I just simply CAN'T win battles agaisn't other players

[Pkm Trainer Lou]

I don't even play online anymore

I dunno why, but other players 1-hit-faint me most of the time! Not like they're using legendaries or our pkm are at different lvls, but I don't remember ever winning a link battle, just making 1 or 2 opposing mons faint, maybe I won ONCE or very very very few time, if anything, but not sure about this. Why is that? I doubt they're hackers or anything like that because this kinda stuff happens in every battle of mine and I find it very unlikey I ONLY bump into cheaters. If it helps in an explanation, my mons only have attack moves and are all fully evolved. Does this happen to you too? Am I just being unlucky? Do I just plain succ?

 

[smalllady]

I think most people who battle online are into competitive battling, so that means their Pokemon would have an advantage over Pokemon who were raised normally. I have the same problem. My teams always consist of my favorite Pokemon (which are usually not stellar in terms of competitive battling) so I just stay away from online battles.

 

[Pkm Trainer Lou]

I think most people who battle online are into competitive battling, so that means their Pokemon would have an advantage over Pokemon who were raised normally. I have the same problem. My teams always consist of my favorite Pokemon (which are usually not stellar in terms of competitive battling) so I just stay away from online battles.

so, basically many players have little hope of winning and link battles are a bigger gamble than i thought?

 

[smalllady]

so, basically many players have little hope of winning and link battles are a bigger gamble than i thought?

I don't know about "many players," but yes, anything online is pretty much a gamble.

 

[CynthiaLover]

I have to agree. I get almost brutally destroyed in online battles. It's pretty much why I don't do online Pokemon stuff except with people I know. The reason being is that I use favorites raised normally while everyone else uses competitively-constructed teams built for one thing: to win at all costs. I'm a casual gamer, but that puts me in a big disadvantage against "pro" gamers. Rarely will I gain the upperhand and even win, but more often than not I'm at the receiving end of a brutal pummeling. So I know how you feel. It's not that you suck or have bad luck, it's just most players are competitive and want to win at all costs, so they create team-destroying monsters for that purpose. It's unfortunate, really, as games are meant to be enjoyed by players, but those who take it to extremes alienate more passive, fun-based players. So it's not just you, I know what it's like to be turned into a Poke-punching bag.

 

[Ｄｉｓ]

EV training and using more than just attack moves may make a difference. Maybe try some random battles on Pokemon Showdown

 

[Aulos]

Yeah, a lot of the people you face online are competitive-minded. I typically don't bother battling online, and don't let it get to me. I don't have time to train Pokemon competitively like that, and to be blunt, I really don't even care. Better things to do with my time.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Yeah, this is why I don't play online with random people. The majority of people going online are competitive players and unless you play that way, you're never going to do well online. I really wish there was a "For Fun" and a "For Glory" mode like Smash has where you can distinguish between competitive players and casual players.

 

[Pkm Trainer Lou]

Yeah, a lot of the people you face online are competitive-minded. I typically don't bother battling online, and don't let it get to me. I don't have time to train Pokemon competitively like that, and to be blunt, I really don't even care. Better things to do with my time.

i wouldn't bother too much with it either, but i found the whole ordeal puzzling... i always imagined i was playing against some casual or something but ended up pitted against a L337X0R that kicked my behind in a heartbeat. it never made sense to me until now

 

[Gengarzilla]

More often than not, it's usually me delivering the beatdowns in battles. My favorites just happen to be good in a competitive fashion.

I can absolutely understand your situations though. I was in this rut before. Most of my early online battles were similarly disastrous, I had never played online before X so it took a while to adjust. I don't mean to brag but I was the best of my local area during Gen V. Big fish in a small pond sorta thing.

 

[Dagik]

Offensive story, I was faced with such a situation. Noticed that is, if any problems with the internet connection will be hard to win the battle!

 

[Zkat]

Like everyone else is saying, there are a lot of competitive battlers online. Gen 6 made EV training a lot easier with things like super training and horde battles, and now with wonder trade it's easier to get pokemon with good IV's too.

