Big Thread of Small, Useful RMT Posts

[rhadfii]

Big Thread of Small, Useful RMT Posts

This is basically an update to the old thread of Guidelines, but with a few new things added and some fancy formatting. This thread will be split up into three separate sections. The first section pertains to the actual building of teams. The second section will pertain to Team Rating, whether it be how to post a presentable RMT thread or actually rating the team. The final section will be a general beginner's guide for new players and for anybody needing a refresher course. There will likely be more sections added in the future, but for now, this is what there is:

Table of Contents

Section One: Team Building

1. Battling Styles, Pokemon Roles, and Other Terms
2. Building the Perfect Team
3. Example Team: Built From the Ground Up

Section Two: RMTs

1. Posting a Successful RMT
2. Guide to Rating Teams

Section Three: Beginner's Guide

1. Part One

Lesson 1: Tiers
Lesson 2: Natures
Lesson 3: Effort Values (EVs)

2. Part Two

Lesson 4: IV's and Hidden Power
Lesson 5: Combos and strategies
General Advice

[rhadfii]

Section One: Team Building
Battling Styles, Pokemon Roles, and Other Terms

[rhadfii]

Section One: Team Building
Building The Perfect Team

This is a bit of a read, but if you want to build better teams, you should read it all.

I want everybody to dispel the notion that a "Perfect Team" exists. The "Perfect Team" is a dream--a dream that will never be reality. With that being said, one may wonder what my title actually means. If a perfect team cannot be built; how can I expect to teach people how to build the perfect team? To answer this, it is important to note my definition of the perfect team.

I consider the perfect team to be a one that reflects its user's personality and nature perfectly, or as close as you can get while remaining competitive. I know that this may sound corny, but to identify your team, you must first identify yourself.

A hasty person using a stall based team is really fighting against himself as opposed to his opponent. A calm, thoughtful person using the exact same team will, inevitably, fair much better than his hasty counterpart because the team is a reflection of himself.

A great example of this in action would be my latest team. For those of you unfamiliar with my team, I suggest you check it out here. Not only will you be able to follow this example, but you will also see how a well built team comes together. I described my team building process, as well as descriptions on how each Pokemon fits together in my team so it should give you an adequate example of everything I talk about in this thread.

I am a laid back, thoughtful person. I don't take a great amount of risks and I am fairly patient. However, if I become even remotely excited, I can become something of a loose cannon. The team I have created works much the same as my personality and nature. I am able to sit back and scout my opponent's team while also laying down entry hazards. Once I see an opportunity to win, or I become too excited, I can set up with the very Pokemon that walled my opponent in the preceding turns. As you can see, this team more or less mimics myself. This results in a team that I have been very successful with.

With the more "spiritual" aspect aside, it's time to get down to the technical portion of team building. This is the method that I use to create my teams. I'm not saying that it is the best method, but it is a method that I have been moderately successful with.

The first step is to choose a Pokemon. Anybody who I have ever helped build a team can say that the first thing I always ask is what Pokemon they want to use. It can be any competitive Pokemon that you want. I strongly suggest using the Smogon competitive Pokemon list and choosing the first Pokemon that interests you. You can also just decide to use one of your favorite Pokemon. I suggest, for the newer players out there, that you steer away from using your favorite Pokemon unless it is one of the very few "standard" Pokemon. It is strongly recommend that until you have more experience with team building, you stick to using the more "standard" Pokemon. These "standard" Pokemon are the Pokemon that seem to appear on virtually every team. If you stick to using these at first, you will find yourself more successful. Once you have spent time practicing these techniques, you can feel free to branch out and get creative, in fact, I advise it because it helps to keep battling fresh and unique.

Once you have your Pokemon selected, you need to figure out what its weaknesses are. I would suggest using the Marriland Team Builder which you can find here. It is a great resource for anybody building a team. I almost never build a team without. When you know your Pokemon's weaknesses, it's time to choose supporting Pokemon. This will vary from team to team depending on the style that a particular team is playing, but it is imperative to make sure the Pokemon you select covers your first Pokemon's weaknesses. You can even be more creative and use 3 or 4 Pokemon to do this, but that is better saved for the next step.

