General Rate My Team

[StrykRaishou]

Let me first say that I used to battle 4th gen and I quit for quite a while, and I want to get back into it. I don't really know precisely what the metagame is, but I do know that it has changed drastically. I've been doing a bunch of research about what pokes went to what tiers... a lot of looking around on Smogon really.

Anyway, I want to make a competitive team that's rather balanced and uses some pokes that aren't just in the OU category, also using some pokes that I think have cool designs and/or niches that are perhaps not so apparent (and thus why they aren't in OU). It's going to be used mostly just to battle on this site, so I want it to stand up to OU teams.

This is what I have come up with so far... please bear with me and comment/criticize, I really just put this one together making sure I had resists covered on Marriland team builder. It might not have enough OU's in there too, but I don't want to use a lot of the common OU pokes.

Donphan @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 ATK / 4 DEF
Nature: Adamant (+Atk -SpA)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin

Donphan is obviously my spinner, and it's probably the lead. It'll set up Stealth Rocks, and it can come in on them without too much issue to spin them away. EdgeQuake for coverage... and also to make use of Donphan's huge ATK stat. Donphan also can take some big physical hits, most likely directed at Scrafty or Galvantula... especially useful for the latter, since Donphan resists the Stone Edges aimed at Galvantula and can usually hit back at whatever's using it with a supereffective hit.



Eelektross @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 ATK / 212 SpA / 44 Spe
Nature: Naughty (+Atk -SpD)
- Wild Charge
- Flamethrower
- Dragon Claw
- Grass Knot

Mixed Eelektross with an emphasis on ATK. He can take a couple hits, and he has no weaknesses apart from Mold Breaker Earthquakes, or maybe the odd Iron Ball Trick. To my knowledge, purely physical Eelektross doesn't carry any fire moves, so this set might (hopefully) lure in Ferrothorn for a Flamethrower after using a Wild Charge. Dragon Claw will OHKO grounded dragons, and 2HKO bulkier dragons. Grass Knot is there for better coverage, as Wild Charge will do more than Brick Break, even to specially defensive walls like Blissey. Eelektross can switch in on the Ground attacks aimed at Nidoking and can use his great coverage and attacking stats to hit back.



Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Nature: Timid
- Earth Power
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam

Nidoking is a pretty good team player. It resists Stealth Rock, absorbs Toxic Spikes, resists fighting, and is immune to Thunder Wave. With his movepool, it also allows for a great deal of coverage, and with Sheer Force, he'll be tearing holes into pretty much everything.



Galvantula @ Choice Specs
Ability: Compoundeyes
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Nature: Timid
- Thunder
- Energy Ball
- Bug Buzz
- Volt Switch

Galv is using a choice set not only to hit extremely hard with Thunder, but also because I probably shouldn't use another Life Orb. Compoundeyes allows for Galvantula's Thunder to reach a far more acceptable accuracy, even outside of rain, and thus allows him to hit very hard on anything that isn't a ground type. With support from Donphan getting rid of Stealth Rock, Galv can switch in a lot and hit with Thunder, and of course it has Energy Ball if there are any Ground types that would switch in on him. A Scarf might be a better choice on him, since this team is largely lacking speedy sweepers, but I think the specs will perhaps work better in terms of hitting Ground types that switch in really hard with Energy Ball, and Galvantula is already pretty fast.



Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Nature: Relaxed
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Yawn
- Recover

Quagsire is a counter to set-up sweepers, using its ability Unaware to neutralize it and Yawn to phase. I believe most set-up sweepers are usually Dragon Dance or Swords Dance, so Quagsire is supposed to be my Physical Wall. Scald for burn chance, EQ for stab, Yawn for switch forcing and for status that this team lacks, and obviously Recover. The whole team has sufficient ways to deal with Grass types, and from what I hear, Ferrothorn is usually the only grass type most teams carry nowadays (and that's why Gastrodon is OU now). Nidoking supports both my walls by absorbing toxic spikes, and Donphan by spinning them away. Galvantula is probably the one that defends Quagsire the most, as it resists grass and can hit back with a Choiced STAB Bug Buzz.



