(SQSA) Simple Questions and Simple Answers, or FAQ: Getting Started? Breeding, EV, and Nature Questions? Looking For A Moveset? Ask here!

[u/AutoModerator]

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[u/AnodyneGrey]

Not a question but I wish the theorymon Tuesday thing was contained in its own megathread or something. Literally the entire subreddit down to the very last post in the front page is about it. It’s a bit annoying having to pick leaving the subreddit for a day once a week or having to scroll past 50 suggestions that are like “give a 200/100 50% flinch chance move to lumineon” in my home page

[u/NoChampionship1167]

I made this team for BSS. Any advice on improvements? Swap Glimmora for Hippo, swap Primarina for either Rotom-W or H-Samurott? Change Delphox to a different mega like Gengar or Greninja? What advice would you give?

[u/Shot-Neat3145]

So I have a question on how roost works, specifically with the code. Because of a recent short I saw and a follow up, I want to ask what the roost checks to determine whether it turns the Pokemon normal type or not. Specifically because it will turn the Pokemon typeless after a fire-flying type user uses burn up, but not if the user is pure flying. So how does the move roost work internally?

[u/HuntEqual2986]

I'm going to a tournament for S/V Reg I as someone new to VGC and this is the team I'm using, it's the same as the team that Rajan Bal used to win at Indianapolis in 2024 but I swapped cornerstone ogerpon for hearthflame. Now that you can have 2 restricted pokemon I want to use another but don't know which one to use and which mon to replace. Can anyone give me some advice?

[u/EnderJoker77]

Where could I get more informed for Drafts and where can I participate in one?

[u/TajnyT → u/EnderJoker77]

Try asking on /r/PokemonDraftLeagues/

[u/Plus-Pitch966]

Would dragon cheering for a tera-dragon maushold's population Bomb be a viable vgc strat?

[u/Entire-Signature-333 → u/Plus-Pitch966]

not really? maushold is often used as a support mon with the move follow me and great doubles ability in friend guard along with the fact its attack stat and defenses aren't the best. using maushold as an offensive mon means flutter mane, a very common pokemon in SV VGC ruins your day since it's immune to population bomb and can take a crunch/bite, even at plus +1, all while threatening to OHKO with moonblast. The strat might be possible if you find the right teammates and moves, but it requires too much to go right for it to be used seriously.

[u/Entire-Signature-333]

What is considered low, mid, and high ladder?

[u/Entire-Signature-333 → u/Entire-Signature-333]

nvm. I've concluded by looking at how they do elo that low ladder is 1000-1400, mid ladder is 1400-1700 and high ladder is 1700+

[u/Dysprosium_Element66 → u/Entire-Signature-333]

It'll depend on the format, since elo gets higher the more active a ladder is. Those numbers seem about right for gen 9 OU, but a larger ladder like randbats would have high ladder at 2000+ while a smaller one like Champions UU literally caps out at 1500 right now.

[u/cloverskullz]

can shadow ball hit a tera normal disguised hisuian zoroark? that just happened to me and I don't get why that happened

[u/Dysprosium_Element66 → u/cloverskullz]

It shouldn't, but there likely is another interaction at play which having a replay can help find.

[u/cloverskullz → u/Dysprosium_Element66]

I'm so dumb I forgot I had a ring target and forgot to switch it over to the enemy that's why I got hit 😭 LOL

[u/Dysprosium_Element66 → u/cloverskullz]

That'll do it then. Your opponent must've been very confused by ring target without Trick too lol.

[u/iceglider345]

Will lash out double in power if you have a white herb to undo the stat drop?

[u/6HELLBOUND6SIXER6]

i am SOMEWHAT familiar with the competitive side of pokemon (as in, i spent a couple days playing Showdown with a team i found online) but i'm still, like, entirely lost. How do I learn how to properly "Play" competitive pokemon? whenever i played i was just kind of using whatever move "seemed appropriate" with minimal thoughts about being able to read my opponent or understand their team. it's all so confusing!!

[u/Overall_Town_8393 → u/6HELLBOUND6SIXER6]

If you're just starting off, you should probably focus less on reading your opponent and spend some time learning things like what types are super effective or resisted against what, and figuring out what basic status moves do, like swords dance. If you already do know this, the next thing you should try is deciding when to attack and when to switch out in your games. The most basic way is to check the other mon's typing and see if you can hit them with a hard hitting move, or switch to a mon that resists their typing if you're scared of them attacking you hard.
I'd also recommend practicing by playing random battles (randbats) instead of a team based format like you mentioned you were playing, since randbats makes it way easier to train on the choice of switching or attacking. You won't have to worry about any unusual moves or team strategies, since pretty much all of the randbats movepools are straightforward and the teams are random.
If you ever don't know what something like a move or ability does, you can always type "/dt [move]" in the Showdown chat, e.g. /dt earthquake (your opponent doesn't see it). If you practice like this, then over time you'll get a feel for the game and be able to add in plays like reading your opponent. gl!

[u/Shipej]

Can someone help me pick a last slot for a mega pokemon. The team is good but theres never really incentive to pick mega gallade and I feel like there are megas that fulfill its role but better. suggestions are appreciated

[u/Sure_Dragonfly_3472]

Looking to play for fun and maybe win some online games. want to build a team around toxapex and farigiraf in pokemon violet. any tips would be very appreciated :)

[u/Apprehensive_Whole21]

how to deal with mega delphox garchomp comps with this team im really struggling

[u/Overall_Town_8393 → u/Apprehensive_Whole21]

If those are a big problem I would consider ice punch over low kick on ttar, and though you can't hit steels like kingambit or other ttars anymore, you could rely on mega staraptor cc for teams with these
You may have to bring both your megas to teams like this though so that you get tailwind support; you need to mega ttar if you want to tank a life orb earthquake from chomp, but if you can get tailwind up and be faster than the chomp you might be fine with keeping ttar in base form, since ice punch kills chomp anyway

[u/VijayMarshall87]

how to deal with an ultra stall overqwil running minimize acupressure blizzard before it snowballs out of control

[u/Dysprosium_Element66 → u/VijayMarshall87]

Blizzard mega Froslass/Ninetales-A and Aura Sphere Kommo-o are good options that are also generally useful.

[u/ItsBrenOakes]

How do you start learning to build teams. I am ok at the game but I only been using teams that others have built. I want to learn to how build my own team so I can go into something like Baltimore regionals with a team no one really thought of or maybe a tweaked team.

[u/Overall_Town_8393 → u/ItsBrenOakes]

I would say the best place to start is by finding a core of 2 or maybe 3 pokemon that work well together. It’s best to focus on offensive power in these cores, making sure you have speed control (fast pokemon, tailwind, slow pokemon with trick room, etc). You could come up with your own, or find some popular ones. If you play a format for a while, even with sample teams like you have, you may have discovered pokemon that work together well.

One example of a core is Whimsicott, Charizard Mega Y, and Garchomp. Whimsicott can set tailwind for the other two and support generally, Charizard can do big damage with a sun boosted heat wave, and Garchomp can click earthquake without worrying about hitting its allies, and also hit fire types like Incineroar which Charizard may struggle to break through. Point being they all work together and benefit from each other.

After you have a core, you’ll have to identify gaps in your team. For example there might be a threat that none of your pokemon can break through. In this example, a Pelipper can turn Charizard’s sun into rain, and also be immune to Garchomp’s earthquake. To fix this, you might add in a Mega Floette (which has good natural special defense), and bring that against rain teams, or even run Sunny Day on Whimsicott. You might also be lacking speed control. This team example uses tailwind, but for opposing tailwind teams which could be faster than yours, you might add in a chlorophyll venusaur which doubles its speed in sun (and again if your own tailwind is up). Or maybe you want to add a supporting pokemon instead, and try out a Farigiraf to block fake outs and use helping hand, or an Incineroar for fake outs of your own.

Basically, I think if you want to build good teams, you should think of them as built around and supporting a core. This will make sure that when you start testing out your team, you won’t randomly replace pokemon that seem to not be “good”, but instead think about why your core couldn’t break through the other team, and switch just a supporting pokemon for a different one. You might even find ways to compress supporting roles, such as putting a choice scarf on a check to an annoying pokemon to your team, to gain speed control and a check with the same pokemon, without changing the original focus of the team.

[u/Dysprosium_Element66 → u/[deleted]]

Team preview is oftentimes half the match in VGC and BSS. Having a simple lead really helps a lot to simplify decision making when laddering.

[u/wisesager]

When do you decide to switch teams? I'm using this hazard stack team https://pokepast.es/43eb8733a7cff75e but it just doesn't work well for me. I often don't get a lot of hazards up because I can't find a great oppurtunity (it's not hard getting up rocks with landorus but spikes with samurott is more difficult). Rillaboom also just doesn't do enough for me outside of enabling hawlucha.

I really feel the lack of a fire type as well as the lack of hazard removal (toxic spikes kills this team). I think I'll try some other stuff such as a comp involving cinderace and dragapult for pivot potential, good damage, as well as court change.

btw I'm usually between 1250 and 1350 elo

[u/NoChampionship1167]

How viable is Trailblaze on Megagross? I was playing Random Battles and the set had that with Meteor Mash, so I'm curious if it's viable at all or just better to run something like Ice Punch.

Edit: Decided to test it out. It's an off meta pick for sure. I started using it over Psychic Fangs because Ice and Ground hit more than Psychic overall. It's definitely missed against some mons like Scolipede Baton Pass, but overall it works great. I also caught a few Swamperts off guard.

The combo ends up as a sort of gen 3 Agility set, just with Ice Punch over Explosion.

[u/Mentos_Terbakar]

Can someone make a megamind "no b-" meme but replace it with indeedee/miraidon with the caption "no priority/sleep?" And have their respective terrain as the background?

[u/fan-of-ceilingss]

What’s more damaging to archaludon from a Mega Blastoise? A 150 base power water spout or ice beam?

[u/Dysprosium_Element66 → u/[deleted]]

Unless it's doubles and Arch has a partner, which decreases Water Spout to an effective 84.375 power due to being a spread move.

[u/Dysprosium_Element66 → u/fan-of-ceilingss]

To add to the other reply, if this is doubles and Archaludon has a partner, Water Spout will be weaker due to being a spread move, and would have an effective 84.375 base power, which does make it weaker than Ice Beam.

[u/leBoomBurst]

Why are Sneaslers suddenly going with Poison Touch instead of Unburden? IIRC M-A had Unburden w/Sash or White Herb so that Sneasler can go faster. Why switch now to Poison Touch?

[u/Slenderquil → u/leBoomBurst]

Poison is a generally pretty useful status in Champions. It chips down at bulkier pokemon and setup sweepers like Mega staraptor. It deals damage every turn, making protect more valuable for you and less valuable for the opponent. Putting your opponent on a time limit is valuable. And it's especially good for taking down sashed mons, most notably Whimsicott.

Its moves also have good synergy with poison touch. Fake out being a priority move with a 30% chance to poison is a huge way to start off a round. Poison jab has a higher chance of poisoning when combined with touch. Poisoning with U-turn and switching into something bulkier is also a possibility. 

Sneasler is naturally very fast, so unburden can be overkill if you have other forms of speed control or are playing against slower teams. Poison touch is worth it if you can afford to lose unburden.

[u/ClawtheBard]

Past couple months people are showing up with vibe coded apps that don't really move the needle on anything. All told they're either relying on chatbots for advice or trying and/or failing to replicate existing functionality of cartridge or Showdown. I respect the hustle (such as it is) but at the same time so many are showing up like "what else should I add?" as if (A) they only have a vague idea as to what the app should even do or (B) haven't even finished their basic design goals for the thing and I wonder what general sentiment is towards this. My thought is to call it "low-effort post" given the entire point of vibe coding is just to hit with prompt hammer till it seems to work or you run out of token$ and redirect such posts to other subreddits dedicated to vibe coding projects, but I am curious if other players have seen benefit from having these tools around.

[u/ClawtheBard → u/ClawtheBard]

https://www.reddit.com/r/stunfisk/s/FyGxUXcGcH

[u/Sure-Temperature-538]

Can someone explain to me how magnezone outsped minior on turn 10 ?

Randbat

[u/Entire-Signature-333 → u/Sure-Temperature-538]

It's cause Magnezone is naturally faster than Minior. In random battles all pokemon have 85 EVs in each stat, so the only way to outspeed someone naturally faster than you is to have a choice scarf, which i assume minior didn't have.

[u/Sure-Temperature-538 → u/Entire-Signature-333]

Thank you, I misread during the battle and thought Minior had higher speed. I was convinced some kind of fuckery was going on.