How the fuck do I get good?

Are you looking for honest and actually helpful advice?

>>32601887
100%.

>>32601879
Learn all of the relevant sets from all the commom mons in the tier and watch battles on youtube from a high level player who explains his moves.

Play a lot. Learn what each mon in a tier can do, what they can check and what checks them.

>>32601898
I know all of the relevant sets of all of the relevant mons and I've watched around five to six hours of Pokeaimd, who's the only person who seems to know what he's doing.

>>32601879
go to Smogon and ask them. /vp/ is complete ass at competitive.

>>32601914
/vp/ has a few people in the 1500s range, no?

Smogon's tutoring program requires you to apply and all of that shit, and their Battling 101 stuff is hardly updated and terribly edited, so it's not too bad of an idea to come over here.

>>32601879
Just practice for a long time. It takes about 7 years to become a master at a skill. Play competitive almost every day for 7 years and you'll get very good. It worked for me when I was into Magic the Cardgame. I just kept playing for years and years and eventually I started winning tournament drafts and shit. Had to quit because that shits more expensive as crack, though.

>>32601928
You could always watch pokeaim'd vids and streams then. That guy just loves competitive battling.

>>32601879
Play random battles for a while to learn the basics and get an idea for what sets and moves are good

>>32601928
>a few people in the 1500s range
That's not exactly very good. I wobble between 1500s and 1600s and I'm mediocre as fuck.

Just play a lot and try to react to what you see a lot of when making changes to your team. Once you know all of the game mechanics, I would say watching youtube videos of other people is practically worthless compared with actually playing more.

>>32602071
1600s is top 100 in OU, Anon.

>>32602085
No it's not

>>32601879
Don't outpredict yourself. Most people you're going to fight aren't MLG professionals, ask yourself what you would in a situation and react to that.

>>32602054
>random battles to learn what sets are good
That doesn't always work. Good sets in Random Battles basically means that something has a STAB move, an item that comes up more than one in every ten games, and doesn't kill itself instantly.

>>32601897
Wrong place

Anyways the important points in terms of playing are to consistently make intelligent moves, and also to plan ahead (as if you were playing chess). Each turn you should be considering the potential consequences of each move, determine your most advantageous move in each situation, etc, instead of just going for your first impulse. Considering the best play of your opponent in each situation is also important.

Thinking many turns ahead and working out a gameplan that's safe and will get you a good foothold in the match is essentially the 'key' to winning and is even more effective when you are already making smart and relatively safe plays.

Example: If you're playing a stall team and want to set up Spikes with your Skarmory. Let's say it's a neutral turn with Mega Metagross vs your Slowbro. Even if you predict him to send in Roserade to counter it, keep Slowbro in as your matchup is advantage and fire off a Thunder Wave. When Roserade comes in on Slowbro, switch to Chansey the next turn and take the attack. This sets up a sequence where you can then pivot to Skarmory, because Roserade does nothing to Chansey and you can double switch to Skarmory when they send in the physical attacker so that you can get your Spike off. Create multiple scenarios like this in the match and you will wear down your opponent. On an offensive team, the situation would involve identifying which of your Pokemon is most threatening to the opponent and using double switches/tactics to get that Pokemon on the field, and in a good matchup. Offensive teams also stack 'redundant' sweepers, so that one can break down the relevant walls and the others can finish the job of the first sweeper.

Teambuilding is also important but many players just take teams from designated 'teambuilders' within the community (or at least it was that way when I quit) so it's not 100% required. You need a good team (no karenfag bullshit) but before that, you need to learn to play.

>>32602085
The 500th ranked player right now is 1651. 1600 would probably rank you about 1000th.

>>32602104
This shit is honestly pretty hard to explain but tl;dr: Treat competitive mons as if it's chess. Make sure you know what all the relevant sets/threats do too obviously

File: ShedinjaPants.png (32KB, 127x209px) Image search: [Google]

32KB, 127x209px

>decent playing
>can easily spot both team's win conditions
>can predict pretty well

>completely shit at team building
>not even karenfag
>have to resign using copy-paste teams
Seriously, my level at team building is retarded.
I normally try to go for type synergies, but then I find there's also the synergy between each pokemon specific role outside typing, stat benchmarks, being able to deal with the meta common threats... and I just get completely lost and make a team of strong mons that can't do shit together.
How do you people work with all that. Fuck.

>>32602089
>>32602107
http://pokemonshowdown.com/ladder/ou has lied to me

>>32602207
Isn't that gen 6 OU?

>>32602219
I think it might be an outdated version of that.

just jack someone's faggy sticky webs / baton pass / stall team for easy wins

>>32602293
There's a difference between getting good and getting easy wins.

>>32602104
>Each turn you should be considering the potential consequences of each move, determine your most advantageous move in each situation, etc, instead of just going for your first impulse. Considering the best play of your opponent in each situation is also important.

This is important, but when you are starting out people low on the ladder are genuinely retarded so at times it is pretty impossible to figure out what the fuck their strategies are. I once fought a Sand Rush Stoutland with odor sleuth after a ladder reset so I'm not sure what he was planning to do with it.

Also, people who are semicompetent don't plan very far ahead low on the ladder. If you see someone with GyaraVire then he's going to use it. He's not going to reverse psychology you by staying in with Gyara and DDing on the switch if his rating is 1004. Just click EQ to kill his incoming Electavire and then tell him it isn't 2006 anymore

>>32602335
Being good is winning, the means you use to achieve this doesn't really matter.

>>32602377
Keep telling yourself that

>>32602382
Oh no I'd never use such tactics to win, but people that do are no worse than me or anybody else.

Results are always what matter.

>>32602377
While I don't especially agree with this I like it better than people who claim they lost despite being "better."

If you have to convince yourself that you lost to an "inferior" player you were never a good player to begin with.

>>32601879
play older gens
sumo a shit

>>32602201
I just do the basic format of:
Lead/anti-lead (rocks, screens, taunt users all good here)
Support
Wallbreaker
Wallbreaker
Setup sweeper
Backup setup sweeper for in case my first one fails

For example, let's say I'm playing NU. For lead/anti-lead I'd use Alola Persian since it can taunt and has Parting shot. For support I went with Mawile, it has good synergy with Alola Persian since I can totally cripple most physical attackers by going Parting-Shot into Mawile's Intimidate. Mawile also gets Stealth Rock and can revenge kill in a pinch with Sucker Punch. Also, Mawile is immune to both of the STABs of the best thing in the format right now, Dragalge. For wallbreakers I chose Specs Dragalge and Fightium-Z Virizion. They have god synergy too because Steel types give Dragalge trouble, which Virizion handles nicely. Also, one being physical and one being special makes my team as a whole harder to wall. For my 2 setup sweepers I went with Omastar and Necrozma. Omastar can wreck almost anything if I get a Shell Smash up, which is a lot easier thanks ot Persian's Parting Shot and Mawile Intimidating stuff. Necrozma needs a Calm Mind or 2 to really get going, but since it's bulky and has recovery in Morning Sun it can double as a wall and force out poison and Fighting types that would threaten my Virizion and Omastar.

9 times out of 10 just following that format can build you a decent team. Might not make you a champion but you'll do well enough. Granted, it works best if you're trying to play an offense team, because I only play offense really, but if you just replace the wallbreakers with walls I suppose you could turn that shell into Balance?

Sell your soul and use pokemon that nobody could possibly like on the merits on their designs, like genies, keldeo, chansey, clefairy, tangrowth, etc.