Upgrading my team for endgame content

[vulturesrow]

So my play through team was based on pokemon who evolve via friendship.

As for my team now, I just got wrecked by Alder so gimmick time might be over for now. My team is pretty decent, the problem is that it is severely underleveled and rather neglected movesets thanks to my reliance on Lucario. Might replace one or two, not sure.

As it stands, here is the full rundown on my team.

Lucario(M) @ Expert Belt
Steadfast
Brave (+Atk, -Spe)
-Dragon Pulse
-Dark Pulse
-Psychic
-Aura Sphere

Special Atk set. I can just about hit anything in-game with a SE hit, hence the expert belt. Tons of resistances, decent speed, there is a reason this guy is the all-star of my team. That said, is there any value in converting his moveset to an ATk based moveset, since that stat is higher? Trade out an attack for a setup move?

Azumarill(F) @Mystic Water
Thick Fat
Impish (+Def, -SpAtk)
-Waterfall
-Surf
-Rain Dance
-Double Edge

Yeah, this moveset is a mess, never really needed to use Azumarill much other than to come in occasionally to take advantage of STAB Water. Was going to put Ice Punch on her, but never got to it. A candidate for replacement, even if it is just for a Huge Power version.

Mulch(Leavanny)(F) @Miracle Seed
Swarm
Naive (+Spe, -SpDef)
-Swords Dance
-Leaf Storm
-X-Scissor
-Leaf Blade

A good sweeper in her own right, and my only named party member. Moveset definitely needs some tweaking but I feel like its a pretty good member of the party.

Emboar(M) @Charcoal
Blaze
Naughty (+Atk, -SpDef)
-Strength
-Take Down
-Arm Thrust
-Flamethrower

Feel like this guy would've been more of a champ if it werent for the presence of Lucario. Again, moveset is somewhat neglected because I just didnt need to use him that much. Would like to hang on to him, I always have trouble giving up on my starters.

Crobat(F)
Inner Focus
Careful (+SpDef, -SpAtk)
-Acrobatics
-Fly
-Poison Fang
-Bite

This guy was pretty useful midgame or so and Acrobatics hits pretty hard. That said, at this point in the game her stats are pretty lackluster and Im not sure what niche she really fills in the party. Maybe another replacement candidate, but I like her for some reason and would like to hang on to her.

Thats right, never did fill that 6th spot. Was thinking Espeon but at this point in the game I dont feel obligate to stick so closely to the theme of this party, although I'd like to stick to it as much as I can. Any thoughts/suggestions/etc are much appreciated

[azeem40]

So my play through team was based on pokemon who evolve via friendship.

As for my team now, I just got wrecked by Alder so gimmick time might be over for now. My team is pretty decent, the problem is that it is severely underleveled and rather neglected movesets thanks to my reliance on Lucario. Might replace one or two, not sure.

As it stands, here is the full rundown on my team.

Lucario(M) @ Expert Belt
Steadfast
Brave (+Atk, -Spe)
-Agility
-Shadow Ball
-Ice Punch
-Aura Sphere

He is really good mixed in-game, since the same rules for comp battling don't apply in-game.

Special Atk set. I can just about hit anything in-game with a SE hit, hence the expert belt. Tons of resistances, decent speed, there is a reason this guy is the all-star of my team. That said, is there any value in converting his moveset to an ATk based moveset, since that stat is higher? Trade out an attack for a setup move?

Azumarill(F) @Mystic Water
Thick Fat
Impish (+Def, -SpAtk)
-Waterfall
-Surf
-Ice Punch
-Superpower

Yeah, this moveset is a mess, never really needed to use Azumarill much other than to come in occasionally to take advantage of STAB Water. Was going to put Ice Punch on her, but never got to it. A candidate for replacement, even if it is just for a Huge Power version.

