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

[christopher_ 1942]

Most important question: Why are you asking here instead of asking the current generation OU's council members? Smogon OU is a game, and games are played for fun. If you think Landorus is not fun, then nobody is stopping you from finding other people and agreeing with them to ban Landorus. Smogon Forums will let you host your own Landorus-banning tournament if you want (and if you read the tournament hosting rules). But OU can ban Landorus only if a majority of players think Landorus is not fun. Do you think that majority exists? This is wrong. In December, 64% of people who didn't suck also didn't use Landorus. I'm not really sure what's the difference between "centralizing" and "broken" or why so many people think Landorus isn't "broken". You can probably answer your questions by asking OU council members, reading the tiering policy, and playing a lot of USUM OU.

Okay, I see. Well thanks for answering my question. Just wanted to get it off my chest after seeing so many user comments despising Landorus' return.

 

[Dinosaur_Ryusaki]

Next week tier for DPP Thursday there will be RU, but RU didn't exist before BW, did it?
If it really does, could someone give me article or link where we can get more infos about that tier?
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/roa-tour-nights.3615570/page-63#post-8337017

 

[JinLong88]

EDIT: I just realized the team I faced with this core was a Sample Team. I'll expand my request to please share with me a team that's not in the sample teams that would be good against this. Alternatively, I could use a suggestion on a not-super-common core instead of a full team.

Hi, for Gen3 OU, would someone please share with me a team that does pretty well vs Suicune+Heracross+Magneton?

Thanks

I think these are their sets that I encountered and lost to pretty hard:

Hide

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 192 SpA / 64 Spe
Modest Nature
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam

Heracross @ Leftovers
Ability: Guts
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Megahorn
- Focus Punch
- Rock Slide

Magneton @ Magnet
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 24 HP / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Toxic
- Thunder Wave

 

[asdasd123]

Hi, I have two questions about sleep in gen 1. I know it lasts 1-7 turns, but is this reset when switching out? My second question is what is the chance of waking up i.e. is it a 50% chance to wake up? Thanks!

 

[FriendOfMrGolem120]

The sleep counter is not reset when switching out.
For the second answer I am not 100% sure but I believe the chance to wake up is evenly distubuted (at least on Showdown, there might be minor differences in the initial games due to the way random numbers are generated there).
This means there should be a ~14,3 chance that your mon gets any number of turns to sleep.

 

[asdasd123]

The sleep counter is not reset when switching out.
For the second answer I am not 100% sure but I believe the chance to wake up is evenly distubuted (at least on Showdown, there might be minor differences in the initial games due to the way random numbers are generated there).
This means there should be a ~14,3 chance that your mon gets any number of turns to sleep.

Thanks - just to clarify, does that mean that my pokemon will always wake up after 7 turns? Even if I switch out?

 

[FriendOfMrGolem120]

Yes. Switching has no impact on the duration of the sleep.

 

[Olliert]

In fire emblem games there's something called a "2 RN" rng system which basically means that an attack might say it has 60% accuracy but in reality it will hit more than 60% of the time. I was wondering if there's anything like that in any of the pokemon games, e.g. does jirachi's iron head actually flinch like 84% of the time in dpp?

Edit: Thanks Ruft

 

[Ruft]

In fire emblem games there's something called a "2 RN" rng system which basically means that an attack might say it has 60% accuracy but in reality it will hit more than 60% of the time. I was wondering if there's anything like that in any of the pokemon games, e.g. does jirachi's iron head actually flinch like 84% of the time in dpp?

Nope, all accuracy checks and secondary effect percentages and such are exactly as described. The odds of Jirachi's Iron Head flinching are exactly 60% (due to Serene Grace) in normal circumstances.

 

[Golden Gyarados]

In fire emblem games there's something called a "2 RN" rng system which basically means that an attack might say it has 60% accuracy but in reality it will hit more than 60% of the time. I was wondering if there's anything like that in any of the pokemon games, e.g. does jirachi's iron head actually flinch like 84% of the time in dpp?

Edit: Thanks Ruft

It depends on the generation and if we're talking in-game vs link battle. In Gen 1, all attacks except Swift have an additional 1/256 chance to miss - so a 100% accurate move is technically less than 100%. Additionally, in Gen 1 and 2, in-game only, stat-lowering moves and poison/sleep-inducing moves have an additional 25% chance to miss when used by a non-link battle enemy (AI trainers or wild Pokemon).

