XY/ORAS Singles Need help with my Team (

[iJay]

(Edited for the Rules)
Hey guys, I've just now started prepping my competitive team for the new Omega Ruby game by preparing my "Dream Team" in Pokemon X. I want to know what your thoughts are on my team and if any, give me any advice on the flaws of the team, its weaknesses, and if any, a replacement for any of the Pokemon on my team. . NOTE: Ill be adding a mega stone to one of the Pokemon on my team, do leave advice on which one to use it on.

Edited: 11/28/2014

Greninja @ Life Orb
Timid
Protean
EVs 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP

- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Grass Knot

Sableye @ Sablenite
Bold
Prankster
EVs 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD


- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Taunt
- Foul Play

Donphan @ Assault Vest
Adamant
Sturdy
EVs 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef

- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off

Metagross @ Metagrossite/Leftovers/Life Orb
Adamant
Clear Body
EVs 252 HP / 96 Atk / 160 SDef

- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Hammer Arm
- Pursuit

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Relaxed
Iron Barbs
EVs 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SDef

- Stealth Rock
- Power Whip
- Thunder Wave
- Leech Seed

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Impish
Poison Heal
EVs 244 HP / 248 Def / 16 Spe

- Toxic
- Protect
- Roost
- Earthquake

Heres the Pokemon I'm considering to add to replace any Pokemon on my current team (If there's any Pokemon you want to add that's not on the list, do so please and leave the preferred nature and ability!):
Goodra
Charizard Y (Looking for Mega Stone, can anyone offer?)
Jellicent
Ferrothorn
Scizor
Weezing
Scrafty
Probopass
Shuckle
Azumarill
Donphan
Lucario
Gourgeist
Cradily
Exploud
Aggron
Slaking
Breloom
Quagsire
Nidoking
Blissey

Thanks for reading my thread and I greatly appreciate it!

 

[Ruko]

Alrighty, one at a time here:

Greninja is solid, if standard. Spikes/Taunt are worth consideration on the set as both can get your team out of a pinch, and I don't see grass knot helping you out a whole lot since you already have powerful coverage on most of what it will hit [Swampert among other Water/Grounds are the only pokemon that come to mind as good targets]
It's worth noting that Spikes can be used to block electric attacks if predicted properly.

Sableye should probably not be mega evolving with that set, as I told you in chat. That said, I'll leave Sableye to @KoL since he's got much higher hopes for its mega evolution than I do. Either swap to a different held item, or follow KoL's mega advice.

Blaziken will do more damage with a Life Orb than it will through Mega Evolution - it just becomes more suicidal in the process. Focus Sash is also an option for helping you to set up swords dance, but I don't personally like setting up on Blaziken

And at this point I actually need to head out, but I'll post again later

Spoiler

just notes so I remember my train of thought
Baton pass and Overheat on Blaziken as options

 

[iJay]

Alrighty, one at a time here:

Greninja is solid, if standard. Spikes/Taunt are worth consideration on the set as both can get your team out of a pinch, and I don't see grass knot helping you out a whole lot since you already have powerful coverage on most of what it will hit [Swampert among other Water/Grounds are the only pokemon that come to mind as good targets]
It's worth noting that Spikes can be used to block electric attacks if predicted properly.

Sableye should probably not be mega evolving with that set, as I told you in chat. That said, I'll leave Sableye to @KoL since he's got much higher hopes for its mega evolution than I do. Either swap to a different held item, or follow KoL's mega advice.

Blaziken will do more damage with a Life Orb than it will through Mega Evolution - it just becomes more suicidal in the process. Focus Sash is also an option for helping you to set up swords dance, but I don't personally like setting up on Blaziken

And at this point I actually need to head out, but I'll post again later

Spoiler

just notes so I remember my train of thought
Baton pass and Overheat on Blaziken as options

good feedback, but i think I've decided to replace Blaziken with Donphan because of tier reasons and Steelix with a seed/stealth rock Ferrothorn.

 

[Ruko]

There's still nothing on your team to stop Charizard-Y - Stealth Rock will cripple it, but almost anyone running Charizard-Y will have a means of removing it. As it is, there's nothing to stop someone from leading with a Zard Y and sweeping a large portion of your team. I assure you, the sunlight will be more than enough to prevent Greninja from taking it out.

