Team Edit?

[Coontank!]

So my friend recently told me that she was getting Platinum, and since I am not, I asked her to teach my Zangoose an elemental punch through the move tutor once she gets the game. This Zangoose is for my competative team I posted a while ago here, so I wanted some advice as to which punch to teach it and what I should do to compensate the change. Here's Zangoose as I had planned it:

Zangoose @ Silk Scarf: Immunity
Jolly; 252 Spd, 252 Atk, 4 Def
- Swords Dance
- Return
- Close Combat
- Quick Attack


And here's the rest of the team:

Bastiodon @ Leftovers: Sturdy
Careful; 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Stone Edge
- Avalanche


Skuntank @ Life Orb: Aftermath
Hasty; 252 Atk, 204 Spd, 54 SpAtk
- Crunch
- Fire Blast
- Explosion
- Toxic


Slowbro @ Leftovers: Own Tempo
Calm; 252 HP, 128 SpDef, 128 SpAtk
- Calm Mind
- Slack Off
- Surf
- Thunder Wave


Mismagius @ Life Orb: Levitate
Modest; 252 SpAtk, 252 Spd, 4 HP
- Shadow Ball
- Thunder Bolt
- Psychic
- Pain Split


Altaria @ Leftovers: Natural Cure
Bold; 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpAtk
- Roost
- Sing
- Featherdance
- Dragon Pulse


I was thinking Ice Punch first, because Bastiodon can't really be relied upon to supply the ONLY Ice attack on the team. But then again, Altaria's Dragon Pulse takes care of the important part of that coverage (namely Dragons). Fire Punch looks good, because Skuntank's Fire Blast is a litte innaccurate to be the only Fire support the team has. But would I get more coverage with Thunder Punch?

And then once I decide that, I'll probably take Quick Attack out of the moveset to make room. But with that gone, Silk Scarf wouldn't be the best item. Life Orb would probably be my next bet, but I already have two Pokemon holding it. I don't like all that damage. What would I do for an item?

This is kind of troublesome. Any suggestions?

 

[Wiilio]

Well are you planning on having this team try its luck in OU? If so, then I'd say definitely go with Ice Punch. It might even be better in UU because of the abundance of Grass-types and Ice Punch gets a lot of coverage. As far as I know of, there aren't any Steel-types that are immune to Earthquake in UU (Could be forgetting some) so you might consider slapping it onto something here. Maybe make Altaria a Dragon Dancer?

By the way, whatever happened to that Poison team? I left a comment about things you could use to counteract the Ground-type weakness... It'd be really cool if you could make it work.

 

[dukeburger]

It might even be better in UU because of the abundance of Grass-types and Ice Punch gets a lot of coverage. As far as I know of, there aren't any Steel-types that are immune to Earthquake in UU (Could be forgetting some) so you might consider slapping it onto something here.

Well, everything and its mother are getting Magnet Rise in Platinum. Earthquake would obviously be a good idea to fit in somewhere on this team (let's face it, not everything is going to have Magnet Rise but I'm just pointing it out), but Wiil is right about getting a lot of coverage with Ice Punch.

Now I'm wondering if this is UU too, because I'm wondering about Dragon Dance (as Wiil suggested) on Altaria over what I'm guessing would be Feather Dance. I can see Dragon Dance being more useful in UU and I think Altaria would like the speed boost... although in that case it would obviously be smart to switch your dragon move to something like Outrage (I didn't double check this but my guess is that it gets it in Platinum since tons of non-dragons get it for some reason). Anyway I'm basing that off of the idea that the biggest threat to Altaria in UU would most likely be Ice Beam (aside from dragon moves on other Altarias and not fully evolved stuff perhaps), so Feather Dance to help force switches may not work in your favor (plus you also have Sing for that). I guess that's a different story in OU but Dragon Dance could help you there too... unless you are really going for something more bulky. I feel like I just made this worse.

By the way, whatever happened to that Poison team? I left a comment about things you could use to counteract the Ground-type weakness... It'd be really cool if you could make it work.

I'd like to know this too.

 

[Coontank!]

Well are you planning on having this team try its luck in OU?

If it ends up that way, yeah. I was pretty much planning to battle anybody who wanted to, regardless of tiers. I just made a team of my favorites or Pokemon that I've always wanted to use but never have, and they all just happened to be UU. So I guess that'll be where I'll mainly use this team, but I'm not limiting it to UU.

I'd say definitely go with Ice Punch.

Yeah.
Zangoose @ ???: Immunity
Jolly; 252 Spd, 252 Atk, 4 Def
- Swords Dance
- Return
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch

That looks better to me. Now for the item? Is there anything else besides Life Orb that does a similar job but isn't a Choice item?

