Battle Spot Monotype Water "Cry Me A River ; CMAR" [Singles]

[LaMegaBlaziken]

I´m pretty new at Battle Spot tier and I intend to make a monotype water balanced team incluiding;
2x Special physical sweeper, 2x special sweeper, 1x wall, 1x wallbraker

Greninja (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Very versatile and strong special sweeper that I use as team leader. Thanks to protean ability I use it without any water attack. With u-turn I avoid trheads. Grass knot could be a another choice, but the most encountered pokèmon in the tier is Rotom-w so it becomes quite useless. By the way I need HP-fire to counter mega abomasnow, ferrothorn or Scizor.

Starmie @ Assault Vest
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SAtk
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Surf
- Thunderbolt

Special sweeper, psychic for the stab and thunderbolt for water type pokemon. This is the second special sweeper and the other super versatile, that is needed. Quite fragile (that's why I equipped it with Assault vest, rather then leftovers + recover) but having two fast sweepers in the team really helps. Surf and Psychic gives stab. Psychic is also good against Gengar when they switch it in for avoiding my rapid spin, as it goes for ice beam and Trevenant.

Gyarados (M) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Dragon Dance
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake

Typical physical sweeper Gyarados, with intimidate because it's going o megaevolve most of the time (and most of the time it allows me to dragon-dance easily taking less damage). It is very strong, the problem is that it lacks in the team a true supporter/baton passer that makes him stronger.
Its normal typing water/flying is useful because its resistances and immunity to ground types pokèmon and I totally prefer Ice fang rather then stone edge because of the accuracy and the type coverage. With mold breaker Mega Gyara is so good in taking down Rotom-W and others and it's quite bulky so most of the time I can go for a dragon dance first.

Cloyster (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Shell Smash

I think everyone knows Cloyster but besides being really strong as physical sweeper it solved some of my problems against substitute-users as Whimsicott or Gliscor (and finally I can take down Breloom even without shell-smash before). I think that focus sash is mandatory to allow it to last the turn to shell-smash easily and then strike everything. Rock-blast and Icicle spear give it good coverage and Ice shard saved me more than once (I don't know if replacing it with hydro pump or Razor Shell for coverage because the opponent always switch in Heatran or Aegislash) .

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpAtk
-Calm Mind
-Scald
-Rest
-Sleep Talk

My mixed wall, great defences and HP drew me to suicune. Calm Mind for obvious reasons, Ice Beam for special coverage and Scald for special STAB plus that all-important burn which is snags from time to time. Toxic maybe...

Crawdaunt @ ???? IDEAS!!
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance

My wallbreaker can take a lot of damage from Adaptabilty Crabhammer or Knock Off. It also has priority in Aqua Jet, which can also help him clean late game. It can also use SD to help against stall teamsand it can also help him be a secondary wincon, although it's difficult to set up due to Crawdaunt's low defenses. I'm using Jolly so Crawdaunt can outspeed standard Defensive Lando-T and severely weakening it with Crabhammer.


I hope to get some feedback from you..!
Greetings.

 

[Omastar68]

Well...this is new. Besides everything being weak to Grass and Electric, there's a bit of a fighting weakness(Starmie might offset this somewhat, but uninvested 65/85 physical bulk w/ only a 2x resistance doesn't mean you can just switch in w/ impunity on something like Mega Blaziken's High Jump Kick.) 4 of your things are weak to bug, w/ only Gyara pre-mega as a resist. Uninvested AV Starmie does little to compensate for your team's lack of special bulk, as premier special attackers like Thundy, Gengar(btw it won't switch in to spinblock), and Serperior all still hit very hard. Your Starmie only has 30 SpA IVs, which means the extra 4 EVs are wasted-just run 248SpA/breed for flawless. Pretty sure Cloyster prefers Jolly since it's a base 70-not crazy fast even at +2. Focus Sash is a reasonable item on it thanks to its frailty, but thanks to its high Def and likelihood of going 2nd pre SS, meaning you won't get hit on lowered defenses, it definitely isn't a must. I'm at a loss for Azumarill-really, just use Azumarill. Its way easier to find a good item for it, its much bulkier, about as powerful, and stronger w/ a SD, also has priority, has a better defensive typing, and doesn't compound your bug weakness(not that that matters too much.) Really the only thing Crawdaunt has over it is 5 more base speed, no poison weakness, a Ghost resistance, and a Psychic immunity(which is a type you definitely don't have a problem w/.

