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(this was just counted by me, pls don't yell if I'm off by 1 somewhere)(order within each tier is essentially random)
Garchomp 15
Gyarados 14
Steelix 9
The top entries are all fairly obvious, with Gyarados and Garchomp essentially being mandatory, and Steelix not far behind them. Rampardos-Drapion is the next section, with 7 mons that are all arguably dragon-like, but nothing certain enough to be on 50% of the teams.
Then there's the 2 vote and 1 vote picks, which are clearly desperation and filling type coverage. But at the same time, there's definitely logic to them. Most of these I don't think would fly for a Dragon team leader(including my Starraptor) without the fandom making jokes, but if you saw them on a Dragon Tamer or Dragon Evil Team's grunt you probably would just go "Oh, okay" and move on.
It's interesting, I never DP'd so I didn't really realize how tough this would be. And then I looked at the dex and despaired. But after all is said and done, I'd argue all of the top 10 are reasonable Dragon choices, it's just a matter of figuring out how to fit them together.
*I think if someone had picked Gabite earlier, it'd be here a lot more often. Plenty of people(including me) avoided pre-evos until MisterDarvus picked it, and then it showed up on 3 of the remaining 4 teams.
Then there's the 2 vote and 1 vote picks, which are clearly desperation and filling type coverage. But at the same time, there's definitely logic to them. Most of these I don't think would fly for a Dragon team leader(including my Starraptor) without the fandom making jokes, but if you saw them on a Dragon Tamer or Dragon Evil Team's grunt you probably would just go "Oh, okay" and move on.
As I've probably noted on other threads in the past, there is also heavy precedent for bosses using each other's signature Pokemon, even within the same game. Off the top of my head:
RBYFRLG: Bruno's Onix, Blue's Alakazam and Arcanine GSCHGSS: Falkner/Blue's Pidgeot, Karen's Gengar, Clair's Dragonite RSEORAS: Drake uses Aarune, Winona, Juan, and Zinnia's aces DPPBDSP: Cynthia's Roserade and Lucario, Barry's Floatzel and Roserade BWB2W2: Iris' Hydreigon, Ghetsis' Bisharp, Alder's Chandelure and Conkeldurr (Iris and Drayden also obviously share Haxorus as an ace) XY: Diantha's Hawlucha, Tyrantrum, and Aurorus
I'll grant you it's not a hard rule, but I'll also note a lot of these above are exceptions. Let me point out that you don't see:
Gen I: Brock using Rhyhorn line, Misty using Lapras, Koga using Vileplume, Sabrina using Starmie, Giovanni using Onix Gen II: Falkner using Natu line, Bugsy using Venonat line, Chuck using Machop line, Pryce using Lapras, Will using Alakazam Gen III: Roxanne using Solrock or Lunatone, Tate & Lisa using Beldum line, Wallace using Walrein, Juan using Milotic or Walrein Gen IV: Roark using Bastiodon, Byron using Lucario, Bertha using Gible line Gen V: Cress using Swanna or Jellicent, Burgh using Larvesta line, Marlon using Simipour (infact even in the World Tournament they use all different Water-types); Note Burgh's team lost Whirlipede when it became Roxie's Signature Gen VI: Wulfric using Aurorus, Drasna using Tyrantrum Gen VIII: Bede using Alcremie, Gordie using Drednaw, Marnie using Obstagoon, Raihan using Applin line, Klara using Gengar, Avery using Hatterene
Going into the exceptions:
Note in general Gen I & II are odd. Bruno/Onix: An odd case as Bruno COULD have had a team of all (five) different Fighting-types had he used Primeape and Pilowrath. So, why Onix, let alone two of them? Especially when you just came out of a cave full of them. Well, maybe that's the point. Bruno is meant to be a martial arts expert and constantly training, and where else better to train than in Victory Road. He doesn't use Primeape nor Poliwrath as they don't strictly represent a form of martial arts as the Hitmons and Machamp do. As for Onix, they're presented as big strong Pokemon and, being Rock-types, ideal to train Fighting-types against. I could see the two Onix he has being just two Onix which actually gave a strong fight and decided to add them to his team; with them knowing Rock Throw they're useful against Flying-types. And this could show how different of a mindset the Gym Leaders & Elite Four have: Brock's Onix was the first major boss you faced, meant to show both intimidation but also fantastical. Now, this Elite Four member is just using them as filler for his team. G1 Blue: Also being the Rival, and one meant to be a Pokemon raising expert, Blue side-steps this rule. If they're strong Pokemon, he'll use them. Falkner/G2 Blue: Note that a gimmick with the Johto Gym Leaders is that they used the Types which the Kanto Gym Leaders didn't use. This is important to note as it means GF weren't really prepared to make bosses for those Types. And with Gen II being treated as a sequel to Gen I, GF saw using the Gen I Pokemon they didn't highlight before as fair game. Yes, Pidgeot was on Blue's team, but not as a prominent member (at least not until HGSS where it was made his ace; maybe because Falkner technically didn't use a Pidgeot until post game rematches in HGSS). Blue originally had a Pidgeot because it was just a consistent Pokemon he had for all Rival battles in Gen I. Them taking away Blue's Starter really messed with GF on figuring which of Blue's Pokemon was now his "ace". Gen II tried having a trio idea with Exeggutor, Gyarados, and Arcanine, but by HGSS they changed their mind on that. As for Falkner, you may wonder why he didn't use the Hoothoot