Team Assessement

[Tsunayoshi]

So I just finished the current episode, E15. In my playthrough I didn't care much about making a great team since I was so sucked in the history and it's development so I just went ahead with what came along and tried to beat the crap out of everyone who stood in my way! >:] (which caused a lot of defeats, specially against Ciel since I had no pokémon with rock, ice or electric type moves...)

So here's how things are right now:

Torterra, level 74: Giga Drain; Crunch; Earthquake; Leaf Storm

Toxicroak, level 75: Drain Punch, Poison Jab, Sucker Punch; Mud Bomb

Gothitelle, level 75: Psychic; Future Sight; Dark Pulse; Mirror Coat

Arcanine, level 75: Flame Burst; Flamethrower; Crunch, Retaliate

Noivern, level 76: Boomburst; Hurricane; Dragon Pulse; Water Pulse

these were the main five throughout the game, the 6th member of my party was always a way too much underleveled HM slave... But since I couldn't defeat Ciel with this team(Acrobatics = RIP Torterra and Toxicroak) I trained two other to face her:

Lanturn, level 70: Confuse Ray; Hydro Pump; Surf; Discharge

Golem(shiny, so epic!), level 71: Explosion; Earthquake; Stone Edge; Heavy Slam

Now, what changes do you think I should do? What pokémon should I take out and what pokémon should I get on the team? Any modification on the movesets? I await your feedback and thank you!

Feel free to collect your free cookie for stopping by.

[TaciturnPhoenix]

• I personally feel that Metagross would be great for your team. None of your pokemon have a good number of resistances, and 2 of your main 5 party members get annihilated by Ice types.
• I would give Noivern Flamethrower instead of Water Pulse. That will help it avoid getting walled by Steel types as well as have a super effective move against Ice types.
• Replace Leaf Storm with Wood Hammer on Torterra. Torterra has a much better Attack stat and can recover any recoil damage with Giga Drain. You can relearn Wood Hammer (Torterra learns it at level 1) by giving the lady in Onyx Ward a Heart Scale.

How to Get Beldum (Just in case you didn't know)

1. Heal in Aya's house (Byxbysion Wasteland)
2. Head over to Route 1 without using ANY healing spots.
3. Get on a Tauros.
4. Black out while on said Tauros.
5. Follow this video from there

Thanks for the cookie~

[whodat09]

Is there a specific reason why you opted for Flamethrower over Flare Blitz on Arcanine? Personally I prefer Flare Blitz because it takes advantage of Arcanine's naturally higher attack. Additionally, I recommend Extremespeed over Retaliate because Retaliate is an extremely niche move while Extremespeed has higher base power and has +2 priority.

For Noivern, I recommend Flamethrower over Water Pulse because this gives you coverage on ice types and helps you deal with those pesky steel types. Additionally, the base power increase will help a lot.

I would also recommend getting Gardevoir instead of Gothitelle. Gardevoir gives you higher Special Attack, Special Defense, Speed, and STAB fairy attacks which might be essential against an upcoming dragon gym leader .

Finally, I recommend replacing Mud Bomb on toxicroak with Swords Dance since Toxicroak can dominate after a +2 boost.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!

[mwijsman]

You should probably find a good replacement for Gothille, I would suggest either Gallade for an extra fighting typing or Gardevoir for a good fairy type option with moonblast, or you could get both.

Perhaps Aerodactyle can offer you a solid option against Ciel giving that you can get it pretty close by and because it gives a nice few options with the multiple fang attacks it learns and with rock slide as a good STAB option against Ciel.

Furthermore you might want to consider replacing Flame burst with thunderfang on Arcenine for an extra option against ciel and if necesarry future water pokemon.

[Tsunayoshi]

Thank you so much for your feedback TaciturnPhoenix, whodat09, mwijsman! Really appreciate it.

These movesets weren't made or kept this way because of any preferences, just that I only changed with the natural learning moveset and TMs obtained because I didn't care to backtrack to be more competitive. Also I have already defeated Ciel, this is more to balance out and enhance my team in preparation for the next episode(and it's gruesome Gym Leaders who will deliver some outraging and frustrating battles).

So far I've changed:

• Torterra's Leaf Storm to Woodhammer.
• Arcanine's Flame Burst to Flare Blitz, Retaliate to Extremespeed and considering replacing Flamethrower with Thunder Fang.
• Noivern's Water Pulse to Flamethrower.
• Replacing Gothitelle with Gardevoir.

Now, considering the team will be Torterra, Toxicroak, Noivern, Arcanine and Gardevoir, what should be the sixth member? Taciturn's suggestion of Metagross does sound solid...

[mwijsman]

While Metagross is indeed always a good choice it does in this case give you a x3 weakness to groudn type attacks, which depending on your own prefference may or may not be a problem. alternatively you could look at Rotom for a good electric/ghost/water choice in your team and it eleminates the x3 ground weakness.

Alternatively there are several other viable options: porygon-z, Lucario, whatever mystery egg pokemon you get, Volcarona or Eelektross. it all depends on what you're looking for in a sixth team member.

[whodat09]

Off the top of my head, I'd suggest Vaporeon because of its great bulk, access to moves like Wish, and solid special attack. Overall, it would provide solid support to your team.

Metagross is always good/useful. Lucario could be a solid addition to your team over Toxicroak.

Honestly your 6th team member is your preference, you seem to know what you're doing and I'm confident in your ability to win with pretty much anyone.