but I would like to include more types of moves, and/or Pokemon. I am also extremely open to replacing some of the more delicate or gimmicky (*cough* *cough* Ambipom) Pokemon. Once again, thank you so much!

 

[Omastar68]

Hmm...interesting looking team.

TBH, the only thing that doesn't raise eyebrows is Cloyster, and even that isn't really common or anything.

Ambipom is really just bad. Not to mention your team has no mega so there's definitely no excuse not to run Kang or Mega Lopunny. Fake Out + Last Resort isn't viable at all, majority of stuff can take that easy and set up or ohko. Most importantly, why Cheri Berry? Totally outclassed by Lum, and that's not even a good item on Ambi anyways. LO or Sash are the only decent options, Silk Scarf maybe tho idk.

Dusclops imo isn't unviable, but CM is. With such low damage output and a vulnerability on the physical side(I'd say to fire types specifically, but yours lacks Will-o-Wisp,) it's really outclassed by mons like Mega Sableye and others that set up with CM. Prolly even by Spiritomb, which gets STAB on Dark Pulse, am Cofagrigus with it's higher SpA in particular.

While I don't think Clops is unviable, I don't really get the point of using it. Still, if you want to you should play to it's strengths with moves such as Will-o-Wisp, Curse, Pain Split, Memento, Night Shade, Skill Swap, etc. Otherwise use Gengar. Rest is decent too, so imo you can keep that at least.

Togekiss is a good mon, but the set could use some work. If you are gonna try NP it makes more sense to have paralysis support instead of Togekiss trying to do everything. That said I don't really like NP, and the set is not common either. Togekiss is most often Scarf with max or nearly max Spe, or a bulky one with T-Wave/ Encore/ Roost/ AS. That's walled by electrics too, though, and you have no ground coverage plus you're quite weak to Thundurus.

Infernape is rare, and when it is used it's mostly Stealth Rock/ Rock Tomb/ two of Close Combat, Overheat, Will-o-Wisp, or Encore. Offensive is largely if not completely outclassed by Blaziken, which even has Vaccuum Wave as a special Mach Punch, despite never using it. On sash sets Blaze is generally better than Iron Fist, at least if you have Overheat.

Since Blaziken has all your current Ape's coverage, plus more power, Spe after boosts, and even bulk, you should run some types of attacks Blaziken doesn't get if you want your offensive Ape to be worth anything. Gunk Shot and Grass Knot are your main options there, and it also gets the coveted U-Turn. Lum is pretty icky too for an item, though it can help a bit with Thund. And only 1% of Ape run it. Sash or LO are really your best options.

Slurpuff isn't the worst thing in the world, but it's largely outclassed by Azumaril, which has a stronger Play Rough, stronger fighting coverage...and dark...and also provides you with valuable water coverage. Also it's bulkier and has priority, though it is a lot slower.

Tl;dr I feel you can take criticism well, so I'm just gonna say you should scrap everything and start over. Keep Togekiss and Cloyster if you want, but nothing else is very easy to use on here, if you're new it makes more sense to build around a core or just generally good mons like Talonflame, Garchomp, Mega Kangaskhan, mega or not Gengar, etc.

...or if this is more fun for you, then continue to use weird mons(still try to fix the sets though.) Don't expect to win much if you do that though.

Good luck, honestly it wouldn't help to say what mons you struggle with at this point since this team is just unviable. Of course that's ok, everyone starts somewhere. Asking around in the Battle Spot forum or the chatroom in Pokémon Showdown is a good idea. People are super helpful on here, and they'll definitely help someone whose new.

 

[thecykz]

By the way, you can only have two 252 EV's and 4 EV left over for a random stat, not 6.

 

[a0161613]

By the way, you can only have two 252 EV's and 4 EV left over for a random stat, not 6.

This is incorrect. 510 is the maximum. The last 2 just don't do anything.

 

[cant say]

I have to be blunt and say that this isn't a competitive team. I don't think you'd even make it out of the 1550's on the Battle Spot Singles ladder. It's also not going to work trying to make a team that works in both 3v3 (Battle Spot) and 6v6 (passerby battles) as the two styles of play are very different and allow the use of lots of different Pokemon. For the purposes of a rate I will focus on Battle Spot...

Why use Ambipom when Mega Lopunny does the Fake Out + Last Resort gimmick 10x better? Lopunny is faster, stronger, and has Scrappy which allows you to hit Ghosts. It seems like a no-brainer, especially considering you don't even have a mega in the team at all. Use this:

Lopunny

If you want to use a gimmick:

Lopunny @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Last Resort
-
-

If you want to win:

Lopunny @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Return
- High Jump Kick
- Substitute / Encore / Last Resort / Healing Wish

Cloyster is the only thing that makes sense so I'll leave it alone

Dusclops is outclassed severely by (Mega) Sableye, who does the whole Calm Mind Ghost-type thing 20x better. Prankster is amazing, allowing to to get priority Calm Minds and Recovers off, and can use Will-O-Wisp to bolster its physical defense. There's literally no reason to use Dusclops in this role. Dusclops only use is as a Trick Room setter who uses Curse to exit the battle without switching, getting your Trick Room sweeper in safely, but since you don't have anything that takes advantage of Trick Room you shouldn't bother. The problem with using Sableye on this team is that both get destroyed by Fairy-types, and having two megas with the same problem makes it hard to win, so I would try Aegislash as your ghost-type instead.

Aegislash

Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Speed
- King's Shield
- Flash Cannon
- Shadow Ball / Sacred Sword
- Shadow Sneak

Togekiss doesn't look terrible since you have the right idea, but it can be fixed a bit. Firstly, why use chestorest when Togekiss has Roost? That frees up your item slot for something like Leftovers. Maybe try something like this:

Togekiss

Togekiss @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Air Slash
- Roost
- Nasty Plot / Fire Blast

or:

Togekiss @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Air Slash
- Dazzling Gleam
- Fire Blast
- Trick

It doesn't make any sense to use Infernape when Blaziken is available. The only reason to use Infernape is that it has moves like Stealth Rock and Encore, which makes it a great lead. It needs a Focus Sash though, which Cloyster already has, so use Blaziken...

Blaziken

Blaziken @ Lum Berry
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- High Jump Kick
- Flare Blitz
- Baton Pass

The Slurpuff set looks fine, except you want to swap the HP and attack investment. However, the Slurpuff doesn't really fit on the team at all. You already have a Fairy-type in Togekiss and running two makes you very weak to things like Aegislash, Ferrothorn, Scizor etc... It's also really hard to actually get a Belly Drum off without support like Reflect / Light Screen, sleep or paralysis, Memento etc..

So I may have improved your sets / Pokemon choices, but this still isn't a cohesive team. I can't really offer any advice without building it from almost scratch, so I won't bother. I think the best thing you could do is check out the resources in our Battle Spot forum, and chatting in our room on Pokemon Showdown.

Hope to see you around!