Battle Spot Singles, Set up BD team

[imBLIND]

Hey guys, this is my current ORAS team that I'm using for competitive battle spot, but I'm having difficulties getting over .500 wins. Also, this is my first time posting on smogon...if I'm doing anything wrong/posting this in the wrong spot/should've checked out this resource first, please let me know! I've read most of the Battle spot forum, the tier lists, and the posting guides, but I still may have missed something.

Sooo....the idea of my team is 1) take out or cripple a core pokemon, 2) Set up reflect and/or light screen and pass paralysis, 3) sweep with BD Azumarill or a different pokemon.

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Veil
Nature: Adamant
EVS: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 8 HP
- Rock Slide
- Iron head
- Outrage
- Earthquake

This is my typical lead pokemon and my immunity to electric type attacks. Choice Scarf with max Speed investment makes me faster than Life Orb +Spe Greninja and Mega Gengar. Rock slide provides coverage for flying pokemon (its basically just for zapdos...), Iron head for fairy types, and STAB Earthquake and Outrage for everything else.
HP Ice on faster choice scarf'd pokemon, typically Landorus and Thundurus, are a significant problem for Garchomp and force me to switch out until I know for a fact that they aren't choice scarf'd.

Rotom - W @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVS: 252 Hp / 168 Def / 84 SpD
Nature: Bold
-Trick
-Hydro Pump
-Volt Switch
-HP Ice

My secondary lead and my pivot of choice, although the lack of recovery makes it rather frail. Choice Specs makes up for my lack of investment in SpA, and Trick allows me to get rid of the specs if I don't need it. Trick cripples bulky walls, which will typically be Suicune, Cresselia, or Evolite pokemon, but its useless against Mega evolved Walls like Mega-Slowbro. I like HP Ice because it catches people off guard, so it's great for the surprise KO on common dragon-type pokemon like Garchomp and Salamence.

Klefki @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 248 SpD / 8 Def
Nature: Careful
- Thunder Wave
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Foul Play

My secondary pivot and MVP support that I use in conjunction with Rotom-W quite often. With max SpD investment, Klefki is only scared of Physical ground and fire type moves, both of which are resisted by Rotom-W. Mold Breaker Earthquakes from Excadrill and Mega-Gyarados are the one thing that screws this combo, but Reflect helps a lot in dealing with those. Dual Screens is my preferred set up for BD Azumarill, as it'll allow it to tank a shot, then use Play Rough or Super power if I know Aqua Jet won't OHKO. I've tried Trick Room before, but there are a lot of slow pokemon out there that ruin this plan (namely every grass type wall out there + slowbro). Thunder Wave is great for crippling fast pokemon that check Azumarill. Foul Play is for Aegislash, anti-taunt and to punish people who stack Sword Dances.

Azumarill @ Sitrus Belly
Ability: Huge Power
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
- Play Rough
- Superpower
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet

Needs not much introduction. BD+Aqua Jet STAB with Huge power kills almost everything, and then Play Rough kills everything else. Superpower is for Ferrothorn. I gave it max EV in HP so that it can function as a pivot versus dragon pokemon and resisted moves in situations where I have no time to set up BD.

Talonflame @ Lum Berry
Ability: Gale Wings
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Swords Dance
- Roost

Azumarill is completely walled by Venasaur/Amoongus and will get killed against Serperior, and Talonflame is a good counter to both. Max HP investment lets Talonflame act as a pivot against Grass, Ground, and Fairy type attacks, and max Atk investment makes Brave bird hit hard. Swords Dance lets me get a +2 on switch outs, and Roost lets me heal up recoil damage. Lum Berry keeps my Talonflame healthy from toxic in particular, but it has also proven useful for me as a free stay in against Prankster users when they try to T-wave or Toxic me.

Gengar @ Gengarite
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 8 HP
- Hex
- Sludge Bomb
- Destiny Bond
- Will o' Wisp

Honestly, I hate using this pokemon because I feel so cheap, but I keep coming back to him because he is just so damn useful...This spot used to belong to Mega-Charizard Y, but he doesn't have the bulk to switch in. Mega-venusaur would be ideal except I haven't gotten a Bulbasaur yet....soooo I'm using Gengar instead. The immunity to normal and ground type attacks lets me switch in to EQ, Porygon, and Khangaskan, his huge SpA stat makes him function as an amazing SpA sweeper, especially after dual screens. Hex is used in place of Shadow Ball because if I get a T-wave off with klefki, its a very easy sweep for Gengar. WoW is for Mega-Mawile, Azumarill, and anything that could possibly OHKO after reflect, and it allows for my own Azumarill to switch in for minimal damage afterwards. Destiny Bond is a last ditch resort to get rid of pokemon like swampert, suicune, zapdos, or anything problematic for Azumarill.

