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

TPP

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Head TD
Indigo and I got a bit busy and eventually forgot about it. We had intended to look at tournament battles and review them like we did for the 2 games on that thread, but Leo and Finch are actually doing that now with some of the SPL games in the SPL Discussion thread and hopefully will for the duration of SPL. After that we'll have to see. I would say that After Action Report has a nice concept, but there's a severe lack of activity for people to share replays and go over them in public, which is partially why we were planning on posting about tournament battles. I'd be down to have it revived and I might look into it after SPL is over, though it would be nice to have more than 1 person post their own replay per year.

So the answer is yes it's technically in use, but also no in that the activity for that thread is rock bottom and has caused the thread to look dead for a long time.
 
Where can I get actual help on how to construct teams with ease whenever I go to make a team? I've read all sorts of resources and nothing seems to help me. I've also played for about 5 years and still don't understand how to make a good team. Am I just supposed to copy teams from others then?

I'm at a frustrating point in time right now where I can't ladder up unless I have a team that's actually decent. But since I suck at making teams, I can only get to 1700's in OU. Imagine if I could make teams?
 

Indigo Plateau

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Where can I get actual help on how to construct teams with ease whenever I go to make a team? I've read all sorts of resources and nothing seems to help me. I've also played for about 5 years and still don't understand how to make a good team. Am I just supposed to copy teams from others then?

I'm at a frustrating point in time right now where I can't ladder up unless I have a team that's actually decent. But since I suck at making teams, I can only get to 1700's in OU. Imagine if I could make teams?
I think a lot of people tend to struggle with building, even some high level tournament players, and since I do my fair share of building, I'd be happy to give you some pointers. I usually find it easiest when I choose a core consisting of the Pokemon that I want to build around + what I think is the best partner for it. Building with a core of two Pokemon is always easier for me than one. Some resources that I tend to enjoy using after I've selected a specific core are the on-site analysis for both Pokemon, the viability ranking thread, and the /ds command on Showdown.

The first thing that you should keep in mind after selecting a core is what your team still needs; some things that I always have in my teams (generally) are: a Steel-type, a Ground-type, Stealth Rock, hazard removal, Ground-type immunity, and Speed control. Next, you should be aware of what your core is weak to. If you start out with a core of say, Mega Alakazam + Ash-Greninja, then you need counterplay to the likes of Magearna, Tapu Bulu, etc. The on-site analysis (if updated) is useful because under team options, you can get good ideas of what Pokemon pair well with your initial core. The VR is also useful because you can quickly run through it to identify some key Pokemon in the tier that you might be weak to. Don't overdo this - you only have two Pokemon, so identify major threats to the team (5-6 is what I usually do) and then move on.

So now that you have an initial core and a list of a few Pokemon that you struggle with, it's time to cover the roles that are in bold above. I like building on Showdown because you can use the /ds command to list out all the Pokemon that fill the specific role you're looking to cover. If you want a rocker, for example, you can do: "/ds Stealth Rock, ou|uubl|uu, all". This will give you a list of all the Pokemon in OU, UUBL, and UU that learn Stealth Rock. Using this list with the on-site analysis/VR is a good way to find what Pokemon fit your team and help you out with the threats you listed. With an initial core of Mega Alakazam + Ash-Greninja you might wanna use Heatran, as it's a good way of pressuring bulky Steel- and Grass-types that your initial core might struggle with, but you might stay away from Chansey since it's too passive for the offensive core.

Now you have Mega Alakazam + Ash-Greninja + Heatran, but you still need a Ground-type, hazard remover, and Speed control. Rinse and repeat the process above: list out some Pokemon that might still annoy your current team members, use the /ds command to see what Pokemon fit the criteria above, and so on. It might seem a bit tedious at first, but it's a good way to get used to building, and after a while, you'll be able to put the pieces together in your head. After you're done with a rough draft of your team, test it - I can't stress this enough. A team might seem good on paper but might not be good in practice or vice versa, so testing and adjusting it is very important.

Hope this helped and lmk if I was unclear anywhere! This is still a process I use when I'm struggling to find a solid build off the top of my head and it never fails to help me out. Remember to practice because the more you do, the easier it gets over time! Good luck :toast:
 

TPP

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Guadenara27
You go into the main chat and type in /ds (which means dex search) and then something like the name of a move, or a type (like Ground or Water), and then the tier(s).

159452


For multiple tiers you add a | in between the tiers like below:
159453


Other option would be to go into teambuilder itself and then type in something like "Stealth Rock" or "Steel" to get a filter for stealth rock users or Steel-types. You can add on multiple filters and then also sort them by a stat like Speed.
159454


Hope this helps!
 

Colonel M

I COULD BE BORED!
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Is it okay to have lando-t to be the only scarfer in your team?

I mean it doesn't always run full speed evs
Yes, it's perfectly fine.

