Creating the Best Pokemon Emerald Team

There are many decisions you are faced with when constructing a team. But what I suppose you are really looking for is some overall balance so you can handle all of the foes that you will meet in the game.

In response to a question raised on our website, 'Whats a Good Team' in Pokemon Emerald

http://www.supercheats.com/gameboyadvance/questions/pokemonemerald/133828/What-s-a-good-team.htm

There's two kinds of effective teams that you can make: a team of many Pokemon types (fire, water, grass etc.) or a much longer explanation of a basic team (one Pokemon with a crazy amount of HP, one 3 sweepers, one tank and one legendary)

I'll be explainng the types since it's simpler to use:

If you're going for a Pokemon 'Type team', there are 4 types you should definitely consider having:

Fighting (Strong physical moves that can beat Normal, Ice, Rock, Dark, and Steel types)

Ice (Good special attack moves that can beat common Grass type Pokemon, along with Ground, Flying, and DRAGON... Who can be incredibly powerful if you don't have a Pokemon who can beat them quickly)

Dark(They can easily beat Psychic and Ghost Pokemon while being immune to those kinds of attacks)

Ground(can beat Fire, Electric, Poison, Rock, and Steel Types)

With These three types included, your team will already have covered 14 of the possible 17 Pokemon types. Keep in mind you still have two other Pokemon to cover the other 3(Bug, Water, and Fighting)

The best fighting type Pokemon in Emerald without trading would have to be Heracross and Blaziken. Heracross has an amazing attack stat with good special defense, speed, and HP stats. An OK defense... Not the best, and a horrible special attack (which isn't a problem in this case since the stength of fighting moves are based on attack). Since Heracross is also a bug type, he can learn bug type moves to cover his weakness to Psychic types, just keep him away from Pokemon who know fire moves and DEFINITELY Flying moves. However, Blaziken in my opinion would be the better choice. He's the final evolution of Torchic which means you can obtain him much earlier in the game.

He has the same basic Attack stat as Heracross, but because it's also a fire type he has amazing special attack as well. Good HP and Speed and decent Defense and Special Defense. He can learn thunderpunch from a Move tutor to cover his weaknesses to flying and water types. He can learn blazekick and sky uppercut, two pretty good moves. Both would make a good choice.

The best Ice type Pokemon or Water types, since water types can leran Ice moves as well(Yes,Kyogre is probably stronger than all of them but I personally find using legendaries cheap because they're overpowered.

Swampert : Has really good stats in all aspects but is really slow. Luckily it's also a ground type, making it immune to Electric attacks. It only has one weakness to Grass, but it will do serious damage to compensate for it's Electric immunity. Has a wide range of attacks to use, including Water, Ground, Ice, Rock, Poison, and Fighting type moves. If Mudkip was your starter, you should definitely keep him on your team.

http://pokemon.supercheats.com/Swampert/

Tentacruel: Amazing special defense and speed. The good thing about having high Spec.D is that it's weakness to Electric moves isnt as horrible. High speed means attaking first most of the time. Good spec.Attack and HP, OK attack (I don't suggest teaching it physical moves) and bad Defense which isn't good for it's weakness against ground type moves, but it's water moves will take care of that problem easily.

http://pokemon.supercheats.com/Tentacruel/

Walrein: It's so underated and unused, I personally think it would be the best choice if Mudkip isn't your starting Pokemon.Has amazing HP stat with really good Defense, Spec.A and Spec.D. Good Attack, and not so good Speed. Speed is it's only downfall, but it's high HP compensates for it. It will usually survive it's first hit from one of it's weaknesses (Grass, Electric, Rock and Fighting). The good thing is that it's ice moves will cover it's weakness to grass and water moves will cover it's weakness to rock. You can even teach it earthquake through the TM to cover it's weakness to fighting, and rest will replenish all that HP.

http://pokemon.supercheats.com/Walrein/

Wailord: One of the best HP stats in the game... By level 100 it will have over 500HP! It's really good attack and special attack makes it a hard hitter. The problem is that it's not fast at all and has really (and by really I mean REALLY) bad defenses. If you know how to use it, it can be incredibly useful. If you're a novice, I suggest not taking Wailord just yet.

http://pokemon.supercheats.com/Wailord/

Gyarados: I personally think this Pokemon is overated but I'll mention him because he's favorited by many. Has amazing Attack, Special Defense, and HP stats. Good speed and ok defense... But a bad special attack. The problem is that Gyarados is a water/flying type. Water moves and ice moves (and even dragon moves since it can learn them as well) are all special moves. Special moves require good special attack... Which is something it doesnt have. If you can figure out a way to use it's attack to your advantage go ahead and use it.

http://pokemon.supercheats.com/Gyarados/

Milotic: Great Pokemon who's absolutely gorgeous. However, practically impossible to find in the game. You need to catch a feebas on Route 119 that will only pop up rarely on 6 spots in the water and then evolve it. But, Has amazing HP and both Special stats with the same speed as Gyarados. Harder to obtain but a lot better to use compared to Gyarados, in my opinion at least.

http://pokemon.supercheats.com/Milotic/

Dark Pokemon... I HIGHLY recommend not using Mightyiena. It's just overall and awful Pokemon.

