Originally Posted by Netta
Okay, I know I can be a flamming hot head, so I will keep my mouth shut and take anything you guys give me into consideration without complaining or whining. This is going to be very interesting to restrain myself. Here I go.
Here is my team so far and I am fairly proud. Plus, I didn't know how powerful Volt Tackle is and wow is it powerful.
Altaria "Dawn"
Nature: Serious
Ability: Natural Cure
Item: King's Rock Leftovers
Moves
Dragonbreath Dragon Claw
Safeguard Flamethrower/Fire Blast
Hyper Beam Rest
Dragon Dance Toxic/Haze/Ice Beam/Sing
Sorry, all wrong. First off, don't use 2-stage attack moves like Hyper Beam. Not only do they leave you vulnerable to attack on the charging turn, they don't even deal as much damage in the same time as other moves would. Hyper Beam, for instance, is one 150 power attack in two turns, whereas Return (at full happiness) is two 102 power attacks in two turns without the lame duck turn of recharging. Now obviously 150 x 1 < 102 x 2 so Return is always preferable to Hyper Beam. Safeguard is a wasted move on Altaria since Natural Cure will handle all your status problems, and DD with only one physical move is also redundant. What Altaria excels at is walling and shamelessly abusing Rest (Ergo, resting of all damage then switching out to get rid of the sleep status), so the moveset should reflect that. It really can't take enough hits for a Dragon Dance strategy to be successful so you're better of going with special attacks. Dragon attacks are kind of mellow since they rarely get super effective hits, but with STAB I guess Dragon Claw isn't that bad. Flamethrower (Or Fire Blast if you want a bit more striking power) complements the move nicely since having both a Fire and a Dragon type move on the same set guarantees that you will always be able to hit for at least normal damage. For the last move, Ice Beam can get you some much needed super effective hits, Toxic works nicely for stalling, Sing can be used to cover switches and suchlike and Haze might just be useful for the Battle Frontier. Haze requires breeding, though, so you'd have to raise a new Altaria from scratch. Leftovers are prefered on the item front, but until you've amassed enough Battle Points to get them for the whole team I guess anything goes.
Delcatty "Kitty"
Nature: Timid
Ability: Cute Charm
Item: Nevermeltice Leftovers
Moves
Ice Beam
Assist Thunderbolt
Heal Bell[B]
Blizzard Wish/Sing/Attract/Thunder Wave
Meh, Delcatty...it's a terribly weak pokémon, I'm afraid, and I really wouldn't suggest keeping it at all, especially since that Timid nature is crippling its Attack. It really needs Wish to be even halfway decent, anyway. :\ Oh well, doubling up on damaging moves of the same type (Although I assume you did that to get an appeal combo in the contests?) is pointless, so drop Blizzard, please. Thunderbolt will help you get nearly full type coverage and it's certainly the best that a special attack Delcatty can do. Also, Assist is a complete gamble and has low PP to boot, so that move has to go. What your Delcatty needs is either HP recovery or a way to keep your opponent from attacking. Heal Bell is a good move, though, as is Ice Beam, so not all is lost. ^^
Sceptile "Blade"
Nature: Quirky
Ability: Overgrow
Item: Miracle Seed[ Leftovers
Moves
Leaf Blade
Giga Drain Thunderpunch
[COLOR=black]Solarbeam[/COLOR] Leech Seed/Dragon Claw
Fury Cutter Substitute/Protect
Now what did I say about having more than one damaging move of the same type? Sceptile isn't exactly the toughest poke around so, you'll want to ditch the charge move Solarbeam. Its physical attack is also very shabby and Fury Cutter is generally too unreliable, so drop that too. Also, Giga Drain is redundant since you've got the awesomeness of Leaf Blade. Sceptile was born to outspeed and hurt stuff. Thunderpunch is a must, you can get that from one of the Battle Frontier move tutors. Also, I highly recommend the breeding move Leech Seed, but if you can't bother to raise a new Sceptile then Dragon Claw can help you out now and again. For the final move, Substitute is very useful since it lets you drop your HP in a controled manner to trigger the 'Overgrow' trait. It's especially useful with Leech Seed since a Leech Seed and Leftovers recovery basically negates the HP cost. Protect can be handy too, I guess, as it lets you see what your opponent is up to without risking Sceptile's HP and does, sort of, work with Leech Seed as well.
