Mr Metagross' Guide to Competitive Battling

[Mr Metagross]

I only did brief research to find out if this is forumly legal or not, but if it is against the rules, please someone close it! Only if it's in breach of the rules.

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So, I spotted this over on the ONMUK forums and decided to port it over here. I'm not ripping anything.

Anyway, just started competitive battling and don't know where you went wrong? Hammered down by any opponent that comes your way? We've all gone through that phase. But now, that phase is over! With this (hopefully approved) guide, you will be taken through all the aspects that go into competitive battling.

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If this thread is against the rules, SAY SO NOW!!

 

[Mr Metagross]

...Nup, no one objected? Fine, onwards.

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First Things First

Read ALL of this section if you are new to competitive battling. First things first, you must ditch the team you used to finish the story. They will not help at ALL. Their EVs are all over the place.

That aside, we must go over the rules of online and competitive play.

NO UBERS: An "Uber" is a Pokémon that is classed too powerful to go into the other four tiers (go to Smogon to understand tiers). This means ALL legendaries, along with Wobbuffet (Garchomp and Salamence don't count, because they are generally allowed at events that ban ubers).

SLEEP CLAUSE: This means you can only send one opponent to sleep with the use of Hypnosis etc during one turn. This rule doesn't count when the opponent uses Rest etc.

SPECIES CLAUSE: Only one species on each team. This means you cannot have two (example) Haxoruses on one team. But you can have (example) a Swampert and Marshtomp on one team.

OHKO MOVES: This is common. None of your Pokémon may know Sheer Cold, Guillotine, Fissure or Horn Drill because they are all moves with low accuracy, but if they hit the opponent automatically faints. Banned.

DOUBLE BATTLES: Nearly all of competitive play is Double Battles. All the VGCs are, all of the tournaments I've ever been to have utilized Double Battles. This related to synergy (more on that later).

General Terms

Uber, OU, BL, UU, NU: These stand for Overused, Borderline, Underused and Never Used, respectively. Smogon use these for categorizing Pokémon depending on their ability to do their job and also on their popularity with competitive battlers. There are too many to list in each tier, so check out the Smogon link above, but an example of an Uber would be Rayquaza, an OU would be Snorlax. UU could be Starmie, and a NU is Charizard (yes, I'm being serious).

STAB: Same Type Attack Bonus; STAB. This is when a Pokémon uses a move that is the same type as itself, the move becomes more powerful (increases in power by 50%). For example, if an Emboar used Flamethrower, Flamethrower's normal power is 90, right? Because Emboar is Fire/Fighting, Flamethrower is now 135 power, because 50% of 90 = 45, and 45 + 90 = 135.

HP, ATK, Sp.ATK, DEF, Sp.DEF, SPD: Hit Points, Attack, Special Attack, Defence, Special Defence and Speed. These are your Pokémon's stats and the way that they are referred to.

EVs and IVs: Pivotal points in your Pokémon training. They stand for Effort Values and Individual Values. They affect your Pokémon's stats.

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Roles of the Team

Now that your storyline team is gone, you can begin planning your competitive team. Trust me, this is not like in the story, where you see a Pokémon you quite like, catch it, test it out and decide whether or not to keep it. All the awesome Pokémon are spread out in a fantastically annoying way, more on that later.

Each Pokémon must contribute something to the team by playing an individual role.

Sweeper: These Pokémon go by a "hit-and-run" motto with their fantastic offensive stats and excellent speed.
Physical Sweeper: A Pokémon that focuses on ATK rather than Sp.ATK. ATK raises the power of physical moves. Example: Tyranitar
Special Sweeper: Obviously, they revolve more around their Sp.ATK than ATK. Sp.ATK raises the power of Special moves. Example: Gengar
Mixed Sweeper: They use both Special and Physical hits by training both their ATK and Sp.ATK. Example: Infernape

Wall: These Pokémon soak up hits where the Sweepers cannot. They generally have great defensive stats.
Physical Wall: Able to take physical hits from a Physical Sweeper without the result being too catastrophic. Example: Weezing
Special Wall: You guessed it. They can take Special Attacks. Example: Snorlax

Supporter: In general, Pokémon like these help out on the team, whether they be clerics or revenge killers.
Revenge Killer: These should have REALLY high speed. They come out after a Sweeper faints and they do what they can to take down the exhausted opponents. Example: Weavile
Cleric: Usually, Clerics tend to the damage done by the opponent by using moves like Wish, Aromatherapy, Heal Pulse and Heal Bell. However, they are very delicate and vulnerable to attacks. Example: Celebi

BASE STATS

A vital part of all team planning, each Pokémon has its own unique set of base stats, which determine how high each of its stats will be. Take Starmie as an example:

Starmie
HP: 60
ATK: 75
DEF: 85
Sp.ATK: 100
Sp.DEF: 85
SPD: 115

So if you're like me, you'll understand that these numbers give a rough understanding of how high each stat is on average. As you can see, Starmie has much high SPD than HP, so when you begin training it, its SPD will advance much faster than HP. You can find all the base stats and their minimums/maximums at Lvl.100 on Bulbapedia (come on, do I really need to link it?).

