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<div class="author">By an unknown author, rewritten by <a href="/forums/member.php?u=617">spies</a>.</div>
<ol class="toc">
<li><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a></li>
<li><a href="#teambuilding">Building a team</a></li>
<li><a href="#battling">Battling</a></li>
</ol>
<h2><a name="introduction">Introduction</a></h2>
<p>RBY is the oldest of Pokémon generations. Its name alone conjures up fearful legends of insane luck, Psychic type domination and unavoidable status ailments. However true or false these may be, the quirks of the game's mechanics, coupled with the limited amount of Pokémon available when teambuilding, made it so only a handful of them were widely used, while an abundant bunch, considered "interesting" choices, waited for their chance to shine. The rest, very rarely seen in standard competitive matches even today, gathered under the "Underused" section of the tier list, from now on referred to as "UU."</p>
<p>This guide will familiarize you with the ways of RBY UU, which is a fun, fast-paced metagame that offers a whole different way of playing compared to the standard metagame, yet retains the characteristics and mechanics that make the first generation so likeable. For one, spreading status ailments on your opponent's team, especially Sleep and Paralysis, is still key to winning a battle. Moreover, good prediction and smart switching will give you the edge over the course of the game. Luck tends to influence the outcome of RBY matches more than those of other generations, so knowing how to handle bad luck and trying to reduce chances is important.</p>
<p>The most striking difference between standard RBY and UU is the number of Pokémon allowed: only 45 fully evolved Pokémon can be used. A quick look at the tier list reveals that the balance between Pokémon types has taken a blow, mostly due to the fact that key walls and sweepers are not found here. What catches the reader's attention is that not a single Psychic-type Pokémon is listed, while all members of the Fighting and Bug types are present. Other types with remarkable representatives in this format are Electric, Water, Grass, Poison and Flying. So what are the best types to have?</p>
<p>On the offensive side, Special types such as Fire and Electric are particularly dangerous as a result of the lack of a universal wall like Chansey in standard. Thunderbolt will hit any Pokémon for at least neutral damage except the three Electric Pokémon, the two Ground-types, and the two Grass ones, while Fire Blast is a powerful attack that requires the opponent to have a Water, Fire or Rock Pokémon. Having a sweeper of each of these types will yield good results and guarantees a team strong on offense. Other good special offensive types to have are Psychic, since nothing resists it, and Ice. The physical side has less options, since the Earthquake users are not strong enough, so Normal moves like Body Slam and Hyper Beam will fill up most of your moveslots. Fearow's Drill Peck is noteworthy.</p>
<p>On the defensive side, it should be noted that a characteristic of many UU Pokémon is that they don't have many different move types to deal damage with. Sweepers often only carry STAB attacks and a Normal-type one. Because of their useful resistances, Water and Grass Pokémon are the usual walls here; either Omastar or Kabutops will be in most teams, while Tangela and Vileplume are extremely common and valuable here, since they resist Electric so you don't need a Ground type.
<h2><a name="teambuilding">Building a team</a></h2>
<p>Here are some guidelines for making a solid team; try to follow them but don't let them limit your creativity.</p>
<p>Usually your building process will begin by choosing your lead. The first Pokémon you send into battle needs to have good chances to give you a clear advantage from turn one. Because of this, the player needs to have a clear knowledge of the most popular leads. Some battlers want to put something to sleep on the first turn, so they will use Venomoth, Vileplume or Tangela. While the Grass-types can withstand more attacks, thus having more chances to use Sleep Powder, Venomoth is far speedier and better at dealing damage. However, Fire Pokémon like Arcanine, Ninetales and Rapidash are brilliant choices, not only to counter the mentioned popular leads, but because they pose an immediate threat and will lure out your opponent's main wall, thus giving you the knowledge needed to plan your attack. A lead Fearow follows this logic too. Electabuzz is also a strong attacker that could start the battle, but it has to run away from sleepers.</p>
<p>Every team needs at least one Pokémon with a Sleep-inducing move and should strive to put it to use as soon as possible. Even though the number of options in UU is small, the three leads mentioned in the preceding paragraph (Venomoth, Vileplume and Tangela) are some very efficient sleepers. These are very common and effective choices, so you should be prepared to face them. However, it is a good idea to have a backup sleeper to fall back on if your main one fails to do the job. Parasect deserves mention here as the sole user of Spore, a 100% (or rather, 99.6%) accurate Sleep move, even though Parasect itself is very vulnerable in battle. Your team should also contain several Pokémon with Paralysis moves. Two or three is a good number. There are many more choices for this since Thunder Wave is a common move, so take your picks. Most users of Sleep Powder can also carry Stun Spore for the usual double-powder moveset.</p>
<p>Once you have this covered, you need to focus on balancing out your defensive and offensive sides. A wide variety of types is not hard to obtain, but since there is not much to choose from some players end up having half of their team easily nulled by the standard walls; don't let this happen! Resistances to Fire, Electric, Water and Normal are the most important.</p>
<h2><a name="battling">Battling</a></h2>
<p>Once you have your freshly built RBY UU team, you'll want to test it out in battle. Other than the usual ways of RBY battling, some metagame-specific ideas apply here.</p>
<p>More often than not it will be only one Pokémon holding back your main sweeper. You should concentrate all your efforts on removing it. If you notice that such a wall switches in your sweeper every time, very basic prediction can instantly put you at an advantage. For example, if Omastar keeps switching in when you have Arcanine out, immediately switching to Electabuzz is a simple play, yet very effective. Even though they could just go to another wall, you can take the turn to paralyze something or do damage with Seismic Toss. As you can see, with all of this you reduce your opponent's options little by little which is in the best of your interests. Always remember that getting back HP is rare in this metagame; only Porygon gets Recover and most Pokémon cannot afford to use Rest, Omastar and Vaporeon being the exceptions. Mega Drain gives a bit of recovery. This is something to take into account because the damage you'll do will not be healed back.</p>
<p>Setting up to sweep will get through any walls, albeit it is hard to do and there's always the imminent danger of Critical Hits. Poliwrath and Golduck with Amnesia are more effective during the late game, so they need to be taken down before they get their chance to act. There isn't a safe way to do this because of their bulkiness and their Water typing, but consistent damage dealing shouldn't let them switch in easily. If worse comes to worse, relying on a Critical Hit to take them down isn't a pitiful choice; you will need a fast Electric type to increase your chances. Pinsir can also Swords Dance and there is little that you can do if it manages to set up, although it's not as hard to take down.</p>
<p>By now it's pretty clear that RBY UU is a game of basic walls and sweepers, mainly due to the lack of a lot of variety present in the standard metagame or any of the next generations. However, that makes the metagame both simple and enjoyable in its own way. Try it out if you have the chance, it's not hard at all to learn!</p>
