Teams before Elite Four and how they handled against the E4

[Pokemon_Breeder_Moo]

Hope everyone is having a good time playing pokemon B/W. Just wanted to see what Pokemon you had in your team before you fought the E4. My team consisted of:

Emboar Scrafty Carracosta Eelektross Silgilyph Accelgor

My team took awhile to finally come together. Emboar, Scrafty and Silgilyph are the only three that are still in my team before the 4th Gym city, Nimbasa City. The other three were added pretty much at the 7th Gym city, Icirrus City. Carracosta was added a little before but still was later in the game. While playing the game I did try to use Zebstrika, replaced by Eelektross, but it ended with disappointment. Blitzle was tough to keep alive in the game and once it reached 27 to become Zebstrika my desire to have him on my team went away. Another pokemon I wanted to use was Simisage, later replaced by Accelgor, but I had way to many attack focus Pokemon on my team so I needed to find more special attack. And then most of the game I had an extra slot open for any Pokemon to catch my eye. And the only one to was Carracosta since I needed a surf buddy.

After beating the 8th gym, I slowly took my time though Victory Road to make sure I was ready to face the unexpected Elite Four. After starring at the newly designed Pokemon League, I challenged them with my team averaging around 50. With the help of the Max Revies and Moomoo Milk, I took down the E4 in one going. Overall I thought was a good challenged to beat them, liked how I was able to pick who I fought and not have a set order and loved how my team did against them being a couple levels below. Accelgor became my favorite on my team as he cleaned up house on most of the E4. Had a great time playing this game and can't wait to challenged the Elite Four soon!

Edited January 11, 2013 by Pokemon_Breeder_Moo

[wraith89]

The Reshiram replaced a Level 44 Gothitelle, who was mostly used against Marshal. Gothitelle was just a last minute "I have to have a 6th member in my team" thing too, so it didn't turn out so well anyhow.

I mostly used Serperior and Jellicent for the most part throughout the other E4 members. Naturally, I would have the most trouble against Shauntal and her Chandelure, which almost decimated my team. Grimley's team was manhandled by a + 6 Serperior, and Caitlin fell through the joint efforts of Serperior and Jellicent. Unfortunately, my Ice Cream and the bird did very little against the Elite 4, but these were all I had. As you can see, I was very underleveled.

Naturally, I would have a hard time fighting the last boss of the game. Yep, I sure did... I almost got destroyed by that Hydreigon

The guy before wasn't a problem as I swept him easily with Serperior, but...

[Relyte]

failwhale the Samurott: Mixed sweeper. Didn't really turn out so well. Couldn't take hits too much and didn't dish much damage out. I've since changed that.

Wuffles the Stoutland: Tank. Beast. Dog. Thunder Waving, Crunching, Work-Upping little beast. He pretty much single-handedly took out Shauntal and Kaitlin.

Octocroc the Krookodile: Physical sweeper. He's fun. He's really fun. Hohohooooo, he's fun. >

Channukiah the Lampent: Shove an Eviolite on her and she's amazing. He's even more fun now that she's evolved and has Pain Split (but that's another story)

h4x0rZ the Haxorus: Dragon dance sweeper. Need I say anything more?

Kazam the Accelgor: Fast, strong, infuriating with Giga Drain and Big Root, this thing mops the floor with other things. Until they touch him, that is. But he's too fast. And Yawn puts them to sleep.

They were all around 51-ish, so it was a pretty even match against the elite 4. I didn't use too many revives, but hyper potions were flowing freely. The only trouble I had was against Hydreigon. Right up until it hit my very last pokemon, it ploughed through my team, one-shotting everything. That's when I learned that Lampent is an absolute beast. It took two Surfs from Hydreigon, saving me from being steamrolled, and from then on, I just max revived. Biggest save ever. Ghetsis, you got trolled. Muwahahahahaha!

[hotaru251]

Archeops l66, simisage l67, emboar l69, Victini l64 , krookodile l67, and Haxorus l63.

debut team 1st tiem at E4

wasnt really hard but im sure i lvl'd them too much and had advantage v_v

[PokemonWhiteMaster]

On pokemon White, my team was around 54-55. Samurott, Stoutland, Thundurus, Victini, Excadrill and Heatmor (replaced with Zekrom) (used excadrill and heatmor cuz i thought ill just go with them, i won i had to train all of be4 E4 though and i had found shiny durant while training ) Stoutland is taken out and now on Black, Heatmor and excadrill r out 2 but not on Black, Samurott, Thundurus and Victini also Zekrom r only ones i still use, i got new team (with at least a varity of 25 different pokemon including shiny) it's alot of pokes for one team but it depends on who i'm going 2 be up against. I also completed all of the National Pokedex it took about month to complete it after E4.

