My first team ever: Comments and Criticism welcomed.

[AHickey1995]

Hello All, First off I would like to introduce myself, My name is Austin and I'm 17 years old. First got Pokemon Crystal for my 6th Birthday and have been playing ever since. Recently I got Wifi conection and started doing trading. Then I was introduced to the world of competitive battling by my friend. He showed me what EV's IV's Natures ect. were and I decided to create my own team so Here it is:

Jirachi
Careful
@ Leftovers
252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
-Iron Head
-Wish
-Stealth Rocks
-Thunder Wave

This is my lead and it's sort of a troll with Thunder Wave and Wish. Other than that I use it to Set up Rocks and heal my team. It could be used to take Flying types with Iron Head but as you'll see in a minute I have much better options.

Haxorus
Adamant
@ Lum Berry
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
-Aqua Tail
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage
-Earthquake

My Haxorus is just an all out physical attacking machine. I put the Double Dance on him to give me options also it works perfect depending on whether or not I'm facing a slow or fast team. Also with Earthquake I can take on those pesky Fire Types with ease.
Edit: Got rid of the Double Dance set and went for aqua tail, Seems to be working, just swept a fire team easily.

Volcarona
Bold
@ Leftovers
240 HP / 216 Def / 52 Spe
-Quiver Dance
-Fiery Dance
-Bug Buzz
-Roost

There isn't to much to say about this one. He's just a nice set up attacker that I tried to make Bulky with the EVs. I like the fact he has Roost so I can set up a sweep if possible.

Ninetales
Timid
@Air Ballon
252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Sunny Day
-Fire Blast
-Solar Beam
-Nasty Plot

This one is basically a Special Attacker that can set up a permanent SD. I like to send him out first then switch to Volcarona To set up a Big time sweep. He is a lot like my next Pokemon except he can't stall very well.

Starmie
Timid
@Life Orb
252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Rapid Spin

This one a lot like Ninetails is a great Special Attacker but there is one major difference, it can stall a little with Recover. I use this on mainly Water types and Slow Rock and Ground types. I also have some nice type coverage vs Grass and Flying types with Ice Beam.

Edit: Ditched Recover for RS and now my Volcarona is raping people. HARD.

Venasaur
Naive
@Leftovers
252 Spe 248 SpA 8 Atk
Chlorophyll
- Earthquake
- Solar Beam
- Growth
- Sleep Powder


So I got Rid of my Jolteon For Venasaur and I have to say I love the moves. With permanent SD set up this thing is pretty unstopable. Thank You very much for the suggestion FE0x. Also SP has greatly helped with Ninjask trying to Baton Pass.

Biggest Weaknesses: Ground, ecspecially Tyranitar
Biggest Advantages: Water, Flying and Steel type.

 

[FinalEquin0x]

Jira looks great. A solid lead.

Haxorus set looks like it wants to be walled by Skarm, Glisc, or AB Trann. maybe give up Swords for Aqua Tail or Low Kick? Double Dance isn't bad just right now setting up in the meta is tough (if your name isn't Latias), and Aqua is also boosted in Rain, which you will encounter in roughly 25% of your battles.

Volcarona looks decent. I'm not a big fan of Bulky sets, but I myself can't give an opinion since I've never used a Bulky set.

Ninetales, typical

Starmie needs to get rid of recover (it won't survive more then one attack from most mons anyways) and put in Rapid Spin. Otherwise Volcarona is going to get cockblocked by Stealth Rocks.

Also, I'd take out Jolteon for Venasaur. Venasaur 's sleep powder is basically a KO for your opponent (granted the nulled poke can be used as sacrifice, but that's not important). Venasaur can come in on a Choice Scarf-locked Fighting type (Terrakion I'm lookin at you) and threaten the switch, growth, and then Sleep Powder, causing another Growth for Venasaur, afterwards Solarbeam + EQuake gg.

Venasaur
@LO Naive
252 SpE 248 SpA 8 Atk
Chlorophyll
- Earthquake
- Solar Beam/Giga Drain
- Growth
- Sleep Powder


Also, Calcs for Venasaur

252Atk Terrakion (+Atk) Close Combat vs 0HP/0Def Venusaur (Neutral): 41% - 48% (125 - 147 HP). Guaranteed 3HKO.
252SpAtk Keldeo (+SAtk) Secret Sword vs 0HP/0Def Venusaur (Neutral): 29% - 34% (89 - 105 HP). Guaranteed 4HKO.
252Atk Reckless Mienshao (+Atk) Hi Jump Kick vs 4HP/0Def Venusaur (Neutral): 52% - 61% (159 - 187 HP). Guaranteed 2HKO.
252Atk Guts poisoned Conkeldurr (+Atk) Mach Punch vs 4HP/0Def Venusaur (Neutral): 21% - 25% (66 - 78 HP). Guaranteed 5HKO.

Its ok that Mienshao can 2HKO cause Venasaur threatens using Sleep Powder then can still get a half-decent sweep going.