Mulch(Leavanny)(F) @Miracle Seed
Swarm
Naive (+Spe, -SpDef)
-Swords Dance
-Leaf Storm
-X-Scissor
-Leaf Blade

A good sweeper in her own right, and my only named party member. Moveset definitely needs some tweaking but I feel like its a pretty good member of the party.

Emboar(M) @Charcoal
Blaze
Naughty (+Atk, -SpDef)
-Scald
-Hammer Arm
-Wild Charge
-Flamethrower

He is better mixed. Scald for Ground types, Wild Charge for bulky Water and Flying types, and Hammer Arm for Rock types. I stopped using starters in my fifth playthrough. :P

Feel like this guy would've been more of a champ if it werent for the presence of Lucario. Again, moveset is somewhat neglected because I just didnt need to use him that much. Would like to hang on to him, I always have trouble giving up on my starters.

Crobat(F)
Inner Focus
Careful (+SpDef, -SpAtk)
-Acrobatics
-Fly
-Poison Fang
-Bite

This guy was pretty useful midgame or so and Acrobatics hits pretty hard. That said, at this point in the game her stats are pretty lackluster and Im not sure what niche she really fills in the party. Maybe another replacement candidate, but I like her for some reason and would like to hang on to her.

Thats right, never did fill that 6th spot. Was thinking Espeon but at this point in the game I dont feel obligate to stick so closely to the theme of this party, although I'd like to stick to it as much as I can. Any thoughts/suggestions/etc are much appreciated

Suggestions in bold.

[vulturesrow]

Suggestions in bold.

Thanks a ton. For Azumarill, is it worthwhile to train up a huge power one instead? Thick Fat is honestly pretty darn useless. Also, I wouldve thought you wouldve recommended taking one of those Water moves off her...was that intentional or just couldnt think of anything better?

[Tsumiki]

Working off Azeem's rate because i can.

A Swords Dance / Close Combat / Ice Punch / Extremespeed set is fully viable if you choose to take advantage of the superior offensive stat. You could alternatively use Work Up > Agility on Lucario

Thick Fat Azumarril is awful, get a Huge Power one. Return / Double Edge > Surf if you don't mind losing Surf to travel and whatnot

Return > Leaf Storm as Leavanny has a pretty terrible SpA stat. Return is your best Physical move to play with. Aerial Ace does exist, but you'd never use it; STABed Leaf Blade outdamages it

[vulturesrow]

Working off Azeem's rate because i can.

A Swords Dance / Close Combat / Ice Punch / Extremespeed set is fully viable if you choose to take advantage of the superior offensive stat. You could alternatively use Work Up > Agility on Lucario

Thick Fat Azumarril is awful, get a Huge Power one. Return / Double Edge > Surf if you don't mind losing Surf to travel and whatnot

Return > Leaf Storm as Leavanny has a pretty terrible SpA stat. Return is your best Physical move to play with. Aerial Ace does exist, but you'd never use it; STABed Leaf Blade outdamages it

Thanks for the input. Tbh I don't see why you'd use agility at all. Swords Dance makes a lot more sense. Btw is EV training an ingame team overkill?

[azeem40]

It was because of Lucario's nature that I suggested Agility.

[edonub]

Since you're in the postgame, I suggest you breed a Marill with Aqua Jet. Just catch a male Buizel over level 21 and breed with a female Azurill/Marill/Azumarill with Huge Power (for higher chances of passing down the ability). That is, if you still want to keep this poke.

Your Crobat has a decent defensive nature and you need a flyer, try Fly, Toxic and two between Protect/Roost/U-Turn/Zen Headbutt/Heat Wave with Black Sludge equipped.
Fly takes two turns of Toxic damage and two turns of Black Sludge recovery. Protect or Roost for more free turns, then Zen Headbutt for poison types and/or Heat wave for Steels. Or U-turn to switch out.

Lucario is okay like this, though you will want Ice Punch over Dragon Pulse for similar but better coverage.

