The competitive teams topic.

[Orpheon]

Agreeing somewhat with Sylphid here, MegaBanette really isn't much of a sweeper or a physical powerhouse, although it does have a decent attack stat. I built my MegaBanette to be a physical denier with Will-O-Wisp and Destiny Bond when needed I'm getting low. You could also run Taunt to prevent set-ups and become a nuisance to banded pokemon as well.

I was thinking of a Phantom Force build as well, since that can hit through Protect and King's Shield, and is a decently powerful STAB move for Banette. Just the set-up time is what makes the move such a turn-off.

[Zak Something]

Hey everyone. I finally was able to put together a semidecent team, and I was hoping you people would be able to give me some advice. Any help would be appreciated.

Espeon - Light Clay - Magic Bounce

Timid 252HP/4SpDef/252Speed

Baton Pass

Psychic

Reflect

Light Screen

Lilligant - Lum Berry - Chlorophyll

Modest 4HP/252SpAtk/252Speed

Giga Drain

Hidden Power (Rock)

Quiver Dance

Sleep Powder

Charizard - Charizardite Y - Blaze

Modest 4hp/252SpAtk/252Speed

Hidden Power (Ghost)

Roost

Solar Beam

Fire Blast

From this point on my team is... less finished.

I know I need to get better items but Battle Points grr.

Ferrothorn -Sitrus Berry - Anticipation

Relaxed 252HP/48Def/208SpDef

Leech Seed

Gyro Ball

Spikes

Stealth Rock

Conkeldurr - Guts - none

Adamant 4HP/252Atk/252SpDef

Bulk Up

Stone Edge

Drain Punch

Mach Punch

Garchomp - Rough Skin - King's Rock

Jolly 4HP/252Atk/252Speed

Earthquake

Outrage

Iron Head

Swords Dance

[Shuuda]

There are a few choices that puzzle me.

- Firstly, the King's Rock on Garchomp. I think you might be best served replacing that with a Life Orb, or something that'll boost its attack more, or even just an item to boost its Dragon or Ground moves.

- For Ferrothorn, I think Iron Barbs is the better ability. Fire attacks, as well as Ground and Fighting, aren't hard to predict. Iron Barbs goes well with its defensiveness.

- Hidden Power Ghost doesn't seem that good on Charziard. I don't know of any Ghosts, except Chandelure, that can resist both Fire and Grass.

- Having another Pokémon who can take advantage of the Sun, like a Solar Power Heliolisk, might be a good idea.

[Nobody]

IMO, ferrothorn + sun is a very poor combination. It will die to an ember

[Shimmachi]

IMO, ferrothorn + sun is a very poor combination. It will die to an ember

It doesn't make a difference if Ferrothorn is taking 150% damage from Flamethrower or 225% damage from sun-boosted Flamethrower because it still dies regardless. Also why would one be leaving Ferrothorn in the way of a potential Flamethrower (or any other fire move) anyway o.O

Anyway yeah Iron Barbs is preferred on Ferrothorn.

Is there any benefit to running Iron Head over Poison Jab on Garchomp? Poison Jab allows you to smash Azumarill (can't OHKO without resorting to Play Rough iirc, +2 Poison Jab is a clean OHKO on 252/0 Azumarill), which can't be done with Iron Head. Any other Pokemon that Poison Jab doesn't cover are Ice-types (which are either slow enough to have to eat +2 EQ/Outrage, or run Ice Shard to kill Chomp) and some Fairy-types which are weak to EQ anyway. Yeah, I guess it might seem situational, but Iron Head isn't really going to do much...

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Ferrothorn is actually one of the BEST pokemon in Sun, checking some Ttar, and Politoed as well as a lot of form of offense that can threaten sun teams, which is kind of the same reason why Starmie is good on Sun Teams, or Heatran being amazing on Rain Teams

[Djing]

Just run Stone Edge on Garchomp instead of Poison Jab. The most important Fairy to hit is Togekiss since every other Fairy gets hit hard with Earthquake.

Charizard should run Focus Blast for Tyranitar.

[Shuuda]

I've been working on a new team for 6 vs 6. I've had some mixed results with it (though mostly because of my rubbish plays), so I'm wondering if I can get some input.

[spoiler=The Team]

What happens when you bring together a frog, a mole, a sheep, a bug, a bird, and... an oven? You get a countryside themed team.

