Balanced Pinsir Team

[Adrima]

Hi everybody ! Welcome to my second RMT ! In my first, I used Mega-Medicham with a FWG core. It was quite a good team but I had a lot of counter to it.

Now, I come back with a more worked team with Mega-Pinsir as a MVP. It has been wonderful on PO : just one loss for a lot of wins ! But I know I don't have fought against a lot of very good team and I'm sure I can still improve mine.

So this is what I have :

( Sorry, no pictures... I will add them as soon as I will be able to )

Pinsir @ Pinsirite
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Quick Attack
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake

THE MONSTER !!! After I eliminate his counters, I just have to make it come safely on a predicted boost or something that can't hurt me. Then the sweep can begin ! Return AND Quick Attach because priority can be very useful to get a revenge kill ( and even sometimes a Moxie boost when I can ). Earthquake for Electric coverage and Swords Dance to sweep easily late game.
Adamant Nature because I want to hit as hard as I can and I have priority if I lack of speed.

Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance

Pinsir is quite weak to Stealth Rock. So I needed a spinner. And who is one of most used one ? EXCADRILL !!! Classic but effective set. Rock Slide for Talonflame and Charizard Y, Earthquake for STAB and Swords Dance always useful when I'm able to set one. Mold Breaker is of course for Levitate mons. Nothing more to say about him.

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave

I said switch in Pinsir is quite easy but a little help shouldn't be bad... And Ferrothorn is very good for this job. A mon too fast for Pinsir ? Thunder Wave. Stealth Rock and Leech Seed to slowly nibble my opponent's HP so that I can OHKO him with Pinsir or another sweeper. And Gyro Ball to kill very fast Mons or Dragon Dance, Quiver Dance or other speed boost moves users.
As you can see, Ferrothorn is also my special wall. I find it amazing like this. It surprises my opponent and he has to hit me physically. If he doesn't, I can just Leech Seed stall or set my SR. And if he does, he will take a lot of damages owing to the Rocky Helmet and Iron Barbs.

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Giga Drain

But now, I have a BIG weakness to Fire. And I also need an anti-spinner...
Jellicent comes to my mind immediately. It has a great synergy with Ferrothorn and I decided to make it my physical wall. WoW to shut up frightening physical sweepers, Scald for STAB ( Should I give him another water move as I already have WoW ? ), Recover to heal myself ( allow me to stall a lot ! ) and Giga Drain for extra recovery and also to have a better match up against Gastrodon and Quagsire.
Water Absorb also helps me a lot to switch in safely.

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Poison Jab

My second physical sweeper. Very fast with his Scarf and Timid Nature. Moves allow me to have a good coverage. Poison Jab for this frightening Fairies, Earthquake and Outrage for nice STABs ( still thinking about Dragon Claw over Outrage ) and Fire Blast to 2HKO Skarmory most of the time. Simple but very useful !

Alakazam @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Energy Ball

Last but not least, my special sweeper and revenge killer. Garchomp and him as the same job and the same goal : kill very quickly Pinsir counters. The set is classic with a good coverave. Magic Guard is very useful to take status or other annoying things. Focus Sash to be sure to get a few kill before faint.
Timid Nature to outspeed nearly everything which is not Scarfed.

Thank you for reading ! As I said before, I have a lot of fun with this team and I find it quite powerful. But your advices will be very welcome to help my team climb on the ladder !

 

[sadpwner]

I dont think a spin blocker is necessary for this gen due to defog. Also, Alakazam is a revenge killer

 

[Arcanine is Regal]

Hey this is a cool team, I have a few hopefully helpful suggestions.

Pinsir would benefit more from swords dance over Close Combat, trust me on this I use pinsir on my main team and return and EQ is pretty darn good coverage especially at +2. Otherwise I think you will find yourself coming up short.

Excadrill on the other hand doesnt really need a swords dance but its fine if you want to keep it, but iron head might be a good choice unless you take my next suggestion

Which is to switch hydreigon for scarfed garchomp. here is the set

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
252 Atk/252 Speed/4 SpAtk
Jolly nature
- Poison Jab
- Outrage/Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast

If you use this then you dont need iron head on excadrill because as of right now you have nothing to hit fairies with, the outrage or dragon claw is up to you. I think on a scarf garchomp you might as well you outrage because you are locked into a move regardless. EQ is just good stab and fire blast is for pretty nice coverage. The other reason I suggest this change is because you really dont need two dedicated special attackers because physical attacks are usually better this gen. I also think it pairs nicely with your alakazam which is good as is.

My last thing to say is that I feel like jellicent is kind of out of place. I mean dont get me wrong it has darn near perfect synergy with ferrothorn but as much as I hate to promote using the most common poke this gen...I think rotom-w would fit his role better. I mean you would definitely appreciate the offensive momentum he brings along with his fantastic typing. Id give you a set but just use the restochesto set.


Hope I helped Cheers!

 

[Adrima]

Thank you sadpwner and MegaScizor for your advices !

