Rating Basics

[Emeral]

I would really like to be an official team rater and I recently done 3 ratings. Could I have some feedbacks to know if I'm doing it right ?

First rate --> http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthr...=1#post4382030

Second rate --> http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthr...35#post4382435

Third rate --> http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthr...=1#post4383413

[Jimbon]

Emeral - For these being your first three rates, these are pretty good. You seem to have a good understanding of being able to identify problems and fix them which is good. Looking over your first rate, I agree with the changes you have made. I like that you did not make any Pokemon changes to this user's team. Sun Teams are very dependant on synergy and most of the time do not need Pokemon changes unless it is very necessary and there are problems with the teams synergy. A lot of the time, moveset changes are just as significant as Pokemon changes, as one move can completely change what you can hit super effective, and what you can wall successfully. My only suggestion on the first rate would be to suggest 0 Special Defense IVs too. This will make sure even the weakest Special moves will bring Dugtrio down to it's Focus Sash, being able to activate it a lot easier and have the freedom to power off more high powered Reversals. This is very important because the user has a huge reliance on Victini to deal with Special walls, namely Chansey who look annoying for his team otherwise.

As for your second rate, I agreed with the Venusaur change. It gives him arguably a much better Chlorophyll abuser, with much better bulk as well as being able to actually force switches, unlike Jumpluff. One thing that I felt you could have improved was actually explaining Venusaur's EV spread, to inform the OP of what the EVs do so he knows what to outspeed under Chlorophyll and can alternatively change them to his liking. As for your Jellicent suggestion, I agree that it is a good fit over Rotom, providing him with a Spinblocker, however he is still weak to Calm Mind Reuniclus and Stall in general. You mentioned Jellicent being able to beat most common members of Stall teams, but the set you suggested lacks Taunt. Jellicent cannot beat Chansey, Reuniclus or Ferrothorn without Taunt, all of which Taunt helps to shut down. Taunt would be a good option over Scald, as with Will-O-Wisp and Sun halving Scald's power, you don't miss out on anything you would before.

The third rate was one I found myself disagreeing with for a couple reasons. First of all, as an aspiring team rater, you should have picked up what the purpose of the team was.

The basic strategy is to identify and eliminate or cripple certain key threats in order to allow Chandelure, Landorus, or Breloom to sweep.

The OP is basing his team around being able to sweep with either of these, so you will try to do what you can to make this job much easier for him. It is not a good idea to replace any of these Pokemon, as it takes away from the purpose of the team and becomes a different team. Although the changes you suggested arguably make the team better, you deter from the original purpose, and by adding Heatran, Jellicent and Amoonguss, this is no longer an offensive team, but more a Stall team. If you wanted to help the team be based around the sweep of Chandelure, Breloom or Landorus you will add things to the team that make this job easier, such as status and hazard support, putting Pokemon into OHKO range for the aforementioned sweepers. As a rater you are not looking to make the team perfect, but moreso change the team to the OP's liking.

On a different note, your layout can be somewhat hard to navigate and might make it hard for the user to see what you are trying to say. If you are simply changing a move or EV spread like you suggested for Dugtrio, there is no need to include a set, or if you do, put it in hide tags. It makes the rate a lot more compact and easier for the maker of the team to see what you are saying. The same goes for situations where you recommend a completely different Pokemon, as you don't want your amazing rate to be covered up by pictures and such. However, this is just my preference, I find that people will be more willing to accept your changes if they can read it.

This is just my opinion, don't be discouraged. Good luck rating!

[Sayonara]

Emeral - Pretty solid rates, although when suggesting a set, you should try not to include too many slashes. For the Venusaur suggestion, there's obviously gonna be a difference if you choose Giga Drain over Hidden Power Fire and vice-versa, etc. For the Heatran suggestion, I think Toxic would have been better than Will-O-Wisp, as it lets his team deal with Calm Mind Latias better, who seems pretty annoying for his team. Also for your Amoonguss suggestion, it's Stun Spore, not Stun Powder lol. Just a nitpick, keep up the good work!

[Emeral]

Ok, thanks Sayonara and Jimbon. I considered all the changes you suggested about my team rating. I will do my best and try to post ratings as good as possible.

[Superpowerdude]

Hey guys could i please get some criticism on these rates :)

Rate 1 http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3471906
Rate 2 http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3471752
Rate 3 http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3471871

This rate is a bit older but no one got back to me last time :)
Rate4 http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3471260

[DestinyUnknown]

A bit late but w/e...

Originally Posted by Fat PenguinX

Apparently I'm rating teams again.

