Thoughts on Competitive Battling

Headlines

Now that you’re essentially a Pokemon Master I want to take the time out to discuss my thoughts on Competitive Battling. I’ve had my ups and downs with battling, so I want to see how much other people can relate to me.

Gen 3 remakes tho?

That’s that Ish I Don’t Like

My number one pet peeve (and I’m sure it’s others’) is how unoriginal most teams are. People tend to use the strongest, most overused Pokemon in the game. There are only so many Aegislashs, Talonflames, and Rotom-Washes I can see before I start to lose it. Originality is a huge problem in competitive battling (and mostly every other online game), but what can you do about it? People want to win and they’ll do anything to do it. Just look at this picture...

http://nuggetbridge.com/articles/teams-vgc-14-viriginia-regional-championship/

It’s nice to win when and all, but are these people having fun? I could use one of those teams and probably win more than I do now, but I simply can’t bring myself to do that. When I’m building a team I like to use primarily Pokemon I used playing through the story mode, then add on from there. I’m not saying you have to do the same thing as me, but at least try to make the team personal.

This is the kind of love trainers should have with their Pokemon

But After all, it is Competitive Battling

I enjoy a good competition ever now and again, but sometimes I just want to have fun. I make teams that would be fun to use in a battle but stand no chance against anyone taking the battle serious. I wish there was a place where people could battle and not care about wins or losses (but actually thinking that would be possible is kind of crazy because I’m sure everyone loves to win).

And we're the three best friends that anybody could have~

I could always use my fun teams outside of competitive battling, in story mode, but where’s the fun in that? I want a challenge, but I don’t want to battle someone with a standard team (in whatever tier they may be in). And this is a problem I have with other games, more specifically Call of Duty, where I want to try different things but I can’t because everyone is using the most overused things in the game. This caused me to step away from Call of Duty, and more recently Pokemon Competitive Battling.

Oh, how true this image

Some Advice

If there’s one thing MisterFantasmo has taught me, it’s always have fun. I haven’t been having fun battling competitively lately, so I decided to step away and give it a break. The reason for me stepping away started when Smogon gave multiple Pokemon I used the Ban Hammer in their respected tiers (in Pokemon Showdown); this threw off the synergy for my teams and caused me a great deal of anger because my teams were now terrible. The reason that really caused me to turn away is the unoriginality with a lot of people’s teams. I’m not going to lie; competitive battling has legitimately made me angry, and I’m a person who doesn’t typically get angry.

MisterFantasmo, aka Andre

My advice would be if you’re not having fun step away from the game; and the great thing about this advice is it can be applied to many things. The odds of doing better angry are low, so it would be more beneficial to come back when your mind is clear. I don’t know when I’ll come back to competitive battling, probably when Mega Lucario gets unbanned from Ubers (Highly Unlikely), but I hope my information has been helpful.

Mega Mewtwo Y vs. Mega Lucario

Until Next Time

Goodbye, for now, Until we meet again~

Gotta Stay One Step Ahead

Intro

We’ve wrapped up pretty much everything there is to know about competitive battling. I’m 100% sure I missed something important, but now it’s time to learn some important tactics for the battle field. Competitive battling is like chess; you want to stay several moves ahead of the opponent. I may not be a good team builder, but I love to strategize.

See even the evil organizations had strategies, it just so happened that
their plans were foiled by the likes of children

Strategizing might be hard to explain because it’s one of the things you learn better from experience, but I’ll do my best to try and explain it.

Be sure to check out previous post if you find yourself confuzzled: http://pokeswerve.blogspot.com/

Choosing Your Lead

The first Pokemon you choose to lead with is essential. If you can figure out what Pokemon your opponent is going to lead with you can easily counter them; there’s a Team Preview before the battle, so each trainer knows what Pokemon the other trainer has. Common leads include Pokemon that sets up Entry Hazards and fast Pokemon with moves like U-Turn or Volt Switch, which can be referred to as Scouts.

