Emerald_Dragonite's Theory Teams

[ShinyFlareon]

Yup, that's right. Theory teams. As in, teams I do plan on making eventually (aka as soon as I can get my WiFi going, which isn't going to be for another month at the absolute soonest). So please bear with me, I'll probably be posting a lot of different teams in this thread, but I figured it was better than making a new thread every time I came up with a new idea for a team.

All right, first up's the Hail team I posted on the RMT thread a while ago. I've made some changes, so I hope it works out better now!

Abomasnow@Leftovers
Quiet/Brave
EV: 6HP / 252Atk / 128Def / 124SpDef OR 6HP / 252SpA / 128Def / 124SpDef
-- Substitute/???
-- Leech Seed
-- Blizzard
-- Grass Knot/Focus Punch

My attempt at making Abomisnow my Blissy/Snorlax counter by giving it Focus Punch. However, because of his pretty mediocre defenses, I only want to use it if I decide to go with Substitute on this guy. In general, I dislike recoil moves on something that isn't a tank, so that's open for another possible move. The -Speed nature is for weather priority, and because of it he gets the added bonus of being able to absorb Thunder Wave (since he's not going to be very fast anyway). The EV spread depends on which nature I choose, and the defensive EVs are there to help him take more of a hit.

Weavile@Expert Belt
Jolly
EV: 4HP/252Atk/252Spe
-- Pursuit
-- Ice Punch
-- Brick Break
-- Aerial Ace

Same as before...a physical sweeper. If someone could check my math on the EVs, that would be great, but I think maxing out speed with a Jolly nature will let me outspeed Scarf Heracross or Infernape.

Walrein@Leftovers
Relaxed
Ice Body
EV: 220 HP / 252 Def / 32SpDef / 6SpA
-- Protect
-- Substitute
-- Toxic
-- Waterfall/Blizzard

Now running a Relaxed nature because, as a wall, it can afford to go last, and this won't deduct from either attack stat. Waterfall let's me run off Walrein's higher Attack, even though I won't get the flinch. Thanks to Coontank for this spread suggestion.

Mamoswine@Icy Rock
Naughty
Snow Cloak
EV: 252 Atk / 20 SpA / 236 Spe
-- Earthquake
-- Ice Shard
-- Stone Edge
-- Hail

Part mixed attacker, part secondary Hail support. Still, I'm willing to scrap him if I need to (Swinub just will not swarm for me!)

Lapras@Wise Glasses/Quick Claw
Modest
Water Absorb
EV: 120 HP / 252 SpA / 136 Spe
-- Ice Beam
-- Thunderbolt
-- Surf
-- Psychic

Still love this guy ^^

Now, this team has some serious issues: Stealth Rock, Weezing, Infernape, bulky waters, and Steels come to mind first. Also, I don't have any main supporting pokemon -- a wall, yes, but he doesn't do much in the way of team support -- and I have no Rapid Spinner to deal with my Stealth Rock weakness. So for the last slot, I'm considering:

Gliscor@Yache Berry
Hyper Cutter
Naughty
EVs: ??? (max speed, definately, but the rest I'm not sure)

-- Stone Edge
-- Areial Ace
-- Night Slash
-- Roost

Basically, something to cover the asses of the rest of my team and do something in the way of support via Stealth Rock.

Garchomp@???
Jolly
Sand Veil (still goes to waste, but eh, what can you do?)

-- Crunch
-- Dragon Claw
-- Stone Edge/Earthquake
-- Flamethrower/Earthquake

Again, something to cover the asses of the rest of my team. The fire-type move is desperately needed, and despite Earthquake's power, I think Stone Edge will be needed more in the long run. Dragon Claw's for STAB and neutral damage to just about everything.

Then, of course, there's the possible

Blissey@Leftovers
Bold
Natural Cure
EV: ???
-- Sing
-- Flamethrower
-- Aromatherapy
-- Thunder Wave

Flamethrower takes care of Steels which I have otherwise no way of touching, and the rest is general status/support.

So...opinions and feedback, please!

 

[The Outrage]

Using 40 HP EVs (assuming max IVs and corresponding defense stat) actually allows you to survive Azelf's flamethrower.

Why you are running Naughty nature on Glsicor needs explaning, especially when this is an unmade team, so one would assume they would put their best nature. What would you possibly gain from it?

Making GLiscor a sweeper, or giving it max speed is pointless when you have all these other sweepers on your team. Yeah, I run SD Gliscor on one of my teams, even then I don't bother with Atack EVs or speed.

