Your Battling Skills

[Sonata]

I'm definitely still a rookie. I make a lot of stupid mistakes and most of the time I can't just sit and battle for a hundred turns like it's no big deal. I start getting fidgety after like 20 or 30 and then regardless of the type or team I'm using or playing against I end up just going all out offensive to hurry up and end it. I can play with any team, but I'm not really good with any of them.

 

[WingedDragon]

I am in between rookie and intermediate. I know enough not to be a rookie but not good enough to be intermediate.

 

[Daramangarasu]

Same as AdrianD.

Not so much a rookie, but not good enough for intermediate.
I like trying different tactics and pokémon
Also, I try the dumbest things ever for fun

 

[Nah]

I sorta like Anti's levels of skill thing:
-noob
-beginner
-average
-strong
-advanced

I would put myself at average. No higher than that.

And Archy, idk, for someone who's only been doing competitive battling for about a year you're not bad imo.

 

[Sirfetch’d]

I've been competitive battling since around the release of BW and I still feel like I have a lot to learn. I'd say my battling and execution skills are at least at intermediate levels but my teambuilding is very subpar and that holds me back from being a much better battler. I do feel like with the help of Anti and being more involved in server things that I have improved significantly over the past 3 or so months.

 

[srinator]

I think I would be classified as beginner, I mean I do have a good knowledge about the meta, but my execution still lacks the oomph factor, I don't have a strategy going into the game, neither do I have the intuitive and adaptability to make a strategic play leading to a classic battle turning moments, none of my plays take further outcomes of the same into consideration and are more or less in the moment.
I am trying to improve myself, hopefully it won't be long before I become decent.

 

[Anti]

i don't want to bog anyone down with semantics, but i think y'all are underselling yourselves if only b/c beginners are more like people who builds teams with "here's my physical wall, here's my special sweeper" etc. who are just beginning to get a feel for the game. most of y'all are plenty proficient, certainly beyond that point.

as for myself, my skill level varies based on level of dedication (currently quite low :x) but i'd say i top out as a very good, but not great, player. i can hang with anyone in a given battle, but i am far too inconsistent with my process both in team building and in deliberate strategizing in battle, especially early game. i'm pretty okay with that, though right now i'm preeeetty iffy as i haven't laddered enough since the mega metagross suspect test.

 

[Dark Azelf]

as for myself, my skill level varies based on level of dedication (currently quite low :x) but i'd say i top out as a very good, but not great, player. i can hang with anyone in a given battle.

Basically this.

In DPPtHGSS i was pretty dedicated to battling , as in i enjoyed the metagame because it was totally balanced and team building etc were alot of fun so as thus battled a fair bit. Alot of players, even some top smogon players said i was one of the top 5 DP ladder players and since i got to #1 in basically every tier bar uber (didnt bother with ubers lol) in that gen several times and on the PO ladders of RBY and GSC too (only we thing we had back in those days for those gens haha, again i didnt bother with gen 3). I never partook in smogon tourneys because i feel those are not a good show of skill, even best of 3 are dubious in my eyes because its meant to lessen hax (as opposed to just one match if said one match was ruined by hax) because its kind of a psuedo gamblers fallacy, plus on top of this its alot easier to counter team in tours. Juxtaposition, on the other hand ladder play rewards consistency but i digress. In this gen id say i was "advance" i guess. I used primarily stall but i also did very well with offensive teams.

Lets move forward to gen 5. I disliked this gen quite a bit less due to several factors i.e power creep, weather, just didnt like the pokes or dumb ass fake pretend tiers (RU im looking at you lol) so my dedication was alot less. However, I still got to #1 in OU, UU and NU in this gen in BW1 aka not fake poser tiers. ;) So i was still pretty prolific. Again i didnt partake in big smog tours for the aforementioned reasons and this was amplified by imo one of THE single worst things to have ever happened in competitive pokemon as for as tour play goes, replays being stored on the internet. :\ As far as counter teaming and replays goes in tours go, its kind of like fire and gasoline. I lost most of my interest in BW2 so started using shitty gimmick teams, stopped laddering etc just cos things were getting pretty shitty and boring in regards to everything pokemon wise lol. In this gen id say i was "strong". Again, i used again primarily stall but again did very well with offensive teams.

Lastly we have gen 6, when i first saw the changes of this gen like defog and megas i was like "eh those look kinda cool but will probs just be a massive gimmick" but ill give it a chance. Boy was i wrong unfortunately or id still be battling now, alas. Anyway op megas being accepted as the norm (they would be quick banned in ANY other gen), mechanic changes that dont really reward skill (Defog), ridiculous abilities and more that i could probably write a book on killed ALL of my interest. The only minor things this gen got right was lessening crits and the weather nerf and thats about it. I decided to start using massive uber turbo mecha gimmicks teams and gimmick pokemon. That was fun for a while and Clefairy, Farfetch'd, Victreebel etc sweeps honestly never get old :') and i even got to 7th in OU in ORAS with a team that had Smackdown Rhyperior, Delphox and Mantine (rofl) and also got to top 10-15 in both UU and NU but i just.....lost interest again. ORAS just amplified this with more megas, stupid shit like Gothitelle, Manaphy etc being "np" and other asinine things. Pokemon just didnt feel like pokemon anymore.

Tl;dr : Due to a multitude of things id say id be "Intermediate" at best now since im now retired lol.

