Before you can begin you have to decide what format you want to play in. How you build a team will be greatly altered by how you intend to play. If you play by Nintendo rules, generally via random Wi-Fi match-up, then these are the different play styles you can choose:
Singles: You use three pokemon from your team and you batlle 1 on 1.
Doubles: You use four pokemon from your team and you battle 2 on 2.
Triples: You use all six pokemon from your team and you battle 3 on 3.
Rotation: You use four pokemon from your team and you battle 3 on 3 rotation. What this means is that you have three pokemon out, but you battle 1 on 1 what's different is that you can rotate into and attack with one of your other pokemon all in one turn.
Launcher: Same as Triples except you can use items. The way you use items is different from normal having to earn them through battle.
All Nintendo rules share the following bans.
You may not use any of the following pokemon: Mewtwo, Mew, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Celebie, Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza, Jirachi, Deoxys, Chatot*, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Phione**, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin, Arceus, Victini, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Keldeo, Meloetta, and Genesect.
* you may be wondering why Chatot would be banned, but the reason is to prevent people from abusing Chatter online. Chatter is a move only Chatot can use that allows you to record your voice which will then be used when you use the attack.
** Phione may also seem like a weird ban, but the reason for it is that Phione is impossible to obtain without Manaphy who is event only.
In addition to the Pokemon bans, the moves Sky Drop and Dark Void are banned. Sky Drop because of an exploitable glitch and Dark Void probably for being over powered as it can put both opposing pokemon to sleep in a double battle.
If you play Pokemon Online (or Smogon rules) you have to choose the Tier you want to play in. Under these rules you generally use all six of your pokemon, but certain Tiers will be different. The most basic Tiers are these:
Uber: Pokemon banned from all other tiers for being too powerful, This list is similar to Nintendo's ban list in that many of the cover legendaries and event only pokemon are in this tier. But it is not exactly the same because it is based on power meaning that some of the cover legendaries and event pokemon are not in this tier and a few normal pokemon like Garchomp are.
OU: Short for Over Used. OU is the most commonly played tier allowing all Pokemon except those in Ubers.
UU: Short for Under Used. UU bans pokemon from the OU and Uber tiers.
RU: Short for Rarely Used. Is a new Tier as of the 5th generation. It bans pokemon in UU, OU, and Ubers. May also be refered to as LU for Lesser Used.
NU: Short for Never Used. NU bans all pokemon from RU and above.
LC: Short for Little Cup. LC is only for unevolved pokemon.
Here is a list of the Tiers with the pokemon who are in them: http://www.smogon.com/bw/tiers/
There are even more tiers than that. Here is a complete list of Tiers and an explanation for each: http://pokemon-online.eu/competitive/Tiers-Explained_31.html
Once you pick your play style you can begin to build a team. If you are playing with Tiers keep in mind that while you don't have to stick to pokemon within the Tier (in some cases you shouldn't), you also don't want to have too many pokemon from lower Tiers. And as a rule of thumb you usually don't want to drop more than one Tier, so if you are playing Ubers you should be using Ubers and OU pokemon, if you are playing OU you should be using OU and UU pokemon, etc.... Similarly if you are playing Nintendo rules you should probably stick mostly with pokemon who are found in the Uber (when applicable), OU, and UU Tiers.
Regardless of what play style you choose the one thing to keep in mind when building a team is synergy. Synergy can me a lot of different things, but the most basic thing is type synergy. Generally you don't want your team to consist of one type of pokemon (with weather teams maybe you could), but rather your team should be full of pokemon that cover each others weaknesses. For example, if you use a pokemon like Heatran with a 4x weakness to Ground moves then include a Flying type or pokemon with Levitate on your team. This principle applies to other types as well if you have pokemon weak to Fighting moves then include a ghost, if you have pokemon weak to Electric then include a Ground type. Part of the point to having this coverage is that it allows you to safely switch out pokemon, in some cases you can get a free switch in if your new pokemon is unaffected by your opponent's attack. You don't have to stop an attack completely though, if you have a Garchomp or Dragonite with 4x weakness to Ice then you could include a Heatran on your team who takes only a quarter damage from Ice moves. Here is the type chart; remember that many pokemon have two types in which case damage multipliers stack (both types weak to the attack = 4x damage, 1 type weak and 1 type normal = 2x damage, 1 type weak and 1 type resistant or both types normal = 1x damage, 1 type resistant and 1 type normal = .5x damage, both types resistant = .25x damage, 1 type immune = 0x damage other type doesn't matter).
In addition to type there are a few abilities that grant immunity to certain attacks. The most common of these abilities is the Levitate ability which grants immunity to Ground type attacks, but other ones are Flash Fire (absorbs Fire attacks nullifying damage and boosting the strength of your own Fire moves by 1.5x), Lightningrod (redirects Electric attacks to the pokemon and then absorbs them giving a 1 stage Speed boost), Volt Absorb (absorbs Electric restoring HP by 25% when hit by one), Water Absorb (absorbs Water attacks restoring HP by 25% when hit by one), Dry Skin (works the same as Water Absorb, but the pokemon also takes 1.25x from Fire attacks, causes 12.5% damage each turn in strong sunlight, restores 12.5% HP every turn in rain), Motor Drive (works the same as Lightningrod, but does not redirect attacks), Storm Drain (redirects Water attacks to the pokemon and then absorbs them giving a 1 stage Special Attack boost), Sap Sipper (absorbs Grass attacks giving a 1 stage Attack boost), and Wonder Guard (Grants immunity to all attacks that are not super effective, Shedinja only).
Type synergy is important to singles, doubles, and triples in different ways. In singles it is important for making effective switch-outs which can really make or break a match. In Doubles and Triples you have to think more about how types will work together in battle. Switch-outs aren't quite as important in doubles or triples because it is much harder to perform an effective switch-out when your opponent has two or three pokemon on their side of the field waiting to attack. Instead you often have to worry about how one of your pokemon's moves will effect the other. For example, you wouldn't want a pokemon like Garchomp who uses Earthquake (a powerful Ground moves that hits all other pokemon in a double battle) to be paired with a pokemon like Heatran who has a 4x weakness to Ground. A good example of type synergy would be something more along the lines of a Garchomp and Thundurus, Garchomp can freely use Earthquake because Zapdos is part Flying and Thundurus can freely use Discharge because Garchomp is part Ground.
In addition to type synergy you need to consider the roles your pokemon will play in battle. Here are the different roles a pokemon will usually play in battle:
Leads: A lead is the first pokemon you send out into battle. A lead will usually try to accomplish one of two things. The first thing they might do is to try and set-up for the rest of the match. Set-ups include using Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and/or Stealth Rocks to damage the opponent every time they switch pokemon into battle, a pokemon might set-up Reflect and/or Light Screen to halve damage taken, or they could set-up weather for the numerous benefits it provides. The second thing a lead might try to do is take down the opponent's lead to prevent them from setting up. Often the lead will play another role too, in the case of a set-up lead it is common for them to be walls while the other type of lead will tend to be a sweeper both of which I will talk about in a bit. Leads are not quite the same in doubles and triples, you won't see nearly as many stealth rocks or spikes users. You don't see a lot of screens, but then you don't see them too often in singles either. Weather is still fairly common, but that is because most weather leads set-up weather automatically with an ability. Some common leads are Ninetales, Politoed, and Tyranitar (Ok these are the weather leads, but still they are extremely common).
