Announcements

[Jumpman16]

The release of Pokémon Diamond & Pearl and the subsequent release of Platinum and Heart Gold & Soul Silver has sparked an enthusiastic, competitive fire in even the most casual fans of the game. However, any flame can easily turn into a vicious wildfire and threaten to engulf anything it touches. The possibility of this disaster does not bode well for the RMT forum, since in many ways our ideas are still figuratively on the very same paper that such wildfire can easily burn up, and reduce to mere masses of cold ash, ignored and forgotten. We don't want this — we want to promote lively, intelligent discussion for many months, if not years, to come.

But, at the same time, we don't want to fight this easily excitable fire. We merely want to contain it, keep it in check. This is why my fellow moderators and I are proposing a "Threat Checklist" everyone should observe before posting his or her team. This list will easily allow a battler to address, both for his or her sake and that of our community, whether or not there is a particular pokémon or two the majority of his or her team has severe problems with. So I'm going to list the main offensive threats to look out for in DPPtHG, followed by a word or two regarding why each pokémon in question is a threat. I don't at all intend for this announcement to be a catch-all "EZ Team Creator", though, so I'm going to purposely be to the point with my descriptions, and intentionally refrain from posting which "pokemon beats pokemon with move" because not only do I not want to editorialize, but such advice would begin to defeat the point of this announcement. If you'd like to know more about any of the pokémon I'm about to mention, feel free to browse our forums or our strategy articles.

Azelf: Psychic. 115 Base Speed, 125 Base Special Attack and Attack, Nasty Plot, "Levitate", Psychic, Flamethrower, Grass Knot, Thunderbolt, U-turn, Trick and Explosion.

Breloom: Grass/Fighting. 130 Base Attack, 70 Base Speed. Spore is the best move in the game hands down, and "Poison Heal", which grants Breloom 12.5% HP Recovery (to Leftovers' 6.25%) when Poisoned (easy to accomplish with Toxic Orb), is arguably a top-five Ability when you consider it will grant Breloom immunity to other status as well. To complement these unique tools, Breloom can utilize Focus Punch, Seed Bomb, Mach Punch, Substitute, ThunderPunch, Superpower, Sky Uppercut, Stone Edge and Leech Seed.

Celebi: Psychic/Grass. 100 Base in every stat, boasts Calm Mind, Swords Dance, Recover, Baton Pass, Psychic, Energy Ball/Grass Knot, Leaf Storm, Earth Power, Seed Bomb, Zen Heabutt, U-Turn, Heal Bell, Leech Seed, Trick, Perish Song and "Natural Cure".

Dugtrio: Ground. 120 Base Speed, 80 Base Attack. Only used for its "Arena Trap" trait, which prevents all Pokémon that aren't Flying-types or that don't have the Levitate ability from switching, making Dugtrio's Choice Banded or Life Orbed Earthquake, Aerial Ace, Night Slash or Sucker Punch quick and efficient. Can even run Choice Scarf to revenge kill enemy Choice Scarfers. A "threat" because it can stop other threats like Tyranitar, Infernape and Raikou from running rampant, and makes you think twice about building a team loaded with pokémon Dugtrio can kill off easily.

Electivire: Electric. 123 Base Attack, a unique Ability in "Motor Drive" that raises its speed by 1.5× whenever an electric attack is used on it, 95 Base Speed, and the ability, with a Thunderpunch/Cross Chop/Earthquake/Ice Punch moveset, to score a Super Effective Hit on 13 of the 17 pokémon types (all but Psychic, Ghost, Bug and Fighting types). Can also take advantage of his 95 Base Special Attack with attacks such as Thunderbolt, Flamethrower and Hidden Power Ice or Grass.

Empoleon: Water/Steel. 86 Base Attack, 88 Base Defense, 111 Base Special Attack, 101 Base Special Defense, 60 Base Speed. Empoleon's plethora of resistances (12 to be exact) allow it to switch in frequently and use Surf, Ice Beam, Grass Knot, Agility, Swords Dance, Waterfall, Aqua Jet and Drill Peck. Easily the best abuser of "Torrent" thanks to his Sandstorm immunity and resistance to popular priority moves.

Flygon: Ground/Dragon. 100 Base Attack, 80 Base Defense, Special Attack and Special Defense, 100 Base Speed. "Levitate," resistance to Stealth Rock and immunity to Sandstorm and Electric attacks offer plenty of oppurtunities for Flygon to switch in and use Earthquake, Outrage, U-Turn Stone Edge, Draco Meteor, Fire Blast, Fire Punch and Roost. Can also utilise Choice Band or Choice Scarf to great effect.

