Valkyria

In the monotype tier, poison has one huge advantage: Toxic Spikes. Only poisons can soak them up, and two layers will inflict exponentially damage on most pokemon. Your team makes full use of this, have both a bulky lead to set them up, as well as a ghost to block spinners. Very, very nice. That being said, you need to change the natures on both of them. Impish could be a better nature on Scolipede and Timid would be much more beneficial on Gengar. Also, I think you're trying to do too much at once with your Vileplume. The EVs are uncommitted, and her moves suggest that she plays a supporting role. Amoongus tends to do this better, with 100% accurate spore, the regenerator ability, and greater overall bulk. Toxicroak's Nature conflicts with Nasty Plot. Mixed sweepers have their merits, but like Vileplume, you may be trying to do too much at once on Toxicroak. This is just my five cents, but I suggest that you commit it as either a special attacker or physical attacker, and adjust his nature and moves accordingly. A great start to a very promising team

For those who aren't familiar, the Monotype tier has the following rules: - ALL pokemon on the team must share a type. So-called "wild cards" are not allowed. - For the PO server's Monotype Ladder: Dream World abilities are not allowed. Although Reborn doesn't have an official Monotype ladder, I've still had many intense battles with other monotype enthusiasts on the server. In a tier such as this, trainers occasionally encounter matchups that they simply cannot win, regardless of how talented they are. Normal vs Fighting, Fighting vs Psychic, Psychic vs Dark. While my monoice team is no exception, it does fare reasonably well against its weaknesses, most notably fighting. The Frigid Menace peaked at #2 on PO's Monotype Ladder with a rating of 1447. Competitively, it has been my most successful. Boreas (Abomasnow) (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Snow Warning EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Blizzard - Giga Drain - Focus Blast - Protect On a ladder where his archnemesis Ninetales doesn't have Drought, and Politoed doesn't have Drizzle, Abomasnow is the ideal lead for a monoice team. Against slower leads, he can break sashes with Protect and possibly go for the OHKO with a 100% accurate STAB Blizzard keeping his own sash unbroken. Hippowdown (hippopotas too) and Tyranitar are the only two other pokemon that can set up permaweather. Both are outsped by Abomasnow, and are hit hard with STAB Giga Drain or 4x super-effective Focus Blast, respectively. Poseidon (Cloyster) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Skill Link EVs: 248 HP / 84 Atk / 176 Def Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Rapid Spin - Icicle Spear - Toxic Spikes - Ice Shard Cloyster often functions as an offensive pokemon, but his collosal defence also makes him a reliable spinner. As monoice is weak to Steal Rock, Cloyster is essential to my team. No only does he allow teammates such as Froslass and Mamoswine to keep their sashes, but he can also set up two layers of Toxic Spikes. As monotype teams are by definition less diverse than standard teams, very rarely will the opponent be able to remove them. In the hundreds of monotype battles I've fought, I've never once been paired against a monopoison in a ranked match. In conjunction with Stallrein, 2x Toxic Spikes is a deadly, and often unexpected weapon. Khione (Froslass) (F) @ Focus Sash Trait: Snow Cloak EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Hail - Blizzard - Hidden Power [Fire] - Destiny Bond This speedy ghost blocks rapid spins and plays superhero against monofighting teams. With the combination of high speed, focus sash and destiny bond, Froslass can be counted on to take out multiple opponents. With Snow Cloak, opponents also have a 1 in 5 chance of missing every time. Antaeus (Mamoswine) (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Snow Cloak EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Stealth Rock - Ice Shard - Endeavor - Earthquake The physical attacker of my team, Mamoswine shares Froslass' Snow Cloak ability, making him equally dangerous, if not more. Against a threatening, faster opponent, he uses Endeavor at full HP, bringing the opponent to 1, who then gets finished off by Hail. Against a slower, threatening opponent, he can set up Stealth Rock, take a hit, and then Endeavor. Against non-threatening opponents, he can set up Stealth Rock, and lash out with STAB Earthquake and priority Ice Shard. Oceanus (Walrein) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Ice Body EVs: 232 HP / 252 Def / 24 SDef Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Protect - Substitute - Surf - Roar Stallrein, but with Surf instead of Blizzard, and Roar instead of Toxic. I turn to him every time Cloyster sets up 2 layers of Toxic Spikes. Very few moves can OHKO him, and he's almost always able to set up a substitute. Once he does, he can Protect to restore HP twice per turn with Ice Body and Leftovers. Against faster opponents, he uses Substitute even if he already has one up. Against slower opponents, he can hit with STAB Surf and then set up a sub against next turn. In both cases, he just waits until the toxic poison gets exponentially higher every turn. Ourea (Kyurem) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Pressure EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Glaciate - Draco Meteor - Focus Blast - Blizzard In terms of raw strength, Kyurem is the strongest on my team. He also happens to be the fastest. Scarfed users are much more viable on the monotype tier than standard tiers, as a super effective against one of your opponent's pokemon tends to be super effective against the rest of them as well (they need to share a type, remember?). He's usually the endgame sweeper, when Hail damage, Stealth Rock damage and Toxic Spikes damage have taken their toll. With STAB Blizzard and Draco Meteor backing a mammoth 130 base SpA, he can obliterate weakened teams. As previously mentioned, this team deals with monofighting pretty well. The two teams that give it the most trouble are monosteel and monobug, with special mention going out to Scizor and Volcarona.