Earthquake would obviously be a good idea to fit in somewhere on this team

I originally had Earthquake on Bastiodon but someone (I forget if it was here or not) discouraged me from it because it's not a STAB and it has such low Attack in the first place. I could always put it back in the moveset, but I kind of like Avalanche there better anyway. So if what you said about Magnet Rise applies, then I think I should be fine without Earthquake.

Maybe make Altaria a Dragon Dancer?

I considered that as well, but I don't have anything that could hinder a physical sweeper. I don't know if that's necissarily needed, but I think Zangoose's Swords Dance is similar enough. Except for the Speed boost :/

the biggest threat to Altaria in UU would most likely be Ice Beam (aside from dragon moves on other Altarias and not fully evolved stuff perhaps), so Feather Dance to help force switches may not work in your favor (plus you also have Sing for that).

Well my intention with Altaria isn't necissarily to force switches- I wanted to Sing them to sleep, then use Feather Dance to hinder them for when they wake up. Then attack. True, forcing a switch that way is most likely how it's going to turn out, but I'm not complaining since it's more Stealth Rock damage spread.

unless you are really going for something more bulky.

Pretty much, yeah. I recognize that it might/probably not work the way I want it to, but I'm trying for the bulk anyway. I REALLY wish Altaria could learn Thunderbolt or something.

By the way, whatever happened to that Poison team?

I tried, but ran into some problems while breeding. I couldn't get Pokemon with decent IVs to save my life, and in order for the team to be successful, I knew I would need that. The only ones that sorta worked out were Toxicroak, who had 31 in Attack I believe (but unfortunately under 10 in speed), and Tentacruel, who had 30 in SpAtk and near-perfect in something else. And Skuntank, which I'm using for this team, who has near perfect in both Atk and Spd (I forget the exact values). But the rest were just dismal no matter what I did (I couldn't get anything with above 17 in ANY stat), not to mention that breeding Nidoran is annoying as hell. So I decided that it would be more worthwhile to make a team that would have a fighting chance, while still using my favorites.

I've actually made quite a bit of progress in this team. I have all of the individuals I'm using, except for Shieldon; still working on that. That's farther than I ever got with the Poison one haha.


THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUGGESTIONS, GUYS!

 

[Tina]

Now for the item? Is there anything else besides Life Orb that does a similar job but isn't a Choice item?

You could use a Focus Sash considering how frail Zangoose is and it'd ensure that you'd get a Swords Dance off. ...Provided that Stealth Rock/Spikes isn't in play, but yeah.

Who's your lead, by the way?

EDIT: I'd also switch around the natures for Slowbro and Altaria. Slowbro has less SpDef, which I could see you going for a Calm nature because of that.. but it's still better to go with Bold since that enhances the ability to do what Slowbro does best - physical... walling, tanking, sponging, whatever the hell you would call it. Same with Altaria, I think a SpDef based set would enhance what one of the things Altaria does best and gives it a reason to use it over other dragons. Sort of. Kind of. :<

I'd also take off Psychic on Mismagius since it doesn't really grant it much coverage. If you don't want to breed for Hidden Power (understandable), you could always go with Energy Ball or something.

 

[Coontank!]

You could use a Focus Sash considering how frail Zangoose is and it'd ensure that you'd get a Swords Dance off. ...Provided that Stealth Rock/Spikes isn't in play, but yeah.

Oh Focus Sash! I didn't even think of that one. Thanks for the suggestion

Who's your lead, by the way?

Bastiodon. Yeah, it's slow to be using Stealth Rock/Roar, but... I do love Bastiodon.

I'd also switch around the natures for Slowbro and Altaria.

I definatley see what you mean. But I'm keeping them the way they are for three reasons: (1)I was looking foreward to some Calm Mind fun with Slowbro, (2)I want to test the Altaria set I have, just to see how something like that would fair, and (3)I already have Slowbro and Altaria bred, and I'm lazy, so I don't want to go through the trouble of re-breeding. But if the team doesn't work, I'll definatley apply your advice, because it's good.

I'd also take off Psychic on Mismagius since it doesn't really grant it much coverage.

Yeah. I originally had Will-o-Wisp in the set, but without Psychic, a Fighting Pokemon could tear through this team.

 

[Pika25]

a Fighting Pokemon could tear through this team.

Is that where Slowbro or Altaria come into play? Mixape with Grass Knot and HP Ice would still tear through Slowbro and Altaria; come to think of it, same way for Machamp with Ice Punch and Thunder Punch, or even Specsluke with Dragon Pulse (or HP Ice) and Dark Pulse.

 

[Coontank!]

Is that where Slowbro or Altaria come into play?

Well the sets that I have for both of them aren't really made to deal with Fighting types. Hence Mismagius' Psychic. Yeah, I know I should probably have more than one way to deal with them, but... meh, can't have it all, can you. haha.