What should a competitive pokemon team consist of

More information on IV breeding can be found in the Breeding Guide. Competitive Pokemon battling is based on the assumption that all players have perfect Pokemon. Much like professional athletes have near limitless access to state-of-the-art sports equipment, competitive Pokemon strategy assumes you have access to perfect Pokemon. This is often a difficult concept for players of the cartridge games to understand.

But, it is essential to forget about that "awesome level 78 Charizard" you used to beat the Elite Four in FireRed. In competitive Pokemon, all players use level Pokemon exclusively, they use only the most powerful species of Pokemon, AND the Pokemon are perfectly EV trained with perfect IVs, with perfect moves.

You may wonder, "How it is possible to get completely perfect Pokemon for competitive play? It's also possible to acquire perfect Pokemon through trading networks of competitive breeders, and thus use perfect Pokemon and competitive strategies in Wi-Fi battles and real-life tournaments.

The majority of competitive Pokemon battling is done over simulators. This was very important in the first three generations, as it was the only possible method of battling competitively against a large variety of opponents. The fourth generation brought Wi-Fi capability with it, but the most competitive play still exists on simulators, as they allow users to fine tune teams much more easily than they can in-game.

On simulators, battles can also be conducted faster, rules can be enforced more strictly, and rating systems can be more easily implemented than would be possible by simply using Wi-Fi. The current simulator used by Smogon is Pokemon Showdown! Pokemon Showdown! Pokemon Showdown also features animated sprites, music, Pokemon cries, and most importantly, a robust replay system so you can save and share your favorite matches! There are many old Pokemon simulations that are now out of commission, dating back to the days of RBY play.

They had no graphical interface, so they attracted only the more serious battlers. These bots are no longer in use. NetBattle allowed users to play all of the first three generations of Pokemon, and in limited capacity the fourth generation, and has an attractive graphical interface.

This meant that it attracted a wider userbase, helping the competitive Pokemon community to grow. It was similar to Shoddy Battle for previous generations in some respects, one could create teams in the team builder, connect to a server, and conduct battles from there.

NetBattle is still usable, but finding an active server on NetBattle is hard, as not many people run them. The simulators were primarily used during the 4th and 5th Generations, though Pokemon Showdown has succeeded all of these as the simulator of choice. The competitive Pokemon environment is drastically different from what most new players are used to. Unlike in the Gameboy and DS games, you play against human opponents. Outsmarting a handheld machine is one thing, but outsmarting a real person is something else entirely.

As such, there are a few key things to expect in competitive battling. The first thing you need to know is that people will play to win. Although it was enough to get by in the cartridge games, using Pokemon because they are cool or your favorites is the fastest way to lose. Your opponents will be using whatever Pokemon they feel give them the best chance of winning, and in order to be competitive you should do the same. One of the most surprising aspects to new players is the idea of switching.

No longer will an opponent leave in a Pokemon until it faints; they can-and will-take advantage of the ability to bring in a new Pokemon with a better matchup. Also, do not be surprised if your opponent predicts your switch to hit your incoming Pokemon with a super effective attack, as most players will take advantage of obvious plays in order to gain some sort of advantage.

The role of luck in Pokemon comes as an unpleasant surprise to many new players. Between critical hits, chance effects such as burn and flinch, and attacks with less than perfect accuracy, the potential for lucky wins and losses is everywhere.

At the end of the day, new players should realize that, while winning is important, any individual win is near meaningless. As in American Football, any given player can win on any given ladder match; what is more important is winning in the long run. The best player in the world can still lose, even to newcomers, but will likely be able to maintain a much higher win-loss ratio. In competitive Pokemon, there are several standard rules used in every match.

These rules are called clauses, and they serve to stop some over-powerful strategies, reduce the role that luck can play in a match, and overall just make the game more enjoyable. If you are playing on a simulator, these rules will be enforced automatically; in Wi-Fi play, activating any one of these clauses will usually result in disqualification.

The tiers serve a dual purpose. Particularly offensive Pokemon definitely wouldn't mind having attacks of different types to cover their weaknesses. Speaking of which, there's not only the types of the moves to take into account but their functions. There are, of course, your attacking moves, the moves that get the battle going. As mentioned, make sure you have attacking moves that can check any Pokemon type and type combo, and make sure they pack good base power the benchmark is around ish base power.

A secondary effect of some sort would be nice. Of course, said secondary effects can be given out by moves on their own. There are status moves to watch out for, whether it's for boosting stats, inflicting status conditions on your opponent, protecting your side, or setting up field effects. In double battles, you also have to watch out for spread attacking moves and moves that affect targeting like Ally Switch or Follow Me.

What's become just as important as the stats and types are the abilities -- a mechanic introduced in Generation III. For some Pokemon, their subpar stats are moot and they become fantastic competitive options thanks to a certain ability. In Singles, Mimikyu became a popular sweeper despite mid-grade at best stats thanks to its Disguise ability. Some Pokemon don't necessarily need great abilities to make things work, but some Pokemon rely heavily on them for viability.

Whatever the case may be, it helps to take into account potential abilities both for your team and your opponents'. Another thing to watch out for is held items.

While they're not seen in playthroughs of the game, they can make or break your chances in competitive battles. Held item know-how is incredibly useful for utilizing them on your team and expecting what the other team's Pokemon might have on them. They're a particularly interesting kink to watch out for in conjunction with the roles certain Pokemon play. A few more details to check for are the little additions and reductions totaled out to your Pokemon's stats, namely: their Natures, IVs, and EVs.

Nature enhances one stat and lowers another. Depending on the Pokemon's role, you should have an idea of what Nature boosts the more important stat and lowers an insignificant one. There are also the Effort Values EVs and Individual Values IVs , which are extra little additions to your Pokemon's stats that can determine how well they will play their roles.

EVs are gained by defeating specific Pokemon in battle repeatedly, maxing out to for a stat and total. Share or Macho Brace during early levels. Power items [32] X Research source work the same way, but only for one EV at a time. EV-reducing berries can lower their targeted EVs by 10 until they reach 0.

Part 5. The above Naganadel can deal double damage to 6 unique types, countering 2 of its 4 weaknesses: Ice countered by Fire Blast , and Dragon countered by Dragon Pulse. Avoid assigning multiple attack moves of the same type. Stat boosters and restoration moves are OK eg. Consider move priority. Priority determines the order in which moves are executed higher priority always goes first.

If two or more moves have equal priority, Speed is taken into account. Note that most moves have a priority of zero. See this list for exceptions.

They also usually have moves to disrupt your opponent, status, or phasing, as well as an attack so they will not be completely useless once hit with Taunt. Don't fixate on brute power. Remember that competitive battling isn't just about wiping out your opponent; it's about strategy and prediction, too. Lay traps e. Stealth Rock, Spikes, Toxic Spikes or use stat boosting moves eg.

Swords Dance, Nasty Plot. Use moves with added effects, such as Flamethrower and Blizzard, which respectively have a chance of burning and freezing the target. Atk stat can get much better use out of moves like Flamethrower or Blizzard than ones with a low stat. Atk , and are likely to be more effective when using status or support moves.

Life Orb, Choice items, or an Expert Belt. Poison types can use Black Sludge or Toxic Orbs if their ability isn't Corrosion for the same purpose, the latter of which provides greater healing the more turns that pass.

The downside however, is that it's extremely difficult to get naturally. Is my team good? But that does not mean it's bad. Yes No. Not Helpful 3 Helpful Any advice on how to defeat him using a balanced team focused around Chesnaught? Bun bun. A good water type for your team would be a Primal Kyogre and a good Fire type would be a Mega Camerupt. Camerupt's ground typing would allow you to take out their Jolteon.

The rest is up to you! Not Helpful 10 Helpful Have more Pokemon with type disadvantage to overpower it. When you do, it's most likely you will have the type advantage then, and win the battle.

Not Helpful 8 Helpful For example, if you and your friend both have Landorus and yours knows Hidden Power Ice type , you shouldn't switch out because Landorus is weak to ice.

Not Helpful 2 Helpful I like to use Charizard. Either use Mega Charizard or put something on the team to ensure that Charizard will be useful.

Not Helpful 6 Helpful Not Helpful 8 Helpful 7. Steel types work well like Aggron. Ice types work as well at least for dragons , like Alolan Ninetales. Not Helpful 5 Helpful 7. Use a dark-type Pokemon like Zoroark; its ability will be useful to confuse. Use a dark z-crystal and a dark-type move if necessary to beat Neocrozma.

Not Helpful 2 Helpful 5. Pokedex person. You battle with them of course! You can battle friends, or in game trainers, or even do battle challenges battles with special rules. Not Helpful 3 Helpful 5. Try using it in battles to look for weaknesses. If one Pokemon gets taken out a lot or isn't pulling it's weight, consider replacing it. You can also just check for common weaknesses.