Ruby Team Rate Needed

[kirby8933083]

I've been meaning to get my Ruby team rated for a while now, finally did it. They need help as the move type variety goes. I'd like to keep the size of my team size as 4, but if you'd like to suggest a 5th pokemon with moveset included it'd be appreciated. I know this will be frowned upon by most people, but I don't like to use most stat increasing moves so don't even bother putting any unless it would be substantially helpful. If your wondering, this rate is partly going to influence my battle frontier team for Emerald b/e the teams are going to be similar. Anyway, here it is.

My Ruby Team:

Groundon
Nature: Lonely (I don't worry much about natures, so it'd be great if you didn't either)

- Overheat
- Eruption
- Fire blast
- Earthquake

Gardevoir
Nature: Bold

- Hypnosis
- Future Sight
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic

Shiftry
Nature: Jolly

- Faint Attack
- Extrasensory
- Giga Drain
- Hyper Beam

Swampert
Nature: Naive

- Surf
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Dig

XD Yea, it's pretty bad, don't mock me too much for these nasty set of moves. They're all at 55+ levels, Groundon & Swampert are at 75+ levels fyi.

 

[Yo Shee]

Hello Kirby, nice to see you here!

Groudon
-Earthquake
-Ancient Power
-Overheat
-Solarbeam
He can learn some better moves including Rock Slide and Swords Dance, but I can see that this is just for Ruby, so we want to avoid those move tutors, plus we don't want any stat boosting moves. You can recover Ancient Power from the move tutor in Fallarbor Town who accepts Heart Scales. This move will help to hit flying-types. While Groudon's sp.attack stat is a lot lower than its attack stat, there are still some decent moves it can utilize, especially since they benefit from his ability. Overheat is an already all-powerful move which is further boosted by the sun, and Solarbeam fires in one turn to help take down some Water-types and Ground-types. Keep in mind that you won't be able to use Groudon in the Battle Frontier as well.

Gardevoir
-Psychic
-Thunderbolt
-Fire Punch
-Ice Punch/Calm Mind
When you get access to the Battle Frontier tutors, you'll be able to teach it Fire and Ice Punch. Hypnosis is so risky that I wouldn't bother using it in the Frontier, even if it does have a great side effect to it. Gardevoir's purpose is to attack. Now, I know you're not into stat-boosting moves, but Calm Mind can be helpful in a situation where you know you won't be able to attack, or where you have to stall for some reason. It happens sometimes. For instance, if your opponent is slower than you and has decided to use Dig or Fly or Dive, and you try to attack them, it will miss, so instead, use Calm Mind.

Alright, here's the deal with Shiftry.

It learns some physical moves:
-Brick Break (75 base pwr.)
-Shadow Ball (80 base pwr.)
-Fake Out (40 base pwr, priority)
-Aerial Ace (60 base pwr.)

And it's got some special moves:
-Faint Attack (60 base pwr, plus stab = 90)
-Giga Drain (60 base pwr, plus stab = 90)
-Extrasensory (80 base pwr.)

Now, it has a base 100 attack stat, and a base 90 sp.attack stat. It has two stab special moves, so their base power is increased a bit. However, your Shiftry's nature reduces its sp.attack stat in exchange for speed, so physical attacks may be more efficient. Should you ever decide to transfer this Shiftry into Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, Faint Attack becomes physical and it gains better grass options, so that's something to consider as well. As for using it in the Battle Frontier, I don't know, I've never tried it, but I know that there are much better physical and special attackers out there with stronger options.

Your Swampert is fine, but Dig is unnecessary. You could use Rest as a filler move with Chesto Berry as the held item, so long as you're in the Battle Frontier, or you could just stick with Leftovers and wait the two turns. Again, it is essentially a filler move, but still would be more useful than Dig.

 

[kirby8933083]

Oh hello Yo Shee. ^^ Fancy seeing you here!

