Battle Spot - Simple Questions and Answers

[ethan06]

Mega Kangaskhan is definitely the bog-standard Pokémon that you want to use on any given team to learns the ins and outs of a Battle Spot format - literally any of them. It's ridiculously overpowered and very straightforward to use - it supports the team with Fake Out and dishes out hard-hitting physical attacks, usually winning games single-handedly with little team support required. I'll leave the rest of whatever team you make to your own discretion but if you need a cheap and dirty way to win games while simultaneously learning the meta then you can't do wrong with Mega Kang imo.

 

[Sïanetha]

Hey Age of Kings, I am interested in your giveway. I deposited a lvl 15 Magikarp asking for a Spiritomb. I would like to get the regular brave spread (hope I'll get the 6IV one), as a nickname, I would wish "Thombstone". :)

 

[Shyfire]

Hey, I've been wanting to get into battling more and have been thinking that Battle Spot might be a nice fit for me. I have competitive pokemon galore on my game but have never been very good at actually using them. The thought of everyone seeing my name at the top is a pretty neat thought, too. ^__^;

Any advise on where to start/what to use on a team? I think I'll probably lean more towards Doubles/Triples/Rotation because I've always sucked at singles no matter what but have actually done not-terrible a couple times in doubles. That being said, I'd like to actually become decent at singles someday/not counting it out (just saying from past experiences, I'm maybe beyond hope lol).

it depends on what meta your playing. If your playing doubles i would advise to check out the doubles intro thread (for battle spot) and the doubles meta discussion we have. there are plenty of good tips on those. Second, i would advise you to be ready for mega kangaskhan and things like Mega blastiose, and togekiss. i would say just think out of the box sometimes. In battle spot this is very good idea and thing to do, just know what does and doesn't work/learn ever inch of the battle spot meta. I would advise you to use multi-hit moves that hit both pokemon on the other side of the field. Leaning and making the team i will leave to you but just fucking be ready for mega kangaskhan no matter what. It is easy to use and is common every where on the ladder. It can dish it out pain and can take quite a bit as well. Just learn battle spot and read the threads we have on here

Here are some links to get you started
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/4v4-doubles-metagame-discussion-thread.3516234/
http://www.smogon.com/forums/thread...ion-help-thread-rmt-style-posts-here.3500348/
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/weird-sets-youve-seen-on-battle-spot.3495438/

hoped this helped

 

[cannibal]

Yeah, Mega-Khan seems like shes definitely one of the top threats in this format. I've been doing some Battle Maison with one recently (I recently got all the trophies, never thought I'd see that day!) and she definitely kicks butt. I kind of have a love affair with Fake Out, so she was actually something I could get the hang of. :3

I actually have a tentative doubles team that I used in the VGC special a bit. Haven't really tried it in the normal doubles format much, but my lead actually handled Khan really well. ;)

Thanks, I'll have to check out those articles.

Edit: My edits explode Smogon on mobile too, it seems. FEAR ME!

 

[EnGarde]

Hey, I've been wanting to get into battling more and have been thinking that Battle Spot might be a nice fit for me. I have competitive pokemon galore on my game but have never been very good at actually using them. The thought of everyone seeing my name at the top is a pretty neat thought, too. ^__^;

Any advise on where to start/what to use on a team? I think I'll probably lean more towards Doubles/Triples/Rotation because I've always sucked at singles no matter what but have actually done not-terrible a couple times in doubles. That being said, I'd like to actually become decent at singles someday/not counting it out (just saying from past experiences, I'm maybe beyond hope lol).

ethan06 is absolutely correct. Mega kangaskhan offers speed and power with a reasonable amount of bulk, and will help you learn the ins and outs of battle spot. Also, that landorus-t you got will also really help, since intimidate is really useful to weaken your opponent's attack stats.

Other great options to consider for doubles/triples are amoonguss or togekiss, which can use rage powder/follow me to redirect attacks away from a teammate, allowing a heavy hitter to survive a turn and deal massive damage to the opponent. Imagine your opponent using close combat on your mega kangaskhan, only to have the attack redirected away to amoonguss (2x resist), or togekiss (4x resist)! In the meantime, kanga can destroy the pokemon that used close combat, removing your opponent's potential check!

Lastly, if you'd like to try triples, but are worried about being able to construct your own team for it, you can have a copy of the CCAT triples team: many of us have collaborated to design a powerful team for use on battle spot triples, which should serve you well to get your feet wet. Post on the distribution thread if you'd like a copy. :)

EDIT: Am late to the party -.- your question was already well-answered by the time I got here.

