Different Types of Pokemon Teams

 

Will you team be for in game, Battle Frontier, or Wifi and Shoddy Battle?

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First you need to decided where your team is going to be used. If it is in game, just about anything works so feel free do use whatever you heart desires On other other hand teams for the Battle Frontier and, more so, competitive battles over WiFi and Shoddy Battle need much more planning and tweaking before they can be successful. This guide is for those types of teams, more so WiFi and Shoddy Battle teams.

Deciding Your Tier

 

What are tiers and why do they matter?

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Second, for Wifi and Shoddy Battle, you need to decide the tier you will play in and pick your Pokemon accordingly. Some Pokemon are much more powerful than others and as a result they are used much more. This centralizes the metagame. In order to solve this problem the people of Smogon University have created a tier lists which separate Pokemon based on how much they are used. The Main Tiers are "Uber" for the most used Pokemon, "Overused" or "OU" for Pokemon that are over used and "Underused" or "UU" for Pokemon that are underused. That statistics that determine how much a Pokemon is used is based on the data collected by Shoddy Battle. In a match you may only use Pokemon that are in the tier level you are playing in and below. For example, if I was playing in OU I could use any Pokemon in the OU Tier, Boarderline, and iin UU Tier but not the Uber Tier. Here are the tier lists as of June 1st 2009.

Full List of Tiers

 

And the Pokemon in them.

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Uber Tier

 

(Uber)

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Arceus
Darkrai
Deoxys
Deoxys-A
Deoxys-D
Deoxys-S
Dialga
Garchomp
Giratina
Giratina-O
Groudon
Ho-oh
Kyogre
Latios
Lugia
Manaphy
Mew
Mewtwo
Palkia
Rayquaza
Shaymin-S
Wobbuffet
Wynaut

Overused Tier

 

(OU)

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Aerodactyl
Alakazam
Azelf
Blissey
Breloom
Bronzong
Celebi
Cresselia
Donphan
Dragonite
Dugtrio
Dusknoir
Electivire
Empoleon
Flygon
Forretress
Gengar
Gliscor
Gyarados
Heatran
Heracross
Hippowdon
Infernape
Jirachi
Jolteon
Kingdra
Latias
Lucario
Machamp
Magnezone
Mamoswine
Metagross
Ninjask
Porygon-Z
Rhyperior
Rotom-C
Rotom-F
Rotom-H
Rotom-S
Rotom-W
Salamence
Scizor
shitrmory
Smeargle
Snorlax
Starmie
Suicune
Swampert
Tentacruel
Togekiss
Tyranitar
Vaporeon
Weavile
Zapdos

Boarderline

 

(BL)

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Abomasnow
Froslass
Gallade
Raikou
Staraptor

Underused Tier

 

(UU)

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Absol
Altaria
Ambipom
Arcanine
Azumarill
Blastoise
Blaziken
Chansey
Charizard
Claydol
Clefable
Drapion
Electrode
Espeon
Feraligatr
Gardevoir
Hariyama
Hitmonlee
Hitmontop
Houndoom
Kabutops
Lanturn
Ludicolo
Magmortar
Mesprit
Milotic
Miltank
Mismagius
Moltres
Muk
Nidoking
Nidoqueen
Ninetales
Omastar
Poliwrath
Porygon2
Primeape
Regirock
Registeel
Roserade
Rotom
Sceptile
Scyther
Slowbro
Spiritomb
Steelix
Swellow
Torterra
Toxicroak
Typhlosion
Umbreon
Uxie
Venusaur
Weezing
Yanmega

Neverused Tier

 

(NU)

Limbo

 

Limbo

Not Fully Evolved

 

(NFE)

Put the Team Together

 

And please remember to play test, play test, play test.

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Once you pick your Tier begin to pick the Pokemon for your team. They should all revolve around some sort of central strategy. Maybe it is a Rain Dance Team, or a Baton Pass Team. Once you get a team together the next step is to play test. You should play A LOT of matches to see the flaws in your own team. Once you see the flaws fix them and play test even more. Keep fixing and play testing until you have made it the best team that you can. After this you can make a Rate My Team (RMT) where other players, like myself, can come in, take a look at your team, and suggest fixes if we see anything wrong. The next part of the guide deals with how to make a RMT.

