[B/W] Rate my first competitive team

[Skyman]

*Please note* This will be, until all of the dream world abilities are released pretty much, a PO-only team.


Alright I got bored one day, so I decided to put some effort into a competitive team, and here is the fruits of my effort:

Gigalith@Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EV's: 148HP, 180ATK, 180 DEF
Nature: Impish(+DEF,-SPA)
-Stealth Rock
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-Toxic/Iron Defense

With Sturdy's newly found usefulness, Gigalith became a very appealing lead to me. With tons of attack, defense, and the ability to set up guaranteed stealth rocks, it appeared very appealing to me. Even as just a suicide lead, it does its job good by setting up the stealth rocks that I need. It can also be an excellent person to force a Ninjask to switch earlier than it would like, and when it does switch, the pokemon switching in is usually killed via a combination of stealth rocks and stone edge/earthquake.

Stone edge is on there for the mandatory STAB move, earthquake for coverage, stealth rock for obvious reasons, and either toxic to cripple a pokemon before it dies, or iron defense in order to make him even harder to take down with physical moves.

Zapdos@Focus Sash
Ability: Lightningrod
EV's: 148 SPA, 108 SPD, 252 SPE
Nature: Timid(+SPE,-ATK)
Thunderbolt
Roost
Volt Switch
Hidden Power(Ice)

With Lightningrod via Dream World, Zapdos gets another use. With it, he can switch in with ease against any electric type who would even think to try and KO Suicune, and allow him to become even more powerful at the same time. The EV spread is so that he will be fast enough to outrun most opponents, deal some damage, and still be able to take a hit without fainting.

Thunderbolt is for the STAB, Roost is to heal, Volt Switch is to get the hell out of dodge should something nasty come up, and HP Ice is deal a lot of damage to other Zapdos', Gliscor, and any other ground type.

Suicune@Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EV's: 148 DEF&SPD, 108SPA, 104SPE
Nature: Timid(+SPE,-ATK)/Calm
Rest
Scald
Reflect/Light Screen
Shadow Ball

Ah Suicune, a great tank made even better with Water Absorb. It takes the slot that would normally be inhabited by Vaporeon on this team, minus wish passing, and does it really well. Its EV Spread lets it take either type of hit with style, some special attack to do at least some damage to opponents, and enough speed combined with the nature to outrun at least something. In tandem with Zapdos, it makes a formidable opponent to face.

Rest is, of course, to stay alive longer. Scald is used to try and inflict a burn on physical sweepers while doing moderate STAB boosted damage. Reflect is the primary move in slot 3 to help with my team's defense weakness, although light screen can also be used effectively. Finally, Shadow ball rounds this out by being able to hit other pokemon with water absorb and doing quite a bit of damage against enemy psychic types not expecting it.

Volcarona@Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body
EV's: 140 SPA, 116 SPD, 252 SPE
Nature: Timid
Quiver Dance
Fiery Dance
Bug Buzz/Morning Sun
U-Turn/Substitute

This fire moth really can pack a punch with 341 SPA without a boosting nature and only 140 EV's invested. Its also fairly fast at 328 SPE with max EV's and a boosting nature. I typically use this guy when in need of a counter to any psychic type sent out against me or if I am able to set up at all with quiver dance.

Quiver Dance is an absolute given due to its amazing set up potential. Fiery Dance is used for a good STAB move that also has a high chance to boost my SPA even higher. Bug Buzz and U-Turn are usually used in the third and fourth slots, respectively, but sometimes I run Morning Sun+Substitute to be able to get a free turn occasionally to set up shop with Quiver Dance and to heal if I get lucky.

Espeon@Life Orb
Ability: Magic Bounce
EV's: 252 SPA, 4 SPD, 252 SPE
Nature: Timid
Psychic
Hidden Power(Fighting)
Calm Mind
Shadow Ball

Espeon with Magic Bounce has been a very useful pokemon to use in order to bounce back any and all potential status ailments my opponent sees fit to try and hit me with. Although that requires at least a little bit of prediction, when I get it right it can greatly annoy my opponent and sometimes even cripple one of the enemy pokes. It can also reflect those pesky stealth rocks back that would otherwise devastate my volcarona.

Psychic is of course for STAB. HP Fighting is used to take down slower Dark types with a super effective attack since many carry pursuit. Calm Mind is to boost up its power and make it able to actually take a hit. Finally, Shadow Ball is to take out other Psychics and ghosts that aren't dual-poison

Sceptile@Life Orb/Red Card
Ability: Overgrow/Unburden
EV's: 4HP, 252 ATK, 252 SPE
Nature: Lonely(+ATK, -DEF)
Leaf Blade
Brick Break
Earthquake
Leaf Storm/Rest

This guy rounds out my team by being another physical sweeper with a versatile moveset. The EV spread is just a regular physical sweeper spread, with the nature helping increase its power. I'll normally run Life Orb+Overgrow for more power, but Red Card to get rid of whoever decides to hit me+Unburden to make it faster than pretty much anything is another useful option.

Leaf Blade is to take advantage of STAB+being a physical move. Brick Break and Earthquake are both for coverage, with Leaf Storm being used to take advantage of Sceptile's high Special attack without sacrificing any of its overall attacking power. Rest is also another option should I want to use it to recover some HP, but it is usually a bad idea due to the fact that grass types have an extremely large amount of weaknesses.



I am very open to suggestions and alternatives so as to improve this team greatly, in particular a replacement to Sceptile since he is honestly my weakest link and doesn't serve too much purpose. Thank you for your time.

 

[Chief Zackrai]

In the future, please don't use those enormous images, it makes the page load for much longer than it needs. A popular choice around here is sprites.

Gigalith- given Gigalith's base defense stat of 130, I really don't think you need the bulking there. Try running Jolly or Careful with the Ev Spread 252 Attack/ 128 Sp. Defense/ 128. Remember that Sturdy only works from top HP (iirc), and if you send him out to a special sweeper, he's likely to rather quickly. He really doesn't need the defense boost at all. His Sp. Defense is a little more than half his Defense, so the bulking would be more effective there, is what I'm saying. The fact he doesn't outrun Machamp to begin with is a cry for Speed bulking, too. The moves look fine, but I would go Toxic over Iron Defense.

Zapdos- I don't see a problem here, except Volt Switch might be excessive (Zapdos doesn't really need healing and a switch move, I would think), and Heat Wave more effective in terms of coverage.

Suicune- Where's Ice Beam? I would definitely run that over Reflect/Light Screen. You'll find that Suicune doesn't need it. The only time I've had an easy time taking out Suicune is when for some reason my Breloom outran it and one-hit it with Seed Bomb. This doesn't happen often. He'll do fine without it. You may want to put more into speed and less into his defenses, but that's your choice. Oh, and his current EV spread adds to over 510.

Volcarona- I think with the set you're running, you should go with Bug Buzz and Morning Sun. With every attack, your Volcarona loses 10% of his health, and this is neglecting the damage it might take from something outspeeding it. WHY ARE YOU PUMPING MORE STUFF INTO ITS SP. DEF? If you choose to boost one of his defenses, go with regular Defense, which is much less than his Sp. Defense. But, I recommend putting those EVs into health instead.

Espeon- Put those 4 EVs into HP, and you'll be fine with this. Think about it: if you boost Hp, isn't that like boosting both defenses? I'll use Blissey as an example: it has ridiculous hitpoints, but absolutely no defenses. This makes it difficult to take down, even with a physical attack because of all the HP you have to go through. Looks fine otherwise.

Sceptile- I would run Stone Edge over Leaf Storm, because with that, Sceptile becomes a surprisingly good fire counter (except maybe Heatran). With his speed and high attack, he can sometimes one-hit even Infernape, which can be a real threat to some teams. Definitely do Adamant or Jolly over Lonely, because lowering your defenses is hardly ever a good choice.

In General- try using different items, like Choice Band on Sceptile (if you choose to go with Overgrow) and Choice Scarf or Specs on Espeon (but maybe then you don't want to ditch your stat increase move). You'll be far less likely to run into item clause this way. Maybe you want to go with the Charti Berry on Volcarona, because a pokemon with a rock-type move will absolutely destroy it.

Nice team, overall.