Ask a Simple Question, Get a Simple Answer MK IV: Read the FAQ in the Opening Post

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Frequently Asked Questions
What does [move / item / ability] do?
Check the links in this topic before asking. http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78983
Also read the first post here: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79340

How can I view an alphabetical listing of all the Pokemon threads?
Click here.

Can we breed Dream World Abilities?
From the research thread:

CONFIRMED Breeding a Dream World female parent with any male parent (but not vice versa) has a chance of giving the offspring its respective Dream World Ability. It is unknown whether Ditto counts as the female for this purpose, and we won't know until DW Ditto is released. (Maverick Hunter, 0mastar\The Shadow Knight)

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Can you use Rotom's alternate forms over WiFi?
Yes.

Why can't I select a Pokémon to replace a fainted in a Pokémon in a Triple Battle?
First you have to select which Pokémon you want to have replaced. If multiple Pokémon fainted, the game doesn't know which Pokémon you want on which position. So what you have to do is first select one of your fainted pokemon, and then select which unfainted pokemon you want to replace it with. (Thanks Chieliee)

The first SQSA thread can be found here.
The second can be found here.
The third can be found here.

I am editing the Swords Dance Gliscor set on its Smogon analysis, making it Jolly and giving it enough Speed to outpace Adamant Lucario. Would it be better to take its EVs out of Defense or HP?

My DS can't connect to my Wifi at home. Is there something i can do? Is there a way of connecting the DS to Wifi say though a laptop (in halls i don't have wifi we have a wire)?

Arcticblast said:

I am editing the Swords Dance Gliscor set on its Smogon analysis, making it Jolly and giving it enough Speed to outpace Adamant Lucario. Would it be better to take its EVs out of Defense or HP?

Click to expand...

take them out of HP thats usually the best decision.

Edit: use 252 Hp/216 Spe/44 Def impish this way you have 280 Spe and 326 Def with Jolly you would only reach 280 Spe 322 Def ;)

I was just wondering about 3 little things:

1). What is the top 5 most common/most useful HP types?

2). I have been noticing a lot of Weavial support as an OU Dragon-killer. Can an Ice Gem Adamant/Jolly Weavial using Ice Punch OHKO a standard Multiscale DNite?

3). I have heard that Nasty Plot + Swift on Ambipom is illegal, but I would like to receive some verification.

Thanks in advance. Question #1 is just a personal inquiry, by the way.

King Serperior said:

I was just wondering about 3 little things:

1). What is the top 5 most common/most useful HP types?

2). I have been noticing a lot of Weavial support as an OU Dragon-killer. Can an Ice Gem Adamant/Jolly Weavial using Ice Punch OHKO a standard Multiscale DNite?

3). I have heard that Nasty Plot + Swift on Ambipom is illegal, but I would like to receive some verification.

Thanks in advance. Question #1 is just a personal inquiry, by the way.

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For question #1, I would say fire, ice, fighting, ground, and rock. Grass and electric also see some use

idk about the other 2 questions but for #2 I would guess that would be overkill

King Serperior said:

I was just wondering about 3 little things:

1). What is the top 5 most common/most useful HP types?

2). I have been noticing a lot of Weavial support as an OU Dragon-killer. Can an Ice Gem Adamant/Jolly Weavial using Ice Punch OHKO a standard Multiscale DNite?

3). I have heard that Nasty Plot + Swift on Ambipom is illegal, but I would like to receive some verification.

Thanks in advance. Question #1 is just a personal inquiry, by the way.

Click to expand...

1. What Novaray said.

2. Weavile doesn't even need Ice Gem, Jolly Life Orb Ice Punch barely misses the KO on a full health DNite anyway. If you catch it on the switch you can beat it with Ice Shard, or just keep Rocks up. But, to answer the question, yes.
-255 Atk Life Orb Weavile Ice Punch vs 252 HP/0 Def Dragonite: 82.38% - 96.37% ... 2 hits to KO (with Leftovers)
-255 Atk Ice Gem Weavile Ice Punch vs 252 HP/0 Def Dragonite: 94.04% - 111.14% ... 62.5% chance to OHKO

3. They are both level up moves, so no.

The LoudWendle said:

My DS can't connect to my Wifi at home. Is there something i can do? Is there a way of connecting the DS to Wifi say though a laptop (in halls i don't have wifi we have a wire)?

Click to expand...

I've had that problem too. Do you have any security on your wifi? If so, you might need to lower it. DSs can't handle newer security stuff. That was my problem.

The LoudWendle said:

My DS can't connect to my Wifi at home. Is there something i can do? Is there a way of connecting the DS to Wifi say though a laptop (in halls i don't have wifi we have a wire)?

Click to expand...

It's likely that the wifi security type is set too high (WPA or WPA2). You'll need to set it to WEP. You'll want to google the instructions for your specific router, but you should be able to type the IP address in to the URL bar and edit the settings. If you aren't the owner of the router, I'd check before changing anything since WEP is likely less secure than what it's currently at.

If I remember right, you can order a USB cable from Nintendo that allows you to connect to a computer's internet through the cord. I don't know if there are additional settings to worry about (firewalls and WEP settings and whatnot), but if you research that option (or contact Nintendo), hopefully you'll get it worked out.

Option 3 is a USB connector that plugs in to your laptop and creates a mini wifi for you DS. It's going to be considerably more pricey, but the option is there.


Question: What sort of team is the most beginner-friendly? Preferably a team that doesn't need to rely as much on prediction (since I have no idea what to predict yet!) - I don't need specific Pokemon, but a specific type like "rain" "sandstorm" "mixed Mence" etc. just to get me thinking and building would be much appreciated.

^Probably 4Drag2Mag, or (with an appropriate screener) a Hyper Offense team. While I know these two still need their respective levels of prediction, there's at least no hazards to keep up, no weather war to fight, and the screens once set up cant be removed by anything but Brick Break (lol Brick Break).

I don't think 4Drag2Mag needs much explanation. 4 dragons and Magnezone and a Steel. Done. Just Draco Meteor/Outrage away, and maybe the odd Fire Punch to knock through opposing steels. Hyper Offense is just the same thing, but you lead with something like Azelf to set up screens.

I have somne hard time deciding on Medicham's last move-HJK, Psycho Cut, Ice Punch, and? I tend to preffer Rock Slide on the Scarf set for the flinsh rate, while giving it Fire Punch with a Band; any suggestions?

1). Psycho Cut < Zen Headbutt
2). Zen Headbutt will provide you a good Flinch rate.
3). I would say that Fire Punch is your best bet unless you you want to take a Gyara on. T-Punch is your best bet then.

IronGross said:

I have somne hard time deciding on Medicham's last move-HJK, Psycho Cut, Ice Punch, and? I tend to preffer Rock Slide on the Scarf set for the flinsh rate, while giving it Fire Punch with a Band; any suggestions?

Click to expand...

Trick is also great to fuck up defensive mons

King Serperior said:

1). Psycho Cut < Zen Headbutt
2). Zen Headbutt will provide you a good Flinch rate.
3). I would say that Fire Punch is your best bet unless you you want to take a Gyara on. T-Punch is your best bet then.

Click to expand...

I don't the flinch rate is worth the loss of perfect accuracy.

Okay, so I'm wanting to become a pokemon breeder and collector, trading bred pokemon for any that I need or am missing. I basically want to know anything and everything about breeding that I can. I've already read the breeding guide that Sprocket has written, but there was one thing that I was curious about:

Power items force the appropriate IV of the parent to be passed down. The remaining two IVs are picked at random. If both parents wear a power item, then only one parent's appropriate IV will be passed down, and the other parent's appropriate IV will NOT be passed down (IE: if you have a male wearing a Power Bracer and a female wearing a Power Anklet, you have a 50% chance of passing down the male's Attack IV and NOT the female's Speed IV, and a 50% chance of passing down the female's Speed IV and NOT the male's Attack IV).

With one parent wearing a Power item, mathematically you have these probabilities:

• 1 in 6.25 chance of passing down any 2 remaining desired IVs.
• 1 in 25 chance of passing down any 2 remaining desired IVs from the same parent.

Click to expand...

My question is if both of the parents are wearing Power Items like this, say take the above example of Power Bracer and Power Anklet, then what would the stat that wasn't passed down be?

One of the two possibilities should be the Male's Attack IV and not the Female's Speed IV. But if it's not taking the Female's Speed IV does the Child's Speed IV become a randomized number, or does it revert to the Father's Speed IV? Meaning if you had both parents holding Power Items like this would it have the Father's Attack and Speed IVs?

Also, if not and the IV not passed down becomes random, then what would be the point of giving both parents Power Items? If they both have power items then it lowers the chances of your pokemon getting more than one of the desired IVs, so it seems rather unintuitive. Wouldn't it be more productive to have one parent hold a power item and the other to use an Everstone to attempt to pass down their Nature?

Sorry if the question is already answered somewhere, but I wasn't exactly sure where to look or put this. I tried to find a question/answer forum, but I didn't see one hence putting it here.

This is probably a silly question, but where can I find my ranking for PO?

2sly4u said:

This is probably a silly question, but where can I find my ranking for PO?

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Type in "/ranking" (without the quotation marks) within the chatbox to get your current ranking! It should something look like this:

(11:55:20) *** Your rank in Standard OU is 3359/48354 [1102 points / 8 battles]!

The fraction represents where you sit in the grand scheme of things versus every other account. The bracketed portion shows how many points you've earned through rated battles. It's not a silly question; we all had to learn it at some point!

Birkal said:

Type in "/ranking" (without the quotation marks) within the chatbox to get your current ranking! It should something look like this:

(11:55:20) *** Your rank in Standard OU is 3359/48354 [1102 points / 8 battles]!

The fraction represents where you sit in the grand scheme of things versus every other account. The bracketed portion shows how many points you've earned through rated battles. It's not a silly question; we all had to learn it at some point!

Click to expand...

Or you can right click any name on the list at the left of the PO screen and click "View Ranking"

I have a question how did my opponent's Starmie outspeed my Starmie which has max nature stat speed and his Starmie had no stat increases or quick claw, or choice scarf that would modify its speed higher then mine. Also his starmie used two different moves psyshock that was targeted on my Blaziken and then I switched to my Starmie and when I used thunderbolt he used thunderbolt first and was faster. Because he used two different moves and there was no speed increase nor activation of quick claw in those moves there is no way he should have went first ahead of my max speed starmie. To top it of his starmie is shiny so it's unlikely It's base IVs would be perfect. There could be a possibility he could have cheated.
Unless, both our Pokemon have the same exact speed and this is the second part of my question if two of the same Pokemon have the same exact speed and priority in a singles battle and used the same move how is it determined who goes first?

if it's the exact same speed and priority it goes down to a coin flip. There is a 50/50 chance you will attack first or you will attack second.

Infinitechoice said:

I have a question how did my opponent's Starmie outspeed my Starmie which has max nature stat speed and his Starmie had no stat increases or quick claw, or choice scarf that would modify its speed higher then mine. Also his starmie used two different moves psyshock that was targeted on my Blaziken and then I switched to my Starmie and when I used thunderbolt he used thunderbolt first and was faster. Because he used two different moves and there was no speed increase nor activation of quick claw in those moves there is no way he should have went first ahead of my max speed starmie. To top it of his starmie is shiny so it's unlikely It's base IVs would be perfect. There could be a possibility he could have cheated.
Unless, both our Pokemon have the same exact speed and this is the second part of my question if two of the same Pokemon have the same exact speed and priority in a singles battle and used the same move how is it determined who goes first?

Click to expand...

As Matthew said, 50/50 percent chance. But also I am just going to point out the underlined part that I added (the one underlining the IVs comment) to correct you. This is entirely possible (bordering on ridiculously easy) if you know how to RNG. There are many people that find this a real simple task. However if your opponent wasn't an RNG'er they may have done something with an external device.

Speed ties like Matthew (I still want to call him Gen. Empoleon) and Dark Arceus talked about don't just apply to priority. If two Pokemon have the same Speed (i.e. two Starmie) there is a 50/50 chance of either one going first.

Genny EDIT:
call me whatever you want, baby

Can someone explain how you calculate the base power for Beat Up used by an Ambipom with Technician and with all 6 teammates healthy?

My initial impression is:

(100/10) + 5 = 15 per hit, counted as a separate attack. 15*1.5 = 22.5

22.5*6 = 135BP, which seems pretty unlikely. Is this right?

BTW, I know the move is pretty unreliable due to losing hits when you lose pokes, but I am just curious.

So this site is very confusing to me but I guess here is where I shall post?

Okay so I got a question reguarding breeding a move-set.

I have a couple of roselias now that I bred with two different pokemons to get two different moves. One gave me sleep powder. The other spikes.

I have a male/female sleep powder roselias, and a male and female roselia with spike.

Now when I try to breed one sleep powder roselia with one spike roselia I either get a spike roselia or sleep powder. No combo. Which is confusing me. I deleted ALL the other moves in their set so it goes in. But still... No luck.

What am I doing wrong?

the three moves are illegal together, you cant have spikes and sleep powder together