Help with my first team?

[Exiled]

Hey guys, as you can tell by the title I need a little help. This is my first team I have been thinking a lot about it but it does not seem right to me but I cannot seem to find anything wrong with it so I hope you can help. If you can be as harsh as possible so I know what I need to change. It can be either the movesets, EV spreads, natures, or the poke themselves just please help? thanks in advanced.

Team at a glance

Politoed @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Sp. Atk. / 76 Sp. Def / 76 Spd
Nature: Modest
- Protect
- Toxic
- Ice Beam
- Scald

Politoed! Can’t have a rain team without him. Usual lead unless I go up against a sand team. In that case Toxicroak goes. I have Toxic on here for a first turn poison to cripple my opponents lead unless I feel risky and going with the Scald for a burn if it's a physical attacker(non-guts of course).

Toxicroak @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk. 252 Spd 4 HP
Nature: Adamant
- Fake Out
- Drain Punch
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch

Your usual Toxicroak set? Full Atk and HP EVs to out power most of my opponents poke after a SD or two.

Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multi Scale
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk. 252 Spd. 4 HP
Nature: Modest
- Thunder Wave
- Roost
- Hurricane
- Thunder

DRAGONITE! Gotta love it. Very good special sweeper. With the rain up Thunder and Hurricane have a higher chance of landing. This big guy comes in when I take out their wall.

Ferrothorn@ Rocky Helmet
Relaxed
Iron Barbs
252 HP | 88 Def | 168 SDef
-Stealth Rock
-Leech Seed
-Power Whip
-Gyro Ball

I'd like to thank Puretrainer for the EVs on this Ferrothorn. This is my main wall and check to any and all electric and dragon type attacks.

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def. 4 Spd.
Nature: Careful
- Rapid Spin
- Protect
- Toxic Spikes
- Water Fall

I like Tentacruel because it spins away hazards and sets up the T Spikes to cripple the other teams walls and sweepers.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Technician
Adamant
56 HP 200 Atk 252 Spd
Bullet Punch
Superpower
Iron Head
U-Turn

I like this Scizor set thanks to zerocielX for helping me fine tune it more. This is my physical sweeper. I use Iron Head for flinch hax of course U-Turn for scouting and Bullet Punch for priority

 

[zerofield]

I suggest leftovers on politoed. Protect is useless without them and your weather inducer won't be winning any wars without recovery. In case of an electric or grass move, you can just switch to a resist. I would offer other suggestions but I'm pretty tired atm, i would say to switch soeme team members around a bit and get less water-types. Ferrothorn would work over vaporeon.

 

[Exiled]

I suggest leftovers on politoed. Protect is useless without them and your weather inducer won't be winning any wars without recovery. In case of an electric or grass move, you can just switch to a resist. I would offer other suggestions but I'm pretty tired atm, i would say to switch soeme team members around a bit and get less water-types. Ferrothorn would work over vaporeon.

I switched Lefties to Politoed but why rid of Vaporeon?

 

[zerocielX]

Take out Poison Jab on Toxicroak and give it either Sucker Punch or Ice Punch. Ice Punch takes care of Gliscor and Dragons, but Sucker Punch works like a pseudo-priority move. Since you're running Max HP, replace Fake Out with Substitute.

And like zerofield suggested, maybe try replacing Vaporeon with a Grass and Electric resist like Ferrothorn or Celebi. Having half your team weak to one type can be problematic.

As for Jirachi, maybe try a more supportive set. Something like

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
252 HP/ 224 Def/ 32 Sp.Def
Impish Nature

Iron Head
Thunder
Wish
Stealth Rock/Protect

Iron Head and Thunder make up Jirachi's infamous ParaFlinch combo. Wish can help keep your team healthy. As for the last slot, Stealth Rocks is a great field hazard, inflicting passive damage on everything, while Protect guarantees that you get the Wish recovery.

 

[Tdotdems]

Hey guys, as you can tell by the title I need a little help. This is my first team I have been thinking a lot about it but it does not seem right to me but I cannot seem to find anything wrong with it so I hope you can help. If you can be as harsh as possible so I know what I need to change. It can be either the movesets, EV spreads, natures, or the poke themselves just please help? thanks in advanced.

Team at a glance

Politoed @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Sp. Atk. / 76 Sp. Def / 76 Spd
Nature: Modest
- Protect (Taunt)
- Toxic
- Ice Beam
- Scald

You dont need Scald and surf, choose one or the other, scald is probably better. I would suggest taunt as stop other leads setting up.

Toxicroak @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk. 252 HP 4 Spd
Nature: Adamant
- Fake Out
- Drain Punch
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch

Looks fine but Sucker Punch for priority

Dragonite @ Life Orb
Ability: Multi Scale
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk. 252 Spd. 4 HP
Nature: Modest
- Thunder Wave
- Roost
- Hurricane
- Thunder

Get rid of choice scarf, it is no fun being locked in to thunder wave or roost, I would suggest Life Orb or lefties

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 148 Sp. Def. 252 HP. 4Spd 104 Sp. Atk.
Nature: Modest
- Wish
- Scald
- Rest
- Ice Beam

Again no need for both scald and ice beam really, just wasting a slot, if you do want Vaporeon as wish support then consider this set because Rest works so so well with hydration. But I may consider taking Vaporeon out due to electric weakness

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP 252 Sp. Def. 4 Spd.
Nature: Careful
- Rapid Spin
- Protect
- Toxic Spikes
- Water Fall Scald?

Looks fine, but I prefer to have a sp atk tentacruel as that stat is slightly better

Jirachi @Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk. 252 Spd. 4 HP
Nature: Jolly
-Iron Head
-Thunder Wave
-U turn
-Ice Punch/Fire Punch

I believe this Jirachi set will work better as not only do you need another physical attacker but you get Jirachi's awesome paraflinch combo, Ice Punch deals with dragons and can get the freeze while u turn allows you to do damage on the switch. I run this Jirachi and it works brilliantly

Changes in bold, hope you like them. For replacement of Vaporeon I would suggest either breloom or Ferrothorn.

 

[dildadonz]

I would replace the current item on dragonite to either leftovers to negate weather damage or lum berry to stop statuses as both help keep multi-scale intact. I would agree with an earlier comment to change Jirachi to the wish passer as it it would fare better tahn vaporeon. I recommend you switch vaporeon out as it shares the same exact typing as politoed. It just adds more weakness to the team.

On another note you should go with something that will help you revenge kill pokemon for example a choice banded scizor or scarf terrakion. Both are solid candidates, the added damage for water on Terrakion is negligable as most STAB water type attacks will kill it in neautral weather. Terrakion will also help you win the weather war as it can deal with ninetails and tyranitar with its respected STAB. It can also rid of dragons with to many boosts. It fails to check latios however.

 

[Exiled]

Take out Poison Jab on Toxicroak and give it either Sucker Punch or Ice Punch. Ice Punch takes care of Gliscor and Dragons, but Sucker Punch works like a pseudo-priority move. Since you're running Max HP, replace Fake Out with Substitute.

And like zerofield suggested, maybe try replacing Vaporeon with a Grass and Electric resist like Ferrothorn or Celebi. Having half your team weak to one type can be problematic.

As for Jirachi, maybe try a more supportive set. Something like

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
252 HP/ 224 Def/ 32 Sp.Def
Impish Nature

Iron Head
Thunder
Wish
Stealth Rock/Protect


Iron Head and Thunder make up Jirachi's infamous ParaFlinch combo. Wish can help keep your team healthy. As for the last slot, Stealth Rocks is a great field hazard, inflicting passive damage on everything, while Protect guarantees that you get the Wish recovery.

I can try and get an Impish with Iron Head but if I cannot I can go for a more Sp. Atk one since I have a modest nature also? And since Iron Head and SR are fourth gen moves how would I get them on my fifth gen game?

Changes in bold, hope you like them. For replacement of Vaporeon I would suggest either breloom or Ferrothorn.

On Breloom Effect Spore or Poison Heal? and I was thinking something like this?

Breloom @ Quick Claw
Poison Heal or Effect Spore?
Adamant
252 Atk 140 Spd 116 HP
Mach Punch
Sky Uppercut
Swords Dance
Stone Edge

I would replace the current item on dragonite to either leftovers to negate weather damage or lum berry to stop statuses as both help keep multi-scale intact. I would agree with an earlier comment to change Jirachi to the wish passer as it it would fare better tahn vaporeon. I recommend you switch vaporeon out as it shares the same exact typing as politoed. It just adds more weakness to the team.

On another note you should go with something that will help you revenge kill pokemon for example a choice banded scizor or scarf terrakion. Both are solid candidates, the added damage for water on Terrakion is negligable as most STAB water type attacks will kill it in neautral weather. Terrakion will also help you win the weather war as it can deal with ninetails and tyranitar with its respected STAB. It can also rid of dragons with to many boosts. It fails to check latios however.

I can do either but on Scizor Adamant nature but Terrakion Hasty. So for Scizor I was thinking:

Scizor @ Choice Band
Technician
Adamant
56 HP 200 Atk 252 Spd
Bullet Punch
Superpower
Iron Head
X-Scissor

And for Terrakion:

Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Hasty
252 Atk 200 Spd 56 HP
Close Combat
Stone Edge
Sacred Sword
Rock Slide

 

[SilentOmen]

I switched Lefties to Politoed but why rid of Vaporeon?

Vaporeon adds another electric and grass weakness to your team. Ferrothorn works to resist both of those. Also, in rain, fire attacks are less common and make Ferrothorn worry a little less about it's biggest weakness. It gives you a stable means to attack opposing Starmie (who would otherwise run your team through with BoltBeam which is Thunderbolt and Ice Beam)

I believe that was the insight. I agree with Sucker Punch on Toxicroak. It helps against the Psychic types that are going to want to hit you for 4x super effective, but they KNOW Sucker Punch is waiting for them (and most of them will get a OHKO from it).

I think most of the bases are covered by others though. Thus, i'll move along

 

[zerocielX]

I can try and get an Impish with Iron Head but if I cannot I can go for a more Sp. Atk one since I have a modest nature also? And since Iron Head and SR are fourth gen moves how would I get them on my fifth gen game?

Ah, shucks. I guess you could go for the Sub Calm Mind set you had earlier. But like SilentOmen said, you have need for more physical power. The Scizor set you have in mind looks good, but you can replace X-Scissor for U-turn, to scout your opponent's team.

 

[zerofield]

I would suggest playing on Pokemon Online, as it frees you from the constraints of cross-generation TMs, IVs, and hunting for items.

 

[Fortunato]

Okay I have a couple suggestions as this is a pretty cool team already.

First things first if you're gonna run a defensive toed, which is great for winning weather wars, then you'll want to change it to this set

Politoed@ Leftovers
Bold Nature
Drizzle
252 HP | 252 Def | 4 SDef
-Scald
-Toxic
-Encore
-Protect

The main focus of this set is to win weather wars obv, which si very important for your team to function well. Toxic hits things liek rotom-w that like to switch in on you often. Scald is so you don't get taunted to death. Encore is a really cool and interesting move on Politoed, with it you can stop things that try to come in and set up on you and force them out which is really useful. and Protect lets you scout things really well.

Next I think you should change the toxicroak set as that one isn't very good. For a team like this that likes having ground types gone quickly, I'd suggest going with Swords Dance. It really helps muslce through stall teams especially paired with the Jirachi I'm going to suggest in a minute.

Toxicroak@ Life Orb
Adamant
Dry Skin
252 Att | 252 Spe | 4 Def
-Swords Dance
-Cross Chop
-Sucker Punch
-Ice Punch

This set works well with rachi because it will lure in and smash common ground types that will try to wall Jirachi, especially the ever annoying gliscor. After a SD Toxicroak can often run through teams on his own if the conditions are right. Dry Skin helps recover off the life orb recoil and random other attacks you might take. Its incredibly useful against other rain teams smash the most common rain mons after a SD and being immune to powerful water attacks.

