Team Help

General Discussion Team Discussions
1

I am stuck at the elite four and my team keeps getting sweeped… help would be greatly appreciated.
FYI, I do not want to switch out any team members, also they are all level 100.

Delta Charizard
Item- D. Charzardite
Ability- Spirit Call
Nature- Jolly
Moves- Dragon Pulse/Outrage/Phantom Force/Shadow Ball

Raichu
Item- Magnet
Ability- Static
Nature- Mild
Moves- Thunder/Thunderbolt/Thunder Wave/Flash

Rapidash
Item- Charcoal
Ability- Flash Fire
Nature- Lonely
Moves- Fire Blast/Stomp/Incinerate/Fire Charge

Machamp
Item- Focus Band
Ability- No Guard
Nature- Modest
Moves- Drain Punch/Ice Punch/Bulk Up/Revenge

Empoleon
Item- Sea Incense
Ability- Torrent
Nature- Quiet
Moves- Iron Defense/Hydro Pump/Aqua Jet/Brine

Serperior
Item- Miracle Seed
Ability- Overgrow
Nature- Timid
Moves- Leaf Blade/Giga Drain/Coil/Leaf Storm

2

What difficulty?

3

Normal

4

There’s just… SO MUCH wrong with this team. No offense, but I’m genuinely surprised you managed it this far.

5

LMAO… yeah I sorta just picked Pokemon that I like and thats about it.

6

It’s not only the Pokémon, a lot of moveset just doesn’t make any sens to me.

Just, Raichu, when do you decide to use Thunder over Thunderbolt? Do you really need all three of Leaf Blade, Leaf Storm AND Giga Drain?

7

With Raichu, I really haven’t seen any other moves to replace pretty much everything except thunderbolt, thunder wave is mostly there for catching purposes. Same situation with Serperior, I haven’t seen anything to replace leaf storm with.

8

Alright. So you don’t want any replacement? Like, can I ask you to get to the friend Safari and get a new Serperior with Contrary instead?

9

I could do that. I meant I don’t want to get a completely different pokemon. Also any ideas for move replacements?

1 Like
10

That restriction is ultimately annoying, as Raichu and Rapidash are (sadly) not very effective Pokémon overall. I also prefer Delta Haxorus instead of Empoleon but I can deal with it.

D.Charizard

You have two big issues her. First, it has 0 coverage. Second, your Charizard is Jolly nature, meaning it gets a 10% speed bonus and a 10% SpA debuff. This is really bad, as D.Charizard is mainly a special attacker with Shadow Ball, Dragon Pulse/Draco Meteor, Flamethrower/Sludge Bomb/Ice Beam. Now, if you really want to keep using a Special attacker anyway, you can, but you will loose very precious damage output. Ideal nature would be Timid.

So, you might want to consider a Physical sweeper with Outrage/Dragon Claw, Phantom Force, Earthquake, Dragon Dance.

Raichu

Well, there isn’t as much as I would like with it. You should run Thunderbolt, Grass Knot, Focus Blast and maybe Thunder Wave. Life Orb is the preferred item you use your borderline offense, but you are still going to faint to any sneeze coming your direction. Focus Sash would be too expensive. Timid would be preferred, but I don’t think you are willing to do breeding nor understand how natures really works.

Rapidash

Ooof. Wish it was Arcanine or something good like Volcarona. Well, with a bad nature, I guess you should try to get a Jolly one. Anyway, this is the best I can give you. Do not expect something really good out of this.
Jolly Nature
-Flare Blitz
-Wild Charge
-Megahorn
-Morning Sun / Drill Run

Machamp

It is very sad to see. A MODEST MACHAMP. Modest nerf its attack and buff its abysmal SpA. I HIGHLY suggest you try to get Adamant or maybe a better fighting type, but gonna deal with this. As you have No Guard, you can ignore any semblance of accuracy from your move as they will always hit. Use Assault Vest with this:

  • Dynamic Punch
  • Knock Off
  • Bullet Punch
  • Stone Edge

Let me make my lunch, I’ll be back with Empoleon and Serperior.