How to get Better Rates and Fixes

 

Read this to learn good tips on how to get better rates and fixes

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Before you begin making a RMT, remember that your team should be the best that you can make it be. Please don't just think up a team a post it. It takes two seconds to think up Pokemon for a team but many play tests and personal fixes and tweaks before it is ready for a RMT. In general, the better you make the team by yourself the better fixes your team will receive. Also follow the upcoming guidelines so that your RMTs are clearer and easier to rate.

RMT Titles

 

What should I put as my RMT Title and description?

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I personally put "Rate My Team" in the title and the team's name or something that describes the team in the description. For example if your team revolved around the move Baton Pass you might want to put something like "Baton Pass Team" in description. Furthermore if you can think of a more witty or creative way to describe your team that is even better. If people enjoy looking at your team they will rate and fix it more.

Team Overview

 

The 1st step in making a RMT

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Many people use the first part of their post in a RMT in order to describe the strategy behind their team members. They might also put pictures of the Pokemon up in a horizontal fashion so that people can see what Pokemon they chose. An example may look like this:

Team Overview
*Pictures of all 6 Pokemon*
The main strategy behind this team is the move Baton Pass. Almost most all my Pokemon have it. They use stat boosting moves and then use Baton Pass to pass their effects to one another. Eventually all of the boosts from each member will be passed to my final Pokemon. With all those boosts it will be easy for him to win


Some pictures of Pokemon that you can use are located here.

In Depth Look

 

2nd Step in making a RMT

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In this section you will give an in depth look at each Pokemon, their qualities, their moves, their strategy, etc. an outline of one Pokemon in depth is as follows:

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*Picture of the Pokemon*
*Pokemon's Name* @ *The Pokemon's Hold Item*
Ability: *The Pokemon's Ability*
Nature: *The Pokemon's Nature and what is Boosts and Detracts from*
IVs: *The Pokemon's IVs*
EVs: *The Pokemon's EVs*
~ *Move 1*
~ *Move 2*
~ *Move 3*
~ *Move 4*

*Give some reasons why you chose the Pokemon, what its job is, why you chose its moves, EV spreads, etc. Explain how it has synergy with your team. Anything of that nature goes here.

and example of how a Pokemon is set up is as follows:

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Venusaur @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
Nature: Bold (+ Defense, - Attack)
IVs: 31 HP / 31 Attack / 31 Defense / 31 Speed / 31 Special Attack / 31 Special Defense
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Defense / 4 Speed
~ Sleep Powder
~ Leech Seed
~ Energy Ball
~ Sludge Bomb.

Anyone who has played against this set knows just how irritating it can be to take down. Use Sleep Powder to put one of your opponent's Pokémon out of commission from the start and use Leech Seed on the switch. With resistances to three common offensive types (Fighting, Water, and Electric) as well as Grass, it is quite easy to bring this guy in repeatedly, using Leech Seed each time to drain your opponent while restoring your own hit points. Energy Ball does a lot of damage to those who don't resist it. Sludge Bomb takes out those Grass types that are immune to Leech Seed. Venusaur's EVs and nature makes him great at absorbing physical type attacks.

Some of Venusaur's threats are sleep absorbers like Machamp, Suicune, and Gyarados. Because I play in OU Tier these are all common sights. They can absorb Sleep Powder and use sleep talk. Fire types like Heatran are also a threat because he can come in and get a quick revenge kill with Fire Blast. I have a Heatran of my own to absorb those Fire attacks as well.

The following is a chart that explains the boosts and detraction of every nature in Pokemon.

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Threat List

 

The 3rd step in making a RMT

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In this section of your RMT you will vertically list all of the Pokemon in the tier you play in and go through all of the Pokemon to explain what Pokemon are threatening to you team is why. If a Pokemon is not threatening, as most should be after al lot of play testing and self tweaks, then explain what you use to beat it. This is really where a lot of play testing helps. You may also want to color code the Pokemon names so it can be seen at a glance which Pokemon you feel and threatening. Normally red indicates a major threat, orange indicates a moderate threat, and light blue or gold or green mean no threat. Remember to let the reader what color means what.