What's a good Blissey counter?

Was playing an online match, and doing okay, had taken out Azelf, Gyarados and Metagross with my Choice Scarf Heracross (fuck yes Megahorn), and then Blissey came out, and walled my entire fucking team. Couldn't do enough damage to it for it not to just softboil it off. Was eventually forced to whirlwind it out with Skarmory, but by then it had already taken out Alakazam and Heracross, and had put Skarmory itself down to basically no health, and then his Mamoswine cleaned up the rest.

Haha, I remember doing the Battle Tower in Crystal, getting really far, and then my Mewtwo get defeated/humiliated by a Blissey. And back then, if you wanted to give Mewtwo a fighting move, there weren't exactly a lot of options...Submission was really the only choice, and you can imagine how well a recoil-causing move works against a low-defense, fighting-vulnerable, regen-capable Pokemon with eighty billion HP...

Good times.

At 4/13/10 07:08 PM, TheMaster wrote: What's a good Blissey counter?
Choice Scarf Heracross (fuck yes Megahorn)

Doesn't your heracross know close combat? You should be able to give it a jolly good rogering with that...

At 4/13/10 08:49 PM, BananaBreadMuffin wrote:

At 4/13/10 07:08 PM, TheMaster wrote: What's a good Blissey counter?
Choice Scarf Heracross (fuck yes Megahorn)

Doesn't your heracross know close combat? You should be able to give it a jolly good rogering with that...

It does, but I was locked into Megahorn by the Choice Scarf. It's a pain, he's too slow without.

Surely that's just a waste of a Pokemon? Why not just send out a team member that's useful at other times and sacrifice that?

I might swap Heracross's Choice Scarf for a Life Orb, anyway. 30% more attack instead of 50% more speed, but he wouldn't be locked into a move, he'd lose 10% of his HP every time he deals damage, instead.

I say with confidence that Machamp is the best counter to Blissey. If you use one with the Guts ability, it's a perfect counter. If it's with No Guard, predict when it won't use Thunder Wave or Toxic, and switch him in. Blissey is dead meat, so since it will most likely be switching, I recommend you run Substitute to ease prediction of the next switch in. I recommend this set.

Machamp@Leftovers
Adament, 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
No Guard

Substitute
DynamicPunch
Stone Edge
Payback

This set is almost guaranteed a kill. Once you are in the substitute, make their life hell with DynamicPunch, and the confusion status will make your life much easier. Payback hits Ghosts and Psychics hard since you are slower than most of them, and Stone Edge is for Flying types. Even The Intimidaters Gyarados and Salamence will despise the hit.

At 4/14/10 02:45 AM, Aci6 wrote: Also, if you use a Ratata (or any which learns the following moves) and give it a focus sash you can use Endure (take the opponent down to 1 HP) and then quick attack as your next move. Takes care of one less Pokemon ;)

FEAR Rattata is just evil.
Focus Sash, Endeavour and Quick Attack... though they're not terribly difficult to counter if you know what you're dealing with, and are smart enough to be packing some status moves to put it out of commission.

But it is funny to see something like a Ho-Oh taken down by a level 1 Rattata

Does this seem like a good team to anyone? It's meant for double battles and I have Pikachu and Gengar heading the party, by the way.

Gengar (Black Sludge) - Hypnosis, Sludge Bomb, Shadow Ball, Rain Dance
EV dist - 252 spd, 252 sp att, 4 sp def
Timid Nature

Snorlax (Leftovers) - Defense Curl, Amnesia, Rollout, Belly Drum
EV dist - 64 HP, 128 att, 128 sp def, 188 def
Impish Nature

Pikachu (Light Ball) - Thunder, Thunderpunch, Discharge, Surf
EV dist - 252 spd, 128 att, 128 sp att
Hasty Nature

Mamoswine (Icy Rock) - Avalanche, Earthquake, Hail, Toxic
EV dist - 252 att, 88 HP, 84 def, 84 sp def
Brave Nature

Hariyama (Black Belt) - Bulk Up, Superpower, Close Combat, Brick Break
EV dist - 252 att, 252 HP, 4 sp def
Adamant Nature

Espeon (Light Clay) - Psychic, Reflect, Light Screen, Helping Hand
EV dist - 252 sp att, 128 def, 128 sp def
Modest Nature

At 4/14/10 07:51 AM, Aci6 wrote: I was using the microphone at the time. When I took down the guy's Salamence he just went 'Oh FUCK OFF' really loudly. I couldn't stop laughing, thankfully he was a good sport about it and didn't disconnect on me. He told me he was going to copy that too.

