Can anyone help me with this team please?

It's kind of so-so. A win now and then, a loss now and then.
I love Tyranitar. I usually play it as last and either it destroys their team (even when I'm 6 to 1) or it gets destroyed instantly...

So, help overall please? Thank you!


Billy (Aerodactyl) (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk/6 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
---
FreakEgg (Togekiss) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 254 HP/188 Def/68 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Air Slash
- Aura Sphere
- Roost
- Thunder Wave
---
Spielberg (Tyranitar) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP/42 Def/216 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Curse
- Crunch
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
---
Mutant (Yanmega) (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 106 Atk/152 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Bug Buzz
- Air Slash
- Protect
- U-turn
---
Thunderbird (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP/228 Def/32 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Heat Wave
- Roost
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Thunderbolt
---
Spiky (Starmie) @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
---

So far, you have a good team. But Togekiss might need Wish for support too, TW is good when you need something to cripple speedy mons.

The most common threats I find for your team are explained below.
Lucario, Metagross, Jirachi, Scizor and Infernape can be a check to your Tyranitar.
Infernape and Lucario to Togekiss
Infernape, Lucario and Jirachi (if the last 2 has Fire Punch) kills Yanmega.
Though Starmie can kill Infernape, the latter has access to U-Turn which can just OHKO Starmie with a good prediction. Zapdos deals great damage to the other mons, but Infernape may have access to Stone Edge over Grass Knot/Mach Punch which OHKO's Zapdos.

There are only 2 Lead 'mons that can front off Aerodactyl; Bronzong and Swampert. Bronzong's Gyro Ball and Swampert's Ice Beam can ward of Aerodactyl.

Tyranitar's Sandstorm will end up killing Yanmega if its Focus Sash is burned up, or if it isn't burned up, render it useless. Scizor is a better replacement:
-Bullet Punch
-U-turn
-Superpower/Brick Break
-Pursuit/Quick Attack
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 248 HP/252 Atk/8 Spe
Item: Choice Band
Ability: Technician

or

-Swords Dance
-Bullet Punch
-Brick Break/Superpower
-Bug Bite/Quick Attack/Roost
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
Item: Leftovers/Life Orb
Ability: Technician

This team's problem is pretty simple--it is easy to exploit defensively, is easily walled, and has a lot of dead weight. Luckily, all of these are easy fixes.

The dead weight starts with Aerodactyl. While Stealth Rock is a near-requirement on every team, a suicide lead is not necessary here. Nothing on your team really needs Stealth Rock to be up right away, so in effect, you're starting off matches 5-6 with little to show for it.

Next up is Togekiss. The only thing it really does is provide paralysis support. On some teams, that's very useful, but none of your Pokemon really benefit from it. Tyranitar uses Curse which quickly makes a paralyzed opponent go first in despite its inhibited Speed, and Yanmega's Speed boost makes it superfluous.

Lastly, there is Yanmega. Yanmega is not a terrible Pokemon but it can't be played mid-game very well because of Stealth Rock and how hard it is to get in in general. Whether you want to move it to the lead slot or replace it is up to you, but right now it isn't doing much.

As far as your team's defensive troubles are concerned, there is an overload of Fly-ting Pokemon. Ice, Electric, and Rock attacks all toast everything except for Tyranitar. Tyranitar is a strong defensive Pokemon, but over reliance on one Pokemon for so much defense is asking for trouble, especially with how bad hax can get.

And then there's the fact that your team is easily walled. Simply put, Blissey alone can outstall most of your team, so obviously a team with six stalling Pokemon (AKA a stall team, of course) is going to get an easy win unless it's not prepared for CurseTar. Too many weak special attackers is the cause here.

-------------------------------------

Now that that's over, let's get to the fixes. Togekiss becomes a lot stronger when you replace Thunder Wave with Nasty Plot. then stall teams are threatened a lot more by it.

Yanmega can be moved to the lead slot with Hidden Power Ground over U-turn (U-turn has little value while HP Ground is going to destroy Heatran and to a lesser extent Metagross). This solves its SR problem and its inability to come in on most OU Pokemon. A lot of offense teams are not well-equipped to deal with Yanmega.

