Competitive Play Noob~ Get Me Started?

silver116

silver116

<(~__~)>
Member
Hey everyone! You probably don't know me from this forum but maybe from some of the pokemen tcg forums. I really want to expand my gameplay from TCG to VG also but I really have nowhere to start. Thus Im posting this. It would be fantastic if you could answer my list of questions. Please don't kill yourself answering and don't be pressured to answer ALL of them. I won't ask obvious questions such as "how do you EV train?", there are links for that.

Q1) Should you play the game out and then EV train or EV train throughout the story line?
Q2) How do the tiers work such as uber?
Q3) Where can I go to compete?
Q4) How do you train your Pokemon?! I feel like people just stay up 24/7 battling wild pokes non stop, Is there an easier way?
Q5) Are there any gameplay tips you can offer or any obvious things I MUST know?
Q6) How do I know what Pokemon to choose and if they are worth my training?
Q7) Usually how long does it take to max out and EV train one poke? Again I don't wanna be obsessed, lol.
Q8) What is battle competition?
Q9) How do I utilize and use the dream world? It's kinda sad but I don't even know how to use it. XD
Q10) How does wi-fi apply to Pokemon competitive play? Yes I have wi-fi, I don't live in a cave lol.
FQ) Anything you can add?

Once again it would be great for you to answer my question. If you don't want to answer them all you can answer one and leave some for others. Feel free to leave friend codes also. Thank ya and I hope to battle you someday! :D
 
I'll answer your questions with basic answers and elaborate on competitive play from there.

1. Technically you're EV training in-game, just not very well. Your in-game team doesn't have to be competitive, just usable for your purposes. If you want a competitive team, you should EV train after the main game.
2. Tiers classify Pokemon by power and usage. For example, OU Pokemon are the best of the best, and an OU match can include every Pokemon in OU and every Pokemon in lower tiers. However, Ubers consists of Pokemon that have been deemed too powerful/game-breaking for OU, and is therefore a separate tier altogether. Simply put, each tier can use Pokemon from lower tiers, but not Pokemon from higher ones.
3. Are you talking real-world or online? Online play consists of Wi-Fi play and battle simulators like Pokemon Online and Pokemon Showdown. Real-life events are usually VGC related.
4. There really isn't an easier way to train Pokemon in the games, EV training is what it is. However, the aforementioned battle simulators allow you to create teams in just a few minutes and then battle online with other people just as quickly.
5. Too many for me to list here. Being good at competitive battling takes a lot of practice and a lot of knowledge that can only be gained by battling experience and research.
6. Tiers usually determine how "good" a Pokemon is, but that doesn't mean that all non-OU Pokemon are useless. Find what Pokemon works best for your team and use it.
7. It varies depending on how many hours you're willing to put in and what Pokemon you're training.
8. Battle competition? I'm not sure what that is.
9. Competitively, Dream World is useful for the new abilities it introduces to Pokemon. For example, Dragonite's DW ability, Multiscale, makes it much better that it previously was with Inner Focus.
10. You get a team and play against someone else, and whoever has a better team and plays better wins. It's usually that simple.

Now these are just basic answers, and there's a lot more to competitive play than just some of the subjects listed here. Like I said, competitive VG takes a lot knowledge and skill, and can't be perfected very quickly. If you want to learn more, then you can read around the threads we have in this forum, or go take a look at Smogon and all of the comprehensive guides they have on battling. And if you have any questions, then feel free to talk to me or any of the other VG players/mods on this site. Good luck!
 
ShadowLugia said:
I'll answer your questions with basic answers and elaborate on competitive play from there.

1. Technically you're EV training in-game, just not very well. Your in-game team doesn't have to be competitive, just usable for your purposes. If you want a competitive team, you should EV train after the main game.
2. Tiers classify Pokemon by power and usage. For example, OU Pokemon are the best of the best, and an OU match can include every Pokemon in OU and every Pokemon in lower tiers. However, Ubers consists of Pokemon that have been deemed too powerful/game-breaking for OU, and is therefore a separate tier altogether. Simply put, each tier can use Pokemon from lower tiers, but not Pokemon from higher ones.
3. Are you talking real-world or online? Online play consists of Wi-Fi play and battle simulators like Pokemon Online and Pokemon Showdown. Real-life events are usually VGC related.
4. There really isn't an easier way to train Pokemon in the games, EV training is what it is. However, the aforementioned battle simulators allow you to create teams in just a few minutes and then battle online with other people just as quickly.
5. Too many for me to list here. Being good at competitive battling takes a lot of practice and a lot of knowledge that can only be gained by battling experience and research.
6. Tiers usually determine how "good" a Pokemon is, but that doesn't mean that all non-OU Pokemon are useless. Find what Pokemon works best for your team and use it.
7. It varies depending on how many hours you're willing to put in and what Pokemon you're training.
8. Battle competition? I'm not sure what that is.
9. Competitively, Dream World is useful for the new abilities it introduces to Pokemon. For example, Dragonite's DW ability, Multiscale, makes it much better that it previously was with Inner Focus.
10. You get a team and play against someone else, and whoever has a better team and plays better wins. It's usually that simple.

