basic strategies

this is a simple collection of basics that will help you understand battling terminology, moveset design, and general battle tactics


EV's: these are effort values. each pokemon may have a total 510 of them legally, and are accumulated through either battling specific pokemon to gain those EV's, using vitamins (protien, iron, etc.), or simply typing them into a pokegenerator of your choice. they matter a great deal when deciding your pokemon's best stats to boost.

Example: alakazam is most prominent in sp. atk and speed, so boosting both to max would be beneficial. it would then be considered a special sweeper.

another strategy would be to boost the stats that arent prominent, to leave a more well-rounded pokemon.

Example: blissey has massive sp. def and HP, but terrible def, so putting half in def, and half in HP, it allows blissey to take a few physical hits. this allows it to still remain a wall when facing either special or physical threats.

another strategy would be to spread out the stats, giving total coverage in defenses or both attacks.

Example: infernape may want to be used as a mixed sweeper (using physical and special attacks) so, putting 252 in speed, putting 182 attack and 72 sp. atk allows it to punch hard with either special or physical attacks, while remaining fast.


IV's: "individual values" that are put on each stat. they have a maximum value of 31, and when generating pokemon, the only reason to change the values is to change the power and typing of hidden power, which is usually not a huge issue, but there will be a specific thread with every 70 power hidden power with every typing accounted for


natures: these strongly affect your pokemon's stats, and are a huge issue when deciding your final pokemon. here are a few commonly seen:

adamant: attack+, sp. attack-
modest: sp. attack+, attack-
bold: defense+, attack-
impish: defense+, sp. attack-
calm: sp. defense+, attack-
careful: sp. defense+, sp. attack-


some simple terminology:

sweeper: fast and strong. "sweeps up" teams.

tank: bulky, usually slow, and powerful. lots of HP and attack usually.

wall: something with huge defenses to either sp. def or def. can take a hit almost indefinitely from one or the other.

double wall: something with massive defenses on either end, and can take a hit from generally anything.

support/cleric: something that is used to power up, defend, or heal your team.


here are a few common attack combos that you may see in the field

1. substitute+focus punch: this allows for a 150 powered punch that is guaranteed to land! just watch out for cloyster and cinccino!!! their ability skill link will be explained later!

2. skill link+(any move that strikes up to 5 times): this is the reason cinccino and cloyster are good. this abilitie forces all attacks that can hit 5 times to always hit 5 times. they have base 125 attacks because of this ability. its rediculously strong.

3. trick+holding choice scarf: this ruins teams that rely on setting up. in fact, it generally ruins any of the opponent's pokemon!

4. the ability prankster: this ability is in itself a combo. it allows you to always go first. period. it makes sableye OU. need anything else to know about it? well... it not only allows for instant recovery before they can attack, it also allows for speedy will-o-wisps, leech seeds, cotton guard, nasty plot, calm mind, and many, many more!

5. amnesia/acid armor+baton pass: some teams are completely built around this combo. it allows for great entry defense of anything you want sent in that lacks the defense in the boosted stat. 2 acid armors to blissey will leave it unstoppable.

6. rapid spin after boosting on a lead: this works especially well with hitmontop and claydol. it means, while a foretress uses toxic spikes, stealth rocks, and spikes, you are setting up bulk up or calm mind, then when it is about to use explosion, use rapid spin. all that hard work, just to be taken down, and with huge attacking stats on your side.

7. sturdy+cutsap berry: this allows for cheap boosting when done right. you may have used stealth rock with golem, and you think you might want to ruin their lead. simply let them attack, then use explosion. they go down, and you have rocks up! good show

these are just a few basic strategies that will help you on your way to achieving pokemon mastery!

feel free to post any strategies you might have below

lets not forget about te fake out to last resort technique : )

Explain what you're thinking here Beast.

take a poke like purugly or ambipom and make them use fake out on the first turn your opponent will flinch now if u want to be save hold a focus sash if u want to have more attack have a silk scarf.on the second turn use last resort this will be devastatin seeing how it gets stab and can be boosted by the silk scarf.This usuually gurantees a 2 turn ko and monster damage to the rest of your opponents team

last resort is terrible. if they have a ghost lead, they can set up. remember sableye in OU now BH?

