Competitive Team Questions (and Incomplete Team Help)

[Miss Doronjo]

Originally Posted by WolfMirage

heres my thoughts for my ice team abomasnow, walrein, froslass and cloyster.

do u think kyurem or metagross may be godd chioces for this team

Are you going for a ice mono team & one Wild Card? Well, yeah, Kyurem or Metagross would be okay.

I'd also recommend Mamoswine, He's great with his high Atk and considerable bulk, and he's also the only Fully-evolved Ice that learns Stealth Rock IIRC. Plus, fire pokemon would have to think twice if they don't want to eat an Earthquake. You can chose that over Walrein, siiiince tbh, I see that Walrein might slow down the pace of your team. But, it's up to you on what you wanna do~!

[WolfMirage]

another good suggetion, i have much to think about, but how r my other choice?

and may i ask what u mean by "Are you going for a ice mono team & one Wild Card?"

[Miss Doronjo]

Originally Posted by WolfMirage

another good suggetion, i have much to think about, but how r my other choice?

Well yeah, Kyreum is pretty good; you can run it as a mixed set if you want. Metagross can be also beneficial of taking steel type attacks, but the only problem is that it can't take fire attacks all that well. You can try both and switch things around!

And what I meant before is, are you planning on having a team of 5 ice types, and one pokemon that isn't a ice type?

[PlatinumDude]

Originally Posted by WolfMirage

another good suggetion, i have much to think about, but how r my other choice?

and may i ask what u mean by "Are you going for a ice mono team & one Wild Card?"

All the members of the team in a mono-Ice team are Ice type. Generally, that's not recommended for serious play, as types like Fire and Fighting can easily raze through the team.

Ice teams tend to be weak to Fire, Rock and Fighting, so Tentacruel is a big help here:
-Scald
-Rapid Spin
-Toxic/Toxic Spikes
-Substitute/Protect
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP/236 Def/20 Spe
Item: Black Sludge
Ability: Rain Dish

Also, don't forget about Heatran, as it can absorb Fire moves directed at your Ice 'mons:
-Lava Plume
-Stealth Rock/Roar
-Protect
-Toxic/Will-o-Wisp/Earth Power
Nature: Calm
EVs: 248 HP/252 SDef/8 Spe
Item: Leftovers

or
-Fire Blast
-Earth Power
-Hidden Power (Grass/Ice)/Dragon Pulse
-Stealth Rock/Toxic/Taunt
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SAtk/4 SDef/252 Spe
Item: Life Orb/Air Balloon

or
-Fire Blast/Overheat
-Earth Power
-Hidden Power (Ice)/Dragon Pulse
-Flamethrower
Nature: Timid/Modest
EVs: 252 SAtk/4 SDef/252 Spe
Item: Choice Scarf

or
-Fire Blast/Overheat
-Earth Power
-Dragon Pulse/Hidden Power (Ice)
-Flamethrower/Hidden Power (Grass)
Nature: Timid/Modest
EVs: 252 SAtk/4 SDef/252 Spe
Item: Choice Specs

[vapes]

Okay thanks!
Now for Alakazam, I have a Timid natured one with Choice Specs with the moves Psychic, Energy Ball, Focus Blast, and Shadow Ball. It's IV's are

20 HP/20 Atk/21 Def/20 SP Atk/20 SP Def/ 31 Speed

Now, should I rebreed to get a higher SP ATK (which will take a while, and is tedious) or should I keep this one? I mean how much of a different is the 11 missing IV's?

[Miss Doronjo]

Originally Posted by vapes

Okay thanks!
Now for Alakazam, I have a Timid natured one with Choice Specs with the moves Psychic, Energy Ball, Focus Blast, and Shadow Ball. It's IV's are

20 HP/20 Atk/21 Def/20 SP Atk/20 SP Def/ 31 Speed

Now, should I rebreed to get a higher SP ATK (which will take a while, and is tedious) or should I keep this one? I mean how much of a different is the 11 missing IV's?

Well, if you have a Timid Alakazam with 20 SP Atk IVs, you'll be looking at about ~358 SP Attack at level 100. With Choice Specs that will be about 537 SP Atk.