 

[Hulavuta]

Hi CreeperWithStyle and welcome to Smogon!

Firstly, you do not need to make a whole new thread for this topic, you could instead ask in the Simple Questions thread or in the general Doubles Discussion

Yep he's right! I merged this for you.

 

[cannibal]

EnGarde: Yeah, it's nice to see people eager to help! :D
I was actually thinking about jumping in the CCAT thing. I think I already have most of if not all that team available. Seems like it'd be a decent enough place to start, since I wouldn't need to team build. ;)

 

[EnGarde]

EnGarde: Yeah, it's nice to see people eager to help! :D
I was actually thinking about jumping in the CCAT thing. I think I already have most of if not all that team available. Seems like it'd be a decent enough place to start, since I wouldn't need to team build. ;)

Let me know if there's anything left you need for the team, since I have a full copy of it. I know you already have the lando, lol. ^_^

 

[cannibal]

Let me know if there's anything left you need for the team, since I have a full copy of it. I know you already have the lando, lol. ^_^

Yeah, I should have the others lying around/able to breed; I just have to train them up. :3

The Landy you gave me has Knock Off though, so idk if I want to delete that...

And dang it, right when I got home and was like "okay, Imma try getting started on Battle Spot today", I forgot it's precisely PGL's scheduled maintenance time. Figures. xP

 

[Gourmont]

Don't worry, I'm still here and Magikarp is ready :D

Edit : Thanks !! :)

 

[cannibal]

Okay, so after a few battles, I'm starting to think... Maybe I do actually just suck. xD

I just don't seem to know how to fight smart, and it's not even in a way that's fun to watch. It's just baaad. Every time I've ever done Battle Spot, I get stuck around the initial 1500 because I just win/lose/win/lose forever, thus losing more points than I gain. Or sometimes I just lose/lose/lose.

FMAG-WWWW-WWWA-4XKH
MNGW-WWWW-WWWA-4XKY

So yeah... Any advise on how not to suck? I mean, I guess it's prediction/not being familiar with the pokemon I'm facing/using, but I have had moments where my prediction skills were good, and I like to think I'm not as stupid as my battling would indicate.

Also, I just don't know what to do against Substitute. At all. People catch on to this quickly.

I've also noticed that in this format, I completely suck at predicting which 3 of their pokemon they'll use, and always bring things prepared for the wrong ones. I think that's half of my problem on Battle Spot.

I just want to be better at battling, but no matter what advise I follow, I end up losing miserably. I can't even use OP things like Mega-Kang correctly, apparently.

 

[Shyfire]

cannibal i would just say learn the meta a bit more, watch some of the better players in the meta and learn from them. Also don't be afraid to ask for help, everyone in the community would be happy to. as for "half your problem in battle spot" that is up to you to get better at, this also ties in with learning the meta. There are a lot of sets in battle spot that people use, figure out what they most likely are and how to counter them. A little trick that i use, figure out what your team is weak to then put a pokemon on the team that can counter that weakness. Knowledge is power, especially in the Battle Spot Format.

 

[cannibal]

Shyfire: Thanks for the advise. Yeah, I know I need to learn the meta more. I guess the problem with me is that I get discouraged easily when I just lose ALL the time, and I rarely learn anything from it because when I try to use the things the "good" players use, they just don't work for me. This has so far been true in every meta I've tried to enter, and is the main reason I've never really gotten into any metas extensively; I never get passed the "learning" phase. I do spend a lot of time looking at things on paper/talking to people who know what they're doing/learning, but in the end when I actually go to do it, it never works out well for me. =/

I guess at this point, I'm just wondering why. .__.

Like, in one of those battles, I saw that most of their team was weak to Azumarill. So I used it, and they used the ONE thing they had to counter it that nothing I selected could kill. This is pretty standard for me.
That team isn't very well thought out/just thrown together so that I had something (because I'm kind of tired of just sitting back lurking and "learning"; I've been doing that for years), but the same thing would probably happen to me using teams that others have done well with (it has in other formats; TruAnt doesn't work for me in Battle Maison lol).

tl;dr I guess I'd like a "hands-on" learning experience that doesn't result in me just losing 100% of the time.

