wraith89

Just added a base stat chart for Excel. I know it looks complicated, but it somewhat helped me while I made it out of boredom I know this guide is mostly from Gen IV era, but I will try to make it as relevant to modern battling as possible. Maybe I will change the Pokemon examples. Also images are fixed and uses HTML tags so that board updates do not kill the images. Basics of Competitive Battling Singles Edition Introduction Okay, recently, there has been a huge influx of people writing up their teams in the Rate-My-Team section only to have their threads closed by randomspot because "anything works in-game". Tired of that phrase? You bet. All you wanted were people to rate your awesome Giga Drain/Solarbeam/Razor Leaf/Petal Dance Venusaur and friends but it just keeps getting shut down for some dumb reason. You want to know why? Things like what you posted is often confused as an in-game Pokemon team, which you can share and post here. The Pokemon, the movesets, and everything you write are dead giveaways that what you are posting is something more apt for in-game, which competitive players tend to denounce as "everything works in-game", which I don't agree with, but I digress. So I felt the need to write up a guide for competitive battling. What people fail to realise sometimes is that competitive battling is a COMPLETELY different world from regular in-game battling because you are actually battling REAL people, not computer AI who know nothing better for AI trainers do not generally switch Pokemon when at a disadvantage, use weird movesets, and has no effort values in their Pokemon. Other people, however, will be brutal, as they want to win and make you cry, HARD. In competitive battling, you have NO TIME to fool around. You cannot expect an epic AIM FOR THE HORN battle or anything of that sort because if you make a mistake, that mistake probably cost you the game. In competitive battling, we use Pokemon at their HIGHEST potential possible which can work well enough to support a team into what they want to do. There is no Pokemon development, there is no time to go casual, it is all brains and brawns in the battlefield of a Pokemon battle. I thought it was weird that some people did not know the basics to competitive battling and would post their in-game teams, naively thinking that it would work just as well out there as in-game. Unfortunately, that is not true, but I want to help you build a competitive team of your own because it is a difficult task, but doable. To defeat the competitive bullies, you will have to know your enemy, and this is how you do it. I'll try to keep this guide as short and concise as possible, as I do not wish to unnecessarily elongate it as I am now, but if you have any questions or if something appears unclear please ask me. NOTE: This guide for now is about Singles battle, 6v6. Doubles is a completely different metagame, and when Gamefreak wants everyone to play doubles after a singleplayer singles battle campaign, it is like training people on checkers and expecting them to play chess. I will write about doubles later and how to EV things, but for now, this will be for singles battle, which most people are used to from their singleplayer experience, but also has the downside of making some niche moves and abilities useless. Keep in mind such moves, such as Ally Switch or Quash or Follow Me, has uses in modes that is not single. Rule #1: Your team needs a goal (aside from "winning") When I ask people on what their goal is, they always go "to win". Blah, forget that. I want to know the HOW not the WHAT. How will you achieve victory? How can each of your Pokemon play a specific role to help you achieve that goal of winning? Will you go offensive and try to sweep with powerful Pokemon? Or will you stall your opponent with evil defensive Pokemon and force them to cry on residual damage? Will you have a concrete team that passes stat boosts to partner Pokemon so that they can sweep? Whatever it is, you cannot just mesh six Pokemon and call it a competitive team. A team of six Unowns which spell U R A F A G will not help you win, for example (it could however leave you with a bloody nose should your opponent be at close proximity). They also need to cover each others' weaknesses to be truly effective. For example, an Empoleon and Gliscor works well because Gliscor can take the Electric/Ground/Fighting moves Empoleon is afraid of while Empoleon can wall Water/Ice moves Gliscor hates and hurt bulky waters with a Grass Knot. Remember that team synergy is important! A team must function as a team, not a group of six different Pokemon working individually, to be successful!! Rule #2: Know your Pokemon Pokemon have something we call stats. In order to use a Pokemon effectively, you have to see which of its stats are the best and how to take advantage of it. For example, you can see Gyarados has a high Attack power and decent speed and defenses but low Special Attack, so it is best to take advantage of its raw ATTACK power. It also learns physical attack moves to back it up, such as WATERFALL or EARTHQUAKE. Despite how it learns a plethora of SPECIAL ATTACKS like HYDRO PUMP or FIRE BLAST, I would not recommend teaching it that because Gyarados is far better using physical attacks than special. A Bronzong has mediocre attack power but high defenses. That means Bronzong was intended to be a WALL. It can take advantage of status moves such as TOXIC or HYPNOSIS or CONFUSE RAY and support your team with wallish moves like REFLECT or LIGHT