The next Pokemon that I select will usually cover the second Pokemon and fill in any gaps that the second Pokemon might have missed. Again, you can get more creative and use more than one Pokemon to do this.

Now that you have a solid core, it's time to select a lead. The lead doesn't have to be meld with your core, but if you can keep building upon your core, your team will have an advantage. There are really only two types of leads out there. You can use an Anti-Lead or a Stealth Rock lead. There are more specialized leads, but those are beyond the scope of this tutorial as they are often only seen on highly specialized teams, i.e, Weather or Baton Pass.

The lead you pick depends on your team. I usually try to sneak a Stealth Rock user into my core Pokemon because I have a preference for Anti-Leads, but you should use whatever you feel comfortable with. When picking your lead, keep in mind your core Pokemon and try to build upon it.

The next two slots are for filling in gaps that your team will inevitably have. Does your team lack a Physical Sweeper? Maybe you need more speed? This is the time to patch up your team into a solid, effective unit.

With all 6 of your Pokemon selected, it's time for my favorite part--testing. You've probably been itching to try out your new team since you established your core. If you're anything like me, you quickly threw together a lead and two final Pokemon and hit the field. This is fine. Unless you get lucky, your team is far from complete at this stage. Testing is an important to your team's overall success. If you feel like getting a bit nerdy, feel free to take notes--I do.

The next step is to revise your team. You want to take your notes, handwritten or mental, and apply them to your team. You should have been able to note more gaps in your team. These gaps need to be filled in.

You never really finish the last two steps. Even when battling for fun, you are still in essence testing. Feel free to revise your team if you notice any more gaps or you may feel like completely reworking your team and starting over from the beginning. All of these choices are fine. Remember, Pokemon is supposed to be fun. If you aren't having fun at any stage of your team building process then take a break and come back to it. Better yet, invent your own steps. Pokemon is a game of innovation.

These steps should help you build a better team. I would again like to reiterate that there is no such thing as a "Perfect Team," only a perfect match. I would also like to point out that being able to build a team requires a significant knowledge of how competitive Pokemon works. If you don't have this knowledge, you are basically floating around in the dark; picking and choosing on a whim. This knowledge can't really be taught. It can only be obtained through practice.

Remember to have fun. Good luck!

[rhadfii]

Section One: Team Building
Example Team: Built From the Ground Up

[rhadfii]

Section Two: RMTs
Posting a Successful RMT

An RMT is designed to enable an individual to share his or her pokemon team with other pokemon players. This can be for a number of reasons; Either the person thinks the team is bad and definitely needs improvement, or it's good but could still improve, or it's just awesome and you want to share it with others. Remember, two heads are usually better than one.

When posting your RMT's please keep and mind that the people rating your team are doing you a favor. The least you can do is make your RMT presentable to the person rating. Here are a few guidelines that you can follow to make the RMT process more enjoyable for everyone involved.

1. Make your format readable. If the format is messy and causes people to have headaches you are not likely to receive any help. Here is a sample format that you can use:

Pokemon @ Item
Ability:
EVs: (Please include the numbers. Do not post things like "EV'd in Attack and Defense")
Nature:
- move
- move
- move
- move

Keep in mind that this is an example and it isn't set in stone but it makes your post much easier to read.

2. You should include pictures. This isn't necessary but it definitely makes your thread look cleaner and more enjoyable to read.

3. Under every pokemon, you should comment and leave your opinion of that pokemon for everyone to read. This helps any rater understand your reasoning behind that pokemon.

4. Use good grammar. It doesn't have to be great, but it definitely helps if everyone understands what you mean.

5. No flaming. When you post a team you have to realize that people will be criticizing you. If you cannot take constructive criticism then you have no business posting a team. You can explain to people why you are using a certain set etc, just do not flame people for it. The only way for your team to get better is by having ideas thrown around in this fashion so it is okay to disagree with somebody. Just do not go all out on that person.

6. If you want to, additional features such as colors, bolded or underlined words or other images are always welcome and improve the quality of your RMT. This isn't necessary but it is important to remember to have fun writing your RMT. If you're not going to have fun writing it then you really should not waste your time.

[rhadfii]

Section Two: RMTs
Guide to Rating Teams (credit to Sumeet)

As of late there have been terrible rates by people who have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. This is neither helpful nor appreciated by some of our more knowledgeable members who spend time writing a good rate when someone simply posts:

I call decent.

With that being said, the goal of this post is to teach people to write proper rates. The team rating process is one that takes two main steps which will be explained in detail.

Revealing a Major Weakness (Type or Pokemon-wise)

Being able to see your weakness is very helpful so it is suggested that you check with the Marriland Team Builder before making any sort of Rate. It takes a short time and is a great visual. If you notice a specific type that has three or more weaknesses, you should notice that that could be the un-doing of the team. If someone has a bad Fire Weakness he could have a major Scarf Ape problem. That's where the 'Pokemon-wise' part comes in. Even if a team had good coverage it could be exceptionally weak to something like Mixape or Scarf Tran. Hell, they could even be unable to beat certain common Pokemon like Swampert or Choice Scarf Latias who can block unprepared teams or can dispose of main sweepers without checks respectively.

Explain the Threat and Suggest a Solution

You can't just say "Mixape sweeps your whole team", you need to explain how it sweeps every individual member and if the team maker is a bit new to the competitive scene, it wouldn't hurt to explain HOW Mixape defeats each invidual member.

If you've found your opponent is weak to say, Lucario, intermediately check the standing team for possible checks to Lucario. If no one can possibly beat Lucario after a Sword Dance, I think it's time to look at Lucario checks of your own. Immidiatley Gyarados, Salamence and Gengar come to mind. Now look at the team you are rating. If he has nothing resistant to Steel moves or whatever he does have resistant to Steel moves can be outsped and KO'd by Close Clombat, Gengar is not your choice. Some Lucario can run Bullet Punch and you might've just given your ratie a terrible suggestion. Take another look. The team already has two Dragons and therefore, Salamence will not fit in the team because he makes the team Scarf Dragon weak. However, the team does contain a Jolteon, a small Ground weakness and a slight need of a Scizor check. If you think you need to suggestion Gyarados, you're absolutely correct. If fits perfectly without disrupting the coverage at all and synergizes with the team quite nicely.

Now that you know Gyarados will fit perfectly without any major visiable problems, it's time to suggest a set. If you look to the team threat's Smogon page and see it recommends a specific set to beat said Lucario, it would be smart to post that set. You can't just say "I suggest Gyarados" without a certain set otherwise there is no point to that post. But do realize, those sets on smogon are simply bases for your own sets to fit your teams. The Bulky Gyarados Ev Spread on Smogon lists 156 Hp / 108 Attack / 100 Defense / 144 Speed but say the team is weak to Jolteon? You can edit the Ev's to 84 Hp / 252 Attack / 168 Speed and Jolly to outspeed Max Speed Jolteon with one Dragon Dance while still retaining some bulk.

It's as simple as that. Happy rating!

[rhadfii]

Section Three: Beginner's Guide
Part One (credit to Ballade)

Lesson 1: Tiers

Every Pokemon is put into some kind of tier to create a better battling field. These tiers literally break the game apart into different categories so that each person can fight in a different way without being considered a cheater or overpowered (after all, if it weren't for tiers, how many teams do you think would have Pokemon such as Mew, Arceus, Rayquaza, and the such?). The tiers are: Uber, O(ver)U(sed), B(order)L(ine), U(nder)U(sed), and N(ever)U(sed). The last tier is Not Fully Evolved (or NFE), but that one literally speaks for itself, and is pretty much the least common tier people use.

