First Team for Competitive, Seeking Opinion

[Warpath]

I've been watching lots of battles on YouTube recently and I noticed that pretty much everyone has the same Pokemon. I wanted to make a team that was unique, but still good enough to do some damage. With that, I'll get started.

Venusaur @ Black Sludge
Bold - Overgrow
252 HP, 176 DEF, 80 SPD
- Leaf Storm
- Sludge Bomb
- Leech Seed
- Synthesis

Houndoom @ Life Orb
Timid - Flash Fire
40 HP, 252 SPA, 216 SPE
- Flamethrower
- Dark Pulse
- Nasty Plot
- Protect (Gonna get Will-o-Wisp as soon as I get unlazy enough to Battle Tower more)

Gallade @ Choice Scarf
Adamant - Steadfast
6 HP, 252 ATT, 252 SPE
- Ice Punch
- Psycho Cut
- Close Combat
- Night Slash

Politoed @ Leftovers
Calm - Water Absorb
252 HP, 4 SPA, 252 SPD
- Surf
- Hypnosis
- Ice Beam
- Refresh

Crobat @ Lum Berry
Jolly - Inner Focus
124 HP, 132 ATT, 252 SPE
- Taunt
- Cross Poison
- Hypnosis
- Aerial Ace (I want to replace this with something)

Dunsparce @
Modest - Serene Grace
144 HP, 252 SPA, 112 SPD (I plan to change these sometime)
- Ice Beam
- Ancientpower
- Headbutt
- Thunder

Any comments would be appreciated!
Thanks

[Sartory]

I'm a bit tired, but let me give you some tips on that Venasaur.
To start off, you need to decide between a Physical wall-ish pokemon, or a Special one, as not many pokemon can be a successful mixed wall. On the special side, he has more base SPD (100>83) and resists to common special types water and electric, with a 4x grass resist. On the physical side it has resistances to fighting, one of the most common physical types. Special should have a Calm nature, and Physical should be bold. That would look something like this:

Venasaur@Black Sludge
Bold/Calm
252HP/252DEF/4SPD or 252HP/252SPD/4DEF
Sleep Powerr
Leech Seed
Sludge Bomb
Energy Ball/Grass Knot

For a more Defensieve Layout you could try

Sleep Powder
Leech Seed
Sludge Bomb/Energy Ball
Charm/Light Screen

[Warpath]

Well, I saw that layout on Smogon, but for this Venusaur, I'm going for a little more of a stall tank that can still deal some chunks of damage when needed. I had success recently with a Venusaur like this with maxed Special Attack and some speed, but the lack of defenses on the physical side got it ripped to pieces against most threats. I thought I would support the lack of physical defense with a majority of my free EV's in defense and complement the slightly better innate Special Defense with a few EV's. I already have Crobat and Politoed with sleep anyway, so a third wouldn't do me much good.

[Sartory]

I would still replace Synthesis with Charm or Light Screen due to OUs such as Hippowdan and Ttar creating sandstorms that will reduce Synthesis to a meager 25%, about the same you will regain at the end of your turn with leech seed and sludge anyway so more defense would equal more HP and you could use that turn spent healing.

[Bobreeder]

It is by no means a terrible team, but I think it may be a bit too innovative, which leads it to not being as effective as using more standard sets would. For example, a special Dunsparce without a boosting move (except for the situational Ancientpower) is bound to become an inferior Togekiss, which has more bulk and a lot higher Special Attack. If you used Calm Mind, though, it could at least give it some more special bulk than a Togekiss usually has. It would still be a bit of an inferior Togekiss, but not as outclassed as your current set seems to be. It's good that you use underused Pokemon, but you should try to make them unique, so that they won't limit your teams capabilities compared to it's more used fellows. I do really like your Houndoom and Gallade though!

btw, Hypnosis is a very unreliable move. Don't rely on it too much :)

Bobreeder

[Paiopa]

I would recommend taking hypnosis off either politoad or crobat. You really only need one thing putting something to sleep, because then with sleep clause that move is useless afterwards. Probably better to leave hypnosis on crobat so you can quickly put something to sleep right away.

Kudos to making an original team. Good luck with it :)

[Warpath]

Paiopa, I'm looking at alternatives for Politoed's Hypnosis, and I've narrowed it down to a few possibilities:

Protect (Stall and get another Leftovers heal)
Psychic (Wreck some random Fighting or Poison type that may be in)
Earthquake (Wreck an electric type)
Perish Song (Maybe force a switch?)

Which would you think would work the best?

[Bobreeder]

I would say Perish Song is most likely the most useful there, as it stops Baton Pass chains. It would have an extra level of use if you had any entry hazards (Stealth Rock is recommended, as this team is pretty offensive).

[Paiopa]

I agree with bobreeder. Perish Song is useful if used in the right situation. But once it's down to your politoad and the opponent's last pokemon the move is useless. So you'll need to use it with expert timing. I think psychic would be nice too. That's always a fun move and unexpected :)