 

[Pyritie]

Like, in one of those battles, I saw that most of their team was weak to Azumarill. So I used it, and they used the ONE thing they had to counter it that nothing I selected could kill. This is pretty standard for me.
That team isn't very well thought out/just thrown together so that I had something (because I'm kind of tired of just sitting back lurking and "learning"; I've been doing that for years), but the same thing would probably happen to me using teams that others have done well with (it has in other formats; TruAnt doesn't work for me in Battle Maison lol).

For the sake of this post I'll assume their azu counter was venusaur.

Ok, so you're able to identify your win condition (keeping azumarill alive) and their win condition (keeping venusaur alive). This is the sort of thing that's decided at team preview. You've figured out that the only thing stopping azumarill from annihilating their team is venusaur. So you can be pretty confident that they'll bring it. Now you should bring something else that can deal with venusaur well, like a flying or psychic type. Now see if their team has anything that'll stop your flying or psychic type well, and if so, bring something to counter that.

At the same time as this, look to see if there's anything on their team that yours can't handle very well and bring stuff to deal with that. Predictions start in team preview, not the battle!

Even if your team matchup is perfect and you brought all the right pokemon, you still have to keep your win conditions in mind. Your azumarill will be something they want to get rid of ASAP, so think of ways to capitalise that. Let's say your venusaur counter is SD talonflame. At some point you send your azumarill out against something of theirs that can't really do anything back (to either azumarill or your talonflame). You could predict here that they will switch to their venusaur -- you can predict this and switch to your talonflame at the same time. Now their venusaur is in a bad position and you've got momentum -- SDing here would be great and now you can maybe getting a little sweep going or at least weaken down their team enough so azu can clean up.

Do you sorta get what I mean?

 

[CreeperWithStyle]

Hi CreeperWithStyle and welcome to Smogon!

Firstly, you do not need to make a whole new thread for this topic, you could instead ask in the Simple Questions thread or in the general Doubles Discussion thread.

Second, and not to be too much of a party pooper but personally I would be a little suspicious of the legitimacy of that Latias, I mean who just sends out perfect shinies with tutor moves over Wonder Trade?

Thirdly, to me that set looks a little gimmicky but could work if pulled off successfully. Like you said there may not be anything on the opposing side that you could cripple effectively with a Choice Specs, special attackers are quite popular due to the amount of Intimidate support going around, and also Mega Stones can not be Tricked away either. If you happen to be in that situation then you are basically locked into Draco Meteor, which after one use pretty much makes Latias dead weight. You also can't fully make use of Latias' support moves if you can not get rid of its Specs, meaning no Tailwind or Recover.

Because it has all tutor moves which can't be relearned in XY, you need to think hard about which ones you want to keep. I honestly don't see any use for Magic Coat but someone else may come up with something... Tailwind and Icy Wind are redundant on the same set as they are both forms of speed control. I think Icy Wind would be more valuable here because it doesn't get shut down by Taunt and will take a chunk out of things like Garchomp, Salamence etc. without having to resort to Draco Meteor. And of course there's Trick which really only serves the purpose of crippling something, if you want to keep that then I think a Trick + three attacks set is more viable, maybe even two attacks with Recover.

Anyway, since it has a Timid nature I think it would be more suited to a speedy support role, maybe something like:

Latias @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Timid Nature
252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spd
- Tailwind / Icy Wind
- Helping Hand
- Draco Meteor / Dragon Pulse
- Psyshock / Protect / Recover

or...

Latias @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Timid Nature
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spd
- Draco Meteor / Dragon Pulse
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt / Recover
- Trick

Hope this helped somewhat, I'm not the best doubles battler so hopefully some other users can post their thoughts.

Thank you for the awnser, i think ill go with:

Latias @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 240 HP / 60 Def / 208 Spd
Timid Nature
- Tailwind
- Helping Hand
- Protect
- Draco Meteor

Spd is special defence, right?

I'm not learning Latias the moves yet. I'm waiting for more replys, since transfer moves cannot be heart scale'd.

Again sorry for my bad english.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure the Latias is hacked, no one wonder trades a legit shiny 5 iv legendary with transfer moves, right?

 

[cannibal]

For the sake of this post I'll assume their azu counter was venusaur.

Ok, so you're able to identify your win condition (keeping azumarill alive) and their win condition (keeping venusaur alive). This is the sort of thing that's decided at team preview. You've figured out that the only thing stopping azumarill from annihilating their team is venusaur. So you can be pretty confident that they'll bring it. Now you should bring something else that can deal with venusaur well, like a flying or psychic type. Now see if their team has anything that'll stop your flying or psychic type well, and if so, bring something to counter that.

