H'okay then. Rate I guess.

[Nexus]

Sorta' feel like Im a slab of beef being thrown out for the vultures here, eh heh.

Right then. As a short foreword(and potential excuse), Im relatively new to the whole "strategy" concept and battling living players. It was only a week ago I took the "risk" and let a minun keep thunderwave instead of just slapping thunder in its place. Plus I was a G/S/C fanboy. The new features in the following gen seemed tedious and complicated. I used to laugh at the move baton pass(actually I got owned by a BP'd metagross yesterday, so eh... I sort of learned.) So anyway, Ive put some thought into things and made my first team thats meant to have a plan or goal, and it uses baton pass.

Oh, and eh... Some of these pokemon might be lol worthy(if not all.)

Girafarig (M) @ Leftovers ** GIRAFFEOFDOOM
Trait: Early Bird
EVs: 116 HP / 16 Atk / 224 Def / 154 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Agility
- Amnesia
- Baton Pass
- Earthquake

I warned you. I couldnt decide between inner focus or early bird, but I decided sleep was more of a threat. Gira is only meant to be out long enough to choose one or two and then pass it. If I can get any ide aof what my opponent is using, Gira's versatility regarding stat increasing moves allows me some flexibility. Also, Im new at movesets, let alone EVs and natures. Originally this was done by gorebyss, but a fast electric starter would(and did once) total me. Last detail- made for defence so it can possibly hang on a little longer.

Scizor (M) @ Leftovers ** Beatdown
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 116 HP / 92 Atk / 116 Def / 184 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Baton Pass
- Iron Defense
- Metal Claw
- Silver Wind

If I follow the main plan, scizor comes out next. MEtal claw and silver wind as you know have a chance of increasing all of the stats. I tried to cram in as many benefits through ordering, so in case I got arena trapped or something the current pokemon should be able to handle itself. With the speed bonus from Gira and hopefully the amnesia bonus, it should be rounded itself. but it isnt done yet. Iron defence.

Zangoose (M) @ Leftovers ** BP Beast
Trait: Immunity
EVs: 50 HP / 136 Atk / 96 Def / 228 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Facade
- Focus Punch
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance

Lol'able probably. This is where the plan goes. With the upped defences and yet another boost to speed, Zangoose should be formidible. Im sure there are better sweepers that could be put here. Im somewhat aiming for UU, but my desire to get better is overpowering that. A complete change is acceptable for this one(not to say its not for others, but eh...)

Houndoom (M) @ Leftovers ** IMABURNJ00
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 156 HP / 32 Def / 152 Spd / 136 SAtk / 34 SDef
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Crunch
- Flamethrower
- Solar Beam
- Sunny Day

I eithe rhave my houndoom or my arcanine out. Arcanine has roar, but aside from that I prefer Houndy here. When I was going through the moves lists in serebii and saw solarbeam... Yeah. Ive had good results against milotics, provided sunny day was active.

Dodrio (M) @ Leftovers ** Pistoff
Trait: Early Bird
EVs: 116 HP / 116 Atk / 96 Def / 148 Spd / 34 SDef
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Drill Peck
- Haze
- Steel Wing
- Tri Attack

Ha. My only hazer. I mainly have a flying for ludicolos. Its not made to take much damage, so its role as a hazer is meh. I mainly slapped it on there because I couldnt decide on a fourth move anyway.

Kingdra (M) @ Leftovers ** Levith
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 156 HP / 67 Def / 192 SAtk / 95 SDef
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Toxic
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Surf

Swampert is probably better, but... But Im using kingdra. Yeah. The HP might be lol'able. Its mainly there for swampert killing.

I also have a few possibly unrelated questions. For example, terminology. Curselax and stuff, thats all self explaining. "Stalkercross" though...?
And also, how much do these stat raising moves give? Serebii mentions "stages", but that didnt tell me much.

Thanks for reading and your time.

 

[Alter Ego]

Sorta' feel like Im a slab of beef being thrown out for the vultures here, eh heh.

Right then. As a short foreword(and potential excuse), Im relatively new to the whole "strategy" concept and battling living players. It was only a week ago I took the "risk" and let a minun keep thunderwave instead of just slapping thunder in its place. Plus I was a G/S/C fanboy. The new features in the following gen seemed tedious and complicated. I used to laugh at the move baton pass(actually I got owned by a BP'd metagross yesterday, so eh... I sort of learned.) So anyway, Ive put some thought into things and made my first team thats meant to have a plan or goal, and it uses baton pass.

Oh, and eh... Some of these pokemon might be lol worthy(if not all.)

