This is my first real attempt at making a 4th Generation team. I usually just pick some random guys that I like to use, but I've decided that it's time to make a real team. The format is 3 walls, 2 fast utility users, and one dedicated sweeper. I'm writing this guide after about 20 battles with this team.
Heatran @LumBerry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpAtk/ 4 SpDef/ 252 Speed
Timid Nature (+Speed, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- Explosion
I originally had an offensive Jirachi w/ SR in this leadoff spot, but there were too many situations where Jirachi would have to switch out immediately. On top of that, mid/late game I didn't really value Jirachi more than the rocks it set up. I had HP Fire on that Jirachi because of the lack of a fire pokemon on my team. So Heatran replacing Jirachi seemed like a solid choice. As for its moveset...I wanted Explosion just in case I lost my physical sweeper (Lucario). Earth Power and Flamethrower are there for good coverage. I run Flamethrower now after I kept missing key hits with Fire Blast (missing after the enemy sets up a substitute and I even missed on a Lucario switch in) and to be honest I've never regretted it. I run Lum Berry over Shuca because I have a Gliscor and a Slowbro that don't care about taking an Earthquake. Plus Lum Berry lols at Breloom and I even got cured from an Ice Punch freeze on my switch in. Overall, Heatran's been a very solid poke.
Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 SpDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Slack Off
- Surf
- Fire Blast
- Psychic
Holy cow I love this pokemon. This pokemon is mainly here to stop my most hated-to-face pokemon, Machamp, in his tracks. Resisting Machamp's Dynamic Punch without the added confusion is epic, and a STAB psychic back in it's face never fails. Surf is on there for coverage, but the real MVM (most valuable move) is definitely Fire Blast. You have no idea how great it feels to roll over a Skarmory, Forretress, and even Scizor with an unexpected Fire Blast. Fire Blast is also a guarenteed 2HKO on Metagross if Slowbro can get into the battle with a good amount of HP to take some Meteor Mashes. Metagross' Thunderpunch is easily slacked off by Slowbro as well. I've decided to go with Psychic over Ice Beam simply because Starmie packs Ice Beam, Gliscor has Ice Fang, and Lucario packs Ice Punch.
Umbreon @ Leftovers
Abilty: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP/44 Def/ 212 SpDef
Careful Nature (+SpDef, -SpAtk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic
- Heal Bell
Umbreon is one of my favorite pokemon of all time. This one's only damaging move is toxic in order to maximize bulk. This set completely walls Azelf without explosion and can protect on lead Azelf's explosion with good prediction. I really wanted to max out SpDef, but I wanted some Def EVs thrown in just in case--and I'm very glad I did. Those extra Def EVs has helped me beat out Gyarados as it doesn't like to Dragon Dance up if I hit it with a toxic/protect combo (Stealth Rock is key here as well. SR + Toxic + Protect = force Gyara outta there!). Wish and Heal Bell are there to support the rest of the team, and I absolutely love the Heal Bell/Syncronize combo. My favorite thing to do is Syncronize Dusknoir's Wil-O-Wisp, and if they predict the Heatran switch in, then I can just Toxic it. Unfortunately, both my Defensive and Special Defensive walls are weak to U-Turn, which is where gliscor comes in.
Gliscor @Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP/200 Def/ 56 Speed
Jolly Nature (+Speed, -SpAtk)
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Roost
- Taunt
First off, the 56 Speed EVs paired with a Jolly nature allows me to outspeed Jolly Breloom by 2 points, Taunt it and throw in a surprise Ice Fang if it wants to hang around (Breloom kinda rolls over this team...maybe Slowbro can handle Breloom if he isn't asleep). I really wanted to put the 200 Def EVs into his SpDef, but even that amount of SpDef EVs wouldn't help against a Vaporeon's Surf or Ice Beam. Since Umbreon and Slowbro can't take U-Turns, Gliscor is here to help. He mainly takes U-Turns from Scizor and Infernape, and can take any hits from them if they don't use a U-Turn. I never really used Taunt on anything but a lead before, but it has easily shown its worth here. Blissey doesn't stand a chance, and with their other walls hit by a surprise toxic from Umbreon paired with a Gliscor Taunt later, BAM! there's more SR damage from them switching.
