Help with Houndour

[Lucario21]

Rate this poke: (Im building a team but I want to get opinions because im a noob and if Im doing something wrong I want to know about it beforehand so I can correct it when make my actual team!

Houndour with leftovers/charcoal?
EVs: Defense: 255/Sp. Attack: 128/Hp: 127
Moveset:
-Flamethrower
-Crunch
-Sunny day (A lot of pain in the ass bredding to get this)
-Solarbeam

Generally I think A well rounded poke, due to the defense boost he needs to cover his weaknesses, fighting, ground and water, all of them raw moves as opposed to special (I think water is not special...). Also, Solarbeam can take out ground and water pokes so he's pretty much covered. But just incase ive split the remaining EV half with Sp. Atk and HP

Also, Im thinking of a kingdra with water pulse and ice beam among other things. Good idea or not? Like I say, I am very new to battling and breeding strategically, usually just opting for the fun option, so be nice ;)

 

[Mudkip85]

Houndour with leftovers/charcoal?
EVs: Defense: 255/Sp. Attack: 128/Hp: 127
Moveset:
-Flamethrower
-Crunch
-Sunny day (A lot of pain in the ass bredding to get this)
-Solarbeam

Well i think if this is what youve come up with and you are new to battling strategically then its not a bad effort in the least however there are a few things you may want to consider. I would defenitly give charcoal to houndour rather than leftovers as its going to boost its flamethrower attack power and as its attack power is much lower than its defence power its going to need it badly.

Secondly you may want to re-think crunch and replacing it with a move that can be used to more effect in showing its powerful dark abilities such as teaching it TM 30 Shadow Ball as not only is it as powerful as crunch but will be more useful to houndour as when using the attack it can lower the special DEF. of the opponent which will help you to finish the battle more quicker.

Lastly im curious to know the whole your kingdras moveset as then i will be able to give you my views on your combinations with it.

 

[Mullet]

Sunnybeaming sucks. Use Houndoom.

Thread over, have a nice day. ^_^

 

[m3t41]

Houndour with leftovers/charcoal?
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
Moveset:
-Flamethrower
-Pursuit
-Crunch
-Beat Up

Sorry but you gonna have to get rid of Sunny Day. :(

 

[shanecdavis]

Fixes in bold:

Rate this poke: (Im building a team but I want to get opinions because im a noob and if Im doing something wrong I want to know about it beforehand so I can correct it when make my actual team!

Houndour with leftovers
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SATK / 252 Spd
Moveset:
- Flamethrower
- Crunch
- Rest/Substitute
- Will-O-Wisp

Generally I think A well rounded poke, due to the defense boost he needs to cover his weaknesses, fighting, ground and water, all of them raw moves as opposed to special (I think water is not special...). Also, Solarbeam can take out ground and water pokes so he's pretty much covered. But just incase ive split the remaining EV half with Sp. Atk and HP

Do not go with Sunnybeaming. Go with the above set instead, if this is in-game. If you are playing against someone else that will actually switch out, use Pursuit over Rest/Sub, to catch them on the switch. WOW could also be replaced with Beat Up, that messes up Blissey and the like. Your EVs are totally wrong. You don't use EVs to attempt to cover weaknesses, you use them to accentuate the positives. Special attack power and speed are more needed than covering its low defenses, since it won't help anyway. Also go with a +SAtk or +Spd nature. You do not keep most Pokes in against their weaknesses unless they are fast enough to OHKO them first. Now, if you want to level up your Poke to about 20 levels higher than the in-game Pokes you will encounter, forget anything I say here and play how you want to. That said, you probably won't want to battle anyone else or you are going to suffer an incredible beat down. In-game battling teaches bad strategy. BTW - Water attacks are special, not physical (unless we are talking DP here and then it is a little different).

Also, Im thinking of a kingdra with water pulse and ice beam among other things. Good idea or not? Like I say, I am very new to battling and breeding strategically, usually just opting for the fun option, so be nice ;)

Bad idea. Don't give Kingdra Water Pulse when it can learn Surf. Not to mention the fact that Sunny Day ruins Water moves to begin with. Another reason to avoid it. I would have you post what you want your team to be and then we can advise you on how to improve it.

