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Pokemon Blue Team - Competitive

Jonesy-Au

New Member
After a very long discussion over which is the best Pokémon in red/blue several school friends and I decided that the only way to settle it was to get back into the game and fight each other once we have prepared.

Now back in the day (before I read these forums and had a little crash-course about proper strategy) I never cared about having a variety of moves because it didn’t matter who my opponent was, my Charizard was going to kill everyone with either a slash or flamethrower.

So with a bit of reading I have come up with a team but I need some criticism on it.
NOTE: I’m open to change my team (except I don’t want legendaries), but Alakazam and Gengar and my two favorite Pokémon so I want them in. Charizard is also my favorite, but I’m not sure if he’s worth having in the team.


Gengar
  1. Hypnosis
  2. Dream Eater
  3. Thunderbolt / Thunder Wave
  4. Toxic
Is Dream Eater worth using? And how long does Hypnosis last?

Jolteon
  1. Thunder Wave
  2. Thunderbolt
  3. Pin Missile
  4. Swift (didn’t know what else to get)
Pin Missile is to counter Psychic Pokémon

Chansey
  1. Thunder Wave
  2. Thunderbolt
  3. Soft Boiled
  4. Ice Beam
Again I have Thunderbolt. I have a feeling my mates will use the legendary birds so I want to make sure I can counter them.

Alakazam
  1. Psychic
  2. Psywave
  3. Recover
  4. Reflect / Seismic Toss
I know reflect is probably not recommended, but I was thinking if it’s against a Pokémon with only special attacks, I’m going to be taking very low damage and can afford to use recover quite often.

Snorlax
  1. Body Slam
  2. Rock Slide
  3. Earthquake
  4. Self Destruct
Fairly self explanatory I think.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now this is where I need the most help. I couldn’t decide on my 6th Pokémon. My above 5 don’t have any fire attacks, water attacks, grass attacks and only once ice attack so it’s a hard decision for my last Pokémon – I know one of my friends 2 favorite Pokémon are Venusaur and Pidgeot.

Rhydon
  1. Fire Blast
  2. Earthquake
  3. Ice Beam
  4. Bubble Beam

Dragonite
  1. Surf
  2. Fire Blast
  3. Ice Beam
  4. Thunder Wave

Tauros
  1. Ice Beam
  2. Earthquake
  3. Fire Blast
  4. Self Destruct

Charizard
  1. Seismic Toss
  2. Earthquake
  3. Flamethrower
  4. (Couldn’t decide)
 

Final

I Submit to No One
After a very long discussion over which is the best Pokémon in red/blue several school friends and I decided that the only way to settle it was to get back into the game and fight each other once we have prepared.

Now back in the day (before I read these forums and had a little crash-course about proper strategy) I never cared about having a variety of moves because it didn’t matter who my opponent was, my Charizard was going to kill everyone with either a slash or flamethrower.

So with a bit of reading I have come up with a team but I need some criticism on it.
NOTE: I’m open to change my team (except I don’t want legendaries), but Alakazam and Gengar and my two favorite Pokémon so I want them in. Charizard is also my favorite, but I’m not sure if he’s worth having in the team.


Gengar
  1. Hypnosis
  2. Mega Drain
  3. Thunderbolt
  4. Thunder Wave / Explosion
Is Dream Eater worth using? And how long does Hypnosis last?

Dream Eater isn't worth it. A good player would just switch once their Pokemon has been slept by Hypnosis. Mega Drain is probably better since it covers Rhydon and Golem. Go with Thunderbolt over Thunder Wave since the low base power of Mega Drain is bad and Thunderbolt will hurt Water Types badly. In the last spot, Thunder Wave can be used as another means of status while Explosion can be used if you're willing to sacrafice Gengar to take something down. Even with Gengar's rather low base Attack, Explosion still hurts stuff that doesn't resist it.

