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This team is for the single battle against the AI in the BT Diamond and the BT portion of the Battle Frontier in Plat. I've gotten up to 136 in singles with this team in Diamond. I have yet to do anything besides Battle Factory challenges in Plat. So, without further adu: Starmie w/ Choice Specs Modest Natural Cure 252 sp atk/252 speed/6 HP - Surf - Thunderbolt - Ice Beam - Grass Knot/Psychic Starmie fulfills a lot of roles just by itself. It's move pool basically lets it hit everything that isn't Shedinja. It can absorb status and switch out. And it plays well with it's team mates, which I'll get to in a moment. Depending on how much I think I'll need to switch between moves, I've also used Wise Glasses and Life Orb. When I start playing around on Plat, I'm seriously considering adding Trick in the 4th slot. The first 3 moves, with STAB Surf and Boltbeam, are just too important to lose. Though I'm hesitant to do even that, because then I lose my best weapon against the numerous Water/Ground types found in the BT. I also may consider breeding for a Timid, because eventually, in the higher portions of the BT, it'll get outrun. Scizor w/ Leftovers Adamant Technician 252 HP/252 atk/6 DEF - Swords Dance - Subsitute - Bullet Punch - X-Scissor/Brick Break/Superpower/Night Slash/Quick Attack Scizor serves as my defense against OHKO and status. Come in on something Scizor won't mind, Sub up, set up a ridiculous amount of Sword Dances, and sweep. I've previously used this with Life Orb, but Life Orb + Sub often caused an early Scizor death. Even though with only two moves Scizor will leave a lot of room for "Not very effective", if I get behind a Sub, I can SD up, and I get priority with Bullet Punch always. While I've often used X-Scissor in the past, I think Brick Break will be my go-to attack. I don't want to deal with the drop in defense Superpower brings. I am considering doing a minimum amount of speed investment just to easily get a sub up. Any suggestions? Finally: Garchomp w/ Choice Band Jolly Sand Veil 252 atk/252 speed/6 HP - Outrage - Earthquake - Fire Fang - Aerial Ace/Stone Edge/Rock Slide/Aqua Tail/Sleep Talk Here's the final guy. Like Starmie, it can handle a lot of BT matches on it's own. The first 3 moves give perfect coverage for neutral damage on everything. The last slot is something that often fluctuates. Sleep Talk was at one time my go-to move, but with Starmie and Sub on Scizor I don't see a lot of use with it. Aerial Ace knocks around DT abusers. Scizor could get a technician boost from it, but it can't spare the move slot. I usually go for this. It sucks when I don't encounter a DT abuser, but when I'm without it, I usually get pressure stalled. Stone Edge and Rock Slide help me knock around fliers, and Chomp's unique base speed tier often convinces me to use Rock Slide for the flinch rate. I've never used Aqua Tail, but it kinda makes sense, though I've heard STAB whatever is just as good if not better. Oh, and after the first 60 matches or so, I usually end up switching this guy to a Choice Scarf and Adamant nature. Eventually it starts getting outrun. Now, here's why this team is awesome: Scizor's weakness of Fire is covered by both Starmie and Garchomp who resist it. Starmie is usually the better choice to take a fire attack since it won't mind the burn. Starmie's part-Psychic typing sucks. It is rarely useful, and gives it a Dark/Ghost/Bug weakness in addition to Electric and Grass. However, Scizor resists EVERY one of these except for electric, which Chomp is immune to. Garchomp's ice weakness is resisted by both Scizor and Starmie, and it's dragon weakness resisted by Scizor. So what do you all think? What improvements can be made, especially considering Plat changes? Is the Battle Tower portion in Platinum any different from D/P? Next up on my team is a Battle Tower team consisted around the eater of souls, Shedinja. But I'm still working on it. Happy rating. Credit to Deviant Art "artists" for ruining Pokemon with these creepy images