It’s more likely than you think.
At a glance:
The teambuilding process:
Ability: Immunity
Nature: Adamant
EV Spread: 188 HP / 104 Def / 216 Sp. Def
Item: Leftovers
Moveset: Return / Crunch / Curse / Yawn
My Snorlax follows the standard CurseLax set, with a few alterations. Even I said I was crazy when I decided to use a Snorlax with Immunity, rather than Thick Fat, but I sure showed myself. From my experience, using an ability which most people choose not to is an advantage in of itself, because most of my opponents seem to just assume my Snorlax would have Thick Fat, and forgo fire and ice attacks until they discover that he does not in fact resist those types. Either that or they waste a turn on Toxic, his invulnerability to which allows him to set up on many walls which rely on it. The second alteration is Yawn, a move which is often simply tossed in the bin. When my Snorlax uses Yawn, depending on how my opponent chooses to deal with it, I’m either putting a Pokemon to sleep, or forcing a switchout. In either case, my Snorlax is getting a free turn. After two uses of Curse, my Snorlax can OHKO most sweepers and 2HKO most walls. After three, my Snorlax’s defenses are so high that only burning him will stop him. His defense is naturally low, however, so if the opponent has a physical attack to get off immediately, my Snorlax is going down. He functions effectively as both a special wall, and a physical tank.
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
EV Spread: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 Sp. Def
Item: Red Card
Moveset: Bullet Punch / Bug Bite / Roost / Swords Dance
Meet Scizor. He follows the standard bulkly Swords Dance set, with Roost to shrug off any damage he might gather from non-fire type Pokemon. The idea is to put him against something he resists, and use swords dance. After one boost, most opponents fall to bullet punch. Red Card comes in handy on him more often than you’d probably expect. Opponents who attempt to simply beat him up before he can do any real damage without super-effective hits are usually thrown for a loop by it.
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Adamant
EV Spread: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Defense
Item: Rocky Helmet
Moveset: Earthquake / Rapid Spin / Knock Off / Toxic
Donphan serves well as a physical wall. His defenses are so immense that, against a physical sweeper, it usually doesn’t make a difference that he has no recovery. Against such an opponent, they are sure to be punished by Rocky Helmet. My Donphan has found a niche in a few scenarios, in my experience with him. The most blatant is to send him out against physical attackers who I am not confident any of my other Pokemon will be able to handle. Even if Earthquake won’t do the job, he has Toxic to bring down those Pokemon which rely on physical attacks. The second is to use him for Rapid Spin, to eliminate entry hazards. Finally, granted there are no entry hazards, my Donphan can fare quite well in halting even special sweepers who rely on an item – such as choice scarf – to sweep effectively, with Knock Off. As long as Sturdy is active, he is guaranteed at least one hit (which has accounted for a few hilarious decimations of Wash Rotom). His only real counter is Skarmory.
Ability: Speed Boost
Nature: Timid
EV Spread: 4 Def / 252 Sp. Atk / 252 Spd
Item: Life Orb
Moveset: Bug Buzz / Air Slash / U-Turn / Protect
Yanmega is my way of insuring that the opponent’s Pokemon will not out speed me. As you probably assumed, the idea is to use Protect on the first turn. His base speed is so high that, after one, he can out speed most choice scarf users. U-Turn is his last resort in the scenario that the opponent is more than likely going to survive the first hit, and deliver a fatal blow in return. At Yanmega’s speed, he is certain to get the attack in (unless there is a priority move), and break Focus Sash and Sturdy, should either be in use. He’s a standard special sweeper.
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Jolly
EV Spread: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Item: Shell Bell
Moveset: Brave Bird / Close Combat / Quick Attack / Roost
Staraptor is a glass cannon. He functions very effectively at taking out Pokemon with low defense, but he otherwise falls with one blow. Shell Bell is to help reduce some of the recoil he suffers from Brave Bird, as I have no other item for him at the moment. He’s a standard physical sweeper, and doesn’t rely on stat boosting moves. On my team, he usually functions as a revenge killer. Quick Attack is to finish off Focus Sash users. Roost is for those rare occasions in which I may have the opportunity to heal up and go for some more Brave Birds.
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Timid
EV Spread: 4 HP / 252 Sp. Atk / 252 Spd
Item: Focus Sash
Moveset: Hydro Pump / Psychic / Ice Beam / Thunderbolt
Starmie is a standard special sweeper. I chose to forgo Rapid Spin, in favor of additional type coverage. There’s not much I can really say about it. It’s fast, it hits pretty hard, and its only real counters are special walls.
Have at me.
At a glance:
The teambuilding process:
The building of this team followed the standard process of adding Pokemon which cover the weaknesses of others. I started out with Snorlax.
He’s a good egg. He takes special hits ease, and after set-up, laughs at physical attacks as well. However, the main problem for him is fighting types. As such, a counter was devised.
Yanmega is an excellent counter to fighting types, and effectively beats up most other things too, but falls short against steel and rock-type Pokemon. It goes without saying that stealth rock is a problem for him, too.
Donphan handles pretty much all of those things. He just can’t take on those pesky flying types, and often has to rely on Toxic to damage them, which is never really a good thing.
