Team Building (for single battles) 101 by I Need 4 Yuan, Monsoonbeast and Froggrunner

Although the majority of battlers on Pokelance are very good battlers, there are a couple who are new to wi-fi battling.
Within a singles battle, each pokemon plays a role. While making a team, a good battler will consider a pokemon to fill each of these roles. If a team is completely filled with lead-offs, that will do them no good, nor having a team of late-game sweepers.

Lead-offs (by Froggrunner)

Firstly, a lead-off must be considered. There are multiple types of lead-offs.

1. Set-up attacking lead: These leads attempt to take advantage of other lead-offs that are generally used to set up stealth rocks by using those turns to set up substitutes and stat boosts to be used for an early advantage. This may sound great, but later on, not having those entry hazards, screens and etc. hurt. Also, it is easy to bring in something that threatens the lead before it can finish setting up.

2. Utility Leads: These leads are very standard, setting up Stealth Rocks, spikes, rapid spinning off other entry hazards, Light Screen and Reflect, etc. These leads can range from being very bulky (Swampert) to Suicidal (Aerodactyl).

3. Non-setup attacking leads: These are leads that generally use a choice item to start attacking right off the bat. Although they generally do not end up as strong as the set-up leads, they have immediate power and give a team quick momentum. Same problem with setup attacking lead, however, not to mention they often are switched in on by a threat.

Next, one can always use a good wall

Walls (by I Need 4 Yuan)

A wall, as it implies, is meant to take either (or both) physical or special attacks very well. Where ever your team takes hits very heavily, you should consider a specific wall to stop those attacks. Walls often have high defenses and hp and should often have little type weaknesses. Walls can do either of the following, support or tank. Several examples include: Bronzong, Hippowdon, Donphan, Steelix, and Swampert.

1. A supporting wall has nonoffensive moves, such as toxic, thunder wave, and rapid spin, to either cripple the opposing team or benefit your own. Essentially, they work on wearing down the opponent and give your team some momentum. For example, Skarmory is a very potent physical wall. It has little multiple resistances while only weak to fire and electric attacks. It can also set down spikes or whirlwind to hurt the opponent and assist your pokemon to take them out. Another supporting wall is Blissey. It excels at taking special attacks with its special defense and hp and begin to spread toxic or paralysis around the opposing team to wear them down.

2. A tank is a wall that can take hits well while able to attack back. These pokemon can also support or set up for a sweep. An example is Hariyama. Hariyama has very high hp and attack stats. If EV trained in defense, it can take defensive hits very well and hit back with its gargantuan attack stat. Snorlax is also a very dangerous wall. With only one weakness to fighting, it can come in on a special attack and begin to set up curse to hit back hard and sweep.

Sweepers, by Monsoonbeast

Sweepers come in three main types: physical, special, and brooms. We’ll delve into the other types of sweepers later on in this article, but we’ll stick with physical and special for now. Sorry broom! So then, what is the point of a sweeper on a Pokémon team? A sweeper is a Pokémon with the ability to efficiently KO several of an opponent’s Pokémon in a battle. Pokémon with high Spd and high Atk/SpA and a +Speed or +Attack nature fit perfect into the category of sweepers. Some common examples of sweepers are: Metagross, Kingler (FTW!), Gyarados, Heracross, and many more. Let’s take a look at the physical and special side now, shall we?
Physical Sweepers generally have a +Spd or +Atk nature, such as Jolly, Adamant, and Lonely. Pokémon like Gallade, Arcanine, and Hitmonlee are great examples of simple Physical Sweepers. These Pokémon usually have a moveset with good coverage to hit almost all the types for normal or super effective damage. They have the ability to outspeed other Pokémon and have the ability to also pack a punch. Generally, however, because most of the EVs will be in Atk or Spd, they will have low defenses, so be cautious when you send out your sweepers.
Special Sweepers are much like the same as Physical Sweepers except they swamp Atk for SpA. These Pokémon will want to have natures like Timid and Modest. They generally follow the same rules as Physical Sweepers but use their massive Special Attacks instead of Attack. Pokémon that can work as Special Sweepers include: Alakazam, Heatran, Magnezone, and Moltres.

Next up, more technical sweepers, the boosting sweepers. Whether it’s receiving a Baton Pass, Nasty Plotting, or Swords Dancing, some Pokémon use boosting moves to make sure they outspeed other Pokémon, or simply boost their Attack and Special Attack. Moves that are used to boost include: Swords Dance (Attack), Nasty Plot/Tail Glow (Special Attack), and Agility/Rock Polish (Speed). These moves allow Pokémon to easily sweep an opponent, but they require setting up. How do you set up then? Setting up requires prediction. Predicting your opponent’s next move is one of the biggest parts of the Pokémon metagame. You always have to be a step ahead of your opponent. You have to think ahead. Here’s an example. Let’s say a Metagross wants to use Agility, and your Pokémon is against a Rock-type Pokémon. You switch out and bring in Metagross, knowing it can survive a hit from the opponent. Since Steel is super effective against Rock, your opponent will switch out to another Pokémon. During the turn your opponent switches out, you use Agility. Now you have a +2 Speed Metagross that can outspeed your entire opponent’s team and begin to sweep, if you have the right moveset of course.

Now, the other type of boosting sweeper requires even more prediction. These are the Baton Passing receivers. Pokémon that receive Baton Passes are generally weak defensively, but are very strong offensively. They cannot be switched in as easily because of their frailty, but given the certain conditions, can lead you to victory. An example would be TheKillerNacho’s famous Magikarp sweep or Haydunn’s Weedle sweep. A Baton Pass begins with a Baton Passer. This Pokémon begins setting up on the opponent while living, and passing those stat gains onto the receiver. Thus begins the sweeping. Be careful though, as Baton Passes are harder to pull off than regular boosting moves.
As you can see, boosting moves can play a major role in turning the tide of a battle. What else shall we discuss on the topic of sweepers? Items.

Items also play a major role in the outcome of a battle. What items fit well on sweepers? Here are the most common items that are seen on sweepers: Life Orb, Choice Scarf, Choice Band, Expert Belt, and Choice Specs. I assume you all know what these items do, and if not, I advise you to go read about them now. These items will help your Pokémon boost their attacking power or speed, giving you an even greater advantage in a Pokémon battle. I hope you’ve learned something about sweepers as you have read this article, and advise you to read the rest of this guide to Pokémon Singles Battles.

Sweeper types part 2 (by Froggrunner)

When considering sweepers, there are another two types of sweepers that come to mind: Early game and mid-late game. Early game sweepers generally need more set-up than other sweepers. A couple examples of these are Dragon Dance Lapras and Whiscash, Calm Minders, slow agility/rock polish pokes and some tanks, especially those that curse. These generally try to deal a ton of damage to your opponents team without the support of other pokes and status's, etc. Be careful when using these though, sometimes if you don't get enough set-up you are easily roared away or something you can't deal with is immediately sent in to stop your sweep.

Mid-late game sweepers however, are often the more immediate set-up sweepers. Although these are generally not as strong as the early game sweepers after set-up, these are often the more effective because the opponents pokemon have already suffered a lot of damage or have been statused. Bring these pokemon in on a crippled poke/ poke it can take out, and get set up. Perfect examples of these are: Swords Dance Lucario (Swords Dance and spam e-speed+ Crunch+Close Combat), Swellow (Protect for the Guts boost and Facade/ Brave bird Spam) and Ursaring (Protect for quick feet and Facade/Close Combat/Crunch) or a lot of scarf users. These pokes often make games go from 5-1 to a 1-0 win/loss because the team support they have been given is used very effectively. Don't bring these in early game unless you can guarantee that it survives because these are often vital to the game.

This looks great so far, keep it up!

wasting no time are you froggie lol. Great job you guys.

This is great! Keep up the good work!