Pokémon Team Building Help?

I love building teams, but apparently I'm not very good at it lol. I know absolutely nothing about competitive battling, but I have so much respect for it. I'm not trying to enter the competitive scene or anything, but I would appreciate some honest opinions of my current team.

It doesn't seem to be doing well online, no surprises there, and I just want to stand a chance with a team I enjoy battling with.

Glalie | Ice | Item: Glalite
Freeze-Dry
Crunch
Ice Beam
Blizzard

Bewear | Normal/Fighting | Item: None
Hammer Arm
Thrash
Pain Split
Brick Break

Stoutland | Normal | Item: Red Card
Crunch
Giga Impact
Retaliate
Play Rough

*Drampa | Normal/Dragon | Item: None
Dragon Pulse
Hyper Voice
Thunderbolt
Extrasensory

*Dhelmise | Ghost/Grass | Item: None
Heavy Slam
Anchor Shot
Phantom Force
Energy Ball

Palossand | Ghost/Ground | Item: Soft Sand
Shadow Ball
Sand Tomb
Shore Up
Sandstorm

*I'm not willing to swap Drampa or Dhelmise for a different Pokemon. I wouldn't mind some suggestions for improving them, however.

Not sure if it matters, but I do have a preference for ghost types. I received a Honedge from Wonder Trade this moring, but I feel like it would clash with my Dhelmise. Or maybe not? I have no idea.

Oh boy, I haven't competitively battled in forever. I forgot 99% of everything I learned, but I can offer some basic suggestions. Like I forgot everything about team structure and specific types of attackers so rip me. Hopefully someone more educated can help haha..

This is probably a dumb question, but do you EV train your pokemon?
If so, you should share the ev spreads for them (that could help tons with improving the team!)
Also do they have max IVs?

In terms of type coverage, your team seems really weak to fight, and mildly weak to ice/fire. I'd definitely suggest swapping something out (probably stoutland) for something better... A primarina would really help lol. But just that in mind.. I'm not really good at suggesting pokemon though, but I've heard primarina works well competitively.

Also make sure all your pokemon has items!

Shiemi said:

Oh boy, I haven't competitively battled in forever. I forgot 99% of everything I learned, but I can offer some basic suggestions.

This is probably a dumb question, but do you EV train your pokemon?
If so, you should share the ev spreads for them (that could help tons with improving the team!)
Also do they have max IVs?

In terms of type coverage, your team seems really weak to fight, and mildly weak to ice/fire. I'd definitely suggest swapping something out (probably stoutland) for something better... A primarina would really help lol. But just that in mind.. I'm not really good at suggesting pokemon though, but I've heard primarina works well competitively.

Also make sure all your pokemon has items!

Click to expand...

To add on, Primarina is a good Pokemon for getting in hits despite its speed; it has decent defences which back up its amazing special attack. Currently I am running:

Primarina, Torrent, Modest@Choice Specs
5IV's excluding attack,
252 evs sp. attack, 126 HP and sp. def, 6 defence w/
Moonblast
Hyper Voice
Ice Beam
Scald

Moonblast is the obvious dragon slayer while Ice beams can deal with Pokemon such as Garchomp and Flygon effectively. Scald is that STAB move that also offers the chance to burn.

Thank you for the advice, I've since changed my team, and it seems to be doing better! I decided it would be best to put an item on a Pokemon, even if temporary, because it's better than not having any item at all. This is my team as of December 29, 2016:

Goodra | Dragon | Item: Life Orb
Nature: Docile
Ability: Sap Sipper

Dragon Pulse
Facade
Muddy Water
Sludge Bomb (Will replace with Flamethrower)

Glalie | Ice | Item: Icy Rock/Glalite
Nature: Relaxed
Ability: Inner Focus

Crunch
Freeze-Dry
Hail
Ice Beam

Doublade | Steel/Ghost | Item: Muscle Band
Nature: Adamant
Ability: No Guard

Retaliate
Sacred Sword
Slash (Will replace with Iron Head/another steel type move)
Swords Dance

Dhelmise | Ghost/Grass | Item: Steelium Z
Nature: Relaxed
Ability: Steelworker

Anchor Shot
Energy Ball
Heavy Slam
Phantom Force (Will probably replace with Shadow Ball)

Palossand | Ground/Ghost | Item: Smooth Rock
Nature: Docile
Ability: Water Compaction

Earthquake
Sandstorm
Shadow Ball
Shore Up

Drampa | Normal/Dragon | Item: Silk Scarf
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Berserk

Dragon Pulse
Extrasensory
Hyper Voice
Thunderbolt

I'm considering switching out Dhelmise or Palossand for Primarina. The only problem I have with that is how much time I spent trying to catch Dhelmise, not using it would feel like a waste. I've also had Palossand for most of the game, and it's helped me out of so many sticky situations. Emotional connections are a real pain.

Shiemi said:

This is probably a dumb question, but do you EV train your pokemon?
If so, you should share the ev spreads for them (that could help tons with improving the team!)
Also do they have max IVs?

Click to expand...

Not a dumb question at all! I know the basics of EV training, like that it's an acronym for Effort Value, and that you can raise EVs by battling one type of Pokemon, but that's about it lol.

Just from first glance your team is going to get destroyed by Fighting, Fire and Ice types. Bewear (though if this has Fluffy that will help), Glalie, Stoutland and Drapma are all weak to Fighting type attacks, Glalie, Beware (if it has Fluffy ability) and Dhelmise are all weak to Fire, and Drampa, Dhelmise and Palossand all being weak to Ice.

With Glalie, since it's holding the mega stone, it will gain the Refirgerate ability, but nothing in it's move set makes use of that, making it essentially useless. I'd get rid of Blizzard and replace it with Explosion as a last hurrah attack.

You should also get rid of any Pokemon (I'd get rid of Glalie or Stoutland) and add a tanky defensive Pokemon in it's place. Same goes with getting rid of one and replacing it with a speedy Pokemon. Should also try adding in a Poison type somewhere, or at least teaching someone the move Toxic.

Dhelmise also doesn't really need Heavy Slam. With it's ability + STAB, Anchor Shot is going to be your primary used Steel move with 80BP. Heavy Slam is dependant on weight of other Pokemon, so you're better off getting rid of it and replacing it with a defensive/recovery move like Protect or Giga Drain.

Also not sure why Palossand is running Sand Tomb (a physical attack) which has 35BP when you can easily replace it with Earth Power which has 90BP + the chance to lower Sp. Defence, as Palossand is a special attacker. There's really no need to run Sandstorm either because Water Compaction is a much better ability than Sand Veil, and only it and Dhelmise benefit from a Sandstorm anyway + with many common weaknesses it's not really worth spending a turn setting it up.

Probably more that you could do to improve, but I've gotta get ready for work now. If I think of anything else I'll come back here and post it. Good luck!

When you spend too much time typing up a post and the team gets changed rip

I'll have a glance when I get home form work at your new team

Cheren said:

Not a dumb question at all! I know the basics of EV training, like that it's an acronym for Effort Value, and that you can raise EVs by battling one type of Pokemon, but that's about it lol.

Click to expand...

Well yes basically! But making sure that your pokemon has good EV spreads is crucial for competitive battling! You'll do so much better if they have evs invested in their strong stats
(if you ever need to put some EVs on your pokemon, message me sometime and I can edit them onto your pokemon so you don't have to do the tedious ev training)

you can probably look up some spreads on smogon or whatever. I rarely ever came up with my own EV spreads haha.

Jake said:

Just from first glance your team is going to get destroyed by Fighting, Fire and Ice types. Bewear (though if this has Fluffy that will help), Glalie, Stoutland and Drapma are all weak to Fighting type attacks, Glalie, Beware (if it has Fluffy ability) and Dhelmise are all weak to Fire, and Drampa, Dhelmise and Palossand all being weak to Ice.

With Glalie, since it's holding the mega stone, it will gain the Refirgerate ability, but nothing in it's move set makes use of that, making it essentially useless. I'd get rid of Blizzard and replace it with Explosion as a last hurrah attack.

You should also get rid of any Pokemon (I'd get rid of Glalie or Stoutland) and add a tanky defensive Pokemon in it's place. Same goes with getting rid of one and replacing it with a speedy Pokemon. Should also try adding in a Poison type somewhere, or at least teaching someone the move Toxic.

Dhelmise also doesn't really need Heavy Slam. With it's ability + STAB, Anchor Shot is going to be your primary used Steel move with 80BP. Heavy Slam is dependant on weight of other Pokemon, so you're better off getting rid of it and replacing it with a defensive/recovery move like Protect or Giga Drain.

Also not sure why Palossand is running Sand Tomb (a physical attack) which has 35BP when you can easily replace it with Earth Power which has 90BP + the chance to lower Sp. Defence, as Palossand is a special attacker. There's really no need to run Sandstorm either because Water Compaction is a much better ability than Sand Veil, and only it and Dhelmise benefit from a Sandstorm anyway + with many common weaknesses it's not really worth spending a turn setting it up.

Probably more that you could do to improve, but I've gotta get ready for work now. If I think of anything else I'll come back here and post it. Good luck!

When you spend too much time typing up a post and the team gets changed rip

I'll have a glance when I get home form work at your new team

Click to expand...

Thanks, I would really appreciate that! Believe it or not, I've changed my team up again lol. If you'd be willing to take a look at it I would be so grateful. Here's my new/current team (which I'm kind of really happy with but idk):

Turtonator | Fire/Dragon| Item: None
Nature: Brave
Ability: Shell Armor

Incinerate
Flamethrower
Dragon Pulse
Shell Smash

Silvally | type undecided | Item: None
Nature: Hardy
Ability: RKS System

Crush Claw
Multi-Attack
X-Scissor
Metal Sound

Togedemaru | Electric/Steel | Item: None (leaning towards Rocky Helmet)
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Iron Barbs

Nuzzle
Discharge
Magnet Rise
Spiky Shield

Toxapex | Poison/Water| Item: Poison Barb
Nature: Impish
Ability: Regenerator

Recover
Toxic
Toxic Spikes
Sludge Bomb

Primarina | Water/Fairy | Item: Terrain Extender
Nature: Modest
Ability: Torrent

Hyper Voice
Misty Terrain
Moonblast
Sparkling Aria

Drampa | Normal/Dragon | Item: None
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Berserk

Dragon Pulse
Extrasensory
Hyper Voice
Thunderbolt

Turtonator and Silvally are the newest additions, so I could do with some advice for them. I'm satisfied with the rest, but I wouldn't mind a few pointers.