Greninja: Timid - Protean - Focus Sash

(EVs: Sp.Atk - 252 Spe - 252)

- Taunt

- Spikes

- Ice Beam

- Surf / Dark Pulse

Greninja acts as an offensive spiker. Putting down layers of Spikes whenever possible, while using Taunt to prevent the opponent putting down hazards, or setting up. It's high speed and STAB Ice Beam offer a nice revenge killer against certain dragons. The last move is up in the air.

Excadrill: Jolly - Mold Breaker - Air Balloon

(EVs: HP - 4 Atk - 252 Spe - 252)

- Rapid Spin

- Earthquake

- Rock Slide

- Shadow Claw

Excadrill is the teams Rapid Spinner, with the power to beat off most spinblockers. Shadow Claw is there to handle Ghost/Grass types, or hit Aegislashes as they enter, just in case they have Air Balloon.

Rotom-H: Bold - Levitate - Chesto Berry

(EVs: HP - 252 Def - 252 Sp.Atk - 4)

- Rest

- Will-O-Wisp

- Volt Switch

- Overheat

First off, Rotom-H is cuter than Rotom-W. It's a a defensive Pokémon, and a status absorber. Burns opponents, and Volt Switches away.

Ampharos: Modest - Static => Mold Breaker - Ampharosite

(EVs: HP - 236 Sp.Atk - 252 Spe - 20)

- Volt Switch

- Focus Blast

- Dragon Pulse

- Thunderbolt

The first half of this team's core pairing. With base 165 special attack, and electic STAB, even his Volt Switch will seriously sting anything that doesn't resist it.

Scizor: Adamant - Technician - Choice Band

(EVs: HP - 252 Atk - 252 Spe - Rest)

- Bullet Punch

- Brick Break

- Pursuit

- U-turn

The second half of the Volt-Turn combo. Scizor resists Dragon, Ice, and Fairy, and is neutral to Earthquake, so it can come in on attacks aimed at Ampharos, while Mega Ampharos and Rotom cover Fire. Chases Fairies away with Bullet Punch, etc.

Talonflame: Adamant - Gale Wings - Sharp Beak

(EVs HP - 192 Atk - 252 Def - 4 Spe - 60)

- Brave Bird

- Flare Blitz

- Swords Dance

- U-turn

Talonflame is my late game sweeper. Once the enemy has been soften up by Spikes and my Volt-Turn nonsense, Talonflame will come in and clean them up with Brave Bird. Swords Dance boosts it's attack if I need to strengthen its sweeping abilities. U-turn lets it bait out its counters.

To improve this team, I am considering the following changes:

- Replacing Greninja with a Scolipede. It fills in the role of spikes layer, while offering more speed to other Pokémon on my team. Ampharos in particular, will enjoy getting extra speed.

- Changing Rotom-H to Rotom-W. If I replace Greninja, then I'm thing Wash might work in this team over Heat.

- Replacing Talonflame's U-turn to something else.

Edited December 1, 2013 by Shuuda

[Orpheon]

On the topic of Mega Banette...

Will-o-Wisp/Thunder Wave/Protect/Shadow Sneak?

Will-o-Wisp/Calm Mind/Shadow Ball/Dazzling Gleam?

I've been trying to come up with sets for it for a while now (In spite of never having used it and not knowing the current state of the metagame). Doubt it's enough to make Banette worth its mega slot, but still.

If you want to run an attacking build, you could always do:

Adamant Nature

Shadow Sneak

Sucker Punch

Shadow Claw

Destiny Bond

252 Atk/252 HP/252 Spe.

I'm not a big fan of this build, but it can still definitely do some damage.

[Sylphid]

So, I have a mostly ready competitive team, but need some advice on how to finalize it.

[spoiler=My team]

Galvantula

Modest

Compoundeyes

Thunder, Energy Ball, Bug Buzz, Sticky Web

This guy's main role is to get Sticky Web on the field, but he also doubles as a secondary sweeper.

Hydreigon

Modest

Levitate

Dragon Pulse, Flamethrower, Focus Blast

My main special sweeper, and that's all I have to say about him. I'm going to switch Dragon Pulse and Flamethrower for Fire Blast and Draco Meteor, but have been forgetting to do that for a while now.

