StallSkar and Megaman. Brand new team!

[Oddish On Fire]

Role: Starter
BurnyMac (Infernape) (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 168 Atk/200 Spd/196 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Fake Out
- Stealth Rock
- Flamethrower
- Close Combat

My Infernape (Burny Mac) is a very, very standard starter, only I gave him a few extra spd EVs to counter any other Infernapes. The general strategy that he uses is Fake out, Stealth Rock, and then either switch or use FT/CC. He’s typically cannon fodder for getting out stealth rocks. However, in the rare instance that he actually his opening battle, he can work real wonders. I one got choice spec tricked, switched him out, switched him back in, and swept their entire team. Haha
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Role: Pseudo Haze Staller
General Skar (Skarmory) (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/180 Def/76 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Toxic
- Roost
- Spikes
- Whirlwind

Typically, Pokemon have at least one attack. Well, for my Skarmory, I ditched that for toxic, which has proven to be my best weapon in a stall war. This guy is one of the staples of team. Set spikes, recover when needed, and continue until I get three layers. After 3 layers, whirlwind the other team into oblivion. Any rapid spinner that is tossed out without toxic resistance gets toxic stalled. If for some reason I feel that he is threatened by either electricity, I employ either Jolteon or Heatran to absorb the attack and hopefully sweep. I added Lum Berry instead of leftovers because roost does enough to recover my health, and any status damage can destroy Skar. His ability to haze while easily blocking physical damage is WONDERFUL, which is why I chose him as my Physical Wall.
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Role: Special Sweeper
Jolteon (M) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Earth]
- Magnet Rise
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball

I used to use an Electivire to cover my Skarmory's weaknesses, but even after Motor driving he was to slow, so I switched to Jolteon. As already stated, this Pokemon is a key component to Skarmory’s whirlwind. However, as an added bonus he can sweep with fairly modest effort. I switch him into an electric attack, Magnet Rise, and then T-bolt, HP, and T-Wave any opposition. Due to the fact that most of the pokemon he will switch into will switch out, Magnet Rise can be fairly easy, and eliminates all of his weaknesses.
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Role: Revenge Killer
He Train! (Heatran) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP252 Spd/252 SAtc
Hasty nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Dragon Pulse
- Earth Power
- Explosion
- Fire Blast

Heatran was my Salamence's (with Sash) replacement. Heatran is simply a better at fulfilling the roles that Salamence could not, which include taking out Blissey with explosion, fire blasting steel walls, and dragon pulsing all dragon pokemon. Considering that I typically switch him into a fire attack, Earth Power easily takes out fire pokemon. This is a fairly standard Choice Heatran set with the only change being HP Dragon, which covers many of my weak points, like Kingdra sweeping. His only role is revenge killing, steel wall destroying, and of course, using explosion to take out anything that his attacks cannot OHK. As stated, his Flash Fire ability is great when used in combination with Skarmory, due to the fact that he perfectly decentuates Skars weaknesses with Jolteon.
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Role: Rapid Spinner/Special Sweeper
Poppy (Starmie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 136 HP/216/156 Def
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rapid Spin
- Surf
- Recover
- Thunderbolt

Originally, Gyarados filled the role of water type on my team. However, I decided he was worthless, and I switched to Starmie, who has covered my lack of water attacks along with rapid spinning to take out Stealth rocks, setting up for a Yanmega sweep. I really didn’t like the Special Attacker set or the support set, so with the help of Endiku I made him bulky enough to withstand Gyarados and T-bolt him, while still being able to rapid spin. I’m considering trading out recover for IB though. Honestly, I never end up having time to use Recover. So, any advice on that would be great.
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Role: Endgame Sweepmaster 3000
Megaman (Yanmega) (M) @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Spd/252 SAtk/4 SDef
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Bug Buzz
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power [Ice]

This endgame sweeper is unstoppable with Stealth rock/spike support. Only way he can be taken down is by the likes of pokemon with powerful Priority moves. I’ve swept full teams with him, even as all of my pokemon are down. He is amazing. I sub 3 times, get my SAtk boost, and then dominate. With Bug Buzz and Air Slash Stab attacks, and HP Ice for dragons and flying types, he’s your GG.
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In general, the strategy of team goes like this: Weaken the oponents team as much as possible and set up stealth rocks and spikes. Continue stalling with Skarmory, switching when needed, and then after all of my pokemon are dead and stealth rocks are cleared, my Yanmega finishes the opponent off. So far, I've worked wonders with this team. All advice in general is great, however, movesets for Jolteon (based around Magnet Rise) and Starmie would be GREAT. Thanks for reading!

