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New to competitive battling? View the beginner's guide and ask for help!

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New to competitive battling? View the beginner's guide and ask for help! Empty New to competitive battling? View the beginner's guide and ask for help!

Post by Zido 5/27/2013, 7:19 pm

If you clicked this, then you're probably new to competitive battling. In the beginning, it can be quite difficult, but don't get discouraged - it just gets funner as you keep going! To start off, I'm going to explain the mechanics of EVs, IVs, and Natures, plus the many uses of Items, as well common roles in battle such as "sweeper" and "passer," and in the end, a brief word about abilities.

Game Mechanics

What are EVs?
Simply put, EVs are a permanent increase to your Pokemon's stats gained through battling and certain items. At level 100, 4 EVs in a particular stat equals 1 additional point in that stat; for example, if you had two identical Pokemon at level 100, and one had 80 EVs in HP, then that Pokemon would have higher HP by 20 points.

However, EVs aren't unlimited, of course. The maximum is a total of 510 EV's, or 255 in one stat. Only the first 252 matter though, since 255 isn't divisible by 4.

So, what should EVs be used for? Well, that depends on your Pokemon. Most commonly, EVs are used to boost the stats that relate to your Pokemon's role; for example, a Pokemon designed to deal damage directly will often want 252 EVs in Attack or Special Attack. Or, you may want to put 252 EVs into a defensive wall's HP stat, and the remainder into its defenses. EVs are a very important tool in competitive battling and should always be considered.

What are IVs?
IVs are somewhat similar to EVs in that they are a permanent increase on a Pokemon's stats. 1 IV is equal to 1 point in that stat. However, unlike EVs, IVs can't be legally changed. As soon as a Pokemon's existence is conceived in the game, its IVs are decided randomly, from 0-31 in each stat. However, in Pokemon Showdown, you get to decide, and generally you're going to want 31 in everything. But that's not without exception. If your strategy involves having your Pokemon move last, then you'd want 0 IV's in speed to make your Pokemon slower. If your Pokemon is Special-Attack based, you may want 0 IV's in Attack in case of the move Foul Play. Also, because Hidden power's type is different based on your Pokemon's IV's, you may notice a slight change to your IV's when you pick, say, Hidden Power Fighting. Aside from that, however, there won't be much of a reason to change your IVs.

What are Natures?
Natures are yet another permanent stat-changing mechanic. But instead of a particular number, Natures change your stats by a percentage. Furthermore, Natures have a bit of a drawback - in addition to boosting one stat by 10%, they will lower another by 10%. This doesn't have to be bad, though. If your Pokemon's entire moveset is physical attacks, then you won't miss the lost points in Special Attack if you picked an Adamant nature - Adamant raises Attack and lowers Special Attack. Likewise, if your Pokemon is Special based, then you will likely want to give them a Modest Nature, which raises Special Attack and lowers Attack. If your Pokemon is defensive, then you'll probably want to give them a nature that raises one of their defenses and lowers an offensive stat. Unfortunately, you can't raise HP through a Nature. It's also worth noting that, although this isn't as common, you can give your Pokemon a neutral Nature, such as Docile, that doesn't change stats at all. You should try to pick a nature that boosts a Pokemon's strengths and lowers what it doesn't need, or better yet, lowers something that you want lowered - for example, a Ferrothorn might appreciate a loss of speed for more effective use of Gyro Ball, or a specially-based Victini would like a loss of Attack in case the enemy hits him with Foul Play. Another thing to keep in mind is that the 10% increase includes IVs and EVs, but doesn't include decimals. As an example, let's take a Pokemon whose base Attack stat puts it at 309 Attack, with 0 EVs and IVs.. 10% of 309 is 30.9, but since decimals are knocked off, it's an increase of 30 instead. This would bring it from 309 to 339. But if we were to give that Pokemon 31 IVs and 252 EVs, it would bump up to 403. A positive nature would then increase it by 40 points instead of the original 30, bringing it to a whopping 443.

As you can see, these mechanics are very important. In the above example, the difference of having the right EVs, IVs, and Nature was 134 points of Attack. Think carefully about these things for a powerful team.

Items

You probably know a bit about items if you've played Pokemon before, but competitive battling really emphasizes their importance - they can often be the reason for winning or losing a battle. There are too many items for me to name here, but I will go through an overview, plus an analysis of certain important items. You can find the description of specific items on the Pokemon Showdown Teambuilder.

