The Basics:
Types/STAB
The first step in competitiveness is knowing a Pokémon's typing. This can help you learn what moves are super-effective and what's not effective. For example, some moves follow basic rules; such as water is effective on fire, steel is effective on rock and so on. When a Pokémon uses a water move on a fire-type Pokémon, the damage is doubled because it is super effective. When a fire move is used on a water-type, then the damage is halved because it is not effective.
With dual-types, Pokémon will share its weaknesses and strengths. Like a water-and-ice type Pokémon, for example, is resistant to water moves by 1/4 because water is 1/2 and ice is also 1/2.
Special, Physical, and Status
Pokémon moves are sorted into three categories: Special, Physical, and Status.
Special moves use your Pokémon's special attack stat and the opponent's special defense to calculate damage. Special moves consist of moves like hyper beam, ice beam, and fire blast.
Physical moves are damaging moves that deal damage based on your Pokémon's Physical attack stat and the opponent's physical defense. Physicals move consist of moves like earthquake, knock off, and body slam.
Status are moves that give status effects such as growl, swords dance, and toxic.
You can find what type a move is in the move info section, beneath the power and accuracy.
Critical Hits
When using a move in battle, there is a 1 in 16 (6.25%) chance that it will result in a critical hit, dealing 1.5x the damage it otherwise would have. Critical hits also bypass the attacker's negative stat changes, the defender's positive stat changes, and defensive boosts such as light screen, reflect, and aura veil are all ignored; the halved attack side effect of the burn status remains in effect however.
Forming a team:
Cores
When building a team it is important to balance things, such as working around "cores". These tend to consist of two to three pokémon that cover a defensive or offensive role very well, usually covering most types on both the special and physical sides of things. This helps you construct a solid team where every member has a role instead of the trial and error of trying to base a team around a bare concept or single Pokémon.
Types of pokémon:
Base stats
Base stats are a Pokémon's properties, determining what a pokémon will be good at. They are used to calculate the Pokémon's final stat value and have a maximum value of 255 (A value currently only met by Blissey's HP stat). What makes up a "good" base stat value will vary depending on who you ask, however an effective stat tends to be above 100 and is complemented by the Pokémon's
nature or ability.
There are many more factors influencing how good a pokémon is, but it's base stats are at the core of every calculation, and a pokémon with poor base stats is difficult to make work in higher tier play and likely won't fill a standard role.
Cores are meant to be synergistic and cover each others weaknesses (and cover as much typing for offensive cores). Examples of good cores to build teams around can be found in various locations and guides on the internet.
Walls
Walls are pokémon that utilize any combination of an exceptional HP, special defense, or defense stat to "wall" a potential threat by soaking up more damage than they can put out. Examples of this are Chansey and Blissey with their highest HP stats, and Skarmory with it's good balance of typing and defense, these pokémon fill the essential role of being able to switch into opponents safely and force them to switch out, providing the breathing room to try and set-up hazards or prepare a counterattack.
Stalls
Stalls are an extension of walls, filling a very similar role in providing a safe switch into most threats, where they differentiate however is that stalls utilize moves such as toxic to cripple and chip away at the opposing Pokémon's HP. This method of defeating a pokémon is lengthy however, so to counter this a stall must have some recovery, a way of healing to survive the lengthy battle and come out on top.
Sweepers
Sweepers are pokémon designed to faint as many of the enemy pokémon as possible within it's lifespan, often played towards the end of the game as the "clean up crew" once the opposing team is weakened and any counters removed from play. There are two main versions of sweepers: set-up sweepers require moves that raise their own stats such as dragon dance or a baton pass from another pokemon in order to put in the work, while other sweepers rely on its sheer stats and ability to KO its opponents, with examples like Garchomp and Blacephalon. Set-up sweepers tend to be more effective, as the ability for a sweeper to faint it's opponents in one hit is crucial to their continued success, however they require more planning to be used effectively, and as such are not always the best choice.
Revenge Killers
Revenge killers are viewed almost like sweepers sometimes, due to their shared role of simply eliminating pokémon, however there is a very large difference in how each are played. Revenge killers utilize strong base stats and priority moves like ice shard and Mach punch to finish off targets that have already been weakened by other members of the team. Why use these over a sweeper? Well sometimes there are some opponents that simply will not go down with a single hit when played well, and you will need a backup plan to finish-off these opponents.
