Rate My Team with Constructive Criticism :D

[4pples]

Ohk, I am quite new to this whole competitive pokemon battling thing but I think I'm getting the hang of it from all this shoddy battling. This is the latest team I've landed on.

Azelf - Focus Sash
IVs - 28 SpD
EVs - 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
~ Stealth Rock
~ Fire Blast
~ Explosion
~ Psychic

Not much to say here except I like explosion and I probably don't need both Fire Blast and Psychic.

Hippowdon - Leftovers
EVs - 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpD
~ Earthquake
~ Slack Off
~ Stealth Rock
~ Roar

Physical wall. Having a second stealth rock user is nice.

Flareon - Leftovers
EVs - 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
~ Wish
~ Toxic
~ Lava Plume
~ Protect

Flareon looks awesome. Also most of the people I fight don't realize it has Flash Fire which absorbs fire moves and that catches them off-guard. He's worked surprisingly well as a special stalling pokemon.

Scizor - Choice Band
EVs - 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
~ U-turn
~ Bullet Punch
~ Superpower
~ Pursuit

He's used primarily to get revenge kills with Bullet Punch and Pursuit.

Metagross - Choice Band
EVs - 252 HP / 236 Atk / 12 Def / 8 Spe
~ Meteor Mash
~ Earthquake
~ Explosion
~ ThunderPunch

Once again I like explosion. Meteor Mash is nice too.

Gengar - Leftovers
EVs - 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
~ Substitute
~ Shadow Ball
~ Focus Blast
~ Hidden Power Fire

I have this guy to take on Tyranitar and such.

That's it, input would be nice.

 

[Our Wasted Years]

Having Hippo on your team just to wall doesn't make much sense because Sandstorm doesn't really benefit anything. I recommend maybe Dusknoir or Gliscor.

Heatran outclasses Flareon in pretty much everything except the attack stat.

 

[Badal]

Just as insomniac suggested, dusknoir over hippo
and
Heatran>Flareon (always)
You could try:
replacing flareon with:

Heatran @ Leftovers
Timid/Naive
252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
~ Fire Blast
~ Earth Power
~ Substitute
~ Toxic / Explosion

replacing Hippowdon with:

Dusknoir @ Leftovers
Impish
252 HP / 28 Atk / 228 Def
~ Will-O-Wisp
~ Pain Split
~ Earthquake / Fire Punch
~ Ice Punch / ThunderPunch

EDIT: Natures on your team will help... a lot

 

[ShinyFlareon]

I say keep Flareon. Just to be ballsy. If it works, then you feel even better about your win.

But yeah, put in Dusknoir over Hippowdon.

 

[g3rgni]

I think you should try using Agiligross instead of CB Metagross. Your team could use the extra speed and you already already have a reliable Choice Banded pokemon.

Try Smogon's set:

Metagross @ Life Orb
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def / 132 Spe
~ Agility
~ Meteor Mash
~ Earthquake
~ ThunderPunch

 

[4pples]

Alright, thanks for the input so far guys. I've switched out the Hippowdon with the Dusknoir thats been suggested -

(Dusknoir @ Leftovers
Impish
252 HP / 28 Atk / 228 Def
~ Will-O-Wisp
~ Pain Split
~ Earthquake / Fire Punch
~ Ice Punch / ThunderPunch)

and I've got an Agiligross in there in place of my old CB Metagross. I'm quite reluctant to kick it from the lineup but the general consensus seems to be that Flareon should go so I'll have a Heatran in place of him as detailed by badalcristiano again -

(Heatran @ Leftovers
Timid/Naive
252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
~ Fire Blast
~ Earth Power
~ Substitute
~ Toxic / Explosion)

So with this new lineup what pokemon could destroy my team?
What should I be weary of when battling?

 

[PlatinumDude]

Alright, thanks for the input so far guys. I've switched out the Hippowdon with the Dusknoir thats been suggested -

(Dusknoir @ Leftovers
Impish
252 HP / 28 Atk / 228 Def
~ Will-O-Wisp
~ Pain Split
~ Earthquake / Fire Punch
~ Ice Punch / ThunderPunch)

and I've got an Agiligross in there in place of my old CB Metagross. I'm quite reluctant to kick it from the lineup but the general consensus seems to be that Flareon should go so I'll have a Heatran in place of him as detailed by badalcristiano again -

(Heatran @ Leftovers
Timid/Naive
252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
~ Fire Blast
~ Earth Power
~ Substitute
~ Toxic / Explosion)

So with this new lineup what pokemon could destroy my team?
What should I be weary of when battling?

For Heatran, go with Toxic. It could use it to wear down walls.

 

[williamscaleb91]

I might not have necessarily replaced flareon with heatran for what you're trying to do with him, honestly I might switch him for vaporeon, you lose a fire immunity but its not like special fire moves are denting vaporeon much. You could run the exact same set you originally had (minus lava plume of course) on vaporeon.

Also, scizor is a much better tyranitar check then your Gengar, 70% accuracy sucks on focus blast, if you miss you lose your gengar without doing anything.

 

[Ella]

One thing to keep in mind is that a decent amount of people play with Item Clause- only one of each item for a given team. Half of your team has Leftovers- even Gengar, who is a poison type and has no reason not to be using Black Sludge instead. You also have two Choice Banders; though I'm not totally sure if one of them has had a strategy change (editing the original post to reflect changes would be very much appreciated).

And dude, if you really want the Flareon and it's already done you good, keep it. It's just that Heatran would probably do more for the team in the long run (that really is a cool Flareon set though; I might steal it at some point).

 

[VanillaThunderbolt]

The problem with that Flareon is besides being outclassed by Heatran, it's also walled by Heatran.

I have to agree with Heathcliff on the AgiliGross idea, it's definitely a filler for the Speed this team generally lacks, and gives more variety.

Also agree about Scizor>Gengar when countering T-Tar, however, Gengar is still pretty awesome. You could always try Sub/Salac or Sub/Petaya instead though. As far as coverage goes though, you could do Hidden Power [Ice] and Thunderbolt, with Shadow Ball for STAB. Or, even better. Mix the Sub/Berry Set with Pain Split for recovery and a way to mess up Blissey. If you did that option, I would suggest Shadow Ball and HP Fighting>Focus Blast. The accuracy will mean the world once you lose that chance you needed because of Focus Blast.

 

[Enzap]

Yeah, Heatran is a lot better than Flareon. But if you insist on keeping Flareon, why does it have Lava Plume and not Flamethrower or a Fire Fang?

 

[PlatinumDude]

Yeah, Heatran is a lot better than Flareon. But if you insist on keeping Flareon, why does it have Lava Plume and not Flamethrower or a Fire Fang?

It's because Flareon is using a support set (Lava Plume provides burn support). Also, for Azelf, you can drop one of your offensive moves (Fire Blast or Psychic; your choice) for Taunt (it prevents other leads from setting up SR or spreading status).