Hi, this is my first real team with a concept behind it; I'm new to Pokemon and just got started in gen 6. I'm inexperienced compared to many of the veterans on Smogon, so any critiques are welcome!
Teambuilding concept:
My team is based off a Heatran-Gliscor-Ferrothorn core. They complement each other's type weaknesses nicely (especially with flash fire), and also the type of defense – heatran is specially defensive, gliscor is physically defensive, and ferrothorn is both). Gliscor is especially important, since it resists fighting types attacks that can majorly hurt Heatran and Ferrothorn (most of which are physical).
My core is mostly bulky offensive, but it's more on the bulky side. So, I added azumarill, and terrakion, both of which are extremely powerful to give my team the offensive edge. Their typings complement each other (in terms of their defensive typing as well as STABs) and allows me to counterattack after relying on my core to cripple a bit of my opponent's team. Conversely, if my attackers are in jeopardy, I can switch back to my core.
Finally, greninja works well as a fast and specially powerful late-game sweeper – it has amazing coverage (especially in a team where I have 2 physical attackers), and takes care of a lot of threats to my team.
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In-Depth look at my team
Now that I've given an overview on the concept of my team, let's take a closer a look at each of my pokemon.
Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Ancient Power
- Earth Power
Heatran is a pokemon that I rely on a lot to take care of special attackers. Lava Plume is my stab; I chose it over fire blast because the 30% burn is quite helpful. Since my heatran is so bulky, it's also my stealth rocker. I put ancient power on heatran for mainly 1 reason – talonflame, which wrecks my team otherwise. It's basically the same base power as Hidden power, with that juicy 10% chance to raise all stats. Earth power simply gives me more coverage. EVs and nature is to maximize special bulkiness; the 0IV atk is for foul play.
Gliscor (F) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Taunt
- Roost
- Toxic
Gliscor is a crucial part of my team, simply because it puts a stop to fighting attacks which are super affective on 4 of my pokemon. It's sort of a stall build, where toxic and roost can stall out most pokemon that can't do more than 62% damage to me in one turn. Earthquake is my only direct attack; it hits tyranitar, heatran, lucario, etc very hard. Taunt is very helpful, as it addresses pranksters (also, gliscor is already poisoned and cannot be paralyzed) as well as pokemon with moves like soft-boiled or roost. However, I can't do much to many flying/levitators as a result, such as gengar or skarmory. EVs and nature is to maximize physical bulkiness.
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave
- Power Whip
Ferrothorn balances out Gliscor and heatran. It walls many pokemon, especially bulky water, ground, or rock types. This, like most, is a utility/ bulky pivot ferrothorn, with spikes, leech seed, and thunder wave to provide very useful support to my team. Power whip is the sole attacking move, which is surprisingly powerful on such a bulky pokemon. EVs and nature are to balance ferrothorn's natural defensive stats with his lower special defensive stats.
Azumarill (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Waterfall
- Superpower
Azumarill puts a huge dent on most pokemon that are neutral to its stabs and will usually OHKO or 2HKO pokemon that are weak to its stabs. The new fairy typing is very useful, especially for fighting types that are effective on 4 of my pokemon. Play rough and waterfall are it's power moves, whilst aqua jet gives my team valuable stab priority and superpower hits tyranitar or ferrothorn, on the switch.
EVs and nature maximize power and tries to mitigate azumarills relative frailness.
Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
Terrakion is a fast sweeper that operates much like azumarill, in a quick "hit and run" style. It's terrakion, so obviously it is very powerful offensively. Close combat and stone edge are standard; earthquake hits electric types as well as aegislash, and iron head hits crippled fairy types. Scarf guarantees outspeeding the unboosted metagame.
Greninja (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
Greninja is a special sweeper that is very powerful late game, when ideally entry hazards are up and my opponent's pokemon are crippled in terms of hp and staus ailments. The moves give coverage,and the EVs, ability, nature, and item reflect this, maximizing power and speed. HP grass is basically only for rotom-w.
Some potentially big problems to my team :
- Breloom is possibly my biggest problem, as it hits every single one of my pokemon. Gliscor is usually my best option, but even gliscor can't really take care of it. If breloom doesn't have mach punch, then greninja can ohko it, but it's very risky to make this call.
- Rotom-w is a huge problem, as it hits azumarill, heatran, terrakion, gliscor, and can burn ferrothorn.
Some potentially smaller problems to my team :
- Mega venusaur stalls out a lot of my team. If it has sleep powder, even my greninja's icebeam and heatran aren't counters. However, ferrothorn can usually paralyze and set up on it and my other pokemon can take care of it.
- Keldeo is a bit of an issue sometimes, since it hits all 3 members of my core. However, azumarill usually takes care of it.
- Conkeldurr is a bit of a problem as well, because it is a fighting type that puts a stop to gliscor w/ ice punch and proceeds to kill greninja, heatran, ferrothorn, and terrakion with drain punch/ mach punch. Azumarill is a good answer, but if it has knock off then it is difficult to switch into it lest my choice band gets knocked off.
- My team doesn't have a mega, so I may be at a disadvantage in this metagame
Thanks for reading! Any comments on my team is very appreciated; I'm still new to the game, so the insight would be valuable. ^^
Teambuilding concept:
My team is based off a Heatran-Gliscor-Ferrothorn core. They complement each other's type weaknesses nicely (especially with flash fire), and also the type of defense – heatran is specially defensive, gliscor is physically defensive, and ferrothorn is both). Gliscor is especially important, since it resists fighting types attacks that can majorly hurt Heatran and Ferrothorn (most of which are physical).
My core is mostly bulky offensive, but it's more on the bulky side. So, I added azumarill, and terrakion, both of which are extremely powerful to give my team the offensive edge. Their typings complement each other (in terms of their defensive typing as well as STABs) and allows me to counterattack after relying on my core to cripple a bit of my opponent's team. Conversely, if my attackers are in jeopardy, I can switch back to my core.
Finally, greninja works well as a fast and specially powerful late-game sweeper – it has amazing coverage (especially in a team where I have 2 physical attackers), and takes care of a lot of threats to my team.
In-Depth look at my team
Now that I've given an overview on the concept of my team, let's take a closer a look at each of my pokemon.
Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Ancient Power
- Earth Power
Heatran is a pokemon that I rely on a lot to take care of special attackers. Lava Plume is my stab; I chose it over fire blast because the 30% burn is quite helpful. Since my heatran is so bulky, it's also my stealth rocker. I put ancient power on heatran for mainly 1 reason – talonflame, which wrecks my team otherwise. It's basically the same base power as Hidden power, with that juicy 10% chance to raise all stats. Earth power simply gives me more coverage. EVs and nature is to maximize special bulkiness; the 0IV atk is for foul play.
Gliscor (F) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Taunt
- Roost
- Toxic
Gliscor is a crucial part of my team, simply because it puts a stop to fighting attacks which are super affective on 4 of my pokemon. It's sort of a stall build, where toxic and roost can stall out most pokemon that can't do more than 62% damage to me in one turn. Earthquake is my only direct attack; it hits tyranitar, heatran, lucario, etc very hard. Taunt is very helpful, as it addresses pranksters (also, gliscor is already poisoned and cannot be paralyzed) as well as pokemon with moves like soft-boiled or roost. However, I can't do much to many flying/levitators as a result, such as gengar or skarmory. EVs and nature is to maximize physical bulkiness.
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave
- Power Whip
Ferrothorn balances out Gliscor and heatran. It walls many pokemon, especially bulky water, ground, or rock types. This, like most, is a utility/ bulky pivot ferrothorn, with spikes, leech seed, and thunder wave to provide very useful support to my team. Power whip is the sole attacking move, which is surprisingly powerful on such a bulky pokemon. EVs and nature are to balance ferrothorn's natural defensive stats with his lower special defensive stats.
Azumarill (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Waterfall
- Superpower
Azumarill puts a huge dent on most pokemon that are neutral to its stabs and will usually OHKO or 2HKO pokemon that are weak to its stabs. The new fairy typing is very useful, especially for fighting types that are effective on 4 of my pokemon. Play rough and waterfall are it's power moves, whilst aqua jet gives my team valuable stab priority and superpower hits tyranitar or ferrothorn, on the switch.
EVs and nature maximize power and tries to mitigate azumarills relative frailness.
Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
Terrakion is a fast sweeper that operates much like azumarill, in a quick "hit and run" style. It's terrakion, so obviously it is very powerful offensively. Close combat and stone edge are standard; earthquake hits electric types as well as aegislash, and iron head hits crippled fairy types. Scarf guarantees outspeeding the unboosted metagame.
Greninja (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
Greninja is a special sweeper that is very powerful late game, when ideally entry hazards are up and my opponent's pokemon are crippled in terms of hp and staus ailments. The moves give coverage,and the EVs, ability, nature, and item reflect this, maximizing power and speed. HP grass is basically only for rotom-w.
Some potentially big problems to my team :
- Breloom is possibly my biggest problem, as it hits every single one of my pokemon. Gliscor is usually my best option, but even gliscor can't really take care of it. If breloom doesn't have mach punch, then greninja can ohko it, but it's very risky to make this call.
- Rotom-w is a huge problem, as it hits azumarill, heatran, terrakion, gliscor, and can burn ferrothorn.
Some potentially smaller problems to my team :
- Mega venusaur stalls out a lot of my team. If it has sleep powder, even my greninja's icebeam and heatran aren't counters. However, ferrothorn can usually paralyze and set up on it and my other pokemon can take care of it.
- Keldeo is a bit of an issue sometimes, since it hits all 3 members of my core. However, azumarill usually takes care of it.
- Conkeldurr is a bit of a problem as well, because it is a fighting type that puts a stop to gliscor w/ ice punch and proceeds to kill greninja, heatran, ferrothorn, and terrakion with drain punch/ mach punch. Azumarill is a good answer, but if it has knock off then it is difficult to switch into it lest my choice band gets knocked off.
- My team doesn't have a mega, so I may be at a disadvantage in this metagame
Thanks for reading! Any comments on my team is very appreciated; I'm still new to the game, so the insight would be valuable. ^^
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