Each of your individual sets are good, but there's no real Synergy to your team - you have two physically bulky tanks without any real offensive power, and they're both ground type to boot so they can't really cover for one another. Then you have a physically defensive sableye that, while not weak to anything your other two are, also doesn't resist anything for them.

Unfortunately now that I'm back home, I've got a terrible headache so I'm having trouble coming up with anything truly constructive for your team, but I know your team members and/or EVs need to change again. - Make a choice between Gliscor and Donphan for sure, replace one with a suitable special wall.

 

[iJay]

There's still nothing on your team to stop Charizard-Y - Stealth Rock will cripple it, but almost anyone running Charizard-Y will have a means of removing it. As it is, there's nothing to stop someone from leading with a Zard Y and sweeping a large portion of your team. I assure you, the sunlight will be more than enough to prevent Greninja from taking it out.

Each of your individual sets are good, but there's no real Synergy to your team - you have two physically bulky tanks without any real offensive power, and they're both ground type to boot so they can't really cover for one another. Then you have a physically defensive sableye that, while not weak to anything your other two are, also doesn't resist anything for them.

Unfortunately now that I'm back home, I've got a terrible headache so I'm having trouble coming up with anything truly constructive for your team, but I know your team members and/or EVs need to change again. - Make a choice between Gliscor and Donphan for sure, replace one with a suitable special wall.

For a fact im keeping Gliscor, who do you have in mind for special wall?

If anything would you recommend adding Charizard Y to the team?

 

[KoL]

Please don't double-post iJay, I've merged your two posts together for you here. Use the edit button from now on for adding extra to posts.

Just to avoid overloading this thread with info I'm only going to comment on Mega Sableye:

Sableye @ Sablenite
Bold
252 HP/252 Def (Placeholder)
Prankster

- Dark Pulse
- Will-O-Wisp
- Calm Mind
- Recover

Reuniclus in its prime was one of the strongest Calm Mind users in the game due to Magic Guard preventing residual damage from most notably Toxic; Mega Sableye goes one further by outright reflecting status moves back at opponents. Combine with Will-O-Wisp to stop physical attackers having their way while you boost your Sp.Def and a STAB that nothing is immune to and with the right support Mega Sableye can be immensely hard to stop once it has set up. Also of note is Sableye having access to Prankster Will-O-Wisp prior to Mega Evolving, so Sableye can fake a regular Prankster set initially before revealing its true nature.

For Mega Sableye specifically this is the kind of set you should be going for, as its stats and ability radically change how it functions compared to its normal form despite some crossover moves remaining.

 

[Ruko]

For a fact im keeping Gliscor, who do you have in mind for special wall?
If anything would you recommend adding Charizard Y to the team?

In its current state, no I wouldn't recommend adding Charizard Y to the team, you've still got two megas on the team you can't decide between. If you take KoL's advice and retain Mega Sableye, I'd use Latias for a special wall because it can fulfill the role donphan is leaving open

Latias learns Defog which can be used to remove hazards from the field. Latias can also provide Dual Screens support, or bulky offense in addition to hazard removal much like Donphan did. Latias also gives you reasonable coverage against Charizard-Y, although a few Charizards will carry Dragon Pulse instead of flying STAB

Next to Latias comes Blissey/Chansey. These two can't remove hazards, but there are few pokemon that can take a special hit like they can. Chansey takes hits much better, but loses out on leftovers recovery. Blissey can take special hits just as well as Chansey can, once leftovers are factored in, but is more susceptible to physical attacks specifically. Both can heal status problems for the team.

 

[iJay]

Please don't double-post iJay, I've merged your two posts together for you here. Use the edit button from now on for adding extra to posts.

Just to avoid overloading this thread with info I'm only going to comment on Mega Sableye:

Sableye @ Sablenite
Bold
252 HP/252 Def (Placeholder)
Prankster

- Dark Pulse
- Will-O-Wisp
- Calm Mind
- Recover

Reuniclus in its prime was one of the strongest Calm Mind users in the game due to Magic Guard preventing residual damage from most notably Toxic; Mega Sableye goes one further by outright reflecting status moves back at opponents. Combine with Will-O-Wisp to stop physical attackers having their way while you boost your Sp.Def and a STAB that nothing is immune to and with the right support Mega Sableye can be immensely hard to stop once it has set up. Also of note is Sableye having access to Prankster Will-O-Wisp prior to Mega Evolving, so Sableye can fake a regular Prankster set initially before revealing its true nature.

