I have lost four battles in a row with this team...

It's great that you are posting on my thread; as I have said before I really appreciate the input and help. :)

...but what really helps is advice from everyone. If you do not agree with the advice someone has given what would help me the most would be either adding to / improving their advice, or simply ignoring it and posting (further) advice of your own.

Thanks a lot, and I am waiting to hear what you think of the (six) possible teams I posted earlier :)

Damn Right I'm Diplomatic :P
 
Yeah, I reviewed, and here's my response.

You're starting off on the right foot. You've gotten nature-choosing down pretty well, and you know how things work. You just need some assitance on some pokemon (acquiring them) and teams.

Here's my basic setup, if not the most common and basic in general: Physical sweeper, special sweeper, mixed sweeper, mixed wall, special sponge, and physical sponge. The walls/sponges are commonly the supporters of the team (Wish, Stealth Rock, Spikes, Toxic, T-Wave, Rapid Spin, etc.) The sweepers, obviously, are the bulk of your team's power.

Consider a few things

Type coverage - Obviously, you gotta cover a lot of threats to your team. I think the most common moves are fighting and ground. Ice is pretty much a requirement as well on any team to cover the all-known dragons, especially Garchomp if allowed again in OU.

Pokemon roles - Sorta mentioned above, each pokemon has a specific purpose. When you look at something like Blissey, it's high sp.def and HP instantly signal "SPECIAL SPONGE!" It's also a great supporter with Thunder Wave, Aromatherapy, Toxic, Wish and a few other little things.

Defensive combos - Pokemon can guard one another's types very well. A common combo is Blissey, Cresselia, and Forretress. Weavile frightens Blissey and Cressy, but Forretress and its steel body laugh at EVERYTHING Weavile throws at it. I don't even think a max-attack (3 Swords Dances) Brick Break OHKOs, while you Gyro Ball back, pretty much killing on the spot.

Common sense - Don't make a team of 6 Blisseys...ever. Look for other common sense things that, if you don't do, deserve a slap in the face.

Anyway, that's just some quick pointers. I think Gofre and airconditioning are assisting with team issues, but I think those pointers will help you out. I expect that one day, you will be up there with the highly competitive battlers.

Oh yeah, Make Alakazam Timid. This way, you can not only have 361 speed max speed (max EVs and IVs, or you can drop 40 speed EVs to overcome Gengar by 1 speed, which is 351 speed I believe), but Choice Specs/LIfe Orb compensate for the lesser sp.atk. However, Zam fears Weavile if Zam is specs and locked on Psychic. You better not be facing Pursuit, or you go bye-bye no matter what you do.

Have fun getting everything together, and happy battling!

Edit: Just saw this, but remember one thing. LEFTOVERS IS NOT CHEATING! Everyone uses them, and they're important for your walls to live.
 
Ok... I think I've figured how to stop the Movesets from taking up so much space:

Alakazam @ Life Orb (...or Wise Glasses for Item Clause)
Spoiler:

Gallade @ Leftovers (Dunno if Item Clause is used)
Spoiler:

Lucario @ Leftovers (Again, dunno about this one in the case of the Item Clause)
Spoiler:

Gyarados @ Life Orb (...or Muscle Band for Item Clause)
Spoiler:

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Spoiler:

Suicune @ Leftovers...
Spoiler:

Milotic @ Leftovers
Spoiler:

Umbreon @ Leftovers
Spoiler:

DDT-Tar @ Life Orb (... I guess some item help would be helpful)
Spoiler:

Skarmory @ Leftovers (...Yep I really need help with the items :P)
Spoiler:


Wow its still quite long. I think I'm okay on the EVs, and I have thought about the roles a lot. The Moves and Natures speak for the roles a bit. I have discussed the reason why their is 10 Pokés in a previous post.

EDIT: - I will be testing each team on 'Shoddy Battle' and posting the results for each team, and why I think I got them results.
 
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I still say Timid on Alakazam if possible.

Gallade would like Close Combat or Brick Break (if you're going to be rather bulky, then BB works), and Bulk Up over Swords Dance is an option.

Lucario would like Extremespeed and Close Combat because a Swords Danced E.Speed is pretty powerful, but Close Combat still overcomes its power, even if E.Speed is normal damage, while CC isn't (90 > 80 BP). If you run SE over speed, I don't know if it's good to swap the nature or not.

Gyarados would like Taunt over Quake. This way, Skarmory doesn't come in and go BLARGH! over your fun. You can Taunt and lol at its Drill Pecks (not Brave Birds) as you continue setup. If you're not running BulkyDos, Jolly is the option; otherwise, Adamant, or if you want Rest-talk StallDos, run Impish (252HP/200def/56sp.def, Waterfall/Toxic/Rest/Sleep Talk)

Although Bronzong likes Gyro Ball, Hypnosis, Quake, and...something, I'll not comment on that one.

The rest looks fine, but Tar might like Taunt as well.
 
SHODDY BATTLE Testing

As I mentioned earlier I decided to find which was the best team I decided I would test them in Ladder matches on 'Shoddy Battle'.

Results will be posted below:

Team 4
Umbreon, Skarmory, Gallade, Gyarados, Alakazam, Bronzong.
W: 5 L: 5

My main problem with this party seemed to be Umbreon. The idea I had for him (see 'Movesets' post) would have been nice had it worked, but alas, it was like having one less Pokémon. The times when I did win were when Bronzong and Skarmory had managed between them to either get rid of threats to my Sweepers, or just to generally weaken opposition Pokémon, allowing Alakazam, Gallade or Gyarados to finish off the job. For this test I gave Gyarados Taunt instead of Earthquake, which didn't seem to work as well as I'd hoped.