-Sean

PS: If any rules have been broken in this thread PLEASE post what I need to do to fix it. Thanks again (:

(and I DID spend quite a bit of time on this team, so please don't troll (: Advice=great whereas troll=bad *ahem*racoonman*ahem*)

 

[racoonman]

Heatran learns dragon pulse, you know. It's better than HP Dragon. You have a big gyara weak, which can just taunt Skarmory. Only Jolteon can switch into Gengar, and that's just barely. It looks like you hardly put any work into this team. This is supported by your description of the strategy. Your pokemon have no strategy besides counter skarmory's weaknesses and put the basic sweep and spin support roles. You don't even have a ghost type to stop spinning. Lum berry is a poor idea on Skarmory, just get a Blissey. Too many things counter your team to fully analyze it. Read some guides on creating synergy with your team, this could practically count as a broken rule on this forum from what I've seen.

 

[r3do]

need a better wat to tank special moves and mix sweepers, but it looks like a good mix, and i like the jolteon.

the gyara problem is kinda a problem tho, and what do u do to kill blissey?
infernape would kill it, but if its a starter and probly be weak by then, or have some kind of way to counter the sash like spikes.

 

[Oddish On Fire]

Heatran learns dragon pulse, you know. It's better than HP Dragon. You have a big gyara weak, which can just taunt Skarmory. Only Jolteon can switch into Gengar, and that's just barely. It looks like you hardly put any work into this team. This is supported by your description of the strategy. Your pokemon have no strategy besides counter skarmory's weaknesses and put the basic sweep and spin support roles. You don't even have a ghost type to stop spinning. Lum berry is a poor idea on Skarmory, just get a Blissey. Too many things counter your team to fully analyze it. Read some guides on creating synergy with your team, this could practically count as a broken rule on this forum from what I've seen.

Hardly any thought? This is the combined work of about 8 hours, and forum rule broken? BS. Which one? I don't have to worry about spinning because I can toxic a spinner and stall then reset spikes. This team is doing AMAZING so far. I have very few losses on it. I don't even appreciate your advice. Maybe next time instead of spouting crap about someones team you should put some actual thought into a reply.

Only good part about your comment: Dragon Pulse. So no thanks.

"need a better wat to tank special moves and mix sweepers, but it looks like a good mix, and i like the jolteon.

the gyara problem is kinda a problem tho, and what do u do to kill blissey?
infernape would kill it, but if its a starter and probly be weak by then, or have some kind of way to counter the sash like spikes."

I agree I do have a massive Gyra problem. So far the only counters I have on it are switching to Skar and whirlwinding away it's boosts OR switching to my Jolteon and parylzing which should effectively stop any sweep. Regarding Blissey I lower it to at least 75% with my other pokemon and then use explosion. So far, that's been able to counter the Blisseys. ANY advice on Gyra would be great though.

 

[Enkidu]

Shuca berry is useless on a Jolteon if your plan is to magnet rise as soon as possible, and most things using earthquake are slower with the exception obviously being choiced pokemon. And with jolteons defenses after taking SR damage it's usually a OHKO regardless. I would opt for expert belt over it as the extra kick is needed to score useful OHKO's.

Drop thunder wave for shadowball so he gets some much needed coverage, Even more so as the majority of his switch ins are immune to thunder, but can be 2HKO'd/OHKO'd rather nicely with shadowball/Hidden power grass.

Explain what Hidden power rock is mainly used for? As most of Jolteons switch ins are weak to grass I don't see any reason not use it.

Racoonman is also right, your descriptions don't give us any useful information about yout team synergy or strategy other than " Sweeper, paves the way for x " Which may be enough for you, as it is your team, but we have to rate it and it's not enough. we need what each move is going to be used for, whether its general type coverage or taking out specific threats.

Most of your pokemon say replaces x becuase it does better, without giving us a decent role description. Try and fix that up ( as your creating custom sets yourself, and other than the surprise factor the standard sets seem to accomplish your goals better. )

Also whats with the 1 Ev point? You only get ONE stat points for every FOUR EV's allocated into a specific stat, so putting one in is useless.

Jolteon should be 4 hp/ 252 special attack/ 252 speed.
Starmie needs a more bulky spread, other wise your wasting recover on him.
136 HP / 156 Def / 216 Spe Makes sure that at full hp, he can switch in on a Gyrados's Dragon dance, take the eartquake/waterfall and OHKO back with thunderbolt.

recover
Rapid spin
Surf / Ice beam
Thunderbolt

Surf is great for taking out Infernape and Heatran, but Icebeam lets you destroy Salamence and Flygon, However as Flygon is choiced and salamence will probably get a DD off, surf is the preffered option for good STAB.

Heatran should have dragon pulse, 20 base power is enough where is matters and is a great addition over HP Dragon.

I like the Yanmega set but your team has no Priority users or status absorbers, definetely something to consider on your team.








On skarmory I would really suggest you use a shed shell as Propobass and Magnezone eat him for breakfast. On top of that, anything skarmory will end up staying in on, doesn't use status or will outspeed and kill skarm that turn. So lum berry seems useless ( and I use skarmory ) so I need to know exactly what your using it to counter otherwise, as far as I see it, it's not needed and can be swapped out.

