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Battle Subway team, need advice

Irisfatum

The Sleepy Trainer
Right now, the team I've been using for the Battle Subway is a little...'disorganized'. Really, I just bred and EV-trained Pokemon that I enjoy and then just used three that I liked the best, hoping for good results. It works okay, but I'd really like advice.

:596:
Galvantula @ Life Orb
Nature: Timid
Ability: Compoundeyes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Thunder
- Bug Buzz
- Volt Switch
- Energy Ball

Straight-up attacker. Electric, Bug, and Grass offer relatively good type coverage. Its main purpose is to dish out STAB Thunders or the other attacks with a Life Orb boost until it dies. If I'm not certain that it can OHKO (or at least nearly kill something) something, then it flees while dealing damage with Volt Switch.

:503:
Samurott @ Lum Berry
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Megahorn

Samurott pairs very well with Galvantula. Together, they have fantastic type synergy going on. Swords Dance + Priority sweeper. When coming into battle, Samurott's priority is either in revenge killing with Aqua Jet or boosting up with Swords Dance before attacking. Lum Berry is to prevent things like Thunder Wave or Will 'o Wisp from ruining his good time.

;376;
Metagross @ Leftovers/Choice Band/Air Balloon
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Zen Headbutt
- Bullet Punch/Agility

While Samurott and Galvantula are two Pokemon that I just thought worked well together, Metagross is just an individual Pokemon that I love and wanted to use. His moveset changes much more frequently than the others. While I originally trained him simply to be a Choice Band user, I find that Agility still works well. Even with absolutely no investment into Speed, it can outrun most base 110s after a single use of Agility...basically outrunning most things that threaten it as long as they aren't carrying a Choice Scarf. If I'm using the Choice Band, however, I replace Agility with Bullet Punch. Air Balloon works very well coupled with his EV spread by essentially giving it temporary immunity to one of its only two weaknesses.

I'm willing to alter most any part of my team...though, I'd really like to base it all more around Metagross. For that reason, I was considering Rotom-W...but, since I don't have access to Pain Split, I was unsure of how effectively it would work as a partner for Metagross.
 
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Canto

Well-Known Member
It looks good to me. Maybe replace Samurott's Waterfall for Dragon Tail? Just in case the opponent sends in something that he can't really handle. Just a thought.
 

benwsf

The Torterra Trainer
Galvanatula wants Wise Glasses over Life Orb and Thunderwave over Volt Switch.

Samurott wants to replace either Waterfall or Aqua Jet with Return. If you replace Waterfall, give it a Jolly nature, and if you replace Aqua Jet, give it an Adamant nature. It also wants a Muscle Band over Lum Berry.

Not sure about Metagross, but it wants a Leftovers as an item.
 

El Panda

No Present For You!
I think Air balloon Agility-Gross would probably be best for synergy with your team, sply because I am gonna recommend that you give your Galvantula Specs (Base 98 SpA isn't all that great and it needs all it can get to warrant using it) and your gonna want something to switch in on those ground types when your locked into Thunder. I would give Samurott Return over Waterfall for the good Water-Normal neutral coverage, an EV Spread of 252 HP/252 Atk/ 4 Spd because Aqua Jet is probably going to be the main for of attack and you want the bulk for setting up and your gonna need it to survive all the fire attacks it's gonna get hit with because your other two members are both weak to it, and finally give it Lefties, of course, because it's a bulkier version.
 
Metagross is perfect with Agility as its fourth and your choice of Lefties or Balloon as the item. I prefer Leftovers myself, but either is good.

With Galvantula, Volt Switch is probably unnecessary when you can have T-Wave instead. Also, the item needs replacement, probably with Wise Glasses as previously prescribed.

Samurott could probably stand to have Aqua Jet replaced and be slightly readjusted for speed. Return is almost assuredly your best bet, since its movepool is awful. I'm almost inclined to say "Dig to cover electric," but if you do that, you're basically guaranteed to have that come back to bite you.
 

Irisfatum

The Sleepy Trainer
Thanks, guys! I appreciate all the input...though, I have to say, I disagree with a lot that's been said.

I don't see any reason at all to use Return on Samurott when it has access to Megahorn.

Water + Bug offers better coverage than Water + Normal. Megahorn isn't just there for Bug-types...it's there as a replacement to the popular inclusion of Return on Aqua Jet + Swords Dance sets. The only thing Samurott really gets totally shut out by with Water + Bug is Jellicent, which is immune to Return anyway.

I might consider using Thunder Wave on Galvantula though. Even with the high paralysis rate of Thunder, it's good to have a sure thing so that either Samurott or Metagross can get a free turn to set up.

Also might consider a bulkier build for Samurott...but so far, the extra speed has worked wonders by allowing more opportunities to hit with a STAB Waterfall. The only times I go for Aqua Jet are...

1.) When I'm sure the opponent can OHKO Samurott before I could act otherwise.
2.) When I'm sure Aqua Jet will OHKO, especially when I know Torrent is active.
 
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