Black 2 In game team

[Dusknoirdude23]

Hi there, I'm after some help refining this team I'm using for a Black 2 playthrough, I will consider replacements for any pokes you think will cause problems...

Serperior
Overgrow
Quirky nature
- Leaf Blade
- Return
- Leech Seed/Aqua Tail
- Coil

So I picked Snivy as my starter because I thought it was pretty cool, and it eventually evolved into this bulky beast. I figured Leaf Blade gave a solid STAB move with decent power, and Return also has decent power. At the moment it has Leech Seed, but as this has it struggling with Steel types, I was thinking about teaching it Aqua Tail once I got to Lentimas Town, thoughts? Coil is a pretty awesome boosting move, so I'd like to keep that.

Arcanine
Intimidate
Quirky nature
- Flamethrower
- Crunch
- Dragon Pulse
- Wild Charge/Extremespeed???

I went with an Arcanine, as this is the first time I have had in game access to one since Gen 2... I picked Flamethrower because it has decent power, and Arcanine is not bad with special moves and Dragon Pulse is an easy choice for me with the perfect (bar Heatran Flash Fire) neutral coverage. Crunch will help out at the E4, but the last move I am stuck with... I figure Wild Charge gets Marlon, but ESpeed gets priority, so some help there would be great!

Flygon
Levitate
Serious nature
- Dig/Earth Power...
- Dragon Claw
- Crunch
- Rock Slide

I know, I know, the ground moves are TERRIBLE!!! If desperate, I am able to trade to a White version to teach it Earthquake and then trade it back As for the other moves, Dragon Claw is STAB, Crunch and Rock Slide are for coverage. I was considering Fire Punch, or Fire Blast once I get to Lacunosa Town, but I wouldn't know what to delete for it.

Magnezone
Sturdy
Naughty nature
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power Ground
- Thunder Wave

So this moveset I had some trouble working out, so some advice would be appreciated... Thunderbolt and Flash Cannon are STAB, and I know Steel is pretty terrible as an offensive type... Hidden Power Ground I thought would come in handy, and Thunder Wave is good to spread some paralysis around.

Lucario
Steadfast
Hardy nature
- Aura Sphere/Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- Shadow Ball
- Extremespeed/Dragon Pulse/Rock Slide/???

Since none of Lucario's offensive stats are hindered here, I thought I would try a mixed set. As I can't breed for Crunch pre E4, I thought Shadow Ball would suffice as it has similar coverage. Aura Sphere or Close Combat is a choice I'm not sure of, as CC has more power, but Aura Sphere gives Lucario a more mixed approach. Ice Punch was for coverage, and the fourth move has me stumped, so suggestions will be good

At the moment, my 6th member is a Swanna, but it is turning into an HM slave at a rapid rate of knots, but as the type combo seems to work with my team, I thought about Mantine as a replacement.

Mantine
Water Absorb
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Air Slash
- Agility/Toxic/Signal Beam?

The first three moves I am confident with, and Water Absorb as an ability will come in very handy later on. The last move however is tripping me up. Agility to boost speed, Toxic to break down wall-ish pokes or Signal Beam for another attacking move...

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Shine]

Aqua Tail is great on Serperior.


As for Flygon, it depends on whether you EV its SAtk or not. If you don't, then just go pure physical with Earthquake-Rock Slide-Fire Punch-Dragon Claw.
Otherwise, you can replace Crunch with Fire Blast instead, and maybe keep Earth Power until you get the Earthquake TM.


Get another Magnezone, Naughty is one of the worst Nature for it. Increases Attack, which it doesn't need, and reduce SDef, which is one of its best stats.
Use the one with Modest or Calm Nature instead. Moveset however, is fine.

 

[Arlo]

Have to make a distinction between in-game and competitive, since they're entirely different strategies (this is my biggest gripe with virtually all in-game RMT forums).

Presuming, both from the forum and from some of the comments in your post, that this is indeed an in-game team:

Serperior's fine with Leech Seed, and while Aqua Tail is a good enough move, I wouldn't add it just to be able to cover Steels. This is the distinction, right here - in-game, switching is effortless and risk-free and virtually always the best strategy. You already have three other pokemon on your team with SE STABs against Steels - Serperior doesn't need to be able to hit them, and you gain nothing by it being able to hit them with a non-STAB, neutrally effective move. All you've done is wasted a move slot. If a Steel comes in, switch in Arcanine or Flygon or Lucario and let them destroy it with their SE STABs. And that way you can leave Leech Seed on Serperior, which is good, since it's one of the most massively useful moves in the entire game, since it's set-it-and-forget-it and is pretty much a guaranteed faint the moment it hits. Since the AI is dumb as a post (never forget that), it'll leave the opponent in and just let it be leeched to zero. And you get free healing along the way. And setting aside a bit of neutral coverage, Aqua Tail wouldn't give you anything you don't already have, STABbed, with Leaf Blade.


Arcanine - this one's even more bizarre to me than Serperior. There is absolutely NO reason to put a move on Arcanine just so it can use it against the Water gym. It's a Fire type - it has absolutely no business even being in against a Water type, much less an entire gym full of them. Serperior and Magnezone should be able to sweep Marlon's gym all by themselves - they don't need any help from a non-STAB electric attack from a Fire type that's going to faint to the first Surf that hits it anyway. Go with Extremespeed, definitely, and leave the Water coverage to the types that are designed for it.


Flygon's fine as is. Well... except for the fact that it's not EQ, but yeah... until you can get that TM, that's the best you can do. I'd probably go with Earth Power, though if its Attack is at least half again as high as its Special Attack, Bulldoze would hit harder. But it's probably not, so it probably won't.


Magnezone's fine (except, as noted, for the nature), and the HP Ground is sort of a nice touch.


Lucario - again, in-game strategy is different from competitive strategy. In-game, at least other than going into a gym (or the PWT or such), I'd put both Aura Sphere and Close Combat on it. I know that makes people rage, but IN-GAME, it really is the best strategy. CC is a great attack, but it has a penalty and it only has 5pp, so it's best left for special situations, when you really need that extra damage and you can afford to, or have no choice but to, take the penalty and waste the precious pp. But when you're out just tromping around and running into stuff, you want something dependable and solid with lots of pp, and that's Aura Sphere. And with a convenient Move Relearner and an essentially endless supply of Heart Scales, you can always drop Aura Sphere in favor of something else when you go to the PWT or into an important gym, then put it back on later when you go tromping around the region again. Personally, I'd go with AS/CC/Ice Punch and Shadow Ball, and if necessary for a particular gym, swap AS out for whatever seemed most appropriate for that gym - ES for priority users or Rock Slide for Flyers/Bugs and the like. I'd probably pass on Dragon Pulse, since its SE coverage overlaps with Ice Punch.


For Mantine, I think I'd tend to go with Toxic, but it could go either way. Toxic's just a handy move to have available somewhere on your party. You might not ever need it, but it's nice to have it available if you do. Signal Beam will give you a STAB against Darks and Psychics (and Grasses, but you've already got that with Air Slash anyway), but while Psychics would be pretty safe opponents for a specially bulky Water/Flyer, Darks could be a problem, since it doesn't really have the physical defense and HP to withstand much in the way of Crunches. And Lucario demolishes Darks anyway, and you've already got three Pokemon with Dark attacks, so Psychics shouldn't be a problem. Again, it could go either way, but I'd lean just a bit toward Toxic.

 

[Dusknoirdude23]

Thank you both for the advice, it's very helpful
The only problem with switching Magnezone for a better nature is that I don't know how likely I am to get HP Ground again...
Other than that, I'm pretty sure of what to do now