Non-legendary team (split from pwoym)

[Necrile]

Can I get honest criticism on this non-uber/legendary team?

Spoiler

Shuckle:
(holding rockyhelmet)
-Protect
-Toxic
-Sandstorm
-Rest

Ninjask:
(holding choiceband)
-Uturn
-xscissor

Blissey:
(holding leftovers)
-Soft Boiled

Haxorus
(holding choiceband)
-Outrage

Volcarona
(holding choicespecs)
-Heatwave

Metagross
(holding choiceband)
-Meteormash

Everything unspecified are fillers.

The idea behind the team is to send Ninjask out as a scout basically, and adapt from there. If I feel I can take on the foe at hand, send out one of the three offensive I have (haxorus, volcarona, metagross). If I cannot take on the current foe, I send out shuckle if it is a fighting type or I suspect if he has fighting moves, otherwise send out Blissey. Once Blissey and Shuckle are dead, it is a game of sending out which would be best for the current foe. The strategy for blissey's defense is to outheal, and whittle down, while Shuckle is more about poisoning, sandstorming, and then resting.

 

[Pokémaniac]

First, get Pokemon Online damnit!

Next, visit smogon.com

Then uh

Well I'm not too great at this but

Ninjask as a scout makes not a lot of sense, esp. with a choice item. Think about what the opponent's going to send out against Ninjask; Rock, Thunder, Ice, Fire or Flying. Your have at least 1 sweeper weak to at least 3 of these types and can only hit super-effectively on 2 of these types with your sweepers(both of which are with Metagross, by the way).

Blissey and Shuckle don't cover each other well, since Shuckle is a mixed wall and Blissey is a special wall, and neither resist the other one's weaknesses. Shuckle also can't switch around while under Rest, since as of gen 5 the sleep counter resets when you switch out. This makes it pretty easy for the opponent to do a switch-in to a type Shuckle's weak to and either make you reset the sleep counter or lose Shuckle.

You have 2 Pokemon with a 50% weakness to Stealth Rock and one with a 25%, when you want to be switching a lot, which is pretty much suicide, so you really need a Rapid-Spinner.

Your set-up doesn't really cover many types or threats. You pretty much only cover Grass(a fairly rare type), Dragon(which can still smash you in the face, esp. considering the other main dragon Hydrogein is faster than Haxorus), Fighting, Flying(not a rare type, but one that almost always comes with another type), Rock, Psychic, Dark and maybe another few types I've missed. Really, you can't count 3 moves off as filler, because every bit of type coverage is important.

You also have three bug-types, which isn't really a great type to begin with, with a lot of weaknesses, and a poor movepool of STAB moves(it is getting bigger, though).

I think you really need to look around a bit on smogon, and test shit on Pokemon Online.

(Unless this is just an ingame team in which case it is fine.)

 

[Pokémaniac]

Also we have a Pokemon section I think it needs more love

 

[Pokémaniac]

Oh yeah and you have way too many Choice items; you should have 0-2, and if you have 2 then having Trick probably is a good idea. Choice items make it really easy to get set up by the opponent, and it lets them switch in/out easily, force switches, etc.

EDIT: And Volcarona's best feature is Quiver Dance anyway but I think I should stop writing now

 

[Necrile]

I see. I shall check out these sources. And yeah, its just for battle subway, etc. If I was going to play online, I would buy an AR and make a baton pass team. Also, yeah I see what you mean about the choice items. I was just thinking about making them a one hit wonder so to speak, but I think I'm going to keep choice on Ninjask since he is pretty much there just to get a hit off, and then switch to something else. If he stays on the field for long, he's dead anyway. You're right about shuckle, though. I didn't think about the sleep timer.

 

[Necrile]

Would replacing shuckle with Eelektross work as type coverage?

 

[Pokémaniac]

Well, it would add a little coverage, and it is a good Pokemon, but just because it doesn't have any weaknesses doesn't mean it covers well, it just means that it can switch in easier than other Pokemon. You basically need to make a list of every type and check them off as you cover them. There are sites that can do this for you, but I can't remember which ones atm, and I don't think they take into account your moves.

Also, walls are next to useless in in-game play, since walling is largely mind-games and your opponent needs to be playing well in the first place for them to be useful. Try replacing your walls with some bulky Pokemon that hit well, like Conkeldurr and the like. But make sure you find one that fits with the team! And test it with Pokemon Online~

 

[Necrile]

I just ran up a second draft of my team, and I'll be running it through Pokemon Online later on today. I did a bit of your suggestions, along with a bit of research from Smogon. Tell me what think.

Ninjask: Baton Passer
(holding leftovers)
-Swords Dance
-Baton Pass
-Protect
-Xscissor

Blissey: Cleric
(holding leftovers)
-Soft Boiled
-Aromatherapy
-Flamethrower
-Toxic

Skarmory: Spiker
(holding leftovers)
-Spikes
-Whirlwind
-Roost
-Bravebird

Breloom: Baton Receiver
(holding toxic orb)
-substitute
-focus punch
-spore
-leech seed

Metagross: Steel Force
(holding choiceband)
-Meteormash
-Earthquake
-Explosion
-Bullet Punch

Volcarona: Face Melter
(holding choicespecs)
-Heatwave
-Bug Buzz
-Fierydance
-Silverwind

 

[Mega Flare]

to be honst... that team sucks hardcore. your Volcarona has a useless move set. why two Bug and two fire moves? also why no Quiver Dance? also why not physic move on your metagross? Also bad typings... your team gets raped by Fire Types. Sad thing yuor team would be wiped by like 2 pokemon.

 

[Necrile]

Metagross w/ choice band is obviously used to get the most out of meteor mash. Also, yeah I did realize that my team is quite weak to fire, how can I fix that without completely redoing my team?

Edit: Would replacing Metagross with Haxorus I put in the above post be enough to balance?. That way both of my main attackers have no weakness to fire. Also keep in mind that two of my pokemon aren't meant to get hit often, so fire doesn't even matter that much (Ninjask and Breloom). Also, Blissey is meant to take the blunt of attacks besides fighting, which is what Skarmory is there for, besides laying down spikes.

 

[Mega Flare]

Metagross w/ choice band is obviously used to get the most out of meteor mash. Also, yeah I did realize that my team is quite weak to fire, how can I fix that without completely redoing my team?

Edit: Would replacing Metagross with Haxorus I put in the above post be enough to balance?. That way both of my main attackers have no weakness to fire. Also keep in mind that two of my pokemon aren't meant to get hit often, so fire doesn't even matter that much (Ninjask and Breloom). Also, Blissey is meant to take the blunt of attacks besides fighting, which is what Skarmory is there for, besides laying down spikes.

nothing... you got to change a few of your pokemon. get rid of like 2/3 of ether, Metagross, Skarmory, Breloom and Ninjask

 

[Necrile]

Spoiler

Ninjask: Baton Passer
(holding focussash)
-Swords Dance
-Baton Pass
-Protect
-Xscissor

Breloom: Baton Receiver
(holding toxic orb)
-substitute
-focus punch
-spore
-seed bomb

Hippowdon: Toxic Stall
(holding leftovers)
-Earthquake
-Slack Off
-Stealth Rock
-Toxic

Blissey: Toxic Stall
(holding leftovers)
-Soft Boiled
-Aromatherapy
-Flamethrower
-Toxic

Haxorus: Outrage OHKO
(holding choiceband)
-Outrage
-Dragon Claw
-Toxic
-Surf

Volcarona: Heatwave OHKO
(holding choicespecs)
-Heatwave
-Bug Buzz
-Hurricane
-willowisp

Took your advice. What think? Also, quiver dance is awesome, but it doesn't really work with choice specs

 

[Ellie]

It's a shame shuckle went if only for my love of shuckle. That's not helpful, I know, but you know... it's shuckle.

 

[Necrile]

I love shuckle too I'm definately going to put him in my NU bracket team, if I ever make one.

 

[Pokémaniac]

Shuckle came into my life as a really cool wall and is slowly being replaced as my favorite actually useful 'mon by a really cool spiker, Crustle, aka the only other Bug/Rock type.

As for the team, Volcarona is just another flavourless Pokemon w/o Quiver Dance, and it doesn't need a choice item, 2 toxic stallers in a game with so much steel and a growing number of Poison types(Toxic Spikes is coming back in now for some reason) is just silly, and Hippowdon is a dangerous Pokemon to have with so many Sandstorm teams. Also, I don't know much about this, but you should look into Evolution Stone Chansey, as I hear it's better than Blissey. (evolution stone boost def/spdef by 50% on pre-evo mons) Consider Hydreigon over Haxorus, I think it has some important advantages.

On a side-note, I've been playing some low-level Battle Subway with a friend and I've found my Choice-Scarf Heatran w/ 252SpA 252Spe and Flamethrower/Earth Power/Dragon Pulse/Dark Pulse can cover a lot of the early shit they throw at you. I just noticed that it p much was getting super effectives on everything since when we were playing I kept having to say "I can hit super-effective on either of those" when we were choosing targets. I'd also suggest Starmie if you're looking for easy kills. Basically anything with a lot of good attacking types will get you places since the AI only switches very, very, very rarely(I haven't seen it in the subway, but I think they did at the high-level b. frontier in DPPHGSS). Anyway woah big sidenote :x

(Also I kinda forgot at the start that this is in-game, but if you're going to train a team up it may as well be good for some sort of multiplayer anyway)

Anyway back to Pokemon Online which you either need to get or give me your details for!

 

[Necrile]

Oh yeah, I got pokemon online. I've won quite a few battles with my new team, mind you!

Spoiler: My New and Possibly Final Team

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
(Impish, 252 HP / 152 Def / 104 SpD)
-Earthquake
-Slack Off
-Stealth Rock
-Toxic

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
(Adamant, 12 HP / 252 Atk / 244 Spe)
-Substitute
-Focus Punch
-Spore
-Stone Edge

Metagross @ Life Orb
(Adamant, 60 HP / 252 Atk / 196 Spe
-Agility
-Meteor Mash
-Earthquake
-ThunderPunch

Blissey @ Leftovers
(Bold, 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe)
-Soft Boiled
-Aromatherapy
-Flamethrower
-Toxic

Haxorus @ Choice Band
(Adamant, 4 HP / 252 ATK / 252 Spe)
-Outrage
-Dragon Claw
-Toxic
-Brick Break

Volcarona @ Choice Specs
(Modest, 4 HP/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe)
-Heatwave
-Bug Buzz
-Hurricane
-willowisp

What information do you need?

Edit: It's funny that you should say the toxic stallers should be taken out. They are usually the game winners. The only pokemon here that isnt working right is breloom, but that's just because for some reason mine doesn't have poison heal.