Post by Kite on Jun 14, 2007 1:41:46 GMT -4
TEAM BUILDING GUIDE(courtesy of dystopia)
Introduction
Battling and Team Building in the Advanced Generation metagame, complex and difficult as it is, can be broken into 3 different components: your team (the primary component), your skill (another important component), and luck (a component that I wish didn’t exist, but always will).
Believe it or not, you do have some degree of control over your luck. Someone, whose name I don’t know, said that luck occurs when preparation meets opportunity. Preparation and opportunity both exist in Pokémon, so it follows that you can control your luck at least a little bit. No, you can’t decide when you’re going to get a Critical Hit, or when your opponent’s move will miss. But you know that, sooner or later, either you or your opponent is going to get some kind of hax. Prepare yourself properly, and the opportunity to make the best use of your luck, or take the least damage from your opponent’s, will come.
Skill comes with practice. I define skill, in Pokémon, as the ability to get through a battle, with an opponent as good as you, using your own initiative. It’s the same way in life, really. In math, you can solve a problem exactly as a teacher tells you to, but you can find easier ways to do so. You can do exactly what one of your idols does, but you can find your own ways of accomplishing the same task. And in Pokémon, you can copy standard movesets to the last EV point and read a team building guide, but as with all these examples, you’ll never become a great battler until you take a risk, do something new, invent a moveset, use methods of battling that you didn’t read about or watch somebody else use. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t, of course. There’s no doubt that some of the basics of battling should always be observed; those are what I hope you’ll learn from this guide. But the only way to really improve at battling is to find your own style of battling.
Team building is the hardest of the three, mainly because it is responsible for the other two. For example, you’ll never figure out a faster way to beat Skarmbliss if your team can’t beat Skarmbliss as it is. This guide should help you with the most important aspects of competitive Pokémon battling, and give you somewhere to start.
1. Staple Pokémon
There are certain Pokémon in the OU Metagame that appear very commonly, and for good reason. Out of all the non-Uber Pokémon, they are the best Pokémon in the game. Not only should they be considered for the teams you make, but for the Pokémon you need to counter. For a team to be effective, it has to be able to defeat as many of the following Pokémon as possible:
Blissey
Celebi
Gengar
Gyarados
Heracross
Metagross
Milotic
Salamence
Skarmory
Snorlax
Suicune
Starmie
Swampert
Zapdos
Many great teams have at least 3 of the Pokémon on this list, while some are made up of only Pokémon on this list! You can see the importance of designing your team to defeat them. Keep in mind that these aren’t the only good Pokémon; there are plenty of others. But if you can counter all of these, you can counter pretty much anything.
1. 2. Switching
Make sure that you are able to switch into all of the Pokémon in that list. Zapdos is a great counter for Salamence, but does that mean you can switch it in on a Dragon Dance? No, it will probably be OHKOd if you do so. In addition to being able to counter a Pokémon, you have to be able to switch into it as well. The definition of a counter is, in fact, a Pokémon that is able to switch into a Pokémon, take little or no damage from that Pokémon’s attacks, and stop whatever strategy that Pokémon is designed to use.
2. Pokémon Roles
Okay, so your team is made up of Gyarados, Heracross, Salamence, Snorlax, Metagross, and Swampert. Everybody makes a team like this when they start off, and it’s not really their fault. In the Pokémon games, where many people discover Pokémon, all you have to do is have a team with Pokémon who have high attack power, a variety of moves, and a variety of types.
Competitive battling is different. If you were to use the above team against an experienced player you would probably lose. Why? Because the Pokémon in that team only cover one role, the Physical Sweeper. Additionally, this team could barely stand up to a Zapdos or other Special Sweeper, as all of the Pokémon, except Snorlax, are very susceptible to Thunderbolt and Hidden Power: Ice/Grass. All good teams have Physical Walls, and Zapdos is an extremely popular Pokémon these days, so this team wouldn’t fare well against the metagame.
In order to build a good team, you need to make sure plenty of roles are covered. Some of the most important roles follow:
Physical Sweeper: A Pokémon with high attack power and a physical movepool wide enough to hit most opposing Pokémon effectively. Physical Sweepers are usually fast, but sometimes have good defenses to make up for their speed instead. Physical Sweepers are the best Pokémon to use for Sweepers, mainly because there are more base Attack stats higher than 100 than Special Attack stats, and because for some reason, Pokemon with high Attack seem to have higher stats in other areas. Some of the best Physical Sweepers are Salamence, Snorlax, and Metagross.
Special Sweeper: A Pokémon with high Special attack power and a special movepool wide enough to hit most opposing Pokémon effectively. In contrast to Physical Sweepers, almost all Special Sweepers are fast (but there are some exceptions). Special Sweepers aren’t quite as good as physical Sweepers for sweeping entire teams, probably because even some of the best Special Sweeper’s base Special Attack isn’t above 125 (compared to 135 for many Physical Sweepers). Special Sweepers also have somewhat less of a Special movepool (for example, Zapdos only has Thunderbolt and Hidden Power: Ice/Grass, while Pokémon like Metagross have Meteor Mash, Earthquake, Explosion, Rock Slide, Sludge Bomb, etc). Despite this, most teams do have at least one Special Sweeper. Some of the best Special Sweepers are Zapdos and Starmie.
Physical Wall: A Pokémon with high Defense, and usually a typing that resists common types of physical attacks, with a movepool that includes moves such as ones that recover HP, stall, etc. Most Physical Walls aren’t fast, but Speed isn’t something they need, anyway. Since Physical Sweepers can be so powerful and can defeat teams that aren’t prepared, Physical Walls exist to stop them and absorb their attacks so the other Pokémon on their team don’t have to take heavy damage, or waste EVs on Defense. In addition to being able to stop Attacks, Physical Walls are also often able to do other non-damaging tasks, such as laying down Spikes or pHazing, especially the latter. Some of the best Physical Walls are Skarmory, Forretress, and Weezing.
Special Wall: A Pokémon who can absorb damage from Special moves. This role can’t be as easily compared to Physical Walls as Special Sweepers are compared to Physical Sweepers, as Special attacks aren’t as common as Physical attacks. Pokémon like Celebi, whose Special Defense is good, but not nearly as good as Skarmory’s 140 base Defense, can be Special Walls, because its typing alone and Leech Seed are enough to be able to take on the strongest of Special Sweepers, such as HP: Grass Zapdos and non-Ice Beam Starmie. Since the most common Special Attacks are Boltbeam, Surf, and Hidden Power, a Pokémon simply has to be able to wall these to be an effective Special Wall. The best one, by far, is Blissey.
Mixed Wall: A Pokémon who can absorb pretty much anything. Mixed Walls have both high Defense and Special Defense, and usually have some method of recovery. Mixed Walls aren’t able to wall physical moves as well as Physical Wall, maybe, but they should be able to switch into almost any move that has normal effectiveness. Most Mixed Walls are Water Pokémon (Water being a great defense type). The best is Suicune, and other good ones are Milotic, Celebi, and Claydol.
pHazer: A Pokémon who is able to get rid of any stat-ups that an opposing Pokémon might have attained. Most pHazers are Physical Walls, so you don’t need two Pokémon to cover both roles. The only way to pHaze a Pokémon is to use Roar/Whirlwind or Haze. Both of these have slightly different effects, and either can be preferable, based on the situation. Roar and Whirlwind have no difference, except that Pokémon who have the ability Soundproof are unaffected by Roar. Since no such Pokémon exists in the OU metagame, you’re probably safe in using Roar instead of Whirlwind on Pokémon like Skarmory. pHazers should be able to take a hit from a Pokémon who has a couple of Statups. Charizard learns Roar, but it could never be an effective pHazer, because it is much too fragile. Keep in mind that pHazing moves always move last, so you won’t be able to sacrifice a Pokémon switch a pHazer in, thinking that you could pHaze it out before it causes any more damage. Some of the best pHazers are Skarmory, Suicune, and Weezing.
Status Absorber: A Pokémon who, even when afflicted with a status condition, can complete its strategy without being hindered. There are many different kinds of Status Absorbers. The most common are Heracross and Milotic. Heracross has the ability Guts; this means that if it is afflicted with a status condition, its Attack power raises, meaning that being statused is actually a good thing. Often, Heracross are switched into a Sleep-causing move, and then use Sleep Talk, so that even while its Sleeping, it can cause massive damage. Once its asleep, the Sleep-causing opponent can’t use its Sleep move again, because Heracross is already asleep. Heracross can also be switched into a Will-o-wisp and Thunder Wave to get the same effects, although it should be noted that Paralysis will still slow it down. Milotic has a different ability, Marvel Scale, which doubles its Defense whenever it is statused. Since Milotic doesn’t depend much on Speed, but benefits enormously from more Defense, it can easily be switched into a Thunder Wave or Will-o-wisp, and, to a lesser extent, Sleep-move. These two are the best Status Absorbers.
These are most of the roles that a good team should have covered. However, keep in mind that even if you do cover all of the roles, it won’t mean that you’ll win. Remember, skilled battlers are battlers that use their own ideas in battle, meaning that they’ll have ways of getting around the most common counters and roles.
2.2. Starter Pokémon
A Starter Pokémon, or Lead Pokémon, is the Pokémon that is in the first slot in your team. That much you probably could have figured out. But it’s a tough decision, because it’s the Starter Pokémon that kicks off the battle, and plays a part in who gets the first advantage. Ideally, you want your opponent to be scared off by your Starter Pokémon, so they switch; this lets you deal the first blow. Even if you don’t attack, it’s always a good thing to have your opponent running, especially so early in the battle.
The most common starter is Salamence. It has great Speed and Attack, can therefore deal heavy damage, and has Intimidate, which makes any other Starter Pokémon that is physical-based switch. However, since Salamence is so common, it is also predictable, meaning that often people will make their starters a counter to Salamence, so maybe leading with Salamence isn’t such a good idea.
Milotic is a good choice, along with other bulky waters. Milotic will make Salamence switch out immediately, giving you a free turn to Hypnosis. But keep in mind that people will predict Hypnosis. And it sucks when they switch Heracross in to absorb the status.
Metagross is kind of a neutral Starter, it’s neither good nor bad. It isn’t affected by Intimidate due to its trait and it can OHKO Salamence. But I often find that leading with it leads to uncertainties, which can lead to a Pokémon taking major damage early in the battle. While Metagross OHKOs Salamence, Salamence can do a lot of damage to Metagross as well. Salamence users therefore expect the Metagross to switch out, and vice versa. But sometimes players, knowing that they are expected to switch out, don’t switch out for the surprise. But players, knowing that their opponent knows that they expect them to switch out, know that they won’t switch out, so they’ll switch out, knowing that it’s the opposite of what the opponent expected. Obviously, if either player predicts wrong, their Pokémon is screwed. Metagross is a dangerous starter, but it can be pulled off.
And what do all of these starters have in common? None of them are perfect. If you’re making a team, don’t feel like you have to have the perfect starter right off the bat. You can choose one after you practice with your team for a while. And as the metagame changes, you’ll probably have to change your starter as well.
3. An Example of Building a Team
The best way to learn how to do something is to watch it being done (I don’t know who said that either). So, now that you know some of the basics of Team Building, I’ll give you an example of how I build my teams, by guiding you through the process I went through to build one of my teams. Er…drumroll?
So first, I’ll remind you of the list of Pokémon I need to try and counter:
Blissey
Celebi
Gengar
Gyarados
Heracross
Metagross
Milotic
Salamence
Skarmory
Snorlax
Suicune
Starmie
Swampert
Zapdos
Next, I’ll decide what Pokémon to build my team around. This doesn’t mean the Pokémon you choose is the main Pokémon on your team, it just means it’s the Pokémon you’ll enter into the Team Builder first.
Celebi is one of my favorite Pokémon, so let’s go with that. With all the starter Salamence around, I know that Celebi wouldn’t be a good starter, so I’ll enter it into the second slot of the team.
Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 236 HP / 148 Def / 124 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Leech Seed
- Recover
Just your average Celebi set. It can act as a special wall, get HP support with Leech Seed, and cause damage with Calm Mind + Psychic. Recover is there for obvious reasons.
Well, I know that Celebi’s biggest weakness is Megahorn, which has a base power of 720 when used against Celebi, closely followed by Flying moves, which often come from Choice Band Salamence. A Pokémon that can resist both of these moves is Metagross:
Metagross @ Choice Band
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Meteor Mash
- Sludge Bomb
In addition to walling the aforementioned moves, this can also be my Choice Bander. Since it’s slow, I skipped the Speed EVs and gave it max Attack and Defense.
So now that that problem’s solved, let’s seek out more. I know that neither of these Pokémon would be able to stop Skarmory, so I could use a counter to that.
Magneton’s an option, but I never generally liked using Magneton; after it beats Skarmory, it’s too easily too destroyed. If the opposing team doesn’t have a Skarmory at all, then it’s almost a waste of a team slot. Instead, I’ll employ a Rapid Spinner, one that can also be another physical wall:
Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 68 Atk / 192 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Rest
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes
Maximum Leftovers recovery, 400 Defense, and the rest in Attack to boost Earthquake and Rapid Spin (lol).
So at this point, let’s see how much of the List I can counter:
Blissey – Metagross and Celebi rip through it easily.
Celebi – Metagross can counter it, Celebi can stop it.
Gengar – Celebi can counter it without taking too much damage.
Gyarados – Forretress and Metagross can stop it, but something better wouldn’t hurt.
Heracross – Metagross and Forretress can wall its moves.
Metagross – Forretress to an extent, but I should get a better counter, just in case.
Milotic – Ice Beam won’t do **** if its Leech Seeded.
Salamence – Metagross and Forretress sort of, but I need something that can kill it effectively.
Skarmory – Forretress can get rid of Spikes; another Pokémon I need to be able to kill.
Snorlax – Celebi can stop it, Metagross counters it.
Suicune – It won’t like Leech Seed, but otherwise it easily walls my team.
Starmie – I need something to stop this.
Swampert – Celebi can stop it, but can’t really kill it.
Zapdos – Same as above.
So, it looks as though I need stronger methods to kill the likes of Gyarados, Metagross, Milotic, Salamence, Skarmory, Suicune, Starmie, Swampert, and Zapdos. Most of these problems can be remedied by one Pokémon:
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 128 HP / 160 Spd / 220 SAtk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Metal Sound
- Rest
- Thunderbolt
Metal Sound will stop Snorlax dead. Thunderbolt for obvious reasons, Hidden Power Ice to kill some of the Pokémon that Thunderbolt can. Zapdos has a lot of Pokémon to cover, so I figured it might need to use Rest every once in a while.
Okay, right now, it doesn’t look as though I have anything that can take a Pokémon with Boltbeam. Another physical sweeper would be nice as well, so our fifth Pokémon will be Snorlax.
Snorlax (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 172 HP / 52 Atk / 136 Def / 8 Spd / 140 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Body Slam
- Curse
- Rest
- Shadow Ball
I like to use Body Slam for the high chance of paralysis. Forretress and Metagross both already have Earthquake, and I don’t have much of a Gengar counter, so I decided to use Shadow Ball as its second physical move.
Let’s check out that list again:
Blissey – Celebi, Metagross, Snorlax
Celebi – Metagross
Gengar – Celebi, Snorlax
Gyarados – Zapdos
Heracross – Metagross, Forretress
Metagross – Zapdos, Metagross, and Forretress to an extent
Milotic – Zapdos, Celebi
Salamence - Zapdos
Skarmory - Zapdos
Snorlax – Everything, actually
Suicune – Zapdos, Snorlax, Celebi
Starmie – Zapdos, Snorlax, Celebi for non-Ice Beam variants
Swampert – Same as last time
Zapdos – Snorlax, Celebi, Zapdos to an extent
So I have pretty much the whole list covered. But when I was writing out the counters, it felt like Zapdos was doing a lot. Zapdos’s job right now is to counter Gyarados, Metagross, Milotic, Salamence, Skarmory, Suicune, and Starmie. I don’t necessarily need better counters to those, but it would help if I could have something else that at least had a chance of killing some of them off, in the case that Zapdos faints during battle. I also need a pHazer. And currently, I don’t have a Water type, so…
Suicune @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 236 HP / 212 Def / 20 Spd / 40 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Surf
- Roar
- Rest
I invented this set.
Now let’s look at the team as a whole:
Snorlax (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 172 HP / 52 Atk / 136 Def / 8 Spd / 140 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Body Slam
- Curse
- Rest
- Shadow Ball
Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 236 HP / 148 Def / 124 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Heal Bell
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Leech Seed
- Recover
Metagross @ Choice Band
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 116 Def / 140 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Meteor Mash
- Rock Slide
Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 68 Atk / 192 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes
Suicune @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 236 HP / 212 Def / 20 Spd / 40 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Surf
- Roar
- Rest
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 128 HP / 160 Spd / 220 SAtk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Metal Sound
- Rest
- Thunderbolt
Now, I still don’t have a very good counter for Swampert. Additionally, most of my time uses Rest. I therefore think it would be a good idea to replace Celebi’s current set with Leech Seed/Recover/Heal Bell/Hidden Power [Grass].
I also don’t like the idea of blowing up my physical wall, Forretress, especially since Metagross also knows Explosion. Since I now have a cleric, I’ll give Forretress Rest as well. That way, even after Metagross Explodes/faints, I’ll have a renewable physical wall so Physical Sweepers won’t rape me.
This is a smaller issue, but I also think that it would be helpful if I could OHKO Zapdos and Salamence with Metagross. I don't see Sludge Bomb being particularly useful, so I'll replace it with Rock Slide. Since Forretress now has Rest, and since Metagross will eventually blow up anyway, I'm going to take away some of its Defense EVs and put them into Speed so it has a chance of outspeeding Pokemon of the 198-210 range.
I can sort of beat Celebi with this team, but to make it easier, I'm going to try HP: Bug on Forretress. It'll do something like 70% to it, so that'll help.
So, my final team, which I’m posting again for no good reason:
Snorlax (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 172 HP / 52 Atk / 136 Def / 8 Spd / 140 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Body Slam
- Curse
- Rest
- Shadow Ball
Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 236 HP / 148 Def / 124 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Heal Bell
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Leech Seed
- Recover
Metagross @ Choice Band
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 116 Def / 140 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Meteor Mash
- Rock Slide
Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 68 Atk / 192 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes
Suicune @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 236 HP / 212 Def / 20 Spd / 40 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Surf
- Roar
- Rest
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 128 HP / 160 Spd / 220 SAtk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Metal Sound
- Rest
- Thunderbolt
This is roughly the process you should use when you build a team. Keep in mind that it shouldn’t quiet as easy as this one—this one took months for me to perfect, and it’s still not perfect.