Suggestions for Final Team Member

[IrishZombie]

I'm about to fight Serra, and I figured now's as good a time as any to get some feedback on my team. Here's my main team so far. Everyone listed is between levels 47 and 49.

 

Infernape

Ability: Iron Fist

Close Combat

Mach Punch

Fire Pledge

Taunt

 

Roserade

Ability: Natural Cure

Giga Drain

Venoshock

Leech Seed

Toxic Spikes

 

Jellicent

Ability: Cursed Body

Brine

Hex

Acid Armor

Recover

 

Golem (the normal kind, not the Alolan kind)

Ability: Sturdy

Stealth Rock

Rock Blast

Earthquake

Explosion

 

Granbull

Ability: Intimidate

Bite

Headbutt

Play Rough

Roar

 

Murkrow

Ability: Prankster

Wing Attack

Foul Play

Roost

Taunt

 

Thing is, Murkrow just isn't cutting it so far. It's situationally useful thanks to Prankster and Taunt, but other than that it has practically no offensive or defensive ability. Part of the reason I have Taunt on my Infernape is because Murkrow has a disturbing tendency to die on the first turn it's out. Evolving it into Honchkrow would consume a Dusk Stone, and my impression of Honchkrow is that while it hits harder, it loses Prankster and does not really get any faster or tankier. In fact, it gets slower when it evolves.

 

So, I'm looking to replace it with something a bit more useful. I know that without Murkrow, my team becomes a lot more vulnerable to Ground and Psychic attacks, so are there any Pokémon I can access that would fill that role?

[Lil' Sunny]

Mandibuzz can work as a solid bulky offensive or even wall-ish pokemon that keeps Murkrow's typing. something like claydol or bronzong might be worth looking at too if ground and psychic are a problem

 

Weavile. my usual suggestion to everyone actually fits  this role well enough, immune to psychic and can hit both psychic and ground ludicrously hard especially with a choice band or life orb. its wicked fast too. can also learn taunt i believe which while not having priority is still useful.

 

infernape wants thunderpunch or grass knot. the latter especially tears rock and gorund types a new one.

 

granbull should not still be using headbutt and bite. Return is a better normal move and it learns fking crunch. can also learn elemental fangs if you want to consider replacing roar with coverage.

 

Golem is honestly just, not good. Gigalith does the same job better and you dont even need stealth rock overly anyway. you'd be much better off with krookodile or mamoswine, rock isnt a great offensive typing.

 

jellicent is fine though you may want to try and get it scald if possible.

 

Roserade desperately wants sludge bomb. thats all

 

remember even though reborn limits your OP tms and tutor moves. breeding is an option to get certain moves on certain mons

[FriarTruck]

I agree with everything said above, except Scald TM you can't get until way later. So it's Hydro Pump or Water Spout of Jellicent.

 

Be careful with replacing Golem if you do, you might want something that can take physical hits as nothing else on your team can. Some good replacements you can get before Serra are Escavalier, Aggron, Fossil pokemon. Soon after Mudsdale and Steelix are available.

 

Don't write Honchcrow off yet as it can work great in some situations with stab Sucker Punch + Moxie, off it's very high attack stat makes it a good sweeper. It can struggle though in double battles though because of it's low defences. Murkrow learns Tailwind too, so learn that before you evolve him, as it can make slower, tankier pokemon on your team a lot more threatening.

Edited November 29, 2019 by FriarTruck