Girafarig (M) @ Leftovers ** GIRAFFEOFDOOM
Trait: Early Bird
EVs: 220 HP / 216 Def / 72 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Agility
- Amnesia Substitute
- Baton Pass
- Earthquake Psychic

Nyah, Girafaring is more of a special attacker, really, and with its mediocre attacking powers it's not going to accomplish much without STAB, so Psychic is probably the best option here, with a Calm nature to match. Anyways, I saw this build work against me the last time I netbattled, although the EV spread is probably messed up. Speed up with Agility, set up a sub for protection if you get the chance then pass the fun on. I'd really suggest ditching this one, as well as the Scizor, since your team doesn't really have any of the slow sweeping types that would really benefit from the speed boost.

Scizor (M) @ Leftovers ** Beatdown
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 220 HP / 36 Atk / 252 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Baton Pass
- Iron Defense Agility
- Metal Claw Swords Dance
- Silver Wind

Ehh...a B-Pass Scizor without Agility is dead meat since your opponent will inevitably switch in something that can sweep it away, and unless you have managed to speed it up before that, your buffing work is wasted. Anyways, don't waste your time on a pathetically weak move like Metal Claw. Agility and Swords Dance to ready sweepers and Silver Wind for the few times that Scizor will actually have to fight on its own. Also, EVs should be physically defensive since Scizor ain't much good against special attacks regardless of what you do. I'd really suggest ditching this one, though, since your sweepers are fast and dont need the speed boosting, not to mention that you already have Girafarig for that.

Zangoose (M) @ Leftovers/Salac Berry ** BP Beast
Trait: Immunity
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Facade Double-Edge/Flail
- Focus Punch Brick Break/Endure
- Rock Slide/Shadow Ball
- Swords Dance

Meh, Zangoose. I've never really liked it to be honest, and Dodrio is doing a way better job at the sweeping department anyhow. :\ Regardless, Facade on anything that doesn't have Guts (Especially Zangoose which can't even be poisoned) is a waste of space. Double-Edge if you want to go with a straight-out sweeping variant or Flail if you're into that sort of thing then finish the type coverage with Shadow Ball or Brick Break (Or both if you don't go for the enduring kind). Brick Break is a nice choice since it lets you break through Reflect which would otherwise stop sweeping efforts before they even begin. Still, I'd say drop this one unless you plan on going properly UU.

Houndoom (M) @ Leftovers ** IMABURNJ00
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 156 HP / 32 Def / 152 Spd / 136 SAtk / 34 SDef
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Crunch
- Flamethrower
- Solar Beam Will-O-Wisp/Beat Up
- Sunny Day Pursuit

Ehh...no offence, but Sunnydoom is a thing of the past. This build is what's hip and happening (Can't believe I actually used that expression xP) right now. Will-O-Wisp's burning effect helps to weaken physical sweepers while Will-O-Wisp lets you capitalize on your opponent's switching mistakes. Anyways, I'd say ditch Houndoom, it clashes terribly with Kingdra's Rain Dance. Bad synergy = Bad team.

Dodrio (M) @ Choice Band ** Pistoff
Trait: Early Bird
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Drill Peck
- Haze Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Steel Wing Quick Attack
- Tri Attack Double Edge

Sorry but no, just no. Dodrio is, has never been, and will never be a competent hazer. Besides, with two BPassers on your team, do you really want to let all your hard buffing work go to waste just because you need to clear a troublesome opponent out of the way? Go CB-sweepy with this one. Drill Peck and Double-Edge deal massive damage due to STAB and Dodrio's high Attack while Hidden Power [Fighting] hits Rock and Steel types and Quick Attack deals with any revers or near-KOed fast pokémon.

Kingdra (M) @ Leftovers ** Levith
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SAtk/ 100 Spd / 156 HP
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Toxic Rain Dance
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Surf

Nyah, Rain Dance is an absolute must on Kingdra since it not only powers up Surf but also doubles its Speed. Toxic is what you sometimes take instead of Hidden Power [Grass]. The EV spread I provided is just something off the top of my head and probably incorrect. 100 Speed EVs let you outspeed every non-uber while in rain (Including an unboosted Ninjask), which can come in handy, and the maximal Sp.Attack is there for obvious reasons. The rest I just lobbed into HP since it provides protection from both physical and special attacks.

I also have a few possibly unrelated questions. For example, terminology. Curselax and stuff, thats all self explaining. "Stalkercross" though...?
And also, how much do these stat raising moves give? Serebii mentions "stages", but that didnt tell me much.

Nyah, STalker is short for Sleep Talker (Ergo, a pokémon that knows the moves Sleep Talk and Rest). Stalkercross looks like so:

Megahorn
Rock Slide/Hidden Power [Rock]
Rest
Sleep Talk

Dunno about the EV spread, though, although I'm pretty sure you'll find one floating about if you poke around the section. Anyways, STalkers are typically ones with high defensive abilities or a beneficial trait (I.e. Guts or Marvel Scale) which they capitalize on by going to sleep voluntarily. STalkers also include certain pressurers like Articuno (Which also falls under the defense-heavy category) and Zapdos.