SCREEN. Of course, it needs some form of attack, so something like EARTHQUAKE or GYRO BALL will help. Some Pokemon are more versatile than others. For example, Lucario has great ATTACK and SPECIAL ATTACK and SPEED, so one can use him as either a physical attacker, a special attacker, or a mixed attacker even. The choice is entirely up to the trainer and what kind of a role this Pokemon will perform in the team. But stats are not everything. There's a lot of things that make up a Pokemon, such as ABILITY and TYPING. For example, Articuno has great stats to be a wall but it is not a good wall because its typing (ICE/FLYING) gives it very common weaknesses and very little resistances and a pitifully small movepool (shame on Gamefreak). Gengar would be weak to Ground because it is part Poison, but don't forget about that ability Levitate. Because Gengar Levitates, it cannot be hit by Ground attacks at all unless special conditions are met (we'll get to that later). Infernape has the FIRE/FIGHTING typing and can take advantage of two 120 base power STAB moves, Fire Blast and Close Combat. What is STAB? Same Type Attack Boost... which means a move with the same type as the Pokemon itself will receive a 1.5x boost. That means Infernape's Fire Blast (assuming neutrality on opponent's Pokemon), has 165 base power. Let's not forget its ability Blaze, which activates when a Pokemon has 1/3 of its HP or lower. With Blaze activated, Infernape's Fire Blast will be a lot stronger, hitting 165 * 1.5 = 247.5 base power attack, which is very scary. Take advantage of a Pokemon's typing and ability; they really help! (Note: Since Sun/Moon has released Gengar lost Levitate, because Gamefreak is a stupid troll) We all know that not all Pokemon were created equal. Unfortunately, some Pokemon are better than others. For example, a Staraptor is an amazing Normal/Flying bird who completely outclasses things like Pidgeot and Fearow as it has access to Intimidate and Close Combat. But how do we use Staraptor? Let's look at its stats. 120 Attack... 100 Speed... 50 SpA and not so great defenses. Okay, so we should probably try using PHYSICAL attacks on it, right? Hmmm... Brave Bird, Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Return, there's quite a few good options for Staraptor. What about Heat Wave? Should I teach that to Staraptor? Unless you want to lose out on Staraptor's real potential, I would advise against teaching it Heat Wave as it runs on its paltry 50 Special Attack. Take advantage of that beast 120 attack power. (Note: Since ORAS Pidgeot has a Mega, which has completely different role from either of the physical birds, use that form instead) One thing I should note to you is that although there are gazillions of inferior versions of whatever Pokemon (let's say Gyarados... and its inferior cousin Seaking), you can still use the inferior Pokemon IF you can make it play its intended role. For example, on a rain dance team, a Seaking can very well outspeed a lot of Pokemon and hit hard with STAB Waterfall + Rain boost and Megahorn stuff like Celebi to KO them. However, to do that, you will require a lot of support. But please, don't try this with stuff like Unown unless you really know what you are doing! Do remember that you CAN make Caterpie sweep, provided you have the right support. Keep in mind some of the weaker Pokemon take more support to pull off than others. Yes, this means a fully properly trained team of legendaries will most often than not win against a fully properly trained team of Lumineons and the likes, but remember that this can be mitigated with SMART PLAY. Play smartly and tides will turn to your favour. (Note: do not put the same kind of Pokemon in one team. A team of six Garchomps is likely to be swept by something like Cryogonal). So get to know your Pokemon. Check its base stats, ability, movepool, and everything else you need to know in a website database or something and the moves it learn. Before you battle with them, you have to get to know them. Who are they? Why were they made? What does it like to do? What does it hate? I would suggest looking in Serebii or Smogon for some help. Rule #3: Know Your Moves I'm going to break this down to a few sections because there is a lot to say about this... Before that though, I hope you know what physical and special moves are. If you cannot tell... click on your move in the stats menu and check out what it is. > A Physical move has a Red Background with a Yellow Star on it. > A Special move has a Purple Background with a swirl on it. > A Black/White yin yang thing indicates a SUPPORT move, which normally does no direct damage. Generally, a Pokemon specialises in one or the other. We generally look at the stat and see which attack stat is stronger. Some Pokemon, like Swampert, can attack from both sides or mix. There are some specific Pokemon, like Nidoqueen and Nidoking, who has higher attack than special attack, but would prefer attacking specially because their ability and movepool caters towards that. So, please get to know your Pokemon! Try to never have more than one of the same type moves in one moveset Hi guys! Here's my Charizard! It has Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Ember, and Blast Burn! It's the ultimate Pokemon! *faints from Blastoise* Hey what happened? How did Charizard lose? No! I don't believe it! That Charizard was following all the rules. It was using special attacks to take advantage of its base 109 Special attack and filled with STAB Fire attacks. What went wrong? NO