Building a Perfect Team

[Azonic]

Strategies and Movesets

Building the Perfect Team

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The Strategies and Movesets Forum wants to encourage all of its members to be a strong Competitive Pokémon Battler. This forum is designed for members to get help on his or her team. So how exactly do you make a 'perfect' team? Well, there is no such thing as a 'perfect' team, but there are definitely ways to make your team stronger! All it takes is just some experience and understanding of the different tactics used in competitive play. When you first read it, this may sound a little confusing. But in no time, you will get the hang of it!​

Strengthening Your Pokémon

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There are many ways to strengthen your crew. You can level them up, etc. But did you know that there are hidden values that are set by the game? How else do you think that one Salamence has a higher Attack stat than the other? EVs (Effort Values), Natures, and IVs (Individual Values) are the main causes of a Pokémon's strength. ​

EV Training Guide

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What are EVs?​

"EV" stands for Effort Values. EV Training is a special type of training that can increase your Pokémon's strength by far! An EV trained pokémon is sure to be stronger than a non-EVed Pokémon. A Pokémon can gain the maximum of 510 EV points to split between the stats of HP, Speed, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, and Special Defense. Each individual stat can have the maximum capacity of 255 EV Points.​

How do I get EV Points?

When you are in In-Game, battling specific Pokémon will give you some EVs in a certain stat. A Pokémon only gains EVs if it can gain Experience Points. Whenever it gains Experience Points, the user gets EV Points. That means that if you run away, faint, or catch the opponent - you WILL NOT get EVs.

Each Pokémon provides different EV Points when they're defeated. They give a different number of EV Points as well as EVs in different stats. ​

How exactly does EV training help?

Like I said before, EV training can boost your Pokémon's strength significantly! So how does it boost your strength? Well, for each 4 Points you get while EV training, you get 1 extra Point in your stats. For instance: Starly provides 1 EV Point in Speed, so if you battle 4 Starlys, then your Speed stat will get one extra point. So that means if you max out your Speed EVs, then you will gain 63 extra Speed points. That means that a maxed EVed Speed stat will have 63 more points than the non-EVed pokémon!!!

I'm EV training, but my stats don't seem to change! What am I doing wrong?​

You are doing nothing wrong. The results of EV training usually don't show up until your pokémon are at a later level. But not to worry, your EV work will be 100% shown.​

Tips for EV Training ...​

Well, there are some guidelines you should follow. Remember how you need 4 EVs to raise a stat? Well, 255 is not divisible by 4. So that means some of the EVs have no use! That's correct. You should only get the maximum of 252 EVs in a stat. Be sure that the number of EV points you give to a stat is ALWAYS divisible by 4.​

As you probably have noticed, EV training does take a long time. It requires patience and dedication in making a strong pokémon. So here's a tip: write your EV points down! Keep track of the EV points you've gained on a piece of paper - as I doubt you will be able to keep track of 252 EV Points all in your head! ​

Is there any way to speed up EV Training?​

You're in luck: there is! Hold items can boost the amount of EVs a pokémon gains. Here are a list of items that increase EVs.

Stat Boosters - If you feed a Pokémon an item like Protein or Calcium gives you 10 EV points in the stat it raises.​

HP Up --- Hit Points
Protein --- Attack
Iron --- Defense
Carbos --- Speed​

Calcium --- Sp. Attack
Zinc --- Sp. Defense

Macho Brace - Macho Brace will half your speed when it is held, but whenever you EV train, it doubles your EVs gained. For instance, Starly gives 1 Speed EV Point when it is defeated. So when a pokémon holding a Macho Brace defeats a Starly, it gains not one - but 2 EV points in their stat!

Power Items - Items like Power Anklet and Power Bracer will increase the EVs Gained by +4 EVs Points. So that means if a Pokémon holding a Power Anklet (Speed) defeats a Starly(1 Speed EV), it actually gets 5 EV Points in Speed instead of 1.

