DPPt/HGSS A not as random team

[Ruko]

This is my most recent Shoddy Battle team.. which I can't test because the only server appearing is overflowing >>
Anyhow, opinions and ratings would be much appreciated

Smeargle @ Choice Scarf
Own Tempo
EVs: 180 HP/76 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature
- Spore
- Rapid Spin
- Destiny Bond
- Filler / Transform

My lead only ever to be taken down by Ninjask.
Spore and switch, for the lead of the battle. Ninjask is the only pokemon to worry about here, as it can easily KO and outspeed Smeargle. Other Choice Scarf pokemon can outspeed it too, but most everyone I've fought hold their Choice item pokemon as aces.
Rapid Spin isn't at its best use on Smeargle, but it's better than not having it at all. I'll only get one use [likely], so I'll have to have taken out or be ready for the spiker before using this.
Destiny Bond is what I usually use when resending my Smeargle out. So long as it isn't seen coming, will work on most all non-speed boosted pokemon.
Filler: I use this smeargle a lot, it's generally my lead to every shoddy team I make. This fourth slot I have yet to find an actual purpose for..
Transform is the move for the time being, so I can test a strategy that could turn over better than simply Destiny Bonding a threat. The idea is to try and nail a pokemon that resists its own STAB, but also possesses an attack its weak to [Starmie with Thunderbolt first comes to mind]. Because of the Scarf, I'll be locked on one move, but I'll also be faster on the draw. From there, I can choose the SE attack, or anticipate a switch and go for STAB.

EVs are balanced so that Smeargle can't be OHKO'd by any non-boosted priority attack. Absol can KO with Sucker Punch, but I'm ruling that as a threat out because of the lack of offensive moves on Smeargle. Hitmonlee does have a 3 in 52 chance of KOing with Mach Punch, but I'm more worried about criticals than that. And finally, Scizor as a threat could only KO with Bullet Punch after a Swords Dance and Technician. If it lacks either, it will also be incapable of OHKOing.
I've put more work into this Smeargle than any other pokemon I've touched, anything you can offer to make it better would be much appreciated. I'm mainly looking for a fourth move, as the other three seem to work great.


Blaziken @ Life Orb
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/4 SDef
Adamant nature
- Agility
- Flare Blitz
- Brave Bird
- Reversal

Kamikaze suits as a name for this one. It's not entirely likely to get pulled off, but it's like a Wild Card for my team. If it looks familiar, I created this when helping another person with their Blaziken. Walled by most rocks, even if I were to include EQ, until Reversal is at power.
Agility with the EVs given won't always be required, but without Agility, it's almost guaranteed to only take out one pokemon.
Flare Blitz is an extremely powerful attack when combined with everything Blaziken has to offer. 120 to start, 180 after STAB, 234 after the Life Orb, and if I can damage myself down enough to activate Blaze, a massive 351 base power. Anyone with "blaze of glory" puns will be shot... except Baratron.
Brave Bird for another self damaging attack to pile up, as well as for some coverage. Choosing this for my second attack leaves me open to Rock types, so its a bit iffy. Mainly for covering Water and Fire types.
Reversal Requires a level of luck to pull off with good power, but even if I don't, I think Flare Blitz will suffice XD
Caps at a power of 390 with the life orb, but hits 294 fairly easily [for only one attack]

I can't say I'm looking for much on this set.. it's sort of meant to be a suicidal risk. A replacement for Brave Bird would be nice, and just general suggestions to make it more successful, without sacrificing much if any power. As is, this Blaziken is fairly reliant on a later member of the team.


Electrode @ Liechi Berry
EVs: 6 HP/252 S. Atk/252 Spd
Hasty nature
- Explosion
- Thunder
- Taunt
- Substitute

Bluff, wait, and then explode.
This one is even more risky than my Blaziken, and is actually likely to be dropped.. but I wanted to try it out before completely ditching the idea.
Explosion is the primary attack here. I'm going to go for the Liechi Boost, then stalling so a ghost doesn't come in on me. Easily walled by Steelix.
Thunder is really inaccurate, but powerful. I don't intend on using it as a primary attack, just a bluff. As much as I'm afraid it would miss, the chance is higher that it will hit, and my opponent will know that. Could cause unneccessary risk-taking.
Taunt because half of my sets seem to run off of three attacks. This is the filler here, it just utilizes Electrode's speed, and can prevent certain tanks from tanking. Any better attack for this slot would be thoroghly welcome.
Substitute prevents status, and gives me a free turn on the next turn. Also wears my HP down to activate Liechi. Proper training will allow me another Substitute after Liechi activates.