Coverage! This is a common mistake that new battlers have, as they like seeing a Pokemon with a lot of fire moves, let's say. It's okay in game, as I am guilty of doing that to my Flareon in game (Quick Attack, Fire Fang, Flamethrower, Fire Blast), but for competitive battling? No, you cannot do that. This Charizard will have a lot of trouble. Let's say you switched into a Venusaur to threaten it with Charizard, and you launch a Fire Blast, only to have Blastoise come in the way. How are you going to fight it? You just wasted a turn and you need to switch to a proper counter. But that Blastoise has Earthquake and Ice Beam, as it probably knows you are going to switch to an Electric Pokemon or something, he launches an Earthquake and hits that Pikachu who switched in for super effective damage, fainting it. As of Gen VI, Gamefreak showed blatant favouritism to Charizard, so either of the two Mega forms it gets can take down Blastoise with relative ease. Until Blastoise learns Shell Smash, it will be irrelevant. Of course, you can still use Mega Launcher boosted Dragon Pulse to take Edgezard down once and for all to satisfy your needs. Mega Venusaur can also handily take down Mega Charizard Y, if played right. This is why coverage is necessary. If something switches in, you want to be able to hit it for at least neutral damage (meaning 1x effective), or else you will suffer. And say you wanted "backup" fire moves because you're afraid you'll run out of PP. Good thought, but tell me, WHEN are you using Ember? You probably never will! You want to hit as hard as you can so you'll probably use Fire Blast or Flamethrower or that. What you want instead for this kind of set is to use Charizard's special attack, right? Let's give it Fire Blast, Air Slash, Focus Blast, and Dragon Pulse instead. If you want, you can replace Fire Blast with Flamethrower if you're afraid Fire Blast will miss. All right, so with this, you have a secondary STAB in Air Slash, and two extra coverage special moves. Dragon Pulse will hit dragon type Pokemon for super effective damage as they resist Fire Blast, and Focus Blast, while being a shaky move, can at least hit those scary Tyranitars and outright KO them if it hits. You see a Tyranitar switch in, don't expect that Ember you had previously to do any better than what your Fire Blast did. There are exceptions to this rule however. You can stick Quick Attack and Return on Staraptor, let's say. But Quick Attack is weak! Yeah, but it has that good effect of going first, so you can finish off weakened Pokemon with it, because it has other practicalities, though it is not Staraptor's main attack. Also, if you stick Overheat and Flare Blitz on Charizard, that CAN work if you are going mixed, as Flare Blitz will take care of physically frail Pokemon like Alakazam while Overheat will snuff those Specially frail Pokemon like Skarmory and Tangrowth. Fake Out + Return can also work as well, as Fake Out is NOT your main attack, but there to annoy. Flame Charge + Fire move works too, as Flame Charge is primarily used to raise the user's speed while its other fire move (perhaps Fire Blast) is its main attack. Just remember what you are trying to accomplish though... but for the most part, unless they're support moves, do NOT stick two of the same type moves in one moveset. Avoid Hyper Beam and friends But Hyper Beam rocks! It rocks in game, it rocked in RBY, but it won't rock competitively anymore. Why is that? Well, after you KOd that Steelix with a Blast Burn, you are overjoyed as the iron snake melts under the fierce power of your Charizard. But out comes that scary Tyranitar who will eat you in your face. You want to recall Charizard, but... "Charizard must recharge". What?! *Enemy Tyranitar uses Stone Edge*. You watch in terror as Tyranitar's mighty stones devour your flaming lizard quickly before anyone can say "Charizard dodge it!". See, if you use those Hyper Beam moves, you will have that huge problem of being wide open right after the initial blast, which is never a good thing. The only time you want to use Hyper Beam-esque move is if your opponent is in their last Pokemon and you want a grand finale finisher. But is that one move really worth a moveslot? A Pokemon has four moveslots... and they should ALL be spent wisely. Charizard has tons of options and shouldn't ever waste one slot for a Blast Burn. Period. Just use Fire Blast for your burning needs, as it is powerful enough to OHKO most Fire weak Pokemon anyhow. You shouldn't worry about using Blast Burn. That goes for you Hydro Cannon and Frenzy Plant fans too. And Rock Wrecker. And Roar of Time. And the original Hyper Beam... just don't do it. You'll be sorry for using that unless your opponent does not know what to do afterwards. It is mostly a liability than a boon. There are other moves that have some very negative effects or require heavy support to use. Moves such as Razor Wind (80 base power move with a charging turn... not worth it) or Sky Attack (140 base power move with a charging turn) are generally not used. However, there are items to mitigate that, such as Power Herb, which allows for using a charge up move WITHOUT charging up for a single turn. We will discuss items' effects later. Support moves are amazing No no no. Those non damaging moves SUCK! I mean, you want to damage your opponent right? But in competitive battling, support moves are very helpful. You can set up a normally "average speed" Gyarados to become a fearsome and a terrifying guest with one move called Dragon Dance. He