Aerodactyl just needs to be replaced. Here you are probably going to want something that kills Blissey and ScarfTar. You can go with a lure or just a traditional counter Pokemon, the best probably being Machamp. If you opt to replace Yanmega, you can use Machamp's lead set (if you do this I'll give you the set but I'm pressed for time atm) and then use the remaining empty slot to put in another strong physical attacker.

As for your defensive issues, that's just a matter of mixing and matching. I have no will to redo the team to make it defensively stronger since it's your team and not mine, but we're here for help if you need it. You really only need to replace a few Pokemon. You can use traditional walls for a more balanced team or you can use bulky Pokemon that rely on resistances to go for a bulky offense type team. It's really up to you how you do it.

I would go a little more in-depth but I have to get to the OSU basketball game and stalling my dad is no longer working!

Thank you very much all!

So for starters, I'll use Machamp (Instead of Yanmega).
And to replace Aerodactyl, use a defensive based Skarmory or something?

RedScizor said:

Thank you very much all!

So for starters, I'll use Machamp (Instead of Yanmega).
And to replace Aerodactyl, use a defensive based Skarmory or something?

Click to expand...

I'd go for an Electric immunity. If you want Stealth Rock, Swampert is probably your best bet. That way Tyranitar won't take such a murderous beating from being your best defensive presence. It's also a good PHazer.

You could go with a more offensive approach and use Choice Scarf Flygon which will revenge kill most threats and can still eat Thunder Waves, but it's also a decent answer to Gyarados (who Machamp is going to bait out sometimes). It can't directly switch in too often or your opponent will just Waterfall you right away.

There is always the option of getting rid of Togekiss for more flexibility though I'm not sure how well it has done so it might not be wise to pull the trigger on it too soon. Usually it's good to do a lot of testing before making huge changes.

Togitic works perfectly in this team as a sponge, so I'm going to keep him.
Perhaps I should turn Zapdos is something else? I mean a Special Attacker or something with substitute, I don't know. Being Defense doesn't seem to help that much?

Swapping Skarmory for Swampert sounds like a good idea.
Now, he's very handy to break setups with Roar, if he can survive one hit. Any options on what to do with Swampert and others their setup?

Thanks!

RedScizor said:

Togitic works perfectly in this team as a sponge, so I'm going to keep him.
Perhaps I should turn Zapdos is something else? I mean a Special Attacker or something with substitute, I don't know. Being Defense doesn't seem to help that much?

Swapping Skarmory for Swampert sounds like a good idea.
Now, he's very handy to break setups with Roar, if he can survive one hit. Any options on what to do with Swampert and others their setup?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Most Swampert run this:

Swampert @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP / 216 Def / 52 SAtk
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Roar

I don't remember what the SAtk EVs are for so you can move them to SDef or Def if you'd like.

It's a simple build though. Set up Stealth rock and then start Roaring. It's also useful against Dragons and Tyranitar (and non HP Grass/Flash Fire boosted Heatran) so it helps your team a lot defensively.

As for Zapdos, it's good for Scizor, which you currently have no other answer to. It's also your best switch into other Waters. It might be a good idea to test out the current version of your team some on PO or Shoddy before making too many changes. If you end up wanting to replace Zapdos anyway, you'll want it to be strong against Scizor and Waters. Rotom-A can be offensive or defensive and does them both equally well. The defensive/Scarf variants help with Gyarados too (though the Scarfer is Pursuit bait so it's not very reliable). That's a potentially replacement if Zapdos proves to be dead weight.

I think an annoyer / wall could help since your team is really offensively oriented. What looks really off is Yanmega. I think you should drop a it to play for basically, what is more hax-xy style. (Which is good esp. when T-tar's sandstorm is constantly chipping off health/negating leftovers)

I think Parafusion Rotom-S may help (confuse ray+thunderwave+air slash), but that would require you to drop Zapdos.

But I think since you have para-support, something like Rhyperior or Marowak becomes viable over Anti's suggestion of Swampert.

That's an ok team. If I would change anything I would change your Togakiss ( I don't like them very much) into a physical or special wall and a stall pokemon. Something like Vapeoreon or Umbreon with recover or wish and toxic.