this is my first analysis... hopefully it'll be useful to you.
Mono Teams
Most of you have probably seen at least one person use a mono team sometime during your life of Pokemoning, right? With so many Pokemon, attacks, and strategies running amok, it's no wonder why mono teams are being created every day. This guide will explain everything about mono teams and how to successfully build one.
What is a mono team?
A mono team is basically a team with pokemon all related to each other in one way. Generally, mono teams do not work as well as competitively standard teams, due to lacks of certain areas and exposing weaknesses. Such teams are mono
-type
-color
-move
-ability
-Lettering
-Numbering
-Pokemon (breaking Species Clause)
If you were to use a mono type team, you would have six Pokemon all with one matching type. If you were to use a mono water team, for example, you would have a team with all water types, such as Kyogre, Suicune, Wailord, Blastoise, Feraligatr, and Swampert (I will be using mono type teams throughout this entire guide). Lettering means that all six of your Pokemon would start off with the same letter, for example, a team consisting of Groudon, Gyarados, Gardevoir, Gengar, Golduck, and Golem. The same idea applies to the Pokemon's Pokedex number.
Try coming up with your own ideas for mono teams, and just let it happen!
Why should I use a mono team?
Simple. It brings the fun out of Netbattle. In my experience, I have found it to be boring to always battle standard versus standard, always ending battles with Celebi against Celebi or something. Sure, you can always battle using UU, or even with ubers, but mono teams are alternate options available to you. While you are fighting the over used, you have more fun, thinking of different strategies not available in standard play.
Team Building
Building a mono team can be harder to make than a standard team. In order to make a successful mono type team, you must know the following:
-Shared weaknesses
-Each Pokemon's roles
-The fact that your movesets sometimes cannot be standard
When building a mono type team, it is more than likely for the entire team to have a same weakness. If you're building an all dragon team, you will highly likely lose to an ice type, namely the now popular Regice. How will you counter these counters? Go against standards!
Before you actually make your team, you should know what each Pokemon is best at doing, and what it can do. Let's continue with the example of the dragon team. There are only five fully evolved non uber dragons, and this is what each Pokemon can do.
Salamence - Physical Sweeper. Usually Choice Banded or Dragon Dance. Has intimidate ability. Sometimes uses a special set.
Flygon - Choice Bander. Sometimes uses Screech, or special attacks.
Dragonite - Mixed Attacker. Standard is Substitute, Focus Punch, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt. Can use Dragon Dance.
Altaria - Supporter, using moves such as Heal Bell and Perish Song for pseudo-hazing. Has Natural Cure and Rest. Can use Dragon Dance.
Kingdra - Special Sweeper. Uses Rain Dance to sweep. Can also can use Dragon Dance.
Let's add in Shelgon as our 6th Pokemon, just because I find it the best dragon Pokemon excluding the fully evolved, and it's cool like that.
Shelgon - Highest base stat in defenses.
The obvious battler will already know that all these Pokemon, except Kingdra, will easily get knocked out by a strong ice attack. In this case, you will want Kingdra to be a tank, so it can easily take Ice Beams, as well as knocking those Pokemon out. Sadly, Kingdra cannot use Light Screen, so you may have some trouble. As a tank, I gave my Kingdra this moveset.
Kingdra @ Liechi Berry
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 40 HP / 216 Atk / 252 SDef
Lonely Nature (+Atk, -Def)
- Dragon Dance
- Endure
- Flail
- Hydro Pump
I maxed out its Special Defense since it will be taking a lot of Ice Beams for the team. However, it may have some trouble against Pokemon like Articuno, with high defenses and a strong STABed Ice Beam, so I gave it a lonely nature to give Kingdra an attack boost. 40 EVs in HP give it 301 HP, so it can take three Seismic Tosses before it sweeps. After two Dragon Dances, it will outspeed all Pokemon, and it doesn't even need any speed EVs. You will need your EVs for special defense and attack, so I did not raise Kingdra's speed up to the 264 area. I'm sure Kingdra has enough defenses to get in at least two Dragon Dances, so that is also why I gave it Liechi Berry over Salac. I'm not exactly the best EV Spread maker out there though, so please suggest a better spread if you can!
Once Kingdra is done knocking out the ice types with Flail, you probably don't need it anymore. However, Kingdra now has the potential to sweep. Hydro Pump will heavily drench out Skarmory and Weezing, but unfortunately won't OHKO them. STAB and Hydro Pump will definitely hurt them a lot though before they knock you out.