Well, you know what they say about Rattata. TOP. FUCKING. PERCENTAGE.

At 4/14/10 07:27 AM, GenericName54 wrote: Does this seem like a good team to anyone? It's meant for double battles and I have Pikachu and Gengar heading the party, by the way.

Some seem very limited in their attacks.

Pikachu has 3 electric attacks, and since you've dumped all the EVs into special attack, Thunderpunch is a bit redundant when you have Discharge and Thunder. Signal Beam would be a good replacement.

Same with Hariyama, all fighting. Earthquake, Stone Edge, or one of the elemental Punches would give him better type coverage.

At 4/14/10 09:15 AM, TheMaster wrote:

At 4/14/10 07:27 AM, GenericName54 wrote: Does this seem like a good team to anyone? It's meant for double battles and I have Pikachu and Gengar heading the party, by the way.

Some seem very limited in their attacks.

Pikachu has 3 electric attacks, and since you've dumped all the EVs into special attack, Thunderpunch is a bit redundant when you have Discharge and Thunder. Signal Beam would be a good replacement.

Same with Hariyama, all fighting. Earthquake, Stone Edge, or one of the elemental Punches would give him better type coverage.

Uhh... I split Pikachu's att and sp att even, in the event that I run into a special wall which renders my Thunder and Discharge useless. My entire team has moves that cover all types, so it's rare I'll have something out that can make my Hariyama's attacking power useless without a counter next to it. More often than not, I'll have my Mamoswine with it, which will counter anything Hariyama can't take with fighting moves save for psychic types, which tend to have pretty shit normal defense, seeing as all the high defense psychic types are either legendary, part steel, or Slowbro, leaving them right open to Earthquake, or Avalanche if they seem stupid. I may swap out Superpower for an elemental punch like you said, though. I'm quite partial to Thunderpunch, due to LOLPARALYZE. Brick Break is there because a lot of my friends like to be dicks with Reflect and Light Screen, so that can't go.

At 4/14/10 10:49 AM, GenericName54 wrote: Uhh... I split Pikachu's att and sp att even, in the event that I run into a special wall which renders my Thunder and Discharge useless.

I was reading Gengar's EVs for some reason. Fair enough.

I'm quite partial to Thunderpunch, due to LOLPARALYZE. Brick Break is there because a lot of my friends like to be dicks with Reflect and Light Screen, so that can't go.

That's what I would do.

At 4/13/10 10:25 PM, Aci6 wrote: The only thing I can think of is adding a Tank your team or a 'decoy' like I used to. Basically, a 'decoy' is a weak levelled pokemon such as magikarp that you throw in only to have it killed on purpose. You then get a 'free go' when it dies and you select the pokemon you want. It's tricky but its actually saved me a few times.

That's acutally the strategy that has kept me in a couple of gym battles here lately when my high level pokemon get knocked out. I send in a low lvl and revive my main pokemon then send them back out after the other one get's knocked out. Pretty tricky but if done at the right time can give ya the upper hand when ya need it the most.

At 4/14/10 07:27 AM, GenericName54 wrote: Does this seem like a good team to anyone? It's meant for double battles and I have Pikachu and Gengar heading the party, by the way.

I'm not the best at Doubles, but from what I've seen with other Doubles players, you might want to put Protect on a few of your Pokemon. It'll keep you from damaging your own team with things like Earthquake, Surf, and Discharge, and can be used to keep yourself alive a bit longer if you have an obvious target on the field. Also, just as a note, you could put some priority moves on your Pokemon. This might not be as effective in Doubles as in Singles, but you never know when you might need that extra little hit to clear a threat off the field.

Also, before you read, just note that I have some bias towards having as much coverage as possible on each Pokemon. This is probably due to me only playing in Singles and not knowing as much about Doubles as I'd like to. Feel free to not follow what I say if you think it'd be detrimental to your team, but you can at least consider it.

Gengar (Black Sludge) - Hypnosis, Sludge Bomb, Shadow Ball, Rain Dance
EV dist - 252 spd, 252 sp att, 4 sp def
Timid Nature

You might want to swap Gengar's Black Sludge for something else, since Gengar's so frail anyway. Wide Lens might be a good replacement to boost Hypnosis' shaky accuracy. I'd also replace Sludge Bomb with something else (maybe Focus Blast to also make some use of the Wide Lens?), since Poison's not that great of an attacking type anyway, even with STAB. When are you going to need to hit a Grass-type specifically with Poison anyway?

