Physical and Special Moves

A lot of my fave mons are physical attackers (Crobat, Heracross, Torterra, etc.), and as such I make sure not to waste that potential. I do however try to use more special attackers recently, since lots of great moves are special and there's no fear of being Static'd/Rough Skin'd/Cute Charm'd/Poison Pointed/Aftermath'd.

Chooses based on stats. Rarely picks moves that run counter to that. Typically serves a role other than damage in that case, such as Volt Switch for Luxray. May be tempted in some instances of close offensive stats and weak move options for the preferred offense. (See: Flame Charge versus Flamethrower for Rapidash.)

Cannot often identify what the opponent resists more. Knows some big ones, like Chansey, Avalugg, and Steelix. Assumes the difference in defensive stats do not outweigh the difference in offensive stats and held items otherwise. Favors more type coverage over dealing with lopsided defense outliers.

If you're not EV training, which usually force you to choose between one attack or the other, there's a fair amount of Pokémon that can be good mixed attackers for the in-game. That's one of the reasons why sometimes I wish EVs didn't exist, it would allow for more unpredictable builds.

So, I generally prefer running either physical or special moveset, depending on the Pokémon stats, move pool, and sometimes their nature too, because most Pokémon work better that way. But sometimes I've made exceptions, like Flygon in B2 with Earth Power, Dragon Claw, Superpower and Fire Blast, or physical Infernape with Overheat.

Not to mention there are also Pokémon that can be actually better if you build a move set for their weaker attack stat, such as physical Sceptile or special Nidoking/Nidoqueen with Sheer Force.

Weirdest thing I probably had was a Technician Modest Ambipom with Nasty Plot, Shock Wave, Water Pulse, and Shadow Ball.

I tend to have more special than physical attackers in regular playthroughs! Most of my favorites just so happen to be special attackers so I tend to lean in favor of them when playing. But in BDSP my team is currently equal! 3 special attackers (Lumineon, Mothim, Magnezone) and 3 physical (Gallade, Honchkrow, Purugly). It feels nice when they're leveled out like that but if I had to go one way or the other, I'd definitely choose to go more special-leaning. Just too many favorites in that department. \o/ The games as a whole aren't too difficult to me right now since I've played since RBY, so I don't really have to think too much about how I make use of moves/stats.

I use physical towards the beginning, but towards the end I'm mostly using special attackers. This is because of access to moves such as Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Surf, Flamethrower, even the alternatives, such as Fire Blast, Thunder, and Blizzard.

interesting thing: yesterday, i was considering adding a sceptile to my battle tower team in brilliant diamond, but upon realising that it makes far better use of its special attack than attack, and then finding out it learns more physical attacks anyway, i passed on it. not that sceptile's attack stat is bad by any means, and it also learns swords dance so that helps. but i was looking to use its special attack stat and its special movepool leaves a lot to be desired. :c