So I want to stomp through the Battle Tower 2v2 without the handicap of having the AI on my side. (I might also be bitter that I have to choose my team/order before I know what my partner options are, leading to nonsense like my Weavile leading next to the NPC's Dragonite instead of my Flygon....) Point is, I'm trying to make up an excuse to fit a few things I'm curious to try that won't be stepping all over each others' toes every match.
Ninjask @Focus Sash
[Speed Boost]
Jolly; 252 Attack, 176 HP, 80 Speed
-Baton Pass
-Swords Dance
-Substitute
-X-Scissor
Lead #1! Very simple: grab as many speed boosts as possible, with some Sword Dances thrown in to beef up what he'll be passing to, then GTFO. Bonus X-Scissor to help remove troublesome psychics I might not be able to obliterate otherwise (think: Alakazam). Not exactly horribly exciting on its own, but if it can pull off some setup, it gets some credit for the incoming destruction.
Clefable @Leftovers/Flame Orb?
[Magic Guard]
Calm; 252 HP, 252 Sp. Def, 4 Speed
-Wish
-Follow Me
-Flamethrower
-Ice Beam
So many things you can do with this particular pile of pink...! I decided to aim for more of a team player: Wish for healing, Follow Me to help teammates pull off more delicate maneuvers (see: Swords Dance), and then some coverage to help tear down whatever will be standing between the sweepers and glorious victory.
Breloom @Toxic Orb
[Poison Heal]
Adamant; 252 Atk/Speed;
-Spore
-Seed Bomb
-Superpower
-Facade
Oh hey look... terrifyingly accurate sleep-inducer with ok coverage, strong damage output, and really only hampered by it's mediocre speed and defenses? Well, let's fix one of those. Ninjask's recipient-- at worst I probably got a few speed boosts off, at best I might've snuck in a Swords Dance too, potentially resulting in a blisteringly fast Breloom who is hitting everything without resists for damage normal people quantify as "ridiculous." Toxic Orb + Poison Heal kicks in at the end of the turn it got Baton Passed in, so it's healing. Protected from less coveted statuses, too (paralyze ick). Facade abuses Toxic Orb as well for a strong attack not resisted by too many things, offering a very solid option for whatever I can't get an easy weakness on. Grass and Fighting aren't the best coverage, of course, even with a normal attack to top them off, and it's balls against anything with a crazy defense stat, which brings us to....
Gengar @Black Sludge
[Levitate]
Timid; 252 Sp. Atk/Speed; 4 HP
-Shadow Ball
-Thunderbolt
-Psychic/Dream Eater
-Substitute
Does a pretty decent job of shoring up Breloom's weaknesses, not to mention (since it ideally switches in after Clefable) gives me an opportunity to play bait-the-fighting-move. Probably about as simple a strategy as you can run, otherwise: pick the weakest/least-likely-to-be-steamrolled-by-Breloom-before-it-attacks enemy, pick the most effective move, fire ze missiles. Dream Eater's healing and slight increase in power is useful, but relies on Breloom spending a turn to incapacitate the target instead of just ramming full-tilt into something to make it go away, which isn't always a good trade-off.
Essentially, how I hope it goes down is Clefable and Ninjask trade off Substitute-Follow Mes and Swords Dance-Wishes, they level the easy pickings, Ninjask poofs first and hands the reins to Breloom while Clefable hogs the attention, then if possible Clef Wishes one more time and sends in Gengar, who comes in to the battlefield to find one foe snoozing away. Hazing runs the risk of wrecking me, Double Team abuse too, my greatest OHKO-block is Gengar of all things (and I wasn't aware this was even an issue until I ate my first Guillotine since original Red and Blue today, bwaugh) but directly walling me should be reasonably difficult, entry hazards aren't a huge deal, and I have some resistance to status moves. I also dare the enemy to Trick my sweepers.
Good strategy? Bad strategy? Any obvious tweaks that need to be made?
Ninjask @Focus Sash
[Speed Boost]
Jolly; 252 Attack, 176 HP, 80 Speed
-Baton Pass
-Swords Dance
-Substitute
-X-Scissor
Lead #1! Very simple: grab as many speed boosts as possible, with some Sword Dances thrown in to beef up what he'll be passing to, then GTFO. Bonus X-Scissor to help remove troublesome psychics I might not be able to obliterate otherwise (think: Alakazam). Not exactly horribly exciting on its own, but if it can pull off some setup, it gets some credit for the incoming destruction.
Clefable @Leftovers/Flame Orb?
[Magic Guard]
Calm; 252 HP, 252 Sp. Def, 4 Speed
-Wish
-Follow Me
-Flamethrower
-Ice Beam
So many things you can do with this particular pile of pink...! I decided to aim for more of a team player: Wish for healing, Follow Me to help teammates pull off more delicate maneuvers (see: Swords Dance), and then some coverage to help tear down whatever will be standing between the sweepers and glorious victory.
Breloom @Toxic Orb
[Poison Heal]
Adamant; 252 Atk/Speed;
-Spore
-Seed Bomb
-Superpower
-Facade
Oh hey look... terrifyingly accurate sleep-inducer with ok coverage, strong damage output, and really only hampered by it's mediocre speed and defenses? Well, let's fix one of those. Ninjask's recipient-- at worst I probably got a few speed boosts off, at best I might've snuck in a Swords Dance too, potentially resulting in a blisteringly fast Breloom who is hitting everything without resists for damage normal people quantify as "ridiculous." Toxic Orb + Poison Heal kicks in at the end of the turn it got Baton Passed in, so it's healing. Protected from less coveted statuses, too (paralyze ick). Facade abuses Toxic Orb as well for a strong attack not resisted by too many things, offering a very solid option for whatever I can't get an easy weakness on. Grass and Fighting aren't the best coverage, of course, even with a normal attack to top them off, and it's balls against anything with a crazy defense stat, which brings us to....
Gengar @Black Sludge
[Levitate]
Timid; 252 Sp. Atk/Speed; 4 HP
-Shadow Ball
-Thunderbolt
-Psychic/Dream Eater
-Substitute
Does a pretty decent job of shoring up Breloom's weaknesses, not to mention (since it ideally switches in after Clefable) gives me an opportunity to play bait-the-fighting-move. Probably about as simple a strategy as you can run, otherwise: pick the weakest/least-likely-to-be-steamrolled-by-Breloom-before-it-attacks enemy, pick the most effective move, fire ze missiles. Dream Eater's healing and slight increase in power is useful, but relies on Breloom spending a turn to incapacitate the target instead of just ramming full-tilt into something to make it go away, which isn't always a good trade-off.
Essentially, how I hope it goes down is Clefable and Ninjask trade off Substitute-Follow Mes and Swords Dance-Wishes, they level the easy pickings, Ninjask poofs first and hands the reins to Breloom while Clefable hogs the attention, then if possible Clef Wishes one more time and sends in Gengar, who comes in to the battlefield to find one foe snoozing away. Hazing runs the risk of wrecking me, Double Team abuse too, my greatest OHKO-block is Gengar of all things (and I wasn't aware this was even an issue until I ate my first Guillotine since original Red and Blue today, bwaugh) but directly walling me should be reasonably difficult, entry hazards aren't a huge deal, and I have some resistance to status moves. I also dare the enemy to Trick my sweepers.
Good strategy? Bad strategy? Any obvious tweaks that need to be made?