Timid Alakazams with a full 31 SP Atk IVs will have about 369 Sp Atk so you'll be losing at about 11 stats in it's Sp Atk (369-358). Battle wise? It may not make too much of a difference if you have Hazards up anyway~

[WolfMirage]

thats a thought to make a full team, hmm platinumdude Tentacruel raindish ability will be wasted on this team considering it will hailing

and as for the team setup, im general trying to bluid for doubles, but i still want to have 2 pokes on the side to swich up tactices from battle to battle and the other 2 pokes will do nicly in in full 6 on 6 battles

[Miss Doronjo]

Originally Posted by WolfMirage

thats a thought to make a full team, hmm platinumdude Tentacruel raindish ability will be wasted on this team considering it will hailing

Actually, in Hail Teams, it can serve as a great check against Rain teams, which are pretty popular~

[PlatinumDude]

Originally Posted by WolfMirage

thats a thought to make a full team, hmm platinumdude Tentacruel raindish ability will be wasted on this team considering it will hailing

and as for the team setup, im general trying to bluid for doubles, but i still want to have 2 pokes on the side to swich up tactices from battle to battle

Rain Dish is mainly on Tentacruel to take advantage of opposing rain.

I suggest you look at each Pokémon's VGC articles on Smogon for more info, as the double battling format is different from single battling.

[WolfMirage]

can u link 2 the smogon double team info

[PlatinumDude]

Originally Posted by WolfMirage

can u link 2 the smogon double team info

This should help you get to where you need.

[vapes]

I have an arcanine with max attack and max speed adamant nature.

Should I use Flare Blitz, Extreme Speed, Crunch, and Outrage? Or should I replace Crunch with Wild Charge? Is Wild Charge ever good for Arcanine? And it's a life orbed/Choice banded/scarfed Arcanine

[Miss Doronjo]

Originally Posted by vapes

I have an arcanine with max attack and max speed adamant nature.

Should I use Flare Blitz, Extreme Speed, Crunch, and Outrage? Or should I replace Crunch with Wild Charge? Is Wild Charge ever good for Arcanine? And it's a life orbed/Choice banded/scarfed Arcanine

I would use Wild Charge. Wild Charge is great on Arcanine; it hits good damage on those common bulky water switch-ins. Then again, you can try Crunch against things like Chandulre or Slowking if they give you trouble.

[WolfMirage]

platinumdude i found nothing on smogon, all i found was a page with thought s on doubles on it

[PlatinumDude]

Originally Posted by WolfMirage

platinumdude i found nothing on smogon, all i found was a page with thought s on doubles on it

I thought you wanted the general strategies for each Pokémon.

This should be right.

[WolfMirage]

my bad i want there looking for the wrong info

all right i have finished my ice team, now please bear with me, im not the best at picking out movesets.

1) blizzard
2) avalanch
3) leech seed
4) wood hammer

mamoswine
ability snow cloak
1) earth qauke
2) rest
3) stealth rock
4) snore

froslass
1) thunderbolt
2) wheather ball
3) singnal beam
4) blizzard

heatron
1) magma storm
2) heat wave
3) iron head
4) earth qauke

tentacruel
1) toxic
2) venoshock
3) rain dance
4) hydro pump

cloyster
1) spike
2) shell amash
3) surf
4) aqua ring

[Miss Doronjo]

Mind if I give you some help with your movesets then?~

Well, it's just, yeah, your team looks okay, buuuut yeah, the movesets might need just a bit of adjustments~

Well, for your Abomasnow, I recommend Earthquake over Avalanche, to catch switch-ins like Heatran by surprise.

For Mamoswine, Snore is a liiiitle weak on it. How about trying Stone Edge, Ice Shard, or Icicle Crash instead? You also don't need Stealth Rock it, unless it's a lead, and since that you have pokemon that can more comfortably set up Stealth Rock in its stead.

For Froslass, you just don't need Weather Ball if you're running Blizzard. How about Substitute instead? It can be a real annoyance along with it's Snow Cloak ability. I also recommend Shadow Ball over Signal beam, for a STAB move, and to hurt pokemon like Alakazam or Gengar harder.

Now for your Heatran, try Lava Plume over Heat Wave. You'll get the nice "30 chance of a burn" bonus. Plus, I wouldn't recommend Iron Head and Earthquake if you're purely running a special moveset. Well, it's special moveset is preferred anyway. You can try Stealth Rock and Roar for shuffling, or maybe Earth Power against opposing Heatran or other Fire Pokemon.

