Intro to Random Battle Mayhem

By uppa. Released: 2024/05/24.
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Art by uppa

Art by uppa.

Whether you're a seasoned tournament veteran or a total novice, every Pokémon Showdown player is familiar with the platform's most popular format: Random Battles. The low barrier to entry and deceptively high skill ceiling make it the perfect format for players of all skill levels! For many of us, the appeal of RandBats persists for hundreds upon hundreds of games. If you're looking for something a bit different, though, there exists a fresh take on the format that cranks every element to the extreme. Allow me to introduce you to Random Battle Mayhem.

Random Battle Mayhem (abbreviated by the playerbase as “RandBtas”), combines the mods of Shared Power, Inverse, Scalemons, and Camomons to create an absurd meshing of interactions not found in any other format. All of these mods, sourced from various Other Metagame concepts as well as having precedent in the main series, are applied to the same team generation script as normal Random Battles, with level scaling and movesets remaining untouched. This deliberately incoherent mashup creates a metagame far exceeding the luck factor of regular RandBats. For players that thrive on the intersection of blind luck and skillful play, this format is a must-try. In this article, I'll go through each of the mods and evaluate how they distort the Random Battles you've known into something wholly unique.

Shared Power

Shared Power is a unique Other Metagame that allows abilities to be shared among each member of a team! For each party member sent onto the field, its base ability is added to a pool of abilities shared throughout the rest of the match. The format functions with a hefty list of bans and restrictions, with obviously overpowered abilities such as Huge Power and Shadow Tag being limited in one way or another. In defiance of the OM it originates from, RandBtas's version of the Shared Power mod operates with no restrictions at all! While this mechanic certainly makes each player's team composition more volatile, it provides a consistently entertaining luck factor to the format.

Stacking multiple offensively inclined abilities is an obvious win condition, with the likes of Adaptability and Tinted Lens offering significant potential for sweeping. The same can be said for defensive abilities, albeit to a lesser extent. The ability to stack Regenerator in particular with every team member can potentially stifle progression from the opponent. When paired with abilities such as Multiscale, Magic Bounce, and Magic Guard, the resulting defensive core can become nigh unbreakable. Immunity-granting abilities are also important to keep track of throughout the game, as they massively warp the defensive profile of a team. The well-distributed Levitate, in particular, also diminishes the value of every entry hazard aside from Stealth Rock. These synergies are important to establish early on, and leads are often decided by the value their abilities bring to their team. This creates a unique lead metagame, a concept that's fundamentally absent from normal Random Battles. While undoubtedly useful, this mechanic doesn't always result in perfect synergies. Many abilities will have a negligible impact on the game, and a select few will not be affected by the Shared Power mod at all. This occurs with Zoroark, Ditto, and Mimikyu specifically, cementing the three as more mid- or late-game threats. Pokémon such as Regigigas and Slaking have a hard time justifying their place on the field, as the negative effects their abilities bring can be a detriment to the rest of the team. This can further be taken advantage of by the opponent with phazing moves, and forcing in the odd Weak Armor user can sometimes be advantageous. Aside from these cases, nearly every Pokémon gets value out of this mechanic, and a few standouts listed below are exceptionally useful.

Gumshoos

Gumshoos consistently provides its team with one of two incredible offensive abilities. Its access to either Stakeout or Adaptability along with a Choice Band makes it a key offensive piece whenever it appears in a game. Other Pokémon like Basculegion and Mabosstiff may fill a similar role in the abilities they lend to a team, but Gumshoos's spammable options in Knock Off and Double-Edge make it overall superior in a vacuum.

Toxapex

There's a reason why Almost Any Ability and Shared Power both restrict spamming Regenerator across an entire team. While it's not an uncommon ability, Toxapex stands out as a particularly effective user of it. Its Toxic Spikes, Haze, and amazing longevity make it an incredible defensive asset in a format otherwise dominated by offense. Many viable Pokémon are able to pass Regenerator across a team, but Toxapex's innate qualities mesh more naturally with the defensive cores it helps create, setting it apart from other users like Mienshao and Klawf.