Things that I know my team has a problem with:

Ground/water type pokemon.
Swampert is nightmare for me to deal with...I need to find grass coverage, but I have no good grass walls....ferrothorn and amoongus are X/Y and no one has accepted my trades for ferroseed, bulbasaur, or foongus (sad face).

Bulky pokemon
Cresselia and Suicune typically give me a lot of problems as well, but I usually work around them with T-wave and Gengar destiny bond.

Status and Stealth Rock
If more than one of my pokemon get status'd, I typically lose the game because my team gets worn down very quickly from entry hazards and toxic/burn damage. I haven't run into many stealth rock or spikes, which is thankful because I do a lot of switching....

Trick Room
In combination with bulky walls and stalling tactics, these teams give me a headache. My Azumarill is almost guaranteed to get Toxic'd, and I don't have anything else that can break walls very well.

Could you guys give me some advice and input as what I should change?

 

[a0161613]

Use Rough Skin on Chomp. Consider Knock off on Azumarill over Superpower.

Check your EVs on everything but especially Azumarill. Level 50 changes things but Azumarill doesn't look right.

If you just want stuff to breed go to the WiFi section and ask in the SQSR thread. I can recommend bulky Serperior.

 

[cant say]

hey there imBLIND and welcome to Smogon! It's always cool to see new people getting into the Battle Spot Singles metagame.

Your team doesn't actually look too bad to start with so I won't offer any new Pokemon changes, but the Pokemon you're using can be optimised.

First off, use Rough Skin on Garchomp. Sand Veil is very situational as sand isn't really common, and even then it relies on luck. Being able to get chip damage on physical attackers is really handy (especially Mega Kangaskhan who takes double thanks to Parental Bond). Also, I would replace Iron Head with Fire Fang. You really have no reason to keep Garchomp in on a Fairy-type and you can't' OHKO any of them with it, so you can usually just bring Chomp in to revenge kill them with Earthquake (or Rock Slide in Togekiss' case). If you really want to use an anti-Fairy move them use Poison Jab so you can at least hit Azumarill with it (although it only hits it for 10BP more than Earthquake). Fire Fang gives you a great move to hit Scizor, Ferrothorn and Skarmory with.

Rotom-W looks a bit odd, Specs without investment is kinda weak. I also prefer using Thunderbolt / Discharge over Trick on the Specs set and save it for Scarf sets (since you might accidentally Trick the Specs onto a special attacker). It's still a fine move though so up to you. I would definitely go Modest though so you can OHKO Mega Salamence and Garchomp. If you have to stay Bold coz of breeding then move the 84 SpD into SpA so you can OHKO Mega Salamence (and have a great chance at OHKOing Chomp) with Hidden Power Ice.

Klefki looks fine to me. I've seen people use Eject Button and Red Card on similar sets which can be cool. If I were you I'd have Swagger instead of Light Screen (with Leftovers as the item) so you can beat special attackers that way, but that's just cause I like haxy strats haha.

Azumarill needs to have a certain amount of EVs so that its HP stat is an even number, this allows you to use Belly Drum at full health and activate the Sitrus Berry. Dropping to 244 does this, however in our Azumarill analysis on the Strategy Dex we recommend 228 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def / 12 SpD / 4 Spe. This gives Azumarill better bulk due to having an exact 2:1:1 HP/Def/SpD ratio (and allows you to activate the Sitrus Berry from full health!). Knock Off is a poor choice imo as you need Superpower to get past Ferrothorn.

Pretty standard SD Talonflame there. Nothing to say.

Gengar also looks cool, him + Azumarill are a notorious core in the BSS metagame so kudos for running it.

That's about it from me. There are a couple EV spreads where you've gone 252 / 252 / 8 which equals 512, you can only allocate 510 but only 508 are used (the leftover 2 don't change anything) so those with a remaining 8 should be 4 instead. A little note about EVs at level 50, if something has a perfect IV, the amount of EVs you put into a stat should be divisible by 4 but not 8 (4, 12, 20, 28 etc.). If the IV is even (such as a 30 for Hidden Power), then the EVs put into it should be divisible by 8.

Hope this helped! I look forward to seeing you post more in the Battle Spot forum.

 

[imBLIND]

Thanks for the input guys!

I didn't think Rough Skin on Garchomp was that important cause the first 5IV garchomp I made turned out to have sand veil, so I just used that one. I'll work on getting an ability capsule to switch his skill over though. I'm not completely sold on the Fire Fang, even though Ferrothorn is annoying for my team to deal with and it would be nice to have Fire-type coverage if I don't pick Talonflame. I've managed to revenge OHKO some Gardevoirs with Iron Head, but I haven't had the opportunity to test out the revenge killing abilities on bulkier fairy types like Mega-Alteria or Clefairy. I do think that the anti-fairy is great on Garchomp because he outspeeds the majority of Fairy type pokemon, and it has netted me easy wins. I think I will end up making the switch to Poison Jab, as it does make more sense than Iron head for sure.

I haven't switched out my EVs yet for Rotom-W because I don't know how it works very well. If my pokemon is already EV trained and I reset bag it, does the battle spot reset my rotom to lv 50 with my stats or my EVs in mind? Initially, trick was there to help deal with annoying bulky pokemon, but often times I'm not predicting it correctly and I end up getting choice locked and having to switch out. People setting up Substitute on my Rotom have also been giving me a lot of problems, especially on pokemon who resist my moves and have a lot of SpD (Aegislash, Clefable, Whimsicott, just to name a few), which makes my Trick rather useless if I don't move first. I think I need a

Red Card for Klefki is super interesting because often times I know an EQ is coming, but I really want to set up Reflect...I usually get around this by switching to Rotom-W to avoid the second EQ, and then Volt Switch out to my sweeper, but that takes up a lot of time and Rotom-W typically scares off a lot of pokemon Azumarill is good against. I will definitely try that out to see if I want to stick with Light Clay or the Red Card.

I don't remember the exact EV spread I used for Azumarill, but my Sitrus Berry does activate when I use Belly Drum at full health, so I think I'm okay...I do recall finding an Azumarill thread on Smogon for my EV spread though, so maybe I used that one. Is there a way to double check my EVs besides staring at the Super Trainer hexagon?

I also found a random Bulbasaur from my Wonder Trading, so I'm currently trying out using a defensive Venusaur in place of Gengar. So far, I'm not seeing as big of a difference in win ratio as I expected, since the situations where I'd prefer one over the other are roughly the same...

Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Overgrow
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 96 SpD
- Synthesis
- Leech Seed
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb

I was torn between putting EVs into SpA or SpD, as Klefki Screens should be enough to tank most hits. Right now, I'm enjoying the extra bulk for switch ins and the grass type coverage for bulky water pokemon, but I am finding that it's difficult stay in on pokemon that resist Poison and Grass type moves. It does have access to HP Dragon and it tempted me to make an offensive Venusaur, but it doesn't cover the steel types that Venusaur has problems with so I elected to go with a defensive variant. I am definitely missing the sweeping capabilties of Gengar though, as my Venusaur often gets paralyzed or burned and doesn't last long enough to trade 1 for 1. I also realize that I have a glaring weakness in dealing with opposing Talonflames if my Rotom-W or Garchomp get knocked out or chipped down. As with the Rotom-W, how does the EV reallocating work with pokemon already above level 50?

I think my team would benefit from a phaser to whittle down the opposing team and to allow BD azumarill to OHKO with Aqua Jet more often and to stop SubStall sets from ruining my life....Would skarmory be a better replacement for Rotom or Klefki?

 

[Omastar68]

I really don't have much to say, this team looks really good. Discharge definitely makes sense for Rotom-W, it makes setting up BD with Azumarill easier, and powers up Gengar's Hex. I agree Mega Venusaur would be a perfectly acceptable replacement for Mega Gengar. I can get you a Bulbasaur with Chlorophyll easily, PM me if you are interested.

 

[imBLIND]

I'm having a lot of trouble with Substitute stall strategies that make me run out of PP. A lot of these japanese players I'm facing are a huge fan of using Whimsicott and toxic sub aegislash...just now, I lost to Gliscor with my Venusaur because I ran out of giga drains. He took up the entire 30 minutes of battle time too, which pisses me off even more than the fact that he Substalled me to death. I'm wondering if I should bring back my cloyster, a pixliated hyper voice user, or a fast taunt user to replace Klefki or Rotom-W. Any suggestions?

 

[a0161613]

Taunt would help and Klefki could do the job but it's not the fastest taunt (I believe that's Whimsicott) or may not even be the best in this format. Cloyster isn't the best mon either in fact it's pretty easily beaten, totally match-up dependant.

If you want to beat Sub, Infiltrator would do the job too. I'm not sure why you want to restrict yourself to a Pixelated Hyper Voice.

 

[imBLIND]

I forgot about infiltrator. I do have a Noivern ready to go, but I found that he's pretty weak unboosted and requires a lot of support, so I was leaning towards replacing klefki with sylveon for the hyper voice or putting sableye in for the taunt. I currently don't have either sylveon or sableye ready to go, but I can't decide whether or not to let go of klefki or Rotom-W.

