Smashing Scavengers

[Pokedra]

Smashing Scavengers
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Introduction
This is my team that I've been laddering with for the last few weeks. I'm pretty happy with it but it definitely can be improved. It focuses on fast offense, each member weakens the team and tries to open up a gap for the next member while covering each other. It has done pretty decent so far earning me a rating of 1424. I've decided to get some help and make it better.
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Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Nature : Jolly
EV : 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Earthquake

Aerodactyl fits into the team nicely, it gets the rocks up, attempts to the stop the opponent doing the same and hurts something in the process. Usually I keep him in until he dies since he rarely has use late-game. He makes a great lead, rarely failing to get the rocks up and usually putting something in the KO range or KOing something.

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Nature : Adamant
EV : 156 HP / 108 Atk / 100 Def / 144 Spe
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang / Taunt

Gyarados is a early-game sweeper, I bring him out early and try pull off a early sweep and maybe leave a few dents or take out a Pokemon or two. Aerodactyl attracts Pokemon like Scizor and Gyarados can switch in after they pick Aero off and setup on them. Usually they bring out something that takes hits from him and OHKO back like Rotom-A, Vaporeon and Porygon-2 and that's where Jolteon can help him, eliminating them if possible to make life easier for Gyarados.

Jolteon @ Choice Specs
Nature : Timid
EV : 4 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe
- Baton Pass
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Shadow Ball

Jolteon is here for something to pack a punch without setting up as well as to cover Gyarados. Baton Pass has been extremely useful and he's fantastic at eliminating stuff that stop Gyarados and Infernape sweeping. Plus in the late-game when everything is weakened he can clean up fantastically as long as I take out Scarfers and special walls.

Infernape @ Life Orb
Nature : Timid
EV : 4 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe
- Focus Blast
- Fire Blast
- Grass Knot
- Nasty Plot

NP Ape has been fantastic, I usually use him in the late-game when stuff that screw up his sweep(Generally faster stuff that can easily take him out like Latias and Starmie) have been eliminated then setup and try weaken the opponent's team or even take the match. Focus Blast (albeit a bit risky) lets him smash some of his counters, Vappy for example is 2HKO'ed with Focus Blast so I can nail him on the switch or kill him with a +2 Focus Blast.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Nature : Bold
EV : 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spe
- Grass Knot
- Reflect
- Thunder Wave
- Recover

Celebi is here to support everyone else, she also serves as a check to some powerful physical threats. Reflect is great for Gyarados and Infernape, TWave helps by making faster Pokemon easy prey for the rest of the team.

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Nature : Jolly
EV : 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
- Ice Punch
- Thunderpunch
- Fire Punch
- Iron Head

Jirachi is my revenge-killer and she takes out those Pokemon that've setup and become a nuisance. I went Tpunch >>> Trick because otherwise she couldn't revenge-kill stuff like Gyarados and Starmie. I rarely seemed to get got chances to Trick the Scarf onto something anyway. Generally she has done her job well but occasionally I find she's lacking in power and sometimes can't even take out a weakened Pokemon.

Team Building Process

When I started building this team I wanted it to be a just a plain offense team. Firstly I had to pick a lead, I wanted something that was fast and could get the rocks up but could do a bit of damage in the process. I tried Azelf but didn't really like it then I tried Aerodactyl, he did his job well rarely failing to get the rocks up and usually doing some damage in the process.

Next I wanted a sweeper, something that could come in after Aerodactyl died and setup and quickly leave some dents. Gyarados came to mind, I personally never liked the LO version so I used BulkyDos and he worked pretty well leaving some dents early-game and could come back late-game as well.

I wanted something to cover Gyarados and something that was fast and could deal a lot of damage without setting up. MixVire was on my mind but personally I never liked Vire so I tried Jolteon and he worked well, he could also smash Rotom-A which heaps of people switch in on Gyarados.

Anyways now I was thinking of putting in something that could sweep well late-game and leave dents in the opponent's team. I had a tonne of options here, I was unsure of what to put. I wanted something quick that could smash down walls like Celebi and Vaporeon which stopped Gyarados and Blissey which walled Jolteon. I was thinking of MixApe but that could be stopped by Vaporeon. I tried Focus Blast >> Close Combat which let me OHKO Vappy after a NP so that worked out reasonably well. Most people don't really expect it either as they always think it's plain MixApe or SDApe.

Next I kinda wanted something more solid that could take some hits and support the team. I tried Vappy but I honestly didn't like it, Wish support was great but if I lost Jolteon some then no one could really take those Electric attacks that they'd keep using on Gyarados and Vaporeon so I tried Celebi as another supporter/wall and she seemed to do fairly well. Reflect support was useful as Jolteon and Ape are fragile on the physical side and if she can paralyze stuff that outspeed Ape it made his life way easier.Plus it helped with my DDGyara weak sooo...

Lastly I needed a revenge-killer to pick off those Pokemon that were setup and dangerous. I also wanted a Steel-type as I kinda needed something to take Dragon-attacks. I picked Jirachi since she has bulk, speed and great coverage as well as her broken ability ^__~

Conclusion
Anyways I am pretty pleased with this team, it's probably my favourite team I've made so far. However I find it does tend to have trouble with stall as NPApe usually dies too quick to entry hazards before it can actually break walls. Any suggestions to help would be good. So rate away.
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[Sebastien Loeb]

Very weak Team to Scarftran that in combo with Stealth Rock it makes many damages, the coverage Rock + Groud makes devastate to your team, I would cover better the weakness to Groud, your Groud-Resistors they are weak of 25% to Stealth Rock, a Pokémon as Rock Polish-Rhyperior from a lot of problems.

 

[Skip Shot]

Very weak Team to Scarftran that in combo with Stealth Rock it makes many damages, the coverage Rock + Groud makes devastate to your team, I would cover better the weakness to Groud, your Groud-Resistors they are weak of 25% to Stealth Rock, a Pokémon as Rock Polish-Rhyperior from a lot of problems.

I don't see the Scarftran weak because he has Gyarados to take everything besides HP Electric, and if Heatran explodes on Gyara, the rest of his team is free to destroy.

You do have to be careful with using Jolteon though, because a Tyraniboah carrying T-bolt can set up on it and proceed to wreck your team. Luckily, very few people use Boah.

I'd also recommend giving Jirachi U-Turn as a form of scouting.

I'll come back if I spot anything else.

 

[Anti]

Nah, Loeb is right, SR + potential weather is going to wear out Gyarados quickly, and it's not like fire Blast does no damage at all.

Run max Speed on Jirachi, right now +Spd DDMence is going to 6-0 you.

As for advice on building teams, starting out with a lead doesn't make any sense. The lead is supposed to be the best thing to support your team, and if you don't know what it is that you're supporting, you're wasting your time. I don't see why you need SR up so quick when nothing needs it that much except for maybe Infernape, and that's only if Salamence sniffs out your set really early, which isn't going to happen in most cases. I would consider a Lum Berry Metagross lead. Your team is going to get creamed by entry hazard lead + mega offense teams, so knocking them out early with Meteor Mash + Bullet Punch is very useful...unless it misses, but you have Earthquake for that if you want. It actually does something beyond dying, which is more than Aerodactyl can say. It also gives you a priority attack.

Stall is a problem, obviously. You could go for Toxic Spikes absorb or a Starmie to Rapid Spin. It's up to you really, but you don't have enough power or synergy to beat a well-played stall team. I'll let you deal with the specifics since you know this team better than I do.

 

[Pokedra]

Very weak Team to Scarftran that in combo with Stealth Rock it makes many damages, the coverage Rock + Groud makes devastate to your team, I would cover better the weakness to Groud, your Groud-Resistors they are weak of 25% to Stealth Rock, a Pokémon as Rock Polish-Rhyperior from a lot of problems.

I do have problems with ScarfTran but it can be handled usually, SubTran actually cause me more problems Dx

Rhyperior can be pesky, Jolteon / Aerodactyl still outspeeds after a RP and can do a tonne with Hidden Power [Ice] / Earthquake and Jirachi can then pick it off.

I don't see the Scarftran weak because he has Gyarados to take everything besides HP Electric, and if Heatran explodes on Gyara, the rest of his team is free to destroy.

You do have to be careful with using Jolteon though, because a Tyraniboah carrying T-bolt can set up on it and proceed to wreck your team. Luckily, very few people use Boah.

I'd also recommend giving Jirachi U-Turn as a form of scouting.

I'll come back if I spot anything else.

I'll watch out for Boah but I honestly have seen next to none in the few weeks I've been laddering :x

Nah, I like U-Turn but if I used it I'd lose coverage against some pesky Pokes so no =[

Nah, Loeb is right, SR + potential weather is going to wear out Gyarados quickly, and it's not like fire Blast does no damage at all.

Run max Speed on Jirachi, right now +Spd DDMence is going to 6-0 you.

As for advice on building teams, starting out with a lead doesn't make any sense. The lead is supposed to be the best thing to support your team, and if you don't know what it is that you're supporting, you're wasting your time. I don't see why you need SR up so quick when nothing needs it that much except for maybe Infernape, and that's only if Salamence sniffs out your set really early, which isn't going to happen in most cases. I would consider a Lum Berry Metagross lead. Your team is going to get creamed by entry hazard lead + mega offense teams, so knocking them out early with Meteor Mash + Bullet Punch is very useful...unless it misses, but you have Earthquake for that if you want. It actually does something beyond dying, which is more than Aerodactyl can say. It also gives you a priority attack.

Stall is a problem, obviously. You could go for Toxic Spikes absorb or a Starmie to Rapid Spin. It's up to you really, but you don't have enough power or synergy to beat a well-played stall team. I'll let you deal with the specifics since you know this team better than I do.