Jumpluff @ Light Clay
Ability: Leaf Guard
EVs: 72 HP/152 Def/254 Spd/32 SDef
Jolly nature
- Reflect
- Memento
- Stun Spore
- Aromatherapy / Encore / Substitute

This should look very familiar, because I've posted it before. The only change are the last attacks in place of Light Screen.. I learned Jumpluff only gets reflect, no screen.
Reflect is for team support, beyond Memento. Extended to ten turns, and essentially limits my opponent to only using special attacks in that time.
Memento is the main reason I use Jumpluff. It costs me a pokemon, but practically forces a switch.. especially if I got reflect up beforehand. Used to help set up sweepers that need a turn.
Stun Spore for a speed lowering status, since I've got attack and special attack lowering covered with memento. A tad inaccurate, but accurate enough and hits ground types.
Last attack is a replacement for Light Screen, for reasons stated above. I'm not sure which I'm going to use, but I lean towards Substitute to protect Pluffy from status. Aromatherapy is next in line, though I'd only get one use out of it since I'll be Memento-ing. Encore could lock pokemon into attack, and Pluffy will have decent speed if I can switch in on an EQ, Grass, ore even one of the less proficient resistances.


Kingdra @ White Herb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 200 Atk/56 Spd/252 SAtk
Brave nature
- Waterfall
- Draco Meteor
- Outrage
- Rain Dance

Draco Meteor stings... Two of them will sting more, but that said I'd sort of like a different held item if anyone has anything to suggest. If it wasn't intended to really only live as long as Rain Dance lasts, I'd give it leftovers. Walled by Empoleon.
Waterfall is my primary attack here. Base 180 after Rain and STAB, and a 20$ flinch to boot. Not much more to be said.
Outrage & Draco Meteor are for the first pokemon that Waterfall can't hit well. Draco Meteor covers Physical walls, while Outrage locks me in place, it'll cover pokemon that simply resist water. Outrage is also certain to go first, and at least dent whatever comes out next. These two break the double-STAB rule, but Dragon is only resisted by steel, and I'm using one of each attacking type. That on top of Kingdra's severe lack of movepool.
Rain Dance is self explainatory. I don't want a damp rock, because I don't think Kingdra will last that long, and my other team can't make any use of the rain [it even hurts Blaziken]


Xatu @ Ganlon Berry
EVs: 120 Def/136 S. Atk/252 Spd
Timid nature
- Calm Mind
- Heat Wave
- Psychic
- Wish

The special tank of the team. Relies on calm mind to build up offense and defense, and requires some prediction with wish to activate my defense. Salac Berry was my secondary held item, and I'd probably carry what special attack EVs I had over to defense if I swapped to Salac. Walled by Heatran.
Calm Mind is self-explainatory. Raise both of my special stats.
Heat Wave for Steel coverage, although a tad inaccurate.
Psychic STAB and primary attack.
Wish for recovery, and can double as team support if I'm willing to sacrifice either Xatu, or its stat raises.

 

[Plapti]

Non-boosted, as in no STAB?

Infernape with a Life Orb, 252 Atk and a Jolly Nature will OHKO with Mach Punch about 67% of the time. Not really a threat, but just as a heads up. Most Infernape I see on Shoddy never use Mach Punch. Though a Fake Out before hand followed Mach Punch will destroy you for sure.

Sleep Talk leads, or Lum Berry leads would screw you too, but now I'm going into nitty-gritty points again. As a fact, I've also never seen a scarfed Taunt before.