-Power Anklet --- boosts Speed EV training. When defeating Pokémon who give speed EVs, the Power Anklet gives +4 in speed. For example, if you defeat a Starly you'll get 5 EVs in speed, one for initially defeating the Starly and four because your Pokémon is holding the Power Anklet

-Power Bracer --- boosts Attack EV training. When defeating Pokémon who give attack EVs the Power Bracer gives +4 in attack. For example, if you defeat a Machop you'll get 5 EVs in attack, one for initially defeating the Machop and four because your Pokémon is holding the Power Bracer

-Power Weight --- boosts HP EV training. When defeating Pokémon who give HP EVs, the Power Weight gives +4 in HP. For example, if you defeat a Bidoof you'll get 5 EVs in HP, one for initially defeating the Bidoof and four because your Pokémon is holding the Power Weight.

-Power Belt --- boosts Defense EV training. When defeating Pokémon who give Defense EVs, the Power Belt gives +4 in Defense. For example, if you defeat a Geodude you'll get 5 EVs in Defense, one for initially defeating the Geodude and four because your Pokémon is holding the Power Belt.

-Power Lens --- boosts Sp. Attack EV training. When defeating Pokémon who give Sp. Attack EVs, the Power Lens gives +4 in Sp. Attack. For example, if you defeat a Ghastly you'll get 5 EVs in Sp. Attack, one for initially defeating the Ghastly and four because your Pokémon is holding the Power Lens.​

-Power Band --- boosts Sp. Defense EV training. When defeating Pokémon who give Sp. Defense EVs, the Power Band gives +4 in Sp. Defense. For example, if you defeat a Tentacool you'll get 5 EVs in Sp. Defense, one for initially defeating the Tentacool and four because your Pokémon is holding the Power Band.​

Pokérus(PKRS) - Pokérus is NOT an item. It is a very rare disease obtained by battling a pokémon. The disease is even harder to obtain than a shiny pokémon! So if you get it, YOU ARE VERY LUCKY. This disease acts like the Macho Brace without the Speed halving. It doubles the EVs gained but the pokémon can still hold an item.

EV DISTRIBUTION …

You are able to choose the EVs you give a Pokémon. So I should I distribute them properly? Well, first you determine what the role of a Pokémon is. Then you are able to determine the EV Distribution. Here are some guidelines :

- A Sweeper Pokémon will have usually 252 EVs in the Speed. There are some exceptions, such as if a Pokémon holds the Choice Scarf item. (e.g. Weavile has 252 EVs in Speed.)

- A Sweeper Pokémon will have a maxed out stat in Attack OR Special Attack 70% of the time. Ignore this rule if the pokémon you are using is able to defend or is a mixed sweeper (a sweeper with both physical and special moves). (e.g. Rampardos has 252 EVs in Attack)

- A walling pokémon will usually carry a maxed out HP stat. (e.g. Milotic carries 252 HP EVs.)

- A walling pokémon usually carries 252 EVs in their Defense or Special Defense stat. (e.g. Blissey runs 252 Defense EVs)

Good Pokemon to EV Train with :

HP - | Bidoof 1 Pt | Gastrodon 2 Pts
Attack - | Machop 1 Pt | Bibarel 2 Pts | Kricketune 2 Pts
Defense - | Geodude 1 Pt | Graveler 2 Pts |
Special Attack - | Gastly 1 Pt |
Special Defense - | Tentacool 1 Pt |
Speed - | Magikarp 1 Pt | Starly 1 Pt | Zubat 1 Pt | Staravia 2 Pts |

IV Breeding Guide

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So I've maxed out all my EVs in my Salamence's Attack Stat. And I compared my Salamence's Attack stat with another one and that Salamence's Attack stat is still higher! What is happening? Well, you'd be surprised that the EVs of a Pokémon's stats! IVs are another value that can help a Pokémon get stronger. IV stands for Individual Values. ​

IVs in every stat (HP, Speed, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, and Special Defense) can range from a number of 0 – 31. Of course, the higher the number is – the better. IVs have the most effect on a Pokémon's stats. Take Shuckle for example. While measuring its Defense and Special Defense, you realize that there is a 75 Point difference! Shuckle's Defense and Special Defense stats are both at a sturdy 230, but how come there is such a broad difference in the stats?

IVs are determined by random on every pokémon except if you breed. When you breed, the IVs of the parents will influence the offspring to some degree. 3 out of 6 of the offsprings's IVs are based on the parents' IVs. The rest are determined randomly. For example, if you're breeding a male Camerupt with a female Camerupt, the male Camerupt may give their Attack and Speed IVs to the offspring while the female gives its HP IVs to the offspring. Occasionally if the IV value is the same on both parents, the same IVs for a stat will influence the child. Meaning that only 2 IVs of a stat will be given to the child.​

Yes, IVs need a lot of time and patience, and a little bit of luck. So don't get mad if you get the bad babies, time is the answer...​

To find out how many IVs your pokémon has, check out Metalkid's IV calculator.​

Any further questions about IV Breeding should be posted in Strategies and Movesets's Sub Forum - Breeder's Corner.​

Natures

Natures are the final thing that effect a Pokémon's stats. If you want to find a good nature, pick a Nature that boosts the stat that a Pokémon uses a lot and decreases the stat that the Pokémon doesn't use very much.

Neutral Natures​

Bashful Nature (Neutral)
Docile Nature (Neutral)
Hardy Nature (Neutral)
Serious Nature (Neutral)
Quirky (Neutral)​

+Attack Natures​

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
Lonely Nature (+Atk, -Def)
Naughty Nature (+Atk, -SDef)​

+Defense Natures​

Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)

Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
Lax Nature (+Def, -SDef)
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)​

+Speed Natures

Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)

Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)​

+Special Attack Natures

Mild Nature (+SAtk, -Def)

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)​

+Special Defense Natures

Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)

Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
Gentle Nature (+SDef, -Def)
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)​

Movesets

To be a good Pokémon trainer means that you need good movesets for a Pokémon! They are the key to success. A good moveset should have decent coverage over the opposing enemies and also be very useful. ​

Good Coverage means diversity, so that means your moves should be limited to no more than one move of a certain element. A good example of a moveset would be. ​

Weavile @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Attack / 252 Speed / 4 HP
- Ice Punch
- Brick Break
- Night Slash
- Aerial Ace

The moveset posted above has decent coverage because it has been limited to one move of a certain element. This will give it more coverage to hit certain Pokémon. The moves alone also provide much coverage and gives a decent amount of power within every strike

Now here is an example of a BAD moveset.

Weavile @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
Nature: Timid
EVs: 172 HP / 80 Defense / 252 SAttack
- Blizzard
- Icebeam
- Ice Punch
- Ice Shard

As you may have noticed, all of the moves on this Weavile are of the Ice type, which is considered bad. This Weavile provides minimal coverage. Ask yourself, what will happen if I encounter a Steel type? Ice moves are not-very-effective against Steel, so you will be trapped. These moves may act in repetition and mimicry of another move, they all serve the same purpose.

So use the first set provided. It is obviously the better choice.

Now we are going on to strategy. There are a bunch of move combos that will be listed below. The listed has been cited from Arkeis.

