Smogon Simple Questions & Suggestions Thread

I've taken a glance around and I'm VERY new to the concept of Competitive Pokemon (mostly just wanted to try it out cause I had a fun idea while playing Shield).

What gens are commonly played? What tiers of those gens are commonly played? And what are some resources I should especially look into? I've seen a lot mentioned on Pokemon Showdown. Is that the main place to be for battling or is it done on console as well?

I appreciate any and all help/resources provided and thank you in advance :)
 
I've taken a glance around and I'm VERY new to the concept of Competitive Pokemon (mostly just wanted to try it out cause I had a fun idea while playing Shield).

What gens are commonly played? What tiers of those gens are commonly played?
You can see what tiers and formats are available by looking at Smogon's various subforums, and you can play whichever formats you want. (gens 1 through 6 are in the Ruins of Alph subforum, by the way) If you're completely new and have no idea what you want to play, then I'd recommend starting with SM OU simply because they have a lot of resources to make SM OU easy to learn.
And what are some resources I should especially look into?
These 2 threads are probably good places to start reading. https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/competitive-battling-faq.3545934/ https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/learning-resources-for-beginners-sm-edition.3602516/ You should also take some time to browse other parts of Smogon Forums, and definitely check this thread in case someone else answers your questions.
I've seen a lot mentioned on Pokemon Showdown. Is that the main place to be for battling or is it done on console as well?
Smogon's fan-made formats, like OU, are usually played on Showdown!. Battle Stadium is on both Showdown! and the consoles, of course.
 

chimp

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I've taken a glance around and I'm VERY new to the concept of Competitive Pokemon (mostly just wanted to try it out cause I had a fun idea while playing Shield).

What gens are commonly played? What tiers of those gens are commonly played? And what are some resources I should especially look into? I've seen a lot mentioned on Pokemon Showdown. Is that the main place to be for battling or is it done on console as well?

I appreciate any and all help/resources provided and thank you in advance :)
Welcome to Smogon! The most supported gen is generally the one we are currently in. In this case, Gen 8 (Sword and Shield) though many Old Gens are still played and maintained by dedicated communities. You can play the OU for every gen on Pokemon Showdown, and old gens in general have their own subforum on this site.

OU is the main 'official' tier. But there will be other tiers as well, once usage stats start coming out. Usage stats tell us how much each Pokemon has been used in a month. How much usage a Pokemon sees determines what tier it falls into, basically. All Smogon tiers will be supported on Showdown.

As far as Smogon goes, most games are played on Pokemon Showdown. Some choose to play on the cartridge, but not all the rules enforced by Smogon are enforced in-game. Like certain Pokemon bans, etc.

There are plenty of resources on this site you can check out. The Flying Press also has several guides and articles you can check out through the Smogon homepage.
 

Gravity Monkey

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Hum, can't seem to find a smogon bug report thread, so here it goes. About the minisprite emoji feature, Darm-G's isn't working: :darmanitan-galar: (:corsola-galar: and :darmanitan:are working just fine).
 
I've noticed that some of the old legendaries have gotten new moves in gen 8 randombattles. Namely Zekrom and necrozma duskmane now getting dragon dance. It seems strange that they are not in gen 8 but still have new moves.
I've also noticed that a lot of the old legendaries are in the Unreleased tier for gen 8 despite not being in the game as shown in https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Zarel/Pokemon-Showdown/master/data/formats-data.js

My guess is that these Pokemon are in the Sword and Shields code and found through data mining.
Can someone please explain this weird occurrence to me.
 

Ruft

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I've noticed that some of the old legendaries have gotten new moves in gen 8 randombattles. Namely Zekrom and necrozma duskmane now getting dragon dance. It seems strange that they are not in gen 8 but still have new moves.
I've also noticed that a lot of the old legendaries are in the Unreleased tier for gen 8 despite not being in the game as shown in https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Zarel/Pokemon-Showdown/master/data/formats-data.js
Yes, people have found their data in the game as well as their movepools through datamining. They should be released in the game through events later on.

These are the ones:
[001] - Bulbasaur
[002] - Ivysaur
[003] - Venusaur
[007] - Squirtle
[008] - Wartortle
[009] - Blastoise
[150] - Mewtwo
[151] - Mew
[251] - Celebi
[385] - Jirachi
[638] - Cobalion
[639] - Terrakion
[640] - Virizion
[643] - Reshiram
[644] - Zekrom
[646] - Kyurem
[647] - Keldeo
[722] - Rowlet
[723] - Dartrix
[724] - Decidueye
[725] - Litten
[726] - Torracat
[727] - Incineroar
[728] - Popplio
[729] - Brionne
[730] - Primarina
[789] - Cosmog
[790] - Cosmoem
[791] - Solgaleo
[792] - Lunala
[800] - Necrozma
[802] - Marshadow
[807] - Zeraora
[808] - Meltan
[809] - Melmetal
 

The Official Glyx

Banned deucer.
I don't know if this is the place to report smogon bugs, but when I tried to post a reply to someone else's post (after using the reply button), it got reposted an additional 13 times somehow. (I double checked on incognito to make sure it wasn't just a visual thing on my end)
1575401764578.png
 
So I was tinkering around with Klinklang this gen, when I realized he doesn't seem to get Magnet Rise anymore...? Apparently it's a move tutor only move for the gear bois... Does anyone know if there's a way you can get Magnet Rise on a Klinklang in Sword and Shield? Is it maybe on a golden one in the wild...?
 

Kalalokki

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So I was tinkering around with Klinklang this gen, when I realized he doesn't seem to get Magnet Rise anymore...? Apparently it's a move tutor only move for the gear bois... Does anyone know if there's a way you can get Magnet Rise on a Klinklang in Sword and Shield? Is it maybe on a golden one in the wild...?
No, it's not available.
 
Is there a way to view threads you've created? I wanted to find a gen 4 UU RMT I made YEARS ago, but it's not showing up under my activity
 

shiny finder

forever searching
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Is there a way to view threads you've created? I wanted to find a gen 4 UU RMT I made YEARS ago, but it's not showing up under my activity
Fastest method would be to go to your profile > Find > All threads by Venser, but with forum upgrades and changes sometimes that history is gone. With that said, would it happen to be this one? Found that via Google.

Is there any way that I can change the Pokémon in my avatar? I wanna keep the same format, I just want Tyranitar instead of Espeon
You might have luck here using the Smogon Sprite Generator for Gen BW. Find the one you like, then right click on the sprite and save the image. You can then change your profile pic by going to your account details.
 
Fastest method would be to go to your profile > Find > All threads by Venser, but with forum upgrades and changes sometimes that history is gone. With that said, would it happen to be this one? Found that via Google.
Thanks so much! I didn't even *think* to google, lol. I think the last time I was on this forum it was still vbulletin so I appreciate the help.
 
Hi! I´m not kind a new, but I dont know something. I want to play with just a few friends, not in a competitive way, we just want to have matches with whatever we want, is there an option to battle with no bans?
For example: I love Staraptor, but its banned and my friend loves Mega Gengar, but its banned too. We just want to have fun and play, so... I was wondering if there would be a way to battle withouth restrictions. Thanks!
 

Gravity Monkey

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is a Top Artist
Hi! I´m not kind a new, but I dont know something. I want to play with just a few friends, not in a competitive way, we just want to have matches with whatever we want, is there an option to battle with no bans?
For example: I love Staraptor, but its banned and my friend loves Mega Gengar, but its banned too. We just want to have fun and play, so... I was wondering if there would be a way to battle withouth restrictions. Thanks!
Custom games?
 

Quite Quiet

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Custom Games are all Challenge-Only formats. They don't have a ladder. If you want to play your friend in it you'll have to find them and manually challenge them. The second least restricted format is National Dex AG which allows most things too, and does have a ladder.
 
Custom Games are all Challenge-Only formats. They don't have a ladder. If you want to play your friend in it you'll have to find them and manually challenge them. The second least restricted format is National Dex AG which allows most things too, and does have a ladder.
Oooh! Thank you so much! :D
 

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