[on site] How to build a successful Baton Pass team in D/P

[maddog]

Introduction

Baton pass chains were a fairly common strategy in the third generation of Pokemon. Because there was nothing faster than Jolteon or Aerodactyl, you could spam Substitute and easily take care of threats. But this once frequent strategy has almost taken a back seat in Diamond and Pearl. The introduction of new hard hitters in Garchomp and Lucario, the improvement of the move Taunt (which now last 3-5 turns), new phazers, and the item Choice Scarf were most likely the causes for this shift. However, in the right hands, Baton Pass teams can still be extremely deadly. While there may be more phazers in D/P, many of these Pokemon forgo their phazing move for more 'useful' options. Knowing how to play the chain and designing your team carefully can throw off an opponent who isn't familiar with Baton Pass teams. A Baton Pass chain can still get victories. They aren't as good as they were in Advance, though, so this guide will help you make a great Baton Pass team for Diamond and Pearl.

What does Baton Pass do?

www.smogon.com/dp/moves/baton_pass

Baton Pass is a 40 PP (64 with PP Max) move that allows the user to switch out of battle with normal priority. The user is then able to pass any stat boosts, or other conditions, to the Pokemon that comes in as a result. Baton Pass also allows the user to escape from the effects of Shadow Tag, Magnet Pull, and Arena Trap.

Know your passers

Here is a list of the viable Baton Passers in D/P, and how they can support a Baton Pass chain. All of them have access to Substitute, but I just mentioned the ones that can make bulky Substitutes that can survive a Seismic Toss. The goal of the team is to pass enough boosts to a receiver, who will kill all of your opponent's Pokemon.

Absol: Mean Look, Swords Dance. It is one of only four Pokemon that get the Mean Look/ Baton Pass combo.
Ambipom: Nasty Plot, Agility, Fake Out. It is useful for passing boosts because most people expect a physical version of him. Has a high base speed and decent special movepool to couple with this.
Ariados: It gets Spider Web/ Baton Pass, has Insomnia, Agility, and can clear Toxic Spikes off the field. Sadly, those are the only things that it has going for it. Although it has low stats, it can be deadly if used carefully.
Blaziken: Swords Dance, Agility, Bulk Up. It is normally a powerful Reversaler or physical sweeper, so a Baton Pass set would throw some people off. Can hit hard to punish phazers that try and stop him.
Celebi: Calm Mind, Swords Dance, 101 Substitutes, Stealth Rock. Celebi is an amazing Pokemon. It can stand up to Gyarados, and provide support to your entire team. It can also set up Stealth Rock, which stops Focus Sashes from ruining your sweep.
Drifblim: 101+ Substitutes, Calm Mind. It has access to Unburden, which allows him to use a pinch berry and get off a Baton Pass. He has a good typing, Hypnosis, and can pass extremely bulky Substitutes. Driftblim stands out as the only ghost that can Baton Pass.
Espeon: Calm Mind, Wish. It is the fastest Calm Mind passer in the game. 'EspyJump' (Calm Mind/ Sub/ Baton Pass/ Psychic) was a popular set in Advance.
Floatzel: Bulk Up, Taunt. It plays a lot like Espeon; he's extremely fast, and Bulk Up allows him take some hits. Access to Taunt is what differentiates him from the others.
Gliscor: Rock Polish, Taunt, Swords Dance, Stealth Rock. It is an extremely sturdy Baton Passer. He makes a good counter to Heracross and Tyranitar and can Baton Pass Speed and Attack, which is extremely unique. Taunt can stop Skarmory from Whirlwinding and Breloom from Sporing.
Hypno: Nasty Plot, Taunt. It makes a good special wall in UU, and can make a good bulky Baton Passer as well.
Leafeon: Swords Dance, Roar. Leafeon has a great defense stat, lack of a Dark and Ghost weakness, and Roar over Celebi. It can also use its own Swords Dance boosts for Leaf Blade. Roar is a great option for a Baton Pass chain; you will be able to phaze other phazers before they phaze you. Leafeon easily beats Tyranitar with Leaf Blade.
Mawile: Swords Dance, Stockpile, Iron Defense. It stands out as the only Baton Passer that also sports a great resistance to Rock. It can use this advantage to stop your team from dying to random Stone Edges. It also has access to Sing, and Intimidate. It is a great choice for your team.
Medicham: Calm Mind, Bulk Up. Medicham can pass stats, but is best known for its ability to be the only good reciever that actually learns Baton Pass.
Mew: Hypnosis, Taunt. It can also pass +2 of any stat, and can Bulk Up and Calm Mind. Mew is not OU, but it is something you have to use if you want to try your luck at Baton Passing in Ubers. It can fit any role you need it to, and should be used if available.
Mr. Mime: Calm Mind, Barrier, Encore. Soundproof blocks your opponent's attempts to use Roar/ Perish Song to beat your Baton Pass chain. Mr. Mime is almost a requirement for a Baton Pass team.
Ninjask: Swords Dance, Speed Boost. Ninjask makes a great lead. Speed boost gives your team the possibility of getting more than +2 Speed, which will allow even slow and bulky Pokemon to outspeed some extremely fast Pokemon.
Scizor: Swords Dance, Iron Defense, Agility. It has good defenses, great attack and decent speed. It is part Steel, granting it good resistances and only one weakness in Fire. A great choice for most teams.
Solrock: Calm Mind, Rock Polish, Psych Up/ Swagger. It is immune to Ground and has useful resists. Not too much to say about this one.
Smeargle: Belly Drum, Ingrain, Spider Web and anything else for that matter. Has access to Spore. Smeargle is the reason Baton Pass teams work. A must have on your team.
Togekiss: Nasty Plot, Wish, Safeguard. It is a great special tank that has instant recovery in Roost, or can pass Wish to the rest of your team. A great choice for your team.
Umbreon: Mean Look, Wish, Taunt, Charm. It is the bulkiest user of Mean Look/ Baton Pass, and gets the moves it needs to support it. If you choose to use trapping moves on your Baton Pass team, he won't disappoint you.
Vaporeon: 101+ Substitutes, Acid Armor, Wish, Aqua Ring. Vaporeon passes extremely bulky Substitutes, and has a great movepool to support the team. It can also stop Garchomp or Infernape from ruining you, if you get a defense boost in.
Zapdos: Agility, Roar. It only has two weaknesses, Roost, great defenses, and STAB Thunderbolt. What more could you want?