Tentacruel, you don't need Rain Dance if you are up against opposing Rain teams anyway. Plus, it's a bit... counter - productive for your Hail Team. The Toxic + Venoshock combo is a tad slow and kind of not effective on opposed to Sludge Bomb. You can have Rapid Spin to blow away Stealth Rock, to help out your Ice pokemon instead, as well as Blizzard because of that nice Hail effect of making Blizzard 100% accurate. Plus, an ice move is great on a Tentacruel, on opposed to a Poison move - it has more coverage.

Finally for your cloyster, I wouldn't recommend having Spikes + Shell Smash in the same moveset, as it kiind of makes it worse for Cloyster, because it won't have access to the other moves in it's arsenal. So if you want to have a Shell Smash set, try Surf / Icicle Spear / Rock Blast, or if you want a utility Closyter, try Spikes / Icicle Spear / Rapid Spin / Surf.

Well, in short:

Abomasnow
~ Blizzard
~ Earthquake
~ Leech Seed
~ Wood Hammer

Mamoswine
~ Earthquake
~ Rest / Superpower
~ Ice Shard
~ Stone Edge

Froslass
~ Thunderbolt
~ Subsitute
~ Shadow Ball
~ Blizzard

Heatran
~ Lava Plume
~ Earth Power
~ Stealth Rock
~ Roar

Tentacruel
~ Hydro Pump
~ Blizzard
~ Rapid Spin
~ Sludge Bomb / Toxic Spikes

Cloyster
~ Icicle Spear
~ Shell Smash
~ Surf
~ Rock Blast

or...

~ Spikes
~ Surf
~ Icicle Spear
~ Rapid Spin


Well, those are just some suggestions anyway. Feel free to make use of them, or, try any experimenting that you'd like~! But yeah, if you do use these suggestions, I hope they help! ^^

[PlatinumDude]

Originally Posted by Miss Doronjo

Mind if I give you some help with your movesets then?~

Well, it's just, yeah, your team looks okay, buuuut yeah, the movesets might need just a bit of adjustments~

Well, for your Abomasnow, I recommend Earthquake over Avalanche, to catch switch-ins like Heatran by surprise.

For Mamoswine, Snore is a liiiitle weak on it. How about trying Stone Edge, Ice Shard, or Icicle Crash instead? You also don't need Stealth Rock it, unless it's a lead, and since that you have pokemon that can more comfortably set up Stealth Rock in its stead.

For Froslass, you just don't need Weather Ball if you're running Blizzard. How about Substitute instead? It can be a real annoyance along with it's Snow Cloak ability. I also recommend Shadow Ball over Signal beam, for a STAB move, and to hurt pokemon like Alakazam or Gengar harder.

Now for your Heatran, try Lava Plume over Heat Wave. You'll get the nice "30 chance of a burn" bonus. Plus, I wouldn't recommend Iron Head and Earthquake if you're purely running a special moveset. Well, it's special moveset is preferred anyway. You can try Stealth Rock and Roar for shuffling, or maybe Earth Power against opposing Heatran or other Fire Pokemon.

Tentacruel, you don't need Rain Dance if you are up against opposing Rain teams anyway. Plus, it's a bit... counter - productive for your Hail Team. The Toxic + Venoshock combo is a tad slow and kind of not effective on opposed to Sludge Bomb. You can have Rapid Spin to blow away Stealth Rock, to help out your Ice pokemon instead, as well as Blizzard because of that nice Hail effect of making Blizzard 100% accurate. Plus, an ice move is great on a Tentacruel, on opposed to a Poison move - it has more coverage.

Finally for your cloyster, I wouldn't recommend having Spikes + Shell Smash in the same moveset, as it kiind of makes it worse for Cloyster, because it won't have access to the other moves in it's arsenal. So if you want to have a Shell Smash set, try Surf / Icicle Spear / Rock Blast, or if you want a utility Closyter, try Spikes / Icicle Spear / Rapid Spin / Surf.

