Resource Simple Questions, Simple Answers Thread (read the op before posting a thread)

[onlyheretocomplain]

How did Mega Latios go from being unranked and blacklisted in ORAS to being better than regular form Latios in Gen 7?

 

[MultiAmmiratore]

How did Mega Latios go from being unranked and blacklisted in ORAS to being better than regular form Latios in Gen 7?

Mega Latios raised in Popularity thanks to its ability to lure and cripple common switchins like Heatran, Tyranitar and Magearna thanks to EQ making him a great partner for blacephalon

 

[onlyheretocomplain]

Regular form Latios can do the same thing with Life Orb and 40 Attack EVs. I guess what I'm asking is whether the lack of competing Megas made that much of a difference.

 

[MANNAT]

How did Mega Latios go from being unranked and blacklisted in ORAS to being better than regular form Latios in Gen 7?

Megas being much less obligatory on teams + increased power + increased bulk with Earthquake makes it an effective lure for Heatran, Tyranitar, andd Magearna for teammates that can switch into Heatran and bulky enough to make risking Pursuit games worth it in select scenarios vs Tyranitar. If you don't have a mega and need a lure for one of the aforementioned mons, then there's frankly no reason to not use it. Personally, I think that Scarf Latios is still the best of any Latios set due to the role compression it provides (even tho getting trapped by ttar and giving free switch ins to half the tier is poopdick in a lot of mus), but I can definitely see the appeal of Mega Latios.

 

[Aleksandir]

By this I'm assuming you mean tapus, and by extension magearna and kartana. All are used quite commonly in OU, as well as other formats which are foreign to usual smogon tiering, such as VGC, Battlespot and so on. Note that mythical pokemon such as magearna(though none of the tapus nor Ultra Beasts) are banned from VGC, and by extension Battle Spot. You can find the rules for VGC 2018 as well as the rules for Battle Spot here and here. I will also link the smogon usage stats, as well as the current thread for the usage based tier updates, as these are an index of usage for each tier/format you wish to seek, which will give you the ability to find how often a pokemon is usually used in a specific tier, as well as the movesets/ev spreads and teammates of these pokemon. Note that these usage stats are usually updated a few days after the start of each month, and reflects the last month's usage.

I personally can't speak from cartridge play but obviously since most of the UBs and all of the tapus are in general very good pokemon you're bound to see them quite often.



Many huge staples in the current metagame are either legendaries, tapus, Ultra Beasts or toxapex as you mentioned, so more than likely you won't be able to create a good team. It is generally frowned upon by the community(or at least isn't supported) to restrict your teambuilding by barring yourself off the usage of legendaries, tapus etc. as again, most staples in the current metagame are one of the aforementioned legenadries/tapus/UBs. Your best bet is to try finding QR codes of teams which have Mega-Zard-X and use those teams if you plan to play on cartridge, or possibly gen these pokemon if you have the means to. If not, you can try the wifi room in the hopes of asking for some already bred pokemon, although they will not be able to assist you with genning pokemon, as PS! in general does not allow hacking discussion. You can always play on PS!, or rather play.pokemonshowdown.com, which is the main server in which people will find battles and ladder.



As already stated, play.pokemonshowdown.com is the main website in which users will find battles and/or chat in several chat rooms. Here is the link to The Beginner's Guide to Pokemon Showdown!, which should answer all your questions in regards to how online battling works.

To put simply, Smogon is a separate entity from the main pokemon company, meaning that the Pokemon Company does not directly abide by smogon's tiering system, and it has its own other formats such as VGC and Battle Spot. Smogon however has its own tiering system, which you are NOT forced to abide by, but generally is played by more users. You can check out the subforums for all of smogon's main metagames here, as well as the subforum for all of the cartridge formats here. Since this is the OU forum, I will link some of the main threads which will be able to give you a better understanding towards the tier.

OU Forums Rules
Sample Teams Thread
VR Thread as well as the Sets VR Thread
Speed Tiers
Cores Thread
Role Compedium
Underrated/Creative Sets
PDC gives good pokemon advice thread

There is also the tiering policy framework thread which goes into depth on tiering policy, as well as the tiering FAQ which goes in depth on how/why tiering works.



You can check the Samples Teams thread linked above for future updates that could incorporate Zard-X teams, but as of right now, there aren't any in there. You can also check out the teambuiding workshop for OU here, where you can request for a team to be built around Zard-X, although the builders will not bar themselves off from using any UBs/Legends/Tapus. There is also a team with Zard-X which I will link here, which also incorporates Specs Tapu Koko and other pokemon. You can also check the official smogon analysis for Mega-Charizard-X here, which should detail what pokemon best pair with it, along with its checks and counters.

This should cover all of your questions, but feel free to ask more in this thread, on the official discord for OU, or even in the Overused Room on PS!

Thanks! I appreciate all the effort in your post.

Looks like i better start liking tapus if i don't want to be a pushover.

 

[Heldinho]

I would like to know what you take into account when building a team, and what factors should I take into account to make a solid team

 

[Deleted User 400951]

I would like to know what you take into account when building a team, and what factors should I take into account to make a solid team

that really depends on team building style, type of team you're aiming for and a lot of other things. In general tho you want to be able to answer the most amount of threats possible while still keeping a clear ability to actually win, which is mostly done by set up. At least that's the style I've seen most people use.

 

[Altervisi]

I would like to know what you take into account when building a team, and what factors should I take into account to make a solid team

Unfortunately there is no simple answer to this question. My idea is usually to look at the viability rankings and try and beat as many of those pokemon with my team as possible, starting from the top. Then build to try and overcome as many playstyles as possible, namely Hyper and Bulky Offense, Stall and you can try to beat the less common ones like Rain, Webs, Veil and Trick Room. It's impossible to cover everything of course. The best way to learn how to build is to frequent the Rate My Team thread to see how high-level builders do it and to apply these prinicples yourself. Rating and analysing other's teams also helps contribute to forums and to train yourself to see strengths and weaknesses in team compositions, you'll also see what Pokemon and sets synergise well, which is essential.

However, I am a shit builder so take my advice with a grain of salt lol.

VR
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/usum-ou-ultra-viability-ranking-thread.3621329/
RMT
http://www.smogon.com/forums/forums/sm-ou-teams.409/

Though out-dated, I really like this resources for the sort of roles common archetypes incorporate
http://www.smogon.com/smog/issue28/teambuilding/
You can then see what Pokemon match these roles through this link
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/usum-ou-role-compendium.3591882/

This Reddit thread is great for building Bulky Offense and is much more up to date.

 

[Aleksandir]

Do you guys think GyaraVire will be viable in the sinnoh classic?

I used to run a tauntdos lead back in gen 4 with ddance and ice fang/eq and waterfall. It was ev to bulky and could really take a hit and get off 2 dragon dances and often swept by itself or drew out an electric for electivire with expert belt and ice punch, thunderpunch, brick break and eq.....

Thoughts? I probably will be running it. What should be the third? Was thinking mixape.

 

[Red Metal]

This isn't really the place to be asking questions about in-game formats. If you want to talk about Battle Spot, you'll want to go over here.

 

[Colonel M]

Do you guys think GyaraVire will be viable in the sinnoh classic?

I used to run a tauntdos lead back in gen 4 with ddance and ice fang/eq and waterfall. It was ev to bulky and could really take a hit and get off 2 dragon dances and often swept by itself or drew out an electric for electivire with expert belt and ice punch, thunderpunch, brick break and eq.....

Thoughts? I probably will be running it. What should be the third? Was thinking mixape.

Under normal circumstances I would also reroute you to the OldGen forums, but considering that I know much of what you're speaking of...

...I highly suggest looking over some of the resources in old gens before proceeding. Gyaravire has and always will be a gimmick that, at worst, catches a player off-guard but many teams have Choice Scarf users such as Flygon, pack Swampert on their team, stall variations have Hippo, or may have both Flygon and Pert. Furthermore, Rotom-A takes little from a lot of Electivire's attacks - especially a more physically-based set.

There are so many better Pokemon that a team can use than Electivire of all bloody things.

 

[Scuba Diver]

Any word on upcoming suspect tests? It just feels like OU evolves at a glacial pace compared to the other tiers.

