How hard is it for you to come up with a team?

[Crimson Dagger]

Despite the fact that there are hundreds of different Pokémon in each given region, just about everyone has their own standards in regards to building up their team of six. Some people look for those with great stats & move-pools, while others care not about such things. There's also those who prefer to use completely different 'mons in each region, with some preferring to use those that are completely new to us. Then there are those who care not about such things & won't hesitate to use the 'mons that they're familiar with.

Regardless of your reasoning, how hard is team-building for you in all of the games? In-game or competitive, it matters not.

 

[SpikOriundo]

In-game, is simple.
I go to a route, look around on the grass, and whatever pops up that I like is now on my team, if it doesn't conflict too much with the other types I already have.
Competitively, I try to use the ones I really like. Right now, the core on my VGC team is a Mudsdale, and soon will be a Type: Null, when I get my shiny one. Also, I try to avoid the whole metagame. Garchomp, all the Tapus, and all of the Ultra Beasts are forbidden on my team. And I'd love to avoid using Porygon2, Arcanine, and other as such, but... I love them so much, and it's so difficult having a VGC team without them ;-;

 

[Soki]

In-game is often easy for me, despite me always wanting to use new Pokémon only on my first playthrough. There's mostly around six new mons that really stick out to me, so I just use them. It was harder with SuMo though, since I didn't like the majority of the new mons ^^;

Competitive it's harder, since I want to use my favs and they are often pretty useless, and I refuse to use those that can be found on most of the competitive teams already, cause that's just boring to me.

 

[Esserise]

In-game (only thing I deal in) is easy-peasy if it's XY, B2W2, or SM.

Platinum and HGSS are very difficult to construct teams for, as are ORAS and BW, but those two are only because I've played them so many times that I've kind of run out of combinations that I like.

 

[Zexy]

In-game is simple. Especially since I preferred solo running for the first four generations of the main series games. But Generations 5-7 haven't given me trouble with deciding on a team either, there are lots of nice options so I'm just getting 6 Pokemon with good type synergy that all are on the offensive side of the spectrum and cover all major battle type needs and that's it.

Competitive is much harder although I still prefer using Pokemon that I like yet are good competitively on their own, while having good synergy. Although this means that my main team has stuck to a Scizor/Garchomp/Starmie core for most of the time from Generation IV to VII.

 

[BigBadButterfree]

In-game, I usually go with what I like. However, it's become harder the more I know about the game. Like, in gens 3 and 4 I would literally catch the first of whatever Pokémon I wanted. Now, however, I have to make sure its nature is at least not garbage... I know it doesn't matter for in-game that much, but I typically enjoy using my old team mons in battle facilities generations later.

I don't really play competitively, like I only ever dabble online. But I do play the tower/maison/tree a lot. That's where my careful team planning happens. Well, not really "careful." I try to make the most sense of things, and use Pokémon that work well together. However, like the post a few posts above me, I refuse to use over-used competitive trash like garchomp and minor legendaries. Things like that are probably the main reason I don't play online.

For fun, my friend and I play multi battles in the tree. Sometimes we carefully plan our strategy, and it never goes well. So usually, we pick whatever 2 Pokémon we want and see how it goes, and then change some things accordingly. Lol and when we're REALLY bored we have what we call a "shitmon-off," where we see who can bring the worst possible Pokémon and do well with it. It's doing that that we made it all the way to the 40s in super multi with frickin leavanny and heatmor. Not great Pokémon, but they made it way farther than expected and it's fun.

 

[Sakuraa]

It depends on the available Pokemon. Stats and stuff like that don't matter to me; I just use what I like. If there are a lot of Pokemon that I like, as in the cases of Sun/Moon Diamond/Pearl, or RSE, then creating a team is usually kind of hard. There are just so many Pokemon that I want to use and deciding how to limit it to 6 tends to just be a long process. I need to make sure I have enough type coverage while also avoiding type overlap. I need to see where the Pokemon I want appear, how difficult they are to catch, and how spaced apart they are from each other. And most importantly, they all need to mesh well with the player character. I'm totally serious; I've passed up Pokemon in playthroughs if I didn't feel they looked fitting with the PC.

If it's something like the Gen 2 or 5 games where there are a lot of Pokemon I don't care for, usually it's easier to pick a team. I'd still only go for Pokemon native to the region (minus BW2), but since there will only be a few that I'm interested in, I'd just go with the six who have the best designs with no type overlap. But of course they also need to look good next to the player character.

 

[yoyokira]

in-game anything goes. you can beat the game with a team of 6 farfetch'd if you really want to.

competitively, i usually need one rapid spinner/defogger because of the prevalence of entry hazards. even if a team member isn't weak to sr that chip of damage can make the difference in surviving a hit. sometimes i go for an aromatherapist/heal bell for status if it is necessary. it really depends on the team to figure out what works best. test it out on showdown a couple times and know what you're strong and weak against. getting a sense of what mons people like to use competitively is helpful too.

 

[ocelotlrama jaguar]

In-game, I just go with faves. I tend to go with four Pokemon instead of six just to get through the game more quickly.

