Okay, I am still new to the pokemon competitive battling scene but decided to give a weather team a go after falling out of love with the game because I kept losing with my previous team *sigh* Determined to stick it out I made a sand team on the basis that the pokemon I could use for this would be cool and read a few articles on sand teams and conjured a team. This has moved on slightly since but I would appreciate the critique of the veterans of smogon to help out please!
Team building process
Needed a weather setter and thought I would give this guy a go. Has a lot going for it and after lots of reading I decided that this fellow was what I was going to use to get the weather started. Can take a hit but is very slow :(
I then thought I needed to pack the team up with some solid defenders and originally I decided to use Forretress and Gastrodon as physical and special walls. Gastrodon really is a great pokemon for the team as it can take on rain as well as hold its own in the sandstorm I planned to set up. Ferrothorn became the option to cover the weakness Gastrodon had and I decided both complimented eachother well.
As with many in this team. Reuniclus is a poke I have never used before but in the right circumstances has really had a big say in many of my wins. My team is incredibly slow and bulky but when trick room is in play for those turns I have really put dents in the opposition. Offers up coverage too and doesn't suffer from residual damage so I really liked this pokemon.
Although knowing that this is a very overused pokemon. Scizor's role in the team is to provide coverage and priority attack in a slow bulky team. If my Reuniclus is downed then I turn to this critter to apply some damage before sending out the sweeper in either victory or desperate defeat.
Needed an out and out sweeper with pace and ability to work in a storm. Rough skin Garchomp is cut from a different cloth to the rest of the team by out speeding some of pinches I seem to get myself into.
Team
Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Sassy
Sand Stream
252 HP/ 4 Atk / 252 SpDef
~ Stone Edge
~ Pursuit
~ Crunch
~ Stealth Rock
Sets up the weather and can drop a sharp nasty surprise before causing destruction or getting switched out. Protects itself well with the SpDef in a sandstorm and is powerful enough without investing too many EVs into its attack. Chople berry is used to soften the blow to get one more attack out for my big friend.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Relaxed
Iron Barbs
252 HP/ 88 Def/ 168 SpDef
~ Leech Seed
~ Spikes
~ Power Whip
~ Gyro Ball
Mixed wall and hazard setter. Coverage with it being a grass type and also a bulky hitter. Iron barbs is a handy physical deterrent and can damage even when it isn't necessarily attacking.
Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Calm
Storm Drain
252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SpD
~ Earth Power
~ Scald
~ Toxic
~ Recover
I really like this Pokemon and was one of the stars in keeping the team alive. Although slow it can be a meddlesome pokemon with its ground/ water typing and really liked its use of recover when the matches wore on and I was losing the plot. Toxic was a move that almost told opponents "Try to outlive me" and it could be a game of chicken to the point I would ask it to recover and the other pokemon died out due to poison.
Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Quiet
Magic Guard
192 HP / 64 Def / 252 SpA
~ Trick Room
~ Psychic
~ Focus Blast
~ Shadow Ball
Doesn't take damage from the life orb and gets firepower from it. (Very nice ability) Trick room is my trump card in taking out fast teams with my team being so slow and its investment in HP was greatly appreciated if I had to use this as a sacrifice to at least set up trick room. Offered the team some much needed coverage from my small weakness to fight that my walls suffered from and let them have revenge on them.
Scizor @ Choice Band
Adamant
Technician
248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpDef
~ Pursuit
~ Bullet Punch
~ U-turn
~ Superpower
Handy as it is, my Scizor is a pain to a lot of pokemon. Even with trick room installed I still had access to bullet punch to take on dragons and other pokemon giving me a hard time whilst being slow enough to benefit trick room against quicker and more powerful pokemon. Technician is what makes Scizor work and he leaves marks whenever he is called in.
Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Jolly
Rough Skin
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
~ Outrage
~ Earthquake
~ Aqua Tail
~ Dual Chop
My physical sweeper and all round demon. I apparently need a choice scarf pokemon and this person is great with it. It can revenge kill a number of threats and sweep up what little there is left of the opposition. I chose Dual Chop over Dragon Claw to take on pokemons with access to substitute when they are trying to insure themselves in the endgame. It is also my fastest pokemon and can catch my opponent off guard with my team being a band of slowbros.
My main threats are flying pokemon because past Tyranitar, I don't have anything that effective. Speed of the team is also an issue so I might need to possibly switch in another fast versatile pokemon but I will leave it as it is for now.
This is my team and like I said at the start I am seriously looking at some help pushing it on somewhat and also some feedback on what I have.