Designing your team

Now this is the tricky part. In D/P, there are some threats that you actually have to be able to counter, or your entire chain might fall apart. Team design, right down to your EV spread, is crucial to the success of your chain. Overall, it should contain 5 passers that contribute to the Baton Pass chain, and one receiver (the role of the receiver will be explained later in this section). A good Baton Pass team should have a way to beat common phazers such as Swampert and Skarmory, and be able to deal with Haze, Taunt, Encore, Sleep Moves, and maybe even Trick Room.

Your Lead

Your lead should be able to scare away or outspeed most users of the move Taunt. The fastest common Taunt user is Crobat, but Deoxys-E can also use Taunt effectively. The best leads for the Baton Pass chains are Agility/ Rock Polish passers: namely Ninjask, Gliscor and Zapdos. While Ninjask does have a problem with phazers, Mr. Mime can protect him from Roar. If Skarmory Whirlwinds him and Smeargle comes out, Skarmory won't be phazing your chain much longer. Gliscor is a solid choice due to his ability to counter Tyranitar leads, and he is able to Taunt and Stealth Rock. Zapdos sports Thunderbolt and possibly Hidden Power Grass, which beats most phazers. He is pretty bulky from both sides of the spectrum, and only has two weaknesses, both of which can be eliminated through Roost. Less bulky Pokemon such as Blaziken, Ambipom and Scizor can work well as leads, simply because they are commonly known as strong attackers. If you do use a Pokemon that can't take a hit too well, just concentrate on getting an Agility or a Rock Polish off, and getting the hell out of there.

But with the addition of a new threat, adjustments are required. This new threat to Baton Pass teams comes in a form of a new popular strategy in leads. Commonly called "Suicide Leads", they use a combination of Focus Sash and Taunt stop their opponent from setting up Stealth Rock, and then they set it up themselves. But, these leads also will use Taunt to stop your Agility or Rock Polish, and make your Baton Pass team harder to pull off. There are certain ways that a Baton Pass team can get around a fast Taunter. One idea is to use a Fake Out user that learns Baton Pass, such as Ambipom, to eliminate the uselfulness of Focus Sash quickly. Perhaps the best way to beat this new generation of leads is to pretend that you are just using a normal team, and worry about beating the lead before you start Baton Passing. An example: I lead with Zapdos, and my opponent is leading with Azelf, Aerodactyl or Deoxys-S. Instead of trying to Agility and falling to a possible Taunt, I can simply attack with Thunderbolt. Most of these Pokemon are 2HKOed by Thunderbolt, while Zapdos gets Taunted and Stealth Rock is set up. Next, switch to a Pokemon that a standard team of the format and my Baton Pass team has in common, such as Vaporeon, Scizor, Togekiss or Celebi. Then, pass a Substitute back to your lead, get Agility or Rock Polish off, and continue your chain. With this method, suicide leads are more of an inconvience than a gamebreaking start for your opponent.

The Chain

As for the rest of the team, two Pokemon are almost required: Smeargle and Mr. Mime. These Pokes prevent phazers from stopping you from completing your strategy. Smeargle is the only Pokemon that can pass Ingrain, whereas Mr. Mime has access to Soundproof to block Roar and Perish Song. Having this Pokemon supports your team and with smart prediction, they can prevent your chain from being Phazed, and losing their boosts. Mr. Mime is not as necessary as Smeargle, but he is strongly recommended.

Pokemon that sport the Spider Web/ Mean Look and Baton Pass combination are extremely useful to have on a Baton Pass team, but by no means required. If you manage to trap a wall like Blissey with them, your chain will be unbreakable. You will find that if you can trap the right thing, setting up and sweeping becomes a lot easier. Umbreon, Smeargle, Asbol, and Ariados are the only Pokemon that sport this combination, so you would have to choose between these four.

