VGC VGC 2017 Sleipnir

[rocketpajamas]

So, first attempt at creating a VGC team, please bear with me here, because I could use a hand. My idea with this one was to build something centered around Mudsdale and Alolan Ninetales, but have it play off of Mudsdale's immunity to Electric and Ninetales' immunity to Dragon and its ability Snow Warning.

The Team:​

Mudsdale @ Assault Vest
Ability: Stamina
Nature: Gentle
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 SpD
- High Horsepower
- Double Kick
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake

My main Pokemon! She's a complete monster I love her. While her defensive stats are okay at best, Stamina can help her set up against threats of any type. Assault Vest was chosen for the added Special Defense, because her three weaknesses (Ice, Water, and Grass) tend to lean towards Special Attacks as opposed to Physical Attacks, at least in my experience. High Horsepower was chosen as the ground-type move for when Earthquake could be inconvenient (which we'll get to in a moment). Double Kick because of it's double hit to whittle down things like Pyukumuku. Heavy Slam to get rid of bothersome Fairy types like Ribombee and the Tapus, and Earthquake for STAB when her partner won't be hurt badly by it.

Xurkitree @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Beast Boost
Nature: Hasty
EVs: 252 HP, 252 SpA, 4 SpD
- Dazzling Gleam
- Energy Ball
- Discharge
- Volt Switch

Mudsdale's main partner! Beast Boost gives it amazing power for all of its moves, including non-STAB like Energy Ball. Rocky Helmet was chosen for it's 1/6 recoil damage on physical attacks against it, EVs stacked towards HP so it can at least try to survive a Ground-type attack or damage from Earthquake. Dazzling Gleam to take out Dragon and Dark types, as well as cover all foes. Energy Ball to take out Water type threats to Mudsdale. Discharge instead of Thunderbolt because of it's ability to cover all foes and not affect Mudsdale, and Volt Switch for pivot in case it's in a bad position or had too many negative stat changes. It's also the reason behind High Horsepower for Mudsdale, because there isn't a huge loss in power for that move and it only affects one Pokemon, with no damage coming to Xurkitree.

Salamence @ Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Sassy
EVs: 252 Atk, 4 SpD, 252 Spe
- Fly
- Dragon Claw
- Rock Slide
- Protect
I know, I know, her nature is counterintuitive to her EVs, but I bred her and she's the best one I got so it's what I'm stuck with. I stacked her EVs towards Speed anyways to counter that so it's still at least vaguely decent. This is Mudsdale's other partner, allowing her to set up Earthquake whenever she wants. Other than that, another Dragon counter, doesn't take much damage from main threats like Electric, Fire, Grass, Water, Fighting, or Bug, but does take it from Ice, Rock, Dragon, and Fairy. She's a good partner for Mudsdale with Heavy Slam so she doesn't have to worry as much about Pokemon like Tapus or Ribombee, and makes for a good partner to the next Pokemon in the team. I chose Fly so she can also pair with Xurkitree, get the STAB, and not take Discharge damage. Dragon Claw for STAB and to clear out more Dragon types, Rock Slide to get rid of flying types once Xurkitree is out, and Protect so she can deal with moves that span the entire field (Like Discharge! I'm sensing a pattern...). Lum Berry was for damage she could take from Confusion/Burn and to keep her able to perform in case of Poison or Paralysis. I really wanted Dragon Dance but it's an Event-only move XD

Tapu Lele @ Life Orb
Ability: Psychic Surge
Nature: Careful
EVs: 252 SpA, 252 SpD, 252 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Psyshock
- Moonblast

I know, another case of the nature not benefiting the EV spread, but yet another counter to having a nature-lowered Special Attack. It's the partner to Salamence, able to pivot in to protect against Dragons and other Fairy types. Life Orb for the added attack boost, also to counter her nature. Shadow Ball because I thought it could be a good compliment to Pokemon that don't take much from Electric, Psychic, or Fairy. Thunderbolt to counter Water and Flying types again, Psyshock for STAB plus the added effect of damaging based on Def instead of SpD, and Moonblast as STAB and a possible SpA lower. And with Psychic Surge, priority moves are dumb and Psychic type moves are better.

Ninetales @ Icy Rock
Ability: Snow Warning
Nature: Rash
EVs: 4 HP, 252 SpA, 252 Spe
- Dazzling Gleam
- Dark Pulse
- Psyshock
- Freeze Dry

Ninetales is one of my main sweepers. He switches in with the last Pokemon on this list, has a diverse moveset that hits almost everything and covers his allies weaknesses, and ushers in conditions that hurt everyone but him. Icy Rock is to extend the effects of Hail as long as humanly possible for both his and his partner's benefit. Dazzling Gleam for STAB, no more Dark or Dragon types. Dark Pulse to hit Psychic types that he otherwise would do neutral damage to, Psyshock for the physical damage(? if it's classified as such?), and Freeze Dry for STAB and to get rid of Water types, which is really the only reason I chose it over Blizzard. It could switch though, because of Blizzard's inability to miss in Hail, but I wanted to make sure I'd get at least a little something if the weather changes suddenly (which will happen and make me very very sad.)

Sandslash @ Never Melt Ice
Ability: Slush Rush
Nature: Naughty
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Spe
- Iron Head
- Icicle Crash
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake

Can you tell I like Earthquake??? Yeah me neither. Ninetales' main partner though, for the obvious reason of Hail + Slush Rush = Double Speed. Never Melt Ice is to power up Icicle Crash and hopefully repel the OHKO of any Fire Type move used against her thanks to 4x weakness to Fire. Iron Head for STAB and chance to flinch, Icicle Crash for STAB and chance to Flinch, Swords Dance to power up those two moves (Icicle Crash + Never Melt Ice + Swords Dance = ????), and Earthquake for last ditch coverage against Fire types (who knew Fire was weak to Ground? Not me it seems dumb but okay.)

The last two are the ones I'm not sure about. Originally, this team was going to be built around Sandslash and Ninetale's combo, but it quickly evolved to be all about the synergy between Mudsdale, Xurkitree, and Salamence. If you have any ideas on switches for the last two, please feel free to suggest ideas!


​

 

[rocketpajamas]

bumping (i hope that's allowed ;-;)

 

[WistfulAether]

Alright so first off, the 6 Pokemon themselves work together well on the team for the most part, you probably don't need to change them yet. I'll try to help in the best way I can. I know you say that the natures are the best that you got, but you really should try to get better for basically everything. At least play on Showdown a bit with correct natures, as a -SpA nature on Lele is just unusable. You really do have to breed for correct nature's on normal Pokemon, and see hopefully you can figure out a way to get better legendaries.

Assault Vest Mudsdale is good, but double kick is a really bad move, so try to replace it for something else.

Xurkitree is good, but make sure to add protect on it. An alternate option is using Scarf Xurkitree, where you don't need Protect. It's probably much better than Rocky Helmet, so definitely consider that.

Ignoring the Salamence's nature, I do highly suggest using Special over Physical, it's simply better in this format. A special set with Draco Meteor, a fire move, and something else works fairly well. Make sure you add protect to it, which as of note you didn't do to most of your Pokemon. In this format, things like Sandslash, Tapu Lele, and Xurkitree are going to NEED Protect. Get rid of Swords Dance, Thunderbolt/Shadow Ball, and any move of your choosing on Xurkitree for it (unless you want to use Scarfed Xurk).

You should probably check out the EVs for Tapu Lele, but I'm sure that's just a mistake. Not much else to say about it besides the fact that the nature basically makes it unusable. Really try to change that.

If you're going to use Ninetails, Aurora Veil is an absolute necessity, that's really the only thing that makes it viable. Change it out for Dark Pulse, and change Psyshock for Protect, or Moonblast. Using Ninetales without Protect is an option, but it might be better with it.

Finally, Sandslash is perfectly find for the Hail. Just replace Swords Dance with Protect, and again, try to get a better nature, since -Speed when you're supposed to outspeed things in Hail is not good.

I hope that this helped!

 

[rocketpajamas]

Thank you so much WistfulAether !!! I can definetly try for better natures on the non-legendary Pokemon, but unless I can get someone to trade me another Tapu Lele and Xurkitree, there's no way I can change theirs. I'm a little hesitant to use a scarf on Xurkitree, so I'll definitely grab Protect for it and probably swap out Energy Ball? Double Kick is a horrible move XD but I don't have any other fighting type TMs right now to give her a better move, any suggestions? Physical Salamence was from Showdown (her perfect IVs in everything lend her better towards using Attack instead of SpA), I figured rounding out the physical side of things might be a good idea but with Mudsdale's Stamina and good Attack, I should be mostly set (I hope). And yes, Lele's EVs were a typo, it's actually 252 SpA, 4 SpD, 252 Spe XD. Ninetales and Sandslash are really my backups for it, I haven't gotten to test them much, but I figured that they cold be a good match. I'll make sure he gets Aurora Veil (do you know if it's a TM or is it a move learned on level?), and I'll nerf Swords Dance and try for a better nature for speed (any suggestions or would anything that raises speed but doesn't lower attack good?)

Switching Salamence's moves to Hyper Voice/Draco Meteor (which I hate because of the Sp. Atk recoil and she's gonna need her berry)/Flamethrower/Protect and EVs to 252 SpA, 4 SpD, 252 Spe only boosts her SpA to 162, which is kinda crappy at this point I feel. Add the recoil from Draco Meteor and it's going to be sub 100 or so.

For Sandslash, switching her EVs to 4 HP/252 Attack/252 Speed without changing her nature gives her 151 HP, 167 Attack, and 117 Speed (then Slush Rush doubles that)

Aaaand scratch Hyper Voice Salamence, she can't learn it (It's now Dragon Pulse)

 

[WistfulAether]

Yeah, getting rid of Energy Ball is probably fine. If you're afraid of the Draco recoil, try using Dragonium Z on salamence so you can still get a nuke out of him, and its a good item in general. And yes, Aurora Veil is a TM found in Heahea City. Mudsdale does get Superpower/Close Combat, which are both much better fighting moves, so you can use either of those.

 

[rocketpajamas]

So for Salamence, she's switched to Dragonium Z with Heat Wave/Draco Meteor/Flamethrower/Protect, and Mudsdale's now switched to High Horsepower/Heavy Slam/Superpower/Earthquake

 

[rocketpajamas]

Do you have any suggestions on natures for this team?

Oh wait nevermind again on Heat Wave (curse these gen moves!) It's gonna be Roost.

Also, any ideas for pokemon that could take Tapu Lele's role? At least until I can figure out how to orchestrate a trade of some sort.

 

[WistfulAether]

You could also run Hydro Pump on Mence. For natures, I suggest Adamant Mudsdale, Modest Xurkitree, Timid Mence, Timid Lele (you can do Modest as well), Timid Ninetales, Adamant Sandlash. The best option to replace Lele for now would be the other Tapus, specifically Koko or Bulu. Koko might be good for a second way to kill Celesteela, plus Fairy stab and such.

 

[rocketpajamas]

I only have Quirky Koko, but I can definitely try to find Bulu. What should its nature be (it's physical sweeper, right?)

 

[WistfulAether]

It should be Adamant