Arcanine

Adamant

Flash Fire

Flare Blitz, Wild Charge, Outrage, Close Combat

My main physical sweeper. Although there's some overlap with type coverage, I think he and Hydreigon work pretty well tigether.

Excadrill

Jolly

Mold Breaker

Rapid Spin, Earthquake, Rock Slide, Sword Dance

Exists to remove hazards from the field, and to cover my team's lack of Earthquake.

Vaporeon

Bold

Water Absorb

Scald, Wish, Protect, Toxic

My only defensive pokemon, and my healer.

So yeah, the most glaring problem is the lack of a 6th pokemon. I'm having trouble coming up with a team member who would work well with my other pokemon and Sticky Web (This far I've used some random EV trained pokemon I have ready).

Couple of other things I need help with are:

- Hydreigons 4th move. At first I thought about Flash Cannon to handle Fairy-types, but that's not really very useful... Other options would be Dark Pulse and Surf.

- Arcanine's Extreme Speed. It's a great move so obviously I'm giving it to Arcanine. I just can't decide whether I should drop Outrage, Wild Charge or Close Combat.

- Since I'll probably be switching my team members around a lot, I should probably change Excadrill's Sword Dance for something else, but what? Poison Jab seems like an interesting choice to counter most Fairy-types.

[Djing]

Hydreigon should always run Dark Pulse since it has better neutral coverage. Flash Cannon also 2hkos most relevant fairies so that's a good option to run. Remove Flamethrower since Dark Pulse does loads of damage to most Steels anyway. You can put in Roost in the last slot to make use of Hydreigon's fairly good bulk. U-turn is also good for scouting.

[Shuuda]

For Excadrill, I like to use Shadow Claw. It's main duty on my team is to remove hazards, so I built mine to beat as many spinblockers as possible. Earthquake with Mold Breaker hits Aegislash (without balloon) and Gengar hard, but I use Shadow Claw just incase I run into any of the Ghost/Grass types, or I know the opponent Aegislash has an Air Balloon. It also hurts any other Ghosts who are neutral to Earthquake. I doubt Poison Jab would be that good, since people aren't going to want to pit Fairies against a Steel type anyway.

For Arcanine, I would replace Outrage. That move really doesn't seem worth it, unless you get a STAB on it. In our battle, it couldn't beat my Mega-Ampharos, so I suspect a full HP Dragonite or bulky Garchomp could take it as well.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Shuuda

[Nobody]

So, This is my team:

Ferrothorn @ leftovers

252hp/ 48 Def/ 208 SP.Def

Relaxed

Iron barbs

Gyro ball

stealth rock

Leech seed

power whip

Gengar @ gengarite

252 sp.atk 252 spd 4 hp

Timid

Levitate/shadow tag

Sludge bomb

thunderbolt

shadow ball

Substitute

Dragonite @ weakness policy

252 hp 252 atk 4 Spd

Adamant

Multiscale

Dragon dance

dragon claw

thunder punch

earthquake

Excadrill @ air balloon

252 atk 252 Spd 4 hp

Jolly

mold breaker

Rapid spin

shadow claw

earthquake

rock sllide

Rotom-w @ chesto berry

252 HP 252 SP.Atk 4 Def

Modest

Levitate

Rest

Will oh wisp

Volt shift

Hydro pump

Volcarona @ life orb

252Sp.Atk 252 Spd 4 HP

Timid

Flame body

Bug buzz

Fiery dance

quiver dance

roost

Does anyone have any idea on how to improve this team? Would a bold rotom with 252 HP/ 252 DEF/4SP.A/D be better?

Edited December 3, 2013 by Nobody

[Sylphid]

Hydreigon should always run Dark Pulse since it has better neutral coverage. Flash Cannon also 2hkos most relevant fairies so that's a good option to run. Remove Flamethrower since Dark Pulse does loads of damage to most Steels anyway. You can put in Roost in the last slot to make use of Hydreigon's fairly good bulk. U-turn is also good for scouting.

I keep forgetting Steel isn't resistant to Dark anymore... Yeah, Dark Pulse makes sense.

The problem with Flash Cannon 2HKOing fairies is that any Hydreigon takes 4x damage from Fairy-type moves... Then again I shouldn't keep Hydreigon on the field against fairies anyways.

