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I ATTAC

8 (15.4%)

I PROTECC

6 (11.5%)

Waiting on the third one

2 (3.8%)

Waiting on the third AND fourth one

1 (1.9%)

GET WELL SOON ZYGARDE

5 (9.6%)

I am a concientous objector and abstain from taking up arms

30 (57.7%)

Total Members Voted: 51

[umiman]

Yeah, that's pretty common.

It's usually either a suicide lead or volt switcher. It usually doesn't matter either way. Many people respond differently to obvious entry hazard leads. I've seen people use taunt, some use their own entry hazards (most common, braindead response), some send out rapid spinner leads, etc. Mine is pretty brute force.

I always find predictable mons to be a complete liability, even if they're incredibly strong.

Things like Aegislash... Mamoswine... etc. They're all so predictable and simple. Strong, but you can play around them as you know what's going to happen. But if you see something like Meowstic or a Gyrados out you're like "uh oh... what is it going to use? What items does it have?" I love it when I see the enemy running shit like Rhyperior rocking lightning bolt or Aggron with ice beam. Nobody expects it and it's brutally effective.

[Mageziya]

So, I've started to...

Oh look serious Pokemon discussion. Uhhh

I only about half understand what's going on.

Anyway, I decided to start up a Platinum playthrough that I was a fair bit through, but had stopped playing some time ago. Caught Giratina yesterday, and caught the lake trio today, as a point of reference to how far along I am.

I'm mainly prepping for Y, setting up a transfer chain from Emerald -> Platinum or HeatGold -> Black -> Y.

Movement among four generations (Or 5, if you count HG as Gen 2) is something of awe.

I'm still disappointed there's no R/S remake. I started the Plat game months ago with the intent of getting shiny Pokemon with the PokeRadar, then transferring them to black, then trading those to the R/S remake. Shortly after I started Gen 6 was announced.

Dammit.

[Knirisk]

For this reason, I suggest avoid the following leads unless you're mindgaming someone and only putting it in there for later use:
1. That electric spider thing that only exists to put down slow webs.
2. Smeargle. So easily countered it's stupid.
3. Forretress
4. Espeon
5. Ferrothorn

Is Zoroark worth anything other than mindgaming somebody?

[umiman]

Zoroark is dark type right?

I haven't fought it much before, but every single time I did I fell for the mindgames. I don't really know what it does to be honest so I couldn't say.

[RekkaAtsuma]

Zoroark is dark type right?

I haven't fought it much before, but every single time I did I fell for the mindgames. I don't really know what it does to be honest so I couldn't say.

Zoroark copies pokemon in your last team slot, by looks, i know that much, not sure if it copies type or etc, but I know it doesnt copy moves, fought a Klinklang, which cannot have flamethrower yet said  "Klinklang" used flamethower, i hit said Klinklang, and boom, Zoroark faints. the illusion breaks if it gets hit once.

Mind game city, yeah, but...Being pure dark and losing it's ability in one go, probably just a gimmick-worthy only pokemon.

[Elephant Parade]

Zoroark is dark type right?

I haven't fought it much before, but every single time I did I fell for the mindgames. I don't really know what it does to be honest so I couldn't say.

Zoroark copies pokemon in your last team slot, by looks, i know that much, not sure if it copies type or etc, but I know it doesnt copy moves, fought a Klinklang, which cannot have flamethrower yet said  "Klinklang" used flamethower, i hit said Klinklang, and boom, Zoroark faints. the illusion breaks if it gets hit once.

Mind game city, yeah, but...Being pure dark and losing it's ability in one go, probably just a gimmick-worthy only pokemon.

Look and name. The illusion vanishes as soon as it takes damage, though. Best to copy something weak to Psychic and hope the opponent falls for it.

[umiman]

That has been my experience yeah. It would come in, I'd scratch my head at some weird occurrence, then it'd die.

[BuriBuriZaemon]

Great tips.

Thanks, umi. Yes, Espeon lead is indeed obvious, although my Avalugg has been able to defeat Mega Kangashkan (Power-up Punch) and Talonflame (Flareblitz) using his natural bulk, Curse, and the dual screens setup by Espeon. I do use Espeon because I like him so I'd like him to stick around.

Based on my experience, I have enough variety of setup Pokemons:
No fire-types -> Sword Dance Scizor (also kills fairy-types)
Dragon- and fire-types -> Belly Drum Azumarill
Steel-types -> Charizard Y
Ground-, rock-, water-types -> Chlorophyl Growth Venusaur
Avalugg is pretty useful to counter opposing wall and even dragon-types, as long as they don't carry fire-type moves. People just get surprised by how bulky it is since Avalugg is relatively under the radar at the moment.

Basically the theme is bulky offense. All of my Pokemons except for Espeon can setup.

