A Competitive Team

[Tag]

I'm in the serious development of my first competitive team. I've been reluctant to post this because I don't want to reveal my team to the whole community, but admittedly I need some help. While it's not finished yet, and while I'm sure that I'll be switching things in and out as time passes, here's what I've got so far:

-->Drapion@Leftovers
Nature: Impish (-Sp Attack, +Defense)
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Defense, 6 Speed
Ability: Battle Armor
Moveset:

Whirlwind
Toxic Spikes
Knock Off
Crunch

It's a basic Toxishuffler, but with an added twist - it knocks off the enemie's items as it does so. Also has Crunch for overall type coverage on the team, and for a good STABbed attack that nothing's immune to. The ability Battle Armor is also great here because it prevents Drapion from being instantly KO'd from a lucky Critical Hit. I realize that special sweepers will stop him in his tracks, but hopefully I can stall a physical sweeper long enough to drop double-layered Toxic Spikes and maybe poison a few enemies and/or knock off a few items.

-->Hitmontop@Metronome
Nature: Adamant (-Sp Attack, +Attack)
EVs: 252 Attack, 252 HP, 6 Sp Defense
Ability: Technician
Moveset:

Triple Kick
Aerial Ace
Agility
Rock Slide

It probably looks really weak, especially from an OU Player's standpoint - while I have to agree that Hitmontop's attack stat could definitely be better, this set does a pretty good job of exploiting what he does have (not to mention his signature move). First of all, the ability Technician boosts the power of both Triple Kick and Aerial Ace, bringing them both to 90 Power. From there, Triple Kick gets STAB, bringing it to a base power of 135. 'But what's the point? Even with Technician, Triple Kick does a max of 135 where Close Combat would do 180,' right? To start, I don't like lowering my Pokemons' defenses. Hitmontop's defenses are actually quite nice and I like that he can take a hit or two before going down. Secondly, you're not factoring in Hitmontop's item, the Metronome - with it, each consecutive hit I land with the same move does more damage. This means that with each kick I land, I'm going to be doing even more and more damage - especially when I've been using Triple Kick multiple turns in a row, at which point it does far more damage than Close Combat ever would. I realize that it can miss, but I like this set and it's just a lot of fun. ;D Finally, Agility is there to fix my rather low speed and Rock Slide does a decent job of dealing with Flying types.

-->Cloyster@Metronome
Nature: Impish (-Sp Attack, +Defense)
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Attack, 6 Defense
Ability: Skill Link
Moveset:

Spikes
Spike Cannon
Icicle Spear / Ice Shard
Rapid Spin

Very similarly to Hitmontop, it uses a Metronome with a multi-hit attack to do tons of damage. The reason I do this with Cloyster is because of the ability Skill Link - it more or less makes it so that multi-hit attacks, like Spike Cannon and Icicle Spear, always hit 5 times, no matter what. With Metronome, I'm sure you can imagine what kind of damage this would do, even to a Pokemon with sub-par physical attack. Either way, Cloyster is a total physical wall and is great at laying spikes while absorbing physical attacks to assist Drapion. It's also my way of countering spikes, because unless I see any Omastar (and I really don't expect to, as great as it is) I'll have no worry of a Spiker using special attacks, and I can deal with their spikes where they probably can't deal with mine without switching. The only issue I'm having is choosing between Adamant and Impish - any suggestions?

-->Miltank@Leftovers
Nature: Impish (-Sp Attack, +Defense)
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Defense, 6 Speed
Ability: Scrappy
Moveset:

Seismic Toss
Stealth Rock / Thunder Wave
Heal Bell
Milk Drink

Look familiar? It's Blissey in cow-form. xD This set works very, very well because I only need one attack - Seismic Toss can hit Ghost-types because of the ability Scrappy, so I can deal a solid 100 damage to anything. Contrary to Blissey's ability to wall of Special Attacks, though, Miltank can't take all that many Special hits, while it does a pretty good job of tanking physically. Heal Bell is obvious enough, of course, to dispel team mates' status ailments, and Milk Drink's use requires no explanation. Like I said, it's Blissey in bovine form.

From here, I'm kind of stuck on the team, though - there are a few issues I'm having when it comes to including all of the things I'd like to have present in this team. Here are the things I feel I'm lacking at the moment:

• Weather Effect - A lot of Pokemon sets (and even some entire teams) are based around weather effects these days, and having one of my own to counter another's could be extremely useful, aside from the fact that most Pokemon that are synergetic with weather effects are pretty strong. I'd prefer to use something with Rain Dance and Sunny Day, because I don't want my other Pokemon to take damage in compensation for one of my other Pokemon. Also, using Sunny Day in combination with a Pokemon that's weak to water or using Rain Dance in combination with a Pokemon that's weak to Fire is always nice - I'd like to have as much synergy with this as possible.
• Type Coverage - I'm having a little trouble creating overall type coverage on the team, particularly when it comes to dealing with powerful Pokemon I plan on seeing pretty often, particularly Skarmory, Metagross, Blissey, T-Tar, Dragons, and even some things like Porygon Z, Heracross, Aerodactyl, etc. Basically, I feel like I need an Electric Attack, a Fire attack, and a fighting attack, preferably special, special, and physical accordingly. A Sunnybeamer seems to be a good choice in that sense, but I'm having trouble balancing type coverage between only two remaining slots - this has me debating on dropping one of the other three, as much as I'd prefer not to. ;/ I'm willing to work to change members of this team, however, if need be.
• Special Sweeper - I have no solid special sweeper, and that's definitely something I need - more likely than not a good Sunnybeamer will fill this role, since it would fill multiple roles for me.
• Special Defenses - Right now I have three Pokemon that have terrible Special Defense and great physical defense - obviously this is a problem. Of my remaining two slots I'd like to have at least one Special Wall, or at least something with a particularly effective Mirror Coat to send Special Sweepers away. I want things to be decently balanced - while physical sweepers are way more common then special these days, that doesn't mean I can just bulk up physically so that I can be completely screwed by Gengars, Alakazams, and the like.
• Weaknesses - I'm trying to avoid as many common weaknesses between Pokemon as possible, obviously in an effort to create team variation and so that I don't get pwned by one consistently super effective attack throughout my entire team. So far I feel I've done a decent job of varying weaknesses - at the moment only two weaknesses have been repeated, and I'd like to keep it that way. I want no more than three repeated weaknesses throughout the entire team, and if at all possible I don't want any two Pokemon sharing more than one weakness (ie Hitmontop and Roserade are both weak to Flying and Psychic, and that's bad). I'm also considering 4x weaknesses doubled weaknesses. This seems harsh, no doubt, but most sweepers have great type coverage and I want to avoid exploiting that if at all possible.

So those are my current issues. I've actually got a few Pokemon that I can sub in for any of those 4 (of the exact same types) for variation, that I will post later. For now I'd like possible ideas on how I could incorporate the things I want into the team effectively and make a balanced, competitively applicable team. Thanks.

[Kingkoopa]

That's a really good defensive team, for your last two you should look for a pokemon with great sp defense. Also you'd need a special sweeper but there is still room for those. So far this team is great. I also have been looking at Drapions movepool recently, I came up with some... different sets...xD

Drapion@Razor Claw
Nature: Impish ( -sp atk, + Defense)
EVs: 252 HP 126 sp def 126 atk
Ability: Sniper
Moveset:

Night Slash
Cross Poison
Slash
Toxic Spikes / Swords Dance

This set has a lot to do with luck. With Night, Slash Cross Poison and Slash all having high critical hit ratio + Razor Claw the chance of a critical hit will be very high, also because of the ability 'Sniper' when a Critical hit does happen it will have a power boost. If you don't fully trust critical hit rates use swords dance, otherwise go with Toxic spikes. This set is a little rough, but I've only briefly thought about it.

[klash47]

dude u better watch out when using toxic spikes.
i see a lot of people use heracross and urasngs nowadays

[a1n2d3r4e5w6yi]

Your team is great! Now, since you lack special sweeping and speed, well,actually you also lack some physical sweeping,so i would reccomment a physical sweeper,and a special sweeper for the last two spots on your team. Here are the pokemon I reccoment.

Arcanine@salac berry
Adamant
252 ev in atk 252 ev in speed 252 ev in hp
Intimidate/Flash Fire (for flash fire,if you predict well, and you see a fire atk coming, switch arcanine in, if you are not good at predicting, go with intimidate so arcanine can survive a physical hit, depending)

endure
reversal
flare blitz
extreemspeed

Classic endure,reversal set. First, if you think you can finish off the opponent with a flare blitz, use flare blitz and it will lower your health. When the foe switches in, if you think you can KO them, then go ahead and flare blitz, but if you don't think you can, simply endure, and then reversal away. Extreemspeed is for those close calls(when your opponent survives with a focus sash or lucked out with 2 hp left). Arcanine is a good fast physical sweeper, and is UU.

As for the special sweeper, i reccomend this

Electrode@Focus sash/Whatever(i know, i never seen one in battle either)
timid
252 ev in speed 252 ev in spc.atk 6 ev in spc.def
static

explosion
mirror coat
magnet rise(you need good prediction if you use this)
swift

Simple, if you predict a spc.atk, use mirror coat, hang on w/ focus sash,then it'll probably OHKO your opponent. Then explode on the next unlucky guy to come ^_^. If you predict an earthquake,use magnet rise.

[Nin10doGC]

I like the team greatly... I personally think that Miltank is better than Blissey in most situations... but Blissey is user-friendly if you know what I mean. ;)

Anyway, pretty nice sets. I suggest a Magnezone for the all-too common Skarmory, if it's the type of thing you fear. I think a Ghost or Psychic-type might be a welcome addition to your team, I suggest Froslass, but that's just me. :P

[PEGxPELVISxPETE]

very good but i agree with kingkoopa.

i can suggest a jolteon for special sweepers. if your gonna play competatively it can be very useful against gengar and alakazam (you'll be seeing a lot of them). it out speeds them and learns shadowball.

mine is timid has 394 speed and 319 sp att

thunder wave
roar
thunderbolt
shadowball

i would give it a focus sash
i know it's usually best to stick to one strategy but this is kind of a para-shuffler and limited special sweeper (gengar kazam killer) and if you see something you dont like and you dont wanna switch you can roar. it's good to heve a gengar so if you predict an earthquake you can switch. works good with my gengar shuckle shuffle :p.

i can breed you one with a high chance of perfect speed and sp attack IV's if you want. both parents (my espeon and jolteon) have perfect IV's in those stats.

[Tag]

I appreciate all of the advice so far; thank you all.

Now then, to respond:

@kingkoopa: I definitely need a special wall and a special sweeper - of course, what exactly those are I have yet to decide. I'd like a Sunny Beamer because of the type coverage it would provide but most Pokemon that are synergetic with Sunny Day have very low Sp Defense for some reason... I'm still thinking on this one. Also, the Drapion set is alright, but I've already got a few physical sweepers and that's not what my Drapion is for. I'm also going to be able to sub Drapion out for this guy if I so with to:

Skuntank@Shuca Berry / Quick Claw
Nature: Adamant (-Sp Attack, +Attack)
EVs: 232 HP, 252 Attack, 26 Speed
Ability: Aftermath
Moveset:

Substitute
Swagger
Punishment
Explosion

This is a very weird set, but it's not my set - I got this one from a friend of mine. The idea is to substitute to annoy tanks and the like, hopefully forcing a switch. I can use Swagger to confuse them, to temporarily incapacitate them - the extra attack shouldn't make a huge difference because a substitute will be taking the extra damage anyway, if I'm even up against a physical attacker. The extra attack also causes Punishment to do more damage, because the move becomes more powerful as my opponent has more stages of stat improvements. So I confuse my opponent and hit them quite hard with Punishment until I substitute into my final HP - the set is made so that I have exactly 405 HP, meaning that each Substitute has 101 HP (enough to live through a Seismic Toss) and so that, after substituting 4 times, I'll still have exactly 1 HP left. I'm debating on replacing the attack IVs with Speed and going with a Jolly nature, but I can't decide yet. I also might substitute down into a Salac Berry, but we'll see.

@Klash47: Ursaring doesn't really scare me; there are a number of ways of dealing with one, particularly when it comes to just stalling it out on it's own poison. Heracross is always a serious competitor, of course, and that's one of the main reasons I'd like a powerful, special fire type attack on the team to help balance things out. Still, Hitmontop has Aerial Ace, and that 4x damage is always a nice touch, isn't it?

@a1n2d3r4e5w6yi: I have two physical sweepers, as unlikely as they may seem - Cloyster is filling multiple roles, but it does sweep, and Hitmontop is a straight-up sweeper. I like both sets, by the way, and I was actually thinking about using an Electrode, albeit differently than you had suggested - still, it's more food for thought, and I appreciate the input.

@Nin10dogc: I'm thinking that a ghost or psychic type would be nice as well - maybe an Espeon to go with a Sunny Beamer, if I do end up using one, so that it can tank out with Calm Mind and Moonlight and sweep with Psychic and Shadow Ball. That's been on my mind for a while and I may end up doing it - we'll see. I've been thinking about Magnezone / Magneton as well, but that 4x weakness to Ground really sets me off, because I already have one weakness to ground and I'm not eager to add another simply because EQ is just so common.

@PEGxPELVISxPETE: Jolteon is great, but somewhat overused and he seriously lacks Special Defense that I seek. He's a great sweeper with decent type coverage, and that speed is nothing to complain about, but I feel like I need something more versatile. I'm having a hard time balancing the last two out; I just feel like I need weather, Sp Defense, and Sp Attack on both of them, and it's hard to get, I guess.

Maybe Magmortar and Espeon? As much as I'd like a fire type, I'm reluctant to include another Pokemon that's weak to ground (and rock, for that matter). I will update once I have more ideas...

[PEGxPELVISxPETE]

?
i've only seen a couple a people use jolteon besides me in d/p. it fell out of favor a while back. i actually see espeon more often.
but if it doesnt fit your team or style of play then thats that. offer still stands with the babies. they could make good espeons if they got the right nature and inherited the IV's
hmm...
maybe a vaporeon would work for you (i love the eeveelutions). it can be a good special sponge.

substitute
acid armor
aqua ring/surf/ice beam/ toxic

leftovers are a good idea. ev hp and sd def. switch it in on a sp sweeper (especially if you predict a water attack) then either use acid armor or substitute (yay over 100 hp subs) then acid amor to prepare for anything that comes your way or if you think it's a good idea aqua ring if it has that. your frist few turns are used to set up for pure tankage. i know it sucks to take hits and not return damage during those first few turns it's out but it's worth it to make vaporeon extremely hard to kill (understatment :D).
surprisingly it can work well with toxic and aqua ring and no direct attacks (plus it annoys people and i love watching my opponents squirm, sadistic laughter all around) but obviously dont keep it in on something that cant be poisoned...
hack cough METAGROSS cough ;)

obviously you know this but for anyone else viewing who likes the moveset (probably nobody :() it can help

[pokemonexpert10]

thats a really kool tactic u got,i reckon u will do alright with it,just take what klash said

[Tag]

Here are other subs I have for this team for general versatility (the Skuntank set in my last post being my Drapion sub).

Hitmontop's Subs:

-->Hitmonlee@Salac Berry
Nature: Jolly (-Sp Attack, +Speed)
EVs: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Ability: Reckless
Moveset:

Endure
Reversal
Rock Slide
Mach Punch / Blaze Kick

Basic Reverlee - not much to say. I'm actually not sure whether I want Reckless or Limber in this set, because while Reckless has Reversal doing even more damage, Limber would be nice to counter parashufflers or just generic tanks with Thunder Wave, especially since I really need all the speed I can get. I'll have to think on it, but I'll probably just end up going with whatever ability is on the first Tyrogue I get with perfect Attack and Speed IVs. Here's the other Hitmonsub:

-->Hitmonchan@Choice Band
Nature: Adamant (-Sp Attack, +Attack)
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Attack, 6 Sp Defense
Ability: Iron Fist
Moveset:

Sky Uppercut
Thunderpunch
Ice Punch
Mach Punch

Obviously I'm a big fan of the Hitmon family. ;D This Choicebanding Hitmonchan is extremely powerful because the ability Iron Fist multiplies the powers of all of it's attacks by 1.3, the Choice Band multiplies the power of whatever attack it uses by 1.5, and if I use Mach Punch or Sky Uppercut then I'm getting another 1.5 booster because of STAB - that makes for some pretty nasty punches. Mach Punch especially would be deadly because I'd automatically go first, with a total base power of 117, almost triple what it would do otherwise. ;D And I think that the damage that Sky Uppercut would do doesn't even need to be mentioned - actually, it's about 250 power. So with this set, using Sky Uppercut would be like using Explosion. xD Obviously Ice and Thunderpunch would do quite a bit as well. I plan to have a lot of fun with this set. I might also take off the Choice Band every now and then to allow myself more freedom (probably in the place of an Expert Belt or Focus Sash or something). I might also put in Speed EVs over HP so that I can switch to a Choice Sash if I want to - that kind of speed would be absolutely great here.

Cloyster's sub:

-->Walrein@Leftovers
Nature: Calm / Sassy
EVs: 160 HP, 220 Defense, 128 Sp Defense
Ability: Ice Body
Moveset:

Hail
Toxic
Protect
Surf

I love this set. ;D With perfect HP, Defense, and Sp Defense IVs, the EV setup would provide me with exactly 401 HP, allowing me to survive 4 Seismic Tosses (completely disregarding my healing capabilities), and my defenses would be at about 270 each. That's not great, but it's not exactly terrible, either, with that kind of HP. Speaking of my healing capabilities, though, I'd have Leftovers working for me and, when Hail is up, I'd have Ice Body healing me every turn, providing me with 1/8 of my HP a turn while my opponent (hopefully) suffers Toxic and Hail damage. Surf is there for STAB and for being a generically strong attack, and because it provides good type coverage for the team that Cloyster lacks. Protect is nice because it gives me a turn to heal a little bit while forcing my opponent to eat poison and ice damage.

I can't decide on a Miltank sub - Lopunny, Clefable, and Lickilicky all seem like viable options but I cannot decide between them. I want to make sets for all three of them so I will probably do that and just have a lot of subs to choose between.

From there, I still need two more Pokemon, though, obviously - a special sweeper and a special wall. I need more time for this... too much school and stuff lately. I'm thinking Mantine, Mr. Mime, something like that... I'll have to see though.