Mean Look + Baton Pass (TrapPassing)

Trapping moves like Mean Look can also be passed. Use it to trap an opponent and pass to a Pokémon that has an advantage over the trapped opponent.​

Substitute + Baton Pass

Substitutes can also be passed. For more on this, see the Substitute section below.​

Substitute + Focus Punch (AKA Subpunching)

The most common and basic Substitute combo. Focus Punch is a 150 power Fighting move, the strongest Fighting attack in the game (besides a full power Reversal). However, it always goes last and if you take the slightest bit of damage before you attack, Focus Punch fails. The solution? Set up a Sub before you use it. Substitute blocks the damage you would take meaning you can safely use Focus Punch without worrying about it failing. ​

Substitute + Reversal/Flail/Endeavor

The last three moves work best if you are at low health. Since Sub reduces your health each time you use it, just use Substitute four times until you have only 1 HP left. It's a good idea to hold a Salac Berry or a Liechi Berry when using this.​

Make sure your HP is not divisible by 4, otherwise you'll only be able to use Sub 3 times and you'll have too much HP left over for this combo to work properly.​

Compare with the Endure + Reversal/Flail/Endeavor combo further down below. ​

Substitute + Leech Seed (AKA SubSeeding)

Leech Seed your opponent and use Substitute over and over again. Since your enemy is healing you with Leech Seed, you'll This combo works best if you're faster than your opponent.​

Substitute + Belly Drum (+Salac Berry)

A risky combo. Make sure your max HP is exactly divisible by 4 before using this. Substitute first to take away 25% of your HP. Then Belly Drum to reduce your HP by 50%. At the end, you'll have 25% HP left. This is enough to activate Salac Berry. When this combo is finished, you'll have Max Attack and boosted Speed, which means almost nothing can stand in your way.​

Substitute + Baton Pass (AKA SubPassing)

Subs can be Baton Pass. This is more useful in competitive battles, where your opponent will be switching Pokemon quite often. Use Sub when you predict a switch and if you cannot handle the Pokemon that got switched in, use Baton Pass to a team mate who can. For instance: if Espeon uses Sub when Tyranitar switches in, you can Pass to a Heracross. Heracross will take no damage from Tyranitar's attacks when switching in since it's protected by the Sub.​

Counter + Focus Sash​

The goal is to predict when your opponent will use a strong physical move and Counter it back. Since you have Focus Sash, you can survive even the most powerful supereffective attacks.​

Endure + Reversal/Flail/Endeavor

Same as Substitute + Reversal/Flail/Endeavor, except since Endure always goes first, you don't have to worry about a faster opponent KOing you before you can set up. Works best with a Salac or Liechi Berry. The downside is that if you use Endure and the opponent does not attack you, or does not do enough damage, then this combo falls apart. ​

Mean Look + Perish Song (AKA PerishTrapping)

Trap the opponent with Mean Look, then use Perish Song. Use moves like Protect or Substitute to stall the opponent while the countdown runs. Once it says, "Perish Count fell to 1", switch out. Your opponent can't switch out during that turn since it'll still be under the effect of Mean Look until AFTER you switch. By then, it will be to late because it will have fainted from Perish Song. ​

Rain Dance + Water Attack + Swift Swim Ability

Use Rain Dance to not only power up your Water attacks, but also double your speed with your Swift Swim ability. ​

Rest + Sleep Talk (AKA RestTalking)

Any sturdy Pokemon can use Rest to heal themself. But it may be dangerous to lose two turns sleeping. That's where Sleep Talk comes in. Sleep Talk randomly picks one of your moves and uses it while you are sleeping. It works great with the Guts and Marvel Scale abilities since they will boost your Attack or Defense even when you put yourself to sleep.​

Spikes/Stealth Rock + Roar/Whirlwind

Spikes can be used up to three times, which will damage any non-Flying/non-Levitating opponent 25% of their HP everytime they switch in. Stealth Rock only needs to be laid down once and can deal 3.125-50% damage depending on how much the opponent resists or is weak to Rock when they switch in.​

But if the opponent won't switch, you can force them to switch with Roar or Whirlwind.​

Sunny Day + Solarbeam + Chlorophyll Ability (AKA SunnyBeaming)

With the Chlorophyll Ability, you can double your speed after using Sunny Day, which means you will basically outrun all your opponents. Then you can also fire off Solarbeams in one turn. ​

Thunder Wave + Confuse Ray (AKA Parafusion)

