Making a New Moon Team

General Discussion Team Discussions
1

Hi everyone!

I’m new-ish to PI, and figured I’d make a New Moon team after doing some reading before starting the game. Most of this is theoretical since 1) I don’t have all the Pokemon I need yet, and 2) I’m not far enough into the game to have all the good items and stuff available to me. Most of this is based on some thinking, so some movesets/EVs/Pokemon aren’t set in stone. Lets get to it!

Delta Charizard@Delta Charizardite

Ability: Dark Aura

Nature: Timid

EVs: 252 Speed, 252 Special Attack, 4 Special Defense

Shadow Ball

Lunar Cannon

Dragon Pulse/Draco Meteor

Shadow Sneak/something else (Idk)

I figured I’d need Delta Charizard since he’s one of the two New Moon setters PI gets. Went with Timid since he gets outsped by some Pokemon who can take advantage of New Moon and hit him super-effectively. I figured I’d have to build the team around Delta Charizard because Dark can take advantage of him. I like to think EVs/nature/ability/moveset are pretty standard since he’s meant to take advantage of New Moon to kill stuff. I honestly don’t know what to do with the fourth slot though. I figured Shadow Sneak would be okay because 1) priority is great, and 2) Mega Delta Charizard has pretty good Attack, so Shadow Sneak can ensure that weakened Pokemon will die to it. I feel I’ve been forced to build the rest of the team around Mega Delta Charizard since it has a glaring Sucker Punch weakness, but I’m not sure how to go about it.

Spiritomb@Dark Rock

Ability: Noctem

Nature: Adamant? Maybe Impish? I have no clue.

EVs: No clue for these, either.

Sucker Punch

Shadow Sneak

Will-O-Wisp

Toxic

I honestly don’t know what to do with Spiritomb. He’s a weather setter, so I need him to do something. I’ve considered him for a Mega slot since I’ve heard Mega Spiritomb is good, but I’m still not sure. Double STAB priority is nice, especially since they’ll always have boosted power from New Moon. Other than that, I don’t know how to treat Spiritomb.

Delta Roserade@Choice Specs

Ability: Shadow Dance

Nature: Modest

EVs: 252 Special Attack, 80 Speed, 176 Special Defense

Dark Pulse/Lunar Cannon

Energy Ball

Hidden Power Ice

Shadow Ball

Delta Roserade’s definitely meant to be part of a New Moon team, but I don’t have the Delta Budew yet in-game, so I can’t test this at all. I sort of made up an EV spread based on how I think she would be run. I feel that Delta Roserade would be best suited to switching into Pokemon who won’t do much damage against the Dark/Fairy typing like specially-based Ghost and Dark Pokemon, as well as Dragons and Psychics. I picked Modest since Timid would make Roserade’s 180 base Speed under New Moon redundant. I’m not sure if I should use Lunar Cannon or Dark Pulse, since it’s likely Roserade won’t always be active under New Moon. I’ll most likely go for Dark Pulse as a safety measure, since it’ll still pack a good punch with New Moon, STAB, and Roserade’s Special Attack. I chose not to give Roserade Moonblast or some other Fairy move since it would do lessened damage under New Moon. HP Ice is for Dragons who would be hard-pressed to bypass the Fairy typing. I honestly don’t know what I could do to make this set better besides maybe a better EV spread, but I’ll iron that out in time.

Now, this is where I’m not sure where to go with the team. I’ve considered using Donphan, Galvantula, and/or Klefki in some combination of two of those three for entry hazard/miscellaneous support, but I honestly haven’t given enough thought into this, especially in-game. I don’t how how I should round out the offensive core as well. I’ve considered a bunch of Pokemon; Bisharp and Scizor are up there, but I need something that can combat Dark and Ghost Pokemon while being able to work off New Moon at the same time. I’ve thought of Mega Cacturne/Shiftry but I’m still not sure.

That’s where you guys come in! What do you guys think I should do? As I said, I don’t have access to all the competitive tools and great Pokemon in PI just yet, but I’d like to know what to do before I get to that point.

Thanks for reading!

2 Likes
2

New Moon also doubles the effect of Hone Claws, so you should think about using something to abuse that, like Excadrill, Weavile… I use a Hustle Durant with Hone Claws, it hits really hard.

New Moon also increases the power of Surf by 50%

3

I completely forgot about those! I feel like Durant would be able to stay alive while using Hone Claws more than Weavile would. Steel and Bug cover both Fairy and Dark respectively, so Durant has that going over Weavile. Weavile has priority attacks though…

I don’t know. I’ll test them both, most likely. Thank you for your suggestion.

4

I love the idea of a New Moon team and have one in the works as well. M-Delta Charizard and Delta Roserade are the perfect start, I feel like just about every New Moon team will have them and with good reason.

For Delta Charizard, that is a good moveset for now. Based on the simulator, in future updates it will get Flamethrower and Sludge Bomb via TM so I would suggest them as options as well.

Spiritomb is another great choice you’ve included. Will-o-Wisp is useful to burn opposing physical attackers, while Sucker Punch and Shadow Sneak make use of New Moon and get around its low Speed. Instead of Toxic I’d consider maybe Revenge - Spiritomb isn’t going to outspeed anything and Revenge lets it hit anything that doesn’t resist Fighting quite hard. Having two status moves is okay but a bit redundant. Non-mega Spiritomb’s attack isn’t amazing so I’d probably go Adamant to boost it a little bit.

Love the idea of using Hone Claws. If you want to pack a real punch against opposing Dark types but have some survivability as well I would suggest Hustle Delta Scyther with Hone Claws and the yet-to-be released Eviolite. Life Orb is another option which makes it even more obscenely powerful but exacerbates its existing frailty.

In terms of Surf users, Greninja and Hydreigon would be strong options who can also make use of New Moon, or Jellicent if you want to go more defensive.

1 Like
5

Seeing as surf also gains a boost from New Moon, greninja would be really great especially if you can get dark pulse on it

6

I’ve given a lot of thought to Greninja. I’ll likely try him, but I’m not sure if he’ll make it as a part of the team.

Thank you for your suggestion.

8

Looks like you deleted your post but yes, it will be good once those TMs come out. Spiritomb gets Revenge via breeding with Stunfisk in Insurgence, see https://wiki.p-insurgence.com/Spiritomb_(Pokémon)

Durant is a good option, I have never used one before and didn’t realise how fast it was! Would not have expected it to be quicker than Scyther. That Special Defence though haha.

Yeah that’s fair, I do think Greninja is a good option but it is probably good to have at least one or two non-Dark and Ghosts on the team. Fairies are less of an issue since their attacks are weakened under the New Moon but still a Steel or Poison type is a good idea.

1 Like
9

I accidentally switched my replies to you and another user on here and deleted the post in a panic. But yo, I love Durant. It outspeeds non-Scarfed stuff like Salamence and Garchomp and all the Pokemon with 90-105 speed tiers, so being able to hit the things you wouldn’t expect to be slower than Durant with a Crunch in New Moon or a STAB Iron Head off 700 attack is awesome.

As it would turn out, Delta Roserade’s a bit offbeat in practice. Moonblast has 105 base power with STAB and the New Moon debuff calculated in, which isn’t too bad, but I’ve resorted to an alternate moveset of Dark Pulse/Hurricane/Thunderbolt/Energy Ball because I was hesitant to use Moonblast. I’ll most likely add it back since it seems impossible to get 30 IVs onto Pokemon in Insurgence at this point.