Pokémon Trainer Dave: 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.