A bit of info about the tiers: any Pokemon in a tier that is LOWER than the one you're in can be used. OU can be in Uber, BL can be in OU, and UU can be in BL (though, at the moment, there are no BL-tier Pokemon, but the rule still stands). This means that if you find a UU or BL Pokemon to be useful in the OU, you can use that Pokemon without negative repercussions. However, the reverse is NOT true, meaning Ubers can not be in OU and so on.

Smogon is the commonly referred to tier-structure guide, so if you have any questions as to what Pokemon are in what tier, check them out at smogon.com

Lesson 2: Natures

If you notice, every Pokemon in the entire game has a nature. It can be Adamant, Calm, Bold, Brave, Timid, or Jolly. This may not seem like much, but they impact the game just as heavily as moves. Every nature causes a stat to either go higher or lower depending on just what the nature is. For example: Adamant increases the height of Physical Attack power, at the cost of lowering the height of Special Attack power. Does it sound bad? Kind of, but apply it to a Pokemon that has horrible Sp. Attack already, such as Machamp or Weavile. They never want to make contact with a special attack anyway, and they're better off with more physical attack power. This is just one example, there are a total of 25 Natures, with 5 natures being considered "Neutral". The Neutral natures are the ones you're going to want to avoid. While they're not necessarily the WORST natures, they're also not the best, and when you're not having a change in power for whatever reason, you're allowing the opponent to out run and out power you. This is where breeding comes into play so you can obtain a better nature. Smogon also has a Nature guide, but Serebii.net's Nature guide is much better, along with the fact that Serebii's Pokedex for the DPPt Gen. is much, much more detailed than Smogon's.

Lesson 3: Effort Values (EVs)

In the game, every time you beat a Pokemon, you get some experience. Along with that experience, the Pokemon also gets a value added to it's stat unknown to the open called an Effort Point, Effort Value, or simply EVs. The value given varies for each type of Pokemon, meaning that Magikarp gives out different EVs than Zubat or Starly. This part is why Serebii's Pokedex is much better than Smogons, because they display the EV's you get for beating every single Pokemon. When you obtain an EV, it pretty much just sits there, until it gets some company. Every 4 EV's in a single stat will raise that stat by an extra point upon leveling up. Example: Gyarados beats Heracross and gets 2 EVs for Attack. Gyarados levels up and normally obtains +2 attack. However, if Gyarados beats 2 Heracross' before leveling up, it will obtain 4 EVs in Attack, and then get +3 (+2 for the normal leveling up, and +1 for the 4 EVs it obtained prior to the level). On the other hand, if Gyarados beats that 2nd Heracross after leveling up, then the EVs will be applied on the next level (meaning the aforementioned example of +2 will stay +2). There are a variety of limits that are set, however, to prevent the game from being too easy at the start and too chaotic at the end. Every level has a 'limit' of what EV's are applied. That means that if you were to completely fill up every single EV before the next level up (however the means are), you won't get a huge amount of points upon leveling up (so don't be surprised if you see +4-6 in a stat rather than +20-30). Just because there's the limit, doesn't mean that the EVs are wasted; by level 50 to 100, the EVs are all applied so you don't have to worry. There are also two other limits: an EV stat limit, and the overall EV limit. The overall EVs that any Pokemon can have at any one time is 510. Divide this by 4, and you can see how huge of a leap in power a Pokemon can have. That is why there's the EV stat limit. Every EV can only have up to 255 points put into them. However, if you look around, you'll see that most people put 252 points into a stat. Why is that? It's because 252 is the last number divisible by 4 without going over 255. Hence, why you're better off with 252 EVs than 255 (though, except for speed, +1 in any stat will pretty much not matter, so in reality, it doesn't matter if you have 252 or 255 in two stats). When dividing up EVs on paper, make sure that each point is divisible by 4 and doesn't add up past 510. There's also another little catch; no matter what, you will ALWAYS be left with 2 EVs after the calculations are made. This explains why you'll see 6 EVs on a stat when two others have 252. 252 is, again, the last divisible number by 4 without going past 255, and that leaves you with 6 EVs. Since only 4 EVs can make a difference, you're then left with two points out of the previously remaining 6. Don't bother with trying to change that fact, unless you feel like going insane.