Well, in short:

Abomasnow
~ Blizzard
~ Earthquake
~ Leech Seed
~ Wood Hammer

Mamoswine
~ Earthquake
~ Stealth Rock
~ Ice Shard
~ Stone Edge

Froslass
~ Thunderbolt
~ Subsitute
~ Shadow Ball
~ Blizzard

Heatran
~ Lava Plume
~ Earth Power
~ Stealth Rock
~ Roar

Tentacruel
~ Hydro Pump
~ Blizzard
~ Rapid Spin
~ Sludge Bomb / Toxic Spikes

Cloyster
~ Icicle Spear
~ Shell Smash
~ Surf
~ Rock Blast

or...

~ Spikes
~ Surf
~ Icicle Spear
~ Rapid Spin


Well, those are just some suggestions anyway. Feel free to make use of them, or, try any experimenting that you'd like~! But yeah, if you do use these suggestions, I hope they help!

To add, natures and EV spreads:

Abomasnow: Sassy, 248 HP/8 Def/252 SDef

Mamoswine: Jolly/Adamant, 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe

Froslass: Timid, 4 HP/252 SAtk/252 Spe

Heatran: Calm, 248 HP/252 SDef/8 Spe

Tentacruel: Timid, 4 HP/252 SAtk/252 Spe or Bold, 252 HP/236 Def/20 Spe

Cloyster: Naive, 252 Atk/4 SAtk/252 Spe (1st set) or Relaxed, 248 HP/84 Atk/176 Def. (just saying, Razor Shell and Hydro Pump are the better options on it; if you evolved Shellder too early, Surf is fine)

[WolfMirage]

thanks for the good advice

[Mudinjakarp]

I'm going to create a mostly dragon non-legendary team, and I'm trying to get the best pokemon combination of the following. I've narrowed it down to 9 pokemon, and here they are:
Salamence, Tyranitar, Metagross, Dragonite, Garchomp, Kingdra, (My wild card choices) Shedinja, Zoroark and Wobbuffet. I've researched this quite thouroughly but I still can't decide! I've used the Team Builder but there's still many combinations that would work. I'm pretty definite I'll be using Salamence, Tyranitar and Metagross. Thanks alot!

I'm trying to create a non-legendary mostly dragon team, and I just can't narrow it down. I've researched this VERY thouroughly, but I just can't make up my mind. Out of the following, which pokemon would be the best?

Salamence, Metagross, Tyranitar, Dragonite, Garchomp, Kingdra, (1 or more of the following as my wild card/wall) Shedinja, Zoroark, Wobbuffet. I know Shedinja's risky, but I like mind games
I also have a level 100 Umbreon and Espeon on my Pokemon Colosseum, and a level 85 Charizard on my Leaf Green, so if they're not as useless as Smogon says let me know if I should transfer them. I'm also quite sure I'm using Salamence, Tyranitar and Metagross. If there are any abilities its very important I use, just tell me in advance please.

Thanks!!!

[Miss Doronjo]

Well, it depends on what you want to go for.

The whole Steel + Dragon combo can also work with Dragonite and Garchomp. What's good about Dragonite though, is that even with it's Dragon Dance set, it's even viable with a Choice Band; or a cripple Thunder Wave set! Garchomp can work as a choice Scarfer, choice Bander, or a sub/sd sweeper. Metagross can cover it's dragon/ice weakness too.

What you can try is to have Salamence be a mixed sweeper, and have either a Dragonite, a Garchomp, or hey, even Kingdra as a set-up sweeper, as Salamence can defeat their respective checks like... Skarmory, or Magnezone with Fire Blast.

I wouldn't recommend Shedinja if you're using Tyranitar though. =( If you're using Sand Stream. Although, Zoroark can be quite handy for a lead - if you wanna trick those people who would think that you're leading off with Dragonite, and Wobbuffet can take out those checks that are naturally faster than your preferred Dragon pokemon, like Lati@s.

For abilities, I recommend Multi-Scale on Dragonite, beause it really helps Dragonite's survivablity against Ice attacks at full health. I also recommend Moxie on Salamence for the added sweeping~

[PlatinumDude]

Originally Posted by Mudinjakarp

I'm going to create a mostly dragon non-legendary team, and I'm trying to get the best pokemon combination of the following. I've narrowed it down to 9 pokemon, and here they are:
Salamence, Tyranitar, Metagross, Dragonite, Garchomp, Kingdra, (My wild card choices) Shedinja, Zoroark and Wobbuffet. I've researched this quite thouroughly but I still can't decide! I've used the Team Builder but there's still many combinations that would work. I'm pretty definite I'll be using Salamence, Tyranitar and Metagross. Thanks alot!

