Help :(

[Cheesey]

I am not a strategic player and I never bother with EVs, IVs or natures (it's time-consuming and not very fun...). With that out of the way...

Help my team :( I'm training up to battle against the Elite Four at the moment. Before you ask, I only have 5 pokemon because, well, I dunno, I made a habit of just using 5 team members and having an HM slave in the sixth slot (Bibarel @ Surf, Rock Climb, Rock Smash, Strength). I have run into a few problems though. I think my first two pokemon are okay; the other 3 need some seeing to!!

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Torterra [M] @ Quick Claw (I intend to change that to Leftovers when I find a ruddy Munchlax though)
Lv 51
Overgrow

Wood Hammer
Earthquake
Curse
Synthesis

I expect this is a pretty standard setup, no? It's not causing me any problems...

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Mr Mime [M] @ Light Clay
Lv 51
Filter

Reflect
Light Screen
Baton Pass
Psychic

I have a Mr Mime maaainly because Psychic is a handy type to have and the Special Attack front in my team was a bit iffy. The thinking behind the moveset was quite simple, the barriers would be nice to Baton Pass (especially onto Honchkrow, and Light Screen for Torterra and Luxray also), and Light Clay seemed quite a nice new hold item, I thought it'd suit Mr Mime.

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Gyarados [M] @ Shell Bell
Lv 51
Intimidate

Dragon Dance
Ice Fang
Aqua Tail
Waterfall

Aqua Tail: 90 BP, 90% accuracy, 10 PP
Waterfall: 80 BP, 100% accuracy, 15 PP, 20% chance of flinch

Which do I go for? I know I want to have a physical water move and Dragon Dance - what else can you recommend?

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Honchkrow [F] @ Soothe Bell (ought to change that really... it likes me now)
Lv 52
Super Luck

Nasty Plot
Fly
Wing Attack
Night Slash

This is... well... I thought I knew what I was doing but then I made a mess of things. I made my way through most of the game with Torterra, Luxray and Murk/Honchkrow so I thought, "I know, I'll go for Nasty Plot & Dark Pulse as the other two are physical attackers, Luxray knows Crunch and her Special Attack is not much lower than her Attack...". But, she has Super Luck, so surely that'll work well with the critical hit ratio of Night Slash? And then I wasn't sure what to do when it came to flying moves, because since Fly has a better BP than it used to and it's handy ingame and and and... suggestions would be appreciated (and for your information, her Attack is currently 146; Special Attack is 137)

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Luxray [M] @ Amulet Coin
Lv 51
Rivalry

Scary Face
Swagger
Thunder Fang
Crunch

I wasn't sure what to do here. Like Honchkrow, because I haven't bothered with EVs or anything, its attack stats aren't that different (currently Att: 142, Sp. Att.: 133) but then again Rivalry will raise the attack power in a lot of situations so I wasn't sure whether or not I should be changing Thunder Fang for Discharge when he hits level 56. And plus I'm really unsure about Scary Face and Swagger as it is, I just left them because, you know, didn't know what else to do :|

[Astarin]

I can critique some of your team, but I'm hardly the best at this. I don't know a lot of the "standard" movesets or anything, and have yet to get really into competitive battling with this generation. (Was big into it in the R/B/Y/G/S/C days) So, I'm like you. I'm only willing to put so much effort into Natures.

Anyway.

Gyarados: Go with Waterfall over Aqua Tail, IMO. More PP, nice special effect, perfect accuracy. Don't know what would be a good fourth move; don't know what all Gyarados can learn, now. My old Ruby Gyarados had Return, and Earthquake. Dragon Dance and Ice Fang are yummy.

Mr. Mime: You don't need really Baton Bass. Both Reflect and Light Screen stay in effect from regular ol' switching. Instead.... hmmm. If you're really keen on the whole barriers theme you could go with Safeguard. I find Safeguard is handy in a lot of situations; more so than Reflect/Light Screen, even. Or try Substitute, to be annoying. Or just some decent, non-Psychic type special attack.

Luxray: On paper, Discharge looks a lot better than Thunder Fang. Thunder Fang only has 65 BP and isn't even 100% accurate. I know Luxray's attack is higher than special attack, but... I'd be tempted to go with Discharge, myself. Just be careful, as Discharge targets all other pokemon in double battles. Scary Face is kinda icky to me, I don't really find I use it much.

