TEAM LINE-UP:
This was my first attempt at creating a team for Generation 5. I made changes as necessary, but the team still gets beaten down repeatedly by several things, mainly anything that's too fast (Landlos and Doryuzu come to mind). That is why I'm here right now, asking for help. Notably, there ate 3 weaknesses to Flying and 3 weaknesses to Fire here. This team peaked at 11th on both the Beta Server and Smogon Server of Pokemon Online, but this isn't very impressive, the Beta Server has just reset its rankings and the Smogon Server had just opened up at the time.
Edits will be made in red, since painting something red makes it three times faster.
Denchula @ Life Orb
Ability: Compoundeyes
EVs: 6 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Att)
- Bug Buzz
- Energy Ball
- Thunder
- Thunder Wave
This is placed at the front of my team as a decoy most of the time. I’ve noticed that most people don’t bother moving their Pokemon around unless they have Zoroark, so I just take advantage of it by messing with their heads. As for Denchula itself, it can handle Deoxys-S, but usually seems to allow Stealth Rock and one layer of Spikes to go up (the layer of Spikes only being put up if they have a Focus Sash equipped). Energy Ball handles things like Swampert or anything else that comes in expecting a STAB attack, most people assume I’d be spamming Compundeyes Thunder. Compoundeyes makes Thunder’s accuracy somewhat reliable, so I tend to make use of that to get some powerful hits in there. Bug Buzz handles all non-Scarfed Sazandora. Almost everyone seems to underestimate this guy’s speed and power and thus have a wrench thrown into their strategy when they get outsped and OHKO’d. This same underestimation allows it to put a rather large dent into non-Scarfed Garchomp and several other things that can’t reach 109 Base Speed. Bug Buzz also handles many Psychic and Dark-types that try to set up on it. The extra EVs are on Defense instead of HP in order to take a little less damage from Stealth Rock. Doesn't help much with weak defenses like this thing has, though.
Metagross @ Balloon
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 136 HP / 252 Att / 116 Def / 6 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Att, -SpA)
- Earthquake
- Meteor Mash
- Stealth Rock
- Zen Headbutt
This is usually the true lead when nothing else fits. While the Pokemon in front for most battles tend to be Ulgamoth or Blaziken, this thing manages to trick many people into not expecting the Choice Band by faking them out with Stealth Rock. This makes them underestimate the damage dealt by my moves. Zen Headbutt OHKOs Roobushin, which is made even better by the fact that Metagross outspeeds it. All Doryuzu that try to take it out before the Balloon is popped get their Balloon popped. This lets me give something else a chance to get rid of it. Even better if the opponent doesn't notice the Balloon and lets me pop theirs and OHKO with Earthquake as they pop mine. Its bulk is the main use for it here, hitting anything that would otherwise outspeed and OHKO my entire team.
Sazandora @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Att)
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Earth Power
- Flamethrower
This was originally a Flygon, but Sazandora has more power. The idea is simple, simply use the perfect coverage given by Dragon/Ground and proceed to take down speedy threats. The Base Speed gets annoying sometimes, however. Also, it gets taken down far too easily, which ends to be a problem when I'm trying to switch into non-Ground/Psychic attacks. I'm considering changing this one to a defensive variant, possibly with Substitute.
Shaymin @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Att)
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rest
- Seed Flare
With all of the hard hitters running around, including Shaymin-S, it’s easy to overlook Shaymin. This is something else that gets frequently underestimated, with people bringing in their Heatran and such only to get their Pokemon handed right back to them on a plate. Naturally, I make use of its bulk to justify not using its Sky Forme. It has also handled many Dragon, Ground and Water-types that try to set up in its face, but cannot handle Landlos for obvious reasons. Terrakion and a few other things that would otherwise go down in one hit can overpower it as well. Most times, however, Shaymin is a powerful cannon of sorts that tears holes until the opponent finds a counter, or simply switches until I go down from Life Orb, but I can just use Rest and switch in that case.
Ulgamoth @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 10 SpA / 252 SpD
Modest Nature (+SpA, -Att)
- Bug Buzz
- Butterfly Dance
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Rock]
Everyone seems to be using Ulgamoth offensively, which makes it even more of a shock when this comes in after my opponent has put their Stealth Rock up, and proceeds to wall their Water-type attacks, even in the Rain, after losing half of its health by just coming in. This Ulgamoth takes about 18% or so from most Water-type attackers, and some even allow me to get 6 Butterfly Dances up if the opponent isn’t smart enough. The only things killing this are Physical moves or Critical Hits, and only if the opponent is fact enough to survive a hit from this guy. Other counters include Teasing Heart Encore and anything fact with Rock Slide or Stone Edge. HP is not maxed out in order to take a little less from Stealth Rock.
Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Att, -SpA)
- Flare Blitz
- Hi Jump Kick
- Protect
- Stone Edge
Blaziken handles many threats to my team in an obvious manner, so I’ll simply cover the unusual issues. First and foremost, I rely on this to kill anything that’s overwhelmingly fast, thus the use of Protect to ensure a Speed Boost. However, it seems that I cannot reach the level of Sand Stream-boosted Doryuzu and Swift Swim-boosted Kingdra even after two Speed Boosts, which gets annoying. Also, things that have too much bulk escape with little more than a dent, and the existence of Ghosts or Protect makes me wary about trying High Jump Kick, even though it’s the strongest STAB option Blaziken has. These are pretty big problems.
Thanks for bothering to read, and I gratefully await your help.
