Okay here we go again...

[Xiri]

It's really annoying... but my previous save file got corrupted so I had to start a new game (but then I realized thankfully I posted my save file before corruption here because I thought I had an issue with Chrysolia Forest - so fortunately that file is still alive)

...Anyway, I came up with a new team of six and I'm seeking advice on them. The same rules apply as before - I don't have any intention to switch any of my members but I am willing to breed. Any advice related to natures, movesets, EV spread, hold-items etc are welcome!

1.

Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)

Ability: Magician

Held Item: Flame Plate

Moves: Psychic, Fire Blast, Shadow Ball, Will-O-Wisp

*I'm thinking of switching Magician for Blaze because I don't think that ability gave much support throughout the game. I guess Shadow Ball can also be replaced now because the Ghost and Psychic gyms have been defeated already. Any suggestions?

2.

Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)

Ability: Overcoat

Held Item: Miracle Seed

Moves: Leaf Blade, X-Scissor, Sticky Web, Swords Dance

*Etesian's favorite. I was actually surprised by the potential of this thing! He was able to sweep Kiki and Serra - which was quite amazing. I don't think this set needs a huge change. Am I wrong?

3.

Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)

Ability: Dry Skin

Held Item: Zap Plate

Moves: Thunderbolt, Surf, Dark Pulse, Thunder Wave

*I would replace Dark Pulse with Focus Blast but obviously it is not available yet...

4.

Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)

Ability: Adaptability

Held Item: Poison Barb

Moves: Dragon Pulse, Sludge Wave, Hydro Pump, Toxic

*Might replace Toxic with something else. It helped me a lot during my fight with Arceus but that was about it really...

5.

Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)

Ability: Magic Coat

Held Item: Mind Plate

Moves: Psychic, Grass Knot, Recover, Trick Room

*Trick Room benefits the latter 3 Pokemon on my list. I've included Recover because Reuniclus has a huge amount of HP and its more convenient to heal via Recover than via healing items (since Ultra Potions are the best method of healing at the moment)

6.

Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)

Ability: Mega Launcher

Held Item: Splash Plate

Moves: Aura Sphere, Dark Pulse, Dragon Pulse, Water Pulse

*Self-explanatory really

That is all! I'll be waiting for your comments

[jotwas]

Delphox: Flamethrower is better than Fire Blast, which has lower accuracy and almost the same power, the flame plate is going to turn it on to a Fire Blast. As you said you need to replace shadow ball, I'll recommend trick room, there is no problem on having two pokemon with trick room on your team.

Leavanny: So... This Leavanny set works so well, I used it one time, it's really beautiful how this thing can be surprisingly strong, in the Trick Room this thing will become a monster

Heliolisk: I'd run Glare over Thunder Wave, because it can paralyze ground types too.

Dragalge: What about surf instead of Hydro Pump? The accuracy... I don't like it, if you change it to surf you can go for mystic water then, sludge wave is already going to be strong with adaptability, toxic is not a bad move, but if you really want to replace it you can breed thunderbolt on it (pre-12).

Reuninclus: If you want you can replace grass knot with energy ball by breeding pre-12, but I like grass knot too, if it works for you keep it

, recover... hm, eh, we have healing items, but you said that it is working, so keep it until we got hyper potions, then you can replace it with light screen.

Clawitzer: Whoa. Perfect, no words. In trick room this thing will be fantastic.

Amazing team! With this guys you can wreck everything.

[dondon151]

Delphox: Consider running Light Screen; Fire Blast is fine if you have PP Ups

Everything else is fine; +spatk nature is better than +spe on Heliolisk, though.

[Farnsworth]

Reuniclus: I would recommend running a Queit nature with it. This benefits its speed more under trick room, but this a pretty minor change.

The rest of the team looks pretty solid, maybe change a few natures (of the slower mons) so that they can benefit more from your trick room support. But again, this is minor.