Honchkrow: ??? Haven't traded for a Murkrow, yet. But Night Slash seems like a logical choice, given the Ability. Keeping Fly should be okay, but then try to ditch Wing Attack for some... thing... I dunno. Roost is nice, if you find it's got enough defenses to take a few hits.

Some stuff to think about. Perhaps my noobish advice will prompt someone more experienced to go "no, no, that's no good". ^_^;

[Cheesey]

Thank you for replying ;D Really helps to have someone else look at it. Incidentally, I managed to defeat the Elite Four with my level 51 team, albeit with many a Full Restore along with Hyper and Max Potions. I was getting bored though so it made for a refreshing change... Currently running about Stark Mountain with Buck!


Gyarados: I did think Earthquake'd be a good idea, given the weakness to Electric. But I dunno, I was a bit wary because Torterra knows it and given that I only have five team members I didn't want to restrict my options. Would that be limiting myself much or not? I find it hard to judge :|

Mr Mime: I find Baton Pass to be handy just because it seems a tidier way to pass things on... I dunno, I know it doesn't really have much of an advantage over switching out. I did consider Safeguard, but I wasn't sure enough so I just left it as it was. Does the Light Clay lengthen Safeguard as well as Reflect and Light Screen? Anyone? :s

Luxray: I went for Discharge over Scary Face, meaning it now knows Discharge, Thunder Fang, Crunch and Swagger. I know it's not a good idea to have two same-type moves, but I thought it was different now that they are based off different stats. Scary Face is too inaccurate to be worth it anyway (85% - Discharge itself has a 30% chance of paralysis). I don't intend on keeping it like that though, it's not really ideal...

Honchkrow: At the moment, Honchkrow has Nasty Plot, Dark Pulse, Night Slash and Fly. Again, the whole two-moves-same-type problem really. Though it's actually working out okay at the moment, Dark Pulse takes out Gravelers that keep appearing in Stark Mountain. I did consider Roost, my only quibbles (haha..) being that a) it takes away Honchkrow's Flying type temporarily (though I'm not sure for how long - anybody know?) which'll take away from Fly's STAB and b) I'm unsure which move I should forget for it; I'm think along the lines of Nasty Plot, mainly because her defences are essentially crap and having the attacks along with a healing move'd probably work better than boosting attack and promptly being KOed :| But! I'm thinking Roost, Night Slash, Dark Pulse and Fly could work. Though if I lose Nasty Plot then Dark Pulse wouldn't be that much of a loss, but it is based off a good attack stat and has a 20% flinch possibility. This whole new Physical/Special system gives me so many more decisions to make ;P

[Astarin]

Congrats. I beat the Elite Four around that level too, albiet with a full team of six, and a giant handful of revives. Haven't gone to Stark Mountain yet, as I'm entertained by raising new pokes, imported from my old Ruby game.

Gyarados: I agree with your choice. You do already have Earthquake, and it'll be more effective with Torterra. On Ruby, it was handy on Gyarados, but only if I actually got the first attack. Which was rare versus the many speedy Electric types out there.

Mr. Mime: I'd assume the Light Clay applies to Safeguard, since Safeguard functions like Reflect/Light Screen in all other aspects.

Luxray and Honchkrow: Hmm. Yeah. Those'll both work, and frankly, they're probably better just for wandering through the game, since you won't be running out of PP. Just, less-than-ideal for any competitive battling, like you said. Given that those are both new pokemon that I haven't used at all, I'll have to look at their move pools. Sorry >_<

Oh, and really? I didn't realize that Roost has that added effect. That kinda sucks. But my guess would be that it lasts for only five turns, at most. Everything seems to run out after five turns (Reflect, Safeguard, Sleep, etc.).

[Poryhedron]

Are you sure Roost removes all Flying-type qualities, or might it only make Honchrow targetable by Ground-type moves? There are other moves that mess with whether or not Ground-type moves will work...

[Cheesey]

I'm not sure, I was going off what Psypoke said and that's "Recovers half of the user's HP, but user temporarily loses Flying-type." I'm not 100% on whether that just means they'll be susceptible to Ground-moves and STAB isn't affected or not. :| It might be difficult to test ingame whether or not STAB has been lost from the move, but I might have a go at a Fly-before-and-after-Roost thing tomorrow to see if it causes substantially less damage, unless anyone knows for sure.

[xslimeknightx]

the effect of roost is that after you use it, you are subject to ground attacks until your next move, i believe.