Sorry no pictures of any of those leads, I don't
like them plus their pictures are in their links :P

Common leads:

·       Cloyster – Early game sweeper

·       Victini – U-Turner

·       Ambipom – Fake Out/U-Turner

·       Galvantula – Focus Sashed to ensure Sticky Web

·       Smeargle – Focus Sashed to ensure Hazards/Spore

·       Ninjask – Baton Pass user

Things to consider when you’re choosing a lead:

·       Look for a Pokemon that can set up Entry Hazards on your opponent’s team

·       Check to see if they have a Spinner/Defogger in case you want to get up your Entry Hazards

o   That tells you if you want to get your Entry Hazards up sooner or later

·       A good stop to leads with Hazards is using a Pokemon with Taunt, this prevents the use of any non-attacking move

Serperior is a lead I like to use because it's fast, and it can 
learn Taunt and Dual Screens (Light Screen and Reflect)

·       When in doubt, choose a Scout

o   If you’re unsure of what your opponent will lead with, it might be a good idea to check it out and switch out

Example of choosing a lead:

·       I like to lead with my Swampert, to put up Hazards, and sometimes trainers predict that and counter with a Grass-Type Pokemon or one that knows a Grass-Type move.

o   They predicted me to lead with Swampert, and now I’m forced to switch out because Swampert is 4x weak to Grass.

It wouldn't be a good post without my boy Kippert

Switching

Switching is one of the most important parts of a battle. Unlike a normal play through of a Pokemon game, trainers in competitive battles switch their Pokemon, a lot. Also if you’re used to the Shift Battle Style you can forget about that because all competitive battles are on the Set Battle Style, meaning you can’t switch out after you faint an opponent’s Pokemon.

Switching is all about the type matchup. Your Grass-Type Pokemon isn’t going to want to stay in on a Fire-Type Pokemon, well unless you know it’s not going to faint.

·       Trainers will normally switch into a Pokemon that has a type advantage over your Pokemon, or a Pokemon that may not have the type advantage but some way to deal with your Pokemon.

o   One reason a trainer may switch into your Pokemon with a Pokemon that has a disadvantage is if they’re Sacrificing it; meaning that don’t need it anymore.

·       Having Pokemon with a diverse move pool is very beneficial. This way you’re able to do more damage to a wider range of Pokemon.

Risk vs. Reward

This is a big part of competitive battling. When battling you want to get inside your opponent’s head by picking up on their tendencies. After picking up on their tendencies you’ll want to try and predict what they’re going to do next. That can either be a good thing, where you’re right, or a bad thing, where you’re wrong.

A lot of the times I’ll go for the risk, YOLO, and more times than not I get the short end of the stick. But once the risk pays becomes a reward, oh boy, does that feel amazing!

 

Here’s a video (14mins) about Risk vs. Reward: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLxFpaVQVmU

Wrap Up

For me the biggest part of learning strategy is through experience. Once you’ve had more battles you start picking up on things. And I’ll tell you, SOME PEOPLE ARE NOT ORIGINAL! You’ll most likely be seeing similar things on people teams, so you’ll eventually/hopefully figure out a way to stop them. It’s not like it’s the end of the world is you lose; I’ve lost my fair share of battles and I keep going (mostly out of boredom because I’ve started to hate competitive battling, but that’s a story for another time).

Say It Ain't So Cuh! We're Building Teams

Megatone Blast Blast
Now that we know what roles Pokemon play, it’s time to build a team of six. There are plenty of combinations, but there are some roles that should always be considered. Making a competitive team is way different from putting together a team for a standard play through for the game.

Check out my post on roles so you’re not completely lost: http://pokeswerve.blogspot.com/2014/04/know-your-role.html

*Disclaimer – I am horrible at making teams, as I only use Pokemon I like and in today’s generation that just doesn’t cut it, so I’ll do my best to explain what I know and what I’ve seen.

Know Your Weaknesses

It’s important to avoid having too many Pokemon with the same weakness. Having multiple Pokemon with the same weakness can make it easier for the opponent to sweep. This means having a Mono-type team (Team with only one type of Pokemon) is NOT a good idea. Having Pokemon with a variety of types on your team gives you more resistances, and more resistances should result in less damage in the long run.

Check out my post of weaknesses and what not if you need a refresher: http://pokeswerve.blogspot.com/2014/03/enter-world-ofcompetitive-battling-note.html

Synergy

A word I hear thrown around a lot in competitive battling is Synergy. If you don’t know what Synergy is, it’s basically being able to work well with others. Here’s an example of my team’s Synergy…

Roserade

·       My girl Roserade (Grs/Psn) doesn’t like to take Flying, Fire, or Ice hits, but my boy Swampert (Wtr/Grd) doesn’t mind them (as long as they’re physical hits). On the other hand Swampert doesn’t like to take Grass hits, but Roserade is all about that life.

o   They have each other’s back by being able to take a hit for one another, and that’s good synergy

Swampert

Synergy and Weaknesses kind of go hand-in-hand, because you want your Pokemon to work off of each other and you can do that by having one Pokemon step in for another to take that damage.

Roles I Believe are Important

Two of the most important roles, in my opinion, are:

·       A Pokemon that can set up hazards (Hazarder)

o   I say this because hazards do the chip damage that can add up over time, and possibly win you the battle

·       A Pokemon that can get rid of hazards (Spinner/Defogger)

o   I say this because you want to avoid being at a disadvantage as much as possible

If I were to choose one it’d be the Spinner/Defogger because I’d rather not deal with hazards in the first place. Luckily if you do want to use both of these roles, some Pokemon can be both Hazarders and Spinners/Defoggers like that like Donphan and Empoleon.

Empolyolyoleon~

Setting up a Team

Like I said, I’m bad at setting up teams, but here’s what I think as standard team looks like:

·       Physical Attacker

·       Special Attacker

·       Physical Wall/Tank/Healer

·       Special Wall/Tank/Healer

·       Another Attacker

·       Spinner/Hazards OR Any other role because Spinner/Hazards could be mixed in with another role

Pokemon can serve multiple roles on the field, especially the defensive ones. Having a balance of Attackers and Defenders is something to look for in making a team.

Types of Teams

For the most part, I would say teams focus around getting their LeBron, or star Pokemon (sorry for the sports reference) to come in to do the most work. For example, when I’m battling, I want to make it to where my Mega Lucario can come in and EFF STUFF UP! With that aside, here are examples of some other types teams:

·       Hyper Offense – The goal of a team like this is Damage. As I’ve seen from BlameTruth, you may want one Pokemon as a lead to set up Hazards for you, but other than that it’s strictly all Pokemon that go for damage.

o   I like the concept of this team, but I haven’t been able to pull off a Hyper Offensive team that is effective.

Mega Lucario, such a beast. Has offense for days!

·       Weather Teams – The goal of a team like this is to use a specific weather condition, like Sunny Day, Hail, or Rain. You would want to use moves and abilities that receive a benefit from that set weather condition. With Gen VI Weather Teams got a nerf because Weather Abilities don’t make weather last forever, but these teams are still effective.

o   I’ve grown to like the Sun Team I made, but other than that I’m not a big fan.

Politoed can make it Rain with its Drizzle ability

When it's raining Noivern's Hurricane has 100% accuracy

·       Trick Room Team – The goal of a team like this is to have slower Pokemon go first, thanks to Trick Room. Your opponent, who may be used to going first, is now going last and you have the upper hand.

Slowking would work well in Trick Room Teams

Here’s where I found these teams, but there’s also some interesting info here, so be sure to give it a read: http://www.usgamer.net/articles/pokemon-x-and-y-multiplayer-guide

An Example of One of My Teams

Mega Lucario – Physical Sweeper

Togekiss – Special Sweeper

Umbreon – Specail Tank/Healer

Swampert – Physical Tank/Hazards

Roserade – Special Attacker

Latias – Special Attacker/Defogger

As you can see, half of my team has more than one role. This team puts in work in Pokemon X/Y Wi-Fi battles but not so much in Pokemon Showdown. In Pokemon Showdown my team is considered Ubers because I have ONE Uber on it, that being Mega Lucario.