line or another fierce bird like Fearow or Dodrio, but being he's based on a falconer they wanted a Pokemon as close to a falcon they had ("Why didn't they make a more falcon-y Pokemon than"? From what I understand Gen II's development had issues (remember Iwata had to come in and compress Johto to fit in the Kanto we got in Gen II, before Kanto was just going to be one large "city") so wouldn't surprise me if the development of the new Pokemon and Gym Leaders were done separately (heck, STILL feels like that)). Karen/Gengar: Looking at the Dark-types available she also could have a five member team; she's just missing Sneasel and Tyranitar. However, with how the Elite Four was handled previously, I think GF wanted to sort of "replicate" that feeling by not strictly limiting the Elite Four to their Type but the "theme" of the member. Karen says she loves Dark-types not necessarily for the Type itself but what the Type represents, a malicious & pragmatic enjoyers of night. In that regard, Gengar makes sense as its powerful, malevolent, & nocturnal Pokemon with plenty of tricks up its sleeve; Vileplume is odd as it seems to have a connection to the night/moon but there's nothing in any of its Dex entries hinting at it. Honestly, I would say it's not Karen who's the oddity but Morty. He's stuck with the Ghost-type in a game where there's only two Ghost-type families with the new one introduced is apparently considered post game content so isn't allowed to have it, and he's than assigned to be the 4th Gym Leader which is when battles are supposed to start getting harder! Clair/Dragoonite: Clair is in a similar boat as Morty, though at the very least she was given the new Dragon-type as her ace. Her & Lance being cousins from a clan of Dragon tamers also provides a good enough explanation why they both use the Dratini line. Drake: For Aarune and Zinnia they were not only introduced in ORAS so hard to say he's using their aces, but also they're not Gym Leaders. As for Drake using an Altaria, well what can I say but Dragon-types. At the very least Altaria isn't also Drake's ace. Similar to the Onix case above, a powerful Pokemon which was the ace of a Gym Leader is shown to be just another team member in an Elite Four's team. Infact Drake chooses to have two Flygons in RS instead of two Altaria, he chooses to have a Shelgon instead of a second Altaria; as if saying to Altaria "if I had the options you probably wouldn't be on the team". Cynthia: Champion gonna Champion, Cynthia has no Type preference therefore uses strong Pokemon that fill out her team nicely. As I noted, you don't see Bertha using a Gabite. Barry: Rival and not even one that becomes Champion. Barry only uses a Buizel if he didn't choose Piplup, its his Water replacement (and considering he starts considering Crasher Wake as his mentor is funnier in hindsight). Huh, didn't realize how popular Roserade was, seems like in Gen IV was used almost as much as Lucario. Iris & Ghetsis: Ghetsis isn't a Gym Leader. And Iris is a Dragon-type trainer in a region where they didn't really bring back any of the older dragons. Alder: Alder gains those Pokemon when he's no longer a Champion. With Marshal being a disciple of Alder, you could take Alder adding a Conkeldurr to his BW2 teams as it being a gift from Marshal upon his retirement. Also his PWT team is supposed to represent the Unova Elite Four who don't participate in it. Diantha: As well as being a Champion (gonna Champion), they could consider Fossil Pokemon a special case (if you don't battle Grant in the Chateau than Diantha would be the first time you'd battle them, important detail for Dex completion). Hawlucha is an odd case as you could argue that Lucario is more of an ace to Korrina.
Anyway, onto the voting round! Before I mention my choice, would like to mention the idea to include Gabite isn't a bad idea at all (even if I hadn't restricted myself don't know if I would have thought of it). It's easy to overlook the mid evos of the Pseudo since their final stage caste a BIG overshadow, but the mid evos hold their own quite well (same for the mid evos for the Trade Evos, though that's a topic for another time/place). Gabite is certainly no exception, while it's not winning any competitions there are plenty of final stage early game mons who would kill to have Gabite's stats (AND it can still hold an Eviolite to boot!).
Going off that above thought with Gabite, my vote is for misterdarvus. Because of all the teams here, theirs is the first team I saw which made me go "oh, yeah, that's definitely a dragon team". The inclusion of not only Gabite helps fill out the Dragon quota, but the inclusion of also Onix was a smart inclusion. Sure, Onix isn't considered that top of a Pokemon anymore, especially with its evolution around, but Onix was still a standalone Pokemon at one point with the stats (mostly) to match. Just give it a Eviolite like Brock usually does and it'll at least stick around for one turn... if its attacked on the Physical side... and it's not a Water- or Grass-type move...
I did think of Gabite, but decided against it because it would only feel like a lesser echo of the Garchomp; the only clever thing I could think of was it setting up Sandstorm in advance. It just signals 'this is filler' to the player, same as the many late-game Onix in early gens. I wanted each Pokemon to make a statement on its own merits.
~2 hours to go and we currently have a tie! I was thinking it'd be a two-horse race but three people are tied for first place... interesting to see how it's shaken out.