Gengar: Ghost/Poison. 130 base Special Attack, 110 Base Speed and "Levitate". Its fantastic movepool includes: Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Hypnosis, Trick, Focus Blast, Will-o-wisp, Energy Ball and Destiny Bond. Poor 65 Base Attack but can abuse the high base powers of Focus Punch and Explosion to hit special walls.

Gliscor: Ground/Flying. 95 Base Attack, 125 Base Defense, 95 Base Speed. Can use "Hyper Cutter" to block Intimidate or "Sand Veil" to grab an Evasion boost if Sandstorm is present. Great resistances and Defense allow Gliscor to make good use of Earthquake, Swords Dance, Ice Fang, Stone Edge, U-Turn, Roost, Rock Polish, Taunt and Baton Pass.

Gyarados: Water/Flying. 125 Base Attack, 100 Base Special Defense, 95 Base HP, Dragon Dance, "Intimidate", fantastic typing, and physical STAB in Waterfall and Bounce to replace its lost physical Hidden Power Flying from Advance. Also boasts Stone Edge, Earthquake, Ice Fang and, possibly its most threatening move, Taunt, which now lasts 3-5 turns instead of always two.

Heatran: Steel/Fire. 130 Base Special Attack, 106 Base Defense and Special Defense, 77 Base Speed, 90 Base Attack. Can utilize its "Flash Fire" ability to boost its Overheat, Fire Blast and Flamethrower. Also boasts: Earth Power, Dragon Pulse, Metal Sound, Lava Plume and Explosion. Unique typing grants him many oppurtunities to switch in making him a perfect candidate for either Choice Specs or Choice Scarf.

Heracross: Bug/Fighting. 125 Base Attack, an Ability in "Guts" that raises its attack by 1.5× when afflicted with a status condition (PAR, BRN, PSN, SLP), 85 base Speed, 95 base Special Defense, and a great physical movepool, including, of most importance: Close Combat, Megahorn, Stone Edge/Rock Slide, Pursuit, Swords Dance, Night Slash, Facade, Sleep Talk, Endure and Reversal. Can also utilize Choice Scarf to boost its average speed to surprise enemies.

Infernape: Fire/Fighting. Nasty Plot, Swords Dance, 108 Base Speed, 104 Base Attack and Special Attack, and a very, very diverse movepool, including, of most importance: Close Combat, Flamethrower, Hidden Power Ice, Grass Knot, Flare Blitz, Thunderpunch and Stone Edge.

Jirachi: Psychic/Steel. 100 Base in every stat, boasts Calm Mind, Psychic, Grass Knot, Thunderbolt, Wish, U-Turn, Reflect, Thunder Wave, Iron Head, Body Slam, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, Thunderpunch, Trick, Zen Headbutt and greatly benefits from "Serene Grace".

Kingdra: Water/Dragon. 95 Base Attack, Defense, Special Attack and Special Defense, 85 Base Speed, 75 Base HP. Sports two fun abilities in "Swift Swim", which doubles its speed in the rain, and "Sniper", which grants its critical hits 3× power instead of 2×. Among the most effective moves for Kingdra are: Rain Dance, Surf, Waterfall, Dragon Pulse, Draco Meteor, Dragon Dance, Outrage, Substitute and Yawn. It's worth noting that with Swift Swim, the single turn it takes to set up Rain Dance will not only double Kingdra's speed but boost both its physical and special Water-type moves one stage, which makes both Life Orb and Mystic Water look great on it.

Latias: Dragon / Psychic: 110 base Special Attack, 110 base Speed, 80 base HP, 90 base Defense, 130 base Special Defense. Quite bulky on the special side and reasonably durable on the physical side it can easily switch in on a many Pokemon and threaten them with a powerful STAB Draco Meteor. Also can utilized a variety of other special moves such as: Dragon Pulse, Surf, Thunderbolt, and Grass Knot. Can utilize Calm Mind with one of its recovery options to set up a sweep. Also has Trick as its disposal.

Lucario: Fighting/Steel: 110 Base Attack, 115 Base Special Attack, 90 base speed. Its obscene movepool includes: Close Combat, Swords Dance, Crunch, Ice Punch, Stone Edge, Endure, Reversal, ExtremeSpeed, Aura Sphere, Vacuum Wave, Bullet Punch, Agility, Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse, Hidden Power Ice and Dragon Pulse.