[rhadfii]

Section Three: Beginner's Guide
Part Two (credit to Ballade)

Lesson 4: IV's and Hidden Power

If you remember the move Hidden Power from the Unown back in the days of Gold, Silver, and Crystal, you might remember how it hit other types harder or weaker and sometimes in varying powers. That's because there's another hidden stat known as IV's. Since the 3rd Generation, the IV system has been changed (which explains why you can't trade between GSC and RSE). There are 32 different possible numbers in IVs, from 0-31. These points determine what stat at level 100 get a certain amount of points. If you check out Serebii's guide, every Pokemon has an absolute max for every stat. In order to hit that absolute max, you need to have 31 IV's, 252 EVs, and a positive nature for that stat. It's difficult to tell when IV's are actually applied, so it's best to compare the stats of a Pokemon at level 100 when everything's been said and done. As to how IV's are applied and done, that's something I can't understand (however there ARE other members that do understand it, as well as guide's on the internet, with one such guide on Serebii, that goes into further details about IV's). Now that you know how Hidden Power is essentially powered (the formula is somewhat complicated for 'off-the-head' stuff, but if you actually want to know, Serebii, again, can give you the answer), it's now time to talk about how it's useful. Hidden Power is classified as a Normal attack, but the opposite is true; it can be ANY type EXCEPT Normal. It's use is great for Pokemon that are great for Special Sweeping (a term used for Pokemon that are high in Speed and Sp. Attack), but can't hit a certain type. For example: Infernape has no Ice attack whatsoever. It can't learn Ice Punch, Ice Beam, or anything remotely close to it. However, thanks to Hidden Power, you can have an Infernape with an Ice attack. Because of it's uses, the highest power that Hidden Power can hit for is 70, much lower than Flamethrower or Ice Beam or Thunderbolt. Just because it's an attack that can strike up to 70 power, doesn't mean it's useless though; it's thanks to Hidden Power as an Ice type that Infernape can hit Dragon type Pokemon extremely hard. It also allows certain Pokemon to complete the "Bolt/Beam" combo of Thunderbolt or Ice Beam (except for Lanturn, no other Pokemon resists those two) by having an Electric attack, and HP (Hidden Power) Ice, or vice versa, or the Ghost/Fighting combo that no Pokemon resists. Getting a particular Hidden Power is difficult, however, because of how random the IV system is. It's best to, when breeding, just take the Pokemon with the nature you wanted on paper, and then when you have enough (6-30), ask if someone can "IV battle you", and then just set the levels to 100 (don't bother putting in any EVs into the stat, just get the Pokemon with the nature, store them away at lv. 1, and then use the IV/Hidden Power Calculator on Serebii), and then calculate away, retrying with a different group until you get the one Hidden Power type and strength you want (keep in mind that it WILL be frustrating and long, so don't rely on a team with every member having Hidden Power). When it comes to IV's, it's better to have an IV calculator and determine the IV's and Hidden Power from it.

Lesson 5: Combos and strategies

There are a lot of Pokemon, and there are more Pokemon moves. Not all are attacks, however, and some can be used to form different combos, involving the Pokemon, it's role, and it's ability. A small example is Stat-up + Baton Pass. Baton Pass switches the Pokemon out and replaces it with another member. However, it also passes any Stat ups or downs or positive effects. What this means is, you can have a Pokemon like Gliscor (which is a sturdy Pokemon) use Swords Dance or Agility, and then Baton Pass that boost to the next Pokemon. Another combo is Stealth Rock and/or Spikes + Whirlwind/Roar. Whirlwind and Roar force the opponent to switch out, and Stealth Rock and Spikes cause damage whenever the Pokemon changes. Effectively, you can Whirlwind the opponent away and then simply keep doing so to rack up passive damage. There are tons of different combinations to try out and use, and many of which involve the ability of a Pokemon. Two examples of weather based moves with Pokemon. Exeggutor has the ability Chlorophyll, which doubles it's speed in the sun. You can have Sunny Day on Exeggutor to make it run twice as fast for 5-8 turns, without it being slowed down in any way (aside from Paralysis). However, two other moves that can use the weather to there advantage are Solarbeam and Synthesis. Synthesis restores HP to 100% in the sun and Solarbeam doesn't require a start-up time. This means that Exeggutor can use Sunny Day for three different combined effects: double the speed, a powerful attack that doesn't require a start-up turn, and a healing move that restores it's HP to 100% That leaves Exeggutor with only one move left, and Steel types being able to completely wall it (since they resist grass attacks). If you recall, however, Hidden Power can be used in this situation, and Exeggutor with HP Fire can rip through Steel types like butter thanks to Sunny Day's powering up Fire attacks, as well as Steel types' weakness to Fire attacks. Another weather combo is Kingdra and Rain Dance. With Swift Swim, Kingdra doubles it's speed in rainy weather, which makes Rain Dance all the more useful. Starmie can also take advantage of the Rain Weather since it can learn Thunder, which becomes perfectly accurate in the rain.

General Advice

Never have two attacks that are of the same type unless they're different attack type (meaning never have two physical/special attacks of the same type; an attack in physical and special that are both Fire or so is different). On a side note about attacks, there are two types of moves you should either never use, or hardly use (depending on the situation): Power-reduction moves, and recharge/charge-up moves. Unless the power-reduction move is the ONLY one of it's attacking type (like Overheat being the only special attack), you should never have it on there (a good example is how Salamence can 1-2HKO Skarmory with Fire Blast, but with Draco Meteor on it and used prior, that possible OHKO can turn into a 3HKO with Fire Blast), and charge-up/recharge moves take up a turn, which means you're opponent can hit you hard or stat up on you without you being able to do anything (which is why Solarbeam is hardly used except on Sunny Day teams). While you will see these moves on some other teams, those who use it and win the battle know how to use it well. Also, be smart with your attacks and moves; Fire Blast has an accuracy of 85, so it's better to use it than Flamethrower MOST of the time, where as Thunder has an accuracy of 70, so it's better to use Thunderbolt than Thunder, unless you're using a Rain Dance team. Know you're opponent's Pokemon, and study what common sets are so you can be somewhat prepared. Also, make sure you're team's diversity is great; it may seem odd, but the higher the number of weakness', the better. Why? Imagine a team that's all weak to Ice. It's only one type, but now any Pokemon with Ice Shard, Punch, or Beam can wipe out your team with little to no effort. A team that has a giant number of weakness' means that it's going to be tough. Study the game a bit, make a team on paper, and then identify the weakness' that they all have, tallying up how many are common. If you have more than 2 Pokemon that are weak to a certain type, then get rid of a couple of them. Flygon, Dragonite, and Salamence on a single team is NOT a good idea. They all have a 4x weakness to Ice, and Weavile is one of the best Ice attackers in the game, able to outrun all three of them, and can Ice Punch each one in the face, more than likely causing a OHKO (One Hit KO). Last, but not least, make sure you look at the items that are used. Generally, defensive Pokemon are going to want items like Leftovers or Shell Bell or Light Clay or (for Steel types) Shed Shell (Skarmory in particular), while offensive Pokemon are going to want items like Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Wise Glasses, Life Orb, Muscle Band, or Berries like Salac, Leichi, or Petaya. On a note about items, don't use items like Mystic Water or Dragon Plate; they only power up one type of attack while the ones above can cause the attack to hit harder.

Hopefully you've learned enough to start up your team and make it better. Just take it bit by bit and slowly. If you don't understand something, just PM me and take baby steps (like if you didn't understand a word I said, just pick a subject and we'll go from there).

[rainxspear]

To behonest nice work, but if your in college it's sad that your writing stuff like this for your free time. >.<

[rhadfii]

I haven't actually written anything yet. It's all copying and pasting from old threads. Half of what is here isn't mine anyway. Sumeet and Ballade contributed alot.