I don't know about other generations beyond 1 and 2.

 

[Sevi 7]

Three things:

First, is there any consideration for any suspect test at all in gen 1 UU?

Second, are the RBY analysis going to stay how they are, and if not is there a place to discuss their updates?

Finally, can someone better than me explain the value of Surf on Starmie? I kind of get it in theory, but I haven't seen it really accomplish anything in practice.

I hope everyone's having a good day.

 

[FriendOfMrGolem120]

1. There are no concrete plans to do a suspect test as far as I know but I can't rule that possibility out entirely.
2. The analysis are getting updated here. Keep in mind that we keep our focus on the mons that are frequently used in OU and fixing inaccurate analysis for mons like Raichu (just an example, I haven't looked at that analysis) wouldn't be high on our priority list. There is also a discord server linked where we discuss these analysis and potential updates for them.
3. Surf is the best way for Starmie to fight a lead Alakazam in the 1v1 (since both could at worst case just switch out after special drops from Psychic from the opponent). Surf is a clean 4HKO and unlikely the Seismic Toss from Zam, it also can crit. Less important but still useful, Surf is also good in the Jynx matchup, doing way more than the other common attacks on Starmie (Psychic, Thunderbolt, Blizzard). Addtionally, it is also a very strong move against physical attackers like Snorlax and Tauros (Rest Snorlax usually doesn't have issues stalling out a Thunderbolt+Blizzard Starmie but would struggle against Surf or Psychic variants. Here's the link to the newly written Starmie analysis which is still in the grammer checking process.

 

[asdasd123]

If you get a critical hit with clamp/wrap etc. on pokemon A and then switch to pokemon B, then back to pokemon A, will clamp/wrap still be a crit on pokemon A?

 

[FriendOfMrGolem120]

No, the crit damage would only last if a player stays in. The chance that A gets crit a second time is just as likely as critting a third mon C.

 

[Taliheim]

I have some questions about the DPP metagame that I'm not sure if they count as "simple", but this seems like the best place to put them regardless.

What's the full list of Sleep Talk users that can be used to absorb sleep from loom/rose? I already know of latias, heracross, and the ghosts, but are there any other Pokemon that viably do it?
How do modern stall teams differentiate themselves from older stall teams? I know a general list of "clef, knock off, protect, spinless spike-immune stacking", but how does it utilize them? Knock Off and Protect especially seem to lower their overall matchup effectiveness. How much do they usually factor sand immunities or rocks resists, in the scope of residual damage? How do the Pokemon that run knock and/or protect deal with the Pokemon they're "supposed" to deal with, without the extra slot? Or are the added with the knowledge that that would be the case, and the rest of the team is built to cover that? If that's the case, how do those teams manage to cover everything and avoid having too much pressure being put on one or two Pokemon, especially if there are several knock/protect users? Since from my experience, those moves are usually used to make things easier to deal with (tecting on a choice user for a guaranteed good option next turn, knocking off lefties to wear it down easier, or emp knocking rotom's specs to give their special wall more breathing room when switching into it), rather than being used to straight-up wall or out-trade opposing mons.
Every single professionally-used team I've seen has had at least one steel being used, is this a hard rule that people tend to follow as quality control, or is it just "coincidence" with the builders only looking for qualities without any bias towards any typing, and the steels always find a way in? If it's the latter, if a team opts for non-steel Dragon switchins like ttar/blissey for specstias or uxie/cune/hippo for dnite/flygon/kingdra, is it theoretically entirely possible for a team to be not only viable but optimal without having any steels? I'm interested since I don't believe I've ever seen a team where that's the case so far.
The smogdex's entry for Rotom-A does an absolutely atrocious job at giving ways to deal with it that aren't called tyranitar or blissey, with the rise in defensive and wisp rotoms I'm having a difficult time finding options on my own that aren't just faster wallbreakers. What are the pokemon/strategies people tend to use to deal with it currently?

 

[DSM01]

What's the full list of Sleep Talk users that can be used to absorb sleep from loom/rose? I already know of latias, heracross, and the ghosts, but are there any other Pokemon that viably do it?

