Please rate my Gen 8 Anything-goes team! (I obviously need lots of improvements)

Question

Clefable (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots (My wall/Baton passer.. lame, ik.)
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Cosmic Power
- Calm Mind
- Aromatherapy
- Baton Pass
i usually set up a couple of calms minds+cosmic powers, and baton pass to a pokemon of my choice (most of the time i switch to Gastrodon) ill sometimes switch clefable back in to use aromatherapy, as theres a lot of toxic spikes being thrown. (also why i gave clefable the heavy duty boots)

Gastrodon (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Clear Smog
- Sludge Bomb
- Earth Power
- Surf
Gastrodon is my special bulky attacker, clear smog/sludge to reset stat changes, and to clear out grass types.

Volcarona (M) @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 208 Def / 52 Spe
Bold Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Flamethrower
- Roost
I set up about 2-3 quiver dances, hard to safely switch in though, so i use roost+aguav berry

Venusaur (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 144 HP / 112 Atk / 252 SpA
Hasty Nature
- Energy Ball
- Earthquake
- Sludge Bomb
- Knock Off
earthquake for fire types, knock-off for psychic types + annoying items. black sludge for obvious reasons.

Mandibuzz (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Big Pecks
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Iron Defense
- Roost
- Brave Bird
- Payback
my slow defensive girl! made really slow for payback, roost for brave bird recoil.

Espeon (F) @ Light Clay
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Light Screen
fast special sweeper, shadow ball for other psychic types + ghost types. timid nature for speed. light screen setter + light clay.

i know theres a lot i need to improve, like some sort of bulk im missing, so i kinda need help figuring that out. thanks!

Comments

I'm not an expert on Gen 8 AG, but I doubt many of these Pokemon are viable.

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None of your Pokemon are remotely good. Don't play AG because you want to use a team of favourites, play it because you want to win. You can't expect to win with trashmons like these. I recommend reading this: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/ag-viability-rankings.3672899/ to give yourself a basic idea of the format.

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these arent really my favorite pokemon, my favorites ARE literal trash though lol. im not a huge fan of using legendaries, so i guess thats a problem.

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In my opinion, it shouldn't matter if you like using Legends. If you played a format where pretty much all the good Pokemon in that format were Legends, should you just use Pokemon from lower tiers because you don't like Legends? If you want a good team, it shouldn't matter.

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i just think its cheap and boring. i wanna make a team that has no legendaries, but is still good. and its completely ok to not like legends? im not judging you for anything, so whats your deal?

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plus, its fun creating new teams and trying things out. wouldnt it be boring to just use legends all the time?

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It is actually completely impossible to make a good team that doesn't use legendaries in AG. Just play a lower tier, like UU or NU. If you find using legendaries boring, there's a simple solution: Don't play AG. Play a tier where there's almost no legends, like the aforementioned UU/NU.

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but theres still a lot of people in ag that dont use legends?

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Yes, in the lower ladder. They're in low ladder for a reason: they're bad at the game because they don't use legendaries. They're using theme teams or their favourite Pokemon. If you can find a consistently successful team from >1600 ELO without legendaries, please do share. I simply haven't found any success without using 5-6 legendaries, because that's what the tier is all about.

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ah, ok. well, sorry for starting up an argument. have a nice day.

just a quick question, should i replace clefables aromatherapy with moonblast or keep it?

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You should honestly just replace Clefable as a whole. Xerneas and Zacian-Crowned are both better offensive Fairy types, and Xerneas can also do just fine defensively.

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oo ok, how ab a timid natured xerneas + geomancy and life orb?

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Power Herb is usually better on Geomancy Xern, as it allows it to execute the move in one turn instead of two. This is currently what Smogon recommends:

Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Geomancy
- Moonblast
- Thunder
- Substitute

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what if i dont use substitute often? is there possibly a better move to replace it?

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You could possibly consider something like Psyshock to nail special walls like Blissey. However, Substitute is generally the preferred, as it allows you to live any hit and dodge status, giving you a better chance of setting up Geomancy.

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ah, good idea. thanks, ill go try it out. when i think of a better team ill make another rmt.

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Best of luck!

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thank you!

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Yikes, maybe don't come off so strong next time X. Speaking from personal experience. Much love though.

                             - Matt