Team Revamp post-Agate Circus

[iHeartBeaver]

Hi everyone,

This is my first run through the game and I'm having a great time but I've been having difficulty trying to put together a cohesive team since there's so many pokemon I like... I think it's probably about that time now.

The team that I'm thinking about is as follows:

-Empoleon

-Heliolisk

-Ninetales or Arcanine (Probably ninetails because of heliolisk but I forgot to pick up vulpix and who knows when I can make it back through Agate Circus)

-Hawlucha

-Undecided (Maybe Gourgeist)

-Undecided (Maybe Mamoswine)

I've been thinking a lot about movesets as well but I'd prefer ones that don't take a ton of breeding as I find it kind of tedious :/

Does this team have any glaring flaws? Also could someone recommend me a 5th/6th and possibly 7th/8th for rotations?

Thanks!

[Daniel Blackworth]

I actually realized that Empoleon is only useful for its steel typing. Other starters are better I think such as Blaziken, Infernape, Swampert, Torterra, and Greninja.

Heliolisk is quite frail and I think you should replace it with Magnezone or other good electric types.

Arcanine is better than Ninetales in terms of attack and usability. But if you want to use a Sun Team, you can use Ninetales.

Hawlucha, Gourgeist, and Mamoswine are actually pretty good pokemon to use. You can consider them part of your team.

For rotation purposes, you can use the pokemon you can get from the mystery egg. Or pokemon such as Gardevoir, Froslass, Ludiculo, or other good pokemon.

[Juniper]

opinion- for Charlotte's gym you will at least need something that resists fire/hits very hard+fast. Empoleon is water type so that's good offensively but it's also steel providing you with neutral defense. Therefore, you will need another either resistant or sweeping pokémon to accompany it (it's a double battle fire gym)

I used a lumineon (can be caught easily in the cave with all the snow and ice and whatnot at a decent level.) And this will also help you out vs T3RR4

[Frostilicious]

Deffinitely the clefairy after agate in rotation or even in your team. That minimize-cosmic power-stored power combo + moonblast for dark types is too op -tested- My clefable in the team is currently level 76. It pretty much swept connal's, Noel's, Charlotte's (Even in double battle) teams on its' own.

[Etesian]

'bout you saying you don't want any movesets that take a lot out breeding, check out the pinned breeding guide in this section. The CE stuff there can let you finish up on 1-2 minutes per member.

First of, props to using Empoleon, love that thing. Dunno what set you're running on that, but it's quite good as a sweeper with Agility, Ice Beam, Surf/Hydro Pump, Grass Knot. Grass Knot is a TM you'll get before gym #14, so you only need to breed Remoraid>Horsea/Wingull/Surskit//Buizel>Piplup for Ice Beam and Agility, though you need to do it in E12 or earlier (read the guide).

Loving the Heliolisk+Ninetails combo, using that on my main file. I'd say Heliolisk is the best Electric type even without sun boosts, let alone with Solar Power active. For their sets, best are Thunderbolt, Grass Knot, Hidden Power Ice, Dark Pulse for Heliolisk and Nasty Plot, Flamethrower, Energy Ball, Hidden Power Rock/Ground. HP Ice is really necessary for the coverage it provides, so read up on the guide here, take this and have at it. (Heliolisk also get Surf, but because sun weakens Water moves, HP Ice is much better, especially since it actually lets you hit Grass/Dragon types).

For Ninetales, you'll mostly just be staying in and spamming Flamethrower, you'll almost never need your other 3 moves, but if you wanna have a good set, that's that. Hidden Power Rock provides muuuuuuuuuch better coverage than any other options, but then again, you'll rarely be using something other than a Sun boosted STAB, so whatever. Just make sure to give it a Heat Rock. You'll need pre-E13 for Energy Ball.

Hawlucha's easy. Unburden, Acrobatics, High Jump Kick, Swords Dance, Rock Slide (or Feather Dance to make setting up easier) and stack up on a Bunch of Flying Gems (gems don't interfere with Acrobatics item-less boost). Another option is Mold Breaker, Bounce (Agate tutor), High Jump Kick, Stone Edge/Rock Slide, Swords Dance and give it a Wide Lens to boost accuracy. To get Stone Edge or Rock Slide, just breed Timburr>Hawlucha in pre-E13.

Gourgeist is good for your team, since you've got quite the Ground weakness going and Gourgeist is the best physical wall in the game. With Phantom Force and Protect, you get hit once every 3 turns, while WoW and Leech Seed take 1/4 of the foes health every turn. You get Will-o-Wisp and Protect via Yamask in pre-E13.

If you wanna get a more offensive Grass type, since you're running Sun, Chlorophyll Victreebel is a great option as it also gives you Poison coverage for Fairies. A good set would be Chlorophyll, Solar Beam, Growth, Giga Drain/Solar Beam, Weather Ball. You need to breed Skrelp>Snubbull>Roselia>Sunkern>Exeggcute>Roselia>Victreebel in pre-E13.

For your 6th, I wouldn't go for Mamoswine. You already have good Ice coverage, and you've either covered or aren't threathened by the types Ground would hit. I'd say get a Durant. With Hustle, the thing's essentially got 190 base attack. Hone Claws, Iron Head, X-Scissor and Rock Slide is the best set, even swept the Fire gym for me.You get RS and HC via Skorupi>Dwebble>Durant in pre-E13.

[iHeartBeaver]

...

Wow thanks for the reply!

I'll take a look at the guide and probably get around to breeding after I pick up my team. I usually don't use CE(I'm not even running a speed hack) but there's no way I'll get into breeding without it.

Yeah I really love Empoleon too. The set im running now is Agility, Surf, Grass Knot, and Drill Peck as a placeholder (I'll breed for icebeam)

Heliolisk and Ninetales is really a killer combo and I'll have to do some breeding for the correct hidden powers as well and my Hawlucha is actually running the set you mentioned(with feather dance) and thanks for the flying gems tip.

I think I'll give Gourgeist a try since I like the way it looks and I like having a wall on my team.

Durant would probably fine but I'm still keeping my options open I think. Do you have any other recommendations for my sixth? and what about a few for rotational purposes?

[Etesian]

You really don't need a rotation if your main 6 are good enough. Going off the offensive types you have, you currently have no Poison, Ground, Psychic, Rock (only Ninetales HP), Bug, Dragon, Steel or Fairy moves. In order:

-I won't recommend any Poison type beside Venomoth. You already have a Ground weakness going on (although HP Ice Heliolisk in sunlight solo'd the Ground gym for me), so only Crobat and Venomoth are at least neutral, but Crobat doesn't add anything since you already have a Flying type and Venomoth gets Bug, Poison and Psychic coverage, along with Tinted Lens and Quiver Dance. To get it Sludge Bomb, it's Skrelp>Snubbull>Roselia>Paras>Venonat.

-Krookodile, Stunfisk and Rhyperior are great Ground types. Again, I really do think you can handle Ground types, so Stunfisk and Rhyperior should be fine. For sets:

Moxie, Earthquake, Crunch, Fire/Thunder Fang, Rock Slide via Camerupt/Stone Edge via Rhyhorn.

Static, Scald, Discharge, Earth Power, Yawn. Scald and Earth Power via Panpour>Corsola>Stunfisk.

Solid Rock, Earthquake, Stone Edge/Rock Blast, Megahorn/Poison Jab/Fire Fang/Ice Fang/Hammer Arm.

-For Psychic, Reuniclus really seems like your best bet. Malamar and Sigilyph are also options though.

Regenerator/Magic Guard, Psychic, Shadow Ball, HP Fighting, Calm Mind or Psychic, Shadow Ball, Trick Room, Energy Ball/Thunderbolt. I'd recommend the TR one as it can help Empoleon and Gourgeist out.

Contrary, Superpower, Night Slash, Psycho Cut, Rock Slide

Magic Guard, Stored Power, Cosmic Power, Charge Beam, Air Slash/Icy Wind

-For Rock, Gigalith, Archeops, Tyrantrum or any Shell Smasher.

Sturdy, Curse/Explosion, Earthquake, Rock Slide/Stone Edge, Heavy Slam. (Heavy Slam, Curse and EQ via Onix>Golem>Roggenrola)

Acrobatics/Bounce, Rock Slide, Earthquake, Dragon Claw

Rock Head, Dragon Dance, Head Smash, Earthquake, Dragon Claw.

-For Bug, Escavalier or Armaldo.

Swarm/Shell Armor, Iron Head, X-Scissor/Megahorn, Drill Run, Knock Off

Battle Armor, Rock Blast, X-Scissor, Aqua Jet, Curse/Knock Off

-For Dragon, Druddigon or Flygon.

Sheer Force, Sucker Punch, Superpower, Dragon Claw/Outrage, Iron Tail/Earthquake.

Levitate, Earthquake, Rock Slide, Dragon Claw, Flamethrower/Iron Tail

-For Steel, Metagross or Bisharp.

Clear Body, Agility, Meteor Mash, Zen Headbutt, Brick Break

Defiant, Sucker Punch, Swords Dance, Iron Head, Brick Break/Rock Polish(E15 TM)/Psycho Cut.

-For Fairy, Clefable, Granbull, Sylveon, Azumarill.

Cute Charm, Stored Power, Cosmic Power, Minimize, Charge Beam.

Intimidate, Play Rough, Earthquake/Crunch/Fangs/Close Combat/Outrage.

Pixilate, Trump Card, Shadow Ball/Light Screen/Hidden Power Ground/Round/Swift/Yawn. With Pixilate, Trump Card's final 200 BP hit is turned into a 390 BP nuke (and the hits leading up to that are also not too shabby. it's usually 40, 50, 60, 80 and 200, but with Pixilate it's 80, 100, 120, 160 and 390)

Huge Power, Waterfall, Play Rough, AquaJet+Belly Drum/Bounce+Superpower