Vulpix "Vixi"
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Flash Fire
Item: Charcoal Leftovers
Moves:
Flamethrower
Safeguard Attract/Confuse Ray
Heat Wave Will-O-Wisp/Hypnosis
Iron Tail Faint Attack/Grudge
Ehh...I'd really, REALLY suggest dropping this one. Not only do Vulpix and Ninetales get completely shafted movepool-wise ingame, but the Adamant (+Attack, -Sp.Attack) is also a direct kick in the vitals for this pokémon, crippling its stronger attacking stat and enforcing the weaker (Which still won't be any good). Meh, Vulpix really needs breeding moves, anyway, since it only learns fire type special moves naturally. .___.
Pikachu "Piko"
Nature: Lonely
Ability: Static
Item: Light Ball
Moves
Thunderbolt
Volt Tackle
Light Screen/Hidden Power [Ice/Water/Grass]
Thunder Thunder Wave
Whoa, you've actually got a Light Ball? Sheez, I'm so jealous now. <.< It's just too bad that ingame Pikachu barely gets any good special moves to capitalize on it. At any rate, Thunder is redundant. Go with Thunder Wave, status moves are always fun. I'd really suggest evolving this one, though, since you'd practically need to make special breeding for a Pikachu to get a Hidden Power of good strength and the right type. If you do evolve then it should be something like:
Raichu @ Leftovers
Thunderbolt/Volt Tackle
Focus Punch
Substitute
Wish/Thunder Wave
This one is Lonely, so it gets a boost to Attack which would make Focus Punch pretty tough. Volt Tackle is strong, yes, but without some form of HP recovery, using it is basically digging your own grave. If you've got the patience to breed in Wish to a male Pikachu and then have it breed with a Light Ball you could get Wish and Volt Tackle on the same pokémon, which would work pretty well, but failing that, Thunder Wave will help you keep opponents from breaking your subs and Thunderbolt deals some pretty nice damage.
Gardevoir "Garden"
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Trace
Items: Twisted Spoon Leftovers
Moves
Psychic
Calm Mind
Hypnosis
Dream Eater Thunderbolt/Fire Punch
Yes, I can see why a fighting type move wouldn't work. I mean, just look at Gardevoir's Attack. What you need is a special move, so ditch Dream Eater (It's situational and usually worthless) and go with either Thunderbolt or Fire Punch. Thunderbolt has more base power, but Fire Punch lets you handle Steel types, so which one you go for is a matter of taste. You really got a raw deal on the nature, though, as Sp.Attack is one of Gardevoir's most important stats while Speed really isn't all that essential. Oh well, either breed for a better one (Bold, Modest, or Timid would be preferable) or just live with the handicap.
For Pikachu, I also want to evolve Pikachu, but he is so good with his attack Volt Tackle and others have said that Raichu is useless with it, but I simply love Raichu and am stuck between wanting Raichu and wanting Volt Tackle to be used to it's best ability with Pikachu.
Those others were dead wrong. Volt Tackle is actually far better for Raichu since it's tougher and, therefore, has a better chance of surviving after using it. When you've got a Light Ball, Pikachu really doesn't need Volt Tackle since the insane Sp.Attack boost it gets makes Thunderbolt strong enough to handle whatever it needs to handle. Volt Tackle on a Light Ball Pikachu is suicide, anyway, because of the insane recoil you'll suffer.
For Delcatty, I am currently putting her in the contest compatitions and have managed to beat Super Rank. I still have a lot more pokeblocks to use as she only has three stars on hers, but the beauty rate is pretty high. (What can I say, I figured out how to finally use pokeblocks to the best of my ability.)
Actually, on the pokéblock thing. If you really want to use pokéblocks to their fullest then you should give your Delcatty pokéblocks which raise Cuteness and whatever other attribute you want to raise. Pokéblocks work best if they raise the attribute that the pokémon likes, and the type that they like depends on what stat their nature raises (+Speed likes Sweet (Cuteness), +Attack likes Spicy (Coolness), +Sp.Attack likes Dry (Beauty), +Defense likes Sour (Toughness), and +Sp.Defense likes Bitter (Smartness)). Just make sure to use as many high-quality pokéblocks as you can as there are only so many ones you can feed to one pokémon. Oh, and remember to get the scarfs from the pokémon fanclub too. Once you've got those and a max (or near max) attribute then the contest is practically in the bag already. That's how I claimed three master ranks with a Hariyama. ^_^
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