With Platinum out, I'm interested in Pokemon again. Woo. Here's my D/P team, I'd like to improve it for the newest installment.
Venomoth (Focussash)
EV: SAttack, Speed
Bugbuzz
Protect
Morning Sun
Toxic
Gengar (Focussash)
EV: SAttack, Speed
Shadow Ball
Focusblast
Thunderbolt
Destiny Bond
Crobat (King's Rock)
Attack, Speed
Bravebird
Cross Poison
Attract
Confuse Ray
Tentacruel (Leftovers)
Sdef, Hp
Surf
Raindance
Toxic Spikes
Rapid Spin
Toxicroak (Focussash)
Attack, Hp/def
Poison Jab
Cross Chop
Stone Edge
Sucker Punch
Roserade (quick claw)
SAttack, hp/def/sdef
Weatherball
Synthesis
Sunny Day
Energy Ball
I've tested this team pretty thoroughly in non-tournament matches (ie, random DS battling with people I meet online and battle revolution). This team does very well in double battles (Tentacruel turns toxicroak into a beast with rain dance and surf), and surprisingly well in single battles (of course I've not tried this team against more than the rabid Japanese player on revolution) too.
Venomoth isn't that bad. His moveset sucks, but that's because at the time I wasn't sure what to give him. Bugbuzz is actually a very good move with Venomoth's not-half-bad special attack. Most players don't know what to do against Venomoth. He's immune to flinch and ground attacks are neither on him, so I usually send him out first because of that. Using Venomoth as my lead allows for me to bait people into sending their psychics the next turn.
When they do they're in for a world of hurt because this poison team blows psychics to pieces. Gengar is almost always faster and can shadow ball anything to death. Focus blast demolishes darks and steels too, so Gengar's weaknesses are covered. Thunderbolt is just extra utility and destiny bond assures I get at least 2 kills out of him.
Toxicroak is my next most useful, in-fact in revolution on random I usually go venomoth-gengar-toxicroak since they seem to cover most poison weaknesses.
Toxicroak can cross chop steels, mash flying and ice types with stone edge (hopefully, darn thing misses too much), sucker punch psychics (sometimes 1-shotting them, though that's only if they're a low def pokemon), and poison jab is kind of useless. I almost never use it.
The following 3 pokemon aren't as useful...
Rosderade isn't bad, in-fact she's very good in her current state, though her sunny day clashes with Toxicroak and Tentacruel... but it also goes with venomoth's morning sun and her synthesis and gives me a fire attack if I'm in a pinch. She's not that amazing though. I could probably come up with a more rain-dance-friendly moveset.
Tentacruel by itself is garbage. I'm lucky to get 1 toxic spikes off. His defense is just too bad to survive anything.
Lastly, Crobat isn't that amazing. Attraction/Confusion is nice but unreliable at crucial points. Bravebird and Cross Poison only cover a niche of opponents. He's not terrible, but I think I could do better.
Basically what I want to know is:
1. Am I delusional? This team isn't bad, I believe. What's everyone's general thoughts?
2. How can I improve this team? What are better movesets for Venomoth/Tentacruel/Crobat
3. Are there better poison pokemon I can use in place of Crobat, Tentacruel or Roserade?
What I want everyone to know:
1. This is a poison team. It's a gimmick, but I like using an "underused" type. I like the idea of using rarely-used pokemon like Venomoth and Tentacruel (I wish I could use Arbok and Muk too, but they're not easy to use).
2. I have enough damage-dealing pokemon, but you can't really wall with poison. I have to defeat poison's counters very quickly because I just can't hope to survive psychics from Allakhazam... Muk would need the special defense of shuckle!
3. I want to keep surf somehow, if I were to replace Tentacruel... it's just too godly with Toxicroak.
4. I don't mind training a pokemon from scratch.
5. I've tried Drapion and Skunktank as replacements. They're just too vulnerable (Drapion gets wrecked by ground, Skunktank's stats aren't very good for his movepool). Well, actually I haven't tried those pokemon in Platinum, but I doubt their status has changed.
