OP
Splash_King
The Scrubbiest of Hunters
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- Thread starter
- #1,396
Hola, K Monsta. Welcome to the forums, and to this thread as well, ofcourse! =) Just as before, straight to the review!
Two things before getting underway, though; Clefairy and Typhlosion both have moves they can't learn; confusion and slash, respectively. Not sure if you hacked them or someone else fooled you, but those moves are worthless regardless. >_>
Anywho, off the bat, I noticed your team has defensive weaknesses at first glance; and I was right. A large rock weakness, and your Psychic/Flying weaknesses have no resistances on your team to soften the blows, even though Psychic and Flying types aren't usually too deadly, or atleast not until late-game (Staraptor, Alakazam, etc.). All of this is easily covered by replacing one of the pokemon on your team weak to rock (Gyarados, Fearow, or Typhlosion) with a steel type, which resists all 3 types that would give your team trouble. Metagross, Aggron, and any other bulky Steel types would help this team immensely.
Onto the moves, Typhlosion wouldn't want slash regardless, so anything good can replace it; sadly, Typhlosion has few moves that are good. Focus Blast isn't a bad option, and that's about his only other Special Attacking option. Anything is better than Rollout though; Shadow Claw, Solarbeam, and Brick Break to name a few good moves.
Fearow is in the same vote; lackluster amount of moves to choose from. It's stats aren't all that good either... But, eh. Regardless, it's easy to improve on Hyper Beam, though; the move is horrible, and even uses Fearow's weaker attack stat. Roost or even Assurance would be a better move in general. Mirror Move is pretty unreliable too, either of the above moves would probably be more useful than it.
I forgot Machoke can learn Fire Blast, lol... Another case of a good move being used with the wrong attack stat; and especially once Machoke evolves into Machamp will Fire Blast fail in comparison to any of Machoke's other moves.
Anywho, with Vital Throw, you don't need Karate Chop, and Fire Blast is useless as is. Machoke learns few good Level Up and TM moves, but if you're desperate, you could teach is Poison Jab for raw power. If you have the BP for Battle Frontier Tutors, Ice/Thunder/Fire punch are all useful, and your team could definatly use a good Ice/Electric move user.
I feel like the Clefairy is just there, so unless you plan on evolving it, I'll just leave it alone for now. =)
Nidoking has a fairly good movepool, actually. It's stats are very lackluster, but it still does good damage with super-effective hits. Thrash and Stomp have no place when you already have Strength, so any two moves could replace them. Avalanche, Megahorn, and especially Earthquake and Poison Jab are great moves for Nidoking. If you can't get Earthquake, there's always Earth Power too.
Gyarados also has the "bad movepool" syndrome, but TMs help gigantically. Surf, Hyper Beam, and Hydro Pump all work off of Gyarados' pathetic Sp. Atk; this dragon needs physical moves. Waterfall does heaps more damage than any of the above moves, and is a must for any Gyarados. Ice Fang, Outrage, Payback and Earthquake are all great moves for replacing Hyper Beam and Hydro Pump. And ofcourse, since Dragon Rage is useless regardless, replace it with any of the above moves and you'll instantly find more success.
All in all, this team's not very good... Severe weaknesses, the pokemon themselves limit the trainer, and their limited movepools are leading to bad movesets. Not much can be done to make this team atleast average without a lot of Tutoring via the Battle Frontier and Heart Scales to remember moves (like Gyarados' Ice Fang). I can see this team barely scrapping past beating the story and post-story, but I don't see wins against other real life players. All I can truly recommend to make a useful team is a complete rehaul for better pokemon; Fearow, Nidoking, and Clefable are below average in terms of potential, that's for sure.
Two things before getting underway, though; Clefairy and Typhlosion both have moves they can't learn; confusion and slash, respectively. Not sure if you hacked them or someone else fooled you, but those moves are worthless regardless. >_>
Anywho, off the bat, I noticed your team has defensive weaknesses at first glance; and I was right. A large rock weakness, and your Psychic/Flying weaknesses have no resistances on your team to soften the blows, even though Psychic and Flying types aren't usually too deadly, or atleast not until late-game (Staraptor, Alakazam, etc.). All of this is easily covered by replacing one of the pokemon on your team weak to rock (Gyarados, Fearow, or Typhlosion) with a steel type, which resists all 3 types that would give your team trouble. Metagross, Aggron, and any other bulky Steel types would help this team immensely.
Onto the moves, Typhlosion wouldn't want slash regardless, so anything good can replace it; sadly, Typhlosion has few moves that are good. Focus Blast isn't a bad option, and that's about his only other Special Attacking option. Anything is better than Rollout though; Shadow Claw, Solarbeam, and Brick Break to name a few good moves.
Fearow is in the same vote; lackluster amount of moves to choose from. It's stats aren't all that good either... But, eh. Regardless, it's easy to improve on Hyper Beam, though; the move is horrible, and even uses Fearow's weaker attack stat. Roost or even Assurance would be a better move in general. Mirror Move is pretty unreliable too, either of the above moves would probably be more useful than it.
I forgot Machoke can learn Fire Blast, lol... Another case of a good move being used with the wrong attack stat; and especially once Machoke evolves into Machamp will Fire Blast fail in comparison to any of Machoke's other moves.
Anywho, with Vital Throw, you don't need Karate Chop, and Fire Blast is useless as is. Machoke learns few good Level Up and TM moves, but if you're desperate, you could teach is Poison Jab for raw power. If you have the BP for Battle Frontier Tutors, Ice/Thunder/Fire punch are all useful, and your team could definatly use a good Ice/Electric move user.
I feel like the Clefairy is just there, so unless you plan on evolving it, I'll just leave it alone for now. =)
Nidoking has a fairly good movepool, actually. It's stats are very lackluster, but it still does good damage with super-effective hits. Thrash and Stomp have no place when you already have Strength, so any two moves could replace them. Avalanche, Megahorn, and especially Earthquake and Poison Jab are great moves for Nidoking. If you can't get Earthquake, there's always Earth Power too.
Gyarados also has the "bad movepool" syndrome, but TMs help gigantically. Surf, Hyper Beam, and Hydro Pump all work off of Gyarados' pathetic Sp. Atk; this dragon needs physical moves. Waterfall does heaps more damage than any of the above moves, and is a must for any Gyarados. Ice Fang, Outrage, Payback and Earthquake are all great moves for replacing Hyper Beam and Hydro Pump. And ofcourse, since Dragon Rage is useless regardless, replace it with any of the above moves and you'll instantly find more success.
All in all, this team's not very good... Severe weaknesses, the pokemon themselves limit the trainer, and their limited movepools are leading to bad movesets. Not much can be done to make this team atleast average without a lot of Tutoring via the Battle Frontier and Heart Scales to remember moves (like Gyarados' Ice Fang). I can see this team barely scrapping past beating the story and post-story, but I don't see wins against other real life players. All I can truly recommend to make a useful team is a complete rehaul for better pokemon; Fearow, Nidoking, and Clefable are below average in terms of potential, that's for sure.