Don't know why I did Team 4 first...
Other Results will be added soon, probably Monday night. :)
 
Team 1
Lucario, Gallade, Gyarados, Alakazam, Bronzong, Suicune
W: 5 L: 5

Hmm another 5 wins and 5 losses... *wonders if his experiment is going to prove anything other than that Pirate Dave can't battle...*

This time I think the problem was that either one Pokémon, usually Alakazam or Gyarados would / needed to sort out most of the opponent's team on its own, or I lost.

I felt like this team missed Skarmory a bit.

There was one battle where the opponents last Pokémon Gengar was able to defeat 3 of my Pokémon, which was disappointing, but I think it was because my Ghost counters had fainted, and this Gengar must have had max speed, my Alakazam got killed before it had a chance to Psychic Gengar's poisonness.
 
Go by this setup Dave. The first part is the category, the 2nd part is an example of a pokemon. Don't make a team out of the pokemon suggested.

Physical sweeper - Gyarados
Special sweeper - Alakazam
Mixed Sweeper - Electivire
Mixed Wall - Suicune
Special Sponge - Snorlax
Physical Wall - Forretress

Each of those pokemon have a specific role. Suicune can dual wall with Bold nature + EVs, and Electivire can run Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Cross Chop, and Hidden Power Ice or Ice Punch. The rest are obvious.

Please...You need a Timid Alakazam. This'll outrun Gengar.
 
ABYAY said:
Go by this setup Dave. The first part is the category, the 2nd part is an example of a pokemon. Don't make a team out of the pokemon suggested.

Physical sweeper - Gyarados
Special sweeper - Alakazam
Mixed Sweeper - Electivire
Mixed Wall - Suicune
Special Sponge - Snorlax
Physical Wall - Forretress

Each of those pokemon have a specific role. Suicune can dual wall with Bold nature + EVs, and Electivire can run Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Cross Chop, and Hidden Power Ice or Ice Punch. The rest are obvious.

Please...You need a Timid Alakazam. This'll outrun Gengar.
Click to expand...

I think that is basically what team 6 is.

Skarmory, Suicune, Bronzong - Wall-Tank things
Alakazam, Tyranitar, Gyarados - Sweepers

I'm not gonna test Team-2 as that is exactly the same as Team-1 but with a Milotic instead of Suicune, but I still wanna test some other set ups on Shoddy. I'll have a look at an Electivire, but EVERYONE seems to have Electivire so I'm not so sure. As I mentioned in an earlier post the Umbreon I was gonna train was really poor so I could replace it with that... I dunno...

EDIT: - I'll leave posting the results for the other teams until I've tested them all, to save space. I may even just tell you what I have decided on doing based on my results. Of course if one team wins 10 in a row then the decision will be easy but I'm not so sure.
 
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Bronzong isn't a special wall, and neither is Suicune (Maybe Suicune if EV'd right.) Blissey and Forretress Snorlax are the two best special sponges in the game. Skarmory is a physical wall though.
 
ABYAY said:
Bronzong isn't a special wall, and neither is Suicune (Maybe Suicune if EV'd right.) Blissey and Forretress Snorlax are the two best special sponges in the game. Skarmory is a physical wall though.
Click to expand...

Hmm... To be honest I'm not sure what role I've been using them in, but they have been fairly effective for me. I guess I am using them as Tanks, rather than straight Walls...

Suicune was one of my faves from the GSC era, and I have seen it be quite effective over the last few days of (far too much) Shoddy battling (and not enough university coursework :P). It has been especially useful to come in on something weakened, hope for a free CM and then use Surf or Ice Beam to deal pain. Having Roar is a definite advantage since it can get through most of the Pokés that don't like it before any type-matching happens.

I am considering training a Curselax even though I hate Blissey and Snorlax. I realized that the only things that really worry Snorlax are things that the rest of my party should be able to deal with. I don't like Snorlax though...

Another two Pokémon I am concidering are Electrivire and Flinchkiss. I hadn't really used Togetic at all in the last Gen, and so completely ignored this new evolution, but having seen what it can do I may need to train one as a starter.

Electrivire is gives a new meaning to OU because in my opinion it is literally Over-Used. Everyone seems to have one. But as Electric used to be my fave type (before I went all Gawth and started only using Psy/Ghst/Drks :P), and since it has been effective against me more than once before I think training a Mixed Attacking Electrivire may be worth it.

I have made some definite final decisions!!!

*Obviously Alakazam will be in the team, it may be Timid or Modest I haven't decided yet but like I said it is my favorite so in he goes.

*There will be a DDGyara and it will have Taunt.

*I will train a DDT-Tar but not necessarily use it...

*Umbreon is out. I can't use it. I get the theory but I am not skilled enough to successfully use a Poké without attacks.

*Bronzong!!! I never used Bronzong before, ever, because IMO it is U-G-L-Y but it has been one of the biggest shocks for me in how effective it is. It's good HP and defences, coupled with CM and it's general ability to annoy make it an awesome part of my team. As long as I'm sensible about when I bring it in, it always makes a good contribution.

...

There are some Pokés which I am pretty sure I'll at least train, like Skarmory, Lucario and Gallade, since they have been pretty useful, but I'm still not convinced. I would have added Suicune to that list but I think I'm gonna find it difficult to get my hands on...

Anyway I'm nearly done at University until September, so I'll have a ton of time to battle and decide.

:)
 
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