The rest of your team should be used to counter the threats that could destroy your chain, while contributing to the chain themselves. Defense boosts help keep your Pokes alive, and could make an opponent fail to break your Substitute. Attack boost should correspond to the type of sweeper you are trying to set up. Use Nasty Plot for a special sweeper, and Swords Dance or Belly Drum for physical sweepers. If you finisher is mixed, use Swords Dance/ Calm Mind for predominantly physical sets, and Nasty Plot/ Bulk Up for mostly special attackers. However you might find it easier to just rely on one stat to increase the overall speed of your Baton Pass chain.

Should the Pokes on your team be extremely bulky or speedy? In ADV, fast Pokemon were preferred because there was nothing faster than Aerodactyl or Jolteon in OU, save something with Agility or Dragon Dance. Here, faster Pokemon could put up a Substitute to prevent from being statused, stop most damage, and would force your opponent to limit their switches. However, the introduction of Choice Scarf in D/P has made this benchmark useless. The fastest Pokemon in the game, Deoxys-E, is also legal in OU for now. Bulky Baton Passers are much more valuable then they were back then, and most likely should make up a good majority of your team.

The Finisher

One Pokemon on your team should be your receiver. When this Pokemon gets +6 in the attack stat it chooses to use (or some mixed sweeper equivalent), it should be able to OHKO every single Pokemon with 100% accuracy moves in the format you choose to play in. Your receiver should not be 4x weak to any priority move. It might be helpful for your receiver to also have Baton Pass, but trying to OHKO every single Pokemon you need to can be difficult with only three moves. If your team is pretty offensive, then this might not be as big of an issue. Immunity to Toxic Spikes is a plus, and if said Pokemon needs a Life Orb to get the KOs it needs, it should be immune to Sandstream as well.


Example Team

In order to make sense of the explanation, an example team should help put everything in context, and give you ideas for your own Baton Pass team. Here is a team I have been very successful with on ShoddyBattle.

Zapdos @ Lum Berry
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Spe / 152 SpD
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Agility
- Baton Pass
- Thunderbolt
- Substitute

My lead and my speed passer. The way this Zapdos works is to use Agility on turn 1, allowing Lum Berry to save you from unnecessary status. Next turn, set up a Substitute as a barrier to more status moves. Baton Pass out when you feel ready; Thunderbolt is to beat Skarmory and Gyarados, two big threats to a Baton Pass chain. 104 Speed EVs allows me to beat Adamant Gyarados before a boost, and everything else after an Agility, save Scarf Weavile and Scarf Aerodactyl (which are never seen).
---
Smeargle @ Shed Shell
Trait: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Ingrain
- Spore
- Substitute
- Baton Pass

Smeargle is necessary for every Baton Pass chain: it is the only Pokemon that can set up Ingrain, which will prevent phazing and also help heal your team. Get this in with a bulky Substitute from one of the other members of the team, and use Spore. Substitute will prevent you from being hit by a Sleep Talker or another switch in, and then Ingrain and Baton Pass out. Smeargle needs all of the bulk it can get while being as fast as possible, and the EV spread accomplishes this. Shed Shell is there because this Pokemon is the most vulnerable to Taunt, so it might need the help to switch out without using Baton Pass.
---
Scizor @ Leftovers
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 Spe
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Baton Pass
- Iron Defense
- Iron Head

Scizor passes Defense and Attack boosts to the rest of my members. 152 Speed EVs allows me to reach 406 Speed to outpace Scarf Heracross and the things that try and outspeed it. Scizor is my Tyranitar counter, and assists my next Pokemon in beating Garchomp. Iron Head is to hit Weavile, Tyranitar, and for STAB, but some may find Brick Break more sutable for killing off Magnezone.
---
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 192 HP / 252 Def / 60 Spe
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Ice Beam
- Wish

With some defense passed to it, this is my Garchomp counter. Vaporeon supports the team with Wish, and passes Bulky Substitutes to the rest of my teammates. 66 Speed EVs outpaces Starmie, Gengar and others in the base 115. Calm nature grants it more bulk on the Special side, and ideally it should have defense boosts from Scizor to boost its ability other physical attackers.
---
Mr. Mime @ Leftovers
Trait: Soundproof
EVs: 252 HP/100 Def/56 Spd/102 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Baton Pass
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot

Mr. Mime is another essential element of a Baton Pass team. Soundproof prevents Roar from phazing my Baton Pass chain when I can't pass to Smeargle quickly enough. Hopefully, I am able to get a few Calm Minds in. This thing has Thunderbolt and Grass Knot to deal with the common phazers such as Skarmory and Swampert. 252 HP is obvious, and 100 Defense EVs helps me stand up to Swampert's Earthquake. 56 Speed EVs allows me to beat Scarfchomp and all base 90 Choice Scarf users. The rest of the EVs go in Special Defense to stand up to other special threats.
---
Lucario @ Life Orb
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 196 Spe / 60 SpA
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Bullet Punch