switches in, raises his attack and speed in just one turn, becomes faster than most Pokemon and a lot stronger than before, and hit his foes hard with STAB Waterfall and other coverage moves like Earthquake, Stone Edge, Ice Fang, or others. A move like Toxic can cripple an otherwise very formidable wall such as Milotic, who may not possess the necessary moves to recover from slowly accumulating damage in Toxic (that is unless it was a Resttalker). Using Thunder Wave can cripple speedy threats like Lucario or Infernape trying to eat up your otherwise slow team. Will-o-Wisp can hinder physical attackers like Metagross who will otherwise hit hard without a burn. An Agility can help the otherwise slow Empoleon to become a monstrously fast sweeper. Wish from Vaporeon can keep herself and her teammates alive. Stealth Rocks are very crucial to the metagame, as that one turn you set it up can lay a permanent layer of rocks which damage almost any Pokemon that come in so you can have an easier time OHKOing-2HKOing some Pokemon. Rapid Spin can get rid of any Stealth Rock or Spike layers that would impede YOUR teammates. Substitute can help scout for opponent's moves and block other detrimental attacks like Toxic. Support moves make up a LOT of this metagame, and you should be familiar with many of them to maximize your competitive strategies. Do Not Settle for Less In competitive battling, expect people to use the best move possible because they are looking to win! They will not relent when your Empoleon uses Steel Wing while their Empoleon has the powerful Flash Cannon to deal with your Pokemon a lot better. If you have a choice between Thundershock and Thunderbolt, which would you choose? Just settle for the one with a high enough base power (such as Thunderbolt's 95 base power*) and something with a reliable accuracy. 100% is always good and you should normally choose the 100% accurate moves. However, there are times where you may settle for a lower accuracy move, such as Fire Blast over Flamethrower as 85% accuracy is usually enough, and Fire Blast can secure KOs on crucial threats that Flamethrower cannot offer. Some people do choose Flamethrower over Fire Blast because of more PP and reliable accuracy. Again, it is entirely up to the Pokemon, as more offensive Pokemon love Fire Blast while the defensive stallish Pokemon would normally settle for Flamethrower, or even Lava Plume because of its relatively high burn chance of 30%. Power is not everything as you can see, as some people prefer Body Slam on Snorlax over Return because of the paralysis chance Body Slam offers. Look into the effects of a move too! Of course, there are times when there are no 100% accurate moves and you would rather take something powerful but still "relatively" accurate. I would try to avoid moves that are like 70% or less accurate, because they miss a lot. However, there are times one has no choice, such as Gengar running Focus Blast, or Bronzong who wants Hypnosis to put its foes to sleep. Just try to find the ones that are "just right". Unless you have a specific need for a low accuracy move (such as Thunder in the rain, as rain allows Thunder to bypass the accuracy check), I would not settle for attacks with TOO high of a power and low accuracy or moves with very little power (something like 60 base power or lower), even with high accuracy. Of course, there are exceptions such as priority moves or something, but generally, try to not settle for less. Keep in mind lower accuracy moves with high power is also better in some circumstances than an accurate yet moderately high power move. If a Thunder guarantees 2HKO but has 70% accuracy, while Thunderbolt is 100% accurate yet is a shaky 3HKO, which one would be better? Or using Focus Blast with Gardevoir, which is 70% accuracy, which gives you a 70% chance to win vs a Steel Pokemon than a 0% to win when not using it at all. Pick your weapons carefully! *As of Generation VI Thunderbolt and its equivalents got nerfed to 90 BP, while Fire Blast and its equivalents got nerfed to 110 BP. Gamefreak does not know what they are doing. Rule #4: Build Comprehensive EV Spreads and a Beneficial Nature Effort Values You want to maximize at what that Pokemon does best. Having a random spread of random places do not work. EVs can add up to 0-63 stats into a Pokemon, which can make a CRUCIAL DIFFERENCE. 4 EVs add 1 extra stat point. A Pokemon can have a max of 510 EVs, but every individual stat can have a maximum of 255. Therefore, it is only possible to "max out" two stats. Every Pokemon gives out experience points as you know, but they also give out a specific effort value. In fact, some can give out multiples! Look into sites like Serebii or something to see which Pokemon gives what EVs when defeated. For Pokemon XY owners, I will explain Horde Battling and Super Training later. Pokemon Sun/Moon has a tedious system called chaining for this. Pokemon Natures As for natures, try NOT to have neutral natures (Serious, Hardy, Quirky, Bashful, Docile). It neither helps your Pokemon nor hinder it, but at most times, you want to boost up a stat and reduce the one stat you don't use. Skarmory does not ever use its Special attack, so you can boost up its other stats like Defense or Speed with Impish or Jolly, respectively. If you have a mixed sweeper with both physical and special attacks, you will want to reduce another stat without risking either of its attacks. But this depends for some Pokemon. For example, Infernape will NOT want to reduce its speed, as its