Pivots
Pivots are Pokemon with moves like U-turn and Volt switch, with the purpose of providing more offensive teams with plenty of momentum. There are 2 types of pivots: slow pivots and fast pivots; fast pivots are basically like regular switching with the addition of possible crucial chip damage, assuming that the opponent stays in; the fast Pokemon will be able to pivot before the opponent gets to attack, allowing you switch to a counter or wall. What makes this interesting is that if the opponent does decide to switch, when the opponent switches to another Pokemon, you can pivot and switch to a counter accordingly, and force your opponent to either sack or switch out what they just switched in. This is called offensive momentum and gives you the upper hand as your opponent is forced to play defensively, preventing them from maintaining a sense of unpredictability, allowing you to continue chipping away at their team and potentially picking up some essential KOs. On the other hand, slow pivots allow safe switch-in's at the cost of having the "pivoteer" take some damage (assuming that the opponent stays in), because of this slow pivots are recommended to be relatively bulky, good walls such as Magearna and Rotom-Wash have the capability to be surprisingly good slow-pivots that often force switches or absorb the necessary damage. If the opponent does indeed switch, then the same scenario plays out as if the opponent switching on a fast pivot, providing you with an advantage.
Balancing Teams:
Now that you know about the types of pokemon its time to form them into a team. Its best to start with one or two pokemon and form your team around them. Then it becomes a a matter of your play style. People who like all out attackers go full sweeper teams. Balanced teams consist of two tanks, one for each type of damage. and 2 attackers with a utility pokemon. The most frustrating is tanky teams, just teams full of hard to kill pokemon.
Types of Teams:
There are different types of teams, all of which play very differently and can still be just as effective as another type of team. These teams usually specialize in one specific thing and excels in that, while in some situations these teams can be ineffective as well.
Weather
Weather teams, as the name suggests, are teams that are built around playing under a specific weather and does best in that weather. The different types of weather teams are: Rain teams, sun teams, hail teams, and sandstorm teams. Weather teams were most prominent in Generation 5 as weather used to be permanent. In Generation 6 and onwards, weather was nerfed to only last 4-7 turns which is the reason they fell from grace. Still, they can be effective, just not used as often.
Rain
When in battle, rain makes water type attacks 50% stronger, while making fire type attacks 50% weaker. Some sweepers also benefit from additional effects rain brings such as activating Swift Swim. Rain can be activated using Rain Dance or the ability Drizzle. If activated by either along with a damp rock, rain will last much longer than usual. Due to rain, some moves can bypass accuracy checks such as Thunder and Hurricane, both of which have an above average base power and can be effective under rain.
Sun
Sun teams do the exact opposite thing Rain teams do, it makes water type attacks 50% weaker, while making fire type attacks 50% stronger. Certain abilities can also be activated by the sun. One sun sweeper is a Chlorophyll Venusaur with Growth, which increases speed using sun, and both attack/special attack also using sun. Harsh sunlight is activated by Sunny Day or Drought, if either is activated with a Heat Rock, it will last much longer than normal.
Hail
The most notable feature of hail is the residual damage that is done every turn to the opponent, and as well as that being able to fire off a Blizzard that can never miss. Stall teams using Hail is very popular due to the fact that Hail causes 1/16th of its maximum HP damage to all Pokémon except Ice types and certain abilities. Within 16 to 17 turns, the opponent will lose all their health just from Hail alone. Not many walls resist hail, which is also another reason Hail Stall works. Hail can be activated by using the move "Hail", or with the ability Snow Warning and will last longer than usual if activated with an Icy Rock
Sandstorm
Sandstorm, just like Hail, will do 1/16th damage to the opponent after every turn in the form of Residual Damage to all Pokémon except rock and ground types and some certain abilities. Sandstorm also increases Special Defense of rock types by 50%. For these reasons, Sandstorm Stall was also something very commonly seen as Rock types who are not only immune to sandstorm's residual damage but also get a Special Defense buff can be very beefy and hard to kill. Sandstorm can be activated by the move "Sandstorm" or Sand Stream and lasts longer than normal when activated with a Smooth Rock.
Trick Room
Trick Room teams work exceptionally well under the effects of the move Trick Room. Trick Room makes slower Pokémon move first and the faster Pokémon move last. This can be taken advantage of by bringing in extremely slow Pokémon such as Rhyperior who can hit hard and also be fast under Trick Room. Generally, most teams have fast Pokémon, especially if Hyper Offensive, and this can be taken advantage of by Trick Room users as well. Cresselia is a good Trick Room setter and so is Reunicleus. Curse is a popular setup move in Trick Room teams
Tank/Stall
Tank/Stall teams are teams that are extremely bulky and attack you indirectly whether it be from Toxic, Weather, Hazards etc. Phasing moves and other situational moves are also used in Stall. Most stall teams come ready to take whatever hit you can throw with ease, and then slowly damage the opponent. Bulky Pokémon such as Chansey and Toxapex is no rarity in stall teams due to their extremely high defense stats.
