My first real team?

[Killface!]

My sister convinced me to buy pokemon platinum so we could play together. I'm just running through the game and have almost beaten it. I traded most of my pokemon from my old pearl game, just to make the main game run easier. Well, whenever my sister wants to battle me, she doesn't want me to use legendaries. Well, my team mainly consists of that just so I can beat the game faster to do all the extra fun stuff.

Anyway, I'm looking to create my first team and need some help. I'm not sure who I want/who I need. I've been thinking and have come up with this:

Crobat
Blissey
Gyrados
Charazard
Lucario
??

I have NEVER done EV training or even thought about looking at a pokemons IV's. If anyone can help me by giving me a movelist, EV's, IV's, and natures, as well as a 6th pokemon, it'd be awesome.

Also, how long will it take to fully max out EV's for a pokemon?
And how can I check the IV's for a pokemon?

Thanks,

-Killface!

[Bulbasaurus Rex]

IVs are impossible to know for sure until very high levels. You'd have to raise them to at least L20 to even be able to narrow them down to a decent range (plus or minus 5 at that point). IVs are a lot harder to work with than even EVs. I just wouldn't bother with them.

Maxing out EVs the normal way takes between 170 (battling Pokémon that give out 3 EVs) and 508 (1 EV each) victorious battles. You can cut that in half by equipping the Pokémon you're EV training with a Macho Brace. You can also use Vitamins to automatically add up to 100 EVs, I believe (but the limit per stat is lower).

Here's my favorite version of Lucario:

Lucario @ Expert Belt
Ability: Steadfast
Nature: Timid (+ Speed, - Attack)
EVs: 252 Special Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Aura Sphere
Dark Pulse
Dragon Pulse
Calm Mind

[Killface!]

That sounds like a really good moveset. Thanks Bulb.

Also, what's so good about Aura Sphere? Is Force Palm any better?

[Bulbasaurus Rex]

Are you kidding? Aura Sphere has 90 base power, (135 with Lucario's STAB), 20 PP, 100% accuracy, and is immune to accuracy modifiers (Swift's effect). Force Palm has a measly 60 base power (90 with STAB) with 100% accuracy, 10 PP, and 30% chance of paralysis. The paralysis chance means almost nothing compared to all that extra base power and PP.

[Killface!]

When you put it that way, that makes alot of sense. haha.

Anyway, i'll probably use your Lucario moveset/nature.

I started training a Zubat, to eventually evolve into a Crobat, today and I have decided to make it like this:

Crobat @ ??
Jolly Nature

Aerial Ace
Cross Poision
Confuse Ray
???

[252 Speed] [252 Attack] [4 HP]

Does any of that sound good?

[Seerow]

Also a note about Aura Sphere vs Force Palm on Bulbasaurus Rex's set, his set revolves around special attacks, and Force Palm is physical. If you were going to use a physical set you'd be better off with Close Combat than Force Palm anyway.

I'm not about to give a range of the best movesets for those Pokémon, so I'll give you a helpful link instead: try looking at the different Pokémon articles at this link (http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/).

Also, your proposed team has something of a weakness to Rock and Electric attacks due to the fact that there are three Flying types in there.

[Bulbasaurus Rex]

Also, your proposed team has something of a weakness to Rock and Electric attacks due to the fact that there are three Flying types in there.Making your 6th Pokémon a Ground type would help against that.

[Killface!]

Just as an update, i'm thinking about this for my team.


Spiritomb @ Leftovers
Nature: Careful

Sucker Punch
Pursuit
Pain Split
Will-O-Wisp

[252 HP] [140 Att] [116 SpDef]


Blissey @ Leftovers
Nature: Bold

Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Thunder Wave
Softboiled

[252 Def] [148 HP] [108 SpAtt]


Crobat @ Choice Band
Nature: Jolly

Brave Bird
Cross Poision
Roost
U-Turn

[252 Att] [252 Spd] [4 HP]


Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Nature: Impish

Earthquake
Slack Off
Stealth Rock
Stone Edge

[252 HP] [168 Def] [88 SpDef]


Gyarados @ Life Orb
Nature: Adament

Dragon Dance
Waterfall
Ice Fang
Earthquake

[252 Att] [252 Spd] [4 Def]


Lucario @ Expert Belt
Nature: Timid

Aura Sphere
Dark Pulse
Dragon Pulse
Calm Mind

[252 SpAtt] [252 Spd] [4 HP]

[Seerow]

Roost on a Choice Band Pokémon (Crobat)? Bad idea to be honest, unless you intend on switching it in to heal and then switching out again, which I wouldn't advise because Stealth Rock hurts.

[Killface!]

So, instead of Roost, how about Pursuit?

Also, how does everything else looks?

[Seerow]

Pursuit is your only option really. Crobat doesn't really have a particularly splendid movepool for Choice Banding, the only thing that really recommends him for it is Brave Bird. You're probably better off with Hypnosis for a fast sleep.

The only other thing I would comment on is that I'd rather use Choice Specs on Lucario than Calm Mind. Last I checked, statistics showed that Earthquake is the most common move in the competitive Pokémon environment, and Close Combat is pretty common as well, so Lucario isn't really going to be able to set up Calm Mind without being forced out by a threat of one of these moves.

But it's how well the team performs as a whole, not how well the individual Pokémon can perform, that you should be concerned about, and battling with it tests that much better than theory analysis.

EDIT: You could also use Aromatherapy on Blissey instead of Thunderbolt, instead of the below suggestion, if you can't get hold of a SToss Blissey.

[Bulbasaurus Rex]

If you can get a 3rd gen Blissey with Seismic Toss, you should use that move over Thunderbolt.

If you want to switch to a Choice Specs Lucario, I recommend Psychic to replace Calm Mind. You could also switch Psychic for Calm Mind but keep Expert Belt in order to be able to switch attacks.