And do note that you should try not to Destiny Bond something that has U-Turn, as I think it maybe be able to avoid the Destiny Bond. Not sure if Shoddy has it set like that, or it just dies right after the user of Destiny Bond faints. I should really test that out to prove it. Just a rumour that I heard, so don't take that advice completely yet.

Maybe Trick to screw around with items.


You cold throw in an Elemental Punch over Brave Bird. Fire and Flying do have somewhat redundant coverage. Notably, Thunderpunch stands out a bit more than Ice Punch.


Just curious, but why the Speed lowering nature on Kingdra?

Looks sound otherwise, but technically, all other Shoddy servers should be working. Like the Smogon one. You just need the host and port, which is easy enough to get as it is.

 

[KoL]

Just curious, but why the Speed lowering nature on Kingdra?

Me and Ruko discussed Kingdra in the chat - if I remember correctly, the Speed dropping Nature was used to keep Kingdra's defenses up. Plus, Swift Swim would effectively render the Speed drop null and void.

Infernape with a Life Orb, 252 Atk and a Jolly Nature will OHKO with Mach Punch about 67% of the time. Not really a threat, but just as a heads up. Most Infernape I see on Shoddy never use Mach Punch. Though a Fake Out before hand followed Mach Punch will destroy you for sure.

That brings to mind another threat, one which I actually use - one of my Lucario uses Choice Specs, has a Modest Nature, has 252 EVs in Sp.Attack, and it uses Vacuum Wave. I'm not sure how much damage this would inflict to Smeargle, but it may be worth taking into consideration.

One thing I did suggest was using Electrode as an anti-lead of sorts as opposed to Smeargle, who could essentially be just as useful late-game as he is as a lead. Electrode is easily fast enough to Taunt anyone trying to set up Spikes/Stealth Rock or perhaps Reflect/Light Screen on their first turn, which could tip the advantage in your favour at a very early stage in the game. I know Smogon has created some Stealth Rocking "suicide leads" in Azelf and Infernape, and Electrode could easily stop both of them from setting up.

Possibly consider sticking an attacking move on the fourth slot for Jumpluff - as it is right now, it suffers from vulnerability to Taunt, although it would work fine as it is now if you don't encounter any Taunters. I'd say be wary of Gyarados mostly with Jumpluff.

Blaziken gets Night Slash and Earthquake as well, so those are possibilities. Another alternative would be to run a Lonely/Naughty Nature possibly and then stick possibly Hidden Power Grass on the set to put off Water/Rock types. It's a long shot, but it's a possibility nonetheless, especially since most Rock-types lack Sp.Defense, and Blaziken does wield an impressive Base 110 in Sp.Attack. Salamence will wall you however with HP Grass, although HP Ice wouldn't be a bad option itself.

Roost is a possibility for Xatu if you want a more reliable method for keeping it alive, although you will lose the team support that Wish provides - if anything, it leaves the option open for you.

 

[Ruko]

[quote author=Jet]
Non-boosted, as in no STAB?
[/quote]
No, non-boosted as in no stat raising or held items calculated. I took STAB into account when thinking about Hitmonlee, but held items can't be predicted or worked around entirely because of a lack of EVs, and because I'd like smeargle to be OHKO'd by anything more powerful than priority attacks.
Another note on smeargle I forgot to mention: If its coming in to use rapid spin, that means it's being weakened by some form of spikes.. Mach Punch, and any of the fighting-type priorities become a threat.
Fake Out I also haven't faced yet, but yes it would pose a threat :/

[quote author=Jet]And do note that you should try not to Destiny Bond something that has U-Turn[/quote]
My most common target for Destiny Bond has been Garchomp, Lucario, Snorlax, and other sweepers that don't raise their speed. I know Lucario can, but KoL is the first person I've seen using an Agility set on one XD

[quote author=Jet]Maybe Trick to screw around with items.[/quote]
Tried that one and decided the double-edge of it was more than it's worth. After using trick, Smeargle can't really do much to be helpful. Trick + Transform could be quite fun, especially if I catch something that's stat boosting [transform into the switchin]... but I'm not willing to sacrifice any of the other three attacks XD

[quote author=Jet]You cold throw in an Elemental Punch over Brave Bird. Fire and Flying do have somewhat redundant coverage. Notably, Thunderpunch stands out a bit more than Ice Punch.[/quote]
Ice Punch is a no simply because it leaves me walled by water until reversal is available... that and Blaziken can't learn Ice Punch anyway ^^;
Thunderpunch would only help with Water-types, which I suppose are a decent threat since they're usually bulky-ish.. I'll consider it, but I may stick with Brave Bird.
The more I look at Blaziken, the more practical it seems to get rid of Reversal. Even though that's what the set was built around, Flare Blitz is just much more reliable than it is, and I can't use it as a coverage attack at all as is. If it had an attack in place of [and the speed to live without] Agility, I might keep reversal, just because I like it as a surprise attack.

[quote author=Jet]Just curious, but why the Speed lowering nature on Kingdra?[/quote]
It's a trick I pull with a lot of pokemon I want odd builds for. When I don't want to lower any of the stats, I lower the lowest stat I'm not fully training in, and raise the highest stat I am training in. Then I shift some of the EVs over to the stat I lowered to raise it back to where it was.
It cancels the negative effect of the nature, but I still get to keep part of the positive.

And for KoL
[quote author=King of Lucario]That brings to mind another threat, one which I actually use - one of my Lucario uses Choice Specs, has a Modest Nature, has 252 EVs in Sp.Attack, and it uses Vacuum Wave. I'm not sure how much damage this would inflict to Smeargle, but it may be worth taking into consideration.[/quote]
It would KO it; we didn't actually calculate, but when we were coming up with Smeargle's EVs we did consider items. Fighting-type priority moves with STAB came close to a KO, but not quite [except for Hitmonlee]. So after any stat boost, or stat boosting item, they would KO.

[quote author=King of Lucario]One thing I did suggest was using Electrode as an anti-lead of sorts as opposed to Smeargle[/quote]
Yes, we discussed this one in chat. I'll give it a shot, and save smeargle for a few battles.

[quote author=King of Lucario]Possibly consider sticking an attacking move on the fourth slot for Jumpluff[/quote]
Jumpluff has base 55 in both attacks, and is trained in neither. I'd switch away from taunters even if I had an attack, because it can't do anything with the attacks it learns. U-turn would be the only exception here, I think.

[quote author=King of Lucario]Blaziken gets Night Slash and Earthquake ... possibly Hidden Power Grass on the set to put off Water/Rock types.[/quote]
Night Slash and Shadow Claw are a no. They hit nothing more powerful than STAB'd Flare blitz can [at least that comes to mind] because anything they hit SE, blitz hits neutral for more damage. Blitz still has a power of 90 when ineffective too.
Hidden Power Grass also leaves me walled to Fire Types, which wouldn't be a problem if I go through with getting rid of Reversal... If I go for Sky Uppercut or Brick Break, I'll definitely try HP Grass.
I'll try out both EQ and Thunderpunch on it, and see how they work as opposed to being walled by rocks. If neither work, I'll just drop Reversal for a more reliable power source.

[quote author=King of Lucario]Roost is a possibility for Xatu[/quote]
Somehow I'd completely overlooked Roost when making the set XD
I probably will go with that over Wish, mainly because Xatu's tanking is lost when I use Wish for support.

 

[Plapti]

Ice Punch is a typo. Dunno what I was thinking there.

Just as a fact, 198 is an okay Speed stat, but with no EVs and a neutral nature, you end up in a better stating speed at 206 and can almost outspeed Max Speed, pro Nature Electrode (You're short by 4 points or so). If the EVs that were originally used for Speed, are shifted into Defense, the difference is 11 points, which may or may not be negligible, but that options remains there.

I know you hate Stone Edge, but it gets it and Rock Slide as well. I'm also thinking you rather not use Superpower because of its side-effect it has.

 

[Ruko]

Hrm... Blaziken is one of the pokemon I'd consider Stone Edge over Rock Slide on... the inaccuracy could kill it, but I'll keop it in mind.

I put the extra EVs into speed so that it could possibly function without Agility as well... I'd already been considering changing it just because it wouldn't be much use without it as I said above XD