speed is essential. You can reduce either its defense or special defense. A Swampert, though, will not want to compromise its amazing defensive capabilities so you can reduce its speed as it is not too fast anyhow. So for natures, make sure you use something beneficial and try not having neutral ones. It is hard getting the desired natures on legendaries, but soft resetting a lot can get you something desired, I'm sure. So far, I haven't found any use with Gentle (+ Def - SpDef) or Lax (+ SpDef - Def) natures. Which natures are which? Look at this guide provided by Greencat. Individual Values No, not Ideal Values, Individual Values. What are they? They are randomly assorted values of 0-31, which can add up to 0-31 stat points into a Pokemon at level 100. This is pretty much what can make a Pokemon better than another, and it is NOT CONTROLLABLE by the player. It is an invisible value, but it CAN be influenced by players through breeding, as parents of the baby each give 3 random IVs (was it 3?) to the offspring. The type of Hidden Power is also affected by this. 31 IVs across the board gives you Hidden Power Dark, while 0 IVs across the board gives you Hidden Power Fighting. It is now always fixed at base power of 60 (starting from Pokemon XY). Before it fluctuated between base power of 30 to 70. I will write a breeding guide to get perfect Pokemon later. Generally, since Speed and more arguably HP are ABSOLUTE stats, it is a VERY good idea to know what your IVs are for those two stats so you can EV your Pokemon properly. Unless you are aiming for a crucial Hidden Power (like Fire), try to get MAX IV for speed for offensive Pokemon as SPEED is crucial and can make a difference between a win or a loss of a Pokemon in a battle. To get the best of the best, multiple breeding may be necessary and it will take a long time just to do so. Simulators such as Pokemon Online tend to play Pokemon at their "best", so unless they are running a specific Hidden Power that is not Dark typed, expect them to all be at 31/31/31/31/31/31. Again, more information here and here. NOTE: Breeding got a LOT easier in Pokemon XY and above. There is no need to RNG or hack for nice IVs anymore, but still may take, depending on your luck, a minute to days for the right spread. Rule #5: Know your items Yeah, certain items benefit a Pokemon more than others. The universal Leftovers works on wallish Pokemon like Swampert or Milotic, while the dangerous Life Orb can help with sweepers like Lucario or Infernape. Choice items, while tricky, can come in use. Choice items boost a stat but in price of locking the user in ONE attack until it switches out. A Choice Banded Heracross, for example, can eat through anything that doesn't resist its scary Megahorn or Close Combat. But if a resister like Gyarados comes in, it will have to switch out if it did not use the right attack. A Choice Scarf'd Heracross can outspeed its natural threats like Infernape and OHKO them with its STAB Close Combat. Choice items are tricky, but can well be worth it. Choice items are normally put on Pokemon that use four attack moves without any form of support (or a Trick user). It really won't matter too much anyways, as you will be bound to switch out sooner or later. If you want versatility, go with Life Orb. Life Orb, however, saps 10% of the user every time it uses a damaging attack (unless you attack a Substitute or someone immune to the move). If you hate that price, you can go with the weaker Expert Belt, which boosts 20% with super effective moves (as opposed to Life Orb's 30% and Choice item's 50%). Muscle Band boosts 10% on physical moves and Wise Glasses boosts 10% on special moves. Again, it really depends on what you favour. Certain berries can help change the tide of the battle. For example, Salac Berry can raise the user's speed when 25% HP or below. A Wacan Berry on Gyarados can help him take one Thunderbolt by weakening its power in half for one turn. Use stuff like that to your advantage. Lum Berry would save a Pokemon from an otherwise dangerous status condition once. There are many berries one can use, so if none of the other items seem appealing, try a berry! A detailed list of what certain items do for competitive battling will come later. Creating a Moveset Now that I've explained the basics, let us go through an example with a simple Pokemon with a simple purpose: Fearow. Fearow has nice attack power and speed, but poor defenses and special attack. Remember, we have to KNOW our Pokemon. So what do we do? Do the logical thing: max out its Attack and Speed! Since 1 stat is gained per 4 EVs, instead of using the maximum 255 (which isn't divisible by 4) we use 252 as our max, and 252 should go in Fearow's attack, 252 should go in Fearow's speed, and the remaining 6 EVs... meh, just stick it into defense. Doesn't really matter too much for Fearow. Those defenses are not worth investing in anyhow. Now we have a Fearow complete with maximized attack, maximized speed, but wait? What do we want from a Fearow? We want a nature that allows Fearow to hit hard or outpace its foes without compromising either of its attack or speed stat. A Fearow would instead want to get rid of that one stat it will NEVER use: its Special attack. So let's try Adamant (+ Attack - SpA) or Jolly (+ Speed - SpA). In this speed oriented metagame, I would normally pick + speed natures, but if that extra bit of power is important to you, go ahead and settle for Adamant. This applies for all Pokemon: natures should benefit one important stat and