Mono-Steel Team

[Chevaleresse]

So, yeah, PO is not on my computer right now, so excuse my formatting.

Bisharp @ Focus Sash

252 HP / 252 Attack / 4 Speed

Nature: Adamant

Ability: Defiant

-Sucker Punch

-Stealth Rock

-Iron Head

-Swords Dance

I use this Bisharp as a lead, typically. Why? Well, one, it has access to rocks. Two, it's unexpected, which throws people off. It's been fairly successful so far. I will usually set up a SD against another hazard-setting lead, then OHKO with Sucker Punch when they try to attack. Iron Head is there for fairy-slaying (not that the team needs it) and prediction. Stealth Rock is there, again for when I predict they aren't attacking me. Bisharp has the added advantage of having Defiant, so he doesn't get Defogged.

Skarmory @ Leftovers

252 HP / 4 Attack / 252 Sp. Defense

Nature: Impish

Ability: Sturdy

-Spikes

-Roar

-Roost

-Drill Peck

Fairly standard Skarmory. Spikes are nice, and constant shuffling with spikes and stealth rock wears almost every team down quickly. Roost for recovery. I took Roar over Whirlwind due to Roar not being blocked by Substitute or Protect (though the latter may be a bug.) Drill Peck was taken over Brave Bird since Skarmory is a wall and shouldn't be killing itself with recoil. I've been quite successful in using it; it has respectable Attack, so Drill Peck puts dents in most things. Roar-shuffling is also an amusing way to sweep teams. Full Sp. D investment allows this metal bird to tank most Thunderbolts and Flamethrowers, then Roost off the damage. Burns have been problematic, however.

Heatran @ Leftovers

252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Sp. Def

Nature: Modest

Ability: Flash Fire

-Magma Storm

-Stealth Rock

-Will-O-Wisp

-Protect

This Heatran is designed to switch in on a threatening Fire attack, trap the switch-in with the strongest partial trapping move in the game, then wear them down with residual damage, as well as crippling set-up sweepers and physical revenge killers. I have Rocks on this too because usually, one of my hazard setters dies before the opposing spinner/defogger, so rocks will be gone. It has the added advantage of having high PP in the case of a wall-on-wall final battle to the Struggle. I've had mixed success. The 4x weakness to Ground is incredibly painful, resulting in OHKOs every time, but Leftovers recovery is hard to give up for Air Balloon. However, it has stopped numerous sweeps dead in their tracks.

Aegislash @ Leftovers

252 HP / 100 Attack / 156 Sp. A

Nature: Brave

Ability: Stance Change

-King's Shield

-Sacred Sword

-Shadow Ball

-Shadow Sneak

Ah, this overused little shit. I told myself I would never use it, but I am. The mixed set makes it hard to wall, since most things will fall to a powerful attack from the wrong side. The combo of Shadow Ball+Shadow Sneak kills most things, and it seems that most people don't expect a Sacred Sword to follow a Shadow Ball. Aegislash hasn't worked out terribly well for me, though. It seems to fall quickly without taking out any threats, though it puts serious dents in things. This is partially because I'm unused to using it, but, well, idk.

Scizor @ Choice Band

252 HP / 252 Attack / 4 Sp. Defense

Nature: Adamant

Ability: Technician

-Bullet Punch

-U-Turn

-Bug Bite

-Superpower

Do I really need to explain what a banded Scizor does?

Magnezone @ Leftovers

252 HP / Sp. Attack / 4 Sp. D

Nature: Modest

Ability: Magnet Pull

-Thunderbolt

-Volt Switch

-Flash Cannon

-Thunder Wave

Dual STABS for trapping opposing Steel-types and mauling them, or just plain murdering anything neutral to either with a base 130 Special Attack. Thunder Wave helps with supporting the team, and a slow Volt Switch can bring in a counter if the opponent goes for their own counter. It's done well, so far, but the entire team faces issues with a particular large rabbit, Magnezone especially. Skarmory has no trouble, but if Skarm is killed by something (like a Magnezone. . .), my team is helpless. Magnezone is useless against ground types in general, but each move in the set has been extremely useful to have.

[Tacos]

Your team looks very nice. I'm more of a PS person than a PO person so I am not 100% sure on how the playing styles may differ. However, on PS I am quite the connoisseur of steel types. Was in many leagues as either a gym leader or elite four member, so you can at least trust my word I guess.

Team looks very nice and solid, only have a few criticisms and possible suggestions.

1. I understand you might want to cover bases on skarmory with adding the special defense EV's, but it's much better off investing those in defense to make it an amazing defensive tank. Considering Heatran could do a better job of tanking special hits, you can rely on him more for the occasional fire move or even an electric move. If your heatran is afraid of a ground move, switch to skarmory.

2. Your Heatran set suits your team very well. However, I am not a huge fan of two possible rock setters so I think you should maybe give heatran some coverage with a different move like Earth Power perhaps. This way, if you ever run into a Heatran with your own, you aren't completely walled by it.

3. I see absolutely no point in running a mixed/special Aegislash if you do not run Weakness Policy. You claimed to be somewhat unsuccessful with it, and the fact its offensive stats aren't high enough hampers it quite a bit.

4. Quite the absurd amount of Leftovers here. Unless you plan on running a sub/protect set on magnezone, its much better suited with choice scarf/specs, or maybe even a magnet/zap plate if you're feeling "chansey." You referenced Diggersby here. Perhaps throw a balloon on Heatran or maybe even give Bisharp Brick Break for coverage on the demon.

5. Huge fan of choice band scizor. Perhaps, if you're looking for more bulk against Diggersby, give it a mega stone and raise that defense. Replace U-Turn with swords dance as mega scizor isn't exactly great with switch initiative.

6. I could give you so many tips on a hyper offensive steel team that it's ridiculous. But that is for another day if you so desire, I can show you an example of one.

Aside from what was stated above, the team is fairly solid. Haven't seen it in action so I can't be sure about each pokemon's usefulness, but I'm going from my own knowledge here.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Tacps&Flowers

[Etesian]

For Aegislash, I'd say swap Shadow Sneak for Swords Dance and Shadow Ball for Shadow Claw. Unbuffed, Shadow Sneak's 40 base power will hardly OHKO anything, thus leaving you in Attack Form and ready to get destroyed.

[SJMistery]

NONONONONONONONO!

NEVER QUIT SHADOW SNEAK!

Aegislash is 10 times less usefull without priority on his hands!

And a mixed set without WP is extremely usefull as a wallbreaker, dismantling powerfull cores like the classic SkarmBliss, or, in Monotype, Skarmory+Aegislash+Empoleon+Jirachi who is too resilient to defeat otherwise.

your SD set is far the worse Aegislash may run. Burn cripples it and EQ from LO Mamoswine (who opens huge holes in Monosteel almost by itself) OHKOes in either form without response. Never go home without a Shadow Sneak in your possessed BFS

Edited June 6, 2014 by SJMistery

[Chevaleresse]

Bumping this. I need to make changes for league; what would be recommended?

[chuckles]

You really need more type coverage. It's a good team with some very viable strategies, but you mentioned some problems and i realized that you don't have much in terms of move type variation. This can be tricky on a mono team, but still. See if you can move some things around though, maybe switch out aegislash for empoleon or something else that might deal with fire and ground types effectively.

[SJMistery]

intead of Aegi, maybe better switch Magnezone, removing oposing steels would be pointless as basically every member carries a move to smash them to pieces bar skarmory