That being said, I'd consider trying to find room for a Dugtrio. Opposing Fire-Types can be a real pain, and nothing helps like Trappin' and Slappin'

 

[AHickey1995]

Jira looks great. A solid lead.

Haxorus set looks like it wants to be walled by Skarm, Glisc, or AB Trann. maybe give up Swords for Aqua Tail or Low Kick? Double Dance isn't bad just right now setting up in the meta is tough (if your name isn't Latias), and Aqua is also boosted in Rain, which you will encounter in roughly 25% of your battles.

Volcarona looks decent. I'm not a big fan of Bulky sets, but I myself can't give an opinion since I've never used a Bulky set.

Ninetales, typical

Starmie needs to get rid of recover (it won't survive more then one attack from most mons anyways) and put in Rapid Spin. Otherwise Volcarona is going to get cockblocked by Stealth Rocks.

Also, I'd take out Jolteon for Venasaur. Venasaur 's sleep powder is basically a KO for your opponent (granted the nulled poke can be used as sacrifice, but that's not important). Venasaur can come in on a Choice Scarf-locked Fighting type (Terrakion I'm lookin at you) and threaten the switch, growth, and then Sleep Powder, causing another Growth for Venasaur, afterwards Solarbeam + EQuake gg.

Venasaur
@LO Naive
252 SpE 248 SpA 8 Atk
Chlorophyll
- Earthquake
- Solar Beam/Giga Drain
- Growth
- Sleep Powder


Also, Calcs for Venasaur

252Atk Terrakion (+Atk) Close Combat vs 0HP/0Def Venusaur (Neutral): 41% - 48% (125 - 147 HP). Guaranteed 3HKO.
252SpAtk Keldeo (+SAtk) Secret Sword vs 0HP/0Def Venusaur (Neutral): 29% - 34% (89 - 105 HP). Guaranteed 4HKO.
252Atk Reckless Mienshao (+Atk) Hi Jump Kick vs 4HP/0Def Venusaur (Neutral): 52% - 61% (159 - 187 HP). Guaranteed 2HKO.
252Atk Guts poisoned Conkeldurr (+Atk) Mach Punch vs 4HP/0Def Venusaur (Neutral): 21% - 25% (66 - 78 HP). Guaranteed 5HKO.

Its ok that Mienshao can 2HKO cause Venasaur threatens using Sleep Powder then can still get a half-decent sweep going.


That being said, I'd consider trying to find room for a Dugtrio. Opposing Fire-Types can be a real pain, and nothing helps like Trappin' and Slappin'

Thanks very much for the suggestions took them all, and they worked out very well my team has a counter for pretty much everything now, Thanks.

 

[Winry.]

Hey there!

Standard sun I see :) In the future, please add more descriptions and make the format neater :( Anyway, I'll just get to the rate!

Specs Politoed makes you sad, as everything is a solid 2HKO from Hydro Pump. Whats more is that nothing likes switching into LO Mamoswine's dual STABs, and you have nothing that can stop a DD Dragonite sweep. Furthermore, any team with Terrakion will be able to 2HKO / OHKO everything too, as if it comes in on anything but Venusaur your in huge trouble. It's also stupidly easy to set up a substitute as well. Double Dance ThundyT can easily set up and demolish this team (so many set up oppurtunities), while SubSalac Garchomp and Double Dance Landorus-T to a lesser extent are also quite threatening. Finally, sand and sun teams look like an issue as you don't really have too many good answers to beat them.

Ok, I'm going to suggest replacing Haxorus for SubSD Terrakion. You really need a better answer for both sun teams and sand teams, and Terrakion offers it. It can beat down DD Dragonite and it can check opposing Thundurus-T as well. It can check Mamoswine and revenge kill Specs Politoed so I feel its a better addition than Haxorus.

To address the rain issue, I'm going to suggest running Recover over Thunderbolt on Starmie. It also helps vs. Terrakions. While thunderbolt can certainly hurt Politoed, you'll want to tank the hits more. With more longevity, its able to live long enough to check Landorus-T and SubSalac Garchomp, and LO Mamoswine. On Jirachi, I'd run Body Slam over Thunder Wave so you can stop Double Dance Thundurus-T from hard core sweeping.

You really should try using the standard bulky Ninetales spread on-site. That spread your using at the moment accomplishes nothing (since Ninetales sucks) and try using WoW and Roar over Nasty Plot and Solar Beam, as the offensive set is really pitiful in this metagame. Venusaur wants Giga Drain over Solar Beam, and Sludge Bomb over Sleep Powder since its 100% more reliable (and it can hit things like Latias). With Terrakion, you don't need Earthquake (because Terrakion sets up on Heatran) so try using Hidden Power [Fire] for those pesky Steel types. Lastly, run Timid Venusaur instead, and run enough speed EVs to hit 265 speed, as that should outpace Scarf Latios and below under sun. You can invest the rest into HP, which I believe the spread looks like this: 72 Hp / 252 SpA / 184 Spe, but I'm not certain that's right so play around until you hit the numbers I mentioned.