My finisher. Once I have enough boosts in store, Lucario comes in to destroy my opponent. As far as recipients go, Lucario is one of the best: sporting immunity to Sandstorm, immunity to Toxic Spikes, resistance to most priority attacks, and a movepool that will OHKO every Pokemon legal in OU. Cresselia dies to Crunch, Tangrowth dies to Close Combat, and Gliscor dies to Hidden Power Ice. Brick Break is an option over Close Combat, but without Stealth Rock down, there is a chance Hippowdon and Tangrowth will survive Brick Break. If you elect to use Brick Break, be sure to have Stealth Rock, or at least 3 Calm Minds in so you can OHKO Hippowdon with Hidden Power Ice. You outspeed everything with an Agility from Zapdos, save Scarf Aerodactyl (which you can beat with Bullet Punch anyway). Life Orb is used because the boost is necessary, and Ingrain helps make up for the 10% loss of health after every attack. Bullet Punch is to kill other priority users such as Weavile and Mamoswine, and it also allows you to kill Gengar if you lose your speed boosts.

Playing the Chain

Playing a Baton Passing team is all about knowledge and planning. You should have a good idea about how you are going to switch when specific threats come out. For example, if a Garchomp came out, what would your initial switch be? On this team, I bring out Scizor, and use Iron Defense, and then I switch to Vaporeon to take the Fire Fang/ Fire Blast. As I said in the opening, you have to be able to counter certain threats this generation or your entire team could fall apart. If a powerful special sweeper such as Azelf came out, who would you pass too? How would you stop it? These are pretty important questions you need be able to answer, especially if you don't have a Substitute up when those threats switch in.

Speaking of Substitute, it is recommended that you keep a Substitute up as often as possible when you get Ingrain up. Substitute will protect you from critical hits that can cut through your defense boosts. They also stop against status and the move Trick. When you don't have Ingrain up yet, you should be more careful. Here's an example. Say they bring in Garchomp, and I pass to Vaporeon. I use Substitute, and he brings in Skarmory. Skarmory then proceeds to Whirlwind you, making you lose all of your boosts and your Substitute. Instead of using Substitute, it might have been smarter to Baton Pass and predict the switch. That way, if they actually go to Skarmory, you can bring in Smeargle. From there just use Spore, Substitute, and then Ingrain. If they keep Garchomp in, just go to your defense passer and set up. This kind of "prediction" is something that comes from experience.

One of the most difficult Pokemon to get out happens to be the most important to the success of your Baton Pass chain. Smeargle is extremely fragile, and if it faints you might be out of luck. Predicting to get Smeargle in against a Choice Specs Shadow Ball is too risky to be effective. The best way get Smeargle out is to either bring it out against a wall like Skarmory or Blissey, or pass a bulky Substitute that won't break on the switch. An early Ingrain is ideal, but it is often not worth the risk. The best way to ensure you get the Ingrain off is after you have a few defense boosts and a Substitute to pass to it. Smeargle is also the most vulnerable Pokemon in a Baton Pass chain to the move Taunt. If you aren't carrying a Shed Shell and you have Ingrain up, a well-timed Taunt can leave you trapped and force you to Struggle. Don't take any unnecessary risks to get an early Ingrain or Spore; most of the time it isn't worth it.

How to beat Baton Pass teams

It can be extremely difficult to beat a well-made Baton Pass team. While it is harder to pull off the chain in D/P, in some ways it can be easier. In ADV, people were well aware of the threat of Baton Pass teams, and made their team accordingly. While D/P increases the number of Pokemon that can screw up a Baton Pass chain, many forgo those options due to a decline in their popularity. This "counter" list will help the maker of the team more aware of the threats they might face, and can teach someone else how to beat them.

Roar: A very common way to attempt to stop Baton Pass chains by Phazing. Stopped by Ingrain and Soundproof. If a Baton Pass team does not use Mr. Mime, and the Roarer is faster than and strong enough to kill Smeragle, there is not much the Baton Pass team can do.
Common users: Swampert, Donphan, Hippowdon, Suicune, Zapdos, Steelix, Vaporeon

Taunt: Taunt is a very deadly weapon against Baton Pass teams. Now that it lasts 3-5 turns, it can stop your entire chain. The only way to beat Taunt is to sleep their Taunter, scare it away before it can use Taunt, or Taunt them before they can Taunt you. Most Taunters are used as leads, so your lead should be able to stop them.
Common Users: Crobat, Gyarados, Heatran, Floatzel, Gliscor, Spiritomb, Azelf, Deoxys-S, Aerodactyl

Whirlwind: It is only stopped by Ingrain, so it poses much more of a threat to a Baton Pass chain.
Common users: Skarmory, Hariyama, Drapion, Snorlax, Crobat

Encore: If you don't expect it coming, Encore can really screw you over. It can make you lose your boosts by forcing you to switch. If you are Ingrained in and you are Encored, you might lose one part of your chain, and from there the entire game. The way to beat it is to keep Baton Passing until they switch out or run out of Encore PP. A Pressure Pokemon such as Zapdos is extremely helpful in this process.
Common Users: Shuckle, Wobbuffet, Clefable, Togekiss, Alakazam, Jumpluff, Raichu

Haze: Elimates all status changes. It can be gamebreaking if pulled off, but it is extremely rare.
Common Users: Weezing, Dragonite, Vaporeon, Muk, Quagsire, Blastoise, Tentacruel

Perish Song: Forces a switch or causes a Pokemon to faint. It is blocked by Soundproof.
Common Users: Celebi, Mismagius, Gengar, Lapras

Exploders: It can eliminate one of your Pokes, and therefore your boosts. Stopped by keeping Substitue up, or passing to Driftblim.
Common Users: Bronzong, Gengar, Azelf, Snorlax, Metagross, Magnezone, Heatran, Lickillicky

Toxic Spikes: A new threat this generation. One or two layers of Toxic Spikes will limit the success of your team, and the amount of time you can use to get all of your passes off. The best way to counter Toxic Spikes is to have Taunt on your leader, use Ariados, and make sure your receiver isn't weak to Toxic Spikes. Try to limit the overall number of Pokemon on your team that are affected by Toxic Spikes if possible. Also note that if you Baton Pass a Substitute, the Pokemon that switches in will not be poisoned. This however is not the case on ShoddyBattle.
Common Users: Roserade, Tentacruel, Cloyster, Drapion, Forretress

Priority Moves: These moves cancel out the Speed boosts made by Agility or Rock Polish, and can end up killing something or forcing a hard switch if you are not careful.
Common Users: Metagross (Bullet Punch), Lucario (Extremespeed, Vacuum Wave), Dugtrio (Sucker Punch), Breloom (Mach Punch), Arcanine (Extremespeed), Mamoswine (Ice Shard), Weavile (Ice Shard), Spiritomb (Sucker Punch); to name a few.

The common SubPunch strategy can be difficult to beat if you cannot break their Sub.

Generally, something fast can come in and sweep you if you are not prepared. Be able to deal with a lot of the major threats on your Baton Pass team and you will be good to go!

Conclusion

In short, don't overlook Baton Pass Chains in D/P. They can really cause some serious damage if they are used by a skilled player, and you don't see them coming. A Baton Pass team can be a nice change of pace from a standard team, and if designed and played well they might even get more victories. Thanks for reading!

 

[Zenith]

I'm still cursing about one battle a couple months ago, in which a Ninjask passed to a Togekiss, which passed a Nasty Plot to a Lucario, and I had no way to counter it.

Also, Leafeon can effectively pass Swords Dance, although it can't reach 101 subs.

 

[Mekkah]

Fixed a few mistakes (Whirlwinding, for example). "Purposes" of Pokemon are not capitalized (special wall, not Special Wall).

You should try to read through it yourself, there's quite a few obvious mistakes, a few of which I corrected.

 

[Shiny Crobat]

Umbreon can pass Curse too. It might not be the most efficient passer, because it passes lowered speed. But it can work in the right situation.

 

[Serv]

Knowing how to play the chain and careful team design can throw off an opponent who wasn't familiar with Baton Pass during Advance, and still get victories. They aren't as good as they were in Advance, and this guide will help you make a great Baton Pass team in Diamond and Pearl.

A bit confusing would you mind rephrasing this please?

to the Pokemon that came in as a result of this move.

"comes" over "came".

Most of these learn Substitute

Iirc all of those pokemon can learn Substitute.

expect a physical verison

Typo in "verison" should be "version".

And that's pretty much it. It has extremely low defenses to go along with its low speed, and shitty movepool.

I prefer "sadly" over "and" you could also rephrase that part to something like "Sadly those are the only things going for it" or something like that.

Swords Dance, Agility, Bulk.

Forgot the word "Up" after "Bulk".

Can hit hard and punish Phazers that try and stop him.

"to" over "and".

access to Taunt is what makes him different that the pack.

Capitalize "access" and change "makes him different that the pack" to something like "differentiates him from the others" you could also go with "pack" over "others" if that's what you like.

Togekiss:

Forgot to underline.

or you entire chain might fall apart.

"your" over "you".

outspeed fast Taunters, the fastest being Crobat.

Fastest Taunter is Deoxys-S.

Gliscor is a solid choice do to his ability to counter Tyranitar leads

"due" over "do".

their tradition sweeper roles on a team can threaten Pokes that would actually stop them

A bit confusing if you ask me but anyways "traditional" over "tradition".

If you finisher is mixed, use Swords Dance/ Calm Mind for predominantly physical sets, and Nasty Plot/ Bulk Up for mostly special attacks.

"your" over "you".

Should you Pokes on your be extremely bulky or extremely fast?

"the" over "you" and add "team" in between "your" and "be". Also I don't really like "be extremely bulky or extremely fast" you could rephrase that to something like "extremely bulky or speedy" something like that.

save some boosts in speed.

"those who got" over "some".

vunderable

Typo "vulnerable" over "vunderable".

You skipped Lunatone as a BP user. Same goes with Leafeon and to a lesser extent it's other Eevee-siblings.
Those are the errors I've seen so far. It's not bad good job ^_^.

 

[EvilMario]

I'm still cursing about one battle a couple months ago, in which a Ninjask passed to a Togekiss, which passed a Nasty Plot to a Lucario, and I had no way to counter it.

