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Help Me Make a Better Team (Competitive)

5qwerty

[b][font="open sans"]WHOLLY MOLEY[/font][/b]
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    1) Well, the fact is, no one uses Ferrothorn as a sweeper. So, when every good trainer sees a Ferrothorn, he knows that it is a Stealth Rock set upper. What if a Ferrothorn coincidentally meets a Fire Pokemon at the beginning (especially if someone loves to send out Stealth Rock set uppers first)? There are two chances: First, Ferrothorn is changed to another Pokemon that resists or is immune to Fire. Second, that Ferrothorn is doomed. About Aggron, well, people learn from mistakes, and I am no exception.
    2) You got that right. Even though I think that Drapion has a well balanced stats. And also, finding a good Pokemon that's able to learn Rapid Spin is hard IMO.
    3) "Entei, Victini, Volcanion"
    All of the Pokemon that you mentioned are legendary Pokemon. I want a fair battle. That's why I always forfeit a battle when I notice that the opponent uses legendary Pokemon. I aim for the win, but I'm not in a competition, where winning is an absolute necessity. I don't even care in what tier a Pokemon is, as long as it can make me win a battle, I'll pick it.
    1) I assume by "changed to another Pokémon" you mean switching. Switching is a natural part of the game, and you shouldn't think a Pokémon is unusable just because it's weak to a type of attack? Why use any Pokémon at all? They've all got weaknesses, right?
    2) There are a lot of viable Pokémon that can Rapid Spin: Excadrill, Starmie, Blastoise, Tentacruel, etc. Also, Defog is an option. You can even use Cryogonal and Hitmonlee as Rapid Spinners, they're pretty "good" considering you have a Lapras on your team.
    3) You're going to forfeit a lot. Legendary doesn't mean anything in competitive play. Articuno is garbage just like Lapras, yet it is "legendary". You want a fair battle? You are never going to get one, because no one will have the same team as you. You never even explained why "legendary" Pokémon are "bad". Do you feel like you're somehow better than everyone else because you don't use "legendary" Pokémon?
     
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  • 1) Well, the fact is, no one uses Ferrothorn as a sweeper. So, when every good trainer sees a Ferrothorn, he knows that it is a Stealth Rock set upper. What if a Ferrothorn coincidentally meets a Fire Pokemon at the beginning (especially if someone loves to send out Stealth Rock set uppers first)? There are two chances: First, Ferrothorn is changed to another Pokemon that resists or is immune to Fire. Second, that Ferrothorn is doomed. About Aggron, well, people learn from mistakes, and I am no exception.
    2) You got that right. Even though I think that Drapion has a well balanced stats. And also, finding a good Pokemon that's able to learn Rapid Spin is hard IMO.
    3) "Entei, Victini, Volcanion"
    All of the Pokemon that you mentioned are legendary Pokemon. I want a fair battle. That's why I always forfeit a battle when I notice that the opponent uses legendary Pokemon. I aim for the win, but I'm not in a competition, where winning is an absolute necessity. I don't even care in what tier a Pokemon is, as long as it can make me win a battle, I'll pick it.

    There are Ferrothorn sets that don't run Stealth Rocks

    Starmie, and Excadrill are both strong OU Pokemon that use Rapid Spin. Defog is also an option.

    Legendaries aren't a free win in OU, the OU tier is meticulously kept track of and maintained to make sure there are appropriate checks and counters to each and every Pokemon in the tier. Competitive battling isn't like the games where owning a Legendary lets you beat all the other trainers. All legendary Pokemon in OU have exploitable weaknesses and can be beaten by common Pokemon. If you don't want to use legendaries that's fine, Talonflame is a strong Fire type that was suggested earlier. You're never gonna be able to play OU if you just forfeit when you see legendaries as Landorus-T, Heatran, and the Latis run rampant throughout the tier.

    Picking Pokemon below the OU tier is fine, I do it all the time. However, Pokemon in the lower tiers have more weaknesses than the ones in OU. This can be remedied with good teambuilding by having strong synergy between your Pokemon. You're pretty much just throwing in random low tier Pokemon with weird sets that don't work well together. There are some people actually trying to make your team work with suggestions to plug the gaping holes in your team.
     
    Last edited:
    1,225
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    • Age 29
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    • Seen Feb 8, 2024
    Okay unfortunately I don't think you're going to be very receptive to this advice, but I wanted to take a shot at it. There is nothing "fair" or commendable about refusing to use legendaries. Suspect tests already weed out the most powerful and overcentralizing Pokemon in each tier, legendary or otherwise, and move them up to the respective banlist for that tier. Refusing to use a Pokemon that fulfills an important role on your team just because they are legendary is in no way commendable, it is only foolish. And why would you forfeit just because you see a legendary? If you see Regirock, Articuno, Regigigas or Mesprit, do you forfeit, even though all of these are easily walled or swept by a large portion of the OU metagame? If you are afraid someone in competitive battling will think less of you for using a legendary, you're wrong. No one who is even remotely serious about teambuilding uses legendary status as a deal breaker.

    The problem lies with the use of unviable Pokemon. Other than Altaria, the rest of the Pokemon on the team you listed range from slightly outclassed to wholly useless in OU play. Lapras, Steelix, Drapion and Chandelure are good in PU, NU, RU and UU respectively. However, the former three are overwhelmed by the offensive threats in OU and Chandelure is simply outclassed as a Ghost-type support Pokemon by Gengar as pointed out above. It is not to say none of these Pokemon could ever be used in OU, but they would need to be supported properly. Lapras in particular has no place on an OU team; its Freeze-Dry niche is something that is missing from OU play, but Mamoswine, Glalie and even Articuno and Aurorus are more viable users of Freeze-Dry in OU (and for the last two, that's saying a lot). It matters not that Klefki can't do much to Lapras (other than set up Spikes or dual screens) because nearly any offensive setup Pokemon will be able to overwhelm Lapras even with neutral hits; Lapras' ability to retaliate is quite poor. Steelix is equally problematic because most things it would hope to check, it can't switch into due to fear of coverage moves that will OHKO or 2HKO it. Clefable in particular can wreck Steelix if it carries Fire Blast or Focus Blast. DD Dragonite 2HKO's with a +1 Earthquake. Fly Nite will also easily stall out Steelix and use it to set up. Gardevoir will OHKO with Focus Blast.

    I honestly don't know where to begin with replacement suggestions because frankly I would just start over with Mega Altaria and Rotom-Wash and try to build a team around those two.
     
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