Help with type synergy for this team?

Question

I am making a prototype VGC team for Showdown! testing before I take it to Battle Spot, and I am having problems with type coverage. Here is the team.

Whenever I make a team I run through their types and find shared weaknesses, then see if I have adequate coverage for those weaknesses. After putting thisteam together I found that I had more shared weaknesses than I'd like to have, but I believe I have good enough coverage to handle them.

Except two.

My team, when I look at it, has a problem dealing with Fairy- and Fighting- types. My only answer for those is Mawile's Iron Head and Play Rough, respectively. I have a few switch-ins in Zapdos and Chandelure, but nothing that can really take them down. If you can, please suggest a replacement member for one of these Pokémon (but first read the criteria below)!

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Criteria:

• Keep the amount of Legendaries as low as possible. I have nothing against using Legendary Pokémon, but I don't like having to SR for them.

• Only suggest Aegislash if there are no other options, or you have a really good argument for him. I was considering him, but I opted for Chandelure in order to hit behind Substitute.

• Be precise. Please don't just give me "Use [insert Pokémon] because he fits the role perfectly." Give me actual reasons why this Pokémon solves my problems.

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Here is a list of the other shared weaknesses, if it helps:

Rock – Zapdos, Gyarados (base)
Ice – Zapdos, Hydreigon
Ground – Mawile, Chandelure
Bug – Hydreigon, Gyarados (Mega)
Fire – Mawile, Breloom
Fairy – Breloom, Hydreigon, Gyarados (Mega)
Fighting – Gyarados (Mega), Hydreigon

Comments

Mega-Gyarados and Hydreigon's typings are shared, this might cause some problems. imo, you should replace Gyarados. idk with whom though.

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Mega gyrados is water-dark, not dragon-dark.

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Mega Gyarados: Water/Dark
Hydreigon: Dragon/Dark

It's the Dark typing that they share.

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^what Astro said (to Lucario)
Chandelure is weak to Rock too. Whereas Aegislash not only resist it, but also beats Fairies and Fighting. I'm not sure why you won't use it though. However, using it is adding a third Fire-type weakness. I'll be honest, Gyarados' presence is a hinderance for the whole team. It isn't very synergetic with the rest of your team. Rotom-Wash may do the trick; it's a tank in Doubles, can fire off powerful Water-type attacks and none of your teammate is weak to Grass-type "yet". Maybe using the Laundry machine frees off place for Aegislash to test because Rotom-Wash resists Fire just as you need it in Chandelure.
Or at best, you may try Suicune, also tanky and with Tailwind it offers speed support to Breloom and Hydreigon like Zapdos would do, but Suicune is a legendary and this itself is a hinderance for you.

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I'm willing to use Aegislash, but I wanted to give Chandy a shot first and he brought an unwelcome Fire weakness, like you said. Gyarados was really just something I slapped on (this is only a prototype), so I don't mind changing him. I'll try out Rotom-W. Any suggested nature/moveset/EVs?

Answer 1

Here are my recommendations:

→ /
Gardevoir @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Level: 50
EVs: 68 HP / 84 Def / 60 SpA / 180 SpD / 116 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Energy Ball
- Psyshock
- Hyper Voice

OR

Gardevoir @ Choice Specs
Ability: Trace
Level 50
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 52 SpA / 20 SpD / 60 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Energy Ball
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball

As said above in the comment section, Gyarados looks off on this team as Hydreigon shares a typing (and many weaknesses) with it. I decided to throw in a special attacker, which just happened to be Mega Gardevoir. It's possible for you to run a Choice Specs set as well, in which case the second set is viable.

The first set is one I crafted a while back, here are it's details: http://pastebin.com/CC6KCUvY
The second set is from AD's DD6 team, which I thought looked good here too.

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→
Heatran @ Shuca Berry
Trait: Flash Fire
Level: 50
EVs: 44 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 204 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Heat Wave
– Protect
– Earth Power
– Substitute

Yes, I am in fact aware that Heatran is a legendary Pokemon. Although you may/may not want it here, it's definitely the better alternative to Chandelure, a more Trick Room oriented Pokemon. It's sole and huge advantage here is it's ability to cover a lot more types in comparison to Chandelure, while sacrificing a little fire power.

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Hope I helped!

Comments

Thanks a mil! I'll definitely try out these suggestions, however I think I'll go Flash Cannon > Substitute to give me something else to slam Fairies with.

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Your call tbh, both looked viable to me at the beginning. But thinking that 90% of the fairies are thick on their special side (Togekiss, Sylveon, Gardevoir to name a few) I tried a safer option.

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252+ SpA Heatran Flash Cannon vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Sylveon: 120-144 (59.7 - 71.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO