• Welcome back to Pokécharms! We've recently launched a new site and upgraded forums, so there may be a few teething issues as everything settles in. Please see our Relaunch FAQs for more information.

I would like a critique on this team, if you don't mind.

GALLADE@Scope Lens
Adamant/Steadfast
Leaf Blade
Psych Cut
Night Slash
Brick Break
Atk~184
Def~142
SpDef~184

GALLADE is pretty much a Pokemon that I use to deal massive damage through critical hits and hammering weaknesses.


GENGAR@Expert Belt
Modest/Levitate
Sludge Bomb
Energy Ball
Shadow Ball
Dark Pulse
Def~200
SpAtk~126
Speed~184

GENGAR is my special sweeper. Generalist attacks with two good STABS.


MAGMORTAR@Wise Glasses
Modest/Flame Body
Flamethrower
Thunderbolt
Fire Blast
Psychic
Def~10
SpAtk~250
SpDef~250

Thunderbolt to get rid of those meddlesome water-types.


DRAGONITE@Persim Berry
Docile/Inner Focus
ExtremeSpeed
Fly
Dragon Claw
Outrage
Atk~251
Spdef~255
Speed~4

Outrage+Persim Berry=DANGER


SCIZOR@Shell Bell
Mild/Technician
Bullet Punch
Iron Head
X-Scissor
Metal Claw
Atk~194
Def~116
SpDef~100
Speed~100

I need the most help here.


TYRANITAR
Careful/Sand Stream
Earthquake
Ice Fang
Rock Slide
Crunch
Atk~186
Def~176
SpDef~148

Earthquake takes advantage of GENGAR's Levitate and DRAGONITE Flying-type half. I need an item idea.



List of available substitutes:
SHARPEDO, MANTINE, REGICE, LAPRAS, DRAPION, METAGROSS, WEAVILE, TOGEKISS, PORYGON-Z, DUSKNOIR, RAPIDASH, TYPHLOSIN, AGGRON, BLAZIKEN, ZAPDOS
 

KoL

Expert FPS Player
Staff member
Moderator
Let us begin:

- Gallade's looking pretty nice so far. A Life Orb will probably be a better choice for your hold item than Scope Lens to get consistently higher damage out of your attacks. As for your attacks, you've got a very nice selection thus far. Close Combat is a superior option to Brick Break due to the far higher damage it deals (the defense drops aren't worth worrying about, Gallade's job is to dish out hits, not take them) and Ice Punch is a decent alternative option to consider if Gliscor and dragons start coming along to ruin your day, but otherwise your set's solid. Your EV spread is not though - Gallade is far better off running full Attack and full Speed for a set like this.

- Gengar's set is alright, but unsophisticated. Gengar works best as a "sweeper with a twist" type of Pokemon, and should be used as such, regardless of whether you're using a Choice set or otherwise. First off, full Sp.Attack and Speed is required for Gengar when EV training, giving him any points in Defense will do nothing to benefit you. Gengar's top three attacks, as a whole (not counting Hidden Power) are Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt and Focus Blast, and any moveset for Gengar should really revolve around any two of those moves if not all three. Substitute + Hypnosis sets are available for Gengar, Destiny Bond is an option that works very well with Gengar's high Speed and Trick is a very popular option on Choice item sets. Sludge Bomb isn't necessary due to Poison's awful coverage, and Dark Pulse's coverage is the same as Shadow Ball's, making it a redundant addition entirely for Gengar.

- Magmortar does not want both Flamethrower and Fire Blast on his set - pick one or the other. This EV set is better, but those 10 points in Defense are still unnecessary. Focus Blast is a decent option over Flamethrower due to your Modest nature, although if you have a good Hidden Power type that'd be even more useful - Grass or Ice would probably be the best options. Also, if you're running just four attacks, I'd think about using Choice Specs or Choice Scarf as your hold item.