Sorry that's like all negative, but, well, your team is kind of odd. Mono-Water in BSS could maybe be a thing, though. For starters make it a Rain team. Like seriously. Starmie should go. Rotom-W isn't weak to Electric, and is one of the best water types there is for BSS. Quagsire would be great for both ignoring boosts and being immune to electric, though Mega Swampert does the latter as well and works beautifully on rain teams. Since implementing any or all of those changes still leaves you w/ a horrendous Grass weakness, Sap Sipper on Azumarill could maybe work. Ofc, that won't do anything for Mega Venusaur(in fact it would be worse,) so maybe just abandon the mono water idea. Water is in no way a bad type, and a water-centered team seems reasonable enough, but mono-water belongs in the monotype metagame(not that I know anything about that, save for the obvious.)

 

[cant say]

The idea behind this team is quite admirable (I always encourage people to use Pokemon / teams that they like rather than sticking to the norm) but the execution is bad. Can I ask why you want to make a monotype team in the first place? And why a Water-type one? Why have you chosen to not make it a Rain team? Using a monotype team in a format where there are no such restrictions already puts you at a major disadvantage against other players, so if you're new why not start out with a more standard team to learn the metagame better?

The first thing that jumps out at me is that this team is going to be utterly destroyed by Thundurus, which is one of, if not the best Pokemon in the metagame and is used on a lot of teams. People often make normal teams and still struggle with Thundurus, so using a mono-water team is just making that even worse...

If your heart is set on mono-water (I don't know why but whatever) then try adding in a Lanturn, it's the only Water-type that can put up a fight to Thundurus.

Lanturn @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Volt Switch
- Ice Beam
- Toxic

I would use it instead of Crawdaunt since his overlap with Mega Gyarados is too much.

This of course means that you have two Leftovers on your team, but that's ok because Crocune isn't really good in Battle Spot Singles. Instead, use a Chesto Berry for the item and Ice Beam instead of Sleep Talk for coverage. This allows Suicune to get a boost or two in before needing to Rest, and then start going on the offensive.

Assault Vest on Starmie doesn't help it achieve anything as it's too frail to make proper use of it. Since your Life Orb is taken perhaps you could try an Expert Belt? If you must use the Assault Vest then Starmie should be built to tank moves of stuff it wants to kill, which means cutting some EVs from SpA and Spe and putting them in SpD. I (hastily) played around with the damage calculator and came up with 196 SpA / 68 SpD / 244 Spe. Starmie doesn't lose anything from dropping a point in speed as you'd just be speed tying with Raikou who you have no business fighting anyway, the SpD allows to easily survive non-Life Orb Thundurus' Thunderbolt and gives you a great chance of surviving Mega Gengar's Shadow Ball and having enough power to also potentially OHKO in return (you winning the 1v1 is about a 50% chance which is the best you can do unfortunately). This spread also helps you beat bulky and Focus Sash Serperior if it hasn't boosted (Life Orb sets still win but are rare). Is there a reason for the 30 attack and special attack IVs? Why not just breed for flawless (ignoring attack). Scald or Hydro Pump should also be used instead Surf, Surf's power pales in comparison to Hydro Pump's, and the burn chance from Scald can win games.

Don't expect too many Gengar switching into Starmie to block a potential Rapid Spin though, hazards aren't common in BSS and using Rapid Spin is often a wasted turn which gives a lot of momentum to your opponent.

I think Mega Swampert would be a great fit for this team, the Electric immunity alone helps the team a lot, especially against Raikou who can do a lot against your team. You can either use it instead of Mega Gyarados or run two megas and use it instead of Cloyster. If you really wanna keep both those guys then maybe you could drop Starmie...

 

[a0161613]

I'm with cant say, any electric mon in the meta walks through this. His changes help. I think my initial reaction was "good idea, poor execution".

I thought of Quagsire but double Mega with Swampert over Cloyster is perfect, not that Quag would be a bad addition. Making it a rain team would be a great idea. Politoed plus any of Kabutops/Omastar, Ludicolo, Kingdra.

 

[LaMegaBlaziken]

Thank you cant say, a0161613, and omastar68!!

I make this kind of team just for having fun! :)

Following your advices I think that replacing Gyarados and Crawdaunt by Swamper and Azumarril is a great idea.
About starmie and cloyster...I have special interest in keeping them because they are two of my favourite pokemons.
Rotom for example, even exceptional in combat ...I hate it esthetically talking!

More ideas?
Thank you guys.

 

[Omastar68]

For water, SF Feraligatr does well, with DD and its main STAB getting a boost. I like the Naive Greninja set on the start Dex. Greninja's attacking stats are pretty close, and it's bulk is crap, so a mixed set is a really good idea. Lots of other fun Waters, but not so many really good ones.

As for doing monotype in BSS(and not in, you know, monotype), I think Steel is probably the best type for it. Normal's good, too, w/ Mega Kanga and Normal only having one weakness. Fighting has also declined a bit in terms of an offensive typing.