That's it from me. Good Luck!

Winry Rockbell

 

[John the Aussie]

nice team only a few hinters
1. youve got a huge weak weakness to ground types of which are very common phisical moves often comeing in the form of edgequake.
2. be carefull when spamming solar beam as this of can lead to problems when fighting other weather teams who will switchinto there weather setup before giveing you grief.
hope it all goes well :D have a good one

 

[joshe]

This is a pretty good start to a very solid sun team and i think i can change some sets around and suggest a pokemon change or two to get this team looking stronger than ever!

I would like to start by suggesting you change out Haxorus for a Choice Band Dragonite. This set helps you out a ton versus offensive sun teams that run frail pokemon like sawsbuck, venusaur, or volcarona and rain teams that run Tornadus and other frail pokemon. Extremespeed deals a lot of damage to offensive versions and has alot of valuable resistances for your team. Dragonite also helps wall break certain walls that give volcarona trouble as well such as bulky waters and heatran with either earthquake or superpower. You also have a rapid spinner on the team currently which is very beneficial to keeping dragonite healthy and it allows you to abuse it's ability multiscale which cuts damage by half when it's at full health. your jirachi also carries wish which lets you abuse this ability multiple times.

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Dragonite @ Choice Band
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Extremespeed
- Earthquake / Superpower
- Fire Punch

I'd like to turn to volcarona now. I feel an offensive version of volcarona is alot stronger in this current metagame than defensive volcarona. most teams don't carry many checks and even with 1 quiver dance you can sweep teams pretty easily in the sun. With a Life Orb Volcarona does tons of damage to everything and it will either punch holes big enough for Dragonite or Venusaur to clean up or sweep itself. the most checks a team holds for volcarona are Scarf Keldeo who can't hope to OHKO you in any weather other than rain with Hydro Pump when you're at full health, especially in sun, Terrakion who poops on you regardless and heatran who can be taken care of with nearly all of your other pokemon. Giga Drain helps you out versus rain teams as it does a ton of damage to Politoed and other water types (except Tentacruel i guess) that are normally on rain teams. the 112 evs are so that you beat Jolteon after 1 quiver dance and the extra HP evs are so you can tank a hydro pump (not in rain!!) from a scarf keldeo at full health and ko with giga drain (and heal back up). Modest and max special attack let you deal as much damage as possible. I should note that Jirachi is an excellent switch in to scarf terrakion as it resists Stone Edge and Rock slide just in case you see a scarf terrakion try to kill volcarona.

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Volcarona @ Life Orb
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 144 HP / 252 SAtk / 112 Spd
Modest Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Giga Drain

With Volcarona being an offensive version now, keeping sun up is very important especially for an offensive sun team like this. Sun is your win condition and it is needed for venusaur and friends to achieve their sweeps as well as something to help you against rain and sand teams that give sun teams some trouble. With a defensive Ninetales you can outlast politoed and tyranitar and render them useless every time they bother to switch in with Sunny Day. Nothing can switch in for free either with Will-o-Wisp or you can just force them out with Roar. Solarbeam can be used over either of the last two moves if you feel like doing some damage to whatever switches in on you after you sunny day their failed politoed switch in.

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Ninetales @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Sunny Day
- Flamethrower
- Will-o-wisp
- Roar

With a Life Orb your starmie doesn't last very long at all and Starmie is one of those mons that you absolutely have to have last long enough to make sure Stealth Rock is off the field for Volcarona and now Dragonite. You also need Starmie to help check rain and keep Tentacruel, Terrakion, and Keldeo at bay which a defensive Starmie does. With Psyshock neither of these pokemon can stay in on your starmie and Starmie still makes sure that stealth rock is off the field while staying healthy with recover. Scald is there because sun is usually up and should be up so having a burn chance on whatever you want to burn is beneficial for both the attack drop and for extra damage. Again, this starmie is better than your current version because it lasts a lot longer and still does its job to keep stealth rock off the field for volcarona and dragonite.

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Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 232 HP / 24 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Rapid Spin
- Recover

As far as the rest of the team I would like to suggest Body Slam over Thunder Wave on Jirachi so you can hit ground types like Garchomp, Landorus, Landorus-t, and Gliscor with paralysis and either render them useless or flinch hax them down enough so that they're forced to switch out to something that can't handle jirachi as well and continue your haxing ways.... I'd also like you to try out Sludge Bomb over Sleep Powder so you can hit Latios and Latias as well as Celebi for Super Effective damage. this is quite possibly more beneficial to your team than sleep powder is as damaging these pokemon is needed to give volcarona a turn of set up or to let dragonite clean up. Giga Drain might be a better option than solarbeam as well as they could predict that you have solar beam and that would ruin all your momentum but it's up to you to choose.

These are a lot of changes but I feel they are needed to help you get that good team that you'll enjoy playing with for quite a while and one that you can count on to win reliably. Good luck with your team and I hope you enjoy my suggestions! :)