4th Gen Platinum Teambuilding

[Ninetales]

Alright, so I'm thinking of replaying Pokémon Platinum and I'm planning my team, although I'm unsure of the 6th member of my team. Here is the team that I've come up with thus far:

Empoleon
Lopunny
Pachirisu
Togekiss
Mismagius

Here are Pokémon that I'm also considering adding to my team:

Gastrodon
Gardevoir
Cherrim/Leafeon
Garchomp
Froslass
Floatzel
Yanmega


I know it's quite a lengthy list but I'm incredibly indecisive (I have a love affair with generation 4 Pokémon and would use them all if I could!)

 

[colours]

personally, i wouldn't go for Floatzel or Garchomp, mostly because i feel like they're kinda boring, typical "gen 4 team starter pack"-style pokemon. Yanmega i think would certainly be a unique choice to the team, as i feel like you can get more use out of it than most other Pokemon on that list. not only can it learn Bug Buzz and Air Slash, it can also learn Giga Drain, meaning that you won't really have much of a reason to use Cherrim (this is super cute tho)/Leafeon (also cute). a counterargument to this is that Togekiss can also use Air Slash, so there's not... much of a point to picking Yanmega.

i think Gastrodon would be an interesting pick, and it'd be neat to pair with Empoleon. even if they share the primary water typing, they don't share the same weaknesses. Gastro can take electric attacks and any Grass-attacks can be handled by Togekiss pretty easily, i would think.

i feel like Gardevoir would be a good pick if you didn't have Mismagius already. Mismagius can learn Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, and Calm Mind, which are pretty much three of the things one would teach Gardevoir, anyway. Mismag can also learn Energy Ball and Psychic so.... idk, i feel like Gardevoir wouldn't add much?

so my picks, in order, would be:

- Gastrodon
- Yanmega
- Froslass
- the rest don't really add anything to the team unless you have a personal preference for them. 'Chomp being an exception but.... idk to me, Chomp is a boring pick but i guess it's not a bad one by any means.

 

[Ninetales]

Thank you for your suggestions!

You now have me wanting to use Gastrodon! However, my main concern is that I have a lack of physical attackers on my team. With the exception of Lopunny (and perhaps Pachirisu, which all things considering has very poor attack/special attack) all of my Pokémon are primarily special attackers. Which is why Leafeon, Floatzel, and Garchomp all appealed to me.

Floatzel probably makes the least sense, as I already have a water type and it doesn't have the best moveset. Both Garchomp and Leafeon work because they both counter my team's primary weaknessses (Ground/Electric) however, Leafeon has a horrendous moveset.

While I'd say Garchomp is among my favourite Pokémon, it's one that I've used before and therefore I don't know if it's necessary for me to utilize it once again.

Before your suggestions, despite Leafeon's weak movepool, it was my top pick. (Simply because if it's alluring design! I mean it's gorgeous!) However, I might indeed use Gastrodon. Especially considering it is effective against both electric and rock types. Yanmega is also looking like a strong option as well, as it will eliminate Mismagius's dark-type weakness with its bug moves.

Another Pokémon that I considered was Spiritomb. While it may be a slightly peculiar choice, I like it purely for its design and the lack of weaknesses that it has in generation 4. Speaking of ghost types, I may still consider Froslass.

Thank you so much for all of your help!

 

[colours]

Thank you for your suggestions!

You now have me wanting to use Gastrodon! However, my main concern is that I have a lack of physical attackers on my team. With the exception of Lopunny (and perhaps Pachirisu, which all things considering has very poor attack/special attack) all of my Pokémon are primarily special attackers. Which is why Leafeon, Floatzel, and Garchomp all appealed to me.

Floatzel probably makes the least sense, as I already have a water type and it doesn't have the best moveset. Both Garchomp and Leafeon work because they both counter my team's primary weaknessses (Ground/Electric) however, Leafeon has a horrendous moveset.

While I'd say Garchomp is among my favourite Pokémon, it's one that I've used before and therefore I don't know if it's necessary for me to utilize it once again.

Before your suggestions, despite Leafeon's weak movepool, it was my top pick. (Simply because if it's alluring design! I mean it's gorgeous!) However, I might indeed use Gastrodon. Especially considering it is effective against both electric and rock types. Yanmega is also looking like a strong option as well, as it will eliminate Mismagius's dark-type weakness with its bug moves.

Another Pokémon that I considered was Spiritomb. While it may be a slightly peculiar choice, I like it purely for its design and the lack of weaknesses that it has in generation 4. Speaking of ghost types, I may still consider Froslass.

Thank you so much for all of your help!

no prob n.n

if you really wanted to use Leafeon, i think a set with decent enough coverage would be:

swords dance/leaf blade/knock off (move tutor)/aerial ace or replace knock off with x-scissor or something if you don't want to do Battle Frontier stuff for knock off. you get walled by steel types if you do this so it'd be handy to teach Lopunny fighting moves as well as Aura Sphere to Togekiss.

for Gastro you can run annoying as hell stuff like recover/toxic/surf/earth power (move tutor) or something similar pretty much. if you're not inclined on running earth power then mud bomb is fine, but it's much weaker but it at least has an accuracy drop, so there's that.

 

[RichKidDre]

I replayed Platinum not to long ago and ended with the following team:
Infernape
Garchomp
Rotom (base lol)
Porygon2 (extra DS to trade off of)
Tropius

gave up the 6th for more exp to the other 5, Tropius was the most niche being rarely used but still useful on Gastrodons, Bertha and sea maps

I tried using Froslass but it ends up being too late in the game to use unless you're not a Trainer-only exp person ingame, go ahead and try it itll most likely have some cool Spikes set up on Cynthia/Garchomp takedown. From reading your list unless you take the Garchomp or Gastrodon you'll get burned out by Flint's team with having 0 resistances to Fire (assuming no heavy grinding to like, 20 lvls above), I'd take either one

 

[Ninetales]

So I ended up succumbing to my love of Buizel. My final decision is to utilize both Floatzel and Leafeon and extend my team to 7 pokemon. For the elite for, I will most likely use Leafeon, but I figured, why only use one of my favourites when I can use two? I ended up deciding not to use Gastrodon, it somehow didn't feel quite right to me. I can assure you both that I will use a west-sea Gastrodon in the future!

As for Flint, I'm not too fearful of him. My Togekiss will easily be able to take out his Infernape and Empoleon should be more than capable of handling the rest, but we shall see. If I'm concerned about anyone, it's Volkner. While Pachirisu and Leafeon both resist electric types, I don't have any pokemon specifically capable of countering electric types. (Empoleon can learn earthquake, but with it being weak to electric types this move is essentially pointless.) In terms of grinding, I do prefer to have my pokemon at least 5 levels above whoever I'm challenging. I have a lucky egg, which accelerates the grinding process significantly. Therefore, my pokemon should be in the high level 60s, if not the low level 70s by the time I challenge the Elite 4. I don't necessarily have a counter for Cynthia's Garchomp either, I might have to flinch it with Togekiss's Air Slash or hit it with Empoleon's Ice Beam/Blizzard and hope it survives an Earthquake beforehand.

It is notable that I've only just received my third gym bade-the relic badge. I have lots of time to prepare my team for future battles. Thanks again to both of you for the help and suggestions!