Choice Items
The three choice items are Choice Band, Choice Specs, and Choice Scarf. They are intended to boost a Pokemon's ability to attack directly. Each item has the same drawback, and a similar benefit. The drawback is that, once the holder chooses a move, they are stuck with that move until they switch out. The benefit is that they increase a certain stat by 50% - The Band increases Attack, The Specs increase Special Attack, and the Scarf increases Speed. This may not sound like it's worth the trade off of losing three of your moves, but it has a great number of strategies that it benefits immensely. For example, the move Overheat has an awesomely high power of 140 and a good accuracy of 90%, but with the severe drawback of cutting the user's Special Attack down by two stages. As a result, the move is often used in hit-and-run tactics, in which the user uses this powerful move to deal high damage or often KO an enemy, before switching out to remedy the Special Attack loss. This strategy goes hand-in-hand with choice items, as they too will often require switching, so the two compliment each other well. A choice Scarf can also be used by many powerful attackers to great effect. For example, your enemy may think they can OHKO your Magmortar with Rock Blast, but with the help of a Choice Scarf and some EVs, Magmortar can outspeed even a Cincinno to OHKO him. Choice items are difficult to use, but can be devastating when done correctly.

Damage-increasing Items
If you're not a fan of hit-and-run or being locked into one move, there are other damage-increasing items, each with their own limitations and benefits. The strongest non-choice item would be the Life Orb, which increases damage dealt by direct attacks by 30%, but in return, the user loses 10% of their health when they do so. An item like this is bad for bulky Pokemon that rely on time to take down their enemies, as well as Pokemon with the ability Sturdy or a Dragonite with Multiscale. However, on a Pokemon that only cares about speed and strength and won't miss the HP anyway, such as Cinccino, Life Orb is an excellent tool. It's also good with Pokemon that know draining moves, such as Drain Punch and Giga Drain. Other, but more limited, items would include the Expert Belt. An Expert Belt increases damage by 20%, but only works if the attack is Super Effective. It's good for a Pokemon with a moveset designed for being Super Effective against a large variety of Pokemon. There are also items that increase the power of a certain type of attack - for example, Charcoal increases the power of all directly-offensive fire moves by 20%. The less common Muscle Band and Wise Glasses increase physical or special moves respectively, by a mere 10%. There are also items called "Gems," which are one-time use damage boosters for a specific type. When you choose the corresponding type of attack, such as a fire attack for a Fire Gem, the damage of that attack will be increased by 50% and the gem will then disappear.Remember to pay attention to your Pokemon's moveset to know which one would be best.

Accuracy-Increasing Items
Though not commonly used, there are two items that can increase items, which can be quite useful. Wide Lens increases accuracy by 10%, while Zoom Lens increases it by 20%, but only if the user moves last. The latter could be used on a slow Pokemon relying on powerful but inaccurate moves such as Focus Blast, while the former would be good on a fast and hard hitter to round off that imperfect accuracy of moves like Fire Blast. However, many players prefer the power boost of items like Life Orb instead.

Berries
Berries are one-use supportive items that can have a variety of effects. The most common is a Lum Berry, which cures the user of any status effect immediately after receiving that effect, which makes it perfect for the ability Synchronize. Another is the Sitrus Berry, which recovers 25% of the user's health if they fall below 50% HP. There are also berries that cut the damage from a certain type of Super-Effective move in half, bringing 2X weaknesses down to 1X and 4X weaknesses to 2X. Some berries can have a certain effect if the user falls below 25% health, but these are rarely used. There are a variety of other miscellaneous berries available; you can see their specific effects on Pokemon Showdown Teambuilder.

Exclusive Items
There are some items that will only work if used by a certain Pokemon, but have substantial benefits. Unfortunately, most of these Pokemon are incapable of effectively using their exclusive item. A stick is an item for Farfetch'd, which increases his critical hit rate by two stages. Lucky Punch is an equivalent for Chansey. DeepSeaScale doubles Clamperl's Special Defense, while DeepSeaTooth doubles its Special Attack. Light Ball doubles both the Attack and Special Attack of Pikachu. Metal Powder increases the Defense and Special Defense of Ditto by 50%, but not while transformed. Quick Powder doubles the speed of Ditto, but again, not while transformed. Soul Dew increases both the Special Attack and Special Defense of Latios or Latias by 50%, but while Latios and latias are in OU, Soul Dew is banned to Ubers. Thick Club doubles the Attack of Marowak. Eviolite raises the defense and special defense of any NFE (Not fully-evolved) Pokemon by 50% each. Outside LC, (Little Cup) only the Soul Dew, Thick Club, Eviolite, and with enough support, Light Ball, are considered useful.

