Please rate my first ever team

Question

Hello,

I am about to have my first ever competitive battle against a guy at work who is fairly seasoned at Pokemon games and I wanted to get some constructive feedback on my team to face him and a little strategy. He sounds like he favours faster 'glass canon' Pokemon, so let's see.

Our stipulations are no legendaries, ultra beasts or mythicals. No batton pass and no Perish song. Lastly, only 1 'tank' per team.

Here's my team:

Alolan Ninetails - First out to set up Aurora Veil to half all damage to the rest of the team
Item - Light Clay - To maintain Aurora Veil
Ability - Snow Warning
Nature - Timid
252 SP Att, 252 Speed, 4 HP

• Aurora Veil - First Move
• Blizzard - STAB and 100% accuracy with Hail from Snow Warning
• Moonblast - STAB
• Extrasensory - Coverage

Tapu Koko
Item - Life Orb
Ability - Electric Surge - Add to Electric damage dealt
Nature - Timid
252 SP Att, 252 Speed, 4 HP

• Thunderbolt - STAB
• Roost - Recovery from damage and Life Orb health sapping
• Volt Switch - STAB and switch out of precarious situations with high speed
• Steel Wing - Coverage

Tyranitar - The Tank
Item - Tyranitarite - Mega Evolution
Ability - Sand Stream
Nature - Careful
252 Hp, 252 SpDef, 4 Def

• Curse - Setup - Will raise Attack and Defence while lowering Speed to aid Payback
• Stone Edge - STAB
• Payback - STAB - 50 damage or 100 if slower, even better after Curse
• Earthquake - Coverage

Toxapex - The Wall
Item - Black Sludge
Ability - Regenerator
Nature - Calm
252 HP, 252 SpDef, 4 Def

• Haze - Setup Clearance
• Toxic - Chip damage that gets worse the longer they stay in
• Scald - STAB 30% chance to burn, especially useful against other poisons
• Recover

Mimiku
Item - Mimikium Z - Z Move
Ability - Disguise
Nature - Adamant
252 Att, 252 Speed, 4 SpDef

• Swords Dance - Setup for free, keep setting up if they don't break disguise
• Shadow Sneak - STAB - Priority against faster 'mons or other ghosts
• Shadow Claw - STAB
• Play Rough - STAB

Volcarona
Item - Focus Sash
Ability - Flame Body
Nature - Timid
252 SpAtt, 252 Speed, 4 Def

• Quiver Dance - Setup and again if Focus Sash saves him from an OHKO
• Flamethrower - STAB
• Bug Buzz - STAB
• Psychic - Coverage

Please let me know what you think. I've put in a lot of reading and preparation so try and keep it constructive :D

Thanks!

Comments

These are very strange rules, as limiting 'tanks' per team is rather restrictive, subjective and detrimental to the process. Also, not all legends and ultra beasts are even good, so why ban them all? I feel your friend is tricking you into a scenario you can't win lol

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haha I hope not! The reason for the 1 tank was to keep the match flowing so that we don't just end up with stall teams :)

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Tapu Koko is alegendary, id use Gengar instead

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Thanks @superworm576 for the clarification. I already have Mimiku for a Ghost, and I'd like to keep an electric if poss. How does a Manetric sound? Or any other suggestions?

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For an electric type, I'd only use Manectric if you would mega evolve it. Base form Manectric is worse than useless. Alolan Raichu is kinda good if you can get the one with surf:

Raichu-Alola @ Aloraichum Z
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt  (STAB, Z-Move)
- Psyshock/Psychic (STAB)
- Surf (Coverage)
- Signal Beam / Hidden Power Ice (Coverage)

Answer 1

Toxapex should not be used as a tank because it doesn't have much for offensive capabilities with its base 63 attack and 53 special attack. But I see you are running a wall set so I think you mean it's a wall. Keep that set on it and trade out Garchomp for Tyranitar to be your tank. Tyranitar can run the same set (other than swords dance which you should replace with crunch) and can mega evolve but it has better bulk than Garchomp by far. However, give it an assault vest since that is a better held item.
Btw Tapu Koko is a legendary which goes against your rules. If your friend makes you replace him you could use this Pokemon instead...
Alakazam @ Alakazite
Ability: Inner Focus
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 SpA 252 Spe 4 SpD
-Recover
-Energy Ball
-Shadow Ball
-Psychic
Hope I helped :)

Comments

Mega Alakazam and assault vest Tyranitar are stronger than life orb Alakazam and mega Tyranitar. Mega evolve Alakazam, not Tyranitar.

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Yeah, your probably right :P

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Thank you for your reply.

Ah ok, my tactic for Toxapex was to throw out Toxic and stall them out with recovers and Scald's while the poison gets worse and drains them down. If that's a wall then I stand corrected in my terminology :)

Tapu Koko seemed to have some debate on whether it counted as a legendary or not, so I might try my luck. If he complains I will look to change him on our next battle. Thank you for the alternative suggestion though.

I will look in to Tyranitar and Salamence as Garchomp alternatives though.

Thank you again!

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Yeah that is definitely a wall, and a good one at that :P
If you need anything else just ask ;)
Your welcome!

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I have thrown up a Tyranitar to replace Garchomp above, see what you think. Basically go slow, absorb a hit and then crush with Stone Edge and/or Payback. Saw it as a moves on this site and liked it. I will experiment with a Salamence as well.

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Sounds good :)

Answer 2

Nice team here! Firstly, replace Steel Wing on Tapu Koko for either Dazzling Gleam or Hidden Power Ice if you were lucky with your IVs... Dazzling Gleam is STAB, and Hidden Power ice hits Ground types who could annoy you very much... :-)

Mimikyu is pretty much perfect, my only suggestion is to give it Jolly Nature instead to outspeed other Mimikyu. But, you do have Shadow Sneak for priority.

For Volcarona I would change Flamethrower for Fiery Dance, and Quiver Dance for Roost. Roost ensures healing, and Fiery Dance raises your Special Atack anyway, so QD isn't needed as much. Toxapex is fine.

On Garchomp, I'd suggest changing it to Mega Salamence because it's Faster and gets Dragon Dance. This is the set I would use:

Salamence @ Salamencite
Ability: Moxie (raise Attack before Mega Evolve) ----> Aerilate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (be fast)
- Dragon Dance (setup)
- Roost (Healing)
- Dragon Claw (STAB, POWA)
- Double-Edge (becomes STAB with its ability, Aerilate.)

Ninetales is fine, but I would use Protect over Extrasensory to scout out what moves the opponent has.

Comments

Thank you for your reply, I'm glad you like my team! :)

I will try and replace Steel Wing on Tapu Koko for Dazzling Gleam, my reasoning for the choice was because I already have Ninetails and Mimiku for Fairy moves and Tapu Koko being so fast could get in and let off my only Steel move with his speed should I need one in a pinch.

I will do as you said with Mimiku's Nature to outspeed. I just wanted him to hit as hard as possible!

My reasoning for Quiver Dance on Volcarona was I'd read pretty much everywhere that it was his essential move. One Quiver Dance sets him up for a complete sweep some people claim?

I will look in to both Tyranitar and Salamence to potentially replace Garchomp, seems he's not so popular lol.

Thank you again!

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With Volcarona, most people use Quiver Dance cause it boosts SpA and Spe and SpD, but Volcarona is already quite fast and has a really good Special Attack stat, so I don't think it's necessary and add roost for healing. Therefore, Fiery Dance has a chance to boost Special Attack, so I didn't see the need for quiver dance.

The thing with Garchomp is that his Mega Evolution is actually worse than his normal form. It has a lower speed, so people generally use normal garchcomp more than Mega. The reason I suggested Salamence is because it's really fast and gets an Aerilate Boosted STAB Double Edge

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Excellent, I have basically that exact Salamence in my boxes, so that's no trouble! I'll weigh it up with Tyranitar.

I will look in to the Volcarona changes, I've just been pushed heavily in to the Quiver Dance setup from other things I've read :) Always good to have options!!

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Yeah. If you use Tyranitar however, you would have 3 Steel-weak Pokemon (Ttar, Ninetales, Mimikyu). Be careful for steel types such as magnezone!