Need to improve/expand my strategies...

[Elric of Grans]

My approach is more than a little basic. I mostly pick Pokemon I like the picture of, with the rest coming from simple bias (I fell in love with Gyarados back in Red and have always preferred it as my Water Pokemon) or ignorance (eg I do not understand defensive Pokemon, so I do not use them). I have just picked up my fifth badge and feel my team could use some work. I have no long-reaching plans on the specific attacks of my Pokemon, basically deciding as things pop-up.

My starter was Chimchar, currently Monferno. Fire and Fighting are two types I am heavily biased towards, so this is a natural leader to my team. My plan is to have one Physical Fighting move, one Physical Fire move, one Special Fire move and one buff/debuff move.

I picked up a Shinx early on, currently Luxray. The main purpose is to cover Chimchar's water weakness. My plan is to keep one Physical Dark move and one Physical Electric move, using the other two moves for buffs/debuffs.

As mentioned before, I have a Gyarados bias so I levelled a Magikarp from early on. I use Gyarados to cover the gaps in the offense of the other two. My plan is to have a Physical Ice move, a Physical Dragon move, a Physical Water move (or possibly a Special one for balance) and a buff.

I picked up a Ralts, which is currently Gardevoir, to be my main Special attacker against high-Defense Pokemon. My plan is to have a Special Psychic more, another Special move (probably Grass) and two debuffs. I believe I have stronger Psychic Pokemon already, but I love the picture of Gardevoir >_>

My fifth team member is currently Leafeon, but I have been fairly unimpressed and am likely to drop this one soon. The sixth spot is always left open for whatever HM(s) I need to advance, always put onto Pokemon I never use (eg Bibarel).

Looking over my team, I realised I had nothing super effective against Electric, so I figure I should swap Leafeon for a Ground-type Pokemon. I have *never* used Ground types, however, and am not really too sure what to do. The ones I currently have need to be traded to evolve too (eg to get a Golem), which is not an option.

I believe I there would be far more strategies I could consider using, but have never before thought of. I am looking for advice in, well, evolving myself as a player as much as I am tweaking my team.

 

[jab2033]

I'm not sure how much help I can be, but I'll try. My comments will be in BOLD:

My approach is more than a little basic. I mostly pick Pokemon I like the picture of, with the rest coming from simple bias (I fell in love with Gyarados back in Red and have always preferred it as my Water Pokemon) or ignorance (eg I do not understand defensive Pokemon, so I do not use them). I have just picked up my fifth badge and feel my team could use some work. I have no long-reaching plans on the specific attacks of my Pokemon, basically deciding as things pop-up.

My starter was Chimchar, currently Monferno. Fire and Fighting are two types I am heavily biased towards, so this is a natural leader to my team. My plan is to have one Physical Fighting move, one Physical Fire move, one Special Fire move and one buff/debuff move.

Here's the moveset I use for my Infernape:
-Flamethrower
-Close Combat/Brick Break
-Grass Knot
-Rock Slide
Flamethrower and either Close Combat or Brick Break for STAB moves, Grass Knot to hit Infernape's water, ground, and rock weaknesses, and Rock Slide to hit my flying weakness. The only weakness this set doesn't hit is Psychic, and I have other pokemon for that.

I picked up a Shinx early on, currently Luxray. The main purpose is to cover Chimchar's water weakness. My plan is to keep one Physical Dark move and one Physical Electric move, using the other two moves for buffs/debuffs.

Here's the moveset I use for Luxray:
-Thunder Fang/Spark
-Crunch
-Thunder Wave
-Return/Strength
Thunder Fang and Spark are Luxray's best electric attacks, with Spark being better due to the 30% chance of paralysis. Crunch for type coverage, and Thunder Wave to slow down opponents. Return and Strength are decent options, with Return being stronger than strength with max happiness.

As mentioned before, I have a Gyarados bias so I levelled a Magikarp from early on. I use Gyarados to cover the gaps in the offense of the other two. My plan is to have a Physical Ice move, a Physical Dragon move, a Physical Water move (or possibly a Special one for balance) and a buff.

Yeah, I love Gyarados as well. It's awesome. Here's a pretty standard Gyarados set. It works pretty well both in-game and competitively:
-Dragon Dance
-Ice Fang
-Earthquake
-Waterfall
Dragon Dance to raise your attack, Waterfall for STAB and flinching chance, Earthquake is an awesome power move and destroys Gyarados' electric weakness. Ice Fang hits dragon types. Although you mentioned getting a ground type, and you'll probably want to teach Garchomp Earthquake instead if you do. Not sure if you can get a second Earthquake TM in-game preE4...