- Your Dragonite set is poor at best. Fly sucks in general, and Dragon Claw + Outrage is pointless. Combine that with ExtremeSpeed and your set is completely walled by almost everything with "Steel" in its typing - hardly dangerous. Combine that with a poor nature and Dragonite...well, sucks. Earthquake and Fire Blast are the two most favourable moves for Dragonite when it comes to coverage since Ground + Fire is all Dragon needs to hit every Pokemon in the game for neutral damage. ExtremeSpeed can stay, Draco Meteor's a potential option for a secondary Dragon STAB if you find Outrage alone is too unreliable for you (the lockdown effect is far worse for you than the confusion effect) as is Dragon Claw...there's a fair few combinations to consider for Dragonite here.

- Scizor definitely needs help - Bullet Punch + Iron Head + Metal Claw = extreme crap. There's two directions Scizor can take here, but the one I'd recommend is the Swords Dancer for this team. First of all, Mild is a horrible nature for Scizor, the EV spread sucks again (Scizor should never run anything less than 252 in Attack) and your hold item is bad as well. For the Swords Dancer, Bullet Punch and Swords Dance are mandatory, and Bug Bite + Superpower are the most popular coverage moves for it. Occa Berry and Life Orb are the most common items, and Adamant is the best nature.

- Tyranitar would probably prefer Stone Edge over Rock Slide since the flinch-hax chance won't prove effective for someone as slow as Tyranitar. Tyranitar would prefer Stealth Rock over Ice Fang here since Ice Fang offers little for his coverage and Stealth Rock is a mandatory addition to any team. Chople Berry and Muscle Band are probably the best choices for hold items.
 

Ruko

Bearded Trout Warrior
King of Lucario (KoL) said:
Gallade's job is to dish out hits, not take them
I resent this statement! You know how well my Drain Punching Gallade worked [minus occasional PP issues]
I give you two options for your Gallade - Either give it full attack and speed training, or full attack and special defense training. Defense EVs are nice, but they won't do you as much good as they would with either extra power or further boosting Gallade's already nice special defense. As for Speed vs Special Defense, I would try both ways [if possible] then decide which you want more.
Scope Lens + high-critical attack actually gives a somewhat decent [25% if I remember right] chance of landing a critical hit. It's still nothing to be relied on, but will give gallade a sort of wildcard factor that can't be predicted/defended against like steady power can. So long as you keep it holding the Scope Lens, I think your set works perfectly as it is and would only consider changing Brick Break. Close Combat is a better option if you were to go for speed training, but would heavily cripple you if you had gone for special defense training. For special defense training, Drain Punch is an option, but Brick Break would still probably suit your Gallade better.

My other bit of advice is an option for Gengar
KoL covered most other attacks I would suggest, but left out Curse. Curse should be used interchangeably with Destiny Bond with two major differences: 1 Curse will never fail to activate and cannot blocked by any means. 2 Rather than directly killing your opponent, you force them into a difficult decision of whether to switch away and save it, or keep them in battle only to be doomed. Either way, you can buy yourself a free turn fairly easily [which can in turn be used to set up Swords Dance on Scizor, for instance]

pyrobot said:
Earthquake takes advantage of GENGAR's Levitate and DRAGONITE Flying-type half. I need an item idea.

Is this team intended for double battles, or were you simply trying to make a team that could function in both singles and doubles? Making a team that can function effectively in both is hard to do.. and if this were intended for doubles, then a lot of our advice so far means very little :X
 

KoL

Expert FPS Player
Staff member
Moderator
Ruko said:
I resent this statement! You know how well my Drain Punching Gallade worked [minus occasional PP issues]

OK, YOUR Gallade could take hits...but that's the only one I've seen attempt that set. :p
 
I do seem to have neglected to mention that I intend to use this team for both single and double battles. However, I will attempt to reconstruct this team solely for the purpose of single battles while carefully considering your suggestions (because only fools blindly follow advice). It also cannot hurt to have a specialized team as opposed to a general operations team.
 
Top