On Black, team was around 50-57 (still havnt caught tornadoes) Seperior, Victini, Sawk, jap. Haxorus, Reshiram (cant remember who replaced with i think samurott, not one from white), and Emboar.

PS: I'm looking for Unova Pokemon if have any post on Profile and ill tell u my offer for it

PSS: the pokemon i offer will be shiny

[Sel]

I used Pretty much the same team up until the last two battles with N and Ghetsis. Not sure about the Lvs before i entered, but i used Samurott(Xenkai) Mega horn, Dig, Surf, Aqua tail. Stoutland(Roawrah) Crunch, Aerial ace, Strength, Giga impact. Zoroark(Zevira) Shadow ball, Aerial ace, Focus blast, Foul play. Sawk(Zasken) Brick break, Counter, Rock slide, Retaliate. Krookodile(Serthas) Foul play, Dragon claw, Bulldoze, Dig. Zebstrika(Eraios) Discharge, Shock wave, Flame charge, Thunder wave.

Zebstrika was replaced by Reshiram. By the end my teams Lvs were 45-48.

Btw, Wraith, How Long did it take to get the female snivy?

[wraith89]

My first try Sel

Same thing for my Piplup in Platinum; first time was a Mild Female. I have some strange thing going on with getting female starters despite the mere 12.5% chance, and if I'm aiming for one, it's pretty cool. But more often than not I just settle for a male on stuff like Feraligatr or Torterra (though I get a lot of female Totodiles in my Gold version).

[Sel]

Lucky you, Wraith. I've never had the luck to get a female starter, Though a few of my friends have.

Anyway, back on subject, I'm currently Working to raise up my team for the second round against the elite four. I don't want to use Legendaries, but i want to replace sawk(Preferably with another fighting type. Mienshao maybe?) and Zebstrika. Most likely going to choose Volcarona for my final slot.

[wraith89]

I just can't have a male Meganium or a Serperior though... to me it's just weird. I have a female Swampert and Empoleon also, but that's about all the female starters I have.

Anyhow, I started using the old Pokemon once I began finding them, since I'm not too attached with the new Pokemon. I think my team was early 70s with Pidgeot, Ninetales, Lapras, Heracross, Dragonite, and Serperior (had to keep my starter). I stole Pidgeot from my Soul Silver so it can learn Hurricane. Needless to say, that thing missed a lot and refused to OHKO Scrafty

[Sel]

I suppose a female Samurott would be pretty awkward due to it's masculine appearance.. but i'm content with every starter i've gotten so far.

Black is probably the first game that i didn't bother raising up a flying type bird. I never had much love for any of the local birds after Pidgeot. I considered swapping out my Stoutland for a bit until his Giga Impact OHKO'd That stupid Hydreigon. But i do plan on having Volcarona learn Hurricane To pick up the slack for my lack of flying type moves. The rest of my team worked wonders against the elite four.

[wraith89]

Yeah. My friend has a female Emboar. And she likes it. Go figure

Pidove came a bit late, had the weirdest stat distribution, and overall was a dead weight near the end. Actually, scratch the weird stat distribution part. Its stats are okay; its movepool is not. It learns too many special moves for something with a much higher attack than special attack. Although I bash Pidgeot for having nonsensical stats of something that looks so majestic, at least it can get away with learning physical and special moves because they're not all that different. But Unfezant was generally dead weight; only physical moves usable in the end is Return and Fly to work with, and I stuck with Air Slash coming off of 65 base special attack. That Chandelure... ugh. After I weakened it to RED HP, which I would estimate to be something like 13 HP... it finished off my Serperior with Fire Blast, and I tried to finish off with Unfezant's Air Slash, but Chandelure SURVIVED with 1 HP... finishing off my Unfezant with a single Fire Blast. Yes, I was traumatised from that event.

Stoutland is actually not bad at all. Guy hurts like a madman, and STAB Giga Impact vs Hydreigon would certainly hurt a lot, but I never imagined it OHKOing it.

A Volcarona might not be a bad idea. You can start Quiver Dancing and end up sweeping two of the Elite 4's teams (I'm not entirely sure about Shauntal). I would, however, be wary of Marshal since his Fighters tend to carry Stone Edge which would squash Volcarona with no problem. Of course, that's what other Pokemon, maybe a strong Psychic, would be best for.

[Sel]

My dislike with The whole pidove line came from it's looks even more so than stats. The only elite four member that gave me any real trouble originally was marshal. That's due to half my team being weak to fighting types. I tried to remedy this by giving Stoutland and Zoroark Aerial Ace, but it wasn't really all that effective. especially on Zoroark. And i think Stoutlands OHKO on Hydreigon may have been a crit. Not sure though.

As far as phychic types go the ones i'd actually spend time raising are white version exclusives, and I'm not fond of many GenV psychics. Sigilyph is alright though. I may just teach Volcarona Psychic. It has enough Spcl. atk to make it work and should outrun even his mienshao. His throh should have the highest spcl. def of his team, and even it shouldn't prove too difficult to get around.

[wraith89]

I see. I took the female Pidove because the male one looks like a cricket killer. In Korea there are a lot of pheasant birds, so I didn't mind so much about Pidove's line's aesthetics, except it's grey and is a mix of a pigeon and a pheasant and I ask it to make up its mind. I guess it won't. The pheasants here are colourful; they're orange, red, green, etc... and I just like avians in general.

Non STAB Aerial Ace is weaker than a STAB max powered Return. (120 vs 153); AA is really a weak move.

Heh, I had it weird. I fought Marshal first and he wasn't too tough but I had trouble with Shauntal... every single time. Everyone else has it the other way around.

Reuniclus. Is. A. Monster. If you really want a good Psychic, Reuniclus is the way to go. It just doesn't faint... and in competitive battles everyone hates the guy. Sigilyph can also work, and is a much faster, but less bulkier and weaker version of Reuniclus. I'm going to have to import my Platinum's Gardevoir in; I can't play this game without something so beautiful.

Be careful. Sawk has Sturdy, so you're not one shotting that guy either unless you added some sort of entry hazard like Stealth Rocks, or using a boosted attack from the likes of a Mold Breaker Pokemon like Haxorus. Non-STAB Psychic will never OHKO Fighters, especially not Throh. Heck, even STAB Psychic from the likes of Azelf boosted with Life Orb CAN fail to OHKO Machamp (not in-game mind you, but I'm trying to prove a point here). Marshal can be tricky, but Mienshao isn't too much of a problem here as it is incredibly fragile; he's a glass cannon. He's just fast and powerful is all.

[Sel]

Reuniclus was one of the ones i had looked at for a psychic type. I was pretty Disheartened to learn the Porygon(I know he's not psychic but Porygon-z is awesome), Abra, AND Ralts were White Exclusives... Damn you trollfreak. I only have one DSlight so i'll probably settle for Reuniclus or Volcarona.

As you can tell from my teams moveset i usually don't put much competitive strategy into my in game party. I've never really done any hardcore Competitive battling, But i have studied it a great deal on Smogon and elsewhere.

Sturdy... That didn't cross my mind until you said that. I may just have to switch if i don't go with reuniclus. I haven't checked out his brelooms moveset either, So hopefully i wont run into a Spore/Focus punch situation.

[wraith89]

White Forest. Ugh, I played Black JUST for Reshiram and this is what happens. Everything I LIKE that isn't Reshiram happens to be in the OPPOSITE version. Trolling. Yeah settle for Reuniclus if people like Marshal turns out to be a pain. And for Black version people Gothitelle isn't bad either. In fact I used Gothitelle against my first match with Marshal... but Payback can be a pain.

Competitive battling? People always think Smogon when I say that, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. And even so, you don't need competitive movesets in-game. People always think "whatever works competitively will in-game" but try running stall in-game; just too much time and too inefficient. Moves with 5 PP don't work too well either. So that doesn't quite matter.

Yes Breloom has Spore but it does not have Focus Punch. It has Mach Punch and Sky Uppercut however. And for some odd bizarre reason, many of Marshal's Pokemon know Grass Knot. Actually, I think it's just Breloom and Throh in the 2nd match.

[Sel]

(Chuckles at random memories of my Umbreon Smiting Sabrina's entire gym in HG with Payback and Dark pulse)

hmm... after looking over each ones stats i'm liking Gothitelle's Defenses. Neither are particularly fast. Might be a toss up. Right now i'm trying to focus on raising Zoroark To Lv.64 so she can have a useful STAB..I may alternate between her and krookodile. I adore Him... Once it learns Earthquake and Outrage it'll be a permanent part of my team.

