RE: The Competitive Battling Simple Questions Thread
100% newb question, but what are the common dangers of an all out offensive team? Is it better to mix and match, or should you stick to one team format?
RE: The Competitive Battling Simple Questions Thread
An all-out offensive team is prone to easily getting swept. Usually, heavy offense means low bulk, and as such your Pokemon can easily be destroyed if an opponent manages to set up. Being full offensive also means that your team can be completely walled by certain Pokemon or combos (e.g. SkarmBliss), which you won't be able to defeat due to you not running bulkier sets, special conditions, and hazards. Hazard setting is another problem, since, while offensive hazard setters do exist, they are often more unreliable than bulky and/or support hazard setters, and can't always set up SR or a layer of Spikes.
RE: The Competitive Battling Simple Questions Thread
To add a few tips to consider with what Ice Jackal said:
Multiple parallel strategies definitely help. For example, If you spread paralysis, you can help a slower, more bulky pokemon attack relatively faster (possibly pulling off a sweep) and at the same time you can set up for Paraflinch (the use of paralysis + a Serene Grace pokemon like Jirachi/togekiss who also caries a high flinch rate move). As a counter example, conflicting strategies would be trying to spread burn and/or paralysis while using Toxic Spikes. The poison will prevent burn/paralysis related strategy from being used.
A fairly standard set of (extremely general) roles for a team is:
Leads/Anti-Leads
These are the pokemon you intend to send out first. They usually set hazzards or focus on spreading damage/statuses to make a later sweep easier. Anti-Leads are pokemon sent out first designed to take out an opponent's lead before it can set up for the rest of the foe's team (usually caries Taunt, Priority moves, or Flinch moves). Sometimes a lead is designed to stay in and do as much as possible (damage-wise or staus as well) before fainting, this giving a fresh start o the second pokemon coming in. This type of lead would be called a Suicide Lead.
Sweepers/Cleaners
These are usually glass cannons, or hard hitters with 2-3 attacks yielding good offensive coverage (and usually are faster than the tier average). These can be Physically based, Specially based, or use Mixed attacks depending on the species and what you intend to take out. The last moves often are boosting or phazing (forced switch) moves to try to compensate for pokemon that could wall your sweeper. These often come out late-game to clean up the foe's weakened team.
Boosting Sweepers
These vary a tad from normal sweepers in that they are usually bulkier pokemon that rely on 2 or more boosts to power up before they begin a sweep (Volcarona is a good example). The usually hit harder and are harder to KO, but can be easily foiled by an inopportune Phazing move (like roar, whirlwind, etc). Some battle settings (like VGC) are not favorable to this "class" of pokemon.
The Trolls
Know by many names, including "pests," "annoyers," etc. This would be something that primarily uses status moves to cripple, switch, confuse, or otherwise just mess with the opponent making it hard to make progress against your team. Sableye is a prime example, having access to moves like Will-o-Wisp, Toxic, Confuse Ray, Taunt, Foul Play, Recover, and many other tools (most of which getting Priority thanks to Prankster) that can be combined to infuriate the opponent.
The Core
Usually 2-3 pokemon that are designed to absorb attacks aimed at the others' weaknesses. Common past defensive cores in OU include Jellicent+Ferrothorn (JelliThorn) and Skarmory+Blissey (SkarmBliss). When played right, switching between the members of the defensive core while properly predicting the incoming moves can help wear down a status-afflicted foe while minimizing the damage it deals. Pokemon in this group are usually called Tanks or Walls, depending on weather they focus on spreading damage or status while absorbing hits, or may also focus on setting up Entry Hazards (Spikes, Stealth Rock, etc.) or acting as a Cleric for the team (Healing status/healing allies' HP)
Not all roles need to be used on every team. The key is finding a good mix that also minimizes weakness to a particular type
VGC are only held at Regionals, States, Nationals, and Worlds, Regionals start again in January (2 weeks). Replied to this old question just in case anyone else may be wondering. Since it is a commonly asked question.
ShinyVincent said:
I have a Sand Veil Garchomp, but i want to change it for another Pokemon, any suggestions?
RE: The Competitive Battling Simple Questions Thread
So, I'm looking to build a very defensive team using entry hazards and Toxic Spikes to wear down the opponent. Some of the Pokemon on the team will most likely be Tentacruel (set up Toxic Spikes and as a Spinner), Goodra (massive SpD), and possibly Mega Gyarados (bulky with power). Any ideas for a good spinblocker for the team that can handle Excadrill fairly well? Or a better Mega Evolution if you can think of one for this kind of team?
Prankster adds 1 to any status moves (moves that don't deal direct damage), but doesn't have a priority slot of it's own since it is an ability, not a move. This means Roar/Whirlwind become -5 priority, Trick Room becomes -6, Will-o-Wisp/Twave/etc. become +1, and so on.
Sucker Punch is +1 priority while Extreme Speed is +2. Protect and most of it's variants are +4 while Quick Guard is +3 (these rise to +5 and +4 respectively when used in connection with Prankster). Fake Out is +3 priority.
RE: The Competitive Battling Simple Questions Thread
Hi guys, I've been a sucky battler in previous gens, and I've been playing the last few days after getting through X when I got it for Christmas and I've been having fun and actually figuring things out for myself which is cool. I put together a team, and I won't clog this up and try and make an RMT or anything but I wanted to have people evaluate some of my battling skill things. I've been figuring that my real weakness is I don't focus. I don't think at all. And I get burnt because when I'm battling I'm not in a battling mentality. I guess my simple competitive question(s) for the "The Competitive Battling Simple Questions Thread" are:
Do you guys have any tips for how/what to be doing when thinking a few steps ahead?
Without too much detail, is the core of this team I built semi solid looking and does the general concept of how I want to win sound solid?
Here's my team:
I built it around two cores:
A Scarf Rotom-W/Banded Scizor who abuse Volt Switch/U-Turn to keep the advantage on my side
A Wish Passing Sylveon who tanks Special and MegAggron who is a complete monster against both Physical and Special attacks.
My other two Pokes are Scarf Medicham and Jellicent
Generally my strategy is to keep pressure on the other team by basically playing the game of "Who do you want to switch in on Hi Jump Kick?" and the pokemon I have frequently either causes switches due to their resistances or are switching out and giving me momentum. I don't have a dedicated sweeper or a lot of the other typical roles I just try to knock away big chunks of health before the opponent can say boo.
RE: The Competitive Battling Simple Questions Thread
Now, I'm no guru of competitive, but that looks great to me, except I don't think that scarf Medicham is the best choice there. I'm struggling to come up with alternate suggestions here, but seeing as that isn't a OU (over-used tier, meaning good by Smogon's standards, if you weren't aware) Pokemon, I would think there is a better option. More information on what specifically he does might be helpful. Anyone who knows more feel free to add to this. I feel as though type wise, you don't have many common weaknesses among team members, except maybe fire and dark, but you have Pokemon you can switch in when predicting attacks of either of those types. I think it's solid. I would post the roles of each Pokemon on the team, or just make an RMT thread.
RE: The Competitive Battling Simple Questions Thread
47bennyg said:
Hi guys, I've been a sucky battler in previous gens, and I've been playing the last few days after getting through X when I got it for Christmas and I've been having fun and actually figuring things out for myself which is cool. I put together a team, and I won't clog this up and try and make an RMT or anything but I wanted to have people evaluate some of my battling skill things. I've been figuring that my real weakness is I don't focus. I don't think at all. And I get burnt because when I'm battling I'm not in a battling mentality. I guess my simple competitive question(s) for the "The Competitive Battling Simple Questions Thread" are:
Do you guys have any tips for how/what to be doing when thinking a few steps ahead?
Without too much detail, is the core of this team I built semi solid looking and does the general concept of how I want to win sound solid?
Here's my team:
I built it around two cores:
A Scarf Rotom-W/Banded Scizor who abuse Volt Switch/U-Turn to keep the advantage on my side
A Wish Passing Sylveon who tanks Special and MegAggron who is a complete monster against both Physical and Special attacks.
My other two Pokes are Scarf Medicham and Jellicent
Generally my strategy is to keep pressure on the other team by basically playing the game of "Who do you want to switch in on Hi Jump Kick?" and the pokemon I have frequently either causes switches due to their resistances or are switching out and giving me momentum. I don't have a dedicated sweeper or a lot of the other typical roles I just try to knock away big chunks of health before the opponent can say boo.
For question 1, there are a couple of things you can do to think ahead, and they don't really require you to burn your brain too much. I use these when laddering and it helps immensely.
First look at team preview and assess 3 things:
What pokemon on the opposing team are going to be the most threatening? If you know which pokemon you are going to have trouble dealing with, you can make different plays accordingly. (For example: If your team is weak to Charizard, you might be more inclined to switch in a Water-type check instead of a Grass-type one, because the Grass one will let Charizard switch in rather easily.)
What pokemon on YOUR team are going to threaten your opponent? If you figure this out, you know which pokemon you need to keep alive as long as possible. I can't tell you how many games I've lost because I recklessly sacrificed my fighting checks followed by getting swept by something like Heracross. Just knowing which pokemon to keep alive is nice, and it doesn't require too much thought. Also knowing that your opponent has very little to stop a SD Lucario might make you more inclined to set up and sweep with that instead of your Volcarona.
Last: Figure out what your opponent might lead with. Look for pokemon with U-turn, Volt Switch, and entry hazard moves (Stealth Rock, Spikes, etc.) These pokemon will typically be the ones that lead, and it makes your opponent's lead much easier to counter. You can gain a lot of momentum just by having a solid advantage on turn 1.
This seems like a lot, but I promise it doesn't take a lot of thought. It's just a very quick overview of your team's matchup against your opponent's. As for thinking ahead, I generally go 1 turn at a time. I don't try and think 2 or 3 turns ahead unless I absolutely have to. I generally only try to stay 1 turn ahead of my opponent, and it works out fairly well. Just think of what your opponent's safest move is, and most of the time they will go with that move.
For question 2, the Rotom/Scizor core is great and always will be. The 2nd core is also pretty great. I use a very similar one in UU, using a WishPassing Florges and Mega Aggron. This is where there's a slight problem: The two cores are conflicting cores. Individually, both cores are great. However when you put them together, you have one that's based around offensive synergy and one that's based around defensive synergy. You'll end up losing momentum with the defensive core when you could be keeping it up with a more offensive one. It is nice to have one or two pivots on an offensive team, but you don't want a completely defensive core. At least that's the way I feel. Somebody else can correct me if I'm wrong.
I also think the last 2 pokemon could be switched up a bit. There are several Fighting-types I'd rather use over Medicham. Scarf Keldeo, SD Lucario, and any Terrakion are going to be superior to Medicham, I think. The three of them are faster than Medicham (or in Lucario's case, it has priority in Extremespeed and Bullet Punch), and they have the potential to sweep due to either their coverage options or their setup moves. I also don't like that anything with Protect or any Ghost-type can make Medicham lose 50% of its HP if it uses Hi Jump Kick.
Jellicent is a bit of an eh. I feel like it could be replaced, I just don't know what I would replace it with at this particular time...there are better ghost-types and better water-types, but I"m not sure which one would be the best fit for this particular team.
RE: The Competitive Battling Simple Questions Thread
The remainder of the turn it is used on. With +1 priority, most normal type moves are covered. I have yet to test how the move works when other pokemon have Pixilate, Aerate, etc. and use a normal type move. Note that status moves are also effected by Ion Deluge, so abilities like Volt Absorb can be activated via moves like Swagger. With it's poor distribution and reliance on heavy prediction of an incoming normal type move, I don't see it being that useful or even worth the move slot in most cases.
RE: The Competitive Battling Simple Questions Thread
Okay thanks for the info.
Also, all descriptions for Electric Terrain only mention the sleep thing. Is that all it does or does it also increase electric type moves?
