Originally Posted by
Zoro
little late but
The webforum "Smogon" created Pokemon Showdown! for the sake of having their own battle simulator. It is no different than Pokemon Online.
IIRC: PS! Doesn't have the same Pokemon in the same tier as PO. PS! Is slightly more fluid in tiering as they constantly suspect test pkmn.
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*EDIT* For those of you who haven't a single god damn clue about competitive Pokemon, it can be incredibly overwhelming with all the terminology. So here's a super super brief guide.
Tiers
Pokemon are grouped up by how good they are. With 600 or whatever pokemon, not all of them have a use at high level play. And despite misconceptions you had as a kid: being legendary has nothing to do with how good a pokemon is. Blaziken, a starter pokemon, is in the higher possible tiering, whereas Moltres, a legendary bird, is one of the least competitive pokemon out there. Tiers mean you can use anything of that particular level strength OR below. AKA: you can use an OU pokemon in Uber. Tiers can also ban move set combinations, like no evasion moves or no swift swim + drizzle.
Here are the tiers:
Uber
OU (over-used)
UU (under-used)
RU (Rarely-used)
NU (Never-used)
Little Cup (weak under evolved pokemon)
It's a good idea to avoid using a pokemon 2 or more places lower than the norm unless you have a really good reason for it. That is to say that you should pretty much never use an RU pokemon in OU.
Roles
Additionally, there are different roles in Pokemon outside of "coverage" aka Typings. You'll want plenty of different roles on your team.
Sweeper: These pokemon are typically very fast and very powerful; however, have low survivability. Many sweepers if not almost all sweepers can die in one hit. The objective of sweepers are simple: kill every pokemon on the other person's team before they even get a chance to hit you back. There are both physical and special sweepers based off what type of damage you're dealing.
Walls: Pretty straight forward- you need something to switch into to not get swept. If someone's blasting away fire blasts on you, you're going to want a guy with a lot of Special Defense and health to soak it up, like say Snorlax. Walls often have survivability, possibly a way to regain health, and usually a status effect to give to opposing pokemon to slowly kill them off.
Clerics: Clerics are are simple as it gets: they heal pokemon. Either through a move like "Wish", which heals 50% of the Max health of the WISH PASSER (meaning a guy like Chansey will probably full heal your sweeper), or by using a move like Heal Bell to take off status effects. This is super important because if your physical sweeper is burned, they only deal 50% damage. This role ties in with another role of "support", which includes giving off status effects.
Stat Booster: As you could guess, this is a pokemon that boosts stats. A perfect example is Smeargle. Smeargle can use spore to sleep the opponent, learn the stat boosting you want, like Sword Dance (Raises attack by 2 stages) and Baton pass it to your lead. Stat boosting can turn the one flaw one pokemon has into an a win condition. For example: Porygon Z hits like a truck, but is often outspeed by other sweepers. This is easily fixed if you baton pass him agility though.
Phazer: If you don't have this in any capacity you're in need of it for sure. You need someone who can either use the move "Haze", or can force a switch out (Whirlwind, Roar, Dragon tail, etc.). This is the way you keep the game under control when the opponent has a "boosted" pokemon.
Hazard Setters: Most impossible hazard- Stealth Rocks. Other notable hazards: Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and leech seed to a degree. Stealth Rock lasts until the opponent uses Rapid Spin, and it could do as much as remove 50% of the opposing pokemon's total health upon it switching in. Have fucking stealth rocks on your team PLEASE. I BEG OF YOU.
Rapid Spinner: ... A pokemon that has Rapid Spin. Additionally: there are spin blockers, aka, a designated ghost pokemon you'll use to switch into so that they don't hit you with rapid spin. Rapid spin is very important if you hold a team weak to Stealth Rocks.
Weather Setter: ....Pretty damn simple. They change the weather. Hail, Sandstorm, Rain, Gravity, Sun, etc. They all have advantages, and they can be what you base a team around.
-Final tip:
Don't "fix" a pokemon by giving it stats where it's sucky at. That is to say: don't give snorlax speed. It's stupid. Instead, maximize his positives.
Last edited by Bodhisattva; Dec 2, 2013 at 07:50 PM.