ORAS LC LC offense

[WaffleTitan]

I'm very new to LC, and I've tried out a few teams, but I've hit a roadblock just below 1400. I wanted to try something completely different, and well, LC is definitely different. Forgive me if some of my Pokemon are atrocious by LC standards or whatever, as I said, I'm new to the tier.

I wanted to try out a hyper offensive team, however I think that it's a little lacking. The first Pokemon I knew I wanted to have was zigzagoon, because of its belly drum-extremespeed combo. I built on to the team with what I could garner were powerful little cup Pokemon, mostly based on their speed stats.

The team:

ZIGZAGOON
Berry juice
Pickup
Adamant
52hp/196atk/36spatk/188spdef/36spd

-extremespeed
-belly drum
-seed bomb
-shadow ball

Zigzagoon is a great situational sweeper, who can take down teams quite easily if he can get the belly drum off. He gets stopped by focus sashers, pawniard, and fails to ohko porygon once boosted. Seed bomb for onix and shadow ball for gastly.

TAILLOW
Choice band
Scrappy
Jolly
36hp/236atk/236spd

-Brave bird
-quick attack
-u-turn
-pursuit

U turn allows for easy momentum conservation and great chip damage, especially it seems, in LC. Brave bird is used for late game damage, while u-turn is primarily used until everything that resists it is taken out of the game. Tbh, I've never used pursuit but haven't found a better move to use.

CARVANHA
Life orb
Speed boost
Adamant
196Atk/36spdef/236spd

-protect
-waterfall
-crunch
-destiny bond

Speed boosted destiny bond allows me to easily take down the likes of mienfoo, machop, foongus, pawniard, and other such Pokemon that are annoying to my team in general. Life orb allows me to to deal more damage, but also allows for flexibility.

ARON
Berry juice
Sturdy
Adamant
196atk/240spdef

-Iron head
-Earthquake
-Rock slide
-Metal burst

After facing off against other metal burst mons, I really wanted to use one myself. Earthquake does solid damage to bulky rock and steel types. Rock slide takes down opposing fletchling and taillow and iron head is for use against fairy types. Metal burst easily ko's fighting and water types that have no choice but to ko or switch out. Sturdy/Berry juice give Aron a 2nd and almost third life, which is invaluable.

ABRA
Focus sash
Magic guard
Timid
236spatk/76spdef/196spd

-psychic
-energy ball
-dazzling gleam
-shadow ball

An offensive nuke that outspeed a most everything and is also able to ohko almost everything. Psychic is the powerful stab, useful for foongus and gastly, shadow ball deals with opposing abra, dazzling gleam deals the most damage to pawniard.

DIGLETT
Focus sash
Arena trap
Jolly
236atk/236spd

-earthquake
-Rock slide
-sucker punch
-momento

Along with abra, an amazing Pokemon. Can't keep focus sash intact with SR, but trapping opponents makes up for it a bit. Earthquake for everything on the ground, rock slide for everything in the air, sucker punch for priority and abra/gastly. Momento allows for momentum to be gained if diglett can't damage an opponent.

The biggest problem I have is with fletchling. His gale wings acrobatics can ohko a lot of my team, and easily sweeps me late game. He's mostly a problem when the opponent has SR up. I have a little bit of trouble with munchlax and a few other bulky Pokemon, but nothing too notable. I would like it to be kept in mind that I would like to keep this team offensive. It makes the laddering faster, and is therefore better for my attention span. Thanks!

 

[Fireflame]

So this is a pretty cool team but I feel that it can use some work. The team seems to be weak to Fletchling (as you mentioned), and somewhat Chinchou weak if you follow through with my suggestions. My changes will be in bold and the sets will be at the end.

For Zigzagoon, Shadow Ball is absolutely useless. Thief > Shadow Ball in almost every single way. For one, it's a physical attack that benefits from Belly Drum. Thief also hits ghost types and OHKOs them at max attack. Furthermore, Thief allows you to steal the opponent's item after you activated Berry Juice, which is extremely useful for picking off a weakened Eviolite Pokemon that you outspeed. The EV spread is also very sub-optimal since you had SpA investment for Shadow Ball, so we need better EVs. A spread of 132 HP / 196 Atk / 108 Def / 28 SpD / 36 Spe is much better. It gives the same damage as yours but makes you much bulkier so Zigzagoon has an easier time setting up. The given HP EVs makes Zigzagoon's HP an even number which allows Berry Juice to activate at 50% HP, while the speed EVs allow you to outspeed Pumpkaboo and use Thief.