Rate: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...93&postcount=7
Team: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3471452

That rate is definitely very detailed, and does find some of the big threats that team faces. However, it fails to recognize the big weakness to Chansey/Blissey (and Stall teams in general), while the Cresselia suggestion, while it's a good defensive way to handle the threats to the team, simply doesn't fit the team. That Sun team is offensive, and Cresselia just slows down the pace of the team, which I don't think its good by any means. The best way to fix the Stall / Lucario / Volcarona problem of that team would be suggesting Dragonite instead of Dugtrio (which isn't necessary to that team considering it has Heatran and Earthquake Venusaur to beat other weather starters and opposing Heatran). The suggestion of bumping Ninetales speed was good though.

tl;dr while the rate was detailed and identified some threats, you should try to suggest pokemon that fit the team style.

@Silvershadow234

Your rate seems very good in general, as the advice it gives about the team style and purpose it's pretty good. However, I don't agree with some of the changes you suggested. While Kabutops may seem a good idea for an offensive spinner, it isn't really that good at spinning, as it doesn't find opportunities to switch in, which coupled with its bad speed, makes it very unreliable. For a team that really needs Rapid Spin, Blastoise is fairly better (but you should definitely suggest a standard blastoise set though, the one he was using was terrible to say the least). SubPass Mienshao and Togekiss suggestions are pretty good though, good job!

However, the suggestion of Roar on Zapdos doesn't seem very useful, as it lets it walled by not only Rhyperior, but every Grass and Ground type in the tier (which means Zapdos can act as a Shaymin or Flygon check). Roar isn't doing much and you didn't even explained the purpose of Roar.

Finally, I would like to recommend that you include the sets you suggest on a spoiler at the end (or after the paragraph where you suggest the set) because sometimes people may don't know what set is the best for them / don't know what set you are talking about.

[Silvershadow234]

Thanks DestinyUnknown! That was really helpful. I'm going to try and find some more teams to rate, and I'll keep what you said in mind.

[DestinyUnknown]

Originally Posted by Fat Furai

warning: huge

That rate was very good, nice job! There's not much to say, but I think that keeping Swords Dance in Excadrill or (at least) not removing Rayquaza would have been good ideas, because without that his team is very weak to stall teams. Maybe using Ferrothorn instead of Terrakion (Ferrothorn + Giratina-O should be enough to stop Arceus) could have been something to look into.

Originally Posted by Fat Superpowerdude

Hey guys could i please get some criticism on these rates :)

Rate 1 http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3471906
Rate 2 http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3471752
Rate 3 http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3471871

This rate is a bit older but no one got back to me last time :)
Rate4 http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3471260

Rate 1: The suggestions were good in general, and supporting other raters ideas in your post is a good thing too. Not much to say about this rate.

Rate 2: The suggestions you made for this team weren't bad, and that team was simply terrible so fixing it would need a lot of changes. However, you should have pointed out that using Choice Scarf on Landorus-T wasn't a good idea because it's too slow to revenge kill relevant threats (like Volcarona or Salamence) and that having 2 Choice Scarf users is not the best idea because their roles kinda overlap. You could have suggested using a support set on Landorus-T (using it as a Stealth Rock settler) or simply suggesting an Offensive set, while using Stealth Rock on Forretress.

You should have also suggested getting rid of Blissey, as that team was offensive and Blissey only screwed up the momentum of the team, (something like Scizor to still be able to check Lati@s and Gengar would be fine). In general, your suggestions were good, but you should have identified the problems regarding how to deal with stall teams and the already mentioned ''momentum'' of the team.

Rate 3: You identified the problem with Dragon-type pokemon correctly, but, as I mentioned in the last paragraph, your suggestion should be oriented differently depending of the style of the team. Suggesting an offensive Steel type (like Scizor or, say, Choice Scarf Jirachi), would have fitted the team much better, as Skarmory just slows down the tempo of the team. The suggestion of using Pursuit and Leftovers on Tyranitar was definitely good, though Chople Berry would have been a better suggestion for the item.



In summary, your rates have improved lately, but you still need to work a bit regarding the ''team style'' thing, and how to make suggestion based off that.

[Superpowerdude]

Thankyou DestinyUnknown!

I will try to put more effort into finding out the teams style of play and goals and try and tweak the team according to that as well as tweak the team according to it's threats. Thanks for the kind words as well i will keep improving! :)

[Audiosurfer]

Anyone mind giving me some advice on this rate here?

[DestinyUnknown]

Originally Posted by Fat Audiosurfer

Anyone mind giving me some advice on this rate here?

