Format Discussion Pokemon Sword & Shield Random Battle Sets

[DracoRage]

Some things to adress that I have seen lately

- Rapidash doesn't need Heavy Duty Boots, it benefits far more from Life Orb or Band - AFAIK, Rapidash doesn't currently have a band set, tho. It's already frail enough and it needs as much power as it needs. Boots provides no benefit in a mon that isn't switching in more than once or twice to pick off KOs.
- Snorlax is still the Gigantamax version. With its only berry set being Curselax with Chesto-Rest, it means that its choice band and leftovers set have no use for the gigantamax version - and I have definitely faced setup wars where I would have benefitted far more from slowing down a swift swimmer/dragon dancer with Max Strike than the non-existent effect of G-Max Replenish. Consider changing it to normal dynamax Snorlax, G-Max Snorlax is far better with specific berry sets and in doubles.
- Roost in Drampa has so far done nothing that I would appreciate. Glare is a far more powerful support option.
- Ancient Power in Aurorus is stupid. Blizzard hits almost as hard in resistances as Ancient Power does in neutral. Fire resistances are hit as hard by Earth Power, which also has double the chance to decrease SpDef. Ancient Power's only target is Articuno and opposing Ice Types. Ancient Power is so ridiculously weak that Stone Edge hits harder despite Aurorus having base 77 atk.

85 Atk Aurorus Stone Edge vs. 85 HP / 85 Def Mew: 70-84 (23.4 - 28.1%) -- 87.9% chance to 4HKO
85 SpA Aurorus Ancient Power vs. 85 HP / 85 SpD Mew: 51-61 (17.1 - 20.4%) -- possible 5HKO

 

[breh]

Pokemon with recovery and a SR weakness get heavy duty boots. This is why you'll see pokemon like arcanine get hdb morning sun. Rapidash has value in its speed tier alone, so it's not awful that it doesn't have some sort of boosting item, especially given a high BP on its STAB. It also helps to not rack up LO + flare blitz recoil + hazards damage. CB would probably be a set like flare blitz / wild charge / high horsepower / megahorn, but you also have to wonder whether this would be a better set than just LO SD, which it will afaik also get.

Conversely, if it really is that undesirable you could just place a bulk cap on sr weak + recovery for HDB.

Good point on Ancient Power. Stone edge is kinda bad, but there's other interesting crap you could throw in that slot (or delete entirely). Rock Tomb is one option.

 

[pokeblade101]

Some things to adress that I have seen lately

- Rapidash doesn't need Heavy Duty Boots, it benefits far more from Life Orb or Band - AFAIK, Rapidash doesn't currently have a band set, tho. It's already frail enough and it needs as much power as it needs. Boots provides no benefit in a mon that isn't switching in more than once or twice to pick off KOs.
- Snorlax is still the Gigantamax version. With its only berry set being Curselax with Chesto-Rest, it means that its choice band and leftovers set have no use for the gigantamax version - and I have definitely faced setup wars where I would have benefitted far more from slowing down a swift swimmer/dragon dancer with Max Strike than the non-existent effect of G-Max Replenish. Consider changing it to normal dynamax Snorlax, G-Max Snorlax is far better with specific berry sets and in doubles.
- Roost in Drampa has so far done nothing that I would appreciate. Glare is a far more powerful support option.
- Ancient Power in Aurorus is stupid. Blizzard hits almost as hard in resistances as Ancient Power does in neutral. Fire resistances are hit as hard by Earth Power, which also has double the chance to decrease SpDef. Ancient Power's only target is Articuno and opposing Ice Types. Ancient Power is so ridiculously weak that Stone Edge hits harder despite Aurorus having base 77 atk.

85 Atk Aurorus Stone Edge vs. 85 HP / 85 Def Mew: 70-84 (23.4 - 28.1%) -- 87.9% chance to 4HKO
85 SpA Aurorus Ancient Power vs. 85 HP / 85 SpD Mew: 51-61 (17.1 - 20.4%) -- possible 5HKO

HBD is very useful on a grounded fire type and considering the sticky webs going around it will be helpful.

good point on snorlax and roost drampa is good because it can be used defensively or to get multiple berserk boosts.

ancient power allows for specs unless we wanna give it tbolt instead

 

[breh]

aurorus is probably more valuable as a sr setter that hits decently hard with blizzard / offers freeze dry + also has speed control via twave than as a pokemon with choice specs.

 

[SparksBlade]

i propose we call 4 mons with choice items "too much"

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[The Immortal]

i propose we call 4 mons with choice items "too much"

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View attachment 231252

Not sure what you're expecting. Random Battle does not build perfect teams with each mon fulfilling roles...

 

[SparksBlade]

Not sure what you're expecting. Random Battle does not build perfect teams with each mon fulfilling roles...

I know, but 2/3rd of my team shouldn't require me to click perfectly. I don't compare it to having 4 water types+no ground type and running into an electric type. 4 mons with choice items is incredibly restricting in what I can do, pretty much irrespective of what my opponent's team is.

 

[pokeblade101]

I didn't know TI had two personal hells.

How much longer til randbats just become Battle Factory team generation? Multiple choiced items arent actually bad if you play them well or they arent crappy mons. btw putting more and more restrictions on teams causes teams to have a higher chance of looking the same. This is at least better than multiple weaknesses.

 

[DracoRage]

I don't think limiting choice items to 3 mons on the same team is unreasonable. Dynamax provides a way to turn those choice items into advantages down the line, and while it is true that a team with 3-4 choice items can be salvaged by high level play, it is also true that a lot of mons with choice items on randoms are complete trash or fail to do anything relevant with their choice items that they wouldn't do with another item. Implementing a hard limit so the mons get another item when you somehow hit 3 choice mons should be easy enough, unlike trying to implement a weakness system.

 

[breh]

a lot of mons with choice items on randoms are complete trash

I keep forgetting to mention scarf mew, but this is the case for scarf mew, lol

Scarf is awful, especially compared to LO 3 attacks, LO 4 attacks, or CB even.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

I may not play Rand Bats, but I keep seeing people here talk about Battle Factory and reducing the chance of being dicked over as if those ideas are some sorts of bogeymen, so I figured this old Hackmons Cup main should give his perspective.

Rand Bats would have to undergo extreme changes to before it even begins to resemble Battle Factory. Battle Factory has team preview, every Pokemon in a given game are in the same tier (plus some mons that are viable despite being lower tier), and all the sets come from predetermined pools instead of being dynamically generated. Taking measures avoid a player getting fucked over because their entire team was choice locked or weak to Dark is not going to send Rand Bats on a slippery slope towards monotonous homogeneity. If you're that scared of balance considerations, you might be better off migrating to Hackmons Cup.

 

[pokeblade101]

I may not play Rand Bats, but I keep seeing people here talk about Battle Factory and reducing the chance of being dicked over as if those ideas are some sorts of bogeymen, so I figured this old Hackmons Cup main should give his perspective.

Rand Bats would have to undergo extreme changes to before it even begins to resemble Battle Factory. Battle Factory has team preview, every Pokemon in a given game are in the same tier (plus some mons that are viable despite being lower tier), and all the sets come from predetermined pools instead of being dynamically generated. Taking measures avoid a player getting fucked over because their entire team was choice locked or weak to Dark is not going to send Rand Bats on a slippery slope towards monotonous homogeneity. If you're that scared of balance considerations, you might be better off migrating to Hackmons Cup.

I was not even talking about it being battle factory. I'm talking about the teams being generated similarly like they are suppose to be balanced. I don't mind balance suggestions but making teams not weak to a type will cause issues (BF doesnt even do this either) and theres nothing really wrong with multiple choiced mons

 

[Shadowdreamie777]

Excuse me, is Regigigas fine with level 84? I find it very difficult to play against with the stall set

 

[pokeblade101]

The level of the pokemon not in sword and shield are based upon their previous tier placements in gen 7 where PU is lvl 84 and so on. Regigigas was PU and thats what makes it lvl 84. Not sure how much would be done with it due except making it lvl 80 instead but the set is pretty wallable with the right mons. It's just annoying to play against.

