Turtlecash's Main Team

[turtlecash]

This is a team of mine that I've been using against some friends who are kind of competitive (Not overly though). I've also tried using this team in online play once in awhile. It's was just full of physical attackers when I first created it, but I tried to edit it a bit with defensive Pokemon and a Sp Attacker too. This used to be the best team among my group of friends, but they've started learning to exploit its weaknesses.

This is the team:

Ninjask @ Focus Sash (Female)
Ability: Speed Boost
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 6 Sp Def / 252 Speed
- Swords Dance
- Protect
- Baton Pass
- X-Scissor

Comments: Protect, Swords Dance, Protect, and then Baton Pass those boosts over to Metagross. That's my opening moves every time it seems. Obviously it has problems sometimes but I couldn't figure out a way to get around most of them, so I just hope they don't appear most of the time. X-Scissor is there so that Ninjask has a way of attacking if it needs to.

Metagross @ Leftovers (No Gender)
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 6 HP / 252 Speed
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Hammer Arm
- Zen Headbutt

Comments: When it has boosts to speed and attack coming from Ninjask, Metagross is a fast and very useful physical sweeper. Without those boosts it's far less effetive, but I've still won with it.

Sharpedo @ Choice Scarf (Female)
Ability: Rough Skin
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 6 Def / 252 Speed
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Crunch
- Waterfall

Comments: Sharpedo is just a glass cannon. Hit hard and hope I can knock out my opponent before they knock me out, there isn't much strategy to it, but Sharpedo is good for finishing off an already damaged opponent. I put Choice Scarf on it because it doesn't tend to survive long enough to need to switch moves anyways.

Gengar @ Wise Glasses (Female)
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 Sp Atk / 6 Speed / 252 Def
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power (Fighting)

Comments: Well, it's a levitating ghost. I like to switch Gengar into Earthquakes or fighting type moves. Aside from that, she's the only special attacker on my team.

Torterra @ Leftovers (Male)
Ability: Overgrow
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Atk / 108 Def
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Leech Seed

Comments: Torterra is defensive and can set up Steath Rock. It also has two methods of constant recovery. There isn't too much that's exciting about this one.

Infernape @ Life Orb (Male)
Ability: Blaze
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 6 HP / 252 Speed
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Punishment

Comments: The first two moves are pretty obvious, U-turn is often used to switch to Gengar when I smell an Earthquake coming, and Punishment is simply there because I find it cool, and it helps if my opponent goes crazy with stat boosts.


Main Problems:

Weather: If Ninjask fails and Metagross doesn't receive boosts I have trouble. Tyranitar, Hippowdon, and Abomasnow pretty much ruin things for me with Sandstorm or Hail.

Trapping: Wobbuffet's ability messed with Ninjask a bit in the past, but I changed that with X-Scissor. Now getting stuck in an Encore can throw me off (although nobody's tried it yet). Block and Mean Look can cause problems too.

Taunt: One of my friends figured this one out recently and now puts his Taunt-using Gyarados at the top of his team whenever we battle. Of course any Taunt user causes problems though.

Pursuit: Another move that one of my friends discovered recently. When Ninjask passes to Metagross she's almost always at 1 HP, so Pursuit destroys me. Among my friends I've only seen it on a Floatzel so far.


So, does anyone have some suggestions or tips? I'm always working on improving this team, so of course I'll welcome any advice. I'd like to see how other people would rate this team too.

 

[Jimiinthesky]

i have to say i really really like this team, i only have one or two small suggestions
i have a torterra and i use a focus sash on him, this works remarkably well, because i find that there are a hell of a lot of pokemon out there who have ice beam/punch/ hp ice. like the moveset though

on gengar, i'd give him ev's in speed not defence, as the main idea is that he'll outrun most things and then get a super effective hit on them, also maybe an expert belt to boost the super effective hits?

you have a slight weakness to boltbeamers, and you could use a special wall
how do you feel about a milotic instead of sharpedo?

252 hp, 6 spA, 252 spD
leftovers

surf
toxic
protect
mirror coat


not sure about that moveset, but would be useful to have a wall/annoyer on the team

other than that, great team!

