Hi /vp/, a friend had persuaded me to get a console and start

>>29635891
use mega rayquaza always at punch her if she's winning

>>29635891
Higher numbers are better. That is pretty much it.

>>29635955
epic

>>29635891
some important stuff
flying is immune to ground
as well as dark to psychic
some elemental Pokémon can absorb moves thanks to innate abilities
at least that was what I found important when I had your problem

sad desu

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>>29635891
>spending $350 on games for pussy
ebin

You want reliable moves for the most part, so high accuracy, decent power, and few to no drawbacks are typically best. Something like Scald (new water move with 100% accuracy, 80 power, and a 30% chance to inflict burn) or Surf is usually far more useful than Hydro Pump, which is less reliable because of the mediocre accuracy, even if it is more powerful. Same goes for Hyper Beam, very few Pokemon use it effectively because the recharge turn means that, even if you KO the opponent, they have a free turn to boost their stats and sweep you.
On that note, you probably never used stat moves as a kid, but you might want to look into them. I.e, Swords Dance effectively doubles your attack power after using it once, Thunder Wave inflicts paralysis, which halves the opponents speed and can let your slower Pokemon move first, etc.

Don't worry about EVs and IVs and shit for now. You might want to catch Pokemon of a certain nature (since that affects stat growth), but don't let it disrupt your first playthrough's immersion. Just have fun.

>>29636516
I still remember some of the basics what I'm more interested in are things like in that one youtube video I've seen where a guy buffs his mon with some moves and then proceeds to demolish enemy's team with just that. I don't want to get rekt by something along those lines.

>>29636592
>350$
2DS Is 99€ in Europe including a shitty Jokai game. 110€ if you buy it with XY or ORAS. And I'm pretty sure there will be also offers with SM games.

>>29636592
This is very informative. Overall how viable is using pokemon that look cool and shit rather than picking everything with the best stats? Do they matter a lot or is it more about the typing and moves?

I already told her that I'm going to destroy her with the sandcastle pokemon and the fish that its by vomiting out its stomach. How fucked am I?

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>>29636755
Depends, Pokemon has so much shit that it's hard to tell. Pic related is a fucking monster that can easily sweep a team in some cases, while cool looking pokemon like Blastoise or Moltres are considered weaker, both in singles and doubles.

It's hard to tell how good sandcastle and pyuku are going to be right now, since we have almost nothing on their movepools and stats. At the very least, Pyukumuku has a pretty powerful ability.

>>29636755
Oh, as for typing and moves, they do matter a lot. Ideally, just try to avoid stacking too many weaknesses on one team, while simultaneously trying to avoid being walled by one type.
Moves matter too in the sense that you can't get away with putting Flamethrower, Ember, Fire Spin, and Fire Blast on your Charizard like you might have as a kid, instead you probably want one attack that's the same type as your Pokemon at least (if your Pokemon is the same type as the move it's using, it gets a 50% boost in power), and the other three slots depends. Utility, coverage moves (moves that don't match the Pokemon's type. For example, teaching Blastoise Ice Beam so it can hit dragon and flying types hard), etc.

>>29636862
Oh, I see. I guess I will wait till all the moves and stats are known.

Are there any websites I could use for looking up optimal move combinations for certain mons and whatnot?

Also, I think there are items that pokemon can be holding now, or something along those lines. Do they have a big impact on the gameplay?

>>29637001
Smogon is the site you are looking for.
And pokemon can hold items since GS.

>>29637001
I'm assuming you don't play double battles
Smogon's website lists sets for various Pokemon, and those are typically helpful for a beginner.

Items are huge, but I don't expect you'll be able to find a lot of the stronger ones before postgame in SM. There are things like Life Orb, which increases the power of your moves in exchange for taking away HP every turn, Choice Band/Scarf/Specs, which increase your power/speed/special attack by 50% but lock you into one move, Sitrus Berry, which heals you for 30% of your HP when you fall below half health, Focus Sash, which prevents one hit KOs from full health, etc. In other words, items have a huge impact on gameplay, but since most of the strongest ones cost ingame BP, it might be easier for you to just come to /vp/ and beg for some instead.

>>29637142
>postgame
>cost ingame BP
What are those?

>>29637239
Postgame just refers to the game after the main story finishes.

BP is battle points, which you earn by defeating AIs in special facilities in the postgame. The computer tries to cheat, so it's hard for newer players to amass large amounts of BP, which is why it might be easier for you to get items from other people at first.

>>29637479
>The computer tries to cheat
What really?

Are those AI battles actually hard or just something problematic for randoms and casuals?

>>29637527
They're not hard, but it reads your team after a while and specifically sends opponents made to fight it. Also bullshit like Quick Claw (10% chance to proc) activating 3 times in a row, and the opposing Pokemon landing a 30% accuracy, one hit KO attack all three times. You need items to get a great win streak, but you need to amass the BP to buy the items in the first place, that kind of situation.

>>29637604
Oh, I see. I guess that by the time I finish the game there will be plenty of guides for optimal setups for this mode anyway.

One more thing, how much should I rely on my starter versus the mons that I pick up on the way? I know that I'm probably getting rekt on that front from the get go because she is supposedly taking the water/fairy thing to counter my fire/dark cat.

>>29637767
I like to level them evenly. It's easy enough to tear through any of the games with your overleveled starter, but it's more fun to have a full team of usable Pokemon.

>>29635891

If you like this person (and clearly you do to buy a console and game) let them teach you.

They'll enjoy talking/playing Pokemon with you and explaining all the things.

My boyfriend convinced me to buy him whichever version I don't get, and we've agreed to battle after certain milestones in the story
He hasn't played since Diamond and Pearl, but he's the kind of shit who will run 6 FEARs, or put Explosion on every member of his team
I already know he's going to use Incineroar, Executor, Dugtrio, Drifblim, and Metagross, and that he's going to specifically bully my Decidueye and Mimikyu
How do I stop him?

>>29638178
If you can get a Popplio3 through trade, it seems like it'd be strong against his team.

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>>29635891
look on smogon, build a team from what pokemon are your favorite, handcraft them so you use them to YOUR advantage, not smogon's shitty cookie cutter, ignore the shitty rules they have as well
if you're battling, know type advantages, when to switch in and out, be unpredictable, battling is completely different from AI and actual players
there's also some new features to battling and such, fairies(a new type) came out, special and physical split is apparent since generation
big secret to playing pokemon: have fun, you'll need it.

>>29638178
>how do i stop him?
you have to build yourself your own team that can counter his
or ditch him on the street

>>29639491
*generation 4
bulbapedia is a neat website, look up information up there as well

Since the thread got bumped, I just remembered that apparently you can catch every single pokemon released in all the previous games in s&m. Is that true? What's up with that, I thought that they were only limited the whatever is in the pokedex of each game.

>>29639584
That's false. There are a little over 200 pokemon across the previous generations plus the new pokemon in these games. They may be talking about Pokebank, which is an app to hold all of your pokemon, and it allows you to transfer them to the newer games. They may also be talking about Gen 6, the previous gen. Between XY and ORAS, you can capture almost every single pokemon that had been out then.

>>29639688
I'm not really sure but I will inquire the next time we chat.

>>29637892
This
Let her beat you and improve slowly. And don't try stall teams with her unless you want to piss her off

>>29635891
If you're just gonna do single player, spamming powerful moves should be fine. However, if you're gonna play matches against your friend and she has intermediate knowledge of that sort of stuff, then some basic strategy is order. The most important thing to remember is that you shouldn't use any two moves of the same type on a single pokemon, unless those two moves have very different effects.You should ideally have moves that match with your types (1 or 2, depending on if you are single or dual typed), and have the rest be of other types that are super effective on things you are weak to. What status move you use depend on what stats you have. Offensive pokemon should have one stat boosting move max, while defensive or support pokemon should have more status moves than direct attacks. Also, don't forget to give your pokemon items, like leftovers, type plates...

>>29639901
Could you maybe elaborate on the function of support/defensive pokemon? How do you use them?

>>29639971
To wear down the enemy with paralize, burn, poison, stealth rocks, spikes, heal your team with wish and heal bell, etc

>>29640081
Are those actually more viable than just a team of straight out attackers?

>>29640146
Yes if you are fighting against another player

>>29639971
not him but

support and defensive pokemon can switch into attacks with no chance of hurting them, and start doing things like set up Stealth Rocks/Spikes, or throw status effects at the opponent/force them to switch out and cancel any stat buffs they've built up, or use moves like Wish and Heal Bell to help their team

I personally play Hyper Offense, which is just ATTACK IS THE ONLY STAT THAT MATTERS, so I only know how support and defense mons work in theory

>>29640146
Don't listen to him, it's only viable under a certain set of community rules that a lot of players blindly follow.

Under Smogon rules, yes, stall is pretty effective, but it's incredibly mind numbing, absolute hell to play against, and I sincerely hope you go to hell if you play it. Offensive teams can still work fine though, you just need a way to break stall teams while praying they don't ban whatever you're using to break it.

Still, support Pokemon are still great, having one or two usually >>> a full team of offense. Inflicting status is really helpful. Burn cuts the opponent's attack stat in two, paralysis cuts their speed, poison and hazards provide chip damage and break Focus Sash and Sturdy, etc. You can switch something into a predicted attack that you know won't kill you, cripple them by burning them, putting them to sleep, etc, then slowly chip away to force them to switch or you could switch to another Pokemon to set up.

>>29640146
Stealth rock deals rock type damage to any Pokemon that switches in (enemy), up to 50% to Charizard for example)
Will-o-wisp and scald (burn), halves the damage stat of the enemy, so it makes dealing with physical attackers more easily since they are crippled
Thunderwave halves the speed and lets your slower Pokemon to outspeed the enemy and kill it before they do anything to your attacker
Toxic and Toxic spikes helps wear down the enemy walls and attackers that are too strong and fast for you to harm them. Coupled with protect and switches you can easily kill a badly poisoned Pokemon
Wish is used to restore the HP of your other Pokemon, but it needs switching in and out.
Heal bell heals statuses of your crippled party members

>>29640269
>Don't listen to him, it's only viable under a certain set of community rules that a lot of players blindly follow.
Good luck with swagger + foul play

If this friend plays casually and doesn't have a lot of knowledge in battling then just go in blind. It'll be more fun that way for both of you.

>>29639491
Actually, smogon gives a good idea of a Pokémon match ups and optimal builds in its tier.

Optimization only comes after you identify meta trends, one last thing.

NEVER FUCKING RECOMMEND SOMEONE TO JUST PICK THEIR FAVORITES AND GLUE THEM TOGETHER.

It never fucking works, Pokémon at its team building is about role compression and niche optimization, pick a win con, build a core around it and then patch it up is the better approach for team building.

>>29640384
that's why I always bring an Own Tempo Numel

>>29640696
Bitch please, we have Komala now, comatose blocks anything but sleep.

What's up with Smogon and the tiers? Why are kickass mons like Pinsir or Charizard in never used?

>>29640729
he can still be paralyzed though -- Komala is Normal-type, not Ground-type, so Numel is still superior

>>29640813
Nice reading comprehension.

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Havr a pokemon that can use both Encore and Disable, firstly, use Encore, then Disable

>>29640269
>Don't listen to him, it's only viable under a certain set of community rules that a lot of players blindly follow.
uh no, battle spot singles teams usually also always carry a defensive mon, but it's usually one that's defensive on both sides like cress, p2, or cune

>>29640869
Not OP, but wouldn't that break the game?

>>29640789
because base forms are now tiered separately from mega forms

mega charizard x and y and mega pinsir are all OU
regular charizard and pinsir are shit

>>29640964
Why would it? If a pokemon cannot use any move it just uses struggle

>>29640964
It would force them to use Struggle.

>>29640685
>It never fucking works
t. sub 1,300 shitter
you are right with smogon's builds and matchups, but adding cookie cutter sets and then not gluing that shit together ends up being a shitty team
smogon's rules on the other hand, like evasion, should be completely ignored
any pokemon can obliterate anything from ubers if you're not retarded

>>29641745
Make Lumineon Works in a metagame that allows mega Rayquaza and P Groudon.

Picking favorites can be a shitty experience, some cool Pokémon just don't have the speed tier to realistically do shit, and slapping a scarf on them would often leave them weak to hazards as they will be forced out.

If you just stack six Pokémon you like without giving them what they actually need to succeed you are setting yourself up for a big fat disappointment unless you are lucky with double team or bright powder.

Go and run Charizard and Talonflame without hazard support. Optimize shit like Serviper all you want, but without synergy they won't do shit at all against anyone that actually pulls out his head out of his arse and builds a core to allow a sweep or pivot in a wincon.