If Octillery w/ Moody is ever removed from the NU tier, I'm giving him the boot. Suction cups might work to stop roar/whirlwind, but I'll probably still kick him out. As long as he has Moody though, he has a good chance of beating Tropius. Bat, the info you provided is very valuble. My source was http://www.serebii.net/attackdex-bw/roost.shtml. Did not know venomoth could run that set until you pointed it out. Intimidate vs Compoundeyes...tough choice made easy due to Venomoth being UU. If it was NU, I would seriously consider it. Gastro's and Tangela's stats were from memory. Thank you for the more accurate data. Will update.

I've always been fond of non-OU tiers. Although I play mostly Monotype, I built this NU team to see how far it could go. My expectations were shattered by it's ridiculous success. In the first four battles, it 6-0'd three OU teams and beat an Uber team with 4 pokemon remaining. Let's meet the superstars. Persephone (Masquerain) (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Intimidate EVs: 248 HP / 92 Def / 168 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Quiver Dance - Bug Buzz - Roost - Baton Pass Not only is shiny Masquerain one of the most stunning pokemon in the game, but it's a beast of a lead. It's the only pokemon that can Quiver Dance and Roost. I invested generous EVs in defence, which when coupled with Intimidate, allows it to survive non-rock physical attacks very well. Just enough speed EVs are used to outspeed timid/jolly base 130 pokemon after 2 quiver dances. Masquerain rapidly accumulaters boosts, roosts off damage, and either proceeds to sweep with STAB bug buzz, or baton pass the power to a better suited teammate. Prometheus (Octillery) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Moody EVs: 248 HP / 4 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef) - Protect - Substitute - Surf - Bullet Seed The most common recipient of Masquerain's passes, Octillery just flat out PWNS. With just 1 quiver dance, it outspeeds the vast majority of OU pokemon. With 2, the opponent is in serious trouble. With 3 or more, the match is practically won. The Protect & Substitute combo stocks up on a +2 boost to a random stat every turn, tranforming octillery into a massive tank or a fearsome sweeper. Evasion +2 boosts are seriously awesome, and allows Octillery to set up free substitutes, behind which it can collect even more boosts. Surf is a reliable STAB attack, and Bullet Seed breaks through opponent's subs and obliterates Unaware Quagsires. Poseidon (Gastrodon-East) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Storm Drain EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Scald - Earth Power - Recover - Toxic One of my two Special Defence tanks. Access to dual STABs as well as a crippling status and reliable recovery makes Gastrodon a very valuble team member. It can also occasionally be put to offensive use if I correctly predict a water attack, allowing Gastrodon to hit 331 SpA. Hades (Haunter) (F) @ Focus Sash Trait: Levitate EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Shadow Ball - Destiny Bond - Sludge Bomb - Giga Drain Gengar Jr. Reliable dual stabs and very good speed makes Haunter my revenge killer of choice. The focus sash & destiny bond combo wastes any slower revenge killers the opponent sends out. Aphrodite (Audino) (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Regenerator EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Wish - Protect - Heal Bell - Toxic The cleric of my team, as well as a squishy special sponge. With 252 HP, it can pass huge Wishes to either teammates or itself. Very useful as a toxic staller, and can clear up any status effects teammates might have. Argus (Tangela) (M) @ Eviolite Trait: Regenerator EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SDef Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Sleep Powder - Leech Seed - Giga Drain - Sludge Bomb I've been using tangela since eviolite came out, and he never ceases to amaze me. Reaching a mammoth 541 Defence without any boosts, it can even survive Victini's V-create. How freaky is that? With Leech Seed, Giga Drain and Regenerator, it can tank hits and recover with ease. My go-to guy for any physical attacker the opponent throws at me. What threatens this team on the NU tier?