 

[Neo_Angelo]

I like to think of myself as between rookie and intermediate, but sometimes it all depends on how much practice i've had. Some days i can be really good with certain teams if i've played a fair few games, other days i can use the exact same teams and get creamed if i've not played so many games.

The reason i put myself in between rookie and intermediate is because i know a fair deal about pokemon to be comfortable battling with any team, though if you battle me i don't always follow the trends when using move sets or pokemon which makes me very unpredictable. I like to find interesting ways to battle with pokemon and i don't mind losing, i like to perfect certain tactics and then move onto some new ones. People could argue i'm a rookie since i don't use pokemon the way that everyone else uses them, and some of my move sets you might question as being viable or not. But thats how i battle, i use teams with unorthodox play styles to spice up the meta game.

A prime example of my battling style is i hate using OP statted pokemon (my teams consist of pokemon with base stats of 540 or less, 540 being milotic as my highest statted pokemon). As a bit of a lover of odd tactics and strategies i'll share with you one of my favourites that i run on Milotic:

Milotic: Calm - Cute Charm - Leftovers
Evs: 252HP, 130 Special defense and 126 Def
Moves: Coil, Confuse ray, Recover, Scald

Alot of you would look at that set up and thing "OMG n00b, thats not how you use Milotic" but thats how i like to battle, using a similar set up to counter Milotics lower Def by causing a lot of problems, the Coil raises the defense (only move Milo can learn that raises def) the confuse rays gives you time to set up, Cute charm is there to add even more chaos as most pokemon tend to be males. It works really well for me (even better than the standard Marvel scale, flame orb combo, and is also less predictable.

Another example is in doubles, who would think to stick two Lanturns on a team, one with Volt absorb, the other with water absorb then give one discharge (to heal the other) and the other Surf (to heal the water absorb one), stick assault vests on both and you've got a unique set up which is not predictable and very cunning.

 

[KorpiklaaniVodka]

Slightly better than intermediate, but definitely not an expert. I don't really like laddering, so I prefer to participate in OU tourneys on PS.

 

[PlatinumDude]

I'd say I'm intermediate. While I can use Pokemon sets effectively, there are times when I make mistakes (like not switching when I should have).

 

[Professor_Jared]

Intermediate, I know how to team build for the most part, however, my prediction and mind game skills need a lot of work.

 

[Megan]

I'd say, I'm pretty much at the bottom of all things. I can create a team, but it can easily consume weeks until I feel comfortable with the team I created and chances are, half of it is predictable (the same mons, I always put on my teams). My battling skills aren't really there and most of the time I play more like a headless chicken. I also tend to make people forfeit in the preview screen on the ladder, because I take too long. ^^"

Granted, I never really bothered with real teambuilding and battling (as in, trying to know, what you're doing) until the PCL event, so I suppose, there's still more time to invest, anyway, before I could start being acceptable in terms of battling, especially if I were to put more dedication into it.

 

[skyburial]

I'd say I'm intermediate when I'm actually trying, and god awful when I'm running funsies teams. If you see me taking notes, watch out.

As far as playstyles are concerned, I like to move with the meta on the teams that I use, but for the most part I stick with balance and bulky offense.

 

[Alfieri]

Intermediate.

I look up Pokemon's stats and abilities to make sure if my Pokemon is safe to attack or outspeed. I've made a lot of smart calls and I don't make much silly mistakes anymore. I run many different teams with varying strategies. However, I'll be damned if I start doing any of that damage calculating crap with equations and EVs when building up my own team. I just go with what looks best in terms of EVs and movesets and perfect IVs and I've been a very successful battler online.

 

[Nolafus]

I'd probably say average.

I used to be a lot better, but I stopped playing competitively for a long while. I'm trying to get back into it, and I think I've made a lot of progress. I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of identifying win conditions, who I can sack, and play off of that. I need more experience to back up my decision making, but once I can memorize what every pokemon's common sets are again, I should be good to go as far as making it up the ladder.

My team building was decent, but now it's just completely off, haha.

 

[Zeffy]

i like to consider myself a "good" player, but i haven't been dedicating enough time to battling lately. back when i actively played BW2 NU, i had the whole tier memorized up to the point where I can simulate battles and predict the winner (objectively speaking anyway, without considering the player's irrationalities)--and i think that's primarily due to the amount of dedication i had towards the tier.

 

[Polar Spectrum]

I'm intermediate. I know well what's going on at just about any given time but I'm also quite restrained by my own unwillingness to use anything that's too popular due to effectiveness. Point in case, I've yet to use a talonflame. My gothitelle lacks shadow tag. This contrarian attitude holds me back a fair bit. I'm also much weaker in singles than doubles. Again I know what's going on, but I refuse to build for it and won't build proper teams for the playstyle either.

 

[Rragnar0k]

I'm a what you would call noobzilla right now lol

 

[Syndrome]

I used to consider myself pretty good, like probably somewhere between intermediate and expert. I do however feel like I peaked in gen 4 or early gen 5 when I had more free time and was more dedicated to battling. I suppose that I'm still pretty good, though my level of dedication is nowhere near as high as it used to be and I really just dick around nowadays due to waning interest in the current metagame. As Anti said, I can still hang with pretty much anyone here in a match, but honestly a genuinely good performance from me is as rare as Kobe Bryant dunking these days.

Also I keep saying that I'll get back into battling after he third game is released but that's probably a lie lol.