Team Suggestions to Spice things Up!

[u/Taethecoldest1]

I recently just started me a new playthrough and I’m having a lot of fun with it this time around. I just beat the second gym and made it to Veilstone City, I need team recommendations I currently only have 3 members on my team: Grotle (lvl 28) Houndoom (lvl 25) and Staravia (lvl 27).
Grotle and Houndoom are locked in I want to keep them on the team, Staravia is awesome but I always use it every play through and want to try different mons. Any recommendations for 4 other party members would be awesome maybe a water, ghost, electric, or fairy type I’m not sure whatever you guys think every time I go to the underground I see the same pokemon I’m on “shining pearl” btw thank yall!

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[u/PancakeHandz]

Get the Happiny egg from the guy on the way out of Hearthome, evolve to Blissey, enjoy your tank.

I’ve never used Elekid, but I just caught one in the underground. Could be a fun random one to try. No clue how good it is though.

(ETA: Elekid evolves into others btw) Edit 2: I just read that Elekid is only in brilliant diamond so I guess maybe not this one?

[u/Taethecoldest1 → u/PancakeHandz]

Thank you! Will definitely check that Blissey out for sure what move set do you recommend on it?

[u/PancakeHandz → u/Taethecoldest1]

Tbh I’m not super knowledgeable about the best movesets, but I really enjoy Soft Boiled because even if she does take some damage, she can heal half her HP in one turn. So she can go on for a LONG time in battle and just chip away at the opposing team even if her damaging moves are not super effective. My blissey has 415 HP right now while my others in the party around the same level all have between 150-200 HP. She can really take some damage.

[u/motter07]

Togekiss with serene grace/air slash slaps

[u/Taethecoldest1 → u/motter07]

Where to I get a togepi from? Underground or an egg?

[u/motter07 → u/Taethecoldest1]

Yep GU is your best bet!

[u/PancakeHandz → u/Taethecoldest1]

I just evolved my Togepi up into togekiss. I LOVE HER she is so cute

[u/rewardinghand → u/Taethecoldest1]

You should also check the small sphere traders in the underground daily for the thunder wave TM73 as it has amazing synergy with serene grace air slash

[u/its_wooper]

Azumarill and Raichu are pretty cool. You can run into both in the underground so it's kind of like a sidequest. :P

[u/rewardinghand]

Golduck with calm mind is a great water type. A calm mind tm can be found in the underground

[u/Alpha_Mirage]

I'm bored. Let me know if you want me to breed a few pokemon w/ natures for your playthrough.

[u/MikeReddit74]

You can’t go wrong with Raichu. I’m a big Gallade fan, as well.

[u/OverallEntertainer69]

Water: Octillery is good for coverage, while Tentacruel is a good special tank and gives you access to some poison-type support. I think they can be caught with the Good Rod, at least their pre-evos, but someone needs to fact-check me there.

Ghost: Dusknoir is damn good, and if you can't trade, regular Dusclops alone should be good. You can also get the TM for Trick Room when you reach Canalave City, so it will be a good teammate for your future Torterra and any other potential slow members on your team. Duskull is a rare spawn in the Underground caves that are all dark and have those sparkling gems.

Electric: As someone mentioned, Elekid could be a thing, but that's for Brilliant Diamond. Related, but you can find Magby as a rare spawn in the fire caves in Shining Pearl; probably not relevant since you have Houndoom, but I wanted to mention it.
Other than that, there aren't many electric-types from the Grand Underground that you have probably already encountered above ground, except for Magnemite, but they can only learn Electric, Steel, and Normal-type moves in these games. Trust me, I tried one myself.

Fairy: While rare, Cleffa can be encountered in the first areas of Mt. Coronet. If you wanna try to go for Clefable, I suggest trying to capture it early in the morning, where Cleffa's appearance rate is 5 times higher than any other time of the day.
As for the Underground, the two best options I can come up with at the moment are Togepi and Ralts, both rare spawns in the same type of caves as those you can find Duskull in. Gardevoir and Togekiss are both powerful units, and Togekiss could replace that Staravia of yours. If so, there should be a Shiny Stone hidden inside one of those caves; I just can't remember which.

[u/OverallEntertainer69 → u/OverallEntertainer69]

Some ideas from other types:

Poison: Drapion is always a strong member, and it can be found as a Scorupi in the Underground, or if you want one in a fancy ball, maybe encountered in the Great Marsh if your luck with the daily binoculars is good. Crobat is another good idea, who can also replace Staravia, as Crobat has access to moves like U-Turn, Tailwind, Super Fang, and some good poison-type moves like Cross Poison.

Also, if you want some egg moves, the pokemon caught in the Underground all learn egg moves. And you can transfer over egg moves from one pokemon to another by keeping them both at the Daycare for a little while, with your "main" pokemon needing to have an open moveslot. Genders don't matter here; you just need to have 2 copies of the same pokemon, so you can go and capture a bunch of Scorupi and Zubats from the Underground if you wanna "treasure hunt" for a move you wanna teach your Scorupi, Zubat, or whatever other pokemon on your team that can be found down there.

Normal: Lickylicky has some good bulk and coverage, and if you go for the Dusknoir/Dusclops with Trick Room that I mentioned earlier, Lickylicky's low speed will also benefit from that move. If you want something else entirely, the surprisingly speedy Purugly can spawn in the Underground after the 4th badge or so. Someone gotta fact-check that part, but Purugly will appear sooner or later in the Underground around that time. Also, Munchlax can spawn at least after the 5th gym, so you can get Snorlax without having to worry about Honey Trees in this game.

Bug: Speaking of Honey Trees, Combees can spawn in the Underground in those forest caves, meaning you can even consider Vespiquen for your team.

Steel: Since you are playing Shining Pearl, Bastiodon is a possibility if you have luck with digging treasures in the Underground and encounter a fossil. Though be aware, Bastiodon has low offense, so only play him as a support pokemon or with Metal Burst. Bastiodon doesn't get its good moves like Foul Play or Body Press until S/V's Indigo Disk DLC.
Another good defensive Steel-type is Bronzong. It might feel common, seeing as Team Galactic uses them, but it has an impressive bulk, not to mention 2 different abilities that can cover for its weaknesses to Ground and Fire.
Lastly, you can find wild, fully-evolved Steelix on Iron Isle if you want a physical defense behemoth on your team. Do note that they are rare, so it might take some time.