Pokémon Rate My Team
0 votes
546 views

Skarmory
Item: Quick claw
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 spe/ 128 hp/ 128 att
- Stealth rock
- Roost
- Roar
- Pursuit

Heatran
Item: Air balloon
Ability: Flash fire
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 SpA/ 128 hp/ 128 SpD
- Fire blast
- Flash cannon
- Hidden power ice
- Earth power

Aegislash
Item: Weakness policy
Ability: Stance change
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 SpA/ 252 hp/ 4 spe
- Substitute
- King's shield
- Shadow ball
- Flash cannon

Bisharp
Item: Life orb
Ability: Defiant
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 att/ 252 spe/ 4 hp
- Sucker punch
- Knock off
- Iron head
- Swords dance

Mawile
Item: Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate----->Huge power
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 att/ 252 spe/ 4 hp
- Sucker punch
- Play rough
- Knock off
- Iron head

Excadrill
Item: Choice scarf
Ability: Mold breaker
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 att/ 128 spe/ 128 hp
- Earthquake
- Aerial ace
- Rock slide
- Iron head

by

1 Answer

0 votes

Alright, I have used a couple of mono-Steel teams, so I will have a go at rating this.

Your team is rather well put together, but I do have 1 overarching criticism. You have too many Steel type attacks - 3 pokemon with Iron Head and 2 with Flash Cannon. Yes, Steel moves are obviously STAB on these pokemon, but having every pokemon with them means you miss out some badly needed coverage moves. For example, if you can up against an opposing Skarmory (they are rather common on both mono-Flying and mono-Steel teams) Heatran is the only thing that could really deal with it. It would wall most of your other pokemon. I'm not saying get rid of every Steel type move, but you might want to consider getting rid of some of them.

With that out of the way, on with the team in question.

Skarmory

A good move set, although consider replacing Pursuit with Brave Bird. You have roost to heal back the recoil anyway, and I think the extra power is necessary. Also Whirlwind is better than Roar. That might seem like a small difference, but Soundproof blocks Roar, whereas the only things that blocks whirlwind are Suction Cups and Ingrain, which stop Roar as well.

The Quick Claw is not a good item competitively. I suggest Leftovers instead. I think your EVs could be better as well. Skarmory is meant to be a very defensive pokemon, especially with the move set you have given it. Its main purpose is not to outspeed, or to hit hard. So I think
252 HP/252 Def/4 Atk is better.

Heatran

A very good pokemon for any mono-Steel team. Instead of Flash Cannon, I suggest going with Will-o-Wisp to shut down physical attackers, and none of your pokemon has any status moves. Dark Pulse is also an option, but HP Ice has better coverage, so you will probably want to leave it like it is.

Aegislash

While the Weakness Policy is very good on it, I am not fond of the Special Attacking variant, simply because it has a major lack of coverage options. I see why you have used it, though, because Heatran is your only other Special Attacker. So I have several options to recommend here:

1) Keep it as it is, but replace Substitute for Autotomize. I think the extra Speed is more helpful, because of the lack of priority on this set. Or you could give it Shadow Sneak and use it as a mixed attacker, I suppose, but you would probably want to change its Nature if you did this (Quiet is probably the best option).

2) Change it to the physical variant. This is the worst option I think, simply because you already have 3 physical attackers as it is, so you don't need another one.

3) Change it to another pokemon entirely. I think this is the best option. Try Magnezone.

Magnezone @ Air Balloon/Life Orb/Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull/Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP/252 SAtk/4 SDef
Nature: Modest
Moves:
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- HP Fire
- Flash Cannon

Bisharp

This is a good pokemon. I understand why you have both Sucker Punch and Knock Off on the same move set, as both are very useful in different siutations. However, in terms of coverage I suggest replacing one of them (probably Knock Off) with Brick Break.

That is if you want to stick with Bisharp, but as you may notice its move set is very similar to Mawile. So here is an alternative option if you want something a bit different: Bronzong.

Bronzong @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/252 SDef/4 Atk
Nature: Careful
Moves:
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Zen Headbutt
- Toxic/Stealth Rock

I have made him specially defensive to complement the physically defensive Skarmory. It is pretty much a dual screener. Zen Headbutt is his attacking move. The last option is probably going to be Toxic, as Skarmory already has Stealth Rocks. It is an option to consider, anyway. It also gives you another Ground immunity.

Mawile

This is another very good pokemon. Since it is so slow anyway, I suggest having an EV spread of 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Spd. This allows Mawile to take more hits, as it won't be out speeding much, anyway.

As for its moves, again you have both Sucker Punch and Knock Off, and again I understand why. Either get rid of Knock Off or Iron Head (because of the number of Steel attacks on this team), and go with Ice Punch for coverage.

Excadrill

Replace Aerial Ace with Poison Jab, to give you a good answer for Fairy pokemon. The low power of Aerial Ace means it is not really worth using.

I hope that helped.

by
Thanks allot man!!! Now let me just go through your feedback.
Skarmory: Very fair criticism. I honestly just use this for rocks and to stop people setting up with stat boosting moves but it can be a good late game wall when up against fighting types. In which case, brave bird is better

Heatran: I'm not really sure about this. I use a very standard Heatran set but it's very effective and can be a main sweeper.

Aegislash: I also prefer the physical set but I needed another special attacker. Now I'm going to stick with Aegislash due to it's immunity to fighting, but I will change it's set.

Mawile and Bisharp: I'm aware they have similar sets and are used for similar purposes. But they are my main sweepers and are not really that bulky. They both cover a good amount of types with their moves. However, brick break on Bisharp is probably a good idea since I have no other fighting moves. I will also change the EV spreads because I agree with you. Ice punch is also a good idea that I hadn't really thought of

Excadrill: Aerial ace on Excadrill is actually surprisingly good. I use it as a late game sweeper. If my main 4 sweepers haven't killed a Pokémon yet, Excadrill can usually out speed and at least 2HKO it. I changed my team recently to this one currently as I wasn't getting anywhere on the showdown ladder. Putting aerial ace on Excadrill allows me to also sweep fighting types. It has actually helped my out allot.
good point about Aegislash - I forgot about the Fighting immunity.

Also I imagine Aerial Ace on Excadrill has the surprise factor working for it as well.
Yeah my team is based around beating it's weaknesses which I have done allot. That's also exactly what Excadrill is for. Late game sweeper that people don't expect