For Excadrill, I like to use Shadow Claw. It's main duty on my team is to remove hazards, so I built mine to beat as many spinblockers as possible. Earthquake with Mold Breaker hits Aegislash (without balloon) and Gengar hard, but I use Shadow Claw just incase I run into any of the Ghost/Grass types, or I know the opponent Aegislash has an Air Balloon. It also hurts any other Ghosts who are neutral to Earthquake. I doubt Poison Jab would be that good, since people aren't going to want to pit Fairies against a Steel type anyway.

For Arcanine, I would replace Outrage. That move really doesn't seem worth it, unless you get a STAB on it. In our battle, it couldn't beat my Mega-Ampharos, so I suspect a full HP Dragonite or bulky Garchomp could take it as well.

Good point about Poison Jab. I'll go with Shadow Claw.

Also yeah, that makes sense. I'll replace Outrage.

Thanks for the input guys =)

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Its kinda sad that so far, my favorite team this gen is an Articuno Team >_>

[Orpheon]

If Jolteon doesn't get HP Grass/Ice due to random IVs, what would be the next best move for it? It's SP. A move-pool really isn't all that diverse, and mine ended up with an HP-Dark but I already hit whatever is weak to Dark super-effectively with other pokemon. Currently running T-Bolt, Shadow Ball, and Volt Switch and HP.

[Redwall]

Jolteon should pretty much always have HP Ice to nail things like +1 Dragonite. Signal Beam is preferred over Shadow Ball to hit things like Tyranitar, Hydreigon, and Celebi (after Pokebank comes out)

[Orpheon]

Jolteon should pretty much always have HP Ice to nail things like +1 Dragonite. Signal Beam is preferred over Shadow Ball to hit things like Tyranitar, Hydreigon, and Celebi (after Pokebank comes out)

My team has enough coverage to deal with those specific instances without any trouble. I've run into quite a bit of Assault Vest!Tyranitars, so taking them down with Sp. Atk really isn't the best way. I have Metagross which OHKOs Ttar with a Hammer, as well as Azumarill for Dragons (4x effective against Hydreigon) and more coverage between Talonflame, Ttar, and Banette for Celebi.

In case you haven't noticed, my team is in my signature. The amount of luck I would need to get a Timid HP Ice Jolteon would take a lot of luck and time, which I was I'm seeking an alternative method. I know the importance of it, so it's not about someone telling me that it's necessary to have, which was why I was asking about the next best thing.

Edited December 4, 2013 by DualSilverGunner

[Shuuda]

How about Sub + Baton Pass? Just a potiential option.

[Orpheon]

How about Sub + Baton Pass? Just a potiential option.

I was gonna run Specs, so that wouldn't really work. Thanks for he input though.

[dondon151]

In case you haven't noticed, my team is in my signature. The amount of luck I would need to get a Timid HP Ice Jolteon would take a lot of luck and time, which I was I'm seeking an alternative method. I know the importance of it, so it's not about someone telling me that it's necessary to have, which was why I was asking about the next best thing.

i mean, jolteon's move pool is super shallow anyway, so signal beam is just about your only other option.

[Redwall]

My team has enough coverage to deal with those specific instances without any trouble. I've run into quite a bit of Assault Vest!Tyranitars, so taking them down with Sp. Atk really isn't the best way. I have Metagross which OHKOs Ttar with a Hammer, as well as Azumarill for Dragons (4x effective against Hydreigon) and more coverage between Talonflame, Ttar, and Banette for Celebi.

In case you haven't noticed, my team is in my signature. The amount of luck I would need to get a Timid HP Ice Jolteon would take a lot of luck and time, which I was I'm seeking an alternative method. I know the importance of it, so it's not about someone telling me that it's necessary to have, which was why I was asking about the next best thing.

Due to its low Speed and lack of recovery, CB Azumarill is not a good answer to LO Hydreigon. If Stealth Rock is up on your side of the field (very likely since you have neither a Defogger nor a Rapid Spinner), Azumarill can safely switch into Dark Pulse exactly once, assuming both Pokemon are at Lv. 100: Azumarill takes 50 damage from SR and a minimum of 109 from Dark Pulse; and although it forces out Hydreigon, the next time Hydreigon comes in, Azumarill takes 50 more from SR and will get hit once on the switch and another time (fatal) on the next turn since it's outsped. No one else on your team can actually switch into Hydreigon; Tyranitar gets OHKOed by Superpower once Pokebank comes out, and Metagross gets OHKOed by Dark Pulse. If you wish to keep Azumarill on the team, I suggest replacing CB with Leftovers or a Sitrus Berry to avoid the 3HKO from Dark Pulse.

Other offensive threats to your team include Garchomp and Landorus (both the Incarnate and Therian forms). While HP Ice on Jolteon would alleviate this slightly, if you aren't planning on getting HP Ice for Jolteon, you're better off replacing it with some other fast Pokemon that can check those threats. I suggest a fast Pokemon since your team isn't very fast.

From reading your description of the team on page 6, I notice your team has a difficult time breaking through stall teams. Giving Azumarill a Sitrus Berry and Belly Drum (with Superpower, Aqua Jet, and Play Rough) would help somewhat, as would squeezing in a Defog or Rapid Spin user.

[Lord Glenn]

Due to its low Speed and lack of recovery, CB Azumarill is not a good answer to LO Hydreigon. If Stealth Rock is up on your side of the field (very likely since you have neither a Defogger nor a Rapid Spinner), Azumarill can safely switch into Dark Pulse exactly once, assuming both Pokemon are at Lv. 100: Azumarill takes 50 damage from SR and a minimum of 109 from Dark Pulse; and although it forces out Hydreigon, the next time Hydreigon comes in, Azumarill takes 50 more from SR and will get hit once on the switch and another time (fatal) on the next turn since it's outsped. No one else on your team can actually switch into Hydreigon; Tyranitar gets OHKOed by Superpower once Pokebank comes out, and Metagross gets OHKOed by Dark Pulse. If you wish to keep Azumarill on the team, I suggest replacing CB with Leftovers or a Sitrus Berry to avoid the 3HKO from Dark Pulse.

Other offensive threats to your team include Garchomp and Landorus (both the Incarnate and Therian forms). While HP Ice on Jolteon would alleviate this slightly, if you aren't planning on getting HP Ice for Jolteon, you're better off replacing it with some other fast Pokemon that can check those threats. I suggest a fast Pokemon since your team isn't very fast.

From reading your description of the team on page 6, I notice your team has a difficult time breaking through stall teams. Giving Azumarill a Sitrus Berry and Belly Drum (with Superpower, Aqua Jet, and Play Rough) would help somewhat, as would squeezing in a Defog or Rapid Spin user.

I have one thing to point out in regards to the first paragraph: "Tyranitar gets OHKOed by Superpower once Pokebank comes out"

While this certainly holds true 100% of the time for simulators, it is far from a given fact for people playing the actual games. Not everyone is going to have a Hydreigon on their game card to even transfer, not everyone is going to have one that knows Superpower, not everyone even owns B2/W2 to have access to the Move Tutor, and not everyone will pay for Poke Transporter and Pokebank (Hydreigon is available naturally in X/Y, lest we forget). Unless I missed something somewhere, Game Freak hasn't said anything about Move Tutors being added to X/Y after Pokebank goes live to counter the influx of Pokemon with moves that they can no longer obtain as of X/Y, and, as far as I'm aware, these Pokemon aren't going to suddenly be able to pass along those moves as Egg Moves to newly bred offspring. Otherwise, unless there were no compatible parents with the moves in their Egg Group(s) in X/Y, those moves would already be known Egg Moves.

(Yes, it is likely that DSG can and probably will run into a Transported Hydreigon running Superpower and has a weakness in that circumstance, but not every single Hydreigon will have it in its arsenal.)

And, considering that this topic did not say that the discussion was solely for simulators, it's important to remember that not everyone falls under those circumstances.

[Chiki]

Not everyone is going to have a Hydreigon on their game card to even transfer, not everyone is going to have one that knows Superpower,

You can apply that logic to pretty much any move that's slightly hard to get.

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Sub Tyranitar seems pretty decent in this meta. Talonflame everywhere results in tons of sub opportunity, helps prediction a bit against Aegislash, and it can do a lot of nasty stuff behind a sub, and best of all it can be customized based on the team(my team currently used SE, Crunch, Fire Blast variants. Ice beam can be used for Gliscor for example). If you have a team that can already set up SR without Ttar, and a solid options to check Kangaskhan, try it out!

Edited December 5, 2013 by Eradicator Boner