I picked up a Ralts, which is currently Gardevoir, to be my main Special attacker against high-Defense Pokemon. My plan is to have a Special Psychic more, another Special move (probably Grass) and two debuffs. I believe I have stronger Psychic Pokemon already, but I love the picture of Gardevoir >_>

I haven't used Gardevoir since my Emerald days, but here's a rather decent moveset:
-Calm Mind
-Psychic
-Shadow Ball
-Hypnosis/Wish
Calm Mind raises your speical attack, which increases the effectiveness of Psychic and Shadow Ball. Hypnosis can be used to put the opponent to sleep then you can use Calm Mind until the opponent wakes. Or you can use Wish, then Calm Mind for two turns, with Wish healing the damage you took while using Calm Mind. I prefer Hypnosis, but it doesn't have great accuracy, so Wish might be more effective for you.

My fifth team member is currently Leafeon, but I have been fairly unimpressed and am likely to drop this one soon. The sixth spot is always left open for whatever HM(s) I need to advance, always put onto Pokemon I never use (eg Bibarel).

Looking over my team, I realised I had nothing super effective against Electric, so I figure I should swap Leafeon for a Ground-type Pokemon. I have *never* used Ground types, however, and am not really too sure what to do. The ones I currently have need to be traded to evolve too (eg to get a Golem), which is not an option.

If you want a Ground type that doesn't require trading, then Garchomp is the way to go. It's as awesome as Gyarados. So awesome it's been regulated to Ubers in competitive battling. Here's my Garchomp moveset:
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
-Dragon Claw
-Crunch
Swords Dance raises your attack, just as Gyarados' Dragon Dance does. It can give you critical OHKOs when you need them. Earthquake and Dragon Claw are your best STAB moves. And Crunch for additional coverage.

I believe I there would be far more strategies I could consider using, but have never before thought of. I am looking for advice in, well, evolving myself as a player as much as I am tweaking my team.

Hope I helped a bit.

 

[Weavile05]

You could try for Gyarados Dragon Dance as a Buff, then Ice Fang, Waterfall, and instead of a Physical Dragon Move, use Earthquake. The only Physical Dragon Move that Gyarados learns through level up is Twister, which is Extremely weak. Actually, that's not even Physical, it's special. It could put your Gyarados at Risk however, if you are using it against an Electric type.

If you don't want to do that, then you could grab a Hippopotas and evolve it into Hippowdon For a ground type. But tbh, you don't really need anything super effective against Electric types. I would actually suggest to either keep Leafeon or replace it with another Grass type.

Another option is to teach your Monferno Earthquake instead of a Special fire move. Two fire moves aren't neccessary.

Not sure if you can get a second Earthquake TM in-game preE4...

I don't think you can even get two period, you can only get one without trading I believe...
If you go with Earthquake for Gyarados, and you go for Garchomp, then I suggest teaching Garchomp Dig, since it's still a pretty powerful STAB Ground move.

 

[Elric of Grans]

Thanks for the advice.

I do not currently have a Garchomp (or earlier forms) or a Hippopotas, so I will keep the Leafeon in the team for the moment (the only other Grass Pokemon I have is a Budew). Once I get one of them I will take a look, though if Gyarados picks up Earthquake, as you have both suggested, I may not need a Ground-type after all. Gyarados vs Electric Pokemon seems risky, however, so I will see how it goes for me.

The other suggestions are quite interesting. Some are similar to what I had been thinking, but others are quite different. I have had to look up what a few of those attacks were, but they are quite interesting ideas. I had not considered a Ghost power for Gardevoir, but Shadow Ball definitely seems an excellent off-type attack. I had also never considered giving Infernape a non-Fire/Fight move, but it seems obvious now that it is pointed out to me.

 

[jab2033]

I highly suggest you do get a ground type. You'll need one for the final gym, as the Leader uses Electric types. And running Gyarados in that gym against all those electric types is definetly risky. Gyarados does have a 4x weakness to electric.

Shadow Ball and Psychic is a commonly-used combo for Psychic and/or Ghost types. Psychic hits ghosts, which Psychics are weak to, and Shadow Ball also hits Ghosts and other Psychics.

As far as Infernape, only one Fire and one Fighting move is necessary. Infernape works extremely well as a mixed attacker, and it has a fairly wide movepool.

Keep in mind that you only need one or two STAB moves on a pokemon. Two if the pokemon is dual-typed. The other two or three moves should cover other types and try to hit that pokemon's weakness. Try to hit as many types for super-effective damage as possible.

And if you want to take a chance, Hidden Power can be helpful if you get the right HP type. One of the people in the Veilstone Game Corner (At least I think it's the Game Corner; I'm sure it's in Veilstone) can tell you your lead pokemon's Hidden Power type.

I like having Hidden Power Grass on Fire types, as it hits both Water and Ground weaknesses. Hidden Power Ice on Electric types helps as well, as Ice hits its ground weakness and can hit Grass types, both of which Electric pokemon have issues with. As you can see, having a good HP type can be extremely helpful.

 

[Elric of Grans]

Thanks for the tips. I have been looking at skill selection a little differently now and can definitely see where you are coming from. I will have to look for that person in Veilstone too, as Hidden Power could be quite interesting if useful.