Battle Subway Team

[DerMißingno]

Hey fellas. I have been playing the battle subway a little bit lately, and I used this team with some success:

STARMIE

Nature: Modest
Item: Life Orb
EVs: 4 Def 252 SpA 252 Spe

-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Surf
-Grass Knot

Standard specially offensive Starmie. I have her as my lead because of coverage. She can often quickly sweep entire teams in the battle tower. She is especially useful when the computer leads with a pesky dragon. If I still have her in reserve, I can switch her into a fire attack against Scizor or an ice attack against Flygon.

SCIZOR

Nature: Adamant
Item: Choice Band
EVs: 252 HP 252 Att 4 Spe

-Bullet Punch
-Aerial Ace
-Brick Break
-U-turn

Pretty standard bullet punching choice band Scizor, except for Aerial Ace. I put that in because Pursuit isn't really that useful since the computer very rarely switches, and I wanted a perfect accuracy move because the computer has no problem spamming double team (I had a bad experience in Platinum with Tangrowth spamming double team, causing me to miss 12 fucking turns in a row, losing me a battle tower match after a streak of like 60). He is my switch in for grass, dark and bug attacks against Starmie, and ice attacks against Flygon.

FLYGON

Nature: Jolly
Item: Expert belt
EVs: 4 HP 252 Att 252 Spe

-Outrage
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-U-turn

The reason I haven't been using choice scarf on him is because I didn't have a choice scarf, and also because I didn't really want 2/3 of my team to be choice users. He has a free switch in to any electric or ground attacks, which is really nice.



So basically these fellas all cover each other's weaknesses really well. With a team of three pokemon I really just wanted to get the most coverage possible out of each move slot, and it basically worked out. One thing to note is lack of fire coverage, but between Aerial Ace, Earthquake and Ice Beam I can hit anything that would also be weak to fire super effectively, bar that annoying Bronzong.

So I have had some success with this team. I made it up to a 74 win streak in the super battle subway before a Feraligatr switched in on Scizor locked in BP and he was allowed to get two dragon dances up. HOWEVER, when I moseyed on over to the wifi subway, my team was promptly swept in the fifth battle by a Starmie (presumably Timid), which had no trouble outspeeding and killing everyone on my team in one hit.

So yeah, there are a couple obvious solutions that I have considered.
Obvious solution #1: Raise a Timid Starmie. This might work, but that's still the speed tie, so I'd still be vulnerable to getting swept.
Obvious solution #2: Give Flygon a choice scarf. This would allow me to get a hit in on pretty much anything, but then I'd have two choice users on my team.


So what do you say, guys? Is there a simple solution, or do I need to completely revamp my team? Thanks in advance!

 

[Lord Clowncrete]

You got to 74 in the battle subway?! I am jealous.;-;since my team loses at 55 due to hax every time.

Anyway, this is a pretty solid team. Definitely go for a timid Starmie. Timid Starmie will also help you against those Base 108s fighting types, etc. And don't go for scarf flygon. 3 choiced mons can often mean downfall(i once had scarf rotom, cb scizor and specs hydreigon and lost within 28 battles)

 

[King Eriandor]

I like how well your party members complement eachother. Good job!

a MAJOR mistake some people make is useing too many choice items. limited attack options can really lose a battle for a person. Also Flygon can learn flamethrower and fire-blast which he can use to cover his on weakness to ice (I used to have a really awesome flygon.), also outraage is another risky move, a Draco meteor would work well because it only lowers Sp.Attack during the short battle.

You'll notice i'm commenting on flygon, thhat's partially because I used to have one but mainly because he is your best offensive pokemon his cut SpAttack caused by his jolly nature may be a bit problematic though.

Assuming you are just using 1-turn style fighting (standerd battle format, no major strategy, just battle with whatever is most effective on the opponent) a more defensive pokemon like gigalith or metagross would help your party last longer. In fact a pseudo-legendary metagross could fully replace your scizor, metagross can learn bullet punch and arial ace, it can learn a more-powerful hammer arm to replace brick break and because your flygonalready knows U-turn I would suggest a Zen-Headbutt as it's final move.

Hope this helps!

 

[Poke Prophet]

I agree with ShadowBlaziken. Too many choice items is bad, especially when you can only use three pokemon. The timid nature for your starmie will definitely give you an edge, since you're already using a life orb you shouldn't notice too much of a difference in power.

Replacing scizor with metagross is iffy. By using metagross your sacrificing speed for durability, which (in my experience) has a tendency to backfire. It has bullet punch, but it isn't nearly as good as a tech-boosted bullet punch from scizor.

You might also consider a mixed flygon, having access to his powerful physical attacks and an effective fire blast or flamethrower if you don't like sacrificing accuracy for power. Fire blast is usually pretty reliable but there is the occasional miss that could ruin your battle.

Those are my thoughts anyway.

 

[King Eriandor]

Replacing scizor with metagross is iffy. By using metagross your sacrificing speed for durability, which (in my experience) has a tendency to backfire.

There is another good point. It all really depends on the person. My Gigalith-Metagross combo with amazing defence worked well for me but some people can't handle that much defence. I, on the other hand, need to feel like I have power when I am battling, and for me small-quick pokemon like scizor don't cut it. So it depends on your preferances and fighting style.

Although scizor has good points of his own metagross's stats (woah 4 s's in a row!) are generally higher, but whether you can take advantage of that is up to the person using the pokemon. Also, just a little FYI, metagross has higher speed than scizor.

 

[Professor Jacel]

I agree with Poke Prophet as well my only difference is you could give your Flygon Fire Punch from Fourth Generation then Transfer it Up, but that is just me of course

 

[Poke Prophet]

Replacing scizor with metagross is iffy. By using metagross your sacrificing speed for durability, which (in my experience) has a tendency to backfire.

There is another good point. It all really depends on the person. My Gigalith-Metagross combo with amazing defence worked well for me but some people can't handle that much defence. I, on the other hand, need to feel like I have power when I am battling, and for me small-quick pokemon like scizor don't cut it. So it depends on your preferances and fighting style.

Although scizor has good points of his own metagross's stats (woah 4 s's in a row!) are generally higher, but whether you can take advantage of that is up to the person using the pokemon. Also, just a little FYI, metagross has higher speed than scizor.

I didn't realize metagross had higher speed, I'd forgotten how fast he actually was. I guess it does all just come down to whichever is preferred. Scizor only has the weakness to fire, but it's 4x weak, and Metagross has two but is durable enough to take both with ease because of the only 2x weakness and his rock solid defenses (as long as it isn't a flare blitz from darmanitan that is, but nothing can really take one of those).

I think that trying out metagross in scizor's place is worth trying at least. If it doesn't work back to the drawing board, but if it does you've got no problems.

 

[King Eriandor]

Sorry the FYI part sounds a bit rude. I just added it in at the end because I looked up the speed after I posted my comment.
I also agree scizor has it's own good points like it's bug type covering it's ground type weakness.

 

[Lord Clowncrete]

Stick with scizor. Technician bullet punch is a lot better than having a slightly sturdier Pokemon. I have used Metagross in the subway and it was pretty disappointing. I used a CB scizor and that was boss.

 

[King Eriandor]

Back to the same point, it depends on your style, I fight very defencively and deal damage when I get an opening, although L.C. can't work with metagross, I've had a metagross on my star team for nearly 2 years. Also a good defencive pokemon will help with the longer battles. After a 63 win streak in super-double subway I think I know matagross's true potential. Also all of metagross's base stats are higher than scizor's.