Smogon is just one source i've used. I like variety so i've read a few Competitive Battling guides via google. Actually, i believe yours was one of them. In-game i rarely use status moves. Maybe thunder wave, confuse ray, or accuracy reducing moves occasionally, but no fancey combos. Until my shuckle on platinum that is..

Grass knot shouldn't be a problem. but spore is definitely annoying. Maybe i'll be able to One Shot Breloom. Not sure what to expect from Alder either. I'll research him later.

[wraith89]

A perfect example! Competitive Umbreon set is Curse/Payback/Rest/Sleep Talk... not working in-game, or at least too slow to work in-game. You have to set up for it to do more damage and that's against ONE trainer... and then another guy comes, do that again, you've lost your patience. Payback + Dark Pulse could work in-game since that's two attacks... and some auxiliary move like Psychic or Return and possibly Confuse Ray.

The fact that they're not too fast is a big advantage against Payback, as Payback needs to move last to do more damage. However, Gothitelle is faster than many of the fighters Marshal has, and I remember mine took quite a bit of damage from a Payback; gone down to Orange health.

Yeah Smogon is definitely a great source for help when it comes to competitive battling. Just don't be a drone about it and you're set.

I still don't understand why he carries Grass Knot. You can just one shot Breloom with a bird as Breloom is 4x weak to Flying. He isn't particularly that fast either, and he isn't too bulky either, in fact; quite fragile, so a Fire/Ice move will also probably one shot it; especially if STABd. Alder is a bit easy for a champion... and I don't like that. I'll give you a hint; most of his Pokemon hate Fire.

[Sel]

My Umbreon Runs Payback, Dark pulse, Dig, and confuse ray. I toyed with the idea of giving it toxic in place of dark pulse for the battle with red, But decided against it last minute. Umbreon Came in handy ALOT during my playthrough of HG.

True, And speed won't help so much against sawk or throh. I may end up switching Zoroark/Krookodile For Gothitelle and Zebstrika for Volcarona. It Would definately balance my team team better. The only Bird flyer that initially caught my eye was Braviary, But upon further inspection Mandibuzz isn't so bad either. Still not sure i'm going to use a flyer but Mandibuzz has some nice options if i do decide to.

As far as grass knot goes, It may be an attempt to counter the heavier ground type Earthquakers... That'd be my only guess. That sucks about Alder though.. I was hoping for a though fight. I hope he's more challenging than Lance was.

[wraith89]

In-game, Braviary >>>>>>>>>>>>> Mandibuzz. Mandibuzz is terrible in-game, takes too long to evolve, is hardly capable of offence, but she's very good for Battle Subway or competitive battling. She's VERY similar to Umbreon, if you want to put it that way, except with a stall team in mind, and thus, is quite a force in competitive battling, but rather dead weight in-game. Braviary on the other hand is tailored for offence, has the moves to destroy stuff (like Superpower/Rock Slide/Brave Bird/etc) and it isn't too fragile either. His ability Sheer Force powers up Rock Slide and Crush Claw if you like using him.

Meh I still don't see the reason. In-game Pokemon tend to have a few off-beat moves in their moveset. I... actually had trouble with Lance (HGSS version) and was one of the better fights I've had in game If Blue were in the newer Gen as champion, he'd probably be tougher (I blame RB's lack of AI and FRLG's laziness) and Cynthia was... boring (a cheater with 31 IVs on every Pokemon). Alder's signature Pokemon, take one guess. That's probably why he's Champion.

[Sel]

True, but it only has it's flying types weakness and decent defenses. It does seem more of a competitive type...

I sense we're getting a bit off topic in regards to the current thread.. Plus there's not much left for me to post until i actually try my team against the E4. We could continue this convo in PM, if you wish.

[steffie2]

My team was Haxosaurus, Samurott, Ferrothorn, Gigalith, Archeops and Volcarona. Volcarona and Haxosaurus were in the 50s, the rest were almost level 50 or at 50.

I used Ferrothorn's SR first to break any Sturdy ability pokemon. Leachthorn is pretty beastly, too. That was a big help against a couple of them. Another thing that helped a lot was Sand Attack on Gigalith. Having U-turn on Archeops was nice for hit and run. Three bulky and three speedy. Not really a well rounded team, and a little over-leveled.

First post, I"m a little nervous:eek: