Dude, if you're going to Netbattle you'll
need to provide EVs. The EV spreads are an essential part of any successful netbattle team, if you haven't touched those it's no wonder you're failing. :\ Also, do tell us which trait you're planning to use for the pokémon that can get two different ones. The difference can be crucial. Oh, and as a general piece of advice, don't listen to Lugialord. He's N00B with a capital 'N'. Kyogre (An uber) would be terrible on this team, as would Zangoose (An UU) and especially their combination.
Legendary users aside, I've been getting my ass kicked all over NetBattle. No matter what I come up with, the next five people to challenge me come up with something better. It's absolutely infuriating! I've lost the courage to battle! I've lost my self-confidence. I'm desperate for help... please provide suggestions.
Skarmory
Impish Nature
Item: Quick Claw Leftovers
- Drill Peck/Substitute
- Spikes
- Roar
- ??? Rest
Physical wall. DP for the sake of an attack. Spikes thrice, Roars thrice, and so on. Unsure of a fourth move.
Sweet mother of corrections, no! Don't use hax items like Quick Claw, especially on a wall like Skarmory that won't have any use for them. >_< Skarm is a wall, so Leftovers for healing. Oh, and your Skarm won't be roaring or spiking thrice with everybody and his friend keeping a Magneton on their teams. I'd really suggest Substitute over Drill Peck, Whirlwind over Roar, and Rest for the final move (That one's a must for any given Skarmory). With subskarm you can lead with a Substitute, so even if your opponent switches in Maggy the sub will take the hit for you and let you Whirlwind them out, thus buying you a turn for retreating Skarm. Also, since Salamence is a very common lead (And practically always comes with Fire Blast) Skarm really sucks in the lead slot. What you need is a fast sweeper type like Jynx or Zapdos, or optionally something that can take a hit from Salamence and then OHKO it with an Ice Beam (E.g. Swampert). On the EV spread, it should be 252 HP/252 Defense/4 Sp.Defense if you go with the sub build, don't know about the Drill Peck one since I'm not a big fan of Skarm.
Alakazam
Modest Nature
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Recover Ice Punch/Thunderpunch
Fire Punch
CMs a few times, Recovers damage dealt, then goes Psychic. Not sure what to put in the last move slot. I was thinking of giving it Choice Band and Trick. 'nuff said.
And what kind of damage do you think Alakazam can take? Save the Calm Mind for situations when your opponent has to switch and take two elemental punches along for the ride. Fire Punch to rip through Metagross and the like and Ice Punch or Thunderpunch depending on whether you want to OHKO Gyarados or Salamence. If you want a serious CM buffer then go with Gardevoir or Jynx instead, they tend to work far better.
Arcanine @ Leftovers
Adamant Nature
- Howl
- Extremespeed
- Iron Tail
- Flamethrower
Howling, speeding sweeper. Flamethrower for physical walls and elemental strengths. Iron Tail as a secondary sweeping move.
Arcanine sucks in OU. Ditch it for a proper sweep like Medicham or Flygon.
Umbreon @ Leftovers
Bold Nature
- Mean Look
- Toxic
- Wish
- Baton Pass
Looks to prevent escape, Toxifies, then spams Wish to keep itself alive. Wish/BP to restore others, also. I was tempted to put in Dusclops with Curse here, but Umbreon has the clerical usage. I'm also tempted to plug Blissey here in its place. Umbreon is sort of a merger of the two tactics.
Not to mention that your trapper handily negates the shuffling that Skarm is up to, eh? Also, you don't really have any worthwhile pass recipients on this team to really make it worthwhile. I'd suggest replacing this with a bulky water type like Milotic or Swampert, because your team royally sucks at walling. Incidentally, a Dusclops with Curse is a sad Dusclops indeed, and this thing isn't a real cleric either since it can't remove status conditions.
Metagross @ Leftovers/Liechi Berry
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Agility
- Psychic Explosion
MM and EQ for sweeping, Agility to give it a fighting chance, and Psychic against physical walls.
Psychic doesn't do crap against physical walls that aren't called Weezing. Skarm resists it while bulky waters just shrug it off with their above average Sp.Defense and HP. Explosion is what you need for this build, just be careful not to blast it on a ghost switch-in.
Apparently not much. I'm unsure of what to use to fill my final slot. Help me out?
Nyah, this team fails because it is so utterly lacking in defensive ability (Which is crucial in the OU metagame). A bulky water is a must, so I'd suggest using
Milotic @ Leftovers
Nature: Bold
Surf
Toxic
Rest
Sleep Talk
Stalker Milo walls like no tommorrow with its shameless abuse of Marvel Scale and combining that with Toxic makes it a serious hazard for even the bulkier pokémon out there. Oh, and if you don't mind legendaries then another very nice wall would be:
Suicune @ Leftovers
Nature: Bold
Surf
Reflect
Roar
Rest
It doesn't look like much, but with pressure and it's insane walling capabilites it can put a serious hurt on your opponents PP. The shuffling aspect also works nicely with Skarm's spiking and the better statline (And fewer weaknesses) lets it jump in and phaze out things that Skarm can't touch, particularly Calmcune, while a STAB Surf provides some decent damaging potential.