NATURES

Natures, possibly the most frustrating part of training. You may have looked at your Pokémon's natures and thought, "What the hell are they for?" Well, my friend, they are there to bring your life to misery. A single nature increases one stat, but decreases another, by 10% each. There are 25 natures, though five have no effect on stats:

Attack Boosting Natures

Lonely Nature (+Atk, -Def)
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
Naughty Nature (+Atk, -SDef)

Defence Boosting Natures

Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
Lax Nature (+Def, -SDef)

Speed Boosting Natures

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)

Special Attack Boosting Natures

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
Mild Nature (+SAtk, -Def)
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)

Special Defence Boosting Natures

Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
Gentle Nature (+SDef, -Def)
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)

Neutral Natures (Do not Increase or Decrease any stat)

Hardy Nature (Neutral)
Docile Nature (Neutral)
Serious Nature (Neutral)
Bashful Nature (Neutral)
Quirky Nature (Neutral)

So there you go. It is pretty important you get the right nature for your Pokémon, else the consequence can be severe, occasionally. You want to maximize your favoured stat in a Pokémon, so natures help a lot here. Generally Sweepers want a Speed-boosting nature, and a decrease in whichever stat they do not use i.e. a Special Sweeper like Salamence would want Timid, because that makes it faster, but less powerful with physical moves. This is fine because Salamence won't use physical attacks.

The best way to get the right nature is to stick a 'mon in the Daycare with a Ditto and let them breed the night away. Hatch the eggs until you get the right nature.

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BREEDING

Right, we all know how to do this, right? Wrong.

When not using a Ditto:
-The father passes on moves
-The mother passes on species
-Both parents pass on IVs

Egg Moves

Egg Moves are moves that a Pokémon can learn only through breeding. For example, if a male Staraptor knew Whirlwind and Brave Bird, and bred with a female Skarmory, the resulting Skarmory would know Whirlwind and Brave Bird.

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I'll update this every three days...assuming it's still legit, and helpful? Next time I'll be covering EV Training and possibly Hidden Power if I can squeeze it in at the end.

 

[SharKing]

Here's a little clean-up detail on the Uber thing. Not all Legendaries are Ubers, according to Smogon. In fact, here's a complete list of what Smogon doesn't consider Uber:

Articuno
Zapdos
Moltres
Mew (Gen. V only)
Entei
Raikou
Suicune
Celebi
Regirock
Regice
Registeel
Latias (Gen. V only)
Latios (Gen. V only)
Jirachi
Deoxys Defense and Speed (Gen. V only)
Uxie
Mesprit
Azelf
Heatran
Cresselia
Shaymin (Land Forme)
Victini
Cobalion
Terrakion
Virizion
Tornadus
Thundurus
Landorus
Kyurem

 

[Angad]

What have you gotten to the ladders of Gen 5?

 

[coolking503]

You realize you state that most battling is double battles, and then go on to state the SINGLE BATTLE tiers.

Perhaps evs would merit a mention.

"an OU would be Snorlax. UU could be Starmie, and a NU is Charizard (yes, I'm being serious)."

Bad examples. You probably should choose more unversal examples, since Starmie is OU in gen 4 and Snorlax shouldnt remain in OU for long. Charizard was in UU for a while in gen 4 as well. Also the yes Im serious has no justification and is the reason people hate tiers. If you are going to say that, explain briefly why. Better examples are things like Metagross and ttar, Milotic, and luvdisc.

I havent read the whole thing yet but I'll get more feedback later.

 

[Angad]

I still don't see the smogon article being beaten by this at all, as it is poorly written, It makes me think you aren't well acquainted with the metagame. If there is one reason that I shouldn't close this, due to this being much better, tell me now or else it will be.

 

[Mr Metagross]

I still don't see the smogon article being beaten by this at all, as it is poorly written, It makes me think you aren't well acquainted with the metagame. If there is one reason that I shouldn't close this, due to this being much better, tell me now or else it will be.

Go ahead. I didn't expect this to end well, anyway. I may as well link the thread I got it from over on ONMUK, because that seemed to help a lot of people (including me) with competitive play.

 

[coolking503]

This is nothing like that guide, tbh. That one is much better and seems educated. General tip, dont use I when writing a "guide", it makes it seem opinionated.

 

[Mr Metagross]

This is nothing like that guide, tbh. That one is much better and seems educated. General tip, dont use I when writing a "guide", it makes it seem opinionated.

Don't kill me, I get it. I tried, and I failed. I already said it could be closed.

 

[Angad]

I don't intend to sound rude, you have potential, but as of right now, this thread will be closed.