Pokemon Thread

[Poppet]

Staraptor:Jolly:Choice Band

 

Brave Bird

 

Return

 

Close Combat

 

U-Turn

 

 

 

Yanmega:Modest:Leftovers

 

Protect

 

Air Slash

 

Bug Buzz

 

HP ?

 

 

 

Starmie:Modest:Wise Glasses

 

Surf

 

Psychic

 

Ice Beam

 

Thunderbolt

 

 

 

Tell what I should fix.

[Soma2035]

I've replaced Espeon with Azelf and Licki with Dusknoir.

 

 

 

I usually have no problems shutting down Scizor either, although he has put a dent in my team a few times.

 

 

 

Are you playing Platinum? If so, definitely consider a Rotom Form over Dusknoir. Rotom forms have a different base stat distribution, one that makes them very good defensively.

 

 

 

Your team does run Gliscor, so Scizor isn't too dangerous. Your team is actually fairly resistant against Scizor so that's a huge upside to it. Azelf should definitely run flamethrower though, otherwise if he gets Scizor in on Azelf, he essentially gets a free kill. I don't know about Dusknoir, I get the feeling Dusknoir won't like taking a SE CB Pursuit running off of maxed 130 attack either.

 

 

 

Scizor is good, but not gamebreaking as Garchomp was.

[Soma2035]

Staraptor:Jolly:Choice Band

 

Brave Bird

 

Return

 

Close Combat

 

U-Turn

 

 

 

Yanmega:Modest:Leftovers

 

Protect

 

Air Slash

 

Bug Buzz

 

HP ?

 

 

 

Starmie:Modest:Wise Glasses

 

Surf

 

Psychic

 

Ice Beam

 

Thunderbolt

 

 

 

Tell what I should fix.

 

 

 

Seeing as your team only has three members, I'm guessing this is for battle tower?

 

 

 

Right away, I'd say Starmie should be running Timid. If you want a sweeping Starmie,

 

 

 

Starmie @ Life Orb

 

Timid - 40 HP. 252 Special Attack, 216 Speed

 

~ Surf / Hydro Pump

 

~ Thunderbolt / Grass Knot

 

~ Ice Beam

 

~ Recover

 

 

 

Life Orb is 30% at the cost of 10% of your HP. 216 speed outspeeds base 110s, which means Gengar notably. Surf or Hydro Pump, choice is yours, although I'd personally never risk the miss. Even though Psychic gets STAB, I wouldn't recommend it. With the 4th generation of Pokemon, Psychic has become more and more of an inferior attacking type. It's resisted by Steel and blocked entirely by dark. It's super effective on Poison types and Fighting types. However, what fighting types do you really see? Lucario is part steel, so it's neutral. Infernape is frail enough the SE doesn't matter. Psychic is good against Heracross and Machamp. Heracross, usually being scarfed, will simply megahorn you. That makes one OU fighting type that Psychic is necessary against. How about poison? OU has two good psychic types, one being Gengar, the other being Tentacruel. Tentacruel is a special wall and will survive even a STAB SE Psychic. Gengar is slower than Starmie, and frail. Unless it's a scarfgar or sashgar, it's not staying.

 

 

 

In other words, unless the Pokemon *must* use psychic as its stab (Azelf usually runs Psychic, and in this case, it's a good choice), you should not use a psychic type attack. Starmie gets an excellent STAB in Surf / Hydropump already. Save your moveslot for coverage instead.

 

 

 

Staraptor isn't the best choice of a physical sweeper. Why not try a scarfed Flygon? It has helpful ground and electric immunites, plenty of resistances including against Stealth Rock.

 

 

 

If you do go with Flygon though, your last Pokemon should certainly be a steel type. Dragons are weakest to ice and dragon, both of which steel types resist. Consider Heatran? (Is he allowed in battle tower?) Bronzong? Jirachi? Magnezone? Steel types are great with 11 resistances and one immunity.

[Orpheus]

I only have Diamond, so I don't get the nice Rotom formes that are so useful. When I can get a copy of it I will consider replacing him.

 

 

 

And I'm not throwing Dusky at Scizor either, even if he knows Firepunch.

[Poppet]

I love this moveset for my Plusle so I made one on a Minun you will laugh. :lol:

 

 

 

Plusle/Minun

 

Dynamic Punch

 

Copycat

 

Seismic Toss

 

Thunderbolt

 

 

 

My Plusle took out a Garchomp with this set. :twisted:

[RayOxide]

Dont be lame.

 

Just use pokemon you want to. Dont be like the people who have the EXACT same teams because that's whats recommended.

 

IT'S WHAT IS EXPECTED.

 

 

 

What's unexpected is the key to winning.

[Faux]

I can play in a bit, since wifi is failing right now. I gotta finish building my team first :P

 

dude tell me when, ill even give you my msn

[Soma2035]

Dont be lame.

 

Just use pokemon you want to. Dont be like the people who have the EXACT same teams because that's whats recommended.

 

IT'S WHAT IS EXPECTED.

 

 

 

What's unexpected is the key to winning.

 

 

 

Using a Haunter instead of a Gengar isn't just unexpected. It's stupid.

 

 

 

There's no reason to use a Pokemon for something when there's a Pokemon that does exactly that, but better. Espeon isn't a bad Pokemon, but using it for special offense is foolish. If you want a special attacker on your team, there are countless Pokemon that fit the bill. Like I said before, Azelf performs the same role, only with less predictability, a better ability, and better stats. Azelf is a better special attacker than Espeon, if you want a special attacker, choosing Espeon does not make sense.

 

 

 

There's nothing "unexpected" about using Espeon. Someone can simply type in "http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/espeon." Guess what? Now they see your Espeons moves, stats, common sets, and counters... all within less than 30 seconds. Espeon has three things going for it: High Special Attack, acceptable Special Defense, decent Speed. Obviously, defense is out of the question since it doesn't have the HP to wall anything. An Espeon wall isn't a threat at all. So what are the advantages of Espeon? Fast sweeper, or baton pass. Phazing wall comes in, and once you attack, the element of surprise is lost.

 

 

 

Even though Azelf is more common, it's still more unexpected. Azelf has higher speed, and incredible special attack AND attack. Backing that is a wide movepool. Azelf can run a physical attack set, a special attack set, a gimmicky trick set, a mixed attacking set, and so on. Unlike with Espeon, it's very hard for one counter to stop all of these sets. The result is similar: your opponent switches something in, scouts out your set, and then you lose your element of surprise. But the difference is the amount of damage you cause before this happens.

 

 

 

With Espeon, Blissey comes in safely. Status? So what? Natural Cure. But they can certainly put status on you. Substitute? Great, you get one Calm Mind... but most special attackers can't handle Blissey even with a +1 boost, and Blissey can seismic toss your subs away.

 

 

 

With Azelf, Blissey needs to think twice. What if this is a physical Azelf? Skarmory needs to think twice. What if this is a special Azelf? A mixed wall needs to think twice. What if he tricks me? If they guess wrong, they have a crippled or dead wall.

 

 

 

Unexpectedness comes from the strategy, not the Pokemon. Just because a Pokemon is unexpected doesn't mean the strategy will be too.

 

 

 

EDIT: Well, I finished a team. It's anything but standard and I honestly have no idea how well this will work, but if anyone here has a team too, I'll give it a shot. This team has low level Pokemon on it intentionally though so you'd need your Pokemon at 100, setting to 100 won't work.

[Faux]

ultima92 and i just had our battle. glad to say i won :P

 

 

 

kc, you're next man

 

 

 

soma, i'd play you but my pokemons are in the 70s. too much work to get them to 100. whats the point of that?

[Soma2035]

ultima92 and i just had our battle. glad to say i won :P

 

 

 

kc, you're next man

 

 

 

soma, i'd play you but my pokemons are in the 70s. too much work to get them to 100. whats the point of that?

 

 

 

Eh. If I revealed why they're not 100, it would kind of defeat the point of them being under 100.

 

 

 

I guess I could build a normal team to play against you with. It's a pity though, I really wanted to see if the gimicky team would work.

 

 

 

I assume you're going by standard rules? No Ubers, Sleep Clause, Species Clause, OHKO/Evasion Clause?

[PoorLepRecon]

I have hit a road block in my team building. I need an elekid with an electerizer before I can move on, and I need to find my ruby/saphire so I can transfer a pokemon from there. If anyone has an elekid that would greatly help.

[Faux]

Eh. If I revealed why they're not 100, it would kind of defeat the point of them being under 100.

 

 

 

I guess I could build a normal team to play against you with. It's a pity though, I really wanted to see if the gimicky team would work.

 

 

 

I assume you're going by standard rules? No Ubers, Sleep Clause, Species Clause, OHKO/Evasion Clause?

 

 

 

Yep. If someone starts using cheap [cabbage] like that I'll just turn off my DS and take a nap :lol:

[Orpheus]

I made so many mistakes and mispredictions that fight though. Why did sleep powder fail me >_>

[Faux]

you know i was hoping i'd take your whole party down with one pokemon

[Soma2035]

Shadow, up for a match? I found another team, this one's all level 100s. I don't quite remember how it plays but it looks good enough.

 

 

 

Man, I haven't touched my Pokemon game forever...

[Faux]

you have MSN? PM me

[Soma2035]

you have MSN? PM me

 

 

 

Nope, I don't use MSN. MSN has never worked with my computer for some reason. I have Skype... and I guess Tip.It. How about PM-ing me here?

[Soma2035]

I honestly have no idea what I was thinking, switching Circines in like that. There was no reason whatsoever for you to have used a fire attack when Close Combat would've brutally murdered my Scizor too... o.O

 

 

 

Good game nonetheless. Out of curiosity, what set was your metallic-last-man-standing running? If you don't mind sharing of course.

[Faux]

just played soma, obviously i lost :P

 

 

 

that scizor is something

[AceBeam]

My. Alakazam. Is. Godly.

 

I didn't even need the rest of my team to beat all the gyms. (Except for the first one. My Abra was just a level 4 at the time :P ). Hell, if something survives a hit from my Alakazam, it's only a psycho cut away from death. (Yeah, death. Not KO.)

 

He hits real high, and has real nice speed.

 

My Machamp is a great staller. His defense is incredi-high, his attack is decent, and his health is high. The one downfall is his speed.

 

I love my Alakazam and Machamp :P

 

 

 

I don't have a team of 100s yet... Give me a week or two to train up, and I'll be on this thread quite a bit.

[RayOxide]

1. Alakazam + psycho cut is fail - psycho cut is physical whereas psybeam is special - psybeam hits more

 

 

 

2. Machamp's good but not against people >.>

 

 

 

3. You dont need level 100s, you auto-level them to 100 by playing someone.. if that makes sense

[AceBeam]

I didn't have a choice about psycho cut being one of his attacks. Something went wrong when he was an abra and evolved at 16, and he never learned Confusion :( Also, as soon as He could learn Psychic, I replaced it. Psycho cut was really useful to finish off an enemy who survived (Rare occurrence, except for steel types) psybeam without wasting PP.

[Faux]

soma, that guy was metagross@light clay w/ light screen, earthquake, meteor mash, and can't remember the last move

 

 

 

it's crap, him and butterfree weren't supposed to be in the party but i wanted to try them out for that battle. that was suh a huge mistake lol.

[Soma2035]

1. Alakazam + psycho cut is fail - psycho cut is physical whereas psybeam is special - psybeam hits more

 

 

 

2. Machamp's good but not against people >.>

 

 

 

3. You dont need level 100s, you auto-level them to 100 by playing someone.. if that makes sense

 

 

 

1. Psybeam is better than Psycho Cut, but Psychic is better. In-game, Psybeam will do. Once you're ready to battle people, invest in a new Alakazam, with proper nature, EVs, and a Psychic TM. Or actually, consider a more sturdy Pokemon. Alakazam is too vulnerable to priority moves. He's like a more vulnerable Gengar with no immunities. True, he has more special attack, but he rarely gets to take advantage of it.

 

 

 

2. Machamp is actually very good against people, but only with a specific set. Ray's sort of right, avoid Machamp for now.

 

 

 

3. Actually, level 100s are necessary under standard rules, because standard rules don't require every Pokemon to be level 100. In other words, under Standard rules, someone could easily have a low level on their team, and WANT it to be lower level (see: FEAR Ratata. And no I don't have one on any of my teams.)

 

 

 

soma, that guy was metagross@light clay w/ light screen, earthquake, meteor mash, and can't remember the last move

 

 

 

it's crap, him and butterfree weren't supposed to be in the party but i wanted to try them out for that battle. that was suh a huge mistake lol.

 

 

 

The light screen really took me by surprise. I was expecting an agilgross, so that switch was a painful choice for me. And yea I found the Butterfree a bit weird lol.

[RayOxide]

When i said psybeam was better I meant, even though its only 65(?) it's still better ;p.