 

[Ino-Chan]

If this is for online, you shouldn't have problems with Wobbefett at all. and I agree with the fact you need a wall, though if you don't like Milotic, Vaporeon is always a good choice.

 

[Jimiinthesky]

plus wobbuffett is under the uber tier, so you shouldnt be fighting wobbuffets anyway

 

[turtlecash]

Of all the members of the team, I'd probably be more willing to drop Sharpedo than any of the others actually. Milotic is a pain to get right, especially one with Mirror Coat (breeding gives me headaches) but it could definitely be worth it so I may just give it a try. I hadn't thought of Vaporeon (since I haven't used one since Red version) but I might give it a try too.

I guess after that I'd train a new Gengar with Speed Evs. I see how that would probably be better.

I'll also try out Torterra with a Focus Sash, but I think I'd be more likely to switch in to something like Milotic if I spotted a Pokemon that has a good chance of having an ice move.

In short: I'm going to try everything that was suggested and see what works well. Thanks for the advice jimiintheskywithdiamonds and Ino-chan.

 

[Jimiinthesky]

no problem hope it works out
if you like we could have a battle to try your team out?

 

[turtlecash]

First I have to become not-lazy enought to try out every suggestion and completely rework my team with what's best.

Also, there are two other things about this team I just remembered:

1: Occasionally Aerodactyl will take Sharpedo's spot.

2: I have a second Torterra (well actually I have about 30 but let's not get into that) that serves a similar purpose. The only difference between it and the one above is that Stone Edge is replaced with Synthesis on the other one.

Speaking of healing moves, I wonder, how would Recover work out on a Milotic? (Must test...)

 

[SharKing]

I like the team, but why Hammer Arm on Metagross? That throws away the Speed boosts! I'd go for Meteor Mash.

 

[turtlecash]

I use Hammer Arm to land big hits on defensive Normal Types mostly. Infernape is okay at dealing with oppoents like Blissey and Snorlax, but I find Metagross handles things better.

Of course I try to use Earthquake, Zen Headbutt, and Ice Punch instead whenever I can so that the speed stays up.

As for Meteor Mash, I don't really like its accuracy and I don't think 100 power makes up for it. Plus Hammer Arm's fighting type covers almost everything that steel does anyways.

 

[Wiilio]

Metagross pretty much needs Meteor Mash. Excellent STAB move, and has a chance of an Attack boost. Zen Headbutt has pretty poor coverage. Instead of that, how about Explosion? Great move when you know you're about to die. You can then use Choice Band to power up all of your moves.

 

[ShinyFlareon]

^ Wiil, the problem with a Choice Band is that he would also need to repeat the Baton Passing of Speed Boosts from Ninjask to it every time Metagross switches out. He said himself he has problems with Metagross occasionally being too slow without them. Just pointing that out, sorry for the quick response, I need to get to class.

 

[Wiilio]

Then use Life Orb? :/

I'd put Focus Blast over HP Fighting for Gengar and use its Hidden Power for something else, like Ice. Sludge Bomb has pretty crappy coverage. You can opt for Energy Ball (at least you can hit Swampert) or Explosion. It's going to hit hard even with a -Atk nature. Stone Edge on Infernape; much better coverage.

For your concerns about weather: X-Scissor 2HKOs Tyranitar and might OHKO Abomasnow (pretty sure it 2HKOs the standard set) and OHKOs after a Swords Dance. You might consider using Leftovers over Focus Sash and Substitute over Protect. That way, if they decide to be stupid and not use an attack move, you can Swords Dance up and kill them off. This strategy also works well against lead Azelf, since they often use non-attack moves on the first turn (Stealth Rock, Trick).

Taunt isn't too much of a problem. It will only mess up Ninjask and Torterra. Ninjask can Substitute before anything uses Taunt on it, but Torterra's just screwed. I don't like Torterra on this team to be honest... maybe replace it with another physical wall like Skarmory or (if you want to keep Leech Seed) Tangrowth?

Your other threats are very valid. Pursuit is going to throttle Gengar and Ninjask. Mean Look (while uncommon) is going to stop any plans you have with Ninjask. However, Mean Look is very easy to predict, so you can probably go ahead and Baton Pass out before it's used. As was previously stated, Wobbuffet is an Uber, so you will never run into it with this team. At least, you shouldn't.