I had the same problem. In Gen 5 and the beginning of Gen 6, I pretty much always lost when I played online because I just used the pokemon on my in-game team. Then later in Gen 6 I tried breeding and EV training some of my favorites and thinking a bit more strategically and I started winning battles more often.

 

[Serpentsounds]

Some of the sentiments I see here are a bit puzzling. I'm assuming if you're entering a battle in the first place, your ultimate objective is to win (unless you get your kicks from seeing your Pokemon faint). Is it not then fair for whomever you're playing against to have the same objective? If you just want to win without actually trying, you could always play through the story again.

If you're aiming to make your Pokemon stronger, a good place to start would be the articles for EVs, IVs, and breeding.
If you're aiming to improve your strategy, you can try the Battle Maison and mimic what you see there, read Smogon entries for some of your Pokemon, or watch one of many YouTube channels dedicated to battling.
If you're aiming to do neither of those things, I can only assume you want somebody to let you win with weak Pokemon and no strategy, in which I case I'll reiterate that the story mode is probably your best bet.

If you legitimately do want to improve, but aren't ready to tackle all of the aspects at once, you can try using a battle simulator. You'll develop a battle rating which will eventually even out to your approximate skill level, and then you can be matched up against similar players. Honestly, I think it'd be kinda cool if something like that was integrated into the main game, but for now you'll have to compromise.

 

[Muur]

Then you're using casual Pokemon with average stats/awful Pokemon etc

If you want to battle online, either Google how you're actually supposed to do it (since you're moaning about losing every time, then if you actually want to win then you'll have little choice) or just go onto Pokemon Showdown and make a team in like 10 mins and battle that way.

What Pokemon are you using? just because they're fully evolved, doesn't mean said Pokemon are good. ...for example, Beautifly is weaker than Charmleon even though one of them is a middle stage Pokemon and one is a final stage.

 

[Pkm Trainer Lou]

Then you're using casual Pokemon with average stats/awful Pokemon etc

If you want to battle online, either Google how you're actually supposed to do it (since you're moaning about losing every time, then if you actually want to win then you'll have little choice) or just go onto Pokemon Showdown and make a team in like 10 mins and battle that way.

What Pokemon are you using? just because they're fully evolved, doesn't mean said Pokemon are good. ...for example, Beautifly is weaker than Charmleon even though one of them is a middle stage Pokemon and one is a final stage.

in my Y team, i have greninja, venusaur, lucario, tyrantrum, snorlax and talonflame... in case you didn't notice the pattern, all my pkm (except for talonflame) were GIVEN during the story. well, yeah, it would be interesting to know if the team is any good at all OL

 

[Zkat]

in my Y team, i have greninja, venusaur, lucario, tyrantrum, snorlax and talonflame... in case you didn't notice the pattern, all my pkm (except for talonflame) were GIVEN during the story. well, yeah, it would be interesting to know if the team is any good at all OL

I think those six pokemon have the potential to make a pretty good team. I'm not a super competitive player but I'll try to give some advice:

• Some of those pokemon have very good hidden abilities if you don't mind breeding or using the friend safari and wonder trade to get them. But if you're attached to those specific pokemon you might still be able to make the abilities and natures they have work.
  
• When you're super training sometimes you get reset bags. If you want you can use them to reset the EV's and then rearrange the EV's to try and take advantage of the pokemon's best stats.
  
• You also might want to play around with movesets. Try covering lots of types and using some status moves.
  
• As Serpentsounds mentioned, watching how other people play can really help. A big part of competitive battling is about trying to predict what your opponent is going to do, so it's good for seeing the thought process behind everything.
  
• Even the best players can't win every battle, so don't worry if you still lose sometimes. Just try to have fun.