Also, Leafeon can effectively pass Swords Dance, although it can't reach 101 subs.

Leafeon also has great advantage with Roar, being about to force slow phazer out, hopefully taking some sort of entry damage each time.

Bibarel, who most people will laugh at, is one of the more decent receivers on a Baton Pass chain. With simple, it requires less boost then others, and has Taunt itself if you don't pass In-Grain. Waterfall/Return is a good attacking combination. Focus Punch/Rock Smash for Empoleon if you desire, or a combination of Protect, Taunt, and Amnesia.

My two cents.

 

[maddog]

Ok I corrected the suggested errors, added Leafeon, added a section about Toxic Spikes, and read through most of it again. Thanks for the help everybody.

@EvilMario: The number of boosts don't really matter on a Baton Pass chain, because you should be able to get maximum on pretty much everything. Also Bibarel is pretty weak offensively (to give perspective, Lucario needs Close Combat to ensure it gets all the KOs it needs, even with Life Orb and +6 attack). Bibarel is also weak to Toxic Spikes, something that can really screw a Sweeper up.

 

[kd24]

Missed some baton passers such as jolteon (sub + agility + Wish), Flareon (Sub + Curse + Wish), Ledian (Although novelty does provide swords dance and agility), Lopunny, Medicham who can recieve the pass but also keep the chain alive with his own baton pass + bulk up and calm mind.

I would add something on mew for uber baton pass teams since he can pass any stat.

Add some more hazers such as Blastoise, politoad, and quagsire.

Add Venomoth as a toxic spikes user as I see him occasionally used for that.

Add Mamoswine and Weavile (Ice Shard) to common priority users.

Mr. Mime is not a requirement for a BP team like he was in Adv. I would say Gliscor is used more on BP chains them him so I would maybe get rid of how much of a neccessity he is. Smeargle is the only one you need as perish song can be blocked by sub and ingrain will deal with roarers anyway.

 

[Pulse]

Just as I did in KD24's guide, I changed the sets a little bit; only the format. I made them match the format of the Uber Battling Guide, along with making all EVs divisible by four. Not sure how much the latter is necessary, but it's been easier to comprehend by my standards. But the changes from "nature" to "Nature" and "Spd" to "Spe" and the like of are necessary and should be modified. Nice guide maddog!

Example Team

Zapdos @ Lum Berry
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Spe / 152 SpD
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Agility
- Baton Pass
- Thunderbolt
- Substitute

---

Smeargle @ Shed Shell
Trait: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Ingrain
- Spore
- Substitute
- Baton Pass

---

Scizor @ Leftovers
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 Spe
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Baton Pass
- Iron Defense
- Iron Head

---

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 192 HP / 252 Def / 60 Spe
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Ice Beam
- Wish

---

Mr. Mime @ Leftovers
Trait: Soundproof
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 54 Spe / 100 SpD
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Baton Pass
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot

---

Lucario @ Life Orb
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 196 Spe / 60 SpA
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Bullet Punch

 

[timw06]

Ready to go on the site? I'll be merging in Pulse's changes when I convert it to xhtml.

 

[rkatzam]

Mr. Mime is not a requirement for a BP team like he was in Adv. I would say Gliscor is used more on BP chains them him so I would maybe get rid of how much of a neccessity he is. Smeargle is the only one you need as perish song can be blocked by sub and ingrain will deal with roarers anyway.

Substitute does not block Perish Song, which is why Mr.Mime still has an important role in a BP team. Taunt can be used of course, but it's not a solution because not every poke has it.

 

[gec]

Mawile: Swords Dance, Stockpile, Iron Defense. It stands out as the only Baton Passer that also sports a great resistance to Rock. It can use this advantage to stop your team from dying to random Stone Edges. It also has access to Sing, and Intimate. A great choice for your team.

Intimidate > Intimate.

 

[chaos]

Ready to go on the site? I'll be merging in Pulse's changes when I convert it to xhtml.

It'd be nice if more people weighed in whether they think the content is good enough to go on the site.

 

[cim]

Eh, I don't think there's only one way to do BP in DP. There's the traditional "ingrain and sub and calm mind and gah!" chains that kinda work, but I've found a simple Swords Dance and Rock Polish chain with Vaporeon and Gliscor to counter stuff like Garchomp and Lucario works best.

Leafeon is extremely underrated for BP chains. It can easily 2HKO Tyranitar, it's fast, and has Roar to abuse. On my oddball BP chain team he's one of the most essential team players.

Isn't it probably better to boost one offensive stat rather than both? Boosting both takes more time, and BP chains should be as fast as possible.

Close Combat seems kinda stupid if you're boosting defenses.

Drifblim is really good for chains too, with ridiculous Substitutes and Hypnosis.

Giving the recipient Baton Pass in a chain with more offensive moves is a good idea; that way you can revenge kill something, get out of the way, then boost some more and return to sweeping. (coughcoughmedicham)

 

[maddog]

So yeah I updated some stuff, including the way Pulse posted the team.