CB Nite

The smogdex's entry for Rotom-A does an absolutely atrocious job at giving ways to deal with it that aren't called tyranitar or blissey, with the rise in defensive and wisp rotoms I'm having a difficult time finding options on my own that aren't just faster wallbreakers. What are the pokemon/strategies people tend to use to deal with it currently?

Clefable, Heatran, Grass types

Every single professionally-used team I've seen has had at least one steel being used, is this a hard rule that people tend to follow as quality control, or is it just "coincidence" with the builders only looking for qualities without any bias towards any typing, and the steels always find a way in? If it's the latter, if a team opts for non-steel Dragon switchins like ttar/blissey for specstias or uxie/cune/hippo for dnite/flygon/kingdra, is it theoretically entirely possible for a team to be not only viable but optimal without having any steels? I'm interested since I don't believe I've ever seen a team where that's the case so far.

I don't think there's any unwritten rule about using Steels, but they tend to find their way onto teams thanks to their natural bulk and numerous resistances. Consider no water resist teams, which can succeed in a metagame with big threats like Gyara, Swampert, Kingdra, etc. despite not resisting their STAB. Hyper offense teams in particular can get away with using no Steels since they're not as concerned with being able to tank repeated Dracos. For example, Passho Pursuit Tar + Scarf HP Ice Rotom provides a quick n dirty way for a bulky offense team to loosely check Latias, special Rain Dance Kingdra, Scarfgon, and DD nite without using Steels or resorting to incredibly fat mons like Blissey and Hippo. That being said, I think you would be hard-pressed to find a defensive or even balanced team that didn't have at least one Steel on it.

 

[asdasd123]

Hi, I have two questions:

1. If swords dance increases attack does this affect all physical moves, such as earthquake, drill peck etc.?

2. What does the attack stat actually do? I know you want it to be as high as possible, but how does having higher attack = more damage? How do the attack/defence stats interact?

Thanks

 

[sumwun]

Hi, I have two questions:

1. If swords dance increases attack does this affect all physical moves, such as earthquake, drill peck etc.?

2. What does the attack stat actually do? I know you want it to be as high as possible, but how does having higher attack = more damage? How do the attack/defence stats interact?

Thanks

Swords dance boosts most physical moves, including earthquake and drill peck. A few attacks, like seismic toss or guillotine, deal "direct damage" and aren't affected by any attack stats or swords dance. Unaware also makes its user unaffected by other Pokemon's swords dances. Damage is usually proportional to the attack stat (so doubling attack will roughly double damage). You can read more details about damage in this article.

 

[シタビラメのダニエル]

I discovered at GEN4 that Helpinghand increases the power of futuresight by a factor of 2.25 instead of 1.5. Does this Calculation also occur in GEN3?

version:Perl(Japanese)
Attack:ナマズン（レベル51、特攻86）Whiscash level 51、Special Attack 86
Defense:サワムラー（特防130）Hitmonlee Special Defense 130
Move:「みらいよち」Futuresight
→23damage

Attack:ナマズン（レベル51、特攻86）&Helpinghand
Defense:サワムラー（特防130）
Move:「みらいよち」
→45、49、51、52、54damage

 

[asdasd123]

Is there a way to find out what days/times most people are playing a specific gen? For example I'd like to know on average when most people are playing gen 1 (I'm guessing it would be a Monday?). This would be really useful because I often spend ages waiting for a battle when no one else is playing!

 

[Agent Gibbs]

Recently, I’ve thought about playing a little casually, mostly likely either DPP OU (where I started playing competitively) or BW OU (where I was most active as a player) for nostalgia. Can anyone give me a quick idea of what shape these metagames are in and how active they are? I know they’ve both seen some changes since I was last active (i.e. Latias in DPP OU and sleep moves banned from BW OU), but I wasn’t sure exactly how much they’ve developed in that time.

And on a similar note, is there a Discord for one or both of these two?

 

[asdasd123]

I have a question regarding Counter in gen 1. I'm totally confused about this move, and once I think I understand it...I don't. For example:

1. I've seen counter work twice in a row (once following an normal type attack, then again following a switch) - how does this work and how is it calculated?

2. Can you 'counter' a move made by your own team/pokemon?

3. If a pokemon uses counter following a move like Thunder Wave, does it work? Or does Thunder Wave nullify the counter? The smogon page says "Fails if the last move used by either side did 0 damage and was not...Thunder Wave", suggesting counter would still work following thunder wave.

