Resource Simple Questions, Simple Answers Thread (read the op before posting a thread)

Simply put, when you only use 3 members of your team, there's a lot more risk/reward to it. If I pick Raikou and the opponent doesn't use something Raikou performs well against, that's a mediocre use of the team slot. It makes it very important for the Pokemon to perform well in general rather than against particular top threats, since you can't guarantee you'll face them just because they're in the preview.

Is Hidden Power Fire any good on Magearna? Or any Hidden Power for that matter?
HP Fire's alright for Magearna, given its STABs would have some issue with opposing Steel Types. HP Fire for the usual candidates like Ferrothorn, HP Ground can be considered for Alolan Marowak and Magnezone lures.
 
HP Fire's alright for Magearna, given its STABs would have some issue with opposing Steel Types. HP Fire for the usual candidates like Ferrothorn, HP Ground can be considered for Alolan Marowak and Magnezone lures.
The only catch is that it gets Aura Sphere and Shadow Ball, plus the AV set (that I'm using, anyway) isn't even 2HKOed by Mag and takes a pittance from Ferro and Scizor. Eh, I guess I won't bother going for the SR.
 
I just caught a HP Fire Xurkitree... is there anything in the tier worth using HP Fire for that doesn't get 2HKOed by its STAB or coverage?
 
I just caught a HP Fire Xurkitree... is there anything in the tier worth using HP Fire for that doesn't get 2HKOed by its STAB or coverage?
Ferrothorn immediately comes to mind. Maybe Magnezone (though it's not like Magnezone can do much to Xurkitree either)? Ferrothorn is probably the main one, though.
 
First of all, thanks for your answers :)

But could you elaborate on this a bit more? I'm well aware that Battle Spot is run by Nintendo and that some Pokemon are good in BS but bad in OU and vice versa, hence the tiering differences. But my question is, why do Pokemon work so differently in these 2 different metas? You technically have to create a good team consisting of 6 Pokemon in both OU and BS. The only difference is that in BS, you choose 3 Pokemon to fight with after seeing the opponent's team. What difference does that make? Take Raikou for example. Raikou might have to deal with the same counters in both BS and OU. And since these counters are too troublesome at the moment, Raikou isn't used in OU. It is used in BS though. Why? Is it because if you only have to beat 3 Pokemon, it's sturdy enough to do its job? Or are 3-Pokemon teams easier to handle in general? But if so, why are some Pokemon (e.g. Alakazam) good in OU but not even listed in BS? So it's not like it's easier for every Pokemon to be good in BS than in OU. I'm just wondering what the exact circumstances are that make the tiering lists so different.
Battle Spot and Ou also have some considerably different mechancs, such as the presence of a timer, evasion, and item clause in battle spot. Banning any pre gen-6 pokemon also changes some things movepools. 3v3 vs 6v6 also has some side effects on viability, such as it being better to bring two megas when you pick 3 mons out of 6 to use, versus having to use a pokemon with a useless item. Or bringing a dedicated suicide lead when you only have two other pokemon. In addition the banlist changes seem to generally push the tier towards a more offensive and centralized format than ou typically resembles (notably mega salamence and gengar). So in general viability doesn't seem like it'd neccessarily always be the same in both, similarly to how ou and doubles ou have very different viability ratings due to mechanical differences and different banlists.

I honestly do not know exactly what Raikou does in BSS, but it's in the bottom rank of that viability rating with things like glalie, and I assume it isn't exactly setting the world on fire in BSS. In general Raikou has almost no traits that give it an advantage over tapu koko, and I'm not totally sure why it's ranked unless access to extrasensory lets it get past mega venusaur or something.

Base alakazam isn't actually on either viability rating, and I'm assuming mega isn't on BSS's viabillity rating largely due to competition from megas not allowed in smogon ou. Also running lele+zam in BSS at the same time would leave you with one slot remaining to check things that threaten both, so I feel like it might be harder to actually pick both pokemon for one match.

It's also worth noting that viability ratings are (to some extent) subjective and imperfect, so there's variance between them, and they shift over the course of the metagame as people discover new sets, and things fall in or out of favor. Also BSS on smogon forums isn't exactly the most active area, and that thread has like seven total discussion posts.
 
Is there a mixed defensive Bronzong set out there, perhaps from SPL or something? I keep hearing about a set that's Relaxed 252 HP / 132 Def / 124 SpD, but I have no idea what benchmarks it hits.
 

AM

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Is there a difference between a wall breaker and a stall breaker or are they the same thing.
technically a wallbreaker applies to a role based on how it handles threats on a singular level or what it excels at. Example: choice band terrakion can be classified as a wallbreaker based on its brute strength to beat walls like tangrowth. Stallbreakers normally refer to a mon who excels at tackling the stall archetype. Example would be togekiss who predominatently has a good stall matchup but with some exceptions.

In battle theyre sometimes interchangeable though and its better to not get too caught up on defining a role for a mon in regards to building.
 
I was wondering if dragonite is still useful in the current metagame, or if it totally gets outclassed by garchomp. I've been trying out and looking up some stuff, but could really use an experts opinion.
 
I was wondering if dragonite is still useful in the current metagame, or if it totally gets outclassed by garchomp. I've been trying out and looking up some stuff, but could really use an experts opinion.
Dragonite is a pretty good pokemon, still able to setup & sweep! I was laddering with a dragonite team and I can claim that it doesn't gets outclassed by mence or chomp since his movepool/ability are both pretty interesting.
Lemme pass you an importable version of my dragonite:

Code:
Dragonite @ Flyinium Z 
Ability: Multiscale 
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe 
Adamant Nature 
- Dragon Dance 
- Fly 
- Earthquake / fire punch
- Extreme Speed
 
Hello Everyone... I have a question...Firstly the following incident is my experience on PokeShowdown

so,
I was using the stratergy of Ninjask as a substitute-speed boost-baton passer...and was doing pretty good untill today...
when during my match with some other user a bunch of spectators started abusing me....saying the stratergy is spam and a cheat and they will report me and blah blah....

So I got a little worried...im not getting any message from the mods or anything....but I still wanna know...is it really cheating...and Should I switch to some other stratergy...
 
Hello Everyone... I have a question...Firstly the following incident is my experience on PokeShowdown

so,
I was using the stratergy of Ninjask as a substitute-speed boost-baton passer...and was doing pretty good untill today...
when during my match with some other user a bunch of spectators started abusing me....saying the stratergy is spam and a cheat and they will report me and blah blah....

So I got a little worried...im not getting any message from the mods or anything....but I still wanna know...is it really cheating...and Should I switch to some other stratergy...
It sounds like they were salty. Baton Pass, although not my cup of tea, is a viable strategy on offensive teams. If it was banned, you would be prevented from doing it while in match.
 
Hello Everyone... I have a question...Firstly the following incident is my experience on PokeShowdown

so,
I was using the stratergy of Ninjask as a substitute-speed boost-baton passer...and was doing pretty good untill today...
when during my match with some other user a bunch of spectators started abusing me....saying the stratergy is spam and a cheat and they will report me and blah blah....

So I got a little worried...im not getting any message from the mods or anything....but I still wanna know...is it really cheating...and Should I switch to some other stratergy...
Why use Ninjask when Scolipede exists?
 
Dragonite is a pretty good pokemon, still able to setup & sweep! I was laddering with a dragonite team and I can claim that it doesn't gets outclassed by mence or chomp since his movepool/ability are both pretty interesting.
Lemme pass you an importable version of my dragonite:

Code:
Dragonite @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Fly
- Earthquake / fire punch
- Extreme Speed
Thanks. Is adamant preferred over jolly though?
 
Is scolipede better?...okay...then I will switch it to him
Well I'm a noob actually...and started competitive like 2 months ago...so Im still learning the abcd...
Scolipede @ Black Sludge
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Protect
- Megahorn / Poison Jab / Earthquake


This is the Scolipede set in the Analysis. As for the rest of the team, do check out the OU VR Rankings and the OU Set VR Rankings.
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sm-ou-viability-ranking-thread.3590726/
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sm-ou-sets-viability-rankings.3592113/
 
Scolipede @ Black Sludge
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Protect
- Megahorn / Poison Jab / Earthquake


This is the Scolipede set in the Analysis. As for the rest of the team, do check out the OU VR Rankings and the OU Set VR Rankings.
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sm-ou-viability-ranking-thread.3590726/
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sm-ou-sets-viability-rankings.3592113/
Okay~ Thanks for the Reply...
 
Thanks. Is adamant preferred over jolly though?
Yes adamant is much more useful considering the amount of rolls that you can avoid by playing this nature. Basically, you have to keep momentum and end game sweep with a your dragon dancer dragonite, your speed will be excellent right after a dragon dance even if you're running the adamant version.

Have fun playing this Pokémon!
 

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