Sharpedo or Ludicolo?

[DarkMarowak]

I'm currently raising my ruby team on an emulator, just to test it out before I buy the actual game. That way I can tell which ones will help me and which ones won't. Anyway, I've got most of my team down, though I'm having second thoughts on Sharpedo...

Don't get me wrong, he's a great Pokemon and one of my personal favorites. He has incredable attacks and special attacks, not to mention he's very speedy, but his defenses are just too darn weak. It seems like even the slightest tap will faint this guy. He can't learn Reflect or Lightscreen either... :(

Ludicolo however, has better defenses and is part grass, which would help me greatly to defend my Blaziken and Manectric against Swamperts, Whiscash, and other ground and water stuff.

Here's my current team. As you can see I'm a fan of sweepers. While Sharpedo is a great sweeper, it might be best if I replaced him with another good water type like Ludicolo. What do you guys think?

Blaziken
Sky Uppercut
Bulk-up
Blaze Kick
Rock Tomb

Sharpedo
Crunch
Ice Beam
Earthquake*
Surf

**or**

Ludicolo
Mega Drain
Rain Dance
Ice Beam
Surf

Manectric
Thunderbolt
Roar
Thunder wave
Bite

Gardevoir
Psychic
Thunderbolt
Clear Mind
Safeguard

Flygon
Dragon Claw
Crunch
Flamethrower
Earthquake/Dig*

Exploud
Hyper Voice
Roar
Shadow Ball
Ice Beam

*Now, if I take Sharpedo off the team, then I can teach Flygon Earthquake. Otherwise, Flygon's going to end up learning Dig...

I have a feeling I know who Stickachu would choose... ( ;) ) But I want to know your guy's thoughts.

[stickachu]

Originally posted by DarkWobbuffet
I have a feeling I know who Stickachu would choose... ( ;) ) But I want to know your guy's thoughts.

What is THAT supposed to mean? ;)

Anyway, you said Ruby version. Ludicolo is Sapphire only. Problem solved.


But beyond that, we should examine *puts on glasses* Let's see now...

Sharpedo is a strong attacker (plus he's a water type that learns earthquake!) but he's very frail. This might not mesh well with your team as you have several other defensively weak pokemon.

Ludicolo will almost definitely last longer, as he's tank-ariffic. However, rain dance doesn't really work well with this team.

So now my choice... drop Sharpedo AND Ludicolo... AND drop Manectric. Put in a Lanturn instead. That gives you another member to play around with... If you want dark or grass attacks, try a Cacturne or Shiftry... Shiftry would actually work best with this team... other choices are Dusclops and Cradily.

Not what you were expecting, now was it?

[DarkMarowak]

Hm... not a bad idea Stickster, but I always like to have a water type and an electric type on my team. Lanturn dosen't have really good stats, and if he faints, then I just lost both my water type and electric type, which isn't good.
Sides, I already got Lanturn on another team and I never use the same Pokemon on different teams... call it a bad habit. x_x

I'm sticking with the others, I just need ideas for Sharpedo's replacement. Any thoughts you guys?

[Crufidal]

Milotic could be good, if you feel like using a standardish thing, a nice special sweeper. Gorebyss has potential to be a potentially nice Baton Passer, potentially speaking. Gorebyss can also dish out satisfactory damage...

Though I'd have to agree on Ludicolo though. If obtaining one isn't too much of a problem, go ahead and use it. With a team with lots of sweepers, it's always nice to have a Tank or Annoyer to vary things, even if its just the slightest bit. Sharpedo IS quite frail.... still, also a good choice. Though I'd have to say Ludicolo would be better here.

[RocketScyther]

You said that he was a personal favorite, so use him. After all, good advice in your sig there. All my teams have used Scyther(up until RS, grrr), simply because he's my fav, even though Scizor is better in MOST(not all)circumstances, and I do perfectly well with him.

- Rocket Scyther -