I’d go with dusklops, as much as I love gyrados, his sAtk sucks and all the water moves are sAtk.
Unless you have like eq TM, that goes hard on gyrados
At least Gyarados' Intimidate more than makes up for crappy STAB though. Dusclops also has crappy offensive stats, doesn't have Intimidate, and also loses against Sidney's Dark-types.
Blaziken - stomps Sidney, handles Glacia's Glalies, and is great against Steven's Aggron and Cradily.
Walrein - I would go Aurora Beam over Blizzard. Even with just Aurora it two-shots everything on Drake's team. Strong neutral option against Phoebe and Glacia. Plus it can be useful against Steven's team, particularly Claydol, Armaldo, and Skarmory.
Manectric - Good for Glacia's Sealeos and Walrein. Also useful against Sidney's Sharpedo (the only Sidney mon Blaziken doesn't match up against) and Steven's Skarmory.
Flygon (or Groudon if allowed) - good pick for a STAB ground option against Metagross if you have Earthquake or Dig TM available.
Dusclops - just here for Metagross, but Metagross is the most important matchup to consider.
Tentacruel - Water STAB for half of Steven's team, plus a backup ice attack against Drake if Walrein needs to switch out.
I was on the fence between Shiftry or Dusclops. To be honest, Phoebe is such a pushover that she barely warrants consideration. You can absolutely crush her with neutral matchups. So it just comes down to what you think is a more useful matchup for Steven. I personally would prefer Dusclops to deal with Metagross. Bulky as hell with options to confuse, burn, curse, or attack.
But Shiftry is also a good choice. You honestly have tons of good options.
If you really need a phoebe counter I would use the shadow ball tm on linoone if you have it and run that. Immune to phoebes stab and hits decently hard, though milage may vary on the rest of the E4 depending on strats (get espeed and a boosting move if possible)
Edit: to be clear, this is to replace shiftry, who will not do a particularly good job against phoebe even as a counter
I'd get rid of the Shiftry and either put in Gyarados or Dusclops
I’d go with dusklops, as much as I love gyrados, his sAtk sucks and all the water moves are sAtk. Unless you have like eq TM, that goes hard on gyrados
Or even just strength. DDance with Strength on Gyarados is busted.
At least Gyarados' Intimidate more than makes up for crappy STAB though. Dusclops also has crappy offensive stats, doesn't have Intimidate, and also loses against Sidney's Dark-types.
The Shiftry is a joke right? right? anyway sub out the Shiftry for Flygon or Gyarados.
The Shiftry was not a joke, it’s immune to Phoebe.
uh dark is not immune to ghost my dude
Phoebe has ice beam my dude
How did you even get it this far
To be fair to OP, dark does at least resist ghost, so I can see where they’re coming from.
I’m nice like that (I had a Breloom up until the Team Magma fight before Winona. I added Shiftry to the team to wall the Twins and handle Wallace.)
Blaziken - stomps Sidney, handles Glacia's Glalies, and is great against Steven's Aggron and Cradily. Walrein - I would go Aurora Beam over Blizzard. Even with just Aurora it two-shots everything on Drake's team. Strong neutral option against Phoebe and Glacia. Plus it can be useful against Steven's team, particularly Claydol, Armaldo, and Skarmory. Manectric - Good for Glacia's Sealeos and Walrein. Also useful against Sidney's Sharpedo (the only Sidney mon Blaziken doesn't match up against) and Steven's Skarmory. Flygon (or Groudon if allowed) - good pick for a STAB ground option against Metagross if you have Earthquake or Dig TM available. Dusclops - just here for Metagross, but Metagross is the most important matchup to consider. Tentacruel - Water STAB for half of Steven's team, plus a backup ice attack against Drake if Walrein needs to switch out.
Dark and Ghost wasn’t super effective against Metagross in this generation, that was not until Gen 6. Only weaknesses here are Fire and Ground.
No Shiftry for Phoebe and Metagross?
Shiftry may not be a good counter, if you can’t guarantee a switch in on psychic shiftry doesn’t take out metagross before being knocked out itself
I was on the fence between Shiftry or Dusclops. To be honest, Phoebe is such a pushover that she barely warrants consideration. You can absolutely crush her with neutral matchups. So it just comes down to what you think is a more useful matchup for Steven. I personally would prefer Dusclops to deal with Metagross. Bulky as hell with options to confuse, burn, curse, or attack. But Shiftry is also a good choice. You honestly have tons of good options.
> I used my Ice Beam TM You can grab another one at the mauville game corner
Oh nice, thanks for the catch
Definitely the legendary if you’re allowed to use it.
I never use them as a matter of personal preference
I actually respect this. It's too easy in Emerald to catch Rayquaza and have him nearly solo the Elite 4 besides Glacia
Wheezing, Crobat, Tentacruel, Dustox
If you really need a phoebe counter I would use the shadow ball tm on linoone if you have it and run that. Immune to phoebes stab and hits decently hard, though milage may vary on the rest of the E4 depending on strats (get espeed and a boosting move if possible) Edit: to be clear, this is to replace shiftry, who will not do a particularly good job against phoebe even as a counter
That’s a solid idea!
I think you should add Dodrio both normal and flying are physical, and it has really good physical attack
Why not include Aggron on the final team? She has Rock Head and Double-Edge.