Hyper Offensive
Hyper Offensive teams are the exact opposite of Tank/Stall teams. Hyper Offensive teams as the name suggests, are extremely offense oriented with little defense investments. Hazards such as Stealth Rock is very often used in Hyper Offense as this allows for the team Pokémon to get KO's quicker due to the damage Stealth Rock does. Hyper Offensive teams usually don't need much setup and some of the Pokémon used in Hyper Offensive teams can be rather frail such as Gengar.
Terrain
There are 4 different types of Terrain: Electric Terrain, Psychic Terrain, Misty Terrain, and Grassy Terrain. All of these Terrain's have interesting attributes. Electric Terrain, Grassy Terrain, and Psychic Terrain all increase the power of Electric, Grass, and Psychic moves respectively by 50%. Other than that, Pokémon on the ground receive some side-effects. Terrain teams work similar to weather teams, however, they are slightly different. The terrains can be activated by: Electric Seed/Electric Surge for Electric Terrain, Grassy Seed/Grassy Surge for Grassy Terrain, Misty Seed/Misty Surge for Misty Terrain, Psychic Seed/Psychic Surge for Psychic Terrain.
Battling
Now that you know different types of teams, it's time to move on to battling. There are different battling strategies you can utilize to help secure your victory. The few that we have mentioned are Switching, U-Turn/Volt Switch, Sacking and Predicting, all of which are key components in battling.
Switching
If you're at an undesirable matchup, you should always switch out to avoid getting severely punished for staying in. For example, if you have an unboosted Gyarados and the opponent brings in a Mega Manectric, you should switch your Gyarados out seen as Intimidate would've made its Attack lower, and Manectric can OHKO Gyarados with ease. In this situation, you could switch out to a Pokémon that is a ground type.
Sacking
Sacking a Pokémon means letting a Pokémon get KO'd on purpose. This can be beneficial at times seen as this way instead of switching out and whatever that comes in taking damage, you can switch in safely without whatever coming in taking damage. If the Pokémon you're switching in is at extremely low health, it might be better to sack it than to switch it out as it could in some situations even be considered a burden
Predicting
Predicting is by far the most important aspect of competitive battling. One prediction can determine the outcome of the match whether you lose or win, quite literally. Predicting is also the most skill-based part of competitive battling and it's something that you will learn to do purely by experience, nobody can teach you better than by trying it out yourself. Predicting what the opponent is going to do next can sometimes be easy, but other times be difficult, and your predictions can determine whether you win or lose.
Breeding:
Breeding is also an important factor in getting a battle-ready Pokémon. Without breeding for it, it is impossible to get a Pokémon to have egg moves, and it is very unlikely you will be able to get a Pokémon with the IVs you want without breeding. Both will be explained more in detail below.
IV's
IVs are individual values and is a number between 1-31 for each stat. At level 100, 1 IV = 1 stat point. For this reason, most people bring very high IV Pokémon to battles as generally the higher stats the better. To get these good IVs, breeding is the most efficient way, though even still it takes time and patience to get that perfect Pokémon you've been looking for. You can find a tutorial all about breeding over on our wiki page
here.
Egg Moves
Egg Moves are moves that can only be got through breeding. These moves cannot be learned by level-up or TM most of the time and the only way to get it is to pass it down from another Pokémon. Some Egg Moves can be very important moves for a Pokémon, which would mean it is impossible for some Pokémon to have the ideal set it wants without breeding for it. This is yet another reason breeding is such an important factor in competitive play although it doesn't affect it directly.
Advanced:
If you've understood everything so far and are still reading, you should also be able to understand this next part with relative ease. There are some more Advanced parts of competitive Pokémon that's going to be covered here.
Status
There are 5 major statuses in Pokémon. That being sleep, freeze, paralysis, burn, toxic/poison. (There are other volatile statuses such as confusion, attract, taunt, etc). Burn will do 6% damage to you every turn, and half your Attack. Sleep will make you unable to attack for a couple turns and Freeze will make you unable to attack until you thaw out/get thawed out. Paralysis will give a chance for you to not be able to attack and half your speed while poison does 12% damage to you every turn and Toxic does 6% every turn, and increases every turn. All of these are major parts of competitive battling and they can be used to cripple your opponent. Note that one Pokémon can't have more than 1 non-volatile status at the same time.
Abilities
Most Pokémon generally have 3 abilities. 2 Regular abilities, and 1 Hidden Ability. Some Pokemon only have 1 or 2 abilities. Hidden Abilities are significantly harder to find compared to regular abilities. There are tons of abilities, all of which do different things and is a very important factor in competitive battling. Some abilities can even make you immune to some types of attacks and give you a buff instead of damaging you. One of the most used abilities is Intimidate, which lowers attack stat of the opponent by 1 stage.