Anyways, about the team itself...urgh, I'm sorry to say this but it's pretty terrible. First off, it's a mix of OUs (E.g. Dodrio and Houndoom) and UUs like Zangoose and Girafarig. This is bad because a single OU is enough to place you in the OU metagame, where most of your UUs will be a liability. Also, you have no walling presence whatsoever, so once your opponent's sweeper gets into position it's gg for you, not to mention that you're passing along stat boosts like Agility which turn out pointless since your sweepers are so fast that they make it quite well on their own. Ehh...I'd say that ditching two thirds of this team (Houndoom or Kingdra because they clash with each other, Girafarig and Zangoose because they suck on OU teams, and Scizor because it lacks proper passing targets) and then starting out afresh. You'll need at least two proper walling types, one for physical attacks (E.g. Skarmory, Milotic, Cloyster or Claydol) and one for special ones (E.g. Blissey, Regice, or Snorlax) and a solid phazer (Skarmory, Donphan and Swampert come to mind), although of course there's nothing stopping you from making your wall a phazer. Phazing (I.e. Using Roar or Whirlwind) is usually preferrable to hazing since it gets rid of Substitutes and may also for another switch if it drags out a pokémon which is unfaourable from your opponent's point of view. You should also consider a cleric (E.g. Blissey or Celebi) to help get rid of status conditions which will otherwise cripple your team fast. Anyways, go properly OU or properly UU, but don't leave it inbetween.

 

[Nexus]

Back with a full UU team. No point in making another topic right?

Porygon2 @ Leftovers ** Aero D.
Trait: Trace
EVs: 156 HP / 140 Def / 108 SAtk / 104 SDef
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Recover
- Ice Beam

Cacturnes replacement. The problem with poor Cacty... Well, I looked at it and saw it had 200 speed. "Oh", I thought, "Thats why its slow. I havent added any EVs yet." Yet I looked and sure enough Id given speed a generous portion. Its defence stats werent much better. Opened up the move dex and searched for something that could learn ice beam and a nice grass move(thunderbolt will work in its place, Swamper's aside.) and this refined little thing came up. I took smogons advice for EVs but was sort of meh on how they gave it little to no special defence.

Granbull (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 156 HP / 96 Atk / 96 Def / 160 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Heal Bell
- Return
- Thunder Wave

I thought it was hard to find the SPD wall, let alone a freaking cleric. Ive since experimented and it works wonders as an extra physical sweeper. 300 attack and stabbed return works wonders. Really I think I should have more defence for it, but Im uncertain.


Hypno (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Insomnia
EVs: 140 HP / 60 Def / 120 Spd / 52 SAtk / 138 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Reflect
- Thunder Wave
- Wish

Special wall. Not much to say.
And what a wall it is. I was really suprised at how well it worked. Wish is beautiful and I owe alot of my victories to it. Reflect I havent used yet and psychic is meh, but I want to try it more before I scrap it/them.

Bellossom (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 100 HP / 92 Def / 140 SAtk / 176 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder
- Sludge Bomb

The old team had serious issues because Typhy... Well, typhy had the only electric attack and there were no grass moves to be seen at the time. Leech seed is godlier than I first though. Sleep power has the same chance of working as stun spore but provides the effect in a far more concentrated form, except for the occasional sleep talker. Im sure most would replace this with vileplume, but Bell has more special defence and the other stats are relatively similiar. I still need to learn how to switch well so I like things to have defence. Plus, I have this insanely bad curse of switching into a critical. Its happened alot.

Cloyster (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Shell Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 96 Spd / 42 SAtk / 44 SDef
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes
- Surf

Defence wall, spiker and spinner. His only Atk move is rapid spin, and who the heck would use that to cause damage? I found SPA to be the better choice.
A shame that he doesnt tank against what he's weak to, but he works nonetheless. He's even taken down a lugia or two.

And finally, kangas replacement.

Crobat (M) @ Leftovers ** Sing for me
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 136 HP / 136 Atk / 236 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Aerial Ace
- Mean Look
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb

I picked up cro when my entire team was beaten by a misdreavus and two walls. I dont think I need to explain. Mean look, perish song. Yeah. Effective? Maybe. Cheap? Undeniably. I dont care what you call it. Its just a prettied-up lock on + sheer cold combo. Takes little to no skill.
Cro changes all that. Opponent sends out Dreavus and has already chosen mean look. Crobat dashes in with speed that makes dreavus' head spin and mean looks the damn thing right back. At the very least, it gets dreavus out of the way. When dreavus isnt present its still a good, fast sweeper.