Jolteon
  1. Thunder Wave
  2. Thunderbolt
  3. Pin Missile
  4. Body Slam / Double Kick
Pin Missile is to counter Psychic Pokémon

Swift is rather useless on something like Jolteon. Low base power, lack of STAB and no Super Effective coverage. Not worth it. Body Slam has a chance of Paralyzing something but Double Kick gets Super Effective coverage on Rhydon and Golem although they still shrug it off barring a critical hit.

Chansey
  1. Thunder Wave
  2. Thunderbolt
  3. Soft Boiled
  4. Ice Beam
Again I have Thunderbolt. I have a feeling my mates will use the legendary birds so I want to make sure I can counter them.

Looks good. Seismic Toss is another option but Alakazam is really the only Pokemon hit harder by it than Thunderbolt or Ice Beam.

Alakazam
  1. Psychic
  2. Seismic Toss
  3. Recover
  4. Reflect
I know reflect is probably not recommended, but I was thinking if it’s against a Pokémon with only special attacks, I’m going to be taking very low damage and can afford to use recover quite often.

Reflect is still viable to help Alakazam's crap Defense out a bit and with only 1 weakness and to a rarely used Attack Type, it could be worth it. I would also go for Seismic Toss over Psywave since it does fixed damage instead of 0.5 or 1.5x the level of your Pokemon. It also lets you use Reflect and Seismic Toss on one set. Thunder Wave is another option that could be considered over Reflect to slow stuff down.

Snorlax
  1. Body Slam
  2. Rock Slide
  3. Earthquake
  4. Self Destruct
Fairly self explanatory I think.

Looks good.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now this is where I need the most help. I couldn’t decide on my 6th Pokémon. My above 5 don’t have any fire attacks, water attacks, grass attacks and only once ice attack so it’s a hard decision for my last Pokémon – I know one of my friends 2 favorite Pokémon are Venusaur and Pidgeot.

Rhydon
  1. Rock Slide
  2. Earthquake
  3. Body Slam
  4. Substitute / Surf

Surf is the only Special Attack you should even remotely consider for Rhydon. Its Special stat is very bad and Fire Blast and Ice Beam will not hurt anything without a 4x weakness to those moves. You'll never get past Exeggutor even with Ice Beam or Fire Blast. Rock Slide should be used for secondary STAB and it is unresisted with Earthquake. Body Slam should also be used to possibly paralyze a switch-in that can be taken out later. In the last spot, Substitute can be used to protect Rhydon from a potentially fatal attack but Surf can be considered for Golem and opposing Rhydon although they're both only 2HKOed at best by it. If you want something that could lure in and beat Exeggutor, Golem would probably be better but you must catch it as it switches in.

Golem
~ Rock Slide
~ Earthquake
~ Body Slam
~ Explosion

It is basically the same as Rhydon except it has Explosion and a lower base Attack. It can beat Exeggutor but you must catch it as it switches in and you must use Explosion to beat it.


Dragonite
  1. Thunderbolt
  2. Hyper Beam / Double-Edge / Body Slam
  3. Ice Beam
  4. Thunder Wave

Ice Beam is largely redundant with Fire Blast since both moves cover Grass Types and Bug types aren't really threatening enough to warrant Fire Blast. Thunderbolt hurts Water Types, Hyper Beam, Double Edge or Body Slam for Physical attacks and to not leave Dragonite stuck against Chansey.

Tauros
  1. Body Slam
  2. Earthquake
  3. Blizzard
  4. Hyper Beam

I don't think Tauros even learns SelfDestruct. Anyway, Blizzard (yes Blizzard) is the only Special Attack Tauros should really be using since it deters Rhydon and Golem. Body Slam for Paralysis and Hyper Beam to sweep with once the opposition is weakened enough.

Charizard
  1. Swords Dance
  2. Earthquake
  3. Flamethrower / Fire Blast
  4. Body Slam / Rock Slide

Swords Dance Charizard is really the only Charizard set that works in RBY. Swords Dance double's Charizard's mediocre Attack, Fire Blast should be considered over Flamethrower since Charizard's Special is rather mediocre and Body Slam for a chance of Paralysis or Rock Slide if you have access to GSC and are willing to breed for it there. It gets coverage on the Legendary birds, and goes well with Earthquake.