6. I plan to use this team more competitively, so I expect to come across a wide variety of opponents.
Venomoth (Focussash)
EV: SAttack, Speed
Bugbuzz
Protect
Morning Sun
Toxic
Gengar (Focussash)
EV: SAttack, Speed
Shadow Ball
Focusblast
Thunderbolt
Destiny Bond
Crobat (King's Rock)
Attack, Speed
Bravebird
Cross Poison
Attract
Confuse Ray
Tentacruel (Leftovers)
Sdef, Hp
Surf
Raindance
Toxic Spikes
Rapid Spin
Toxicroak (Focussash)
Attack, Hp/def
Poison Jab
Cross Chop
Stone Edge
Sucker Punch
Roserade (quick claw)
SAttack, hp/def/sdef
Weatherball
Synthesis
Sunny Day
Energy Ball
I've tested this team pretty thoroughly in non-tournament matches (ie, random DS battling with people I meet online and battle revolution). This team does very well in double battles (Tentacruel turns toxicroak into a beast with rain dance and surf), and surprisingly well in single battles (of course I've not tried this team against more than the rabid Japanese player on revolution) too.
Venomoth isn't that bad. His moveset sucks, but that's because at the time I wasn't sure what to give him. Bugbuzz is actually a very good move with Venomoth's not-half-bad special attack. Most players don't know what to do against Venomoth. He's immune to flinch and ground attacks are neither on him, so I usually send him out first because of that. Using Venomoth as my lead allows for me to bait people into sending their psychics the next turn.
When they do they're in for a world of hurt because this poison team blows psychics to pieces. Gengar is almost always faster and can shadow ball anything to death. Focus blast demolishes darks and steels too, so Gengar's weaknesses are covered. Thunderbolt is just extra utility and destiny bond assures I get at least 2 kills out of him.
Toxicroak is my next most useful, in-fact in revolution on random I usually go venomoth-gengar-toxicroak since they seem to cover most poison weaknesses.
Toxicroak can cross chop steels, mash flying and ice types with stone edge (hopefully, darn thing misses too much), sucker punch psychics (sometimes 1-shotting them, though that's only if they're a low def pokemon), and poison jab is kind of useless. I almost never use it.
The following 3 pokemon aren't as useful...
Rosderade isn't bad, in-fact she's very good in her current state, though her sunny day clashes with Toxicroak and Tentacruel... but it also goes with venomoth's morning sun and her synthesis and gives me a fire attack if I'm in a pinch. She's not that amazing though. I could probably come up with a more rain-dance-friendly moveset.
Tentacruel by itself is garbage. I'm lucky to get 1 toxic spikes off. His defense is just too bad to survive anything.
Lastly, Crobat isn't that amazing. Attraction/Confusion is nice but unreliable at crucial points. Bravebird and Cross Poison only cover a niche of opponents. He's not terrible, but I think I could do better.
Basically what I want to know is:
1. Am I delusional? This team isn't bad, I believe. What's everyone's general thoughts?
2. How can I improve this team? What are better movesets for Venomoth/Tentacruel/Crobat
3. Are there better poison pokemon I can use in place of Crobat, Tentacruel or Roserade?
What I want everyone to know:
1. This is a poison team. It's a gimmick, but I like using an "underused" type. I like the idea of using rarely-used pokemon like Venomoth and Tentacruel (I wish I could use Arbok and Muk too, but they're not easy to use).
2. I have enough damage-dealing pokemon, but you can't really wall with poison. I have to defeat poison's counters very quickly because I just can't hope to survive psychics from Allakhazam... Muk would need the special defense of shuckle!
3. I want to keep surf somehow, if I were to replace Tentacruel... it's just too godly with Toxicroak.
4. I don't mind training a pokemon from scratch.
5. I've tried Drapion and Skunktank as replacements. They're just too vulnerable (Drapion gets wrecked by ground, Skunktank's stats aren't very good for his movepool). Well, actually I haven't tried those pokemon in Platinum, but I doubt their status has changed.
6. I plan to use this team more competitively, so I expect to come across a wide variety of opponents.
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