Sorry, but I have to respond to this post. Comments in bold:

Well i think if this is what youve come up with and you are new to battling strategically then its not a bad effort in the least however there are a few things you may want to consider. I would defenitly give charcoal to houndour rather than leftovers as its going to boost its flamethrower attack power and as its attack power is much lower than its defence power its going to need it badly.

No. DO NOT give Houndour Charcoal. That is a crappy hold item that will only boost one type attack by 10%. Leftovers is a MUCH better option. If you find that Flamethrower is not powerful enough, go with Fire Blast.

Secondly you may want to re-think crunch and replacing it with a move that can be used to more effect in showing its powerful dark abilities such as teaching it TM 30 Shadow Ball as not only is it as powerful as crunch but will be more useful to houndour as when using the attack it can lower the special DEF. of the opponent which will help you to finish the battle more quicker.

Gotta give a big fat NO on this one too. Shadow Ball is 80 AP, as is Crunch, but Crunch also gets a 50% increase from STAB (seeing as how Houndour is a Dark-type), making it 120 AP. Plus, Houndour's SAtk is higher than its Atk, making Crunch even more powerful. I also should mention that Crunch also has 20% chance of lowering the opponent's SDef by 1 stage, same as Shadow Ball, but with Crunch being a special attack (Shadow Ball is physical) it actually benefits from it.

Lastly im curious to know the whole your kingdras moveset as then i will be able to give you my views on your combinations with it.

 

[Mudkip85]

No. DO NOT give Houndour Charcoal. That is a crappy hold item that will only boost one type attack by 10%. Leftovers is a MUCH better option. If you find that Flamethrower is not powerful enough, go with Fire Blast.

well seeming you have found that you may disagree with my comments, i have to say that how on earth can you recommend to use fire blast sure its powerful but it hardly has any pp and in addition its accuracy is not perfect either so im going to have to say that you made a mistake their.

 

[Lucario21]

Thanks loads for the comments I think Im gonna go for:

Houndour with leftovers
Fire blast (PP upd)
Crunch
Pursuit
Will -o- wisp
EVs: SpAtk: 252 Speed: 252 Hp: 6
Nature: Mild (+Sp. Atk, -Defense)

Better?

And now, Kingdra:

Kingdra with leftovers
Ice Beam
Hydro Pump (Pp upd)
Blank space...need advice here, was orignally gonna be rain dance but dragon dance boosts speed enough, right?)
Dragon dance

Anyway, thanks for the help and stuff, now I just need to completely redo houndoom, but also, a question, what the heck does STAB stand for? (Itll probably be really obvious when someone tells me)

 

[shanecdavis]

well seeming you have found that you may disagree with my comments, i have to say that how on earth can you recommend to use fire blast sure its powerful but it hardly has any pp and in addition its accuracy is not perfect either so im going to have to say that you made a mistake their.

No mistake. If you read my comment again, I said that if you find that Flamethrower is not powerful enough (in conjunction with not using Charcoal) then Fire Blast is an option. You lose accuracy for more power. 8 PP is also typically plenty for a battle. Fire moves should be used sparingly anyway.

Thanks loads for the comments I think Im gonna go for:

Houndour with leftovers
Fire blast (PP upd)
Crunch
Pursuit
Will -o- wisp
EVs: SpAtk: 252 Speed: 252 Hp: 6
Nature: Mild (+Sp. Atk, -Defense)

Better?

And now, Kingdra:

Kingdra with leftovers
Ice Beam
Hydro Pump (Pp upd)
Blank space...need advice here, was orignally gonna be rain dance but dragon dance boosts speed enough, right?)
Dragon dance

Anyway, thanks for the help and stuff, now I just need to completely redo houndoom, but also, a question, what the heck does STAB stand for? (Itll probably be really obvious when someone tells me)

Hmmm, about Kingdra. Dragon Dance only increases Kingdra's Atk and Spd, it has no bearing on SAtk. Since you have NO physical moves (and shouldn't), DD becomes useless. Rain Dance is much better since it doubles the speed of Kingdra, making it the fastest non-uber Poke in the game. Of course then using RD ruins Houndoom's Fire moves. You could go ahead with Rest and Toxic, but keep in mind that RD is what makes Kingdra halfway decent.

BTW - STAB stands for Same Type Attack Bonus. In my previous example, since Houndoom is a Dark-type, it will get a 50% STAB bonus when using Crunch, a Dark move.

 

[Mullet]

Use Pursuit/Flamethrower/Will-O-Wisp/Crunch.