Platinum team help

[Marowik]

So I'm having trouble with the E4. Here's my team, and I hope you have suggestions.

Naive Empoleon - Lv. 44 - Torrent
-Rock Climb
-Brine
-Surf
-Hyper Beam
I'm hoping it can be a special sweeper.

Careful Roserade - Lv. 40- Poison Barb- Natural Cure
-Sludge Bomb
-Sunny Day
-Stun Spore
-SolarBeam
For status.

Relaxed Froslass - Lv. 44 - NeverMeltIce - Snow Cloak
-Blizzard
-Ice Beam
-Hail
-Thunder
My dragon destroyer. Also a special sweeper.

Hasty Honchkrow - Lv. 44 - Dread Plate - Super Luck
-Defog
-Fly
-Faint Attack
-Mean Look
I don't know what to do with this.

Impish Bastiodon - Lv. 40 - Hard Stone - Sturdy
-Rock Smash
-Metal Sound
-Fire Blast
-Flash Cannon
Physical Wall, obviously.

Adamant Hippowdon - Lv. 41 - Soft Sand - Sand Stream
-Crunch
-Yawn
-Earthquake
-Strength
A physical sweeper, gonna need work.

Please and Thank you!

[CMHennigan]

Alright lets see. First off, you normally don't want 2 moves of the same type on a poke. There are a few exceptions, like when one move has a special trait or ability, but most of the time it's a no no. If this is your E4 team, i would suggest removing all HM moves, save surf and fly, as you're not using any HMs in the E4, and they're weak attacks that are wasting a move slot.

First on Empoleon, i would swap out rock climb for Ice Beam, for pesky dragon types, which you already resist. And also get rid of brine for Agility as empoleon's speed isn't the greatest. After one agility, you have a realistic chance at outspeeding a fair few pokemon. If this is your E4 team, i would suggest removing all HM moves, save surf and fly, as you're not using any HMs in the E4, and they're weak attacks that are wasting a move slot. I suggest replacing sunny day and solar beam on Roserade with leaf storm or petal dance eventually, i understand you can't right now due to level.

I would probably replace bastiodon with a fire or fighting type, as you can use hippowdon as a physical wall, and they share similar type coverage. Preferably fighting type as you lack normal/dark/steel coverage save EQ on hippowdon which only covers certain steel types. Lucario, Infernape, Blazekin, Medicham, Magmortar, and many others would fill that slot nicely. Let me know which you choose and i'll give you a set for them.

i would replace thunder on frosslass with shadow ball, it's a very good STAB attack, and thunder is inaccurate except in rain. Also i would get rid of blizzard/hail or ice beam depending on how you play. you really dont need both, so it's up to you as to whether you'd rather have the evasion bonus from hail and the 5 uses of 100% accuracy base 120 attack, or ice beam's base 90(?) and 2 extra move slots. You could even leave hail for the damage over time and evasion bonus and get rid of blizzard for another attack, maybe destiny bond, but you really dont need both. However, with levels, frosslass could easily sweep lance by herself with hail/blizzard or even ice beam if EV'd right.

Honchkrow i went Fly and Night Slash for STAB, Steel wing for coverage on rock and ice which would otherwise give you trouble. Faint attack for double teamers, but that last attack is really filler. use whatever you choose.

Hippopwdon looks ok, he's not really meant to be a sweeper, but he can be a good hard hitting wall. Personally i would swap strength since it's an hm move, and crunch as it's SE on psychic and ghost, both which are normally SpAtks which you dont want hippowdon up agaisnt if you can help it anyways. I would use Hippo as a lead, with Stealth rocks and Roar, then EQ and Yawn. Start off the match with Stealth Rock, and sandstorm will help build passive damage. Then use yawn, and roar if necessary, and you can really rack up the passive damage.

As far as EVs go, I would go with Atk/Speed on Honchkrow. SpAtk and speed on Roserade. Empoleon is really meant to be more of a special wall than a sweeper, but it can still do decent damage. And with a Naive Nature, i guess you could try Speed and Sp Atk also. though most people say HP/SpAtk. Frosslass has decent speed naturally so i would invest in SpAtk and then a mix between speed and HP depending on your IVs. Your fighting/fire type i'll let you know when you choose one, and for hippo I would go EVs for HP/Def since you have an adamant nature. you can toss some into spDef if you would like also, but meh.

