Ask a Question Thread - READ FIRST POST

[SkyTheAbsol]

Moved the above posts to the appropriate thread because they were not about specific team building questions, but rather, questions on a more individual level.



To be honest, non-Mega Lopunny is absolutely terrible, but Klutz-Switcheroo was basically its only niche prior to getting a Mega Evolution. It's not a great niche, but it's something that it can do. Still a terrible Pokemon though. Though to be fair, Dizzy Punch doesn't accomplish much, given it doesn't hit nearly hard enough, and a 20% chance to confuse is nothing special. Usually it's better to go for something like Encore or Thunder Wave for more of a supportive role. You can also consider a Choice item for Switcheroo-ing. Attack EVs are unneeded. Go 248 HP / 8 Def or SpDef / 252 Spe.

Okay, cool. And I already get that this is probably a terrible idea, I'm just planning on trying it for the heck of it - I'll invest more in HP rather than Attack then, and replace Flame Orb with Choice Scarf - since it wouldn't be a Mega, it'll need help being faster anyways. Also I'm pretty sure I have Encore on it as an egg move, so there's that...

I'm probably going to immediately regret even having this idea (also sorry for posting in the wrong place, I get kinda mixed up here sometimes), but thanks for the help. ^_^

 

[namnam]

Hey I need to ask something about a move called Copycat..
So let's say that my Spinda battles against Goodra. Spinda uses copycat and copies move Dragon pulse. So does my Spinda's S.attack IV's affect on the Dragon pulse when it uses copycat or is the copied move as power as when Goodra used it?

english is not my native language so sorry if I misspelled a lot. I would really appreciate the answer.

 

[KillerDraco]

Hey I need to ask something about a move called Copycat..
So let's say that my Spinda battles against Goodra. Spinda uses copycat and copies move Dragon pulse. So does my Spinda's S.attack IV's affect on the Dragon pulse when it uses copycat or is the copied move as power as when Goodra used it?

english is not my native language so sorry if I misspelled a lot. I would really appreciate the answer.

Copycat only copies the move itself, not the stats of the opposing Pokemon. So in your example, it still uses Spinda's Special Attack stat, not Goodra's.

 

[Keolig]

What would be a good ice type to use? Also what would be a good move set?

 

[TheFightingPikachu]

Well, we would have to know what tier you want to play. (Obviously Ice-type Arceus is powerful, but it's not legal in Standard.) Also, it's hard to know whether any given Ice-type will fit on your team. That said, I know that both Cloyster is at least reasonably useful. Here's a sample set:

Cloyster @ Focus Sash or Lum Berry (maybe Safety Goggles)
Jolly
Skill Link

252 Attack / 252 Speed / 4 HP

Shell Smash
Icicle Spear
Rock Blast
Spike Cannon


To explain why this works, Shell Smash drops both defensive stats in exchange for offensive stats and Speed. Skill Link guarantees that those three multi-hit moves will hit five times. Focus Sash allows you to take a hit and survive, while Lum Berry may be a better choice if you are more concerned about special conditions like Sleep or Burn.

Just to be clear, I'm not particularly good. I'm pretty sure the set I mentioned has some flaws, so it is mostly useful for getting a general idea of what kind of things you can do with Cloyster.

 

[Teacup]

Howdy

I'm lookin to start getting into the competitive Doubles arena. I've been a pretty proficient Singles battler since forever, but doubles is a whole new beast. I was wonderin' if anyone had any poignant advice to give in regards to how someone approached team building/thinking from Singles to Doubles?

This might be a late but seeing as nobody responded.

This is true for singles but it is especially true in doubles, Pokemon battling is similar in many aspects to a sport. Much like sports, it is played with teams, and the key to winning is teamwork. Team synergy as well as knowing the common threats and how to deal with them is what will win you battles.