 

[ArtinKernel]

suggestion: add focus sash marshadow (assuming it's not already there-- I've never seen it)! that would synergize really well with spectral thief, letting you tank a single hit from say a shell smasher, steal their boosts, then counter-sweep. also why does marshadow not always get spectral thief? technician shadow sneak often isn't enough to KO things it needs to KO. I'm also kinda curious about what in general gets focus sash. I see it more on offensive mons like exca, gengar, and gardevoir than on hazard setters like froslass, ribombee, and accelgor, but I feel like this second class of mons like it equally well; it lets accelgor nearly always guarantee 2 layers of spikes, for instance.

 

[pokeblade101]

suggestion: add focus sash marshadow (assuming it's not already there-- I've never seen it)! that would synergize really well with spectral thief, letting you tank a single hit from say a shell smasher, steal their boosts, then counter-sweep. also why does marshadow not always get spectral thief? technician shadow sneak often isn't enough to KO things it needs to KO. I'm also kinda curious about what in general gets focus sash. I see it more on offensive mons like exca, gengar, and gardevoir than on hazard setters like froslass, ribombee, and accelgor, but I feel like this second class of mons like it equally well; it lets accelgor nearly always guarantee 2 layers of spikes, for instance.

Focus sash Marshadow exists when it is the lead pokemon. Interesting suggestion although I think marshadow benefits more than Life Orb and Band considering it's level nerf. It still exists albeit only if it is the first pokemon.

Focus sash is generated on lead pokemon who don't satisfy the minimum bulk. (I believe it is if HP + DEF + SPDEF < 270?). The pokemon you listed are all relatively frail mons so they get sash. Note: they aren't guaranteed to get sash if they are the lead pokemon though

 

[breh]

roar on arcanine is trash that makes you lose to pokemon you shouldn't be losing to by eating a moveslot

I want to reiterate that lead sash defog is awful

 

[Louna]

hey im not sure if thats the right place, but i just played a random battle game, and here is what i got

Hide

i might be wrong, but i'm pretty sure kingdra actually does not get hurricane

 

[A Cake Wearing A Hat]

hey im not sure if thats the right place, but i just played a random battle game, and here is what i got

Hide

View attachment 232483

i might be wrong, but i'm pretty sure kingdra actually does not get hurricane

https://www.serebii.net/swordshield/hometm.shtml

Randbats uses Pokemon Home TM/TR data for the Pokemon revealed to be returning in the DLCs. Kingdra is of these and learns TR89, Hurricane.

 

[CoolMan6001]

https://www.serebii.net/swordshield/hometm.shtml

Randbats uses Pokemon Home TM/TR data for the Pokemon revealed to be returning in the DLCs. Kingdra is of these and learns TR89, Hurricane.

What's the policy behind this decision? (considering NatDex doesn't use these) And how can you verify all of these are accurate?

 

[A Cake Wearing A Hat]

What's the policy behind this decision? (considering NatDex doesn't use these) And how can you verify all of these are accurate?

randbats dev wanted to have a place to use the cool new things so they're here.

 

[Adeleine]

can we have special / mixed xern? having your only possible stab be 90% accuracy, with no chance of bluffing special, is not hot

i imagine the possibilities would be moonblast / psychic if only adding enough for mixed, or moonblast / psyshock / thunderbolt and or focus blast if adding enough for full special


re choice items, double scarf in particular makes makes me feel pretty bad. the need to predict for band/specs is not as strong since even resisted choice hits take chunks out of things, but having to lock into often piss-weak moves on ⅓ of my team is unpleasant. idk if worth forbidding though. and i'd be fine with band band specs scarf or band specs specs scarf

 

[PrAiSe GrOuDoNiSm]

play rough is illegal on bulu in natdex, so why is it legal in randbats? apologies if someone already posted about it earlier

Replay

 

[A Cake Wearing A Hat]

National dex's ruleset is completely irrelevant to random battles and will never be used as a precedent for random battles; randbats uses Pokemon home TM/TR data because we can.

 

[Piplz]

Is there any particular reason Snorlax is a gmax variant rather than a regular dynamax? As far as I can tell, every mon that has a dynamax form picks that one over the regular form, but it doesn't seem to make sense here? I can't remember any moveset having any berry to prefer using G-Max Replenish over Max Strike.