Feb 20, 2015, 09:57 AM (This post was last modified: Feb 20, 2015, 10:46 AM by iflytoohigh.)
Greetings, everyone!
I'm not sure if this is the best place to post this kind of question, but it seems the most appropriate. My apologies if this would have been better placed in a different location.
Alright, so some backstory on me before I get to the meat of my inquiry. Basically, I come from a pretty strong background in eSports, having played in a few little local competitions for a variety of games over the years. I've played Starcraft, League of Legends, DotA, DotA 2, and Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl, but I've recently become interested in learning more about the competitive aspect of Pokemon. I've always felt as though it's important for me to try something new before the other games that I once loved very much begin to feel too tedious and/or no longer enjoyable.
With all that being said, I find myself becoming a little overwhelmed trying to understand some parts of this particular eSport. While doing my own research, I've seen that there are numerous tools available to help with team building (in regards to checking weaknesses vs coverage), but I haven't found an actual introductory guide that sort of lays out what competitive Pokemon is about. Are there specific roles some Pokemon play? Can roles be interchangeable? Outside of checking yourself to ensure you aren't all weak to something in particular, how does one go about forming an actual strategy for their team?
I acknowledge that having a basic understanding of the different Pokemon, their types, and how those types interact is important, but outside of that, what would anyone recommend that I do to truly begin to immerse myself in competitive play? In addition to understanding basic mechanics, I want to understand how to build myself from the ground up in order to eventually craft my own teams. I'm aware that--similarly to other eSports--there will always be metas and tactics or strategies that become more highly regarded than others, but I'm just seeking some general guidance.
I apologize if this seems incredibly noob-like of me to ask, but I suppose I feel a bit lost when it comes to a bit of the basics about competitive Pokemon. Any and all help/advice/recommendations would be appreciated!
These are very good resources for getting into competitive battling, especially the official format known as the Video Game Contest/Championship format. Nuggetbridge supplies important information such as speed tiers, common threats, breeding guides, EV distribution guides etc. I recommend reading Tygaa's "Intro to VGC for Beginners" thread before anything else. Aaron "Cybertron" Zheng is one of the top VGC players in the world and in his videos, he breaks down his decisions in battle which can help with your team building and prediction skills. ShadyPenguin is a great singles battler so check him out if you're into the Smogon format rather than the official VGC format.
In regards to breeding and training Pokemon, if these guides didn't help, just remember that the most important thing is for you to have a ditto with perfect stats in at least 3 stats though 6 perfect stat Dittos is what professional breeders use since it saves time. Serebii and Bulbapedia will be your friend as they give you information such as base stats, abilities and egg moves which are critical in team building. Since you are just starting out, just go with the basic max stats meaning 252 EVs into 2 stats you think you need, however, as you grow in knowledge you can begin to experiment with EVs by using a Pokemon Calculator.
Try to make yourself aware of competitive play by both watching and playing matches. This site is very good in helping you to build and test your teams
These are very good resources for getting into competitive battling, especially the official format known as the Video Game Contest/Championship format. Nuggetbridge supplies important information such as speed tiers, common threats, breeding guides, EV distribution guides etc. I recommend reading Tygaa's "Intro to VGC for Beginners" thread before anything else. Aaron "Cybertron" Zheng is one of the top VGC players in the world and in his videos, he breaks down his decisions in battle which can help with your team building and prediction skills. ShadyPenguin is a great singles battler so check him out if you're into the Smogon format rather than the official VGC format.
In regards to breeding and training Pokemon, if these guides didn't help, just remember that the most important thing is for you to have a ditto with perfect stats in at least 3 stats though 6 perfect stat Dittos is what professional breeders use since it saves time. Serebii and Bulbapedia will be your friend as they give you information such as base stats, abilities and egg moves which are critical in team building. Since you are just starting out, just go with the basic max stats meaning 252 EVs into 2 stats you think you need, however, as you grow in knowledge you can begin to experiment with EVs by using a Pokemon Calculator.
Try to make yourself aware of competitive play by both watching and playing matches. This site is very good in helping you to build and test your teams
Competive Pokemon battling is one of those games which you aren't gonna understand everything Day 1 but that's understandable. There are ton of things to cover in Pokemon like type coverage, resistances, Evs, Ivs, natures, items, abilities, and even the individual Pokemon (and Megas themselves. Likewise certain Pokemon roles in VGC doubles (I assume you're asking about this) are interhangable but remember there are stark differences how the Pokemon are meant to run. One example of this are running Bulky water Pokemon like either say Rotom-W or Suicune. Differences are Rotom-W are tend to be utility based and used as pivots against Pokemon like Landorus-T, Heatran, and most importantly Talonflame. Likewise most Rotom-A will carry Will-o-Wisp to cut physical attacks power in half or just have residual damage. Suicune had been used lately because it offers speed control in the form or either Tailwind or Icy Wind. Team composition is essential in VGC as you need to provide as much type coverage as well as type resistence as possible. Again If you want to use Garchomp/Landorus-T, your definately gonna have a levitate or Flying Pokemon to avoid hurting your allied Pokemon.
As far as strategies are concern, the 2015 VGC Metagame is largely dependent on speed control stylized with bulky offensive. Expect to see things like Icy Wind Gengar, Trick Room Cresselia, Prankster Thunder Wave from Thundurus-I, Tailwind from Suicune, or even some uncommon strategies you'll encounter. My best advice to you is to research on Nugget Bridge about speed tiers, winning Top Cut teams, and misty importantly, the Pokemon themselves. That's all I have to say for now.
(Feb 20, 2015, 10:38 AM)Black117 Wrote: Competive Pokemon battling is one of those games which you aren't gonna understand everything Day 1 but that's understandable. There are ton of things to cover in Pokemon like type coverage, resistances, Evs, Ivs, natures, items, abilities, and even the individual Pokemon (and Megas themselves. Likewise certain Pokemon roles in VGC doubles (I assume you're asking about this) are interhangable but remember there are stark differences how the Pokemon are meant to run. One example of this are running Bulky water Pokemon like either say Rotom-W or Suicune. Differences are Rotom-W are tend to be utility based and used as pivots against Pokemon like Landorus-T, Heatran, and most importantly Talonflame. Likewise most Rotom-A will carry Will-o-Wisp to cut physical attacks power in half or just have residual damage. Suicune had been used lately because it offers speed control in the form or either Tailwind or Icy Wind. Team composition is essential in VGC as you need to provide as much type coverage as well as type resistence as possible. Again If you want to use Garchomp/Landorus-T, your definately gonna have a levitate or Flying Pokemon to avoid hurting your allied Pokemon.
As far as strategies are concern, the 2015 VGC Metagame is largely dependent on speed control stylized with bulky offensive. Expect to see things like Icy Wind Gengar, Trick Room Cresselia, Prankster Thunder Wave from Thundurus-I, Tailwind from Suicune, or even some uncommon strategies you'll encounter. My best advice to you is to research on Nugget Bridge about speed tiers, winning Top Cut teams, and misty importantly, the Pokemon themselves. That's all I have to say for now.
Great advice and suggestions! I honestly haven't heard of a few of the Pokemon you mentioned, so I'm realizing that I need to absolutely go back to the last generation that I casually dabbled in and move forward from there.
I appreciate you taking the time to leave your thoughts here!
If you are just getting into competitive battling, try using the Smogondex host by Smogon just to familiarize yourswlf with some of the Pokemon, moves they learn, and the movesets. Yes it has somewhat standard builds for most Pokemon but you'll get the idea on how each are use. You can also try out the Pokemon Damage Calculator hosted by Pokemon Showdown (also a live ladder/team builder) just to try living a certain attack or optimizing ev spreads of somthing like a Hyper Voice from Sylveon or a Double Edge from Mega Kangaskahn.