My greatest threats are the following:
Moves that force switches (e.g. Roar)
Burn
Paralysis
Any walls that require multiple-hit moves (e.g. Harvest Trevenant using Substitute)
Thunder-types
Knock-off (had this Mega Banette ruined my team)

You're right about Charizard Y being predictable. I am thinking of changing my mega evo to a defensive Mega Venusaur to make it less obvious. Probably replace Charizard Y with Assault Vest Curse Goodra (remove Stealth Rock weakness as a result), but need to confirm Goodra can learn Recover first.

[ekolis]

I suppose a Zoroark might be useful if you train it for speed and attack power, and give it one of those switch-out moves like U-Turn that does damage but also swaps Pokemon, so it can hit first, and if it doesn't score a KO, it can retreat and play mind games with the other guy later on in the battle...

[Urist Imiknorris]

Probably replace Charizard Y with Assault Vest Curse Goodra (remove Stealth Rock weakness as a result), but need to confirm Goodra can learn Recover first.

Take one guess why this will end in tears.

[BuriBuriZaemon]

Probably replace Charizard Y with Assault Vest Curse Goodra (remove Stealth Rock weakness as a result), but need to confirm Goodra can learn Recover first.

Take one guess why this will end in tears.

Assault Vest only allows damaging moves. No Recover... Hmm!!

[umiman]

Yeah, you're approaching it the right way. It's not entirely bad that you have a predictable lead because like I mentioned you can mindgame people. As you explained, you could start with Avalugg, then I'd be like "uhhh... oh shit...".

It would completely ruin me as I was expecting either Charizard or Espeon but you sent out motherfking Avalugg. Wat do?

So yeah, you're approaching it the right way. It doesn't really matter how you build your team. What matters is how you play your team. I've learned that the ranking systems on Smogon are all bullshit when people know how to properly use their pokemon. Hell, one of my best teams has a goddamn Slowking on it. Slowking is considered crap by Smogon but I love it and it works fantastic for what I use it for, bulky regenerator to combine with Reinculus who also has regenerator.

Definitely don't let me talk you out of using Espeon. Know what happens when you use it and turn it to your advantage!

----

If you're going to use Goodra, might I recommend using rain dance, hydration, and rest for healing? It's an extremely potent combo I've run into as the rain instantly wakes up Goodra so it's essentially immune to status and damage. It only really has three weaknesses if you build it special defense heavy:

1. Ice fang, dragon fang, outrage, ice punch, other physical versions of its weakness. Ice beam and fairy moves can't do enough damage to even 8 hit ko it. No I'm not even joking, this thing takes almost no damage from STAB ice beam, a 2x weakness.
2. When the rain runs out, the opponent basically has 2 - 3 turns to try and kill you. Also, when you use rest, you give him one free turn.
3. Taunt. You can probably kill the mon using taunt though.

I've fought it twice now and each time it's been incredibly deadly. One of the Goodras I fought used infestation to arena trap me, though thankfully for me, he did it on my Scizor. So I just stacked swords dance and OHKO'ed him. The other Goodra I fought using this combo ran muddy water so it got double damage from the rain. It also had the 100% accuracy thunder. Very deadly.

[BuriBuriZaemon]

Goodra tips.

That makes a lot of sense. My team composition is weak to fire (Scizor, Avalugg, and Venusaur), so if I switch to Mega Venusaur (Thick Fat) AND Rain Dance Hydration Goodra, it'll remove this weakness.

Assuming Charizard Y is replaced by Goodra, Stealth Rock will be much less relevant, so I can probably replace Avalugg's Rapid Spin with Earthquake to counter Aegislash.

I am also considering Aromatherapy, either by Blissey or Florgess. Will-of-wisps users really stall my team (damn you Rotom-W and Trevenant). Decisons, decisions...

[umiman]

You might not have to get a dedicated healer for status, though they're always kinda handy to have.

You have Espeon, who can switch into any status and just return it to the opponent. If you use Goodra, you will have that thing too which doesn't give a crap about status.

Here are some other things to consider which can deal with status:

1. There are pokemon that like to status themselves like Gliscor, magic guard users, or any guts user. You can only be afflicted by one primary status move at any given time, so these guys are basically immune to status. Just like with Espeon, they can just be switched in when you expect the enemy to use something like will-o-wisp.

Additionally, if you already have something afflicted with status, they can't be afflicted with anything else. So even if it sucks that say... Avalugg got hit by burn. You can now just use him to tank more will-o-wisp.

2. Similarly, magic guard users don't take any damage from burn or toxic or anything else that does damage-over-time. These are guys like Sigilyph or Mega Alakazam. If you purposely made these guys switch into burn or toxic, it also means they're now immune to all status.

3. Misty terrain prevents all status for 5 turns, provided the pokemon are standing on the ground. Also makes dragons useless.

4. Safeguard straight up prevents all status. It sounds so obvious but I've noticed that a lot of people have trouble remembering that safeguard is in effect. I'm not sure why, maybe they don't see it often enough, but I'll very, very often run into people repeatedly trying to use status after I've already safeguarded. In any case, prankster pokemon can use this in priority, making it an excellent opener against things like Smeargle.

[Urist Imiknorris]

MegaZam does not have Magic Guard.