This team peaked at a rating of 1500 flat on the Reborn server in March. Not bad. Yet it has one insurmountable weakness - a vulnerability so severe that winning becomes impossible. Can you spot it? Poseidon (Politoed) (F) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Drizzle EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Hypnosis - Hydro Pump - Ice Beam - Scald Pegasus (Latias) (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Levitate EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Calm Mind - Recover - Dragon Pulse - Substitute Hephaestus (Ferrothorn) (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Iron Barbs EVs: 252 HP / 6 Atk / 252 SDef Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd) - Swords Dance - Spikes - Gyro Ball - Power Whip Hermes (Jirachi) @ Leftovers Trait: Serene Grace EVs: 252 HP / 194 SAtk / 64 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Substitute - Thunder - Calm Mind - Energy Ball Hera (Chansey) (F) @ Eviolite Trait: Natural Cure EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Softboiled - Heal Bell - Seismic Toss - Thunder Wave The Kraken (Tentacruel) (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Rain Dish EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Toxic Spikes - Rapid Spin - Scald - Protect I first became aware of the weakness during a +2, -30 variation match against a relatively inexperienced player. I rapidly set up rain and subbed up Jirachi on his Roserade. From there, Jirachi proceeded to accumulate Calm Minds and bulldoze through his team with serene grace Thunders. With my entire team facing his last remaining pokemon, nothing in the metagame could stop me from winning. Right?

You know you're a noob when you ask your opponent for a draw when you're on the premise that you g2g... ...And when they decline to draw, you try and stall them out. True story. #1 ranked player on the ladder attempted to pull this on me yesterday.

Heaps better than your sandstorm team. Glad to see you're improving.

You know you're a noob when you hijack someone's account. Pfft, jealous kids.

You know you're a noob when you land several important criticals as well as awesome status effects (freezing your opponent via ice beam, burning through fire blast, etc) yet you still find a reason to bitch when you lose. Yeah CHEESE, this is YOU.

My primary issue with the current setup of this team is how it deals with entry hazards, especially toxic spikes. Once your opponent gets in 2 layers, they're there to stay, as you have neither a rapid spinner nor a grounded poison type. Thus, it won't matter how bulky your quagsire is, or how evasive your garchomp is, as you won't be able to stay in for extended turns. As a side note, if you're up against a different weather team, such as rain, your tyranitar will be switching in and out very frequently to battle for weather domination. As such, if it's poisoned upon entry, you've more or less lost.

Added to the first post lol

On #10 - I made this thread to get the message out there, but I realize I can't demand perfection when I don't have perfection to offer. Some players however, are just way over the top in their reactions.

There's a mistake on the tier list. Mespirit is listed on the first post as NU while the server recognizes it as LU.

Oh wow, team stealers, why didn't I think of that? I've added it to the front post if that's alright with you Rock.

I'm 99% sure you're using the word peon wrong lol, but I get what you mean. I used to think players who spammed U-turn/Volt switch were total amateurs, but some actually know what they're doing.

Ever been matched up against that guy who bitches when you land a crit? Like YOU somehow manipulated the random number generator in your favor. Or what about the Admin who kicks you because you're whooping his ass in a ranked match? Yeah Acid Trip, I'm talking about YOU. Here's your chance to post all the stupid, laughable or downright pathetic antics you've encountered in your battles. The unusually unique or pervasive ones will be added to the Hall of Shame. Reader, if you exhibit any or all of the symptoms described below, then Shame. On. You. Take this as an opportunity not only to improve your character, but as a way of improving the general atmosphere of the Pokemon community. Top 10 Signs that You're a Noob 1. Crying a river over a crit. Not only are they a naturally occuring part of the game, but the crit rate for standard damaging moves is 1 in 16. What, have you never landed a crit yourself before? Suck it the hell up. 2. Trash talking before or during a battle, but end up having your ass handed to you. These noobs typically cover up their embarassment by "l0l"ing or, in extreme cases, exiting the server because they can't bear the shame. 3. Purposely stalling with the intention of pissing your opponent off or praying he'll forfeit. Sure, maybe you'll succeed with goal #1, but if you're opponent is sufficiently ticked, you can kiss your hopes of a free win goodbye. Experienced battlers see through such acts of desperation and enjoy extending your torment. What does not kill you only prolongs the inevitable. 4. Typing or after a fortuitous event in your favor (such as landing a crit, a miss by your opponent, etc.) with the intention of angering your opponent. A clever disguise, but that's still a dick move. 5. Joining a tournament which you do not have a valid team for. This is one of my personal pet peeves. Not only are you holding up the entire tournament, but it undermines the importance of tiers other than OU. 6. Poppers. These are the people who join the server spam up obscene crap for as long as they can before being spored by Breloombot or mega kicked by an Admin. You're not funny, and the people who do laugh are laughing at you, not with you. 7. People with gray pokeballs who ask you to challenge them. Not sure if troll or just plain stupid. 8. Saying "GG I lose" at the start of a battle. Many who do this will often follow up with a "See? Told you" after you kick their ass. I guess saying it is their way of compensating for how much they suck, or as an anti-jinx they believe will actually, in some convoluted way, help them win. Evidence from psychology studies on superstition have actually shown the opposite to be true. If you think you're going to lose, then yeah - you probably will. 9. Following a high ranked player into his or her battles and trash talking their opponent. Such fanboys will typically lololololol at regular intervals throughout the battle, punctuated with shouts of "OWNED!" every time their superstar makes a good move. My guess on why they do this is not to cheer on their idol, but to gain similar recognition through association. It's a tough call, but I suppose it's better to be know as "the champ's fanboy" than "that guy who always loses". 10. Bitching about other people bitching. Losers who display this disgraceful trait make threads about it on the server's forums. Good thing Poke-Place Reborn don't have any of these idiots on their server. Submissions by other Users 1. Team Stealers. Original quote by The Rock: I hate team stealers with a passion. 2. Battling other people while your tournament round has not yet been completed. Original quote by Shirinui: You know you're a noob when you enter a tourney and battle random people when it has started. 3. Using originality for the sake of originality. Original quote by Bullet: I'm not talking about using original things because they work for you, I'm talking about people who use random shit and take a superior attitude because they're not using OU Pokemon and pretend they're better than you just because they're not using OUs. Got any stories or examples of your own? Post them here!

Just goes to show how new to the forums I am. Prior to reading the above quote, I was under the impression that moderators are the gym leaders. More to the point, it looks like Psychic and Water are two real contenders for the best monotype possible. Here comes a third: Ground. Donphan (M) @ Smooth Rock Trait: Sturdy EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Sandstorm - Stealth Rock - Earthquake - Ice Shard Excadrill (F) @ Focus Sash Trait: Sand Rush EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Sandstorm - Swords Dance - Earthquake - Rock Slide Flygon (F) @ Life Orb Trait: Levitate EVs: 80 Atk / 252 SAtk / 176 Spd Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef) - Fire Blast - Earthquake - Roost - Draco Meteor Nidoking (M) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Sheer Force EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Earth Power - Thunderbolt - Ice Beam - Flamethrower Garchomp (M) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Sand Veil EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Outrage - Crunch - Earthquake - Stone Edge Gastrodon-Ea (Gastrodon-East) (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Storm Drain EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Spd Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Recover - Toxic - Earth Power - Scald Ground's greatest asset is its abuse of two would-be ubers: Garchomp and Excadrill. Max Def + HP donphan will be able to set up stealth rock and sandstorm against most monotype leads, assuming he isn't Taunted. Ice shard is there to hit a lead you suspect could be sashed, although it may be better to replace it with rapid spin. Except in the rarest of circumstances (ie. Cloyster leads), donphan won't be 1HKO'd due to it's awesome Sturdy ability. With sandstorm raging for 8 turns, veiled garchomp gets a terrifying +1 evasion boost and excadrill gets his speed doubled, outrunning 99.9% of scarfed pokemon. Even better: if you're able to switch excadrill in against something that doesn't threaten it, you can sneak in a swords dance. Sandstorm also breaks the sashes of most pokemon, allowing you to sweep unhindered. Excadrill also packs sandstorm himself, which (combined with his sash) can also turn into a defensive asset if your opponent is in the middle of a sweep. By nature, most ground-type pokemon are physical attackers. Scarfed Nidoking with sheer force amends this, with excellent coverage to boot. Levitating Flygon is there as a mixed attacker, with STAB earthquake and draco meteor. Fire blast annihilates skarmory, forretress and ferrothorn, and roost is there to shrug off life orb damage. Gastrodon is the white mage of this team, literally soaking up water moves that threaten to sweep otherwise. Ice moves are also no problem, as gastrodon can toxic-stall most ice users. This team's biggest weakness? Abomasnow. Even without snow warning, a hail team can rip through ground at a moment's notice. Nidoking kinda plays the hero here, but a banded & STAB'd ice shard from mamoswine will hit the majority of the team for fatal damage.

Oh, the [no permanent weather] clause as via Pokemon Online tier regulations, as Poke-Place doesn't have a monotype ladder. Obviously I wouldn't make my monowater team weaker on purpose by leaving out drizzle politoed if I could have it. My issue with the normal monotype is twofold. First, if it's geared specifically towards countering fighting types, it still at 5 to 1 odds of losing. At least 5 of 6 pokemon on a monofighting team carry a STAB fighting move, and a bulky togekiss, chansey, porygon or whatever can only take so much. Second, by contructing an anti-fighting normal team, you lose a lot of coverage against the other 16 monotypes. The psychic monotype, especially Ikaru's, holds much more promise, as the abundant number of psychic-steels compensate nicely for psychic's weaknesses.

Flying is weak to stealth rock, and no flying pokemon can learn rapid spin. That's a problem. As for normal, how would it stop itself from being wrecked by mach punch breloom or mach punch conkeldurr? Or worse, close combat from terakion and infernape? And let's not forget hi jump kick from speed boosted blaziken. Any and all of those have the potential to sweep a normal team. @Zen, weather isn't banned, hence the rain dance on tentacruel.

A good monotype has a pool of great pokemon to choose from. A great monotype has synchrony between the allocated team members, not just in terms of resistances and immunities, but the moves they carry, their abilities and so on. An example. Dragons may be awesome individually, but the dragon monotype remains a weak contender for the strongest possible team due to its crippling weakness to ice across all usable members, bar Kingdra. Before we go on, there are three Monotype limitations all must be aware of: -Ubers banned -Permanent weather abilities banned -And the most obvious: All pokemon on a monotype team must share a common type. Below is the most reliable monotype team I've built, tested and true. Tentacruel (M) @ Damp Rock Trait: Rain Dish EVs: 4 HP / 252 SDef / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Toxic Spikes - Rapid Spin - Rain Dance - Scald Suicune @ Leftovers Trait: Pressure EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Calm Mind - Scald - Rest - Sleep Talk Gyarados (F) @ Lum Berry Trait: Moxie EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Dragon Dance - Waterfall - Earthquake - Stone Edge Starmie @ Choice Scarf Trait: Natural Cure EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Thunderbolt - Trick - Hydro Pump - Ice Beam Azumarill (F) @ Choice Band Trait: Huge Power EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Waterfall - Aqua Jet - Superpower - Ice Punch Lanturn @ Leftovers Trait: Volt Absorb EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Def Calm Nature (-Atk, -SpD) - Thunder Wave - Scald - Charge Beam - Ice Beam Hey, where's politoed? Banned. Even without infinite rain support, this monowater team swamps the competition with heavy hitters in Banded Azumarill and Moxie Gyarados, especially with 8 turns of rain from Damp Rock Tentacruel. Lanturn is a swimming Blissey, and does an excellent job of shielding the team against the likes of Jolteon, Genesect and evil Starmies. Max Def + HP Suicune is an excellent bulky sweeper, with an infuriating built in combo of Calm Mind, Scald & Restalk. Finally, Starmie is there to soak up status conditions, Trick stallers, and kamehameha dragons who managed to sneak in a DD. Despite all this, monowater is vulnerable to well-organized electric teams, especially once Lanturn goes belly up. Got an invincible monotype team? Post it here!

Victini, Conkeldurr, Whimsicott, Terrakion, Thundurus, Volcarona

Politoed. Tangela. Any offensive water user in rain. Even defensive ones like bulky gyarados.

Lacks a rapid spinner. Wrecked by toxic spikes.

Here are some that might change the metagame. A few of the inventions are too complication or have parameters that are way too narrow. Miracle armor: Protects against critical hits. Luster berry: Reflects one status condition back to the user. Rejuvination herb: User does not need to wait a turn after using a move which requires recharge after use, ie Hyper Beam. Bubble: Protects against residual damage, ie Stealth Rock. Pops upon being hit.