Snorlax (Leftovers) - Defense Curl, Amnesia, Rollout, Belly Drum
EV dist - 64 HP, 128 att, 128 sp def, 188 def
Impish Nature

While DC + Rollout's a nice strategy, people can easily switch something resistant to it while you're locked into Rollout, giving them a bit of time to set up while Rollout does relatively poorly against them. I'm not so sure how effective it is after a Belly Drum, but that's just what me and my more careful style of gameplay would go with.

Pikachu (Light Ball) - Thunder, Thunderpunch, Discharge, Surf
EV dist - 252 spd, 128 att, 128 sp att
Hasty Nature

3 Electric moves seems like overkill. I'd probably stick to either hitting from the physical or the special side, and pick your respective move. For reference, with your current EV distribution, Pikachu's Special Attack is lower than Gengar's, even factoring in the Light Ball. Surf, while it sounds nice, wouldn't be doing as well as a single-target move, what with Doubles and its 3/4 damage rule for multi-target attacks. I suppose that's why you have Rain Dance (and for Thunder spam), but what happens once it runs out and Gengar is KO'd?

I'd opt for something like Grass Knot, just since it'll probably hit harder than Surf (against Pikachu's counters at least) in regular conditions anyway, and it provides consistent damage. You're probably using Surf to hit things like Ground-types that are immune to Electric, but seeing as most Ground-types have rather bad typings and several of them are so heavy, Grass Knot can do a number on them. It also doesn't hit your partner, which I'm sure would help you. If you plan on spamming Surf and Discharge, you might want to consider pairing Pikachu up with someone that has Water Absorb, Volt Absorb, or Motor Drive, to boost your own team while hurting the opponents.

Mamoswine (Icy Rock) - Avalanche, Earthquake, Hail, Toxic
EV dist - 252 att, 88 HP, 84 def, 84 sp def
Brave Nature

Mamoswine doesn't seem too bad. However, I'm not sure if it has the defenses to take a hit for Avalanche's effect. You could replace Avalanche with Ice Shard if you want for a priority hit, but you can go with what you want. I'm also not so sure why Toxic is on here. I don't have anything in mind as to what I'd replace it with, but having a status move on a rather slow, hard hitter just seems sort of odd to me.

Hariyama (Black Belt) - Bulk Up, Superpower, Close Combat, Brick Break
EV dist - 252 att, 252 HP, 4 sp def
Adamant Nature

Same problem with Pikachu, having 3 Fighting moves is overkill. I know you've already posted addressing this set, so I'll just let you deal with this. I'd personally recommend Close Combat over Superpower, since Hariyama's defenses are rather lackluster, and I personally wouldn't want to have to keep using Bulk Up to deal consistent damage with Superpower.

If you're going to be swapping around moves, you might also want to change your held item accordingly to get the most out of it.

Espeon (Light Clay) - Psychic, Reflect, Light Screen, Helping Hand
EV dist - 252 sp att, 128 def, 128 sp def
Modest Nature

No real problem with this set if all you're doing is using dual screens. You might want to invest in Speed though, just to make sure you set the screens up as fast as possible. You could shift the Special Attack EVs to Speed, since Espeon can already hit decently with Psychic anyway, and then it'd be a useful team member for cleaning up weakened opponents.

At 4/14/10 02:45 AM, Aci6 wrote: Also, if you use a Ratata (or any which learns the following moves) and give it a focus sash you can use Endure (take the opponent down to 1 HP) and then quick attack as your next move.

I think you meant Endeavor there. Endure would just be doing the same thing as the Focus Sash. But yeah, FEAR Rattatas are freaking hilarious. If only it wasn't so blatantly obvious as soon as you sent it out, I'm sure it would be used more often.