I'm trying to create a non-legendary mostly dragon team, and I just can't narrow it down. I've researched this VERY thouroughly, but I just can't make up my mind. Out of the following, which pokemon would be the best?

Salamence, Metagross, Tyranitar, Dragonite, Garchomp, Kingdra, (1 or more of the following as my wild card/wall) Shedinja, Zoroark, Wobbuffet. I know Shedinja's risky, but I like mind games
I also have a level 100 Umbreon and Espeon on my Pokemon Colosseum, and a level 85 Charizard on my Leaf Green, so if they're not as useless as Smogon says let me know if I should transfer them. I'm also quite sure I'm using Salamence, Tyranitar and Metagross. If there are any abilities its very important I use, just tell me in advance please.

Thanks!!!

Shedinja should never be used in OU, as entry hazards, sandstorm, burn , poison and Mold Breaker ruin it. Charizard and Venusaur are only good if they have their Dream World abilities, Solar Power and Chlorophyll, respectively.

Sand Stream should be the default ability on Tyranitar:
-Stealth Rock
-Crunch
-Pursuit
-Fire Blast/Stone Edge/Superpower
Nature: Sassy/Careful
EVs: 252 HP/4 Atk/252 SDef
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream

Or
-Stone Edge
-Crunch
-Pursuit
-Superpower
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 180 HP/252 Atk/76 Spe
Item: Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream

Or
-Stone Edge
-Crunch
-Pursuit
-Superpower
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream

Salamence is fine with either Intimidate or Moxie:
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Fire Blast/Hydro Pump
Nature: Naive
EVs: 252 Atk/4 SAtk/252 Spe
Item: Lum Berry/Life Orb/Yache Berry

Or
-Outrage
-Dragon Claw
-Earthquake
-Fire Blast/Fire Fang
Nature: Naive/Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk/4 SAtk/252 Spe
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie

Or
-Draco Meteor
-Outrage
-Fire Blast
-Earthquake
Nature: Naive
EVs: 64 Atk/192 SAtk/252 Spe
Item: Life Orb

Metagross can go offensive or defensive:
-Stealth Rock
-Meteor Mash
-Pursuit
-Earthquake/Hammer Arm
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP/96 Atk/160 SDef
Item: Leftovers

Or
-Meteor Mash
-Bullet Punch
-Earthquake
-Zen Headbutt/ThunderPunch/Ice Punch
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Spe
Item: Choice Band

Or
-Agility
-Zen Headbutt
-Earthquake
-Meteor Mash/Ice Punch
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
Item: Life Orb

Or
-Meteor Mash
-Hidden Power (Fire)
-Grass Knot
-Earthquake/Ice Punch
Nature: Naughty
EVs: 252 Atk/228 SAtk/28 Spe
Item: Life Orb/Expert Belt

I may have more, but I'll stop here for now.

[vapes]

Question on Poitoed Drizzle

Should it have a Timid or Modest nature?
Or should it be a defensive Politoed with a Bold or Calm ability?
Because I want it to be part of a rain team and I need it in the lead

[Miss Doronjo]

Originally Posted by vapes

Question on Poitoed Drizzle

Should it have a Timid or Modest nature?
Or should it be a defensive Politoed with a Bold or Calm ability?
Because I want it to be part of a rain team and I need it in the lead

Well, it depends on your team comp. If you're running an offensive Rain team, I'd lean towards a Timid-Natured Politoad with Choice Scarf. Or, you can have a Modest Politoad with Choice Specs.

If you're running a defensive Rain team, then I recommend a Bold Natured Politoad, for tankiness against things like, Tyranitar.

Hope that helps. ^^

[vapes]

Thanks!
Now Jolteon question

Is a 1 IV in HP and 6 IV in SP DEF okay for Jolteon if it has 31 IV's in SP ATK and Speed? I mean either way it can't take hits well. And even with good HP and SP Def, it still gets 2HKO's correct?