Also, if you actually need a Yache Berry for it because you plan on keeping it on ice-type moves, then your using it wrong.

 

[ShinyFlareon]

Using 40 HP EVs (assuming max IVs and corresponding defense stat) actually allows you to survive Azelf's flamethrower.

40 HP EVs on what? Everything?

Why you are running Naughty nature on Glsicor needs explaning, especially when this is an unmade team, so one would assume they would put their best nature. What would you possibly gain from it?

Making GLiscor a sweeper, or giving it max speed is pointless when you have all these other sweepers on your team. Yeah, I run SD Gliscor on one of my teams, even then I don't bother with Atack EVs or speed.

Also, if you actually need a Yache Berry for it because you plan on keeping it on ice-type moves, then your using it wrong.

I figured Gliscor's got crappy Special Defense anyway, and the extra attack could help with Night Slash and Aerial Ace. And Yache Berry was the only thing I could think of when I came up with the set.

But I see your points -- what do you suggest for Gliscor, then? Or should I go to one of my other choices?

 

[The Outrage]

Forgot to write 40 HP EVs on Weavile

It's 1 AM right now so I'll get back to you on the Gliscor thing.

 

[ShinyFlareon]

Forgot to write 40 HP EVs on Weavile

It's 1 AM right now so I'll get back to you on the Gliscor thing.

No worries, take your time.

 

[The Outrage]

I'm not really into that whole building someone a team thing, so I'll let you figure out what to use. However, helping on movesets is something I will do:

BLissey can't really do much walling without Seismic Toss. Well, actually, it can wall, it just can't do anything back. Flamethrower is there to catch things liek Heracross and Breloom on the switch ins. Perhaps you can try the CM-boltbeam varient? It does have the advantage of outstalling Nasty Plot Pokemon.

Also forgot to mention about Aerial Ace not actually being useful for Weavile. Try Swords Dance or Night Slash instead.

As for Walrein, Waterfall may be running off the higher attack, but Surf will likely do more damage to physical walls (and Standard being physically oriented, there should be a lot of them). Just consider it.

Again, not understanding the use of Naughty Nature on Mamoswine when it could be Adamant, or the SPecial Attack EVs when it has no special attacks. Glancing at what you have, I can already tell this is going to be a hail team. YOu don't need Hail on it when you have Abomasnow.

Speaking of Abomasnow, max its Hit Points, use a +SAtk - Spd nature, give it Focus Punch for Blissey. Now for the rest of the EVs, one can max out special attack, or put mostly in SATk and just enough on Atk to outstall Blissey.

 

[ShinyFlareon]

The more I think about it, the more I'm disliking the idea of Gliscor, so he's getting scrapped as a possible 6th member. Mamoswine's also getting the boot, since I'm sick of waiting for Swinub to swarm and breeding's a pain in the arse. Considering my need for a Rapid Spinner, I'm considering replacing him with:

Donphan@Leftovers
Impish
EVs: 252 HP / 6 Atk / 252 Def
-- Stealth Rock
-- Fire Fang/Earthquake
-- Rapid Spin
-- Stone Edge

While he'll take residual damage from Hail, unlike Mamoswine, this Donphan will fill a few of the roles I need at once: namely, paking Rapid Spin, a fire move or a really powerful STAB Earthquake, and Stone Egde, while also doing a bit for the team with Stealth Rock. If only ground was resistant to Fire...

I don't mind Blissey not being able to do much but wall and support, as that's what I need her for -- a safety net for the rest of my team, if you will.

 

[The Outrage]

I'd use a Tentacruel since it also gives you a bit mroe Infernape coverage.

 

[ShinyFlareon]

All right...here's my entire team, revised, for clarity and to have a better view of the overall synergy of the team.

Abomasnow@Leftovers
Quiet
EV: 252 HP/ 168 SpA/ 84 Atk
-- Substitute
-- Focus Punch
-- Leech Seed
-- Blizzard

Weavile@Expert Belt
Jolly
EV: 40 HP/ 252 Atk/ 216 Speed
-- Ice Punch
-- Pursuit
-- Brick Break
-- Swords Dance
(Why isn't Aerial Ace useful for Weavile again? Seems that if it can at least help against fighting types, especially with Expert Belt, that's pretty good.)

