DPPt/HGSS Need Advice for final EV training

[Pheonix]

Ok... glad I found these boards. Looking for some help with my team. Pretty sure I have a good setup and need a little help with a couple of my pokemon. I have read about EVs and all, but not sure I want to put in the extra effort/time of using them. I am a little leary of breeding moves on (I have big old book for reference on all movesets) but I am open to the idea of it as well as rebreeding for better natures and such. Withour further ado here I go:

Swampert
Adamant nature
Item: not sure what to use really (using amulet coin atm just to earn money going through the E4 over and over)
Hammer Arm
Earthquake - STAB
Avalanche
Waterfall - STAB

Aggron (rockhead)
Docile nature (I know I can improve that one, was just ported in from my sapphire)
Item: Wide Lens (I like the help with Iron Tail and Stone Edge)
Double-Edge
Brick Break
Iron Tail - STAB
Stone Edge - STAB

Salamance
Mild nature (actually worked out really well Atk and Sp Atk are only a couple points off from each other)
Item: Blackglasses (once again sorta just thrown in there to help with an attack)
Dragon Claw - STAB
Flamethrower
Crunch
Fly (going to change to Aerial Ace soon) - STAB

Gardevoir
Naughty nature (I know I need to redo this one, torn between modest and mild/rash just to improve defense a little)
Item: Rose Incense (once again sorta just thrown in there to help with an attack)
Thunderbolt
Psychic - STAB
Hypnosis (just to help give breathing room if I need it)
Magical Leaf

Abamasnow (I need a LOT of help with this one, figuring out a good moveset is really messing me up, going for Sp Atk btw)
Docile nature (once again, need to rebreed this one to get something good)
Item: no idea what to use, though was leaning towards Leftovers
Toxic
Ice Beam - STAB
Energy Ball - STAB
Giga Drain (didn't know what to stick in here, and he just always seemed to need the extra boost of hp drain)

Last spot I am torn between Ampharos and Gallade (or replacing Gardevoir with Gallade)
Ampharos
Timid nature
Item: no idea
Power Gem
Thunderbolt - STAB
Signal Beam
???

Gallade
Impish nature (I wanted the little extra boost to defense)
Item: no idea
Night Slash
Leaf Blade
Psycho Cut - STAB
Close Combat or Brick Break - STAB



I would love to hear what you guys have to say on all this. I am pretty new at designing a team. I have several others that I wouldn't mind using, but just the thought of getting all these other guys up to a decent level is a bit daunting in and of itself.

 

[KoL]

Your team is pretty good, as it stands. My only recommendations are:

Salamence @ Life Orb
Mild
Intimidate

- Dragon Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace

Salamence can't learn a lot of special moves, which is why I swapped Dragon Claw for Dragon Pulse (since he now has 2 physical and 2 special attacks.) Earthquake hits like a truck, so it is a good option on any sweeper with a good Attack stat. Aerial Ace for STAB on the physical side, and Dragon Pulse for STAB on the special side. You now have a mixed sweeping Salamence who can make equal use of both his attack stats.

Gardevoir @ Salac Berry
Modest
Trace

- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Calm Mind

I find Hypnosis's lacking accuracy to be a bit of a liability, and Gardevoir was made for Calm Mind in my opinion. Calm Mind up until you can't take any more hits (hopefully Salac will kick in for a speed boost) and then start sweeping. Shadow Ball will help wipe out other Psychic-types, such as Alakazam, Azelf and Cresselia.

Abomasnow @ Leftovers
Modest/Bold/Calm
Snow Warning

- Blizzard
- Energy Ball
- Water Pulse
- Shadow Ball/Leech Seed

Depends where you want to go with this. Since Abomasnow makes it hail automatically, Blizzard will never miss. Energy Ball for STAB, Water Pulse to stop Steel-types from walling you, and you can take Shadow Ball for extra type coverage or Leech Seed for a more defensive moveset. It's up to you. Take a Modest nature if you go for Shadow Ball, or either Bold or Calm for Leech Seed.

As for your final slot, I'd say Gallade is the stronger Pokemon overall, and since he and Gardevoir only share one weakness (Ghost) he should fit in OK:

Gallade @ Muscle Band/Choice Specs/Choice Band
Adamant
Steadfast

- Psycho Cut
- Close Combat/Brick Break
- Leaf Blade
- Night Slash/Shadow Sneak

If you want, you can breed Shadow Sneak onto Gallade to allow him to surprise faster opponents (Alakazam is a big target for this). Other than that, your moveset is fine. Close Combat is a bit risky on Gallade since he isn't that quick, but using the Choice Scarf will cover for you there. Choice Band will boost your Attack a lot more than Muscle Band, but Muscle Band still grants you freedom over your moves. Try the three items out and see what works best.

 

[Pheonix]

oh... didn't know about the hail/blizzard affect, well that makes things a heck of a lot simpler

I can see the reasoning for salamance, and wonder why I didn't think of it for the whole 2/2 thing : I know earthquake has a heck of a lot more bang for the buck, but I do sort of lack dark attacks (they help vs those silly psychics), meh... I am going to be spending a LOT of time in the battle tower

for gardevoir, is trace better than synchronize? and I don't have that many grass moves on my team (I tend to shy away from grass types for some reason, Abomasnow is the first real grass type I have really used) so do I go with the harder hitting shadow ball or not...

for gallade, I never did understand the choice scarf/band thing, the description is not exactly very clear, is it just one move, or is it use physical vs special (I am assuming the latter is the truth due to a lot of people using them), and will probably be going with brick break on that one

would still like to figure out what item to use with swampert too

also, this may be a silly question, but how much does the character really matter? how much of a boost does it really give?

 

[KoL]

With Gardevoir, Abomasnow and Gallade potentially packing Dark/Ghost attacks and no-one on your team being weak to Psychic attacks (Aggron and Gardevoir are resistant to it even) I wouldn't worry about the Psychics too much.

The main reason I chose Trace over Synchronize is because a sweeper does not want to be suffering from status effects, ever. Synchronize generally works better on a Pokemon who can remove the status effect once it's put on them (Umbreon for instance), plus you can pick up some evil abilities with Trace (Speed Boost, Levitate etc.)

There are three Choice items: Choice Band, Choice Specs and Choice Scarf. They will boost your Attack/Sp.Atk/Speed by 50% respectively, but you will only be allowed to use the first move you choose until you switch out. For instance, if Gallade had Choice Scarf and you attacked with Close Combat, Gallade would only be allowed to use Close Combat until he switched out.

I'm guessing by the Character, you mean their Natures. The Nature will boost one of your stats by 10%, whilst dropping another by 10%. For instance, the Adamant nature will increase your Attack stat by 10%, but drop your Sp.Atk stat by 10%. As far as I'm concerned, it's best to get your stats as high as they can go, and a 10% increase can be the difference between winning and losing.

Since you already have Leftovers on Abomasnow, you could give Swampert a Shell Bell since he packs some hard-hitting attack moves. Another option is Rindo Berry, which will reduce the damage of any Super-effective Grass-type attack. If you want, you could also give Abomasnow the Shell Bell instead and give Swampert the Leftovers, since Swampert has better defenses.

 

[Pheonix]

Actually I pretty much get the Natures, but there is also that little Characteristic down by what kind of food they like to eat. I know they all affect a stat in a positive way (no negatives) at least according to the Ultimate National Pokedex put out by Nintendo. (this book has been a lifesaver whenever I am not near my computer). Was just wondering how much of a positive boost it gives.

Also, do I really need to rebreed my Aggron? I probably should get an Adamant/Rockhead one just to make it better, but that one is already lvl 70...

 

[KoL]

Ah, the characteristic written there tells you where your highest IV stat is. Here's a quote from Bulbapedia explaining IV's:

Individual values, also known as determinant values (both often shortened, respectively, to IVs and DVs), are the Pok

 

[Pheonix]

Ok... so I finally got around to rebreeding my pokes, and am actually considering taking the time to go through and EV train them. So that aside, I only need help on 4 of my pokes since 2 of them are already at or nearly lvl 100 and fully trained with at least half decent EVs from what I can see of their stats. My question therefore goes to my remaining four that I want to use.

Gallade - I am thinking that he needs a little help in with his horrendous Defense stat in addition to the normal Attack/Speed/leftover in HP. Am I correct in this assumption? Or should I just go with the normal 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 6 Hp?

Gardevoir - pretty sure this one is just the standard special sweeper layout of 252 SpAtk, 252 Spd, 6 HP

Abamasnow - Standard special sweeper or pump more into HP to cover the massive amount of weaknesses?

Aggron - The only one I have yet to rebreed. I sort of want to wall a little bit with this one, with an already massive Defense, I was thinking of getting a Lax or Impish (leaning heavily towards Impish atm) and pumping an even spread into Atk, Def, Sp Def, and HP. Would this be a smart move or am I just fooling myself? And speaking of walling, would it be prudent to replace Iron Tail with Metal Burst (as an effective Counter)?

 

[Plapti]

Nope, Fill 252 Hp/252 Atk/6 S.Def for Gallade.

Gardevoir you could try that...

Abomasnow would be ideal for a Special Sweeper.

Aggron would Max out HP, then pump some EVs into Def and Sp.Def

 

[Pheonix]

so for Aggron go 252 HP, 128 Def/SpDef, 2 Speed? (think I did the math on that right) Or do I put more into SpDef than Def to sort of balance the two out? Like 100 Def / 148 SpDef.

 

[Plapti]

More into Def. Maybe around 200 or so would be ideal. Those EVs that are leftover go into Sp.Def.

 

[Pheonix]

And should I go with with Impish or Careful? I could come up with reasons for both, though I think the massive defense from Impish outweighs the increase in Sp Def with Careful.

Also you sounded a little hesitant with Gardevoir, is there a different EV spread to consider that might work better?

Thanks for all the input and help!

 

[Plapti]

Well...Gardevoir doesn't have great Speed, or great HP...only the Special Stats are worth mentioning. Go the 252/252 way. Speed over S.Def, but if you can keep switching into Special moves, then you could throw some into there.

And Impish so it really absorbs Physical hits. Just make sure you don't switch into a Focus Blast or a Surf.