Miscellaneous
There are a number of items with their own unique effect. I'll just name a few here. Leftovers heal the user of 1/16 of their HP every turn, and are very common on walls or passers. Focus Sash allows the user to survive a hit with one HP if they were at full HP when they took the hit, much like Sturdy, but is consumed after use. It is often used on hard-hitters with low defensive stats, such as Gengar. It's also used to allow Shedinja to survive more than one hit. Black Sludge has the same effect as Leftovers, but only on Poison-type Pokemon; on any other type, the user is hurt each turn instead. Shell Bell heals the user of 1/8 of the damage dealt to the enemy. The Iron Ball cuts the user's speed in half and removes their flying type/levitate ability; it is usually used in conjunction with Trick to force the enemy to take the item. Lagging Tail make the holder go last, within their priority bracket. (E.g. if the user is faster than the enemy, and the user uses crunch and the enemy uses earthquake, the user will go last, but if the user uses Quick Attack, they'll still go first) Quick Claw has a 20% chance of activating and pushes the user's attack priority up by 1, but its unreliability means it's not used often. Light Clay extends the duration of Reflect and Light Screen from five turns to eight, and is often used on support walls.

Items are often the deciding factor in a game. A Focus Sash could allow your Pokemon to counter a Pokemon that's been set up with high offensive stat boosts, and a Life Orb could give you just enough damage to OHKO certain enemies. Leftover are a must on walls such as Blissey or Ferrothorn, too. It's important to put thought into these things, but often, the right item will be very clear depending on your Pokemon's role.



Pokemon Roles

You may have come across the terms "Sweeper" and "Passer" before. If so, you're probably curious about what they mean - and you should be! These roles are very important to know for a strong team, and picking the right Pokemon to link them together and keep your team fluid and strong is vital.


Sweeper
Simply put, a sweeper is a Pokemon designed to quickly destroy much or all of an opponent's team. However, they usually can't do this on their own. Quite often, a sweeper will be preceded by one or more Pokemon that boost necessary stats for sweeping so they can then use Baton pass to carry the stat changes to the sweeper. (See "Baton Passer") Although, it's also possible for a Sweeper to support itself through stat-enhancing moves. Depending on what you're looking for in a Sweeper, more or less of these stat boosts may be necessary than usual; for example, if the Pokemon you're using is strong and bulky but slow, you'll need some extra speed. Or if they're pretty weak but can outspeed most enemies on their own, they'll want plenty of offensive boosts while needing less speed. Stats aren't all that matters, though - You'll want a Pokemon with a good moveset, too. For example, Flareon has a great Attack stat and decent speed, but his moveset and bulk are just too poor for him to be an effective sweeper. Depending on your preference of offensive style, you should carefully consider both the moveset and stats of your Sweeper - Would a priority move KO it? How many Pokemon can resist its moveset? How can I get around its most common counters? These are things you should carefully consider in choosing any Sweeper, particularly if you're relying on them.

Wall
A wall is a Pokemon designed to block off the enemy's attempts to deal serious damage to your team, or to deal damage over time by stalling for damage from moves such as Leech Seed or Toxic. You almost invariably want to prioritize a Pokemon's bulk and typing when considering them for a wall. Ferrothorn is an excellent example of a wall. Aside from his excellent Bulk of 74/131/116, (HP/Defense/Special Defense) his Steel/Grass typing gives him resistance to 10 and immunity to 1 types out of 17, with only two weaknesses. His access to Leech Seed combined with the held item Leftovers - the most commonly held items by wall Pokemon - allow him great recovery. There are also abilities to consider. Ferrothorn's Iron Barbs deal damage to any Pokemon that hits him with a contact move, and Walrein's Ice Body heals it by 1/16 of its health when the weather is hail. Many walls will use a move that doesn't rely on power to deal damage, such as Toxic. Others will focus not on doing damage, but on hindering the enemy team through moves such as Thunder Waver and Stealth Rock, or supporting their own through moves such as Light Screen/Reflect and Wish. Walls can be a tough nut to crack, and when used correctly, are a powerful asset to your team that your opponent will be scrambling to take down.

Baton Passer
A Passer is a Pokemon that passes certain boosts to another Pokemon for various purposes. Usually, they will pass boosts to Speed through moves like Agility, and boosts to Attack or Special Attack through moves like Swords Dance and Nasty Plot. Though less common, they may also pass defensive boosts, or perhaps a healing move like Aqua Ring, to a Wall Pokemon. In addition to stats and moves such as Aqua Ring, a Substitute can also be passed with the health of the passer for a free switch to the Pokemon of your choosing. However, it's not all good - Baton Pass can also carry harmful effects along with it. Although it doesn't pass along effects such as poison and paralysis, it does carry with it the effects of Leech Seed, Perish Song, and confusion, to point out the worst. However, these are often not an issue, so it's not like the problems outweigh the benefits by any means. One common Baton Passer is Ninjask, who can alternate between protect and Substitute while gaining speed each turn due to Speed Boost, and might even manage a Swords Dance or two. If you get lucky, he can even pass a substitute to your sweeper. Otherwise, you'll usually want to look for a bulky Pokemon that can survive some hits, or if you only need a boost or two, a fast Pokemon who can get in, boost, and get out before the enemy can take them down. Another good choice is Mew, whose base 100 in every stat allows it to be bulky or quick, and whose expansive moveset allows it to pass stat boosts of any kind. The type of Pokemon you want for Passing is highly dependant on the type of boosts you want to pass, so make sure to apply some heavy consideration when choosing a Passer.

