How do you go about teambuilding?

[Palamon]

How do you go about building the best competitive team? This can applied to both in-game and showdown, btw.

 

[gimmepie]

Generally? I'll start with a specific Pokemon or core that I want to work with and then build around that. I have this mental checklist in my head where I basically go

-Core (For beginners I typically just suggest Fire/Water/Grass)
-VoltTurn (Technically this is a core for a lot of teams but I keep it separate anyway)
-Hazards
-Hazard removal
-Megas/Z-Moves (This will become Dynamax now I guess).

I mix and match and don't always follow that but it's helpful as something to fall back on if I ever get stuck.

It's also important to make sure you know about the common threats and trends in the meta you're planning to participate in because you need to have checks and counters prepared for those.

 

[Sirfetch’d]

To be honest? I mostly wing it. There are a few boxes that I absolutely check(Stealth Rock, Defog or Rapid Spin, checks for the most prominent Pokemon currently) but other than that I pick a few Pokemon that look interesting and build around them.

 

[MargatroidCA]

Yeah I'm trash at teambuiliding, I usually just wing it and pick a 'mon or two I wanna use, then try to find cool (but still sensible) partners for them.

 

[Levea]

A way in which one can build a viable team that is best for the current metagame is to build around a core whilst covering the top 3 or 5 threats in the metagame. For example, say the top three threats are A-Greninja, Heatran, and Tapu lele. The team that I would want to build must be capable of dealing with these threats consistently. I might perhaps place Bulu on my team to deal with the A-Greninja ( Assuming the majority lack gunk shot and ice beam) and non-specs variant Tapu Lele, I might also bring a Heatran of my own to synergize with bulu and act as a secondary buffer to Lele if it lacks the Z-Move or also place a Rotom-W to deal with Heatran defensively and gain momentum off of it. I would then perhaps place a few offensive threats to capitalize off of rotom-W's ability to gain momentum. Perhaps I would add Landorus-T for additional u-turn and defog/rocks support. I could then add mons like M-Mawile for u-turn and core synergy with the after mentioned Bulu + Heatran + Rotom-W core or Kartana for the same purpose with the added benefit of shredding teams in the later half of the game. Finally I would make absolutely sure that I have rocks/defog or a way in which to deal with hazards on the team and also get a mon that can gain offensive momentum off of stalls as well as toxapex. such an example would be Tapu Lele ( assuming that M-Mawile or sucker punch is not used. Overall this is just an example of one method that I would use to go about building a decent team for any metagame.

 

[Dark Azelf]

I personally adhere to the ancient sacred elf scrub transgression tactics of 5 annoying walls and a wall or if im feeling really frisky, 5 annoying walls and a tank just to really offensively pressure my opponent. Also the more things that have spikes variations and will-o-wisp and/or toxic and Trick Scarf Gothitelle/Tickle Wobbuffett + Pursuit + Mega Sableye the better. ;)

This visual aid will help with the process and desired end result r.e: your team/ retaking Constantinople;

 

[gimmepie]

I personally adhere to the ancient sacred elf scrub transgression tactics of 5 annoying walls and a wall or if im feeling really frisky, 5 annoying walls and a tank just to really offensively pressure my opponent. Also the more things that have spikes variations and will-o-wisp and/or toxic and Trick Scarf Gothitelle/Tickle Wobbuffett + Pursuit + Mega Sableye the better. ;)

This visual aid will help with the process and desired end result r.e: your team/ retaking Constantinople;

Okay, this is hilarious.