DPPt/HGSS In need of some team help

[Tatile]

Well, I've had a couple of games with this team, but sadly they aren't performing quite as well as I feel they could (damnable Metagross).

The following which seem alright at the moment:

Milotic with Leftovers
- Recover
- Mirror Coat
- Surf
- Dragon Pulse

Mismaguis
- Thunderbolt
- Psybeam
- Magical Leaf
- Shadowball

Kangaskhan (Scrappy)
- Crunch
- Dizzy Punch
- Hammer Arm
- Earthquake

The other Pokemon I have are a Luxray (bred with Ice Fang), a Magnezone and a Flygon (which happily has Earthquake). Now, thanks to a chat with the aforementioned Metagross, I've come to realise that their movesets could be better, to put it lightly.

What I'd appreciate is some advice on making sets that would benefit the above team.

Edit: Would have helped if I'd added these in the first place, right?

Luxray - Jolly Nature
- Ice Fang
- Crunch
- Spark
- Charge

Magnezone - Calm Nature
- Tri Attack
- Discharge
- Thunder Waver
- Magent Rise

Flygon - Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Aerial Ace
- Faint Attack
- Earthquake

It's probably too late to be editing this in though. What about the following Lucario?

Lucario - Modest Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Aura Sphere
- Dragon Pulse
- Psychic

If you feel the need to just flat out say everything I have here sucks, knock yourself out. Replies are better than nothing.

 

[Ruko]

Milotic looks great the way it is... some options would be to give it a Flame Orb to boost defense.. You'll have to recover the damage off every four turns plus whatever you're taking. Doing this can also lure people into using special attacks for you to Mirror Coat. The burn also prevents you from being put to sleep or paralyzed by electric attacks.
It's a double-edged tactic, but it can work well if you get used to it.

For Mismagius:
Consider Calm mind and/or Charge Beam? Charge beam is a bit more luck oriented, but you can come out and finish a pokemon with it whilst usually gaining a free speed boost as well..
If you're playing on PBR, I can understand wanting Magical Leaf.. I learned that there's nothing barring evasive moves on it. Consider Energy ball for a power increase if you don't play with people who use Evasion.
I'd also recommend replacing Psybeam because of its low power. Calm Mind, Substitute, Will o Wisp and Thunder wave are good options if you're not willing to rebreed. If you are willing to rebreed, You have an even greater number of attacks that could take its place.
Are you willing to rebreed?

Kangaskhan is one of my favorite pokemon.. I could throw quite a few sets at you XD

Kanga @ Salac Berry
Adamant Nature
-Crush Claw [Requires breeding]
-Sucker Punch
-Counter [Requires breeding]
-Reversal
252 ATK
64 DEF
192 SPD

Probably my best, albeit risky, of the offensive sets I've got. The EVs as well as Kangaskhan's stats allow for you to Counter a good deal of physical pokemon. Chople Berry helps to ensure that fighting attacks don't OHKO you if you're trying to counter them.
Reversal: If you can get a perfect IV in speed, the Salac Berry will put you faster than everything shy of Electrode and Choice Scarfs. Also, by the time it activates, Reversal will be at a power of at least 80, possibly more. Near-KO, it attains a power of 200.
Sucker Punch: As soon as an opponent sees Reversal, you're likely to be facing a pokemon with Quick Attack or Sucker Punch.. So long as the Salac Berry activated, you should be faster and your Sucker Punch can beat their priority for exactly what the name of the attack is. Get off some Decent damage before being KO'd. If your opponent happened to be using Sucker Punch, it will be canceled because you went first.
Crush Claw is just, in my opinion, the best STAB choice for any Normal type who gets it. About 105 Base Power and a 50% chance of lowering defense.. with a bit of luck, you can even send some pokemon resistant packing. Of course with Scrappy, you can also catch ghosts you don't want to Sucker Punch.