For Mega Sableye specifically this is the kind of set you should be going for, as its stats and ability radically change how it functions compared to its normal form despite some crossover moves remaining.

In its current state, no I wouldn't recommend adding Charizard Y to the team, you've still got two megas on the team you can't decide between. If you take KoL's advice and retain Mega Sableye, I'd use Latias for a special wall because it can fulfill the role donphan is leaving open

Latias learns Defog which can be used to remove hazards from the field. Latias can also provide Dual Screens support, or bulky offense in addition to hazard removal much like Donphan did. Latias also gives you reasonable coverage against Charizard-Y, although a few Charizards will carry Dragon Pulse instead of flying STAB

Next to Latias comes Blissey/Chansey. These two can't remove hazards, but there are few pokemon that can take a special hit like they can. Chansey takes hits much better, but loses out on leftovers recovery. Blissey can take special hits just as well as Chansey can, once leftovers are factored in, but is more susceptible to physical attacks specifically. Both can heal status problems for the team.

@KoL I like your reasoning for Mega Sableye, so is it possible to revolve a team around Sableye? and in your opinion what should the place holder EV be?

@Ruko Interesting, so for having a good Special def wall is Latias? what about Latios? and how does one acquire Latias? In addition, The Lat pokemon is mainly used for walling instead of potentially sweeping correct

 

[Ruko]

Both Latis can play any mix of defense and offense, but Latias has better defensive stats, and Latios is stronger on offense. Either one can learn Defog to remove hazards that may be causing you troubles - I just suggested Latias for the extra bulk I think your team needs.
As far as obtaining them goes - if you don't own a chain of games leading back to gen III, your only way of obtaining a Lati with Defog is trading with another player who already has it. Defog has been unlearnable by most pokemon since the Diamond/Pearl age.

I can also answer for KoL - Yes you can revolve a team around Mega Sableye: Its biggest potential problems are powerful fire types [especially physical] and anything carrying fairy-typed coverage, so you'll want to take those out. Placeholder EVs have very little impact unless placed in speed... and Sableye is so slow it really doesn't matter - one extra point in Sp. Attack or Sp. Defense would suit it best.

 

[iJay]

Both Latis can play any mix of defense and offense, but Latias has better defensive stats, and Latios is stronger on offense. Either one can learn Defog to remove hazards that may be causing you troubles - I just suggested Latias for the extra bulk I think your team needs.
As far as obtaining them goes - if you don't own a chain of games leading back to gen III, your only way of obtaining a Lati with Defog is trading with another player who already has it. Defog has been unlearnable by most pokemon since the Diamond/Pearl age.

I can also answer for KoL - Yes you can revolve a team around Mega Sableye: Its biggest potential problems are powerful fire types [especially physical] and anything carrying fairy-typed coverage, so you'll want to take those out. Placeholder EVs have very little impact unless placed in speed... and Sableye is so slow it really doesn't matter - one extra point in Sp. Attack or Sp. Defense would suit it best.

Who would you recommend on the Sableye team? Anyone on my current team i should keep?

 

[Ruko]

Who would you recommend on the Sableye team? Anyone on my current team i should keep?

At this point in the thread, I'd rather tell you to try some of your own ideas - You're new to it, and you're sure to fall on your face from time to time, but just learn to adapt and formulate your own ideas from there. I've told you what Sableye is weak to, so set Sableye at your core and find two pokemon that help with its biggest problems.

No, really, do that. Then continue reading this post.

...

Now that you have a solid team core to work with, gloss over them and see what sort of weaknesses they might have in common. Are they -

• All really slow? Find a really fast pokemon you like, or something with powerful priority.
  
• Particularly weak to entry hazards? Get something with rapid spin/Defog.
  
• Capable of dealing with various top threats? [You'll learn these through experience]

And then you build outward from there. You can use THIS site to test out your teams before you go through the work of actually breeding or otherwise obtaining the necessary pokemon in your game itself.

If you're having difficulty coming up with sets and ideas for specific pokemon yourself, or you find it too difficult to answer the questions above, just pick some favorites and run with it. Battle ten or so times, find out you're losing to a specific pokemon or strategy and adapt your team or playstyle to match.

I'm always willing to battle if I'm at the computer, though I tend to be an incredibly frustrating person to face