Moves that hit all adjacent Pokemon including your ally is where teamwork is tested. A basic strategy is using earthquake to hit both opponents but your ally is a flying type so it does not get hit. Another would be using teeter dance while your ally has own tempo so both opponents get confused but both of yours are not. Your ally could also protect on this turn if it does not have an immunity. Moves that hit only both your opponents like rock slide or heat wave are also good choices to use. And also moves that affect both opponents stats like electroweb and snarl. However, your opponent is probably going to use this strategy as well. So I would highly recommend having a Pokemon with wide guard on your team. Landorus and Sylveon are some of the most commonly used Pokemon on battle spot. Very often these Pokemon hold a choice item with Landorus choiced onto earthquake and Sylveon choiced onto hyper voice. With wide guard you essentially make these Pokemon useless. While not as useful as wide guard, quick guard is also good to have against common threats like gale wings Talonflame but you'll have to do some outpredicting to pull it off.

Entry hazards are also seldom used in doubles. In doubles you won't be switching out as often and the battles are much quicker so entry hazards won't be very effective. So you probably shouldn't bring stealth rocks or rapid spin.

There are some moves that can only be used in doubles or triples. Follow me and rage powder are probably the most notorious to draw in single target attacks so that the other is safe to buff up or attack. I'm sure it was the same in singles but it is especially important in doubles to have a Pokemon that knows taunt. Very often you will see a sweeper paired with a support and in most cases, aim for the support first because they will cripple your team. Especially Amoongus because it can learn rage powder and spore so you want to quickly take it out. Cresselia is another common threat that usually uses trick room paired with Heatran. If your opponent has these 2 on their team, mostly likely it is their lead. Heatran will protect and Cresselia will use trick room. So you can ignore Heatran the first turn and try to take out Cresselia with both your Pokemon. Unless trick room works in your favour of course in which case you have a turn for free set ups.

 

[ddaye95]

im trying to build a competitive team around Spiritomb and cresselia which are both modest any ideas for the other four mons?

 

[Imponderabls]

I've recently gotten into selective breeding, and am wondering what the best nature for Meowstic is. I assume Timid for male and Modest for female, but am I wrong?

 

[Reisuke]

im trying to build a competitive team around Spiritomb and cresselia which are both modest any ideas for the other four mons?

Since they are both from UU and below perhaps try some pokemon from those tiers aswell. And best is to select a tier then cover the biggest threats in that tier and then your type weaknesses (this is a good strategy if you use a balance/bulky offense/stall team)

I've recently gotten into selective breeding, and am wondering what the best nature for Meowstic is. I assume Timid for male and Modest for female, but am I wrong?

Meowstic M HA is prankster so bold or calm is way better (prankster gives priority to status moves so that bypasses speed)
Meowstic F HA is competitive so timid is better (meowstic female is a kind of sweeper and so speed might be more important)

 

[Volt of Noid]

I'm getting into IV breeding for my ORAS competitve team but I've never done it before (I quit back in 4th gen and only cared about EVs and Natures back then). I'm after a good Scizor.

I have an Impish Scyther with 31 HP, Attack and Speed IVs that I got in a GTS trade from Japan (31/31/x/x/x/31). My end goal is a 5IV Adamant Scyther (31/31/31/x/31/31) but I want help with how to get there from what I have.

Please help me understand what steps I need to go through to get the IV spread and nature I want? Do I need a Ditto with specific IVs? Which of the two parents holds the everstone? Do I use the destiny knot? Who holds it and when do I need it? I've been reading about all this but it hasn't clicked with me yet.

