Pokémon VGC: How to Build a Balanced Team Guide

It’s really cool

It should work well

Any issues you’re facing ?

it really is bad against trick room with redirection + lack of fire type damage, is this fine if dragonite goes special heat wave?

Yeah, special Dragonite with Heat Wave is worth trying here. It gives you a Fire move that hits both opponents, so Follow Me and Rage Powder can’t pull it away from your target. It helps with redirection, but it won’t fix Trick Room by itself.

The team looks built around switching Incineroar and Rillaboom in and out to weaken things, reuse Fake Out and bring your attackers in safely. Palafin fits that because it wants to switch out to transform anyway. You’re trying to create a good opening for Palafin or your chosen Mega, then start taking knockouts.

You already have Fire damage through Incineroar’s Flare Blitz. What you’re missing is Fire damage that can get past redirection, so I understand the Dragonite idea. I’d test Heat Wave / Draco Meteor / Tailwind / Protect, with Special Attack investment. Draco Meteor gives you a strong hit before switching out, which suits the team. Both moves are available in Champions. Dragonite’s movepool⁠

There’s also an awkward interaction with your current Ice Spinner: it removes your own Grassy Terrain, taking away Grassy Glide’s priority. It can remove Psychic Terrain too, so it has a purpose, but you need to be careful when clicking it.

Against Trick Room, Rillaboom is really important. Bringing it in after Indeedee replaces Psychic Terrain, letting your grounded Pokémon use Fake Out again. Just remember that Farigiraf’s Armor Tail still blocks opposing priority regardless of terrain. Also, if Rillaboom and Indeedee lead together, don’t assume your terrain wins—their actual Speed decides which ability activates last.

Incineroar’s Taunt can stop an exposed setter, but Follow Me can redirect it, and Hatterene’s Magic Bounce reflects it. That means you need a plan for games where Trick Room goes up. Sometimes removing the redirector and keeping your attackers healthy is better than spending the whole opening trying to prevent it.

Scarf Palafin makes those turns harder because it can’t Protect and its extra Speed works against it under Trick Room. If that keeps costing you games, I’d test a non-Choice item and Protect over Ice Punch. You lose immediate Speed outside Trick Room, so it’s a trade worth testing rather than an automatic upgrade.

I’d also consider Dark Pulse over Psychic on Lucario if Indeedee, Farigiraf and Ghost-types are the main problem. It gives you better coverage into those targets, although it still gets redirected. Keep Psychic if you specifically need it for something like Sneasler. Lucario’s movepool⁠

My first change would be special Dragonite. Then I’d look at whether Palafin needs Protect. I wouldn’t rebuild everything yet, and without the stat spreads I wouldn’t promise that Heat Wave secures the knockouts you need.

this is the updated version, it works well vs. non defiant/competitive mons

ive considered using protect because it is so hard to use palafin scarfed

i dont know why i just cant remove ice spinner maybe just because i can chip salamence/ garchomps

it works yes it gets +1 😅