*Pokemon X/Y Wi-Fi battles don’t use tiers, whereas Pokemon Showdown does. If you want a recap on tiers be sure to check out my post: http://pokeswerve.blogspot.com/2014/04/tiers-and-rules.html

Au Revoir

I don’t think I can stress it enough about how bad I am with Team Building, so I’ll leave you with links that can actually help you. I gave you a basic way of creating a team, but it’s really important that you know how to build a good team. I think I’ve covered majority of the important things, so next time we begin to wrap it up.

Links…

·       An online guide: http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon/Competitive_battling/Making_a_Team

·       A video for Pokemon X & Y: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USTY697_3oU

·       A video for Pokemon Showdown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKg_xhB65dI

Know Your Role

Know Your Role

Heads Up

Be sure to check out previous post if something doesn’t make sense by scrolling down or the link: http://pokeswerve.blogspot.com/

We’ve come pretty far in this journey, but now it’s time to get into the good stuff. In this part I’ll be explaining the different roles Pokemon can play and giving an example. Just remember, my examples aren’t the only way to use a Pokemon.

I’ll be getting the list of roles from here: http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon/Competitive_battling/The_%22Job_System%22

It's about Natures, and those are similar to stats

Stat Breakdown (Key):

Hp – Hit Points

Atk – Attack

Def – Defense

Sp. Atk – Special Attack

Sp. Def – Special Defense

Spe – Speed

*Roles*

Physical Sweeper (Attackers)

Physical Sweepers have a High Attack Stat, and will either be categorized as “Fast” or “Bulky.”

·       Fast Physical Sweepers

o   Max EVs in Spe and Atk with a nature that boosts either one of those stats, but takes away from Sp. Atk.

§  Faster (Jolly)

§  Stronger (Adamant)

o   Items to consider using…

§  Choice Band/Scarf

§  Life Orb

§  Expert Belt

o   An example of a (my favorite) Fast Physical Sweeper…

§  Mega Lucario (Fighting/Steel)

Item: Lucarionite

Nature: Jolly

EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Atk/ 252 Spe

Ability: Adaptability

Moves: Close Combat

             Bullet Punch

             Crunch

             Earthquake

·       Bulky Physical Sweepers

o   Typically have decent Def, so you want max EVs in Atk and HP

§  Adamant nature is better because Spe isn’t as important

o   Items to consider using…

§  Choice Band

§  Life Orb

§  Leftovers

o   An example of a Bulky Physical Sweeper…

§  Swampert (Water/Ground)

Item: Leftovers

Nature: Adamant

EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Atk/ 4 Def

Ability: Torrent

Moves: Waterfall

             Earthquake

             Ice Punch

             Power-Up Punch

Special Sweepers (Attackers)

Same concept as Physical Sweepers, but with High Special Attack Stat instead of Atk.

·       Fast Special Sweepers

o   Max EVs in Spe and Sp. Atk with a nature that boosts either one of those stats, but takes away from Atk.

§  Faster (Timid)

§  Stronger (Modest)

o   Items to consider using…

§  Choice Specs/Scarf

§  Life Orb

§  Expert Belt

o   An example of a (my favorite) Fast Special Sweeper…

§  Togekiss (Fairy/Flying)

Item: Choice Scarf

Nature: Timid

EVs: 252 Sp. Atk/ 4 Sp. Def/ 252 Spe

Ability: Serene Grace

Moves: Dazzling Gleam

             Air Slash

             Aura Sphere

             Flamethrower

·       Bulky Special Sweepers

o   Typically have decent Sp. Def, so you want max EVs in Sp. Atk and HP

§  Modest nature is better because Spe isn’t as important

Turrable Quality

o   Items to consider using…

§  Choice Specs

§  Life Orb

§  Leftovers

§  Assault Vest

o   An example of a (my favorite) Bulky Special Sweeper…

§  Roserade (Grass/Poison)

Item: Assault Vest

Nature: Modest

EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Sp. Atk/ 4 Sp. Def

Ability: Natural Cure

Moves: Giga Drain

             Sludge Bomb

             Extrasensory

             Hidden Power Fire

Walls

A Wall’s job is to take hits.