Sweepers: A sweeper is a pokemon that tries to take out as many of the opponent's pokemon as possible. There are a few different types of sweepers which are physical, special, mixed, and bulky. Physical and Special sweepers function in the exact same way the only difference being who they are able to sweep, obviously the physical sweeper can be stopped by the right physical wall and the special sweeper can be stopped by the right special wall. Mixed sweepers carry both physical and special moves to try and take care of both pokemon who are defensive and pokemon who are specially defensive. The down side? Well you can only optimize 2 stats through EVs and it is common to have a nature that reduces the unused attack stat, so a mixed sweeper will usually suffer somewhere else. All these types of sweepers usually have at least one high attack stat and a high speed. Their goal is to wipe out their opponent before they get touched since they often have less desirable defenses. The exception is the bulky sweeper who is designed to take a few hits while still being able to take down the opposing pokemon. Bulky sweepers often give up speed for the bulkiness. Many times sweepers will want to set-up first, many physical sweepers will use Swords Dance to double their attacks and many Special sweepers will use Calm Mind or Nasty Plot to boost their Special Attacks. Bulky Sweepers can sometimes use moves like Rock Polish to increase their speed. Sweepers won't always set-up but it is not uncommon. Some common sweepers are Salamence, Haxorus, and Hydreigon.
Walls: A wall is a pokemon that is designed to take hits. Just like with sweepers there are physical, special, and mixed walls. Walls generally have large amounts of HP and at least 1 high defense stat. Often times walls will try to take down there opponents by slowly sapping away their health. To achieve this they commonly have attacks like Toxic or Leech Seed. Another trait of walls is that they usually have a means of restoring their health. This can be as simple as having them hold leftovers, but it can also be achieved with a recovery move, Leech Seed, or a mix of all these things. Some common walls are Gliscor, Blissey, and Ferrothorn.
Support: A support pokemon is a term that broadly names many different types of pokemon that help the team indirectly. To name just a few you can have Baton Passers, Medics, and Cripplers, but there are many more. I would like to tell you what your usual support pokemon is like, but I can't because it depends completely on what pokemon it is and what they are trying to accomplish. Instead I will just explain what some types of them try to do. A Baton Passer uses the move Baton Pass to give stat boosts or other helpful status effects to another team member. As of this generation the new move Shell Smash has become a popular choice for Baton Passers, Shell Smash increases Attack, Special Attack, and Speed by 2 stages each at the cost of decrease in Defense, and Special Defense of 1 stage. Passing Shell Smash to a sweeper can create a deadly pokemon who is both extremely fast and powerful. But there are other things that can be Baton Passes too. Baton Pass can be used to pass Nasty Plots, Swords Dances, Speed Boosts, all sorts of things. Next after Baton Passers are Medics, ok I actually just made that term up but you will probably see them referred to as Clerics or wish-passers depending on what they are actually doing. This type of pokemon is one that can heal your other pokemon in one way or another. This is usually in one of two ways either they cure status conditions with Aromatheropy/Heal Bell or else they restore HP with the move Wish. The Last type of support I will talk about is a crippler. A crippler through one way or another stops the opponent from doing what they would like to. There are several ways a pokemon can do this, one way is by inflicting Parafusion (Both Paralysis and Confusion). A pokemon who is both Paralyzed and Confused will have a very difficult time attacking because 50% of the time they will damage themselves due to confusion and 25% of the time they get through confusion they will be immobilized by the Paralysis (not to mention the severe loss of speed). Another way you might cripple a pokemon is through Taunt. Taunt won't work to cripple Sweepers, but it is devastating to pokemon that use status moves. Taunt prevents any sort of set-up because it bars the usage of all non-damaging moves. A third way of crippling an opponent's pokemon is the move Trick. Trick switches items with the opposing pokemon which has some tricky applications. A common way of using Trick is with a pokemon that is holding a Choice Scarf. Choice Scarf only allows the pokemon holding it to use one move making it a great thing to Trick onto a pokemon who uses a set-up move. An alternative to a Choice Scarf would be an Iron Ball or Lagging Tail. These items severely cut speed (actually Lagging Tail makes the pokemon go last no matter what) making these a great choice to Trick onto a quick sweeper. There are probably even more ways to cripple, but you get the idea. Like I said before there are many other types of Support that you will have to discover on your own but that is a good start. There are many pokemon who can function as support, but here is a very small sample Gorebyss, Smeargle, and any pokemon with Prankster.
Many pokemon will not clearly fall it to one of the categories I named above, many can fulfill multiple roles and others may play a role different from what I described. Just remember that you don't want all your pokemon to play the same role. Don't build a team of sweepers and don't build a team of walls, a good mix is usually best.
Another thing to keep in mind when building a team is your pokemon's move sets. move sets are way to big a topic for me to try and explain all about them. The right move set varies quite greatly from one pokemon to another so if you are having trouble coming up with them check Smogon's suggestions http://www.smogon.com/bw/pokemon/, but remember that Smogon's sets are designed for Smogon's metagame which among other things is focused on singles. But the reason why I'm bringing up move sets now is to tell you to try and not have redundant move sets on your team. For example as great of a move as Earthquake is you don't need every pokemon on your team to know it. This topic relates to type and role synergy, but more than that you just want to be sure that your team has plenty of coverage. That is coverage against types as well as coverage against strategies.
I'm close to wrapping this thing up, but there are a couple of teams that have a special kind of synergy I want to talk about, namely weather teams and Trick Room teams. The reason I want to talk about these teams is that they work together a little bit more than normal teams requiring greater synergy. Here they are:
Sunny Day Teams: Sunny Day teams usually consist mostly of Fire and Grass type pokemon. They thrive because of the 50% boost to the power of Fire attacks, the halving of the power of Water attacks, the instant access to the powerful Grass move Solarbeam which usually has to charge a turn, and because of several sun related abilities. Sun related abilities are Drought (causes eternal sun upon the pokemon switching into battle), Chlorophyll (doubles speed in the sun), Solar Power (Increases Special Attack by 50%, but inflicts 1/8 max HP damage at the end of every turn in the sun), and Leaf Guard (prevents status ailments in the sun).
Rain Dance Teams: Rain Dance teams usually consist mostly of Water and Electric pokemon. They thrive because of the 50% boost to the power of Water attacks, the halving of the power of Fire attacks, the perfect accuracy of Thunder in the rain, and again because of several rain related abilities. Rain related abilities are Drizzle (causes eternal rain upon the pokemon switching into battle), Swift Swim (doubles speed in rain), Hydration (cures status ailments in the rain), Dry Skin (restores 1/8 of HP every turn in rain, among other things), Rain Dish (restores 1/16 of HP every turn in the rain).
Hail Teams: Probably the least common weather team, they usually have many Ice type pokemon. Hail teams thrive because of the 1/16 HP damage hail deals to non-Ice pokemon every turn, the perfect accuracy of Blizzard in the hail, the ability Snow Warning that causes eternal hail upon the pokemon switching into battle, the ability Ice Body which restores HP by 1/16 every turn in the hail, and because of the ability Snow Cloak that boosts evasiveness in the hail.
Sandstorm Teams: Sandstorm teams usually consist mostly of Ground, Rock, and Steel pokemon. They thrive because of the 1/16 HP damage dealt to all pokemon who are not Ground, Rock, or Steel type, the 50% boost to the Special Defense of Rock type pokemon, and because of a couple of abilities. The abilities are Sand Stream (causes an eternal sandstorm upon the pokemon switching into battle), Sand Veil (boosts evasiveness in a sandstorm), Sand Force (boosts the power of Rock, Ground, and Steel moves by 30% in a sandstorm), and Sand Rush (doubles speed in a sandstorm).
Trick Room: Trick Room teams have many slow but powerful pokemon such as bulky sweepers. Trick Room teams only thrive as long as Trick Room is active because without it the low Speeds become a major issue. Once a Trick Room team is set-up it can be very difficult for the usual fast pokemon to survive.
Here I will try to demonstrate some good team synergy, but of course even my teams are not perfect (they may even be far from it); hopefully though, it can still be helpful.
Here is a singles battle:
And here is a double battle:
Sorry no triples example, I don't really play triples very much but it shouldn't be too different from doubles. In my next post I will talk about Hold Items in depth.
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