VGC Ask a Simple Question, Get a Simple Answer - Mark II

[Solace*]

Originally Posted by Fat Chessmaster56

does the disquake strategy work well in VGCs and are terrakion and heatran good leads for VGC?

DisQuake is a pretty standard strategy, and aside from an Ice weakness works pretty well, although it's highly predictable. Terrakion and Heatran can be a good pair, although both of them are weak to similar things. It'd depend on their sets and what you were trying to accomplish, but there are better partners for both of them.

[Chessmaster56]

who would be better partners then?

[The Knights of Wario Land]

Originally Posted by Fat Chessmaster56

who would be better partners then?

Heatran's best partner is probably Cresselia, as she can disable many Pokemon that give Heatran trouble.

[TheBattleRoom]

I've Heard about this site called "Pokecheck" is it a safe site to use for checking pokemon for Vgc? does it ruin your Game??

[voodoo pimp]

Pokécheck can be a useful resource, but there are two things you need to keep in mind:

1) A lot of people upload hacked Pokémon there. To avoid risking disqualification, I strongly suggest only downloading from users that you know have legit Pokémon (for instance, several users in this thread have links to their Pokécheck uploads).
2) By default, the site adds a gift ribbon to most Pokémon (because the admins want to discourage using it for casual cloning), which the hack check will catch. To avoid it, you need to download them as .pkm files and send it to your game through a different distribution server.

If you want more detailed step-by-step help, or a list of trusted uploaders, or anything like that, the shoutbox is usually helpful.

[TheBattleRoom]

I don't plan on downloading anything but it is a safe site to use to check Ivs and evs?

[voodoo pimp]

Oh, if you're just using it for checking then it's absolutely safe. The Pokémon never actually leave your game (unless you mess it up and accidentally send them to the real GTS, which is why I always ask for an impossible trade just in case), and if you set your DNS back to Auto once you're done then there's absolutely no evidence that you ever used it.

[TheBattleRoom]

Thank you for the help that really helped me out :)

[PkmRngrBrad]

Does the new rule about not just top 40 players get into worlds, but anyone above a certain threahold amount of championship points gets in, is this just for TCG or vgc as well ?

[The Knights of Wario Land]

Are ribboned event Pokemon such as the VGC 2012 Larvitar and the Japanese event Ludicolo legal to use?

[Zog]

Originally Posted by Fat The Knights of Wario Land

Are ribboned event Pokemon such as the VGC 2012 Larvitar and the Japanese event Ludicolo legal to use?

Yes lol dunno why they wouldn't be tbh. But I have used plenty of ribboned Pokés in VGC. Actually it's probably more like 1 lol.

The only time an event Pokémon's had people DQ'd has been World 09 Weavile, but that was because it had an egg move without being hatched. So I wouldn't worry unless it has an egg move.

[Drifblim]

PkmnRngrBrad: I don't think there is any way to tell at this point, but it is quite possible to my mind that it would be applicable to VGC as well as TCG.

Knights: Yes, they would be legal.

[Sprocket]

Any interesting new additions to the VGC2012 metagame since the Summer Nationals?

[Rayz0r]

Well I have 4 questions.
1. Any advice for a starting noob (competitive battling)?
2. Is there a way to abuse the RNG without use of special programs?
3. How do you get pokemon to level 100 quickly(in-game methods only please).
4. How do you keep track of allocated ev's?

Thanks for all your help in advance!

[Thadenvy]

1. Get used to EV-training, Breeding, and try to care more about IV's. Also natures. They are pretty crucial as well.
2. No. You have to use the programs to find out the seeds needed to RNG pokemon.
3. You give them a Lucky Egg and run through the last possible route in the world and just grind, or you hoard as many rare candies as possible and stuff your pokemon with them.
4. You can understand more about EV-training from here: http://www.smogon.com/bw/articles/bw_ev

[Rayz0r]

Originally Posted by Fat Thadenvy

1. Get used to EV-training, Breeding, and try to care more about IV's. Also natures. They are pretty crucial as well.
2. No. You have to use the programs to find out the seeds needed to RNG pokemon.
3. You give them a Lucky Egg and run through the last possible route in the world and just grind, or you hoard as many rare candies as possible and stuff your pokemon with them.
4. You can understand more about EV-training from here: http://www.smogon.com/bw/articles/bw_ev

Thanks for the advice! I appreciate it. If there are any other tips you could offer, they'd be greatly accepted and that goes for every one not just Thadenvy.

