[closed, thanks to all who contributed]

[Nytestryke24]

[please note, this team is still in construction]

Hey and welcome to my 'Rate my BL team!' thread!

I am open to suggestions on both natures, movesets and items.

Espeon [special sweeper] @ Expert Belt
Nature: Mild
EVs ??? Sp.Atk/ ??? Spd (weird EV mix-up means it has slighty lower than max stats)
-Psychic
-Hidden Power [water] [70 power]
-Shadow Ball
-Calm Mind

Umbreon @ Lefties
Relaxed
EVs 252 HP/200 Atk/56 Sp.D
-Curse
-Payback
-Wish
-Protect

Zangoose @ Focus Sash
Jolly
EVs 252 Atk/6 Def/252 Spd
-Quick Attack
-Close Combat
-Shadow Claw
-Swords Dance

Mesprit @ Lefties
Bold
EVs 252 HP/68 Def/92 Sp.A/96 Sp.D
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Psychic
-U-Turn

Mismagius [annoyer] @ ?
Nature: Mild (odd nature, I know :P but it has good IVs :D)
EVs 252 Sp.Def/ 252 Spd
-Pain Split
-Confuse Ray
-Will-o-wisp
-Shadow Ball

Miltank [healer] (Scrappy) @ Lefties
Nature: Impish
EVs 252 HP/ 32 Spd/ 224 Def
-Body Slam
-Heal Bell
-Milk Drink
-Stealth Rock

Well, that's the team.
(which seems to use an awful lot of Leftovers :P)

Thanks,

~Nyte

 

[Phoenixsong]

Re: BL team needs help!

Ratings out of ten are pointless; all you need is advice, not a superficial number.

First of all, I'd suggest actually finding out what Espeon's EVs are if at all possible. If you have enough EV-lowering berries, save, feed them to Espeon and see how many it takes to get the stat down all the way (remembering that it reduces any EVs over 100 down to 100 the first time and then reduces by 10 after that). That way you can at least guess.

How strong is Espeon's Hidden Power? Do you know? If it's anything under 60 base power I honestly wouldn't bother with it. You're better off with Grass Knot, which will hit for 80+ base damage more often than not, especially against things it's super-effective against anyway.

Umbreon, hm. If you're willing to breed for Curse and Wish, Curse/Payback/Wish/Protect is a good set for Umbreon. If not, well... Umbreon almost always needs Wish, really. But you can try Mean Look/Baton Pass/two other moves or something. Too lazy to find the EVs you'd usually give sets like that but they're both pretty common so you can find them with a little searching.

Why is Leafeon Naïve when it could be Jolly? I mean, it's not going to survive special hits very often anyway, but why make it even easier to knock out when you could lower an entirely useless stat instead? Synthesis is not a good idea if you can help it, because Sandstorm (and the other weather conditions, but mostly Sandstorm) are all over the place and you'll find that the move isn't particularly useful a lot of the time. If you want healing, Wish is a little more reliable, but Leafeon is normally better off attacking or Baton Passing Swords Dance anyway. At least give it Aerial Ace, Return, Quick Attack or some other offensive move. You can try Grasswhistle if you aren't afraid of the terrible accuracy.

Flareon, uh, isn't BL by anyone's standards that I'm aware of, but sure, use it if you want. Again, how strong is its Hidden Power? The extra type coverage means almost nothing if the power is below 60. Sweepers generally don't bother with Roar or status moves; if you must have Roar, Umbreon is a better candidate as it's more likely to be set up on and so you'll have more of a chance to Roar away stat boosts. Give Flareon Iron Tail and/or Return, and unless that Hidden Power is at least power 60 replace it with Shadow Ball; at least consider giving it Shadow Ball somewhere. Quick Attack for revenge kills might be nice, too.

Double Team is banned in your average competitive battle, so unless you know for a fact you will only use Mismagius in situations that allow DT you need to get rid of it. Try giving it either Will-O-Wisp or Thunder Wave for a double-status set (you could also replace Toxic with one of those moves if you liked). I suggest Will-O-Wisp as it'll also reduce the opponent's attack and Misdreavus's defense sucks. Psywave is absolute crap in competitive play and in general because it's so unreliable; seriously, why doesn't it have Shadow Ball? Another non-ghost attacking move (try Thunderbolt) is probably a better choice than Protect.