About Pinsir, I thought to Swords Dance when I made my team but I finally decided not to try it. But if you say it's a good thing, I think I will give it a try. However I'm scared that it will be difficult to set up. I test and I tell you after !

Choice Scarfed Garchomp seems to be a very cool idea ! I tried it and it is very powerful ! Just a few more tests and I think I will add it to the team. Thanks a lot !

As I won't give Iron Head to Excadrill, I was also thinking about trying Shadow Claw over Swords Dance to hit these Ghost types like Trevenant. What do you think ?

I will test Rotom-W over Jellicent but I find Recover is a better way to heal than Rest... But you are right, Rotom can do the same job with more efficiency ( even if it is not a spinblocker... )

 

[Tomahawk]

I agree with the above poster on using Swords Dance on Pinsir. It allows you to sweep late game where otherwise you might not. Unboosted Mega Pinsir is still strong yes, but there are a lot of threats that can take it on unboosted and it's easy to find a turn to force something out and set up. Also, Close Combat isn't that good since it has a lot of redundant coverage with Earthquake. Another thing with Pinsir, I would definitely use Jolly. 105 base Speed is pretty good, but if you're dropping it by using Adamant you lose out on outspeeding a lot of stuff.

Personally I feel that you don't have a solid way of taking out Pinsir's counters. Skarmory, for example, will only really switch in on Pinsir and Excadrill and neither of them can damage it. While it's true that Hydreigon can do a ton of damage with Fire Blast, Skarmory will rarely ever switch in vs Hydreigon. The same goes for Rotom-W, it will not switchin vs Excadrill (unless they don't realize Mold Breaker is in effect) so you probably won't weaken it before Pinsir comes in. The more offensive checks, like Thundurus and Talonflame are also huge threats to your team, they can not only check Pinsir but if they get a turn to set up (against Jellicent or Ferrothorn for example) you are in big trouble. Scarf Hydreigon can't revenge kill Talonflame and it won't OHKO Thundurus (though it does come close, but Thunder Wave can be a bitch), while Sash Alakazam is a pretty unreliable way of dealing with those threats.

As for other threats, I can see Mega Charizard X being a big threat, setting up vs Ferrothorn and outspeeding Hydreigon, while being able to take a Psyshock from Alakazam pretty comfortably. It can OHKO all of your Pokémon at +1. Garchomp might also be troublesome but luckily it doesn't boost Speed so Hydreigon can outspeed. It can't directly switch in though. Also, I can actually see opposing Mega Pinsir being a threat to your team, if it manages to set up and Hydreigon has a little bit of prior damage (eg switching into SR twice), you have pretty much lost unless it has prior damage itself and you win the Quick Attack speed tie (though unboosted it will do about 74%, so you need that prior damage).

The Choice Scarf Garchomp mentioned above is indeed a good idea for some of this. It can 2HKO incoming Skarmory with Fire Blast if SR is up (and if you use Hasty or Naive it can also 2HKO without it). It also outspeeds +1 Charizard and can revenge kill it, though that still isn't a solid counter ofc. It can also revenge kill Thundurus more reliably since it is immune to Thunder Wave so you will always outspeed, and also immune to Thunderbolt so if you can predict the HP Ice you can work around it pretty reliably. The moveset I would recommend is Outrage / Earthquake / Stone Edge / Fire Blast.

Using a defensive Rotom-W > Jellicent is another idea. Rotom-W is one of the best Talonflame counters in the game as well as one of the best Pinsir counters in the game. However, possibly a better idea is using Slowbro. Slowbro has sick physical defensive bulk. It can tank a +2 Outrage from Garchomp and Mega Charizard-X and Ice Beam or Thunder Wave/Slack Off. It can also tank Brave Birds from Talonflame pretty easily, and Scald. Now, it won't handle Thundurus and it doesn't beat Pinsir if SR is out, so keep that in mind.

Slowbro @ Leftovers | Regenerator
Bold | 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Scald / Ice Beam / Thunder Wave or Toxic / Slack Off

 

[Adrima]

Thanks for your long reply Tomahawk9 !

Yes, after a few test, Swords Dance on Pinsir is very useful. It allows me to sweep several times late game. And it is easier to set up than I thought before. So I will keep it on my moveset.

You're right, Garchomp perfectly fits my team. This guy is sooooo amazing against a lot of mons. And the opponent never knows if I'm Scarfed or not. A lot of Mons stays in front of him and they are surprised when I OHKO them !

I still have to test Rotom-W but Slowbro seems to be another good idea so it will also be tested. I think I will go with Toxic instead of Thunder Wave since I have already it on Ferrothorn moveset. And I like Slowbro's Slack Off more than Rotom's Rest, it looks more like Jellicent's Recover.

 

[Adrima]

After some more tests, Rotom-W is not a very good teammate for my team. And Slowbro lacks of Will-O-Wisp to shut up physical threats. I decided to keep Jellicent but if you have a better idea...

My team has been testing however very well, even if some other advices will be welcome. I'm sure I can still improve it.
What do you think guys ?