[Etesian]

No surprise Magician isn't doing much if you've already got an item on it

Still, that ability is really useful, so I'd recommend keeping that and putting the Plate away during important battles. I also agree with Flamethrower being better than Fire Blast, it's barely weaker and much more accurate, and it can take only one miss to turn an victory into a loss. There's also Heat Wave if double-battles give you trouble.

And ditching Shadow Ball sounds good, for the reason you've mentioned and because only a handful of things resist both Fire and Psychic moves. But then again, Delphox isn't a set-up sweeper, so coverage isn't even that important on it.

Moves you can go for instead of Shadow Ball would be Trick Room, Hidden Power, Flame Charge, Light Screen and Grass Knot.

Another thing you could do is give it Sunny Day and make Leavanny's and Heliolisk's abilities Chlorophyll and Solar Power.

Damn right. Overcoat is bad on it. Overcoat only protects from weather damage, which is low anyways, and from spore and powder moves, which Grass types are immune to anyways. Swarm is the best it can go for. Chlorophyll lets it get Sticky Web against Charlotte with ease, but that's about it's only use. Other than that, it's all good.

Thunder Wave can have it's uses, but Glare is better because of Ground types (hadn't thought of that, nice catch, jotwas). But what I think would work even better on it would be Grass Knot. And since it has so many different attacking moves, a Plate may not be as good as an Air Balloon or some Fighting/Ground-resist berries.

I'd recommend Surf over Hydro Pump for the much better accuracy, and hitting both foes in double-battles is always fun. Would work really well with Heliolisk's Dry Skin. You don't have any partners that resist Poison-type moves, so consider Sludge Bomb over Wave, though Wave is fine too.

Instead of Toxic, I'd recommend Toxic Spikes, it takes one turn more, but poisons 5 more things (depending on when you set them). It would also make a great combo with Venoshock (whenever we get that TM).

And instead of Poison Barb, Black Sludge would be better if you're asking me. Just go Trubbish hunting (to make it easier, have a fainted Compound Eyes user in the first party slot and either item-less Delphox or a Frisk user in the second slot), or get the one on a container in the Wasteland.

Reuniclus can go for Quiet instead of Modest, but it'll hardly make much of a difference, though Clawitzer should definitely go for Quiet.

Other than that, great team! I think I might steal that, actually.

[Azeria]

No surprise Magician isn't doing much if you've already got an item on it

Still, that ability is really useful, so I'd recommend keeping that and putting the Plate away during important battles. I also agree with Flamethrower being better than Fire Blast, it's barely weaker and much more accurate, and it can take only one miss to turn an victory into a loss. There's also Heat Wave if double-battles give you trouble.

And ditching Shadow Ball sounds good, for the reason you've mentioned and because only a handful of things resist both Fire and Psychic moves. But then again, Delphox isn't a set-up sweeper, so coverage isn't even that important on it.

Moves you can go for instead of Shadow Ball would be Trick Room, Hidden Power, Flame Charge, Light Screen and Grass Knot.

Another thing you could do is give it Sunny Day and make Leavanny's and Heliolisk's abilities Chlorophyll and Solar Power.

Damn right. Overcoat is bad on it. Overcoat only protects from weather damage, which is low anyways, and from spore and powder moves, which Grass types are immune to anyways. Swarm is the best it can go for. Chlorophyll lets it get Sticky Web against Charlotte with ease, but that's about it's only use. Other than that, it's all good.

Thunder Wave can have it's uses, but Glare is better because of Ground types (hadn't thought of that, nice catch, jotwas). But what I think would work even better on it would be Grass Knot. And since it has so many different attacking moves, a Plate may not be as good as an Air Balloon or some Fighting/Ground-resist berries.

I'd recommend Surf over Hydro Pump for the much better accuracy, and hitting both foes in double-battles is always fun. Would work really well with Heliolisk's Dry Skin. You don't have any partners that resist Poison-type moves, so consider Sludge Bomb over Wave, though Wave is fine too.

Instead of Toxic, I'd recommend Toxic Spikes, it takes one turn more, but poisons 5 more things (depending on when you set them). It would also make a great combo with Venoshock (whenever we get that TM).

