What is a good in-game team for HeartGold and SoulSilver?

Question

Share your best in-game teams for Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver on this thread! Teams should be aimed toward making casual runs of the game efficient, enjoyable and hassle-free.

Please follow these guidelines regarding detail in your post:

1. For every Pokemon on the team, give recommended moves for use throughout the playthrough. Ideally, comment on more than just the four moves you'll finish with post-game.
2. You can include items, abilities, etc. but they are not necessary.
3. Provide explanation and detail. Justify your Pokemon and moveset choices; possible discussion points include ease-of-use, team synergy, and coverage for key battles.

Please also follow these guidelines regarding the contents of your team:

1. If you recommend a Pokemon that is restricted by version exclusivity, trade evolution or events, please mention alternatives for people who cannot get the Pokemon. Do the same if you recommend moves, etc. that are only available by breeding or grinding.
2. There are some unspoken rules of in-game teams, such as to keep the starter on the team and avoid legendaries. It's kind to give other options if you break these rules.
3. Do not recommend Pokemon, moves, etc. that are only available through glitches and cheats. Please also avoid Pokemon etc. that are only available through trade or transfer.
4. Original content only. You may use ideas you found elsewhere, but do not steal written content.

Submit your team as an answer, not a comment. To keep things tidy, we will remove any teams posted as comments in this thread. If you want to update your post, use the 'edit' button.

Please be sparing with images and formatting.

Answer 1

My team for battling Red:

Typhlosion:
Eruption
Thunder punch
Dig
Lava plume

Very consistent and reliable always. Eruption for a powerful fire type move that deals a lot of damage, thunder punch for water types, dig for coverage and lava plume when the users hp gets under half.

Ampharos:
Thunderbolt
Magnet rise
Signal beam
Light screen

An amazing attacker who was consistent and powerful. Along with steelix, it was my other ace. Thunderbolt is the strongest electric type move in my opinion, magnet rise to get rid of the ground weakness, signal beam for psychic coverage and light screen to increase special defense.

Heracross:
Close combat
Megahorn
Night slash
Rock slide

Consistent and reliable. It made my life a lot easier when fighting Whitney and suprisenly against Morty, I completely swept him with aerial ace like it was nothing. Close combat for a powerful fighting type move, megahorn for the strongest bug type move, night slash also for psychic types and rock slide for flying type coverage.

Crobat:
Fly
Cross poison
Steel wing
U-turn

Probably my weakest member of my team but was very reliable when I needed it. Fly to get around, cross poison for a strong poison type move, steel wing for move coverage and u-turn for psychic types and for a free switch out.

Gyarados:
Aqua tail
Ice fang
Dragon dance
Dragon breath

As soon as you get it at the lake of rage, it pays dividence right away. Consistent and always reliable. Aqua tail is a reliable water move that Gyarados benefits from with it's high attack, ice fang for dragon coverage, dragon dance to boost stats and dragon breath for more dragon coverage.

Steelix:
Earthquake
Iron tail
Stone edge
Aqua tail

I can’t praise steelix enough in heartgold. This thing won me so many battles and came in clutch battle after battle and countered everything. While onix isn’t very good, steelix makes up for it once you can get it if you can make the trade. I remember fighting lance and because his dragonite had an electric type move, I couldn’t use gyarados so I used steelix. It hit 2 critical hits on both of them and easily knocked them out. When I battled Sabrina I didn’t have megahorn so steelix was my next best option and it crushed Sabrina handily. Easily one of my favorites and one of my most surprising aces I’ve ever had. Earthquake is a powerful ground type move, iron tail for a strong steel type move and stone edge and aqua tail for coverage.

If you can't trade to get Steelix (if you can, I'd recomand Steelix over Rhydon)

Rhydon
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Megahorn
Surf

Even though you can't fully evolve Rhydon into Rhyperior, Rhydon still does very good. Earthquake for a strong ground move, stone edge for a powerful rock type move, megahorn for psychic types and surf to get around on and coverage.

Comments

You can evolve rhydon by giving it a protector (in mt.ember i'm pretty sure) and trading it.

---

This is under the assumption the person can't trade. If they can, I'd suggest using Steelix instead because of how dominant it is instead of Rhyperior. If the person can't trade, I'd just suggest using Rhydon instead since it's basically Rhyperior but with a few less stats.

Answer 2

This was the team that did quite a good job at carrying me.

Typhlosion= Flamethrower, fire blast, giga impact. the hardest hitter out of the starters and my personal fav. Does well against Bugsy, Jasmine, Pryce, and Koga's bug\poison types.

Ampharos= Thunder, discharge, iron tail, hyper beam. all around very good electric type with a pretty vast moove pool. Sweeps Falkner, does quite well with Clair's water\dragon types, and destroys Lance's Gyrados.

Espeon= psybeam, psychic, quick attack, swift. good option if you want to friendship evolve an Eevee. only issue is that it takes a while for it to learn a psychic move. Once it learns bite, it will hurt Morty and his entire team, goes well against Chuck's brute force, and does a number on Koga's whole team.

Yanmega= u-turn, ancient power, solar beam, air slash. Yanma can be obtained very early and when it evolves it is a strong Pokémon .

Poliwrath= blizzard, surf, focus blast, waterfall. Poliwrath as a good surfer and has some petty good ice moves for Lance's elite Dragons, and hits Karen with her dark types.

Ambipom= strength, earthquake , iron tail, brick break. Vast move set . Could be useful depending on the moves you give it, with earthquake it could destroy red's Pikachu and if you give it a fighting move it could do damage to his Snorlax, also with grass knot.

Answer 3

This is the team I used in SoulSilver and it worked pretty well for me. I don't think any of these are version exclusives, so it should work for HeartGold as well.

Feraligatr @Muscle Band
Ability: Torrent
Moves:
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Ice Fang/Ice Punch
- Earthquake
Location: Elm's Lab (starter)

Your starter. Waterfall is a great physical STAB, and the only one Feraligatr can get pre-league. Bite destroys Morty's team, and Crunch is even stronger, plus the defense drop is nice. Earthquake covers electric and is just a great move all around. Ice Fang/Punch is coverage for grass and wrecks Lance's Dragonites, but you can't get Ice Punch until the battle frontier, so Ice Fang is probably the better option for a playthrough. The Muscle Band helps its strong physical attacks.

Ampharos @Magnet
Ability: Static
Moves:
- Thundershock -> Discharge/Thunderbolt
- Signal Beam
- Power Gem
- Thunder Wave
Location: Route 32

A really strong Pokemon that you can get before the 1st gym, plus one of your only options for electric-types in the game. Mareep is really nice to have against Falkner, plus static has saved me more times than I can count. Thunderbolt is for STAB/Discharge if you don't want to use the TM. Signal Beam is good against bulky grass types, especially Will's Exeggutor. Power Gem is just for additional coverage, and Thunder Wave is good for guaranteeing paralysis without relying on Static. The Magnet boosts its already strong electric attacks.