Inverse

Unlike the other mods in RandBtas, the Inverse ruleset actually has precedent in the main series of Pokémon games! While it's no longer in the games and currently lacks a ladder, it quite literally turns RandBtas on its head by reversing the effectiveness of all types. All resistances and immunities are turned into weaknesses, and vice versa. This creates a net increase of weaknesses, further reinforcing the effectiveness of offensive play. Types like Grass, Bug, and Fighting, usually resisted by multiple members of a team, find themselves hitting super effectively more often. In contrast, defensive types like Poison, Flying, and Steel become liabilities for their number of common weaknesses. Something worth noting is that abilities like Thick Fat and Sap Sipper retain their usual effect, making them extremely useful for patching up the weaknesses of teammates. Perhaps the biggest beneficiary of this mechanic is the Normal type, becoming completely unresisted while hitting three types super effectively. Normal-type attackers are valuable assets in this format, and due to their sheer abundance, they will be staple threats on a game-to-game basis.

Breloom

As stated above, typically poor offensive types are able to shine in this format. Breloom encapsulates this perfectly, with its Technician-boosted Bullet Seed becoming uncommonly powerful in this format. While Fighting can be lackluster as a complementary STAB type for Grass, it synergizes incredibly well in Inverse. With Swords Dance and Mach Punch, Breloom is able to cement itself as an all-in-one wallbreaker, sweeper, and revenge killer. Similar Pokémon like Gogoat, Chesnaught, and Torterra are also potent Grass-type setup sweepers, but Breloom distinguishes itself by being more immediately threatening and versatile overall.

Maushold

While already scary in normal Random Battles, Maushold becomes a nuclear wincon with an unresisted Population Bomb. Barring the possibility of Stamina or Rocky Helmet on the opposing side, few Pokémon are able to withstand such an onslaught. With RandBtas' addition of Team Preview, wincons become more obvious and lose the surprise factor that a Shell Smash or Quiver Dance user may hinge on. Despite this, Maushold remains a potent threat due to its immediate power, sometimes only needing to Terastallize in order to clean up the opposing team.

Scalemons

While regular Random Battles makes use of level scaling to even the playing field, the addition of the Scalemons mod accomplishes quite the opposite! In RandBtas, each Pokémon's base stat total is scaled proportionally to become as close to 600 as possible, with HP remaining unchanged. This compounds with the level scaling to create a much more drastic effect, harshly nerfing low-leveled box legendaries and boosting high-leveled Pokémon to stratospheric levels of power. Pokémon that take advantage of this mechanic will do so by either having min-maxed stats, a poor BST, or a high level. What happens when an already strong wallbreaker meets all three of these requirements? You get some of the most monstrous offensive threats in the metagame.

Rampardos

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While its STAB-boosted Head Smash is already one of the strongest moves on paper, its newly-buffed base 208 Attack grants it unparalleled damage output. Its decent coverage options and raw power make it an uncommonly great recipient of offensively inclined abilities. A Rampardos with Speed Boost, Rock Head, Adaptability, No Guard, or any other boon to its power can quickly take over a game. While Rampardos retains many of its weaknesses in RandBtas, notably a middling Speed tier of 73, its ability to effortlessly claim OHKOs and trade positively throughout a game make it a formidable asset in the format.

Sunflora

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Sporting one of the highest levels in Random Battles, Sunflora takes advantage of both its scaled BST and incredible STAB options to become terrifyingly powerful. As mentioned before, Grass is an incredible offensive type in the tier, and oftentimes a Choice Specs-boosted Leaf Storm can be impossible to deal with defensively. Sunflora also sports a Sunny Day set, but it is overall inferior to its wallbreaker set due to needing a turn to set up. Even with a scaled BST, Sunflora remains pitifully slow and relatively frail and may only find a few opportunities to show its worth in a match. Despite these shortcomings, a well-positioned Sunflora is still a force to be reckoned with and can easily force progress with its sheer power.