This was my first attempt at creating a team for Generation 5. I made changes as necessary, but the team still gets beaten down repeatedly by several things, mainly anything that's too fast (Landlos and Doryuzu come to mind). That is why I'm here right now, asking for help. Notably, there ate 3 weaknesses to Flying and 3 weaknesses to Fire here. This team peaked at 11th on both the Beta Server and Smogon Server of Pokemon Online, but this isn't very impressive, the Beta Server has just reset its rankings and the Smogon Server had just opened up at the time.
Edits will be made in red, since painting something red makes it three times faster.
Denchula @ Life Orb
Ability: Compoundeyes
EVs: 6 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Att)
- Bug Buzz
- Energy Ball
- Thunder
- Thunder Wave
This is placed at the front of my team as a decoy most of the time. I’ve noticed that most people don’t bother moving their Pokemon around unless they have Zoroark, so I just take advantage of it by messing with their heads. As for Denchula itself, it can handle Deoxys-S, but usually seems to allow Stealth Rock and one layer of Spikes to go up (the layer of Spikes only being put up if they have a Focus Sash equipped). Energy Ball handles things like Swampert or anything else that comes in expecting a STAB attack, most people assume I’d be spamming Compundeyes Thunder. Compoundeyes makes Thunder’s accuracy somewhat reliable, so I tend to make use of that to get some powerful hits in there. Bug Buzz handles all non-Scarfed Sazandora. Almost everyone seems to underestimate this guy’s speed and power and thus have a wrench thrown into their strategy when they get outsped and OHKO’d. This same underestimation allows it to put a rather large dent into non-Scarfed Garchomp and several other things that can’t reach 109 Base Speed. Bug Buzz also handles many Psychic and Dark-types that try to set up on it. The extra EVs are on Defense instead of HP in order to take a little less damage from Stealth Rock. Doesn't help much with weak defenses like this thing has, though.
Metagross @ Balloon
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 136 HP / 252 Att / 116 Def / 6 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Att, -SpA)
- Earthquake
- Meteor Mash
- Stealth Rock
- Zen Headbutt
This is usually the true lead when nothing else fits. While the Pokemon in front for most battles tend to be Ulgamoth or Blaziken, this thing manages to trick many people into not expecting the Choice Band by faking them out with Stealth Rock. This makes them underestimate the damage dealt by my moves. Zen Headbutt OHKOs Roobushin, which is made even better by the fact that Metagross outspeeds it. All Doryuzu that try to take it out before the Balloon is popped get their Balloon popped. This lets me give something else a chance to get rid of it. Even better if the opponent doesn't notice the Balloon and lets me pop theirs and OHKO with Earthquake as they pop mine. Its bulk is the main use for it here, hitting anything that would otherwise outspeed and OHKO my entire team.
Sazandora @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Att)
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Earth Power
- Flamethrower
This was originally a Flygon, but Sazandora has more power. The idea is simple, simply use the perfect coverage given by Dragon/Ground and proceed to take down speedy threats. The Base Speed gets annoying sometimes, however. Also, it gets taken down far too easily, which ends to be a problem when I'm trying to switch into non-Ground/Psychic attacks. I'm considering changing this one to a defensive variant, possibly with Substitute.
Shaymin @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Att)
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rest
- Seed Flare
With all of the hard hitters running around, including Shaymin-S, it’s easy to overlook Shaymin. This is something else that gets frequently underestimated, with people bringing in their Heatran and such only to get their Pokemon handed right back to them on a plate. Naturally, I make use of its bulk to justify not using its Sky Forme. It has also handled many Dragon, Ground and Water-types that try to set up in its face, but cannot handle Landlos for obvious reasons. Terrakion and a few other things that would otherwise go down in one hit can overpower it as well. Most times, however, Shaymin is a powerful cannon of sorts that tears holes until the opponent finds a counter, or simply switches until I go down from Life Orb, but I can just use Rest and switch in that case.
Ulgamoth @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 10 SpA / 252 SpD
Modest Nature (+SpA, -Att)
- Bug Buzz
- Butterfly Dance
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Rock]
Everyone seems to be using Ulgamoth offensively, which makes it even more of a shock when this comes in after my opponent has put their Stealth Rock up, and proceeds to wall their Water-type attacks, even in the Rain, after losing half of its health by just coming in. This Ulgamoth takes about 18% or so from most Water-type attackers, and some even allow me to get 6 Butterfly Dances up if the opponent isn’t smart enough. The only things killing this are Physical moves or Critical Hits, and only if the opponent is fact enough to survive a hit from this guy. Other counters include Teasing Heart Encore and anything fact with Rock Slide or Stone Edge. HP is not maxed out in order to take a little less from Stealth Rock.
Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Att, -SpA)
- Flare Blitz
- Hi Jump Kick
- Protect
- Stone Edge
Blaziken handles many threats to my team in an obvious manner, so I’ll simply cover the unusual issues. First and foremost, I rely on this to kill anything that’s overwhelmingly fast, thus the use of Protect to ensure a Speed Boost. However, it seems that I cannot reach the level of Sand Stream-boosted Doryuzu and Swift Swim-boosted Kingdra even after two Speed Boosts, which gets annoying. Also, things that have too much bulk escape with little more than a dent, and the existence of Ghosts or Protect makes me wary about trying High Jump Kick, even though it’s the strongest STAB option Blaziken has. These are pretty big problems.
Thanks for bothering to read, and I gratefully await your help.
