It's probably far from complete so keep the suggestions coming!
Found in here: http://www.smogon.com/advance/articles/teambuilding
Found in here: http://www.smogon.com/advance/articles/teambuilding
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General Analysis: Team Building
- Thread starter Mekkah
- Start date
Great work Dutchie! :D The one thing you appeared to have missed is one's teams ability to take status (Sleep Talker, Marvel Scale/Guts, something slow enough not to give a rat's ass about para, aromatherapist, sturdy rester or preferrably a lot of the above
).
).
Wow, that's an amazing guide Mekkah =0
Especially the threats list is very thought out and helpful.
I'd be sure to mention about having atleast one Speedy pokemon, because there are tactics that the opponent can use against us (Taunt), and getting the first move is always advantageous.
Especially the threats list is very thought out and helpful.
I'd be sure to mention about having atleast one Speedy pokemon, because there are tactics that the opponent can use against us (Taunt), and getting the first move is always advantageous.
Great guide Mekkah!
this is one of the most helpful guides there is
this is one of the most helpful guides there is
I'm still reading but I would like to point out Regice's extreme usefullness as a lead pokemon, scaring off 99% of most other common leads today (Jolteon, Zapdos, Sceptile sorta, bulky waters and sometimes salamence).
Looks good so far, I'll edit and put more into this later
Looks good so far, I'll edit and put more into this later
For me, Celebi and Jirachi are UBERS -o-
Just something else: You can't just think of what you have covered and what you don't, you have to think of possible situations you can get into.
For example, a team of blissey/zapdos/suicune/blissey/dusclops rather has a problem with Snorlax/ So we put in Skarmory as the last pokemon to help with this problem, being able to wall it and phaze it's stat boosters. However we don't have curselax covered completely. If a decent battler manages to whittle down your team and save curselax for the last pokemon, you can be in trouble.
I might add another example to this later, but think ahead and think of possible situations you could get into.
For example, a team of blissey/zapdos/suicune/blissey/dusclops rather has a problem with Snorlax/ So we put in Skarmory as the last pokemon to help with this problem, being able to wall it and phaze it's stat boosters. However we don't have curselax covered completely. If a decent battler manages to whittle down your team and save curselax for the last pokemon, you can be in trouble.
I might add another example to this later, but think ahead and think of possible situations you could get into.
well too bad no one gives a fuck about what u thinkMaestro Arena said:
Shut up, nobody asked your opinionShinySandslash said:
I didnt ask for yours either nubMaestro Arena said:
Instead of complaining why cant you just think of ways to counter them, or just use a dugtrio, problem solved
amazing guide. i wish i had a guide like this when i first started.
EDIT: i think regice (due to recent usage) and umbreon should be added to the threat list and maybe gyarados+maggy (together)
EDIT: i think regice (due to recent usage) and umbreon should be added to the threat list and maybe gyarados+maggy (together)
Problem with Bug resistance is that you will either completely die without it or have no need for it at all. I think I noted Bug and Steel together like that - they're not really first priority threats in the way that lots of Pokémon carry these types of moves, but you need at least 1 very reliable resistances to the Pokémon carrying these (Heracross and Metagross).
And you see, even though Fire-types resist both, Blaziken rarely makes a good Heracross/Metagross counter. You need very solid walls like Skarmory/Weezing for Heracross and Waters or Moltres (Moltres is cool) for Metagross.
Also, I added the part about status absorption and need for speed.
And you see, even though Fire-types resist both, Blaziken rarely makes a good Heracross/Metagross counter. You need very solid walls like Skarmory/Weezing for Heracross and Waters or Moltres (Moltres is cool) for Metagross.
Also, I added the part about status absorption and need for speed.
How about using BL or UU Pokemon in standard? what I personally like to do is take a Pokemon like Tentacruel or Sandslash and use that in standard and build my team to support those.
This way you're innovative in a different way, and you have given a Pokemon a use that it hasn't had in a long time.
Or that Articuno set I and mekkah used to use. Articuno is very low OU and not seen often, but it might be cool to implement one of these guys into your team. Especially because they sometimes cover more things than you expect.
Also Regice as a threat due to XD imo.
This way you're innovative in a different way, and you have given a Pokemon a use that it hasn't had in a long time.
Or that Articuno set I and mekkah used to use. Articuno is very low OU and not seen often, but it might be cool to implement one of these guys into your team. Especially because they sometimes cover more things than you expect.
Also Regice as a threat due to XD imo.
Nothing is wrong with BL/UU Pokémon in normal teams but sometimes they counter too few things to be worthwhile and you have to ditch them. However, Steelix gives surprisingly great coverage (Electrics, Normal, Flying, Metagross) yet he is rarely seen.
Articuno works if you are desperate of a Celebi, Swampert and somewhat Suicune counter in one and has some nice other functions, it's good for team building, but it also has quite a few weaknesses.
Articuno works if you are desperate of a Celebi, Swampert and somewhat Suicune counter in one and has some nice other functions, it's good for team building, but it also has quite a few weaknesses.
great guide, gj
Other than that part where you called Magneton a liability otherwise, I thought it was a great guide. It's certainly a good starting point for beginners. Believe it or not, I intended this response to be just those 2 sentences, but I think I've come down with Pidgeot500 syndrome.
I also disagree with almost always having 4 of those Pokemon. I don't think I've ever used 4 of them on the same team as usually the other standards like Weezing and the just plain awesome UUs like Cradily can fill the gaps, and to be quite honest most of those are just plain dull to play. Either way, I'm thinking about trio/maggie/weez/regice/clops long before I'm thinking about Raikou. They're certainly the biggest threats in terms of flat out shutting a team down or sweeping it hard, but a team needs them not to be competitive.
If you were looking for more to say, I'd note that it's good to have pairs of Pokemon that cover each other's weaknesses well. Weezing/Jirachi is a great example. With reasonably standard sets(or occasionally radically unstandard if you pull it off right) they can generally switch into whatever comes in on the other. No, it's not a perfect combo(Camerupt solidly counters both, and they do run into several problem Pokemon), but it works well. Of course we also have the infamous Gyarados/Magneton which is so common that using Gyarados is considered a tip-off to using Magneton. These pairs exist in many forms, and sometimes you might stumble across some radical ones that involve extremely UU Pokemon(this is actually IMO the best way to bring UUs into standard). The reason these magic pairs work so well is that late game when you've both lost a few Pokemon they tend to anchor the team down and prevent it from being swept.
And of course the last thing to say is to always use a team you are comfortable with. Many of us have Pokemon we really just can't quite use to their full potential for a variety of reasons usually involving battling style. I know I really can't use Celebi well; it just doesn't agree with me. So for me, just because it might be theoretically best to use Celebi, I would be a fool to as I would lose it to trio every other match, and it would end up being less useful than it could be otherwise. On the same note I find myself extremely comfortable using Dugtrio so he's a good guy for me to work into my teams. At the end of building a team, you have failed if you are uncomfortable with the product. It's fine if you are new and need adjusting to it or if you want to overcome problems with using certain Pokemon, but you won't win very much if you aren't comfortable with your team.
I also disagree with almost always having 4 of those Pokemon. I don't think I've ever used 4 of them on the same team as usually the other standards like Weezing and the just plain awesome UUs like Cradily can fill the gaps, and to be quite honest most of those are just plain dull to play. Either way, I'm thinking about trio/maggie/weez/regice/clops long before I'm thinking about Raikou. They're certainly the biggest threats in terms of flat out shutting a team down or sweeping it hard, but a team needs them not to be competitive.
If you were looking for more to say, I'd note that it's good to have pairs of Pokemon that cover each other's weaknesses well. Weezing/Jirachi is a great example. With reasonably standard sets(or occasionally radically unstandard if you pull it off right) they can generally switch into whatever comes in on the other. No, it's not a perfect combo(Camerupt solidly counters both, and they do run into several problem Pokemon), but it works well. Of course we also have the infamous Gyarados/Magneton which is so common that using Gyarados is considered a tip-off to using Magneton. These pairs exist in many forms, and sometimes you might stumble across some radical ones that involve extremely UU Pokemon(this is actually IMO the best way to bring UUs into standard). The reason these magic pairs work so well is that late game when you've both lost a few Pokemon they tend to anchor the team down and prevent it from being swept.
And of course the last thing to say is to always use a team you are comfortable with. Many of us have Pokemon we really just can't quite use to their full potential for a variety of reasons usually involving battling style. I know I really can't use Celebi well; it just doesn't agree with me. So for me, just because it might be theoretically best to use Celebi, I would be a fool to as I would lose it to trio every other match, and it would end up being less useful than it could be otherwise. On the same note I find myself extremely comfortable using Dugtrio so he's a good guy for me to work into my teams. At the end of building a team, you have failed if you are uncomfortable with the product. It's fine if you are new and need adjusting to it or if you want to overcome problems with using certain Pokemon, but you won't win very much if you aren't comfortable with your team.
The fact is that most good battlers use at least 4 of the Pokemon named in the list. Of course it's possible to build a good team without them. I've had much success with Cacturne, Blaziken, Lapras, and Lanturn, and limited success with things like Hariyama, Omastar, and Flareon, which are all UU. The fact, however, is that these Pokemon lack the base stats, movepools, or type effectiveness to be successful for a great percentage of the time.
Sure you have never used 4 of those on a team all at once, but I'm pretty sure you are alone.
Sure you have never used 4 of those on a team all at once, but I'm pretty sure you are alone.
If you do a double check on that list, you'll see that a lot of clearly OU Pokemon are not on it. It's not just UU fighting the uphill battle against OU(even though UU Pokemon are certainly encompassed) that I'm talking about. I'm saying that teams don't have to have the potentially crushing Pokemon(which is what that list is) to do well. They can use the Pokemon like Dusclops who go for the smaller advantage to have a team just as competitive.