Water Monotype Team

[holzerhedrpca]

The last starter monotype! Water's so versatile and diverse. I'm a huge fan of the Water/Ground dual type, but I won't overload on this team (but I bet you know which one I'm including...):

Comments

[cactuarjoe]

Gyarados really wants Return over Giga Impact. Over two turns, it'll deal a lot more damage. Taunt is also fun, if you feel like messing with tanks that try to ruin your fun. I'd also recommend finding a decent physical tank - the biggest weakness I see with this team is that it can't really take a physical hit very well.

[flag]

Good call on the last point; would Swampert make a good tank with Curse? I know it even learns Avalanche so it could probably take advantage of the increased damage with less speed.

EDIT: Crap, I forgot that Curse isn't a TM and Mudkip's family can't learn it. ;_;

[cactuarjoe]

Swampert makes a great physical tank, but frankly I'd go with Rest/Sleep Talk rather than Rest/Curse. Curse Swampert was awesome in R/S/E, but it really can't stand up to all the newer, more powerful threats in D/P. Avalanche is a great idea, though. Ground/Ice provides some great coverage.

[flag]

Ahhh, I see. (So Swampert can learn Curse after all and I wasn't hallucinating when I was recalling a Cursepert set- I totally forgot about the move tutors!) I've been wanting to raise and train a Swampert for fun (I don't battle, but I like reading about in-depth strategy) so I'll keep that in mind. :D

[flag]

YAY LANTURN AND TENTACRUEL! (I love those two Pokemon and they don't get enough love inside or outside of battling!)

For Gyarados, would Return be more practical than Giga Impact?

[pufferfish]

LANTURN IS AWESOME

Bulky

[hikarisenshi]

No matter how many EV's you add to Swampert in speed, it won't outrun many of its threats (Tangrowth, anything with high Sp. Atk and Grass Knot).

It really does need to be utilized as a 'Bulky Water'.

Swampert @ Leftovers
- Earthquake
- Protect
- Avalanche
- Mirror Coat
Impish Nature (+Def, -Sp.Atk)
EVs: 252 HP / 56 ATK / 212 DEF

Protect would work well with Tentacruel as a staller, and by using it for one turn, who doesn't like a little HP recovery when you've just switched into an attack that's taken some damage off?

Re: Bulky

[holzerhedrpca]

Valid points, although I do like my Swampert moveset. You get super-effective coverage on 12 types.

Maybe if I switched natures and changed Spd to SpDef or Def, it'd work better.

Re: Bulky

[hikarisenshi]

Super-effective attacks really don't help if the STAB (Super-effective Type Attack Bonus) isn't behind it(for Swampert, this would be Earthquake and Surf/Waterfall)...

Take Bronzong, for example... He could switch in on an Earthquake, and then you keep punching it with Brick Break? That's gonna do nothing without STAB behind it.

Type coverage is great, but it'll be difficult for any Pokemon to last against all the types you're trying to cover. Just like with EV-training, you have to focus on the Pokemon's strengths.

But, if you switch the EV's, I'd like to see how that Swampert would do.

Re: Bulky

[holzerhedrpca]

STAB only gives a 50% boost. Super-effective gives a 100% boost. To say moves like Brick Break would be useless without STAB is disingenuous. Of course, it'd be nice to have both, but in some cases, you have to make do.

I think I am playing to Swampert's strengths with that moveset though, because it's got a diverse movepool and only one real defensive liability (Grass, which isn't that prevalent of a type anyway). Granted, the original model probably isn't the way to go because of lack of speed, but a Poké with 12 type coverages can't be that bad to use in battle, especially when other jobs are being filled by other team members.

[holzerhedrpca]

But then how will Lanturn counter those pesky Grass-types? :p