My favorite: Ambipom

[Conor]

Okay so my last one of these was a bust so hopefully this goes better.

Any who, this team is based around my favorite Pokemon, Ambipom. It is mainly a team involving switching in out to resist attacks then deal one right back with speed or power. I'll mention a few concerns i have myself for this team at the end, and I would also really appreciate any advice you have to offer me.

Ambipom (F) @ Life Orb

Trait: Technician

EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP

Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)

- Fake Out

- Double Hit

- Payback

- Low Sweep

okay so this set rocks my socks off for two main reasons. first, i thoroughly enjoy a good fake out lead. second because of all the lolz i get using him. usually ill have a fake out first turn, unless of course a steel type. which of course if there was a steal i would switch. but id say every third person someone will switch into some sot of ghost. the best part of this is payback, which no one runs on Ambipom like at all. it can OHKO the standard Gengar with ease because of his speed / technician. low sweep is mainly there to deal with ttar which happen to appear quite often on our ladder. double hit is for double stab.

Gengar (F) @ Choice Specs

Trait: Levitate

EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Psychic

- Shadow Ball

- Focus Blast

- Thunderbolt

We all know every normal types main weakness right? well if you don't know its fighting. simple fix, just switch into specs gengar and get the no effect. then you have psychic to hit hard on the fighting, although they probably will end up switch themselves. mainly here just to protect the rest of the team and get a hit in here and there.

Heatran (M) @ Choice Scarf

Trait: Flash Fire

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Overheat

- Hidden Power [Grass]

- Earth Power

- Dragon Pulse

so to protect my Gengar from its 3 weakness, ghost/ psychic/ and dark i have Ambipom and Heatran. if you end up facing another ghost, just switch back to Ambipom. if not and you face the other two there's always Heatran's steel typing which happens to be resistant to both dark and psychic. letting you pull of an attack in response . Mainly i use overheat because the MOAR POWER THE BETTER... but yea.

Starmie @ Life Orb

Trait: Illuminate

EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Rapid Spin

- Thunderbolt

- Hydro Pump

- Psychic

okay so the weakness' of Heatran are: fighting, ground, and water. to cover these we have Starmie and Gengar. Starmie can pretty much take a hit from all three but i prefer no damage to Gengar then only a little to Starmie. the reason i chose Starmie as to a bulky water absorb Pokemon, was because of rapid spin. with me constantly switching in and out, rocks could be my downfall. then again not having a toxic wall could be my downfall as well.

Manectric (F) @ Choice Scarf

Trait: Lightningrod

EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Volt Switch

- Thunder

- Flamethrower

- Hidden Power [ice]

to deal with the weakness' of Starmie which are: grass, ghost, dark, and electric we have Heatran for grass, Ambipom for ghost, Heatran for dark, and Manectric for electric. i chose Manectric mostly for its lightning rod. it absorbs the power of those electric attacks and adds them onto her own. then with the choice set you can volt switch out just to keep inflicting small swift hits. or you can go for type advantages with your flamethrower and hidden power ice. she is also the rain counter with thunder. the main reason i chose Manectric instead of Jolteon was for flamethrower. again another "iffy' decision. oh and Manectric's only weakness being ground it is covered by Gengar.

Scizor (M) @ Leftovers

Trait: Technician

EVs: 96 HP / 160 Atk / 252 SDef

Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)

- Bullet Punch

- Bug Bite

- Swords Dance

- Roost

okay so finally to wrap the team up with some priority and pure power is Scizor. i picked Scizor her because i said to myself Holy Toledo, these are special attackers walled by any Chansey or Blissey. so why not go for some raw power. and Scizor is pretty much raw power. i got this set from n8 as a Sp def Scizor that can recover and strike again.

Main Concerns

• i need more Attack so i can cover all those Sp defensively walls.
  
• i might need a wall myself to toxic stall out in certain situations.
  
• i'm not sure but i think i might be pretty weak to weather.
  
• i was thinking about perhaps switching Scizor for a nice tech Breloom set. thoughts?
  

*okay so if you can help me out with those concerns and any you have it would be much appreciated.

Edited March 16, 2012 by conor k

[Voctrode]

Needs more beat up on Ambipom instead of Payback

[Aero]

Use Natural Cure on Starmie instead of Illuminate.

[Conor]

actually inuki i prefer payback in most situations because i prefer to preserve ambipom rather then let him die. so if hes last beat up is useless. and THanks Aero i usually do i just derped

[Bullet]

Double Hit isn't very good, the only minor advantage it has over Return/Frustration is that it breaks Subs, but the lower power and missing potential aren't worth it. I also highly recommend U-Turn on Ambipom, it's simply an amazing move.

Ice Beam > Psychic on Starmie; while Psychic is a nice coverage move Ice Beam is simply a must for Starmie, offering better coverage with its other moves and handling many common threats(Dragons most noticeably).

I'm not too keen on Thunder with Manectric, as a Choice Scarfer revenge killing will often be its task, and if Volt Switch isn't strong enough you want a more powerful but accurate alternative; hence I recommend Thunderbolt.

As for the team as a whole, I think you're extremely weak against weather, Ludicolo and Kingdra can both rip your team to shreds, most notably special variants of kingdra and Ludicolo in general. Excadrill also has a field day; one Swords Dance and you better hope that Gengar survives a Rock Slide. 3 Choice Pokemon is also pretty suspect; it makes you very prone to being forced to make sacrifices on bad predictions.

[Phazer]

Provide sprites, and import. Grammar is appreciated.

[Conor]

Okay Phazer, first off i wish i could sprite, but i don't have any idea how to. secondly, i usually apologize in advance for my bad grammer. i cant spell or string together proper sentences to save my life. and also i promise you i used spell check, just dosent help. and ill add import. another thing tho is, ive seen you do this on a number of posts, i did this the way i want so if your not going to offer advice, and i say this with the upmost respect, please just dont complain.

also Tenshi, do you have any advice on pokemon to add or take out to maybe put up a better weather defense? Also, tenshi wouldn't double hit actually be better from the technician ability.

Edited March 16, 2012 by conor k

[Bullet]

Derp, forgot about Technician. Still, I'd recommend Return for accuracy, but ultimately it's up to you. For a better weather defense, well, the entirety of the team must play some part, Chansey and Ferrothorn both do well against Special rain threats, Gliscor and Skarmory work well against sand threats, and their are some others as well. I'd recommend replacing Manectric; it's the weakest link out of your three choiced Special Attackers.

For sprites you can go http://sprites.pokecheck.org/ <--- there

[Neo]

Provide sprites, and import. Grammar is appreciated.

Is that all you ever say about the teams? Start actually commenting about them, or don't post at all.

Conor, have you tried U-Turn on Scizor? Seeing as how you said the team revolves around switching, it'd probably do you best.

If you're not too worried about being walled by steels, I'd go with the Fake Out/Last Resort Ampipom.