Credit to the Smogon tiers and articles on sand teams I read and the advice of Executionator from another Pokemon site.
Thank you for reading and I really look forward to and appreciate the rates I may get!
CHANGES MADE WILL BE IN RED
Team building process
Needed a weather setter and thought I would give this guy a go. Has a lot going for it and after lots of reading I decided that this fellow was what I was going to use to get the weather started. Can take a hit but is very slow :(
I then thought I needed to pack the team up with some solid defenders and originally I decided to use Forretress and Gastrodon as physical and special walls. Gastrodon really is a great pokemon for the team as it can take on rain as well as hold its own in the sandstorm I planned to set up. Ferrothorn became the option to cover the weakness Gastrodon had and I decided both complimented eachother well.
As with many in this team. Reuniclus is a poke I have never used before but in the right circumstances has really had a big say in many of my wins. My team is incredibly slow and bulky but when trick room is in play for those turns I have really put dents in the opposition. Offers up coverage too and doesn't suffer from residual damage so I really liked this pokemon.
Although knowing that this is a very overused pokemon. Scizor's role in the team is to provide coverage and priority attack in a slow bulky team. If my Reuniclus is downed then I turn to this critter to apply some damage before sending out the sweeper in either victory or desperate defeat.
Needed an out and out sweeper with pace and ability to work in a storm. Rough skin Garchomp is cut from a different cloth to the rest of the team by out speeding some of pinches I seem to get myself into.
Team
Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Sassy
Sand Stream
252 HP/ 4 Atk / 252 SpDef
~ Stone Edge
~ Pursuit
~ Crunch
~ Stealth Rock
Sets up the weather and can drop a sharp nasty surprise before causing destruction or getting switched out. Protects itself well with the SpDef in a sandstorm and is powerful enough without investing too many EVs into its attack. Chople berry is used to soften the blow to get one more attack out for my big friend.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Relaxed
Iron Barbs
252 HP/ 88 Def/ 168 SpDef
~ Leech Seed
~ Spikes
~ Power Whip
~ Gyro Ball
Mixed wall and hazard setter. Coverage with it being a grass type and also a bulky hitter. Iron barbs is a handy physical deterrent and can damage even when it isn't necessarily attacking.
Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Calm
Storm Drain
252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SpD
~ Earth Power
~ Scald
~ Toxic
~ Recover
I really like this Pokemon and was one of the stars in keeping the team alive. Although slow it can be a meddlesome pokemon with its ground/ water typing and really liked its use of recover when the matches wore on and I was losing the plot. Toxic was a move that almost told opponents "Try to outlive me" and it could be a game of chicken to the point I would ask it to recover and the other pokemon died out due to poison.
Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Quiet
Magic Guard
192 HP / 64 Def / 252 SpA
~ Trick Room
~ Psychic
~ Focus Blast
~ Shadow Ball
Doesn't take damage from the life orb and gets firepower from it. (Very nice ability) Trick room is my trump card in taking out fast teams with my team being so slow and its investment in HP was greatly appreciated if I had to use this as a sacrifice to at least set up trick room. Offered the team some much needed coverage from my small weakness to fight that my walls suffered from and let them have revenge on them.
Scizor @ Choice Band
Adamant
Technician
248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpDef
~ Pursuit
~ Bullet Punch
~ U-turn
~ Superpower
Handy as it is, my Scizor is a pain to a lot of pokemon. Even with trick room installed I still had access to bullet punch to take on dragons and other pokemon giving me a hard time whilst being slow enough to benefit trick room against quicker and more powerful pokemon. Technician is what makes Scizor work and he leaves marks whenever he is called in.
Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Jolly
Rough Skin
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
~ Outrage
~ Earthquake
~ Aqua Tail
~ Dual Chop
My physical sweeper and all round demon. I apparently need a choice scarf pokemon and this person is great with it. It can revenge kill a number of threats and sweep up what little there is left of the opposition. I chose Dual Chop over Dragon Claw to take on pokemons with access to substitute when they are trying to insure themselves in the endgame. It is also my fastest pokemon and can catch my opponent off guard with my team being a band of slowbros.
My main threats are flying pokemon because past Tyranitar, I don't have anything that effective. Speed of the team is also an issue so I might need to possibly switch in another fast versatile pokemon but I will leave it as it is for now.
This is my team and like I said at the start I am seriously looking at some help pushing it on somewhat and also some feedback on what I have.
Credit to the Smogon tiers and articles on sand teams I read and the advice of Executionator from another Pokemon site.
Thank you for reading and I really look forward to and appreciate the rates I may get!
CHANGES MADE WILL BE IN RED