Sableye: Has no weaknesses because it's a ghost/dark type and has immunity to Normal, Psychic, and Fighting moves.If it's stats were better I wold recommend it, but it's stats are terrible... It would take a really good player to be able to use Sableye to it's full potential.

http://pokemon.supercheats.com/Sableye/

Sharpedo : I wouldn't recommend taking him if you already have a water type, but it's an incredible pokemon. Its defenses are terrible but because it has high attacks and speed, it becomes very deadly. You can easily get one hit faints with this Pokemon.

http://pokemon.supercheats.com/Sharpedo/

Shiftry: Same stats scheme as Sharpedo but a bit more balanced. It has great HP, Attack, Spec.A, and ok speed. It can be a great choice, but it has a 6 weaknesses (on the bright side it has 6 resistances as well).

http://pokemon.supercheats.com/Shiftry/

Crawdaunt : Low HP, Spec.D and Speed stats but outstanding Attack and very good Spec.A and Defense stats. Can be pretty good if trained properly.

http://pokemon.supercheats.com/Crawdaunt/

Absol : Has the highest Attack stat of all the Dark types in Emerald, with ok speed and ok Special Attack. If it's trained properly it can be incredibly strong, just needs to be Speed EV trained. He also looks the coolest.

http://pokemon.supercheats.com/Absol/

Ground Types: SOOOOOOOOOO Many of them but I will narrow them down to 3:

Claydol : Also a Psychic type. Has amazing Defense and Special defense. It's other stats aren't anything special. Luckily it can also learn rock moves, which will cover two of it's 5 weaknesses (Bug and Ice).

http://pokemon.supercheats.com/Claydol/

Camerupt : Opposite of Claydoll stat wise (Great Attack and Spec.A)and also a fire type.Can learn very powerful attacks of Fire, Ground and Rock types. Only has two weaknesses. If Torchic wasn't your starter it would be unarguably the next best fire Pokemon (apart from Ninetails).

http://pokemon.supercheats.com/Camerupt/

Flygon : I love Flygon. It has great base stats including amazing attack and speed. It only has two weaknesses (one of them being ice, which is EXTREMELY dangerous since it's also a dragon type) and can learn a wide variety of moves. Teach it a fir move like flamethrower to cover it's ice weakness. There's so many ways you can use Flygon it's incredible. It may be hard to get it because of all the training you'll need to be doing when you start with Trapinch, but it's worth it in the long run.

http://pokemon.supercheats.com/Flygon/

Now, keep in mind that these Pokemon aren't mandatory to use. The Pokemon chosen were the strongest of their Types but you're more than free to play with your favorites. This leaves us to 2 free Pokemon spots. Depending what you've chosen to be your team with the first 4 will decide which types to use for these two free places.

The two best choices to make with the Pokemon listed above would be:

1) Blaziken, Walrein, Absol/Shiftry, and Flygon.

2) Heracross, Swampert/Tentacruel,Absol/Shiftry, and Camerupt.

Considering 1)... Blaziken w/Thunderpunch, Walrein, either dark type, and Flygon w/Flamethrower would cover all the Pokemon types apart from Fighting and Poison... Unless you tought Flygon a flying move and a ground move, which I DO recommend. If you choose not to do so, I suggest a psychic Pokemon since Fighting and Poison both have a mutual weakness to it... So;Gardevoir, Metagross or Grumpig would be good bets. Your last Pokemon can be whatever you wish. Scyther is a good choice since it's fast and strong, Manectric would also be a good choice for speed and will also be a good choice since you will have a solid Electric back up to cover water and Flying Pokemon if Blaziken ends up fainting.

Considering 2)...Heracross,Swampert/Tentacruel w/Ice Beam, Absol/Shiftry, and Camerupt w/Rock Slide. All Types would be covered with these four. With your two extra slots I would suggest a Dragon type since they have very strong attacks, either Flygon or Salamence would do. The last Pokemon would have to be either a Pokemon with a lot of HP, or a Steel type pokemon. The HP choice would be good to put on and take damage while you can use potions and revives on your injured pokemon. The steel type would be good as well since it has a lot of resistances and not many weaknesses; Skarmory,Magneton,Aggron, and Metagross would be great choices.

So what do you think, agree or disagree - the choice is your, but let us know below.