That might change soon, but I'll cast the deciding vote if no winner emerges.
I'm pretty interested in where we go from here because honestly there's not that many types in that many games that are this hostile.
Although, comically, Sinnoh just never gets over its Dragon problems. Platinum? Just adds Altaria. BDSP has the Underground...but also only adds Altaria pre-nat dex. Hisui? No Altaria, only Goodra.
I'm pretty interested in where we go from here because honestly there's not that many types in that many games that are this hostile.
Although, comically, Sinnoh just never gets over its Dragon problems. Platinum? Just adds Altaria. BDSP has the Underground...but also only adds Altaria pre-nat dex. Hisui? No Altaria, only Goodra.
You might be surprised. I've got a list of potential candidates for future rounds. The next one will likely be a bit easier than this. Wanted to start off tough.
Even when there are, say, 4 or 5 Pokemon that match a type specialty, it's interesting to ask what the remaining one or two should be. Ironically I think that when you have one space open and lots of potential choices you have to really argue the case for that one extra mon, vs having a few team spaces open and having to be more lax about what qualifies.
Alright our in-dex poisons are Scolipede, Garbodor, Amoonguss so at least we're off to a better start than before.
Obviously those will be my first 3. You're a poison trainer, have the three Poison types. Hell you could have had a Poison gym leader in BW1 with these since those only had 3 Pokemon.
For Number 4 I'm going to grab Zoroark:
-Illusion meshes well with Poison; you get to lure in a Psychic and strike
-I think Dark Types in general mesh well with Poison type; they're both meant to be sneaky & a little under handed. They're also now the same type in the TCG (though in the gen 5-7 era I think they were Psychic (because purple) and prior to that I think they were Grass)).
-You also see a lot of darks & poisons lumped as the "evil team type" so we got stuff going on there
-Zoroark also has a bug move and a grass move so it can kind of keep the disguse that its Scolipede or Amoonguss pretty well. I Thought it got Sludge Bomb but I guess not. Still that's fine.
For Number 5...Seismitoad:
-The dex entries mention paralyzing fluid, likely referencing toxicity in frog/toad skins. Very much in Poison's wheel house.
-Lives in swamps and stuff, and that goes hand in hand with poison too.
-It also gets a variety of poison moves! Acid by level up, Sludge Wave, Poison Jab, Sludge Bomb, Venoshock...
-As an added bonus, Seismitoad EX used to partner with Garbotoxic Garbodor for nasty control decks if I'm remember my time in the gen 5 TCG meta properly
Number 6 would be easy to go with another swamp dweller or dark type, for similar reason to above, but I think i'd be remiss not to go with something like Cofagrigus
-Ghost types also have a strong connotation with Poison. Agatha (in)famously used Poison types to round out her team, Gengar was part poison, they got lumped together in the TCG at one point and so forth. Like Dark types they're pretty sneaky and Poison and Death have good connotations together
-Now, I chose Cofagrigus specifically because I think of the Unovan ghost types it fits in reall well! When I think Poison type, I often think of bulky Pokemon that annoy you. And is that not Cofagrigus? A big bulky chunk of stats design to wear you down. Hex plays well with the Poison typing throwing that around, but it also brings Wil o Wisp, Haze, Disable, Curse, Grudge and so on and so forth. Not to mention Mummy!
-If we want to get cute, there's like...a throughline of gold and alchemy and poison and all that
Not too complicated.
Scolipede, Amoongus, and Garbodor are all actual poison types. Jellicent is based on a poisonous animal and Scrafty's dex entry describes it as spitting poisonous liquid, and they both learn poison moves by TM.
Beartic is mostly because it and it's pre-evolution are gross and I hate them. There's plenty of other stuff I could have picked, but you ask me for a team of mons that are deadly to the touch, the snot bears are high on that list.
Strategy is fairly simple. Toxic Spikes on Scolipede, Protect on everything. Many of them have Toxic(Amoongus has Spore instead) in case the player uses an Antidote. I'm not saying no attacking moves, most things will run Venoshock and/or their STABs(Jellicent gets Hex and Brine), but Curse, Leech Seed, Swagger, and similar are all used to make the player hate every second of this fight in the fine tradition of Poison bosses.
Not too complicated.
Scolipede, Amoongus, and Garbodor are all actual poison types. Jellicent is based on a poisonous animal and Scrafty's dex entry describes it as spitting poisonous liquid, and they both learn poison moves by TM.
Beartic is mostly because it and it's pre-evolution are gross and I hate them. There's plenty of other stuff I could have picked, but you ask me for a team of mons that are deadly to the touch, the snot bears are high on that list.
Strategy is fairly simple. Toxic Spikes on Scolipede, Protect on everything. Many of them have Toxic(Amoongus has Spore instead) in case the player uses an Antidote. I'm not saying no attacking moves, most things will run Venoshock and/or their STABs(Jellicent gets Hex and Brine), but Curse, Leech Seed, Swagger, and similar are all used to make the player hate every second of this fight in the fine tradition of Poison bosses.
Dammit, when I saw Beartic I was like "aHA it's because bear livers are poisonous, very clever" and nah it's just... because they're snotty and gross. Well played, well played.