Eh, I don't think there's only one way to do BP in DP. There's the traditional "ingrain and sub and calm mind and gah!" chains that kinda work, but I've found a simple Swords Dance and Rock Polish chain with Vaporeon and Gliscor to counter stuff like Garchomp and Lucario works best.

Personally, I have had alot of success with Gliscor/ Celebi passing to Rock Polish Metagross, and sweeping that way. But this article has more focus on the entire chain, which is why I have the focus on Ingrain/ Mr. Mime and what not.

Leafeon is extremely underrated for BP chains. It can easily 2HKO Tyranitar, it's fast, and has Roar to abuse. On my oddball BP chain team he's one of the most essential team players.

Added that note.

Isn't it probably better to boost one offensive stat rather than both? Boosting both takes more time, and BP chains should be as fast as possible.

Personally I agree, which is why I use Phyical Lucario (with HP Ice, but I need the Calm Mind support anyway). I just wanted to keep it kind of open to the reader so they could decide for themselves. I'll probably add that note though.

Close Combat seems kinda stupid if you're boosting defenses.

Meh, I kinda have to use it because Brick Break isn't quite powerful enough to down the Hippo

Drifblim is really good for chains too, with ridiculous Substitutes and Hypnosis.

I totally agree. Does my current description do him justice?

Giving the recipient Baton Pass in a chain with more offensive moves is a good idea; that way you can revenge kill something, get out of the way, then boost some more and return to sweeping. (coughcoughmedicham)

Interesting idea, I can add that. Thanks for your input.

 

[Arseus]

Introduction

While there may be more phazers in D/P, many of this (replace with "these") Pokemon forgo their phazing move for more useful options. Knowing how to play the chain and designing your team carefully can throw off an opponent who aren't (should be "an opponent who isn't", or "opponents who aren't") familiar with Baton Pass teams. A Baton Pass chain still get victories. They aren't as good as they were in Advance, so this guide will help you make a great Baton Pass team in Diamond and Pearl.


Know your passers

Here is a list of the viable Baton Passers in D/P, and how they can support a Baton Pass chain. All of them have access to Substitute, but I just mentioned the one's(remove the apostrophe) that can make bulky Substitutes that can survive a Seismic Toss. The goal of the team is to pass enough boost (should be "boosts") to a receiver, who will kill all of your opponent's Pokemon.

Just a few errors I found at the beginning while skimming through. My fixes are in Bold Underline. Agreeing that Mew deserves a mention for Ubers.

 

[maddog]

Thanks Arseus. I'll go ahead and write up something for Mew real quick as well.

EDIT: According to my experience and my tutoree's experience, the sample team works really well.

 

[Jimbo]

Does the Bullet Punch on Lucario do anything interesting other than hitting Scarf Aero? Maybe you could say something about how it hits Weavile and other priority users...

Also, I think Spiritomb deserves a mention under common priority users, most 'Tombs I've faced use Sucker Punch.

Edit: Forgot to say it's a great guide :x Nice job.

 

[maddog]

Does the Bullet Punch on Lucario do anything interesting other than hitting Scarf Aero? Maybe you could say something about how it hits Weavile and other priority users...

Also, I think Spiritomb deserves a mention under common priority users, most 'Tombs I've faced use Sucker Punch.

Edit: Forgot to say it's a great guide :x Nice job.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll go ahead and add Spiritomb to priority users, and I'll say why I use Bullet Punch. Glad you liked the guide.

 

[Famine]

Never knew hypno could baton pass, always pictured it just kinda sitting there with butterfree in my pc

 

[matty]

Good guide maddy

Under Counters
-Haze: Although rare, Tentacruel sometimes carry Haze (happened recently to me)
-Taunt: dunno if you covered this else where but anything that has taunt and has mediocre speed will really kill a bp team. Ex. Gyarados/Mismagius

Another over looked BPer is Gorebyss: having the ability to set defenses - including substitute, barrier, amnesia along with offensive passing inagility, she is a good pseudo-baton-wall along with being a decent dragon counter and bulky water (with stat ups of course). The only thing she truely lacks is sub-par HP and medium stats in Sp. Def

 

[Caelum]

Introduction
Ariados: It gets Spider Web/ Baton Pass, has Insomnia, Agility, and can clear Toxic Spikes off the field. Sadly, those are the only things that it has going for it. It has extremely low defenses to go along with its low speed, and shitty movepool.

Any suggestions?

One little thing, I would remove the word "shitty." It's true and it's fine to say for a post on the forum but something that goes on site should be professional sounding, in my opinion, and it doesn't sound very professional. The rest of the guide seems to be of that nature so I would probably change it for another word, even just a simple "poor" would do.

I've actually made a pretty successful Baton Pass chain, 80 something percent win rate (I keep track I just can't find where I left it), credit goes to Obi for giving me some inspiration by PMing me his old Baton Pass team which outclasses mine entirely. Baton pass teams are very difficult, or at least more difficult to do when compared to advanced, to pull off. Anyway, just some opinions on the guide. First off, it's a good resource and you covered the basics and even more. I know this is mentioned in the guide but I don't think it's emphasized enough, that being, the usefulness of the move Spider Web (I use Smeargle for this). On my team, if I Spider Web something like Blissey, right then and there I know it's "good game." Really, if you trap a wall with Spider Web your BP chain becomes nearly unstoppable. While I don't know Obi's opinions on this move I would be interested as I think he would similarly testify to the usefulness of this move. I didn't used to use Spider Web but after I did I would never go back, it is really that great of a move. I really think this needs to be emphasized just slightly more. You say something like "it's extremely useful, but by no means required" or something, but I think it deserves the explanation of how by trapping a wall it can be game-deciding in your favor. It may sound ridiculous that I'm harping on this, but I really think it's that great of a move for entire BP Chains to have.

One other thing, under "How To Beat Baton Pass Chains" you should probably include Encore as a possible way to beat it. For example, if I Encore Mr. Mime using Calm Mind I can go to something like SD Garchomp, Mr. Mime either has to switch out giving up all his boosts or he's trapped in In-grain and Garchomp get's to SD up and destroy Mr. Mime. This is a perfectly feasible way to beat a BP team in my opinion and should be added to this list.

Overall, great guide though.

 

[matty]

One other thing, under "How To Beat Baton Pass Chains" you should probably include Encore as a possible way to beat it. For example, if I Encore Mr. Mime using Calm Mind I can go to something like SD Garchomp, Mr. Mime either has to switch out giving up all his boosts or he's trapped in In-grain and Garchomp get's to SD up and destroy Mr. Mime. This is a perfectly feasible way to beat a BP team in my opinion and should be added to this list.

the best way I've found to combat Encored moves is to just keep Baton Passing. When Wobb comes in, basically your only option is to Baton Pass 8 times to stop Encore, and then after that you are free to do what you please.

I agree Encore needs to be listed as a "How To Beat Baton Pass Chains" but the explanation I gave (quiet simple and not well written) should probably be added to it as well.

@Caelum: i would love to compare your Baton Pass team with mine sometime. I've always had an inkling of trying Ariados, but I'm not sure what spot it would fill. PM me sometime

 

[maddog]

One little thing, I would remove the word "shitty." It's true and it's fine to say for a post on the forum but something that goes on site should be professional sounding, in my opinion, and it doesn't sound very professional. The rest of the guide seems to be of that nature so I would probably change it for another word, even just a simple "poor" would do.

I've actually made a pretty successful Baton Pass chain, 80 something percent win rate (I keep track I just can't find where I left it), credit goes to Obi for giving me some inspiration by PMing me his old Baton Pass team which outclasses mine entirely. Baton pass teams are very difficult, or at least more difficult to do when compared to advanced, to pull off. Anyway, just some opinions on the guide. First off, it's a good resource and you covered the basics and even more. I know this is mentioned in the guide but I don't think it's emphasized enough, that being, the usefulness of the move Spider Web (I use Smeargle for this). On my team, if I Spider Web something like Blissey, right then and there I know it's "good game." Really, if you trap a wall with Spider Web your BP chain becomes nearly unstoppable. While I don't know Obi's opinions on this move I would be interested as I think he would similarly testify to the usefulness of this move. I didn't used to use Spider Web but after I did I would never go back, it is really that great of a move. I really think this needs to be emphasized just slightly more. You say something like "it's extremely useful, but by no means required" or something, but I think it deserves the explanation of how by trapping a wall it can be game-deciding in your favor. It may sound ridiculous that I'm harping on this, but I really think it's that great of a move for entire BP Chains to have.

One other thing, under "How To Beat Baton Pass Chains" you should probably include Encore as a possible way to beat it. For example, if I Encore Mr. Mime using Calm Mind I can go to something like SD Garchomp, Mr. Mime either has to switch out giving up all his boosts or he's trapped in In-grain and Garchomp get's to SD up and destroy Mr. Mime. This is a perfectly feasible way to beat a BP team in my opinion and should be added to this list.

Overall, great guide though.

Nice to hear some opinions on how useful a BP team is overall from a new person (right now its just me testing stuff and matty). As for Spider Web, I will give it a greater mention. In ADV Umberon was a beast because of Mean Look trapping, so I'll go ahead and give a greater mention.

As for Encore, matty mentioned the way I beat it. I'll go ahead and mention it in the guide, because it can really screw you up if you aren't prepared for it. I BP out and go to Zapdos, so Pressure kills 2 of Encore's 8 PP. I'll keep passing to something, then Zapdos, until they switch out or run out of PP.

As for Aridos, he really does have alot going for him, but the low stats have a way of me giving him a negative mention. I'll go ahead and edit the description to show that he can be good in a right situation, and the support he can provide is unmatched if you are careful.

 

[Toothache]

This guide needs more mention of my favourite move, this being Snatch. Not only is it useful for countering Baton Pass chains, by Snatching their stat-ups, but there are a few viable users of the Baton Pass + Snatch combo, a rarely seen but underrated move pair.

A quick list of those that can learn Snatch + Baton Pass:
Mr Mime
Mew
Umbreon
Ambipom
Hypno
Spinda
Chimecho
Absol