Arg, I had Solar Beam for a while with Groundon. I wasn't sure what t do with Eruption, though it will definitely have to be booted out. And you've gone and reminded me about the rules for the Battle Frontier. :c Oh well, sorry about forgetting.

As Gardevoir goes, I guess I'll cave and go with the stat-boosting Calm Mind. You do make a point with the no win situations with various moves. Though I think I'll opt for Ice Punch over Fire Punch to go against ground types.

For Shiftry, I'll go along with not bringing him to the Battle Frontier, so which pokemon would you suggest to fill that gap for it? And for the record Shiftry, from what is going on with my Diamond now, will not have a spot in my team there.

Swampert used to have Rest as a move option, though where it is now in it's training it just became unnecessary. Dig will be kept for now, later Rest might make a return. I'll just have to remember to stockpile Chesto Berries as well as equip them to Swampert.

Thank you very much for your help Yo Shee, we'll see how these new moves go!

 

[Yo Shee]

As Gardevoir goes, I guess I'll cave and go with the stat-boosting Calm Mind. You do make a point with the no win situations with various moves. Though I think I'll opt for Ice Punch over Fire Punch to go against ground types.

The reason I made Ice Punch the questionable move was because I saw you were using Swampert with Ice Beam already, and also because Fire Punch is useful for hitting Steel-types, which resist Psychic. But, most of them do take neutral damage from Thunderbolt, barring Steelix. Ice Punch is still useful for Claydol. Those are the only two ground-types that resist/have immunity to both Psychic and Thunderbolt. Magneton will take more from Fire, and Latios/as will take more from Ice. Up to you which one you pick.

For Shiftry, I'll go along with not bringing him to the Battle Frontier, so which pokemon would you suggest to fill that gap for it? And for the record Shiftry, from what is going on with my Diamond now, will not have a spot in my team there.

Here's a personal favorite of mine:

Slaking @ Choice Band
Adamant nature
-Return
-Earthquake
-Shadow Ball
-Aerial Ace/Flamethrower/Slack Off
Oh, how I love Slaking. Return just kills anything that doesn't resist it. Earthquake is for Rock and Steel types, and possibly Electric-types to avoid getting paralyzed by their common Static ability. Remember to still use Return against Psychic-types though, since it will knock out most of them in one hit, with the exception of Solrock and Lunatone. Use Shadow Ball against them, Ghost-types, and Shedinja.

The last move choice is essentially filler. Aerial Ace can be helpful against Double Teamers/Minimizers, but I have yet to actually put this to the test. I will be trying it soon. Flamethrower is to hit Skarmory, and possibly Foretress and Scizor. Slack Off may seem like a bad option with a Choice Band, but it's great in the Battle Pyramid and Battle Pike where there are wild pokemon, giving you opportunities to heal.

After Slaking has obliterated his opponent, make the careful decision of whether to switch him out or not. If you do, the switch-in pokemon will most likely get hit by an enemy attack. If you don't, Slaking will most likely be hit by this attack. Prediction is key here. A common situation is when you just hit something with Return and they decide to send out a ghost-type next, then in that case you'll obviously be switching. Or if you used Shadow Ball and they send out a normal-type, same situation.

If you're not so fond of Slaking, don't worry, there are others out there. I suggest you try a Choice Bander though, as they are very simple to use, yet very effective at the same time. I'll recommend something else for you if you like.

Swampert used to have Rest as a move option, though where it is now in it's training it just became unnecessary. Dig will be kept for now, later Rest might make a return. I'll just have to remember to stockpile Chesto Berries as well as equip them to Swampert.

The Battle Frontier is a magical place where consumed berries become completely useable again after every battle, so no need to worry about stocking up on more berries!

Thank you very much for your help Yo Shee, we'll see how these new moves go!

Always a pleasure to help. Be sure to drop me a line if you need any more help with third gen pokemon/teams. And if you have any further questions regarding this team, or my suggestions, be sure to ask.