Next that vaporeon really isn't doing anything useful for the team, in fact all it does is compound weaknesses for you. So I suggest getting rid of it for a Ferrothorn. With Ferrothorn you can lay hazards and and it helps to absorb things like draco meteor which runs through your team otherwise. Here's the set:

Ferrothorn@ Leftovers
Relaxed
Iron Barbs
252 HP | 88 Def | 168 SDef
-Stealth Rock
-Leech Seed
-Power Whip
-Gyro Ball

That will greatly improve your team's defensive backbone and let you better check special threats like latios and latias. It also makes a decent dragon check in rain which is always really useful. Anyways as for the rest of the team it looks pretty good. Try something like Extremespeed or Substitute on Dragonite as Thunder and Thunder wave are redundant. I'd suggest putting one of my suggestions over Thunder Wave.

With those changes I think you will find your team will be immensely better!

good luck with it man.

 

[Zekromaster826]

Vaporeon wants Leftovers. No doubt.
Also these moves:
Rest
Wish
Protect
Scald

 

[Exiled]

Vaporeon adds another electric and grass weakness to your team. Ferrothorn works to resist both of those. Also, in rain, fire attacks are less common and make Ferrothorn worry a little less about it's biggest weakness. It gives you a stable means to attack opposing Starmie (who would otherwise run your team through with BoltBeam which is Thunderbolt and Ice Beam)

I believe that was the insight. I agree with Sucker Punch on Toxicroak. It helps against the Psychic types that are going to want to hit you for 4x super effective, but they KNOW Sucker Punch is waiting for them (and most of them will get a OHKO from it).

I think most of the bases are covered by others though. Thus, i'll move along

Added Sucker Punch to Toxicroak like you and everyone insisted.

Ah, shucks. I guess you could go for the Sub Calm Mind set you had earlier. But like SilentOmen said, you have need for more physical power. The Scizor set you have in mind looks good, but you can replace X-Scissor for U-turn, to scout your opponent's team.

Did that instead of Rachi. I didn't realize that I didn't have a physical attacker on this team. xD

Okay I have a couple suggestions as this is a pretty cool team already.

First things first if you're gonna run a defensive toed, which is great for winning weather wars, then you'll want to change it to this set



The main focus of this set is to win weather wars obv, which si very important for your team to function well. Toxic hits things liek rotom-w that like to switch in on you often. Scald is so you don't get taunted to death. Encore is a really cool and interesting move on Politoed, with it you can stop things that try to come in and set up on you and force them out which is really useful. and Protect lets you scout things really well.

Next I think you should change the toxicroak set as that one isn't very good. For a team like this that likes having ground types gone quickly, I'd suggest going with Swords Dance. It really helps muslce through stall teams especially paired with the Jirachi I'm going to suggest in a minute.



This set works well with rachi because it will lure in and smash common ground types that will try to wall Jirachi, especially the ever annoying gliscor. After a SD Toxicroak can often run through teams on his own if the conditions are right. Dry Skin helps recover off the life orb recoil and random other attacks you might take. Its incredibly useful against other rain teams smash the most common rain mons after a SD and being immune to powerful water attacks.

Next that vaporeon really isn't doing anything useful for the team, in fact all it does is compound weaknesses for you. So I suggest getting rid of it for a Ferrothorn. With Ferrothorn you can lay hazards and and it helps to absorb things like draco meteor which runs through your team otherwise. Here's the set:



That will greatly improve your team's defensive backbone and let you better check special threats like latios and latias. It also makes a decent dragon check in rain which is always really useful. Anyways as for the rest of the team it looks pretty good. Try something like Extremespeed or Substitute on Dragonite as Thunder and Thunder wave are redundant. I'd suggest putting one of my suggestions over Thunder Wave.

With those changes I think you will find your team will be immensely better!

good luck with it man.

I like the EVs on the Ferrothorn and the moveset I already have but on an Impish nature haha so I will just changed the nature and EV spread. Thanks.



All Changes are in the bold. If you think I can improve it let me know!

 

[dildadonz]

Remove iron head on Scizor as it is to slow to abuse the flinch hax. Iron head won't create any crucial KO's. Pursuit is great for ridding problem pokemons like Latios on the switch and Gengar who can't touch you. A boosted surf will hurt though.

You should either use a spread like
184 HP/ 252 Atk/ 72 Spe- This is to to outspeed 108 speed jellicent and slower

248 HP/ 252 Atk/ 8 Spe- This is to outspeed min speed Scizor and is the standard set for choice band scizor.