Hey Guys, I'm new to the forums. Just got into competitive battling and am hoping to improve my first team. This team wins only about 70% of the battles it is in and I'm open for suggestions. Spoiler Forretress (M) @ Light Clay Trait: Sturdy EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Light Screen - Reflect - Stealth Rock - Volt Switch Latios (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Levitate EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef) - Thunderbolt - Ice Beam - Psychic - Draco Meteor Starmie @ Leftovers Trait: Natural Cure EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def) - Surf - Rapid Spin - Thunderbolt - Ice Beam Porygon2 @ Eviolite Trait: Trace EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SDef Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Ice Beam - Thunderbolt - Toxic - Recover Scizor (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Technician EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd Lonely Nature (+Atk, -Def) - Bullet Punch - X-Scissor - U-turn - Flash Cannon Thundurus-T (M) @ Magnet Trait: Volt Absorb EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Hardy Nature - Volt Switch - Thunderbolt - Toxic - Psychic Forretress (M) @ Light Clay Trait: Sturdy EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Light Screen - Reflect - Stealth Rock - Volt Switch Forretress acts as a lead. Sturdy means it always sets up Stealth Rock, and those defensive stats mean that weaker leads bounce right off of it. This gives it time to set up Light Screen/Reflect. Volt Switch gets it back in if you need a Light Screen later on. Magic Bounce Espeon messes this strategy up. Latios (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Levitate EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef) - Thunderbolt - Ice Beam - Psychic - Draco Meteor Latios is meant to be a special sweeper, but usually only gets two Pokemon down before the Life Orb drains him. His nature and EV's are geared towards Speed and Sp. Attack. If Forretress sets up Light Screen/Reflect beforehand, he lasts longer. Starmie @ Leftovers Trait: Natural Cure EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def) - Surf - Rapid Spin - Thunderbolt - Ice Beam Starmie is used mainly to get rid of entry hazards with Rapid Spin, but can defend itself in a cinch. The Hasty nature lets Starmie out speed a lot of things. Thunderbolt/Ice Beam is for type coverage. It likes to pick off Pokemon that Porygon2 weakens. Porygon2 @ Eviolite Trait: Trace EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SDef Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Ice Beam - Thunderbolt - Toxic - Recover Porygon2 blocks sweepers like Latios and Garchomp, slowly wearing them down. What it doesn't get, Starmie cleans up. It can tank through Special Attackers, but dies after a poke from a Fighting Type. Porygon2 was technically first used by my friend in real life, I just messed with the EV spread and replaced Psychic with Recover. Scizor (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Technician EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd Lonely Nature (+Atk, -Def) - Bullet Punch - X-Scissor - U-turn - Flash Cannon Scizor is the sweeper I use for the frail stuff. (I use Latios for the big and bulky things.) Bullet Punch and X-Scissor is used for quick kills, U-Turn to make a quick exit, and Flash Cannon because I cannot find anything better with my limited knowledge. It's got a really big fire weakness and the Life Orb drains it. Thundurus-T Sprite (Sorry about the sprite, could only upload 5 images.) Thundurus-T (M) @ Magnet Trait: Volt Absorb EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Hardy Nature - Volt Switch - Thunderbolt - Toxic - Psychic Nothing to say about Thundurus-T. It just cleans up anything the sweepers leave behind and gets rid of Fighting types threatening Porygon2. Toxic needs a replacement because I just recently put in Porygon2. Like I said, this team is OK but needs improvement.
There is so... so much wrong with this team. So you have Screen set-up but you don't have a set up sweeper... I'd just go with 252 HP/252 SpDef Sassy with Gyro Ball/Spikes/SR/Rapid Spin and leftovers as your item. Next, your Latios runs Naive.. and has an EV in attack but it has no Physical Moves Change the Nature to Timid move the 4 EVs in Attack to HP and change the Moveset to Draco Meteor/Psyshock/Grass Knot or HP Fire/Roost. For Starmie; Run 252 SpAtk/252 Speed Timid with LO or Leftovers use the following moves; Hydro Pump or Surf/Thunder or Psyshock/Rapid Spin/Ice Beam or Psyshock. on your Porygon 2 everything seems fine. Scizor is where the biggest Problem is; I want you to run 252 HP/252 Atk Adamant with Iron Plate or Leftovers and the following moves; Swords Dance, Bug Bite, Bullet Punch, and Pursuit or Superpower. Thundurus-T is also a pretty big problem; change the nature to Timid, I'd get rid of Volt Switch Run HP Ice over Toxic and run Focus Blast over Psychic, in the last moveslot I'd use Agility.
