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Emerald team help

Hey, just getting back to Emerald after a long while. Looking for advice on movesets for my pokemon, as well as suggestions for other pokemon to add to my team.

My thoughts for a team:

Blaziken
- Sky Uppercut
- Flamethrower
- Slash
- ?????

Gardevoir
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt

Salamence
- Aerial Ace
- Dragon Claw
- Crunch
- Earthquake

Ludicolo
- Giga Drain
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- ???? ( Maybe leech seed, if my breeding is lucky)

I'm unsure what 2 other pokemon would make my team well rounded.
I have a manectric and sharpedo sitting in my inventory, perhaps?

Any help is appreciated!
 

Darth Sabreus

Want to get a soda?
I'd help but I'd like to know the context.... competitive, ingame, Battle Frontier? On the face of it, it looks good, could definitely use some tweaking then.
 

Nyoah

The Dark Azure
i think blaziken should always have blaze kick
it'll help if you also have a bug type pokemon, my beautifly helped me alot
try Dustox, it might be very useful for your team
 

Darth Sabreus

Want to get a soda?
Not competitive for sure.

I will definitely be using this team to challenge the Battle Frontier

Right I'll give it a go then. I should have said the competitive is pretty much BF, but I will post a moveset with a mini strategy. I'll leave you to sort out EVs. I say this because you are better off EV training your Pokemon, but for me anyway my spreads aren't really conventional and are more like what I think is best for the Pokemon I'm using. You pretty much need EVs to do well at the BF anyway. Having said that Smogon has some great analysis on pretty much every fully evolved Pokemon, have a look if you want more ideas etc. What you should note is that I'm giving you a team/ options for the BF, ingame is your choice.

Blaziken @ Whatever item you like.
Adamant/Jolly
-Overheat/Fire Blast
-Earthquake
-Sky Uppercut
-Agility

Deadly attacker, both physically and specially. Overheat is purely a one off move, it plays of his Special Attack which will be hindered by the nature, but still packs a punch. Earthquake is good coverage, Sky Uppercut is STAB. Agility is an option if you want to turn it into an awesome sweeper. If you'd rather not try Rock Slide, it goes well with Earthquake and covers a Flying weakness. You could also go mixed, check Smogon for a good mixed set. I've not used Blaziken in the BF so if anyone wants to debate then go for it.

Gardevoir @ Item. Make sure you get Synchronize Ability.
Timid
-Psychic
-Thunderbolt
-Calm Mind
-Hypnosis/Ice Punch

Another great sweeper, this time a more Special one. Psychic is great STAB, Calm Mind boosts your special stats hence the Timid nature. Shadow Ball is physical in Gen III so it's not ideal on Gardevoir. Hypnosis is good if you want to get some boosts in before you sweep, but it's only got 60% accuracy and the sleep mechanics are variable so you may want to you Ice Punch instead. It gets near perfect coverage with Ice Punch, and will decimate Dragons and Grounds, especially with a CM boost.

Salamence @ Lum Berry
Adamant/Jolly
-Aerial Ace
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Dragon Dance

A really powerful set. Everything speaks for itself. You could swap RS for Brick Break if you want, you get pretty much the same coverage, same power, more accuracy, no Flinch chance but a chance to break Light Screen and Reflect. Will decimate Blissey and Tyranitar which are common opponents in higher end battles. You can ditch DD and go with Jolly and give it Choice Band for some insane power without having to use a turn to set-up. However, you are locked into a move, and if you get statused it severly reduces Salamence's survivabilty, paralyse, sleep, burn and the ever-common freeze most especially. Having a confusion defence also helps :)

Ludicolo looks great. Give it Leftovers with a Bold/Calm/Modest nature, and you'll be sweet.

I will suggest two great Pokemon I have had some awesome success with.

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Adamant
-Meteor Mash
-Agility
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide/ Explosion/ Light Screen

One Agility. That will set you up really well. If you get good IVs and proper EV allocation you can outspeed even the fastest Jolteon and Aerodactyl, no mean feat. The last slot depends. RS is coverage, Explosion is deadly suicide if you feel you're at the end of Metagross' spell, and Light Screen is a personal favourite of mine because it boosts its Special Defence and provides support for your team too.

Suicune @ Leftovers
*Any nature hindering Attack*
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Rest
-Sleep Talk/Calm Mind

I post this guys since he's so useful for me. If you can get one that's great, if not go with Ludicolo, or search around the web for another alternative. Surf and Ice Beam are standard, Rest means you love longer. Sleep Talk is good if you don't want to be a sitting duck, CM give you some awesome survivability points. I use CM since if you can get a few of those up (you should be fine since Suicune is an awesome tank) you can wall pretty much anything, and make it Struggle due to Suicune's Pressure Ability. You can swap Lefties for a Chesto if you want to use Rest then get right back into it, but it's one-off which bugs me. I find it can easily survive the Rest time just fine. Suicune depends on your access to FR/LG or Pokemon Colosseum. If you can, get one from Colosseum since the ones from FR/LG have glitched IVs. Up to you though.

Hope that's useful in some way. I would post my Zapdos set but that's unique since I got lucky with a Modest nature and HP (Grass), plus it's from Colosseum so it has Metal Sound. Good luck!
 
Right I'll give it a go then. I should have said the competitive is pretty much BF, but I will post a moveset with a mini strategy. I'll leave you to sort out EVs. I say this because you are better off EV training your Pokemon, but for me anyway my spreads aren't really conventional and are more like what I think is best for the Pokemon I'm using. You pretty much need EVs to do well at the BF anyway. Having said that Smogon has some great analysis on pretty much every fully evolved Pokemon, have a look if you want more ideas etc. What you should note is that I'm giving you a team/ options for the BF, ingame is your choice.

Blaziken @ Whatever item you like.
Adamant/Jolly
-Overheat/Fire Blast
-Earthquake
-Sky Uppercut
-Agility

Deadly attacker, both physically and specially. Overheat is purely a one off move, it plays of his Special Attack which will be hindered by the nature, but still packs a punch. Earthquake is good coverage, Sky Uppercut is STAB. Agility is an option if you want to turn it into an awesome sweeper. If you'd rather not try Rock Slide, it goes well with Earthquake and covers a Flying weakness. You could also go mixed, check Smogon for a good mixed set. I've not used Blaziken in the BF so if anyone wants to debate then go for it.

Gardevoir @ Item. Make sure you get Synchronize Ability.
Timid
-Psychic
-Thunderbolt
-Calm Mind
-Hypnosis/Ice Punch

Another great sweeper, this time a more Special one. Psychic is great STAB, Calm Mind boosts your special stats hence the Timid nature. Shadow Ball is physical in Gen III so it's not ideal on Gardevoir. Hypnosis is good if you want to get some boosts in before you sweep, but it's only got 60% accuracy and the sleep mechanics are variable so you may want to you Ice Punch instead. It gets near perfect coverage with Ice Punch, and will decimate Dragons and Grounds, especially with a CM boost.

Salamence @ Lum Berry
Adamant/Jolly
-Aerial Ace
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Dragon Dance

A really powerful set. Everything speaks for itself. You could swap RS for Brick Break if you want, you get pretty much the same coverage, same power, more accuracy, no Flinch chance but a chance to break Light Screen and Reflect. Will decimate Blissey and Tyranitar which are common opponents in higher end battles. You can ditch DD and go with Jolly and give it Choice Band for some insane power without having to use a turn to set-up. However, you are locked into a move, and if you get statused it severly reduces Salamence's survivabilty, paralyse, sleep, burn and the ever-common freeze most especially. Having a confusion defence also helps :)

Ludicolo looks great. Give it Leftovers with a Bold/Calm/Modest nature, and you'll be sweet.

I will suggest two great Pokemon I have had some awesome success with.

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Adamant
-Meteor Mash
-Agility
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide/ Explosion/ Light Screen

One Agility. That will set you up really well. If you get good IVs and proper EV allocation you can outspeed even the fastest Jolteon and Aerodactyl, no mean feat. The last slot depends. RS is coverage, Explosion is deadly suicide if you feel you're at the end of Metagross' spell, and Light Screen is a personal favourite of mine because it boosts its Special Defence and provides support for your team too.

