Hi. I know we have an onsite article and everything, but people seem to manage to miss some rather key things. These are just little mistakes I see in a lot of battles on the CaP Server, so I thought I'd post a thread on the matter.
1) When using Life Orb, check if your Pokemon's HP will reduce to 19
All too often, I will see "Elekid lost 10% of its HP!" at the end of the turn. Life Orb takes 10% of your HP, this is a known fact. However, it is also a known fact that the Pokemon games round down in the event of any decimal. This also holds true for Life Orb recoil. 10% of 19 is 1.9, which rounds down to 1 HP damage per use of Life Orb. You don't have to, of course, as there is a popular belief that Pokemon with 21 HP shouldn't reduce it but it's something you should know nonetheless
2) Do not use Gyro Ball on Bronzor unless it is holding a Macho Brace
Bronzor is one of the top Pokemon in Little Cup with its great typing and defenses. It is also very slow. However, unlike in OU, its speed is not low enough to make Gyro Ball stronger than Psychic or Flash Cannon under most circumstances.
3) Elekid, Voltorb and Diglett all have 20 speed
I cannot stress this enough. Too many times have I seen Gligar go against Elekid, expecting to tie it and, once outsped and KOed, the Gligar-user saying "aww...i lost a speed tie :(". If you know one thing about the Little Cup Speed tiers, remember that these three are the fastest in the tier, bar none.
4) Chansey, Marill, Pikachu, Phione, and Rotom are NOT LC-LEGAL
Seriously, what's the deal with this? Pikachu has a prevo and can't even be hatched from an egg. Rotom and Phione don't even evolve. Marill and Chansey both have prevos. Please, please please do not use them in unrated LC.
5) 19 and 14 are the "Magic Speed Numbers"
Many, many Pokemon in the tier hit 19 speed. If you are using a Pokemon that can hit 19 speed as its maximum speed, do so. 14 is the "magic number" for Scarfers. They will hit 21 Speed, which outspeeds all non-scarfed Pokemon but underspeeds faster Scarfers, such as Mankey, Houndour and Gastly.
6) Wynaut is not Uber
It doesn't matter how banned it is in UU and NU and OU, this is Little Cup. Wynaut is currently legal for use in standard Little Cup play, so don't harass people for using it.
7) The Item "DeepSeaTooth" is banned
This has been less of a problem lately, but I feel it needs to be reiterated. You cannot use the item DeepSeaTooth on Clamperl. Period. How would you like it if your opponent use Soul Dew Latias in OU? You wouldn't, obviously. So, you know, don't do it. No clause exists to rectify this, so we're going on the honor system here.
8) Gastly does not have 19+ Speed
People have always seemed to think Gastly is very fast. These people are wrong. If a Gastly sweeps you with Sludge Bomb, that is because it's an excellent Scarfer, not because it's OMG WTF FAST. It isn't.
9) Abra is extremely mediocre
People look at Abra and think, "OMG huge SpA and Speed!!" While this is perfectly true, Abra also has paper defenses and a terrible movepool. It only reaches 19 Speed, meaning it ties with a large number of Pokemon. You never, ever want to be on the losing end of this tie with Abra, who has the defenses of a rice paper bag in the rain. Additionally, Priority is extremely prominent in LC and nearly any move will kill Abra. Abra cannot survive a Pursuit. Ever.
10) Stall is not good
Sorry, but it's true. There have been very, very few truly successful Stall teams in all of Little Cup's history. With HeartGold and SoulSilver adding in stuff like ExtremeSpeed Dratini and Head Smash Aron, Stall has never been harder to pull off. If you want to become disillusioned with LC really fast, go right ahead and Stall, but if you actually want to get into the meta you're better off leaving Stall alone until you can actually play the metagame.
11) Even if you plan on playing with LC Clause checked, set your Pokemon to level 5 in team-builder
There is nothing more irritating than fighting a level 100 Bronzor and losing because you thought it was level 5. Please, do not be that guy. It is also helpful when determining how many or how few EVs to include, so it really is beneficial not only to your opponents, but to you! It also isn't any fun sweeping a team of level 1 Pokemon. Level 5 -- not level 1, not level 100, not level 50 -- Level 5.
12) Don't put 252 EVs into one stat (unless you're maxing a stat ending in "3").
There are like 3-4 used Pokemon maximum who have a stat ending in 3, otherwise you are wasting EVs. As a general rule in the team builder, make sure you lower your EVs until you lose a point to find out what EVs you need to get a certain point in a certain stat. Or, you know, read the EV guide.
13) Dragon Rage and Sonic Boom are banned.
The highest HP possible in LC is 36, making Dragon Rage a OHKO on literally everything and Sonic Boom a 2HKO. As a result, it is banned. If you are found using it in a ladder match, you will be kicked or even banned if it is a repeated offense.
14) When using Hidden Power, adding 4 EVs to the lowered stat fixes it
Yeah. Just ran into this one. Because of the lower stat values, the extra 4 EVs fixes up the lowered stat.
15) Genderless Pokemon from the Fourth Generation cannot have Level-Up moves
Third Gen Pokemon benefit from the Pomeg glitch. Bronzor, however, cannot have Hypnosis and the like. Additionally, any Fourth Generation abilities are not compatible with level-up moves on Genderless Pokemon, such as Porygon and Download.
If you guys have anymore advice for new LCers that you feel like they're missing, please post it here. If you disagree with any of the above listed things, please let me know so that I can change it accordingly.