 

[Muur]

in my Y team, i have greninja, venusaur, lucario, tyrantrum, snorlax and talonflame... in case you didn't notic

e the pattern, all my pkm (except for talonflame) were GIVEN during the story. well, yeah, it would be interesting to know if the team is any good at all OL

Some good Pokemon in there actually... if you go on here
http://www.smogon.com/dex/xy/pokemon/greninja/

and then just copy the move sets (or use similar) for those Pokemon it should be fine

although some of them - Greninja and Talonflame - need their secondary abilities which will take effort to get

what are your move sets? it's not

Greninja- Surf, Waterfall, Water Gun, Bubblebeam is it?

 

[Pkm Trainer Lou]

Some good Pokemon in there actually... if you go on here
http://www.smogon.com/dex/xy/pokemon/greninja/

and then just copy the move sets (or use similar) for those Pokemon it should be fine

although some of them - Greninja and Talonflame - need their secondary abilities which will take effort to get

what are your move sets? it's not

Greninja- Surf, Waterfall, Water Gun, Bubblebeam is it?

he has water shuriken, surf, hydro pump and waterfall

 

[Muur]

he has water shuriken, surf, hydro pump and waterfall

No wonder you're losing then... your Pokemon generally should have moves of 4 different types, there is straight up no reason to have four moves of the same type - like, it's literally pointless. What if Greninja is the last guy alive and the other guy has a Vaporeon out? it would be impossible for you to hit it

Greninja is a dark type and you don't even have a dark move on him...

another suggestion... accuarcy over power. Thunderbolt is better than Thunder. 100 Thunderbolts will do more damage than 70 Thunders (100 vs 70% accuracy).

Remove any HMs other than Surf on your team and give them to slaves in the box

I can now fully answer the question you originally asked, are you bad at Pokemon? yeah.

Diversify your move sets from more than just one type... and you'll instantly win a hell of a lot more matches and simply because I feel I should point it out... try to make sure your Pokemon have moves that fit... look at their attack and special attack stats. Flamethrower on a Darmanitan would be the worst idea of all time because he has no special attack whatsoever. Special attacks are the purple(?) circle ones, psychical are the red zig zag(?) ones.

 

[Slife]

I have to agree. I get almost brutally destroyed in online battles. It's pretty much why I don't do online Pokemon stuff except with people I know. The reason being is that I use favorites raised normally while everyone else uses competitively-constructed teams built for one thing: to win at all costs. I'm a casual gamer, but that puts me in a big disadvantage against "pro" gamers. Rarely will I gain the upperhand and even win, but more often than not I'm at the receiving end of a brutal pummeling. So I know how you feel. It's not that you suck or have bad luck, it's just most players are competitive and want to win at all costs, so they create team-destroying monsters for that purpose. It's unfortunate, really, as games are meant to be enjoyed by players, but those who take it to extremes alienate more passive, fun-based players. So it's not just you, I know what it's like to be turned into a Poke-punching bag.

Why does playing competitively and having fun have to be mutually exclusive? I won't generalize for all competitive battlers, but the fun for me in competitive battling comes from implementing various strategies and combinations to compete against other players who share the same goal of winning and who put in the same effort into wanting to win. I love seeing all the interesting strategies/ideas/techniques that other players come up with, and the way players can bring out the strengths of certain Pokemon in ways you'd never expect. Your perspective assumes that there is only one "correct" way to play the game. Personally, seeing all the intricate mechanics that GameFreak has developped being used in unique and unexpected ways adds a whole new level of depth and excitement to the games. Everyone has their own way of playing and enjoying all that the game has to offer - that's what makes Pokemon so great.

Yeah, this is why I don't play online with random people. The majority of people going online are competitive players and unless you play that way, you're never going to do well online. I really wish there was a "For Fun" and a "For Glory" mode like Smash has where you can distinguish between competitive players and casual players.

Although this doesn't end up always being the case, generally you can use Free Battle mode in Battle Spot if you're looking for more casual battles as it tends to attract more casual players; whereas Rating Battles are where you're more likely to encounter players with competitive teams.

@Pkm Trainer Lou If you'd like you can post a "Rate My Team" in the Battle Center to have your team critiqued in more detail, and to receive suggestions/feedback for improvement in general.