Machamp: Fighting. 130 Base Attack, 90 Base HP, 80 Base Defense, 85 Base Special Defense. Already a viable threat with "Guts", Machamp's "No Guard" gives all of its attacks—and its opponents'—100% accuracy, which is great news for its Dynamicpunch that causes all sorts of problems for potential counters with its 100% confusion rate. Cross Chop and Stone Edge also benefit. Machamp also has Close Combat, Thunderpunch, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, Payback, Bullet Punch and Bulk Up at its disposal.

Magnezone: Electric/Steel. 115 Base Defense, 130 Base Special Attack, 90 Base Special Defense, 60 Base Speed. Primarily used for its "Magnet Pull" ability which allows it to prevent opposing Steel-types from switching out of battle. Boasts the strongest STAB Thunderbolt in the game and often compliments it with Hidden Power Ice. Other common moves include Substitute, Magnet Rise, Explosion, Thunder Wave and Metal Sound.

Mamoswine: Ice/Ground. 130 Base Attack, 80 Base Speed, 70 Base Special Attack. Boasts one of the strongest STAB Earthquakes in the game, which, coupled with its STAB Ice Shard and Avalance, grant it great physical STAB coverage. Stone Edge, Ice Fang, Curse, Superpower and Blizzard round out the main options of a monster that works very well with a Choice Band.

Metagross: Steel/Psychic. 135 Base Attack, 130 Base Defense, 80 Base HP, 70 Base Speed, 95 Base Special Attack, 90 Base Special Defense. Doesn't need a Choice Band to wreak havoc with moves like Meteor Mash, ThunderPunch, Ice Punch, Earthquake, Zen Headbutt, Agility/Rock Polish, Trick, Explosion, Grass Knot and Pursuit. Its "Clear Body" prevents its stats from being lowered, most notably by Intimidate.

Ninjask: Bug/Flying. 90 Base Attack, 160 Base Speed, an Ability in "Speed Boost" that raises its speed by one stage every turn. Among its main options: Substitute, Swords Dance, Baton Pass, Aerial Ace, X-Scissor, U-Turn and Protect. Mainly a threat on full-fledged Baton Pass teams that utilize Ingrain to keep both it and stat-ups from getting Whirlwinded away, but Ninjask can probably beat you in the right hands anyway if you don't have Haze, Taunt, Roar or Whirlwind handy.

Porygon-Z: Normal. 135 Base Special Attack, 90 Base Speed, two unique Abilities in "Adaptability" that makes its Same Type Attack Bonus 2× instead of 1.5× and "Download" which grants Porygon-Z +1 Special Attack if the opponent's Defense is higher than his Special Defense. Nasty Plot, Tri Attack, Shadow Ball, Recover, Agility, Hidden Power Fighting for Rock and Steel types and the ability to use Trick to screw over special walls.

Rhyperior: Ground/Rock. 115 Base HP, 140 Base Attack, 130 Base Defense and a Rock typing that grants him a 1.5x boost to his Special Defense when in a Sandstorm. "Solid Rock" reduces the damage taken by super-effective attacks by 1/4. STAB Earthquake and Stone Edge are the mainstay attacks of any offensive Rhyperior with Megahorn, Aqua Tail, Fire Punch, Swords Dance and Rock Polish available to compliment them.

Roserade: Grass/Poison. 125 Base Special Attack, 95 Base Speed, 105 Base Special Defense. Has Leaf Storm, Sludge Bomb, Sleep Powder, Weather Ball, Leech Seed, Spikes (illegal with Sleep Powder), and Toxic Spikes. Further, the constant switching associated with using a rather handy Choice Scarf or Choice Specs makes "Natural Cure" a great ability on Roserade.

Rotom-A: Electric/Ghost. 50 Base HP, 107 Base Defense and Special Defense, 105 Base Special Attack. Rotom-As fabulous typing combined with "Levitate" makes it pretty tough to kill. Works very well with or without Choice Specs or Choice Scarf and has an excellent movepool that includes Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Will-o-Wisp, Thunder Wave, Charge Beam and Trick. Depending on which variant of Rotom-A is used it also has access to one of Air Slash, Blizzard, Hydro Pump, Leaf Storm or Overheat.

Salamence: Dragon/Flying. 135 Base Attack, 110 Base Special Attack, 100 Base Speed, "Intimidate", and the ability, with either Choice Band or Choice Specs, to hit EXTREMELY hard off the bat from both ends of the damage spectrum. Besides Dragon Dance, its large movepool includes: Draco Meteor, Outrage, Earthquake, Rock Slide/Stone Edge, Brick Break, Flamethrower/Fire Blast, Hydro Pump, Aqua Tail, Dragon Pulse and Roost.