I know it was long, but i hate waiting for replies on my stuff too so i figured i'd do what i can :P GL and let me know if you have any questions.

[Marowik]

Thank you very much! I think I would use Lucario, but all I have is a Riolu egg. I can't get Shadow Ball on Frosslass until I get a heart scale (I have no idea where to find them. Underground maybe?) Roserade can't learn any moves by level since it's a stone evolution. How could I get those moves? And i need a few HMs because my brother turned off my game before I saved, so now I'm back at the Victory Road, but as soon as I get back to the E4, I'll ditch 'em. I'm really not interested in EVs, so I can't really do anything there. I really appreciate the help.

[CMHennigan]

at work right now but i'll reply when i get home tonight and fill you in. EVs are important though, even in-game, they make a huge difference. trust me.

[CMHennigan]

You get heart scales from using rock smash on cinnabar island, among other places. Diamond/pearl are easiest because you can go underground and dig for them. Then trade them over. there are other places to smash for them, but i can't remember off the top of my head. a quick google search will fix that though. Leaf Storm and Sludge bomb are great for roserade, as is energy ball if you cant get leaf storm, or you can try a different grass type if you can't get the moves for roserade. I like leafeon personally, awesome attack, good speed, and good defense actually, great movepool, though you have to trade an eevee to diamond/pearl to level it up on the correct route, it's an awesome poke, and one of my favorite pokemon. EVs are also definitely worth it, they can add up to 63 points in 2 stats, and 1 point in another stat, for a total of 127 extra points (at lv 100) trust me it makes a huge difference. Get rid of sunny day for sure if you keep roserade as it makes your fire weakness that much more exploitable. (roserade, frosslass, lucario if you use him wont appreciate that much) and as for lucario, just breed with a ditto to get the proper nature then raise it up. he's really a great sweeper and can be either physical or special depending on what your team needs.

[Shine]

Modest Empoleon
-Ice Beam
-Grass Knot
-Surf
-Flash Cannon

It is better as a purely Special attacker, so no for Rock Climb. Also, Hyper Beam sucks.


Modest/Timid Roserade
-Sludge Bomb
-Shadow Bal
-Toxic/Weather Ball/Hidden Power [anything not Grass/Poison/Ghost/Steel]
-Energy Ball/Giga Drain

I don't suggest Sunnybeaming due to your team having a Water-Type and an Ice-Type. And Careful is a bad Nature for Roserade, as it reduce SAtk.


Modest/Timid Froslass
-Shadow Ball
-Ice Beam
-Hidden Power [anything not Ice/Electric/Ghost/Steel/Poison]
-Thunderbolt

Thunderbolt is enough, but if you prefer power over accuracy, keep Thunder. It gives Froslass the amazing Electric + Ice coverage. Also, Relaxed is a really bad Nature for Froslass, as it reduce Speed.


Hasty Honchkrow
-Heat Wave
-Fly
-Faint Attack
-Steel Wing

This set can work. Heat Wave for Steels & Ices, Steel Wing for Rocks, the other two moves are STAB.


Impish Bastiodon
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Curse/Return
-Iron Head

It's Impish (a -SAtk Nature) so might as well go purely physical.


Adamant Hippowdon
-Crunch
-Return
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide

....yeah, it's basically almost the same as Bastiodon.

If you want Bastiodon to be less similar to Hippowdon, you can try this

Bastiodon
Modest Nature
~Ancientpower
~Earth Power
~Flash Cannon
~Metal Sound

[CMHennigan]

Shine those are great suggestions, but remember he hasn't even beaten the E4 yet, so he has no access to BF tutor moves, and limited access to TMs. And since he's not to the E4 yet, i doubt he's too interested in rebreeding and retraining at this point.

However, if you are willing to put in the time and effort, shine has done a pretty good job of laying out the way your pokemon SHOULD be set up. I'm not at all trying to knock your suggestions shine, just saying remember where he is in the game. Most people don't get too into breeding and EV training pre-E4 just because it's so much harder than once you have access to the battle frontier and the power items.