What is Miltank's ability? If it isn't Scrappy you get walled by most Ghost-types, so I'd consider a move that can hit those (like Zen Headbutt) if you can get one.

Item-wise, Umbreon and Miltank should probably have Leftovers. You could default to Leftovers on the rest of them as well if you can't think of anything else, but Flareon, at least, should probably have Life Orb if you want it to be a proper mixed sweeper.

Overall, this is an okay team. I don't know that it'll win very often because the Pokémon don't work very well together or support one another other than covering some weaknesses. Why not consider having Espeon or Leafeon pass some stat boosts? Your team isn't really set up to take advantage of that, either, though... all you have is three sweepers with poor movepools, an annoyer and two defensive Pokémon that seem kind of thrown in. It's decent, but it isn't great.

And there's probably plenty more I could suggest/say but I have other things I need to get to. Might have more suggestions later, if you're open to them.

 

[Nytestryke24]

Re: BL team needs help!

Thanks very much!!!

So, basically, what you're saying is: it's not particularly good. :sweatdrop: :P But that's good. Shall I just go back to square 1 then? I would very much like to have Espeon and Leafeon in the team, seeing as both of them are EV'd and Espeon is my favourite pokemon and has already been through a bit with me :D.

It seems as if you think that Miltank is fine, as long as it has Scrappy (which it will have :D)

Thanks again for all your criticism and help,

~Nyte~

 

[Exdeath]

Re: BL team needs help!

Firstly, Flareon isn't all that great, since it's slow and doesn't have a very good movepool, but if you want to use it then be my guest. You might want to consider Arcanine to use as an alternative.

Also, Double Team is almost universally banned in competitive play, so get rid of it on Mismagius. In fact, drop the whole moveset and replace it, possibly with a Calm Mind sweeping set, although an annoyer set is perfectly viable.

I suggest Impish for Miltank, since it boosts defense and you won't be using special moves with her.

Leafeon should have Baton Pass over Synthesis, and should preferably be Jolly. There isn't much else he can do, and those boosts would be nice for Arcanine if you decide to use him.

 

[Nytestryke24]

Re: BL team needs help!

Ok, Impish for Miltank. EVs good as they are or need tweaking?

Flareon isn't necessary, but as far as I know, Arcanine hasn't got an exactly brilliant Movepool either, does it?

For Leafeon, would an all-out sweeper be possible? So, instead of Synthesis it would have Aerial Ace or Iron Tail perhaps?

Mismagius can be dropped, but you say an Annoyer set is perfectly viable. What if I simply replaced Double Team with, say, Confuse Ray?

Also, found out what Power Espeon's Hidden Power has. 70. :D

Thanks very much for your help,

~Nyte~

 

[Exdeath]

Re: BL team needs help!

I wouldn't know too much about Miltank EV spreads, but it looks fine to me. You might want to siphon off a few of those attack EVs and put them in defense, depending on how much you want her to be attacking.

True, Arcanine doesn't have a great movepool, but it's much better than Flareon's,(Fire Fang and Bite? No thanks) and his stat spread is much more appropriate for the job.

I wouldn't recommend an all-out set for Leafeon, as Baton Passing is his best asset, as he can't provide much type coverage outside of Leaf Blade and X-Scissor. Aerial Ace only outdamages Leaf Blade on Toxicroak and stuff like Scyther and Venomoth, which kill you pretty easily. It provides too little type coverage to be worthwhile. Iron Tail only outdamages Leaf Blade on Ice types, which, y'know, generally are faster and will kill Leafeon on sight. Really, you should be using Baton Pass, especially since, as I've said, Arcanine would benefit immensely from a Swords Dance or two.

Confuse Ray is fine, but I suggest you take Kratos Aurion's advice on what to do with Mismagius.

That's a great Hidden Power on your Espeon; it's a keeper, IMO.

 

[Nytestryke24]

Re: BL team needs help!

Problem with the Baton Pass thing is I've already got the Leafeon EV'd and evolved, so it'd be a real pain to do everything again :( If it's necessary, I'll do it though.

I don't think I'll use Arcanine, will have a look at some other BL pokes and get back to you. (same goes for Mismagius)


So, everything can go apart from Espeon, Miltank and [maybe] Leafeon?

Thanks for your renewed feedback,

~Nyte~

 

[Vyraura]

Re: BL team needs help!

After reading the others, I think I'll try to help too.