Suggestions bolded. For the last spot, you may want something with good Physical offense since you seem a bit weak on that side. Rhydon, Golem or Tauros may be best.
 

Jonesy-Au

New Member
Firstly thanks heaps for the reply, ill defiantly be using your suggestions and I think I’ll probably go with Rhydon with substitute. I didn’t even think about the special on the Pokémon such as Rhydon to see how moves such as ice beam and fire blast would go.

I have a few questions though.
What’s the difference between explosion and self destruct, they are both TM moves by the way, so I can teach them to my Pokémon.
Would toxic go well with Gengar?
Which of my Pokémon would be able to match executor or Chansey?
 

Final

I Submit to No One
Firstly thanks heaps for the reply, ill defiantly be using your suggestions and I think I’ll probably go with Rhydon with substitute. I didn’t even think about the special on the Pokémon such as Rhydon to see how moves such as ice beam and fire blast would go.

I have a few questions though.
What’s the difference between explosion and self destruct, they are both TM moves by the way, so I can teach them to my Pokémon.
Would toxic go well with Gengar?
Which of my Pokémon would be able to match executor or Chansey?

Explosion is more powerful than SelfDestruct and is the better choice if both moves are available for said Pokemon. Snorlax can't learn Explosion so it has to go with SelfDestruct.

Toxic isn't the greatest but it can help wear down Chansey quicker. Explosion is probably better though since Gengar can lure her in if it spams Special Attacks and Explode on her. Hypnosis can also incapacitate her but it shouldn't be relied on too much due to its accuracy.

Jolteon hits Exeggutor 4x Super Effectively with Pin Missile so Exeggutor doesn't want to take on Jolteon although Jolteon's Defense isn't the greatest and Exeggutor can attack from the Physical side quite well too. Gengar can also use its immunity to Explosion to switch in for free if it is still alive while Exeggutor dies for nothing but again, be careful since Psychic hits Gengar Super Effectively. Exeggutor will likely Explode if it is close to getting KOed.

Chansey is hurt by pretty much anything Physically based with good base Attack. Snorlax and Rhydon both threaten it with their strong STAB moves and Gengar can Explode on her. Rhydon needs to watch out for Ice Beam though since it is weak to the move and its low Special stat makes matters worse.

Another thing that may be a problem is that you don't really have a safe switch-in against Rhydon or Golem. Although Rhydon has great Defense, it still doesn't want to mess with their Earthquakes. Exeggutor is really the safest switch-in against them but you'll need to be careful of Explosion from Golem. Starmie works too but Body Slam Paralysis is a problem and Earthquake from them does a lot of damage. You'll need Surf to OHKO them though. Jolteon seems like the most replaceable Pokemon. Starmie can also take on Exeggutor should it lack Mega Drain since it resists Psychic but again, watch out for Explosion.

Starmie
~ Recover
~ Surf
~ Thunderbolt
~ Ice Beam / Blizzard

Surf is needed on Starmie so you can swiftly OHKO Rhydon and Golem. Thunderbolt is there for Water Types including Slowbro, Lapras and opposing Starmie and Ice Beam or Blizzard for Exeggutor. Recover is there for reliable instant recovery. Surf also helps against Alakazam somewhat.

Exeggutor
~ Sleep Powder
~ Explosion
~ Mega Drain / Double-Edge
~ Psychic

Sleep Powder to sleep stuff, Mega Drain for STAB and eliminating Rhydon and Golem as well as hurting Starmie, Psychic for reliable STAB and Explosion mainly for Chansey. Double-Edge can also be used over Mega Drain to overpower opposing Exeggutor.

Exeggutor is the best counter for Rhydon and Golem since it has the Defense and typing to take their attacks barring Golem's Explosion, and doesn't really care about the threat of Paralysis that troubles Starmie. Starmie however has excellent type coverage with its Attacks that makes it hard to take on without Chansey or Alakazam (to an extent) although Paralysis from Body Slam is problematic.
 
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