GTS rules.... after getting 3 linoones on my pokewalker i put 2 in the GTS and got a kadabra (evolved into an alakazam) and a haunter ( evolved to a gengar)

But the cool thing is both of these are from japan, so now i have 3 pokemon with the Japanese pokedex stuff, ( my growlif is the other one, coulden't catch my own because i have SS)

Well been doing a lot of trainer battles around Kanto and trying to find Misty so I can battle the bitch but just can seem to find her anywhere. But here is my party as it stands right now:

Typhlosion Lvl 70
Lugia Lvl 45
Red Gyarados Lvl 30
Vulpix Lvl 22
Electrode Lvl 23
Golbat Lvl 22

At 4/14/10 09:51 PM, I-Love-Caitlyn wrote: 70
45
30
22
23
22

Lmao, you remind me of me back when I was playing the first three games (yellow, gold, ruby). Silly fire starters.

At 4/14/10 10:10 PM, BananaBreadMuffin wrote:

At 4/14/10 09:51 PM, I-Love-Caitlyn wrote: 70
45
30
22
23
22

Lmao, you remind me of me back when I was playing the first three games (yellow, gold, ruby). Silly fire starters.

At least in the case of Gold and Silver Typhlosion is the best statistically

I've been thinking of changing my Espeon into a Hypno that's something like this:

Hypno_Quiet Nature_Wide Lens / Big Root_252 HP_126 Atk_126 SpA_ 4 SpD
Hypnosis
Dream Eater
Drain Punch
Swagger

Also I accidentally sold my Drain Punch so if anyone could give me one I'd be real grateful.

At 4/14/10 09:51 PM, I-Love-Caitlyn wrote: Well been doing a lot of trainer battles around Kanto and trying to find Misty so I can battle the bitch but just can seem to find her anywhere.

She's up past Nugget Bridge, near Bill's house, on a date. You have to interrupt it to battle her, but I think you also have to go and fix the Power Plant or something before she goes back to the gym.

Just beat Misty and Ericka so am getting a pretty good pace down and leveling up my pokemon duing the whole process at the time so it all works out.

Just a quick note on type coverage before this, in a double battle I'll have two Pokemon out, of course, and if you analyze the moves, you'll see that with these combinations I have just about any type covered. It'll be rare for me to be stuck slamming ineffective attacks against my opponent.

At 4/14/10 06:40 PM, mrbobbyjoe wrote:

Gengar (Black Sludge) - Hypnosis, Sludge Bomb, Shadow Ball, Rain Dance
EV dist - 252 spd, 252 sp att, 4 sp def
Timid Nature

You might want to swap Gengar's Black Sludge for something else, since Gengar's so frail anyway. Wide Lens might be a good replacement to boost Hypnosis' shaky accuracy. I'd also replace Sludge Bomb with something else (maybe Focus Blast to also make some use of the Wide Lens?), since Poison's not that great of an attacking type anyway, even with STAB. When are you going to need to hit a Grass-type specifically with Poison anyway?

Swapping the items seems like it'd be a good idea, but Sludge Bomb stays. I like inducing status effects, and it's a fairly powerful attack with a 30% chance of poisoning. It's also one of my only two ways of getting super effectives against grass types,

Snorlax (Leftovers) - Defense Curl, Amnesia, Rollout, Belly Drum
EV dist - 64 HP, 128 att, 128 sp def, 188 def
Impish Nature

While DC + Rollout's a nice strategy, people can easily switch something resistant to it while you're locked into Rollout, giving them a bit of time to set up while Rollout does relatively poorly against them. I'm not so sure how effective it is after a Belly Drum, but that's just what me and my more careful style of gameplay would go with.

Belly Drum halves HP and maxes out your attack stat. The general plan is to max my defenses out with Amnesia and Defense Curl, then use Belly Drum and spam Rollout, and I'll have my big layer of blubber from my defense buffs to absorb hits while I recover from Belly Drum.

Pikachu (Light Ball) - Thunder, Thunderpunch, Discharge, Surf
EV dist - 252 spd, 128 att, 128 sp att
Hasty Nature

3 Electric moves seems like overkill. I'd probably stick to either hitting from the physical or the special side, and pick your respective move. For reference, with your current EV distribution, Pikachu's Special Attack is lower than Gengar's, even factoring in the Light Ball. Surf, while it sounds nice, wouldn't be doing as well as a single-target move, what with Doubles and its 3/4 damage rule for multi-target attacks. I suppose that's why you have Rain Dance (and for Thunder spam), but what happens once it runs out and Gengar is KO'd?

Thunderpunch is to cover any special walls that get thrown my way, and I have both Thunder and Discharge there for the very reason you mentioned. Once Rain Dance and Gengar are gone, I switch off of Thunder and start using Discharge. I'll still have to test how my team holds out against my Pikachu's attacks though, and I'll change that accordingly.

