<![CDATA[Pokemon Forever

<![CDATA[Pokemon Forever - All Forums]]> http://pokemonforever.com/ Sat, 18 Apr 2026 18:50:45 +0000 MyBB <![CDATA[Пшеничная водка 10л в паках — удобно]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-%D0%9F%D1%88%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F-%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BA%D0%B0-10%D0%BB-%D0%B2-%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%85-%E2%80%94-%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BD%D0%BE Mon, 13 Apr 2026 12:45:56 -0700 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-%D0%9F%D1%88%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F-%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BA%D0%B0-10%D0%BB-%D0%B2-%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%85-%E2%80%94-%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BD%D0%BE Почему тетрапак?
Внутренний металлизированный слой тетрапака полностью инертен к спиртосодержащим жидкостям — он не вступает в реакцию с содержимым и не меняет его вкусовых свойств. Герметичная конструкция гарантирует сохранность качества продукта после любой по длительности транспортировки. Дозирующий краник в составе упаковки делает розлив удобным в домашних условиях и на выезде.
Особенности производства
Используемый этанол полностью сертифицирован и соответствует всем установленным требованиям. Сырьём для спирта служат твёрдые сорта пшеницы; производство ведётся на натуральных растительных компонентах. Мягкость вкуса и отсутствие горечи достигаются за счёт применения артезианской воды.
Преимущества покупки у нас
Решив купить водку в паках 10л в нашем магазине, вы получаете:

сертификационную документацию в свободном доступе
упаковку с удобным дозатором
проверенное качество от официальных поставщиков

Оформить заказ и купить водку в паках 10л можно на нашем сайте в любое время.]]> Почему тетрапак?
Внутренний металлизированный слой тетрапака полностью инертен к спиртосодержащим жидкостям — он не вступает в реакцию с содержимым и не меняет его вкусовых свойств. Герметичная конструкция гарантирует сохранность качества продукта после любой по длительности транспортировки. Дозирующий краник в составе упаковки делает розлив удобным в домашних условиях и на выезде.
Особенности производства
Используемый этанол полностью сертифицирован и соответствует всем установленным требованиям. Сырьём для спирта служат твёрдые сорта пшеницы; производство ведётся на натуральных растительных компонентах. Мягкость вкуса и отсутствие горечи достигаются за счёт применения артезианской воды.
Преимущества покупки у нас
Решив купить водку в паках 10л в нашем магазине, вы получаете:

сертификационную документацию в свободном доступе
упаковку с удобным дозатором
проверенное качество от официальных поставщиков

Оформить заказ и купить водку в паках 10л можно на нашем сайте в любое время.]]> <![CDATA[Kris' Pokemon Champions Weekly Discussion Blog]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-DISCUSSION-Kris-Pokemon-Champions-Weekly-Discussion-Blog Sat, 11 Apr 2026 02:55:15 -0700 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-DISCUSSION-Kris-Pokemon-Champions-Weekly-Discussion-Blog Pokemon Champions! The game launched earlier this week and we have already seen some clear meta directions as the player base eases their way towards the Master Ball tier for this season. I haven't had the chance to get therre just yet as I'm still theorycrafting the team I want to run, so I think that's going to be what I'll discuss in this week's inagural blog post, my dream team for Champions! These blogs are kinda just for me to keep a record of progress, but if you're reading as a guest and wanna jump in on the discussion, then feel free to join the forum and say hi!

Meta Snapshot - Week 1

First, let's go over to the ever-trusty Pikalytics website to see what the current top picks seem to be for Champions so far. Numbers are subject to change of course and this might not be a 100% accurate reading due to the default teams, but still let's take a look.

[Image: MastersIcon0727.png]

To absolutely nobody's surprise, Incineroar is the number one threat currently. Incineroar was practically made for VGC, and its moveset of choice remains as the unshaken mountain it has been since day dot; Fake Out, Parting Shot, Flare Blitz, and any needed Dark-type move like Snarl or Darkest Lariat. Incineroar's Ability Intimidate always puts it in a great advantage from the word go about 90% of the time, so you will be expecting to see it. Shuca or Sitrus Berry are great items for it in this format.

[Image: Menu_LA_903.png]

Coming in just behind it is the equally unsurprising Sneasler. When it was first introduced in Legends: Arceus, Sneasler did not seem all that promising to a lot of people, but once it came over to Scarlet & Violet, VGC players quickly learned of it's incredible potential for greatness. With its wicked Dire Claw move and the Ability Unburden, Sneasler is making waves in Champions with a standard all-out physical moveset including Close Combat and Fake Out, while running Coaching for support. In this game's limited selection for items, White Herb or Focus Sash are its preferred choices.

[Image: MastersIcon1013.png]

If we're talking about VGC, we need to mention the support sets keeping Pokemon like Sneasler and Garchomp running, and right now the best supporter appears to be Sinistcha. Effectively, this Pokemon is filling the slot that Amoonguss normally would but with enough tools that make it feel like more than a carbon copy. Sinistcha runs Matcha Gotcha for quick healing, Rage Powder for redirection of attacks, and other support moves depending on the team, mostly Protect and either Trick Room or Taunt. It's item choice safely sits at Leftovers or Sitrus Berry to complement its own healing and its Ability is almost always Hospitality to heal allies on switch in.

[Image: MastersIcon0547.png]

Whimsicott is unsurprisingly a top choice for a support Pokemon, and I honestly think Pikalytics is underselling its usage. With Prankster giving priority to any of its status moves, Whimsicott will be running Tailwind and Encore almost all the time. You might see some variety with Taunt, Protect, Helping Hand, and some Whimsicott might be running Moonblast. AustinJohnPlays and THATSAplusONE recently collaborated on a video showcasing Endeavor Whimsicott which utilizes the held item Focus Sash, so we might see some rise in usage of that move too.

[Image: Menu_HOME_1018.png]

Weather teams built around Rain and Sun are very common as well, the best one of the bunch appears to be cores utilizing Archaludon's Electro Shot move, which is essentially a variant of Solarbeam that is utilized in the Rain. Achaludon's bulk makes it harder to take out than you'd think and it has a decent defensive typing. Commonly you can pair it with Pelipper to help set Rain and to fish for Earthquakes from Garchomp or Excadrill.

First Impressions

It's a game that's very rough around the edges. I don't really care about the smaller roster or the item pool, in fact that's what makes it enticing for me is that we have hard limitations to need to work around, although common competitive items being omitted is really grinding my gears in some cases, like no Life Orb, Assault Vest, BlackSludge, Choice Band and Specs, a lot of these would be a great addition and help a lot of sets out immensely, I do miss AV Tyranitar for example. Like with the items, I just find some of the Pokemon ommissions to be very confusing. No Amoonguss is especially odd, but some key pre-evolutions being missing also feels odd. But then we get Pokemon that feel completely weird to even mention like... Watchog? Who is using Watchog in VGC and for what reason - I'd like to chat.

I think the selection of battle music is awful, and locking Legends: Z-A's tracks behind a paywall is just bad. Adding insult to injury, its not even any of the premiere tracks of that game, so it kind of feels lackluster even with that option. Pokemon has a phenomonal selection of music, and the most we get to choose from is just Trainer Battle themes from the main series games. There is a Randomize option on each game's album which tells me that more music will be added over time, but I really would have just liked a wider selection. At the very least, Vs. Wild Pokemon, Vs. Trainer, and Vs. Gym Leader for each game selection should have been there by default in my opinion. I don't mind the paid choices being a thing, Champions is a free-to-play game after all, but make the free options better. I don't care how good DPPt or BW's Vs. Trainer tracks are, nobody wants to hear it a thousand times.

The default Pokemon movesets are not good 90% of the time and the Auto-Team Build function doesn't really help new players out. Auto-Team Build seems to just randomly assign Pokemon and Items to the team witchout real thought, like I used it once and got Quick Claw on my Sneasler instead of on my Tyranitar who would have prefered an item that counters its low speed tier. I think ATB needs some work because new players will likely see this option and think it has made good sets for them. As for the default sets, the absolute worst one I've spotted is Sylveon with Quick Attack and Yawn but I know more exist. This is Pokemon Stadium levels of bad, like Alakazam running Kinesis and Psywave bad. These need a lot more work especially as more Pokemon eventually get added.

Kris' Team Of Choice

Okay, now let's talk about the team I'm going to run and test out on the ladder. With Weather being everywhere, of course I want in on the action too, but instead of Mega Charizard Y's sun team or the usual Pelipper rain teams, I want to use an archetype I've never run before being Snow. Snow replaced Hail in Legends: Arceus, and instead of dealing chip damage it now provides a defense boost to Ice type Pokemon. This is of particular interest to me for certain Pokemon like Mega Abomasnow who was never quite a good Pokemon historically. I don't think Snow is going to make it into a premiere threat, but that's not going to stop me from trying.

While I figure out the full team of six, the main Pokemon I'm definitely bringing are Sinistcha for its incredible support and the ability to set Trick Room for Mega Abomasnow, Ninetales-Alola for obvious support with Aurora Veil, Primarina as an answer to Mega Charizard Y, and Mega Froslass as an alternative sweeper to Mega Abomasnow. I think the last slot might go to either Milotic or Corviknight.

These Pokemon aren't particularly hard to get, the reason it has taken me a bit to build the team is just because I wanted to have shiny versions of most of them, gotta flex after all.

Abomasnow is my first target, and my game of choice is Legends: Z-A, as I can very easily reset for an Alpha Abomasnow to be shiny. In that same area I can also be lucky enough to get a shiny Snorunt that I might be able to evolve into a Froslass, and those wild spawns each have a chance to become an Alpha variant each reset too. A shiny Machop also spawned in while I was catching Hestia, but I let that one go as I already have a shiny Machamp.

Abomasnow came very quickly for me, literally while I typed that last sentence it showed up! I named her Hestia as I'll be naming all my team after Greek myths. That's one down, and I reckon I will just hang around in that zone until I get a preferred shiny Snorunt too.

For Primarina, I think the only game I can shiny hunt it in is Scarlet & Violet and I will do so via Eggs, only because my eyes do not appreciate the small Popplio models in the overworld! I am very grateful to Legends: Z-A for having the shiny sparkle play in the overworld like its predecessor Legends game.

Scarlet & Violet will have to be the game of choice for Ninetales-Alola as well, I think, which will be another Egg hunt. I really don't like the changes to Eggs in Scarlet & Violet, but I think it is the only way I can get it currently unless I'm missing something.

I'm not going to bother with shiny hunting for a Sinistcha because Poltchageist has a small overworld model and my only other option would be Eggs in Scarlet & Violet, something I do not mind skipping out on, lol.

I'll run with this team and see how it goes on the ladder and see if it can even get me to Master Ball tier, which of course means that next week I will have a status report to analyze the team's performance as well as my own gameplay. Stick around for next week's blog post where I will talk about any changes to the metagame and what updates Champions itself may have underwent since this week. I'm going to try update this consistently each week, saw some eyes on my Starting Guide from earlier this week which tells me at least a few lurkers are particularly interested in the game, well I'll have you covered no problem.

Thanks for reaing my odd little posts, lurkers!]]> Pokemon Champions! The game launched earlier this week and we have already seen some clear meta directions as the player base eases their way towards the Master Ball tier for this season. I haven't had the chance to get therre just yet as I'm still theorycrafting the team I want to run, so I think that's going to be what I'll discuss in this week's inagural blog post, my dream team for Champions! These blogs are kinda just for me to keep a record of progress, but if you're reading as a guest and wanna jump in on the discussion, then feel free to join the forum and say hi!

Meta Snapshot - Week 1

First, let's go over to the ever-trusty Pikalytics website to see what the current top picks seem to be for Champions so far. Numbers are subject to change of course and this might not be a 100% accurate reading due to the default teams, but still let's take a look.

[Image: MastersIcon0727.png]

Weather teams built around Rain and Sun are very common as well, the best one of the bunch appears to be cores utilizing Archaludon's Electro Shot move, which is essentially a variant of Solarbeam that is utilized in the Rain. Achaludon's bulk makes it harder to take out than you'd think and it has a decent defensive typing. Commonly you can pair it with Pelipper to help set Rain and to fish for Earthquakes from Garchomp or Excadrill.

First Impressions

It's a game that's very rough around the edges. I don't really care about the smaller roster or the item pool, in fact that's what makes it enticing for me is that we have hard limitations to need to work around, although common competitive items being omitted is really grinding my gears in some cases, like no Life Orb, Assault Vest, BlackSludge, Choice Band and Specs, a lot of these would be a great addition and help a lot of sets out immensely, I do miss AV Tyranitar for example. Like with the items, I just find some of the Pokemon ommissions to be very confusing. No Amoonguss is especially odd, but some key pre-evolutions being missing also feels odd. But then we get Pokemon that feel completely weird to even mention like... Watchog? Who is using Watchog in VGC and for what reason - I'd like to chat.

I think the selection of battle music is awful, and locking Legends: Z-A's tracks behind a paywall is just bad. Adding insult to injury, its not even any of the premiere tracks of that game, so it kind of feels lackluster even with that option. Pokemon has a phenomonal selection of music, and the most we get to choose from is just Trainer Battle themes from the main series games. There is a Randomize option on each game's album which tells me that more music will be added over time, but I really would have just liked a wider selection. At the very least, Vs. Wild Pokemon, Vs. Trainer, and Vs. Gym Leader for each game selection should have been there by default in my opinion. I don't mind the paid choices being a thing, Champions is a free-to-play game after all, but make the free options better. I don't care how good DPPt or BW's Vs. Trainer tracks are, nobody wants to hear it a thousand times.

The default Pokemon movesets are not good 90% of the time and the Auto-Team Build function doesn't really help new players out. Auto-Team Build seems to just randomly assign Pokemon and Items to the team witchout real thought, like I used it once and got Quick Claw on my Sneasler instead of on my Tyranitar who would have prefered an item that counters its low speed tier. I think ATB needs some work because new players will likely see this option and think it has made good sets for them. As for the default sets, the absolute worst one I've spotted is Sylveon with Quick Attack and Yawn but I know more exist. This is Pokemon Stadium levels of bad, like Alakazam running Kinesis and Psywave bad. These need a lot more work especially as more Pokemon eventually get added.

Kris' Team Of Choice

Okay, now let's talk about the team I'm going to run and test out on the ladder. With Weather being everywhere, of course I want in on the action too, but instead of Mega Charizard Y's sun team or the usual Pelipper rain teams, I want to use an archetype I've never run before being Snow. Snow replaced Hail in Legends: Arceus, and instead of dealing chip damage it now provides a defense boost to Ice type Pokemon. This is of particular interest to me for certain Pokemon like Mega Abomasnow who was never quite a good Pokemon historically. I don't think Snow is going to make it into a premiere threat, but that's not going to stop me from trying.

While I figure out the full team of six, the main Pokemon I'm definitely bringing are Sinistcha for its incredible support and the ability to set Trick Room for Mega Abomasnow, Ninetales-Alola for obvious support with Aurora Veil, Primarina as an answer to Mega Charizard Y, and Mega Froslass as an alternative sweeper to Mega Abomasnow. I think the last slot might go to either Milotic or Corviknight.

These Pokemon aren't particularly hard to get, the reason it has taken me a bit to build the team is just because I wanted to have shiny versions of most of them, gotta flex after all.

Abomasnow is my first target, and my game of choice is Legends: Z-A, as I can very easily reset for an Alpha Abomasnow to be shiny. In that same area I can also be lucky enough to get a shiny Snorunt that I might be able to evolve into a Froslass, and those wild spawns each have a chance to become an Alpha variant each reset too. A shiny Machop also spawned in while I was catching Hestia, but I let that one go as I already have a shiny Machamp.

Abomasnow came very quickly for me, literally while I typed that last sentence it showed up! I named her Hestia as I'll be naming all my team after Greek myths. That's one down, and I reckon I will just hang around in that zone until I get a preferred shiny Snorunt too.

For Primarina, I think the only game I can shiny hunt it in is Scarlet & Violet and I will do so via Eggs, only because my eyes do not appreciate the small Popplio models in the overworld! I am very grateful to Legends: Z-A for having the shiny sparkle play in the overworld like its predecessor Legends game.

Scarlet & Violet will have to be the game of choice for Ninetales-Alola as well, I think, which will be another Egg hunt. I really don't like the changes to Eggs in Scarlet & Violet, but I think it is the only way I can get it currently unless I'm missing something.

I'm not going to bother with shiny hunting for a Sinistcha because Poltchageist has a small overworld model and my only other option would be Eggs in Scarlet & Violet, something I do not mind skipping out on, lol.

I'll run with this team and see how it goes on the ladder and see if it can even get me to Master Ball tier, which of course means that next week I will have a status report to analyze the team's performance as well as my own gameplay. Stick around for next week's blog post where I will talk about any changes to the metagame and what updates Champions itself may have underwent since this week. I'm going to try update this consistently each week, saw some eyes on my Starting Guide from earlier this week which tells me at least a few lurkers are particularly interested in the game, well I'll have you covered no problem.

Thanks for reaing my odd little posts, lurkers!]]> <![CDATA[Pokemon Champions Starting Builds Guide]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-FUN-Pokemon-Champions-Starting-Builds-Guide Wed, 08 Apr 2026 22:05:15 -0700 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-FUN-Pokemon-Champions-Starting-Builds-Guide Pokemon Champions! I LOVE Pokemon battling, both singles and VGC, and since a lot of newer players will be trying this out for the first time, I figured why not write up this guide on all the starting Pokemon available to you when you boot up the game for the first time! To clarify, this will not be covering every available Pokemon, this will be covering the set of Pokemon given to you after completing the tutorial. We'll cover their base game builds, what works and what doesn't, what the Pokemon is best used for, and the best and cheapest builds for you to try for both singles and doubles while spending your precious VP in the most cost effective way!

Credit!
Pokedex and Moveset information curtesy of both my own gameplay and Serebii.net

Starter Pokemon

Champions is not like your standard Pokemon journey, you don't get to pick a starter in the traditional sese, no Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle here. Instead, all Pokemon are fully evolved and mooooostly battle ready. As such, the list of "starters" is much different. On top of the starters, you will get a team to go with the Pokemon you first choose. Let's go over all the starter Pokemon and their teams.

Charizard

Pikachu

Snorlax

Tyranitar

Altaria

Gardevoir

Absol

Lucario

Armarouge

Palafin

Off the bat, you will notice some overlap in what the teams offer you, and maybe some Pokemon instantly jump out to you if you're a little familiar with Competitive battling already. So I will go over what is considered to objectively be "the best" for these teams, but I want to stress that you should not feel pressured to just try and learn the best strategies right away. Pick what you like and work with it, that's how a lot of us started and it's a great way to familiarize yourself.

Still, if you want to perform well, there will come a time when you need to consider better Pokemon not just for yourself but to answer whatever becomes common and dominates the meta. Let's help you prepare for that by going over what these Pokemon actually offer and why you might want to consider using or skipping them.

Battles are determined by a number of factors, but generally you will have a team working towards what is called a "win condition", which is essentially the goal of your team to try and exploit or set up the, well, conditions necessary to secure a win. For example, the goal of a team with Tyranitar, who has the ability Sand Stream, is to get Sandstorm active to chip and weaken opponents while powering up your strongest Pokemon to finish them off, all thanks to the early steps set up by Tyranitar.

There are numerous strategies to try and they too vary depending on your format, either Singles or Doubles in Champions. There's a lot of Pokemon to choose from here too, so I want to narrow it down to four, two starting Pokemon teams that work in each format, depending on what you'll be focusing on the most.

Singles Team Recommendation
A Single battle team is mostly focused on raw damage and minimal setup unless there are very specific conditions to allow you to do so. The team off the bat in Champions are very basic, so we won't see any advanced strategies and mostly be suggesting two teams based on this. The goal is minimal work needed for a good result on one team, and another that requires some extra steps but is brutally efficient.

Team 1
Cloud Nine (Pick Gardevoir as your Starter)
Whimicott
Gardevoir
Drampa
Heracross
Azumarill
Corviknight

We're not actually picking this team for Gardevoir itself, but instead for one of the surprising breakout stars of the game who has seen a jump in use thanks to it recieving a Mega Evolution in Legends: Z-A, Drampa! Weather, as always with the start of a new meta, is incredibly common in this game, comparable to its use during Black & White's VGC Weather Wars from back in the day. Having a way to deal with weather, either clearing, changing, or ignoring it entirely, may be crucial for your playstyle, and right now I believe that Drampa is one of the best to do so, but let's actually get into the why.

Drampa

Type:

Weakness:

Resistance: Grass

Immunity:

Ability: Beserk (Raises the Pokemon's Sp. Atk stat by one stage when its HP falls below 50%)
Sap Sipper (Raises the Pokemon's Attack stat by one stage when struck by a Grass type move, and also grants immunity to Grass type moves.)
Cloud Nine (When the Pokemon enters the battle, all effects of Weather are negated until it switches out or faints.)

Drampa is a special attacking Dragon type Pokemon who has the kind of movepool you would expect to see on the likes of a classic Dragon type like Dragonite. Drampa is relevant in this game in particular because of its Ability, Cloud Nine. With many Pokemon currently in cycle who have the ability to alter Weather like Tyranitar with Sand Stream, and Pelipper with Drizzle, a Pokemon who can counter it is essential. You could use your own weather setter, but you must keep the following in mind;

Weather, along with Item use and other Ability activations, is set based on the Speed stat of each Pokemon on the field. Let's have a look at this example.

Pelipper and Torkoal have Drizzle and Drought respectively. Pelipper, with its base Speed stat of 65, will outspeed Torkoal who has 20 in the same stat. Because it outspeeds Torkoal, Drizzle will trigger first, and then Torkoal's Drought will trigger afterwards due to it going second. Speed tiers are an important part of the Weather metagame and is often a part of the decision making when building a Weather based team. It's also part of why Torkoal is so good in that particular meta.

So Cloud Nine is a type of Ability whose effect is active so long as the user remains on field. This means that Drampa doesn't need to worry about being slower than any Weather setting Pokemon, Cloud Nine will remain active until Drampa is knocked out, switched out, or has its Ability altered by Neutralizing Gas, Gastro Acid, or other such moves or Abiities.

When Drampa Mega Evolves, its type remains the same but its Ability changes to Berserk, so you can effectively use the Pokemon either as a Weather disruptor in its base form or as a sweeper in its Mega Evolved state, provided Mega Drampa can survive a hit to trigger the Ability safely. Luckily, the rest of the team can help with this, but let's cover the movesets. Assuming you choose Gardevoir as your starting Pokemon, I'll recommend the three I think are most useful Pokemon of that team for you to use to get started.

Whimsicott
Whimsicott @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Tailwind
- Light Screen
- Taunt
- Memento

Drampa
Drampa @ Drampanite
Ability: Cloud Nine (Becomes Berserk upon Mega Evolution)
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Calm Mind
- Draco Meteor
- Hyper Voice
- Thunder/Heat Wave/Ice Beam/Grass Knot

Corviknight
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 124 SpD
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Roost
- Defog

On any team that has Whimsicott, you will usually run the aforementioned cotton spore first, it has the Ability of Prankster which increases priority for Status moves, in other words you will be able to use those attacks first almost all the time. The only exceptions are in Psychic Terrain, if an opposing Pokemon has a higher priority move, or if the target of your attack is a Dark type. You will lead with Whimsicott to use Tailwind, doubling the speed of your team for 3-5 turns, then you will use Light Screen to help give Drampa some bulk if it needs to come in. Taunt is to shut down the use of hazards like Stealth Rock, Spikes, or Toxic Spikes, as well as other status moves, and then Memento is your trump card attack, use it to disrupt an attacker to give Drampa the room to set up.

If hazards end up on your side because of misplay or you just weren't expect it, Corviknight's job is to come in to clear it. Of the Pokemon available on the Gardevoir starting team, Corviknight is the best suited to this with its move Defog, which will clear all hazards on the field. Pressure, its Ability, will double the PP used by opposing Pokemon when it is on the field, and in this game especially that is a bigger deal than ever as several key moves have had adjustments, notably nerfs, to the amount of Max PP they have. U-Turn is for pivoting into Drampa, and Roost is to recover some HP if you need it.

Now with your setup done, you can switch into Drampa. If your opponent is attempting to use Weather to their advantage, you can stay as regular Drampa to let Cloud Nine keep up its affect. You won't be chipped by Hail or Sand, the bonus properties of Snow, Rain, and Sun will not bother you, and if you're lucky the use of Cloud Nine may even force them to switch. In any case, Drampa has enough bulk to get away with a turn of setup by use of Calm Mind, and then you Mega Evolve and start to sweep with your strong coverage moves. If Drampa has sustained enough damage to drop to 50% or lower, Berserk will give you another boost to your Special Attack stat, and with Tailwind active you can expect to be outspeeding plenty of relevant threats.

