Help getting started with VGC

Blah

Blah

DBT
Member
I'm interested in getting started with VGC, even if I won't be the most competitive player around. It would be awesome if I could get an overview of the meta, strategies, and overall tips I should know before going to a tournament. Don't worry about teaching me all the basics; I played VG for a while and I know about EV's and stuff.

As a quick note, I only have access to BW and BW2 at the moment and it's unlikely I can get any moves exclusive to earlier games. I may also have a difficult time getting stuff from the Dream World, but let me know if it's impossible to be competitive without having DW stuff.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I'm mainly looking for general team ideas and strategies but anything else you guys have would be awesome.
 
If you can't get Dream World, then you can't use a Rain team because Politoed's Drizzle Ability is a Hidden Ability. The main decks are weather decks (mostly Rain and Sand, but a little bit of Sun. Abomasnow is primarily used as a weather changer.) IV's are a very important thing in competitive battling, here is a guide for it in BW (the B2W2 RNG hasn't been cracked yet). There is just too much about competitive VGC battling to explain it in a post, let alone an entire thread.
 
To be simple, VGC is all about weather. Politoed and Tyranitar are the most common, and as such Pokemon like Kingdra and Excadrill follow. Hail and Sun are not as frequent, but exist. Other strategy you see sometimes are Trick Room and Explosion (Eviolite Dusclops, Cresselia for Trick Room and Metagross for Explosion). Finally, there are teams that use strategy combos, mainly weather and Explosion. The above lead to teams that include weather counters (Rotom-W, Gastrodon, Garchomp) and cause abuse of Protect.
Common tanks/supports include Cresselia and, more rarely, Ferrothorn, while sweepers include Garchomp and Hydreigon, Lati@s and Scizor, plus the weather abusers. Note that entry hazards aren't used, and as such Rapid Spinners and hazard setters are non-existent.
Playing in VGC without DW is a bit hard, since you don't have access to things like Drizzle Politoed, Drought Ninetales, Prankster Sableye/Murkrow and Multiscale Dragonite. However, it is possible to play even without DWs.
The above are for Doubles, which is also the usual Nintendo Wi-Fi tournament format. For Singles and Triples, I don't know as many. I think Shell Smash is common in Singles and Tailwind is common in Triples, but others might be able to provide more info.
The above are by no means perfect or all that there is to VGC. Just some stuff from my own experience.
 
I have access to the DW, I'm just not willing to put the sheer amount of hours into it required to unlock things like DrizzleToad and Ninetails. If you know a faster way to do it, let me know.

Since weather appears to be by far the biggest thing , I'll probably look into a Sandstorm team over anything else as I won't need the DW as much.

Now, what are some general ideas for Sandstorm teams? On another note, what do movesets look like in VGC? I know stuff like Protect is big, but I want to get a general feel for what moves are commonly seen as they differ immensely from simulator OU, which is what I'm used to.
 
Tyranitar is the Pokemon that sets up Sandstorm, Hippowdon is quite rare. Sandstorm takes advantage of Pokemon that are banned in OU, namely Sand Veil Garchomp and Sand Rush Excadrill. Garchomp uses Outrage and Earthquake plus the usual Protect and usually runs Lum or Yache Berry. Excadrill uses Protect, Earthquake, Rock Slide and Swords Dance/Iron Head, while running either Focus Sash or Air Balloon. Obviously, the idea of the above two is to tear everything apart with AoE moves (I'm talking Doubles). For other Pokemon, Sand teams can run Metagross, Terrakion, Cresselia, Ferrothorn (support) and Rotom-W (rain counter). The above usually have Protect. Metagross runs a STAB or two plus Explosion, Terrakion runs a set with Protect instead of Swords Dance and the same damaging attacks as the SD set, Cresselia runs Swagger, Icy Wind, Protect and a Psychic STAB or Trick Room (to cancel opponents), Ferrothorn runs Power Whip, Thunder Wave and Leech Seed, Protect or Gyro Ball and Rotom-W runs Hydro Pump, Thunderbolt and Will-o-Wisp, Thunder Wave, Confuse Ray or Protect.
Keep in mind that many opponents might abuse Gems.
Again, the above apply for Doubles. Ask others for other formats.
 
Alright, I suppose that's good enough to get me started. Thanks.

Two more quick questions:

1) Is it impossible (or extremely difficult) to win without RNG abuse?

2) Where's the best place to test teams (Doubles VGC)?
 
Re: RE: Help getting started with VGC

Hydro Cannon said:
1) No

2) Smogon battle simulator or online with other chimps. :3
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I agree with #2.

But #1 isn't true. It's pretty hard to win without perfectly IV'd Pokémon.
 
Re: RE: Help getting started with VGC

Hydro Cannon said:
Perfect IV's will only change the stats by a minor amount from what I know. :O
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You definetly want to at least be close. 31 points of difference is HUGE. It can be the difference between your Cresselia living and dieing from a U-Turn.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2
 
Well, I never had very good IVs in my team. Usually they were about 15-20. Certainly, perfect IVs make your life easier, but you can survive without them.
 
Re: RE: Help getting started with VGC

ChillBill said:
Well, I never had very good IVs in my team. Usually they were about 15-20. Certainly, perfect IVs make your life easier, but you can survive without them.
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Yeah, you can survive, but with a frail Pokémon especially, you want that magic 31. I cannot tell you how many times my Breloom has lived with just a smidgeon. If I had any less DEF or HP or S.DEF IVs, it would most likely not have survived.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2
 
yeah, but no one should have to RNG abuse to get that. Breed and hope for the best nature. If not, keep going at it. The game shouldn't have to boil down to that sadly. Plus, it sounds like Blah is just getting into this, so for now, ignore IV's. After you've had some experience in the game, then worry about the critical stuff. I haven't looked at my IV's (personally don't really know how to) so don't worry about it too much
 
Re: RE: Help getting started with VGC

Hydro Cannon said:
yeah, but no one should have to RNG abuse to get that. Breed and hope for the best nature. If not, keep going at it. The game shouldn't have to boil down to that sadly. Plus, it sounds like Blah is just getting into this, so for now, ignore IV's. After you've had some experience in the game, then worry about the critical stuff. I haven't looked at my IV's (personally don't really know how to) so don't worry about it too much
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You check IVs with the PokeCheck FakeGTS.

Also, I am just saying, good IVs and EVs win tournaments.

And I know you don't have to RNG aboose for good IVs, it's just faster. But, like, with my Breloom, I spent 3 weeks breeding for Technician Adamant 31 all except Sp. Attack. So yeah. You can do that too.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2
 
I have never IV bred specifically, and I've done fine with my many stall teams. Haven't gotten first at a tournament, but I've gotten second without much trouble. Then again, I'm one of those people that do things really weird, like wanting to use Abomasnow as a weather team, rather than a counter-weather team. Back to talking IV's, while I may never use them, I'm not going to say that they aren't needed for competitive play. If you can get them fast, and get them good, use that above another Pokemon. EV's on the other hand, you NEED to get correct. I only get second on the tournaments I get second because I know how and where to distribute EV's. Finally, if you need abilities quick, and you don't want to go through the dream world over and over, use Pokecheck, like our friend PellOfTheTundra mentioned. I use it all the time, but I never use the pokemon I get there for anything other than breeding and in-game stuff. You will also want to make sure the pokemon you get there (if any) are legit.
 
Blah said:
Alright, I suppose that's good enough to get me started. Thanks.

Two more quick questions:

1) Is it impossible (or extremely difficult) to win without RNG abuse?

2) Where's the best place to test teams (Doubles VGC)?
Click to expand...

You don't have to RNG abuse, but IV breeding can be huge. Since Pokemon pass down some of their IVs when they breed, if you catch 2 Pokemon with good IVs and then breed them, the offspring will most likely have good IVs. That's one of the reasons Flawless or near Flawless Dittos are so huge. However, if you're looking for something that can't be bred (eg: Terrakion) then you might want to RNG abuse. Otherwise, you're going to need to reset and re-catch the Pokémon over an dover until you get the one you want.
 
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