Now these are just basic answers, and there's a lot more to competitive play than just some of the subjects listed here. Like I said, competitive VG takes a lot knowledge and skill, and can't be perfected very quickly. If you want to learn more, then you can read around the threads we have in this forum, or go take a look at Smogon and all of the comprehensive guides they have on battling. And if you have any questions, then feel free to talk to me or any of the other VG players/mods on this site. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for answering all my questions! As stated before I rock at TCG but need polishing in the VG world. Some things I still don't understand are how to use the dream world, how to find wi-fi battle events (Like a website or such), and what are these simulators you are mentioning. Thank you again and feel free to answer these at your leisure.

-Silver ^__^
 
Pokemon Online and Pokemon Showdown! are battle simulators that allow you to make and save competitive teams on your computer and then battle through the use of online servers. PO requires you to download it, while PS! is completely online. Try them out, and I think you'll understand how they work a lot easier. I'm pretty clueless when it comes to in-game events, so I'm sure someone else would love to answer your questions about them, along with dream world specifics. And it's no problem, don't hesitate to ask as many questions as you have. Although it might be better for you to ask your smaller questions in the Simple Questions Thread, instead of making an entire thread for them.
 
ShadowLugia said:
Pokemon Online and Pokemon Showdown! are battle simulators that allow you to make and save competitive teams on your computer and then battle through the use of online servers. PO requires you to download it, while PS! is completely online. Try them out, and I think you'll understand how they work a lot easier. I'm pretty clueless when it comes to in-game events, so I'm sure someone else would love to answer your questions about them, along with dream world specifics. And it's no problem, don't hesitate to ask as many questions as you have. Although it might be better for you to ask your smaller questions in the Simple Questions Thread, instead of making an entire thread for them.
Click to expand...

Kk, thanks for the help and I'll be sure to try out the simulators. I'll continue to ask my questions on the simple questions thread instead of bumping this constantly.
 
Just expanding on what SL said.

Q1) I'd say EV train after because it gets too complicated to keep track of the EVs.

Q2) To expand upon what was said earlier; most tiers are based on usage. The tiers not mentioned by SL are DW, BL, UU, RU, and NU. DW, or Dream World, is where unreleased Pokemon or hidden abilities are allowed such as Genesect and Contrary Serperior. BL, or Borderline, is the Ubers of UU. UU, or Underused, is generally where Pokemon that can function in OU, but aren't used as much reside. RU, or Rarely Used, is where Pokemon who aren't used enough to be UU go. And finally, NU, or Never Used, is where the rest of the Pokemon that aren't in another tier go.

Q5) Too much to list. I'd suggest checking out Smogon and playing around to learn.

Q6) Partially through tiers, partially through obseration and experience. Tiers are a good starting point because generally the better a Pokemon is, the more it is used. This doesn't mean that all non-OU Pokemon are bad; Slowbro is UU but an excellent Physical wall. However, tiers aren't always enough; you can't just slap 6 random OU Pokemon on a team and expect to work well. You have to change members and sets to patch up weaknesses. You should keep in mind how well a Pokemon fits into your team style; running an Alakazam (a frail offensive Pokemon) on a stall team (a team with that utilizes defensive Pokemon to wear away at your opponent's health gradually) isn't a good idea. A good way to figure out what you're weak to is from testing and what is sometimes called "theory-monning", which is to look at a list of OU Pokemon (the top 50 in PO usage statistics, but to be safe, it's best to go further) and figure out what your team is weak to. This is usually done before testing out, because there's no point testing out a team where every member is weak to Rock.

Q8) I honestly have no idea what you're talking about.

Q10) Just connect to somebody with a friend code or random match-up and start battling. Wi-Fi is also another name for the standard OU metagame on simulators such as PO because the point of simulators is to eliminate the hassle of breeding and training Pokemon and focus on competitive battling in a balanced meta free of Pokemon that are too good such as Garchomp.

I hope my specifics helped instead of confused you. A good rule of thumb is that if you don't know something; check Smogon.
 
silver116 said:
Hey everyone! You probably don't know me from this forum but maybe from some of the pokemen tcg forums. I really want to expand my gameplay from TCG to VG also but I really have nowhere to start. Thus Im posting this. It would be fantastic if you could answer my list of questions. Please don't kill yourself answering and don't be pressured to answer ALL of them. I won't ask obvious questions such as "how do you EV train?", there are links for that.

Q1) Should you play the game out and then EV train or EV train throughout the story line?
Q2) How do the tiers work such as uber?
Q3) Where can I go to compete?
Q4) How do you train your Pokemon?! I feel like people just stay up 24/7 battling wild pokes non stop, Is there an easier way?
Q5) Are there any gameplay tips you can offer or any obvious things I MUST know?
Q6) How do I know what Pokemon to choose and if they are worth my training?
Q7) Usually how long does it take to max out and EV train one poke? Again I don't wanna be obsessed, lol.
Q8) What is battle competition?
Q9) How do I utilize and use the dream world? It's kinda sad but I don't even know how to use it. XD
Q10) How does wi-fi apply to Pokemon competitive play? Yes I have wi-fi, I don't live in a cave lol.
FQ) Anything you can add?