Speaking of, here's the relevant threats that a Drampa will need to deal with, in the form of damage calculations.

Opponents hitting Drampa
- 252+ Atk Dragonite Ice Spinner vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Drampa-Mega: 180-214 (50.1 - 59.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252 Atk Garchomp Scale Shot (4 hits) vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Drampa-Mega: 312-368 (86.9 - 102.5%) -- approx. 0.8% chance to OHKO
- 252+ SpA Froslass Blizzard vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Drampa-Mega: 366-432 (101.9 - 120.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252+ SpA Froslass Blizzard vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Drampa-Mega through Light Screen: 183-216 (50.9 - 60.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252+ SpA Dragonite Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Drampa-Mega: 440-522 (122.5 - 145.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252+ SpA Dragonite Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Drampa-Mega through Light Screen: 220-261 (61.2 - 72.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Hitting Opponents with Drampa (absolute extreme stat spreads)
- 252+ SpA Drampa-Mega Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Dragonite: 432-510 (111.9 - 132.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO (Dragonite can run bulk safely, but even at the best HP and Sp. Def, it will still go down)
- 252+ SpA Drampa-Mega Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 624-734 (148.5 - 174.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO (You will probably never see Garchomp run its tanky set in this game)
- 252+ SpA Drampa-Mega Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 240+ SpD Tyranitar: 224-264 (55.4 - 65.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252+ SpA Drampa-Mega Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 240+ SpD Tyranitar: 488-576 (120.7 - 142.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252+ SpA Drampa-Mega Thunder vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Palafin: 296-350 (73.4 - 86.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
- 252+ SpA Drampa-Mega Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Froslass-Mega with an ally's Aurora Veil: 154-182 (44.7 - 52.9%) -- 25.8% chance to 2HKO
- +2 252+ SpA Drampa-Mega Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Froslass-Mega with an ally's Aurora Veil: 307-362 (89.2 - 105.2%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO (With one Calm Mind + Berserk)

Misc.
The other Pokemon on this team are still good to use, but the pressure of what is already shaping up to be Weather Wars V3, Drampa's unique use of Cloud Nine makes it a great pick for a beginner. Heracross is a strong sweeping Pokemon who you will pump to max Attack and Speed to fire off super-effective Megahorns on threats like Tyranitar and Raichu-Alola, and counter other Drampas with Close Combat, while also using its coverage of Rock Slide to hit Dragonite super-effectively.

Gardevoir can be a good alternate Special Attack based sweeper if you find yourself fighting a team that can give Drampa some trouble, like Incineroar, Primarina, Decidueye-Hisui, and any other Pokemon that doesn't need to worry about Weather to work. Gardevoir also has phenomonal coverage making it a solid pick in plenty of situations. You will use your Mega slot for Gardevoir if you need it to replace Drampa.

Azumarill is a niche Belly Drum sweeper who plays high risk high reward, cutting its HP in half to maximize its Attack stat. Use this if you find yourself needing to fight Pokemon who Drampa can't cover.

All in all, the Gardevoir starter choice is perfect if you want to grab Drampa right away and start fighting through Weather with relative ease. Your win condition with the team I suggested is simple, use Whimsicott to disrupt the opening Pokemon and get Drampa into the best position possible as soon as the opportunity arises. You typically don't want to wait for a "late-game" scenario, you will want to force it yourself.

Team 2
Revenge Killer (Pick Pikachu as your Starter)
Gengar
Pikachu
Kingambit
Garchomp
Gyarados
Azumarill

If you know anything about the Scarlet & Violet meta, it may be the introduction of a particularly dangerous Pokemon who had the potential to be one of the meta's best... if it weren't for literally every other Pokemon in that same meta. In a more limited format, in this case one which has 185 Pokemon to choose between, that one in particular gets it time in the spotlight and in a pretty simple way. Of course, I don't mean Pikachu, we're picking that one for the unique combination that also gets us the star of the show, Kingambit.

Kingambit

Type:

Weakness:

Resistance: Normal

Immunity:

Ability: Defiant (When the user has any of its stats lowered by an opponet, its Attack stat raises by two.)
Supreme Overlord (The user's moves base power are increased by 10% for each ally in the party that has fainted.)
Pressure (The opponent uses 2 PP for each move used against the user instead of 1.)

Kingambit boasts an incredible defensive typing that gives it an enormous pool of resistances and only a couple of weaknesses. The downside to that is that its weaknesses are not particularly uncommon. But by the time Kingambit comes in, it should be primed enough that it won't even need to worry about those weaknesses anyway. Kingambit is explicitly designed to be a late game sweeper. In other words, its job is to clean up after your other Pokemon have done all the work.

Kingambit's Abiity of choice will be Supreme Overlord, and the game plan is extaordinarily simple. Come in after two of your allies are down and get a free 20% boost to any attack you click. Unfortunately, in Champions we cannot pair this with the move Retaliate like we could in Scarlet & Violet, but we can still throw out some impressive numbers, an extra 20% is nothing to sneeze at after all, and luckily the team you get with Pikachu as your starter allows us to make Kingambit's job even easier. Here's the three I'll recommend using to get started.

Garchomp
Garchomp @ Yache Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Sandstorm/Earth Power
- Draco Meteor

Gengar
Gengar @ Gengarite
Ability: Cursed Body (Becomes Shadow Tag upon Mega Evolution)
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Destiny Bond
- Will-O-Wisp/Trick Room
- Toxic Spikes
- Dazzling Gleam

Kingambit
Kingambit @ Chople Berry/Focus Sash
Ability: Supreme Overlord
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
- Kowtow Cleave
- Iron Head
- Stone Edge
- Zen Headbutt

Kind of a weird looking team, right? Well I'd argue not. Sure, maybe it's weird to see Garchomp being used for utility only, but Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon are named as such for a good reason. They can do a lot of work other than just hitting hard, no better example exists than the jack of all trades that is Tyranitar. Garchomp's goal is of course to get hazards down for Kingambit. Just because Supreme Overlord will give you a lot of extra damage, you shouldn't expect that to just give you free wins, there's plenty of instances where that will not happen. A Yache Berry will allow you to take an Ice type move with no issue, but you might find the use of a Focus Sash to be more beneficial to you. Get Stealth Rock up first, then at least one layer of Spikes, then Sandstorm if you can afford to before being knocked out. You want to power up Kingambit, but you don't want to just let your team go down willy nilly.

With Garchomp's job done, we go to the next oddball of the team, Mega Gengar. You WILL Mega Evolve it right away because Gengar's Mega has the more favorable Ability, Shadow Tag prevents the oppoent from switching out without the use of a move like U-Turn or Volt Switch. Paired with Destiny Bond, you might think that Gengar's role is to be a sacrifice for the king. Not quite, you also have access to Toxic Spikes which will Poison any opponent who switches in that isn't a Steel or Posion type, and Badly Poisons them if two layers of Toxic Spikes are set. After setting that, THEN you can Destiny Bond if you feel it appropriate. Dazzling Gleam is there to threaten or even take out any Fighting types who can threaten Kingambit. I recommend Trick Room before Gengar is knocked out as Kingambit sits at 50 base speed, making it very slow compared to a lot of its relevant threats, thus faster than them inside of Trick Room.

Kingambit's job is, as I said earlier, extraordinarily simple. All you need to do is come in and get your free 20% move boost and start swinging. I recommend a Chople Berry in case a straggler Machamp is still active with a No Guard DynamicPunch, or Decidueye-Hisui with Triple Arrows --- although in that situation, Kingambit will NOT live, sorry to say XD. Its moves are self-explanatory, they are the strongest of its coverage moves that will cover most relevant threats. A Brave Nature will drop your Speed stat as low as possible to assist with being faster in Trick Room if you get the chance to set it beforehand.

Kingambit's biggest downside is its Special Defense stat. It sits at a lackluster 85, which isn't horrible on the surface but I can assure most meta relevant threats are going to take out Kingambit if you let them. Let's dive into that a bit further and move onto Kingambit's damage calculations.

Opponents hitting Kingambit
- 252+ SpA Dragonite Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Kingambit: 326-384 (80.6 - 95%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252 SpA Garchomp-Mega Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Kingambit: 260-306 (64.3 - 75.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252 Atk Arcanine-Hisui Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Kingambit: 308-366 (76.2 - 90.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Kingambit in Sun: 650-768 (160.8 - 190%) -- guaranteed OHKO (Use Focus Sash to survive.)
- 0 SpA Torkoal Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Kingambit in Sun: 482-570 (119.3 - 141%) -- guaranteed OHKO (Use Focus Sash to survive.)
- 252+ Atk Black Belt Machamp Dynamic Punch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Chople Berry Kingambit: 368-434 (91 - 107.4%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO

Hitting Opponents with Kingambit
- 252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 2 allies fainted Kingambit Zen Headbutt vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Machamp: 284-336 (88.4 - 104.6%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
- 252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 2 allies fainted Kingambit Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Multiscale Dragonite: 153-181 (47.3 - 56%) -- 82.4% chance to 2HKO
- 252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 2 allies fainted Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Reuniclus: 476-564 (112.2 - 133%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 2 allies fainted Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult: 476-564 (150.1 - 177.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 2 allies fainted Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Gengar: 566-668 (216.8 - 255.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 2 allies fainted Kingambit Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 312-368 (79.1 - 93.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
- 252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 2 allies fainted Kingambit Iron Head vs. 156 HP / 0 Def Froslass: 474-560 (148.1 - 175%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Misc.
Kingambit is really good, but sometimes it might need an extra boost to do a little better. The above damage calculations do not account for the possibility of you having successfully laid layers of traps before the king has had the chance to come out, there may be plenty of times where this doesn't happen. For a situation like this, you might need to have Swords Dance over Zen Headbutt, which is already only there for coverage anyway. If you're trying to bank Iron Head potentially flinching, don't. Iron Head's chance to inflict Flinch has been nerfed from 30% to 20%.

Incineroar, Decidueye-Hisui, fellow Supreme Overlord Kingambits, Mega Kangaskhan, and Mega Charizard Y are the largest threats to Kingambit unless it is under Trick Room. If you see these Pokemon on the opposing team, your win condition is to make sure Trick Room goes up in time for Kingambit. As for alternate Pokemon, the only other good Pokemon on this team is Gyarados. Incredibly versatile and bulky, it comes with Intimidate to lower the opponent's Attack stat making it useful for Kingambit in utility and may be preferabe to Mega Gengar in some situations, it can also deal with the likes of Arcanine-Hisui and Mega Charizard Y.

Doubles Team Recommendation
Double battles have a lot more to think about at any given time, both on your side and the opponents. In my opinion, it is where competitive Pokemon shines its absolute brightest as it showcases an incredible amount of on the spot decision making and player expression that goes beyond what the Singles format can offer. But, it can be daunting to think about such a large step in skill progression as a new or less experienced player. Luckily for you, Champions' default starter teams have some great options for you to learn with, let's take a look at the two I recommend trying out.

Team 1
Sun Team (Pick Charizard as your Starter)
Whimsicott
Charizard
Steelix
Gengar
Azumarill
Drampa

Don't worry, I see him too. Drampa's not the spotlight for this team though, we are shaking it up a bit thankfully lol. So. We've been talking about Weather being the dominant meta currently, and as far as I can see, that's not stopping anytime soon. Between half of a full Sandstorm core with Tyranitar as well as some new discoveries with Snow using Mega Froslass, Weather is going to be an important part of the game to learn to navigate, and an easy one to adapt with is Sun, thanks to Mega Charizard Y.

Mega Charizard Y
[Image: 006-my.png]

Type:

Weakness:

Resistance: Grass

Immunity:

Ability: Blaze (The user's Fire type moves become stronger when its HP is at 25% or less)
Drought (Upon the user being switched in, the Weather change to Sunny) (Mega Charizard Y retains Drought when it Mega Evolves)

Mega Charizard Y has always been a great Pokemon, it has a good enough defensive typing though its weaknesses leave much to be desired, but where it shines is its offensive capabilities. Mega Charizard Y doesn't need to rely on another Pokemon to set up the Sun via Sunny Day, it can do so itself without a move slot being wasted. In a meta game revolving around controlling Weather, it's a massive boon to have the abilty to do that without sacrificng an attack for your desired Weather change. On top of this, Drought being an Ability that Mega Charizard Y has by default means if another Weather setter gets to change the Weather before you, you have a way to change it in a way that is mostly irrelevant to Speed.