With access to Thunderbolt, and Ice Beam, Starmie can handle flying types pretty well. If my Donphan’s physical Earthquake won’t do much to an opponent, you can bet your mittens that my Starmie’s special Hydro Pump is going to punish somebody. Donphan can counter electric, but what about those bug and dark-types?
Scizor laughs at both of them.
I’m not going to lie, Staraptor was kind of just added to this set as an extra physical sweeper, because both Snorlax and Scizor rely on stat boosting moves to do damage, whereas this guy runs in guns blazing. In some cases, you need that.
Ability: Immunity
Nature: Adamant
EV Spread: 188 HP / 104 Def / 216 Sp. Def
Item: Leftovers
Moveset: Return / Crunch / Curse / Yawn
My Snorlax follows the standard CurseLax set, with a few alterations. Even I said I was crazy when I decided to use a Snorlax with Immunity, rather than Thick Fat, but I sure showed myself. From my experience, using an ability which most people choose not to is an advantage in of itself, because most of my opponents seem to just assume my Snorlax would have Thick Fat, and forgo fire and ice attacks until they discover that he does not in fact resist those types. Either that or they waste a turn on Toxic, his invulnerability to which allows him to set up on many walls which rely on it. The second alteration is Yawn, a move which is often simply tossed in the bin. When my Snorlax uses Yawn, depending on how my opponent chooses to deal with it, I’m either putting a Pokemon to sleep, or forcing a switchout. In either case, my Snorlax is getting a free turn. After two uses of Curse, my Snorlax can OHKO most sweepers and 2HKO most walls. After three, my Snorlax’s defenses are so high that only burning him will stop him. His defense is naturally low, however, so if the opponent has a physical attack to get off immediately, my Snorlax is going down. He functions effectively as both a special wall, and a physical tank.
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
EV Spread: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 Sp. Def
Item: Red Card
Moveset: Bullet Punch / Bug Bite / Roost / Swords Dance
Meet Scizor. He follows the standard bulkly Swords Dance set, with Roost to shrug off any damage he might gather from non-fire type Pokemon. The idea is to put him against something he resists, and use swords dance. After one boost, most opponents fall to bullet punch. Red Card comes in handy on him more often than you’d probably expect. Opponents who attempt to simply beat him up before he can do any real damage without super-effective hits are usually thrown for a loop by it.
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Adamant
EV Spread: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Defense
Item: Rocky Helmet
Moveset: Earthquake / Rapid Spin / Knock Off / Toxic
Donphan serves well as a physical wall. His defenses are so immense that, against a physical sweeper, it usually doesn’t make a difference that he has no recovery. Against such an opponent, they are sure to be punished by Rocky Helmet. My Donphan has found a niche in a few scenarios, in my experience with him. The most blatant is to send him out against physical attackers who I am not confident any of my other Pokemon will be able to handle. Even if Earthquake won’t do the job, he has Toxic to bring down those Pokemon which rely on physical attacks. The second is to use him for Rapid Spin, to eliminate entry hazards. Finally, granted there are no entry hazards, my Donphan can fare quite well in halting even special sweepers who rely on an item – such as choice scarf – to sweep effectively, with Knock Off. As long as Sturdy is active, he is guaranteed at least one hit (which has accounted for a few hilarious decimations of Wash Rotom). His only real counter is Skarmory.
Ability: Speed Boost
Nature: Timid
EV Spread: 4 Def / 252 Sp. Atk / 252 Spd
Item: Life Orb
Moveset: Bug Buzz / Air Slash / U-Turn / Protect
Yanmega is my way of insuring that the opponent’s Pokemon will not out speed me. As you probably assumed, the idea is to use Protect on the first turn. His base speed is so high that, after one, he can out speed most choice scarf users. U-Turn is his last resort in the scenario that the opponent is more than likely going to survive the first hit, and deliver a fatal blow in return. At Yanmega’s speed, he is certain to get the attack in (unless there is a priority move), and break Focus Sash and Sturdy, should either be in use. He’s a standard special sweeper.
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Jolly
EV Spread: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Item: Shell Bell
Moveset: Brave Bird / Close Combat / Quick Attack / Roost
Staraptor is a glass cannon. He functions very effectively at taking out Pokemon with low defense, but he otherwise falls with one blow. Shell Bell is to help reduce some of the recoil he suffers from Brave Bird, as I have no other item for him at the moment. He’s a standard physical sweeper, and doesn’t rely on stat boosting moves. On my team, he usually functions as a revenge killer. Quick Attack is to finish off Focus Sash users. Roost is for those rare occasions in which I may have the opportunity to heal up and go for some more Brave Birds.
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Timid
EV Spread: 4 HP / 252 Sp. Atk / 252 Spd
Item: Focus Sash
Moveset: Hydro Pump / Psychic / Ice Beam / Thunderbolt
Starmie is a standard special sweeper. I chose to forgo Rapid Spin, in favor of additional type coverage. There’s not much I can really say about it. It’s fast, it hits pretty hard, and its only real counters are special walls.
Have at me.