When paralyzed, you have a 25% chance of not being able to attack. When confused, you have a 50% chance of hurting yourself. Combine the two status effects and you'll have a 75% chance of not being able to attack, which can be very annoying. ​

Toxic + Protect (AKA ToxicStalling)

Since Toxic damage increases gradually, you can stall for time by using Protect. Don't rely too much on this though - many Pokemon are immune to Toxic or can simply heal it off.​

Trick + Choice Band/Choice Specs/Choice Scarf

The item Choice Band powers up your Attack by 50%, Choice Specs boosts your Sp. Attack by 50%, and Choice Scarf boosts your Speed by 50%. All of these items limit you to only one move. If you hold a Choice item and use Trick, you'll gain the opponent's item while the opponent recieves Choice item. If the opponent doesn't have any moves to benefit from these items, it will be completely screwed over and this is certainly a sneaky way to disable certain opponents. ​

Wish + Protect

Wish heals your HP by 50%, but it works the turn after you use it. You may not be guaranteed to survive until then so use Protect the next turn to ensure that you will get healed. ​

Yawn + Focus Punch (AKA YawnPunch)

Yawn makes your opponent drowsy and unless they have something to cure or prevent Sleep, they will most likely switch out. You can then use Focus Punch on the turn they switch and hit whatever comes in with a powerful Fighting attack.​

The listed above involve different strategies that may help your team out. These are amongst the most popular and widely use, but keep in mind that there are many more.

It never hurts to use some defensive moves. In fact, the most n00biest thing to do is to build an entire team of 100% Sweepers. ​

Some moves that some trainers think are good - but really aren't ...​

Hyperbeam
It sounds strong, looks strong, but is it really? If you said no, have a cookie. When you math it out, you will find out Hyperbeam is one of the most horrible moves out there. First of all, Hyperbeam takes two turns to inflict a 150 Power. So if you divide 150 by 2, that will equal 75 Power. That means Hyperbeam only is inflicting 75 Power Moves each turn! Is that worth it? No. But if that's not enough to change your mind ... Hyperbeam can put your pokemon on the line. It needs a turn to recharge. A dangerous opponent pokemon could easily switch in to set up and sweep while the user with Hyperbeam is trapped on the field. So do not use Hyperbeam or any other form of it (Giga Impact, Hydrocannon, Roar of Time, etc.)

Fly, Dig, and Dive
They have decent power, and they can avoid the opponents attack for once. Sounds neat, right? If you said no, you're not getting a cookie this time, but you are still right. Remember that the opponent carries defensive moves too. So if you used Fly / Dig / Dive on the same turn they chose to use defense, you just gave them a free turn! Not to mention that the opponent can use Protect on the turn you attack. So Fly, Dig, or Dive should nevar (xD) be used.

Weak Moves
I know, kind of obvious, right? If a certain move outclasses it, then use the stronger move. There's no point in using the weaker one, just use the stronger one. Buut... there are some exceptions. Some moves like Ice Shard and Rapid Spin are used because they have a very nice effect. Even though they have low Power, they are still used because they have a side effect that can be very useful.

Low Accuracy

Accuracy can play a vital role in your survival. Moves with low Accuracy should be avoided. Thunder, Blizzard, etc. Even they have a whopping 120 base power, its still bad. They hardly ever hit, not to mention the abyssmally low PP. With a few hits and misses, those moves will run out fast. So try to avoid them. Note that moves like Stone Edge, Fire Blast, Focus Blast, Hydro Pump etc. are exceptions since they are found in standard sets and their accuracy isn't too bad. ​

Items

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Items can be very helpful in tight situations. And it never hurts to attach one to a Pokémon. But make the most of your items and only use the best ones.

Many beginning trainers think that some items are good, and they're really terrible.

Charcoal, Miracle Seed, etc. should not be used. If you built your moveset correctly, an item like Charcoal or Miracle Seed will only be boosting one attack's power. By the way, did I mention the Power Boost was very minimal? It only boosts a move's power by a 10% increase. So if you have a Weavile holding a Sharp Beak, it will raise Aerial Ace's power by 1.1

60 Base Power x 1.1 Sharp Beak = 66 Base Power

66 Base Power is barely any better than a 60 Power, so it's sort of a waste. Same thing goes for Plates. They boost an attack's Power by 1.2, but that's still barely any difference.

The better items used are more common. Some of the common items used are …

Life Orb
Leftovers
Choice Band
Choice Scarf
Choice Specs
Expert Belt
Wide Lens
And many more …

Team Building

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So now we've covered the single Pokémon topic, let's move on about how to build a team. ​

First, pick a certain thing about what your team should revolve around. Will it be a Sandstorm Team, a Rain Dance Team, a Trick Room team, or your general team? ​

Next, you have to select which pokémon would be most suitable for the jobs.​

A stable team should consist of ...​

At least 1 Physical Sweeper - A Pokémon who has a good attack stat and decent speed stat. It should be a Pokémon who can be able to take down a lot of opposing foes with physical offensive moves.

At least 1 Special Sweeper – A Pokémon who has a good special attack stat and decent speed stat. It should be a Pokémon who can be able to take down a lot of opposing foes with special offensive moves.

At least 1 Physical Wall – A Pokémon who can withstand a number of physical attacks and block the Physical Sweepers from destroying it. It should have a good defense stat and a lack of common physical element weaknesses.
At least 1 Special Wall – A Pokémon who can withstand a number of special attacks and block the Special Sweepers from destroying it. It should have a good special defense stat and a lack of common special element weaknesses. ​

The roles listed below are optional.​

Cleric – A Pokémon who can heal the team's status conditions. A cleric will most likely carry Aromatherapy or Heal Bell in their moveset.
Baton Passer – A Pokémon with access to Baton Pass and Substitute / Mean Look / Status Boosting moves.
Spinner - A Pokemon with access to Rapid Spin to Spin away Stealth Rock and Spikes that are laid down
Spiker / Rocker - A Pokemon with access to Spikes and / or Stealth Rock.
PseudoHazer (PHazer) / Hazer – A Pokémon with access to Haze or a move that forces the opponent to get rid of all their stat changes through battle.
Annoyer – A Pokémon that can be very irritating to take down because it uses a peculiar strategy. Particularly a strategy that prevents the moves of the opponent.
Tank - A Pokemon that can take numerous hits while still being able to inflict a good deal of damage. It should be able to stall. ​

Exploit your Weaknesses

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When a team is considered weak to another Pokémon or element, that means that 3 or more of the Pokémon have a type weakness. This means that no more than 2 Pokémon should share a common weakness or your team will get eliminated. A good way to check your weaknesses is by making a Threat List. ​

If you have minimal weaknesses, then congratulations! Your team passes this test! But if it doesn't, try making some adjustments to the lineup or movesets. ​

Useful PokeCommunity Resources:​

Mullet's Compiled Guides - https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=72415
Toothache's How to Write an RMT Post - https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=115492​

 

[Anti]

Very well done I'd say. There are a few things I'd like to add.

The last part about type weaknesses I don't find true in all sutations. There are some pokemon that should be exempt from the rule, like dugtrio. Duggy can't take any hit, let alone a supereffective one. Also, it you have Articuno with max SDef and HP and also CM Celebi and Forry, I don't think the fire weak is a big deal; I think so simply because Forry can't take a special hit anyways, Cuno can shrug off the damage, and celebi with recover and CM can stall stall stall. That's more of an ADV reference (sorry, just realised that), but you get the idea.

Also, Spiker/SRer and rapid spinner should be seperate roles totally.

 

[Dark Azelf]

Looks good.

Small nitpick, Items like Sharp beam in fact give a 20% or 1.2 boost this gen, not a 1.1 or 10 % like you said.

You could add also which pokemon give which evs that are common. As in

HP - Bidoof 1 ev point

Att - Machop 1 ev point / Bibarel and kriketune 2 ev points

Def - Geodude and Hippopotas 1 ev point

Sp.Att - Gastly 1 ev point

sp.def - Tentacool and Mantyke 1 ev point/ Tentacruel 2 ev points

speed - Magikarp, Starly, Zubat 1 ev point / Staravia 2 ev points.

 

[Azonic]

Thanx... and for the weaknesses part, its just true for most situations, not all of them ;)

Edit: okay Azelf, I'll add that :D

 

[Anti]

Well, actually in less than you think. For example, I once had a team where 4 pokemon were weak to ice beam, but the other two were snorlax (CBlax actually) and Regice ;) You're right, it isn't smart, but you can work around it. Ironically enough, I DO follow that guideline though :0

 

[luke]

Would of preferred if you had PM'd either Smarties or I to have this proofread first, but since it's well written so I'll let it slide. However, I have two teensy nit pickings:

Weak Moves
I know, kind of obvious, right? If a certain move outclasses it, then use the stronger move. There's no point in using the weaker one, just use the stronger one.

Not necessarily. There are situations where a weaker moves are preferred. Like Ice Shard over Ice Fang on Piloswine (Random Example). Also:

Low Accuracy

Accuracy can play a vital role in your survival. Moves with low Accuracy should be avoided. Fire Blast, Hydropump, Blizzard, etc. Even they have a whopping 120 base power, its still bad. They hardly ever hit, not to mention the abyssmally low PP. With a few hits and misses, those moves will run out fast. So try to avoid them.

Not 100% true. Blizzard, Fire Blast, Thunder, Hypnosis, Focus Blast, Megahorn, Stone Edge are all lower accuracy moves which are common place on many standard sets. Shouldn't completely discourage the reader from using these moves.

We really try to avoid stickying too many topics, but I think we can un-sticky a few other topics to clean up the forum.

 

[Glisctillery]

edit: sorry people, it appears my strategy has some flaws in it

 

[Anti]

Passing to choice item users is very risky and is generally a bad idea. If you're choiced into EQ, in comes Mence, for example.

 

[Glisctillery]

it's for late game sweep, since dragon claw takes any types that are not steel, i usually insert magnezone to wipe them out quickly

 

[Anti]

it's for late game sweep, since dragon claw takes any types that are not steel, i usually insert magnezone to wipe them out quickly

Setting up a late-game sweep with two pokemon is generally very complicated and usually not worth the trouble IMO. DDers and CMer are usually better with that kind of thing, and either your BPer or your sweeper to get the pass will likely die before you set up a sweep.

 

[Glisctillery]

well, i don't see how it is complicated, but since the subject you mentioned are way ou, they are expected easily and the opponent would have time to plan it out

many people i've come across on shoddy didn't even know hypno gets baton pass, they only had in their mind, an underused special wall

 

[Anti]

well, i don't see how it is complicated, but since the subject you mentioned are way ou, they are expected easily and the opponent would have time to plan it out

many people i've come across on shoddy didn't even know hypno gets baton pass, they only had in their mind, an underused special wall

I'm shocked by that, maybe it's because it's an XD move. But it can BP lots of stuff. Still, it's too risky to work.

And by complicated I mean...well...you'd have to basically scout for A LOT of pokemon and their moves of your foe. That is very difficult to do, and they'd probably figure out you're trying to set something up. and oh my, dugtrio can 2HKO Hypno while it can't do anything to defend itself :(

It's too situational is what I'm saying.

 

[LaurenLOVESTONED]

thank you for doing this. it taught me so much and answered all my questions about team building. good job :)

 

[Glisctillery]

I'm shocked by that, maybe it's because it's an XD move. But it can BP lots of stuff. Still, it's too risky to work.