Lead
A Lead is a Pokemon meant to be sent out first to serve a particular purpose. This purpose can vary greatly, however. Some are meant to set "entry hazards." Spikes and Stealth Rock damage foes when they switch in, while Toxic Spikes poisons them. Others will set up Light Screen and Reflect to support the rest of their team, before going onto a secondary purpose, such as attacking, inflicting a status, or other Lead forms. A Scout goes out to test what kind of Pokemon is being sent out, and often has the moves Fake Out for a free hit and U-Turn to flee. Some will simply have a wide range of offensive attacks capable of dealing high damage to the majority of enemies, giving them a good chance of countering the enemy's lead. Smeargle, despite its abyssmal stats, is a notable lead due to its access to any move in the game, bar none. There are a wide range of leads out there, and a lot of possibilities to be explored. Feel free to try any idea you can come up with for a team lead!

Minor roles
There are a variety of smaller roles tailored to fit more specific purposes, which I will briefly explain here. A Spinner is a Pokemon that gets rid of entry hazards through the move "Rapid Spin." A Spin-blocker is a Ghost Pokemon that blocks the enemy from using Rapid Spin due to its immunity to the normal type. Spinners and Spinblockers will want to be able to counter each other. A Revenge Killer is a Pokemon who is designed to trap or destroy certain threats, such as a Mamoswine taking down a powerful Flygon with Ice Shard. A Phazer uses moves that are meant to force the opponent into switching, such as Whirlwind and Roar, or less direct moves like Perish Song and Yawn. A Tank is a Pokemon that can take and deal damage effectively. A Glass Cannon is a Pokemon that can deal massive damage but can't take much at all; these are often given a Focus Sash to allow them another hit.

This doesn't exhaust all possible roles of Pokemon, of course. The possibilities are only limited by the player's creativity. If you want, you can always seek out new purposes for a Pokemon.


That wraps up my explanation of Roles - now I'd like to put in a note about the importance of abilities. There are too many abilities to explain them all here, but abilities make a massive difference in the game. They can single-handedly be the reason for a Pokemon's rise to another tier. Espeon's access to Magic Bounce puts it in OU due to the ability's usefulness - it reflects most status moves and other things. For example, if the opponent attempted to use Toxic on you, it would do nothing to Espeon and the move would be used on them instead. Or if they tried Stealth Rock, it would bounce right back to their team. Other examples include Flash Fire, which makes the user immune to fire moves and increases their power instead when hit by one, or Serene Grace, which doubles the chances of a move's secondary effect activating, like Thunder's 30% paralysis rate being boosted to 60%. There are a wide variety of abilities with very unique effects, and are often a very good reason to consider a Pokemon - or in the case of an ability like Truant, it could be a reason to drop them completely.


With that, I will bring my guide to a close. If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I'll try to answer as best I can. Good luck in the world of competitive Pokemon battling!


Last edited by Zido on 5/27/2013, 11:09 pm; edited 1 time in total
Zido
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New to competitive battling? View the beginner's guide and ask for help! Empty Re: New to competitive battling? View the beginner's guide and ask for help!

Post by Blue [Ailu] 5/27/2013, 8:05 pm

This was more "in-depth" than I ever really expected.

Nice guide Zido. Very Happy


Last edited by Zido on 5/27/2013, 11:43 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Shhh, the name Derk, the name >w>)
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New to competitive battling? View the beginner's guide and ask for help! Empty Re: New to competitive battling? View the beginner's guide and ask for help!

Post by Sparky 6/6/2013, 5:06 am

Nicely done.
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New to competitive battling? View the beginner's guide and ask for help! Empty Re: New to competitive battling? View the beginner's guide and ask for help!

Post by Zido 6/6/2013, 3:00 pm

Sparky wrote:Nicely done.

Thanks!
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Post by taichi22 6/8/2013, 3:55 pm

Could we open some kind of topic discussing more advanced battling techniques? Also, while this guide is great, a type discussion is probably helpful, as would weather roles and teams. You also forgot to mention legendaries, sleep and status in the metagame, and pokemon tiers.
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