Scizor: Bug/Steel. 130 Base Attack, 100 Base Defense, 65 Base Speed. Makes great use of its new "Technician" ability, which grants a 1.5× boost to all attacks 60 Base Power or less most notably to Bullet Punch, and can still benefit from "Swarm" which grants the same boost to Bug-type Attack when at 33% or less HP. Scizor's decent movepool includes, X-Scissor, U-Turn, Superpower, Brick Break, Pursuit, Quick Attack, Swords Dance, Agility, Baton Pass, Reversal and Roost. It very much welcomes the benefits of Life Orb and Choice Band.

Snorlax: Normal. 160 Base HP, 110 Base Attack and Special Defense, 65 Base Defense. With Curse, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Pursuit, Return/Frustration/Body Slam, Earthquake, Fire Blast, Selfdestruct and Crunch, Snorlax can contend with Skarmory a little better in this generation. Its "Thick Fat" Ability still halves the damage from Fire and Ice attack, and Rest can annoy you with or without Sleep Talk if you're not prepared.

Starmie: Water/Psychic. 115 Base Speed, 100 Base Special Attack and "Natural Cure". Can work very well with or without Choice Specs thanks to a great movepool that includes: Surf, Psychic, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Grass Knot, Recover, Rapid Spin and Trick. Its adequate, somewhat-overlooked 85 base Defense and Special Defense make it a surprisingly durable threat with Recover.

Suicune: Water. 100 Base HP, 90 Base Special Attack, 115 Base Defense and Special Defense, 85 Base Speed. Calm Mind, Surf, Ice Beam, Roar, Rest and Sleep Talk with its "Pressure" Ability make this virtually unchanged threat from Advance just as hard to beat in DP if you're not ready. Suicune's natural bulk also allows him to use a Life Orb and invest heavily in his Special Attack and Speed to run a more offensive set than what was seen in ADV.

Togekiss: Normal/Flying. 120 Base Special Attack, 115 Base Special Defense, 80 Base Speed, and an Ability in "Serene Grace" that doubles the extra effects of moves that have them. Its movepool includes: Nasty Plot, Air Slash (60% flinch with "Serene Grace"), Aura Sphere, Wish/Softboiled/Roost, Thunder Wave (or Body Slam to paralyse foes immune to Thunder Wave), Baton Pass, Tri Attack (illegal with Nasty Plot), Trick and Grass Knot. Can also utilise a Choice Scarf set to further abuse Air Slash's flinch rate.

Tyranitar: Rock/Dark. Choice Banded Crunch, Stone Edge/Rock Slide, Pursuit, Earthquake and Aqua Tail from 134 Base Attack. Tyranitar can also boast Dragon Dance or 101 HP Substitutes and utilize Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and Flamethrower/Fire Blast with 95 Base Special Attack and great all around defenses. Its "Sand Stream" also limits the durability of non-Rock, -Steel and -Ground Types, while also boosting by 1.5× the Special Defense of itself and all other Rock type pokémon.

Weavile: Dark/Ice. 120 Base Attack, 125 Base Speed, Swords Dance, Night Slash, Ice Punch, Low Kick and a STABbed Pursuit and Ice Shard make this a threat with or without Choice Band.

Yanmega: Bug/Flying. 116 Base Special Attack, 95 Base Speed, 86 Base HP and Defense. Has two very useful abilities in "Tinted Lens", which doubles the power of NVE (not very effective) hits, and "Speed Boost". Yanmega can use Air Slash, Bug Buzz, Hypnosis, Protect, and Choice Specs, Choice Scarf or Focus Sash very well.

Zapdos: Electric/Flying. 125 Base Special Attack, 100 base Speed, 90 Base HP, Attack and Special Defense, 85 Base Defense. With Thunderbolt, Roost, Discharge, U-turn, Heat Wave, Hidden Power Ice or Grass, Substitute, Agility, and Baton Pass, Zapdos can be quite the nuisance, not to mention how well it can use Rest/Sleep Talk with its "Pressure" Ability.

There, I think I've pretty much mentioned everything that is a genuine threat in itself. I don't expect anyone to commit all that to memory, and I definitely don't want you to feel as if every team you make must be impervious to all of these threats lest it be worthless. That isn't my point in making this announcement, and that isn't the point of competitive pokémon in general. Despite the apparent completeness of that threat list, I merely ask you to sweep your eyes over the bolded names and keep them in mind during and after the team-building process. The process, if not already ingrained in your mind, will get easier and easier with every team you make.



In case you aren't familiar with the basics of battling, I'm going to define the term "counter" here as it relates to battle and to how you should be addressing your Threat Checklist whether or not you post it.