And instead of Poison Barb, Black Sludge would be better if you're asking me. Just go Trubbish hunting (to make it easier, have a fainted Compound Eyes user in the first party slot and either item-less Delphox or a Frisk user in the second slot), or get the one on a container in the Wasteland.

Reuniclus can go for Quiet instead of Modest, but it'll hardly make much of a difference, though Clawitzer should definitely go for Quiet.

Other than that, great team! I think I might steal that, actually.

Charlotte no longer leads with Ninetales,which makes the fight MUCH harder.

[dondon151]

There's almost no point in running Surf over Hydro Pump on Dragalge because a resisted Dragon Pulse is 5.55% weaker than a neutral Surf.

[jotwas]

There's almost no point in running Surf over Hydro Pump on Dragalge because a resisted Dragon Pulse is 5.55% weaker than a neutral Surf.

So... I think Hydro Pump wouldn't be much better, maybe toxic spikes... Amaria is going to give us Scald I presume, maybe that? I know it's a lot weaker than surf, but I just like that burning chance

Edited January 8, 2015 by jotwas

[Taska]

Delphox: Change Fire Blast to Flamethrower for obvious reasons said before. Also change Shadow Ball to Reflect. Your team doesn't really have a pokemon that can take physical hits, so I think it may help you. Keep Magician. You can steal really good items in important battles.

Leavanny: Get Swarm. Everything else is pretty perfect.

Heliolisk: Get Glare instead of Thunder Wave because Glare isn't an electric type move so it hits ground types. Also looking at your team getting Rain Dance instead of Dark Pulse may also be an option.

Dragalge: Instead of Toxic, Get Trick Room, because is Reuniclus can't set up Trick Room for whatever reason, your whole strategy goes down the drain. Also get Surf instead of Hydro Pump for reasons said before once again.

Reuniclus: Signal Beam instead of Grass Knot.

Clawitzer: Absolutely perfect.

One note: Give all your pokemon speed decreasing natures unless they have good speed because then Trick Room will allow you to outspeed other pokemon with Trick Room active. It may backfire, though, but it's just a thought.

[Xiri]

Thanks for all your input guys! I really do appreciate them!

1. Yep I have replaced Fire Blast with Flamethrower.

Honestly, I can't believe I was worrying about Magician when I had my Delphox hold an item all this time lol. I feel pretty stupid now.

Shadow Ball has been replaced with Light Screen (I was going to give it Reflect - but I don't think she is capable of learning it)

2. Switched Overcoat to Swarm.

I've fully EV trained him in Speed - so unfortunately he won't be too useful in Trick Room situations.

3. Will breed Glare onto him. Was pondering with Grass Knot - but I think I'll stick with the paralysis business.

4. I hadn't thought of Surf in doubles with my Heliolisk actually! Definitely changing Hydro Pump now. Toxic Spikes does sound like a viable option, so I will go hunting for Helix fossils (might ragequit out of frustration though... haha). I don't think Dragalge is capable of learning Trick Room.

Oh, and by the way, is Black Sludge still present in the container? I don't think it is there anymore... could anyone confirm this?

5. Signal Beam could be viable... if it is available in Reborn.

6. Changed nature to Quiet.

[dondon151]

There's a hidden Black Sludge somewhere in the wasteland, which is what I assume you're talking about? It's still there.

You should change Dragalge's nature to Quiet to benefit from Trick Room because base 44 speed is hopelessly slow, but I think Clawitzer should stay Modest because base 59 speed with investment is actually high enough to outspeed many generic trainer Pokemon, and it's high enough to outspeed most boss trainer Pokemon with X Speed or Sticky Web assistance or both.

Also there are so few double battles (especially after you get Surf) that if you want to go with the Surf + Dry Skin gimmick, you're better off running Surf on Clawitzer than you are running Surf on Dragalge... Surf is not STAB for Dragalge and you further lose power due to it being a spread move. It's a totally useless coverage move otherwise because it's barely stronger than a resisted Dragon Pulse whereas Hydro Pump is significantly stronger against the few targets that you want to hit - steels and Lunatone.