Anyways, I already suggested getting rid of a couple of pokes, didn't I? Yes, I think I did. I'll be a bit more logical about the replacement choices now, though. To begin with, Arcanine needs to go. No, really, it NEEDS to. Can't you see how it's suffering among all these full OUs you heartless person? It's enough to make a grown Cradily cry. ;___; So, to replace that one (And take the lead spot instead of Skarm) I'd suggest:
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Nature: Timid
Thunderbolt
Hidden Power [Ice]
Substitute
Thunder Wave/Baton Pass
Nyah, don't know if this fully coincides with standard Zappy or not, but I've found it to be quite effective. The EV spread should have maximized Speed, enough HP to make the final HP value divisible by 16 and everything else in Sp.Attack. It outspeeds just about everything except Flygon, Starmie, Alakazam, Raikou, and Jolteon, OHKOs Salamence and, for later eventualities, Gyarados, and can be a serious pest for slower attackers that rely on status affecting or low-PP moves. With this build it's usually a good idea to start with a Substitute (Unless your opponent has a faster lead in which case Zappy had better run away like a scared little girl), if your opponent attacked...well, you lost a bit of HP but it's no big deal (Not to mention that you'll know that he/she will probably attack again) and if he/she switched or tried to use a status move then you have just bought yourself a damage-free turn. To exploit that, Thunder Wave lets you cripple whatever was switched in (Even Blissey users have been known to switch out for a turn just to get rid of the pesky status effect) while Baton Pass (Needs the XD moves patch by the way) provides cover for switching in another one of your pokémon without giving your opponent a free attack on it. Optionally, you could just keep Alakazam (Possibly switch its nature to Timid) and have that one as your lead.
As for Umbreon...well, it's a cool pokémon but your team doesn't really work that well with it. :\ What you need, especially with the lack of subs, is a proper cleric that can get rid of status conditions, as otherwise your team is done for once it gets hit with a Thunder Wave or three. For Clerics I'd say either
Blissey @ Leftovers
Nature: Bold
Trait: Natural Cure
Seismic Toss
Ice Beam/Toxic/Thunder Wave
Softboiled
Heal Bell/Aromatherapy
With a simple 252 HP/ 252 Defense/4 Sp.Attack (Or 4 Sp.Defense if you take a status move instead of Ice Beam) EV spread, or
Miltank @ Leftovers
Seismic Toss
Thunder Wave
Milk Drink
Heal Bell
With maximum HP and the rest split between Defense and Sp.Defense. Both are formidable clerics. Miltank is tougher physically and takes fire and ice attacks easily with Thick Fat while Blissey has its ginormous HP and can shrug off status effects with Natural Cure. If you drop Alakazam you could also go with
Celebi @ Leftovers
Nature
Hidden Power [Grass]/Psychic
Heal Bell
Leech Seed
Recover
I don't know the EV spread for this one, unfortunately, but no doubt it uses plenty of HP and whatnot. With Hera and CB Flygon/Aerodactyl about, though, it's not a good idea to have multiple bug weaks on the same team, so keep that in mind.
Finally, I'd reccommend a CB sweeper to rip through your opponent's team the moment you spot a weakness. Suggestions for those include:
Fast ones:
Aerodactyl @ Choice Band
Nature: Adamant
Trait: Pressure
Earthquake
Rock Slide/Hidden Power [Rock]
Aerial Ace
Hidden Power [Bug]/Fire Blast
Hidden Power [Bug] to counter Celebi or Fire Blast to counter Steel types, Aerial Ace and Rock Slide for STAB, and Earthquake for Rock, Steel and Electric types.
Flygon @ Choice Band
Nature: Jolly/Naive
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Hidden Power [Bug]/Fire Blast
Quick Attack
See above, with the additional joy of stopping revers in their tracks with Quick Attack.
Dugtrio @ Choice Band
Nature: Adamant/Jolly
Trait: Arena Trap
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Aerial Ace/Sludge Bomb
Hidden Power [Bug]
Good because it traps, bad because it's not quite as strong as most CB sweepers and can't really take hits.
Slow ones
Heracross @ Choice Band
Trait: Guts
Megahorn
Rock Slide
Brick Break
Sleep Talk/Focus Punch
The last move is prediction, Sleep Talk if you're concerned about Smeargle and Breloom, Focus Punch if you're good at guessing when your opponent switches. A B-passed sub also works nicely with Focus Punch.
Machamp @ Choice Band
Trait: Guts
Cross Chop
Rock Slide/Hidden Power [Rock]
Facade
Brick Break/Sleep Talk
Usually two damaging moves of the same type is a big no-no, but with Cross Chop only having 5 PP it can actually be a viable option. Switch in on status attackers and start wreaking havoc. Facade also combos nicely with Guts.
