All Gens Ask a Simple Question, Get a Simple Answer Mark II (RoA edition)

On a gen 4 hazard stacking offense team, would Roserade be a decent Spikes setter?
I would say yes. I've seen it (and even used it myself a little bit) used successfully quite a bit. The ability to put something to sleep aids in setting up hazards and you can even set/absorb toxic spikes too. Hazard stack is one of my more favorite playstyles in Gen 4 and Roserade is definitely a solid poke
 

dwarfstar

mindless philosopher
I would say yes. I've seen it (and even used it myself a little bit) used successfully quite a bit. The ability to put something to sleep aids in setting up hazards and you can even set/absorb toxic spikes too. Hazard stack is one of my more favorite playstyles in Gen 4 and Roserade is definitely a solid poke
Keep in mind Sleep Powder and Spikes can't be used together prior to XY because of the old egg move mechanics (no potential fathers in either of Roserade's egg groups could get those two moves together, so it has to choose between Spikes and Sleep Powder). What you said does hold as far as sleep making it easier to set Toxic Spikes, but you'll have to find a different fourth move if you want to use Roserade as a Spiker.
woofmasterarf
 
Why is there no gen 1 UU, gen 2 UU, gen 3 UU/NU and gen 4 UU/NU ladders?
I know everyone might not be interested in them, but in my opinion it's not good enough of a reason, some others might be very interested in those and might want to play them.
Each additional ladder is using server resources, as well as extending the already large format list. They also further split up past gens' relatively small playerbase, making it take even longer to find battles. The goal of the RoA Rotational Ladder is to alleviate those issues while still giving less popular and experimental old gens formats some extra spotlight. Out of the ones you mentioned, DPP UU does have a regular ladder and the others have all been featured as rotationals in the past year.
 
Best nature for arcanine, i have an adamant one is that good? Is he to be used as a physical sweeper? How about jolly or impish, or calm? Or are all of these good, with their own strenths and weaknesses?
 
Best nature for arcanine, i have an adamant one is that good? Is he to be used as a physical sweeper? How about jolly or impish, or calm? Or are all of these good, with their own strenths and weaknesses?
It depends on the type of Arcanine you want to run and the generation you're using it for. Offensive Arcanines typically run Adamant or Jolly (with Choice Band or sometimes Leftovers or Life Orb - gen 4+), whereas more defensive Arcanines either Impish / Bold (physically defensive) or Careful (specially defensive). Arcanine functions well as a defensive poke thanks to Intimidate and useful utility moves like Will-O-Wisp, Toxic and Morning Sun, but it can also go more offensive thanks to moves like Flare Blitz, Extreme Speed and Wild Charge in Gen 5+ (my fav Gen 4 UU Arcanine runs Flare Blitz / Espeed / Morning Sun / Toxic with Life Orb or Leftovers for reference); it's just up to you!
 
ah i see! thanks a lot, that answer was rlly helpful, i have two more questions about two more pokemon tho, if thats ok
For roserade, I have a calm one, is it still good? is modest timid good too? what should i run her as if i go calm?
and for salamence, I have a naive one, is that one good too?
 
ah i see! thanks a lot, that answer was rlly helpful, i have two more questions about two more pokemon tho, if thats ok
For roserade, I have a calm one, is it still good? is modest timid good too? what should i run her as if i go calm?
and for salamence, I have a naive one, is that one good too?
Yes Calm Roserade is pretty good (usually seen as a specially defensive spike setter), and Timid Roserade is more offensive (either for a fast sleeper or offensive hazard setter in Gen 6). Modest Roserade isn't seen too much because the extra speed is useful to outrun stuff, but Modest can work I suppose. If you're talking about Gen 6, Calm Roserade usually runs Synthesis, Spikes (or Toxic Spikes), Sleep Powder and either Giga Drain or Sludge Bomb (I don't know what gen you're referring to, but Spikes + Sleep Powder is illegal prior to Gen 6 so older Calm Roserades typically skip Sleep Powder for either both Giga Drain and Sludge Bomb or both types of Spikes)

Naive Salamence are really good mixed attackers so yeah that is fine. For reference, they typically run Outrage, Fire Blast, Earthquake and one other move depending on your item choice (Dragon Claw with Choice Scarf, Dragon Dance with Lum Berry and either Dragon Dance or Draco Meteor with Life Orb)

Again, this all depends on the generation and tier you're playing (which is unclear from your posts) and the kind of poke you want. Hope all this helps!
 
Agility + Fire Spin is its best role. Fire Blast is the preferred STAB for its 30% burn chance and high BP. Hyper Beam usually rounds the set off. Flamethrower and Double-Edge are weaker but less risky alternatives for those last slots, but Moltres generally wants the extra punch of FB and HB.

Moltres
- Agility
- Fire Spin
- Fire Blast
- Hyper Beam
Oddly enough, Moltres does not learn Flamethrower in RBY, and it is not a TM. So in pure RBY Moltres cannot get Flamethrower. You can get it in GSC though and trade it back...
 
Don't they usually have divide the ladder into four parts and have different statistics for each part? Where are the statistics for the other three parts?
delete the last part of the slash (gen1nobig4ou-0.txt), so that it only has the month and year part. Then you should be able to see the -0, -1500, -1630, and -1760 sections individually, as well as all other stats from January 2017
 
I recently returned from a long hiatus and I'm noticing a ton of Uxie leads in DPP. Did anything change in the metagame or did people simply re-discover Uxie?
 
| 1 | Alakazam | 96.68352% | 594 | 60.612% | 482 | 65.937% |
| 2 | Golem | 90.18211% | 383 | 39.082% | 293 | 40.082% |
| 3 | Starmie | 88.07458% | 404 | 41.224% | 328 | 44.870% |
| 4 | Zapdos | 70.65367% | 350 | 35.714% | 246 | 33.653% |
So in Generation 1, whenever someone tries to ban the big four, its only result is the creation of a new big four? Is it, like, impossible to create a balanced Generation 1 format?
 
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| 1 | Alakazam | 96.68352% | 594 | 60.612% | 482 | 65.937% |
| 2 | Golem | 90.18211% | 383 | 39.082% | 293 | 40.082% |
| 3 | Starmie | 88.07458% | 404 | 41.224% | 328 | 44.870% |
| 4 | Zapdos | 70.65367% | 350 | 35.714% | 246 | 33.653% |
So in Generation 1, whenever someone tries to ban the big four, its only result is the creation of a new big four? Is it, like, impossible to create a balanced Generation 1 format?
Those are the 1760 stats of a ladder that saw 490 battles all month, so not the best indicator of what the metagame really looks like...

As for the actual question, any format will centralize around its top threats. In RBY, it's just a lot more pronounced because there's a noticeably smaller selection of Pokemon with usually shallow movepools. That said, a format can still be centralized and balanced. Nothing's really broken in RBY OU, for instance, and a normal competitive team will be prepared to handle anything the tier could throw at it. Compared to later gens where team matchups can essentially dictate a win before the game even begins, RBY's arguably more balanced.
 

Mr.E

unban me from Discord
is a Two-Time Past SPL Champion
RBY has like... 20 viable mons if you use a relatively loose definition of the word. It's sort of a consequence of there being 150 mons instead of 800. The imbalance in that aspect of the game doesn't make the battle part imbalanced, though. 'Tis why some of us prefer the older gens...

It's like how chess is a cool game even though every "team" consists of the exact same pieces in the exact same starting configuration every single time. How you maneuver those pieces is just as important as the pieces you have, but ultimately being a means to entertain one's self some people prefer having a wider variety of pieces to choose from.
 
So in Generation 1, whenever someone tries to ban the big four, its only result is the creation of a new big four? Is it, like, impossible to create a balanced Generation 1 format?
As others have said, this is pretty much the case. The only possible way to create a "balanced" format would be to handpick a list of allowed pokemon such that no one of them is completely dominant. If you're working with a system such as the tiering systems found on smogon and pokemon perfect it's not realistically going to occur. PP's 3U is imo the closest to what I think you've got in mind as it's difficult to make accurate assumptions of any teamslots outside of the two S rank mons of the tier and I guess the presence of a Water type of some sort.
 

Oglemi

Borf
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I recently returned from a long hiatus and I'm noticing a ton of Uxie leads in DPP. Did anything change in the metagame or did people simply re-discover Uxie?
More of a rediscover and an increase in bulky leads and twave in the tier in general, uxie itself also doesn't have any complete loss lead matchups which is a draw.
 
If a Pokemon with sand veil, snow cloak, or ice body is active in Generation 4's acid rain, then how much damage will it take per turn?
 
I recently returned from a long hiatus and I'm noticing a ton of Uxie leads in DPP. Did anything change in the metagame or did people simply re-discover Uxie?
Reliable stealth rock user. Doesn't lose to Machamp and it checks Breloom/Infernape.

.........

Does anyone know why Clefable isn't working in Gen 4 anymore? I keep getting the message "Clefable has moves incompatible with it's ability"

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Knock Off
- Seismic Toss
- Soft-Boiled
 
Does anyone know why Clefable isn't working in Gen 4 anymore? I keep getting the message "Clefable has moves incompatible with it's ability"

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Knock Off
- Seismic Toss
- Soft-Boiled
Don't have the answer but I wanted to say that I've also been experiencing the same issue for a few days now, so it's not just you that's having that problem with Clefable.
 

Oglemi

Borf
is a Top Contributoris a Tournament Director Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Researcher Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnusis a Top Dedicated Tournament Host Alumnus
Reliable stealth rock user. Doesn't lose to Machamp and it checks Breloom/Infernape.

.........

Does anyone know why Clefable isn't working in Gen 4 anymore? I keep getting the message "Clefable has moves incompatible with it's ability"

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Knock Off
- Seismic Toss
- Soft-Boiled
I'm going to assume it's confusion on the compatibility of magic guard and soft boiled. Iirc it's possible to happen because cleffa has a chance to change abilities when it evolves or some shit like that but i'm not sure. Either that or you can breed softboiled onto it but idr.
 
I'm going to assume it's confusion on the compatibility of magic guard and soft boiled. Iirc it's possible to happen because cleffa has a chance to change abilities when it evolves or some shit like that but i'm not sure. Either that or you can breed softboiled onto it but idr.
It is not softboiled, all moves appear to be incompatible with magic guard at the moment.
 
It is not softboiled, all moves appear to be incompatible with magic guard at the moment.
It could also be a problem with seismic toss, as seismic toss also requires a Generation 3 move tutor. Even then, it shouldn't be a problem, because Clefairy can be taught seismic toss and softboiled in Generation 3, transferred to Generation 4, and evolved. This should have a 1/2 chance to result in a Clefable with magic guard, seismic toss, and softboiled.
 

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