lower the one that is usually not needed. And now with an Adamant/Jolly (choice is yours, but most people favor extra speed) Fearow, you have a beast who can launch Drill Peck, Return, Drill Run, Steel Wing, and Quick Attack to assault his foes. The first two moves are obviously there because Drill Peck and Return are STAB options (remember what STAB is), and the other two moves have their own utility. Drill Run helps hit Rock Pokemon super effectively, while Quick Attack can finish off a weakened foe. There are also other options. For example, U-turn is a good way to scout for what the foe does. If the foe stays in, switch to a counter. If the foe switches, switch to a counter! U-turn is always a handy move to have. What about its item? Well, there are many things we can do. Remember, Fearow is a FRAGILE attack Pokemon, and those defences are rather hopeless to capitalise on. With that 90 attack power, it can hit hard enough, but usually not hard enough. So the most logical thing? Get an item that boosts Fearow's power as much as possible! Competitively, we have Choice Band and Life Orb that can provide the best boost. But which one? Choice Band raises attack by 1.5x, while Life Orb raises attack by 1.3x. Wouldn't Choice Band be a better choice then? (har har I am punny). Well, Choice Band locks the user in one move (hence CHOICE) until the user switches out, while Life Orb does no such thing but instead cuts user's HP by 10% per use. Life Orb provides great versatility, and even though the HP penalty is unappealing, fragile attackers like Fearow does not mind anyways as it is usually OHKOd by super effective attacks anyhow. So the choice is between more power or power with versatility. There is also another option! What if Fearow is not fast enough to deal with some threats? We know Fearow is fast, but not fast enough to deal with faster threats like Infernape. Choice Scarf, though it locks the user into one move, is another item to consider so it can actually stand a chance against normally faster threats. Watch the Infernape stare in horror as it takes a STAB super effective Drill Peck from a faster Fearow. If you are thinking about Leftovers, it probably is not a good idea because Fearow is not the bulkiest thing out there. So Choice Band, Life Orb, or Choice Scarf? It is all up to you and how you feel you can have Fearow play for your TEAM. So now we have... Fearow @ Choice Band / Choice Scarf / Life Orb Nature: Adamant / Jolly EVs: 252 Atk / 6 Def / 252 Speed Ability: Keen Eyes - Drill Peck - Return - U-turn - Drill Run Congratulations! We have built a competitively viable Fearow! Fearow is a simple Pokemon with a simple build, but it gets more complex with other Pokemon, like wallish Pokemon like Skarmory. You can go ahead and maximize its HP and defense, but sometimes, you may want to invest a little into attack so its Brave Bird can OHKO/2HKO something and its speed to outspeed certain Pokemon. This will become more apparent as you go through the metagame and meet a lot of new Pokemon and new strategies, and remember that NOT EVERY POKEMON likes to have the usual 6/252/252 spreads seen nearly everywhere. There are times EVing can become very specific, such as the Skarmory mentioned, so be wary of that. Remember that this Fearow is just one Pokemon in a team, and it is NOT to be doing everything by itself. You need to use it to support a team, and have the team support the Fearow itself. So... who do you think would make a good teammate for Fearow? We do know Fearow detests Rock, Ice, and Electric moves. So who could switch into such Pokemon? How about a Quagsire? It has a resistance to Rock and is immune to Electric moves, though it is neutral to Ice moves, but that is workable. It can threaten Rock Pokemon with STAB Water or Ground attacks and Electric Pokemon will generally hate Earthquake. However, Quagsire hates Grass moves and is more often than not fatal to it. Does Fearow provide an adequate check to Grass Pokemon? Well it certainly resists Grass attacks and has STAB Drill Peck to dispatch them! There. With just a bit of thinking we were able to get a Pokemon that can help Fearow do its job. Remember you have the other 4 slots to fill, and a goal for the team to fulfill, so this will take some careful planning. Example Team Well, I should show you a well thought out team while I am here right? Here is a team made by Tbird, called "Danger; don't enter". This is his team, except I edited out some swear words (as usual) just to keep it safe for children and whatnot. Though it is a general team, it works very well because each one of his team members support each other very well and cover each other's weaknesses while being able to constantly keep check on their foes. (NOTE: This was Gen V) General Rules in Battling (Western Audience) NOTE: Not all rules are applied in all forms of battling. In official Nintendo rules, they prefer double battling with the players choosing 4 out of 6 Pokemon, with all Pokemon being set to Level 50. The Level 50 rules also applies to general Wifi battles nowadays. Keep in mind Eastern players like me in general circumstances do not adhere to most of these rules, asides from super legendaries ban, so specify rules before challenging people to battle. Species Clause Having more than one of the same species Pokemon in one team is not allowed. Same species is if the Pokemon shares the same National Dex numbers. Even alternate forms, such as having two kinds of Rotom forms, is not allowed. This kind of rule is set forth in