11

ok thanks… looks like I may need to revamp the team altogether

1 Like
12

So. I have been looking at other pokemon and my new team will probably look something like this:

D. Charizard

D. Gardevoir to replace Raichu

D. Chandelure to replace Rapidash

Machamp

D. Haxorus to replace Empoleon

Sceptile to replace Serperior

I have absolutely no idea if Sceptile or D. Gardevoir are good or not, but I have heard D. Chandelure is one of the better fire types, it also has the fairy typing as well to deal with dragons. I’m using D. Haxorus per your suggestion.

1 Like
13

Machamp might not be ideal.

14

Mine? Or just Machamp in general?

15

Just something quick, my shift is starting soon.

Delta Gardevoir is the best choice Scarf user in my opinion, and can beat almost any dragon type with a specific moveset. Extremely good against the champion.

D.Chandelure is BRUTAL. Specs for quite slow but outstanding power or Sub + Calm Mind to setup against more passive foes.

I suggest Contrary Serperior over Sceptile.

If it don’t have Aqua Jet on Haxorus, Bullet Punch is a good alternative. All it’s abilities are great, you will love that Pokémon.

I just noticed your team is quite weak to ground, so Gyarados wouldn’t be a bad choice. Plus, I know a set that annihilate Kayla and does nice against Eduard.

16

thanks for all of the feedback!

17

If you feel like memeing, use the Modest Machamp with Choice Specs, No Guard, and Focus Blast, and any other special coverage. Probably wants Vacuum Wave if it gets it, idr rn.

2 Likes
18

better but serp is cooler than sceptile and more reliable with contrary. just trade it to someone to get contrary and boom it can take out most of the mons

1 Like
19

yeah I ended up sticking with contrary serperior, however I like sceptile more as a pokemon.

1 Like
20

Delta Gardevoir should run a set of Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Moonblast and Earth Power. This combo allow to hit any Dragon type for super effective damage and also have an outstanding coverage with the BoltBeam (Electric/Ice) who have an exceptional Neutral Coverage and Fairy/Ground having a very good super effective coverage. With this, you want a Choice Scarf. This will patch its speed issue and, for a glass canon like it, striking first is often the best way to survive. Delta Gardevoir seems really made to be a neir perfect Scarfer.

145 base special attack. That Delta Chandelure hit harder than Latios and almost as hard as Kyogre without rain. WATCH OUT! Chandelure can learn Moonblast only before reaching its final evolution. Flash Fire is nice, but with it’s nice resistance set, Weak Armor can be interesting to patch its speed issue without needing Choice Scarf. I recommend using Choice Specs with Moonblast, Fire Blast/Flamethrower, Energy Ball and Scald/Earth Power. Or, a Calm Mind set as the fourth move and Leftovers (maybe?) can be good too, but lack the immediate power of Specs.

What I prefer about D.Haxorus instead of Empoleon is it’s higher offensive stat more suited to the adventure. All it’s abilities are good, Strong Jaw giving stronger coverage with Ice Fang and Crunch while Water Veil makes it immune to Burns and thus harder to stop. Against the E4, having Taunt is mandatory. While I feel like Gyarados is way stronger against Kayla as it have Taunt, Dragon Dance and Moxie, D.Haxorus can do something similar-ish with Taunt, Swords Dance, Aqua Tail and Crunch. Turn 1, use Taunt. Then, use Swords Dance to sweep. I do feel liked this set is noticeably worse than with Gyarados, but it’s better than nothing.
Problem with this set is that it’s good only against Kyla and you don’t have the possibility to teach it Iron Head on your way back to the other members. 4 moveslot syndrome.

Last, Serperior. Among the things available to you, Leaf Storm is just basically the whole point of Serperior. Aside from that, I would say Dragon Pulse is a nice Coverage. Lastly, your choice of Substitue + Leech Seed or Glare + something else. Having Hidden Power Fire would’ve been nice to patch the Steel problem. Heck, even a Taunt + Substitue could work against Kayla, but you have no opportunity to get enough boost to pass Scizor.