Simple Questions and Answers Thread for BST! (Read First Post)

[mikarugelord]

I'm thinking of making a Choice Scarf NoGuard Machamp. I've got DynamicPunch/StoneEdge/Earthquake decided, but I can't decide on the fourth move. Should I stick Fire Blast in even though it will be a Jolly nature, or should I make it a Naive/Hasty nature to prevent FireBlast damage loss, or should I just stick in some other move?

[Rakarei]

#1 Don't use a choice scarf Machamp, it's speed is too low to make it worth while.
#2 If you're going to use Ice Punch in the last slot.

[mikarugelord]

I'm also trying to breed a Manectric with Switcheroo/Thunderbolt/Overheat.
My original plan was to conclude with Hidden Power Ice, but breeding that just doesn't seem to work. What would be a good replacement move?

[coolking503]

Manectric has no way of hitting ground types. As such, HP grass or ice tends to be the best option. If nothing else signal beam works, though it has redundant coverage. Manectirc's movepool is very lacking outside of electric and fire moves.

[clockman]

What's the best way (if there is one) to deal with that haxing little bitch, Jirachi, be it Choice Scarf or Paraflinch. My rank on Pokemon Online took a huge hit today due to bad luck and that stupid thing. My team is posted here for reference: http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/showthread.php?t=89580

[Aco]

im pretty sure you can use dustox, so it cant activate seren grace, or a pokemon with inner focus, for those flichhx ones, but for those jirachis like mine, with paralyze and confusion hax, use a toxic orb celfable, with wonder guard.

[clockman]

im pretty sure you can use dustox, so it cant activate seren grace, or a pokemon with inner focus, for those flichhx ones, but for those jirachis like mine, with paralyze and confusion hax, use a toxic orb celfable, with wonder guard.

you know, i'm surprised it never crossed my mind, but my Lucario under reflect should be able to deal with it.

[g3rgni]

you know, i'm surprised it never crossed my mind, but my Lucario under reflect should be able to deal with it.

Yeah, Lucario does quite well against Jirachi when Reflect is up. Here's some sample calculations:

Attack: Fire Punch
Jolly Scarf Jirachi vs. Standard SD Lucario w/o Reflect: 64.8% - 76.9%
Jolly Scarf Jirachi vs. Standard SD Lucario w/ Reflect: 32.7% - 39.1%
Sub + TWave Jirachi vs. Standard SD Lucario w/o Reflect: 60.5% - 71.2%
Sub + TWave Jirachi vs. Standard SD Lucario w/ Reflect: 30.6% - 36.3%

At best, a Jirachi with a neutral nature in attack 3HKOs full health Lucario protected by Reflect. You may, however, have to take the paralysis from Thunder Wave in order to get rid of the opposing Jirachi.

[Thundagere]

Yeah, Lucario does quite well against Jirachi when Reflect is up. Here's some sample calculations:

Attack: Fire Punch
Jolly Scarf Jirachi vs. Standard SD Lucario w/o Reflect: 64.8% - 76.9%
Jolly Scarf Jirachi vs. Standard SD Lucario w/ Reflect: 32.7% - 39.1%
Sub + TWave Jirachi vs. Standard SD Lucario w/o Reflect: 60.5% - 71.2%
Sub + TWave Jirachi vs. Standard SD Lucario w/ Reflect: 30.6% - 36.3%

At best, a Jirachi with a neutral nature in attack 3HKOs full health Lucario protected by Reflect. You may, however, have to take the paralysis from Thunder Wave in order to get rid of the opposing Jirachi.

Using this...
Your team is hyper offensive correct? As such, since you have quite a few physical attackers, you might consider replacing one of them with Electivire. he can take Thunder Wave, then outspeed and KO Rachi.

[coolking503]

One reason electivire isnt worth it: It cant KO Jirachi with any of its attacks, and it really cant switch in on a misspredicted fire punch. A FLygon can eat either and threaten with EQ, so is probably better

[Thundagere]

One reason electivire isnt worth it: It cant KO Jirachi with any of its attacks, and it really cant switch in on a misspredicted fire punch. A FLygon can eat either and threaten with EQ, so is probably better

Yes, except Flygon can eat an Ice Punch and get a OHKO if it mispredicts. And I'm pretty sure Vire can KO Rachi with a few EQs, especially since it outspeeds. It's not the traditional smogon set, but I've been seeing it on Shoddy often enough.

[Stuntology]

I thought that I might give competitive battling a try, and would like to start raising a team. The problem is that I don't know how. How many sweepers or walls are reasonable to put in a team? What else IS there besides sweepers and walls? Is there any point in trying out new movesets other than the standard ones? Should a team be made to counter each others' weaknesses, or share similar strenghts?

[Troggy]

How many sweepers or walls are reasonable to put in a team?

It's a spectrum. On a hyper-offense team you would generally have no 'walls', but rather rely on setting up Dual Screens and sweeping as quickly as possible. On a bulky-offense team you would have 1-2 'walls' that can still attack reasonably well, the other Pokemon will be slower and bulkier than a Hyper Offense team, but this kind of team will still have 1-2 fast sweepers/revenge killers. Then you move more towards stall, which will have several dedicated walls. The main types of stall are standard (Spikes/SR damage/Roar), Sandstorm, and Hail. It's a spectrum because you can fit in just about anywhere based on personal preference and strategy.

What else IS there besides sweepers and walls?

The main thing I can think of is a lead. If you are playing standard you need to consider what Pokemon you send out first. Is it able to lay entry hazards successfully (Stealth Rock)? Is it able to counter most other leads (Stop them from setting hazards / kill them)? It needs to be at least one or the other of those things to be successful.

Outside of that there are niche roles that can be performed to keep your team from losing to certain threats. Maybe you need a Pursuit trapper like Spiritomb to keep Ghosts and Psychics from sweeping through your other Pokemon. Maybe you need a combination of a defensive pivot and offensive threat, like a Rapid Spin Starmie who can counter things like Gyarados but also remove hazards.

You can also on occasion run sets that counter specific Pokemon. Generally you wouldn't want to do this as you won't always run into that Pokemon anyway, but if you really need X out of the way before your Y can sweep, you may want to rig up a special counter to something.

As I alluded to before, the whole concept of 'bulky offense' is built around Pokemon that are not quite sweepers and not quite walls. There is plenty of gray area, you can EV walls with some Attack EVs, and you can put Defensive EVs on some sweepers.

Is there any point in trying out new movesets other than the standard ones?

There is certainly a point, but if you are just starting it may be easier to test out things that are already suggested. Here are a few main reasons to stray from what is listed:

1. The analysis on Smogon is old. This applies more to lower tier Pokemon, as it is a lot of work to revamp all the sets and descriptions as the metagames change. Some of the Pokemon have gotten their final metagame updates for Gen IV, but be warned not all of them have. Just because the sets are old doesn't mean they are no longer effective, but in that case you may have to at least do some investigating.

2. You don't want to be overly predictable. One of the 'competitive' elements of the standard game is that you are playing opponents that aren't using complete nonsense or gimmick movesets that are impossible to predict. You are both using effective and strong Pokemon, and it often comes down to a few right moves or maybe a bit of luck. However, changing the standard movesets can really throw people off who are used to seeing certain sets on Pokemon. Against your average non-Smogon Wifi user, this effect isn't as pronounced, but it can still help you if you make smart changes.

3. You need a Pokemon to do a specific task that Smogon has not listed. There are a lot of 'magic' EVs out there. I'll do a quick rundown of the common ones:

HP: Hit a leftovers number, create 101 HP substitutes, hit a Life Orb number, maintain odd/even to minimize hazard damage
Atk: Achieve a 1 or 2HKO on certain threats
Def: Survive a certain attack
SpA: Achieve a 1 or 2HKO on certain threats
SpD: Survive a certain attack
Speed: Outrun a certain threat

The most important are usually HP and Speed, when you use them. HP is often maxed to increase overall bulk, but in other cases where HP is invested, it is often important to pay attention to what number you are hitting.

A lot of times Smogon has listed one of these more 'specialized' spreads in the analysis if it is practical. However, if you aren't envisioning your Pokemon to do what the Smogon description says, you may want to consider another option for better results.

4. Your Pokemon are not perfect. This is in line with #3, but keep in mind that if your Wifi Pokemon are not flawless, you may need to bump a few extra EVs here and there to stats that need to hit a certain number. Again, HP and Speed come to mind. Smogon will mostly list speeds so that you outrun a rung below you, or you go max.

If they list 216 EVs in speed to outrun some slower tier, if you have a speed IV of say, 29, you need to put 8 more EV points in speed than suggested. If you miss the desired speed by even 1 point, you might as well drop down further, so by simply following the spread, you are actually wasting points since you won't outspeed your target, but will have too much speed over the next rung down.

Should a team be made to counter each others' weaknesses, or share similar strenghts?

A team should be made with a goal in mind. Defensively you do want to cover your Pokemon's weaknesses with other team members, but just because you use different types of Pokemon, you may not have a team that works together.

You can build an offensive team around a late game sweeper, where you try to eliminate all the counters to your main Pokemon before revealing it near the end of the game when you attempt to sweep. You can use a bulky offense team where your Pokemon will attempt to set up on Pokemon they counter (e.g. Bulky DD Gyarados).

For a stall team defensive synergy is very important. For standard stall you will find a mix of special and physical walls, as well as a Rapid Spinner (Could also be a wall), and a Spin Blocker (Ghost). For Hail and Sandstorm stall, it's important to use Pokemon that are non-Ice and non-Ground/Rock (respectively) to take hits from Pokemon that counter those types and eliminate threats that could take down all your primary type Pokemon.

I'm actually a pretty lousy teambuilder, but I hope this information is helpful to you.

[Stuntology]

Wow. That's the perfect answer I was looking for! I don't know how to thank you enough!

[Thundagere]

Wow. That's the perfect answer I was looking for! I don't know how to thank you enough!

I can't really expand on what Troggy says. However, I think that when Smogon is outdated, it has some useful stuff. EX. Don't just toss together stuff on a team and expect them to work. Like Troggy said, have a goal in mind. If you look through some old RMTs you can definitely see it.
For example, my most recent team involved drawing an electric attack to Electivire to take the Speed Boost and sweep. Ideas like that.