Suicune @ Leftovers
*Any nature hindering Attack*
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Rest
-Sleep Talk/Calm Mind

I post this guys since he's so useful for me. If you can get one that's great, if not go with Ludicolo, or search around the web for another alternative. Surf and Ice Beam are standard, Rest means you love longer. Sleep Talk is good if you don't want to be a sitting duck, CM give you some awesome survivability points. I use CM since if you can get a few of those up (you should be fine since Suicune is an awesome tank) you can wall pretty much anything, and make it Struggle due to Suicune's Pressure Ability. You can swap Lefties for a Chesto if you want to use Rest then get right back into it, but it's one-off which bugs me. I find it can easily survive the Rest time just fine. Suicune depends on your access to FR/LG or Pokemon Colosseum. If you can, get one from Colosseum since the ones from FR/LG have glitched IVs. Up to you though.

Hope that's useful in some way. I would post my Zapdos set but that's unique since I got lucky with a Modest nature and HP (Grass), plus it's from Colosseum so it has Metal Sound. Good luck!


Thank you so much for the reply!

Since you don't use Blaziken, what do you think would be a suitable substitution?

I just realized my Gardevoir has a impish nature. Gah. It took me an entire day to find a Ralts and I was so relieved I never checked the nature. Well, time to get a new one.

Metagross sounds good, but i don't have access to a Suicune unfortunately. But it's alright, I'm sure Ludicolo can fit the part :)
 
Thanks for the reply!

I'll definitely be trying out the Metagross.

What do you think is a suitable replacement for Blaziken, since you say you don't use him?
 

xYachu

Spicy Tuna!
Okay... Non competetive... Let's see. I think bp is a bit competetive.

Blaziken :: @Scope lens/Focus band
Nature : Adamant/Jolly
Trait : Blaze
- Thunderpunch
- Blaze kick
- Earthquake
- Sky uppercut

The lens boosts up the acc of your attacks and thunderpunch covers your flying + water weaknesses. Earthquake covers rock type moves. Don't give blaziken any set up moves since that pokémon is really not a defensive typed one.... So the chance of getting KOED in first turn is pretty much possible. Or you could go for the focus band. Since his fire moves will raise when it's in a pinch, in other words making use of it's ability.

Gardevoir :: @ Leftovers
Nature : Calm/Modest
Trait : Synchronise
- Psychic
- Shadow ball
- Will-O-Wisp/Hypnosis
- Calm mind

Gardevoir is a strong pokémon with high SpA and SpD so you should go with a nature which would make use of that. Will-O-Wisp lowers your foes attack or you could go for hypnosis to set up calm mind. Psychic is just a great stabber and shadow ball covers some weaknesses.

Salemance... Always a great pokémon to use.

Salemence :: @Something that ups the atk? Or Lum berry for outrage.
Nature : Adamant/Jolly.
Trait : Intimidate
- Outrage
- Crunch/Dragon dance
- Earthquake
- Aerial ace/Thunder fang

Let's see. Outrage has more power than dragon claw and make use of the lum berry to get it out of confusion. You can get a powerful attack like crunch for psychic or ghost types types or can get a move to set up yourself. Earthquake is just a strong move. And take thunderfang for water types who may have ice moves or aerial ace for the acc. Up to what you like.

Ludicolo ~ Fantastic tanker :)

Ludicolo :: @ Leftovers
Nature : Calm/Modest/Bold
Trait : Rain dish
- Leech seed
- Giga drain
- Surf
- Rain dance

I think this move set is pretty clear what's it doing? You're just a total healer. Rain dance for healing, leech seed to heal plus the heal of giga drain ~ and Surf as a stab move.

Or you could more for an annoyer move set like this one.

Ludicolo :: @Leftovers
Nature : Calm/Bold
Trait : Rain dish
- Rain dance
- Giga drain
- Toxic
- Protect

Rain dance is obiously to heal yourself and giga drain does so too. Toxic is to inflict badly damage on your opponent and protect gives you an extra turn for healing and toxicating your enemy (did that word even excists? I wonder ~)

Now let's go for a more attacking moveset.

Ludicolo :: @Leftovers
Nature : Modest
Trait : Swift swim
- Rain dance
- Giga drain
- Surf/Hydro pump
- Ice beam

I think these attacks are quite obviously what they are doing. They are great STAB moves ~

Let's see. You've got an Attacker/tanker/Special attacker. Since you've gotten all your needs let's go for some random ones? Since it's really not competetive let's use easy obtainable pokémon which you can use in the bp since legendaries aren't allowed. Let's go for metagross. I am sure this dude is everyone's favorite and despite being genderless it can breed eggs lawl ~ and I am pretty sure metagross is partly tank.

Metagross :: @Leftovers or Anything that raises it's attack.
Nature : Adamant
Trait : Clear body
- Meteor smash
- Agility
- Earthquake
- Ice punch

Okay, let's see. Stab stab and stab and coverage and d'rolaaa ~ I think this move set is pretty obvious and making use of metagross's awesome attack stats right?

Let's see... Last pokémon mhm... Maybe a really fast one. Yup decided, let's go for either Ninjask or Crobat.

Ninjask :: @ Focus band
Nature : Adamant
Trait : Speed boost
- Sword dance
- Slash
- Protect
- Dig/Aerial ace

It's indeed stupid that ninjask can't learn x-scissors or night slash otherwise it would have been a beast. Let's see. Protect is an extra turn for you speed boosts then you set up with sword dance and since it's wearing a choice band it won't get koed due it's low defence. Then you use a stab move like slash or go for dig with 80 power is 10 more than slash.

Now crobat ~

Crobat :: @Have no idea ~
Nature : Jolly
Trait : Inner focus
- Fly/Aerial ace
- Steel wing
- Sludge bomb/Poison fang
- Swagger

You could also try using absol, idk, but absol seems really kewl to me.

Absol :: @Focus band maybe?
Nature : Adamant
Trait : Pressure
- Iron tail
- Aerial ace
- Sword dance
- Rock slide/Body slam

You could go for and make use of the focus band and set up your attack. Body slam is for chance on paralys and rock slide for a chance of flinching. Aerial ace to cover fight type and bug type weaknesses and Iron tail is just for great Stab.

Yup, something like this... I hope this helped a bit.
 

Darth Sabreus

Want to get a soda?
Yachu, you are mixing up your Generations here. And I'd disagree with your Gardevoir set, Shadow Ball is physical in Gen III. If you want to run Mixed Salamence, don't give it Dragon Dance. Replace with Flamethrower/ Fireblast, and Thunder Fang doesn't exist yet so you can put it Hydro Pump, if you wanted to breed. Although Salamence has more of a physical role, I tried mixed and it's great, but you can allocate more Speed and HP EVs if you ignore Special and go with an all out attacker. Ninjask is a little too frail, at best you want to give it Substitute, get a couple of free Speed Boosts and maybe a Dance in and then Baton Pass to Metagross. Other than that Ninjask doesn't have much use, it's too frail. Lastly, Ice Punch on Metagross is Special.

To answer your question hansantizor, Blaziken is quite unique in that it can play many roles. I use Charizard, he is marginally better defensive wise and has a nice Ground resistance.

Charizard @ Scope Lens
Mild/Rash
-Aerial Ace
-Earthquake
-Fire Blast
-Dragon Claw

Unfortunately Charizard doesn't have that many Special Attacks to use. I like this set since it's a great Special Sweeper. Fire Blast and Dragon Claw hit EVERY Pokemon for neutral damage at least. Nothing resists this Fire-Dragon combo. AA is STAB, mostly I use it for Double Teamers and for Fighting types. Earthquake gives it a chance against Electrics, but if it's not sturdy enough it may fall to an Electric attack before you can attack. Smogon has some great sets of Belly Drum Charizard, which can be great if you can pass on Ninjask's Substitute, since you're protected from damage you don't need to worry about Belly Drum's HP cut as much.

Outside of that I can't think of many other good Fire-types to use. You could try Ninetales or at a push Flareon. You could also try one of the Lati twins if you want to try fill a special role, I haven't got any left since I migrated them all but I'll give you some sets:

Latias @ Lefties
Try Soft reset a good nature. If you can't that's fine. If you have Sapphire, trade your Latias to Emerald, then on Emerald pick the option of finding Latias, then you can always see it in your Pokedex and that'll make getting a good natured one easier. Try Modest, Timid, Bold, Calm, pretty much anything that hinders Attack.
-Calm Mind
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Recover/Psychic.

Classic CM and BoltBeam. This gives you that great coverage I talked about before. The last slot depends, you have so many options. Check Smogon for a great list.

Latios @ Lefties
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Surf
-Filler

Same thing here, but more Special Attack oriented. Surf is basically more coverage. The last slot you have lots of options for again. Recover is good, so is Psychic for STAB. I wouldn't recommend Dragon Claw since it is only good for hitting other Dragons super effectively, and you have Ice Beam for that. Bearin mind that if you have Recover you might want a different item since Lefites give you recovery anyway. Up to you though.
 

xYachu

Spicy Tuna!
Sorry, that could be the case it was late and I was sleepy. Plus I didn't play gen III for ages since my gba broke.

And you're right ninjask is quite frail in gen III which annoys me. It should've been stronger.

I forgot that hyperbeam and shadowball were both physical attacks in gen3 so replace gardevoir's shadow ball with thunderbolt.

And since salemance has base 135 of attack and 110 Special attack you might wanna go over attack sweeper instead of mixed sweeper.

And if you want someone to replace blazekin I think typhlosion will do. Typhlsion can really be a beast with his eruption. And give it something like charcoal (did these excists?) if not then normally it still has a beasted special attack.

Yeah, I am gonna stop here before I say anything wrong again. I always mix up my gens.
 

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
There aren't that many good fire types in 3rd gen. 4th gen is pretty much the first gen with a really good one in Heatran. Fire types struggle with the large number of water types in the frontier. Wailord, Lapras, Walrein, Kingdra, Lanturn, Slowbro, Slowking, Gyarados, Tentacruel, Feraligatr, Blastoise, Swampert, Starmie, they're all fairly common in the Frontier, and Suicune appears occasionally in later rounds. If you want fire offence, I'd say it's more worthwhile to slap Fire Blast onto Salamence or Flygon rather than adding a fire type to your team.

For Latios, I never found that much use for Ice Beam. Grass types are fairly uncommon (and none of them are troublesome usually), flying types are covered by Thunderbolt, Ground types by Surf, and Dragons are hit harder by Dragon Claw (except Dragonite). It doesn't matter for Salamence and Flygon, they're both OHKO'd by both Dragon Claw and Ice Beam.

Latios @ Shell Bell
Modest nature (preferably)
-Psychic
-Dragon Claw
-Surf
-Thunderbolt

Has full neutral coverage on the entire game apart from Shedinja. Psychic is main STAB that can lower Sp.Def, and annihilates Heracross, Gengar, Ice Punch Hariyama, Ice Punch Machamp, Ice Beam Nidoqueen, and Ice Beam or Megahorn Nidoking. Dragon Claw OHKO's Salamence, Flygon, and Kingdra and 2KO's Dragonite, Latios, and Latias. It's also a secondary STAB move against Psychic and Dark pokémon. Surf has surprisingly good additional coverage, covering most Fire types like Typhlosion, Arcanine, Houndoom, and Entei, Ground types like Donphan, Steelix, and Megahorn Rhydon, and some others like Tyranitar. Thunderbolt is there mainly to hit water types, but it also hits flying types like Articuno quite well. Latios generally just struggles against surprise Mirror Coats, and bulky pokémon with Ice Beam or Shadow Ball (like Snorlax).

Another pokémon that works well is Snorlax. Snorlax is amongst the best pokémon in the entire game that isn't banned on the frontier:

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Careful nature
Thick fat
252 HP, 252 Def, 4 Sp.Def
-Body Slam/Return
-Shadow Ball / Earthquake
-Curse
-Rest

The only reason that Curselax wasn't banned competitively in 3rd gen was the existence of Roar and Whirlwind. The AI doesn't generally use those, so let Curselax set up. Set up Curses till your defence is sky-high, and let your natural special bulk take any special hits. Rest when HP gets low, and attack back with powerful Curse-boosted attacks. This Snorlax is almost impossible to take down for your opponents, it just won't die.
 
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