Charizard's movepool isn't the absolute best of the best, but under Sun and once Mega Evolved, even matchups you think might be disadvantageous for you can often turn out in your favor just because of the raw strength of this Pokemon under the right conditions. You'll be using Mega Charizard Y as a glass cannon special attacker only who will motly be a late game sweeper, but you may find yourself wanting to lead with it instead in some cases. Double Battles require a minimum of four elligible Pokemon, so let's go ahead and suggest the best team for Mega Charizard Y.

Whimsicott
Whimsicott @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Tailwind
- Protect
- Follow Me
- Taunt

Steelix
Steelix @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Body Press
- Explosion
- Roar

Azumarill
Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Helping Hand
- Aqua Jet
- Protect
- Ice Spinner

Mega Charizard Y
Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Solar Power
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Weather Ball/Overheat/Heat Wave
- Solar Beam
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast

You already know how useful Whimsicott is in a Singles format, and the same is true for Doubles. You will probably see Whimsicott on most serious Doubles teams because of its utility as one of the best Pokemon with access to Prankster. For Doubles, while Tailwiind is still a go-to for most teams, you will also see Whimsicott running Taunt. This will shut down trap setters and opposing Whimsicott, On top of this, it has one of the most important mechanics available to it which is attack redirection via the move Follow Me. Use this move to keep your trap setter or sweeper safe, on the turn it is used, all attacks from the opposing side will hit the user regardless of who they originally targeted. Protect is just a good utility move to have, but you can swap that for Helping Hand or Memento.

Steelix is a weird Pokemon to use, but it is here on the team you get so let's make the most of it. Steelix is going to be your trap setter and wallbreaker, you will always lead with this Pokemon and Whimsicott, the idea being that Whimsicott can disrupt opponents while Steelix lays down Stealth Rock. Body Press is entirely optional, and you could run Protect in its place or even Toxic if the oppoing team is susceptible to being Poisoned. Roar is a great alternative way to pressure the opponents leads, but the main draw is of course Explosion. Use this move after your setup turns are down to deal a good chunk of damage to the opponents and maybe even knock them out. Make sure to Protect with Whimsicott on that turn if you put the move on it, it can still be useful to Mega Charizard Y.

Azumarill is your backup support to Mega Charizard Y if and when Whimsicott falls. It has a standard moveset overall, but the important part is Helping Hand. It usually always goes first and will give your ally a 1.5x damage multiplier to any atttack it uses that turn. Not that Mega Charizard Y really needs it most of the time, but the extra damage is always appreciated and you should never be too sure about what you hit your opponent with. Ice Spinner is a fantastic piece of utility for Azumarill that will clear away hazards that threaten Mega Charizard Y, in particular Stealth Rock which will deal Rock type based damage, a 4x damage multiplier against Charizard.

Mega Charizard Y's job is to click buttons and win. It's a glass cannon build that prioritizes raw Special Attack damage over anything else. If Whimsicott is on field with you, draw attention away with Follow Me. If its Azumarill, boost Mega Charizard Y with Helping Hand. Under the Sun, Mega Charizard Y's Weather Ball becomes a 100 Base Power Fire type move, but outside of it you're left with it being a 50 Base Power Normal type move, so why pick it over a traditional Fire type move so you always have access to STAB? Well the simple factor is consistency. Mega Charizard Y's only comparable moves are Fire Blast, Overheat, and Inferno. Two of those moves do not have 100% Accuracy and Overheat will drop Mega Charizard Y's Special Attack by two stages. In a game like this, you want clean consistent results. If the Weather gets changed on you, still have a strong set of other attacks to back you up.

Mega Charizard Y will likely outspeed a lot of revelant threats, especially under Tailwind, but its a glass cannon for a reason. Just because you can hit hard doesn't mean you're invincible. You boast good Special Defense, but your not as good Physical Defense which is where you will have to be careful. Here's some relevant damage calculations.

Opponents hitting Mega Charizard Y
- 80 Atk Tyranitar Rock Slide vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Charizard-Mega-Y: 544-648 (183.1 - 218.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252 Atk Arcanine-Hisui Head Smash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Charizard-Mega-Y: 1104-1300 (371.7 - 437.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252 Atk Huge Power Starmie-Mega Waterfall vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Charizard-Mega-Y in Sun: 266-314 (89.5 - 105.7%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
- 252+ Atk Gyarados Waterfall vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Charizard-Mega-Y in Sun: 170-204 (57.2 - 68.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- +1 252+ Atk Gyarados Waterfall vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Charizard-Mega-Y in Sun: 254-302 (85.5 - 101.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
- 4 Atk Dragapult Dragon Darts (2 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Charizard-Mega-Y: 156-186 (52.5 - 62.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252 Atk Dragapult Dragon Darts (2 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Charizard-Mega-Y: 192-228 (64.6 - 76.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Hitting Opponents with Mega Charizard Y
- 252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Solar Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gyarados: 152-179 (45.9 - 54%) -- 3.9% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
- 252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Dragon Pulse vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Dragonite: 216-256 (66.8 - 79.2%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
- 252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Helping Hand Dragon Pulse vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Dragonite: 322-380 (99.6 - 117.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
- 252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Meganium-Mega in Sun: 374-444 (102.7 - 121.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Filter Aggron-Mega: 190-225 (55.2 - 65.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
- 252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Milotic: 250-296 (63.4 - 75.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
- 252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Helping Hand Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Milotic: 376-444 (95.4 - 112.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
- 252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Helping Hand Dragon Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 366-432 (102.5 - 121%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Sneasler in Sun: 343-405 (113.5 - 134.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Misc.
It is imperative that Mega Charizard Y has access to Tailwind on its side with Whimsicott. An important matchup for Mega Charizard Y is Starmie. In both its base and Mega Evolved form, Starmie's 120 base Speed stat translates to 371 with maximum EVs and a beneficial Nature for speed. Mega Charizard Y falls short at 328 and needs Tailwind to ensure it will outspeed almost anything that threatens it. If you do outspeed, you will find that Mega Charizard Y is nigh unstoppable and a great first step into abusing the Weather system.

The other major thing to keep in mind is that Charizard struggles with hitting multiple targets with this moveset, Heat Wave can help circumvent that but that's it. You could put Protect or Hurricane over Dragon Pulse, but for a glass cannon build, this about covers most of what you will be fighting. You might consider Gengar for Mean Look, Toxic Spikes, Destiny Bond, or even Perish Song to pressure opponents, and while I boasted Drampa's impressive niche usage earlier, on this team it will not provide a lot of utility. There's not a lot to say here that isn't going to be obvious as you're playing, this team is meant to be very very simple.

Team 2
Zero to Hero (Pick Palafin as your Starter)
Beedrill
Palafin
Gengar
Aggron
Sylveon
Hydreigon

These teams honestly kind of tested my patience, I'm going to be honst with you. Some of these default sets give Pokemon Stadium a run for their money with how BAD they are, but luckily we also need to keep in mind that most opposing new players will also be dealing with the default sets too right away. Thankfully, Pokemon is a very flexible game and we can make things work even in dire situations. Case in point is the core of our final team, Palafin.

Palafin

Type:

Weakness:

Resistance: Fire

Ability: Zero to Hero (When switched out by either manual input or from attacks, the next time Palafin enters the battle, it will be in Hero Form)

Palafin was a long-awaited addition the franchise as it was the first ever dolphin Pokemon, and in my opinion it did not disappoint. It has a cool design and a really interest mechanic that revolves around smart gameplay as it gets access to its stronger form only when you switch it out of battle. And how much stronger is its Hero Form, you might ask? Well take a look for yourself;

Palafin essentially undegoes a Mega Evolution by switching out, but due to how that transformation happens, you need to play it much smarter. Palafin has a Speed stat of 100, so it is not the fastest thing on the field usually. It's up to you to decide how you go about switching Palafin out, will you try get chip damage with Flip Turn or do you just manually switch? Palafin can be phenomonal but you need to know what you're doing. Unfortunately, the team that comes with it is not going to make that easy.

Beedrill
Beedrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Tailwind

Palafin
Palafin-Hero @ Mystic Water
Ability: Zero to Hero
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flip Turn
- Jet Punch
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch

Aggron
Aggron @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Thunder Wave
- Rock Slide

Sylveon
Sylveon @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Cute Charm
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Wish
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Magic Coat

Unfortunately, we don't get the luxury of a free Whimsicott on this team unlike most of the other starting teams, but we can make do. Beedrill is a terrible offensive Pokemon without its Mega Evolution, but it can still provide some utility. The risk is that Beedrill is very frail, and in Doubles you will likely go down rather quickly, but that mostly is not an issue as your goal is to get Tailwind up for Palafin. However, if you don't faint and you successfully get Palafin back to party, you can try to throw out a Swords Dance to boost Beedrill's Attack stat by two stages, and then Baton Pass on your next turn to safely switch in Palafin while giving it the boost from Swords Dance. Do NOT expect this to work all the time and do not rely on this, but if you see an opportunity to, then use it.

Aggron is your trap setter, if you can even call it that. It's honestly a kind of worse Steelix, but it's still usable. Taunt and Thunder Wave are great utility to have, and Rock Slide will provide spread coverage to both targets in situations where Palafin might not have quite enough damage to finish off the opponent. Aggron could be your Mega Evolution slot for this team, it boasts phenonomal defenses and there's really no upside to using Mega Beedrill over letting it run Focus Sash. This frees up the Leftovers item for Sylveon instead, and you could give Sitrus Berry to Palafin over Mystic Water.

Sylveon is your Screen setter, it will use Reflect and Light Screen to boost your side's Defense and Special Defense stats, and use its utility healing of Wish to keep itself or an ally alive. Sylveon also has Magic Coat, which will counter non damaging moves and send them back to the oppoent. This is particularly useful to block Spikes and Stealth Rock. But, you might find yourself wanting to give Sylveon Helping Hand instead for the same reason Azumarill runs it on the Mega Charizard Y team.

Palafin's job is to get out turn one and get back in right away. An ideal turn would have you lead Beedrill and Palafin, and while you swap Palafin out for Aggron or Sylveon, you Tailwind with Beedrill. You then either Swords Dance with Beedrill if its safe and then Baton Pass the next turn while setting up Screen, or just switch out manually. Either way, you want to get Hero Form Palafin out into the batle as soon as you can, ideally turn three or four if you're not trying to use Baton Pass to enhance Palafin further.

Let's take a look at Palafin's most relevant threats in its damage calculations.

Opponents hitting Palafin
- 252 SpA Manectric-Mega Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Palafin-Hero: 338-402 (99.1 - 117.8%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
- 252 SpA Magnet Raichu-Alola Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Palafin-Hero: 320-378 (93.8 - 110.8%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
- 252 SpA Magnet Raichu-Alola Rising Voltage (140 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Palafin-Hero in Electric Terrain: 642-756 (188.2 - 221.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252+ SpA Meganium-Mega Solar Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Palafin-Hero: 518-612 (151.9 - 179.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252+ SpA Meganium-Mega Solar Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Palafin-Hero through Light Screen: 259-306 (75.9 - 89.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252 SpA Dragonite-Mega Thunder vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Palafin-Hero: 292-344 (85.6 - 100.8%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
- 252+ SpA Glaceon Freeze-Dry vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Palafin-Hero: 282-332 (82.6 - 97.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Hitting Opponents with Palafin
- 252+ Atk Palafin-Hero Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Dragonite-Mega: 372-440 (96.3 - 113.9%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
- 252+ Atk Palafin-Hero Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar: 620-732 (153.4 - 181.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252+ Atk Mystic Water Palafin-Hero Jet Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Charizard-Mega-Y in Sun: 186-218 (62.6 - 73.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252+ Atk Palafin-Hero Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Decidueye-Hisui: 252-298 (79.4 - 94%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252+ Atk Mystic Water Palafin-Hero Jet Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mimikyu: 181-214 (72.1 - 85.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Misc.
Palafin's offensive damage calculations do not account for Helping Hand, so keep this in mind and do not be underwhelmed. You will also likely be dealing with opponents already worn down by Stealth Rock if you had Aggron replace Palafin turn one, so you actually have no need to worry about what appears to be lackluster damage to the bigger threats.

Defog is an option for Beedrill over Substitute if your opponents get a sneaky Stealth Rock up while you're switching Palafin. As mentioned on the Mega Charizard Y team, Gengar can be a good disruptor with Taunt and Toxic Spikes, but you might also be able to use its Mega Evolution and replace Aggron entirely if your opponents have specific weaknesses that Gengar can exploit.