I'd opt for something like Grass Knot, just since it'll probably hit harder than Surf (against Pikachu's counters at least) in regular conditions anyway, and it provides consistent damage. You're probably using Surf to hit things like Ground-types that are immune to Electric, but seeing as most Ground-types have rather bad typings and several of them are so heavy, Grass Knot can do a number on them. It also doesn't hit your partner, which I'm sure would help you. If you plan on spamming Surf and Discharge, you might want to consider pairing Pikachu up with someone that has Water Absorb, Volt Absorb, or Motor Drive, to boost your own team while hurting the opponents.

Grass Knot is something I don't want to use. In addition to Surf being able to take fire types, another one that I only have one other move for, it's also completely unexpected. You don't go into battle, see a Pikachu, and think "oh fuck, my Golem is done for". Also note that both grass and fire types are taken by Mamoswine if I were to change those moves out, which would put me in an incredibly limited space when it comes down to that.

Mamoswine (Icy Rock) - Avalanche, Earthquake, Hail, Toxic
EV dist - 252 att, 88 HP, 84 def, 84 sp def
Brave Nature

Mamoswine doesn't seem too bad. However, I'm not sure if it has the defenses to take a hit for Avalanche's effect. You could replace Avalanche with Ice Shard if you want for a priority hit, but you can go with what you want. I'm also not so sure why Toxic is on here. I don't have anything in mind as to what I'd replace it with, but having a status move on a rather slow, hard hitter just seems sort of odd to me.

Mamoswine has one of the highest defense stats and one of the lowest speed stats, which makes it a perfect choice for Avalanche. Also, you answered yourself on the topic of Toxic. I have no clue what else to put there. Maybe Ice Shard, like you said.

Hariyama (Black Belt) - Bulk Up, Superpower, Close Combat, Brick Break
EV dist - 252 att, 252 HP, 4 sp def
Adamant Nature

Same problem with Pikachu, having 3 Fighting moves is overkill. I know you've already posted addressing this set, so I'll just let you deal with this. I'd personally recommend Close Combat over Superpower, since Hariyama's defenses are rather lackluster, and I personally wouldn't want to have to keep using Bulk Up to deal consistent damage with Superpower.

If you're going to be swapping around moves, you might also want to change your held item accordingly to get the most out of it.

Got a specific item you have in mind?

Espeon (Light Clay) - Psychic, Reflect, Light Screen, Helping Hand
EV dist - 252 sp att, 128 def, 128 sp def
Modest Nature

No real problem with this set if all you're doing is using dual screens. You might want to invest in Speed though, just to make sure you set the screens up as fast as possible. You could shift the Special Attack EVs to Speed, since Espeon can already hit decently with Psychic anyway, and then it'd be a useful team member for cleaning up weakened opponents.

I actually did not think of that.

On a final note, I do have plans to weaken the blows to my own team with Pikachu. Once Gengar and Rain Dance are out, if Pikachu is still going I'll just toss Mamoswine out and Discharge won't be a problem. Surf will be a tough choice on how to use it though. Pokemon with Water Absorb tend to be more high HP and low attack, which I don't think I need in my party. I already have Snorlax absorbing hits, Hariyama and Mamoswine have high HP coupled with their average defenses, and Espeon is buffing the defenses of the entire party.

At 4/14/10 11:44 PM, GenericName54 wrote: Just a quick note on type coverage before this, in a double battle I'll have two Pokemon out, of course, and if you analyze the moves, you'll see that with these combinations I have just about any type covered. It'll be rare for me to be stuck slamming ineffective attacks against my opponent.

Just a word of caution: Don't try and rely on just one Pokemon to cover a type for an entire team. Once that Pokemon gets taken down, it could be hell trying to remove a threat from the field.

Swapping the items seems like it'd be a good idea, but Sludge Bomb stays. I like inducing status effects, and it's a fairly powerful attack with a 30% chance of poisoning. It's also one of my only two ways of getting super effectives against grass types,

Fair enough. Why not go for something like paralysis or burn though? Those at least hinder the opponent while also helping you, while regular poison isn't that effective anyway. If it was Toxic poison, it'd be a different story.