The biggest things to remember is that Lando-T will not cover everything such as Ash Ninja and Volcarona, so you will need a teammate that can help against these two (usually one of Toxapex or Chansey).

Of course you can also use Bulu for Ash-Ninja and seek other alternatives for Volcarona too, but there will likely be a Volcarona set your team might just fold to as well unless you run Chansey.
 
Tapu Fini has been seeing a fair amount usage lately and the EV spread that I mostly see is 248 HP / 16 Def / 52 SpD / 192 Spe with a Calm nature. I know the speed is for Modest Heatran but I was curious of what the defense investment is for.
 
Tapu Fini has been seeing a fair amount usage lately and the EV spread that I mostly see is 248 HP / 16 Def / 52 SpD / 192 Spe with a Calm nature. I know the speed is for Modest Heatran but I was curious of what the defense investment is for.
If Tapu Fini is at full health, and switches into Hawlucha as it uses Swords Dance, and takes 1 round of Stealth Rock damage and Leftovers recovery, it will avoid being OHKOed by Acrobatics thanks to the 16 Defense EVs.
 
Which SR suicide lead is better for HO in general, Lando-T or Exca? I know their sets are identical except Exca gives you rapid spin while Lando gives you a nuke with explosion + momentum, but how do you decide which is better for a specific HO? For example, why did the HO in samples choose to use Exca over Lando?
 
As you probably know, samples are meant to reflect the current metagame. The reason Excadrill is probably preferred at the moment is because Rotom Wash is literally everywhere, and Excadrill's Mold Breaker ignores levitate, allowing it to hit Rotom with an Earthquake, therefore preventing a potential defog. Also Excadrill can pressure Lele more, which I guess really doesn't help when its leading and then dying, but its something to note if someone say, leads Tapu Lele.
 
Which SR suicide lead is better for HO in general, Lando-T or Exca? I know their sets are identical except Exca gives you rapid spin while Lando gives you a nuke with explosion + momentum, but how do you decide which is better for a specific HO? For example, why did the HO in samples choose to use Exca over Lando?
Exca has spin and since the sample team has 2 rock weaks it needs some sort of removal
 
I know I'm a bit late to answer the teambuild question, but I really wanted to add on to what Indigo Plateau said in his outstanding post, and share some of my thoughts and my philosophy when it comes to teambuilding.

My main philosophy is that your team needs to accomplish a very simple goal: win the most games possible, so you should cater your team to achieve that result, well that's obvious. But the point is: your team needs a win condition, a goal of sorts. And this changes so much from playstyle to playstyle, here is a basic rundown of what I feel are the most important aspect of the three main types of playstyles and how you should orient your teambuilding to make it successful in my book.

For instance, with
Hyper Offense
your prime goal is to overwhelm your opponent's defensive backbone to the point of one of your several sweepers being able to break through and sweep, so it's your goal as a builder to maximize your odds of making that happen; obvious tools to have are hazard stacking with Stealth Rock and Spikes; conditions that easen setup such as Dual Screens; speed control to help your Pokémon sweep such as rain; a teamslot dedicated to a Pokémon that can break past bulkier teams—Stall—that have ways around setup such as Mega Gyarados and Manaphy; and overall offensive Pokémon with offensive synergy that appreciate one wearing down another's checks; making sure your team has enough counterplay to not let other sweepers sweep your team, so basically pack something for opposing Shift Gear Magearna and Quiver Dance Volcarona, for example to not let them set up; and lastly having an offensive switch in to problematic powerful and fast Pokémon that could beat your team otherwise, examples include Ash-Greninja, Choice Scarf Kartana, and Mega Alakazam. I think these are your main concerns with more offensive teams by nature. Obviously, you can never tick every single box and every team is bound to have a weakness or two, but these are just ideas I like to have in mind when working with such a playstyle.

Balance
and to a lesser extent Bulky Offense have the premise of having a stronger defensive backbone so making your opponent take down your team isn't as easy, but still having your own breakers and faster Pokémon to help you whittle down and clear your opponent's team. So with these two playstyles you should try to juggle two attributes: the Offensive department and the Defensive department. Can your team break past a wide variety of different defensive structures? Can it break Balances with this and that core? Can it break full Stall teams? Lastly, does your team have a win-condition, a faster Pokémon that pick up where your breakers left off to clean up your opponent's team? But you should also be covering the other side of the spectrum. Can your team switch into key Offensive threats? If you don't have a proper switch in to a certain offensive threat, can your team at least punish it and dissuade it from switching in or setting up? Or can it revenge kill any troublesome sweeper your defensive backbone can't take care of? Remember, with Balance you can tackle any would-be-threats with both the Offensive and Defensive department. Can't fit a Toxapex to always beat these Volcaronas? Perhaps a Choice Scarf Greninja could help revenge killing it? The other way around is also truth. Hard to fit something that revenge kills Shift Gear Magearna because there's literally nothing viable that accomplishes this? Try covering it on the defensive front with an Assault Vest or Heart Swap Magearna of your own, or perhaps the combo of Toxapex and Heatran, which very few Megarna sets can actually break through. That type of mentality is the goal here. Obviously you're bound to have a Pokémon or two or perhaps a core or two that your team kind of lacks enough counterplay for, but that's the way things work at times, you can't handle 807 potential Pokémon with only a team of only 6 of them. So yeah, your bread and butter with Balance is to handle as many Pokémon and cores as you can, be it on the Offensive front, Defensive front, or maybe even a mix of both. Sure there are always other roles that a Balance team should strive for, such as Stealth Rock and Defog users, but these are in a way parts of your main goal of overwhelming your opponent's defensive backbone and not letting them overwhelm yours, respectively. Other tools can also be employed by Balance such as sand for speed control making cleaning up teams easier, or momentum grabbing pivots such as Rotom-W and Tornadus-T to give your breakers some extra opportunities, et cetera.

Bulky Offense
sits in a bit of a in-between state from that of Balance and Hyper Offense—presumably—but your main plan when building still feels a bit more similar to that of Balance from my personal experience. You want to cover stuff on both Offensive and Defensive fronts, but this time with a bigger emphasis on the Offensive side, you don't exactly need a switch in for everything if all your team members don't give it a chance to attack or set up in the first place. And while something like Rotom-W or Flynium Z U-turn Defensive Landorus-T may not be the very best checks to many physical attackers out there, they do provide plenty of momentum. So that's the main premise here.

Onto the other end of the spectrum:
Stall
. With Stall your main goal is to slowly whittle down your opponents team while they get no chance to break through your Stall team, so this not only means having a defensive check for the most number of breakers possible but also keeping hazards off so checking such breakers is guaranteed. Finchinator already went extremely in-depth with a post on Stall here, so I would recommend giving it a read if you're interested in the playstyle, Finchinator has far for knowledge than I could ever provide on this playstyle, so no point in doing anything but linking his post.

Lastly, there's
Semi-Stall
which is in between Stall and Balance but this type of playstyle doesn't seem to be that great in the current metagame with most people preferring full out stall or just doing enough to call it a Balance team so I will sort of gloss over it, especially since it's the playstyle I have the least ampunt of experience with myself, but an approach somewhere in between that of Stall and Balance is what I would expect to see here, but yeah I can't really say for sure.

One thing I'll echo from what IP said is that you should most definitely test your teams. It's nearly impossible to tick every box for your teams in one sitting so testing you'll realize blank is too big of a threat and you need to do something about it, that way you can tweak your team afterwards to make it better overall.

So that's my philosophy, really. It's a lot more abstract than what Indigo Plateau proposed but it's the way I like to think about teambuilding. I hope my take on the subject was helpful to you or anyone reading. Feel free to reach me out for any questions too, and thanks for reading :)
 
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If you are building a offensive hazard stack team (something like sr z-move lando + ferro) do you have to always have a mon that counters hazard control from the oppo like a taunt user or a spinblocker (which are VERY rare in the meta rn and not really effective but still)
 

Finchinator

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If you are building a offensive hazard stack team (something like sr z-move lando + ferro) do you have to always have a mon that counters hazard control from the oppo like a taunt user or a spinblocker (which are VERY rare in the meta rn and not really effective but still)
It depends on your full team structure; teams with lead hazard/screen setters oftentimes don't have removal in the back, but sometimes use a lead like Excadrill which has access to spin. On the other hand, if your team is just an offensive team with spikes included, then it's probably best to have Defog when in doubt, yea. Taunt users are good in a general sense, but not specifically for this. Spinblockers should not really come to mind when building; that's an outdated concept seeing as Defog is far more common.
 
After zygod ban, I saw some days ago in a post that Clefable shifted its phys Def set for spdef set
Can someone share the set and what this set accomplish?
Thanks you :heart:
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave / Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled

This is the set I've personally been liking, the Special Defense investment is specifically to avoid being 2HKOed by Surf from Choice Specs Ash-Greninja (pre-transformation). It also allows Clefable to avoid being 2HKOed by Psychic from Mega Alakazam and Mega Latios. It also avoids being 2HKOed by unboosted Thunderbolt from Tapu Koko.
 
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave / Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled

This is the set I've personally been liking, the Special Defense investment is specifically to avoid being 2HKOed by Surf from Choice Specs Ash-Greninja (pre-transformation). It also allows Clefable to avoid being 2HKOed by Psychic from Mega Alakazam and Mega Latios. It also avoids being 2HKOed by unboosted Thunderbolt from Tapu Koko.
Thank you! This is the set I have been looking for. Still viable for balances tho?
 

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