ambipom is uu tho isnt it? u cant use sableye in uu

there is only one teir here, and its DWOU in 5th, and OU in 4th.

everything is able to be used at all times. its just encouraged to use lesser tier pokemon.

sableye and ambipom are in this inclusion

ughhh ppl are going to ou whore soooo much : (

watch the ladder move up really slowly then.

lol not fun being number 1 if u gonna b facin ou whores lol

thats why a team of full OU only gets like 3 points per win, and a team of NU's in 5th gets 24.

derpdy doo

lol okay i see how u r motivating ppl to not ou whore lol

Lol I see it too, most of my newest teams consist of like 2 OU's and 4 UU's.

As for that Fake Out/Last Resort strategy, I've seen it on Josh's Purugly. Not too threatening, any Mienshao can use Fake Out of its own or just KO it with HJK on the first turn.

Another strategy I would like to add is a strategy I used to be famous for: Toxic-Stalling. THE Most Annoying Type of Stalling There Is, besides T-Wave and Zen Headbutt/Air Slash from Jirachi or Togekiss, but I'll save that for later. Anyway, Toxic-Stalling. Usually done by a bulky wall who can take some hits and heal itself up while watching its opponent's HP slowly wearing down with the poison. Blissey and Eviolite Chansey are the most common of the Toxic-Stallers. Basically you use Toxic on the first turn, then depending on what your opponent did during that turn, heal up or proceed with Seismic Toss. This way I've been able to take out a +2 DDance Haxorus with a Chansey and LIVE. The most common counters to Toxic-Stalling are anything that can heal status, like ChestoRest/Sleep Talk pokes, anything with Heal Bell or aromatherapy, or something with an immunity to the status you are trying to inflict, like Will-o-Wisp and Heatran or Toxic and.. Heatran. Lol. Any Steel, Poison, or Ground types are immune to Toxic, and since Heatran is Fire-Steel it gets the immunity. One final counter that I'd like to mention that is just as common as the ones listed above is Guts. Any pokemon, such as Conkeldurr or Heracross with Guts, gets a 1.5x boost to their attack stat if they get hit by a status effect, and that usually means its alllllllll over for you. Lol. That's why people usually switch these pokes DELIBERATELY into status to gain the boost and proceed to sweep. Plus, statuses like Will-o-Wisp, which would usually cut the attack stat in half, don't! WHAT A DEAL! XD

isn't magic bounce another counter to your toxic stall?

Hmm, didn't think of that, but yes Magic Bounce is another counter to Toxic-Stalling, a deadly counter as well if your own Wall gets poisoned. Lol

yeh lol ud be screwed XD

Yeah you would lol Unless you have 2 walls like I sometimes do XD

yeh but youd never b able to hax them lol

Hax the Walls? Not being able to do that's the idea and makes 'em much more annoying and.. Wall-y lol

no mi sayin if u try to hax the opponent he can just send in an ala or esp and f u up

Basics? I'm not comprehending any of this, lol I hate being new to pokemon, I feel like I need a tutor XD

lol poor noob i thikn ill see if i can have a scool lol

about godfather's stall post:

thats why conkledurr is the best pokemon in 5th. its able to avoid the attack loss, and instead powers up by 1.5, and it has bulk enough to take a hit from basicially anything. especially if you amnesiapassed.

its nearly broken since it counters both ferrothorn and jellicent, the other of the 5th gen trio with drain punch and payback respectively.

True beast, but I haven't seen much of either Alakazam OR Espeon in wifi. Actually, haven't seen either yet lol

And beast I'mma add a school actually lol

Exactly Pants, Conkeldurr is OU for a reason and checks a huge portion of the metagame. Even without an AmnesiaPass the only real counters to it are Latios/Latias/Any other powerful Psychic type if it doesn't have any SDef EV's, and if it does... ITS PAYBACK TIME!!!! (Pun intended lol)

especially if it has a focus sash too