team-building I want to depend less on Revival Herbs

[kithas]

I think the title is pretty clear lol. I'm right in the middle of the postgame (I just finished Lugia/Ho-oh quests) and I would like the rest of battles not thinking on how many Revival Herbs do I use. I know the game's pretty difficult and not using them is difficult, but a bit of help in team-building would be great!

So these are the mons I usually have rotating in my team:

Spoiler

Ambipom (Technician, Silk Scarf): Fake Out, Last Resort (Dynamic Entry + Last resorts gets a lot of good results/kills so it's kinda permanent in the team)

Toxapex (Leftovers, Regenerator): Liquidation, Toxic, Recover, Protect (Also pretty clear, Shield + Toxic, also works very well for stalling and also a candidate for staying)

Excadrill (Expert Belt, Sand Rush) Rock Slide, X-Scissor, Earthquake and Iron Head (Physical Attacker, pretty reliable)

Hippowdon (Smooth Rock, Sand Stream): Stealth Rock, Slack Off, Earthquake, Ice Fang (Sandstorm setter and Stealth rock user)

Tyranitar (Tyranitarite, Sand Stream) Rock Slide, Stealth Rock, Earthquake, Brutal Swing (An offensive/Mega alternative for Hippowdon)

Alakazam (Alakazite, Magic Guard), Psychic, Signal Beam, Recover, Psychic Terrain (Sp. Attacker)

Gengar (Gengarite, Cursed Body), Destiny Bond, Shadow Ball, Sludge Wave, Dazzling Gleam (Also Sp. Attacker + Destiny Bond, which saved me a few PULSEs and bosses)

Aerodactyl (Aerodactylite, Unnerve): Iron Head, Earthquake/Dragon Claw, Iron Head, Fly (Flyer and also Physical attacker together with Excadrill).

Dragonite (Leftovers/Dragonium Z, Multiscale): Earthquake, Fly, Extreme Speed, Outrage (I used it before Aerodactyl bc of multiscale)

Charizard (Charizardite Y, Solar Power): Heat Wave, Flamethrower, Solar Beam, Dragon Pulse (basically Mega Charizard + Drought + SB and Fire attacks)

Nidoking (Life Orb, Sheer Force) Sludge Wave, Earth Power, Thunderbolt/Flamethrower/Ice Beam (I rotate between the three of them depending on the ocasion and it still is a bit underperforming?)

Clefable (Amplifield Rock + Magic Guard): Cosmic power, Misty Terrain, Wish, Stored Power (Misty Terrain + Cosmic power user)

Whimsicott (Leftovers, Prankster): Leech Seed, Substitute, Protect, Moonblast (Prankster Whimsicott, I think this is standard?)

HM Slaves: Pickup Linoone (to stock up in Big Nuggets) and Lanturn with Surf/Waterfall/Dive and Thunderbolt

Also sometimes Parasect (Damp + Magnetic Lure) with Spore/False Swipe/Giga Drain is also there to help catches

 

 

Others I also have to help when needed:

Sp, Attacker Lucario @Lucarionite

Sp. Attacker Hydreigon

Attacker Mamoswine

Attacker + Wall Steelix @Steelixite

Skill Link + King's Rock Cincinno

And more (?)

Also options:

Spoiler

 

 

(I just EV-Trained Celesteela as a wall -and as my favorite Ultra-Beast lol) and Kartana for attack but with current results I'm unsure of results)

 

Idk if it's something I lack in teambuilding, or if it's just lack of preparation from the player's side, but I just think I need help

Edit: I just tried to fight Deoxys' anomaly and yeah, it's hard to try to win competitive battles with just Fake Out, having everything in the opposite side be just faster and stronger than even pseudo-legendaries/Ultrabeasts, so I need that help.

 

 

[Axelyx]

Firstly, I noticed that many of your mons have high offensive capability (eg dragonite, excadrill etc). so I would recommend a (bulky?) screen setter, because it can help your hard-hitters to setup. Tapu Fini (252hp, 252 speed, dual screens, scald) works well for me as a lead, it’s terrain changing ability is also very useful in certain situations. I can see koko to be useful as well if you prefer a speedy screen setter, since koko can volt switch/ u turn out once its job is done, so it can come in multiple times to set screens. (Fini is also ok but you can only manually switch, so it’s up to preference)

 

Secondly, try giving your hard-hitters some setup moves. Dragonite with dragon dance, excadrill with swords dance, gengar with nasty plot etc. Because legendary bosses are very tanky, often you won’t 1HKO them and will get KOd in return. My idea is that once screens are up, you can bring in these mons to setup one or two turns, then you are up for sweeping. Dragonite works exceptionally well with multiscale up in this case. I also suggest quiver dance volcarona if you’re interested.

 Also, the ultra beasts is quite good for snowballing, eg timid nasty plot naganadel, it can build up speed every time it KOs a mon.

 

For individual mons, 

Knock off on toxapex is better than liquidation, since it’s more of a utility mon than dishing out damage. Without items, the enemy significantly becomes weaker.

Ambipom is by no means a bad lead, but it’s quite situational. To increase its consistence, you can add u-turn to its move set to pívot out once it has used fake out, so it can come in again later to dish out more damage. (Then send in your screen setter/ setup sweeper.) My view is if last resort doesn’t KO, then there’s a good chance ambipom might be the one getting KO’d.

Clefable: if you’re going to use tapus to change fields, then soft-boiled can replace misty terrain, and hold leftovers for better longevity.

Whimsicott can utilise tailwind to outspeed the enemy (I saw you mentioned nidoking is mediocre, maybe because of its speed?)

Btw I’m not sure what nature you opt for your mons, but if it’s an attacker I suggest timid/jolly rather than modest/adamant, because speed control is really important in this game.

Other than that, I suggest you can read up field guides when you are preparing for an anomaly fight. A lot of (legendary) mons are situational but very useful in particular situations, plus in E19, it’s a lot easier to grind for EVs and levels, so you can simply train what you feel suitable for a particular fight. Bulky latias, zeraora, marshadow, darkrai, victini, terrakion, magearna  are all mons I find quite good, if you have time maybe you can look up for them in smogon～

 

These are just my 2 cents, might be wrong tho, just take what you think is useful xD

[kithas]

Thanks! I actually had a Prankster Meowstic with dual screens around and it did wonders! I'm looking into your ideas... thanks!