How can my gen 7 team be improved?

Question

I am part of a group that has members that wanna battle and I want in. The rules are really simple, no pokemon above 600 base stat total, megas and battle bond are the exceptions (and maybe Slaking but nobody uses that). Another rule is no same pokemon and no same items. So I've made a team based on the the pokemon I currently have and I need some tips on it. Here is my team:

Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 hp / 240 Def / 16 Spd
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- Defog
- Whirlwind

Skarmory is my lead. It is there to set up stealth rock and with sturdy, it is guaranteed never to get killed in one hit unless my opponent's lead somehow has mold breaker. I gave it rocky helmet because I have no idea what else to give it. It has no attacking moves but if my opponent has taunt then I'll try keep Skarmory away from it. Roost and rocks should be pretty self explanatory. I gave it defog to get some pressure off Milotic and Rotom via removing hazards and whirlwind to reset my opponent's boosted pokemon

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Abiltiy: Levitate
EVs: 252 hp / 180 Def / 76 Spd
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunder Wave
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hydro Pump

This pokemon is in charge of crippling the opponents pokemon. It has both thunder wave and will o wisp to cripple the opponent with the appropriate status. Paralyze for fast threats such as Greninja or Starmie and burn for physical attackers like Salamence or Mega Swampert. Volt Switch because chip damage while leaving is always useful and Hydro Pump so it an deal a decent amount of damage. I'm actually thinking of giving it Choice Scarf instead and replacing Hydro Pump with trick but I need some input on this first before I do it

Milotic @ Flame Orb
Ability: Marvel Scale
EVs: 248 hp / 180 Def / 80 SpD
Bold Nature
- Toxic
- Recover
- Scald
- Light Screen

While Rotom is in charge of crippling attackers, Milotic is in charge of crippling walls with toxic. I decided to give it light screen to provide a bit of help especially for Skarmory otherwise thunderbolt or flamethrower is just gonna force it to 1 hp upon switching. I gave it lots of defense evs because it's defense is not that great. Flame orb is to provide it with some sort of protection against status while further increasing its defense via Marvel Scale, making this one a pain to take down if Marvel Scale activated with light screen up

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 hp / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- U turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Knock Off

Just three words on why I chose this one: I hate Fairies. It's main job is to destroy fairy types with technician bullet punch with choice band. I gave this one 252 hp because I'm not really sure where to put it. U turn and superpower are there to avoid or just downright destroy Magnezone. I also gave it knock off because it might come in handy

Gengar @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 Spe / 252 SpA / 4 hp
Modest Nature
- Pyschic
- Shadow Ball
- Thunder
- Sludge Bomb

I chose Gengar because I need a special attacker. For this one, I'm not sure about its nature and item. I'm confused if it should be Timid instead for speed. I'm also uncertain if z crystal is the best item for it. I was thinking of giving it choice specs or life orb instead. I gave Gengar thunder because I'm almost 100% certain that the first guy I'm gonna battle is gonna use a rain team, so I'm gonna use thunder to get rid of his Pelipper asap and cripple his team

Garchomp @ Garchompite
Ability: Rough Skin >>> Sand Force
EVs: 4 SpD / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance

My favorite pokemon, Garchomp. I decided to use this because its shiny mega looks awesome, to me anyway. I also wanted to experiment about how strong Mega Garchomp is if the speed playing field was leveled, hence Rotom. EVs and natures are pretty much self explanatory. Also, I gave it swords dance because based on my recent random battles, there isn't much than can survive a hit from a boosted Mega Garchomp

I made this team with the idea that, if one pokemon is weak to a certain type, there must be at least two pokemon who can resist or just shrug it off. The only one who doesn't get this is Gengar but that is where Milotic comes in. With Marvel Scale and light screen, it's just gonna shrug off most super effective hits, depending on who they come from so let alone neutral damage ones. At the moment I don't have a Bold Milotic but I should be able to get one by tomorrow since I have oras and I can simply catch a few dozen Feebas until I get the nature I want. The random battles I mentioned are not against members from the group I'm in. They were just random trainers I beat up who use six shiny legendaries. So kindly give advice on my team

Comments

I forgot to mention, please don't suggest legendaries. I don't like using them

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Using Milotic and Rotom on the same team makes you weak to Shaymin, Serperior, and Kartana. Screens are also pretty bad because defog is common. Use Chansey or Tangrowth if you want a defensive Pokemon. Choice band Scizor (and Skarmory) makes your team weaker to Charizard, Blaziken, and Volcarona and doesn't help against Tapu Lele and Magearna. If you want to keep Skarmory, then replace Scizor with a not-as-good fairy killer, like Pheromosa. If you want a good fairy killer, replace both Skarmory and Scizor with Staraptor and Aegislash. Give Gengar the mega stone and give Garchomp a Rockinium Z, so both of them are faster and Gengar can trap things.

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@sumwun
I have Staraptor, Aegislash and Pheromosa right now but just not with the right natures but I can just chain breed them. I am also still hunting a regenerator Tangela but so far no luck so that might take a while. What nature, EVs and items should I give them?

Oh I forgot defog also removes light screens. Since I don't have the pokemon you mentioned (with the right natures anyway), would it be viable if I use light screen as bait to put toxic on the enemy defogger or draw it in only to be immediately whirlwind away?

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@RobloxianSceptile

Skarmory's EVs are on hp, defense and special defense. It doesn't have speed EVs at all. Sassy reduces Speed in favor for Special defense. Skarmory doesn't need speed anyway so I just left it at that. If I replace anything I think maybe whirlwind

That's the thing about the battles I am participating. It's competitive but nobody follows the meta. Only around one or two meta pokemon and the others are not ones you would normally expect. This is why I chose choice band Scizor. It only has one job anyway and nothing more. I guess protecting Rotom and Milotic from grasses count

What should I replace Thunder Wave with? I only slapped that one because I had no idea what else to give it and it did come in handy every now and then. An unexpected paralysis because they think it only has burn

I didn't think psychic was that great too. Like with Rotom, I only gave it that because I'm not sure what else to give it. What's a good replacement for psychic?

I'll do that, but I wanna enjoy the pink Mega Garchomp for a bit before I use it seriously

And the light screen? Can you explain why Ice Beam? I understand its coverage but Milotic doesn't have any offensive EVs or nature so even a pokemon that's 4x weak to it should be able to survive from full hp. I was actually planning to use screen to bait the defogger to switch into a toxic

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Combining light screen and toxic is gimmicky and unreliable. Many defoggers, such as Skarmory, Gliscor, and Tapu Fini, are immune to poison or don't care if you poison them. The opponent might use a physical attacker or Serperior instead of a defogger. Toxic won't significantly cripple most physical attackers (because you have 2 healing moves and no protect), and whirlwind just stalls out your own light screen turns. Just replace Milotic with this Tangrowth set.

Tangrowth @ assault vest
Ability: regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy nature
- giga drain
- knock off
- earthquake
- hidden power [fire]

Replace Scizor with this set to hit harder against Tapu Lele and a bunch of non-fairies.

Pheromosa @ life orb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive nature
- U-turn
- high jump kick
- ice beam
- poison jab

Skarmory needs physical attack less than it needs speed. Give it a calm nature. Replace Rotom's thunder wave with defog and replace Skarmory's defog with spikes or brave bird. Replace Gengar's psychic with focus blast to cover normal, dark, and steel.

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@sumwun

Thanks. I'll give this a shot. May I ask if it would alright if I use Milotic for now? I dont have the regenerator tangrowth yet and breeding for hp fire could take a very long time. I'll just replace light screen with aqua ring or protect

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Sure, just remember that using Milotic and Rotom on the same team makes you weak to strong grass attacks.

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I'll keep that in mind. I have three pokemon that laughs at grass attacks anyway. Thanks for the help

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Shaymin and Serperior often know fire hidden power, and Kartana often knows knock off. Then what will you do?

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That would be a problem. I guess it will just be a battle of prediction for me. If I predict correctlt and switch Garchomp to an hp fire, then it could do some work. If not, I may be doomed. Won't I face the same problem if I use Tangrowth with both hp fire and knock off?

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Using Tangrowth gives grass opponents less opportunities to switch in. Tangrowth is also better than Milotic at checking water and electric opponents.

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Fair point. I'm gonna switch to Tangrowth now since I have its regenerator. Can you give an alternative to hidden power if there is any good one?

Answer 1

Hey fellow pokemon user. Now the pokemon you have are great you just do not know how to make the best movesets. Now movesets tend to be my forte so here are some suggestions.

Skarmory needs an attacking move to be good. I recomend steel wing or iron head instead of whirlwind or roost.
Rotom is looking nice but instead of thunder wave or will-o-whisp use thunderbolt
Milotic looks very good but instead of light screen use ice beam.
Scizor needs some work. First you need to make it your mega instead of garchomp due it being better. The moves are nice but instead of superpower use x-scissor.
Gengar is fine but instead of psychic give it energy ball
Finally for garchomp as an item the rocky helmet is good. Also Iron head is better than stone edge for moves.

Those are my suggestions. I think they will help.

Comments

This feedback would be a lot better if you could justify each suggestion. For example:
- Why should Scizor use X-Scissor when Superpower provides superior coverage paired with Bullet Punch?
- Why do you think Energy Ball is a better option than Psychic?
- Why is Iron Head better than Stone Edge? (Do you think he should fight Fairy-types using Garchomp instead of switching to one of his two Steel-types?)

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Why is mega Scizor better than mega Gengar?

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Like the others said, your answers need justification.
- Why would Scizor need X scissor? U turn is just ten damage less than x scissor and provides a good way to escape if it fails to ko
- Why Ice Beam on a defensive Milotic? This is something I never understood. I don't see the point in it's coverage if it doesn't have the firepower necessary to kill an opponent's pokemon. Remember, my Milotic in this has zero offensive EVs
- Iron head is useless on Garchomp. Against fairies, it would have 160 damage and a stab earthquake has 150. There is no reason to use iron head on Garchomp at all unless I'm fighting someone like alolan Ninetails. Which is a bad matchup in the first place