Starmie @Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4HP/ 252 SpAtk/ 252 Speed
Timid Nature (+Speed, -Atk)
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Rapid Spin
This is just a standard Life Orb Starmie but with Leftovers rather than a LO. I like having Starmie gaining a little HP with an Umbreon Wish floating in the air. Stealth Rock + LO hurts, and Leftovers instead makes it a bit more comfortable for me. Starmie is here to put holes into teams and revenge kill. Seeing leftovers on Starmie makes the opponent feel more comfortable in letting one of their walls in to take a hit and possible recover HP back. But this isn't a bulky Starmie at all, and will still pack a major punch. It should be said that this is my only fast pokemon with an Ice move on this team, so I I'm almost forced to bring him in whenever a Dragonite shows up fearing the Dragon Dance. If Dragonite doesn't DD and kills off Starmie, then I can immediately bring in...
Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk/ 4 SpDef/ 252 Speed
Jolly Nature (+Speed, -SpAtk)
- Close Combat
- Extremespeed
- Crunch
- Ice Punch
Finally, my physical sweeper. Lucario doesn't care about Stealth Rock or Toxic Spikes so I slapped a life orb on this puppy....er fox. This set is very straight forward. It's meant to deal a lot of damage and safely switch out from danger. Lucario is an extremely valuable pokemon to have late game, and I usually like to keep him hidden unless I desperately need to force a switch. Since he is so threatening, I like to bring him on a low health pokemon after one of my own pokes bites the dust. This makes the opponent decide which one of their pokes wants to take a powerful Close Combat to the face! After Lucario delivers his powerful blow, then he can freely switch away to one of my three walls to take the retaliated hit. To be honest, Crunch is only there for a weakened Dusknoir (it even came in handy for a surprise Shedinja), as I don't have much to deal with him aside from Synchronizing a Wil-O-Wisp with Umbreon or toxic him if he predicts Heatran to come in. Ice Punch is for the dragons, and Close Combat is for Blissey/Clefable/Porygon2/Snorlax/whatever. Extremespeed for crippled sweepers without a priority move. I decided to go with Extremespeed over Bullet Punch because I hate having something that resists Bullet Punch come in and ruin Lucario's fun, and to be perfectly honest Umbreon and Heatran aren't afraid of Gengar without Focus Blast.
This concludes my 4th Gen team! I am definitely open to any constructive criticism. Thank you for your time!
Heatran @LumBerry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpAtk/ 4 SpDef/ 252 Speed
Timid Nature (+Speed, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- Explosion
I originally had an offensive Jirachi w/ SR in this leadoff spot, but there were too many situations where Jirachi would have to switch out immediately. On top of that, mid/late game I didn't really value Jirachi more than the rocks it set up. I had HP Fire on that Jirachi because of the lack of a fire pokemon on my team. So Heatran replacing Jirachi seemed like a solid choice. As for its moveset...I wanted Explosion just in case I lost my physical sweeper (Lucario). Earth Power and Flamethrower are there for good coverage. I run Flamethrower now after I kept missing key hits with Fire Blast (missing after the enemy sets up a substitute and I even missed on a Lucario switch in) and to be honest I've never regretted it. I run Lum Berry over Shuca because I have a Gliscor and a Slowbro that don't care about taking an Earthquake. Plus Lum Berry lols at Breloom and I even got cured from an Ice Punch freeze on my switch in. Overall, Heatran's been a very solid poke.
Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 SpDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Slack Off
- Surf
- Fire Blast
- Psychic
Holy cow I love this pokemon. This pokemon is mainly here to stop my most hated-to-face pokemon, Machamp, in his tracks. Resisting Machamp's Dynamic Punch without the added confusion is epic, and a STAB psychic back in it's face never fails. Surf is on there for coverage, but the real MVM (most valuable move) is definitely Fire Blast. You have no idea how great it feels to roll over a Skarmory, Forretress, and even Scizor with an unexpected Fire Blast. Fire Blast is also a guarenteed 2HKO on Metagross if Slowbro can get into the battle with a good amount of HP to take some Meteor Mashes. Metagross' Thunderpunch is easily slacked off by Slowbro as well. I've decided to go with Psychic over Ice Beam simply because Starmie packs Ice Beam, Gliscor has Ice Fang, and Lucario packs Ice Punch.
Umbreon @ Leftovers
Abilty: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP/44 Def/ 212 SpDef
Careful Nature (+SpDef, -SpAtk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic
- Heal Bell
Umbreon is one of my favorite pokemon of all time. This one's only damaging move is toxic in order to maximize bulk. This set completely walls Azelf without explosion and can protect on lead Azelf's explosion with good prediction. I really wanted to max out SpDef, but I wanted some Def EVs thrown in just in case--and I'm very glad I did. Those extra Def EVs has helped me beat out Gyarados as it doesn't like to Dragon Dance up if I hit it with a toxic/protect combo (Stealth Rock is key here as well. SR + Toxic + Protect = force Gyara outta there!). Wish and Heal Bell are there to support the rest of the team, and I absolutely love the Heal Bell/Syncronize combo. My favorite thing to do is Syncronize Dusknoir's Wil-O-Wisp, and if they predict the Heatran switch in, then I can just Toxic it. Unfortunately, both my Defensive and Special Defensive walls are weak to U-Turn, which is where gliscor comes in.
Gliscor @Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP/200 Def/ 56 Speed
Jolly Nature (+Speed, -SpAtk)
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Roost
- Taunt
First off, the 56 Speed EVs paired with a Jolly nature allows me to outspeed Jolly Breloom by 2 points, Taunt it and throw in a surprise Ice Fang if it wants to hang around (Breloom kinda rolls over this team...maybe Slowbro can handle Breloom if he isn't asleep). I really wanted to put the 200 Def EVs into his SpDef, but even that amount of SpDef EVs wouldn't help against a Vaporeon's Surf or Ice Beam. Since Umbreon and Slowbro can't take U-Turns, Gliscor is here to help. He mainly takes U-Turns from Scizor and Infernape, and can take any hits from them if they don't use a U-Turn. I never really used Taunt on anything but a lead before, but it has easily shown its worth here. Blissey doesn't stand a chance, and with their other walls hit by a surprise toxic from Umbreon paired with a Gliscor Taunt later, BAM! there's more SR damage from them switching.
Starmie @Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4HP/ 252 SpAtk/ 252 Speed
Timid Nature (+Speed, -Atk)
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Rapid Spin
This is just a standard Life Orb Starmie but with Leftovers rather than a LO. I like having Starmie gaining a little HP with an Umbreon Wish floating in the air. Stealth Rock + LO hurts, and Leftovers instead makes it a bit more comfortable for me. Starmie is here to put holes into teams and revenge kill. Seeing leftovers on Starmie makes the opponent feel more comfortable in letting one of their walls in to take a hit and possible recover HP back. But this isn't a bulky Starmie at all, and will still pack a major punch. It should be said that this is my only fast pokemon with an Ice move on this team, so I I'm almost forced to bring him in whenever a Dragonite shows up fearing the Dragon Dance. If Dragonite doesn't DD and kills off Starmie, then I can immediately bring in...
Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk/ 4 SpDef/ 252 Speed
Jolly Nature (+Speed, -SpAtk)
- Close Combat
- Extremespeed
- Crunch
- Ice Punch
Finally, my physical sweeper. Lucario doesn't care about Stealth Rock or Toxic Spikes so I slapped a life orb on this puppy....er fox. This set is very straight forward. It's meant to deal a lot of damage and safely switch out from danger. Lucario is an extremely valuable pokemon to have late game, and I usually like to keep him hidden unless I desperately need to force a switch. Since he is so threatening, I like to bring him on a low health pokemon after one of my own pokes bites the dust. This makes the opponent decide which one of their pokes wants to take a powerful Close Combat to the face! After Lucario delivers his powerful blow, then he can freely switch away to one of my three walls to take the retaliated hit. To be honest, Crunch is only there for a weakened Dusknoir (it even came in handy for a surprise Shedinja), as I don't have much to deal with him aside from Synchronizing a Wil-O-Wisp with Umbreon or toxic him if he predicts Heatran to come in. Ice Punch is for the dragons, and Close Combat is for Blissey/Clefable/Porygon2/Snorlax/whatever. Extremespeed for crippled sweepers without a priority move. I decided to go with Extremespeed over Bullet Punch because I hate having something that resists Bullet Punch come in and ruin Lucario's fun, and to be perfectly honest Umbreon and Heatran aren't afraid of Gengar without Focus Blast.
This concludes my 4th Gen team! I am definitely open to any constructive criticism. Thank you for your time!