Nidoking @Poison Barb
Ability: Poison Point
- Earth Power
- Sludge Bomb/Poison Jab
- Megahorn
- Surf
Location: Route 35

A great Pokemon that you can get pretty early in the game. Its a mixed attacker with a good speed stat. Earth Power is STAB. Megahorn is coverage against Psychic. Sludge Bomb is STAB, and although Poison Jab is physical and through level up, I don't feel like being stuck with Nidorino until level 43 to get it. Surf is coverage against ground and then it doesn't have to be taking up a move slot on Feraligatr. Have your mom save money at the start of the game, and she'll buy you a moon stone to evolve your Nidorino around the time you get to Olivine City.

Machamp @Black Belt
Ability: Guts
Moves:
- Revenge/Low Kick
- Cross Chop
- Rock Climb
- Rock Slide/Stone Edge
Location: Goldenrod Department Store (trade)

For those who constantly complain about Whitney and her Miltank, this is my solution! A great physical attacker that you can get right before fighting the pink demon herself, Machamp should be one of the top contenders for a spot on any Johto playthrough team. Cross Chop is strong STAB coverage. Revenge and Low Kick can be very useful in some scenarios. Revenge is great against Pokemon that outspeed Machamp (which is most Pokemon) and Low Kick is great for big and bulky Pokemon such as Jasmine's Steelix and Red's Snorlax. Rock Climb is for traversing late-game caves and Rock Slide/Stone Edge is coverage for flying and bug. Even if you can't get someone to trade with to evolve Machoke, it's still a very strong Pokemon. I didn't evolve my Machoke until after beating Red, and it still pulled its weight and more.

Togekiss @King's Rock
Ability: Serene Grace
Moves:
- Fly
- Air Slash
- Aura Sphere
- Extrasensory/Psychic
Location: Egg from Elm's Assistant after beating Falkner

The infamous Serene Grace paraflinch Togekiss in all its glory. You had better pray to Arceus that the gift Togepi doesn't hatch with Hustle. Fly is for traversing Johto, Aura Sphere is coverage for Rock, and Air Slash and Extrasensory are used for flinching the living daylights out of your opponents. The Togepi should hatch with Extrasensory. Unfortunately, you can't get a shiny stone until post-league as a first place prize from the bug-catching contest, and Togetic is a very lackluster Pokemon to be stuck with, so I used a Noctowl with Air Slash/Extrasensory/Hypnosis/Fly until you beat the league. If you put the Togepi in the day-care as soon as you can, it should stay at a good level with the rest of your team until you get the stone to evolve it.

Houndoom @Expert Belt
Ability: Flash Fire
Moves:
- Dark Pulse/Crunch
- Flamethrower
- Sunny Day
- Solar Beam
Location: Safari Zone

A strong and fast glass cannon to support the rest of your team. Dark Pulse and Crunch are STAB, and although Houndoom has a slightly stronger special attack, I prefer to use Crunch for things like Alakazam or Gengar, with low physical defense. Flamethrower is STAB. Sunny Day is great for boosting Flamethrower and getting the 1-turn Solar Beam to cover Rock, Ground, and Water. Sunny Day is also crucial for getting rid of the hail during the fight with Red. You can't get Houndoom until post-league, so I used Furret until then.

Furret @No Item
Ability: Run Away
Moves:
- Cut
- Whirlpool
- Rock Smash
- Strength
Location: Route 1

HM slave. Use until you can get Houndoom.

I won't pretend that this team is perfect, or that there isn't any better options, but it got me through the game with pretty much no trouble at all. I think Bugsy was the hardest battle. As a tip, when you get to the tutor in Ilex Forest who teaches you Headbutt, give it to any Pokemon that still have moves like tackle or pound. It's a pretty strong move for early game, plus it can flinch.

Comments

I recently used a very, very similar team in HG/SS that I was planning to post here... wow. I might still put it here. In case I don't, these are the most relevant differences:
* Headbutt via Ilex Forest is great for Croconaw and Nidorino early-game. It's stronger than their other moves for a reasonable period of time and creates paraflinch.
* TMs from Goldenrod City. I used Thunder on Ampharos and Blizzard on Nidoking for the whole playthrough and found both very useful. Also, Choice Specs for Ampharos.
* I think No Guard Machamp (from Mt. Mortar) is better in the long run. Whitney is very doable with paraflinch and Double Kick, and the perfect accuracy on Cross Chop and Submission saves a lot of hassle.
* I had two HM users instead of Houndoom and Togekiss. I think Nidoking matches strongly enough against the Kanto leaders that you don't need another Pokemon.

---

@Fizz yeah I stacked headbutt on everything that I could. Also I would have preferred Machamp to have No Guard so I could use DynamicPunch, but I was using the trade Machop because the boosted exp is extremely nice to have for a playthrough, especially in Johto with the weird level curve. I also didn't want to get involved much with Mt. Mortar because I always get super lost there... I don't think I even went inside until I beat the league

---

I dont seem the point of using Noctowl until you are able to get Togekiss, you might as well just use Fearow as its high atk stat and insane speed stat makes it viable enough and you can get a gift spearow at the exit of Goldenrod City from a guard at lv. 20. As for Houndoom, I would just use Magmar as its special atk stat is really solid with its atk stat still being decent enough to use psychical moves and its incredibly fast as well, you get it pior to facing the 4th gym were it will have a dark type move right away when you catch it. Hopefully, this helps :)

---

Heracross is a better alternative for players who don't trade, mostly because of its high physical attack. Togekiss is worse than Tauros because it comes at a low level and has low attack stats. Houndoom arrives late and at a low level. Take Houndoom off the team so you can keep your HM slave, and the other Pokemon can gain more experience.

---

P.S You can evolve Magmar in the Kanto-Post game after you get Rock Climb once you give it the Magnemizer then trade it to get Magmortar, although its a tedious process its worth it as Magmortar is a great special attacker with a wide movepool access to Thunderbolt, Psychic and Focus Blast which makes it useful even against Red.

---

@Tops123 yeah I realized a bit into the playthrough that noctowl kinda sucks... I really only used it because I liked it and suggested it as a pre-togekiss mon because it has a similar moveset and usage, though much weaker. Using Magmortar instead of Houndoom is also a good idea, Houndoom was a pokemon I decided on mid-playthough purely because it had the best STAB typing to support the rest of my team that I could think of.