All that said, it does require rebreeding.. If you're not willing to, I'd have to suggest sucker punch to counteract Hammer Arm's effect. Aside from that it looks fine as it is. Reversal can replace Hammer Arm as well, it's just risky on pokemon who don't have Endure [just like its risky on my above Kangaskhan]

I'll have to get to your other pokemon tomorrow or some other time, as I've run out for now XD

 

[Plapti]

Mismagius can also use specific Hidden Powers. It would be interesting to see which one it has. HP Fighting would be awesome, as Ghost and Fighting moves paired together give awesome coverage. Fire and Ground are also great options. Steel types cause problems. HP Ground / Ground deals with them quite nicely.

And by using Mismagius's high speed and Special Defense, a Set based around substitute could work.

Mismagius@ Leftovers / Pinch Berry
Timid Nature
108 (+4 for every IV point you are away from 31) HP / 220 (+4 for every IV point you are away from 31) Spd or 128 (+4 for every IV point you are away from 31) Spd / Rest Into S.Atk

-Substitute
-Calm Mind / Charge Beam
-Shadow Ball
-HP [Fighting] / Thunderbolt / Energy Ball

The HP gives you awesome coverage. If you can't get it, then Thunderbolt is good if you choose not to use Charge Beam and Calm Mind instead.
Energy Ball is another strong option if you did choose Charge Beam and don't want to overlap types.
Calm Mind is obvious, and lets this little ghost take more hits on the Special side.
The HP EVs gives you and even number and in turn gives you four subs, with 1 HP left over (Assuming no damage taken at all or passive damage).

The EVs are a tad abnormal for this set.

The first set of Speed EVs will bring Mismagius up to 330 Speed (220 EVs (+4 for every IV point you are away from 31)), outspeeding all Pro Nature, Max Speed, base 100 Speed users and Neutral Nature, Max Speed users. If you drop the Speed to 307 (128 EVs(+4 for every IV point you are away from 31)), you will outspeed all Pro Nature, Max Speed, base 90 Speed users.

Flygon is one of my personal favourites when it comes to designing movesets.

Flygon@ Life Orb
Naughty Nature
252 Atk / 136 Spd / 120 S.Atk

-Roost
-Earthquake
-Fire Blast
-Draco Meteor

Earthquake is for STAB, and fufills the first part of the reason why this is a 'Wall-breaker' set, of my own creation.
Fire Blast deals with the likes of Skarmory, Metagross and Bronzong.
And the cornerstone to this set is the insane power of Draco Meteor. It hits most walls that come out to block Flygon's physical moves and gives them a nice surpirse with Draco Meteor.
Roost is there to replenish HP lost from the Life Orb.

The EVs do a have a fault. Flygon is really slow now, it isn't a problem facing walls, but don't expect this set to plough through lots of teams. Its Speed is quite low, sacrificing it to increase the damage output.

There's also this one:

Flygon@ Life Orb
Naughty Nature
176 (+4 for every IV point you are away from 31) Spd / 252 S. Atk / Rest into Atk

-Draco Meteor
-Outrage / Dragon Claw
-Earthquake / Earth Power / U-Turn / Roost
-Fire Blast

Similar to the previous set, but foregoing Roost as a primary option.

Draco Meteor is a beast of a move.
Outrage as well. With no Atk EVs, Outrage will almost always 2HKO Blissey.
Since Outrage is a Platinum tutor move, Dragon Claw will probably have to suffice. It won't have the power of Outrage, but it's the next best option.
Earthquake is awesome as well, but Earth Power can work as well, hitting Steels where it hurts, albeit from Flygon's lower of its attacking stats.
U-Turn is a way for Flygon to get rid of its confusion and S.Atk loss and switch something else in while getting some damage in.
Roost can be used, so the Ground attack has to be dropped in order to make room.
Fire Blast covers quite well with Dragon attacks and deal with Steels as well.

Anywhere Fire Blast has been mentioned, Flamethrower is a viable option as well.

There are other sets for Flygon as well, so if you want more ideas, I've got a couple more. Juts PM me and I'll post them.

Magnezone is another case, but I've run out of time, working on those sets up there.

I'll post more sometime later, but if you catch me in the chat, I'm always ready to do some moveset stuff.

 

[Tatile]

Wow, I forgot how confusing the stats can be.

From the looks of it, I'll have to be re-breeding pretty much my entire team, which is annoying but not unexpected.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Ruko]

Well, since you sound like you are willing to rebreed.. I'll throw some of the other Mismagius attack possibilities at you.

By breeding
Destiny Bond - the ever spiteful attack that lets you take your foe with you. I don't really think I need to describe how it works XD
Would be really useful on a set with Substitute.
Memento - Underrated self-KO move. Unlike Destiny bond, you just have to live until you use it for it to work. Memento sharply lowers both of your opponent's attack stats allowing for you to come in with a frail pokemon who needs a turn to set up; something with Swords Dance or Agility, or that needs to hide behind substitute.
Curse - Can work with both strategies above, but not as well at either of them. Curse, like Memento, will make people want to switch.. but it doesn't lower attack. It also has KO potential, but it takes four/five turns depending on your opponent's HP. Use with a pokemon that can trap your opponent, A pokemon with Pursuit, or something that needs a turn to set up[just know that you risk taking damage from an attack if you choose a setup pokemon].
Curse has its upside in the fact it doesn't require you to KO yourself; it only takes half of your health instead. You can use it from more than half-health and catch a non-attacking opponent off-guard. If you use it as a self-KO, a fast pokemon with substitute can come in and wreak havoc easily.

By leveling misdreavus
Confuse Ray - Level 14 - This offers a much more simplistic choice, but not any less effective really. With some luck on your side, you can easily send foes packing without taking a hit.
Pain Split - Level 28 - Mismagius has somewhat low HP, so this can catch certain opponents off-guard and nearly fully restore you.. Might not be the best of choices on an offensive pokemon, but it has its uses.
Perish Song - Level 41 - Best used right before you're KO'd with strategies similar to Curse. Since they don't take steady damage they'll probably be less likely to switch right away. Takes less time than curse to KO.

All of that out of the way, here's an off-the-wall Mismagius you could use:

Mismagius @ Leftovers
Timid Nature
-Confuse Ray
-Mean Look
-Curse / Perish Song
-Protect / Substitute

4 HP
252 DEF
252 SPD

Particularly weak to Taunt, and isn't likely to work on opponents with only attacks. On the upside, it will probably come as quite a surprise to see a non-attacking mismagius.
You'll want to confuse first, because it offers a 50% protection rate.. and most people won't immediately switch from it.
Mean look should come before Curse particularly, but can probably come after Perish Song if that's the move you choose to go with.
I'd suggest protect with Curse because of the HP damage you took just from using it, but Substitute works with Perish Song since you'll only need to delay two turns and it doesn't have the failure chance that Protect does.

Simple strategy, but not one of the easiest to pull off. I'd recommend Perish Song and Subs myself if you decide to follow this, but using an attacking one would work just fine XD
Just consider all of the options for a fourth move instead of giving four damaging attacks.

 

[Tatile]

So, seeing as Luxray and Magnezone aren't worth it, should I use a Starmie with the following?

Starmie - Timid
- Recover
- Bubblebeam
- Swift
- PowerGem
OR
Protect instead of one of the attacks.

This is, of course, with the aforementioned Lucario. I think I'm losing a fair amount of physcial coverage this way, but that hardly matters at the moment.

 

[Stark]

I'd say that for a special water attack, you'd either want Water Pulse or Surf. Not BubbleBeam.

Ice Beam and ThunderBolt are a pair of moves that I would definitely take over Swift and Power Gem.

And that'd be it, I'd say.

 

[Ruko]

For the Starmie, I'd suggest Substitute or Confuse Ray over Recover... on pokemon not trained to take hits, recover does little more than cancel out the attack you're about to take.
Either that, or consider Cosmic Power + Recover.

Starmie
-Substitute / Confuse Ray
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt

or

Starmie
-Recover
-Cosmic Power
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt

^ The loss of STAB is almost entirely worth the coverage [only walled by Lanturn and Magneton/zone]. If you drop Ice Beam for STAB, your walled by nearly all Grass-types, and if you drop Thunderbolt, Water pokemon wall you.

 

[Plapti]

I will argue against you about Recover Ruko. And you know it as well.

Also note that Shedinja also resists Ice and Electric attacks as well.



What makes Starmie standout compared to most Spinners (Users who are to deal with Entry Hazards) and Sweepers, is Starmie's ability and its move, Recover.

This set, (As always, pending IVs), can easily take Earthquakes from Gyarados and return with the kill with Thunderbolt.

Starmie@ Leftovers
Timid Nature
216 (+4 for every point away from 31) Spd / 156 (+4 for every point away from 31) Def / Rest into HP or S. Atk

-Recover
-Rapid Spin / Ice Beam / Grass Knot
-Surf / Hydro Pump
-Thunderbolt

Starmie can easily come in and threaten many opponents, even if it comes out to take a status move, or take 25% damage from Spikes, it still has the ability to shrug off the hit if it survives the incoming hit (Which is considerably easier with the Defensive EVs there). It can Recover off damage when the opponent switches, as very few opponents can stand up to Starmie's wide pool of attacks and the speed at which it can deliver those moves.

If you elect for Rapid Spin, EVs can be placed into HP for a more sturdier Starmie. If a third attack is used, you can shift them into S. Atk.

Grass Knot has the bonus of hitting the heavy Water-types for more power than Thunderbolt can.

Ice Beam goes well with Thunderbolt, but Ice Beam by itself covers less types than Thunderbolt can.

Surf is reliable STAB, but if you desire more power, use Hydro Pump. Do be careful about the low PP though.

Thunderbolt hits Gyarados especially hard, the opponent whom Starmie walls best. Thunderbolt also has nice hits on Vaporeon and Tentacruel, who can try and stop your sweep.



As Ruko said, though, Starmie isn't the best user of Recover, but the move still has uses in the moveset. Think about all the sweepers in the game who get a reliable recovery move. Starmie is one of the top sweepers that have access to one.

Not a fan of Cosmic Power either, since Starmie is meant to sweep, or support, not take hits. That and Starmie is a great status absorber with Natural Cure, which leads to loads of switching, and Cosmic Power is reset on exiting. Light Screen and Reflect can be put in over Cosmic Power to support one side for 5 turns, and can also provide the team itself with boosted Defense for a short while.

 

[Tatile]

I should stop raising Pokemon, shouldn't I? If I use Jet's set, which looks really nice, I have to re-breed that damned Staryu because I've already screwed up the EV's!

Well, make that another thing to add to the 'Re-do' list. Perhaps it's a good thing my Lucario's being ignored >.>

 

[Stark]

I should stop raising Pokemon, shouldn't I? If I use Jet's set, which looks really nice, I have to re-breed that damned Staryu because I've already screwed up the EV's!

You can remove EVs with those Berries... can't remember their names but its obvious which ones they are from the description.

 

[Tatile]

You can remove EVs with those Berries... can't remember their names but its obvious which ones they are from the description.

I keep forgetting about those. To be honest, I know next to nothing about competitive Pokemon. Those berries make starting over (*insert random swearing here*) easier though. Now I just need to understand IV's better, I think I'll google a guide.

Edit: Do the berries lower all the EV's in a single stat or do you have to use several? Sorry, but I am so green at this it's unbelievable.

 

[Plapti]

Ask Ruko for a quick run down on IVs. His explanation is probably better than mine.

Do note that Ruko's defensive set can be used for pure walling. My sets are more of a hybrid of sweeping and supporting.