many places. DO NOT PUT MORE THAN ONE POKEMON TO SLEEP: This is what you call the Sleep Clause. Other than self-inflicted sleep in the form of Rest, usually a battle allows only ONE Pokemon... ONE, to be put to sleep at a time. Don't go cheap and break this widely accepted rule by having your Darkrai put everybody to sleep while you eat away all their health and whatnot. Okay, I know you cannot control this in Double battles when Darkrai uses Dark Void and puts both foes to sleep, but generally, do not put more than one Pokemon to sleep at a time! Actually, VGC doesn't have this kind of rule, which is rather lame. In Wifi Battle Spot, generally anything goes and nobody follows this rules it seems. (As of Gen VI, only Darkrai can use Dark Void, and it has become 50% accuracy. Lame nerf!) Double Team/Minimize Ban: These moves are cheap as they shift the game into a game of skills into a game of luck. There already is a bit of chance involved such as critical hits or accuracy or the chance of added effects taking place, but these only add more to the roulette. People get around this by spamming Sand Attack or Mud Bomb. Those who do not adhere to this rule can utilise things like Eviolite Chansey with Mud Bomb and Minimise. Be aware that such strategies do exist! OHKO Ban: Guillotine / Fissure / Horn Drill / Sheer Cold are banned... generally. Battle Spot people tend to use Articuno with Sheer Cold, however, who is bulky enough to take multiple hits, recover off health with Roost, and OHKO most mons with Sheer Cold (if it connects), and defeat most Sturdy mons who happen to be weak to Ice. So be aware those do exist. Sturdy negates all OHKO moves, and each attack still follows type chart, so Ghost mons are still immune to Guillotine and Horn Drill, while Levitate (RIP GENGAR) or Flying mons are immune to Fissure. As of Gen VI, Ice mons are immune to Sheer Cold (finally!) and non-Ice mons who use Sheer Cold (namely Suicune) has their accuracy reduced when using it. Moody Ban: Your Pokemon are not allowed to have an attitude. Your Pokemon cannot contain the ability Moody... in simulators. Nobody cares in Wifi unless you find Smogon people. Baton Pass Ban: I think Smogon banned Baton Pass or something for singles very recently (2017 May). I do not know how many people will adhere to that to be honest. They claim it is broken. I will not be surprised though due to the lack of extant balance in this game. There are Pokemon Too Strong for Competitive Battling: Aside from "Uber" battling, where ANYTHING is allowed, generally there are a few Pokemon that are banned from standard play. But more on that later... Banned Pokemon These Pokemon are generally not allowed in standard battles and are frowned upon when used. NO, being legendary does not necessarily mean they are banned, but those who have stats and movepool beyond anything a "normal" Pokemon would be able to take. Basically, they are Pokemon who overcentralise the metagame and would require more than one counters on a team to even deal with... or something. Note in Nintendo rules a banlist is mostly secret legendaries like Mew or Genesect or legendaries with base stat total over 600 (like Mewtwo or Rayquaza). Minor legendaries (like Articuno or Suicune) are all free to use. In Gen VI: keep in mind a lot of people frown upon the use of certain Mega Pokemon, such as Mega Kangaskhan, in single battles. Mega Gengar is also terribly overpowered when used properly. However, you will almost always encounter them in Battle Spot on XY Wifi Rated Battles: it is disgusting but something you have to deal with. A revamped list will come later. Mega Evolutions: To Mega or Not to Mega Pokemon XY introduced Mega evolutions, which are basically champion type monsters that you can only have one of in a team. It's a great incentive for one to build a team around one, or have a Mega support your favourite Pokemon if you don't have a favourite Mega. But, it is not completely necessary to have a Mega Pokemon. Mega Pokemon are for fun, and yes, some are incredibly overpowered, but remember one is playing this game for fun and not strictly to win... unless you're a "Don't have fun" guy. A lot of Mega Pokemon have lots to offer, some being enhanced versions of their base forms while others offering a completely different playstyle from their original form, enhancing gameplay. I do recommend trying out a Mega Pokemon if you want to try out competitive battling, because they can make the game a lot more fun (or a lot more dreadful if you face the likes of Mega Kangaskhan), so this depends on your personal playstyle. The Gardevoir above is one of my favourite Pokemon, for instance, so I try to use her in battles. Her role is to break through walls and destroy defensive styled foes, especially ones that use Substitute, but suffers from frail physical defence and average speed (relatively), and weakness to Steel Pokemon. Here is a sample set which you can try out, but have a team which can deal with the Pokemon she has trouble fighting, such as Ghosts, Steels, and fast hard physical hitters that litter the metagame. Gardevoir @ Gardevoirite Nature: Modest (+ SpA - Atk) / Timid (+ Spe - Atk) EVs: 36 Def / 220 SpA / 252 Speed Ability: Trace --> Pixilate - Hyper Voice / Moonblast - Psyshock / Psychic - Focus Blast / Calm Mind / Taunt - Substitute / Will-O-Wisp / Thunder Wave / Shadow Sneak The Defence EVs are really set for Level 50 battles so Gardevoir can survive two Life Orb Psyshocks from Latios and a single Return from Mega Lopunny. Hyper Voice takes