[RATE MY TEAM] First Sun & Moon VGC Team Mk. II

[KiwiTiger]

Well will Sun and Moon finally here, its time i get back into the VGC scene. I disliked the direction the game went for competitive in ORAS.

Here is the first team i have created and have had success with. Its not perfect by any means but I feel it a good start point.
I tried using the Ultra Beasts as well but non fit on what I build.

Now on with the team!

Comfey @ Leftovers
Ability: Triage
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Floral Healing
- Trick Room
- Helping Hand
- Protect

Here we have the base of the whole team really, I wanted to use this cute little guy and after I learned he got Trick Room. I gave him a more defensive set to help him heal and support the team.Normally I don't care for Pokemon without an attacking moved, but from my testing Comfey is doing alright with it since after trick room is up, itll just use Helping Hand or Healing with its partner.

Golem-Alola @ Rockium Z
Ability: Galvanize
Level: 50
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 SpD
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Rock Slide
- Protect
- Return
- Explosion

Though a little tricky to get going since it requires trick room to make a dent in a team, Golem can make a dent. The Sp. Def is mainly there to help Golem to survive but I am unsure of keeping it.

Tapu Bulu @ Assault Vest
Ability: Grassy Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 100 HP / 208 Atk / 100 Def / 100 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Horn Leech
- Zen Headbutt
- Smart Strike
- Brick Break

A replacement Grass type with a bit better coverage potentally and the Grassy Terrain is very helpful.

Gastrodon @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Storm Drain
Level: 50
Happiness: 0
EVs: 200 HP / 4 Atk / 200 Def / 104 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Sludge Bomb
- Recover

Replacing Luminion would be Gastrodon since it does truly does everything better. The main issue is it doesnt get Earth Power this gen yet, so i gave it Sludge Bomb to help with the tapus right now.

Salamence @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 176 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 76 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Protect
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake
- Double-Edge

With Salamence, I decided too add him to help supplement some of the offensive power as well as being a pokemon that can be use in or out of trick room. He mainly have EQ because Gastrodon cant get earth power. Im just not sure with what moves to give him to cover my weakness.

Arcanine @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 31 Atk / 25 SpA / 200 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp
- Snarl

The second support Pokemon truly, Arcanine was add to deal with grass types I couldn't really get around with Snarl and Will-O as support moves.


I know this team probably isn't perfect and has many flaws but it is the beginning the season and a lot of people are testing some stuff and I enjoy this team and are having success against Z-moves and Ultra Beasts alike.

[GiMYz]

Nicely done, i appreciate the fact that you are trying to make a pokemon like Comfey work and of course it is worth trying some original stuffs at the beginning, furthermore the game has just came out so we have to use the resources and knowledge we have.

I won't say if this is team is good or bad, i'm just gonna give you some tips so that you can adjust your team a bit.

The first thing is about Golem. Galvanize Return and STAB Rock Slide will hit very hard and you should maximize the damage output by giving it max Atk. It means you will have to sacrifice some bulk, but for this reason i would suggest using a Focus Sash to let it survive at least one hit. You can't freely use Earthquake because you have no Flying/Levitate mons in your team, and Palossand already gives you Ground type coverage, so you might think about using another move (what about a Galvanize-boosted Explosion? You can use Explosion when you are next to Palossand for example :D)

Do you think Decidueye is the right Grass-type choice? You already have another Ghost-type so it will add another weakness to Dark.

The rest of your team is ok, although i don't think HP Electric on Lumineon is really necessary, so i would try Surf instead which can also make a combo with Palossand's ability.

I hope you understand why i suggested these adjustments, let me know what you think about them!

[Marcusube]

Well firstly, you left out Golem's nature so when I copypasted the team from here to Showdown to test it out, the damage output was pretty lacking. I'll just assume for reference that the Golem should be Brave or Adamant

One of the problems this team has is speed control. Not necessarily Trick Room but everything that occurs when Trick Room isn't set up. Remember that everything in the Alolan region dex is legal so Pokemon like Gengar, Alakazam and Salamence will be running around and these Pokemon hit ridiculously hard and are fast which places pressure on getting up Trick Room. From what I can tell, however, this game has literally no Icy Wind users (since Pokebank isn't out yet) and the same goes for Tailwind which may mean that your best bet is the inaccurate Thunder Wave to maintain speed control

This team is very lacking in terms of offensive power. Pretty much Golem and Decidueye carry this team and the two together don't cover each other offensively as a core and they share a common weakness to powerful special attackers

Air Balloon isn't the most optimal item on Golem seeing as how chip damage or priority from Fake Out clips the Balloon plus it only shields one of the many weaknesses that Golem has. I suggest running Rockium-Z and switching Earthquake for either Explosion or Substitute

On Comfey, run either Taunt or Helping Hand. You want to ensure that it can fulfill as good of a supportive role as possible and Floral Healing doesn't help as much because doubling into a Pokemon will most likely KO it anyway. Maybe Synthesis could be considered for keeping Comfey around longer to set up Trick Room again

In agreement with Giam, do you really think Decidueye is the right fit for this team?

What Palossand and Lumineon do, Gastrodon by itself can do it better

Flamethrower is more practical on Arcanine for more base damage. Since Heat Wave is a spread move, it's damage output gets dropped to 0.75 times the base power of 95 which is pretty low in comparison to Flamethrower

It's not a bad team per say, but it does have it's problems

[KiwiTiger]

Updated

[GiMYz]

You are definitely going in the right direction. Both Tapu Bulu and Salamence give you much more offensive potential and options than those you had before.

Your best lead would be Comfey + Salamence/Arcanine most of the times to threaten those Poison and Steel types trying to stop your Trick Room setter. I also think you should try Sitrus Berry on Comfey because Tapu Bulu's Grassy Terrain already works as an indirect Leftovers, while Gastrodon's offensive moveset would have a greater effect with an Expert Belt, boosting your supereffective moves (i'm pretty sure an Expert Belt Sludge Bomb can threaten a 2HKO on most of the Fairy types in this meta, and you can also OHKO Garchomp with Ice Beam)

[KiwiTiger]

(Nov 26, 2016, 04:53 PM)GiMYz Wrote: You are definitely going in the right direction. Both Tapu Bulu and Salamence give you much more offensive potential and options than those you had before.

Your best lead would be Comfey + Salamence/Arcanine most of the times to threaten those Poison and Steel types trying to stop your Trick Room setter. I also think you should try Sitrus Berry on Comfey because Tapu Bulu's Grassy Terrain already works as an indirect Leftovers, while Gastrodon's offensive moveset would have a greater effect with an Expert Belt, boosting your supereffective moves (i'm pretty sure an Expert Belt Sludge Bomb can threaten a 2HKO on most of the Fairy types in this meta, and you can also OHKO Garchomp with Ice Beam)

Any suggestion for salamences set or you think what i got it good?

[GiMYz]

(Nov 26, 2016, 05:13 PM)KiwiTiger Wrote:

(Nov 26, 2016, 04:53 PM)GiMYz Wrote: You are definitely going in the right direction. Both Tapu Bulu and Salamence give you much more offensive potential and options than those you had before.

Your best lead would be Comfey + Salamence/Arcanine most of the times to threaten those Poison and Steel types trying to stop your Trick Room setter. I also think you should try Sitrus Berry on Comfey because Tapu Bulu's Grassy Terrain already works as an indirect Leftovers, while Gastrodon's offensive moveset would have a greater effect with an Expert Belt, boosting your supereffective moves (i'm pretty sure an Expert Belt Sludge Bomb can threaten a 2HKO on most of the Fairy types in this meta, and you can also OHKO Garchomp with Ice Beam)

Any suggestion for salamences set or you think what i got it good?

Usually Naive or Hasty are the best natures for a mixed attacker Salamence, so i would try to use one of those if possible. Double-Edge without the Aerilate ability is a bit weird, so even if it hits for a decent damage thanks to Life Orb you might give a try to Fire Blast/Flamethrower instead in that slot!