Marriland

I know I've already posted my team, but it's been overlooked, so I thought it necessary to re-post my team...

Please rate my current in-game Black 2 team, post-game.

Samurott (Lvl 72) - Timid (+Speed/-Attack)

Ability - Torrent

Item - Mystic Water

Moves - Ice Beam, Surf, Hydro Pump, Waterfall.

While having both Surf AND Waterfall is a bit redundant, Waterfall is mostly for transport. Aside from that, this thing is brutal. Few foes survive a STAB Surf, and due to its nature, it usually hits first too, so I don't need to worry about what happens if he gets hit. Ice Beam provides some extra coverage, and is handy against Dragons. I'm looking to replace Waterfall, any suggestions?

Lucario (Lvl 68) - Mild (+Sp. Attack/-Defense)

Ability - Inner Focus

Item - Amulet Coin

Moves - ExtremeSpeed, Dragon Pulse, Force Palm, Aura Sphere

Ah, this is fantastic. Already rather fast, ExtremeSpeed helps for when a Pokemon just needs to knocked out with quickly, without running the risk of taking a hit. Aura Sphere is his go-to move, with a guaranteed hit at 90 power (not including STAB and bonus from his nature), this can deal with almost any enemy in one or two hits. Dragon Pulse is really helpful against Dragons, and due to his Steel typing, resists other Dragon type moves. Force Palm is just there for the added bonus of paralysis, but can be replaced, if you guys have a better suggestion.

Ampharos (Lvl 67) - Sassy (+Sp. Defense/-Speed)

Ability - Static

Item - Magnet

Moves - Thunderbolt, Signal Beam, Power Gem, Thunder

Now, Ampharos here is the one I'm looking to replace, but that doesn't mean he's bad. Thunderbolt is his staple move, hitting pretty hard. Signal Beam and Power Gem help provide some rather diverse type coverages, and Thunder's thrown in for sheer power. Slow as heck, but able to take a couple of hits, and really hit hard back.

Arcanine (Lvl 67) - Adamant (+Attack/-Sp. Attack)

Ability - Flash Fire

Item - Charcoal

Moves - Crunch, ExtremeSpeed, Flame Wheel, Flamethrower

My pride and joy. Flamethrower is fantastic (Apart from the poor nature), and Crunch gives it a really nice advantage over a lot of Pokemon. ExtremeSpeed serves the same purpose as it does for my Lucario, even though both of them out-speed most enemies, it comes in handy as a little bit of insurance. Flame Wheel is handy for when his Sp. Attack is reduced, or in case he ever becomes frozen. Flash Fire is definitely an excellent ability, with it providing an immunity to Fire type moves, and boosting Arcanine's own.

Excadrill (Lvl 67) - Calm (+Sp. Defense/-Attack)

Ability - Sand Rush

Item - Soft Sand

Moves - Strength, Rock Slide, Earthquake, Drill Run

As many of you know, Excadrill is a beast when used right. Strength is in there, purely for in-game, and as soon as I'm done, I'll replace it. Any suggestions? Even with its poor nature, Excadrill still tears through the majority of Pokemon in a single Earthquake. Drill Run is handy in Triple Battles, when I want to avoid hurting my own team members, and Rock Slide provides a bit of coverage for Flying types. If I go competitive, I'll be playing in OU, so Excadrill will need to be replaced. Thoughts?

Espeon (Lvl 67) - Impish (+Defense/-Sp. Attack)

Ability - Synchronize

Item - TwistedSpoon

Moves - Shadow Ball, Return, Psybeam, Psychic

Espeon is my Special Sweeper. I also have the hidden ability Eevee with a Rash nature (+Sp. Attack/-Sp. Defense), with which I shall replace this Espeon. Shadow Ball provides a nice bit of coverage against Ghost types, while Return and Psybeam are helpful for when only a little bit of the enemy's HP remains, and I don't want to waste Psychic's PP.

I'm looking to replace Ampharos with another, slightly faster electric type. However, 4 out of my 6 are weak to Ground type moves, and none are resistant, so I'm also thinking about replacing him with Eelektross, even though he's just as slow, if not slower. Although, it doesn't necessarily need to be an Electric type, just something that can at least learn Thunderbolt.

I know almost all of their natures are awful, but I'll fix that with breeding. Also, I'm thinking about going competitive, but I'd have to remove Excadrill, due to him being classed as Uber. What could be a suitable replacement? I'm contemplating Dragonite, with Multiscale, or Flygon.

Also, what EVs do you guys suggest for each 'Mon?

By quickly putting your 'Mon in the Team Builder, I see your biggest threats are Rock, Ground and Fire. So, a simple Water type will sort out that problem effectively. From Gen I, you have a good selection: Blastoise, Poliwrath, Tentacruel, Kingler, Gyrados, Lapras and Vaporeon. Or from Gen IV, your could have Empoleon, Floatzel, Gastrodon and Palkia.

Now, with your last slot, you can really pick any type you want, but avoiding types weak to Rock, Ground and Fire. I looked into Ground to see how that would do, but it opens up a weakness to Ice. BUT, the other 3 in your team are resistant to it (providing you choose a water type). Anyway, I suggest having a look through the Pokedex on here and finding a Pokemon you really like from Gen I or IV, the typing doesn't matter much for the last space. Good luck!

Well, your team has a few weaknesses, all of which are solved simply. The biggest threat to your team are Fighting types, so you should get a fast and strong flying type. Staraptor or Braviary are good choices. Braviary is better if you have access to it through either White or White 2.

Also, Psychic types help against Fighting types, but open up a new weakness with Bug types. So, Flying is the slightly better type. Now, your 6th slot can be either Flying or Psychic, or if you're feeling more bold, you can make use of Ghost types immunity to Fighting, which doesn't result in a big weakness to Bug types. And, many Ghost types have a few Psychic type moves at their disposal.

Because of your team's huge weakness to Fighting, right off the bat, finding a good team to compliment that can be difficult, so if you want to play it safe, use Flying and then either Psychic or Ghost. Which Pokemon with which moves are entirely up to you. Double check using the Team Builder on this site to make sure you've got all bases covered.

Hope this helps!

What the **** is going on...?!

One of my favourite moments was when I first did an online battle on Pokemon Battle Revolution. My opponent was really good, and he tore my team to pieces, apart from my Walrein, which hit with Sheer Cold 3 times in a row, and made me win! T'was glorious.

Quote from Cecona »

Quote from Terry_Karzahni »

Quote from oSolidEcho »

They already announced that the new starters will be pure types. As for their evolutions... well I would have to agree on the Fire/Psychic Grass/Dark and Water/Fighting

I also stated this before but this makes a ton of sense since with these secondary typings they will have an advantage over their weakness starter

Grass < Fire   Dark > Psychic

Fire < Water   Psychic > Fighting

Water < Grass   Fighting > Dark

As nice as that would be, wouldn't it remove the point of having a team to fight your rival? I mean, your starter can normally overpower most of the other stuff on their team, but their starter usually has a type advantage, so that's where additional Pokemon come into play.

Personally I think the more duel types the better. It gets so hard for me trying to get the right types that will get me through the game without having to constantly switch out pokemon from the box. Also, in gen five they basically just gave us the advantage over the rival's pokemon with the elemental monkeys. Giving the evolved starters a second type that is effective against the rival's second type is pretty much the same only in a cooler way that won't take up an space that can be used for a better pokemon.

Also who makes a team just for their rival?

In a round-about way, I think a lot of people do, including myself. I like to start with getting a Pokemon that is good against my Starter's weakness, and then another one that is weak to my starter, but good against my second Pokemon. Then for the remaining three, I like to choose counters for other, more general weaknesses, this often leads to great synergy and team with no real weaknesses. So, when it comes to rival battles, I really have nothing to fear. But that's just a general thing, never specific to my rival.

As you said though, it does save party space, which comes in handy.

After booting up my Heart Gold for the first time in ages, I came across another few shinies I'd forgotten about.. A shiny Gyarados (Lake of Rage, so I personally don't count it...), shiny Rattata and a shiny Beautifly I caught on a really old Emerald save.. I've also got two copies of the event shiny dogs/tigers. But again, 'cos they're event Pokemon, I don't count them...

Quote from Terry_Karzahni »

Quote from oSolidEcho »

They already announced that the new starters will be pure types. As for their evolutions... well I would have to agree on the Fire/Psychic Grass/Dark and Water/Fighting

I also stated this before but this makes a ton of sense since with these secondary typings they will have an advantage over their weakness starter

Grass < Fire   Dark > Psychic

Fire < Water   Psychic > Fighting

Water < Grass   Fighting > Dark

As nice as that would be, wouldn't it remove the point of having a team to fight your rival? I mean, your starter can normally overpower most of the other stuff on their team, but their starter usually has a type advantage, so that's where additional Pokemon come into play.

That's sort of the point though. It gives a new way to think about battles with your rival. As I've said before, they sort of tried this in Gen IV with Torterra, Empoleon and Infernape. It hugely shifts the battle dynamic, and you have to think far more tactically about a fight. Sure, you could just use the secondary type advantage, but they might be faster than you, and 1HKO your starter. Or, if your secondary type was mostly special based, they could have a huge amount of Special Defense, and hit back much much harder.

On second thought though, if Light and Sound types are announced, maybe there'll be a third and the starters could make use of those...?

I don't mean to seem rude, but we are aware of the Starters first evolutions being pure typings. Heck, that's happened for every starter, with Bulbasaur being the only exception. When most people talk about Starters, they are referring not just to the Pokémon you get from the Professor, but the evolutions as well.

It'd be interesting to see how the new starters would do against starters from previous gens... That'd be a pretty awesome Triple battle...

Fire/Psychic are a pretty good combo. Victini was a powerhouse with the right moves. But yeah @Pokegirl77, I hate to sound like a ******, but what you said about the balance against the disadvantage has already been said on the previous page. I know you're new, so I suggest that you read through a couple of pages of a topic, or if its a small one like this, reading through each page is a good idea.

Anyway, back on topic... If they do have the Dark/Psychic/Fighting secondary typings, then some stats would become so important, even for in-game. Imagine if Chespin and its evolutions suffered the same way Flareon does. Excellent stats, not the right move pool. It'd be horrible, the poor thing looks like he's from Happy Tree Friends anyway (Oshawott does a bit too)... Or if despite Fennekin's pretty good Special Attack, Froakie had superb Special Defence. The whole balancing of the starters is way more complex than just the types. I really hope Game Freak get it spot on this time.