 

[Oddish On Fire]

Thanks quite a bit Endiku. I didn't mean to add the 1 EV points. I just copy and pasted that info from Shoddy. I'll take it off ASAP. Also, I'll update my descriptions of my pokemon's roles. Regarding Shed Shell, those two pokemon are used so close to never that I RARELY have problems with them. I originally had Shed Shell on him, but after testing Lum Berry, I liked it better. I agree on Starmie. I'm updating him ASAP, and regarding Dragon Pulse I'm updating that too. (I didn't know he could learn it) Also, I meant to put HP ground on my Jolteon, so I'll add that instead. Once again, Thanks for the advice!

 

[Enkidu]

No problem, ah I did forget to say HP ground/Grass though. My bad. Good luck with your team.

 

[monkfish]

Hardly any thought? This is the combined work of about 8 hours, and forum rule broken? BS. Which one? I don't have to worry about spinning because I can toxic a spinner and stall then reset spikes. This team is doing AMAZING so far. I have very few losses on it. I don't even appreciate your advice. Maybe next time instead of spouting crap about someones team you should put some actual thought into a reply.

Actually, he is right. Have you thought this through at all? The four most popular rapid spinners are Starmie, Tentacruel, Forretress and Donphan. Only one of those is vulnerable to Toxic (and Donphan is the least seen of the four). In addition, while you're carefully RE-laying down your 3 layers of spikes, a single rapid spin blows them away and you've wasted 3 turns. Spikes teams need a ghost.

Replace Yanmega with Gengar, in my opinion. You'll still have a quick Special sweeper, but with the added bonus of being able to block spinners (and easily beat two of them). I suggest a Substitute set because you really don't want to be caught by a Pursuiter. Focus Blast or Focus Punch is your choice really, Punch will get the jump on Blissey but Blast will do more to most other pokemon. See here

Also, why on earth do you want a Lum berry on Skarmory? It is one of the few pokemon who really doesn't care about status beyond Sleep, and even then it's useless once it's used up. Leftovers or Shed Shell please.

 

[Oddish On Fire]

Actually, he is right. Have you thought this through at all? The four most popular rapid spinners are Starmie, Tentacruel, Forretress and Donphan. Only one of those is vulnerable to Toxic (and Donphan is the least seen of the four). In addition, while you're carefully RE-laying down your 3 layers of spikes, a single rapid spin blows them away and you've wasted 3 turns. Spikes teams need a ghost.

Replace Yanmega with Gengar, in my opinion. You'll still have a quick Special sweeper, but with the added bonus of being able to block spinners (and easily beat two of them). I suggest a Substitute set because you really don't want to be caught by a Pursuiter. Focus Blast or Focus Punch is your choice really, Punch will get the jump on Blissey but Blast will do more to most other pokemon. See here

Also, why on earth do you want a Lum berry on Skarmory? It is one of the few pokemon who really doesn't care about status beyond Sleep, and even then it's useless once it's used up. Leftovers or Shed Shell please.

I use my Skar way past 3 layer spikes. After that I whirlwind. Status effects totally cripple his usefullness on my team, and shed shell is so rarely needed it's not worth it. The threat of two different pokemon honestly doesn't scare me to much. I would prefer long term success than winning against the 1 in 100 teams with a Magnezone. Also, I don't have ANY trouble with rapid spinners. I can take them out with my other pokemon, and then reset spikes. Wasting turns is fine with me. Skarmory has enough PP. Regarding Yanmega, he is the most important component of my team. I only use him after all my pokemon are dead. He's the perfect late game sweeper. So far I need advice on Movesets and EV spreads. I'm not interested in switching any of the pokemon on my team.

 

[monkfish]

Then why post here? Movesets and EV spreads are available on the Smogon site. This is the Rate My Team forum - emphasis on Team. We are giving you critique which you are bluntly refusing, so this is a pointless thread.

I cannot comprehend how you think Skarmory needs Lum more than Shed Shell or Leftovers. Lum will cure him of status once. You say that you have no probem "wasting turns", so obviously he sits around a lot - once the Lum is gone, you have no item and are vulnerable to both status and Magnezone, and if he is in for over 16 turns in a game then he could have recovered his entire HP in leftovers. Couple that with the fact that he is unaffected by Toxic and doesn't use his attack stat, and has minimum Speed. So I ask you again, how exactly is Skarmory affected so much by status that a one-time-use cure berry is more useful than recovering 1/16 of your HP every turn or being able to escape a surefire counter used in roughly 1/13 teams?

 

[Caelum]

M0nkfish is absolutely correct. If you aren't willing to accept any advice, changes, or critiques (as you state yourself) - there is really no point in this remaining open. This forum is called "Rate My Team"; but it really is more appropriately "Critique My Team".

Edit: In fact, this is even in our rules.

8. When posting a team, do realize that you're posting it mainly for the purpose of people looking at it and criticizing it. If you can't take that, don't post your team. It's fine if you explain why you're using your set and not the one they suggested, and of course you're always free not to take advice, but going all-out against offered help is not the way to do it.