 

[Jordy]

Any word on upcoming suspect tests? It just feels like OU evolves at a glacial pace compared to the other tiers.

Well, to be quite honest, there isn't anything that's necessarily broken in OU right now, outside of, possibly, Toxapex, which is the definition of unhealthy so I wouldn't mind banning it. But to directly answer ur question, no there hasn't been any word on an upcoming suspect test.

 

[Leo]

Any word on upcoming suspect tests? It just feels like OU evolves at a glacial pace compared to the other tiers.

You cant compare OU tiering with other tiers' and call it "slow" when we use an entirely different system. Tiers like UU adopted the kokoloko system a while ago which is the reason they constantly suspect stuff down while also doing the usual suspects. If you want to know more about UU's and other lower tiers' tiering policy you can check their subforums, here's a link explaining the UU tiering policy and the rest of the lower tiers follow it for the most part so it should be enough. Basically you have to understand that things are different in ou to avoid jumping into conclussions like "the council's too slow" or "other tiers are constantly changing yet ou isn't so the tier's stale because the council doesn't want to suspect anything" etc

 

[Siggu]

OU is in such a calm state right now I'd even say it's worth suspecting Landorus-T just to prove beyond any kind of doubt that it's not too powerful or overcentralizing for the tier (because it's obviously not going to be banned, but it's just to prove detractors why).

But as of now, things seem to be perfectly fine.

 

[Kamen Galaxy]

OU is in such a calm state right now I'd even say it's worth suspecting Landorus-T just to prove beyond any kind of doubt that it's not too powerful or overcentralizing for the tier (because it's obviously not going to be banned, but it's just to prove detractors why).

But as of now, things seem to be perfectly fine.

If that happens, I'd fully support it being suspected. I wouldn't pick a side, but I'd agree with whatever side that won. If it gets banned, it would stop complaining. If it didn't get banned, it would be pretty formal as to how it ain't banned. Either way, people shut up. A suspect might stop all the nagging about "le 52%."

 

[Colonel M]

For the love of God, stop discussing what to suspect and what not to suspect in the Simple Questions and Simple Answers thread.

 

[Meliodafu7]

someone have a EV spread for AV amoonguss?

 

[power]

someone have a EV spread for AV amoonguss?

EVs: 248 HP / 100 Def / 160 SpD
Sassy Nature

lives +2 Knock off from Kartana after Stealth Rock

 

[wisdom dog]

Is there a place to find OU usage stats that includes stuff such as items, moves, or even natures? I’ve seen a command on PS that shows like the top 5 moves, but i’m looking more for something that has the depth of the online battle spot stats.

 

[Leo]

Is there a place to find OU usage stats that includes stuff such as items, moves, or even natures? I’ve seen a command on PS that shows like the top 5 moves, but i’m looking more for something that has the depth of the online battle spot stats.

http://www.smogon.com/stats/ here's pretty much all you can ask for; moves, items, sets, etc

 

[Colonel M]

Is there a place to find OU usage stats that includes stuff such as items, moves, or even natures? I’ve seen a command on PS that shows like the top 5 moves, but i’m looking more for something that has the depth of the online battle spot stats.

More specifically, here.

 

[wisdom dog]

More specifically, here.

Thanks jabroni

 

[Doug the Duggo]

How many Special Defense EVs does Kartana (full health) need to survive an Ice Beam from Protean Greninja?

Or how many HP EVs if you don't want to add Special Defense.

 

[MultiAmmiratore]

How many Special Defense EVs does Kartana (full health) need to survive an Ice Beam from Protean Greninja?

Or how many HP EVs if you don't want to add Special Defense.

If u mean full sp.atk Protean ninja it needs 150 Evs in Spdef
252 SpA Protean Greninja Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 150 SpD Kartana: 219-258 (84.5 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
or if it is with 80 sp.atk evs (usually enough for Killing kartana) 72 Sp.Def or 192 HP are needed
80 SpA Protean Greninja Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 72 SpD Kartana: 219-258 (84.5 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
80 SpA Protean Greninja Ice Beam vs. 192 HP / 0 SpD Kartana: 259-306 (84.3 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO