HG/SS Air-time competitive lineup

[Superbird]

Okay, could I have reviews? Maybe? Please? Also, what tier should I put this lineup in?

Swellow@Flame Orb
252 ATK, 252 SPD, 6 HP
Jolly, Guts
~Flying
~U-Turn
~Facade
~Arial Ace

Before you judge me on Fly, I'll tell you the strategy. By using Fly, this thing's flame orb will kick in while it's in the air, making for a Guts-boosted Fly. It also leaves Facade as an open slot, for even more tearing stuff apart (STAB, Burn,...). U-Turn gets it out of there in a pinch. Arial ace is more STAB, and type coverage. Also, it was already at lv. 100 before I realized it could get Brave Bird with breeding, and I didn't want to try again.


Aerodactyl@Expert Band (Muscle Band)
252 ATK, 252 SPD, 6 SDEF
Adamant, Pressure
~Earthquake
~Rock Slide
~Ice Fang
~Thunder Fang

I call it my coverage sweeper. Mainly offensive, it is based mostly off of getting off an Expert Belted super-effective hit. Until I get an expert belt, though, I'm using a muscle band. Anyone know where to get an Expert Belt in HG? Anyway, Rock Slide is for STAB. Earthquake is for general coverage, as it covers Steel, Poison, and Rock-types. Ice Fang gets Grass, Ground, and especially Dragon (as most dragon-types I'll see are 4x weak to it.). Thunder Fang covers those pesky Water-types. Really, the only types it doesn't cover are Normal, Fighting, Psychic, Dark, and Ghost.


Charizard@Choice Scarf
252 SATK, 252 SPD, 4 DEF
Mild, Blaze
~Flamethrower
~Focus Blast
~Air Slash
~Dragon Pulse

First off, I wish I could've gotten a modest one, but after 37 and a half eggs, you take what you can get (or at least I did anyway). Anyway, this is a Choiced Special Sweeper. Its speed was very sub-par, especially compared to Aerodactyl and Swellow, so I thought the Scarf would be the best addition. Anyway, its Specia attack is about halfway between Swellow's attack (average, ~250) and Aerodactyl's attack (good, ~350), being about 320. The set goes for as much coverage as possible--Flamethrower and Air Slash for STAB, Dragon Pulse for Dragons and general neutral type-coverage, and Focus Blast for more coverage.


Mantine@leftovers
252 SDEF, 252 HP, 4 DEF
Calm, Water Absorb
~Aqua Ring
~Toxic
~Surf
~Blizzard

I really would've liked to teach this thing Roost and Calm mind over Aqua Ring and Blizzard--but IT CAN'T LEARN EITHER. Excuse the excessive caps usage. Anyway, Water Absorb means a free switch-in to a Water-type attack. For the time being, it has Surf and Blizzard as offensive options, so...nothing much more to say.


Skarmory@??? (help appreciated)
252 DEF, 252 HP, 4 SDEF
Bold, Keen Eye
~Roost
~Steel Wing
~Taunt
~Payback

First--I would've loved Impish for this, but see my excuse for Charizard up above. Second--This set would work much better if this thing had a halfway-decent Attack stat. Really just here as a staller, it whittles down the opponent's HP with a Taunt/Payback strategy, then Roosts away if it gets low on health. Unfortunately, Mantine is inversely better than it, Stat-wise ( I realize they're opposites--Mantine's SDEF is higher than Skarmory's DEF).


Claydol@??? (need advice)
252 DEF, 252 HP, 4 SDEF.
Calm, Levitate
~Stealth Rock
~Earth Power
~Cosmic Power
~Rapid Spin

The surprise one. This one sticks out--It still counts as a flying-type in my opinion (due to Levitate), but it can suck up Rock and Electric moves easily. About nature and EVs: I started with Calm because its base SDEF was lower than its base DEF. Then, when its defense became too much lower than its special defense, I wanted to even them out with maxed-out Defense EVs. I didn't succeed. Either way, both its DEF and SDEF are around 220-270, good enough for me. Cosmic Power works well, increasing both stats too make it more annoying. Its main purpose it to set up Stealth Rock, then Rapid-spin away any hazards (eg. enemy stealth rocks). After that, it can eliminate Electrics with Earth Power (or should I change that to Psychic?). My only real regret on this thing is that it cannot heal. Should I take the leftovers from Skarmory?...

Anyway, thanks in advance!

 

[Mustardear]

Swellow: I understand what you're trying to do with Fly but, in practice, it doesn't really work in a competitive situation. Picture this:

You Fly up
Your opponent uses <insert attack here>
Your opponent switches to Steelix
You hit Steelix.

Steelix takes Fly all day, even if it is Guts boosted. To be honest you'd probably be better off with Protect, which also works well with Mantine's Toxic. Pursuit could also be an option to hit a weak Pokemon.

Aerodactyl: Looks alright, although Crunch is better than Thunder Fang on this kind of moveset. Most Water-types have good defense and Thunder Fang just isn't powerful enough to KO them most of the time. Another option is Taunt which can be very helpful if you know how to use it. You might want to go for Life Orb (or even Choice Band) instead of Expert Belt to provide extra power.

Charizard: Also looks alright. Mild nature isn't too bad - Charizard can't take hits too well anyway. It might be best to make sure you have an odd number of HP so that you can switch in twice while Stealth Rock is in play. Although you have Claydol to Rapid Spin, it's still good to be on the safe side.

Mantine: Replace Blizzard with Ice Beam. Blizzard's 70% accuracy is just too low to be reliable and also its PP could be a bit too low for a Pokemon that is designed for stalling. Aqua Ring is a bit rubbish to be honest but Mantine doesn't really have much else it can use.

Skarmory: Skarmory loves Spikes. You should definitely use them. I would suggest getting rid of Steel Wing. Steel has awful coverage, even STAB can't save it. Another must-have on Skarmory is Whirlwind (or Roar if you can't be bothered to breed, although Whirlwind is better). I would get rid of Taunt because Skarmory doesn't really have the speed to use it effectively. Also, most people will either be switching out of Skarmory or just hitting it anyway. As for Payback, it's an interesting choice. Flying-type STAB (Brave Bird or Drill Peck) is preferred but Payback could work as a surprise. Finally, Skarmory loves Leftovers. No one really plays with item clause so it's alright to have Leftovers on Mantine and Skarmory.

Claydol: This would be great as a lead. Most people love to set up Stealth Rock on the first turn so the ability to Rapid Spin and set up your own is excellent. The only thing that won't work here is Cosmic Power. It works well in theory but think about it:

You use Cosmic Power
The opponent switches to a Flying-type/Pokemon with Levitate
You can't touch it and have to switch out, wasting Cosmic Power

Shadow Ball would be very useful on this set. Many people will predict you to use Rapid Spin and therefore switch to a Ghost-type to nullify it. What could be better than to predict the switch to a Ghost-type and hit them with a super effective Shadow Ball? As for the item, I would recommend Lum Berry to get rid of status.

I'm not actually that good at team rating so there's probably a lot that others could add. My advice - test it out on ShoddyBattle. The tier will have to be OU since Skarmory and Aerodactyl are OU. If you want to put it in a lower tier, you'll have to replace those guys.

 

[Superbird]

So far, I've changed Skarmory's Taunt to Iron Defense, and gave it leftovers. Mantine now has Hydro Pump over Surf and is holding a Wide Lens. Claydol has a Quick Claw, and now has Psychic over Earth Power.
On the subject of Skarmory: I kept Steel Wing because I couldn't relearn Drill Peck at the Move Relearner for some reason, and I don't know where to get Brave Bird. Also, Stealth Rock and Spikes is kinda redundant.
For Mantine: Is there any move, especially that Mantine can learn, that raises only Special Defense?

 

[Mustardear]

So far, I've changed Skarmory's Taunt to Iron Defense, and gave it leftovers. Mantine now has Hydro Pump over Surf and is holding a Wide Lens. Claydol has a Quick Claw, and now has Psychic over Earth Power.
On the subject of Skarmory: I kept Steel Wing because I couldn't relearn Drill Peck at the Move Relearner for some reason, and I don't know where to get Brave Bird. Also, Stealth Rock and Spikes is kinda redundant.
For Mantine: Is there any move, especially that Mantine can learn, that raises only Special Defense?

Spikes and Stealth Rock is not redundant - it allows you to get lots of damage on the opponent when they switch in. They don't cancel each other out or anything.

TBH Iron Defense is a bit pointless on Skarmory because it already has massive Defense. Your opponent isn't likely to stay in with a physical attacker when they see Skarmory, they'll probably just switch to a Pokemon with a powerful special move instead. This is why I suggested Roar - when they switch to the Pokemon they want to send into Skarmory, you can use Roar to make them switch into another Pokemon, which probably can't deal with Skarmory. This also puts more Spikes and/or Stealth Rock damage on them.

As for Mantine, it doesn't really have many options apart from the ones you're already using. In fact, I would personally change Hydro Pump back to Surf because it's more reliable but it's your choice.

Note: Most people ban Quick Claw due to how unpredictable it is, which is also a reason why people don't use it.