Belly Drum halves HP and maxes out your attack stat. The general plan is to max my defenses out with Amnesia and Defense Curl, then use Belly Drum and spam Rollout, and I'll have my big layer of blubber from my defense buffs to absorb hits while I recover from Belly Drum.

Are you going to have enough time to set up all of those defense boosts? Will you have enough HP by the time you're done boosting to use Belly Drum? Maybe test the strategy first, and if you run into those sort of problems think of something else to use.

Thunderpunch is to cover any special walls that get thrown my way, and I have both Thunder and Discharge there for the very reason you mentioned. Once Rain Dance and Gengar are gone, I switch off of Thunder and start using Discharge. I'll still have to test how my team holds out against my Pikachu's attacks though, and I'll change that accordingly.

But if you have special walls, couldn't you just switch to a physical attacker like Hariyama or Mamoswine to take advantage of their weaker defense rather than try and keep Pikachu in? Plus, with the current EV distribution, you're losing quite a bit of power on both sides, which has a significant impact on how someone as frail as Pikachu will do.

Mamoswine has one of the highest defense stats and one of the lowest speed stats, which makes it a perfect choice for Avalanche. Also, you answered yourself on the topic of Toxic. I have no clue what else to put there. Maybe Ice Shard, like you said.

Mamoswine has a defensive spread of 110/80/60 and a Speed of 80. It's not quite the best defender, although they're above average for an attacker, and definitely isn't as slow as you think. If you want to try Avalanche, maybe you should try using a Focus Sash to make sure you aren't OHKO'd by anything strong against Mamoswine? Ice Shard over Toxic could make up for not having an Ice-type move that's as spammable.

Dropping Icy Rock for a Focus Sash wouldn't be as bad as you'd think, since having Hail up for 8 turns would mean draining 50% of your partner's HP (besides Snorlax, who would then get no additional HP from Leftovers). With 50% of its HP gone, several of your Pokemon would be in range for a quick KO from an opponent's priority move.

Got a specific item you have in mind?

Not sure what your moveset's going to be, so I can't really give any suggestions for that yet.

On a final note, I do have plans to weaken the blows to my own team with Pikachu. Once Gengar and Rain Dance are out, if Pikachu is still going I'll just toss Mamoswine out and Discharge won't be a problem. Surf will be a tough choice on how to use it though. Pokemon with Water Absorb tend to be more high HP and low attack, which I don't think I need in my party. I already have Snorlax absorbing hits, Hariyama and Mamoswine have high HP coupled with their average defenses, and Espeon is buffing the defenses of the entire party.

Somewhat different topic, but keep in mind that with moves like Surf and Discharge, you'll never be hitting your opponents with the full power of the move. While you'll be doing more damage overall, you might not do as much as you thought on a certain target.

This is also why I recommended Grass Knot over Surf for Pikachu. With Grass Knot, Pikachu still has some way of dealing with Ground-types that would wall it. If the target isn't a Ground-type, you could just hit them with a STAB Electric move for decent damage. The only time that Surf would be more useful than Grass Knot in Doubles would be against maybe a Camerupt. Other things that could be hit harder with Surf like Gliscor can just be hit with Ice. Finally, there are some Ground-types, like Quagsire, who could just make Surf completely useless anyway.

At 4/15/10 03:14 PM, mrbobbyjoe wrote: Fair enough. Why not go for something like paralysis or burn though? Those at least hinder the opponent while also helping you, while regular poison isn't that effective anyway. If it was Toxic poison, it'd be a different story.

Like I said, I need something to try and cover grass types with, and Gengar learns no special fire attacks. In fact, it only learns three fire moves period, only one of them that deals straight damage. Sunny Day, Firepunch, and Will o' Wisp.

Are you going to have enough time to set up all of those defense boosts? Will you have enough HP by the time you're done boosting to use Belly Drum? Maybe test the strategy first, and if you run into those sort of problems think of something else to use.

Snorlax has obnoxious defenses as is. Buffing them up simply makes him more annoying to knock down.

But if you have special walls, couldn't you just switch to a physical attacker like Hariyama or Mamoswine to take advantage of their weaker defense rather than try and keep Pikachu in? Plus, with the current EV distribution, you're losing quite a bit of power on both sides, which has a significant impact on how someone as frail as Pikachu will do.

Good point. I may just switch in Rain Dance for Thunderpunch and turn Gengar's Rain Dance into Destiny Bond for a final punch to the face, although that may not be such a good move since Pikachu might not survive to the second turn in order to make use of Rain Dance. I'll test it out and see how it goes, and if Rain Dance works, it's in. Otherwise, Grass Knot.

Mamoswine has a defensive spread of 110/80/60 and a Speed of 80. It's not quite the best defender, although they're above average for an attacker, and definitely isn't as slow as you think. If you want to try Avalanche, maybe you should try using a Focus Sash to make sure you aren't OHKO'd by anything strong against Mamoswine? Ice Shard over Toxic could make up for not having an Ice-type move that's as spammable.

Dropping Icy Rock for a Focus Sash wouldn't be as bad as you'd think, since having Hail up for 8 turns would mean draining 50% of your partner's HP (besides Snorlax, who would then get no additional HP from Leftovers). With 50% of its HP gone, several of your Pokemon would be in range for a quick KO from an opponent's priority move.

With this strategy in mind, I'll probably drop Hail altogether in favor of Protect, and pass it a Nevermelt Ice.

Not sure what your moveset's going to be, so I can't really give any suggestions for that yet.

Moveset is Bulk Up, Close Combat, Thunderpunch, and Brick Break.

Somewhat different topic, but keep in mind that with moves like Surf and Discharge, you'll never be hitting your opponents with the full power of the move. While you'll be doing more damage overall, you might not do as much as you thought on a certain target.

75% damage is still considerable, so I think it's worth it. And either way, I'm doing 150% damage by hitting both.

I'm at Seafoam islands already and I'm looking for Blaine,
I think my team is good enough for the time being. Here it is:

Imferal_(Feraligatr)_Lv. 56_Muscle Band_Lonely Nature
Waterfall
Avalanche/Ice Punch
Superpower/Crunch
Swords Dance

Cotton_(Ampharos)_Lv. 56_Wide Lens_Mild Nature
Focus Blast
Thunder
Rain Dance
Power Gem(Soon To Be)

Baraking_(Nidoking)_Lv.54_Expert Belt(Soon To be)_Naughty Nature
Ice Beam
Fire Blast
Earthquake(Soon To Be)
Megahorn(Soon To Be)

Bakuno_(Hypno)_Lv.54_Big Root_Gentle Nature
Drain Punch
Dream Eater
Hypnosis
Swagger

Feel free to leave any suggestions regarding my team.

Well, I was wrong - the Flare Blitz Entei won't be the only one out of those 3 giveaways to be seen everywhere upon release; that Raikou is going to tear Ubers a new one. Weather-based teams seem to be the main focal point of that tier, and having Weather Ball on a Pokemon with good Sp. Atk & Calm Mind should make for quite a shift up there. And that's not counting Aura Sphere on yet another Legendary.

Suicune is already good enough as is; I don't think Air Slash or Aqua Ring will make much of a difference. Not bad, but not game-changing, I don't think.

Nasty Plot on Celebi................ouch. Better hope that one's neutral-Natured.

At 4/19/10 03:33 PM, Swackman wrote: Nasty Plot on Celebi................ouch. Better hope that one's neutral-Natured.

Bah, Celebi still gets raped by bug moves, and it's got a shit-tonne of weaknesses, so it's not that big of an issue.

Awright! I just got SoulSilver and I'm pumped to join the club!

I'm thinking of letting a fire type join my party.
I have 2 choices, please tell me which is better.

Magmortar Nature: Modest Item: Leftovers EV's: SpA 252 Spe 252 SpD 4
Solarbeam
Flamethrower
Substitute
Sunny Day

Charizard Nature: Adamant Item: Leftovers EV's: Atk 252 HP 144 Spe 112
Flare Blitz
ThunderPunch
Dragon Claw
Swords Dance

If you have any other ideas I'd like to here them.

At 4/21/10 01:26 AM, RedQuito wrote: I'm thinking of letting a fire type join my party.
I have 2 choices, please tell me which is better.

Magmortar Nature: Modest Item: Leftovers EV's: SpA 252 Spe 252 SpD 4
Solarbeam
Flamethrower
Substitute
Sunny Day

Charizard Nature: Adamant Item: Leftovers EV's: Atk 252 HP 144 Spe 112
Flare Blitz
ThunderPunch
Dragon Claw
Swords Dance

If you have any other ideas I'd like to here them.

I say go with Magmortar, definitely. Very high Special Attack and coverage for all its weaknesses, plus Substitute. Seems like a much better choice.