Ask yourself when building this team: Do you need Dual Screens? If yes, get a dedicated pokemon to set up dual screens. If no, don't bother getting a pokemon to waste 2 moveslots to set up dual screens which you don't even need. Hell, even Dual Screens Magnezone is better than Forretress I will be nitpicking a lot on this team, so bear with me if you want to change your team for the better. Firstly, this is a passable team for someone who just started playing Pokemon, so I hope you enjoy PO and become a pokemon master or peak at the top of the ladder or do something you enjoy on PO, so congratulations on that. Now for the actual work. I will be changing the majority of the team to a more offensive-based team. Firstly, you might want to consider using Custap Skarmory over Forretress, as Forretress isn't really doing anything at the moment other than setting up hazards or being set up bait for your opponent. Custap Skarmory would help you get up at least a layer of Stealth Rock and Spikes, while also not letting the opponent get off his own entry hazards against you, thus easing the pressure on Starmie to spin. Run a 252Atk / 252Speed stat (don't put the 4 EVs, and put 0 IVs for HP, Defense and Special Defense so that you get knocked down to custap range easier) with Custap Berry as its hold item and Stealth Rock / Spikes / Taunt / Brave Bird as its moves. Next, there is so much wrong with Latios. Why would you run a Naive Nature on Latios when it isn't using an attacking move? Change it to a Timid nature, which reduces the Attack and increases the speed stat. I would change Latios' set into a Choice Scarf set as it gives it much more speed and allows it to revenge-kill threats for your team, serving as the role of a revenge-killer. I would recommend Draco Meteor/Psyshock/Surf or Hidden Power [Fire]/Trick as its moves. Surf is mainly for Heatran while HP Fire is for ferro/forry and other steel types. Trick is to make Latios more of a team player by crippling walls such as Blissey. As Latios is already going to revenge-kill and eliminate opposing Dragons, you might as well change Porygon2. I would recommend a SubDisable Gengar set with Black Sludge as it is able to force a lot of switches, thus making use of the entry hazards, and slowly weakening the opponent to the point where Latios can cleanly clear a team. I would use a 4Hp / 252SAtk / 252Speed ev Spread while also Substitite/Disable/Focus Blast/Shadow Ball as its moves. Latios and Gengar are very good partners with each other, as they beat each other's counters. Just change Starmie's nature to Timid. Rapid Spin isn't even going to do a significant amount of damage to actually KO a pokemon, and Starmie needs the bulk to effectively spin away hazards. I would suggest changing it to a Analytic set with Hydro Pump/Thunderbolt/Ice Beam/Rapid Spin as its moves. Starmie forces a lot of switches upon switching in, and analytic boosts the power of Starmie's attacks, such that it can even 2hko Jellicent with Thunderbolt alone! Blissey is starting to become problematic for your team, so I would change Scizor's set to a Iron Plate one, so that Scizor can bluff the choice item. I would suggest Swords Dance / Bug Bite / Bullet Punch / Superpower or Roost as its moves. Finally, I would change Thundurus-T to Conkeldurr, just so that you won't get fucked over in the event your Scizor dies and your opponent still has a Blissey. I would recommend a SF set with Drain Punch/Mach Punch/ThunderPunch and Ice Punch with a Life Orb set, so that you can box Skarmory as well, TPunch it on the switch in, then Drain Punch it as it uses roost. Welcome to competitive battling, hope I helped and good luck!
Hello there, cool team. I have a few minor and some major revisions that can hopefully increase this team's success. I am going to start with major changes. I believe that your Forretress set isn't too great for your current team and doesn't support it appropriately. Utilizing Rapid Spin, Hazards, and Volt Switch would probably be more beneficial. Spoiler Forretress (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Sturdy EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd) - Spikes / Toxic Spikes - Rapid Spin - Gyro Ball - Volt Switch Note: 0 Speed EVs are advised Now, you already have a spinner and a frailer psychic type special attacker (Latios), so Starmie isn't a necessity. A helpful replacement could be Shucca MixedJirachi. Spoiler Jirachi @ Shucca Berry Trait: Scerene Grace EVs: 132 HP / 200 SAtk / 176 Spd Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef) - Stealth Rocks - Icy Wind - Energy Ball / Thunderbolt - Iron Head This provides you with rocks, since Forretress has Spikes, and the ability to lure threats like Garchomp and take an EQ and use Icy Wind. In addition, this Jirachi in general is quite a threat to HO. Spamming icy wind on switch ins is surprisingly effective and this Jirachi annoys these standard teams that don't predict it's set or lack a switch in. Now that you have hazards, a physical tank, and an unconventional Jirachi, I am going to advise using a Spinblocker in order to keep your hazards up and synergize with your other Pokemon. Jellicent stands out as a perfect fit, especially because it also resists fire and water. I would use it instead of Porygon2, because it fits a similar roll as tank, but also blocks spins and such. Spoiler Jellicent (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Water Absorb EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Spd Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Scald - Toxic / Will-O-Wisp - Taunt / Shadow Ball - Recover This takes problematic special attacks and is an overall pain to take down. Not much to say that I already touched kn, but certainly a strong addition. Now that you have a good core and effective synergy, I am going to go onto some smaller changes. Your Scizor set is pretty strange and unfortunately, ineffective. I am going to advise changing it to LO SD Scizor. This works well with hazards to sweep opponents and tank dragon attacks. Spoiler Scizor (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Technician EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Bullet Punch - Bug Bite - Superpower - Swords Dance With this addition, Latios becomes even more important as another fire / water resist. I am going to advise a set with roost and some other small differences that has had success in te past. Spoiler Latios @ Life Orb Trait: Levitate EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Draco Meteor - Psyshock - Surf / Hidden Power [Fire] - Roost Finally, your team really needs a revenge killing scarfer that can gain momentum. I am going to reccomend keeping Thundurus-T, but changing it to the scarf set. Spoiler Thundurus-T @ Choice Scarf Trait: Volt Absorb EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd - Thunderbolt - Hidden Power [Ice] - Focus Blast - Volt Switch Nice RMT and hope this helps.
Why is your Thundurus hardy, why it has toxic? Why does scizor has flash canon? What's the point of ice beam and draco meteor on Latios? What is the core of your strategy other than randomly have some pokemon??? I feel confused by this team, you won't get past 1200 in the ladder if you don't find a solid strategy to work your team with.
Dis team... I'm probably going to use this one, but it never hurts to have more than one team. The point of the RMT is to rate. I know it isn't good enough for ranked yet which is why I'm asking for improvements. Thanks and I'm going to try this team out when my computer stops freezing every five seconds.