Gym Leader (insert name here) would like to battle.

[ParaChomp]

There was a guy on Funimation's old forums by the name of insertnamehere but he no longer goes to the new forums due to the lag.

Anyways, this isn't the topic to discuss about other people on other forums. This topic is about battling with a team consisting of only one type (like a gym leader). Yes, I was inspired by this thread on Smogon and thought I'd bring it here (I have no creativity).

Discuss your opinions here and mention notable members. Also talk about your experiences with a mono-type team. I will be updating the main thread with notable members of each type every now and then so keep posted. As for what tiers to discuss about, I think OU would be the safest call but later I'm sure we could discuss about using a mono-type team in the other tiers.

Should I make a list of notable members (with you guys helping me of course)?

[MetalFlygon08]

Normal type gyms should ultimately have the best Pokemon, since a lot of types are coupled with normal, and normal has some of the highest stat holders, and all learn a variety of moves. Plus they have Miltank, with Rollout...

Notable members
Slaking
Staraptor
Girafarig
Ditto
Snorlax
Ursaring
Exploud
Porygon-Z
Stoutland
Buffolant

[PokéMaster Forever]

Back in early 2011, I used to participate on the Monotype ladder on the Pokémon Online server using a team consisting of Dragonite, Flygon, Haxorus, Salamence, Garchomp and Hydreigon, and remember being extremely successful there, as my six dragons utterly tore their way through my opponents' teams with their devastatingly powerful attacks. I have long stopped participating in that tier though, as I lost interest in it after Xavier Final, the moderator in charge of that tier, later placed a restriction on Dragon Monotype teams, by forbidding any team from containing more than two Pokémon out of the following: Dragonite, Garchomp, Hydreigon and Kyurem.

[ParaChomp]

Back in early 2011, I used to participate on the Monotype ladder on the Pokémon Online server using a team consisting of Dragonite, Flygon, Haxorus, Salamence, Garchomp and Hydreigon, and remember being extremely successful there, as my six dragons utterly tore their way through my opponents' teams with their devastatingly powerful attacks. I have long stopped participating in that tier though, as I lost interest in it after Xavier Final, the moderator in charge of that tier, later placed a restriction on Dragon Monotype teams, by forbidding any team from containing more than two Pokémon out of the following: Dragonite, Garchomp, Hydreigon and Kyurem.

However, this is still legal in normal matches (bar Garchomp, I think).

Never really tried it myself. Might try a mono-Normal on Pokemon Online using my combination of Smeargle and Regigigas. To boot, Ditto and Melotta have been released. Aside from that, I'm just curious about your experiences using mono-type teams.

[MatchMaster]

I don't usually like these kind of teams, since they usually share weaknesses. Anyway, I once did try out a Dark-type team. I first tried to make an uber team from uber-metagame Pokemon. Here's how it went:

Dark Arceus
Darkrai
Bisharp
Shiftry
Hydreigon
Tyranitar

This team got a bit hard to use, as these are literally the only six Dark-type that are viable in Ubers. Among the problems it had were that all of them are weak to Fighting- and Bug- type moves, Tyranitar's Sandstream chipped off health on all except Bisharp, and Shiftry had trouble abusing its ability, since there was no permanent sunlight. I guess I could have gone with Unnerve on Tyranitar, but the specially defense boost really came in handy sometimes.

An OU Dark-type team is much easier to use. This is how it went:
Bisharp
Hydreigon
Sableye
Scrafty
Sharpedo
Weavile

This team had more success. Sableye could switch in when a Fighting-type move was directed at something else, and the opponent usually had to switch for fear of being burned by Prankster Will-O-Wisp. Scrafty could always take any Bug-type moves, bar Escavalier's Megahorn, and counter-attack provided it had got in a Dragon Dance.

[Monster Guy]

I beat a Mono-Steel team with a Mono-Psychic team once.

HP Fighting/Focus Blast/Close Combat (From my Gallade) was used a lot. xD

The team was mostly based on Trick Room

Musharna
Reuniclus
Metagross
Sigilyph
Gallade
Slowbro

Can't remember the sets right now... :/

[Psycho Cut]

I think Mono-Steel pretty much runs away with best Monotype.

The reasons being is that there are so many great pokemon that can cover the Steel Type's natural weaknesses. You've got Heatran (And Empoleon to a lesser extent) for Fire, Bronzong, Skarmory, Ferrothorn and anything with a Balloon for Ground and finally Bronzong, Jirachi, Metagross and Skarmory for fighting.

That said, you're still at a big disadvantage if against a Mono Fighting because of the amount of powerhouses it can field.

[jesusfreak94]

I've found that one of the most successful types for monotype teams is the Psychic type, mainly because of the raw number of diverse Pokemon with secondary typing. You can run a team like Latios/Celebi/Jirachi/Starmie/Reuniclus/Victini, and your opponent might not even realize that you're running a Psychic monotype due to the fact that most dual type Psychic Pokemon are usually characterized by their other typing. Psychic types also occupy a wide variety of roles, such as spinners, supporters, walls, wall breakers, and sweepers.

[AquaRegisteel]

There are also 3:3 Monotypes, guys.

I can't comment on Electric Monotypes, since I could spoil my L.E.G gym team. They are good for sure.
But, of course, Steel + Rain is really good anyways.