Just found out about this and it's a fun "what if experiment" so I wanted to pitch in
Thankfully we start with 3 Poison types, so we don't have to dabble in the pre-evo territory; the next three are correlated to three different themes (somewhat overlapping); status spreading, Poison being associated with Dark in it's infancy for the common "evil" theme behind both, and a Pokémon that might even be Poison by proxy at this point;
- Stunfisk: this is in my opinion the Pokémon that gets closer to what Poison represented back then in the Gen2 games WHILE being true to the current team; it's a land fish, found mostly in murky or muddy waters, and has a particular affinity to filling your field with hazards and paralyzing you through contact, thanks to Static; it's also known as the Trap Pokémon, which is pretty spot-on with what the Poison type represents;
- Accelgor: lives in swamps, learns A LOT of Poison-type moves (including Toxic Spikes by TR and Toxic by level, which is a luxury not many Pokémon have) has a typing commonly associated with Poison back in the day, it resembles ninjas, which both Koga and Janine were in the Kanto and Johto games... yeah, honestly he's just a perfect fit, nothing to say here;
- Zoroark ties more into the affinity Dark and Poison shared back in the earlier generations and still share today; foul play and trickery are things that all Poison and Dark users tend to preach, and what's better than a Pokémon that can disguise itself?
Garbodor is chosen as the designated lead because my man can click the funny BOOM move, but the lead can be Zoroark or Accelgor too! Scolipede is chosen as the ace since he can just clean up the mess that the other compatriots did, with the plentiness of status moves and hazards we have here (Stealth Rock from Stunfisk, Spikes and Toxic Spikes from half the team, Thunder Wave, Stun Spore, Spore)... and would make a great Roxie callback (or prelude? since we're technically 2 years prior...) anyway
Also all of them have at least one non-Toxic Poison-type move! (all of them CAN learn Sludge Bomb, which would be fine as a TM to give out as a prize!)
Honorable mentions:
- Seismitoad: honestly can even substitute every non-Poison type here as it represents Poison directly better due to being a frog, which can be poisonous, although I feel Stunfisk represents the theme slightly better; same deal as Accelgor though, at least on where it's found
- Liepard: same deal as Zoroark, but with the Stunfisk approach
- Eelektross: even if electrified, it's still a snake, and it proves it with Coil and a plethora of other moves
- Reuniclus: Psychic is also a typing with affinities with Poison, albeit TCG only, so it's more of a stretch, but its unique blob-like appearance combined with moves such as Acid Armor works for me
- Chandelure (idt Cofagrigus fits): this is pretty much Agatha copium, but also learns Smog and Sludge Bomb while being tied in the mysterious and indirect style of combat Ghost, Poison and Dark represented at one point (although Ghost kinda deviated from it, in my opinion)
First thing: just by the nature of this exercise, I feel like I can't possibly justify leaving out any of the three actual Poison-types that are in the dex - if the options exist, and using all three of them still leaves half of a team wide open for creative picks, there's no way I'm intentionally leaving any of them out!
That means Scolipede, Garbodor and Amoonguss are all guaranteed locks by default. I have been beaten by a lot of people but I'm glad we're all on the same page about that P:
That aside, Gen V actually has a multitude of clear themed options for the Poison type, and it made it hard to narrow down which ones I even wanted, rather than hard to find anything good enough!
The first non-Poison-type I absolutely knew I wanted to include was Reuniclus.
- For one thing: Poison is the rarest type among fully-evolved Pokémon in the BW dex, but it's also the only type that didn't see a new type combination introduced in BW (uh, at least if you're willing to stretch by counting Tornadus's pure Flying in spite of Arceus, but I kinda do).
Between that and the sheer quantity of pure Psychic-type lines introduced at once (four of them!), I always felt there was a case to be made that Reuniclus could have been the first Psychic/Poison to begin with.
Beyond its charmingly gooey appearance, it definitely would have been a neat twist on its existing playing style (since it normally has to pick between Magic Guard and Regenerator, and it often leans Magic Guard specifically because of poison... well, no need for that if you're immune by type, right?).
To be clear, I don't believe it should be retyped, and - if anything - it's endlessly funny to me that we finally got two Poison/Psychic-types in Gen VIII and they both actually had Regenerator to begin with, so I really can't complain!
Still, that notion that Reuniclus might have been a perfect addition to BW's selection of Poison-types to begin with has always existed in the back of my mind, so I thought it would be cute to put on this team.
- More importantly, canon flavor:
It's said that drinking the liquid surrounding Reuniclus grants wisdom. Problem is, the liquid is highly toxic to anything besides Reuniclus itself. (Shield)
so it's constantly surrounded in a toxic liquid and is uniquely able to reap the benefits of it!
- Uh, also it uses Acid Armor (a Poison-type move) all the time competitively, even if that's like the most toxic thing it can do and I hate Stored Power actually--
Next up, I wanted an Acid Spray representative (a Gen V Poison move, but also one of my favorite moves of all time!!), and there are several really good ones in Gen V that I found it hard to pick between.
Ultimately, I went with Accelgor because I like a lot of what it adds to the team!