Walrein@Leftovers
Relaxed
Ice Body
EV: 220 HP / 252 Def / 32SpDef / 6SpA
-- Protect
-- Substitute
-- Toxic
-- Surf/Blizzard

Lapras@Wise Glasses/Quick Claw
Modest
Water Absorb
EV: 120 HP / 252 SpA / 136 Spe
-- Ice Beam
-- Thunderbolt
-- Surf
-- Psychic

Blissey@Leftovers
Bold
Natural Cure
EV: ???
-- Sing
-- Flamethrower
-- Aromatherapy
-- Thunder Wave

Tentacruel@Leftovers
Calm
Liquid Ooze
EV: 204 HP/ 96 SpA/ 172 SpD/ 36 Spe
-- Rapid Spin
-- Surf
-- Sludge Bomb
-- Giga Drain

Looking any better to anyone?

 

[empoleon dynamite]

Tentacruel@Leftovers
Calm
Liquid Ooze
EV: 204 HP/ 96 SpA/ 172 SpD/ 36 Spe
-- Rapid Spin
-- Surf
-- Sludge Bomb
-- Giga Drain

Meh I don't really like this set. I think you would be more beneficial with Toxic spikes instead of Giga Drain or Sludge Bomb. Both aren't really good for coverage. You may want to consider Ice beam instead.

 

[ShinyFlareon]

Meh I don't really like this set. I think you would be more beneficial with Toxic spikes instead of Giga Drain or Sludge Bomb. Both aren't really good for coverage. You may want to consider Ice beam instead.

I just thought it would seem redundant to give Tentacruel Ice Beam when 4 out of the 5 other members of my team are Ice-type and pack at least one ice move. And at least with Sludge Bomb I can somewhat avoid an unintentional Guts boost -- but I'll try it out.

 

[ShinyFlareon]

All right...I haven't had a chance to try out my sort-of Hail team yet, but I had a pretty good haul in Emerald's Safari Zone the other day (2 Phanapy, a Heracross, Aipom, Miltank, and Houndour), so I'm feeling pretty confident right now. This is gonna be a BL/UU team, but if it gets a positive enough response I might try it out in OU battles.

Houndoom@Choice Specs
Timid Nature
Flash Fire
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
-- Fire Blast
-- Dark Pulse
-- HP Fighting/Shadow Ball
-- Sludge Bomb/Will-O-Wisp

Not intended as a lead, just the pokemon I thought of that I want to use first. I wanted to switch up the standard Choice Specs Houndoom a bit, with the options to use some of his lesser used moves. I really dislike Choice Items, though so if anyone could give me another suggestion, I would really appreciate it. Sludge Bomb is nifty for poisoning things, and Shadow Ball's got a nice chance of a Sp.Def drop. If I can get HP Fighting, though, I'll take it. Will-O-Wisp isn't the best on a choice set, I realize, but it helps with Houndoom's not-so-hot defense.

Luxray@Leftovers
Bold Nature
Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SpA
-- Thunderbolt/Thunder
-- Toxic
-- HP Grass/???
-- Crunch

I love Luxray, and a defensive set on him is something I'd like to try. Pretty self-explanitory, the only thing is that I don't know what I could use as an alternate move in case I can't get HP Grass. I suppose since Luxray isn't very fast anyway I could go for a Relaxed nature and not have Crunch's power reduced, but that's up in the air.

Gastrodon@Leftovers
Bold Nature
Sticky Hold
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
-- Stockpile
-- Toxic
-- Recover
-- Surf

While Luxray's running a fairly defensive set, this will function more as an actual wall/staller. Again, pretty self explanitory.

Golem@Life Orb
Impish Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
-- Rest
-- Sleep Talk
-- Earthquake
-- Stone Edge

My actual wall/status absorber. With Rest, I can afford to take Life Orb reductions, absorb Thunder Wave, Toxic Spikes, and Will-O-Wisp, and all kinds of nasty statuses, while Sleep Talk lets me take advantage of the pretty good type coverage offered by Stone Edge and Earthquake.

Ninjask@Leftovers
Jolly Nature
EVs: 176 HP / 252 Atk / 80 Spe
-- Substitute
-- Baton Pass
-- Swords Dance
-- X-Scissor

Standard Baton Passing Ninjask...probably going to end up being my lead. What will he be passing Swords Dance to, you ask? My next pokemon:

Rampardos@Leichi Berry
Adamant Nature
EVs: 252 Atk / 6 SpD / 252 Spe
-- Head Smash
-- Crunch
-- Stone Edge/Brick Break
-- Earthquake/Brick Break

The basic premise of this set is to get in a few Speed Boosts and probably a Swords Dance or two from Ninjask, then basically destroy everything in sight. Brick Break could go in either of the last two slots to break down Steels and, if I end up using this in OU, Blissey and Snorlax.

