Those who know me, know that I am a big fan of RBY. I like to try my hands at other generations too, though, but I like to bring RBY mons wherever I go. So I've had a few ADV battles recently with a team consisting only of RBY Pokémon, with...not too much success. So far my team consists of Aerodactyl (lead), Dugtrio, Gyarados, Snorlax, Magneton and Gengar. Could I improve upon this somehow by adding something else over, say, Magneton? And really...what's my basic strategy? What's my game plan? Since I have no spikes nor spinner, defensive play seems out of the question, but how can I be offensive without residual damage?
Cloyster gets Spikes and Rapid Spin, Starmie also gets Rapid Spin. Magneton seems pretty decent on that team considering how much of your team is walled by Skarmory but if you want to change it you have you have Jolteon and Zapdos to choose from. Outside of Snorlax nothing on your team is particularly bulky so you are going to want to play offensively and limit the switch ins of opposing offensive Pokemon. You could try Vaporeon to give yourself something that can switch into Metagross a little easier and act as a general bulky water.
My issue so far is that every time I send Magneton in on Skarmory, it gets killed by Dugtrio afterwards. I can't Substitute on Skarmory, since Whirlwind isn't blocked by that. I suppose Skarmory is such a nuisance that it's worth it to get rid of it even if it costs me a Magneton. Gyarados so far has failed to bring my team anything, so I reckon I could swap that out for a Cloyster (Starmie does not appeal). What would a good Cloyster set look like? Spikes/Rapid Spin/Surf/Explosion?
Isa-, if you're worried about Dugtrio trapping your Magneton, there's a cute little set that prevents that. Magneton learns endure, and when you couple it with a Salac Berry, it can reverse the trap and get rid of the Dugtrio for you. It's an incredibly neat and succesful strategy.
That feels very gimmicky though - why would the Dugtrio not just switch out afterwards and take my Hidden Power with any given special tank like Snorlax? I suppose it's better than dying at once, though.
Yeah well, this is the set: It's a trap :D (Magneton) @ Salac Berry Trait: Magnet Pull EVs: 252 SAtk / 52 SDef / 204 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Thunderbolt - Hidden Power [Grass] - Screech - Endure I used to run it with Dugtrio support, so if your opponent has the brains to switch out to Snorlax after Salac has been revealed, the Snorlax (at -2) would go down to CB Earthquake from Duggy. (credit to Meteor 64 for introducing me to this set.)
once magneton kills a steel its done its job, you dont particularly need it after that. if anything losing magneton to duggy is beneficial since youre then able to get aero/gyara/gar in for free and regain momentum. aero isnt as good a lead as people make out, lax would be much more beneficial since its can potentially damage anything and consequently puts your opponent in a bind whether to stay or switch. aero is best as a surprise for ravaging through weakened teams.
Alright, thanks for the tip. Regarding Lax, I didn't know what set to run, so I just went with what I knew from GSC - Curse/Rest/BSlam/EQ. However Gengar loves me, so I'm starting to think I should just run an all out attack set with BSlam, EQ, SBall and SDestruct. Do I need Choice Band on this set? I suppose if I run it as a lead, Choice Band is superior, but I feel like I don't need the band to hit like a truck through the things I want to hit (mostly Gengar, that Pokémon causes so many issues for me).
i dont think your team lends to banded lax too well, but the moves are right as far as im concerned. you shouldnt worry too much about steels coming in since you have magneton, unless you fancy dropping mag and going down the fire blast route, which will free up a slot on your team but requires a more awkward lax spread and wont actually remove anything like mag will.
That set is beyond awful. Duggie EQs Magneton as it endures, leaving it at 1HP, and Salac Berry Triggers. Then, Duggie switches out to Celebi/Pert/Zapdos etc- pretty much ANYTHING that walls Magneton- and the Magnet is left completely useless while the Dugtrio gets away completely safely. Trading Mag for Skarm evenly via Dugtrio revenge kill is perfectly acceptable. Skarm is far more valuable to its team and you're using Magneton specifically to remove Skarmory/Forre. On many good teams, specifically Skarmory teams, there is going to be a Dugtrio paired with it to cover the possibility of Magneton. This is something you just have to accept and plan for.
Looking at your team, it has a huge problem switching into pokes like Tyranitar and Salamence after they set up with DD. Gyarados can get an intimidate off, but it will take a ton from unboosted rockslides. Even at minus one though, Gyarados will still be in trouble and will take a lot of damage over the course of the battle if you do keep switching it in on DD pokes. While Aerodactyl is faster than TTar at +1, most are bulky enough to survive earthquake and aero will die from one rockslide. You are heavily relying on Dugtrio to revenge kill a lot of threats to your team. If you are keen on only using gen one pokes, I would suggest replacing Aerodactyl for Blastoise. With nice bulk in both of its defense stats, Blastoise will provide you with a nice switch into TTar and mence if they try to set up. I recommend running a rest talk set with Surf and Ice beam. This team also does not like other Gengar. Snorlax is a good answer, but only if you run Curselax with rest and shadow ball. Boomlax does not like getting hit with wisp and makes it pretty much useless afterward. You would be surprised how little damage Self-destruct does when Snorlax is burned. For that matter, nothing on your team likes getting hit by wisp. Having Magneton run a rest talk set could solve this problem for you. Although if you do that, then maybe Blastoise should not have rest talk.
I think Vap would be more prudent then Blastoise personally boasting similar bulk but allowing for healing via wish and with far more Special Attack.
I would say then he has no spinner, but he doesnt really need one and the set PK suggested doesn't even do that, so Vap would be better.
I'm trying out the Gyarados/Cloyster/Vaporeon slot. My next try will be Vaporeon with max HP/Defense, running Wish/Roar and dual attacks. I didn't switch in Cloyster on too many occasions, so we'll see how this goes.
Never seen either Rhydon or Marowak in ADV. I dunno if hitting decently hard is enough - and since there's no Life Orb, just Choice Band, it seems like that'd take out one Pokémon at most, since everything has Gengar or a Flying type.
Zapdos pass to Marowak is probably the superior of the two, if you can get Wak to take a hit setting up he can OHKO every grounded threat in the game with one layer of Spikes down (so use Cloyster), the only pokemon capable of withstanding anything from him at +2 are Skarm and Claydol (Claydol barely survives +2 Double Edge but fails to OHKO with Ice beam so prior damage would be needed, Skarm is safe from a 2HKO barely, so flinches aside its a safe check), and this is with a neutral nature- so you're free to go Jolly and break 200 Speed for outspeeding Aero and +2 DDtar and things that like to hang around there. If you decide to use that plan, you should be trying to remove Skarm, get a layer of spikes in, and get chip damage on any opposing Claydol (25%ish should be adequate), before trying to sweep. Sounds complicated but is for the most part fairly achievable I'd think, with the correct team. You'll be running Magneton and Cloyster together, which is definitely interesting and not at all redundant as most people would believe, especially in a metagame full of Toxic Skarms. edit- should point out i'm basing this off an agilipass zap, not subpass, agility is far superior
If you're limiting yourself to RBY mons offense would probably be the best option since you will be hard-pressed to have an answer to all threats. If you want to go the Marowak route, you could try something like this: Zapdos (tbolt/hp[ice]/agil/bpass) Marowak (sd/eq/slide/de) Magneton (tbolt/hp[grass]/stalk/rest) Cloyster (spikes/spin/surf/boom) Snorlax (de/eq/sball/boom) Gengar (hypno/tbolt/ipunch/giga) Sets are obviously changeable.