 

[DSM01]

Recently, I’ve thought about playing a little casually, mostly likely either DPP OU (where I started playing competitively) or BW OU (where I was most active as a player) for nostalgia. Can anyone give me a quick idea of what shape these metagames are in and how active they are? I know they’ve both seen some changes since I was last active (i.e. Latias in DPP OU and sleep moves banned from BW OU), but I wasn’t sure exactly how much they’ve developed in that time.

And on a similar note, is there a Discord for one or both of these two?

From the last time this question was asked:

Some DPP changes off the top of my head: Clefable has replaced Blissey on a lot of teams, people discovered that Nidoqueen is good, and Skarm-Nido-Clef TSS is a common stall core. Scizor has really fallen out of favor and Lucario isn’t as deadly as it used to be, either. Latias was reintroduced and fits nicely into the meta. Swamperts are now primarily offensive instead of defensive. Breloom is as terrifying as ever and usually runs Superpower + Mach Punch. Ttar and Heatran both run Passho a lot, which makes Starmie’s job harder. I’m sure there are a few other things that I forgot but those are some big ones.

As for how active it is, for casual play the DPP ladder is active enough. There's a lot of scrubs but also a good number of really decent guys that play pretty regularly.

I have a question regarding Counter in gen 1. I'm totally confused about this move, and once I think I understand it...I don't. For example:

1. I've seen counter work twice in a row (once following an normal type attack, then again following a switch) - how does this work and how is it calculated?

2. Can you 'counter' a move made by your own team/pokemon?

3. If a pokemon uses counter following a move like Thunder Wave, does it work? Or does Thunder Wave nullify the counter? The smogon page says "Fails if the last move used by either side did 0 damage and was not...Thunder Wave", suggesting counter would still work following thunder wave.

Counter mechanics are described here: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/rby-recent-discoveries-resource.3541715

 

[kjdaas]

I have a question regarding Counter in gen 1. I'm totally confused about this move, and once I think I understand it...I don't. For example:

1. I've seen counter work twice in a row (once following an normal type attack, then again following a switch) - how does this work and how is it calculated?

2. Can you 'counter' a move made by your own team/pokemon?

3. If a pokemon uses counter following a move like Thunder Wave, does it work? Or does Thunder Wave nullify the counter? The smogon page says "Fails if the last move used by either side did 0 damage and was not...Thunder Wave", suggesting counter would still work following thunder wave.

1. Counter doubles the damage of the last normal/fighting move that damages the Pokemon clicking counter. If the opposing mon has not clicked another move, it will still remember that the last move was a normal/fighting move and thus does damage double again. So as example, the opposing Exeggutor clicks double-edge and chansey counters it, which will deal double damage as expected. However, if your opponent now switches in Snorlax when you click counter again with chansey, the last move clicked by your opponent is still double-edge and counter will do the same damage now to the incoming Snorlax.

2. I have heard people say this, but I'm not sure of this sure myself. FriendOfMrGolem120 is more knowledgeable about this.

3. I tested on PS and counter still fails. I would also want to know FOMG input here.

 

[lvakq]

Hi, I have some questions about the move Haze in Gen II. I was referred to here as the best place to ask. I have a Vaporeon I am levelling up in with the aim of including it in my team, which I would be using to compete against some friends. For fun, but trying to keep it competitive too. I have another pokemon equipped with Roar, but for safety I thought a Haze on a mostly defensive role would be good to have too. I would be really grateful for any help, assuming I go through with a hazing Vaporeon:

1. would one usually give defense/attack boosing moves to one that can Haze? For instance, for use on the turn after hazing, or 'separately' at a point where its role isn't directly a hazer (e.g. team is whittling down, the Pokemon in question can ice-beam, and an ice-beam would be useful so it is brought out for that purpose/can boost in the process)?
   
   
2. what prevents the Pokemon being hazed from hanging around and just boosting again (e.g. Snorlax re-cursing)? As I understand it a Hazer is more defensive than offensive, so if the enemy isn't in fear of getting hit hard because its defence is back to baseline, what usually are the reasons for the the adversary to switch out? Would this purely be to avoid 'wasting PP'?
   
   
3. this last question might be a little more situation-dependent: does a hazing Pokemon usually 'dip in and out' (i.e. come in, haze, leave) or is the idea more to stay put to threaten hazing again?