 

[Omastar68]

Hello again. If you're having trouble with SubStall, I'd change your Talonflame to one that resembles the Bulky Rocky Helmet set on the BSS Analysis page-specifically, you want Taunt(Wisp also helps you greatly vs. Mega Kangaskhan, who your team's not too hot against. Short of swapping out one of your Pokes, I don't see another way you can change this team to add security against sub users(None of these Pokémon learn any damaging sound moves, save for Uproar-and Snore lol-which is just not strong enough. Talon's also the only Poke here that can learn Taunt.) That said, Gliscor can still win against Talon by being immune to burn thanks to its Toxic Orb and taking fairly small damage from Brave Bird(and just healing it off with two turns of Poison Heal recovery thanks to Protect.) It will eventually get you with a Guillotine. Running Substitute would help, since Guillotine, when it hits, would just break the sub. The problem there is 4MSS-You can't have Taunt, Roost, WoW, Substitute, and an attack.

Mega Sableye is also a problem for your team. There aren't many changes that can be made to your team to help deal with Mega Sableye. Klefki could run Dazzling Gleam, or Play Rough with an Impish Nature, but Sableye likes to set up with Calm Mind, making Dazzling Gleam very weak after just a few boosts, and it always has WoW, which makes Play Rough pretty much worthless. Azumarill can do a lot of damage with its STAB Play Rough, but it's only a 2HKO on 252/252 +Def Mega Sableye, meaning it can probably Wisp you(granted Wisp can miss, but Play Rough is almost as likely to miss as it is,) and then switch to something else, since Sableye can't really do much against Azumarill but burn it.

Trying to find more problems, but can't think of many. Your team definitely isn't crazy about Lando-T, since it can just pivot out of Rotom-W(or switch normally if it doesn't have U-Turn), and is only 3HKOd by -1 Azumarill's Aqua Jet or Play Rough, and 2HKOs back with Earthquake assuming Adamant and 252 EVs in Atk(the least Atk it needs to 2HKO is 124 EVs and a nature that doesn't boost attack-which I'm assuming is most of them.) Garchomp hates getting Intimidated, andoesn't appreciate Lando's Earthquakes. It also has to be able to use Outrage in order to do halfway decent damage at -1. Klefki can do quite a bit with Foul Play, but even the most offensive Lando-T's are only 2HKOd, and you probably need to set up Reflect the first turn anyways if you want to survive more than one Earthquake. Your Venusaur doesn't have much to fear from Lando-T, but its not doing a whole lot, either, and Lando-T may have U-Turn or Explosion.

Zapdos is another Pokémon that I think gives you a hard time, though it is admittedly not that common. Garchomp risks taking an HP Ice, and isn't gonna do very much if it's not locked into Outrage or Rock Slide. Rotom-W can Trick it Specs, but you go after it, and I believe that means it doesn't have to use the same move the next turn(though it will be locked into that move.) HP Ice is super-effective, but it's only a 2% chance to 2HKO 252/4 Zapdos. Hydro Pump is a guaranteed 2HKO, but you have to be locked into it, and it is liable to miss. Klefki fears a Heat Wave, and does nothing in return. Venusaur isn't getting hit too hard unless Zapdos has a strong flying move, but it doesn't do much in return, and hates paralysis. Azumarill needs a BD boost to muscle past Zapdos, and there's no way you can set up on it, even with Light Screen. Talonflame also can't do much to Zapdos

Anyways, that's a lot, but I hope it helps you.

 

[imBLIND]

I don't really mind Mega-Khangaskhan or the Lando-T because the Rotom-W / Klefki core typically scares people with the risk of WoW and T-wave, which lets me set up BD rather easily. Foul Play also punishes Khangaskhans that have Power Up Punch. I do however really wish I had a WoW user after I replaced Gengar with Venusaur.

I just use my Talonflame to check Mega-Sableye, but Prankster Sableye does give me some problems, especially when it comes to my entire team getting burned. Makes me want to randomly put my Chansey back in for Klefki....

I think my Garchomp has to go. Garchomp's main role is revenge killing and tanking thunder/poison/rock attacks, especially for my azumarill and my talonflame. I think I can live without the revenge killing prowess, but I definitely need to make up for it with something that can deal with Salamence in particular. My first thought was my Gliscor, which is already bold 252 HP/ 252 Def and is capable of learning taunt, but he's pretty easy setup bait and I wouldn't be able to put Gliscor with Talonflame at all. My next thought was a phazer, but this isn't a team where I can get mileage out of using Roar or Whirlwind with.

Thank you for the suggestions; I will be trying to make some adjustments to my team so I can get past 1600 on the BSS

 

[a0161613]

imBLIND perhaps something like Mamoswine is the answer.