Core pokemons for a team

[Xelhadis]

Hi, I am thinking of having a core of 3-4 members for my team, and rotate the other 2-3. The ones that i have in mind are:

 

Blaziken (Combusken now) with Sword Dance, Flare Blitz, High Jump Kick, ???

Alolan Muk (A Grimer now) with Gunk Shot/Poison Jab, Knock Off, Minimize, Shadow Sneak

Ludicolo (Lombre now) with Rain dance and Mist for the field management, Giga Drain, hydro Pump

 

Are they a good core for most of the game? 

 

I am in the early game (on the way to the 3rd badge). I have access to a good amount of broken Pokemon from WT but i prefer using the ones that the game offer in every point of the story. 

 

[TheRK9]

Blaziken is a stupid Pokémon that can sweep half the game on its own if used correctly, even more if you allow items in battle. So yes, it is the best Pokémon in the game. For a moveset Bulk Up is generally better Swords Dance, and you also don't get Swords Dance until wayyyy later in the game, while you get Bulk Up at level 31. Flare Blitz and HJK are your best STAB options, and the last move can be a lot of different things. Protect is obviously excellent, and you can get it before the third gym. There are also some good coverage options like Earthquake, Stone Edge, Acrobatics, Poison Jab, Thunder Punch and so on, but they all become available quite late. 

Ludicolo not bad, but Reborn is balanced in a way that makes better options available as you go along. Some earlier Pokémon are saved by the fact that they get access to good moves early, but pretty much all of the good TM's and Move Tutors are available way later in the game, but Ludicolo in particular struggles with not learning any good moves on its own, and you don't get a decent Grass-type attack until you can teach Giga Drain, which is post-restoration when your team and opponents are in the level 80's, and you get Surf in your mid-level 60's. Rain Dance is available slightly earlier when your team is at around level 60, but if you miss it before a certain point in the game it gets locked out until the same point as the Giga Drain tutor. You can delay evolving your Lotad until 30 to get Giga Drain early, and don't evolve Lombre until level 44 for Hydro Pump, but if you already have a Ludicolo then it will fall off very quickly, and by the time you get good moves for it it won't be that good unless you run a dedicated rain team, but you don't get Pelipper or Politoed until way later on, and at that point better options like Kingdra are available. 

Alolan Grimer is also not available until you beat the 14th gym, so you can't actually get one of those for another 11 badges unfortunately. It's a pretty good Pokémon once you do get one, and matches up well against the 2 gyms immediately after, but since it is available so late it falls off and is pretty mediocre beyond that point.

All and all, I would not recommend that you try to bring a "core team" through the game. Blaziken will carry you quite far regardless, but most of the Pokémon available to you will not be good enough to pull their weight later in the game, and all of the really good Pokémon won't be available until you have 14-17 badges. You will be better just using a team of 6 of Pokémon you find and replacing team members once you get access to better options.

[Faint]

Yeah Blaziken can basically carry the majority of tough fights for you.

 

Get the mystery egg poke, and use whatever it is as a core with Blaziken. 

 

Other great pokes for long lasting in-game use are Golem, Cinnico (this thing is amazing w/ skill link - find it at level 4, common candy down to level 1, evolve with shiny stone - boom it learns bullet seed, tail slap, rock slide - carries through most battles). Donphan, Roserade, Ampharos (though this falls off hard later on), Emolga (up till Aya), Beautifly

 

There are plenty of great pokes available early but above poster is right - Blaziken basically the only one that stays S-tier for the whole game

[Xelhadis]

Thanks for the replies. 

Right now i have a Lombre with Giga Drain, and will wait until it learns Hydro Pump, and then use the water stone.

The reason to choose Ludicolo instead of Roserade, it's because i receive an Alolan Grimer by WT, so i have a good poison pokemon. 

Thanks for the rest of good options in early game. 

 

[Pippolazzo]

As mentioned above, Blaziken is straight up busted. Absolutely give it protect to get a free speed boost, that's actually its most important move, along with hi-jump kick and flare blitz for stabs. For the 4th slot, I actually think that swords dance is much better than bulk up, since a +1 in defense won't make any difference against most if not all SE hits, and it's unlikely you'll last long enough to set up multiples in a row, unless you plan to spam potions. Power up punch does the same thing with the added benefit of breaking sturdies/focus sashes. Brick break is another cool tech for fights where the opponent spams aurora veil/screens. Since all of these are TMs, you can just swap them around as you need. For items anything works: stab plates/charcoal/black belt, muscle band, expert belt, wide lens to avoid missing HJK, shell bell to recover a bit after flare blitz, Firium-Z... Just don't waste the mega stone on it, it already has speed boost, so save it for something else.

 

For A-Muk those moves are good, if it has gluttony you can also try recycle + a 50% health berry as its held item for continuous recovery. Otherwise the most obvious choice is probably black sludge/leftovers.

 

I also agree that Ludicolo is pretty average outside of rain (and rain conflicts with Blaziken), but if you are dead set on using it consider keeping fake out (amazing for doubles, free chip in singles) and nature power - unironically the most unique and versatile move in Reborn, it can turn around multiple gym battles on its own. As for items, either Waterium-Z, damp rock if you plan to set up rain dance on your own, or assault vest if you are only running attacking moves (which would mean no rain dance or nature power though).

 

As for complimentary members, since Ludicolo+Blaziken is basically a FWG core on its own, you could add a fantasy one (fairy/dragon/steel). Gardevoir+Magnezone+Hydreigon is one of the best ones and has crazy good sinergy with Blaziken as well, although most people dislike it because it's too mainstream. Unfortunately all of these - especially Deino - are available pretty late.

 

For early game, one of my favorites is simple Swoobat with calm mind. In your case, free switch in on Blaziken and Muk against ground attacks. Sturdy Aggron carries hard in the mid game and you can get it before the 6th badge, 4x resist on flying and resist on psychic also works well for pivoting from Blaziken. If you drop Ludicolo, or don't mind having two water types on the squad, storm drain Gastrodon is another amazing pick for the mid game. These three basically cover all of your chicken problems, and he can just destroy anything else.

[Whitelight]

I would agree with the above posts that blaziken is a really strong core pokemon, although I would say bringing on a tanky pokemon with yawn would be the best. I think you can get walrien from mystery egg or slakoth from somewhere in the early game if im not mistaken? Anyways, I would swap ludicolo for a walrien and maybe grab a mawile or something like that since it can iron defense/stockpile and then baton pass to walrien to be an omega tank or to blaziken to set up to sweep. Either way I would say you definitely want a mix of sweepers and walls for your core, along with a field/hazard setter if you find one you like.