Scrafty @ Leftovers
Ability: Shed Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 248 SpD / 8 Atk
Nature: Careful
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Dragon Tail
- Rest

This is probably a common set that Scrafty runs, but it seems to be a good one. Scrafty is supposed to be my Special wall, but it also can Bulk Up to increase its Def. Drain Punch allows it more staying power, Dragon Tail is to phase, switch out the enemy poke to something Scrafty could probably handle better, and to inflict Stealth Rock damage. Shed Skin can allow Scrafty to wake up early from Rest, and thus allows him to stay in and Bulk Up more. Scrafty is really just a solid tank, but he also covers Nidoking's weakness to Psychic, and Galvantula's weakness to Rock. He is the only one with a Fighting attack on the team, however...


Let the criticism begin!

[patthecat11756]

your team looks good but theres a few things to watch out for:

breloom is your biggest threat by far. your pokes while having good coverage have medicore speeds and a sub spore focus punch breloom can set up on donphan ko him quagsire and scrafty. those 3 are your walls and he can set up a sub on the switch and spam spore focus punch. i would say that reuniclus with psyshock or gliscor with ice fang has the bulk.

i would recommend a fewchanges too. scrafty is okay with dragon tail but does amazing with crunch over dragon tail. itll let you hit subdisable gengar who is popular with 100% accurate disable. oh and watch out for conkeldurr who can ko scrafty easilyeven after a bulk up or two

quagsire id switch out for gastrodon due to the new mechanics of storm drain that gives gastrodon immunities to water and electric attacks and he can stop drizzle teams.with the right evs he can be bulkier than quagsire.

eelektross while very cool is very slow. without an ice attac dd multiscale dd will resist and sweep. i would say go with a different poke altogether but if you want eelektross then a maybe a coil defensive set? jellicent would be a great wall too.

these are a few ideas to try. your team is balanced but the sheer power of OU is more stronger and defense is more important than ever.

[StrykRaishou]

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm making some modifications now... to counter Breloom I'm thinking about having a Gengar of my own in there in place of Nidoking. It's still poison type, and while it doesn't absorb toxic spikes and thunder wave, I already have two other ground types that will eat Thunder Wave and one of them is a spinner... and on top of that, I have Rest on Scrafty. It would resist everything Subpunch Breloom packs, but I guess Spore might still be a problem. On top of that, Gengar also supplies a Ghost and a Fighting move which I'm missing, but replacing Nidoking means I'm down BoltBeam+Flamethrower.

In the event that Dragonite shows up to setup on my Eelektross... that's why Quagsire is there. Scald won't hit for much, but it'll inflict burn, which I figure would allow me to stall Dragonite out or at least cripple it.

And since Nidoking is getting switched out, I really want to keep Eelektross for the Flamethrower. Although... there might be another poke that can pack big hitting Fire and Ice attacks?

[Eminem4Ever]

Looks cool hope you enjoying playing and wining whith this team.

[Blitzkrieg]

I don't want to suggest complete pokemon changes to your team, so i'll just say a few things...
be warned: i know you have a spinner, but donphan will only last you so long before stall teams get rid of it and then you are completely open to stall.
I like quaqsire. its a pain to deal with when you take all that time setting up and boosting for nothing.
I don't know much of anything about elektross or galvantula, so i like that you aren't being an OU ••••• (like myself) :D
the only set change i would make is to scrafty. Moxie + Dragon Dance is great. its bulk allows you to get up at least two DD's. and at that point it can faint weakened pokemon, and through Moxie its attack is boosted one stage for every pokemon it faints. so i recommend this set

Scrafty @ Life Orb/Leftovers
Jolly 4 HP/ 252 ATK/ 252 SPE
Dragon Dance
Hi Jump Kick/Drain Punch
Crunch
Ice Punch

I hope this helps, good luck with your team!