I'll change that EV spread, though if it comes down to it or Jirachi somehow dies I can let Celebi take a +1 Outrage (never OHKO's with SR) and paralyze it so it can be handled although not well >___<

Usually I don't start a team with a lead but this time I chose a lead first, mainly Jolteon and Infernape like the rocks and Taunt stops people setting up the rocks occasionally which benefits Gyarados and makes switching in and out easier for Ape and Jolteon(they do a lot of this) :[ Sure I'll consider Metagross, it'll probably be better to have something more bulky...

Stall is the biggest problem, I'm trying of putting MixMence >> Ape or maybe SDLuke since they do pretty well against stall teams. I dunno @______@

 

[Anti]

But you're contradicting yourself lol, you can't put in a SR lead because Infernape and Jolteon like it if they're not on the team yet. That doesn't make any sense.

Anyway, I would definitely fit in Trick on Jirachi to mess up stall teams. I mean, you handle Gyarados well enough, so ThunderPunch can be replaced to essentially take out a member of their team. If it's a stall team, you're not going to need the Scarf anyway.

I would just run a Gengar for the sake of Rapid Spin blocking and LO Explosion. I've run Shadow Ball/Focus Blast/HP Fire/Explosion@LO before, and Blissey is insanely easy to outplay since it wants to avoid Explosion. Focus Blast on the Protect turn as if you don't have Explosion and then Boom it. Works more often than not. Forretress is going to eat your soul switching in though, so be careful. With Blsisey gone, Jolteon will have a fair chance to sweep, and it's not so Toxic Spikes weak. Infernape does well luring Vaporeon for Gyarados, but since you play gyarados early game that doesn't matter anyway so...

 

[Pokedra]

I suppose XD

Yeah I originally had Trick >>> Tpunch and I'll put it back on since TPunch isn't offering that much :[

I suppose Gar could work but over what?

 

[Malicious Metang]

No reliable switch-in to Timid Choice Scarf Hearan besides Gyarados, who ends up losing over the course of two switch-ins due to Stealth Rock. You honestly need some sort of check to this, or else you'll be losing to it every single time. The first suggestion I can make it getting rid of Aerodactyl. It absolutely sucks as a lead with half of today's common leads (Metagross, Swampert, Jirachi, etc...) all being able to stop it. Use something such as a Swampert as your lead, as it can handle Heatran and Rhyperior reasonably well. Hidden Power Grass > Hidden Power Ice on Jolteon, since Swampert and Rhyperior are more troublesome than...Dragonite.

Choice Scarf Flygon gives this team a hard time as well, as once Jirachi is down, nothing can take more than two Outrages with Stealth Rock bar Celebi, who cannot take a U-turn. Swampert would be ideal for this reason once again. Taunt > Ice Fang and Stone Edge > EQ on Gyarados to combat stall more effectively.

Just nitpicking. This team is horribly weak to stall / hyper offense with checks to Specs Jolt. CB Scizor also wears down your whole team with Stealth Rock up, so be careful of that as well.

 

[Pokedra]

No reliable switch-in to Timid Choice Scarf Hearan besides Gyarados, who ends up losing over the course of two switch-ins due to Stealth Rock. You honestly need some sort of check to this, or else you'll be losing to it every single time. The first suggestion I can make it getting rid of Aerodactyl. It absolutely sucks as a lead with half of today's common leads (Metagross, Swampert, Jirachi, etc...) all being able to stop it. Use something such as a Swampert as your lead, as it can handle Heatran and Rhyperior reasonably well. Hidden Power Grass > Hidden Power Ice on Jolteon, since Swampert and Rhyperior are more troublesome than...Dragonite.

Choice Scarf Flygon gives this team a hard time as well, as once Jirachi is down, nothing can take more than two Outrages with Stealth Rock bar Celebi, who cannot take a U-turn. Swampert would be ideal for this reason once again. Taunt > Ice Fang and Stone Edge > EQ on Gyarados to combat stall more effectively.

Just nitpicking. This team is horribly weak to stall / hyper offense with checks to Specs Jolt. CB Scizor also wears down your whole team with Stealth Rock up, so be careful of that as well.

Yeah sure, I'll switch Swampert >>> Aero, fits the team better =)

Changed HP Ice --> Grass.

Scarf Flygon is a pain yeah, he can keep coming in and forcing my sweepers out(Ape/Jolteon mainly).

Stall is the bane of this team, it doesn't really pack enough power at times so yeah I need to find a solution to this XD. I haven't found CBScizor a problem honestly :]

 

[Sebastien Loeb]

I haven't found CBScizor a problem honestly :]

I think that they are enough Gyarados and Jirachi to stop Scizor Pokémon very overestimated according to me.

 

[Malicious Metang]

I think that they are enough Gyarados and Jirachi to stop Scizor Pokémon very overestimated according to me.

I'm going to take a second and assume you're using Babelfish because I can honeslty not understand what you're saying. And Scizor is troublesome because nothing on Pokedra's team can repeatedly take U-turns with Stealth Rock on the field, as even Gyarados and Infernape get worn down. Jirachi will not be taking STAB U-turns either.

In other words...

I think that you are enough posting bad grammar according to me please PC leave now