Leavanny's Special Attack is kind of mediocre, and even Leaf Storm won't do enough damage compared to your physical hits. Especially after you used Swords Dance. Go with Return or something to at least hit poison types neutrally.

On Emboar, Strength and Take Down are obviously a no-no. Keep the first one until you need it, replace Take Down with something useful (Rock Slide/Stone Edge/Wild Charge), and Arm Thrust with Brick Break/Hammer Arm/Superpower (depends on personal taste). Flamethrower is okay though you should consider Fire Blast as Emboar needs all the power it can get on the special side.Also, Flame Charge is always a good option to compensate for Emboar's poor speed (maybe replacing Strength when you're done with the boulders).

[vulturesrow]

Since you're in the postgame, I suggest you breed a Marill with Aqua Jet. Just catch a male Buizel over level 21 and breed with a female Azurill/Marill/Azumarill with Huge Power (for higher chances of passing down the ability). That is, if you still want to keep this poke.

Your Crobat has a decent defensive nature and you need a flyer, try Fly, Toxic and two between Protect/Roost/U-Turn/Zen Headbutt/Heat Wave with Black Sludge equipped.
Fly takes two turns of Toxic damage and two turns of Black Sludge recovery. Protect or Roost for more free turns, then Zen Headbutt for poison types and/or Heat wave for Steels. Or U-turn to switch out.

Lucario is okay like this, though you will want Ice Punch over Dragon Pulse for similar but better coverage.

Leavanny's Special Attack is kind of mediocre, and even Leaf Storm won't do enough damage compared to your physical hits. Especially after you used Swords Dance. Go with Return or something to at least hit poison types neutrally.

On Emboar, Strength and Take Down are obviously a no-no. Keep the first one until you need it, replace Take Down with something useful (Rock Slide/Stone Edge/Wild Charge), and Arm Thrust with Brick Break/Hammer Arm/Superpower (depends on personal taste). Flamethrower is okay though you should consider Fire Blast as Emboar needs all the power it can get on the special side.Also, Flame Charge is always a good option to compensate for Emboar's poor speed (maybe replacing Strength when you're done with the boulders).

Thanks Edonub. Since this is an in-game team, do moves like roost/protect offer that much utility? In my mind in-game teams are mostly about burning down the other team as fast as possible. Does this not hold true in the endgame content? Again thanks for all the suggestions, please feel free to add more if you think of anything, looking forward to reading your reply.

[edonub]

Well it's still ingame, so not really. fly is annoying because of the two turns but still needed (having to grab a HM slave every single time you want to fly around is boring). Toxic is a way to exploit the two turns. Zen Headbutt and Heatwave are a good combination for hitting anything that Toxic can't, so you can use those to replace Roost or whatever. After you're done with the main story you can screw around so it doesn't really matter, on my first playthrough I had a Crobat for Fly with toxic protect and u-turn. But I'm weird and I play without items and in Set mode (no free switches after you KO something). It was fun to use though not the best. Good for PWT and Battle Subway though, when you have to scout and can't rely on brute force sometimes. Since you're having problems with Alder, Crobat walls Accelgor completely, you can predict Conkeldurr's Superpower and switch Crobat in to lower its attack making it almost useless, can probably oneshot Volcarona with super-effective Fly, so it's not that useless on your team. toxic/roost comes in handy for Bouffalant as well (Wild charge becomes neutral)

By the way, since you're using friendship evolved pokes, after the Elite 4 in Castelia City you can get a free Eevee with its dream world ability. Magic Bounce Espeon is a pretty awesome option.