At the same time as this, look to see if there's anything on their team that yours can't handle very well and bring stuff to deal with that. Predictions start in team preview, not the battle!

Even if your team matchup is perfect and you brought all the right pokemon, you still have to keep your win conditions in mind. Your azumarill will be something they want to get rid of ASAP, so think of ways to capitalise that. Let's say your venusaur counter is SD talonflame. At some point you send your azumarill out against something of theirs that can't really do anything back (to either azumarill or your talonflame). You could predict here that they will switch to their venusaur -- you can predict this and switch to your talonflame at the same time. Now their venusaur is in a bad position and you've got momentum -- SDing here would be great and now you can maybe getting a little sweep going or at least weaken down their team enough so azu can clean up.

Do you sorta get what I mean?

Yeah, I think I get what you mean. :)

I think you have a good point: one of my main weaknesses is definitely Team Preview. Whatever I decide to bring, it ends up being not the things I needed. I get what you're saying, but it's easier said than done.

In battle, I think I have fairly good prediction skills overall (I know those battles were horrible examples of my "skill", but... xD). It's just that I have a hard time playing well when everything I brought is walled by one pokemon I didn't expect them to bring.

 

[Age of Kings]

Yes, I know about the big Battle Spot news and discussion threads will go up tonight with our updated Twitter page. Hang tight, guys :)

Edit: at work atm, lol.

 

[EnGarde]

Type Of The Month Club Giveaway
September: Psychic​

My FC: 4914-3671-9440
My IGN: EnGarde​

Hello everyone! I’m posting on behalf of the Type of the Month Club. Who are we? We’re a group of Smogon members that enjoy collecting rare and unique pokemon, and every month we share pokemon of a specific type with the rest of the community. I’ve had the pleasure of hosting this month’s giveaway, which will be the original broken uber type: psychic!

How to Participate:
To get one of these super-powered psychic types, you simply need to answer this question:

If you had a superpower, what power would it be, and why?

Please write an answer with enough substance that I can understand what your chosen power is, and why it is an awesome power to have. Each person's answer will have to be unique to get their Pokémon (e.g. you can't copy-paste someone else's answer), so check to make sure no one else has posted what you would have. Here is an example:

My superpower would be the ability to teleport, like abra or like David Rice in the movie Jumper. It would be really awesome to go anywhere I want in the world in the blink of an eye. I could visit Paris for breakfast, Tokyo for lunch, and be back home in the US in time for dinner. :)

Rules:

• Please copy the listing of the pokemon you want in your post.
• Do not initiate the trade. I'll initiate it.
• You can only receive one Pokémon. It will be a clone.
• I've cloned each Pokémon three times so how many of it are available will be listed under them below. There will only be 1 clone of each legendary made available.
• Respect the original breeder's redis policy.
• Credit the original breeder if you use their Pokémon as a parent.
• Have your IGN/FC in your signature or in your post when you submit your answer.
• You will receive your Pokémon from me (EnGarde). Do not hassle me when it comes to collection.

Collection Note:
I'm US Eastern time (GMT-4), and I usually play in the evenings on weekdays and sporadically on weekends, which means that sometimes it is a bit more challenging for me to coordinate with European, Asian, and Australian timezones. If our schedules are incompatible, I’ll ask one of the other club members to help get the pokemon to you.

Click here to see what Pokémon are available

Remember to post on the thread there if you want to claim a pokemon! :D

 

[Anivia]

Hello everyone, I was doing some Rotation battles with a new team and at a certain point I had an epiphany.

Facade, of all the moves, one you don't see everyday, and certainly one that can turn the tables when used correctly. My main user of the move was one of my Megas, Pinsir to be specific. Factoring in STAB, Aerilate, and the fact that it ignores the Attack drop from burns, while also gaining double the power, Facade reaches a staggering 279,3 base power, making it a nuke to most Pokemon that don't resist it, while severely denting those that do.
My core revolves around Mega Pinsir, with Paralysis support, Aromatherapy and Wish. I have to watch close attention to my opponents' playstyle the first few turns while I spread Paralysis/Toxic with Porygon2. Whenever I feel that my opponent is going to either use Toxic or Will'O, I rotate into Pinsir, using Swords Dance without Mega Evolving(This is important, as Hyper Cutter will prevent any move that would otherwise reduce my attack). At this point I need to consider whether Pinsir needs a Wish before going on a rampage, or Aromatherapy in case Pinsir received Paralysis.

Pinsir @Pinsirite
Adamant
8 HP / 248 Atk /252 Spe
-Facade
-Return
-Close Combat
-Swords Dance

If by any chance I consider Pinsir is not the appropriate hole-puncher, I usually carry Mega Khangaskan to replace it, with a similar set replacing Close Combat with Power-Up Punch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~



My question is: What's the viability of Facade outside of Rotation?

I'd also like to hear your own experiences with Facade, had it been used by an opponent or yourself. Thanks for reading. :)

 

[Shyfire]

i would say just go return Mewdraco
if your running aromatherapy then you probably dont want this thing to get status'd meaning there is no point running facade. Return does the job just fine, in most situatuions better. The only other option i would consider is Feint but that is really only good in doubles. imo i think a post like this is more appropate in an RMT but i hoped i helped

 

[Anivia]

i would say just go return Mewdraco
if your running aromatherapy then you probably dont want this thing to get status'd meaning there is no point running facade. Return does the job just fine, in most situatuions better. The only other option i would consider is Feint but that is really only good in doubles. imo i think a post like this is more appropate in an RMT but i hoped i helped

That's actually the point of running Aromatherapy AND Facade. Should I receive an inappropriate status, I can use Aromatherapy and then roll with Return, should I receive an status I can use to my advantage, why not use it to my advantage with Facade?


The reason I didn't do a RMT is the lack of Rotation players here. Thanks for the input anyway. :)

 

[EnGarde]

I agree that return is the more reliable move. Using facade effectively means you need to accurately predict when your opponent is going to use will-o, which is very hard to do.

(seeing your 2nd reply) Trying to shuffle statuses is unreliable, since most teams only carry 1 status user to a match (otherwise the second status supporter generally ends up dead weight). Most matches I've done move fast enough that the turns not spent attacking or disrupting your opponent will likely result in your opponent getting a KO or severely weakening your pokemon.

I do disagree with Shyfire: I think Mewdraco posted in exactly the right place, as the RMT thread is generally better when you have a full team to critique, not just a single move on a part of your team.

EDIT: To further clarify: The statuses you're likely to see are: sleep (spore, dark void), burn (will-o-wisp), and paralysis (thunder wave). At team preview, if your opponent has more than 1 statuser on their team, they'll likely be able to identify which is more useful to the matchup, and will bring that one, choosing to leave the less effective one on the bench, since you can't bring your full team to a match in battle spot. Thus, using aromatherapy to try and shuffle statuses is not likely to work. You'll also likely be able to guess at team preview which status you're likely to face on your opponent's team, with para being the only true wild card, due to its wide distribution. If you're relying on aromatherapy to patch a mis-prediction at team preview, you've likely already lost that match.

 

[Anivia]

I agree that return is the more reliable move. Using facade effectively means you need to accurately predict when your opponent is going to use will-o, which is very hard to do.

(seeing your 2nd reply) Trying to shuffle statuses is unreliable, since most teams only carry 1 status user to a match (otherwise the second status supporter generally ends up dead weight). Most matches I've done move fast enough that the turns not spent attacking or disrupting your opponent will likely result in your opponent getting a KO or severely weakening your pokemon.

I do disagree with Shyfire: I think Mewdraco posted in exactly the right place, as the RMT thread is generally better when you have a full team to critique, not just a single move on a part of your team.

EDIT: To further clarify: The statuses you're likely to see are: sleep (spore, dark void), burn (will-o-wisp), and paralysis (thunder wave). At team preview, if your opponent has more than 1 statuser on their team, they'll likely be able to identify which is more useful to the matchup, and will bring that one, choosing to leave the less effective one on the bench, since you can't bring your full team to a match in battle spot. Thus, using aromatherapy to try and shuffle statuses is not likely to work. You'll also likely be able to guess at team preview which status you're likely to face on your opponent's team, with para being the only true wild card, due to its wide distribution. If you're relying on aromatherapy to patch a mis-prediction at team preview, you've likely already lost that match.

Maybe I haven't climbed enough in the ladder to really notice what you're saying about shuffling statutes, as most common status I've seen if the friendly Will'O from Rotom-Wash.
EnGarde, have you seen Facade see the light of day in Doubles?

Is Whiskey Tango still active? I'd love to see his opinion.

 

[NOVED]

EnGarde, have you seen Facade see the light of day in Doubles?

Facade is sometimes used on Mega Kan in doubles but it's not that good.

 

[Airfoil]

I want to practice with a team I made for the Halloween Party Tournament going on Battle Spot. Is there in option or Ladder in Showdown I can battle with?