For Taillow, Life Orb > Choice Band. In Little Cup, the Life Orb damage rolls are pretty much the same as choice specs/band and it allows you to switch up moves. Therefore, Life Orb is vastly superior. Taillow should have 19 HP IVs to make his HP 19 instead of 20, which means Life Orb will only take away 1 HP and not 2. Your team has way too many physical attackers and only one special attacker, so we're going to make Taillow a mixed set, with Boomburst and Heat Wave over Quick Attack and Pursuit. This allows you to wallbreak more efficiently. The changed EVs will be in the hide tab with the rest of the sets so please check that.

Since Carvanha is a late-game sweeper, you should never run Destiny Bond. You're faster than the opponent anyway, so might as well throw off an attack to do some damage to aid Zigzagoon later. Therefore, Zen Headbutt > Destiny Bond. Zen Headbutt provides you the much needed coverage against Croagunk, Mienfoo, etc. Furthermore, you can add 36 Def EVs on Carvanha since you didn't put them in.

Although you wanted to use a Metal Burst Pokemon, Aron is just a huge momentum drain since your team is hyper offense. You also need a Pokemon who can set up hazards and check Fletchling in the process. Because of this, Archen > Aron. Although this makes your team more weak to Electric types, you didn't say that you had trouble with them. Anyway, Archen creates a VoltTurn core (in this case, two U-Turns) with Taillow to gain more momentum, has access to Stealth Rocks and Defog, checks Fletchling, and supports your team in an aggressive way (hence the name "Fast Support" on Smogon). The Archen set will be in its own hide tab.

For Abra, Hidden Power Fighting > Dazzling Gleam. You mentioned that Dazzling Gleam hits Pawniard, but Dazzling Gleam really only hits Dark types, and doesn't even OHKO Pawniard. Hidden Power Fighting allows you to OHKO Pawniard. Furthermore, a spread of 240 SpA / 200 Spe allows you to hit 19 speed, which is a crucial benchmark for Abra, as 76 SpD EVs doesn't accomplish much. The given IVs in the set are like that so you can use HP Fighting - it doesn't change anything.

And as for Diglett, the only thing you should add is 36 HP EVs to make you slightly bulkier. But anyway, that's my rate! Hopefully I helped and good luck with your team!

TL;DR

Shadow Ball -> Thief; altered EV spread

Choice Band -> Life Orb Mixed set; altered EV spread and nature

Destiny Bond -> Zen Headbutt; 36 Def EVs

->

Dazzling Gleam -> HP Fighting; 240 SpA / 200 Spe

36 HP EVs

Sets

Zigzagoon @ Berry Juice
Ability: Pickup
Level: 5
EVs: 132 HP / 196 Atk / 108 Def / 28 SpD / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Belly Drum
- Seed Bomb
- Thief

Taillow @ Life Orb
Ability: Scrappy
Level: 5
EVs: 76 Atk / 196 SpA / 236 Spe
IVs: 19 HP
Naive Nature
- Brave Burd
- Boomburst
- U-Turn
- Heat Wave

Carvanha @ Life Orb
Level: 5
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 196 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpD / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Zen Headbutt

Abra @ Focus Sash
Level: 5
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 240 SpA / 200 Spe
IVs: 1 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 30 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power Fighting
- Shadow Ball

Diglett @ Focus Sash
Level: 5
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 36 HP / 236 Atk / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Sucker Punch
- Memento

Archen set

Archen @ Berry Juice
Level: 5
Ability: Defeatist
EVs: 76 HP / 20 Atk / 76 Def / 76 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock/Defog
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- U-Turn

 

[WaffleTitan]

So this is a pretty cool team but I feel that it can use some work. The team seems to be weak to Fletchling (as you mentioned), and somewhat Lanturn weak if you follow through with my suggestions. My changes will be in bold and the sets will be at the end.

For Zigzagoon, Shadow Ball is absolutely useless. Thief > Shadow Ball in almost every single way. For one, it's a physical attack that benefits from Belly Drum. Thief also hits ghost types and OHKOs them at max attack. Furthermore, Thief allows you to steal the opponents item after you activated Berry Juice, which is extremely useful for picking off a weakened Eviolite Pokemon that you outspeed. The EV spread is also very sub-optimal since you had SpA investment for Shadow Ball, so we need better EVs. A spread of 132 HP / 196 Atk / 108 Def / 28 SpD / 36 Spe is much better. It gives the same damage as yours but makes you much bulkier so Zigzagoon has an easier time setting up. The given HP EVs makes Zigzagoon's HP an even number which allows Berry Juice to activate at 50% HP, while the speed EVs allow you to outspeed Pumpkaboo and use Thief.

For Taillow, Life Orb > Choice Band. In Little Cup, the Life Orb damage rolls are pretty much the same as choice specs/band and it allows you to switch up moves. Therefore, Life Orb is vastly superior. Taillow should have 19 HP IVs to make his HP 19 instead of 20, which means Life Orb will only take away 1 HP and not 2. Your team has way too many physical attackers and only one special attacker, so we're going to make Taillow a mixed set, with Boomburst and Heat Wave over Quick Attack and Pursuit. This allows you to wallbreak more efficiently. The changed EVs will be in the hide tab with the rest of the sets so please check that.

Since Carvanha is a late-game sweeper, you should never run Destiny Bond. You're faster than the opponent anyway, so might as well throw off an attack to do some damage to aid Zigzagoon later. Therefore, Zen Headbutt > Destiny Bond. Zen Headbutt provides you the much needed coverage against Croagunk, Mienfoo, etc. Furthermore, you can add 36 Def EVs on Carvanha since you didn't put them in.

Although you wanted to use a Metal Burst Pokemon, Aron is just a huge momentum drain since your team is hyper offense. You also need a Pokemon who can set up hazards and check Fletchling in the process. Because of this, Archen > Aron. Although this makes your team more weak to Electric types, you didn't say that you had trouble with them. Anyway, Archen creates a VoltTurn core (in this case, two U-Turns) with Taillow to gain more momentum, has access to Stealth Rocks and Defog, checks Fletchling, and supports your team in an aggressive way (hence the name "Fast Support" on Smogon). The Archen set will be in its own hide tab.

For Abra, Hidden Power Fighting > Dazzling Gleam. You mentioned that Dazzling Gleam hits Pawniard, but Dazzling Gleam really only hits Dark types, and doesn't even OHKO Pawniard. Hidden Power Fighting allows you to OHKO Pawniard. Furthermore, a spread of 240 SpA / 200 Spe allows you to hit 19 speed, which is a crucial benchmark for Abra, as 76 SpD EVs doesn't accomplish much. The given IVs in the set are like that so you can use HP Fighting - it doesn't change anything.

And as for Diglett, the only thing you should add is 36 HP EVs to make you slightly bulkier. But anyway, that's my rate! Hopefully I helped and good luck with your team!

TL;DR
View attachment 68373 Shadow Ball -> Thief; altered EV spread
View attachment 68375 Choice Band -> Life Orb Mixed set; altered EV spread and nature
View attachment 68377 Destiny Bond -> Zen Headbutt; 36 Def EVs
View attachment 68384->View attachment 68379
View attachment 68381 Dazzling Gleam -> HP Fighting; 240 SpA / 200 Spe
View attachment 68383 36 HP EVs

Sets

View attachment 68372
Zigzagoon @ Berry Juice
Ability: Pickup
Level: 5
EVs: 132 HP / 196 Atk / 108 Def / 28 SpD / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Belly Drum
- Seed Bomb
- Thief

View attachment 68374
Taillow @ Life Orb
Ability: Scrappy
Level: 5
EVs: 76 Atk / 196 SpA / 236 Spe
IVs: 19 HP
Naive Nature
- Brave Burd
- Boomburst
- U-Turn
- Heat Wave

View attachment 68376
Carvanha @ Life Orb
Level: 5
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 196 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpD / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Zen Headbutt

View attachment 68380
Abra @ Focus Sash
Level: 5
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 240 SpA / 200 Spe
IVs: 1 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 30 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power Fighting
- Shadow Ball

View attachment 68382
Diglett @ Focus Sash
Level: 5
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 36 HP / 236 Atk / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Sucker Punch
- Memento

Archen set

View attachment 68378
Archen @ Berry Juice
Level: 5
Ability: Defeatist
EVs: 76 HP / 20 Atk / 76 Def / 76 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock/Defog
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- U-Turn

I cannot thank you enough for your help! I knew some things like shadow ball zigzagoon were stupid, but I had no idea what to replace them with! I'm definitely going to try out those changes. Once again, thanks a ton!