advantage of the ability Pixilate and hits through Substitute, and becomes a very powerful Faerie type STAB move. Be aware that without her Mega form Gardevoir's Hyper Voice will just be a normal Hyper Voice and so she must become Mega to take full advantage of it. Mega or not, it will not hit Soundproof mons, so if you are that concerned, use Moonblast instead, but keep in mind Moonblast is not as strong as Pixilated Hyper Voice and will not hit through Substitutes. It is still good to have otherwise. Good thing about Gardevoir is her secondary STAB in Psychic attacks to hit Poison Pokemon. Usually such mons and others can be hit on their weaker physical defence, but if you meet physical walls like Weezing, Psychic is better than Psyshock. I find Psyshock generally more useful. Focus Blast may miss often, but to take on some Steels and Darks that may not be weak to Faerie attacks can be useful, as certainly 70% chance to win is better than 0%. Other moves such as Calm Mind can help fight against Chansey, Taunt shuts down status moves, as well as Substitute, and prevents things like Chansey from recovering. Other status moves are helpful for other situations. In Battle Spot 3v3, I found Shadow Sneak to be useful vs things like Sash'd Garchomp or things that tend to survive with a sliver of HP, however weak it is running off of uninvested Attack power of Gardevoir. For more information click here. Competitive Battling Dictionary Our wonderful member Tbird has provided us with a Competitive Battling Dictionary so feel free to check it out. Know Your Pokemon: What to Expect From Different Pokemon Posting an RMT Now that you know what to expect and how competitive battling works, you can now create your own team! Once you do so, try to follow THIS GUIDE in order to produce a successful RMT. If that is not satisfactory, there are PLENTY of examples of RMTs everywhere in that forums, so you are not short of resources. The Ugly Malthusian World of the Pokemon Metagame Getting out to battle others? Keep practicing! But remember, there are some things to be wary about the metagame; it constantly changes. As randomspot555 puts it: Some Pokemon will end up getting banned because it proves too strong, or some newcomer becomes more prevalent, etc. You must keep adapting to the shifting metagame. Closing Words Well, I hope I have at least aided you into how to develop a great working team for the harsh world of competitive battling. Some objections include the opposition of standardization, some Pokemon being more useful than others, and the discouragement of using favourites who are not as competitively apt as others. Yes, I know very well what you mean, and I too pretty much agree with that. In fact, I OFTEN goof around and do use "competitively inept" Pokemon in a competitive team, BUT the difference is, I try to use it in an attempt to actually pose an unexpected threat to "standard" foes and know where my limits are. If I use my Articuno (my favourite Pokemon), I would have other Pokemon being able to support its weaknesses while Articuno can fulfill its role as an annoying staller, especially against enemy bulky waters. That is just an example. I do not discourage you from using your favourites, but if you want to play that game, try to think competitively. See what works to your advantage, and if you see where you can grasp the opportunity, do so. Foes will not relent in pity if they see their favourite Pokemon because winning seems to be more important than seeing their favourite get creamed by what they are using. But most of all, have fun. This should not be a stressful experience, but rather something one does to, well, kill time or to improve their strategic mind or something. I don't know... To Do List Resources 1. Aragornbird's Guide for Competitive Battling- This guide is simple, clean, and easy to read through, so beginners can try reading this. 2. Smogon- Meh... moveset dex, yeah yeah. This is a great competitive battling resource and many competitive players go here. Note that not everybody follows Smogon rules and depending on your region, rules may vary. Some common rules do exist, however. 3. Bulbapedia - Great place to look up almost anything about Pokemon. The format is a lot like Wikipedia's, so it should be easy to learn. 4. Pokemon Online - This is a simulator where people can test out a team to see if it works well or to see what to fix before putting it into Wifi. It is a great way to get started in building your team if you can see what it can actually do. 5. Project Pokemon - Heh, you can ask some of us here and we can try to help you. Try people like Gin, Tbird, randomspot555, heck, even me and we can see if we can do anything to help, though I may not be around often. BaseStatChart..zip

Yeah, I guess so. Though, I was thinking more of an 100 BP/100% accurate Ice move. I mean, I know Bolt and Flare are positive energies so having an Ice move of the Fusion family would be weird because Ice is seen as a negative energy of some sort. I only said it because Glaciate feels... lacking. I mean, a -2 speed drop would have been something, but it's only an Icy Wind with a slight vitamin boost. But I suppose Cold Burn and Freeze Shock is enough, and HOPEFULLY, without the charge up effects.

I double post all the time. What are you saying? :bidoof: And he's not a retarded chicken dragon That's what a Tbird is. </offtopic> Moving along. Any other speculations of Kyurem? I want a Fusion Ice or something of that sort.

Hey what do Meteors do again? Fly? :bidoof: