Pokémon Rate My Team
0 votes
1,595 views

After some few tries, I found myself torn between the defensive mons that I've been trying out since each has their own strength and weaknesses. So, which among the defensive mons should I put in? Here are the guaranteed team members. I made this team around my favorite mega since I wanted to have at least one team built around it

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf / Choice Specs / Electrium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Poison Jab

Sharkeisha (Garchomp-Mega) @ Garchompite
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast

On Lele, I'm still not sure about the item. I'm really tempted to give it the electric z crystal because Garchomp isn't enough to power thru enemy Celesteelas, especially specially defensive ones. Also, should I keep the nature on Garchomp or use the naive one?

Here's the list of defensive or semi offensive mons I have to choose from. I also did not include Tyranitar as even though it's guaranteed since it is a sand team, I'm not sure which set. So please give opinions on which two defensive mons and which Tyranitar set should I put on the team or if any evs or moves need to be changed

https://pokepast.es/fc8a59a9c7cff1a7

I was also suggested to use a Mega Tyranitar instead but honestly, I'm not confident in my ability to use it as my mega because every single type it's weak to are very common in the ou tier. I was originally leaning on Celesteela + Toxapex / Slowbro but that would leave me without a defogger so now I'm torn among these mons

by
edited by

1 Answer

4 votes
 
Best answer

I'm really going to try to sell you on Mega Tyranitar here. It's the best teammate for Excadrill. It sets Stealth Rocks for it and helps deal with some of the bulky flying types stopping it from sweeping. For example, it can lure in Landorus-T and kill it with an ice move. It can weaken Celesteela which is needed to facilitate the Drill sweep and is something you mentioned you had a hard time against. I don't quite understand your concern for not wanting to use Mega Tyranitar unless you really wanted to use Mega Garchomp over it instead. Base Tyranitar just isn't that optimal since its Mega provides enough offensive pressure to not need a choice band and provides additional utility with hazard setting. If anything, go with an Assault Vest set instead as it helps check Mega Charizard Y and Mega Alakazam for Excadrill. Eventually we'll end up with two different versions of the team with different megas because I really think Mega Tyranitar is worth trying.


Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Fire Punch / Ice Punch

The Speed EVs are to outspeed uninvested Rotom-Wash. If you aren't interested in that, you can go with 76 EVs to outspeed uninvested base 80s such as Mega Venusaur and put anything leftover in HP. The final moveslot could go either way whether you want to be able to hit steel types that are 4x weak like Ferrothorn or if you want to lure Landorus with it.



Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]

I like Tapu Lele here as it can safeguard Excadrill from priority moves that it really doesn't want to take such as Water Shuriken from Greninja and Sucker Punch from Mega Mawile. I would go with a Choice Specs over the other items as you have Sand Rush for speed already and I think Excadrill would rather have the Z move as I will soon explain. Personally, I would take off Thunderbolt since specially defensive Celesteela takes it surprisingly well and will be able to take advantage of the fact that you are locked into an electric move by getting a free switch-in to a ground type. You could go with Focus Blast instead to nuke Heatran, but I think having Psychic to hit as hard as possible would be best. Plus, it 2HKOs offensive Heatran anyways and you don't have to risk missing.



Excadrill @ Steelium Z
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin

Swords Dance is a must have on Excadrill. In combination with Sand Rush, it is extremely dangerous. I'm not sure what Poison Jab is for. It's not doing much damage to Tangrowth even with an attack boost. Though, with the help of Steelium Z, it can easily break through it as well as some of its other usual checks after a Swords Dance. Excadrill is a great Z user. You were talking about needing a Pokemon for hazard control, but you have Excadrill right here with Rapid Spin. It would come at the cost of getting rid of Rock Slide, but it doesn't do much at all for you compared to the utility that Rapid Spin provides so it's a small price to pay.

I have detailed about how Mega Garchomp competes with Mega Tyranitar for a slot already, but it fights for Excadrill's spot as well. They occupy similar roles and I think you are better off with something else if you do decide to go with Mega Chomp. I just don't think they can both fit on the same team. Since you would lose out on Sand Rush, you can change Tapu Lele's item to be scarfed to help with speed. Tornadus-T would be a great alternative as it is another great Z user with hazard control and you were already considering adding it.


Sharkeisha (Garchomp-Mega) @ Garchompite
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock

The set you have already is great, though I would suggest putting Stealth Rocks on it. It forces a lot of switches so you will have ample opportunities to set them up, similarly to how Excadrill finds opportunities to spin. This way you wouldn't have to put them on Tyranitar meaning you are free to use Assault Vest on it. I don't think Stone Edge is necessary as you have Fire Blast to hit Celesteela and Draco Meteor will be doing plenty to flying types, so you can replace that move.



At this point, the team could be looking one of two ways right now depending on whether you want to go with Mega Garchomp or not. I can completely understand since the team was originally built around it after all. Toxapex is a great fit regardless of which route you decide to go with the team. Ferrothorn forms a strong utility core with Mega Garchomp, providing Spikes to complement its Stealth Rock setting. Garchomp also enjoys the Thunder Wave and Knock Off support that Ferrothorn can provide. By now, there are loads of other possibilities on what you could go with. The reason why I linked so many pokepaste sets is because there is a lot of mixing and matching you can do with these sets. I know I didn't really answer your question so much as improve what you already had, so here is a final sample team. Feel free to switch anything up, like for example you can always go and put Excadrill back over Tornadus-T if you don't like that change. Don't be afraid to try out Mega Tyranitar, by the way.

by
selected by
Thanks a lot. I will have to give this a try. I was really hesitant to put Toxapex or Ferrothorn due to the both of them having horrible type synergy with Tyranitar and Excadrill. Although I would like to ask, why does Mega Garchomp compete with Excadrill if they have different roles?

I can't use Mega Tyranitar, not yet anyway. Even though it looks cool and is very fun to use, I need to break a lot of bad habits first, chief among them is not paying full attention to the battle. As someone who is mainly a pc gamer, it's very hard to focus an a game that isn't on a pc. The only reason I've managed to win some battles is because I really don't want my Garchomp to die so I'm forced to really pay attention or it's gonna get killed. Not just Garchomp but also some of my other favorite mons. So, until I manage to actually pay full attention to a battle regardless of pokemon I use, no offensive Tyranitar for me

Also, I have to ask. Other than leech seed, what would the sample team do against a specially defensive Celesteela? The lack of thunderbolt takes off some pressure of it and as I mentioned, fire blast isn't enough to power thru it but stone edge did that, if I don't run out of pp because lol 5 pp

Oh and that poison jab was actually for a predicted Rotom wash switch in. Since neither of Excadrill's stabs puts a scratch on defensive Rotom, I was using poison jab to fish for a poison chance on it since it won't be all the time I would be able to toxic it

Also, which final team member should I put if I use Mega Tyranitar? The sample team only has five if the one with Tyranitar is chosen
I didn't elaborate on this much, but my point was that I don't think Excadrill and Mega Garchomp could comfortably fit on the same team. Having two offensive ground types wanting to take advantage of the limited sand turns just seemed a but redundant to me. They don't do exactly the same thing, but I don't see the need to have them both on the team when their slot could go to something that provides more utility overall.

You make a good point about Celesteela against that sample team. There are definitely some changes that could be made. I think Electric Z Tapu Lele could work to that end, but if you are going to go that route, I think Magearna would be able to do the same thing and better. While it is weak to Flamethrower, Magearna is naturally bulky enough for it not to 2hko so it is free to switch in on it and set up Shift Gear and sweep from there. You could also change Tornadus-T to Zapdos as your hazard removal since your Z crystal would be going elsewhere, though it being able to Knock Off Celesteela's leftovers helps with managing it a lot.

Rotom-Wash is just something that is going to have to be weakened before Excadrill is able to do anything since Poison Jab is so weak without being super effective or having stab damage. I see where you are coming from though. Toxic would be an effective way to cripple it on the switch-in if you prefer.

The sample team was more built around Mega Garchomp so I don't think it would work as well if Mega Tyranitar got thrown in there. I just didn't include a team around Mega Tyranitar since I thought it would be pointless if you weren't going to use it anyways. Something like TTar / Lele / Drill / Rotom-W / Celesteela / and Amoonguss would work well.
Well, that's true. Now I understand why someone I battled once did not have Excadrill on a team that has Mega Garchomp and Tyranitar

I don't have Magearna. People are so touchy when it comes to mythicals. I think I'll take you up on Zapdos or electric z Lele. I forgot that pressure literally drains the pp of leech seed and protect

May I ask for a sample team with the moves and evs? I may not be able to use Mega Tyranitar now because of the reasons I mentioned but once I get over that, I will most definitely be using it
Thanks a lot. Will try this team out
I just tried this team out now and it performed really well. I was a bit skeptical due to the lack of Excadrill but it turned out to be a good thing. Toxapex just puts so much pressure with toxic spikes on the enemy. As someone who's battle style was shaped by Milotic, the Toxapex + Ferrothorn + Tornadus defensive core ended up being a perfect it for me. Thanks again for the advice
I'm glad to hear it worked out for you. I tried the Mega Tyranitar team as well, and it seemed to be pretty good too. I think Tapu Lele might be the weakest link if you decide to use that team, but the Specs set definitely works much better here than it did with the Garchomp team.
I'm actually trying to breed myself a Tyranitar today. There is a free Tyranitar I could get my claws on but I wanna give it dragon dance just in case, even if I end up not using it. I also had that same idea. Specs Lele works better with Tyranitar than it does with Garchomp. Tyranitar + Garchomp even solved my potential Celesteela problem by both having a fire type move that hits on both defensive sides since I replaced earthquake on Tyranitar with fire punch

I did notice a potential problem though, Charizard. It outspeeds my entire team after a dragon dance and there is no way Ferrothorn would be able to paralyze it. With Garchomp now having the greatest offensive presence on the team, I think I need a new choice scarfer to beat Charizard. I was thinking maybe Keldeo, Latios or Greninja
While Charizard does seem pretty good when it gets a Dragon Dance off, its hard for it to find an opportunity to freely do so against this team. It shouldn't be able to OHKO Toxapex at +1 unless it has been weakened already and it can get worn down a lot from all the residual damage on the team (Sandstorm, Stealth Rock, Iron Barbs, Rough Skin if you don't mega evolve, and its own Flare Blitz recoil too). Tyranitar also survives at full HP and should be able to do a good amount of damage to it. That being said, I don't know if any team member is worth replacing just to help with that one matchup but if you think you can fit something in place of a pokemon that isn't pulling its weight then go for it
You're right. I can simply get rid of the boost with Toxapex and send in Tyranitar to kill it. I'll have to encounter a Charizard though just to be sure