Pokemon Platinum Team

[DarkChaosTrainer]

So I've started playing pokemon platinum and already had some thoughts about a team which is built from my favorite pokemon plus a few... though I am still unsure of it, helps and tips welcome!
(btw my team is in-game so not much worries about tougher challanges though I still want a good team)

Empoleon - Modest nature - Surf, Ice Beam, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon
Staraptor - Adamant / Jolly nature - Fly, Brave Bird, Close combat, filler...
Houndoom - Timid - Flamethrower, Dark Pulse, Nasty Plot, filler...
Garchomp - Adamant / Jolly - Stone Edge, Earthquake, filler(?), filler(?)
Froslass / Gengar / Gardevoir / Gallade (I can't seem to make a good choice)...
(I have recently thought that grass might be more effective than electric) Roserade / Luxray / Jolteon / Weavile.

It's pretty hard for me to chose the other 2 pokemon so I would be thankful for the help and advice of those who must be more experienced than I am...
Thanks!

 

[HunterX101]

Teach your Garchomp Dragon Claw/Outrage for Stab and maybe Crunch or something aswel.

 

[HeyMikey]

I personally find that Grass Knot is rather poor on Empoleon in-game because it was originally used to deal with opposing Swampert, who are much more common competitively. I would suggest replacing Grass Knot with Agility, to turn you into a dangerous Special Sweeper. Additionally, while it is a powerful move after factoring in STAB, Flash Cannon isn't very good on Empoleon because of its extremely poor type coverage. Rock is dealt with by Surf, and Ice doesn't threaten you. If you are willing to attempt rebreeding, then Hidden Power [Electric] would be the best option here. Otherwise, Signal Beam can work, although it is viable to leave it as it is, I suppose.

If you must use Fly on Staraptor then that's fine. however, U-Turn is a better option for Hit-and-Run attacks. Your filler move can be filled by Return, which is incredibly powerful with 153 Base Power and 100 accuracy after factoring in STAB and assuming Max Happiness, which is not too hard to obtain.

I personally like to run Substitute in Houndoom's last slot for an easier time setting up as well as protection against Hax.

I would change Garchomp into an SDChomp, to give you an excellent Physical Sweeper.

• Garchomp @ Leftovers
• Jolly Nature
• 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe (if you use EVs)
~ Dragon Claw
~ Earthquake
~ Swords Dance
~ Rock Slide

This is the set that I have found to work best out of personal experience. I'm using a Jolly Nature because your Attack will be very high thanks to Swords Dance anyway, so Adamant would be redundant. Dragon Claw and Earthquake give you to highly reliable STAB attacks, finished off with Rock Slide for a good balance of accuracy, PP, and power along with Ice coverage. If you're interested, the EVs are just standard Physical Sweeper.

I can really see your team struggling with Bulky Waters, especially those which use Ice moves in their movesets to destroy Garchomp and Staraptor. For this reason, I would recommend you use an Electric type. However, I feel I may have a more suitable one than what you have already. Have you considered an Electivire, by any chance, or is it too hard to obtain?

I hope this helps you.

 

[DarkChaosTrainer]

I can't obtain Electivire as I don't have anyone to trade with...
Aswell, I need 2 more pokemon in party as those listed: gardevoir / froslass / gengar / gallade and lukray / roserade / jolteon...
I really appreciate the help and advice, though still need more planning on the 2 pokemon slots left empty, trying to get more type coverage and more power(and still keep to my favorites...). I'm struggling between ghost or psychic and electric or grass.
Thanks for the help and would like to hear more advice about filling the other slots!