Pokémon Rate My Team
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I have a team built around Mega Gyarados that I need an outside opinion on. All pokemon on this team (except for Gyarados) can be swapped out for another pokemon from any tier except Ubers.

Gyarados
Item: Gyaradosite
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Intimidate
252 atk, 252 spe, 4 hp
Dragon Dance
Earthquake
Waterfall
Crunch

Toxapex
Item: Black Sludge
Nature: Calm
Ability: Regenerator
252 def, 252 sp.def, 4 hp
Stockpile
Toxic
Scald
Recover

Bisharp
Item: Dread Plate
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Defiant
252 atk, 252 spe, 4 hp
Swords Dance
Knock Off
Sucker Punch
Iron Head

Tangrowth
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Sassy
Ability Regenerator
252 hp, 252 sp.def, 4 def
Leech Seed
Substitute
Giga Drain
Knock Off

Landorus-T (The cancer himself)
Item: Rocky Helmet
Nature: Relaxed (got it from a trade)
Ability: Intimidate
252 hp, 252 def, 4 spe
Stealth Rock
U-Turn
Defog
Earthquake

Infernape
Item: Life Orb
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Iron Fist
252 atk, 252 spe, 4 hp
U-Turn
Mach Punch
Fire Punch
Thunder Punch

If you have improvements, please reply with alternative team members, items, abilities, EV spreads or movesets. Thank you.

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1 Answer

1 vote

Hi! This is a pretty interesting team that I think is off to a good start. I think a big problem with this team is that there isn't much speed control and not enough defensive pressure to handle powerful offensive teams. A lot of it has to do with the sets that you chose not being the most optimal for this team, but I also think that a couple pokemon can be replaced to better help with this issue.

I'll first start off with Infernape. I used to enjoy playing with a mixed Infernape set back in ORAS OU as a niche threat to common defensive cores, but SMOU has introduced offensive threats that can outclass it like Blacephalon, as well as defensive threats like Toxapex that make it harder for Infernape to break through defensive teams. As such, Infernape has been rendered more obsolete in the OU tier in Sun and Moon to the point where it just isn't really viable anymore. I think a better pokemon to use on this team instead of Infernape is Utility Heatran.


Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock

Utility Heatran provides a number of advantages to your team over Infernape. This Heatran set gives you additional counterplay versus stall teams as well as giving you another check to Tapu Lele, which can be very threatening to your team. I added Stealth Rock over Toxic because I plan on removing Stealth Rock from your Landorus-Therian and I wanted a new hazard setter for the team.

SD Bisharp has the ability to deal a lot of damage to various defensive pokemon such as Ferrothorn and Tangrowth at +2 that would otherwise be roadblocks for Mega Gyarados to sweep when they're at full health. However, against offensive teams, I believe that Bisharp would have a hard time finding an opportunity to set up due to its frailty. Furthermore, Bisharp is unable to pick off pokemon such as Mega Lopunny and Keldeo that are capable of revenge killing Mega Gyarados unless they've been weakened. This also goes for other offensive pokemon with enough bulk to live a +2 Sucker Punch from full. To alleviate the lack of speed control to deal with offensive teams, I suggest replacing Bisharp with Shift Gear Magearna.


Magearna @ Fairium Z
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shift Gear
- Fleur Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast

Magearna retains a steel type breaker for your team, but what Magearna has over Bisharp is the ability to boost its Speed via Shift Gear to outspeed and KO some of the aforementioned offensive threats that Bisharp can't. Having Magearna over Bisharp also gives you a second Tapu Lele check that's better than Bisharp due to Magearna's typing allowing it to resist Moonblast. Fairium Z on the Magearna allows it to deal large amounts of damage to defensive pokemon like Tangrowth and Clefable that Bisharp was able to handle with Swords Dance and weaken or KO them for Mega Gyarados. Magearna also has more natural bulk compared to Bisharp which can allow it take hits better, which is useful for the bulky nature of this team.

Next I'm gonna list some set changes for the rest of your pokemon. As I said earlier, this team looks like it's in some need of speed control. I wanted the team to have something that could immediately revenge kill threats and not just Magearna which has to set up first. In order to have that, I decided to change your Landorus-Therian set to a Choice Scarf Landorus-Therian.


Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 80 HP / 148 Atk / 84 Def / 196 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power Ice
- Defog

As listed on the Smogon analysis for Landorus-Therian, the EVs on this set allow for Landorus-Therian to live two unboosted Leaf Blades from Kartana after Stealth Rock while also being able to outspeed Mega Alakazam and anything slower than it.

Tangrowth should be running an Assault Vest set in order to better deal with powerful special attackers like Greninja.


Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 228 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power Ice
- Earthquake

Finally, Toxapex should be running Haze over Stockpile since its defenses are already incredibly good and thus doesn't need to boost its defenses even more. Haze allows for Toxapex to get rid of stat boosts which could potentially be useful against set-up sweepers. Additionally, Mega Gyarados should have its 4 HP EVs moved to Special Defense. This allows Mega Gyarados to have an odd HP number, which means that it can switch into Stealth Rock one additional time. Toxapex should change its spread to 248 HP/252 SpD/8 Def in order to be bulkier on the Special side to handle pokemon like Greninja better.

I tried not to replace more than two pokemon on your team, so this might not be as optimal of a team as it could be, but I think these changes improved some of the issues with this team. I hope this helps! Also, I'm not sure if you only wanted to use this for Wi-Fi battles, since you mentioned getting your Landorus-Therian from a trade. If some of these changes aren't possible for you on your game cartridge, you could always try testing out the team on Pokemon Showdown.

Summary of Changes
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Haze > Stockpile | Change spread to 248 HP/252 SpD/8 Def
Move 4 HP to SpD

Importable

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edited by
Thank you for the suggestions! Unfortunately, I can't make all of the changes that you mentioned due to the fact that I can't easily obtain legendary pokemon with the natures/ivs I would like. I have a Magearna and a Heatran. Magearna is modest though, and has max ivs in defense, special defense and special attack. Heatran is bold with max ivs in speed, special attack, special defense, defense and hp. I have already made the changes that I can, giving Gyarados an odd hp number and giving Toxapex Haze. Another issue is the breeding specific ivs to obtain specific hidden power types, which I often struggle with. I use this team in 6v6 singles where duplicate items are allowed, so would it be fine to switch Tangrowth with Amoonguss? My Amoonguss looks like this (its spread is also up for change)
Nature: Bold
Ability: Regenerator
Item: Black Sludge
16 hp, 252 sp.def, 240 def
Spore
Synthesis
Sludge Bomb
Giga Drain

I also have an assault vest tangrowth, but the set is different. (Spread is up for change)
Sassy
Regenerator
Assault vest
180 hp, 72 def, 252 sp.def
Ivs: all perfect
Knock off
Earthquake
Sludge bomb
Giga drain
You said this was OU? Are you not playing on Showdown?
Fixed a mistake I made in the summary where I mixed up two points with each other regarding Toxapex and Gyarados. Also added a little to my reasoning for the Bisharp to Magearna change.

And to answer your question, it would be better for you to use Tangrowth instead of Amoonguss because AV Tangrowth can check certain pokemon like Zygarde (Sub+Toxic sets can be annoying for Tangrowth, though) and Mega Alakazam, which can beat Amoonguss, that your team would otherwise have less consistent answers to. Not having Hidden Power Ice on Tangrowth could be problematic, though, since Tangrowth is the team's best answer to Zygarde and HP Ice is the only move that can deal good damage to it. It's also nice to have HP Ice on Landorus-Therian to revenge kill Zygarde as well and it's useful on both pokemon to hit things like opposing Landorus-Therian and Garchomp. I would advise you to use the EV spread I listed for Tangrowth. It might have been good to put this in my answer, but the EV spread allows you to live a +1 Z-move boosted Outrage from Zygarde with max HP and 28 Defense EVs, while the rest goes into Special Defense for maximum defensive capabilities against specially attacking pokemon.

Also something to note is that after a Shift Gear, Modest max speed Magearna does not outspeed certain scarfers like Choice Scarf Landorus-Therian.

I understand if it's too tedious to breed those pokemon again with the right IVs. I don't think the team will fall apart in Wi-Fi battles without the right IVs and natures, but it definitely won't perform as well as it could. Like I said, if you want to test the team out in a competitive setting without being held back by the time constraints of breeding, there's always Pokemon Showdown.
Okay, so I have another question. I've made some updates for the team (which I plan to use in the actual game).
Instead of Infernape, I have a Mamoswine
Adamant
Groundium Z
252 atk, 252 spe, 4 sp.def
Ability: Thick Fat
Ice Shard
Icicle Crash
Earthquake
Stealth Rock
I changed Toxapex's set, as per your advice.
Now, with Tangrowth, I'm still using the SubSeed set, which I have modified by replacing Substitute with Sleep Powder, but I'm considering the other Tangrowth I have made for AV. It doesn't have HP ice, but I'm wondering if this set could work:
Sassy
252 sp.def, 76 def, 180 hp
Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Giga Drain
Knock Off
Bulldoze
Sludge Bomb

The reason I have Bulldoze over Earthquake is to provide some (although minor) methods of speed control, and this Tangrowth isn't really focused on dealing excessive amounts of damage.
I've edited the team quite a bit now, but I still think it could be better. Here's the new team:

Gyarados (same as before, except 4 EVs in 4p.def)

Toxapex (252 hp and sp. def, 4 in def, replaced stockpile with Haze)

Kartana
Ability: Beast Boost (what else)
Nature: Jolly
252 atk, 252 spe, 4 def
Item: Grassium Z
Swords Dance
Leaf Blade
Smart Strike
Sacred Sword

Garchomp
Ability: Rough Skin
Nature: Jolly
252 atk, 252 spe, 4 def
Item: Life Orb/Focus Sash
Stealth Rock
Earthquake
Outrage
Fire Fang/Iron Head

Gliscor
Ability: Poison Heal
Nature: Impish
252 hp, 184 def, 72 spe
Item: Toxic Orb (duh)
Earthquake
Roost
Defog
U-Turn

Latios
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
252 sp. atk, 252 spe, 4 sp. def
Item: Soul Dew
Draco Meteor
Psyshock
Recover
Defog

Mainly, I think my big doubt about the new team is the fact that 3 of the pokemon are weak to ice, but I've heard that a problem like that is usually not that bad. Let me know if I can improve it any more though!