Pokémon Rate My Team
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Hey! I really wanted to try to center a team around one of my all time favorite pokemon, Altaria, so I gave it a shot and I want to see what you guys think about it!


Altaria @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure ---> Pixilate
EVs: 126 HP / 126 Def / 128 SAtk / 128 SDef
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast / Ice Beam
- Cotton Guard / Roost

Role: Bulky Special Attacker


Emboar @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Superpower
- Sucker Punch
- Head Smash / Wild Charge

Role: Suicide Attacker


Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 128 Def / 128 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite / U-turn
- Superpower
- Aerial Ace

Role: Bulky Attacker


Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 128 Atk / 128 Spd / 252 Def
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Tail
- Protect
- Toxic

Role: Defensive Bulk


Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 128 SDef / 128 Def
Bold Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-o-Wisp
- Shadow Ball

Role: Something Good? I guess?


Whimsicott @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 128 HP / 128 SAtk / 126 Def / 126 SDef
Calm Nature
- Moonblast
- Leech Seed
- Encore
- Taunt


What do you guys think?

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1 Answer

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EV's: 126 HP, 126 Defense, 128 Sp. Attack,128 Sp. Defense

These EVs are too thinly spread. You can't achieve what you want with Altaria with these EVs. If you want Altaria to be a bulky sweeper, it should have this EV spread:

252 HP, 252 Sp. Atk, 4. Sp. Def

Cotton guard is relatively useless in competitive play, especially in OU. Altaria does have bulk, but it is not meant to stall in this instance. Give it Roost or another coverage move instead.


Emboar doesn't fit on an OU team; it's too slow and it has a redundant typing with Infernape, which is a better Pokemon for the OU environment (better movepool, higher speed, better utility). If you want to use a Pokemon with Reckless, choose Staraptor. If you want to use a Fire type with high power high recoil moves, choose Talonflame.

Infernape @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Nature: Adamant/ Jolly
- Mach Punch
- Close Combat
- Flare Blitz
- U-Turn

Infernape makes a good scout, with high speed and U-Turn. It can be your lead if you think your opponent will be offensive. Whimsicott is good if you think your opponent will set up rocks & attempt to stall.

Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 120 HP, 252 Atk, 136 Speed
Nature: Jolly/ Adamant
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Swords Dance
- Roost

Talonflame has the benefit of a powerful STAB priority along with good base speed, meaning it can have some split EVs between HP and speed for better survival chances.


Once again, the EV spread is too thin. For bulky attackers, usually 252 in HP is the norm (but not always). Scizor's EV spread should be:

196 HP, 252 Atk, 56 Sp. Def

In terms of its moveset, Aerial Ace doesn't do too much good. It usually doesn't one shot a lot of fighting types because of its low base power, and even though it gets Technician boost, it doesn't get STAB.

  • U-Turn
  • Bullet Punch
  • Superpower
  • Knock Off

Iron Tail is not recommended unless the Pokemon's movepool is really sparse. It has low accuracy and poor coverage (even with the new Fairy weakness to steel). It's also not doing anything for Gliscor, because regardless of Gliscor being weak to ice, Iron Tail won't OHKO most ice threats.

Go for either Ice Fang for better coverage, or Substitute/ Roost to stall more.

As for EVs: 252 HP, 56 Def, 200 Speed


Rotom-W gets no benefit from Shadow Ball. Hydro Pump & Volt Switch are really the only damaging moves that it needs, so its final move can be something like pain split or Rest (give it a Chesto Berry).

Rotom-W @ Chesto Berry
EVs: 252 HP, 4 Sp. Atk, 252 Sp. Def
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Calm
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest

Rotom-W will add more to your team by being specially defensive (Gliscor is physically defensive).


Whimsicott @ Leftovers
EVs: 248 HP, 252 Def, 8 Speed
Nature: Bold
- Encore
- U-Turn
- Stun Spore
- Taunt/ Leech Seed

Personally, I like Sableye better because it only has 1 weakness. Even though it's weak to Fairy like Altaria, Whimsicott is x4 weak to Poison as opposed to Sableye's x2 weak to Fairy. I think Sableye will be better for your team, but it's ultimately your choice.


Summary: I think you should revisit how EVs work in order to understand how to make a suitable EV spread for Pokemon. You spread them far too thinly which means you're trying to make the Pokemon do too many things with its stats at the same time. Putting EVs into 4 stats doesn't mean it can take hits and do damage well, it just means that it's mediocre at both.

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Emboar will be the next UU hit in January. In Japan, its dream world ability is released and Reckless-boosted Choice Band Flare Blitz are gonna hit a lot of things for hefty damage. I think it's not very good to compare it to Infernape whose role is, like you said, a revenge killer/scout. Emboar compares better with Darmanitan, the difference between both being the typing, and Darmanitan's usable speed compared to Emboar's better bulk.
Talonflame is not even close to compare with Emboar, excepting that the latter hits much harder but is so slower.
You should like to mention Pain Split for Rotom-Wash because Rest force a switch in almost any case, meaning that your opponent gets a free turn. Pain Split is unreliable however, so Leftovers should be the item of choice in the case Rest is not used.