[PokéMaster Forever]

In addition to the Dragon Monotype team I mentioned before, I also briefly tried a Flying Monotype team with Thundurus, Aerodactyl, Charizard, Gyarados, Salamence and Dragonite. It was decent, although I mainly created this team for the aesthetics of it, rather than as a serious attempt to make a good and competitive team.

[Ilan]

Water monotype seems the strongest because it have rain and have the most variety as water pokemon are the most common

and about normal types they are normally NOT combined with other types.. the only common type which normal combines with is flying.

[Phoopes]

I had a fairly good Psychic monotype team in Gen 4, but I haven't tried a true monotype team in Gen 5. I have, however, done a few 3:3 Monotype teams. I'm right with everyone else, though, Psychic and Steel are the best. I'd tend to lead more towards Psychic, though, if you're looking for the best.

[Ghosts of the Forums]

Normal is great monotype; it has porygon2 and togekiss.

[MatchMaster]

I've discovered that Dragon is not the best monotype. Every dragon outside of ubers has a weakness to ice-type moves, most of which have double weaknesses.

[kaiser soze]

Surprised no one's mentioned Water. It's been paired with almost every other type. Combine with Ground, Grass, Dragon, or Electric and you get rid of the Electric weakness. Combine with Flying, Dragon, Poison, Steel, or Bug to remove the Grass weakness. Plus there's the Rain boost.

I've discovered that Dragon is not the best monotype. Every dragon outside of ubers has a weakness to ice-type moves, most of which have double weaknesses.

Kingdra says hi.

[PokéMaster Forever]

I've discovered that Dragon is not the best monotype. Every dragon outside of ubers has a weakness to ice-type moves, most of which have double weaknesses.

By taking advantage of items like Focus Sash, Yache Berry and Choice Scarf, Dragonite's Multiscale and ExtremeSpeed, and dragons with a neutrality to Ice-type moves such as Kingdra and Kyurem, a Dragon Monotype team can typically power its way through any users of Ice-type moves. Unless the opponent has an Ice Monotype team, it is highly unlikely that their team will contain more than two or three users of Ice-type moves, so the Dragon Monotype team would usually just have to sacrifice at most a few members to take down the opponent's Pokémon that know Ice-type moves, being proceeding to slaughter the rest of the opponent's team with their superior power.

[Ilan]

Surprised no one's mentioned Water. It's been paired with almost every other type. Combine with Ground, Grass, Dragon, or Electric and you get rid of the Electric weakness. Combine with Flying, Dragon, Poison, Steel, or Bug to remove the Grass weakness. Plus there's the Rain boost.


Kingdra says hi.

I mentioned it..
Bug is also a good monotype having the most used pokemon in OU- scizor
and having exellent pokemon like forretress,volcarona,heracross,galvantula and more..

poison might be the worst mono type cause most of them are not that good (gengar and nidoking I know...)

[ParaChomp]

Then there's Fire, usually a third (if not more due to the poorness in entry hazard users) of the teams are already picked out...

Ninetales is passable option but it can't be ignored due to Drought. Torkoal is also mandatory due to how crippling Stealth Rock is to a mono-Fire team and it is the only Fire type that can learn Rapid Spin. Torkoal does have a solid build with defences similar to Forretress but Fire is poor defensively that combined with its Special Defence make it hard to take attacks from common special based counters, it also lacks a way of recovery outside of Rest, and 85 base Special Attack doesn't get it far offensively. If it only got Slack Off like Monferno, then I think it would get a lot more respect.

Then there are entry hazards and it doesn't go that well here. All Fire types that have is access to an entry hazard only have access to Stealth Rock. Magcargo and Camperupt lack the neccessary builds and have a glaring Water weakness which not even intense sunlight will help. Torkoal can also learn Stealth Rock but it's flaws stick out in this role. All that is left with is Infernape (which works better as a sweeper on a mono-Fire team) and Heatran who can preform the role well but that glaring Ground weakness does not help even with an Air Balloon.

Aside from that, mono-Fire is hit and miss.

[John Wallrein]

I actually really like the idea of flying type mono. Before this generation this idea would have been much worse, as there is obviously a glaring Stealth Rock weakness. However with 5th gen came Magic Bounce Xatu, who can help to keep hazards off the field. Flying types also have a range of secondary types that helps with weakness. Flying types have good: Stealth Rock Users, Physical and Special Sweepers, Physical Tanks, Physical Walls, Stall Breakers, Baton Passers, and the list goes on. Examples of useable Pokemon are:

Gyarados
Dragonite
Xatu
Skarmory
Salamence
Gliscor
Thundurus-T
Tornadus
Tornadus-T
Landorus
Landorus-T

some other non OU, but useable Pokemon include:

Aerodactyl
Crobat
Zapdos
Yanmega
Ninjask
Togekiss
Staraptor

[Sietse23]

Steel is real good for a mono-team, I used to have one with:
Ferrothorn,
Heatran,
Skarmory,
Scizor,
Metagross
and Jirachi.

Other good Steel types are:
Forretress
Lucario
Magnezone
Cobalion

The good thing about steel types is that they mostly have great stats, and good movepools. They also resist SR, and they have a spinner, phazers, annoyers, trickers, special attackers, physical attackers, trappers, set-up sweepers and hazards. Everything a team needs.