DPPt/HGSS My Wi-fi Battle Team

[KoL]

This is the team I plan to use competitively on Wi-fi, tell me what you think and what improvements can be made. I haven't actually used this team in a competitive battle yet.

Garchomp @ Salac Berry
Sand Veil
Lonely

-Dragon Claw
-Earthquake
-Fire Fang
-Swords Dance

Electivire @ Muscle Band
Motor Drive
Adamant

-Thunderpunch
-Ice Punch
-Earthquake
-Brick Break

Lucario @ Life Orb
Inner Focus
Mild

-Aura Sphere
-Dragon Pulse
-Shadow Ball
-Vacuum Wave

Starmie @ Choice Specs
Natural Cure
Modest

-Surf
-Psychic
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt

Weezing @ Black Sludge
Levitate
Bold

-Sludge Bomb
-Will-O-Wisp
-Haze
-Pain Split

Regice @ Leftovers
Clear Body
Careful

-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Rest
-Thunder Wave

 

[baratron]

My head is full of 3rd Gen strategy, so I'll leave commenting on the 4th Gen Pokemon for others. The one obvious issue I can see is that your Starmie is great - Modest nature, and 4 high powered Special attacks. So why limit it with the Choice Specs? I'd choose just about any other held item over something which locks you into the same move over and over, e.g. Focus Band, Scope Lens, Wise Glasses.

The other thing is that you seem to be relying on a relatively small number of move Types. You have Dragon x 2, Ground x 2, Electric x 3, Ice x 3, Fighting x 3, then 1 x Fire, Ghost, Water, Psychic, Poison. Maybe it's not a problem as those Types cover all the options. But it just seems weird to me not to have any Flying, Grass or Dark-type moves on a team.

Does Lucario really need both Aura Sphere and Vacuum Wave (two Fighting moves)?

 

[Carmen Lopez]

For Lucario I would ditch Vacuum Wave and Shadow Ball for Psychic or Water Pulse and Dark Pulse. As Baratron said, there is no need for two fighting moves even if one hits first. It just wastes a slot that could be used for another move to offer more coverage. Psychic is there to cover the Fighting weakness and Water Pulse covers Ground and Fire types. Dark Pulse offers the same coverage as Shadow Ball but it also hits Normal types if you are in a pinch and it doesn't require a TM.

 

[KoL]

My head is full of 3rd Gen strategy, so I'll leave commenting on the 4th Gen Pokemon for others. The one obvious issue I can see is that your Starmie is great - Modest nature, and 4 high powered Special attacks. So why limit it with the Choice Specs? I'd choose just about any other held item over something which locks you into the same move over and over, e.g. Focus Band, Scope Lens, Wise Glasses.

The other thing is that you seem to be relying on a relatively small number of move Types. You have Dragon x 2, Ground x 2, Electric x 3, Ice x 3, Fighting x 3, then 1 x Fire, Ghost, Water, Psychic, Poison. Maybe it's not a problem as those Types cover all the options. But it just seems weird to me not to have any Flying, Grass or Dark-type moves on a team.

Does Lucario really need both Aura Sphere and Vacuum Wave (two Fighting moves)?

The main reason for Starmie having Choice Specs is because his Sp.Atk is kinda average for a Special Sweeper (base 100 only), and because of Electivire's Motor Drive I'll be switching it out as soon as an incoming Electric-type attack looks like it's about to come in for Electivire, which would then allow me to pick a different move to run off the Choice Specs, plus the switch-out would activate Natural Cure if Starmie got hit by a status effect. I do have some Wise Glasses though, so I'll give them a shot.

[quote author=Carmen Lopez link=topic=3945.msg51701#msg51701 date=1205106285]
For Lucario I would ditch Vacuum Wave and Shadow Ball for Psychic or Water Pulse and Dark Pulse. As Baratron said, there is no need for two fighting moves even if one hits first. It just wastes a slot that could be used for another move to offer more coverage. Psychic is there to cover the Fighting weakness and Water Pulse covers Ground and Fire types. Dark Pulse offers the same coverage as Shadow Ball but it also hits Normal types if you are in a pinch and it doesn't require a TM.
[/quote]

I wanted to use Vacuum Wave to catch out people who are faster than him (basically, any sweeper not named Snorlax, Swampert or Rhyperior - Base 90 speed isn't that great), although your idea seems a lot better, and I do still have a Water Pulse TM knocking about.

How's this for Lucario then?

Lucario @ Life Orb
Inner Focus
Mild

-Aura Sphere
-Psychic
-Dark Pulse
-Water Pulse

I have a second Lucario - physical sweeper this time - with a similar style moveset. Any ideas for this one?

Lucario @ Life Orb
Inner Focus
Naughty

-Close Combat
-Blaze Kick
-Earthquake
-Extremespeed

Thank you both for your suggestions .

 

[Wobbegong]

My only advice is that in general if you're making a single sort of sweeper (ie 4 physical attacks or 4 special attacks) use either Adamant (+atk - sp. atk) or Modest (+sp. atk -atk) natures-- even sweepers use their defense stats sometimes.

Obviously if somebody more experienced thinks this is a horrible idea please say so; I'm far from the most experienced competitive fighter, this is just an idea I had flung at me that seems to work.

 

[KoL]

Nah, it's a great idea, only problem is it takes an immensely long time to get the right natures - the only ways to do it are to either breed a ton of whatever it is you want and hope that one with a good nature turns up, or catch Dittos with the correct natures and give them Everstones so they can pass their nature onto the baby Pokemon. I chose the first one, since it took me a frustratingly long time just to find the one Ditto I have now.