Attempting to learn

[Lateon]

I'm attempting to learn the basics of putting a team together... I've never been very good at competitive battling, but I'm attempting to give it a shot. This is is for the OU tier, since these are the pokemon I'm most familiar with using. I'm not terribly familiar with the new OU threats, so any help is appreciated.

I'm not sure what I'm going for here. I was thinking of a team with a lot of bulk and a couple sweepers... but like I said, I'm new. No clue what I'm doing, lol.



Skarmory (F) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 234 Def / 24 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird

Gliscor (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Protect
- Facade

Latias (F) @ (???)
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- ????

Blastoise (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rapid Spin
- Roar
- Toxic
- Scald

Jolteon (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Mild Nature (+SAtk, -Def)
- Charge Beam
- Magnet Rise
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Braviary (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Crush Claw
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Superpower

 

[Hikamaru]

Your team needs a bit of touching up, if PlatinumDude shows up he might improve a bit further since he's an expert at this.

Now half your team is weak to Ice, so take that into consideration.

Now, I recommend this set for your Latias:

*smogon.com link removed*
Timid nature
Choice Specs
Levitate
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Speed
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse / Hidden Power Fire
- Surf / Hidden Power Fire
- Trick

Since Skarmory has an Impish nature, try going with this set:

*smogon.com link removed*
Impish nature
Leftovers / Shed Shell
Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP, 232 Defense, 24 Speed
- Roost
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird / Taunt

That's all I can think of, PlatinumDude might help you with the rest.

 

[PlatinumDude]

Latias is more of a defensive set-up kind of Pokemon compared to Latios. Instead of Psychic, use Hidden Power (Fire) to deal with Steel Pokemon and Recover in your last slot to heal you up. Use the EV spread 252 HP/4 SAtk/252 Spe for maximum bulk and Speed.

It seems to me that you're using an OU team. Jellicent is the better wall to use over Blastoise, due to its additional Ghost typing:
-Scald/Surf
-Will-o-Wisp/Toxic
-Recover
-Taunt
Nature: Bold
EVs: 248 HP/216 Def/44 Spe
Item: Leftovers

It's best to forgo Magnet Rise on Jolteon; it's too gimmicky. Plus, Volt Switch doesn't go well with Charge Beam; it erases your Special Attack boosts as you switch:
-Thunderbolt
-Volt Switch
-Shadow Ball/Signal Beam
-Hidden Power (Grass/Ice)
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SAtk/4 SDef/252 Spe
Item: Life Orb/Choice Specs
Ability: Volt Absorb

Braviary isn't good in OU because of its average Speed and weakness to Stealth Rock. Why not use Terrakion? It's stronger and faster:
-Close Combat
-Stone Edge
-Swords Dance
-Rock Polish
Nature: Jolly/Adamant
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
Item: Life Orb/Air Balloon/Rock Gem

Just by looking at this team now, you have a pretty big weakness to Ground moves. I'll let someone else suggest more options.

 

[LuLaby]

Hmmm maybe It'll be better changing Latias with Blissey
Blissey (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic/Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss


Or with Chansey

Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Softboiled
- Thunder Wave/Toxic
- Seismic Toss


Differences Between The 2
With Evo-Chansey you have better Defence (178,5=178) and better Sp.Def(370,5=370). Blissey has 130Def and 307Sp.Def [With the given EVs and Nature/Items Ofc].
You lose the power of Leftovers with Chansey, If you go with Blissey you get 1/16 from it that gives 44(44.625) HP regen each turn
Also Blissey has slightly more Attack/Speed/And HP
Both of them can take Ice beams a whole day and if he switch to a fighting type back to Gliscor....


And last after this you could change Terrakion

To Moxie-Salamence (Which I like so so much, lol)
I Use this set on one of my teams:
Salamence (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Brick Break
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace


You can play with the natures a little Naughty / Adamant / Naive / Jolly
Moves for Scarfed Moxie-Mence (In Smogon) are like these

~ Outrage
~ Dragon Claw
~ Fire Blast / Brick Break
~ Earthquake / Brick Break


And For Banded
~ Outrage
~ Dragon Claw
~ Earthquake
~ Fire Blast / Fire Fang


Ofc If you go with some special moves you should change your nature to Naughty or Naive...
And that's It :)

 

[Lateon]

Sorry it took me so long to respond, real life decided to get in the way =)

Impish nature
Leftovers / Shed Shell
Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP, 232 Defense, 24 Speed
- Roost
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird / Taunt

I went for Stealth Rock over Spikes because Stealth Rock seems to pack more of a punch. Plus I never seem to be able to get more than one layer down at a time. So why spikes over stealth rock? Just curious.

It's best to forgo Magnet Rise on Jolteon; it's too gimmicky. Plus, Volt Switch doesn't go well with Charge Beam; it erases your Special Attack boosts as you switch:
-Thunderbolt
-Volt Switch
-Shadow Ball/Signal Beam
-Hidden Power (Grass/Ice)
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SAtk/4 SDef/252 Spe
Item: Life Orb/Choice Specs
Ability: Volt Absorb

What if I replace volt switch with charge beam and give him choice specs? id there a reason to pick one over the other?

Blissey (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic/Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss


Or with Chansey

Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Softboiled
- Thunder Wave/Toxic
- Seismic Toss

I've never been a fan of either of these, to be honest, though maybe it's time I give them a go. Though for Blissey I would probably go with Softboiled over wish... wish takes to long to work and i have no patience, lol.

Salamence (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Brick Break
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace

What if I change the nature to Adamant and replace outrage with (dragon claw? draco meter?)

Times I wish Speed Boost Blaziken wasn't banned >.<

 

[Ho-Oh]

What if I replace volt switch with charge beam and give him choice specs? id there a reason to pick one over the other?

That won't really work, because that would be assuming Jolteon would be staying in for a while locked into one attack, and with the fact that ground types, and things that resist electric aren't that uncommon, you're better off going with volt switch. With volt switch at least you can try to get some damage down on the opponent and switch out to safety, kinda giving you the advantage with the boost from specs (and you can switch with ground types appearing anyway), while with just charge beam you're relying on the special attack boosts that don't happen 100% of the time and yeah being locked into that is not useful. It can work with LO (but without volt switch as PlatDude said), since you can use different attacks, but not specs. :x

 

[PlatinumDude]

Volt Switch allows you to scout your opponent's team by hitting the opponent for a reasonable amount of damage before switching to another Pokemon. If you have a feeling Jolteon is up against an unfavorable match-up, you can use Volt Switch and, well, switch to an appropriate check/counter. However, if your opponent brings in a Ground Pokemon at the time you use Volt Switch, then Volt Switch fizzles because Ground Pokemon are immune to Electric, forcing you to switch manually. But still, Volt Switch is always the main option for a sweeping Jolteon.

Charge Beam, on the other hand, doesn't go well with Choice items. If you use a move while you have a Choice item, then you're stuck with that move unless you switch, and that's not a good thing when you're using Charge Beam (you'll be stuck spamming a base power 50 move, and if you switch, you lose all the Special Attack boosts you accumulated through Charge Beam). Jolteon is also a bit frail to set up Charge Beam effectively. True, it can use Substitute to help ease set up, but it comes at the cost of a coverage move, or its best STABs (Thunderbolt, Volt Switch).

And @above Salamence set: Aerial Ace is a poor STAB because of its low base power. If you want a Scarf + Moxie set, use this:
-Outrage
-Dragon Claw
-Fire Blast/Brick Break
-Earthquake/Brick Break
Nature: Adamant/Jolly/Naughty/Naive
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe or 252 Atk/4 SAtk 252 Spe
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie

Edit: most people use Spikes over Stealth Rock because most of the Pokemon who use it have enough bulk to get in multiple layers at a time before being forced to recover (if applicable) or fight back. With 3 layers, Spikes does the same amount of damage to grounded Pokemon (Pokemon that aren't Flying or grounded ones that don't have the Levitate or Magic Guard abilities) as a Pokemon that takes 2x damage from Stealth Rock (25%). But then again, Stealth Rock hits all types; the damage done to that Pokemon depends on its type(s), plus you only need 1 layer up. So, it's all up to personal preference on what hazard you use.

 

[Lateon]

Okay, so let's say we do this:

*pokemonelite2000 image removed* (F) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 234 Def / 24 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird

*pokemonelite2000 image removed* (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Protect
- Facade

*pokemonelite2000 image removed* (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef/ 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Signal Beam
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Grass]

and add these three:

*pokemonelite2000 image removed* @ Life Orb
Adamant
Moxie
252 atk/ 4 SAtk/ 252 Speed
-Dragon Claw
-Outrage
-Brick Break
-Fire Blast

I'd keep him instead of Latias. Are dragon types still common for OU teams? Not sure how I feel about having more than one Dragon type on the same team, because that leaves me wide open for Ice Beam. I picked Life Orb over choice specs because I didn't want to have him locked into a move, but maybe the boost from choice specs means it doesn't matter? is the boost from life orb and choice specs the same?

*pokemonelite2000 image removed* (F) @ Leftovers
Bold
248 HP/ 216 Def/ 44 Speed
-Recover
-Toxic
-Scald
-Attract/Ice Beam/Taunt?

Attract is probably too gimmiky, plus it's only a 50/50 chance I'll actually get the right gender. Taunt is leaving me open to get hit with attacks, and he can't really pack an ice beam but I don't have anyone else that can use it to take down the dragon/ground types.

And finally

*pokemonelite2000 image removed* @ Air Balloon
Adamant
4 hp/ 252 atk/ 252 speed
-Rock Polish
-Swords dance
-Close Combat
-Stone edge

Never used him before. Am I going to be able to set up those swords dances/ rock polishes?

Also, what about a rapid spinner? Should I have one out there?

I was thinking about having someone that can set up a bunch of entry hazards like toxic spikes/stealth rock and regular spikes, but i don't know of anyone that can do that. Plus why go through all the effort when it will most likely get spun away? Not sure though.

 

[Ho-Oh]

is the boost from life orb and choice specs the same?

Never used him before. Am I going to be able to set up those swords dances/ rock polishes?

Also, what about a rapid spinner? Should I have one out there?

I was thinking about having someone that can set up a bunch of entry hazards like toxic spikes/stealth rock and regular spikes, but i don't know of anyone that can do that. Plus why go through all the effort when it will most likely get spun away? Not sure though.

Nope, LO = 1.3x and Specs = 50%.

As for Terrakion yes generally if you come in on the right Pokemon that can't really do anything to it then you'll get a chance.

Rapid spinner, not necessarily, it depends on how weak your team is to hazards. Current team isn't thaat weak to hazards so you should be fine imo, but...

You could set up tspikes/spikes and have a rapid spinner all at once with forretress, and give skarm stealth rock while using Jellicent as a spinblocker. You'd have to ditch something though (or just use that and go w/o), since it can learn spikes and tspikes as well as rapid spin. :3

Also on jelli, to take down ground, just use scald no need for ice beam, taunt will be of more use to you out of the choices. :x