slant Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Battling 101 Guide by Slant and Destructive Skitty ------------------------------------- I. Welcome to Battling 101! So this section has seen a huge increase in the number of guides on the different tiers of the game. No matter the tier though, you can't win matches without a solid understanding of the basics. We've both tutored our fair share of new players and this guide is an amalgamation of all the tips and tricks that we've tried to pass on. Before we get started and move into the details though, let's get one thing clear about the basic philosophy behind Pokemon strategy: A good strategy is one that allows the player to win consistently and with minimal risk. If you don't agree with this statement, you likely won't agree with a lot of what is said in this guide. This means we won't be focusing on gimmicks, surprise factor, or innovation. Gimmicks and surprises won't likely win you games in the long run although they might work in the short run. On the other hand there is something to be said about inventing and running innovative movesets, but it requires a lot of experience and having a better understanding of the metagame. So this guide is going to focus on developing solid and dependable strategies for battling. I know it's not really flashy or exciting and everyone wants to go and try battling with all sorts of crazy shit, but unfortunately you have to walk before you run. Just get the basics down first. -------------------------------------------- II. Teambuilding To me, teambuilding is THE most important part of the match. A match between two Pokemon trainers is 60% teambuilding and 40% battling skill. Put another way, if you build your team right, then depending on team matchup the game may already be won or lost before the match even starts. The biggest pitfall I see people make in teambuilding is that they don't have a gameplan in mind, they just throw random Pokemon into the team that cover each other's weaknesses typing-wise. Don't do this. The most important part of teambuilding is to -have a plan-. One way to go about doing this is to start with your "win condition", i.e. figure out exactly how you're going to win, and then work backwards from there. I can't stress the importance of this idea enough. Without a plan you are just farting around, akin to sailing without a rudder. With a plan you have purpose; at any moment you should know exactly what your short-term and long-term goals are in the match and give some idea about how to execute your strategy effectively. Here's an example of a quick walkthrough of the teambuilding process. Observe that the key question I answer at every step is, 'how does this team member contribute to my win condition'? : Teambuilding example -I start with my win condition: spamming powerful flying moves (birdspam). There are few enough counters to flying moves as it is - between M-Pinsir and Talonflame, one of the two should be able to wear down its counters enough for the other to attempt a sweep. -Immediately there is a stealth rock weakness. I add in Excadrill for spin support and the typing complements quite nicely as well (rock and electric resist). -The biggest counters to birdspam are Heatran, Rotom-W, and Tyranitar. I add in Sub Kyurem-B, which can set up and OHKO the first two pokemon and chunk the latter pretty hard from behind a sub. The typing again is great, with a sorely needed water and electric resistance. -The main problem now is that it is tough to switch in my offensive pokemon since they are all relatively frail. I add in a slow u-turn core of Landorus-T and Rotom-W to maximize my chances of switching in Pinsir, Talonflame, or Kyurem-B for free. Again the typing is great and now I also have a stealth rocker in Landorus-T. Of course, this is not the only way to build a team. Win conditions are diverse and varied and don't always boil down to helping pokemon X set up a sweep. In general though they only boil down into several team archetypes (with varying shades inbetween): Team Archetypes Stall: Whittle the opponent down little by little using a mixture of hazard damage, toxic damage, and normal damage. Typical composition: 6 physical and special walls. Sableye @ Sablenite Ability: Prankster EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD Bold Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Calm Mind - Dark Pulse - Will-O-Wisp - Recover Talonflame Ability: Gale Wings EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD Careful Nature - Swords Dance - Acrobatics - Roost - Will-O-Wisp Tentacruel @ Black Sludge Ability: Liquid Ooze EVs: 252 HP / 240 SpD / 16 Spe Calm Nature - Toxic Spikes - Scald - Rapid Spin - Acid Spray Heatran @ Leftovers Ability: Flash Fire EVs: 248 HP / 236 SpD / 24 Spe Calm Nature - Stealth Rock - Lava Plume - Earth Power - Taunt Skarmory @ Shed Shell Ability: Sturdy EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe Bold Nature - Spikes - Whirlwind - Taunt - Roost Celebi @ Leftovers Ability: Natural Cure EVs: 248 HP / 224 SpD / 36 Spe Calm Nature - Earth Power - Perish Song - Giga Drain - Recover Balance: Takes a "swiss army knife" or "jack of all trades" attitude towards battling. Does not excel in either defense or offense, but can apply either defensive or offensive pressure when appropriate to win the battle. Typical composition: spinner, physical wall, special wall, late game sweeper, stallbreaker, cleric/status absorber. Chandelure @ Leftovers Ability: Flash Fire EVs: 160 HP / 116 SpA / 232 Spe Timid Nature IVs: 30 Atk - Shadow Ball - Will-O-Wisp - Substitute - Taunt Breloom @ Life Orb Ability: Technician EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe Jolly Nature - Spore - Swords Dance - Mach Punch - Bullet Seed Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers Ability: Levitate EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spe Bold Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Volt Switch - Hydro Pump - Will-O-Wisp - Pain Split Latios (M) @ Life Orb Ability: Levitate EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Timid Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Draco Meteor - Psyshock - Roost - Defog Bisharp (M) @ Assault Vest Ability: Defiant EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 SpD Adamant Nature - Knock Off - Sucker Punch - Iron Head - Pursuit Diancie-Mega @ Diancite Ability: Magic Bounce EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Hasty Nature - Moonblast - Diamond Storm - Earth Power - Stealth Rock Bulky Offense: Somewhat akin to heavy offense, but with much bulkier and slower pokemon. The difference between bulky offense and balance is that whereas balance teams can switch into "defense mode", bulky offense teams cannot, they are always stuck in attack mode. The team composition is a lot more malleable but here's one example of what the team might look like. Typical composition: 3 bulky offensive pivots, 1 late game bulky sweeper, 1 stallbreaker, 1 hazard control pokemon. Latias-Mega (F) @ Latiasite Ability: Levitate EVs: 232 HP / 100 Def / 176 Spe Bold Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Calm Mind - Recover - Substitute - Stored Power Jirachi @ Leftovers Ability: Serene Grace EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD Careful Nature - Wish - Protect - Iron Head - Body Slam Clefable @ Leftovers Ability: Unaware EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD Bold Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Wish - Protect - Heal Bell - Moonblast Heatran (F) @ Leftovers Ability: Flash Fire EVs: 224 HP / 8 Def / 16 SpA / 8 SpD / 252 Spe Timid Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Magma Storm - Earth Power - Toxic - Taunt Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers Ability: Iron Barbs EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD Sassy Nature IVs: 0 Spe - Leech Seed - Stealth Rock - Gyro Ball - Protect Keldeo-Resolute @ Leftovers Ability: Justified EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Timid Nature IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def - Scald - Secret Sword - Calm Mind - Substitute Heavy Offense: Try to steamroll the opponent with high speed offensive pressure. Typical composition: one suicide lead, five late-game sweepers. Infernape @ Focus Sash Ability: Iron Fist EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe Hasty Nature - Stealth Rock - Close Combat - Fire Blast - Endeavor Lopunny-Mega @ Lopunnite Ability: Limber EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Jolly Nature - Substitute - Power-Up Punch - Return - Drain Punch Latios (M) @ Life Orb Ability: Levitate EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Timid Nature - Draco Meteor - Psyshock - Roost - Hidden Power [Fire] Gengar @ Life Orb Ability: Levitate EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Timid Nature - Shadow Ball - Sludge Wave - Focus Blast - Taunt Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers Ability: Intimidate EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe Adamant Nature - Swords Dance - Earthquake - Stone Edge - Rock Polish Thundurus (M) @ Life Orb Ability: Prankster EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Hasty Nature - Thunderbolt - Knock Off - Focus Blast - Thunder Wave In general playstyles and strategies in the ORAS metagame are so varied that it is pretty much a losing proposition to prepare for all of them. This means that your focus should be on playing a proactive rather than a reactive game. Rather than concentrating on responding to your opponent's strategy, your main goal should be on developing your own gameplan and forcing your opponent to react to you. If you have control of how a match is going to play out, victory is all but assured. With that said, I highly recommend using some Pokemon from the following list in your next team if you are just starting out. These are a select few pokemon that bring a tremendous amount of pressure, either defensively or offensively, to any match to the point that there are really only a few niche ways to counter them successfully. In other words, using these pokemon almost completely forces the opponent to halt their gameplan to deal with your pokemon, i.e. now your opponent is playing on your terms. Obviously this list is really subjective but I'm the one writing this guide so I get to choose what goes in the list and what doesn't. Good pokemon to use (OU) Charizard-X: The most dangerous dragon dancer in the tier. One boost is all it needs to demolish everything and is pretty bulky as well. Having almost unresisted STAB is pretty insane. Charizard-Y: Amazing wallbreaker. Most things are fried (2hkoed) by fire blast, and the things that aren't usually are hit hard by Solar Beam and Focus Blast. It has amazing coverage overall. Don't underestimate it. Landorus-T: One of the most dependable physical walls in the game, whether it is the scarf or defensive set. Solid stealth rocker and can nab momentum with u-turn. It's a great versatile pokemon that can fill a role on the spot. Landorus: Plays completely differently from its big brother. 2hkos most things with its amazing coverage. M-Metagross: Solid bulk and typing, 2hkos pretty much the entire metagame with its coverage. Its Tough Claws ability boosts Zen Headbutt and Meteor Mash, two of its best STAB moves. M-Gardevoir: Less speedy than other offensive threats but still 2hkos almost everything. Solid wallbreaker as well; not much can handle the hyper voice + psyshock combo. Great check to Latias and Latios. M-Gallade: 2hkos everything with its High attack stat. With its solid speed, only a few Pokemon can even take on Gallade. Talonflame: Hits hard with brave bird, and is a solid revenge killer/late game cleaner thanks to its ability Gale Wings. Gotta watch out for stealth rock though, as it will easily die if played badly. M-Pinsir: Amazing coverage, hits like a truck. Has Feint or Quick Attack as priority, and either Close Combat or Earthquake to hit whatever you desire. Keldeo: One of the premier offensive powerhouses, not many things can resist its combination of hydro pump + secret sword which hits both on the physical and special defenses. M-Sableye: A dark horse of ORAS, but it is a premier physical wall with a sick ability. Keeping this dude around means you don't need a spinner/defogger, plus once it gets going with its calm mind set it is unstoppable. One of the best counters to Mega Gallade. Clefable: This pokemon is so unpredictable, but whatever role you choose for it, it will do well. With unaware it can be a solid wall, and with magic guard it can function as a terrifying stallbreaker and late-game sweeper with calm mind. Most Mega Venusaur can't even 2hko Clefable if it sets up at least two calm minds. Heatran: His typing and great stats make it so versatile, it can be either a defensive or offensive monster and gets up stealth rock very reliably. Best Talonflame check in the game. Ferrothorn: This is one of those pokemon that just annoy the shit out of everyone. There are plenty of ways to kill it, but Ferrothorn typically acts as a pivot; you switch it in, lay down some hazards, then switch it out before it gets killed. It can even hold its own against standard Scarf Magnezone. M-Venusaur: One of the few defensive mega pokemon. This dude is difficult to kill thanks to its typing, ability, and amazing stats. It's a great Bulky and Offensive pokemon. It should always be considered using if you do not have a Mega yet. Rotom-W: One of the most common pokemon to see on teams. Functions as a great pivot and "glue", spreads status around, and is generally just a gigantic pain in the ass. It also is another great Talonflame counter. Before wrapping up this section, Skitty and I thought it would be a good idea to finish with a checklist of roles your pokemon should fill. We were kind of hesitant in the beginning to include one since there is so much give and take, i.e. you don't NEED a defogger/spinner but it would be nice. So when going through the checklist, please keep this in mind. These are rough guidelines but in the end it is up to you to figure out what is essential and what is not to execute your gameplan successfully. Teambuilding checklist Stealth rocker (mandatory): With this one move you put tremendous pressure on the opponent by limiting switches. Type synergy (mandatory): Depends on whether you have a defensive or offensive team. If you have a defensive team, do you have a gameplan for dealing with most offensive threats? If you have an offensive team, do you have a gameplan for dealing with most defensive threats. Revenge killer/Phazer (almost mandatory): Unless you are a god at pokemon, odds are that at some point you will be facing a sweeper that has set up already. So at this point you are facing an insanely speedy and insanely powerful pokemon. How can you deal with that? One way is with a revenge killer: a pokemon that uses either a choice-scarf boost or powerful priority moves to KO the sweeper before it has a chance to sweep.Otherwise you can use a phazer: a pokemon with high defenses that can take one hit from the sweeper and use Roar or Whirlwind to force it out, thus making it lose its accumulated boosts. Sweeper (almost mandatory): This is the pokemon that cleans up in late game after everything has been weakened a bit. The win condition - this is usually the centerpiece for the whole team. Stallbreaker (almost mandatory): Against an unprepared team, a well-played cleric such as Chansey is a nightmare. No matter how much damage or status you spread, your opponent uses a combination of wish and heal bell to keep their pokemon in great shape while you slowly get whittled down. To beat this strategy, the idea is to carry a pokemon of your own whose raw power allows you to power through the stall and weaken your opponent's defenses for the rest of your team members to clean up. Defogger/spinner (pretty good idea): Repeating what I said above, hazards tremendously limit your flexibility by punishing every switch you make, therefore it's a good idea to pack a spinner or defogger in most cases. The exceptions are if you are running a heavy offense team where switching is minimal, or if your whole team does not take too much damage from stealth rock. Pivots/U-turners/Volt-Switchers (pretty good idea): If you have a frail sweeper on your team, it's not a great idea to switch it in directly since it will still get chunked pretty hard if your opponent decides to attack. A better idea is to carry a pivot (a bulky, slow pokemon that knows either u-turn or volt switch). Then you can switch in your sweeper via u-turn for free, while the damage is taken by your pivot. Of course if you don't think your team will switch too much (heavy offense) then you don't have to worry about this. Cleric/status absorber (nice to have, not necessary): Status is everywhere in ORAS, so it is nice to have a way to deal with it. The problem is that there are really only a few viable pokemon that fill this role which severely limits team composition. This is almost mandatory for defensive teams which are likely to have to deal with status. On the other hand, it is not necessary for offensive teams since against fast/frail attackers opponents tend to use attacks rather than status anyways. ----------------------------------- III. Battle Skills When a battle starts, the first thing the player is plopped into is team preview. This is the most crucial part. Look at your team. Now look at your opponent's team. Now ask yourself the following questions: What's your opponent going to try to do? How likely is it to work? Which of your opponent's pokemon are standing in the way of your sweep? Which of your opponent's pokemon are most threatening to your team? What are the most important pokemon you need to keep alive in order to hinder your opponent? Answering these three questions is key to formulating your strategy. Not only do you need to think about this at the beginning of the match, but these questions should always be in the back of your mind for the remainder of the game as well. It takes some experience to figure out an opponent's strategy based on team preview but once you get used to the roles different pokemon play, you should be able to figure it out. Here are two examples to try out: (Easy) Your team: Opponent's team: Pretty easy right? Birdspam destroys the whole team besides Skarmory. The basic strategy is to keep Pinsir and Talonflame alive as long as possible and spam flying attacks; try to weaken Skarmory as much as possible before going for the sweep. (A bit harder) Your team: Opponent's team: This team match up is pretty even. Any team has a chance to win. The strategy of your team is to try and spread some status with Moltres' Will-O-Wisp against the opponent's team, then check Rotom-Wash and Latias with Ferrothorn. Once all checks and counters have been removed, Swampert and Toxicroak is able to clean up late game. However, you must keep Swampert and Politoed healthy, otherwise threats like Mega Gallade can demolish the team with a easy victory if played very poorly. First, whenever you look at the opponents team in Team Preview, you must analyze the main threats. Obviously right? Many people overlook this and just pick out a random lead and click on moves. Wrong! Team preview is the first step towards your success in any battle. One must look at the opposing team and must gather what kinds of threats are to your team. For example, let's say your team is Keldeo, Garchomp, and Bisharp. Now let's say your opponent has a Latios, Scizor, and a Keldeo as well. Judging by the type matchup, it is very clear that the Opponent's Latios is a huge threat to Keldeo and Garchomp. If you want to sweep with Garchomp or Keldeo succesfully, you must remove the Latios from play by utilizing your Bisharp to defeat the Latios that threatens your team. That's a example of what a game plan is supposed to look like. There are many ways to handle threats to your team just by analyzing what is important. Now that you have formed your plan (the most important part), the rest is easy. Here's a brief checklist to help you get through the match: Match phases Team preview: Figure out your strategy and identify which pokemon on the opponent's team are most threatening to you, and identify which pokemon on your team are most crucial against your opponent. Selecting the lead: If possible you should lead with a pokemon that will give you maximum advantage against your opponent, but usually this boils down into predicting your opponent's lead based on no information. The only exception is if you or your opponent has a dedicated lead, for example a suicide lead like Azelf. This decision is not too crucial, it's not the end of the world if you make a mistake here. Early game: This phase of the match is reserved for setting up hazards and scouting the enemy team to figure out movesets. Unless you are very good, it's impossible to see ahead to the endgame, but at this point try to set up short term goals that will disrupt the opponent's strategy and bring you to a favorable midgame, e.g. set up stealth rock, or try to weaken Pokemon X. Midgame: This phase is where the match is won or lost. At this point you should have a good idea of what you need to do in order to win: what pokemon stand in your way, what team members need to be kept alive to prevent a sweep. Endgame: By the time you enter this phase, it should be pretty clear whether you've won or lost. All that remains is finishing off your opponent (if you're winning) or conceding defeat if you're losing. ----------------------------------- IV. Conclusion In teambuilding, the recurring question to ask is "what gameplan do I want to execute?" In matchups, your main goal is to execute your plan and prevent the opponent from executing his. Now that you've made it to the end of this guide, you should recognize that the recurring theme here is control. Your main objective, in both teambuilding and battles, should always be to control the match. If your opponent's plan has been disrupted and yours has not, then the opponent is pretty much going along with your plan, i.e. you are the one in control and he is not. From there, victory is all but assured. ********If you are more of a visual learner, here are some video tutorials from Void to help you out!********* Prediction: Win conditions: *******If you want a more in-depth guide to which pokemon fill which roles, check out the following Smogon threads******* OU: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/the-dons-oras-ou-team-building-compendium.3527745/ UU: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/oras-uu-teambuilding-compendium-wip.3526477/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhanush D Bhatt Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Really well written. Should be helpful for people who are new to competitive battling. But the first thing you have to know before you start battling competitively is the different sets a pokemon can run and the potential counters for that pokemon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Eh, I'm comfortable with learning at my own pace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyHeart Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 .....battling....and words......what is this madness..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowtao Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 I fully endorse this. You gotta learn the phases of the game. Learn when to predict and not predict. Every good player, like myself, Slant, Jericho, and Rupe learn the game. We all are molded by the basis of this guide into our minds. Predictions, teambuild styles, scouting, rankings, effectiveness of pokemon, and originality all play a part in battles. Having a better teambuild, being smarter, being better, and being more experienced with this in mind will make you feel like a god among puny men. You all can learn something from this guide. This isn't something to brush off as just "meh. Another pointless guide." No, this is a tool that can be a effective way to improve your skills in competitive pokemon battling. Trust me guys, this guide is worth looking into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chase Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Only thing that I would call into question (and I would expect this to still be a work in progress) is that this is not divided into "tiers", which means that obviously you aren't going to bring a birdspam team consisting of M-Pinsir and Talonflame to a tier below OverUsed. Only reason I bring that up is we are trying to give the whole spectrum some attention with our competitive forum overhauls - not that any information was left out. So far, the given information - outside of the pokemon examples - works in ANY tier however. I especially like the following bits: "a good strategy is one that allows the player to win consistently and with minimal risk." "have a gameplan in mind." "start with the win condition and move backwards." etc, etc. --- Slant, I ask that you be careful when talking about fundamental strategies vs. innovative ones. While fundamental approaches are more often successful and hold less risk, telling someone to not innovate and providing a statistic (99%, for example) and spending a whole paragraph dogging the practice infringes on disrespecting of a players' gaming preference, which is a something that we discourage in this community. I'm not saying that you're incorrect in that statement, but it can be reworded to come off as less of a disparagement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Void Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 (edited) This shouldn't really be divided into "tiers", it's a guide to battling in general. With all the tier-specific content introduced as of late, something more universal like this was needed as well. Also, the fact that it was just an example aside, "birdspam" is simply a kind of hyper offense, which is a playstyle that exists in every tier. The concept of stacking mons with common checks in on a hyper offense team in order to wear said checks down (which is essentially what birdspam is) is also prevalent across the tiers, so I'd say that example is still relevant for tiers other than OU. In any case, it can sometimes be difficult to learn simply by reading a wall of text. A couple friends of mine have made some very useful narrated tutorials that go more in depth on some of the concepts touched on in this guide. I've asked Slant to add these links to the original post, watch them if you're interested: win conditions prediction in pokemon Edited January 24, 2015 by Void Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slant Posted January 24, 2015 Author Share Posted January 24, 2015 First off thanks everyone for the support, we really appreciate it! @Hilda: So I think Skitty reworded it to sound less mean as you suggested. But I stand by what I said. There's a time and place for innovation, and that is not when you are beginning the game (and this guide is targeted towards beginners). However it's not like I am forbidding people from using innovative sets. If you're just having fun experimenting then fine, go for it. I am just saying that if you do, you should be aware that they probably won't succeed in a competitive setting. If you want to win and use pokemon effectively, a much safer bet is to use the 'standard' sets that are tried and true. To drive the point home, here is an example of an innovative moveset: Charizard-X 248 HP / 148 SPDEF / 112 SPEED -Earthquake -Will-o-Wisp -Roost -Dragon Claw I remember when people first starting using this set. At first I laughed at them because srsly a defensive Charizard-X? Then I got whomped by it and started taking it seriously. But observe how much effort and knowledge of the metagame went into crafting this set (which a beginner doesn't have). You need to -Recognize that this niche is unfilled. This is a bulky-offensive special tank with unique typing. A lot of new movesets on pokemon, even if they work, are done better by other pokemon. -Recognize that the biggest counters to Char-X hit the physical defense rather than special defense. Hence, why it is packing will-o-wisp to cripple its counters. -Craft the EVs correctly. 248 HP EVs allow you to switch into stealth rock one more time, 112 Speed EVs allow you to outspeed all relevant threats, and the remainder is put in spdef for additional bulk. Your other suggestion is good too. I have a section on common OU pokemon to use, and I guess for completeness there should be sections for other tiers as well. The problem is that I don't know anything about the other tiers so I will have to find someone else to add to it. However the guide as a whole is meant for any tier, I just used OU for all my examples since that's what I'm comfortable with. @Void: videos have been added, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleDevilex Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 I will need to check this out when I have some time. I am really bad at this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickCrash Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Nicely written guide. I was trying to be that guy, and find things to add, albeit with no success One thing we could add is EV spreads, but that's more for Battling 102+++ All players should think like this when making the team and while battling. "a good strategy is one that allows the player to win consistently and with minimal risk." "have a gameplan in mind." "start with the win condition and move backwards." etc, etc. Even if you didn't pay much attention to the whole wall of text, if these lines stuck to your head, then the guide was successful. And if at first you don't succeed, don't get discouraged. Good players learn from their mistakes, adjust their teams a bit and try again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jelly Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 lame thread made by lame people,,, /s seriously this is an amazing thread and im glad you guys decided to make it!! :] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chase Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 @ Slant - I want to say that I "agreed" with the original wording save for the percentage that was given. You're correct, mostly becuase there is a huge difference between a beginner trying to innovate versus someone who has a solid knowledge of the meta. I -never- outright disagreed with anything. @ Nickcrash - I don't know if you're assuming I didn't read the whole guide, but I did. I pointed out those buzzwordy phrases because of exactly what you said - they come off the page and if you're going to build a team and you're new, those are good premises to start with. Obviously though, you are going to want to know all of the terminology, archetypes, etc as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickCrash Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 @ Nickcrash - I don't know if you're assuming I didn't read the whole guide, but I did. I pointed out those buzzwordy phrases because of exactly what you said - they come off the page and if you're going to build a team and you're new, those are good premises to start with. Obviously though, you are going to want to know all of the terminology, archetypes, etc as well.No, not at all. I just used your words as a line of reference. In my opinion those phrases were key. Therefore, if someone who is new in the competitive scene and did not completely understand the guide or needs to take things at his own pace, understanding those key concepts is a really good start, and as such, the guide has been successful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callum-the-Acebreeder Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 thanks for this im a really good breeder40/50 eggs a day but im a usless battler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synchronoise Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Are there any plans to update this? It's incredibly outdated, the meta's changed a whole bunch since when this was first written Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickCrash Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 This guide is meant to help people get started with the game. Given it's based on ORAS, the only change in the meta is the release of Hoopa forms. If you mean additions of viability and threat lists, that should be a completely different thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synchronoise Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 This guide is meant to help people get started with the game. Given it's based on ORAS, the only change in the meta is the release of Hoopa forms. If you mean additions of viability and threat lists, that should be a completely different thread. It's not just that, the team archetypes are pretty outdated. For instance, Stall has been seeing an increase in usage with stuff like Goth to combat opposing stallbreakers, and just more wincons against opposing stall, and the Bulky Offence is really a Semi-Stall/Fat Stall team. Bulky Offense teams work the other way, with a focus on wallbreakers and a core that allows pivoting It's very minor stuff, but it's something that should be fixed Everything else is fine though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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