 

[Neverender_1862]

Luxray@Leftovers
Bold Nature
Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SpA
-- Thunderbolt/Thunder
-- Toxic
-- HP Grass/???
-- Crunch

I love Luxray, and a defensive set on him is something I'd like to try. Pretty self-explanitory, the only thing is that I don't know what I could use as an alternate move in case I can't get HP Grass. I suppose since Luxray isn't very fast anyway I could go for a Relaxed nature and not have Crunch's power reduced, but that's up in the air.

I think you might be putting too many EVs on Defense for this guy. Luxray's an offensive Pokemon, so you might want to add some to Atk/SpA. In case you may not get HP Grass, I suggest Thunder Fang or Rain Dance if you're using Thunder. For Toxic, no comment.

 

[ShinyFlareon]

I think you might be putting too many EVs on Defense for this guy. Luxray's an offensive Pokemon, so you might want to add some to Atk/SpA.

I'm switching my Rampardos to a Lonely nature. All it's stats but attack are crap, so I figure it really doesn't matter which of them gets reduced, and I already have a Cranidos that's Lonely. I also realized that Rampardos is my only physical attacker, and he's going to be completely unreliable unless I can get Ninjask out first. It'll be a little harder to get at, since I have Diamond, but I'm going to replace Luxray with Nidoking:

Nidoking@Choice Band/Life Orb/???
Adamant nature
Poison Point
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
-- Earthquake
-- Megahorn
-- Thunder Punch
-- Sucker Punch/Ice Punch

Pretty much straight off Smogon, with a few twists. I've got a two other pokemon packing Stone Edge (Golem and Rampardos), and since I lost the Electric attacks by ditching Luxray, I thought Thunder Punch and appropriate replacement. Ice Punch could also prove useful, especially against other grounds (seeing as how I have Megahorn for grasses), but Sucker Punch has it's uses too. Again, my dislike of recoil/Choice Items becomes my undoing -- if anyone can suggest an alternative item, I'm all ears.

 

[Ino-Chan]

You could use the mixed Attacker set with Ninoking, so you wouldn't have to use choice items:

Ninoking @ Life Orb
Nature: Naughty
Ability: Poison Point
Ev's: 252 Atk / 168 SpA / 88 Spe

- Earthquake
- Megahorn
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast / Thunderbolt

 

[ShinyFlareon]

You could use the mixed Attacker set with Ninoking, so you wouldn't have to use choice items:

Ninoking @ Life Orb
Nature: Naughty
Ability: Poison Point
Ev's: 252 Atk / 168 SpA / 88 Spe

- Earthquake
- Megahorn
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast / Thunderbolt

Sounds like a decent set, I'll definitely give it a try. Thanks!

Rampardos just isn't working out..thinking about it a little more, he's only gonna be useful with some sort of setup beforehand, and Ninjask really isn't sturdy enough to survive long enough to Baton Pass enough setup to make him work. So they're both getting the boot, which leaves me free to use Nidoking as a mixed sweeper without worry that I'll need more physically-oriented attacking pokemon. Therefore, I now have two free moveslots, designated for a healer and a physical sweeper. Here's what I'm thinking for them.

Physical Sweeper:
Leafeon@Life Orb
Jolly nature
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
-- Leaf Blade
-- Return
-- Swords Dance
-- X-Scissor/Synthesis

The idea of having a Life Orb on two of my three main offensive pokemon kind of puts me off, but that's what Synthesis is possibly there for. X-Scissor, however, will grant me a lot more coverage, especially against other Grass-types that Houndoom might not be able to handle (read: Venusaur). Leafeon's speed should net me at least one Swords Dance. I'm willing to slap a Baton Pass set on this guy if he doesn't work out as a sweeper.

Healer:
Miltank@Leftovers
Impish nature
Ability: ???
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spe
-- Heal Bell
-- Milk Drink
-- Stealth Rock
-- Body Slam

Ah, I'm so very, VERY glad I caught one of these in Emerald recently! Heal Bell's low PP is a concern, but being able to set up Stealth Rock is a great thing to have. Combine with instant recovery and paralysis support, and the only thing I'm left to decide on is the ability. Paralyzing ghosts could come in handy, but resistance to Fire- and Ice-type moves is also a pretty good deal. I forget the nature of the one I caught in Emerald, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Impish, so breeding is a possibility (even though I hate doing it).

 

[Sigmon]

Leafeon tends to work better at baton passing since leafblade, X scissor, and return are resisted by steels although that tends not to be a problem with bl as much as ou however the ability to baton pass to a poke that counters the one just sent out with a swords dance boost can be a game changer

 

[ShinyFlareon]

Leafeon tends to work better at baton passing since leafblade, X scissor, and return are resisted by steels although that tends not to be a problem with bl as much as ou however the ability to baton pass to a poke that counters the one just sent out with a swords dance boost can be a game changer

All righty, then, a Baton Pass set it is, then!

Leafeon@Leftovers/Wide Lens
Jolly nature
EVs: 132 HP / 160 Atk / 216 Spe
-- Swords Dance
-- Leaf Blade
-- Baton Pass
-- Roar/Grasswhistle

As seems to be the case with many of my pokemon setups, this one comes straight off of Smogon -- but I don't feel so bad about this one because I really like it ^^ Wide Lens is if I decide to put Grasswhistle instead of Roar on her (yes, I already have one bred), and while the chance of putting something to sleep is nice, it paves the way for my opponent to choose what to send out next. On the flip side, I can't really take full advantage of Roar unless Miltank's been out and set up Stealth Rock already. I'll probably end up going with Roar, unless someone puts up a very convincing argument otherwise.

 

[ShinyFlareon]

I finally have WiFi up! w00t! Time to start taking some of these teams out of the blueprinting stage and test them out for real!

I got to thinking, though. The OU metagame seems awfully competitive, but at the same time, rather boring. Yeah, I know any pokemon can technically be used in any tier, but let's be realistic -- only 44 pokemon are placed firmly in the tier of 'Overused.' It seems like you'd get tired of seeing the same pokemon over and over again.

So I thought that I might make my debut in the UU metagame, where things get a little more interesting -- at the very least in sheer number of pokemon that reside in the tier. This latest team is going to combine that thought process with one of the more useful types that also happens to be up there on my favorite types list: Ground The one requirement for this team: everything must be part ground-type. Here goes!

Claydol@Light Clay
Careful nature
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD
-- Light Screen
-- Reflect
-- Explosion/Rapid Spin
-- Stealth Rock

I haven't really used Claydol before, but he's always intrigued me, so I figured this was a nice way to let him in. The typing is useful, as is the ability to set up Stealth Rock and help out the rest of my team defensively. Explosion gives me an attack, but I usually find myself at a loss for Rapid Spinners when I make teams, so I can't ignore that option, however much I dislike being left without an attack. Any feedback on this guy is greatly appreciated.

Camerupt@Life Orb
Solid Rock
Modest nature
EVs: 228 HP / 96 SpA / 184 SpD
-- Rest
-- Sleep Talk
-- Lava Plume
-- Earth Power

My status absorber, and the one thing on the team neutral to Ice besides Gastrodon. The logic for the item is much the same on him as it was on Golem on my last team: with Rest, I can afford to take Life Orb hits, and still get the power boost. Lava Plume's high burn rate also helps support the team, since there are relatively few Guts pokemon in UU.

Gastrodon@Leftovers
Sticky Hold
Bold nature
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
-- Recover
-- Stockpile
-- Toxic
-- Surf

This is becoming quite the staller/annoyer team. Another neutrality to Ice, and with Surf instead of EQ, I can hit most Steels for neutral damage when they try to absorb Toxic as well as keep a little more type coverage.

Nidoqueen@Leftovers
Poison Point
Impish nature
EVs: 252 HP / 6 Atk / 252 Def
-- Earthquake
-- Toxic Spikes
-- Roar/Stealth Rock
-- Charm/Fire Blast

My spiker. Roar helps spread damage from Claydol's Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes around, but if it goes down, having a backup SR setup is kind of nice. Charm gives me something to do against things that try and take advantage of Guts, but Fire Blast gives me just a little more coverage.

Nidoking@Choice Band/???
Poison Point
Adamant nature
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
-- Earthquake
-- Megahorn
-- Sucker Punch/Ice Punch
-- Stone Edge

My physical sweeper. Megahorn deals with grasses nicely, and Earthquake gives good STAB. A priority move is nice, but Sucker Punch is conditional, despite the added coverage. For that reason, and for Altaria and Grass/Bug types, Ice Punch is also an option. Stone Edge is there to be a Flying-type hitter that's not Stealth Rock.

I'm in the market for a special sweeper...any suggestions? Remember, it has to be part ground, and UU. I know this team needs work, but I actually feel better about it than the teams I posted here before. Thank you for taking the time to look over my team!

 

[Tina]

The reason because UU has so many Pokemon is because they haven't finished tiering it and they're just throwing everything together, sticking Pokemon that really don't belong there (read: Aerodactyl) in UU. =/