Heya! This is my first time posting on here, but I've had a lot of success with this team and finally broke 1500, so I figure now is a good time to post my team and ask for advice on how to improve it further. The main premise is the sheer surprise factor of choice band ninjask, which can hit hard against some really common pokemon or sacrifice itself with a Hyper Beam that can really take a massive chunk out of enemies. In particular, this team has been really successful against other teams that use tyranitar-skarmory. Without any further ado, this is the team:
Ricardo (Ninjask) @ Choice Band
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Hyper Beam
- Shadow Ball
- Silver Wind
The base of the team, and the one I'm really not sure should be a lead. HP-Fighting will KO about 65% of enemy tyranitar leads, silver wind is a reasonable STAB option that murders celebi, and shadow ball surprises gengars. Hyper beam is a pretty reasonable suicide move, which brings enemy swampert/zapdos within range to be finished off by the rest of the team. My uncertainty is whether this should be a lead; opponents always guess that it is a standard baton passer so I get surprise with it, but apart from tyranitar leads it doesn't do much for me.
Alphonse (Suicune) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Suicune is just lovely. Huge bulk, massive physical defense and can actually survive a snorlax's self-destruct if on full health. If the opponent has no roar/whirlwind users, I can get a full calm mind set that lets me beat any enemies not named regice, blissey, or milotic. I find ice beam works better than surf; the ability to threaten an instant KO on salamence is about the only check I have on mences. I can even beat zapdos if I've managed to get two calm minds in before they can land a thunderbolt. Suicune provides pretty much all the physical bulk on my team, with metagross as backup bulk. When I lose suicune early to an explosion, I really feel it.
Michel (Metagross) @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 156 HP / 252 Atk / 100 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Meteor Mash
- Rock Slide
Metagross used to be the star of my team back when I ran a traditional ninjask. Passed a swords dance, speed boosts, and maybe a substitute, Metagross can annihilate pretty much everything. Now that I'm running a choice band ninjask, however, metagross isn't performing nearly as well, and I wonder what would be a better option. Still, metagross is moderately bulky and hard to OHKO, and the ability to hammer on enemies with meteor mash is great, so I'm not sure what to replace it with. Metagross is also my go-to switch against enemy choice band metagrosses locked into meteor mash. Maybe a zapdos or a steelix would be better; I'm unsure.
Raphael (Magneton) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Fire]
I feel like I definitely should be running a different magneton, but I've not had much better luck with any other variant. Having both thunderbolt and thunder feels pretty redundant, but I need thunder to OHKO a full-health skarm and I use thunderbolt for pretty much everything else. I switch between HP-fire and HP-grass for enemy steelix/forretress and swampert, respectively, but neither are typically very good. Against teams without skarmory, magneton is kind of dead weight and mostly ends up absorbing predicted explosions trying to harm my precious suicune. I'd love to replace it, but there is nothing else that can reliably deal with skarm except just having spinners around to clean up the damage. Starmie might be a good substitute?
Celeste (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Atk / 220 SpD
Serious Nature
- Baton Pass
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
- Swords Dance
Celebi can be good at pretty much anything, and this celebi is excellent as a simple attack passer. Switch in against enemies using special moves, get a swords dance off, and pass to either metagross, ninjask, or aerodactyl. I typically don't reveal shadow ball until I can get a KO with it, because ethen nemy snorlax and blissey realize that they are untouchable, but shadow ball mostly exists to OHKO gengar after a boost. More often than not, Celebi finds itself getting shot with ice beams, which only deal about 25-35% damage from an enemy swampert/suicune/gengar, and when I get the predicts right and the enemy doesn't have any roar/whirlwind users left, this gives me consistent mid-game sweeps. I'm not sure if shadow ball is ideal, but I haven't found anything better - hidden powers rock/fighting have both proven inferior. The special defense investment allows me to take a fire blast from pretty much anything and survive to pass on to my last pokemon, aerodactyl.
Johnny (Aerodactyl) @ Leftovers
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Substitute
- Hidden Power [Flying]
Aero is a ton of fun. Once I give aerodactyl a swords dance boost, its mediocre attack becomes a lot more relevant. I usually use substitute the first turn as the opponent thinks I have a choice band, and then wreck my physical attacks. The only real worry I have is swampert, which isn't quite 2HKOd, but I can reliably take a nice chunk out of swampys behind a substitute and then put celebi back in to start dancing up some more attack. In my experience, I like HP-flying over double edge for type coverage, but I really feel the lack of double-edge against enemy swampert. Not sure what the best pick is.