Arceus

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While normally a nuisance to deal with in regular Random Battles, here Arceus suffers in every regard. It sports a scaled-down stat spread, a low level, and an ability that both cannot be passed through Shared Power and overrides the effects of Camomons. Barring the potential of broken abilities being passed to it, Arceus makes an argument for being the most consistently useless Pokémon in the tier. While its role as a setup sweeper has many hurdles to overcome, its utility sets with Will-O-Wisp can still make a decent impact on a game. Outside of this, however, Arceus struggles to accomplish anything, with seemingly every mechanic of RandBtas working against it.

Camomons

Camomons adds yet another layer of unpredictability to the tier. This mod causes each Pokémon to change their typing to match their first two moveslots. Due to normal Random Battles sets not being designed around this mechanic, the impact of this mod isn't taken full advantage of, with Pokémon frequently matching their type to their own STAB moves. The true value of the mod comes from giving mono-typed Pokémon a second STAB option, greatly buffing the effectiveness of the aforementioned Sunflora, Gumshoos, and Rampardos. Camomons can also play into some unfortunate anti-synergies, such as a Poison-type Gliscor not being able to activate its Poison Heal ability! Another unfortunate interaction is the usage of Curse for setup sweepers such as Dondozo and Snorlax. If a user of Curse becomes a Ghost-type, it effectively loses its most crucial option and becomes far less effective.

Cinccino

Despite being a toned-down Maushold at first glance, this rodent's STAB options are improved dramatically thanks to the Camomons mod. An assortment of Grass-, Ice-, Rock-, and Normal-type options gives it incredible coverage when factoring in Inverse mechanics. This colorful array of attacks, including the monstrous Technician-boosted Triple Axel, allows Cinccino to cleave through teams on the merits of high Base Power alone. While it owes much of its success to the Inverse mod, Cinccino stands out as a prime example of a single-typed Pokémon having its offensive capability bolstered immensely by Camomons.

Comfey

Another beneficiary of the Grass type's power in Inverse, Comfey's role as a setup sweeper is aided massively by the potential of a few new STAB options. Due to Triage, a STAB Giga Drain becomes comparable in power to Extreme Speed and makes Comfey incredibly resource intensive to deal with, often beating revenge killers one-on-one. Since Comfey can run both Stored Power and Calm Mind, it's not uncommon for it to gain a Psychic typing, too. This allows it to more easily bowl over walls with its aforementioned Stored Power set, further demanding the opponent to deal with it before it snowballs out of control.

You now have an idea of what makes the tier tick. Great abilities, spammable moves, high-leveled Pokémon, and unpredictability. What happens when a Pokémon takes advantage of every mod in the tier, becoming a force so powerful that it causes apathetic forfeits during Team Preview? Enter Medicham.

Medicham

Behold, the highest-value Pokémon in the entire metagame. Medicham is nigh unstoppable, sporting powerful, potentially STAB-boosted options in Close Combat, Poison Jab, and Bullet Punch. With its poor stats being scaled up, Medicham gains access to a great Speed tier, solid bulk, and monstrous power. With either a Choice Band or Choice Scarf, it's nearly guaranteed to pull its weight as a wallbreaker. While undoubtedly powerful on its own, Medicham's true strength is passing Pure Power to every member of your team. This massively swings the match in your favor, creating scenarios where the opponent has no outs against your Pure Power-boosted onslaught. Medicham is emblematic of every interaction that makes Random Battle Mayhem so fun and engaging, utilizing both luck and skill. Random Battle Mayhem is available on the default Pokémon Showdown! client, and I implore you to try it out sometime! For RandBtas devotees, I suggest hanging out in the OM Mashups and Random Battles rooms on PS! to discuss the format and catch live tournaments!

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