Smogon Forums

I'd really appreciate the help. I just don't know how to get started. I know about EV training and breeding for IVs, but beyond that I get lost. Do you need to plan your team before breeding?

Yeah, that's usually smart so that you don't end up spending lots of time breeding something that isn't useful to your team. Have you gone on Pokemon Showdown yet? It's a smogon-affiliated battling simulator that lets you test out teams.

http://pokemonshowdown.com/

I've looked at it, but I haven't tried it out yet. I kept researching more and more about teams and it's a lot I'd need to think about. When I play through the story, I always go offensive and pick pokemon that would be effective against the next gym leader. So reading about defensive or support-types is new to me.

Yeah, it's definitely a different style of play than in-game. Do keep in mind, though, that all-offensive teams are still viable against human opponents! However, you still have to prepare for people who use equally viable teams with defensive and support Pokemon. My recommendation is to jump in and try stuff out, you learn more from experience than anything else.