- First, some flavor:
When its body dries out, it weakens. So it wraps a membrane around itself for protection while it spits poison. (B2W2)
It moves with blinding speed and lobs poison at foes. Featuring Accelgor as a main character is a surefire way to make a movie or comic popular. (Sword)
Plus it's a ninja (which are associated with Poison-types in many games - obviously Koga and Janine's family, Sneasler, and I swear some characters from Conquest too), and it has a natural rivalry with a Steel-type, Escavalier. I thought it was neat!
- At the same time, I really like what it adds to the team!
As a superfast Bug-type, it can help a lot with opposing Psychic-types for the benefit of its Poison-type teammates,
but it can also potentially run moves like Toxic Spikes, Venoshock and Sludge Bomb as well as the aforementioned Acid Spray, capitalizing on the switch pressure its own SpD drops create and leaning much harder into the poison theme in ways that its allies can also appreciate.
Acid Spray also has a cool bit of synergy with Future Sight if Reuniclus runs it - Dark-types that are immune to Future Sight can't afford to risk coming in on its Bug STAB anyway, while Acid Spray can double the damage something takes from a Future Sight in the same turn, making it much harder to find something to take the move.
Admittedly, I would really have liked something sturdier that could use its Ground resistance too, but... Krookodile is weak to Bug anyway, and Excadrill's Mold Breaker invalidates other obvious options like Eelektross, so I figured this was the best option regardless.
I'll probably get to more specific sets later in the post, but at least when it comes to taking stock of options, this leaves a lot of them open!
Lastly, of course we have to have Seismitoad - come on, it's the most explicitly Poison-coded of them all!
- For one thing, it debuted one of the coolest new poison Abilities from Gen V in Poison Touch, and its dex entries have always referred to using poison in battle as well.
They shoot paralyzing liquid from their head bumps. They use vibration to hurt their opponents. (Black)
- For another, though, the dex suggests that they're related to the Croagunk line, or at least that we're meant to take note of the similarity and that they're compared in-world as well!
The vibrating of the bumps all over its body causes earthquake-like tremors. Seismitoad and Croagunk are similar species. (Sword)
- I think Seismitoad can do a lot to help the team against its growing Fire and Flying weaknesses, with how many Bug- and Grass-types there are now (seems like those are more of a concern than Poison's actual shared weaknesses at this point :'D); it has always been able to run strong Ice coverage to go with its Water and Ground STABs, after all. And hey, it even gets Venom Drench if I want it...? Tempting - that move can be very funny if you're committing this hard to spreading poison anyway...
somehow I find the faded red/green/blue aesthetic of these as a set to be strangely cohesive...
With my choices of species narrowed down, I still wanted to do actual sets, so here!
I decided I would do (very basic) EV spreads because sue me but I actually like the effect that has in-game - Gen VII did it and BDSP did it and both felt great, and it makes it so suboptimal meme sets can put in work!
That said, these are also clearly not fully-competitive sets and they all have their own gimmicks, and the top priority was giving them stats that would theoretically help them to pull those off against a casual player's team (for instance: prioritizing bulk on all members to prevent one-hit KOs from trivializing them; not worrying about Speed on Pokémon that can raise it anyway, since they have plenty of room to outpace less-invested Pokémon on the player's team as they are) - not to make them a threat against an equally-invested team that takes itself completely seriously.
This can really easily scare out Psychic-types that threaten much of the rest of the team, but I also really wanted it to have U-turn, because it's functioning both as a lead with Toxic Spikes and as something that can play off of a lot of other team members in the match.
Acid Spray is THE MOST FUN Poison move and I love it with my entire heart
and later in the match, it can complement Reuniclus's Future Sight, threatening Dark-type switch-ins and doubling the damage most other Pokémon take,
while early in the game, the boss can switch straight from Accelgor to.......
Rocky Helmet Weak Armor is my favorite ever... it's extremely silly, and you can be baited into activating both at once by the frailer Accelgor's U-turn.
Gunk Shot is a strong attack that spreads poison, but Stomping Tantrum directly punishes Steel-types switching in to nullify it, and maybe you'll be faster than them if you got a Weak Armor off!
When it's done, it can use Explosion!!!
I love Garbodor
The Red Card is just for fun - it combines with Future Sight to keep the player switching out, takes advantage of the hazards set by the first two members, and can frustrate the player by potentially bringing in a physical attacker that can't deal with Acid Armor or a Pokémon that they were saving for another member. Reuniclus can pivot more easily with Regenerator!
Acid Armor is kinda mandatory because it's the Poison move I used to justify Reuniclus, but this is an in-game boss and I refuse to subject anyone to the full Stored Power "demon set." Instead, it can alternate between something that "sits there" and something that pivots depending on what's in front of it, both of which can force the player to sustain gradual chip from hazards and poison.
Note that Amoonguss can only use Spore if the target is not poisoned, but this is expected to be the case for non-grounded Pokémon, Steel-types, and opposing Poison-types, which are all threats worth targeting for this team. There is no sleep clause in-game so I don't want it to Spore literally everything okay P:
The Coba Berry helps with Flying-types specifically, and switching into a Pokémon that is vulnerable to Toxic Spikes to block being Spored will make Stomping Tantrum twice as effective next turn!
Meanwhile, Venoshock is for the targets that already are poisoned. It's a super iconic Gen V move and I wanted something to have it!
Having two Regen users together is a very rude and very Poison-type thing to do and can, again, be funny with the hazard-stack from the first two members, but they don't really form an effective pivoting core with each other so it's not likely to be hard to surmount; they won't really be going back and forth to each other in both directions, but they do both have sets that are easy to force out individually so I bet it could at least activate once or twice in a match for each of them. Always fun!
I mentioned this earlier, but the team was getting really weak to Fire and Flying, so I wanted coverage for both types here. It also goes without saying that players will instinctively bring Ground-types to a Poison boss, so I like Seismitoad being a Water-type that can react to those, too! and basically all of its teammates cover its Grass weakness ashdjffk I'm not worried about that
All of its attacking moves make contact because the most Poison-type thing about Seismitoad is Poison Touch! Who needs Earthquake anyway
I put Venom Drench here after all because surely most of the player's team will be poisoned this late in the fight and because it has a fail condition and is therefore Yet Another Excuse to force something to run Stomping Tantrum (my beloved)
Scolipede @ Uhhhhh
Oh.
Right. I have been putting this off
so Scolipede is a really cool Pokémon and I like it a lot!!!!
b...but also all of the things it does competitively are, like, horrifying?
I'm not putting a Swords Dance Speed Boost user on an in-game boss
I'm also not putting a Baton Pass user on an in-game boss
Sorry buddy but we need this to be actually fun
Scolipede @ Metronome
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk
Ability: Speed Boost
- Poison Jab
- Defense Curl
- Rollout
- Stomping Tantrum (for when Rollout misses) (also for Steel-types, but mostly Rollout)
aww yeah that's it (sunglasses emoji)
... okay, so I'm just having fun,
but in-game bosses should be fun, alright??
if you can't appreciate the beauty of the scariest-looking and final Pokémon on the team being a comedic anticlimax, I literally don't know what to tell you but this is perfection right here
This quixotic crew is the League of Sussy Imposters Non Grata, LOSING for short. Poison with a Gen1 flavor and modern firepower, it eschews Poison-type attacks for status, setup, and dangerous switching, which open up the Schrodinger's Sweeper of Zoroark/Chandelure to obliterate the opponent. Poison-types are obviously few, especially since I found no place for Garbodor to shine with this battle plan, so I replicated part of Poison's spirit–tricky, indirect, and drawn-out maneuvering with sneaky, vicious, and all-around subversive allies of other types.
Prepare to look brilliant or die horribly, using Scolipede to get the status started + a near-kill with Endeavor or a Speed Baton Pass to a wallbreaker, hopefully. Next, use Illusion to put your opponent on the hot seat, guessing whether a STAB 135BP Hex or STAB Knock Off faces them. Chandelure, besides taking a cue from Agatha's blending of Ghost and Poison, uses its unassuming chandelier nature, general mean-spiritedness, and acrid smog to fit right in. Zoroark, for its part, is perfectly underhanded and makes the team's strategics sing with Illusion. If opponent's defense seems too stiff, send in the slimiest and most toxic one of them all. Gothitelle will obliterate defensive Pokemon and, with slight modifications to That Set, threaten to sweep afterward with maxed defenses and Stored Power! Amoonguss gives a semblance of defensive backbone for yourself, and a small infusion of extra power gives a trick up its sleeve before it burns too much momentum. Ninja and more literal slimeball Accelgor provides a versatile revenge killer with its coverage for Steel- and Rock-types, pivoting, and backup Toxic Spikes. If a Defogger undoes Scolipede's work, Gothitelle can always come in to make sure that doesn't happen again :)
Man, I'm sad I didn't see this thread before! I definitely wouldn't have won the last round, on balance I think I would have gone with Garchomp / Gyarados / Machamp / Chimecho / Whiscash / Medicham. So I mean, I would have lost, but hey it's a fun exercise nonetheless
As for the BW Poison-Type trainer, let's give it a whirl!
Our existing Poison-Type trio. Something that I like about this trio is that Scolipede is a woodland creature, Garbodor is a city-dweller, and Amoonguss is a mushroom which grows literally everywhere. I kind of wanted to continue this theme, by having a wide array of biomes represented on the team, as a reminder that poisonous and toxic things are all-pervasive and you're never truly safe.
The first decision I had to make was between Seismitoad and . As you can tell, I opted for Jellicent, partly because it better fits the theme (toads are also woodland creatures, like Scolipede, whereas jellyfish live in the ocean). I also think it's good to have more representation for the venomous side of the Poison-Type, considering the only example of that on the starting roster of the Poison-Type is Scolipede. And y'know, being venomous is cooler than only using your type when being eaten. The vast majority of jellyfish are venomous and that is how they hunt prey. Jellicent has historically learned various Poison-Type moves, in recent gens learning some by level-up like Poison Sting and Acid Armour (which it had in gen 5 just via breeding), and has had moves like Sludge Bomb and Wave from the start. It's also a bit of a callback to Ghost-Type's early days where it was closely linked to the Poison-Type.
The next Pokémon I went with is . Cactus allergy is quite a common one, though it slowly takes place over long periods of proximity to them. Additionally, cactus spine pricks can be serious and lead to large rashes or even tetanus. Maractus has learned Poison Jab from the start, possibly as somewhat of an allusion to this fact. It fits the various biomes, being a desert-dweller, too. Maractus is specifically based on a prickly pear, some variants of which secrete a milky sap that is on the watchlist for determining how poisonous it is. Furthermore, its juice and pulp are historically used medicinally, which the Poison-Type has connection to in its own right through moves such as Purify and Clear Smog. Finally, it's somewhat of an allusion to the Mexican flag, where the eagle eats the snake (poison!) surrounded by prickly pears.
The final Pokémon I had to decide between was Eelektross or , but upon further research I realised that eels aren't poisonous or venomous (despite Eelektross learning and using Acid Spray!) so I went with Galvantula instead. Tarantulas, it may not surprise you to learn, are venomous. It fits the multi-biome thing because Galvantula and Joltik are only encountered in or near caves (until SwSh which basically had no caves lol), but also spiders can live anywhere they just set up shop wherever they please. The main holdup is that Galvantula only learns physical Poison-Type attacks and Gastro Acid this gen, but Galvantula's attack is not that low so I think it'll work just fine.
Maractus and Garbodor aim to set up Toxic Spikes and Spikes between them, and then the remainder of the team aim to punch holes and sweep through their various means. I built it in the gen 5 teambuilder, which means no Speed Boost Scolipede. It did make me realise Amoonguss has Defence Curl and Rollout though, and you know we've gotta use that on a gym leader's team if given the chance. Ironically, Amoonguss is the only member of the team without a Poison-Type move, while being a Poison-Type. Also, while Galvantula does use Poison Jab, I wanted a wide distribution of moves so went with Cross Poison instead. The only Poison-Type move used multiple times here is Poison Jab on both Scolipede and Maractus!
Edit: RIP I thought I was the first to come up with Jellicent because the Jellicent before me was hidden in a spoiler. I'm sad now
This is definitely turning into a solid mix of choices. With Sinnoh!Dragon, there was a lot of desperation picks by people trying to fill the last slot. Here, everything listed is something that makes a lot of sense for Poison. (I don't agree with all of them, but they at least hold water.) It makes things interesting.
Help, I cannot stop using NFE as a crutch. But it justified since BW introduce Eviolite, this will demonstrate the item.
Now that 4 poison types included, the rest of the team are: of course its a honorary poison type, poison point and all is just my wild card. Found out it doesn't learn many poison type moves but whatever, it just a filler.
So I recognize that this isn't what the thread is about, but a bit of context to help explain my team choices - I'm approaching this from an angle of the Poison specialist working in sanitation, to give a very different vibe from Roxie in B2W2. This is important just for establishing the overall theme of the team!
The three Poison types - Scolipede, Amoongus, and Garbodor - are givens. From all of these, I wanted Garbodor to be the ace for two reasons - A. because Roxie already uses the Scolipede line as her ace, and B. Garbodor is the most obvious fit for someone who's in charge of cleaning up garbage.
From there, the other 'mons are selected based on how well they aesthetically fit this concept and how well they serve the team itself.
Seismitoad
is a natural choice. Its Water type allows it to counter Ground types that otherwise threaten Poison types, and its HA Water Absorb makes it an excellent choice if you're cleaning a sewer or public restroom as a sanitation worker in the Pokemon world. It also gets quite a few Poison TMs and learns Acid by level-up, so it slots in nicely with the other Poison types here.
Klinklang
is a work of machinery come to life, helping to automate the process of keeping Unova's streets clean. Being a Steel type means it isn't affected by any substance, no matter how toxic it may be. It also helps that it resists Psychic, acting as a check (if not a counter) and strengthening the team.
Cincinno
is here because it's a Pokemon that's just naturally clean, covered in a special oil that keeps itself clean and not letting a speck of dirt cover it. Such a naturally clean Pokemon makes for a nice visual contrast to the other Poison types, and its oil gives it utility for the Gym Leader's profession. Seismitoad and Klinklang already cover Poison's two weaknesses, so I don't think we need another 'mon that's very high in synergy.
I made many teams for the battle Subway a long time ago. Few of them were any good, all I knew is that there wasn't any grinding for levels or TMs. This takes me back to one of them, a pair I haven't thought about in years but might well need to get included if I expand my milestones team. This was where I first used hazards.
Garbodor @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Weak Armor
- Toxic Spikes
- Venoshock
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast
Look at that level 7 Toxic spikes.
Chandelure @ Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body
- Hex
- Flamethrower
- Energy Ball
- Flame Charge
Has to be Chandelure for the primary Hex user for me. This was the partner to Trubbish way back then (Thought it looked better than its evolution, remember no knowledge of base stats yet). If you're looking for official support, Chandelure carries over a Hex gameplan to Pokken. Extra flame charge to threaten a full sweep.
Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Effect Spore
- Clear Smog
- Foul Play
- Giga Drain
- Toxic
While the mons might be lacking for gen 5 poison, the moves certainly aren't, and I felt I needed to include Clear Smog somewhere.
Scolipede @ Focus Sash
Ability: Poison Point
- Spikes
- X-Scissor
- Endeavor
- Earthquake
I can't feel I can justify baton pass tricks here when it doesn't have Speed Boost in gen 5. So I ran Spikes instead, because I'm drunk with power. You guys are lucky the Sticky Web is a gen 6 move.
Jellicent @ Lum Berry
Ability: Cursed Body
- Toxic
- Brine
- Recover
- Hex
A secondary theme I noticed, besides the hazards I keep putting in, is a high number of Abilities that discourage attacking directly, almost nudging the opponent into the same passive damage-oriented playstyle as this team. Cofagrigus could also have managed here, but I chose Jellicent instead for a couple reasons. Firstly, it's based on a venomous animal, and with a lot of gen 5 mons having similar ecology to gen 1 mons the jellyfish draws a lot of comparison to an actual Poison-type in Tentacruel. Secondly, I thought it would be fun to include Brine as another finisher to a weakened mon among the Venoshocks and Hexes.
Druddigon @ Leftovers
Ability: Rough Skin
- Dragon Tail
- Stealth Rock
- Gunk Shot
- Taunt
This goes deeper than just having Stealth Rock, I promise. I was actually searching for a Gunk Shot user first, since it's the highest-power Poison move in gen 5. Wyverns are often depicted with stinger tails, and while Druddigon is still two limbs over budget, none of the other available dragons do a better job. The hazard focus means that Dragon Tail as the STAB should work mechanically as well as a nod to those stingers. Rough skin plays into the 'don't touch me' aspect, as well.
This is definitely turning into a solid mix of choices. With Sinnoh!Dragon, there was a lot of desperation picks by people trying to fill the last slot. Here, everything listed is something that makes a lot of sense for Poison. (I don't agree with all of them, but they at least hold water.) It makes things interesting.
All 3 fully-evolved Poison-types introduced in Gen 5.
Has access to a variety of Poison-type attacks, and can have Poison Touch as an Ability.
Can learn Coil and Acid Spray in SV (although it probably wouldn't use both simultaneously).
Can learn Toxic through level-up in SwSh.
All of the latter 3 can also provide coverage against types that the former 3 struggle against; Seismitoad for Fire-types, Eelektross for Flying-types, and Mandibuzz for Psychic- and Ground-types.
This ended up being difficult because I actually had a few good ideas, but ultimately I marrowed it down. We can start with our resident Poison types
Garbodor
Scolipede
Amoongus
Now we spread the search. One of the firstthings to come to mind was Koga’s gym. Poison in Pokemon has a history of being associated with ninjas, which brought me to
Accelgor
and what is a ninja without a trap
Stunfisk
and finally he should use his summoning jutsu for his toad familiar (and toads are poisonous too)
Seismitoad
Now to make a nice synergy out of them using polemons favorite in game clause: Item clause.
Scolipede, 
Garbodor and 
Amoonguss are all guaranteed locks by default. 
Reuniclus.
Accelgor because I like a lot of what it adds to the team!
Seismitoad - come on, it's the most explicitly Poison-coded of them all!
. As you can tell, I opted for Jellicent, partly because it better fits the theme (toads are also woodland creatures, like Scolipede, whereas jellyfish live in the ocean). I also think it's good to have more representation for the venomous side of the Poison-Type, considering the only example of that on the starting roster of the Poison-Type is Scolipede. And y'know, being venomous is cooler than only using your type when being eaten. The vast majority of jellyfish are venomous and that is how they hunt prey. Jellicent has historically learned various Poison-Type moves, in recent gens learning some by level-up like Poison Sting and Acid Armour (which it had in gen 5 just via breeding), and has had moves like Sludge Bomb and Wave from the start. It's also a bit of a callback to Ghost-Type's early days where it was closely linked to the Poison-Type.
. Cactus allergy is quite a common one, though it slowly takes place over long periods of proximity to them. Additionally, cactus spine pricks can be serious and lead to large rashes or even tetanus. Maractus has learned Poison Jab from the start, possibly as somewhat of an allusion to this fact. It fits the various biomes, being a desert-dweller, too. Maractus is specifically based on a prickly pear, some variants of which secrete a milky sap that is on the watchlist for determining how poisonous it is. Furthermore, its juice and pulp are historically used medicinally, which the Poison-Type has connection to in its own right through moves such as Purify and Clear Smog. Finally, it's somewhat of an allusion to the Mexican flag, where the eagle eats the snake (poison!) surrounded by prickly pears.
, but upon further research I realised that eels aren't poisonous or venomous (despite Eelektross learning and using Acid Spray!) so I went with Galvantula instead. Tarantulas, it may not surprise you to learn, are venomous. It fits the multi-biome thing because Galvantula and Joltik are only encountered in or near caves (until SwSh which basically had no caves lol), but also spiders can live anywhere they just set up shop wherever they please. The main holdup is that Galvantula only learns physical Poison-Type attacks and Gastro Acid this gen, but Galvantula's attack is not that low so I think it'll work just fine.
is just my wild card. Found out it doesn't learn many poison type moves but whatever, it just a filler.