---

its a good team, just replace Togekiss with Fearow and Houndoom with Magmar/Magmortar

Answer 4

Typhlosion, Ampharos, Crobat, Lapras, Machamp, Alakazam
In most pkmn games there isn't a correct answer to "the best in game team" however some of the earlier games are limited on the Pokemon available so realistically there is a best team available. My team will consider the best Pokemon for the toughest gyms (Whitney, Morty, and Claire) and the best Pokemon for the elite 4 and champion. If you think another Pokemon should be considered amongst the Pokemon I list, your opinion is wrong. Yes it is that simple. I will provide alteratives if you can't trade or don't want to use the trade glitch.

The clear and obvious choice for starter is Typhlosion. Meganium sucks, and Lapras and Gyarados are clear cut better than Feraligatr.
1. Typhlosion (no debate)

Pidgeotto and scyther are the two toughest Pokemon you will meet at the beginning of the game. You could temporarily do the in game trade for onix too, but Ampharos is nearly essential for any team. It is available early, super easy to level up, hits hard, and has a great move pool. The only other electric option is jolteon, who doesn't hit as hard, gets worse moves, and is a pain to evolve. Yes its faster, but that isn't relevant in the big battles that Ampharos is useful.
2. Ampharos

Crobat over Fearow is probably the most controversial pick here. Fearow levels up faster because its an in game trade, you can get it earlier, and it learns the best one turn flying typ move. In every other way Crobat is better. Crobat has the same base attack, but has wayyyyy more speed and surprisingly great defenses. Much less frail than Fearow. Fly hits as hard as drill peck, since it is in game nobody should care about two turn moves. Poison typing is useful defensively and doesn't hinder it too much with its speed. You need a flyer.
3. Crobat

My god Lance is a complete cakewalk if you take the time to get lapras. Adjust your game to the right time and you can have ice beam ice type lapras by the fifth gym. Lance is crippled by ice types and the strongest ice type user is available. What are you doing if you dont take lapras. Enjoy one shotting all three dragonites.
4. Lapras.

Machamp vs. Heracross is a debate. These are the two best fighting types, if you can't trade take heracross. However, Machamp is pretty clear cut better. You need to understand that the bug type absolutely sucks in this game. It adds a ton of weaknesses and it offers little offensively. Fast psychic types knock heracross out before he can get megahorn off. (the only good bug move) Since it is ingame we won't consider heracross's hidden ability, but we will consider machamps regular ability. Dynamic Punch/cross chop with no guard is a hack. No guard allows all of Machamps attacks to hit, meanwhile dynamic punch and cross guard both have 100 power. Machamp has better defenses than heracross, a higher attack, access to the elemental punches, a better move pool, evolves faster (in game trade), and has better typing.
5. Machamp.

What if I told you that you could have a 135 sp attack, 120 speed Alakazam before the third gym? Well you can! Thanks to the trade glitch Alakazam will blitz Whitney, Outspeed and be super effective against Morty's ghost poison types, and destroy the following fighting gym. Alakazam is OP and essential to all early generation teams. If you aren't trading for whatever reason and want to fill this last slot I would consider adding gyarados. Gyarados is attainable by the third gym. The brute strength and great typing early will be very useful. Don't be afraid to have a second water type as there are three water HMs.
6. Alakazam

There is the correct best ingame team! If you think one of the following Pokemon belong over one of the Pokemon I listed, you should replay the game or check the stats. Pidgeot, Nidoking, ninetales/arcanine, any grass type, slowbro/slowking, electabuzz or magmar, Vaporeon, Flareon, Noctowl, LANTURN SUCKS, xatu, sudowoodo, Espeon, Pinsir, Mamoswine, or Jynx. All of these Pokemon can be replaced by more practical or better in game Pokemon. These are not bad Pokemon, but there are better options. This list includes Pokemon other people tell you to use that you shouldn't in this game. For example, Arcanine is the best fire type in the game, but by the time it is available we don't need fire type Pokemon for any of the tough battles left.
Movesets aren’t that important just use common sense.
Crobat tears apart Morty and the Psychic type gym. Having a separate flyer is annoying. Gyarados is acceptable to use, but Lapras is better in every way. Ice type is so important to have for lance. Gyarados two shots the dragonits, Lapras one shots. Lapras has a better in game moveset too.

Comments

Could you provide recommended moves for each Pokemon?

---

Why do you use Crobat and Lapras over Gyarados? You can just use a HM slave Farfetch'd as your flyer.

---

Moves are required by this thread's OP. The people reading your answers might not have spent much time playing or analyzing the game and thus don't have the "common sense" that you have.

People use HM slaves because they're usually a more efficient use of experience. If you have enough experience to raise 6 Pokemon to level 40, the same experience can raise 4 Pokemon to level 45, 2 Pokemon to level 57, or 1 Pokemon to level 72. Your team would be more powerful if you let fewer Pokemon gain experience.

It takes only a few minutes to find a level 50 wild Magikarp after you defeat Morty, which is 30 levels higher than the wild Larpas you get at the exact same point in the game. This lets Gyarados easily solo the last 4 gyms, while Lapras struggles against Chuck and Clair. Against Lance, Gyarados can use dragon dance to outspeed and OHKO Lance's entire team.
+3 Lvl 57 100 Atk Gyarados Strength vs. Lvl 46 0 HP / 0 Def Gyarados: 153-181 (97.4 - 115.2%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
+3 Lvl 57 100 Atk Gyarados Ice Fang vs. Lvl 50 0 HP / 0 Def Dragonite: 396-468 (238.5 - 281.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Lapras can't solo Lance (unless you use a lot of potions, revives, or X items) because it's slow.
Lvl 48 0 Atk Aerodactyl Rock Slide vs. Lvl 43 80 HP / 80 Def Lapras: 110-132 (61.1 - 73.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Lvl 50 0 Atk Dragonite Outrage vs. Lvl 43 80 HP / 80 Def Lapras: 118-139 (65.5 - 77.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Also you should post a comment when replying to other people's comments.

---

"Most People" don't know to use a hm slave and you go on witha paragraph about gyarados when I clearly state that gyarados is a great pokemon to have on the team. Your numbers that you calculated are really cute. I love how you had to use a level 57 gyarados compared to a level 48 lapras to get the answer you wanted. It is okay to be wrong dude. Your calculations also assume that every dragonite knows outrage and it assumes that dragonite will only use outrage. You also assume you will not get one shotted by a dragonite thunder. You also assume the player will not heal its pokemon. This logic makes no sense. Also who is pulling up to the champion with a level 57 gyarados? At best you are using pokemon level 42-46 maybe with an outlier at 48 which is why it is so important to have that ice type stab boost. "It only takes a few moments to find a level 50 wild magikarp????? Before the championa nd before you have beaten the game? TF game are you playing thats false.
I was using the mobile version when I first commented. I will now save you some time and properly do your calculations.
Without giving lapras + anything and with an even level 50 the following calculations are true
Ice beam will do 105.57% - 124.46% on dragonite guarenteeing a 100% knockout. This is important because you assume ice fang is 100% accurate which it is not.
Outrage will do between 50.12% and 59.1% damage. If the player simply heals the dragonite will be confused in two or three turns.
Unfortunately outrage will do between (61.03% to 71.90%) damage against gyarados. This is because gyarados lacks the defensive ice typing.
Gyarados also lacks the stab ice moves to one hit ko dragonite, lapras on the other hand will 100% of the time knock out an even leveled dragonite with 100% accurate ice beam.
Ice fang from gyarados on dragonite at equal level does between 74.61% and 87.93% meaning it will not knock out dragonite in one hit.
Because you put gyarados at level 57 and lapras at 48 you got the answers you wanted. You cannot find a wild pokemon at the same level as the champions ace in any game. That would make no sense. (before you beat the champion obviously) If you come into the battle with level 46 pokemon like 99.99% of players a level 50 dragonite will outspeed gyarados and lapras. I will now show what happens when gyarados is hit with a worst casenario thunder because you chose to show what happens if dragonite chooses its best move against lapras.
Thunder will do between 96.37% and 113.6% damage meaning a one hit knockout is likely. Especially if your gyarados is a lower level that lances dragonite which for most players it will be.
I do not recommend using lapras against aerodactyl for obvious reasons. Again you assume lapras gets hit with the worst possible move. However, a lapras with thunder, surf, and icebeam will single handedly defeat lances team if the player heals lapras after the one dragonite with outrage uses outrage. Your 2 hit kockout number you calculated for dragonite and aerodactyl are really funny bacuase you know that at the same level lapras will kockout both in one hit with icebeam. You had to put gyarados SEVEN LEVELS HIGHER THAN THE CHAMPIONS BEST to get the numbers you wanted.
If you want to use gyarados instead of crobat do it, but don't act like gyarados at the same level as lapras is better against the champion. It obviously is not. Lapras can one hit knockout every single one of lances pokemon at level 50 (his gyarados is less than level 50). Gyarados at level 50 will not one hit knockout any of his dragonites, ice beam alone is guarenteed to one hit knockout four of lance's pokemon. None of Lance's pokemon can one hit a level 50 lapras. A level 50 gyarados can be one hit knocked out. You have no case if you compare an even leveled lapras and gyarados. I would now like to know where a level 50 magikarp is available (It has to be available before you beat lance the first time) You say well just use dragon dance three times and you can get lance's team. WIth lapras you need no status boosting moves an even leveled lapras will one hit knockout 4 of his pokemon with icebeam no matter what. Using your logic I could say okay well my lapras knows hail and blizzard. Now it is no contest. Hail blizzard lapras destroys 4 of lances pokemon with stab and 100% accuracy at a power nearly twice that of ice fang. Go ahead and run the numbers of a blizzard on these pokemon. I won't bother.

---

@Rocketfox you can indeed get a Level 50 Magikarp by having a Level 26 - 50 Pokemon in the first slot of your party, and using a Repel while surfing on Route 43. This forces the encounter to be a Level 50 Magikarp, as it's the only possible spawn under those criteria. https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Johto_Route_43#Generation_IV

You still need to include movesets for this answer. Arguments in Lapras' favour and "common sense" are all well and good, but this is currently not an acceptable answer for the thread. The time it took you to write the comment above could have been used to finish movesets (and their explanations) instead.

---

here are some moves you can use. Adjust it if you want, use an hm slave if you want to run to the pokemon center everytime you have to fly or use strength (which is a lot) I am including moves available at level 48 or less because lets be honest nobody uses pokemon at a higher level than the champion's best. The Tms I put on the pokemon will be Tms availble only before beating Lance. Obviously no egg moves or moves that are not achievable for pokemon in Soul Silver Or Heart Gold.
Typhlosion:
flamethrower
strength
focus blast
shadow claw
-typhlosion is pretty useless in the E4 + champion

Ampharos:
Discharge
Thunder Wave
Hyperbeam
(whatever you want)
-ampharos is needed for an electric type move. It is a bit tanky so stalling with thunder wave can be nice.

Lapras:
Ice beam
surf
Thunder
(whatever you want)
-If you really want to spank Lance set up hail and use blizzard against Lance. This will destroy All dragonite and Aerodactyl In one shot guarenteed.

Machamp (no guard)
-Cross chop
-Earthquake
-(I believe move tutor gives fire and thunder punch)
- Can't go wrong here with the high attack, but I like a dark or rock move here for coverage. It is slow so payback can be fun, but whatever you want.
- No guard Machamp makes all moves 100% accurate so enjoy a 130 base attack pkmn with 100 power fighting type STAB move .

Alakazam:
-Psychic
- The remaining moves can be whatever you'll be using psychic 90% of the time. Some options are shock wave, hidden power, Focus Blast, and shadow ball)
If you are stumped and need powerful neutral damage a 120 base speed 135 base sp attack pkmn with stab Psychic is tough to beat.

Crobat:
-fly
-u turn
-( last two slots are whatever poison is useless offensively, but I would use any of these moves: Bite, Poison Fang, Cross Fang, Toxic if tm is available not sure, or confuse ray)

I said these moves are common sense because if you wimply level up your pokemon and delete old moves you will get effective moves to use against all gym leaders and the champion. The HMs I did not include can be learned earlier and delted or learned on other pokemon that you use for just hms.

---

You need to find something better to do with your time. I commented that and was going to do moves separate because it addresses a separate comment. You stopped what you were doing to respond to a pokemon website faster than I could type that comment

---

No need to resort to ad hominem remarks. Thanks for supplying the movesets :)

---

The comment was addressed at someone else Amethyst. Also my comment had to be approved meaning it is not offensive. You are either soft or you are wrong. I'll let you decide. sumwun makes the point that people do not know what moves to use yet you both expect people to know about the repel trick which can give you a level 50 magikarp in an obscure location. Yes you can technically get a level 50 magikarp. I'll take lapras at an equal level anyday. I said initially that gyarados is great and can replace someone in the team. So to make the point like I completely missed on gyarados is totally wrong. A level 57 gyarados cannot one hit knockout a level 50 dragonite unless it has status boosters. With one turn using hail a level 46 lapras with blizzard will be better against lance's dragonite. You have to use the move rememberer a couple times if you choose to use a level 50 magikarp-> level 51 gyarados. Another inconvenience.

---

Doing the proper calculations under fair circumstances was necessary to debunk why it is no debate better to use lapras instead of gyarados. You do not decide what is an acceptable answer for this thread. It is required to address movesets, I addressed it as common sense, my post was then reviewed and approved for posting. Again, you are factually wrong.

---

Could you put the recommended moves on the actual answer? Thanks. :)

---

Oh I thought using the repel trick to find high level Pokemon was common sense?? And who needs Move Reminder for more than Ice Fang when you have HM Waterfall immediately at level up?

Seriously dude maybe try again another day

---

I never expected "people" to know about the repel trick. I expected you to know about it, because you're the one claiming you considered all the options, which should include the repel trick, and build the "correct best ingame team". This site gives you 12,000 characters to write your answers, so you can explain the obscure mechanics and let "people" understand how to use your team.
A level 20 Lapras needs at least 89,383 experience to reach level 43. With that amount of experience, a level 50 Magikarp reaches level 58. So I really should have done more fair calculations with a level 58 Gyarados. My bad, sorry about that
I never assumed all of Lance's Dragonites know outrage. I was claiming that if you use Lapras and Lance's Aerodactyl uses rock slide and his level 50 Dragonite uses outrage, you would need to heal your Lapras, while you would not need to heal a Gyarados no matter what moves Lance uses.
+3 Atk and +3 Spe Gyarados easily outspeeds and OHKOs Lance's Dragonite before it can use thunder, so I think it's fair to assume that Dragonite will not use thunder against Gyarados.
Water, ice, and flying all take neutral damage from dragon. Lapras is not any more resistant to dragon attacks than Gyarados is. Although yes, Lapras does have more base HP than Gyarados.
Ice fang is 95% accurate, and it needs to hit 3 times in order to OHKO all of Lance's Dragonites. This has a 95%^3 = 85.74% chance of happening.
Neither hail nor blizzard will raise Lapras's speed, so this does not change the fact that Lapras won't solo Lance's entire team. If a Pokemon can OHKO each of Lance's Pokemon, how is it better than another Pokemon that both outspeeds and OHKOs those same opponents?
If Gyarados can easily learn a stat boosting move, what's wrong with using it 3 times in one battle? It takes only a few minutes to find 2 heart scales in Tohjo Falls.

@McRib Responding to an ad hominem comment with more ad hominems is not going to solve any problems.

---

I've said it plenty of times, but I'll say it again. I included gyarados in my original post! I named six pokemon and mentioned every other option. Why you are using +3 attack and +3 speed when doing your calculations I have no idea. How can you assume that is in place? Yes if you use a gyarados that is eight levels higher than the champions best poke on you will easily beat him. Using a lapras that is eight levels higher would be better though! Why not give lapras or dragonite that little boost you are giving your gyarados when you do these calculations? It is insane to me that you all agree that a non ice type is better for beating dragon types. Again I mention in the original post that you all have a problem with that if you do not want a flyer I would include gyarados instead. The game isn't intended for you to beat the fourth gym, go get a level 51 gyarados, and then wreck all gyms and E4 using the gyarados. You can do that, but lapras is better. Why you aren't using a base gyarados with normal EV's in your calculations, I'm not sure.
You did assume that gyarados uses outrage and you assumed that aerodactyl will use rock slide. That is not a guarentee. Since you are boosting the **** out of gyarados with EV's in these numbers lets do the same for lapras. This time lets see what happens with a hail, blizzard lapras since apparently one shotting with ice beam isn't enough for you. None of Lance's pokemon one shot lapras. Lapras is capable of one shotting  all of Lances pokemon at level 50 given Lapras uses thunder on gyarados.

---

Before everyone in the comments questions my credibility, I would like you all to know that sumwun also answered this post. His best six pokemon to use for the game are Typhlosion, Heracross, Gyarados, Tauros, Krabby, and Farfetched. No, I am not joking. That is his six best for the game. Even if you think Gyarados should be on your team, there is no denying that my team is 100% better for the game.

---

How the game ought to be played is a pretty subjective discussion for this objectively correct answer.

---

The prompt is a good team for pkmn hg ss. A “team” should take advantage of as many useful Pokemon as possible. This whole discussion started because I commented under his post that using two hm slaves is objectively not the best way to play the game. It is subjective what team you choose, but if you aren’t even including five Pokémon that you can use to battle are you really even answering the question? My team and original post has six Pokémon and lists three other options (including gyarados) that users can use if they prefer. His answer has a team of typhlosion Krabby, heracross, tauros, gyarados, and farfetched. My team offers six Pokémon that give type advantages offensively and defensively against every major battle in the game. His does not. My answer is no debate more thorough and more correct. My explanation for machamp over heracross, alakazam before gym three, why you should choose each Pokemon I mentioned, etc. are all more correct than his answer. You cannot honestly tell me that the ideal team has krabby tauros and farfetched instead of alakazam, ampharos, and crobat. His team lacks a diverse special attacker, defensive Pokémon, and has holes in typing. My answer included other options to use as well and simply was more thought out. Maybe you are wrong and think gyarados is more useful than Lapras, both can accomplish the same thing. However, if anyone in this comment section is going to tell me that his answer typhlosion, heracross, krabby, tauros, gyarados, and farfetched is a better in game team than typhlosion, ampharos, machamp, crobat, lapras, alakazam, (and I say fearow, gyarados, and heracross work too)… if you think his answer is better than mine you are wrong yes it is that simple. My Pokémon are better statistically, more effective type wise across all gyms, my team has more Pokémon to use, learns more diverse moves, and has Pokémon with a higher attack, defense, sp attack, sp defense, and speed than his Pokémon. Yes the answer is objective but when you don’t even choose a team that is super effective against the types you’ll see in the game and when you don’t choose a team of at least four or five useful Pokémon are you really even on the same level as someone answering with a balanced team? People forget repel gyaragos at level 50 will have to use thrash and bite until you get to the eighth gym where it learns waterfall and move reminder moves. That’s just not as useful as my alakazam who with focus blast and psybeam will one shot gyms 3,4,5,6,and 7. His team won’t do that thus making the game harder.

---

sumwun's answer detailed the Speedrun team, i.e: the team that is literally proven to get you through the game faster than any other team. It might not be the most subjectively fun team, (no team is,) but it is intended to get you into post game as fast as possible.

---

The question being asked here is what is a good in game team for pkmn hg/ss. The question is not what team will get you through the game the fastest. Nobody is coming to this page hoping to find one Pokémon that will overpower the Pokémon league and the gyms. They are looking for a team. My answer is objectively more correct given the question being asked. Also he isn’t giving a speed run team, if he was he wouldn’t want you to add a useless tauros. I will now give you a better answer if your goal is to speed run the game. Totodile for surf, in game trade for onix for the first three gyms, (helps defensively against Whitney) before Whitney get alakazam and teach it focus blast. Focus blast and psybeam can beat gyms 3-7 easily considering how OP alakazam’s stats and typing is. Collect spearow for free from the man between the third and fourth gym for fly. Pick up the repel glitch gyarados only when you have to go through that route. Use ice fang gyarados and alakazam to beat the elite four and champion. Gyarados will be way over leveled and alakazam will know psychic shadow ball from the gym and focus blast. Use potions if necessary in the E4. That team makes way more sense for a speed run. There simply is no excusing his terrible answer for the question. If he was attempting a speed run team he did a poor job. It took me two minutes to think of a better one.

---

Legendary answer

---

Thanks Talos, I loved absolutely schooling the casuals that came after me. One of these dweebs made a list saying you should use tauros in the game. The whole argument they had was the gyarados should be in the starting six when I literally say in my orginal comment that gyarados could also be used but I prefer to not use him. This really is one of the only games where there is a pretty clear cut answer as to what is the best in game team of six pokemon.

---

Dang bro just called sumwun a dweeb, but he did post the speed run team so his team works to an extent. That said you actually put up an argument against sumwun which is kinda legendary

---

I mean sumwun’s speed run team wants to go pick up a tauros which for a speed run makes absolutely zero sense. You also can pick up a flying type for free (spearow) but he wants you to use farfetched??? His speed run team was terrible I came up with a better one in the comments. He is giving his gyarados boosts when he does his calculations wand not giving lapras boosts which really skews the numbers. He also suggests heracross over machamp which I clearly debunked in my post. He had guts to come at me with a krabby and tauros in his team I’ll give him that. He doesn’t state in his post that his team is a speed run team either. At the end of the day a hail blizzard lapras at lvl 48 does the same thing as gyarados at 57. Lapras won’t get one shot by any of lance’s moves, gyarados can be by thunder. Both pkmn will accomplish the same goal of dominating lance. Also Alakazam is better for blitzing gyms 3-7 than gyarados because it hits harder moves faster is available earlier and most importantly gyarados will only know bite and thrash until the move tutor. He really chickened out by disappearing I wish sumwun would’ve kept commenting but he probably realized he was outmatched.

---

Just to clarify, the team I posted wasn't a speedrun team. It just uses a few speedrun strategies.

My answer already explained that Farfetch'd learns cut, which saves a move slot on Krabby. Spearow can't learn cut.
By boosts, do you mean the extra levels or the dragon dance boosts? Magikarp arrives at a higher level than Lapras, and Gyarados learns dragon dance much more easily than Lapras does. Either way, the boosts are justified.
I suggested Heracross over Machamp (and Alakazam) because my team is intended for people who don't trade. Heracross is also faster than Machamp and learns shadow claw.
Lapras and Gyarados don't do the same thing in the Lance battle. Gyarados can raise its own speed, Lapras can't. If Lance has 2 Pokemon that outspeed and 2HKO Lapras (which he does), Lapras can't sweep his entire team.
Gyarados can immediately learn strength and surf, regardless of whether you evolve it from the level 50 Magikarp or catch the Lake of Rage Gyarados. It's not stuck with thrash or bite for any amount of time.

Apologies for the late response, I was busy back in February 2023 but I've gotten some vacation time since then.

---

Let’s call this like it actually is, there’s no way you’ve been on vacation since February, it’s July. You went through this again, saw you got embarrassed and people agree with me, and you’re hoping to get the last punch since it’s been so long. Your logic for that speed run team cannot make any sense. Krabby for cut? Krabby isn’t available until you have someone with surf. Why not go sentret or Totodile to start or a bunch of other earlier options? For the millionth time, I said gyrados was an option to replace lapras if you prefer in my original comment. However, lapras is better for the post game and its moveset is superior. You don’t need to trade for machamp, (trade hack in hgss). I love heracross, it’s one of my favorite pokemon. But it’s not a fast pokemon regardless, it gets worse moves than machamp, and it shouldn’t be relied on for ghost type moves. Alakazam and shadow ball hits so much harder and is faster than any psychic or ghost type pokemon you’ll encounter in the game. If you’re so intent on boosting speed  for gyarados or another stat, the game has items that can boost any stat two stages without using a move slot. Regardless, Lapras can easily sweep the entire team. Thunder, ice beam, surf, and/or hail/blizzard/perish song will do the trick. It’s easy to set up with stat boosters if you want since it’s bulkier than gyarados. Gyarados can be knocked out just as easily as lapras as it is weak to thunder and rock type moves from aerodactyl. In order to get ice fang on the gyarados from the level 50 magikarp, you need a heart scale from the move relearner. Lapras is available earlier than your gyarados as well. My team is far superior to yours (it’s not even close) and my answer better fits the question being asked. Nobody came on here to see a team with two gm slaves. If you want to speed run it is best done with an over leveled feraligatr as that is what is used by the best speed runners I can find on YouTube. None of them use a far fetched and crabby lmao. It’s amazing you’ve given this as much effort as you have when your team has a tauros, krabby, and far fetched.

---

Again, I never said that my team is a speedrun team or that I ever intended to make a speedrun team.
I know my answer wasn't completely clear about this, but Krabby can be fished using an old rod right after defeating Falkner.
Sentret can't learn rock smash until after it evolves into Furret, which makes Sentret waste more experience compared to Krabby while learning the exact same HM moves in the end. My answer already has an entire paragraph explaining why I didn't choose Totodile,
This thread's OP explicitly tells you not to recommend glitches or cheats. If you like abusing the game, why don't you RNG manipulate yourself both Raikou and Entei instead of using Typhlosion and Ampharos?
The top of my answer says that I never open the bag in trainer battles, as a self-imposed rule. The reason why I did this is that almost any Pokemon with almost any attack move can be good if you boost and heal it enough, so I feel like allowing X items and potions in trainer battles makes teambuilding and strategies less meaningful. If you like using X items and potions, go ahead, but your answer would be a lot more helpful if you explicitly said that's what you were doing.
This is how much damage a level 48 Lapras takes without stat boosts.

Lvl 49 0 Atk 30 IVs Dragonite Dragon Rush vs. Lvl 48 84 HP 16 IVs / 84 Def 16 IVs Lapras: 84-99 (42 - 49.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Lvl 49 0 SpA 30 IVs Dragonite Thunder vs. Lvl 48 84 HP 16 IVs / 84 SpD 16 IVs Lapras: 90-108 (45 - 54%) -- 43.8% chance to 2HKO
Lvl 48 0 Atk 30 IVs Aerodactyl Rock Slide vs. Lvl 48 84 HP 16 IVs / 84 Def 16 IVs Lapras: 102-120 (51 - 60%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Lvl 50 0 Atk 30 IVs Dragonite Outrage vs. Lvl 48 84 HP 16 IVs / 84 Def 16 IVs Lapras: 106-126 (53 - 63%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Gyarados easily sets up on Lance's Gyarados, which does very little damage and won't switch out if you just keep using dragon dance.

Lvl 46 0 SpA Gyarados Dragon Pulse vs. Lvl 51 0 HP 16 IVs / 0 SpD 16 IVs Gyarados: 21-25 (12.6 - 15%) -- possible 7HKO

My answer already said that ice fang is unnecessary. It just needs one heart scale for dragon dance. Even if you want to relearn ice fang, it doesn't take long to find another heart scale in Tohjo Falls.
Both Magikarp and Lapras can be caught as soon as you defeat Morty.
The question asks for a hassle-free team. I know this is subjective, but I believe that catching an under-leveled wild Pokemon and getting it to catch up with the rest of your party is usually the biggest source of hassle. Your team does this 4 times, while mine does this only twice. And if multiple other people are agreeing with you, do you know why they aren't up-voting your answer?
Again, my team is not a speedrun team. But if you want to talk about speedruns, the current glitchless world record is held by a RNG manipulated Raikou, and the current glitchless manipless world record is held by the level 50 Magikarp. Both of them chose Cyndaquil at the beginning. I don't see how Feraligatr is relevant at all.
sources: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnhgss https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnhgssext

---

This thread is insane. And bro still never put an actual moveset down. Shouldn't this be taken down for that?

---

@MonkeyBusiness there are moves listed in one of the (many) comments. I also think this debate is way too funny to be removed :P

---

Monkeybusiness, the moves are listed above. For the ten millionth time I said in my original comment that gyarados is an acceptable alternative to lapras. You are still mad that I embarrassed you, your team has krabby tauros and farfetched on it. Speaking for the community here, everyone looks at that team and keeps scrolling because it’s not a TEAM. Your team isn’t a speed run team, YOU LITERALLY JUST SAID YOUR TEAM LOOKS SO WEIRD BECAUSE YOU ARE USING SPEED RUN STRATEGIES. The thread tells you to not use glitches or cheats but your entire team is based on a weird little tick that allows you to discover a level 50 magikarp. This is not a thread for speed run strategies, or the quickest way to beat the game, it is asking what is the best team to beat the game. You didn’t answer the question. Google best speedrun teams on YouTube for hgss, none of them look like yours. I see you reposted your calculations, we already discussed that and you backed down we aren’t doing that again. “IF YOU LIKE ABUSING THE GAME WHY NOT USE LEGENDARIES” BAHAHAHAHAHAHAH you are recommending that you use one pokemon to beat the entire champion, a pokemon that is at least 7 LEVELS HIGHER THAN HIS TOP POKEMON. I’d like to also mention that lapras’s bulk and massive 130hp makes it much easier to set up against lances gyarados because the only real move you have to worry about is dragon rage. You say that catching under leveled pokemon and raising them up is a hassle, I don’t know what game you’re playing but THATS LITERALLY THE PURPOSE OF POKEMON. That’s what you do it’s kind of the whole game. Your team isn’t a team, hms aren’t a big deal your logic for having a tauros, krabby, and farfetched is stupid. Your speed run sites are actually outdated, I googled the best speedrun teams and I found nothing like that. Again, this isn’t the place for a speedrun team yet you keep insisting that finishing the game quick was a major reason that you chose that dumb team. Look around at everyone’s answers. There’s one or two posts that don’t have an actual team of 6 battlers and you’re one of them. The stats you put up are real cute. Again, if you want to use hail/blizzard combo with lapras her 130 hp makes it easy to use battle items and heals to boost stats.

---

I can tell that you have not read my original comment in a while, you are arguing with yourself at this point. I said in my original comment that if you don’t want to trade you should swap heracross for machamp and gyarados for alakazam. Your last two comments have gone after me for using trade Pokémon and for using heracross over machamp , although you did not address heracross in your last comment so I’ll assume I got you there too. I have a whole paragraph in my original comment about why gyarados is a great option you should check it out. I know that you would prefer krabby, farfetched, and tauros (the stupidest of the three) but go back and check it out.

---

What's wrong with using a team that isn't a speedrun team and looks weird?
Do you really think the repel trick is just as "abusive" as the GTS oversight or RNG manipulation? Why do you think that?
I searched "best speedrun teams for hgss" on Youtube (and on Tor browser, to make sure my browsing history wasn't affecting the search). These were the first 4 results that weren't irrelevant Mysticumbreon videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=943JU83aguU (glitchless manipped, used Cyndaquil and Raikou, posted 1 year ago)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBghEgNW4eg (glitchless manipped, used Cyndaquil and Raikou, posted 1 year ago)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siJpSWLpbOk (glitchless manipped, used Cyndaquil and Raikou, posted 1 year ago)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5pi5ikuIVI (glitched manipless, used Cyndaquil and Magikarp, posted 1 year ago)

I also searched "best speedrun teams heartgold soulsilver" on Google (and Tor), and these were the first 4 relevant results.

https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnhgss (glitchless manipped, world record set 4 months ago, and glitched manipped world record set 3 years ago, both used Cyndaquil and Raikou)
https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnhgss/guides (guides for learning how to do the exact runs in the previous link, updated 2 years ago)
https://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/full_speedrun_of_pokemon_heartgoldsoulsilver_to_beat_red_.html (used Totodile, last posted in 2010)
https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/k8ggqz/npcs_react_to_speedruns_pok%C3%A9mon/ (glitched manipped, used Raikou, posted 4 years ago)

Of these 8 search results, the only one that mentions Feraligatr at all is the most outdated one.
First time I brought up calculations, you said these things in response.
"Why you are using +3 attack and +3 speed when doing your calculations I have no idea. How can you assume that is in place?"
As I already explained, these are dragon dance boosts. Lapras can't learn dragon dance by level up and I didn't want to use X items.
"Yes if you use a gyarados that is eight levels higher than the champions best poke on you will easily beat him. Using a lapras that is eight levels higher would be better though! Why not give lapras or dragonite that little boost you are giving your gyarados when you do these calculations?"
A wild Lapras is caught at level 20, and giving it 89,383 experience raises it to level 43. A wild Magikarp is caught at level 50, and giving it 89,383 experience raises it to level 58. Why is it unfair to give both of them the same amount of experience when doing these calculations?
"You did assume that gyarados uses outrage and you assumed that aerodactyl will use rock slide. That is not a guarentee."
First, I never assumed any Gyarados will use outrage. Second, HGSS Lance's AI is pretty smart, and as far as I know, he will always use either a status move or whichever move is expected to do the most damage. Maybe you can get his Dragonite to use safeguard, but I do believe his Aerodactyl is guaranteed to use rock slide. Third,

Lvl 46 0 SpA 30 IVs Gyarados Dragon Pulse vs. Lvl 51 84 HP 0 IVs / 84- SpD 0 IVs Gyarados on a critical hit: 45-54 (26.7 - 32.1%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

This is literally the worst case scenario. The player's Gyarados has 0 IVs and a special defense lowering nature. Lance's Gyarados uses dragon pulse every turn, and it lands a critical hit every turn. And the player's Gyarados still lives long enough to use 3 dragon dances.
None of Lance's Pokemon know dragon rage.
Raising underleveled Pokemon isn't "kind of the whole game". The game also involves exploring all the places, winning boss battles, competing in the Battle Frontier, and listening to the soundtrack. Avoiding underleveled Pokemon makes all of these other things easier. And if you like underleveled Pokemon so much, why do you use Lapras instead of another underleveled Pokemon like Route 32 Wooper?
Your original answer also said "Gyarados is acceptable to use, but Lapras is better in every way." This is what I was arguing against, not myself.
I might continue arguing about Heracross after you explain why the GTS oversight is less "abusive" than the repel trick.

---

A level 51 Gyarados is much better than a level 51 Lapras against Lance because it can set up 4 Dragon Dances against Lance's first pokemon and then has very high odds to outspeed and OHKO the entire rest of his team without any need to use healing items. Lapras instead gets out-sped by most of Lance's team and so has to use Healing Items in order to avoid fainting. It's bulky, but it still takes a good chunk of its health from Thunder for instance. It's very good against Lance, but it can't solo his whole team without items like Gyarados can.
It also takes WAY less time and effort to get a level 51 Gyarados than a level 51 Lapras, so Gyarados is also the more time-efficient choice. To get a level 51 Gyarados you just have to catch a level 50 Magikarp and evolve it whereas to get a level 51 Lapras you have to level it up from level 20.

---

"Unfortunate" doesn't begin to describe this team, this game rewards Lapras and nothing else, I am beyond convinced at this point. After getting completely tooled with my opponent responding months later and refusing to explain why he picked Tauros, arguing this way somehow felt even worse than I had thought possible. My preparation was superior, my play was superior, and he used Krabby, so I don't see a reason to continue engaging in an activity where what is within my control is overwhelmingly outweighed by what is not.

I am absolutely not done with my mockery, and you'll be getting a dupe account. This community is infected to its roots with a degenerative disease that grows stronger over time but stops short of criticising sumwun. In-game teams used to have a casual spirit at their heart, this has been transplanted and replaced with a Level 50 Gyarados that feeds on vitriol and mockery from people that just want to play the game with their Lapras and Typhlosion. The environment you fostered has trapped us all like this in a vicious cycle, and escaping it would require me to use a Tauros and a Krabby. None of the countless speedrun teams you put us through here will ever amount to one single shining glimmer of fun. I would make this the end, but my seething rage is still ongoing, and I would never let sumwun be better at teambuilding than me, so I'll suffer through a few more arguments for my own sake.

One last thing before I leave you all without movesets for my chosen party members, before you do everything in your power to hide my answers and comments, box them up and shove them to some cobwebbed corner of your godforsaken website, and hope they disappear forever so you can get around to "not levelling up team members". From this moment on, everything you say matters to me. The foulest Pokemon you use with intent to be efficient will calmly enter the Hall of Fame before my Ampharos, and the moves you choose will bring all the pain of a Fire Blast Quilava towards Whitney's Miltank. You are a skilled teambuilder, while I carry on, brimming with rage distilled from playing suboptimally.

---

I swear to God y'all's tone when you guys say less than serious things sounds like you suddenly became a Ph.D or something lmao.

Answer 5

Meganium @ Miracle Seed
Ability: Overgrow
- Earthquake
- Giga Drain
- Petal Dance
- Light Screen

Magcargo @ Quick Claw
Ability: Flame Body
- Ancient Power
- Amnesia
- Flamethrower
- Lava Plume

Magnezone @ Metal Coat
Ability: Sturdy
- Thunder Wave
- Discharge
- Flash Cannon
- Screech

Miltank (F) @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Scrappy
- Body Slam
- Milk Drink
- Zen Headbutt
- Strength

Slowbro @ Mystic Water
Ability: Own Tempo
- Surf
- Psychic
- Dig
- Whirlpool

Rhyperior @ Soft Sand
Ability: Lightning Rod
- Earthquake
- Avalanche
- Dragon Pulse
- Rock Wrecker

(If magnezone is unavailable to you I would recommend ampharos)
(If you cannot trade to get rhypherior Rhydon still performs well)

Answer 6

Here is my team and I can make sure that this is the most competitive team in-game Heartgold and SoulSilver:

Feraligatr @ Mystic Water
Ability: Torrent
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Crunch
- Earthquake
Starting with the starter, Feraligatr has a good learn-set, better than two else starter in the game. With a solid
base stats and nice type match-up with the Johto gym leaders, my jolly Feraligatr is doing good job now.

Arcanine @ Charcoal
Ability: Intimidate
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Extreme Speed
- Flare Blitz
- Reversal
Next is Fire-type, Arcanine, which is a great one with a high base stats and cool nature, is one of the best fire-type Pokemon choice. Despite learning Flare Blitz in level 48 as a Growlithe, it still do a good job, especially during post-game. Try to get Extreme Speed with Heart Scale, it's really good, and Reversal for a suicide bomb.

Jolteon @ Magnet
Ability: Volt Absorb
Modest Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Light Screen
The third one, Jolteon. A Fast and Furious eevolution one. I think it's better than Ampharos as it can control the fight more flexibly and do a solid damage.

Heracross @ Muscle Band
Ability: Guts
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Rock Slide
- Protect
Doing a great damage to opponent, Heracross is almost the best Bug and Fighting type Pokemon to choose.
Due to the type, I put on it Protect for some case.

Crobat @ Poison Barb
Ability: Inner Focus
Adamant Nature
- Poison Fang
- Fly
- Roost
- U-turn
Flashy bat can destroy fighting type Pokemon easily, and it's also the best Flyer before post-game.

Nidoking @ Soft Sand
Ability: Poison Point
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Sludge Bomb
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
Good base stat, matchup type and large learn-set.

After beating the Elite Four, I suggest changing Crobat and Nidoking for these ones, way better and more powerful.
Dragonite @ Expert Belt
Ability: Inner Focus
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Extreme Speed
- Dragon Dance
- Fly

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Jolly Nature
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rock Polish
Undoubtedly, Two Pseudo-legendary Pokemon are greatly strong and destructive. You can get both Dragonite and Tyranitar before Elite Four, as Dratini and Larvitar. Training it during the game, then get the achievement.