Teambuilding in school because Showdown is blocked.
Using whatever resources I've been scrolling through that given day.
This could potentially go in rate my teams, not sure? I'd like feedback on the methodology used for the teambuilding as opposed to the resultant team itself buuuut it kinda goes hand in hand.
First team: Built strictly following the principles stated in the Borat teambuilding guide.
My general preferences for team structure: I rarely like using true stall teams (though I think those rarely exist in ADV, it's more of a GSC style of offense) but I highly value the ability to consistently switch, so I like aiming for bulk. I prefer my offense taking the form of intelligent management of resources and
predicting the team structure, as opposed to specifics such as moveset, EV spread, etc.
Knowing all of this, I generally lead towards bulky offense or balance teams, using a lot of specially defensive Zapdos, Skarm, Dol, bulky non-DD Tyranitar (something I will be forcing myself to build with more in the future), Metagross, etc etc.
So following the team building guide for the first time, I will be building a
Skarm beatdown bulky offense.
I'll also be using
McMeghan's explanation on how to utilise Forretress, as I feel like its fundamental strengths should be very structurally beneficial to how I like to play, but I've never been able to figure out how to utilise it.
Primary win condition: Skarm beatdown teams rely on having high damage, neutral coverage moves going off constantly to force out Skarmory to take hits it would prefer not to, and utilising a bulky spinner to clear its spikes after they've gone up, and then set up its own offense with either spikes or Skarm weak pokemon, without relying on using a team slot on Magneton.
Alternative win conditions: I love having moves which generally hit switch ins and allow me to play for double switches and pivots to whittle down the opposing pokemon with sand, toxic and usually a single spike. A lot of my mons will carry status, or forego having lower coverage (I would VERY rarely run monopert on this team structure, for example) in exchange for high coverage. Alternatively, I could have one team slot filled with a HIGHLY offensive but frail offense mon with a strong speed tier which the rest of the team facilitates with its spikes clearing (and potentially wish support?). The immediate thought which comes to mind for me is Heracross for this role, either agi pass and lefties on a guts set, or a late game subsalac set. Will see how the rest of the team turns out though, as there are like 7 different calm minders which can fulfill this purpose whilst sticking to the principle of being able to pivot into attacks midgame.
Creating the team:
My personal mainstays
- Tyranitar is almost a necessity on this team structure, as a lot of the cores of the team (Skarm, Rachi, Metagross, Claydol) are all heavy sand abusers. This team also hates having to deal with gengar, so a pursuit set and a pokemon to absorb burn is always preferable. That being said, I feel like all of my teams recently have been using pursuit tar, so in future I'm going to try experimenting with different pursuit pokemon. As it stands, stick with what I know.
- Suicune is such a strong pokemon for fulfilling this kind of bulky offense role that I honestly don't understand why it isn't considered a more vital pokemon for this role. It has the natural bulk to take most unboosted physical attacks and counter attack, it hits Skarm for strong neutral damage, and can beat out less offensively strong pokemon in the late game with pressure stalling and calm mind boosting. Generally I like to go bold with enough speed investment to outspeed 252 neutral ttar, because taking TWO rock slides is usually a bit too much on top of spikes, but it's flexible.
- Claydol is the pokemon that, in 90% of situations, creates this team style. Bulky, spinner, with access to explosion to break an overly life-filled Blissey, Zapdos, etc. Not very much moveset variation, it's basically choosing between refresh or explosion, and RS, IB or psychic as your secondary attacking move. Gets the job done and that's all you need.
The common partners
Skarmory is splashable on almost any team, and this is no exception. You don't really mind getting magneton trapped, because your goal isn't to keep it alive for the whole game, it's to have a switch in that forces out pokemon you would prefer to fight, and get up at least one spike. Taunt is usally pretty good on these sets. I personally want to try thief Skarmory on a beatdown team, because stealing a bulky opponents lefties is huge on a team like this.
Forretress can also fulfill a similar role, but requires more help in the support department.
Metagross is almost essential enough to be a mainstay. CB or mixed, both terrify skarm, and there is almost nothing that can truly safely switch in. Wisp gengar comes in to revenge kill? Oops, it's pursuit. Bye!
Specially defensive Zapdos is one of my favourite pokemon in the tier, and in my opinion this is the teamstyle it fits on the most. Rest shuts down an obscene number of pokemon that try to achieve "balance", it scares out waters and steels with ease, and hits HARD even naturally.
Aerodactyl might not be the first pokemon that comes to mind when you think of bulky offense, but it having a ground immunity gives it a fantastic number of switch in opportunities, and the ability to clean up so much of the tier with a neutral double edge at 40% greatly reduces the amount of longevity your team needs.
Salamence is in a similar position to Aerodactyl, where its unique traits (Ground immunity, AS WELL AS access to intimidate and a dragon typing) give it strong switch in opportunities, and it hits hard enough to be able to justify its frailty because so little wants to stay in on it. I like mixmence the most, and this team style also benefits from wish support, so you could even run a mono set, like the one used on the YamaWak balance team.
Swampert is the most splashable pokemon of all time,
but my personal love of suicune on this team means it doesn't get as much use as it should. If I want to run pert, I need to do a lot of compromising with the rest of my team comp.
And finally, the ever-present queen of bulk,
Blissey. Pure utility, status, and being compelled to run SpA invested IB means that Blissey can both read switch ins and force out the ever terrifying ice-weak pokemon in the tier, like Salamence, Flygon, Aero, and offensive Zapdos.
First draft of the team will be incredibly unoriginal - I will experiment with variations after testing out the team structure and checking for weaknesses. I also don't have access to EV spreads right now, so I'll update those later.
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Thunder Wave
- Fire Blast
physical bulk l8r (Claydol) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Atk / 152 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Rapid Spin
Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Calm Mind
- Roar
- Rest
toxic or hpgrass? (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 SpD / 36 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Rest
- Roar
- Toxic
bb, rs, or maybe even hp grass :O (Metagross) @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brick Break
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Explosion
idk evs (Forretress) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
- Counter
- Spikes
- Toxic
- Earthquake
Part 2: After initial testing
Given how the rest of the team functions, this current Metagross isn't really working. It can be a nice wallbreaker and end game wincondition, but this team aims to live longer than the opponent, and a CB meta doesn't really achieve that. The team currently is also struggling to break through opposing Zapdos, and doesn't have a strong switch in to it. As a result, I am now going to test out a physically defensive wish CM Jirachi set. Without the threat of spikes, this should be able to fight off most variants of Zapdos and only really fears Twave hax. It would also be nice to have a threat of Jirachi status to throw out.
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 140 SpA / 116 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Fire Blast
physical bulk l8r (Claydol) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Atk / 152 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Rapid Spin
Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Calm Mind
- Roar
- Rest
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 SpD / 36 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Rest
- Roar
- Toxic
idk evs (Forretress) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Counter
- Spikes
- Toxic
- Earthquake
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Calm Mind
- Ice Punch
- Fire Punch
My primary main fear with this team currently is Tyranitar not having the longevity to actually go into Gengar in the lategame whilst also fending off some of the other relevant threats like Forre, Skarm, Celebi, etc. Could potentially run protect in the T-wave slot, as it's rare that a pokemon that suffers to Twave switches easily into tar outside of the early game