 

[Teacup]

Yes you will need a Ditto with specific IVs at some point.But first things first, the nature. Holding an everstone ensures the baby has the same nature as the parent holding the everstone. So if your Scizor is female, just find any male Pokemon in the same egg group with adamant nature. Pokemon with the synchronize ability can help you find Pokemon of the same nature. If your Scizor is male, you will need to find a female Scizor, Scyther or Ditto with adamant nature and have that hold the everstone and breed. The baby Scyther (I will call this S1) will have adamant nature. Now you need to breed for IVs. Have S1 hold the everstone and then you will need a Ditto with specific IVs and have that hold the destiny knot. Since you want full IVs in everything but SP. ATTACK, you will to find a Dittos with full IVs in those stats. It's faster to have 1 Ditto with all that, but since those are hard to find, you could also just breed with different Dittos that have different IVs. 3 IV Dittos are fairly easy to find so I use those. For example I would first use a Ditto with 31/31/31/x/x/x. Breed until you have a Scyther with full IVs in all 3 of those stats. I will call this Scyther S2(currently adamant nature and 31/31/31/x/x/x). Now get a Ditto with IVs in at least SP. DEF and SPEED and breed S2 with this Ditto. Eventually you should get a Scyther with adamant nature and 31/31/31/x/31/31.

This sounds like a long process but trust me, after you get the hang of breeding and you have all the Dittos, it shouldn't take that long.

 

[SilvanOrion]

I would like to say sorry in advance if I'm in the wrong area for this question, I'm very new to the Serebii forus.

Many of my friends know one thing about me to be true: I love Eevee. Ever since Gen 1, the Eevee line has been my favorite pokemon in existance.
As a result, you can imagine that I like to run teams of all Eevee. Now, I understand I'm never going to be the top trainer with this, but I enjoy it and I'd rather go with that at the moment.

What I'm wondering is if anyone can offer any advice about Eevee and Eeveelutions on a team. Any and all comments and/or critisizms are appreciated.

 

[Teacup]

A full eevee team is actually not bad. Sylveon itself is one of the most commonly used Pokemon. Full sp. attack investment while holding a choice specs and using hyper voice. Jolteon is one of the fastest Pokemon in the game so it is another decent attacker. Umbreon is a good tank using curse, moonlight, swagger and foul play. Vaporean is another good tank with scald, acid armor, aqua ring and holding leftovers. Espeon is notorious for its magic bounce ability. It also has good speed and sp. attack. Glaceon is a decent tank with great sp. attack so you might want to give this an assault vest. Flareon has great attack but terrible speed so you might want to give this one choice scarf and use flare blitz. Leafeon has decent attack and speed and would also be best with an assault vest. I would choose between Leafeon and Glaceon to leave out.

 

[Karxrida]

Most Eeveelutions are bad or outclassed. Sylveon is the only one that's actually good, and it still has some issues due to bad Speed and mediocre physical bulk. I'd build the team with Specs Sylveon like Teacup mentioned but dump everything else.

 

[SilvanOrion]

A full eevee team is actually not bad. Sylveon itself is one of the most commonly used Pokemon. Full sp. attack investment while holding a choice specs and using hyper voice. Jolteon is one of the fastest Pokemon in the game so it is another decent attacker. Umbreon is a good tank using curse, moonlight, swagger and foul play. Vaporean is another good tank with scald, acid armor, aqua ring and holding leftovers. Espeon is notorious for its magic bounce ability. It also has good speed and sp. attack. Glaceon is a decent tank with great sp. attack so you might want to give this an assault vest. Flareon has great attack but terrible speed so you might want to give this one choice scarf and use flare blitz. Leafeon has decent attack and speed and would also be best with an assault vest. I would choose between Leafeon and Glaceon to leave out.

Thank you so much, not just for the advice but also the breakdown. Really helps put things into perspective. (just getting into "competative" training).

 

[Creyk]

Most Eeveelutions are bad or outclassed. Sylveon is the only one that's actually good, and it still has some issues due to bad Speed and mediocre physical bulk. I'd build the team with Specs Sylveon like Teacup mentioned but dump everything else.

Who outclasses espeon? Is there someone who is better at abusing magic bounce?

