Black Team HALP

I posted this in the General Chat and kindly got moved and redirected here! :D

Hi there everynyan!

So I'm having trouble with my Pokemon Team.

Up until now I had;

- Serperior ♂ (Asahi) Lv 40 Impish - Overgrow
*Grass Knot *Leaf Blade *Giga Drain *Grass Pledge

- Liepard ♀ (Miyako) Lv 40 Calm - Limber
*Assurance *Fake Out *Slash *Shadow Claw

- Simipour ♂ (Qing Yuan) Lv 41 Impish - Gluttony
*Acrobatics *Surf *Bite *Scald

- Zebstrika ♂ (Punda) Lv 38 Adamant - Motor Drive
*Stomp *Volt Switch *Charge *Discharge

- Victini (Masaru) Lv 41 Jolly - Victory Star
*Confusion *Flame Burst *Searing Shot *Headbutt

- Unfezant ♀ (Usoa) Lv 43 Brave - Big Pecks
*Razor Wind *Fly *Quick Attatck *Air Slash

Coming up to the 8th Gym I felt that my Pokemon weren't the best choice for their types. They seemed to struggle, and looking at their upcoming moves and stats on Serebii I felt that I could find some Pokemon more suited to my needs so I came up with a new team (currently in-progress);

- Serperior
- Chandelure
- Krookodile
- Elektross
- Sawsbuck (more of a love affair here than actual need :P)
- ????

I'm having trouble choosing whether to add a Carracosta or a Swanna as my 'water' Pokemon. Carracosta is much stronger in the end but Swanna is also a flying type and is much faster, and I also have ground type moves covered by Krookodile.

Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts or advice?

Here is how the team is doing so far;

- Serperior **same as above

- Litwick ♂ (Flilt) Lv 29 Lax - Flash Fire
*Night Shade *Will-O-Wisp *Flame Burst *Hex

- Deerling ♀ (Faline) Lv 27 Brave - Sap Sipper
*Jump Kick *Leech Seed *Faint Attack *Take Down

- Sandile ♂ (Akamu) Lv 23 Brave - Moxie
*Sand-Attack * Mud-Slap *Sand Tomb *Embargo

- Tynamo ♀ (Taima) Lv 27 Mild - Levitate
*Tackle *Thunder Wave *Spark *Charge Beam


- Tirtouga ♂ (Pillan) Lv 25 Adamant - Sturdy
*Aqua jet *Ancient Power *Crunch *Wide Guard
&
- Ducklett ♂ (Olor) Lv 24 Rash - Big Pecks
*Aerial Ace *Bubble Beam *Feather Dance *Aqua Ring


Thanks so much :D

deoxys121 said:

OK, there are a few changes I would make as far as which Pokemon are in the team. First of all, you have a Grass-type in Serperior. Therefore, you don't need a second Grass-type, Sawsbuck. I would replace Sawsbuck with another filler of types you don't already have. A decent option here is:

Stoutland
- Fire Fang (move relearner in Mistralton City)
- Ice Fang (same as above)
- Wild Charge (TM93, Victory Road)
- Crunch (Level-up)

Then, of the last two you've got there, I'd go with Ducklett. For your entire team, here are some recommended movesets, once they reach appropriate levels and the appropriate TMs are available.

Serperior
- Leaf Blade
- Return (TM27, buy in Nimbasa City)
- Dragon Tail (TM82, win from Drayden)
- Swords Dance (TM75, post-game)
You never want a Pokemon knowing a bunch of moves of the same type. Spread out your types as well as you can. Swords Dance makes up for Serperior's below average attack.

Chandelure
- Shadow Ball (Level-up as Lampent, or TM30, Relic Castle)
- Flamethrower (TM35, post-game. Use Flame Burst or Fire Blast here until then)
- Psychic (TM29, post-game)
- SolarBeam (TM22, Pinwheel Forest)/Energy Ball (TM53, post-game)

Krookodile
- Dragon Claw (TM02, Victory Road)/Outrage (Level-up)
- Earthquake (Level-up)
- Stone Edge (TM71, post-game. Use Rock Slide TM80 [Mistralton Cave] until then)
- Crunch (Level-up)

Eelektross
- Thunderbolt (Level-up as Eelektrik, or TM24, P2 Laboratory)/Wild Charge
- Acrobatics (TM62, prize for beating Skyla)
- Brick Break (TM31, Icirrus City Pokemon Center)
- Rock Slide/Flash Cannon (TM91, Twist Mountain, near Ice Rock)

Swanna
- Brave Bird (Level-up)
- Surf
- Ice Beam (TM13, post-game)
- Return

And then the aforementioned Stoutland.

Hope all that helps.

Click to expand...

Wow ... thanks so much for all of that! Much more than I expected!

Stoutland, eh? I never really considered him a decent Pokemon, then again I was considering a normal type Pokemon (as they can learn all sorts of moves :D).

Thank you so much Josh! I'll get working on leveling up my team!

(My Lillipup:
♂ (Footu) Lv 17 Hasty - Vital Spirit
*Odor Sleuth *Bite *Helping Hand *Take Down)

deoxys121 said:

OK, there are a few changes I would make as far as which Pokemon are in the team. First of all, you have a Grass-type in Serperior. Therefore, you don't need a second Grass-type, Sawsbuck. I would replace Sawsbuck with another filler of types you don't already have. A decent option here is:

Stoutland
- Fire Fang (move relearner in Mistralton City)
- Ice Fang (same as above)
- Wild Charge (TM93, Victory Road)
- Crunch (Level-up)

Then, of the last two you've got there, I'd go with Ducklett. For your entire team, here are some recommended movesets, once they reach appropriate levels and the appropriate TMs are available.

Serperior
- Leaf Blade
- Return (TM27, buy in Nimbasa City)
- Dragon Tail (TM82, win from Drayden)
- Swords Dance (TM75, post-game)
You never want a Pokemon knowing a bunch of moves of the same type. Spread out your types as well as you can. Swords Dance makes up for Serperior's below average attack.

Chandelure
- Shadow Ball (Level-up as Lampent, or TM30, Relic Castle)
- Flamethrower (TM35, post-game. Use Flame Burst or Fire Blast here until then)
- Psychic (TM29, post-game)
- SolarBeam (TM22, Pinwheel Forest)/Energy Ball (TM53, post-game)

Krookodile
- Dragon Claw (TM02, Victory Road)/Outrage (Level-up)
- Earthquake (Level-up)
- Stone Edge (TM71, post-game. Use Rock Slide TM80 [Mistralton Cave] until then)
- Crunch (Level-up)

Eelektross
- Thunderbolt (Level-up as Eelektrik, or TM24, P2 Laboratory)/Wild Charge
- Acrobatics (TM62, prize for beating Skyla)
- Brick Break (TM31, Icirrus City Pokemon Center)
- Rock Slide/Flash Cannon (TM91, Twist Mountain, near Ice Rock)

Swanna
- Brave Bird (Level-up)
- Surf
- Ice Beam (TM13, post-game)
- Return

And then the aforementioned Stoutland.

Hope all that helps.

Click to expand...

Swanna's main purpose is as a HM Slave so it isn't really recommended.

A Water-type you should consider is Jellicent, it's a Water/Ghost-type and has a good moveset. Jellicent has good Sp. Def and HP so it's pretty bulky. I recommend one with a Modest nature and Cursed Body ability.

I recommend this moveset should you decide to get one:
- Surf (HM03, battle Cheren after 6th Badge)/Scald (TM55, Cold Storage)
- Shadow Ball (TM30, Relic Castle B3F across sand pit)
- Ice Beam (TM13, post-game, use Blizzard until then)
- Toxic (TM06, Surf on Route 17)

Stoutland isn't really useful in the post-game.

For a good Psychic-type attacker, you could give Gothitelle a try. I used one in Black and it did me good, the best nature for it is probably either a Modest or Calm nature.

A good moveset I recommend for Gothitelle should you try it out:
- Psychic (Level-up, learns it at Lv39 as Gothorita)
- Thunderbolt (TM24, near P2 Laboratory after surfing)
- Attract (TM45, obtained in Castelia City)
- Light Screen (TM16, Nimbasa City Pokemon Center)

I recommend Light Screen as it raises Gothitelle's Sp. Def (which is its highest stat) and therefore making Special Attacks taking less damage

You could also consider Reflect to raise Defense. The reason I included Attract is so you can disable opposite-gendered opponents so you can set up Reflect/Light Screen.

A Fighting or Bug-type Hidden Power is a good Dark-type counter, Fire, Flying or Rock-type Hidden Power for a Bug-type counter, Shadow Ball for a Ghost-type counter.

Thunderbolt is there for type coverage against Water and Flying attackers.

You could also slap on Thunder Wave for paralysis or Toxic for poison, remember that TMs are reusable in Black & White so you can switch Gothitelle's moveset as much as you like (as I do myself).

Just try different TMs and choose your strategy, I used Gothitelle myself and it worked nice for my resident Psychic-type.