The biggest threat to Palafin is Mega Chesnaught, who has a staggering 172 Base Defense stat. With a Base stat that high, Chesnaught won't need much investment, if any at all, to shrug off moves from Palafin while also hitting hard with Seed Bomb backed by a 137 Base Attack stat. You will want Gengar with Sludge Bomb in your team to handle Chesnaught... is what I WOULD say if Mega Chesnaught did not retain the Ability Bulletproof which makes it immune to ball or bomb moves. Your other option on this team to handle it is Hydreigon with Fire Blast. Keep an eye out for Mega Chesnaught if you want to run Palafin.

Conclusion

It's been a while since my last Competitive Pokemon guide, and I know some people still drop by the forum. If anyone is checking out Pokemon Champions and doesn't know where to start, you can use this starter guide to help ease you into the game. I plan to make more guides for whoever is dropping in, Competitive Pokemon is about to change forever and I for one cannot wait to see how this meta evolves. Feel free to say hi, offer your own tips in the replies, and enjoy Pokemon as always! Until next time, Kris out.]]> Pokemon Champions! I LOVE Pokemon battling, both singles and VGC, and since a lot of newer players will be trying this out for the first time, I figured why not write up this guide on all the starting Pokemon available to you when you boot up the game for the first time! To clarify, this will not be covering every available Pokemon, this will be covering the set of Pokemon given to you after completing the tutorial. We'll cover their base game builds, what works and what doesn't, what the Pokemon is best used for, and the best and cheapest builds for you to try for both singles and doubles while spending your precious VP in the most cost effective way!

Credit!
Pokedex and Moveset information curtesy of both my own gameplay and Serebii.net

Charizard

Pikachu

Snorlax

Tyranitar

Altaria

Gardevoir

Absol

Lucario

Armarouge

Palafin

Team 1
Cloud Nine (Pick Gardevoir as your Starter)
Whimicott
Gardevoir
Drampa
Heracross
Azumarill
Corviknight

Drampa

Type:

Weakness:

Resistance: Grass

Immunity:

Team 2
Revenge Killer (Pick Pikachu as your Starter)
Gengar
Pikachu
Kingambit
Garchomp
Gyarados
Azumarill

Kingambit

Type:

Weakness:

Resistance: Normal

Immunity:

Team 1
Sun Team (Pick Charizard as your Starter)
Whimsicott
Charizard
Steelix
Gengar
Azumarill
Drampa

Mega Charizard Y
[Image: 006-my.png]

Type:

Weakness:

Resistance: Grass

Immunity:

Team 2
Zero to Hero (Pick Palafin as your Starter)
Beedrill
Palafin
Gengar
Aggron
Sylveon
Hydreigon

Palafin

Type:

Weakness:

Resistance: Fire

Ability: Zero to Hero (When switched out by either manual input or from attacks, the next time Palafin enters the battle, it will be in Hero Form)

[Image: rb-qzzGjHw8fo53uXERDjIpQnjD6cbH_wlFWLQvJ...ffff-nd-v1]

Yo! How's it goinnn? So, I thought I'd try to bring a little life here,
I'm Esté, and I'd like to shoot a shot in the dark and attempt to kickstart something, no matter how small.

So, how about it?

Pokémon Legends: Z-A released almost a month ago now, and although it still has its flaws (could really do with some more dimensionality in those buildings...), I've loved the entire experience.

Before any potential discussion into specifics begins, though, I have my own priorities...

[Image: asPoFf91vOBNaVjyS7b5rmX-qK3h-L9jFKg9IAz-...ffff-nd-v1]

[Image: asPoFf91vOBNaVjyS7b5rmX-qK3h-L9jFKg9IAz-...ffff-nd-v1]

...Because a dream of mine has been realised. This is Mega Barbaracle (albeit in much worse picture quality than the game itself). I adore this thing with all of my heart. It is baby, and I may hear otherwise, but I will not be listening.

The pose - what a stunner!

Aaaanywhooo, Mega Dimensions is also around the corner now, and I am very excited for that, too.

But this is a discussion forum - or at least, it had been at one point. There's still that potential, and even if everyone is busy, even if the userbase is small - why wait for it to revive itself? Without further ado...

[Image: zLKPqDn0TOli9i140hWOJUNS1WISabXIVdY20S5s...ffff-nd-v1]

[Image: zLKPqDn0TOli9i140hWOJUNS1WISabXIVdY20S5s...ffff-nd-v1]

Let's Go!!!]]> Ahem

[Image: rb-qzzGjHw8fo53uXERDjIpQnjD6cbH_wlFWLQvJ...ffff-nd-v1]

Let's Go!!!]]> <![CDATA[A Heartfelt Thank You]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-DISCUSSION-A-Heartfelt-Thank-You Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:49:39 -0800 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-DISCUSSION-A-Heartfelt-Thank-You A Heartfelt Thank You - A Message from "Kris"

Hello all. My name is Blake, on here I go by Kris. I am a former moderator of this very forum, and a friend to many people on here who used to frequent the site back in its hayday. I recently came back on here to revisit the forum for the sake of two things in particular. The first of these was nostalgia, I have a lot of fond memories of this place that I will never forget. And the second was to see if any of my old friends still came here.

The answer to that second one was a disappointing, but very expected no. Of course, it has been a very long time now since the last major update for Pokemon happened, and aside from that even before Scarlet & Violet's release, interest in the site had shifted dramatically due to us all getting older and having less time for these things. Of course, I show no resentment for that change, for one it happened to me too. I'm glad people are living their lives and are hopefully in good spirits.

But, of course, a part of me is sad to see what happened to the website. How could I not be? Ever since I first joined in 2017, though I had lurked since 2016, I've been surrounded by nothing but a very positive and helpful community. This place was a fantastic resource in it's prime for information on the games, it was a way to seek out trade partners, practice battles, and at the core of it all was a community that felt close and connected. I think it is that, the community aspect, which I miss from Pokemon these days.

I still play the games frequently. Not as much, but still enough to call myself a fan. But it just is not the same without friends. Again I fault nobody for not keeping up appearance to play Pokemon, this is more of just a personal observation I have made in the years since I last came here. But let's not dwell on gloomy things, no? This site has alwys been a positive place and so let us continue that.

This Site Changed My Life

That title is not hyperbole. Truly, it is thanks to PokemonForever that I set my life on a positive trajectory. This place was my first true exposure to an online community for something I loved, at least outside of just watching YouTube videos. It inspired me to try a number of things, from art in threads where I did sprite edits, to learning to do some creative writing with stuff like the Monthly Meet & Greets and my Pokemon Movie Review series that never quite kicked off in hindsight.

At the heart of it all was of course the site's creator Justin Flynn. I don't know if Justin is still active online at all in any capacity anymore, I heard he sometimes pops up online but I can't say myself if this is true. Regardless of that, anyone who is a member of this site from back in the day will know Justin had health problems which kept him from being active all the time. , if you do still pop in here sometimes and you see this, this part is to you specifically.

For creating a community space for us all to come together that was welcoming, safe, accepting, and importantly fun, I thank you so much. 2017 is an interesting year for me to look back on. I don't believe anybody on here ever knew this but around that time I was questioning my identity. Doing that in an online space in those years was memorably dangerous due to trolls and cyberbullying. This place's overwhelming positivity and sense of community helped me to feel safe in general online, something kids and teens of that era needed, and need now. While not intentional, it was an important step in my journey to finding myself and learning to trust people, so once more Justin, thank you.

Next are the people I considered, and would still like to consider my friends on this site. These people all had a positive impact on me during my time here, and I will talk about them here.

, one of the most consistent people I spoke to on here. I remember our struggles with timezones for trading XD, as well as our goofy bond formed over my plan at making a clan out of "Team Bike Shorts" lol. Yes, I still love Kris btw, I'm a shill for Gen 2 all the way! Thanks for putting up with my garish purple text in some of my posts by the way, and of course for all the Pokemon you helped me get! I hope you are doing well these days.

, another consistent chatter who I hit it off with rather quickly, I remember we would mostly yap when new news dropped, but it wasn't until we started looking at competitive stuff that we started frequenting each other's posts a lot. I still remember your love of Trick Room... and Cloyster. I never did end up adding you on Discord and I do regret that. Hopefully one day we can reconnect and see what's up Smile

, someone I would not stop calling Senpai for some reason lol. Love me or hate me I wormed my way into your threads one way or another, and eventually we actually hit it off. You were one of the first people who became my friend on here, and I think you and 0kamii were responsible for recommending me for a mod position, which was amazing! I loved talking to you, and again I hope you are doing well!

Of course I still remember the greats like moo311 for their Genning threads for up and coming teambuilders, wartty and Hojunhu for their Breeding threads to help everyone out, ChaseInfinity for getting my account back (lol), and just in general everyone who I ever got to interact with here. I loved this community so much, and while I think it will most certainly never return, I still wanted to put this thank you up for the people who made it great.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you PokemonForever, its mods, its members, and its lurkers, for making my online experience a good one. If we ever come back, let us hope our reunion is sooner rather than later. Pokemon Legends ZA is releasing in the future, so perhaps we can see some activity again soon, but that is wishful thinking Wink

I'm just grateful for the time I was here, the fun I had, the memories I made, and the people I met. Thank you all so much.

]]> A Heartfelt Thank You - A Message from "Kris"

This Site Changed My Life

I'm just grateful for the time I was here, the fun I had, the memories I made, and the people I met. Thank you all so much.

]]> <![CDATA[Ponyta in a Heal Ball]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-LOOKING-FOR-Ponyta-in-a-Heal-Ball Mon, 08 Jan 2024 14:08:24 -0800 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-LOOKING-FOR-Ponyta-in-a-Heal-Ball Somewhat urgently trying to get a ponyta in a heal ball. Gender or form doesn't matter (hopefully) but it being a female galarian ponyta would make what I'm trying to do just a bit easier. I can offer sword/scarlet exclusive pokemon in exchange and I am willing to breed a competitive one for you (I can do egg-moves but I don't think I'll be able to swing HAs) Thanks a bunch!]]> Somewhat urgently trying to get a ponyta in a heal ball. Gender or form doesn't matter (hopefully) but it being a female galarian ponyta would make what I'm trying to do just a bit easier. I can offer sword/scarlet exclusive pokemon in exchange and I am willing to breed a competitive one for you (I can do egg-moves but I don't think I'll be able to swing HAs) Thanks a bunch!]]> <![CDATA[Dusclops Safari]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-FRIEND-SAFARI-Dusclops-Safari Thu, 12 Oct 2023 22:14:24 -0700 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-FRIEND-SAFARI-Dusclops-Safari
Only looking for 1, my friend code is 2638-0912-7769]]>
Only looking for 1, my friend code is 2638-0912-7769]]> <![CDATA[im new (and cool)]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-NEW-MEMBER-im-new-and-cool Mon, 19 Jun 2023 15:38:32 -0700 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-NEW-MEMBER-im-new-and-cool hello, my name is beebs. ive been playing pokemon ever since my mom bought me my 2ds with pokemon diamond in it. ive played every pokemon game, and done a living dex in sword and ultra moon. im 14 and go by any pronouns. idk whatt else to put so yea]]> hello, my name is beebs. ive been playing pokemon ever since my mom bought me my 2ds with pokemon diamond in it. ive played every pokemon game, and done a living dex in sword and ultra moon. im 14 and go by any pronouns. idk whatt else to put so yea]]> <![CDATA[Non American Pikachu]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-LOOKING-FOR-Non-American-Pikachu Sun, 09 Apr 2023 01:51:48 -0700 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-LOOKING-FOR-Non-American-Pikachu <![CDATA[VERY CLOSE TO FINISHING POKEMON HOME DEX]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-REQUEST-VERY-CLOSE-TO-FINISHING-POKEMON-HOME-DEX Wed, 28 Dec 2022 11:03:01 -0800 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-REQUEST-VERY-CLOSE-TO-FINISHING-POKEMON-HOME-DEX The pokemon i need are glastrier and diance. I DONT WANT TO KEEP THE POKEMON I JUST WANT TO SWAP THEM FOR THE DEX ENTRIES!! PLEASE DONT GIVE ME ANY POKEMON TO KEEP. ITS APPRECIATED BUT I DONT NEED ANY OTHER THAN THE ONES I AM KINDLY ASKING FOR]]> The pokemon i need are glastrier and diance. I DONT WANT TO KEEP THE POKEMON I JUST WANT TO SWAP THEM FOR THE DEX ENTRIES!! PLEASE DONT GIVE ME ANY POKEMON TO KEEP. ITS APPRECIATED BUT I DONT NEED ANY OTHER THAN THE ONES I AM KINDLY ASKING FOR]]> <![CDATA[ScVi OU Moveset Ideas & Analysis | Skeledirge]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-SMOGON-ScVi-OU-Moveset-Ideas-Analysis-Skeledirge Wed, 23 Nov 2022 00:09:57 -0800 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-SMOGON-ScVi-OU-Moveset-Ideas-Analysis-Skeledirge

Skeledirge
Type(s): Fire

Stats:
Hp: 104
Atk: 75
Def: 100
SpA: 110
SpD: 75
Spe: 66
Ability: Blaze / Unaware (Hidden)

In complete contrast to Meowscarada, Skeledirge boasts an impressive Special attacking prowess that pairs nicely with its signature move, as well as decent physical bulk overall. It has relatively average typing, thanks to the additional Ghost-type it gains two new weaknesses in Ghost and Dark, but also gains immunity to Normal and Fighting. It loses a lot of neutral damage calcs, making it a lot better overall to take hits, in my opinion. However, its Fire-type does make it more susceptible to Stealth Rock, something which will need to be played around given this Pokémon's stat spread. Its Ability Blaze, of course, boosts the power of Fire-type moves when it reaches a certain damage threshold. It's a very slow Pokémon with 66 Base Speed, making it critically slower than one of this current meta's biggest threats, Corviknight, by 1 point. As you can imagine just by the stats alone, Skeledirge will lend itself well to Trick Room teams. While right off the bat, there isn't a lot to say about its stats, typing, and Ability, Skeledirge really shines with its impressive movepool, so let's not wait any longer and move on to some moveset ideas.

Moveset Ideas

We'll start with a standard damaging set, just like Meowscarada. Use this to practice with if you feel like it works, and fine-tune as you see fit.

"Showtime"
Skeledirge @ Choice Specs / Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Torch Song / Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- Disarming Voice
- Shadow Ball

As a naturally bulky Pokémon, Skeledirge lends itself well to the HP investment, with a little bit of Special Defense investment, as well as maximum EVs in Special Attack for the most damage output possible. A Modest nature is a given, paired with 0 Attack IVs to lower damage from possible confusion. Choice Specs will give a 1.5x increase to Skeledirge's Special moves, but lock it into using only the first one it used until it switches out. If you don't want to run that out of fear of being locked into a poor move, Life orb is a great substitute, with the drawback being it will deal recoil damage when used.

Starting from the bottom, Shadow Ball is Skeledirge's best Ghost-type STAB move that can obliterate certain new threats like Annihilape, Armarouge, and Ceruledge without so much as a second thought. It has the chance to drop the Special Defense of the opponent by one stage, a great tool for Pokémon who solely focuses on its Special stat to deal damage. It can threaten previously common Rock + Screen setter Bronzong, and returning OU menace Dragapult. As of today, Showdown's Damage Calculator has been updated to include the new Pokémon from gen 9, so my damage calculations of course are taken from there. Thank you to the Showdown/Smogon team for getting the resources available so quickly and allowing for a more in-depth look at these Pokémon. If there is enough interest, I shall go back and add damage calcs for Meowscarada as well.

Shadow Ball-specific Damage Calc(s);

- 252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Shadow Ball vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD* Skeledirge: 410-486 (99.7 - 118.2%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Dragapult: 482-570 (152 - 179.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

* Without the 8 Special Defense EVs, Dragapult's Shadow Ball is a guaranteed OHKO on Skeledirge. Now, we do have a way to make this even better for us when compared to this set, without sacrificing the damage output. Let's take a look.

- 252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Shadow Ball vs. 248 HP / 64+ SpD Skeledirge: 348-410 (84.6 - 99.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 196 SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Dragapult: 422-498 (133.1 - 157%) -- guaranteed OHKO

With this setup using a Calm Nature over a Modest one, Skeledirge still has enough power to OHKO Dragapult but can also guarantee to survive its Shadow Ball, even with a Choice Specs and Special Attack boosting nature. We'll go over the specifics of this set later, but considering Dragapult is still as dangerous as it has always been, I felt this was worth mentioning early. Pokemon like Slowbro, Slowking, and Bronzong all get threatened by this powerful STAB move, and in a meta with solid Psychic and Ghost-types running around, this is undoubtedly a must-have.

Disarming Voice isn't considered a great move, and very fairly so. It's a 40 Base Power move, Fairy-type, and doesn't check accuracy. it's very mediocre. However, on Skeledirge it can have a fairly niche but effective use of threatening one of the new powerhouses on the block, Roaring Moon. With the set, as shown above, all the modifiers allow for pretty good damage on this Paradox-mon, forcing it to play a little more carefully lest it gets two-shot by a stray Fairy move it didn't expect. This doesn't take into account Tera Blast, which of course would be better. Returning threat Hydreigon also fears a Disarming Voice from Skeledirge, with its bulk being even worse than Roaring Moon, putting it in range to be OHKO'd by the move from full health. If Terstalizing becomes banned, or you play in formats / with your friends where it is banned, Disarming Voice is a decent choice to consider in place of Tera Blast.

Disarming Voice-specific Damage Calc(s);
- 252 SpA Hydreigon Dark Pulse vs. 248 HP / 4 SpD Skeledirge: 320-380 (77.8 - 92.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Disarming Voice vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Hydreigon: 280-332 (86.1 - 102.1%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO

- 252 SpA Expert Belt Hydreigon Dark Pulse vs. 248 HP / 4 SpD Skeledirge: 384-456 (93.4 - 110.9%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Disarming Voice vs. 48 HP / 4 SpD Hydreigon: 280-332 (83 - 98.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

- 220 Atk Roaring Moon Crunch vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Skeledirge: 270-320 (65.6 - 77.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Disarming Voice vs. 0 HP / 36 SpD Roaring Moon: 248-292 (70.6 - 83.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Disarming Voice, I can guarantee, will not become a meta choice. For the time being, however, I can see it being a niche threat to certain Pokémon like the ones I mentioned above. Specifically only on the Choice Specs set, as on the Life Orb set you will end up putting yourself in range for the aforementioned 2HKO moves to be guaranteed OHKOs. In place of it on the Life Orb set, you can opt for Snarl to drop the opponents' Special Attack, Overheat as a stronger Fire-type move, or even niche picks like Roar or Yawn.

Earth Power is Skeledirge's answer to one of this Gen's most prominent new trap-setters; Glimmora. Glimmora is dangerous because it has Toxic Debris, which gives it a free layer of Toxic Spikes when it is hit by a physical move, something which Skeledirge obviously doesn't need to fear. The go-to Glimmora set uses it as a fast bulky support, maximizing HP and Speed, and as we'll see in the damage calcs, it is completely checked by Earth Power from Skeledirge. Earth Power also checks Clodsire, setting it in range for a potential 2HKO. It is a great answer to many of the new Pokémon introduced, so many in fact that it's better to just get to the damage calcs and show, rather than tell.

Earth Power-specific Damage Calc(s);
- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Glimmora: 680-804 (183.7 - 217.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Glimmora: 476-560 (128.6 - 151.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Coalossal: 444-524 (104.7 - 123.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
- 0 Atk Coalossal Rock Blast (5 hits) vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Skeledirge: 240-280 (58.3 - 68.1%) -- approx. 2HKO after Stealth Rock

- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Iron Moth: 528-624 (175.4 - 207.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Iron Thorns: 660-780 (163.3 - 193%) -- guaranteed OHKO

- 252 SpA Sandy Shocks Earth Power vs. 248 HP / 4 SpD Skeledirge: 354-416 (86.1 - 101.2%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Iron Hands: 392-462 (76.5 - 90.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

I could go on and on about how good Earth Power is on this Pokémon, but I think you get the idea. Earth Power helps to keep many of the new and dangerous Pokémon in check and is simply a must-have for Skeledirge, and really any Pokémon that can benefit from using it. Obvious warnings apply, watch out for Air Balloon and Levitate, and pick and choose when to use it carefully. If, for example, Sandy Shocks switches in on an Earth Power and has an Air Balloon, you are forced to switch out because it will OHKO you with an Earth Power of its own.

Now we get onto what makes Skeledirge so dangerous. Its signature move is called Torch Song. It is an 80 Base Power that has a 100% chance to raise the user's Special Attack by 1 stage. An already very strong move that can help to steamroll teams if it gets out of hand? Sign me up. On its own, Torch Song is just a little worse than Flamethrower, but considering its additional stat-raising property, it's a no-brainer to utilize this when you can. Forretress is back in the meta, so having a reliable way to deal with it is needed. Plus, since it runs Sturdy, Forretress is forced to either take two Torch Songs or switch out to another Pokémon, giving you a free +2 in Special Attack. It also reliably answers Iron Treads and Iron Thorns, as well as rival starter Meowscarada. It also answers Defog users Scizor and Corviknight fairly well, as well as Snow setter Abaomasnow.

Torch Song-specific Damage Calc(s);
- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Torch Song vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Brute Bonnet: 386-456 (88.9 - 105%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Torch Song vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Forretress: 1152-1356 (325.4 - 383%) -- guaranteed OHKO (2HKO after Sturdy)

- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Torch Song vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Baxcalibur: 216-255 (49.7 - 58.7%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO

- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Torch Song vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Copperajah: 344-408 (89.3 - 105.9%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO

- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Torch Song vs. 252 HP / 88 SpD Amoonguss: 414-488 (95.8 - 112.9%) -- 75% chance to OHKO

- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Skeledirge Torch Song vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Chien-Pao: 542-638 (180 - 211.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Without a doubt, this move is fantastic. Now, to argue against it for just a moment, on a Choice Specs set you are obviously forced into using only one move, so for Choice Specs, you might want to consider using Flamethrower instead. It loses the stat boost of Torch Song, but raw damage output might be better in some situations, for example against the Baxcalibur set. Torch Song will find itself used better on a set without Choice Specs, in my opinion.

"Slow and Steady"
Skeledirge @ Expert Belt / Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Torch Song
- Earth Power
- Disarming Voice / Tera Blast (Fairy)
- Shadow Ball

As you can see, the moveset here remains the same, so we won't go over damage calcs again. The biggest difference is this set is accustomed for Trick Room teams. With its slow speed, Skeledirge finds a wonderful fitting on Trick Room to make threats that were once massive problems to it, like Dragapult or Gengar, all but obsolete as it begins to stockpile Special Attack boosts with Torch Song. We won't spend too much time on this, but a few things to watch out for are priority moves like Sucker Punch and Shadow Sneak. In place of Disarming Voice, you can run Tera Blast and any Tera Type of your choice. My suggestion is either Fairy or Normal to deal with Hydreigon + Roaring Moon, or to give yourself Ghost immunity. Choice Specs is not needed on this set as with Trick Room, the idea is you'll be 'fast' enough to get around threats as well as use the buffs from Torch Song. Experiment with this set as you see fit.

Potential Teammates to think of with Skeledirge include Pokémon who can set up the Sun. In this case, if you were to run a Sun setter, you might want to consider Solarbeam as an option to deal with Water-type Pokémon. Torkoal, in my mind, remains one of the prime Sun setters to use. Indeedee is currently the only Pokémon with access to Psychic Surge, making it an option to consider for countering priority moves. Trick Room is the best way to get the most out of this Pokémon, and the fastest option available currently is Iron Valiant. If that's not your style, you can always use Indeedee-M, Bronzong, or Slowbro to set it up.

Water Absorb Pokémon are going to benefit from having a massive target like Skeledirge on their side, so pairing this with a Pokémon like Clodsire or Gastrodon (Storm Drain), is generally good synergy to help scare off Pokémon like Palafin or Quaquaval. Additionally, Grass-types will also pair well to aid Skeledirge against Ground, Rock, and Water-types. Forretress, Donphan, and Maushold are great to pair with Skeledirge to clear entry hazards to keep Skeledirge going for longer, and in the case of the first two, can set up hazards of their own to hinder the foes.

Don't sleep on Skeledirge. I feel like this Pokémon has enormous potential as a Trick Room sweeper, and definitely has the moves to back it up. With Tera Blast and Terstalizing, you can scare off Pokémon that usually threaten you, such as turning into an Electric-type to scare of Water-types, or a Normal-type to negate your Ghost weakness, turning it into an immunity. With the right team, this Pokémon rivals other sweepers in the current meta, with or without Terastalizing. I seriously hope you consider using this Pokémon, I'm very keen to see how it helps to shape the meta moving forward. Thank you for reading, happy battles!

]]>

Skeledirge
Type(s): Fire

Stats:
Hp: 104
Atk: 75
Def: 100
SpA: 110
SpD: 75
Spe: 66
Ability: Blaze / Unaware (Hidden)

Moveset Ideas

We'll start with a standard damaging set, just like Meowscarada. Use this to practice with if you feel like it works, and fine-tune as you see fit.

"Showtime"
Skeledirge @ Choice Specs / Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Torch Song / Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- Disarming Voice
- Shadow Ball

]]> <![CDATA[ScVi OU Moveset Ideas & Analysis | Meowscarada]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-ScVi-OU-Moveset-Ideas-Analysis-Meowscarada Tue, 22 Nov 2022 01:06:25 -0800 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-ScVi-OU-Moveset-Ideas-Analysis-Meowscarada Hello! A new generation of Pokémon games is upon us, and with it comes a brand new meta to consider and watch. Today we won't be discussing the intricacies of the Gen 9 OU meta; instead, we'll focus on probably the most essential Pokémon you'll get - the starters! In this three-part analysis, we'll go over the moves abilities, and usage predictions of the three Paldean Starter Pokémon based on my own gameplay and experience with competitive Pokémon in gens 7 & 8. I hope you'll enjoy part one, wherein we look at my personal favorite of the trio; Meowscarada!

Meowscarada
Type(s): Grass + Dark
Stats:
Hp: 76
Atk: 110
Def: 70
SpA: 81
SpD: 70
Spe: 123
Ability: Overgrow / Protean (Hidden)

In many ways, Meowscarada is the Grass Type equivalent of Grenjinja. It has the Grass + Dark combination, it's a speedy glass cannon, and probably most notable of all, it has Protean. Comp. veterans should be aware of how terrifying Protean was on Greninja, and now we have a new age of terror to watch out for. Or at least, that's what it might look like at first glance. In this generation, the Ability Protean, among a selection of others, was hit with a pretty hefty nerf. Now, the Ability can only activate once per switch-in. This means you will have to be more strategic and careful as the Protean holder before slapping a bunch of moves onto Meowscarada and praying, lest you get caught with an Electric Type against a newly switched-in Dugtrio. However, as of now, there appears to be no way to obtain the starters' Hidden Abilities, so for the purposes of these analyses, we will only focus on their primary Abilities. In this case, as it is the Grass-type starter, Meowscarada's primary ability is, of course, Overgrow. When at a certain damage threshold, the power of Mewoscarada's Grass-type moves will be increased slightly.

Meowscarada's Speed stat of 123 puts it comfortably in the top 20 fastest Pokemon of this Gen's current meta, and the top 10 when disregarding the unreleased Pokémon. Most notably, Meowscarada will outspeed Greninja by 1 point when it releases. This might force Greninjas to use Choice Scarf if they wish to counter Meowscarada specifically. Though, with Pokémon like Kilowattrel and Weavile in the current meta, this might not be too much of an issue. With this speed stat, however, Meoscarada can outspeed one of its biggest counters, Skeledirge, and can threaten it super-effectively with a STAB Night Slash. Its Attack stat is naturally the most important part. We will get into its movest later, but with the advent of Terastalizing, a high Attack stat with access to a lot of offensive prowess gives Meowscarada a lot of potential to be an oppressive force to many different Pokémon. Its Defenses are naturally pretty rough, and the usual warnings apply here. Meowscarada is a sweeper, so it's best used for what it's meant to do. Don't expect it to take too many hits, and try to hit with your hardest moves. Lastly, looking at its Special Attack, it isn't the worst. Base 81 will allow it to utilize its surprising variety of special moves if need be, and can offer opportunities for a variety of different movesets. Speaking of...

Moveset Ideas

Let's first take a look at a fairly standard set idea that you can use to practice with. of course, feel free to fine-tune any of these movesets as you like, we're in the learning phase of the meta currently.

"Greeninja"
Meowscarada @ Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Flower Trick
- U-turn

Of course, we utilize the Jolly Nature to give Meowscarada the most Speed possible, while dropping its currently most useless stat, Special Attack. Putting maximum EVs in Attack and Speed is a no-brainer. Life Orb, as you know, boosts the power of attacks while dealing a little bit of recoil damage in return. Knock Off is a great STAB move that will remove the target's item when used. Notable damage calculations to take note of are a 100% chance to OHKO Skeledirge without a Defense boosting Nature or HP investment, and then a 35.7% chance to do so when it has 252 HP EVs. It's also a 100% chance to OHKO Armarouge and Ceruledge, which it also outspeeds. These are, of course, just a few examples of Pokémon Meowscarada can handle, and I encourage you all to experiment more once get more into the meta. Sucker Punch is one of two options Meowscarada has for priority, the other being Quick Attack. Both of these options are actually pretty good, as Sucker Punch can fail if the target does not use a damaging move on the same turn as you, making Quick Attack have a nice little niche usage to catch some players off guard.

Flower Trick is Meowscarada's signature move, and what a signature it is. Currently, Smogon lists it as a "usually useless" move, and I don't understand why. It has 70 base power, and is a physical Grass move, making it an already solid choice of move for a Pokémon like this. While Petal Blizzard is a stronger move with 90 base power, Flower Trick, in my opinion, clearly outclasses it. This move not only never misses, it also guarantees a Critical Hit. Off the bat, the extra damage of a C.H. is fantastic, but on top of this, this means Flower Trick is a lot like Darkest Lariat in that it will ignore the stat boost of the opponent because it always results in a C.H., making some stall options virtually useless. I really do think Flower Trick is being slept on and is Meowscarada's best move. For example Dondozo, a brand new physical tank with 150 HP and 115 Defense, is cut down in two hits by Flower Trick. While Petal Blizzard will also do fantastic damage in this situation, the potential of Dondozo's Curse and Rest makes Petal Blizzard less useful over time, whereas Flower Trick is always going to have that 70-83% damage roll on Dondozo, regardless of how tanky it gets. Flower Trick is, in my mind, a must-have when countering physical tanks like the aforementioned Dondozo.

Lastly, U-Turn is a staple of Pokémon like Meowscarada, if a Pokémon that can counter you swaps in and you know you can't OHKO it, you can dip and leave it a bit of damage as a parting gift. That said, U-Turn isn't as great this gen as you might initially expect. there's a new Pokémon called Glimmora that acts like Nihilego 2.0 in many ways. Glimmora is a Poison + Rock type, already making a solid check on Meowscarada, but it also has one of the best new abilities in this gen. Toxic Debris will set up a layer of Toxic Spikes when the opponent is hit by a move that makes contact. This means you could accidentally endanger the rest of your team by using U-Turn to switch out from a Glimmora, and it's something that threatens quite a few Pokémon in this current meta. This, in my opinion, is why I'd run a Glimmora or another Poison-type of my own to clear Toxic Spikes. Naturally, with Foretress back in the meta, this is something else to consider as a check to Glimmora This Pokémon is one of the scariest in the meta, and if you plan to run Meowscarada, it is something you should be aware of.

"TERA-ble Pun"
Meowscarada @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Overgrow
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tera Blast
- U-Turn
- Flower Trick
- Knock Off

Now we move onto a set that utilizes the Terastalizing gimmick of the new Generation. When Terastalizing a Pokémon, its type changes to whichever its "Tera Type" is. This has a lot of implications in competitive, such as removing weaknesses you once had and making yourself resistant to them, a good example would be an Ice-type changing to a Water-type to negate Fire-type damage. Another thing that happens is moves of the same type as your Tera Type will have a boost of 1.5x (I think, still need to check that soon). this stacks on top of your normal STAB boost, meaning you will essentially deal double damage, all before other factors like weakness and resistance are taken into consideration. In any case, this is obviously a really great gimmick when it comes to pure damage output, but wouldn't you know, there's another bonus to all of this. Tera Blast is a move that changes to match the type of your Tera Type, meaning you get a STAB move for free and can run any Tera Type thanks to this move. On top of all of that, tera Blast changes to be either Physical or Special - depending on what your higher stat is.

This set runs a Choice Scarf to help outspeed some of its more oppressive and dangerous threats, giving it a nice maximum speed of about 538. While your Tera Type can, and should, change to fit whatever Pokémon you feel most threatened by, this set opts to run a Rock-type Tera Blast to counter Kilowattrel, an Electric + Flying type which outspeeds it, as well as OU veteran Talonflame. Meowscarada can run Power Gem, but as it is a Special Move, for this set I believe it makes more sense to take advantage of all of Meowscarada's physical prowess and go with a phys. Tera Blast. Other options include a Ground-type Tera Blast to counter Electrode and Jolteon, Ice to counter Noivern, or Fire to counter Foretress. These, of course, are just some early predictions and you can be free to experiment as you like.

To cap off the moveset section , I'll list a few other noteworthy moves Meowscarada has here;
- Acrobatics
- Brick Break
- Hone Claws
- Low Kick
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw

Smogon/Showdown currently pushes Meowscarada as a potential mixed attacker, and at a glance I can see why. It has access to Nasty Plot, as well as moves like Giga Drain, Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse and Power Gem to name a few. A Focus Sash set could make for a nice special sweeping set, and help to quickly steamroll teams that way. But in my opinion, I feel like Meowscarada is going to be in its best when it is utilizing the attack stat. A Low Kick from this Pokémon can threaten a Pokémon like Tyranitar, whereas a Grass Knot may as well be useless. You could also run a Choice Specs to help with damage, but then you lose access to Nasty Plot.

No matter what way I look at it, a special Meowscarada is most likely going to be less viable than the physical sets I've shown here today. We are very early into the meta, of course, and this can change as we progress and learn more, but for right now I think it will be best used as a physical sweeper, with niche special sweeping usage, and the potential for a mixed set in the future.

Potential teammates for Meowscarada any Pokémon which will be able to handle some of the tougher threats it will face. Good Water-types which can set up the rain, like Pelliper, immediately comes to mind. A Pokémon like Foretress or Donphan is a great spinner to clear hazards Meowscarada cannot deal with on its own, most notably Toxic Spikes. A Pokémon with Sticky Web is also worth considering to help Meowscarada get a little bit more of an edge over some faster, or Scarfed Pokémon it might not be able to outspeed normally.

A few other items to consider are Expert Belt for more damage on super-effective hits, Choice Band if you run a full attacking set, Focus Sash if you choose to run Hone Claws or Agility, Miracle Seed for Meowscarada's Grass-type moves, new item Covert Cloak, which protects the holder from secondary effects, making a move like Nuzzle useless, and of course Tanga Berry to halve super-effective Bug-type moves, a pretty good option to consider for a Pokémon 4x weak to it.

So to end this analysis, I think Meowscarada will be quite the force to reckon with eary on. I don't actually see Protean being a massive game changer to its overall playstyle, and if anything I think overgrown might end up being better. Flower Trick is a move you cannot sleep on, and finding ways to predict and counter that specifically will be how you work around an opposing Meowscarada. I hope this guide gave you a good idea of how you can use Meowscarada, and I can't wait to see how this Pokémon adapts to the meta.

]]> Hello! A new generation of Pokémon games is upon us, and with it comes a brand new meta to consider and watch. Today we won't be discussing the intricacies of the Gen 9 OU meta; instead, we'll focus on probably the most essential Pokémon you'll get - the starters! In this three-part analysis, we'll go over the moves abilities, and usage predictions of the three Paldean Starter Pokémon based on my own gameplay and experience with competitive Pokémon in gens 7 & 8. I hope you'll enjoy part one, wherein we look at my personal favorite of the trio; Meowscarada!

Meowscarada
Type(s): Grass + Dark
Stats:
Hp: 76
Atk: 110
Def: 70
SpA: 81
SpD: 70
Spe: 123
Ability: Overgrow / Protean (Hidden)

Moveset Ideas

"Greeninja"
Meowscarada @ Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Flower Trick
- U-turn

"TERA-ble Pun"
Meowscarada @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Overgrow
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tera Blast
- U-Turn
- Flower Trick
- Knock Off

]]> <![CDATA[Opinions on new games]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-DISCUSSION-Opinions-on-new-games Thu, 04 Aug 2022 09:23:03 -0700 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-DISCUSSION-Opinions-on-new-games
Years later, Gen 6 came around and that was where the investment outside of Gen 4/5 anime returned.
I loved the full thing and still do now, but let me continue...

Gen 7 was next. I loved Gen 7 as well.

Gen 8... SW/SH were also great to me.

Then I went back to play Gen 4... I could probably finish it but dropped it very quickly for other things. Gen 5 feels it would be the same. Gen 3 would probably be the most playable before Gen 6, and even then it *had* the remakes in Gen 6.