A Counter must be able to both switch into the Pokémon it's supposed to counter, with little to no risk to itself, and also pose an immediate threat to said Pokémon.

Therefore, Infernape should never be listed as a Tyranitar counter. This is because, while its Close Combat will OHKO Tyranitar, it will take at least 50% from all of Tyranitar's attacks and can be outsped by a Jolly one after a Dragon Dance, so it fails on the first count of the above definition of counter. And also, therefore, a standard Milotic (Surf, Ice Beam and Rest/Sleep Talk or Recover/Hypnosis for the purposes of this argument) isn't a Gyarados counter since, while it resists Ice Fang and Waterfall/Aqua Tail and shrugs off an unboosted Earthquake or Stone Edge, it cannot use Hypnosis because it will be Taunted, its Surf is resisted, and its Ice Beam is at best a 5HKO to 95 base HP and 100 base Special Defense. It also will not be able to use Recover, Rest or Sleep Talk later in the Gyarados vs. Milotic battle due to Taunt.

I hope this gives you a better idea of what makes a "counter" a counter, and lets you see that a 286+ Def Swampert is a better choice for the former and a Recover/Thunderbolt Starmie a better one for the latter, as I'm already somewhat wandering outside the scope of this announcement.

Again, posting a Threat Checklist isn't mandatory, though it is a good exercise and does by default make for better RMTs. If you do decide to post a threat list in your RMT, though, I'm going to have to require you to post the ENTIRE Threat Checklist, so that readers will see that you have indeed addressed everything on the list. Of course, this will also put to rest any suspicions readers and raters may harbor that you intentionally left off pokémon that are particularly threatening to your team.



If I "forgot" a move you may personally put on one of these threats, forgive me. You'll notice that all of the above pokémon, when used properly, aren't utterly walled by Blissey and Skarmory, the #1 special and physical walls respectively in Advance who figure to feature prominently in Diamond and Pearl and Platinum. That is because, by definition, if a pokémon is that easily walled by a single common pokémon, it isn't a very glaring threat. Also, if a pokémon plays a similar role to one of the above pokémon, an obvious example of which would be comparing Infernape to the purposely unlisted Blaziken, it is because not only are such pokémon slightly lesser threats, they would be addressed very much in the same manner, in this case Gyarados, Starmie, and "Dugtrio after a sacrifice". Other examples would be Feraligatr (Gyarados) and Dragonite (Salamence).



A few of our more experienced battlers from the Advance Generation are able to go through a mental checklist of the main threats in pokémon and keep them in mind while creating their teams. This notion is, as far as Diamond and Pearl are concerned, much less viable for two reasons. First, there are, by definition, many more threats to consider than there were in Advance, both by way of new pokémon like Azelf and Lucario and also several who have become considerably more threatening from Advance to DP, like Gyarados and Gengar. So it is only natural to miss more threats than one would have in Advance. Second, and more importantly, the same enthusiastic fire alluded to above has drawn many, many new players to our community, and these players cannot be faulted at all in their impulsive efforts to put the pokémon they can't wait to use on display.

That said, we don't aim to throw dirt on this fire by repeating over and over "your team is standard", though that is the most obvious pitfall with mandating the observation of such a checklist. However, there is no getting around the fact that most standards are standard for a reason, and as far as competitive battle goes, this sentiment can only have become more accurate in DP when compared to Advance. There are more pokémon, more moves and more options in general, but the old ones generally won't be just cast aside. There are more players, eager to learn and get better, but the older ones must make room for them and help them effectively in order to promote growth. Pokémon is getting bigger and bigger, and action must be taken to keep this growth in check.

When you consider this, you must agree that the decision that myself and my fellow moderators have come to, that all "Rate My Team" (RMT) threads that do not demonstrate an attempt by their creators to have observed and addressed a good number of threats on the threat checklist will have to be locked, as they hinder the growth of this board and pokémon in general, is not only a fair one, but one that is necessary as well. These are the alternatives: letting the wildfire of a mass of enthusiastically albeit carelessly posted teams ravage our board, unchecked, or having the dirt of "your team is 6-0ed by Azelf" and "Infernape sweeps you" repeatedly thrown on the competitive fire of our board, dampering our collective spirit. I think those alternatives are much, much less desirable than the possibility that RMTs may in general become a little more standard and boring.

I am confident that Diamond, Pearl, & Platinum is going to prove to be a better, more diverse game than Advance was. With the help of the above threat checklist, the competitive fire it inspires in all of us can burn for a long, long time.

Thanks,

Jump