First attempt at a competitive team

[d2m]

Considering this is your first attempt at making a team, I'd like to congratulate you on it before I critique it. You managed to make a semi-balance between offense and defense, without being completely weak to many of the metagame's threats. Nice job ;) But enough of being nice, it's onto the team itself...

That Mamoswine lead you have currently is nice, so I'll leave that alone. The main thing I want to look at is your Salamence. Yes, I realize you run the "superior" MixMence, and I know everyone's going to go crazy when I say this, but seriously; try the New MixMence. Outrage / Draco Meteor / Earthquake or Brick Break / Fire Blast is what I use currently, and while a lot of people are bound to go crazy using "theory" to prove its inability to deal damage, I've used it on all of my teams currently, and it deals more damage, pound for pound, than the MixMence you currently use. I realize losing Roost is a real bummer, but considering the job OF a wall-breaker is to break walls, you'll find "New MixMence" has an easier time handling things that don't die to Draco Meteor. Outrage hits Blissey harder than Brick Break anyway, though locking yourself in may seem "game-breaking". Honestly, try it out, and if you still feel like it, use the old one.

Most of the threats (Salamence, Gyarados, etc...) are pretty much covered by your defensive core, although one thing that bothers me a bit is Infernape. "But Vance, he has Vaporeon!". Yes, but he has no insurance against Swords Dance Infernape. After a Swords Dance, Close Combat OHKOs Vaporeon with Stealth Rock (even without, you get KOed 46% of the time). Blaze Kick handles Jirachi, Stone Edge takes care of Salamence, and the rest of your team is battered so badly I won't even mention it. Luckily, SD Ape is rare, but the point remains; it 6-0s you. You could consider Starmie, since it "sort of" counters Gyarados with the correct spread, although you have to make sure you outrun Infernape and can KO it with Surf. Ironically, Swords Dance Lucario isn't as big as a problem, but only because of Jirachi.

Good job for your first team. Most threats are handled are just plain beaten into submission.

Thanks man, to be fair though, the team you see up there is edited after these comments and some battle testing, it was a bit different before :)

I've become fully aware that I'm weak against a lot of the "rarer" threats..I got 6-0'd by an Infernape, and by a Furret that use belly drum followed by an extremespeed/return spam, and almost (barely survived) an Abipom with fakeout/Last Resort. Normally I take infernape by sending out Vaporeon and protecting for a turn to see if he's going to use Close Combat or Grass Knot, then hope to god I can outpredict him.

I also have been experimenting with Scalemance, and so far I've determined that the DD mence that was suggested just doesn't do it for my team...I have no spinner so almost always they'll have SR up and I won't have enough time to get the sweep. Not only that, but DD mence is so common almost every team has a counter. For your Mixmence though, why Outrage AND Draco Meteor? I do agree, Roost isn't really the best idea because it's not really SUPPOSED to survive, it's supposed to come in and kill things then die.

 

[Dark Azelf]

Also, Zapdos can't live an unboosted Bullet Punch after SR comes in, plus life orb sapping his health makes him not be able to stay in too long.

What ?

49.84% - 58.88%

+2 LO Bullet Punch doesnt do fatal amounts to even 80 hp /0 def Zappy so i dont know where you concocted that from.

For your "life orb wears it down" argument, that is where Roost comes in.

You DO have a spinner if you add in the starmie that was suggested.

I've become fully aware that I'm weak against a lot of the "rarer" threats..I got 6-0'd by an Infernape, and by a Furret that use belly drum followed by an extremespeed/return spam, and almost (barely survived) an Abipom with fakeout/Last Resort. Normally I take infernape by sending out Vaporeon and protecting for a turn to see if he's going to use Close Combat or Grass Knot, then hope to god I can outpredict him.

But how can you predict a SD Ape lol ? Yet another case for Starmie.

I also have been experimenting with Scalemance, and so far I've determined that the DD mence that was suggested just doesn't do it for my team...I have no spinner so almost always they'll have SR up and I won't have enough time to get the sweep. Not only that, but DD mence is so common almost every team has a counter. For your Mixmence though, why Outrage AND Draco Meteor? I do agree, Roost isn't really the best idea because it's not really SUPPOSED to survive, it's supposed to come in and kill things then die.

I guess since between Zappy + Mence you handle fighters reasonably, thus lessening Mences job as a check and thus also Roost, i guess you can use the new suck Mixmence.

 

[The Hero Without a Name]

Oh, and update the Blissey already; 252 Def/80 SpA/176 SpD so you don't die to every physical attack in the game.

 

[.]

For your Mixmence though, why Outrage AND Draco Meteor?

Because one is physical and one is special? ;P

 

[Skip Shot]

Please help me i need help finding good movesets/items/natures/sixth pokemon

Lead/Physical Wall: Metagross@????

Stealth Rock
Meteor Mash
EQ
?????

Sp. Wall: Blissy@ Leftovers

Softboiled
Thunder Wave
Ice Beam
?????

Physical Sweeper:Gyarados@??????

Dragon Dance
Waterfall
Stone Edge
Ice Fang

Sp. Sweeper: Gengar@??????

Energy Ball
Hypnosis
Shadow Ball
Sludge Bomb

Physical Sweeper: Salamence@??????

Outrage
Dragon Dance
Fire Blast
?????

An the sixth person idk and suggestions

uh... post this in the request a team thread, not in an RMT.

One little thing to d2m: on Zappy, if you're scared of LO recoil coupled with SR, you could run the Speed Tank set. You lose power, but you still get OHKOes on things like Lucario, Breloom(lol), etc.

 

[d2m]

Oh, and update the Blissey already; 252 Def/80 SpA/176 SpD so you don't die to every physical attack in the game.

It's been updated for a long time, I just forgot to edit the post, sorry.

Because one is physical and one is special? ;P

The only thing that I would think Outrage would be good for on a Mixmence is the Cressy or maybe CM Latias, but you'd only nail it on the switch in because otherwise it'd OHKO with Dragon Pulse. Right now I'm using a DD variety, but seeing as I almost never get a chance to DD without running into one of the 9999 Scalamence counters, I think I might drop it for EQ and run a setup like that (but I still need Brick Break because I have nothing else against the dual screen and it's a back up fighting move because Machamp usually isn't around end game.

uh... post this in the request a team thread, not in an RMT.

One little thing to d2m: on Zappy, if you're scared of LO recoil coupled with SR, you could run the Speed Tank set. You lose power, but you still get OHKOes on things like Lucario, Breloom(lol), etc.

Actually, I've been testing it further, and it's working out quite well. I ran into those speed tank Zapdoses and 1-2HKO'd them with Thunderbolt after SR damage. Fun stuff. I think I'll keep the team with Zapdos/Starmie as my new "main" team and keep tweaking the original team until I get a good balance.