There's undoubtedly going to be some bias from me but still I played Gen 2 first. I think this whole 'graphics' or 'lazy' stuff is uncalled for. I saw yesterday's direct and chat was flooded with 'finally mediocre graphics' or 'actually so sad'. This didn't take my attention away from the lengthy chains of 'HOLY HELL' and everything, but...

I've loved every new game more than Gen 6 in some ways, and Gen 6 in others.

Gen 6 Wally was the thing that made me accept growth as a whole, specifically... but I don't get why S/V needs to be an 'upcoming letdown, guaranteed' for so many people.

People love to hate things - I get why people see it that way (from missing certain aspects to not being used to others, or even just because other people also find it fun to hate it beforehand) but it isn't really how to go about it.
I don't love S/V as a game. I don't hate it as a game.
Because I haven't got to play it.

I love the way S/V currently looks. What it's selling as. How it wants to work.

And seemingly the way we're introduced to the box legends is absolutely different, but
who said it should be the same formula every time?

It's only 'not Pokémon' because they're not letting it be. Let it look better. Let it change. Let it adapt.

They're working on making it a generally massive experience. Mega evos only being for specific species? Surely regional forms work better for that, and certain things such as DMax/Z-Moves work better being accessible for all teams - with signature Z crystals behaving like signature (regular) moves, or GMax working like a signature DMax?

From an idea perspective, Mega Evos would be amazing to have return rather than a new thing every generation.

But imagine we felt the same about Z Moves. DMax.
People only don't ask for these others because mega evo was the first to be added and left behind, making them inherently hate these similarly great and original gimmicks.

However, the thing that seems to make mega work as something people don't want to drop is the fact that it is only for certain species, with no 'lesser' version for all other Pokémon.

It'd possibly actually work to bring it back alongside a generationally changing feature, even from the perspective of someone that played Gen6 'first' (as the first 'played in full' games) yet doesn't miss Mega Evo as much.

But off the topic of Megas, what about graphics?

It does not look worse, at all. It can subjectively, to some people. But I think that whole statement has reached a point of almost 'invalidating' the view of people that actually don't prefer it. A view more common along people that reject the change than those that accept it but find it out of their taste. Across a group that only rejects the change because other people did.

Can you see the current graphics happening on a console past generations were on?

Then there are those arguing about the 'animation in the fighting spinoffs' - it doesn't need the full animation level of a fighting game yet, because it isn't a fighting game, it's an RPG - with a storyline - that happens to contain battling.

The animation could use something - but if people ask for all Pokémon to be in, with their own animations, with a similarly short deadline, maybe there is a little bit of an unreasonable expectation.
Not to mention how often they forget that there are literally even more moves that would need to be animated for each of them.

A few 'more detailed' shared anims for similar moves, for Pokémon of similar build? Still a lot even if they're reused. It could be an eventual possibility, but especially not as early into the new consoles or tech as even S/V is.

People cannot even compare Gen7 to Gen8 and say 8 looks worse.
Yet they insist on saying Gen 2 looks better than Gen 9 trailers.

People can like certain styles more, but that usually doesn't include comparing the styles and conclude that the new graphics are objectively worse.

Or that different types of games should be compared to it - inside or outside of the same IP.

From there also come the groups of aggressors - such as the people who see someone mildly like something about the game and start spewing that they deserve harassment over their opinion until they 'change it or ditch the games'.
Or the people that see someone mildly dislike something and say their opinion is outright wrong without letting their points get through.

It's got to the point where you can barely distinguish between (or describe the difference between) those that genuinely dislike or even hate the new games, or those that trash on them to follow a herd they're not a part of.

Everything is always on the producers to then stop changing things. If they're not deemed responsible, it's those above them. But never past there, apparently. Never below, never further above.

S/V is going to be a major step. As a result, people will find maybe a handful of bugs and conclude that 'no care went into the games at all - just corporate greed'.

Maybe listening to what the people 'want' would be even a little closer to corporate greed - why would anyone sell something 'broken and lacking what people want' just to be 'guaranteed profit to feed our greed'?

Maybe the only greed is everyone demanding nothing and everything at the same time.

Maybe the issue is people either letting it change too much, or not letting it change enough.

Blindly protecting every aspect of the games, or blindly attacking every aspect.

The type of game we see as 'great' is changing over time - and a bit too fast for Pokémon to keep up with.
Because people want them to go back to the origin and look better than unreleased future games simultaneously.

They want to try something different each generation? Let them and make the things you miss or wish you'd seen a 'side review'.
It isn't fair to judge something trying to be different as if it should've stayed the same, nor the other way.]]>
Years later, Gen 6 came around and that was where the investment outside of Gen 4/5 anime returned.
I loved the full thing and still do now, but let me continue...

Gen 7 was next. I loved Gen 7 as well.

Gen 8... SW/SH were also great to me.

Then I went back to play Gen 4... I could probably finish it but dropped it very quickly for other things. Gen 5 feels it would be the same. Gen 3 would probably be the most playable before Gen 6, and even then it *had* the remakes in Gen 6.

There's undoubtedly going to be some bias from me but still I played Gen 2 first. I think this whole 'graphics' or 'lazy' stuff is uncalled for. I saw yesterday's direct and chat was flooded with 'finally mediocre graphics' or 'actually so sad'. This didn't take my attention away from the lengthy chains of 'HOLY HELL' and everything, but...

I've loved every new game more than Gen 6 in some ways, and Gen 6 in others.

Gen 6 Wally was the thing that made me accept growth as a whole, specifically... but I don't get why S/V needs to be an 'upcoming letdown, guaranteed' for so many people.

People love to hate things - I get why people see it that way (from missing certain aspects to not being used to others, or even just because other people also find it fun to hate it beforehand) but it isn't really how to go about it.
I don't love S/V as a game. I don't hate it as a game.
Because I haven't got to play it.

I love the way S/V currently looks. What it's selling as. How it wants to work.

And seemingly the way we're introduced to the box legends is absolutely different, but
who said it should be the same formula every time?

It's only 'not Pokémon' because they're not letting it be. Let it look better. Let it change. Let it adapt.

They're working on making it a generally massive experience. Mega evos only being for specific species? Surely regional forms work better for that, and certain things such as DMax/Z-Moves work better being accessible for all teams - with signature Z crystals behaving like signature (regular) moves, or GMax working like a signature DMax?

From an idea perspective, Mega Evos would be amazing to have return rather than a new thing every generation.

But imagine we felt the same about Z Moves. DMax.
People only don't ask for these others because mega evo was the first to be added and left behind, making them inherently hate these similarly great and original gimmicks.

However, the thing that seems to make mega work as something people don't want to drop is the fact that it is only for certain species, with no 'lesser' version for all other Pokémon.

It'd possibly actually work to bring it back alongside a generationally changing feature, even from the perspective of someone that played Gen6 'first' (as the first 'played in full' games) yet doesn't miss Mega Evo as much.

But off the topic of Megas, what about graphics?

It does not look worse, at all. It can subjectively, to some people. But I think that whole statement has reached a point of almost 'invalidating' the view of people that actually don't prefer it. A view more common along people that reject the change than those that accept it but find it out of their taste. Across a group that only rejects the change because other people did.

Can you see the current graphics happening on a console past generations were on?

Then there are those arguing about the 'animation in the fighting spinoffs' - it doesn't need the full animation level of a fighting game yet, because it isn't a fighting game, it's an RPG - with a storyline - that happens to contain battling.

The animation could use something - but if people ask for all Pokémon to be in, with their own animations, with a similarly short deadline, maybe there is a little bit of an unreasonable expectation.
Not to mention how often they forget that there are literally even more moves that would need to be animated for each of them.

A few 'more detailed' shared anims for similar moves, for Pokémon of similar build? Still a lot even if they're reused. It could be an eventual possibility, but especially not as early into the new consoles or tech as even S/V is.

People cannot even compare Gen7 to Gen8 and say 8 looks worse.
Yet they insist on saying Gen 2 looks better than Gen 9 trailers.

People can like certain styles more, but that usually doesn't include comparing the styles and conclude that the new graphics are objectively worse.

Or that different types of games should be compared to it - inside or outside of the same IP.

From there also come the groups of aggressors - such as the people who see someone mildly like something about the game and start spewing that they deserve harassment over their opinion until they 'change it or ditch the games'.
Or the people that see someone mildly dislike something and say their opinion is outright wrong without letting their points get through.

It's got to the point where you can barely distinguish between (or describe the difference between) those that genuinely dislike or even hate the new games, or those that trash on them to follow a herd they're not a part of.

Everything is always on the producers to then stop changing things. If they're not deemed responsible, it's those above them. But never past there, apparently. Never below, never further above.

S/V is going to be a major step. As a result, people will find maybe a handful of bugs and conclude that 'no care went into the games at all - just corporate greed'.

Maybe listening to what the people 'want' would be even a little closer to corporate greed - why would anyone sell something 'broken and lacking what people want' just to be 'guaranteed profit to feed our greed'?

Maybe the only greed is everyone demanding nothing and everything at the same time.

Maybe the issue is people either letting it change too much, or not letting it change enough.

Blindly protecting every aspect of the games, or blindly attacking every aspect.

The type of game we see as 'great' is changing over time - and a bit too fast for Pokémon to keep up with.
Because people want them to go back to the origin and look better than unreleased future games simultaneously.

They want to try something different each generation? Let them and make the things you miss or wish you'd seen a 'side review'.
It isn't fair to judge something trying to be different as if it should've stayed the same, nor the other way.]]> <![CDATA[Neon Pokemon Fanart]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-Neon-Pokemon-Fanart Wed, 11 May 2022 06:14:18 -0700 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-Neon-Pokemon-Fanart
Prehistoric Lake // Lapras and Aerodactyl
[Image: Esd5zLv.png]

Twitter Link.
Tumblr Link.
Deviantart Link.

Holographic Charizard.
[Image: 3RmBTqZ.png]

Twitter.
Tumblr.
Deviantart.

Alternate Dragonite.
[Image: UBGhnPT.png]

Twitter.
Tumblr.
Deviantart.]]>
Prehistoric Lake // Lapras and Aerodactyl
[Image: Esd5zLv.png]

Twitter Link.
Tumblr Link.
Deviantart Link.

Holographic Charizard.
[Image: 3RmBTqZ.png]

Twitter.
Tumblr.
Deviantart.

Alternate Dragonite.
[Image: UBGhnPT.png]

Twitter.
Tumblr.
Deviantart.]]> <![CDATA[The Justin Flynn]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-DISCUSSION-The-Justin-Flynn Mon, 25 Apr 2022 13:57:41 -0700 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-DISCUSSION-The-Justin-Flynn I've never made a post here and I should have made an account years ago. I just wanted say that I miss you Justin and your community. I know you are sick and I hope you get better, I've been checking in on you for years including this website and I wish you the best. You're streams were part of my childhood including your band ohnickel, I'm 21 now and I still think about the old days. Thanks for being a part of my life and I hope to one day see you out in the internet again love you dog.]]> I've never made a post here and I should have made an account years ago. I just wanted say that I miss you Justin and your community. I know you are sick and I hope you get better, I've been checking in on you for years including this website and I wish you the best. You're streams were part of my childhood including your band ohnickel, I'm 21 now and I still think about the old days. Thanks for being a part of my life and I hope to one day see you out in the internet again love you dog.]]> <![CDATA[Trade looking for dodrio tangled feet]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-US-UM-Trade-looking-for-dodrio-tangled-feet Sat, 05 Mar 2022 14:54:18 -0800 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-US-UM-Trade-looking-for-dodrio-tangled-feet <![CDATA[Pokemon Violet and Scarlet Announcement]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-NEWS-Pokemon-Violet-and-Scarlet-Announcement Sun, 27 Feb 2022 16:00:00 -0800 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-NEWS-Pokemon-Violet-and-Scarlet-Announcement

]]>

]]> <![CDATA[Pokemon cards - Where can I value them?]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-Pokemon-cards-Where-can-I-value-them Wed, 09 Feb 2022 08:24:47 -0800 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-Pokemon-cards-Where-can-I-value-them ]]> ]]> <![CDATA[I’m new here]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-NEW-MEMBER-I%E2%80%99m-new-here Sat, 01 Jan 2022 14:48:08 -0800 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-NEW-MEMBER-I%E2%80%99m-new-here <![CDATA[Friend safrai]]> http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-Friend-safrai Mon, 20 Dec 2021 21:12:51 -0800 http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-Friend-safrai