Physical Walls focus on Def and Special Walls focus on Sp. Def

·       They will have a high Def/Sp. Def stat and a high to decent HP stat

·       Max EVs in HP and Def/Sp. Def

o   Calm, Bold, Impish, and Careful are all natures that benefit Def/Sp. Def and lower Atk/Sp. Atk (Increase the Defense you want to focus and decrease the Attack stat you don’t need)

o   Items to consider using…

§  Leftovers

§  Assault Vest

o   An example of a Special Wall…

§  Umbreon (Dark)

Item: Leftovers

Nature: Careful

EVs: 252 HP/ 4 Def/ 252 Sp. Def

Ability: Synchronize

Moves: Heal Bell

             Protect

             Wish

             Foul Play

Tanks - Physical/Speical

Are like walls, they can take hits, but they can also do some damage.

Physical Tanks focus on Def and Special Tanks focus on Sp. Def

·       They will have a high Def/Sp. Def stat, and a high to decent HP and Atk/Sp. Atk stat

·       Max EVs in Def/Sp. Def with some in HP and some in Atk/Sp. Atk

o   Calm, Bold, Impish, and Careful are all natures that benefit Def/Sp. Def and lower Atk/Sp. Atk (Increase the Defense you want to focus and decrease the Attack stat you don’t need)

o   Items to consider using…

Mudkip tho

§  Leftovers

§  Assault Vest

o   An example of a Physical Tank…

§  Swampert (Water/Ground)

Item: Leftovers

Nature: Impish

EVs: 196 HP/ 60 Atk/ 252 Def

Ability: Torrent

Moves: Waterfall

             Stealth Rock

             Protect

             Avalanche

Healers

These Pokemon are typically Walls; a lot of HP and Def/Sp. Def. These Pokemon can heal other members of your team. Healers use moves like Wish (two turn move that heals equivalent of half or the wishing Pokemon) and Heal Bell/Aromatherapy (gets rid of the whole team’s Status Conditions).

·       Item to consider…

o   Leftovers

·       My example of Umbreon is also an example of a Healer

Even Gary Oak uses an Umbreon

Stallers

These Pokemon too are typically Walls; a lot of HP and Def/Sp. Def. Stallers are Pokemon that can inflict a status like Burn or Poison, use Protect (protects user for one turn) and can regenerate HP long enough until the opposing Pokemon faints.

·       This is, to me and possibly others, kind of cheap but it works. A good stop to this tactic is a Pokemon with Taunt (taunted Pokemon can’t use non-attacking moves).

·       Item to consider…

o   Leftovers

·       My example of Umbreon if you replace Heal Bell with Toxic is also an example of a Staller

It would be a shame if you were to get stalled out

Hazarder

These can be mixed with other Roles. This role is for Pokemon that put up Entry Hazards. Getting up Entry Hazards can change the pace of a game, because if you get a Pokemon to low enough HP they will faint upon entering. Roar (randomly switches opponent’s Pokemon) is a good move to use alongside Entry Hazards because you can keep dealing that damage. 

List of Entry Hazards… (Click here for details)

·       Stealth Rock

·       Sticky Web

·       Spikes/Toxic Spikes

o   My example of Swampert (Tank) is an example of a Pokemon that can get up Hazards

Spinners (Defoggers)

These can be mixed with other Roles as well. Spinners are Pokemon that use Rapid Spin to get Hazards off the Trainer’s side of the field, and Defoggers are Pokemon that use Defog to get Hazards off both sides of the field.

·       Rapid Spin

·       Defog

o   An example of a Defogger (Also a Fast Special Sweeper)…

§  Latias (Dragon/Psychic)

Item: Leftovers

Nature: Timid

EVs: 252 Sp. Atk/ 4 Sp. Def/ 252 Spe

Ability: Levitate

Moves: Dragon Pulse

             Psyshock

             Thunderbolt

             Defog

Until Next Time

These are some of the big name roles that I know, there are plenty others so feel free to check out the link I posted up top. Also I may not be 100% accurate with the descriptions; I’m mostly going off of what I know and some research.