First Team - Gladly accepting feedback!

[BrandonHtwo0]

Hi everyone - looking to get some feedback on my first team. I've been a long time Pokemon player and just now looking to build my first competitive team with X and Y. Ideally, I'm trying to base the team around some of my favorite Pokemon, and the below set has been doing well in testing for me. So, without further ado:

Lucario (M) @ Lucarionite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat

Lucario is my favorite pokemon, and packs a vicious punch once I can eventually land a Swords Dance. I picked Jolly to mainly outspeed opposing Lucario, and with the Mega Evolution and +2 from swords dance, his attack is already sky high. He often gets hosed by the likes of Breloom, however.

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam

Typical rapid spin build, but without Analytic as I've found it to have limited times to activate. With many players running Toxic Spikes, Natural Cure has done me many favors. I'm starting to lean more towards getting something with Defog instead however due to the abundance of Aegislash in OU that serve as spin blockers.

Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- King's Shield
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword

This guy is a monster and allows me to scout out threats with a bit of safety, and occasionally lets me cripple opposing physical attackers. He serves as an excellent spinblocker, and easily dispatches the likes of Gengar and special walls like Blissey.

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Toxic Spikes

I've been testing around a few different pokemon for openers, and Greninja has so far been my favorite. Toxic Spikes with Protean is usually a curveball to those expecting regular Spikes, and his Dark Pulse easily cleans up injured opponents who have had a few ticks of Toxic already.

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 40 Def / 224 Spd
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Substitute
- Toxic

The toxic with Gliscor is a bit redudnant, however sometimes my spikes are cleaned up from an opposing defog or rapid spin. I've found Gliscor to be an absolute powerhouse and really allows me to slow the game down a bit and scout out opposing threats. He hard counters opposing Aegislash with ease.

Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn

Scizor has made me realize how great bug typing is - what a monster. He is often the last pokemon to go down, and can nearly always stick a swords dance into some nasty bullet punches. He is great to take out opposing Sylveon and helps me deal with the the likes of Alakazam and Gardevoir.


Other pokemon that I am considering are below -

- Talonflame
- Chesnaught
- Ferrothorn
- Delphox


Thank you all for any input - it is much appreciated!

 

[welsknight]

Try either removing Toxic from Gliscor or Toxic Spikes from Greninja and replacing it with Taunt. Or better yet, find a way to work in Taunt on Greninja alongside Toxic Spikes.

Then you can lead with Greninja, taunt to force the switch on a lot of teams, and lay down a free round of spikes while they switch.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but your sweepers seem to be Lucario and Scizor (and maybe Aegislash).

Therefore, beware unexpected fire moves (like Fire Punch on Mega-Kangaskhan for example). I've dropped many a Scizor and Lucario because they never saw it coming. Earthquake can also give you some issues.

 

[cytoid]

What's with the random IVs on Greninja? It doesn't seem you're running Hidden Power so there's no point those shouldn't be 31's.

 

[aerialace TM40]

Just browsing the RMT forums and I see a fellow pelliper fanatic!!,,,,,,I see that you are new here on smogon, so I'll give you a few days to change it before I terminate you. __

 

[BrandonHtwo0]

welsknight - Taunt on Greninja is a great idea - I'll give this some test runs. I'l probably replace Hydro Pump for now and see how that goes - U-turn's versatility and typing is hard to pass up, and Dark Pulse has won me quite a few games. Sweepers are definitely Lucario and Scizor, and on rare occasions where I've taken out an enemy that has EQ, he becomes a house. Good point on unexpected fire moves - unfortunately all three of my sweepers are week to fire and that is making me think I need to change it up a bit. Would love to somehow work Delphox in as a Support, but not sure what I'd remove (lightscreen/wish/fireblast/psychic, with Magician).

cytoid - DOH! I'll fix this, I was running HP:Fire on Greninja for a bit to see its effects and while it was excellent in testing, realistically I'll never end up breeding a Protean Greninja that way. He seems too good as an opener without it.

@Aerialace - Changed! :D

 

[welsknight]

welsknight - Taunt on Greninja is a great idea - I'll give this some test runs. I'l probably replace Hydro Pump for now and see how that goes - U-turn's versatility and typing is hard to pass up, and Dark Pulse has won me quite a few games. Sweepers are definitely Lucario and Scizor, and on rare occasions where I've taken out an enemy that has EQ, he becomes a house. Good point on unexpected fire moves - unfortunately all three of my sweepers are week to fire and that is making me think I need to change it up a bit. Would love to somehow work Delphox in as a Support, but not sure what I'd remove (lightscreen/wish/fireblast/psychic, with Magician).

Honestly, I would get rid of Aegislash. Aegislash is amazing, it's true. However, I had one on my team, and while he was definitely good, he didn't contribute to the team as a whole; he was a "lone wolf," if you will. I think you'd be better off replacing Aegislash with something else. I love the Weakness Policy Dragonite on my team, and it definitely helps with that fire weakness, but I don't know how well it would replace Aegislash because my Dragonite gets absolutely walled by UNEVOLVED Gengar. Might be worth testing though, or you could certainly modify its move set to deal with Mega Gengar better.

Delphox is a decent option for this team, but I seem to remember when I tested her out she was pretty squishy. An option you could consider (since you have a nice poison theme going here) would be a Scolipede like this:

Scolipede (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Venoshock
- Venom Drench/Protect
- Swords Dance
- Baton Pass

STAB Venoshock will do x2 damage on anything that's poisoned already and Venom Drench lowers the foe's Atk/SAtk/Spd. Protect allows you to take advantage of Scolipede's Speed Boost ability better. Between Speed Boost, Swords Dance, and Baton Pass, you can pass some REALLY nice stat boosts on to your sweepers.

Unfortunately, Scolipede has a fire weakness too, so that might not be the best idea either... hrmm....

 

[BrandonHtwo0]

The Scolipede just seems...all types of awesome! Will give this a shot! I wasn't intentionally going for a poison theme, but with the bulkiness of Scizor and Gliscor, its definately won me some games by forcing enough Toxic ticks. With all of my ATK based sweepers, the speed boost and pass is excellent.

 

[BrandonHtwo0]

Tried the Scolipede, and not having as much success. I swapped in Delphox as well and not much luck there. Will keep tinkering and see what makes a good fit. Taunt on Greninja is wrecking people though :D

 

[welsknight]

Tried the Scolipede, and not having as much success. I swapped in Delphox as well and not much luck there. Will keep tinkering and see what makes a good fit. Taunt on Greninja is wrecking people though :D

If Scolipede isn't working for you, another one you could try would be Rotom-Wash. Something similar to this:

Rotom-Wash @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest

Hydro Pump helps with the Fire issue, Will-O-Wisp allows you to consistently burn (great for crippling physical attackers), and his high Defense and HP stats along with Resto-Chesto make him a pain in the ass to kill.