So now, having Kingdra ready for tanking, you'll need your other five Pokemon. Also, since Regice is now a popular lead, you may also lead with Kingdra. Just watch out for Thunder Wave.
Kingdra - Tank
Also note that Altaria, Dragonite, and Salamence are all flying types, so they will have hard times against rock types like Tyranitar. Flygon is an exceptional counter to both Dragon Dancing Tyranitar and Boah, so we will keep Flygon as its standard Choice Bander. (Flygon cannot OHKO Tyranitar without a Choice Band)
Kingdra - Tank
Flygon - Choice Band
The next Pokemon that might cause you trouble is Donphan, or Swampert with Rock Slide (watch out if it has Ice Beam). Their high HP and defenses will cause Kingdra and Flygon a little trouble. You can use either Salamence or Dragonite - both holding above average special attack to knock them out. I would rather use Salamence though, since it has Intimidate to weaken the Rock Slides, and also has a higher Special Attack. Here is an example of a Salamence set.
Salamence @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 12 HP / 244 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Fire Blast
- Crunch
296 Speed to outspeed Heracross, maxed out Special Attack, and rest in HP. You can use Hydro Pump against Donphan for an instant OHKO. Hidden Power will 2HKO Swampert, but don't worry, as it can survive a Rock Slide more easily than against Donphan. Note that most of the time, Swampert won't stay in against a second Hidden Power Grass, so prediction will also help you out using any kind team. Fire Blast will be your best attack, and Crunch will be good against several Pokemon like Gengar on the switch.
Now we have this team:
Kingdra - Tank
Flygon - Choice Band
Salamence - Special Attacker
Hopefully, you can come up with the rest of the team on your own. Come up with crazy movesets if you need to!
Battling and Revising
I won't go over the basic skills of battling here, but just remember what your team does. Do not forget that your Salamence uses Special Attacks, or Kingdra uses Dragon Dance. If you find yourself losing against a lot of a certain Pokemon, try fixing your team so you can beat it. Keep adjusting your team until you are happy with your battling results using your team. Lastly, have fun, and good luck.
Mono Teams
Most of you have probably seen at least one person use a mono team sometime during your life of Pokemoning, right? With so many Pokemon, attacks, and strategies running amok, it's no wonder why mono teams are being created every day. This guide will explain everything about mono teams and how to successfully build one.
What is a mono team?
A mono team is basically a team with pokemon all related to each other in one way. Generally, mono teams do not work as well as competitively standard teams, due to lacks of certain areas and exposing weaknesses. Such teams are mono
-type
-color
-move
-ability
-Lettering
-Numbering
-Pokemon (breaking Species Clause)
If you were to use a mono type team, you would have six Pokemon all with one matching type. If you were to use a mono water team, for example, you would have a team with all water types, such as Kyogre, Suicune, Wailord, Blastoise, Feraligatr, and Swampert (I will be using mono type teams throughout this entire guide). Lettering means that all six of your Pokemon would start off with the same letter, for example, a team consisting of Groudon, Gyarados, Gardevoir, Gengar, Golduck, and Golem. The same idea applies to the Pokemon's Pokedex number.
Try coming up with your own ideas for mono teams, and just let it happen!
Why should I use a mono team?
Simple. It brings the fun out of Netbattle. In my experience, I have found it to be boring to always battle standard versus standard, always ending battles with Celebi against Celebi or something. Sure, you can always battle using UU, or even with ubers, but mono teams are alternate options available to you. While you are fighting the over used, you have more fun, thinking of different strategies not available in standard play.
Team Building
Building a mono team can be harder to make than a standard team. In order to make a successful mono type team, you must know the following:
-Shared weaknesses
-Each Pokemon's roles
-The fact that your movesets sometimes cannot be standard
When building a mono type team, it is more than likely for the entire team to have a same weakness. If you're building an all dragon team, you will highly likely lose to an ice type, namely the now popular Regice. How will you counter these counters? Go against standards!
Before you actually make your team, you should know what each Pokemon is best at doing, and what it can do. Let's continue with the example of the dragon team. There are only five fully evolved non uber dragons, and this is what each Pokemon can do.
Salamence - Physical Sweeper. Usually Choice Banded or Dragon Dance. Has intimidate ability. Sometimes uses a special set.