Also, I want to train a Basculin because I was fascinated with the ever since the 5th gen but I never used one. However, I can't decide which of it's abilities to use if I go with Adaptability it will raise Aqua Jet's Base power to 80 and waterfall to 160. However if I go for Rock head it can dish out Double Edge like nobody's business. And then there is reckless. It raises the power of double edge up to 144. All 3 abilities seem so good, which one should I go for?

 

[Psynergy]

Who outclasses espeon? Is there someone who is better at abusing magic bounce?

Also, I want to train a Basculin because I was fascinated with the ever since the 5th gen but I never used one. However, I can't decide which of it's abilities to use if I go with Adaptability it will raise Aqua Jet's Base power to 80 and waterfall to 160. However if I go for Rock head it can dish out Double Edge like nobody's business. And then there is reckless. It raises the power of double edge up to 144. All 3 abilities seem so good, which one should I go for?

Espeon's niche is Magic Bounce, and while there are no strictly good Magic Bounce users outside of Megas (even then Diancie and Absol aren't used solely because of Magic Bounce), Espeon doesn't offer a lot outside of that. Espeon has a rather limited movepool and while 130 SpAtt/110 Speed is wonderful, it's very frail so switching in is very difficult. Meanwhile both Latios and Latias offer much more than Espeon thanks to Dragon typing having way more switch-ins and being a better offensive type than mono Psychic. Even Starmie has better speed, Rapid Spinning and a very spammable Water STAB alongside two great abilities in Natural Cure and Analytic. Espeon isn't strictly bad, it's just got much less to offer when compared to other Psychic types.

As for Basculin, Adaptability is too good of an ability to pass up on basically anything that gets it. Double Edge not being a STAB move diminishes a lot of its usefulness compared to the prospect of a buffed Aqua Jet and Waterfall, and a buffed priority is always a fantastic tool.

 

[Kansas_Rocks!]

Who outclasses espeon? Is there someone who is better at abusing magic bounce?

Three Mega easily outclass Espeon as Magic Bouncers: Diancie, Absol, and Sableye. They can each easily abuse the Magic Bounce, and they each have something over Espeon, with Sableye easily being more defensive, and Diancie and Absol having a larger Offensive presence, because of their excellent mixed attacking stats and great speed tiers. So yes, there are better Magic Bounce users.

 

[varanus_komodoensis]

Three Mega easily outclass Espeon as Magic Bouncers: Diancie, Absol, and Sableye. They can each easily abuse the Magic Bounce, and they each have something over Espeon, with Sableye easily being more defensive, and Diancie and Absol having a larger Offensive presence, because of their excellent mixed attacking stats and great speed tiers. So yes, there are better Magic Bounce users.

From a purely statistical point, yes, Diancie, Absol, and Sableye are better Magic Bounce users than Espeon. But to use anything else, you have to waste your Mega on it. That's why Espeon is still very popular and not truly outclassed as a Magic Bounce user.

 

[KillerDraco]

From a purely statistical point, yes, Diancie, Absol, and Sableye are better Magic Bounce users than Espeon. But to use anything else, you have to waste your Mega on it. That's why Espeon is still very popular and not truly outclassed as a Magic Bounce user.

A few things are wrong with this statement. Mega Sableye and Diancie are both hugely viable and popular Mega Evolutions so they're hardly "wasting" a Mega (although I'll give you Absol since it's got some problems holding it back). They both bring things to the table other than Magic Bounce, whereas Espeon pretty much only brings Magic Bounce, so if anything I'd say having to use Espeon solely for magic bounce is more of a waste of a slot (albeit one of six rather than one of a single slot like a Mega Evolution). Espeon's not very popular at all right now, either. It's sitting at a 0.38582% usage in OU, while even in UU it's only got about 2.89565% usage.

The more valid criticism of the Magic Bounce Mega Evolutions is that they need that turn to Mega Evolve, so they can't always just directly switch in to bounce things away like Espeon (or Xatu, lol).