And by complicated I mean...well...you'd have to basically scout for A LOT of pokemon and their moves of your foe. That is very difficult to do, and they'd probably figure out you're trying to set something up. and oh my, dugtrio can 2HKO Hypno while it can't do anything to defend itself :(

It's too situational is what I'm saying.

i see, well then i'll stop myself here then

consider my addition gone...

 

[Anti]

i see, well then i'll stop myself here then

consider my addition gone...

(this is where I go on a guilt trip.) Well, it could work if you put enough time into it, meaning your entire team was focused around it. I'd run donphan/gliscor/tangrowth and magnezone. Maggy can destroy skarm and growth/gliscor/phan can knock off any shed shells. Then, with skarm out of the way, you might have a shot at setting up the late-game sweep...PM me about it, with a lot of work you can develop a team that can focus on setting up that sweep and possibly work. Quite an interesting idea there ;)

 

[Azonic]

Would of preferred if you had PM'd either Smarties or I to have this proofread first, but since it's well written so I'll let it slide. However, I have two teensy nit pickings:

Weak Moves
I know, kind of obvious, right? If a certain move outclasses it, then use the stronger move. There's no point in using the weaker one, just use the stronger one.

Not necessarily. There are situations where a weaker moves are preferred. Like Ice Shard over Ice Fang on Piloswine (Random Example). Also:

Low Accuracy

Accuracy can play a vital role in your survival. Moves with low Accuracy should be avoided. Fire Blast, Hydropump, Blizzard, etc. Even they have a whopping 120 base power, its still bad. They hardly ever hit, not to mention the abyssmally low PP. With a few hits and misses, those moves will run out fast. So try to avoid them.

Not 100% true. Blizzard, Fire Blast, Thunder, Hypnosis, Focus Blast, Megahorn, Stone Edge are all lower accuracy moves which are common place on many standard sets. Shouldn't completely discourage the reader from using these moves.

We really try to avoid stickying too many topics, but I think we can un-sticky a few other topics to clean up the forum.

I'll fix that up. Thanks for Stickying it Loquacity ^^

 

[flamehaze94]

When a team is considered weak to another Pokémon or element, that means that 3 or more of the Pokémon have a type weakness. This means that no more than 2 Pokémon should share a common weakness or your team will get eliminated. A good way to check your weaknesses is by making a Threat List.

Not necessarily true. Anybody who says you have a weakness to ________ type is lol.

Pokemon is a "counter" game. A counter is something that can switch into an attacking Pokemon, with little to no harm, and can kill it or force said Pokemon to switch. A counter. It should be based off a "threat list", how you team does against those threats, not type coverage or trying to seal up type weaknesses.

Say for example I have this following team w/ the treats they take out:

Cresselia - Infernape, Electivire
Blissey - Raikou, Starmie, Porygon-Z, SpecsSalamence, Zapdos, Gengar
Porygon2 - Magnezone, Heatran, Dugtrio, Salamence, Gyarados
Heatran - Cresselia, Regice, Blissey, Claydol
Gyarados - Weavile, Tyranitar, Gyadados
Gliscor - Tyranitar, Heracross, Breloom, Metagross

3 weak to fighting? OH NOEZ! Noticed I didn't cover all the type weaknesses. But I just countered nearly all of the good OU threats. Perhaps the only thing I'm weak to is the standard SD Garchomp. That, made in 30 seconds, is an example of how a team sould look like. A team with good type weakness coverage is lol. A team that walls potential threats will always be the better team.

 

[Sora_8920]

Yep. There is very helpful, Azonic. GJ. I see nothing to add.

 

[Shiraishi]

GJ..You should add tanks, the evil pkmn who can dish out the pain and take some as well.

 

[Anti]

Oh, don't get me started on why I hate the way we define tanks...

The way I see it, tanks have to be able to stall...think about it, if they can't, they're usually sweepers or all-out walls. Things like special wall Raikou in ADV were tanks, Zapdos (resttalk) tanks, but it can't really take hits well, so I guess you could argue against that one. But I hope you get my general idea.