Flygon - Choice Bander. Sometimes uses Screech, or special attacks.
Dragonite - Mixed Attacker. Standard is Substitute, Focus Punch, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt. Can use Dragon Dance.
Altaria - Supporter, using moves such as Heal Bell and Perish Song for pseudo-hazing. Has Natural Cure and Rest. Can use Dragon Dance.
Kingdra - Special Sweeper. Uses Rain Dance to sweep. Can also can use Dragon Dance.
Let's add in Shelgon as our 6th Pokemon, just because I find it the best dragon Pokemon excluding the fully evolved, and it's cool like that.
Shelgon - Highest base stat in defenses.
The obvious battler will already know that all these Pokemon, except Kingdra, will easily get knocked out by a strong ice attack. In this case, you will want Kingdra to be a tank, so it can easily take Ice Beams, as well as knocking those Pokemon out. Sadly, Kingdra cannot use Light Screen, so you may have some trouble. As a tank, I gave my Kingdra this moveset.
Kingdra @ Liechi Berry
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 40 HP / 216 Atk / 252 SDef
Lonely Nature (+Atk, -Def)
- Dragon Dance
- Endure
- Flail
- Hydro Pump
I maxed out its Special Defense since it will be taking a lot of Ice Beams for the team. However, it may have some trouble against Pokemon like Articuno, with high defenses and a strong STABed Ice Beam, so I gave it a lonely nature to give Kingdra an attack boost. 40 EVs in HP give it 301 HP, so it can take three Seismic Tosses before it sweeps. After two Dragon Dances, it will outspeed all Pokemon, and it doesn't even need any speed EVs. You will need your EVs for special defense and attack, so I did not raise Kingdra's speed up to the 264 area. I'm sure Kingdra has enough defenses to get in at least two Dragon Dances, so that is also why I gave it Liechi Berry over Salac. I'm not exactly the best EV Spread maker out there though, so please suggest a better spread if you can!
Once Kingdra is done knocking out the ice types with Flail, you probably don't need it anymore. However, Kingdra now has the potential to sweep. Hydro Pump will heavily drench out Skarmory and Weezing, but unfortunately won't OHKO them. STAB and Hydro Pump will definitely hurt them a lot though before they knock you out.
So now, having Kingdra ready for tanking, you'll need your other five Pokemon. Also, since Regice is now a popular lead, you may also lead with Kingdra. Just watch out for Thunder Wave.
Kingdra - Tank
Also note that Altaria, Dragonite, and Salamence are all flying types, so they will have hard times against rock types like Tyranitar. Flygon is an exceptional counter to both Dragon Dancing Tyranitar and Boah, so we will keep Flygon as its standard Choice Bander. (Flygon cannot OHKO Tyranitar without a Choice Band)
Kingdra - Tank
Flygon - Choice Band
The next Pokemon that might cause you trouble is Donphan, or Swampert with Rock Slide (watch out if it has Ice Beam). Their high HP and defenses will cause Kingdra and Flygon a little trouble. You can use either Salamence or Dragonite - both holding above average special attack to knock them out. I would rather use Salamence though, since it has Intimidate to weaken the Rock Slides, and also has a higher Special Attack. Here is an example of a Salamence set.
Salamence @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 12 HP / 244 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Fire Blast
- Crunch
296 Speed to outspeed Heracross, maxed out Special Attack, and rest in HP. You can use Hydro Pump against Donphan for an instant OHKO. Hidden Power will 2HKO Swampert, but don't worry, as it can survive a Rock Slide more easily than against Donphan. Note that most of the time, Swampert won't stay in against a second Hidden Power Grass, so prediction will also help you out using any kind team. Fire Blast will be your best attack, and Crunch will be good against several Pokemon like Gengar on the switch.
Now we have this team:
Kingdra - Tank
Flygon - Choice Band
Salamence - Special Attacker
Hopefully, you can come up with the rest of the team on your own. Come up with crazy movesets if you need to!
Battling and Revising
I won't go over the basic skills of battling here, but just remember what your team does. Do not forget that your Salamence uses Special Attacks, or Kingdra uses Dragon Dance. If you find yourself losing against a lot of a certain Pokemon, try fixing your team so you can beat it. Keep adjusting your team until you are happy with your battling results using your team. Lastly, have fun, and good luck.
