Should I use Spiritomb, Mamoswine, or Medicham for my Platinum team?

Question

Which of Spirtomb, Mamoswine, and Medicham should I use? My team is Turtwig, Shinx, Starly, and a planned Houndor/doom. That leaves two spots, one will eventually house Giratina, but before then that still leaves 2 spots, and I'm wondering of these three, which two should I use, I'm pretty sure I want to use Medicham in the permanent slot, but if I'm wrong and I shouldn't, please provide an alternative.

Comments

You need a surfer. I would use a good water pokemon.

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Oh, I forgot to mention, I have a Bibarel, but I'm just using it as an HM slave, so I won't use it for tough battles and such. That should take care of all the HM's pretty much, other than waterfall I think.

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Don't use Spiritomb. It's insanely hard to get, and it would overlap types with Houndoom and Giratina.

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All but Defog, not Waterfall.

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Okay, I'll still try to catch it though, just for fun, I already know how.

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Also, I know about the type overlapping, which is why I would want it, if anything, temporary slot that Giratina will fill. But if you think a type overlap with Houndoom is too much, I won't use it.

Answer 1

Medicham is absolutely the way to go. Fighting is a useful type in-game, and it's pretty easy to get a Meditite. By contrast, Mamoswine requires a Move Relearner and a Heart Scale, and Spiritomb is a complete chore to get. Both Mamoswine and Spiritomb also overlap types with existing team members (Torterra and Houndoom respectively) while Medicham is completely unique. It doesn't get too many moves, but that's okay --- all you really need is Hi Jump Kick. Pure Power is an incredible Ability as well.

Medicham
Ability: Pure Power
- Hi Jump Kick
- Zen Headbutt / Psychic / anything
- Strength
- (filler)

Your second choice doesn't really matter. Neither of Mamoswine and Spiritomb are at all optimal to use, so just use something else that's easier to get. I personally like Floatzel, as its physical movepool complements its high Attack and Speed; it also learns important HMs like Surf that you lack otherwise.

Floatzel
Ability: Swift Swim
- Waterfall / Surf
- Ice Fang
- Aqua Jet
- Crunch

Hope I helped!

Answer 2

For your fifth team slot, I would pick Gyarados. It gets dragon dance, and a decent physical level up movepool to compliment it. It also has great stats. It beats Fantina with Bite, beats Gardenia with Bite(her Pokemon have low defense), beats everything on Byron's team except Magneton, and can beat Candice's team with Dragon Dance+Aqua Tail. For the E4, it beats Aaron with Dragon Dance, Ice Fang, and Aqua Tail respectively, beats Bertha with Dragon Dance+Aqua Tail, crushes Flint with just Aqua Tail(Dragon Dance is optional) and beats Lucian with Dragon Dance+Aqua Tail and can sweep Cynthia with Dragon Dance, Aqua Tail, and Ice fang respectively. Here is a moveset for Gyarados.
Gyarados @ Anything
Dragon Dance
Waterfall
Bite
Ice Fang
When you get Giratina, replace Luxray. It has mediocre matchups overall end game. Electric isn't a good typing in late game Platinum. Like the other answer said, use Medicham. I don't have enough time and am too lazy to put why you should use medicham, but I will put a moveset.
Medicham @ Anything
Hi Jump Kick
Zen Headbutt
Strength / Elemental Punch
Filler / Elemental Punch
I hope I've helped!

Comments

I'm taking both of your suggestions and doing Gyarados and Medicham.

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Ok, sounds good.

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Did you accidentally put Torterra and Grass, or did you just change it because you realized Torterra's the starter.

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No, I realized luxray is worst than torterra late game. That said, torterra is mediocre late game too.