Once again it would be great for you to answer my question. If you don't want to answer them all you can answer one and leave some for others. Feel free to leave friend codes also. Thank ya and I hope to battle you someday! :D
Click to expand...

1) Afterwards, otherwise its too hard.
2) Basically, we ban the bejeebus out of anything that's too powerful, or over-centralizing, and then everything else is based on usage. For example, OU Pokémon (such as Heatarn) are used more often than NU Pokémon (such as Gardevoir.) OU means you can use anything that isn't uber. In the lower tiers, the upper ones get banned. (So if you play UU, you can't use OU or Uber or BL pokemon.)
3) Wherever they have regionals, or nationals. (or worlds!!!)
4) Use Pokerus, Vitamins, and Power items. Pokerus doubles the amount of EVs you receive, vitamins (like Protein) give you 10 EV points per use in a stat, you can use up to 10 vitamins in one stat (so up to 100 evs) and Power items give you 4 Extra EV points in the appropriate stat. Power Anklet for example adds 4 to speed. So if you kill a wild Starly with Power Anklet attatched while having Pokerus, you get 1 EV point for the STarly, plus 4 for the Power Anklet, doubled for Pokerus, which is 10 EVs. This way you'd only have to kill 25ish to get max EVs in a stat. it will go much quicker. Chaining in DPP makes sure you encounter the correct Pokémon as well.
5) Use Stealth Rock. On Every. Single. Team.
6)Check what their stats are on smogon or bulbapedia, and what tier they are. If they have good stats, generally they are worth using. Also make sure they are not outclassed. For example, Gardevoir has great stats, but Jirachi has even better stats and typing, and can do everything Gardevoir can. So why use Gardy when you can use Jirachi?
7) With Pokerus and Power Items, it takes me like an hour. Maybe.
8) If you mean VGC, it's just Video Game's equivalent of the TCG. If you don't, then it's just a standard competitive 6 on 6 lv. 100 singles match.
9) no idea. I just trade for DW Pokémon.
10) You can use your nintendo DS to hook up to WiFi and battle real players rather than just computer screens. Just connect, search for a battle, and off you go!
FQ) Use Pokemon Online or Pokemon Showdown. They are much easier to test teams on. Even if you still want to use WiFi, you can always use these two to test teams before you waste your team EV Training one that doesn't actually work.
 
Adding on with answers to the questions that weren't answered:

Q8) What is battle competition?
Q9) How do I utilize and use the dream world? It's kinda sad but I don't even know how to use it. XD
Click to expand...
8) Are you referring to the option on the B/W title screen? That is what is used when you wish to participate in a VGC tournament.

What you do is you first set up your Battle Box (accessible via any Pokemon Center PC). Choose 6 Pokemon to put into it, and that will be your team for the tournament. (The Battle Box can be used for other things as well, like the Subway.) When you get to the event, your Battle Box will be "registered" at the tournament; once registered, you cannot change the contents of the Battle Box until the tournament is over, or unless you back out of the tournament. (It's kinda simple, actually. It's explained more in detail when you go to a VGC event.) Remember, VGC is LV50 flat double battle, bring-6-use-4.

9) Look for the "Dream World Guide" link in my sig for a full explanation on how to actually use it. From a competitive standpoint, there are abilities that can only be acquired from there; examples include Dragonite's Multiscale, Gliscor's Poison Heal, Xatu's Magic Bounce, the Eeveelutions' Hidden Abilities, Salamence's and Gyarados' Moxie, and Spinda's Contrary. There's more, of course, but those are some of the noteworthy ones.
 
This post refers to ALL repliers. THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH! Pokemon VG competitive play sounds that much more appealing and I just started over my Pokemon white game. Can maybe you explain how players are ranked? Like I heard of players having points and such or a rating. Also what are some in game options I have to battle other REAL players and not just the CP? Thanks again and maybe you could give me your friend codes.Click!
 
Can maybe you explain how players are ranked? Like I heard of players having points and such or a rating. Also what are done in gane options I have to battle other REAL players and not just the CP?
Click to expand...
This question confuses me a little. Ranked in regards to what? And when you say CP do you mean Championship Points?
 
Sorry for my confusing post, CP refers to the computer and ranking as in wins or how good the individual player is.
 
Oh, you mean CPU.

On the Random Matchup, your ranking is against real people. You don't gain or lose ranking when playing against CPU.

As for in-game options for practice? There's either the Battle Subway or Random Matchup - not much else.
 
For PO (I don't know about Showdown), the more you ladder, the more points you get, the more your rank goes up. Laddering is just clicking the "Find Battle" button and winning a lot.
 
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