 

[Xatu]

Edit: Do the berries lower all the EV's in a single stat or do you have to use several? Sorry, but I am so green at this it's unbelievable.

If the EVs are over 100 then it resets it to 100 in that stat. If it's at 100 or below, the berry will take away 10.

 

[Tatile]

So, I now have a Misdreavus with 31 in Speed and a Timid nature (and a spare female one with that nature given that I'll no doubt need to rebreed at some point now that I'm asking for help again). I was hoping this wouldn't be a bad combination, but what do I know:

Mismagius
Timid
- Confuse Ray
- Pyschic
- Shadow Ball
- Pain Split

Also, if it's possible, I'd like some help with my Kangaskhan. Ruko's set is nice, but I'm tactically inept and would probably never be able to pull it off. I need what we call 'idiot proof' Pokemon.

 

[Stark]

I'd use that Mismagius set, I can see how it would work (sorta sweeper/annoyer?)

If you want another perspective on them, here's mine:

Mismagius
Timid
-Shadow Ball
-Thunderbolt
-Thunder Wave
-Will-o-Wisp

 

[ShinyCharizard124]

Sorry if you think I am just jumping in, but for a strong Ghost Pokemon, I would pick Gengar. He can learn Posion, Psychic, and Ghost moves. Also, if you don't have room for a Electric Pokemon, you can teach him Thunderbolt.
Here is my Gengar:
Holding a Dread Plate.
Moves:
Sludge Bomb
Thunderbolt
Psychic
Shadow Ball

 

[Plapti]

Gengar may be more powerful, but Mismagius has one thing that makes it stand out. A considerably better Special Defense stat. It lets Mismagius switch in more often then Gengar would.

A more of a pest set:

Mismagius@ Leftovers
Timid

-Thunder Wave
-Confuse Ray
-Will-o-Wisp / Pain Split / Toxic / Thunderbolt / HP [Fighting]
-Shadow Ball

You get walled quite badly, but most Normal-types don't like the Attack getting cut by a burn.

Thunder Wave and Confuse Ray are evil.

Will-o-Wisp can also pester more opponents. Toxic will wear down walls.

Pain Split will sap your opponents HP if their HP is higher than yours.

Thunderbolt and HP Fighting give more attacking options, while Shadow Ball stays as the primary attacking move.

 

[Tatile]

Thanks for the advice on Mismagius, but I think I may stick with the set I already have. It's possibly one of the worst around, considering I made it, but at the moment I just can't be bothered with it.

What I'd really like is some advice on my Magnezone and of course my Kangaskhan (above).

Magnezone
Calm Nature
- Tri Attack
- Discharge
- Thunder Wave
- Magnet Rise

The move set more than likely makes this unsalvagable, so I'll have to rebreed. So, if having a Magnezone for more than the 'dex entry isn't the stupidest thing I've done so far, could I get some help with it?

 

[Plapti]

Magnezone@ Life Orb / Leftovers / Wise Glasses
Mild
Magnet Pull

-Thunderbolt / Discharge
-Hidden Power [Ice] / [Fire] / [Grass] / Signal Beam / Flash Cannon
-Magnet Rise / Substitute / Flash Cannon
-Explosion

More or less a way to give Magnezone a way of doing as much damage as possible, with a couple of tricks before exploding its way out.

STAB Electric attacks hurt, especially off of a base 130 Special Attack.

Hidden Power gives coverage. Ice for Dragons, Fire for a stronger hit on Steel (Sometimes), Grass to hit annoying Rock / Ground types along with Swampert.

Signal Beam will hit Grass-types. Though most won't be phased by it anyways, it's an option there.

Magnet Rise to dodge the obvious Earthquake coming.

Substitute to scout and take status, but watch the health if you use the Life Orb

Flash Cannon gives a secondary source of STAB.

And as you know you're about to die, go out with a bang to hopefully cripple something and not see a Ghost-type rear its ugly head out.