[voodoo pimp]

Originally Posted by Fat Sprocket

Any interesting new additions to the VGC2012 metagame since the Summer Nationals?

All the new hidden abilities from Icy Cave (except the Unova mons, since they're BW2 only). That's the only change that I can think of.

Originally Posted by Fat Rayz0r

Well I have 4 questions.
1. Any advice for a starting noob (competitive battling)?
2. Is there a way to abuse the RNG without use of special programs?
3. How do you get pokemon to level 100 quickly(in-game methods only please).
4. How do you keep track of allocated ev's?

Thanks for all your help in advance!

1. The main thing you need to learn, other than things that can only come from experience, is the metagame - what works and what doesn't work. Since not much metagame discussion goes on here (aside from this thread, the VGC forum is mostly about the events themselves), your best resources are the strategy dex (click the VGC '12 tab after selecting a Pokémon to see its analysis for the current metagame) and the RMT forum (look for threads with the (VGC) tag). Use that information to put together a team, then start practicing with it as explained here to start getting some experience.

2. 3rd gen RNG can be done with spreadsheets and a stopwatch if you really want to. 4th and 5th are basically impossible without RNG Reporter or PPRNG. If you don't have access to a computer that can run those, you can either see if you have a friend that would be willing to do it for you and send you the results, or head over to this thread where other users have made their RNGs freely available.

3. Well, for VGC you only need to get to level 50 (unless the Pokémon has an evolution/learns a move at a higher level), so that makes it a lot easier. If you want to keep it entirely in-game, Elite Four and Audino are the most efficient methods.

4. When I'm EV training, I make sure to use a mon that can OHKO whatever I'm battling, and then just use its PP to track them. If that's not an option for whatever reason (e.g. you're training against Stunfisk with Endure), then keeping a tally also works well. When you're done, Pokécheck can be used to see if you did it correctly, or you could set it up in a simulator and see if the stats match what you got.

[lucariojr]

anyone know where the usage stats are? like, a recent one at least? i remember a couple of topics about it but idk where they went

also, should i post a rmt of my purple nats team?

[Chessmaster56]

Just wondering, but does everybody at the VGC EV train? I want to be lucky and get an opponent who doesn't.

[voodoo pimp]

Originally Posted by Fat lucariojr

anyone know where the usage stats are? like, a recent one at least? i remember a couple of topics about it but idk where they went

also, should i post a rmt of my purple nats team?

Most recent stats I can find are from June. As for the RMT question, that's entirely up to you.

Originally Posted by Fat Chessmaster56

Just wondering, but does everybody at the VGC EV train? I want to be lucky and get an opponent who doesn't.

Don't count it. You might get an easy matchup in the first round or two, but you're not going to finish anywhere near the top without beating some EV-trained teams.

[Chessmaster56]

How many Rounds are There usually at the VGC?

[voodoo pimp]

I believe last year's regionals were all 6-8 rounds (depending on the number of players).

[Rayz0r]

Thanks a lot, those are all great tips! I really do appreciate it and everyone else's help; you guys here at smogon are pretty supportive.

[JRank]

Originally Posted by Fat PkmRngrBrad

Does the new rule about not just top 40 players get into worlds, but anyone above a certain threahold amount of championship points gets in, is this just for TCG or vgc as well ?

More than likely not. With the TCG there are very many (between BRs-if they have CP-Cities, S/P/Ts, Regionals, and Nationals) chances to earn CP. With the VGC there are 3 Regionals and 1 Nationals to earn CP at, with 10 at the most for regionals (I don't know how many nationals winners received), one would have to place in the Top 4 at nearly every event to have more than 10-15 CP. Until we have more events I doubt that Worlds qualification will be allowed from CP.

[Rayz0r]

Some more questions for anyone who can/wants to answer them, hahaha I'm inquisitive and you guys are pro's, can you blame me?
1. How do I meet Gengar in the old Chateau reliably (I want to use it to EV train Special Attack and I'm hard pressed to find it. Pokemon Platinum btw.).
2. What game is EV training the easiest (yes, I do realize this is subjective).
3. What generation do you think Pokemon will make it to? (Game Freak probably wants to milk it because its a cash cow but after 800-900 pokemon, it might be confusing to keep track of the pokemon...)
4. What would be the best moveset in your opinion for a specially offensive and partially special defensive Latias?
5. How many years on average do people spend playing pokemon and in tournaments?