Hi Audiosurfer. Your rate had some good points (the Armaldo suggestion is very good and it's definitely the optimal option), but there are some things I disagree with. The first thing is the suggestions about changing Probopass set. While Thunder Wave is a good suggestion, changing the EV Spread and forgoing Flash Cannon and Earth Power just means Probopass will be walled by Golem and Piloswine, which it could KO before (which would help a lot to keep Stealth Rock off the field). Using a defensive spread isn't a good option on an offensive team that is based around momentum either, and stating that Probopass can't hit Flying types with that set isn't true, as it could hit them with Flash Cannon or Volt Switch.

The other thing I disagree with is the Cacturne suggestion. Although you identified the Water-type weakness correctly, Cacturne isn't the best option to solve it because its low bulk. Spikes isn't a good idea for that team either, because it's build around building momentum with U-turn and Volt Switch and fast, hard hitting moves with the help of Dual Screens, which means that wasting time on setting up Spikes only screws the way the team works. For this reason, suggesting a different water type check (like Rain Dance Ludicolo) would be a far better option.

In summary, while some of your suggestion were definitely good, you should work a bit on the content, and think about how the team works and make the suggestions accordingly.

[Scarfwynaut]

Hey wynaut.

I'm trying to get back in the groove of rating again, so it would be cool if someone check this out: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...77&postcount=4 to see if I am on the right track ^_^.

[Sayonara]

Scarfwynaut - By suggesting Amoonguss you are making his team even weaker to Mamoswine, who easily beats Tyranitar and Heatran with STAB Earthquake, while beating Gliscor and your Amoonguss you suggested with Ice Shard / Icicle Crash. Superpower beats Blissey suggestion. I think the ideal suggestion would have been Gyro Ball over Toxic Spikes on Forretress, as this would allow it to beat Mamoswine and Terrakion, who is now a bigger threat to the team with you removing a Fighting immunity (Jellicent), which means that it wrecks his team if Gliscor is gone. I think that keeping Jellicent would have been better than adding Amoonguss, as Jellicent has a pretty big role to play in spin-blocking and beating Cloyster and Gyarados. It also helps the team face Scizor, who can be a pain for his team to face, especially the faster variants that carry Superpower to beat Heatran and Chansey, with Bullet Punch beating Tyranitar. Amoonguss can't really do much to Scizor (it resists HP Ice and Giga Drain), who can take it down with Bullet Punches. I would have recommended Will-O-Wisp over Toxic on Jellicent to beat physical threats. Good luck with rating.

[Princess Bri]

hi im rating again i think maybe so yahhh

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...12&postcount=8

[DestinyUnknown]

Originally Posted by Fat Princess Bri

hi im rating again i think maybe so yahhh

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...12&postcount=8

Your rates are good in general, Princess Bri, and that one isn't an exception. You did a good job identifying the problem with stall (with Blissey,especifically) and the Landorus problem, too. The Foresight suggestion was good as well. The only thing you missed was the huge Volcarona weakness that team had, and something on the line of using Roar / Toxic on Ninetales would have been a good idea to prevent Volcarona from sweeping. Keep the consistency on rating, you're definitely doing a good job.

[Chimpakt]

some rates!

Rate 1:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...73&postcount=8

Rate 2:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...89&postcount=6

Rate 3:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...54&postcount=5

Rate 4:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthr...47#post4401047

[DestinyUnknown]

Originally Posted by Fat Chimpakt

some rates!

Rate 1:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...73&postcount=8

Rate 2:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...89&postcount=6

Rate 3:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...54&postcount=5

Rate 4:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthr...47#post4401047

Rate 1: This was probably the worst of the rates on your post. I'm unsure if this was because other raters had already fixed the major problems of the team (such as the hazards problem --> suggesting Starmie). If that's the case, try to remember next time that a simple ''I support That user suggestion of using Starmie because it helps the team on... blahblahblah'' can be included on your rate, too. Suggesting a Timid nature on Politoed and Waterfall on Dragonite were both good ideas, though.

Rate 2: This team was a bit difficult to rate considering how poor built it was, but most of your suggestions were good anyway. However, I don't think removing Jirachi for Rotom-W was a good suggestion, as it just opened the team to opposing Dragon type and special sweepers like Tornadus-T even more. You did identified Scizor as a huge threat, but the way to go would have been suggesting to remove Dugtrio (which honestly isn't really a must for the team success, as either Latias or Latios can weaken it enough so the other can beat Tyranitar / Heatran). With Dugtrio gone, you could have suggested something more useful for that slot (like Rotom-W). As about the Dugtrio problems of the team (which I don't necessarily agree with because Dugtrio is usually used on weather teams, which that team handles already well), I believe that just suggesting Air Balloon or Shed Shell on Heatran would have been enough.

Rate 3: Another difficult team to rate because as a stall team, it had a lot of weaknesses. The minor changes you suggested are definitely good (though I don't exactly get the Genesect thing, why giving him an atk boost when the team has a Gastrodon?). You did identified some threats to the team (like Sun teams and Thundurus-T) but you didn't give him advice of how dealing with those threats (replacing Gastrodon or Jellicent with Latias would have been a good way). You also identified the Dugtrio problem (good job even if there wasn't much to fix that). Finally, you should have explained him the problem he had with opposing entry hazards and some way to fix it, I think.

Rate 4: This rate is pretty good, the Latias suggestion was very spot on and you gave a good explanation of the benefits of using Latias. You didn't identified the big Terrakion weakness that team had, but suggesting Latias was a good idea to fix that anyway.

tl; dr: your rates are decent and you make good suggestions often, but you still need to work a bit more on the content, especially when identifying threats (as a tip, you could use the help of a threatlist of the metagame to identify what pokemon / playstyles give the team the most trouble ). I think that with a bit of practice, your rates will improve quickly, so keep up the hard work :)

[Incon]

Hi, im looking to start rating some teams in both Ru and Nu. Here is a rate on an Ru team. Please let me know what i can improve upon.

[Silvershadow234]

I've got another rate here on this team-it's post 5: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3473156

[DestinyUnknown]

Originally Posted by Fat Silvershadow234

I've got another rate here on this team-it's post 5: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3473156

Hey Silvershadow234, that's a pretty good rate, definitely good job. I can't say much because you covered all the mayor problems of the team on your rate, and your suggestions were also good. If anything, I would like to suggest that you put the sets on a spoiler or after the paragraph where you suggest them, but this is just personal preference I guess. Keep on rating, you're definitely on the right track!

[Zebraiken*]

Originally Posted by Fat Incon

Hi, im looking to start rating some teams in both Ru and Nu. Here is a rate on an Ru team. Please let me know what i can improve upon.

hey incon,

one of the big problems with your rates (and this goes for nearly every one i've seen of yours thus far, not simply this one alone) is your reliance on identifying and trying to fix weaknesses to a certain type. while it is true that a team with a massive type weakness should probably invest in some kind of resist, it suggests that you're really only looking at the team superficially rather than keying in on specific threats. i think the best way to work around this is simply for you to get more experience in the metagames you're trying to rate in, and avoid statements like "you're weak to flying-type moves". instead, you should think more along these lines: "what exactly is this team weak to?" "is it relevant enough for the op to make significant changes to their team?" "how can i fix this weakness while trying to maintain the original roles and team as much as possible?".

for example, in that rate you highlighted that the team is weak to water, rock and electric-type moves, and later mentioned that he's weak to fast grass-types. while all of this is true, you still missed out on the specifics, and your rate floundered because of that imo. for example, this guy is intensely weak to sd kabutops, which has been everywhere in the RU metagame as of late, and your rate did next to nothing to fix this. incidentally, your suggestion to give clefable grass knot helps that somewhat as they cannot all easily set up on it anymore, but i think that was more of an aftereffect than the original intention. you also missed out entirely on the fact that he's decimated by stuff like unburden hitmonlee (especially since he only relies on jolly medicham's priority to get rid of it). identifying the redundancy between aerodactyl + archeops was good, but there are several other ways you could have fixed that problem and still helped with the other issues. for example, using some kind of offensive uxie variant with SR instead of aero would at the very worst give him a secondary check to stuff like kabutops / feraligatr, as well as a hard counter to hitmonlee and fighting-types, and also gives him another check to nidoqueen which you really can't be too short on.

more than anything, i think you just need to get more comfortable in the metagames that you're rating in, and try to give specific reasoning for your suggested changes. using generic phrases like "I would also suggest using a Choice Scarf set over your current set to him giving your team a great revenge killer that can outspeed a lot of threats." is really not very productive nor convincing.

keep rating! you can only get better at it

[Silvershadow234]

Thanks for the positive feedback and advice Destiny Unknown.
I've done some other rates here too:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3473437
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3473225

[Audiosurfer]

Here's another NU rate that I've done.

[Poppy]

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...11&postcount=7

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...54&postcount=5

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...16&postcount=6

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...92&postcount=2

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...46&postcount=6

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...31&postcount=5

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...28&postcount=2

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...42&postcount=6

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...2&postcount=11

[Haruno]

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpos...11&postcount=2

someone mind giving me a critique or criticism on how I can improve rating?