Current 15 contributed by Vader, Heysup, j. franky and Goldenknight
1) When using Life Orb, check if your Pokemon's HP will reduce to 19
All too often, I will see "Elekid lost 10% of its HP!" at the end of the turn. Life Orb takes 10% of your HP, this is a known fact. However, it is also a known fact that the Pokemon games round down in the event of any decimal. This also holds true for Life Orb recoil. 10% of 19 is 1.9, which rounds down to 1 HP damage per use of Life Orb. You don't have to, of course, as there is a popular belief that Pokemon with 21 HP shouldn't reduce it but it's something you should know nonetheless
2) Do not use Gyro Ball on Bronzor unless it is holding a Macho Brace
Bronzor is one of the top Pokemon in Little Cup with its great typing and defenses. It is also very slow. However, unlike in OU, its speed is not low enough to make Gyro Ball stronger than Psychic or Flash Cannon under most circumstances.
3) Elekid, Voltorb and Diglett all have 20 speed
I cannot stress this enough. Too many times have I seen Gligar go against Elekid, expecting to tie it and, once outsped and KOed, the Gligar-user saying "aww...i lost a speed tie :(". If you know one thing about the Little Cup Speed tiers, remember that these three are the fastest in the tier, bar none.
4) Chansey, Marill, Pikachu, Phione, and Rotom are NOT LC-LEGAL
Seriously, what's the deal with this? Pikachu has a prevo and can't even be hatched from an egg. Rotom and Phione don't even evolve. Marill and Chansey both have prevos. Please, please please do not use them in unrated LC.
5) 19 and 14 are the "Magic Speed Numbers"
Many, many Pokemon in the tier hit 19 speed. If you are using a Pokemon that can hit 19 speed as its maximum speed, do so. 14 is the "magic number" for Scarfers. They will hit 21 Speed, which outspeeds all non-scarfed Pokemon but underspeeds faster Scarfers, such as Mankey, Houndour and Gastly.
6) Wynaut is not Uber
It doesn't matter how banned it is in UU and NU and OU, this is Little Cup. Wynaut is currently legal for use in standard Little Cup play, so don't harass people for using it.
7) The Item "DeepSeaTooth" is banned
This has been less of a problem lately, but I feel it needs to be reiterated. You cannot use the item DeepSeaTooth on Clamperl. Period. How would you like it if your opponent use Soul Dew Latias in OU? You wouldn't, obviously. So, you know, don't do it. No clause exists to rectify this, so we're going on the honor system here.
8) Gastly does not have 19+ Speed
People have always seemed to think Gastly is very fast. These people are wrong. If a Gastly sweeps you with Sludge Bomb, that is because it's an excellent Scarfer, not because it's OMG WTF FAST. It isn't.
9) Abra is extremely mediocre
People look at Abra and think, "OMG huge SpA and Speed!!" While this is perfectly true, Abra also has paper defenses and a terrible movepool. It only reaches 19 Speed, meaning it ties with a large number of Pokemon. You never, ever want to be on the losing end of this tie with Abra, who has the defenses of a rice paper bag in the rain. Additionally, Priority is extremely prominent in LC and nearly any move will kill Abra. Abra cannot survive a Pursuit. Ever.
10) Stall is not good
Sorry, but it's true. There have been very, very few truly successful Stall teams in all of Little Cup's history. With HeartGold and SoulSilver adding in stuff like ExtremeSpeed Dratini and Head Smash Aron, Stall has never been harder to pull off. If you want to become disillusioned with LC really fast, go right ahead and Stall, but if you actually want to get into the meta you're better off leaving Stall alone until you can actually play the metagame.
11) Even if you plan on playing with LC Clause checked, set your Pokemon to level 5 in team-builder
There is nothing more irritating than fighting a level 100 Bronzor and losing because you thought it was level 5. Please, do not be that guy. It is also helpful when determining how many or how few EVs to include, so it really is beneficial not only to your opponents, but to you! It also isn't any fun sweeping a team of level 1 Pokemon. Level 5 -- not level 1, not level 100, not level 50 -- Level 5.
12) Don't put 252 EVs into one stat (unless you're maxing a stat ending in "3").
There are like 3-4 used Pokemon maximum who have a stat ending in 3, otherwise you are wasting EVs. As a general rule in the team builder, make sure you lower your EVs until you lose a point to find out what EVs you need to get a certain point in a certain stat. Or, you know, read the EV guide.
13) Dragon Rage and Sonic Boom are banned.
The highest HP possible in LC is 36, making Dragon Rage a OHKO on literally everything and Sonic Boom a 2HKO. As a result, it is banned. If you are found using it in a ladder match, you will be kicked or even banned if it is a repeated offense.
14) When using Hidden Power, adding 4 EVs to the lowered stat fixes it
Yeah. Just ran into this one. Because of the lower stat values, the extra 4 EVs fixes up the lowered stat.
15) Genderless Pokemon from the Fourth Generation cannot have Level-Up moves
Third Gen Pokemon benefit from the Pomeg glitch. Bronzor, however, cannot have Hypnosis and the like. Additionally, any Fourth Generation abilities are not compatible with level-up moves on Genderless Pokemon, such as Porygon and Download.
If you guys have anymore advice for new LCers that you feel like they're missing, please post it here. If you disagree with any of the above listed things, please let me know so that I can change it accordingly.
Current 15 contributed by Vader, Heysup, j. franky and Goldenknight