[vulturesrow]

Well it's still ingame, so not really. fly is annoying because of the two turns but still needed (having to grab a HM slave every single time you want to fly around is boring). Toxic is a way to exploit the two turns. Zen Headbutt and Heatwave are a good combination for hitting anything that Toxic can't, so you can use those to replace Roost or whatever. After you're done with the main story you can screw around so it doesn't really matter, on my first playthrough I had a Crobat for Fly with toxic protect and u-turn. But I'm weird and I play without items and in Set mode (no free switches after you KO something). It was fun to use though not the best. Good for PWT and Battle Subway though, when you have to scout and can't rely on brute force sometimes. Since you're having problems with Alder, Crobat walls Accelgor completely, you can predict Conkeldurr's Superpower and switch Crobat in to lower its attack making it almost useless, can probably oneshot Volcarona with super-effective Fly, so it's not that useless on your team. toxic/roost comes in handy for Bouffalant as well (Wild charge becomes neutral)

By the way, since you're using friendship evolved pokes, after the Elite 4 in Castelia City you can get a free Eevee with its dream world ability. Magic Bounce Espeon is a pretty awesome option.

Thanks, good info. I 'll go with your suggestions.

Oh yeah. Magic Bounce Espeon is definitely coming into the fold. Do you recommend a +Spe nature for her? I dont reset for natures much but in this case I am going to. What sort of moveset am I looking at?

[EvilTyranitar]

Thanks for the input. Tbh I don't see why you'd use agility at all. Swords Dance makes a lot more sense. Btw is EV training an ingame team overkill?

As far as the normal trainers go, it probably is. But if you're going into PWT, playing challenge mode, or anything like that, it could be useful. If you know what you're doing, it doesn't take that long, so I say why not go for it.

[edonub]

Espeon's movepool isn't that great, so Psychic of course, one between Signal Beam (Hits dark and psychic) and Shadow Ball (hits ghost and psychic) for coverage. Last two moveslots can be filled in various ways, if you don't like healing items, Morning Sun + Calm Mind works, or Morning Sun + Reflect/Light Screen (you can swap TMs depending on what you need at the moment). Else, you can run double Screens or CM + one screen or a status move or even Baton Pass, whatever lol. Not many options. Or you can go with CM + Psychic, Shadow Ball and Signal Beam but the coverage is still poor: if by chance you get HP ground/fire/fighting feel free to use that instead to hit Steel types. Timid would be ideal especially when using Calm Mind.

[vulturesrow]

Espeon's movepool isn't that great, so Psychic of course, one between Signal Beam (Hits dark and psychic) and Shadow Ball (hits ghost and psychic) for coverage. Last two moveslots can be filled in various ways, if you don't like healing items, Morning Sun + Calm Mind works, or Morning Sun + Reflect/Light Screen (you can swap TMs depending on what you need at the moment). Else, you can run double Screens or CM + one screen or a status move or even Baton Pass, whatever lol. Not many options. Or you can go with CM + Psychic, Shadow Ball and Signal Beam but the coverage is still poor: if by chance you get HP ground/fire/fighting feel free to use that instead to hit Steel types. Timid would be ideal especially when using Calm Mind.

Baton Pass might be cool since I do want to do PWT with this team. THanks for the ideas.

[azeem40]

Agility helps him outspeed the whole game and then he can proceed to take pokemon out with his superior coverage.

[vulturesrow]

Since you're in the postgame, I suggest you breed a Marill with Aqua Jet. Just catch a male Buizel over level 21 and breed with a female Azurill/Marill/Azumarill with Huge Power (for higher chances of passing down the ability). That is, if you still want to keep this poke.

Oh yeah so what else besides Aqua Jet?

[azeem40]

Oh yeah so what else besides Aqua Jet?

Azumarill
Aqua Jet
Waterfall/Aqua Tail
Superpower
Return

[vulturesrow]

Azumarill
Aqua Jet
Waterfall/Aqua Tail
Superpower
Return

Two water moves seems a little redundant?

[azeem40]

It doesn't learn anything else useful, so Aqua Jet is for finishing off weaker Pokemon.

[vulturesrow]

It doesn't learn anything else useful, so Aqua Jet is for finishing off weaker Pokemon.

Thought Aqua Jet was because it is a priority move?

[azeem40]

It is. It is useful for picking off weakened pokemon.