[please note, this team is still in construction]

Espeon [special sweeper] Life Orb or Expert Belt
Nature: Mild
EVs ??? Sp.Atk/ ??? Spd (weird EV mix-up means it has slighty lower than max stats) stat lowering berries, EVs are pretty important.
-Psychic
-Hidden Power [water] [70 power]
-Shadow Ball
-Calm Mind

Umbreon [mixed wall]
If you have a smeargle with curse and wish do what Kratos said. Otherwise try
Umbreon [trap passer]
Nature: Careful
EVs 252 HP, 92 SpD, 1 64 Spe
Mean Look
Wish
Baton Pass
Yawn/Taunt/Toxic
Mean look them, then you can use yawn for sleep since they can't switch out. Taunt and Toxic are also nasty and worse when trapped. Wish is easy to breed on umbreon (togetic + eevee) and can heal whoever you pass to.

Leafeon [physical sweeper]
Nature: Naive
EVs 252 Atk/ 252 Spd/ 6 Def
-Leaf Blade
-X-Scissor
-Swords Dance
-Baton Pass/Return
Sandstorm is too common and you don't have anyone using sunny day.

Flareon [mixed sweeper]
Nature: Rash
EVs 148 Atk/ 172 Sp.Atk/ 190 Spd
-Flamethrower
-Quick Attack
-Iron Tail/Return
-Hidden Power [electric]
Mixed sweeper without physical attacks isn't good. QA for revenge kills.

Mismagius [annoyer]
Nature: Mild (odd nature, I know :P but it has good IVs :D)
EVs 252 Sp.Def/ 252 Spd
-Perish Song/Taunt/Pain Split
-Confuse Ray
-Will O Wisp
-Shadow Ball
Perish Song could be used if you Baton Pass Umbreon's Mean Look to Mismagius, but it's a bit awkward. Taunt is always irritating, and Pain Split is a good healing move, and destroys Blissey (and in that situation maxes your hp)

Miltank [healer]
Nature: Impish like they said
EVs 252 HP/ 32 Spe/ 224 Def
-Body Slam
-Heal Bell
-Milk Drink
-Stealth Rock
I put a lot more defence EVs and Stealth Rock because she's the only real support on your team, and getting a Stealth Rock out there is awesome. You could also replace Body Slam with Hammer Arm in this position, to destroy Rock/Steel switching in because of Stealth Rock, but then put the Speed EVs in attack.
Well, that's the team.
Not bad.
Please rate /10 no

Thanks,
no problem
~Nyte

 

[Nytestryke24]

Re: BL team needs help!

Thanks very much Vy!

Wouldn't it make sense to have just one damaging move on Umbreon, seeing as if it's my last pokemon I'm screwed, and if I get taunted I'm screwed. Trap passing sounds good though, seeing as I haven't got a smeargle with Wish and Curse :P

Going against what Prettzel said, I'll put Return on Leafeon instead and go for an all-out sweeper.

If I dropped Flareon, I could perhaps get Lapras for added support, maybe something like:

Lapras @ Lefties
Nature: Modest
EVs: (up to 404 hp) Sp.Def and Sp.atk
-Substitute
-Rain Dance
-Surf
-IceBeam/Raindance

perhaps?

The Mismagius suggested sounds good. Probably put Pain Split on it in favour of Perish Song/ Taunt.

Also, I have added in some items and need advice on those too :D

Thanks again for your help and advice,

~Nyte~

 

[Nytestryke24]

Re: BL team needs help!

Just realised that it shouldn't be too hard to get a Smeargle with Wish & Curse, so I might do that. If I did, would it be worth considering Taunt or Baton Pass over Protect, seeing as Taunt would screw up Tanks. Baton Passing Curse with Wish healing could be good too. (only thing would be who to pass it to)

 

[Phoenixsong]

Re: BL team needs help!

Generally you'd use Protect to guarantee healing with Wish without dying and so I'd say it's the safest bet, but the other moves could work as well.

The one problem with switching Flareon out for Lapras is that you now have a 3x weakness to Fighting. And that is a very bad type to have a 3x weakness to. At least all of the Fighting-weak Pokémon are sturdy, but it still seems like a bad idea.

 

[Nytestryke24]

Re: BL team needs help!

Ok, thanks, once again, for the feedback.

I'll see about the Protect/Taunt/Baton Pass thing.


What would you suggest in place of Lapras, then?

Thanks in advance,

~Nyte~

 

[Vyraura]

Re: BL team needs help!

You definitely want another good switch in to fighting types, I suggest perhaps Mesprit?

Bold Mesprit
252HP 68 Def 92 SpA 96 Spd
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Psychic
Thunderwave/U Turn

Thunderwave screws up sweepers, U Turn scouts out Pursuit. The EVs let him survive just about any super-effective attack, such as Life Orb Shadow Ball from Gengar.

 

[Nytestryke24]

Re: BL team needs help!

Mesprit definately looks like a good idea. Only problem is, my team then seems to have a bit of a weakness to Dark type pokemon, seeing as 3 of the pokemon are weak to Dark. Because of that, U-Turn seems like a good idea, but Thunder Wave seems nice too. Well, I think Mesprit would certainly be a good addition.

 

[Nytestryke24]

Re: BL team needs help!

Yes! I got myself a Smeargle with Wish & Curse, so now comes the long breeding process. Will transfer from Emerald tomorrow, some stupid thing with the internal clock prevents me from doing it now. Think I will end up with this:

Umbreon @ Lefties
Sassy
EVs 252 HP/200 Atk/56 Sp.D
-Curse
-Payback
-Wish
-Protect


Mesprit @ Lefties
Bold
EVs 252 HP/68 Def/92 Sp.A/96 Sp.D
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Psychic
-U-Turn


On another note, I will probably drop Leafeon in favour of something else.

Edit:

Thinking about Zangoose in favour of Leafeon. (Yes, it will give me a 3x weakness to fighting, but seeing as I have 2 strong psychics, that shouldn't be a problem, plus it could be used as something to get rid of Dark types)

Zangoose @ Life Orb/Silk Scarf (advice?)
Jolly
EVs 252 Atk/6 Def/252 Spd
-Return
-Close Combat
-Shadow Claw
-Swords Dance

With better coverage than Leafeon, and better Attack, this could be good, unless I'm severly mistaken (please tell me if I am :P)

What about Ursaring?

Ursaring @ Leftovers [Guts]
Adamant
EVs 228 HP /252 Atk /12 Def /12 Sp.D /6 Spd
-Swords Dance
-Return
-Earthquake
-Fire Punch


Thanks for any feedback I will [hopefully] get on this,

~Nyte~

 

[Vyraura]

Re: BL team needs help!

That Ursaring will be god if you predict a Toxic or Will O Wisp, but might get knocked out after the swords dance (hopefully you'll get a switch to a ghost and nail with Shadow Claw, which is hilarious).

Unless you've already bred it get a Relaxed Umbreon because you want as low speed as humanly possible so you can go last even against things like Snorlax.

I might suggest a Focus Sash for Zangoose, because he is even weaker than Ursaring (if you choose him over Ursa) which lets you SD on the false KO then sweep. Unless he's against something faster than him, obviously, which you shouldn't let happen but that's all prediction and skill and such.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Re: BL team needs help!

Zangoose commonly runs Quick Attack to stop other sash Pokémon and so it can at least hurt stuff before it dies. STAB + Swords Dance + that attack stat = not too shabby Quick Attack as long as the opponent doesn't resist/isn't immune. Silk Scarf is probably what you'd use then, or I guess sash, dunno.

 

[Vyraura]

Re: BL team needs help!

Totally forgot about Quick Attack there, totally right Kratos. I still think Focus Sash is best with all the fighting moves out there.

 

[Nytestryke24]

Re: BL team needs help!

Totally forgot about Quick Attack there, totally right Kratos. I still think Focus Sash is best with all the fighting moves out there.

Okay, Quick Attack in favour of what? Return?
Also Vy, you mention nailing a ghost with Shadow Claw in the paragraph with Ursa, and Ursa hasn't got Shadow Claw in his moveset.. XD

Focus Sash is good, but what about all the sandstorms and hailstorms? They kinda nullify Focus Sash.. :sad:

But yeah, I'll have a think about whether I choose Ursaring or Zangoose, then the only thing missing will be what item I should use on Mismagius.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Re: BL team needs help!

Ideally you'd want to keep Return for the raw power, but that's generally for CB sets. So yeah, instead of Return, I suppose.

As for Sandstorm, well, that comes with the territory. You either need to have something that will change the weather in your favor or else take the risk. If there weren't people willing to take the risk then Lucario, Scizor and Rampardos would pretty much be the only things you ever see with it, and that isn't the case. ;)