Competitively, I wish I can go with faves but that's not an option when I am constantly faced with opponents like all the Tapus, Trick Room teams, Garchomp, Celesteela, Kartana, and Xurkitree. I always need a counter for them and that means going with something I am not too much of a fan of. Unfortunately, I cannot have a counter for every single thing and I try to get that right balance in that allows me to counter common teams without using Pokemon I personally dislike (Ultra Beasts are great to use in competitions but I don't like them at all). It's difficult, but it's fun, too.

 

[Pyrax]

Fairly easily, tbh. I tend to go with whatever can perform well in battles - stats and movepools matter the most to me imo. Natures I'm more lenient towards since anything can work in-game. I prefer using mostly Pokémon from that game's generation, unless of course there's nothing I like, in which case I'll just use something from a different gen, usually something I used in another playthrough. I used Lanturn and Flygon in Moon, for example, because nothing in the dex appealed to me.
Competitively, I build with synergy in mind - what role can this mon play that the others can't, can it cover another teammate's weakness, etc. I tend to favour sweepers, with a couple of wallbreakers for good measure. Maybe even a wall from time to time.

 

[Lyrebird]

Not hard. Whatever is cool and then balance it out.

 

[Proxima Centauri B]

I usually just pick what appeals to me at the time and try to have the types cover other Pokemon.

 

[DoctorWhy]

Usually I try to get a nice balance of types. I'll pick my starter, and then pick 5 that cover most other types. Though with the presence of 18 types now, I almost feel required to use all dual-types.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I feel like using anything that floats my boat. Usually, whenever I do this at Showdown, I end up at a stacked water and ground weakness (that's what you get for being a fire lover lol)

 

[Dragon Master]

I usually check out Serebii and see what new mons are coming out and available to obtain. Once thats been figured out, i try to go for a well balanced team of all my favorites by looks and typing, very rarely will i have a team that has more then 1 of the same typing. I dont do competitive and natures and abilities dont usually bother me the first time around. when i restart, then i care about them. But when i do restart, it will be a whole new team with new mons to try and raise at least one of every species to high levels.

 

[FroyoDragon]

It zigzags for me. Sometimes I just go along with whatever I find and it's all cool! But other times I get into perfectionist moods that make me want to only certain sorts, it's pretty arbitrary :x

#FroyoQuirks.

 

[BorgyDudeMan]

In-game, it's quite hard. Every time I build a team and it becomes full another interesting soon-to-be team member pops up and I really want to catch it so badly, and everytime I go to the PC I wnd up switching a Pokémon I love so to that new Pokémon. So to cope with this, I had to make a team planner

As for competitive, I only use Showdown, but I try to use my favorites and some OU Pokémon while trying to KO my opponent's Pokémon....

 

[corysmith]

Most of the mon I use daily are utilitarian. I have a Dragonite with moves to kill everything just south of battle tree. I have a Chandelure for grinding out shiny. I have six Scizor with False Swipe and Thief for going out and getting items off wilds. My Battle Tree team probably isn't the best, but I suck no matter what I throw out there. It consists of Sylveon, Dragonite, Jangmo-o, and Hawlucha

 

[PurplePopplio]

In-game, I usually have one or two favorites, my starter and the rest will have different types compared to my favorites and starter. I try to find a mostly complete balance of types that can be competitive against many of the types.

In-game, with new generations, I only try to use new Pokémon.

 

[CynthiaLover]

In-game, it varies. I mostly work with favorites, but I will experiment every now and then, usually in the form of a restarted version, like my recently restarted spare White. Natures and abilities hold some importance, but I'm generally very flexible (like I'd rather use a Compound Eyes Joltik than an Unnerve one, as the former more practical). Neutral natures are my favorite, as it allows me to mold the Mon to my needs, but I'm flexible (like I currently have an Impish Emboar, so while it means moves like Flamethrower are less useful, I'm still more than willing to work with it). I try not to have too many shared weaknesses, but sometimes I can get overlaps without meaning to. Movepools are important to me, as having a diverse set of moves helps me overcome any shared weaknesses and such, but even then I'm willing to be flexible. However, distribution plays a key role in team building, as the fewer new Mons that are available, the narrower my choices will be, so that can be a problem. In each gen I use only the new guys, only using older ones if I need to fill in blanks for a bit, but they'll be swapped out later on when I find what I want. Gen V was very kind to me during my playthroughs, as it gave me plenty of options to work with and experiment with. But overall I tend to work with favorites the most and have general flexibility when constructing teams.

Competitively I avoid completely. The metagame makes me sick. Not only does it have about as much variety as vanilla ice cream, but all the Mons there are brutal killing machines. I like to have fun and be causal, so watching my favorites get decimated by people who only care about winning at all costs is aggravating, as I do put a lot of care and thought into my guys. Because of that, I rarely dabble with even online battling, only going on if I'm meeting a trade/battle partner and that's it, as I've had too many competitive players brutalize me online. And when I actually gain the advantage over them, they ragequit, which makes it even more infuriating. So because of that I rarely bother with online or competitive players. So I avoid anything involving competitive gameplay because it drains the fun out of it to me.