So yeah, this is my team! I'll appreciate any ratings or feedback that can be given!
Ricardo (Ninjask) @ Choice Band
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Hyper Beam
- Shadow Ball
- Silver Wind
The base of the team, and the one I'm really not sure should be a lead. HP-Fighting will KO about 65% of enemy tyranitar leads, silver wind is a reasonable STAB option that murders celebi, and shadow ball surprises gengars. Hyper beam is a pretty reasonable suicide move, which brings enemy swampert/zapdos within range to be finished off by the rest of the team. My uncertainty is whether this should be a lead; opponents always guess that it is a standard baton passer so I get surprise with it, but apart from tyranitar leads it doesn't do much for me.
Alphonse (Suicune) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Suicune is just lovely. Huge bulk, massive physical defense and can actually survive a snorlax's self-destruct if on full health. If the opponent has no roar/whirlwind users, I can get a full calm mind set that lets me beat any enemies not named regice, blissey, or milotic. I find ice beam works better than surf; the ability to threaten an instant KO on salamence is about the only check I have on mences. I can even beat zapdos if I've managed to get two calm minds in before they can land a thunderbolt. Suicune provides pretty much all the physical bulk on my team, with metagross as backup bulk. When I lose suicune early to an explosion, I really feel it.
Michel (Metagross) @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 156 HP / 252 Atk / 100 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Meteor Mash
- Rock Slide
Metagross used to be the star of my team back when I ran a traditional ninjask. Passed a swords dance, speed boosts, and maybe a substitute, Metagross can annihilate pretty much everything. Now that I'm running a choice band ninjask, however, metagross isn't performing nearly as well, and I wonder what would be a better option. Still, metagross is moderately bulky and hard to OHKO, and the ability to hammer on enemies with meteor mash is great, so I'm not sure what to replace it with. Metagross is also my go-to switch against enemy choice band metagrosses locked into meteor mash. Maybe a zapdos or a steelix would be better; I'm unsure.
Raphael (Magneton) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Fire]
I feel like I definitely should be running a different magneton, but I've not had much better luck with any other variant. Having both thunderbolt and thunder feels pretty redundant, but I need thunder to OHKO a full-health skarm and I use thunderbolt for pretty much everything else. I switch between HP-fire and HP-grass for enemy steelix/forretress and swampert, respectively, but neither are typically very good. Against teams without skarmory, magneton is kind of dead weight and mostly ends up absorbing predicted explosions trying to harm my precious suicune. I'd love to replace it, but there is nothing else that can reliably deal with skarm except just having spinners around to clean up the damage. Starmie might be a good substitute?
Celeste (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Atk / 220 SpD
Serious Nature
- Baton Pass
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
- Swords Dance
Celebi can be good at pretty much anything, and this celebi is excellent as a simple attack passer. Switch in against enemies using special moves, get a swords dance off, and pass to either metagross, ninjask, or aerodactyl. I typically don't reveal shadow ball until I can get a KO with it, because ethen nemy snorlax and blissey realize that they are untouchable, but shadow ball mostly exists to OHKO gengar after a boost. More often than not, Celebi finds itself getting shot with ice beams, which only deal about 25-35% damage from an enemy swampert/suicune/gengar, and when I get the predicts right and the enemy doesn't have any roar/whirlwind users left, this gives me consistent mid-game sweeps. I'm not sure if shadow ball is ideal, but I haven't found anything better - hidden powers rock/fighting have both proven inferior. The special defense investment allows me to take a fire blast from pretty much anything and survive to pass on to my last pokemon, aerodactyl.
Johnny (Aerodactyl) @ Leftovers
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Substitute
- Hidden Power [Flying]
Aero is a ton of fun. Once I give aerodactyl a swords dance boost, its mediocre attack becomes a lot more relevant. I usually use substitute the first turn as the opponent thinks I have a choice band, and then wreck my physical attacks. The only real worry I have is swampert, which isn't quite 2HKOd, but I can reliably take a nice chunk out of swampys behind a substitute and then put celebi back in to start dancing up some more attack. In my experience, I like HP-flying over double edge for type coverage, but I really feel the lack of double-edge against enemy swampert. Not sure what the best pick is.
So yeah, this is my team! I'll appreciate any ratings or feedback that can be given!