Stat Changes
Each stat can be increased or decreased by a total of 6 stages each and 1 stage = 50%. This means, if you raise your Attack by 2 stages, you would have 200% Attack or double the Attack that you had before. Stats can be changed via some moves and certain abilities. For example, Moxie can increase the Attack stat when you KO a Pokémon by one stage (or 50%) and Dragon Dance can increase Attack by 1 stage and Speed by 1 stage. Some moves can also decrease stats such as Shell Smash which decreases Defense, and Special Defense to increase Attack, Special Attack, and Speed.
Hazards
Entry Hazards are something that negatively impacts a Pokémon that is on the ground upon switch-in. All the entry hazards are: Spikes, Toxic Spikes, Stealth Rock, and Sticky Web. Spikes does damage everytime someone switches in and 3 layers of spikes can be set up, which increases damage output every turn. Toxic Spikes poisons a Pokémon upon switch-in or badly poisons them if two layers are setup. Stealth Rock does damage based on the Pokémons type matchup against rock types, and can even do 50% in one turn if they are 4x weak to rock. Additionally, stealth rock is the only entry hazard that hits flying Pokémon. Sticky Web makes a grounded Pokémon slower by one stage.
EV's
EVs or Effort Values are a hidden value in Pokémon that is a factor when determining a Pokémons stat. EVs can be in any stat and at level 100, 4 EVs = 1 stat point. You can have a total of 255 EVs in each stat and a total of 512 EVs altogether. For this reason, most people like to maximize two stats and then put 4 in another stat, the remaining 2 is useless.
Natures
Natures are also an important part of competitive Pokémon. Most natures increase a stat by 10% and decrease another by 10%, except for 5 natures which are neutral and do nothing. Natures can be good for you if you get the right nature, or can be extremely horrible for you if you get the wrong nature. Getting the specific nature you want that is ideal for you is usually done through breeding and a wiki page that covers everything about breeding can be found over
here.
Damage Calculator
This
Damage Calculator can be used to see how much damage a move will do or a move will do to you. You can customize for IV's/EV's, held item, natures, abilities, and many more. It can even do specific case scenarios like weather, stat changes, and entry hazards. However, at the end of the day the damage is based on RNG so it can not tell the exact damage you will do or take.
Battling
Battle Screen
This is the screen you will be placed in when fighting pokémon, other players and NPCs. The top left will have the opponents status and bottom right includes the status of your pokémon.
If the weather has been changed by the world or a move it will be tracked, the same as terrain moves, such as Toxic Spikes.
The timer shows how long you have before a move is automatically used from your pokémon.
When you hover over a move you will gain more information such as power, accuracy and damage effective range. Some moves can hit multiple opponents and sometimes even your own battle partners! So make sure to check a move before using in a group setting.
When you click on the blue bag icon, you will be taken to this scree. Here you can throw pokeballs to catch pokémon, use restorative items or use offensive items. These items must be in your characters inventory to show up and be available to use.
Clicking the red pokeball icon will take you to your current party of Pokémon not currently battling. This is where you will switch in mons, or check the condition of other party members before you send them in.
The final yellow running icon is how you attempt to flee from battle. It is also used to forfeit trainer battles.
If you are stuck in battle for reasons outside of your control such as glitches, bugs or trolling players use
/endbattle to exit the fight.
Setting Up Battle Rules
With competitive fighting you can set up certain rules to have with your fights.
When you start a fight you are shown this screen. Underneath Accept and Decline is Battle Rules, which will take you to this menu.
Here you have:
- Level Cap - Change the maximum level of pokémon that can fight.
- Raise to Cap - Raises/Decreases Pokémon's level to the set cap.
- Full Heal - Fully heals pokémon that enter the battle (their hp stays the same as before the battle)
- Battle Type - Single: 1v1 pokémon, doubles 2v2 pokémon at the same time (can still have teams of 6).
- Tier - Choose which format to follow.
- Turn Time - Set how much time you have per turn (default 90s).
- Team Select Time - Set how much time you have to select team (default infinite).
- Team Preview - On: see what pokémon you have, off: don't see.
- Clauses - Special rules that add to the battle. To see these, hover your mouse over the clause to see its description. To select clause press on it and it will move to "selected clauses".
Once you have set the settings you want, press propose. This allows your opponent to accept or modify the rules. Once accepted, you choose what pokémon you want to fight with (make sure to individually select each pokémon) then the fight begins!
